rocketralph | Call Ralph's Poke'Gear!

_{[For a moment, Ralph isn't sure what he's seeing.]

[Is that...did somebody's Tangela get loose? BUT THEN THE BEAST SPEAKS.]}

Kid!

_{[He throws the covers away and swings his feet off his bed onto the floor.]}

_{[Wrath takes a tottering step into the room-- he's wheezing slightly. The kid doesn't usually wind up out of breath, given his boundless energy and the impressive set of lungs hidden in that little ribcage of his, but he'd been running at breakneck speed.]

[That, and he just might be a LITTLE out of shape from spending weeks in one room.]}

I g- ... I gotta... the quota...

_{[Ralph feels like he's seeing another person entirely. They've ran from scrapes before but this kid was several levels of Not Okay. Ralph makes his way over and catches Wrath by the shoulders so that he doesn't fall on his face.]}

Woah, woah, relax, kid. Micchy and I have been covering for you.

_{[Why is he so rough looking? Didn't Lust say he was being taken care of? This doesn't look taken care of! This looks terrified!]}

Y'wanna tell me what happened?

_{[That makes the words die out in Wrath's throat. For a moment, the kid just STARES up at Ralph, glassy-eyed, chest still puffing in and out.]}

... You... have?

_{[He... he had honestly not expected that. The thought of someone else covering for him NEVER occurred to him. Homunculi never did that for each other, not even when they were all on the same side.]

[He'd assumed that Team Rocket would be the same.]

[You had to look out for your own skin.]

[But... Ralph and Micchy...]}

You did that? For me?

_{[He's too out of breath to get choked up, but the relief is spelled out plainly on his face. The tension drains out of his entire body and he sags a little in Ralph's grasp, looking like he'd just been given the best news of his entire life.]

[They'd been turning in Pokemon for him.]

[He wouldn't get in trouble.]

[EVERYTHING IS OKAY AND NOTHING HURTS.]}

Wouldn't wantcha gettin' kicked off the team, would we?

_{[He's content to hold the kid up so that he doesn't have to worry about staying steady himself.]}

Hey, hey, no passin' out. You got a lot of explainin' to do.

I thought I was gonna... was gonna...

Never mind.

_{[He just found out he WASN'T going to be punished, he'd rather just banish the thought entirely from his head now and NEVER THINK OF IT AGAIN.]

[Because from now on, he's gonna be good.]

[He's gonna be the best.]

[Anything to avoid incurring the wrath of his superiors.]}

Can I stay in here until morning?

_{[Wrath's silence is unnerving, but Ralph can't really be frustrated with him. He's too busy being relieved that he's here and in one piece.]}

Yeah...yeah, sure thing, kid.

_{[As tired as he is, if he was a puppy, his tail would be wagging.]

[His face splits into that sort of semi-deranged but still genuine and somehow really endearing grin he sometimes gets, and without a word, he leans forward to bodily throw his arms around his enormous team-mate.]}

Thank you!

Thank you!

_{[Ralph leans back some, finally letting the kid go now that he's perked back up. He looks around, unsure exactly how to respond before patting him on the back of the head.]}

No problem.

_{[He still needed that information though. Think, Wreck-It, think....AHA.]}

Hey...whadya say to a Welcome Home Pudding Cup. Room temperature, just the way you like 'em.

_{[Ralph ain't half bad at strategizing.]

[The boy peels his face away from his teammate's chest and looks up at him, starry-eyed. And nods A LOT.]}

I'll take that as a yes.

_{[He stands tall again and waves for Blanca to follow them before making for the door. He didn't normally venture out in his PJ's but he'd like to see anyone say anything about it.]}

Gonna need some air, kid.

_{[He pokes the boy in the side in hopes of getting him to release his neck as they make their way down the long hall.]}

We looked everywhere for you, y'know that? Every garbage can in the city.

_{[Wrath is perfectly content to dangle from Ralph's neck, but the poke successfully gets him to make a protesting squeak and clamber over the strongman's shoulder, where he proceeds to cling to the back of Ralph's pajamas instead.]

[Like a horrible deformed baby possum.]}

You did?

_{[His voice is a little muffled.]}

Egh! Hay!

_{[He reaches back but his arms are so beefy that hey can't quite bend them far enough to pick off the big hairy tick he's gained. Finally he gives up and tromps along until the cafeteria shows itself. It doesn't take him long to locate the pudding cups from the kitchen storage bins.]

[He wrinkles his nose. Ugh. Ralph didn't care much for pudding on a good day but it was COLD pudding when he did. He'll never get this kid.]}

I'll give you this but you gotta come down.

_{[He fetches up a spoon before sitting down at one of the long benches. It tips upward slightly.]}

_{[SORRY RALPH IT IS TOO LATE. Congratulations on your new weird hairy back lump.]

[His response to Ralph laying down the law is to let out a tiny whine.]}

... Do I gotta?

Yeah, you gotta. I've seen you eat.

_{[Wrath sadly crawls down from his perch and sits crosslegged on the table, holding his ankles.]

[8( CAN HE HAVE THE PUDDING NOW]}

_{[Once Wrath had himself situated, Ralph hands over the snacks and leans an elbow on the table. He suddenly remembers how tired he is and rubs his face. It's gonna be a long night.]}

Y'wanna begin at the beginning?

_{[Wrath shows no hesitation in just... smashing his face right into the tiny plastic cup. It wasn't that he hadn't been fed well at the house-- he had. They'd taken care to bring food down at LEAST three times a day. Especially Al, who was a little more familiar with how often kids needed to eat than most.]

[But THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME and room-temperature Johto Foods-brand generic chocolate pudding is superior to any and all treats he possibly could have had while away from HQ.]

[He looks up, though, a smudge of pudding on his chin.]}

The beginning of what?

_{[WRATH, YOU KNOW WHAT.]}

_{[Ralph gives the little wild child a look. Other people might be able to be thrown off by the innocent act, but not him.]}

_{[DARN.]

[Wrath puffs out his cheeks in a tiny huff of a sigh.]

[THERE'S NO GETTIN NOTHIN PAST YOU, RALPH.]}

My old team decided they wanted me back.

So they got me.

Your old team...?

_{[He guesses that means Lust and Co. He guessed he should have guessed they were a team. What with their names. But that is not the most important thing here.]}

They got you?

They got me.

_{[Having inhaled the pudding cup in the space of about five seconds, he puts it down in a surprising display of self-control. He'll lick it clean once he's done satisfying Ralph's curiosity.]}

Do you remember that time we were coming back from a heist and we saw a bunch of people in the market trying to catch a Rattata that stole a whole cake? They had nets and there was lots of shouting.

It was like that.

Except I didn't have any cake.

_{[The wrecker's brick brows slowly come together. He remembers that day. He remembers the nets.]}

Go on...

When they got me, they took me to their house, and I lived under it for awhile.

Like five days.

_{[WRATH YOU WERE GONE FOR TWO MONTHS]}

Under the house? What, like a storm cellar? A basement?

_{[Surely they didn't just shove him into a crawlspace! Lust wouldn't do that!]}

I think it was a little longer than five days, kid.

Hi there! Wanna thread but don't have time/want to set up a whole post for it? Does your character just wanna call and shoot the breeze? LET'S DO IT.Just use the CALL and MESSAGE threads below!

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Hi there! Wanna thread but don't have time/want to set up a whole post for it?
Does your character just wanna call and shoot the breeze? LET'S DO IT.
Just use the CALL and MESSAGE threads below!