"Are you… Are you seriously reading that?"
Gary groaned inwardly as Sam giggled. He closed the magazine he was reading, and turned to her with an innocent look. "What?"
"Oh, don't look at me like that…" Sam grinned. "You were riffling through my backpack again, weren't you?"
Gary shrugged. "I just picked the magazine that was half way sticking out of your bag."
Sam rolled her eyes. "Riiight. The magazine that just happened to be at the bottom of my bag in the secret pocket, and I should know…"
He sweatdropped. "But it wasn't like I was looking for your diary or anything! Besides, what caught my attention was page seventy-four…" he flipped through the pages as Sam sat on the hospital bed, arms crossed. Gary paused, waiting for her to realize what he was talking about.
"Oh, no," Sam stuttered, a flash of realization in her eyes. "Don't-"
Gary smirked and read aloud. "What I like most in boys. Encircle all that apply," he laughed inwardly.
"No!" Sam screeched, trying to get out of her bed.
"'Has a great personality', 'has a nice smile', 'thinks I'm the best'," Well, that one applies to me already… Gary thought smugly. "Oh, and here's one you marked with a Sharpie. A thick Sharpie, I guess. 'Makes me happy'."
"GARY OAK YOU ARE SO IN FOR IT!!" Gary looked up and saw Sam glowering over him, hands bunched into fists.
Gary winced and closed his eyes, waiting for the wave of rage.
The door creaked open just as Sam pulled back a fist. "Oh!" the nurse poked her head in, looking shocked. "Am I disturbing anything?"
"Nah…" Sam replied, not missing a beat. "Just me about to knock the lights out of this guy right here for reading something he shouldn't have…"
"Oh," the nurse replied. "By the way, the doctor said you can be discharged now!"
Sam grinned hugely, forgetting her anger towards the poor boy in front of her. "I'm going to change!" she cheerfully grabbed her backpack and practically dove into the bathroom.
"So…" The nurse said quietly, as she tried to fix the bed. "How long have you two been together?"
"Wha-wha-what?" Gary asked, stuttering. "No, no, you got it all wrong…"
"Well, you two do look a little young, but maybe…" the nurse sighed. "Are you two married? Because I haven't heard a louder argument than the one you two had, and usually only married couples do that kind of thing-"
Gary gave her a stare. "I'm fifteen, Sam's fourteen. We couldn't get married even if we wanted to."
"Which means there is something there!" the nurse said triumphantly, fluffing the pillows.
"No!"
"Then you two like each other?"
"I… don't know!" Gary said defensively.
"Then you like her?" The nurse stopped what she was doing to give him a small smile.
"Uh…"
"I'm done! Gary, we're out of here!" Sam burst out of the door, wearing a black skirt with white lace and stuff on the edges, the same sleeveless white hoodie, and a black tank top. Gary stared at her; he had never gotten over how cute she looked.
The nurse smile to herself. "I guess that answers my question…"
"What?" Sam asked, confused.
"Oh, it was nothing," the older woman smiled, and folded the blanket into a neat little rectangle.
**
The next words that Gary said made Sam's blood run cold. Sam's mouth hung open at Gary's words. No… he couldn't be saying that. "B-b-but Gary, you… you CAN'T be serious!!!" she yelled, clutching tightly the can of Coke she had bought in the Hospital's canteen.
Gary's expression was smug. "But I am."
"GAAAAAAAAAARYYYYYYYYYYY!!!" Sam whined. "I wanna go battle Brawley now!"
"Just think of this as revenge for not allowing me to battle Roxanne a few days ago," he said, smirking. Sam and Gary were outside the hospital of Dewford, where Sam had just gotten discharged.
"But this is different! I mean, look, you had to stay for like… I don't remember how many nights, while I was just… it was just an overnight stay!!" Sam sputtered, trying to convince her companion. When Gary was silent, Sam pouted. "So what do you think I'm supposed to do now? Go swimming?" she said, gesturing at the ocean which could be visible from where they were standing.
"Although it would be something worthwhile to see you in a swimsuit," he paused, for Sam had tried to punch him in the shoulder, "I have an even better idea." He looked at Sam, who was impatiently waiting for his excuse for not battling today. "We could go on a… we could… er… go on a…"
"Go on a…?" Sam said, raising her eyebrows.
"Da-da-da-da-da-date?" Gary said, nervous, just as Sam took a big sip of her Coke.
Sam choked.
"Are you okay?" Gary said, genuine concern clouding his face.
Sam pounded a fist against her chest, wheezing. "You… (cough, cough) just said… (wheeze) the word… (cough, cough) date."
Gary sheepishly scratched his head. "And?"
"Were you joking?" she asked, staring at him disbelievingly.
"N-"
"Oh, hey, Sam!!" a familiar (and in Gary's case, hated) voice called to Sam.
Three guesses who.
"Skye!" Sam's face lighted up. "So you made it here!"
Skye approached them, smiling that radiant smile that made Sam melt. "I should be saying the same of you, Sam…" he said, then he turned to Gary, who looked as if he was trying to hold in any emotional outburst he might have. "And how are you, Gary? I should thank you for taking care of Sam for me…" he smiled. "After all, she is precious to me."
Gary grit his teeth. Precious?! PRECIOUS?! If she was PRECIOUS to you, you should've jumped in front of charging Mightyena in the nick of time! You should've held her during a Twister attack by a Milotic! You should be the one who knows that the curse or gift inside of her might kill her! You should be concerned!!!! He thought about saying what he thought to Skye, but maybe when Sam wasn't here. Instead, he forced a small smile, and said, "My pleasure."
Sam glowed.
"Ah, I believe you owe me something…?" Skye said, raising a friendly eyebrow at Sam.
"Huh?" Sam looked confused… and remembered, in a flash, something that happened in Chapter 8. "Oh."
Gary remembered too. "But-"
Skye smoothly cut him off. "I know of this really cool place on the far side of Dewford, at this time, you can see tons of wild Pokemon around there."
Sam, who didn't hear Gary, smiled. "That sounds nice."
Gary growled. "You have my permission, Sam, don't worry, just call me on the PokeNav when you're done, you don't have a curfew, and blah, blah, blah." He glared at the two of them one last time and stormed off in the opposite direction.
"Oh, Gary… wait – " Sam said, reaching out into air, a bit guilty, you know, after they had that big fight the other night.
Skye stared at Sam. "Is there something going on between the two of you? Because I really don't want to intrude."
"There's nothing between us, Skye, honestly." Sam sighed, and looked at Skye with a half-hearted smile on her face. "So, where's this place that you said you were gonna show me?"
**
'knock-knock'
"Go. Away," Steven moaned, voice muffled, since he was sitting at his desk, leaning on the desk and covering his face with his crossed arms.
The door creaked open anyway, and Steven remained motionless on his desk. "Do you understand the meaning of 'Go away'?" he said, quite grumpily.
He heard Drake's sigh. "I'm just worried about you, Steven… I've never seen you so strung-up."
"Can you blame me?!" Steven yelled, now looking Drake in the eye. "I mean, come on! She's the girl of my dreams! And Maxie just snatched her back when she was this close to freedom…" he looked sadly at Drake.
Drake sighed again, one of utmost sadness. "That's what happens when – "
They were interrupted when they heard Steven's PokeNav ringing. "Answer it." Drake said.
Steven picked up his PokeNav. "It's Wallace," he said, dryly, obviously not forgiving him since the last time they met. Nevertheless, he clicked the answer button. "Hello?"
"I think you might want to talk to this person," Wallace replied, without a hello.
"Wallace, what – "
"STEVEN!" a voice, one that was so familiar, one that made Steven's heart leap, squealed happily into the PokeNav. "Steven, Steven, STEVEN!"
"Oh my…" Steven smiled warmly into the PokeNav. "Phoebe, is that really…"
"Duh!" Phoebe giggled happily. "I'm so happy, Steven, really! It was totally awesome, Wallace just burst into the jail place, he used all of his Pokemon at the same time, busted me out, and now I'm in Sootopolis!"
"That's not far from here!" Steven said, excited. He saw, from the corner of his eyes, the rest of the Elite Four(Sidney and Glacia arrived at the door just in time to hear Steven say, 'Phoebe, is that really…') looking at him warmly.
"I know…" Phoebe's voice turned down on the volume. "Hold on, Wallace wants to talk to you, Steven…"
"Oh, okay," Steven said.
"And Steven?" Phoebe added.
"Yeah?"
"I… really think we need to talk about… something… when I get back."
Steven blushed. "Yeah."
She turned the phone over to Wallace, who waited smugly for Steven's reply. "Wallace… you really did that?"
"'Course I did," Wallace said plainly. "I mean, I felt guilty, okay? And besides, I had nothing to do."
Steven grinned. "Thanks, Wallace. Thank you so much."
**
Gary shoved his hands in his pockets, looking disgruntled. Well, he didn't look disgruntled, he was disgruntled. Ugh, I am going to kill that stupid Skye when I see him alone, believe me. Now Sam has to go on a stupid date, with a stupid guy, to this probably stupid place, and without stupid me!
"Excuse me, are you Gary Oak?" a monotone, emotionless voice asked him from behind his back. He turned around and saw twins, both female, with long blonde hair, and golden eyes. The only difference was their shirt; one, the one who had spoken, had a green t-shirt with an orange Pokeball symbol on the lower right corner of her shirt, while the other one, (who looked strangely happier than her twin) had an orange t-shirt with a green Pokeball symbol.
"Yeah," Gary replied grumpily, not in the mood. "And what's it to you two?"
The happy one grinned. "I'm Amber Daffodil Elm, and this is my sister, Topaz Rose Elm!"
"Elm…?"
"Yeah, Professor Elm's our dad." Topaz said, emotionless, again.
"But, according to what daddy said, you should be with a girl right now!" Amber exclaimed. "Where is she?"
"You mean the one with purple eyes?" Gary rolled his eyes. "She's not around."
Topaz and Amber now had an identical look of horror that Gary had to ask what was wrong. "There's a spy from Team Magma, we just figured that out," Amber explained. "We're in on Sam's gift too, daddy told us everything, since he couldn't come here himself. But anyway, the spy is a nephew of Maxie, Team Magma's leader."
"And he's been trying to get close to Sam all this time, so he could strike when the moment was ready," Topaz continued.
Gary was shocked. It couldn't be Julia, Drew, May or Harley, right? But another person crossed his mind. But… that's not… how can it be…
"Gary, wherever Sam is now, please tell us that she's not with someone named Skye Storne."
**
"Wow, you were right!" Sam awed at the scenery, just as an Aron poked its' head out from a boulder in front of her. "It's so cool here!"
Skye just smiled, then knelt to the ground, to get something from his bag.
"Hey, what're you looking for?" Sam asked, looking at him.
"I… wanted to get my PokeDex. You know, moments like this, you just gotta take advantage of it," Skye said, fishing into the pockets of his bag.
"Oh…okay," Sam shrugged. "I just thought I saw a Taillow over there, hold on, I wanna go and catch it," she rushed off before Skye could reply.
The better. Skye thought, as he pulled out a syringe and filled it with a strange looking liquid.
**
Gary bumped into various people as he rushed through the semi-busy streets of Dewford, Topaz and Amber following him. "God, I am so stupid!" Gary ranted. "I mean, I should've seen it! I should've known that this was going to happen sooner or later! Come on!" he growled under his breath.
Amber and Topaz looked at each other, exasperated. "It's not your fault, it's not your fault, and it's not you're fault…" Amber sang.
**
Sam looked at the fainted Taillow on the ground, who had finally been taken down by Poochyena (who had, yes, learned Take Down) and threw a Pokeball at it. "Please, please, come on…" Sam begged the Pokeball, not knowing of the danger that was lurking nearby.
(ding)
"Yessssss!" Sam grinned and picked up the Pokeball, and examined it between her hands. "This is gonna be a real help when I go battle Brawley."
"Sam?" Skye called out, voice lost in the bushes.
"I'm right here, Skye!" Sam called back. "I caught the Taillow!" she grinned.
"That's great…" Skye said, finally stepping from the shadows (which made him look strangely sinister), and smiling at her.
Sam thought, unconsciously, how Gary would probably prod and poke her to show him the new Pokemon, or tease her until kingdom come about how she had that awful taste in Pokemon. A smile stretched across her face.
"Why are you so happy?" Skye asked, sitting down on the ground. Sam walked over to where he was sitting, and sat down next to him, hugging her knees.
"Oh, it's just… Well, I don't wanna talk about it." Sam shrugged.
Skye slipped his hand into hers. "Were you thinking about me, by any chance?" he teased.
Sam smiled. "That's between me and my brain."
The boy smiled to himself, then reached his other hand over to cup her cheek. "Sam… you know I really like you, right?" He waited for Sam to nod. "Well… what I wanted to say is…" he leaned closer.
Sam's heart went into overdrive. Is he going to… is he… Sam was breathless as she stared at Skye's soft, grey eyes. But her eyes widened when the feelings in his eyes became cold, calculating, and smug. "What I wanted to say, is…" he leaned even closer, and Sam just realized the absence of his hand in hers a little too late, as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the syringe. "Gotcha."
Sam gasped as the syringe puncture her bare skin on the shoulder. "Skye… what are you…"
"You mean you never figured it out?" Skye smirked; it was something that Sam immediately resented. "I'm a spy, Sam, someone ordered by my uncle to eliminate people like you."
**
Steven waited, restlessly, in his office. It had been about an hour since Phoebe had called him, and Sootopolis couldn't be that far away, right?
His PokeNav rang again. It was Wallace. "Steven?" He asked, before Steven could say anything. "Please, you have to meet Phoebe and I at Dewford town, near that little lagoon or whatever that you were looking for rare stones a while back."
Steven's brows rose. "Why?"
"According to Gary Oak, Sam is in danger."
**
Sam gasped as a tingly sensation began to spread throughout her whole body. "What… the hell is in this thing?"
"My uncle's scientists created it," Skye smirked, shrugging at the same time. "It's a combination of Stun Spore and Sleeping Powder. You know, without any ghastly side-effects or anything."
She was close to tears; how could she have been so stupid? "I can't believe I trusted you!" she said angrily.
"Well, you better believe it, Princess," Skye sneered at her. "Girls like you are always like that. Always ready to trust the next person that sits next to them."
"Shut up!" Sam snapped. "I should've listened to Gary!"
"Oh, sweet, innocent, hurt, Gary," Skye sighed. "He was something that hindered Team Magma. I'll have to eliminate him too, after we're done with harnessing your power."
The word 'power' triggered something in Sam's mind, but she didn't know why. Then she knew… Didn't Steven say something about me controlling my power? Or was that Wallace? Any way, I still have no clue on how to control it yet! She panicked when she started feeling drowsy. Skye noticed it too. "I guess the Sleeping Powder is starting to take effect." He smiled.
Sam's eyes started to close unwillingly. "Skylar Storne, I will… Get… you… for this…" she mumbled, and fell asleep.
**
Wallace, Phoebe, Gary, Amber and Topaz waited for Steven to arrive. "What's taking him so long?!" Gary yelled into the sky.
Phoebe rolled her eyes. "Knowing him, he's probably taking a loooooooong time to spike his hair up in the perfect way."
"Hey, isn't that an Altaria?" Amber pointed out, only a few hundred yards away. They looked; Altaria weren't supposed to be in areas in Dewford.
Gary caught a sight of Skye's blonde hair. "That's Skye and Sam!"
Wallace stepped into action. "Milotic, get out here." Milotic appeared in a flash of red light in the water near them. "Hydro Pump that Altaria!"
Skye caught sight of the Hydro Pump. "Altaria, get out of the way!"
Wallace growled. "I can't attack him, not from here," he said, shoulders falling in defeat. "Any other attack I can use might hurt Sam."
"Typhlosion!" Topaz called.
"Arcanine!" Amber yelled.
"Flamethrower!" they yelled in unison, calling out their best Pokemon. A huge pillar of fire appeared in front of Skye and his Altaria.
"Wait, are you two insane?" Gary yelled. "If water might hurt Sam then what do you think fire will do?!"
Topaz rolled her eyes. "Gary, if you'd use your head a little more, I'm sure that you'd see that the joint Flamethrower is blocking the way."
Gary looked at the Flamethrower. "Oh."
Everyone rolled their eyes.
Suddenly, the Altaria (with Skye and an unconscious Sam) drew near to them. "If you want to make this a Pokemon battle, be my guest!" Skye laughed. "Altaria, Wing Attack!"
"Arcanine!" Amber called. "Counter with Fire Spin!"
"Dodge it, now!" Skye called.
"Stop it!" Gary yelled.
Amber and Skye stared at him. "What?"
Gary narrowed his eyes. "This is solely between me and him." He growled.
Skye smirked. "Bring it on, Oak."
"Umbreon! Tackle!"
"Altaria, dodge!"
"Metang, Psychic!" Steven's voice called from (again) about six feet above their heads.
Skye struggled against Metang's strong Psychic attack. "Steven Stone…" he growled.
Steven floated down to the ground. "Hmm… And to think I thought you were a nice guy."
"You were wrong, weren't you?" Skye taunted. "I still win! Magma wins! I still have the girl!" Skye smirked, as with great difficulty, he withdrew a Pokeball from his belt. "Wheezing, Smog!"
They were covered with smoke, and Gary started coughing. No!
They heard Skye laugh, and there was a flutter of wings.
"No!" Gary called out, amongst other coughs.
He heard Wallace. "Milotic, clear this out with a gentle Twister!"
There was a strong wind, and the smoke cleared. Gary couldn't believe that she was gone. "No… no, no…" he mumbled to himself. He saw something glittering on the ground where Skye had been hovering. Gary walked over and picked it up; it was one of the clips he had given Sam. It was the one with her name embedded on with purple gems.
Skye had taken Sam and his heart with him.
**
Skye smiled triumphantly. Uncle will be proud. He thought happily, flying closer towards the hideout.
Maxie was waiting for him, naturally. He smiled at patted Skye's back as Skye entered his office, Altaria carrying Sam on her back. "If there's anyone who could've done it, it would be you, Skye…"
Skye smirked. "It was a pleasure."
His uncle looked at the sleeping Sam, and smiled. "Tomorrow, Skye, we will have the world, and the two most powerful legendary Pokemon in the Hoenn region will belong to Team Magma and Aqua…"
**
"You're actually going to bring him to Maxie and Archie?" Phoebe shrieked at Steven.
Steven nodded as he and Gary stared getting ready for leaving on Steven's Metang. "Sorry I have to leave you so soon, Phoebe."
"Who said you're leaving me?" Phoebe demanded. "I'm going with you."
"NO!" Gary and Steven said at the same time. Gary didn't want to be with them, knowing they were going to be all awkward and stuff, and Steven didn't want Phoebe to come, knowing that she'd probably get in trouble anyway and he'd lose her again.
Phoebe rolled her eyes. "I'm not that awful," she sighed. "Besides, don't you need me? With my superior Ghost Pokemon that can sneak into secret lairs without anyone noticing?" she said, fluttering her eyelashes.
Gary grinned. "You're coming along!" Steven groaned.
**
Stupid head… stupid eyes… stupid heartache… Sam thought rubbing her eyes, since they had a hard time opening. Stupid SKYE… she added, as she took a look at her surroundings.
She was in a nice, comfy master bedroom, sitting on the most luxurious bed she had ever seen, with red satin bedsheets. This isn't right, she thought as she cocked her head. Somehow, she imagined it to be something like what Phoebe was in, a dark, cold dungeon with almost no light, and slightly damp. But no,there was a plasma screen, a computer (which strangely looked as if it had internet connection) and a refrigerator. On closer inspection, the refrigerator was stocked.
"Am I in heaven?" She wondered aloud.
"Close, but, no…" a cold voice replied from the doorway. There stood a man she had never seen before, but the uniform was familiar.
"Are you from… Team Magma?" Sam asked slowly, still drowsy from the injection that Skye had given her.
He nodded once. "I'm Skye's uncle. You must know him, right?" he said, smirking.
Sam narrowed her eyes at the man. "Shut up," she told him, sitting up straighter on the bed.
He laughed. "I'm Maxie, leader of Team Magma. I think you know why I'm here…"
Cold, hard fear made its way up Sam's throat. Yes, I do know. She thought, closing her eyes. But I don't know what to do.
Gary… I need you.
**
Gary sighed for the umpteenth time. There were, of course, many reasons for that.
Number one: Sam wasn't with him. This was self-explanatory, and he felt like his heart had been ripped out. Number two: Either it was just him, or Steven's Metang was slower than a Slugma. Number three: Due to the fact that Steven, in fact, had two Metangs, Gary was stuck on one by himself, and was forced to watch Steven and Phoebe look at each other sappily, since Gary had to be behind them. Number four: There was a little voice in the back of his head that kept repeating to him endlessly that it was his fault, not Sam's, and maybe, just a little bit of Skye's fault. And Number Four: He was pissed by the fact that Sam had agreed to go on a date with Skye, after he had asked her first. There was obviously no justice in that.
He looked up again, to see Steven and Phoebe looking at each other sappily – again – and it took all of Gary's strength not to yell, 'Oh just stop making me sick and jealous and start making out already!'
Yes. Life was tough.
**
Sam winced as one of the scientists of Team Aqua poked her shoulder. "Hm… she's almost every bit as human as everyone else in this room," he concluded, pushing his annoying glasses that were practically little circles up his nose bridge.
"What did you expect, a Pokemon?" Sam snapped.
The scientist raised his eyebrows, and wrote something on a notebook. Sam leaned over to see what he was writing, and was shocked: Speaks as if she was a normal teenage girl.
"Oh, I'll show you a normal teenage girl alright!" Sam snarled, and clenched her jaws.
"Samantha, behave," Archie drawled from his big chair raised on a platform. Sam was honestly was getting annoyed with this leader. Maxie, she could handle. But this, Archie, she just wanted to rip his head out with her hands, and feed it to the pool of Carvanha (which was blocking the door, meaning she couldn't escape).
"I'm not Samantha, I'm Sam," she replied, biting her lip so as not to say anything that she would regret.
"Fine, Sam…" Archie said, almost lazily. "Just let my scientists poke you and calculate stuff, and then you can go back to the room."
Sam growled a bit.
Another scientist looked her over. "You look as if you've been through a lot of pain," she remarked, penciling it into her notebook.
"No kidding." Sam said, crossing her arms. "I mean, it's not every day that you discover that the guy you liked was a spy, that he was lying to you all this time, and was supposed to eliminate you from the very beginning."
Archie sighed.
**
Skye had a straight, serious face as he stood in front of the entrance to the main lair. Stop it, Skye, stop it! He thought to himself. Stop feeling so guilty! It's not as if you had a choice… on second thought you did, but… Skye bunched his hands into fists.
"Aggron! Stomp!" Skye looked in surprise at the sky (okay, that was kinda lame) and gasped as the sun was blocked out by Steven Stone's Aggron.
"Ugh…" Skye muttered as he stumbled backwards just in time. He coughed as a cloud of dust appeared.
"Go, get in, I'll take care of this," he heard someone saying, and realized it was Gary.
"You sure?" Another voice replied, sounding like a woman in her twenties.
Skye heard a cracking of knuckles. "Oh, don't worry, this'll be over soon."
There was no affirmation, no 'be careful's', and no sound of any steps on the ground. Man, uncle's gonna kill me.
The dust cleared, and there stood Gary Oak, with no sign of any Pokemon. But it was the look on his face that made Skye step backwards one step. "I'll just ask you one thing, Skye…" Gary said, bitter. "Why?"
"That's easy to answer," Skye replied. "When we grew up together, I was always the good one, remember?" Gary nodded slowly. "I wanted to be bad, I wanted to be feared, it would do no good if I was always, 'oh, he's such a nice boy, he does everything he's supposed to!'" he mocked his mother's voice, as Gary remembered it, anyhow. "But I don't want that. I want to do things against what I want."
"That's dark," Gary said, almost not caring.
"And then something happened," Skye continued, almost ignoring Gary. "It was an accident. I know I didn't mean it. But still, the house was gone, ashes blowing in the wind. So was my family. Then uncle found me, told me I could be bad and stuff, and there."
Gary came closer to Skye. "And you just had to bring Sam into this."
Sam, Skye thought. Oh, were they reaching a subject that Skye knew was a tense spot.
"My heart," Gary pronounced. "You brought my heart into this battle. And don't think I'm gonna forget that."
Skye couldn't help it; he backed away from his former friend.
"So you know what?" Gary said, progressing. "I'm not gonna battle you, I'm not gonna verbally abuse you or whatever…" he rolled his eyes. Then they were face-to-face. Gary pulled back his arm and punched, with all his might, Skye, in the face. As Skye slumped to the floor, unconscious and bleeding from a split lip, Gary's eyes narrowed. Don't ever mess with her again.
**
Phoebe looked around the base. "There's a seventy-percent chance that we are going to get lost in here," she said.
"I know," Steven agreed.
Hearing voices, they ducked behind a crate, and listened as two Aqua members passed by. "Man, the old geezers are taking so long," one groaned. "I mean, the scientists don't actually need this much protection, right?"
"What I can't believe is why we can't look at the procedure," the other replied. Steven's ears perked up at that one.
"It's not even a procedure!" The first one protested. "They're just looking at this girl who's supposed to have this wicked power with her! They don't plan on doing anything yet!"
Steven nodded, a slight smile on his face. Phoebe caught the expression on his face, and smiled. "Go, Banette," she whispered, taking out her Pokeball.
Banette appeared in front of the two, arms held out. "Ban… banette ban…"
"Holy-! How did it get in here!" the second one yelled, freaking out.
"I don't know, but if it's a trainers Pokemon, we've gotta get the boss!" the first one said, then briskly walked in one direction, the second one following.
Steven and Phoebe looked at each other at the same time, and jumped out of their hiding place once the cost was clear. Just then, Gary showed up, looking strangely satisfied.
"Let's go save Sam," Phoebe grinned.
**
I know, I know, I'm waaaay overdue for this chapter, so don't kill me or anything… it's just my grandpa died, and well, nothing else to say.
I actually wasn't planning for Sam to get captured. It was on a whim. Just added it, I don't know why. And the last thing I entered in the chapter was actually the first part, you know, with the magazine and the Sharpie, and the nurse and everything. I love it when people assume whatever they want to assume about Sam and Gary.
In the next chapter, another two OC's will be joining, including Amber and Topaz. And, fortunately for you guys, a very sweet moment between Gary and Sam.
To make it up to you guys for the late update, expect the next chapter by this Sunday or Saturday. If I can't post it then, then it's for a really good reason.
Ja~