Draco: Long story short, there's a fic I decided against writing and this was going to be in it. Or, part of this was going to be in it. I may have also been suffering a minor case of insomnia during the writing.
Nested quotations ""like so"" indicate that many vocalists for a given line. Boldfacing indicates crowd vocals. The sudden indication of boldfacing within nested quotations indicates that the crowd has joined in with the main vocalists, rather than singing separate lines. You know what? Just follow this link, you'll get the rest. w*w*w . youtube . c*o*m* / w*a*t*c*h*?*v*=*O*g*A*d*p*M*i*f*I*f*w
Pokémon and all related properties © Nintendo. Other elements © John Rich & William Kenneth Alphin.
Rollin' (The Ballad of Silver & Gold)
Three knocks on a door in Twinleaf Town.
The sound of footsteps told Lucas he wouldn't be waiting long, so he simply pulled his hand away and caught it in his other behind him. The door opened, revealing the smiling face of Johanna - she seemed to have known he was going to be there. "Lucas!" she greeted. "Come on in, Dawn's just inside."
Sure enough, as Lucas stepped inside, Dawn was indeed sitting at the table. She looked horrendously tired, and was leaning over a mug of coffee; as Lucas stepped towards her, she raised her gaze idly. "Hey," she greeted, a small smile rising on her face.
"Hey," Lucas returned, sitting across from her; Johanna set herself to making a cup of coffee for her guest. "You look like Distortion."
Dawn's smile vanished at that, replaced with her best attempt at a glare. "Don't even joke about that," she reprimanded, gripping her cup. "Speaking of which-"
Lucas raised a hand defensively. "I've only got Infernape," he insisted.
Seemingly satisfied with his response, Dawn raised the cup to her lips and took a sip from it. "So," she mused, lowering it again, "did you need something? I hope you're not gonna ask me to come with you."
"Even if I was," Lucas assured her, "I know better than to invite you somewhere when you're in that state." Johanna handed him a mug, and he paused to thank her before turning back to Dawn. "Is there any chance you could set me up a meeting with Cynthia?"
Dawn shook her head. "No," she mused. "She's not even in Sinnoh right now."
That caught Lucas off-guard. "Wait, what?"
"Why do you think I'm so tired?" Dawn asked. "The League has had non-stop challengers for three days. Lucian took one look at me and had the League close the gates until I could see straight again." She took another sip of her coffee. "Cynthia asked me to watch the League while she left Sinnoh - something about... on-site research in the Johto region?"
+x+x+x+
"Brothers and sisters!"
The crowd gathered in Viridian City's Trainer house gave a loud cheer of "YES!" in response to the call from the smoke-draped stage. Ethan of New Bark Town - publicly known by his nickname 'Gold' - only grinned at hearing the cheer, and continued into his microphone at stage right as the pipe-organ orchestration blared from the speakers set up around the stage.
"We're here for one reason, and one reason alone!
To share our love of music!"
As he breathed a heady sigh into the microphone, another figure stepped out of the smoke at stage left, grabbing the empty microphone standing there - it was the red-headed Trainer known only as Silver, and he had a most menacing smirk on his face as he pulled the mic from its stand.
"I present to you:"
""Country music without prejudice!""
Ethan gave a loud call into his microphone, driving the crowd into a wild cheer as the instrumentals got serious. In an astonishingly short period, he and Silver had become just short of country stars in the Kanto and Johto regions, up to and including a small gig at Tohjo Falls for some of the more hardcore Trainers who loved the combination of natural scenery and country music. This was their biggest gig yet - in no small part due to their advertising a surprise guest star.
""Kantan boys don't rock and roll
Ye~ah, the records man told me so
You'll never get it on the radio~o!
Why they try~in' to complicate
The simple music that we make?""
"Oh"
""'Cause if it moves my so~u~l
I'm gonna keep on""
"""Rollin', rollin'!"""
The crowd was by now stomping the ground and pounding their various tables in tune with the music as they hit the chorus; and as the song of choice was far from unknown, they knew just where to add their vocals.
""He~y
Just wanna hear everybody si~ng""
"Rollin', rollin'!"
""At the top of your lungs,
'til the windows bre~a~k!""
"Rollin', rollin'!"
""Say hey!"
"Hey!"
""Hey, hey!""
There was a brief instrumental break, which Silver took the opportunity to feint a few hits at Gold - and, as ever, Gold found himself hopping out of the way, leaving the crowd laughing before they started singing again.
""I ain't go~nna shut my mouth
Don't mind if I stand out in a crowd
Just wa~nna live out lo~u~d!
I kno~w there's got to be
A few hun~dred million more like me
Just tryin' to keep it fre~e!""
"Yeah!"
Silver rolled his eyes at Ethan's ever-overt enthusiasm, despite the crowd only cheering louder for it.
""He~y
Just wanna hear everybody si~ng""
"Rollin', rollin'!"
""At the top of your lungs,
'til the windows bre~a~k!""
"Rollin' rollin'!"
""Say hey!"
"Hey!"
""Hey, hey!""
There was a longer break this time, with Gold vocalizing wordlessly into his microphone - and despite himself, Silver found himself joining in. When the break ended, Silver was singing solo.
"Giovanni was the man in black
Rock 'n' roll used to be about Clair and Lance"
""Yeah, whatcha think about tha~t?""
"I'm a crazy, tainted little"
"Bad word!"
""But I know I'm gonna make it big and rich"
""Yeah, I'm gonna let it ri~p!""
The smoke around the stage was starting to thin out, but there was still enough that the back half of the stage was all but vanished; so when a light was turned on at the back of the stage - dimly at first, but getting brighter as the chorus went on - all that was visible was a Lucarian silhouette.
""He~y
Just wanna hear everybody si~ng""
"Rollin', rollin'!"
""At the top of your lungs,
'til the windows bre~a~k!""
As the crowd gave another cheer of "Rollin', rollin'!", the silhouette - now a visible black image in the whitened smoke - began to move - and the crowd was shocked when what looked like Lucario ears fell down and became waist-length hair.
""Say he~y!
Champ-ion!""
And as a decidedly female voice echoed through the Trainer Hall, the silhouette began to dance with the music.
"Oh!
Diggity-dun!
Diggity-diggity-dun
Dig that
Hotter than the blaze
On a Dragon Rush'd Crobat
Got more"
"""CHUNK!"""
"Than a Pinap Berry salad
You thought you'd have your answer
But your answer wasn't valid"
The figure stepped forward, passing through the smoke with a dramatic flair, revealing an all-but-world famous woman with a microphone headset nestled on her head.
"You're lookin' at me crazy
'Cause you think I'm -censor-"
She swept one hand quickly to the side and lashed her head down, causing her golden locks to sweep upwards.
"The long-haired blonde"
"""With the Rukario sensors!"""
The crowd began to cheer wildly, such that the female vocalist was almost drowned out as she continued to sing.
"Todas las personas gritando arriva!
Now you heard me, now I know you a believer
Esta cancion es para toda la gente
Es muy importante a usar su mente
So let go of all your preconceived notions
Get up on your feet"
"""And put your body in motion!"""
The Champion on stage gave a spin, allowing herself a little flair.
"'Cause back home
We love to dance!
We could be on Coronet
And rave it to trance
And when the party gets crunk
The Aces back it up
I got a system in my jet
And a twenty in my trunk!"
A Poké Ball she had prepared up her sleeve was slipped into her hand, and she quickly pressed the button and flicked it into a spin on one hand.
"Six-foot-four with a Spiritomb!
I don't mess around, so make some room!
They call me Cynthia
I'm Sinnahn, all!
And I'm up to my neck in"
"""Silver and Gold!"""
The Champion of the Sinnoh region stepped back, allowing the front of the stage to the main stars again, and Silver had a most uncharacteristic grin on his face as he and Gold led the crowd into a chant;
""Shi-ro-na, Shi-ro-na, roll!""
"Shi-ro-na, Shi-ro-na, roll!"
""Shi-ro-na, Shi-ro-na, roll!""
"Shi-ro-na, Shi-ro-na, roll!"
And Cynthia found herself joining in on the vocals as they led into the chorus again.
"""He~y!
Just wanna hear everbody sa~y!"""
"Rollin', rollin'!"
"""At the top of your lungs,
'til the windows bre~a~k!"""
"Rollin', rollin'!"
"""Say hey!"""
"Hey!"
"""Hey, hey!"""
+x+x+x+
"I dunno," Dawn insisted, "I can never keep up with her when she starts talking ruins."
Lucas - who had suffered a few rounds of Cynthia 'talking ruins' himself - only shrugged. "Well, yeah," he admitted. "Any idea when she was gonna be back?"
Draco: Can I get away with explaining this with 'rum, hoods, and Tetris' if I insist that it was a different brand of rum and a different game of Tetris?