victory_road | (no subject)

Who: Hank Anderson | Krieg
Where: Celedon City
When: Febuary 14th
Summary: Catching the Jigglyperp at Long Last
Rating: Antic level rating G, Hank's mouth rating R
Log:
The festivities are another nice distraction. He's getting used to it, just travelling around, reuniting the occasional Pokemon, enjoying meeting people. He's even considering hitting up a gym or two once everything's done and they open back up.

Supposedly Krieg's somewhere in town, and as Hank wanders through the Rattata celebration, shuffling passed various stands with cute rat related paraphernalia, he's keeping an eye out for the hulking guy. Just to say hello, because he's actually not had enough of a chance to hang out with him.

That's when he sees it.

Hamilton the Jigglypuff.

The little pink bastard is trying to slip his hand into a stranger's pocket, his pink fur scruffy from his time on the road, bright eyes squinting with effort as he stands up on his tiptoes to reach.

Doom, breathes Hunter the Houndoom as he notices, too. Hank stills him, raising his hand. They can't stand losing him now, not after a full year on the lam. The little wiley bastard needs to be saved from his life of crime and returned to his person.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Kreig's been having a good time, enjoying the sights and the festivities. His Sylveon and Espeon shadows follow him closely, occasionally ducking and weaving expertly around his legs as he walks. He pays them very little attention as they twine about underfoot, trusting their intuition and their mad psychic skills will prevent them from getting stepped on.

He's on the lookout for familiar faces, because his buddy Cecil lives in town, and he knows Hank was planning to be around. So it's not a surprise when he spots Hank, it's just a delight.

"Hey Gramps!"

He absolutely does not see the Jigglyperp. It's too low to the ground, for one thing, and it's not his buddy Hank, for another.

Hank was about to hone in on the little pink bastard. And then boom, there's a big wall of muscle right in front of him. With two pokemon (much smaller than he expected).

"I- er... right! Yeah. Krieg, you should-"

Hank starts to tell him, but Hunter bounds around him with another bellowing Doom!, running right past Krieg like he's hellbound for his target.

"Oh goddammit!"

Yup, there went the element of surprise. The pink bastard turns to look at them with a glaring squint in his eye, gaze narrowed and expression intent. The person he was trying to pickpocket notices as well.

"What the hell!?" That's the Jigglypuff's victim, taking in both the fact that he was just being pickpocketed and the Houndoom that is now apparently barreling at him from nowhere.

"What?" Krieg sort of spins in place as Hunter rushes past him, following the big black Pokemon's trajectory with his gaze. He blinks when he sees the Jigglypuff, and it takes him a few precious seconds to connect the dots. It doesn't take his Espeon that long, though. The psychic-type punk is always one step ahead of him for some reason. Punk Face trills a short explanation at Adorababy, and the two Eeveeloutions are sprinting after Hunter in very short order.

The Jigglypuff, seeing that it has three Pokemon pursuers, puffs up like an indignant marshmallow, squeaks out a very rude-sounding Jiggly!!, deflates, and tries to disappear into the crowd.

"Hey!" the Jigglypuff's victim shouts. "That Pokemon took my wallet!"

Off Hunter's going, flanked by two high-powered squirts to assist him in the pursuit. Luann the Lycanroc barks one earnest ROC! before she scampers off in another direction, weaving between people to try and cut off the escapee.

Hank is torn between directions to run and throws Krieg the biggest open-handed shrug that he can. He guesses they're just going to have to wing it.

"Cover your ears if you have to!"

He jogs off to follow Luann, hoping that she's correctly guessing the direction. His pack's been pretty intuitive.

Hank's shrug tells Krieg that his buddy is likely just as thrown off as he is. Of course he remembers the Jigglypunk now: Hank has mentioned the little dude a couple times in the past - both directly to Krieg and in the occasional announcement post Hank makes to the network. He's not sure what Hank means by warning him to cover his ears. He has no idea what kind of a monster Jigglypuff is, having no direct or indirect experience with the species. Does it shriek at ear-shattering decibels like his Exploud? Or does it have some other trick up its little pink sleeve?

Whatever. He takes off running too, chasing after his Eeveeloutions with a focus on Punk Face. For reasons Krieg still doesn't fully understand but which are basically to do with "this 'mon is psychic", he can often intuit what the sleek purple creature plans to do with excellent accuracy. And since this is pretty clearly going to be a chase that is most likely to be concluded by the Pokemon and not by their accompanying humans, his intention is to get himself into whatever position will help his best Punk out most.

The Jigglypuff is not used to being caught red-handed (red-pawed?) in the midst of a job, and is not pleased by this turn of events. But it also has no choice but to beat a strategic retreat if it doesn't want to get caught. With a number of large pursuers (a Lycanroc...a Houndoom...Krieg...) it hedges its bets and dives into the thickest part of the crowd, clearly relying on its smaller size to help it get lost among the legs of the festival-goers.

The Jigglypuff has the least intimidating run, also. It's a chipper bounce, and even its most intense face, it's strongest effort to scowl back his oncoming threats, is just... well... it's fucking adorable. And that's the worst for everyone, including the little guy that just wants to look mean.

Times like this Hank really wishes that he had Connie. He finds himself shouting hard, "EXCUSE ME! SORRY! FUCK OFF!" at various members of the crowd as they deserve them, pushing his way through to try and reach the Jigglypuff.

Some man in a suit gets in his way, though. Salt and pepper hair, probably the same age as Hank but looks a full ten years younger (because Hank looks older than his age). But also has the air of a guy that very much thinks he should be the boss of the world.

"I beg your pardon! You come in here rushing through our festivities-"

Hank isn't listening. The guy is talking, but Hank is just noticing that little pink piece of shit scuttling for safety. The prick, and now his Lycanroc's getting away from him.

Tubbs takes the initiative. He picks up the guy by his suit jacket as if he were an unruly kitten and lightly sets him aside. And boy, if that isn't causing its own stir, thanks to the hollers of a very indignant self-important prick.

Krieg definitely isn't helping matters any by laughing loudly, from his gut, like an absolute loon every time Hank yells at someone to FUCK OFF! He doesn't have the same problem Hank seems to in working through the crowd. Typically, when people see a man of Krieg's size and heft coming, they make room for him or get trampled underfoot.

Not that Krieg would trample anybody, even in a hurry, even in the pursuit of Hank's most frustrating Missing Pokémon Case to date. No one at this party knows that, though, and so far no one's willing to find out.

While Hank is stuck dealing with the wannabe boss of the world, Punk Face chirps some kind of comment to Adorababy, who then breaks off from the three-point Houndoom-Espeon-Sylveon formation and ducks into the crowd. Krieg receives a similar nudge from the Psychic punk without properly realizing it, and changes direction abruptly to begin circling around opposite 'Dora. Punk then chirps a quick explanation to Hunter - Adorababy is going to flank and flush the Jigglypuff back in their direction. Krieg, Punk Face, and Hunter (and maybe Hank, Tubbs, and his Lycanroc, depending on how the perp runs) should be in a good position to catch it if it runs how Punk Face expects it to run.