SO! Summer's here, and I don't have an excuse to delay you guys anymore so I think it's about time I update. Well, without further ado, chapter 23.
Disclaimer: *munch munch munch munch munch*…
A Miscellaneous Tale of Night and Day
oOoOo
Chapter 23: Those Timey-Wimey Shenanigans
October 30th
Blue's POV
"Ah… Agh…"
I hate it when I wake up to a headache.
Especially when that headache is the cause of having the life literally sucked out of you.
I blinked my eyes open, trying to cure their heaviness. My arms were weak and aching, as were my legs. I grunted as I swung my body up, using as much ab muscle as I could. I took a deep breath, and looked around. I looked in what looked like to be a radio room. It was small, about the size of a large walk-in closet, but enough to fit in all of the equipment and walk around in at the same time. The only light that came was the one that came from the door window, though even that was covered by blinds. Even so, I could see pretty clearly what was going on thanks to it.
After a moment of rest, I finally pushed myself up, stretching out my arms and legs. Man, did I feel sore. I thought after the first confrontation with Karen I would get better at that.
I looked around, my eyes scanning the controls and black screens of the devices of the radio. I grumbled, and turned over to the door, grabbing the knob and twisting it.
CLACK
Locked.
"Are these guys stupid?" I said to myself and crackled, grinning evilly to myself.
I dropped to my knees and ran my hands through my hair. No hairpins, damn. Agh, I knew they would do that. I checked my waist for Ditty, but they took that as well. Those bastards! How dare they take my Ditt—
Wait.
I turned around, my eyes catching the radio equipment behind me.
They really were stupid.
"Finally… FINALLY!" I cheered, and quickly approached the controls, and quickly began to turn things on. As a thief, this stuff was like child's play to me. It's how my heist with the Ruby of Reshiram and Golden Sea Necklace played out. But seriously, now was the time to use those to escape instead of break in. I had never wanted to leave a place more than now—
CLICK
Huh?
CLICK
CLICKCLICKCLICKCLICK
"Why won't this thing turn on?" I asked myself, and looked around. Everything seemed to be hooked up and plugged in, it should have worked. I tried another switch: nothing. Buttons, nope, kicking the screen, nope, ANYTHING, nope.
"There's no power?" I realized, and groaned, turning around and knocking my head into the wall. So much for sweet escape.
Wait…
I swerved around once more. On top of all of the controls was a little television monitor, about the size of a tissue box, but with all the weight of a television. I picked it up, and examined it from every side, my eyes widening.
"This… This is a Rotom-brand 1996!" I cried, feeling a sense of joy in my stomach. "I know exactly what to do with this! I can escape from this horrible place now! Sweet freedom, here I come!"
-o-
CRASH
"Whoa— Wha…?"
POP
"WHOA, YEAH, I FOUND A WAY OUT!"
With the window smashed and the vintage miniature TV clunking like a rock into the other room, I removed the rest of the glass shards from the window and wormed my way through the windowsill, tearing the remaining blinds aside and my feet landing flat on the remaining glass shards on the floor. I pumped a fist to myself, excitement boiling in my veins.
"Alight, where am I now…?" I asked myself, and looked around the room.
It looked vaguely similar to a waiting room, like in the lobby of an office or something. To my left was a wall with a large painting of what looked like to be a mountain, and right down from that was a door, screaming SWEET FREEDOM at me. To my right was the lounging area, where a couch and loveseat faced a TV set up on the wall on the opposite end of the room, a table set between them. The floor was carpeted, but still, there was a blue carpet underneath the couches and table. It wasn't a very interesting room, nothing big.
…Except…
I froze at the sight of two sets of eyes green eyes staring back at me with disbelief. On the couches sat two fairly tall teenagers, almost as tall as I was, but still slightly shorter from the looks of it.
On the loveseat sat a girl, bubblegum covering her open lips as if she had just popped a bubble. Her brown hair boyish short and slightly messy, but her eyes were slanted and her eyebrows furrowed. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and her feet were kicked up on the table. On the couch was a boy, with similar brown hair, though neater and more fixed. His eyes weren't as shocked and narrow as the girl's, but naturally wide and calm. He was slouched forward with a book in his hands, he must have been very intrigued with it before I came in. In a way, they both seemed vaguely familiar…
"…Is that…" The girl said, finally speaking and licking the bubblegum off of her lips. She removed her feet from the table in front of her, and began to stand up.
"Well this is quite the surprise." The boy said, sliding a bookmark in between the pages of his book and closing it shut. A sort of smile was spread over his face, giving off a friendly expression along with his eyes.
Okay, I had to get out of here now.
Before another word could be said, I made a break for the door, sprinting with all of my might, and grabbing the door handle. The girl jumped in surprise, her narrow eyes widening slightly at my actions, but the boy stayed calm and unfazed. Ignoring this, I twisted the doorknob and was about to throw it open when—
"I do believe that you are missing something."
"Dit!"
I stopped, my hand still on the doorknob but my body unmoving. Slowly, I turned back over to the boy and girl on the other side of the room. The boy was now holding up what looked like to be a large while piece of cloth, and I recognized it as the ribbon to my maid outfit.
"Ditty!" I cried, and let go of the doorknob. "Give me ba—Whoa!"
Before I knew it, the boy had tossed Ditty my way, where it deformed just before falling into my arms. I looked down at its pink blobbish form, and sighed in relief.
"Don't forget these, too." I heard the girl say, and looked up. But just as I did, five objects were thrown my way. Quickly, Ditty transformed into a basket, and caught them all neatly. I looked down, and immediately recognized the bundle of pokeballs in Ditty's basket.
"Jiggly?" I called, looking down at the pokeball where I could see the familiar figure of an excited wigglytuff in her pokeball. I looked at the others, and my heart lurched with excitement. "Blasty! Cleffy! Nidory! Granbull!"
Oh, man, did I miss these guys! I hugged the basket lovingly, and began to crackle, a devilish smile spreading across my lips. "Now we are unstoppable."
I suddenly remembered my position, and my eyes shot back up to the duo in front of me. I stepped back and yelled, "Ditty! Pack!" and Ditty formed into a formidable pack around my waist that carried my newly-found partners. I narrowed my eyes at the two teenagers, and snagged Jiggly from my pack.
"Alright, how did you get them, and who are you?" I demanded, keeping close to the door if I ever needed to escape.
The bubblegum girl got into a defensive position, her hand moving to her pocket, but the book boy stopped her, holding up a hand in front of her. "Hold up." He told her, and she glared at him. He grinned at me with his usual, friendly expression, and I examined him.
"You look familiar." I said out loud, and the two of them flinched.
"O-Oh really?" The boy stammered, finally looking nervous. His eyes began shifting around, his raised arm quivering. The girl groaned, and smacked the boy in the back, making him stumble.
"Yeah…" I said, and squinted my eyes, leaning in to look at them better. As I did, I swore I could see them start to shuffle back. I felt a chill feeling of unhappy memories pop back up into my head. "Somehow… you remind me of Green…" I said, pointing to the boy, which made him freeze up completely, the girl's expression suddenly getting more urgent. Yeah… something about… Green… and… wait… a moment.
This guy…
That play…
"Wait…"
And then it came to me.
"TRACK SUIT GUY?" I yelled, finally realizing who exactly was standing in front of me, and the boy blinked.
After a moment's pause, the girl turned to the boy, a dumbfounded expression on her face with her mouth open. The boy shivered a bit from my cold glare of hatred and resentment, and backed up further.
"…What… did… you… DO?" The girl growled, anger emitting from her like smoke from a fire.
"Um… It… It was an accident?" The boy stammered, shifting in his spot nervously as he attempted a look of innocence, though it didn't work. He was lying.
"You… You did THAT on PURPOSE?" I cried, my eyes widening.
"I did not say that." The boy said, still not meeting my eyes, and still not looking any less guilty. The girl looked as if she was about to take this guy's head off, and held her head in her hands. I felt the exact same way, mysterious pokemon-wielding girl. Oooh, did I.
"Choose a limb." I told him, cracking my knuckles. I took a step forward, eyeing him like a luxio to fresh meat.
"What?" He said, becoming even more alarmed.
"Because that's the one you're going to keep." I finished, and quickened my pace towards him, making him jump back and fall back into the loveseat behind him. I jumped up on the coffee table between us, and looked down at him as if he were the smallest thing on earth, and I was a god. Cricking my neck, I reached into my Ditty pack and pulled out Nidory. "Aide me." I whispered to the pokemon, who nodded back in understanding.
"Whoa, whoa, hold up."
I stopped when the brown haired girl stepped in between me and my prey, who was still shivering in his seat with fear as he stared up at me as if I was about to ground him Blue-style. The girl waved down my Nidory-wielding arm, which I reluctantly lowered when I saw she wasn't moving. She was lucky she wasn't Jump Suit Girl. I pouted in disappointment. I was really looking forward toward the action of fighting with my old team again. Even so, I sighed and tucked Nidory back into her place in the Ditty-pack, lowering her head in disappointment.
"What?" I questioned her, looking down at her from my place a foot higher with the help of the coffee table I stood up on, leaning down slightly.
"We stole back your pokemon, you don't kill my brother, deal?" She told me with a monotone voice and a blank face, popping her gum one more time.
"…" I looked back down at everyone in the Ditty-pack, opening the flap. I grumbled, and then closed it, crossing my arms. "Maybe."
"Good." The girl said with a nod, and the boy, apparently her brother, raised a hand up to his mouth and shouted a whisper to her.
"Errie, Errie, what are you doing?" He asked her, his face full of panic as he turned back to me.
"Cleaning up your mess!" She snapped back at him with the quick swerve of her head to shoot a glare at him, not seeming to helping with his comfort. She turned back to me, chewing her gum some more. As she did, she stopped, and chewed again, noticing something. With that, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a pack of bright red gum, pulled out a piece, unwrapped it, and stuck it in her mouth, looking satisfied. I looked at her, still completely confused on who she was or what the hell was going on or why she even stole my pokemon back for me. I was about to ask when the boy spoke up again.
"Never thought we'd see her this early, huh, Errie?" He said with a slight nervous laugh, and the girl, Errie apparently, swung her foot back to kick him in the leg. The boy dodged, curling his legs up onto the chair with a sense of danger spread across his entire body. Errie looked back up to me, who was giving off an expression that made sure that both of them knew that they were stupid and acting like it.
"Who are you two." I asked flatly, getting impatient.
"People." The boy said quickly, though no sign of suspicion left from what was already there. Errie slowly reached up and held her face in her hands, looking as if she wanted to slam her head into the wall. I deepened my "you're both morons and I want you to know it" look.
"…Dishonor on you. Dishonor on your milktank." I told them, and the girl shot her head up.
"Milla has nothing to do with this!" She snapped at me defensively.
"Oh, so you do have a milktank." I said, feeling a bit surprised as I straightened up, and then leaned back down again as I whispered in a low tone, "Why?"
"…" She looked down. "…It's a long story, okay?" She said, her expression changing into one that looked as if it were remembering regrets beyond measure.
"Tell me…" I said, leaning in closer to her, getting up in her face to make sure she was uncomfortable. "…your name."
She looked around, her eyebrows furrowed and her mouth chewing the gum faster than before. The boy behind her sunk back further into his chair, doing his very best (though not inconspicuously, I've got to say) not to meet my eyes. I hunched by back and narrowed my eyes doing my best to look as possible. This actually seemed to freak them out even further as I stared more intensely and my expression getting more and more annoyed.
"Um… Neil." The boy finally said, and I straightened up, feeling accomplished. The girl swerved back at him, giving him a "what the hell are you doing" face
"Awesome, Neil! Neil what?" I asked, getting more eager. I thought this would loosen him up a bit, but he looked even more endangered when I said that last statement.
"Um… Patrick… Harris?" He said, still not looking up at me.
Errie and I both looked as if we wanted to smack something, more likely this boy.
"Neil… Patrick Harris." I repeated, giving him the stare-down, though he wasn't staring back.
"Uh huh…?" He said, unsure.
"… And you are?" I asked, turning to Errie or whatever her name was because I really doubt no parent in their right mind would call their kid Errie.
"…Amelia Earhart." She said, her eyes shifting all over the place. She began to pace around, as if she wanted nothing more but to end the conversation right there and then.
"…That's were "Errie" comes from?" I asked her, though I still made a face that made it apparent that I didn't believe a word they said. More like one that made sure that they belonged in a fan fiction seeing how stupid they were.
"Yeah." She said a little more defiantly.
"Are you a pilot?" I asked her.
"Yes." She said immediately, without wasting a second, and then immediately shivered.
"Errie, I thought you had Acrophobi—HURK"
Neil Patrick Harris' line was cut off with the force of Amelia Earhart's foot slamming into his stomach.
I turned to Neil, who was still clutching his stomach in pain, and asked him. "And you… act?"
"That's hilarious." I heard Amelia say, and turned to her.
"What?" I said with a confused face.
"True." She immediately replied, freezing up a little but not breaking.
"Huh?" I said again.
"Hilariously true." She said very quickly, not moving a single inch, as if she had been frozen on the spot.
"I thought you said you were siblings." I said, narrowing my eyes at them.
"She is adopted/He's adopted." The two of them said simultaneously, and then looked to each other. I swear, I wanted to smack one of them right now. Though I really wanted to smack the one who was more stupid, I had a little trouble figuring out which one it was.
"Aright, WHY do you guys have my pokemon and WHY did you give them back to me?" I interrogated them, furthering the investigation and patting the pack on my side. They looked over to me, and then shifted their eyes towards each other, making very obvious faces that screamed "I really don't want to explain, no you explain, no we can't explain, please just let me die here, oh god I'm dead", and then looked back to me with completely normal expressions. I continued, attempting to make things easier for them. "You said you stole them.
"Oh, yeah, that." Neil said, straightening up in his seat slightly, though he still looked reluctant to answer. "That was part of the plan."
"I am going to kill you." Amelia said, and held her head in her hands as soon as Neil spoke the last sentence.
"Plan…?" I said. These guys had a plan, which involved meeting me, and retrieving and returning my pokemon… And… And…
And then I realized it.
"You're from the FBI!" I shouted, jumping backwards and off the table, pointing at them accusingly. I whipped out Cleffy, and tossed her up and down in my hand. I was prepared to fight! There was no way in hell I was going down now! "I've escaped you countless times before! I can escape you all again—"
"WE'RE IN A SCHOOL FILLED WITH KIDNAPPED CHILDREN RULED BY AN IMMORTAL PRNCIPAL HOW THE HELL COULD YOU THINK WE WERE FROM THE FBI?" Amelia snapped at me, finally losing her cool stance.
"Oh." I said, and returned Cleffy to her place in my Ditty-pouch. "Good point."
Amelia groaned, and pressed her thumb between her eyes, trying to collect her thoughts. I still didn't have a very good idea of who these guys were, or why they were here. I gave them my best "TELL ME THE TRUTH, NOW" face, and made sure it intensified the feeling in the room ten times.
I think it worked because the both of them suddenly looked as if they were about to explode with that glare.
Three…
Two…
O—
"FINE! Fine, alight!" The girl said, waving her hands to stop me with her eyes shut tight.
Yessss, success.
I did a little fistpump, but them immediately went back to my more attempted-serious standing, clearing my throat and keeping my eyes on Amelia. "Alright, spit it out!" I said, moving my eyes from her to Neil—Wait…
"Hmph, the name's—"
THUNK
The next thing I knew my face felt the rough carpeted floor before I blacked out.
-o-
Looking down on Blue's body, two sixteen year old siblings stared in horror in realization of what they had just done. Errie walked over to the body on the floor, her eyes wide but her mouth only opened slightly as beads of sweat began to form on her forehead. From the other side of the body, a boy held a miniature, vintage wind-up TV set in his hands, still raised over his head after knocking Blue cold with it. He looked over at his sister, as she did the same to him, both of them with expressions of fear spread over their faces.
"We are dead." The boy said, a nervous smile still etched onto his face.
"This was exactly what we weren't supposed to do." Errie told him, looking back down at the body, and then back over to her brother. "Sion."
"Huh?" He said, blinking back over at his sister.
"You lied and slammed a tiny TV into her head." Errie said to him, her eyes still wide with astonishment.
"You told me not to lie!" He argued, lowering the TV from above his head.
"Yeah, but I didn't think you would actually do it!" Errie said, waving her arms animatedly.
"Is that a bad thing?" Sion asked her.
"No, but I'm still amazed you did it." Errie said, and then grumbled, and proceeded to smack Sion in the back, nearly making him fall over. "Though you were kind of horrible at it!" She snapped at him, crossing her arms and popping her gum.
"See!" Sion said, and waved a hand over to the body on the floor. "See what comes out of lying? We are dead!"
"SION SHE'S NOT THE SAME PERSON!" Errie snapped at him, and then stopped, thinking for a moment. "Wait… Agh, nevermind, just to say, this is NOT what was supposed to happen."
"We can always drag her." Sion told Errie, placing the miniature TV on the edge of the coffee table.
"Sion, I'm not even going to listen to you anymore, you hit her over the head with a small television, made up HORRIBLE lies, NEARLY got us exposed—"
-o-
"SUPPORT her feet! Don't dongle them with your wimpy arms!" Errie snapped at Sion as they made their way up the staircase, Errie carrying Blue's torso by her armpits and doing her best not to make sure Blue's head was hitting every single stair. Though, she appeared to be giving up on that rule.
"I cannot help it! You are moving too fast!" Sion defended as he attempted to grab at Blue's feet again.
"We have to HURRY, okay?"
Red's POV
"There it is." I said, approaching the last turn on the set of stairs before me. On the top of this small set was a door that led to what I suspected to be the back of the clock tower, and most likely where Iris was. I panted, beginning to lose breath and energy. I balanced myself with the rail, closing my eyes for a few seconds to rest for a moment. Man, this place was far up. Now I knew what Yellow felt like after an intense battle like that. I wondered how she was doing ever since I…
…
…
…You know, screw it, if we're all going to die anyways I should at least kiss the girl I like. Is that a sin?
Alright, Red, pull yourself together, you're almost at the top. Time to get this over with.
I hoped.
"Ready Pika?" I called out the pikachu on my tail, who bounded up with an excited spark.
"Chu." He responded with a nod.
Oh man.
I felt excited.
Finally, a real, intense battle. I missed these things, a lot. I had this talent, but sometimes it could just get so…
Boring.
You know what I mean?
I was excited as hell for this thing.
I felt my heroic senses turn on, and a grin widen across my face. Pika too, growled excitably as the tension grew with every passing second.
"Let's do this thing." I said, and made my way up the stairs.
Soon enough, I was at the door, placing a hand on the handle, and opening it up like a door to a new opportunity.
Ready or not.
I entered a large room, a very large room, appropriate for a clock tower that could be read from across campus. It was about the size of a ballroom, and nearly as empty as one if it weren't for all of the mechanics that run the clock. They seemed to take up half of the room, a railing separated the floor from the endless pit of large clock parts complete with a large pendulum at the front. I appeared to be right behind all of it, being inside the maintenance room. The entire room was covered in dust, with brick walls and wooden planks. It was empty, save a few boxes and…
"I thought we'd be seeing one of you soon."
There.
Right across the room, leaning on the railing with two other girls by her side, was Iris. She looked about the same size of the 18 year old Caitlin, though Karen beat her in height by quite about half a foot. Iris had her hands on the railing, hunched forward and looking up at the clockwork that progressed. She didn't move, not even to look back at me, not with every swing of the pendulum, she just leaned there, as if she had been frozen in time itself. Karen leaned up against the railing with her back turned, her vileplume bounding in circles at her feet. Caitlin looked over at the clockwork with Iris, a bag about the size of a medium-sized handbag in her hands and her gothita on her shoulder.
Iris and Caitlin finally turned around, the tension building up in the air, her chocolate brown eyes narrowing, but her expression emitting pure confidence. She kept one hand on the rail, but her other clutched in a tight fist, as if she was prepared to fight. Caitlin held the bag to her chest, hugging it with both arms and staring at me as if she were expecting me to run up and grab it.
"Wouldn't miss this for the world." I said, half-joking.
"Thought you might say that." Karen said with a shrug, her arms crossed defiantly as she stepped off from her laid-back position on the rail.
"You know me too well." I said, though not actually meaning it. Pika made a challenging rumbling sound, great shocks of electricity emitting from his cheeks and tail as the sense of danger arose in the room.
"I know you more than you realize." Karen retorted, not losing her cool stance.
"Do you now?" I said, taking some suspicion in her words. What exactly did she know…?
"I assume you're here to stop me." Iris said, and I tensed, preparing for the worst. Though instead, she relaxed, and took a couple steps forward, the slow sway of the pendulum clicking with every turn behind her. She looked back at it once more, her eyes mystified by the scene. "Time's an… intriguing subject, isn't it?"
"Time?" I echoed, turning to the clock. What? Yeah, nice clock, maybe I should get one, thanks, can we move on now?
"Hey, Mr. Ross." I heard Iris say, and looked back up at her, only to see her intense gaze turned back to me. I felt my caution at its peaks once again, keeping my breath at an appropriate pace as she continued. "Do you know who I am?"
"…Miss. Mistress-in-Training, right? You were at the cave." I said, eying her suspiciously at the question.
"Close." She said, and a small smirk formed on her face. "I guess you haven't heard yet."
"Heard… what, exactly?" I asked her, narrowing my eyes. Pika stepped in front of me defensively, letting out a fierce hiss and snap.
"Define time." I heard Caitlin's voice sound, and turned to her, surprised that she had joined in on the conversation.
"Def… Define time?" I echoed, confused by her strange request.
"Yes." Caitlin said, her eyes unmoving from my position. They seemed to glow in the looming darkness of the dimly-lit room, like at the festival in her tent. Her mouth was a firm line, pursed tightly and soundless after what she had just said.
"Well… It's…" I trailed off, my mind reeling with words and thoughts. I thought, long and hard, though it all seemed to hit a wall every time I thought of something to say.
"Time is…"
Is…
How would you… describe time?
It's what got us up to go to school or work in the mornings, what decided our schedule or how well we did in things, is pressured us and freed us, it was represented by clocks and numbers, it numbered our days and showed us just how we were doing in life… Though still…
I couldn't think of exactly how…
…to describe time…
"At a loss for words, aren't you?" I heard Iris say, and snap me out of my thoughts. My gaze returned to her, my eyes blinking as I returned to my regular train of thought. Though, at the same time, I didn't. More questions flowed through my mind. What was going on? Who was she? What was her motive? Why was she asking me about all of this? What's with time? Why was everyone in our way?
What was I supposed to do?
"I can see why, I can't either." Iris continued, and turned back to the clock, watching as the pendulum swung. She looked down, though it was hard to see what she was feeling from my position, being so far away with her back to me. I still felt an urge to battle, to get my blood rushing and my body moving. I felt impatient, my hands flexing through their tight grip. What was with all of the questions? What did she want?
"Red."
I turned, and my gaze landed on Caitlin, who loosened her grip on the bag. She met my eyes, and I saw an unrecognizable emotion flow through them for just that second. Before I could think anymore, she held out the bag, and closed her eyes for a moment before opening them once again. This time, they really glowed. With that, the bag began to emit a water-like, pinkish light, and Caitlin let go of the bag. It didn't drop, but instead floated. She looked up, her blazing now-magenta eyes aimed towards me. It sent chills up my spine just seeing it, but my thoughts were interrupted by the sight of the bag slowly making its way towards me, and eventually, dropping into my arms. I looked up at her before looking inside. She lowered her arms, and the pink light from her eyes and the bag faded. She appeared to be waiting for me to open what was inside.
I looked at the bag again, feeling what was inside. The fabric was dense and leathery, so it was hard to tell, but she wanted me to have this. I felt cautious once again, and slowly reached to open the pack, and then peered inside.
And there they were.
"Poli…" I said, gazing into the bag. For a few moments, I stood like that, with the bag in my arms, open to five pokeballs sitting in it. "…and… Saur, and Lax, Vee, Aero!" I recognized, pulling out their pokeballs one by one to identify them for sure. It was them. These were the pokemon I had lost when I first came here. My gaze shot back up to the three girls in front of me, my eyes wide with shock. Why did they…
"You can give us back your Aoi's now." Karen said, straightening up and stepping forward, her eyes demanding and fierce.
"Ao… Wait, Blue's?" I realized, staring back at her in confusion. "What are you—"
"Karen, it wasn't him." Caitlin's soft voice spoke up, and Karen swerved over to her, a questioning expression spread across her face. Caitlin stared at my intensely, as if she was concentrating, her eyes as calm as summer clouds. It felt a little unnerving, to be honest.
"It wasn't…?" Karen repeated, looking as if she was going to start something, but then calmed, her mind flowing with thought. She looked back up at me, and stared at me intensely with that gaze that pierced fear into many PSTA students. She sighed and crossed her arms again. "Then what happened to…" Karen stopped, and looked back up at me, who was waiting for her to continue, though she seemed to notice. She bit her lip, and silence filled the room once again.
Along with the speeding train of confusion shooting through my mind.
"You're looking for a battle, aren't you, Red?" I heard Iris say, and my eyes shot back to her. Her back was still turned, and she had returned to her spot against the rails, staring up at the clockwork in front of her. "Don't worry, you'll get one."
"Then let's get to it already." I told her with my patience running thin.
"Just wait, Red." Iris said, calmly and cooly, though not helping with my impatience. "Soon."
"Soon you'll have your battle."
Did she really think…
I was going to just stand around here and wait?
Gold's POV
"Where do you think this one goes?" Lyra asked Crys, as she followed up from behind, pointing at the tightly shut door in front of us.
"I think we're supposed to go through it." I answered for her, not taking my eyes off of it.
"What makes you say that?" Crys asked me, looking over Lyra and to me.
"Because a "DO NOT ENTER" is bolted on the wall right next to it." I told them, and pointed over to the right of the door, where sure enough, there was a plastic sign with DO NOT ENTER in big black letters. The door looked as normal as the rest, wooden and classy, except for the sign. It was the end of the Faculty halls, which was where the room we were locke— thrown into was.
"Oh, snap, adventure time!" Lyra said excitably, a wide, devilish grin spread over her face as she peeked out from behind me. Her face darkened as mischievous thoughts flowed through her head, and deep, soft snickers escaped her mouth. With a quick moment of nothing but that, all three of us slid five inches away from her. Lyra stuck her tongue out at us and crossed her arms. "Fine, be that way."
"Right, right, it's most likely locked, so we've got to put some back into it when we tear it down, alright?" I said, reeling back and bouncing on my heels as I readied to slam myself into the door. I waved everyone out of the way for a clear line. "Alright, everyone, stand back, I've got this."
"Make way for the Lyra train!" Lyra cheered, and bounded up to me, readying herself in the same position, and we both stepped back and—"
CLICK
"It's open." Silver said, in front of the inch-open door, his hand still on the handle as he turned back to look at me with the most intense "Don't start this again" look.
"STOP RUINING THE FUN SILVER!" Lyra and I snapped at him at the same time, and Crys gave us one of her nagging looks. I was going to have to get used to that. She sighed, and looked around, trying not to look she was a part of our antics.
"Let's go." Silver said, and continued to open up the door, stepping inside to the next room without another second's waste.
I grumbled, and Lyra gave in, catching up to Silver while continuing on about how he should have at least let them try to tear it down because it would have been cool. I turned back to Crys, who was still examining the hallways, now strangely curious about her surroundings.
"You just going to stand around there all day or something or…" I asked.
"Oh, no, it just seems as if… Did somebody battle here? There's some scratch marks on the walls and a few dead leaves…"
"Whoa! Bondage!" We suddenly heard Lyra gasp from the next room.
Crys and I both froze, and looked at each other.
Oh.
No.
With that, we both sprinted for the door, shoving Silver and Lyra aside as we made our way through to see just exactly what Ly was talking about. Silver gave me an irritated look for pushing him aside, but then turned to a still-astonished Lyra who looked as if she wanted to take a picture.
"That's inappropriate! We've got to—"
"WHERE?" I cried, cutting off Crys' sentence, and my eyes shooting around the room as I stood there eager and excited.
…
…
Crys turned to me, as did Silver and Lyra, and three sets of eyes in front of me. I stopped, feeling as if my very soul was being ripped out of my body. I stood up straight, and cleared my throat, folding my arms behind my back and giving a weak laugh. "Ahaha… So we can… fix it…?" I said, though I had to fix my own situation first.
"You are one of a kind, Gold Kai." Silver told me in a monotone, shaking his head slightly as Crys drilled an angry glare into my face. Lyra still didn't take her eyes off of the scene, and I could have sworn that her coat flashed a small light.
"What are you guys doing here?"
All four sets of eyes returned to the scene before us, in which my mind let out a loud scream of relief that I was free, but Crys elbowing me hard in the side made me remind me that it wasn't over.
"Isn't this your roommate from the store opening?" Lyra asked Crys, pointing over at the girl sitting crisscross on cold tiles of the other side of the dimly-lit room. It was an empty room, though it did seem as if it had been torn up by a rampaging blaziken. The one thing that stood out the most were the three people sitting in the middle, all three looking beaten and bruised.
The first was Yellow, who sat on the left, looking short and stout with all of that blood streaming down on her face that you could see when she removed that piece of bloody cloth from her nose and mouth. Her ponytail was loose and messy, as if somebody had been pulling it. Bruises lined down her arms and legs like she had been splattered with bluish-tan paint. Her clothes were wrinkled and messy, and new and dry blood dripped from her still-bloody nose.
In the middle of the little group was a girl with pink hair, whose arms were bound behind her with a very impressively-tied rope (I'm assuming that's what Ly meant), so that no matter how much she struggled, she wouldn't be able to escape or hit anyone. She was just as short as yellow, but looked younger, though more vicious. She seemed to want to tear somebody's head off with the look she was giving to everyone, though she stopped, panting, when we arrived. I shivered at her fierce, cold glare, and almost gave a "don't hurt me" whimper, but then I remembered that I've gotten worse.
And on the right…
"Who's this guy?" Lyra asked, pointing to the man on the far right.
With that, the man nodded, with a quick, calm grin. "Hey." He said with a curt nod.
He looked like he was about in his early thirties, maybe late twenties, with a five-o-clock shadow and sloppy, ragged dark jet black hair that seemed to curve up. His eyes were a cold, calm blue that seemed to narrow when he looked up at us. He looked pretty lean, with a dark blue jacket that looked as if it was torn on one of the arms were somebody bit it. Hard. He looked as if he had been helping Yellow in a way that involved wresting a large ursaring. He seemed pretty tall, though I couldn't tell from how he was sitting, as he was slouching too.
Hm…
"Oh, umb… thish guy kindab herlpbd me wib my probdrem." Yellow attempted to say, though it took me a moment to register exactly what she was saying.
"Kriabubub?" Lyra said, blinking at Yellow in confusion.
"She was in a fix and I helped." The man said with a shrug and a small, uncertain chuckle, rubbing his arm that looked as if the jacket sleeve had been torn by fierce teeth.
"…By restraining a little girl?" Crys said, looking over at the pink haired girl.
Crys, no matter how you say that, when you look at it, it doesn't seem as if she would be all rainbows and butterfree if we let her out of that.
"I'm not a little girl!" The little girl snapped, still struggling against the rope.
…Well she is little.
"Heb jusht… Her joust… Agh…" Yellow shook her head in irritation and removed the cloth from her nose and mouth and proceeded to pinch it. When she spoke again, it was in a high, strained squeaking voice that made her seem more like a mouse. "He just came out of nowhere and helped me deal with Maylene." She said quickly and smacked the cloth back on her face again so she could breathe at least slightly better again.
"Out of nowhere?" Crys questioned, looking over at the man with a suspicious gaze.
"I walked through the door and found little most Beast here and pink hair throwing each other around and beating the crap out of each other. She…" The man motioned his head towards an ashamed-looking Yellow, who seemed to be sinking backwards as his story continued. "…wasn't doing so hot."
"Impossible, friend!" Lyra piped up, and ran forward to the raggedy-looking man, leaning forward and examining him intensely. She slid over and looked over at Yellow, shoving her face forward towards her's, making Yellow shoot backwards to avoid her. She pointed to Yellow, looked over at the man. "She killed Red!"
"No, no, I didn't kill Red…" Yellow tried to stop her, but ultimately failed as the conversation continued.
"Well, you see, neither Red nor Yellow here have had any proper training in that field." The man said, and Yellow looked around aimlessly as she didn't want to admit the fact even though it appeared to be true. The man nodded in Maylene's direction. "She has."
"Oh." I said, getting it with an understanding nod. "Man, it's like, smaller the person, the more lethally they beat you."
"Weird." Silver said.
"I basically came in and helped restrain her as Yellow held her down and I tied her up." He said with a voice that just said "basically". "That was like five minutes before you guys showed up." He told us, looking up at Silver, who came in first.
"Oh… Why did you have… rope?" Crys asked, and looked down at the restrained Maylene, whose eyes shot over to the man, awaiting his answer as well.
"…" There was a moment filled with silence, with six sets of eyes set on the man in question, who thought deeply about his answer. He tapped his chin, and then looked up at us. "…Next question?"
"BULLCRAP!" I shouted instantly, pointing at him accusingly and stepping forward with a stern look on my face. "Just who are you anyways?"
Crys, Silver, and Maylene joined me in my intense stare-down of the man, who suddenly looked as if he were under pressure for the first time. He held a nervous, twitching smile, but didn't move from his spot.
"…Peter." He told us with a nod.
"Peter…" Crys repeated, nodding some more as if she were beckoning him to continue.
He looked over at her, and as he met her eyes, it was like a jolt shocked through his spine, and he stammered out his next answer. "…Pettigrew."
"WHO ARE YOU?" Lyra and I snapped the question back onto the man as soon as he said the word, leaning in closer to the man with suspicion etched across our faces, our teeth grinding. The man backed up, and held up his hands as he held out a nervous laugh.
"Hey, hey, no need to get riled up." He said, and sat back up straight when he was far enough from our faces. His expression turned calm again, and he wore a lazy smile, looking around at the six of us, Maylene, Yellow, Lyra, Silver, Crys, and myself. I saw something flash in his eyes as he trailed over us, something like…
Remembrance?
"Well, enough said, I have to get you guys to the clock tower." He said, standing up, and looking down at Yellow. "Ready to go find Mr. Ross?"
"Huh?" Yellow said in surprise of the sudden advancement, removing the cloth from her nose and tapping it as if she were checking it, she took a dryer side of the cloth, and carefully dabbed off the remained of the blood away from her face and clothes. She then stood up, and winced, nearly falling onto one knee, but quickly recovering with a wince. "Ye… Yeah." She said, making a face as if she had just been punched in the stomach. "I'm good." She told us, and proceeded to stretch out her back.
"Wait, wait, wait, hold it."
Crys stepped forward, waving her arms as if to stop the man in front of us. She looked up at him with that nagging expression of her's, which seemed to actually take a stab at him from the way he flinched. She pointed at him, and narrowed her eyes, placing her other hand on her hip.
"Mister, tell me your name right now or I swear, if you think you're going to see the light of day again, I am—"
"Alright! Alright! I've got it!" He suddenly burst out, waving his hand in defense and his cool, calm expression disappearing from his face. He looked more panicky and alarmed now, as if he had just been about to be sentenced guilty in a trial. His eyes were still shifty, looking at anywhere but the girl in front of him. Which was weird since she was like, 5'5" or something and he had to be like five inches taller than her. He sighed. "I'm 29…"
Glad you agree, weird man.
He took a breath, and looked back at all of us, his expression turning serious and his once calm and cool grin replaced with a firm line on his face. His eyebrows were furrowed, and his back straightened into a more proud and confident posture. He seemed less raggedy and lazy now, and more like a man who knew exactly what he was doing with that simple change. "Listen, you'll hear it soon enough, alright? Just let's get moving to the clock tower, we're running out of time." He told us, not wasting another minute.
"Running out of time?" I heard Silver's voice call out from behind me, and he stepped forward. "Running out of time for what?"
"…" He paused for a moment, and looked around. Maylene looked as if she wanted to escape, now. The problem was that I didn't know where, she just seemed really jittery now that this man was going on about time or whatever, like she was concerned about it too. I thought about it for a moment, but the train was pulled to a halt by Yellow piping up.
"Wait… Wait what time is it?" She suddenly asked, her eyes growing wide. She didn't seem to be having much of a problem with her bloody nose anymore, but was more concerned on the matter at hand now.
"We… We don't know, we don't have anything with us." Crys said, getting more nervous with the rising tension in the room.
"If anything, with every minute we waste, it's getting closer to midnight." The man said, and looked over to the door on the other side of the room. He turned back to us, and pointed to the door. "We have to move. Now."
"Why?" Lyra asked, blinking in confusion.
"Wait a minute…" Crys started again, straightening up. "Iris…"
"Halloween…" Yellow piped up, looking over to the door, and began losing breath as she inhaled a large breath.
"Halloween's tomorrow." Silver said factually, and averted his gaze to Yellow. "What's that got to do with…" He trailed off, looking over at the man, then Maylene, then Yellow again, and then Crys. He paused for a moment, thinking of the words to say, and then turned back to the man. "We're all going to die, aren't we?"
"Silver, stop being such a pessimis—"
"Yeah, pretty much." The man said, cutting Lyra short from her nag at Silver.
"Yeah pretty—whoa, wait, what?" Lyra continued, and then turned over to the man in question once again, her face forming into a horrified expression.
"Huh." I managed to say, blinking at him.
"Why do people always say that?" Maylene sighed, though her voice was drowned out by the thoughts of horror and confusion in our heads.
"Yeah, if we keep standing around here, so let's get a move on, capiche?" The man said with a finalizing tone, and we all nodded.
"Yeah." We all said, the word echoing through the room as the chorus of voices said it, and the man nodded in satisfaction.
"Good, now let's—"
CLACK
All eyes immediately turned back to the door behind us in caution, afraid of what was to come. But instead…
We got something else.
At the door stood five unfamiliar figures, all looking as shocked as we were. The first was a tall brunette woman with ocean blue eyes and store a striking resemblance to the girl that pretty much played cupid and won by marrying me off to my childhood crush. Next to her stood a man about the same height as her, with messy dark red hair and eyes that looked almost as fierce as Sapph's. Behind him was a pretty woman with a calmer feeling towards her, and golden hair that cascaded over her shoulders smoothly. In the very back was a man with ruffled brown hair, looking up and over the slightly taller people in front of him. Though lastly was the black-haired girl that poked her head between the brunette and the redhead's shoulders, getting impatient with no chance to see what was in front of him.
"Move over, jeez, what's taking so…"
She then trailed off at the sight, putting on an expression even more shocked than those of the people around her's. Her eyes rested on the man in the back, which made me swerve back over to take another look at him, and then back to the crowd that just appeared. With a still, awkward pause filled with nothing but stares and confusion, the girl spoke.
"No way."
Ruby's POV
"WAIT" Sapph shouted, waving her arms to stop everyone in front of her, her eyes wide and her mouth open.
"WHAT" I said again, still not moving from my spot in a state of shock as we both stared at the duo in front of us.
"SON?" We both said simultaneously, horrified and confused.
"BOY?" We said together once again.
"WHAT?"
"No, no, I'm—" Akio began, swerving back around to us from Koga, but couldn't find the words to continue. He let out a small cry of distress, and turned back around to Koga. "This is all your fault." He said with bitterness in his tone.
"Akio, can we please deal with this later?" Koga said, rubbing his temples and looking over to the boy with desperation filling his expression.
"Hold up!" Sapph cried, and pointed to Akio. "So… So… At the festival, during the parade… You… That guy… What…"
"Oh yeah!" Akio said, and swerved back around to Sapphire, dashing up to her, now excited. "Thanks a bunch for that! You almost blew my cover."
"So that guy didn't know…" I began, but couldn't finish. I merely looked at him, and then gave him a look at said "you know what I'm talking about".
"And he still doesn't, thanks to Sapphire." He said, crossing his arms proudly and nodding with a smirk on his face.
"What's this about the festival?" Koga called out to us, stepping forward with suspicion spread across his face.
"Nothing, Dad!" Akio called back to him.
"Okay, okay, alright!" I stopped them, trying to take control of the situation once again. I stepped in between Akio and Koga, breathing heavily from all of my dumbfounded cries. I shot a glare at Akio, and then over at Koga, who was still ready with his forretress. I put on my commanding face, and cried, "WHAT is going ON?"
"I thought you got the hang of it just now." Akio told me, waving his hand as if the answer was obvious, and then pointed over to Koga. "That guy is my dad."
"And he's my son." Koga said, rumbling angrily. "I have no idea what he made you guys think but—"
"DAD!" Akio stopped him, giving him a glare.
"Oh, ha ha ha." I said sarcastically, and looked at them both again with a forced smile. "Oh, I totally get it now. So this chick who started a fan club about Sapph and can become invisible by talent and we've known as a girl for the entire time we've known her is actually a GUY and SURE, I TOTALLY get that SHE or HE or WHATEVER is actually YOUR SON." I said, the pitch of my voice peaking with the sarcasm and desperation in my voice increasing.
"See?" Akio said with a nod.
"NO I DON'T ACTUALLY GET IT, HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO GET ANY OF THAT IN FIVE MINUTES?" I hollered and stomped up to Akio, waving my arms animatedly.
"I get it." Sapph said, raising a hand.
"Okay so maybe it does in a way but HOW THE HELL DOES THIS ALL WORK OUT, I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW YOU HAD A SON." I said, swerving back around and making my way over to Koga, my eyes wide and my voice beginning to crack.
"Have you see the family photos?" Akio piped up.
"I HAVEN'T SEEN ANY PHOTOS, WHAT ARE YOU EVEN TALKING ABOUT?" I cried, my gaze averting back to Akio .
"Okay, let's put it a different way, remember your guy's café?" Akio asked me.
"You mean the one you pretty much ruined by getting all of the chefs sick and TRASHING THE OUTFITS I MADE?" I told him, panting from all of the breath I was using up by yelling.
"Yeah, that one." Akio said as if nothing was wrong. "You even said it a few moments ago, though, but you remember my talent, right?"
"Well… it's invisibility, right?" Sapph said with a nod.
"Not just invisibility."
"OH ARCEUS!" I jumped at the sudden change in voice direction, still jumpy from all of the energy I've been using to yell, and I turned around only to flinch at the sight of Akio right next to me, his face all up in mine. I leapt backwards, stepping back to get a better look at him. My gaze shot back over to the spot next to Sapphire that he had been only seconds before, and then back to the man himself.
"It's a family thing." He said, a small grumble in his voice as his eyes darted over to Koga accusingly, folding his arms behind his back.
"Oh, wonderful." I said, acceptingly, but not enthusiastically, and facepalmed.
"There's not really much I can do to prove it right now, though, other than that." Akio told us, and nodded. "But hopefully, you'll be able to understand this with that in mind."
"…Wait, what?" I said, turning over to Akio, and blinked in confusion. Sapphire, too, stepped forward at Akio's sudden change of subject. He stepped back so he could get a clear view of me, Sapph, and Koga, and then nodded.
"As a child of one of the teachers here, I've been here since my elementary school days, more specifically, fifth grade. So I've been residing here in the school for five years." He began, looking back over at Koga, who gave him a questioning look. Though, he also looked prepared to stop him. Akio continued, turning back over to Sapph and I. "I know a lot about this school, like the incident in the clock tower that happened in my first year here with those high schoolers, though not a lot of details." He told us, looking up at the school, which we were right behind. The clock tower was closest to us, being in the very back of the school, but also on the very top.
"Akio…" Koga said warningly as soon as he mentioned the incident, and stepped forward.
"I'm not getting into that." Akio said, just like a child would retort to a parent, and huffed. He then shrugged, and turned back to us. "Though I do know about a different incident."
A different incident?
Five years…
…Ago…
Oh crap.
"Wait… You can't be talking about… There's no way…" I began, not knowing what to say. My snappish attitude gone, and replaced with a sudden sense of urgency.
"Akio!" Koga called out again, stepping forward, his expression tightening.
"What?" Sapph said, looking at us both with a confused expression on her face.
"It was about a couple of talented kids who escaped a kidnapping. Or as the school likes to put it, enrollment." He continued, his face holding an expression that told me that he knew that I knew exactly what he was talking about. He turning, bringing that message off to Koga, who looked just as alarmed as I was.
"Wait… a kidnapping? You're not talking about…" Sapph realized, stepping up closer, her eyes widening. She then made a fierce face, bearing her teeth angrily. "I knew it, it was you guys, I can't believe fell for this again!" She said, averting her glare at Koga.
"Hold up…" I said to Akio, holding up a hand to signal his silence, but he didn't seem to take it into mind.
"I know about this because you told me, Dad! You were the one who was so frustrated about the failure! You were the one in charge of things like that back then! You were the one who left their pictures on the table!" Akio continued, his tone rising with every statement.
"AKIO!" Koga snapped.
"Saving me isn't the only reason I admire Sapphire! It's because she escaped and saved someone else in the process! Someone who attends this very school!" Akio said, his eyes darting around to all three of us.
"He's… He's HERE?" Sapph exclaimed, her gaze fixed on Akio.
"AKIO, I AM WARNING YOU…" Koga said, sweat beading down his forehead.
"STOP!" I said, and moved forward, closing in on him. Though, with every step I took was just another step he took back, and it wasn't before long before he started pointing fingers.
"The two kids were—!"
"FINE! FINE! SHUT UP, I'VE GOT THIS!" I finally spat out, my fists clenched tight and my heart beating faster than it had. That seemed to silence him, and he seemed really surprised that I had given in like this. He blinked at me, and then looked over at Koga, and then back at me.
"Wait… I am really confused, Ruby, what are you talking about and how do you get this…?" I heard Sapph say from behind me, stepped towards Akio and I, who were now far from both Koga and her. She still looked pretty wound up due to everything Akio had revealed, it almost made me regret what I just said. She looked over at Koga, and then Akio, and them me, and then took a step back. "Wait, please don't tell me you're his son to—"
"What? No, agh, no, no, nooo no. I'm—" I pursed my lips, and shifted my shoulders uncomfortably. "I'm… Agh…"
"Can I tell her?" Akio said, looking at me, and then past me to Sapphire.
"Tell me what?" Sapph said suspiciously.
"What? No! You can't, I've just got to… Agh…" I grumbled, and looked back up at Sapph. "Alright, just… Let me explain…" I said, reaching up for my hat, and clutching it by the end, letting some of my hair fall out of its cover.
"Explain what? Oh, Arceus, you're not going to pull off your hat and reveal that you're a girl, are you?" Sapph said with a gasp.
"What? No! Who even does that? Sapph, just listen to, me, I'm—"
"I mean, really, I can see Yellow doing something like that, and Akio just did it, and who knows, you might be a crossdresser too, please tell me you aren't."
"Can we please not talk about that subject, Sapph, what I'm trying to say is—"
"Well, actually, I wonder about that sometimes, maybe your cousin would mention it, but I really think—"
"SAPPH, I'M THE BOY YOU WERE KIDNAPPED WITH!"
"That something like that was… Wait, what—"
And then I tore off my hat.
?
"You can't wear those in the forest!" A girl's voice cried out, not too far from the scene. She stood in the forest, looking back at a smaller girl behind her, who wore blue roller skates on her feet as she struggled to keep up. A paper-wrapped package rested in her hand, and black hair spilled over her shoulders and reached her back, held at the end with a gold-colored clip. Her feet were placed firmly on the leaf-covered ground below her, ready to run and impatient for the girl behind her.
"I can manage!" The younger girl's voice squeaked, and she held a bag close, looking up at the older girl in front of her. Her light brown hair was messy and covered in leaf-bits, signaling that she had been falling a lot.
"I'm sure you can somehow, but we really have to hurry. As in NOW. ASAP. SOS." The older girl told her, bouncing on her heels, jittery and energy-filled. Her eyes darted around the forest around her, and her lips were pursed tensely.
"Even if I do ditch them, we still won't have as much time!" The younger girl argued, clutching the bag tighter. With that, she realized what was in her arms, and reached into it, pulling out one of the items. "Hey, hey, hey, LAI! What if we—"
"G, I know what you're going to say, do not even start. We are not supposed to be using these guys, and do you even realize who we're—"
SCREEEECH
With the loud cry ringing through the forest, the two girl's gazes shot upwards. Through the trees and through the darkness of the night sky, they couldn't see what or where the sound came from, but the expressions on their faces said that they knew exactly what was coming up.
"Wanna use them now?"
"Don't touch them, I'll pick."
Red's POV
"You really expect me to just stand around here and wait, don't you?" I said to Iris, getting more and more impatient by the second. I set the pack down and pulled out Saur and Vee's pokeballs, ready to throw at any time. Pika let out an eager yelp, jumping forward and sparking threateningly. In the front, Karen stepped forward, her eyes narrowed and her hand set on a pokeball on her belt.
"Not for much longer, I promise." Iris said calmly, and turned back over to me. She stepped closer, a confident smile on her face. "Or would you rather have a little warm up?" She offered, cricking her neck, ready to fight.
I grinned in approval, and Pika bared his teeth. I tossed Saur's pokeball up with one hand. "I'd love to."
"HOLD UP!"
CLUNK
"Oh, COME ON!" I cried, and swerved around to whoever had just interrupted us. I was literally this close.
This. Close. To a good battle.
Before I knew it, who figures had rushed up in front of me, one on both side. I almost thought they were the same person, and both of them looked strikingly familiar. Though when I could finally get a good look at them, I realized that they weren't just different people, but opposite genders as well. Whoa, how'd I get the wrong? Well, they do both look the same, I had to tell. Brown hair, green eyes, same height, they both even looked like they weighed the same. Weird.
Wait a minute, I was in the middle of something here.
"You okay? She didn't kill you, right? Oh, Arceus, then we'd be really dead." The girl said, looking back and forth at Iris and I quickly.
"Do I look dead?" I deadpanned, still irked off about them interrupting us.
"Okay, nevermind, he's not dead, IRIS!" The girl continued, and shot her gaze back over to the girl on the other side of the room.
"Who are they?" Iris asked Caitlin on the side, giving the two newcomers a confused glance as if two stage directors had just jumped onstage in the middle of a live performance and started acting like idiots.
"No idea." Caitlin said, thinking, as if this was the first time she didn't expect something.
"That's insulting." The girl said with an offended expression.
"We have come to stop you and your evildoing ways, Master of Destruction!" The boy said, and then pointed to Iris as if he were making a gun sign with his right hand, as his left arm folded beneath his raised hand and stuck out his index finger and pinky to the side, making a completely straight face as he did so.
In the front, Karen looked as if she wanted to jump off the railing with the expression she was making, Caitlin gave them a pitying look, and Iris made a face as if she were contemplating over the name "Master of Destruction".
To my left, I heard a growl from the girl. "Sion what are you DOING?" She growled over to the boy in a half-whisper.
"It was on TV, this is how they do it! Play along." He said, a proud smile on his face as he kept his eyes on the women up front.
"What, no! You're ruining it!" The girl snapped at the boy, stepping towards him so that she was almost right in front of me.
"You are the one ruining it!" He told her with an innocent pout.
"Hey!"
There was another voice from behind us, and all six eyes turned towards the stairs. There stood a Crys, Silver, and Lyra, almost all the way up the stairs, but the former pointing down to a girl sprawled out on the steps in front of her. "Why is Blue on the floor?"
Behind me, I heard the unsettled argues of "You left her on the stairs?" "You were the one who had been holding up her torso, I had thought you were the one to keep holding her!" "You expect me to let you run up here alone and embarrass me?" But they drowned out with the arrival of more people, and out of the crowd, I heard the cry of a slightly familiar voice.
"B!"
Quickly, a 22 year old woman came racing up the stairs and kneeled down to check on the Blue, who appeared to be unconscious on the steps. Seeing that she was alive, she sighed in relief, and then shot a glare up at us.
"What did you do to her?" She snapped, and from the corner of my eye I saw the boy become tense. But then, the woman at the stairs laid her eyes on me, and froze. "…Chris?"
"Chris?" I echoed, and stopped, my eyes widening and a sudden jolt of energy running through my spine.
What did she know about—
"Move over!"
In a flash, two more people shot past Crys, Silver, Ly, and the woman. They sprinted forward and towards me, only to stop at the sight of the two argumentative people at my sides. They stood like that for a moment, all four of them frozen in shock at the sight of each other. One of the newcomers was a girl with jet black hair bound into pigtails with sharp golden eyes, and at her side was a girl with long golden hair and calm red eyes, both of them keeping their eyes on the duo at my sides. I looked around, my eyes falling over all four of them one by one. Even the woman beside Blue looked surprised to see that these four looked as if they knew each other.
Seconds later, five final people ran up and out of the stairs. One man with sloppy brown hair stayed to help Seae with Blue, who actually appeared to be waking up as if she were in a deep, drowsy sleep. Another with dark red hair skidded up and out of the stairs alongside an older man who looked as if he needed a shave. Gold ran out with Yellow, the latter looking as if she had just been hit with a brick in the face.
"Yel!" I called out in astonishment at her bloody clothes and red face.
"Well." I heard from across the room, and all eyes turned up front.
Iris smirked, looking somewhat pleased with herself as she narrowed her eyes, looking over the crowd. "Interesting."
"Sese…"
From next to Iris, Karen looked past the crowd in front of her, to the brunette woman holding up Blue. Her eyes were wide and disbelieving, her hands clutching the railing behind her, and her breathing becoming heavy as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
"K? And… CC!" The woman cried, looking over from Karen to Caitlin, who also had a shocked expression covering her face.
"Huh!" Suddenly, Blue shot up from her laid back position, making the woman jump back in surprise and drop her. "Ow!" She cried, and rubbed the back of her head as she sat back up again. "What's going on…?
"Iris, 'sup?" The jet-black haired girl said with a small growl at the end of her voice, her eyes set upon the seemingly-fifteen year old girl up front, who gave out a huff.
"Hello Alex." She said.
"Wait…" Gold looked over from Iris to the girl named Alex, and then back to Karen and Caitlin, and then over to the woman. He pointed around, not knowing what to do, until he spat out, "You guys… know each other?"
"Yes." The black haired girl said immediately and without hesitation, nodding slightly. The brown haired girl next to me who was arguing with the boy earlier facepalmed at her answer.
"You and Iris?" Crys cried, staring at the black haired girl.
"…" The girl immediately shut up, and stared at Crys with wide, innocent eyes.
Crys grumbled. "How come she always does that? It's like automatic with you but whenever I start talking she never says anything!" She said, turning over to Gold, who shrugged with a nervously unknowing expression on his face, not wanting to upset her further.
"Wait, nevermind that." The dark red haired kid said, and looked over at the black haired girl and calm-eyed girl. He turned over the duo by my sides and asked, "How do you guys know each other?"
"Um…" The boy began with a nervous laugh, but the older man who ran in stepped forward.
"Alright, alright, everybody settle down." He said, waving a hand for everyone to settle down and sticking the other in his jacket pocket. He looked around at all of the people in the room. The brown haired woman who, now that she was next to Blue, I could see looked a lot like her, except older and with chopped hair. Blue, who was groggy and looked as if she had a splitting headache, was attempting to stand up with her help. Nearest to the door were Gold, Crys, Lyra, Silver, and Yellow, who all wore the same confused expression as I did with the mass of unknown people and things happening. The man with dark red hair, who looked cautious and gazed at the four people in his question with suspicious eyes, and the brown haired man who looked the most friendly out of the bunch, but still held his share of confusion. The duo at my sides, who looked near identical with their common physical features, but clashing personalities. The, the black haired girl with spiked pigtails and an apparent loudmouth (except to Crys), and the golden-haired girl who didn't even give out a peep. The three girls on the other side of the room, Iris, Caitlin, and Karen, with Iris the only one who didn't flinch at the newcomers. Then, of course, himself, who stepped up to the front of our crowd, in between Iris and I, holding a confident posture.
"Guys, I think it's about time we put a name on ourselves, don't you think?" He said, looking back at the crowd.
"What?" The brown haired girl next to me cried, and looked up at the man in disbelief. "You seriously want us to—"
"I think it's an appropriate time." He said with a shrug. "I think everybody needs a good reintroduction." He narrowed his eyes. "A true reintroduction."
What…?
"Let's start from the back." He said, and looked back over at Blue and the woman look-alike. "Who are you all? Name and age, and anything else you would deem necessary."
Blue thought for a moment, registering his words, confused by his sudden suggestion. Her headache seemed to be clearing, though. "I'm… Blue Aoineko, seventeen." She looked up at the woman helping her, as if she wanted a true confirmation on who she was. She waited eagerly, until the woman answered, looking back up at the man.
"Seae Aoineko, I'm twenty two." She said, and placed a hand on Blue's shoulder, looking as confident as ever. Blue's mouth opened, her eyes staring hard into the woman next to her, unable to say a word. Seae looked down at Blue with a grin and wink, giving her a thumbs up. "Big sis to B here."
"Oh, well…" The brown haired man nearest to them began, looking around. "I'm Tellurium Farley! I'm twenty one." He said with a short wave and friendly yet confused grin, appearing to be attempting to lighten up the mood. He looked over to the other side of Seae and Blue, where Gold and the others stood. They stood silent for a moment, before Yellow spoke.
"I'm… Ak." Yellow rubbed her nose, and then coughed before continuing. "Amarillo del Bosque Verde, but that's long, so you can call me Yellow, I'm seventeen."
"Um… Crystal Kai, sixteen…" She glanced over to Gold, and pouted with a red tint starting to glow on her cheeks. "And… well… married… early…"
"To me." Gold said, pointing to himself, and straightening up proudly. "Gold Kai! Sixteen!" He introduced, and then looked over at Silver and Lyra with a grin.
Silver flinched, and Lyra waited for him to introduce himself excitably, though he really didn't seem to want to. "…Silver… Silver Armel, sixteen." He said quickly, and then stepped back to behind the crowd, allowing Lyra to have her turn.
Lyra gave Silver a "don't be like that" look, and then looked back over to the crowd. "Lyra Kotone, fifteen, turning sixteen next month!" She said heartily, and then looked up, over, and straight at me. With that, everyone's eyes turned over in my direction, awaiting me to have my turn.
"Oh, yeah, well… I'm Red, Red Ross, eighteen. I would say it's a pleasure but I'm really not sure yet." I said, looking around.
No, seriously, I didn't know. What was going on?
"And you are?" The man said, turning over to the man with dark red hair and a grumpy expression.
The man grumbled for a moment before speaking. He looked around, and then crossed his arms. "Mercury Ignatius, twenty." He said grudgingly, and turned over to the black-haired girl. "Your turn."
The girl suddenly looked as if she had been put on the spot, guilty in her own trial, held up at gunpoint. She shivered slightly, her golden eyes darting all over the place.
"Well why don't we save you for later?" He said, and the girl sighed in relief, but still looked nervous. The man looked up front and across the room over at the three women up front. He smirked, and then spoke. "Why don't you three go next?" He offered, and crossed his arms patiently.
Iris narrowed her eyes, giving a short moment filled with silent, but then nodded, and stood up straight. "Iris Ion, age 15 years, been living for about 35." She said. It was still weird to think about that, though.
Karen was next, she looked up, and pursed her lips. "KarenEmil Megaera, twenty two."
Caitlin shifted in her place, and her eyes fell onto the floor, but then rose to the crowd before her. "Caitlin Anani." She said. "Eighteen, turning nineteen."
"Good, good, we have that cleared up. So everybody here is acquainted with one another, aren't we?" He said , waving his hand over the crowd, but only received suspicious glances.
"No." Mercury said, and narrowed his eyes at him. "Who are you?" He asked, and looked over at the argumentative duo, as if he had dragged the question along to them as well.
The man smirked, and then looked over to the duo, first at the uncertain girl, who was chewing her gum uncomfortably, and then the boy, who straightened up.
"Why don't you two go next?" He offered, and stepped back away from the crowd to let them continue. The girl shot him a glance that said "are you sure?", and he nodded, making her turn back to us. But before she could hesitate any longer, the boy spoke up.
"Taision Oak, sixteen, and my twin sister, Erata." He introduced with a gentlemanly bow. "Born November 9th, 2021. Our mother is standing right next to auntie Seae, and our father is out, but it would be Green Oak." He said, and smiled. "It is quite the pleasure to finally meet you all!"
…
…
…
For a few moments, silence filled the room. Nobody moved, but slowly, all eyes turned over to Blue, even Seae, who stood right next to her with wide eyes. Blue kept her eyes on the twins up front, her expression frozen as she blinked.
"…What?" Blue managed to spit out, and I'm sure we were all thinking the same thing at this point.
"Why don't we continue?" I heard the man behind me say, and waved one hand over to the black haired girl, and another to the golden haired girl. "Girls, why don't you give your introductions?"
"Wait, Alex and Lapis—" Tellurium began, but was waved off by the man.
"Leeet's not jump to conclusions here, young man." He said, and looked back at the girls. "Ready?"
The first to nod was the golden haired girl, who gave off a pleasant smile, folding her arms behind her back and looking around, from our Iris and the others, and back to our crowd.
"Hello everyone, my name is Thunder Ross, I am twenty one, born March 22nd, 2026." She introduced herself with a nod, and then looked over to me with a small twinkle in her eye.
"And Tidali Kai here." Said the black-haired girl, holding her head up high and placing her hands on her hips. "Age twenty and born January 9th, 2027!"
"I am the child of Red and Yellow Ross." Thunder said, looking over at me, who was frozen with shock, and then Yellow, who could barely even move.
"And my parents like to call me…" Tidali began, her gaze falling onto the couple across the room. "Candy."
"What?" Tell said, confused, but this statement only made Gold and Crys' breath cut shorter.
"And I'm Blaze." The man finally said, and swerved around to face Iris, as did the four other accomplices of his. His sky blue eyes were sharp and defiant, ready and prepared, all as a grin widened across his face. He ran a hand through his ruffled black hair, moving the bangs away from his eyes and then stroked a hand across his stubbled face. "Blaze Kai, oldest son of the lovely married couple back there, and twenty nine years old. Born May 16th, 2017. I believe we have a prophecy to stop." He said with a smirk, and cocked his head to the side.
There was a still moment, only filled with shock and silence. Nobody knew what to say, the only ones who weren't freaked out of their minds were the five who had revealed themselves. But, up front, Iris merely grinned, and straightened up.
"Well, this is an unexpected development." She said, her tone amused as she met eyes with Blaze. "Looks like we've got a few extra challengers from the future."
"UNEXPECTED DEVELOPMENT MY ASS, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" Crystal cried, finally snapping out of her trance.
Well, that was weird. HOPE IT DIDN'T MINDFUCK YOU OUT OF THE STORY, THOUGH.
Anyways, sorry 'bout that. There was a dilemma that happened like an hour before I was able to finish this story up and I had to fix it so this took a little longer. THANK GOD WE HAVE OUR CHAPTER 16 BACK, HUH?
I have learned to save my files in many places because that is a good thing to do and something like LOSING A CHAPTER will never happen again.
Oh thank god I have dedicated fans I love them so much.
So, here's some stuff to clear you up if you're too confused to do the math or understand that last part.
Man who helped Yellow with Maylene: Blaze Kai, currently aged 29 and born in 2017. In 2032, he would be 15. Parents are Gold and Crystal.
Girl and boy who met with Blue: Twins, Erata (Errie) Oak and Taision (Sion) Oak, currently aged 16 and born in 2021. In 2032, they would be 11. Their parents are Blue and Green.
Alexandrite, vulgar girl and one of the Gamma Crew's members: Tidali Kai, currently aged 20 and born in 2027. In 2032, she would be 5. Her parents are Gold and Crystal.
Lapis Lazuli, a calm, sleepy girl and one of the Gamma Crew's members: Thunder Ross, currently aged 21 and born in 2026. In 2032, she would be 6. Her parents are Red and Yellow.
As you can see, there are a few… not present. What? Did you really think I would leave some out?
Anyways, CHAPTER'S HERE. MINDSCREW EVERYWHERE. HOPE Y'ALL UNDERSTOOD ALL OF THAT. If you still have questions, you can catch me on the Starri Studios Tumblr.
OH, AND QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER.
State your favorite part about being an Amotodan reader
I feel like putting two for the long run so Favorite chapter too.
BECAUSE THIS CHAPTER PRETTY MUCH KILLED ME ESPECIALLY WITH THAT WHILE CHAPTER 16 DILEMMA THANKS AQUA I LOVE YOU AND YOU ARE A WONDERFUL FAN AND PERSON.
A'RIGHT, OLLIES OUTIES, ACTION COMING UP IN THE NEXT CHAPTER AND THINGS ARE EXPLAINED.
YEEEAAAAAHHHH
-Starri
"Wait…" Tell said, piping up, and Mercury turned to him.
"What? WHAT? What could POSSIBLY need to be waited on?" He asked him, his eye twitching with shock and confusion. He didn't seem to be very amused with the development, like Iris had been.
"Thunder… That's the "manly" name I was talking about earlier…" He said, staring at the golden-haired girl who was facing Iris, the girl he knew as Lapis Lazuli up until now.
"What does that have to do with anything? So what if she has a guy's name?" Merc snapped at Tell, obviously not having any more control over his temper.
"It's just that… Alex always told me Thunder was her, and refused to let me believe otherwise." He said, searching through his mind, remembering memories from long ago. "But I always doubted it, the Thunder I knew I was very much sure was a guy… But Alex always said it was her in drag… But…"
"And?" Merc said, calming down slightly.
"Thunder…" Tell said, and kept his eyes on the girl before him. With that, Merc slowly turned over to Lapis, his mouth open and his eyes still wild and filled with shock.
"…had red eyes…"
In the back of the crowd, a couple stood. Crystal stared at the crowd before her, her breathing heavy from just yelling, and her expression tempered and horrified. Gold next to her, though confused, nudged her in the side, grinning.
"His name is Blaze." He said, nodding in approval.
"I am going to kill something." She said, and hung her head in shame.
"Blue and Green had a son…?" Silver said, his eyes wide and his body frozen in shock.
"That means they did it." Lyra said, a naughty grin on her face as she nodded in Silver's direction.
"Oh, Arceus."