Renny: The filler was kinda nice, if anyone else actually liked it as well. Plus, we get to meet Hoopa, who is quickly becoming less of a weird pokemon and more of a I've-never-had-it-but-I-really-want-it pokemon.
Green: You have far too many of those.
Renny: One of them is Goodra, though I have no idea why . . . maybe it's because I don't know if Rain Dance'll work, and I can never seem to find a rainy spot quick enough to level a Sliggoo up. Oh well.
Green: It's Goldenrod now, right?
Renny: Yep- and just about three or four new pokemon for these two. Toni gets more new ones. Actually, now that I think about it, the majority of pokemon I have in SS and HG evolved fairly quickly. So, the evolutions in-story are gonna be really, really strange and random.
Green: We never even saw Twin's in Redemption and it's the same here, what's the big deal?
Renny: There is none, apparently. Disclaimer!
Green: Renny doesn't own pokemon.
Renny: On with the show!
OOOOOO
Goldenrod city.
Home to one of the largest Department stores, besides the one in Hoenn obviously, and a fairly large city itself at that.
Even if Lumoise city was still the biggest.
It was also home to the second-largest Game Corner, otherwise known as a child-friendly casino. The largest Game Corner was, in fact, the one in Celdadon city, Kanto. That one had been the first ever built to actually allow anyone in (besides criminals, obviously) and was also one of the biggest on the entire planet.
The Goldenrod city Game Corner was a little smaller, but no less extravagant than the Celadon one. It got the latest games first, like a newer one called Voltorb Flip, which was apparently one of the most frustrating gambling games on the planet.
Green didn't understand how. He always won, and always managed to get himself banned because he kept winning at the 'Impossible Game'. He didn't even use his powers.
And the Goldenrod Game Corner was exactly where Toni was currently dragging him.
"Seriously, you're gonna pull my arm off, stop it." he said, half-heartedly.
"Oh come on, you love casinos!" Toni exclaimed.
"I keep getting chucked out of them, you mean."
"How does a twelve year old get chucked out of a casino?" Nameless asked.
"With alarming ease." Green answered flatly.
"He got chucked out of basically every casino in Dubai!" Toni announced happily. Maybe a little too happily.
"How did you get chucked out of every casino in Dubai?" Ice demanded. "How did you even get in?"
"With. Alarming. Ease."
"Mama likes to gamble?" Tick asked, looking up at Green.
"Uh . . . kind of?" Green tried to hedge around it, but then Toni gave him a massive tug and he nearly dropped Tick as he stumbled. He glared at the back of her head. "Yes, I do."
"Is that good or bad?"
"Bad." Ice answered, drowning out Green's "No, not really."
Green glared at him.
"Why in the world are we even going to the Game Corner anyway?" Nameless asked.
"Because we ain't been to this one yet." Toni answered. "And besides, we'd probably end up here sooner or later- Green's got a damn casino-radar thing going on."
"Perks of being half Psychic?" Ice deadpanned.
"No." Green said defensively.
"I bet even if he wasn't a Deviant, he'd still have his casidar. Or . . . rasino? Um . . ."
"Toni, shut up!"
"Point is, I'd rather we just turn up here straight away and get the chucking-out over and done with." Toni went on anyway. "We can call Zo later and tell him he can add Goldenrod to the list."
"There's a list?" Nameless looked incredibly worried now.
"Sure there's a list we've gotten kicked out of Dubai New York Las Vagas Egypt Russia pretty much half of Mexico also Texas and I think some of Ireland too the list goes on and on." Sparkless told them.
"Are there even casinos in Russia?" Nameless frowned.
"Well, if there weren't I'd be incredibly worried." Green said.
"Unless you were on an acid trip." Toni said.
"I think I'd know if I was tripping balls."
"How would you know?"
Green was silent for a second. "The fact that you ask raises enough questions. What did you do?"
"Nothing you can prove."
Ice and Nameless were speechless.
"Mama, I think you have a problem." Tick announced.
"Eh." Green shrugged, not really that bothered. "It's fun."
"And besides, adding Goldenrod to the list isn't my only reason." Toni said, as they finally came to the Game Corner.
She let go of Green's hand and he pulled it back, sighing and rubbing it. Sheesh, she really had a grip . . .
"There's more than one reason?" Ice's eye twitched. "Why?"
"The prizes." Toni explained, pointing at the Game Corner like that said everything. "I'm absolutely shit at this crap, but if Green works his magic in there, we'll get basically get nine thousand odd coins in four hours. Three if he doesn't have any breaks."
"That's not even possible, how-"
"Dude, why are you still asking that?" Green sighed. "We've done enough weird stuff already, me getting a load of coins in a small amount of time is absolutely nothing."
"This is far from nothing!"
"Right, let's go!" Toni called, marching towards the doors.
The bouncer stopped them almost instantly, and for a few horrifying seconds Green thought the rules of Game Corners had been changed and you couldn't get in unless you were an adult.
"Passes, please." the bouncer said.
Oh, for fuck's sake.
"Passes?" Toni demanded. "Since when do Game Corners need passes?"
"Since last year. Drunk people kept stumbling in, attracted by the pretty lights and such." the bouncer explained.
"You're likening drunk people to Venomoth?" Green frowned.
"Yes."
Well okay then.
"I'm assuming, since you didn't know about the rule, you don't have passes." the bouncer said. "You can buy some for half a million in the Department store."
"WHAT!?" Green and Toni shouted.
"I'm kidding, they're only ten thousand."
"That's still way too much!" Toni snapped.
"With good reason, I assure you." the bouncer said, shrugging. "Now if you don't mind, I have a job to do. I can't waste time with a couple of broke kids."
You know what? No. Fuck this.
Green took a few steps forward and waved his hand almost lazily. His eyes flashed purple and the bouncer's eyes went slightly blank for a few seconds, then he straightened up and his eyes cleared.
"My apologies." he said formally. "If you had shown me the passes to begin with, I wouldn't have caused you any issues. Please, go right in."
And so they did.
"Did . . . did that actually did happen?" Nameless breathlessly asked.
"Did we just break into a casino?" Ice snapped incredulously. "We just broke into a casino?"
"Sort of." Green waved a hand in a fifty-fifty gesture. "I tricked him into thinking we'd shown him passes."
"Weren't you against this?" Nameless blinked.
"He pissed me off. Speaking of, Tick, don't resort to that if you can't get what you want. Just beat them up if you can help it." Green said.
"I think you're doing it wrong." Toni commented. "This is why you failed with Tiago."
"Tiago turned out fine."
"Tiago's a little shit."
Green couldn't exactly argue with that one.
They eventually came to the main room, where the action was taking place. It was bright and it was amazing, and already Green was getting twitchy fingers.
"Told you." Toni said, and Green shoved her.
"What exactly do you want anyway?" Ice asked, as they made their way through the crowd.
"Oh, they sell pokemon as prizes here." Toni told him, nodding to a prize board as they went by it. "I want that one."
They paused and looked to where she was pointing.
"A Dratini." Nameless said. "You . . . you want a Dratini."
"Dratini are awesome."
"Dratini are expensive!" Ice snapped.
"I can get you two, if I have three or four hours." Green considered. "If you just want one, then you'll have a Dratini in the next one or two hours."
"Sweet! So, where to first?"
"Hey what if we tried the slot machines those are always a good start right right right?" Sparkless giggled.
"Good idea, if we went to the Voltorb Flip I'd just get us kicked out even faster. We'll go from the slots to the roulette, and work our way up from there if I get bored." Green said. "Anyone have any idea where the slots are?"
"Try asking!" Tick exclaimed.
Always a good start.
Eventually they found the slots, and Green sat down and did his job- Toni's was basically just refreshments, which she did without complaint this time because she was gonna get a Dratini in less than three hours.
"How do you even do that?" Ice asked, gaping at Green after his fifth bonus in a row.
"I'm really good at casino stuff." Green shrugged, not taking his eyes off the screen. "Also, being half Psychic helps."
"You cheat?" Tick blinked.
"Not exactly. I can use Future Sight-" there was a ding and the clattering of coins as Green got another bonus. "-but not in such a way that I can actually see the future. Not yet anyway. But I can . . . kind of slow down the slots to see where they'll land if I pull the lever at a certain point."
"That doesn't make much sense." Nameless admitted.
"Not to you, but to me . . . well, it's hard to explain." Green said. He scooped up the coins and put them into the small bucket- which was rapidly getting filled.
"I'll say." Toni laughed, coming back with some drinks and food. Sparkless squealed when he saw the amount of coins Green had gotten in their absence, and started ranting about how cool it was gonna be to have a Dragon on the team.
"Don't get too hopeful, we might not actually get one." Nameless scolded him.
"Stop being such a buzzkill this is gonna AWESOME do you know how powerful Dragonites are do you know how powerful Dragon types in general are do you do you?"
"Vaguely." Ice muttered. "But I know Ice Fang, so I can beat them up easy."
"Kingdra." Green promptly replied. "Water/Dragon. Ice attacks have no effect. Only Dragon and Fairy. Which, by the way, you can't learn."
Toni coughed. "Dragon Claw, Dragon Tail, Dragon Pulse . . . I'm pretty sure he can also learn Dragon Dance too." she listed. "Oh, and Outrage."
Green paused, letting the slots run for a little bit to build up.
" . . . Huh." he said. "Okay then. Guess we'll be asking Kiara for some help with Dragon moves then."
"Why?"
"She's got a Hydreigon."
Ice jerked back.
"He's not violent." Green assured him. "Just . . . really, really defiant. And offensive."
"That prat's lucky Electric attacks can't hurt him much." Toni nodded.
Green turned back to the slot machine and concentrated for half a second, and then pulled the lever- and got another bonus.
"Seriously, how do you keep doing that?" someone a couple of seats away demanded. "I haven't even gotten a single coin yet!"
"I'm lucky?" Green tried.
"But- actually, I've heard about this!" the person exclaimed. "It's this thing like in Kanto's Game Corner, where one of the machines is rigged to win easy, right? Can I try it?"
"Wait until I'm done, then you have a go."
Green got another bonus and the guy wailed pitifully.
"You should probably stop torturing him." Toni observed.
"I've been sitting here for an hour, I need something else to entertain me."
"Maybe it's time we went for the roulette then." Ice said.
"I'm okay with that plan."
The roulette's took some more time, because they were actually all chance- there was actually no way Green could 'slow it down'. Sure, he could probably cheat and use Confusion or Psychic to pull the ball into whatever slot he wanted, but where was the fun in that?
And by the time he got bored of the roulette, he'd almost gotten the goal- nine thousand.
Dratini probably didn't cost that much, but nevertheless, it was a good idea to have some extra just in case. Besides, some of the prizes were TMs- which was awesome because Green was pretty sure Shadow Ball and Ice Beam were two of them (AN: obviously Shadow Ball isn't one, but this is my story, my rules).
They wandered over to the Voltorb Flip, passing by the slot machines- and the guy who'd taken over Green's seat, wailing about how the thing wasn't working for him.
Well. He got points for trying at least.
They'd been in the Game Corner for two hours and forty-five minutes when Green finally managed to get their goal, and then some extra because he was on a pretty high level anyway.
"Dang kid, how do you keep doing that?" the operator asked.
"The dude wailing over the slots said the same thing." Green shrugged.
It wasn't an answer, really. With the slots, Green had been sort of cheating- but with the Voltorb Flip, it was pure luck (or skill, he wasn't sure which).
Green got a bunch more coins and decided to pack it in, because now the operator was looking slightly suspicious. Maybe he shouldn't have mentioned the slots. Oh well.
And then half an hour later, because the line for the prizes was kind of long, Green and Toni walked out of the Game Corner with one pokemon and several TMs.
oooo
Later that day, in their room in the pokemon centre, Toni stood frowning thoughtfully at the awkward-looking Dratini, who was coiled up on an armchair.
"Toni." Green called. "Stop staring at him. You're freaking him out."
"I'm trying to come up with a name." Toni retorted. "Shut up."
"Could you do it in a less creepy way, please?" the currently nameless Dratini asked warily.
"If I try thinking of a name for you when I'm not actually paying attention to you, I'll forget the name within seconds and it'll be like losing some sort of awesome gem- I got it!"
Everyone stared at her.
"Gemless!" Toni exclaimed, spinning around and grinning. "Perfect, right?"
"That makes less sense than Sparkless." Hopeless commented.
"You're called Hopeless." Lifeless pointed out. "I wouldn't comment if I were you."
"And you're called Lifeless, so the same applies."
"Yes, however, it makes sense for me."
"What do you want, a medal?"
"Guys, please." Nameless sighed.
"And here I thought they got along." Green said, raising an eyebrow.
Ice looked at him. "Where have you been for the past four or five weeks?"
"Excuse me . . ." the Dratini- or Gemless- spoke up. "Why is Gemless a good name for me? Just . . . wondering."
"It makes absolutely no sense and yet it does make sense anyway." Toni told him. "Welcome to my epic team, Gemless!"
" . . . Should I be worried? You don't have a Beedrill called, um, Needleless or anything, right?"
"How did you know that wow are you Psychic or something hey Green check if he's Psychic we might have one of those pokemon with the sub-types that don't get recorded how cool is that?" Sparkless said.
Gemless stared at him speechlessly.
"Yes, he's always like that." Green informed him. "Moving on."
"To what, exactly?" Twin demanded.
" . . . Something that doesn't involve Toni's shit naming skills?"
He counted himself lucky that someone knocked on the door at that very moment, because just about half the room was glaring at him at that point.
Green stood up and walked over (he could have easily opened it from the sofa, but whatever), checking the peep-hole.
He turned back and looked at Toni.
"You're not gonna believe this." he said.
"Is it Rena?" Toni promptly asked.
"What? No, she'd have just Teleported in and scared us all to death." Green shook his head, and opened the door.
An eighteen year old boy- or, well, young man to Green and Toni- stepped in, looking calm despite half the room being incredibly rare pokemon.
"Hi, you two." Ethan said. His Typhlosion- Axel- squeezed into the room after him.
"Ethan!" Toni cried happily, jumping up. " . . . What in the hell are you doing here?"
"You forgot to visit in New Bark." Ethan told her and Green. "Thought I'd come and correct that."
Several seconds passed.
"I'm being sarcastic." he said. "I wouldn't come all this way just because you didn't come and say hi. Though I'm still pissed at that. Go you."
"I can tell he's gonna real joy to be around." Ice muttered.
"Sometimes I get told I'm too sarcastic for my own good, Croconaw." Ethan shrugged. "Of course I'm a joy."
"And now he's Deviant too, perfect."
"Damn straight he's a Deviant." Axel said proudly. "I taught him everything about Fire. And then some."
"Axel is Ethan's partner- and obviously, Ethan's a Fire type." Green explained. "Which kind of doesn't really fit, but then again Kai's like super shy and he's a Fire type too."
"Types rarely ever fit personality." Ethan shrugged, sitting down on a random chair. "For example, you two. You're both Ghosts and yet you're somehow not cynical or total pranksters. Well, Green isn't anyway. I could be wrong, though."
"You are." Nameless agreed. "Unless getting us all soaked in a rainstorm doesn't count."
"That counts."
"Oh, good."
"So why are you here, then?" Green interrupted before the conversation could get drawn any further away from the original topic. "Because you already said it isn't to say hi."
"Oh, right." Ethan said. He sat up slightly and pulled three pokeballs out of his bag, and set them down on the table. "Rooke's here for a conference in Elm's place, and she took me along so I could run an errand for her- lazy Miltank- and here I am. Running the errand. For her."
"You can stop any time now." Axel told him.
"Of course."
"Is the errand to give us pokeballs?" Toni asked.
Ethan glanced at her. "Nope, it's to give you two pokemon. They got interested in you- mostly because of Toni's weirdness, if I'm honest." he explained. "Unfortunately, there's three of them, so obviously one of you is going to end up with two and the other'll end up with just the one. The trick would be to decide who gets who. Though I don't think that'll be an issue . . ."
"Why not?" Hopeless blinked.
"Mostly because the twins seem to like Toni the best, and Charlie's more interested in Green."
Green's eyes flashed purple and he perked up slightly. "Charlie as in the Eevee?" he asked. "The one that was climbing all over Rooke?"
"Correct, my little friend." Ethan nodded.
"Then I'm cool with that, he was cool."
"He and his cousins are insane!" Nameless exclaimed, somewhat fearfully. "Even compared to you two! Marco's not as bad, but still!"
"Charlie's pretty much the ringleader in any pranks they do." Ice grumbled. "Sven goes along with it because he's bored half the time, and Marco just does it because they're doing it."
"I like these Eevees." Toni announced. "I like them very, very much."
"Glad you think so." Ethan smiled. "I need to get back to Rooke in half an hour, and it'll take me ages to get to the conference hall- so I'll be leaving now, if you don't need me for anything."
"Wait." Ice said, raising a hand.
Ethan looked at him.
"If you're a Deviant too, how come you're not in this city of theirs?" Ice asked. "And why did you never speak to us?"
"He had a cover to maintain, Croconaw." Axel replied instead.
"That's the second question. What about the first one?"
Ethan considered that for a second, looking for the best way to answer. "To put it bluntly, I'm a liason officer for Johto and Kanto. Basically, I keep an eye on these two regions, so if anything stupid happens- like, say, those Team Rocket plebes from last year- I can report it to Neron and he sends in someone if he feels the need to."
"Ethan's kind of half the reason why we got put here." Green took up the explanation. "He's the one that descovered the thing with those Sovereign freaks-"
"Oh, is that what they're called?" Ethan said.
"-and some of the Psychics are the other half, since they detected Deviants here in Johto." Green finished.
"Congrats, you two got a mission that doesn't just require pure blunt force trauma." Ethan clapped sarcastically.
"Oh shut up, you're the least qualified for the liason thing but you're still here." Green snapped.
"Someone give this kid a medal."
"You know," Toni said. "They say sarcasm is the lowest form of wits."
"They've obviously never met me."
"Why are none of you normal friends?" Amethyst wondered. "I mean, no offence, but you all seem to insult each other at every oppertunity."
"Why be friends when we can be insulting friends?" Axel shrugged.
"Aren't you worried that someone else'll take your job?" Ice suddenly asked. "Those two weirdos have told us about the city, and even if it sounds cool, it must get boring. Being a liason officer for an entire region would probably seem way better."
"My job is secure." Ethan told him. "No one else wants it."
"Mostly because he has to stay in one region, and doesn't get to do any actual work." Toni stage-whispered. "It's boring as fuck."
"So, he's a paper-pusher." Hopeless summarised. "What Rena called a suck-up."
"Not me." Ethan said. "I'm just here because this is my home region and no one actually likes Johto. Also, for some reason, Kanto. It's hard work, managing two regions on my own, but apparently I'll be getting help in the future. That should be amusing."
"Weren't you supposed to be leaving?" Green asked.
"That eager to get rid of me, are you?" Ethan chuckled, standing up. "No matter. I'll see you around, kids. Well. If Elm let's me have some time off, that is. The dude doesn't seem to think his aids have lives outside of what we do in front of his face."
"That sounds . . . nice?" Gemless tried cautiously.
"Occasionally it's astoundingly offensive. Nice Dratini, Toni. He looks like he's gonna be a badass Dragonite- provided he doesn't die horribly, that is."
Ethan left, Axel following and sniggering under his breath, and left Gemless looking shellshocked.
"I . . . what?" he said.
"Don't take any notice, he's a weirdo." Green told him. "Now, let's have a look at these three."
He gestured and the three pokeballs opened up. Three Eevees appeared on the sofa, one them wearing what looked like a pair of Safety Goggles.
"Charlie," Ice sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Or, well, his . . . muzzle? Jaws? The space between his eyes? Whatever. "Why are you wearing those stupid things?"
"They're not stupid!" Charlie snapped. "They're awesome!"
He turned to Green and jumped onto the table, looking proud despite the fact that he was the smallest thing in the room (not counting Tick).
"You! Whatever your name is!" he exclaimed.
"Green." Green supplied.
"Right, Gree- wait, I thought your name was Tommy?"
"It's a fake name. We'll explain later."
Charlie looked at him for half a second and then nodded. "Right then. You're my new Trainer, and I don't care what you say, got it? Also I wanna be called Eon. No offence to Dad or Mom but Charlie just isn't awesome enough for me."
"Eon, like the Flareon?" Toni said.
Charlie gaped at her. "You watch Pokemon Underground too?" he demanded happily.
"Best pokemon-only anime on the planet." Toni nodded proudly.
Charlie looked at Green, who nodded and said he watched it too. The little Eevee squealed loudly.
"My new Trainer watches my favourite TV show YES!"
Well, at least that explained the Safety Goggles. Eon the Flareon wore goggles that looked incredibly similar to them. So, Charlie was now Eon- Green didn't mind, it was just one more pokemon named after a TV character.
"Also," Eon went on. "You might wanna invest in a Fire Stone at some point."
"We're not made of money." Green frowned.
"Find a Meowth and have them Pickup a Fire Stone. Simple."
"That was terrible pun." Nameless informed him.
"Terribly awesome, you mean!"
Okay, so, Eon seemed a little bit over the top. But then most Fire types were over the top (with the exception of Kai, as Green already stated) and it just helped to make them more passionate, so it didn't really matter. You know, if he wanted to be a Fire type.
So long as Eon didn't do too many stupid puns.
"Any name preferences for you two?" Toni asked Marco and Sven.
Sven made several gestures with his tail, his expression getting more excited as he continued gesturing.
Unfortunately, no one but Eon and apparently Ice and Nameless could understand him.
"He says-" Ice began, but Green interrupted by holding up a hand and concentrating on Sven.
-not entirely sure why but the team doesn't exactly seem cool at the moment, wait is that a Dratini holy crap-
Everyone but Toni and Sparkless was surprised.
"Congrats, you now have telepathy." Green told Sven. "So please, be careful what you think."
Sven looked at him and gestured, frowning. What's this kid on about, that's basically impossible unless he's-
"-Psychic?" Green suggested.
Sven stopped gesturing slowly, and finally realised that everyone could hear him.
. . . Holy hell, he said. This is new. And amazing.
"You're welcome."
You're psychic?
Toni answered, shaking her head. "Nah, he's Psychic. You know, like an actual Psychic type?" she said. Sven grinned.
Marco wasn't exactly looking at anyone, but he still managed to be appropriately and pleasantly surprised.
"W-wow . . . I can hear you clearly." he said softly.
This is awesome, I can actually talk to Marco without having Charlie- Eon, sorry- as a translator!
"I love how you're just taking this in your stride." Toni said, grinning back at the Eevee. "So, back to what I asked- any name preferences? Evolution preferences?"
This telepathy thing, Sven began. Can all Psychics do it?
"Yes." Nameless answered him. "As far as recent research shows, at least."
Then I wanna be an Espeon. No questions. Espeon. Sven almost started gesturing with his tail again, but then he stopped himself in time. Also, I don't care about the name- you can name me if you want to.
"S-same as Sven." Marco said. "But, uh . . . I wanna be an Umbreon. M-Mama said that Umbreon can use Screech as a kind of . . . radar thing, so . . . uh . . . yeah."
"In that case, I got some awesome names for you two!" Toni exclaimed. She pointed at Sven. "You can be Fearless. Because you seem awesomely fearless and you're acting like this is totally normal, so yeah."
Fearless, Sven said, testing out the new name. Fits for an Eevee- or, well, Espeon. I like it! I like you!
Toni giggled and turned to Marco. "And you . . . Sightless."
There was a few seconds of silence.
" . . . What?" Toni asked, looking around.
"That is a horrible name." Lifeless told her bluntly.
"Even compared to ours." Hopeless agreed instantly.
"You lot keep on about how I call pokemon names that make no sense, and now that I'm giving a name that makes sense, you're gonna stand there and say it's not good?" Toni demanded.
"Well, it's not that." Green said hesitantly. "It does make sense, sure . . . but isn't it a little cruel? I mean, you were able to justify Hopeless's name- and Lifeless does actually make sense because he's basically dead anyway. But Sightless? For a blind Eevee? Really?"
"Um."
They turned to Marco, who didn't notice the sudden shift in attention but most likely felt that everyone was looking at him. He shrank back warily.
"I-I don't mind the name." he went on shyly. "Really. I think . . . I-I think it's kind of cool, actually. It- it does kind of seem cruel, but it does fit- and if I do become an Umbreon, it'll be even cooler because, w-well . . . Umbreons are Dark types. They generally don't care much for using their eyes to see stuff, right? They use . . . use things like sonar or whatever, a-and become one with the darkness or . . . something. So it fits. For me right now and for me if I became an Umbreon."
He really does wanna be an Umbreon, Fearless agreed. We've got an aunt who's one, and she's pretty good at doing the sonar thing. It inspired him.
"But . . ."
"I like the name." Marco said, more firmly this time. "I want the name. Um. P-please."
"Sightless it is!" Toni called, before anyone could say otherwise. "Okay, we gotta look into getting you two to evolve . . . it's a friendship thing, right?"
"Umbreon is at night, and Espeon is during the day." Ice said, still looking slightly sour at the name Marco- Sightless- had been given.
"Can you do the mind thing to trick them into evolving?" Toni asked, turning to Green.
He blinked and considered it. Maybe, given enough time, but as far as he knew it hadn't really been done before. It wasn't like tricking the two Eevees into thinking it was night or day was the issue, it was how they would evolve to begin with.
He couldn't exactly fake emotion. He could influence it, maybe, but not completely.
"Maybe." he said. "I might need a few trial runs. Guys? Would you be willing to, well, be my test subjects? I don't think this has been done before."
I'm cool with that.
"W-what S- Fearless said."
And then the lights went out.
Someone shrieked, and it didn't take long to figure out that it was Hopeless- who felt incredibly embarrassed at that.
"This is not normal, correct?" Twin asked.
"Unless they're doing a drill, no." Green answered.
The backup lights came on, washing the entire room in a creepy, red light. Then an automated message came on the speakers, telling all people staying in the pokemon centre to go down to the lobby and to stay as calm as possible.
Also that it wasn't a drill.
"Well, damn." Ice said.
"Okay, let's go." Green told them, holding out his pokemons' respective pokeballs. He returned everyone but Tick and Eon, Tick because the little Togepi's ball had never been used, and Eon because . . . well, Eon kept dodging the ball and eventually Green just gave up.
Toni watched him in amusement for a few seconds and returned everyone but Sparkless, Fearless and Sightless. Green didn't know why she didn't return her two new Eevees, but whatever. Probably copying him for no good reason.
Several minutes later, he and Toni, along with their five pokemon, were down in the lobby with everyone else.
There weren't as many people as he'd thought, just a few Trainers scattered around with some pokemon by their sides. The nurse on duty at the moment was speaking to a few who probably had pokemon being healed, about how they shouldn't worry because the backup generator held enough power to keep the machines running for the next five or six hours- more than enough time to heal their pokemon.
Green should probably stop listening to people now that his telepathy was amazing.
But he did find out that the blackout- and the backup kicking in- was because of the Gym. It was having new light systems installed, and blackouts were expected when this happened.
Okay so, that pretty much implied that this happened far too often.
Green took out his DataGear and brought up the list, keeping it off the hologram mode because that would raise way too many questions. Toni leaned over, invading his personal space.
"Why're you not doing the hologram?" she asked.
"Because there's people around us." Green deadpanned. "I don't think it'd be normal if two kids with a holographic version of a PokeGear popped up. Questions would be asked. Anyway, I'm just checking the list, seeing if there's a Deviant or two in Goldenrod."
"Don't look like it." Toni mused, frowning at the screen. "Huh. I'd have kind of expected something to pop up here, I mean, it's the fucking biggest city in Johto right? So there's gotta be at least one Deviant."
"Well, there isn't." Green replied. "Just as well, I'd rather not spend ages in this city like we did in Violet and Azalea."
Toni looked at him.
" . . . Though in both cases we had very good reasons." he corrected himself quietly.
"Thank you." Toni said, almost icily.
There was a few moments of silence, and Green quickly decided to try changing the subject before Toni could Thunder Wave him or something.
"Hey, I don't wanna spend half the night in darkness." he said. "Think you could give them a recharge or something?"
Toni looked up at the lights. "Eh . . . probably. How would I get to, though? You're the one who keeps on about incognito, if I just offer my skills up like that-"
"Pretend you're some sort of tech genius." Green interrupted. "Just confuse her with enough techno babble and you'll be fine."
"I don't know any techno babble." Toni pointed.
Green blinked.
Eventually, they came up with an idea.
Toni wandered over to the counter and offered her 'expertise', and of course the nurse on duty was suspicious, because a twelve year old offering to fix the lights was weird in so many ways.
Green supplied Toni with as much techno babble as he could manage, trying not to confuse her too much with his telepathy, and eventually the nurse got so confused she just decided it would be easier to agree to Toni doing whatever rather than trying to figure out what in the hell she was saying.
How long's she gonna be? Fearless asked.
"Probably not too long, it's not like we're hacking anyone." Green shrugged. "Anyway," he went on, ignoring the startled looks he got from the three Eevees. "Sightless. You wanna be an Umbreon, right?"
"Uh . . . y-yes?"
"Well, now's as good a time as any to try and trick you into evolving." Green said. "It's dark out, so if I do manage to get you to evolve, most people won't bat an eyelid. Well, maybe they'll congratulate me or Toni or something, but it won't raise as many questions if an Eevee suddenly evolved into an Umbreon at night than if an Eevee evolved into an Espeon at night."
"I think I got that." Eon said. He paused. "No, it's gone."
Green sighed. "Basically, if Sightless evolves right now, it won't cause people to question their own existance or something."
"And we really really don't want that do we because the last time you made someone question their existance I think they kind of went nuts and then tried to commit suicide didn't they do that because I can't quite remember-"
"Yes, yes, thank you." Green waved him off. "You wanna have a go, Sightless?"
"Sure." the blind Eevee agreed.
They moved to a more sheltered spot, because Green wasn't entirely sure if anyone would notice him doing this and ask questions.
He gently touched the tips of Sightless's ears- it always helped to have physical contact, even though it wasn't always necessary, because it made the psychic connection a little bit stronger than it normally would have been.
Green concentrated on the moon and what he thought could probably make an Eevee evolve out of friendship. It was the best idea he had so far, so . . .
He waited for several seconds, still concentrating, but there was no rise in temperature that generally signified an evolution, and no gasps of wonder or anything.
He opened his eyes and Sightless still an Eevee. Oh well. It had been worth a try, and he could just have another go.
"I-I don't feel any different." Sightless admitted. "Do I look different? Um, do Umbreons have fur like Eevees?"
You're still an Eevee, Fearless told him.
Sightless slumped. "Aw . . ."
"Don't worry!" Eon exclaimed, nudging him. "You'll evolve at some point!"
"Yeah!" Tick agreed happily. "And I bet you'll look really cool as well!"
Okay, Green was gonna get diabetes if this carried on.
The backup lights flickered suddenly, and then the normal ones came on. Everyone in the lobby glanced up in confusion.
"That blackout didn't last very long." someone said.
"That girl went off to fix it, right? She must be good." another Trainer admitted.
I Knew You Were Trouble started playing on the speakers. The screaming Gogoat version.
Several people wailed and tried to cover their ears.
" . . . Wow, okay." Eon said. "I know you're crazy but I didn't think you were that crazy."
"It's even worse when you know what the Gogoat's actually saying." Green muttered to himself, as he watched the lobby descend into half-chaos. He turned to Eon. "Don't talk to me for a little bit, if I try replying to you and Toni at the same time, it'll get weird."
"I understood maybe three words."
"Mama's gonna use telepathy!" Tick explained.
Mama? Fearless repeated incredulously.
While Tick started explaining how, exactly, a human being- and a male at that- could be his mama, Green contacted Toni.
Toni, he broadcasted. Toni, hello. Yo. Toni. TONI. HELLO. ARE YOU EVEN-
Yes I'm here, Jirachi Christ, shut up!
He sighed. You've gone a bit too far this time. Actually, no, way too far. I think you've traumatised several people.
Good, no one appreciates the screaming Gogoat nearly as much as they fucking should!
Toni. Turn it off. Now.
But-
NOW.
Oh, fine, whatever. Be a spoilsport all your Mew-dammed life, then, see if I give a crap. Damn Psychics, always ruining my-
I can still hear you.
. . . Sorry not sorry BYE!
Green rolled his eyes and cut off the connection. Seconds later, Trouble the screaming Gogoat version was shut off and the entire room heaved a sigh of relief.
Wow, Jirachi, it wasn't that bad. Kind of.
" . . . and that's why Mama's my Mama." Tick finished, just as Green stopped concentrating on Toni.
"T-that's a weird way to . . . um, get a mom." Sightless frowned, one eye half-closed in confusion.
You gotta admit, it's basically effective, Fearless pointed out.
"That's a tale worthy of Pokemon Underground!" Eon cried. "It has love, it has affection, it has all the points that a loving parent-child relationship should have- it's perfect! I need to write to the anime people and tell them about this, maybe they'll do something with Team Moonblast."
"I doubt it." Green told him. "Toni's already written a letter suggesting they add in a Rotom to Team Deadswitch, but nothing's happened."
"Yet." Eon told him. "If they don't add a Rotom in, I'll have to ask why in the heck not- because Rotoms have both the types in that Team!"
That was pretty much the entire reason that Toni had wrote the letter to begin with. Also, she kind of wanted to see an anime-version of her partner- Rotom never actually did show up much on TV, anime or otherwise.
Speaking of Toni, she was coming back in now.
A few people thanked her for fixing the lights, and almost twice that amount of people glared at her for the Gogoat version of Trouble. Toni just ignored them and came back over to Green and the five pokemon.
"Why did you do that?" Green asked, the second she was sitting down. "You've made half the people in this room hate us now."
"It was funny." Toni shrugged.
"It kinda was." Eon agreed.
"I thought you liked me more, that doesn't mean you agree with her at every oppertunity." Green said.
"Eh."
"Did you try evolving Sightless or Fearless?" Toni asked Green.
"Just Sightless- if I tried Fearless, it'd cause chaos. More than the Gogoat." Green told her. "I did try it with Sightless, but obviously, it didn't work."
"A-at least you tried. That's better t-than what most people would have, uh, done for me." Sightless admitted.
"I sense a story." Toni said, with her usual amount of tact.
Basically put, no one wanted us purely because Sightless is, well, sightless, and I'm mute, Fearless explained. Any Trainers that did want an Eevee wanted Eon, but he flat out refused to go anywhere without us. That kind of led to a lot of shouting matches about why it wasn't morally right to make a living being go with someone because that someone just wanted a pokemon that could evolve into several other pokemon.
"I hated every one of them." Eon agreed. "So pushy, and they kept saying mean things about my cousins, too! Kept saying that Sightless would be useless in battle, and Fearless wouldn't be able to communicate properly and that'd have some effect on battle . . . we're still not sure how . . . so no one wanted either of them. But I won't go anywhere without Sightless and Fearless!"
"A-and we're grateful." Sightless said.
" . . . Wow." Green murmured sympathetically. "I have . . . no idea what to say to that."
"It wasn't that bad." Eon reasurred him. "After all, we saw you two- and got interested, cus you're weird and awesome. And it turns out you're even weirder and more awesomer, and you don't even care that my cousins are blind and mute!"
"Well, I think blindness might actually help with battles." Toni replied with a grin. "Illusions won't work on him, cus they're basically sight- and he can't even see them, but he can sense-smell-whatever the real thing and then beat it to a pulp. And since you wanna be a Dark type, you'll probably be my Ghost buster- and Ghosts sometimes use a lot of illusions. Also, Green gave Fearless telepathy, so there's no reason to think of that as something that can harm anything."
Hey, does this mean I can also talk to other humans? Fearless asked.
"Yep." Green nodded.
Sweet!
OOOOOO
Renny: I was gonna write some more, but then I realised I'd go over the limit I'd set myself. Well, kind of. Okay so basically I didn't want this getting too long.
Green: You didn't even realise you'd gotten so far until you saved it for safe-keeping!
Renny: Yes, I know, shut up. Anyway, Ethan makes his return- as the liason officer for Johto/Kanto, and as a very sarcastic Fire Deviant with Axel the Typhlosion as his partner. Also, that Dratini took me hours to win. I got very stuck into it, which is something I've never done before. Go me.
Green: You're an idiot.
Renny: Shut up. Also, I did say those three Eevees were gonna be important! Or . . . something along those lines. And Toni's naming theme doesn't exactly take into consideration the feelings of the pokemon she's giving them too- Toni's kinda like me, basically because she is me. She can't exactly tell what people (or in this case pokemon) are feeling until it's far, far too late.
Green: I think we all know that.
Renny: *rolls eyes* Read and review.