Chapter Fourteen: When the Music Fades...
The fat man slid the folder over. "This is the one we're after."
Elroy Eustis took the folder off the desk, and looked at the picture. He slightly raised his eyebrows when he saw the three teens. The sole male had red hair, a black tee shirt, and gray jeans. One of the females had bright pink hair, wearing a leather jacket, and blue jeans. The other female had violet hair tied up in a ponytail with a red ribbon. She was wearing a red tank top, and shorts.
"Which one?" Elroy asked,
"The red-haired one," Fatty replied. "Know only as Trevor. One of our associates spotted him with a Legendary around him, believed to be with him."
Leaning back in his green leather chair, Elroy took this in. "And I assume that you also want the Legendary for our little collection, as well as this kid?"
Fatty smiled. "Exactly. As for the pay...fifty-thousand?"
"I'm afraid that you might have to do a little better," Elroy said. "Two-hundred and fifty thousand."
Losing his smile, Fatty submitted. "Deal. Get them here as soon as possible."
"Which Legendary will I be snagging this time?" Elroy asked as he stood up.
Fatty handed him another picutre.
"Well, I'll be damned."
Back in Nacrene City Pokemon Gym
"The match between Gym Leader Lenora and challenger Trevor had begun!" The referee shouted.
Lenora smirked as she sent out her first Pokemon out of her two. An oddly familiar Pokemon appeared on the battlefield. A Herdier.
"Go Aqua!" I know that it's not the best choice given the current situation, but I was going to keep Bark off the field until he was needed. After all, he was my strongest at the moment.
"Hey, Bark," Aqua said. "It looks like you, only stronger." He walked up to the dog. "And he doesn't smell as bad."
"Shut up, you faggot water monkey!" Bark shouted in reply. I had to resist the facepalm.
"Aqua, use Leer!" Why not start with a classic? The monkey gave the sharp and evil glare, lowering the Defense.
"Herdier use Take Down!" Lenora commanded her dog. It charged directly at my Panpour.
Thinking, I came up with a pretty decent strategy. "Try to dodge it, Aqua!"
"Oh please, as if that hadn't crossed my mind, bro," Aqua yelled, diving to the left just as the Herdier smashed into the wall behind him.
"Use Leer again!" I ordered, feeling the pressure of the battle. Fighting against Gardenia hadn't been so bad, but I had a Staravia then, and I lacked that now.
As the Panpour gave the glare, he asked a question; "You know that Leer isn't an attack right?"
"I know." It slipped out before I could think. Hopefully both Lenora and Nikki missed that slip of tounge.
"Know what?" Lenora and Nikki asked at the same time.
"I was thinking to myself," I lied, thinking out a new battle plan. Right now, the plan was to weaken the Herdier with Aqua, and then send Ivy in to finish it off with Vine Whip.
"Think more quietly next time," Nikki said.
"Use Take Down!" Lenora commanded, letting that conversation drop.
Things ended slightly worse this time. Aqua wasn't as lucky as he had been the first time. He took a direct hit. His knocked out form rolled on the ground.
"Ooh, that had to hurt," Kip commented from Nikki's arms.
In reality, it really had to. If you were a small water monkey, and you got slammed, then you most likely wouldn't feel 100% right after.
"Panpour is unable to battle, Herdier wins!" The ref shouted, earning an applause from the gathered audience. At least these people didn't hate me. I returned Aqua to his Pokeball.
"Well, then. Ivy, you're up." My Snivy huffed as he walked out onto the field, standing in front of the Herdier.
"Ivy use Wrap!" That should put some damage on it, and give a somewhat beneficial value to this fight.
Ivy shot vines out, and wrapped them around the Herdier. "Use Take Down!" Lenora once again commanded. This was really starting to suck. I might have to use Bark before I wanted to.
"Dodge it!" I shouted, hoping that we might be able to pull off this win on our first try.
Well, Ivy stood there as the Herdier ran at him. "Trust me, I got this," he said, ignoring my orders. Don't you hate that when they do that?
When the Herdier was only a few feet away, Ivy unleashed a tornado of leaves right into its face, pushing the dog back. "Told you," he replied snidely in that British accent of his that I have come to regard as slightly annoying.
"Okay, fine! Don't listen!" I yelled. "But use Leaf Tornado again."
"Fine," Ivy whined, preparing to send more leaves into the face of the Herdier.
"Herdier, use Take Down!" Lenora shouted. As if I hadn't seen that coming. The dog charged at Ivy, and jumped in the air, preparing for the killing blow.
Everything slowed down into slow motion. Ivy unleased the Leaf Tornado right as the dog began the descent. The attack knocked out the Herdier, but the KO'ed Pokemon landed right on top of Ivy knocking him out as well.
"You gotta be fuckin' kiddin' me," I said in disbelief. That was a pretty lucky shot. And that really, really, had to hurt.
"Both Snivy and Herdier are unable to battle! It's a tie!" Hesitant applause came from the viewers. Lenora and I were down to one Pokemon each.
"Bark get in there," I said. I hand given him one of the Chesto Berries that Cheren had given me eariler, since Nikki told me that one of Lenora's Pokemon knew Hypnosis.
"Go Watchog!" Lenora sent out wat appeared to be the evolution of Patrat, A quick scan with the Pokedex confirmed it.
"Bark use Take Down!" I shouted, planning on giving Lenora a taste of her own medicene. Bark collided with the Watchog, inflicting massive damage on the two of them.
"Watchog use Hypnosis!" Ah, there it was, my possible victory. The Watchog emitted pink waves of psychic energy, putting Bark to sleep.
But, Bark woke up thanks to the Chesto Berry. "Surprised much?" I asked.
"Very clever," Lenora admitted. "But it's not over yet."
"Oh yes it is!" Bark shouted, coming out as yips and small barks to the others in the room. He ran at the opposing Watchog, barreling into it and bringing it down to the ground.
Bark stood up weakly, but he was still in the fight, which was more than what you could say for the Watchog.
"Watchog is unable to battle, Herdier wins!" The crowd roared in applause, and some used bullhorns. Which got annoying.
Lenora reached into the pocket of her apron, and pulled out the Basic Badge. "Here, you earned it. I guess my Pokemon were still weak from the battle with your girlfriend."
"She's not my-"
"Yeah, that must be it," Nikki said, cutting me off.
"I wish you luck on your future adventures!" Lenora called after us as we left.
Night was coming on, and the stars were out in the sky. We stopped to heal my Pokemon and then continued toward Casteila. Nikki put her hand in mine, and I did nothing to stop her.
But, my mind waged an all out war on what I should do. Should I just keep Nikki as a friend, after what happened last time? Or should I let it blossom into so much more? I didn't know what to do.
We walked through the straight path in Pinwheel forest, seeing the sights that Burgh had seen when he blocked the path. Then we reached Skyarrow Bridge.
My first thoughts were: "Holy shit, where's the rest stop on that thing?" Needless to say, my feet were going to hurt in a little while.
After a few minutes of walking, we stopped to rest. I leaned over the rail, looking up at the stars.
"Beautiful sky tonight," I said, making casual conversation. "It's just like the night I arrived here."
"Yeah, it is," Nikki agreed, standing next to me. I lowered my head, and we looked each other in the eyes.
"How much do you wanna bet that they'll kiss?" Kip asked, walking over to my Pokemon.
"We ain't got any money," Aqua replied from the back of Bark, his noble steed.
"But still, look at them."
I leaned my head forward, and she did the same. Our lips almost met. Almost.
Almost, when the gunshot rang out.
A/N: Kinda a bad place to put an author's note, right?
Anyway, I just want to ask all readers to tell their opinion on this story. Should I change something or another? Just let me know. Tell me what you like about it.
I leave you now.