It was a beautiful day for truancy. Nothing he loved more than an overly sunny weather to go with his school's far too early winter gear. 

What was it with Hoenn and never seeming to get the weather right? It was late october!

A straw hat wearing youth groaned while strewn over the counter of one of the many ice cream parlors in the park, drawing a snort from the ice cream man lazily fanning himself nearby.

"There ain't enough ice cream in the world for this heat." He said, slowly bringing a cone of pistachio ice cream to his face without looking- and missing his mouth entirely in the process.

Unable to be assed, he let his tongue drop out of his mouth instead, lazily licking the pistachio off both his cheek and the misplaced treat.

A small protest drawled out from the floor, his little Dewpider suddenly and rather quickly climbing up his pant leg.

If he wasn't gonna eat it properly, he could just give it to her!

The thought alone of sharing seemed to set off the youth, with him holding up his ice cream as high as his arm would go.

To no avail. She was a spider. Climbing was not hard for her.

"Duuudette, I've got like, no money left- Get your own, you little chowder!" He said as he tried to lazily wave her off- she stuck fast however, rearing back her head before slapping her water bubble onto the ice cream.

The entire ice cream ball was trapped inside the bubble- and pulled off the cone with an audible pop as she leapt off his arm and back to the floor, humming in delight as the water around her began to take on the same colour as the ice cream- delicious.

Well, at least someone was getting what they wanted now.

Doug's eye twitched under his strawhat. He hadn't yet moved from where he was strewn over the counter, his arm lazily dropping back down and smearing pistachio all over the wooden frame, his head rolling to look up at the ice cream man.

He did not look impressed at the youth's Growlithe impression.

"I ain't got any more money, chief..." Doug said, his eyes seeking the man's own.

The man's gaze was steel as they met.

"And I ain't running a charity, kid. Ain't it about time you finally get to class anyway?" He asked casually, head leaning on his open palm as he fanned himself.

"Give me some ice cream and you got it."

"Give me PD$1.50 and you got it."

"Then I believe we are at an impasse."

"Just get off my bloody counter kid, a customer's coming."

As this kept going, Doug naturally refusing to move, Dewpider instead advanced up to the front of the small parlor, waving a single leg to the newcomer, her lime green water bubble thick as an ice cream shake and her almost deliriously happy about it.

The little spider tilted her head (most of her body really) in confusion at the boy's subdued greeting, ice cream droplets falling to the floor under her as she quickly fell in line after him, her steps clicking on the floor tiles of the parlor.

Meanwhile, the young man, still spread over the counter, responded with a chuckle.

"Positive. Silver lining? Her brain freeze is gonna be great." He said, hand lazily raising to give a thumbs up, just in time for the light thud of the tiny spider smacking straight into the counter and falling flat on her side to echo around them.

One could almost see the metaphorical swirls in her eyes as her head teetered about, her legs wobbly from the brain freeze as she tried in vain to rub her nonexistent temples.

"Instant Karma. Love it." Said the young man, lips curling up slightly as he licked what little pistachio remained off his hand before sliding off the counter to stand properly on his feet, leaning back against its frame with an elbow over it.

He tipped his straw hat at the kid with his newly cleaned hand.

"Doug Sullivan. Ice Cream robbery victim. Never seen you before- not a local?" He said.

Most youths in the city, he could recognize, even if he had never spoken a word to them.

He had wandered the streets aimlessly enough to have seen most of the kids old enough to wander around on their own, and viceversa.

---

TAG: Andy Blackadder

"Galar, eh? Y'all love your pokemon battles over there, eh? So I've heard, anyway." Not too direct a challenge, but the implication was there all the same.

If he noticed Andy giving him a judgmental once over, he certainly didn't show it, simply shaking his head at his next words.

"Nah- just a Refugee; Kanto- Viridian County, near the famous forest. So I guess Bumpkin's 'boutrite." He said, reaching up to adjust his hat and smiling. "My defense? Lotsa and lotsa bugs everywhere. Not much of a surprise I ended up a bugcatcher, I say."

No surprise, and no regret. The little buggers were all he needed by his side, far as he was concerned.

As the ice cream man came back with the boy's treat, the youth pulled down his hat so as to not see it. Bad enough was not having any money in the blistering heat- worse still was watching someone else eat two ice creams.

At least the sudden appearance of another Pokemon distracted him from his ice cream deprived thoughts.

He gasped, surprised. "Oh, woah!" He leaned against the counter and craned back his spine over it, getting a good look at the Gengar and his massive tongue.

"Man, haven't seen one o' those in a while." Not since he had come from Kanto anyway; back then it had been somewhat normal to see Gengars fighting on the tv- fairly popular Pokemon in Kanto, what with one of the Elite having it as her ace and what not.

He tilted his head, asking. "Bodyguard?"

As he asked this, he walked around the youth, holding out his fist towards the Gengar in greeting before squatting down his little Dewpider before beginning to scoop out the chunks of ice cream out of her water bubble, dumping them on a nearby trash can.

"3 times already, girlie. Gonna learn your lesson any time soon?" He asked her dryly as the last bits of pistachio were dumped in the can, the little Dewpider now beginning to regain her good sense.

After stumbling back to her feet, she finally managed to answer- with a resounding shake of her head.

"Little bugger." he said with a harrumph, flicking her water bubble and making her stumble back, before she answered by blowing explosive bubbles in his face, making him fall ass backwards on his rear.

He grunted. "I deserved that one."

---

TAG: Andy Blackadder

"Yeah?" He said, tilting his head. "I've only heard a few things of it. Gotta admit, love what little I know. Massive stadiums for every gym and Kaiju pokemon battles? It's almost sounds too good to be true."

It was strange to hear a kid so obviously young utilize words such as 'superb' and 'culture' in the same sentence without reading them from a school book.

And on the entirely opposite side of the spectrum, hearing a young kid with such an innocent looking face call their own pokemon a purple fuck was an experience that threatened to make him bust his sides.

So naturally, he did, trying his hardest to bite down his laughter, his hat held over his face. He managed to eventually swallow it up.

"Nicely done, Epi' m'dude." He said in praise to the ghost, giving him a two finger salute.

He would have retracted his salute given the laughter he got later, but then he had nearly busted a rib himself laughing at the ghost, so...

Touché.

He simply shrugged and smiled at Andy's question.

"About as much as I need." He said, reaching into the water bubble to pet the little spider in the head. She leaned into the touch. "Many ways to raise these little buggers. I prefer the ones that don't require the proverbial or literal whip. Not like I've it in me anyway."

He was pretty sure Kama would have beheaded him if he had taken that approach to training anyway.

"But don't worry about it; she's a little sassy, but she's yet to let me down." He said, chuckling.

He pushed himself back to his full height, stretching his arms above his head before letting them flop down to his sides.

He asked. "How about you, Andy?" He tried to reach and ruffle the Gengar's spiky... hair? Fur? "Running a tight ship? Just dragging along a ton of friends, maybe?"

---

TAG:sov @

"Oh, Petting. Not cool?" He said, his hand slowly raising away. Neither of his new acquaintances seemed particularly up for it. "And well, yeah, but I was pretty sure Gengars were not among them..."

Though, his hand was prettycool now ironically, he noted as he turned his gaze towards his petting hand. As cold as if he had just laid it on ice cream.

"Forgot Gengars absorb heat, though. Not m'brightest moment, few and far between as those come." He said, having remembered this little tidbit of Kanto's favorite Ghost-type a little too late. Lucky they weren't poisonous to the touch as well, despite their typing.

That would have been unfortunate.

"Apologies, dudes. Got too friendly there." He said, apologizing to the Gengar and Andy. He wasn't as good at becoming instant buds with ghost types as he was with bugs, seemed clear now. "I reckon I should go now, before I make more of an ass out of myself."

He had already given the ice cream man enough grief. Better not sour the encounter with the kid as well.

"'t was nice to meet'cha, Andy, Epitaph. If you ever just wanna battle or hang out, I'm usually 'round these parts... or the homeless shelter. Be seeing ya, dudes." He said as he began to walk out of the parlor, one hand raised in a single wave, his Dewpider following behind him.

---

TAG: @andy

He hadn't expected Andy to follow him- he was couldn't say he wasn't pleased, however. His attempt at leaving had been half-hearted at best; if Andy didn't didn't mind him, then he wasn't gonna protest.

"Cross m'heart, m'dude. Last invasion tore through m'home like wet paper." He said bluntly, frowning slightly at the memory. The house wasn't the only thing it destroyed. "M'grandpops managed to get a job, but it ain't raking in enough cash to rent an apartment or anythin'. No worries though! The homeless shelter ain't too bad."

He shrugged, grinning at the youth as he winked.

"Just think of it as camping with a lot of buddies." He said, chuckling at his own little shit joke. "Everyone's pretty nice. Lots of us, after the invasion."

He would have continued defending his new way of life, but there was suddenly something that demanded every single fiber of attention in his body.

He uttered simply. "Woah." The Yanmega stared at him, and he stared back in return, looking over them with palpable delight.

"Hoo'boy, this one's a beaut, m'dude." He said with a wide grin as he managed to wrench his gaze away from her to look back at Andy. "Gotta respect a man with a good bug- and this is a good bug. Ya find her in Hoenn? Been looking for one for a while now."

---

TAG: @andy

"Your mother had excellent taste." He said, barely keeping himself from petting this one as well. Still, he leaned forward slightly, brows furrowing as he realized the extent her scarring.

"Things can get pretty bad here in Hoenn, huh?" He said after a moment, pulling away and tipping his hat down. You didn't get that kind of scar in friendly match.

He shook his head.

"Still, seems healthy and strong. Reminds me a lot of my own' first." He said, hoping he would never be forced into anything that would scar Kama in such a grievous way.

Just what the hell was wrong with this region?

Doug turned a curious eye to Andy as he spoke of his mother, his brows noticeably rising. Even before the youth had finished speaking, the Bugcatcher had clearly been pulling dots together.

He folded his arms as Andy finished speaking, brows furrowed together.

"Earlier ya told me yer last name was Blackadder, and Ye'r from Galar..." He said, tapping at his chin. "Huh. Bit of a long shot and I can't really recall the lady's first name, but your mom wouldn't happen to be the Dr. Blackadder who authored 'Bugs in the System', would she?"

This was the one subject, the one thing on Earth which allowed Doug to simultaneously pass himself off as both an intellectual and a hick at once.

Friggin' bug savants.

---

TAG: Andy Blackadder