Shrieks and Shuckles || Solo Para
Characters: Tina Cohen-Chang and Reichenbach the Drifloon
Location: Johto National Park
Date: Afternoon. Sunday, August 18
Notes: Tina enters the bug contest once more to punish herself for her actions in Azalea Town; she's once more chased down by Newton, but this time her former Venonat brings along a friend.
The dust – or rather, ash – had cleared in Azalea Town days ago to the sight of the slowpoke returned to the city and perched on top of the town gym. The image had cheered Tina up, had made her feel like perhaps following her orders from Team Rocket had been worthwhile after all… Until she had heard the news reports later.
She had ruined a man’s livelihood. She had crushed an old man’s dreams. She… She was horrible.
And now she had made it on to the next town, with her friends still oblivious and with no obvious repercussions to be paid except for her own ill-at-ease spirit.
The memories of the trees going up in flames haunt her. The screams from the townsfolk as they noticed what was going on. The look on her friend’s faces as they were ushered out, more afraid than any of them had been when it had just been a matter of well’s caving in and a man being found dead down at the bottom.
She had done that. And she was going to keep torturing herself for it forever.
But that wasn’t the only way she would continue torturing herself. When Adam announced that he would be entering the bug catching contest again in Goldenrod, Tina had merely nodded weakly and followed him. If she couldn’t move past what she had done, the least she could do was go distract herself with some terrifying bug Pokemon that she would probably never actually stop fearing anyway.
She parted with her companions just outside the entrance to the National Park, taking a bit of extra time to prepare herself mentally – and to choose which Pokemon she should trust with this mission. Last month, Schrodinger had turned out to be a very unhelpful companion indeed, leading her straight into a nest of Metapod in a futile attempt to escape from Netwon.
Tina idly wondered if Newton would be making a return appearance, biting her lip and deciding she really needed to just go into the park now before she chickened out. She pulled a Pokeball from her back, summoning Reichenbach, and the Drifloon floated beside her as they headed towards the gates.
Tina felt as though they had barely started down the main path when Reichenbach began to float off to the left, and Tina, remembering that that was the direction she had followed Schrodinger last time, shaked her head vehemently in protest. Nuh uh. No way is she heading straight towards another cocoon fest. She turns to the right instead, and when the Drifloon ignores her calls, she stomps down the path anyway, ignoring the Pokemon’s obstinance.
She didn’t blame Reichenbach for not wanting to listen to her, not really. Why should she, when Tina had no idea how to listen to her own heart? To her own sense of right and wrong?
It seemed that Tina was never going to learn not to get lost in her own thoughts – particularly during bug contests – because the next thing she knew, there was something attached to her leg. Something furry and purple and…
“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!” Tina shrieked loudly, horrified to realize that Newton the Venonat had snuck up on her once again. She was never going to live down the fact that she had released this Pokemon in favor of a moonstone, was she? The little girl seemed determined to find her each time she set foot in the National Park.
At least she wasn’t angry – that had been a concern the last time the Pokemon had tried to hurtle itself at Tina, which was part of what had sent her sprinting down a path towards the unfortunately placed Metapod nest. Newton seemed to be smiling, however, and she was torn between the urge to reach down and pet her and the urge to frantically kick the Pokemon off of her leg.
She settled for staring at it, paralyzed by her fear of the purple creature who for now was eerily still, content to cling and to hug Tina’s jeans-clad leg.
She blinked, sure that the face she was making was absolutely horrible at the moment, but as her eyes roamed a bit further she saw that there was another bug there as well – an almost cute bug, timidly shuffling towards her, looking uncertainly at Newton.
A Shuckle. Newton was friends with a Shuckle.
Tina knew the fastest way to get out of here was to catch a Pokemon and to head back to the park gates, but she certainly had no desire to bring the clingy, rambunctious Venonat with her a second time. She looked down at the cuter bug, who really more resembled a turtle in Tina’s eyes anyway.
“Hi there, girl,” Tina said calmly, taking her one park ball out of her bag. “Hi there, I’m going to catch you so that we can get away from this nutter, okay?” she asked, shaking the leg that Newton was attached to a bit in the hopes that she would let go. She didn’t, of course, and Tina cringed slightly, shaking with a bit more force as Reichenbach finally floated up beside her.
“Oh, now you join me,” she muttered darkly, but her mere presence seemed to have shooed Newton, at least. The Shuckle hadn’t retreated yet, but she now seemed to be shaking, and Tina tossed the park ball unceremoniously at the cute little creature, watching it close around the nervous Shuckle.
She scooped it up and headed towards the front gate again, talking to the Pokeball all the way as she mused through names and kept a wary eye out for the return of Newton. However, by the time she had finally emerged into the normal atmosphere again, she was still Newton free, and she had settled on naming the newest addition of her team after Jean-Henri Fabre. She hoped that the Shuckle would like it, because – well, perhaps this was one bug who might not be so horrid to have around after all.