rocket was nefarious like that.

once upon a time, nina had worked solely with people. this could explain why her battling skills were so sorely lacking. thank goodness she had jessica to carry her, whoever that was.

”i know, right?”

the voice would come from behind, from a done-up fuzzy-hooded woman, who looked just as offended by the temperature.

”hi.”

she approached further. by a brief description, she was confident that this was her partner.

a grimacing snorunt followed at her heel.

Jessica Manner

”sorry.”

her hands remained stuffed in the pockets of her hoodie as she walked over. when jessie extended a stiff arm to shake, nina glanced down at it with a sort of look, and then back up.

”yup. that’s me.” an elbow lazily twisted in to tap jessie's fingers before swinging back again. ”you too.”

she looked out ahead at the expanse of ice and snow, and wiggled fingers down at the snorunt near her feet. ”so… how do we do this?”

Jessica Manner

fire-types were a good idea. she found arcanine to be intimidating, but maybe this would be good exposure therapy or something.

”sounds good to me.” she shrugged and reached into her bag. ”i have a scorbunny.” unfortunately, she couldn’t think of any others that might be of use to them immediately.

a shiny luxury ball appeared, and the uniquely creamsicle-colored rabbit followed, hopping from one foot to the other energetically. what snow collected on the stone floor melted under its jog in place.

”he just has to warm up a sec.”

Jessica Manner

nina smiled down at her hopping scorbunny. it was a good-looking pokémon—the most expensive she owned, by far.

”thanks!” she chirped, shoulders pinching with momentary joy at a compliment. ”hear that, saffron?”

scor!

they’d be on their way, and nina didn’t seem in too great a hurry after the speeding bunny, who left a trail of melted snow in his wake.

”he has a lot of energy.” nina noted, stuffing her hands back into her pockets.

Jessica Manner

nina looked toward the delphox in question and smiled. he looked… wise, maybe. ’old man’. she could see it.

”fennekin are so cute.” her eyes followed as they were off. FLAME CHARGE built around her scorbunny as he tore in a blur, having to jog in place in increments to not pass them up.

”is that where you got the name? ‘fennekin’?”

Jessica Manner

assuming jessie was in her twenties, thought of having a companion for so many years brought a smile to her face. ”wow. ten. that’s sweet.”

togepi had been with her longest—but only a total of about two years. carrying it around had inspired her to buy more from dealers, over time. now, she was even going out and catching her own.

”i haven’t had pokemon for very long. i’m kind of new to it still, honestly.” but she was trying.

Jessica Manner

as long as she had worked for GABRIEL BLACK , she hadn’t met the kids. for now, she was clueless to the relation.

”that’s cute.” she looked up. ”saffron’s my only fire-type.”

the regret and mystery surrounding her family flared in her diaphragm, but she breathed the sensation away to the cold air in a puff of steam.

which of her pokémon were her favorite?

”hmm…” she considered, ”i usually have togepi with me. it’s good luck.”

Jessica Manner