Buried Past

[Australian Chaos]

(OOC and Discussion Thread)

Slowly, the darkness surrounding the Persian's existance began to lift, and her senses began to come back to her. What...what happened? she thought groggily.

Slowly, she opened her piercing, emerald eyes, her blurred vision giving her no idea where she was for the moment, as her memory started to return to her somewhat. The last thing she remembered was meeting a Gloom out in the wilderness, only to be confronted by a human in a strange, black uniform, complete with a red 'R' on the front, before being doused in the Gloom's Sleep Powder...

With a feline yell, the Persian, who was known as Topaz to the other wild Pokemon she had known near her home, jumped to her four paws, her gaze snapping into clear focus as she looked around, trying to find the human she had been trying to drive away from her homeland, and the Gloom that had betrayed her.

But her frantic search paused when she finally focused on her surroundings...simple, unadorned white walls...a similarly bland wooden roof over her head, a single, artificial light hanging from it...polished, wooden floorboards, aside from a thin, only marginally comfortable cushion beneath her athletic frame, obviously meant to be her 'bed' in this room...a collection of food and water bowls in the corner...and finally, a single, human-sized door.

Topaz's eyes widened in panic as she realised what this meant...her worst nightmare had come true, she had been taken from her home...someone had stolen her away! She immediately began looking for a way out, finally noticing the door properly. She immediately went to dash for it...but stopped after only one step. Another Persian was blocking it.

For a moment, she simply stopped and stared as this Persian sat there, seemingly guarding her only escape route. From what she could tell, this Persian was male, and was definitely a 'shiny' like her, with the creamy-white fur, and pink inner ears. but unlike her, the gem on his forehead was the standard ruby-red, as opposed to her completely unique golden one...the source of her name.

Finally, she snapped out of her thoughts, and of her inspection of the only other presence in this room, reminding herself of her home, back in the wild. "Let me pass," she said simply, trying to be polite despite her growing panic and discomfort at being restrained like this, even if the room was fairly large...more than enough for the two of them.

[Diamond]

“I would if I could, but my Master would be very displeased with me if I did,” the male Persian said, giving his paw an absent lick. “Besides, you should be glad I am sharing my room with a wild thing such as yourself,” He added, giving her a disdainful look.

A closer inspection of this Persian showed that while he was fit and strong, like any pokemon familiar with battling, he was not to the brute strength of a wild pokemon who had to fight to survive. He had thin layer of fat over his muscles and not a strand of his cream-white fur was out of place. His red collar had a tag on it the read “Leo”, and another with his pedigree information behind it. This was the type of pokemon that had never known the wild, to run free without the knowledge a trainer would call you back at any moment.

He was practically a glorified pet.

“Help yourself to food and drink, I was told to share,” he said, giving a slight sneer on the last word, lying down in front of the door.

[Australian Chaos]

Topaz would have been furious with this other Persian for his first comment, but the word 'Master' threw her off a little, as her eyes drifted down to the collar on his neck, and the tag, reading "Leo", giving her a name to call this...pet...by.

As she got his name, she took a quick instant to observe his features a little more closely. What she saw did little to impress her. He was a typical human-raised Pokemon...he showed signs of strength and stamina, most likely from battling other pet Pokemon, but she also noticed the immaculate condition of his fur, and the fact that his muscles were less pronounced than hers...all signs of an easy life of luxury.

Topaz, on the other paw, was every bit the wild Pokemon. Smaller and leaner than Leo, thanks to her harsher upbringing where she literally had to fight for her very survival most days. Her fur was mostly clean, thanks to frequent grooming, but obviously windswept from exposure to the elements. For a wild Pokemon, she was actually in surprisingly good condition, but still obviously wild.

But her attention snapped back to Leo's muzzle as he continued speaking, calling her a 'wild thing', in an obviously derogatory manner. Topaz responded by snarling, her claws extending instinctively as Leo offered to share his food and drink. "'Wild thing'?" she repeated incredulously. "You're one to talk, pet!" she snapped, putting particularly insulting emphasis on the last word.

Having gotten some mild revenge, she took the time to let Leo's latter comment sink in, but she didn't even give it a second thought before responding to that one. "I don't want your precious food," she said, never once taking her eyes off Leo, glaring at him constantly. "I only want to leave, and go back home. Now step aside, before I make you!"

As she made her last, threatening comment, she crouched low, her body tensed, tail lashing furiously in an obvious sign that she was ready and willing to battle Leo for her freedom. Sure, the male was larger than her by a small, but not insignificant margin...but Topaz was sure that her wild upbringing would allow her to make up for her obvious strength and size deficiencies, forgetting for a brief moment that trained Pokemon were generally forced to battle almost daily, and therefore had plenty of experience of their own.

[Diamond]

Leo stood and stretched lazily, as if honestly going to move for her. This idea was quickly thrown aside, however, when he coiled and pounced on top of her in one swift motion. He sat down and made no effort to move, knowing his sheer weight would more than likely provide ample restraint until she calmed down.

“Make me now,” he said, glancing down his muzzle at her.

[Australian Chaos]

Topaz actually paused in surprise as Leo stood up and stretched, surprised that he seemed to be giving in so soon, and so easily...he seemed more stubborn than that, and Topaz had been certain she would have to fight him for her freedom. Still, she wasn't going to complain if he decided to let her go more easily than she expected. The unfortunate side-effect of her surprise, however, was that, for a brief moment, she let her guard down.

Leo's pounce was far swifter than Topaz could ever had anticipated, and before she had time to throw up any sort of defensive measure, she found herself on the wooden floor, Leo sitting down on her back, sending a few dry, sarcastic words her way. Initially, she just yowled in defiance, squirming and struggling with all her might to free herself. But Leo's position on her back had all the advantages, and while she could move her paws, tail and muzzle, she could not twist them far enough to attack him.

"You filthy, cowardly slave!" she shrieked. "Get off me, now! Let me go!" During her whole rant, she never stopped her struggles, determined to get away. "I will not let you stop me! You're nothing but a pampered pet, now let me go! I will not be restrained, I will not be held captive here against...my..."

Topaz trailed off, her squirming struggles dying in the same moment, as her own words hit her with the force of a Hyper Beam to the face. She was trapped. Leo had her overpowered, and as such, she was stuck here, in this prison...and she was not getting out, not anytime in the foreseeable future.

"Oh, Arceus..." she breathed, all venom gone from her voice, replace by a sense of denial. "No, I won't...it can't...I..." she stuttered, but it was hopeless, the full reality of the situation dawned on her, that she was not returning to the wild, and she went still and silent, trying to fight off the emotional breakdown that threatened to overcome her.

[Diamond]

Leo stepped off her, puzzled for a moment. He had never known the life of a wild pokemon, and didn't understand her trouble accepting her life. He did understand that it was making her sad.

And as much as he'd like to convince himself that he didn't care, he did care. He padded softly over to a corner of the room.

A bit of jingling later, a bright red cloth ball, looking well-loved, rolled into her view.

Leo couldn't believe he was trying to cheer her up. But he hadn't touched the toys since his days as a Meowth, so he could spare the item to amuse her.

[Australian Chaos]

Topaz, so lost in her crushing realisation that she was a captive, barely noticed Leo step off her. She tried to find ways of denying the reality of the situation...but there were none. She had been captured, condemned to the life she had always scorned and despised...Leo's life. Her breathing was shaky, obviously on the verge of sobbing, but she desperately kept herself together, refusing to show weakness in front of this trained Pokemon...she would show him who the stronger of the two was, even if he had overpowered her, so she clung to all her willpower, and kept her emotion breakdown at bay...barely.

Finally realising that Leo had released her, she looked up, briefly thinking about making a break for the door now. But now, in her acceptance of her fate, she realised it would be useless. The humans who had captured her would have put more security measures in place than just Leo's presence. As she finally began to accept the reality of her situation, she realised that, unless she took her time to research the humans, and this place she was held in, she would never have a chance of escape. She refused to accept that she would be stuck here forever, and silently vowed to herself that she would, one day, break free, and return to her home in the wild once more.

But at that point, her thought train was broken as a small, red ball of cloth rolled in front of her. Topaz blinked andleaned her muzzle away from the object, cautious. Looking up in the direction it had rolled from, she spotted Leo over in a corner of the room, next to a small collection of strange objects, looking at her, a strange, almost conflicted expression on his muzzle.

For a few moments, Topaz's gaze shifted from the ball of cloth to Leo, back and forth, her expression shifting from confusion to curiosity, and a myriad of other emotions, few of them positive. Finally, after a confused silence, she tentively poked the cloth ball with a paw. Her confusion only heightened when it made no response other than to roll away, although she was also intrigued by its soft texture...far softer than anything she had come across in the wild.

Ignoring it for now, she turned back to Leo, her confusion evident in her voice. "What is this?" she asked him, having no idea of the concept of 'toys', or their purpose, not realising the cloth ball was nothing more than a source of simple amusement. In the wild, everything had a purpose. Sure, it could be fun, but it also had to ensure your survival or quality of life. One could not afford to waste time when every day was a fight for survival, after all.

[Diamond]

"It's a jingle ball," Leo said, prodding the assortment of toys with his paw. "You poke it and it runs away and makes noise. S'fun," he said, sounding more than a bit embarrassed at admitting he found the toy fun.

After all, he was too old to still be playing with toys.

[Australian Chaos]

Topaz raised an eyebrow at Leo's explaination of the object in front of her. He seemed almost embarrassed at this admission, just unwilling to admit it. Not that Topaz could blame him...with the way she viewed captive Pokemon and their lifestyle, she thought the concept of the jingle ball seemed pretty stupid.

Her curiosity, however would not rest. She was a feline, after all, and just needed to see how this jingle ball worked for herself, especially since it hadn't made noise the first time. She stepped forward, standing up for the first time since Leo had pinned her down, and gave the ball another tentative poke, watching as it silently gave one pathetic half-roll.

She turned to Leo, flashing him an annoyed an skeptical look, obviously questioning his explanation, before turning back and giving the ball a rougher jab. This time, she distinctly heard the metallic tinkling, much like a Chingling's cry, emitting from the ball. Finally getting that the noise was produced through sudden movement, she gave the ball a sound whack, watching with some curiosity as it sailed across the room, jingling loudly as it bounced off the floor and walls.

As the ball rolled to a stop a sound distance from her, she turned back to Leo, her eyebrow raised once more, distinterest clear to see now that her initial curiosity had been sated. "That's it?" she asked dryly, before lowering her voice to a very quiet mutter. "And I thought chasing Caterpies was boring, at least they try and escape..."

[Diamond]

Leo gave her a bored look. "Admittedly, the jingle ball is a pretty simply toy," Leo said, prodicing a bright blue ball from the pile.

A pounce later and a loud squeak came from the ball, much like a terrified Ratata might give when surprised. Pained cries also seemed to come from the ball as he gnawed on it.

Eventually, realizing what he was doing, he tried to look as dignified as one possibly could with a ball in their mouth, the ball giving an apathetic squeak when it was spat onto the ground and then swatted towards her.

"You may try now," he said, looking like he was trying to hide the fact that he was playing with toys.