Smile Junkies
Chapter 2
Raptor had searched the area for Lex's bag, finding it and picking it up the straps of it in his mouth and lifting it up. The bag swayed and knocked off one of the poke balls from the black strap around Raptor's neck which resulted in it falling to the ground and rather ungracefully landing on the button that enlarged it, bounced, and landed on the same button again, releasing a pokemon before the ball rolled away. Out came Lala, falling on the floor and squeaking in pain, Raptor staring at her before Lala got to her feet and looked around for Lex, happy to have been called upon. "She's not here." A gruff voice said and Lala looked at Raptor. "Oh, It's Raptor. I just evolved." "I evolved too. So where is Lex?" Raptor looked down and Lala smiled, "Is she hiding? Are we playing hide-and-go seek with her?" Lala asked happily.
"No. Someone took her. She gave me her poke balls." Raptor said and Lala looked at him, "We should let everyone else out." Lala nodded and climbed up Raptor's side, pulling the poke balls off but left the strap and She fumbled with them. The both of them did until they figured out how to call the others.
"So, what do we do?" Jasmine asked and they looked to Raptor, who had been the last one to be with their master and didn't know what to do. He thought about it then an idea came to mind.
"Maybe Jasmine can sniff out her scent on the things in her bag?" Raptor offered and they all agreed this was a legitimate idea. "But what if we have to attack pokemon?" Ravage questioned and Raptor answered, "We run away. We have to look for Lex first, battles and stuff come later, We'll do that with Lex." Raptor said, setting the bag down, "Also, we should crush the things we came out of so no one can capture us again." The others destroyed the poke balls they came from as Jasmine sniffed a jacket that belonged to Lex. "We have to try not to get captured." Raptor advised and everyone agreed, "Alright, I got the scent." Jasmine said and Lala zipped up the bag before Raptor put his head through the straps and carried it on his back, "Let's go!" Raptor roared and they followed with, "YEAH!" before Raptor slammed into the door in the storage room, breaking it down and they exited into Veilstone city.
0 Pastoria City 0
Lexia (Lex) sat on a couch in Cyrus's office in a temporary office within one of his bases and she read to herself quietly. Occasionally, he would glance over at her and when she caught his glances she would hold the book up to cover her face and not too soon after, he would look back at the computer monitor he was so absorbed in. He keeps looking at me… Lex thought, shivering lightly, It was flattering at first but now it's kind of creepy. When she didn't notice his glances he'd just stare at her as he typed emails before he'd look back at the screen to find something different every time.
'Caramel hair spread against white sheets' He had written the first time and he highlighted the sentence and deleted it, feeling like a moron. The second time it was, 'Lips of almost ruby red but not that catch every parcel of light that is reflected on them.', this sentence he deleted as well. He'd just stare at her, looking back to his emails or his research when her blue eyes met his own pair of blue eyes. She looked so peaceful, sitting there and reading. Behaving. Not like her violent display in the lab after she had released his specimens or when he threatened to put her pokemon 'out of business' so to say. He just watched her, trying to mentally dissect her as she obliviously turned the page.
What made her tick? Why did she act the way she did? Why did she care for pokemon that had no relation to herself? Why? Cyrus looked at her again and she looked back, frowning this time, "You keep looking at me…" She voiced, surprising him a bit, "Is there some type of problem?" What now!
"No problem." Cyrus told her, calm and collected, "Does there seem to be a problem?" Lex looked back at the book, Cyrus still watching her, and she tried to ignore him but it was slowly getting harder to ignore it until she snapped under the pressure.
"Stop staring at me." She said and Cyrus continued to stare and she squirmed, feeling uncomfortable, "Knock it off." Cyrus got up and walked over, sitting on the couch and she put the open book between them, holding it up to block his unwavering gaze, "Stooop!" "Am I bothering you?" "YES!" Lex scooted away from him until she was against the arm of the couch, Cyrus gently lowering the book as she looked away, eyes closed. Cyrus lowered the book until it was in her lap, almost face to face with her with only inches keeping them from being in that zone.
"Say it and I'll stop." Cyrus told her bluntly and Lex whimpered, covering her eyes with a hand, "What? Say what?" "What you said yesterday. I asked you to repeat yourself." Cyrus reminded her, a hand on the couch to steady himself as he towered over her, his left hand lightly on the book as she took a minute to herself to remember. "Please" She said softly and Cyrus waited patiently as he responded with, "Use it in a sentence and perhaps I'll stop." Lex looked at him, "Please stop staring at me and get off of me." Cyrus gently moved her to lay under him and she blushed.
"No." He replied, "The moments I look away you're smiling at this book but the moments I catch a glimpse of you, you stop." Cyrus told her and Lex stared at him. "Smile for me. If you do, I'll feel strange but if you don't..." Cyrus said and she blushed darker.
"Could it be that…you're jealous of the book?" Lex questioned and Cyrus thought about it. Jealous? Jealousy? That was an emotion and he didn't have it so, "I'm not." Cyrus said and Lex stared at him. Cyrus's mind hesitated, going blank for a mere moment and his body moved on its own. He leaned down and kissed her and she laid under him, blushing. His left hand slipped under the small of her back and lifted her up closer to him, her hands on his chest to at least keep some distance up. He regained control and his own consciousness and let her go with the lingering taste of vanilla on his lips. That was actually quite…enjoyable. Lex closed her eyes again, as he opened his mouth slightly, like he as going to bite her before their was a knock on the door. "What?" He called back at the door lightly licking Lex's lips to taste the vanilla again before kissing her as she dug her nails into his shoulders; the pain didn't faze him.
"Sir, there's someone here to talk to you." Someone said from outside of the door as he continued to kiss her until he resurfaced for breath, panting lightly from the flurry of kisses as he newly discovered this strange sensation. Lex slapped him across the face and he withdrew. "Sir?" Cyrus grabbed her arms roughly, kissing her again but roughly this time and she pushed him off, embarrassed and irritated from what had just happened and he got off of her, standing up.
"Send him in." Cyrus said and Lex sat up, fixing herself before leaving after the person entered, and she went to the bathroom down the hall and stood there with her back against the wood of the door. She bashfully covered her mouth, closing her eyes, regretting that she hadn't fought back and let him steal her first kiss. She sat down, pulling her knees up to her chest and resting her folded arms on her knees, hiding her head in this new shelter of hers. What would her pokemon think of her if they saw her like this? "Stupid jerk." Lex sniffed.
~O~ Route 222 ~O~
"Remember, evade!" Raptor said to the others as they ran through the grass behind Jasmine who was following the faint scent of Lex from her jacket. Then, Jasmine stopped completely, the others stopping as well. "What's the matter?" Raptor asked and Jasmine looked back at them.
"I…I lost the scent…" Jasmine admitted, lowering her head and ears. "Sorry…It was really faint to begin with…" The other pokemon comforted her and Raptor thought about it before snorting.
"It's ok, Jasmine." He declared and they looked at him, "Because I think there's a town ahead- Lex always has one of us out, so maybe one of us knows the way to it? If we can just get to that town we can look around for her." Their confidence rose as the others agreed.
"Owly, can't you fly up and check?" Lala asked shyly, "Please?" Owly thought about it and looked at Lala shyly before he nodded and flew up, looking around.
"Keep going straight, there is a town ahead but it's kinda far away." Owly informed them, slowly spiraling back down and landing Jasmine's back. "What do we do? It's going to get dark soon and it will be harder to see or find anything in the dark…" Lala said and Raptor thought about it.
"We should set up camp. Lex would always set up camp at night or go to a poke center with us to sleep." Ravage piped in and Raptor nodded.
"But how can we set up camp if we don't know how to set up the tent?" Jasmine questioned.
"We'll make a temporary tent out of leaves and branches." Owly quipped, "It will be rough but if it's just for the night…" Raptor thought about it and took off the bag. Rummaging through it, and pulled out some fancy black and gold poke balls.
"It gets cold at night." Raptor said, "I think you guys should go in these fancy balls, then I can find somewhere to stay and you guys will be fine. I'm sure a poke center or someone will let me sleep in a house."
"You've done a lot Raptor. Every one has taken naps and you've stayed up." Jasmine said. "I think we should take turns every night. I'll carry you guys." Owly offered. Reluctantly, Raptor agreed and the four other pokemon were helped into the poke balls, the strap put around Owly's neck and he flew off, finding a window sill nearby and sat on it, pecking the window a few times and hooting. The window was opened by a small girl who gasped and said.
"Mommy, Mommy! Look, it's a birdie!" The mother looked over in their warm little house. "Can he sleep over?" "Sure sweetheart." The girl let Owly in and he hopped in as she shut the window and locked it. Picking him up and going off to bed with him, she used him as a sleeping pillow. It was almost like he was back with Lex except she would always put a little blanket around him just incase he didn't want to sleep in the bed. Though she had only been gone for a day he truly missed his owner, even if she wasn't his first one.
0 Pastoria City- Cyrus's safe house 0
Lex had left not too long after Cyrus accepted the person into his office, and had Saturn drive her back to the safe house and let her in. Cyrus put the key in the door and unlocked it before pulling the key out and opening the door. Right as he did, a thick warm smell filled his nostrils and Lex stood at the entrance to the safe house, wearing house slippers and a black and white dress he had gotten her to wear. From her shoulders to bellow her chest, the dress was white and below that it was black and went to her knees. On top of this she wore a light pink apron that went to just below her mid-thigh. "Welcome back." She said, looking down at the piece of paper in her hands.
The first night, he had made a list of things she has to do if she was home alone. One was to make dinner, two was to greet him in wife cosplay, three was to spoon feed him desserts if he was home, and four was to stay inside the safe house. Lex looked up at him and repeated the correct phrase she was supposed to say which was, "Welcome home, Master. I hope your day was pleasant." She struggled to read the paper, "Uh, I just made dinner, so-" "Yeah." Cyrus said, taking the piece of paper from her and she twitched, "Why do you keep looking at this?"
"This transition from 'hard core trainer' to 'house wife/ house-arrest victim' is a bit hard for me." Lex admitted, looking down, "I've been focusing on everything else aside from this position." Cyrus stared at her and she put her hands on his face, surprising him. "Stop it, already."
"Why?" Cyrus asked, setting his things down on the nearby end table by the door and taking her wrists. "Why are you so bothered by it?" He asked and she blushed. "Answer me, Lexia." Lex frowned, her blush fading and she took her wrists back.
"I told you its because it makes me uncomfortable." Lex said, smoothing out some wrinkles in her little apron. "Dinner is done, you got here just in time. I hope you don't mind but I made a western dish-" He put his hands on her hips and her cheeks heated up once again.
"That apron looks very nice on you." Cyrus said, having spent half of the day researching how to make women fall in love with men and one of the courses had something about how women enjoyed being complimented despite how they denied it. "Wha- why can't you stop saying weird things!" She asked and he wrapped his arms around her stomach, her hands on his arms and she tried to push them down, "Let me go-" "I liked that stuff on your lips." "M-my lip balm?" "Yeah. I enjoyed what we had in the office, perhaps we could continue?" "Not in your lifetime." "I don't understand, I'm complimenting you and it seems to have no effect." Cyrus observed, releasing her and she turned to him. "There is no reason that…my source could have been wrong?"
"I'm not a science project or one of your experiments! I'm a human being!" Lex yelled at him and he grabbed her wrist before she could storm off. "Let go of me." She said and he responded, "No." She pushed him but his hold didn't budge. "You're going to eat with me," he informed her in a tone that made the decision indefinite but she struggled anyways. "No!" She snapped back, her face hot with anger. "Experiments shouldn't share the tables with-" "I never said you were an experiment." Cyrus interjected, "Have you fallen for me?" "NO!" "Then I must continue m research. It is as simple as that." Cyrus said and she stood there panting lightly to calm down. She tried to take her wrist back and he looked down, seeing she still wore the ring he had given her the night before, before he looked at her. "Are you going to run off?" He asked bluntly and she stood there, finally calmed down.
"No." She said after a while and he released her. She went to the kitchen like a good obedient house wife and started to serve them both up a plate as he sat down. He wore a suit that day and he loosened his tie, watching her as she quietly put the warm home-made food on his plate. The dress she wore hugged her hips and the apron was tied just in the center of the small of her back. Cyrus put his elbow on the table and put his cheek in his hand as he observed everything that he seemed to normally overlook about her.
Like the fact that her hair was short in some places and longer in others. Even when she didn't mean to, she would play idly with her thumb rings and always avoided touching the one he gave her as if it was some type of curse upon it. Even in the kitchen light, her lips seemed to hold some strange glimmer to them. Perhaps not a glimmer, more like a glistening. Maybe she as wearing more of that lip balm stuff? Her hair wasn't put up either, like the first time he saw her, it was down. Her hair had been clipped up the first time he saw her and her smile. She seemed to like everything but him.
Lex walked over and placed the food on its plate in front of him. It was steak and mashed potatoes. "I used that card Saturn gave me to get some groceries and have them delivered here." Lex explained and Cyrus looked at her as she at down across from him with her own plate. Se probably didn't go out since he'd put her pokemons' lives at stake. She remembered it more than he did, either that or she just really cared for them. They both ate in silence and when he was done, she took his plate to the sink along with her own dish and began cleaning it. He watched her do this as well.
Cyrus felt almost dirty, seeing a glimpse of her hands every so often as they dipped in and out of the possibly warm water to rid their plates of the remnants of their meal. He just sat there, watching, trying to make his gaze not so obvious. She turned off the water and put the dishes in the drying rack. Cyrus went up behind her and Lex turned around, jolting, "Ah! When'd you get there?" Cyrus noticed she was a little shorter than him and she stood there, an awkward air about her.
"How tall are you?" Cyrus asked and Lex looked up at him, "5' 5"." She answered and he decreed, "Not tall enough." Before picking her up and setting her on the counter and kissing her. Cyrus's hypothesis, he discovered, was correct. She was wearing more of that vanilla-flavored lip balm. His hands cupped her butt, as he'd used it to pick her up and set her on the counter. She withdrew and put her hands under his chin, pushing his head up. "Stop it. I have to clean up the cooking mess I made." Lex said and Cyrus paused, looking over at the pans she had used to cook on the stove cooling off on cold burners. "I also have to put the extra food away…" "Leave it." Cyrus said and kissed her again, "The maid will get it later." He concluded and she struggled to pull away, avoiding a good majority of his advances. Until he trapped her wrists with one of his hands, held them above her head and held her jaw with his free hand, "Why do you always have to do this to me?" Lex questioned with a deep blush on her face. "Can't you just keep your distance?" she asked and he thought about it a moment before answering, "No." Then kissed her deeply and against her will as she tried to kick him away, causing him to pull away and question her. "Can't you sit still?" Cyrus asked her and Lex glared at him. "Of course I can't! I don't want you touching me but you just don't seem to stop so I have to try and get free." Lex responded and Cyrus released her wrists then placed his hands on the counter on either side of her legs.
"Is it uncomfortable?" He asked and she looked at him, "I don't know you nor do I like you. Just those things make it really uncomforting." "Do you require a pillow to sit on?" Lex blushed and looked down and away, "It's not…the setting that's uncomfortable. It's the lack of mutual feelings." Cyrus tried to think about this but his mind continued to pull a blank. "Explain this to me." "I don't like you but you want me to. Mutual feelings is about feeling the same." Lex explained and Cyrus untied the apron, taking it off of her. "This problem of 'mutual feelings' can easily be solved by you falling for me." Lex sighed when he said that, knowing too well that he hadn't grasped what she had said. "What would you suggest as a solution?"
"You could not pounce me immediately when you come back and not force yourself on me so much." Lex said and he stared at her before withdrawing. "That's uh be-better." She said, blushing and he hugged her tightly which made her squeak in surprise.
"When your cheeks change color it makes me feel strange as well." Cyrus said and she just held still pressed against his chest. "Tonight you'll sleep in my bed." Lex frowned and sighed since there was no way really out of this situation.