[FIN] Skip-To-My-Lu

[Venti Mico]

On one hand, Lu now knew he'd most likely be caught if a non-Rocket ever asked him if he was a Rocket. On the other, he was only talking to another Rocket, so he wasn't in trouble! Picking up the some lying skills might be to his advantage, Lu thought.

He didn't take the man's hand, not trusting him farther than he could throw him. Though a glance over Nakura made Lu think he could actually throw him pretty far, so perhaps that wasn't the best idiom. "I'm, uh... trainee. Lu Deller..." He said, closing his right hand a few times; it felt rude to not shake the other's hand. Lu didn't particularly want to be any closer to him though, and after a short internal debate, he decided to keep his hands at his sides.

"I, uh, you can call me Lu..." he said, the nickname not quite what he'd like to go by. "I can come back later to train, s-so uh, I'm not distracting you or anything..."  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Nakura stared at Lu's clasping hand with a bewildered smile. Still, he didn't say anything about it; he was familiar enough with being denied handshakes. Dropping his own, offered hand, he stuck them in the pockets of his parka. "Oh, no, you're not distracting me at all," he answered gleefully. "In fact, you're a sight for sore eyes. I am so sick of dealing with the same, boring people and useless, disobedient pokemon."

Celty made a whirring sound similar to a sigh. Her trainer pretended to ignore her, but couldn't ignore what came next. A pair of strong, dark arms wrapped about Nakura and lifted him without warning.

"?!" The black-haired grunt struggled and craned his neck to try to look around. "...Jerry-kun?!" The ex-gangster stood there keeping Nakura's arms pinned to his sides, his expression dark and angry.  

[Venti Mico]

Lu took a step backwards in an attempt to distance himself from Nakura. Tea stayed put, again, much to Lu's dismay. Maybe if he acted like he had something important to do Nakura would let him be, but Tea didn't seem to want to stand down.

"Oh... u-um, well, I am boring, I-I'll leave before I-" Lu jumped when there was suddenly a man picking up Nakura, Lu had been facing them and hadn't seen them approach! Sure, he'd been paying more attention to the ground and the other Rocket, but Lu hadn't known he was that unobservant. A hand lifted over his heart in shock, Lu stared at the man. He couldn't remember his name but had seen him around, he was definitely a Rocket.

"Are- um- are you okay?" Lu asked hesitantly, brows furrowed into what looked like a glare. He sounded more worried than angry though- maybe a tad startled. Maybe a lot. He wasn't sure if he should help or... leave.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Resisting the urge to shout, 'do I look okay?' to the taller man, Nakura frowned at Jerome instead. What was all this about? Something didn't seem quite right here, either. Sure, Jerome didn't talk much, but since when did he start attacking people before trying to work things out? Had his roommate finally uncovered that thing he'd been keeping from him? Or...was this something else?

With a heaving sigh, the grunt gave up struggling. "You should go on, Lu-lu-puu. I think it's just me he wants to deal with right now."

Celty hovered nearby uncertainly, looking unsure of what to do. Even Mairu and Kururi stopped playing to stare at the scene.  

[Venti Mico]

Biting his lip, Lu glanced down at Tea as she turned and walked a few steps behind him. The Absol seemed ready to leave, not caring to aid Nakura... but Lu's conscious was already making him feel guilty for considering leaving. It'd be his fault if Nakura got hurt! ...Maybe that was a stretch. Lu stayed put anyway.

"I, uh... maybe you two should talk it out instead of...this," Lu said unsurely, looking from the man who's snuck up, to Nakura, then back to the Rocket. What would you call it? Aggressive hugging? "Could you maybe let him go..?" he asked the man, head bowed. He'd leave if the situation seemed diffused, hopefully this would work.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"Oh, believe me - I love to talk, but he seems pretty intent on keeping his mouth shut," Nakura answered, nodding toward the muscular figure behind him. "Which is strange, since he's usually very laid back. Aren't you, Jerry-kun?"

Jerome answered by narrowing his tattooed eyes even more and digging his nails into the skinnier man's arms as he tightened his grip. His prisoner winced.

"Nope...definitely beyond reasoning..." Nakura concluded.

At Lu's request, the dark Rocket turned his intense glare on him instead. He raised a single brow, as if to ask why he should do such a thing, but otherwise remained silent and still.  

[Venti Mico]

Jerry? Lu wasn't sure if that was the man's actual name, it sounded almost familiar but at the same time... it didn't. Nakura had called Lu an odd nickname so perhaps that was a nickname too. Though it seemed very friendly for a guy that was attempting to squeeze someone else to death.

And now 'Jerry' was glaring at Lu. Tea, realizing her person wasn't following, turned and watched them. She didn't like this man at all, he was making Lu uncomfortable. She let out a low, quiet growl from her throat, warning.

"...Will it be okay if I leave now? H-he seems calmed down..?" Lu murmured, eyes flickering between the two men. 'Jerry' wasn't saying anything so Lu tried to talk to Nakura- but Jerry was rather intimidating and Lu was hoping he wasn't going to get attacked if he let his guard down.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Nakura looked back and forth between Lu and Jerome, but when Lu didn't seemed to have anything else to say to Jerome, the dark man shoved Nakura to the ground before keeping him down with the weight of his boot.

"N-now now, Jerry-kun...If this is about that gang of yours, I can explain..." he said weakly, feeling the pressure of the shoe on his rib cage. It was making it hard to breathe. There was that odd feeling again, though, like something didn't add up. As he kept talking, Jerome grit his teeth and ground his boot against the man's chest, but something odd happened. Instead of any sort of boot print, three long, jagged rips appeared in Nakura's shirt as if some wild animal had scraped their claws across his front.

Tensing, the grunt dropped his act and scowled at the Jerome look-alike. "I should have known..." he grumbled under his breath.

More focused on getting Lu to leave, however, the impostor bared his teeth at the tall trainee in a very bestial fashion before pointing sharply back the way Lu had come.  

[Venti Mico]

Lu actually let out a shocked squeak. He took a step back, thinking this had been the worst possible outcome to going out to train. Really! He'd thought maybe the worst that would happen was getting a sunburn or Tea getting too tired! Lu didn't understand any of this. Life was terrible and he wanted to be a tree for the rest of his life.

"S-sorry..!" He said quickly, backing up and halfway turning around. That guy sure didn't seem normal, nope! Tea's fur stood up at the back of her neck, backing away slightly too and barring her teeth. "Tea, come on, please..." Lu said, looking down at Tea(why did she have to be so stubborn right now?!). He took one last look at Nakura and Jerry...

Damn. Why did he have to have a conscience? Why? Trees didn't. Lu should just be a tree. It'd be so much easier. But no, he was walking towards Jerry and reaching out to put his hands on the man's(?) shoulders. He started pushing him away, gently. "I-I really think you should stop, please." This felt like an awful decision. Maybe he still had time to make a run for it.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

'Jerry' stared at Lu's hands on his shoulder before giving him an incredulous, 'really?' look and shoving him back. He used enough force for anyone to presume he meant to shove Lu to the ground, whether or not that was the end result. Jerome was stronger than the grunt whose height he shared, but he was still shorter than the trainee.

Suddenly, a second Lu hopped out of the tall, grassy plains to stand at Lu's side. It was a perfect replica...except this one had a more noticable chest. Genderbent Lu put up his fists in a fighting pose facing Jerome, eyes narrowed and ready to defend his look-alike. Whether or not his protection extended to Nakura was hard to say, but 'Jerry' eased up.

Making a face and rolling his eyes, they glowed blue and the outline of his body glowed pink. In a rippling wave of light, Nakura's former roommate disappeared, only to be replaced by a gray-blue Zoroark with an annoyed expression. He crossed his arms over his chest, but kept his clawed foot on his trainer's chest.

"Are you done showing off, now?" Nakura asked it, looking pretty peeved himself. "You're scaring a fellow Rocket. And he's only a trainee. What do you think my superiors are going to say about that, hm?" The Zoroark growled at him and ground his clawed foot deeper before hopping off of him. Nakura grunted in pain and sat up, inspecting the light cuts on his torso. "I see you're still as much a brat as ever, Aoba."  

[Venti Mico]

Lu flinched, expecting more than a shove but overcompensating when he tried to sturdy himself, toppling over onto his rear. Tea growled and stalked forward, but shrank back when Lu came out of the grass too.

...Wait, what? Tea backed up, looking between the two Lus- the second looked off and definitely didn't smell right! But how was there another? It didn't make sense! Lu himself, the original, stared with wide eyes as the other him looked like it was ready to punch the lights out of 'Jerry'. And then he quickly disappeared, leaving only a pokemon in its place.

Lu's mouth hung open slightly. He'd entered a state of mind so confused that he wasn't sure he was even awake. Was this a really messed up dream? Why was he dreaming this? Was his chest really that big?

Lu glanced down at his own chest for a moment then looked back up to his 'twin', then to Nakura.

"I...what? What is that?" Lu asked in a quiet voice, propped up on his hands. Tea stayed behind him this time, watching both the Zoroark and the other Lu.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

'Now look what you two've done," Nakura complained from his seat on the ground. "You've confused poor Lu-lu-pu." Dusting off his parka as he stared at the remains of his shreded shirt, he explained. "They're Zoroark - a pokemon that specialize in illusions. They just trick the eyes, but it doesn't mean they're harmless. Riviere, stop that," he commanded, casting the female Lu a sharp look.

The impostor's head and shoulders drooped as the figure melted back into the from of another Zoroark - this one predominantly black with bright blue accents.

"These are Aoba and Riviere," Nakura said, gesturing to the two. "My own personal pains in the a**, aside from Mairu, Kururi, and Delic." Pushing himself to his feet, he dusted off his dark pants. "Like I said, disobedient pokemon."  

[Venti Mico]

Lu watched as the other him quickly turned into a...not him. A Zoroark-- Lu hadn't known pokemon with those capabilities even existed. 'Harmless' wasn't a word that even came to mind when Nakura explained them, Lu still felt a bit panicked from it all. Silent, Lu pushed himself up and wiped his hands on his pants.

"They, um... they're... something," he mumbled quietly, unsure of them still. Wow. First a near Absol attack, then the knife, and now this? It was too much for one day, it was too stressful. Maybe he'd take a week long nap to forget about all this. "I-I uh, I didn't realize they could be that disobedient..." In his own small town, there had been some people with mischievous pokemon, though he could hardly remember any of them disguising themselves as a human and attacking people. "I think, um, they probably need training..." He scratched the back of his neck, glancing at the one named Riviere. At least that one hadn't seemed as aggressive.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"Really? I hadn't noticed," Nakura answered with a sarcastic laugh. "Why is it you think I came out here with them in the first place?" Riviere looked down at the ground in shame and traced a circle in the dirt with his toe claw.

Aoba, however, growled darkly before taking on the appearance of a very angry baby-faced kid. He went over and attempted to kick Nakura in the shins, but the Rocket turned and caught him by his wrist.

"Oh, no you don't," he said, his smile malicious. "You're not getting any dinner tonight for the trouble you've caused. And first thing out of your ball in months, too. Tsk tsk...I'd have thought you would be smarter than that." He took out Aoba's ball.

The kid narrowed his eyes even more and yanked his arm out of Nakura's grip, but as he turned to leap into the plains of grass, the ray of light caught him and he was withdrawn into the ball. Nakura minimized it with a look of annoyance and stuck it back in his pocket before turning back to Lu.

"I'm sorry, Lu-lu-puu; you must be getting a very bad first impression of me. Hardly half an hour and already I've had to withdraw two of my pokemon to get them under control," he said with a bright smile that may have been meant to seem apologetic. "They're the worst ones, though. Mairu and Kururi aren't much more obedient, but they'd never hurt a fellow Rocket. In fact, I'd bet they already have a higher allegiance to you than me." Nakura gestured toward the pair of Purrloin. "Celty is pretty gentle - almost frustratingly so at times - and Riviere is playfully mischievous, but otherwise obedient enough." His crimson gaze fell to the Absol with Lu again. "And would this be your only pokemon? Another dark-type?"  

[Venti Mico]

Lu watched Aoba change again, hurrying and getting to his feet. Okay, so if something happened this time, he'd just... leave. Take Tea, go back inside, never glance at the training grounds again! That seemed like a really good plan to him. Tea didn't look eager to stick around either, judging by the way she'd started to pace behind Lu, eyes trained on the kid the Zoroark had turned into.

Lu relaxed a little when Nakura called the Zoroark into its ball. Lu looked at the Purrloin duo as Nakura pointed them out; he wasn't sure he believed the other Rocket saying the two wouldn't hurt him-- and for once, Lu didn't feel like he was being too nervous. Nah. He had plenty of reasons to be nervous right then.

"Th-they look, uh... nice..r," Lu said, looking at Tea. "As long as they don't cause problems, I think... um... your pokemon are probably all fine? Except the one..." he glanced towards the pocket Nakura has stowed Aoba's ball. "Tea is the only one I have. I... uh- well, I don't know how to catch pokemon... she just stays with me."