[PRP] Of Fleas and Monsters

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

It was a beautiful day in Camphoreon - the sun was shining, the sky was bright blue, and people with their pokemon filled the streets. Buildings reflected the light of the day on their windows and their surroundings on their metallic surfaces. One of these reflections portrayed a young man in his twenties who had just stepped out of Kodo's largest department store with a bag containing his purchased goods in one hand. His other remained in his pocket.

He examined his new look critically, crimson eyes taking in his overall appearance with the newest addition of the fur-trimmed long coat he had bought. It wasn't his old parka, but it would do for now. Winter seemed to be fast approaching anyway, so it was probably better to think ahead with warmer outfits. With a sigh, Izaya realized he was glad to finally have some time to himself after his months as a trainee under constant supervision. At last, it was his first day off since being re-promoted back to a grunt and he had been determined to make the most of it.

Glancing down at the bag in hand, the man recalled its contents and grinned softly, his thoughts being anyone's guess. Finally satisfied with his appearance and his most recent acquisitions, the informant walked off with a skip in his step to find the nearest vending machine. He was becoming quite thirsty as he had woken up early to get to Camphoreon and enter the department store as soon as it opened. Hence, he had skipped breakfast. It had been worth it to avoid the crowds, but now it was nearing lunch time and he knew he would feel compelled to eat something soon.  

[-TRHQ- Shizuo Heiwajima]

While the Rocket was off finding a drink, another man walked down the street as a easy pace. He had his eyes half closed behind his sun glasses as if he was board and his mouth was in a neutral line. The blond haired man didn't seem to be paying a lot of attention to where he was going but that was because he simply had not set destination at the time. His bartenders outfit lead the people of the city in the know to walk around him at a distance of at least four feet so he didn't have to worry about knocking into many people unless they were tourists so that didn't snap him out of his distraction.

Shizuo passed by many shops that held no interest to him, signs that couldn't catch his eyes, and people standing on corners trying to get people to try products with out a glance. He man knew he had a job to do soon but that wasn't for another six hours and even then it would be a simple case of body guarding some rich brat from another region for a few hours. So on he walked until a vending machine managed to snag his eyes when all else had failed. He paused before walking over to it and started to dig into his pockets for the change he knew was in there.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Grunt Nakura's cheerful humming came to an abrupt halt as he almost walked straight into the man who stopped at the vending machine. Recognizing the figure on sight, the Rocket hurriedly side-stepped into the shadows to keep out of view. He prayed the bodyguard had not seen him yet, or things would start to get very bad for the both of them; not to mention everyone in the immediate surrounding area.

Despite his initial reaction upon seeing the man he hated most in the world, Izaya began to grin. After all that had happened during his time in Team Rocket, he had almost forgotten about his nemesis, but not quite. Prior to meeting his fellow Rocket members, Shizuo Heiwajima had been Orihara's favorite playmate. With a morbidly masochistic curiosity, Izaya wondered if that still held true.

Clearing his throat and attempting to change the sound of his voice, the informer leaned against the wall of the nearest building to conceal himself in its shade. "Ahem...nice weather we're having, isn't it?"  

[-TRHQ- Shizuo Heiwajima]

Shizuo thought he had heard something vaguely familiar so he looked around briefly with a rather disinterested glance. When he didn't see anything right away he continued to pull out the necessary change. Being at the vending machine was reminding him of the Flea and he wanted to hurry up and leave so he could continue to ignore the man who had been gone for months now.

The blond remembered when the twins had told him that Izaya was alive still after being missing for a while. He had both been annoyed and strangely relived that the infuriating information broker was still alive and kicking. Of course the relief was simply because it meant he could still kill said Flea, no other reason.

He was snapped out of his thoughts though by the sound of a throat clearing but when caught his attention was the voice. He turned his head slowly and his eyes landed on Izaya before narrowing. "It was nice." he growled. "What are you doing here Izaya?" He would never admit that he was pleased the man had shown his face unless it was to say he just wanted to escape the boredom of the day and another chance to squish the Flea. It most certainly wasn't because he was a familiar face from his younger days. And it absolutely had nothing to do with the fact that Tom had moved to another region and Shinra was off in another region on vacation.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Shizuo spotted him right away, despite his efforts to hide in the shadows. Ah, well; Izaya couldn't honestly say he had hoped to remain concealed for long. The thin man stepped out into the open, arms spread dramatically as he spoke. "Nice to see you too, Shizu-chan. What, I don't get a hello? A 'how have you been'? Not even a 'I missed you'?" He wore a dangerous grin and a murderous glare as crimson eyes locked with mocha ones behind blue-tinted shades. "I'm so hurt."

Clutching his hand to his chest where his heart was, the info broker kicked off the wall and the side of the vending machine to land on the top. He wasn't about to let the bodyguard-for-hire squish him against the wall with it as Shizuo had attempted thousands of times before. "At least you remember my name, though. Say it again, pretty please?" he asked, kneeling on the top of the machine to smile down at his blonde-haired peer. "I missed hearing you call it."  

[-TRHQ- Shizuo Heiwajima]

Shizuo's narrow eyes glared as the information broker stepped forward. The 'blond' stood straighter and clenched his fists beside his hips to curb the urge to punch the Seviper in human skin in the face. 'I missed you like a toothache." he huffed at his words and a grin started to appear on his face in response to Izaya's own. "Hurt? Now there is an idea. I had hoped that you had died in a ditch some where even after your sisters told me of your continued existence."

Pity he hadn't taken the chance to squish the Flea then and there but he had waited to long to use the vending machine to make Izaya a stain on the wall. For the moment anyway. "Your name is Flea, the name you go by is Izaya when you pretend to be human. It isn't hard to remember." No that grin did not turn slightly teasing in the slightest. And yes he would kill the Flea for even suggesting such nonsense if he did. "You missed me calling your name while I try to kill you? Well then I promise it will be the last thing you hear before you die." he added with a dangerous grin as he pulled out a cigarette out of reflex.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Izaya sighed deeply. "Yes, they told me. It was painful to hear then, too, but not so much as to hear it come from your own mouth. Well, even if I'm not dead, at least you don't have to see as much of me around, neh?" That doesn't mean I won't be causing any less trouble for you, though, you one-brain-celled neanderthal.

Laughing at Shizuo's name argument, the Rocket grunt shrugged. "At least you remember it! I'm so happy~" the man giggled. "How romantic for you to want me to hear your voice as the last thing before I die. Shame I have no intention of letting that happen. Your voice is the one I want most to forget."

Knowing he would not be safe atop the vending machine for long, the info broker tried to distract the ex-bartender with idle conversation. "Have you heard of Team Rocket lately? I've been doing some research on them; dangerously efficient organization and very good at what they do. You should watch your back, Shizu-chan, or one of these days you might be robbed of your favorite pokemon before you know it." Izaya folded his arms across his chest. "Then again, they might give it back if all you still have is that pathetic Beldum from high school." Ah, Beldums. How he detested them. Not as much as Shizuo himself, though.

He leaned forward, as if to reach out and pet his high school rival's hair. "You should stop dying your hair. I want to see its original color. Why did you change it, again? Wasn't it something to do with not being identified with your famous actor of a little brother?"  

[-TRHQ- Shizuo Heiwajima]

Shizuo huffed and glared at Izaya. "Hurt by the words, ri~ght. I'll believe it when I see it." He sneered at the brief look that crossed Izaya's face. Not that he could tell what it meant fully as the louse was always up to something one way or another.

"Has anyone told you that your laugh is creepy?" The bodyguard said, knowing full well he had in the past. "It's not romantic in the slightest and if you wanted to forget it so bad why don't you stop coming around?" Like just mentioning that would stop the information broker from being a thorn in his side.

Shizuo had just started to eye the vending machine when Izaya started talking about Team Rocket. "Yes I have heard of them and the mess they caused." He pinned the younger man with a deadpan stare. "I would like to see them try to take Aiden." A small feral grin showed up on his face. "Oh no, he's not a Beldum any more Flea. Aiden is a Metagross now." He knew very well how much Aiden and Izaya got along. The answer rested on how the Metagross was acting at the time.

His eyes narrowed at the hand coming closer to his head then glared at Izaya. "Touch me and that hand will be broken." He growled. "I'm not changing back just because you want to see." He did ignore the part about Kasuka though  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"You can't 'see' hurt, you stupid protozoan," the grunt laughed aloud. "Especially not emotional hurt. Just looking at you hurts me, though," he answered with a wan smile, flicking out his switchblade. Just in case.

"Plenty - Shinra, Namie...though hearing it from you just gives me butterflies inside," Izaya sighed, hugging himself with a mock dreamy expression. He stood up at his full height atop the vending machine to further his drama. Just as soon as he started, though, he stopped to sneer at Shizuo loathingly. "As for forgetting your voice, that's not my decision. It's necessary for my work for me to come here from time to time. If you want to avoid seeing me completely, you'll have to leave the Kodo reigon entirely, because I've been travelling all over."

"You would never dare leave 'your city', though, would you?" he mused, running his thumb along the back of his blade as he looked down the length of his nose at Shizuo in a distinctly condescending manner. "I guess it's pointless to tell you that Camphoreon isn't any more immune to their 'mess' than Sandalwood City was. This is a big, diverse place with lots of rare pokemon...it'll probably be next."

He chuckled at the mention of Aiden. "That so? Then he must be even more demented than before. I don't even want to think what trauma he suffered thanks to you being his trainer all this time." Mentally, though, Izaya made careful note of this. He had already been attacked by Glados the Metang and hadn't liked it one bit. What was Shizuo's crazy Beldum like now that it had evolved not once, but twice? He was pretty certain he didn't want to find out.

"So cruel, Shizu-chaaan~" Orihara cried, pulling back his hand as if he'd been burned. Personally, he wasn't all that keen on having his hand broken at the moment. "Well, then, I guess we're done here. Say hi to Mr.Yuuhei Hanejima for me!" he called, leaping off the machine and making a run for it. "I'm just aching to meet him, you know. Maybe I can go find out where he lives and climb in through his window to get his autograph..." It was imperative that he get a head-start when trying to outrun his high school rival, but the message was clear:

Chase me.  

[-TRHQ- Shizuo Heiwajima]

"No but you can see emotional hurt sometimes on the physical." Shizuo said with a mild glare. He wasn't worried about the switchblade just yet, neither of them were really trying to harm the other. Yet being the key word.

Shizuo sneered at the tone that Izaya took. He really didn't have much to say to that. Nothing that couldn't be turned against him in some way at least. On the other hand, that second part he could get his point across. "I'm not leaving. Send minions or something if you need something from MY city."

At least the troll understood his position in the city. Shizuo's eyes briefly flickered to the blade and the stroking finger before looking back at Izaya's face. "Let them come. There are more then enough people here that could stop them." He raised his head slightly in a proud manner. Clearly he didn't think much of Team Rockets abilities.

A feral looking smirk crossed Shizuo's face. "Oh no, no more then normal. Would you like to find out exactly?" he 'asked' in a mix of almost sweet and threatening. "I remember how you both got on so well in high school." Like the hair incident back in junior year.... He did notice that he was handling this little 'happy reunion' better then he would have before though. Aiden must have struck again. Shizuo eyed the vending machine again.

His eyes snapped back to Izaya and any 'help' from Aiden ceased to matter as his anger grew at the Flea's mention of seeing his brother. "You will NOT go anywhere NEAR him!" And just like that his temper flaired brightly as if he were a fire pokemon before he darted after Izaya with out a second thought.

And it most certainly was NOT a good feeling to be back in a familiar routine. Not in the slightest was his message in return: Sure I'll play with you.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"If they raided an arena full of people from all around Kodo, why would a handful of mere civilians hinder Team Rocket?" Izaya laughed over his shoulder. "Most of them probably wouldn't even pose a resistance. You're probably the only one stupid enough to do that."

If the idiot was capable of putting two and two together, he would have already understood what the info-broker was getting at. It was sort of an indirect warning, so to speak, but when had Izaya ever given a warning without some benefit to himself?

It was strange, though...almost certainly Shizuo would have thrown a thing or two by now. That vending machine might as well have been screaming at him to throw it. Was this maybe an off-day for the ex-bartender? His temper wasn't nearly as high as it would have normally been by now, either. Surely Izaya wasn't losing his touch with his favorite toy...?

"Neeeeh, Shizu-chaaan, you're awfully slow today. And I mean more than usual," he shouted with some of his breath as he ran. "Are you on drugs, or something? Have those cigarettes finally done their work on your lungs?" he asked cheerily. "Or are you just getting old?" Oh, that was a sad thought. Where would Izaya be if he finally bested Shizuo? The Rocket sincerely hoped Heiwajima was just having an off-day.  

[-TRHQ- Shizuo Heiwajima]

"Yes but they raided a contest hall where mostly people with out pokemon or people with contest pokemon are. Most contest pokemon are hardly ever trained to actually fight worth anything." Shizuo huffed. He said most because Kasuka trained even his contest pokemon that are in the movies with him. "And you would be surprised what a few good trainers could do in fighting off threats." He did take the subtly warning to heart though. Even if Izaya was trolling him again, it surely wouldn't be a stretch that the criminal organization would attack.

If Shizuo had known that Izaya was beginning to doubt his ability to piss him off he would have played it up. Provided he was in the right mind set anyway. But the 'blond' couldn't read minds so instead he just continued to chase after the information broker.

He snarled at the remarks Izaya made and eyed the upcoming area for anything to grab and toss at the Flea. Luck must not have been on Izaya's side as there were a few trash cans coming up and they had the louses name all over them. When they ran by them he grabbed one then tossed it with all his strength, having to slow down slightly to aim it right. "Shut up and die Flea!"  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"Oh, so you have been keeping up with the recent news! I'm impressed!" the informant laughed, his voice edged with sarcasm. The news had been all over Kodo. Even Shizuo should have heard about it by now. Still, the fact that the man had paid attention enough to remember those details had exceeded Izaya's expectations. Once again, his rival had acted differently than he had expected. How annoying.

CRASH!

That was a trash can. Not one of those light, tin ones either; this one was one of those heavy-duty metal cans that were usually bolted to the ground. Whether or not this one had been bolted, however, it was hard to tell, because at that moment it was a wrecked mess on the sidewalk in the spot that Izaya had been moments earlier.

That was more like it. Time to kick up the speed a notch.

After a while of running and a little parkour to gain an advantage, Orihara made a sharp turn into an alley with a dead end, plan in mind. Running up to the back wall, he knew if he kicked off the corners he could probably scale it to one of the side building's widows, but that wasn't his intention. Instead, he turned around calmly, retrieved a pokeball from his parka pocket, and smirked, waiting for Shizuo to catch up.

"Oi, Shizu-chan!" he yelled when the dyed-haired man finally appeared at the alleyway entrance. "How about we have a pokemon battle?" He tossed the ball in his hand up in the air and caught it for emphasis, repeating the gesture as he spoke. "I know I was never really into pokemon when we were younger, but that's changed now. I've learned a lot more about them these past few months. Maybe even more than you've known for all these years." His crimson eyes narrowed as he continued to smile. "Care to test that out?"  

[-TRHQ- Shizuo Heiwajima]

Shizuo scowled at Izaya's retreating back with a glare. He would never admit that when he first heard of the attack on the contest it had been the day after and he had only been watching the television because one of Kasuka's movies was going to be on after the news. The scowl grew when the trash can missed the Flea, luckily enough it been unbolted. It wasn't really a surprise though.

What was a surprise was after they ran around here and there for a while, Izaya turned into a dead end. The surprise being that the Flea knew these streets as well as Shizuo did but he pushed that out of his mind when he came to a stop at the mouth of the ally. "A pokemon battle? Sure you can handle it even with your 'training'?" the faux blond smirked and pulled out his own pokeball.

"Just know that when I win I will make sure to kick you all the way out of my city." He said, taking a few steps forward. He was willing to go along with the battle as he was honestly curious to see how much Izaya had really learned about pokemon.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

A harsh, hateful laugh echoed through the brick walls of the alley in response to Shizuo's claim. "'When' you win...hahaha, just as stupid as ever...don't you know better than to underestimate me by now? Heh." Pressing the button on the Dusk ball, it grew in size before he tossed it casually at the man in the bartender suit. "Guess what? Shinra's cousin, Namie, gave this one to me for 'safe-keeping'. Seems her little brother had grown too attached to it for her liking."

As he spoke, the ball produced an odd keystone before returning to its owner. The pokemon dwelling inside slowly emerged, looking about curiously. She didn't seem at all hostile and took a few moments to regard Shizuo at the alleyway entrance. Suddenly, a familiar voice sounded from behind her.

"Go, Celty. Use Hypnosis." Heck, if Izaya could knock Shizuo out before the match even begun, he could get away scott-free without even having to demonstrate his battle prowess.

"Spirr..." Celty whirred quietly, recoiling in uneasiness about using her pokemon attacks on humans. But that human had a pokeball. Maybe she could just wait until he let out whatever was inside it to use her attack. She just hoped he did it quickly, or Izaya would surely get angry with her. Not that her Hypnosis attacks were all that accurate anyway.