Anxiety Trials is a Pokemon Special sandbox RP. We are a friendly, no-fuss site where you don't have to worry about posting 24/7, but when you've got the muse. We are based loosely around the Pokemon Special/Adventures manga, though set in a slightly alternate universe. If you're looking for a fun place to explore what life with Pokemon would be like, hopefully we're the place for you!
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4th Feb 14
As those of you who have been with us for a while can see, we've done some updating on the site. To our new membes, welcome! We've reverted to our original name and are going to move forward with six month! See all our new, updated summaries in the "Need to Knows" section for a full run-down on what has happened!
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ANXIETY TRIALS was created by Fate. The skin which includes the Board Mod, Mini Profile and Sidebar are created by Dorothia @ Adoxography. The tabbed sidebar was created by kimset of RPG D'. Plug ins were made by their respective PB Support member. All other information which includes but is not limited to, Character Plots, Character Applications and more belong to their rightful owner. Pokemon/Pokemon Special is the property of Nintendo.
Post by MEI MORIMOTO on Nov 25, 2012 7:49:17 GMT 9.5
[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 350px; padding: 10px; background: #000000;][STYLE= font-family: georgia; color: #F2F2F2; font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold; text-align: center; letter-spacing: -2px; width: 405px; line-height: 60%;]I CAN'T DECIDE WHETHER YOU SHOULD[/style][STYLE=color: #F2F2F2; font-family: franklin gothic medium; font-size: 10px; text-align: center;]LIVE OR DIE. OH YOU'LL PROBABLY GO TO HEAVEN. PLEASE DON'T HANG YOUR HEAD AND CRY.[/style][STYLE= width: 390px; font-family: tahoma; font-size: 10px; text-align: justify; color: #F2F2F2; padding: 10px; border-top: #F2F2F2 10px solid;]Fingertips traced the outlines of a scar marring skin. Eyes met and glanced away in a shy way that was unlike the pigtailed girl except in this very circumstance. Hands, awkward and hesitant slid up around the neck of her companion and lips were about to meet when his face turned dark and haunting and his hands shoved her down onto the ground. Pain spread through her as her friend-turned-lover cackled menacingly, her dream mind warping his voice into something demonic and terrifying. "You think I would ever love you? You're just dirt beneath my shoes!" Came the snarl, and pain struck her again as she scurried away from his now looming, terrifying features that had been joined by a number of other faces - equally as evil. Each of them advanced on her in a circle until they were each touching her with their feet and brought one of each their own down upon her cowering, tiny form.
A shriek of terror exploded from her lungs as the captive trainer woke with a start, sitting bolt upright and whimpering once more in pain. It had been a nightmare. Well, mostly. It had been true in some ways, orchestrated by her friends, she had been grabbed while she was merely out enjoying the day.
Mei had never thought that she would be taken by someone. She had never assumed that she was going to be kidnapped and locked in a room alone, her pokemon gone, her friends abandoning her - her friends behind the horrendous crime that had been commited. She could never have believed they would do something so awful to her until it had happened, and she had felt the sudden sting of words spilling through her ears to her mind. Michael, who she had assumed was an innocent bystander at the Abundant Shrine had become menacing without her even realising it, he had suddenly taken on a streak of meanness that she couldn't have comprehended. Her innocent, forgiving mind continued to tell her that he was fine. Her trusting heart had allowed him to keep speaking to her without even noticing that he was threatening her.
Which is when everything had gone bad. She had kept mentioning all the things she had begun to assume about the new team, all the evidence she had found. But then he had said it wasn't true, that there wasn't a new team. It confused her so terribly, all the things that had happened. Her brain whirred where she lay, trying to piece together some semblance of normality. Michael had said there was no team, and yet every day for a week he had been in to see her, beating out information that she thought she knew. Anything she might have had on her brain, any idea, she coughed out. He and his pokemon worked as a team to make certain that she was unhappy and that she was suffering. He said there was no team, so why was it so important that she spill everything she thought she knew?
Though she wasn't the brightest crayon in the box, Mei was certain of one thing. For the fact that he had pushed so hard for her theories, there was definitely a group who were behind all of this suffering. They were the owners of this place she was being held. It was too suitable as a dungeon, there were too many bars on the walls. It was a place people were not supposed to get out of.
Pigtails had long fallen out and Mei couldn't be bothered to loop her long hair back up. It was pooled out on the floor even when she was sitting up - which had continued in pain. Shuffling back against the wall, Mei took a moment to assess the injuries she had been given over the last week. Delicately - with her uninjured hand - she peeled her shirt up a little ways, examining the black-purple bruise that had formed on her ribcage. SHe was certain there were at least two broken ribs beneath the awful impact wound, but all that mattered was the pain. Her left hand was equally as bruised, a particularly harsh spot where a stiletto had jabbed itself into the back of it - and a yellowing mark around said spot. At least two fingers were broken, though their pain seemed like nothing unless she tried to touch things with them. Across her face were three lacerations from the attacks of a pokemon. She had checked them when she had been brave enough, and though she was sure the scar would last, it would not hinder her use of her face.
The minor injuries were less. A few bruises on her arms, a black eye and a knee injury she had gained in Aspertia of her own doing that had not been tended to for days. Each of those felt like nothing compared to the pain of the others. And mentally, nothing had scarred the same way as her mind had when Michael had told her over and over that it was her friends that had put her here. That it was their doing because she had been meddling in the affairs of this group she still didn't know much about.
Mei breathed - as shallowly as she could so as not to inflate her lungs and cause more pain - as she propped herself up. Her sleep was haunted with nightmares and her waking was haunted with torture. But at least she knew that when she was awake the torture was real.
Once happy blue eyes cast themselves tearily over at the door as Mei drew her legs up a little to keep her from falling. Kalula... Kyouhei... Hugh... Did you really want this? If I was nothing, you would come and see me to tell me so... to finish it... Unless I'm really that worthless. Maybe you really won't ever come.. Why won't these people just let me die. Her mind droned. No more buzzing, merely slow, sad thoughts as the fact that she had so much information but would never be able to share it sank in. She couldn't tell anyone all the things she knew whilst she was kept in this place. She would never be able to help out those who still fought for good. The gym leaders, the dex holders - unless they were all corrupt - and anyone else who still wanted a good, kind world to live in. If she could just reach someone.
[ so this thread is only partially open. and by that I mean it can only be for a few people to reply to. if you really want to join it, please PM me or chat to me on skype about it first so I can know what's happening, it's not your average open thread. thanks xx ] [/style][STYLE= float: left; width: 100px; height: 100px; background: url(http://i.imgur.com/B05fE.png); border: #f2f2f2 solid 10px;][/style][STYLE= float: left; width: 80px; height: 100px; background: url(http://i.imgur.com/A7gfl.png); border-top: #f2f2f2 solid 10px; border-bottom: #f2f2f2 solid 10px;][/style][STYLE= float: left; width: 100px; height: 100px; background: url(http://i.imgur.com/B05fE.png); border: #f2f2f2 solid 10px;][/style][STYLE= float: left; width: 80px; height: 100px; background: url(http://i.imgur.com/A7gfl.png); border-top: #f2f2f2 solid 10px; border-bottom: #f2f2f2 solid 10px; border-right: #f2f2f2 solid 10px;][/style]
[STYLE= font-family: franklin gothic medium, arial narrow; font-size: 10px;]MADE BY CYANIDE CANDY ✖[/style]
Last Edit: Nov 25, 2012 7:50:53 GMT 9.5 by MEI MORIMOTO
Hugh's fingers curl angrily in the dark fur coating his pokemon's neck. He turns his nails to his skin, digging them into his own flesh rather than that of the Tauros running beneath him. Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it! High tightens his grip around his pokemon's thick sides, muscles of his legs clenching to keep his body seated on the Wild Bull pokemon's bare back as it ran toward the location indicated on Hugh's C-Gear. He holds the purple object tight in his free hand, clenching his fingers tight enough around the electronic device that he fears it will snap if he so much as twitches his grip tighter. His whole body screams at him as the Tauros leaps over a downed tree branch to cut a corner, he's not used to the jarring sensation of riding upon his pokemon at high speeds quite yet.
"Faster, Odin!" he yells over the sound of its stampeding hooves. The Tauros snorts, the three tails whipping against its own hindquarters as its pace increases. The C-Gear begins beeping, and the spiky-haired teen's red eyes find the screen instantly. This is the first sound it's made, and now it has his full attention. "We're closer!" The pokemon's hooves hit more solid ground finally, clattering loudly against the stone as he and his trainer tear down the street in the first civilization they've seen in ages.
Luckily, there's nobody out and about Hugh has to shout at to get out of the way lest they wish to be mowed over by a pokemon that had been told not to stop until they got to their location. It's still dark out, with the first rays of morning sun just beginning to poke over the tops of the buildings surrounding him. Probably about six o'clock in the morning.
The C-Gear lets out a louder, more drawn-out, constant beep. "Odin, left!" Hugh flings himself forward against the pokemon's neck as it makes a near ninety-degree turn straight into an alley at his trainer's command. The screen of his C-Gear turns entirely green when Hugh looks up, a small, run-down building set just behind two much larger ones, and between them and the trees forming the border of the town.
That's it. Hugh feels his teeth grinding. That's where Mei is.
It took him too long to realize something was wrong. It took him too long to notice one of the few people he considers his friend went missing when she was supposed to be on an investigation trip. It took him too long to take action.
"Damn it!"
The building is closer now. If she's hurt... he doesnt even get to think about the rest of his threat, as his mind succumbs to a pitch of red fury. "Odin, Zen Headbutt!" The wooden door is close enough now that the attack will shatter it. The pokemon's horns and eyes glow blue as a sphere of the same color form just around the top of its lowered skull, bashing through the door of the apparently deserted building.
Hugh feels the sting as splinters lodge in his cheek and throat, but he doesn't care. This is nothing compared to whatever Mei's been through.
The pokemon skids to a halt, and Hugh leaps off its back and lands on the ground. "COME AND FACE ME YOU SONS OF BITCHES!" Hugh practically screams into the two-level building. "IF YOU BASTARDS LAY A FINGER ON MEI I SWEAR TO ARCEUS THAT I WILL TAKE YOU TO HELL WITH ME WHEN I'M THROUGH WITH YOU!"
There's barely a moment of pause for him to inhale again before shouting, "MEI!" Hugh coughs once, beginning to slam open doors leading to various rooms of the first floor of the building. "MEI WHERE ARE YOU?!" The techie he'd practically strangled to get a lock on this location couldn't be wrong. This is where her phone had last been used to send messages to Kalula's phone. It was the closest lead he had to Mei's location, and he would tear it up with his bare hands to find her if he had to.
Post by MEI MORIMOTO on Dec 17, 2012 17:22:28 GMT 9.5
[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 350px; padding: 10px; background: #000000;][STYLE= font-family: georgia; color: #F2F2F2; font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold; text-align: center; letter-spacing: -2px; width: 405px; line-height: 60%;]I CAN'T DECIDE WHETHER YOU SHOULD[/style][STYLE=color: #F2F2F2; font-family: franklin gothic medium; font-size: 10px; text-align: center;]LIVE OR DIE. OH YOU'LL PROBABLY GO TO HEAVEN. PLEASE DON'T HANG YOUR HEAD AND CRY.[/style][STYLE= width: 390px; font-family: tahoma; font-size: 10px; text-align: justify; color: #F2F2F2; padding: 10px; border-top: #F2F2F2 10px solid;]There had been crashes coming from the upper floor of the building Mei had been kept in for so long. Mei had not heard sounds in the weeks she had been trapped there - when her captors had fed heror a stray rattata had scurried past, that had been the extent of the sounds in the building. Her shouting had even lead to naught so the sudden onsluaght of doors being flung open and colliding withe their walls had certainly come as a surprise. Mei's mind had been ticking over miserably and suddenly there was hope. Hope she hadn't expected to feel.
Unconcerned about the sudden stabbing pain in her ribs, the captive girl used the wall to get herself to her feet ever-so-slowly. She hobbled to the bars of her prison and mustered every bit of hearing that she had to listen in on what was going on in the building that had been her home for nigh on a month. She had to work out what was going on - she just had to. Desperately hoping to hear something that might give away what was happening, Mei wondered if perhaps these people who had captured her were being robbed - and mentally gloating over the idea - until a should from a voice quite familiar to her broke through the crashing.
It couldn't be Hugh? Hadn't Michael said it had been Hugh and Kyouhei's idea in the first place? But then, the voice of her friend seemed angry. And he seemed angry over something very specific. Mei paused as she leant her weight heavily on the bars and shuffled ever-closer to door which kept her cotnained. She couldn't make out his exact words and for a few moments she was terrified that it was either another of Michael's Zoroark's cruel jokes or Hugh actually angry about her being kept alive if the former had been truthful. Those horrid things that were meant to hurt her.
No. Those were definitely footsteps of a person on a mission - an angry one - and a pokemon following behind. Lips pursed as she tried her hoarse voice once. She had been yelling so much that she wondered if she'd even make a noise but it was really no good. And from what she could tell, he wasn't close enough to hear her anyways. She was almost ready to succumb to her fate once more and slumped against the bars until she heard Hugh call her name. He was calling to her which meant all of her fears about her friend being one of the masterminds behind her capture were all irrelevant. Relief flooded her bruised face and she took a deep breath as she considered her options.
Hands forcing themselves awkwardly around the bars, she straightened up and breathed out. His name was probably the only thing she could muster considering the amount of dehydration she had experienced. She waited for the footsteps to draw nearer and her mind ran through all the things she'd do when she got home, the first of which was sleep on a pillow. And hug everything. All at once.
But she needed to find her pokemon too. They had to be here somewhere? But that was for in a moment. She had to yell first. And she had to yell loud enough for him to hear her the first time. "HUGH!" She shouted, taking another quick breath in, "I'M DOWN HERE, DOWNSTAIRS!" The brunette let out a deep breath as one hand came up to clutch at her rasping throat. Hopefully that would be enough. If only she knew how to get out of these bars without her pokemon. She didn't know where Eliard kept the key. Where anyone kept them, really. Hopefully her friend would find them.
Hugh half-trips after shouldering open a door that had jammed. He looks around the rom, seeing nothing that catches his eye before he turns around and runs out of the room, darting to the next one before jiggling the handle impatiently. When it doesn’t budge he throws his weight against it. Damn it! He bites down on his lip and punches it once. Mei! Please be here! He draws his hand back to punch it again, and lands his knuckles against the wood, splitting the skin and cracking something, sending pain ratcheting through his fist when he draws his hand back again for a third punch when something stops him.
He hears the snort of the Tauros behind him and manages to draw his fist away from landing against the wooden door once more when the pokemon catches his attention, ”Odin, what is it?!” His voice is harsher than he intends, but his temperamental pokemon lets it pass when it trots over to a stack of crates, pawing at the ground near them, ears flicking.
”You hear something?!”
The pokemon bobbed its head, eyes narrowed at the crates stacked seven and a half feet high. Hugh runs over to them, shaking them with firstration, slamming his fist and knee against two in hopes that does at least something. All it does is make the pain in his hand reach a new threshhold. Hugh recoils, holding his hand and proceeding to kick it. ”MEI!” he trusts his pokemon’s judgement as he kicks once more on the crates. They only wiggle slightly.
”JUST HOLD ON MEI! I’M COMING!”
The Tauros grunts and noses his trainer roughly to the side, sending him skittering as not to fall over. Turning around, the pokemon takes aim before lashing out with a powerful kick from both hind feet. The crates break and fall backwards, tilting precariously before crashing to the ground, leaving just one more sitting on the ground.
Hugh runs forward, placing his hands on it and grunting as he heaved the crate to the side, nearly tripping over something that was raised on the floor. He backs up, looking downard. It was a trapdoor.
”Mei!” He pulls the door up, shoving it to fall back, clattering to the ground loudly. He jumps down three of the stairs, turning back to look at the Tauros that stands over the hole in the floor. ”Odin, trample anybody that enters this building! You understand?!” It nods in response, and Hugh doesn’t bother taking the steps one at a time, instead hopping down them in series of three to five until he lands on the ground.
The spiky-haired teen picks himself up, looking straight ahead with the light shed from upstairs. His red eyes widen and he feels his body go numb with the sight before him. His gut twists and he feels like his heart stops temporarily.
Hugh feels himself shaking with what he sees. Mei, behind bars, and not looking well. He can’t see details in his state, but seeing her needing to cling to the bars of the cell in order to stay standing tells him enough.
”Mei...” his voice is quieter, now, than it had been, trembling with the effort not to yell in the smaller area and deafen his friend standing and waiting for him. ”Don’t move.”
He whips a pokeball off of his hip, throwing it against a wall to open the capsule and release the Metagross within. It hovers while its trainer darts to the cage and clasps his hand over Mei’s that’s still wound around the iron, shoving his other arm through the gap just to the side and placing his hand lightly on her head, curling her fingers gently in her hair.
”Mei...I’m here now. I promise I’ll get you out. Give me a minute more.” He leans his forehead against the bars, red eyes staring intently at her before glancing just to the side, where he spots the door at the far end of the cell.
”Ganzorig, Brick Break the bars, now!” He doesn’t need to tell it to avoid them. Hugh covers Mei’s ears to shield them from the sound. The pokemon obliges, levitating toward the door-like portion of the cell before it draws one of its four arms back before punching the large lock closing the cage. It breaks along with the iron around it, and the door is thrown off its hinges into the wall behind it.
Hugh can’t find words to reassure her he’ll be back in a heartbeat, instead pulling his arms straight out of the bars from where they’d just been so near her so he can run around through the opening that was just made and to Mei. He throws his arms around her once he’s close enough, though his embrace isn’t anything like normal – it’s restrained and weak, as though he’s afraid he’ll hurt her in her already weakened state.
He opens his mouth to say something, but no words come out.
All he finds himself capable of doing is biting down on the inside of his cheek hard enough to draw blood.
Post by MEI MORIMOTO on Dec 18, 2012 21:20:44 GMT 9.5
[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 350px; padding: 10px; background: #000000;][STYLE= font-family: georgia; color: #F2F2F2; font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold; text-align: center; letter-spacing: -2px; width: 405px; line-height: 60%;]I CAN'T DECIDE WHETHER YOU SHOULD[/style][STYLE=color: #F2F2F2; font-family: franklin gothic medium; font-size: 10px; text-align: center;]LIVE OR DIE. OH YOU'LL PROBABLY GO TO HEAVEN. PLEASE DON'T HANG YOUR HEAD AND CRY.[/style][STYLE= width: 390px; font-family: tahoma; font-size: 10px; text-align: justify; color: #F2F2F2; padding: 10px; border-top: #F2F2F2 10px solid;]Relief. Blessed relief. Trampling, raging feet and voices coming from somewhere above her, not too far away. An almighty crash - the sounds of hooves cracking wood - Mei was practically crying by the time she heard the creak of the crate being removed from atop the trapdoor that was so hidden from the naked eye. Instantaneously the edges lit up with the light that filtered in, enough for her to know that whatever had been above it was gone. Practically crying by the time the trap door flew open and light - something she had struggled without - spewed all through the basement, diluting the darkness. She ignored the stining behind crystalline coloured eyes and stared hard at the shadow that was taking shape before her.
Though he was shrouded in a darkness as her eyes adjusted to the onslaught of vision, Mei instantly recognised that spiky, qwilfish shaped hair and let out a quiet, choked sob. It really was him. Hugh was flying down the stairs faster than a bolting Arcanine, and she was trying to string together a sentence that really explained her absolute gratitude to him. Thank you didn't seem to cut it when standing before her was a saviour. Thank you just wasn't enough indeed.
Unwell and mildly injured she may be, but Mei was not concerned. All she could think of was thelight and the wind and her pokemon. Of freedom. A warm bed. Never falling for an awful trick again. she breathed out quietly, watching him as she kept her grip tightly on the bars, forcing herself to keep standing even through the pain. It was an effort, but it was an effort that she considered entirely worth it. Her hair shifted over her face as she waited patiently.
It was not a situation that merited laughter but as Hugh told her not to move all she could do was laugh lightly - perhaps in sheer relief and perhaps because the time locked up had made her somewhat batty and she was still concerned that she might not get out. She let her eyes lock on the Metagross, her grip tightening on the bars until her knuckles went white. She hoped desperately that she wouldn't fall and hurt herself any worse - she didn't want to face the humiliation or the sheer pain that the cement floor brought to her already weakened body. After all, Hugh didn't need anymore more to add to his rage levels.
"You came." She finally stuttered out, voice cracking as she flicked her eyes towards the entrance he'd come from. Briefly worried that he might have been followed, her gaze returned to her friend when she knew for certain that the coast was clear. His hand upon her own sent a jolt of electricity through her skin and she leant her cheek into his touch. Her hair probably looked and felt like a pidey nest. SHe could only imagine how awful it would be to look at her.
Blinking away tears that once more threatened to fall, she choked back another sob as she used her injured hand to reach up and cover over the one against her face. Still clutching to keep herself upright, she watched the Metagross preparing for his orders and her hands flew back to the bars that kept her standing, grateful of the shield that Hugh provided for her ears. The sound probably would have deafened her considering her time, so it was nice to have been protected. It was nice to see that the cage was sent crashing away and was now sprawled out, bent and broken and unworking on the cell floor.
It hadn't even been seconds that he'd been there, the door was down and she was about to look into his eyes to thank him when he released her and sprinted through the door. In a painful motion, she released her iron grip on the bars and sunk into his hug. Pain completely unnoticed, she slumped there, using his form to keep herself off the ground. SHe knew she shouldn't. Somewhere in her brain she reminded herself of his own chest wound, so dangerous and sore itself, but she pressed her face into his neck, barely able to pool the energy to wrap her arms up and around his neck.
For a few moments she cried. Tears dripping down onto the crimson jacket that her friend was so known for, she managed to contain her sobs and just let them fall silently. It was easier to let him think she - so much shorter than him, now she realised - was just hugging. She didn't want him to see her cry. She didn't want him to think she was weak. "I can't believe you came." She whispered softly, her uninjured hand tangling into his thick coat to reassure her that he was actually there. "He said you were the one who organised it.. that you and Kyouhei and Kalula wanted me gone. He said awful things.. Hugh.. you're here though. You're here."
Mei was mumbling but she cared little. She had him there. He was going to take her home. "They wanted to know what I'd figured out, it's all true, all those attacks.. those people they organised it. They're definitely an organisation and they're.. they're so bad, Hugh.. they don't just ask-" she paused then, the brunette deciding it was better not to bring up the sheer amount of bruising from both a Lucario and a Zoroark's ability to attack people, "They're just bad people.. and oh Hugh, my pokemon. They have to be here somewhere, right? They took everything, my phone, my pokeballs, my necklace.. they took everything."
Now she was well and truly fretting. Her pokemon were probably hungry and lonely. She wanted to help them. She wanted to, so desperately. But she could barely walk, she didn't know how she'd search. "They took them.. We need to find them.. I don't want them to get hurt."
Hugh slowly tightens his grip protectively around his friend, curling his fingers into her shoulder and side as though to lock her in his arms, unwilling to be separated from her even slightly. He rests his chin gently on the top of her head while she begins speaking. He batters against the ringing in his ears from when Ganzorig broke the door of the cell down with his consciousness and desperate want to listen to Mei’s every word. He’s been hearing her voice in his dreams for some time now, and each time its different – incorrect and changed from the last time he dreamed in the midst of his restless sleep. Now her voice is real.
He inhales quietly and listens to her, feeling his body go rigid with the things she says, the lies her captors apparently told her, taking his name as well as Kyouhei’s and Kalula’s and tarnishing them for Mei. The only thing he can be grateful for now is that she’s able to stand and speak to him – that she’s still alive. There were so many things he feared for her, and despite a bit of visible battering that he can see without questioning the injuries further, he finds himself relieved that the’s still in one piece.
He knows, though, that even though he’s satisfied with finding Mei again, his rush of fury and desire for revenge is far from satisfied. ”Mei...” he murmurs, tilting his head down so that the bridge between his eyes and above his nose is rested on top of her head. He closes his eyes before pulling one hand back and raises it to rest it on the side of her face once she’s broken off in her fretting about her pokemon. ”Mei, shh...” he moves his gloved hand slowly – so the leather doesn’t scratch her face – before cupping her jaw in his palm, moving his thumb slightly once more before repeating himself, ”Sh...”
It’s a sound he hopes quiets her, calming her as much as possible. He doesn’t want her to exhaust herself. ”I’m here, now...don’t spend your energy trying to tell me everything here, please...” His voice is closer to a murmur, though it like the rest of his body still shakes with the rage he’s struggling to keep a cap on in Mei’s presence. ”...there will be time to tell me everything later, I promise.” The spiky-haired teen swallows, ”I will get you home, and you can rest and recover before telling me everything. Please save your energy now, you must be exhausted...”
He pulls a lock of hair that’s fallen in her face back and tucks it behind her ear, picking his head up and looking at his pokemon hovering outside the cell, its great red eyes staring at him with only the slightest question. ”Ganzorig, can you sense Mei’s pokemon?” The pokemon blinks once before closing its eyes, sending its senses out through the building. It turns slightly to face the direction of the locked room the floor above them before opening its eyes once more, a mechanical grumbling sound coming from the pokemon while it stays staring in that direction – something Hugh understands as affirmation.
”I will get your pokemon, too, Mei. But you’re not walking a step.”
His voice is level when he says this, and he doesn’t need to look at her to convey the fact that this is something she won’t be able to argue. ”Ganzorig, return.” He pulls the pokemon’s ball from his belt and throws it through the space in the bars (luckily enough it sails perfectly through the space between the iron slats) to tap the pokemon, recalling it and returning to Hugh’s hand where he shrunk it down and clipped it back on his belt. ”Come on.”
He can’t bear to meet her eyes, not now. He can’t bring himself to face the friend he’s positive he let down by taking so long to help her, and taking even longer to realize she needed help in the first place.
He bends over slightly, pulling back from her to place her arms over his shoulder, wrists bent slightly to curve her hands behind his neck before he moves to the side, adjusting his stance to pick her up. He only needs a glance at his friend to know he’ll be able to carry her – his years in Sinnoh weren’t for just making his pokemon strong, but his own body as well.
His left hand rests against the top of her back briefly before he hooks his right arm behind her knees, hooking them over his elbow and hefting her up easily – careful to be as gentle as possible to Mei. He tries to look down at her but bites his cheek and only manages to get his eyes to her hairline before looking away and beginning to walk toward the stairs.
I’m sorry, Mei... He thinks as though she can hear him, ...I’ve let you down, and even though I’m righting my fault now, that still doesn’t change the fact I failed in the first place.
”Odin!” he calls, up the stairs he’s approaching. The snort tells him the pokemon heard. ”Break down the door to that room that I couldn’t open earlier." He hears the pokemon stomp around before the sound of shattering wood greets him as he moves swiftly up the stairs. ”You’ll have your pokemon and belongings very soon. Then I’ll get you home.”
Post by MEI MORIMOTO on Dec 20, 2012 7:12:53 GMT 9.5
[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 350px; padding: 10px; background: #000000;][STYLE= font-family: georgia; color: #F2F2F2; font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold; text-align: center; letter-spacing: -2px; width: 405px; line-height: 60%;]I CAN'T DECIDE WHETHER YOU SHOULD[/style][STYLE=color: #F2F2F2; font-family: franklin gothic medium; font-size: 10px; text-align: center;]LIVE OR DIE. OH YOU'LL PROBABLY GO TO HEAVEN. PLEASE DON'T HANG YOUR HEAD AND CRY.[/style][STYLE= width: 390px; font-family: tahoma; font-size: 10px; text-align: justify; color: #F2F2F2; padding: 10px; border-top: #F2F2F2 10px solid;]His grip was comforting. Even if it hurt to be held tightly to her friend, it was comforting. She was alive. She was protected, and that was all that mattered. Shattered as she was by everything that had happened, Mei was comfortable now that Hugh was there. She could make out blood on his knuckles but kept her mouth quiet about it. His face in her hair - which was probably such a mess and looked so disgusting that her inner self would wish it wasn't Hugh seeing her in such a wreck - she felt calmed. He hushed her and she obliged, nuzzling into the hand that held her face.
She never wanted to move. Never in a hundred years.
For the first time in weeks she felt safe and more well than she had. With her friend by her side she probably could have run out of the building with him. But he was having none of that. He was telling her to calm down and not speak so much and she realised that he was probably making a lot of sense. The fact that she'd been cooped up so long with no one to really talk to meant the sudden string of words was almost a relief to the young brunette. Someone to talk to, someone to confide in.
Mei could feel him trembling against her and wanted nothing more than to do the same as he had for her. With tears still wetting her cheeks, she pressed her face into his neck and her good hand against his chest. "I'm okay, you don't have to worry so much, they didn't do anything too bad." Blue eyes dared to glance upwards to meet Hugh's, and she managed a smile. She knew he had to be angry. He wouldn't have been destroying the upstairs part of the building if he'd just been calm about everything.
Her hair pushed back, she breathed out quietly. She hadn't really realised exactly how tired she'd been until he said it, and she nodded. "I really want.." She paused, once mores nuggling herself up against her friend with a slight sniffle, silent tears finally making a sound the more she calmed, "A bed."
What she hadn't expected was what happened next. Obviously his Metagross had known where her pokemon were, but she didn't think he'd go return him and then start to lift her up. He wasn't looking at her, not really, even as his arms slid around her, guiding her own grip around his neck. "H-Hugh!" She squeaked lightly as her weight was lifted from the ground - more of a relief than she wanted to admit on her aching limbs and ribs - and the brunette clutched tightly at her own hands. "You don't have to carry me, really. I'll be fine, you being here is enough to get me to walk, really really."
Her gentle almost pleading tone was remnant of the Mei from before. Her voice a little confused, almost laughing. Much of the jovial nature was hidden by the pain and fear, but she was still herself. They hadn't completely broken her. She doubted her friend was listening, however, as he started walking towards the stairs. Surely he didn't want to carry her up them? She was too heavy! "Really, I can walk up the stairs, you don't have to." Another soft squeak. She closed her eyes however, listening as her friend gives the order to the Tauros waiting at the peak of the staircase.
The peak that before she had noticed, they were fast approaching. There was little more she could argue with, considering that he was strong enough to hold her close. She gave in to the fact that he was not putting her down and rested the - thankfully - good side of her face against his shoulder, closing her eyes. "Home sounds good. Home. A bath."Not getting beaten up for what I know. The thought stings in her mind. She wished she knew why he wouldn't look at her. Maybe she really was a royal mess to look at.
"I'm so glad you came, Hugh." She mumbled quietly, hands tightening into fists in the back of his jacket. "I wasn't expecting anyone to come. After he said all those things.. all I wanted to know was if it was true, but no one came.. and then you were here. Thank you." The words were almost for the sake of speaking, reaffirming the fact that she wasn't in some pain-induced halucination of freedom. If she got responses then she'd know it was for real. She'd know she really was safe.
"You and Kyou aren't allowed to go away anymore, okay? You're not allowed to go off and train and leave me behind. It's not fair." She pouted, chewing on her dried, chapped lips. It was painful, but it had become a real habit.
"I won't let you."
[ you are a worry wort but it's okay because I still love you and that post was epic. <3 you didn't do anything wrong and you never do asfdsifj you know I love your posts. ] [/style][STYLE= float: left; width: 100px; height: 100px; background: url(http://i.imgur.com/B05fE.png); border: #f2f2f2 solid 10px;][/style][STYLE= float: left; width: 80px; height: 100px; background: url(http://i.imgur.com/A7gfl.png); border-top: #f2f2f2 solid 10px; border-bottom: #f2f2f2 solid 10px;][/style][STYLE= float: left; width: 100px; height: 100px; background: url(http://i.imgur.com/B05fE.png); border: #f2f2f2 solid 10px;][/style][STYLE= float: left; width: 80px; height: 100px; background: url(http://i.imgur.com/A7gfl.png); border-top: #f2f2f2 solid 10px; border-bottom: #f2f2f2 solid 10px; border-right: #f2f2f2 solid 10px;][/style]
[STYLE= font-family: franklin gothic medium, arial narrow; font-size: 10px;]MADE BY CYANIDE CANDY ✖[/style]
He says nothing in response to her protests, only glancing down at her when he feels her head rest against the side of his shoulder. Her eyes are closed now, and he feels something in his tense body release, allowing the teenager to relax slightly for the first time in what must have been ages. He looks up and swallows, telling himself repeatedly to calm down. Being wired won’t help Mei at all, and it will just make you even more of a loose cannon. He hears himself think. Wait until Mei’s better and then go hunting down people to exact your revenge on.
Hugh manages to smile when he hears her mumbled words, glad that he managed to save her from the dark, lacking hope that anybody would come to save her. That was a scenario he didn’t want to think about – something that he would probably be seeing in his nightmares as his thoughts of how he’d failed her manifested into some psychological demon that he’d need to fight off. ”I’ll always protect you.” he tells her quietly, the happier expression dropping into something more serious, voice matching. ”I’ll do whatever I can to keep you safe...and I’ll always be there for you.” He places one foot on the ground level of the small building, turning towards the center of the room before squinting against the light.
”That’s a promise.”
He lets his eyes adjust for only a moment before looking to the Tauros standing in the damaged doorway across the room. ”Odin.” The pokemon backs up, tails swishing back and forth as it looks at him expectantly. ”Are Mei’s things there?” Hugh’s pokemon bobs its head in response before trotting towards his trainer and the friend he’s holding protectively in his grip. ”Good. Get one of my pokeballs.” The Tauros flicks its ears, as though questioning the order before taking one in its teeth – carefully – and placing it in his trainer’s hand, which Hugh’s flipped slightly to be able to hold the sphere while still supporting Mei entirely.
Arceus condemn him to a life of misery if he dropped her.
He examines the pokemon within. He nods before dropping it, letting the Flygon within take shape in the room before them. It immediately crouches down, seeing the other trainer in Hugh’s arms. ”I’ll let you rest on Havilah, Mei.” He tells her quietly, kneeling down next to the pokemon so he can gently roll her from his grip onto the pokemon’s back. The dragon sits perfectly still while Hugh gently slips from Mei’s grip, draping her arms over the Flygon for the pokemon to take her wrists gently and secure them against its own body for flight.
He draws back, placing his bloodied hand lightly against her hair before drawing back. ”You’ll be home soon, and you can rest in your own bed as long as you need.”
The pokemon draws itself up, watching as its trainer darts into the room opened by the Tauros. Hugh immediately collects Mei’s bag and slips her pokeballs into his own hip-pouch before sliding her bag over his shoulder to hold it during the trip back. He gives the room a quick, final sweep, keeping his eyes open for anything else that might belong to her.
He sees nothing, and walks quickly back out into the main area, practically vaulting onto his Tauros’ back. ”Come on, Havilah. Let’s get Mei home.” He leads the exit, urging Odin into a trot through the gaping hole in the wall from the earlier attack before the Flygon lifts lightly into the air, wings vibrating quietly and producing a nearly musical humming sound, something that Hugh hopes will put his dear friend to sleep to get her the peaceful rest she desperately needs.
The Flygon exits after Hugh, leaving the building that would haunt them for some time behind them as they head back for Aspertia.
notes homeward bound, they are. // I think this is calling for a next thread, y/n? I can probably start it if you want to close this thread with a post of yours~[/classy]
Post by MEI MORIMOTO on Dec 20, 2012 21:44:20 GMT 9.5
[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 350px; padding: 10px; background: #000000;][STYLE= font-family: georgia; color: #F2F2F2; font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold; text-align: center; letter-spacing: -2px; width: 405px; line-height: 60%;]I CAN'T DECIDE WHETHER YOU SHOULD[/style][STYLE=color: #F2F2F2; font-family: franklin gothic medium; font-size: 10px; text-align: center;]LIVE OR DIE. OH YOU'LL PROBABLY GO TO HEAVEN. PLEASE DON'T HANG YOUR HEAD AND CRY.[/style][STYLE= width: 390px; font-family: tahoma; font-size: 10px; text-align: justify; color: #F2F2F2; padding: 10px; border-top: #F2F2F2 10px solid;]Mei's eyes sparkled with tears as Hugh made promise after promise to her. She hadn't asked for any of them, she hadn't wanted him to feel as if she was a chore to take care of. The seriousness of his tone concerned her and she cuddled closer to him as if it would reassure him that he didn't need to always be there. She just didn't want him to go away any longer. She didn't want to feel the pain of losing her friends ever again. She couldn't stand it.
Fingers flexed and tightened in that red cot as she held herself near to him and she shook her head only once. "I don't need promises. I just need it to happen. For you to be here." Her voice quiet, mumbled into his shoulder, she sighed and listened instead to the one-sided conversation between man and Pokemon as she was carried toward wherever Hugh had planned their destination to be.
It was all too soon for her, being pried out of her friend's arms. Though she flushed with embarrassment as she slid gently onto the Flygon's back and fastened herself there as best she could, considering the circumstances, she felt a strange longing for the physical contact once more. Mei had always adored hugs. She had always been the girl that sat herself down on the laps of her friends and snuggled up to them even when it wasn't particularly approved. But now, now the need for closeness was lined ever-so-faintly with fear. Fear that now he'd let go that she'd never have that closeness again.
Desperately searching for him with tired, sore eyes, she locked her gaze on him and let her hands finally fall away as he pried her off. She probably seemed more clingy than usual. He was probably a little bit dirty from holding her, even, but she didn't want him to go out of her eyesight. She followed him as he walked, her eyes briefly stopping on the injuries to his knuckles. She watched them tuck her own pokeballs into his belt pouch, and a sigh of relief spread over her as the all-too-familiar ball capsules disappeared one by one. They were definitely hers. They definitely had her Pokemon.
The mothering nature in her wanted to tend his wounds, but she wouldn't be able to until her own were tended.
Her heart sank when he didn't climb atop the Flygon with her as they finally made their departure. She couldn't voice her heartsickness, however, simply because it sounded needy. All she wanted was the company, and at least the pokemon were close together. She had to be okay with that. "I don't want to be by myself." The only words she managed to muster as the thrum of the pokemon's melodical wings beating began to lull her along with the movements.
Sheer exhaustion assisted her body's sudden need for sleep, and she forced her eyes to stay open as she looked back at Hugh for another long moment, adoration and thankfulness spilling out all over her battered face. "I just.. don't want to be alone right now. Would you stay, wherever we go?" She pleaded this time, hoping that, if she didn't wake up before she found her bed, that he might still be somewhere nearby in the morning.
She just didn't want to wake up alone in the dark. Never again.
[ go ahead with the next thread, I'll archive this one in a couple days. <3 whee, she's all sappy afraid of the dark now. XD ] [/style][STYLE= float: left; width: 100px; height: 100px; background: url(http://i.imgur.com/B05fE.png); border: #f2f2f2 solid 10px;][/style][STYLE= float: left; width: 80px; height: 100px; background: url(http://i.imgur.com/A7gfl.png); border-top: #f2f2f2 solid 10px; border-bottom: #f2f2f2 solid 10px;][/style][STYLE= float: left; width: 100px; height: 100px; background: url(http://i.imgur.com/B05fE.png); border: #f2f2f2 solid 10px;][/style][STYLE= float: left; width: 80px; height: 100px; background: url(http://i.imgur.com/A7gfl.png); border-top: #f2f2f2 solid 10px; border-bottom: #f2f2f2 solid 10px; border-right: #f2f2f2 solid 10px;][/style]
[STYLE= font-family: franklin gothic medium, arial narrow; font-size: 10px;]MADE BY CYANIDE CANDY ✖[/style]
Last Edit: Dec 20, 2012 21:44:40 GMT 9.5 by MEI MORIMOTO
