victory_road | [closed] March Catch All

Claude sees that hesitation, or maybe senses it, and immediately reaches out to take Dimitri's hand in both of his. It hasn't been long since that Indeedee revelation about Dimitri having hurt Claude, after all, and Dimitri's guilt over that; Claude can read between the lines here.

"I'm fine," he murmurs, lifting Dimitri's hand to his cheek of his own accord, encouraging Dimitri to touch him and affirm for himself. "Nothing touched me. It's you I'm worried about. That explosion - it didn't hurt you, did it?" He still hasn't even confirmed that much. He thinks Dimitri is probably okay, but...he's not sure.

Dimitri's breath shudders to a stop when Claude grasps his hand, draws it upwards to his cheek. He doesn't know what he's expecting, exactly. Even he knows it would be completely unrealistic for Claude to fall apart like a precious vase hitting the ground, all because of a touch from his fingertips. And yet there is that anxiety pounding along his ribs, just waiting, waiting, waiting...

Nothing happens. Claude is there, soft and warm to his touch. Dimitri swallows thickly. "I am fine," he says hoarsely. "It was... I was only startled."

Claude relaxes considerably at that, closing his eyes for a moment and just...keeping Dimitri's hand at his cheek. "Okay," he murmurs. "We're both okay, and our pokémon don't seem to be worried about anything, so...whatever happened, I think the danger's passed. So...I think we can get our bearings now. Maybe try to figure out what happened."

"We're okay," Dimitri echoes, and tells himself he can breathe. They're okay. Claude isn't hurt, and neither is he. Right.

Elshot makes an annoyed noise from the back of his throat. The Pineco, despite having just exploded himself, is still trying to make a valiant effort to kind of... hop? Twitch? In the direction of his Flying opponents.

It's the equivalent of a guy who just punched himself in a bar fight telling the bigger, brawnier thugs that he can still take it, even as his nose is bleeding.

Claude, meanwhile, seeing Dimitri starting to relax - however slowly - looks over at their pokémon. And this time, he sees the burnt, twitching thing lying in front of them, and blinks.

"What...is that?" he asks, bemusedly. "Is that thing alive?"

That Thing (tm) is indeed alive, and tries once more to twitch-roll its way close to the two humans to make its protests known as some sort of warbled bug death rattle emerges from its shell. Annoyed, Elshot puts his claw down on it to make it stop.

There's another twitch, but a little harder this time, and Elshot slowly narrows his eyes. Did you just try to Tackle him when you've eaten shit-

Dimitri stares as well, partially just to help himself calm down. "It... is it a Palien?" he asks, still using Chip's term even while in a daze.

"I...think it might be, actually. Explosion is a move pokémon can know, right?"

Listen. Claude might, sometimes, use 'Paliens' around Chip, if he thinks it'll make them happy to hear. But he's never going to casually use it just for the hell of it, when Chip's not even around to benefit.

After a moment's pause, Claude pulls out his Gear, aiming it at the thing under Elshot's claw. Dutifully, the Pokédex pings its entry, and the robotic voice reads off the description.

"Pineco, the Bagworm Pokémon. Appears calm as it hangs sedately from tree branches, but it will self-destruct at the slightest provocation."

Well. That explains that. Claude can't help laughing a little with relief at finally understanding what happened. "So...I guess we just disturbed one of these feisty little guys when we landed, huh?"

Dimitri's shoulders slump as well, and he wavers a little bit in his standing position as though he just wants to lean against Claude - or lay on the ground, he'll accept cold earth too. "After so many battles, I thought I had grown used to such sounds," Dimitri says, dragging his hand against his face. Is he referring to actual life or death battles, or Pokemon battles? Sure. "I am ashamed of myself..."

The Pineco rocks aggressively under Elshot's claw. He seems determined to wiggle out, even if that is very obviously something doomed to failure.

Claude senses that waver, and slides an arm around Dimitri's waist. He couldn't really hold Dimitri's weight up if the man decided to rest it all on him, but he can provide some support, certainly.

"There's nothing to be ashamed of," he murmurs. "We've had a much quieter, more relaxing life here than we've been able to afford to have for years back home. But with something unexpected and seemingly dangerous like that...well, you weren't the only one who was jolted back into the mindset of the war, thinking something terrible was happening."

He nudges Dimitri. "But now that we know everything's okay...why not go check out what Elshot's got there? You could catch it, if you wanted. It just blew itself up, so it's got to be weak enough to be snagged in a ball."

With Claude saying things like that... Dimitri rouses himself, and squeezes his arm gently around him. "I will keep you safe no matter what," he says softly, pressing his nose against Claude's temple.

But that's that. With the other issue right there before them... Dimitri frowns a little, concerned as he finally dares a step towards the Pineco. "I am not sure about catching it... but I am wondering about its health. That kind of move seems rather... counter-intuitive."

Which doesn't seem to be stopping it any as it makes a variety of weird noises up at Elshot that only seem to be annoying the bird."

"Well, it seems pretty...persistent," Claude says, with a slight grin. Seeing its continued angry twitches, and the way Elshot is practically developing an eye tic from annoyance at it, is pushing him towards seeing the amusing side of all this. "I'm not sure you can do anything for its health unless you catch it, at this point."

"I..." Well, Claude is certainly right there, even if Dimitri suspects that the Pineco itself disagrees if that rocking and twitching is any indication. He had no idea that a bug could be so... determined. "I suppose you are right. I would feel bad, leaving such a creature out here in its state..."

He starts to search on himself for a spare Pokeball. While he hadn't bought anything before leaving like he often does with the towns they visit, he still had some that he hadn't used. "I hope it will forgive me."

"Who says it'll be angry? Maybe having a trainer who can give it lots of battles to fight will be its dream come true." Claude grins. "And if nothing else, you'll be saving it from Elshot, which is a distinct mercy. I don't know what Elshot will end up doing to it if it keeps aggravating him."

Finally with a Pokeball in hand, Dimitri gives a soft huff. "So like Felix, then..." Or even some of his other Pokemon, Elshot included. Which is almost amusing, in a way, considering the glare his steed is giving the Pineco.

Still, well, he's made his decision, and so Dimitri steps forward. The Pineco is still rocking back and forth, and making... some sort of noise. Yet as he kneels down, Dimitri observes something strange and pauses. "Ah, Claude. Come here. Can you show me the image that appeared in your Pokedex for Pineco?"

Because, past all the explosion damage, he can see some strange bright yellow.

Claude moves closer, peering at the pokémon for a moment before he calls up the entry in the Pokédex again. After comparing them for a moment, he whistles. "Well, would you look at that...what are the odds, huh?"

The odds must be absolutely absurd, Dimitri is certain about that, and all he can do is stare at the Pineco with some faint concern. "If I did not know better, than I would wonder if shiny Paliens were more inclined to anger and violence somehow... But I know you and the others have companions with perfectly fine temperament. Is it to do with the yellow coloring...?"

He's just really worried and confused on why this keeps happening to him.

Claude bursts out laughing. "Considering the colors I usually wear, it'd be a little concerning if gold means aggression in this world...what'll people think of me?" He nudges Dimitri. "But c'mon, catch it. Considering how rare it is, it'd be even sillier to pass this little guy up."

"I don't catch them for their rarity," Dimitri says with a quiet solemness to his voice. Despite his words, he reaches over, lightly tapping the ball against the Pineco's angrily rocking little form. That rocking continues even when its form has vanished into red light, ball vibrating in Dimitri's palm.

Despite the Pineco's condition, he still wonders if it will ever still... But, eventually, it does, the red glow of the middle button finally dimming. Dimitri lets out a breath. "At least for now, it seems to have settled for this..."

"I know you don't," Claude says fondly. "You wouldn't have a whole pack of the world's most loveable but also most common rats if you cared about rarity." He leans over to give Dimitri a peck on the jaw. "But I think it's still nice to have a unique pokémon, isn't it? Even if I know that's hardly your primary concern."

Blitz makes a slightly grumpy noise before moving over to Claude, bumping his head against Claude's arm and asking for a pat - perhaps as recompense for the aggravation he and Elshot have just had to put up with. Claude obliges without even turning away from Dimitri, as though this is a fairly common occurrence. Given how affectionate Claude is with his pokémon, it probably is. "Should we take a few minutes to rest, since we've stopped anyway? Getting back to tracking Chip down is important, but if we rest now we can keep going for longer afterwards without having to take a break. And we're already landed and everything." He cocks an eyebrow at Dimitri. "And I think your nerves could use a little bit to settle, too."

"They are intelligent," Dimitri protests quietly, which is not really untrue considering that Gremlin seems to operate his Pokegear with far more efficiency than Dimitri has ever managed. He knows how to contact people, and that's really it. Oh, and he knows Staryutube, he knows that, because he's subscribed to Zuke's channel.

Honestly, he's not really sure about what his plans for catching Pokemon versus just battling them were in the early days... He supposes whatever caught his attention, or that he felt were meaningful in some way. Thinking about how long it's been since he's really caught anything until now on their journey...

Letting the Pokeball vanish to its far off PC home, Dimitri nods sheepishly in agreement to Claude's plan. "Yes, I... I apologize for the delay." Reaching up, he gently rubs Elshot's beak. He knows his friend had to deal with a lot from him just now.

[closed] March Catch All

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