IT'S A THANKLESS JOB [MOD]

[ALEXIAL NAMU CASTIO]

She couldn't even remember that last time she was in the Unova region. It was years, many years, ago- if she could recall the events right -and she was with her mother and older brother for a nice little family outing. In fact, the first place that they went after getting off the boat was Striaton City, which was probably the reason why Alex had wandered to such a town in the first place. Normally the girl made sure to stay away from crowded areas like this, but somehow, she felt content standing outside of the entrance to the fair, her absol by her side.

If there was one companion that would stand by her side no matter what, it was Axle. He was the one living, breathing thing alive that had yet to be ripped away from her, just as every other person she had felt herself grow close to. After a while of nothing but being torn away from her connections, a scars left all over her heart, she put the effort into not making friends.

And to be honest, things got quite lonely.

Although she would never admit to that. Oh no, if anyone were to ask her what it felt like to be lonely, she'd probably answer with "I'm not lonely at all." or hell, maybe even by saying "It feels great." depending on the mood she was in at the time. But she'd be both lying to herself and to the recipient. Alex is lonely, and she has had the same sinking feeling of it since the incident. And Alex hates the feeling it give her.

But when did such feelings start? When did she first begin to feel that sinking, almost sickening, feeling in the pit of her stomach? When did she start losing hour after hour of sleep? Well, it all began just a little after she turned seven. She could recall the day as if it were yesterday, as if she had lived it many times before.

Now, although that's a figure of speech, the black haired girl had actually sat through the incident more than once. One of the reasons why she completely gave up on sleep was so that she could just leave her memories to go stirring on their own. Now, of course, there's those times where she'd fall asleep anyway, because without sleep one could quite literally die. Without the correct amount of rest, the organs in one's body could shut down and the person could die. Alex, on the other hand, had looked into such a thing to make sure that she got just the right amount of sleep. Just enough to keep her trucking through the few days before stopping to take a breather.

Now, what was the incident, some might ask? Well, about a month after her seventh birthday, Alex walked in on her mother with a gun to her head. Unknowing on what to do, the seven year old sat and watched as her mother gave her a clear demonstration on what death looked like. Since that day, Alex had always been afraid of those she held close to her dying off.

And a few days before that is where Axle is tied in. In truth, the absol was her mother's pokemon, and a loyal one at that. As absols are the disaster pokemon, Axle cold sense that something was up, and he had tried to make sure that her mother would not go through with whatever she was thinking. Her mother, not wanting any interference, gave the pokemon to Alex with clear instructions that she not open the pokeball at all until she moved out.

Of course, Alex did not follow those instructions. About a month after her mother's suicide, curiosity bested her and the girl found out that she was now in possession of an absol.

So the two stood there, looking at the entrance to the fair. Memories flooding their senses.

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[kian]

[atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width:400px; background-color: #777D89; border:2px solid #000000, btable] Wild Koffing has appeared!

[atrb=style, background-color: #000000; padding: 10px;] Lvl. 4 | Ability:Levitate | Female Poison Gas | Tackle

[atrb=style, padding: 10px;] The pokemon floated about aimlessly going from pace to place with no particular destination in mind. Actually the koffing didn't really have any thoughts at all going through her find. No the space where her mind would be was rather blank and void. Maybe that's what led her to bump into the human girl while she was distracted by something shiny in the distance. Shiny, so shiny. The bump interrupting her the Koffing floated back a couple of feet and just stared at the girl. Mind as blank as ever she just stared. Struck down, captured or given a friendly encounter it was now for the trainer to decide.

[ALEXIAL NAMU CASTIO]

Alex was just standing there still, the memories flashing back to her almost like little videos. Now, many years later, they were still sad to be reminded that he Mother used to take her here, her and her old brother. That she used to be able to sit next to the older, wiser woman and just be a kid. Now, she can't even get herself to relax in her own bed. It's a sad day when one loses hour after hour of sleep. And then, after that, she'd just give up sleeping. The only time she ever got any sleep would be if she passed out, she made sure of it.

Axle was suddenly tense next to her, and she looked down to look at him. "Something wrong, Buddy?" He looked up, and just something about the look in his eyes told her that she was not going to like whatever was going to happen next. Just the way his eyes were flooded with that look of "Alex, something's going to happen.". She had gotten it so many times that she knew exactly what he was saying with that look. Her Father tried taking the little guy away, but that ended disastrously for the whole of the house. He didn't touch the absol again after that.

The next thing he knew, she felt something more bounce into her side, and as she turned her head to look at the pokemon, she nearly started gagging. Although, she did take a few steps back as well to take out her pokedex, she turned down the volume and scanned the pokemon.

"A Pokémon that is like a thin-skinned balloon filled with a highly toxic gas. Known to occasionally explode. If one gets close enough to it when it expels poisonous gas, the gas swirling inside it can be seen. The poisonous gases it contains are a little bit lighter than air, keeping it slightly airborne. Its thin, flimsy body is filled with gases that cause constant sniffles, coughs and teary eyes. Koffing embodies toxic substances. It mixes the toxins with raw garbage to set off a chemical reaction that results in a terribly powerful Poison Gas. The higher the temperature, the more gas is concocted by this Pokémon-" She turned it off before the thing could ramble on farther. Alex only wanted to know about this Koffing, not al of them in general.

She scanned it again, this time getting more information. "This Koffing is level four, ability is Levitate. It is a female, and it knows Poison Gas and Tackle." And then the pokedex shut off by itself. "Could have said that sooner. . ." She mumbled before looking to Axle.

"Axle. Use Leer and then Feint."

The pokemon obeyed, fixing the purple ball with a look that should have made sure that it wouldn't leave this battle until Alex decided it was over. Then afterwards, he ran forward, going to give it a good attack.

[AXLE used LEER! AXLE used FEINT!]

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[kian]

[atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width:400px; background-color: #777D89; border:2px solid #000000, btable] Wild Koffing has appeared!

[atrb=style, background-color: #000000; padding: 10px;] Lvl. 4 | Ability:Levitate | Female Poison Gas | Tackle

[atrb=style, padding: 10px;] The Koffing just tilted a little to the side as the other pokemon looked at it, not the most aware that it was an attack, leer. While something seemed a little funny after she saw it she couldn't quite place what it was and was attempting to ponder it when next thing she knew she was being attacked. The black and white fuzzball came at her and hit her with no real resistance. Of course she wasn't the brightest out there and had no intentions of dodging. Rather as she was knocked back she began to weep having no idea what was going on. <"Wha-what are doing?!"> As she weeped she used her poison gas attack not entirely realizing it but doing it anyway in defense. Really what had she done to warrant this?! Wild Koffing was hit with leer Wild Koffing Was hit with Feint Wild Koffing used Poison Gas.

[ALEXIAL NAMU CASTIO]

A sigh escaped through partially open lips. Was the thing crying? Or was it just her imagination playing with her again? She looked from Axle to the pokemon, and then back to Axle. It was almost as if she was debating on whether to continue with this battle, or whether to stop it now before the weeping got louder and hurt her ears more than they usually did. . .

"Heel, Axle." That was Alex's way to tell her pokemon to calm down and stop the battle, because more times than once did he go overboard with his sadistic side. Alex had a hunch that the thing was sadistic at least, whether he really was or not was beyond her actually, just so long as he didn't take it out on her or go too far when she told him to stop. What good was a pokemon if they wouldn't listen to you?

But Axle had no intentions on stopping whatsoever. He was going to finish this battle, even if he got poisoned in the end. This battle was going to be his winning and he was going to show Alex just how tough he really was. Whether she told him to stop or not did not matter any longer, what mattered not was what he did when in the heat of the battle, with the blood roaring in his ears. He was going to benefit from this battle, as he started it.

So, he backed away from the poison gas, but not before inhaling a little bit of it. It wasn't enough to get poisoned from it, but just enough to feel the damage eating away at his energy. He was going to have to try to finish this as fast as physically possible in order to get through. So, he did the first thing that came to mind, as Alex was not going to be the one holding the reins any longer. He lunged forward at the Koffing, trying for a feint then following up with scratch to hopefully knock it closer to a knock out state.

[AXLE was hit by POISON GAS! AXLE used FEINT! AXLE used SCRATCH!]

[kian]

[atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width:400px; background-color: #777D89; border:2px solid #000000, btable] Wild Koffing has appeared!

[atrb=style, background-color: #000000; padding: 10px;] Lvl. 4 | Ability:Levitate | Female Poison Gas | Tackle

[atrb=style, padding: 10px;] If a pokemon could cry this Koffing certainly was as it was struck at yet again by the Absol that had been instructed prior to attack at it and seemed to have no intention of stopping. It cried and cried as more poison gas seeped from it and it wailed. <"THIS HURRRRTS!"> The pokemon seemed to sniffle and if a tear could slide down the closest thing it had to a cheek it would the poor thing was in pain from the attacks. It couldn't quite compute the idea of dodging well enough to try and as such simply weeped from the pain as its poison gas continued throughout the two hits in hopes that the pokemon would just go away. <"IT HURRRRTS!"> Wild Koffing was hit with Feint Wild Koffing Was hit with Scratch Wild Koffing used Poison Gas Wild Koffing used Poison Gas.

[ALEXIAL NAMU CASTIO]

Now Alex could feel irritation pricking at the sides of her normally emotionless facade. If there was one thing that agitated her, it was when her pokemon would blow her off. It didn't matter what level they were, they were useless if they didn't learn to listen. "Axle!" She called his name in hopes of getting a response other than continuing with slaughtering the pokemon. "I said to heel! Stop now, dammit!" Her voice took on a different tone entirely, a more commanding and scolding one that she rarely used.

The absol stopped for a moment, looking back when he saw the angered look in his trainer's eyes. What? Didn't she want this? Isn't that why she told him to attack in the first place? Why was she suddenly telling him to stop right now? There were so many questions but no way to answer them. So, he did pull away from the battle. But he didn't do it without inhaling more of the damned poison gas, yet again flying just barely under the poison radar. He took a seat next to his trainer while the two waited for the gas to thin out before approaching the big ball of poisonous air.

"I am disappointed in you, Axle." The pokemon's head lowered at this. So she was angry at him. He was only trying to show her how strong he was, since he knew that deep down, she doubted him. It was deep enough for her to not know about it, but he could feel it. Brewing like a storm it was, and he wanted to erase all doubt from her mind.

[AXLE was hit by POISON GAS! AXLE IS ON STANDBY. . .]

[kian]

[atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width:400px; background-color: #777D89; border:2px solid #000000, btable] Wild Koffing is damaged!

[atrb=style, background-color: #000000; padding: 10px;] Lvl. 4 | Ability:Levitate | Female Poison Gas | Tackle

[atrb=style, padding: 10px;] Though it took a few extra moments for the pokemon to realize what had occurred, the fact that the hurting was stopping, it still wasn't sure what exactly was going on. With the attacks gone however it found that there was still pain settling into its surface and now it seemed even more so than before to the poor, though dumb, pokemon. Again she weeped. <"IT HURTS! WHY DOES IT HURT?"> Though now she didn't cry quite as bad as before she couldn't help but continue with how this felt. Why had they done such a thing to her? Why'd they have to come at her like this? What did she do wrong? She was just floating by! Now the pokemon was too lost in her woes to know what was going on once again. Wild Koffing... is crying again. Appears open to capture. .

[ALEXIAL NAMU CASTIO]

Alex noticed how the Koffing was just sitting there, wailing out to the point that it did, indeed, hurt her ears. Why it was that loud noises such as this Koffing's excuse for crying that made her ears sting to the point where she wishes she owned a pair of headphones was beyond her. But she did know that she did not want to catch this one, especially with it acting and looking like it had it's gas for a brain instead of a brain altogether.

But she didn't want to hear it crying any longer. Alex was torn between just throwing one of her pokeballs at the little thing and possibly accepting it into her small family, or just taking Axle by the horn and walking away as if there were nothing wrong. But at the same time, it did tug at a certain soft spot in her heart to just leave the big ball of poisonous gas here. . . Decisions decisions, she looked to Axle to see if he could at all help her with such a question, but he only looked away.

He could feel the shame rise up his throat like bile. She was disappointed in him, the things he would rather hear or be put through other than that. Having someone say they were disappointed in you was among one of the things that probably made him feel the worst. He absolutely hated the feeling that it brought to him, and he wanted to punch that feeling as hard as he could until it went away.

Alex looked to the, still wailing, Koffing again. Maybe catch it, heal it, and then release it? Just to show that she was sorry that she brought it the pain that obviously was starting to bother her ears more and more. Without much of another thought, she dug into her pocket and brought out a pokeball about the size of a golfball, pressing the middle button to make it grow nearly three times in size. She then tossed the pokeball over to the purple ball, her mind now set on capturing it.

[AXLE IS ON STANDBY. . .]