Short on patience - Soul

[Caleb]

Viridian City.. it was a place that Caleb knew rather well. Even before he'd taken classes at the local collage and even before his regular visits to the Viridian Central for physical therapy after his accident, Viridian City to this day brought back memories that he sometimes wished he could forget. Only several miles away from the Victory Road and the location of the event that had changed his life forever, the city had a way of opening up old wounds. Suffice to say it also had a habit of putting him a bad mood, something that had made him no friends during his college years. It also wasn't going to help today, especially with just where he found himself.

Viridian Gym, home of the final badge earned on what kids from his generation call the "Kanto Road".. home of the coveted Earth Badge.. and Giovanni. Once upon the time the man had been somewhat of an idol to Caleb. Now, with the sensitive information that his high ranking position in law enforcement made him privileged to, the man was anything but. Still, Caleb wasn't the type of person to be horribly vindictive of those that were his enemies.. even if their underlings had burned down his house. As one of the greatest trainers in the world, Giovanni still held Caleb's respect despite being an enemy.

As the setting sun slowly dipped beyond the horizon, Caleb gave another glance at the scene before him. The six foot, three inch tall twenty seven year old man was dressed to kill. With a pair of polished black leather shoes, black slacks, a silver buckled leather belt, a white long sleeved dress shirt, black tie, silver pokemon league cuff links and expensive black shades, Caleb had made it a point to look as official as the Pokemon League Investigative Officer's badge on his long black dress coat designated him to be. It was one of the main reasons none of the construction workers or guards had attempted to bother him.. though not as big of a reason as the vicious looking Houndoom that sat by his side.

Standing three and a half feet tall at the shoulder, the black canine was definitely not a friendly looking pokemon. With the number of scars that she carried it was easy to tell that this particular Houndoom had definitely seen her fair share of violence. Furthermore, the rank that the trainer's badge displayed the man meant that she didn't just look the part of a war hound. You didn't get the rank of "lieutenant" by not knowing how to handle your pokemon. So far anyone that gotten close enough to act like trouble had gotten a warning growl from the Houndoom, keeping them at bay for Caleb to point to his badge. So far he'd yet to have anyone speak a word to him past Charon, his Houndoom's, growling. He seriously doubted that it would remain that way for long though. He just hoped that whoever actually confronted him didn't lose their cool and try and use force. After all he had his best cane on him today, the black lacquered one with the silver Lugia head which he'd bought himself as a graduation present. He would hate to have to break it over somebody's head.

[coco]

• • • •

Soul was soaring through the air on her Aerodactyl with a rather dull look in her eyes. Earlier that day, she had been assorting papers as usual. Having such a repetitive job could really get on someone’s nerves, so to ease the pain of work and perhaps earn her a higher position, she decided to head out to her father’s gym and check on things. ”Soul, you’re way better than this. I don’t see why dad is working with those idiots… And that Cyrus guy? He’s a freaking psychopath. I’d be a better leader than he ever was! That idiot tried to blow up the world. And Ghetsis? Apparently he went three years calling his own son “Lord”. Dad obviously doesn’t need to be associating with these kinds of idiots. They’re lower than him in every way possible.” The redhead thought; shifting her legs uncomfortably against her Pokémon. Soul wasn’t sure how those famous trainers did it. Traveling by Pokémon constantly was inconvenient for both she and Nemesis, and it went without mention that it was probably extraordinarily unhealthy for the both of them. Body pains never did anyone any good.

”Well, Nemesis?” Soul called over towards her Pokémon with a bored expression. “Aren’t you just being as slow as usual? It wouldn’t kill you to get yourself in gear and flap those wings of yours a little harder. After all, we have somewhere we need to be going. Don’t tell me you forgot?” Soul called out to her Aerodactyl in a snooty tone. The ancient Pokémon’s jaws gaped open at her trainer’s response and it let out a rather irritated and hostile cry.

”Oh, shut your mouth. It’s not like you had anything better to do. And don’t tell me you’d rather sit in your Pokeball all day. If anything, I’m doing you a favor, so don’t complain.” Soul sneered. It was a wonder how any Pokémon she had acquired in one way or another had actually stayed with her. Eventually, Nemesis had stopped trying to please her trainer. Soul continued to complain, but it really wasn’t long before they both reached the back of The Viridian Gym.

”Alright, Nemesis. You can stay here and do whatever. Feel free to go beat up a few Pidgey if you want. I’ll have to go inside and check a few things out.” The red-haired sleuth told her Pokémon after patting It gently on the head, to which it closed its eyes and smiled at the affectionate gesture. Soul wasn’t touchy all that often. However, she figured her Pokémon would eventually plot to kill her, so she had to praise them one way or the other. ”Right… I have a spare set of keys, so I should be able to get in easily. Well, unless dad changed the lock again. Mom has been trying to break into the gym lately… Something about child support? Ah, who cares? I gave up on that old hag when I was thirteen.” Soul thought as she proudly circled around the gym and neared its entrance.

However, before she could get the key into the slot of the door, something or someone had caught her eye. An extremely tall, drop-dead gorgeous man in fancy attire was standing on the sidewalk near the gym with an experienced-looking Pokémon at his side. Soul had turned away from the door and had been about to approach him until she noticed the badge on his dress shirt. This guy was a League Officer…? The red-haired girl put her keys back into her handbag and casually approached the man as if nothing were out of the ordinary.

”Pardon me if I’m interrupting anything, but I couldn’t help but notice your clothing. Are you in any way associated with the Pokemon League? I know it’ll sound strange coming from a stranger, but I’m a trainer myself and I… I have some questions for an authority who may know more than I about the Pokémon League… You see, I’ve heard some rumors floating around, and I’d like to confirm them.” Soul spoke confidently. Come to think of it, this guy did look kind of familiar. In fact, she was almost positive that she had seen him before.

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[Caleb]

He'd been almost ready to call it day. Truthfully there was no official reason he'd come here. It had been all a spur of a moment decision to revisit the last gym he'd ever battled at during his journey to take the championship for himself. There weren't many things about this particular city that Caleb fancied, but the nostalgic view of Viridian Gym was worth coming into the city for. His eyes drifted over the construction workers a few more times, before they'd cast their cold gaze to the Houndoom at his side. "Come along Charon, there's nothing more for us..," he started, only to stop as something familiar caught his attention.. an Aerodactyl with a rider.

The moment that he realized that the great winged pokemon was on a direct course for the gym, Caleb realized who exactly it was. The intel report which had been given to him had mentioned that a young woman with red hair had been seen frequently at the local gym riding too and from the location on an Aerodactyl. He'd been given a short briefing on the woman, placing her close to Giovanni himself, League administration being quite certain that she was in fact his daughter. Because of how *rare* Aerodactyls were, he was quite certain in his assumption that this was indeed the young woman he'd been told about. As the Aerodactyl approached closer to the gym, Caleb couldn't help but marvel at the pokemon itself. The Aerodactyl's had been the apex predators of ancient times and he knew first hand just how powerful of pokemon they were. Over a decade of training and flying with his own foul tempered specimen had given him a rare insight on the creatures. Properly trained, the were unmatched in the air as far as speed and agility was concerned.

As the Aerodactyl landed with rider in tow, Caleb's assumption of the trainer's identity was proven correct. Leaning on his cane, he watched for a few moments longer as she seemed to give the pokemon a display of affection. Then, she'd turn her attention to him and give him a stare that he was rather used to by now. Caleb had scared off enough members of the opposite gender during his time at the university to fully realize just how good he looked when he dressed up. It was one of the main reasons, he never liked wearing the sort of outfit he was in now. While most guys would kill to get the attention he received at times, Caleb was the type of person where business came before pleasure and there weren't that many women out there who could handle that in a relationship. Suffice to say he'd be *very* welcome of the change that came over her when she caught sight of his League badge.

"At ease girl," he'd say to the houndoom at his side as the woman began to approach them wanting to make sure, unlike the construction workers, that Soul would be greeted by Caleb rather then the foul tempered canine at his side. Charon had long learned that Caleb's instincts were particularly sharp for a trainer and that when among humans to follow his directions to the letter. It was hard to believe that she'd once been the same houndour that made it a habit to chew on his sleeping bag for just to annoy him.

Following her approach through the lenses of his sunglasses he'd ignore the minor urge to do a bit of oogling. 'No fratenizing with the enemy Caleb,' he told himself as she approached. 'She may fly an Aerodactyl, but her fathers goons also burned down your house,' he reminded himself. As she stopped a few paces in front of him, Caleb cast his gaze downward to meet her eyes, though would not remove his sunglasses due to the glare of the sinking sun.

"You're not interrupting anything," he said, doing his best to be polite though there was a hint of sternness to his voice. Soul might be able to assume from his tone that he was not a man used to answering questions. "You'd be correct Miss," he said as he shifted a bit on the silver headed cane, "I do work for the league.. and seeing that I don't really have anywhere to be I guess I could answer a few questions." He'd give her a dazzling smile, deciding that he might as well work the "handsome man in uniform" angle a bit.

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[coco]

• • • •

”Oh, there are times I absolutely hate being female, especially around tall men… Come on, Soul. Your enemies aren’t supposed to be attractive. It’s not like he’s that nice looking.” Soul told herself in a successful attempt to help her retain her normal composure. It wasn’t like her to kneel over and squeal like a school girl like most women. ”Besides, dad would probably shoot him anyway. And who does this idiot think he is? He was just waiting out on the side walk in a fancy dress shirt like he owns the place. Yeah, like I said, there’s absolutely nothing special about this nitwit. Well, nothing but the information he may be willing to give…”

Soul wanted to do a celebratory fist pump as soon as Caleb had told her that he could answer a few of her questions. However, due to her current location and position she obviously couldn’t do anything like that. ”Alright, time to act.” Soul decided. The redhead had a perfect idea.

”Thank you so much.” Soul spoke as she took a step back and politely dipped her head over towards the tall character. Was she intimidated? Maybe a little, but if she let it show then her plans would shatter. If Soul was going to do this, she had to make sure she did it right.

”Well…” Soul began rather weakly. The young girl looked as if she were trying to smile past a pained expression as she continued to speak. ”My friend Erika… I heard that she was sneaking behind your back and-“ the redhead suddenly stopped and drew in a deep breath of air as if she were going to cry. She waited a little, and then with a look of intense grief she put a hand gently over her mouth and tried her best to continue. ”I-I hate to think about this, but is it all true?... She promised me she wouldn’t do this! She’s lying, right?! That’s just a rumor, right?! W-why would she do something so terrible…?” Soul continued. The young girl looked as if she was extremely upset, and she even had the fake tears flowing from her eyes to show it.

”I’m sorry I seem so emotional. I don’t even know who you are, yet I’m making you deal with this.” Soul murmured in a soft tone as she ran the palm of her hand across her cheek to wipe away tears. Unfortunately, they continued to fall in spite of her attempts to stop them. ”I’m sorry…” Soul whispered again; sniffling pitifully as she hopelessly “tried” to quit her crying.

It wasn’t long before the girl’s legs gave out from under her. Soul fell to the ground in a jumbled position with a flurry of red and teal. Her sobbing had become intense at that point in time, way beyond any sort of normal crying. In fact one would actually have to wonder if she were having an asthma attack. Some of the construction workers had even stopped to stare awkwardly at the two. The redhead’s bare knees were slightly skinned and her skirt had risen up to her upper thigh- not a great place for random strangers to see. To be frank, the girl looked like an emotional wreck. In any case, talking to her normally seemed next to impossible.

”For a second there, I actually felt sad for no particular reason. At least I get a lot of practice in with this.” Soul thought. Though, she could barely comprehend what she was thinking. Taking in deep breaths as if she were having a panic attack left her rather light headed, after all.

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[Caleb]

It wasn't like Caleb was an idiot. The moment the red headed, unfortunately attractive young woman went straight into the "damsel in distress" role, Caleb was able to make it out as an act. Though honestly if this had been prior to his accident he'd probably have fallen all over himself to try and comfort the broken up young woman. But then the fact that he knew whose daughter she was helped him not fall for it just as much. Caleb was hard and stern as stone and Charon didn't like she wanted to do a damn thing to help. But then the houndoom had always been a perfect judge of character.

Unfortunately the same couldn't be said for the people around him. As Caleb simply stared at the crying redhead on the ground before him, those that passed him by would start giving him nasty looks as if he was the entire reason she was in tears. But then people of Viridian City were notorious to judge a man by his pokemon and if anything the houndooms reputation just painted him as some sort of horrible monster in a number of individuals eyes.. and with the red haired woman crying at his feet things certainly were not being helped. I hate Viridian City, he told himself as he glanced down at the girl, doing his damned hardest to ignore the slip of her skirt. The last thing he wanted to do was look like a mean cripple *and* a pervert.

Erika..

The moment that she spoke that specific name, Caleb's mind matched it with a face. Quite possibly the most wanted individual in all of Kanto.. better yet the entire world, Erika was a former gym leader turned fugitive after escaping from incarceration for conspiring with Team Ultimatum. In the process she'd caused the death of numerous individuals.. or at least that had been what the public thought. In truth, the higher ups of the league had no doubt that Erika was not to blame for the murders of the guards and that somebody else was the culprit behind the bloodshed at the facility. As for Caleb, he'd met the girl several times prior to the incident. She was a good person, at least that's what his pokemon had thought. And he trusted them more then well.. anyone. The order to hunt her down was one of the reasons that he'd been in a foul mood.

As for the girl before him.. he still didn't trust her as far as he could throw her, but the last thing he wanted was somebody with a cellphone camera making a mess out of the whole thing. So, slowly getting down on his good knee, Caleb reached out to do the last thing he'd ever intend to do to a member of Team Ultimatum.. and that was show emotion. Two strong arms would wrap around the girls shoulders as Caleb did his best to "comfort" her. "Breath slow," was all he could think to say and she could tell by the tone of his voice that he was *not* buying her act one bit. As for Charon, well she couldn't decide weather to be amused, or on guard.

[coco]

• • • •

Soul could barely understand Caleb’s voice through the wretched noise of blood pumping in her ears. The vernal matron lay motionless on the cold slate for a short while before digging her firm nails into the ground and shoving her torso upwards in one clumsy motion. Crystalline tears had smeared across her girlish features and a trail of ebony mascara was abundantly visible near the waterline of her right eye. He had seen her falsely vulnerable within four minutes of their meeting and Soul somewhat regretted it.

”You’re so kind…” Soul whispered in a half sorrowful, half distanced tone. The distressed damsel slowly reached towards the broad man as if she were going to call for help and use him as a stool. Rather than doing what would have been appropriate, Soul got down onto a comfortable position on her knees and edged towards Caleb with her arms spread. It only took a few seconds for Soul to realize that she had pulled the man into a rather romantic embrace. However, the last thing that the redhead wanted to do was show near to any interest in this man.

”You’re so warm…” She murmured as she gently pressed her cheek against his lower neck. It was then that Soul had finally found what she was looking for. After lightly pawing around at his back, she was finally able to locate Caleb’s wallet in his back pocket. Not only would it contain money that she could blow on useless trinkets, but it also had the slim possibility of holding something that may be useful to her and the rest of Team Ultimatum. The young bloodhound swiftly grabbed the man’s wallet and pulled away from him; stumbling awkwardly onto her feet in the process.

”Idiot.” Soul hissed as she held the wallet behind her in case Caleb hadn’t noticed quite yet. ”However, you do have a nice ass. I’ll give you that much.” She mumbled before taking off towards the gym, her red hair flowing out behind her as she ran.

It was only when Soul reached the door had she remembered the deleterious-looking canine at Caleb’s side. ”How the Hell could I forget about that thing?” She thought furiously to herself. Acting quickly, the young female reached into the stocking clasped around her leg and grabbed one of her father’s spare keys that she had knowingly kept with her. Soul dug the key into the lock and twisted. It wasn't locked? The young girl lifted her head and glanced around at the construction. Well, even though her father hadn't owned the building anymore, they still ought to lock the door! Someone could just walk in and take stuff.

”Why hadn’t I thought of anything else after this?” Soul thought angrily as she pulled the door open and went sprinting through her father’s gym in spite of the few construction spots here and there. She swiftly ran to the back of the gym where a few of the bedrooms were located; figuring she'd have a better chance of hiding successfully there than anywhere else in the broad gym.

”Where do I go, where do I go?! Shit, he’ll catch up at this rate!” The clumsy matron thought as she stood near an old guest bedroom, her father’s old guest bedroom and the bathroom. ”The bathroom… of course!”

Soul didn’t hesitate any further. She quickly threw open the worn-out door, nearly breaking it off of its fragile hinges in the process. After stumbling over towards the shower she clasped one hand around the handle. ”I have no idea what I’m doing. This is why dad handles things most of the time.” Soul thought as she turned on the water to the fancy guest shower and pulled an obnoxiously pink towel off of its rack. The young girl then proceeded to throw the towel over the shower’s glass door and hid in one of the shower’s crevices. And this said crevice just so happened to be wide enough that it would keep her from getting wet.

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[N]

Unfortunately, I'll have to discontinue this thread. I apologize.