As Mike brushed the final pieces of chicken teriyaki off of the side of the hotel bed. He wondered what he was going to do about the two girls. Something had to be done, they did just charge probably thousands of pokedollars against his account for the room service.
But for now, he had much more to worry about. Mike grabbed the third pokeball in his belt, Malina and Orion had both been put away as punishment, but much more was to come. Mike opened up the pokeball, and after a bright white flash, a scizor stood in front of him. Looking rather mad for still not being returned to his owner.
"I think we need to talk." Mike opened up, sitting down on one of the beds.
"What we need to talk about is why i'm not with my owner." The scizor angrily replied.
"Look, I am your owner now." Mike informed calmly, trying to get through to the bug-type pokemon. "As much as i hate the term "owner", I only use it in this case to try and make you understand. I'm not like your previous owner, i'm not going to abandon you-"
"My owner didn't abandon me!" The scizor yelled.
"Yes he did." Mike replied, still trying to be calm with the pokemon. "Look, Scizor, i don't want to experiment on you like your previous owner did, i want to work with you. As it stands, I'm currently the only reason why your not in the forest right now."
"My owner didn't abandon me, i wasn't just a test subject. He admired me, i was his favorite!" The scizor replied.
"No you weren't." Mike replied.
"How do you know?" Scizor angrily asked.
"Because you weren't the first he abandoned." Mike explained.
"You're lying, he never abandoned me, i'm his first, i'm his only!" The scizor yelled back, becoming enraged at Mike's accusations.
Mike attempted to remain calm, but the terror of being killed by the scizor was growing. "I'm not trying to hurt you, i'm trying to tell the truth." Mike tried to convince.
"Return me to my owner!" Scizor demanded.
"I am your owner." Mike replied.
The scizor had enough and was charging an attack. Mike grabbed his pokeball and quickly pulled him back in before he could to catastrophic damage to him or the hotel. Mike sighed and laid back on the bed. It was clear it was going to take more than reason to convince the scizor that he had been abandoned, the only question is, how long would it take scizor to warm up to him, and how would scizor react once he did realize he was abandoned.
"I can't believe you got me in trouble." Malina spoke up in her pokeball.
"Hey, you can't say you didn't enjoy the food." Orion replied, picking something out of her teeth.
"That's not the point, you made me look like a bad guy in front of Mike. I don't want him to think i did all this on purpose." Malina retorted.
"Sell you kind of did order all that food on purpose." Orion responded.
"Because i didn't know it actually cost money!" Malina yelled.
"That's your problem for being gullible." Orion smiled.
Malina growled and moved to the other end of her pokeball. She really hoped Mike wasn't mad at her for ordering all of that food. How was she supposed to know it cost money to order that stuff? Malina decided to focus her shift on something else at the moment, her old group. They had somehow broken out of the forest and were now hunting her down as prey. Even worse, Mike was involved in it. How could she defend him if she couldn't even defend herself.
Malina signed and flopped to her side. At least they weren't alone in this ordeal, there was Orion, and that Scizor. The bad news was, there was Orion.
Malina just pondered in her mind about how she was going to deal with all of this, it felt like too much, she felt like she was going to scream. Malina calmed herself. Now wasn't the time to lose herself, her group probably wouldn't return for a long time. She could only hope so.
Josh had left work a while ago and had stopped by a playground he had passed everyday he left work. By the time it was built, Mike had been too old to use it, but since Ivory was still small, he figured she would have more fun with it.
The playground had been deserted for a while, then again, they hadn't really picked the best spot to build it considering it was miles away from the closest house. While nobody else used it, Josh decided it would be good for Alice, she could play around for a while, and Josh could have some time for his thoughts. Josh had been leading against his truck as Ivory played around the playground. Martha and him had been getting in a lot of more fights since Mike had decided to become a trainer. The argument Josh had to make before Martha even considered letting Mike go out on a pokemon adventure felt more like a war than an argument.
"I wonder how Mike's been?" Josh thought. "It hasn't been very long, yet it feels so different here without him." Josh sighed, "Well, at least Mike got the pokemon he wanted. Though i still feel bad for Ivory, theres no telling what Martha will do the second i turn my back from Alice."
Josh couldn't help but think of all the things Martha would do to Alice if she ever got her hands back on her. Josh was reluctant to go home because he feared Martha, not just for her obsession over "perfect pokemon", but rather how she reacted to it.
"Hey daddy?" Josh returned to reality when he felt something tug at his leg. Josh looked down and saw Alice standing next to him.
"What is it, sweetie?" Josh asked, kneeling down next to her.
"Can you come play with me in the sandbox?" Alice asked.
Josh smiled. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt." He replied. Alice let out a cheer and lead Josh over to the sandbox, Josh attempted to show her how to make sand castle's, but without buckets, it was really just more of a sand hill. Alice and Josh played around for a while before Josh noticed how late it was getting.
"Alright Alice, i think it's time to get going." Josh informed.
"Aw, do we have too?" Alice asked.
"I'm afraid so, we have to go home sometime." Josh replied.
Josh picked up the Snivy from out of the sand box and carried her back to the truck. Josh helped her get adjusted in her seat as well as get her belt on. Josh went and got in the driver's side and started up the car, and pretty soon they were on the road back to home.
"Can we go back again sometime?" Alice asked.
"Maybe tomorrow if we have time." Josh replied.
Alice and Josh remained silent for a moment.
"Daddy?" Alice asked, catching Josh's attention. "How come the lady never let me play outside like how you have?" She wondered.
Josh wasn't really sure how to tell her, it wasn't really easy to tell a young one that they were being treated as just an object. "Well, let's just say Martha and I have different views on how to raise pokemon." Josh answered, sugarcoating the real reason.
"How so?" Alice asked.
"Walked right into that one." Josh thought. "Well, Martha prefers to have a much more strict ruling than i do." Josh replied. "Don't get me wrong, i do have rules, and if you break them i will have to punish you."
"Ok Daddy." Despite the warning, Alice didn't really seem scared, it was more like she was agreeing to something.
After what felt like a long ride home, Josh eventually pulled up to his house where he dreaded seeing Martha again. Josh went to the passenger side and picked Alice up in his arms, carrying her up to the door. Josh wanted to make sure that he had a good hold on her in case Martha did anything outrageous. When Josh went to the living room, he saw no sign of Martha, nor did he see her in the bedroom.
"Is she not home?" Josh thought. Josh went to his memorial room and put Ivory down on the chair he had in the room. "Alice, stay here and don't move, if you see Martha, just yell ok?"
"Ok daddy." Alice replied.
Josh locked the door before leaving Alice in the room, he hoped Martha wasn't planning something. Josh suddenly stood still, for a second, he could of sworn he heard shouting. Listening closer, he heard the shouting again, it was coming from the backyard. Josh snuck to the back of the house and looked outside one of the windows. The yelling was louder, but Josh couldn't see where Martha was. Josh looked over and saw that the shed light's were on, but the door was closed, meaning Martha was probably in there. Josh went over to the back door and opened it, but a ringing caught him off guard. Someone had hung a small bell over the door.
The yelling stopped immediately. Josh grew suspicious and started walking over to the shed. When he got close however, Martha stepped out to greet him.
"What were you doing in there?" Josh instantly asked.
"Not much, just doing some cleaning." Martha answered.
"While shouting?" Josh replied.
"Well, some of the tools in the shed are pretty heavy." Martha evaded.
"So if i looked in there, i wouldn't just see another pokemon?" Josh asked.
Martha stepped aside. "Go ahead, look for yourself." She invited.
Josh stepped up to the shed and opened the door. Nothing but the tools and nuts and bolts he collected over the years was there. Josh stepped further in and took a closer look around. Sure enough, nothing was there still. Josh stepped out and eyed Martha.
"You're up to something, i know it." He informed.
"What, me, up to something?" Martha replied sarcastically.
Josh growled and marched back to the house. He knew she still had her sights set on that Snivy, but he didn't know what she was planning.
"Alice, it's me, you can unlock the door." Josh called when he reached his memorial room.
The door clicked and Josh pushed it open to see Alice still sitting in the chair just like how she had been told to do.
"Is the lady planning something?" Alice asked.
Josh bit his lip. "I don't know." He replied.
"Will you protect me from the lady if she is?" Alice asked.
Josh picked up Alice and set her in his lap. "Of course i will." He replied.
Alice snuggled up against Josh's shirt, glad she wouldn't have to be worried about Martha.
Josh on the other hand wasn't as relived, he was more tense, he knew she had something in that shed. Whatever it was, he knew it would be used against him, and most likely, against Alice.
Mike had paid the hotel owners the amount he owed for the room, plus all the room service, and was back on the road again. As Mike left the city, he pulled out two pokeballs. Giving the middle buttons a click, a Absol and a Zangoose appeared in front of him. Mike wasn't really happy to see either of them. He still had to talk about the incident at the hotel.
"So who wants to explain why there was a large bill at the hotel?" Mike asked.
"It was just some room service." Orion spoke up.
"It was 8'000 pokedollars worth of room service. We were lucky i had a trust fund in my account to pay for it, but now i don't even have a trust fund at all, the bill took up whatever i had." Mike complained.
"Well maybe you should have made it clear we couldn't order room service before you left."'orion replied.
Mike growled, as much as the Zangoose was getting on his nerves, he needed her to help Malina. Speaking of Malina, Mike noticed how guilty she looked as she tried her best to avoid eye-contact with Mike.
"Anything you want to add to this Malina?" Mike asked.
"I didn't mean too." She silently spoke up.
"Didn't mean too? You practically ordered the whole menu." Orion commented.
"Because you told me it was for free!" Malina yelled.
"Alright, calm down." Mike spoke up. "It's obvious you two have some problems, and as it is, i think i have enough problems of my own. So until the debt is payed back, no one gets to walk with me outside of their balls."
"But Mike-" Malina commented.
"No one." Mike replied throughly. "And until both of you learn to work with each other, you also will be sleeping inside your balls as well."
"Oh c'mon!" Orion complained.
"You both know what you did, and until these problems are fixed, i have too revoke privileges. I'm sorry, but i can't just let you get away with stick an eight thousand pokedollar hotel bill on me." Mike informed.
Malina and Orion tried to get Mike to change his mind, but Mike pulled out their pokeballs and put them in their pokeballs.
Malina felt horrible, while Orion just felt pissed off.
"This goes against our deal." Orion thought as she marched around in her pokeball. "He's going against everything we had agreed on. Well fine, if he wants to play dirty, i can play dirty as well."
"Mike hates me now." Malina thought as she laid down in her pokeball. "If it wasn't because of Orion, I could be walking around right now, Mike wouldn't even be mad at me. Why did i listen to her." Malina tossed and turned in her pokeball as she tried to figure out a way she could make amends with Mike.
In a bright flash, Malina suddenly smelled fresh air and felt dirt under her coat. When she looked up, she saw that Mike was standing above her. Mike got down on one knee and looked Malina straight in the eyes.
"Tell me the truth, did you really not know about the room service?" Mike asked.
"No, i swear." Malina replied. "Orion just told me that it was free and that it came with the room. I didn't really the whole menu either."
Mike scratched his head for a minute. "Do you promise to not order room service next time?" Mike asked. Malina shook her head. Mike smiled. "Alright, then, i guess you don't have to take Orion's punishment."
A smile came across Malina's face and she cuddled up to Mike, accidentally knocking him down to the ground. "Thanks Mike." She replied with glee.
Mike laughed. "Alright, you made your point, i'm glad your out of your ball too, it would be kind of a boring journey if i didn't have my partner with me."
Malina allowed Mike to get up. Mike brushed himself off and patted Malina on the head. "Oh, one thing, you can't tell Orion i'm letting you out of your ball." Mike informed.
"Why not?" Malina asked.
"Er, well, Orion gets a bit mad as it is, i'll just keep it at that." Mike hazily replied.
Malina raised an eyebrow but rather than argue, she just agreed to Mike's terms, as long as she got to be outside of her pokeball.
They still had a pretty good amount of day time to walk with, so it wasn't like they were pressed for time. Malina used her time to finally take in the scenery around her. The sun blazing in the sky, the prairie grass that practically shined, it was all really beautiful scenery. And malina was loving the fact that Orion was missing out on it. Malina couldn't really remember that last time she felt this relaxed. Whenever she was in her old clan, she always felt a sense of dread and a constant feeling of stress at the fear of being kicked out. It felt pretty good to not have to worry about those things. Even if they were being hunted by her old clan, but at the time, that was at the back of Malina's mind. For now, she could just relax and have a nice stroll next to Mike.
A sudden rustling caught Malina's attention. The sudden remembrance of her clan was brought back into her mind, and Malina quickly got into her fighting stance.
The rustling continued before something jumped out of the bush, Malina yelped and jumped back. It turned out to just be a litleo playing around.
"Jumpy are we?" Mike asked.
"Maybe." Malina replied, a bit embarrassed by her outburst.
"Well, now wouldn't be a bad time to help you train don't you think, there's plenty of pokemon in the grass we can fight." Mike suggested.
Malina looked down at the litleo who had a smug look on his face. Malina suddenly started to feel a bit pissed off at the litleo's demeanor.
"Let's do it." Malina challenged.
The litleo knew what was going on and was excited to fight a trainer's pokemon, he heard they were especially hard with all the training they go through.
The litleo threw the first attack with pounce. Malina jumped out of the way and avoided the attack, before Mike could throw in the first command, Malina counter-attacked with a tackle, aiming her horn at the little lion. The litleo avoided her attack by jumping over her horn and running across her back. Jumping off the litleo preformed a forward-flip, and while in mid-air, shot an ember at Malina. Malina yelped again as she felt her rear-end receive a burn.
Malina spun around and looked at the litleo who had an even bigger smug grin on his face.
Malina growled, tackling again, Malina charged the lion.
Rather than fight again, the litleo ran off into the grass, with Malina in hot pursuit.
"Malina, coma back." Mike yelled as he tried to chase after the absol. But he ran into something and tripped, as Mike laid in the grass, he suddenly felt a paw on his chest. Looking up, he saw a familiar figure.
"I think we need to have a talk." The figure commented.
To be continued...
