Author Note:

Sorry this chapter is short, but I got sick this week and didn't feel like writing. But I thought I'd go ahead and post what I have instead of making you wait for another week.

Chapter 9: Of Double Dates and Drunken Revelry

Saturday

Town

Yellow POV

"You didn't have to come with me," I said apologetically to Red as we walked down the main street in town. "This is going to be boring for you."

"I don't mind, besides it isn't safe for you to be alone," Red replied. Last night Blue suggested we go shopping this morning, but when it was time to go she claimed she was busy and told Red to come with me. Since we're here though, I really do need some new clothes.

"Red! Yellow! Fancy seeing you here!" Blue exclaimed, appearing in front of us with Green in tow.

"It's hardly a surprise, we've been looking for them for the past hour," Green managed to mutter before Blue cut him off.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she laughed nervously while shooting him a glare. Red and I just stared at them baffled.

"Why don't we go on a double date?" Blue suggested. "Green and I are already on a date, you two are already on a date, its perfect!"

"We weren't –" Before I could finish my sentence, Blue was somehow dragging all three of us with her to some undisclosed location. I sighed and didn't bother fighting. I'd find out where we were headed soon enough.

Green POV

Blue had brought us all to a place called the Sorcerer's Tavern, which in reality was just an Italian restaurant with some tasteless ye olde tavern-esque décor. I sighed and propelled one of the rubbery meatballs around my plate with a fork. It's all Blue's fault I'm stuck in this dinky restaurant. I wouldn't even be at MAGE if it weren't for her. I slipped into my memories as Blue was insinuating that Red and Yellow were a couple again.

A few months ago I had been sent to Saffron City by my Grandfather to pick up something for his research. While I was there I…saw her. Well, I heard her first. Her bright, tinkling laugh, exactly the same as when we were kids. At the time, I knew it couldn't be her, I saw her get kidnapped, but I ran straight towards the sound anyway. I ran through an alley as she was walking past and caught a glimpse of her eyes, her joyful blue eyes. In that moment, I knew. It was her, the childhood friend I watched get kidnapped. The one I failed to save. That day I accidentally caught the alley on fire. The next I was signed up for MAGE and I knew I would never see her again.

But a couple months later I did. She climbed up the stairs of the bus, sporting the same white sunhat she was wearing the day my powers unlocked and her signature mischievous smile. It only got worse from there. Not only were we in the same dorm, we were in the same class and she had taken a bizarre liking to me. It was obvious she didn't recognize me, so I pretended the same, pretended that I had no idea who she was.

But that just kept getting harder. It came to a head on the day we found the man on the wall. As I followed her I saw her using the skills that…he taught her. The Masked Man. And it was all my fault she was ever his captive in the first place. If I hadn't frozen when they struck I could have saved her. But I did and I couldn't. I will never let that happen again.

"Stop!" the subject of my thoughts shrieked. I jumped up, remembering a similar scream from years ago, but this time it was nothing to worry about. I observed the door slamming and Red and Yellow running past the window. They must've made a break for it.

"Green," Blue whined. "They ran away." I didn't dignify her comment with a response. It may be my fault she's here, but that doesn't mean I'm going to encourage her matchmaking fetish.

Sapphire POV

This morning had started out like any other normal weekend; I slept in and eventually stumbled down the stairs to eat breakfast. Then it took a turn for the weird. Before I could pour myself some cereal, Gold seized me by the arm and dragged me out of the dorm. We were half-way to town by the time my brain processed what had just happened. I'm really not a morning person.

"Where're ya takin' me?" I asked Gold.

"Town!" Gold explained joyously. I sighed and just let Gold drag me. I was too tired to pester a real answer out of him.

We ended up wandering through town aimlessly. "Gold, why'd ya drag me here if ya didn't actually have anywhere ya wanted ta go?"

"I had to get out of the dorm and no one would come with me," Gold replied.

"So ya kidnapped me."

"Yep!"

"Why me?" I demanded.

"We don't hang out enough Wilde Girl!" Gold replied.

"Right…" I said skeptically. "Now what's your actual reason?"

Gold stared at me, his eyes wide and innocent looking. I didn't trust him and glared back.

You were the easiest to kidnap," he finally replied.

"Aha! I knew there was a reason – Wait, what do you mean I'm the easiest to kidnap?"

"Well, Yellow would be the easiest, but by the time I woke up she was already out with Red."

"But I'm easier to kidnap than sissy boy?"

"Having a fight?" asked an old man who was walking past us. "A young couple like you shouldn't fight, here take this." The man handed a bottle to Gold, who immediately took it. The random man walked off and Gold started to drink the liquid.

"Wait, Gold! That's –," but he had already drunk the entire bottle before I finished with "– beer."

Gold stared at me for a second then started said, "Sapphire, does Crystal hate me?"

"Uh," I started but Gold continued speaking saving me from responding.

"She's always yelling at me. I like to think of it as a sign of affection, but what if she actually hates me?" Is he drunk? After one beer? I didn't think Gold would be such a lightweight.

Gold swayed and fell towards me. I caught him (good thing I'm really strong) and flung him over my shoulder. "We're going home Gold," I said as he pounded half-heartedly on my back while crying about how Crystal hated him. I would actually prefer to be with sissy boy, and that's saying something.

BW Agency Headquarters

Black POV

White and I were planning a commercial for the Taste of Magic café at our office and for some reason Ruby was with us. He was sitting at a table focusing intensely on his designs.

"White," I whispered. "Why is Ruby here?"

"I don't know," she murmured back. "He's been acting weird since yesterday."

"White, how are these designs for the commercial?" Ruby held out some papers towards White who took them and shuffled through them. I peered over shoulder at them.

"Wow Ruby, these are amazing!" White exclaimed. "We just got this job yesterday, how did you make these all so fast?"

"I couldn't sleep so I worked all night," he replied.

"Is something wrong?" White asked, concerned.

"No why would there be?"

"It's not normal to stay up all night for no reason," I pointed out.

"Nothing's wrong," Ruby refuted and stalked back to his table to draw some more.

"There's definitely something wrong with him," White commented.

"Obviously," I replied.

Crys POV

Lyra had come over early this morning and we were sitting in my room. She seemed to be bothered and I assumed she was worried about the robots that had attacked her.

"Don't worry Lyra," I said, attempting to be comforting. I picked up my special fossil and handed it to her. "This is my lucky fossil, you can keep it with you for a while to help."

Lyra took the fossil and replied, "Thanks, but how can I not worry? I hugged Silver! Silver!"

"Wait – You're upset about hugging Silver? I thought you were afraid the robots would come for you!"

"Huh? Those robots were pathetic, why would I be worried about them?" Lyra wondered confused.

"I refuse to help with relationship problems," I stated.

"But Crys," Lyra whined. "You're my best female friend! I don't have anyone else to talk to."

"Then don't talk about it."

"But you can talk about Gold with me whenever you want."

"Why would I ever want to talk about Gold?"

"Because –" I cut her off. I'd rather not hear her random theory of why I would need to talk about Gold.

"Never mind," I stated quickly. Lyra sighed and hugged the fossil to herself. Suddenly a bright white light appeared, and the source seemed to be Lyra's hands.

"Lyra what are you –?" There was a cracking noise emanating from her hands and clouds of dust began spurting off the fossil and settling in the air. Lyra brought her hands down and sitting in them was a crab-like creature. One that I had seen before. On a playing card. Red's playing card.

"Pokémon aren't real," I stated. "You're not real!" I yelled at the Kabuto.

It looked at me and said, "Kabu?"

"Don't you think you're overreacting?" Lyra commented.

I was going to respond (with a loud 'no') but was interrupted by someone at my door.

"A KABUTO!" Red exclaimed. "I knew I heard a Pokémon!"

"Red?" asked Yellow's timid voice from somewhere behind him. "What's going on?"

"There's too many people in here. Everyone downstairs!" I commanded.

Red, who had somehow gotten a hold of the Kabuto went straight down, talking to the Kabuto the whole way. Weird kid.

"Hey Yellow, how did Red even know there was a Kabuto up here?" Lyra wondered.

Yellow shrugged. "We just got back from shopping and were putting the bags down when he bolted up the stairs yelling something about Pokémon being real."

I sent them an impatient look and they both scurried down the stairs after Red. I sighed and followed. Pokémon can't be real, it just isn't possible.

Downstairs

Red, Yellow and Lyra were all sitting around the coffee table staring at the Kabuto, who seemed a bit nervous and was hunkering down, hiding its face.

"A real Pokémon!" Red exclaimed, for the millionth time. "Please say something," he begged it.

"Kabu?" the Kabuto replied uncertainly.

"What's up with the 'kabu' thing?" I asked.

"Pokémon are only capable of saying their names," Red replied.

"What are you talking about?" Yellow wondered. "It just asked what you wanted it to say."

We all stared at her dumbly.

"It said 'kabu,'" Lyra stated. Red and I both nodded in agreement.

"Bu to to!" the Kabuto said. We all turned to Yellow.

"It wants to know if we're Pokémon trainers," Yellow translated.

"So Nature magic extends to understanding Pokémon huh?" I theorized.

SO COOL!" Red exclaimed gazing at Yellow excitedly.

Luckily the door opened before Red could make an even bigger fool of himself or freak Yellow out too much. Sapphire staggered through the doorway with an unconscious Gold slung over her shoulder. She stumbled to a couch and unceremoniously dumped him on it.

"Phew!" she gasped. "Gold's heavy."

"I'm almost afraid to ask, but why were you carrying Gold like a sack of potatoes?" I queried.

"He got drunk and passed out," Sapphire replied.

"D-drunk?" Yellow stuttered. Sapphire nodded.

"It ends up he's a real lightweight," Sapphire added. "What's that thing?" she asked pointing at the Kabuto.

"KABUTO!" Gold yelled, sitting up suddenly. He lunged for it, but missed and fell on the table instead. "Why don't you love me Kabuto?" Gold cried.

"Is he still drunk?" Lyra wondered.

"I actually hope so. If he acts like this normally I'm going to have to move," I replied.

"He's actually worse than Red," Lyra continued.

Gold seemed to have passed out again, this time sprawled across the table. The Kabuto was cowering away from him, as close to Yellow as possible. It looked at her imploringly. "Kabuto!" it begged.

"Okay," Yellow replied and she lifted it gently and placed it in her lap.

"What did it say?" Red asked eagerly.

"It asked me to save it from the crazy guy."

"Which one?" I asked sarcastically.

"Crys, why are you being so negative about this?" Lyra queried. "I'm not obsessed with Pokémon like Red, but I think that it's cool they're real."

I glared at her, but since she had told me so much of her life story, I grudgingly answered. "I spent all my time in school working as hard as I could, preparing for my future and the other kids just played with their stupid Pokémon cards. Now I find out that playing cards with all the kids I hated would actually have been more useful than learning math? It's just irritating."

"That's ridiculous," Sapphire commented. I sent her an irritated look, but I knew she was right. I was over-reacting. Doesn't mean I'm going to fawn over the thing though.

"Red! Yellow! There you are!" Blue sang, hopping into the room with an irritated Green following her. Red and Yellow simultaneously cringed and Yellow hugged the Kabuto a bit closer to her body.

"What is that?" Blue asked, noticing the Kabuto.

"It's a Kabuto," Green answered. Blue knelt in front of Yellow and attempted to grab the Kabuto, but it cowered into Yellow and she was unable to disentangle it from Yellow's arms.

"Ah, Blue, could you please back up a bit, he's afraid," Yellow requested nervously.

Blue sighed theatrically, but she backed off.

"What are we going to call it?" Red wondered.

"Maybe it already has a name," I suggested looking pointedly at Yellow, who translated the Kabuto's response.

"No, he doesn't have a name yet," Yellow stated.

"How about Shelly!" Blue proposed eagerly.

"Blue…it's a boy," Yellow commented.

"So?" We ignored her.

"How bout' Kabu?" Sapphire asked.

"Too obvious," Blue rejected.

"Fabian!" Lyra suggested.

"No," I refused.

"Hydro?" Red offered.

"Uh-uh," Blue retorted.

Gold woke up, screamed, "Zernax Yondal the Fourth!" Then passed out again.

"No," we all said simultaneously.

At this point Ruby, White, and Black all entered. "Hey guys, what's up?" Black greeted.

Red explained about the Kabuto and the three instantly put forth name ideas. Toto from Ruby, Crabby from White, and Tops from Black. All these were rejected by at least one person in the group.

"Maybe we should just call him Kabuto," I suggested. "We're never going to agree on anything else."

The others eventually agreed, though unhappily, and henceforth, the Kabuto was known as...Kabuto the Kabuto…

Nazo POV

Travelling in groups, smart little kids. But eventually they'll slip up, and when they do, I'll be there to take full advantage of it. I snickered to myself as I repaired one of my robots. One of their powers will be mine. That I am sure of.

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