[PRP] New Roommate!

[Kitomyx]

Grunt Nakura hadn't had much time to sit around on his butt since he'd crossed Faleen. He'd been kept so busy with grunt work that he'd hardly even had time with his higher-ranking partner, let alone anyone else. Of course he'd been barred from going on the last raid, which was a severe disappointment to him because he'd really been curious about how they - one of them in particular - had fared against what they'd believed was the Galactics.

The grunt had even stated to said individual that he had planned to go, so not having shown up might have led the agent to believe that he'd chickened out or something. Nakura hoped Aulus had forgotten. He'd probably had more pressing things on his mind to worry about than some lowly grunt's absence. If anything. he'd probably been pleased about it.

Of course, not knowing what Agent Aulus thought of him nor having a chance to get back in Agent Faleen's good graces weren't Nakura's only problems. Every time he returned to his assigned room at the end of the day, he was reminded how alone he was. He still remembered the look on Jerome's face; his biting words and angry tone when the ex-gangster had confronted the informant about his part in his old gang's ambush. The deaths of his friends.

Finally, though, Arceus must have had mercy on him, because at last it seemed the higher-ups had decided to assign Grunt Nakura a new roommate. It was a fairly new recruit who had just recently finished training and been promoted from Trainee. He would be a wonderful distraction from all the people who were probably unhappy with him at the moment. Nakura always loved getting a chance to observe new humans, particularly those motivated enough to join a criminal organization.  

[Magician Arcana]

"Okay, so... Room.... It should be close around, right?"

"Ly!"

Adam sighed softly and shifted his box of belongings from one arm to the other. Upgrading from trainee to grunt had seemed like a big deal! Going from just a little man on the totem pole to somebody just... Shouldn't there be fanfare? Moving to a new level of the base maybe? Adam expected pats on the backs and highfives and a paycheck. Instead he was issued a new badge with the rank GRUNT where TRAINEE had been and a slip of paper with three digits. A new room and a roommate. It was a little more preferable than living in barracks with a bunch of other trainees. That was a perk, right? One person compared to six.

It was just the look of pity that the exec gave the newly minted grunt when handing off the room assignment that made Adam nervous. That and the "Good luck, Grunt Orvell" didn't help his nerves either. What, was he with the crazy killer roomie? Did they not bathe?

There wasn't much more time to worry. Actually, there was no time. Adam stopped before the door and looked over his shoulder at the ghastly. Manny, his first pokemon given to him at the time of advancement. Were you made just for me? Or were you caught? Or were you taken from someone else? The ghastly, noticing it's partner's stare, flicked its tongue out in a playful razz.

"Yeah, I'm over thinking s**t. All right, Manny! Let's do this!" Turning back to the door with renewed confidence, Adam slid the card down the reader. It blinked a few times and turned green before a loud click issued from the handle. Grasping the knob, he turned it and stepped inside. He had hoped that his roomy would be gone, but it looked like fate wasn't going to smile on him in that regard. Inside, Adam dropped the box of belongings on what he assumed was his bed and turned to Grunt Nakura.

"What's up! I'm Adam er... Grunt... Orvell." Why the hell did they have to use code names and last names? It was annoying. A sour expression briefly flitted over his face before the blonde shook it off and replaced it with a neutral, appraising look, "Looks like we're roommates. So uh, It's nice to meet you dude. You're Nakura, right? Got a first name? Or is that your first name? Oh, uhm, this is Ma -- Huh?"

The ghastly was hiding behind Adam, carefully peeking at the new man. Adam turned his head, finally locating the bashful pokemon. He sighed and looked back at Nakura before shrugging sheepishly, "Sorry, I think I got the shyest ghastly ever..." Born? Hatched? Stolen? "Ever... Yeah. Anyway, He's Manny. I'm Adam! Nice t'meet you, dude. Hope we get along and stuff!"  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Nakura looked up abruptly from his laptop, his blank expression transforming into one of absolute delight. The black-haired grunt was sitting cross-legged on his own bed, facing the doorway with his laptop in his lap as he typed away. Upon Adam's self-introduction, he shut the computer monitor and put it aside, jumping up with his arms spread wide in a grand gesture of welcome.

"Addi-chii!" he cried, the very picture of 'overjoyed'. Crouching down, he sprang forward with the momentum from his mattress springs, his target obviously Adam. He didn't seem to notice or care about the Gastly hiding behind the blonde young man, his crimson eyes locked solely on the human newcomer.  

[Magician Arcana]

Adam had two moments to process what was happening. 1) Addi-chii. It was clearly aimed at him and perhaps because Grunt Nakura was already informed of who Adam was and created a nickname. Or he was a weirdo. Yeah probably a weirdo. 2) Grunt Nakura was rocketing (pun totally intended) at Adam. One could say at the speed of light (also totally intended). However, just understanding that afforded him much less time to react.

"N-Nakura-chii!" Adam was either going to punch him or hug him. It turned into a hug, with both arms wrapped tightly around the other man. Despite 'catching' and now 'holding' his roommate, Adam was not ready. They ended on the ground in a pile.

Manny, frightened by this all, instinctively cried out and licked both men. Adam was stricken with Paralysis, arms locked tightly around Izaya.

"... Awwwwww sheeeet." His face frozen into a look that was a cross of shock and a grin.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

As one used to people attempting to punch him, Nakura was completely caught off-guard by the hug that met him instead. His cheerful smile froze on his face and his eyes widened as he was suddenly all too aware of the arms around him. Regardless of the reason, that meant he was at their mercy and, like manhandling, it instinctively made him feel uncomfortable.

As the one who had initiated the greeting gesture, however, he knew he had absolutely no right to complain. He just hadn't expected the other man to react so fast or in such a manner. Once again, the grunt's underestimation had dug himself far deeper into trouble than he was able to climb out of.

To top it all off, the Gastly's Lick had paralyzed both his own trainer and Nakura. The crimson-eyed grunt guessed this meant its trainer either hadn't had it very long, or was just a terrible trainer. At least in the former case, it was only temporary. Nakura was the latter. He sincerely hoped Adam was different, because if both of them were incompetent when it came to handling the pocket monsters, there was going to be a problem. A worse problem, even, than their situation just then, which was bad enough. Talk about first impressions.

Chuckling sheepishly, Nakura attempted to ignore his extreme annoyance with the Gastly by occupying himself with studying the up-close view he had of Adam's face. What an interesting expression. He wasn't quite sure what it meant yet, though, as even the same expressions meant different things on different faces. "Lovely pokemon," he said in tones that were just a little too pleasant. "A fraidy-ghost. And I thought mine was defective. Does it do that often?" he asked, trying to jerking his head indicatively toward the gaseous creature.  

[Magician Arcana]

Manny, fully aware of what his instinctive action had done, began to panic. He floated around quickly, alternating between a wordless cry and some form of his name. Adam felt bad for the little guy. He really hadn't meant to do that. Calling Manny defective also won no points in his book. If he could, Adam would have socked Izaya for the remark.

"Shut up you sheet lord." Adam huffed softly. His cheeks were starting to hurt from smiling too much. God, what if someone walked in and SAW them like this? Sighing, Adam tried to relax and not panic. Panicking was going to get them nowhere, "No he's just reeeeeeeeeally shy. You startled him."

"Manny!" the Ghost hesitated and looked wearily at the two men, "Get the paralysis heal from the box!" Manny paused and floated to the box, using it's tongue to get it open. It'd take a few minutes though.

"You got a ghost?" While the little creature went about curing them, Adam figured it was time to inspect his roomy. The guy was actually pretty good looking. Weird eye color, but other than that his features were nice. Nice hair too, "What's your name?"  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Fortunately - or maybe unfortunately, depending on one's perspective, it seemed the paralysis hadn't extended to the grunts' tongues. Nakura didn't seem certain if Adam was telling himself or the pokemon to shut up, but he assumed it was the pokemon. That was what he likely would have done, anyway. "Oh no. However will I live with myself?" he cried with mock regret. "What good is a shy pokemon?! Celty!"

The last word he managed to utter must have been another ghost name, because in a moment, a curious-seeming Spiritomb emerged from a keystone by Nakura's bedside. She tried to take in the scene as her trainer voiced his demands. "Calm that thing down, will you? It's giving me a headache."

By 'that thing', Celty could immediately see he was referring to a flustered Gastly. She had never seen him before, nor the man on the floor with his arms all over Nakura, but she knew better than to question her trainer's actions these days. Usually she regretted learning his motives for such things.

Making something like a wearisome whirring, the ghost and dark-type shook her head and calmly went over to the Gastly to comfort him. He already seemed to have things under control, though. Even Nakura was mildly impressed by the willingness and speed of the Manny's obedience as well as the dexterity of the creature's tongue, even if he wasn't so speedy in fishing the right heal out.. Not that he was about to say as much. However smart or able they were, pokemon would never compare to humans in Nakura's eyes.

Celty whirred quietly at Manny, coming up at his side rather than behind to avoid startling him. She glanced at the paralyze heal and it dawned on her that their humans were on the floor and lying unnaturally still. she asked him in what she hoped were comforting tones.

"Yes, I have a ghost," Nakura answered Adam eventually. "Not that it does me much good. Too sweet-natured to do much damage in battle. For all her power and type advantages, the most I can get her to do is put others to sleep," he sighed. "Of all the Spiritomb - pokemon supposedly notorious for being wicked - I had to steal her. Still not sure what her previous owners found so special about her, but as difficult as she was for me to procure, I thought it might have at least been worth it."

Seeming to shed his ill temper as one might a coat, the grunt brightened in voice and demeanor as the topic was turned away from pokemon. "Ah, pardon me. Around here, I go by Grunt Nakura," he said, bobbing his head a bit in what might have been an attempt at a friendly nod. "Mostly, anyway. This code-name business gets especially confusing, but I guess that's the point." He sneered. "Just wait until you have to use aliases for field work. You'll have so many identities and names to go by, you'll forget which you're supposed to answer to."  

[Magician Arcana]

Manny's tongue was starting to ache. Sighing, the ghastly took a moment to let it relax otherwise it'd surely cramp and the two trainers would be stuck like that longer. Given a task, he had calmed down a little, but was still on edge. Before hearing the Spiritomb or even seeing the ghost and dark type, he felt her presence. Manny eyed her with open suspicion, expecting some sort of derisive or mean remark. Yet Celty seemed nice, even caring. Her calm tones helped greatly.

Relaxing, Manny shook his head. This had happened before, many times before. It was so embarrassing

Adam snorted softly, wondering if Nakura really meant what he said about the Spiritomb or not. It was hard to tell when there were no facial ques to use, "Well she seems pretty nice if Manny isn't wigging. Must be a good nature pokemon. That's better than bad natured, right?"

Ah, so Nakura was what he was going to stick with to the end. "Cool, I'll call you Naka then. Does that sound cool dude? These nicknames and code names are sure weird. I dunno if I'll ever get them all straight. So do you like always tackle people when you meet them? Is this your hello? Pretty strong hello, man."  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Celty, seeming to understand Manny's suspicion, did her best to seem non-threatening. All the others of her species that she had met were pretty nasty, so she understood his concern. Ghost-types alone were considered scary in general, let alone a dark ghost.

Celty answered kindly, speaking her honest opinion from experience. She eyed the blonde young man. your trainer, though? Is he angry at you?> He didn't seem to be the kind of human who was hard on his pokemon, but with his face currently stuck as it was, she could have been wrong.

"I guess," murmured the black-haired grunt in response to his paralyzed captor. "At least there's no danger that she'll turn on me like my others do on occasion. Maybe that's what comes of being a dark-type trainer, but my primary interest doesn't lie in pokemon, so I wouldn't know." He met Adam's gaze, his eyes seeming to match the frozen smile on his face. "It's humans I love."

Chuckling weakly, Nakura asked, "Why call me a different name? Just for the sake of it? I'm telling you, you're just going to confuse yourself. If you associate me with 'Naka', no one will know who you're referring to and you won't recognize when others are referring to me. But if you insist, go ahead." He himself snorted in what must have been amusement. "I use nicknames and familiar suffixes with people because I love them, so why not use intimacies? Somehow I'm not sure that's the same reason you have."

"But regarding your question about greetings, not usually." The corner of his mouth twitched in what might have been an attempt at a smirk. "I'm just so happy to see a new, friendly face in this bin of serious, predictable, boring, stern organization of criminals that I couldn't contain myself~! And what about you?" he continued, voice teasing. "You were the one with your arms out to catch me in a hug. Could it be that you greet everyone just as warmly, or was there some special connection between us at first sight?"  

[Magician Arcana]

Not being angry was a total shocker to the ghastly. Shouldn't a 'mon want to protect their trainer? Then again, from what the Spiritomb was saying, Izaya was often a bit of an imp. It was Celty's comment about needing a 'time out" that made the little ghost fully relax and laugh. It was one of his frequent gripes: that the ghastly was incapable of snuggling.

Feeling better and no longer on guard from a retaliation, Manny started at the box again. Finally the flaps popped open and he was able to rummage around it for the proper bottle.

"You love humans?" Okay, seriously, what the hell was up with this dude? Adam snorted, "Wow, never thought I'd hear that one. Well, maybe you can teach me how to 'love' pieces of crap too." His voice rumbled at the end in what was a mock growl.

Adam remained quiet as he listened to the advice, caught off guard by some of the things Izaya was saying. Familiar suffixes? What the hell were those? Intimacies? Not only was Adam unaware of what the other meant, he was at a loss at first to respond, which was a pretty weird position for the motor mouth.

"Well I was going to punch you," He admitted casually, "But this was our first meeting so I figured that's not a good impression? So I caught you instead. But you're heavier than you look, dude. So yeah, lost my balance." Adam laughed, his anger from before was whisked away by Izaya's cheer, "But since I caught you and we're kinda cuddling... I guess I could call you Sweetheart or Sugar or Honey or Dear or something. That's what you meant by intimacies, yeah? I don't get what you mean by familiar suffixes. What the ******** does that even MEAN dude?"

Manny placed the correct antidote on the bed and rested once more. Now getting it around his tongue and sprayed was the hardest part.-  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Making a sound that seemed to be the Spiritomb's equivalent of laughter, Celty nodded in agreement. she sighed, referring to her own human.

She watched as Manny went back to work on the box, wishing she could help, but unable to do so without even a proper tongue. There were limits to being a creature comprised of collected souls. At least she could do her best to make sure her trainer didn't cause any more trouble for the Gastly or Adam, though.

"That's what I said," Nakura confirmed, attempting to sneer. It was funny what expressions he could manage with only his eyes and mouth when he put his mind to it. "They may be pieces of crap and the scum of the earth, but that's what makes them human."

Laughing aloud at Adam's honest confession about having been about to punch him, the older grunt took a while to calm down. "You wanted to punch me, yet you were concerned about leaving a good first impression?" he repeated once he finally had enough breath back to speak. "But if you meant to punch me based on instinct, you wouldn't have any time to think about impressions. If you meant to punch me on principle, why would you care what my first impression would be of you?" he wondered. "This is why humans are so interesting. You know, most people would probably have just took a step off to the side or attempted to dodge some other way."

Giggling at Adam's offer of calling him terms of endearment, Nakura answered, "You could if you wanted. I don't know if that's the impression you'd want to give others as a new grunt, but that's up to you, koibito," he teased. "By intimacies, you could mean those, yes, but I was also referring to the nicknames and familiar suffixes I use. In Japanese - my first language - we use such suffixes and shortened or altered names only for people we are very familiar with and close to. Examples might be converting 'Frost' into 'Frosty-chan', 'Jerome' into 'Jerry-kun, or 'Adam' into 'Addi-chii'." He winked. "But 'Sweetheart' works just as well."

Celty stared at her trainer and looked sick. she asked the Gastly. She turned back to him, smiling warmly.  

[Magician Arcana]

For a moment the ghastly wavered in what was the right thing to do. Adam and Izaya DID seem quite comfortable with one another, and Celty was very nice. Going around the base, maybe meeting new pokemon, would be very fun! Also all this tongue work was hard and it was aching something fierce. It would be fine, Manny decided. Even if Adam was angry at the change of events, the paraylsis would wear off and so would the trainer's anger.

Ghastly slipped out the door with ease, and thanks to his partner's inability to move his neck, Adam was unaware that the ghastly had departed. At least for the time being.

"Koi-Bitto? What the hell does that mean?" Oh Nakura knew Japanese, huh? That was pretty interesting. It also explained what he meant about the intimacies and suffixes. There was only mystery left, and that as the wink. Was his roommate actually flirting or just being a weirdo? Adam couldn't right tell and decided that there was only one way to figure it out.

Adam went to speak and felt his mouth shift. Surprised, he continued to work at the muscles until they relaxed. Sighing in relief, the grunt relaxed with his eyes closed, "Oh thank god. Nothing else is better but at least I'm not grinning like a weirdo anymore." With that control back, he was able to smirk back at Izaya and return the wink, "Okay, sweetheart. So, tell me about yourself then. I mean here we are, practically cuddling.

"And yeah. I coulda done either one of those. Probably would have been smarter. Oh well, I'm not upset since I get to be so close to you, sweety." The grunt teased.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

she told him happily. Following her fellow ghost-type toward the door, she only paused when Nakura called her name. Adam may not have been able to see them leave, but her trainer had.

"Celty! What - where are you going?!" he demanded, unsure why Manny had already left when the box with the heal was still on the bed.

The Spiritomb whirred at him in amusement, giving him a look she hoped read, 'I'm just doing what you asked me to' before slipping out the door with her keystone to follow after the Gastly.

Gritting his teeth with unspoken fury at his good-natured dark ghost, Nakura quickly returned to his usual, cheerful demeanor when he remembered Adam. "Seems like we might be stuck like this a little longer than we thought," the older grunt noted. "Unless they went to go find another Rocket to come free us, which I seriously doubt. Even if they did, there'd be a long story to tell."

At Adam's question about the term he'd used, Nakura only smirked and said, "Look it up sometime. You can learn something new." He seemed far too preoccupied enjoying the sight of Adam reawaken his mouth muscles to want to bother with explaining definitions. "Grinning is a good habit to get into, though," Nakura answered, baring his own. "It confuses people. Sometimes pisses them off."

The informant laughed aloud when Adam apparently began to flirt. This would be a fun one to puzzle out. "If you weren't being so obviously fake in deciding to flatter me out of the blue, I'd have to question your sexuality," he mused. " But in case you were wondering, I'm in love with humans - plural. I'm not interested in just any one individual, so you had better cut that out."

He went on casually. "I already told you about my love of humans and familiarities. I also have a hobby of watching and observing them, so I guess I'm what you might call a 'weirdo'. Somehow I don't think you'll be wanting to be this close to me for very long." His grin became wicked. "I'm told I talk far too much for my own - or anyone else's - good."

"So if we're going to play 'show and tell', I think it's your turn," Nakura prompted. "All I know so far is about your pokemon and your name. And we can't forget your atrocious flirtation skills - as subtle as a Skuntank's stench." He giggled. "Not going to strangle me in the night or slit my throat while I sleep, are you?"  

[Magician Arcana]

Angry Nakura was a pretty interesting sight. So the jester can frown, huh? It seemed like the older grunt was talented at putting his anger off. Or maybe it was a skill of hiding his true emotions. A chameleon. No wonder they told me to be careful. Despite that, Adam was grinning broadly from excitement. No boring roommate. No stern hardened criminal. Some Japanese guy who liked to make nicknames and wanted to add Chii at the end of his name. Who apparently had a good natured Spiritomb and apparently that Spiritomb was able to persuade diligent little Manny out of helping his trainer. If things got anymore interesting, Adam thought he might burst.

"Oh well I guess we'll make good friends. I talk way too much too. I'm pretty stunned I kept as quiet as I have but that's probably cause you know, mouth wasn't working and all." Now that it was, Adam intended to use it to it's full, obnoxious, capabilities, "C'mon, I was purposely play flirting. I got better s**t up my sleeve. No questions needed about sexuality thought."

So his roommate wanted to know about him? Adam laughed aloud, "Uh, well let's see. I like to drink and dance. I like to play music loud and I like to fight and laugh. Uhm... I like computers. And I love to cuddle. Like holy s**t cuddling is the bomb dude. So even if you're a total whacko I'm fine cuddling you it seriously doesn't bug me.

"And if you like all humans, then you must love me too yeah? Guess we can get close~" He teased with a snort, "You gotta have someone though that your heart wants or body or whatever. I don't know. You know. You see someone. You wanna bang. That thing people do. Most people do.

"Or are you like chill with anyone or anything? When you got a bone you find a nice warm home? Like that sorta person?" Adam mused aloud, not caring that speculating about his roommates sexual tendencies might be a little too personal for their first heart to heart, or body-to-body as it would be, talk. "I won't strangle you in your sleep that s**t's dumb. Why would I? You seem pretty awesome. I think it'll be fun to have a room with you."

Manny hummed to himself, deciding that sticking closer to Celty was a good idea than floating ahead by himself. Manny wondered if such a question was rude. Damn, his owners tendencies were rubbing off on him.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"Thank Arceus," Nakura exhaled in relief. "You wouldn't believe how annoyingly tight-lipped people are around here; especially the higher-ups. Almost no sense of humor at all." That might have been partly to avoid giving nosy grunts like Nakura more information than they were supposed to know, or perhaps to keep him from turning their own words against them in the future. He said nothing of this, though; instead, he chuckled at Adam's excuse of his frozen jaws.

"Then even if you're 'play-flirting', don't you think it's more fun to seem convincing and keep people guessing than to be obvious?" he asked. "If they believe you might be interested in them or are actually somewhat attracted to you, it's such fun to watch them squirm."

Silently making mental notes about the new Rocket, Nakura truly began to wonder how the rest of the organization would (or wouldn't) tolerate him. He reminded him somewhat of Kyle, the other headstrong young man who had relatively recently been promoted to grunt. Adam seemed more fun, though, as Kyle was already being disciplined by Jerome and Aulus to be a model criminal. "Computers, mm?" he repeated thoughtfully. "Does that mean you might opt to get into the tech department?"

The cuddling comment kind of caught him off-guard. All the other Rockets he knew either disliked (loathed, in Frost's case) or simply tolerated Nakura's own regular invasion of other people's personal space. Now that he considered it, Jerome was probably the only one who had tolerated it, and that was just because the ex-gangster had been so laid back; not because he seemed to 'enjoy cuddling'. It took him a minute to think of how to respond to that.

"Why? Do you just like clinging like a parasite?" Nakura teased. "What if no one else is around? Do you harass your pokemon instead?" It might have explained why his Gastly had seemed so skittish.

"Yes, of course I love you," he went on, giggling again. "Just not you as a single person." His giggles turned into snickers. "My turn to share: I'm an information broker. It was my job even before joining Team Rocket and I'm very good at it. That's why I was recruited. That also means I don't give out more information about myself than is common knowledge." Under all that playful banter, there was a sudden edge to his tone and a sharpness of his crimson gaze that almost seemed to a suggest a warning. "If you want to know certain things about me, Addi-chii, you're going to have to earn it."

"As for why you might strangle me in my sleep, that one's already common knowledge around here, so I may as well let you in on that," he laughed, whatever semblance he gave of a warning or threat disappearing. "Many others already do. I accidentally insulted a powerful - if prone to tantrum-throwing - executive during my first few months as a grunt. Subsequently, I was locked in the brig and later told I was probably the first grunt to ever have been demoted back to trainee." He rolled his eyes. "I didn't even fully deserve that one, but regardless, you can be assured it wasn't a promising start to my Rocket career."

"The others I might have, though," Nakura mused. "Once, I temporarily knocked out and held a young agent captive to slice off his unbecoming locks of long hair while he watched. He had a twin brother who was a trainer, you see, and he was an undercover field agent in the stealth division, so I thought I was doing him a favor by making them match. He didn't see it that way, though. Asch-kun was still sore about his partner, who I was accused of getting killed during a mission." His smile had turned bitter for a bit, though whether or not Nakura realized it was anyone's guess. "That one's dead too, now, but his death was his own choice and he didn't go to the grave before trying to take me down with him. Did three months of hard jail time partly thanks to him. Long story."

"Then there's my former roommate," the black-haired man hurriedly continued. "He and I got along well enough until he was promoted. Easy-going guy, Jerry-kun, even if his horrid pokemon were a pain to deal with. He let me take piggy-back rides on him, let me sit on his lap, and let me give him massages when everyone else was too wary of me to get close, let alone touch them." He grinned again. "Of course that was my own doing, making them wary. But Jerry-kun didn't care. At least until he found out what I'd done to his previous gang. Tsk, tsk."

Nakura clicked his tongue pityingly. "While I was in jail, the whole organization was forced to evacuate our old base. Jerry-kun, as my kind and considerate roommate, was moving my stuff out in my stead when he must have discovered the records of my transactions as an info-broker prior to Team Rocket. He hasn't really been the same around me since he moved out of the grunt dorms, but it's not even that peculiar because by now, all agents seem to hate me on principle."

The man's features turned sheepish. "And there you have it, more or less. Obviously I've done other things to earn a reputation, but I'm sure you'll find out about them eventually. In regards to the situation between Jerry-kun and I, though, I'd appreciate it if you'd keep a lid on that one. I don't think either of us has mentioned it to anyone else, so that story, at least, isn't exactly common knowledge. I doubt he'd be pleased to hear I'd shared such a personal, touchy subject about him to a virtual stranger," he confessed, "but since, from now on, you're my replacement Jerry-kun, I thought you might as well know." Nakura sneered. "Consider it a house-warming gift from me to you~"

--------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, Celty was enjoying Manny's company as they wandered around base. She thought he was sweet, and his question to her just supported that impression. She'd never been asked such a thing before by anyone. No one had bothered inquiring about her life before becoming a Rocket pokemon, though she guessed not all even knew she had one.

she answered gently, though her demeanor didn't seem any less positive. Celty admitted.

She gazed ahead of them unseeingly as she tried to recall her prior home years before. Making another small sound of laughter, she added, Turning to Manny, she asked with an encouraging smile,

Just then, a Shuppet floated through one of the doors of the grunt rooms that they passed in the corridor. For once, no one seemed to be pursing her. When she turned toward Manny and Celty, her appearance seemed to be that of a completely normal Shuppet except for one thing. A Polaroid camera dangled from a strap around her neck. Upon recognizing her fellow ghost-types, the excited-looking pokemon flew right up to them.

the high-energy, high-pitched creature greeted. Her gaze and attention darted to Manny.

Celty replied with an entertained smile. Then, after a pause, There was mischief in her eyes.

Eris, who had clearly been considering taking a picture of Manny just then, hesitated. Celty was glad. She knew Eris liked taking random pictures, but she also knew that the Shuppet only had a limited amount of power points for the Psychic technique that she used to press the camera trigger without actual fingers of her own. One more picture of a fellow pokemon - even a new face - meant one less picture to be able to take if the perfect opportunity presented itself. The Spiritomb was also aware by now that Manny probably wouldn't have welcomed sudden flashes in his face by the overly-enthusiastic photographer.