Chapter X: Meh, Finding a job…

Flash and Loopy were once again inside the town, looking for job offers. Flash wanted an offer that was not too far from the town, and hoped that she'd find an easy for starters. She also made sure to check every now and then to see if Loopy was still nearby, as he would probably stray off to do something stupid. It wouldn't be good if he ripped out one of Kangaskhan's windows.

She chuckled at the thought, even though the door-stunt Loopy pulled off was unnecessary, it was hilarious. She checked to see if Loopy was near her, and he was.

"What funny?" he asked, noticing Flash's grin. She quickly turned around.

"Nothing," she promptly replied. Loopy prodded her back impatiently.

"Something funny, why no tell?" he asked. Flash turned around completely to face him, already annoyed.

"Why are you so damn curious?" she snapped. "Curiosity killed the Skitty, you know."

Loopy looked at her blankly, and blinked twice. He then started to speak. "Who-"

"Let's just find a job offer, Loopy!" interrupted Flash, flailing with her arms. Loopy blinked once again, not saying anything. The Charmander just sighed, but right after that, the Machop gasped as he put both of his hands on his mouth.

"Scary!" he whispered, though it was pretty muffled due to his hands covering the mouth.

Flash looked at him for a while, not understanding what he meant. She patted his shoulder, smiling. "Hey, Loopy, don't be scared. I didn't mean to be so angry." Loopy was still fidgeting however. She sighed, wondering what his issue was now. "Let's go back to what we were doing, finding a job offer," she then suggested.

Loopy quickly raised his hands up in the air, smiling. "Fun!" he exclaimed. Flash feared that he was about to hug her, but she knew how to make him stop if he intended to. The hug never came. She wondered if he was tricking her into letting her guard down, so she carefully took one step away from him to make sure.

Loopy looked at her and put his hands on his hips. "Flash want hug?" he asked as he cracked a mischievous smile. He took one step towards Flash.

The Charmander jumped in surprise, when he had taken that step. She raised her paws in defence. "Loopy, one more step forward and I'll show you the tickle of fury!" she warned, wiggling her claws.

Loopy stood still for a moment, staring at Flash. Suddenly, he ran towards her and swiftly, yet firmly, embraced his arms around Flash, lifting her up. "Flash tickle miss!" he laughed. He made sure that he had caught her arms as well, which prevented any form of tickling.

"Gah! Stupid Loopy!" Flash snarled as she struggled to get free. She glared at Loopy, who only responded with his innocent smile as he tightened his embrace slightly. She tried to shoot an Ember at him, but only a puff of white smoke came out of her mouth. Again.

Loopy laughed more as he spun around once. "Flash no get out, Flash no get out!" he sang, spinning around once more. This caused Flash to struggle more, kicking her feet at Loopy's stomach. Though, that wasn't enough to tickle him.

"Flash give up?" he asked, smiling as playfully as ever.

She glared at him for a while, but then admitted defeat and relaxed. "I give up," she grumbled.

Loopy kept holding her though. "Flash trick will," he told her, not letting go. He kept the hug tight as ever.

"Damnit Loopy! Let me down NOW!" she yelled, kicking his stomach again with no effect. "I've had it with this hug!"

"Flash impatient!" Loopy yapped, tightening the embrace.

Flash was starting to feel pain through her back as Loopy squeezed. She didn't think this was funny anymore. "Time for plan B," she thought as she raised her tail so it touched Loopy's hands. The tip of the tail burned Loopy's hands enough for him to drop her on the ground.

Loopy rubbed his hands, trying to ease the burning pain in them. They hadn't been severely burned, so they were still useable. When he was done easing the pain, he looked at Flash, who looked pissed.

"You better start running!" she threatened, claws ready.

Loopy fidgeted a bit, taking one step back. "Um," he stuttered, "Flash angry?"

She growled as she ran at him, but he reacted by sidestepping and tripping her. He laughed and blew a raspberry before running off towards the town.

"Just you wait, Loopy!" Flash yelled as she started to chase him.

When Flash entered the town, she had already lost track of Loopy. She knew that he was in the town, as she had seen him run towards it. She sat down against a building to catch her breath, tired of all the running. She tugged her navy blue scarf, swallowing once before panting again. Wherever she looked, she couldn't find Loopy, and it started to worry her. She stood up and looked at the building she had rested against.

Kangaskhan's Storage. She started to feel nervous, wondering if Kangaskhan was still mad about yesterday's incident. She paced around the corner, only to see the ripped out door leaning against the wall next to the entrance. She sneaked up to the opening, peeking inside to see Kangaskhan behind the counter.

"Uh, Kangaskhan?" she started, getting the Pokémon's attention, "have you seen Loo-"

Kangaskhan glared when she saw who it was. She banged her fist on the counter and pointed at Flash. "OUT!" she bellowed.

Flash dashed away as quick as she could. "Yup, she's still angry," she thought as she ran towards the centre of the town. Many Pokémon walked about here, attending their businesses. Some were wearing those bandanas in various colours, which signified them being in different rescue teams.

Her concern about Loopy was growing, and she thought that this place would be good to ask if anyone had seen him. But a group of three Pokémon were already approaching her.

A Pichu with a grey bandana on his left ear looked at her. "Looking for something?" he asked.

"Y'need any 'elp?" asked a Magby quickly, having the bandana in the same fashion as Flash.

"We'll fix anytime for ye! Leave it to Team Juvens!" a Totodile finished with a pose, having his bandana tied around his head like Loopy, only that it wass tilted in a way that it covered his left eye.

Flash sweat dropped, looking at the three obviously younger Pokémon. "Uh, have-"

"YEAH!" the three cheered as they high pawed each other.

Flash lost her temper and growled at them, exhaling a big puff of white smoke that covered the three. "I'M NOT OFFERING YOU A JOB!" she cried out in shrill voice. Team Juvens froze, and stared at Flash. "I was just gonna ask you if you had seen a Machop with a blue headband around his head around here!"

"Gee," started Pichu, "you didn't need to yell, Charmander."

Totodile stepped forward, adjusting his bandana. "Yeah!" he snapped.

Magby shook her fist at her. "Ju't 'cause we're young doesn't mean-"

Flash waved her arms quickly, confused again by the bickering Pokémon. "Hey, HEY! Kids, one at a time! Just tell me if you've seen a Machop with a blue bandana! By Mew!" she yelled. The three froze again, looking at her.

"Yes," they all answered in unison.

Flash lit up slightly, "Oh? Where?"

Totodile grinned. "He's right behind yer back!" he burst out. Flash looked at the blue Pokémon and blinked, slowly turning around to face a Loopy with a wide smile.

"HELLO, FLASH!" he shouted in her face, scaring the daylights out of her. Team Juvens burst out laughing at the scene. "Me fast!" Loopy then said, thumping his chest proudly. Flash glared at him and raised her claws.

"You are SO in for a tickling, Loopy!" she snarled, a thin trail of smoke coming out of her nostrils.

Loopy guffawed, walking up to Flash and patted her head. "Flash easy… eh, take. Find adventure!" he requested.

Team Juvens had stopped laughing, but kept smiling at the show. "Adventu'e?" Magby asked.

"So you're looking for job offers too?" assumed Pichu.

Flash shrugged. "Well, yeah. I'm starting out with Loopy here," she said, pointing at Loopy.

Totodile adjusted his bandana again. "Cool, we're looking for an offer too."

"But job offers are found on the bulletin board outside the post office, no?" stated Flash.

Magby scratched her head awkwardly. "W'll, we thought th't maybe we 'ould find an offer right 'ere."

"So we should've done what I said half an hour ago, check the bulletin!" squeaked Pichu, tugging his ears in anger.

"No, I suggested that!" snapped Totodile.

"No, y' didn't!" objected Magby.

It didn't take long until they all started bickering again. Flash sighed and dragged Loopy with her to the bulletin board outside the post office. Some other rescue teams were there too, checking job offers as well.

"Now, Loopy, let me do the looking, since we wouldn't want a job we can't handle," she explained.

Loopy nodded, "Understand," he acknowledged. "But pick fun adventure!"

Flash rolled her eyes as she browsed the bulletin board, trying to get a glimpse on various fresh notes which had been put up. She spotted one job that looked rather easy, as it was located in Tiny Forest, but it was too high up for her to reach. She tried jumping, but it didn't work.

Loopy then grabbed her from behind and hoisted her up, putting her on his shoulders.

"Hey!" she yelled, "at least you could warn me before doing that, Loopy!" She balanced on his shoulders while she reached for the note. But as she managed to snatch it, Loopy stumbled and fell down, Flash landing on him.

"Ow," he muttered as Flash jumped off him.

The Charmander helped Loopy to his feet, grumbling a little.

"Sorry," he apologized, looking down.

Flash patted his shoulder, smiling. "It's okay," she said, earning a smile form the Machop, "but no hug of appreciation, okay?" He nodded.

"Why Flash grey band carry?" he then asked, looking at a grey bandana which was wrapped around Flash's chest.

Flash glanced at him inquisitively, and looked at her chest. She saw a bandana, which probably belonged to a team member of Team Juvens, around her chest like a toga cloth. She sighed. "Sometimes I even amaze my self…"

Loopy waved his hand before her face, trying to get her attention. "Adventure now?" He began shadow boxing, showing that he had a lot of energy for fighting.

Flash nodded, "Yep, but I think I gotta return this first," she said as she scratched the back of her head. She took of the grey bandana and held it in her claws. She got an idea, and walked up to the closest Pokémon, which resembled mostly a blue duck without the wings. It had a red gem on its forehead and webbed claws and feet. She knew it was a rescue team member due to the white bandana which was wrapped around the head.

"Pardon me, Mr Golduck, could you hold on to this and give it to one in Team Juvens?" she requested. The Golduck looked at her with surprise.

"Excuse me?" he replied, but Flash already handed over the bandana to him.

"Thanks, real nice of ya! Gotta go now, urgent business!" she blurted out as she darted off with Loopy, laughing.

The Golduck quickly attempted to give chase, but decided not to, since he figured that he'd have a job to do anyways.

Back at Flash's house, Flash and Loopy had stopped running. They knew that the bigger Pokémon hadn't given chase, so they had paused rest.

"Well, at least that's over with," Flash muttered, still holding the note in her claws. "I wonder what the job is though…" She checked the note. "Oh…"

Loopy walked up to her eagerly, curious. "What? Hard adventure? Me get toolbag!" he chirped as he ran inside the shack to get the sturdy leather box known as the Toolbox. He wore it by putting the strap over his shoulder with the box hanging at his right side.

Flash grinned, "Well, that's good to know. But I don't think we need too much of supplies for this job. I know Tiny Forest pretty good, so I can find some apples and such on the way."

"But what adventure?" Loopy eagerly asked, jumping excitingly.

"Huh?"

"What we do with adventure?" he asked again, trying to ask what they were supposed to do. Luckily, Flash realized what he wondered.

"Oh yeah…" she mumbled, "Our client-"

"What be clint?" Loopy asked, blinking.

Flash let out a frustrated sigh, smoke coning out of her nostrils. "The client is the one who's in danger, okay?" Loopy nodded. "Anyway, I never expected to get this client, however. It's those Wurmple."

Loopy flinched, and clenched his fists. "No-catapi bad!" he growled as he stomped the ground once.

"It could be a different one, Loopy, calm down," she assured, "I hope there won't be any Pidgey involved…"

Flash shuddered.