victory_road | ECHO: A desperate plea

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ECHO: A desperate plea

[Like many of her posts in recent months, Angel's is quick and to the point. This time, however, she seems to at least have dropped the emotionless facade. More than anything, she looks tired, though it's now mixed with at least one part concern and two parts hurt.]

What can cause a pokemon to abruptly stop listening to you? I have always been close with my creatures, but now... it feels like something has changed.

Do they understand apologies? Or... do I have to prove myself anew?

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What do you mean 'abruptly stop listening'? Are they just ignoring you or not listening to commands in battle?

[Please excuse her worried look but Angel, darling, you look terrible.]

[Angel hesitated. Her fingers twitched toward the camera, warring with the idea of turning it off. It would be easier to pretend that she wasn't in rough shape, rather than explain how she still couldn't shake the things she had done.

But she'd already seen, and Angel stopping her own video feed wouldn't keep Cissnei from staring at her.]

A little of both. It started during the contests. I was going to enter but Adorababy wouldn't listen to me. I thought he had been acting strange until then but nothing had ever been so... blatant.

I've heard some may stop listening if they've gaining a significant amount of strength.

Has it been awhile since you had them out? Or spent time with them?

[The last time they spoke Angel had mentioned that things had been a little hectic so maybe her Pokemon were just feeling a bit out of sorts because of it?]

I'm sure it's something that can be easily worked out.

I have heard that as well. And while my Pokemon are a lot stronger than most, I have raised most of them since they were young, and have not had a problem up until now.

There must be another issue at hand.

I always...

[But she trailed off, troubled look sliding over her already strained features. She glanced toward Adorababy and Skagbait, together in what seemed to be the furthest corner from her that they could get to.]

I put them away while I was in Blackthorn for the holidays. Most of the month, actually. It was the first time they'd been in their balls since I received them.

[Jean hems and haws over answering this, especially since he left that mortifying message in her inbox on Valentines. But this is about Pokemon, and maybe he can just play it cool and make it all about that? Yeah, that's what he'll do.]

Which ones aren't listening?

[That sounds like dealing with kids. Harry's had Cheryl/Heather give him the silent treatment at various points of her lives.]

I'm pretty sure they can understand apologies. It would probably be best to figure out if there is a reason they're ignoring you first. If something specific happened or if they're upset with you for some reason.

[Harry's seen a few of Heather's pokemon refuse to listen to her, but that had generally been because one liked to sulk when it wasn't the center of attention and another was not taking her to do something bad.]

Did anything change since they were last listening to you? Either to them, or just in your life in general?

Oh yeah, that kinda thing happens. Even ones you hatched yourself, they get tough enough or evolve or whatever and they can stop listening or start getting rebellious. I've had it happen with a few of mine, it's a pain in the ass.

Plus...yeah, they're not like animals that understand things totally differently. Most of'em can think just like us, so all kinds of shit upsets them. Like I got a new puppy for Christmas, now D.B's being a complete asshole who won't listen to a thing I say. He'll get over it eventually, so will yours.

It'll be fine. You worry too much about way too many things, princess. Obviously it's keeping you from getting enough sleep. Where are you, anyway?

That doesn't necessarily mean they won't through a period of non compliance. Attitudes and behaviors can change as they grow.

Well, when did this start?

[It turns out that it's probably a good thing Jean contacts her. While he had been deliberating over contacting her at all, Angel had been grappling with the idea of responding to his other message. Even several days later, she had no idea what to say.

There was the obvious, of course, but it seemed next to impossible to put that gently, when all she could really comprehend were her own self-deprecating thoughts.]

Dora and Skagbait, mostly. [Her normally stalwart companions, as Jean would know.] The others are uneasy, but at least responsive.

[If they can just talk about Pokemon for awhile, instead of Jean's idiot confession, then maybe they'll be able to get through this. Jean is fine with pretending it never happened.]

[Valentine's confessions: not even once.]

Huh. That's odd. Did anything happen to make them be weird?

A... few different things.

The most obvious one is if you got them from someone else and they leveled out of your badge range, but... sounds like this was something else, huh?

_{[If so... yep. Heather's been there. :T Not fun.]}

Have you tried asking them why they're acting like jerks all the sudden?

They're not... jerks.
They are my closest friends, aside from you obvious folk. 
For them to act like this...
Something must be very wrong.

That would be the logical answer, wouldn't it? But no, this happened well after they hit their final levels. Unless the effect can be severely delayed, I do not think it's that.

Some others have helped me realize what it might have been but... I do not know how to make things better if that is the case.

Poor D.B! He must be very stressed out. I'll have to visit to make sure he knows that I still care, at least.

[Dodging topics with Jack never turned out well for her. Unfortunately, the more she put the pieces together, the more difficult it became to talk to Jack about it. It would be too easily misinterpreted, could too easily fracture their always tenuous peace.]

I've been sleeping. Please, don't worry. I have a nice room and I have even been visiting the islands to relax lately.

[Angel shifted a little, beginning to look incredibly uneasy. Something had changed, and she'd done something out of the ordinary in order to cope with it. Now, that single action had snowballed out of control.]

Would they still be upset, even after things had gone back to normal?

Alright, that's fair. And also thank you, you're one of my closest friends too obviously.

In that case, when was the first time you remember them suddenly ignoring you and not doing what you asked?

It was... [Angel drew a steadying breath.]

I went to visit my Dad. I didn't think they liked him that much so I... put them in their balls for most of the time.

Maybe shutting them out upset them more than I thought it would.

It depends on what it was. But it's possible.

[He doesn't like how worried she looks.]

But I've always found most pokemon to be understanding creatures. Especially if they've been close to you in the past. If they're upset for some reason now...well talking I find helps, and if an apology is needed, I really think they'd listen.

[Hum. This is unusual. Krieg said Angel was "fine" but things seem very much not fine here.]

Dear, would it help if I tried speaking to them for you?

[An understanding look touched Cissnei's face.]

Maybe they feel hurt by that or like they did something wrong and that's why you put them away like you did. It may just take time to help them understand that you didn't mean any harm by what you did. Just be patient with them and do what you can to let them know that you still care deeply about them. Pokemon can be a lot like stubborn children when they want to be, after all.

He'll live. But he'd love it if you visited more often.

Of course I'm going to worry, it's what dads do! I always worry about you, Angel.

Ah, now that makes sense. Perhaps you should have made time to take them out during your visit and just spend a moment with them?

Mm, no, yeah, it's usually not...

_{[She's not about to awkwardly exit out of the conversation to go listen to the other ones on the post-- but she can definitely tell Angel about her own experience with the matter.]}

... At one point, my Togekiss stopped listening to me.

Technically, she never needed to to begin with, I inherited her and she was way out of my badge range, but she was just extremely good-tempered so she pretty much followed my instructions anyway...

But I did something that really destroyed her faith in me.

And she stopped obeying completely after that-- still treated me fine, but I was in the freaking dog house.

Felt real bad.

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ECHO: A desperate plea

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