Chapter 13

"Come on, Kotone," Ethan groaned.

"I'm not coming out in this outfit!" I shouted back.

"Why not?"

"Cause the skirt is way too short!"

"Oh come on, it can't be that bad."

"If I bend over at all, I'm going to be flashing my panties!"

"Then don't bend over. It's just for a picture, anyway."

I groaned. I really didn't want to do this. Now that I've caught your attention, since this is the start of a new chapter, and you might have stopped after the end of the last, I bet you'd like to know how I got into this mess. If you might recall, Ethan and I had agreed to meet up in Goldenrod City. Well, I had arrived a day earlier then was planned, which was why I went for the gym. Of course, you know how that went. Since I hadn't managed to meet up with Ethan that day, we had met up in New Bark Town during the time I was there. We had later agreed to meet up again in Goldenrod City, since he wanted to show me around there.

Well, I had arrived a day early again and had just kind of wandered the shops and things of the city. One shop had thrown a bike at me - no, I'm not joke, they literally threw it at me - asking me to advertise their shop by riding around on the bike. I reluctantly agreed, but after I had spent a while advertising, they called saying that the advertising had really helped their sales that day. In response, they had let me keep the bike for free. I'm still half convinced part of why they asked me to advertise was because I was dressed in my bikini top and shorts, but oh well.

I had spent the night at the Pokemon Center that night, and upon awakening in the morning had found Ethan sitting next to me. "You're awake." He smiled.

"What time is it?" I looked down at my Pokegear. "It's only nine o'clock?"

Ethan nodded. "I showed up a couple hours ago."

"You got here at seven in the morning?!" I almost shouted.

Ethan put his hand to his chin. "Six, actually. I walked all night."

"You've been up all night?!" I actually shouted this time.

Ethan chuckled and rubbed his neck. "I kind of slept all day yesterday, so I was up during the night."

"So you're going to be groggy all day?" I groaned.

"No, no. I slept a little now, and I literally slept almost all day yesterday, so I've only been up for like...twelve hours or so. I'll be fine."

"You're sure?"

Ethan nodded. "Absolutely."

"Well...all right then..." I sat up and looked around, then looked down at myself. I made sure my clothes were still on properly - wearing a bikini top when you sleep isn't really the best idea after all - then turned to Ethan. "So, what do you have planned for us?"

"Just a walk around the city. Figured I'd show you some of my favorite places to go." Ethan stood up and held a hand out to me. "But first, breakfast."

I took his hand and stood to my feet. We headed out from there to a little restaurant type thing where they served breakfast. We talked a bit about this and that while we ate, mostly boring and harmless stuff you wouldn't find interesting. After that, we headed out, making our way through the streets of the city. Ethan showed me a lot of things I hadn't seen the day before. Again, mostly harmless and boring stuff you wouldn't find interesting to read about, but I found to be fun and interesting to see.

However, we did eventually make a stop off at the Goldenrod Game Corner. No, don't worry, this one wasn't run by Team Rocket, unlike a certain other Game Corner was three years ago. Here they had all kinds of games, from Slots to Voltorb Flip and even Chess. You had to pay coins to unlock the chess pieces from the board, but they did have it, it just didn't have a payout for winning like the other games. Ethan and I played a couple of rounds of chess there since he had some coins. He won 4-1. The only time I won was by sheer luck when I had somehow managed to knock him down to just his king and I had just a king and pawn. I swapped my pawn for a queen and checkmated him that way. That was the first game. All four games after he wiped me out.

After that, we moved on to other parts of the city until we finally went to The Underground. The Underground was a small plaza of sorts. Merchants set up stalls, and you could go visit them. I guess it was kinda like a Flea Market, just underground. In either case, the Underground spanned the entirety of the underground land beneath the city, so there was a lot down there. My Pokemon and I visited the hair stylists. Granted, not many of my Pokemon had fur or hair, but those that did enjoyed it. I, on the other hand, had gotten my hair cut so it was now straight and down to my shoulders, while I had had my bangs cut in the front.

When I looked in the mirror for the first time, seeing myself without any sort of pigtails or ponytail, with my hair in this style, I almost squeeled. My hair looked amazing! I never thought I would have been able to have my hair in this kind of style and still look good, but I did! I was happy. And then, we came to a photographer's booth. This is where we were in the beginning of this chapter.

"Velcome to zee Photography Ztand," the photographer spoke. "Vould you like to have your photograph taken?" He waved to a nearby room. "Ve have all kinds of fun cozplay that you can vear vhen you get your picture taken."

"Cosplay, huh?" I looked at the room. "Like what?"

"Ve have cozplay of many animez, including zee Pokemon anime and mangas. Ve also have many other anime cozplay, and ve just got a new one in ztock. It iz zee Team Rocket outfit."

"Why would anyone want to take a picture in a Team Rocket outfit?"

The photographer shrugged. "It iz popular right now for zome reazon, so ve got one in ztock. Rather, ve have both zee male and female outfitz."

"Sounds...odd..." I looked at Ethan.

"Why not give it a try? It sounds like fun." Ethan smiled with that comment.

"You kidding me? I don't want to be seen wearing that thing. Team Rocket is awful!"

"Still, it's just a cosplay. It's not like you're joining their ranks."

I glared at Ethan. "I'm not wearing it."

"Well, I'm gonna go put on the male outfit. If you don't want to wear it, find something else." Ethan walked off into the room labelled "Men's Costumes".

I sighed. "Fine..."

And...that takes us back to the beginning. I had dressed in the female Team Rocket uniform, but the outfit was really tight. It felt awkward on my body, even though it was the right size for me. I wondered how someone could wear this every day. That's when I remembered how short the skirt was, and when I had checked, this outfits skirt wasn't any longer then the outfit the girl in the Slowpoke Well had worn. That's why I was screaming about how short the skirt was. Reluctantly, I stepped out of the dressing room and stepped over to Ethan. "You look hot in that outfit."

I glared at him. "Says the gay guy who wants me to be over him."

Ethan chuckled. "Hey, if you had reacted differently, it would have meant you weren't over me yet."

I smiled. "True." I stepped up next to him and wrapped my arm around him.

"Look at zee camera, pleaze," the photographer spoke as he readied his camera. "Zay cheeze!" The camera snapped the picture, and the guy quickly developed it. "Zere you go. Vould you like any otherz?"

"You know...if we want sexy cosplay...I think I saw a cosplay of that one girl from that one video game..." Yeah, that helped narrow it down, Kotone. I mean seriously, how many "one girls" from "that one video game" can there be? Ethan made the same remark. "I mean that girl from that...space game...the one with the weird alien jellyfish things that could only be hurt by ice."

"You mean 'Metroid'?"

"Yes!" I shouted. "I saw a cosplay of her uniform...the...umm...the blue one..."

"The 'Zero Suit'?"

"Yes!" I didn't play video games really at all, they were boring. Ethan loved them, though.

"Hmm...I wonder if they have any cosplay that would fit along with that." Ethan put his hand to his chin. "Oh! I bet they'll have a Mario one. Did they have a Peach one?"

My eye twitched. "I'm not wearing a pink dress..."

"What about Daisy?"

Well, Daisy wore yellow, and wasn't as girly, so maybe. I made that remark to Ethan and went searching. A few moments later, I came out dressed in the yellow dress and gold crown of the Princess of Sarasaland while Ethan came out dressed as her boyfriend, a plumber wearing a green shirt and hat and overalls. I could never remember his name, I always called him "Pencil Neck" cause he was skinny and had a long neck. We took a picture in those outfits as well, and then took a few pictures with our Pokemon in our normal clothes. I even got Marill to let me hold her. I think she was starting to warm up to me after I had stopped chasing after him.

"That was a lot of fun, Ethan." I stretched as the photographer handed us the last photo. "Thank you." We waved and headed off.

"Thank you, Kotone," Ethan spoke as we walked.

"For what?" I asked as I looked over at him.

"For letting me do this as a friend of yours. I know it might have been kind of hard to get over me. I know you've liked me since we were young."

I nodded. "Well, I can't say I'm completely over you, but I'm over you enough. Especially since I have no chance with you." I nudged him.

Ethan rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah..."

"So, do you have a boyfriend?"

Ethan blushed. "Wh-what?"

"It's a simple question. Do you have a boyfriend? I mean, you are gay, that means you'd like guys and thus would have a boyfriend if you had found a guy you like."

Ethan looked away. "I-I wouldn't say he's my...b-boyfriend..."

"Oh? And who is 'he'? Do I know him?"

"Y-you might know him...he's a Gym Leader."

My eyes went wide. "You're boyfriend is a Gym Leader?"

Ethan covered my mouth. "He's not my boyfriend! N-not officially, anyway."

I moved Ethan's hands away. "And who is 'he'?"

Ethan looked away and sighed. "I-I'm not sure I can say...He doesn't really want anyone finding out about us just yet."

I slowly nodded, taking that thought in. "That's why you two aren't official. That makes sense. Well, I'd love to meet your 'boyfriend' one day." I made sure to put air quotes around the word "boyfriend". "So, where to next?"

"Dinner."

I blinked and checked my pokegear. We had spent the entire day just wandering the city together, and it really was about dinner time now. I hadn't even noticed, which was funny cause I had said the same thing at lunch time as well. So, we went to a fancy restaurant. I had dressed in a fancy red spaghetti strap dress, and he had dressed in a suit. It was at that point that I bugged Ethan about why he seemed to have so much money. All day, he had been pulling money out of his pockets and giving it to shops, restaurants, etc. Anything I wanted to buy, he bought me.

"Ah, about that..." Ethan rubbed the back of his neck again.

"'Boyfriend's' allowance?"

"N-no, nothing like that. Actually, it's because my grandparents own a day care. I work there most of the time, and I get paid a good amount, too." Ethan took a drink of the soda he had ordered.

"Interesting." I looked around for a moment, then blushed. A sudden thought had come over me. "Ethan...what would you think if I stopped wearing clothes?"

Ethan suddenly spit his drink in my face in reaction. I grabbed a napkin and began to wipe my face. "S-sorry, Kotone. It's just...that was kind of an off-the-wall question..."

"But it's an honest one."

Ethan looked away. "W-well, I mean...you have a nice body and all. I-I don't know about walking around naked, though. I mean...isn't that...illegal?"

I grabbed my drink. "Depends on where you go. I hear Olivine City has a nude beach, and Cianwood City is just a small island, so it's all beach front basically. I hear it's normal in the summer there for people to wear just bathing suits or less."

"A-are you thinking about doing that?"

I nodded. "Well, walking around in my bathing suit anyway. I doubt I'd really have the courage to just strip to nothing unless I had a reason to."

"Like when you tried to get me to have sex with you."

I accidently spit my drink in his face. "Guess we're even now." Ethan chuckled. "Yes, I did have the courage those times, but I also had no control over myself those times either. It was like something was controlling me."

Ethan wiped his face. "Your hormones, maybe?"

I shrugged. "Probably. It just...it was kind of like that feeling you get when you're just drunk enough to still know what you're doing, but too drunk to control yourself."

"And...you would know this feeling...how?" Ethan gave me an odd stare.

"I got drunk once, okay? I stole from my Dad's liquor cabinet while he was still around. I was like...fourteen at the time."

Ethan chuckled. "Yeah, sounds like something your fourteen-year-old self would do." He took a sip of his drink. "Why did your dad leave, anyway?"

"Mom kicked him out after he attacked her in a drunken rage. Almost called the cops on him. Told him that if he ever came back, she would."

"Oh wow...I didn't know he was like that."

I shrugged. "Dad loved us, but when he was drunk he became angry. It wasn't a problem at first, then he started drinking every day. Then he started getting drunk every day. Then he stopped ever being sober. That's when Mom kicked him out and tossed his alcohol out with him."

"That explains all of the glass in front of your door that day."

I nodded and sat back. "What can you do, you know? I just hope that whatever guy I get together with isn't like him." I got close to Ethan. "Still think you'd make a great husband if you weren't gay."

"S-sorry to disappoint you."

I giggled. "Nah, you should be happy." I looked away. "Be happy as long as you can...You never know what the future can hold." I was thinking about that future I had seen now. "You never know what will happen, or how you'll die..."

Ethan noticed I was being weird and snapped his fingers in front of my face. "You all right? You look like you've seen a ghost."

I looked back at Ethan and a vision of his older self came to view. I remembered that moment when he saved me from Kangaskhan. "Would you believe me if I said I had seen the future?"

Ethan blinked. "You mean like a psychic vision?"

I shook my head. "More like time travel. Like...I had actually gone there."

"What do you mean?"

I sighed, then told him the future I had been to. I had left out my importance in the whole thing, though, simply stating that someone had been meant to stop that future and failed. Ethan sat back in his chair. "That's...a lot to take in..." He looked down. "I'm not sure whether I can really believe that or not. I mean, it sounds so...far fetched, yet not. You were in Ilex Forest, and that is where Celebi lives. It's possible but... You said I was killed by a Kangaskhan?"

I nodded. "You were trying to protect me, and he attacked you."

Ethan looked away. "A world where Pokemon ruled the world and humans were their slaves... It makes you wonder if we currently live in the opposite world... Where Pokemon are our slaves and we rule the world."

"My Pokemon aren't slaves. My Pokemon are my friends. If any of them wanted to leave the team, though, they'd be free to."

"Even so, we keep them stuffed in those balls..."

"I only keep Alal in his ball, and that's because he's freakin' huge. He's twenty-eight feet long, Ethan. There's no way I could keep him otherwise."

"I know. It's just...we can't understand Pokemon. And I always wonder...if we could, would they say they like us?"

I smiled because I actually knew that answer. "For me and you? I'd say definitely. For people like Silver that mistreat their Pokemon? Well...I can't help but wonder. If a Pokemon doesn't what it's like to be treated right, would they instead find they enjoy being treated badly?"

I thought back on the words of Silver's Croconaw. "I don't want to be cared for! ... I enjoy being with my trainer. ... Trusting in humans to make us stronger is pointless! It is us who must build our own strength!" It made me wonder, if that Croconaw had had a good trainer, would it still feel that way?

"I don't know," Ethan put his hand to his chin as he thought on that. That's when our dinner arrived, and we ate. After that, we made our way to a hotel where we again spent the night, just like in Violet City. That night came and went, and in the morning, Ethan and I parted ways. He returned to his grandparents day care, while I began to make my way towards Ecruteak City. Ecruteak wasn't far, only about a day's journey, if that. I had no idea what awaited me there, and how it would change my life forever.