Pokemon Ranger Shadows of Almia- Darker Shadows
Wow, I can't believe it's been a year since I last posted a chapter. I'm sorry if I kept you waiting but fortunately I'm back on track. Let's see what prom brings to our heroes.
I do not own Pokemon or any of it's characters.
Chapter 4: We all make PROMises.
The afternoon of Prom day, just after one day internship the boys got together to get ready for the main event of the day. They left everything they needed in the cave and went to ascencion square to talk a bit before getting dressed. The girls were doing their makeup and hair done so Keith and Chris were cheering Kellyn up so he could tell Rythmi how he feels.
"Do you seriously expect me to tell her for you?" Chris said to Kellyn. "I mean, we're friends but that is something you have to do on your own."
"Yeah, dont be ridiculous man... Just tell her!" Keith added.
"I can't." Kellyn told miserably. "What if she laughs at me or she doesen't feel the same way?"
"She won't, besides, if she does, we will be here for you." Keith told him which a smile. "You won't end up like Mr. stone heart here."
"Real funny Keith" Chris said with a distant expression. "Let's go get ready, or we'll be late."
Chris's Cave
"You were right Kellyn, it is nicer to get ready here, there is more space, privacy and I love the set of mirrors Chris got installed here." Keith told his friend.
"Yeah, it's confy."
"Just look at these!" Keith said flexing his arms and chest. "No wonder how Kate could resist these guns!"
"Maybe she's just on crack". Chris said as he entered the cave wearing nothing but a towel. "Let's get dressed already."
"Had a good bath, prom Grinch?" Kellyn told his friend.
"Yeah, move Keith." Chris moved Keith from the mirror so he could see his reflection, then he continued talking. "We don't have a lot of time, this thing starts in 15 minutes."
"Shit!" Both Keith and Kellyn said at the same time.
The three of them proceeded to put their tuxedos on, and talked as they got ready.
"We had a really great time at one day internship, we met a lot of rangers and Kellyn even met a Munchlax that wanted to be his partner Pokemon!" Keith said, adjusting his tie. "Did you have fun at yours? How was the Union like?"
"Well, it was interesting, I learned a lot too, and I even heard there was a Salamence nearby, maybe I'll have the opportunity to capture it and let it become my partner Pokemon." Chris told his friends. "And on the way back I went to the Altru building to check something my parents wanted me to. I met the actual board of directors and Blake Hall himself, you know, boring business stuff."
"Yeah, sound boring, at least you almost had the opportunity to meet your favourite Pokemo..." Kellyn got interrupted by the sound of the bell, meaning all the students had to meet at the lounge before the actual prom, so they could arrive with their dates and get pictures taken.
"SHIT!" The three of them said as they ran towards the lounge.
The Lounge
"Thank Arceus! We got here on time!" Kellyn said.
"Yeah, we barely made it." Keith told as he sat on a coffee table.
"Umm... guys?" Chris said.
"What?" They asked.
"You may want to look to your left."
They boys did as they were told and almost choked on their own saliva when they saw their dates.
Kate wore red cocktail halter dress, with blue heels and sapphire necklace and earrings. Rythmi was wearing a white strapless dress whose "skirt" part was entirely made of gracideas and wore pearl earrings and beige stilettos. After a couple of compliments, both guys put the corsages in each girl's wrist and proceeded to take couples pictures. The rest of the night was fun but sort of normal. Keith and Kate were as intense as they could be, they danced, and talked nonstop. Kellyn was nervous about telling Rythmi how he felt and Chris was with everyone and with no one at the same time.
After a while of dancing like crazy, everybody was tired and sat in some lounge chairs, and talked about nonsense, just having a good time.
"You know, ever since I saw you, I thought you were really amazing, but I never had the guts to tell you." Keith said to Kate, his eyes shining with a bright, innocent light that could only be found in someone who is being completely kind and honest. "I really like you, and it would be amazing if we were to be together when we are official rangers."
"You don't have an idea of how much I have been waiting for you to say that, you red-headed idiot." She answered. Then the DJ started playing a slow song. "Would you dance with me?"
Keith just winked at her and stood up. Kellyn stared at Rythmi, and just when he was about to tell her something, Isaac, who surprisingly managed to keep his head out of the books for one night, asked her to dance with her, she grinned to Kellyn and accepted.
"Oh man!" Kellyn said. "Just when I was about to tell her how I feel." He had a sad look in his eyes, just like the one Chris showed whenever he looked at the picture of the girl in his cave. "Why would she even like me? I'm not special at all."
As he said those words, Chris got angry and snapped at Kellyn.
"Shut it, you idiot!... I'm sorry, but I can't stand to see you feel sorry for yourself when you don't have any idea of how lucky you are, she is dancing with Isaac to make you jealous, you can see it by the way she looks at you. She looks at you the way I always wanted Darcy to look at me." He hesitated for a moment, and then he continued. "Look, I also thought that I was not worth it, but maybe, if I had been a little more confident, she would have fallen for me, and now I live wondering what would have been if I was braver. You are a really great guy, and you seem to really care about her, so don't make the same mistake as me, or you will regret it forever." Just then his purple eyes lighted up just for a fraction of a second, but Kellyn did not notice. "Look, you have to be brave, you do have a chance with her, so go and tell her, I know you can, and deep inside, you know it too."
Just then Kellyn had a sudden rush of braveness not typical of him, like what Chris had told him was an absolute truth, he couldn't be wrong, just as a Squirtle could not evolve into a Charizard. He got up and started to walk towards Rythmi, then he stopped and looked back at Chris. "You are also a great guy, and a great friend. You still have a chance with her you know, or with anyone you want, you just have to work on it." He then left and asked Rythmi to dance with him.
"I am working on it." Chris said as he took out a black and purple colored styler from his pocket. "I sure am." He then put the styler back in his pocket, got up, and went for a drink.
Just as the song ended, and while the weird rush of braveness was still working on Kellyn, he started dancing with Rythmi again, while they talked.
"How come you wanted to dance with me?" She said, smiling.
"Why wouldn't I? You look amazing by the way."
"Thanks, you too." Rythmy blushed.
"Seriously, you're the prettiest girl here, you're brave, smart, funny and cute, and I want to be with you." He got closer to her and leaned a bit. "Not just for this dance." And then, just like that, he kissed her softly in the lips. For a moment Kellyn felt the rush of braveness leaving his body and mind, but it didn't matter, because he was with Rythmi, and for those few minutes, nothing else mattered.
Meanwhile, just a few meters away near the stairway, Chris leaned against the wall, looking at his friends. "You're welcome Kellyn... Man, they all look so happy it almost makes me feel bad to do this... almost." He then proceeded to go down the stairs, towards the basement. He walked down the stairs and found himself at the door of Mr. Kinkaid's lab, he tried to get in but the door was locked. He didn't look annoyed, he just smiled in an arrogant way. "Gastly." His eyes glowed a bit like they sometimes did and immediately a couple of Gastly appeared and tried to attack Chris. Again, he just laughed and took out a black and purple colored styler. "Do mi biding." He launched the capture disc, creating not a blue, but a purple capture line around the Pokemon. When the capture was completed, the Gastly looked like hypnotized. "Open that door for me please." The Gastly did as they were told, then they came back to their senses and left. "Disappointing, the rock did its work but they still get released after they do what they've been told." He went inside the lab and started looking around the different papers Mr. Kinkaid and Isaac had left. "Oh, so this is it. Interesting, they used stylers for the initial study for their work. And here is it!" He laughed in a way that made him look evil and crazy. "With this, my design will be complete and I can proceed. Well, phase one starts tomorrow, I better get working on it, this graduation ceremony surely will be the remembered foreve... Hey, I didn't expect them to have this so fast. Everything is going better than I expected." He took another look at the CD he just had found, labelled "Incredible Machine preliminary design.", copied it into another disk, and left the room exactly as he had found it.
An hour later, just as prom was getting to its end and everybody was sent to their dorms, Kellyn, Ryhtmi, Chris, Keith and Kate gathered in the lounge, saying their goodbyes. The boys kissed their girlfriends good night and watched them go to their dorm. Then Keith and Kellyn took out a bottle of Vodka they had hidden in a trash can and looked at Chris.
"Cave time?" Both of them said at the same time.
"It's our last night at Ranger School, why not?" Chris answered.
They walked towards the cave and took a seat in the lounge chairs, poured a bit of vodka in their glasses, added juice and started talking.
"Chris, are you okay?" Kellyn asked.
"Yeah, you looked upset and left prom." Keith added. "Is something bothering you? We didn´t ignore you too much did we?"
Chris looked at his friends and gave them a friendly smile. "Of course not, I just got a call from my parents and had to take it."
"But you were gone for almost an hour." Keith said.
"They wanted me to look for something on my laptop, fix some problems with the credit card, that sort of thing, I tried to get out of it but it was urgent." Chris responded. "Besides, you looked really happy, I did not want to ruin that." He looked away from them and stared at the ceiling.
"There is that look again." Kellyn noticed. "You always have that look when anyone talks about love. I know you told us what happended. But seriously, you could get any girl you want. Why are you so stubborn?"
"It's just that sometimes it is hard to see other people have that kind of happiness, but don't worry, I'm very close to making my dream come true and..." He regained his pose. "Let's not ruin our last night talking about this. Let's have some fun."
"It is not our last night, idiot." Keith said. "We are still going to be friends after we graduate!"
"Of course!" Kellyn added.
"Let's make a promise, even if we go separate ways from here, we will always be friends." Keith said raising his glass.
"I promise." Kellyn and Chris said at the same time. Chris had a guilty look in his face for a moment, but the other two didn't notice.
The boys kept talking all night about how they expected their lives to be after graduating, what Pokemon they liked and pretty much everything else they could think of. That was until Keith fell asleep on the couch.
"Poor guy, vodka doesn't agree with him." Chris said.
"Yeah, he is out." Kellyn added. "Hey, Chris."
"What up?"
"I wanted to thank you for tonight."
"What for?" Chris asked.
"Giving me the courage to tell Ryth how I feel." Kellyn said. "I would not have done that without your help. You are a really good friend."
"Thank you, it was nothing."
"It was for me. You really gave me courage, and I am sorry for saying this again, but you do have a heart Chris, and a big one. You care about your friends, you take care of them. So yeah, you are not a saint, and you've had your heart broken once. That doesn't make you heartless, it makes you human."
"Maybe I want to be more than just human." Chris answered.
"Or maybe you just need to give yourself one more chance. You are a great person, and someone will notice sooner or later." He smiled at his friend and gave him a hug. "You just have to be patient. Now come on, let's go to sleep."
"Thank you, Kellyn." Chris said to his friend with a smile as he took Keith to the dorm. Chris stood up, and looked at his shining black stone. "And I hope you don't hate me after tomorrow." After that, he went to sleep.
What Happens Next?
Wow, it has been a year already. Tell me how you like the story now please!
So, Kellyn is in love, Chris is not who he says he is, and Keith is... well, he is just Keith. If you think you found out things in this chapter wait until next one! More things are coming our heroes' way and I can tell you that graduation is going to be an event to remember!
Until next time- Lucemon.009
