The Demonic Protector

    It happened so fast. One second she was wrangled up in Eino’s arms and the next he’s releasing her and flying back against a nearby tree. She bites back a whimper as she hits the ground, the bindings keeping her from catching herself during the fall. What the heck just happened? She stares up at Vice with wide, tear-filled eyes as he cuts her free from her restraints. 

    “You’re hurt,” she says flatly, completely disregarding his inquiry. He responds in kind, ignoring her as he tugs her to her feet and hitches her up on his back. “W-wait!!”

    She’s stressed and she’s injured… but most of all, she’s overflowing with frustration. Angrily swatting away her own tears, she struggles to climb off his back. She’s so sick of it, so tired of coming off as weak and helpless in the eyes of people… like a damsel in distress, just waiting for him to come to save her like he always tends to do. And it’s all because, at the end of the day, her supposed strength as Champion is not even her own. She’s nothing without her pokémon.

    Vice stubbornly holds onto her, clearly determined to haul her all the way back to the center despite his own injuries and the steady stream of crimson trickling down his arm. Finally, she snaps, the tears rolling freely from her eyes. “Arceus dammit all, Vice! PUT. ME. DOWN.”

It took a good focus to keep rosa on his back, to not accidentally let go of her and drop her on her injured ankle. She was frustrated, he could feel it. However, all he focused on was continue walking forward with her on him. The injury he was doing his best to ignore, but it was throbbing in pain as he felt himself continue to bleed slowly off his arm to the ground in a path. 

The last tantrum on his back and her screaming snap pushed him forward, as he falls forward into a tree he had been trying to pass around. He turns his body, his bloody arm hitting the tree first as the spiked bark of the tree digs into his wound as he falls down, dropping her next to him as he screams in pain. That act made the cut work, as he now holds it in intense pain. That stunt she pulled just made his injury worse!  Looking next to him, he locked eyes while he was not sure what to say. 

    They waste no time when Vice finally comes into view. Eino nods once he confirms that there are no pokéballs attached to the guardian’s belt, leading a few of the men to summon pokémon of their own.

    “That’s not very fair,” she hisses through gritted teeth as Eino’s grip against her neck tightens. “Are you really that afraid of ONE man that you have to resort to an ambush in numbers?”

    On the outside, she sounds terribly cool but on the inside, she’s desperate. Vice is strong but there’s no way she can face so many armed men and pokémon while unarmed himself. She swears she saw a Scyther, a Mightyena, and a Sneasel… though she can’t see the latter anymore among the group. 

    Unsurprisingly, Eino hasn’t released her yet. It’s almost like he’s waiting for something. It’s hard for her to see much of what’s going on between the darkness and her skewed viewpoint. Still, she catches a glimpse of silver underneath the moonlight and, in the nick of time, notices the Sneasel and its trainer creeping up on Vice from behind.

    “Vice, behind you!” she screams before Eino slaps his hand over her mouth.

    With their element of surprise now ruined, the men simply charge.

There was more aura signals around him then he had predicted. It was clear as day, that they were trying to overwhelm him with numbers. Whether they had ten, hundred, or a million it mattered not to him. They took one of his friends, and he was going to get her back. The rage inside, heightening his sense of awareness. Not the clouding rage of a eternal flame that will burn anything in his way....

It was a calming wrath, like a deep ocean, ready to swallow up everything opposing it. 

[Ten minutes later...]

The men eino brought to support him, to get their revenge on the man who had sent them to jail for five years, were all defeated. Their pokemon sent back into their pokeballs by confiscating the balls themselves from their unconscious trainers. All that was left was Eino, and rosa. It wasn’t hard to find them, as Vice turned the corner to see Eino there with rosa, holding her like she was some piece of meat and tied up. 

A flash of silver was thrown across towards him, but his mind was focused on something more important. A invisible force propelled eino away from Rosa, letting go of her and flying right into a tree bark with a very harsh impact. Though, the flash of silver that was a knife came flying at vice, a arm raised to block his head as a gush of blood was seen now coming out of his hand from the blade slashing at his left arm. 

“You alright?” 

Poppy sighed heavily as he said he’d be fine in just a few days. That was not how fractures healed but, it was useless to fight him she supposed. Before she could agree with them to ask Virizion for a small research session she felt something tugging at her skirt before making it’s way into her hair and resting at the top. Glancing up she looked to Vice and saw the Treeko back on him which meant, the other was on her.

     “What?” Trying to look up at the Treeko on her head, she raised her arms, gingerly placing her hands on them and taking them down to her. “Is that true little Treeko? You want to come with us?” It had been ages since she had cared for a baby Pokemon or even taken a new one on her party. Letting out a small cry she supposed it could not be helped and smiled softly. “Alright, you can come. I will properly catch you later but you can rest on me for now,” placing them back on her head.

     “Now then,” taking in a deep breath she looked to Virizion. “Virizion, if I may… I would like a few moments of your time to research you. I promise I will not harm or touch you unless you deem it alright. It’s just… jotting down a few notes like what flavors you like best and things like that. Would that be alright?” 

For a few moments Virizion was silent, giving it some thought before ultimately nodding their head for her to research them. However, they did glance over to Vice and huff, making it clear they did not favor them still and stepping closer to Poppy. Only Poppy was allowed nearby during this time is what they were saying.

He knew that look. It was the look of “I am having a moment, but you are not welcome to be here for it” kind of vibe. The little treeko on his shoulder was chewing on a little branche of a tree, as vice just smiles and nods while he looks to virizion and pops. “I’m gonna step away while you do your thing pops.” 

He was going to go relax and play with the newly acquired little treeko now on it’s shoulder. It was a good chance to think of a name for it, and to best situate what he needs to do. Something on the younger side needed more attention, so it was best for him to keep it in his party. Did he have a spare EXP. share in his bag or in his place? “Well little guy, Let me think....” He looks to it just looking at him, and first grabs a pokeball out from his bag, tapping it on the head as it was taken inside by the red light. A friendly shake, and the green light comes on~ 

Vice caught a Treeko!

He opens the pokeball up, letting the small treeko back onto his shoulder with a excited cry. Though now to name it....looking at the little branch it had been nibbling on, gave him just the right idea. “I’ll call ya Twig. That’s a good name for ya.” He says, smiling big as the treeko responds to it happily. 

“I see… I figured as much.” Serena mumbled her reply, jotting down a few more notes. She was glad to hear it didn’t seem to hurt him, at least. She wondered why that was… Grey eyes soon watched Bomb move, the very grass below him freezing over instantly. Definitely far below freezing, she’d put in her notes.

“I’d love to see an attack! If it’s too dangerous to do here, is there somewhere else we can go so you two can showcase it?” Serena asked. As the duo laughed together, she couldn’t help but feel a fondness in her heart. It was clear they had a strong bond together… maybe that was why Bomb didn’t feel the pain, despite his jaw being broken open. Strong bonds were the key to Mega Evolution, of course. She and her Venusaur had been together for nearly a decade, and he’d never exhibited any pain when he was Mega Evolved.

“Even if there was, we would probably get in the cross-fire. See, when BOMB mega-evolves, any normal attack he does is instantly transformed into a ice attack. And See, he had 1 specialty he loves to do and we use it to take out multiple poachers and freeze them in place at once.” He wasn’t sure if he was being clear enough with a name like BOMB, but he did have other attacks he could use he supposed. 

“Let’s do a different one. Bomb, go.” He nods, as the mega glalie nods slightly. A large blue orb appeared over it’s head, quickly growing bigger by the second before it went and fired several extremely cold beams forward at a patch of grass away from serena and vice. A blast of ice was quickly made into what looked like a ice-sculpture. “Now, render~” He says, as little bits of snow came out of his mouth and began to barrage the pillar, making it into the shape of....Serena?! Writing down on her notebook it looks like! 

It showed that in it’s mega form, glalie had very good control over it’s powers. 

“Pretty cool right? “ 

❖ My muse accidentally falls asleep against yours. @unovasrose​

“This busride is goin’ pretty smoothly. The disguise is working well.”

He had promised to head to hoenn with her, for something she was wanting to do there. As a man of honor, he would compel since he had lost the bet between them. Luckily with the spare hoodie he had, she was masked over very well with her wearing it over her head. What he had not considered was exactly how long this bus ride was for. It had been two hours already and they were close to halfway there. 

When he felt the other slowly fall over and place their head right onto his shoulder, he wondered if she wasn’t feeling well...noticing she was like KNOCKED out asleep on his shoulder now. A wave of redness came across his face, as he felt it. Yup, his entire existence was focused on the soft cheek of the girl that was on his shoulder. 

✦ My muse bandages yours due to an injury.  @poppyluck​

It was bad luck that they had gone and disrupt a entire flock of  spearow and fearow upon their venture to the next pokemon center to have a nice place to sleep tonight! Normally, he is not one for picking a fight with the wild flocks of pokemon. The downside however, is he didn’t count on his partner tripping over a rock and about to be attacked. 

A pokeball was grabbed, thrown and let out a smaller sized burning red dinosaur like pokemon with a fire at the end of it’s tail. “Burn, Flamethrower!” The charmeleon quickly began to attack above him with a jet heat of flames coming out of it’s mouth at the spearow and fearow. During this, vice was covering in front of poppy, getting scratched and pecked at repeatedly as he got a pretty bad scratch over his cheek. 

The battle didn’t last long, as the flames from BURN were scaring off the majority. Sitting down, they both took a breathe as vice felt his cheek. Blood, as he shook it off to feel a bit bad for having to fight them off for the most part. To his surprise, a bandage was place onto his cheek by his partner. Looking to her, a small blush came to his cheeks as he wasn’t expecting her gentle touch for such a small wound. 

Curious what Pokemon he would call out now she was excited to see a Hitmonlee now on the scene. Eyes growing wider as a smile tugged at her lips, it had been a long while since she had seen one in person. At the mention of his name though Poppy turned to Vice, staring at him. He really did have a thing for four letter words and names that made… sometimes sense and other times none. Like now. Though, she was glad that he had not just named them Legs or Jump, that would have been far worse. Still, Beat was an interesting pick.

As they pounded away at the bits of needle and machinery, she was glad when Vice mentioned wanting to throw it away in the nearby trash. Helping him take care of the garbage, all was clear once more and none of the Pokemon in the area would get hurt. As Vice commented about his hand and now being a good time to research the legendary, she was a bit torn. Vice needed medical attention. Proper medical attention and he was not going to get it in the middle of the woods. However, this was also her one chance to possibly ask the Pokemon questions she had about them.

     “Only if you’re sure, Vice,” Poppy’s gaze was serious, bouncing from his face, to his hand, then back to his face. The last thing she wanted was him getting an infection because they had wasted precious time. “You’re hurt, badly, and I don’t want you to be in pain while I gather information. If anything, I’d rather you get treated first and we can just, come back.” That is, if Virizion would even still be here by then.

She must have noticed his bandaged right hand. Well, he hadn’t tried to hide it very well. Virizion biting down on it had been painful, but he could tell by how he lightly moved it that it wasn’t broken. Thinking back on it, he could have sworn he subconsciously put aura around his hand to lighten the blow a bit. Though, if only he could summon that at will. 

“I’ll be fine, pops. It’s only a fracture if anything. Nothing a few days rest won’t heal for me.” He explained to her, as BEAT was busy now looking at the little baby pokemon. Though, swiftly the treeko from earlier that had been healed had returned to jump onto the top of poppy’s head, finding her hair soft. The other treeko returned to vice as well, back onto his shoulder. They were speaking calmly, as vice looked to the treeko on his shoulder a bit surprised. Did they.....

𝑁𝑜 𝑘𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔. A bloody nose isn’t exactly the ideal modification for her face…

Though her smile twitched and she bristled in residual frustration from the several fast-paced stresses within those past few moments alone, she found herself meeting eyes with the stranger with a relative composure. Now, how to play this? There’s the ditzy route, or the adorable, yet capable route…

“A-ahahah~ Do be careful next time, eh luv?”

FSSSH!! Though she was about to continue on, the sound of the two Pokemon clashing turned both of their attention for a moment. Wait… The way that the charmeleon attacked without further prompting was rather impressive. Some trainers do rely on their partners’ instincts in battle, but that wasn’t all that common at the Dojo…

“Looks like your little BURNie’s standin’ his ground right proper, even against a big boy like that, hm~?”

By her experience, having a Pokemon that can do that can either mean they are well in sync, or the Pokemon is hard to control… It was a bit hard to tell… Either way, may as well stay on his good side, hm? Pucker up with a smile.

“Ah, I almost forgot~! My name is Klara, luv. ♥”

Though her attention was on the other, she kept tabs on the direction the fight was going… 

“BURN has a thing for fighting opponents bigger then itself. He’s well trained enough to handle pretty much any sized pokemon.” They were squaring up, as blue energy came out of his charmeleon’s claw to slam right across the face of tauros! The bull pokemon winces from the pain, as BURN backs up to stand in front of vice now. It looked to it’s trainer with a thumbs up, as vice smiled a bit. 

“My name is Vice~ Pleasure to meet ya klara!  One moment.” 

Now that it was weakened, it should work with this now. Grabbing a spare pokeball in his bag, he chucked it lighter this time at the big bull pokemon. The ball makes contact with it’s horn, opening up as the tauros vanishes into a red light, and right into the ball it goes. Violently, it shakes.....1....2....3....!!!

Vice caught a large Tauros!

He grabbed the pokeball, smiling down to it as it vanished out of his hand. He already had six pokemon on hand, so it was sent off to the lab for now. “I’ll have to think of a name for it later...first things first though.” He turned his attention to the lady he almost hit, still feeling bad for it all.