Time Alone (SG)

[Lady Leaf]

"We have about five hours to kill." Kero stated, his pale brown eyes looking up at the Charizard, "I don't care where you go just be back before sun down." The large fire pokemon nodded before spreading his large webbed wings and taking off. Most likely he was going to find himself a less windy place to lay down and sun bath which was fine with Kero. He knew Charizard could handle himself and it meant the large lizard wouldn't be following him around the city.

Kero turned and began to make his way down the familiar streets of Scorch City. He had already decided he was going to hunt down his favourite cafe for a cup of tea something sweet. He felt he deserved a treat as it had already started off long and boring as it was. He had been called to the town on business. The towns folk had some political issues they needed worked out. It seemed they had similar issues often so Kero was well acquainted with the city. The meeting had started early that morning and ended just before lunch giving Kero almost a complete day to himself which he was rather grateful for.

Finding the Café quickly, Kero stopped and pushed the heavy glass door open. There was a small chime as he entered the quant place which caused the waitress to look up. It appeared she was the only one in the café at the moment which was perfectly fine with Kero. He found a spot by the window to sit in before the waitress walked over to him and set a menu down. He ordered without so much of a glance at the menu and within moments she returned with pumpkin pie and a cup of green tea. Once his food was in front of him he set his bag down and pulled out a few books. Yes, that was right, books. He was going to spend his peaceful time alone studying. Something he did often even when he wasn’t alone except this time he hoped there would be no interruptions.

[Admiral Striker General]

[cs=3][atrb=style,height:87px;width:469px;border:0 black none;][atrb=style,border:0 black none,bTable][atrb=background,http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc64/Heart-of-Thorns/VC/kalitable2.png,bTable]
[atrb=style,width:221;border:0 black none;]	[atrb=style,height:265;width:221;border:0 black none;color:b7b7b7;][scrolly:h(265),w(221),sy]All of a sudden, a colossal crash sounded as over three hundred pounds suddenly slammed into the surprisingly tough window next to Kero. Any who turned to see the source would find a very uncomfortable-yet-excited-looking Arcanine temporarily smooshed against the pane glass, tongue out between himself and the window. After just a few seconds to get his barrings, however, the oversized dog pushed off and bounded off down the street, leaving a large smear of drool in his wake. A flash of red light bounced off the glass just after he'd left. If one traced it back, they'd find a PokeBall in the hand of a very irritated teenage girl who seemed to be yelling something after the dog. "Sorry," she yelled through the window at Kero as she ran by. By this time, the dog had found a small tree and was jumping in front of it in hysterics, whining and whimpering and shaking terribly. Apparently he really wanted something that was up there! (Not that his jumps weren't easily reaching the height of the tree, but the Arcanine seemed rather unaware of this, or at least what it meant he could do if he wanted.) At long last, the exhausted girl was able to recall him, and just like that the scene had ended. After a heavy sigh of relief, Kali briskly made her way inside the restaurant, looking to the first employee she saw. "I'm so sorry," she half-groaned. "He doesn't normally do that, I swear. I was just letting him take a walk and...." Her face heated a bit at this point as she looked off at a wall, mumbling rather irritably, "He... sawa.. birdhewantedtoplaywith..." She coughed a bit, then asked in a more serious if tired tone, "Did he hurt anything?" She didn't think he had, and it wasn't as though she'd normally care too much, either, really, but... Kali came to Scorch a lot, and if she didn't start cleaning up after her Pokemon she was eventually going to start drawing some notice, and that would be better to avoid..[/scrolly]	[atrb=style,border:0 black none;]
[atrb=style,height:30;border:0 black none;]

[Lady Leaf]

Kero had been leaning back in his chair, just getting ready to lightly sip the cup of green tea brought to his lips. His eyes closed wanting to enjoy the soothing taste of the tea when suddenly there was a huge bang hitting the outside window. The sound startled Kero causing him to spill some of the hot liquid down the front of him. The sudden burn of the tea hitting his chest and lap caused him cry out a bit as he jumped out of his seat in pain. That pain was quickly transformed into anger as his head sharply turned to peer out the window just in time to hear a woman’s voice yell out “Sorry.” If he hadn’t of been on the other side of the glass he would have most likely yelled at her she ran down the street. As it was he could do nothing more but clean himself up.

Kero had just finished drying himself off and sat down again when the same girl with the Arcanine walked into the café. Kero’s eyes had shifted up to her but quickly looked back down at his study notes soon after. However, he found himself unable to concentrate and instead he listed to the girls apologies. When she asked if anyone got hurt he couldn’t keep his mouth shut any longer, “If you can’t control your pokemon you shouldn’t have any at all.” He growled, his eyes narrowed in anger as looked her way, “It’s people like you who give trainers a bad name. At the very least keep you’re poorly trained pup somewhere he wont be able to accidentally harm someone.” He believed she was just lucky the Arcanine hadn’t shattered the window when it ran into it. She was lucky she wasn’t paying for a new one.

[Admiral Striker General]

[cs=3][atrb=style,height:87px;width:469px;border:0 black none;][atrb=style,border:0 black none,bTable][atrb=background,http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc64/Heart-of-Thorns/VC/kalitable2.png,bTable]
[atrb=style,width:215;border:0 black none;]	[atrb=style,height:265;width:221;border:0 black none;color:b7b7b7;][scrolly:h(265),w(221),sy,as(padding:4px;)]Kali was becoming very heated at the presumptuous young man when suddenly a bit in the last sentence caught her completely off-guard, dampening the fire with a blanket of shock. "...keep your poorly trained Pup somewhere..." Howait now what? She blinked several times as she tried to wrap her head around it. Who the hell is this guy that he knows his- Oh right. After a few seconds, Kali recalled that the name was extremely unoriginal and very likely to be pure coincidence. At this point, she had to remind herself she was pissed off, and had long since lost a fair bit of her good fuel. "Excuse me?" she answered indignantly. "I'll have you know that pup is one, and happens to be very well-trained for his age!" Of course, he'd be a lot fucking better if Adrian would give us a spare moment off her long-ass list to start Shadowing our own Pokemon already.. she mentally cursed. "I already said he doesn't usually act like this. I suppose you don't have a single Pokemon who's ever had an off day." Sarcasm dripped from the words so hard the floor could have been flooded with it. Who did this guy think he was anyway? From the dress, either one eccentric bastard or perhaps some sort of noble. Or both. Well wasn't that just peachy? ... Mm. If he was, he might be a potential customer, mightn't he.. Kali held her stern gaze, but mentally perked up a bit. If he seemed to suspect absolute obedience, he really might be interested in Shadows.. ..Depending on the answer to her question, he might even have some. The girl wasn't about to give up any information unnecessarily, but become much more wary now, searching carefully for any signs of interest, and going over ways she might hint subtly enough he wouldn't get it if he wasn't looking but might if they were often on his mind..[/scrolly]	[atrb=style,border:0 black none;]
[atrb=style,height:30;border:0 black none;]

[Lady Leaf]

How dare some commoner questioned him. People these days had no respect for their superiors at all. Though it was to be expected in this city. The crime rate here was through the roof which was exactly why Kero had been working so hard to try and clean them up. But that wasn’t something he should be thinking about at this exact moment.

“No I don’t,” Kero snapped, though it wasn’t fully true. Gastly often had issues with getting distracted and wandering off, “And if I suspected for even a second that they might have an off day I wouldn’t bring them to a city full of people. That’s irresponsible and asking for trouble not only for the people you are putting into danger but for the pokemon as well.” Ok so he was being a bit harsher than necessary but it was just the way Kero was. He had a bad habit of speaking his mind be it a little over exaggerated or not. What he had said was something he truly believed though. It was why he never let Gastly out of his pokeball while visiting a city or town. He never knew when the pokemon might end up licking someone and paralyzing them.

[Admiral Striker General]

[cs=3][atrb=style,height:87px;width:469px;border:0 black none;][atrb=style,border:0 black none,bTable][atrb=background,http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc64/Heart-of-Thorns/VC/kalitable2.png,bTable]
[atrb=style,width:215;border:0 black none;]	[atrb=style,height:265;width:221;border:0 black none;color:b7b7b7;][scrolly:h(265),w(221),sy,as(padding:4px;)]Th-..this bastard. Of course, Kali normally enjoyed a good banter, but not getting her ass handed to her at it. As it was, her brain didn't seem to be working at full capacity after Pup had shot her nerves so badly; and she hadn't met anyone this infuriating since... Kali sort of dropped that thought as the image of a certain white-haired man flashed through her mind. =///= It... was different.. Quickly gathering her wits, Kali managed to come up with a decent, "Yes, clearly I'd suspected any chance myself. Couldn't you tell how much I enjoyed chasing down a beast that can run thousands of miles without stopping? Certainly I must delight in the risk and simply not care what might happen if I wasn't able to catch him. I could always just replace a Pokemon caught my first day in this country, after all." The dryness of her tone closely matched the desert outside. Granted, Pup really was pretty high-risk for outbursts, but not that bad normally. ..At least not away from home, and even then he never broke anything. (Though she suspected part of this was due to knowing many things in the lab would shock him and/or explode if broken..) Still, she normally got him to behave well enough in public. And he'd looked so sad and bored this morning from not getting out in so long.. And she was going shopping today anyway. How could she not let him have a little fun? Of course, Mr. Tightass here probably wouldn't understand that even if she'd explained. Pff. She worked with Shadows and probably cared more about her Pokemon than this guy. It was all she could do not to add a slightly delayed 'jerkass' to the end of her rant.[/scrolly]	[atrb=style,border:0 black none;]
[atrb=style,height:30;border:0 black none;]

[Lady Leaf]

“Oh, of course, my apologies than miss.” Kero replied as slide back into his seat and pulled his chair closer to the table. He then set his elbow on the table and rested his head in the palm of his hand as picked up his fork. “If I had of known you were incapable of understanding you’re pokemon’s personalities I’d have kept my mouth shut.” with that he cut a piece of his pie and put it lazily into his mouth, chewing it slowly as he enjoyed the sweet flavour. He had made it clear his apology had only been given to mock her, though at first it had truly sounded like he had meant it.

“A head’s up for the next time you want to take you’re Arcanine for some exercise, as I’m sure that was you’re poorly thought out excuses, I’d take it to the Savannah. It’s all flat land, doesn’t get too hot and there is tunes of room to run around.” So why was he telling her this? Despite the fact that he could be an extreme jerk he still cared about the well being of pokemon, his or not. He knew his fire pokemon fairly well and had done his research on Arcanine’s before. He knew the large dog like pokemon often needed to run about to get exercise and use up their extra energy. It was unhealthy for them not to be able to run around for at least an hour each and every day. If she was new to the area she might not know about the Savage Savannah. Most just believed the desert was covered in hot, sinking sand which wasn’t all that good for running about on.

[Admiral Striker General]

[cs=3][atrb=style,height:87px;width:469px;border:0 black none;][atrb=style,border:0 black none,bTable][atrb=background,http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc64/Heart-of-Thorns/VC/kalitable2.png,bTable]
[atrb=style,width:215;border:0 black none;]	[atrb=style,height:265;width:221;border:0 black none;color:b7b7b7;][scrolly:h(265),w(221),sy,as(padding:4px;)]The level of outrage that suddenly swelled in her when he dared insult her ability for understanding her Pokemon was all but tangible. Her eyes grew wide as her pupils practically slitted. Sweet Arceus if they'd only been in a more private place. Don't slap the bastard don't slap the bastard don't slap the bastard- No many how many times she chanted it in her head the urge didn't seem to dissipate in the slightest. Fortunately, his comment on the savannah, while initially only adding gasoline-drenched kindling to the flames, did eventually spark a thought she could work with. It took her just a few seconds longer than it probably should have to calm enough and think things through, but once she had Kali simply sniffed a small 'hmph' rather condescendingly. She turned a bit to face a random spot on the wall, glancing back at him out of the corner of her eye. Hands on her hips, she shrugged and gave a rather confident and slightly caustic, "Sorry that my 'excuse' offends you, but some of us don't have time to go out and spend a whole day playing. It's either multitask or let my poor Pup go bored." She turned her head back to him more now. "I don't suppose you're going to tell me your total peace during every meal is more important?"[/scrolly]	[atrb=style,border:0 black none;]
[atrb=style,height:22;border:0 black none;]

[Lady Leaf]

[scrolly:h(230),w(390),sy,as(padding:4px;margin-top:10px;margin-left:10px;)] Once again Kero cut off a piece of his pie and put it into his mouth as he listened to her speak. He even had time to wash it down with a bit of his drink, just setting the cup back down as she finished. “I make time for my pokemon because they are worth my time.” He claimed calmly before his pale brown eyes finally looked back up at the girl. “But no, I suppose you are right. I do expect the peace to be ruined by some sort of an incompetent being every now and then. Is that really how-” He was going to continue lecturing her as it was defiantly something he was good at doing when a sudden smudging like sound could be heard on the window beside him. It had been loud enough that it caused him to turn his head only to find himself staring straight at Charizard’s big head. The fire type had his nose pressed up against the window which was what was making the squeaking sound. Kero just about slapped his hand over his face upon seeing that display. “Charizard, what on earth…?” He stood up, tossing the napkin that had been on his lap onto the table. The Charizard had a rather sad expression on his face as he pulled away from the window and held up his left foot. He had gotten some sort of a thorn wedged into it. It was enough to cause Kero to sigh, tossing some money onto the table beside the napkin before heading towards the door. At that moment he was too embarrassed to even look at Kali as he passed her made it outside to see what he could do about the thorn in Charizards foot. “How in the world did you do that?” He had asked the dragon once he made it beside his partner, setting a hand on his hip and leaning over to get a better look at it. The Charizard went on with a series of growls in his explanation of how it had all happened. He was getting so into the story that he hadn’t even noticed Kero’s hand removing it’s self from his hip and reaching to pull the thorn out. The obvious pinch from the thorn being removed caused the Charizard to let out a rather loud, ‘Owwwrrr!’ like growl before he lowered his head angrily and gave a very angry, ‘what did you do that for?’ kind of growl. [/scrolly] [bg=brown]

[Admiral Striker General]

[cs=3][atrb=style,height:87px;width:469px;border:0 black none;][atrb=style,border:0 black none;border-radius:40px;-moz-border-radius:40px,bTable][atrb=background,http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc64/Heart-of-Thorns/VC/kalitable2.png,bTable]
[atrb=style,width:215;border:0 black none;]	[atrb=style,height:265;width:221;border:0 black none;color:b7b7b7;][scrolly:h(265),w(221),sy,as(padding:4px;)]Kali's urge to slap him just kept rising higher and higher, until finally-... A distraction? A hand flew to Kali's mouth as she half-suppressed a snort at the sight of the Charizard and the young man's reaction to it. His words caught a particular hook in her mind, but he was on his way out before she could say anything, and a comment wouldn't be nearly as effective if he was distracted when it was uttered. Following him outside if a bit belatedly, then, she watched with amusement the exchange between man and dragon from a few yards away. When the Charizard had uttered his angry growl, she cocked and eyebrow and gave a smug, "You were saying...?" Before he could respond, she feigned, "But of course 'he doesn't usually act like this', right?" The words were her own from earlier, naturally. [/scrolly]	[atrb=style,border:0 black none;]
[atrb=style,height:22;border:0 black none;]

[Lady Leaf]

[scrolly:h(230),w(390),sy,as(padding:4px;margin-top:10px;margin-left:10px;)] Kero was just about to growl back at the Charizard with a ‘What else did you expect me to do?’ but never got the chance. Instead the sound of the feminine voice he had been arguing with just a little while ago pipe up behind him. He’d been hoping she would just mind her own business and stay in the dinner or perhaps.. Left or something. But no. He was doomed to agony as he knew he was about to eat his own words from his lecture before. With a rather stiff, and slow motion, Kero turned himself around to face the girl. He knew it was pointless to just run away. He had to face his demise like a man. He also had to try and weasel his way out of it, though he had a feeling that wasn’t going to be so easy. If it was even achievable at all. Most likely it wasn’t. Now he could come up with excuses but… well it would only led back to ‘he doesn’t usually act like this.’ “Yah, yah rub it in why don’t yah.” Kero grumbled instead, crossing his arms over his chest irritably. His day had gone from good, to bad, to worse in the matter of moments. He just wasn’t sure why he couldn’t have a good day for once. “At least he didn’t almost break thing down.” Yup, he said it. He just couldn’t stand not having the last word. He could admit it. He was a jerk when it came to those things. Charizard on the other hand looked utterly confused. He had no idea what was going on or who that girl was. He was certain about one thing though. His foot hurt and this girl was taking all of Kero’s attention away from him. So, while Kero spoke, the pokemon decided to make small growling comments to everything said in hopes that Kero would turn around and tell him to shut up. But he hadn’t. [/scrolly] [bg=brown]