Hey, guys! I'm on summer vacation right now, and the heat got the best of me. I lazed around for a few days, but here's chapter 3! Before you read, I'd like to inform you that there is NO ACTION is this chapter just yet. I'm sorry. :(
Chapter 3: Sick Days
"Mom, Touya, I'm going around Unova once more!" Touko yelled as she flumped down on the chair and proceeded to eat her now cold breakfast.
Touko felt determined, she felt ready, she felt...sick. Half and hour after N left, the brunette's temperature surprisingly skyrocketed, thus worsening her previously mild fever.
Her nose was heavily clogged, her vision started spinning, and she coughed and sneezed so often that her throat felt ripped. "Achoo!" There she was, lying on her bed, under the sheets, with a damp cloth over her forehead.
Sunny was becoming frantic with worry. She prepared a nastily sour glass of Pinap-Sitrus Berry juice in the kitchen and brought it up to her daughter.
"Honey, can I come in?" she said as she knocked on the wooden door. "Okay, Mom," replied the sick girl with nasally speech. The door creaked open slowly.
"Mom, don't look too worried, please," Touko said upon the sight of her mother's drooping face. "I'm a mother. It's impossible for me to stay calm, even if it's just a fever." Touko knew that she would get that answer. She told her mom to sit down on the edge of her bed.
"Mom, my throat hurts." Sunny almost forgot about the juice she prepared. "Well, drink up! I made this for you. I finally found a use for those berries we had in the fridge! It should make that sore throat better!"
She flashed the bright yellow liquid in Touko's face. The teenager had no idea what it tasted like, but her face crumpled at the sight of it.
"It looks...kind of odd...and maybe sour...?" she said, trying to be as polite as possible. "Don't be silly! It's healthy and homemade! All homemade stuff is good!" Sunny's face brightened up.
Knowing that it was too late to convince her mother to give her something else, the brunette accepted the glass and took a very small sip.
"Ack! It's gro- It's...good!" she cut herself off. Touko's facial expression clearly showed disgust. Her young face soon looked like that of an elderly woman when it wrinkled in response to the taste.
"I knew it! I'll be downstairs if you need me, dear. Get well soon." Sunny kissed her daughter on the forehead, lifting the damp cloth before she did so, and then headed out the door.
Meanwhile, Touya was trotting along Route 1, heading north, towards Accumula Town. He was asked to get his sister's Pokèmon for her.
"First, I'm asked to go to Accumula Town's Pokèmon Center to drop sis' Pokèmon off, then I ran into a hoard of Purrloin, and not to mention, that N guy, and now, I'm asked to go back! Dammit! All that during such a beautiful morning!" he pouted, crossing his arms as he walked. Not that he had anything better to do, though.
Back at Nuvema, Sunny heard knocking on the front door. "Yes, I'll be right there!" she said in response to the rather impatient knocking.
She unlocked the door. As she expected, it was not the green-haired guy (whom she thought was cute) from earlier. It was...wait, it was herself?
"Good day! I am an elite of the International Police force. I am Looker. Even if I am one of the elite members, I must say that this town called Nuvema was quite difficult to find! A needle in a haystack, indeed! I would like to speak to your daughter, the heroine of this region! The owner of a deity!" the mysterious person greeted Sunny, trying to sound like a woman.
The disguised figure shoved an ID into Sunny's face to show her legitimate 'proof'. "Ah, yes. May I ask why you look like me?" she queried with a raised brow.
"Pardon, I need to keep this disguise on until you let me in," her clone replied. The person talked quickly and was rather hyperactive.
"Come in, then. We weren't expecting any visitors, so don't count on any brewed coffee!" she laughed, trying to match the intruder, er, visitor's personality.
As Sunny was closing the door, something stopped it from smoothly closing. Sunny peeked outside. To her surprise, it was Touya with his hand against the door. "Dear, why are you back so soon?" she asked, feeling sorry that she shut the door on him. "I... I ran back...as fast as I could," he replied faintly.
He was panting heavily and drops of sweat were rolling down his skin. "Why didn't you bring a Pokèmon, instead of Repel?" Touya no longer replied to that question, for he felt like such a fool. He threw himself into the living room, onto one of the couches in exhaustion.
"WAAAH!" he shrieked. Yes, he shrieked.
Touko heard it from her room, and by reflex, jumped out of the bed. "What the hell was that?" Despite having a weak body, she opened her door and walked out with her thick Pokèmon-printed blanket draped over her.
"Who are you, and why do you look like my mother? I know she isn't you, so speak up!"
As soon as Touko heard this from what seemed like her brother's voice, she ran down the stairs, thinking that something bad really did happen. Her eyes widened. She didn't know if she was seeing double because of her fever, or if she really just saw her mother's living, breathing, doppelgänger.
"Wait, wait, wait! What the Ditto is going on in here?" Touko interrupted. Her brother was standing on top of the center table, a fist in the clone's face.
"Pardon me, it seems that I am still wearing my disguise!" The disguise easily came off to reveal a man in a brown suit with a coat over it. "'Bout time you introduced yourself!" Touya yelled as he hopped down from the table.
Sunny was giggling. She found this skit quite entertaining.
""I am a globe-trotting elite of the International Police. My name... Ah, no, I shall inform you of my code name only. My code name, it is Looker. It is how I am called! Behind the scenes in this region of Unova, an organization called Team Plasma conspires... This I have heard, and therefore, to this region I must come, but... Thanks to the Gym Leaders and to you, yes, Team Plasma's castle has fallen. And the members, they have gone upon their separate ways! This is what I hear, most certainly!"
The siblings calmed down. They flumped onto the couches in the living room.
"You, Touko, have been chosen to help track down the remaining Plasma Sages! You have been more involved with them than anyone else, even developing a friendship with their leader, N! That is why you were chosen. The sages are scattered all throughout Unova, and you must find them! Nobody knows where they are, but I believe you have the strength and the patience to seek them out!"
Touko nearly fell asleep from that long introduction, but was surprised that the International Police knew that he and N were friends.
"So this is what N meant by 'further happenings'," she thought to herself.
Trying not to seem like she already knew about this, she replied, "It would be an honor."
Looker got up from his seat. "Hm! Wise choice! You will not only justify the people's thoughts on liberation, but also, you will be helping the International Police force with a very big case! A very big case, indeed! Give us a call when you find a sage, and we'll be right there! Good day!" With that, he bolted out the door, as if he had to put on another one of his deceiving disguises.
"Well, that was random," said Touya, whose half-lidded eyes looked drowsy. Sunny looked quite sleepy herself. "Hey, do you have my Pokèmon?" Touko asked, nudging her brother's arm with her elbow. "Yeah, here."
Touko sent her Serperior out. A bright red beam shot out of the ball, forming Serperior's physique. Serperior almost consumed the entire space in their small living room.
"Hey, buddy," Touko whispered, smiling. "You aren't sick," she concluded, after examining Serperior's tonsils. Touko was proven wrong when Serperior let out his battle cry. Was it even a battle cry? It sounded more like a cry for help. It sounded very hoarse and rough. That was enough to say he was sick, or that there was something wrong, at the very least. After all, Touko took good care of Serperior, and throughout her whole adventure, nothing like that had ever happened to him.
"I asked Touya to take you, along with the rest, to the center in Accumula, because I was afraid that you'd catch my cold and my fever. Professor Juniper was busy this morning, so I couldn't leave you there," she explained. Serperior brushed his face against his owner's, as if to say, "It's okay, I don't mind."
Touko proceeded to explain, and it eventually reached to the point she was afraid Serperior would not be too fine and dandy about. "Umm... Zekrom connected our feelings and emotions to one another, so you feel what I do, and I feel what you do. I can talk to you just by thinking. You can do the same. If you think about it, it's like having one body. Our connection was engaged three days ago, so you have my fever, too. When one of us is cured, all of us will be."
Touko did not want to say the next lines, but she had to. "This situation will not wear off until we find all of the Plasma Sages. So, will you, and all the others, be okay with that? Will you be willing to accompany me on another adventure?" She made sure to thoroughly explain everything to him to avoid confusion later on.
Serperoir gave an enthusiastic approval. He nodded his head several times. In truth, he was actually itching for an adventure, and he was positive that the others felt the same way.
Touko and her Pokèmon all had runny noses and higher-than-normal body temperatures, which meant that all of them had to be under the sheets, all of them had to have damp cloths over their foreheads, and all of them had sore throats. Just a few more days, and the test of endurance would soon be over...
Oh, and did I mention that all of them had to drink that nasty Sitrus-Pinap Berry juice?
-CHAPTER 3 END-
There's the third chappie for you! I'm sorry, I know I promised some 'action' for this chapter, but one thing led to another, and I ended up making a boring, slow-paced one. It's 'cause I felt that some things needed to be explained more. I cannot predict chapter content very well. For that, I am deeply sorry. Until the next chapter, goodbye! ^^
