"Are you Hannah?"
She winced as she froze two stairs up, Sterling stopping on the stair behind her. Leave it to Brad to blow her cover. Disbelief filled the eyes of the Team Rocket grunt she had duped as the red-haired trainer grabbed her arm and roughly dragged her back down the stairs. "Do you think you're strong now that you look like them? That's foolish! You shouldn't wear those things!" He pulled the red R off her black shirt.
Sterling growled at him, a warning to get his hands off of Hannah. Ice crystals appeared on the railing to the stairs and on the bottom step where Sterling stood, back arched and glaring. "Hey, baby, I'm okay," Hannah reassured him. She too was glaring at Brad as she jerked away from him. Her upper arm was sore and there were red finger marks where her rival had grabbed her; certainly, they would bruise later.
The angry grunt challenged her to a battle, teeth clenched and face red. If only he knew before that her fooling him wasn't nearly as embarrassing as the battle that ensued. A tall, willowy teenager with dirty blonde hair stood behind an intensely focused glaceon blowing harsh wintery gusts of air at a raticate who didn't know what hit him before he fell.
Part of her is concerned that her ratty shoelaces are going to get caught in the spokes of her bicycle. The other part of her thinks the sound of the shoelaces billowing in the wind behind her as she pedals is kind of relaxing. She could use some relaxing. She doesn't bother to tie her shoes before she begins pedaling away.
She almost passes the guy with the spiky black hair, but he calls to her before she can pass him. Hannah brakes, and sits there staring at the way his mouth moves as he says something cliché about how battling strong trainers makes you stronger.
"That's only true if you win," she corrects him. Normally there would be a mischievous sparkle in her eyes accompanying that comment but today is not normal, so instead, her hazel eyes are dull dull dull, dark circles standing out on her pale, oily skin, flakes of yesterday's mascara sitting under her lash line.
The guy with the spiky black hair smirks. "Well then I would understand if you didn't want to battle me, because you know, you probably wouldn't."
A faint smile appears on Hannah's face as he releases a kingler, enthusiastic and ready to go. Hannah's fingers run briefly over Mindy's ball, but she quickly grabs Nina's instead.
It wasn't Mindy's fault.
That doesn't mean she's not to blame, though.
When Hannah does in fact win, she collects her prize money with a polite thank you and gives her number to Gavin, who claims that he wants to battle again after I heal my pokemon!
He calls about forty-five minutes later. That night, she fucks him in her tent.
"Sydney pleeeeeeeeease?!" she begged.
"Hannah, you're so lucky you got an eevee," her cousin said. "Now why can't you just evolve it with like, a stone or something? Or what about an espeon? You don't even need a stone for that!"
"I don't want an espeon," the younger blonde said stubbornly. "Violet is part-psychic, and I don't need another one. I don't want an umbreon either." Before Sydney has the chance to suggest that. "I want something no one around here has. I highly doubt anyone in Johto has a glaceon. Please, Syd?"
"How do you know I'll give him back?" she asked teasingly. "Maybe I want a glaceon for myself."
"You'll trade him back." Hannah's face was serious. "Besides, when Sterling gets a bit older, I'll breed him for another eevee and I'll give it to you."
"Okay," Sydney relented. "Send him over to me and I'll take a hike down to the icy rock."
"Sydney, you're the best!" Hannah squealed.
"I'll send you Shoshanna in the meantime. She can heal your pokemon for you. Be good!"
A twinge of sadness passed through Hannah as the eevee disappeared through the system, on his way to Snowpoint City where Sydney was waiting for him. She already missed him.
"Isn't it nice to find somewhere to rest when you need it?" she chirps. Even though she wants to, Hannah doesn't tell this girl that she's annoying. How can she, when this total random is offering to heal her pokemon for free? They need it; it's been five days since she left the Pokemon Center in Cherrygrove.
The girl goes to grab Mindy's pokéball and Hannah jerks away. "I haven't battled with her, she doesn't need to be healed," she says icily.
The stranger is momentarily stunned at Hannah's sudden coldness. "Oh, okay," she says, and though she's puzzled, she asks no questions.
Drake didn't need to be healed either. The only boy on her team, the youngest by far, definitely not ready to go out against pokemon owned by Pokemon League wannabes. Even though he had been significantly smaller than any of her trained pokemon, Hannah hadn't been able to stop herself from catching him after the chance encounter in the Dragon's Den. She had figured that eventually she'd trade him to Sydney for something. She hadn't ever imagined he would find a place on her team. Hannah didn't stop the girl from giving him a bit of medicine, smiling as she patted his smooth body.
"Thanks," she says gruffly as she grabs the dratini's pokéball from the girl.
"Just come back and see me if you need to heal up again!" She's still cheerful, trying to pretend like Hannah hadn't been weird.
She pretends like she doesn't hear the girl as she heads out the front door. The sun is starting to set; Hannah wants to make it to Victory Road before nightfall. She passes Gavin again and purposely doesn't make eye contact with him. She raises her eyebrows at a female trainer who is going on and on about a red-haired trainer that she battled and how she felt sorry for his pokemon.
"Can we just battle?" Hannah cuts her off mid-sentence. The gate to Victory Road is right there and Hannah could be inside, flashing her badge case, if it weren't for the girl's incessant rambling. The girl's shock at Hannah's lack of social etiquette is written all over her face as she grabs for a pokéball, but she doesn't say anything. A rapidash is released, stomping its hooves on the ground proudly.
Hannah isn't paying attention and grabs the wrong pokéball. Within seconds, a shadowy pokemon materializes in front of her, grinning broadly at her. Mindy can sense Hannah's panic at the sight of her. Hannah calls her back into her pokéball and grabs her wallet and tosses some money at her opponent. She doesn't count how much, but she knows it was probably an obscenely high amount. She doesn't care though. It's time to leave.
Are you Hannah?
Hannah couldn't help but smile proudly as the radio director claimed that her "courageous actions have saved pokemon nationwide!" She didn't think she was being brave as she systematically tore through the throngs of Team Rocket grunts. With each one she battled, she focused on how much experience her pokemon were gaining through the battles, experience that she sorely needed before fighting Clair. Despite the many advantages she had over ice-types, Pryce had been harder than she had expected and her victory could have just as easily been a loss. Certainly the final gym leader would be even harder. In a way, Team Rocket was actually just an extremely convenient training regimen for her pokemon. It wasn't like they were ever actually a threat.
She did kind of expect something nice for her efforts. Certainly running Johto's communications tower had to mean that the man had serious money. Instead he handed her a feather – a pretty feather, but still a fucking feather – and told her that she could climb the Bell Tower in Ecruteak with it. She's about to tell him that she doesn't want to climb the damn tower before he remembers that something else is needed to make the legendary pokemon appear.
Hannah shrugged and thanked him anyway. She made a mental note to stop by the Ecruteak Gym and give it to Morty. If she remembered correctly, that's his dream. It's never been hers.
Author's Note (7/26/2014): As I've been waiting for my TCatG chapters to get back from my beta, I've been playing HeartGold all over again and for some reason, it inspired me to start a one-shot (that I decided to cut into two or maybe three parts).
This is more like a side thing while I wait to update TCatG so I'm not going to keep this going with weekly updates or whatnot. I'll post the rest later this week. Thanks for reading! :) Constructive criticism and comments are always much appreciated!