heleanor | “Well, are you ready to lose?”

[ OPTION 1
> AGE: 9
> REGION: Johto/Goldenrod -OR- Kanto/Celadon City (Pick 1)
> BEGINNING/ESTABLISHED: Beginning
> TRAINER CLASS: Psychic
> BADGES: However many gyms he's visited.
> CURRENT LOCATION/GOAL(S): Traveling with 10-year-old Bokuto, if for nothing else than to protect the rest of the region from 10-year-old Bokuto.
> OTHER?: N/A

OPTION 2
> AGE: 16
> REGION: Johto/Goldenrod -OR- Kanto/Celadon City (Pick 1)
> BEGINNING/ESTABLISHED: Established
> TRAINER CLASS: Psychic
> BADGES: 7
> CURRENT LOCATION/GOAL(S): Traveling, training; keeping Bokuto out of trouble with Team Whoever-the-Villain-Is-This-Week.
> Other?: Specializes in double-battles.

OPTION 3
Not picky about setting, feel free to make alterations/changes to any of the above or start elsewhere! ]

[Brilliant day, filled with sunshine, Hajime trots demurely at Oikawa's heel for once - though he keeps glancing down to check that she's not going to bite - and it feels like his luck is holding out.

He was intending to get to the next town over before nightfall but with the weather as it is walking for an hour after dark wouldn't be bad. So he's taking it easy and exploring as much as he can, occasionally passing through the long grass to find a pokemon or two for Hajime to take down.

But, oh! A trainer. He'll be much better experience.]

Hey-yo~! [He jogs over - Hajime picks up her pace to follow which is a miracle.] Want to battle?

[ akaashi glances up, seemingly unsurprised at the sight of another trainer approaching. he nods calmly in response to oikawa's question. ]

Let's, please. [ without further ado, akaashi will take a poké ball from his belt and toss it up, waiting for the pokémon inside to be released before slowing the ball's descent with telekinesis. ] Exeggutor.

[ ...a test. the grass-type' pokémons three heads give a deafening chorus of bellows and it stamps its feet on the ground, looking excited to battle. akaashi frowns the slightest bit at the noise, but watches his opponent unblinkingly to take in the details of oikawa and his vulpix. the psychic is waiting to see whether oikawa takes the advantage of their mismatched typing as it is or switches out for another team member. ]

[Unless his opponent uses something Hajime is critically weak to that will knock her out in seconds, she's always his first in line. It's in the name, isn't it?]

Hajime, you're up~

[This guy's look worries Oikawa a little. One - Oikawa hasn't seen him blink yet which can't be healthy, two - he sent out a grass type when he has a fire type in plain sight.]

Ah, go easy on me, Okay? I haven't stopped at a pokemon centre in a while! [Not entirely true, Hajime's in perfect condition but psyching opponents out is all part of the game. And the not blinking thing is getting really creepy.]

[ akaashi fixes oikawa with a critical look. his ears are ringing unpleasantly with the aura he's learned to associate with warning, or more simply something else. but even without psychic senses, akaashi can tell by age and the way oikawa holds himself that he's at a high enough level to know what he's doing...or at least to pretend to. ]

...You're a strong trainer, aren't you?

[ akaashi doesn't wait for oikawa to respond, though. ] Psyshock!

[ at its trainer's command, exeggutor ceases moving for a moment and its three heads concentrate in tandem. with a low cry, the pokémon sends a wave of psychic power crashing into oikawa's vulpix—exeggutor's intelligence fuels the special attack stat for the move, but the nature of the attack means it should land like a physical blow. how well vulpix withstands the hit is entirely dependent on its body's own sturdiness, and it doesn't appear any stronger than the average non-evolved pokémon to akaashi.

though if it is, well...psyshock is a very good test for whether or not the fire-type is hiding something, like its trainer. ]

[It's not so much that there's anything special about Hajime. She's cute and ordinary but she's ordinary in a solid little way. She can take a hit but-]

Dodge, stay light on your feet!

[It's better when she doesn't get hit at all. Which is why she's had a whole lot of training in running the hell away from attacks like that - particularly tricky ones that land physical.

She doesn't make it clear out of the way but the damage is minimal.]

Counter with fire blast, please. [He barely needs to say the words before she's stopping mid jump to open her mouth and spill fire at his Executor - a benefit of working with the same pokemon so long, it cuts down on delays and makes her that much faster.]

...! [ akaashi grits his teeth and visibly tenses for the first time since the battle started, possibly not for the reason oikawa thinks: fire blast is a risky move, one he's only encountered a handful of times in higher-level trainer battles where the damage could be extreme. the difficulty for any pokémon in controlling the blast with total accuracy combined with a high energy cost means most trainers in the ace range would rather avoid it, for their own safety as well as the surrounding environment.

however, akaashi at the same time recognizes how the vulpix's lightning-fast reflexes in response to its master's orders are a sign that the two are 100% in sync—the danger there, by contrast, lies in their ability to execute techniques more capably than opponents twice their strength. contemplating this and other factors in the battle, akaashi looks on patiently while his exeggutor clamors as it burns. the grass-type is currently stamping its feet in agony through the burning daimonji that threatens to consume it alive, not having the time nor speed to evade the attack for the duration. rather than concerned, akaashi seems impassive, expression closed and unblinking again while his inner eye fires off potential actions and solutions at rapid speed. ]

......... [ akaashi's eyes suddenly narrow as he spots a telltale shape dropping through the smoke in the pokémon's leaves: a sitrus berry, from the looks of it. akaashi is clearly annoyed as his exeggutor's middle head bites into the fruit to soothe its injuries. ]

Bokuto's been feeding you again, I see.

[ he sighs. there's no helping it now, but berries are for emergencies, dammit. neither he nor bokuto has time to waste planting replacements for the ones they've lost. ]

Light Screen!

[ exeggutor's eyes glow with power, and a shimmering barrier appears in the air. that, plus the berry's recovered damage, should give his pokémon at least one more chance to attack and protect the one that follows should it fail. ]

[Oikawa suppresses a bubble of irritation at the defensive move. But it makes his initial attack all the more sensible.

But did he really berate someone for feeding his pokemon? From here his Exeggutor looks fine, and that first attack was certainly as powerful as it should be. But. Food is important for pokemon. It does good things like keeps them alive and happy.

Pushing aside his concerns for his opponent's pokemon, he considers his options. On one hand, Hajime did take a hit even though it was a glancing blow and he hates her getting knocked out. On the other, she'll sulk later if he switches her out too much or stays too much on the defensive. And it could be that another Fire Blast would manage to take the ridiculous tree down.

He makes up his mind.]

Hajime, again - roast that vegetable! [It's an eggplant. That's a vegetable.]

[ it's not so much the 'feeding' part that irritates him as what is being fed—after all, pokémon food can be bought as cheaply as the human variety and obtained at urban pokémon centers for free. berries by contrast can only be harvested or obtained as gifts; so akaashi would rather save them for occasions when his and bokuto's collected money is low enough that food and healing supplies can't be bought.

…but that's a talk for later. right now, akaashi isn't close enough (or skilled enough, in all likelihood) to get any sense of oikawa's thoughts, and even if that were the case he'd save any misconceptions about his pokémon's health for after the battle. ]

Dodge it if you can! [ not an impossible task, especially with the light screen in place; though still unlikely considering exeggutor's not trained for speed. sure enough, the grass-type fails to avoid the burning pyre, and akaashi doesn't waste time dwelling on his bad luck. ] Never mind, then…Uproar, Exeggutor!

[ exeggutor opens all three of its fanged mouths and begins to bellow, loosing a deafening cacophony that shakes the bones of every living creature in the area and the earth itself. it's painful to hear for all present, though the awful noise is only damaging in the literal sense to pokémon as their ears are adapted to pick up on the injurious wavelength that causes fainting.

uproar is a a sound-based moved and has no point of impact, so there's nothing for oikawa's vulpix to dodge. which, of course, is the entire reason akaashi chose it. using an attack outside exeggutor's type specialty is worth the lessened power, if the attack lands at full strength. if he's lucky enough the sound might even be agonizing enough to cause his opponent's pokémon to miss its next attack… ]

[ Reasons Akaashi really shouldn't have let Bokuto lead the way through Ilex Forest: they're now lost, and he refuses to admit that they're lost. The reason that they've passed by the same four times now is because all these trees look the same, okay. ]

I know where we're going, Akaashi! [ He insists, shaking the hand he's holding Akaashi's in. As the older of the pair, clearly it's Bokuto's responsibility to take care of Akaashi! (Except it's not. It's definitely the other way around.)

Once they arrive at another fork in the path, Bokuto looks left and right before choosing a direction for them. ] Let's go this way! [ Tug tug. ... Never mind the fact that Bokuto is still leading them the wrong way, and getting them more and more lost by the decision. ]

[ face set in the most fed-up expression the average nine-year-old can muster, akaashi grits his teeth and lets himself be led around. he knows they've gone this way before, has in fact pointed it out to bokuto several times; but trying to make the other boy see sense is every bit as taxing as just wandering blindly for hours with him through the forest. and the latter at least requires less talking for the same result.

even so akaashi feels it's his moral obligation to at least try one more time to prevent them from undertaking a course of action that's completely stupid and avoidable. ] ...You were saying the same thing over an hour ago, weren't you...?

[ though he's tired and his bare feet are sore, akaashi makes no attempt to pull his hand free or make bokuto stop walking around lost by force. it's akaashi's responsibility to look after the older boy, after all, and keep him happy. nobody else has the patience to do it.

and besides, every second spent in the wilderness is a second other trainers are missing out on to actually train. akaashi is determined to be one of the handful of elite masters at the top of them all someday, the strongest in the region or the league. if he can handle traveling with bokuto for all eight badges then there is nothing the elite four can do to stop akaashi when he reaches the plateau. ]

Edited 2015-03-15 06:58 (UTC)

[ your face is going to freeze like that if you're not careful stop that you're nine

Bokuto shakes his head insistently, continuing on his (completely wrong) path as though he knows where he's going. ] No I didn't!! [ He definitely did. Akaashi is not wrong about this. ] It's definitely this way! I'm 100-- no, 200% sure!

[ When that air of confidence will finally leave him, who knows. But the longer they wander around aimlessly, the darker the sky gets, and the more Zubat and Oddish they begin to see. After a couple of minutes of heading in a direction that probably isn't toward the exit, a few Oddish decide to follow behind them, but Bokuto doesn't seem to notice - he's distracted by a particularly cool looking Zubat flying by.

He jostles Akaashi's hand again as he stares back at him eagerly. ] Didja see that, Akaashi?! [ can they follow it huh huh huh can they ]

I saw. [ akaashi's words are icy in tone, and he's keeping his limbs more rigid by his side now so that all the yanking and pulling from bokuto doesn't trip him up as badly as before. his feet are aching and bruised, but akaashi stubbornly refuses to bring that up in favor of dwelling some more on bokuto's poor life choices leading them here. ] There were a dozen identical Zubats we saw earlier, you know.

[ there's an edge in his voice that wasn't present an hour ago. akaashi, for a boy his age, is remarkably patient and acquiescent when it comes to dealing with his boisterous traveling partner, but the darker the forest gets around them the more concerned akaashi is that bokuto will run out of steam soon. normally when the older boy gets in a dejected state akaashi can leave him alone for a while to cool down, but in their current situation that's completely unacceptable. they didn't bring supplies for a multiday trip and there's only the damp ground to sleep on, if worst comes to worst. the wild forest pokémon have been timid enough so far, but akaashi doesn't expect the safe distance to last if he and bokuto both fall asleep. they are so screwed and it's akaashi's damn fault for not predicting what would happen in time. ]

But these ones are so much cooler! [ As though that'll justify them following the Zubats and probably getting them more lost. (It really doesn't.)

Bokuto, stubborn as he is, can recognize the change in Akaashi's voice, though, and he stops walking to stare down at him. The words "are you okay" are on the tip of his tongue, but as he realizes just how long they've been wandering around he bites his bottom lip. Of course he's not. Bokuto's got enough energy for three people, easily, but Akaashi's not the same - he keeps up with Bokuto very well, yes, but that isn't the same as having that amount of energy in the first place. Plus he's barefoot, while Bokuto's got a comfortable pair of shoes.

He's on the verge of sulking, but instead he lets go of Akaashi's hand and squats down in front of him. ] Lemme carry you, Akaashi. [ It's piggyback time. ]

…? [ akaashi's expression loses some of its hardness when he sees bokuto turn around and stoop to face him. ] What is it, Bokuto-san?

……

[ the offer to carry him makes akaashi frown. this time, at least, it's not in a way that means he's genuinely angry, just considering. he shakes his head calmly, feeling a tiny bit mollified nonetheless at the other's thoughtfulness. ]

It's probably going to be a while before we can find the exit. Try to keep up your strength. [ that's a polite way of saying he really doesn't think bokuto's strong enough to carry akaashi and not get worn out himself—akaashi might be the smaller of the two (for now. he hopes…), but it's still a big damn forest that they're lost in. ]

[ Even though there's logic in Akaashi's words, Bokuto still pouts as he stands back up. ] I could handle it...

[ But Akaashi probably wouldn't appreciate him just scooping him off and carrying him through the forest (though, for the record, he could. huff), so he simply offers him his hand again. ] But tell me if your feet hurt too much, okay? Pinky swear!

[ That hand is now an extended pinky, full of promise (and as close to a soul-binding contract as you can get with little kids). ]

[ akaashi gives bokuto an annoyed look that will probably sail over the latter's head, but sighs, obligingly holding out the little finger of his right hand to lock with bokuto's. ]

Deal. …But only if you promise you'll stop going off in any direction that looks cool just because you want to explore. You're taking us around in circles.

Okay... [ The pout's not completely gone, but at least he's not in full-on dejected mode??? Bright sides!

Bokuto twists his hand around to link with Akaashi's again, swinging it just slightly. ] Then, which way should we go, Akaashi? [ Because, well, they still need to find their way out... ]

[ truthfully, akaashi's got no better idea of how to find the forest's exit than bokuto at this point. but, even if he has no plans to lie about it, he's not going to let on feeling an ounce of doubt: it's hard enough for him to take the reins from bokuto when he's in a mood without letting on any gaps in certainty. ]

Hang on a moment…Spike! [ not bothering with any fancy telekinetic tricks, akaashi tiredly tosses a poké ball to the damp ground. his calm-natured psyduck emerges, tilting its head with a mildly curious expression. ] Use Scratch on those trees over there, please.

[ the psyduck obliges. it doesn't seem to mind or find the request strange, merely turning back to akaashi when it's finished with the same unconcerned look. its flippers come to rest atop its head like it's in pain (always the headaches), so akaashi recalls it. he then nods to bokuto. ] No more wandering around in circles here, at least.

Let's keep heading the way we were before. [ before the zubat, he means.

akaashi's not going to say anything about it until there's no putting it off, but even with the barest effort at strategically navigating the forest, they really don't have much daylight left to keep walking. as for what happens after it's dark… ]

[ but akaashi your telekinetic tricks are so cool ]

Got it! [ Back the way they came, then! Bokuto's pace is a little slower than before, slightly more mindful of Akaashi's shoeless state - that, and with the sun beginning to set, he's slightly distracted by the nocturnal Pokemon coming out of their homes. Not enough to stop walking entirely, but enough to stare and excitedly ask Akaashi to look, look at those Pokemon, this is so cool????

Once it's dark and they're still not out of the forest, though, it's a completely different story. As much energy as he has, he's only ten - and ten year-olds get tired eventually.

Shoulders sagging, he turns to his companion and lets out a low whine. ] Akaashiiiiiii... [ Now what? ]

“Well, are you ready to lose?”

Akaashi Keiji

Option 2!

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