#Mariah the Greninja

[askbohemiancompany]

The Guest

It had been a few hours since the two mercenaries escorted Brittany back to her apartment that was set up by Mariah as a vulpix-hole for hiding people from anyone’s potential enemies. Lenox was relieved the roserade was no longer in her old apartment where she would have been a sitting duck for anyone who would want to kill her. The Urami incident really made the hawlucha push for better security.

“Hey Lenox. When we get back to the base, do you mind if we talk? Just the two of us.” Gwen said, still seeming depressed finally lit the cigarette she was holding back earlier. Irony was Lenox was relieved to see her smoking for a change. Seeing her like this was uncomfortable. 

“Yeah sure. What did you want to talk about?” For both women this was one of the few times they were not either arguing or dealing with eachother’s, but mostly Gwen's antics.

“You know what. Let’s just start talking now.” The gothitelle blew her cigarette smoke away from Lenox. “I’m worried about Grohl. He’s been acting more and more erratic lately.”

So Gwen noticed it too. This was a relief to the hawlucha as she was not the only one who noticed. “Yeah I noticed from the water park he is getting worse. I thought him being overly chipper was odd, but I could accept that due to Grohl’s previous lack of confidence. But the way he acted at the park was like he was out of his mind.” 

While his enthusiasm would have been fine, he did nothing to try and defuse the situation plus he did not even bother to tell Lenox what the cluster he gave her would even do. Made worse by his own confirmation admitting his form is explosive which could really hurt someone.

“Yeah I’m with you there. I was happy he was feeling confident in himself but he’s been acting erratic on base. Muttering to himself, eating more and disappearing for long stretches of time. I think him maintaining his security system 24/7 has done a number on his sanity. I think we should talk with him on it.” Gwen finished smoking her cigarette tossing the butt on the ground.

“Agreed. If we go together maybe he will hear us out,” Lenox and Gwen both nodded at that idea. “Once we get a moment to get ourselves situated we should do it. We both have had long weeks.” Long for different reasons, but both women could use a break from the weeks of head and heart aches.

Approaching the gate, both buzz themselves in and enter the secure base. What they saw in there was going to spit in the face of their attempt to calm down after a hectic set of weeks.

In the main foyer Freddy and Mariah were standing there with a third person in tow.

Nigel.

What was he doing here? Last anyone heard from him he skipped the city. Both mons just stared in disbelief. Nigel, in turn, was shocked Gwen evolved since the last time he saw her.

“Hello ladies. You have impeccable timing.” Mariah sauntered towards them with a casual smug flair she usually had. “I can fill you all in at once.”

With rage in her eyes, Lenox stormed towards Nigel causing the clefable to recoil.

At this point Lenox could not move, she wondered why but when looking down she saw shadow sneak tendrils running up her legs and reaching her arms. In retaliation, Gwen prepared an energy attack only for the greninja to shoot her a look.

Don’t even think about it. I will not need to crush you physically. Guifei.

The moment Gwen heard Mariah’s voice in her head, the gothitelle’s face turned to horror, which was rare for anyone to get that kind of reaction from her. Mariah knew.

Nigel, whose arms were covering his face, removed his arms to give a sigh of relief and a composed smile.

“Mariah I told you this would happen.” Freddy commented in a way that sounded defiant but very muted. “You need to get him the hell away from here.”

All of the words Freddy said just bounced off Mariah, coldly turning to face Lenox. “Alright. Let me explain what you and your coworkers are required to do. Nigel here is going to testify before court regarding two different pokemon trafficking rings he is involved with. This is a big operation for me and you know what’s riding on this. So. You will stop.”

Hearing the reason for Nigel being there did not make her any less mad, but she would cease her attack. Still, she wanted to send Mariah a message. With a single motion Lenox broke out of Mariah’s hold, which stunned all present, even Mariah. 

“You can’t do this!” The hawlucha now turned her attention towards Mariah, getting right in her face. Most people that have worked for the agent have seldom seen her break her smug, cool persona. This was a moment where the agent’s collected mask would crack. “Nigel was an accessory to my girlfriend being nearly killed by a corrupt cop. He tried to burn her alive!”

The hawlucha’s boldness was to be admired. It was also to be quelled in Mariah’s view. The greninja prepared an extrasensory to activate the pain receptors in Lenox’s brain. Only to have one shocking revelation, it was not working on her. The moment Lenox saw Mariah’s eyes glow with that pink energy, she knew the greninja was trying a psychic attack. 

Retaliating Lenox struck Mariah with an assurance attack. Normally this would barely hurt any greninja. What Lenox knew was Mariah’s ability was protean and she just did a psychic attack. So the pain this caused was immense.

“Don’t ever try to do that again. Got that?” The hawlucha picked the greninja from her flesh, which hurt like hell. What this also did was it gave Mariah a view of Lenox’s mouth, to which she noticed tiny needle-like teeth retracting in her mouth.

“Need I remind you, who is currently watching over Brittany?” Like a key phrase on an electronic lock, this caused Lenox’s grip to tighten, her claws digging deeper in Mariah’s flesh.

“And you do anything to her Nigel will be first to go.”

What was going on? Brittany was usually Lenox’s achilles heel. Mariah did not want to admit it, but she was actually terrified. Peeking over at Freddy, his reaction he had a nervous smile on his face. He was getting off of this.

Suddenly, Nigel’s laugh echoed in the room. Which turned everyone’s attention to him. 

“This is great! Oh man I needed this!” His laugh turned into a hysterical cackle. “Lenox I gotta thank you for giving me this epiphany.”

What was Nigel going on about? Both women were confused by the sentiment. Gwen on the other hand saw what was coming as the moment she was told why Nigel was here, and what Mariah’s situation was. Mariah is slim on options.

“You are really resource strapped. In your efforts to keep this under the table you had to put me somewhere that was as safe enough to protect me because you have your boy toy wrapped around your finger to do what he can to protect me.” The fairy type saying this actually agitated Freddy, who this whole confrontation was bouncing between horrified and low-key happy. 

“One beautiful thing about the internet is I can google the procedures for this type of thing, and you skipped a lot of steps. Namely you came to my nightclub with no warrant and you were supposed to give me an attorney. Which means if your superiors find out you breached procedure you could actually go to prison and have your civilian status revoked.” Mariah, who was now furious, clenched her fist and teeth and got on the balls of her feet.

“Although you should not be too worried. I mean if shit hits the fan and you get fired, at least your daddy can give you a loan, bail you out or a job at OPP-”

In the span of 15 seconds she got right in Nigel’s face readying a toxic imbued punch, but the clefable did not even flinch, looking at her dead in the eye then looking at her feet before looking back in her eyes. “Daddy is a sore point for you.”

“Uh.” Everyone present turned to see Yumi and Grohl both staring in confusion as they entered the lobby where this whole confrontation was happening. “All of his stuff is in his quarters now.” Yumi said, not wanting to touch what was happening. Grohl just looked blank in his face.

With that, Nigel turned and walked to his quarters. “I’d love to chat with you Gwen but I’m pooped and I need my rest. No one enters my room without my permission or knocking first. Also let me know when dinner is on.” Before he disappeared down the other end of the lobby to his room he turned to face everyone. “This feels great! I feel like I have my finger hovering over the nuclear bomb button.”

He began to cackle again as he walked towards his room, quickly shutting and locking the door.

Everyone else in the lobby was frustrated at this current situation. Not Mariah though. She was enraged to where she did not even address Lenox over that scuffle earlier, leading her to storm out of the building punching a wall. This act of desperation left a minor dent in the wall, but caused her left hand to bleed from the impact. 

Things were going to get more tense.

[thetakenpokemon]

Mariah@Jubei: "Hmm. You know your general garb looks like Johto culture. Human Johto culture. Were you from a colony that was influenced by Johto culture?" This gave the greninja a thought. "In your opinion, can Pokemon truly have a unique culture when many routes of the ones that do crop up from human based ones?"

[PoV: Aster]

I raise an eyebrow when the unusually-colored Greninja approaches me with such bold questions, especially since she didn’t even introduce herself.

It does intrigue me that her curiosity is on my clothing, since many would instead question my umbrella and why it has a spear-like point. But if she wishes to know the origins of my dress, then I see no reason on why I should withhold this information from her.

“You’re indeed correct that my dress is Johto in origin, however I’m not from a ‘colony’.” I respond calmly. “I’ve grown among Humans, thus why I’ve adopted their customs in terms of how I dress myself and behave.”

I lean my closed parasol against my shoulder. “As for my opinion on your other question…” I continue, my expression thoughtful. “I believe that not all Pokemon adopt cultures from Humans, in fact…I believe that some cultures are remarkably similar due to the environment they’ve grown in.” I reflect back to some of my memories of my past missions, how they’ve sent me to various different places. “Some Pokemon cultures do originate from Humans, however I’ve also known some Human cultures that were inspired by Pokemon.” I nod my head. “In the end, I would say it’s not impossible. Cultures develop depending on the race and environment, thus why sometimes they become so similar to the Humans who live in the same general area.”

I bring my parasol off my shoulder and rest the tip on the ground, taking care not to put too much pressure on it in order to prevent the spear from dulling.

“That is my answer.” I finish, once again eyeing her oddly. “However next time I must recommend that you introduce yourself before asking such questions, for I know of many others who would not take kindly to such directness.”

[omnipokemonproducts]

Connections

Vonnegut was sitting in his office writing a report on a new mech. He had gotten a request from Leigh to allow for the production of the...Takamatsu-Slash. The cephalopod let out a low sigh. This old thing? Leigh knew better then anyone why it was mothballed. Was she expecting him to sign off on this knowing the strain it would put on the pilot if it was linked to all of the ‘brains’ and the impracticality of driving it.

The sudden beep from his desk phone harshly blared out for a moment. “Your 2 o’clock is here sir.” Vonnegut gave a warm smile, one that if seen by anyone else would have been alien. “Send her in.”

After a bit, the door opened and a mature voice called out. “Hey dad.” A greninja with a grey and blue pallet walked into the room. “Mariah. Swiss-miss. How are you?” While the greninja did slightly roll her eyes at the pet name she none the less gave her father an enthusiastic hug. “Doing well dad. Been busy with some operations that I would rather keep private, otherwise I would wind up behind bars.” The greninja’s expression soured for a brief moment. The matter that would cause this is Freddy, but it quickly warped into a smug, content, smile. “Not to mention I got the satisfaction of having Frederick crawl back to me for help.”

At that last part Vonnegut gave a big grin. One part of Mariah’s past that he knew about way more than he should. After all Frederick did cause him a massive number of inconveniences. “Oh really. Spare me the details on why, but please tell me you got him grovel like the toad he is.” Surprisingly Vonnegut was spiteful towards him, despite only meeting him a few times. None the less Mariah felt empowered by this. If there was a way to harness the energy made from people’s disdain for Frederick, she would help fund it immediately. “I wish. Though I did see his new side bitch, but that is not important.”

After minutes of expounding on the schadenfreude she felt for her ex, she sat down at the available chair. “I do have some bits of information that might be important to you.” The spy tapped a few buttons on her holoclip and pulled up an image of a familiar hawlucha. “This woman is an employee of Frederick’s. What’s interesting on her is her last name” The agent pinched the reflection of light to zoom in close on the name: Lenox Xing. Xing. That was a name the scientist had not seen in a long time, yet hung around his neck like a noose. It felt like it was getting tighter and tighter the more he looked.

The old squid finally spoke up after some moments of silence. “Does she have any interest on finding me?” “No dad. I can assure you. She is more focused on keeping an eye on her girlfriend. I have some people monitoring them at this time.”

This news was a relief to the malamar. If Xing had caused him anything, it was a constant need to look over his shoulder. “Very good dear. I’m not worried really. She wouldn’t blame me for what happened anyway. Though she has the potential of causing some...internal problem in this company.” The malamar just let the moment go quiet so Mariah could absorb that in. “Well worse comes to worse I could send her on a swanna chase.” The greninja said trying to assure the older malamar. “Thanks dear.”

“Sorry father, but I have to go. Have some more work to deal with. Some problems involving an operation of mine. I gotta take them. I’ll talk to you later okay.” Mariah sounded, uncharacteristically warm. The OPP founder just sat in his chair. “I understand. Thank you for that information by the way. Take it easily. Ok. Swiss-miss.” The greninja took her leave, quietly closing the door behind her. Vonnegut was now alone again, still thinking on what was just dropped on him.

[askbohemiancompany]

HMMM. THIS SEEMS FAMILIAR. VERY FAMILIAR. LIKE DUST CLEANSED OFF MY BOOKSHELF. BOHEMIAN COMPANY? WHAT COMPANY? HOW MANY ARE IN THIS COMPANY? TOO FEW. IN THE GAME OF TUG OF WAR THAT LIFE IS, YOU CANNOT COMPETE. NO MATTER HOW BIG YOUR COMPANY, I AM THE TUG OF WAR CHAMP. IS THERE ANYTHING YOU'RE THE CHAMP OF? LIKE, LOSING TUG OF WAR? WHERE ARE THE CREDENTIALS OF A COMPANY SUCH AS THIS? I NEED A RESUME.

Anyone who was present just looked at the rambling faceless aliens just stared agape at the stream of consciousness rambling not knowing where one point started and where one point ended.

Freddy was about to respond alongside Mariah until.

“You think we are beginners? I’d recognize that faceless alien anywhere you stupid beeetch.” Grohl came in from outside looking oddly determined, but it was clear he was strung out of his mind as he was talking, which made both frog pokemon incredibly confused, with Freddy nervous as to what Grohl was going to say.

“This company has 7 of the best mercenaries in the field. The best poison master. The best psychic projectile specialist. The best airborne fighter. The best mon at making it rain rocks. The best mid-range fighter that can mega evolve. And Lonnie is doctory.”

Doctory? ‘That was not a proper adjective’ was the first thing that Mariah thought. Either way, she wanted to see where this would go.

“THE ONLY THING YOU CAN TUG IS YOUR BOMBAST. ALL 7 OF US COULD TUG YOUR ASS OUT. I ALONE CAN PULL BIG MONS IN THIS WHOLE FOREST WITHOUT EVEN NEEDING TO FACE THEM. UNLIKE YOU HAS NO FACE ON YOUR HEAD OR ONE TO SAVE WHEN YOU LOSE TO ME. IF YOU CHALLENGE ME TO A TUG OFF YOU ARE GETTING YOOTED INTO SPACE WHERE YOUR FACE-”

This was getting out of control, but Freddy still could not bring himself to break up whatever this stream of thought Grohl was on. He kind of wanted to see where it was going towards, but Grohl quickly zoned out again.

“But yes if you want to join our company please leave your resume with the toxicroak over there and he will contact you for a job interview.” Grohl turned to face Freddy, with a thumbs up and a wink before going back to his quarters.

Freddy was pale blue by now not sure on Grohl’s mental state.

@askdeoxys

[askbohemiancompany]

:)

Holy shit this on point! Goddamn! Good to get off the clock to this.

[askbohemiancompany]

A Moment of Calm

It had been a week for the two lovers. The water park had been far more eventful than either planned. Between Grohl’s unforgettable debut, mutual lusting over beach babes and their mild argument, there was way more than they could have foreseen.

“We met quite a number of nice mons there.” Brittany chimed in after both said nothing for when they got on the subway to get back home. “I hope we see Jade and Crewel again.”

Lenox, who gave herself the duty of carrying the towels since their bag broke, smiled and nodded. What she was also thinking was Brittany’s ignorance of the criminal world that in the worst case scenario could lead to a farmer and the seviper scenario.

“Yeah I hope to see Crewel again too.”  The hawlucha did not even want to get into Jade’s current occupation with Brittany now. Too much of a headache. 

At the station they were to meet up with Gwen who would rendezvous with them to escort Brittany back to her apartment. The timing of which was still around when Gwen went to bury Floyd. Not only that Gwen wanted to personally be the escort which was odd since it was usually Freddy or Grohl.

Their train stopped and the doors opened. Both women could not see Gwen, but she was probably hidden among the crowd due to her size.

“Hey.”

In the distance both mons saw a gothitelle walking towards them. Neither had been around when Gwen evolved and none of the other staff members told them about Gwen evolving. To the couple’s surprise Gwen looked like it did not fit her personality. She was wearing clothes for one but lacked any of her chaotic energy that she used to have. Lenox figured that part was due to not being long since she buried Floyd.

“Hey Gwen. You uh, look great.” Lenox stammered, still surprised at the mon before her.

“Thanks.” Gwen took a cigarette from her coat pocket and put it in her mouth. Before she could light it, she noticed Brittany staring at her in astonishment. The roserade was likely mystified for how different the psychic looked especially since Gwen never had to wear clothes before now.

Having misread the stare, Gwen put the cigarette back in its pack. “Alright let's go.”

How Gwen was acting disheartened Lenox. Had she been in higher spirits, Gwen would have milked the love birds’ reactions. She must have both been tired from flying to Johto as well as the whole affair of burying her mentor.

A few minutes after and a 15 minute time frame of no one talking Brittany finally spoke up. “Uh Gwen. Congrats on evolving. You look really pretty.”

Turning to face the grass type Gwen just sighed. “Thanks. Figured it was about time.” Sounding tired, Gwen kept reaching instinctively for her cigarettes, only to stop herself every so often. “Wearing clothes is new to me. Then again I have been wearing this all the time so that’s pretty easy.

“Wait hold on. You have worn that since you evolved?” Brittany said.

“Yeah.”

“How long have you been evolved for?”

“Two weeks.”

“So you have been wearing the same top for 2 weeks?”

“That bad?”

The pregnant pause that followed with both girls looking stunned. The stench that had to be coming from the jacket from Brittany’s knowledge on the situation must be unbearable to anyone else. Considering Gwen’s habits for drinking and smoking it was likely she neglected washing her clothes either. This sounded like the Gwen she knew for sure.

“How many clothes do you have?” Brittany at this point was pushing it as far as Lenox could tell. Gwen was, and seemed like, she was still grieving Floyd’s death.

“Brittany please.” Lenox put her arm on the roserade’s shoulder to try and stop her from talking further.

“Just this jacket for now. And I do wash my clothes every 3 days. It’s a work in progress.” To the hawlucha’s shock, Gwen was not getting angry. She still seemed out of it, but the psychic was at least responding to Brit’s comments.

“That settles it! We need to do some clothing shopping. You, me and Lenox should shop together and get some clothes for all of us.”

‘Why did Brittany have to drag me into this?’ Was the first thing that Lenox thought. The second thought would be put into words a moment later. “Brit please. Now is not the time.”

“Sure.”

Lenox stared at Gwen. ‘Did she just agree to go shopping with Brittany and herself?’ Only way Gwen would say that is if she were intoxicated, not paying attention or out of it. When they get back to the base Lenox was going to talk one on one with Gwen to see what was wrong.

“Great! Len will get in touch with me to see the best time for the three of us!” Brittany sounded chipper over the whole ordeal. The hawlucha gave a smile in return, but it was a false one.

“Ok that’s fine.” The gothitelle said in her drained tone.

----

Meanwhile at the base camp.

“Mariah no. This idea is outrageous. Everyone in this building hates his guts. If he stays here it is just going to rile everyone up.” Freddy snapped.

“It will only be a temporary ordeal. After a month I will have him off in witness protection. After that he will be out of here. Besides I need to keep this from under the top brass’ nose given their oversight in this operation.” Mariah blew off his concern.

“Look. If he stays here I am not sure he will be able to testify for the trial. You know how badly Weather and especially Lenox will take him being here.”

“That is your responsibility not mine. We know you have a room for him to stay in. If it will give you incentive I will give you an under the table payment to make it easier.”

[askbohemiancompany]

A Deal

Nigel was working on his soon-to-be-open and pending-to-be-named night club. All of the required necessities were in place. Several bars to be lined with booze, a kitchen to give the best food that would be appropriate for the club, and a sound system for pokemon to dance to. While Nigel was the only person in the room now, he knew there would be crowds flooding the room. With a bit of promoting and making some connections, he knew he would be swimming in more dough.

Everything was going perfectly. Nigel could not be more excited.

“Nigel Hampton. I need a word with you.”

A mature woman’s voice came from nowhere. The voice sounded distorted and slightly demonic. Nigel was freaked out, not knowing where the voice was coming from and that it knew of his full name. Not many knew his full name. This led to Nigel giving his standard response to anyone who scared him.

“W-who’s there?!” A long shadow made his way up to where he was standing. As the figure began to form from the shadows, Nigel began to back away, desperately trying not to soil himself. The shadow began to clear and it revealed a dark-colored greninja.

“M-Mariah! What do you want?” When it came to Mariah, the clefable knew better than to try and play the demanding role. “Well Mr. Hampton, I’m here to give you a deal.” This caused the club owner to raise his brow. Mariah was always someone who had a string of people doing her favors. Usually, it would involve them doing something for her down the road, but it came with some massive benefit. He nodded to hear the terms.

“I want the names anyone you sent pokemon to over the last four years. Not only that, I want all of the remaining pokemon you have in captivity in any facilities you are using.” So she wanted him to rat out his connections and sell part of his side business? If he did that, he would be on dozens of pokemon’s shit list. This sounded like he was on the short end of a deal.

“Woah hold on. I do all of my pokemon transport legally. I follow all of the laws. Besides, I have made so many deals with different aliases, I could not possibly name them all. And back to the stock I have, I gotta at least keep some of them.” The fairy interlocked his fingers, pressing their tips against the back of his palm. This objection was a breaking point for the fairy type, knowing this could blow up in his face if he worded anything poorly. “I was going to use some of them as staff. Give them the option of either providing room and board for them but live under my ownership, or they can live in the city freely and they would be on their own when it comes food and medical finances. I had a plan for either option. You got to understand. You do understand right?”

“Staff?” She could not help but feel disgusted at such a shameless euphemism. For a moment she looked like as if she would consider his deal, but anytime she tried to look at him, she looked away in repulsion for split seconds. “You have not had many people wanting to join have you?”

Nigel winced as the agent had hit the nail on the head. Deflating into an ashamed hunch, Nigel backed away from her. “It hasn’t been all that smooth.” Mariah shot him a smug smirk, wanting to see if he would admit to shooting himself in the foot. “I knew there would be those who were not going to associate with me due to my past actions...but there were so many.”

Her grin got even wider, confirming what she already knew. Nigel tried to avoid eye contact out of shame. “Well, there is nothing I can do with that. How about this though. You can keep at least a dozen or so of the pokemon you have with you as your staff and I can draw up the paperwork to make it all legal. Plus I will throw in an immunity deal to not tie you to your former associates as well as overlook the fact that you used aliases in your dealings, which is against laws around pokemon transport. I will also need you to do me some favors down the road if I so need you.”

This was a perplexing prospect. On the one hand, he could make somewhat of a clean break from his past, again, and could keep some of them as staff for his club. The drawback was that he was worried when Mariah would make him do something that would jeopardize his standing when it came time to pay the piper. “Alright. You got a deal. I’ll give you the names of anyone you want, and the alias I used when I contacted them.”

“Good.” Mariah formed another showed and pulled a pen, paper and a recording device, all to get this over with. Nigel could feel a pit form in his stomach. He knew only the short game and even he did not know what she would use him for in the future, but what other choice did he have?

[askbohemiancompany]

Normal One

After what felt like eons, Jason(Weather) entered the base. He had a solemn look on his face. Everything that had happened recently with Amy, his investigation into Gwen and Grohl and the knowledge that he had a son that had died left him feeling numb, like he was moving through water. Nothing felt right. He felt incomplete, like he needed to unlock more of his memories, follow through on his investigation into two of his own teammates and, more urgently, think about his future with Freddy.

Jason knew that to pull the moral card on Freddy and the other’s would be hypocritical. He was an accessory to many other crimes that he committed at Freddy’s request. Hell, he even did it with the two people he was investigating into. Everything began to feel like he was adding to a tumor that was killing people. His life had to change. Even if what he needed to do was stupid in the short term, but long term steps would need to be taken. Carefully, but nonetheless he had to do something on his objectives. Not for any greater good, but just for himself.

Haines and Freddy’s spat felt like the symptom, everyone else was the disease. Both of them could go to hell. How much did Freddy know? Having Mariah as an informant and her roles as a government agent and corporate raider means she of course had to know plenty about him and was withholding information.

On a less pressing matter, the building looked properly furnished in his book. There were tables, offices with furniture in them, personal quarters for anyone as well as a few for potential new full time hires or guests. Freddy finally made this place look like people lived here.

“Welcome back!” Lenox walked towards the dragon type, waving and smiling. It had been so long since he came back. She had begun to worry about him. Seeing the melancholic expression on his face, she could read it as it being best to leave him be. “If you need to talk about happened, I will listen to you.”

Jason smiled. “Thanks Lenox. I will actually take you up on that. Right now, I just want to-”

“Oh hey you are back.” Gwen came out wearing a set of pajamas. Which amounted to an old band t-shirt that was now too small to where he could see her navel and a pair of sweatpants. “Good to see you back, man. Listen, there are some things I want to discuss with you later. After you unwind of course.”

Gwen had evolved. That only elicited a mild bit of surprise from the dragonite, who at this point was sitting on some damning information on her. The question was how does he go about disclosing this information? And to whom? Lenox for sure was safe. Grohl was already a point of investigation for him, so he was out. There was always an air of suspicion around Freddy, but he was probably sitting on a landmine of information. Yumi was in her own little world being vengeance focused.

“Oh you evolved. Congrats.” Weather said, trying to play it off as coy as possible. Seemingly succeeding on this front.

“Thanks. While you were away, Floyd was killed by someone and I need to go after them at full power. No more holding back for my own comfort.”

Jason just gave her a nod, pretending to care about anything she had to say anymore. “Sorry to hear. You know we can help you get that guy.” As he looked around, he noticed Grohl was not around. He knew Grohl had to manage his ‘security system but found the absence odd.

Elsewhere, several miles away from the base, a secret underground tunnel snakes its way into a cozy cavern, isolated to where no one would find it, but was big enough to house at least a dozen people which it was. In a cruel word for it.

In the cavern there were three pokemon, a greninja, a night form lycanroc and a poliwrath. All three were bound in blue vines in a shroud formation to where if someone were to peak into the cave, they would look like weird vine clusters, with only the mon’s faces being visible. These mons are positioned in such a way to where their backs are turned away from the cavern’s entrance. Only able to see a dead end.

The cover of vines not covered them, but was also embedded into their skin, which if it was pulled out it would cause intense pain. They are all weak, feeling intense lethargy.

“Hello gentlemen and lady!”

The greninja of the group perked up. He could not tell how his other fellow captives were reacting, but every time he showed up, his heart would always skip a beat. Previously out of fear, but now out of hope.

“Sorry it took me so long to get here. I just had mons that tripped one of my security lines. Just some kids exploring. Hopefully they think twice before coming through here, but it is what is. Kidss will be kidss!”

A light chuckle could be heard. The greninja tried desperately to get a glimpse at the mon holding them captive, the clusters barely allowed him to turn his head. “Why?... Why have you not killed us yet?” His voice sounded hoarse, not able to scream at this point. “We gave you the information on Haines. You could just...kill us.”

“You are right. I could kill you three. But since you gave some very valuable intel on who Haines made a pact with, I figured you deserved something fitting of that information. Finding out the Black Family has formed an alliance with Haines is huge!” A sound of rock against rock could be heard getting closer and closer to the greninja. “See, my security system requires a lot of nutrients to maintain. So I need a consistent food source.”

A giant blue cluster of vines, similar to the ones that were entombing these mons approached. Except this one had eyes. Glassy, dead eyes that looked like someone who had not slept in days. The tangrowth held a plastic bag in a hand. “You three aren’t exactly bulky mons, except the lady over there, but I’ll take what I can get for now.” Reaching into the bag, the Tangrowth reached into his bag and pulled out a bottle of soda and put the bottle to the greninja’s lips. The water type took the merciful sips before being cut off from drinking further.

“I need you three to help keep me functioning. Without you, I...would not be able to maintain my faculties. I have to keep myself sharp for the company.”

The grass type reached into the bag and grabbed a sitrus berry, gently letting him take his time eating, as the mons had limited strength. “I intend on getting more people in here after a while. Haines will have her assassins and some of them will have to be water, ground or rock types. So look at it like this. At least you three will not be the only ones.”

A twinge of fear washed over the assassin. Maybe when he escaped, the greninja would go back to Chung. Warn him about what the tangrowth was doing and plan accordingly. Or he should just run. Just run away from Arcadium. From Unova. As far away from this place as he could. Or maybe he could die. He had contemplated it at points. He lost track how long he and his two cohorts were trapped in this cave.

“Grohl where are you? Weather has come back from hiatus. We need you to show the updates to your system so he does not trigger anything.” A rough male voice could be heard over the device that was connected to their wrist.

The figure froze up, he quickly crammed the sitrus berry into the greninja’s throat. “Well, I have to go. I’ll be back to give you three desserts as compensation for this. Be back in a bit.” 

With that, he was gone. Leaving the three mons alone in the dark. Barely alive and uncertain of their futures. All three mons had given up screaming for help. No one was coming for them.

(Weather is now available for asks)

[askbohemiancompany]

Departing

Mariah looked from the inside of what was the former Bohemian Company building, smiling to herself. After all was said and done, the place was cleared out. The next part was the hard part: finding a place for her ex-husband that he was satisfied with and one she could give to him without any sort of hassle from her superiors. While that alone was a bitter drink to swallow, she could at least feel good about one thing: she at least had some leverage over him and could easily have him under her thumb, at least for a while.

There was one last thing the greninja needed to do: scan through his office in order to see if there was anything he might have left in his office by chance. Documents, valuables, anything that she could use against him. As she pulled out some of the drawers in order to see if he missed anything crucial. Due to her own experience with placing bugs or hiding valuables, she knew there could be the chance that she could get some information on him.There was one piece of information she was hoping to find. Though the odds were slim on finding anything on it she had to attempt to look for this one thing.

Suddenly she felt something force her arm into an arm bar. The spy found herself on the receiving end of a harsh gaze from Freddy himself. The toxicroak slammed her into a near by wall, tightening his grip further. “What are you doing in here?” Freddy was seething, his words sounded irritated, but with enough anger to make his points. “You think I would be stupid enough leave anything valuable in any part of this office.” This was not the first time Mariah has tried to steal from him or sneak into his personal belongings in general. “What are you hoping to gain? Isn’t knowing where my base is going to be enough?”

Mariah’s gaze turned angry and yet defiant. Even though she was caught red handed trying to snoop in Freddy’s office, there was just one, massive question on her mind that she wanted information on: “What did you do with the egg?” This question caused Freddy’s grip to weaken, which allowed her to slip out. But instead of retaliating she just stared him down. She could tell Freddy was caught off guard by this.

“I don’t have the egg anymore.”

“I know that. I mean, what did you do with the egg?”

Freddy took a moment to pause. “It is like I said: I don’t have the egg anymore.”

Mariah was beginning to feel frustrated with Freddy’s dodging of her questions. “What did you do with the egg?!” Mariah reached forward and grabbed him by the collar of his jacket. “Tell me.” There was a brief pause, Freddy’s face was far more calmer, knowing Mariah was desperate to know about the status of the egg.

“Alright. It doesn’t matter anyway. I smashed it.” Mariah’s grip did not let weaken despite what would have been shattering news to anyone else. All the greninja did was scoff. “That egg was worth millions. I doubt you of all people would have just destroyed it knowing that much money was attached to it.”

Freddy just broke out of her grip, walking calmly towards the door. “Oh believe me, I knew that. But I guess I finally learned my lesson: if someone intends to make something good out of my venom, it always goes sour.” Freddy walked out of his office. “Even if it could have been my child. In the end, it would have been for the best.”

(Freddy, Grohl, Weather and Mariah are no Longer Available for Asks)

[askbohemiancompany]

Peridot@Mariah: "My, relocating are we Madam? Might I ask what sort of background you've come from to have such a specialty to help such " Peridot looked towards some of the Bohemian crew. He was stuck on what to call these untamed brutes without insulting them out right. " er, Hopeless souls?"

The greninja chuckled at the gourgeist’s observation, eventually turning into a hautey laugh. “Yes they are pretty hopeless. I’m happy I am not the only one who noticed that.” Even though Mariah was chuckling Lenox, Freddy and Weather were all shooting the greninja and the gourgeist a dirty look, and in Lenox’s case a snarl. Mariah just gave Freddy a smug smile and they all went back to work.

“I apologize for not answering right away. I admit your last point stuck me the hardest. But my occupation involves government and covert affairs. Relocation is not so much my specialty, but more of a secondary affect of my talents which is managing and set up covert and criminal stings. So my ex, knowing my line of work comes to me to help since I can pull strings.”

[askbohemiancompany]

Meo: Greninjas are known for there ability to appear anywhere they feel like in a flash! Please tell me thats true! You can teleport right? Show me if you can it would really help with my research.

Mariah gave her head a quizzical tilt at the tyranitaur’s question. It wasn’t stupid, but it was random enough to give her some pause. At least this mon seemed reasonable enough. “Well to answer your question: yes. Greninjas are very fast, though how they ‘teleport’ does vary on move and background. For instance: I use shadow sneak. Observe”

Suddenly Mariah’s shadow grew longer and thinner and within seconds, she sank into the shadow. The shadow then manuvered its way towards a tree, to which she reappeared on an upside down branch. From there she waved at the giant ground type. As soon as she appeared she retreated into her shadow and returned to the dark type. “Does that help?”

[askbohemiancompany]

Flara@Mariah: Heeeeey, you hate Freddy as much as I do! So tell me, why'd you split, hm? He not good enough for you or something?

The greninja gave a delightful smile at the ninetail’s words. Anyone who despised her pathetic curd of an ex-husband was already someone she would, at the least have a drink with. “Well now. You certainly know how to make a good first impression.” Mariah and the ninetails chuckle for a moment among themselves before Mariah stops for a moment to answer her question.

“The reasons I split with him were very personal but I will get to the root of why I broke up with him. He is a petty hypocrite. He was always one to do things for money, yet when I did some of those similar acts or something lesser in scale to him, he would condemn me and say I am being a monster. Even though, that frog has done much, much worse things than I have had to do. At least I have had to do things because it required for a part of my job. He has done things to benefits his ownself, and those acts have ruined other people’s lives in the long run. Including himself.” Mariah’s tone at the last part was one of sly smugness and satisfaction over knowing something that no one else does.

“Let me ask, why do you hate him?”

[askbohemiancompany]

Freddy as a girl Day 3

"I'm going to get heading back to the base now." Freddy walked up to Mariah and gave her a hug.

Mariah felt something was weird about this. The whole day Freddy was seething with rage at her, and now s/he was hugging her. Then again, it seemed as she had mellowed out after talking to that zorua and deino, he might be feeling better.

"Despite all of the shit, you put me through today, it was kind of nice doing stuff with you."

Now the red flags were going off in Mariah's head. She knew Freddy would never tolerate any of the shit she put her through today. She just could not sense what was off. So she would continue to play along, just to not tip him off.

"Yeah. It was kind of nice doing some girly stuff with you. Cause I have to admit. I don't have too many friends, so when I get to do stuff like that with others, it feels nice." Mariah smiled, trying to figure out what Freddy did.

"It was." Freddy gave a bright smile, letting the greninja go. "Well I got other business matters to attend to. Not going to let being a girl get me down. See ya!" Freddy light jogged away from Mariah.

Mariah, despite her increased suspicions, she waved as the toxicroak dashed off. She felt up, making sure Freddy didn't take any of her money, which she didn't, so at least there was that.

---

Later Mariah headed back to her hotel room. She put the money out on the table.

"Alright. Now all I have to do is fly out of here... where's my passport?" She searched all around her room, and she could not it.

"Freddy." She realized that is what s/he had done to her. Freddy took her passport while they were hugging. Now she couldn't fly back to Kalos for free, which meant she would have to pay for a new passport and a flight home... with the money Freddy paid her for the drive.

Mariah clenched her hand in anger. "Freddy. I'm going to get you for this."

---

Back at the base Freddy walked into his office, holding the passport, and 1,500 poke dollars he stole from Mariah.

"You know. That deino was right. Try to find the silver lining in things, even if you have to make it yourself."

She then takes out a lighter, and set the passport on fire. She then dropped it in the trash can.

[askbohemiancompany]

Virus: *muffling a chuckle* Well, miss! Must say that you do look rather fine in a dress, eh? Really shows off them frog legs. But it's such a shame...you see, I am a performer. Is that music I hear? Perhaps we should take advantage of the moment. *He grabs Freddy's hands, a cheeky grin on his face* May I have this dance, madame?

Freddy’s face went bright red at the frog legs comment.

"H-hey! I don’t have that big of legs!"

Mariah took out her phone and went through her playlist. She picked a salsa song. The minute the song started to play, the zoroark grabbed Freddy’s hand and began to spin him around.

"Hey! Let me go!" Freddy said. "Mariah! Turn that shit off!"

Mariah just chuckled. “Aww. But you two are so good together. I think I’ll keep this going.” She turned up the volume of the song, causing the zoroark to go faster.”

"Look at the silver lining. Look at the silver lining! LOOK AT THE SILVER LINING!" Freddy said to herself.

[askbohemiancompany]

Lilla: So Mariah, what has been your most dangerous or awesomest job?

Mariah: Well… there was one time I had to get information on some OPP experiments. Take a note: stay away from OPP’s brain trust. I had to dodge several golurk and bronzors attacking me.

[askbohemiancompany]

Female Freddy Bonus

"Freddy wait!" Mariah said trying to catch up to the toxicroak.

"Oh what do you want? You gonna pour the salt even more on this already shitty after noon." 

"No listen. The gardevoir didn't tell him. The thief just overheard him say that. You just need to calm down."

"Calm down? I would be calm, if you didn't drag me all around the city, making me try on corsets and dresses, then taking fucking pictures of it!"

Mariah paused. "Ok, I admit I was running with the ball that had been given before me, but you are acting like a primadona."

Then, as if karma set it's foot in front of Freddy, Nigel, Brando and Motley walked up to both women.

"Well well, what do we have here." Motely said eyeing Freddy up. "Well I'd say it's my lucky day. So would you be willing to go on a date, mam?"

Brando and Nigel laughed at Motleys joke... Nigel saw the extremely pissed off look in Freddy's face. He nudges Brando to stop laughing, both pokemon back away a bit.

"I'm going to turn around, and when I turn back, we're going to both pretend that you didn't just say something that would make me punch you in the throat." Freddy growled. She then turned around and faced the scrafty again.

Motely just paused. "I'm sorry, mam, but I didn't quite catch-"

Freddy then delivered a solid punch to his throat before landing an uppercut. Knocking him a few feet. Brando and Nigel immediately pick up their unconscious friend.

"S-sorry about that. We... will leave you two be." Nigel stammered.

"Hope you get better." Brando mumbled. Both them taking their leave.