Rough Day

It's not always a good idea to pick fights with a group of delinquents when there was only one of you. But whether that was true or not, Ater had no choice. He was cornered and the good folks he tussled with a few weeks ago were there to "teach him a lesson", but not one to be taken down so easily, Ater used a little trick he called, flash bomb. Basically just a little bit of harmless fox fire that glowed too brightly and too suddenly that it left everyone in a bit of a daze.

His first escape was to the library, where, if they found him again, he could just make some noise and whoever was in charge at that time could come in to his rescue. As someone opened the doors to the library, he quickly sped past them at full sprint. He signaled to the librarian to keep quiet about him as he slid into a usually-quieter part of the library. Panting as he peered out the edge, he sighed in relief as the people after him only did a quick glance around and left.

He sat down on the floor, his back leaning against the bookshelf and sighed. When he looked up, he saw a girl there with a handheld. "Hi there... Playing something good?"

"Pokemon? That's a good series." Ater leaned to the side and took a glance into the rest of the library to make sure his hunters were gone. After making sure they were, he took a breath and hopped back to his feet to sit beside the girl to watch her play the game.

"Oh, so you're still starting out?" He hadn't played any Pokemon game, but he did see a lot of it in the videos on YouTube. It always seemed to pop up when there are list-type things based on games, and he could distinctly remember seeing the exact same screen at the start of the game.

"It's just that good, hm?" he smirked. That was good! It meant that he'd probably enjoy it if he got it for himself. That wasn't a bad idea either. He was sure he had enough saved up for a game, and as far as he knew, Nintendo and its games were much more affordable than PC and console games. And its on a hand held too, it would just be like a second phone.

Silently he watched. He was curious about the game. He only knew the bare essentials: You catch the creatures in magic balls after beating them up and make them fight. Not to say he was alright with the concept, but it was a game so who really cared? No one in the real world got hurt.

When Sarah introduced herself, Ater turned to her and offered a friendly grin that reached his ears. "My name's Ater, Ater Blake. Nice to meet you Sarah!"

Yeah, he wasn't going to lie. She had a nice smile. As she turned her attention back to the game, he found himself wondering if she was single. Not that he'd try to woo her or anything, but he really didn't need another guy breathing down his neck whenever he walked passed her in the hall. What could he say, people were territorial like that.

He watched intently, half because he was enthralled, and half because the more time he'd spend hidden away here, the less likely the gang after him would still be aggro'd enough to still be hunting him down. Of course, the next time they saw him, he might have to get his claws dirty and predictably get sent to the school councilor.

And just as he was thinking that, she asked why he was here in the first place. "Well, about that..." he'd say with a nervous giggle. "I pissed off a couple of guys, and I dove into the library to lose them. Don't worry, if they find me here, I'll just lead them away. They're too dense to think about involving someone they never saw with me before, so you'll be alright. I'll make sure of that." Well, that definitely wouldn't inspire any brownie points, but that was truth.

With a hearty laugh, Ater said, "You know, if you didn't make it clearly sarcastic, I would have believed you! But I'm pretty sure you know how to handle yourself. I can just be the backup."

Of course, whether she could handle herself or not, Ater would be quite happy to take the brunt of the assault. Like he could ever live with himself having a lady get hurt without him being roughed up even worse. It wasn't a pride thing, he just didn't like seeing them hurt when he could have done a lot more to keep them safe.

Though it would be a fine image, a couple of roughhousers being subdued by a girl. He didn't care what meaning that inferred to people these days, but there was something about a woman who could fight off those kinds of people.

Having been offered the game and asked if he'd like to give it a try, he grinned and took it. He's played a couple of JRPG games before, so this wouldn't be that hard. "Alright, I'll give it a shot."

He tested the buttons to see what they did, and after familiarizing himself with them, he went off. He knew the tall grass was where the Pokemon were, and he ran around a patch of it to see if he could find some. And of course, he got to fight a Ratata, a name he had used to amuse himself with by saying it was machinegun noises. That's where his gaming skill shone. He handled his enemy pretty well, though that was mostly due to Sarah's own Pokemon being a lot more powerful than a simple mouse.

"You know those people who speedrun games? How long do you think you could finish this game?"