Marril
02/06/2005, 04:25 PM
Wow, it's been another fun-filled week, and then I went and broke it by posting. Anyhow, this chapter might confuse a few people because I'm using a character we haven't seen in ages. To fill you in, Melanie was Ryan's old partner before he got promoted, and works for Juliet as her only combat-trained. If you don't know who Domino is, go watch Mewtwo Returns, she's the Rocket Elite in that movie.
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“I’m calling shenanigans on this one,” Marril grumbled, hands stuck deep into her pockets.
“You’ve done that five times now,” Tschel pointed out. “I don’t even know why I’m helping these shenanigans of yours.”
“Oh come on,” Alex laughed, hugging Tschel. “Marril’s our friend, and if a bunch of other Orthan Marrils are running about and she wants to find them, then we’re helping her.”
“We don’t know where to start, for one thing,” Tschel reminded Alex.
Alex shot a disbelieving look at Tschel. “You’re the guy who extorted an Aqua right out of the blue.”
“He’s got you there,” Marril grinned, just having finished asking—or, rather, traumatizing—some random passer-by about the Marril gang. “Oh, and it looks like we’re, um, on the wrong side of town.”
“You’re joking,” Tschel groaned. “How long is this going to take us?”
Alex knew what Tschel was asking—the Neo League finals were approaching, and several days could mean missing it entirely. He didn’t want to miss the finals either, but he wasn’t sure he could stand it if Marril had to do this herself.
“We’ve got enough time,” Alex smiled.
“Hey, Marril, he said we’re past due, and—” Tschel saw Marril didn’t even turn around. Alex looked awkwardly, and saw that the Marril they thought was the Marril they knew wasn’t.
“Took you long enough to notice me,” it was one of the Marril triplets. He was a bit shorter than their Marril, though just as slender. The odd thing was that he was dressed in exactly the same dark blue half-shirt and knee-length navy blue shorts. Alex wondered if Marril’s ingrained fashion sense was hers alone or if Orthan Pokémon of the same species all had the same inclinations.
“Where’s Marril?” Alex asked.
“Right over there,” the other Marril cocked his head over his shoulder to point. He had his arms crossed. He jaywalked across the street over to Alex and Tschel. Tschel glared at the new Marril with a degree of annoyance that Alex had never seen with the Marril they were used to.
“You have a name?” Tschel asked.
“Mariru,” the new Marril introduced himself, holding out his hand. Neither Alex nor Tschel took it. “Marril’s not so bad, you know.”
Tschel looked from Mariru to Alex to where Marril was talking to the other two Marrils. Alex couldn’t quite identify the expression on Tschel’s face.
“What’re your brothers’ names?” Alex asked, trying to keep the conversation going.
Mariru shrugged. “The one on our left is Kani, the other one’s Azure. You know, when you’re looking for someone, you really should make it less obvious.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Tschel said, slightly distastefully.
Kani, Azure, and Marril came over to where Alex, Tschel, and Mariru were standing. Kani and Azure both jaywalked like Mariru had done; Marril absentmindedly crossed at the actual crosswalk. Tschel was unnerved that Kani and Azure were wearing exactly the same thing Marril and Mariru were wearing.
“Kani explained why everyone and their Growlithe’s after them,” Marril said. “Can you two believe nobody thinks Orthan Pokémon are anything but wild Pokémon?”
“People still think that?” Alex asked, confused.
Kani groaned. “Listen to her, ‘people still think like that?’ indeed.”
“Um…” Alex’s sweatdrop was about the size of a small volleyball. “Hate to break it to you, but, uh…”
Marril sniggered so hard she almost couldn’t say anything. “He’s a guy.”
Kani and Azure both stared intently, obviously not sure if Marril was joking or not. Alex tried valiantly to resist the urge to hit the two Marrils over the head with a giant hammer.
“How many times has this happened?” Tschel asked rhetorically. Alex looked both visually and figuratively for an out.
“So where were we?” Marril helped Alex out by distracting everyone with the conversation topic at hand.
“People treat us like we were still a foot and a third tall,” Azure grumbled. “Like common mice.”
“Can’t even get a place of our own, can’t even get a bloomin’ job,” Mariru elaborated. “The one time we actually managed to talk to somebody in authority, it was Officer Jenny telling us to get back to our trainers.”
“Did you even have any before Team Rocket had their way with you?” Tschel asked.
“Tch, no,” Mariru said, uncrossing his arms for once. “That’s the worst part, people who we tell we never had trainers, just tell us to get out. So we’re forced to live like… Pokémon.”
Alex saw the reason why Orthan Pokémon didn’t like being called normal Pokémon. With Marril, it wasn’t really clear, since life went on like normal. In fact, few things had changed. With the Marril triplets, their entire life had been ruined. If enhanced intelligence were normal for Orthan Pokémon… then these Marrils would be smarter than everyone around them, but forced to live like riff-raff.
“I’m not really sure what to say,” Tschel admitted. “Well, aside from that we had the completely wrong idea of you to start off with.”
“Well, not really the wrong idea,” Kani’s expression turned slightly. Alex had a general feeling of overall dread.
“If you’re planning to do anything to us,” Tschel groaned, “At least tell us what it is first. I don’t like being kept in suspense.”
Marril shot a look at Mariru. Mariru shrugged. “Sorry,” Mariru at least sounded apologetic. Kani grabbed Alex and Tschel’s shoulders. Azure gestured for them to follow.
Marril tried to get Kani to let them go, but Azure sidestepped behind her and caught her in a half nelson. Not one to go down on the first move, Marril shook Azure off. Mariru was quick, and laid her out flat on her back in one swift blow.
“Go Marril,” Tschel said under his breath. Marril shot him a dirty look. “What? I was trying to be supportive.”
Just shaking her head, Marril tripped Azure and proceeded to get caught in a hold by Mariru. Azure was up quickly and kneed Marril in her stomach. Marril went limp, still conscious but if Mariru weren’t holding her, she’d have been unable to stand.
“I’m sorry,” Mariru apologized. “We’re really not bad people.”
“Sorry we had to beat you up,” Kani apologized to Marril. He slung Marril’s arm over his shoulder and helped her walk. “You’re actually kind of cute.”
“Shut it,” Marril spat.
“Well,” Alex thought that he’d at least try to alleviate the situation. “This isn’t good.”
“The secret to a good operation,” Domino explained to Melanie, “is that you always, always use the locals to your advantage.”
“Can you stop with the lessons?” Melanie asked. She didn’t care at all for the blonde ditz she’d been stuck with. She’d even have preferred Ryan to this joke of an Elite. Why she’d been ordered to the Orthan capital of the world by Juliet with Domino was anybody’s guess.
The intercom rang. Melanie had long since stopped trying to answer it. As the only combat-trained Rocket agent under Juliet, she’d gotten used to handling all forms of things. Domino, however, tended to get rather grouchy when she wasn’t in command.
“Yes?” Domino asked, picking up the phone. “Show them in.”
A few moments later, three blue-skinned Orthan Pokémon came through the door into the seminar room where Domino had set up the de facto base in Nightshade City. They were accompanied with what looked to be an albino, a disturbingly pretty blonde boy, and a fourth Orthan Marril.
The deathly pale boy looked up, right at Melanie. “I remember you. Rueni City.”
“Let them go,” Melanie told the Marril triplets. She turned her attention to the pale boy, Tschel if she remembered his name correctly. “You know why you’re here?”
Tschel shot a death glare at Melanie, but said nothing. The blonde boy beside him—Alex, Melanie remembered his name—gave his own harsh look to her.
“You want to explain it, or should I?” Domino asked, sounding arrogant.
“Go ahead,” Melanie crossed her arms and sat down at one of the tables.
“Sit them down,” Domino ordered the Marril triplets. Mariru, Kani, and Azure each found a seat for Marril, Tschel, and Alex. Once they were all seated, Domino paced in front of them.
“Samantha Yasashii,” Domino said, not looking at the three. “Rei Megumi.”
Alex looked a bit uncomfortable at the mention of those two names.
“There’s something with you,” Domino shook her head. “Something involving Team Rocket.”
“What are you talking about?” Tschel asked, trying to stand up. Kani clapped his hands on Tschel’s shoulders, preventing him from standing. Domino slapped Tschel.
“Her sister worked for us before,” Domino sneered. “Her father has had known Rocket ties for twenty years!”
Tschel turned his head to Alex. “This true?”
“First I’ve heard of this,” Alex shrugged.
“Look, Sam had to go to the Vermillion military base for a while,” Marril pointed out. “You think that some general Rocket threat because of some undescribed connection with your dad was the only reason?”
Domino leaned over in Alex’s face. “If you’re trying to get me to say anything, you can forget it. I’m a bit better than that.”
“Wrong thing to say,” Tschel muttered. “You’re basically admitting you know more than you let on.”
Melanie snickered. She enjoyed watching Domino act like an idiot. Though Domino was a master of disguise nearly to the skill of Executive Kenneth, she never did fare well when dealing in situations where she couldn’t pretend to be an idiot. Actually, scratch that. She didn’t need to pretend.
“I’ll handle this,” Melanie stood up. She brushed her long dark hair over her shoulder idly with her hand for effect. “The reason you’re here is because of your father and sister, Alex Yasashii. Alex Megumi, if you’d prefer your father’s name.”
“I grew up Yasashii,” Alex corrected her.
“Team Rocket hasn’t taken much direct action against your family,” Melanie explained. “That’s why you’re here. We’re investigating an… issue of an undisclosed importance to Team Rocket, and you’re involved. Tschel Hakujin and your Marril are only here because of their proximity to you.”
Domino, not wishing to be upstaged, tossed several tied stacks of bills to the Marril triplets. Mariru caught the bills midair and, wordlessly though with a look of guilt, left with his brothers. Domino produced a gun and pointed it at Alex, Tschel, and Marril.
“You’re going to be here a while. Oh, don’t worry about your League match, if you’re very lucky you’ll get to watch the outcome.”
Melanie looked at Domino. She didn’t trust the Elite, but Juliet had given her orders, and Roland had given Domino hers. Orders were orders, whether in the military or in Team Rocket, and orders were to be followed.
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That's it for this week, folks. Next chapter goes up when it goes up. Until then, don't get kidnapped by Team Rocket. Oh yeah, and if you're wondering, yes Alex really does look and sound that androgynous. It's for comedic effect, gash durnit.
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“I’m calling shenanigans on this one,” Marril grumbled, hands stuck deep into her pockets.
“You’ve done that five times now,” Tschel pointed out. “I don’t even know why I’m helping these shenanigans of yours.”
“Oh come on,” Alex laughed, hugging Tschel. “Marril’s our friend, and if a bunch of other Orthan Marrils are running about and she wants to find them, then we’re helping her.”
“We don’t know where to start, for one thing,” Tschel reminded Alex.
Alex shot a disbelieving look at Tschel. “You’re the guy who extorted an Aqua right out of the blue.”
“He’s got you there,” Marril grinned, just having finished asking—or, rather, traumatizing—some random passer-by about the Marril gang. “Oh, and it looks like we’re, um, on the wrong side of town.”
“You’re joking,” Tschel groaned. “How long is this going to take us?”
Alex knew what Tschel was asking—the Neo League finals were approaching, and several days could mean missing it entirely. He didn’t want to miss the finals either, but he wasn’t sure he could stand it if Marril had to do this herself.
“We’ve got enough time,” Alex smiled.
“Hey, Marril, he said we’re past due, and—” Tschel saw Marril didn’t even turn around. Alex looked awkwardly, and saw that the Marril they thought was the Marril they knew wasn’t.
“Took you long enough to notice me,” it was one of the Marril triplets. He was a bit shorter than their Marril, though just as slender. The odd thing was that he was dressed in exactly the same dark blue half-shirt and knee-length navy blue shorts. Alex wondered if Marril’s ingrained fashion sense was hers alone or if Orthan Pokémon of the same species all had the same inclinations.
“Where’s Marril?” Alex asked.
“Right over there,” the other Marril cocked his head over his shoulder to point. He had his arms crossed. He jaywalked across the street over to Alex and Tschel. Tschel glared at the new Marril with a degree of annoyance that Alex had never seen with the Marril they were used to.
“You have a name?” Tschel asked.
“Mariru,” the new Marril introduced himself, holding out his hand. Neither Alex nor Tschel took it. “Marril’s not so bad, you know.”
Tschel looked from Mariru to Alex to where Marril was talking to the other two Marrils. Alex couldn’t quite identify the expression on Tschel’s face.
“What’re your brothers’ names?” Alex asked, trying to keep the conversation going.
Mariru shrugged. “The one on our left is Kani, the other one’s Azure. You know, when you’re looking for someone, you really should make it less obvious.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Tschel said, slightly distastefully.
Kani, Azure, and Marril came over to where Alex, Tschel, and Mariru were standing. Kani and Azure both jaywalked like Mariru had done; Marril absentmindedly crossed at the actual crosswalk. Tschel was unnerved that Kani and Azure were wearing exactly the same thing Marril and Mariru were wearing.
“Kani explained why everyone and their Growlithe’s after them,” Marril said. “Can you two believe nobody thinks Orthan Pokémon are anything but wild Pokémon?”
“People still think that?” Alex asked, confused.
Kani groaned. “Listen to her, ‘people still think like that?’ indeed.”
“Um…” Alex’s sweatdrop was about the size of a small volleyball. “Hate to break it to you, but, uh…”
Marril sniggered so hard she almost couldn’t say anything. “He’s a guy.”
Kani and Azure both stared intently, obviously not sure if Marril was joking or not. Alex tried valiantly to resist the urge to hit the two Marrils over the head with a giant hammer.
“How many times has this happened?” Tschel asked rhetorically. Alex looked both visually and figuratively for an out.
“So where were we?” Marril helped Alex out by distracting everyone with the conversation topic at hand.
“People treat us like we were still a foot and a third tall,” Azure grumbled. “Like common mice.”
“Can’t even get a place of our own, can’t even get a bloomin’ job,” Mariru elaborated. “The one time we actually managed to talk to somebody in authority, it was Officer Jenny telling us to get back to our trainers.”
“Did you even have any before Team Rocket had their way with you?” Tschel asked.
“Tch, no,” Mariru said, uncrossing his arms for once. “That’s the worst part, people who we tell we never had trainers, just tell us to get out. So we’re forced to live like… Pokémon.”
Alex saw the reason why Orthan Pokémon didn’t like being called normal Pokémon. With Marril, it wasn’t really clear, since life went on like normal. In fact, few things had changed. With the Marril triplets, their entire life had been ruined. If enhanced intelligence were normal for Orthan Pokémon… then these Marrils would be smarter than everyone around them, but forced to live like riff-raff.
“I’m not really sure what to say,” Tschel admitted. “Well, aside from that we had the completely wrong idea of you to start off with.”
“Well, not really the wrong idea,” Kani’s expression turned slightly. Alex had a general feeling of overall dread.
“If you’re planning to do anything to us,” Tschel groaned, “At least tell us what it is first. I don’t like being kept in suspense.”
Marril shot a look at Mariru. Mariru shrugged. “Sorry,” Mariru at least sounded apologetic. Kani grabbed Alex and Tschel’s shoulders. Azure gestured for them to follow.
Marril tried to get Kani to let them go, but Azure sidestepped behind her and caught her in a half nelson. Not one to go down on the first move, Marril shook Azure off. Mariru was quick, and laid her out flat on her back in one swift blow.
“Go Marril,” Tschel said under his breath. Marril shot him a dirty look. “What? I was trying to be supportive.”
Just shaking her head, Marril tripped Azure and proceeded to get caught in a hold by Mariru. Azure was up quickly and kneed Marril in her stomach. Marril went limp, still conscious but if Mariru weren’t holding her, she’d have been unable to stand.
“I’m sorry,” Mariru apologized. “We’re really not bad people.”
“Sorry we had to beat you up,” Kani apologized to Marril. He slung Marril’s arm over his shoulder and helped her walk. “You’re actually kind of cute.”
“Shut it,” Marril spat.
“Well,” Alex thought that he’d at least try to alleviate the situation. “This isn’t good.”
“The secret to a good operation,” Domino explained to Melanie, “is that you always, always use the locals to your advantage.”
“Can you stop with the lessons?” Melanie asked. She didn’t care at all for the blonde ditz she’d been stuck with. She’d even have preferred Ryan to this joke of an Elite. Why she’d been ordered to the Orthan capital of the world by Juliet with Domino was anybody’s guess.
The intercom rang. Melanie had long since stopped trying to answer it. As the only combat-trained Rocket agent under Juliet, she’d gotten used to handling all forms of things. Domino, however, tended to get rather grouchy when she wasn’t in command.
“Yes?” Domino asked, picking up the phone. “Show them in.”
A few moments later, three blue-skinned Orthan Pokémon came through the door into the seminar room where Domino had set up the de facto base in Nightshade City. They were accompanied with what looked to be an albino, a disturbingly pretty blonde boy, and a fourth Orthan Marril.
The deathly pale boy looked up, right at Melanie. “I remember you. Rueni City.”
“Let them go,” Melanie told the Marril triplets. She turned her attention to the pale boy, Tschel if she remembered his name correctly. “You know why you’re here?”
Tschel shot a death glare at Melanie, but said nothing. The blonde boy beside him—Alex, Melanie remembered his name—gave his own harsh look to her.
“You want to explain it, or should I?” Domino asked, sounding arrogant.
“Go ahead,” Melanie crossed her arms and sat down at one of the tables.
“Sit them down,” Domino ordered the Marril triplets. Mariru, Kani, and Azure each found a seat for Marril, Tschel, and Alex. Once they were all seated, Domino paced in front of them.
“Samantha Yasashii,” Domino said, not looking at the three. “Rei Megumi.”
Alex looked a bit uncomfortable at the mention of those two names.
“There’s something with you,” Domino shook her head. “Something involving Team Rocket.”
“What are you talking about?” Tschel asked, trying to stand up. Kani clapped his hands on Tschel’s shoulders, preventing him from standing. Domino slapped Tschel.
“Her sister worked for us before,” Domino sneered. “Her father has had known Rocket ties for twenty years!”
Tschel turned his head to Alex. “This true?”
“First I’ve heard of this,” Alex shrugged.
“Look, Sam had to go to the Vermillion military base for a while,” Marril pointed out. “You think that some general Rocket threat because of some undescribed connection with your dad was the only reason?”
Domino leaned over in Alex’s face. “If you’re trying to get me to say anything, you can forget it. I’m a bit better than that.”
“Wrong thing to say,” Tschel muttered. “You’re basically admitting you know more than you let on.”
Melanie snickered. She enjoyed watching Domino act like an idiot. Though Domino was a master of disguise nearly to the skill of Executive Kenneth, she never did fare well when dealing in situations where she couldn’t pretend to be an idiot. Actually, scratch that. She didn’t need to pretend.
“I’ll handle this,” Melanie stood up. She brushed her long dark hair over her shoulder idly with her hand for effect. “The reason you’re here is because of your father and sister, Alex Yasashii. Alex Megumi, if you’d prefer your father’s name.”
“I grew up Yasashii,” Alex corrected her.
“Team Rocket hasn’t taken much direct action against your family,” Melanie explained. “That’s why you’re here. We’re investigating an… issue of an undisclosed importance to Team Rocket, and you’re involved. Tschel Hakujin and your Marril are only here because of their proximity to you.”
Domino, not wishing to be upstaged, tossed several tied stacks of bills to the Marril triplets. Mariru caught the bills midair and, wordlessly though with a look of guilt, left with his brothers. Domino produced a gun and pointed it at Alex, Tschel, and Marril.
“You’re going to be here a while. Oh, don’t worry about your League match, if you’re very lucky you’ll get to watch the outcome.”
Melanie looked at Domino. She didn’t trust the Elite, but Juliet had given her orders, and Roland had given Domino hers. Orders were orders, whether in the military or in Team Rocket, and orders were to be followed.
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That's it for this week, folks. Next chapter goes up when it goes up. Until then, don't get kidnapped by Team Rocket. Oh yeah, and if you're wondering, yes Alex really does look and sound that androgynous. It's for comedic effect, gash durnit.