usedlaserbeam | 002 | Cherrygrove City

Entry tags:

002 | Cherrygrove City | Action;

[After a productive (but admittedly somewhat boring) five hours of work sorting and filing papers at the Cherrygrove Pokémon Center, it's finally time for Yagyuu to head for home--or at least, for the room at the Cherrygrove Inn he's been sharing with Kirihara-kun since they both arrived in the city yesterday. He'd gladly work longer hours if they'd let him, but the rules are strict for minors, and so he's being cheerfully shooed out as soon as his time is up for the day.

As a result, anyone in the vicinity of the Center in Cherrygrove will probably see him exiting the front doors, his Breeder's Manual already open in one hand for casual perusal as he starts his walk back toward the inn. Strangely, he doesn't seem to have any Pokémon with him, though he does have his backpack slung casually over his shoulder like a model student might.

All things considered, he's not hard to spot, both from his lack of visible Pokémon and his bright yellow Rikkai jersey with the collar popped up at the neck. Which means he's also a prime target for bothering, should anyone feel so inclined.]

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Oh, no. Daddy's as stern as ever, you know.

[ Yukimura has been the one looking after Niou, but it's been Fuji keeping him occupied. Between the two of them, they've kept him in one piece this long. Not too bad. ]

Well, I'm sure I can convince him to grant you some leeway from here on out. Assuming I consent to take responsibility for you, that is.

[As if there were any doubt of that.]

Back to business as usual, in other words.

[ He grins a little and shoulders Yagyuu a little aggressively, intending to knock him slightly off-balance. ]

[Like before, he takes the hit when it comes, nimbly catching himself before it can knock him more than a step or two out of line. But it does make an impact that he has to recover from, which is what he suspects Niou really wanted. He doesn't, however, shove back. Not when they're still in the middle of the city, and he's still the gentleman of the pair.]

Isn't that always the way?

Pretty sure Yukimura likes you lookin' after me better than him lookin' after for me.

[ Now Niou disciplines his strides and repairs his posture, walking in perfect sync with Yagyuu. When he looks over at him next, he does so with a graceful curve of his neck, not a jaunty cock of his head, but he speaks with his own tongue. ]

Especially since it means I'll be lookin' after you, too.

[His eyes flick to the side, recognizing the posture at once; instantly, he clamps down on his own instincts, reminding himself to maintain his own posture, to keep his shoulders even, and not to surrender to the temptation of letting his shoulders slouch and his steps dawdle.]

Do you really think you'll have to? I'm hardly the one in need of it--

[And then his voice drops out of his smooth, measured tone, going quiet enough that only Niou will be able to hear the edge that suddenly appears as he echoes:]

--Yeaaahgyuu.

[ A little thrill creeps under Niou's skin at the sudden change in Yagyuu's voice, like a switch being flipped, and it manifests in his grin. He's missed this, looking to the side and seeing a mirror, or hearing his voice out of Yagyuu's mouth; it makes him want to crawl out of his skin and into Yagyuu's, and it's beautiful. ]

Oh, I'm sure you'll need it for a while. It's a wild, wild world out here, partner. Here there be monsters.

[ It's an advantage he'll enjoy retaining — indeed, one he's enjoyed retaining over Yukimura so far, as well. He's been here longer, and his team is stronger. ]

[And in an instant it's disappeared back beneath the mask, there and gone again like a flash of lightning in a stormy sky. Yagyuu may not have the ache of six months' withdrawal pulling at him when it comes to the switch, but he still basks in the thrill of it each and every time.]

Pocket monsters, as I recall. But perhaps I'll have to take you up on that offer of support, after all.

[And doesn't that make for a neat switch all its own--Niou looking after Yagyuu's well-being for once.]

Yeaaah, 'pocket monsters' is kind of a misnomer. Veeeery few of 'em are actually pocket-sized. We're talkin' six-foot-long bugs and twenty-eight-foot long rock snakes and shit.

[ He chuckles. Six months has given him plenty of time to adjust to Johto and its inhabitants, and he's grown accustomed to a certain amount of suspension of disbelief in the meanwhile. He's looking forward to watching Yagyuu gape (in a dignified, subtle fashion, of course) at some of the region's more alarming natives. ]

Don't forget I've seen Fuji-kun's Osaka firsthand. Hardly pocket-sized at all.

[Though there's still plenty left to shock and startle him, of course. But for now he offers Niou a shrug.]

Which reminds me, you'll have to meet Phantom at some point. I think you'll approve.

[ He chuckles. ]

Phantom, huh? Colour me surprised. Tell me you're gonna catch somethin' moronic and pitiful and name it 'Raoul.'

And why would I want a creature in my roster devoted solely to being 'moronic and pitiful'? I'm hardly that vindictive, Niou-kun.

[Or that careless, strategically speaking.]

[ Dripping with sarcasm: ]

Oh, my bad, I forgot. You're not vindictive. Or petty. Or childish. Or spiteful. Or...

[ Feel free to stop him anytime. ]

...you?

[The smoothest interjection in the world, that.]

[ He laughs outright, both happy and sardonic, somehow. ]

Yeah, that either.

That's for the best. Whatever would the world do if there were two of you in it?

[He says it like there couldn't be someday, like there's not a white wig and set of contacts in his backpack that would let him do exactly that.]

Could be a sign of the endtimes, you know. Two of me, I mean... maybe the world couldn't handle it.

'It ain't big enough for the both of us', is that how it goes?

[He remarks, as at last the Cherrygrove Inn comes into view.]

Yeah, somethin' like that. Besides, there's some theory about how if you meet yourself in person and you touch, you implode the universe. Maybe that's just with time travel, though....

Or you somehow manage to become your own grandfather, if you prefer the paradoxical route.

Hmm. That's a tough one. I do like paradoxes, but I'm not really lookin' forward to nailin' Grandma. Or lookin'... backward... to it. Whatever.

Perhaps we'll have to find one that's more to your liking, then. No need for time travel; we'll merely put a cat in a box.

[ Almost eagerly: ] I have a cat.

Then all we need is a box.

[A pause.]

What did you call it?

My cat?

[ Oh, look, Niou's stalling. ]

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