One Shot has evolved into a Two-Shot!
Two-Shot used Extra!
I own nothing! 'Cept my stories!
'Morning already?' The beam of light made itself known to Vince and he shied away from the annoying photons.
"Ahh morning time" He sat up and felt a little dizzy at the effort.
"Huh?" His head felt lopsided and so did his vision, in fact, his whole head was tilted to his side supporting some unknown weight.
"H-hey you, Mawile, wake up." Apparently the jaw-like horns of Mawile were latched onto his head and was the source of his sloped vision.
What? "Maw?" Mawile's slumber was disrupted and she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes before taking notice that she was dangling a foot above the bed. Her surprise turned to laughter when she was the annoyed look on Vince's face and the fact that she now knew the life of her jaw-like horns on her head.
He sighed and drooped his head, causing the Mawile to bounce a bit and making her laugh even harder. Though he honestly enjoyed laughter he wasn't so resistant against laughter at him. So he decided to face the Mawile and give her a glare. Alas, he forgot to take into consideration a little fact, Mawile would also turn with his as he also turned. He still got what he wanted, but unknowingly used a more painful method.
Wham!
Gyah! "Maw!" Laughter couldn't really be heard when one's face was in full frontal contact with a wall...couldn't it? Nope.
Mawile's jaws let go of Vince's head and how she was sporting a large bump on her nose. Rubbing her bump she pouted at Vince and he didn't need to be so violent.
"Ah, sorry, didn't know you would also turn," He gave a sheepish smile and held up his hands, "...well I kind of forgot that little bit," Mawile pouted and lightly beat on his gut.
"I get it! I get it! I'm sorry?"
"Maw!" Another punch, though a little harder.
"Okay i'm sorry."
"Maw!" Yet another punch, but with more power.
"I'm sorry!"
Finally! "Maw!" It took a few punches but she finally got out a sincere enough apology from him, she had her hands on her hips and nodded to herself, proud to have gotten what she wanted. The silence was broken when a grumble startled her.
"I guess we need to get some breakfast." With that done he got himself out of his bed and carried himself over to the showers after grabbing a new set of clothes and another lab coat in a closet full of the. Same. Exact. Lab. Coats.
After the door to the shower was shut Mawile looked down to her stomach and gave it a poke, and like Vince's stomach, hers also grumbled, but not as loudly. Yep, she was hungry and her stomach apparently agreed, but the bed was so warm! She didn't want to leave but she was also hungry, so she decided to stay in the bed until Vince came out of the water-smelling room.
She was a pretty dang good imitation of a lumpy Cascoon after she had wrapped herself up in the sheets and fell asleep.
"A Casscoon?"
"Mmpgh!" A muffled sound escaped from the 'Cascoon'
"Nope, not a Casscoon."
Ahh! Freedom! "Phwah! Mawile!" After a couple seconds of rolling away from the cocoon of sheets Mawile hopped hopped in front of Vince, ready to get some food.
"Where did you think you're going?"
Say something? "Ma-wile?" She held up her fist threatening him again with another poke-powered punch.
He sighed, this was going to be hard. He needed to maintain his 'no mercy' reputation. Wait. Mawile wasn't labeled the 'deceiver' pokemon for nothing, maybe Mawile needed to know of his image he had created.
"Hey, Mawile, if you're going to come and eat, then you have to know i'm a little similar to you, in a way."
"?" Mawile tilted her head to the side in confusion.
Sensing that he needed to explain more he continued on, "Just like how your species deceives others, i too have deceived others, and i plan on keeping up my reputation i have kept up all my life as a Scientist for Team Rocket."
Mawile cupped her elbow with a hand and brought her free hand to her chin in a thoughtful pose, seconds later she nodded and pointed to a spot on the floor as if wanting Vince to show his 'Team Rocket Image'
"Okay just let me grab my gauntlets." He proceeded to don his creation and was greeted with the feeling of a tight constriction around his fingers, hands, and wrists until the constricting feeling passed and could now feel what his gauntlets felt. It took some getting used to but after a while you get adjusted to having bulkier hands.
Come on now! I'm hungry! "Mawile! Maw! Maw!" She gave a stop of her foot and crossed her arms.
"Ok already!" He stepped onto the 'designated inspection spot' and took in a deep breath before donning the same look he wears everyday. His feet were shoulder-width apart, his arms hung loosely at his sides, his hands were in a semi-fist-like shape, ready to tense into fists but not so loose that the fingers were extended, he stood tall and looked forward with a cold stare into the distance.
Mawile paced back and forth, around the back and past the front looking up and down Vince inspecting his personal non-mechanical creation of his. Vince's stance, to her, looked like a pokemon who was able to take a hit with little problem and return the strike tenfold.
In Vince's mind he was nervous, 'Is this what starters feel like?' if his facade met Mawile's standards then he was perfect. If it was good enough to fool people then he would be fine with that, it wasn't like his mask was supposed to be poke-proof.
Look here! "Wile! Maw!" She waved her arms to get his attention and he complied. Vince's head didn't move an inch as only his eyes targeted Mawile with his cold indifferent stare. Mawile paced back and forth in front of Vince while watching his eyes follow her wherever she walked. She stopped before him and gave a glare of her own to see how Vince would react to an aggressor, heated glare met icy stare and Vince felt as if he was being scolded by his superior scientists like Dr. Nappa...or was it Nampa?
His nervousness was short-lived as Mawile pulled up a thumbs-up and a smile. Now he knew his 'Look' was foolproof to nearly anyone short of a mind reader or someone along those lines. He grinned as his doubts on his Rocket look' were washed away.
"Was it good?" Mawile nodded.
"Perfect?" Mawile went into her thinking pose and nodded again.
"Great, now let's go eat...wait." Vince stopped when he noticed he had only gotten his own look down, what about Mawile's?
"Can you make a look that matched my look?" She nodded and her look melded into a look of cold indifference, if Vince hadn't known her he would've tensed up and activated his gauntlets in anticipation for a fight.
"Wow." It was quite the impressive change from her cheerful and joking personality and that left him speechless for a second before his thoughts reorganized themselves, "No problems there."
The icy duo left Vince's quarters and journeyed out to the land where Grunts feed.
A few Grunts were milling about the cafeteria since it was breakfast time.
"Did'ja hear?" Grunt #1 said.
"'bout what?" Grunt # 2 said.
"Vince filed out an order for that rowdy Mawile that beat the retrieval team yesterday." Grunt # 1 said.
"So? What does that mean?" Grunt # 2 said.
"We don't know, this has never happened before." Grunt # 1 Said.
"So the Mawile is going to end up maltreated, lambasted, or dead?" Grunt # 3 said.
"Slow down there Mr. Smart-Ass, us two 'dumbos' here only got the word 'dead'" Grunt # 1 said while waving his hands dramatically.
"I'm no 'Smart Ass'" Smart-Ass Grunt retorted.
"I dun matter-" Grunt # 1 said.
"-Cuz it fit ya" Grunt # 2 chimed in.
The Grunts' verbal tousle was interrupted when Vince strode in with a heave of the double- doors.
"I'm still no Smar-ummmph!"
"Shhh!-"
"For some 'Smart-Ass' you sure are stupid to continue talking when Vince is here."
"mmmphmmm!"
Vince ignored the Grunts as he walked by them, he was too busy planning out how to deal with his trailing Mawile. He needed to get breakfast over and done with. Just grab the food. Eat. Beat a Grunt to assert control. And then Leave for his sector in the facility to file some new orders.
While Vince as busy planning out how to survive, Mawile was enjoying their walk through the cafeteria. This place was quite amazing after she got past the fact that this facility is what fed her captors. The cafeteria was expansive, tables were arranged into neat rows, the food at the end was plentiful, and one entire wall was exclusively made out of glass, giving anyone a great view of the ocean.
She snapped out of her stupor as she butted Vince and earned different looks; fear from the Grunts, and a realistic withering glare from Vince.
The murmurs quickly diminished when both Mawile and Vince broke eye contact and performed a dual glare at the onlookers.
For the most part they were greeted with more hushed whispers,
"See that?"
"Woah he tamed that one."
"Didn't he use a pokeball?"
"Nah he was confident with his fighting abilities."
"Arrogant is he?"
"Remember yesterday's incident?"
"Point taken, nevermind"
Mawile, with her back turned to the Grunts, was able to quiet down the talkers and make them shy away with an intimidating snap of her jaw-like horns.
Her eyes literally sparkled when Mawile saw the food up close, this was much much more than she could've ever gathered
even if she spent more time foraging. Her mouth watered as she inhaled the delightful aromas and nearly lost control over the situation. She gave Vince's leg a light punch to get his attention and then nodded her head at the food.
Understanding the small gesture Vince eyed the cafeteria for one of the clocks and found that it was only seconds before the morning bell rang, signifying the end of breakfast and the start of the new work shift.
The speakers rang and a female voice spoke, "Breakfast is over, please head toward your designated work areas."
In harsh contrast to the feminine voice, Vince yelled out, "Get moving!"
After the Grunts have left the floor Mawile whined and pointed at the food counters that were now covered with metal shutters.
"No problem." Vince walked over to one of the side panels and keyed in a few commands then the shutters retracted and freed the food to be eaten.
"Grab some food and meet me by the windows." He reached for a bowl and filled it with soup while Mawile sprinted towards the pyramid of berries on one of the counters.
'What's a window?' Mawile thought for a bit before giving her full attention to the berry mountain.
Vince ate his soup in a calm and orderly fashion while Mawile practically inhaled the pile of berries. After their breakfast Mawile stuck her face onto the glass window in an effort to understand what type of pokemon made these long-lasting Reflect panels.
With their meal time done and over with the two made their way to the scheduling area. There were some weird looks but those were silenced when Vince left one Grunt to tend with a sore arm and rear.
"I would like to request a form for temporary leave." Vince's order was unheard of and the Grunt was sure to ask some questions but the look Vince gave him gave no room for him to ask anything.
"Y-yes sir." The man quickly searched for said files before arranging it for Vince, "If i may ask, how long will you be on vacation?"
Vince internally counted up the number of vacation days he had gained over the years, "A year, give-or-take two months."
"Aren't you only given a few weeks of leave per year?"
"Though i do have quite a lot of weeks saved up that way, i have also earned a number of weeks because of my research and inventions. Anything else?"
"N-no sir. Here are your forms." The man quickly hid behind his files as Vince headed to an empty desk to fill these out.
With the bureaucracy all ready and tended to, the two headed to Vince's sector. All to do now was grab a sack and gather the necessities then leave, his own research team would basically be on auto-pilot while he's away and his sector would be open for more people during his leave.
Noticing an unused metal rod, Vince had a curious thought arise, 'i never tried to use a bindel...wonder if it's effective.' He picked up the rod and attached his bundle of necessities to a notch on the end of the rod. With an experimental lift or two later, he set the rod down on his shoulder and the bindel acted as a fixed see-saw; one hand holding on one end of the rod with the middle resting on his shoulder.
Now Vince was ready to leave...
...Unfortunately, tradition dictated whether or not one would leave.
"Yo Vince!" The Base Commander called out, "You know what happens when someone leaves for an extended amount of time, a battle!" The man grabbed three pokeballs and expanded them in his hand, "Now that you have a pokemon it's time for you to get the customary treatment that you oh-so-cleverly sidestepped since you had no pokemon to begin with!"
A cruel smirk found it's way on Vince's face, "Unfortunately for you I still own no pokemon, she came all on her own." He threw a thumb back at Mawile, "I have no doubt that you could've taken her on easily-" Mawile pouted at the lack of confidence Vince had for her, "-but fortunately for me-" Vince rolled his shoulders and activated his gauntlets, "-I'll be able to do a second unscheduled test for my creation!"
"Ha! You got lucky with that Ursaring, it was wild and untrained!" The commander tossed out all three of his pokemon. Three pokemon took their positions infront of the Base Commander, there was a Hitmonchan throwing out light jabs, a Skarmory scraping at the ground, and a Golem planted firmly on the ground.
"No rules eh?" Vince shook his hands to loosen them up for what's to come and Mawile stood at the sideline with a shocked look on her face. 'Wouldn't be smart to leave with bruises. Reflect right, Reflect left.' Two glass-like hexagonal panels hovered inches from Vince's forearms, closely resembling short shields.
"I'll maybe send them one by one...maybe. Hitmonchan, Go! Use Fire Punch!" Said Hitmonchan leaped forward form the line up with it's gloved hands blazing with flames.
'Getting hit early on wouldn't work in the long run,' Vince hastily rolled to the side to avoid the blazing fists. 'Need more panels, Reflect right, Reflect left' His gloves' glow flickered a bit before producing two more hexagonal panels which shot backwards and took their place, inches above his shoulders at a sloped angle.
"Hitmonchan! Get back! Let's see what's he's planning on" Said pokemon nodded and sprang back, taking its spot on the line up with Skarmory and Golem.
'Even better. One more set, Reflect right, Reflect left' With his final set done, the last two panels took their place each a foot from his right and left.
"Remember when i said i'll send them one by one?" While the overconfident commander was talking Vince, on the other hand, was already going through another set of moves. 'Lock on left, Dynamic Punch right'
"-I lied! Go Hitmonchan, Skarmory, Golem! Use Fire Punch, Steel Wing, and Rollout!" With their commands given, each pokemon set out to perform their respective moves.
It was time for Vince to speak confidently and not without reason, "A Rocket trying to out-lie a Rocket Scientist?"
Vince planted his feet in the path of the incoming pokemon, "Hah!"
He could barely hear a panicked cry from the sidelines but he needed to focus, "We aren't stupid, ever wonder why we are Scientists and you aren't?"
The pokemon still continued forward with their gloves/wings/body ready to strike, "It's because we use our brains!"
He set forth to begin his plan. Some say plans never survive first contact with the enemy...they should change the 'never' to 'almost never'.
'This feels like cheating...not really, it's just a smart use of opportunity' Vince avoided Hitmonchan's punches by using two panels to deflect the punches by sloping them away from his person. He winced slightly at the heat but he quickly overcame the reaction.
With the first wave avoided Vince immediately called up his Reflect-shoulder-guards and doubled it up by moving one side's panel onto the other shoulder and targeted the incoming attack by Skarmory. He dropped down and pulled his shoulder up to dodge and deflect the remaining portion of the Steel Wing that could have given him a very sharp hair-cut.
The last and strongest wave was the rolling tank of rock, gravel, and earth. He made a quick recap of his current status: three decent panels, one destroyed panel from the Steel Wing, and two literally 'Half-baked' panels from the punches it deflected.
Time to take out that Golem.
Arranging the remaining panels in a pentagon without a center, Vince ran up to meet the Golem with his poke-powered punch.
"Dynamic Punch!" The Golem clashed against the panels which left Vince free to deliver his punch.
"What!" The Commander was shocked along with the other three conscious pokemon which would be: Hitmonchan, Skarmory, and Mawile. They were all gaping at the instant knockout and artful dodging/deflecting Vince had performed.
"Give up."
"Huh?"
"I said give up, i followed the base tradition and you and your pokemon know what would happen if your strongest was beaten so easily."
The man grumbled a bit about 'how Scientists in his day weren't strong enough to punch Golems' he heaved a sigh and recalled his pokemon, "Fine, i give. Have a nice vacation" The man headed back while ordering the crowd of Grunts to disperse and 'Get the hell to work' leaving Vince at the entrance before the doors leading outside with an angry Mawile.
What were you doing! Humans can't take his like us! What if you got hit?! Fortunately for Mawile, her worried/angry rant full of bits and pieces of her species' name was understood on a vague level and, with a few well-placed punches and a whack with her jaw-like horns to the leg, was enough to make Vince apologize.
Apologize! "Maw!" Another whack.
"Sorry!" He hefted up Mawile and apologized for whatever he did wrong. Somewhere in the recesses of Vince's mind he was feeling a sense of deja vu.
She tilted her head to the side and thought hard. Though the two of them left and were looking forward to the sun-filled journey, they still had to go though a dark cave which would lead them to the nearest place where people lived. Currently Vince just chased an Aron through the caves and ended up finding an exit leading to a wooded clearing. A well placed Lock-on and Focus Punch combo did the trick and now Mawile stood nearby, examining the aftermath.
She weighed the pros and cons of Vince having another pokemon tagging along with Vince. With her eyes now closed she was able to imagine what would happen.
In her head two imaginary figures popped up, herself and the Aron. Her imaginary self stood proudly next to the Aron with her hands at her hips. Yes! She was at least double its height, the imaginary Aron pouted and glared at a nearby rock. Her imaginary self smirked when the Aron tried tackling a rock and overshot and dug itself into the ground, meters from the intended target.
Yep, she was safe and knew she wouldn't be abandoned by Vince because of her skills. Eyes still closed she pumped her fist in the air and actually considered allowing the Aron to join...but some stray thought made its way to her visual imagination.
The Aron glowed white and evolved into a Lairon and her imaginary self jumped back in surprise. The Lairon gave a roar and tackled a conveniently placed boulder, shattering it to pieces.
The Lairon grunted, threw its head back and smirked at her, at her! She wasn't going to give up! Just because it grew to her height dosen't mean it was better than her! She glared at the Lairon and took her spot next to another conveniently placed boulder. She drew in a deep breath and then jumped high into the air. Taking aim, Mawile brings down her toothed appendage hard and strong enough to also shatter the boulder.
Her imaginary self was panting at the exertion and managed to pull a smirk at the glaring Lairon, heck yeah! She crossed her arms and cracked a smile at her one up. Yeah, even if it evolved she would still shine and Vince would be happy. It would be a stretch but she didn't completely deny the potential teammate...until another unwanted stray thought wormed its way into her imaginary world.
In her world she was still panting until she gulped at the sight of the Lairon evolving into a massive Aggron which stalked over to where she rested.
She threw a weak glare at the towering figure and was blown back when the Aggron roared back. The Aggron turned and headed towards Vince who was suddenly in view.
Mawile lifted her head to see the Aggron smirk at her before walking of into the distance with Vince by its side. No! She didn't want that Aggron to take her place by his side!
A simple imaginary idea had transformed into some sort of freakish daytime nightmare! She panicked and picked herself up. This nightmare was not going to happen, not on her watch!
Her ruby red eyes snapped open and she saw Vince draw back his arm with his first and unused pokeball, ready to fulfill its role in capturing pokemon.
No!
"Maw! Mawile!" She made a mad dash at Vince.
Her sudden charge towards Vince was enough for him to give pause, it wasn't like taking a second-long break would prevent him from capturing the Aron, was it?
"Waah-OOGHUMPHRG!" His surprise was muffled instantly in a blur of yellow and black as Mawile threw herself onto his face.
"Ummpgh-!" Vince grunted as he felt Mawile push herself away from his face, he was too surprised and confused at the sudden action to realize he had let go of the pokeball.
Gotcha!
"Maw!-Wile!" Mawile stood before the fallen rusty pokeball with a look of accomplishment, she had gotten what she wanted. Now she looked back at the unconscious Aron and back to Vince's pokeball, she had to find a permanent solution to put an end to the possible nightmare-ish future.
Vince rolled over to his side before sitting upright to see where Mawile had gone. He soon saw her waving her arms trying to get his attention so he got up, dusted himself off and headed to her.
"Come on Mawile i have to catch that Aron before it wakes up." He knelt down and looked her in the eyes.
No! "Maw!" She shook her head quickly and earned a questioning look form Vince.
"I can't?" To his displeasure he saw her shake her head again and gesture for him to wait where he knelt. Mawile turned and slowly walked toward the fallen ball.
Hmph! I'll be his first pokemon! She looked down at the ball and saw a future...a future of battling and fun with Vince! She picked up the pokeball with her hands and brought it to her face before tapping her nose to the pokeball.
Vince's eyes widened in surprise as Mawile let herself get caught in the pokeball's red light. Noticing the unmoving ball he got up and bent down to pick up the ball...before seeing a bright flash of red and feeling the ball flip open.
Boy...was his day full of surprises, both unpleasant and pleasant. He felt he had been thrown onto his back, again.
He attempted to bring his head forward to see what happened in front of him...until his forehead touched something. He blinked his eyes open to see Mawile's eyes staring at his, much closer than in is quarters.
He froze. His forehead was touching hers and he kept still as a rock.
Yay! "Mawile!" She brought her face closer and nuzzled him. She was content with her choice and put her trust in Vince.
He sighed. It was unexpected but he wasn't disappointed at all. He actually preferred starting his journey with her. He didn't mind. Not. One. Bit.
The two laid there in silence, comfortable with just each other's presences. They were too busy enjoying themselves to notice the Aron shake itself awake and walk away from the clearing, content with the fact that it wasn't caught.
Getting up on one knee Vince placed Mawile to his side and reached for his fallen sack of necessities and slung it back on one shoulder.
"Up you go Mawile." Before he proceeded to stand up, Vince lifted and placed Mawile on his free shoulder, effectively acting as a counterbalance.
Yay! "Mawile!" Apparently Vince's method of avoiding a lopsided hike was considered a light show of affection to Mawile and she scooted closer to his head.
'Ah, more effective to center the masses, nice thinking Mawile.' Vince smiled lightly and nudged the sack closer to his neck.
Both turned to each other, both faces adorned a smile, yet one had a faint tinge of pink on it...
Ah, blissful ignorance, isn't it beautiful?
There's the extra! I made it when i had some free time to spend!