Crimson Soudoyer

[Gifted]

Rakel froze. What should she say? "Um, I'm sort of decent at Pokémon I guess... I have good endurance?" Swimming was good for endurance, right?

[Raven]

"You run at all?" Ryan asked.

[Gifted]

"I don't but I used to swim competitively. It's all the same muscles."

[Raven]

"You might be able to get a bit of cash running errands. We can see where else you might fit while you adjust," Ryan said.

[Gifted]

Rakel nodded once. "Anything I can do to help." She agreed.

[Raven]

"For now, just keep trying to learn the city and get stronger," Ryan said.

[Gifted]

Rakel nodded. "I will."

[Raven]

In the eyes of the law, Adam had paid his dues. He had been underage when he made a number of poor choices - but so had Roseanne Absentia, he'd destroyed her life and he knew better than to think he'd really made up for everything he'd done. Prison was... unpleasant, and he never wanted to go back, he knew that much, but it was up to him. There had been a part of him that had hoped that after he got out, his father would be the only thing he'd have to deal with for a while. It had been naive. When his pokemon had shown up on his doorstep, though they had once been his best friends, Adam half wished they hadn't. They had been happy to see him, but Adam couldn't help but feel ill as he realized who the gift must have been from. Sure enough, a couple days later, he'd run into Justin Cross. The Saint's Row wanted him back; of course they did, he'd been kidding himself to think that they wouldn't. He'd been a decent enough battler, and even without his pokemon, Adam was a warm body they could move where they needed to. He'd been compliant - he'd been drugged out of his mind, it hadn't been in him to do much but comply, especially for the people who had given him an option other than his father. Now, however, he would do just about anything to go back to who he was. Not that the Saints were going to take no for an answer.

Those were the thoughts that weighed on his mind as he made his way to the forest at the edge of town to train with his pokemon - as much as he said he'd rather have gone without, the fact of the matter was, Adam knew he wouldn't last a minute in Crimson Town without pokemon and without a gang. He kept trudging on, though he had to wonder if the other path wasn't a better option. He threw his Eelektross out as he heard a noise not far from him, though he hadn't yet made it to the trees quite yet.

[Gifted]

Today, Justin wasn't going to run into Adam by accident. That would be rather hard, considering he was out specifically looking for the man.
He'd run into the man just the other day to welcome him back to the group only to meet with resistance that made his blood boil. Not that it was difficult to set Justin's blood boiling, but no one could just walk out on their brothers like that.
He'd been fairly cheerful when he'd first run into the man. It was always good news when one of their own got out of prison, and many of the Saints he'd talked to were excited for the welcome back party they were planning to throw. But despite what they'd done for him, when Justin has spoken to Adam he said he would refuse to re-join them. Justin had reported back his result, knowing that he would be sent back out and in fact looking forward to showing that bastard that you did not just abandon them and expect to get away with it. Sure enough, word got back through the grapevine that Joe and Jaime were not happy.
So today, he was out searching for Adam in the same place he'd last run into the man. He still wasn't intending on being too pushy... yet. But he intended to make sure Adam knew he didn't have a choice in the matter.

[Raven]

When Adam didn't see anything, he shook his head and continued towards the trees. He was just jumpy, that was all. He was fine. He was going to be fine. Eelektross floated along beside him to the treeline, and they entered the forest together to start training.

[Gifted]

Justin waited until he was too close for Adam to pretend he hadn't heard or seen, then announced his presence. "Hey Adam!" He called casually.

[Raven]

At that, Adam's blood ran cold. He should have known better. He should have been more careful. He needed to stop doing this, but none of that mattered now. Adam turned on the spot, facing the voice of one of his old buddies. "Hey, Justin," Adam said. It was rude not to greet someone, and it would have been bullshit to pretend he hadn't heard.

[Gifted]

"You're out here training a lot." Justin noted. "You think about our talk a couple days ago?"

[Raven]

"Not had a lot of time," Adam said.

[Gifted]

"Oh yeah? It's been a couple days."