[FIN] What Did I Miss?

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Izaya had no idea what had happened on the last big mission. With no access to Rocket reports, he had no way of finding out other than by word of mouth, either. He hadn't talked to too many since he had been allowed to wander the base once more, though. Whether out of embarrassment for his trainee outfit, his situation as a traitor, the difficulty of explaining where he'd been, or the awkwardness of what he wasn't allowed to explain, he just hadn't particularly felt like interacting with others who recognized him.

And for those who did maybe feel like approaching him...the man had a new bodyguard. A Gardevoir he had asked the labs for specifically. He had always wanted to study Psychic-types more, but other than Delic, he had refrained from doing so because of Faleen's strong dislike of them. Now, though, he was free to do as he wished within reason without worrying about her opinion as his partner.

Of course having a pokemon created specially for him didn't mean it was naturally obedient, but Izaya wouldn't have had it any other way. It really did remind him of his old secretary while he had worked as an informant in Camphoreon and he imagined he would be relying on her in a similar fashion. She was capable, just like her namesake, but she also wasn't impressed by her trainer, also like her namesake. No matter; as long as she obeyed his orders, didn't mind working with and training her.

If anything, he was grateful to have her around. Though not a human, she was enough like one to stave off lonliness and keep him company as she followed him around out of her pokeball nearly everywhere he went out. She was also willing to put her best efforts into whatever she did, which Izaya was pleased with. Because of this, he was optimistic when he entered a training room with her at his side, but his spirits quickly fell.

Someone was already there; someone he recognized. But hey, he and KO didn't know each other that well, right? Perhaps it would be okay for them to make casual conversation.

"Hello," Izaya greeted cheerily, raising a hand. "Mind if we join you?"  

[TawnyAngel]

It had been an interesting day in the labs to say the least; an inexperienced grunt had been about to pour waste nitric acid into a flask that already had ethanol in it and in order to stop him KO had yanked his arm back, which had resulted in the nitric acid going everywhere and the pair of them stripping at speed and diving into the safety shower. Naturally as he'd vigorously scrubbed his leg where the acid had splashed his uniform KO had given the young man the tongue lashing of his life, he was pretty sure the teen had actually started crying. If he had then it was no more than he deserved for almost making a bomb by mistake.

That had been a couple of hours ago; after the incident he'd been given the rest of the shift off and once he'd calmed down a bit from nearly having been horribly maimed by flying glass he'd decided to make use of it so to the training rooms it was, Imperator needed plenty of training before he was ready to work in the field and if at all possible KO wanted to have him along next time there was a mission.

He let the small green and white pokemon out along with Duke, Regent, and Bruce and had been trying to decide how to proceed while they warmed up when the door opened. KO turned around with his eyebrows raised slightly in surprise, had he not locked it behind him? He must still be a bit distracted by nearly potentially having his wonderful face ruined he supposed. When he took in the identity of the person who'd just walked in his eyebrows rose further and a small smirk curved his lips up.

"Well well well, I haven't seen you in a while! By all means, the more the merrier humm?" Hadn't he been a grunt before? Yes he definitely had but KO decided not to comment on that for now, he'd save it for later or maybe not bring it up at all depending on... well on his own whim really.

Ahh, and Izaya had a Gardevoir now? Well there was something for Imperator to look up to. KO nodded at the psychic and fairy type and then looked to Izaya. "And how long have you had her? She's a pretty specimen, did you have her made to order?"  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Uh oh. By the smirk on the red-head's face, it seemed he hadn't been forgotten after all. Why did red-heads seem to have it out for him? Maybe most people did, but Izaya had noticed a trend with red-haired people for a while, now.

"Hehehe...same to you, Kirk-kun," the informant greeted cheerfully. "And that's what I like to think. Glad to know someone else feels the same. Most people around here don't seem to like to share much."

He had just laid eyes on the other man's Ralts when KO nodded toward his Gardevoir. "Oh, Namie? Why, thank you. Actually I just got her, and yes, I asked that she resemble a former secretary of mine."

Namie rolled her eyes, her arms crossed over her chest. Not waiting for the humans, she went to a corner to warm up as the other pokemon there were doing.

"As you can see, she's just as crazy about me as said secretary as well," he laughed. "But at least she seems competent enough, which is more than I can say for most of my other pokemon. I guess that's what you'd expect from a Psychic-type." He gestured toward the other Psychic and Fairy-type in the room. "And who's this? Also someone new?"  

[TawnyAngel]

"Oh, absolutely. Me?" KO gestured airily at himself and smirked a little wider. "I love to share, all the best things in life are done in company don't you think? And yes Imperator is new, I got him from the labs but I didn't feel like paying extra to have his colours changed.... And I know I'm here to train Namie, I can only assume that you are too seen as you're down here." KO turned his eyes onto the willowy pokemon and flashed her a brilliant smile. "And I'm sure you're a valued team member not a toy, eh Izaya?"

While KO's older three pokemon ignored the intrusion and got on with their warm up Imperator headed over towards Namie and raised his chin to inspect her. <>  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"Of course, of course," Izaya agreed with a flourishing gesture. "It's lonely otherwise. Imperator, huh? Sounds like an ambitious name to grow into." He smiled at the Ralts before becoming puzzled at Kirk's addressing of his pokemon. Was he talking to Namie, or himself?

The Gardevoir, for her part, gave the man of red pause as he flashed a smile at her. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. she wanted to know. Psychic-types that were strong and focused enough to project their thoughts to humans weren't unheard of, but Namie was pretty sure she wasn't one of them.

him to understand me,> she added, looking back at her trainer, you?>

When spoken to, Izaya quickly dropped the bewildered frown he adopted upon noticing his pokemon seeming to respond to KO. "A toy? Of course not; humans are my toys. A tool, maybe...but that's no less than I treat any other pokemon..." Glancing between Kirk and Namie, he asked tentatively, "Am I missing something...?"

Noticing the one called Imperator come up to her, Name smiled and leaned down to address him. Inspecting him, she asked,  

[TawnyAngel]

"Ambition is my middle name, one of many I possess," KO replied with a smirk that implied a lot of his middle names came with a content warning.

When the Gardevior addressed him KO smirked a little more; he supposed he could have kept that card close to his chest for a while, their surprise at the reveal would have been greater and it could have been interesting to see what the Gardevior said without knowing she was understood but he didn't feel much like playing that sort of game today and this seemed like fun anyway.

KO chuckled softly and made an open, languid gesture with one hand. "Mmm-humm, I heard you miss Namie. I happen to have been blessed with the ability to understand fairy types, fitting some might say. Haven't you heard of the abilities we've acquired, apparently due to the presence of the egg of Arceus?" KO looked between the Gardevior and Izaya, surely Izaya knew? How could anyone have missed that? It wasn't something anyone could miss if they were around base yet he seemed totally confused... "Where have you been Izaya?"

Imperator made a soft noise of amusement and nodded. <>  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"Perhaps, but you're not the one called Imperator, are you?" the informant replied with a smile that was part sass, part tedium. There was only so much patience he currently possessed to endure KO's smug attitude while at the same time keeping up his own charade by responding with banter.

For someone who made knowing everything their business, he had missed far more in the past several months than he was comfortable with. As a result, his frustration and irritation at being behind the general Kodo population in that respect was wearing him thin on top of all else that he'd been through.

"...Understand Fairy-types?" Izaya repeated, not sure he was comprehending that statement correctly. "As in...you've become a trainer specializing in Fairy-types?" This was quickly becoming confusing again knowing that KO was honestly addressing his Gardevoir as well as himself. "Abilities...? Are you talking about 'we' as in humans, or pokemon or...what?" Egg? An egg of Arceus?

He vaguely remembered when Adam once messaging him prior to being detained. The younger grunt had said something about being on a mission involving legendaries. He couldn't recall much of it now, but he was sure he would have remembered if there had been something about gaining abilities. Perhaps that had been discovered after he'd been cut off from the blonde.

Namie, on the other hand, was more open to the idea and thus it took her less time to wrap her mind around it. she reasoned.

"I was detained," Izaya answered KO's question curtly, his curiosity and impatience growing by the second. "What is this ability? Who's developed it? Is it dangerous?" Damn, what he wouldn't have given for access to Rocket records right now...

the Gardevoir noted, approving of Imperator's knowledge. She glanced at the other pokemon, then back at Imperator.  

[TawnyAngel]

Oh dear, was somebody in a bit of a mood? KO tilted his head slightly to the side, observing Izaya carefully as he spoke; he really didn't know then! And he'd been detained, detained for long enough to have missed the whole thing. And he was in a trainee's uniform. It was sort of tempting to toy around with Izaya a bit, to be vague and unhelpful with a hint of coyness but after a little pondering he decided that the end result probably wouldn't be all that much fun. Might as well just come out with it then.

"Oh well seen as you ask me so nicely I'll tell you," KO drawled, arching an eyebrow at Izaya and resting one hand on his hip. "It was around springtime when an artefact that all evidence points to being connected to the legendary pokemon Arceus was found underwater. Long story short it ended up on a big tower off the coast of Camphoreon and somehow its presence has started to give people the ability to understand the speech of pokemon. Everyone gets one type but nobody has yet worked out what determines your type, or even how the orb-like object - the 'egg' - does what it does. When the egg was first discovered a number of rockets - myself included - went out in a sub to try to study it, we were among the first to develop the ability. It starts with a persistent headache that lasts a couple of weeks, when that fades away you're left able to understand a pokemon type. Once the egg was raised up on its tower the ability started to spread, first through Camphoreon and now across the whole of Kodo. It seems to affect different people at different rates however, there are plenty who haven't shown and sign of developing a communication type, as it's become known." KO paused there for partially because he'd just done a lot of talking and partially for effect. After a couple of moments he continued; "I'm sure you can understand how useful this is to the Team, direct communication with ones pokemon means for example we can send a pokemon out to spy and then get a full report from them. There were a few psychic legendaries who could play the translator before of course but how many of us have or want one of those?"

<> Imperator nodded, <>  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

For a few minutes after Kirk finished his explaination, Izaya just stood and stared. Eventually, he began to laugh; a harsh, loud laugh that reverberated through the room and might have expressed anything but mirth. It ended as abruptly as it began with Izaya looking even less pleasant than before.

"If you're going to make fun of me, the least you can do is make up something more believable. I know you supposedly out-rank me now, but give me some credit, at least," the informant hissed. "Pokemon aren't smart enough to speak. Even those that communicate probably do so with the capacity of a toddler at most. I've had enough of those stupid Jirachi voices echoing around in my head to know that much."

The fact that he had to say this aloud made the man partially aware that this was a tactic used by those in denial. He had heard of other, more intelligent pokemon with higher levels of maturity such as Mewtwo or Lugia, but he conveniently let himself brush those things aside. Tricks; that's all they must have been. Pokemon were capable of many things due to their various abilities, but having sentience on par with human beings was not something he was so willing to accept.

He loved humans. They were different. Pokemon were simply instinctive animals - monsters - who did what they needed to in order to survive. If captured, they simply went from being feral to trained like how creatures in a pack obeyed their most dominant individual. There was no way they could think and feel and hurt like humans could. That time when Aila's Jirachi, Luciole, had come to him asking about where her human friend had gone...that must have just been a human-like habit it'd picked up. It couldn't have actually felt concern for its trainer. It couldn't have felt the loss of her like her fellow humans had. Like Izaya had.

It only made him more angry and upset than ever that he was forced to recall all these things. Now he just needed someone to blame and take it out on. He didn't know Kirk that well and Kirk didn't know him, right? So then why did this man seem so intent on pissing him off? Was Kirk like that with everyone, or was he just special? Last they'd met, Izaya had been pretty sure he'd been in the black uniform and KO had been in the maroon one. Did that have something to do with why he was being treated the way he was now? Why did everything he thought he knew seem to be turned upside down or falling apart as if ripped at the seams?

"Are you saying Arceus as a creature really exists?" the informant snapped. "Even if it did, why would there be any reason to believe this thing you found is related to it, let alone is its egg? What gave you all this bright idea that this thing was the one causing this 'ability' to spread?" He snorted and crossed his arms.

"Sounds more to me like someone thought it would be fun to prank people into thinking they could hear their pokemon talk and then it caught on. Now it must be something of a trend having originated in Camphoreon and everyone can just pretend it's caused by the thing from the ocean. After all, there's no way to prove anything if not everyone has developed this 'ability' and each person can only understand one pokemon type."

He glared at Kirk. "What else? Did a Celebi show up from a future where there are pokemon-human hybrids? Are an army of Deoxys now at war with Clefairy for control of the moon? Can the dead get ghost pokemon to do their bidding among the living?" He clenched his fist. "Do you think it's funny, pulling my leg with this crap?!"

Namie's eyes glowed and she focused her psychic control on her trainer's hand, keeping it where it was before it rose to meet KO's face. Izaya immediately noticed this and verbally turned on the Gardevoir instead. "Who said you could attack me?! This isn't any way to treat your trainer!"

Despite Izaya's words, the Psychic and Fairy-type did not release him. Namie apologized, unfazed and unimpressed by her so-called trainer. She looked to KO and met his gaze.  

[TawnyAngel]

As Izaya spoke KO slowly arched one eyebrow, folded his arms over his chest and dropped his weight onto one hip. He remained in this relaxed, expectant pose until he saw the trainee's fist clench; as Namie's eyes glowed KO was already taking a half step back, arms dropping loose by his sides and red eyes sharpening with wariness and displeasure.

<> Imperator said with a frown, folding his small arms across his chest as he spoke. <>

Silence reigned after Namie spoke, it was come moments before KO made a 'tsk' noise and shook his head at Namie. "Well Miss Namie I don't claim to know him all that well but he wasn't like this when we last met! He just got rather uncomfortable when I flirted with him, as I recall. I was only teasing but there you go. Mh, I much preferred his former persona to this little spectacle of temper."

KO then turned his attention to Izaya. "And really Izaya? Really? I didn't have you pegged as the unstable sort that attacks people for saying things they don't like. I suppose either I've misjudged you or you've changed during them time you were detained." He was pretty glad Namie had intervened, he didn't know how much of a fighter Izaya was and didn't care to find out first hand in case that resulted in a fist to the face. "I really do find your ingratitude shocking though," he continued lazily, lifting a hand to inspect his nails. "I mean, here I am trying to get you up to speed on an important development and all you can do is burst into maniacal laughter and, I assume, try to take a swing at me! Rude. Now you don't have to believe it if you don't want to but me," KO gestured lightly at himself, "I am a man of science! I believe in evidence, and the evidence is irrefutable. Intelligence varies from pokemon to pokemon it's true but that doesn't mean they can't speak. And yes Arceus exists though personally I don't believe it's any kind of creator, just a very ancient very powerful pokemon. The 'egg' isn't an egg - at least we don't think so - as I said it's an orb-like object, people have just called it the egg because it resembles one a little."

Why was Izaya taking this so badly? "And of course there's a way to prove it," KO continued as he pondered his own mental query. "If multiple people can understand the same type, or for example somebody who understands normal types and somebody who understands flying types both listen to a Pidgeot, they can corroborate what was said. Saying that isn't evidence is as good as saying that you can't prove foreign languages are real speech because you personally don't understand them. As for connecting it with the 'egg' it's really quite simple - people only develop the ability when they're close enough to it, when people aren't close enough they don't. You really couldn't get a lot simpler than that, empirical evidence humm?"

"Oh and for the record," KO arched an eyebrow again and smirked a bit. "I have no interest in pulling your leg, or any other portion of your anatomy for that matter. You don't have to believe me if you don't want to but you can ask anyone else on base and you'll hear more or less the same thing from them. Ah, but I'd be careful about trying to raise you hand to other people; not everyone around here is as relaxed as I am, some might take offence and feel the need to return the favour to you."  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

the Gardevoir apologized again, this time to both Imperator and KO for her trainer's behavior.

Izaya seemed to realize that he wasn't going to be let go unless he showed more self-control. Taking a few deep breaths, he closed his eyes and exhaled slowly through his nose before gradually unclenching his fists. When he opened his eyes again, he appeared to have regained his composure for the most part. He chose to pretend as if he hadn't heard KO addressing his pokemon. Kirk was probably just trying to chastise him indirectly by pretending to speak to Namie. He tried not to consider the possibility that the red head was simply doing so to provoke him further. Given his reaction to Izaya's hostility, that didn't seem like something he would have been keen on.

"You're right. I hope you can forgive me," the black-haired man said with a thin-lipped smile that was just a tad too tight. "A lot has happened and I haven't been myself as of late. I've gradually been re-adjusting, but after months without regular human interaction, I'm afraid my composure and patience have become rather frayed." He nodded toward Namie. "One of the reasons I asked for her - to help me reacclimate."

At this, the Gardevoir took it as a sign that her trainer had recognized his mistakes and released his wrist from her Psychic telekinesis. Izaya rubbed his wrist and with a small, 'thank you,' to his pokemon, gestured amicably toward Kirk. "I owe you an apology; more than words can express. I am indeed grateful for your information and am in your debt. Is there something I can do for you to express my thanks? Just name it and I'll do everything in my power to grant it."

Just as long as he stopped talking about pokemon being able to speak. Izaya still may not have believed it, but it wouldn't have been the first time he pretended to go along with information he suspected was false. And KO was still taking the time and effort to explain his idea of Arceus and the distinction between the egg's name and what it actually was. That at least warranted something, right? If he wanted Kirk's continued help, he had to at least play nice.

"I suppose what you're saying about proving it is true, but I still have to wonder if it isn't something like the effect of the story, 'The Emperor's New Clothes' where someone pretends they see - or in this case, hear - something and others simply agree with what they said. Or, like charlatan fortune-tellers and fake espers, people simply pretend to understand what a pokemon is communicating based on context clues, body language, tone, and the like." He stared at their pokemon thoughtfully. "I wonder why only some people develop the ability and others don't...and what that would have to do with their proximity to this 'egg'." He sighed and shook his head. "Oh well. I'm certain there are scientists studying the answer to that at this very moment if what you told me is true."

The corner of Izaya's mouth twitched at Kirk's smirk and subtle remark concerning his anatomy. "Ahhh...thank you for the warning. Well, as I'm something of a masochist and it seems I've been having trouble getting a grip on reality these days, perhaps a good slap to the face is just what I need right now."

Namie looked up suddenly. <...Was it my imagination, or did he just asked to be hit?> she asked, stunned. Her surprise was tinged with disgust.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Well I'm afraid you'll have to look elsewhere for a slap, I'm not really into that," KO replied to Izaya; he then regarded Namie and gave a small but expressive shrug. "Perhaps you're right." Not his problem though!

"But I don't need any reward for passing on the news, even if you won't accept it as news," KO continued, now addressing his fellow human again with another shrug and a small quirk of a smile at one corner of his mouth. "We're teammates aren't we? Surely it's only my duty to share the information I have.... And I really don't know how I can convince you it's true, but I'm a little insulted that you think I would play along like that!" KO looked down at his nails and then lifted his eyes to meet Izaya's again as he added; "I'm not known for blending in with a crowd after all. But yes the phenomena is being studied, probably there are neuroscientists working on the puzzle as we speak! I can't speculate about what would cause the differences, it's really not my area."

lZAYA ORlHARA

Sorry for the delay!

 

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"Hahaha! Is that so?" Izaya answered with an obviously forced laugh. "I'll have to make note of that for future reference, then. Knowing that, I'd guess you were more like me when it came to preferences. But from the way you backed off just now, maybe not." Once more he pretended to ignore KO's apparent address of Namie, though not without some difficulty. His smile became more strained than ever.

"Yes...teammates..." the black-haired man repeated thoughtfully, his false pretenses fading into a frowning countenance of deep pondering as he averted his gaze for a moment. It was as if he'd been reminded of something that he didn't like but resolved to do regardless.

When he looked back up at Kirk to meet the man's eyes, Izaya was smiling again with a tilted head, but said smile was tired and weak. "As you just decided to tell my dear Namie, last time we met, you were flirting with me for fun. I don't think it's entirely unwarranted for me to be on my guard against any possible antics of yours this time around, do you?"

He sighed and put a hand on his hip, adjusting his posture to shift his weight on his other leg. "Anyway...these things about the Arceus Egg and pokemon speech. Have those been the only new developments lately, or is there anything else anything else I should be up-to-date on?"

TawnyAngel

((Noo, I'm the one sorry for the longer delay. sweatdrop Thank you for your patience with me.))

 

[TawnyAngel]

lZAYA ORlHARA

Haha, no worries! I know I still owe you elsewhere, derp derp. XD

"Oh come now, surely you realise there's a difference between a gentle tease and an outrageous lie?" KO replied with a chuckle and a shake of his head. "Anyway I don't see the fun in a lie like this, what do I get out of it? I only get a kick out of seeing people make fools of themselves if I don't like them and I've got nothing against you, Izaya." At least not at the moment.

What else had happened though?

Well, there was that but he wasn't going to mention that part. The mission itself though, yes. "We've secured two legendary pokemon recently that you might not be aware of, Articuno and Xerneas. The former was encountered on a training mission I was a part of, an adult and two juveniles; elite Rook drew off the adult while the rest of us battled the immature specimens, eventually I was able to capture one of them. Xerneas we were sent out after specifically, to aid a group of Kalos rockets who'd found it. We ended up having to go undercover by stealing ranger uniforms as the champion... what's her name? Dianatha? Well she'd turned up so we pretended to work with her, she figured us out eventually though - and I blame Clancy - and we had to flee, ended up trapping her in a cave and then continued our pursuit of Xerneas. I was able to capture it," KO gestured at himself with a little smirk, "a run of good fortune? Perhaps I'm charmed and they should send me after all legendaries in future. Several of us were badly wounded on the mission including myself but I believe everyone's back on their feet now."  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"Perhaps, but I also know it's possible to be both a tease and a liar. You certainly seem the type to enjoy leading others on for fun," he remarked, gesturing with an outstretched palm. "But I suppose one shouldn't judge a book by its cover." The comment about KO having nothing against him caught Izaya off-guard. He must have been so used to everyone having something against him by now, hearing about his infamous misconduct or maybe even just disliking him on principle, that it was startling to discover there were some who still reserved judgement.

Regarding Kirk more deeply with a new perspective, Izaya kept a poker face as he shifted his attention to the new information he was given. "Two? My, you have been a busy bunch, haven't you? I'm surprised there aren't more people missing body parts or lives around here. I suppose if there were, though, it'd be hard to identify the latter."

'Immature specimens'... The info broker snorted softly at the thought of a team of Rockets taking on a nest of Articuno chicks. He was sure they were probably more formidable up-close and personal, but just the image made it seem less threatening and more amusing than reality must have been.

He wasn't sure who Clancy was, but he made a mental note to find out, along with what, exactly, he did that exposed their group and that Kirk blamed him for. When the red head was done, Izaya whistled long and low. "After hearing those two tales, perhaps they should." He took a step or two closer to Kirk and began to circle him. "But you'll understand if I have my doubts. I mean...charming and handsome as I'll admit you are...how in Arceus' name did you get through all of that without a scratch?" Izaya made an obvious show of looking the other man up and down. "Not a single mar on that pretty face? Surely you have some battle scar or other to show for your efforts. Expertly hidden by your renowned fashion sense, maybe?"

TawnyAngel

((Hahaha, we all got tags owed somewhere~ <3))