Author's Note: Here's the second (and possibly last depending on what happens) spontaneous update for today! Nothing really happens, but there is a chance of shipping in this chapter! So, please enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon, but I do own Ritsu and Nico.
I noticed that there were many Rocket Grunts guarding a few areas, so I had to be careful. Before I infiltrated the Radio Tower, I decided to check and see if any of the citizens were harmed. My first stop was the Name Rating Tent. However, when I got close to the tent, I heard voices coming from the inside.
"Young man," the Name Rater said, "What ails you?"
"If I tell you," the other voice (who turned out to be Nico when I secretly peeked in) replied, "Do you promise to keep it an absolute secret?"
"You have my word," the Name Rater promised.
"Well..." Nico began with a light blush on his face, "There's this girl that I've met at the beginning of last month."
"Ah, a girl. Is there something special about this girl that drove you to come see me?"
"If there wasn't anything special about this girl, I wouldn't be coming to see you now would I?" Nico asked in a rude tone. "Anyways, whenever I see her, I feel really... weird."
"I see. Now, what do you mean by 'weird'?"
"I don't know! Like, my face gets red and hot, my palms start sweating, and my heart feels like its going to burst out of my chest."
"Hmm..." the Name Rater pondered, "One more question: what features of this girl make you feel this way the most?"
"Mmm, I dunno?!" Nico stuttered as he blushed even harder, "That annoying, yet really adorable little smile she has, or maybe her pretty caramel eyes, or heck, even the way she wears her hair under that hat of hers!"
"Ah yes, I know your problem now!" the Name Rater told him.
"Really?! Then spill it old man, I haven't got all day!" Nico snapped.
"First off, there's no need to be rude. Second, you have no problem at all; you've simply fallen in love, or as they used to say in my time, twitterpated."
"That's what my dumb Feraligatr said..." Nico muttered, "What do you want me to do about it? She doesn't seem to love me back."
"And who would?" I thought from outside of the tent, "Boy, do I feel bad for the poor girl you're after..."
"Simple," the Name Rater said, "If you want her to return your love, then you must court her with a little more kindness."
"Court her?" Nico asked.
"Or, as you children would put it nowadays, you need to stop being a total asshat."
"Who are you calli—erm, I mean, what? You expect me to be nice?! Sorry, old coot, but I don't do nice!"
"If you can't show kindness, then she'll never love you back. That's all I can say to a child as rotten as you. That'll be 100 Pokédollars, by the way."
Once Nico angrily paid the money and began to storm out of the tent, I quickly ran somewhere else so he wouldn't find out that I was listening in on his conversation with the Name Rater. As soon as the coast was clear, I began to process the odd thought of Nico actually falling in love with someone.
"Hee hee," I giggled, "Can you believe it, Merida? Nico actually having feelings for some poor unfortunate girl! I wonder who it is, though..."
"I can think of one likely girl," Merida said as she gestured towards me.
"Merida..." I sighed, "We've been over this; Nico can't stand me!"
"Whatever floats your boat, Ritsu..." Merida said, "But, if you do see him again, just look for the signs."
"Signs?" I asked, "Signs of what?"
"Of human love, of course. If I'm right and he does like you, he may start to blush like crazy. Or maybe, he might even try to hold your hand or something, attempt to get a glimpse of your eyes, or if you were in danger, he could try to protect you."
"That doesn't sound like Nico at all. If he were near me, he'd probably just call me names, insult both mine and his Pokémon, and just hit or shove me for no reason!"
"I heard somewhere that boys do that because they're too proud or uncomfortable to show their affections towards girls..."
"Merida, please stop. We have a Rocket mission to sabotage, remember?"
"I know, I know. Oh! And he might try to give you a gift or even ki—"
"Enough, Merida!" I scolded.
After inspecting a few more areas of the city, I decided to check over at the Flower Shop. But, I couldn't check the inside since the door was being blocked by a Rocket Grunt. However, I saw Nico looking back as he walked into the Flower Shop. The Rocket Grunt recognized him and quickly stepped aside. A few minutes later, Nico walked out with a bouquet of red and white camellias.
"See?" Merida chirped, "He's most likely planning on giving those flowers to you. And as a bonus, Erin told me that red camellias mean 'in love' and yellow ones mean 'longing'~."
Ignoring Merida, I hurried over to the Radio Tower. I noticed a sign that said "Rockets only, peasants better scram!". Sighing, I saw a female Rocket Grunt pass by, so I quickly grabbed her and had Merida paralyze her as I stole her uniform.
"H-Hey!" she stuttered, "Give back my clothes!"
"Sorry, but I need these for a bit!" I told her as I ran back to the Radio Tower's entrance.
"Ah, you must be that new girl!" the Grunt at the door said, winking, "Well, come on in, cutie pie!"
Lightly giggling at the last two words, I entered the building with confidence that my plan couldn't possibly go wrong. But, just as the Rocket Grunt guarding the steps was about to kindly let me go upstairs, Nico came bursting into the room.
"Young master!" the Rocket Grunt exclaimed.
"Don't even think about calling me that!" Nico hissed, "I don't want anything to do with you Rockets!"
While the Rocket Grunt was distracted, Merida and I tried to hurry up the stairs. But, our stealth went up in smoke as Nico seemed to recognize me.
"R-Ritsu?!" Nico gasped, "No... no! I'm not going to lose you of all people to Team Rocket!"
"Nico, what are you doing?!" I shrieked as he grabbed "my" Team Rocket shirt.
Nico quickly ripped the shirt from off of my body, revealing my bra. Quickly covering my almost-bare chest, I shot a very angry look at Nico (who had a bit of blood spurting from his nose for some reason).
"Young master!" the Rocket Grunt snapped, "We don't take kindly to perverts! And as for you, Little Miss Impostor, you're in big trouble!"
The Rocket Grunt sent out his Raticate to fight, but Merida quickly took it down with a simple Discharge attack followed by a ThunderPunch.
"Gah, here to spoil our plans again, eh?!" the Rocket Grunt exclaimed before he ran up the stairs, "I must go inform the others posthaste!"
As soon as the Grunt was gone, I angrily told Nico to turn around as I put on my normal clothes. Once they were on, however, my angry look didn't leave my face.
"Nico, what the heck was that about?!" I snapped, "You ruined my plan!"
"Well, excuse me for not being psychic!" Nico hissed back, "How was I supposed to know you were faking being a Rocket Grunt?"
"By minding your own business!"
"Pffft, whatever. You're plan was stupid anyways! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go kick that Champion guy Lance's ass in a battle!"
"Oh no you don't!" I yelled as I gripped his jacket collar, "You foiled my disguise and publicly stripped me; now you're going to help me bring Team Rocket down!"
"And why the heck should I do that?!" Nico objected.
"Because, I was checking for danger all around the city, and Lance isn't even here!"
"...Fine," Nico pouted as he began to blush again, "I guess I could follow you around a bit..."
"Then we have a deal!" I chirped.
As I let go of his jacket collar , Nico and I hurried up the stairs to save the Radio Tower from Team Rocket's nefarious plans.
Pokémon obtained: None.
Deaths: None.
Boxed/Unboxed: None.
Author's Note: I really don't have much to say afterwards, but I'll add that I'm watching episodes of Hey Arnold while I'm writing the next update (not sure if it will effect the plot though...)! So, stay tuned for Chapter 22!