Hey, guys! I'm Elliot. As you can probably tell from the summary, this story is going to have a tonne of swearing (starting now) and it's going to be derpy as fuck. It's kind of the sleepless induced humour of my friends and I (himeis1, SamaelDire, and fitzyfoop on wattpad). So it's mainly going to be us poking fun at each other and the main plot will probably surround Team Blizzard. Probably. So yeah, enjoy! If I've missed any content warnings, let me know.
CW: Fire, misgendering.
It was about fucking time Arthur's birthday rolled around. He had been waiting for this ever since the battle licence law came in. Everyone his age had been.
He fidgeted with the bands on his arms. Red, blue, purple, green. Red, blue, purple, green. Should he do this? It had been his fault. If it hadn't been for him, the battle licence wouldn't be in place.
He had forced children to watch their pokémon be taken away from them. Maybe he deserved to wait longer than everyone else.
He glanced up as a lock of curly green hair fell into his eye, and he took his blue-green hair clip out, readjusting it. A distraction. He liked distractions.
He adjusted his slate-coloured shirt. Okay. Okay, he could do this. It would be fine. He was just as entitled as everyone else to a partner and a battle licence.
He knocked on the door of the New Bark Town research lab. After a minute, the door cracked open. A girl with brown hair pulled up into two pigtails looked out at him. "Hi, can I help you?"
"Uh, yeah." Arthur toyed with the strap on his bag. "I'm here to get my battle licence."
She squinted at him. "You don't look sixteen." God damn it. "Can I see your passport or-?"
"Here," Arthur sighed, taking out the passport.
He offered it to her and she stared at his birthdate for a moment before handing it back. "Oh, my bad. Sorry about that. I had to check, just in case. I'm the professor's assistant." She rubbed the back of her neck and opened the door further. "There's already someone else here. We're just waiting on the professor to come back." She led Arthur through the hall, past various bookshelves filled with books and files dedicated to particular species of pokémon.
The person she had mentioned was standing by the wall, immersed in their phone. They looked up as Arthur and the assistant approached.
"Arthur, this is Samuel. Samuel, Arthur," the assistant introduced. "You two get acquainted for a few minutes while I find Professor Elm."
Arthur glanced at Samuel as the assistant scurried down the hall.
Snow white hair sprayed across his forehead, part of his fringe covering one of his grey eyes. A black ring hung from his nose, and a similar one sat in his lip. Something black outlined one of his earlobes, but with the blizzard of white, it was hard to tell what it was.
Samuel smirked as a door closed behind the assistant. "They believed I was sixteen."
Arthur blinked a few times and narrowed his eyes. "No they fucking didn't. You're smaller than me."
"Yeah, but they didn't check my passport." Samuel leaned against the wall behind him. One hand got caught in the edge of his long, black cardigan as he went to fold his arms, and he shook it loose.
Arthur rolled his eyes and looked away from him. "Whatever. I'm still taller than you."
Samuel shrugged and looked down at his phone again. "But they thought I was sixteen."
"Shut up. I hardly believe you're sixteen."
Samuel stared at him for a moment, slowly brought up his fist, and stuck up his middle finger. Arthur mimicked his actions.
They heard the door open and they quickly dropped their hands. Samuel pocketed his phone as the assistant, Professor Elm, and someone about their age entered the room.
"Samuel and Arthur, right?" Professor Elm grinned at them. "It's good to meet you. Oh, and this is Elliot." Elliot gave a tiny grin, pushing his glasses up his nose. "You're all here for your partners and battle licences?" All three nodded. "Perfect! Just follow me into the lab." He walked towards a door across from Samuel and unlocked it, beckoning them inside.
After a moment, everyone followed him. The lab had one large computer that kept flashing different pictures with two other researchers working at it, and one smaller one that was connected to a scanner and a printer. The bookshelves were filled with nothing but files in alphabetical and numerical orders.
Right beside the smaller laptop sat a tall table with three pokéballs sitting on it.
"You have your passport photos with you?" Professor Elm asked. Everyone passed the cut-out photos up to him. "Perfect. Just give me a second." He placed them on the scanner and typed a few things into the laptop. After a minute, the printer whirred to life and spat out three laminated cards.
He handed them out. The cards were all blue. Arthur cringed at his photo. His heterochromatic eyes looked too beady. Aside from the photo, the only things on the card were his name, age, place of birth, and Professor Elm's signature.
"You can all sign it on the back once you leave," Professor Elm told them. "Now, are you ready to pick your pokémon?"
"Cyndaquil!" Samuel called as a response.
"Bitch, no, that one's mine." Arthur shook his head.
"Fuck you, I'm taking it!" Samuel snapped.
Elliot hesitated and picked up the Chikorita's pokéball. He glanced at the professor, who just nodded and waved him off. He already looked tired. "You could just-"
"I'm not getting a fucking Totodile," Arthur insisted as Elliot left the lab.
"Well I'm getting the Cyndaquil. I called it first." Samuel shrugged.
Arthur stared at him for a moment before lunging for the pokéball and sprinting out of the lab.
Samuel only stared after him and turned to the professor. A shocked grin was spread across his face. He looked like he was about to start laughing at the ridiculousness of what happened. "Are you going to do anything? He just ran off with my pokémon!"
"Well…" Professor Elm rubbed the back of his neck. "Technically it's his pokémon. He did pick it up first."
Samuel stared at him for a moment. "Well fuck you. I can get my own fucking pokémon." He stormed out of the lab. He had his licence and some pokéballs. He could definitely catch his own. He shoved his hands in his pockets as he walked down Route One.
He could catch a fucking Ledyba or something. How hard could it be? They were all really weak. He didn't need to fight them to catch it.
He gritted his teeth and kicked a stone. He didn't need a fucking-
He froze.
"Quil, quil, quil, quil." He stared at the Cyndaquil tottering across the path.
"That's… not supposed to be here…" He muttered. The Cyndaquil turned and looked up at him, tilting its head. "I should bring it back…" The Cyndaquil turned and kept toddling towards the trees.
Samuel hesitated. Bring it back, or catch it for himself? He wanted a Cyndaquil. There was currently the opportunity to catch one of his own – like he had promised he would – right in front of him.
But if he didn't bring it back, some trainer wouldn't get their starter pokémon next time. Just like he hadn't.
"Fuck it," he muttered, walking towards it. The Cyndaquil stopped and looked at him as he took some mints out of his pocket. "Hey, buddy. Do you want some food?" The Cyndaquil just tilted his head. "Or I have some poffins and berries? Would you like some of them?" No response. Probably a good thing; he only had mints. Samuel huffed and stood up. "Come on, follow me."
Nothing. He walked closer and nudged the Cyndaquil towards New Bark Town with his foot.
The second he moved his foot away, the Cyndaquil jumped right back to where it had been.
Samuel hesitated. "This is going to end so badly." He unzipped his bag and placed the pokémon inside before beginning walking.
"Cynda-quil!"
He felt heat and saw light flare on the ground, and he burst out into a full-on sprint back to the research lab, his bag flaming as the Cyndaquil chanted inside.
"Quil! Quil! Quil! Quil!"
"Professor!" He roared as he neared the lab, seeing the door open.
Professor Elm looked up just as Samuel dropped his bag in front of him. Thankfully, the flames were dying from the wind and only the front of his bag had lit up.
His bag was ruined, along with a few belongings, but he wasn't hurt.
The Cyndaquil clambered out and shook a flaking piece of fabric off its back. "Quil."
"I-I found it on Route One," Samuel panted.
Professor Elm grinned. "Thank you. I was beginning to wonder where he had gone." He crouched down. "Want to go home?" The Cyndaquil shook his head and waddled back over to Samuel. "Huh."
"Huh?" Samuel blinked. "What do you mean?"
"Cyndaquil's taken a liking to you," Professor Elm chuckled, standing upright. Samuel looked down at it as it nuzzled against his leg. "You know, if you want, you could take him as your starter. As long as you're not set on catching your own."
Samuel hesitated. "I… Are you sure? No one else will want one?"
Professor Elm laughed. "No, no one else in New Bark Town is due to get their licence for another week or so, so I have plenty of time to have a few more transferred to me." He held out a pokéball.
Samuel looked down at the Cyndaquil. "I guess. I mean, if he's up for grabs." He hesitantly took the pokéball and pressed the button. Cyndaquil tilted his head as the beam of light hit him and he disappeared into the ball.
Professor Elm smiled. "I should get down to the Poké Centre. They need a bit of help. Have a good journey." He looked down at Samuel's ruined bag. "You might want to get a new bag though."
"Yeah, thanks." Samuel slipped Cyndaquil's pokéball onto his belt and scooped his belongings into his arms. "I'll be sure to do that."
At least he had technically caught his first starter pokémon. Technically. It was better than Arthur anyway.
Arthur hummed as he walked, tapping his feet every so often in rhythm with the tune falling from his mouth. Route One was actually sort of peaceful, if you found your way around the trainers.
Which he hadn't. He had already fought two. But it wasn't so bad, and his Cyndaquil seemed to enjoy it. Plus he got money from it.
And he had seen a Hopip. He didn't care how common they were. Their headpiece span. They were great.
He didn't get to catch it though. He had tried, but Cyndaquil was a fire type pokémon and Hopip was grass, and he had just made the poor thing faint, but he didn't have any potions, so he had just kind of panicked and placed it under a bush where it would be safe from other pokémon.
He winced. Probably safe anyway.
Maybe he should go back and check. He turned around. Or was it a tree he had put it under?
Fuck it, it would be fine. He turned around and kept walking. Probably.
He turned around again. Maybe-
"Hey, you're a trainer, right?"
The voice made him jump and twist around again. Then he realised the voice was coming from where he had just been facing, and he turned back around.
The boy stood an inch taller than him, with dark brown, wavy hair hanging over his face. The fringe wasn't quite long enough to be considered emo or scene, but the dip-dyed purple ends were enough to assure Arthur that he probably was one of the two. One eye glared a deeper green than the other, and four silver piercings hung off his left ear.
He clutched a pokéball, hand hanging by a rip in his slate-coloured jeans as he rolled up the sleeve of his black and grey shirt with his free hand.
"Well?"
Arthur blinked. "Well what?"
"Are you a trainer or not?"
His voice sounded rich and deep, like an upper-class Governess who settled in Arthur's short term memory as a woman drinking tea from a very thin China cup with one little finger raised in the air as she pouted her lips and stared disdainfully at the rugrats surrounding her.
Arthur nodded. "Yeah, why?" The boy raised an eyebrow and held up his pokéball. "Oh, right. We met eyes and now we need to battle."
The boy scowled. "What? No. I saw the back of your head and I'm just trying to get some money to buy some bloody pokéballs. They're more expensive here than Kanto."
"Oh." Arthur pulled out Cyndaquil's pokéball. "Yeah sure." He tapped the button in the middle, and in a flash of light, Cyndaquil appeared in front of him.
"Quil!"
The corner of the boy's lip quirked and he threw his pokéball into the air. "Charmander, let's go."
The orange dinosaur pokémon landed neatly on the ground, grinning as its tail flared. "Char!"
Arthur's eyes widened. "Oh my God, you have a Charmander!"
He rushed forward and knelt down by the pokémon. "Hey! I'm Arthur!"
The Charmander hesitated and looked back at the boy before holding an arm out to Arthur. "Char."
"Argh, I love him!" Arthur gushed as he took the Charmander's hand and shook it.
"Uh… yeah. Thanks?" The boy looked just as confused as the Charmander. "So are we going to-"
"Ah, you are just so cute!" Arthur scratched beneath the Charmander's chin. It's eyes widened and then closed as it leaned it's head back, a purr gurgling up at the back of its throat. "What's its name?"
"His name's Charmander."
"Original."
"Yeah well what's yours' name?"
Arthur paused. "Good point." He kept scratching the Charmander. His tail flared brighter. "Oh, sorry. I kind of ruined the battle." He made no move to stop petting the Charmander. His own pokémon tilted its head. "C'mon, buddy." Cyndaquil rushed up to him and butted against his free hand, and Arthur used it to rub his back.
The boy just stared at him for a minute.
"I'm Arthur," he finally said in the midst of petting the two pokémon, "by the way."
"Jack," the boy finally said. "So… are we doing this or…?"
Arthur stopped petting. Both pokémon whined until he started again. "The pokémon have spoken."
"So…" Jack kicked the ground. "That's a no?"
"That's a no."
"Yeah, I thought so."
"Hello?" Samuel called as he pushed open the door of his house.
His aunt peered out from the kitchen. "Sam, I thought you were going?" She sounded worried. "You got your battle licence, didn't you?"
He nodded. "Yeah, I got it."
"And your pokémon?"
Samuel couldn't help but grin. "In a roundabout way, but yeah. I just kind of ruined my bag." He held up the burnt rucksack. A charred hoodie fell out.
His aunt tutted. "Go pack yourself another one and I'll make you some more sandwiches. You should be more careful, dear."
"My pokémon set it on fire!" Samuel protested.
"Then you probably had it coming."
Samuel shook his head and made his way to his room. She probably wasn't wrong, but he wasn't about to tell her that.
"Fuck," he muttered. His favourite Trivium top had been in that.
He dropped the ruined bag on the floor and grabbed a slightly bulkier one from beneath his bed.
What to bring. Oh the choices. Black clothes, grey clothes, black, black, more grey.
Okay, no. Essentials first. He packed up one of his sets of pencils, and a thick drawing pad. Then his pokédex. Then mints. And maybe a packet of crisps.
No, he took that out. The crisps might burst in his bag.
He should probably add in some money. He dropped his wallet into the bottom of his bag and scoured the remains of what he had in his burnt bag.
He found his Trivium t-shirt a little sooty, but relatively unharmed. He dropped that in too. And his camera. Just in case. Oh, and fidget cube.
And some spare piercings in a case.
Finally, he turned to clothes. He just grabbed three or four jeans and shoved them in, and then piled up a few t-shirts and jumpers on top of them. He closed the bag, gritting his teeth as he dragged the zip down the last two inches.
"Sam!"
"Coming!" He grunted, lugging the back onto his bag. The strap caught his cardigan, and he yanked it free as he walked into the kitchen.
His aunt stood waiting for him, Poocheyena panting happily beside her. "Are you ready to go?"
Samuel nodded. "Yeah, I have everything. Sorry about that."
"It's fine," she sighed, "but be more careful next time." He nodded as she held out a bag. "Lunch. And some spending money. I'll wire you more every week, and call me if you ever need extra, okay?"
"Thanks." Samuel grinned at her. "I will."
"Oh, and would you do me a favour?"
Samuel hesitated. "Um… sure?"
His aunt reached down and scratched Poocheyena behind her ears. "This little girl doesn't like battle very much, but your uncle and I can't do contests anymore, and they were what she used to live for." She looked up at her nephew. "I know you want to go down that line. Would you bring Poocheyena with you?"
Samuel laughed. "God, yeah, sure! I thought you were going to ask me to do something weird."
His aunt frowned. "Like what?"
"I don't even know." Samuel shook his head and crouched down in front of Poocheyena. "Do you want to come with me girl?"
She barked and put a paw on his leg.
"Here." Samuel's aunt passed him a pokéball. He took it and pressed a button. Poocheyena disappeared in a flash of light. "She doesn't like them much, so remember to take her out once you get to Route One. Oh, and don't let her wander off."
"I won't," Samuel promised, standing up.
His aunt pulled him into a tight embrace. After a second, he returned it. "And you stay safe," she mumbled, "you hear me? I don't want to hear about you getting mixed up in any of the things your uncle and I used to, like Team Rocket, or-"
"I'll be fine," Samuel assured her, giving her one last squeeze before releasing her. "I'll call you, okay?"
"You'd better." She nodded as her nephew walked towards the door. "I'll talk to you later."
Samuel threw a grin over his shoulder as he left the house and made his way towards Route One, quite determined not to pick up another fire type pokémon until he could afford to replace anything that was destroyed.
He made it to Route One without incident this time, but as he neared the middle of the trail, he spotted a familiar bush of dyed hair crouched beside a Charmander.
And an even more familiar grinning asshole.
"What are you doing here?"
Jack looked up at him and smirked. "Nice to see you too, Sam."
Samuel glared at them. "I caught a Cyndaquil," he snapped after a moment too long of silence.
Arthur just kept petting the pokémon. "Good for you."
"I caught it."
"So you said."
"And a Poocheyena."
"Neat."
"You're a dick."
"How dare!" Arthur scowled, but his lip twitched.
"He actually didn't do anything to you, so aren't you the dick for calling him a dick?" Jack folded his arms, smirking.
"You shut up." Samuel glared at him and stormed over to a ledge.
"Dude, you're not meant to climb them," Arthur warned.
"And you're not meant to steal other peoples' pokémon!" Samuel shot over his shoulder.
"Hey, I touched the pokéball first, this Cyndaquil is mine." Arthur stood up and brushed grass off his knees.
Samuel flipped him off and grabbed hold of the ledge, kicking himself up. Only to slide back down again. "Ah, fuck!"
"Just walk around it," Arthur groaned.
"You walk around it." He tried again.
"You're doing it wrong," Jack sang.
Samuel huffed. "Then you come over here and do it right!"
"Okay, I will." Jack strolled over. Arthur whined as he pressed a button and his Charmander returned to his pokéball. His shoulder hit off Samuel's, and the latter shoved him away. "What was that for?"
"You bumped into me!"
"By accident."
"Bullshit, I know you better than that!"
Jack smirked and pulled himself up the ledge. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Asshole," Samuel muttered.
Jack managed not to fall. He just kept propelling himself upward until he was sitting two and a half metres above Samuel and Arthur. "Are you coming or not?"
Arthur stared up at the ledge. "I have fuck all hand-eye coordination, so I might just go around."
"See you there." Samuel tried to climb again, and slid down.
Arthur groaned and walked over to him. "Here, you're smaller than me. I'll help you up and you pull me up after you."
Samuel frowned at him. "I'm an inch shorter."
"You're still shorter."
"Well they believed I was sixteen."
"Okay, do you want my help or not?" Samuel muttered something under his breath but nodded. "I thought so." Arthur bridged his hands. "Step on my hands and I'll try to push you up to the ledge halfway. Can you get up from there?"
"Yeah, sure." Samuel nodded. He placed one foot in Arthur's hands and pushed up, but waited a second too long.
Arthur lost his balance and sent them both crashing into the wall.
"Dick!"
"It was an accident!" Arthur insisted as Samuel caught the ledge with one hand.
The other just grunted and hauled himself up. Jack watched with folded arms and a wide grin as Samuel dragged himself up to where he was sitting. "Well, fancy seeing you here so soon."
"You could have helped," Samuel groaned as he rolled onto his back. His cheek was grazed from the crash.
"Little help?" Arthur called.
Samuel smirked and sat up. "Sorry. I'm too short to reach."
Arthur stared up at him and stuck up his middle finger before storming off.
Samuel just snickered.
"Now who's the ass?" Jack raised an eyebrow.
Samuel forced himself to his feet. "He stole my pokémon, it was only fair."
"Cyndaquil's my pokémon."
Samuel yelped and whipped around. Arthur was walking towards them from behind a tree. "The fuck?"
"The 'long' way around was literally just behind that tree." Arthur jabbed a thumb at the coniferous behind him. "You spent more time climbing than you would have walking around."
Samuel opened his mouth but nothing came out.
Jack snickered. "He's speechless. First time for everything."
"So there's going to be a time you're not a smart ass?" Samuel stared at him with mock-amazement.
Jack glared. "Fuck off, at least I climbed the ledge on my own."
Samuel looked away from him. "Are you both going to Cherrygrove or…?"
Jack shrugged. "I'm pretty sure there's something blocking the road to the other city that way, so yeah."
Arthur nodded. "Me too. Gyms and all that."
Samuel clicked his tongue. "May as well stick together I guess."
"Oh yeah," Jack agreed. "Never know when you might need someone to help you up a ledge."
"Safety in numbers." Arthur grinned. "Against kids trying to get their siblings to battle us."
"And annoying scene kids with purple hair." Samuel smiled at Jack.
"And infuriating emos with white hair." Jack returned the smile.
"You're both nerds," Arthur laughed.
"I resent that!" Jack frowned.
Samuel stared at him. "You resent everything."
"Touché."
"Jesus fucking Christ!" Elliot shrieked.
The girl behind him snickered. "Are you okay?"
Elliot glared at her. "I was before you snuck up on me."
She raised an eyebrow. "I walked up to you and asked if you were lost. I'd hardly constitute that as sneaking."
Elliot hesitated. "Yeah, well I didn't hear you."
"Because you were singing."
Elliot looked away. "I'm not really lost, I just came looking for a good picture." He flashed his phone instead of replying to her comment. "I'm Elliot."
The girl gave him a grin. "Riley." Her auburn hair sat in an undercut faux hawk, and a piercing decorated her nose and each ear. She was just a tad shorter than Elliot and she wore an odd combination of jeans, black boots, a band t-shirt that Elliot recognised but couldn't quite remember, a flannel shirt, and a denim jacket.
"Are you not hot?"
"Yes. I am."
Elliot grinned. "Nice." He looked around. "So you know how I said I wasn't lost?"
"You're lost?" Riley guessed.
"Yeah, I'm lost."
Riley shook her head and turned away. "I thought as much. C'mon, the city isn't far from here."
Elliot nodded and ran to catch up, pushing strands of royal purple hair out of his glasses-covered eyes. "So are you a trainer?"
Riley hesitated. "In a way." Her reply was cautious, words slow as though still considering them as she spoke. "I have a pokémon, but she doesn't battle."
"Oh, okay." Elliot nodded. "What type?"
"Her name's Ashla," Riley replied. "She's a Ninetales."
Elliot stopped dead in his tracks, gaping at Riley. "A Ninetales? How do you have a Ninetales, you're like twelve!"
"I got my Battle Licence at the same time as you," Riley reminded him. "And she was kind of a family pokémon. She evolved before she became my pokémon."
Elliot just shook his head. "Ninetales?"
Riley chuckled. "Come on, let's get you to the city." She began walking again.
They were there within a few minutes, and Elliot winced. "Oh… I forgot…"
"Forgot what?" Riley raised an eyebrow.
"To text my friend. He lives here and…" He cringed. "Yeah… He's gonna be pissed."
Riley shrugged. "Just tell him you forgot."
"That'll make it worse." Elliot glanced around and stopped when he saw a boy walking towards them. Brown hair scattered over a pale forehead and grey eyes latched onto them. "Hey, Salem."
"You were meant to text me," Salem groaned, pulling Elliot into a hug.
Elliot chuckled. "Yeah, sorry. I went off track."
"You were on your phone again, weren't you?"
"Shut up, it was a nice picture." Elliot pulled back. "Salem, this is Riley. She helped me find here. Riley, Salem."
Salem gave her a grin and a onceover before holding out his hand. She raised an eyebrow but shook it. "Nice to meet you."
"Likewise." Just as it had been when explaining that she didn't battle, her voice was slow and cautious.
Elliot glanced behind them. "Oh God it's them." He cringed but looked like he was trying not to laugh. "They were fighting over a Cyndaquil and as far as I know, one just kind of grabbed it and ran."
Salem sighed and shook his head. "The girl or one of the boys?"
"They're all boys."
"No they're not."
Elliot hesitated. "Yes, they are. I think. Okay, granted, I don't know the guy with the purple emo fringe but the other two were using male pronouns."
Salem rolled his eyes. "If you say so Belle."
Riley didn't even glance at Salem. "Elliot," she corrected.
Salem ignored her. "Are you two going to the gym?"
"I am." Elliot glanced over at Riley. "Have you got something planned?"
She shrugged. "Not really. I've just kind of been wandering around for a while so I'll come with you."
Elliot's face lit up and he started laughing. "I'd rather you didn't."
Salem frowned. "That was rude."
Elliot shook his head, laughing harder. Riley sighed. "This is what I'm going to need to put up with isn't it?" Elliot tried to stop laughing, but failed and nodded.
Salem groaned when he caught on. "Belle, why?"
That stopped his laugher. "I'm horrible, you know that."
"True." Salem shook his head.
Riley coughed. "Elliot."
Elliot looked away. "Leave it," he mumbled.
Salem glanced at Riley. "So are you two together?" He waggled his eyebrows.
Elliot buried his face in his hands. "No. She made a pun like first thing."
"You did the same," Riley snorted. "And yours was a lot worse than mine."
"She's the pun queen," Salem agreed.
Elliot shuffled his feet. "Yeah. Sorta."
Riley chewed her tongue as she glanced at Salem. "We're going to go to the gym."
"I'll come with you," he jumped in. "I haven't seen Belle in ages and I'm not letting her go just yet."
"Leave it, leave it, leave it," Elliot chanted under his breath.
Riley decided not to. "I will fight if you don't knock it off."
Salem blinked. "What?" Anger seeped into his voice.
"His name's Elliot."
"No, it's Belle. And why would you fight me?" He raised his hands. "What did I ever do to you?"
Riley folded her arms. "This handsome young man's name is Elliot. Now, I don't know where you got the other name from, or where you get off using the wrong pronouns, but you need to stop."
"Whatever." Salem scowled and shoved his hands in his pockets. Elliot's face was bright, a grin creeping across it.
Riley gave him a far-too-polite smile and turned away. "You coming, Elliot?"
"Yep!" Elliot chased after her, slowing once they were further away from Salem. "Thank you so much for that, I'm sorry."
Riley shrugged. "Don't worry about it. It's what friends do, right?"
"It's not what he does." Elliot swallowed. "Thanks. I'm sorry."
"Stop apologising, it wasn't your fault." Riley shook her head. "And if it's not, then he's not a very good friend."
Elliot opened his mouth, but closed it again. "Thanks," he finally mumbled. Riley nodded as they neared the gym.
There was a small cluster of people outside, and Elliot recognised Arthur and Samuel from the lab, but two people were blocking the door. Hair and uniforms immaculate and neat, they were reminiscent of the sensation of bugs crawling on skin.
Nothing there at a first glance, but it certainly feels like there is.
"Sorry guys, the gym's under maintenance today. One of the battles got a bit too intense and the second floor needs to be repaired," one of the uniformed two called.
"It should be sorted by tomorrow," the other assured them as a few groans rose up.
Elliot hummed. He glanced up at Riley. "Want to go for a coffee or something?" He was meant to stay with Salem for the night and wanted to put that off for as long as possible now.
"Sure," Riley agreed, though her gaze was still on the two. "You don't want to make sure it's not a test?"
Elliot shook his head. "Nah. Confrontation." He grimaced. "Starmiebucks?"
Riley gave him a flat look. "It's Starbucks. Like a star."
"Mie," Elliot added. "Like a Starmie."
Riley sighed. "I'm going to need that coffee."
Elliot smiled. "You love me."
"Debatable. Very debatable."
Jack clicked his tongue as a few people left. "They're lying."
"They're probably not." Samuel shrugged. "The second floor is pretty high up and doesn't have railings from what I've heard, and battles can get pretty rough. If that floor is damanged, it'd be too dangerous not to repair."
"They're lying."
"You're just pissed because you want to battle," Arthur muttered.
"Maybe," Jack agreed but he walked up to the two.
One frowned at him. "Sorry, you can't go inside."
"Why not?" Jack's eyebrows arched.
"We already told you; the gym is under maintenance." She folded her arms. "It's not safe."
"Exactly," her companion snickered. "Run off and come back tomorrow, kids."
Jack's eyes flashed. "Excuse me?"
"He said you can come back tomorrow," the girl covered.
Jack reached into his belt and drew out a pokéball. "I will fucking fight you both. Let us into the gym."
The boy grabbed a pokéball. "Don't threaten us or we'll be forced to react accordingly."
"Charmander!" Jack threw the pokéball into the air. His Charmander landed neatly on the ground in front of him with a snarl.
"Hoppip! Now!" The boy called. His pokémon appeared. "We're cooler than you; we'll definitely win."
Jack smirked. "So you're not officials from the league then. I thought as much." He glanced at his pokémon. "Charmander, use Flame."
Charmander's mouth swelled and his tail brightened before a small fireball burst from his mouth and flew at the Hoppip. It didn't manage to dodge and was thrown back a bit.
"Hoppip, Bullet Seed!"
A string of seeds shot at Charmander.
"Dodge."
Charmander jumped back and the seeds hit the ground, sending a blanket of dust into the air.
"Use the dust."
Charmander nodded and ran through the cloud. Hoppip squinted and moved a little closer to try and find him.
Jack smirked. "Tackle." Charmander lunged from the sand and knocked Hoppip into the ground.
It didn't get back up.
The boy growled and clicked the button on the pokéball, recalling his Hoppip.
"So, I'm guessing you're part of a Team Rocket copycat group," Jack drawled, "intent on capturing other peoples' pokémon. You barricaded off the gym so when no one was around, you could go inside and steal the Leader's pokémon, correct?" The girl floundered. "I thought as much." He strode up the steps. He was shorter than both of them, but they stepped away from him. "Run off and don't come back, kids."
The boy grabbed his companion's hand and dragged her away.
Jack glanced back at Arthur and Samuel. "Fat lot of help you two were."
"Oh shut up, you just jumped into that battle," Samuel protested. "How were we meant to help?"
"There was another of them, wasn't there?" Jack raised an eyebrow. "I don't know, you could have, maybe – just maybe now – fought her to make sure they wouldn't come back?"
"You fought them because he said you were a kid," Arthur emphasised.
"But were they or were they not part of a Team Rocket gang?" Jack smirked.
"We don't know because you fucking chased them off!"
"They wouldn't have run if they weren't!"
"But we still can't confirm that they were!"
"They had fucking TB on the badges!"
Samuel paused. "TB?"
Jack sighed. "Yes, I fucking heard it. Shut up. My point is they're part of a gang and I shut it down."
"Ah yes, bow down!" Samuel called. "Bow down to the master! The Deliverer of Righteousness! Bow down, for it is He who singlehandedly defeated the may-or-may-not-be Team because one member pissed him off! Bow, mortals, bow!"
"Exactly." Jack smirked at Arthur. "Bow down."
"He was being sarcastic."
"No I wasn't," Samuel snickered. Arthur elbowed him.
Jack shook his head. "I swear, the second I get this badge, I'm ditching you two." They all knew he was lying. He walked up to the gym doors and pushed them open. "Are you foolish mortals coming or not?"
"Says the one who was telling us to bow down," Arthur snorted as he and Samuel began to follow Jack inside.
"Yeah," he agreed, "because I'm better than mortal."
"Oh, so you're a Ditto then?" Samuel grinned. "Well that makes a lot more sense."
"I hate you both."
Oh yeah, Sam's not bitter at all. This was genuinely the result of an argument over who would get the Cyndaquil so we just kind of went fuck it, both of you are getting one. Hope you enjoyed even though it's short. Please review. See you next time, Murdering Majestors!