Monday January 11th, 302 AS
19:47
Mamlambo, Jade Islands League
Things could have been a lot worse when Vince got home. That's not to say they couldn't have been better, but they could have been a lot worse. Pritha had gotten herself so worked up that she now was spending the rest of the weekend at the local pokegirl gym to burn off all the anxious energy she had built up. Azar was upset with him, but it was just a silent disappointment. She had made it back less than twenty-four hours ago, having to interrupt her wilderness survival course for a family emergency, only to find that the emergency had been her adopted son being arrested, and that the situation wasn't even an emergency anymore. So far she had only made it clear that Vince was going to be on a very short leash for a considerable length of time.
Both of the pokewomen in the house knew it too. Ash had been watching him almost constantly for the entire day, and had Shahri posted at the door whenever she wasn't. The Chimera's dragon head fixed her eyes on him while the cat like one turned to shout down the hall. “Where do you think you're going?” “Miss-stress!”
Vince leaned against the wall and waited, might as well only explain things once. He made a face of disgust when Azar came out with a bathrobe on and Ash followed behind her wrapped in a towel. “Vincent Trey Flare, where to you think you're going young man?”
Vince sighed and told Azar and her two pokewomen only the minimum of what he needed to to get out the door. “One of the cops I ran into wants me to meet with him. Guess I'll be helping him out with something.”
Azar was thoughtful for a moment, then nodded her head. “Well, if it's helping out the police I can't imagine you'll get in too much trouble. Do you know when you'll be back?” Vince shook his head. Jim hadn't told him much of anything except where to meet him. “Call.”
Shahri stepped out of his way, and Vince quickened his pace out the door when, at her mistress' invitation to join her and Ash in the bath, the Chimera grinned with all four of her heads and made to disrobe the human woman right in the living room.
After a block Vince let out Ava for company. She stretched her arms above her head and then fell in stride next to him. “Where are we going?”
“To meet up with that cop, Jim.”
The Combusticunt scowled. “Why? I don't like him.”
“Me neither, but he's blackmailing me,” I think, “and it's the only way I was getting out of the house. Azar and Ash are in one of their moods and neither of them were being very quiet.” Vince shuddered a little.
“Sounds fun...” Vince couldn't tell if Ava meant that sincerely or as sarcasm. But then she was a pokegirl, and didn't consider either of them her mother by any extent. Vince quickly changed the topic and the two walked and talked together until they reached the part of town where Jim had told Vince they'd meet. Jim was already there, in a brown long coat and a matching bowler hat. Pretty warm attire for the weather in the Jade Islands.
Standing with Jim was a human looking pokegirl with psychedelic colored armor, wild colored hair, and a strange third eye tattoo centered on her forehead. The lines of the tattoo seemed to flicker with different colors as Vince and Ava came near. Jim made a motion that could barely be considered a bow, but Vince returned the common gesture of greeting for the Jade Islands. “Good to see you made it, a couple minutes early even.”
Vince eyed the older human man warily. “So what exactly are we going to be doing tonight? What the heck is it that I'm supposed to do?”
“Couldn't tell you, Becky didn't say what she just said I should keep you around for a while.” Jim looked to his pokegirl, then exclaimed, “Oh, this is my Psy-a-knight, Becky.” The psychic type Battle Angel bowed low.
“An honor to meet you, sir.”
Vince made a motion to his pokegirl, who did a quick bow when he introduced her, “My combusticunt, Ava.”
“Well, now that we all know each other, let's be on our way,” Jim stated, rubbing his hands together a little. The police officer and his Battle Angel lead the way and Vince and Ava followed behind. They wound up heading to the warehouse district, making their way to one specific building with a large, muscular man standing guard with a larger, more muscular Amachamp.
The bouncer nodded a greeting to Jim, but then pointed his chin at Vince. “Who's the new kid?”
Jim gave a slightly unnerving grin when coupled with his answer, “Fresh meat, most likely.”
The musclebound couple both chuckled and the fighting type pokegirl swung the door open. “Well then kid, enjoy your first night. I'm sure you'll look back on this fondly.”
Vince recalled Ava before heading through the door. Inside was a short, dim hallway. Another door was the only feature at the other end, with a pokegirl standing completely naked to the side of it, save for a few accessories made to look like a shirt collar, bow-tie, wrist cuffs, and a pair of thigh-high stockings with dress heels. “Good evening, sirs.” She bowed down so her face was parallel to the floor, and did not look up until Jim acknowledged her greeting. The two humans let themselves through the door, their pokegirls following behind.
The warehouse was lit by lights hanging high from the ceiling, and in between the lights and the floor was a haze of smoke. A drink bar was set up right near the entrance, with a Tavernmaid mixing drinks for patrons. And there were many patrons within the warehouse building, many sitting around at tables set up near the walls and even more standing around the center. They were lining the walls of what looked like fighting rings, with metal walls up to most observer's chests and some kind of reinforced glass going up past their heads. Based on the frequent outbreak of cheering, Vince guessed that there were some kind of matches going on inside the rings at that moment. There was also a lot of exchange of credits in the form of paper bills, most likely winning or losing bets.
Jim looked over his shoulder and explained where they were. “This is kind of a social club for Mamlambo's low lifes. The fights and the gambling are legal, but just about anything else that goes on here isn't. The whole thing is put together by Team Underground.”
“So, are you here undercover or something?” Jim chuckled in response to Vince's question. They stopped to sit down at a table.
“No, I just come here to watch the fights and win some credits. I don't have the blind faith in the law of a 'Jenny, and I've seen too many good people get shit on by the system while too many scumbags get away with whatever shit they want. So now, I guess I just wallow in it...” Jim rested his elbows on the table and leaned his chin in his hands. “Becky, why don't you go get us some drinks? Vince, you want anything?”
Vince declined by shaking his head. “Suit yourself.” Jim shrugged and handed Becky some coins. “So I figure we might as well try entering you in some fights and see if I can't win big from betting on you. Everyone always bets against the 'fresh meat' but you and your 'girl have some fighting experience already, I'd bet. Should be good odds.”
“What kind of fights are there?”
“Well, pokegirl battles mostly, like the official ones but without any real rules besides you win when the other guy's 'girl can't fight. You can wager your 'girl or some credits on the fight, but you don't get away without betting something. Some hotshots also fight man to man, but it doesn't look like any of them are here tonight.”
Vince dug around in his pockets. All he had was a card with some SLC on it. He looked up at Jim as Becky came back with two frosted mugs filled with a foaming amber beverage. “All I've got is this.”
Jim took one of the mugs and drank from it before setting it down on the table. “Not a problem, one of the Underground guys is friends with some bankers. They always help with changing paper to cards and cards to paper.” He reached under his coat and pulled out another pokeball. Thumbing the release brought forth the familiar red light of a capture beam, and a long eared bunny type emerged from the ball. “This is Pam, my Mini-Top.”
Pam ignored the fact that she was being introduced and plopped down in the seat with the second mug of beer in front of it. “A cop with a Mini-Top? Seems a little off, don't you think?”
That comment did get Pam's attention, and she glared at Vince for it. “I have my reasons for keeping Pam around. Sometimes things get violent and it's good to have an expert.” The Mini-Top grinned evilly. “Alright Becky, you want to show Vince around?” The Psi-A-Knight nodded and Vince got up to follow her.
Vince listened to Becky as she explained the 'rules' for the underground fighting circuit he'd found himself tangled in. They weren't true rules, since the matches were anything goes, but there were certain expectations held by the group. It basically amounted to tossing two or more girls in the rings and then watch as they beat themselves into unconsciousness or worse. Giving out orders or recalling a pokegirl before a decent conclusion was frowned upon, and Vince had been warned that his reputation within the circuit would take a hit from such behavior. “And since you don't care about what everyone else here thinks about you, I should also warn you that it'll be unlikely you'll get any more match ups if people don't like you.”
The groups around the rings never really dispersed, with new bodies taking the place of the ones that left. Most all of the observers moved to get out of the way of Becky and Vince as they approached one end of the rings. Becky tapped on the glass of the wall once they right up to the edge of the ring. “This stuff is special made, it won't interfere with capture beams so you can release and recall your girl right through it. Also, I wouldn't lean up against it, it does have some give if it's hit hard enough. Better than it shattering. Jim just let me know your girl's match will be starting soon, so don't go anywhere.”
“What!? When did I actually agree to do this?” The psychic type's smile changed slightly, so it seemed a little more genuine, and she projected a thought to Vince. <Don't worry so much, you and your mother have done a good job teaching Ava. Most people here don't think it's worth it to give their 'girls any real training, so they'll only have instinct to go on.> She gave him a wink. <Oh, of course, you're not worried. My mistake.>
Vince glared at the Psi-A-Knight as she disappeared back into the crowd. An older man in a suit came over to take his bet, and Vince tossed in his entire credit chip. There really wasn't that much on it. He then took out Ava's pokeball, holding it in his hand and contemplating letting her out so he could speak some words of encouragement. He couldn't think of anything to tell her though, and cussed quietly to himself as he heard a voice come over a speaker announcing that newcomer Vince would be entering his combusticunt in her initiation matches. The red beam passed right through whatever the glass wall was made of, and Ava took form standing at one end of the ring. She looked around hesitantly, taking in all the unfamiliar faces around her before she heard Vince's voice shouting out. “Kick some ass, Ava!” She turned to look behind her, seeing her master waving. She flashed him a grin then turned to face the other end of the ring where her opponent would be coming from.
Everyone around him was staring at Vince like his outburst had taken place at a funeral. He just shrugged and made a sweeping, rude gesture with his hand. All eyes turned back to the ring as the other pokegirl was released. Since Vince had no pokedex, and no one around him seemed to be offering him one, he could only guess that this girl was a Cyndacunt. She matched the description, but the most distinguishing feature, the ring markings on the girl's body, were covered with rags.
The two fire types circled for a moment, sizing each other up before both throwing an ember attack. The ember thrown by Ava didn't even cause the other girl to flinch, while the one Ava took left a small scorch mark. Seeing that she had the advantage in a fire fight, the Cyndacunt maintained a bombardment of ember attacks while keeping her distance. Ava broke into a run, zig-zagging to dodge the ranged attacks the best she could. It didn't take long for the Cyndacunt to have herself backed into a corner, though she kept up with her attacks. Ava had stopped evading, charging straight forward as she let each ember attack feed the rage she'd let herself slip into. Her first series of kicks were avoided by her cornered opponent. A high sweeping kick was ducked under, and the cyndacunt countered with a flamethrower attack. Vince heard his pokegirl let out a scream of pain as the stronger fire attack burned her through the resistances she had naturally, but even as the the flamethrower attack subsided, Ava was still alight with her own ignite attack. The dancing flames around her body, though they didn't add any extra damage against the cyndacunt, made it difficult to track her body movements. Combined with the exhaustion of using a strong attack, the cyndacunt had far less luck avoiding Ava's next attacks, and soon fell to the ground. She got back to her feet, her rags torn and the circular markings giving off a flickering orange light. Both enraged girls threw themselves at each other, Ava once again beating down the other fire type, and this time she stayed down.
After recalling her and getting her healed up, Ava won two more matches. One the rest of the onlookers loved, though to Vince it was just pitiful. Ava had been paired against a boobisaur, and it didn't take long for the weaker plant type to go down. The next was against a maggiemite. Vince caught sight of her owner as she was released. A large man who was standing in a group of others that were similarly dressed. Becky's voice entered his head as he continued to look at them, noticing a bold blue M printed on their jackets. <That's Grant and some others from Team Machismo. Jim and I can't stand them but they don't seem very perceptive so we have to put up with them being chummy every once in a while.> The man and his companions turned and walked away from the ring as it started to look like the maggiemite would lose. She was left injured in the ring until a Nightnurse went down to heal her up on the spot.
Vince had Ava healed up in a PHU that was available and then made his way back to the table where Jim was sitting. The cop had a big grin on his face, and had a rather large pile of money set out on the table in front of him. He motioned towards it with one hand. “All thanks to you. And the best part is Becky tells me I should still keep you around, so I guess we'll be doing this again later this week?”
Vince sighed and then dropped into a chair. He flexed and extended his fingers for a little while but calmed himself when he saw Jim's expression becoming less joyful and Pam's becoming more. “Yeah... I guess. So I'm done for tonight.” Jim nodded.
“If you want to be.” Vince got up to make his way towards the door. “Oh, Vince. Your Combusticunt fights well. I'd be impressed with you two even if you weren't making me money.”
Vince wasn't sure how to take the compliment, so he just turned and waved over his shoulder. “Whatever.”
-
Tuesday January 12th, 302AS
16:11
Mamlambo, Jade Islands League
A part of being on a short leash apparently meant that Vince also had to go to school, or at least make it to the building. Azar could only have her Dragonqueen follow him for so long. But that meant he couldn't be home until after classes should have let out. When he did make it home, Pritha had returned from the gym and pulled him into a dangerously strong hug. “Boyazon! I was so worried when I couldn't get ahold of Miss Azar. You're home now, you're ok?”
“Yeah mom, I'm fine.”
“Miss Azar said you were out with a cop last night. What were you doing with the police.”
Vince made up a story on the spot, no idea if it was believable or not. “I'm roleplaying as a Team member or as a hostage during training. Nothing dangerous, it's just pokegirls fighting each other.”
Pritha tilted her head to the side. “I've never heard of them doing anything like that before. Are you getting paid for it or is it volunteer work?”
“Oh, I get some credits out of the deal. Not bad pay, really.” The lie worked for Vince, since he'd have to explain where the credits he got from the wins came from eventually. “They could use me again Wednesday night too, I think I'll go back.”
Pritha nodded. “Well, I guess it's good to have work. Speaking of, did you get any homework?” Vince smirked a little. It was hard to get homework when you didn't go to class. He shook his head in response. “Good. What do you say we head downstairs and train some, since we missed all weekend?”
“Sure thing mom, I'll be down in a minute.” Vince went to his bedroom, tossed his bookbag on his bed and grapped his wrist wraps, winding the fabric tight around his hands and arms as he headed down to the training room.
-
Thursday January 14th, 302AS
20:07
Mamlambo, Jade Islands League
Vince made his way to the warehouse where the fights were held on his own, Jim apparently was already there. A very near human 'girl that looked a lot like Becky but without the armor greeted him as he came in. “Ah, you're Vince. Jim wanted me to take you to his table.”
“And you are...?”
The pokegirl smiled at being asked her identity. “I'm Vicki, Jim's Psy'd Kick.” Vince followed the psychic type Sidekick back into the tables, where Jim sat with a Pam and Becky out at the table. There was also the huge man from Team Machismo sitting down as well, taking up two seats between his butt and his feet. Vicki bowed politely to the two men and then sat down on Becky's lap. The Battle Angel wrapped her arms around her fellow Ingenue line, and Vince figured with the two of them right next to each other they could have been born from the same Ingenue.
“Ah, Vince, good to see you again. This is,” Jim paused for a moment, barely long enough to perceive, but there was a look on his face that made it clear he wasn't really happy with having to introduce the man he was sharing a table with. “Grant. Grant, as you can probably tell, is a member of Team Machismo.” Grant didn't bow like was customary in the Jade Islands, nor did he offer a hand like many foreigners did in greeting. “Grant, this is Vince, a street fighting punk that's repaying me a favor for getting him out of jail.”
“Ah, so that's what a kid like him's doing here. Having fun playing with the big boys, kid?”
Vince already didn't like this guy's attitude. It didn't occur to him that it might be unwise to aggrivate a Team member, so he went ahead and tried to do just that. “So far I've found wiping the floor with the 'big boys' kinda boring.”
Grant let out an unfriendly chuckle. “So that's what you think is happening, huh? Well, how about a rematch then, same as last night?”
The fight against the Cyndacunt had been the biggest challenge for Ava from Monday. A rematch against the Maggiemite would end the exact same way thanks to Ava's type advantage. Vince couldn't think of a reason to turn down his chance to win more money, so he didn't.
They both made there way to the ring and waited for the current match to finish up. More members from Team Machismo had made there way over to stand next to Grant before things got underway. The big man from Team Machismo had a smirk on his face as he released his Maggiemite into the ring. Vince didn't know what he seemed to sure about. The fight started up just like it had before, an exchange of lightning and fire. Vince spared a moment to look over at the look on Grant's face as his girl was losing, again, but it wasn't what Vince expected to see. He was smiling, and even made a small wave in Vince's direction. Vince caught something black in the corner of his eye suddenly appear inside the ring. Some dark furred cat pokegirl had teleported in behind Ava. “AVA! Behind You!” Vince's warning wasn't enough, and the backstab attack plunged into the Combusticunt's back, right at the base of the neck. Vince recalled his crippled Combusticunt before the Shadowcat had a chance to do any more damage and then plowed his way through the crowd to get to where the Nightnurse was set up with a healing machine.
Vince was furious, at himself for getting big headed and at Grant for what he had done to Ava. After standing listening to the low hum of the healing unit for a few minutes, Vince saw the whole group of Team Machismo approaching the nearby tables. He could hear the big guy, telling the others about showing them some Spinnertit that was his latest project. Vince didn't really care to hear what he was saying. Just that if Vince could hear him, he could hear Vince. “Hey asshole! What the fuck was that!?”
The whole group stopped to look at Vince. Grant let out a chuckle, and lumbered his way over to stare down at Vince. “What? Oh, that? That was just a message.”
Vince didn't break eye contact with the man towering over him. “Message? Something wrong with your mouth? I'm sure your buddies would hold up cue cards for you if you needed them. If you have a fucking message for me, out with it. Leave my 'girl the fuck alone.”
“Fine then.” The big man rolled his shoulders. “Go home and play kid. You think the pokegirls we toss in that ring mean anything? They're trash and we're just getting kicks from watching them beat the shit out of each other. Just the fact that you've given that 'cunt of yours a name is enough to tell me you don't belong here. And watch the language, someone should really wash your mouth out with some soap.”
Vince let out an audible growl as the man turned to walk back to his companions. He spat out a challenge to Grant's back. “You want me to go home? Then make me. One last fight, loser gets lost.”
The man turned to address Vince's challenge. “Pfft. Yeah, right. You've got one 'girl going through a healing cycle and I left my fighting girls at home. It's not even worth it to bring them here. Besides, you'll have to make it worth my time if we're going to have a match.”
“Everything I've won here and Ava against whatever girls you do have on you. And I didn't say anything about pokegirls. You and me.”
The big man looked genuinely interested at this. “Kid, do you even have any clue who I am?”
“You have any clue who I am?” Was all Vince could think of to shoot back. “No? Then I guess we're even.”
“Is that so? Whatever kid, if you want to get beat that bad.”
They both made their way down into the ring. It was kind of pathetic the way all the other spectators clamored around the walls to get a better view. They really were there only to see blood, and two humans fighting seemed even better than two pokegirls.
Grant was removing his shirt, shoes, and belt, and tossed them to one of his Team Machismo lackeys. Without the belt, his pants started to sag down, and would have fallen to his ankles if he hadn't grabbed hold of them. “Tell me, Joy-Boy...” Vince ground his teeth at the name. People at school had once made the mistake of crediting his pink hair to a Nurse Joy too. He'd teach this guy the same lesson he taught them. “...why do you think someone like me wears such baggy pants?”
Vince was about to make a comment about the guy overeating and blowing up like a Snorlass, when he did start blowing up, or at least expanding. Every muscle on the man bulged, his shoulders became at least twice as broad, and he gained another two feet or so in height. His hunched stance neutralized the height he had gained, and his arms elongated till they were almost dragging on the floor. His legs became thick like stumps, and his jaw widening and jutting out while the rest of his face became flatter. Finally, his skin took on a dark grey coloration. Grant let out a low, rumbling laugh. “It's so they still fit when I do this. Surprised? Want to run? Too late!” With that he bounded forward, running on both feet and one palm, the other arm raised above his head to strike. Vince crossed his arms above him to block the downward strike, and while he did stop the attack from hitting his head, the force of the blow forced him to the ground. He rolled out of the way as the transformed human brought his foot down to stomp where Vince's head had been seconds before.
Vince scrambled to his feet only to be sent flying by a sweeping attack from one of Grant's elongated arms. The wind was knocked out of him, but he stood again, Grant closing the distance of the ring slowly as the lumbering giant laughed out more taunts. “I told you you had no idea who I was. Don't worry, I won't beat you so bad you can't hand over your credits. That'll only take one arm, right?” Vince made an attempt at talking back, but it was cut off by a cough. “What was that? I couldn't hear you.”
Vince straightened up and glared at the approaching monster. “I said, 'And you still don't know who I am.'”
“You know, I'm getting real sick of that attitude of yours. Maybe I'll let your family keep your money, they can use it to bury you!” Grant charged forward again. Vince readied himself. Putting all of his strength into an upper cut, Vince lifted Grant's massive body a few inches off the floor with the floor of the blow, then grabbed the waistband of his opponent's pants with his free hand and tossed him the rest of the length of the ring. Vince jumped onto the fallen giant's shoulders, his left hand pressing down on the back of his head while the right was raised as high as he could.
“And my mother's a Herochan, fucker.” Vince brought his entire body down with the strike that smashed Grant's face to the floor, splattering it with blood from the brute's lips and nose. His fallen opponent shrunk back down to his normal human size, and let out a pained groan as Vince stepped off of him and left the ring.
A few minutes later, after Vince had retrieved Ava from the healing machine and sat back down at Jim's table, Grant stumbled his way over. “Damn kid... that's the first time I've took a hit like that from a human. Interested in joining up with Team Machismo? Serious offer, you could do great.”
“No, I want you to own up on our bet, give me what I won, and get out of my sight.”
“Hhrmmph. You're turning down a golden opportunity here kid.” Vince tossed a wad of credit bills onto the table along with a pokeball. “There's the Maggiemite in there.”
“And what about your Shadowcat?”
“Shadowcat's not mine, so you don't win her.”
Vince crossed his arms. “Fine then, what about the Spinnertit you were talking about?”
Grant shifted uncomfortably, stealing a glance at Jim's pokegirls before answering. “Don't have her here...”
Becky smiled coldly. Jim backed his chair up an inch. “Becky tells me you're lying, Grant. Why is that?”
“I um... I haven't had her for very long, so she isn't broken in or anything. Give me a week and I'll have her trained as the best pokegirl you've ever had, just right now she's kinda a disgrace. You know? I swear I'll hand her over then, a deal's a deal.”
Vince found it odd, but even more than that he found it funny, how worked up Grant was getting over this. “Heh, that's not a problem. I'm sure I can train her just fine without your help.”
Jim stood up out of his chair and Pam rose with her master. “Give him the 'girl Grant, or I'll inform our hosts that you're trying to weasel your way out of a bet.”
Grant muttered something unpleasant under his breath and quickly tossed another pokeball to Vince, fast enough that Vince grabbed at the air as the 'ball hit him in the chest and then bounced to the floor. “Fine, take the spider bitch. Just don't embarrass yourself by letting her out here.” The whole group from Team Machismo started to quickly make their way to the exit when Vince acted completely contrary to Grant's words and thumbed the release.
The Spinnertit took form as the red glow of the capture beam receded. She looked like a mess, bruised and cut up and her clothes torn. They didn't even look like they were meant for her breed, there were two massive holes in the sides to permit the two extra sets of arms. In fact, looking closely, Vince recognized the uniform for another one of the schools in Mamlambo. The spider type pokegirl looked around nervously, holding her arms close to her body and looking like she was trying to curl into a ball while still standing. “Wh-where... what's going on? Where am I?” Vince started to say something to comfort the pokegirl that looked to be on the verge of panic when she looked from him to Jim and Jim's harem. “You're, you're not one of them. Please! You have to help me! They caught me in a-”
Vince saw the same black form out of the corner of his eye just as he heard someone shout, “Shit! Grant they let her out!” Time seemed to slow down as Vince listened to his heart hammer in his chest and watched the Shadowcat move to use her backstab attack once again. But this time he was close enough to do something to stop it. He grabbed the Spinnertit and dragged her out of the way of the attack. Both of them hit the table and they fell on top of it as the Shadowcat's eyes went big in surprise at a human thwarting her attack. Before she could make another attack against them Pam grabbed her by the hair and smashed her face against the edge of the table with enough force to almost upturn it even with two bodies on top of it. Becky and Vicki bolted to their feet, both of their eyes glowing and Becky's third eye tattoo burning with psychic energy. Jim released one more pokegirl from off his belt and then pulled out a gun from inside his coat. All the members of Team Machismo fell to the ground from a psychic attack before they could do anything, except for Grant who was lifted into the air and dragged over in front of Jim.
There was no fake friendliness in Jim's voice. He spoke first with a steely cold tone with his gun pointed right at Grant's forehead. With each syllable though his anger heated more, until his words sounded as dangerous as red-hot, glowing metal. “I've got rules, Grant. You and your pals know them, everyone here knows them. I don't care if you steal, deal, assault, or kill. There's only one line I drew and that's the one line you decided to cross! What was it?!”
“Come on man, I wasn't even going to-” Grant was completely panicking as he dangled in the air helplessly at gun point.
“What. Was. It?!”
Grant's eyes darted around. The entire warehouse had gone quiet and everyone was staring. Barely audible, Grant mumbled, “Loveballs and jusenkyo.”
Jim stood still as a statue for a moment, his finger on the trigger, before he clicked the safety back on and holstered the gun back inside his coat. His words were cold steel again. “That's right, loveballs and jusenkyo...” He looked at Vicki, who's eyes flickered with a slightly different light before Grant was dropped to the floor.
For a second Grant stared dumbly. “You're letting me go? Holy shit man, thanks. I thought you were gonna snap and shoo-”
“Vicki.” At the word of her master, Vicki attacked Grant's mind the same as Becky had done to all of his lackeys. The big man dropped to the floor, convulsing and frothing at the mouth. Jim stood over the team member, who besides breathing and staring up blankly wasn't doing anything. “Make sure he gets to HQ before he wakes up. Becky, make sure none of his friends had anything to do with this. Pam, Jan,” Jan was apparently the Gunbunny Jim had released, “I want you to go with Vince while he takes that Spinnertit to the nearest pokecenter.”
Vince lifted himself up off of the table and then helped the Spinnertit up. She stared at him for a moment, then threw herself against his beer soaked shirt and started crying. Vince had no idea what to do, and only a vague idea of what had happened, so he couldn't think of anything to do besides let the former human hold onto him and cry.
Jim continued giving instructions. “Vince, I want you to stick around in case I need to get a report from you or something. I'll be there as soon as I finish my drink.” He picked up his upturned mug, the contents spilled out on the table during the scuffle. “Well...Dammit.”