Dark Alleys on Dark Nights @ok barry
“Eheheh, that’s right!” Grinning, the blond stands back and jabs his thumb proudly into the middle of his chest. And it’s all sunshine and rainbows in the middle of the night for Barry until it seems like Lucas is genuinely shaken up by the whole thing. The blond frowns.
“I’m not gonna make any promises! Surprises are good for you!” Well, up to a certain age. It’s quite possible that if Lucas were an elderly man (at least, if he were physically as much as he were emotionally), he would have had a stress induced heart attack. But Barry doesn’t know that. (And why should he! What is he, a doctor?)
Punching the meeker boy in the shoulder, he inadvertently tells Lucas (playfully) to toughen up. “Yeah, though! I was headed to the pokemon center—” The trainer blinks suddenly, voice interrupted by a thought and the last echoes of his bounding voice trembling upon the asphalt. ”Hey, what’re you doin’ out here anyway?”
Hands resting on his hips and messenger back shifted back over his behind, the blond looks around the vicinity in some attempt to assess the situation. This part of Unova is hella ghetto. Half leaned back, Barry purses his lips thoughtfully. Oh, he can see the glints of bald thug heads. Oh. Oooh.
“Oooooh,” raising his brows, Barry leans his posture straight again. “Lucas! Were you running away from these creeps!” Flaring his nostrils, the blond talks at Lucas in a half-scold. “Don’t let them boss you around! C’mon, we can take ‘em— let’s challenge them to a battle!”
Clutching a hand to his chest, the dark-haired boy tries to even his breath as his ever hyper friend continues to jabber brightly. His voice reverberates off the wall and Lucas is tempted to shush Barry. Some things never change.
“I…I’m trying to find my way to the Pokemon Center…” Lucas rubs his arm, the injured spot throbbing dully. After some thinking, he realizes that his friend was asking him why he was in Unova, and he flushes in embarrassment. “I’m here for research…! Professor Rowan wanted to know about the Pokemon in this region…” His visit is also about the energy released during evolution and if that energy is the same to the energy released in Sinnoh Pokemon. That’s beside the point.
A heavy feeling starts to form in his stomach when he sees Barry’s eyebrows shooting up his forehead once his eyes land on the thugs. Oh no…that look on his face could only mean one thing—
“B-battle?” his voice cracks on the last syllable, “Nn…I think we should take the passive road. I-I’m sure those men are occupied with their activities…” Lucas lets his voice trail off but he places a hand on a Poke Ball anyway. There’s really no way to talk Barry out of a battle.
Chuckling softly to himself, he shakes his head and unclips the ball from his belt.
Some things never did change.
