[Video]

[moveslikestrider]

[You know what happens when you give two curious teenagers time to formulate an idea? Trouble.

Lots of it. The video shows Ilex Forest and the back of one Dave Strider as he whistles sharply to the Cranidos beside him. He's not alone there's a Jane Crocker to his left with another Cranidos. There's a thud as their pokemon hit the trees with their heads. At first nothing happens then an angry looking pineco drops out onto the grass.

Dave blinks.] What the tap dancing christ?

Oh! It's a Pokemon we haven't seen before! Let's see.. [She's fishing out her gear while approaching the Pineco, as it's actually really difficult to tell if it's expression is angry or not; it always looks a bit mad, especially compared to the dex image. The sudden glowing is a concern though, that has Jane taking a step back.] What in the --

[Boom. It knocks both of them back, sending Dave butt over heels to slam his back into the grass. The explosion shakes the trees and a ring of Pineco hit the ground. All at once they start to glow and he surges up covering the pokemon and Jane with a curse before the screen goes white.]

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[moveslikestrider]

[He doesn’t say a word as she goes through her tirade. It isn’t until she’s fallen quiet that he wraps his arms around her, hugging her back. Dave is just a kid, he’s not sure how to go about comforting anyone from the one thing that was a constant of his life for a day and for two years.

Death could happen at any minute and it would be pointless and terrible. She’d said people tried to kill her before.] It was automatic and I’m not sorry about it.

[Because he wasn’t letting any of his friends get hurt if he could help it. He was fine with being battered and damaged. He’d been that way before and it didn’t really bother him.] We’re both fine. Come on, look at me a sec.

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[healium]

[Shaking her head, Jane still is frowning when she does look up, and she's trying to wipe the nerve-fried tears off her face; really, she's upset with herself for being so surprised about the explosions. She hasn't felt that scared in a long time.]

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[moveslikestrider]

[His eyes widen behind his shades. Oh shit. Crying girl. What does he do, what does he do? Dave swallows as his mind races. All parts of his argue to soothe those tears damn it.

He very gently brushes her tears away with his fingers as he looks down at her.] Hey. We're okay. We really are.

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[healium]

[The gesture of wiping her tears actually had her closing her eyes to let him, before weakly smiling and wiping her face again with her other hand.] Okay, okay.. [He's sweet. A little ridiculously so. Okay, actually, after that leap to cover from tree bombs, she'll say he's very sweet.] Sorry, I don't really.. know why I'm crying even, it's just dumb.

[Even while she's talking though, her eyes are watering and she's eventually pushing her glasses up to wipe her face.] It just.. scared me, I suppose.

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[moveslikestrider]

It's cool. [He reassures her, while peering down at her, his brow knitted even if the rest of his face remains passive.] This used to happen to you all the time, that's what you said to me before.

[And he'd leapt to her and their pokemons defense without a thought involved in his own safety.] Nothing wrong with being scared, Jane. Actually that makes you pretty damn sane. I'm just telling you the danger has passed and you can breathe again.

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[healium]

[Nodding, Jane makes a point of breathing in deeply as if to show she is breathing again, before exhaling and giving a half-hearted smack at his back.] .. Thank you, Dave.

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[moveslikestrider]

[He coughs at the smack and moves to help her up off the ground.] It's my job, being the knight and all. We should probably head back.

[He uses his coat sleeve to wipe her eyes one more time to be sure.] And you got a good strong hand on you man.

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[healium]

So what would my job be, as a maid? [She still winds up with a small smile, dusting herself off and then dusting his arms a bit.] Hoohoo, yes, that's right, and that's why you aren't going to do silly things again, alright?

[As if she'll smack that hard.]

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[moveslikestrider]

You're the battle commander. [He shakes his head to get some dust off and snorts.] Hey, I can take a lot of hits. This is just a kick down the stairs.

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[healium]

I'm no leader. [Reaching, she's dusting dirt out of his hair now too, shaking her head with a puffed sigh.] A kick down the stairs isn't exactly good either!

[Looking about and then moving slowly to gather her bag and pokedex, Jane stares down at it before letting out a small laugh; turning to show him then, the screen reads:
Pineco hangs from a tree branch and patiently waits for prey to come along. If the Pokémon is disturbed while eating by someone shaking its tree, it drops down to the ground and explodes with no warning.]

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[moveslikestrider]

[Dave sighs and cleans the lens of his shades while they're still on his face with his sleeve. Of course. The warnings were naturally somewhere obvious.] So they're douchebags.

Wait. Does this mean they eat human flesh?

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[healium]

[If she didn't know Striders and Their Glasses were a thing, she'd pluck them off and clean them herself. There's a few more beeps while she looks, and Jane is shaking her head after holding her breath a moment.]

Thank god no. They wait for bug type Pokemon, probably small ones like Caterpie or Wurmple.

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[moveslikestrider]

Probably. [He whistles and his team pour out of the surroundings woods, melting back in like ninjas. He's taught them a lot of things in their time together.]

Refresh my memory which is closer? The Center of the hotel.

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[healium]

[Calling back Jenny only on spying some of Dave's team reappearing, Jane debates to herself about letting James out for a slow ride back to town.]

I think the hotel is closer, but we should really go to the center for a check up.

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[moveslikestrider]

Yeah, thought so. [He whistles and Kim the Aracanine pads over to lower herself to the ground. Dave slips on her back, leaning forward to wrap his arms around her neck for support.] Hop on. We'll take an easy ride back to town.

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[healium]

[Jane takes a moment to look between the large dog and Dave, before biting her lip and moving to climb on up behind him. Leaning against his back and curling her arms around to hold on, she tries to relax.]

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[moveslikestrider]

[Once she's on he signals for the big fire dog to take them back to town. The idea of going to bed to sleep off the damage after he gets checked up is pretty appealing. He has forgotten (for now) why he has troubles with sleeping in general.]

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[healium]

[It's a little startling, and Jane clings a little tighter until she gets used to the movement. Eventually, she relaxes and just lumps against Dave's back; the Arcanine isn't exactly what one would call a bumpy ride, it almost felt like the dog was flying for how graceful it moved.]

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[moveslikestrider]

[To his credit, Dave is directing Kim as carefully as he can. He really does feel like he got run over. But he still checks on Jane as they get closer to town.] Doing alright back there?

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[healium]

Yeah.. I could just fall asleep, it's so comfortable like this. [Her words are likely a little hard to hear with how she's speaking so softly, close to dozing right off.]

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[moveslikestrider]

What did you say? [Yeah, he didn't hear it.]

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[healium]

[Clearing her throat, Jane shakes her head as a "nevermind" and yawns, trying to wake herself up a little again on noticing how close to town they are.]

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[moveslikestrider]

[Welp, no sense trying to logic out what she meant. He steers Kim into town, picking their way around slowpokes. She slows down to an easy walk because the damn things are as thick as a flock of crows.]

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[healium]

[Sitting up just a little more but holding on a touch tighter, Jane looked down through all the Slowpoke.] ... Has there always been this many in town? It's like they're all out today.

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[moveslikestrider]

Yeah there's always this many of these assholes around. It's like hey let's see who can make trip over our slow minded asses and fall into the dirt before we notice! Shit yeah best idea ever. [Dave thinks about it then murmurs to Kim. She picks up speed, moving lightly on her big paws, dodging with grace he can spot is Strider training.]