You're taking one down

You sing a sad song just to turn it around, Locke Jamison ~

"Pretty packed, ain't it?" Came a cheerful sounding voice from behind the small courier, its owner's approach having gotten lost in the sea of steps and shouting around them.

With it however came wide verge, the people around Locke now going out of their way to avoid their general space as the voice moved around the mailman and crouched down to help.

"This is a bad time to come 'round 'ere, I is'fraid. Meteor's got everyone... stupid." Former gym leader of Mauville , John Sullivan said while gathering letters and packages with a hum. He then looked over at Locke and winked. "Though to be honest, I can't really think of a good time to visit this damn mall."

Once he had everything on hand, he looked around with mock paranoia before leaning over close to Locke.

"Don't tell anyone I said that, though." He said, snickering. "Got an image to maintain n'all!"

Holding out the packages to Locke, he waited until the courier had finished stuffing them back in their bag before finally asking.

"Sooo..." He said, stretching out the bowel while leaning back and forth on his heels. He grinned. "Come 'ere often, shortstuff? What brings Eris' buddy to my neck o'the woods? Anythin' I can help?"

He had read enough reports to catch the consistent appearance of one Locke Jamison in... just about everything, really. It was interesting, and if Doug were just a little more paranoid, he might've suspected the short courier was a Rocket, given he was not (strictly speaking) League-aligned.

Luckily for Locke, Doug was making a book-cover judgement here, so the courier was flying under his radar... as far as suspicions went.

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TAG: @

You're taking one down

You sing a sad song just to turn it around, Locke Jamison

He froze at the other's quip, staring blankly with a lax jaw.

"You...'ve been to Kanto?" He asked, almost wanting to slap himself immediately after. 'been' to Kanto, really? "Urgh, shit. Sorry, dumb question. Correction— are you kantonian?"

A tourist wouldn't have used such a polemic place for an offhanded comparison. That aside...

The... child with a gun?

His lip quirked oddly.

"_{Oh boy, we're still doing this, huh?}" He muttered under his breath, expression shifting from flirty to neutral.

Drinking, voting, taxes, driving, crime, military service. Seemed like the only thing he wasn't old enough for these days was being treated like an adult.

"John, actually." He corrected bluntly. He briefly considered asking if not recognizing Governmental public figures was adult-like, but that wouldn't do him many favors on the maturity front, so he reluctantly refrained. "And yes. Soldiers have guns. Not that it accomplished much at the time."

The crypts under the Church were not something he wished to revisit, but they were certainly traumatic. Even a half year later, his dreams still brought him back to the darkest pits on occasion; simply to stare at the writhing mass of darkness and eyes in silence.

Perhaps not the best times to think about trauma. As his breathing became just a little erratic and his mind wandered, he was snapped back to reality by Locke's frantic stammering.

"W-what's wrong?" He said, shaking off his stupor as he looked properly at the other. "Oh. Oh."

Ah shit.

"This goddamn mall." Grumbledthe soldier as he slowly rose back to his full height. "All that money on goddamn security, and it still does nothin'."

Seemed like no one had seen anything.

Brow furrowing into a scowl, he palmed a net ball.

Fine then; he was an officer too. He would just have to do it himself.

"I'm on it." He said to Locke, looking around sharply as his net ball grew to full size.

He paused however as he truly took everything in. There were so many people present, so many of them with their bags and pokemon, that his Orbeetles radar would surely take too long to pinpoint whoever stole Locke's bag. Whatever the time required was, they would surely be long gone before they could pinpoint them.

Change of plans.

His netball slipped back into his sleeve, before he palmed a premier ball instead.

"It's a case, Officer Jenny!" He said as he threw the pokeball to the floor.

If people were giving them wide berge before, they might as well be vacating the premises now, as the massive Arcanine took the stage, towering over Locke.

It panted like a puppy as it looked over them, tilting its head at them with its tongue waggling out of their mouth before glancing over at Doug—

And giving them a massive lick across the face.

"Ack!" He stumbled back from it, swiping the slobber off his face. "Not now, Jenny. We've got work to do!"

He gestured with his thumb at Locke.

"By which I mean 'em. Smell 'em, girl! We're chasing a thief with their belongings." This was about as much warning as Locke got before the Arcanine began to approach, nose first as it began sniffing at them for an scent.

---

tl;dr:
-Doug used question!
-Locke used word: child! It was super effective!
-Doug was annoyed! He'll remember that!
-Arcanine used Odor Sleuth on Locke!!

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TAG: @

You're taking one down

You sing a sad song just to turn it around, Locke Jamison

Officer Jenny sniffed and prodded at the young courier cheerfully, slowly sauntering around them with her nose dragging across their clothes, brief, amused barks slipping out of her maw for every eep that slipped out of Locke's.

Doug snickered in amusement while they both waited, tilting his head at the other's response before grinning.

"Yeeeaup. Good catch! Viridian forest, born n'raised." He said with a smile. Though that could certainly be qualified; his home had been one of several small towns within the viridian county. "And yer from Vermillion City, yeah?"

Diglett tunnel and Vermilion beach as landmarks and reference points— seemed about right.

"Where ya a badge-kid too back in the d—?" He began to ask, right before his giant pupper released a loud bark and began to bounce about on her fore legs, trotting excitedly around Locke before marching up to her trainer and plopping her bum on the floor, sitting down.

"—Oh, ya done, Jen-nnnnyyyyck?!" The Captain's words stretched as his Arcanine reached over licked yet again. "... Right then. Lead the way."

Dragging his gloved hand across his face to rid it of the slobber, the youth stood aside and gestured for the canine to take the lead, which she did with gusto.

By shoving her head underneath him and hauling him over her back like a Rhino.

"WHOAH!" Yelped the youth, landing with a wheeze and a flinch on her back. He glared, readjusting slightly. "Uh, Ow!"

The Arcanine merely panted back as she turned towards Locke, locking eyes with the small courier before gesturing for them to follow— and turning around with full intention to sprint full tilt through the crowds of people still in the mall, most of whom were only just realizing the risk they ran by standing in the large pokemon's line of sight.

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TAG: @

You're taking one down

You sing a sad song just to turn it around, Locke Jamison

"Jenny, slow down!" He ordered his excitable ride while looking over his shoulder, trying to wave his hands as high as he could in order to give Locke something to guide themselves with. "We're leaving Locke behind, damn it!"

He really shouldn't have been so lax raising his little Growlithe. She had been so cute... perhaps a little too cute. He hadn't disciplined her enough at all, as it turned out!

"JENNY— Oh hey Locke." Doug's shouting got cut short as the courier caught up with them on the back of, apparently, their own arcanine. "Uh... I thought your pokemon were in the bag."

Apparently, not all of them. And they had an arcenine too! What a coincidence!

Penny barked as she glanced over to her side, tongue waggling out the side of her cheek as she stared curiously at her mysterious, strangely scented kin...

"Oi!" Doug intoned as he grabbed a tuff of the Arcanine's hair, yanking lightly to pull her gaze back up front. "Eyes on the road, missy! We ain't breaking ALL the laws while I'm 'ere!"

The Arcanine whined in protest for a moment, glancing over to her 'kin' briefly before releasing a ruff and speeding up. Fine, she could sniff later... just needed to sniff THIS smell out first!

You're taking one down

You sing a sad song just to turn it around, Locke Jamison

"UUUUH— Lil' late to worry 'bout that, shortstuff!" Cracked Doug with a laugh. "S'only like... 2 months jail worth anyway! Don't worry 'bout it!"

Jenny joined in, finding joy in her trainer's mirth as they continued to move through the mall city. As the name implied, though it was a mall, Mallville was huge, with its inside streets and alleyways, as well as public transports such as trams and metros.

Their thief hadn't gotten that far however— it seemed like, as a matter of fact, they had gotten complacent after stealing from poor Locke; they had sneaked around the laberynthian back alleys of the mall city, confident that they woudln't be caught...

Needless to say, when two Arcanine's rounded around the corner and barreled into the relatively cramped, dead-ended Alleyway, the robber yelped in shock, falling on their bum as the stolen bag dropped at their sides.

"Found 'em!"

You're taking one down

You sing a sad song just to turn it around, Locke Jamison

"Don't worry, I meant it in a good way! It's cute!" Doug had cackled then, just as they had rounded into the alleyway.

Their charge was a terribly sore loser of a young man who had a made a big mess of Mauville's alleyway. Doug coudln't help but frown at all the mail and pokeballs scattered about.

"Yer stealin' from a mailman, mate." Doug pointed out dryly. "What were you even expect—ING?!"

One look at Locke would've told anyone he probably wasn't courier'ing the kind of packages anyone could make a fortune out of. Such things tended towards being heavy, for one.

"STAND DOWN, JENNY!" Shouted Doug as he caught the thrown bag with a yelp, barely managing to prevent his overeager Arcanine from, well... burning the bag and its contents in order to intercept them.

None the less, even more mail and pokeballs spilled all over the alleyway as result, dragging an irritable click of the tongue from the soldier.

"No wonder ya don't like Delibirds; never made it out of the naughty list, huh?" He huffed as he swung himself off his Arcanine, marching up to the thief. Against all odds, the young man seemed to have sabotaged his own attempts at escaping when he threw the bag at them. One of the pokeballs had slipped underneath his foot!

"Karma at its finest." Doug said with a grin as he stood over the young man, producing a pair of handcuffs from under his jacket. "I'mma have to take you in, mate. I would say aim for the rich next time, but I don't think there'll be one."

At least if he had been Robin Hoodin' it up, Doug might've turned his gaze away.

With a click, the young thief was arrested. For now.

Patting Jenny and muttering what a good job she had done, Doug turned back to Locke and looked around at everything scattered on the alleyway.

"Uh... I take one half of the alley, you take the other?"

You're taking one down

You sing a sad song just to turn it around, Locke Jamison

"Don't sweat it. Ya were clever enough to keep a strong one in ya, didn'cha? That's pretty clever!" Doug said with a grin as he picked mail, glancing over to the small courier. "Anyway I should organize these— Oi, your Arcanine's going off!"

And naturally, Jenny was quick to follow suit, tongue flapping in the wind as she cheerfully gave chase to her bizarre kin.

"JENNY!" Snapped Doug, his voice echoing down the sterile, empty alleyways of Mauville. His Arcanine did not return, however, prompting a groan out of him. Still, he didn't rise to give chase, continuing to gather more mail. "Uuurgh. Fine, stretch yer legs. Ya earned a lil' break."

He had orbeetles all over Mauville anyway; he could find her later.

Turning his attention back to the other, he was surprised to hear the other had never even attempted the gym challenge!

"Woah, even back in Kanto?" He said, surprised. The whole gym challenge thing had been practically a cultural rite of passage way back on his home town. "I didn't even get much of a choice on the matter back then, now that I think about it, but... I guess it ain't for everyone. Vermilion folk didn't push it much?"

Pokemon battles could be both intense and even grisly, like any boxing or UFC match. Not all enjoyed them, and the emphasis for gyms back in Kanto had certainly not been about 'teaching' challengers about pokemon.

When Locke brought up the HsT... Doug could only blink, ever so slowly.

...

...

...

Badump.

"You remember that?" Doug asked in disbelief.

Holy crap...

"I- I mean, yes! That was me! Hehehe!" Doug said with a toothy grin, giggling to himself.

Nobody ever seemed to remember Doug had won that big deal tournament! It was extremely frustrating for him most of the time.

"I don't remember seein' ya 'round? Did you participate too?" He asked cheerfully; Locke had just said the gym challenge wasn't for him, but the fun part about the HsT was the variety of challenges allowed!