A Really Bad Part of the Country - Los Muertos Hideout: Abandoned Fort Pandrah"Any last words?!"Having slaughtered the remainder of Los Muertos members who had put up a fight and hadn't already fled to committed themselves to playing possum, Irving held his mark by the neck. Despite having a noticeable amount of blood dripping from a wound in his side that he's failed to notice, he was otherwise mostly unharmed. His mark, however, had a bloody face an was undoubtedly housing a number of broken bones.
The mark said nothing, choosing to groan instead.
"Whatever."Irving clenched his fist and swung it at his target. In that brief instance in the middle of his swing... Nothing happened, and a running joke is finally laid to rest, with the shattering of a skull.
-----
Another Really Bad Part of the Country - Unknown
Irving allowed himself to be led down the dimly lit stairs into the dimly lit basement, a somewhat elderly man sitting behind a table with a bodyguard awaiting him. A burlap sack hung from Irving's hand. The bottom part wet, occasionally dripping red, much to the ire of the cleaners.
"You appear to be successful," observed the elder. His nose wrinkled as the bounty hunter stepped into the light. Those are a lot of fresh wounds. Isn't he worried about self-preservation?
"The proof's in the sack!" Irving slammed the back onto the table. "Now where's the money?"
The elder eyed Irving before leaning over and peering into the flap. The guard behind him winced. The elder merely scowled. "...Is this what is left of him?"
"Nah. Just the head and spinal cord." Irving said matter-of-factually. "Figured ya wouldn't want the rest of 'im."
"...Perhaps you should have. You cannot think that I can possibly identify this... wrangled mess, as the mark, do you? How am I to know you didn't murder some wastrel off the street so that you can pass it off as the target?"
"You callin' me a liar?" Irving growled.
"Well you have no reputation or letter of recommendation to vouch for you, do you?" countered the elder. He sat straight back up. "I'm a generous man. You'll be payed a fifth instead of nothing."
"A FIFTH?! That's barely enough for a bed at that overpriced shithole of an inn in this town! That YOU just so happen to own!"
"Would you prefer to have nothing? Or perhaps I should assume you meant to swindle me and order my men put you down like a rabid animal for your arrogance?"
"Why you...!" Irving shook his fist before going lax. "Bah! Fine. Fifth. Whatever. Gimme."
------
Irving stormed out of the building with a smaller bag in hand. If he were smart, he'd use the money for food... For a day or two if he's stingy. Which meant another few nights out in the wilderness under some tree. God knows he's not staying at that inn.
He growled in annoyance. "Oh well. Least it's not rainin'."
*Flash*
Realgam Tower, Orre - Joshua Vega's Room"Hey papa", said Joshua's Rotom.
"Whatcha readin'?"
Joshua looked up from skimming through a packet of papers to see Rotom hovering behind his shoulder. "First, you're starting to talk like Grinn. That is not good."
"He knows his role models!" yelled out Grinn the Gengar from the other side of the room.
"Second, I'm just reviewing the papers to get my team back together. It was disbanded when I did a certain something, after all. I'm just making sure I didn't spell someone's name wrong."
"Did you make certain you spelled 'Sidibe' correctly?" asked Ditto, who was lounging on the floor.
"It's 'D', then 'B', right?" replied Joshua. "Don't worry, I got it burned into my head after the fourth time I messed it up.
"It only took that long, eh?" commented Grinn.
Manaphy was the one who confronted Grinn.
"Stop bullying daddy, Grinn!"
"Don't worry, Manaphy. Bullying implies that affects me in some way." Joshua stood up. He looked around looking for Yancy before realizing she was in the restroom. "Anyway, I just need to head downstairs and turn these in, so I'll be back in a--"
"Wait!" blurted out Manaphy and Rotom in unison. Manaphy was the one who continued.
"Actually, daddy. I-- I mean we... It's just that..."
"They wanna go with you", interrupted Zoroark.
"They're feeling kind of clingy after your stunt a week ago."
"Are you implying that you don't secretly feel the same?" teased Joshua. "Grinn's a bit of a gossip, after all."
Zoroark put on a shocked expression and glared at Grinn, who simply... well, grinned back.
"...Why not? You can all come along."
Manaphy and Rotom cheered with joy as Joshua took out his Pokeballs and recalled his Pokemon. He looked at the Pokemon belonging to Yancy closest to him -- in this case Serperior -- and gestured to tell Yancy where he went. He stepped out the door.
---
A random assortment of thoughts entered Joshua's mind as he walked down the hall a short time later.
Wow. I actually have a day off. No planning for a future mission, no doing a future mission, nothing. Granted, that means Mewtwo could probably think of something for me to do,
but it's smooth sailing, at least for now.
...What do normal people do in their time off again? I can probably do more than just watch TV. The less I see of The Bold and the Beautifly, the be--
That was the cue for him to vanish in a flash of light.
Once Joshua had left, Serperior chuckled to herself.
"Aah yes. Though it was a frightening time, we mustn't forget that Zoroark is still houses a soft interior. He was pretty distraught, after all."
She didn't notice that Togekiss had floated over.
"Wait, what? I remember it differently... Namely you
being the most distraught one."
Serperior glared at him in an intimidating manner, causing him to shrink and float away. She turned her head to see the bathroom door opening and her trainer stepping out.
Yancy looked around. "Where's Joshua?"
Serperior was about to speak, but then realized that the Cosmic Drive Yancy uses to talk to them was turned off on the table nearest Gallade.
"Gallade, would you be a dear?"
Fortunately, Gallade didn't put up his army sergeant act and just saluted and used his psychic powers to float the device over to Yancy. Realizing her mistake, she apologized and turned on her device. Serperior was about to relay what happened, but Ursaring spoke first.
"He is delivering his paperwork."
Serperior turned toward Ursaring and glared at him. Unlike Togekiss, however, he didn't show any reaction.
"I see", said Yancy. "Thank you for letting me know."
She walked toward the desk where her book was. She stopped briefly after passing by Golurk standing on the side nearby. She thought for a moment and addressed it. "Umm... Excuse me, but you can see what the other units see, right?"
"Affirmative", replied the robot.
"Can... Do you know if any of them have seen our friend?"
"Analyzing data banks... Analyzing... No data found. Units have been advised to report sightings of target."
"Thank you", said Yancy.
Before she could turn to her book, Yancy and her Pokemon vanished in a flash of light.
Realgam Tower, Orre - Training Room"Time!"
Riley's call for a break was in vain as Marley had jumped on and off a conveniently-placed wooden crate and kicked Riley in the face during the rebound. From the sidelines, Mira winced.
"Dang! Mira heard the impact from here!"
"This is what I am here for", said Cheryl.
Cheryl stood up and reached for the Pokeball containing Blissey while Mira followed. Marley had dropped her practice knives and was kneeling down to help Riley up.
"I-I'm sorry", she stammered. "I didn't--"
"Don't worry about it", reassured Riley. "It was only my jaw."
As Cheryl's Blissey arrived and began applying Soft-Boiled treatment, Cheryl looked at a stopwatch. "You're showing improvement, Riley. Two minutes more than usual."
"Are you talking about how he survived longer before Marley kicked his butt?" inquired Mira.
"I'm offended by your low opinion of me", responded Riley, picking himself up. "It was just how long I could fight using aura without feeling the world rotating on... Wait a minute, you fall asleep in a fight in half the time it takes for me to feel groggy!"
"
After the enemy's blown to smithereens!" retorted Mira in defense of herself.
"...Riley", said Marley. "Do you have any criticisms about my fighting style?"
"Overwhelming people with high speed attacks? It works fine for the most part, but I saw that you were working off of instinct and making it up as you went along. Because of that, I'm starting to notice patterns in your movements, and you're just a little more predictable because of it. No offense, but it was kind of clear that you didn't get proper training on knife-fighting. You're good, but I still think you can do better."
Marley nodded. "Thank you for your hone--"
Realgam Tower, Orre - Hallway
"So what are you getting?" Grant asked.
"I'm feeling... waffles," Meridia said. "How about you?"
"Rawst Berry salad," Grant replied. "Even if Gawain won't shut up about Rattata Stew."
...Do they even serve that? Meridia wondered.
"I never expected you to like Rawst Berries," she commented.
"It's mostly because of... sentimental reasons," Grant admitted. "Memories I associate with them, you know? Not that I don't like the taste on their own, of course."
"Memories? Like what?"
"I... uhh... Maybe some other time," Grant said. "I don't want to--"
*Flash*
Underground
"Catch."
Hugh returned from the cooler with two water bottles and a small carton of fruit juice in hand. Emma grabbed the bottle Hugh tossed at her as he sat down on the bench she was on, Mimi between them swinging her legs.
"Thanks," Emma said. She rested an arm over her helmet while she leaned back. "How many more do you expect until my dad finally gets it right?"
Hugh inserted the bendy-straw included with the fruit juice into the carton. "At this rate?" Hugh passed the carton over to Mimi, who graciously accepted it. "I think the war'll be over by then." He softly pet the little feline as she slurped up the juice. He smiled softly.
Emma exhaled deeply after chugging half the bottle of water. "I can already picture hundreds of broken rifles."
"With a lot of holes in the wall," Hugh said. "And if he's careless, one lost limb."
"It must be harder than it looks, because barely anything's changed with the last few tests." Emma sealed the cap back on and began playfully tossing it into the air and catching it. "If he's so smart, why doesn't he just re-purpose the damn thing as a sniper rifle and work from there? Not everything has to work in close range."
Hugh nearly choked on his water. "...I know, right? It's just so obvious, staring him in the face like that!"
Dammit, why didn't I think of that?
"So how's your scouting mission going?" Hugh asked.
"Hoenn? Easy pickings," Emma boasted. "They're going to start road construction though, so that'll be a pain. But the next time I'm sneaking around there, I'm getting you some take out from this great fast food place!"
"You've been checking out the food? ...On the job?" Hugh stated accusingly.
"Maybe," Emma said. "But seriously, best burgers ever. And the chocolate frosty? That stuff's so thick that--"
*FLASH*
