[PRP] Accidents Happen

[Akira Midoriyama]

Akira sighed as he counted his register in, wondering for the millionth time if he was happy living life the way he was. His duties as a stock clerk were far from difficult, but they weren't invigorating or challenging, either. He doubted his shift tonight would be much more different from the night before or the night before that. What was he trying to achieve, exactly?

He considered going back to school, but he no longer had the kind of money needed for that sort of thing. Besides, what would he go to school for? As he began shelving some back-stock to replace the empty space, he considered his pokemon and how he had fared with them. A pokemon journey wasn't likely...but then what? Oh well...he would figure it out eventually. It was likely going to be a slow night and with shifts like his, he felt like he had all the time in the world to contemplate such things.  

[Tori Honoo]

While Akira contemplated questions of existential value, a young boy made his way through the store, a charmander--ever watchful--following him. Though it was late, Jace's spirits were as high as ever as he quickly went from row to row, looking at the wares the store had to offer, his eyes widening as he finally reached his favorite-- the row displaying colorful pokeballs and trainer needs.

After a few moments of staring, the boy tiptoed to reach for a type of ball he had yet to behold, frowning deeply as he was unable to reach the top of the shelf. With a sigh, he looked around for another means to obtain it, deciding then to use the adjacent shelves to scale to the proper height. However, much to his partner's disdain, the shelf wasn't nearly as sturdy as the child's mind seemed to deem it, and those in the store would quickly hear a loud crash and a small shout as the youngster and the racks of capsules fell to the floor.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

When the boy entered the store, Akira smiled and nodded to him in acknowledgement, though he wasn't certain if the kid noticed. He made a mental note to check on the boy once he was done counting in his register. Ah, how he wished his pokemon were well-behaved enough for him to keep them out of their balls. Happa, however, was almost always unhappy indoors and Silly...well, they still didn't quite see eye-to-eye.

Just as he had closed his drawer, a startling clamor rang throughout the store and a variety of pokeballs spilled across the tiles, rolling every which way. Hurriedly running out from behind the check-out counter, he grabbed a nearby shopping cart and started scooping up armfuls of the nearest capsules as he pushed it down the isle toward the source of the catastrophe. There was the boy and his pokemon. Dropping the pokeballs in his arms into the cart, Akira left it and urgently went to the boy's side.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt?" he asked, checking the child for any sort of injury. "What happened?"  

[Tori Honoo]

Jace blinked up at the store clerk, his face a bright red as he realized just who it was he was looking at, ignoring the bumps and bruises and the fact that his knee hurt. He was going to be in so much trouble! "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!"

Chester, after having checked to make sure Jace was okay, moved off to the side, hurriedly attempting to at least scoop as many pokeballs as he could closer to the humans, or at least into a small pile in the middle of the row.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"Don't worry about it. It was an accident," the brunet told the boy gently. He was frowning at the minor injuries the kid seemed to have received. "My name is Akira," he said, gesturing toward the name tag pinned to his apron. "May I ask yours?"

He tried to help the child get to his feet. "Is there anywhere that hurts? I have some bandages behind the counter." Looking up, Akira noticed the helpful Charmander and smiled at the pokemon; partly grateful, partly amused. "Thank you," he told the fire-type. "That'll help keep other people from tripping and getting hurt while I try to fix up your trainer. It'll only take a moment."

Nudging the rest of the pokeballs to the sides of the aisle with his foot, the stock clerk led the boy to the front of the store where he could treat his injuries properly.  

[Tori Honoo]

His face stayed flushed, even as Akira introduced himself. "I'm Jace... Jace Redfern," he replied embarrassedly, looking around at the mess he had made. Good thing his mom wasn't around...

When the clerk helped him to his feet, he went easily, then frowned and looked himself over, finally noticing the few scratches on his knee. "I'm okay..." he said quietly, not wanting to be any more of a bother.

Chester nodded, and continued to move the balls away and into a small circle, then followed the two toward the counter.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"Nice to meet you, Jace," the stock clerk answered. "Alright, I'll take your word for that. But let's put some band-aids on those scrapes just in case." He went behind the counter and took out a first-aid kit, handing a couple of bandages to the boy.

"That's a really well-trained Charmander you have there," he said, watching Chester from the counter. "I can hardly get my pokemon to listen to me, let alone do helpful things of their own volition. And they aren't the sort with fire-tipped tails, either."

He was glad for that. Akira was sure Silly would have found a million new ways to get what he wanted with a threatening trait like that.  

[Tori Honoo]

The boy accepted the bandages with a sheepish word of thanks, then took a seat in the floor and began to haphazardly apply them to his knee as he listened to Akira.

At the compliment, he positively beamed. "Yeah, that's Chester! He's the best!" he informed the man, looking over his shoulder to smile brightly at the fire type as it drew near. The little lizard rubbe the back of its neck, accepting the praise politely.

Of course, the young trainer was immediately made curious as Akira mentioned his own Pokemon, and his attention was quickly and very raptly attended to the new person. "What's a volition...?" he asked, gathering his own idea of the word but not wanting to be wrong. "What kind of Pokemon do you have?" The boy continued to smile, seemingly forgetting he had knocked over an entire display of poke balls just moments ago.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"I certainly believe that," Akira agreed, smiling as he began to pick up the remaining pokeballs to put them in the cart.

"Someone's volition is their will," he explained, bending to pick up more armfuls. "It means Chester does things of his own accord - of his own will, without you telling him to. I'd call that not only intelligent, but kind. Unlike my own." His expression darkened.

"Me?" the brunet glanced over his shoulder at the red-headed boy, reaching behind stands and shelves to gather up the balls that had rolled out of sight. "Let's see...so far, I only have two. My newest is a Leafeon named Happa. He's alright, but he doesn't like being indoors much and I don't have time to go out too often, so we have a conflict of interests, usually. My first and most stubborn is a Serperior named Supercilious. I'm pretty sure Chester there could beat them both in a matter of minutes."

He moved the cart in order to gather up the capsules in another section of the store. "What about you? Do you have more pokemon than just your Charmander?"  

[Tori Honoo]

Jace only smiled and continued on with the conversation after Akira had explained the more difficult word. "Ooooh... Yeah, he's pretty smart," he nodded, "And duh, he's super nice to people. Mean pokemon are bad and no fun to have."

The look Akira gave then was scary, and the boy pushed himself back up to his feet to go and help the man pick up the fallen merchandise, clinging to his words about his own team. "Oh, cool! Grass types!" he exclaimed, before actually realizing the older guy wasn't so excited about them. He did giggle though, when Chest was again brought to light. "Yeah, fire types are pretty strong against grass ones. A leafeon, though, that's so cool! And a Serperior! Why is Stuperscilious stubborn? I guess it makes sense that they'd like to be outside..." he rambled, shrugging as he finally reached some end.

As Akira moved the cart and asked him about his team, he moved throughout the store, lowering himself to the ground to look under the shelving units to get the balls his charmander and the clerk had missed, were there any. "Chester is my first one ever--he was a birthday present!-- and then I caught a pichu that likes my mom's food and got in our house all the time anyway...her name is Zap. And I caught a Torkoal, and named him Kronk!" A proud grin and another shrug as he offered a small handful of pokeballs-- and a few wrapped treats that had just happened to have been displaced anyway. "We're gonna be Champions someday, so we train a lot. Kronk is real lazy though, and mom and dad don't like me being out so late..."  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"I don't know about that," Akira answered with a smile. "Some people find mean pokemon to be an interesting challenge. There's a woman I know who can bond with them really well. The way I see it, if you can appeal to a mean pokemon, they're likely to be more loyal to you than a pokemon who's just nice to anybody. You just have to have time and patience to be up to the task."

"Supercilious," the young man corrected, laughing. "I just call him 'Silly' for short, which he hates. But the dislike is mutual." He sighed. "Well, Happa likes to be outside, but Silly just wants to stay in his Luxury Ball. He's a pampered prince of a spoiled brat and I've ignored his insolence for too long. It's going to be tricky for me to get him to listen now."

Grateful for the help, the clerk stooped to pick up more capsules. "Thank you. A birthday present, huh? Wow, sounds like quite a team." Akira nodded and chuckled. "Right - about that. I was going to ask. Just where are your parents, Jace? Did they not come in with you?"  

[Tori Honoo]

Jace gave Akira an odd look, then took a moment to consider it and shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so..." he allowed, looking to Chester again as the charmander finally came to stand by his side. "Dragon types are usually kinda mean at first, but I'll get used to it quick, I'm sure!" He loved them, though he didn't know to voice it to this stranger. He would just have to figure it out. "My team likes me though! We're best friends!" As if in agreement, the Charmander bumped against the boy's side and grinned at Akira.

The correction was taken with little--if any- reaction. He was used to it. "You don't like him? Weird... Do you take Happa outside? Lots of Pokemon like to be outside, since that's where they're from most of the time." A tilt of his head and widened eyes. "You keep him in a Luxury ball?! Those things are so expensive!!!"

He watched a minute, then moved to help the clerk scoop up a few more of the balls from the ground. "Yeah, he's the coolest ever! We're the best team!" he exclaimed, his confidence full. At the question of his parents, he shrugged a little. "Ah, well... This isn't too far from our house. We live that way!" he informed him, pointing off in the general direction of the closest middle-class neighborhood. "So they're at home right now. I just like to stop and look at the trainer stuff every once in a while..."