Gritting his teeth as the heat washed over him, a brunet couldn't help but growl as he panted once the heat passed. So far, he had been forced to take over while being severely hampered in his latest fight. Reaching for a small red and white ball, the man slowly exhaled as he summoned out a small creature from the container.
"Lucius, come on out," he called. A small white candle with a blue flame appeared in a flash of white and gave a small cry at being called out. "I know you weren't expecting to be brought into this, but I need some help. Think you can absorb the attacks that Growlithe is firing our way?" The candle Pokemon gave a huff before floating over the makeshift barrier as a stream of fire was about to make contact. The lack of heat caused the man to pop up behind his cover and smirk. It seemed he had been lucky enough that his partner's ability was Flash Fire and not Flame Body. Very few that he came across used contact moves to against the ghost-type, which was probably for the best.
"Have to say," a familiar voice said, causing the brunet to chuckle. "I wasn't expecting you to use your Litwick so early against my Growlithe. Then again, about half of your team is weak to fire so I should have expected Lucius or Nox." The room that the pair were in dissolved to reveal a pure white room. If it wasn't for the expected color, Jack would have been blinded by how plain the the room was. It was good that they at least had a place for people to learn better tactics and bond with their team better. A few blinks cleared the spots from the young man's eyes while his ghost-type partner giggled. It earned a slightly annoyed growl from the brunet's throat as he rolled his eyes.
The pair seemed to work rather well together when the odds were stacked against them, but Jack still knew that he had to be careful if he wanted to minimize the damage that Lucius took. There was always a way for him to get around certain advantages and disadvantages, but sometimes he'd just end up hitting a wall and have to think outside the box. With his Litwick, it let him play around certain situations and see if he could bait out a few tricks.
"Well," he said with a shrug. "I thought that you would have taught Growlithe at least one dark move by now for training if you were expecting Lucius. I didn't expect you to let me get around the onslaught that easily." A slight smirk played on his lips as he pat his partner's head, doing his best to avoid his hand catching fire. The last thing the brunet wanted was to end up having to be put on rest for what would be nothing more than a minor burn. A happy squeal came from the dual-type Pokemon before it was recalled to its pokeball. Despite the fact that it was even stronger after taking the recent attack from the Growlithe, the last thing that Jack wanted was to have a tired Pokemon when it was needed.
"So, are you ready to meet your newest partner?" the older man said with a smirk. "Try not to scare this one off on the first day. Alright, Jack?" A roll of his eyes was the brown haired man's response to the request. It wasn't his fault that everyone he had been paired up with was so easily unnerved by his methods and style when out in the field. In their line of work, it didn't help keep them alive if they went easy on their enemies. In the case of Jack and his team, they dealt with a more direct approach compared to those that tried to weaken and slowly chip away at the other's Pokemon. It was hard to say why he preferred the rush of a more aggressive battle, but some psychologist was bound to have a field day with it eventually.
"If I have to deal with another person that demands I slow down so they can catch up, it's not my fault if they ask for a reassignment," he said with a casual shrug, running a hand through his wild mane. "I hope you at least told them I don't intend to hold their hand on the first job. That kind of stuff should have covered during their initiation." The last few human partners that the agent interacted with had all wondered how they were supposed to approach a situation or what they were supposed to do despite the dossier being clear. Rolling his shoulders as he stepped through the exit door, Jack started planning how to approach the latest job he was requested to do.
"Don't worry," the man in the white coat said with a light smile. "She's surprisingly competent. Plus, she seems to be able to match your love for more...explosive methods. I do ask that you don't level half the block this time around, though." A dry chuckle left Jack's throat as he shook his head. It wasn't his fault that he had dealt with a group of morons that decided to use a horde of Voltorbs and Electrodes in hope of taking him and Lucius down. It was mostly luck that he only needed two months in the tank to be back in the field while his Litwick was completely unaffected. A subconscious tingling along his right arm was the only obvious reminder that he had a very close encounter with electric types and managed to walk away without ending up dead. If anything, it was a miracle that he didn't have to bring out one of his older Pokemon to help him out on that particular mission. That was one of the few missions that he had been shipped off to to root out a few grunts solo rather than rely on a few Jennys and a partner.