_____
(25)_*_*_( ) (Ties) (That) (Band)
The day shone brightly off of the sides of grand buildings around us. People walked this way and that, filling the sidewalks even during work hours in the afternoon. Cars went by, stopping frequently as they continuously hit stoplights. It was a grand city that we were in, and the congestion of it all was starting to get to me. "I know I'm used to living in the city," I muttered, crossing my arms as we trailed Ash and the others, "but something's really irking me here..."
Hunter frowned at me. "What, the smog, maybe?" he suggested.
"Or it may be that we're all so used to walking through forests, we've lost our acclimation to the city," theorized Meyers.
"Or maybe it's this heat," Ash tried, wiping his brow. "It'll make anyone impatient, especially when they're wearing black suits like you are."
I shrugged. "Whatever, I guess it's both, I dunno," I said.
"Well, cheer up, Lock," Brock said over his shoulder, smiling. He had the guide book in his hands, opened to the part referring to this city. "We're just passing through for a bit after we visit the labs. And don't worry," he added, looking back at the book, "Riverhelm normally isn't this trafficky. I think it's just because it's after the lunch hour that there's so many people around."
Ash and Pikachu looked around. I watched them, their faces curious as they took in their surroundings. Pikachu noticed I was watching. He looked at me for a split second before smiling and waving. I shrugged and nodded back. At this, Pikachu stopped, a little disappointed look on his face. I looked over at Hunter when he said something, so I didn't see Pikachu's eyes widen and mouth drop a little in a gasp.
"Pi...?" he whispered. Around me was a slight shimmering haze again, like at the hot springs. He could swear he saw something floating behind me, as well.
"Huh? What's up, Pikachu?" Ash asked, noticing the sound his friend made.
Pikachu looked at him and shook his head, saying (in his language) that it was nothing. When he looked back at me, though, I appeared to be normal again, looking in his general direction. He rubbed his eyes with an arm. "Must be the exhaust from the cars or something," he muttered.
"So, Brock, anything else about this city apart from the labs?" Dawn asked.
Brock looked through his book and smiled. "Well, it's got a history for being quite in sync with pokémon," he said. "It's been built specifically to help make pokémon feel more at home than in other cities, building it with as much green material as possible."
"You mean things that don't impact the environment too much?" Hunter asked.
"Yeah, like recycled things from old buildings, and even old tires for some things," Brock answered, nodding. "They also encourage trainers to let their pokémon out. I don't think we should, though, since it's so tight already," he advised. "Let's see...Oh, the book also says that the city's law enforcement uses pokémon quite extensively, and they even recently implemented a system using Psychic-types for the case of a catastrophe that would involve the destruction of buildings."
Ash and I sniggered. "You mean like if a giant monster attacks?" the trainer asked.
"Sorry, but even with all the weird things that can happen with pokémon, Godzilla coming to town and going to town on town sounds a little far-fetched," I said, waving a hand.
At the last word, ten people around me stopped and looked around, saying, "Where?!"
I slapped my forehead. "I think that's getting a bit old," I growled.
"Ditto," agreed Meyers.
Those same people stopped and looked around, going, "Where?!" again.
I anger-veined a bit and growled louder, "Okay, this isn't helping how crabby I am already..."
"Where?" went Ash, looking around. He chuckled and looked at me with a mischievous grin. "Sorry, you walked right into that one," he apologized.
I, however, was seriously about to hit him, anger-veining very noticibly and glaring at Ash. Pikachu gasped as he saw my body's outline shimmering again, as well as those eyes floating behind me once more. 'I know it's hot, but that doesn't look like heat, and it doesn't explain the eyes...' Before I could do anything, though, our badges went off. They didn't beep, though--they rang.
"Ring-ring-ring! Ring-ring-ring! Phone call, phone call!"
I stopped and blinked at this before giving a look at my backups. "Who changed the ringtone?" I asked a bit menacingly. They shook their heads, looking utterly surprised.
Regardless, we all stopped and we flipped open the devices. We were stopped nearby a corner, and the traffic had died down a little by then. Commander Kahn appeared on our screens, sitting in his desk as usual, with the usual frowning expression on his face. ""Commander!"" saluted my teammates, but I just frowned a bit and asked, "Where's the fire, Commander?"
Kahn just raised an eyebrow at me, and I wondered if he was gonna yell at me. 'I don't care,' I thought. 'I'll just hang up.' He said nothing, however, and nodded. "Agents, greetings. We've called to ask you if you need anything."
We looked at each other and shrugged, shaking our heads. "Nothing that we can't get here," Meyers said. "Why do you ask?"
Kahn, for once, gave a positive facial expression. He smirked. "Diva Foxx has managed to get a little progress on the portal," he answered proudly. "We'd like to experiment by trying to send you some stuff over."
Behind and unbeknownst to us (even Ash and co., since they were, as always, looking over our shoulders at Kahn; Pikachu was acting oddly, though, seeming to want to be away from me, which was hard, seeing as his ride was peeping over my shoulder (to my aggrivation)), people stopped to look and whisper as something big walked over, carrying a case. Pikachu looked behind as he felt the vibrations of its great weight and raised his eyebrows. "Pika...?"
I raised my eyebrows with everyone else. "Really??" I asked. I grinned mischeivously. "Can you send over the car?"
What appeared to be a black charizard was making its way over to the center of the large bit of sidewalk the corner consisted of. (There was a corner store there, but the road was still a normal one, so there was more space than normal.) People on the benches sitting and waiting for people or just resting looked at it in wonder, and someone took out a pokédex.
Kahn frowned again, giving me a nonplussed look. "Very funny," he commented sarcastically. "Nice try, though. A, you don't have your driver's, as my records say; B, I'd never trust you to drive it until you're up in rank--"
"Read: When you're older," Hunter translated, smirking.
"--C, you'd have to give everyone a ride, since you're travelling with Ash; D, you CAN'T drive, seeing as there aren't many real roads there; and finally E, we can't send it, anyway--it's too large," he concluded.
It looked quite different for a charizard, let alone a black one. For one, it appeared to be just enough to be more than a little overweight.
I gave Kahn a hard glare. "Then why'd'ya have to burn me with all that before saying the real reason?!" I demanded to know.
For another, its eyes seemed to be full of a kind of life that has seen things a charizard normally doesn't.
Kahn just shook his head. "Regardless, we want to send you some things that we think you'll like to have, and would help you greatly."
Also, it wore a jacket on its body. It rolled its eye over to us, looking at Pikachu, after crouching to set down its case and open it. Pikachu blushed and looked away, not wanting to be accused of staring. The charizard smiled, though, and looked back to getting something shiny out of the case.
"How fast will they get here?" Meyers asked.
"We don't know," Kahn replied, shaking his head. "Ah, there you are," he said, seeing someone we couldn't. "Is it working well?"
"It should," said the voice of a woman.
"Diva Foxx?" asked Hunter. "Is that you?"
A giggle. "I was getting worried you'd forgotten my voice," Foxx said. "Good."
"Just set it up over there," pointed Kahn, directing her to his right and to what would have been the corner of the room. "Is Missy coming with the things?" he asked.
"Yes; I've already got the chips."
"Hmm." Kahn nodded. "Well, we'll call you again when we're all set up. Dismissed!"
""YESSIR!!"" Meyers and Hunter went, saluting before closing their badges. I just grunted and nodded.
"Oh, and Lock," Kahn called before I could close mine. "We've analyzed the last episode you were in and found something disturbing." He steepled his fingers and lowered his head to hide the lower part of his face behind them. "I want you to be very wary of yourself. Don't let yourself get out of control. And, please, remember that you're representing the Elite Beat Agents; recall that you should act sensible."
Before he could say anything else, the last sentence sunk in and I gritted my teeth. "Ex-CUSE me?!" I asked. "Did you just tell me to act like I've got some sense?!"
"Well, yes, but not--" Kahn began.
"For YOUR information, I'm acting PERFECTLY NORMAL, thank you very much!!" I scolded him.
Behind me, Pikachu and, further behind, the charizard, looked at me. The first blue-foreheaded (new self-made term!) and the second just raised its eyerides. It was slowly fiddling with something in its paws, too busy focusing on the scene to the left of him.
Kahn narrowed his eyebrows a smidgen. "Now, Agent Lock, there's no need to shout in public," he said curtly, "especially not to your superior like that."
I squeezed the badge tightly and clenched my other fist while I retorted, "You know what?! I just figured out I don't NEED to listen to your bossing around, Mr. finally-getting-around-to-the-portal-after-a-month-of-wasting-time-since-I'm-so-important!!"
Kahn narrowed his eyebrows a bit more. "We've been working as hard as we can on getting you out," he insisted, trying to keep his patience. "You know that. I would never abandon my Agents, any of them."
"But you sure as hell prioritize," I attacked. "You said yourself that rank has something to do with trusting me to do something--drive the car! And I can't get arrested if I drive here!" The hand holding the badge began to shake. "You're just letting lower-ranked Agents like me hang out here while catering to your upper-ranked ones!!"
Pikachu was shaking his head. He stopped and looked at me again, then squeaked and reeled back a bit. "Ka!!" he cried. "Lock!!" The charizard frowned uneasily, but looked away and did something. Closeby people could hear the sound of air blowing through something.
Kahn's eyebrows lowered a bit more. "Lock, shut up and listen to yourself!" he commanded firmly, a note of urgency in his voice. "For one, you're making a scene--"
"--then I'm doing my job!!" I reasoned. "A shitty job I don't get paid enough to DO, actually!! Walking around with a bunch of DORKS and helping out some LOSERS with things they should just do themselves?! Some living!!"
"LOCK!!" cried Kahn, Meyers, Hunter, Ash, and (in his language) Pikachu before I slammed my badge shut. My teammates each gave me a good clout on the shoulder. Seeing that, Pikachu let out a little sigh of relief. "That ought to work," he said, closing his eyes.
I reeled around to my attackers. "WELL, IT'S THE TRUTH!!" I roared, holding my fists up. "YOU GOTTA PROBLEM WITH THAT?!"
Pikachu raised his head and opened his eyes again at this. He gasped in horror. My body's outline was shimmering violently, like it was surrounded by very hot air, and behind me, a great pair of red, glowing eyes, narrowed in rage, floated, burning with fire that gave the pokémon a harsh, chilling clutch in his chest. "What the HELL is going on, Lock?!" he squeaked, trembling.
Ash put his hand on my shoulder. "What's gotten into you, Lock?!" he asked, concerned vehemence in his voice.
Well, I knew that it was actually offence, so I did the best thing that came to mind: I reeled back and--
Ba-DAAAAAAA-Ba-da-buh-ba-duh-ba-DAAaaaAAAA Da-BAAA-da-b-d-buh-DAA-uh-WAAAHHhh!!
It was like an invisible hand had grabbed my arm as soon as the sound hit my tympanic membrane, almost before it had gone through the hammer, anvil, stirrup, cochlea, and the nerve connecting to my brain to send the message of the sound occuring. (Sorry, non Human Phys and/or Psych folks out there...) It felt like a bubble popping, but a little slower as the sound continued. The longer it went, the more the bubble popped. Finally, when it was over, I blinked, standing still like an idiot. "What the...?" I muttered. I looked at my arm and raised my eyebrows. I looked at who was in front of me and sweatdropped. "HUH?!" I staggered back. "What was I...?" I looked at everyone.
My teammates looked like they were about to kill me, Ash looked like that, too, but with more concern, and his friends were looking at me with a bit of fright on their faces.
I blinked a moment. "What...Wait, was I...?" I then saw something shiny behind Ash and a memory came. "Oh! I heard a trumpet!" I said, realizing how stupid that sounded. I looked around Ash. "Good improv, too. Was I hearing things, or who was..." I stopped, blinking, before I gaped.
Everyone turned, one at a time, to see where I was looking, and stepped back in surprise.
There was a chubby, shiny charizard standing there, wearing a marching coat and holding a trumpet in its paws and up to its lips. It had all three digits of its right paw on the keys and was using its left paw to hold the instrument itself up. Its eyes were closed, but slowly opened after everyone turned to see. It blinked as it saw me. It said something in its language that made Pikachu perk his ears up and look over his shoulder at me.
I was totally normal...well...almost. He thought he saw just a shadow of a shimmer around me. He smiled in relief, anyway. "It worked, indeed," he said.
"...Well, WHAT was playing it, I guess is a better question," Brock said.
The charizard gave a smile at this and shook its head a smidgen, drawing up to full height. With a bit of dignity--or was it slyness?--in its eyes as it looked at me, it took a breath and started to play the trumpet before out very eyes. And it was GOOD.
Mystified, we stood and watched it play, and as it continued to play, I began to feel more of that feeling. It didn't take much longer before I realized that it was groove that I was feeling. I felt the urge to play my instrument, too, rise and rise. I was tapping my foot to the beat and snapping my fingers, practically lost in my own little world.
- - -
Meanwhile, back at HQ, Commander Kahn was looking at the screens the episode was being displayed on (it was being done like how they sometimes do in stores or shows, where there's many individual screens, but they all show a bit of the action and create the whole picture together) with concern. "Very disturbing, indeed," he commented. "It seems it's getting stronger. Already, it's become immune to physical disruption."
"But it looks like part of Lock is still stronger," Foxx added, smirking. Beside her, inside a large metal hoop with spikes, the hoop about 1.2 times as big as one of the hula variety, was a crackling, violet, strange vortex, floating in the center and about the size of a basketball. "I remember something he told me once during the time you never gave him any missions." She looked over at the portal. "Oh, it's ready. I'd better get Missy."
The young diva was already running into the room, carrying a black case. "Commander!!" she cried. "I saw it all! Will he be alright?" she asked.
Foxx stood and shook her hands. "Missy, slow down!!" she cried.
Missy was too late, though, and her foot caught on a thick cable lying across the floor connecting to the portal. "WOAAAHHGH!!" she cried, flying and twisting to the left. The case she had flew out of her hands before she slammed into the floor. "...ooowwwww..."
The case flew right into the portal, barely small enough to go through. As it did, it vanished with an electric crackle. Foxx sighed and shook her head aggrivatedly. "Missy..." she groaned, putting a hand to her forehead.
Missy snapped up, a look of concern on her face as she looked at the portal. "Oh, is it going to be alright?" she asked worriedly. "It felt like it had something a bit heavy in it. Is it going to survive?"
"If it's the stuff I asked you to get, I don't know," Foxx said.
"You wanted me to get the case from his room, right?" the youngest Diva checked.
"No, the one from my room," Foxx replied, raising her eyebrows.
Missy blue-squiggle-cheeked (another new self-made term!), making the "yeek" face. "Then I just probably sent something valuable of his towards destruction!!" she yipped.
Suddenly, a deep chuckle was heard, and the girls looked at the desk. "I wouldn't worry about that," Commander Kahn assured her, back to them--thus hiding his amused smirk.
- - -
A purply portal opened up above me while I watched the charizard go. I was starting to feel the chording he was feeling, recognizing the key ages ago. When I heard a crackling ripping sound above me, I glanced up and raised my eyebrows in surprise. A case fell out of the portal before it closed. I caught the case just in time before it hit my head. "Eh?" I brought it to eye level and gasped. A grin spread across my face as impulse took over and told me to open the case NOW.
The charizard was doing quite well, moving its neck to and fro as it got into the music. Its eyes were closed and its playing masked much else, so when people asked questions and footsteps came towards him, he didn't notice. He DID notice, however, when, after he took a breath to start the next phrase,
Be-da-ba-doo-BA-DAA-BAAAA-da-ba-b-b-da-boo-da BAAAHH da-ba-daaah!!
It opened its eyes with a grunt and looked to its right at the bell of another trumpet. The bell lowered and revealed the player to be me. I had jumped in, unable to resist, and began to play in the same key as the pokémon, doing improv as well.
The charizard smirked, raising an eyeridge, and came in again after giving me eight measures. I stopped and let him, as I began to assume, do some, and it turned into a play-off. First he did eight, then I did, before I got impatient and did the last four measures of his next eight. He growled in friendly competition and turned to play at me, doing four. I turned to him, too, and did four, too. He did two, then I did two, and we went halfs down until we were playing at the same time. After that, we played together, which I signified by starting up a background accompaniament while he went and continued.
- - -
Foxx smirked. "If there's one thing about him, he said," she said, "it's that he loves to trumpet out jazz."
- - -
Together, me and the charizard did a great duet, finishing out the song by doing a good ol' fashioned jazz improv ending. We ended at the same note and the same time, and let down our horns from our lips (and my agonizing cheeks--that's what happens when you get out of practice, and sadly sometimes when you haven't) simultaneously. The small crowd around us cheered and clapped, and people reached and put money into the open case of the pokémusician's. We smiled at each other before we looked around and bowed. After that, we shook hands--well, hand and paw--and I went to join my friends. "Sorry, I couldn't help myself," I apologized, holding a hand up.
Nobody was glaring at me, but I still got the feeling something wasn't quite right. It was then that I recalled all of what I did. 'Oh, my God, I did it again,' I realized, stopping cold. "Oh, my..." I whispered.
Hunter and Meyers nodded. "Yeah, remember?" Hunter asked. "I don't know what the heck's goin' on witchu, but we'd better see a doctor or somethin' about this bipolar thing or whatever's going on."
"But are you in a good mood, now, then?" asked Meyers. "I mean, jazz trumpet usually gets you...well, jazzed up, right?" He chuckled at his joke.
I nodded, smirking. "And two bells are better than one," I added, nodding back to the trumpeting charizard, who was starting up a normal song now. I could tell, since it wasn't as random as improv. It was still jazz, though, so I wanted to stop and listen.
Sadly, that was not to be. Our badges beeped and we turned to flip them open. I expected Kahn to come up again, to talk to me about what happened, but all that came up was the mission breifing. As it came up, as usual, Ash and company peeked over our shoulders. However, the charizard was joining them, though just by looking with his eyes, continuing to play. (He played without a score, anyway, so it didn't matter that much.)
- - - - -
The summer sun beat down upon the city of Riverhelm like a furnace. A young man with short brown hair and green eyes, dressed in a police officer's uniform (of the style worn by all policemen and -women in Pokémon), kissed a girl with long, wavy brunette hair and chocolate-brown eyes while the two stood outside of a police station. "Have a nice time at the lab," bade the man as they parted, smiling.
(Officer Abe Mahogany, 19, Rookie Police Officer)
The girl smiled and giggled at him. She had on a normal t-shirt and a miniskirt. "And you have a nice time keeping this city safe," she bade back.
(Elodie Autumnleaf, 19, Voluntary Test Subject)
Her boyfriend sighs and nervously(?) puts on his badge after watching his girlfriend walk off. Sometime later, we see her standing in a chamber, wearing different clothing. "Ready," she said calmly.
A few men in lab coats operate a console or stand and observe from a windowed room. "Alright, exposing the pokémon DNA and integrating energy...now," said one of the observers, and one of the console-workers pressed a button.
A warm glow emits from the floor as eerie green energy begins to surround Elodie. At the same time, a light on the device strapped to her back turns red. A few moments pass before Elodie gasps and widens her eyes. "UNGH!" she grunts, bending double and holding her stomach.
"What's wrong?" asked a scientist in panic. The camera is looking at the window with an extreme close-up of part of Elodie's back, which is trembling. Suddenly, some of the skin tears to reveal light brown beneath it. "!!"
A little bit earlier to this, though, Abe is busy doing his job...well, not really.
"NO! Get back here!" Abe cried, reaching after a man carrying a sack and running off. He tripped, though, landing on his face and spilling his hat to the ground. He looked up in dismay as the criminal ran off, making a face at him. "Dang it..."
"Mahogany!"
Abe looked up when a pair of legs crosses in front of him. He sweatdropped as he saw the disgruntled and disappointed face of Riverhelm's Officer Jenny.
(Officer Jenny, won't tell, Abe's Superior)
"O-Officer Jenny!" Abe addressed, scrabbling to stand up while grabbing his hat. He jammed it on his head, flustered and fixed it, brushed himself off, and finally stood at saluting attention, all in one panicked little jig.
Jenny sighed and shook her head, arms crossed. "Abe, that's the fourth crook you've let get away in a row," she told him. "I know you're fresh from the acadamy, but that doesn't excuse it. I know you can do better, though, so I'm going to give you another chance."
Abe frowned and bowed. "I'm sorry, Officer Jenny," he apologized. "I won't mess up again."
Jenny bowed her head, closing her eyes. "I'm not finished," she told him, snapping him back up to saluting in one frame. She looked at him with one eye open. "Should you fail again..." She stood straight and pointed at him with both eyes open and a look of serious authority. "...I'm sending you back to the academy!!"
Abe paled at this. "Y-Y-Yes, ma'm," he stuttered.
"Now, get back to the station until I give you your next orders," Jenny told him, pointing to the station a block away.
A few minutes later, though, a huge tremor was felt throughout the city. (This "few minutes later" was precisely the same time as the present, so we felt it, as well. The charizard's playing was interrupted by it, and he waved his arms around while fighting to keep his balance, going, "WOAH-oh-OH-oh-OH..." We all yelped and fought to keep balanced, too, but we kept our eyes focused on our badges.) We saw a shot of the labs downtown, watching as it gradually grew more and more cracks. Then, with a loud CRRAAABOOOM!!, a giant (and become gianter) kangaskhan burst out of the building's domed roof, roaring. Eerie green energy surrounded it as it grew bigger and bigger, finally stopping at thirty feet tall. The green energy faded away when it was finished.
As it grew, of course, people started to run. A few, however, decided to take advantage of the chaos, if you know what I mean. Back at the station and on every police radio in the city, Officer Jenny ordered, "All units, report! We've got a massive situation on our hands! Help evacuate the city and take care of anyone looting during the panic!"
Abe, who was relaxing in his desk, leaning back in his chair with his arms behind his head and his feet on his desk while he looked out the window, grinned. "This is my chance! I'll prove I can do SOMEthing right!" he said excitedly. He put a hand to his chin and looked concerned, though. "But...what about the cause of this disaster?"
"Officer Abe?" crackled Jenny's voice on his walkie-talkie.
"Here," Abe answered, picking it off his belt.
"I'm sorry, but it's best if you let the rest of the force handle this," she apologized.
Abe dropped his jaw in shock, but soon had a lightbulb and snapped it back up. "I understand," he replied before putting the walkie-talkie on his belt and getting out of his chair.
He fired up his motorcycle and raced out of the station, making his way to the labs. 'I'll just go and find out what's going on for myself!' he reasoned.
By now, Gigaskhan, as people had come to call it, had stomped off to destroy the city, eyes glowing red and enraged. It smashed a building, dislodging a piece of it and letting it fall to the concrete below along with its passengers. We saw the inside of it, and our hearts caught in our chests as we were suddenly reminded of our generation's great disaster...
Deep underground, inside of a huge, computer-filled room, stood the most psychic-types we've ever seen in one place. Grumpig, espeon, members of the entire abra chain...Tons of them. Some cops were there, too, and as they saw, on a video, the same footage we did, a few pointed and cried, "NOW!!"
In an instant, some of the pokémon used their powers and focused on the people. Right before they all hit the ground--and people--everyone who would have suffered disappered. Behind the pokémon and police, they appeared. They fell from midair and grunted as they landed on the foam landing pad. The people looked around, confused for a moment, before one of them went, "WOAH!! It works!!"
"Yeah," another went. "Riverhelm's ultra-pricey Assault Crisis Defence Program!"
"Of course! They used psychic-types to teleport people about to get hurt or worse from the buildings and streets to this underground place!"
"And here -I- was saying it was a waste of my tax pokédollars..."
Meanwhile, on the surface, Abe screeched to a halt by the ruinous remains of the lab. "Here!" He jumped out and raced across the wreckage, calling, "Hello! Anyone alright?"
"H-Here!" croaked a weak voice. Abe raced over to find a scientist, the same one who had been giving orders earlier, supporting himself on a broken wall.
The officer supported him, now, instead, and asked, "Anyone else alive? Is an Elodie Autumnleaf okay?"
"Yes, we're all okay," said the scientist. "Miss Autumnleaf, as well."
Abe breathed a sigh of relief as people from an ambulence that had just pulled up came over. "Good."
"But...she's..." the scientist tried to continue, but a loud roar drowned out anything else he had to say.
Abe, now knowing his girlfriend was alright, gave the scientist to the medics. "Thanks. I think it's time to take care of this thing," he said determinedly. He raced to his motorcycle before the massive exodus did it in, just in time to hear something on the radio. Across the other end of the road, he saw the oversized normal-type stomping around.
"All pokémon attacks appear to be doing no good to this...this Gigaskhan!" reported an officer. Abe paled. 'What?'
"We've got to focus on helping the people! There's no point in trying to hurt it if we can't!" Abe looked up and saw Gigaskhan grab a chunk of building.
"Call for the special forces, then! It may be a pokémon, but we can't let it destroy the city any further!!" Gigaskhan threw the chunk down the street in Abe's direction, though he was too busy getting his helmet on, shaking in fear, to notice. When he heard this, though, he stopped and gasped.
"But...But it's still a pokémon!!" he cried, looking up at it. "If only it could get out of the city...I've got to try! WOAH!!" He noticed the chunk falling down towards him and ducked. It didn't even come close, but it DID utterly crush a car nearby. He gaped at this, face white as a sheet. "...OOOOR I'm the craziest cop in Sinnoh," he muttered before his emotions finally hit a fever pitch. He raised his head to the skies and cried,
"HEEEEEEEAAAAALLP!!"
- - - - -
We looked at each other, sweatdropping, while people raced around us away. Me and Ash then remembered what we said earlier and chuckled nervously to each other.
"Me and my big mouth, eh?" I joked.
"I'll say," Ash agreed.
"Agents!"
Our attention was called back to the screens when Kahn's voice came back. """COMMANDER!""" we all three saluted.
Kahn nodded at this. "Thank you, but be alert; we're sending over chips that will replace your shoes' jet function. Use them and get over to help Abe, pronto! DIS-MISSED!!"
"""YESSIR!!""" we said, and he was over and out. We turned to each other. "When do you think they'll come?" Meyers asked.
"I dunno, but I think that's how my trumpet case came falling out of the sky to make a beeline to my noggin," I shrugged. I tilted my head and crossed my arms. "But why on Earth would they send me my trumpet when it wasn't needed?"
"Speaking of music, what's the song gonna be?" Hunter asked.
"'Livin' in the City'?" suggested Meyers.
"Naw, that's a night song," said Hunter. "What about the theme song to Cops?"
I looked at my trumpet while we spoke. "Ugh, it's hot," I muttered, wiping my brow. Suddenly, things chain-reactioned in my head towards a huge lightbulb that lit up not just the space above me, but my face as well. "THAT'S IT!!" I cried, snapping my finger and pointing at my friends. "It's summer in the city, though that's not the song I'm thinking of," I began. "But that theme is pretty much like one of those old, 80's or something cop shows, and this is about a cop, and we're ON tv, so how about we do something that's kinda in that theme?"
They looked totally blank at me. "...Cut to the chase, please?" asked Meyers.
"Another hint, you just said it," I said, grinning. "And one more's in my hand."
It didn't take long for them to put it together. They grinned. "Ah-HAH! 'Get--" Meyers began before I shushed him and nodded.
"You're both gonna have to pull some singin' weight, though, since there's no way I'm not doing at least SOME of the trumpet," I warned them, winking.
At this time, the portal opened above us, and three little baggies, each with two thin, square computer chips, fell down. We caught them expertly and held them in our palms. "Alright, we've got 'em!" Hunter said triumphantly.
Suddenly, someone from the passing river bumped into another, and that person stumbled out and knocked into us. The chips flew away and into the mad rush, where we could distinctly hear a few crunch! sounds. We looked in horror at this. "Aaaaand we don't got 'em," Meyers said.
I stamped my foot. "Great! We'll never reach him in time if we can't fly over there!" I complained. "What're we supposed to do now? We can't wait for him to send more!"
Suddenly, me and Hunter were grabbed and pressed together towards Meyers, then all of us were grabbed around the middle and pressed to something big and soft. """Woah!!""" We looked up and saw a smiling charizard looking at us. "Are you going to...?" I asked, and he nodded. I smiled back and nodded. "Thank you very much!"
The charizard nodded again, this time resolutely. He crouched, spread his wings, and took off.
As we took off, I shouted down to the others, "JUST FIND A PLACE TO HANG OUT WHILE WE DO THIS!! WE'LL FIND YOU LATER!!"
"GOOD LUCK, AGENTS!!" called Ash, who was soon joined by Pikachu, Brock, and Dawn, before the group went and followed the flow, saying something about finding a Center.
-:-:-
We fell from the sky as the charizard dropped us and swooped off. We landed in front of Abe and I showed him my badge.
-:-:-MISSION: Oh, Snap, It's The 5-O! Playing Cops and Monsters!!-:-:-
"The Elite Beat Agents are at your service! You lay down the law, we'll provide backup!" I announced proudly to him.
Abe got on his motorcycle and looked at the river of people going away from Gigaskhan--towards him. He groaned. "I dunno which is gonna be harder: Getting that pokémon out, or getting TO it in the first place..."
We started our wave, catching him in it. "WOOOOOOAAAH!!"
"""Are you ready? ...3! 2! 1! GO!!"""
-I need your lovin'
-I said I want your lovin'
-I need you every minute of the day, now
-Girl, listen what I say
-Get it on in the morning, now!
As we sang and danced to Bill Chase's "Get It On", Abe began his journey. At first, he was motering along slowly, making his way between the people while barely avoiding hitting them. Then, he couldn't avoid one in time, had to hit the brakes, and ended up separating from his motorcycle as both began to be helplessly carried by the human river away. This didn't last long, though, and soon, he was roaring along, siren going off and lights flashing as he zoomed by. People got out of the way of him, and when they didn't, he weaved in and out with expert riding. The way he went, even though it was to be expected when a target gets a lot of energy, gave us the feeling that he's ridden motorcycles for a long time.
Abe heard a crumbling and looked up. "Huh? WOAH!" Some debris was raining from a previously damaged building. An idea came to his head. "Hey..." He revved his cycle and raced to the debris. "I must be crazy, but I'll never get by in time otherwise!!" He made a huge jump with his motorcycle, the biggest bunny hop I'd ever seen. He WAS experienced. When he landed, though, it was atop a piece of debris. With astounding speed and timing, he climbed the rain of debris like a salmon swims up a waterfall! In moments, he landed on top of a roof, free of traffic. "Oh, YEAH!" he whooped as he looked behind him at his work. "I hope someone's putting that on YouTube!"
---(O)---
(-)(Short trumpet instrumental)
(-)I want you when the moon shines bright
(-)I said I want you when the time is right
(-)I need you all through the night, now
(-)I have feeling all inside
(-)Get it on in the morning, now!
(-)(Trumpet)
(The charizard swooped in to grab us as soon as we were done, and he held us in one arm while he, with the helping hand of Hunter to support the instrument, played trumpet along with me during the instrumental. I sang when I had to, but went back to playing, even playing with one arm up while I swayed him in next.)
Some other police officers were escorting kids out of a school. "C'mon, hurry!" said one, holding his arms out and making beckoning motions with a hand. Above, Gigaskhan was coming closer to them. Abe screeched to a halt, grimacing and sweatdropping.
"Not the kids!" he gasped. "Oh!" He had an idea.
"HEY! Over here, lardbag!!" At this, Gigaskhan whipped around with a seething glare at Abe. He was holding a bullhorn he'd used to shout at it in one hand while spanking his butt at the giant with the other. After a roar, he hopped on his bike and started off.
"Get ready, guys!" I said to my comrades, and with my trumpet (and the charizard's), we started the chorus on the rooftop.
-I'm-a gonna tell you just what I'm-a gonna do!
-(Trumpet)
-I'm gonna make LOOOVE to you!
-(Trumpet)
-That's the kinda feelin', and it just won't quit!
-(Trumpet)
-I said-a c'mon girl, now, this is it!
-Get it on in the morning, now!
-(2-measure trumpet break, not the 4-measure normally used)
-I've a feelin' it's gonna be you
-I've a feelin' it's gonna be me
-It's gonna be just you and me
-In ecstacyyyyy(trumpet start)
-(AWESOME trumpet part that is quite different from what's been heard up to then)
-WOOOAAAAAWW!!
(Note: If anyone knows what the lyrics REALLY are, tell me. I found a site with them, but I don't think they're 100% right; I'm not sure. I just put down what I heard, so yeah.)
At first, Abe was doing awesome, riding laps across three roofs while doing riding tricks and taunting Gigaskhan, who was too busy trying to hit Abe to focus on the school. The children and faculty, meanwhile, were being led out safely. Then, Gigaskhan must have lost interest a bit, since it was now slowly trying to destroy the school. It was moderately distracted and annoyed by Abe, who was calling loudly to attract its attention. At times, Gigaskhan anger-veined, turned and swung at Abe, who ducked down to avoid it, before going back to work. The evacuees were hurrying out chaotically, scared, with the children screaming. Then, for a breif amount of time, no matter what poor Abe did--shout loudly, wave his arms around, or even shoot with his pistol--Gigaskhan paid no heed and was busilly destroying the school. The inhabitants of the school were screaming and clinging to one another, debris raining around them. Thankfully, though, Abe somehow managed to attract Gigaskhan's attention once more and was riding across the rooftops again.
Gigaskhan swung at Abe as he went one way, dancing on his motorcycle seat like a leprechan, and missed. He went another, and it missed again while he slapped his butt at it. Yet another way, when he was just shouting through his bullhorn, and he dodges the third swing by jumping.
Below, the cops shooed the last ones out. "Go, go, go!" They then turned to face Abe, smiling and grinning and breathing sighs of relief. "YO, ABE! GOOD JOB, THANKS!!" they shouted.
Abe wiped his brow. "Phew!"
---(O)---
(-)(Organ instrumental)
Abe jumped right at Gigaskhan, riding down its back and tail to the ground again. "Wheeee!!" On the road again, he turned and called through his bullhorn, "OI! Prime human rib, getting away!" It worked, and he began to lead it out.
(The charizard dropped us off on another rooftop before he landed quickly and joined me in the trumpeting. I complimented Hunter and Meyers on their dancing without me.)
-(Trumpets)
-I got to get it on
-I got to get it on
-I got to get it on
-I got to get it on
-Got to get it on
-Gottogetiton
-GottogetitonIsaida
-I'm-a gonna tell you just what I'm-a gonna do!
-(Trumpet)
-I'm gonna make LOOOVE to you!
-(Trumpet)
-That's the kinda feelin', and it just won't quit!
-(Trumpet)
-I said-a c'mon girl, now, this is it!
-GET IT ON IN THE MORNING, NOW!!
At first, Abe was doing great, riding along vacant streets while keeping Gigaskhan close behind, occasionally calling after with his bullhorn. He had to swerve whenever he saw masses of people, though, but Gigaskhan kept up. Then, he was riding along, turning left and right as needed, but he often had to STOP and call through his bullhorn to get its attention away from building destroying. Then, he must have somehow angered it, since, as we could see from our bird's-eye-view ((and any player would see thanks to a GTA-like mini-map on the top screen during this scene)), he was running like a maniac, screaming and carrying his cycle while Gigaskhan chased him. Thankfully, he got back to the middle-ranked performance.
After a while of riding, Abe turned to see Gigaskhan was still following. "Perfect!" he said. He looked around him and grinned. "I did it! I led it outside the city!!" he cheered, pumping a fist in the air as grass, trees, and flowers met his sight on the roadsides.
---(O)---
(-)(The 4-measure trumpet interlude, not the 2-measure)
A car pulled up beside Abe and the same scientist from before unrolled the window and tossed Abe a pokéball that resembled a bell. "Quick! Catch her with this Soothe Ball!" he instructed before driving away again.
'I've got to battle...'her'?' Abe asked in his mind as he turned to look at the behemoth on the field before him.
(The charizard let us down on a knoll and he and I continued to play, leaving it to Meyers and Hunter to say, ""Let's finish out!!"")
-I've a feelin' it's gonna be you
-I've a feelin' it's gonna be me
-It's gonna be just you and me
-In ecstacyyyyy(trumpet start)
-(Trumpet, but shifts to a different key partway through)
At first, Abe, deciding to use his pistol as a weapon since it wasn't lethal to this thing, was dodging more than shooting Gigaskhan. Then, to everyone's dismay (except Gigaskhan's), he was being Stomped on, the giant foot crushing him into the ground while its owner grinned maliciously at him. Something must have clicked, though, and Abe squeezed out and began running around in circles, shooting at her while she tried, to no avail, to hit him. He even jumped up on her and across her face to whack her with his billy club every once in a while! This continued on for the rest of the song.
Abe pulled the trigger to hear a hollow click. "Out of ammo!" he grunted. He looked up and saw Gigaskhan reaching out for him. "Guess it's now or never!" He maximized the Soothe Ball. "Soothe Ball, GO!!" he roared, chucking it at her.
It hit her palm and captured her in a flash of soft blue light. It fell to the ground with, instead of a thump or pokéball TUNG sound, a gentle ring like a bell. It shook a few times, dingling when it did, before the trademark PUUUUUN told the world that Gigaskhan had been caught.
Abe breathed a great sigh of relief at this. "It's finally over," he said.
"HOORAY!!" "YEAAH!!" "GREAT JOB!!"
"Huh?" Abe spun around to see, to his surprise, the entire force, having come up in squad cars, was standing there with some of the citizens of the city and applauding him. He blushed and put a hand behind his head. "Aw...i-it was nothing..."
"Nothing? You call saving an entire city from utter destruction nothing?" Officer Jenny asked, smiling at him. She put a hand on his shoulder. "Abe, I'd say you've more than proved that you're capable of being a police officer. Your position on the Riverhelm Police Department is officially safe."
Abe gasped and smiled, eyes sparkling. "Y...You mean it?" he asked breathlessly.
"Let her out!!" cried the scientist from before, running over. (He'd only parked his car a ways off to avoid the battle.) "She's a test subject you might want to see! We need to see if she's alright!"
"Huh? Okay," Abe said, and he grabbed the ball and opened it. In a normal flash of light, Gigaskhan came out. She was unconcious and lying on her stomach. Slowly, her eyes fluttered open and she groaned.
"Uuuuuuhnnn...Huh?" She shot her eyes open fully to reveal chocolate-brown irises the size of windowpanes. In front of her was Abe, and when she saw him, she gasped. "Abe? What the--?!"
Abe started at this. "It...can talk?!"
At this, Gigaskhan frowned. "Hey! Since when was your own girlfriend an 'it', Abe?!" she berated him. Her voice sounded familiar.
Abe blinked a moment before it finally sank in. "...Elodie?" he asked gently.
"Yeah?" Gigaskhan replied. Abe's jaw dropped and slammed into the ground. It was then that it dawned on her what was going on. "Wait...I remember! I was in an empathy experiment, and..." She stood and looked at herself. "EEP! I'm still a kangaskhan!" she squeaked, which was saying something for one so big. She then looked at all the people of the city and went down again, bowing in apology. "Riverhelm, I'm terribly sorry for the trouble I've caused. I remember everything, now, including the fact that I did it all at will. It's just something made me feel so angry..."
"That'd be the energy misreacting with the spine-mounted incection device," explained the scientist. "It channeled the energy up your spinal cord and into the part of your brain where you feel anger, or at least that's why you were destructive. No clue how you transformed. Maybe it was an overreaction from fusing your human DNA with pokémon DNA..." He trailed off.
Jenny stepped over to him. "Is there any way she can turn back?" she asked.
"Most likely," the scientist said. "But it will take quite a long time to find a way. I'm sorry, Miss Autumnleaf, and you, Officer Abe," he apologised.
Elodie, having raised her body up a bit and now just on her paws and knees(short as the latter were), smiled and shook her head. "That's alright! I'm fine as my favorite pokémon! Besides, I think I should use my size to help repair the damage I've done."
"Yeah," Abe said, back to his senses. "I agree. Just, erm, honey?" he asked.
"Yes, dear?" Elodie responded, lowering her head down to him. Her head was bigger than he was.
Abe blushed and asked, "You, uh, didn't do anything to me on PURPOSE on purpose, did you?"
Elodie blinked for a second before she got it and just laughed.
That evening, Abe stood proud as he was given a medal of honor for his bravery and protecting the town before the entire city, who clapped and cheered for him. He was as happy as a clam.
(-)(Finishing instrumental)
- - -
The next day sees Abe standing in the city, arresting a criminal, his medal visible. In the background, Elodie is busy helping fix the city, holding a piece of building up while some humans, using her as living scaffolding(if I'm using the term right), worked on re-attatching the piece to the building.
-:-:-
Way before this, however, me, Hunter, Meyers, and the charizard stood and watched Elodie laughing and shaking her head at her boyfriend's question. We looked at each other and nodded. Then, our badges went off again, and we turned around and flipped them open (well, 'we' meaning us Agents). Kahn stood and gave us the thumbs-up. "YEEAAAAHH!!" We knew what to do.
(CHUNG!)
(CHUNG!)
(CHUNG!)
"""MISSION COMPLETE!!"""
...
(WHOOO!! YEAAAHH!!! *clappity-clappity*)
Vrrrrrnnnn--Chuk. Chuk. Chuk. Chuk. Chuk. Chuk. Chuk. Chuk--
VWOOYYY-PSHH!!
...
TEUUSHH!!
- - - - -
- - - -
- - -
- -
-
Kahn sat down again, nodding. "Good job, Agents," he complimented. "And you, too, charizard, for helping with your impressive trumpeting."
The charizard blushed (though it was only visible via the red squiggles used in anime to denote it) and rubbed the back of his long neck. The wind blew his open marching jacket, making a nice scene with the setting sun behind him.
(What follows took place in less than twenty seconds, I swear. It will also be better-understood if you have experienced a march-off before.)
Kahn looked at him and furrowed his brow. "Hmmmmmmmmmmm..." He waited for a moment before abruptly shouting, "DE-tail, A-ten-HUT!"
"""HUT!!""" went me, Meyers, and, to our surprise, the charizard as all three of us snapped to attention. Me and the charizard held our trumpets as we would in marching.
Kahn smirked. "Hm. DE-tail, PA-rade HUT!" he went very quickly.
"""HUT!!""" We spread our legs apart and crossed our arms, "punching" our biceps as we went to parade rest.
"A-ten-HUT!" he went at the same speed.
"""HUT!!""" We went back to attention.
"PA-rade-HUT!"
"""HUT!!"""
"A-ten-HUT!"
"""HUT!!"""
"PA-rade-HUT!"
"""HUT!!"""
"A-ten-HUT!"
"""HUT!!"""
"Left HASE!"
Meyers, as was his preference, said, "One, two!" as we spun first our feet, then our bodies 90 degrees to the left in the left face. (I was told that I didn't have to go "one, two" each time, and I guess, wherever he learned it, the charizard was told the same.)
"Right HASE!"
Moving our feet in a bit different way, we went 90 in the other way.
"Left HASE!...A-bout HASE!"
We stuck our right toes behind us on "one", then spun ourselves 180 degrees around in the about face.
"Left HASE!...DE-tail, PA-rade HUT!"
"""HUT!!"""
"A-ten-HUT!"
"""HUT!!"""
"PA-rade HUT!"
"""HUT!!"""
"A-ten-HUT!"
"""HUT!!"""
"PA-rade HUT!"
"""HUT!!"""
"Left HASE!"
"""AS YOU WERE!!"""
We stood for a moment, awaiting further instruction, when we realized something. Me and Meyers looked behind us at the charizard, who was looking serious, as any good marcher should. A split second after we looked at him, he blinked and had the "Wait a...Oh, SHI--" look on his face. He clenched his eyes shut and went, "D'oh!"
"I had a feeling that would work," Kahn said slyly. "Fall out." We fell out and looked at the charizard, who took a step back, face telling us he knew he was busted. "Alright, explain," Kahn told him.
The charizard made some unsure "Um"s, looking around panickedly, before groaning and drooping his upper body and head, closing his eyes. "Um, uh, ah, erm, uh, uh, UH, UH UH AAAAAAAaaawww, crud..." He sighed and shook his head before, eyes still closed, he smiled and held his paws up, eyebrows up in cocky defeat. "Alright, alright, you got me," he admitted. His voice had a charizard's growl to it, but just barely. It was more the voice of a teenage boy than anything.
Kahn nodded. "Explain," he repeated.
The charizard sighed again before raising his head and opening his eyes, the smile fading into a slight look of sadness. "Okay, I'm sorry about acting like that," he began. "My name's Charlie. I'm a proud member of the Evertown Marching Magicians, and...for most of my life...I was human."
We gasped and raised our eyebrows. "Woah! Just like Elodie!" Hunter said.
Charlie shook his head. "She transformed instantly," he said a little brittlely. He looked at our badges. "Mr...Uh, Kahn, was it?"
"Commander Kahn."
"Yeah...How'd you guess?" he asked, walking over a bit to look into mine. I held it more parallel to the ground to help him.
"I doubt a charizard would ever go through the trouble of learning how to play trumpet, let alone as well as you do," Kahn answered. "And I doubt they'd go through the trouble of making or getting a marching jacket with wingholes."
Charlie chuckled and pulled his jacket tighter. "True, true," he admitted. "Let's not forget a jacket that fits him."
"Yeah," sniggered Meyers, poking Charlie's stomach with his finger.
Charlie growled and said, voice raised a little, "It's not nice to remind people of things they don't want that got there for no real explicable reason." He was blushing as he said this, as well as sweatdropping.
Kahn nodded. "Right. Well, again, thank you, Charlie, for supplying trumpet to 'Get It On' with Lock," he said. "You play very good, especially for something that I doubt has lips well-adapted to trumpeting."
Charlie smirked. "What, you think I can't trumpet easilly?" he asked. "Dragons bugle all the time!" He laughed and shook his head. "Sorry, bad joke, bad joke."
Kahn raised an eyebrow, then lowered it again. "Right. Well, thank you, as well, for transporting my Agents."
"No problem," Charlie said, waving a paw dismissively. "I heard Lock's riddle, and I knew I HAD to come and do it. It was fun," he chuckled.
"Right. Now, Agents, I reccomend that you all go and find Ash and the others," Kahn continued. "I would appreciate it if Charlie could assist in this matter, but ground recon would be alright, as well."
Charlie breathed a sigh of relief. "Good, 'cuz I'm kinda out of breath from playing AND flying with three grown teenage men...and a little extra weight, regardless," he added, glaring at his middle. He punched his stomach, making us all (including Kahn) sweatdrop when it swallowed his entire fist. "Die, you evil, white blob!" he growled.
"Alright, ground it is," Kahn said, shaking off the sweatdrop. "We'd send those chips again, but we've decided that it would be better to repair them by having you throw them into a portal while we send you something else, then having us fix them. We'd...have to experiment, first, before you potentially throw out your only pair of multi-function shoes," he added. "Regardless, I think that's enough for now. Well done, Agents. Oh, and Lock."
"Yeah?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Remember to examine what you're doing as often as you can. If you find yourself doing something against your nature, STOP. I don't know if you'll be able to, but it might work." He nodded. "Right. DIS-MISSED!"
"""YESSIR!!""" We snapped our badges shut and put them in our pockets once more.
Charlie looked at us with a pair of impressed, raised eyeridges. "You guys aren't your everyday men in black, I'll give you that," he told us, smiling wryly.
"We just do what we do," I said, shrugging. "Well, we'd better get going, unless you don't mind walking around a lot. I mean...well, no offence, but it looks kinda..." I sweatdropped as I searched for a good word.
"Hard?" asked Charlie. He chuckled and shook his head. "Naw, I told you, I've been human most my life. I'm used to walking. Hell, I MARCH, in case you're more clueless than FT."
((Huh? Someone say my name? -looks around the room-))
I had no clue who he was talking about, but I dismissed it as just that--someone I didn't know.
((Ohhh...Uhm...Shoot, too late to do anything to him, now...))
"And I'm used to this body. Sure, walking's not as easy, but I worked hard to march like this, so walking's fine," he continued. He took a few steps forward before turning and beckoning. "Come on, you shouldn't keep your trumpet out so long!" he called. Hearing his own words, he crouched and put his own away (he had the case with him still).
I looked to the others and shrugged. "Never a dull moment," Hunter said, and we walked back to town with Charlie.
"What are you doing here, by the way?" I asked. "I've never heard of...uh..."
"Evertown?" Charlie supplied.
"Yeah, Evertown. Is that even in Sinnoh?"
Charlie nodded his head. "Yeah, it's barely big enough to have a high school of any merit," he said. His eyes suddenly ignited as he held up a fist determinedly. "We're going to DOMINATE the competition, though, this year at state!"
At this, all three of us widened our eyes and froze our upper bodies. """Uuuuuhm...""" He looked at us with a curious look on his face, making a puzzled charizard "Groo?".
I whispered to my teammates, "Should we tell him that we're going to be there to cheer Rosedale to what ends up being victory?"
"RUUH?!"
"Should you learn to keep your whispers to a dull roar?" asked Meyers, sweatdropping.
"What're you guys talking about?" Charlie asked, looking at us with narrowed eyeridges. "You...You letting a school CHEAT?"
We sweatdropped and shook our heads. "Nononono! Not cheat! We just cheer them on to bring out their full potential, that's all!" I assured him.
Charlie grumped and crossed his arms. "Well, alright," he said.
"And, uhm..." I was a bit quiet before I finally said, "Because of the level of technology we've got, we were able to jump ahead through time to help the Rosedale Marching Rhydons win state. I'm sorry, but..."
Charlie frowned at us. "That sounds like cheating, but..." He shook his head. "From what I hear, Rosedale needs a victory. Can't do anything about it now, anyway," he added, shrugging.
"Yeah, sorry," Meyers said, all three of us putting our hands behind our heads.
Charlie shook a paw again. "Aw, don't worry," he said. He grinned, showing his full set of sharp, pearly whites. "We're still gonna win state."
"Huh?" I went.
"Rosedale's on the other side of the mountain! There's two different state marching championships in Sinnoh: East Sea and West Sea. We're on opposite sides. You just helped them win the West Sea competition, so we're still good!" He let out a great laugh as we anime fell.
"Great, so we just went all sorry for nothing," grumbled I, getting up again and brushing my suit off.
"Anyway, I'm here on a band trip," Charlie said. "We're rapidly approaching the school year, and first marching comp's just around the corner. We came here to go to an unofficial invite where people get to see where everyone's at. Although..." He looked around him. We were currently entering the city. Ruined buildings stood all around, and people made walking around hard. "...I guess we can't do nothin'."
"AGENTS!!"
We looked around to see Ash waving at us from the miraculously unharmed Pokémon Center. "I KNEW it!" I laughed, and we made our way over there.
"I guess the mission's complete, huh?" Ash asked as we approached.
We nodded. "You bet, kid!" Meyers said.
Someone yelped and we turned to see Charlie grabbing his tail up to him while looking at a woman (the seat of whose pants was blackened) with bowed head. "Sorry, sorry, I'm clumsy, sorry," he was saying.
Ash raised his eyebrows. "Woah, you can talk?" he asked Charlie.
Charlie grunted and looked over before making a surprised, "REH!" He sighed and shook his head. "You know, I think I'm just gonna stop trying. It's obvious I'm not a normal charizard, anyway, with the jacket and trumpet..."
We went into the Center and filled Ash in on the details, sitting in the lobby. Many trainers were there, too, talking excitedly about the day's adventures. Ash told us that nobody was killed, and the hospitol, also unharmed, was seeing to a variety of injury levels, with very few life-threatening ones. Those were taken care of, however; they were almost all trampling wounds, too.
"Wow," Ash went after our story. "That's a lot." ((Yeah, 22 pages; I'd better wrap this up fast...))
Charlie chuckled. "Yeah, but it was fun," he said. He was sitting on the floor with his tail's tip resting on his gut.
"Hey, Ash, didn't you pick up Lock's trumpet case?" Dawn asked.
Ash raised his eyebrows. "Oh! Yeah, I did, thanks for reminding me," he said.
"I'll get it," Brock said, getting up and walking off to their packs.
Charlie raised his eyeridges and gasped shortly. "Ash?" he repeated. "You mean Ash Ketchum?"
Ash looked at him in surprise. "Uh, yeah, heard of me?" he asked.
Charlie gaped. "HEARD of you? I've met your charizard!!" he said.
We all turned to him intently. "I thought you said you were human!" I said.
"Yeah, but I ran away and spent some time in the Charicific Valley soon after I transformed," he explained. "There, Ash, your charizard helped me out a lot. We became good friends, and I'm still a bit sad that I can't see him again for a while," he told him, smiling warmly. "He has a great deal of respect for you. You must be a great trainer."
Ash blushed and put his hand behind his neck. "Well..."
"Here you go, Lock!"
I looked up and saw a trumpet case being offered to me by Brock. I thanked him and finally put my instrument away--cleaning it first, of course -coughunlikesomebandmemberscough-.
Charlie put a claw to his chin and looked up. "Now that I think about it," he muttered, "seeing you Agents reminds me of a story he told me. He said that, one day, he defended the entire valley from poachers with the help of a cheer squad's routine and music. You know, the kind at schools. There was one in a black gakuran while the other two, who came later than he did, were in blue ones of different styles." He looked at us. "Friends of yours?"
We looked at each other in puzzlement. "Well, they sound like members of the Ouendan, who are sort of like our Eastern counterparts," Meyers said. "Why they'd be here is beyond me..."
Charlie shrugged. "Well, just wanted to say that," he said.
Suddenly, we all heard a perfect impression:
""Chaaaaarrrrliiieeeeee...""
Me and my friends let out a splutter of laughter as Charlie, half-eyeing and smirking, raised his head to look around for a moment before laughing quietly. "Oh, my..." He looked away before sighed and, setting his face to a grumpy one as his name was called again, "Yeah, yeah, what is it?" in a perfect imitation, as well.
A pair of humans came over. One was a guy with a benie and shaggy black hair, and the other was a girl with a black scarf around her neck. "Where were you, Chaarrliiiee?" asked the boy, staying in character.
"Did you see the monsteerr, Chaarrrliieee?" asked the girl, doing the same.
"Yeah, I got a front row seat," Charlie replied, keeping the theme here.
"Wow, really?" asked the boy, normal-voiced. He sounded a bit higher in voice than Charlie.
"What do you mean?" asked the girl, voice normal as well. She had a voice that could be very effective in commanding.
"I'll tell you later," Charlie answered, speaking normally again, too. "Lemme guess: I'm going back in my ball?" He chuckled as he spoke, so we knew he was joking.
"Yeah, we're collecting you. C'mon, lardgut," beckoned the boy.
Charlie nodded. "Coming," he said, then turned to the rest of us. "Well, been fun," he told us, standing up and grabbing his trumpet. "Nice to meet you all! I'd love to stick around, but I've got to go. Maybe we'll see each other again someday."
"Yeah," Ash said, standing up and shaking his paw. We stood and did the same.
"Pleasure--and quite an experience--working with you," I said.
"Same here," he returned. "Well, toodles!" he said before turning. "Ready."
"Then..." the girl said. Her and the boy turned and pointed while Charlie stepped around the couch to be behind them. "Action Force!"
"""AWAAAAAAYYY!!""" they cried, charging out while pointing, like a bunch of kids acting like superheroes. They were laughing after they exited the Center.
We all sweatdropped at this. "Well, at least we know for sure he's a trumpet," Meyers said. "And that those are his trumpet friends." He looked at me.
I looked back. "Come on, you're just jealous that we're more fun than 'bones," I joked.
"Well, we--erm, have something I shouldn't say in the presence of children," Meyers quickly stopped himself, and we all laughed.
"Oh!" Ash suddenly remembered something. "I almost forgot!" He grinned his mischievous Ash grin. "You guys wanna know what I just found out about?" he asked.
"Sure," I said. Meyers and Hunter nodded.
Ash held a fist up. "They're gonna be hosting a huge tournament in the city of Wharfton a couple days' walk from here!!" he answered excitedly. "It's like the Wallace Cup for trainers, the poster I saw said. They've got a badge there that you can use to make your way to the Pokémon League!"
We raised our eyebrows sharply at this. "Woah! We're finally going to get to see some REAL battling?" I asked, leaning forwards with anticipation.
Ash smirked and nodded. "As you guys might say, you bet, kid!" he replied, winking at our little phrase.
We laughed a bit. "No, you've got to do it like this," Hunter said, and the screen faded out to the sunset above the city.
- - - - -
Kahn leaned back in his chair. "Hmmmm..." He looked up at the screens, each with a different filter showing on them. One showed something surrounding Lock. "Disturbing, indeed..." He picked up the phone and pressed a speed dial on it. "Konnichiwa? Doumeki-sama? Yeah, it's me. Listen, I think you should know about this...Huh? No, I know we told you about that. I'm calling to tell you about something else." He leaned forwards. "You watch the episode? ...No time? Right. Well, guess what. It's getting stronger. The only way to stop it this time was favorite music. What's going to happen if it keeps going?..." He paused a moment before raising his eyebrows. "Yow. Quite a theory. One I hope doesn't happen. It's worse than my theory; all I thought would happen is he'd die."
- - - - -
Yow, indeed. Sorry for the chapter length! 25 pages! -sweatdrop- Yeah, went overboard again. And I think this is turning out to be more than the bonus mission I'd originally thought it would be. Yeah. Sorry. Shutting up now.