Project G—Chapter eleven (11-25-05)

"Wake up little Momoiro. It's time." A small pink haired girl yawned, rubbing her eyes sleepily before staring up at the voice.

"Big sister?" The older girl smirked, standing up and waiting for her younger sister to do the same.

"The boss contacted me while you were sleeping. The imbeciles finally screwed up big time. Seems that they let the experiment and her little friends get the ice orb. They're all on their way to the fire cave now, and the boss wants us to get there before anyone. We can't afford to let this one get messed up too. Are you ready to go? I'm sure it'll take them a while to get down there, but we'll wait for them just in case." Momoiro nodded, taking her sister's hand and holding tightly.

"Of course big sister. I'm ready whenever you are." With one last smirk, the older girl led the way out, leaving their little room alone in the darkness.


The Exalted, as they'd just found out they were called in a prophecy, had headed in the general southern direction in good spirits. They chatted about whatever came to mind, from their latest battle to how beautiful, and warm, the weather was. Luna had asked about pokémon contests, wondering why Duana had known who the boys were.

Robert had told her about how he and Harley had been coordinators since the profession first became available and Shuu was a young heartthrob. Shuu, after blushing, told her how things worked, from the appeals to the battling. Harley told her about some of the jerks on the circuit, especially a "whiny little brown-haired bitch" who said "kamo" way too much. Noctus-chan and Jupetta-chan had agreed whole-heartily, and then told her that from a pokémon's perspective, contests were amazing. You got to dazzle large audiences with visually appealing moves, then show off your skills and beat your opponents into the ground!

By the time night fell, they were still discussing contests.

"Haruka isn't that bad. You just over react." Harley growled as he tended the fire.

"I do not! She's annoying! And she has the worst dumb luck in the world!" Shuu rolled his eyes and unrolled a sleeping bag simultaneously.

"You just say that because she beat you twice in a row…"

"And she's the only one to do it! It's nothing but dumb luck!"

"Maybe she's just better than you."

"Why you little—"

"Calm down!" Robert finally shouted to be heard over them. "Shuu, you must admit that sometimes Haruka's pokémon seem rather… Super human. And Harley, you must admit that she is better at battle strategy. Appeals were always your forte." Harley opened his mouth to protest, but was cut off. "That has nothing to do with your pokémon. But I've seen your battles with her. You get upset much too easily when your pokémon get hurt, and thus you don't always think things through. Appeals are the most important part of a contest anyways. The battles are random and can be won on luck alone, but appeals show true creativity and talent." Harley finally nodded and leaned against Noctus-chan, who was sitting next to him.

"Yeah, I guess… But I can't help it! She has the nerve to call the two loves of my life scary right to my face, then she tries to knock the proverbial stuffing out of them! How can I not be pissed at her?" Shuu snorted, having finished unrolling the last bag.

"It's not like normal people fall in love with their pokémon you know. How was she supposed to know?" Harley bit his tongue before he said something he'd regret. All of the comebacks that came to mind involved Robert and pedophilia. He wouldn't do that to his best friend though. He had no problem with their relationship… He just wished that Robert had fallen for someone a bit less cocky than Shuu.

"Well…" Luna started, racking he brain for a subject to take them away from this bothersome girl, "…how about someone tells a funny story or something?" Robert, catching on to her plot, sat down opposite Harley, and motioned the others to gather round. Shuu sat between Jupetta-chan and Robert, and Luna took Robert's other side, next to Noctus-chan. When they were all seated, Robert cleared his throat.

"This story is about Noctus-chan." Four sets of eyes immediately turned to the surprised looking pokémon.

"Me? You know a funny story about me?" Robert smiled, but otherwise ignored him.

"Of course, he went by the name Sabonea-chan back then…" Harley giggled and got a nostalgic look in his eyes.

"You haven't been Sabonea-chan since I was fourteen… If Robert's story isn't amusing enough, I'm sure I can come up with something good." The two eldest coordinators shared a knowing look, and Noctus-chan felt himself tense up. He couldn't really remember too much from his pre-evolved days, but most of what he did remember he didn't think he wanted anyone else to know… Jupetta-chan was perhaps the most curious though. He remembered even less about his lover before they'd evolved, and he couldn't help but wonder if he had been as cranky then as he was nowadays…

"It was the first contest that Harley and I entered…"


Thirteen-year-olds Robert and Harley had traveled to Kaina City for the first ever Pokémon Contest. They'd been hearing the hype for weeks, and the young lovers made sure they'd be able to brag years from that day that they'd been in the first contest ever. After a quick briefing by the MC, with his two daughters looking on intently, they'd begun the momentous occasion with a cheering audience watching.

There were potentially more people watching the contest then both boys could ever remember seeing in one place at a time. Still, they'd been practicing forever, and they were determined to make it to the top! They were going all the way to this "Grand Festival" they kept hearing about!

Robert's appeal had gone well, with Yajiron impressing the crowd. He'd earned a total of 24.1, which was better than some people had received, but not enough to guarantee a spot in the next round. He gave his boyfriend a good-luck kiss before watching as the violet-haired boy took center stage, blowing kisses to the audience all the while.

Harley had always been good at so-called "girly" activities. Cooking was one skill he'd already mastered, and sewing was the other major one. It had helped though, as he had a golden crown and a green costume on that mimicked the patterns on his starter pokémon, Sabonea-chan. The audience was immediately impressed. As long as he had the pokémon they thought he had, this boy obviously understood the meaning of "coordinate."

"Go my pretty buddy, Sabonea-chan!" Robert resisted the urge to grow jealous. Because he wasn't, really. They'd been going out for almost a year, seeing as that day he'd been angsting in his room, he'd finally hooked up with his long time friend and long time crush. They were getting along just fine… It wasn't like Harley was in love with his pokémon or anything…

Really.

Robert forced himself to pay attention as the pretty boy spun around and called out his pokémon. Sabonea-chan materialized, with a cheerful, "Sabo!" and he and Harley waved to the crowd in sync. The judge were very impressed, and nodded to each other. The crowd went wild at how well in tune this duo was, and the sound of the applause was almost deafening.

Sabonea-chan had never been in front of so many people before. He was used to his master showering him with attention, but to have so many people cheering for him

"Sabo! Bonea, sabo!" Harley watched nervously as Sabonea-chan started running around in circles. This was most definitely not what they had practiced. But a bit of quick thinking told him just to go with it. It wasn't like anyone knew what was supposed to be happening, as long as it looked good…

"Sabonea-chan, you shouldn't run you know. You'll trip and hurt yourself." Now, it wasn't as if he wanted his pretty pokémon to fall, but he knew how clumsy he was. And if they could pull this off…

"Sabo!" Sure enough, seconds after he'd said that Sabonea-chan tripped over his own feet and went crashing to the floor. Harley smiled warmly as he picked up his now bawling pokémon and held him close, not at all being bothered by his thorns.

"Now, now, don't cry Sabonea-chan. I love you; I'll never let you get hurt."

If the crowd knew this was completely ad-libbed, they certainly didn't care. The cheering got even louder, with whistle and clapping almost making it hard to hear the MC as he announced Harley's score—a perfect 30.


Everyone who had been listening to Robert's story, with the exception of Noctus-chan, was laughing so hard that tears were running down their faces. The thought of Noctus-chan ever being that young and naïve was almost surreal. Especially the crying part.

"I remember that!" Harley said after he'd finally calmed down enough to speak. "I got the highest score in the appeal round. No one knew that I hadn't planned the whole thing."

"Well, I did," Robert confessed, "but only because we'd already seen what the other was doing. I just barely made it into the next round…"

"Well, now you just have Milokaross shine and you get in. It really didn't matter anyway, that Adan guy ended up winning with his Milokaross. He had that damn thing shine, and I still got a higher score than him!" Robert laughed, knowing Harley had always had issues with coordinators doing well at appeals when they had a Milokaross that shone and sparkled… But hey, whatever worked.

"Yes, seeing him battle that day made me more determined than ever to have Hinbass evolve… But we're getting off topic. We should be talking about Noctus-chan's younger days. I'm sure we can make his face even redder if we try a bit more…"

"Yeah, well, don't…" No one paid attention to him of course.

"Oh man, I'd kill to go back in time and see that!" Harley grinned at the girl, a devious glint in his eyes.

"Would you settle for watch a tape of it? My parents were in the crowd and taped the whole thing." Luna's eyes lit up and Noctus-chan paled.

"Really? Oh wow, that'd be great!"

"I can watch it too, right Harley-sama?" Harley gave his youngest lover a flirty wink.

"Of course! We can all watch it after we save the world."

"All right," Noctus-chan tried again, "moving on…"

"You now," Shuu mused, getting in his own two cents, "that's something I'd have expected from Jupetta-chan, not you… Well, other than the fact that Kagebouzu don't have feet…" As everyone nodded, Noctus-chan decided it was time to speak up.

"Okay, look. That was a long time ago. I was just a kid! Kids cry! The point is, I have much more self-restraint now and would never run around like a fool. I leave the theatrics to Jupetta-chan." His eyes took of a thoughtful look, and he continued in a soft voice, "Watching him reminds me of myself sometimes…"

"What?" Noctus-chan snapped out of his daze at the question.

"What, what? I didn't say anything!" Jupetta-chan frowned, his face clearly showing that he didn't buy it.

"Yes you did! You said I remind you of when you were Sabonea-chan. Tell me what you mean!" Noctus-chan's face took on a nice shade of pink as he thought about his answer carefully.

"Well… You're sweet Jupetta-chan. You're nice. You're innocent. Everything I lost when I evolved. I think that maybe that's what attracted me to you in the first place…" Jupetta-chan's eyes softened, and he got and walked over to his lover.

"Noctus-chan… I love you." He smiled as he pulled Jupetta-chan into his lap and held him close.

"I love you too kid." There were a few moments of silence as they watched the happy hybrids. Harley in particular thought it was the sweetest thing in the world. It was Noctus-chan himself who eventually broke the comfortable silence. "So… Now can we change the subject?"

They finally relented and spent the rest of the night talking about their travel plans for the next day.


They woke up early the next morning and did just what they'd decided on the night before— just to keep walking south until they found a sign. None of them had spent much time in the south, meaning none of them knew the area well enough to know where there could plausibly be a cave, let alone a special fire cave that housed the sister orb to the one they already possessed. They hoped to pass by a town or city soon, preferably one with a hotel and a nice restaurant…

"You know," Robert pointed out, "we'll probably go through Hajitsuge Town again." Luna raised an eyebrow.

"Where?" Shuu sighed, wondering if she ever paid attention…

"That's the town you found us in. You know, when you ate, like, fifty pieces of pie. There's a contest hall there. And a nice hotel we can get a good night's sleep in…" She nodded, remembering the place as soon as he'd mentioned pie.

"Yeah, I liked that place… It didn't take us long to find the ice cave, so we should get there pretty soon… Oh, I can taste that cherry pie now!" No one bothered to comment on that…

Harley was already making plans as they walked. He and Robert had plenty of money to rent as many rooms as need be. He was sure that the blond would get a room for him and Shuu to share, and Luna would get her own room… And that would leave him and his beautiful lovers by themselves. Luna could taste the pie, but Harley could taste Jupetta-chan and Noctus-chan…

"Harley-sama, is something wrong?" The coordinator snapped out of his perverted thoughts and laughed nervously.

"Of course Jupetta-chan my dear. Why do you ask?" Noctus-chan snorted shook his head in mock-disgust.

"You're drooling… I don't even want to know what you were thinking about…" He leaned in closely and whispered so only Harley could hear him, "But it sure as hell better have been about me and Jupetta-chan…" Harley blushed and nodded, causing Noctus-chan to smirk knowingly.

"Noctus-chan, what's going on…?"

"I'll tell you later Jupetta-chan. Now, let's play a game called "name everything you can think of that starts with the letter 'Q.'" You start." As Jupetta-chan happily started listing off everything that he could think of, Harley shot Noctus-chan a thankful look. The look he got back clearly said, 'You owe me big time.'

'Don't worry,' Harley thought gleefully, 'not much longer and I'll show you two the time of your lives…'

Robert watched the entire exchange in a highly amused manner. It wasn't like Harley was promiscuous or anything, but he was certainly no blushing virgin… Even when he had been a virgin. They'd had a healthy sex life… But had a feeling Harley hadn't slept with anyone after him for fear of what he might say in the throes of passion when all he could think about were his pokémon

'I wonder how long he can hold out… I wonder how long I can hold out. At least Harley's dating whom he loves… Now if I could only get Shuu to stop denying the attraction between us. God knows I want him even more than I wanted Harley…'

Whatever happened in the time before the reached the fire cave, Robert sincerely hoped that it involved him and Shuu becoming romantically involved… He had a feeling that his sanity, and libido, depended on it.