victory_road | closed log; adult supervision needed

Entry tags:

closed log; adult supervision needed

Who: Jean and Krieg
Where: halfway between Violet City and Ecruteak
When: mid-October-ish
Summary: man-children who like things that blow up blow things up
Rating: probably PG-13 for language and general shenanigans

It's probably in everyone's best interests that Jean and Blitz decide to take a day trip to Ecruteak City and meet Krieg and Murder Chicken. With the sudden appearance of Eren and his metal chicken (whom Blitz finds hopelessly antagonizing), things have been a bit... tense in their camp. Jean would like to think that he's a harmless victim here, but really, he's been pretty actively picking fights, much to Blitz's delight. If Jean and Eren are fighting, Blitz interprets this as an excellent excuse to go try and shock Hilda or Hahnchen or whatever Eren named his chicken. The Voltorb has been making an absolute nuisance of himself ever since Jean caught a Rattata a few days ago, determined to prove himself #1 Pokemon.

Now the as-yet unnamed Rattata is safely hidden in a Pokeball, and Jean is jogging down the road to Ecruteak, Blitz bobbing along beside him with violence in his eyes and murder in his heart. Yeah, it's better for everyone if they both go and blow off some steam.

Jean digs his communicator out of his pocket and sends Krieg a quick message, panting a little from his run.

"Hey, Krieg, it's Jean. I'm on my way to Ecruteak. Meet you there around noon? I hope Murder Chicken still wants to fight!"

Gods, please let Murder Chicken still want to fight! Otherwise Jean is going to have to wrestle Blitz into a Pokeball and that won't be fun for anyone.

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Murder Chicken definitely still wants to fight - he's as pumped for this match as his trainer is. The pair of them are doing a little pre-battle warm-up a few miles south of town, because they both need to blow off some steam from the exponentially building anticipation.

It does take him a few minutes to notice his 'Gear has received a message; in this one area his old - now missing - ECHO device was the superior piece of equipment. It was impossible to miss important messages with that hunk of junk, although on the downside messages did tend to come through at the worst possible time. Once he notices the alert, though, he pauses to dig the Pokégear out of his pocket to get to the message, and laughs as he preps the device to respond.

"He can't wait! And neither can I!!"

To an everyday, normal person, the growl in Krieg's voice might be taken as a threat.

It's not actually a threat, but an everyday, normal person probably wouldn't realize that.

Jean doesn't seem like the type to notice or care, though, so there's that, at least!

While he's adapted to the Pokegear pretty quickly, all this technology is still new and dazzling to Jean. A system of movement that looks like a bondage harness and allows him to move in three dimensions? Absolutely ordinary and normal. Text messages and screens that show your face? Mind. Blown. Blitz had had to show him how to use it, and Jean still hasn't realized that the device has an on/off switch, since Blitz does it for him.

Jean laughs when he gets Krieg's response. He's not intimidated or scared in the slightest. Fighting man-eating monsters ten times your size really tends to adjust a person's fear reaction.

"We're almost there! Want to meet us on the road into town from the south?" Jean has a feeling this battle could end with some property damage, and he'd rather not destroy part of the town and then get Krieg kicked out of it. That's just being socially conscious!

Blitz bobs and crackles eagerly at his side, the sound of which gets transmitted through the Pokegear.

Edited 2016-10-19 06:32 (UTC)

There are some people - well, only one person, but that's bad enough - who would tell Jean that Krieg is also a man-eating monster, albeit a more normal but still larger-than-average sized one. That person is an ass, but he also may or may not be correct. Krieg doesn't actually know, himself. His memories of his life before he disassociated are gone, and his memories of his life between that point and meeting Maya are not in much better condition. So it's possible.

The past is in the past, though. What matters, at least to Krieg, is now, and eating men (or women or children or babies) is not something he would do now, or in the future.

Just, you know, for reference.

"MnahahahAHAHA!! Gooood!" That's some delighted, slightly maniacal laughter followed by a guttural croon in response to Jean's update. He can also hear the snapping crackle of electricity in the transmission, which he assumes belongs to Blitz. "Meet you on the road!!"

He's already on the road, of course, but heading farther out is just fine by him, especially as it will expedite the meeting and get things underway that much more quickly.

So it's probably not too much longer after their communication that Jean will spot the tall Psycho and his fluffy chicken buddy, loping along together side-by-side along the road.

You know, as long as Krieg doesn't eat people now, and doesn't have any plans on doing it in the future, they're good.

Jean spots Krieg jogging to meet them, and he and Blitz pick up the pace. The closer they get, the more Jean realizes that Krieg is big, taller and heavier than he is by a pretty good margin, and he's not even going to ask about the thing on his face. And yet he doesn't feel particularly intimidated by him. Krieg has never been anything but good natured and pleasant to Jean, and there's no reason to think that's going to stop now.

"Hi!" Jean jogs right up to Krieg, and offers him a snappy salute. "Great to meet you!"

Blitz, seeing Murder Chicken, advances on him immediately, crackling and ready to start fighting. "Blitz! Get back here!"

They should at least say hi to each other before throwing their Pokemon into a pit fight, Jean thinks.

The thing on his face is just a mask. They're pretty standard on Pandora, sort of a functional fashion statement that also, ostensibly, prevents the wearer from chewing off the ears, nose, and/or fingers of other people near to him.

"Mnahahahaha! It's good to see your face!"

He means that in the best possible way, because, well, it is. The little handheld video device really is no substitute for actual face-to-face meet-ups.

Still a weird turn of phrase, though. Friendly enough, but weird.

Murder Chicken, meanwhile, is eager to make new acquaintances too, but is a little nonplussed by Blitz's aggression. He holds his ground when the Voltorb advances, head tilted curiously to one side. Wild pokemon act like that towards him, but trained pokemon have always been polite up until now. What gives? Sure, they're gonna be battling, but that doesn't mean they can't be friends, too, right?

"Impatient!" Is Krieg's brilliant observation. He regards the crackling, scowling murder ball with strong approval, before flicking his gaze up toward the Voltorb's trainer. "Need a break? Or do you wanna go now?"

Jean did just run quite a while to meet up with him here, after all. And so did the Voltorb, it looks like. Sort of, anyway, since it doesn't have legs. It motivated along somehow, though, which undoubtedly used energy. Krieg's excited, but he can wait for the pair to catch their breaths if they need to.

Jean isn't going to question it. During their last conversation, he'd gotten used to Krieg's... unique way of speaking, and the tone is friendly.

"Blitz! Get over here right now!" Gods in heaven, the stupid Voltorb is trying to attack immediately, and making them both look bad. Jean stalks over and grabs him, and Blitz at least has the good manners not to shock his trainer. Jean shoves Blitz under his arm, holding him there like a beachball, and walks back over to Krieg.

"Sorry, someone thinks he's a bigger badass than he actually is." Blitz shivers and glares at that, but doesn't spit any more electricity. "Yeah, a quick break sounds good, thanks. And you," directed at the Voltorb, "know that you're supposed to be nice to Pokemon with trainers! Now go over there and be friendly, or I'm giving all your candy to Murder Chicken!"

That straightens Blitz up, and he shimmies loose from Jean's grip and floats back over to Murder Chicken, contrite and polite this time.

Jean sighs and turns his attention back to Krieg. "It's like having a kid sometimes, I swear."

Krieg has no strong opinion one way or the other about Blitz's shitty behavior. It's just a murder ball, doing its murder ball thing, as far as he can see. No need to be embarrassed, Jean! Krieg's probably one of the least judgemental people you'll ever meet.

"You got a kid?" He's curious, never having heard that particular expression before. Krieg wouldn't know what having a kid was like. He kind of knows what having kid siblings is like, because Tina and Gaige are like little sisters to him, but actual human children are pretty much outside the realm of his remembered experience. Or they were until he came here, anyway. He doesn't interact with the kids here a whole lot, but he doesn't really mind them, either.

And Murder Chicken, even as a baby Torchic, has always been his friend and his partner. It's kind of weird to imagine him acting like a child, instead.

And speaking of, Murder Chicken is more than happy to try this whole introduction thing a second chance. He fluffs his plumage up cutely and squawks his hellos at Blitz - "Hi! It's nice to meet you!"

"What? Oh gods, no!" Jean is both horrified and entertained in equal measures, and he ends up laughing. "Gods, no, I'm only fifteen! I don't even have a girlfriend!"

Not that that necessarily precludes having a kid, he realizes, but when you're fifteen and spent the last three years in the military ~~and have absolutely zero game~~, it certainly does! "Sorry, figure of speech. I meant that I have to keep an eye on him and make sure he's not being a dick, you know? Like he's a kid or something."

Some people get nice Pokemon. Jean got Blitz. But they've come a long way since their first interaction, and Jean can pick up Blitz and carry him around without getting shocked now. Most of the time.

Blitz has no plumage to fluff or any way to make himself look cute, but at least he's not glowering or spitting sparks, and he answers Murder Chicken politely enough. "Hi. I'm Blitz. What's your name?"

As far as Krieg's aware, fifteen is plenty old enough to have a kid, but he's also not an expert on the matter, either, so he'll take Jean's word for it. He nods his head, a short downward jerk of his chin, to acknowledge the explanation.

"Not many kids on Pandora. Mostly just assholes." A whole planet of assholes. He'd missed it more when he'd first arrived. Now? Not so much.

His gaze shifts briefly from Jean to the Pokemon. He has no idea where Murder Chicken learned to be so polite, because that's certainly not something Krieg had ever taught him. Not that he minds. Maybe certain pokemon just come by it naturally. It's probably a good thing in Krieg's case. Murder Chicken's pleasant presence has softened more than one awkward encounter since he's been here.

"My name's Murder Chicken!"

That seems to be going fairly well, then. Twitching his gaze back to Jean, he tilts his head curiously to one side and asks, "What's it like where you're from?"

Technically, there are probably some fifteen year olds with kids back in Jean's world too, but he's not one of them. He'd have to actually convince a girl to let him touch her for that to happen.

Jean snickers at Krieg's assessment and nods. "Yeah, plenty of assholes on my world too. One of them made his way here." Hence Jean and Blitz escaping for a playdate with Krieg and Murder Chicken.

Blitz narrows his eyes at Murder Chicken. How did the friendly, polite Pokemon get such a sweet name? Why isn't he named Murder Ball? Life is so very, very unfair. "Is the big ugly one yours? The scrawny jackass one is mine."

Jean's smile fades a little when Krieg asks him about his world. His world is a nightmare, a hideously cruel place that's astoundingly unfair, one that Jean is missing less and less everyday. He tries to shrug it off though, looking as casual as he can manage and hoping his eyes don't give him away. "Pretty shit, honestly. It's full of these monsters called titans that try to eat us."

When given the choice between titans and Pokemon, Jean will pick Pokemon every time.

"What about your world?"

The friendly polite Pokémon got such a great name because his trainer is bad at naming things. Counter-intuitive? Maybe. But somehow it works. "Yup! He's mine! He's not very talkative but he's really strong!" And really protective and even kind of a worry-wart, but Murder Chicken likes him a lot, anyway.

Krieg's eye narrows in interest at the mention of the titans, although honestly that doesn't sound much different than Pandora.

"It's a shithole. It's just desert and blight where life is cheap and everyone's an asshole." His gaze wanders a bit over the nearby scenery, all green grass and shrubs and trees, bursting with life and good health. He definitely doesn't miss Pandora anymore. Some of the people there, he misses, but not the world.

"King Asshole is here too." He returns his gaze back to Jean with a little twitch of his head. "Careful talking to him. He acts like your friend but he'll shoot you in the face for giggles."

"Mine isn't very strong, but he has a lot of candy." Blitz is honest about Jean's good points.

"Who's the King Asshole?" If this is someone Krieg says to avoid, Jean is going to take note. He's realistic about his abilities to defend himself in this world, where he doesn't have his gear and can't get away easily.

"Oh! If he's not strong, then you've got to be strong, for him! And help him catch up!" Murder Chicken nods wisely as he imparts this particular bit of information. It's so important for pokemon and their trainers to grow together!

"Mngh...Handsome Jackass." Krieg grumbles quietly to himself as he pats his pants pockets, looking for the one he's stowed his Pokegear in. When he finds it, he pulls it out and flips it open. It only takes a few moments for him to find Jack's latest network post. He stops the recorded video before Jack has a chance to actually start talking, and shoves the device at Jean so that he can see King Asshole's dumb grinning face. "This guy."

"I do." Blitz looks pleased with himself when he shares this. "I chase away all the wild Pokemon from our camp, and make sure the other ones don't get out of line." Yes, he beats up the Pokemon that belong to the human's friends, when he can get away with it.

Jean examines Krieg's gear when it's shoved in his face, and nods once he's committed the guy's face to memory. "Okay, got it. Avoid that guy." He'd ask about what Krieg means about shooting people in the face, but decides he doesn't want to know. If Krieg says to avoid him because he's the King Asshole, that's good enough for Jean.

Jean glances over at the Pokemon, who seem to be getting along well enough. "What do you think, are you ready to battle these guys?"

Good deed for the day accomplished, Krieg tucks his 'Gear back into his pocket and laughs in response to Jean's question.

"I'm always ready!"

Murder Chicken looks up at the sound of his trainer's laughter, fluffs up excitedly, and waddles back over to stand next to Krieg. He's ready, too!

"Let's do it!"

Blitz perks up when Murder Chicken goes back to Krieg, and bounces his way over to Jean's side. He already has electricity running over his surface and is vibrating with barely suppressed joy.

"Okay, but let's get away from the road." Blitz tends to do some pretty serious property damage when he gets going, and judging from what he saw on the network, Jean assumes it's the same for Murder Chicken.

Jean steps off to the side, and Blitz reluctantly follows. "Come on, I want to fight now!"

Krieg doesn't dally either, and moves quickly to a nice open spot a decent way from the road. He waits long enough to be sure both Jean and Blitz are ready, but once they are, he doesn't hesitate.

"Let's get this barbeque started!"

Murder Chicken, who is - thankfully for his trainer - a natural at understanding Krieg's requests, squawks his compliance and powers up his Flame Charge. There's an audible whoosh! and a wave of hot air blasts away from him in all directions, and he kicks off, charging straight for Blitz.

Just as Jean thought: Murder Chicken, for all his politeness and cute wing fluffing, isn't going to be an easy battle. He makes a split second decision to take some damage to try and get a better payoff.

"Blitz! Charge!"

Blitz makes a frustrated sound--but he wants to fiiiiiight--but listens and starts vibrating as he charges up an electric attack, bracing for impact.

Well, if Blitz is just going to sit there and power up, then Murder Chicken will take the opportunity to slam directly into his new friend, as directed by his trainer. The Combusken has no doubt that the Voltorb is really strong - he can definitely handle it! Right?

The impact creates a mini explosion of fire, which naturally causes Krieg to laugh - as he always does at such a sight. Murder Chicken bounces back several feet to wait for the smoke to clear and for his next direction.

Blitz likes to think he's pretty strong, but so far he's just gone up against wild Pokemon and ones that are close to his same level. Battling an evolved Pokemon is something else all together, and Murder Chicken's hit sends him rocking, almost rolling over completely. He manages to catch himself at the very edge of balance and rock forward, just in time to catch a faceful of fire.

Jean winces; that looks like it hurt, and Blitz is temporarily lost in a cloud of smoke. Thank the gods Murder Chicken and Krieg both seem to have a sense of fair play; if they pushed the attack, Blitz would go down fast. "Shock!"

Finally. Blitz lunges through the smoke, barreling down on Murder Chicken, and sends a huge, arcing ray of electricity his way.

Murder Chicken tries to dodge, but he's not faster than electricity - yet. The electric shock knocks him back a few feet, but for the most part he's able to shrug it off with a ruffle of his feathers and a quick shake of his head. Blitz is pretty quick!

Krieg notices this too, fairly naturally, so his next direction is a little more straightforward than his previous one.

"Hit 'em fast and hard!"

Which means it's time for a Quick Attack - MC is moving again almost before Krieg finishes his instruction, an orange and yellow blur headed straight for Blitz.

Damn. Murder Chicken is just as tough as Krieg looks, and Jean gets a sinking feeling in his stomach. He's never actually seen Blitz get knocked out before, and while he knows that Pokemon don't actually kill each other, he has an unexpected surge of protectiveness well up in his chest.

"Blitz! Dodge!"

Blitz tries to get out of the way, but he's still dazed from the fire attack earlier and slower than usual, presenting an easy target.

If the Combusken has learned anything from its daily training regimen, it's hyper focus - Krieg absolutely demands all of his attention when they train, so he knows how to keep his eye on the prize - or the target, in this case. He's moving far too quickly to pull his punch, but for what it's worth the thought does cross his little chicken mind - he doesn't want to hurt his new friend, after all! But he also doesn't want to disappoint his trainer, so the impact of his Quick Attack is, well, quick, as advertised, and full-powered, as requested by Krieg.

Hopefully it doesn't absolutely devastate Blitz...

The Quick Attack lands, and even though Blitz is trying to get out of the way, it hits him on the side and sends him reeling. Jean winces; Blitz is still awake, still fighting, but he's the worst off Jean has ever seen him, and Jean realizes they're not going to win this fight.

Maybe it'll be good for Blitz to lose for once. Might give him a little humility.

Still, Jean doesn't want him to just roll over and accept his fate--not that the Voltorb would, anyway--so he calls out the one move that Blitz has learned but hasn't been allowed to try out yet.

"Self-destruct!"

Blitz's eyes widen at the command, and as beat up and low on health as he is, Jean can still see him buzz faintly with excitement. The Voltorb changes his roll, looping back towards Murder Chicken, and rolls right towards him before igniting with a thunderous clap that sets Jean's ears ringing.

To give the Voltorb credit, his self-sacrificing attack does knock Murder Chicken for a loop - the deafening, loud clap of thunder, the bright flash of light, and of course, the actual impact of the explosion itself all combine into one monster hit. The Combusken flies backward from the impact site and skids painfully to a stop on the ground near Krieg's feet, plumage notably singed and smoking in places. He's back on his feet in the next moment though, understandably stunned but still raring to go - until he sees the damage Blitz has done to himself with that last move. He finally hesitates, then, waiting for further direction from his trainer.

Krieg witnesses the explosion in the same spirit as a little kid at his first fireworks show - he's utterly delighted, as his laughter once the dust begins to settle might indicate. That kind of move is exactly the spiteful sort of bullshit he used to pull back on Pandora. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't, but either way it was something he could laugh about later, wallet smarting from the New-U machine's ridiculous fee.

"Bad ass!" The highest praise in his vocabulary. "Is it down?" It looks like it is, but these cockfights aren't life-or-death, and despite everything Krieg does possess a sense of fair play. He might not hesitate to kick a bandit on Pandora when the bandit was down, but friendly fights between buddies is a different matter.

It's the first time Jean has seen Blitz self-destruct, and it's a pretty awesome sight. He'd probably be laughing right along with Krieg, if he wasn't worried about his Pokemon.

Jean trots over to where Blitz is laying on his side and crouches beside him. "Yeah, he's down." Jean gets out Blitz's rarely-used Pokeball and slips the Voltorb inside it, where he can rest and recuperate after his defeat. Jean straightens up and lopes over to Krieg and Murder Chicken, smiling faintly. He's not upset about Blitz losing; the Voltorb had been getting awfully uppity lately and needed to be taken down a notch.

"Good fight. You've got some great moves, Murder Chicken." It's clear they've been training and work well together.

That's...actually a little disappointing. The explosion had been great, but overall the battle was over far too quickly. Krieg is still vibrating from the excitement. MC, in contrast, seems quite calm, and waddles up to Jean to pat his knee with one hand-like claw and squawk a polite squawk of thanks.

Krieg nods at Jean's remark, and repeats his agreement - "Good fight!" And it had been, too. Then he jerks his head backward in the direction of Ecruteak and asks, "Wanna come to the monster hospital?" Krieg and Murder Chicken will walk him there, if he wants.

MC is a remarkably polite Pokemon. What must that be like, having a Pokemon friend who isn't a giant ass? Jean has no idea.

The other battles Jean has fought with Blitz had lasted longer, but they'd been against Pokemon who were closer to Blitz's level. Murder Chicken is just too tough, but Jean has a feeling that when Blitz wakes up, he'll want a rematch. Just... not right away.

"Yeah, let's go." Jean isn't going to wake Blitz up right away--he's going to enjoy the peace and quiet--but it'll be good to take him to where he can be treated once Jean decides to roust him. "What kind of city is Ecruteak?"

Maybe one day Jean will find out; there are tons of wild pokemon out there, just waiting to be befriended.

Krieg turns and begins walking when Jean signals his willingness to accompany him, and tilts his head a bit and squints briefly as he organizes a response to his question.

"Small. Old. Quiet. There's a burned tower and a stuffy theater."

Nailed it.

Someday, he'll get a nice one. One day.

Jean considers that response like it was a serious one, then nods. "Sounds like my hometown." Except for the whole 'destroyed by titans' part, but he doesn't want to talk about that part, so Krieg will just have to be left wondering. "So why are you hanging out there?"

Maybe stuffy theaters and burned towers is Krieg's Aesthetic?

Burned towers are kind of Krieg's aesthetic, but that's not why he's spent the past couple of months in Ecruteak.

"Because that's where Angel is." Also Athena and Janey, but they're of secondary importance to the young woman who's become Krieg's purpose for...pretty much everything.

Burned towers seem like they'd be Krieg's aesthetic.

"Who's Angel?" With anyone else, Jean would ask if she was Krieg's girlfriend, buuuuuuut Krieg doesn't really seem like the type to have a girlfriend. Or a boyfriend. And if he does, the world is patently unfair and Jean is going to die single and alone and be devoured by his Pokemon. He bets Blitz wouldn't even wait until Jean's body got cold to start eating it.

"Muahaha! My best friend!"

Krieg is definitely not the type of guy to have a girlfriend. Or a boyfriend. He's really just recently started getting the hang of "friends", period, and those are tricky enough. There's no need to complicate things any more than they already are.

"Jackass killed her on Pandora. But she can walk and run and live here!"

Edited (Punctuation, lol) 2016-12-07 06:29 (UTC)

"Oh! Good!"

It really is! Krieg is perhaps not the most stable person Jean has ever met, and he's genuinely happy to know he has a best friend. Although, for the record, he thinks Murder Chicken would probably make a pretty good best friend too.

Krieg's next comment twists in Jean's chest like a knife. Oh... oh, he knows what that's like, having a best friend who was once walking and running and living and then was dead, except Jean's best friend isn't in this world. No, he's still dead and gone and burned back home, and they won't bring him here, where he'd be safe, and for a moment, Jean feels like he's going to puke.

"Is that why you hate Jack so much?"

Jean wishes he could put a face to what killed Marco, but hating the titans is like hating rain, or smoke, or the sun. It's pointless; they don't know what they're doing.

Murder Chicken is a great little buddy, but for someone like Krieg, whose grasp on his own humanity is tenuous at the best of times, a human bestie is ideal. Thankfully, that's where Angel comes in.

"Mnng...Some, but not all."

That's one of those long, complicated explanations that Krieg really isn't cut out for making.

"He killed more people than just her. Two were my friends. The rest didn't deserve it either."

Jean can get behind that idea. He loves Blitz a lot, but the Voltorb isn't really a substitute for his own missing best human friend.

"So he's definitely a bad person then." Jean stores this information away, in case he needs it later. "I'll try to avoid him. What does he look like?"

Maybe Krieg will figure out how to consistently nickname Handsome Jack so that people don't get confused when he talks about him, but today is probably not the day he'll be doing that.

"Showed you already. Jack, Handsome Jackass, King Asshole, different names, same jackoff."

At least the fact that there's only one means he's easier to avoid, though, right? Totally.

"Waaaaait... was that the guy with the fake face? The one I wanted to put on Blitz?"

Jean starts snickering, then full-on laughing. "Okay, I guess he probably doesn't want to see me either!"

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

closed log; adult supervision needed

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god help me, writing Blitz dialogue

pokemon dialogue FTW tbh XD

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and here is where I reveal I actually know nothing about Pokemon battling

you're doing fine, you got this 'u'b

one more hit and then Blitz is done

ugh, sorry i'm so slow /o\

it's fine, I'm slow too and I know you've got a lot on your plate right now! <3

;w; <333

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fun fact: it took me way too long to realize that icon is Krieg's chest and not the top of his butt

lmaooooo! it's my one artsy icon

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