Chapter 12: Topaz Town 1 - The Female Essence
"Once I get my fourth Initial, I'll be halfway done!"
Zecher fidgeted in his seat in the pokemon center of Topaz Town. Vaporeon looked at him oddly.
"Vay?"
"Ah, sorry Vaporeon. I'm just so excited!"
Zecher looked out of the window of the pokemon center. Outside, was the quiet town of Topaz. The city had many gas stations, grocery marts, and fast-food restaurants scattered around. There were also a few clothing stores. The city was typically arranged in small neighborhoods, with parks nearby. There were also many trees scattered around.
"Ah, this is my kind of city. Although I'm a hardcore battler, I still love the green fields and quiet surroundings. Don't you love it too, Vaporeon?"
"Vay!" Vaporeon said in agreement.
Ring! Ring!
"Hmm?" Zecher heard a ringing somewhere. After looking around, he noticed the ringing was coming from his pokedex. He took it out, and opened the screen.
"Huh?" Zecher looked at the screen in confusion. There appeared to be a wavy signal on the screen that was beeping. As time passed, the signal began getting larger, and the beeping got faster.
"What the heck is that supposed to mean?"
"Espe!"
Zecher looked on the ground. Suddenly, an Espeon appeared at his feet.
"Huh? An Espeon? What's it doing here?"
Then, the Espeon went over to Vaporeon. Vaporeon looked at Espeon in confusion. Suddenly, the Espeon got very close to Vaporeon. Espeon began rubbing its head on Vaporeon.
"Vay?" Vaporeon was unsure of what to do. It looked at Zecher, who was equally confused.
"That's kind of weird. When did you meet an Espeon?" Zecher leaned back in his chair and began thinking. "Who do I know that has an Espeon?" Zecher thought hard about this. Then, it hit him. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me."
"Not kidding you at all, Zechy-boy!"
A girl with blonde hair appeared behind Zecher. She proceeded to hug him from behind. Zecher immediately knew who it was.
"Geez. I can't believe you're here, Aria."
"Why? Did you miss me?" Aria giggled and placed her head on top of Zecher's head, and put her hands on Zecher's shoulders. Zecher stiffened up and began turning red.
"Absolutely not. It was a blissful two months with you gone."
"Hehe! Don't try hiding how you feel! Anyone would be glad to see me again!"
"You haven't changed at all, Little Miss Stuck Up," Zecher said, quoting Gary.
Aria let go of Zecher. "Geez, stupid Gary." Aria then went to the seat next to Zecher. Zecher saw that she was looking at the two pokemon. Zecher himself then looked at them.
Vaporeon was now apparently returning the actions Espeon was giving. The two pokemon were now nudging each other's heads and putting their faces very close together.
"Aw! Looks like they've put their differences aside from their last battle," Aria said, stricken by the cute sight.
Zecher looked at Vaporeon. "You traitor."
Vaporeon paid no mind to Zecher. It just continued what it was doing.
"So, I'm guessing you lost the battle with Lewis?" Aria said with a genuine smile on her face.
Zecher rolled his eyes. "No way! I totally won that battle! Let me show you!"
Zecher took out his Initial case and opened it. There, his three Initials proudly stood out.
"I've got three Initials!" Zecher boasted. "How many have you got?"
Aria laughed at Zecher. "Waaay more than that, I can tell you!"
Zecher slumped in his seat and began grumbling. "Man..."
Aria put her face very close to Zecher's. Zecher's face turned a crimson red.
In a seductive tone, Aria said, "You're so gonna lose to the Acropolis Prince."
Aria went back in her chair. Zecher's face reddened up again, but by anger instead of nervousness.
"You think I can't beat the Battle Acropolis? Just you wait!"
"Ok then!" Aria giggled.
"I've had about enough of you!" Zecher stood up from his chair and proceeded to walk out of the pokemon center. Vaporeon eventually stopped what it was doing and followed Zecher. Aria and Espeon then followed suit.
"You can't get rid of me that easily, Zechy boy!"
"Oh, yeah? Just watch me!"
Returning Vaporeon to its pokeball, Zecher sprinted out of the center. Aria returned Espeon to its own pokeball, and flashed after Zecher.
-I-
The annoyed Zecher eventually ended up out in front of the pokemon center. The gleeful Aria happily hopped to his side, eager to annoy him.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, an Articuno appeared in the sky! It flew down closer to the ground, and two people hopped off of its back. Articuno then flew back to wherever it came from.
Zecher looked at the two people who hopped off of Articuno. They were none other than the girls known as Yellow and Green.
"Hi, Zecher! It's good to see you again!" Yellow greeted.
"You sure know a lot of cute girls. Including me!" Aria happily exclaimed.
"Airhead." Zecher muttered under his breath.
Green then went up to Aria. She examined her from top to bottom.
"I definitely know who you are! You are Aria Dawson! You are the champion of the Hoenn League Competition and the Johto Silver Conference! You are also the very first Dex Holder of Kohro!"
Aria giggled. "Yep, that's definitely me!"
"So, have you girls found your guy yet?"
"Unfortunately, no. We spent quite a lot of time searching Digit Village from top to bottom. No friend was to be found."
"Why are you in this city, then? I don't remember you talking about Topaz Town in your plans."
"Well, at the Topaz History Museum, they're unveiling a special Topaz sculpture shaped like Arceus! The historians believe it was made thousands of years ago."
"That sounds awesome! Let's go see it!" Zecher exclaimed.
"I'm game!" Aria announced.
-II-
Zecher, Aria, Yellow, and Green were now inside the Topaz History Museum. They were currently located in a room of exhibits called 'Topaz Wonders'. There were many statues and sculptures of pokemon made of blue, red, and yellow topaz, but the most awaited one was the Arceus sculpture. The sculpture would be unveiled in an exhibit at the center of the room, with the platform covered by a curtain.
"Man, I can't wait!" Zecher said excitedly.
"I know! Arceus is an amazing pokemon! I can't wait to see it in topaz!" Aria revealed.
"Well, looks like we'll have to wait. The unveiling won't be for another half hour." Green unhappily said.
"Oh, come on!" Zecher groaned.
"Relax! Maybe we can open the curtain for a split second and take a quick peek at it," Aria suggested.
"Uh, I don't think that's such a good idea," Yellow said nervously.
"Let loose a little bit, Yellow! Let's do it!" Green agreed.
The four went up to the curtain. They looked at their surroundings. No one was looking. Zecher then quietly took the curtain and slowly opened it. Inside...was nothing.
"What! No sculpture?" Zecher wondered, confused.
"Maybe they haven't put it in yet," Aria said worriedly.
"That doesn't make sense! It should be here by now!" Green yelled.
Then, the four saw an 'Employees Only' door at the back of the room being opened. Going inside was a man wearing a large coat which seemed to be concealing something.
"That guy looks suspicious. Let's go after him," Zecher said, following the man.
"What!?! For all we know, he might be an employee!" Yellow yelled.
"Yeah!" Aria agreed.
"Well, I'm going." Green followed Zecher. "You two coming or what?"
Aria and Yellow looked at each other. They sighed, and followed Green.
-
The four found themselves in a long hallway. They looked at the suspicious man walking down the hallway. They proceeded to sneak after him.
However, after no more than a few seconds, their stealth was ruined.
"Achoo!" Yellow sneezed rather loudly.
The man turned around. Panicking, he began running away.
"After him!"
The four kids dashed after the man. They eventually reached a door that would lead to the back of the building. They confronted him in the back.
"We know you stole the sculpture! Give it back right now!" Zecher commanded.
"Ooh, I like a man who takes control," Aria said giggling.
"You won't take this from me! I, Ham, always prevail!"
"Ham?" Zecher repeated, unsuccessfully trying to hold back a laugh. "Your name is Ham?"
"Oh, that's a laugh riot!" Green said, laughing uncontrollably.
"Sh-shut up! Anyway, I'm keeping this Arceus sculpture!"
"Not on my watch!" Zecher began wrestling with the man. The man couldn't fight back since the object was in his hands. In the end, Zecher managed to wrestle it away from Ham.
"Here, Green!" Zecher threw the sculpture to Green, who caught it.
"Nice throw, Zech!"
"Graah! I'll get you rotten kids!"
"Run!" The four kids, instead of doing the sensible thing and running back into the museum, ran in another direction instead, with Ham trailing them.
"Where do we go!?!" Yellow frantically asked.
"Let's go hide in that In-N-Out restaurant!" Zecher pointed towards a large restaurant building.
The four trainers ran into In-N-Out. As today was a work day, there were not that much people inside. However, there was enough people to hide behind. The trainers split up to look for a good place to hide.
"There!" Zecher pointed towards a door.
The trainers followed Zecher into the door. As Zecher closed the door, they realized it was a utility closet. There was only a mop and a few towels.
"Hey, where's Green?" Yellow questioned.
"I don't know. She must not have heard me when I said we should hide here."
"Well it's a good thing she didn't! It's really small in here anyway!"
Zecher, Aria, and Yellow were all scrunched up together. Zecher was on the door, which caused Aria and Yellow to press themselves onto him.
Zecher gulped. He had not been this close to a girl before, let alone two!
"Why are we hiding here anyway? We don't even have the sculpture with us!" Aria protested.
"It doesn't matter! If he catches us, he'll try to kill us anyway for foiling his plan!" Yellow answered.
Zecher accidentally took in a whiff of the air. From Yellow, he could smell a tropical scent of fruits and trees. From Aria, he smelled expensive perfume and a scent of strawberries. Zecher turned red and shifted around uncomfortably.
"Man, this is so uncomfortable," Aria complained. "...Hey! Zecher, where the heck do you think you are touching me!?!"
"Sorry!" Zecher apologetically said. He felt that his hand was now on Aria's hip. He flinched back at the feel of this, which caused him to squeeze his hand together. And since his hand was on her hip...
Aria turned crimson red. "Stop touching me, pervert!" Aria slapped Zecher across the face. Hard.
"I already said it was an accident!" Zecher yelled at Aria.
Then, Yellow let out a small yelp. "Un, Zecher, please don't put your hand down anymore!"
Zecher looked at where his other hand was. He felt that it was slightly above Yellow's butt.
"I'm sorry, Yellow! It's just this space is so small!"
"Geez, is this closet getting smaller or what?" Aria said, pressing herself harder against Zecher.
"Don't move so much, Aria! You drag me along with you!" Yellow said, ending up also getting closer to Zecher.
The girls' hands were now on Zecher's chest. They were pressing on him very hard. They were groaning. Zecher began breathing faster, and was turning very red. To make things worse, the next time he inhaled was through his nose, where he took a very strong whiff.
Oh, god! Save me lord, please save me! I don't know how much longer I can handle this! If I don't get out of here sooner, there's no telling what my body will do!
-III-
"Come on, officers! This is a huge mistake!"
Ham was getting arrested by Officer Jenny in In-N-Out. A few minutes earlier, after Ham went into the restaurant, Green called Officer Jenny on her cell phone. In only a few moments, Jenny appeared and arrested Ham. After a few more minutes, the museum curator arrived in the restaurant.
"Thank you so much, little girl! I'm glad that rotten thief was caught!"
"No problem! Though, since a lot of people have touched the sculpture, it may have lost its historic value."
"Oh, you don't need to worry about that! This is a fake sculpture!"
Green was dumbfounded. "Huh!?!"
"Yeah, we thought someone may have tried to steal the artifact, so we put a fake one in! The real one is back at the museum!" The curator then walked out of the restaurant. "You can keep that replica as thanks for catching the thief!"
Green let out a huge groan and sat down at a table. All that for nothing. "Alright guys, you can come out now!"
Suddenly, the closet door burst open. Zecher jumped out with his hands in the air. "Freedom! FREEDOM!!!!!!!"
Zecher ran around the entire restaurant, trying to let go of some steam. The two girls later walked out of the closet, also looking exhausted.
"Geez, what happened to you three in there?"
Zecher, Aria, and Yellow looked at each other. They looked at Green. "Nothing."
-IV-
The four were now back at the pokemon center. After seeing the exhibit, they were ready to go separate ways again.
"We got to go to Fister Town now. So, we've got a long way to go," Green explained.
"I hope you find your guy! See you guys!" Zecher said, waving goodbye.
"See you!" Green and Yellow waved back as they set off on foot to their next destination.
Aria looked at Zecher. She smiled. "Wow, what an exciting day, huh?"
"My cheek still stings," Zecher grumbled. "But, I think I'll feel better when I beat the Region Brain tomorrow."
"I'll be a good sport. I'll cheer you on!" Aria announced.
"Great," Zecher said unenthusiastically. He then yawned. "I'm pretty beat. I'm gonna go to sleep."
"If you want, you can sleep in my room," Aria offered with a smile.
Zecher looked at her in complete shock. "Huh!?!"
"Hehe! Just kidding!" Aria ran into the pokemon center. "I'll see you bright and early for your match tomorrow!"
Zecher looked at Aria. His conflicting emotions about her would likely keep him awake for a while. But, that didn't matter now. All that mattered was getting some sleep.
-Hehe! It's the return of Aria, ladies and gents! And...another appearance by Green and Yellow. I tried to keep some of the certain parts as PG-13 as possible! I just felt like adding that part in there to show that Zecher is like any other teenage boy. Anyway, next chapter is the challenge of the fourth Initial. Can't wait!-