smash_logs | Dorm Log: the millionth revenge

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Dorm Log: the millionth revenge

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Byrne didn't know this kid. He was irritated at someone like him disturbing his peace and interrupting his train of thought. ~~At least it wasn't Shinon.~~ No, the forest didn't belong to him, but he didn't like to be disturbed. Especially if the kid was planning on staying.

"What are you doing here?" he asked coolly.

~~Nobody likes to see Shinon.~~ "Um... ...Taking a walk! Why, is this place off-limits?" That didn't matter much to him, anyway. Who was this guy to tell him any different? It didn't seem off-limits a week or so ago...

In the back of his mind, he wondered. This mysterious looking person... Did he possess special talents? People at this school seemed to. Everyone here seemed to. He couldn't help but feel that maybe he was the odd one out: he wasn't so great as a gym leader, he couldn't defend his friends, couldn't even bring himself to N's castle because of his fear... Compared to anyone he met here, he was nothing. He was already killed in a weird timeline -- who wasn't to say he could be killed at any given moment? His expression went from friendly and amiable to hardened and pensive in a heartbeat.

Off-limits. He wished it was. He could tell the kid that it was off-limits and tell him to get lost, but nobody owned this forest. Nobody could own a forest except the gods.

"Technically no," he said to him.

But I would prefer it if you would leave me be, he wanted to say. However, he remained silent on the issue, merely going back to sitting against the large oak tree, trying to resume his contemplation. He was always alert, always on his guard, listening for any unnatural sounds that may come. And now that he knew that the kid was there, he tried to stay attuned to his movements.

"Well, okay then!" Good thing that was settled! Chili was done talking about that.

But he wanted to know more about this guy, maybe. "Are you a teacher here or something?" he asked. He hoped this guy wasn't out to get him. Hell, he hoped nobody he encountered would be his enemy: after what happened, he feared putting his trusted partner, Pansear, in harms way. He couldn't bear to be a bad trainer and risk Pansear because of it. "I'm sort of new here, so that's why I ask!"

Byrne sighed. The kid wasn't going to leave, was he? He'd have to put up with him until the kid got bored and left.

"Yes, I teach Martial Arts," he answered.

He had no desire to fight the kid, fortunately, unless he decided to attack him. While the kid seemed too stupid to do that, he still kept on his guard as always. At times, he was even afraid to sleep, for fear that he would be kidnapped and brought into another impossible scenario where he could die. His stint at that strange laboratory was caused by that time rift, so when would something like that happen again? He hated to admit it, but he was frightened and paranoid, moreso than usual.

He didn't have any idea that this kid had been through the same laboratory and was killed himself.

Whether or not the two could outwardly sympathize, Chili was definitely the same way. Not only did he have the experience of a similar fate under his belt, but he had to wake up to the hysteria of his triplet brother. To lose one of the three... he couldn't bear the thought. He couldn't be sure what it was that dragged him and Cress into that lab, but whatever it was, it could happen again. He'd already had nightmares about it, of course; the impact of the experience left a trace on Chili's person in the form of exhaustion and circles of sleeplessness under his eyes. Were they noticeable? Perhaps, if you bothered to look. Like Byrne, sleep was hard for Chili to find over the past few weeks.

Martial Arts... Chili thought about that one. He considered the physical training he'd already promised himself. This could be the perfect opportunity for him to take a class that would really do a number on him: if he wanted to be stronger for his Pokémon and his brothers, he had to do something for himself, too. He clenched his fist, and brought it up in front of him determinedly. "Martial Arts, huh? I think I'd like to take that kind of class!"

Exhausted or no, it was hard to extinguish Chili's fiery spirit.

Byrne was having a hard time picturing someone like this guy fitting into his Martial Arts class. Then again, he purposely made it difficult to weed out the unfit ones, though he found that most of them still stayed.

"Take it if you want," he said, narrowing his eyes, "But be warned that I don't tolerate weakness."

His own death would not be something he would admit aloud to anyone. He hoped to hell that the only one who witnessed it was that godforsaken robot, because if anyone in the school knew, he could be easily be taken advantage of ~~in a sexy way~~.

~~Then Wheatley made an announcement over the loudspeaker of the school all about Byrne and Chili's deaths the end.~~

"I just wanted to tell everyone about the time that Byrne and Chili kicked the metaphorical bucket," Wheatley informed the school. Well, there goes Byrne's secret. Who knew which secret would be out in the open next... (Prince was then banned the game for godmodding in strikeouts.)

Weakness... Chili knew he was weak. He matched that in almost every sense of the word, whether he wanted to admit it or not. He bit his lip.

"I'm probably not the crowning example of a strong student," began the redhead, keeping his fists clenched tight. "But there's nothing keeping me from wanting to be! I want to be dependable and strong on my own, so that everyone I know can rely on me!" He didn't want to be a burden anymore, either...

~~And then everyone in the school laughed at Byrne the end.~~

Well, at least the kid admitted he was weak. That was a start. Overconfidence wouldn't do anyone good, unless they had the skills to back it up. (So obviously, Byrne had no issue with himself being overconfident.)

"If you're willing to do the work, I have no objections," he stated.

However, work for his class actually didn't have much to do with martial arts. Perhaps next year he would change that, but ~~since Carbon knew so little about martial arts~~ he felt like putting his students through grueling drills. Through these exercises only then could one gain the fitness required to effectively fight. But he didn't say so now.

As he thought about it, though, the more he realized that he should take the class seriously, as well as his students. He had been prepared for all of them to be weak and useless, and while many of them were, many were not. And obviously many of them had the determination to learn how to fight, judging by how often they came back. It would be annoying to put up with how terribly they would fight, but he was a teacher. He should be imparting his skills onto others...

"Of course! That's what you're supposed to do when you're working toward a goal: work hard, and study hard!" proclaimed the gym leader. Over the course of their conversation, he had livened up notably even with the thoughts of death looming over his subconscious. He had already taken the time to consider what he would need to do to rectify his shortcomings even before his 'death' at Wheatley Laboratories, and he would do anything in his power to make himself grow.

So this would be his future instructor! "So what's your name?" he inquired, promptly pointing to himself. "Mine's Chili! I'm a gym leader of Striaton City in Unova."

What Byrne knew about gyms was that they were places to train. He knew little about the specifics of Pokemon, and while he was sure gyms were mentioned in their context, he figured it was the same thing as the gyms he knew: where people exercised and trained. So when this kid said he was a "gym leader," Byrne highly doubted it. He looked too weak.

"I doubt you're a gym leader," he said flatly, "Whatever that even is."

He never bothered to actually study Pokemon or any of the other species here. It never interested him. He figured a "gym leader" was one who owned a gym, who trained the hardest and earned the rights to leading it. Well, Byrne was sort of right. He just didn't know that it applied to Pokemon.

...What. What room did this guy have to judge him about such matters?! He so was a gym leader and the only person to say otherwise would be himself, whenever he decided to bow out gracefully from his position! (He was sure taking a break from being a gym leader soon would be in order, but it was statements like these that made him want to keep his job just to prove his point!)

"I am, too!!" he asserted, his face taking on a hue of red out of embarrassment and frustration. "Have you ever even been to Unova?! My brothers and I are the gym leaders of Striaton, and everyone knows it!! And heeeey, you probably don't even know what you're talking about, anyway!" He said so himself! Whatever that even is, he said! Well, that was what he was, Chili thought to himself. The nerve!

Edited 2012-07-18 02:34 (UTC)

"No, I've never been to Unova," he said flatly. But if he and his brothers led gyms, it sounded to Byrne like gyms were an important cultural thing in this Unova place.

"I'm assuming that to lead a gym you have to be strong, and adept in physical matters."

He looked back at the boy, evaluating him. No, he didn't look strong. He looked annoying and weak, but at least he had determination. That was better than nothing.

~~Shinon get out~~

Chili's defensiveness was rooted in the fact that he already felt inferior compared to his fellow gym leaders. To be challenged by someone who didn't even understand the purpose of a gym leader made him feel even more awkward. Apparently, he didn't look the part... His face stayed flushed, but it was mostly out of embarrassment.

"Gym leaders are strong!" he clarified. "We protect our city with our Pokémon, and set an example for aspiring trainers below us! We're also supposed to provide a challenge for those who want to advance in the league, so we decide who's worthy to move on!"

"Ah, it's a Pokemon thing," he responded, finally getting what it stood for. Pokemon trainers apparently had a team of Pokemon that battled one another, though Byrne knew so little about it. It sounded like a form of slavery to him, but apparently it was not.

"Fine, you may have strong Pokemon," he acknowledged, "But that's useless if you don't have your own strength. Pokemon will not help you in my class."

~~"Yeah look at my strong Pokémon!" sed Chili and Pansear came out and was a weak baby monkey "YEAH SO STROOOONG!!!!! how am i a gym leader"~~

He placed a hand on his hip. "I know that! My Pokémon are strong... but..." He was letting them down, he'd already decided. Chili knew he couldn't be a reliable trainer without matching the vitality of Pansear, and that was what he was here to study for.

"I want to be strong, like them! It's me who needs the work." Did that even make any sense? Chili wasn't sure. "What I mean is, I can't let my friends down anymore just because I wasn't fast enough, or strong enough, or smart enough..." He frequently let Pansear and Lillipup down for not having faith in their combination as a team, and he let Cress down by mistrusting him and... getting himself killed. "...And I don't want to be the one that falls behind! That can get you k-killed." He stuttered. Chili didn't often stutter, and even he noticed the trip in his words. It left a bad taste in his mouth.

Normally Byrne would have shrugged off those words, but today that last phrase hit a nerve in him. Fall behind and you get killed... If Byrne hadn't let himself get captured somehow, if he had paid more attention... He had grown too cocky, it seemed, and whatever had happened in that laboratory was obviously attempting to teach him a lesson.

"Indeed it can," he said. "And overconfidence can get you killed as well."

And Byrne knew that he suffered from overconfidence, letting it get the best of him multiple times. He was lucky he survived this long, but once he got into the rush of his own power, it was difficult not to feel secure in his abilities.

"Your Pokemon won't always be there to protect you," he stated darkly. As a lone wolf, Byrne never fought amongst companions, never relied on others to defend him. It was a skill worth having.

Overconfidence, too, was something he felt might have contributed to his own death. He'd been challenging the situation as if it were a mere game, engaging in petty sibling rivalry over the matter when in reality, its consequences - the tests - weighed more than it seemed he could handle. He averted his gaze.

"Of course," Chili agreed. In the laboratory, he didn't have his Pokémon with him. He had Cress. They were usually so renowned for being in sync with each other, but even then, they messed up. "You're probably implying that I should learn to handle my own, even without anyone's help, and... I'm going to! Really!"

Byrne nodded. Whether or not the boy was serious was yet to be determined. But, he said his piece. Byrne didn't care one way or another whether this kid got himself killed, but he upheld what little moral responsibility he had by telling the kid how to improve himself.

"Yes, that's what I said. And that's what you should do."

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Dorm Log: the millionth revenge

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