11121_assumption | IC INBOX

Tseng made it to the Nugget Bridge as Walter was reaching the cape, the Lucario pausing at the start of it as he could feel the air cooling. Fog. Wonderful.

With a frown he set off across the bridge, using his Psychic abilities to keep himself out of sight and out of mind of the trainers and Pokemon patrolling the bridge. He didn't want to waste time interacting with them plus his trainer wasn't with him; it was better than he not prompt a fight whatsoever.

He came to a halt as he sensed something--someone--up ahead moving into the fog and he tensed momentarily as he tried to seek out their aura. His senses were a bit thrown by the fog and it was hard to tell just what it was but his best guess was a Murkrow? Hopefully it was just one. His ears flicked and he set off again, reaching the cape now and immediately stretching his aura out to try and find Walter.

From above, Armilla caught sight of the Lucario. She narrowed her eyes, circling overhead just above normal eyesight thanks to the fog. A golden one...so either Assumption's long standing crush, or Claudia's gentleman caller. He seemed to be alone but there was no way his trainer was not following him.

Both were trainers she knew Walter considered trustworthy. No links to Team Rocket. She followed Tseng a short distance before picking up the pace. Using Haze to darken the fog even further and conceal herself better, she dove down to meet Walter and to report to him what she had seen.

The path to the edge of the cape was littered with trainers, even in poor weather, and Walter was not in the mood to try and navigate around them and between the various hedges and bushes in the path. That, and he wanted privacy for this meeting. So instead of heading towards Bill's House, he instead hiked up to a small ledge bordered by rock. It was not too far from the Bridge and enabled him to look down upon whoever approached him. Armilla landed on his shoulder as he stood on his vantage point, gazing out into the fog.

Tseng was aware that he was being watched but he didn't know where the other Pokemon was and didn't bother to look. He knew enough about Walter to know that the man was always cautious and that his Pokemon were always protective of him and given recent events? It was no surprise that they were even more careful now.

So he continued on and tracked Walter until he reached the area below the ledge where the man was. Eyes glowing softly, Tseng looked up and tried to peer through the fog to see where the man he sought was. It didn't do him much good, though, and in the end he let the glow fade from his eyes and instead offered a bow.

"Cissnei was worried about you," he said through telepathy, reaching out to Walter and whatever Pokemon he had with him.

The young woman in question had indeed followed the path Tseng took with her other companions in tow though their pace was a bit slower. The group had just reached the end of the bridge and Cissnei watched the fog curiously for a moment before starting forward, Reno bounding ahead with a delighted yip as Rue flew ahead into the thick of it to seek Tseng out.

Walter closed his eyes, listening to Tseng speak to him. There is much to say. He thought back, used to beings who spoke to him solely in his head and responding by them reading his mind. Armilla turned her attention to the bridge, watching for his trainer and teammates to follow him. Walter brushed her feathers, murmuring a command and she took off again, to intercept Tseng's companions and lead them to Walter. He took a Pokemon out of his belt and released another partner to stay with him, one who he knew would be pleased to see Tseng.

Claudia appeared, shaking herself out. She couldn't see far beyond the fog, thickened by the haze Armilla had used. Walter leaned down and whispered to her, prompting her to speak out.
"Tseng? Are you here?"

There was a lot to say on both ends.

Tseng perked up when he heard Claudia, a bit of relief flooding him hearing her voice.

"Claudia! Yes, I'm here!" he called back in response, his tail starting to wag.

It was Rue that crossed paths with Armilla first, the Honchkrow letting out a low cry in greeting before circling back around to lead him towards Cissnei. Said young woman looked up as the pair approached, squinting into the fog before smiling. She continued on her way as, up ahead, Reno found Tseng, darting between the Lucario's legs and letting out a yip-bark.

"Yo! Claudia! How's it!" the Vulpix called out, bouncing on his paws as he peered out into the fog. "This stuff is thick--are you sure she's even there?"

"Reno. Shut up."

Armilla called back to Rue and Cissnei, turning with her fellow Honchkrow and leading Cissnei to Walter directly. With some fierce flaps of her wings she managed to lighten the fog. Not completely clear it, but she swept away the effects of the haze so it was possible to see through. And yes, there was Walter and Claudia, Walter in a long blue raincoat and soft scarf, standing on a ledge just above Reno and Tseng.

The Ninetales smiled as the fog cleared, letting her see them.
"Hello Reno. It's good to see both of you," Tseng more than Reno, "But I am surprised...I thought Gloom would have revealed what was happening." Armilla landed on Walter's shoulder, chirping to him lowly. He breathed, turning his head to Cissnei and giving her a nod.
"Hello Cissnei."

"Gloom said quite a bit--"

"More talkative than me!"

"Reno!..But yes, far more talkative than him. We still couldn't help but worry, though," Tseng admitted, his expression much softer now that he could see Claudia, his tail wagging more as well.

Coming to stop near her companions as Rue landed beside them, Cissnei smiled up at the man standing above them.

"Hello Walter. It's good to see you."

The pair hopped from the league. Claudia immediately walked to Tseng, smiling. "We've done what we needed to. Walter is tied to his holy duties to the Order...but Team Rocket has no such claims. They deserved to burn." Watching the news after, Claudia wouldn't deny the pride she had felt towards Walter for not just abandoning such vile humans but for striking back at them and forcing them to feel the pain they had inflicted. She murmured quietly. "I was more worried...that you would hate us for what we were entangled in."

However, Walter still had to tell Cissnei. He couldn't help smiling a little to her, even as nerves tied knots in his chest. "I thought that if anyone would find me, it would be you. But...there are things I must confess. There is a reason I disappeared."

"Never. I--we could never hate either of you. Any of you," Tseng said gently, taking a knee to put him closer to Claudia, a soft look on his face. "You did what was needed and no one should fault you for that. I'm just glad to see you safe. You both safe. All of you." The Lucario blushed a bit as he stumbled over his words, glancing down rather sheepishly.

Seeing that smile made Cissnei relax because it was a clear sign that Walter was okay. That all of this was a good thing. And he deserved all the best in her opinion.

"I wanted to make sure you were alright and find out what was going on," she admitted, tucking her arms behind her back and smiling softly at him. "Whatever you have to say, I'll listen."

He breathed in. This was a lot more difficult in person. Thankfully Armilla squeezed his shoulder with her talons, settling closer to his head. It was a gesture Darkness had often used to comfort him.

"When I awoke in this world...it was in Team Rocket's base. I found a letter, saying that I was to work for them, and that the two pokeballs on the desk contained my Pokemon." He held his hands together in front of him. "The recent explosion in Goldenrod was my doing. I released a Pokemon they had been holding captive, and encouraged her to destroy everything."

Not that Alessa had needed much encouragement.

Claudia smiled, relieved that Tseng understood. Their position - her's and Walter's - had been frustrating at best, and utterly despairing and enraging at worst. But now they were free. Alessa was free. She stepped closer to Tseng, leaning and resting her chin on his shoulder - the closest she could give to a hug, given she wasn't bipedal.
"We are safe. But we have to be careful, Team Rocket will seek revenge for what we have done. or to try and reclaim the one freed from them."</i.

"I had a feeling that was you." The timing of everything and the sudden appearance of a certain Gengar chatting up a storm about some plan Walter had put into motion. It hadn't been hard to put things together though the worry had still been there. "They deserved that. Having that building destroyed and Pokemon released. They deserve a lot more than that as well." But that was talk for another time. Cissnei's eyes softened and she took a couple steps closer to Walter and reached out to rest a hand on the shoulder Armilla wasn't on. "I'm glad you were able to get away from them, Walter. And that you're safe."

Tseng melted under Claudia's touch and wrapped one arm around her, nuzzling her gently--a bit hesitantly maybe because they still hadn't really..well they weren't..were they?

"We won't let them get you. We'll help protect Walter, all of you. I promise."

He tensed when touched, but relaxed as she spoke. It seemed surreal, that she wasn't angry about him being in Team Rocket. But it was a good kind of surreal. He couldn't help constantly expecting the worst and to be shown wrong is disorientating in a good way.

"Thank you." He murmured, sighing out in relief. "This has been coming for a long, long time. I actually took Robbie from them, when he was a Stufful. They never realised. But this is something they can't ignore and would seek to punish. I had to disappear, so they couldn't find me. Individually they are not strong, but as a group they would be able to overwhelm me. Even with the Pokemon I released at my side." He reached down and unclipped a Pokeball from his belt, thumb stroking over it.

Claudia returned Tseng's nuzzle, before drawing back. But she was still smiling, completely at ease with this intimacy. "I know you will. But we know how Team Rocket works. They rely on their numbers or on unfair odds to win a fight. Until we can be certain they are devoting large resources to finding Walter and Alessa, we must tread as ghosts do."

Hey, she wasn't exactly an innocent. The Turks were probably worse than Team Rocket in the grand scheme of things. They didn't harm animals but they had harmed people. A lot. And covered up a lot of dirty stuff. Cissnei would be a hypocrite if she tried to hold Walter accountable.

Drawing her hand away, Cissnei smiled down and tucked her arms behind her back again.

"From what I've experienced of Team Rocket they really aren't that put together. At all. It would be easy enough to break them down even if they did come at us as a group."

Us. She was sticking by you through this, Walter.

Her gaze flickers to the Pokeball and she tilts her head.

"Is that the one you released? The one that destroyed the building?"

"Then we'll tread with you. We'll help keep you safe. Normally numbers would be a bad thing but--" Tseng smirked gently, leaning in to bump his head to Claudia's. "Cissnei has experience in disappearing and we've all learned well from her."

Well, in that case Walter was hardly innocent in his world either, given the number of people he had killed. At least in that sense, they were on somewhat equal footing in terms of past sins. Although of course, Walter would see himself as being worse than Cissnei given...everything.

At the mention of 'us', he can't help looking up. Knowing that she would stand by him still...he didn't know how to express the feeling he got from that. Thankfully, she directed attention tot he Pokeball in his hand, but he held onto the feeling, holding it tight in his chest.

"Yes. I named her Alessa...they had assigned me to monitor and watch over her. The warehouse was designed to take a Pokemon's power and transfer it to stones, creating Fire Stones. It looked extremely painful. But...she is a Pokemon of the Sun. When she looked at me, I felt...like God was looking at me through her." He swallowed, speaking quietly. He didn't need to, they were mostly alone and wrapped in fog, but still. "And when I saw her huddled up in the cage after...I imagined it's what I looked like as a child, in the water prison."

Claudia's tails swished behind her in a slow, paced wag. She was still a canine, despite her elegance. "As you've seen, Walter knows how to vanish too. Between them, we could probably live completely hidden for a long time...but, that wouldn't be good for him. And my teammates have other friends they do not wish to hide from forever."

It's alright, Walter. You don't need to say anything. She's just glad you didn't try to protest her staying with you.

"So you saved her," she said softly once he had finished talking, feeling proud of him for what he'd done and sad for the poor Pokemon inside that ball. She can only imagine what the entire thing must have been like for all parties involved but they were both safe now. "How's she handling being out of there? I'm..assuming there may still be some trust issues?"

"Cissnei has come to enjoy not living a life of pure secrecy so I'm not sure she'd enjoy it either. For now we can all take time to just settle in and find our place," Tseng said softly, smiling at her only to frown as suddenly Reno was all up in their business, prancing around the pair.

"You guys are so sappy!"

"Reno. Shut up."

"What? You are! I mean, I get it but MAN!"

Walter frowned slightly, but shook his head, speaking thoughtfully. "...No. There was, when I first approached her. It...after I first saw her, I was afraid. After some time, I approached her to give her medicine. She was angry and struck me. But she accepted the medicine. For months I would heal her, and talk to her, and sit beside her when the other technicians were not around. I set her free and she set the warehouse on fire. I accepted that I deserved to burn inside it."

"But...she pulled me out. And when I went to run, she refused to let me go until I captured her." The pokeball seemed to warm in his hand, although it was probably just his imagination.

Claudia leveled Reno with an unimpressed look. "Would you mind? This conversation does not concern you."

"She decided to accompany you," Cissnei said thoughtfully, smiling as she glanced down at the Pokeball again. "You saved her and she recognized that. So she saved you in return."

It never ceased to amaze her how intelligent Pokemon were.

Reno snorted and flicked his tails as he gave Claudia a grin.

"Seems like a pretty public conversation to--" Before he could finish Mideel the Vaporeon had doused him with water, earning a yelp from the Vulpix as he sputtered and shook himself. "What gives?!"

The Vaporeon was silent as ever as he stared at Reno with an unimpressed look, rolling his eyes as he marched over to herd him away. As he went he glanced at Claudia and Tseng and gave them a nod, clearly taking it upon himself to give them more time alone.

"I truly hate that Vulpix," Tseng said with a sigh, shaking one of his forearms to get some of the water off it from Reno's shaking. "My apologies for him, Claudia."

Walter considered it. "...Would you like to see her?" He asked gently. He trusted Cissnei. She was good company, peaceful company. Alessa hadn't met anyone outside the Rockets, not yet. Certainly not in person. He did feel some kind of protectiveness about her, especially given what she meant to him as both a Pokemon of the Sun and a Pokemon he had come to relate and care for deeply. But...he felt that Cissnei would be good for Alessa to meet.

"I see he never learned the concept of etiquette." Claudia commented calmly. She nodded back to Mideel, appreciating his intervention. She could understand Tseng's frustrations as she still remembered first meeting the red Vulpix, when he had been shoving his backside into Tseng's face. "Do not apologise for him. I only accept apologises from the person responsible." She would remember little details like this. She wasn't...excessively petty, but she was very much a Ninetales. She knew how to hold judgements for a very, very long time.

Upon hearing Walter offer to show Alessa, Claudia smiled. "He truly trusts Cissnei, to let her see Alessa now."

Cissnei can't help the surprise that flickers across her face, the young woman speechless for a moment before she nods.

"If you think it'd be alright. I don't want to upset her," she said softly. She was definitely intrigued to see this Pokemon that Walter had left Team Rocket for, ultimately, but she also understood how hard it could be for survivors of their torture. And it sounded like Alessa had been through a lot.

"Unfortunately I doubt he will ever apologize. He never does unless made to," Tseng muttered grumpily, his rivalry with the Vulpix still as strong as always and made worse by the fact that Reno was actually quite smart and a good fighter. Plus he was Cissnei's original partner and their bond was undeniable. That didn't mean Tseng liked it whatsoever.

The Lucario glances over at their trainers and his expression softens. "I know it means a lot to her. His trust, that is. She cares a lot about him."

"She won't hurt you." Walter was sure she wouldn't. After all, her rage was squarely aimed for Team Rocket. He noticed that she had broken some of the cage in her wrath but she hadn't lashed out at the Pokemon in them. He stood back, enlarging the Pokeball. "She's...she's quite big." Walter forewarned Cissnei, before throwing the ball and releasing her.

Alessa appeared with a loud hiss, spreading her wings wide. She was indeed large, over six foot tall and keeping herself airborne with lazy flaps of her tattered wings. Walter smiled up at the scarred Pokemon, who was looking at Cissnei quietly. "Alessa, this is Cissnei. She is not with Team Rocket, and is trustworthy." Walter's assurances were answered with a soft cry, and she moved to half settle on his shoulders, still gazing at Cissnei.

"He doesn't know how to show what he feels. Even with us, he sometimes finds it hard. But I know that he thinks of Cissnei fondly." It was great to see Walter try to express himself, even if affection and friendship are languages he lost years ago due to his upbringing. She smiled with she saw Alessa appear, nodding to her respectfully.

Honestly Cissnei wasn't worried about getting hurt, though she appreciated the reassurance nonetheless. She truly just didn't want to upset the Pokemon given the events leading up to this moment. But she trusted that Walter knew what he was talking about and nodded at his warning.

As soon as Alessa appeared Cissnei felt a bit of awe at the sight of the large creature, gaze sweeping over her and taking in all the details of the lovely thing. She was absolutely breathtaking and Cissnei couldn't imagine anyone wanting to hurt a creature like this (any creature really). And those wings..!

"Hello Alessa," the Turk said with a soft smile, nodding in greeting to the Pokemon as she settled on Walter. "It's very nice to meet you." Her gaze shifted to Walter. "She's breathtaking."

Tseng didn't flinch as the Volcarona appeared, reaching out with his aura to get a feel for the creature and he found himself feeling nothing but respect for her. "I'm glad our trainers have found each other. That they have someone here they can trust so easily."

Alessa calmly took in the two newcomers. She'd come to know Claudia and nodded back to her and her companion. But Cissnei took her interest. Especially as Walter had vouched for her - he had brought two girls to see her once, but he hadn't promised anything about them, given they were Rockets. She flapped her wings lazily, and warmth came from her, chasing away the sharp chill of the air around them.

Walter smiled and reached up to touching Alessa's legs, where she gripped onto his shoulder. "She is. I am honoured by her choosing to stay with me." She trilled, briefly curling over him as if giving him a hug. Then she lifted over him, moving just a little closer to Cissnei. She seemed good.

Claudia smiled knowingly, unable to help herself. "I'm glad, that they learned how to trust each other. And that we were able to meet too." She did not want to imagine being in Assumption's place, where Cissnei and Walter would only talk for the sake of their friendship.

That surge of warmth was a welcome sensation and Cissnei let out a soft hum of appreciation. Honestly being back on the mainland made her miss the warmth that always seemed to be present on the islands.

"You are a good person and they can see that. All of your Pokemon, I mean," Cissnei said softly, smiling at Walter before her attention was completely and totally on Alessa. She moved slowly, taking a half step closer to the giant moth, lifting a hand in an offer of a touch.

"Likewise," Tseng said sincerely, ears going back in a pleased, content manner as he beamed at Claudia--though he was also keeping a close eye on Cissnei. Just in case.

Alessa looked at Cissnei's hand. For a long pause, she watched the young woman. Then accepted the touch, brushing her legs against her hand. Thankfully her captivity hadn't included a lot of manhandling. The touches she had felt from the researchers were exclusively from Walter, when he gave her medicine and eventually began to pet her. Behind her, Walter shook his head.
"I am not a good person. But...they are good. And I want her to be happy."

Claudia understood Tseng's nerves. Truthfully she had been afraid of seeing this legendary Pokemon, and worried that her anger at Walter had only been delayed. But it became clear that Alessa was...devoted to him. It had surprised Claudia but hearing her say that there was 'something special' about Walter, she had relaxed. The Ninetales gently nudged Tseng's shoulder with her head, both affectionate and guiding. "Stand with her if you want." She even stepped alongside him, although she stood to Alessa's side.

"You are a better person than you let yourself think, Walter," Cissnei said with a shake of her head, gaze still focused on Alessa as she accepted the touch, unable to help a soft laugh that escaped her at the sensation. "All Pokemon deserve to be happy. I will never understand why there are people who would rather make them suffer."

Looking to Claudia with a grateful look, Tseng slowly moved over to his trainer's side. He stayed just behind her, nodding again to Alessa before he bumped lightly against Cissnei. The young woman glanced back at him and gave him a reassuring smile which seemed to relax him--and make some of her other Pokemon draw closer.

Before Mideel could stop him Reno had made his way over but the usual spunk and ignorance that he displayed was gone. He stopped beside Tseng and gave the Volcarona a bow, tails flicking as he sat beside the Lucario. Shuriken stayed back with Mideel and Rue, leaving just Fiend to drift forward and come to sit on Cissnei's shoulder. The quiet little Banette waved at Alessa, offering a smile before leaning against Ciss's head.

Use what you got! ;D

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