[X] My Assistant

[Kamaitachi]

Wide eyed, Tag watched as Raptor swooped towards poor Kyoko...only to crash unceremoniously into the floor in front of her. The little weed pokemon had covered her eyes with her frond, only to peek out from under the leaves to find the dark crow pokemon unconscious in front of her. At the sight, she immediately ran straight back to Tag, hopping up in his arms at once as Suzu floated back over, hovering tiredly, but happily around her master. With a very slight smile, he petted them both on their heads, muttering: "Brilliant work, my friends."

With that he recalled the two into their pokeballs to rest, and would have to be sure to stop by the pokemon center for probably the 11th time in two days.

However, as the Sableye popped out of his ball, Tag's hand instantly snapped to his belt as he stepped into a crouch, but relaxed slightly when he realized that Tanzanite, the Sableye, was only there to retrieve the Twilight Badge from the rafters.

Vega then found it fitting to burst into a monologue.

The initial hook was deceptive, because naturally, Tag was prepared for a lecture on how to better his battling style, but instead, he was pleasantly surprised. He felt that he couldn't quite share the same sentiment as Vega, knowing full well that he most likely would've lost had the battle dragged out. Gingerly, he picked the Twilight Badge from the Sableye's claw, nodding absently as he stared at it. Sure, it was ultimately nothing more than a little piece of metal with a pretty insignia, but to Tag, it commemorated a fantastic battle between him and the Leader of the Petropolis Gym. "It was an honour for me as well." he muttered in reply during a natural sort of pause in Vega's speech, then returned the same bow to Vega, albeit much less graceful and with a less dignified posture.

Ultimately, Vega left him with some pretty sound advice. It took Tag a second to realize just how true the words were for him: He'd evolved from the arrogant, cocky dragon trainer in Johto, to a humble, starting-over regular old trainer in Furoh. This was no devolution, no, but rather the clearest indicator that he'd taken a step in a new direction, away from his sordid past.

Before long, he gave one final bow to Vega.

"We'll have a rematch next time I'm in town." He stated simply as he bowed. He turned to leave, not quite waiting for Justin and Jill. (He'd wait outside for them, obvi.)

Then, while staring off into the afternoon sun, a thought occured to him: "How exactly did he know my name?"

This post has been edited by Kamaitachi: Aug 27 2010, 12:14 AM