After Dark [C]

we burn in fire.
we burn in blood.
we burn in dreams.

If the night had not been so still then perhaps the distant sound of rustling could have evaded the ears of the ranger at the least. However with the brief period of rest after the last attack the reverberating noise filled the air with ease, causing the woman to immediately turn around with a scowl. The sound… it was close. Too close. Otherwise the female would not have heard it so clearly. With a measured shred of unease the woman walked forward towards her Absol’s side.

Her vivid green eyes steadily cast over the area to assure that they would not overlook anything. After a moment she would finally speak. “Whose there,” the female asked into the nothingness in her normal feminine voice. Perhaps that was a mistake. She expected no response and for a moment she considered asking again in a deeper tone, but threw the thought out of the window quickly after deeming it too late.

The dark type followed suit though with eyes of piercing red the Absol had already pinpointed the source location based on sound. He would wait silently as his trainer partner would speak first. Subsequently the Absol barked his name loudly in the direction of the noise, giving Adrian notice of the general vicinity to look towards. While the female was willing to pass off the sound as a local wild pokemon, reasoning it was too late at night for anyone to truly be wandering, her Absol also reacting gave her reason to believe otherwise. That alone prompted for a follow up statement. “Show yourself.”

Truly who in their right mind would be wandering about easedropping on other people? Now it was not correct to mistake this thought for distress though if it brought out the perpetrator faster then whatever.

we burn in fire.
we burn in blood.
we burn in dreams.

When coming into view away from the shrubbery the sounds alerted the ranger to remain on guard. Once something came into view the Lucario was the first thing to show itself and that in and of itself was intriguing. It was obviously a trainer raised Lucario as there was no way that this pokemon had been a wild one, especially with how rare they were in these parts. Then it was the trainer that showed himself with the assistance of his pokemon considering what looked to be a mishap. It was too dark to notice his embarrassment so instead Adrian had judged the new figure based on his words.

Which didn’t start off well. His tone conveyed himself to be male and she could see that much from this distanced. First apologized for potentially scaring her which she attributed to the fact of how feminine she sounded and the atmosphere of a dark woods implying that she was helpless here. “Yeah scared… sure,” she mumbled to herself sarcastically. That was definitely what she sounded like when she was calling out into the darkness. Smooth. The ranger tried not to linger on that thought for long.

She folded her arms as the dialogue developed further that sounded more defensive of himself despite the courtesy bow. There was no reason to believe anything he said. Those exact words were what everyone said, especially if they had been caught doing something they weren’t supposed to. Adrian wasn’t on duty but she did not particularly enjoy being disturbed in such a manner.

At the mention of the flashes of light, Adrian glanced down to her partner who solemnly remained still behind her. She knew that the training was the cause but did not think the effects were excessively bright or noticeable. It didn’t take long after that she would be questioned for the damages around her. Again it was too dark to notice any specific expressions but she could only guess what this was about. “No I’m not,” she said briefly as she motioned to the dark type “He was.” Absol nodded quietly in agreement which would have been noticeable from the movement of his glowing red eyes. Adrian could guess what response would come next.

As a ranger she had known that what she had done was not against any laws. It was not as if she cut down the entire forest and many other trainers had done it all the time. Thus she felt no remorse for this. She figured that this was one of those tree-huggers types though and knew the best way to deal with them was to move on. In this light the ranger waited for the reaction and the cue to leave. There always was one.

we burn in fire.
we burn in blood.
we burn in dreams.

Oh great, here it comes. The judgmental attitude and the defensive spiel. Though Adrian was not one to talk about judgmental attitudes, she was annoyed at the fact that a random person decided to come up and act like they were such an authoritative position when they were the ones spying in the first place. Nevertheless the woman exhaled a breath to settle herself a bit. All she had to do was wait for the cue and move on. That was the plan at least.

Until the moment that the woman was just straight out insulted. The moment that she was insinuated to control her Pokemon her hands balled into a fist to conceal her internal anger at the thought. Now this was straight up insulting. "No, I don't. My partner can make his own decisions." She stated herself sternly to get her point across. This would have sounded more authoritative as well, despite the fact she was not on duty. "We aren't in a master and servant relationship if that's what your implying." While the duo were training, they had mutually decided to train in this location at this hour. Adrian might have been giving direction but that was more of a guide than an order. Absol knew that if he had disagreed with a call, it was his choice to not follow it, and the ranger knew that as well but that's also where trust came in.

Then the woman simply scoffed. She didn't expect a trainer who saw battling pokemon as fun to understand this novel concept. "Don't know why I'm even bothering. Based on what you said you are clearly a trainer with that mindset. I don't need to explain myself to you." When turning to see how Absol reacted, the ranger noticed the lack of one. Absol himself did not appear offended but perhaps that was due to him concentrating more on the Lucario staring him down. The dark type was able to notice the opposite human's reactions, even the rolling of the eyes, but rather than reacting negatively like his partner might have he took things passively for now.

Then there was the challenge. Not only was it there the trainer was even looking down upon the duo. Again the ranger scoffed to herself this time. "Normally I don't turn down a challenge from someone that's insulting me but this isn't my decision." Her striking green eyes met with Absol's stark red ones though part of her already knew the answer. The dark type pondered for some time before shaking his head. "Looks like he doesn't want to waste anymore time here entertaining this. Absol does not particularly fight other pokemon unless necessary." The dark type barked his name in affirmation though it might have also served as a warning not to talk ill of his partner again.

The woman would lower a hand to pet the pokemon's head. "If it will make you feel better then we can take our leave and you can enjoy the rest of the forest by yourselves."