[PRP] Get Up When You're Beat Down

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Izaya, who was about to state that he hadn't been going to argue, chose to refrain from saying that as well. With his hands back in his pockets and a slight twitch of his mouth, he walked up to the pokemon and leaned forward. Did one's head count as a limb? Probably not, but if he was going to do this, he figured he might as well. When else would he get a chance to have such an interesting close-up of the inside of this pokemon's mouth?

"Nice teeth. I'll bet Faleen-chan takes extra care to brush each one lovingly each night," his voice echoed from inside the Sharpedo's mouth.

Kid looked confused, but remained where he was, glancing from his trainer to Faleen and back again. The water had dampened his fur, but at least it had done so fairly evenly, so he didn't have too much cause to worry about it.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Sharpedo blinked as Izaya put his head into his mouth, glancing uncertainly over at Faleen who looked back at him with a mild frown of exasperation.
The Agent nodded at the Sharpedo though, who began to close his massive jaws  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

" - ! Dark!" the grunt's muffled voice spoke from inside the Sharpedo's mouth.

Kid actually seemed amused by Sharpedo's look to his trainer and Faleen's reaction. Why was Izaya always doing weird things?

"Ookay, this was a bad idea. His breath is tickling my neck and I can't move in case one of his teeth nicks me. Are we good?"  

[Blood_Goddess]

Faleen crossed her arms over her chest, nod giving the Sharpedo the command to open his mouth yet.
"I don't know, are we?" She asked  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Izaya's arms went limp at his sides in incredulity before flying up in exasperation. "What's that supposed to mean? If it's up to me, then yes, I say we are! Sharpedo-san, if you would be so kind, would you open your mouth again so I can get free of your jaws of death?"  

[Blood_Goddess]

Faleen nodded, allowing the Sharpedo to open his mouth and free Izaya.
"There, now are you still so scared of him?" She asked with a light frown "So we can get to work on training."  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Straightening up as the Sharpedo opened his mouth, Izaya made a show of re-adjusting his clothes before frowning slightly at Faleen. True, the exercise had helped, but it wasn't so much the trust with the Sharpedo he had to work on as it was with his trainer. But the grunt knew it would take more than a little trick like that to build trust between two people, especially when it had been battered in the past.

"Mm, fine. What next?"  

[Blood_Goddess]

for whatever reason, Faleen's usual demeanor had changed to a deep frown, making it very clear that she wasn't pleased with something.
This was ridiculous, she had been in this spot before, trying to explain what they would be doing, what Izaya needed to learn and then argue with him for a time as to why he needed to learn it. For the past three years that had been their relationship, and even now on the literal last straw that Izaya had, she still didn't feel like any progress was going to be made today. He still complained, still argued, and didn't seem at all interested in actually making his own effort to improve.
She understood that this could very well just be her lack of faith that things were going to change clouding her opinion, but she still wasn't very happy with what she saw.

"You know what." She started "why don't we try doing things a little differently." she commented "You're already aware of just how much you need to improve, and I've spent long enough trying to guide that. So why don't you tell me whats next." She said with a gesture toward him "Why don't you decide what we're going to be doing today for training."  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Izaya raised his brows. "Eh?" This was new. He exchanged a look with Kid. "Uh...prepare to attempt mega evolution with our pokemon, I suppose. Like I said, haven't gotten to read up as much as I'd like on the process." He nodded toward the device on Faleen's wrist. "I take it we each need one of those...?"  

[Blood_Goddess]

Izaya certainly picked up where Faleen left off, though that wasn't difficult to do.
At his question, she made a gesture to him, before crossing her arms over her chest.
"The only way to learning to by doing."
Faleen wasn't going to carry him anymore, she barely even wanted to support him as much as she was, but he had come back to her and tried to make things right, and while that wasn't going to be a task that was easily accomplished she told him she would give him a chance.
"Now's you're chance, you need to start taking more of an initiative if you're at all serious about any of this."  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

The grunt stared at her.

"That's easy enough to say, Agent Faleen, but if I honestly have no idea what to do, that kind of makes it difficult, doesn't it? What, do you want me to take whatever it is you have and see if I can make it work? Even just a brief explanation regarding the process of mega evolution would help."

He looked at Kid. "You're a pokemon. Do you know anything about this?" He held up the Absolite.

The absol stared at the stone. It looked nice, but he wasn't sure what could awaken its power. Perhaps there was a trigger of some sort.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"No more excuses," Her voice was firm, her voice snapped with a cold professionalism "When I started I had no idea what I was doing, and I made a lot of mistakes from it, I didn't have the luxury of a partner who did." She frowned at him "Make another excuse and you might as well give up, if you don't know how to do something, figure it out, or find a way to figure it out. But obviously over the years my advice has meant so little to you, you've learned nothing from me, so now, you're going to teach yourself to at least prove to me that you were even serious about improving."

Faleen unfolded her arms, drawing herself up next tot eh watching Sharpedo and the wide eyed Scraggy. "Mistakes will not be frowned upon, but not even trying will."  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Izaya's eyes widened in a momentary display of incredulity and frustration. He wanted to voice that she may not have had a partner who did, but she did have the internet and at least some knowledge on how to mega evolve a pokemon. He also wanted to voice that such a partner was just as helpful as none if she was going to keep such information to herself.

Instead, he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, exhaled, and walked right up to his partner until their noses almost touched. His expression, by then, was recomposed into professional calm.

"Faleen," he said, clenching his fists at his sides, "Your superior, Elite Agent Lucas, told me to communicate with you. That's what I'm trying to do, and not even in a roundabout way. He told me to tell you exactly what was on my mind, and that's what I'm doing, plain and simple. This is not an excuse, this is the truth: I've learned more from you and your advice than you could probably know. But when I've been chastised and punished the whole duration of my time at Team Rocket for trying to figure things out my way and improvising, you have to understand that I'm going to be tentative about taking matters into my own hands, even if it's an order."

He reached for her hand to take the device she'd put on her wrist earlier. "I'll borrow that, thank you."  

[Blood_Goddess]

Faleen's expression didn't change, but a pink flush crossed over her cheeks before she spoke again, absolutely taking note as to the look on his face, and the clenching of his fists. "No, Izaya, that is not what you're trying to do, you're doing what you've always done, You started this training session by come in here, arguing and complaining about everything I say, and despite what I tell you, you voice constant doubt against my knowledge and experience."

She didn't move from her position crossing her arms, "I don't care how many times you keep saying that you've learned from me, refrain from trying to convince me verbally, and actually show me, becasue I haven't seen you improve in a long time, on the contrary, I've seen you go backwards. The relationship you have with your pokemon and you're attitude about them is a glaring example of that."
She lifted one hand to point at him "You wanted another chance, don't try to convince me anymore, and show me, becasue I'm not convinced, and I'm not the one that needs to prove anything, you are. So work harder."

Faleen didn't move as he reached out to pull the clip off of her arm, watching him with a curious frown that softened a little as his attempts to pull it off would be futile.
"... That's a personalized clip Izaya... I've designed it to lock into place." she explained.
"Its a good observation, but this isn't required for your own megastone."  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

The information about the clip made Izaya drop his hands.

"If I didn't complain or argue, wouldn't that be the opposite of communicating?" the grunt snapped, his composure lost. "Who are you to tell me what it is I'm trying to do? If you want me to just shut up and listen like a good little mindless Rocket, just say so! At least it won't be my fault, then, if I go against Lucas' orders after trying so hard."

He went over to a wall and leaned against it, sinking to the floor. Kid, concerned, went over to his trainer. He hadn't seen him in such a state before.

Closing his eyes, Izaya massaged his temples. "If I remember right, you need something other than just the stone for the pokemon. I don't have whatever that is, so I don't know what you want from me. You could at least budge a little and communicate that much."