Brennan and Gardevoir had joined the others inside of the diner. It was the first time Brennan had been in there, and he had to say, it was already becoming one of his favorite places. He had pretty much already decided that this was going to be a new frequently visited location. He was a huge fan of Pokémon friendly places that allowed him to have all of his Pokémon out with him. It just made him feel like less of a jerk when he had to return three or four of them to their Poké balls while the other one had fun.
As the large group stood in the door way, a young brunette waitress walked up. She was carrying a notepad and had a large, friendly smile displayed on her face.
"Welcome to Slateport City's newest Pokémon diner! I see you have a large party today. Would you like a table, or a large booth?" The waitress asked. Brennan glanced down at her name tag, so he could see her name. On the white name tag was 'Clair' written in bold black letters.
"A table is fine." Luna replied, just as kindly as the waitress. Clair smiled and nodded.
"Alright, follow me to your table." She said. The group followed Clair through the busy diner, passing tables full of chattering trainers' and their happy Pokémon. Eventually, they reached a large table on the complete other side of the room from where they had been. It was a table that was obviously there for parties or special occasions, because no average group of people wanting to grab a quick bite to eat needed a table that was long enough to seat ten people on each side of it.
Gardevoir was just as interested in the large table as Brennan was. She hadn't been to many places in her life, but she had never seen a table so large before.
"Here you are." Clair said, as she motioned to the table. "Here are some menus. I'm going to have to go to the back and get some more for your Pokémon." She continued. As she did, Lane waved her off.
"No, it's fine. These menus are more than enough." He said.
"Are you sure? Because I can go get some more." Clair said. Lane nodded.
"Yes. Thank you for your offer though." He replied, a grateful tone in his voice. Clair's smile returned, as she gave a nod.
"Okay then. Now, for drinks. What would you like?" She asked, as she readied to write down the large amount of drinks.
"Water. Plenty of water is perfect." Brennan spoke up for the group. He knew how much of a hassle taking special orders for eighteen Pokémon and three trainers was going to be for this waitress. He didn't want to make things more complicated for her than they were already going to be. Clair flashed him a smile as she jotted it down on her notepad.
"Okay! Take your time looking over the menus. I will be back shortly with your drinks." She said, before walking off, leaving the group to settle in.
"Now, everyone pick a seat, because there will be no seat jumping." Lane said, as he looked around at the large group.
Gardevoir had planned on sitting next to Brennan. Brennan figured she would. He went to go pull a chair out for her, when Aggron and Alakazam came running up, ramming into him, and knocking him to the floor. They both grabbed the chair he was trying to pull out for Gardevoir, and fought to try and get it out of the others grasp.
Gardevoir gasped in surprise, before lowering herself down onto her knees next to him. Brennan sat on the floor, trying to shake the sudden dizziness off.
Aggron finally managed to yank the chair out of Alakazam's hands, before pulling it out and smiling at Gardevoir. Gardevoir looked up at the two clearly not amused with them.
"Brennan, are you okay?" Luna asked, as she made her way over to the downed trainer. Brennan nodded.
"Yeah, just... caught me off guard." He replied. Lane was very annoyed with his two Pokémon at that moment.
"Hey, that wasn't cool. I want you guys both to-" Lane started, before being interrupted.
"Gardevoir! Garde! Gardevoir! Gardevoir. Gardevoir. Garde!" Gardevoir yelled at the two, as she stood back up. She was furious. She was more furious than uncomfortable with them at this point. Not only were Alakazam and Aggron surprised, but all of the others were too. Especially Brennan.
Gardevoir stood there staring at the two misbehaving Pokémon with the most angry expression on her face possible. She was so mad, Brennan could easily sense just a small amount of how mad she actually was.
Lane finally managed to shake off some of the shock, looking around at the dozens and dozens of pairs of eyes now staring in their direction. No one else had moved. Everyone else was still staring at the angry Gardevoir in shock.
Aggron and Alakazam were still taken aback by what just happened. They slowly looked towards each, shocked looks and all, before once again glaring at each other. That's when Lane stepped in.
"Go sit down, NOW!" Lane said sternly, as he pointed towards two chairs. Aggron and Alakazam listened. They made their way towards the two chairs and sat down in them. Aggron's chair was a little bigger than the others, but was still a little too small for him. Gardevoir's angry expression followed them all the way to their seats. She didn't look away until several seconds after they had sat down.
Gardevoir finally turned away from the pair. She turned around and looked back at Brennan, who was still sitting on the floor in complete disbelief that that just happened. Gardevoir's expression softened, as she floated back over to him and got back down on her knees.
"Gardevoir. Garde?" Gardevoir asked. Brennan sat in silence for several seconds as he stared at her.
"Yeah, I'm okay, Gardevoir." He finally replied. Gardevoir stood up extending her hand, a small smile returning to her face. Brennan grabbed ahold of it allowing Gardevoir to pull him to his feet. "Thank you." He thanked her.
"Gardevoir. Voir." She replied with a single nod. Once he got back to his feet, Brennan looked around at all the eyes still staring at the large group. He figured he had to do something, considering Gardevoir was his responsibility.
"S-so, uh... I apologize for that. She was just... getting a couple of my friend's Pokémon to calm down. So... everyone can go back to their meals now." Brennan said nervously, as he continued to look around. Of course nobody said anything.
Brennan turned his attention back to the rest of the group, who was still standing around.
"Um... lets all sit down and take a breather. Everything is okay now, right Aggron? Alakazam?" Luna asked, in a very serious tone. Both Pokémon nodded at her. "Okay! Now, how's about we enjoy our lunch?" She continued, her usual cheery tone returning.
"Yeah, I like that idea." Lane said, walking over to his seat and taking it. The others followed suit.
Brennan once again pulled a chair out for Gardevoir. She flashed him a smile before sitting in it. He pushed her chair in, before taking his own seat next to her. Awkward silence filled the table for several seconds, before Luna spoke up.
"Oh, here comes Clair with our drinks!" Luna said happily. Clair smiled as she approached the table with a tray full of cups and small drinking bowls.
"Is everything okay?" She asked, once she finally reached the table. Luna smiled and nodded.
"Yes, ma'am. Just a couple of Pokémon acting like little kids." She replied, glancing over at Alakazam and Aggron as she did. Clair politely smiled and nodded, not wanting to push on someone else's business. After, she went around the table giving everyone a cup, if they had posable thumbs and could pick one up, or a bowl, if they didn't. After everyone had their proper drink wear, Clair went around the table with a large pitcher of water and started filling them up.
After the cups and bowls were filled up, Clair sat the pitcher down on the table and pulled out her small notepad. Lane saw this and knew they hadn't even gotten to look at the menus yet.
"We're going to need a few more minutes to decide what we want." Lane said, getting Clair's attention.
"That's perfectly okay. Take your time. Just let me know when you're ready." Clair said. Lane gave her a smile and a single nod.
"Will do. Thank you." He said.
"Not a problem." Clair said, before walking away, leaving the group to look over the menu.
The menus were placed at the far end of the table close to where Lane and Luna were sitting. Brennan had decided to sit further down from them so he would be closer to his Pokémon. He soon realized he couldn't reach the menus.
"Hey, Luna, will you pass me a-" Brennan started, before stopping when one of the menus started levitating towards him. He looked over at Gardevoir, who was using her psychokinetic move to bring one to him. She had sensed that a menu was what he was going to ask for, so she wanted to get him one. "-menu." He finished, staring at the menu as it lowered down onto the table in front of him. Once it landed, Brennan looked back at Gardevoir, who had a small smile on her face. He returned the smile. "Thank you, Gardevoir." He said.
"Gardevoir." Gardevoir replied, looking away in embarrassment once she realized all eyes were currently on her.
"No need to be embarrassed. That was amazing, Gardevoir." Luna said cheerfully, trying to make the Pokémon feel less embarrassed.
"Delphox." Delphox agreed with her trainer. Blaziken, who was sat next to Delphox, crossed his arms and looked away. Refusing to take part in any commending towards Gardevoir.
Brennan gave her a soft pat on the back, getting her to look at him, before quickly looking down towards her lap. A blush once again taking over her face.
The praise she was getting for doing something as simple as using one of her moves to get a menu for Brennan was surprising. She knew they didn't have to make as big of a deal out of it as they were, but she actually enjoyed it. Even though having everyone's attention on her made her feel a bit embarrassed.
"Alright, alright. Everyone look over the menu and decide what you want to eat. We can't keep Clair waiting forever." Brennan said, sensing Gardevoir's embarrassment. He wanted to get some of the attention off of her, hoping it would relax her a little bit.
"He's right! And the longer we're here, the less time there's going to be for shopping!" Luna said.
Everyone had turned their attention to Luna. When they did, Gardevoir looked over at Brennan, a thankful look in her eyes. Brennan gave her a smile and a wink, letting her know that he has her back. The blush that had just faded, quickly returned as Gardevoir looked down towards the table in front of her.
•••
•••
•••
The two men dressed in black were currently walking through Slateport City looking for their target. They took their bosses threat very seriously and knew they couldn't show back up empty handed again.
Neither one of them had seen any sign whatsoever of the Pokémon they were looking for. The forest where they were told she would be ended up leading to a dead end. Even with a full search team, they still couldn't find her.
Both men were starting to get very frustrated. When they were first given the lead on this assignment, they took it as an opportunity to impress their boss. He was someone that was very hard to impress. This was big for them and they couldn't mess this up or else they wouldn't be trusted to do anything this big ever again.
"We've been walking around for an hour and I still don't see anything." Simon, the shorter of the two men said. He was a somewhat averaged built, spiky haired-blonde. He wore his team's all black uniform with their logo imprinted on the back and a nice scar above his left eye from an attack at the hands of a wild Absol that he may or may not have attacked to try and catch. His efforts didn't work out in his favor, however, and he ended up almost blind in his left eye.
"Shut up and keep looking. You heard what the boss said. If we don't find this damn Pokémon, there are going to be repercussions. And I don't want to deal with repercussions." Nelson, the slightly taller and more masculine, long haired- brunette man said. Nelson wore his all black team uniform, with the hood on the back of his jacket pulled up over his head.
Their matching jackets had the team's logo on the back of each, a pile of greyed out, cracked Poké balls, with a giant 'S' in a grimy-font dirty gold colored letter faded behind them. They were just two of many members of a very villainous team that, for the most part, stayed pretty secretive about what they were doing. People knew about them, and they didn't trust them.
Nelson and Simon walked past multiple people and Pokémon, who were giving them the stink eye. A small, amused smirk grew on Nelson's face. He took pride in what his team did. He didn't care what any of these people thought. Simon had his hands shoved down into his pockets, as he continued to look around. He was ignoring the passerby' as they walked. He was more focused on finding the Pokémon that his boss had sent them out for.
"The damn thing could be anywhere. Maybe we should split up and check out some of these shops. Maybe she wandered into one of them." Simon said. Nelson glanced at him and shook his head.
"Now why in the hell would a wild Pokémon that lives in the forest wander into a shop in the city?" He asked, clearly annoyed by Simon's thinking. Simon shrugged.
"I don't know. It happens. And besides, we've been wandering the streets so long that if she was out here, we would have found her by now." He replied. Nelson growled knowing that Simon was right.
"Fine. But she better be in one of these buildings or I'm telling boss it's your fault that we didn't find her." Nelson said in a threatening tone.
"It doesn't matter what you tell, he'll have your head on the spike right next to mine." Simon said, knowing full well that they didn't find that Pokémon, they were both going to suffer the consequences. Even if one of them tried to put all of the blame on the other. "You take the buildings on the east side of the city, I'll take the buildings on the west side of the city." He continued.
"Fine. Let me know if you find her. The last thing I need is for you to find her and mess things up so she gets away." Nelson said.
"Fine. Whatever." Simon replied, not at all amused by Nelson's current attitude towards him. Nelson turned and started walking in the other direction, not bothering to say anything else as he did. Simon stood there staring at all the people as they walked down the busy streets.
•••
•••
•••
After the whole yelling incident involving Gardevoir, Aggron, and Alakazam, lunch went on like normal. For the most part at least. They still had to put up with a few stares from guests who were very clearly talking about them, but they tried not to let it bother them. They didn't want it to ruin their day.
They had ended up spending a lot more on lunch than they had originally planned to, but considering they didn't do this too often, they didn't really mind.
The large group had exited the diner and was now walking down the busy, city streets, taking in all of the stores they were soon going to be shopping in.
Neither Brennan nor Lane really had any interest in shopping, but the girls did so they were going to go along with it.
"So what's Frankie up to?" Brennan asked, walking alongside line at the tail end of their large group.
"Captain Stern called him into work to help clean up some mess that some punks made at the museum." Lane replied, as he walked along side of him.
Frankie worked at Slateport City's Oceanic Museum, that was curated by the famous Captain Stern. Brennan lived in Slateport for almost a full year before he was able to meet Captain Stern. He was an oceanographer, so he majored in aquatic-water type Pokémon. Brennan wanted to battle him. He knew Stern was the man to beat in Slateport since they didn't have their own gym.
"Well, that sucks." Brennan said. Lane nodded.
"Destruction to something like the museum is a disgrace. I just hope those punks that did it don't get away with it." He replied.
"Oh! I know where we're stopping first!" Luna exclaimed, getting the boys attention. "This little shop right here is great for finding deals on cute little outfits!" She continued, pointing to a small shop up ahead called 'Rue 22'.
Luna looked over at the group of girls, and Blaziken, who was being dragged along by Delphox. They all let out small, happy cries in response. Luna looked back and saw that both Brennan and Lane had fallen behind. She quickly made her way to the back of the group and grabbed their wrists.
"C'mon, slow pokes! You're going to get left behind." Luna said, dragging the two guys closer to the group.
"Like that would be a bad thing?" Lane muttered jokingly, glancing over at Brennan as he did. Brennan let out a little chuckle. Luna, who wasn't deaf, heard his joke.
"Keep making jokes like that and I won't be buying that outfit that you've been wanting to see me in." Luna said. Lane's laughing immediately ceased as he looked over at his girlfriend. Brennan broke out into laughter. Luna had a proud smile on her face, not even bothering to look back at Lane.
Gardevoir, who had been up towards the front of the group with Luna's Pokémon, fell back so she would be with Brennan again. When Brennan finally caught up to her, he gave her a small smile.
"You don't have to wait for me, Gardevoir. I won't get left behind." Brennan said. Gardevoir nodded.
"Gardevoir. Garde. Gardevoir." She replied. She knew she didn't have to wait, she wanted to. She enjoyed being around Luna's Pokémon. It gave her more girls to interact with. But she would much rather be around Brennan.
Luna had finally let go of Brennan's wrist, but kept hold of Lane's as she pulled him towards the front. Lane looked back at Brennan with a defeated look on his face, as he was dragged ahead by his girlfriend. Brennan let out a little chuckle as he watched. Gardevoir looked at Brennan, before glancing back at Lane.
"Those two are always a joy to be around." Brennan said jokingly, as he glanced back at Gardevoir. She smiled and nodded.
The group had finally reached the outside of the store. Luna turned to face everyone, a smile on her face.
"Girls, it's time to go shopping!" She exclaimed excitedly. All of the females let out happy cries in response. "Come on, Gardevoir. We're going to get you some cute clothes!" She said, as she turned her attention to Gardevoir.
Gardevoir was excited about this. She was actually going to have more clothes than just her dress and the t-shirt and shorts Brennan gave her to sleep in. Even though she loved her sleeping clothes. She turned and looked at Brennan, she wanted him to come in with her.
"Gardevoir. Voir?" She asked. Brennan could sense that she wanted him to do something. He assumed she wanted him to go into the store with her.
"Yeah, of course I'll come in." He replied. Gardevoir smiled as she took hold of his hand and started walking him towards Luna's group as they entered the store.
It wasn't the fanciest store Luna planned on taking the group to, but Gardevoir was at a loss for words. This was the first store she had been into.
Gardevoir stopped moving and floated in a single spot, looking around the store in awe. There were clothes everywhere. More than she had ever seen before.
As Gardevoir floated there, Luna and her Pokémon scattered and started looking around. Delphox had continued to drag Blaziken along with her. He had showed absolutely zero signs of resistance.
"Oh, Gardevoir, come here!" Luna said, as she motioned Gardevoir over. Breaking her from her thoughts, Gardevoir looked over at Brennan, who was already looking at her.
"It's okay. I'll follow you." He said, as he motioned Gardevoir to go. She nodded, before once again moving forward. Brennan followed her, as they approached Luna.
"Look at this. I think it would look sooooo cute on you!" Luna said happily, as she showed Gardevoir a thin mint green throw over jacket. It wasn't the kind of jacket to be worn on a cold day, it was more of a fashion statement than anything. "Here, try it on." She said, as she held the jacket up.
Gardevoir stared at the jacket for several seconds, before finally sliding her arms into the sleeves. It was like a perfect fit for her; that surprised Brennan.
"So... what do you think?" Luna asked, waiting for Gardevoir's feedback. Gardevoir looked down at the jacket, trying to take in all of the details. She did like it. But the simple fact alone that she was actually in a store trying on clothes made her love it even more.
She looked at Brennan, wanting to hear what he thought about it. Brennan smiled and gave her a few nods.
"It looks good on you, Gardevoir." He said, knowing full well that Gardevoir wanted him to say something. Gardevoir slightly blushed, before looking back at Luna.
"Gardevoir." Gardevoir said happily, as she slightly pulled on the top of the jacket.
"Yay! We found you your first item of the day!" Luna said happily, as she clasped her hands together in front of her. She was just as excited about this as Gardevoir was. She was going to go out of her way to make sure Gardevoir has a really good day. And finding her a bunch of new clothes wasn't going to hurt either.
•••
•••
•••
Lane had been standing outside with the slew of Pokémon that didn't follow the others in. He was leaned up against a tree that stood in a small grassy area that separated the two sides of the streets. It was convenient, too because it was right across from the entrance of the store that the others had gone in.
He stood there with his eyes closed, taking in the cool summer breeze that ran through his hair. He didn't know how long he had been out there so far, or how long he had to wait. But, knowing his girlfriend, it could be awhile. He wasn't in any hurry, though. He knew Luna was excited for this, so he didn't mind waiting. Seeing her happy was all that really mattered to him.
"Aggron!" Aggron exclaimed, causing Lane to open one of his eyes so he could see what was going on.
"Ala-Kazam!" Alakazam yelled back, as he stepped up to Aggron. Lane sighed in annoyance as he shook his head.
"Hey! Knock it off, you two, or you can spend the rest of the day in your Poké balls." Lane said, fed up with his Pokémon's behavior. Both Pokémon whined and pointed at each other in response. Lane replied to the two Pokémon with the most serious expression on his face as possible. That told the two Pokémon to shut it.
Once they did, Lane shook his head and looked over at Machamp, who stood next to him with his four arms crossed.
"It's like dealing with children." Lane said.
"Champ." Machamp said, as he nodded along.
•••
•••
•••
After being in the store for almost an hour, the group finally reached the register. Brennan slowly walked up to it, not able to see over the mountain of clothes Gardevoir and Luna had picked out. He heaved the large pile up, before dropping it down onto the counter. After which, he took a deep breath.
"Thanks for being such a dear." Luna said, as she playfully pinched Brennan's cheek. He quickly receded, and gave her an annoyed look.
"No one pinches the cheeks." Brennan said, as he rubbed his cheeks. Gardevoir ignored what he said and pinched one of his cheeks. Brennan didn't pull away, but he did turn his annoyed look from Luna, to Gardevoir. Both females giggled at Brennan's reaction. Seeing the two females getting so much enjoyment out of something so stupid made his expression soften. He couldn't help but let out a little chuckle himself.
"Delphox." Delphox said, getting the small group's attention. They all turned towards Delphox, who was waking up to the counter, with Blaziken slowly following behind. His bent knees shaked, as he carried Delphox's large pile of clothes towards the counter.
"Wow. Guess she's more of a heavy shopper than you." Brennan said jokingly, towards Luna.
"She may be. But I'm so proud of her for it." Luna replied, a proud smile making its way onto her face. Brennan smiled, but rolled his eyes.
Seeing Blaziken's struggle, Gardevoir used her psychokinesis to lift the heavy pile of clothes out of his arms, and set it down on the counter. Blaziken was surprised at first, not knowing what exactly happened. But his surprise soon wore off, when he saw Gardevoir look at him. He glared at her.
"Blaziken. Blaze. Blaziken." Blaziken said, clearly annoyed with Gardevoir's actions. He didn't need her help. He didn't ask for it, and he sure as heck didn't want it. Gardevoir didn't say a word, instead rolling her eyes and looking away from him. Both Delphox and Luna could sense the hostility in Blaziken's voice when he spoke to Gardevoir. Neither one of them was sure what was going on. Brennan stood in silence, shaking his head at Blaziken. Blaziken noticed Brennan, and gave him the same look he had previously given Gardevoir, before looking away from him.
After that, awkward silence filled the group the rest of the time they were checking out. No one knew what to say, and no one wanted to say anything.
After they finished checking out, they headed out of the store to meet back up with Lane and the rest of their Pokémon.
Lane pushed himself up off of the tree he was leaning against and approached them. His eyes went wide when he saw the combined number of bags the group was carrying.
"Geez, did you guys buy the whole store?" He asked. Luna shook her head.
"Nope! Just found a bunch of cute things." She replied.
"Or all the cute things..." Lane said, still staring at the bags. Luna ignored his comment.
"So... where to next?" Brennan asked. Luna was obviously their guide today, and he didn't know where she had planned on taking them.
"I've got to run into the mall, which sucks because not everyone can come in with us." Luna said, looking around at all the now disappointed Pokémon.
"I'm still not a fan of those new rules they implemented." Brennan said, as he thought about the malls new set of rules on Pokémon.
"It'll be okay. We can just let everyone back out after you do what you have to do." Lane said. Luna nodded. He was right, but she hated the fact that she was realistically choosing favorites when it came to letting one of her Pokémon stay out with her.
As Luna stood there thinking, Lane pulled one of his Poké balls off of his belt and aimed it at Duskull.
"Duskull, return." He said, as he pressed the small center button. A flash of red was seen and a swish heard, as Duskull was returned to his Poké ball. He looked over at Brennan and Luna, who were now both staring at him. "Hey, it's better to do it now than to wait and it in front of the mall." He said. Luna sighed.
"I guess you're right." She said, before looking towards her Pokémon, a smile returning to her face. "Just because all of you can't come in with us, doesn't mean I'm not going to find all of you lots of cute things to wear!" She said happily, cheering her Pokémon back up. She grabbed a Poké ball off of her belt, and aimed it at Marill. "I'll see you all a little later, girls." She said, before pressing the button, returning Marill to her Poké ball.
One by one both Luna and Lane returned all of their Poké to their balls except for Delphox and Greninja. After they were done, Brennan looked around at his Pokémon.
"Okay, guys. I hate this as much as you do," Brennan started, as he pulled one of his Poké balls off of his belt. "But I can't do anything about it." He said, aiming the Poké ball at Sandslash. "You shouldn't be in there too long, buddy." He said, before returning him to his ball.
Machamp and Roserade, as disappointed as they were, understood why they had to be returned to their balls. But Mightyena, Mightyena's reaction broke his heart. The sad look on his face made Brennan feel guilty, even though he hadn't put him back in his ball yet.
"I promise, it won't be too long." Brennan said, as he kneeled down and patted him on the head. Mightyena gave him a small nod, before being returned to his Poké ball. Brennan said, as he stared at the spot where Mightyena previously stood. Blaziken huffed and looked away, shaking his head in disapproval. Brennan hadn't even noticed his Pokémon's actions.
"So... You hardly ever return them to their balls." Lane said. Brennan nodded, as he stood back up.
"Yeah, it's pretty rare. Mightyena always does that when I put him in his. I guess with as much freedom as he usually has, he just isn't a fan of it." He replied. Gardevoir could sense that Brennan felt bad about returning his Pokémon to their balls. She floated up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked towards her hand, before looking at her.
"Well, now that that's done... lets just... get to the mall." Brennan said, as he heaved up some of the bags of clothes that the girls had just bought. Gardevoir floated behind him, with Luna and Lane walking behind her. Delphox continued to drag Blaziken with her. He was glaring holes through the back of Brennan's head. Greninja trailed behind those two, keeping to himself as usual.
Again, the silence hung for most of the walk, up until Gardevoir saw a poster hanging in one of the stores windows that made her stop. She stopped moving and floated in front of the window, staring at the poster.
Brennan quickly realized that Gardevoir wasn't following him anymore. He stopped, turned around, and saw her staring at something in one of the store windows.
"Hey, Gardevoir, see something?" He asked, as he walked over to her. Gardevoir looked at him, before pointing to the poster. On the poster was a picture of Cynthia, the Pokémon League Champion of the Sinnoh Region. She was modeling for some fancy new clothing line for women.
Luna and Lane walked up to the two to see what was up. They saw them staring at the large poster in front of them.
"Ahh... Cynthia. The things that I would-" Lane started, before being interrupted by Luna clearing her throat. He looked over at her and saw she had her arms crossed and an annoyed look on her face. He let out a somewhat uncomfortable chuckle, as he scratched the back of his neck. Luna shook her head, before grabbing ahold of Lane's ear and dragging him away.
"Ow! Ow! Ow!" Lane whined. Luna ignored him.
Brennan looked over at Gardevoir, who seemed to be lost in Cynthia's beauty. A small smile crossed his face, as he looked back up at the poster.
Gardevoir hovered in silence, staring at the large poster. The women on it, Cynthia, she was beautiful. She had to have been the most beautiful women there was. Gardevoir looked down at herself, knowing she would never be able to amount to anything close to Cynthia's beauty.
Brennan started feeling... sad. And he knew it wasn't because of Mightyena and his other Pokémon. This feeling was new. He looked back at Gardevoir, and saw the depressed look on her face. That wasn't there before.
"Hey, are you okay?" He asked, worry clear in his voice.
"Gardevoir. Garde. Gardevoir." Gardevoir replied, pointing at the poster again, before motioning down at herself. After which, she closed her eyes and looked down sadly. Brennan sat the bags he was carrying down, before placing a hand on her back.
"Gardevoir..." Brennan started in a very hushed tone. With the simple actions Gardevoir had just done, it was easy for Brennan to tell what she was upset about. "You don't need to look like Cynthia to be beautiful." He said, finally getting her to look up at him. Her beautiful rose red eyes wet with the tears she had been trying to hold back. The sight broke Brennan's heart for the second time that day.
Brennan turned his whole body to face her, before looking around. The busy city streets hadn't calmed down any. They were still crawling with other trainers', most of which had at one point or another stared over at Gardevoir. This made Brennan growl under his breath.
He gently grabbed ahold Gardevoir's shoulders and turned her to face him. She didn't resist at all.
"Gardevoir, you're breaking my heart here." Brennan started, as he gently wiped a single tear off of Gardevoir's cheek as it ran down her face. "Yes, Cynthia is beautiful. But honestly, there's this girl I know that is one hundred times more beautiful than her." He continued, staring Gardevoir right in the eyes as he did.
He didn't specifically say it, but Brennan knew full well that he was talking about Gardevoir. It was weird for him to think these thoughts, but he couldn't help it. Gardevoir is beautiful. He could never admit that to another trainer, but he could tell himself over and over again in his head.
Gardevoir's mouth slightly opened- almost as if she wanted to say something. But she didn't. She was almost certain that the "girl" Brennan was talking about was... her. But she wasn't sure. Deep down she felt that it was, but she just couldn't understand why Brennan would think SHE was beautiful. Let alone more beautiful that Cynthia.
"You don't need to compare your beauty to someone else's. So stop thinking like that, okay?" Brennan said.
"Voir." Gardevoir replied in an almost inaudible whisper. Her cheeks had a slight blush on them from Brennan's earlier remark.
"Good." Brennan said, calming himself down a bit with Gardevoir's response.
"Hey, are you two coming or what?" Luna called from the distance. Brennan turned to face her and saw the other staring at him and Gardevoir. They must have been waiting for them.
"Yeah, we are." Brennan replied, before looking back at Gardevoir. "Come on, ma'lady, we have to catch up." He said, a small smile returning to his face. Gardevoir nodded in response, before the two headed off to rejoin the group.
•••
•••
•••
Simon had been walking along the road, peaking into each building through the window as he went along. He had been ignoring all the muttering and glares he had been receiving as he passed by trainer after trainer.
He and Simon had separated and been hunting in city for close to half an hour now, and neither one of them had found the Pokémon they were after.
There was one point where Nelson called in on his communicator and said some very insulting things to his cohort.
Nelson was frustrated about how much difficulty they had been having finding this Pokémon. But the more he complained about and blamed Simon for their shortcomings so far, the more it pissed Simon off.
Simon and Nelson were mere associates. Nothing more. Neither one of them liked the other. But their boss stuck them together for reasons that neither man still understands.
Simon felt like he was just walking in circles at this point. He had checked most of the buildings on west side of the city like he was supposed to. He felt like this whole ordeal was like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
He was thinking that there was a good chance that this Pokémon wasn't even in the city. Maybe it was somewhere entirely different. Maybe it had been captured and taken to an entirely different region. It could have been anywhere at this point.
Simon looked down at the small communicator strapped to his wrist. He was getting ready to call Simon, when he noticed something in distance. Something that he had to take a second glance at.
"It can't be..." He said to himself, as he slowly walked towards what was now in his eyesight.
There it was. The Gardevoir that he and Nelson had been after. It was standing with a man in front of a store. He knew it was the Gardevoir they were after because of the womanly features their boss had told them about.
Simon stood there and watched as the man wiped what he assumed was a tear off of the Gardevoir's face. That's when he realized that man must have been the one to catch her and take her out of the forest. It was his fault that he and Nelson got chewed up by their boss. Simon growled in anger as he turned his attention from the Gardevoir, to the man talking to her.
Without taking his eyes off of the pair, he lifted his communicator up to his mouth and spoke into it.
"Nelson, report." Simon said into the communicator. There was silence for several seconds, before he finally got a response.
"What is it? I'm looking for that damn Pokémon still." Nelson's gruff voice said.
"You can stop looking. I have the Pokémon in my sight." Simon replied. He was still one hundred percent focused on the pair that had been the cause of so much trouble for he and his partner.
"What? Where?" Nelson asked, both relieved and panicked at the same time. Relieved that she had been found, but panicked that Simon was going to do something to screw it all up.
"On the upper west side of the city in front of the store Misty May's about a block away from the mall." Simon replied.
"I'm on my way. Don't do anything stupid. Wait for me to get there." Nelson said sternly.
Simon was getting ready to respond, when he saw the two targets moving again.
"Change of plans. They're on the move." He said. This scared Nelson even more.
"Shit!" Simon heard Nelson say angrily. "Stay on them. Don't lose them, whatever you do. And don't make it seem obvious that you're following them." He said. Simon nodded, as if Nelson could see him.
"Yeah, I'm on it." He replied, before lowering his communicator. He started following behind the pair, making sure to both stay hidden, and keep his distance. The last thing he needed was to get caught.
As he followed, he watched them intently. He watched as they caught up to a larger group. Two trainers, a Blaziken, a Delphox, and a Greninja. This annoyed him. It was obvious they were all together. It was going to make it much more difficult to get the Gardevoir now.
But, regardless of how difficult it may be, they were getting that Gardevoir. They messed up once already, there was no way they were going back to their boss without it. And those three twerpy trainers and their Pokémon weren't going to stop that from happening.