Oscar stared out at the nests scattered across the lab rooftop, trying to grasp at what exactly the 'surprise' was. He looked to Priam, and then back to the nests, and then back to Priam; hoping desperately that he was not brought all the way up here to act as pest control. When he opened his mouth to ask, Priam confirmed his fear. Oscar slowly closed his mouth, looking downward as the last bit of control over his life faded away. He nodded his head a few times, eventually coming to terms with his fate.

"Yeah--yeah okay."

Oscar opened a pokeball, releasing the Golisopod known as Pride. Pride looked to his master, who pointed to a nearby nest filled with squawking pidgey. "See those birds? Hit those birds. Hard. Watch out for the equipment." Pride looked between the nest and his master a few times, before gleefully screeching as he charged straight into the nest. Oscar watched with mild amusement as Pride punted one of the pidgey seemingly into orbit, a fitting start to a battle ahead (First Impression).

The other pidgey leapt away, immediately taking flight to avoid their assailant. As they recovered from their fear, they began to nosedive Pride. Pride first tried to swat them with their claws, but found a smarter alternative by creating a saber made of water to slash at them as they passed (Liquidation). Oscar chuckled at the sight, looking to Priam with an improved attitude.

"Alright maybe this won't be as bad as I thought. What did you bring?" 

priam conrad

Oscar eyed the light screen wearily. It was smart, but there didn't seem much room for personal space. Oscar rubbed his arm, "Thanks but I don't know if excessive droppings is really a possibil--"

Thunk Thunk Thunk

Oscar flinched as a barrage of white excrement plopped a few feet in front of him. Any closer and he would have been up shit creek! Get it? Because the bird sh--fuck it. Oscar quickly walked behind the light screen, determining that it was less embarrassing to be un close quarters with Priam than to be covered in shit.

Oscar turned his gaze toward Pride, who was currently riding a pidgey while slashing at its kin. How did he get onto the pidgey? How was he able to maintain his balance? A slew of questions tumbled through Oscar's brain as the scene started to make less and less sense. He decided to get his mind off the conundrum by pulling out a sucker. He pointed a sucker toward Priam, as it was always polite to share one's sweets.

"How'd you get roped into this anyway?"

priam conrad

Oscar tilted his head as Priam drew closer to whisper something. He expected a pretty juicy secret, but it seems Priam forgot the consequences for failing this mission so Oscar didn't really learn anything. Oscar scratched his head as Priam leaned away, scolding himself internally for getting his hopes up.

When Priam used gravity, Oscar watched with folded arms as Pride and his steed can hurling into the roof. Pride was fine, but it would seem his pidgey companion was squashed under his weight. The bug warrior didn't seem to mind, as he quickly got up and began stomping on all of the down birds. It was kinda gross, but also pretty silly. Oscar chuckled, "These are the kind of cartoonish antics I show up for."

Despite Pride's efficient stomping, it would seem the eradication of the birds might take a while. Oscar looked up to the sky, rolling his sucker back and forth between his cheeks. "You ever get tired of being given grunt work?" Oscar's gaze was locked onto a passing cloud, its shape vaguely looking like a koffing. "I mean like, we've been in Rocket for a while and we're still doing shit like this. I dunno I guess I'm just impatient." Oscar lowered his gaze, staring forward past the rooftop and toward the horizon. "I hope I can boss around grunts one day."

priam conrad

Oscar gave Priam a bewildered look as the young rocket reminded Oscar of his age. Only 18? Geez Oscar doesn't pay attention, how does he keep forgetting that? Well Priam did look older for his age, though even still you would think this kind of information would stick by now. 

In the end Oscar shrugged at Priam's words. "I dunno about genius, I'm pretty sure we just need to do a good job. I wanna believe that eventually hard work is recognized with acknowledgement." Oscar twitched a bit, watching Pride struggle to find a living pidgey to stomp on. "To be honest you're probably closer to a promotion than me. You're a better grunt than you give yourself credit for. And don't give me any shit about age, the champion of Kanto was ten like eight years ago."

As Pride began to get more violent with his pidgey extermination, Oscar folded his arms. Anxiety was clearly starting to take hold, and Oscar made what ails him known. "Who--who's supposed to clean all this up?" He really hoped it wasn't them.

priam conrad

Oscar realized his mistake as Priam ran off to ask for that promotion. "W-wait, what about the--" Too late, he was gone. Oscar sighed, turning toward the mess that Pride had made. So many dead birds, it would take hours to clean on his own. This is what Oscar got for trying to motivate his friends!

Oscar rolled his eyes as Pride strode up to him, his insectoid eyes beaming with joy and satisfaction. Oscar shook his head, "Don't look so happy about it, we gotta clean up this mess." Pride's shoulders slumped, he looked upon the massacre and chittered anxiously. Did they really have to clean all of it?

Oscar surveyed the scene for a few more moments, before teetering his head back and forth, "Well I'm sure nature will take care of the blood and gore. Let's just throw the bodies off the roof." Pride perked up, that seemed like great fun! The two got to work, throwing the bodies off one by one. As Oscar flung a pidgey that would land on a scientist trying to leave work, he would grumble about thinking twice before offering to help Priam. At least without him revealing what they were doing first.

priam conrad