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"-so she comes in with this book, right? and mind you, this woman is...late sixties? early seventies?"
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kasper isn't sure if the other rocket member with them is even listening at this point, but they rub their finger over the crater of the poke ball again as they talk, driven by an urge to pass the time somehow and their unconscious ritual.
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"and i look at it. and it's this awful romance novel. and- the love interest is someone in rocket. like, this writer has just taken his whole appearance and everything and made him into this mafia boss. like one of the really stereotypical ones."
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they're not about to say any names, just because they don't know if chu-e would even know who they're talking about. and because the last time they had seen said rocket member, he had been terrifying and all claws and they would rather not draw his wrath by talking about it.
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"so anyways. that's my theory on why my old job got flooded."
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they're mostly joking, but also....if kyogre had decided to attack the cafe because it wanted to wipe this book from existence, then kasper would understand. no offence to Legally Distinct Cillian Quinn and all the offence to rainbow storm.

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kasper was, unfortunately for everyone right about now, completely lost when it came to farming. the only thing they really knew about it was some meme- the country boy and emo girl one, which didn't even fit their situation at all. but money was money, and they were pretty sure handling some stray sheep couldn't be that bad.
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which is how they had messed up in the first place; they hadn't considered how nervous sheep pokemon could be. and they also hadn't accounted for the fact that everything was so rocky, or that their pokemon were just as lost on what to do as they were.
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the arcanine trailing behind them seems undisturbed, but also about as helpful as kasper themself. zinnia isn't a herding sort, and that much is obvious as he huffs at his trainer almost falling for the tenth time in the last five minutes.
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some sort of help finally arrives, though, with a lasso and much more confidence than kasper has. they pause, raise their hand in greeting, and start to head over to their (probably?) much more experienced companion. "did you take the job, too? i kind of need the help-"
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and, like fate itself wants to punctuate their statement, kasper's foot slips on a stray rock and they have no time to right themself before they're finally falling with a surprised, ungraceful noise.

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the move alone lands, and kasper can't help but feel a bit of short-lived pride at the idea. they're not the most skilled trainer, after all, and they're sure that ameena is more used to this than they are. by a long shot.
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the psychic hits with a vengeance. maybe it's kasper's own pride that leaves them open to it, or maybe it's the fact that it can't really be avoided, but they wince. and they stagger- it takes a blind hand, grasping at the togekiss, to keep them upright, and even that barely works. but they're still standing, for now.
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a strong base....both of the pokemon they've brought with them don't quite fit the bill here, they're sure, but they're determined to hang on for a little bit longer. and so, it seemed, was posie- the archeops lashes out with an almost instinctual dragon claw, sacrificing kasper's split-second plan in the process.

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for a second, it seemed like they had made a mistake, anyways. poppy was already in etali's beak, and the kilowattrel was preparing to deliver that final blow that would end the match. there was no way the hatterene would be able to fight if she was dropped from this height.
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instead of the abrupt ending, the brilliance of the dazzling gleam sends them both plummeting, having been enough to distract the bird type and send him to the ground hard. he's the first one to land, due to his speed alone, and the force of it seemed to have trapped him in a crater of his own making.
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and then poppy landed, too, just as hard as the bird pokemon she had been fighting. there's a moment where she's still, recovering from the shock of it, and then starts to get up- just to collapse into a defeated pile next to the electric type. the blow had been hard enough. she didn't want to fight anymore, either.
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with no obvious winner in sight, kasper clicks their tongue before glancing across at their opponent. "so what now?" they hadn't been in a gym battle before, so scenarios like this were completely new to them.

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kasper thinks they could cut through the tension in these places like a knife. but they have a job to do, and, so far, there's nobody showing up. it seems like it's going to be a piece of cake.
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until it isn't, and someone does show up.
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she doesn't seem like she's rocket- or she is and she's either choosing the worst possible path or kasper's just a really bad judge of character. either way, it's enough to cause them to stop- yarrow follows suit, although the sylveon's bristling fur is a much less warm welcome than the nineteen-year old.
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"that's as far as you come." to their credit, their voice comes through without shaking- or at least shaking enough to be really noticeable. they're not so sure about the intimidation aspect, though.
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they can work on it.

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even though they don't get an answer, kasper's hand lingers on the pokeball to release the togekiss. it's only as gardevoir mega evolves that they release the second pokemon, figuring that, yeah, two would absolutely be better than one in this scenario.
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the gardevoir teleports faster than kasper can come up with a solid game plan, pushing posie away with an alluring voice and redirecting its attention to the togekiss. despite wisteria's attempts to dodge, kasper can see the way the mystical fire singes the white feathers on her wings. to the togekiss' credit, though, she bounces back easily, aiming to land a sweet kiss on the gardevoir.
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a flash of sapphire moves out of the corner of kasper's eye as posie takes position closer to his trainer again as the second line of defense, waiting. for now.

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