He could bluff his way out of this.

"Don't say foolish things, Chryssa Glasgow." He said in response, confident smirk noticeably wavering. "I'm, uh, Uh...! Just-!"

His new rival interrupted him, slamming him with facts & logic™️.

He tugged nervously at the neck of his shirt, licking his lips before clearing his throat.

"UhHUM! Uh... wrong! I'm not chasing you, because I'm letting you run away, obviously." He said, feeling a cold sweat roll down his neck. His smiled trembled, his knees wobbled, and his hat sat wrong in his head.

He could see the realization in her eyes. The jig was up, the Meowth was outta the bag. The reversal was at hand.

"Do you need help?"

Or not.

"No." He said, too quickly. He blinked, then glanced down at his legs. Still no response. "Yes. Wait... Hn."

His face scrunched up into a pensive expression, his arms crossing. Were they still playing the same game?

Her words said yes.

"Fool! It was only logical to cut off the Ocean Empress from the sea!" He said while holding out his hands towards her like a newborn waiting to be picked up.

Which wasn't an entirely off description.

With roomba's mini-me's help, he was able to get up to where his rival was sitting. Well, it was more accurate to say he got dragged up there, but hey, whatever worked.

"... Thanks." He said after a moment of silence, tipping his straw hat at her. "Guess the scourge of the seas ain't so bad after all."

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TAG: chryssa glasgow

So there they were, Nemesis and nemesis sitting side by side atop a living roomba as it slowly carted them out of the harbor.

Naturally, just because they were sharing a taxi drive did not mean that they were done.

"Oh. Right. You owe'd me, didn't you?" He said, grinning wide at her while cupping his chin thoughtfully.

Maybe he should've held onto that favour.

... Nah. He liked it up there. Nice view.

Nice candy, too.

"Wha'rever could ya possibly mean? My laughing was flawless!" He said even as he opened the bag, popping one into his mouth. "What, this? Merely takin' advantage of your naïveté! Giving rations to the enemy? Amateur move."

A moment later, he hummed. He hadn't realized how raw his throat felt until the drop began working its magic.

...

"Thanks." He said after a moment.

At about the same time as Chryssa began grilling him for his favorite Crepe flavour, more or less.

"Dunno, never had one. I just wanted the free food." He said, his mind is still in 'off' mode after the moment of gratitude..

... On.

"I MEAN- Threats will get you nowhere, Chryssa Glasgow!" He said, his face quickly offering her a smug smirk as he crossed his arms and leaned back. "My preferences are beyond your comprehension!"

... He then shrugged his shoulders, leaning forward once again.

"But if ya wanna share yours I'm all ears." He said, "Just to learn your weakness, obviously."

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TAG: chryssa glasgow

He committed her favorite Crepe flavors to memory- gathering her weaknesses, of course.

He would have asked her to finish her thought, but they were suddenly being bombarded with carhonks.

Chryssa seemed to enjoy the attention, but Doug actually lived in Slateport, so he nervously pulled his hat lower, hoping no one would recognize his school's uniform.

He shouldn't have shown the girl a moment of weakness.

"W- what? No! They... They are hostile towards you!" He said, pointing his finger at her face- having to lean away to not poke her nose. "My devilish plan has come to fruition! The people know those invisible poke ingredients were from the Ocean Army! You've lost the people's adoration, empress!"

He would have taken the chance to make his throat yet more raw with another fit of laughter- but something that almost made his blood freeze suddenly rang in the air, louder than any claxon.

A police siren.

"Fudge." He said in a low, breathless mutter, looking over his shoulder.

And then Chryssa just slumped over.

"Excuse you?!" He said at the girl, to no avail.

Asleep. Clearly a sudden, unexpected case of narcolepsy.

What terrible timing!

Fudge.

"You wanna explain to me why you were holding up the traffic back there, kid?" Said the approaching, disgruntled looking cop, apparently just ignoring the unconscious girl on the other side of the living roomba.

Lucky.

"Gooood day, officer!" He said, suddenly cheerful. "'Fraid this was all just a big ol' misunderstanding!"

The uniformed man looked mighty unimpressed, brow tilted and arms akimbo as he responded, tone not too promising for them.

"Is that so." The officer said, snorting. It hadn't sounded like a question. He grinned at them. "Do tell, then. What's really going on here?"

Doug lip twitched as he smiled.

"I'm... invalid." He lied as he breathed.

"Lost the ability to walk when my home collapsed on me during the UB Invasion. Doctors said I would probably never walk again." He said, looking down at his legs and tipping down his hat to hide his face.

"I don't have enough money for a wheelchair, so my friend helps me around." He said while gesturing towards the sleeping Chryssa.

"Please forgive lil' Arran here, Officer. He's a trooper, but not terribly quick."

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TAG: chryssa glasgow

It was unfortunate, but the very dutiful cop would be accompanying them to school. He not keep the groan inside him.

This woman truly was his worst enemy.

His gaze was momentarily drawn to her as she buckled and stumbled under her own unimpressive weight. Either she was an extremely gifted actress with a metric ton of foresight, or that walking cane was not a prop.

... Either way, that was none of his business.

Even as he thought this, he kept staring, the mini-roombas floating near to offer assistance and his hands moving to grasp them automatically.

He nearly faceplanted when they pulled a second later, his weak, absentminded grip failing and his legs folding under him uselessly on landing.

"Woah there!" Said the Cop in exclamation as he caught the youth just before his face and the concrete got intimately acquainted. "Careful, kid!"

Right. Still paralyzed.

"Ey, nice catch! Thanks!" He said as the officer picked him up like princess, grinning at the man. Couldn't exactly throw the disabled kid over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, could he?

It was too late to change plans, so he had follow the script the empress had laid out for 'em. 

He would have his vengeance for this someday.

"Sure can." He said at Chryssa's words, squinting at her as he fished into his pocket for his Trainer Card, since he and the cop were so close now.

"Kantonian." The man said in a mutter as he looked at it, brows furrowing slightly. "Ah... Slums then, huh?"

"Ya catch on quick!" Said Doug with a lazy grin. "Nearest one to the bay."

There weren't a whole lot of schools in the slums- and he was a cop. Those words alone were more than enough for him to figure it out, and he did so quick, gesturing to Chryssa towards the car.

It was the first time he was inside one of these, and though he wasn't being taken to jail, he was sure there the feeling of being taken to school was much the same.

That aside, somehow it felt ominously at home being in the backseat of a patrol car with Glasgow. Almost like a premonition.

Which reminded him.

"So." He said, leaning over to mutter. "Is 'it' happening 'again', or did I save your butt?"

What he was getting to here really was 'Do you owe me again?'

"Shut up back there!" Said the man roughly all of a sudden- before flushing. "Uh... Sorry. Force of habit."

The ride to school wasn't a long one, but it was certainly scenic... in a manner of speaking.

The word 'slums' didn't do the slumminess of Slateport's slums justice. Perhaps once upon a time it had, but after the Rocket occupation and the war, a large section of it had been utterly demolished by invading forces.

On more than a few occasions, they passed by homeless camps made up of trainer tents, inhabited by entire families.

"Oh hey, that's mine." He said as he leaned over Chryssa, pointing a finger at a green tent in the far back of yet another camp. "... My War tent, I mean."

King's lived in castles, after all. Kings at war, however, rested in war tents.

Before long they made it to school; an old structure, thankfully (?) untouched by the war... for the most part. The Gymnasium was in pieces- but hey, the building were the kids actually studied was alright.

"Ugh." Said Doug at the sight, brow twitching. "'Ere we are. Just in time for Bio. Yay."

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TAG: chryssa glasgow

"Not really." He said with a snort.

Strictly speaking, he hadn't gone to school even once in the entire week.

"But I am signed up here." He said, tone dry as he tipped his hat down.

He didn't usually care about impressions, but given the girl's reaction, or rather, underreaction to the school and slums, well... Coming from such a bombastic personality, it felt as if it wasn't a positive reaction.

"That's ain't no cane, Empress." He said with a snort as she offered him the Honedge, remembering quite clearly when it had stared at him in the car out of the blue. His soul had almost left his body from the jolt, and the sword hadn't even touched him with its sash. "And my legs are fine now."

He stood up as he said this, stretching his arms above his head with a sigh of delight, the police car having disappeared by now.

And then he casually plucked the sword out of her hand anyway.

"I won't refuse a new Hive member, though." He said with a smug smile, before offering up an arm for support. "In return, We'll treat ya as a guest- to the Shadow Hive's fourth hidden HQ!"

For dramatic emphasis, the school bell rang right as he finished his declaration, several dozen students undercover members of the shadow hive filing out into the courtyard as lunchtime arrived.

With some quickly noticing a rare sight.

John Douglas Sullivan, actually at school. With a... pretty(?) girl in tow. She was pretty alright, but she was also dressed... interestingly.

"Told ya he would come on Pizza day." Said one of the youth's dryly as he approached along with a merry band.

This wasn't a highschool comedy drama, so they didn't seem like bullies.

"Doug; Dude, teach's gonna have your hide if she sees you." One of the group said, chuckling. "You can't just come for the pizza and then bail on class... again."

One of the youth's threw an arm around the speaking lad and leaned forward while staring at Chryssa, making a show of looking her up and down with palpable bemusment in his eyes before tilting a brow at the bugcatcher.

"Uh. Didn't know you had a sister who looked nothing like you, bro." They all snorted- obviously she wasn't a girlfriend. Doug couldn't possibly get a girlfriend before we( I ) did!

Throughout the whole thing, Doug had been wrestling with his uniform, getting the blazer off himself and sizing it up carefully before casually draping it over Chryssa, freezing the party of boys in their tracks.

"That's camo. Ye'll get kicked out if they see ya without some kinda uniform." He said to her dryly, before turning to the gang.

"Now... Okay ya knobheads, first off. I didn't know it was pizza day." He said, starting off with the irrelevant. "Second off. Empress, these are the knobhead peasants. Knobhead peasants, this is Empress... Third off. She ain't my sister." He said, finishing with clear, smug satisfaction, watching as the boys freezed on the spot.

"Make of that what ya will, ya dweebs." He said as he winked at them and stuck out his tongue, before offering his arm to her once again. "Shall we, Empress? Ya can invite me to crepes next time. Today's only pizza on the menu."

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TAG: chryssa glasgow

"Pleasure to meet'cha, Chris. As class representative, I'll show ya to yer classroom and locker, sure." He said, doing his upmost to support her weight before turning his gaze to the peanut gallery. "Anyway, you bunch."

The peasants squinted at them. What kind of game were these two wackos playing at? Were they even trying?

"You saw nothing." He said, grinning. "If anyone asks, Chris is a new student, 'kay?"

"What-" They began to ask, but Doug was already beyond caring for what they had to say, leading Chryssa into the school building proper.

"What'cha mean, Chris?" He said, before snorting. "Did you truly think John was the Hive King's True name?"

It was, but his shit eating smirk said otherwise.

"Foolish. You'll need to abandon such naivety if you desire to defeat me." He said as he pushed open the School's main doors for her, it slamming closed behind them shortly after.

It was then he offered her back her Cane-sword.

"Ya looked just a bit... bothered back there." He said, his smugness slipping off for a bit as he scratched the back of his head. "Sorry."

A few moments later, it came back at full force.

"Anyway! The tour begins now! If you would be so kind as to stay close, I'll lead ya to our first stop of the day- the Cafeteria!"

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TAG: chryssa glasgow