[Game] Lord Windos' PokeRole Adventure: Celadon City Vandel

[Dragonstrike]

Spoiler

Your slightly unstable cousin continues to stare at you as you understate the sheer amount of adversity and absurdity you've been subjected to only THIS week, and briefly contemplates OTHER trouble you've gotten up before the Flower Festival.....before she threw her back and started to laughs, and walks over to give you a tight hug. Hurk! "Hah Hah Hah Hah Hah HAH! Only you could non-chalently take being friends with Mew herself and your life being turned goddamn dramedy in stride! No matter how much your unrivaled stubbornness and resolute spirit has made dealing with you a pain in just my ass alone , its kept you alive, kicking, and screaming bloody hell for all this time, no matter what! By Arceas above, I missed that so much......I missed you so much....."

After a few more minutes in the maybe uncomfortable grasp of the suddenly affectionate woman, she releases you and Ridia (Who briefly looked tempted to Bite her before wisely reconsidering) and walks back over her pillow and takes a seat, closing her eyes and coughing into her hand, doing her best to ignore the mess she made in her.....unease. It did not due for Blackthorn's Gym Leader to lose her composure like that, so she's going to pretend like it never happened. Isn't that right, Reiner? Right? You draconic Eevee gives them a rather dim stare for her behavior, but is quick to throw her head back and dismiss your cousin, and do her best to enjoy your company as best she can right now....

Once the both of you fully settle down and move on from......that, you resumed trying to reason for lenacy/flexibility from Clair. The first reason you list caused her to grimace in anger over you MONSTER of a 'Boss' trying to 'reclaim' like a stray Houndour, or the thought of them trying to kill ANY of her family.......it almost sent her straight back into RAGE mode if it wasn't for her trying to maintain her calm and the other people you mentioned. "Grrr...... that fucking bastard can TRY and harm our family if he likes, and I'll be ready to put him and any of his cronies he sends either six feet under ground......or in my Dragons bellies if they don't feel so charitable. Whose's Emily and Kyubi, though? Are they friends or 'friends' of yours that you got caught up in your wild week?"

Your second point, however, quickly causes Clair to sober up as the gravity of your convoluted and dangerous obligations reared its ugly head once more. Her face grows severe as you bring up your future meeting with Valarie Malcom and the bind that Erika is in (because of you, natch) , and become gravely concerned as you bring up your hunt for the Cursed Arms ('I HAVE to get him to cough up those details.....which is easier said than done....') , particularly venturing into the Fallout Zone surrounding the Nuclear Research Facility. She hardly anything about THAT situation, but she WAS distinctly aware of the Nuclear Disaster that took place in Tandor, and all the horrifying dangers that spawned from that catastrophe. The fact a repeat of THAT could happen here , and that other Legendaries could come in to 'deal' with it............she really didn't want to think about it.

Third and final point.......that caused her to tilt her head downwards and scrunch up her fists. Unlike yourself, Clair never had any qualms with the old Traditions/Customs/Training and the decisions of the Elders, as they were responsible for nurturing her own talent and skills to the point where they are now AND for the strength and endurance of The Dragon Clan and Blackthron for times innumerable.

That is, until the Elders ended up spurning Lance for him choosing to blaze his own trail and making his own destiny instead of the one they laid out for him, and exiling you for simply being reckless and headless. Make no mistake, her interests firmly aligned with those of Blackthorn and the values and teachings it was founded on, but even so.....she found the way her Elders handled various situations before and after she took the reigns as Gym Leader to be wanting.

Correcting or balancing their extremism and/or hindbound thinking would be beneficial......but Clair was extremely doubtful that letting her cousin have a dig at that sensitive and delicate issue would be for the best interests of everyone involved. Call her violently tempered and viscous all you like, but you can't say Clair's unintelligent in her decisions and reasoning. She knows your.....distaste and bias of everything involving The Elders and....Grandfather, and that letting you handle things the way you want could have unpleasant, far reaching consequence for everyone involved. Its one of many reasons why she wants to handle this matter herself, as that way things are far less likely to go FUBAR with her moderating things between you and them. Her Offer wasn't foolproof or easy by any means, but it was a damn sight better than letting either you or the old windbags go at each other full throattle, with the whole Dragon Clan caught in the crossfire...

Clair was silent for a long, long time as she digested everything that has been discussed thus far.

...

...

"...........Reiner.......*Angry Sighing, followed by placing a palm on her face*. Cousin, you are asking a lot from me, little dragon. A LOT. I've well explained my duties to you, and the responsibility that I have to uphold them. You know well I can't just let you run free and trust you'll do no harm to Blackthorn even if you swore a blood oath, as their is far too much at stake to risk it, regardless of my beliefs on the matter. The Elder won't stand for it, and I unlike you or Lance I have no desire to oppose their will. Not in this case, at least. One way or another, I have  to bring you in, or at least try to. I'm sorry cousin, but that is the way it is......."

"........However, after hearing the utter lunacy you've put up this week, the heroic deeds you accomplished, and the various responsibilities you have yet to resolve.....I believe we can........compromise on this. Hey, don't give me that surprised/relieved look! I'm not heartless, or unable to understand you have a lot of shit on your plate. Just like me...... *Sighs* .......Here's what I've come with that give us both enough leeway on our respective tasks without pissing our 'superiors' . I'll loiter around Celadon until Sunday Afternoon, 'searching' for you and Lindworm during that time, before I leave with or without you. He's in hot water to for stealing that experimental Dragonair the Elders have been poured several years worth of effort into, and I can always say you either 'got away from me' or 'fought me off' if they ask why I came back empty handed, if you insist on your stubborn doofus self and doing things on your own terms, seeing where THAT gets you this time. If you accept my help - which you should if you ever want to reunite with the family or 'change' Blackthorn without waging war against The Elders and Grandfather - I'll do as promised. Open ended deal like this sounds right up your ally, doesn't it? 

"But," Clair says, holding one finger up, before clasping both hands together and leaning in towards you. "Call me overprotective or a doubtful nag if you like, but I frankly think you are also way in over your head , and that the 'problems' you are handling will end up handling you instead. While I know the Elders would be tickled pink if you end up 'dealt with' that way, but I or your parents won't. So, I want to see for myself if you really the threat Grandfather thinks you are, and the anime badass you make yourself out to be. ....Battle me, Reiner. My team vs. yours , no Healing Items, no overkill or trying to kill each other. If you win, I'll leave you be, and we can both have excuses to give our 'Bosses' to....ugh.....'keep up our acts.' I'll even give you my Gym Badge, since if you can beat my War Team, you more than earned it than any of my other challenger! If I win, though....then that just proves you've gotten lucky or been cutting it close up until now, doesn't it? Anyway, if I win, I'll 'chaperon' you around Celadon ,and help you deal with all the sorry messes you've gotten tangled up in, just like old times. Afterward, your ass is heading with me back to Blackthorn, no ifs, ands, and especially no butts! You lose, and you are mine."

A pause as she lets her new 'deal' sink in, before she simply says: "Well?"

(The Losing Penalty is essentially Clair 'joins' your party, but she's in charge from then on, and Reiner loses all Encounter Slots but the most critical ones (Valarie, Nuclear, Team Rocket Base if you choose to raid it) , and Arial is more or less obligated to 'save' him anyway possible, including assassinating her. You can try to negotiate for a different deal, but I'll have to roll to see if she wants to even consider them in the first place, much less hear them.)

*HURK!* is right!  Clair's hugs are rare, sudden, and never loose!  Considering Reiner's both sitting and has Ridia in his lap (guess Poe was recalled to his Luxury Ball at some point for various reasons), he's not really able to do anything except take it!  "...well, Mew would much rather be treated like any other pokemon for the most part, so...and quite frankly, that's the MOST believable thing that's happened this week, too..."

...

"...yeah, I've missed you too, cuz..."

(insert uncomfortable silence after the hug here)

"...yeah, they're friends of mine.  Emily is the 11 year old girl that rich dastard killed.  She's a very talented artist.  Hard career choice.  I...kinda empathized with her, so I decided to try and...help her out during the surprisingly large amount of free time I had this week.  Which ended up getting her killed, so Mew and I had to bring her back...Kyubi was that rich dastard's wife that Mew and I brought back.  At his request.  I was already going to kill him for killing Emily over rather...petty reasons, and his wife had apparently urged him not to do it at first since she had a bad feeling it wasn't going to end well for him, so it really wasn't any skin off my back to oblige him.  Particularly since it's a rather...painful process for the one being sacrificed to save another's life.  I've promised Kyubi and her late husband that I'd help her adjust to the various...changes she's gone through, which she's particularly appreciative of since she has amnesia.  And she was also a Ninetales, but is now a fox-like human who can spew fire and has ethereal powers...it's weird and uncomfortable and completely messed up in multiple ways, no question, but it's...not entirely terrible in some ways, I suppose, since she's more than willing to use her skills to protect me if need be...anyways, she'll typically be disguising herself as a normal looking human using an altered form of Hypnosis that she picked up while in limbo, so...don't mention I told you about what she actually is if and when you happen to meet her.  And considering Mew and I went to the trouble of reviving both of them from the dead, I'd rather they not die an early death again, obviously."

Yup, Reiner really can talk to Clair about almost anything...

...

"...thank you, Clair.  Compromise is all I was asking for.  I don't really claim to be an 'anime badass', but I'll try not to disappoint.  Two questions though before we go find our suitable, quiet, outdoor battlefield: is Megido's Revelation going to be buffing you during our battle? If so, I'll have to even the playing field slightly using one of my own tricks. Only affects me and my pokemon, though, so don't worry about who it targets any. And two: we doing a single or a double?"