[FIN] Runaway Rich Kids

[Suudonym]

It had become a consistent part of his schedule by now to head to the park at least twice a day to train with his team. It was in part an exercise in distraction, but as long as they were making progress, Luke was prepared to ignore that fact. For the time being, he stood to a side of an open area, watching as the massive Aggron struggled to keep up with the lithe Jolteon it was chasing. Tartarus had been learning to improve his stamina while using Rock Polish to increase his mobility, tasked with the goal of following the inherently swift Rem. Noting the larger pokemon's declining vivacity, Luke raised his hand in a familiar signal, "All right, Tartarus, take a break for now. We'll try a little more later."  

[Akira Midoriyama]

Once the large metal pokemon slowed and the sounds of his footfalls had quieted, a faint voice could be heard not far off. It seemed to be calling for help.  

[Suudonym]

It was a short matter of consideration to decide what would follow Tartarus's training, but Luke was distracted before execution by the distant but distinct sound of someone calling words he didn't particularly like to hear. He stood still for a moment, unable to pinpoint the direction of the sound. "Rem," the Jolteon's long ears would be better suited for this, "where's that coming from?"

Rem blinked for a moment, her ears swiveling out to take in the sound better, before she started in the appropriate direction, Luke following shortly after and calling a reply, "Hello? What's wrong?"  

[Akira Midoriyama]

A fellow (barely) stood with a Serperior coiled about him, constricting him with what appeared to be a good deal of satisfaction. The brown-haired young man was pale, struggling to breath and only able to utter small yelps of distress. He seemed to have trouble keeping balance and staying upright with both his legs pinned together and his arms stuck to his sides. He appeared ready to fall over and pass out at any moment.

The instant he saw Luke, he started wriggling more frantically and trying to free a few fingers to point toward an object half-hidden in the grass nearby. It was a Luxury Ball. Brown eyes looked urgently from Luke toward the ball and back again as another large coil of the Serperior's muscular body covered his mouth.  

[Suudonym]

He didn't have to look all that hard once the source of the cries was within a reasonable distance, though the sight that he witnessed wasn't really what he had been expecting. The gestures towards the pokeball were received, though it was with a light frown that Luke seized the indicated luxury ball and pressed with switch for withdrawal. Just returning a pokemon that was misbehaving didn't really address the bigger issue, but if the trainer was in danger, then there wasn't really any helping it.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

The Serperior looked surprised at being summoned back into his ball, having been too preoccupied squeezing the life out of his intended victim to notice anything else. However, he managed to look Luke's way and cast him a smug little smile before disappearing completely into the ray of red light.

Falling on all fours, the guy choked on the air as it filled his lungs once more, trying to take deep breaths as he recovered from his little...mishap. Once he had enough breath to speak, he looked up at Luke from his position on the ground and gasped in gratitude. "Thank you. Oh Arceus, I thought he was going to finish me that time."

He coughed a little more and changed position so he could fall on his back in the grass, relieved. "He's been acting up more and more since I've been calling him out to train more often. I think he just wanted me to pass out so he could get back in his ball unhindered, but it could have been worse."

"Hey...I know you," he said, peering up at the red-head with a look of recognition. "You're...you're Luke, right? Long time no see. It's Akira. Sorry for the trouble."  

[Suudonym]

Mm, yeah, he didn't like that at all, especially hearing that he was trying to train the Serperior. He continued to frown at the pokeball in his hand before passing it back to his owner, "What if you left the pokeball behind so it's not even on your person? Then he doesn't have any choice." He wasn't sure how well that had worked out for Sera; it seemed that the exercise had been interrupted by everything that had happened in Kanto, but the theory behind it was sound.

As he realized that that probably sounded a little meddling and turned his thoughts to apology, the trainer mentioned his name, and Luke recognized that he had met this individual before, though passingly. "Oh, right. No trouble." He also recognized in short order that he didn't actually know this guy very well except that he was a friend of Seraphine's.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

Accepting the ball gratefully, Akira tilted his head curiously toward the red-head. "That...might work, but then he might just decide to suffocate me all the same," he said, rubbing his neck uneasily. "Sometimes I wish I hadn't been given such a...large pokemon to train...guess my parents figured evolved pokemon are automatically well-trained and better behaved than young ones." He offered a rueful smile.

Picking himself up with a grunt, the brunet dusted off his clothes. "There's been so much going on lately. I heard about that stuff that went on in Kanto with the Rockets. Sounded terrible. I'm sorry to hear it, especially after all that you just went through," Akira apologized. "Your brother's death, and then Rosie's sibling turning out to be a Rocket as well..." He grimaced. "And Seraphine..."

He shook his head, trying to get back on topic. "Anyway, I don't really have much experience as a trainer, as you could see, but I thought I might start now what with everything that's been happening. I wanted to investigate something and I thought it might help if I had Silly on my side." He looked at the Luxury Ball distastefully. "Guess not."  

[Suudonym]

A thoughtful frown; Luke didn't really know much about dealing with difficult pokemon, but he did understand that giving in like that would reinforce the same misbehavior. "I'm not much of a trainer myself," he said, "but I know someone - Ray; she was at Sera's party that time if you remember her. She's got a lot of experience, so she could probably help you out." He was definitely feeling kind of meddling here, but Kodo didn't really seem like a good place to have your own pokemon against you.

He thought to move to offer to help Akira stand, but the words he produced were striking, and the resulting surprise showed clearly in Luke's features. He tried and failed to adopt a demeanor of natural nonchalance, "Where did you hear all that?" For all he knew, Rosie and Seraphine could have explained their circumstances themselves, but he was at least a little perturbed to hear about his brother's death from someone he probably couldn't have associated a name to if it hadn't been given right away.

Mention of an investigation of some sort drew some curiosity, "Do you need a hand?" He didn't have a Serperior on his team, but he had two hands of his own and five companions who would patiently listen to his requests.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"Oh. That woman," Akira chuckled grimly. "Yeah, I think I heard enough about her from Seraphine. I planned to pay her a visit some time, but after what I've been told, I'm not sure I want to ask her for training advice. I'm not sure I'd manage to survive attempting to meet her standards. But thanks for the suggestion," he added, not wanting to sound ungrateful.

Cringing a little at Luke's reaction to the mention of his Rocket twin, the brunet looked away guiltily. "Ah...I'm sorry, I know it's none of my business. It's just...um, well I was talking to the girl who goes by 'Dove' about what happened in Kanto and she mentioned Rosie's sibling being a Rocket. I'd heard a rumor before about another trainer having a Rocket relative and Dove said it was your...twin brother? That the Rockets had followed you all to Kanto to find out more about his...death?"

He tugged on the back of his hair anxiously. "Please forgive me, I really don't know all that much; not his name nor the circumstances under which he died. I was just trying to piece together why they were coming after you and your friends specifically. I didn't realize you or the others had such close ties with them." And, if Dove was right, he had a connection, too - through the informant.

Akira paused, regarding Luke as the red-head offered his help. "You know," he said, smiling a little once more, "I think I know now at least part of the reason Seraphine is so strong. It must be nice to have such good friends like you." Pocketing the metallic-striped ball, his shoulders slumped. "Not that I don't appreciate the help, but....I think...this particular endeavor of mine might go better if I'm alone." He rubbed his temples wearily. "It could be dangerous and you've faced more than your fair share of that."  

[Suudonym]

He was faintly surprised by the action until he remembered the kind of training Seraphine was doing with Ray. "I don't think that really counts as usual advice… When I asked for advice about evolving Rem," he gestured to the nearby Jolteon, "we just talked about it normally, but." But he wasn't going to push an issue that seemed to have already been dismissed.

The explanation left him slightly uncomfortable, but he made efforts to push it aside. "I don't know if that's what their goal was," he said, his tone faintly terse, "but they did ask about it." He shook his head at the apology, "It's not like I'm trying to keep it a secret or anything, it's just… kind of hard to talk about, or hear about. Sorry." Especially hearing about it from someone who was for all intents and purposes a stranger, as if the information were some kind of gossip - he even used the word 'rumor' - being propagated without his knowing. It was discomforting.

He chose to forgo comment on the claim that he was a good friend to Seraphine, still in the midst of doubting his own value to her under her current circumstances, but the allusion to the danger of the mysterious situation elicited some concern. A hand raised to the back of his neck, "Um, honestly speaking, if it's something dangerous, I'd much rather I be involved than you…"  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"Oh," Akira said, sounding thoughtful. "Heh, well maybe I will, then. I think most of the reason I'm reluctant is because of how embarrassed I am being a sorry excuse for a trainer. But I have been meaning to ask her about some other things, so I might as well humiliate myself while I'm at it. Not like it's new for me." He shrugged with a good-natured grin. "She seems like a nice woman in an case."

Studying Luke's face, the older young man nodded slowly in understanding. "No, please don't be. It's my fault, if anyone's. I'll be more careful about what I say in the future. Um...tact was...never a strong point of mine, I'm afraid." He hung his head shamefully. "I know I wouldn't appreciate having people I care about discussed so casually by strangers, either."

"Luke..." Akira took a breath, trying to think about how best to phrase his words. "You...you have people who care about you," he said, meeting bright green eyes with what he hoped was a warm smile. "I hope you'll pardon me once more for having knowledge I have no right knowing, but Seraphine mentioned you going home when you were sick - somewhere not here on Kodo. I'd imagine it was your family you went to stay with, am I right?" He tilted his head. "What would they do if they lost you just after they lost your brother?"  

[Suudonym]

"Everyone starts somewhere," he said, shrugging mildly. "She's been really helpful. Likes talking about pokemon and knows a lot about them." And if her work with Seraphine was any indication, she had no qualms against lending that knowledge to someone who was lacking it so long as they expressed some willingness to learn. She was a bit eccentric, to be sure, but she hardly seemed like any kind of bad person.

He raised his hand slightly, shaking his head with a passing word to dismiss the presumption of fault. It wasn't such an issue that he wanted anyone to feel bad over it; it was easier to just overlook and move on.

The smile he returned was smaller, quieter, "I don't know. My relationship with my father isn't great right now. But more importantly," he pocketed his hands, "if it's something you don't want a stranger interfering with, that's fine; I won't insist. But if it's my well-being you're concerned over, then please don't be. Regardless of what happens to me, the last thing I want is for anyone to be injured or endangered over something I could have prevented." A grim sincerity had taken to his features with the words and the memories that had caused them, and he breathed out the heaviness in a light sigh that punctuated the brief monologue.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"Even someone you barely even know?" he asked, giving Luke a look that was half curious, half amused.

"Whoa, whoa, hold on a second," the brunet insisted, holding up his palms for emphasis. "Your relationship with your father isn't great right now...and you think that makes it okay to let him worry?" He laughed, though there was no mirth. "I'd think the state of your relationship right now would make you all the more cautious. How would he feel if he never got to make up with you? What if you two never got to say all the things you needed to say?"

He crossed his arms over his chest with a crooked smirk. "I mean, I know a thing or two about difficult parents...but wouldn't you have some regrets if you never got to tell them how you really felt about some things?" Akira paused, thinking. "...Or do they know, and that's why you're at odds?"  

[Suudonym]

He nodded with an expression that indicated he felt that should be obvious, his earnest words reaffirming that, "Of course."

"Well, that would be his fault for being stubborn. He should be perfectly aware of how I feel. I'm waiting on his apology." A shrug and a shake of his head to dismiss it, "But I think it's possible you might not be giving me enough credit here. I'm pretty resilient." An expression of concern and sincerity came to his features, "And really, if this 'dangerous thing' is something that you have to worry about dying over, then I really can't just walk away."