[FIN] C+

[Gwennythe]

The halls -always- seemed to need mopping...
He didn't really think that was an exaggeration, either; with missions coming and going, pokémon wandering about, things getting dropped, and all sorts of various issues, the floor was in, to his mind, a perpetual state of being dirty.

That didn't mean he liked the task, however, and he grumbled to himself as he worked, his back current turned to the bucket of warm water he was using.

"Bloody mop this, scrub that... Better be less moppin' f'r grunts..." Clancy muttered, swiping the mop back and forth.
He was -so close- to a promotion, he was certain, that he could almost -taste- it...
But, until it actually happened, he remained stuck doing things like mopping the floors and cleaning toilets.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The halls did indeed have pokemon wandering about in them at times, and now was one such time. A Wooper wandered aimlessly around a corner, its mouth turned up at the corners in a perpetually happy, if somewhat vacant, expression, and it paused when it saw the man mopping. Its lower jaw dropped open in an expression of joy when it saw something it recognized, and so it waddled right over to the bucket and peered inside at the water. With its joyful expression still present, it wiggled back and forth for a moment before jumping up off the tile floor and landing squarely in the bucket with a loud plop, succeeding in spilling some of the water out in the process. Its face retained the open-mouthed, joyful expression the whole time.  

[Gwennythe]

Plop?
Water splashing gently on the back of his legs?
...
Something was in his bucket.
"Oh for- Y' better not 'ave knocked the damned thing over you stupid gigglyhuff..." He suspected a different pokémon to the one he found...
Indeed, if he thought about it, the pink suspect he'd had in mind would have been far too large really...
"... What in the name o' Kyogre are you s'posed to be?!" He stared at the strange creature in his bucket. It looked... vaguely familiar, but he couldn't place where he'd seen it... Certainly it hadn't been something he'd seen in the wild at home...
"Some kind o' mutant Marill? You ain't gotten outta the bloody labs have you?" Just in case the thing was dangerous, rather than touching it, Clancy extended his mop to give it a gentle poke... At least he'd be one mop length away already if it tried to bite, or burst into spikes or something....  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The joyful look remained even as the person turned around and spoke to it, and spoke some more, and extended the stick--

Its mouth suddenly snapped shut - back into a contented, almost vacant smile - and the Wooper swiftly withdrew into the safety of the water. Or mostly, anyway; half of its face was still visible above the water's surface, just below its eyes as it watched the human curiously.  

[Gwennythe]

...
Clancy blinked. Ri-ight...
"Nooo, no, no; you get outta my flaming bucket right now!" The thing looked like it was trying to set up home in it or something.
"I've just about had e-bloody-nuff of pokémon causin' me hassle, now hop on out, and jog on wi' ya!"

He tried tapping the handle of the broom against the bucket to make a little noise, without tipping it everywhere.
"Get outta there before I set-" Not -really- enough room for Mircalla in that bucket, and besides, it was a water type, he /thought/.... "Before I set m' Pikachu on you, ya ruddy weird frog thing!"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Nooo no no? Yeesss yes yes! The Wooper happily remained in the bucket, watching the human as it kept making noises. The only reaction Clancy got was a slow tilt of the small pokemon's head, which caused one of its eyes to sink below the water's surface. It didn't seem to mind this.  

[Gwennythe]

"I don't know what that means! Get outta the ruddy bucket!" Clancy told the creature, with an exasperated tone.

It clearly wasn't going to get out of the bucket.

"/Why/ are you even /in/ the bleeding bucket?! D'ya /usually/ live in a bucket? Right!" He leaned the mop against the wall and plucked a pokéball from his belt.

A moment later, a rather mean looking Pikachu stood, staring at the Wooper in the bucket.
"Clerval! Thundershock this friggen' gremlin-wotsit and get the ruddy thing outta my bucket!"

The Pikachu looked at the bucket, looked at the Wooper, then turned to regard the man with a puzzled, searching, frown; was he serious?
Really?

"Go on! I gave it a warning and it still won't bloody hop-along!"
Clerval shook his head and sagged a little, as if to display that that really hadn't been the objection he had.

Well, at least Clancy would learn something, the Pikachu supposed, and sent the useless attack toward the bucket and its occupant.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

When the other pokemon appeared, the Wooper's head fully emerged from the bucket and it resumed its open-mouthed, gleeful expression - that is, until the attack hit.

Actually it continued through the ineffective attack, and the pokemon didn't seem at all perturbed that it had just been assaulted - though that could probably be due to the uselessness of the electric attack against the half ground-type. "Woooop?" It asked questioningly, breaking away from its wide, joyful smile only a moment or two before resuming.  

[Gwennythe]

Clerval shook his head.
He knew this was how this would go, why didn't his human? He had that weird box- the 'dex- the team gave them all, didn't he?
He really wished Clancy would use it.

"Woop?! What the bloody hell d'you mean 'woop'? Are you /mocking/ us now?!" Clancy frowned.
Well, the attack hadn't done a thing... but the creature hadn't exploded or even tried to attack back...
Maybe he could just lift it right out of the bucket himself.

"I don't know how the flaming hell you managed to dodge that, or maybe Clerval's just damned weaker than I thought," this earned a snort from the Pikachu "but you -are- getting outta my bleeding bucket!" He bent to reach for the creature.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The human was making noises again - even the same noise that he had made! - and this only excited the Wooper. It began bouncing up and down in the sudsy water, its mouth wide and gleeful as it did so. As the hand drew near, its mouth formed a small circle instead and it sent a short, weak water gun at it. "Wooooop!"  

[Gwennythe]

"Yeah, yeah! 'Woop', bloody, 'woop'! Gerrout of the bucket already! Oi!" He drew his hand back, before realising it was just a weak water gun, then narrowed his eyes at the... thing.
"I /knew/ you were a water type..." He muttered, but less sure of himself... So how come Clerval's attack hadn't... done anything at all?
He looked back over his shoulder at the Pikachu, who simply shrugged and continued to watch; he'd do as he was told, but he wasn't putting any extra effort in if he didn't have to.

Anyway, he needed to get the ruddy thing /out/ of his bucket.
"Come 'ere!" This time, water gun or not, he lunged for the Wooper, fully intending to try and grab it and pull it out.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The Wooper continued bouncing up and down in the bucket, unintentionally splashing some water out each time he did so, and when the hands approached again he shot another weak water gun at them before ducking his head entirely under the water - or attempting to, since he'd splashed enough water out that the level had dropped.

A steady click click click could be heard approaching from the hallway, and a young woman in full grunt uniform turned the corner after a few moments. She had heard at least some of the commotion going on, and since doing tedious things was incredibly boring, she'd opted to check out what was going on instead. It had sounded like a good idea at the time, but now faced with a man seemingly yelling at a bucket of water, she... wasn't quite as sure. "Uhh...?"  

[Gwennythe]

"No! You! Come! Here! You! Bloody! Gremlin!" Clancy shouted, each time he missed while the Wooper bounced, spat water at him, then ducked down in the bucket.

Then, someone, a grunt, appeared, and made a noise.
Instinctively Clancy pointed at the bucket.
"The damned things driving me made! Keeps bloody spitting at me and bouncin' around!"

The Pikachu, aware that, to the grunt, it /probably/ looked like Clancy was, well, yelling at a bucket, put a paw to his face, then waddled to sit down against a wall until he was needed.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Uuuhhhhh.... Riiight," she said uncertainly, giving the trainee a very skeptical look as she glanced between him and the object he was pointing to. "The bucket is bouncing and spitting at you..?" Obviously someone had lost one too many marbles or something. It wasn't too late; she could just turn around and go back to what she had been doing. She could do that, right? Probably...  

[Gwennythe]

"What?! No! Of course not! That'd be bloody insane!" Or a ghost type, but he wasn't quite in the state of mind to remember that.
"Look, look, look! There's some kinda bloody mutant Mudkip in here!" He moved to pick up the bucket so he could try to thrust it toward the grunt so that she'd look inside it... He also, as the words had left his mouth, came to a revelation.

"OH! That's why my bleedin' Pikachu couldn't shock it! Bloody thing must be closer to a Marshtomp! Bloomin' /ground/ type!" He felt like slapping his own forehead, but that would have been awkward holding a bucket full of mutant Marshtomp...