CAPTURE 002: Blinding City-lights [Alanna]

Mitsuru was not built for waddling furiously in the dark, but here he was trying his best not to collide into random objects as he searched for that Pokemon who threw a rock at him. Why would he even do that?! he seethed, clearly angered by this sign of disrespect. If anything, he should be the one throwing rocks, not the other way around! Mental note, throw a rock at a random weak Pokemon next time. "(Where are you?!)" he squawked, but he was starting to get exhausted and had to stop to catch his breath. It was only then he heard footsteps behind him. Senri was finally able to catch up after almost getting lost since he took a wrong turn for a moment, only to realise it was a dead end. "Mitsuru! There you are. Please don't run off like that."

"(But--but the Pokemon--!)" the Piplup complained, pointing at the shadows. He didn't realise that the said mischievous Pokemon was floating there, ever so silently.

"No butts, young man. It's just a prank. Now let's get out of here before we get into some real trouble--" the trainer's eyes widened when he noticed that thin strings were about to grab his Pokemon, "--look out!"

"(Wha--aah!)"

"Mitsuru!" ack, no choice here but to act quickly! "Hikaru, Discharge!"

The Minun hesitated for a moment but then nodded and jumped off his shoulder, releasing a powerful shower of sparks everywhere, including Mitsuru and the Pokemon that was trying to nab him. Senri himself got shocked from the stray sparks, but it was nothing too serious or painful. He was more worried about his own Pokemon, however, since Electric moves were super effective against Water. He quickly rushed towards the knocked out Piplup, and seeing that there was little else he could do until he got to a Pokemon Centre, he called him back to his ball. Now, for the wild Pokemon...

Well, it turned out that they were super effective against the mysterious figure too. "A Drifloon?" another familiar sight, albeit a cautious one. They were known, after all, to take children away and eat their souls, but some Drifloon and by extension their evolutions were friendly to human life. He wasn't sure which one this one was, though. Still, he couldn't just leave it paralysed. He noticed that there were residual sparks surrounding its round, purple body. "(Nggh...that hurt...)" the Ghost type groaned.

He'd ask if it was alright, which it clearly wasn't, but he might as well cut to the chase, "Why'd you throw a rock at my Pokemon?"

The Drifloon whined, "(I just wanted some fun, is all. You don't get a lot of fun around here.)"

"Still, that wasn't very nice." he replied, taking the tone of someone scolding a child.

"(I know...b-but I was so lonely!)" to his surprise, the Pokemon started to cry, even wiping its tears shakily with its string appendages. "(Nobody likes to play in this neighbourhood. It's all gangs and enemies and fighting, I'm sick of it! I just want to get out of here and live a nice, quiet life in a town somewhere...)"

"Then why don't you?"

"(Eh...uh...the gangs keep me here on a short leash, yeah! But they won't be able to do anything if a trainer caught me. They hate humans.)"

Senri raised a brow, but decided that he would give this Pokemon a chance. "Hmm well, you could come with us, if you want? At least you wouldn't be stuck here in this alleyway all day."

"(Oh YES I'd love that! Thank you thank you thank you!)" the Drifloon cried as it flopped one of its strings onto Senri's outstretched hand. "(I'll apologise to the penguin later, I swear. You won't regret having me!)"

"I sure hope that's the case..."

Hikaru seemingly looked uneasy, letting out a small whine.

---

Drifloon is a rather selfish and scheming Pokemon whose actions are determined whether the results benefit her or not. Her favourite tactic is to cry a sob story and hope that others will take the bait, but because she is also mischievous, she has gotten herself in trouble many times before. She actually started out as a gift to a child, but after she was thrown out by the kid's parents for potentially endangering him, she became a wandering soul. In order to survive, she has made a number of deals in her life, but has also broken many of them, so not a lot of Pokemon gangs like her. Drifloon has yet to show that she can remain loyal to someone, especially a trainer, but she feels that a life of battle and travel is the best option for her right now. Just don't trust her with your secrets or your belongings, since she might just trade them to an underhanded seller for some candy.

After getting the Drifloon into her Poke ball--he'll think about what to nickname her later--he decided that the first order of business was to find the Pokemon Center. Mitsuru must still be knocked out in his Poke Ball, and the Drifloon was still paralyzed, so he only had Hikaru in the event of a battle or some trouble. Yeah, they really needed to find some place to heal his Pokemon soon.

The issue was that Vega City was huge. It already took him a while to find his way out of the alleyway, and he clearly remembered that wherever he had wound up, it wasn't the same place he came out of. Damn, now he had no idea where he was, and everyone looked too caught up with their nightlife festivities to pay attention to him. Maybe there could be some signs around, showing where the center was? Or maybe a map? But the crowds and loud noises were starting to overwhelmn him; he suddenly felt very small.

"(Senri!)" the Minun on his shoulder squeaked, furiously tapping him in an attempt to get him to snap out of it. He jumped a little before turning to his partner and did a small nod, "Thanks." he muttered. Okay, he shouldn't panic. He just had to ask someone, right? Someone not too intimidating looking...err...how about that rather tall woman walking towards his direction? He approached her with an aura of slight nervousness. "Hello, uh, I'm sorry to bother. Do you know where the Pokemon Center is?"

Despite looking like one of the more questionable people in the vicinity, she turned out to sound very nice and caring, which was a relief to Senri. He was half expecting that he'd just be shooed off for being annoying while they resumed their own business. Her tone actually sounded a little strange to him--ah, was it an accent? Maybe she wasn't from here. Nevertheless, he was glad that she offered to help him out, and she even had a map out and everything. But wow, he wasn't really thinking it earlier, but this woman was much taller than he was. It was pretty intimidating.

"A-ah, it's fine." how incredibly lucky that she was going the same place. It was almost like Lady Luck decided to smile upon him after their little encounter with the Drifloon. "And that'd be great, thank you! My Pokemon got knocked out in an unexpected fight, so I really needed to heal them." he explained, looking exasperated but at the same time feeling relieved that they were not just going to walk around in circles. "Oh, I'm Senri. This is my partner, Hikaru." he was a bit flustered and so hesitated in taking her hand, but then he gave it a good shake before pulling his hand back close to his side. The Minun on his shoulder gave a friendly cry as a greeting, raising his hand up like a wave.

"Well, I'll let you lead the way then since you seem to know where you're going." he added a little awkwardly. The fact that they were just standing in the middle of the sidewalk did not help either since people were snaking around them almost constantly. He really felt like he was more of a town person rather than a city person. How do people live with this kind of traffic all the time?