SOMETHING'S ON FIRE..!

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To be perfectly honest, Mila wasn't exactly a nature girl either — which would've been ironic, considering the fact of her profession. In her defense, it was exactly the reason why she must preferred spending her days cooped up in the studio rather than traversing the uneven terrain of Route 103.

[break][break] Well, when disaster called, she had to come running!

[break][break] Er, that was what she was supposed to say, right? Something like that. It had been a while since she'd attended any Ranger refresher course... maybe she ought to call up her bestie Raziel Beckett to ask him if he wanted to join a class alongside her? Either way, Mila wandered upon the scene with nothing but a pink Wooper on her shoulder. Heat caked her face as the flames licked the air in front of her. Civilians went running in the opposite direction, rightfully so!

[break][break] The woman reached for her belt to find a pokemon to assist with taming the fire — when her eyes caught the form of aaron faust . She blinked.

[break][break] "Uh, kid?" she said, blinking. "You might want to do your re-organizing elsewhere."

aaron faust

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his pikachu was delighted by this backpack-emptying maneuver. she stood at his feet with chubby arms outstretched, greedily wiggling her paws at the contents raining from above. the scraps of discarded snack wrappers, catching the orangey glow of the flames gobbling up the forest's edge, fluttered lazily toward the grass. she snatched each up in turn, her thievery inadvertently preventing aaron from committing the grave crime of littering trash everywhere. 
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well, sort of. there was a mess on the ground — several pokeballs, a lighter, a portable battery, clothes, unopened tissues wrapped in plastic. 
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at the tail end of his panic-dumping, he heard someone tell him he might want to re-organize elsewhere. he felt his frustration flare. 
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"i'm not reorganizing anything," he hissed, looking over at her. "i'm — "
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wait. he did a double take and really looked at her this time. the short, purple hair, the unmistakable face of a no-good, wallet-stealing thief!
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"you!" he abandoned his objective and turned to face her, pointing an accusing finger in her direction. "you stole my money!"
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+ fire force 4 mila alexopoulos

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SOMETHING'S ON FIRE..!

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"i did?" mila blinks, as the other points an accusing finger at her. he doesn't seem to care at all that his wrappers were almost lost to the wind, nearly swallowed by the burgeoning forest fire. actually, to be honest, mila didn't seem to care either.

[break][break] in fact, this was far more interesting.

[break][break] finger on her lip she says, "hm. i don't think i did." didn't they just meet, anyways? or - a thought suddenly occurs to her - was this the kid's weird interpretation of foreplay? oh boy, she'd have to teach him a thing or two.

[break][break] mila opens her mouth to say something, when a wind picks up and flares out her skirt. the wind ripples the leaves, crispy embers flying in her direction. oops. maybe, that'd have to wait until later. ignoring his accusing finger, mila turns.

[break][break] a pink wooper pops out of her bag, eyes wide and curious, and mila calls to him. "lets make a line to direct the fire elsewhere, georgie!" trilling in agreement, the water type jumps out of her bag and slaps his tail against the ground — the ground rocks and shakes, as he uses EARTHQUAKE to split a clean line right in front of the flames.

[break][break] looking over her shoulder, she glances at him, "you just gonna stand there, pretty boy? or you gonna help?"

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aaron faust

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her reaction to his accusation took the wind out of his sails. there was a flicker of uncertainty in the lines of his face as his confidence visibly wavered. could she have not been the one who stole his wallet? it had been years ago so his memory could have gotten fuzzy. but as she turned away to command her pokemon, he furrowed his brow at her. 
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no, this had to be the girl who took his stuff and booked it. was she pretending to not remember? or had she stolen so many peoples' wallets that his was forgettable? how could he be forget—
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the earth rumbled beneath him and he stumbled back from the fissure forming in the ground. his pikachu, her cheeks filled with wrappers, nimbly exited stage right in the opposite direction of the forest fire. 
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pretty boy, thief-girl called him, much to his mounting frustration with her. he wanted to explode and say "that's what i'm fucking here for — to help!" but he couldn't continue standing there and getting shown up by a girl and her pokemon.  
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with a huff, he kicked one of his pokeballs away from the flames. a feraligatr materialized in a flash of light. "ellie, help me put out this fire," aaron requested, thumbing towards the mess being made out of route 103. as soon as she began using hydro pump, he was immediately fixing his attention on thief-girl. 
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"y'know, you can play dumb all you want but you owe me five—" he stopped himself short and came up with a new total for the accrued interest over the years and the small donation she had to make to the poor (himself) "—no, twenty pokedollars."
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+ fire force 4 mila alexopoulos

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SOMETHING'S ON FIRE..!

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"woah," she said, blinking. all thanks to her, the boy finally seemed to get his bearings and he instructed his feraligatr to release a cascade of water towards the mountain flames. the hydro pump did it's designed job, splashing water against the flames and dousing them with liquid.

[break][break] "good job!" she said cheerfully to the dark-haired boy with a smile, clapping her hands. her eyes twinkled. "ever thought about being a ranger?"

[break][break] meanwhile, georgio wasn't about to let himself get outstaged by an oversized mutt! leaping forward, he slammed his tail against the ground again with another EARTHQUAKE. the earth rocked and cracked, creating a fissure all around the flaming forest so that whatever flames were not caught up by the crocodile's watery barrage was caught in the ground's crevices.

[break][break] as aaron faust tried to bargain with her about a crime that she certainly couldn't remember committing, mila tilted her head to the side. she pressed a finger to her lips, humming. "how about three dollars, and a choco taco?" her eyes gleamed as she looked at his cute little pikachu, who had it's mouth chock full of the sweet treat. or at least — it's wrappers.

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aaron faust

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aaron almost felt pleased by the fanfare until he remembered who it was coming from. no way, he was not going to go all soft over praise that came from a thief —  she probably stole that upbeat personality from some cuter girl on her way here!
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he side eyed her. "me?" a ranger? seemed kinda dangerous, but then again he was already risking his ass for free putting out forest fires. "i dunno."
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the ground trembled beneath him as her wooper shifted the earth around the flames. aaron was too preoccupied in trying to negotiate a repayment plan from thief-girl to realize there was any competition going on between pokemon. his feraligatr was too preoccupied, too, as she paused for a moment to let seawater foam at the back of her throat in preparation for another hydro pump.
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"four dollars," he pressed, frowning, trying not to salivate at the words choco taco. he had to be smart about this deal. sure, a choco taco had an excellent dollar value due to ice cream truck price inflation, but it wasn't nutritious. if she wanted to bargain with food, he was going to swing for something more filling: "and a wooper meal from burger kingler."
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+ fire force 4 mila alexopoulos

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SOMETHING'S ON FIRE..!

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[attr="class","texty"]mila smiles, positively beams as she claps him on the shoulder.

[break][break] "well, you'd be a great one!"

[break][break] even though, technically, she didn't even know him.

[break][break] a mist shimmers around the shiny wooper as she steps forward, making a little "woopwoop!" sound in agreement with the other pokemon who lets out a hydro pump to calm the growing flames. it makes his own water gun look pitiful in comparison, but it's not like the feraligatr needs all that much help. most of the forest-fire has dampened down by now, with a few flames still catching on burnt wood.

[break][break] "okay! that's a date!" she winks at him, throwing out a cute peace-sign alongside it. a pause, before mila touches her bottom lip with a finger.

[break][break] ".. wait, what did you say your name was again?"

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aaron faust

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aaron stares at her incredulously, awed by the sheer audacity of her slapping a hand on his shoulder. "and what the hell do you know about being a ranger?" there's absolutely no way way she's about to open her mouth and tell him she's a ranger. she shouldn't even be walking freely right now — she stole his stuff! 
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the forest fire peters out to a few isolated flames, which his feraligatr and her wooper can clear up for them. mila taunts him by declaring their lawsuit settlement a date. he gazes impassively at the cute gesture she makes. it probably would've had an effect on him if he hadn't been so torn up about their past encounter. "i never — " he sighs, exasperated. gives in. "my name's aaron."[break][break]
"what do i call you?" besides a thief, of course.
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+ fire force 4 mila alexopoulos

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SOMETHING'S ON FIRE..!

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[attr="class","texty"] "oh — " she smiles blithely at aaron faust, confidence and all. "i'm one!"

[break][break] though, technically, that was questionable. she was still a rookie, nowhere near as cool as Raziel Beckett. the thought brings the sourpuss face of the fellow ranger to her mind; perhaps she should shoot him a text?

[break][break] as the flamers are snuffed out and their pokemon are able to subdue the wildforest fire, mila - who has promptly done nothing of relevance during this whole interaction in terms of that - throws an arm around the brunette. she grins at him. "mila!" her eyes twinkle, voice lowering mischievously. "you can call me whatever you want though, cutie."

aaron faust

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