//------------------------------// // Takes a promise to heart // Story: The Pokemon King of Griffinstone // by Cookie_Girl //------------------------------// Me and my friend, Coin, I called her, were on our own for quite a few years. Just a boy and his pokemon, all on their own. At first it has been pretty difficult to survive comfortably, but we eventually got the hang of it. She would act cute and distract people, and I would take their stuff. By the time someone had figured out what had happened, we were already gone. You're probably thinking that we stole only because we needed to. Or that we only took from those who had too much. Well, I hate to disappoint, but we were greedy and indiscriminate about who we targeted. We were jerks. A boy, clearly in his teens, walked casually along the sidewalk. His eyes drifted from person to person as they shopped at various stores. The pokemon on his shoulder, a Meowth, followed his gaze and waited for the prey to show them some reward. An older woman had just slipped a wallet into her handbag. A jogger took his headphones off and hung them on the small radio on his belt. Some rich looking man with too many rings on his fingers. They took it all. “Meowth!” the boy looked to where his friend was staring. A girl, close to his age, was looking at some expensive necklaces, even though, she already wore one. It was not his usual style to steal from people just to do it, he always sold what he took, but it was always fun. He made his way through the lightly crowded street market so that the Meowth would have an opening. The girl shrieked as something was suddenly clamped onto her head. “I'm so sorry about that.” the boy said to her. “She's really friendly.” The girl looked into the eyes of the Meowth on her head as it leaned down to look at her. “Uh...can you get her off?” “Yeah sure.” the boy reached for the feline.After a bit more scrambling on the girl's head, the Meowth surrendered to the boy. “Bye!” the said, grinning like a Sableye, before dashing off. “Uh...bye.” she waved...and felt the absence of something on her neck. The boy held up his hand to check out the silver necklace he had taken from the girl. “Jackpot!” “HEY!” a voice from behind called out. The boy and the Meowth both looked back to see what the yelling was about. The girl was trying to run them down. With fire in her eyes. “GIVE BACK MY MOTHER'S NECKLACE!!” He started running. “Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap!” “COME BACK HERE YOU!!!” And she was fast too... “I really wish you could do Pay Day, or Shadow Ball, or SOMETHING THAT WOULD BE USEFUL RIGHT NOW!” he yelled to his companion. But with a complete lack of training she was limited to very basic attacks like Scratch. He thanked his luck as he saw a man up ahead pushing a cart of vegetables for sale. After running past the man he spun around and gave the cart a kick, sending it rolling towards the girl. “My cabbages!” However, instead of slowing her down like it would most people, the girl actually used the cart as a springboard, and with that jump, actually covered MORE ground than her running somehow. “You’re not getting away!” she growled. “RUNNING FASTER NOW!” he pumped his legs as fast as he could out of fear, with a Meowth clinging to his skull with it's front paws while it's body flapped out behind him. He took several random turns through the town in an effort to lose her, at one point making a full circle around the Pokecenter. He displayed some impressive acrobatic skills by leaping over fences and other obstacles. But eventually he had tired himself out, and now he was leaning against the back wall of some building trying to catch his breath. “Finally...lost...her...yay…” he puffed slowly. “Oh really now?” came a chillingly familiar voice...from right next to him. “EEEEK!!” he jumped sideways...and belly flopped on the ground. He didn't move but he groaned in pain. The girl was about to reach down, and definitely not cause him physical pain, not too much, and take back the necklace. But the Meowth was on his back before she could, and it hissed angrily at her. They stayed like that, staring at each other, for a minute. And in that minute the girl was able to get a better look at him; old dirty clothes that hung off of his too skinny body. His stomach growled loudly. All that basically told her one thing. “Oh dear…” she gasped. Having come to the obvious conclusion that he was starving and homeless, she decided to take care of him. Their first stop was the Mauville City food court; a fine place to eat if you could keep your seat. “Thank you.” she told the cashier after she paid for the food, and then went back to sit with the boy. She thought he might be older than her by a few years, it was hard to tell exactly because his features were young in appearance, but he was a good bit taller than her, and being so thin threw off his appearance a lot. He was currently sitting with his head and shoulders slumped over the table. His hair was tangled and wild. His shirt looked to be too small for him, and only fit because it hung loosely off of his skinny body. The Meowth was in much better shape; he took care of her, even at the expense of his own health. Consequently, the girl currently felt like crud for chasing him that much. “Hey, you still okay?” she asked. He raised an arm and gave a thumbs up. “Just peachy, babe.” “I'm not your babe.” she told him and crossed her arms. “I'm just feeding you because I feel bad for you.” “But you are someone's babe, or else you want to be.” he countered, and looked up at her. “I can tell because you said you are not MY babe.” “Incorrect. I’m not anyone’s ‘babe’, neither do I have any interest of being anyone’s ‘babe’ at the moment,” she sighed in mild annoyance. “...so, you got a name? I can’t keep calling you ‘you’ all the time.” He blinked as he realized that they had in fact not introduced themselves. “Well, my name is- “Hey!” a street thug slammed his hands down on their table. “Give me your seat.” “Um..why?” the boy asked. The street thug, a full grown man, pointed at the number on their table. “I'm hungry, and your food is almost ready.” “But, I'm starving...literally…” the boy told him, and the Meowth hissed in agreement with his pout. “So?” “Are you serious?” the girl deadpanned in the street thug’s face. “Are you seriously trying to steal food from a starving person!?!” if looks could kill, he’d have keeled over and died. “If I don't eat, then I'll be the one that's starving.” he mocked her with obviously false worry. Then he grinned. “But I'll tell you what; we can battle for it.” The girl’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Very well,” she said in a low and dangerous tone, and anyone listening was wondering why the room suddenly felt...colder. “Do I get a vote?” the boy asked. “The finale! Hyper Beam, 45°!” she said to her Pokemon, a Liepard smirked and complied. The purple, panther-like pokemon fired an energy beam from its mouth. “Lickilicky, dodge it!” the street thug ordered his pokemon. But the pokemon was too exhausted from its battle, and the attack struck perfectly. The man groaned and returned his pokemon to its pokeball. “Two Lickilickies and a Lilligant beat by a single Liepard...how?” “Who knows. Maybe I’m that good...or maybe you’re just that bad. Oh and between you and me, my money’s on door number 2,” she chuckled. “Oooh,” some of the spectators said in response to that burn. “Good job, Shade.” the girl told her partner as she turned back their table. The boy was cheering exaggeratedly at the, in his own words, stupendarvelous performance. The Meowth was doing an adorable victory dance on the table. Then they both stopped and the boy pointed nervously behind the girl, at where she had been battling the street thug. She turned around. “Oh, come on! Seriously?!” she yelled as several more thugs were waiting for their turn. “There, that’s all of them,” she sighed as she plopped herself down on the table, the food having already come in the middle of the fight. She sighed again, her hand petting Shade on her head, while on her shoulders, a pair of Spinarak sat. “Hope you’re enjoying your meal.” BAARRRRRRRRRP The girl and her pokemon snapped to attention, and looked at the boy and the meowth...and the six bowls of ramen they had eaten. They were not exactly small bowls. He was slumped over in his seat, his partner lay across the table, both of them with greatly satisfied expressions on their faces and obviously full stomachs. The Liepard’s jaw dropped, and then it mumbled something not understood by the humans. The girl noticed a single bowl of ramen leftover, with a note next to it. She picked up the note...and then smiled. She gave the last bowl to her Liepard, just like the note had asked her to. The Liepard blinked, a little surprised at gesture, but smiled and accepted it all the same. Of course, she said something first, which ended with her sharing the bowl with the two Spinarak. “Eat up you three, you deserved it,” the girl chuckled. “So, what are you planning on doing now?” She asked once the bowls had all been taken away. “First thing's first.” he told her, and pulled out all the stuff he had stolen. “I fence this junk for some moola!” “Something a bit more long term,” she sighed. She honestly wanted to tell him off on what he was doing but...she’d just a hypocrite if she did. “Is that really how you want to spend your life? Stealing from random people just to get by day by day?” “If this were a few years ago, I'd say that I wanted to join the circus.” he shrugged. “Honestly, me and Coin are just coasting along right now. I'd like to be something better, but it's not like I can just suddenly be the next Phantom Thief Fox.” “Of course, I don’t think just anyone can be a Fox,” she nodded, though she had a large sweat drop at the back of her head. “But if you do plan on doing something...less than legal, just watch your back. Also...if you can help it, don’t lose your heart. This might be just me, but I think just cause someone isn’t quite on the RIGHT side of the law, doesn’t mean they’re automatically evil. They can still have morals and standards. If you really have to do something like that, don’t lose sight of your morals and/or your standards. In short, don’t lose your heart,” she advised. King Joker sat at the table, transformed into his younger self, and raised a glass. “And I have done my best to be a good person ever since. Thanks for the advice and the kindness you random girl whose name I can't remember. Even after I lost my mind, I still tried my hardest to keep my heart.” A groaning could be heard from the floor as Blueblood finally woke up. “What happened? The last thing I remember was an ungodly stench.” “Wow, Gordo.” Joker said as he Pinkie Pie and Scary Story all held up score cards, his and Pinkie’s both had perfect tens while Scary’s had a six. “You knocked him out for two chapters.” “Like I said; nice one!” Pinkie Pie cheered. “I've heard better.” Scary said halfheartedly. Blueblood shivered in disgust. “I think I'll move to another seat.” “Ahem.” Blueblood looked to see a purple leopard looking pokemon wearing a lavender beret beckoning him to a seat beside her across the table. Given that his options were currently stay next to the obese slob that belched in his face or the feline who was at least making an effort to look civilized… “My name is As monsieur Blueblood, and it is my pleasure to meet a Prince.” she purred as he joined her, and there was quite a bit of emphasis on the word ‘pleasure’. “...Charmed, I'm sure.” Blueblood said without looking at her. “Maybe, just may~be~” she grinned at him rather predatorily. Biochem leaned in close to Twilight and whispered. “Should ve be vorried about him?”