Chapter 49: A Mismatch
Tia wakes up early and stretches. She was wiped out from the battle, but fully recovered now. She looks across the room to the open window. She notices a figure in the chair nearby. A person, a woman given the body's shape, sat in all black with a white mask.
"Oh my god!" Tia leaps out of bed. "Who the hell are you?" She stops and thinks back to Celadon City where she thoughts she was dreaming.
"Do you… not remember?" Her voice is calm and distorted. A very disturbing and empty calmness. The mysterious woman tilts her head confused; never once breaking her gaze. Her single exposed eye is equally empty and calm.
"I do, you're that freak who was watching me sleep back in Celadon! What are you some sort of stalker?" Tia is furious by this sudden and disturbing intrusion.
"I'm not a stalker? I… do not think so?" She ponders for a moment.
"Tom!" Tia shouts at the top of her lungs.
Tom rushes in like a fire had broken loose. "Tia, what's the matter?" He looks around in a panic and notices the woman. "Why are you here?" He snarls.
She once again tilts her head. "Should it not be obvious?" She takes an awkwardly long pause. "Master… he is interested in her… skills." Her voice trails off awkwardly every time she speaks.
"That doesn't me you break into people's rooms and watch them sleep!" Tia rebukes feeling defiled. "Who are you anyway?"
"Six" She responds blankly.
"Six? Like the number?" Tia scratches her head.
"No… like my name… Six." Six rises to her feet and begins walking away.
"Hey you're not going anywhere until you tell me who sent you." Tia defiantly blocks the door. "Tom who does she work for?" Tia looks to him for help.
He balls his fist, "I can't tell you." Tom begrudgingly admits.
"Correction… he's not allowed… to tell." Six clarifies and waits for Tia to move.
"Why the hell not?" Tia is practically spitting fire.
"Unlike my past, this is actually classified." He hated hiding it, but he had no choice. "Let Six go Tia." He gives up.
Tia steps aside, "He expects… much of you… Tia." These are Six's final works as she departs.
Tia walks up to Tom. "So want to explain yourself?" She redirects her anger onto him.
"Believe me, I would if I could." Tom gets up. "Just forget that ever happened. Six has a weird way of handling things."
"That's all you have to say?" Tia says snidely.
Tom punches the wall. "Drop it!" His voice is full of malice and his actions made Tia tremble. He walks off while leaving her stunned. He takes a second to breathe. He hated manipulating peoples' emotions, but it definitely had its uses. He hears Tia tip toeing out of her room. "If you're looking for an apology then forget it. I'm in no mood to be a good person." He says spitefully.
"You say that like the Tom I know is just a façade. If that was the case then you'd never take off your mask." Tia says softly. Her comment hit deep; Tom had never thought of it like that. He'd always viewed himself to be a wolf in sheep's clothing. "Look, whatever that was must be pretty important. So I'll let it go for now."
Tom turns to her and smiles, "Thank you," he rests a hand on her shoulder. "You will know in time. Just know they are very important and secretive. That's just how they operate."
"I'll take your word for it and not ask you anymore." Tia smiles and walks out of the room with her supplies.
Tom followers her down stairs and to the main lobby. There an all too familiar face sat hitting on Nurse Joy. Joy looked a little weary of Morty's flirting as she tried to do her job. Morty notices the two of them and immediately moves on, much to Nurse Joy's relief. "Hey you two." He smirks.
"Hey Morty, who's Six?" Tia asks abruptly and without tact.
Both Tom and Morty are stunned by her question. Tom more livid she'd ask after he made it perfectly clear that was secret and she promised not to pry anymore. Morty stumbles, "Six? Never hear of her before." He immediately covers his mouth.
Tia raises a brow, "Who said Six was a girl?" Tia saw right through his tissue paper thin lie.
"Six sounds like a girl's name." He says completely straight faced.
"No it doesn't, it sounds like a number! Now, tell me everything you know about her!" Tia stomps her foot demanding an answer.
"I am afraid I can't." Morty uses the same scape goat.
Tia groans, "Fine, I swear you guys are so secretive."
Morty shrugs his shoulders. "Not my fault we're not allowed to talk about it." Morty's nonchalant attitude is not nearly as exasperated as Tom's. "So you guys heading out?" He smoothly changes the topic.
Tia sighs, "Yes, we need to get to Olivine City so I can get my next badge." She takes a second to call out her Togepi as well. "Plus, I want to trainer Togepi too." She holds her close and smiles happily.
"You're worse than Tom and his Cleffa." Morty jokes. "Well, I guess this is goodbye for now. You better not lose any battles. No one who beat me is allowed to lose." Morty says with a cocky smirk.
"That won't be a problem and someday I'll come back and beat that Darkrai of yours." Tia matches Morty's cocky attitude. She steps out of the center with Tom close in tow. "So how far is Olivine?" Tia continues forward without even looking back at Tom.
"Not too far; a few miles West of here. Why the rush?" Tom strides to keep up with her.
"I just want to get to Olivine and get my next badge. I'm really excited after last night's battle. I got to make sure I don't lose that momentum." Tia's fighting spirit is at an all-time high and she wasn't about to let it wane. She charges forward onward to Route 38. Along the way she spots a familiar red headed trainer.
She stops for a moment to question if she wanted to bother him. By the time she comes to a decision Silver had already noticed her. "Tia?" He immediately averts his eyes when she looks at him.
"Hey Silver," Tia's demeanor is a lot more nervous. "How has the training going?" Her weak attempt at small talk concerns Tom.
"I'm going to give you two a minute." Tom backs off feeling the thick tension in the air.
"So my training is going well. Yours?" Silver's usual cold attitude is far more awkward.
"What are we doing?" Tia groans. "We need to talk about what happened at the National Park." Tia starts blushing as she remembers that single fleeting moment.
"What's there to say? It was a mistake." Silver's attitude becomes cold once more.
"A… mistake?" Tia's heart breaks in a single instance. Her voice trembles and she sinks her head. "Just… a mistake." She tries her hardest to hold back tears.
Silver panics, "Damn, no that's not what I meant." He runs up to her and places his hands on her shoulders.
Tia looks up into Silver's eyes. Her eyes stung red as she held back her tears. "Then what the hell did you mean?" She tries to sound strong, but her voice was still trembling.
"I'm saying it not want I need right now." Silver tries to clarify. "What I did was in the heat of the moment."
"If it was in the heat of the moment what made you do it at all?" Tia still is not satisfied with Silver's answer.
He groans and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Because all my life I've been alone. Other than my mom, you are the only person who's ever really cared about me." Silver's confession hits deep.
"Silver that's terrible." Tia begins to feel sorry for him and slowly places a hand on his cheek. "You don't have to be alone all the time."
Silver removes her hand gently, but continues to hold it delicately. "It's all I know Tia. I've always been alone. Well, I'm not alone now; I have my Pokémon with me." He gives a faint smile. "What I'm saying is you deserve better."
Tia lowers her head, but she couldn't think of any way to convince him otherwise. Tom quietly walks up, "If that's what you think then that's your choice, but you still almost made a girl cry. I think you at least owe her a battle after that." Tom says with a goofy grin.
The two look at him confused, but both nod. Between trainers Pokémon battles were always a good remedy for difficult situations.
Tia and Silver stand opposite each other and call out their Pokémon. Tia takes this chance to train her Scyther. While Silver surprises her with a new Pokémon of his: a Skarmory. "Whoa, that's a sharp looking Pokémon." Tia admires Skarmory's steel coat, sharp beak, and equally sharp gaze.
"Alright Skarmory start with an Air Cutter!" Silver's orders reach Skarmory, but it chooses not to instead. I carefully watches and anticipates Scyther's first move. "Skarmory what are you doing? I said attack!" Silver is more than a little frustrated, but this level of defiance is not abnormal for this Skarmory of his.
Tia chuckles, "Can't quite control your Pokémon Silver? Scyther watch out for that Air Cutter. Use Agility to out speed Skarmory." Scyther instead chooses to charge forward towards Skarmory with a Fury Cutter at the ready.
Silver smirks, "Whose Pokémon isn't listening now? Skarmory launch forward and Peck it." Skarmory has none of that and instead decides to fly into the air and use an Air Cutter down on Scyther.
"Scyther use Agility to dodge it!" Tia shouts in frustration. Scyther opts to fly into the Air Cutter and take the hit. This gives it a perfect change to lung forward with another Fury Cutter.
Both trainers groan in frustration. "Why won't you listen to me?"
"Stop!" Tom shouts and step between the trainers and their Pokémon. Both trainers halt and look at him quizzically. The two Pokémon continue to exchange blows above him. "Do you two mind?" He yells at the Pokémon who both seem to back off before slowly descending.
"Tom what are you doing?" He walks up to Tia and then Silver taking both of their Pokeballs and return the Pokémon accordingly. He then walks off casually with the two very confused rivals following. He leads them both back to the Pokémon Center where he walks to a backroom. In it there are a few machines with places to place Pokeballs on each side. "Tia can you hand me that Metal Coat you won back in the Bug Contest?"
"Tell me why first?" She very impatiently protests.
He sighs, "The two of you have Pokémon with completely opposite personalities to your own. Scyther is more aggressive and prefers to charge right into the fray. Much like you Silver." Silver simply shrugs because he knows Tom is right. "Tia, you are more calm and calculated like Skarmory here. So I think it would be for the best if you two traded Pokémon."
Both Tia and Silver nod in approval. "The guy's got a point." Silver comments.
"Well if you're okay with it." Tia agrees and hands Tom the Metal Coat. He places it upon the trading machine and the two Pokeballs lift up into the device. An image of the two Pokemon appear and slide across the screen. The Pokeballs drop on opposite sides of their origin where Tia and Silver pick them up.
Silver calls out his new partner Scyther. Scyther instantly begins to glow to Tia's surprise. Silver seems to expect this. Scyther changes shape and completes its evolution into Scizor before their very eyes.
He recalls the Pokémon with a smirk. "Wow, that's so cool. I've never seen trade evolution before." Tia can't help but be amazed.
Tom walks out with Tia behind him, but she stops when she feels Silver take hold of her arm. She looks back silently and slowly makes eye contact with him. He speaks quietly. "Can I see Skarmory's Pokeball?" Tia nods and turns to face him. She holds the Pokeball in her palm. To her surprise Silver places one hand atop the ball and the other gently under her hand. "Take care of Skarmory. I will make sure to take good care of Scizor."
"Silver," Tia's voice is barely audible as she slowly steps closer to him. She is entrances in a similar way to their encounter in the contest. His deep, mysterious eye captivate her and makes her heart pound.
She leans forward and closes her eyes. She wishes to touch lips once more. For only a fleeting second, but she feels the soft press of his finger against her lips. She opens her eyes to see him looking away in shame. "I'm sorry Tia, but we can't. Not now at least."
She once more feels the sting of heart break as she simply smiles and nods to hide the pain. "You're right, I just got caught up in the moment." She puts Skarmory away and lets him walk by. She follows behind and watches him step out the door.
Tom stands to the side of the doorway with a worried look and awkwardly crosses his arms. "You alright?" This is a loaded question. He knows she isn't, but he isn't quite sure what she'll do. Tia instantly throws her arms around Tom and cries into his chest. He sympathetically caress her hair and puts his free arm around her. "I'm sorry Tia," Tom whispers as he consuls her. "Here, come with me. We'll find something to cheer you up."
Tia nods weakly and wipes the tears from her eyes. She sobs and cries a bit more, but she walks beside Tom. He puts a compassionate hand on her opposite shoulder as he guides her out of the Pokémon Center.
Thank you all for reading and I hope you all enjoyed. Please, don't forget to leave a review with your thoughts on the chapter and the series as a whole. So this wasn't quite a proper battle chapter, but I felt a little reprieve was in order after all that has been happening, plus it addressed a lot of the concerns about how the two felt about one another. Next chapter will be interesting, because this will be the first real instances of me completely replacing a character instead of changing their personality. I also wanted a chapter addressing how trade evolution occurs in the Sagas universe, which is pretty much the same, but up until this point I'd never really addressed it.
