All right, so Team Plasma's even less PETA-like than before, but why waste a good joke by only using it once?
Roxie was standing outside her Gym, her bass left safely on the stage inside and guarded by the other band members. She was speaking to three people wearing black Team Plasma uniforms, attempting to get some kind of story out of them. Rosa nearly turned around and headed home right then. After all, she knew better than to get involved in Team Plasma's plans. But Nate dragged her forward as the Gym Leader started talking.
"So you're the Team Plasma I heard about," Roxie said, her critical blue eyes moving from one operative to another, never resting, seeming to be searching their very souls. "What do you want?"
The ninja-dressed man stared back, catching and holding the girl's stare. "Two years ago," he began, selecting his words carefully, "I made banana pudding -"
"Wrong story!" one of his friends hissed, and the first man corrected himself.
"I mean, two years ago, we were betrayed by the one we respected as our king. Just when we were about to win the war, that stubborn brat and her idiot brother got in our way. He chose them over us, and his Zoroark ate my banana pudding! So our previous conquest ended in failure. But what we're doing here, Gym Leader, is only Phase One of our new master plan!"
And he shoved her aside as he tried to move past her, but was cut off by a very loud voice coming from somewhere nearby.
"Leave her alone, you freaks!"
Hugh skidded to a stop, barely missing Nate, Rosa and Roxie. He pulled a Pokeball from his belt, staring down Team Plasma. "Leave the Gym Leader alone," he repeated through his teeth. "I'll fight, too."
Roxie looked confused. There was no other description for it: one eyebrow went up, the other down, her head tilted to the left, and her lips pressed together as she tried to figure out what this weird kid was doing. Rosa understood that feeling far too well.
Hugh turned to the other boy, knowing Rosa wouldn't want to assist. "Hey, you! Nick, wasn't it? Come on, help us kick butt."
"I'll hold the camera!" Rosa announced before Nate could answer, snatching it out of his hands.
Thinking that perhaps following Rosa wasn't the best idea after all, Nate had no choice but to join Hugh and Roxie in their fight. It couldn't be that difficult...
After Team Plasma was defeated, they scattered, but Hugh and Roxie quickly gave chase. Rosa seemed to realize that she and Nate would have to join in, and they followed behind at a slow, sad pace. It was on the way that Nate finally managed to put into words what he had been wondering since the very first day.
"Why are you friends with that guy, anyway?" Nate asked, and Rosa shrugged.
"It's complicated," she admitted, getting down to tie her shoe. "But don't worry. Hugh's actually pretty nice, deep down."
"How deep?" Nate questioned, and Rosa laughed nervously.
"It's there. Trust me."
Nate turned on his camera, preparing to show off his star. "Can I ask the future Champion for a bit of her backstory?"
Rosa fidgeted and looked away. "I'm not entirely sure I even want to be Champion."
"Come on. For the film."
It was down to this. She should have known he'd play this card. "Well, I guess a little backstory wouldn't hurt. It was around five years ago. I'd seen Hugh around town before then, of course, but he was a year ahead of me in school and I'd never really interacted with him until that day. I'm me, I was still having a bit of trouble not running away from people of any age. I had just discovered that I'm much calmer when I have something in my mouth, and lollipops have always been my favorite candy, so my mom bought me a big one that day and set me loose in the park."
"And how did you meet Hugh?" Nate asked, waving her on as the camera recorded.
"I'm getting there," Rosa said, apparently oblivious to the camera now, walking normally as she spoke and searched for Team Plasma simultaneously. "I found Hugh and his sister about twenty minutes later. She was crying, and he was vowing revenge, that sort of thing. Naturally, that got me interested, so I offered her a lick of my lollipop."
"After you had already left your spit all over it."
"I was ten! Anyway, he started yelling at me, she started crying harder, and I was too confused about everything so I just started sucking on my candy again and tried to tune it all out. And then Hugh gave me a black eye, and we've been friends ever since."
Nate paused in his searching to stare. "He blacked your eye, and you became his best friend?"
"I told you it was complicated," Rosa reminded him. "But that's not really the whole story. Actually, I locked myself in my room for about two weeks and hid from everything. But then his mom made him give me a whole bouquet of little lollipops as an apology gift and he promised to be my bodyguard from then on, so I figured I could forgive him."
Nate clicked off the camera as they reached the entrance to town. "Think they managed to find them?"
Rosa sighed. "Probably not. Come on. The sooner we find Team Plasma, the sooner we can put it behind us."
Sure enough, that was when they heard Hugh's voice, only barely quieted through distance. They found him cornering Roxie, who seemed less interested than she should have been. Dead leaves crunched under her boots as she tried to get past him, but Rosa knew her friend too well, and knew that the poor Gym Leader didn't stand a chance.
"You had them, and you let them get away?" Hugh growled, his furious eyes locked onto Roxie's. "What came over you?"
Rosa flinched as the sound of Hugh's voice cut through the air, but Roxie didn't seem to be afraid. Instead, she started off again, as if determined to find Team Plasma again and make up for her previous mistake.
"Don't question my bad decisions," she said, as if it didn't bother her at all, and more crunching ensued as she trotted over to where a grunt waited for her. "Besides, letting them go just gives us another chance to kick their butts."
Hugh gritted his teeth. "Wonderful girl," he said, watching her go. "Either I'm going to kill her or I'm beginning to like her."
Nate opened his mouth, about to comment on something, but Rosa shook her head as Hugh turned back to them. "Trust me, Nate. You don't want to do that when he's in this mood."
Hugh pretended he didn't notice either of them until right that second. "Come on, Rosa. There's probably more of them waiting."
"Sorry again for letting him go," Roxie said, watching carefully as Hugh, Nate and Rosa gathered up the other Team Plasma grunts. "I didn't think he'd run after I beat him in battle."
"Well, we've got him now," Hugh said, much less angry with Roxie now that Team Plasma had been captured again. "Now what do we do with them?"
"Let us go?" the female grunt suggested hopefully. "We were only following orders, after all. We won't bother Virbank City again."
The four young teenagers all thought it over, but the grunts took their chance to escape. Roxie didn't seem to mind much, though, and surprisingly, neither did Hugh.
"One of them said something interesting," he said, looking at Nate and Rosa in particular. "They were talking like Team Plasma was going somewhere by ship. Castelia City has a port or twelve, we should check there next. Or at least warn the Gym Leader, see if he or she can stop them."
"Castelia's Gym Leader met the old Team Plasma two years ago," Roxie stated, running her hand through her hair. "He might be able to handle things, though I'm not stopping you three from going anywhere."
"Are you going to warn him about this?"
Roxie thought it over, then shook her head. "Nah. He can handle it. I'm just going to find my dad and see if he can take you to Castelia."
"Us too, right?" Nate asked, and she laughed.
"Of course. Then he won't pick on me for asking just for one boy." She looked back at Hugh. "Coming, Qwilfish?"
"I guess I've got nothing better to do now."
And they both broke into a run, trying to see who could find the captain first. Nate followed behind them, once more dragging a reluctant Rosa.
"Come on," he begged as she put all her weight into not being dragged. "The sooner you get your next badge, the sooner our journey will be over."
Rosa couldn't help it. She laughed. "I can't argue with that logic, can I?"
