[FIN] Fireman Abel to the rescue!

[insidiousEnigma]

Okay, well....this was just great.

Zacharie wondered, not for the first time, how he had even managed to get himself up this high in the first place. You would think that after getting stuck in trees multiple times he would learn to just stay on the ground where he belonged. But no, he loved feeling the bark scratch against his palms as he climbed and the sense of calm that came over him when he sat up among the leaves.

...He just wished he could manage to get down by himself.

"Absol!" Peldes cried worriedly from the ground, scratching at the tree trunk with her front paws and hoping that it would somehow get her human down. "Peldes, don't scratch the tree like that." The teen scolded. There was no reason to harm the tree just because he was stuck up here. The Absol just whined quietly and began to circle round the tree, unsure what to do about the situation. "We'll just have to wait until someone comes by." He swung his legs over the side of the sturdy branch he was seated on and began to kick his legs idly. He didn't want to call Jerome or Lu to come and get him, that'd be such a long, unnecessary trip for them. "Don't worry, Peldes. Someone will come by soon enough."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Abel had spent the majority of the past few days working overtime or covering his coworkers shifts as it seemed like quite a few of them had coordinated some sort of trip amongst themselves and had all left, leaving him and just a few others to hold the fort in their absence. That was just fine with him, especially because more work hours meant more money, which meant more food or maybe even a new piece of furniture. Most likely food, though.

While he'd been working, his pokemon had unfortunately been stuck at home, and while he thankfully (usually) didn't come home to (much) damaged furniture, he still felt bad that they'd all been cooped up for so long. Thus, today, after a quick meal and a quicker smoke, he gathered up his small gang and brought them to the park. As per usual, Isaac and Sonia stuck close by him, Caleb followed relatively close behind, and Elizabeth bounded along wherever she felt like, making faces or strange taunting noises at passing people and pokemon.

Zacharie's prediction came true quite quickly, as Abel rounded a corner and paused once he saw an Absol waiting anxiously by the base of a tree, though he didn't see its trainer just yet. Huh...  

[insidiousEnigma]

The moment that Peldes caught sight of the blond haired human she began to paw helplessly at the tree with a soft, keening 'Sooooool'. Zacharie, who had actually started to doze off, blinked rapidly when he heard the scratching. "Peldes, I told you not to scratch the tree like that." He scolded again, leaning over to give the dark type a stern look. The floral Absol circled the tree once again before yipping at her trainer and giving the man standing a little ways away a pleading look. "Oh, has someone stopped?" He asked, pushing a few smaller branches aside to peer down towards the path. He couldn't see much but it did in fact look like someone was standing there. "Hello?" He called hesitantly, shielding his eyes from the sun with his free hand to try to get a better look down below.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Caleb frowned as the Absol began to make noise, so he lowered himself closer to the ground, then half-rose so he could slink-trot off to one side, gradually growing closer as he did so, to better inspect this strange, foreign pokemon.

Abel was about to call back his Growlithe when he heard the disembodied voice, and he paused in mild confusion, one brow raised, before it dawned on him that the owner of the voice was probably in the tree. It sounded rather familiar, too, but who...

Hands in his pockets and his other pokemon trailing behind at varying distances - some not very distant at all - Abel turned and headed closer to the tree. "Hey," he called back without the hesitation his new-found, treebound company had, his head tilting a little to one side as he got closer to the tree and the dark-type beneath it, "your pokemon seems kinda anxious down here all alone. What're you doing up there?" Hopefully the guy didn't fall - the last time he'd encountered someone who had been climbing in trees, they'd fallen and injured their ankle. He didn't really want a repeat of the last time.  

[insidiousEnigma]

Peldes wasn't sure how she felt about all of these unknown pokemon getting so close. She'd only really been around a select few pokemon and Zacharie was always right there with her when she interacted with anyone new. "...'Soool." She moved around the tree to put some space between her and the unknown people but didn't move too far for fear of leaving her human all alone.

"Ah, yes...well you see..." The teen fiddled sheepishly with the hem of his button up shirt, "I climbed up to collect a few leaves and...I managed to get stuck up here." He admitted, wishing that he had his long bangs to hide behind. Instead he had to make due with pulling his knees up to his chest to partially obscure his flushed face. "So I imagine that Peldes is mostly anxious because I can't seem to get down and she cannot be of assistance." She was still a bit too young (and clumsy) for him to feel comfortable with letting her do anything too crazy. He wasn't even sure if Absols could climb trees, now that he thought about it. "I would very much appreciate it if you could help me." Zacharie said, peering down through the leaves.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Isaac and Sonia stopped when Abel did and remained with him, both older pokemon recognizing the discomfort of the younger dark-type and giving her space - and in the latter's case, no attention whatsoever - while Caleb had other ideas. Slowly he crept closer - not too close though - and watched her warily with pale, narrowed eyes. Elizabeth had no misgivings whatsoever, and circled around the other side to try and sneak up on the Absol. Whether or not her sneaking was successful, she suddenly jumped forward and made a loud, gutteral noise, fully intending for the sound to be as obnoxious and annoying as possible.

Climbing trees to collect leaves, huh? "I take it you didn't want any that were on the ground?" Those ones were probably dead, anyway. "Stuck though, huh... Hm..." He frowned down at the ground, trying to think of just how he could be of assistance. "You can't get back down the way you got up there? ...your voice sounds awfully familiar, by the way - I'm pretty sure I know you from somewhere."
 

[insidiousEnigma]

Was this really the time to be wondering if they had met before? Zacharie really didn't think so but he was more or less at this man's mercy so he supposed he would have to go along with this random train of conversation. "It's unlikely that we've met before since I don't often leave my lodgings." He said slowly, making sure that he worded what he said correctly. He wasn't the best at lying so he had to be extra careful about what he said around non-Rocket members. "But I suppose it's not completely impossible." The teen mused as he shifted slightly to get a bit more comfortable. "Returning to my current predicament though, I'm not entirely sure that I could descend without injury." Going up was the easy part...it was the getting down that always got him. "I'm not sure if it'd be wise for me to attempt to descend the same way that I ascended."

Peldes, having been so distracted with keeping an eye on the Growlithe, didn't even hear the Charmeleon coming up behind her until it was too late. The poor Absol gave a startled squawk and did the first thing that came to mind. Which just so happened to be to turn around and attempt to jab whatever had startled her with her horn.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Yeah? Huh.." But he sounded familiar... "Might be wrong then," he ceded with a shrug as he continued to think, and began to hum as he did so, and as his company explained. How to get him down, how to get him down... "Can you get down even a branch or two, or are you totally stuck where you are?" The sudden squawk from the young pokemon startled him briefly, and he looked down to see Elizabeth clutching her sides with laughter, even after getting jabbed with Peldes's horn, so he swatted at her briefly, "Cut that out." Sufficiently scolded, the Charmeleon chuckled as she slunk away behind her trainer, content to watch the Absol instead. For now. Caleb frowned at them both, pausing where he was for a few moments, before he crept a bit closer...

An idea struck Abel suddenly, and he leaned down to pick up his Espeon, "See if you can help him out from up there, yeah?" Suggestion posed, he raised the psych-type up so Isaac could grudgingly hop up into the branches. A bit of soft rustling through branches and a bit of time later, Zacharie would find a colorful Espeon near him, the lithe creature offering him a gentle coo of greeting.  

[insidiousEnigma]

"Well...I can certainly try-" Abel wasn't the only one that was startled by the Absol's noise of surprise. "Peldes, are you okay?" He called down worriedly, squirming and shifting until his chest was pressed tight against the branch and his legs were dangling over the side in search of another branch. "Sol...Absol!" Came the response and Zacharie could easily hear just how upset Peldes was getting down there. "Okay, well...oh hello." The teen greeted the Espeon breathlessly with a tiny nod of his head as he scooted back a bit more to lower himself towards the other branch. "Uhm, could you tell me if I'm close to the next branch?" He asked the psychic type before grunting with the effort it took to hold himself up like that.

Peldes took a few steps back to put some distance between the Growlithe and herself but the sounds of exertion that her human was making from up in the tree had her shuffling back. She was never, ever going to let him do this ever again!  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Trying is good," Abel called up encouragingly; trying to coach him down was about the most he could do, at this point, until he got down further. "Just be careful, and make sure to hold onto other branches and not put all your weight on just one, just in case."

Isaac blinked his bright eyes at the purple-haired teen before glancing down at the branch he obviously was referencing, so with a slight wiggle of his behind, he carefully hopped down onto the branch to get a better vantage point. "Eon, espeon," he affirmed in as positive a tone as he could manage, and hoped that properly conveyed that he was indeed close to the branch.

Caleb frowned more, his ears twisting back and forth as he watched the squirming dark-type that looked like foliage. <...what are you?>  

[insidiousEnigma]

Even if Zacharie did feel the need to respond to the others advice he was a little preoccupied at the moment. The purple-haired boy huffed as he gingerly continued to lower himself until he felt his sneakers touch the branch below him. Thank goodness that whoever was down there had thought to send up their Espeon, otherwise who knows how long he would have just dangled there. Carefully, he shifted until he was seated safely on the new branch and gave the psychic type a grateful smile. "Well...I suppose I'll just continue in such a fashion until I get closer to the ground." He said mostly to himself as he squirmed to dangle his feet off of the branch.

Peldes huffed, puffing out her cheeks indignantly as she spared a moment to glance at the Growlithe. Her attention quickly went back to the tree though as she heard her human continue to move about and ruffle the leaves up above.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Since he didn't receive any further comments from the guy in the tree, and he didn't have much else to say, Abel returned to humming idly as he waited - somewhat anxiously - below the tree, waiting either for the person to fall (oh man he hoped not) or, more hopefully, to get close enough to the ground so that he could help him down.

Isaac made a pleased noise at the teen, his ears perking up a little as he listened and watched. Continuing in that fashion sounded like a good idea to him, and so he, too, dangled over the branch a little before hopping down to the next one. "Eon," he called up to the teen confidently, his forked tail flicking as he waited for him to descend further, hoping to continue to help him in the same fashion as before.

The Growlithe snorted, sidestepping a few paces with one ear back and the other perked forward, appearing quite skeptical and wary of the other pokemon.  

[insidiousEnigma]

With the Espeon's help and more than a little arm strength, Zacharie managed to slide and wiggle his way to the lowest branch. The branch was a least 6 feet up from the ground but at least he was no longer stuck up near the top of the tree.

I'm that.> Peldes replied incredulously. How did the other pokemon except for her to explain it? Not that that mattered at all anymore because her human was finally within eyesight. "Absol!" The dark type exclaimed, hopping up onto her hind legs to try to reach him. "Hold on, Peldes. I've got to finish getting down." The teen said patiently, if not a little out of breath. He turned to give the other man some form of thanks but paused when he caught sight of just who it was. "Oh..." He could not remember the man's name for the life of him, but he did recognize the face. "It's you." He finished lamely for lack of anything else to say. Zacharie had to admit, if only to himself, that he felt a bit silly for dismissing that the knew each other.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Once on the lowest branch - and with no idea how this human had gotten himself so high up in the first place - Isaac carefully moved across it until he was over his trainer, then lightly hopped down onto his shoulders, and from there jumped down to the ground. Abel held still to prevent the Espeon from falling. His brows raised when he got a good look at the guy stuck in the tree. Similarly, he couldn't recall his own name, but he definitely remembered his face - and his voice, it seemed. "Heh, yeah, it's me," he offered with a wry smile and then helpfully supplied, "Abel. Hm... Think you can jump down from there, or do you want some help?"

Caleb snorted and flicked his ears back. Whatever this Absol was, he didn't like it.  

[insidiousEnigma]

Abel...
Oh right, the guy that had said he looked older than nineteen. From Rosie's wedding!
He couldn't remember much about him but he did recall finding him to be pleasant company.

"Zacharie. It's nice to see you again, Abel." He said honestly, a small, albeit shy, smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "I....In all honesty, I would very much appreciate some help down." While it hadn't taken as long for him to get up into the tree as it normally would (he was actually starting to pick up on Jerome's parkour lessons), it had still taken him two running starts for him to be able to grab a hold of the first branch. He really didn't want to risk injuring himself just so he could look tough by hopping out of the tree unaided. Abel already knew that he had gotten stuck up there...so it's not much like it could really get anymore embarrassing.

He hoped.

Still unsure with what to do with herself, Peldes circled round the tree again before sitting a little ways away from the weird Growlithe. What was that guy's problem anyway? She sneakily (or so she thought) cast the fire type a wary look and flicked her tail.