DRIVE IT LIKE YOU STOLE IT (for Team Rocket's glory)

[indigo_league]

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Comments

[gainedlove]

Frisk giggles, and mirror's Chara's gesture for a moment before their hand drops away from their mouth again.

"Yeah, but I like it better when you're happy!"

Or less irritated, at least. Moments when Chara is truly, unabashedly happy are few and far between.

"How did you get here so fast? I didn't see you anywhere on th' Gear messages!" And it's not like they haven't been paying attention at all.

[hereweare]

Oh my God, Frisk. You're so nice. It's... mm. It's nice. From you, anyway. But also--

"Oh, right." Chara had kinda gathered from the 'gear that a lot of people started out someplace called Newbark, to the Southeast. It seemed pretty small... but the trees looked pretty, they guessed.

"I started here. There's a secret base in the city for something called Team Rocket. You'd probably hate them."

[gainedlove]

Really, Chara. After this long, do you expect anything else from them?

"Team Rocket? Like, going to space rockets?" Frisk frowns in confusion. "Why wouldn't I like that?"

Frisk has heard absolutely nothing about Rockets yet. A few of the passers by cast them a strange look, but it's kind of hard to take a kid claiming they're part of Team Rocket seriously.

[hereweare]

"..." Chara's brow furrows up.

"....no. I... I don't actually know why they're called that." They were a little overwhelmed when they first... uh, first woke up alive and not in Frisk's head. They were still pretty dazed (the proper word was probably 'dissociating,' to be honest) even hours later.

And, uh. There was a lot to take in.

"I don't think it has anything to do with space. They're all criminals. We steal Pokemon and stuff."

With Frisk right there, Chara has completely forgotten that they now talk in a way that means other people can hear them.

[gainedlove]

It's not like Frisk has really registered that this isn't a private conversation, either. It would take a lot more thought and focus than they have to spare on that reality for them to become fully conscious of it.

Heck, it had taken two whole weeks before they stopped trying to talk to Chara off-hand when they first arrived.

That information, however--

"What?!" Frisk helps and nearly jumps, their grip tightening on Chara's hand for a moment. "But--that's horrible! Why would you do that?!"

[hereweare]

Chara just stares at Frisk. For like, twenty whole seconds.

Honestly.

"It's not hard, really. No one expects to be robbed by a kid." They smile in that way that's as ominous as it is disarming.

If Chara is being completely honest, it's kind of fun to steal Pokemon from humans. Satisfying.

"But Pokemon are magic. If they don't want to be part of Team Rocket, they can just leave and go home. The only people who get hurt are humans."

And Frisk knows how Chara feels about that.

[gainedlove]

...

Man, the silence is even worse when they can see it.

Frisk fidgets and drops their gaze, looking back up when Chara speaks again. What they say makes sense, in a logical way, but it's not something that Frisk likes. Even disregarding that hurting humans isn't okay (an argument that both sides have agreed that neither is ever going to win or change their mind on), just because the Pokemon could get free again doesn't change the fact that stealing them in the first place is a hurt all of it's own.

"But what if they can't get back home again? What if they get lost, or--or their trainer isn't here anymore when they get free again?" It's the best argument against this that Chara has any chance of listening to.

[hereweare]

It's a good argument--and one that, normally, would have reminded Chara of what's really important.

In this case, though... Chara gives their partner a hard look.

"I don't really have a choice, Frisk." Chara stares briefly at a crack in the pavement, then shrugs it off. There's not much else to say; Team Rocket doesn't really have an open-door policy.

And if they keep it up, they can be promoted. And then they can figure out what's really going on.

But they don't want to admit they don't know right now. It's... kind of embarrassing.

Plus, it's Frisk. Frisk is too good a person. They won't like any answer Chara has. And Chara can't leave Team Rocket anyway. So it's better if they just don't make a big deal out of it.

[gainedlove]

"But..."

They don't quite wilt under that look--they've come a long, long way from those first runs--but there's something in them that fades. Energy, will, confidence...it's hard to say. But it makes their worry for their partner show all the more.

"...it's not fair. You shouldn't be stuck there."

Chara has a chance to live their life for real again, not as a hanger-on to Frisk's consciousness. They should be free to run around and make new friends and have a life here, but it really sounds like they just traded one set of shackles for another.

Spoiler: not how being stolen by Team Rocket actually works, Chara

[hereweare]

"I know." The world isn't fair. Chara knows this better than anyone.

And it's all because of humans. Rotten, wretched, selfish humans. Humans like... well, like Chara.

They squeeze Frisk's hand reassuringly.

This? This is small compared to what Chara's already been through.

Frisk, too.

"But this isn't the Underground, Frisk. This is the human world."

And Frisk knows what that means.

What they're gonna put other humans through as part of Team Rocket? It's even smaller. So they don't feel bad at all. They're happy. Happy to get a little back at the humans around them, even if it's just a little prick, a single drop of blood for all the blood and tears and dust they've exacted from Chara and Frisk and all the monsters of the Underground--and before. The Pokemon will be fine. If they want to leave and go home, they can. But if they don't?

They're free now. They can stay with Team Rocket or go and live in the wild. After all, Gasbag breaks out of its Pokeball all the time. There's no reason other Pokemon can't.

Right?

"... you've noticed, right? They're magic. Not like Monsters back home, either. They won't get hurt. They can't."

[gainedlove]

Frisk's mouth pulls, tight, and there's a long pause before they nod.

It is different on the Surface, where it isn't just a misunderstanding that can cause hurt, but true intent. Where people are cruel, and there are so many Floweys that sometimes Frisk feels like it's all they can do to just keep their family safe. They aren't blind...they see the glares, the way humans whisper.

They've seen it here, too. Not as often, not with the outsiders being so much harder to distinguish.

But...

"Bruises're just as bad as a cut."

Easier to focus on that. It's a weak argument, especially when they've seen Mettaton and Papyrus training so often. The Pokemon even want to fight and get strong, though the idea still curdles in their stomach.

"I don't...I don't like it."

That's what it boils down to, really. Frisk can't accept the idea of hurting something for fun. Of causing pain for sport, of gaining strength just for the sake of it. Levels aren't LOVE, they know that, but...!

[hereweare]

Chara isn't really surprised Frisk doesn't like it.

Chara didn't, either. But Blade (....and Gasbag, they guess...) haven't exactly been ambiguous about it.

And it's... kind of liberating. To be able to cut loose. To not have to constantly check themself for the sake of everyone else. To act on their feelings... and not Frisk's.

Chara doesn't want to really hurt anyone. Not really.

But this isn't hurting anyone. Not anyone who matters.

And to Chara, that's all that really counts.

[gainedlove]

It's different, reading Chara face-to-face like this. The little hints of emotion and thought that would normally be plain to see have to be deciphered, guessed at.

But fortunately they both know eachother down to their very SOULS by now. And Chara...they get it. Just like Frisk knows what Chara feels about it, they know how Frisk's mind works.

"...I know. 'M not mad, I just can't." Frisk smiles kindly, squeezing Chara's hand. "You know I trust you."

After a pause, Frisk realizes they forgot something. "Oh! Um, Papyrus an' Mettaton are here, too! But they got turned human...it's so weird!"

[hereweare]

Really, that's all that Chara needed wanted to hear. They knew Frisk would understand--because they understand Frisk the same way. But being understood...

It's not something Chara takes lightly. Even from Frisk.

They nod.

"...thank you."

The conversation doesn't give Chara a lot of time to identify the feeling of relief, though. Because the bomb Frisk drops--

--well, it's not like Chara's teammates in Team Rocket aren't frequently a lot less human than the average Trainer. And it wasn't really that hard for Chara to believe their claims. They were dead before they woke up here, after all.

So Human Mettaton is... a little weird, but not really hard to picture. But their brain runs smack into a brick wall when they try to picture Papyrus as a human. Papyrus... with hair and flesh and a nose and lips........

??????????????

[gainedlove]

Frisk gives Chara a small smile, and a faint nod. See? It's okay, you're not bad.

The blank stare, though, that gets a laugh out of them. Finally, someone gets it!

"Right? I'm still not used to it, I keep thinkin' he's a stranger!"