2024-02-13: Fighting For Each Other
- Log: Fighting For Each Other
- Cast: Arisugawa Joy, Damian Tamaoka
- Where: Viridian City - Emerald Way
- Date: February 13, 2024
- Summary: When Joy returns after the Team Rocket attack on the Psynard Cloning Lab, Damian is alarmed to find out about the injuries she suffered. Together, they make a resolution.
=======================<* Viridian City - Emerald Way *>======================== Viridian City is a city of many importances; it is the major commerce and logistics hub within the Emerald Cape province, providing primary access to the western reaches of the Kanto region. It's of no surprise, then, that it sports an expansive and well-developed commercial district, with Market Way providing a wide variety of shops and goods for all walks of life. Lush and adorned with nature, Viridian's residents enjoy a spacious and relaxed environment, with most living in medium-density apartment blocks three to four stories high. The market is most recently memorably featured in the hit single by sensational Nedean-pop band 2BA, "I'm on the Road to Viridian City." BGM: Pokemon: Let's Go, Eevee & Pikachu! - Pewter City - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGrGjO5F6ZM
<Pose Tracker> Arisugawa Joy has posed.
Joy was at the attack on the Psynard Cloning Lab, but unlike other times where she's returned from Team Rocket duty, it's not a silent entry and an 'I'm home' that she arrives in... rather, Damian first hears the cries of a Pokemon -- it sounds like Hydreigon.
Hydreigon can't exactly enter through the front door, but she lands on the porch and is making a lot of noise to get someone's attention. Joy's mounted on her back, but she's slumped flat against the Dark Dragon.
"Hyyy, hyy...!" Hydreigon wags her puppet hands up and down in panic.
<Pose Tracker> Damian Tamaoka has posed.
Damian is pacing back and forth in the base. He'd begged off--it was on Nede, he wasn't ready to do this kind of thing on his home soil--he was barely ready to do it on Filgaia, but now... Well. He had a baby Psynymph to take care of. The irony of attacking the Psynard cloning facility while carrying a baby Psynymph was... too perverse. (Even though, like Joy, he isn't exactly thrilled with how it operates, either.)
He's tried distracting himself but couldn't, stuck in a cycle of worrying. Purri was doing her best to calm him down, but... these were extraordinary times.
Damian freezes up, momentarily, when he hears Hydreigon's cries. And after a moment he bolts into a run for the front door. "H-H-H-Hydreigon! A-A-A-Alice!" He rushes over, placing a hand on Hydreigon's side. "I-It's okay, I'm here. L-Lay down, please..."
He starts checking Joy for injuries, and a moment later Purri nudges his side, holding the handle of a first-aid kit in her mouth. "Th-thanks." He keeps checking Joy over, and Purri goes to nuzzle at Hydreigon to try and calm her down.
<Pose Tracker> Arisugawa Joy has posed.
Hydreigon obeys and takes a wide stance first, before flattening against the ground so she can get lower; Joy starts to sag to one side and lets out a low groan. She's just scuffed and haggard-looking for the most part, but the problem is immediately obvious -- she's taken a rather nasty cut to her upper arm, which has been bleeding against the white sleeve of her coat for a while, staining it red.
"M-Mia...? Is that you?" Joy sounds out of it. "Where's this...?"
Hydreigon looks pretty anxious; she nuzzles back against Purri, whining quietly. It's clear that injury to her trainer isn't a situation she's used to.
<Pose Tracker> Damian Tamaoka has posed.
If there is one thing Purri knows how to do, it's to keep her calm while someone else is in distress, and she gives her best reassuring purr for Hydreigon as she keeps nuzzling up against her. Damian wants so badly to tend to her, but right now he's got his hands full with Joy.
The sight of that blood is daunting, and Damian's chest heaves for breath for a moment before he forces himself to close his eyes and calm down. Treat Joy now. Worry about reacting later.
"Y-y-yeah, i-it's me. Y-y-you're home, Hy-hy-hydreigon carried you here."
Apply pressure to the wound. That's the first thing, right? He slips on a pair of latex gloves with shaking hands and then puts them right over the wound, using the jacket and uniform sleeve to help apply pressure. At the same time he closes his eyes and focuses on channeling a healing spell to try and knit up at least the surface level damage.
<Pose Tracker> Arisugawa Joy has posed.
Joy grimaces immediately as Damian presses down, letting out a little snarl, but she doesn't really have the strength -- nor the positional advantage -- to really push back or roll away at present. The protesting slacks when the healing spell goes off, however, and at the very least knits the flesh so that she's not in danger of futher blood loss.
There's a deeper gasp and a shiver, as Joy's eyes start to focus further. "... sorry. I got knocked out, so I didn't even realise... I didn't even realise I was being flown back home, here," she manages to murmur out, her thoughts scattered.
"... thank you, Mia."
<Pose Tracker> Damian Tamaoka has posed.
Joy might well be more than a match for Damian physically under any other conditions. The snarl makes him worry, certainly, but, his best friend bleeding out makes him worry more. "Al-Al-Alice!" he stammers out. "S-stop, please."
He sags once he feels the spell complete, and at least the most immediate part of danger is taken care of. There's still quite a lot of injuries and wounds to account for, but they don't seem quite as immediate. Not on the surface, at least.
A little bit more panic and worry is starting to creep in, but he keeps it at bay, for now. "Y-you got knocked out?!" he yelps. "Alice, wh--" He freezes up for a moment and has to take a deep breath before he can continue. "What. Happened?"
"You're welcome, b-b-but you should thank Hydreigon. She was very brave."
<Pose Tracker> Arisugawa Joy has posed.
Joy takes a deep, centreing breath before peeling her jacket off -- leaving her in just the navy blue turtleneck underneath, which is also slashed open underneath the coat; she droops her head back onto Hydreigon's back, reaching her good arm and patting her on the side. "... thank you, Hydreigon."
"Hyy..." Hydreigon whimpers in turn, still spending time being close to Purri, which seems to do wonders for her anxiety.
"Let's see... we were planning on jumping into the lab, but something already happened. One of the Psynards went berserk. The boss was there too. Peace, and Jessie-senpai, and James, but we split up, so I didn't quite see them..."
She squints for a moment and fumbles for her pack, but looks a bit disoriented still. "Sorry, I need some water... can I have some water, please...?"
<Pose Tracker> Damian Tamaoka has posed.
Damian would pat Hydreigon too, but he's still got the bloodied latex gloves on, and he doesn't want to add more blood, so he simply says. "Th-th-thanks, Hydreigon. I'll-I'll make you something special for dinner."
He blinks as Joy describes the events. One of the Psynards already went berserk. "Wh-wh-what? Isn't... isn't that supposed to be impossible?" They're genetically engineered for compatibility with their future trainers, right?
He is, at once, both relieved that he didn't expose Mypsy to whatever made that Psynard go mad... and more regretful that he wasn't there to support his friends.
"I... I shsh-should've been there..." he mutters.
He makes a note to contact Peace, next.
"O-oh, y-yeah." Damian oh so carefully peels off the gloves and drops them on the ground for the moment. A quick spell to sanitize his hands a little bit better, and he's reaching into Joy's pack to get her water out and hold it up to her lips to help her drink. "W-we should get you changed, a-and... cleaned up. W-wash Hydreigon, then food..." For both Joy and Hydreigon. Then probably more medicine, or healing, or something for all the lesser injuries.
<Pose Tracker> Arisugawa Joy has posed.
"I... genuinely don't know," Joy admits. "I've never heard of something like that happening myself, but I don't know if it's because they keep it hush... I remember even back when I worked for Professor Oak, he didn't like the Cloning Labs."
Joy draws in a breath and tries to give Damian a reassuring smile. "... it's okay. You had Mypsy to look after, right? I'm so glad she's not there."
Mia takes the water out of her bag, and Joy gratefully nods as she accepts it, then takes a really big drink from it. She must be quite dehydrated at this point. (But not dehydreited.)
"I was... fighting that man again. Dias Flac. I approached him on other occasions, and we worked out something like a deal... but it didn't include fighting if I was doing things for Team Rocket."
A longer pause, as she puts her hand to the side of her face. "I..." A pause. "Hey, Mia, I... Honedge... no, it was Ditto..." She looks a bit less calm now.
"I drew blood... I hurt someone. I'm... I'm still a bit in shock about that..."
<Pose Tracker> Damian Tamaoka has posed.
The government keeping secrets...? That doesn't sound like the government. But then again... he's starting to see Energy Nede in a different light, just a little bit, and it might just be possible, now... Still, there are other possible explanations. "M-maybe it's something the Ten Wise Men did...?" That explanation would at least have the benefit of not causing him to start mistrusting the labs or government.
Damian returns Joy's smile with one that is unsure and hesitant, but also trying to reassure his friend in kind. "Y-y-yeah, but..." He doesn't know what the counter that with and just sighs and nods. "Me, too..."
He encourages Joy to drink as much water as she wants.
"Th-that man...? You've met him before...? Wh-what... what kind of deal...?"
His eyes go wide as Mia admits to drawing blood with Ditto. "Oh, A-Alice..." he exhales, all at once. There's no contempt or disgust, just pain and sympathy for his friend going through An Experience.
He would go for a hug, but there's still quite a bit of blood around. So instead he finds a non-bloodied and non-offensive place to rest a comforting hand. His voice is almost a whisper. "They fight seriously, huh...?"
He adds 'check on Ditto' to his list of tasks to do.
<Pose Tracker> Arisugawa Joy has posed.
"That's also true... I'm just guessing, at any rate," Joy does admit to Damian, before she gets lost in conspiracy-esque guesses. "... I hope everyone's doing fine. I couldn't see what happened to Peace."
The deal with Dias, though?
"... he saw me when I was practicing in the park. We ended up talking, and I figured... he was the kind to feel out of place in Nede. So I tried appealing to him with the kinds of Pokemon he might like -- more powerful ones in far-off corners, in exchange for... sparring. Because I wanted to learn from him too."
Her expression fades as she says, "But now we've drawn blood from each other, and I have no idea how that'll change the deal. But... he sure is serious, that Dias."
<Pose Tracker> Damian Tamaoka has posed.
Damian isn't too keen to spiral down that rabbit hole, either. "I'll text her," he murmurs, pulling his phone out to send Peace a text.
But the deal... "So... so training for information...?" That's kind of interesting, actually... and gives him hope that some of the Drifters might not hate him forever if they seem him doing stuff with Team Rocket.
Because he's not keen to let Joy go in without backup again. Not after... this.
"Maybe... maybe it'll be okay...?" he suggests. "Th-things are more violent where they're from, right...?" He really has no idea where he's going with that point. He simply doesn't know enough about Filgaia to say either way.
He hasn't met this Dias yet, and he's not sure he wants to. "Th-though, some of the Drifters seem nice... Miss Everstead-Rey was concerned about the Psynymphs, too..."
He lets out a long sigh. They shouldn't be doing this, but yet... "We stole the information to take care of Mypsy..."
<Pose Tracker> Arisugawa Joy has posed.
"Thanks. I'm sure she's fine, she can take care of herself. More than me, even," Joy admits, given how reckless and unobservant she can be to her surroundings.
Training for information...
"You could put it like that. Mostly, I could feel that he didn't fit in... so I wanted to express that Pokemon can appeal to someone like him too, even if he didn't want to train them," Joy reflects on how their first meeting went.
"Yeah. ... but we'll certainly come to blows again, when we go on more missions," Joy furrows her brow, though her expression softens when Damian mentions Ida. "You met Ida Everstead-Rey... the first time I met her was that attack on the lab. She punched the air out of me. But she seems to have grown close to some Pokemon."
She blinks once as Damian admits that Rocket stole the information to take care of Mypsy. "... I see. I just hope it'll be useful for you and her."
<Pose Tracker> Damian Tamaoka has posed.
"M-maybe..." Damian says. She was almost chapion-level, wasn't she? She just stopped to pursue research...
Peace and Joy are both so much more stronger trainers than he is... He's got a long way to go to catch up.
"Awww... That was kind of you, Joy..." Trying to find some Pokemon that might appeal, even to someone who didn't think they'd like them. "I hope... he finds one he likes."
But more missions... Damian looks down. "I-I'm..." deep breath. "I-I'm gonna be there next time. I.. I an't let you take all the risks. I don't want anything bad to happen to you..."
"Y-yeah! She was there, when we found the Psynymphs. Her, a-and..." His face scrunches up for a moment as he tries to figure out the best way to say it. "A fairy. N-not a fairy-type, but... a fairy. And Timu. They were all there."
Despite the seriousness of everything, he smiles a little. "H-her Metapod, Sal, s-s-seemed to like Wurmple..."
"M-m-me too... I just... don't feel great, about how we got it..."
<Pose Tracker> Arisugawa Joy has posed.
"Kind...?" Joy pauses. "I guess so... I pointed out that there were powerful Pokemon interested in battle, or other kinds of challenges, further away from the cities, and where he might be able to see some of them..."
Joy looks to Damian as he insists on being there. "... okay. This might be rich coming from me, but... don't overdo it either, okay?" She lets out a much more tired sigh. "Yeah. I feel exactly the same way."
Timu was there too, huh... and a fairy... but not a Fairy-type? "... I'm not sure I understand."
She draws up gently and gives Hydreigon a more solid hug, even with her injured arm. "So Sal evolved already? I suppose it's about time. She also has two Eevees that work well together, last I checked."
On the last part, though... "... to be honest, I wanted to just smash the place up, but in hindsight, I do feel kind of bad about it too. There's a lot of people who just work there who aren't guilty."
<Pose Tracker> Damian Tamaoka has posed.
"It's still helping him see... the good parts of Nede..." Damian points out. "Or the parts he'd like..." Plenty of people like challenging themselves, so there's nothing wrong with that. He's not keen on powerful pokemon for their own sake, but he knows why some people are.
"W-we did... okay, the last time, I-I-I just..." Damian got overwhelmed by the presence of two ghosts on the field, and that caused Purri to come for him, and then she got injured and... He was definitely the weak link there. He looks down. "I..." He shuts his eyes. "I gotta do something..."
"W-well, she was a creature called a fairy, but she wasn't a pokemon? She could talk, and use magic." He frowns in thought. "But... I'm not sure what type? She had some tattoos, but she had some other stuff, too..."
"O-oh yeah! She does!" Have two Eevees, that is. "
Damian nods. "Y-yeah... That's true... I... I feel bad about... doing crime, you know...? But... Team Rocket is helping me keep from going home, so..."
"... I just... wish I had something I wanted to fight for. A goal, or... I dunno. Doctor Aomori said th-there was room for it, in Team Rocket, b-but that I'd have to work for it myself, once I figured out what that was."
<Pose Tracker> Arisugawa Joy has posed.
"... yeah," Joy nods. "It's also how I feel about Pokemon. That there's something for everyone, no matter what kind of person you are. I used to feel like it wasn't for me... but you showed me otherwise, after all, Mia."
Damian seems to have regrets about his last fight. "... okay. Maybe Peace and I can help you train with various situations, so you can be a bit more used to them? It's something we can work on together."
A creature called a Fairy, that isn't a Pokemon. "I see... is this like the Horse that isn't a Ponyta?" Joy looks a bit hapless.
Joy does bite her lip as Damian expresses how he doesn't like doing crimes, but is doing it because it helps keep them from going home. A goal, to fight for, though...?
"... I don't know if this'll help, but... even if the Ten Wise Men weren't a thing, suddenly..." Joy starts towards the lab proper, picking up her pack as she goes. "I'd still fight for you. So you don't have to go home, and answer to your parents."
<Pose Tracker> Damian Tamaoka has posed.
Damian blinks a little bit, when Joy says he showed her about how there was something about Pokemon for Joy, too. "R-really...? You mean that...?" He casts his mind back... and nods, recalling all the way back when... He smiles, faintly. "Oh yeah... I just... you've become such a great trainer, and I'm nowhere near your level, I guess I kinda forgot..."
He nods at the offer of help from Peace and Joy. "I'd like that," he admits. "I know... I know I need to get more serious about training..."
A horse that isn't a ponyta. "K-kinda, yeah... it's kinda confusing that we have the same words for different things, huh...?"
But Joy would still fight for him, to keep him from going home... There is an uplifting feeling in his heart, and he might even be a little misty eyed for a moment. "Th-thanks, Alice... I... feel like I should have a goal that's... that's just for me, but... Until I figure that out, can... can I fight for you and Nami, too...?"
He quickly bundles up the jacket the gloves, and snags the medit, and gives Hydreigon's side a pat. "H-hang tight, I'll be back to wash you off, and then I'll make you some curry, okay...?" To Purri he says, "Stay with Hydreigon."
"Purr!"
<Pose Tracker> Arisugawa Joy has posed.
"If it weren't for you, there wouldn't have been a Champion Joy," Joy reassures Damian. "So don't forget that. It was a very important moment for me, what you did."
The same words for different things...
"There are some things that make Nede seem more connected than it initially seems. Like that Nedian girl who's never been here..." Joy makes a note to pursue that thread further.
A goal that's just for Mia. "... I'll be right beside you, figuring that out. Because 'defending Nede', fighting for you and Nami are certainly things I want to do... but I'm still at a crossroads myself as well."
Joy pats Hydreigon on the side too, nodding, before taking out a Poffin and handing it over to her. "Here, this'll tide you over until dinner."
Hydreigon looks so happy and excited!
"Just a moment," Joy says to Damian, "I'll change out of this sweater so it can go in the wash too. ... I guess I'll need to get these fixed. I wonder if Drifters constantly have to go to tailors..."
<Pose Tracker> Damian Tamaoka has posed.
Hearing Joy phrase it like that makes Damian pause. That feels like... such a powerful thing to have done, to have given Joy... (even if her family basically took it away from her the day after.)
"W-wow..." he whispers.
Damian frowns at that. "Nedian girl who's never been to Nede...? Is that possible...?" Joy's been getting to know more Drifters than he has, apparently.
Oddly enough, Damian relaxes a little when Joy admits she's at a crossroads, too. "Th-then... we'll fight for each other, until we both figure out what we want..." He pauses. "I-if you're fighting Drifters... I should... I should learn how, too... N-n-not with weapons, but..." Symbology. He can do Symbology.
"O-okay... once I start the laundry, I'll check out your pokemon, if you want to go shower..."