Ask to Join Chilled to the Bone (15+) [RP]

[Ninian]

Unfortunately, Gladion was fully aware of how absolutely insane he must sound. The worst part was he couldn't just explain why he needed to be stronger than a Tapu. Not to mention if he went on to explain what exactly could be stronger, he'd probably be thrown into some sort of facility. Or Dahlia would gossip, and everyone would think he's crazier than he already was. This path had no good ending.

Gritting his teeth in frustration, he averted her gaze as she began to basically mock his goal. "...I know. I probably won't ever be able to match up with one." Swallowing hard, he nodded when she spoke of Bulu's rampage, "You're right... Anyway, don't... worry about it it's just..." There wasn't a great way to lie out of this situation, but he was going to try, "...It's just something I have to do. Or at least try to."

Either she was going to pry, or she was going to drop it seeing she felt uncomfortable speaking about the Tapus. Not that he blamed her, of course. He didn't enjoy mentioning them either. The fact that they were all at their mercy was honestly nerve wracking. He hated feeling so vulnerable.

⟶ Heahea City

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Kale looked at Atty again, looking a little confused and disappointed. These Team Skull members were giving him mixed signals, and it was kinda giving the trainer a bit of a headache.
"I... I don't understand you guys." Kale said, putting his hand over his face. He looked at Atty and the two grunts, trying to figure them out. What were they playing at? One minute, they're trying to steal your Pokemon, the next they're asking if you're okay and letting pet their Pokemon! Kale looked to Atty.
"You... You say there's things you don't agree with... You're an admin, or whatever. Can't you change that?" Kale asked. The trainer and his Emolga looked over at the other two grunts, the blonde and redhead. The grunt that called herself Cyrin had already disappeared back into Po Town.
"What happens to the Pokemon you steal?" Kale asked in a little more demanding voice.

 

[rubyrowlet]

Cyrin, while looking out over the roof, spotted Kale. She smiled a little. Cyrin never took her hair out of ponytails unless she had to sleep, but all of a sudden it started to rain once again. She took down her hair to avoid it getting tangled. Soon enough, she was soaked and cold. Cyrin went to stand up, but slipped from the roof and fell to the ground. “Agh...” She grumbled, watching as Lyré hovered anxiously over her, trying to see if she was okay. She felt her whole body in pain, but silently hoped no one saw her fall.

 

[vaultie]

[Route 17 - Po Town Gate]

Atty quirked her brow at Kale, not too fond of his sudden change from a naive kid to butting into Skull's business. "What's not to understand? We're not very organized, y'know. We're not like those bigger, famous teams- Rocket, Plasma, whatever... A majority of our members aren't even legal adults." She crossed her arms. "And I can't really do much to change the way things work, either. That's up to the Boss, and I don't think he plans on changing how we operate anytime soon." She wasn't about to outright reveal her reason for staying in Skull even if there were some things she didn't exactly approve of, especially not to some random kid.

"When one of our members actually manages to get their hands on a Pokemon, they use it on their team. Simple as that. We're not into any underground trade or whatever, if that's what you we're wondering." She nodded over to the redhead. "Like you, what were you plan on doing with that Nidoran?"

She swallowed upon suddenly being dragged into the conversation, tugging down her bandanna and revealing a sheepish, sad little frown. "Is that what that thing was-? Um, yeah, I was gonna use it on my team with my Shellder. I thought it was pretty cute, I wanted it for myself..." She pouted, reminded again of how it was practically her fault that all this started.

--

[Po Town - Outside Shady House]

The Alolan Muk winced as Nathair chomped and bit down on it's arm, tensing up at the bit of pain inflicted. Plumeria, however, scanned the battle with her golden eyes, having a fast reaction to the direction Darcy was taking things. "Keep her on, you know what to do!" She called out, pigtails bouncing as she nodded to her Pokemon.

The Muk froze for a minute as it trudged through it's paralysis and the pain of the Bite attack, then suddenly heaved it's arm out. It's sludge extended, gaining traction as the Pokemon swug it's arm with Nathair still clinging on, wipping around it's goopy appendage in a Brutal Swing. The arm struck multiple objects circling the field as the Muk spun, just barely grazing any grunts that happened to be too close. It's arm made contact with bushes, a lamp post, and uprooted chunks of the pavement, finally finishing as it reared and swung it's arm to the ground in a heavy blow.

--

[Heahea City]

Even behind the bandanna, it was more or less obvious that Dahlia was frowning. "You're being weird," She was blunt, but truthful. The girl had a feeling there were a lot of things Gladion was leaving out. It was never as simple as just wanting to "be strong", there was always more to stories like that. Something tensed in her stomach at the way he spoke and tried to avoid the topic, giving a strong implication that there maybe was something out there that was stronger than a Tapu after all.

After a bit of nudging from Scarlet on her shoulder, Dahlia gave the lizard a scratch under her jaw. "Whatever, though. I'd offer to battle and "help", but like I said, you could probably take me down pretty easy. So I don't think I'd be much practice," She shrugged, trying to brush off the fact she wanted to know more about why the boy was so keen on his ambitions. "I'm hungry anyways. Y'think if we stop by the Center we won't get kicked out? They gotta let us stay if we have money and we're not causing a scene."

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Kale listened to the Skull Grunt admin as she talked. His gaze went past her for a moment, into Po Town, and Kale saw Cyrin on one of the roofs of the buildings in there. Or at least, he thought he did. When Kale went to rub some of the rain out of his eyes, Cyrin seemed to have disappeared. Strange. Maybe he had just imagined it? Kale turned and looked from the grunts to the admin.

His feeling that he had all along about them not being like Team Rocket was true.
"I... think I get it now. I'm sorry. It's just that I've had a few experiences and heard a few stories about Team Rocket, back in Kanto. And my Aunt told me that Neo Team Plasma wasn't all that different. I just kinda assumed..." Kale trailed off, then shook his head. "Even though you guys take better care of your Pokemon, stealing Pokemon and other things is still just... Wrong."
Kale sighed, then looke back up at Atty. "Even so, I am sorry that I clumped you guys with Team Rocket." Kale said.

 

[Merciless Medic]

The Ekans smirked, but then it started to get hit by the objects in the air as the Pokemon swung its arm around violently. She hissed out in pain and couldn't let go in time to stop the onslaught. Darcy gasped a bit, as she didn't think that could ever happen. She tried to think of a way to get the Ekans off before she brutally destroyed her. When the Muk finished it off by slamming the poor snake into the ground, dust flew up and obscured a bit of their view.

Seeing as how strong the Muk was in comparison to the Ekans, Nathair struggled to stay standing. She had some bit of juice left, but she couldn't afford to get hit. One more, and she's out. Concern flooded her face, and then she had a small little idea. She looked at the area that was a little trashed and saw the little bits of concrete around the area. She pointed to those and said "Use Wrap on those concrete blocks."

Nathair did as she was told, wrapping her body around three large chunks of concrete.

"Now, hurl them!"

Not necessarily knowing Fling, the Ekans did her best on throwing the objects at the Muk, coiling and then throwing the chunks at the Muk. Fighting dirty was her specialty. She planned on following it up with something when the Muk got dazed enough.

 

[Ninian]

Gladion let out a frustrated sigh as he was called out. Being seen as weird was certainly preferable to other ways his words could have been interpreted. Clenching his jaw, his gaze fell downcast, remaining silent until she spoke up once more.

"I'll battle if you want to, but maybe you're right." Looking to her once more, he nodded, "They'll let us in as long as we don't do anything, yeah. Even if we don't have money, they're legally required to treat our Pokémon, and if we have money for food they should let us stay. I get a lot of looks, but I've never been kicked out."

Smiling slight down at his Umbreon he continued, "I'll make sure to get you something good this time. I have a little more money than usual, thanks to our last match up."

⟶ Heahea City

 

[rubyrowlet]

“Urf...” Cyrin tried to stand, but fell. Great, just what she needed. To be hurt. Lyré let out a panicked cry, circling around her. Cyrin attempted to stand again, but after her leg have out the last time she decided maybe she should get help from her Pokémon or something. Lyré was only so strong, and with her curvy body type it would be hard to lift her. “Kovu...” She grunted, sending out her Luxray. She knew he was strong enough to carry her, but he would likely still have problems.

 

[vaultie]

[Route 17 - Po Town Gate]

Atty groaned as she listened to Kale talk about his morals again, putting up a hand to try and stop him. "I know, I know. You don't have to say sorry or whatever either, okay? Listen it's just... It's kinda complicated?" She put a hand to her head. "I don't know. Let's just leave it at that. Things happen, and I don't have enough of a say to stop said things, but I still try." She sighed out, not expecting things to suddenly take a dip in such a bleak direction. "Are we done here yet? Can you, like... Move along so I can get back inside and back to what I was doing?" She seemed to be pleading for things to be over with already, wanting to just forget about the encounter. The last thing she wanted was to actually try scaring him away if he refused to leave.

--
[Po Town - Outside Shady House]

The rain began to beat down harder as the battle became more intense, both trainers trying to get the one-up on each other with each turn that was taken. Plumeria carefully eyed Nathair and listened to Darcy's callout amongst the continued yelling and cheering of the grunts. As much as she adored her "siblings", their backseat battling wasn't all appreciated. Her thin brows furrowed as she watched the Ekans slink around, coming into contact with the pieces of concrete strewn about. She was surprised at the amount of force the little snake could throw with, but now was not the time. She needed to act fast, calling out to her Pokemon. "Keep swinging! Don't let them hit you!"

The Muk brough out it's arm again, heaving wide swings around to block the chunks being thrown at it. It seemed to be going according to plan as Plumeria watched the concrete knocked to the side, though the paralysis from before suddenly came back to bite her. Her Muk suddenly froze up as the status effect kicked in, it's arm locking up and unable to block the last chunk. It was knocked right in the face by the block of pavement, wincing in pain and not able to make an effort to attack back.

--
[Heahea City - Pokemon Center]

Right away, as both Dahlia and Gladion entered the center, multiple pairs of eyes rested on them. Though there were a couple that seemed to be actually intimidated (young trainers, mainly), most of the looks seemed to be of annoyance and general displeasure. Dahlia simply rolled her eyes, striding towards the corner that held the cafe.

The bartender glared, speaking up when he saw the young lady headed his way. "If you d-"

"We have money," She already expected something like this, disregarding whatever the older man was about to say and slamming down a couple bills of Pokeyen. She wasn't about to take any shit anytime soon, especially when they weren't technically doing anything wrong. "Water and a grilled sandwich for me, thanks." Not even bothering to let him speak or ask what she wanted, Dahlia already tossed out her order. The man shut his mouth, staring at her before sighing and turning to Gladion.

"And what about you?" Although he didn't seem at all excited to serve two members of Team Skull, he figured it could be much worse. Money was money, after all.

 

[Captain Cardboard]

"Umm..." Kale looked down, glancing sway from the Team Skull Admin. He kicked the dirt nervously. What are you nervous about, you idiot? Just ask, this "Admin" or whatever doesn't seem like that bad of a person! Gathering up his courage, Kale looked back up at Atty.
"Yesterday, one of your grunts pickpockets a Heart Scale from my Aunt. That Heart Scale really means a lot to her, and... Well..." Kale made eye contact with Atty. "I want it back."
Kale's heart was racing. He didn't normally talk to people like this, and it was making him feel uncomfortable.

 

[Ninian]

Seeing several gazes fixed upon him and his companion, Gladion was quick to avert his eyes, trying his best to avoid them. A grumble escaped his lips, "Hmph..."

Clenching his jaw at the bartender's reaction, the boy reached into his hip pouch and took out a few bills of his own. Once Dahlia finished ordering, he thought for a moment. He didn't eat out much, and just went with the same order, not wanting to awkwardly ponder the options, "Water and grilled sandwich for me too, and a few Pokébeans for my Umbreon."

Pushing forward the wad of cash, he raised a brow and awaited the man's response. He seemed more agreeable than he had been earlier, likely now that he was faced with actual money.

⟶ Heahea City - Pokémon Center

 

[Merciless Medic]

Remembering that it wasn't a good idea to get too close to the Muk, Darcy remembered seeing a light post next to her and made mental note to use it later. She told Nathair to hit the Muk upwards with her Aqua Tail again. Hissing, Nathair shot towards the Muk with her tail coated in water and attempted to slam the Muk up in the air, using the rest of her body to add more force and more knockback.

If it did hit, she'll make another move right after this, hoping to make this work.

 

[rubyrowlet]

Kovu lifted her off of the ground, and on to his back. “Thank you.” She muttered, wincing in pain because of her leg. Kovu walked into the Shady House and up the stairs, to Cyrin’s room. The door was already open, since she had forgotten to close it earlier. He set her down on her bed, and shut the door with his hind leg. “Urf. I didn’t expect to fall off the roof. But I suppose we all get hurt at some point.” She opened the drawer beside her bed, and took out a first aid kit. She wrapped her leg carefully as Kovu watched over her worriedly. Luckily for her, her leg was only sprained. “I’ll probably be able to walk on it.” She muttered as she finished wrapping her leg. Slowly, she got off of her bed and on to her feet. She was able to stand just fine, and soon discovered she could also walk, though with pain. Kovu still had a concerned look on his face, so Cyrin gently stroked his head. “I’m fine.” She smiled, and he nodded, sitting down.

 

[vaultie]

[Route 17 - Po Town Gate]

Atty stared at Kale for a good moment, letting stray raindrops fall onto her warm skin before letting out a sigh. "Alright, I'll ask around. I can't guarantee whoever took the Heart Scale already hasn't sold it for a quick buck though, but I'll try. Do you know what the grunt looked like at all? There's a lot of kids and teenagers running around inside Po Town, it'd help if i had some sort of description to start with." She took out her phone from her pocket, rubbing the screen off of fingerprints and dirt before tapping away to make a note for herself.

--
[Po Town - Outside Shady House]

Plumeria nearly snarled as she called out her next command, already sensing another Aqua Tail coming up once her Muk was stunned. "Ground yourself and use Rock Slide!"

The Muk snapped out of it's momentary stun at the sound of Plumeria's voice, grappling it's arms into the ground, digging into the earth and holding onto the stray stones that surrounded the Pokemon as a way to alleviate itself. Although the Aqua Tail hit, it wasn't enough to launch the pile of goo airborne for a second time. After taking the initial damage from the attack, Plumeria's Muk was surprisingly quick to counter, picking up those same rocks it was holding onto. It's wide hands acted like shovels to scoop them up, and the rocks were flung straight at Nathair.

--
[Heahea City - Pokemon Center]

The bartender gave a "hmph" noise, accepting Gladion's money and turning around to prepare their meals. He grumbled something about the two being "at least easy to deal with", although it was too under his breath for anyone to make it out clearly.

Not that Dahlia was actually listening. She had already taken her seat, deciding to sit a table away rather than at the bar itself. She beckoned Gladion over, Scarlet hopping down from her shoulder and onto the table. Her nailed claws tapped against the smooth surface as she thipped her tongue out, sniffing around for any crumbs left behind from whoever was sitting there prior. Her trainer made no move to stop the lizard, instead waiting to be called when her food was ready and keeping her attention on the boy. "So what's your plan, then? I wanna know how exactly you plan on "getting stronger" if there's barely anyone in Team Skull that puts up a real fight besides the Admins and the Boss. Unless you're out here battling random trainers and just not telling me. Keeping secrets from your fellow "family" member, hm?"

 

[Merciless Medic]

Seeing the Muk ground itself, Darcy told Nathair to "slither up". Nathair seeing the arms anchoring the Muk on the ground and causing it to not go airborne, Nathair slithered up and around the arm, but did not try to Wrap around it like before. Instead she shot herself behind the Muk, slithering on the Muk's body and dodging the attacks as best as she could. This looked.... Quite comical to say the least, which made Darcy smile seeing her snake wriggle around the goo's body. She smirked and told Nathair to use Screech, to which Nathair responded by making an ear-piercing screech right on the Muk's head, hoping to have at least caused it to stop moving for a moment from the sheer noise.

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Kale blinked, then rubbed the rain out of his eyes. He hadn't expected the Admin to be so calm about it.
"Umm... I dunno. It happened pretty fast, and I wasn't able to quite see it. Let's see..." Kale said. "It was a teen about my height, but a little taller. He was wearing the same clothes you guys were wearing."
At that, Kale gestured to the two Grunts that had got Atty. "He also had short black hair, and was kinda tan. I know that didn't really narrow it down much, but... The heart scale stands out. On it is carved the message, To Iz from C, with love."
Kale wiped the rain off his face again, then looked back at Atty with a hopeful look.

 

[rubyrowlet]

Cyrin decided she might go outside of the Shady House and just take a look around. She left her room, and carefully walked down the stairs and out the door, her Luxray following close behind her. It was raining, as usual. Cyrin’s hair got wet again, her blonde and blue tipped ponytails sticking to her arms and hips. She looked around, and spotted Kale at the Po Town Gate with Atty. She was curious, but decided it wasn’t any of her business so she just sat down in front of the Pokémon Center instead. Her Luxray, Kovu, sat beside her, watching the rain fall. She leaned against the vandalized walls, feeling the rain wash over her skin and dampen her clothes and hair. Never once had being wet bothered her, so she continued to watch the rain fall, as thunder rumbled nearby. Kovu watched Atty and Kale nearby curiously.

 

[vaultie]

[Route 17 - Po Town Gate]

"Hm..." Atty paused for a moment, eyes looking forward as she got lost in thought. Soon enough, though, they were back on Kale, sparing him a sympathetic look. "I'll do my best, okay? I can't promise anything, but I'll take a look around. I don't wanna get your hopes up, but chances are whoever picked it up probably already sold it." Although she was blunt about it, it was better to leave the young boy with lowered expectations than to hype him up about finding it. "Like I said, though, it's probably best for you not to hang around here. Where are you staying, kid? Anyway I can contact you if I do find out some info?"

--
[Po Town - Outside Shady House]

Some of the grunts had to cover their ears at the sudden outburst from Nathair, even Plumeria slightly wincing at the Screech emitted from the snake. "C'mon, snap out of it and toss that thing off!" She called out over the high-pitched noise, her Muk trying to shake away the growing headache it was receiving.

Hearing it's trainers voice was enough to calm the poison type down, it's train of thought coming back on track and taking the initiative to shut Nathair up. It reeled a large, gloppy arm back, although taking a different approach this time instead of a Brutal Swing like before. It suddenly threw it's appendage forward, hoping to Fling the Ekans off and toss her all the away across the field to make some distance between the two again.

 

[Merciless Medic]

The Ekans tried to dodge the arm, but the globular nature of the arm made it difficult to dodge. Although, Nathair had an advantage with her lithe body, she wasn't able to dodge the arm, and she was flung out onto the field. She rolled on the ground, the damage from the attack not doing much to her, but it still caused her to struggle lifting her head off the ground. Her entire body shook and writhed as she tried to muster up the strength to lift her head, finally succeeding. Darcy was a little wide-eyed at how much she was trying to stay up and able to fight.

She looked to Plumeria to see if she was going to stop the fight, since Nathair had enough, but she wasn't going to go down until she was completely knocked out. Figuring out the nature of her opponent, she decided to go in for one more attack. "Alright, Nathair. Iron Aqua Tail!"

Nathair looked at her trainer before launching herself at the Muk, her tail becoming as hard as steel and water coated the tail. Darcy and Nathair had been practicing this attack for some time, and luckily she's able to pull it off right now. There were difficulties before, but Nathair almost getting pummeled into submission really did help in achieving such a tiring attack. This will be how she goes out. She was going to attack under the jaw again, but she sprung her body in the air. She then came down upon the Muk, trying to use her momentum and fall to do more damage with the combined attack. Of course, whether or not she hits, she'll go down anyway, the toll on her body too much to take. Hopefully, she put in enough damage to hurt the thing, especially after that Screech brought down the Muk's usually high physical defense.

 

[Ninian]

Though Gladion thought he heard the bartender mumble something under his breath, the teen was honestly just glad he was getting something to eat with minimal hassle. When beckoned by Dahlia, he made his way over to one of the tables, basically flopping into the chair. Letting out a sigh, his gaze fell down to his Umbreon who had taken to curling at his feet, knowing it would take at least some time for their food to be prepared.

He hadn't really expected Dahlia to attempt small-talk, but nonetheless the green-eyed boy obliged. Opening his mouth to respond, he quickly shut up at her pot-shot, letting out a dejected sigh. "I fight at the Battle Royal, normally. And really anyone who looks strong enough to take on my Umbreon, but... It's difficult to find suitable Trainers. Guzma and the other Admins are out of my league right now, and everyone else for the most part is a pushover, or they're more interested in causing trouble or doing something else than battling. Sometimes we fight wild Pokémon too, but... it's not something I like doing."

⟶ Heahea City - Pokémon Center

 

[Captain Cardboard]

"Oh, thank you! I'm staying at a hotel in Malie City..." Kale realized that he had yet to give this lady his name. "My Xtransciever takes phone calls, so you could call me if you find out anything."
The young boy took a notebook and pen out of his backpack and started writing a phone number on it, then tore out the paper. Shine watched her trainer's action with interest as Kale handed Atty his number.
"My name's Kale, by the way. What's yours?" Kale asked the Skull Admin.