farawayplace | (no subject)

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Everybody enjoying another peaceful, carefree day in Ultern? Good, because there's a sparkle in the sky other than Ulternian sunshine and look, it's a bird! No, it's a plane! No, it's...

"TEAM ROCKET'S BLASTING OFF AGAAAAA—huh? Hey, wait a minute...! Jessie? Meowth?! Where is everybody?!"

Before James can get an answer, he'll be crash-landing in Ohritori! Face full of sand on Stardust Beach? Embarrassingly suspended from a palm tree or even an Exeggutor? Or taking a miserably full-clothed dip in the sea? (Brrr!)

((Is this going to be a repeat of Mairin landing on various ships and needing to be rescued multiple times—perhaps, fortunately, both Mairin and James have terrible luck and certainly can wind up in fixes more times than they can count... maybe he's under the impression he can just launch himself back into the sky and find his friends, who knows?! But he just keeps landing here... oof.))

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"Okay!" Chloe smiled. She placed the order of three of the dish, one of them in a kids' size for Eevee, and sat down at the counter. The waitress smiled and headed off to see about it.

Eevee rubbed the menu.

"She's very curious, isn't she?" James asked, smiling a little.

Mime Jr. sent itself out, appearing besides them, clinging to the edge of the counter.
"Ah, hello, Mime Jr.!"
Mime Jr. returned the greeting cheerfully, watched Eevee, then tried to mimic her.

"She sure is," Chloe said. "She loves to explore everything."

Eevee also loved meeting new friends! She happily greeted Mime Jr. and chatted about the fun day and the food coming up.

"Oh, that's a cute Pokemon," Chloe said. She wasn't too familiar with this one!

"It is, isn't it? My Mime Jr. isn't really a battler... would you believe it caught itself? I accidentally dropped a pokeball and Mime Jr. ran for it!"

Mime Jr. happily repeated Eevee's words, especially about the food! It seemed to like repeating what was said more than making new sentences, but its feelings of excitement were clear in how it said them.

Eevee doesn't seem to mind the phrase-repeating, especially since she sees the excitement! She keeps talking.

"That's so cute," Chloe said. "It must have really wanted to be yours."

"It did! It lived in one of my family's vacation homes, much like Carnivine..." James said, petting Mime Jr.'s head fondly. "I played with Carnivine as a boy, but Mime Jr. was new. I guess... it really wanted to come. Maybe it didn't want me to be lonely after leaving poor, sweet Chimecho with Nanny and Pop-Pop..."

Mime Jr. turned and happily and mimicked James petting it by rubbing on his hand. It seemed like they could keep this up for a while!

"Chimecho?" Chloe repeated. "Why did you have to leave Chimecho behind?"

She smiled at Mime Jr.'s cuteness.

"... And wait, did you say vacation homes?" she said in surprise. "Your family's rich?"

She couldn't help wondering what he was doing in Team Rocket.

"Chimecho was sick," James said with a frown. "It had a really bad fever... I couldn't really take care of it well enough on my own."

At her question, James realized she probably didn't know. "I guess... you never encountered one, huh? Misty, May, and Dawn knew, so I thought you might've, too... sorry."

His smile suddenly became nervous and he looked a bit more withdrawn. He stopped petting Mime Jr., who looked at him with confused concern.
He gripped the edge of the counter instead, looking down.

"... they are. I won't inherit any of it, so it's got nothing to do with me, really..."

Chloe hadn't ever seen a Chimecho. Now she felt a bit embarrassed by how little she still really knew about Pokemon despite her dad being a researcher.

"No, I haven't," she said, blushing a bit. "Do they get sick a lot?"

And she blushed more to see she hit a sensitive spot. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said.

Well, that explained some things....

Oh, it seems she might've misunderstood. He meant his vacation homes, not Chimecho, he hadn't intended to make Chloe feel insecure about her lack of knowledge or experience! He turned to her with a reassuring, gentle smile.

"It's alright... it's actually a very uncommon Pokemon. I'm not surprised you never met one. They're very rare! I only ever saw a Chimecho once before, as a small child, that was being sold at a festival. I could never forget the soothing sound of that Heal Bell... I always wanted one... I even got scammed, sold a Hoppip painted to look like one, but I met my Chimecho, a real, wild Chimecho, shortly after that."

He's happy to discuss Pokemon instead of his family situation.

"Yeah... they wouldn't let me inherit, unless I married someone they picked for me... so I gave it all up and ran away. That's what led me to living like, well, this," he said with a little shrug, and hugged his waist while he waited for the food to arrive, to try and keep the pangs of hunger at bay. "Thank you, though, for listening. You're a very kind, gentle girl."

He hoped it'd make up for making her feel so ignorant earlier! He didn't mean to...

Chloe relaxed, but was intrigued by the tale of the Chimecho.

"I had no idea they're that rare," she said, fascinated.

"Eevee-vee!" said Eevee. She wanted to meet one!

She frowned at James' explanation of his family life. "That's terrible," she said. "I always hated when it seemed like people decided for me what I was going to be. That made me not even want much to do with Pokemon for a long time. But my family, at least, didn't push me. I've only recently started to find my path." She petted Eevee, who warbled happily.

The food arrived, brought by the smiling waitress.

"Thank you," Chloe said, and she and Eevee dug in.

"That is awful," James said, frowning. "People should really let us decide for ourselves what we want to do.. they're our lives to live, after all."

He smiled, watching her pet Eevee. "I'm glad you're finding what you truly want to be!"

James eagerly sat up, Mime Jr. mimicking him. "Thank you very much!"

He'll happily tear into his food eagerly, but also break off little bits of egg for Mime Jr. to share. Mime Jr. quickly grew full, as it was a very small Pokemon.

When James was finished and sat back, rubbing his belly in satisfaction, Mime Jr. mimicked him too.

"That was the best!"

"Yeah," Chloe said. "That's exactly how I feel."

She nodded. "I decided on my own to research Pokemon part-time. I'm especially interested in evolution."

"Eeveeee!" said Eevee, who loved all her evolutions and couldn't decide on just one to be! She rather wished she could switch between them at will, but at least her Copycat ability allowed her to experience a little part of that.

She smiled as they all enjoyed the meal. "They always have great food here," she said. "It's one of my favorite places in Ultern."

"That sounds like a fascinating field to study! There's still a lot we don't know about how it works, right?"

Mime Jr. looked curious and asked to see her ability! Does it work on all Pokemon or just her evolutions? It explained that it can use others' moves too, using Mimic!

"Then, I'll have to come by again sometime..." James said happily, even if he didn't know when that might be.

"Yeah! I've already been learning so many things," Chloe said. "I wonder if someday we'll figure out why Eevee can't evolve."

Eevee would be happy to show it! She can copy a move from any Pokemon if they use it first.

"They'll be happy to serve you," Chloe said.

"Oh, your Eevee can't evolve?" James asked, frowning a bit.

Mime Jr. happily offered to show her Teeter Dance, although it warned that it'll make everyone dance too, so maybe they should do it after everyone finishes eating! It'll be a fun surprise!

James couldn't confirm whether he'd afford it or not, so he simply smiled in response.

"Yeah, she doesn't even evolve when stones are used," Chloe said. "We think it might be that she just can't decide what to be, but normally it seems like evolution can just happen anyway. It's really amazing to think a Pokemon might really be able to will it not to happen if they don't want it, even subconsciously."

Eevee thinks Teeter Dance sounds so very fun indeed! She can hardly wait!

"Oh!" James looked curious. "Yes, I think I've seen it happen before too, Pokemon resisting evolution... but even up against an evolutionary stone? That is something different, very powerful, indeed!"

James thought back to his own Weezing and smiled fondly. "A long, long time ago... my first Pokemon as a member of Team Rocket, Koffing, was a gift from—... well, it was an oseibo gift..."

He realized he probably shouldn't mention the Boss so casually to Chloe.

"We were... not the best battlers, back then. We were always losing. It seemed like our Pokemon would never, ever evolve, because they just couldn't get the necessary experience... but the idea of them changing into different Pokemon made us sad, we hugged Ekans and Koffing and cried, I admit it! But, then, the moment my tears touched Koffing, something amazing happened... it glowed with the light of evolution! I think the same happened with Jessie's Ekans, as they both simultaneously evolved for us. Can you believe it? Ekans and Koffing don't evolve by friendship, supposedly... but that's how ours evolved."

James had finished eating by that point. Mime Jr. was absolutely buzzing with excitement, giggling.

"I wonder what's gotten into Mime Jr.? Maybe it's the good food," James said in amusement, although he was still a bit distracted by memories of Koffing.

Edited 2024-03-25 00:46 (UTC)

“It sure is!” Chloe said, petting Eevee as they also finished eating.

She listened to the story in fascination. “Wow, that’s amazing! They must love you both so much.”

She looked to Eevee. “Eevee looks pretty excited too. Maybe they shared a joke?”

"I hope they still know we love them too, wherever they are..." James said wistfully, even tearing up a little, although his smile was very fond.

"Oh, really, you think so?" James seemed amused by the idea. "What's so funny, Mime Jr.?"

Mime Jr., seeing everyone had finished, climbed up on the counter with a mischievous little smile. Alright, Eevee, watch closely!

Mime Jr. began to dance, swaying its arms to one side, then the other.

James felt compelled to do the same. "Teeter Dance... why now?!"

"They're not still with you?" Chloe frowned sadly. That was true; she didn't remember seeing those Pokemon with them.

She stared as Eevee joined the Teeter Dance. It was very cute! But then she felt the urge to do it too.

"W-What is this?!" she exclaimed. "Why can't I stop myself from dancing?!"

"No... we released them, because they found something important they needed to do," James said, shaking his head.

Mime Jr. kept dancing and soon, of course, James was dancing too!

"Teeter Dance!" James said, half-whining. "We have to keep dancing while Mime Jr. is! I don't know why it started...!!"

Hopefully, the poor cook doesn't turn around and get roped up in this too!

"Oh. I'm so sorry," Chloe says. She hopes that will never happen with Eevee.

Eevee is sure it won't. Meanwhile, she's loving the dance!

"... I wonder if Eevee wanted to see it?!" Chloe suggests as she continues the uncontrollable dance.

"Oh! Maybe that's what they were talking and giggling about earlier..."

Mime Jr. finished dancing! Everyone was free to move as they pleased once more.

James caught his breath, before shaking his head and playfully poking Mime Jr. in the head. "Please don't surprise us like that..."

"It probably was!" Chloe groaned.

It was a relief to stop and she sighed, slumping forward.

"Eevee-vee-vee!" Eevee exclaimed in delight.

Chloe petted her and finally smiled in resignation. "Oh Eevee...."

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[I fell off the tagging truck, whoops--had two days in a row with emergencies, catching up on sleep]

Totally understandable! It sounds very hectic.

[it was, I only really wanted to sleep and rest for two days after, ffff]

[I can imagine!]

[aaaand now, they must dance!]

[LOL.]

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