"Where are you goin', bro?" A familiar voice behind the frustrated Pupitar asks—the Hard Shell Pokémon taking leaps and hops to traverse the rustic tower. "Listen to me!" Chance raises his voice, rushed steps to put himself in front of the hoping troublesome Pokémon. Pupitar looks up at the much much taller human, shelled body shaking in frustration and yearning to be set free from such confines. "I know this fuckin' sucks. Being trapped inside a shell, but ever since you evolved you've been acting like a total fucker." He explains vulgarly to the Hard Shell Pokémon. However, the freshly evolved Pupitar didn't take too kindly to such words; the shell like body of the Pokémon shakes violently before a stream of pressurized gas levitates the Pokémon up until he is face to face with his Trainer. A harden gaze was bestowed upon the youngest McQueen, a challenging glare this Pokémon had never gave the teenager before. "Oh, word? Is that how you feel? Don't think I won't take your little cocooned ass and toss you off this whole tower. Don't you fuck with me, g. You don't want no smoke!" Both human and Pokémon butt heads, Pupitar pushing forward with Chancelor holding his ground with clenched teeth.

Obviously he didn't mean the things he was speaking, but he couldn't and wouldn't allow a disobedient Pupitar to do whatever he wished. The Larvitar evolution line was one that took a lot of patience and mental strength to overcome—two things Chancelor McQueen had ample amounts of. Besides, he did feel extremely bad for the little guy, but this was all apart of growing up and becoming bigger and stronger. Hopefully Chancelor could get such a fact through the stubborn and reckless Pupitar, otherwise the two of them will have nothing but hardships from this point onward.

Suddenly, the levitating Pokémon literally ran out of steam and came to a thump upon the wooden floor. Turning away from his Trainer, Pupitar continued onward through the tower with a rather nasty scowl to reflect his bad-temper. Chance shakes his head as the duo approaches a girl and her Pokémon. It also seemed Pupitar had no intentions on stopping or moving out of the way of the oncoming duo. "Excuse us, one of us seems to have the manners of a little shit!" He announces to the female and loud enough for Pupitar to hear. The rocky Pokémon replies with hot steam ejecting from vents under the armored plates of his shell.

Essentially telling Chance to 'fuck off' in his own little way.

✝ tag(s) - Mirai Soleil .
✝ notes - - - - .

♦♦♦♦ ♦♦♦♦

So much for peace and quiet. Even while they were still quite a distance away, Mirai could already hear the raised voices and thumping. It wasn't really too weird that there was someone else touring the tower that day, but maybe deep down she was hoping she had the place all to herself. The strangers were a young man and his... Pupitar? This was Mirai's first time seeing one in person. The Hard Shell Pokemon looked rather irritable and the last thing Mirai wanted today was unnecessary conflict.

"Just let them pass Floatzel-kun."

The Sea Weasel Pokemon who had been watching the scene was used to seeing problem children so all it could do was let out a sigh. Even in Mirai's team there were at least a couple who could be more cooperative and less troublesome. The corridor they were on was wide enough to let the other party pass if they just stood aside close to the wall, but the spot where they chose to stop was directly in front of a big window where one could get a great view of Enju City. So the blue haired Coordinator and her partner decided to stand on the window side instead, to enjoy the view while waiting for the Pupitar and its trainer to move on.

This would turn out to be an unlucky decision. As they looked out over the city, she spotted a dark figure flying towards them while being chase by another Pokemon. The shadowy Pokemon flew straight through, startling Mirai and causing her to fall back just as the Pupitar and other trainer were passing, causing her to trip backwards as she tried to avoid bumping into either of them. The culprit stopped to snicker at the girl. It was a Shuppet, and in its mouth as a small shiny object. The Puppet Pokemon's pursuer managed to catch up and flew inside as well, taking a surveying look at the scene. It was a Pidgeotto and it looked rather ruffled and stressed. It may have been after the Shuppet, but everyone in the corridor must have looked like an enemy to it at that moment.

"That object Shuppet has. It probably took it from the Pidgeotto. Retrieve it Floatzel-kun, Crunch!"

Floatzel was up for a little payback as well for the ghost Pokemon causing trouble for her trainer so she was rather motivated to battle. Dashing quickly and jumping up against the wall to propel itself higher, it closed the distance between herself and the Shuppet fast enough to surprise it. Startled, the Puppet Pokemon dropped what it had in its mouth and tried to protect itself with a Shadow Ball, but Floatzel's Crunch chomped down on it before it could finish charging up. The mischievous Pokemon winced in pain and wriggled out of Sea Weasel Pokemon's clutches with all its might. It got away and put some distance between them, it's eyes shifting from Floatzel to the shiny object that fell on the floor. It seemed it wasn't giving up on its prize just yet.

"Don't let up! Aqua Jet, followed by Crunch!"

As Shuppet dived down to grab the object, Floatzel propelled herself forward at high speed with a surge of water. She collided with the Shuppet, knocking it back from its target. And then while she was still positioned close to the ghost Pokemon, Floatzel chomped on it again with Crunch. This time the Puppet Pokemon had taken more damage than it could handle and fainted.

Mirai walked over and picked up the shiny object on the ground. It was a ring. She wondered why a wild Pokemon would even have such a thing. But this should calm down the Pidgeotto as well. Speaking of which, she wondered what happened to it as she was distracted by that battle with Shuppet.

Chancelor McQueen
***team notes: Floatzel (32+2), Haunter (33), Pilowsine (33), Mawile (32)

♦♦♦♦

"Don't worry about bro. Bro will be alright." The youngest McQueen says in retort to the female who returned the question, the eyes of the Trainer first looking at the armored Pokémon before fixing his gaze back upon the girl. Chancelor watched curiously as the female 'took care' of the defeated Flying type—healing it with a basic curative, returning the stolen item, and even reassuring the wild Pokémon everything would be alright. It almost seemed she had plans on catching the bird based off how she was treating it, but the actual steps needed to catch a wild Pokémon never took place. Pupitar bounces around a few times until he is facing Chancelor. Chancelor looks down at the armored Pokémon with a cocked brow—curious on what the erratic Pokémon would do next. That was until two predators emerged from the shadows, intent on claiming the downed Pidgeotto as their quarry. The Trainer's eyes snap back to the female as she asks him for help to take care of this little issue. She really was hellbent on protecting this Pidgeotto, huh? He chuckles a few times before responding, "yeah we got your back."

Pupitar, now in the correct mindset to obey orders for Chancelor positioned himself in the path of the Raticate. The crazed rat snapped and bit at the air before launching itself at the stationary rock. Raticate were Pokémon known to be extremely fast, extremely powerful, and extremely aggressive. Such speed even took Pupitar off guard—Raticate swiftly closed the gap, leaped on top of the armored Pokémon, and chomped down upon the armored shell of Pupitar. This bite did nothing, but the grotesque gnawing echoed throughout the floor; the sound of rock being chewed an extremely loud one. "Rock Slide, bro!" Chancelor calls out to the Puptiar who sends out a high-powered stream of stream to propel himself forward across the ground—stones and rocks being conjured out of thin air to bombard the wild rat. Raticate was knocked off the hard shell of Pupitar and rolled across the wooden floorboards before raising back up with snapping jaws. However, it was unable to attack, it's muscles were locked in place and unresponsive; the previous attack proved too much; a flinch occurred. "Finish it with a Stone Edge!" Pupitar leaps high before slamming down on the floorboards. At first this action proved to do nothing, that was until sharp and jagged stones appeared from underneath the overgrown rat, stabbing into flesh while launching it into the sky. The Wild Pokémon called out in pain as it descended back down to the floor, hitting it with a very loud 'thud' before falling to the effects of a clean knock out.

"That takes care of that. When you ain't busy being a little emotional fucker, you really do pack one helluva' punch despite being trapped in a shell." Both Trainer and Pokémon were busy having a little one on one moment. Chancelor dropped to a single knee to speak to the shelled Pokémon, his back to the female for the time being.

✝ tag(s) - Mirai Soleil .
✝ notes - - - - .

♦♦♦♦ ♦♦♦♦

Upon seeing the two trainers take down the Pokemon that were after it, rather than be thankful the Pidgeotto started to feel like its pride was hurt and expressed its annoyance to Floatzel who was taken aback. Mirai could tell it was angry about something but wasn't sure what about. The Sea Weasel Pokemon had to do a bit of translation with gestures. The Bird Pokemon was thankful for the help with getting back its lost thing, but protecting it was too much and it didn't ask for that kind of meddling. Mirai crossed her arms and pondered. Even Pokemon can have complicated feelings like that. She herself wasn't the best at figuring out how to deal with people who didn't want to be helped.

"I'm sorry if our meddling offended you. It wasn't my intention really."

Understanding that it got its point across, the Pidgeotto bowed one last time out of politeness and then flew out of the open window where in entered from before. In the meantime Mirai made a mental note that among Pokemon, there were those that would refuse a good deed too. She had rather mixed feelings about this new discovery.

"I've never been much of a busybody. I mind my own business when I can. But I guess it does sting a bit when you're told your assistance is unnecessary, especially after already putting some effort into it."

She was directing her words to Floatzel but caught up in the moment, they were audible enough to be heard by Haunter and possibly the other trainer. As if she needed something else to cloud her mind after coming to this tower to clear it up in the first place. It was a bit ironic.

She approached the young man to thank him one last time before going on her way. She didn't wish to hold up any more people today due to her actions.

"Thanks again for the help and sorry for taking up your time. Pupitar was pretty impressive. I'm glad you two were able to make up."

The blue haired Coordinator waved goodbye and then turned around to walk away. Her partners did the same, with Haunter being a little more enthusiastic with waving. The trainer probably didn't recognize her anymore but she didn't feel too down about it.

Looking ahead, Mirai noticed that the Shuppet they had knocked out earlier disappeared. Did it already run off to cause mischief elsewhere? Before she could take another step, Floatzel's ears twitched as the Sea Weasel Pokemon suddenly picked up on something. She was too late to warn her trainer and teammate though. Before Haunter realized it, a dark shadow crept up right beside the Gas Pokemon and struck her without warning.

"Haunter-kun!"

The Ghost Pokemon winced in pain and Mirai watched as the shadow receded back to its source, a Duskull appearing through the wall. A short distance behind the Requiem Pokemon, she spotted the missing Shuppet peering from behind the corner. Did it call for some friends? That's certainly what it looked like. The Duskull wasn't alone either. Flapping its wings and coming from the opposite side of the corridor was a Golbat, though it would make contact with the Pupitar trainer first if it continued flying that way.

"They got the first strike, but we're not at a level where one blow can bring us down. Haunter-kun, Shadow Punch! Show them your combination!"

Nodding, Haunter launched a pair of spectral fists at the Duskull. Circling around it to confuse it, one fist struck from behind while the other came from underneath, landing a blow to its chin. Rattled, the Duskull's eyes began to glow blue and suddenly Haunter's fists returned to her, unable to continue with their strikes.

"Disable? Not bad, but we have other options. Dark Pulse now!"

Firing off a blast of dark energy, the Duskull was hit dead center and flinched, losing the chance to mount its own counterattack.

"Finish it off Haunter-kun! Dark Pulse!"

Taking advantage of Duskull momentarily being stunned Haunter moved in close and unleashed the second Dark Pulse at near close range for more power. The Requiem Pokemon was caught off guard and fainted from the damage. Meanwhile the Shuppet, seeing its friends go down, fled the scene.

"It's kind of amusing. Today we saw two different Pokemon act "ungrateful" to their benefactors. One out of cowardice and one out of pride. I feel like there's a life lesson there somewhere."

Floatzel still looked a bit confused. Philosophy wasn't the Sea Weasel Pokemon's strong suit. Meanwhile Haunter was just glad it was able to payback the other Pokemon for the sucker punch and was preoccupied with her own little victory dance. Mirai just sighed and smiled.

Chancelor McQueen
***team notes: Floatzel (34), Haunter (35+2), Pilowsine (33), Mawile (32)

♦♦♦♦