Chapter 3: The Reunion

At this point, everyone in the theatre was on their feet. Every single part of the song had clearly been practiced to perfection, but the crowning jewel was Atticus. To say he thoroughly shocked the room was an understatement. He appeared to be playing two riffs simultaneously, and his fingers seemed to have mind's of their own. Despite this, his face was kept totally calm. While he practically span around the stage (in fact, Bonnie was sure she saw his feet leave the floor and hang in midair) his face remained perfectly still. By the end of the song, he was grinning like mad, but looked as if all he had done was go for a light jog. Even the strange people next to Serena had stood up by the end. Unquestionably, they qualified to the next round.

As the band were heading back to their rooms (also within the Shell), Ash and the others were suddenly caught in a whirlpool of fans, begging for autographs. The Press, in particular, as well as many other famous performers, seemed to be the most aggressive in trying to get a picture. Despite the chaos that ensued, Ash could hear Clement complaining. "It's typical," he yelled, not breaking the noise of the crowd, "Rockstars create so much buzz but don't really know much about the real-"

"Shut up!" Bonnie screeched.

Ash was determined, however, to get to Atticus. He vaulted an Electabuzz, dodged past three Palpitoads, and ducked past a very familiar pair with blue and purple hair, with two companions, one yellow and the other blue. Pikachu clinged on for dear life. Serena attempted fruitlessly to pull Ash back, with cries of "Are you sure you know him? It's really unlikely you do!" But at last, Ash got to the very front of the crowd. He could see all of Shockbuster, Decidueye looking amazed at the crowd. As they slowly tried to get through, Ash took his chance.

"Atticus! It's me!"

Against all odds, Atticus heard Ash over the kerfuffle. He stopped, looked around, and saw the ten-year-old and his Pikachu.

"Ash!" he yelled, immediately dashing over. The crowd stopped and fell silent. Why was he talking to this nobody? The others got to the front to see the duo participating in what was the most complex secret handshake ever.

"How have you been?" Atticus said hoarsely, (his voice was still sore from the performance) "I see you got a Pikachu. Did you finally become a trainer?"

"Yup!" Ash said cheerfully, as if this was a normal conversation, one not being watched by millions across the world. Bonnie looked flabbergasted. "Ash? You know Atticus Kalo?"

"So, you finally did it!" Ash continued, "You always said you'd be a famous singer, and look at you now!"

Atticus smiled. He looked about a few years older than Ash, and they seemed to share that glow of optimism. At this point, the other band members decided to see what their band leader was doing. Atticus, not recognising their confusion, turned yet again to Ash.

"Oh, yeah, you probably haven't met the others. Let's see, you've got Magnezone on drums" (Magnezone whirred happily) "My good friend Decidueye"(The owl Pokémon hooted) "and, of course, Megan."

The girl who was on keyboard stepped forward and waved. She had blonde hair, green eyes, and like her other band members looked rather tired after their performance.

"Come on, I'll take you to our rooms. Is it just you?" Atticus asked.

"Ah! No!" Ash said, as if he had just remembered the others existed. He beckoned them over, and they started to leave. The crowd exploded yet again, but this time it took no time at all to get them all out of the Shell. As they came up to Shockbuster's house (also within the confines of the great purple wall) Bonnie looked as if she was about to faint. At long last, she asked,timidly, "H-how did you perform two riffs at once?"

Atticus, however, looked as if he were dying to hear someone ask him that question, as with a "Follow Me!" he strode into his room and opened the case he was carrying on his back. Inside was his guitar, still shining brightly. For a second they all stared, until Ash finally pointed out the obvious. "It doesn't have any strings!"

Atticus was beaming. The conversation was going exactly as he thought it would. "Yeah, I had to get rid of them. Wasn't enough room" he said, nonchalantly. Clement attempted to reason with Atticus, "But even if you did do that, which admittedly, would allow for more complex chords, how did you make it do so much at once?"

"Simple" Atticus replied. He put his hand up to his ear, and pulled out what looked like a single earphone. "I linked the guitar to my brain."

This appeared news to Megan too, who, seemingly used to advances like this, smiled. "You could have at least told us before you plugged that into your brain."

"But it's not plugged in, is it?" Clement responded, "it just reads your brainwaves.

But how?"

It worked like this. The pod in Atticus' ear detected what he wanted the guitar to do. It then relayed this information to the guitar, which changed its mode accordingly.

"I had to do an awful lot of programming to get everything I would ever need and more into there." Atticus finished, patting his grand creation. After a while, Ash and the others had to go back to the Shell, but were welcome to return anytime. As they returned, however, Serena saw the purple haired man from earlier run off." What is it? "Bonnie asked.

" Nothing, I just forgot something"Serena lied.

As she paced back, she looked around to see the others disappear, then followed the purple man, staying out of sight. Around the corner were the three others; they each looked expectant for something. At that point, Serena looked down. Pikachu was there too, listening silently.

"I must say," the blue haired one began, "You really have annoyed them this time."

"Indeed" replied Purple, "and they have no way of knowing that it either me, or you three, had any hand in it."

"Good," Yellow cutted in, "Because for a while I was rather worried. It is, of course, our lives on the line, isn't it?"

Purple nodded. "Worry not. The enemy still believe you are in the forest. Jogging Ash's memory was the first step in stopping this scheme."

As they ended their conversation, Serena and Pikachu both began to creep back, though not before hearing:

"You know, while they may be trying to kill us,"

"Yes?"

"You must admit... The Vainhearts do have style."