No, your eyes aren't deceiving you. Yes, there actually is a new chapter in this story. I won't let it die! It's just that school has kicked me while I was down...
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. I do own a copy of Pokemon Diamond, though, and have all three starters. Believe it.
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"Darren…this place is huge."
"No dip Sherlock. Let's go inside."
Darren and Lia stood at the entrance of the Slateport Hyper Contest Hall, watching people run in and out. The young girl didn't know it was possible to even have this many people in a city – after all, the museum and PFC were packed as well, how could there be anybody left over?
Kou, heedless as usual, grabbed Lia's arms and pulled her, chiding noisily in her own language.
"Com? Bus ken ken ken!" 'Well? You were running out of that crazy place earlier, so why stop now?'
"Kir ilia kir?" 'Uh…what kind of logic is that?' Aurora scoffed.
"Com bus bus ken?" 'You say something, punk?'
'Oh, punk, that's original.'
"Kou, Aurora, stop bickering. We have get in there in the next…" Lia checked her Pokenav. "47 seconds." She sighed, "That's close to impossible."
Darren smirked, "Close being the key word there. Alright…let's go with Hikage."
He tossed out the pokeball, which released the black Kirlia in a flourish of sparkles. He looked up with half-lidded eyes and psychically spoke with Darren for a while. Then, with a nod of his head, he turned to the crowd.
"Kir." he sighed as he waved one of his arms. Several people in the crowd began to glow red, then shrieked as they were 'magically' lifted into the air. Before long, there was a perfectly clear path to the wide double doors at the other end of the hall.
"Well then," Darren laughed as he walked forward, "shall we go?"
Lia stared for a second, mouth slightly agape. She then shook her head – why should she be surprised? It was Darren, after all.
The two trainers made their way inside and were instantly overwhelmed by the bright lights and deafening roar of the crowd. It was almost a stadium-like set up, with a stage nearly as big an average house. The seat were cushioned and the floors carpeted – very high class. Surprisingly enough, their seats were fairly good ones, but Kou had to sit on the floor, as they only had two seats.
A neat looking woman stood onstage in a perfectly pressed red dress, a microphone in hand. Her smile was wide, perfect, and creepily unnatural, a fact not lost on Lia and Darren.
"Okay, it's now time for our third appeal in the Slateport Hyper Rank Cool Contest! Isn't that exciting?" she squealed. "It's time for the appeal of Olsen and Marianna the Mawile!"
An older man walked onstage, dressed in a smart black suit and a top hat upon his graying head. The Mawile appeared to be a girl, as a red scarf was tied around the base of her horn and the extra length tied the mouth shut.
Olsen took his spot in the ring as his Mawile walked out to the middle, untying her scarf and retying it around her shoulders. The crowd screeched and whistled – it seemed she was a favorite. The clock ticked down…three…two…one…
"Mari, go! Use Sandstorm!" Olsen called.
"Maw!" The pokemon leapt up and spun around quickly, spraying sand through the air until it was difficult to see through.
"Wow! What a Sandstorm!" the announcer cheered, not moving an inch despite the vicious storm.
"Mari, follow up with Earthquake, then Metal Sound!" the coordinator called.
The Mawile gave a quick nod before jumping in the air, doing a flip, and slamming the contest floor with her horn. The stand vibrated precariously as the floor split into tiers, raising a mountain of dirt in the center of the arena. The Metal Sound was a harsh, metallic screech emitted from her mouth/horn broke the mountain into jagged platforms.
Some members of the audience began shrieking in fear from how badly the stands were shaking. Lia worriedly clutched Darren's wrist, but he didn't react. Once the tremor was over, she released his hand and blushed. He simply raised his eyebrow and said nothing.
"Wow, Marianna's really 'tearing' up the floor!" The announcer laughed airily at her own joke.
"Mari, finish it up! Iron Tail!" He swiftly took off his top hat and tossed it into the air.
Mari's horn glowed bright white as she quickly scaled the mountain platforms. She jumped off the summit, flying high into the area before doing a flip and slamming down on the mountain. It crumbled instantly, leaving a cloud of dust floating in the air. The audience began to hack and choke – the dust was pretty thick… When everything settled, there were concentric circles of debris all around the Mawile, alternating between sand and rock. The top hat finally came down and Mari grabbed it, placing it securely on her head.
At first, there was silence. Then, all of a sudden…
"Oh my gosh, that was AMAZING!!!"
Urged on by the scream, the crowd erupted in cheers, screaming themselves hoarse. Mari took a quick bow before coolly striding back to Olsen. He patted her on the head gently before leaving the stage area.
"An amazing show from Olsen and Marianna, as usual. Our next contender…"
Lia didn't get a chance to hear the rest of the announcement, for Darren had suddenly stood and began to weave his way out of the crowd. Hikage stood up as well and began to float down.
"Hey Darren! Wait…wait up!" Lia called, barely audible over the crowd.
Darren, who was already at the bottom of the stairs, slumped his shoulders noticeably and stuffed his hands in his pockets, tapping his foot impatiently. Lia smiled and made her way down, glad that he had waited for her for once. Kou easily leapt down, seemingly surprised that she actually landed on her feet.
"Com bus com ken." 'Well, I couldn't do that before.'
Aurora rolled her eyes and looked ready to make a smart comment, but Lia returned Kou before she got the chance.
"Come on guys, no fighting. Well, at least not in public…" Lia muttered as she reattached the pokeball to her satchel.
Darren gave her a very clear took-you-long-enough stare before leaving the contest area. She followed him into the lobby, where a large crowd of reporters had swarmed to Olsen. They were all speaking at once, flash bulbs continually blinking.
Lia looked up at Darren, who had narrowed his eyes. "You wanted to talk to him? It kinda looks like you'll have to wait-"
He suddenly cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, "Hey, old man!"
The reporters, like Lia, had frozen with their mouths hanging open. The older man gave Darren an amused look.
"I want to talk to you." he said simply, returning his hands to his pockets.
Olsen smiled and said, "Very well." He turned to the reporters and said, "So sorry, but I have to go."
The man and his Mawile walked towards them, and Lia quickly unfroze. She searched for a place to talk and suggested, "Um, how about we sit by that weird machine over there?"
"That's a pokeblock machine, miss. I think that's an excellent idea. Ah, but first, I'm Olsen, and this is Mari. But I'm sure you knew that." Olsen chuckled a bit and bowed slightly.
Lia quickly bowed in return, saying, "Oh, I'm Lia Makura! And, um, this is Aurora, my Kirlia." Aurora bowed as well, grabbing the hems of her 'skirt'.
"Darren. Nice to meet you." Hikage introduced himself with a simple "Kir."
"Well, now that we all know each other, let's go and make some pokeblocks!"
The man escorted them over and instructed them where to sit. He sat down himself and said, "Now, making pokeblocks isn't very hard – you just need a good sense of rhythm. Simply push this little blue button when the spinner comes around-"
"Is this a lot of work?" Darren interrupted. He was already looking skeptical at the prospect of work.
Olsen smiled. "Not at all. Why, I think that you'd be good at it Darren, you seem the type. Now, if we can all put in a berry…"
He withdrew a spiked, tomato-looking berry from his briefcase and dropped it into the chamber. Darren got out a small, green berry – a Lum, if Lia recalled correctly – and tossed it in as well. Lia searched frantically through her bag – she didn't usually carry berries around with her, as they were perishable. She tried to be a practical traveler. Finally, she withdrew a berry pouch and emptied it into her hand – Razz, Bluk, and Nanab. She decided red would be best and threw in the Razz right before the chamber closed and locked.
"Remember, watch the spinner." Olsen reminded as the clock began to beep.
The machine started very quickly. Lia completely missed the first cycle, wincing at the loud buzz that accompanied it. Darren hit the button right on the mark, earning a pleasant little bell chime. Olsen did likewise, and the machine continued on. Lia worriedly watched the spinner, but was never able to get it quite right, and it was over before she could "get into the zone".
Darren read off his results with a slight interest, "Excellent – 20. Good – 5. Miss – 0. Huh. Interesting."
Olsen clapped him on the back and said, "There, see? I know a good pokeblock maker when I see one!"
Lia sighed at her results – 0, 10, and 15. Maybe she should have let Aurora do it for her… Her thoughts were interrupted by Darren handing her a deep purple pokeblock.
"Here. It's the pokeblock we made – quit zoning out." he said dryly.
Lia inspected the little block – it was only a square inch, looking a bit like salt water taffy but plum-colored. Darren simply handed his block to Hikage, whom inspected and then ate it.
"Kir." 'It's…spicy, but it tastes ok…' The Kirlia chewed a few more times as if to confirm this, then nodded.
Lia stuck the pokeblock in her berry pouch, lamenting the fact that she didn't have a Pokeblock Case. She saw Olsen carefully feed Mari the pokeblock, who sat on his lap and ate it happily.
"You really take good care of Mari, don't you Mr. Olsen?" Lia smiled.
He smiled contently and patted the Mawile on the head, sighing, "Yes, of course. Mari is more than a contest pokemon to me – she's like a granddaughter. All of my children have moved far away, and I was left alone."
"That's terrible. Children shouldn't leave their parents by themselves like that." Lia mumbled, biting her lip.
"Yes, well, they needed their breathing space. That left me with time to travel to places like the desert where I found Mari. It was two years ago, if I remember, that I came across her fending off a small pack of Trapinch." He chuckled at the memory. "You should have seen her. She was losing terribly, but you wouldn't know that from watching her face. She seemed to be having a lot of fun. I though she was very…cool."
Mari pouted and crossed her arms, but he consoled, "Now Mari, don't be like that. You really were losing. But anyway, I caught her and thought she would be an excellent contester. She had a bit of a…natural cool aura, if you will. I'm hoping that we go all the way to the Master Rank, but we need to rest up first."
Darren, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly asked, "Where do you start?"
"Hmm?"
"To become a coordinator. Where do you start?"
"Ah, yes. Looking to become a coordinator, Darren?" The redhead shrugged his shoulders, so Olsen continued, "Well, first you need a Contest Pass from Verdanturf Town. That's the same place as the Normal Rank contest, so it's all very convenient."
"We're going there anyway, Darren. First Mauville, then Verdanturf. You should sign up! It seems like your kind of thing." Lia chimed in, playfully shoving his shoulder.
Darren shrugged again and smirked, "You think so, huh? Well, it can't hurt. Maybe this is something I can actually get into."
Olsen smiled and said, "I look forward to it. Who knows? Maybe we'll meet in Lilycove." He stood and returned his hat to his head, picking up Mari as he went. "It was very pleasant to speak with you both, but I'm afraid I must go before the press finds me again. I bid you good luck and farewell."
He left quietly, standing straight and walking confidently. Lia thought, 'Wow. It's not just Mari – Mr. Olsen is a great coordinator.' Lia stole a glance at Darren, who was still watching him leave. 'I wonder if Darren will be like that one day…?'
The redhead boy finally stood and recalled Hikage, saying, "Alright, let's move on already. We have to reach the museum, right?"
Lia beamed and replied, "Right! Let's go!"
The contest still hadn't finished, so the lobby was empty enough. They made their way out and instantly noticed the sun had weakened. Lia shaded her eyes and looked up – ominous gray clouds were creeping across the sky.
"Maybe we should by umbrellas first…" Lia said, tugging on Darren's sleeve and pointing towards the sky.
"I already have something. It's more of a waterproof jacket…" Darren pulled a dark indigo coat out of his backpack and pulled it on, flipping down the hood. "But let's buy you one."
They returned to the marketplace and found, strangely enough, an umbrella stand. A girl wearing florescent pink and sporting curly blonde hair stood behind the counter, slightly twitching as she ate chocolate.
"Like, hi! Are you, like, here to buy an umbrella?" she squealed, tossing the sweet aside.
Lia blinked, "But…all you sell are umbrellas. What else could we possibly be doing here?"
"Like, don't ask me! Maybe you just wanted to, like, talk to me! Is that, like, too much to ask?" She buried her face in her hands for a two second crying session, then perked up and said, "So, which would you like?"
Darren mumbled, "Bipolar weirdo…" to which she replied, "Not weirdo! My name is Jessica! J-E-S-S-I-C-A! Now, like, which do you want?"
"Um, er…the grayish one?" Lia said timidly, upon which Jessica handed it to her. It had a little Castform pattern along the edge and was rather cute.
"Okay, that's, like, fifteen P, okay?" she chirped, holding out her highly manicured hand.
Lia counted out the gold coins and handed it to her. Jessica promptly stuffed it into one of many small pockets and began to wave excitedly.
"Okay, okay, thank you! I'll see you around Lia-chan and Darren-chan!" she laughed.
Darren muttered, "Let's not…" and dragged Lia away. Something was bothering her though…
"Uh, Darren? How did Jessica know our names? We never told her…" she whispered.
They both stopped and looked back, but she was still waving. It was then that Lia noticed she had indigo eyes and three pokeballs disguised as earrings. There's more to her than meets the eye.
"Let's move on. The line at the museum will only get longer." Darren forced out, his brow furrowed. It seemed that Jessica was getting to him, too.
The two left the market and crossed the city streets. Lia looked around, glad she now had time to look around. The city had a lot of wooden buildings that had ship names on them – she guessed that old boats became the building materials when there weren't seaworthy. The streets were paved and lined with metal seashells, which reminded her of her home in Olivine. She sighed – she still missed Johto…
"I wonder how Irene's doing…" she mumbled, looking towards the sky.
"Irene?" Darren questioned, looking over.
Lia smiled and replied, "Yeah, Irene is my best friend. Here, I think I have a picture…"
She dug into the front pocket of her satchel and withdrew picture that had been folded too many times. She opened it up to reveal a younger version of herself standing with another girl her age. The girl had dark reddish brown hair in two outlandish ponytails and bright green eyes. They were both wearing the dark purple and white uniform of Violet City Trainer's School.
"We've been friends since I started school. We both lived in Olivine and had to commute to school two hours every day. I don't know what I would have done without her." She held the picture close to her face and added, "I hope she's having fun on her journey. She picked a Chikorita and named it Saffron…"
She suddenly looked up and said, "Sorry, I'm rambling again…"
"…Must be nice. Having friends and all." he mumbled, stuffing his hands back in pockets.
"Hey…hey, don't be like that! I'm your friend, Darren!" Lia exclaimed, a worried look on her face.
"…We met a week ago…"
"That doesn't matter! We're still friends." Lia insisted.
Darren sighed and carelessly ruffled her bandana, "You're ridiculous. So naïve and straight-forward. Transparent, really."
Lia blushed and mumbled, "I'm not that…transparent…" She suddenly felt very awkward.
"Well, it's alright, your transparency. It's better if your feelings show up easily." Darren shrugged and gave half a smile.
Lia didn't say anything more as they continued to walk, but Darren was acting as if he hadn't said anything, which helped her to react.
'If he isn't feeling awkward, then I won't either…' she resolved.
The line had mysteriously disappeared in front of the museum. In fact, there was now a lot of yellow tape, flashing police cars, and panicked crowds. Lia and Darren picked up the pace and ran towards the entrance where a frazzled looking woman with blue hair.
"Um, Officer? What's going on here?" Lia asked, craning her neck to look inside.
"Well, it seems some goons called Team Aqua are holding up the whole museum. Captain Stern's in there, too…" she sighed and scribbled on her notepad.
"C-Captain Stern! The Captain Stern?" Lia squeaked out, shocked.
"Ah, that's the guy you're trying to find, right?" Darren said, testing the tape for its elasticity.
"I'm afraid so. He was in the middle of a very important meeting, waiting for a messenger from Rustboro…" the officer replied.
"I'm that messenger! Can I go inside?" Lia asked, trying to skirt around her.
The policewoman stood in her way, holding her back by one shoulder. "Sorry, but the situation's too dangerous. Only the police are in there now…"
Darren finished checking the tape and nodded, apparently pleased with something. He grabbed Lia's wrist and whispered something quick into her ear. Her eye widened as she began to shake her head.
He turned to the officer and said, "Sorry, but this is urgent."
Still holding onto Lia's wrist, he jumped up and pulled her onto the tape, which sagged but didn't break. He then proceeded to walk across the barrier into the museum, dragging Lia along.
"Hey, wait! You can't do that!" the officer yelled, struggling to reach them past the web of yellow caution tape.
Darren landed on the other side and help Lia down, then smirked, "Sorry, but this is important."
Lia gave an apologetic bow before running deeper into the museum. It was true – various men and women in blue and white and striped bandanas were holding terrified people captive with various pokemon. The receptionist was crying as she cowered beneath her desk, a growling Poochyena standing above her.
Lia froze, her eyes growing wide. That familiar Poochyena…
She ripped a pokeball from her bag and growled, "You're the one. The one that injured Shadow!"
She threw the pokeball to the ground, mildly surprised that Faelia burst out.
"Zig!" she purred. She sat down, looking from Lia to the Poochyena in rapid succession. Upon noting the livid look in Lia's eyes, she turned upon the puppy pokemon, growling and barking.
The Poochyena turned and began to growl, but its ferociousness died off when confronted with a fully puffed up, growling Zigzagoon. It turned tail and ran, which Faelia eagerly followed.
Lia had to chase them up the stairs breathlessly – they were very fast. She passed display after display of seemingly identical water samples but didn't notice them at all. The upstairs was a spacious room with scaled replicas of numerous cruise ships. A calm, older man with salt-and-pepper hair sat in a chair, hands folded beneath his chin. A navy blue captain's hat sat jauntily on his head.
"I'm asking you for the last time, you old geezer! Where are the Devon Goods?" a grunt snarled, grabbing him by the collar.
The captain rolled his eyes and sighed, "I told you I don't have it. About fifty times now, if I recall. Now kindly let go of my shirt, you're wrinkling it."
The second grunt yelled, "Quit being smart! Just tell us-"
It was then that the Poochyena skidded in, yelping like crazy with Faelia close on his heels. The puppy jumped into his trainer's arms, leaving the little raccoon to yip and bark from the ground. Lia finally rounded the corner and came face to face with the two grunts.
The grunt's face contorted in recognition. "You! You have the Devon Goods, don't you?"
Lia's eyes narrowed as Faelia's growl deepened. "And if I do?"
The other grunt laughed and withdrew a pokeball. "Then you'll be handing it over – it's two against one."
"Two against two, actually. Ganging up on a girl is terribly unsportsmanlike." came a voice from the stairwell.
They all turn in time to see Darren walking calmly up the stairs with Mint, his Grovyle, at his side. "Sorry I'm late, but freeing hostages is time consuming."
The second grunt twisted his earring and hissed, "Fine! Beat us if you can! I'll have you know, we're highly ranked!" The other grunt coughed, so he kicked him silent.
"Sounds good to me." Darren motioned to Mint, who moved forward and took a battle position. "Are you ready Lia?"
She nodded and said, "Faelia, get ready!" She then looked up at the grunt with the Poochyena and muttered, "This is for Shadow."
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Uwah, so short... Anyway, there's something new on my profile. It's a "movie trailer" for Emerald Destiny! Please give it a read and mention it in the review! Please review.