I have to let you all in on a little secret. This is the first serious fan fiction I have ever written, so go easy on it. I had this idea when I was playing Pokemon FireRed, and reading Wicked in the same hour. I thought 'What if Giovanni was just misunderstood' and it all came from there. Anyway, the story starts with his parents, now, I have no idea who is parents are so i made some nice character up for them. ALSO! I do NOT own any pokemon, or the few references that I make. To simply fanfic, nothing else.
She placed a large black hat on her head, which dropped lifelessly round it, covering her hazel eyes; she lifted the front flap of the hat, and smiled at her husband.
"I think I've finally found something to counteract this pregnancy" She tilted the hat to one side and smiled again "What do you think?"
"It goes very nicely with that dress" Her husband answered, looking up briefly from his file work.
"You like my dress?" She gave him a clumsy spin, in the eighth month of pregnancy finesse is one of those skills forgotten.
"Not really" He answered casually, careful not to make a smile.
"Oh?" She waddled over to him and spoke into his ear seductively "Perhaps you'd like me with no dress on"
"Maybe" He answered "but to be frank…you're eight months pregnant, perhaps we should wait for your erotic-metre to flush out before we start that again… maybe, Gina?"
"Ugggh" Gina melodramatically fell backwards onto the bed "It'll have to come out soon" She whined stroking her stomach softly.
"Give it another month" Her husband said, piling all his papers and placing all his pens in their respective places. He got up from his seat and looked down at his wife.
"At most?" She asked, perching her self on her elbows.
"At least" he laughed lovingly at her, as she fell down onto the soft mattress again, sighing deeply.
"Don't grow impatient with the poor thing; it's not its fault"
"No, it's yours, and you've got some nerve talking about impatience" Gina jokingly said, scooting her way to the headboard and leaning on it comfortably.
"My…my fault?"
"You know perfectly well it's your fault…not two weeks after our honeymoon do I realise that you were too much of an impatient, sex-o-holic and had planted this thing inside of me" She pointed to her protruding stomach.
"I see no reason to place the blame on me" He sat down on the bed next to his wife "If I remember correctly half of what happened that night was your doing. It's all well and true to blame the man for an un-wanted pregnancy, simply because it's the woman that gets pregnant. Blame a woman for it and your chauvinistic, blame a man for it and you're a feminist heroine, its all part of this fake 'respect' we all have to show for you, it's just the woman's insecurity showing through and we're all too nice to do anything about it"
"Is that really what you think, Arthur?" Gina asked, raising a sceptical eyebrow at his crusade for masculinity speech. "That the whole feminist culture is created by men simply trying to be 'nice'?"
"I'm just saying that the men are always blamed for things when the blame really should be split fifty-fifty" Arthur lay his head down on his pillow, Gina shook her head and picked up her book from the bedside table.
"I don't know why you're mad" Gina said, putting her reading glasses on and continuing with her book "You were perfectly happy with me a few minutes ago, and now you can't stand women"
Arthur opened his eyes and looked up his wife "I never said I couldn't stand women, you're just being touchy. I can stand you anyway" Gina looked sternly at her husband for a moment, before taking off her glasses and putting down her book.
"I'm a woman you know" Gina said scornfully, "If you can't stand women, than how can you stand me?"
"Didn't you hear a word I just said?" Arthur pushed himself up and leant his back against the head board "I never said I couldn't stand women, I just said"
"So you just can't stand me" Gina interrupted, moping.
"Oh sweet Kanto" Arthur said to himself "I'm not having this goddamn conversation with you again, it always ends the same way"
"Oh, Arthur, you have such a way with words" Gina said, folding her arms.
"And you've got such a way with manipulating them" Arthur lay his down on his pillow and closed his eyes; Gina gazed down at him, a weird look on her face.
"You're not seriously going to sleep in you clothes are you?" she looked at his as off she had just gotten into bed with a snail, a look of utter repulse that made Arthur's spine tingle.
"I've had a long day, Gina; I'd just like to get some rest" He sighed once and closed his eyes again.
"Will it really take so much effort to change?" Gina asked, urging him to move "You're only in the your thirties, Arty, when all you do is sit and sort out insurance papers and occasionally go to the bathroom or the kitchen, it does not tire you out so much that you can't change one set of clothes for another "
"But, I'm already in bed, I'm nearly asleep, I might as well-" He was interrupted by Gina who has forcefully pushed him out of bed. Arthur got up, rubbing his head, checking to see if it was bleeding.
"You pushed me out of bed" Arthur said simply, looking at Gina with suppressed rage "You actually pushed me out of bed, what the hell is wrong with you?"
"What's wrong with me? I'll tell you what's wrong with me, I'm-" Gina stopped rising from the bed and held her stomach supportively, her expression changed from one of anger to one of shock in the space of less than a second. "I'm in labour"
"In this day and age, you would think you could higher a babysitter after nine o'clock" Gina said putting down the phone and wrapping a scarf around her thin neck. After the baby was born she had restricted her self to one meal a day and had, as a solution, got as thin as a garden rake.
"Couldn't you find one then?" Arthur asked from the kitchen doorway, tying a bowtie round his neck, seeming to have trouble with it.
"What, are we now the richest family in Celadon?" Gina asked "We should have a nanny, Arty, with all this excess money lying around we should do something practical with it"
"It's wasting it, Gina" Arthur said, entering the hallway with a sad mess of knots around his neck. "I worked hard for this money"
"You worked hard?" Gina retorted, taking off his bowtie and tying again for him "I distinctly remember my parents giving you the money you apparently needed.
"And since then it's been doubled, tripled and now even quadrupled" Gina finished his tie and walked over to the phone again, where she dialled a few numbers into it and waited for an answer.
"But without the starting money, your career would have been as fucked as- oh; hello is Holly Henderson there, please?" Gina closed her eyes in embarrassment causing Arthur's eyes to role as he ventured up the stairs, Arthur, since the birth of his son, had put on a few pounds and now carried with him an innocent plumpness which didn't really help his persona as it wasn't suited to having such a jolly overtone to it. He reached the top of the stairs and walked to a door which he quietly opened and peered in side, there was his son, Giovanni Arthur Blazer. Arthur walked stealthily over to his son and stroked his hairless head, he was sound asleep, his mouth moving with the way his dreams went. He was a beautiful boy; his vibrant glazed, hazel eyes were almost a fiery orange, like a demon's eyes. You could see the prominent marking of bristle on his head, where hair was soon to come, and if he was anything like his father it would be a deep dark brown, black to the eye.
"To think you weren't wanted" He tucked him in tightly, forcing the baby to wake up, he neither screamed or squirmed, he stared, stared right through him.
"You've got great eyes, Gevvy" His father smiled at him and kissed his forehead "A gambler's eyes, just like your father"
From down stairs Gina called "Holly said she'd be over in a few minutes, do you think we should leave now?"
"We can't leave the baby alone" Arthur answered, coming down the stairs in a handsome tuxedo, with golden cufflinks and a plastic rose pinned to his pocket. "What if something happens?"
"Arthur" Gina went over to comfort him "Don't worry so, in the space of two minutes what could possibly happen?"
"It's the done thing"
"You know what else the done thingis?" Gina took her coat off its hook and put it on, straightening her luscious brown hair afterwards. "Not missing a party held in your honour at your casino" She threw him his coat and smiled at him cheekily. "She'll be here any minute"
"I just feel uncomfortable" Arthur said across at his wife, he was driving down a busy road, with neat driving gloves on, an obvious sign of wealth and pretension.
"What's wrong, the tux?" she sighed "They guaranteed full comfort for the rest of its years"
"There's nothing wrong-" he was cut short
"That's it, I'm taking it back first thing tomorrow, I can't stand all this shit that gets spread around when your simply trying to buy something, always talking it up like it were god's chosen tux, or god's chosen food processor, or god's chosen yoghurt, it simply makes me sick-" Gina was interrupted.
"Not literally uncomfortable, Gina, the tux is great, it's very comfortable" Arthur patted her bare shoulder and noticed the chill he got from her "You're freezing" He took off his jacket, while carefully keeping an eye on the road. He then draped it loosely around her shoulders. "Anyway, about the baby, little Gevvy"
"Yes, little Gevvy" She smiled across at him "Giovanni?"
"What?" Arthur turned his full attention to Gina, before quickly turning his eyes back to the road "That was my father's name"
"Yes, but it doesn't exactly exude cuteness" Gina smiled "It sounds like master criminals name, Master Giovanni, head of the CND" Gina laughed and looked at her husband, who had an expression of stone by this time "I'm only joking, Hun"
"I always thought the name sounded cool" Arthur sighed to himself "What does the CND stand for?"
"No, it'll just make you madder" Gina laughed lightly again, he pulled her close to him and kissed her cheek, driving with only one hand.
"I'm not mad, I like the way you make fun of everything…even though it's goddamn annoying sometimes" He chuckled and kissed her head.
"Okay…Crappy name department, that's all, you've heard me bad name it before"
"Yeah" Arthur smiled again "Have you heard anymore news on the alien capture?"
"Yes actually, they've got it up in Saffron" Gina got out of Arthur's hug and leant back against the seat "Silph has got hold of it"
"Silph?" Arthur furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, putting his other hand on the steering wheel "What do they want with it?"
"Well, what does anyone want with it?" Gina asked "I imagine they want to make a little profit from it, show it to the public, make a little alien attraction theme park from it"
"That does sound like what they'd do" Arthur let out a little laugh "Remember when people thought their were asteroids at Pewter, they excavated the entire place, made a permanent cave their"
"I know, they never even found anything" Gina straightened out her gloves "Who was the one who nick named it Mount Moon?"
"Uh, one of the guys at my casino, Parker, I think" Arthur answered "Hey, we're here" Arthur pulled up outside a large colourful building, with neon lights covering the outside, even from outside an aura of a party could be felt, there was always a feeling Arthur had about parties, he could sense them. This was his birthday after all, his wife had said she invited a few close friends, neighbours and family, he sensed that the whole of Celadon city was in there waiting for him, which turned his stomach and made him swallow nervously.
"Just think, not two months ago this was a dump" Gina said, getting out of the car and looking up at the towering building. "You really are a genius, Arty"
"I like to think so" Arthur said to himself whilst getting out the car "Can I have my jacket back?" Gina took the jacket off her shoulders and passed it to him.
"It's itchy anyway" Gina smiled and linked arms with her husband "Shall we?"
They entered through the double doors and were welcomed grandly with a loud applause. Inside it was a high ceiling with glass chandeliers hanging in rows across it. The slot machines were moved to the side and the poker tables and roulette were in full use, surrounded by gentlemen in full evening wear and ladies in sparkling dresses.
"Any later and we'd have grown worried" said a gravely voice from the crowd, out of it emerged a small, fat man by the name of Parker. His little round glasses were at the tip of his nose and his little grey beard was combed straight down, which made a change from the messy, tangled state it was in usually.
"Parker" Arthur said shaking the stout man's hand "My humblest apologies, it was the damn babysitter, couldn't find one on time"
"No apologies needed, it's the service in Celadon, the economy, it's collapsing into a slum" Parker said darkly "Until now of course, the coming of this game house has caused the entire city to flourish. We owe it all to you, Arty"
"That's a little exaggerated isn't it, Parker?" Gina asked, linking her arms with her husband again
"I assure, my dear, I joke you not" Parker said, cleaning his glasses "The entire region of Kanto is under a giant boot, with Silph Co in hibernation at the moment. We need something grand in this country, Johto and even Hoenn have outshined us with new technology, just last week Devon. Corp up in Johto had developed a mobile technology in which telephones do not need to be connected to a land line, they've even made video phones readily available to the public. Unless something comes along soon…our country's in trouble" Parker placed his glasses back on and smiled. "But this is your special day, Arty, let's not worry about this just now, all this political crap, I know, bothers you"
"It makes him feel uncomfortable" Gina added, leaning her head on Arthur's shoulder and kissing his cheek.
"Well, lets find a table, continue this chat sitting down" Arthur said looking at his wife, then Parker, who nodded "Gina?"
"I'll join you later, it's just Lois is over there" Gina leaned and whispered into her ear "they say she had a job done on her face…I'd like to get a closer look"
Arthur smiled and kissed his wife, before she walked over to a very plastic looking Lois.
"I took the liberty of reserving a table" Parker said "it's over by the kitchen; I'll go get us some drinks"
Parker left in the direction of the bar, while Arthur was left to find his table, he shuffled through the crowds of people, looking for the kitchen door. Although actually having the idea of the casino, paying for its construction and visiting it every weekend, he had little knowledge of where everything was, It wasn't up to him to build it…just to manage it.
He soon found an empty table, fairly close to the kitchen; he could only assume that was the one.
"You found the table then?" Parker said, waiting impatiently across it "I got the drinks and still managed to beat you here, I know this place better than you do, did you get lost or what?"
"I was distracted, someone needed to know where the bathroom was" Arthur lied, not to save him self from embarrassment, mainly because he didn't like people giving him faults. Anything he couldn't do, or handle, he would prefer never to be mentioned.
"You know where the bathrooms are then?" Parker asked, stirring his drink slowly, a sarcastic grin on his face,
"Of course"
"Where, then?"
"Next to the entrance" Arthur answered hesitantly.
"If that's what you told the person then you're going to have a very messy coat room" Parker laughed "The ladies and gents rooms are located on the second floor, didn't you know that?" he asked, holding up his drink.
"Parker, I didn't even know we had second floor" Arthur took a long drink then put his glass on the table "But seriously, what were you saying about Silph before?"
"Silph? You know they've got the creature, right?" Parker asked.
"Yeah…the alien"
"Please, lets avoid calling it an alien, I've seen the thing okay…it looks more like a ancient cat than an alien" Parker said knowingly.
"But the whole point about aliens is that you don't know what they'd look like" Arthur had experience in debates; the construction of the casino was only undertaken because of his way with persuasion.
"Call it what you will, Arty, the thing now resides in Saffron…and later on in the year they're importing it to Cinnabar Island, apparently they've constructed a million dollar laboratory especially for research on this thing. And the thing is, they've been very low on money the past few years…their must be some plan they're hatching, there must be. I know these people, I worked with them. They wouldn't take a chance like this…not when they're on the brink bankruptcy" Parker took another drink, and sighed heavily.
"Is something wrong?" Arthur asked.
"You know Mark Preece?" Parker asked, looking generally pained. "The 'blackjack master' as they call him?"
"I've never heard him called that, but yeah" Arthur raised an eyebrow "What about him? You're not in love are you?"
"No. He's coming this way" And he was right, Mark Preece was a particularly greasy looking man, his hair was combed into a side parting with as much gel as physically possible, he had a little goatee growing and was the only guest who was wearing a bright white tuxedo, he walked with a gentle finesse which gave off an arrogant vibe, that quite literally made you want to punch him.
"Hey, guys" He said smoothly nodding his head slightly with every word, looking like one of those novelty nodding dogs that sit at the back of cars.
"Hey, Mr.B, great party, great place as well, like what you've done with it. Seen my girlfriend around Parky?" He smiled smugly.
"No, where'd you buy her?" Parker asked, wisely.
"Ha! That's the thing I love about you guys, you always kid, and I love it. But seriously, seen my new gal?" He looked at both of them "She's quite a catch, but, hey, let's face it, can't get a good catch without good bate, right?" He elbowed parker in the side, forcing his glasses to fall off the end of his nose.
"Hey, Parky, watch out. So Arthur heard you and the misses had a little too much fun in the sack, what's the little bundle of joy called?"
"Giovanni"
"Ooooh, sinister" Mark said "How'd you talk the misses into calling him that?"
"We both agreed on it, me more than her…but still, it was a combined christening" Arthur took another swig of his drink and continued his conversation.
"Hey…Mark, you used to work with Silph didn't you?" He asked.
"Yeah, for about two days…those guys seriously cramp your style, they all, like advertise about being the buddies of the small people and everything, but they're just has stiff as the rest of the high powers out there" Mark smiled again "Which reminds me, thanks again for hiring me here, seriously, this has got to be the best job I've had…I'm good at it too, you know what I'm saying" Mark took a swig of Parker's drink "Seriously, getting paid for dealing cards and drinking from the bar, it's like heaven to me, man"
"You drink from the bar…for free?" Parker asked him, putting his glasses back on his nose.
"Well…yeah" Mark looked around "Doesn't everyone do that?"
"Does the barkeep know you do that?" Arthur asked "Because you're not supposed to, you still have to pay" Mark looked at both of them anxiously, before shrugging and laughing it off.
"I was only kidding with ya, would I drink? I'm not even twenty one yet" Mark said smoothly, putting Parker's drink slyly back onto the table.
"You're not twenty one yet?" Parker asked sternly.
"Well, hey, look! There's my girlfriend" Mark got off his seat and darted over to his girlfriend who was wondering round the room, with a clueless expression on her face.
"Young love" Arthur said, sighing dramatically.
"It's young something" Parker said, turning his attention back to Arthur "Why so interested in Silph all of a sudden?"
"The creature just interested me; I'm surprised it hasn't done the same to others, especially you. I was sure everyone would be" Arthur finished his drink and placed it on a passing waiter's tray.
"Arthur, I'm not interested because it's probably a fake or a hoax" He stroked his grey beard "It's only captured the imagination of a few people, you're one of the few, Arty, you're a believer"
"A believer? I believe the things real…I've seen it, I've heard stories"
"You've heard stories? You've seen it? Did it move?" Parker smiled wisely.
"It seemed pretty out of it"
"I've seen this thing in real life, Arthur, it's made from suede and plaster, you could see it from a mile away" Parker looked more serious "I was sad as well, Arty, I was hoping the creature would be an angel, bearing gifts for the country, our saviour from the technical drought we're going through"
"But, Parker" Arthur said loudly, he looked around and whispered "You said they were taking it to Cinnabar, why would they do that if it were fake?"
"Of course they would say it were real…for all we know it was them who faked this thing, but believe me, if not as a friend, but as a lawyer. This thing is only propaganda, nothing more." Parker's serious tone was quickly countered by a charming laugh. "How about another drink? This is your birthday after all. Waiter!"
"Parker, is they're something you're not telling me" Arthur asked, his eyes transfixed on Parker, a look of complete curiosity on his face. This creature had sparked in him the wonder that was hidden away inside him, he wanted to know as much about this thing as possible, and see, maybe, if he could get in contact with it, see it, touch it. Arthur had a large collection of friends and contacts that were quite high up in the community; one of them must be involved with the business. "Parker?"
"Arthur" Parker whispered, "You have to keep your voice down about this. This thing is much bigger that people say it is, it's one of my many jobs to keep propaganda low on this"
"You even lied to me?" Arthur asked "I hold only the greatest interest in this thing; you could trust me with the information"
"It's not a case of trust or mistrust, Arthur, it's a case of my downfall or my well being. If Silph find out about me talking to you about this, they could ruin me. Arthur, they could kill me" Parker leant backwards and breathed out heavily.
"Don't be so melodramatic, they couldn't kill you"
"You really don't understand how powerful this company is, do you?" Parker said "To everyone apart from Silph and Devon and the other technical companies, the regions of the world are self-governing countries, but that is a not true. In this country Silph makes the decisions for all of us, that's why this region is falling apart, because Silph is out of ideas, and there for our country is on a standstill"
"But they've now got the Alien" Arthur said "Surely they could use it for something"
"They are, but its all hush hush at moment" Parker sighed again "But I believe they plan on reinstalling the cloning programme"
"They closed that years ago. There was a whole big law suit when someone was permanently brain damaged because of the outcome" Arthur said "Why would they want to resurrect that, it was what caused the beginning of their bankruptcy"
"Isn't it obvious?" Parker asked "They plan on cloning the creature…god knows why, but that's what they're doing
"What were you and Parker talking about?" Gina asked, taking off her gloves and placing them over the headrest of the car seat.
"Oh, uh. The casino mostly" He closed the car door and waited for his wife "And Politics"
"Politics?" She sighed deeply "Politics get you all riled up and angry, you're going to be in a bad mood all day tomorrow"
"Gina, I really wish you wouldn't patronise me, we were just talking about the U.FO." He smiled.
"It's not a U.F.O, honey" Arthur looked across at her "Was it flying?"
"No"
"Was it really an object?"
"No, it was an animal"
"And I'm sure it's not unidentified anymore" She smiled and leant back. "Why do you have such an interest in it? It's probably a fake" Arthur looked over at Gina, and smiled ever so slightly. It was his 'shut-up' smile that he pulled every once in a while, especially when it was a subject he didn't want to discuss. The rest of the trip was silent, only the very quiet hum of Arthur's brand new Devon Arc, which was an imported car from Johto. It was his second most important thing to him, apart from a red eyed rich boy, who resides, at this moment, in a crib.
The car suddenly stopped.
"What happened?" Gina asked "Why did you stop the car?"
"I didn't, it's out of gas" He tapped the metre.
"You didn't fill it up this morning?" Gina wasn't one to stay calm in situations "Why didn't you fill it up this morning?"
"I didn't go out this morning, you daft bat" Arthur secretly regretted saying that, but kept his expression to one of defence.
"What did you call me?" Gina sat up in her seat and stared menacingly at her husband.
"I think you heard me, Gina"
"Well I don't think I did, speak up, will you?" Gina's expression hardened "Come on, you… fat… bastard"
"Fat?"
"That's right, Fatty"
"You're fatter than I am" Arthur closed his eyes and regretted his words once again, comebacks weren't his speciality.
"What?" Her voice was shaking slightly.
"Heard that all right then…" He said to himself.
"Please repeat what you just said…"
"I said I love you?" He smiled sadly.
"One meal a day!" She shouted "One god damn meal a day! Do you know what that means?"
"I'm gonna take a random guess and say it means you have on meal a day"
"Shut up!" She was revved up for some insults, but she breathed heavily, and made it look like she was calming down "I remember what our therapist said, Arthur, so I am calling a taxi, and going home"
"You're just going to leave me here?"
"You can come too, if you want" She opened the car door and scooted out "But that would mean leaving you're wonderful Devon style car"
"You know perfectly well I just couldn't leave my baby here!" He shouted, getting out of the car, and arguing over the roof of it.
"You're baby is at home, and you left him there" She said "Some caring parent you are"
"I wanted to stay, daft fat...bat" he corrected himself, he always prepared himself for arguments, but every time managed to make himself look like an idiot. "YOU were the one who was o-so desperate to leave"
"I'm calling a cab, Arthur" She closed her door silently and got her mobile phone from her purse.
"Where'd you get that?" he pointed at the phone "Those are expensive, and I certainly didn't buy it for you"
"It was a gift, from a friend"
"Ha! Liar!" His eyes went wide; he got secretly excited, like he just completed a thousand piece jigsaw puzzle "You and I both know that we don't have any friends!"
"I bought it for myself" She said indignantly "We needed one anyway"
"Those things are expensive"
"But we're rich, Arthur!" She screamed "We can afford a cell phone! We can afford to move out of that two bedroom match box you call a house, we can afford all the things we ever dreamed of, including a fucking nanny!"
"Don't swear so much!" Arthur slammed the car door "Shit!"
"What?" Gina asked, as Arthur looked through the car door window.
"The keys are in there"
"Well done, genius"
"Uh…" Arthur got out his wallet and pulled out his credit card.
"What are you doing?" Gina rubbed her bare arms "Oh God. Please don't try, you'll only embarrass yourself"
"I've seen a lot of movies, Gina" Arthur said, kneeling on the road and sticking the credit card between the slots of the car door. "I know how it's done" Gina dialled the numbers, and waited for an answer.
"Those weren't car doors; you need a wire or something for car doors" At the other end of the phone, a gruff voice answered.
"Hello, Celadon Taxi Service how may I help?" He didn't exactly sound happy, he was chewing gum loudly, and Gina grimaced at the sound.
"Hello, I'd like a taxi to pick me up from…hang on" She put the phone on hold "Arthur…what road are we on?"
"Shit!" Arthur kicked the door of his car then held up a broken credit card, he threw it on the floor then proceeded to moan, sitting on the floor.
"Arthur?"
"I don't know…the middle of nowhere"
"What?" Gina asked "This is Celadon, there's no 'middle of nowhere' in Celadon"
"Well, I don't know, near route twenty two, I guess" Gina lifted the phone to her ear again.
"We're near route twenty two… could you look for us around there somewhere?" Gina listened intently while still shivering; Arthur stood up and draped his coat around her shoulders, which she immediately took off.
"It's itchy" She whispered. "How big do you think route twenty two is? Just send a taxi to drive up till he finds two rich people standing by and expensive car…with a large dent on the left hand side." She scowled at her husband, who was, now trying to smooth the dent out.
"…well there's a small tree…that's pretty much all the notable landscape around here" She was growing impatient. "Listen…if you do this for me there a shiny nickel in it for you…no not an actual nickel, it's a metaphor isn't it? …For money" She sighed deeply "okay sorry, I correct myself… if you do this for me, you'll get lots of money!"
"Gina…don't bribe" Arthur said looking up from his work.
"Doesn't' matter anyway… he hung up" Gina put the phone back in her purse and crossed her arms looking around.
"What are you looking for?" Her husband asked.
"Some signs of life…"
"Call someone…call the babysitter!" Arthur said sternly, remembering that she was only staying till ten o'clock and it was currently half-past. Gina hurriedly pulled the phone back out of her purse and dialled five numbers.
"…..it's ringing" She said.
"Well… keep me informed…" Arthur replied.
"...it's still ringing" She said again.
"Good, good"
"…I think she's left" she pressed end call, and sighed again "looks like we're walking back"
"Looks like we're running back"
So they ran…
"This dress is not made for athletes…" Gina said; breathing heavily trying to keep up with her husbands, not fast, but quick pace.
"No, we're not athletes. I'm fat, you're thin" He stopped and rested on his knees "we're both healthily messed up"
"But… you have to admit, I have a stunning curvy figure for someone who's had a child, a near ten pound child at that" Gina said, smiling slightly.
"I admit, that you look very sexy…but that is one of the reasons I married you, remember?" He smiled again, and took a deep breath "It was the first thing I said to you"
"Yeh…" She sat on the damp ground next to him, not concerned about her crimson dress "Why do we always fight, Arty? I mean, we have twice as much reason to love each other than most couples…"
"Do we really?" Arthur smiled "We have happy moments as well, like when we got married…or when you gave birth, we just remember the fights more, because horrible things stick in your mind much more than wonderful things"
"I guess so." She turned to him "Are you under the impression giving birth was a wonderful experience for me?
"Well, granted it must have been painful, but look at the end result, you're a mother now"
"Hip hooray" Gina said in possibly the least enthusiastic voice.
"Come on, that child is beautiful"
"Yes. He is." She said quietly to her self. Arthur looked across suddenly to a dilapidated building. Its door was missing and the windows were smashed, all in all it looked abandoned, and had probably looked it, for some time.
"How long do you think that's been there?"
"A few years…I've never seen it before personally" Gina answered.
"…Neither have I"
Both of them got to their feet, and looked at each other again. Arthur moved a piece of straggling hair from her face.
"I do love you, Gina" He said.
"I know"
"Going to the moon, going to the moon,
We announce the ways, of truth and love.
Extend our reach, to the stars above
Going to the moon, going to the moon.
We're Blazers, we love it.
We blaze like a rocket.
Going to the moon.
We're going to the moon"
"That was…surprising" Gina said, looking at him with a raised eyebrow.
"It was grandfather's song; he used to say we were called Blazer, because we blazed like a rocket. We could go anywhere, and get there fast"
"I've never heard you sing before"
"Was I good?"
"No" She smiled "But it was still beautiful"
They reached their front door and opened it quickly, Gina hurriedly rushed upstairs while Arthur walked into the living room, on the leather sofa, was Miss Holly Henderson, lying under a blanket with a her clothes, all her clothes, thrown on a pile on the floor.
"Holly?" Arthur said calmly from the doorway. A sleepy moan was heard from the couch, as she raised her head above the arm. Her eyes shot wide as she scrambled to cover herself with her blanket.
"What was his name this time, Holly?"
"S-s-steve" she said sheepishly, picking up her clothes. Arthur turned around away from her, while she put on her trousers.
"Steve, hasn't Steve been round here before?" Arthur asked
"…different Steve" she said, sliding on a top and heading for the front door. Arthur opened it for her.
"Now Holly, you're seventeen"
"Eighteen"
"Eighteen, when are you going to invite the same boy over?" Arthur asked.
"I dunno" She shrugged "When I find the right guy, I guess"
"Well, you've got plenty to choose from" Arthur handed her twenty kantolians, which she took and looked up nervously.
"You're not gonna tell my folks are ya?"
"Do I ever?" He shut the door and headed to the living room. He started folding up the blanket previously used by Holly. Before he decided it should probably be washed before further use. Gina came down slowly, holding Giovanni.
"He's okay" She said "Not that he cries that often anyway!
"He keeps his worries to himself" Arthur said "It's not healthy, not at this age anyway"
The next morning felt cloudy to Arthur, like his mind wasn't awake yet, he plodded through the morning and walked out to get his car, with his spare set of keys.
He saw the building again, and through his clouded mind, for some reason he thought he had to go in there. He entered through the crumbled entrance and looked around; in the centre of the front room was a smouldering fire.
"Gypsies, they all come here" Arthur said to himself "Come to Celadon, gypsies, we've plenty of flowers" He wandered into the next room, where there was a laptop computer on a small wooden table.
"Gypsies with laptops" he said to himself "okay" A sleeping bag was crumpled in the corner and a lurking figure was creeping up behind Arthur, being careful to keep out of sight. Next to the sleeping bag was a pile of liquor bottles, some broken on heir sides, and, strangest of all, from a rotting rafter, hung a pure white tuxedo, hanging precariously from rusting nail.
"Probably stole it…"
"You're not gonna tell the guys at work are ya?" said a young voice from the shadows "I mean, don't tell em about the way I live, right?" out of the shadows stepped, Mark Preece, the Black-Jack Master.
"Mark?"
"Hey, Boss" He said, he was in his boxer shorts and nothing else; his hair was still gelled from the night before, though now it was sticking up in odd angles.
"You live here?" Arthur asked, picking up an empty liquor bottle and looking at it. "What about your girlfriend?"
"She went home after last night; I haven't exactly told her where I live"
"So you do live here"
"Ya-huh"
"Why?" Arthur asked, putting the bottle down and standing up again "And why didn't you say something?"
"I have a reputation to live up too" Mark said "I'm the Black-Jack Master"
"Black-Jack is pretty much luck…" Arthur looked around again "Which by the looks of things, you do not have"
"This is only temporary" Mark said "I'm getting good pay at the casino; I got a two hundred already, just for a months work"
"I know" Arthur sighed "If you want some money…"
"Stop right there! I don't want to borrow anything, not if I have to pay it back, it gets all muddled and I end up with less than I had before"
"You can keep it"
"Really?"
"I have plenty of money; I can afford everything I've ever dreamed of, including a fucking nanny" Arthur laughed
"Well, thanks" Arthur handed Mark a cheque for one thousand kantolians
"A cheque?"
"Is that a problem?"
"Well, sort of" He rubbed the back of his neck "I don't actually have a bank account"
"I'll sort one out for you, don't worry"
"Hey. You're a decent, guy Boss, real decent" He smiled "Silph didn't think twice before throwing me out"
"Silph" Arthur said, looking up from his cheque book "Do you know anything about, you know, their recent scheme"
"Not really, they told me about transferring to Cinnabar, didn't tell me why though" He pulled on a pair of dirty jeans that were folded up on the floor. "Some big lab up there or something"
"You know anything about that new species?"
"The alien?"
"The alien" Arthur said "Is it real?"
"Pfft, yeah its real" He answered, as he slid on a white T-shirt "Pretty much dead though"
"It was dead?" Arthur asked sitting down on the sleeping bag.
"It was basically dead, looked like it was having trouble breathing" He knelt down by his laptop "I got some pictures of it if you really wanna see"
"Seriously?"
"Yeh, whole bunch of 'em" He opened a folder on his desktop "They told me to delete them, threatened to kill me if it leaked, pfft, their all talk, yep, here we go" Arthur walked over and knelt down next to Mark. On the screen was an unclear image an operating theatre, people in white coats surrounded an operating table, with a faded pink creature, whining and writhing on it.
"How did you take these?" Arthur asked, moving on to the next image.
"When I was working as a porter, clearing up after everything. I saw it and thought I could make a little money out of a few pictures if it"
"I'll give you a three hundred kantolian raise for these pictures" Arthur said "five thousand for the laptop" Mark was speechless, he sat down on the dusty floor and opened his mouth slowly.
"Done" he said in a raspy voice "There's also a video on there"
"Which directory?"
"The…the same one, just go back"
Arthur did as he was told, he scrolled down through the images, fifty four pictures of this creature, god knows what they were doing to it. At the bottom of the folder was a video file. He double clicked on it. The video was silent, full of bustling white-coats; glimpses of the creature were rare.
"The sounds turned down" Mark said "Turn it up on the side" Arthur turned it up and the room was still very quiet, only footsteps could be heard, though immediately a shocking noise came from the creature, a loud cat-like noise. It seemed to echo through the room, and several of the people held their heads in pain.
"I hate that bit" Mark said rolling up his sleeping bag "Makes me jump every time"
On the video few of the people left, so the creature was more visible. The camera moved in on it, as parker had said, it looked like an ancient cat, its eyes were closed and it breathed harshly and slowly. It looked like suede for its skin, pale peachy suede. Its arms and legs were thin and skeletal, and small. Looking almost in a different scale than the rest of the creature, it also had a long wiry tail, with a fury end to it, which swished in full life, though the creature itself looked almost dead. Suddenly, once more the room erupted into noise, when one of the remaining 'doctors' shrieked hysterically clutching the sides of his head, the other doctors trying to calm him down, by now he was almost laughing, the pain was so bad. As suddenly as it started he fell to the floor, and the room fell silent again.
"Get more people in here" shouted one the doctors "this mans dead for god's sake" Shouted another one; various rushed orders came from different people, the camera switched off.
"What happened to him?" Arthur asked
"I dunno" Mark answered "Very scary though, didn't go back into that room after that. Hardly anyone did"
"He died though" He looked up from the screen "How did he die"
"They didn't tell me"
"I have a feeling they didn't tell anyone"
Be honest, if you think of any other pokem on facts that I could incorpporate into it, please tell me. But, I've just been researching, and it turns out that Giovanni had a mother that owned Team Rocket before him, so, that saves me some plot work to do. Please review! I would love some feedback, i want to know if I should carry on or not.
Until next time: Cajun Charmer.