CHAPTER THREE
Just a small town girl, livin' in a lonely world…
Just a city boy, born and raised in south Detroit…
~Journey-Don't Stop Believing
Senka yawned, her eyes quickly adjusting to the morning light, there wasn't much light to adjust to. She pulled back the blankets, and slid out of bed. She smiled as she saw Shine on the floor next to the bed. She felt bad about that, she'd told her to go sleep on the bed in the other room. It would have been her last chance too. She quietly walked out of the room and away from her sleeping Charizard, wincing as her feet touched the cold tiles in the kitchen. She looked out the window above the sink, seeing that the sun had barely risen behind the clouds that seemed to get thicker every day.
She walked back to her room, taking a drink from a bottle of water she'd taken from the store, she poured the rest in a bowl she'd taken from the kitchen. Senka yawned, and quickly put her bra back on. She decided that she'd just wear the same clothes she'd had on the night before. She would probably just get them dirtier today. She snapped on her Pokemon belt, then grabbed her shoes from under the bed and pulled them on, tying them tight. She'd left her boots at the lake, knowing that it probably wouldn't snow much for the day she'd be gone. She slid on her backpack.
Shine woke up, yawning. She stretched her wings, which weren't small enough to fit in the room like they would have been when she'd first evolved. Senka smiled at her Pokemon. "Morning Shine. I have to return you so that you can get out of the house."
The Charizard laughed, a growling rough sound, that would have been frightening if Senka didn't know what it was. Shine grabbed the bowl of water and drank it quickly, then smiled. Senka returned her to her Pokéball. She walked around the house, looking out of all the windows. She looked out the kitchen door, and could see someone standing in the trees, just barely. "I'd better take out some darts just in case, and hold on to Shunis' Pokéball."
She took off her pack, and pulled three darts out of one of the boxes. They were your typical dart board darts. Senka touched her fingertip to the end of one, and it immediately drew blood. "Good, really sharp."
She grabbed a Pokéball off her belt, the one that belonged to Shuni, and kept it shrunk in the palm of her hand, her thumb on the button that would make it larger. The figure was probably waiting for her to come out the front door.
Senka crouched behind the kitchen door, which only had the screen left, listening carefully. One wrong move, and she could end up dead. Even worse, she could get Hikaru killed too. She released Shuni from her Pokéball.
"Crouching behind a door, and sending me out, are not usually a good combination."
"Be quiet. There's someone out there, I don't know who it is, but the sun has barely risen, and I don't think it's Hikaru."
"Who is Hikaru? That boy Ennio told me about?"
"Yes. I'm glad that you and Ennio got a chance to be out together last night, without waking me too. Hikaru was going to meet me at the store, he wouldn't be hiding out in the woods."
"I don't like the feeling of this. What do you want to do about it?"
"Leave out the side door here, and try not to get caught. If I do, and it's a ranger…"
"Bullets are easy to deflect, but you don't want me to hurt him. It doesn't look like a ranger, but they may be using new tactics. Why don't we go out a window on the other side of the house?"
"Where would we go from there? It's not like we could find his campsite."
"Ennio knows where it is. He got a mental imprint of the map yesterday. Whoever is out there will just have to wait until you get back."
"Thanks Shuni, if I counted the times I owed my life to you, I would owe you the world."
"Keeping us together, and keeping us a secret, that is more than enough. He is my world."
"Great, well, out the bedroom window we go. I'll have to return you, then let you back out."
Shuni nodded, then returned to her Pokéball without a problem. Senka quietly walked to the bedroom she'd stayed in, and shoved at the window. It was stuck. She gritted her teeth, and put all of her weight into it. She suddenly heard a small snap, and the window pushed open, the frame sliding all the way back. She tried to pull it closed a little, and found it to be stuck again. "There's the window, now just the screen."
She looked at it, observing the latch that held it in. She pressed it, and the screen fell down an inch, but didn't fall out. She pulled it inside the room, then looked out the window. There was a large flat rock outside. "Whoever lived here snuck out a LOT. Convenient for me, but weird."
She pulled herself onto the window ledge, then swung her legs around, sliding down onto the rock. Her sneakers barely made a sound against it. She glanced around, then sent out Ennio and Shuni. "Right." She whispered.
"Why did you sneak out the window?" Ennio murmered.
"There's someone in the woods, I don't think it's Hikaru. He said to meet by the store, whoever this is, they're too close to the house." She continued her whisper, glancing into the woods to make sure whoever it was hadn't heard her.
"Shuni told you I'd gotten a map to his camp? Good. We'll have to be quiet. Assuming that this is actually a human, you could probably get away without him hearing you, but we shouldn't take any chances. You'll ride on my back." Ennio stretched, and let his swords extend halfway, carefully looking through the woods.
"Are you serious?" She knew Ennio was strong, but him carrying her, it seemed ridiculous. His look told her that he was.
"We can run a lot faster and much more quietly than you could if you were only wearing socks and running on grass. Hold onto Shines Pokéball in case he catches us, he either has a really strong Pokemon, or is one. Either way, it's better to be cautious, than to end up killed." Senka sighed. Shuni always seemed to know what to do, like adults, they always had the situation thought through. The two Pokemon were truly a wonder to her.
Ennio crouched down, and Senka grabbed his shoulders, and wrapped her legs around his middle. "You ready to go? I'm going to use a quick attack to give it an extra boost. This is just until we get to the path."
She had no clue what path he was talking about, but nodded anyway. He began to run, Shuni easily keeping pace. Senka had never truly appreciated how fast they could run, they had entered in races before, and contests, where the judges were impressed by their speed and agility, but it had never really hit her how amazing it was. She would be amazed later, right now she was just glad that she could get away from the house.
*******
Kane stood still. He was sure he'd heard something. Taking a deep breath, he crouched back down. It was probably just a Pokemon. He had been watching the house for a while now. He'd thought he'd seen movement inside, but now everything was still. The person inside was definitely a trainer. He sighed. More waiting. At least he had a good view of the store from there. In thirty more minutes he would take a look around the house again. His plan was to act like a normal trainer passing through, and then to trail them until they caught him.
"All I have to do is tell them I don't like being alone, and bingo, I go where they go." He waited thirty more minutes, and sighed.
"Around the house, again." He stood, and stretched, then carefully made his way to the other side of the house. "Shit."
There was the window, wide open, screen missing. There were three sets of prints outside the window, two Pokemon, one human. Had they seen him? Hiding in the trees? Or did they usually jump out of windows after walking through doors? "I can't believe I was so stupid." He murmured. He looked inside.
The bed was messed up, the blankets ruffled, there was an empty bowl and water bottle on the floor, next to the dresser. He slid into the window, and looked around. There was nothing else in the room, so he went into the kitchen. He could see a backpack sitting by the door. "Bingo." He picked it up, and looked around a little more.
"Looks clear. I'll play the nice kid who was looting houses." he walked out the front door.
"GOTCHA!" He was landed on by someone, who tackled him to the ground.
"What the hell!" He twisted to see his opponent, and his head was shoved into the ground.
"Didn't think I'd get you, did you? I saw you go in last night, where's your friend?"
"Blackthorn base, rank ten solo mission, code word rocket. I'm dressed like this for protection you idiot!" he growled, shoving off his assailant. "What the hell were you thinking? You never just jump your opponent. What if I'd had a Pokemon ready to send out? And where the hell were you when MY target escaped out the bedroom window? Damn rookie. Now if anyone is watching, my cover is blown!"
He ground his teeth, taking in the appearance of his attacker. She was dressed in blue jeans, and an orange jacket from what he could see. She had four stars sewn into the left shoulder of her jacket, and the ranger insignia was clear on the right side. She had dark brown eyes and curly hair, that was something between orange and yellow. She was around average height, maybe shorter. The soles of her boots looked pretty thick.
He glared at her, then folded back part of his green jacket to show a badge, a pin that he could easily remove. "Ranger Kane Lovel, rank nine. My mission is to track and recover Hikaru Sovet, rouge trainer, former team rocket member. Why are you here?"
She looked ready to cry, but she held it back well. Crying in front of a senior ranger would only make her look worse. "Ranger Jocelyn 'Jay' Candice, rank four, I was sent out on patrol, when I got back to base everyone was gone. The place was a mess, my group disappeared one by one in the woods, I've been hanging around here since. It's the only safe place, the wild Pokemon out there are getting worse. I'm the only survivor of Goldenrod base, as far as I know."
"So Jay. You're alone." He asked, clear annoyance in his features. She answered with a yes.
"You have no base to report back to." another yes.
"And you thought it was a good idea to try and capture an unmarked, unidentified, potentially dangerous criminal." Tears welled up in her eyes.
"No, I wasn't thinking. Being alone out here is enough to drive someone crazy. I would rather be dead than spend another minute alone."
He wasn't finished, and he didn't really buy it. Being alone could be depressing, but she had a Pokemon. He could see the tiny lump just under her jacket, she had a necklace, with one Pokéball on it. "Not only is there no one else out here to protect you, but you're also carrying a Pokemon, without having been given approval from your senior. You are a mess of a ranger, do you understand that Candice?"
She had tears running down her face, but managed to hold back sobs. "Yes sir. I'm sorry. It won't happen again."
"It sure as hell had better not, because I'm stuck with you until we can find a patrol team. As your senior I give you permission to have whatever Pokemon is on you, assuming that you aren't stupid enough to carry one that's crazy. My target and the girl that was in the house are somehow associated, you are to masquerade as a trainer, and we are going to pretend to be a traveling pair. Our story is that we are brother and sister. Our parents were killed when their Pokemon went nuts, they were breeders." It wasn't too far from his actual story, making it believable, at least from him.
His tone turned softer, less professional. "Now lets get you cleaned up, you're going to have to look like a trainer if you're sticking with me. That'll be an order if it has to be." The last part was a joke. No need to leave her teary and sulky. He looked her over one last time. She was pretty fit, looked like the rookie she was. You weren't called anything but 'rookie' until you were at least rank five. She seemed to be around twelve.
"Yes sir." She said it in a subdued fashion, but it wasn't sincere. There was a spark in her eyes that told him why she was part of the rangers, and not just your every day trainer.
He smirked at her. "My name is Kane, we're brother an sister. I'm Nineteen, we don't look alike or know as much about each other because our parents, both breeders, got married only a couple months before this whole mess happened. Kapish?"
"Kapish." She thought they looked plenty alike. He had Dark blond hair, that looked like it hadn't seen the sun for a long time, and his eyes were almost yellow. She suspected that they were hazel, and made a note to watch them, to see if they changed color. He was tall, and well built. He looked like he could run for miles, he probably could. She knew they were both pale, the lack of sunlight making itself apparent in the gray morning. As if it weren't bad enough, it began to drizzle.
They ran to the store, not bothering to be quiet, running straight through the double doors. Kane looked over at the girl. "Okay. You're a trainer now, that means that you need to wear something warm, and sturdy. How you've been surviving in just one of those jackets for so long is a mystery. You should have gotten hypothermia a long time ago."
"Should have, could have, didn't. If you'd be kind enough to find me a backpack while I change into more suitable clothes, this would go a lot faster." She tried to make it sound like a request, instead it came out like a childish command, and she knew it. She sighed at herself, being bossy around this boy wouldn't do until she knew more about him. For all she knew, he could really be a trainer, waiting to catch her off guard. Even if he did know all of the terms, a lot of rangers had run off when the command to relinquish all of their Pokemon had been given.
"Right. First, what Pokemon do you have? Before the clothes, before the pack, we need to know each others Pokemon, or we could end up in a tight spot if we're caught by the two I'm tracking."
She pulled out the necklace, rolling the small sphere between her fingers and thumb. "You first, you have two of them, which is weird for an undercover."
"I figured it would be more realistic, and I saw a chance to get a water type and took it. Fresh water will be hard to get if we're going north. If they're going north. You send yours out first. As your senior, and the one to assign you the Pokemon, I have the right to know. Since you're a junior and a rookie, I don't have to tell you a damn thing if I don't want to. Send it out, that's an order." He'd heard her tone before, and wasn't about to let it fly. He was her senior by six ranks, and if she didn't listen to him, he'd just point her towards the nearest base, and hope she made it.
"Fine," She growled at him submissively, angry that she was taking orders from someone she didn't know, but she didn't have a choice. "Sapphire, come out here."
Her heart warmed as the red beam flew out, bursting with a swirl of snow as a Frosslass appeared. The Pokemon looked at Kane, then looked at Jay, silently asking who he was. "This is Kane. Senior ranger. We're on a mission to get two trainers who have bothered to stay lower than the frost line." The frost line was a visible mark where civilization ended, and snow began.
"Thank you. Now Charizard, Buizel. Come out." He tossed the balls up into the air and they released their Pokemon. The Buizel glared at the boy, and hissed, but didn't run.
The Charizard looked down at the group, at the boy who had sent him out. Sure he'd been released when his trainer had been mauled by his son, but it wasn't worth it, nothing was worth your own child being shot, and yourself being captured, again. The mutiple beatings, the long distance flying, being torn from his friends, he would endure it all again just to have his family back, but he knew he couldn't, and it left him empty.
"Scar!" The single word brought his attention to the Pokemon who had uttered the word, it also brought everyone else's attention to her, but he didn't care.
"Sapphire! Sapphire!" He didn't care that the two rangers where there as he almost fell over wrapping his arms around the Ice type.
"That's new." Kane said, looking at the two Pokemon. "He hasn't uttered a noise since I got him. Not on the fly here, not when I fed him. Nothing."
"You have one too?" Jay looked at the Charizard, then at Kane. It wasn't possible. She felt very small compared to the Charizard, he shared the same curse as her Frosslass, and she had heard too many things about him from Sapphire.
"I have no clue what you're talking about, but have you noticed the two talking Pokemon in front of us? That isn't exactly natural."
"It's perfectly natural if you like talking Pokemon, and long stories, and old friends, and curses and gifts! And if Scar would be kind enough to let me go for a second?" Sapphire hadn't expected this reaction at all. She had expected him to be calmer.
"I could be kind enough to hold you closer." he growled it in a playful manner, and he actually did it, her icy skin cooling off his hot arms.
"This is weird." Kane stated, looking at them. He had been told there was nothing special about the Pokemon, and there hadn't been. It was just a normal Charizard, who had been captured in the woods. The only thing was that it wouldn't make any noise. Quiet as a mouse they had told him. It had been true until now.
"No, it's a curse. It's not really weird, it's just sad." Jay backed away from them a little bit.
"How is that sad? My Pokemon, and your Pokemon, know each other, and are, oh guess what? TALKING! That isn't possible. No one has ever heard of something like that before, no one has ever even thought of it as actually possible!" Kane glared up at the Charizard.
"Child, I am not your Pokemon. I am my own. I only choose to be held by you because if I were not, I would be dead. You will not perceive me as belonging to you again." Kane started, it had directly spoken to him. It had called him a child. Kane fumed, there was no way he was going to take orders from some stupid talking creature.
"Return." The word was said with such deep authority that all three Pokemon in the room were transported into their Pokéballs, Scar fought it, but was eventually pulled in by the red beam. "No smarmy ass talking Pokemon is going to tell me what is and what isn't." Kane growled, glaring at the place his Pokemon had been previously.
"His name is Scar. He and my Froslass, Sapphire, bear the same curse and gift as four others. He isn't just some 'talking Pokemon' there's much more going on here than that." Kane glared at her.
"Just saying." she murmured. She walked off in the direction of the clothes, leaving him standing there to think over what he had just seen.
"This whole mission just got weird. I should ditch the Charizard with the girl after I get what I need. I don't need all of this right now, I need to focus on my mission." he decided that was exactly what he would do. Suddenly he heard a thunder crack, one that shook the store. "Just damn great." He growled.
*******
Hikaru yawned. Ug. Had last night really happened? It didn't seem possible. It seemed like a dream. Ripping up camp and heading to Lake of Rage? Just because some girl live up there? "At least it's better than being left alone again."
At that moment, he heard his tent flap pulled open, and felt someone step inside. "If you're a ranger, this is extremely cowardly of you, and smart. Not two typical traits." He hadn't opened his eyes yet.
"That's lovely. I'm none of the above, but there is someone in the woods by the house I stayed in last night." Hikaru sat up, looking at Senka. Her hair was a mess, and she was flanked by her Gallade and Scyther. He would have taken time to admire how deadly the scyther looked, except that was when they heard the thunder. "Crap." Hikaru looked up at the ceiling of his tent.
He pulled himself out of his sleeping bag, all he had on was a pair of pajama pants and socks. "I have to put up the roof. This is going to be a real storm. We won't be able to leave until it clears up." he stretched quickly, then walked outside, glancing around the woods quickly before pulling on his boots. He saw lightning lace through the sky, jumping from cloud to cloud with deadly irregularity. He heard thunder thirty seconds later.
Senka walked out behind him. "What do you want me to do?"
"Stay in the tent. We don't both need to be getting wet, and you don't know where to set the boards. It's not personal, I just need to move quickly." He glanced around one more time, then Walked into the woods a little ways. He came out dragging a tall, wide board of wood.
Ennio came out, and helped him move it. "Ask for my help, all you have to do is think, you will tell me plenty."
"What?"
"I'm a psychic type. All you have to do is think it, and I will know where to put things. Two is better than one. Always."
Hikaru nodded. "Fine, then get the next board while I set this one." He wasn't exactly sure what to do, but he thought about the second board, and where it was. He felt extremely weird and exposed about doing so, but decided that if it helped him get ready, than he would do it.
The Roof was actually a roof and walls. He had set up the tent in a spot under two trees, whose branches overlapped. He slanted the first board against one of the branches that was hanging out, it wasn't up too high, but it was thick, and four feet higher than the tent. There were three more boards for that side. Ennio came back with the second one, and set it as Hikaru was coming back with the third.
"He can help but I can't?" Senka glared at him as he came back.
"He can read my mind. I would have to tell you everything by mouth! It isn't easy to set this thing up!" Thunder rumbled again, shaking the ground. The sky was getting darker.
Hikaru left the board for Ennio to set, and went to get the next one. Ennio had set it, and was on the other side before he had gotten back. Senka went back into the tent.
Soon both sides were set, and they were both dragging the boards for the roof into the clearing. Hikaru quickly scaled the tree, and Ennio slid the lightweight boards up to him. The boards for the roof slid into slots in the boards for the sides, locking them together. There were no holes in the walls and roof. Each board fit perfectly with the next, sliding into place like they were made for this. They were.
Ennio had run into the woods to drag out one of the two boards for the back of the structure, Hikaru ran to get the other. Each piece of the Roof was hidden in different spots close to camp. He didn't like keeping them right around. It made his camp easier to spot. He pulled out his board as Ennio was placing his. Hikaru smiled. "Nice work."
"The work is yours. This is amazing, The slight slant in the roof, the slanted sides, It keeps off rain, easily, it's sturdy enough that it could survive most anything but a tornado, I think." Hikaru decided to take Ennios complement, and set his board.
"The last two are the hardest. They were made to cover the fire too, that's why the first two go out so far." Hikaru thought about where he'd hidden them, and they both ran into the woods. Hikaru heard more thunder, it was a steady roar, lasting for five seconds, lightening darted overhead.
They glanced at each other, and both ran harder. Ennio quickly disappearing into the woods. Hikaru felt the first raindrop as he reached the board. Then the sky opened up, and spilled it's contents on him, rain thundering down in buckets. He winced as the icy rain beat his body. He regretted not throwing on a raincoat. Suddenly Ennio was on his other side, helping him pick up the piece of wood. They ran.
The board slid into it's place as they stood under it, slanting away, covering the soaked logs and leaves. The ten foot structure creating their own dark bubble in a world of thundering rain. It was pitch black.
Senka stared around the tent. Feeling for a flashlight. The heavy darkness was crushing her. She could hear Shuni talking to her, but couldn't hear anything, couldn't see anything couldn't hear anything couldn't feel anything, she lifted her hands to her eyes, trying to rub back the darkness, she scrambled the bottom of the tent for the flashlight again. She had seen one, she knew it was there. She couldn't see. Oh God she couldn't see… She couldn't breathe.
The panick had overwhelmed her, she was choking on air, breathless sobs escaping her throat. There was nothing she could do, nothing, nothing nothing nothing, the darkness would take her…
She felt a warm hand on her shoulder, someone gripping her, it wrapped itself around her, silently begging her to calm down. Holding her carefully, but firmly, her fear ebbed a little. She opened her eyes.
Hikaru must have been holding a flashlight in his hand, the light shining in a single beam on the ceiling of the tent, his arms wrapped around her, angling the beam upwards. She had enough time to make the short observation that he was soaking wet, and half naked. After that, she let go of reality, sinking into a calm cloud, nothing like the darkness before. This was quiet, something only behind her eyes, her mind shut down, forcing the rest of her body to do the same.
*
Hikaru panicked slightly as she blacked out, feeling for her pulse, he relaxed as soon as he found it. Before he had been able to hear it as he held her, now it was quiet, calm and relaxed. He heart quietly beating against her breast, not to be heard by human ears, not the way he could hear it before. He laid her down slowly, afraid that she would go into a panic attack again. He kept his hand on her shoulder.
Ennio and Shuni were watching him, Shuni had been helpless to do anything while they were outside, he and Ennio had run into the tent seconds after placing the last board, Ennio had searched for the flashlight, and Hikaru had grabbed her, trying to calm her down before she hurt herself, she had been thrashing, chocking sounds cracking from her throat. Hikaru looked at them, carefully meeting their eyes. "What the hell on earth was that?"
Ennio and Shuni exchanged glances, wondering exactly the same thing, but not for the same reason. Ennio had only found and turned on the flashlight after Senka had calmed down. Shuni sighed, then answered. "That was her fear. The best she's ever described it is that the dark wraps around her, crushes her. She is more than afraid of the darkness, she is completely and utterly destroyed by it. If she were left in the dark too long? Who knows."
Hikaru sighed, looking at the Scyther. He should have known that it would talk too. He wondered if the Lapras was just as weird. "We'll just have to keep the lights on then. Won't we?" He looked around the tent he only had his sleeping bag and a few blankets. He ducked behind a piece of tarp and came out with a lit lantern.
He unzipped his sleeping bag all the way and put Senka on it. She was heavier than he thought she would be, but he got her on it anyway. He folded the top over her, then looked at her Pokemon. "That should keep her warm. I have to change, I'll get sick if I don't dry off soon."
Ennio nodded and walked out of the tent, Shuni followed. Hikaru got the feeling that they didn't like being in their Pokéballs very much, and that they were less tame than the show they put on. The Scyther had been a much darker color than others he'd seen, and he hadn't heard a single command ever given to either one.
He sighed, shoving back a flap leading to a side room of the tent. The rest of his team had stayed in the same tent before they'd completely ditched. There were three rooms, separated by pieces of tarp, each one large enough for a sleeping bag and a suitcase. Maybe a few personal things. It wasn't made to be put up and torn down every day, or even after a week. The tent was made to withstand several months of weather, before he'd decided to make the roof, he'd listened to several rainstorms beat on the tarp covering the tent. He was glad for the roof now, he could hear thunder again, and the wind had begun to howl.
He knelt and unzipped his suitcase, pulling out a pair of dark blue sweatpants and a black sweatshirt. He set them in a corner, and grabbed his towel, it was hanging on a short bar that hung on two of the support poles. He toweled off his hair, then his body, quickly putting on the sweatshirt. He threw his soaked pants into a corner. He'd have to take care of those later, nothing could be done for them now. They'd probably stay wet until he could find some more batteries for that hair dryer.
He pulled on the sweatpants quickly after drying off. There was a battery powered hotplate somewhere around here. He looked around, poking through piles of broken junk, until he found it. Behind it, in the corner, there was a box of instant drinks, apple cider, hot chocolate, and coffee. He hadn't been able to find any tea, but that didn't matter much. He didn't like it anyway.
He flipped it on, putting a small ceramic pot on it. He filled it with water from a gallon sitting on the other side of the room. He grabbed two mugs from a suitcase on the edge of the room. That had been one of his partners hobbies. Collecting weird mugs. Hikaru had managed to grab two that were relativatally normal. He unhooked the tarp separating the two rooms, and watched her as she slept. That panic attack had been terrifying. He wondered how she slept at night… Her Charizard, he realized. She must let her Charizard out of it's Pokéball at night.
The water began to boil. He poured water into both of the mugs, and turned off the hot plate. He glanced back up at her, wondering what she would like. He sighed. Probably hot chocolate. Everyone likes hot chocolate. He poured a packet of the dried beverage into one of the mugs, then smacked himself in the head as he realized he didn't have anything to stir it with.
He turned around, glancing around. There had to be something. He checked in a couple of random boxes, finally getting a neon green plastic straw. It would have to do. He stirred the hot chocolate, mixing in all of the powder, he could heat it up on the hotplate if she wasn't awake until after it cooled.
He grabbed a small packet of apple cider from the box next to him, and shook it to get all of the contents down to the bottom. He ripped open the top, and despite his efforts to make it otherwise, a puff of apple cider dust got into his nose. He scrunched up his face. "I hat it when that happens." He growled quietly, the powder burned.
He poured it into his cup, then realized that he only had one thing to stir it with. He wiped off the first end as much as he could, then stuck it into his drink upside down, mixing it. He hoped he hadn't gotten any of the coco in it.
"That smalls good." Hikaru jumped and almost knocked over both mugs. He looked up to see Senka watching him.
"Hot Chocolate?" He held out the mug.
Senka blinked at him for a few seconds, then rubbed her head a little. She sat up from inside the sleeping bag and accepted the mug. "Thanks. Why does my head feel like someone's been throwing rocks at it?"
"I don't know, you feinted a little while ago. The Roof is great, but I forgot about you being afraid of the dark. Sorry." He looked down into his mug, a little bit of foam swirling on the top when he blew on it.
"It's fine. The storm sounds pretty bad, I think I'm glad it's up." She took a drink from her mug, it was a little thin, but nothing beats a hot drink on a crappy rainy day. "This is good, how is yours?" She glanced up at him.
"Oh, I have apple cider, sorry. You weren't awake, and I wasn't sure what you liked. I can't really drink hot chocolate but storm likes it…" He bit his tongue. He hated it when he started to babble on.
"You can't drink hot chocolate?"
"I can't have any chocolate, hot or otherwise. I'm allergic, the stuff has tried to kill me seven or eight times. It's really only bad if I eat any though. If I get it on me or anything like that I can just wash it off and I'm fine." Last time he'd eaten any it was on a mission. His partners had had to drag him to the nearest hospital. It was a mess. A case of trail mix gone bad.
"That kind of sucks." Senka commented, looking at her mug. "Now I feel a little bad about drinking this."
"Don't. I've built up something similar to a deep and burning hatred for the stuff, I probably wouldn't drink it if I could."
Senka gave him a confused look, then took another drink. Hikaru did the same. They sat in silence for a while, listening to the rain thunder down on the wooden roof.
*******
Kane squinted at the target, slowly taking aim. It had been an hour since the storm started, and he had entertained himself by trying out each of the weapons in the weapons case. That girl… Jay, she was off somewhere playing with the electronics. He fired, a direct hit, right in the human shaped targets head. Too bad it was paper, he thought. He would much rather be taking out insane Pokemon. Instead he was stuck inside while the storm from hell broke loose. He hoped that it wouldn't last more than a few hours, but he knew better. A storm that started like this? It wasn't going to end for at least a few days.
