under control . open

[ADDISON BAXTER]

"You're too fucking noisy, that's what you are. Going to get us killed one day, you little shit." Small, pale hands wrap around the jaw of the crocodile-pokemon in an attempt to keep its gnawing jaws shut. The damage was done, though-- he already held the piece of pipe he had wanted to tear from the basement wall. Addison scowled as he brushed her grip away, the resounding crunch of pipe filling the dark room. "Are you serious?" It was a defeated sigh, yet the tried her luck at yanking the crunched metal away from the pokemon. It came easier than she believed it would have, and the female was forced to stumble back, seeing as she had put more effort than necessary into confiscating the croconaw's new toy. A toothy grin greeted her, and the pokemon bounded off to some corner to look for more material. "You're damn lucky this building's security is shit, you know that? Damn lucky we already disabled the damn cameras. Still, try to be quiet. That means no noise, Turtle. Stop it." Seeing as how the pokemon had already began rummaging for something else, she drew the pokeball from her belt and returned the little shit. She didn't need his help anyway. Now if only those documents jumped out to face her... Of course, stealing from a rich man wasn't the easiest task. It was just some old warehouse basement, but its owner would surely skin her if she was caught.  'Just gotta find that little pink paper, sweetheart. I need that delivered to--' Shit, what was his name again? Began with an S? Nono, that was the company she was taking from. Who the fuck was this paper for? What was the paper? Coordinates? She grumbled, frustrated now. Should have just stayed home, Addy, it's not worth the fifty bucks. If this was so important, he would have hired some top-level thief to do this shit. She wasn't a thief, just a damn messenger. Still... it was money the family needed.  About 30 more minutes of scrounging brought her to a dusty file cabinet, hidden in a back corner. It was dark, and her flashlight was starting to dim, but she could make out some of the words. 'Structure', 'Machinery'. Worth a shot. She blindly reached for a drawer, only to squeal and recoil when her fingers brushed strands of cobwebs-- harmless, but enough to make her shiver, enough to make her paranoid, enough to make her pat down ever surface of her body to check for bugs. Arceus forbid. Enough courage finally let her open and dig through what looked like relatively old documents, though neatly filed. 'There are a lot of pink fucking papers her, christ'. Fuck it, she thought. Just take them all, look through them in the morning. Addison wiggled the bag off of her shoulder, bending down to unzip it and place about seven manila folders in the pouch. Until her flashlight went out. She cursed, banging the thing on the ground with hopes to get it to reactive. She found, however, that the sudden new light behind her back, was not her flashlight. She kept banging it anyway, taking a moment to realize the change in her vision. 'Fuck me'. Time to find out just how good her lies really are.

[FERNANDO SILPH]

You're too fucking noisy. Every mistake this trespasser makes adds another pang of annoyance to Fernando's already foul mood. It isn't the fact that someone has the audacity to try and sneak onto his property that gets him, it's that they're doing such a terrible job. How hard is it to stay undetected? Even a child could keep themselves quiet enough to get around without raising alarms. It's unruly criminals like these that make Fernando appreciate all the training he's pushed Anna through. At least he can take comfort that she wouldn't be this incompetent. Maybe. It had been amazingly fortunate that Fernando had stopped by when he did. After some brief pondering about his plans to expand his horizons to Akiro, Fernando had lucked out in remembering the blue prints for some merchandise that would serve well with bartering with the poor nomads. Simple things like irrigation and transversable crops would go for a fortune over there. Imagine if he could set up a number of small oases and bring back agricultural practices to the resource starved nation-- he'd be a God. Even the citadel would have to look at his accomplishments. The only problem with it was the more than likely risk that various groups of Akirians would poach from these gardens before they could yield any fruit. Without a way to police these areas there was no point in progressing these otherwise unprofitable products. Fortunately, he had an answer to that too. For now, simply bringing the previously scrapped inventions into completion would be enough to encourage him to carry out his ridiculous scheme. That's why he was here, in this abandoned warehouse filled with Silph's discontinued projects. It wasn't that they were bad, they just weren't worth the trouble of carrying out, much less steal. It's fine though, Fernando will have his answers soon enough. Another loud clang goes off and Fernando finds it harder to keep himself quiet. The sheer lack of caution this intruder has shown has been nothing short of infuriating. Fernando can barely contain himself. It takes the small tug on his leg to hold him back. Leave it to a Slowking to be the more patient of the two. With a sagely nod, the pokemon waddles around from behind its master and shines a bright light on the would be trespasser. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?" It'll be hard for Addison to turn around much less react to the hot, white light radiating from Slowking's crown. The small ruby is lit ablaze and poised to nail the small girl with a POWER GEM the moment the command is given. Leniency is not a trait the two are known for. "Any movements and you're free to shoot." Both trainer and pokemon known each other well enough now that the command doesn't have to be vocalized. It's only mentioned for Addison's sake, and the two are more than willing to commit if needed be. If she's hoping for mercy then she better pray hard because neither party cares about her youth or gender. As far as their concerned she's a threat and threats need to be terminated. The only thing keeping the rock at bay is Fernando's mild curiosity behind both her motive and her intentions. Unfortunately for her, curiosity only last for so long. So here's your chance kid, find a way to keep him at bay and you might not end up being bludgeoned to death.

[ADDISON BAXTER]

Talk about being in over your head. Addison is left to silently panic, arms frozen at her sides, bag still slung on her shoulder. Every mistake she's made crosses her mind, and she silently scolds herself for ever letting the croconaw "help". In her defense, who visits their warehouse basement at two in the goddamn morning? Her chest is frozen as she tries to figure some solution to this hopeless problem. Addison has no idea who is with the man talking, but she's very apt to die any moment if she doesn't act quickly. Throwing out her own pokemon in retaliation is an increasingly horrid idea. She can feel the sweat begin to bead at her forehead and the nape of her neck-- whether it's from the heat or her own nervousness she's not sure. Being unsure of just how much she can react, Addison opts to stay in her frozen, shallow-breathed state. Is honesty the best option? What kind of lie would allow her to escape this with her life? She decides to take the chance. Besides, if she wasn't killed by this man, her temporary employer would surely come strangle her himself, once he found she had failed miserably. What if it was just a policeman? Surely they wouldn't take that approach-- fuck it. "A company's representative hired me to find a "pink paper" that belongs to a wealthy man. He didn't tell me what his plans were, or what was on it." Her shoulders fall, only to gingerly remove the files she had taken, to place on the ground. Her gut is uneasy-- not knowing what the exact threat is behind her is burning her up. Her face is red and she can feel the former sweat beads slowly inch down her skin. "I've never been a thief, really. I'm pretty sure that's obvious. I was made to deliver letters, not take 'pink paper'." Her voice is a grumble, as if she's hesitant to say it at a normal tone. It's too casual to be a plead for life. Perhaps he wants her to wallow in shame, to grovel at his feet begging for forgiveness. Not that it's her main thought right now. "I was offered a lot of money for some pretty shitty details, really." It's the first time she's actually given away her mission-- not that she has much choice. What, is she supposed to tell him "oh, I was just leaving these files here for you. Oh, by the way, they're yours". Fuck it. Just, fuck it.

[FERNANDO SILPH]

The command was to shoot upon movement yet nothing came despite Addison clearly failing to heed Fernando's warning. Generally, Fernando's orders are not one to be ignored but he trusts his psychic pokemon well enough to leave it to the Slowking's discretion. They both stand there, glowering at the terrified girl in an attempt to gauge the authenticity of her claims. While Fernando had his doubts the Slowking was more than adept enough to appraise her emotions, feeding off her anxiety with a empathetic frown. Another small tug at his leg tells Fernando enough and his expression flat lines to a default straight face. "Oh," is his initial response, as if her explanation is enough to soothe his previous temper. "Alright, what's her life value?" The light atop Slowking's crown beings to dull as its eyes shift into a bright, translucent teal. It simply stares at Addison, assessing her before mumbling something back at Fernando. Whatever it said can't be good since Fernando's expression turns into a bored frown before he turns around to walk away. "Sixteen is too low. You go ahead and snap her neck. I'll send Gully to hide the body later." A snap signals the pokemon to go ahead and end her life so the two can be done with it. She serves no further purpose now that Fernando's curiosity has been sated. Whoever sent her had been dumb enough to rely on a rookie so naturally he'd assume they weren't clever enough to hide their paper trail. A bit of probing here and there and he'd find the source. As for Addison? Well, Fernando might as well cut out the middleman and save her the trouble of being hung for her incompetence. At least this way she'd die quickly and painlessly. Leave it to a Silph to be so considerate.

[ADDISON BAXTER]

Game over. She breathes in, sharply, whipping around to look at whoever would be ending her life. She was greeted with what seemed to be darkness, before her eyes adjusted once again. A man and a smaller figure. Her movements her sloppy, whatever objects around her scattered as she shuffled away, surprised she wasn't dead by now as it was. Pleading was looking more and more appealing. Addison ripped the bag off of her shoulder and threw it in the direction of her killer, fingers fumbling to un clip the croconaw's ball off of her belt. She frantically released the confused reptile, catching her breath before she ordered any attacks-- it was bold enough-- no, stupid enough to have even thought about retaliating, but she only has one life, and she might as well go with a fight. Addy doesn't have time to think about morality or the fragility of the human body. She can only act, and her words are the first to perform. "I can kill him for you--" Another gulp of air. "The man who hired me. I know where he is. I know what he does. It would be easy-" Surely he wouldn't believe her, not after her poor performance. It was true, her offer, and despite the conflict she may later face, Addison was true to her word-- then again, would she have a choice, if she made it out? "And I'm seventeen, not sixteen." As if it would mean anything. Her croconaw, who seems to have gathered a gist of the situation, now stands snarling in front of her, jaws baring teeth in an impressive display of aggression. "I'll do anything-- I'm good at delivering things. Not stealing. Delivering. I can get from place to place, I can work for you or--" Would she even be needed? How petty, begging for her life. Her previous act of attempting defense is turning into the death of a coward. She grimaces, nudging her pokemon, only to nod as he looks back at her. The small blue pokemon plants itself, preparing to lunge at the first thing that approaches. It's another stupid move that probably won't save her (if anything, Turtle would bite her), and her body is still tense, waiting to feel the grip around her skull that would end her life. "Anything."

[FERNANDO SILPH]

Addison is not a very wise girl. Making another number of mistakes is going to do little to help her cause. But can anyone really blame her? She's nothing but a young juvenile caught up in unfortunate circumstances. But it's not like Fernando to care. Murdering her is nothing more than natural selection at work. Knowing that he'll be ending her life does little in the way of disturbing him. Why should he care if no one else does. Just like Anna, Addison is a lost soul, someone no one cares about. The world won't stop when her breathing does. Nothing will change. Addison Baxter will simply be no more. Her only choice is to fight back and hope she can somehow struggle out of this predicament alive. Unfortunately, there lie her first mistake. Tossing her book bag at a psychic pokemon is just about the most idiotic thing one can do. The bag barely leaves her hand before Slowking takes control over it. The PSYCHIC stops it midair, redirecting it back at the girl before it flies right back at her at double the speed. Sending out her Croconaw was her second mistake. A small, physical creature such as that had no chance against the psychic power house. All it would take is a little effort and the Slowking would be able to turn the Croconaw against her, if it didn't do so on it's own accord first. Luckily, she didn't order it to attack. Her lack of spine was the only thing that saved her from Slowking's wrath. And, as if by a miracle, she wisens up to her situation. She has no choice but to beg for her life. Escape is impossible and defeating Fernando is sheer ludicrous. All she can do is throw away her pride and hope he takes pity on her. Unfortunately, none of her offers are up to par? Delivery? Killing her employer? She might as well offer up the Croconaw too. "I will personally find him and then kill him. I don't need you, someone who can't even sneak into here quietly, to try and do something that you can't." There goes rejection number one. "I am a man who has everything. What can someone who has a mere life value of sixteen give to someone who has a life value of nine hundred? Even my pokemon sits at a square two fifty." There goes rejection number two. You better learn how to beg properly Addison or find something to give him real fast. Things don't seem to be going to well for her and Fernando's bound to pull the trigger at any moment. Her little offer might have bought her some time but that's slowly trickling away with every passing second. "What can you give me that I don't already have?"

[ADDISON BAXTER]

The bag she attempted to whip at the pair greets Addison in the gut, whirling past her croconaw and making impact with the toned flesh of her stomach. She grunts-- she's lucky it was only full of paper and a pack of crackers, but the force is enough to make her wheeze, coughing away her time. Her gives her what seems to be an ultimatum between life and death, and Addison is trying her hardest to pick life. Her finger clicks the pokeball she had dropped, and the croconaw disappears in a flash of light. She coughs once more, ignoring the urge to stand. "My life." Of course, stupid, he's trying to take it. Care to elaborate? "Youth. A croconaw. A--" That hesitation is going to get you killed. Her last word makes her hesitant, uncomfortable. "An able body." The manipulation is a nice touch, though she can feel herself squirm as soon as the words part from her lips. "The ability to learn." She pauses, expecting to hear her own neck snap any second. "The ability to be disposed of, I suppose..."

[FERNANDO SILPH]

"A pokemon and an able bodied woman." He announces it aloud as if he's trying to contemplate her offer. It's not much but indefinitely better than anything she's offered up until now. Fernando can't say he's not intrigued, the thought of having another set of hand is certainly handy but is it worth it. Anna's already a handful as it is. But maybe he can afford to give her a break, see how she deals with a taste of freedom. "The only problem is that once I kill you, I'll have your pokemon anyway. The only thing you really have to offer is yourself." He's thinking, still hesitant about sparing her. "You think a pup like you can satisfy someone like me? Or are you trying to sell yourself off as fresh, untouched meat?"

[ADDISON BAXTER]

"Yes, sir." Should she be formal? It feels strange rolling off her tongue-- she's not accustomed to saying it. She stares at him, hope in her eyes, waiting for some form of mercy. If she was religious she would have prayed ages ago. She could do nothing but agree with his statement-- it hadn't occurred to her that he would steal the croconaw from her dead hands. Then again, what else would happen to it? Just left to rot in a ball for the rest of its existence? "Why can't I do both? I don't know how to satisfy you, but I could learn. But I'm also.. 'fresh and untouched', as you said, I guess." She stared a little longer. "And if you don't find that I'm fit, you kill me. On spot." Do you really want to bargain with the devil, Addison?

[FERNANDO SILPH]

"Fernando can barely restrain himself from erupting into laughter. The fact that Addison can come off so genuinely ignorant astounds him. As if some meek little girl could do anything of the sort. Still, the novelty of having a new toy wasn't something Fernando would take lightly. It’d give him a chance to experiment, delve into another person and see just how differently they tick. “Hahaha. Alright. You got yourself a deal. You’re free to live for a moment longer. We’ll see just how well you’ll fare miss…