"hah?"

wolfgang takes offense in what elijah had said, but he was in no position to retort. on hindsight, he was right. on the other hand, he does have a reason to do it this way.

the gogoat gets the ursaring's attention. the pokemon quickly turns around at the bigger threat, looking away at wolfgang who it deems less dangerous than an actual pokemon.

the opportunity presents itself as wolfgang runs forward and performs a drop kick that pushes the pokemon forward, away from the garden. it staggers from its footing before it gets paralyzed by a well-timed force palm from the riolu. it managed to only hit the knees of the bear given its height, but it's a direct hit nonetheless.

"if it gets the flowers safe, then it's worth!" he tells elijah as he stands up, dusting himself off.

luck is his worst trait.

his house was out of commission after the last fiasco that happened there. all his tools for his trade was beyond repair, and to make things worse, he barely has any savings on his account.

littleroot was so fucked that wolfgang has him struggling to make the next move.

job listings was the next on his list. he'll have to bum out for a while as he looks for other housing since those don't come by easily, but to do that, he has to have employment to be able to put something for down payment.

his lips almost move to a snarl as he wanders around. he holds a pamphlet on his hand as sharp eyes leer every stall. he doesn't ask much, but most of the openings he sees don't appeal to him.

maybe he should lower his standards.

tl;dr

• wanders around looking at stalls all grumpy
• open for interaction

with a big branch he found on the ground being swung around at the ursaring to keep them at bay, wolfgang snarls back at the wild pokemon. his voice if tinted with annoyance and spite despite the danger he's currently facing.

he had just come back to check on the flowers they had left on the patch when he sees pokemon flocking towards it. a strange smell comes from the flora, though he can't decipher whether it's from the gracidea itself or if it's alien material on their flower patch.

"back off!" he shouts at the wild pokemon. it seemed effective for the most part. "no one loves you! get out!"

his riolu guards the other side of the garden.

out of the pokemon he has, it's the only one that can possibly fend it off without destroying much of the environment. he's not trusting his typhlosion to not burn things down, and he's pretty sure all his rotom can do is activate guts.

he gets uncomfortable with the name question, mostly because he's only used to introducing himself in a professional setting. dating apps and the like already give your name to the other person before you meet, after all.

"w-wolfgang..." he says timidly, before his tone rises up aggressively. "volkov! whaddya need my name for anyways? chances are we ain't gonna meet anyways unless ya go to littleroot."

most of his business across the region is done through the web anyways, so he doesn't feel the need to engage in friendly niceties. doesn't help that he's bad at it either.

his typhlosion continues to walk on, causing wolfgang to release a heavy sigh at the sight. fucker's ready to leave already, he thought,

"if ya need shit, just ask right now. otherwise i'm goin' home."

the typhlosion flops on the ground as soon as it finishes rolling. it had been on its limits, evident with the blaze it sparked during its last move.

there's cheering from the crowd as the winner got called. wolfgang pays no mind to the noise as he recalls his pokemon.

he whips his head as he catches the last glimpse of his opponent. there's a flush as he aggressively tries to call her out. "p-pretty boy? huh?" it took him a while to process it though that she was already out of the earshot by the time he blurted it out.

it's a taunt, he bets. she's trying to get back to him, but since she's already gone, he has to resign himself with a heavy sigh. he leaves for the other exit at the back to discuss payment.

thankfully for the spectators, the veil of smoke eventually clears itself with the centripetal force from the typhlosion.

as the zweilous charges in, it will eventually find itself clashing once again wit the typhlosion. it rolls out from the cloud of dark smoke, clearing most of it, as it collides with the dragon-type.

the fire on its back starts to light up even as it curls into a ball. embers blaze as the two get into one final contest of strength. onlookers cheer from the sidelines, as the edgy color combination of fiery red and ashen black looked cool for the show.

the cry of pain resonates with the cheer of the crowd. wolfgang appears cold to it in reaction to his pokemon getting hurt, but everyone knows it's just the norm in a fight.

the typhlosion finally gets in on the game. wolfgang folds his arms as he finally gets to watch what his pokemon was capable of.

as the zweilous latches itself on the pokemon, black suddenly fills their vision. smoke starts to flow out of the typhlosion's nose, mouth as well as the flames on its back.

it wasn't going to impair the other pokemon's vision, given that it's blind, but it's still not oxygen.

the fire-type emits increasingly large volumes of thick, dark smoke before trying to thrown the dragon-type away from him as soon as its grip on his limbs loosen.

the thought of giving his typhlosion a pampering absently comes to mind when she mentions it, only for the thought to burst once the question's thrown at him.

he internalizes for a moment, bowing his head for a second before raising it for an answer.

"it's better than what i expected, that's for sure," he answers. "why're ya askin' that? ya plannin' on stayin' here long term for real?"

she has a place to stay, and a job to get herself a stable life. plans for the future as well. wolfgang has none of them, but he'd still consider himself complacent with his situation. not sure if he can say happy, though.

"ya really missed me, huh?" he adds in a teasing tone. there's a forlorn look on his face rather than a smirk, which was all part of his humor.

he raises his brow as he gauges the other's disposition. she did know about stuff he's taken, and it only makes sense that she'll go for the same things as he's gone for if she's saying that.

"y-yeah."

should he just leave her there to search for the same things as what he has considering he already stripped most of them from their most valuable, usable parts? he grumbles as conflict stirs inside him.

he figures he might as well stay for a few more seconds for last minute notes.

"once you get in that corridor, turn left. the right storage room's already been stripped clean by yours truly. there's a bunch of rotom there though, so turn off your electronics if you wanna go through easy."

that's his treasure trove gone, but he figures he wouldn't return to this place anytime soon anyways.

wolfgang releases an exasperated sigh as he covers his face with a hand. the sight was unbecoming of what was expected of them, and he better set things straight before he gets pulled out.

"get physical!" he shouts.

the sight of the charging zweilous had the fire-type running away. wolfgang figured he has spoiled it too much even if he wasn't meaning to.

at the sound of his voice, the typhlosion obediently turns around and meets the pokemon head on. it plants its feet on the ground and attempts to wrestle with the dragon. with its paws pushing against its shoulders, it lets itself enter a contest of strength with the zweilous until one of them yeilds.

the crowd cheers as the first instance of clashing happens.

money was tight this month. a few gigs here and there wouldn't hurt, even if they were tournaments he wouldn't have bothered to enter before.

there's something surreal with how he fits in easily with the crowd, though his opponent stuck out to him. the more inconspicuous one tries to be, the more it catches his eyes. that's how his experience with rocket has him trained.

he shrugs. he doesn't care for anything besides the money anyways so he might as well get it over with.

entering the ring with his typhlosion lumbering behind him, he finds himself cringing at the loud cheers of the crowd. he looks up to them with a disgruntled look on his face and a rumble on his throat before he faces his opponent.

"oi, where's your 'mon?" he asks impatiently. "let's get this started right away."

he's not sure if there's a protocol on these kinds of things, but it doesn't matter as long as they give the people a show. that's what they're getting paid for anyways, not pleasantries.