Gale of Laughter
Chapter 2
Gateon Port
Salamence used HYPER BEAM!
It's a CRITICAL HIT!
Its…super effective?
Salamence WINS!
(-o-)-(-o-)-(-o-)-(-o-)
"Oh yeah!" Michael fist-pumped as he jumped off the simulator. "I totally won that!"
In the background he failed to notice Professor Krane cursing colorfully.
Whooping, he ran out the door. "I'm gonna tell everyone."
Sighing, Krane turned to the Battle Sim Tech (BS Tech).
"I told you not to make it obvious that we let him win! Once he tells everyone that Hyper Beam was super effective, they'll uncover our plot for sure!"
"Our plot, sir?" The BS tech said quizzically.
"Yes!" Krane spread his arms out. "Our plot to convince his mother to let him run off and die all alone in the wilderness."
The BS tech shook his head gravely. "I highly doubt she'll agree to that, sir."
"Oh we don't have to tell her that he'll DIE, we just have to tell her he's off to save the world or some cheesy crap like that; I don't know, you're the one with 'BS' in front of your name!"
"Sir, I know BS when I see it; you're just trying to get in his mother's pants."
A/N Okay, quick note here: I'm not quite sure if Krane is Michael's father, or if Michael even has a dad anywhere. For the sake of the story, Krane is simply trying to get Michael out of the way so that he can get with his mother. As for Michael's father…well, you'll just have to wait for that one…he he he:)
"His mother doesn't wear pants…"
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"Psst." Michael was distracted by the noise coming out from under the table.
"Omigod, it's a TARANTULA!" He screamed. "EEVEE, ANNIHILATE IT!"
"Vee?" The brown furball looked up quizzically.
"Geez," A mousy-haired kid stood up from under the table. "Michael, it's just me, Leroy."
"HYPER BEAM!"
Eevee used Hyper Beam.
But it failed.
"What is this black magic? My name is Inigo Montoya, you kilt-oh hi Leroy."
Leroy drew a shaky breath. "Do you know where Jovi is? We were playing hide-and-go-seek. I've been under that table for about four hours now."
"Never fear!" Michael said heroically. "She's…upstairs."
Then he paused. "Wait, we don't have stairs…"
(-o-)-(-o-)-(-o-)-(-o-)
Eldis and Auras sat together in the pub. The hustle and bustle of sailors around them masked their sinister conversation.
"Look, he's a complete idiot. We should just kill him and take our inheritance."
Eldis sighed. "The only reason that we can't do that is that the damn bird won't listen to anyone else."
Auras ground his teeth together. "I've set our best minds on that problem. I returned XD001 to its eerie by the factory. Ein and his techs are running tests right now; if we can get it fixed, then we'll have a clear shot."
The red-robed man leaned back in his seat. "That might work…" He mused.
"It will work." Auras insisted. "We're already running Cipher as it is; all he's doing is sitting around playing Pac-man and criticizing me."
Eldis chuckled. "Then why kill him?" He held up his hand to stave off his brother's angry reply. "Listen, if we kill him, we lose about 30% of his money to posthumous taxes. Also, even if we do get the damn bird to listen to us, he is the only one that can communicate with Cipher's Admins on their own wavelength. To be honest, the only admin that I think I could stand a chance controlling is Snattle, and that's just because he's obsessed with getting the governing position. Lovrina and Gorigan? On most days, I'm lucky if I can get five minutes of work out of Lovrina before she has to take a two hour break to fix her makeup. And Gorigan is just a wild card.
"I know that you think it would be better to just fire half the Admins, but below them are dozens of peons who have learned to work with them. The current system might be a drag at times, but we will just have to work with it."
Auras sighed, defeated by his brother's logic. "Alright, but I still want to make sure we leave ourselves with an opening. Stay close to him, and if it turns out that he is going to be more of a hassle than a benefit, then we kill him."
"All right." Eldis nodded, standing up. Auras rose as well. "Now we need to find him before he causes too much trouble…"
He froze, looking out the dirty window. "Oh shit…" He breathed. Without another word, he raced out, Auras in close pursuit.
Outside, Greevil was standing on top of the parts shop, his cloak billowing in the wind.
"Greetings, citizens of Gateon! Today, you are all my slaves!" His voice rang out from the loudspeakers that Gorigan had rigged up for him.
Their robes flapping in the wind, Auras and Eldis sprinted across the dock. "Still think we should keep him alive?" Auras asked Eldis.
Eldis merely grimaced before he pulled out his Salamence. "Try to disable the speakers with Electabuzz. I'll get Father."
Salamence quickly rose on an updraft, carrying Eldis with it.
Auras scowled, bringing Electabuzz out. Now was not the time for subtlety. "Thunderbolt the speakers."
A blinding flash followed by an explosion. Greevil's maniacal laughter was abruptly cut off.
"Hey! What was that about?" Gorigan was angrily approaching Auras.
Auras felt anger rising in him. Lightning fast, he leapt forward and grabbed Gorigan by his vest. Slamming him against the wall, Auras looked directly into his eyes.
"Listen," he growled. "Eldis and I have staked so much on this venture! We can't have you screwing it up with your little stunts here!" He held the pale man up for a few minutes for effect, then let him slide down. With a look of disdain, Auras turned on his heel, striding off towards the Parts Shop.
He arrived just as Eldis was hauling a very confused Greevil off towards their cruise ship.
"But our plans for world domination!" Greevil was wailing. Sighing, Auras followed.
(-o-)-(-o-)-(-o-)-(-o-)
"No, Mary, this is absolutely not going to harm him in any way."
Michael's mother still looked worried. "Are you sure? I mean, it's a long way to Gateon."
Professor Krane gave a self-important huff. "I assure you, I've been carefully monitoring Michael's battle sims; there is absolutely no one else in the lab capable of fetching this part." Granted, the part was completely unimportant. The purification set did not really need another loose bolt, but it would get Michael out of the way.
"Besides," he continued. "Michael is being trained to capture shadow Pokémon. We must see if he can handle himself in the real world."
Mary appeared to consider this. "Well, okay," she sighed. "Just so long as Jovi goes with him."
Prof. Krane nodded enthusiastically. That would get them both out of the way. "I really couldn't agree more! Didn't you say she had a friend in Gateon?"
"Yes…"
"Then it's settled! We'll send them off immediately!" A glorious set of scenarios played out in his mind. All of them were possible!
Without letting Mary get another word in, Krane raced off.
(-o-)-(-o-)-(-o-)-(-o-)
"YES!" Michael howled as he leapt on his scooter. "I'm finally on my Pokémon journey!"
"Not really dear," a very concerned Mary said. "You're just going to pick up a part from the shop in Gateon." But her words were lost on her son, who was already disappearing into the dust.
(-o-)-(-o-)-(-o-)-(-o-)
Eldis and Auras were in council.
"Look, we really can't have him messing up our plans." Auras hissed, taking a look back into the game room. His concern was groundless; Greevil was still happily engaged with his new Pac-man machine.
Eldis shook his head. "Killing him is a serious step. We need to make sure we do it right."
Auras sighed as he leaned back. Now they were getting somewhere. "How are we going to do it?"
Eldis looked back into the room. "First," he muttered. "We get him really drunk."
"Why?" Auras didn't see the need.
Eldis fixed him with a hard stare. "If we're going to take over, we need to make sure the Admins respect us. This means that they can't respect him. If we get him to make a fool of himself, then they'll be that much more willing to work with us."
"And XD001?"
"We'll work out what to do with the damn bird later. For now, let's get him drunk."
Auras grinned. "I know just the place…"
A/N Okay, so if you can't tell, this is going to focus a lot more on Greevil than the game does.
Please people, review, review, review! I like feedback!
Also, I'm planning on making a few oneshots using the characters from Gale of Laughter. I'm thinking about expanding on the toast theme…
Isn't this sinister? Eldis and Auras plotting to kill their own father? Evil knows no bounds. Obviously, they don't succeed. Otherwise, Michael wouldn't last long…
I don't know how this would be received, so I thought I'd run it by my readers first: What do you all think of Wes and Rui becoming characters in the fic? Just a couple brief sketches…
Wes: Complete bad-ass. The James Bond of Pokémon and the MacGyver of the sands. Basically, he wouldn't do all the work, but he would become Michael's mentor…
Rui: Supernatural chick. I mean, she sees auras around Pokémon right? So she's got to be a little cracked up in the head.
So you have two options: Wes and Rui in this fic, OR Wes and Rui in their own series of oneshots? Poll will be posted up on my profile.
xxxAceBlade OUT.