Alex Nino's Story

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"Forty-five, forty-six, forty-seven, Really, Sabre, you don't weigh as much as you did. Have you been eatin'? Forty-eight, forty-nine, fifty!", And with his morning exercise complete, the Flareon hopped off of his back and pranced his way to the couch. The human doing to push-ups hopped directly to his feet and stretched, a series of pops resulting. "Oooh! That was a good one. It's gonna be a good mornin' I can smell it right now," Kenji said, continuing to stretch in the window, allowing him a magnificent view of Cerulean City. Currently, he'd taken up a tempory residence in a hotel for the night-- beats sleeping in the gutters. As the sun shone in, the sweat on his body glistened in the sunlight, as did the metal protruding from his face. The tattoo that snaked it's way from his hip to his neck stayed red as ever, unfortunately.

Kenji didn't figure himself as the sentimental type, yet here he was, back in Cerulean City. The place where Light and he had won the first badge of their current journey. He tossed a look at the couch, and beside Sabre, laying on Kenji's shirt, a little Pikachu's chest rose and fell as she slept soundly. Bless her heart, she never was a morning person-- Pokemon, rather. She was precious, and it was for that fact that Kenji refused to wake her for his morning exercises. He chuckled to himself and returned his gaze to the window. Cerulean City. After the badge win here, he went on to Pewter City to win one there-- if a hair bit more difficult. From there, he explored the Viridian Forest, found a new member for his team, then went to Pallet Town and back.

It's been quite the adventure so far, even if it just began. It was already going better than his last. Desperately trying to avoid those thoughts, Kenji shifted from stretching directly into jumping jacks, forcibly removing the thoughts from his mind. Where to next? He thought? Vermillion City perhaps? He'd have to scour the entirity of Kanto before challenging the Elite for, so really, it didn't matter which way he went. The end goal was the same. Though, this time he was in no hurry to get there. He had all the time in the world, and he'd make sure that he'd enjoy each day as it came. Speaking of which... Daylight was burning.

He stopped his exercises and roused Light by poking her in the ears. Sabre watched from his side of the couch, a grin spread across it's small mouth. His trainer was quite the entertaining one, after all. "Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey..." He repeated over and over again until he got what he wanted. A crack in the Pokemon's eyelid, signalling she was awake. Not awake enough though, "Rise and shine, sweetheart, it's a beautiful day. And you're just sleepin' it away. Up an at 'em, we've got a big- ow!" Kenji yelped, recoiling the offending finger. Two marks lay on his finger, where tiny rodent teeth told them to stay away. Sabre was getting his laughs on the other end of the couch.

Kenji stuck the finger in his mouth and watched Light warily as he spoke, "Good mornin' to you too... Definitely not a mornin' person," He'd been with her long enough to realize that, though they don't come near as thick as Kenji. Still, the goal was achieved and the Pikachu finally yawned awake, and glared at Kenji, who in turn merely shrugged, suggesting he did nothing wrong. "We're runnin'. You up for that?" He stated, looking toward the Flareon. Sabre nodded and bounded off the couch and began his own stretching. So eager, the both of them. Light was fine riding around the backpack Kenji carried with him.

"Right, let's get at it then." Kenji said, hoisting Light so that he could snag the shirt she sleeped on. He chucked it into the bag, then held it open for her to jump in. With that done, Pokemon and Trainer left the room to seized the day, by force if necessary.

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They had been running not for thirty minutes, and Kenji had managed to get a good lather going on when the explosion his. Sabre arched his back and growled, and thanks to his low center of gravity didn't topple near as easy as some certain lumbering trainers. Fortunately for Light, Kenji had enough wits about himself to twist as he fell so as to land on his side instead of his back, where Light was currently situated. Kenji had enough time to sit up and say, "The hell was that?" before next series of smaller explosions began. Light had crawled her way out of the bag and into Kenji's lap before these began, and when they did Kenji covered Light with his body in order to protect her from debris or whatever else was going on. Sabre merely intensified his growling and backed up closer to Kenji and Light.

When it felt like the explosions were done, Kenji lifted his head from the back of Light and looked around, trying to find the cause of such a ruckus. It didn't take him long to find the black plume of smoke and an entirely conspicuous hot-air balloon slipped into the smoke. The Crimson R on it furrowed Kenji's eyebrows in irritation. "Think they could be any more obvious?" Kenji asked, to which Sabre barked. "Damn right we're checkin' it out. Somethin' tells me someone needs their ass beat," Sabre barked in agreement and what could be construed as a sigh came from Light.

Kenji jumped to his feet, sat Light on his shoulder, and began to run toward the direction of the smoke and explosions. Some men would probably run in the other direction, but then again Kenji wasn't other men. He was the one who dove headfirst into danger, regardless of personal safety or the consequences. It was something Light admired about the man. No hesitation, and no thought. Into the breach once more.