to no one's surprise, baby ditto had a crush.[break][break]
"itooooo ..." it whined in a waving manner, approaching the large gengar that jesse had. unlike the 'youngest' ditto of the troupe, jesse's gengar was large and powerful - everything it aspired to be. in an attempt to impress the ghost type, the normal type formed itself into a sunflower with its trademark ditto eyes in the center. this was a peace offering, and perhaps a romantic one as well should the gengar be fine with it. all alecis could do was chuckle at the specimen she called her own. "perhaps we're getting too cozy with one another," she noted out loud, letting their pokemon play and pick at the wet floor of the cave together. low tide was a wondrous time to let the darlings roam and enjoy themselves while the trainers waited for high tide monsters of the water approach and give them something or two to fight and train with.[break][break]
"don't you think so, jesse? even our pokemon are getting the wrong idea." and what exactly was the wrong idea? that they were a couple? while it was true that alecis played a game of cat-and-mouse with jesse, she wasn't particularly good at keeping her distance from him. more often than not, she'd be pulling him forward and she understood the wrong in her ways. this caused her to frown, but hide it behind a fist curled over her mouth - propped up on a knee she hitched up from her seated position. "just how much longer do you think we'll have to spend time like this?" she spoke in this timeless vacuum, almost taboo in the fact that everything was so peaceful but a member of team rocket never really did seem to be able to sit back on their laurels and expect an easy and long lifetime. how much longer did she have before something big happened as it had in kanto?

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@jesse

having a bonfire in a cave likely wasn't on jesse's itinerary, but most things that he and alecis did together weren't particularly 'normal' or to be expected.[break][break]
"i'm glad this happened," she said quietly, the fire flickering before the two of them. within the bonfire was some memorabilia of her old life that she had just now managed to throw out - pictures of ultrasounds and the start of a jumper for a baby that she had started eons ago and never finished. there was no use for it and it was silly to hold onto it after all this time, but she knew that the sentiments behind it would not burn away with the fire that would be out before the night ended. regardless, the lavender town resident found herself sighing into the air, head pulled back as she did so - resting on her palms that were behind her for support. her dittos were cozying up around the fire, forming various odd shapes and telling stories to each other through the shadow puppets they made. shadowmen danced and pranced, depicting dreams they had of trainers and their struggles in life. they knew better than to remind alecis of her past, so they merely retold stories she had picked up along their travels together - of fans who came to shows and skeptics who tried to push alecis off stages and end her career early.[break][break]
"you didn't have to come," said alecis a bit more gruffly than she had intended, softening the gesture with a pause and a soft chuckle. "i know you're busy. i almost feel bad dragging you out here but i don't really know who else will think to come with me without speculating that i'm here to sacrifice them or something extreme." this was unfortunately not as funny as it was dead serious. "it's kind of funny how people still contribute magic to witchcraft. don't particularly need to be a cultist to do a little card trick, you know?"

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@jesse

alecis wasn't one to cry in front of other people, but she was darn near ready to break that streak of public stoicness.[break][break]
"what happened to him?" she asked, voice quivering as she tried to hold her ditto in her hands. the pink creature slipped past her fingers like sand - unable to be picked up and barely responding with a 'diii.' coming from lavender town, pokemon death wasn't something she was particularly unaware of but it also made her hyper-aware of the possibility occurring to her precious 'baby' of her troupe.[break][break]
just moments ago, the ditto was happily wiggling its way into crevices and exploring the tunnel with all the glee in the world. after alecis turned her back on it to train the other dittos in combat and gather information on wild pokemon, it crawled back to its trainer with a change in its hue. the ditto seemed pale and in pain, its whole conformation changing to be more gritty and dry as opposed to gelatinous and bouncy. truth be told, alecis had seen something like this happen to her dittos before but she was panicking a little too much at this time to register it. the dark tunnel made her particularly nervous, blood rushing to her temples and contributing to the start of a migraine.[break][break]
"i-i ... have to go," alecis murmurs quickly, looking around frantically. her eyes were wide with terror - fear of loss. "he's not well, i have to get help."

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@jesse

perhaps it was the fact she had only three dittos to her name, perhaps it was the idea that her fascination with dittos extended into 'animated object'-type pokemon. both were particularly strong arguments as to why she immediately reached for an empty pokeball in her pocket only to have her only awake ditto step before her in a protective manner. the pink gelatin dropped its rock form and everything to start quivering in front of the honedge, making a low 'diii...' noise as if some little piss pot of pink jell-o would strike the fear of god into anyone or anything. hell, it even had its little pink stub-like arms extended as if to say the honedge would have to go past it to get to its trainer.[break][break]
"it's ok, you little baby," alecis cooed at her ditto, picking it up with one hand which it easily melted into and formed a goo-like glove over. it seemed to turn shy, its mouth stretching out wide in a goofy grin. it seemed content with its 'job well done' and alecis was more than happy to let it slide onto her shoulder as she readjusted her hand for it to be able to easily do so. child-like ditto now on her frame, the hopeful trainer did as one does --[break][break]
attempted to catch a motherfucking pokemon in the wild.[break][break]
"wake up," she ordered of the pokeball she tipped forward, red light oozing forward as lazily as the second ditto that just formed a puddle on the floor. "díííííí," it complains, not wanting to get up. alecis sighs at this - not in a disappointed manner, but in the sense of 'i knew this was coming.' dipping her foot into the puddle of ooze, she roused it awake and it seemed to jump upon seeing the honedge - immediately transforming and assuming the appearance of the honedge, but with a comically incorrect set of eyeballs where the true honedge's one eye would be. "night slash," alecis called out - a little uncertain of the moveset of the pokemon since she only really knew of it through pokedex entries and shows she'd see on tv. seeing it in the wild was the difference between seeing an idol on stage as opposed to on a computer screen. luckily, the ditto understood and immediately went to slash at the ghost sword and alecis made an all too eager swing back and forth of her body - throwing out a pokeball.[break][break]
what a lucky day, really. perhaps this honedge would prove to be one step closer to achieving the answers to her questions regarding pokemon and their life cycles, object-like or not.

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attempting to catch honedge, woo!

it wasn't particularly uncommon for jesse and alecis to meet up during last-minute escapades, but this one felt particularly outrageous.[break][break]
"i thought we were going on a vacation?" the lavender-haired woman asks, a twinge of salt in her tone. climbing mt. chimney wasn't exactly her idea of a vacation, but to each their own. it wasn't her place to really look a gift horse in the mouth. both herself and jesse were incredibly busy people and to have the company was always nice - albeit a bit of a hassle, given the blonde man seemed to have a penchant for always getting her riled up in the worst ways.[break][break]
already exhausted by the very idea that they were there at the base of the mountain, the rocket trainer looked up towards their destination. "luckily for you, many people die for a chance like this." also fortunately for jesse, alecis was still in good enough spirits to hold back her tongue and still try to look on the bright side. there was a sauna with multiple attending pokemon that spun a castform themed stay for anyone checking in with them. this location was relatively always booked, but jesse had sprung the idea on her and she had no lies in her bank to feed him that would exclude her from going.[break][break]
"well then," she started, putting her hands on the straps of her backpack that doubled as her luggage. "after you."

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@jesse

there had been various rumors of an elderly couple in mt. pyre that had sparked the magician's interest - a couple belonging to an extinct group of pokefans who took care of the graves of pokemon on this mass of stone and memories. alecis's skin crawled at the prospect of ghost pokemon, but she knew she had a love for them. the mystery and intrigue behind the idea of pokemon permanently dying past the popular 'fainted' stage in common battle allured her to investigate more and mt. pyre seemed like an appropriate starting point to see the different stages of her companions' lifecycles.[break][break]
"diiiitto," one of her dittos called out, its eyes showing its true form as it had taken the form of a medium-sized rock that just slithered forward. each one of her troupe had their own personality, and the rock kirby-esque one was particularly an oddball. "i'm excited as well," its trainer responded - attuned enough with the formless mass to at least understand the notion of what it was trying to say.[break][break]
if all went well, she would be having some kind of addition to her strange circus.

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solo wild