[color=Ivory][h1]Jaden Locke: Route 1[/h1][/color]

[i]. . . . ow[/i]

Jaden cursed as he was caught by the second thug, trying his hardest to get himself free but to no avail. He looked up at the first one, glaring at him as he braced himself for the hit that was coming.

And then it came.

Jaden, not surprisingly, had never been in a fight before, not any really ones anyway. And while he was no stranger to pain, be it from accidents or his uncle, they had been sharp pains that never lasted long and could be made to felt better by mommy kisses and bed rest. The thug's punch to the gut, however, was the single greatest pain he'd ever felt, knocking the wind out of him as he struggled to catch his breath. 

Then he got hit again. . .

and again. . . 


and again.

The beating didn't last too long, thanks to the Nidoran and Marill's intervention, and all things considered, could've been much worse. But for Jaden, he couldn't imagine anything feeling worse as he tasted blood in his mouth. He felt absolutely horrible, and he was certain that one of his teeth had been knocked loose in the scuffle. While he had spoken his beliefs all through out the pummeling, after it was over, all Jaden wanted to do at first was to crawl up into a ball and cry. He had wanted to go home, to give up, and just run away from it all. He almost did to . . . until the Nidoran spoke up. As Jaden looked up from the ground, he came to a realization. His words, the words that his Uncle had always treated as worthless garbage, the words that his parents had always encouraged but never truly believed in. . . those words had reached these two. These two had chosen to place their faith in him, and he had been about to cave in to some pain and abandoned everyone.

A strange mix of shame and happiness filled him, threatening to overcome him as tears of his own started to fill his eyes, before he quickly wiped them away. Once he put his arm down, a newfound determination had been set in them. [color=Ivory][i]I'm never going to let myself be so easily broken ever again. These two believe in me, Vix trusts in my judgement despite barely knowing me, and I can't let them or anyone else down like I was just about to. I'll apologize properly to them later, but now. . . .now it's time for me to stand up and redeem myself, in my own eyes if no one elses.[/i][/color]

[color=Ivory]To be honest . . . I've felt better.[/color] Jaden held his stomach in pain as he got up to his feet, having fallen limply to the ground when the Maril had blasted Nose ring in the face. Despite the rather large amount of pain the young man was feeling, he couldn't help the smile that crossed his face, glad that he'd been able to help these two in some way. However, the smile faded as he turned to see that one of the other thugs had decided to come in and cause more issues. His eyes hardened and narrowed as he saw that Vix's attack had failed and that she'd even taken some damage as well. His first response was to run over to her, already feeling extremely protective of his partner, but he calmed himself with a breath.

[i]This won't be the last time she gets hurt in a fight, Jaden. I won't be helping her by losing my head right now, I have to focus and make sure that we win this fight, cause if not . . .[/i]

The thought of these thugs capturing Vix brought with it a sense of utter disgust and revoltion as Jaden grit his teeth together, looking between his new opponent and the pokemon he had at his side. He noticed that what one of the thugs had seemed to get to one of them a little.

[color=Ivory]"Ignore him, he doesn't know what he's talking about. . . besides, the thought of any pokemon getting strong under a bunch of miscreants like this is laughable at best. They're nothing more than a pack of bullies picking on those they know can't stand against them. A coward's tactic, if I've ever seen one.[/color] Jaden said between pained breaths, the beating having taken more out of him then he was willing to let on. He doubted he could take another step or two without falling to the ground, and all he wanted to do was lay against a nearby tree and rest, but the moment he gave in to his pain, he knew he'd lose the two who he'd managed to win over. Even if he didn't feel particularly strong, he at least had to fake it as best he could. And what better way to fake it then acting as cocky as possible, not that he said anything that he didn't mean. [color=Ivory]"That being said, I'm going to need both of your guy's help if I'm going to stand a chance against them. I could barely distract two of them, so I doubt adding another one and a Boufflant to the mix is going to help my chances. Still, this isn't really a fight you need to fight, and you likely have more to lose than me if we lose, so if you want to leave, then go ahead. Pallet Town isn't that far down the road, and I'm sure you'll be safe with Professor Oak there. It's your choice whether you want to stay or leave, I'm not going make you fight for me if you don't want to.[/color]

Jaden would turn his eyes from the two pokemon towards Vix, drawing in a deep breath before giving her a command in as loud a voice as possible.

[color=Ivory]"COME ON VIX, SHOW THESE GUYS THAT THEY MADE A BIG MISTAKE IN TARGETING US. GET BACK IN THERE AND HIT THAT SKORUPI AGAIN WITH ANOTHER EMBER!!!"[/color] Jaden would let out a pained hiss after giving his command, his body not liking the action much at all. He turned his eyes towards the other thugs, taking one step, then forcing another, then another. His steps would put him in front of the Nidoran and Marill, and while he didn't state anything, the intention was clear. [color=Ivory][i]If you want to get to them, you'll have to get through me.[/i][/color] He turned his gaze towards the Boufflant, seeing none of the hesitation or discomfort that he'd seen in the other two in him. Still, he couldn't let that stop him from trying.

[color=Ivory]"Sir . . . do you really not mind taking orders from these thugs? Can you really find anything in it for yourself if you remain faithful to this group of playground bullies and thugs?"[/color] 

Not as rousing as his first speech, but considering his current state, he could likely get forgiven, especially since he did take a few hard blows to the head and face in that beating, one of which seemed like it had begun to bleed rather profusely, dying a streak of his white hair a deepening blood red as it dripped down the side of his face.
[hr]

[color=Darkorchid]Noibat: Viridian City[/color]

[color=Darkorchid]"Please, ya know me better than that. I'm way ta good ta be caught by the likes of these folks. Now sit right there while I get us some icec-WHAAAAAA!!!"[/color] Noibat's confident swagger was suddenly halted by the presence of a hand on her shoulder, causing her to turn around on a time, only to see nothing there. Before she could calm herself down and take stock stock of the situation, however, she could hear a voice from behind her.

[color=Red]"You're a Pokemon, like me?"[/color]

Noibat, of course, responded in a calm and controlled manner.

This was accomplished by whipping around and letting out and ear-piercing shriek, accidentally using her attack of the same name on the pokemon, not that it would have much of an effect on the ghost-type. The suddne movment, however, caused the flying-dragon to fall on her bum rather hard, causing her to writhe a bit in pain for a moment as she struggled to get away from the creepy masked figure. At this point, however, her mind had cleared enough for her to put two and two together and get pissed.

[color=Darkorchid]"Goddamn Ghost-types, always out to scare somebody with their damn tricks! Shit, haven't ya eva heard of greeting somebody like a normal person!?!? None of this fade-in, fade-out crap. Ahhh, I think I landed on my tailbone."[/color] Noibat would continue to mutter silently as she glared at the newcomer, mad at them not only for the stunt they pulled, but also because of the scene they had made her cause. Now they were the center of everyone's attention, so trying to sneak off and work her magic would be much, much harder.

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