Pokemon Umbral Charlotte's Sidequest, Act I

[Geminex]

*Much cooler placeholder*

[Geminex]

*It's been a while since I last posted, hasn't it. I'd forgotten about my avatar*

[Geminex]

*vorpal is such a weak ability, though, unless you happy to be fighting any jabberwocks*

[Geminex]

*In case anyone's reading this wondering, these are all placeholder posts*

[Geminex]

*TH1S 1S SO 1LL3G4L*

[Menarker]

Fight Club Episode 0: Donovan and Renny (You guuuuys, you're not supposed to talk about that!)


Since he was sticking around with this company for the forseeable future, it was probably a good idea to for Donovan to determine how strong the veterans were. The (play)boy wonder Renny hadn't proven anything yet while he was around, so it was a good start.

Renny slowly walked within the PATCA HQ. In many ways, he was exhausted from preparations for the mission, the party and everything else, as well as preparing loadout accquisition forms to accomodate the new members of PATCA he'll meet during his party. But he was in good spirits despite all that. He was soon ready to contact several members about their possible roles in the Corpsemire and Hungry World mission.

Donovan caught up to Renny while he was still on the first floor.
"Hey, I need a partner to spar with, and I haven't seen you in action enough to really know what you're capable of. Care for a brawl?"
A little taken aback by the abrupt request, Renny turned to face his challenger and smiled faintly.
"Ah, hi Donovan. I suppose I can spend a moment to spar, if you don't mind just letting me place my files someplace secure."
He jerked his head a bit forward as if beckoning the fellow pokebrid to follow along.
"I know I haven't been fighting much during the last few missions, but is there a particular reason why you need to know what I'm capable of doing? Or just a mild curiousity?"
"Well, while you're not necessarily ranked up there with Impact and the others, you do hold some of the strongest sway among the company where firm official matters don't come into play." Donovan replied as he kept pace.
"Ah, I suppose I'm just lucky that just about everyone so far had trusted me to do my part." Renny said as he entered a common work room with some lockers. He proceeded to unlock the needed doors and file his documents inside.
"I'm just trying to do my best to help everyone stay alive. But I still don't understand the need for a challenge. Or at least I have an idea of what you're thinking and I'm hoping I've guessed wrong about."

"It's good to know the capabilities of your allies in a fight, and I'm not just talking about the numbers our Inquiry Visor spit at us. Besides, knowing each other's way of fighting makes coordination and tactical teamwork less encumbersome."
He looked at Renny, "Unless you're actually a noncombatant this whole time, which I really hope isn't the case."

The Gallade proceeded to walk alongside Donovan toward the closest sparring room.
"I actually have fought in actual combat before. In fact, I had directly fought in one of PATCA's missions the same night I had the surgery. Although in all honesty, I had become a pokebrid only a few months ago. The rest of my life prior to that point was spent as a trainer, so my actual combat experience without using pokemon is basically being guided by my pokebrid instincts and the crash courses that several of the others in PATCA have been giving me. I've been trying to fill in the gaps with training between work although I haven't sparred very much with others."
"Well you should spar, being a pokebrid affects your muscle structure enough to change the way you move in a fight, especially with a fighting type form. Since we both have such, I want to see how familiar you are with the Gallade form's influence on your range of movement and dexterity."
Donovan added, making sure he was in Blaziken form to keep clear what he was talking about.

As they arrived in a large training room, Renny looked for one that was as far away from other training members as possible as he removed his jacket and backpack and placed it on the bleacher nearby.
"Well, it all sounds like a good idea. I got no reason to object."
He rolled up his sleeves to let the blade on his arms fully manifest to its full length and stood off on one side.
"I assume from the discussion you wish for only a pure fighting type style battle? No tricks, buffs or type advantage? Just up and up straight combat?
"Exactly." Donovan said, removing his jacket to reveal that his torso was almost identical to that of a Blaziken, in fact his entire physique matched the pokemon far more than it should have for a normal 'brid. He stood at the other side of their area, relaxed with arms loosely hanging at his sides.
"First, show me how you initiate combat."

Stretching out his arms, legs and torso for a tiny warm-up, Renny then got into a stance that was low(er) to the ground with bent knees and one foot partly lifted off the floor. His torso was turned so as to keep the amount of attackable surface area narrow, his right side being a bit further away from reach. His left arm was held up in a semi-stiff horizonital guard obscuring the area closest to the neck and upper chest. The right arm was held more loosely and ready to respond to an opening or an attack in a perpendicular position from the left arm but held lower to guard the lower body with more ease.
He made little movements as he slowly approached, considering the method he'd take, weaving left and right in his steps before he bolted straight at an angle. With his left arm raised, he rushed inwards until he was close in melee range. He then made a single strong step to his left, a partial feint as he let his body flow in that direction as his right arm followed the path for a glancing blow to the liver on Donovan's right side with the blade.
"If it helps you feel any better, I picked up a trick about being able to fuse the use of False Swipes with a few of my other moves. So I won't have to worry about accidently going overboard when sparring!"

Donovan suddenly kicked off the ground lightly with his left leg, making his body take the same path as the strike in order to dodge before resuming his original composure.
"Good, you could telegraph your strikes a bit less, but a strong follow through can overcome that well enough."
And with that his arms and legs suddenly lashed out in rapid succession. The strikes would be light if they landed, but still surprising and hard to avoid if Renny wasn't on guard.
Consciously drawing breath, Renny attempted to weave his body back and forth as he kept his blade arms on guard and to tighten his posture to keep himself smaller. As he got closer, he was getting hit a bit more often, but he twisted his body as they would hit in the attempt to get them to glance past him and reduce the overall force. Then at one moment that Donovan lifted his legs for another kick, the Gallade bent his legs deeply into a crouch and swept low with a kick of his own.

"My reach isn't great... but while Gallades do focus on arm moves a lot, its not like I should just ignore my kicks either. I imagine it's harder to move in mid-kick."
The kick managed to get Donovan off the ground, at which point he twisted in midair to spring off of his hands to jump away.
"Not really."
Upon landing he launched a kick from what should have been too far away, but the force of it seemed to throw Donovan at Renny surprisingly fast.
Renny grimmaced as he held his ground and tanked the blow with his arms, blade held outwards. His arm bumped into his face a bit, passing some of the force of the blocked kick. He then pulled his arm back, the blade that was already connecting with the foot moving to slice against it, the hand attempting to grab onto the protruding limb as the other arm moved to slash the captured leg.
Donovan was surprised by the sudden change in tactics, but it was a good change of pace. With a somewhat playful grin on his face, he swung his grabbed leg overhead as hard as he could, attempting to drag Renny with it for a throw. Renny found himself lifted off his feet and he let go at the height of the uplifted leg. His smaller frame going high, he landed on the ground cleanly.

"I'm glad that mattress training paid off. Too bad it's such a weird method, I can't really boast about it seriously."
Renny mused as he closed the gap between the two of them. At the moment that he predicted a high blow, he tumbled beneath it in a roll quickly before he came out of the sombersault with another dart inward, practically daring to hinder Donovan's attacks by controlling the ultra-close range combat, his blocking limbs also serving as an offensive barrier against hands-on combat.
"It's getting harder to keep up with him and if I let him move uncontested, he'll just evade my blows and bypass my defenses. Whoa, scary scary..."
Renny looked startled as he tried to evade a direct blow to the face. "...But getting up close will probably make it more difficult for him to keep his focus. He already has the advantage of a more developed body and hands-on experience... and a form that is superior to mine in a pure fighting match. Annoying speed boost! I thought he said no buffs!"
Renny was starting to look visibly angry as if he felt more cheated in his restrictions than his opponent.
"If I don't at least try to take some risks where it is possible, I won't be able to progress any further! I'm... I'm sure I can handle the closest range. Psychic and Fighting type combo means that my eyes and reaction time are my best features, as long as I don't flinch in the face of his attacks..."

The Gallade then aimed to attempt to force an opening in his opponent's attack, by deflecting a blow on the side of his arm and then stepping in and shoving the limb aside with his own arm, forcing his opponent to overextend on his movement. If that succeed, he'd follow through on the step-in movement and deal a blow to one of the vital points like the solar plexus or the liver to hinder his breaths.

The gambit worked, knocking most of the breath out of Donovan. He made a quick half-inhale to recover, and suddenly dropped himself. Halfway down he propelled himself into a breakdancing spin kick at Renny, with the intent of knocking him off of his feet to set up for a midair grapple and pin.
The kick connected powerfully and Renny went down easily, but having seen it coming, he fell forward instead letting his arm come down from above as a chop with his full body weight behind it and having his other arm ready to speed up the process of propping himself back up when he hit the floor.

Donovan had to cancel his rising grab at the last second, redirecting his momentum to the side and using the rolling motion to reposition himself upright a few feet from where Renny tried to land.
"You fight better than you show for it, you should carry yourself more with that confidence and that power."
"Thank you." Renny's expressions and mode was calming down to his normal disposition.
"But you really tested my limits. I haven't had a spar where I would be expected to hold back on all my other moves. I would have had more tactical approaches if I had access to ranged attacks and teleport. It is absolutely reassuring to have your experience and capabilities at our side."
"And you can make a great leader, don't be afraid to show strength though, it's the only way some people will see past your age. Those that can ally anyone are the most capable of bringing change, and the whole world knows that too many people have used that to make it worse." He replied, giving Renny a pat on the shoulder before grabbing his jacket and leaving the dojo.
Renny was in thought about Donovan's words when he remembered something.
"Hold on. I wanted to let you know that I am hosting a party about a week from now and that most of PATCA is invited. It's, uh, my 18th birthday but I'm mostly treating it like a big get together event as well as an informal orientation for some of the new recruits that are joining PATCA. Attendance is not required, but I would be happy if you could make it."
Donovan continued walking but shouted back,
"Sure, just send me the details!"
Renny privately made a memo to send Donovan an Inquiry Visor mail to him containing the details needed at his earliest convenience.

[Menarker]

Renny and Liz (Part 2)


It was getting closer to the day of the party. Renny had booked the hotel's dining hall and working with them on the party logistics for the purpose of entertaining the vast majority of PATCA members. Guests were mostly invited and he had a rough idea of who he'd bring for the next mission, although leaving that thought until he had a chance to look at the new recruits Irene promised to bring to his party which would end up doubling as an informal orientation session for the new members.

"Swampert, I'm getting more food so don't snatch the berries off Mollesk's plate!"

Renny gently but loudly chided the pokemon from the kitchen who was more shocked at being caught from a distance than the actual admonishment itself.
As traditional, Renny and his pokemon had breakfast together in the morning, this time Renny making pancakes for himself and some of the pokemon who can handle that in their diet. As he did so, he was looking up coupon flyers for the various markets around the area.

"I need to get some things for the party. I wonder if I should call Alphonsine for ideas regarding entertainment. I never really did have the best mind for music. And I'm going to need food too. Lots of it."

Of course, it's to be expected the hotel will have some food on hand, but having seen Milsha and Catherine's competitive and prodigous eating spree, the sort that could empty a restaurant, he could expect much of the good things to disappear fast, and he'd want to ensure all his guests went home happy...

"Hmmm... I suppose I have an idea... if she's up for it."

Renny picked up the visor and dialed up Liz, waiting to see if she would pick up or if she was going to leave it hanging for him to leave a message and then ambush him in his own house again. The weirdest things to be paranoid about!

Surprisingly, this time Liz did answer.
"Hi Renny! Nice to hear from you. Ready for our date yet?" Came the buxom blonde's lusty voice from his Visor.

"I do have a proposition of one." Renny answered. "I was thinking of an all-day road trip of sort. I kinda need to get party food and things, and I could use some help with that. It would also be nice to know what you and Leprihare would like to see on the table for the party. We could also check out some places along the way to have fun. If you're interested that is."

"That's... your idea?" Renny could hear Liz break into a fit of giggles over the phone, until she was able to compose herself enough to speak again after a few moments.
"You want to go grocery shopping and invite another woman on our first date? Oh Renny, you really have no idea, do you? It's a good thing you're cute." Came the blonde's playful voice.
"Alright, I'll stop by your apartment, and actually ring the bell this time. I hope you don't mind if I don't bring Leprihare."

Renny felt a bit embarressed. He'd probably be the first to admit that it wasn't the best first date idea. "Heh, yeah, I guess you're right. But yes, I"ll see you then!"
Renny took a quick shower, did all his normal daily rituals and dressed himself up in his more dressy/casual clothing.

Later, Renny heard a knock on his front door.
Recalling all his pokemon, he promptly opened the door ready to go. "Hello" he said, expecting Liz there.
He was, instead, greeted by a faceful of soft, squishy flesh, as he was pulled into a warm, boob-filled hug.
"Hello Renny."

A muffled "Hello Liz" could be vaguely heard from between her tits as he hugged back for a bit and then pulled his face back.
"Glad to see you're excited to go out today."

"Oh, I just can't resist pulling you into a boob hug." Liz admitted with a smirk. "Though I'd say you're quite a fan of them yourself, since you haven't resisted one so far."

He blushed a bit "It surprised me the first few... well, they still surprise me oddly enough, but I'm sure they all have been with good intentions. But they do feel quite soft and warm."

"Well, what I intend would be veeery good for you..." Liz trailed off, still smirking.
"But I'm glad to hear you love my breasts."

Renny side-stepped the things that Liz intended, having the general idea already and having already said it'd have to wait a while longer. They might as well enjoy today.
"Well, who wouldn't? You're very alluring overall, not just there. Shall we get started?"

"Oh Renny, you're being very flattering all of a sudden..." Liz replied huskily, pulling him into her bust again while she leaned into his ear.
"It's like you're trying to get me going. I thought you wanted to wait until your birthday? Not that I'd be against doing it early..."

"But it's the truth!" he remarked with a mix of arrousal and nervousness.
"Anyhow, it's barely even a week away. Its something to look forward to."
He said trying to divert this particular train of thought until a later station came up. He decided he needed to take the initiative and hooked her arm in his and took the first step forward.

"Oh, does that mean you've decided on me?" Liz mused, allowing Renny to lead her away.

Renny was hot under the collar, but left that question hanging as a silent maybe as he proceeded to escort Liz through the hotel's halls and elevators down to her car.

"So, where to?" Liz asked as they got in the car.
"Well,..." Renny tried to think of someplace interesting to start things off.
"...there is a novelty store nearby that sells mist liquid for the fog machine I bought for the party. Funny thing is, I was approved to purchase it using the Sortie Coordinator funds, since we can use it afterwards to run combat trainings under Fog of War situations. We can probably check out other things there too."

"Oh, what exactly are you planning to do with a fog machine on your birthday, Renny? Make a subtle escape to be with your chosen bedmate after blowing the candles?" Liz asked him with a sly grin.

"Hehe, oh it'd probably add some atmosphere to the party." Renny said, trying to ignore the entire bedmate comment.
"Maybe we can find a bunch of other items that'd be neat for a party... although it might end up partly like a night-club in practice."


*Upon entering the novelty shop... Google Spencer's novelty store.*

Renny approached the back of the store where the fog machines and fuel would be. Although along the way were several fetish items and sexually lewd gag items like fancy lingerie, board games, and toys that were unavoidably noticable as he walked past toward the fog machine. He really hoped that none of the merchants would harrass him for walking through that section given it was the only way to get to said machine.
"So... Liz, when is YOUR birthday?"

Liz didn't seem to pay much attention to the gag items, as she accompanied Renny to the back of the store.
"Oh, about five months from now. Why, are you already wondering what to get me? Because I can think of the perfect gift..." She said with a sly smirk, as one of her hands reached down to grope Renny's left buttock.

"So that's about some time around mid-late January at least... At least finding a gift won't be a difficult task..." He thought to himself as he felt the grope.
"Well, you're coming to mine, right? I figure it is only fair I return the favor, right?"

"I suppose so. We can even give each other the same gift, if you like..."
Renny smiled and nodded without actually confirming, as he paid for the device. As large as the device and all the fuel was, he was somehow able to carry them in large reusable bags.

"Anything you wanna get while we're in the area Liz?"
"Oh, not really, I already have anything interesting they sell here." Liz replied, accompanying Renny.

"Ah, alright. Let's head back to the car then."
*After arriving back in car*

"Well, we got that. What to do next... Hey, I got an idea. Liz, you don't have any flying pokemon, right? How would you like to hitch a ride with me on Togekiss? Fly over some forests, rivers, cut through some clouds and maybe even land on a mountain. Heck, if we go grab some food, we could make a private picnic out of it."

"Well, it'd give me the chance to ride behind you and cop a feel, so sure! Whisk me away, Renny."

Renny ignored the cop-a-feel comment.
"Alright, let's put the car someplace safe where we can find it again easily after."

When the vehicle got parked, Renny summoned the dainty looking pokemon who stretched its wings as soon as it came out of its pokeball.

"Togekiss, we're going for a ride. How about you stretch a bit while we get ready?"
The jubliee pokemon did a bunch of little hops and floated in the air a bit as Renny did some Sword Dances on the side. Afterwards, Togekiss used Psych Up to boost its own physical power a bit by copying some of Renny's potential strength.

Renny explained. "I'm just ensuring he has the strength to do this for the entire length of the journey. Normally he carries myself and all my equipment. Today, you're coming along with me but I don't have any of my gears aside from the pokeballs, so it mostly evens out with a little preparations."

The pokemon did a little touchdown on the pavement, it bending low for Renny and Liz to sit.

"Keep your legs bend along the side during the flight, ok? Togekiss kinda floats rather than fly most of the time, but even cruise control needs steering." He joked a little.
"Anyhow, hold on tight, ok!?"

At first the 'lift-off' was a small slow thing, barely levitating more than a few feet off the ground, but within a few seconds, elevation picked up smoothly until they were already over shrubberies, trees, small houses, and within a few moments later, were going over skyscrapers. Still rising up, Renny called out."

"How about picking a direction for us? Or would you like to keep going up a little bit more? The upper atmosphere are a bit chilly though."
"You know, Renny, sometimes I think you do these things on purpose." Liz joked. The soft lift-off didn't stop her from holding onto Renny's abs tightly, getting a good feel.
"Up!"

"Toge-ge-iss!"
The pokemon soared ahead as its wings bent a bit to create an updraft that caused it to rise up, occasionally slicing through patches of cloud. In fact, it might have been targetting little wisps of cloud as it went higher. Laterally, it headed in the direction of a mountain, presumably so it would take less time to touch-down if he needed a quick rest. But so far, he hadn't need it as soon the trio penetrated a plateau of clouds that left bits of dew and the sun glistening on its upper layers.
Of course, things got a little chilly, and the scantily-clad blonde started shivering, as Renny could feel. It seemed to be part of her plan, though, as it just encouraged her to hold Renny tighter, nuzzling up her body against his.

"Alright, let's touch down on that mountain a bit. Get a moment to rest up and warm up."
"Kiss-ge"
The pokemon chimed as it drooped its wings down and within moments brought them all down on a ledge that wasn't exactly close to the top, but had plenty of space away from perilous edges and wasn't so high up as to still be so chilly. But the view was still high up. One could see Fainas in the distant.

Renny dismounted and plopped his light jacket on Liz's back, while rubbing with his hands.
"Here. I wouldn't want you getting sick."
"Oh, I don't think I'm sick. I feel great right now. Couldn't think of a better place to be." Liz said happily, though her teeth were chattering, as she held Renny by the arm and hugged him tightly.

The chattering of teeth said enough as he took his closer arm away and wrapped it around her back and shoulder, letting her hug him still all while warming her up a bit.

"So, Liz, I was wondering what was your family like? I know you said you were a thief before you joined PATCA, but I don't really know anything about what you were like before then." Renny asked with interest.
"Well, I don't know that there's much to say. I mean, dad was always focused on his work, grooming my sister to take over after him. I was a bit of a grease monkey, I started building things and making stuff for the company. It was all perfectly fine and happy."
Liz's expression turned sour.
"When my sister died, dad's method of coping was to try and push me to take her place. And I could never do that to her. That's how I ended up leaving."
"Oh. I'm sorry that you had to go through that. You must have really missed her if you felt that strongly about it."
Renny stopped for a moment with some questions rising up in his head.
"How did she died? Did you ever got the chance to see your father again? Do you even want to? And what about your mother?"

"Mom passed away a long time ago. I haven't seen dad since, but if I did he'd probably just keep trying to get me to marry my sister's fiancee. He's... not a bad guy, I guess? I just don't really know him and I'm not interested. It's just a marriage to symbolize a merger between companies."

Renny nodded as she said this, not in particularly favorable with the entire arranged marriage thing. It was one thing when both participants had at least some degree of affection or relationship for each other like Moon and his arranged partners, but even in that arguably more ideal case, the stress of it all was what drove him away from his adoptive family too. He noticed that she didn't mention the cause of her sister's death, but let it slide.

"I guess I can see that. I haven't gotten back into contact with my parents yet either. I don't know if you know the exact details, but ever the destruction of Millennium House and Sexy's invasion, they tried to pull me out of PATCA and Honmyr altogether. Hence why I'm waiting until my 18th before I try to see them again, when I don't have to deal with the issues of them being my legal guardians. I imagine they won't press the issue then. I mean, how do you prevent a teleporter such as myself from sneaking off to do whatever I need or want to do?"
He joked even going as far as sticking out his tongue for a brief moment before falling back into a calm silence.
Liz chuckled. "I guess stubborness is a parental trait. Well, your parents seem nice enough, I'm sure they'll come around. I'd already heard the gist of what happened. PATCA is basically just a big gossip pool, you know."

"I somehow ALWAYS seem to forget that particular bit." He said half with jest and half with amazement. "I somehow always seem to be surprised that almost as soon as something happens, half the force already knows about it!"
He was silent for a bit, mulling over the things he learned about Liz and his own thoughts regarding his hopefully temporary separation with his parents.

"So... what did you think about flying? It's a bit different than a normal bird pokemon, but that's pretty much the gist of it, at least when Togekiss isn't doing a massive midair dive or doing stunts and evasive manuevers."

The pokemon cuddled over to his other side, perched on the stone ground, watching the sun with innocent marvel.
"Oh, it wasn't my first time flying, though it was my first time on a Togekiss." Liz replied simply.
"Though flying with you makes all the difference."
"Hehe, thank you. Anyhow, shall we get going? I got one more place in mind to check out. Part sight-seeing, part errand."
Togekiss harped to those words with a chirp of sort and a turn of its back, allowing it to be mounted again.

"Oh, sure. It's great flying with you."
Once they were back on Togekiss, Liz got right back to feeling Renny up.

"Well, I guess you don't need to be asked to hold on tight, but I assume you're ready?"
"'Course."

Upon receiving confirmation, Togekiss did a few silly hops from its position and jump off the ledge as it opened its wings into a swooping glide.

"Togekiss, head for our berry patch please."
The pokmon squealed in confirmation, possibly giddy to get something delicious to eat. In about 5 minutes, Togekiss was hovering over a large berry glade, surrounded mostly by trees, with the eastern side being bordered by a fast but shallow river. The pokemon touched down nearest its favorite berry patch, slowly dumped its riders onto the ground and immediately headed toward its desired snack. Renny let the rest of his pokemon come out and eat some as well.

"Alright." Renny smiled pleasantly for a bit. "This patch is mostly Shaymin's work after I left my parent's house. Couldn't really use their garden anymore, so I had to improvise something. It's a bit of a trip getting here, so I tend to come here once in a while after I let most of them grow."
"It's a very pretty garden you've made here. Must've taken a lot of work."

Renny went over to a bush and pulled out a bin which was hidden within it, covered with a tarp. Inside it where several medium sized containers with lids.
"For most of the common berries, I could just grab them from the supermarket if I just want to be efficient about it. But the rare ones are fairly pricy and rare, so I need to have my own supply if I want to use them for Mollesk's wine... speaking of which..."

The rock snail was taking to the familiar scene with delight. And hunger, much hunger.
It looked at Liz for a moment, trying to recall if she was someone he knew although drew a mental blank, a fairly common occurrance.
Looking at Renny, who nodded briefly, it moved slowly toward the Salac berries bush, grabbed several with its tentacle before dumping it in the holes of its shell.

"The Salac berries have a very sweet and sour flavor." he explained. "What sort of food do you like best? Any particular flavor?"
"Oh, I prefer sweet food. Like you."
He smiled for a moment from the flattery, although he slowly realized the innunedo from that.

"I got a sweet tooth myself. Although sour would be my next best." he said as he took a Sarlac berry for himself. He then looked around for a different one. He gave that particular one a little slice with his arm blade to get past the tough skin.
"Here, for you. This one is the sweetest of all the berries. It also has a tiny bit of bitterness, but very slight." he said as he handed a Custap berry to Liz. He pretended to toast with his own Sarlac berry before he took a bite into it.

Liz took a bite out of her own berry, humming approvingly. "Mmm, it's really good."
She looked up at Renny.
"Ooops, you're dripping, hold on..."
She leaned in close, and licked up the small trickle of juice on Renny's chin, all the way up to his lips, planting a soft, quick kiss on him.
He was stuck on pause for a moment before he returned the kiss, especially tasting the lingering berry juice that was on her tongue.
"Mmm, your lips are delicious." Liz said with a wink.

"I'm hoping to get lots of berries for Mollesk to make into berry juice, for which I can make into the wine I have made a few times. I made a deal with Pierce a while back. Some rare berries in exchange for some wine. Mainly so I can get some practice in finding out what kind people like. Although my original batch worked out fairly well, I would guess."
"Really?" Liz said quizzically, then laughed. "Well, I guess it's not so surprising after all. Pierce is a horrible drunk, but he can't stop himself."
Renny recalled the drunken bender he caused as he rampaged through his family basement and drank the entire wine stash. He nodded in agreement
"He does seem to be one. He even kissed Charlotte once during his hangover. CHARLOTTE!" He emphasized with jest and disbelief.
"She didn't take it very well." He said in a manner as if he was revealing a huge movie spoiler.

Ah, I did hear you were aqquainted a bit with Pierce. Did you have a big history with him?"
Liz blinked. "You really don't know? We were both thieves back in the day, and we dated. It was pretty serious until he left for PATCA."
"Ah?" He stopped for a moment, thinking on it a bit. He knew that both of them were thieves, although that particular detail was normally shoved in the back corner of his mind, but he never really mentally paired the two of them together.
"Well, I'm glad you're spending time with me now. But was there a reason why the two of you never got back together when you came to PATCA as well?"
"We broke up on a bad note, As friendly as we may be now, we basically burned down the relationship bridge."
"Oh, I see."
The lad was still curious about the circumstances, but he decided that buried matters that didn't involve him should remain buried.

Renny looked at Mollesk switching between consuming some berries for himself and dumping some unceremoniously in his shell. Renny stood near a row of several filled jar of berries.

"Heh, I remember the first time I heard your voice. You said Mollesk had... magic hands."
Renny said with mixed feelings. While it was the first time he learned about Liz's existence, it was also right after the Mollesk/Darcelle mix-up which was embarressing and very very questionable. Even if Darcelle liked it in the end.
"Well he does, considering they turned an enemy into an ally. Why, have you been thinking about using them on me?" She gave Renny a mischievous smirk.
"Well, not his particular hands." He retorted although his limbs were tight with tension, his stiff boundaries buckling under the light teasing. There was the urge to go with it, while his mind says to just wait.
"Mmm, well, here I am."
Liz took a seat on the grass, legs crossed before her, as she looked up at Renny. "You're free to go as far as you want to."

Renny stood in deep silence, one foot forward but the other remaining rooted. For a moment or two this remained. Finally, he approached closer, but stepped to her back and knelt behind her as he somewhat timidly place his hands on her back, and moved them in a massaging sort of way. His mental compromise was essentially to do something similar to what he had done once already for Lola and Catherine, giving a body massage of sort. Although what he did for those two, he did out of concern and healing. This one was more for inducing pleasure.He let a surge of relaxing psychic energy pass from within his arms, penetrate harmlessly through her clothing and gently soak the soothing sensations within her skin. Intermittingly, he would apply pressure with his fingers within a specific area. For several minutes, this sensation that tingled lightly for him, and he guess possibly for her continued as he move the light touch of his fingers and palm to her arms, stroking along their sides and underneath and touching her own fingers. And then her onwards to her waist and hips, which he wrapped around into a hug. Although there was the temptation to go on more, this was where he drew the line in the sand.

"Oooh..."
Liz relaxed, leaning back against him as the psychic energy coursed into her, filling her body with pleasurable sensation. When his hands hugged her waist, her own hands came to rest softly upon his, not imposing any force but conveying the message that she didn't want him to pull away.
He made himself more comfortable sitting himself down so his legs were side by side with hers and having Liz held close for a while longer.

After a while her hands did try pulling his somewhere a bit... higher.
She couldn't see it from where he was sitting, but he was already practically red in the face. By all rights, he shouldn't have been quite so embarrassed given that he had literally had his face shoved into her bosoms on several occasions. But the briefest moment of contact as his hand brushed it was very close to electifying. He nudged his hand back down. The last thing he needed was more arousal when the slightest more was going to make her notice what was accidently poking at her rear from behind. He pulled her back so she could lean against his chest for a while, his head close to hers.

Taking the initiative, Liz turned around, pushing Renny to lie back on the grass and lying atop him, kissing him deeply, her hands gently resting on his cheeks.
Renny quite nearly protested but he was drawn into the passionate embrace which he accepted for a while, his hands cupping her cheeks during what he thought was one last throe of energetic kisses in between breaths.

"We... we shouldn't go any further... just yet."
He finally said, trying to make some sort of stand, although he probably didn't look very convincing where he was, lying on his back.
"It's just a few more days."
"That's okay. Like I said, you can go as far as we want. Can we just stay like this for a while?"

A few of Renny's pokemon watched from within the bushes but none more so than Umbreon who peeked with voyuerish interest, mentally trying to assert her non-existent power to influence the universe to get the two actually doing something hot and heavy.

"... just a little." Renny said as he planted a kiss on her cheek and held her close.


Shortly his pokemon started to gather back, each taking a jar of berries as a held item before being recalled into their respective pokeball. All except for Togekiss who still needed to fly and frankly can neither hold it within its wings or carry it with its single-digit feets. The sky was starting to get a little darker but also more majestic with an orange tint as the light creeped behind the horizon and shadowed the mountains.

"... Ok, I think that's about everything. Shall we head back to the car?"
Renny started putting a few of his equipment away so they weren't out in the open for any random passerbys in this otherwise isolated area. Then he mounted his pokemon with Liz right behind.
As they got on Togekiss, Liz kissed Renny's cheek sweetly. "Today was the perfect date, Renny, thank you."
"Err, you're most welcome."

Renny was all flushed even as Togekiss flew with them towards the car on a flight that took about 15-20 minutes. Upon arrival, Renny recalled Togekiss into the pokeball and got into the car.
Driving back to Renny's apartment and up to his front door, Liz kissed him on the cheek one last time.
"Thanks again. It was great."
Renny put down the fog machine equipment and gave her a quick hug.
"I had a great time too. Thank you for helping me. I guess I'll see you at the party?"
"Or before, if you want to have another date." She told him with a wink.
Renny shook his head. "The party is going to be a huge task and I still have PATCA things to do as well. I won't really have free time to do another before it. I'll see you soon though!"

[Menarker]

Hyacinth/Renny convo


A certain Gallade was poring over his various assignments at his desk in PATCA's common work hall. It has been a few hours since his spar with Donovan and the signs of exhaustion and sweat had mostly disappeared, and he touched up most of his injuries with the use of some of his pokemon's healing moves. Once or twice, when a PATCA agent showed up in the hall, he would leave everything behind and engage them in conversation, focused on inviting them to his party. It looked like it would be a big one.

He gradually got to the point of his work documents detailing the personnels assigned for the Corpsemire and Hungry World mission that Irene told him about. While it is all too tempting to assign agents in the groups, he believed that the leader of the groups should each at least have a say on who to take in their teams. Looking at the schedule of agents who would normally be called in for immediate duties for today, he noticed that Hyacinth was listed. So he dialed her number with his Visor and waited for her to pick up.

"Heya, how's it been?"
Hyacinth smiled, flying about in the sky but always in contact. It was a fairly nice view from above, and her flight was conveniently almost over, so she wouldn't mind stopping a minute early for some kind of business talking.

"Hi, this is Renny. I'm fine thank you. Been pretty busy on my end. I hope you have been doing well since the last mission. Would you mind stopping by the common work hall? I have some things to discuss with you. Part business, but also part pleasure if you can spare the time."
"I recognize your voice Renny."
She smiled and kept floating over, shaking her head with a simple
"Nah. I'd definitely like to talk some of this with you. Is this partly about the party? I heard a couple people mentioning it, and I'd sure like to know what exactly is going on here."

"You're well informed." Renny said, while secretly rolling his eyes over PATCA's invincible rumor mill.
"The party is pretty much the pleasure side I was going to discuss with you, although there is another important thing to go over as well. So yeah, if you can drop on over, we can talk in person. I'll see you then!"
"Sure thing."
She grinned and let herself float down. It wasn't too much later on that she was in the room, having a snack of a simple pretzel, and sitting down on the chair. She tufted herself up with air to not crush it, and looked forwards.
"So whats this about, then?"


Renny sat casually with his legs crossed on the chair and holding a can of mountain dew. His third from the look of it with another on table and Umbreon playing with an empty one on the floor, batting it between her two paws. On the table, Shaymin in landform was snoozing in the rays of the sunlight through the window while acting as a cute paperweight.

"Good to see Hyacinth." He smiled. "Firstly, I was wondering what were your impressions of your first full official mission, back at Nanny Village and about your stay in PATCA overall. Are you more or less comfortable with how things are going?"

"Well, to be completely honest, boring. I kept waiting to do stuff, and I want to take my time. Just stretch, get myself all ready, analyze stuff. Meanwhile you guys just WIN everything and smash them before I even get my warm ups stretches done and I'm just sitting here watching like a poser."

Renny chuckled a little.
"I'll admit that the last mission did go by much faster than would normally occur. Only the battle against Moeni and her guards seem to last a while. Thank you for helping covering for me and Pierce when had to ditch the formation. Thanks to that, we managed to get Lola and Harliette out of that situation and we rescued a civilian, Pierce's sister in fact, that we had been searching quite some time for."
Renny looked downright content and at peace as he said this.
"Lola is a dear friend of mine, so it really means a lot to me that we got her back in particular."
"Yeah, I understand. People close to your heart are always worth ensuring fighting for, and making sure they're alright."

He then continued on.
"Normally I'd be happy when a battle ends successfully and quickly. A drawn out battle in the past normally meant that we're taking more punishment than we'd like, but I'm sorry that you didn't enjoy the last one... So maybe you'll like this next one that is coming up? I have some details to share with you about that. Apparently, it's taking place in a whole new world."
He glanced to see if he had perked her curiousity.

"It isn't necessarily the fun... well maybe part of it is. I just felt like I was on a bloody vacation and was watching a whole bunch of stuff happen. What's the point on going on a big mission if all I get to do is observe tactics. But tell me about this new world. I am interested in learning about new things, despite what I just said implies I don't."
"Hehe. Alright. You know the Kimonos right? And those Overhumans we fought in the previous mission? They hail from a place called the Hungry World where demons reside, not entirely surprising since most of the Kimonos are half-demons themselves. This different world is apparently connected by a gate found within the Corpsemire, a swampy location which Irene assures me is like Dagobah of the Star Wars movie, but with lots more corpses from the wars that Honmyr had."
"Yep, heard of them. So basically there's this whole new place out there, with a entire slew of demons who are just naturally better than everything else? What's the downside?"
Hyacinth smirked and finished the pretzel, looking about and taking a sip of the water cup she brought in and filled with the rain.

"Well, I dunno about naturally better, but we can expect them to be challenging. As for the twists. You know Aster? Lumineon pokebrid primarily. Despite not having any psychic type pokebrid forms, he's a powerful seer who has occasional flashes of pre-cognitive ability. Basically he can predict the future to some extent. I personally vouch on his reliability."
Renny stopped to gather his thoughts and provide dramatic pause.
"Anyhow, he claims that we'll be scattered somehow on arriving, but that we'll have a good chance of surviving if each of main Watchmen group leaders take 3 agents with them, one which must be an enforcer and one of which has to be a Kimono who can help guide them through the Hungry World through their experience. As for the other, any specialist you haven't already taken is permitted. No more or less. So basically, we're assuming that our group formation is going to be forced into much smaller chunks and that group resources will thus be restricted."
"So I'm assuming that we're just going with this particular setup, because he forsaw it as such? Is there a reason we can't just bust up heads of what attacks us? I mean if there's something that dangerous coming after us, then one of our groups is 100% hungry hungry hippo food, whichever it comes after. If we can't take it as a group how will a 'single' group handle it?"
Renny paused for a moment to gulp from his Mountain Dew before clarifying.
"Well, I'm just passing on the requirements as Irene sets them, whom I presume is basing it on his precognition. It might be a monster like you mentioned, but it might also be some sort of erratic weather condition or the like. Irene said that Aster believes there will be a total of two encounters per group. But otherwise, this is what he roughly determined to be the best method of success. Also, one of the biggest reasons we can't all bust in there is due to legal meddling. The Corpsemire is a heavily restricted zone, where the loadout of any given team must be approved by a lengthy permit that is approved by the president himself and presumably there is a maximum limit. The main reason we're doing this mission now and not some time ago was because the permits have just been recently completed. But of course, this means we can't just add more troops to prepare for the worst scenario either because we either reached our full size or because it would take too long to requisition new permits."
"Oh, so basically the safety permits are the biggest impediment towards us being safe? Why am I not even remotely surprised..."

Renny tried to reassure her.
"I can offer my advice on who you might want to take in your group like their recorded capabilities and what not. But ultimately, I'm leaving the final choice of your group up to you. Slayers might need to be careful about their weapon and armor selection since Daphne won't be coming to help switch them especially since she can't be at multiple places at once. You can still switch them, but it'll probably be more difficult to do in the heat of battle. Any questions at this point?"
Hyacinth gave a nod, refilling her cup once again.
"Oh, and do you want a drink? You seem like yours is mostly done with. As for my group..."
Renny interrupted as he looked pained to have forgotten to mention one last detail.
"I'm good, thanks. Too much energy as is. The mission is not set to start until after my party, so there is still just a little less than a week to reflect before choosing. In fact, we're getting some new recruits who will also be introduced at the party as well."
"Oh, so I'll meet the new group before making that decision, so I should think about it now."
Hyacinth folded her legs the other way and then rested them on the ground.

Renny nodded approvingly.
"Anyhow, on to the next thing. As you likely heard, I'm hosting a party on the 24th of August for my 18th birthday. I'm inviting as many of my friends at PATCA as I can, but which I mean to invite you too if you would be so inclined. From the looks of all the people who said they'd come, it looks like it'd be a pretty big one!"
"Aka, the whole business thing was pointless, and you're asking for me to come to this party. Well, who am I to refuse, I can only imagine it'll be a great time. What kind of party though is this, exactly? I know that everyone mentioned that it was very special for you and they've been anticipating it."
"Ah right, you're not quite from around here." Renny recalled.
"Well, for the business side of things, I just wanted to let you know it was coming and it would be something to think about when you're at the party. Maybe you might feel more inclined to choose someone in your team once you had the chance to talk with them. And at the party, you'll probably find everyone more or less in one place, which would make things easier."
"Definitely, and maybe I'll get to have a good workout with them and see who would be fit to keep up with me in the valley of death."
Hyacinth let out a small laugh, closing her eyes but full well aware as noticed by the dim glow on her eyelids.

He chuckled along for a second or two before he cleared his throat.
"As for why everyone has been waiting for it... Well, in Honmyr, legally a person is considered a full-fledged adult when they hit the age of 18. I joined PATCA about 2 years ago. For the first couple of missions, I wasn't always treated very seriously, although in retrospect, sometimes the stuff I did were kinda silly."
"Maybe you could tell me what some of the silly stuff you did was. Might help to know what is silly. Then again, being a whelp, that's probably a different kind of silly than I'm thinking I might cause."
With a shrug of her shoulders, Hyacinth stood up, looking out the window momentarily before sitting back down.
"I feel like we're being watched a little. You ever get that feeling?"
"Watched, you say?"
Renny peered around and so did his two pokemon that were out on the floor.
"Yeah, I get the feeling a lot of the time. Like somebody is just peering around the corner, waiting to snatch."
"Sorry Hyacinth, but I haven't noticed anything of the sort. Although I suppose I tend to be preoccupied with other things... PATCA is full of some pretty strong agents, especially ones like Irene."
His thoughts immediately settled on Sexy, the missing ruin generals and tenatively on the Pokegeddon.
"While I can imagine a few enemies with power on par with hers, there isn't really any I think can think of that would be willing to do that on top of dealing with all the other agents inside here."

Renny then settled back down on his seat after grabbing another drink, this time a lemonade. Hyacinth took the time to grab another snack from the hall nearby.
"Well, silliness... I kinda did some inappropriate hugging for a time and I had a very noisy panic attack. Although it was my first time seeing a zombie when I panicked. I was young...er and had the wrong impression about the job."
He quickly tried to power through that issue before Hyacinth went further into it, which was successful as she only gave a small laugh in response, noticing his unease.
"I'm trying my best to do what I can in PATCA, but obviously there will be people who look at my age and just think I'm incapable of doing anything without having my hands held the entire way. But when I become 18, I will technically become an adult and am allowed to do just about anything that an adult can legally do without outside reprecussions or without needing the consent of a legal guardian such as my parents."
He paused briefly as he said this.
"In some way, it's a silly thing. I'm already doing military tasks and even engaging in life and death combat. Chances are, there is no difference between me on August 23rd and the me of August 24th aside from the status that society assigns to me. But that's kinda how it is."

"So could you give me an idea of what kinds of things you couldn't do now that you could then? I mean, as you said you're already fighting in wars."
Renny paused for a moment, wondering if there was an answer that wouldn't be so personal to give.
"Well, owning my own living space is a large task for an adult to begin with. For a minor, it's forbidden, largely because it is a contract dealing with a very sizable amount of money, something of which is unlikely for a minor to be responsible for. I'm actually living in an apartment under someone else's name. I... had to do that because before I was living with my parents."
By this point Renny just went along with telling the story which was probably fairly common knowledge by now due to the rumor mill.
"At first they were fine with me working here. Partly because I was a trainer and thus my pokemon did most of the fighting while I stayed in the back. But then the Millenium House mission happened. I became the pokebrid you saw, got into my first up-close battle and nearly died as a result. Then we all nearly died when the place self-destructed. And then I got involved in a duel to fight Sexy, whom was more than a match for Irene and I was desperate just buying her time. The fact that our former Chief of PATCA Shevetson died during that very short time frame only added to their paranoia and fear once it all got revealed in public news. So they tried to remove me from PATCA, no, Honmyr all together. I didn't want to leave, but as a minor I wasn't allowed to make my own choices, nor could I living space to live by myself without the consent of my legal guardians. So what I did basically amounted to running away from them until I could be an adult and not be bound by those particular laws."
"I think that makes a kind of sense. And I completely understand that. Still, I feel like you followed your heart and did the right thing."
The woman gave an approving nod, finishing up the pretzel again and looking down at her hand fleetingly before turning up towards Renny once more.
"...Thank you."
There was a bit of silence but Renny continued on, more relaxed after Hyacinth's approval.

"That said, I haven't gone through all my reasons for the party. The new recruits of PATCA will be able to meet the rest of their co-workers under a more relaxed informal condition. I could also claim that we're celebrating the successful rescue of Myrie and of Pierce's sister Sam... And another... unfortunate side of things is, we should acknowledge the people we lost. We lost Charlotte in the last mission, Shevetson was assassinated and as far as anyone is concerned, each and every one of us is always one bad mission away from dying too."
Renny's expression became somber as he continued on.
"When I first joined, I was... naive... ignorant to how Honmyr truly was. Maybe I still am a bit, but back then I was horribly unprepared for what was going on. Frankly, if it wasn't for the good friends I have made at PATCA who went out of their way at times to help me, I would probably not be alive today or I might have even called it quits a while back."
Renny looked to the corner of his eyes for a moment, the hand not holding his drink emotionally tighten into a fist.
"So while the main purpose is celebrating my 18th birthday, we're ultimately trying to have everyone mingle, get together and try to enjoy life, our own and each others, while we still have it."

Hyacinth took a moment to consider a few things, giving off a smile. While she was glancing up at his fist she was otherwise preoccupied staring downwards.
"... yeah. ... But, you didn't. Now you're here, able to do a fantastic job, about to complete the final adultation rites. Don't worry about losing it though, we can't actually lose. We'll never lose. So we'll never lose anybody else."
She laughed a bit with her overwhelming confidence, but it sounded like she was trying to convince herself as much as Renny.

Renny smirked a bit as she said 'adultation rites'. He drank for a little as he added another timbit that was a bit unprofessional, but probably would be useful info for someone not terribly used to human culture. That and the discussion had turned a little dark regarding the possibility of death and it would be a boon on both sides to lighten it up a bit. He mentioned it in a whisper of sort, hoping Hyacinth would get the idea that it's not meant to be spread around more than it may already have been.
"Although there is another thing about the... 'adultation rights'. Some of the ladies have... expressed their eagerness to see me turn 18, so there wouldn't be an legal issues of them pursuing myself in a romantic relationship, especially physically."
One corner of his mouth had a slight upward curve of a excitable grin.
"I admit that while I'm still nervous about handling the affections of multiple wonderful ladies such as them and trying to keep them happy, I'm also rather excited, even just knowing they have such affection for me and that I'll be able to share my feelings with them without any worries of the law getting anyone in trouble over it."
"Well, I don't think you should be that nervous about it. They love you, and want to do all kinds of exciting things with you. But whether you want to is ultimately your choice. It's your party after all."
She had something of a knowing grin, mood change of the topic not catching her off guard.
"Stuff like that I understand, crosses 'cultural boundaries', I'd say."
The Gallade nodded. "Well, it wouldn't just be the party, but yeah."

He then changed the direction of the topic.
"Anyhow, there will be plenty of food and drinks, live entertainment with opportunities for dances, plenty of people to mingle with. The party is held at the hotel I live in, so there is the opportunity to use the hotel's swimming pool, and for people who get really tired or drunk or want some privacy, there is the opportunity to rent a hotel room."
"What kinds of food and drink, and what kinds of entertainment?"
She laughed and ruffled Renny's head, standing up and moving her hand to the direction of the doorway.
"Like the snacks we've got here? Or something meatier and fuller? And other than the expected carnal 'mingling' you're talking about, what kinds of entertainment is there? I hope this isn't entirely for that purpose, I'm kind of out of place in that regard. But surely like any big gathering there'll be at least one kind of huge event, maybe dancing, maybe a fight, maybe just some sports."
Renny blushed the moment when she implied that the entire party might be for 'carnal mingling' considering that he was briefly an accidental witness to one such coupling during his previous party.
"For food, I expect lots of meat, pastry, ICE CREAM CAKE, fruits and veggies, that sort of thing. Aside from the swimming pool I mentioned, I'm hoping that our live entertainment will allow for some dancing. There is a park not far from the hotel if we really wanted some sports, but I haven't planned anything of the sort myself."

"Ice cream cake?"
Her ears perked up, and she tilted her head. "What... you seem excited about that, what is that kind of delicacy then?"
Hyacinth shrugged and looked out the window again, then sat back down, there was indeed a place somewhere in the city that had a sign of 'ice cream' on it, so this wasn't too rare. Renny seemed excited regardless.
"Have you tried normal ice cream before?"
Renny asked, since it would be difficult to explain the concept of an ice cream cake without experience of ice cream itself.
"Ice cream is a cold treat, basically cream or yogurt chilled to the point of hardening into a solid that is sold in a cone or cup and served in several different flavors or with added sweet toppings. It's very popular especially on warm days and especially the summer. They can also be made into drinks like Milkshakes, or served in layers with things like cookie bits and chocolate like a cake. Quite a few members in PATCA love it, especially Milsha.. and I'm a fan of it myself. For that matter, several other members of PATCA like Rachel, Lola have a fondness for sweets."

"I guess all I have to ask is why there's none of it here, or why it wasn't offered at the last party. It can't be that rare, if it's a cheap convenience."
Renny clarified.
"Well, there are a lot of different flavors and many people have some very specific tastes. They also need to be kept chilled until serving, otherwise they melt and be unsuitable for eating. Most places don't have the facilities to hold enough of a variety of flavors to serve everyone on an occasional basis in addition to holding onto other items that need to be kept cold. Normally there would be a store dedicated to having a large supply of lots of flavors fulltime, there would be certain special vending machines with specific selections have them in some common places, and the places that do have ice cream part time normally only have a very limited selection of ice cream flavors."
"Sounds normal enough, I'm gonna try this. Remembering that with Ice in the title it probably isn't something I should chomp directly into. Now could you explain the second part, cake?"
"Oh, ice cream is actually quite soft to bite into. But the key is to eat it somewhat slowly or you might get a head-ache that people call a Brain-Freeze that lasts a few moments. Many people lick their ice cream, especially when served on a cone instead of a cup or plate."
"I more meant that it was cold, not that it was hard to chew, but alright."

Then he went on briefly to explaining cakes.
"As for cakes... they are a traditional treat for a birthday. Normally they are made with layers of baked dough with frosting on it, although that's not the case for an ice cream cake. Basically on the cake will be a number of candles based on how long the person lived. In my case, 18 candles would be on the cake. Lots of superstitions regarding cakes like making a wish before blowing out the candles or another one where every candle that the person fails to blow out is the number of girls or guys who would end up being their romantic partner... A silly idea really, probably invented just to tease little children who thought the opposite gender had cooties and would avoid them. Pointless, but mostly harmless fun. I might have a few normal cakes in case someone doesn't like ice cream or can't handle it."
Renny thought for a moment.
"It wouldn't take long to go to an ice cream store. Would you like to go out and try some with me?"

"Sure, it'd be quite nice to try out. I'm a bit interested in what this tastes like. Also, I'll keep that in mind for whenever you actually blow out these candles."
Hyacinth gently walked to the window, staring for a moment and shaking her head.
"... nah, I'm too big for this window."

[Menarker]

Renny / Hyacinth Part 2

Renny got out from his seat and recalled his pokemon, leading onwards to just outside the building, he summoned Togekiss and got on, with the understanding that Hyacinth would follow him to the ice cream store. Specifically, the one where he believes Milsha goes to the most.

What Renny most definitely didn't expect was to see a battle unfolding inside the ice cream shop.
"Uh, what? What's going on?"
Renny clambored to see who or what was causing a disturbance.

A rather disturbing man with a large brown afro craned his face towards Renny. "This young rapscallion is trying to consume the last of the lunar cheesecake ice cream!"
The other warrior in the conflict who Renny recognized as Milsha, turned to face him.
"Nobody stands between me and my daily intake of dairy products!" she told Renny. "And I'm not about to let this disco freak rob me of my barest essentials."

Oh gawd. As Renny and Hyacinth saw it, the hilariously weird guy was using two muscular fighting Pokemon, a Hariyama and a Hitmonlee, both in sparkling white leotards. Milsha was using her signature Techsaber. They both seemed to be relatively good at fighting in such close quarters because aside from having two powerful Pokemon and a giant sword involves, they hadn't actually damaged the restaurant yet. Maybe the fight hadn't gotten to that part yet?

The two of them were arguing with each other again.
"You don't understand!" the afro guy was saying. "If I don't get this ice cream and take it back to my wife, she's going to kill me!"
"And you don't understand," Milsha shot back. "Daily. Dairy. Intake."

Renny looked at Hyacinth for a moment. "Hyacinth, you can go ahead and order something that isn't a Lunar Cheese icecream. You can ask for a few sample just so you know what the flavor is like..."

Renny mentally face-palmed at the thought he was going to get involved. "Milsha, does it have to specifically be lunar cheesecake for your intake? I could take you out to another ice cream store and buy you whatever you'd like."

"This is a woman's pride, Renny!" Milsha shouted defiantly. "And besides, this guy's a fruit! What makes you think he deserves to have what I want?"


Renny waved his hands in front defensively, trying to reassure her that he was trying to help both side. "I didn't Milsha. I was just trying to understand what is going on."
"Allow me to explain, you handsome lad, you," the man said. "The fact of the matter is that we told the kind young saleslady that we would like that flavor and were pointing at the lunar cheesecake ice cream at the exact same time."
"So I tried to flex my charms and asked him if he would allow a lady to partake," Milsha said.
The man looked away and was poking his fingers together. "And then I sort of offhandedly said that she has a long ago to go before she can refer to herself as a lady."

Milsha swung her sword dramatically. "And I took offense to that."

Renny said quietly to himself. "Ok, so it's NOT just the ice cream. For a moment, I feared that was becoming serious business."
Renny suddenly had both of their faces really close to his. "IT IS SERIOUS BUSINESS!!" two demonic voices violated his ears.

Meanwhile, Hyacinth just stares, standing a little back, tilting her head in confusion and half wondering if she should split the pair up.

Now they were facing each other again. "I will only ask you one more time, young ma'am," the man told Milsha. "Please allow me to purchase this ice cream for my wife at home."
"And I'm saying that this isn't even about ice cream anymore!" Milsha said, brandishing her massive blade. "Now I just wanna rip every chest hair right off of you!"

And before Renny could brace himself for the worst, another saleslady came out of the employee's room with a full tub of the ice cream in hand. The restaurant was now deathly silent. "I still wanna kick his ass," Milsha pouted. "But now it just feels like I'm being a bully."

Renny spoke up to the man. "Sir, now that the ice cream isn't a problem, I personally want you to apologize to my friend here. I imagine you would take offense if someone was to call your wife less than a proper woman. Your ill-spoken words brought this on."
Renny turned his torso a bit as he spoke, standing in between with arm-blade at ready.
"Even if you see someone as not meeting your particular set of standards, a true gentleman would have held his tongue."
"You make a good point," afro man said. "Sometimes I can get a little disrespectful whenever a woman professes to have any considerable charm. Then again, if you were to compare any woman to the radiant beauty of my wife, they would be about as appealing as three-week old meatloaf."

"That h's gawt t'be th'wawst apologeh Uh've e'er hurd," Milsha drawled. "It's s'pitiful th't I don't e'en wanna bleed 'im dry anymore."

Renny looked rather annoyed and pissed at him. Then he called out to the sale's lady.
"I would like to order that entire tub right there and the remainer of that one too." pointing to the lunar cheesecake ice cream in question.

He looked toward Pierre with a defiant expression. "You want some of this, you come outside with me. I would rather not involve anyone else in this. You seem very much ready to fight with your pokemon out and I rather no one else got accidently involved if it comes to that."

And that's how Renny and Pierre were about to have a good ol' street fight out in the middle of the road. Between Renny's good looks and Pierre's...uhhh...unique style, this fight drew quite a crowd. Milsha was leaning against a wall, licking ice cream.
"My name, it is Pierre Jean Barsalou," the man said. "And don't expect me to take it easy on you just because you're cute."


"Renny Tresserhorn. I couldn't care less about how you feel about my looks. Your blasted insensitivity is an offense to me and my companion here. You... might be able to have some of the ice cream, but until I feel you understand how to talk to other women without insulting them, I'm going to have the exact the same sort of tax on you that you implied you would have gotten if you came ice cream-less home to your wife."
"Hah, truely you overexaggerate your own potential, young lad, just like you overexaggerate the feminine charms of that country bumpkin or the woman you came with. And if you've ever laid your eyes on my wife, you would know that I'm not even embellishing her beauty or her brutality. Yes, my lovely Yvonne is the best!"

"Go ahead then. Call your wife here. I'll tell her what her husband has been doing to other women. I imagine she wouldn't be pleased to know her husband is a habitual bully, especially if she has ever been the sort to have recieved slanders from others."
Pierre dug his fingers into his afro in shock. "Oh god, that'd be even worse! No, I have to teach you a lesson about your own superiority complex right here before all the ice cream is gone! Hariyama! Hitmonlee! Time to style all their balls!"

Renny didn't expect it, judging from Pierre's extremely thin physique, but Pierre was a Slayer in his own right. Not only was Pierre's dance moves making it extremely difficult to land any kind of strike against him, but his legs were deceptively long. While taking on and defeating Pierre's Pokemon wasn't too difficult, Renny found that he was going to need a very serious Speed statistic just to land any considerable damage on the dancing fool.

Hyacinth noticed that this guy was doing a dance, and she stared at him a bit. He'd insulted all of them, herself included. If this person wasn't such an obvious fool, she might have taken offense. Maybe when his wife showed up, there'd be a discussion. Women seemed to be the more powerful half humans anyway, if the population of Patca was any indicator. "Go ahead Renny, whip his pokemon good. You're plenty strong enough."


Renny nodded. "Indeed. Milsha, you mind introducing Hyacinth to some ice cream? It's what I brought her here for. Also, Hyacinth, I dunno if your dragonite form might react to it due to its quad ice weakness, so if that happens, maybe switch to one of your other forms."
"Are you sure?" Milsha asked. "This is far more entertaining than ice cream at this point."
"I can try ice cream at any point, but go ahead and get it. And just cause the form's weak to ice never meant I can't take the cold."
"Meh, order it here and watch at the same time." Renny joked, feeling only a slight better that Milsha looked like she wasn't quite in as bad a mood as earlier. Maybe watching Renny beat up an obviously retarded guy was her bread and butter?

Renny had summoned Togekiss and Shaymin to the field and also had his arm blade out, although there was glowing blunt energy to the blade. To the more experienced fighters, they'd probably note that he was going for non-lethal damage.
Both pokemon took to the skies, sniping with either never-miss attacks, super effective 100% flinching Air Slashes or 'bombing' the place with AOE flower power thus making accuracy mostly moot even as Renny retricted their movements via super effective ranged Psycho Cuts.

Several rounds later, despite Pierre being a surprisingly difficult opponent, the flashy moron was finally brought to his knees in defeat.
"Huh?" Milsha said, looking at her ice cream cone. The last scoop has fallen off the cone.

...But that wasn't the only sign that trouble was coming...

It reminded Renny of the movie Jurassic Park when the water in the glass was rippling from the impacts of something large stepping on the ground. A nearby sewer lid popping off of its opening. His Pokemon were calling out in alarm. Various bird Pokemon shot up into the sky. Something big was coming. Something big...and angry...

The uhh...'woman' as Renny would describe was roughly eleven feet tall, with bronze skin and strawberry blonde hair. He had to admit that she could've been considered beautiful if you were into that kind of thing. Just how in the hell were there women like this one that even dwarfed Kurika and Heidi?

The woman called Yvonne came to a stop next to the beaten Pierre. Then she took one look at Renny and, without words, strolled off to the side. Holy shit, she just literally yanked a telephone pole right out of the sidewalk!! "I will break you," Yvonne said, assuming a battle stance.

BGM: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTztIkoNqbU

Renny's observances of Yvonne made him certain that he was dealing with a Destroyer. An eleven-foot tall woman and who the hell knows where she got clothes to fit her muscular frame brandishing a fucking telephone poll complete with snapped-off wires.

"You got interesting tastes, Pierre." Renny said with a brave front, although the situation looked significantly larger than he'd probably could handle.
"Alrighty, already!" Milsha said, negligently tossing aside her empty cone and hopping into the fray. "This would be about the largest steer I've ever tried to tame, but I couldn't call myself a real farmgirl if I ignored something like this."
Hyacinth simply smiled, looking up at her and tilted her head. She seemed completely unphased by the size of her, and almost appeared eager. Though she wouldn't do anything, this was still Renny's fight.
"... You're large."

"Enjoying your ice cream over there, Hyacinth?" Renny thought of some way to at least put a pause to this fight. "Yeah, just let me know if she's a bit much for you. Your business, unless she picks a fight with me personally."
"Your name is Yvonne, right? I got this tub of what Pierre assured me was the ice cream you wanted. I'll give the two of you the tub if you stop for a bit and listen to what I have to say. But I'm not afraid to dump it!"
He readied himself to teleport away if she swung the oversized weapon.

"I will deal with my husband in due time, but I will deal with you now, young man," Yvonne said, and down came the gauntlet. Renny managed to teleport out of range, but was nonetheless surprised at how fast and accurate those heavy, wild swings could be. It was like Yvonne had practiced swinging telephone poles for a long time, and how the hell would that work?

Yvonne also surprised him with her ability to inflict some grievous area assaults and could even offer up some aerial denial attacks. Togekiss very nearly dodged a pickup truck to the face.

"Both of you, return!" Renny recalled the two fragile pokemon and decided to switch to some of the more defensive ones. Swampert and Umbreon came out, while Renny tried to levitate Yvonne off the ground with Levitate to restrict her movements.

Yvonne took a lot of effort to lift, and unfortunately she was still dangerous from the air. This would be the first time Renny had ever seen a telephone pole being used like a javelin. Then Yvonne reached down and slammed her fingers into the road, pulling herself to the ground, then swinging towards Renny.

"Milsha, if you got any particular plans for taming this 'steer', go ahead! I'll support you any way I can!"
"Did you try jiggling the handle?"

Not funny, Milsha!

"I think we're just going to have to go for major damage, Renny," Milsha shrugged. "Treat this like fighting a Madsoldier, because I hear they don't have any obvious constraints in their fighting, either."

Renny nodded. Anyone looking at his arm blade would probably be curious about the unusual shine that his arm took ever since Milsha joined the fight.
"I'll focus on using plain slash attacks. They will be more powerful and accurate with you fighting with me! Come at her from behind, ok? I want you in one piece! Swampert, you cover Umbreon! Umbreon, you know that Foul Play move? She's a perfect target for it."

Umbreon glanced at Yvonne frankly hulkish appearance and chortled at what could be seen as a stealth insult if you stretched it far enough. The rabbit-cat pokemon then used its nimble and smaller form along with using Swampert's much larger and tankier body as cover to avoid direct attacks, while aggressively dealing damage that packed an incredible punch compared to its small size. Renny's astral flavored slashes bit into her skin combined with the capability to by-pass her reach to engage in ultra-close combat with teleport. Silently, he also kept in mind that if Yvonne ever tried to switch her focus from himself to Milsha, he could use Ally Switch to make one take the place of the other.

Hyacinth took a taste test of the ice cream, and then a few more. This was quite delicious stuff, and despite being in the side lines she had a bit of a loud proclamation.
"Sorry if I'm interrupting your play date or anything, I know tussling is always a good time. Just remember that you're supposed to help me find some cake after tossing her into the drink. Don't want the rest of the tasty things to slip your mind."

"I'm glad you're enjoying it, but we could probably use your help here if you feel like it." He swung his arm in an sideward cut around Yvonne's leg.

"You want help? Don't you want a good fight on your own... well I guess your pokemon are already helping."
Hyacinth shrugs a bit, stretching wings out and yawning a great yawn.

"Well, lots of people fight for pleasure..." Renny grunted as he tried to dodge or block attacks with the occasional Protect. "But lots of people don't really feel any joy in battles. They tend to avoid it barring matters of great importance. I'm one of those latter ones. I'll see what I can do about the cake thing afterwards."

"Pity. Fighting for sport and thrill is one of the highest pleasures. Like this stuff." Hyacinth licked her finger clean of the cream. "It's not even like this is a real fight. If you truly find no pleasure in it, I could certainly take your place. But it does seem like she wants to fight you specifically."

"Well, that's because she's trying to beat me bloody for harming her husband, even though I was using attacks that could not possibly deal lethal damage! I can empathize about what where she's coming from, but she doesn't know what had been going on and it doesn't look like she will care to know! Or at least I imagine she won't want to listen to anything that comes from me or anyone close to me."

"Oh, I just figured that whipping the whipping boy over there meant you were worthy to challenge her, or something. I don't know." She shrugged, laughing a bit and checking to see if the afro man was still conscious to do anything.

So this was what fighting a Madsoldier was like, eh? Renny and his Pokemon and Milsha were easily dealing serious damage, but it was like Yvonne had the ability to completely ignore agony and suffering. Was she some kind of machine?

"Hold it," Yvonne said suddenly, holding up her free hand and stopping the fight completely. And then came the facepalm moment of all facepalm moments. "Where are we?"

Milsha pointed towards the ice cream shop with the tip of her sword. Yvonne looked, and then let out a really long sigh. "Darling husband, I believe I already told you about that other ice cream shop that was closer to our house. I swear, you can be so stupid sometimes. I came running because I sensed you were getting beaten up again, but now I have a feeling that I do not understand the entire situation."

Yvonne turned to Renny. "Young man, I must apologize terribly but you please explain this situation to me?"

Renny rubbed his arms, feeling quite bruised. "How about we all have a seat while I tell you what has been going on. I think that tub of ice cream has your favorite flavor if what Pierre said is true."

After they had gotten seated (Renny taking a seat away from the wall in case any tables got flipped), the Gallade started the story

"I came in the middle of the conflict, but from what your husband Pierre and my friend Milsha has said and agreed on, the argument first started when they both tried to claim dibs over the last bit of this ice cream flavor here, Pierre saying it was for you. Apparently Milsha tried to be charming about it but Pierre offended her by saying that she wasn't anything close to being a proper lady. As a result she said he offended her pride as a woman so much that the ice cream didn't matter as much and they almost started a fight inside this store, blade and pokeballs at ready."

He took his time explaining it, letting it all sink in and letting them enjoy some of the ice cream.

"It was at that point that I arrived and they both explained what was going on. The saleslady found another tub of this ice cream and Milsha decided that while she was still angry she didn't want to fight anymore now that there was enough ice cream for everyone. I then requested that since Pierre was getting the ice cream like he wanted, that he should apologize-"
"Don't worry, sweetie pumpkin, I think I get it now," Yvonne said, then turned to Pierre, and he could tell that he was in trouble. "Darling husband, I understand why you acted...or rather, overreacted the way that you did, but you could at least not insult women the way that you did? I know that you love me with all of your heart and would gladly do everything you can to keep a smile on my face, but I would recommend that you don't cause trouble for others in the pursuit of that goal. Now if you understand, I'd like you to go home while I sort everything out."

And Pierre dutifully went home after apologizing and even paying for their ice cream himself while Yvonne fixed up everything that she broke with surprising ease. It was almost like she didn't rip a telephone pole out of the sidewalk at all!
"They didn't stay long, did they?" Milsha observed to the others. "You'd almost think we were having some temporary group hallucination."

Hyacinth shrugged and shook her head. "Not nearly that short of a while. Besides, I can still see the place she ripped that pole out of."
"That'd be true, there," Milsha slipped back into her folksy drawl. "Ah can't b'lieve the' e'en make wurmen that big. Musta been ah high proteen d'et."

Renny chuckled. "Must have been! ... Thanks for helping me out there Milsha. I don't think I could have handled it alone."
"I was gonna jump in, cause you asked. But then she stopped. So funs lost I guess. Ah well, there's always more."
Renny was still amazed by the logic that Hyacinth lived by.
"Anyhow, Milsha, I was wondering... will you be my partner for the next mission? I'm sure that the two of us can keep each other safe."
"You're the boss," Milsha shrugged. "Next up is hell, huh? And I always tried to be a really good girl."
"Hehe, I know!" He hugged her for a bit. "You're a really good girl. Well, if Kirie is any indicitation, Heaven might not be that much better."
"Yes, but I always thought that Heaven was a single place and Hell was, too. Seems like there are numerous heavens and hells just lying in wait for wherever our souls end up after death. I kind of hope I end up in a heaven that's just like my farmland. If I'm not working really hard every day, I just don't feel right."
"Well is the place we're going to just called hell or are we going into some literal formation of the afterlife? Just remember with all your dreams of being in the afterlife, there's a good chance that you won't be in any shape or form to recognize it."
"The place is called the Hungry World. It's not Hell, although apparently it probably took chunks out of places that look like or might even be Hell and adapted itself in that regards. Anyhow, I'm too busy in this world for anyone to think I can call it quits and lay myself down to eternal rest."
"It is certain to be an experience unlike any you could possibly have throughout the entire Pokemon World," Milsha added. "So I'm actually really excited Renny chose me to go with him. Hell, when we get home, he can ask me to do anything he wants in exchange for this experience."

Renny blushed as she said this, trying to hide it behind his cup of ice cream, although it was a pleasant feeling. Hyacinth had a small smile knowing pretty well that the comment was more Milsha's way of trying to get further in with Renny rather than actually doing a strict favor.
"So... Hyacinth wanted some cake. Does this place sell it here? Or shall we check out one that does?"
"Well, if an ice cream store sells ice cream, it usually sells ice cream cake," Milsha pointed towards a few display cases. "And only ice cream cake. If it doesn't incorporate ice cream directly, they probably don't have it, then."

"You want to try that Hyacinth? Since that is going to be at the party."
"Well, I was wondering what cake was like, since the way you said it made it sound like cakes weren't inherently made of ice cream. But while we're here sure, ice cream cake it is."

"You're right about that, but yeah, it's worth trying! Milsha, you will join us?" He started to pull out his wallet and heading inside to find a smaller one that would be suitable for 3 people to eat in one sitting.
Hyacinth went along with them, taking a glance back at the ice cream store and wondering what kinds of ice cream the cake would be made of.

Renny selected one with a top and outer layer of vanilla ice cream with frosting and whipped cream, a thin layer of chocolate fudge on top of a layer of Oreo cookie crumbles with a bottom layer of chocolate ice cream just below that.
"Now this tastes truly delicious, you know." She ate way slower than expected, but ate all the same.
Renny nodded eagerly as he bit into the ice cream and cookie chunks with delight.
Milsha spent her time alternating between scarfing ice cream like a madwoman and grasping at her aching head because she was scarfing ice cream like a madwoman. Some might describe this as really cute, but one had to wonder if she was even tasting the stuff before swallowing it down.

"Well, I gotta get back to work. I wasn't expecting this short trip to lead to such a drama. I'll see the two of you later!" With the unspoken comment that in Hyacinth's case, he might see her next at the party.

---------- Post added at 03:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:11 PM ----------

Renny/Pierce

Back at PATCA, Renny was walking down PATCA's halls, about to head on home when he saw Pierce. He then ran with a bit of haste so as to not lose sight of him.

"Pierce! Hold up!"

The pokebrid ran until he was about a meter and a half away when he slowed down.
"I don't know if Irene told you, but I'm hosting my birthday party not long from now, and I wanted to make sure you got the invitation!"
Pierce turned, eyeing Renny curiously.
"Oh, yes, I heard. Thanks for the invite." He said, somewhat absent-mindedly.

"Also, I had heard that you were nominated for leadership of the Watchmen!?"
He looked suitably impressed and his voice had a sort of congradulatory air. Irene's conversation with several of PATCA's members left fertile ground for the rumor mill to sprout seeds of rumors.

"Yeah, that happened. Thanks for that too." Pierce replied with a small smile.
"Not a problem. Do you have any plans or thoughts about how you might proceed with it?"
"I think I'll probably accept."
Renny clarified, "Oh, I didn't mean like that. I meant like how you'd run things, or the approach you'd take. You know, the sort of direction you'd intend to help lead PATCA down."
"Oh. I... don't really know. I thought I'd play it by ear, try to keep everyone alive."
There was a bit of nodding on Renny's end.
"I can understand that. I try to do whatever I foreseeably can to help ensure that we are sufficently prepared for whatever we might encounter. So we can all go home safely. But it might be different in both our cases. Your job is different so the way you can help is probably going to be different to. That's why I was wondering if you had thought of something."

Renny thought for a moment as he tried to explain what he was thinking in less ambigious terms.
"Ah, for me, I'm kinda like a manager. It's my role to micro-manage the several small details that allow for success, to give them the tools they need to do the job. I have to assume that something could go wrong and work things around so we can address it! But in your case, you don't need to neccessarily deal with all that! You're surrounded by so many talented people who generally know what they are doing and can do great things if they can feel confident that they can succeed and that it's worth doing. Of course, that partly depends on you."

He paused for a moment to catch his breath.

"I mean, if you, as the leader, is doubtful that the group can win, then what they going to feel about their own chances of success? I don't know if that is how you might want to lead, but I guess it's a possibility. If you knew enough about those working under you, and of your own talents, to reliably know the group's chances of success so you know when to fight and when to fold, then we'd have less risks of running away from fights that we can win, or from rushing into fights that we can't reliably win. So... honing judgement calls and confidence, I guess?"
Renny shrugged, hoping if what he said would help things any bit.
"But Pierce, I'll try to help you as best as I am able. You have my support. "
Pierce sighed and smiled again, somewhat amused. "Yeah, that sounds like the gist of it. Thanks for the support, Renny. It means a lot."

"Anytime. Have you heard the details of the next mission? Or of the fact we're getting some new recruits?"
"Heard both. Kinda hard to plan for the Hungry World, but I'm trying."
Renny nodded. "It is. That said, the recruits are also being invited to the party, so there is the opportunity to talk with them if you wish to. Or at least just being able to break the ice with them."
"Mm, yeah, I probably will."
"It's going to be a big one." Renny looked excited.
"It's at the hotel I live at, owned by the Veldyne corporation. Fancy place. Lots of food, access to the swimming pool, dancing. I even bought a fog machine!"
"... The hell do you need a fog machine for?"
Renny looked a little sheepish.
"Atmosphere I suppose. After the party is over, it can be used for combat simulations to imitate Fog of War scenarios, so I was able to buy it with PATCA funds. Very practical thing and not that expensive for the purpose."
"Atmosphere? What, are you trying to make a porn set- oh I forgot who I'm talking to."

If this was a manga, Pierce's words would have struck like arrows painfully in the panels, as Renny flinched from the remark.
"Well, I'm trying to make the party exciting and memorable. Especially to take everyone's minds off the past week. We did lose Charlotte after all. I admit, I didn't particularlly care for her attitude, but I didn't want to see her go like that. Plus it was the first time anyone went MIA or possibly dead as a direct result of a mission. Shevetson may have been the first to die since the Watchmen came, but his was a result of a seperate assault on HQ while we were gone elsewhere."
"Well, there was that thing with Rayleen and her butler, but I guess you're right."
"So yeah, while we're all still alive, it's best to enjoy one's life with the people you're most fond with. And since I'm inviting pretty much everyone in PATCA, I have to make some attempt at being a good host, keeping them in high spirits."
"I suppose so, though don't forget to have fun at your own party."
"Thank you, I imagine I will. Most of the hard work is just the preparations beforehand. During the party, I can relax while the hotel staff takes care of everything else."

Renny paused for a moment as he explored his mind, trying to think of whether there was anything else to mention.

"... Out of curiousity, has Sam been alright since that mission? It took us a long time trying to find her after all."

"... No." And Pierce's tone made it clear that Renny should leave it at that.
"I'm sorry. But if you want to invite her to the party for any reason, feel free to do so."
"I doubt she'll be out of the hospital by then, but thanks anyway."
Renny nodded. "I wish her the best of health. Thank you for helping me get back Lola and Harliette back then too."
"Yeah, of course. Sam was there too."

Renny nodded understandably, still thankful even if Pierce has his own reasons for doing so.
"Well, I should probably be going. Thank you for sparing the time to talk with me. I'll see you at the party for certain."
"Yeah, good luck with the party stuff."

[Menarker]

Scene in Ray's office.

There was a short sharp rap on the office door leading to Impact's office, mere days away before the party and several weeks before the scheduled Corpsemire and Hungry World run.

"Do you have a moment to spare? It's Renny. I'd like to confirm some details about this memo I received."
Ray looked up from the order form he'd been proofing and signing, mouth ever so slightly downturned at the latest price hike. It really was true what they said about military pricing. Ten times the cost for the same quality. Thank god Irene had connections.
"Memo? Oh, regarding Myrie. What about her?" He motioned for Renny to take a seat and leaned back in his own chair.

"Well, I was wondering what position was Myrie intended to fill. Also, I wasn't expecting that she'd be cleared for combat duty so soon after we retrieved her from Moeni."

Ray thought for a moment
"As I understand, she has an instinctive understanding of her own capabilities, not at all unlike that of pokebrids. I know there's certain ethical concerns about using a child in combat, but her abilities, combined with her armor make her more suited to combat than many adults, at least physically. Mentally, I'm of the firm belief that Myrie can handle the stress of a combat situation, and that she's trustworthy, at least at the moment. She'll be an assets, and we need all the asets we can get, right now."
He tilted his head very slightly. "Do you have a different assessment?"

"Not strictly so. I get the fact she's a pokebrid and slayer. That much she has told me herself. I was more wondering about the aftereffects of the Shadow typing on her due to Faynoc's experimentations, even if we assumed that Moeni did nothing to her during the time the two were together. Also, she was saying that Nosferasu was responsible back then. Saying that he wanted her to work with Irene and all that. Given that we're heading to the Corpsemire to learn more about him, I was wondering if putting her into action before learning more about his influence and what it has to do with Myrie is, I guess, the more prudent option." Renny clearly was going with the 'discretion being the better part of valor' notion.

Ray drummed his fingers on the table, suddenly strangely tense.
"Nosferatu is... not, at this point in time, our enemy." He said slowly, deliberately. "Myrie is his agent, at least in part. But I do not think it's against our interests to employ her. You can consider it a gesture of goodwill, on both sides. We employ his agent, he gives us manpower. It's mutually beneficial, rest assured."

"But why do you trust him though? You say that Myrie is his agent, but how did she contact him in the first place? Is her being an agent of his even true? I thought she was stuck with Faynoc and Moeni this entire time when Faynoc kidnapped her in the first place? And now despite him being situated in the Corpsemire, she knows his intentions? I mean, it might be possible that "Rulag" is involved in some way, especially given how silently and suddenly it was able to leave the last time. Have you found out more about it?"

Ray shook his head. "Rulag has been a non-issue, thus far. As for Nosferatu's intentions, I never said I trusted him. I do trust Myrie as his agent. And so does Irene. I'm going to ask you to rely on our judgement when I say no harm will come of this. From a purely practical standpoint, having her on our side will be extremely helpful in getting through the corpsemire later. Besides, considering all the riff-raff we've picked up so far, Myrie's really not a stretch."
This was said with a smile. "Was there anything else?"

"Getting through the corpsemire? Was she ever actually there? Or do you just mean from a combat stand-point, in which case there might be better choices available?" He paused for a moment and then dismissed his earlier question. "Although it would probably be best to bring her along when we go talk with her all the same."

He then asked something else completely unrelated.
"I'm not sure if anyone directly passed the memo to you, but I'm hosting a party a few days from now. If anyone else hasn't already, I'm inviting you if you want to come."
Ray's eyes lit up. "Oh? What an occasion. I wonder if you'll be able to top last time. I'd be happy to attend. And speaking of invitations..."
He scooted back from his desk and reached into a drawer, pulling out an envelope. "I have... an invitation of my own for you."

Renny's eyes were wide in mild surprise and somewhat mild confusion. "Oh? What's the occasion for this, Ray?"

The invitation was hand-written in cursive, on beige parchment with gold borders. Ray had clearly put in effort.

Ray Green
hereby cordially invites
Renny Tresserhorn
to
Stop beating up former criminals
on
A public street
in
Broad daylight

Ray paused for a moment to let Renny digest it, then sighed. "There was absolutely no need for that, and you were lucky there weren't any cameras around. Next time, please just let him have the ice cream."

Renny stared at the paper, feeling fairly indiginant, justified even, but remarked with a simple "I see. I'll keep that in mind."

Ray nodded. "Please do. You're supposed to be one of the nice ones."

"I'd say there was much more to the situation than what is apparent, but I know I overstepped my boundaries even then. I personally still think the situation warranted it at the time. Now he seems to be actually remorseful about it. I don't think he'll pick any more fights with anyone else."

Ray drummed his fingers again. "There's actually a very concise list of situations that warrant you using your police training on a civillian. In self defense, to prevent a crime, or for their own good. This was not the first, as you were in no danger from him. It was not the second. And I very much doubt it was the third."

"It was the second and eventually the third. He was going to start a fight inside the store against a slayer with himself and his pokemon inside a tiny ice cream shack with people crowded all around him. I gave him the opportunity to stop, but he was very much spoiling for a fight , so I move it to a spacious location where no one else would have been caught up in it. After his wife got involved, whom he had tried to hide his guilt from, he formally expressed his regret and actually tried to make amends. Something he wouldn't have done outside of this situation. I did have personal reasons as well, but it was volitile before I got there in the first place. In fact, it might have been worse if anyone other than us did it since his wife was easy to anger and had power on par with a Destroyer."

"From what I hear, it was you who intiated the battle." Renny nodded. Ray's eyes were a bit more dangerous now.
"I talked to the Saleslady" He added by way of explanation. "You broke up a fight when you got there, and that was good. What was completely unnecessary was your insistence that the fight continue outside because Pierre refused to apologize to Milsha. He was spoiling for a fight, maybe, but you're the one who forced the issue. The fact that he tried to save face before his wife doesn't change the fact."

"Really? I thought it would show that he knew that he behaved wrongly in some level."

"Oh, he was in the wrong to insult Milsha, certainly. But you were much more so when you provoked him to combat. I'm aware you feel protective of certain female agents, but that hardly excuses police brutality."

"I wasn't acting as a police then. But I know what you mean."

"You said Pierre seemed remorseful and wouldn't pick any more fights from then on. That's good. I want to see the same from you. Or, if not, then the next time you bully someone, don't let me find out about it. Because if I can, then the press can."

"I understand. I'll try to have more restraint in the future."

Ray nodded. "I'll trust you to. You may go, unless there was anything else."

"No, there isn't. You have a good day." Renny held his hand up in a short wave before he turned for the door.