Amethyst and Carmine presents…
Episode 28
La Vida de Las Vegas
"DAY 21, AGAIN!
"That's it Tasha, I'm through! I'm through with my pokémon being taken and me never knowing a damn! God I hate swearing, glad this is just words typed and so on. But I can't take this! I want my pokémon, they're MINE! I'm not going to continue going on, letting Team Galactic nab each and every one of my pokémon! I'm going to the highest authority of the land to help me save my pokémon!...So Noel!"
"NOEL!" the dark haired girl shrieked as she stormed into the pokémon center, Houndoom trailing behind her. The pokémon center was more or less empty, save for the few or so trainers just relaxing from an exhausting training session. Some of these people happen to be Kalib and his twin Shawn, who looked up when they saw the girl rage in. Kara confronted Noel who was just watching TV, and his lazy expression made her angry expression soften.
Wait...what am I doing? Noel wouldn't care.
"...What?" Noel looked up at her through bored green eyes. It was obvious that if he didn't have a badge to chase, then there was nothing to do.
"Umm...nothing." She muttered. "Here's your Houndoom back." She hated being scared, but she didn't know what to do anymore. Even if she did tell Noel, what could he do? He was only 15, granted only a few months away from a birthday. He had strong pokémon, but the numbers that Team Galactic gathers could simply overpower him with a flick of a finger. If she wanted her pokémon back, she would have to assemble an army.
"Fine." He nodded and waved her off, seeing she didn't enjoy Thursday afternoon football as much as he and his Turtwig did.
And so goes plan A. She sighed and headed for the backdoors, smiling when she found her only two pokémon, still there guarding the sand with their lives. She didn't know what she was thinking, just leaving them here by themselves. She came over to them, collapsing onto the ground and looking back into the sand jar. They looked at her expectantly.
"We uh...lost Shina too." She muttered. Her pokémon's faces of horror made her hide herself in her hair. "I'm sorry!" She cried, "Th-the lady with the cape took her! I couldn't even get her back!" Emporor shook his head in disapproval, while Lunybuny just patted her shoulder with her ear reassuringly. I can't believe we're falling apart...all over a stupid red jacket...
"Hey now! No sobbing! It's par-tay time!"
The three's heads shot up at the sound of the familiar high-pitched squeal. They turned to Shawn, Kalib's pink haired twin, whose leather jacket was short sleeved with a multitude of buttons going down the torso. He was also wearing skinny jeans.
"Umm...what?" she looked at him confusedly.
"Come on girlfriend, we gonna party till the sun don't come up!"
She continued to stare at him in confusion, as if he spoke in some whole other language. She turned to the door behind Shawn, where Kalib emerged with an irritated face.
"I swear, mom always wanted you to come out a girl." he muttered, slapping his twin in the back of the head. Shawn scowled and moved aside for his brother. "So are you coming with us tonight?" Kalib inquired, leaning on the shoddy exterior of the 'Center.
"Umm...coming where?" She answered with another question, unconsciously sifting her hands through her sand. The guys both watched her with the sand with lifted eyebrows but decided not to question that.
"We're heading to the Casino tonight to get your mind off home," He answered, "How am I supposed to count on you tomorrow if you're in a slump?"
"Uhh...that's a great idea and all, but we're under aged and stuff..." She muttered, wanting so desperately to get out of whatever scheme they had in mind, "Casino is only open to 17 and under before 6 pm."
"We know that~" Shawn chirped.
"We got your cousin to get us in." Kalib explained.
"...WHAT?" Kara gaped.
"Yeah! We contacted your cousin Alan who's got blackmail on the bouncer. Why didn't you tell us you had family here too?" Shawn inquired, placing a hand on his hip.
"I-um..." She stuttered, looking downwards, Damn! How'd they find Alan? I mean, he IS Mary's brother, and compared to her, he's like the ANTI perfect dude...and he still carries around that BB gun. "So uhh...how do you know him?"
Kalib shrugged, "Met him on Xbox live a few months ago."
"Eew, you're both Halo fanatics..." she muttered.
"So are you in?" He inquired. Both his and his brother's stare freaked her out. She stared at the sand, narrowing her eyes at it. She knew she had to say no, but everything she loved was disappearing and she wanted to get away from it; something the two were offering. One night couldn't hurt.
"Fine." she nodded, and Shawn 'whoopee!'d.
"Awesomeness! What's your dress size, I'm goin' shoppin' for you! Wait, it's medium right? Then you're gettin' a small! Woo!" with that, Shawn sped towards the mall.
"Umm...why is he getting me a dress? I still need a contest costume..." she muttered.
"Let him be him, he enjoys buying things for girls." Kalib shrugged.
"Weird, he and my friend Ravenn would be the best couple." she laughed, "So uhh...then tonight?"
"Yeah, Shawn will deliver your dress later. I'm sure you could look like a short 21 year old!" he replied, to which she scowled, "Come at 7, no strings attached."
"...What does that mean exactly?" She lifted an eyebrow, cause the way he said it implied something dirty.
"It means no Noel, no pokémon. Just yourself and a thirst to gamble" He smirked, then left into the building. She lifted an eyebrow, still wondering what he meant by that, then turned to her pokémon, who were just sitting awkwardly on the ground. She got up onto her feet, looking up at the clouds.
Jesus, what kind of life am I leading anymore? She looked back at her jar of sand, narrowing her eyes again. No strings attached; that means family ties too. She looked at the large tall jar of sand one more time, then kicked it over, allowing half the contents to spill on the ground. She looked over at her pokémon, who were scared to meet her eyes.
"Come on guys; let's go waste some time and battle someone." she muttered, heading to the battlefields, wondering what demon was tainting her.
"NOOOO!" Noel roared as his football team lost the game. The nurse at the counter shushed him, but he was too upset to pay attention. He picked up his Turtwig, taking it and hugging it while fake weeping. "Why Rex? Why? Why'd we hafta lose?"
"Ahem"
Both looked up, facing Kara with her hands behind her back.
"Hola" she smiled.
"...Yes?" he wondered what she needed this time.
"Umm...my cousins invited me to dinner tonight at their house on the outskirts of Veilstone...would it be okay if I went?" she inquired.
"Sure, want me to drop you off there?"
Her eyes widened, "N-no! It's fine! I know where they are, I'll just take the bus."
"Oh cool" he said, "What time are you leaving?"
"Umm...around 7." she answered, shifting her feet around. He nodded and she went off, her confused two pokémon on her heels. He swapped looks with Rex, who also shrugged. The two looked back at the TV, where they were showing commercials for some product.
"You are so naïve..." muttered a familiar voice behind him. He whipped around, unsurprisingly finding Alta leaning on his headrest. He moved over, but she didn't take the hint and continued to lean on the couch.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"She's not going to her cousins...she's going somewhere else. I'm sure you can tell by her dislike of family that the last thing she wants to do is see them." She answered in monotone.
"Whatever you say," he rolled his eyes, "I'll send my Houndoom after her later. So uhh...did you sleep well?"
Her face reddened, but she kept her cool. "Yes. Thank you for sharing your room."
"No problem but...did you use my comb?"
She went all shifty eyes on him. "Why would you ask such a thing?"
"I don't leave ridiculously long bright blue hair on it, that's why." he deadpanned.
"Heh...SO Noel, how about a battle? Haven't had one since Kanto. How 'bout it? One on one. What could it hurt?" she offered, swinging around nervously.
He smirked, hopping out of his seat, "A challenge from you? Finally. Now I can beat your ass appropriately."
She cocked her head to the side, not certain about the message between the sentence. Was he being serious or was it just banter? She stared at his Turtwig as it followed him to the outdoors, out to the battlefields. She followed behind, momentarily taking time to notice the jar of sand knocked onto the ground. Afterwards she ran over to the battlefield where Noel waited with a pokéball bouncing up and down in his hands.
"So one on one right?" he inquired.
"Yes...why don't you let your little Turtwig battle? He never gets experience." she said as she arrived on her side of the field.
"Nah, if I did that then he'd get beaten ruthlessly...I'm smart Alta, don't doubt it." he teased, taking a quick look at his Turtwig to see that none of those words registered.
"I've been watching you for a while, I know your intelligence..." she muttered to herself, and took a pokéball out of her pocket. "Gyarados lets go!" she tossed it up, releasing a giant water snake from the insides.
Noel blinked, craning his head upwards to see the face of the beast. "Well. That's unexpected. Last time I heard of this one it was a Magikarp...and you were obsessed to see it evolve."
"You should've never doubted me." Alta shrugged.
"I guess so." he muttered, and tossed up the pokéball that was in his hand, his devil dog materializing from the beam that shot out of it.
"You're kidding right?"
"Don't doubt me either!" he replied, "Hound use Flamethrower!" the Houndoom dug its paws into the ground, then roared out feet of flames at the water snake. Gyarados merrily moved its limbs to the side to dodge the attack. Noel grimaced and began to search for strategies in his pokédex.
"Giving in already? How did you get that far in the Kanto League?" she muttered, "Gyarados, a Hydro Pump!"
"Dodge with Faint Attack!" he countered quickly. Hound disappeared in a flash, missing the jet of water aimed at him, and became a transparent shadow as he climbed up Gyarados' scales, then struck it in the jaw. He clambered onto its head, making the sea serpent begin to shake its head vigorously, attempting to get him off.
"Thunder! On yourself!" Alta commanded, "And hold that dog down with your tendrils!"
"Hound, hurry and move!" Noel yelled frantically. Hound was stuck—Gyarados' tendrils, the arm things found under his mouth, tied him down like a jellyfish would, and the clouds above them cracked threateningly. "Hurry! Use um—Thunder Fang on the tendrils!"
"Hurry and release him!" it was Alta's turn to be worried, but it was too late—Hound sunk his cackling teeth into a tendril, making them both fly up, then jumped off the head just as lightning struck down from the sky. Gyarados was caught in its own attack. And now, with the damage from Thunder Fang and Thunder, the mighty water snake fell.
"...Wow, that was pretty short. Usually our battles last more than 200 words." Noel muttered, "Great job Hound! You da' man!" his pokémon smirked, then allowed himself to be sucked back into the pokéball. Noel rushed over to Alta and her Gyarados, seeing she didn't want to return it, which probably meant that something was wrong. "Did the electricity hurt it too much?"
"First off; it's a she," Alta corrected, "And Gyarados is half water and flying, so both those moves have completely paralyzed her. It might take a few days to recover..."
"That won't be a problem...right?"
"It is a problem." she shot back, "She was going to be used in tomorrow's contest! Now I need to do training." she returned her pokémon back into its ball. "Excuse me." With that, she left.
He turned back around to his Turtwig, who had fled into the safety of his shell.
He crept up to his pokémon, then nudged it with his foot. "Hey...Hey you weren't sleeping were you?"
The shell shook and Rex's stuck his head out, minus the eyes. "Lightning scares me."
After dinner, Kara was engaged into a heavily important discussion with her friend Ravenn, a teen model who was currently spending her evening in the Sevii Islands. Kara's face was red, but obviously Ravenn couldn't see because they weren't video chatting. Apparently that wasn't on their phone plan, seeing they both had the same one.
"And you could've just..." Ravenn started,
"No! No! No!" Kara kept repeating, trying to cap her ears with her hands to prevent herself from hearing more, "I know he was an angel! I KNOW IT! Don't you and my cousin try to taint me with your lies!"
"But he looks nothing like—"
"Yes he does! You just can't see it like I do!"
This argument went on for several more seconds before someone knocked on the door.
"Hold on Ravenn, someone lost their room key." Kara deadpanned, then got up and pulled the door open, honestly expecting Noel. Her eyebrows shot up when she recognized her visitor; it was Cody, puce haired Cody with the leather jacket and choker, AKA Kayla's boyfriend. "Uhh...hi?" she kept her eyes away from his face and looked down to what was in his hands; a hanger with an ensemble hanging from it no doubt, but the item was covered in a black bag so she couldn't get a glance of it.
"Delivery" he sang, holding up the item.
"You're not Shawn..." she accused, remembering good and well that Kalib's brother was the one who forced her to wear certain clothes, not him.
"I'm not God either, but I can see how you'd make that mistake." he stated, sauntering in past her and dropping the item onto one of the bunk beds.
She lifted any eyebrow that wasn't already high up in the sky. "...WOW, that was really bad." she gave him a pity laugh for whatever joke he had just made.
"Actually, I'm always good." he replied, wiggling his eyebrows towards the bunk beds.
"Okay, eew, get out." She said, pushing him towards the door. "You have a girlfriend remember? Oh that's right; no boundaries."
"Right, so does that mean I can stay here while you change? I saw the dress; I see Shawn made it 5 sizes smaller again." he said, trying to resist her force.
"No!" she shrieked in a high pitched voice, "Get out!"
"Ugh, fine, is that any way to treat someone who's coming with you to the casino tonight?" he asked, refusing to move from the doorway.
She froze. "...WHAT?"
"Yeah, I heard about your little break in...it'd be cool if I tagged along."
"No it wouldn't!" She whined.
"Why not?"
"Because—" She frowned, unable to come up with a good excuse. She would have accepted his tag along, only the problem was that she feared he would make some kind of advancement on her, and the last thing she wanted was that and her face to be ripped apart by Kayla's demon nails. She sighed, wondering how much further her day would spiral. "...Fine. I guess you can come. I hope you told Kalib though"
"Didn't have to; I ran into Shawn at the mall and he was ecstatic, which isn't a surprise because he's always like that whenever he makes a purchase." he shrugged, "I'll be out in the hallway when you're done; Shawn wanted me to take you there in case that thing with Kalib happens again."
"Great, does everyone in Sinnoh know about that now?" She scoffed, then ripped off the bag that hid her dress and stared at it. "...SERIOUSLY? This is worse than the Homecoming dress Ravenn forced me into last year!"
Cody laughed at her expense and shut the door.
After a short walk from 'Center, the duo reached the casino. It was almost like a blockbuster movie premiere—twinkling lights, long lines of people in skanky clothing, and the occasional person running out the building with a suspicious wad of cash in their pockets. The duo met with Shawn and Kalib, who were standing in the front with a fidgety bouncer who was previously checking IDs. Kara's cousin, who's description was limited because it was dark out, whispered the deal to the bouncer who nodded and let the teens in.
"What the hell are you doing here?" he asked her as she passed him to the door.
"Just uh...having fun." she shrugged, "Don't tell anyone please?"
"Whatever, I'm not supposed to be here anyway." he muttered in response, and dashed out the parking lot. She watched him disappear before entering the casino, getting whiplashed at the smell of hotel lobbies and fine wine.
She shook her head, quickly getting used to the smell, and looked around. The rug was green and she was on the top level, where it lowered into a second level for blackjack and craps and other table games. ATMs and slot machines lined one wall while a bar and tables lined the other. She searched around for the guys, finding them at the slot machines. Strangely Kalib took the one farthest from Cody...
"Hey, how long are we staying here?" She asked Kalib in a soft voice as she watched him lose on the slot machine.
"Relax, we just got here!" He laughed.
"But...I feel kind of guilty being here..." She muttered, fidgeting with the hem of her dress.
"Ugh, don't preach to me, go bug someone else." He waved her off. She scowled and parted him to the ATMs, logging into her account. She took out about a fourth and stuck it into her jacket pocket, then went shifty eyes to make sure the guys weren't watching her. Nope. She was on her own. She smirked and strode over to a blackjack table.
The dealer shuffled his cards, looking around at the opponents. He turned to Kara, seeing she looked the youngest of all of them. "How much you putting down lil' lady?"
She grimaced at the nickname and slammed down a thousand dollars. All the people at the table looked at her with wide eyes, because obviously to everyone a thousand dollars was a lot of money. It was, even to her, but she wanted to forget about her troubles and gamble it all.
"Well, that's a lot lil' lady, you sure you want to do that?" he inquired, slapping down the appropriate amount of chips on her bills.
"I'm sure." She replied, waiting patiently for her cards. One of the four other opponents left, scared to lose their money to her, while two others put down only a hundred. The last one, a man with a huge diamond on his pinky, made the craziest challenge and put down a thousand dollars too.
The dealer shrugged and passed the cards out, and Kara inspected hers; a Swampert and a Marshtomp, which were both face cards. I have 20. She concluded, and looked over to the dealer's cards, which was a five and another faced down. A shoulder came down on her hand and she jumped.
"Hey, I didn't know you played blackjack." Cody said from her right.
"My friends and I used to always play it in middle school." she shrugged, "We bet on purses...coins...future boyfriends..."
Cody grinned, "Can my name be added to the list?"
"I might lose on purpose if that was the case." she muttered. The dealer finally came to her, and she looked at the others to see that the rich guy had busted and the others had low numbers in the 15's and 16's. Were they scared to risk it? She wondered. "Umm...hit."
"No Kara!" Cody said, but she shushed him and waited for her next card. An ace landed on top her face cards.
"Bust." the dealer declared.
"Um, no, it's an ace;" she said, "They can be 1's or 11's. I choose it to be a 1, so I get 21 Blackjack."
The dealer glared at her, probably only a few years older than her, and paid her out since she had automatically won. Cody gaped at her doubled money.
"WHOA! When did you get so good at this game?"
"Practice." she shrugged with a smile, claiming her chips. She looked up momentarily to the bar, frowning when spotting Kalib there. He was downing some heavy stuff, or so it looked like from her spot. Her stomach twisted uneasily as she continued the next round, already hating whatever might happen next if he became drunk.
"You cheated! Cheated! You totally cheated!" Noel whined, slamming his cards down childishly. Like Kara, he was playing a game including cards, except he was playing with his and Alta's pokémon, minus the Gyarados because it couldn't pick up cards. The group was in a circle, betted items in the middle. His Blastoise and Turtwig were once again working the game by switching cards with each other within their shells, yet no one noticed.
"Oh calm down, you'll win...later." His Blastoise said, waving it off with his large blue paw.
"Big Daddy gotta pay da bills!" Rex squealed, clapping his stubs together.
"You both are cheating, I know it." Alta's Froslass said, "Don't make me freeze the answers out of you."
"Big Daddy I'm scared!" Rex squealed, withdrawing into his shell. Poker chips fell out of the leg holes.
"I knew it! Cheaters!" growled Alta's Altaria, who was threatening to eat them both with her sharpened beak.
"...I wish we could go one round of poker without cheating and death threats." Kado muttered, shuffling the cards around, "Master, do you wish to play the next round?"
Noel shook his head, his hands stuffed in his pockets. "Nah, I'm gonna go check on Genji." his pokémon's faces instantly dropped at the name of their female friend. "Has anyone seen where Hound went?"
"You sent him after Kara." his Blastoise answered, moving his cards around in his thick hands.
"Right." Noel remembered, "Be back soon guys."
The pokémon grunted in response and continued the game of poker.
It was becoming heated. The dealer was sweating, and the dark haired girl was playing with the extra chips that she'd won. If she decided to trade in her chips, she'd get almost six thousand bucks, and the dealer knew that if he lost anymore of his table money to one customer, he'd be in serious trouble.
"Are you sure you're not cheating?" the dealer inquired, shuffling his cards.
"You can't cheat with those cards." Kara pointed out.
"Just give the girl her cards!" Kalib groaned, holding a cup of liquor. The dealer made note that this was his third bottle, and the female who was probably sober had too much club money.
"So how much are you betting this time?" the dealer inquired, noticing that no one else wanted to play at his table.
"Hmm..." Kara checked her PokéGear for the time; almost nine, and she was sure that Noel was getting suspicious. How long does dinner usually go on anyway? She shook her head, remembering the reason why she came here; to get away from it all. She shoved all her chips onto the betting box, making Shawn, who was next to the dealer, gasp dramatically.
"Are you sure?" the dealer smirked.
"Yeah, now give me my cards please." She replied boredly. Why does it take him ten minutes to shuffling the cards?
"Hurry up man, gotta wiz!" Kalib yelled, swinging his bottle around. Kara and Shawn inched away from him...
"Alright, here you go." the dealer slapped one card down; a 2, and the second one; a face card.
"Cheated!" Kalib yelled in desperation.
"...Maybe you should sit down." Kara said to him, and he shook his head before spinning around dizzily. Shawn shook his head and took his twin away. She looked back down to her cards. "Umm...hit." Her next card was a 7.
"That would be a 19." the dealer smirked, shuffling his cards around.
"I can count, thank you" she muttered, "Hit."
"Are you sure?" the dealer inquired.
"YES. NOW HIT ALREADY." she deadpanned. The dealer slid the card up to his eye level, shook his head, and shuffled again. Unfortunately for him, she noticed. "Hey! You can't do that!"
Satisfied with the card, the dealer tossed her next card down. She flipped it over, a face card facing her. She froze, and the dealer laughed hysterically and claimed all her chips.
"Th-that's cheating!" she shrieked, watching her chips get organized into the chip rack next to the dealer.
"Too bad." the dealer shrugged. One crash later and the dealer was on the floor, glass bottle half way in his head. There were screams and gasps, everyone looking to Kalib, who was shaking with the other half of the bottle in his hand.
"Kalib...what did you do?" she shrieked, her legs shaking as she saw blood. Glittering blood.
"Teaching this damn cheater a lesson!" he grumbled, wiping his mouth. He looked around, threatening to hit other people with the sharp end of his broken glass bottle, and security guards began to flood in from the back rooms. Kara began to back away slowly, staring at Kalib as if he was more insane then herself.
"Kara, help!" Shawn pleaded as he tried to wretch the security guards off his twin. Then someone knocked a gun into his head and he hit the floor.
"Don't mess with ma' boys!" Cody yelled, jumping from the second floor to a security guard that was tackling drunken Kalib. Kara continued to back towards the door, every fiber in her being shaking. She came in contact with something furry, and then it growled. She turned her head slightly, finding a Houndoom on her feet. "Kara! Help us!" Cody said, then was knocked in the head by another gun, just like Shawn.
"I-I can't! I'm sorry!" She cried, running out the door. The Houndoom growled and spewed fire onto the walls, which got the other walls to catch on fire in an instant. It was mass hysteria, and Kara was fleeing the scene to her best ability, since heels, even the ones and low as hers, weren't made for running.
Then police sirens. She panicked and looked around for a place to hide, but she was in a wide parking lot with the backdrop of a burning building behind her. It wasn't an ideal scene to be caught in. Teeth caught onto the hem of her dress and pulled her behind a huge dumpster, away from the police cars. She hugged Hound in relief.
"What did I do...?" She whimpered, "All those people are caught in a fire...with..." She couldn't even continue the sentence.
"They'll be fine," Hound barked, "YOU need to get to the 'Center."
She nodded, trying to hold back any guilty tears, "Okay, to the 'Center, act cool." She walked calmly past bushes and onto the sidewalk, away from the police cars. She zipped up her jacket, taking a side glance at all the police officers, shook her head, then continued on her way. Even so, she found herself going into a sprint.
A few minutes later she made it to the back of the Pokémon center, her legs freezing. She collapsed on the Sunyshore sand, thankful that it was still there. She pulled the jar up, twisting the lid on it, and looked over to Hound who was staring at her with mad eyes.
"Please don't tell Noel." She whispered, watching the devil dog near the building doors.
"You owe me." the Houndoom growled, entering the 'Center. She let out a sigh of relief, then looked back down to her sand.
"Right now...I wish I had visited my cousins instead." She muttered to herself, returning to the 'Center.