[FIN] Calming the Storm

[Blood_Goddess]

There was a please glint in the eye of the squinted eye of the small glistening blue form as its hopping form caught himself on the ground, skillfully spinning in place with an arm out stretched, his crouching legs wound and ready to spring, though it would appear that it wouldn't need to, as the opponent that it was facing had soon stumbled with a distressed "Scraaag" and tripped over its own feet before hitting the ground.

A sly smirk worked its way subtly over Froakie's face, please with itself,
While it had no chance of beating any of other of Faleen's pokemon, he could at least always be sure to beat this one.

Scraggy was back on his feet, his toothy mouth opening as he cried out another battle cry, hitching up his pants as he lead his thick skull into another charge toward the Shiny opponent. lashing out in a wild head butt and diving at the ready frog.

Faleen didn't speak during the duration of the battle, one that had been provoked simply from the rivalry the two seem to have with one another, Though she was paying attention the kind of battle they were having, her expression seemed less then interested, her thoughts still turned inward at the frustrating nagging she had since the return of the mission.
Arms crossed as she sat in one of the rec-rooms, waiting for the coffee to brew.  

[insidiousEnigma]

"Faleen, Faleen, Faleen!" Zacharie's excited voice carried down the hallway along with an annoyed 'Watch it!', before the grunt came bursting into the rec room with a small, blanketed bundle cradled in his arms. He paused just inside the room to simply look around for the blonde haired woman, his eyes lighting up when he spotted her. "You have to see!" He hurried around the Scraggy and Greninja, turning his body so whatever he held close to his chest wouldn't be in the other pokemon's direct line of sight.

He skidded to a stop next to where the woman was seated and bounced excitedly on his toes. "I found an Absol!" He said breathlessly, hugging the blanket closer to his chest. "Lu and I went exploring on my birthday and I when I went to look through the bushes and I found her!" He pulled the blanket away to reveal the small pokemon, "Look, look, she's got a floral pattern." He said softly, rubbing the top of her head with his fingers. "Soooool?" Pale green eyes blinked open and the Absol squirmed. "I named her Peldes."  

[Blood_Goddess]

Froakie leaped up again, slapping a small hand over the head of the Scarggy as he went to knock the pokemon sprawling again.
There was a momentary disruption of their battle however as someone went bustling past them.

Faleen, after hearing her name being called out excitedly, blinked her eyes as it brought her back to her senses, looking around with arche eyebrows as she found the grunt she knew as Zacharie coming up to her.
She quite liked this individual, he was curious and seemed to like doing a good job, eager to learn and always polite.
Though her attention was soon brought down to a bundle he had in his arms.
"An Absol?" It looked far to small to be an Absol, though as he pulled the blanket away Faleen's eyes widened at... a tiny Absol in the boys arms.
"My goodness, she must still be quite young." Faleen said, though with a new sense of interest and awe she reached out to touch the little horn coming from her head.
"You said you found her? was there no mother around with it?"  

[insidiousEnigma]

Zacharie shook his head, "We looked around and even waited to see if her mother would come back, as far as we could tell she'd been there by herself for a while." As if he would just take a baby away from its mother! He may have wanted an Absol for a long time and Peldes may be the most beautiful Absol he'd ever laid eyes on, but he wouldn't just snatch her away from her mother. He tilted Peldes down a bit so Faleen would be able to see her better, unable to help the bright, proud smile that lit up his face when the small pokemon yawned and lightly head butted the blonde's hand. "Would you like to hold her? She likes to wriggle around but she's very friendly so she won't bite you or anything." He didn't think she would anyway. She'd responded very well to himself and Lu, as well as all of his pokemon when he'd brought her back to the base and introduced them.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"I see." Faleen said,watching the grunt as he explained the story of how he had found her alone. "Then she certainly got lucky that you were the one who found her. Dark type or not one this young certainly wouldn't have been able to survive on her own."

Faleen's fingers curled gently around the horn on the pokemon's head, reaching down to touch the fur on her head.
At the offer of holding her Faleen tilted her head "I would, if that is alright." she replied, pulling her hands back to open them up in the offer to take the pokemon. "have you had the center here check her out and see if she is healthy?"

There was a sudden bump next to Zacharie's leg, and a light tug as Faleen's scraggy, curious as to what the purple haired human was holding hurried over, one hand grabbing a hold of Zacharie's pant leg as he tried to push himself up and get a better look at what the humans were looking at.

Froakie on the other hand, simply hopped himself up onto the back of the seat by Faleen's shoulder, leaning forward with wide eyes as he started down at the tiny baby Absol.  

[insidiousEnigma]

"I'm very happy that I found her." Not just because he had always wanted an Absol of his own, but because he really didn't want to think about what would have happened to her if he hadn't found her. He knew that it happened all the time in the wild...but it still wasn't very pleasant to think about. "Oh," The teen shook himself out of his reverie to carefully hand Peldes to the waiting Agent. "Of course it's alright. I trust you not to drop her." Which was saying something, because he really hadn't let anyone hold his newest pokemon.

"I did." The grunt confirmed with a nod, "They said that she's a little underfed but as long as I keep a close eye on her she'll be just...fine..." Zacharie trailed off as he turned his attention down to the Scraggy tugging on his trouser leg. "Oh...hello." He greeted, his gaze flicking from Faleen's pokemon to his own held safely in the others arms. "You want to see Peldes too?"

Peldes, upon sensing that she wasn't being held by the boy she had grown accustomed to, fully opened her eyes to peer curiously up at this new human. "'Soooool?" She yawned softly before proceeding to squirm so she'd be able to better see what was going on around her.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Though I don't think she quite counts, the only real experience I've had with newborn pokemon was the Carvanha I had cloned for me, and i was diligent about not removing her from her tank until she was old enough." Faleen said, "though I work with my hands a lot, I promise I won't drop her." She reassured as she took the baby pokemon from the grunt.

Placing her one hand under the Pokemon's chest, spreading her fingers between her legs so that she could support her up, while using the other one to cup under her tail Faleen held the tiny Absol up a little higher so that she could get a better look at her, a small smile working over the Agent's lips as the baby gave a yawn.
"I've worked with an adult for so long, I guess I never stopped to think that they start out so small." It was with a note of awe that she spoke this, turning the tiny body so that she could get a better look at what was going on.

"I'm sure he does." Faleen said, glancing down at the young Scraggy that Zacharie was speaking to. "but Scraggy naturally have a habbit of greeting people and pokemon with a head butt, so until he understands how to control that he won't be saying hello to such a young pokemon."

Scraggy's eyes grew wide as Faleen said this, and hopped up and down shaking his head furiously "SCRAG!"  

[insidiousEnigma]

"While I imagine raising a Carvanha and raising an Absol are two totally different experiences, raising a young pokemon to adulthood takes a certain skill that can be applied to any pokemon..." Zacharie muttered, at a loss of what to do with the Scraggy. "...In my opinion." He added after a moment. "I raised Jabari, my Shuppet, since he hatched and while the care will be different I'm sure that a lot of the same general ideas apply." At the time he had been completely lost as to what to do with a young Shuppet when he had never even owned a pokemon before. It had been stressful and aggravating but...now he could firmly say that he looked back on those times with fondness. He and Jabari certainly wouldn't have the bond that they had now if he hadn't raised the opinionated pokemon. "Hm? Oh, yes. It really is a wonder that something so small will grow into such an amazing pokemon." He himself had been completely in awe when he first spotted the small Absol. Objectively he knew that pokemon started out small...but he really didn't think about it until he saw a young pokemon in person.

Still staring down at the pouting pokemon, Zacharie smiled slightly. "Perhaps when she's a little older and Faleen deems you ready you can say hello." He offered with a slight shrug of his shoulders. He wouldn't go against what Faleen said in regards of her own pokemon and her certainly wasn't going to give the Scraggy the opportunity to possibly injure Peldes.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"I'll certainly take your word for it." Faleen said, pulling the Absol closer to cradle it by her chest, reaching her fingers up to scratch the Absol's belly absently as she spoke with the grunt.
the Absol smelled young, and new, definitely lacking the mature musk of what she recognized from her own Absol.
"since my experience in the field is quite limited."

the blond agent tilted her head lightly, glancing down at Scraggy who was still staring up at Zacharie as the Grunt spoke to him, his eyes wide, and his wide toothy frown spread over his face.
"A bit more training I think." Faleen said with a light smile. "An Absol's head isn't as thick as a Scarggy's is."
She glanced over her shoulder as she felt the weight of another pokemon on it. Froakie, still curious stepping onto his master's shoulder to stare down at the Absol.

"Would you mind terribly if i bring my Absol out?" She asked Zacharie.  

[insidiousEnigma]

The moment Faleen began scratching the young Absol's stomach, she froze.
Oh...Peldes decided in that moment that she liked this other human very much. "Absooooool~" She turned her head to nuzzle against the human's shirt and stared sleepily up at the trainer and her Froakie.

Zacharie, on the other hand, stared down at the Scraggy with a frown of his own. He could tell that the pokemon wasn't happy...and he hated when pokemon gave him that look. That look that just screamed, 'I am so unhappy. Why are you doing this?' "Have you had him for long?" He asked as a way to distract himself. "Your Scraggy, that is." The teen clarified as he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his dark, worn jeans. "Oh, of course you can bring him out. I don't mind at all." He said brightly with a large smile. He liked Faleen's Absol after all. Even though he'd only seen it a few times before.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Faleen had a lot to worry about, especially recently. while work did a good enough job getting her mind focused on something different, anytime she wasn't working on something she had started to feel more and more stressed, and increasingly frustrated.
And while she would have never expected it to, having the presence of such a young and tiny dark type in her arms was surprisingly comforting. She could feel the warmth of its tiny body through her gloves and shirt, and its steady breathing against her fingers.
for the first time in a long time she was starting to notice the vague hints of contentment, a feeling she was sure she had long long forgotten.

As the grunt asked another question Faleen looked up, Hazel eyes widening a little as she looked from Zacharie toward the Scraggy who was continuing to cling to the boy's pants with one hand, and at his own skin pants with the other.
"Fairly recently." Faleen said, lowering one of her hands down toward the Scraggy.
"I got him when he was younger."
The way she held her hand out caused the lizard to perk up, step forward and thrust his head forward to clog it into the palm of the woman's hand, though she barely moved it back as he did so.
"Have you ever encountered one before today?"  

[insidiousEnigma]

Zacharie didn't have the slightest idea of what Faleen was going through.
But if he did happen to know, he probably wouldn't have done anything differently.
Holding a baby pokemon was the cure to most sadness related things, in his opinion. How could you stay sad when such a small, cute face was staring up at you?
You just couldn't.

The teen nodded with a small smile as he watched Faleen interact with her pokemon. It was...not cute, persay, but it was still something that he would classify as just below heartwarming. "I've seen pictures of Scraggy before, but this is the first time I've ever seen one up close in person." He confirmed, rocking back onto his heels as he watched Peldes struggle to turn her head far enough so she could peer down at the Scraggy with wide, pale eyes filled with curiosity. "Did you go out in search of him...or was it a bit of a 'happy coincidence'?" He asked, pulling his hands free from his pockets so he could do the air quotes.  

[Blood_Goddess]

At the small Absol's curiosity Faleen shifted her arm to allow the dark type a better look at the Scaggy, though she kept his attention mostly on herself as she pat his head, and kept the Absol a face enough distance away from the pokemon's much harder head.

"I suppose i'm know most for my type specialty with darks, and one of the other Agent in the tech informed me that there was a new dark type in storage that I might be interested in." Faleen explained. "I'm not sure where they got him from, but I placed in a request to purchases him from the storage. I'm finding him an interesting addition.

She straightened herself up, her hand removing itself from the Scraggy's head to move to the strap on her thigh instead.
Once a dusk ball was pulled loose, and before long a much larger white version of the pokemon in Faleen's arms was standing next to Scraggy, facing the human with wide blackened eyes,  

[insidiousEnigma]

Both Peldes and Zacharie watched the Scraggy as Faleen explained the circumstances of how she'd gotten it. "I see." The grunt said slowly, resisting the urge to crouch down to the other dark type's level. Faleen had said that they greeted people with headbutts...and that really wasn't something that he wanted. It was a very cute pokemon...it sort of reminded him of Jerome for some odd reason that he couldn't quite pinpoint. "Well that's lucky for you then, I suppose. I always find a great deal of fun in working with a pokemon that I have no prior experience with."

Which was him basically saying that every time he caught a pokemon he had fun bonding with it.
He'd only ever had Jabari and didn't start catching other pokemon until he joined the team so the amount of pokemon that he had 'prior experience' with was very little.

"'Sooool?" Peldes perked up at the appearance of another Absol, her eyes widening as she wriggled impatiently. "Peldes, hold still. Don't cause any trouble for Faleen." Zacharie scolded lightly.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Its a good opportunity to learn different way of training." Faleen admitted "Especially starting from scratch like I am with Froakie and Scraggy, though each of my pokemon understand the importance of usefulness for the team, so i'm quite interested to see how they'll grow to make themselves useful for the team." She admitted
Froakie was making amazing strides in his training, and with how serious he was about it. Scraggy on the other hand, while Faleen would assume that for now it had to do with his youth, wasn't making as impressive progress and didn't seem to take it very seriously. She had to wonder what this would mean for his part on her team.

Absol blinked his dark eyes up at his trainer then down as Faleen held the baby out to him.
Absol frowned, leaning forward to sniff at the tiny squirming thing before he snorted and sneezed,

"I didn't think your kind started out this small." Faleen said with an amused expression.

Absol admited with another look to the other Absol