Shizu ignored the hand offered to her. Not out of malice or anything, she was simply already focused on the path ahead of them, her eyes trained at the wilds, rather than the man greeting her. At least she was giving him some attention with her ears which picked up his brief introduction. Probably meant she owed him some, too, even though he already knew her name. He did not know which to use, though. “It would be customary to use my last name until I offer otherwise,” she started, briefly trailing off already.

In fact, she would already start walking up the path, looking back and forth. He was hers today, so she did not have to entertain her. He was to follow and fight. “However, you already offered a first name or a nickname……that usually means to pressure me into reciprocity. It sounds a bit fake however, so I am not certain either.” Briefly she stopped, her thoughts having caught up to her. Hence, she turned and looked more directly at him this time. “Thus, difficult thing to discern. Why don’t you just use whatever you want? I do not particularly care what I am called, personally, as long as it is not an insult. Then I…..have to care, I guess.”

“Caprice. Understood.” It was not quite evident whether or not Shizue was attempting some sort of pun there, or if she was being sincere with her wording. Those sorts of things did tend to be somewhat fluid with the woman after all. Especially since she did not give any indicator whatsoever to either end. However, what one could tell was that she preferred to use his full name, mostly because ‘Cap’ was already the abbreviation for captain in her dictionary. She would not let these things become confusing in casual conversation.

However, she also had to introduce herself. “Shizue. And that is Mareanie.” Naturally, she nodded towards the little curled up ball near her, which incidentally was starting to rouse now – particularly because the boat was slowing down on the final approach now. “It appears that we arrived……we best get ready to disembark.” Though admittedly there was not much to get ready here. At the end of the day, they mostly brought themselves and the Pokemon. Not a lot of luggage or equipment to move onto the ferry or anything like that.

“Not…particularly,” she replied in her usual slow, seemingly half-distracted tone as she walked towards the bow of the ship to get a better view. She, too, should probably get a ride Pokemon. The only swimmer she had was her Mareanie, which was huddling in its little bunker by the railing for now, as if hibernating until something interesting happened. Shizue probably could have just left it in its ball, but had decided not to for now. Maybe later, if it continued to be rather passive.

However, they would soon be able to leave the ship, so there was a good chance that it would get a boost of activity just from that. As for herself? She was mildly excited, though her stoic face seldom showed such things. Still, Shizu was part of that scientific community, even in Rocket. She couldn’t help but be looking forward to what was going to happen. The man that had come with her was mentally filed as ‘muscle’ for the operation until he proved otherwise. A little harsh, maybe, but given her background, she filed most people as such.
“Things worthy of true attention…..are always far beneath the surface…” she hence added, casually continuing the conversation though she did not look at him much.

“Way I see it…..the work was already caused by someone else….” She replied, trailing off towards the end. She could never understand people like this, really. To feel bad about not completely satisfactorily resolving an issue they had not caused. Were they sorry for the days in this season ending so early, too? Of course not. Yet, when it came to a less abstract issue like this where a solution at least seems possible, but in the moment only a second-best one is available, they suddenly get antsy.

It was the same though, as far as she was concerned. Hence, she did not seem perturbed at all, simply observing proceedings with her hands clasped behind her back. Not like she had that much to do. Lacking both a flier and a fire, she had not much to do other than quietly preparing the little Snom for its task. That Ice Type was not exactly the strongest, only having recently come into her care to begin with. But she could tell that it was trying and that it would continue to try. That was good enough for the time being.
“Now now, you can do this,” she encouraged it once more, slowly, before getting up from her squatting position and nodding back towards the young man. Snom would then proceed to fire multiple Powder Snows in an attempt to ensure that everything was sufficiently frozen over for anyone to walk on it.

There wasn’t really a telling as to whether or not it had worked, but Shizue was quite certain of it. Hence, she swiftly took a few steps onto the ice, carefully yet determined. If she left it to the boy, he would probably hesitate and ponder the matter, when the only choice they had was obviously to try. Hence, she did so anyway. “Seems to….hold.”

More poison....goood...
thanks!

Another obstacle. Made sense. If those didn’t exist, they would not be needed here aside from maybe chaperoning a few possibly unruly pokemon. However, when something like this turned up, human intellect and ingenuity would be necessary. Not that Pokemon were stupid by nature. Far from it. A lot of them could intuit solutions that even the smartest woman could not come up with in the same timeframe. It just was what it was.
However, when it came to more complex issues, then a few humans controlling Pokemon could certainly do better than a band of them with differing approaches and such. They could act reasonably well in such a situation.

And she put a hand to her chin, thinking briefly, when her partner with the big and useful Pokemon called for input. It was obvious that he was considering using the Dragonite express. That was suitable, though a quite bothersome approach. Plus, it would create issues with looking after the Pokemon too, since they’d have to split up. “Well…..we can always fly them over anyway….so there is no harm trying…..melt it, have it slide and hope it fills up reasonably…..then we can freeze everything over again with Snom….hope for a more even distribution.”

Brynnhildr Erling

The Dragonite best be sure of what it did. Shizue knew enough about Pokemon types to tell that Ice was pretty much its biggest weakness, after all. That just meant they would have to make sure that ti did not get into too many fights with wild ones. No matter how strong it was, those of the wild certainly could overcome it in sufficient numbers.

Best not to test that theory, though. Shizu walked alongside it, keeping a close watch over the nearby Pokemon. Almost she moved when she saw a Machop sliding – but the other already moved and in a volatile situation like that, she definitely did not want to add to the chaos. Instead, she kept to herself, guiding one of the other small ones that almost fell, but was stabilized with the guiding touch of a hand.
However, she did not get to move along, for the Dragonite stopped her. She heard the noises, too. “What do you think….Snom?” She asked the little frozen bug and it mewled in response, seemingly worried for a moment but ultimately calming down. Whatever this was, it at least didn’t seem like mortal danger to this one.

Oh, right, a handshake. She gave him her own gloved one in return with little hesitation beyond the surprise. As far as she was concerned, Shizue wasn’t really nervous or anything. In fact, her gaze was steady and a bit contemplative. But she did not like talking too fast or anything like that, always taking her time, always seeming on the very verge of being distracted.

Just like she was now distracted from the boy by his pokemon, which seemed infinitely more interesting. It was a Dragonite, if she got the species correctly, one of the most iconic dragon types. While she was not too much into the type, she had to admit that it was impressive in bulk and projected strength. Though she did partially remember that she was talking to someone. “Shizue,” she plainly stated, simply assuming that he would know that it was a name to begin with.
Then, she patted the Snom riding on her shoulder. “It seems…..fine so far, really. I have other pokemon….too, though they don’t like the cold very much. I will only bring them out if need be….if that is alright.” Granted, that was not really much of a question. She’d already decided on such.

But since he was all but giving her his Pokemon, she figured that it would be fine. And fortunately, she was not in full on Rocket mode, so she’d not even steal it if she got a chance. Instead, she patted the big thing and started moving, figuring they could at least get going and talk while walking instead.

‘Volunteer’ was probably a bit far-fetched. Shizu was just about the opposite of a ranger by being a Rocket scientist, often cooped up in labs. However, she had been randomly given a Snom, so she was trying to see what this would do and figured earning some extra money would help with that. Plus, she was not the kind of Rocket that needed to always go for the evil option or anything like that. Sure, she was just as likely to help someone than poison them. But that also meant that sometimes she would simply help, too.

It helped that all of this seemed rather easy. Having put on her white coat, red hat and black scarf, she looked like she had prepared somewhat for this, too. There was a brief period of trying to figure out where to go, but that did not last for too long. After all, it was easy to spot a group of pokemon with adjacent ranger waiting for her. Hence, she made her way towards that person in the snow.
“Good day…..to you,” she started, a light smile on her face. “I am here to….help, yes. That was….it.”

Another poison type to help out. That was good enough. It was also a fighter, so it was probably strong enough to carry the sack for them. Shizue, in the meantime, bent over and carefully picked up the Delibird. It struggled initially, but once it realized that they were helping it, that stopped right away.

Then, she turned around slowly, judging its direction. Once it started to protest, she figured that she overturned and corrected back until the delirious Delibird directed them towards the destination. “This way….I guess….”

Eevees were rather peculiar creatures. Namely, they could apparently not become her favourite type. But then again, they were very adaptable. Their genetic material was probably on the same level of that of fictional Gremlins, though incidentally they did not have a dark/fairy evolution of that Pokemon.

Still, these Glaceons were much adept at surviving in the cold. Maybe with further study it would be possible to artificially induce more Eeveelutions. But she needed more specimen to figure these sorts of things out. Maybe she could snatch one of these with the help of Mareanie…


WxS3oqm1

Wonderful, wonderful, she had managed to keep a person warm. She even went on to eat snow, which clearly meant that she more comfortable now that she had a proper purple colouration. The little sea Pokemon had succeeded in her mission, so she continued to dance around Yvaine for a little more. However, since the other was not doing or saying much, clearly enjoying her new and improved status, Mareanie quickly got, well, bored. There wasn’t much else for her to do with this human. That was the burden of success, wasn’t it?

One worked tirelessly, used every trick in the book to her advantage, but once it was achieved, she was left with nothing more to do in that regard. Did that mean that anything to do in this world was ultimately futile? That nothing they did truly mattered beyond brief, momentary satisfaction?

Maybe, but Mareanie didn’t really think about that. Instead, she rolled back into the snow, picking up snowball speed again to either find another human to pester or return to her trainer. Whichever happened first, really.

“I…don’t,” she replied, speaking slowly as she often did when not rushing through technical explanations and the like. Honestly, unless she was in her element, Shizu just seemed that little bit out of it. Though, admittedly, she usually still did rather well for herself regardless.

At the very least, she was not intimidated by this man. But she also could tell that he did not seem like the mastermind behind this downed delibird, either. “The bird does….though. Something got to him. I can…..carry it, but the sack seems…..too heavy for me.”