[FIN] Winter Wonderland

[Suudonym]

At some point it was almost a relief to have his ability to fight back taken from him, the stubborn and wild movements replaced with labored breaths that manifested as mist in the frigid air. Where Leste had gone, if Lorelei was frightened, what had happened to the pokeballs that had been removed to his person... For now he could only trust that Lorelei would act in spite of any fear he felt if the events that precipitated thenceforth endangered Luke's life - and regret that he had become so reliant on his pokemon that his only means of defense otherwise was hand-to-hand combat.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Ryan strapped the boy's wrists together behind his back, leaning a knee on his back while his partner, flopped off of him and onto his back in the snow, breathing hard and holding his wrist up the joint already swelling and red.

He stayed like that for some time, catching his breath and patting the Absol on the neck when it came over to check on its trainer.
Finally, pulling himself up into a sitting position, and dragging himself back to his feet, he waves the Absol out.

Kyle turned hateful eyes on the trainer, reaching his good hand down to Luke's wrists, yanking the boy around as up onto his knees if he could.
"son of a b***h, who the ******** are you?"  

[Suudonym]

Luke suspected that he wasn't as completely disabled as it seemed he was; he could still kick if he could get his feet under him, and he was hard-headed in more ways than one, but for now it seemed most prudent to catch his breath. He was sore everywhere, but it was far from the worst he had ever felt.

Luke responded with a flare of stubborn contempt in his expression, his eyes alive despite his condition. "Excuse me, I think that's my line?" he suggested, bemused. "Because I'll tell you who I am: I'm a guy who was minding his own damn business, gone out for a quick ride over the forest to relax a bit before going to my stupid job, when a couple of total strangers shot me out of the sky and assaulted me after an exchange of fewer than twenty words."  

[Blood_Goddess]

Kyle let out a snort, taking a step back and leaning on his weight, staring at the man for a couple of seconds before he straightened back up with a sniff, and took a swing to the side of Luke's face.
"You think we're stupid? Like we're ganna buy that bull?"

It didn't stop there, five more times the taller more angry of the men, reached down to yank Luke back up, only to throw another punch into his face. stopping only if proper to, or when he ran out of energy to throw anything worth throwing.
"Think a guy with a stupid job puts up a fight like you? Has a pokemon like that? Naw, you smell like League."  

[Suudonym]

There wasn't much Luke could do but take the hits, besides try to minimize the impact. "A Pidgeot," he clarified. "Right. 'Cause you can't just catch those right in this damn forest." Not that Leste was his only pokemon, but they had no knowledge of the others. "Sorry, what kind of profession do you have to be in for it to not be surprising for you to know some self-defense? And yeah, I'm with the League - just like every other person who legally owns any single pokemon."  

[Blood_Goddess]

"No, you were different, you knew" Kyle said, taking a step back and pointing a finger at him "You're lying little s**t. as my buddy would say."
He stepped forward again to kick the bound man, then stepped back away from him, sitting in the snow. "Lets get back to the others." Kyle said, cradling his hand against his chest.

Ryan stayed back while his partner took out his frustrations on the young man,
When it seemed time to go, Ryan stood, hunching over Luke to start digging through his pockets for anything he had on him.  

[Suudonym]

Frankly speaking, Luke didn't believe that he was saying anything untruthful or even particularly deceptive. He'd learned to fight through experience in dealing with Team Rocket on a personal basis, not through the League. But whatever, the meathead seemed to have some kind of convoluted idea stuck in his stupid head, and Luke doubted he would care to entertain any other thoughts.

Luke had half a mind to follow through on that willingness to bite when the other of the pair came into his vicinity, but he supposed it probably wasn't worthwhile. All that his pockets housed, after all, were his pokedex, a pocket-sized first aid kit, his gear, and the little black compass attached to said gear.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Kyle sat on his own while his partner gathered the trainer's things, and then pulled Luke up to his feet. a frown on his face with a puzzled look, as if he was surprised to be missing something.
"Alright, lets go." Ryan said, prompting the other Rocket to his feet, and starting down the hill.
"Make sure that pokemon of yours doesn't come out here, it'll regret that."

speaking of pokemon, Kyle took a moment to pause to call for the Absol he had sent out, after the third time calling it, the dark type returned, carrying a belt of pokeballs in its mouth.

"AH! there is it!" Ryan said with more cheer, reaching out for the belt "It must have fallen off. good! at least we get something out of this. See Kyle?"

Kyle just grumbled and started down the mountain.  

[Suudonym]

If Lorelei hadn't acted yet, Luke assumed he wasn't likely to act at all - which was kind of depressing, but he supposed he could understand the Mew's feelings. It wasn't all that long ago that the legendary had been narrowly rescued from the threat of death. Regardless of Lorelei's inclination to act, however, Luke had no intention of passively letting them take possession of his pokemon. He wasn't on his feet for very long before he was kicking viciously at his captor's lower leg with the intent to knock him off his feet.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Ryan let out a startled yelp when the kid started kicking at him, taking the hits but managing to stay upright.
Trying to keep control of him by grabbing his wrists and keeping the trainer in front of him, and keeping him facing forward, stuffing the belt into one of his deep pockets.  

[Suudonym]

Luke wasn't prepared to stop his struggle so easily, giving a sharp, backwards kick at the man's shin.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Hey! s**t!" Ryan let go of Luke when he managed to kick back. standing uphill from the trainer the man picked his foot up and kicked back out at him "stop!'

Kyle, was not as shy could it like his partner, storming back up "What you need us to beat you down again?"  

[Suudonym]

As soon as he was no longer being restrained, Luke darted forward to give himself the benefit of some distance. He probably could have run, he thought, but he wasn't going to abandon the pokemon they'd confiscated. And so he stopped before going too far, turning to face his assailants, thinking, thinking, thinking as quickly as he could. Two men, unarmed, and an Absol. One's wrist was broken. His hands and arms were out of the equation. He could kick, but the snow was going to limit his mobility. His one pokemon was a legendary, a psychic-type, but it was unwilling to fight. He wasn't sure how to proceed. If he could get a good kick on that broken wrist, it would likely be to his benefit, but that wouldn't resolve the overall issue. Through his uncertainty, he stood with a tenacious dignity in his posture. Let it never be said that Lord Luke fon Fabre would go down easily.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Ryan tried to grab at Luke, but Luke was already out of reach by the time the shorter man slipped and slid down the slope a little ways, ending up closer to his partner.

Kyle just stood there, watching Luke with a scowl as Ryan got himself back up onto his feet.
"Alright? what now huh?" Kyle asked,

"What the s**t." Ryan breathed, brushing snow off of him "Who is this ******** kid, he's crazy." He muttered to his partner.  

[Suudonym]

With enough of a buffer to react to either of their movements, Luke felt that he had space to breathe for a bit. He inhaled deeply and exhaled a long breath. "Okay," he said, "honestly, I sort of appreciate this because I really didn't want to go to work today, but I think we can all agree that this is starting to get ridiculous. Why don't you just give my pokeballs back, I'll leave you alone, and you go get your hand taken care of?"