CHAPTER THREE
And Thar it be, Chewin' on me Wires
DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything in this story but my own characters and some PoKéMoN designs.
So there they were, standing in the dark lobby of a PoKéMoN Center, Gyphie clinging for dear life to Takeshi. Charmander looked around as if trying to find where the light in the room went, not aware his trainer was now nowhere near him. Takeshi was in the middle of trying to turn his glove inside out so he could see if any blood had gotten on it. However, now he was in a stranglehold with a sixteen-year-old girl who was afraid of the dark. The trainer who was on the phone just moments ago was now sitting in the dark trying to reconnect with whoever it was he was on the phone with (it was assumed it was his mother).
"Can't… breathe…" Takeshi gasped, Gyphie still clinging to him.
"Why did I have to say it!? Things always go wrong if you mention something about how they're not going wrong! I'm so stupid!"
At that moment the lights flickered back on, Gyphie blinking as she eased her grip on Takeshi. The trainer on the other side of the room sighed with relief and tried to call whoever it was he was talking to back. Takeshi gasped for air as Charmander patted his leg as if to say, "I'm sorry my trainer nearly killed you." He then turned his glove completely inside out and examined it, seeing a small amount of blood on the inside of the glove. Gyphie picked herself up onto the counter, soon leaning over it and hanging off the other side of it with her rear in the air. She looked around under the counter for any signs of something that might've brought the power back to the center, soon giving up when she couldn't spot anything on that side of the counter.
"PoKéMoN Centers have a back up generator of some sort, in case you were wondering," Takeshi said with little emotion in his voice, more focused on his glove than Gyphie's actions (which was surprising because normally he would be checking out any girl who stuck her hind quarters in the air).
"Ah, that's really neat! Oh, say, I did promise I'd let Rattata out of her PoKéBall when we got here, didn't I?" Gyphie wondered aloud, reaching to a PoKéBall on her belt with the number one on the button. She detached it from her belt and pressed the button, the ball growing larger.
"As promised, here you go Rattata!" Gyphie called, the ball bursting open with a brilliant white light. A four-legged PoKéMoN was formed out of the light on the ground, small in size. It soon took the shape of what looked to be a rat, its fur soon being colored by the purple it normally was as the light faded. A pair of baby blue eyes looked up at Gyphie, the Rattata tilting her head to the side.
"Why did you let her out?" Takeshi asked, watching as Gyphie placed the ball back on her belt.
"Because they wander freely before we come along and capture them. So after I capture my PoKéMoN, I want them to have that chance again. That way they may be able to trust me a bit more because I put my trust in them!" Gyphie smiled.
"That's one way of putting it," Takeshi said as he began to head over to the chairs on the other side of the room.
"Charmander Char!" Charmander called to the Rattata, who turned to look at him.
"Rattata!" the rat PoKéMoN replied. Gyphie smiled at the two of them, soon following Takeshi to the chairs on the other side of the room.
Takeshi removed the large bag on his back and sat down, setting his glove on the arm of the chair. He then took his green sleeping bag off the top of his bag, setting it to the side as well before he unzipped the bag and began to rummage through it. Gyphie sat down next to him, watching as Charmander danced about and talked to Rattata, who in turn ran around in circles. Gyphie soon began to think about why the power went out in the first place, beginning to wonder if the power went out in the rest of the city. A quick glance out of the windows proved otherwise, the city being bright as ever. I wonder if the whole city has a back up generator like this center? Gyphie thought to herself.
As time went on, Gyphie continued to let her thoughts consume her, placing her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands. She never once paid Takeshi any attention when he stood up and left the lobby to where Gyphie assumed was the restroom, nor did she realize when he had gotten back. Takeshi sat down next to her, on the end of his seat, and tapped Gyphie on the shoulder, the poor girl nearly jumping out of her skin.
"You sure are jumpy, aren't you?" Takeshi laughed, Gyphie holding a hand to her heart.
"This is my first day away from home! Of course I'm jumpy!" Gyphie defended herself, attempting to recollect her composure. Charmander and Rattata soon ran over to her, Charmander trying to see if she was all right.
"Well you're in one of the safest places in the city now, so you have nothing to worry about. Although if you're afraid of the dark, I wouldn't advise going to the restroom right now," Takeshi brought up. Gyphie noticed that Takeshi now had both gloves on, a flashlight in one hand and what looked to be some type of cleaning supply in the other.
"Why not?" Gyphie asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.
"The backup generator only supplies electricity to the major facilities and the lobby of the center." Takeshi answered simply. Charmander nodded, as if he knew this, Rattata blinking while sitting on her haunches.
"You think we should alert an electrician since Nurse Joi is trying to help out Pidgey and Vulpix?" Gyphie asked next, beginning to tap her feet on the floor. She watched her feet, not wanting to appear like she was staring at Takeshi.
"That's actually a good idea. I'll go do that," Takeshi got up and headed towards the other side of the lobby where the phones were, the other trainer long gone since the power outage.
Gyphie began to bounce in her seat, beginning to grow restless as she waited for the two PoKéMoN to be treated. Her stomach growled, Gyphie placing a hand on it as she remembered that she hadn't eaten anything today. The trainer sighed, Charmander patting her hand. After a few moments, Takeshi returned from the other side of the room, sitting next to her once more and placing his hands behind his head.
"They'll be here in a little while; it seems since the police station went up in flames a few other places' electricity went out as well. I wonder if they're connected?" Takeshi said, the question being more of a spoken thought than anything else. "Shouldn't you call your parents and let them know you're okay?"
"Oh, well," Gyphie sighed softly, "my mom and dad are aides to Professor Oak, so they travel around a lot. They were the ones who discovered my Charmander and Professor Oak gave him to me as my starter. I don't have a number or address to where they're at now, but they do sometimes send me a postcard." Gyphie kicked at the ground.
"Ah… well, they must put a lot of trust in you to look after yourself." Takeshi said reassuringly. This put a small smile on Gyphie's face and she nodded.
Just as silence had managed to take claim to the lobby once again, Gyphie relaxed against the back of the chair she was sitting in. She sat her bag on her lap and began to shuffle through it, soon finding her trusty pair of headphones, putting them on her head. She closed her eyes and searched for the buttons for her MP3 player, soon finding them and pressing the button for it to play. One of her favorite songs soon began to play from her headphones, rather loud actually, and the trainer nearly jumped out of her skin. The once quiet room became filled with a loud cry, Gyphie taking her headphones off and tossing them, and her entire bag, onto the floor. She breathed heavily, staring at the bag as if some kind of demon had come out of it, Takeshi arching a brow.
"Char..?" Charmander blinked, looking at the bag.
"Sorry, I guess I just left the volume up way too loud on my MP3 player. Don't mind me!" Gyphie laughed nervously, picking up her bag and its now spilled contents off of the floor.
"What a beautiful song… what is it?" Takeshi asked, listening to the song playing rather loudly on Gyphie's headphones.
"It's… um…" Gyphie blushed slightly, feeling a bit embarrassed that her girly tastes in music seemed to be shining even now, "it's Because There We Have the Sky*." Gyphie smiled, looking at the front of her black MP3 player. The screen was covered in Japanese Kanji (but what do you expect? They're Japanese, after all), Gyphie watching the title flash across the screen.
*Because they're speaking Japanese, since PoKéMoN is a Japanese show, I decided I would put the English title since this has been "translated" so you can read it. The title in Japanese is Soko ni Sora Ga Aru Kara. It's a beautiful song and if you're a PoKéMoN fan, you should have heard it before.
Gyphie quickly put the rest of her contents into her bag, putting it back onto her shoulder as she hung her headphones around her neck and adjusted the volume of the music. After doing this, she then heard some type of scratching in the walls, at least she thought she did. Blinking, Gyphie looked at the wall, as did Charmander and Rattata. Takeshi looked at Gyphie, wondering if she was hearing thing.
"Takeshi… did you hear that just now?" Gyphie asked.
"Hear what?"
"I think there's something in the wall."
Gyphie got up into the chair on her knees and put her ear to the wall, trying her best to listen. Charmander and Rattata got into the chair next to her and put their ears to the wall as well, trying to listen.
"Pika."
Gyphie took her ear away from the wall and screamed, pointing at it as if it were some kind of ghost. Charmander jumped in fear at her scream and fell into the floor, Rattata looking bug-eyed at the girl. Takeshi himself jumped, nearly falling over the arm of his own chair.
"Please don't scream like that! It sounded as if someone was trying to kill you or something!" Takeshi cried.
"Sorry, but there's something in the wall! There is, I just heard it!" Gyphie pointed at the wall, still screaming. Takeshi rubbed his left ear, as he now came to the conclusion that he was now deaf in it from all the screaming. Charmander nodded to her comment and pointed at the wall.
"Please stop screaming!" Takeshi exclaimed. Gyphie put her hands over her mouth, blushing from realizing that she was still screaming.
"It sounds like a PoKéMoN! And I'm gonna catch it!" Gyphie smiled, taking a ball from her belt and enlarging it. Charmander clapped happily, thinking this was a great idea, Rattata looking to have fainted from all the screaming her master was doing.
"How do you intend to get into th--HEY WAIT GYPHIE WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Takeshi cried, getting to his feet. Gyphie had now picked up the chair she was sitting in and was about to bash a hole into the wall of the center when Takeshi grabbed her arms.
"You really don't think these things through, do you!? Put the chair down!" Takeshi struggled with Gyphie, who sighed and put the chair down.
"You're right, I guess I do--"
Gyphie was interrupted as a hole crumbled in the wall, Gyphie screaming again. Rattata fell off of the chair now, holding her ears as Takeshi did the same thing. Only this time Gyphie wasn't screaming in horror at some type of murderer, but rather at the fact a hole crumbled in the wall directly behind her chair. She didn't have the money to repair this, however rich her family may be, and her parents were going to kill her for having a bill to repair the wall. Gyphie sat on the ground and began to cry, holding her hands up to her face as she cried.
"Pikachu. It has small electric sacs on both its cheeks. If threatened, it looses electric charges from the sacs."
Gyphie's PoKéDEX spoke, Takeshi looking at the electrical rodent sitting in the hole in the wall. It had a wire in its mouth, the Pikachu blinking a pair of deep brown eyes that appeared to be black from a distance. Takeshi hadn't seen a Pikachu in quite some time, the trainer actually shocked to see a wild Pikachu without a familiar trainer nearby. At the name Pikachu, Gyphie perked right up and was standing in a battle stance, a PoKéBall in her hand as she grinned.
"All right, a Pikachu! They're so cute! I'm gonna capture it!" Gyphie exclaimed, Charmander nodding.
"Pika," the PoKéMoN said with little enthusiasm, its right ear dropping lower than the other. It spat the wire out of its mouth, Gyphie throwing a PoKéBall at it. Pikachu looked at the ball with wide eyes, swinging itself around to meet the ball with its tail. The ball came zooming back at Gyphie, smacking her right square in the nose. Gyphie fell backwards, Takeshi catching her in his arms as he noticed something. The Pikachu, quite irritated now, quickly scurried down the wall. Rattata quickly followed after it, being determined to help her trainer out after watching her be humiliated.
"Owch…" Gyphie muttered, the ball falling off of her face and hitting the floor. Takeshi laughed nervously, pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket and handing it to Gyphie. The poor girl held the cloth to her now bleeding nose, looking around for Rattata.
"That was a girl Pikachu; if memory serves me right, female Pikachu have a worse attitude than males do." Takeshi said.
"How do you know it was a girl?" Gyphie asked.
"One, there was a cut in her tail, which is a common trait among female Pikachu. For some reason, this is a more recent trait, seen in later generations of Pikachu rather than the older generation. Another thing I noticed was it had a pink bow attached to its tail." Takeshi replied, quite matter-of-factly.
"Oh, okay then," Gyphie said. She then noticed Rattata was missing. "Hey, where'd Rattata go?"
"Char," Charmander pointed to the hole in the wall, Gyphie sighing.
"Luckily I've been in so many PoKéMoN Centers I know their structures well," Takeshi smiled, helping Gyphie up to her feet. Gyphie blushed lightly, realizing now that Takeshi had caught her as she fell. "Follow me, I know where they're headed."
Gyphie nodded, Takeshi leaving his bag behind as he lead the way. Charmander picked up the neglected PoKéBall and scurried after his master and her newfound companion, his tail wagging behind him. Takeshi rounded the corner, looking around a moment to make sure that Gyphie and Charmander were with him before starting down a hallway that Gyphie failed to notice (it was the hallway that Chansey had headed down before they entered a door nearby for the Intensive Care Unit). The three of them ran down the hallway, noises of scurrying rodents in the wall being heard the whole way. Gyphie soon heard the chanting of Pikachu, looking to her right as they passed a room with a large glass window. Inside were a bunch of Pikachu holding onto each others' tails, running on what looked to be some kind of treadmill while supplying electricity to the center.
Ignoring the biggest amount of cuteness she had ever seen packed in one room, Gyphie continued to follow Takeshi, Charmander not far behind. Within a few moments they had reached the end of the hallway and soon found themselves in a supply room, Gyphie stopping a moment to rest on her knees and pant. Takeshi hadn't even broken a sweat, while Charmander collapsed next to his trainer and panted himself. The room was dark, but from what Gyphie could see it was filled with crates of various sizes, some stacked up against a wall while some were pulled out away from the wall a bit and had been opened (probably by Nurse Joi as she needed whatever contents were within). On one side of the wall were some cleaning products, including a broom and two different mops.
Gyphie blinked, wondering why there were two different mops before Pikachu sprang out from behind some of the crates, spooking the poor girl. She screamed and fell onto her back, the rodent springing onto her stomach and soon leaping off of it, running down the hallway. Rattata wasn't far behind, using Gyphie's stomach as a type of trampoline to chase after Pikachu. Gyphie coughed and held her stomach, the handkerchief left abandoned on her face with no hand to hold it there. Takeshi laughed nervously as Charmander sighed once again, feeling another chase on his hands.
Takeshi picked up Gyphie and slung her over his shoulder, chasing after the two PoKéMoN with Charmander in tow. Just as the two PoKéMoN and two trainers ran by the Intensive Care Unit door, Nurse Joi opened the door and blinked, a bit confused as to what was going on. She began to run after the two trainers, Charmander now jogging slowly behind them as he was slowly running out of energy. The poor lizard PoKéMoN eventually gave up and sat down in front of the swinging white door that was the Intensive Care Unit door, clinging to the PoKéBall and trying to catch his breath. Just as he did this, a Chansey swung the door open and smacked him in the face, the poor Charmander falling over in utter defeat. The Chansey, usually happy and bubbly, peaked around the door with a more curious look on its face, blinking as it saw Charmander twitching on the floor behind the door.
"Chansey?" Chansey tilted its body to the side (it's kind of hard for it to tilt a head that's a part of a body, after all).
Up ahead, down yet another hallway (this time with rooms for various trainers that had no place to go and no money to afford a hotel room), Takeshi was closing in on the running Rattata and Pikachu, Gyphie clinging to dear life to Takeshi as she was deathly afraid of heights, even if it was just him picking her up. Nurse Joi ran just behind the two of them, apologizing to various trainers as they came out of their rooms to see what was going on. Pikachu ran as fast as she could, soon hitting a dead end and hitting the end of her running spree. Rattata pounced onto the Pikachu, biting her on the ear as she did so. Pikachu cried out in pain, shocking Rattata.
"There they are! All right, Gyphie, catch her!" Takeshi said, setting Gyphie on the ground. Gyphie whirled around, going to reach for her number three PoKéBall when she realized that it was no longer on her belt.
"Oh no! I can't catch Pikachu! I don't have my PoKéBall!" Gyphie cried.
"What on earth is going on here!?" Nurse Joi shouted, Takeshi turning to look at her.
"We found the source of your electricity problem, Nurse Joi," Takeshi said, motioning towards Pikachu. "She was chewing on the wires and must've gotten to the main wires leading to the power generator."
"You made a pregnant lady run all this way for this!? You oughtta be ashamed of yourself! Come with me this instant!" Nurse Joi cried, grabbing Takeshi by the ear and dragging him away. Some of the trainers laughed at this display of punishment, others waiting to see what Gyphie would do about this Pikachu.
"Rattata, quick attack!" Gyphie called out to her PoKéMoN. Rattata sprung away from Pikachu, soon charging back towards her. Pikachu sprung up into the air, Rattata crashing into the wall instead. Gyphie gasped as Rattata seemed to be KO'd from this turn of events, sighing as she looked around for her other PoKéMoN.
"Charmander… Char… Char…" Charmander gasped, having finally caught up with Gyphie and the others. He held up the missing PoKéBall, Gyphie smiling as she took it.
"Charmander, use flamethrower on that Pikachu!" Gyphie cried, Pikachu glaring at Charmadner. The frightened PoKéMoN's eyes grew wide as the Pikachu glared at him, shaking his head as he opened his mouth to do as his master ordered. All that managed to come out was a cloud of smoke, Charmander blinking as this happened.
"Oh no! You used all of your energy by running!" Gyphie said, several trainers laughing at this. Pikachu smiled triumphantly, at least this was before something came and rammed into her back. Pikachu flew forward and skidded on the ground, placing her left hand on the ground and having the rest of her body slide past her left hand in such a manner that it turned her entire body in the other direction. Behind her was a Pidgey, freshly healed with a few bandages on its left wing.
"Pidgey! Why are you flying with your broken wing!?" Gyphie shouted at the bird PoKéMoN, who ignored this. Pidgey flew towards Pikachu, the rodent having little time to react before being hit again. She sailed in the air, soon landing on her head and doing a few backwards somersaults before coming to a stop.
"Now's my chance!" Gyphie smiled, looking at the ball she had taken from Charmander.
"PoKéBall, go!" Gyphie cried, throwing the ball at Pikachu. It bounced off of her head, the ball opening up as Pikachu turned into a ball of red light and was zapped into the ball. For a few moments, the ball shook, the button on the front glowing bright red. The glow soon faded away as the PoKéBall locked, signifying that Gyphie had caught the Pikachu.
"YIPPIE! I caught Pikach--" Gyphie's victory was cut short with a newspaper to the face, a very angry Nurse Joi on the other end of said newspaper.
"People are trying to sleep! Have some respect!" Nurse Joi exclaimed, Gyphie crumbling to the floor. Charmander blinked, Gyphie smiling as she reached out and grabbed her new PoKéMoN, holding the ball in her hands. Rattata eventually got up off of the floor, shaking her head and feeling a bit disappointed that she didn't help in capturing Pikachu at all. Pidgey landed on the ground, having tired out its wing already, hopping over to Gyphie.
"Sorry, Nurse Joi, but I caught Pika--"
"I don't care! You woke up the entire center and put a hole in my wall!" Nurse Joi shouted angrily, Gyphie gasping.
"No! I didn't do that it--"
"I'm sorry, I really shouldn't yell like that. I'm such a terrible person," Nurse Joi said, her eyes tearing up. Gyphie blinked, arching a brow as she was quickly reminded of Nurse Joi's current situation, her eyes falling on the infamous baby bump.
"Oh, right…" Gyphie murmured.
"Here, come with me young lady. And you too, Pidgey! I'll make up for being so cruel!" Nurse Joi sobbed, picking Pidgey up off of the floor. Gyphie got up herself, her and her PoKéMoN following Nurse Joi down the hallway.
The small group soon met in the lobby, Gyphie freaking out just a bit as she saw a KO'd Takeshi on the floor of the lobby. It appeared that he had gotten the wrath of the pregnant nurse, the poor man's body twisted and contorted into a position that Gyphie thought was impossible, not just for men, but for the human body period. She laughed nervously, Nurse Joi holding out her hand to her.
"Let me take your PoKéMoN for you and get them ready for your travels tomorrow!" Nurse Joi said, a bit happier now. Gyphie handed her PoKéBall to Nurse Joi, a bit reluctant as she had just captured Pikachu, but she knew the nurse would take good care of her. Charmander and Rattata followed Nurse Joi as she took them into the back of the center to be treated, Gyphie walking over to Takeshi and squatting down next to him.
"Er, Takeshi-kun..?" Gyphie poked Takeshi, getting no response from him.
"Oh well… I guess he'll be out for a while."
