ohmyarceus | March - April Test Drive Meme

[Leonardo is just walking along, minding his own business, when suddenly the music shifts and a strange Gastly blocks his path. Oh, no, not this again. He's not particularly fond of battling with his pokemon, preferring to let them roam around however they wish, but, well, a challenge is a challenge and some norms, it seems, are not so easily changed.]

It's a little annoying, but I'm game if you are.

[Piccolo, his Pidove, hops down from off his shoulder, looking back at him a little shyly.]

Don't worry, I'll be right here beside you.

[He addresses the -- frankly rather muscle-bound -- man in front of him.]

I'd rather not have any of our friends faint over a little battle like this, so how about the winner is whoever gets the other's pokemon to start flashing red first?

[ Well, at least the man that Risotto has inadvertently let his creature approach for one of the rule-bound battles here is polite. Though he also isn't budging about letting this pass.

Risotto has learned his lesson about opening these pokéballs outside instead of in his room with the door locked, or on the Team Rocket training grounds. Curiosity may not kill anyone here but it's definitely going to bruise some egos. ]

...The stakes are already low, and you'd prefer them lower. [ The fact that these oddly intelligent but obedient animals not only don't share their injuries with their owner (Risotto had braced for exactly that, the first time he'd been told to practice fighting with his new can-only-talk-in-repeating-singular-words teammates) but can't die is just so strange. So toothless.

And yet he's stuck here, so if this is how one gets stronger...

Risotto considers the offer with an expression of muted annoyance before he shrugs and nods.

He takes several steps back instead of trying to grab onto the ghostly apparition he's now ostensibly in charge of. ]

Then I agree to your terms. [ That's how one gets stronger, right? Risotto isn't sold enough on this strange afterlife to have any specific plans for taking it over or anything of the sort, but— power is always useful.

(He's probably about to get his ass handed to him, he and his poor level fifteen unnamed Gastly.) ]

I'm afraid so.

[He isn't afraid, really, so much as he's always been something of a soft-touch when it comes to animals. Sure, it's easy enough to head to a Pokemon Center after the fact, but he's not keen on visiting them more often than necessary.

In his own world, he was never particularly good with violence -- or, at least, violence he'd have to commit himself -- so it perhaps isn't too surprising that he isn't particularly good with it here, either.

Still, there's only so much navel-gazing one can do when the battle music's playing.]

Let's see how this goes.

[Piccolo the Pidove is a very sweet, very tiny bird with the memory of a sleepy goldfish. So it takes about two tries for Leonardo to get him to use Gust upon request. But, once that little hiccup is sorted out, Piccolo flaps a tiny column of wind and some leaves picked up by said wind in the Gastly's general direction.

Coo, Coo!]

[ Honestly, Risotto had been expecting something a bit more...flashy. It takes long enough for anything to happen at all that it's hard not to entertain the thought that these 'battles' would surely go a lot more quickly in his favor if he just attacked the creature's owner. The man's not all that tall or broad and weapons are hard if not impossible to find here, it seems; Risotto's confident he'd win.

But this is a small, contained area, he's already shown his face, it's...probably a bad idea. For later-problems more than any concern about this stranger.

The stranger who owns the medium-sized bird that just successfully caused something to happen. Risotto's a little surprised when the move catches his Gastly up in the ensuing little burst of air - okay. Looks like this isn't one of the creatures that his is immune to. So, logically, he can have it use a ghost type move on it, right...?

Wrong, of course, or mostly wrong. Whatever his Gastly tries, looks like it's not very effective... ] ...Damn.

[ This is...setting up to be a very long battle. Risotto has already moved from a very tense, watchful stance to a more casual stare at the two of them. This is far less intense than training against Team Rocket members... ]

[The spooky ghost move does have some effect, as Piccolo is somewhat spooked! Alas, being scared doesn't seem to translate into damage very well, and also, it's entirely possible the Pidove just noticed a leaf that wasn't there a moment ago and scared himself. But Leonardo has things he'd much rather be doing than stand here for hours watching a gas ball slowly flicker out via little gusts of wind. Like, literally anything, for instance.

Leonardo drops his shoulders, letting out a sigh.]

This could take awhile.

[Leonardo thinks about it for another moment, and then makes an offer he'd like to hope the stranger doesn't refuse.]

Would you like to just call it a draw?

[ It's been both the most tense and most frustratingly uneventful five minutes Risotto's spent fighting since arriving, and it's rapidly turning to simple boredom.

The only beneficial thing is the revelation that even though this man's Pokémon has a move that can hurt his Gastly doesn't mean it necessarily is affected by ghost type moves, so he switched to its sole dark type move and it worked...he's pretty sure... This is really going to take all day, isn't it?

Risotto is beginning to reconsider the merits of knocking the other man out and making a break for it when he's offered a much easier, less violent out than he'd expected. ]

...I would, yes.

I think we're either too evenly matched, or too incompatible. [ Tentative even though the other man is the one who offered, Risotto keeps his eyes firmly on the suspicious (fluffy, easily-distracted) Pidove while reaching out for his Gastly.

Of course, the damn thing is still convinced it has a chance and doesn't give up easily, so Risotto ends up having to rush up on it with its pokéball to put it away. ]

That does seem to be the case.

[Leonardo says, pleasantly enough. Leonardo doesn't exactly call Piccolo back to a pokeball, so much as the slightly clueless bird hops back to him and flutters up to rest on his shoulder. Still, the pigeon doesn't look worse for the wear, perhaps a few feathers out of place and a little bit confused. Then again, Piccolo seems very confused about many things, so perhaps this is just his natural state. The point is, the world's most... evenly matched, let's say, pokemon battle draws to a close, with a few twigs and leaves being the only casualties.

Well, and everyone's patience, but that hardly counts.]

I suppose there are worse ways to spend an afternoon.

[ This man's Pokémon was out already earlier, a fact Risotto had at the time attributed to an ever-alert opponent. Now, he's starting to realize it might be because this bird-shaped Pokémon is, in fact...closer to a pet.

What a surprising revelation. Honestly, almost more surprising than the fact that other people have little creatures that don't wake up angry and wanting to fight everything nearby. Risotto is beginning to realize this might be a Team Rocket-exclusive dilemma...

He's still staring at the Pidove just neatly perched on the man's shoulder until he's addressed again. ] ...I suppose. [ Risotto sounds like he's actually on the fence about it but also understands how to pick his battles.

And after a beat, he even forces out a bland but not entirely awful, ] Thanks for the practice. [ It's costing his pride a little bit but he's committed to blending in, by now. ]

Edited 2021-04-09 20:51 (UTC)

[Leonardo, in the mean time, remains unaware of any internal struggle on the part of his battling companion. He's just glad he managed to escape from it largely unscathed. Most importantly, the battle music has stopped playing, which means that there's no chance they'd be forced to go through any additional motions to get out of this.

Leonardo accepts the comment with a nod.] I'd like to say let's do this again sometime, but... I'm afraid that would be a lie. [A little sheepish at the end, there. Battling isn't his forte, not as much as sketching the pokemon he sees is.]

Edited 2021-04-10 10:46 (UTC)

[ Well...at least there's that. Risotto is a little surprised that this man is as reluctant about fighting as he is - a little judgmental about that fact too, although it's hard to really connect to feeling haughty when he's clearly no better of a fighter. It's actually entirely likely it's Risotto who would have (eventually...) lost if not for this man conceding, a fact Risotto won't quickly forget.

Risotto watches him, muted surprise and then curiosity on his face. He looks like he's about to leave, but then he pauses. ]

You don't enjoy fighting? [ What had Steven said? That most of the people here are natives, but some are other otherworlders?

Risotto makes a decision and commits. ] Are you not from here originally?

[Leonardo stays to continue chatting, an amiable smile on his face. He's much more comfortable with conversation than with battling. His Pidove, meanwhile, continues cooing on his shoulder, for a lack of other options.]

I've never been fond of fighting, even before I arrived here. [Or, more to the point, fond of violence.] Still, the pokemon seem to enjoy it enough, which has been a little strange getting used to.

[But, well, new experiences make him happy, so he's been managing.]

[ Hmm. An otherworlder for sure then, and someone both apparently unassigned to Team Rocket and not a fighter back home. It's occurring to Risotto that stealing this man's Pokémon later on, while he's in disguise, would not be a terrible option, since he knows the identity of at least one of them...

But this man is also being polite and showed...well, 'mercy' is a strong word for the slow boring fight happening earlier, but still. Risotto has no reason to hate anyone in particular here, or target anyone in particular, so neatly as soon as the possibility occurs to him it ends up put aside. If he's desperate, maybe, but he isn't yet, and surely someone else with something worth stealing will annoy him more than this man does.

Anyway, back to the actual conversation— ] I've noticed that some of them are eager for fighting, and none of them seem...wholly opposed. [ His spinarak isn't as aggressive as the gastly — he has named neither of his so far — but even that tiny little spidery creature doesn't shy away from fighting. It would be odd if he wasn't already used to a supernatural system where something else fought for you.

Which would be an excellent thing to bring up right now, probably, except he just keeps his arms crossed and looks surly albeit not aggressive, and then simply asks ] Have you had an easy time avoiding it, since arriving?

[ AKA has Team Rocket already harassed this man? How wide spread are they, and are there others doing the same thing? ]

[Leonardo hums, thinking it over.]

Relatively. It's more difficult to avoid on the roads, as you often run into wild pokemon or other trainers along the way.

[That moment when they meet eyes and the battle music kicks in-- it's not exactly his favorite sensation in the world, but it's one he's gotten familiar with very quickly in the short month since his arrival.

Still, his pokemon have grown stronger as a result, so perhaps it isn't all bad.]

I see. [ Risotto has been here briefly enough that, much to his chagrin, almost any knowledge is useful knowledge. This, like the pitiful missteps in the prior battle, gets filed away for later.

He takes a step back, finally, at about his limit for socializing with a stranger. Still, his expression isn't cold as he nods. ] ...Thank you.

It sounds like fate might bring us back together even if we don't seek each other out.

I look forward to speaking with you again. Perhaps with slightly less battling involved.

[Polite and genuine. A hint of a joke at the end, one shared.]

March - April Test Drive Meme

A NICE WALK

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject