Me: Okay, I know what you're all thinking; I suck. Well sorry, but I just haven't had to work on this story; or anything else for that matter. My schedule was so full these last few weeks, I had to do my home-work at work!
Jack: Save the sob story; you have no excuse.
Me: *sigh* You're right; I've done a terrible thing.
Jack: That's right.
Me: It's completely unforgivable.
Jack: That's right.
Me: And so is what I'm about to do.
Jack: That's… Wait, what?
Me: *pulls lever, which opens a conveniently placed trapdoor under Jack's feet*
Jack: I hate you.
Me: Just fall already.
Jack: Nope; cartoon logic states that I can remain suspended in midair indefinitely, as long as I don't look down.
Me: There's a Spinarak on your foot.
Jack: What? WHERE?!
Me: …
Jack: …
Jack: I hate you. *falls screaming into a bottomless pit, and eventually ends up in Australia*
Me: Now that that's out of the way, at least until he learns how to speak Aussie, we can begin this long overdue chapter. Enjoy.
After he brought Maylene back to his room, Jack put her down on his bed so she could get some rest. He spent the next ten minutes or so in deep thought; about Maylene mostly, but he also spared some thought for his fellow competitors in the tournament. He wondered how long it would be before he ran into…
At the very moment he had that thought, Jack heard someone knocking at the door to his suite. He was still a little tired from his sparring match with Maylene, since using his new Overdrive technique, as he'd decided to call it, took a lot out of him afterwards; even when he didn't use it to its full extent. So it was with a groan of exertion that Jack pried himself from the couch to go answer the door.
As Jack opened the door he reflected, as he had a hundred times before, that the person on the other side might very well turn out to be an enemy. Maybe even the enemy; the one he'd gone to so much trouble to lure into the open.
"Now would be a really bad time to have to face him," Jack commented to himself.
Even so, Jack didn't let it faze him; even in his fatigued condition, he could still break the sound barrier without breaking a sweat. If things went south, he could get everyone to safety in a matter of seconds; everyone including Maylene, of course.
Fortunately, he was spared having to carry Maylene any further; since the face that greeted him at the door was yet another old friend.
"Nicholas!" Jack exclaimed happily.
"How's it going Jack," the red-headed trainer replied, holding out his hand to Jack. "Long time no see."
Jack shook the outstretched hand enthusiastically. "No kidding; I was glad to see you made it, I'm sorry I couldn't catch your first match."
Nicholas grinned. "Yeah, well I saw both of yours; but how on earth did you end up sparring with a Gym Leader? And here of all places."
Jack shrugged. "Maylene and I are old friends; and since the number of challengers at her gym has dropped to zero thanks to this tournament, she decided to drop by and watch."
"Cool," Nicholas replied, grinning cheekishly. "You must be quite the lady's man, to have attracted a gym leader."
Jack chuckled and shook his head. "If I thought you were being serious… But no, you've got the wrong idea altogether; I just trained with her in Veilstone City for a while, she taught me most of what I know about martial arts."
"So, where is she now?" Nicholas asked, peering past Jack into the room. "Last I saw, the two of you were headed in this direction; is she here?"
"She's recovering," Jack said defensively. "I overdid it with that last move."
"So she's sleeping it off," Nicholas said, grinning like a Meowth that just cornered a Rattata. "But where exactly?"
Jack sighed in defeat. "My bed."
Nicholas laughed. "I believe I've proved my point."
"You had a point?" Jack said sarcastically, raising an eyebrow.
"Not really," Nicholas said with a shrug. "Anyway, we really need to catch up on what's been going... Is that Pizza I smell?"
Jack shrugged. "Sorry, we've already finished off the last of it."
Nicholas sank to his knees in mock despair. "No, please; say it ain't so…"
Jack chuckled at the display. "Sorry, but that's that; if you wanted Pizza, you should have ordered some yourself."
Nicholas perked up almost immediately, as though seized by a sudden revelation. "That's not a bad idea," he said thoughtfully. "You had that Pizza for lunch, right? So I'll buy us all Pizza for dinner; my treat."
"Pizza for two meal in a row?" Jack questioned. "That can't be healthy, for Pokémon or human."
Nicholas shrugged. "Who cares? You only live once."
"If so," Jack countered, "Then you should probably try not to get diabetes while you're here."
Nicholas sighed. "You make a good point; fine then, I'll only buy Pizza for my team since we didn't have any, and we just won't give any to you."
"H-hold on now," Jack said in a tone of mock-panic. "let's not be too hasty…"
Jack and Nicholas stood staring at each other for a moment, then both of them burst out laughing.
"It's good to see you again," Nicholas said when he was finished laughing.
"Same here," Jack agreed. "Come on in, I've got some things I want to discuss with you."
In truth, Jack knew exactly what he wanted to talk about; he'd spent plenty of time travelling with Nicholas, and Jack had a sneaking suspicion that the red-headed trainer might have absorbed some of his power as well.
"Hey guys," Jack said as he and Nicholas entered the main room. "Guess who's here?"
Every head in the room simultaneously turned toward Nicholas; the next few minutes were comprised of various forms of greeting, as Jack's team expressed their happiness at seeing Nicholas. Said trainer, after assurance from Jack that it was alright, grabbed his six Pokéballs off his belt and released his team from them.
His team consisted of the same six Pokémon as the last time we saw them, although most of them looked very different; Sunspot had indeed evolved into a Monferno, Hunter had become a Staraptor, Strike was now a Ninjask, Marsh was now a Lombre, and Frostbite had evolved into a Weavile. Only Scatterbolt, who was already a fully evolved Ampharos, had remained unchanged.
Their appearance started a new round of greetings between the two groups of Pokémon, which threatened to become a little too… enthusiastic for the enclosed space. When Jack realized that he'd probably have to pay for any damage to the room, and that Maylene was still trying to sleep, he and Nicholas talked/coerced their respective teams into taking the party outside; at which point silence finally fell on the suite.
"So," Jack said as he and Nicholas sat down on the couch, somewhat tired from the affair. "Like I said, I didn't see your match; you won, obviously, but aside from that how did it go?"
Nicholas leaned back and put his hands behind his head. "Well, it was pretty easy to be honest; a lot easier than I expected. Then again, we've gotten really strong lately; a lot stronger than we were last time we ran into you guys."
"You were pretty strong then, as I recall," Jack replied. "Volkner was hard pressed just to keep up with you."
"It wasn't as one-sided as you make it sound," Nicholas said. "And besides, from what I saw of your battle with him, he didn't stand a chance against you. And from what I saw today, you've gotten even stronger since then too; I mean, seriously. Wendy? The little cutie with the puppy-dog eyes? How'd she get to be such a badass; swinging giant icicles around with her mind like that?"
Jack sighed. "I doubt I'll ever know, although I suspect that Katana might have something to do with it..."
Nicholas chuckled. "I wouldn't put it past her; then again, Wendy might just be getting ready to evolve. I hear a Pokémon's personality can sometimes change right before they evolve."
Jack looked at him curiously. "Really? I know personalities can change after evolution, but before?"
Nicholas scratched his head. "That's what I heard anyway, something about a hormonal imbalance or something like that. Man, now I wish I payed more attention in Biology class…"
"But you think Wendy might be close to evolving?" Jack asked.
Nicholas stroked his chin as though he had a long, sagacious beard. "I've seen my fair share of evolutions, and I've learned a few things about predicting them. There's a certain… feeling to a Pokémon who's about to evolve, and it gets stronger the closer they are; honestly, I'm surprised you haven't picked up on it yet. If I had to guess I'd say that Wendy's within weeks, if not days, of evolving."
Jack absorbed this information thoughtfully, and filed it away for later use. "I'll have to keep an eye out for that," he thought to himself.
"Anyway," Jack said out loud. "What about you? How have you and your team been since we last saw each other?"
Nicholas shrugged. "Not bad, not bad. I actually caught a couple new Pokémon the other day; a matching set in fact, a brother and sister Eevee."
Jack raised an eyebrow. "Did you now; and how is that working, with the whole 'Six Pokémon limit' thing?"
"Something which doesn't seem to bother you in the slightest," Nicholas shot back with a grin. "Actually, it hasn't been too bad; I make sure to rotate my team every day, so that no one gets left out. Still, I wish I had the guts to keep some unbound from Pokéballs like you do; that would make things simpler, but I just don't have that kind of confidence."
"In what?" Jack asked. "Your Pokémons' loyalty? Because I really don't think you need to worry about that; or are you worried that the Eterna Incident will happen to you?"
Nicholas sighed. "It all worked out for the best in the end, but I don't think I'd be able to do what you did then; if it happened to me, I'd probably freeze up and lose whoever was in trouble. I don't know how you can walk around with half your team vulnerable like that, but I'm jealous of your confidence."
Jack studied the rug; he'd been using the Pack for months now, but it was still one of the only secrets which he was dead set on keeping a secret. But surely… Nicholas at least deserved to know the truth; maybe…
"Nicholas," Jack started.
"Hey," Nicholas suddenly exclaimed. "What time is it?!"
Jack looked up at a clock, conveniently hanging on the wall opposite them.
"Almost five o'clock," Jack said. "Why?"
Nicholas turned to look at him. "At the end of the last match today, they said the round two match-ups would be announced at five sharp."
"We'd better get going then," Jack said, getting up. "Should we wake up Maylene and tell her where we're going?"
"Just write her a note," Nicholas replied.
"I can't write," Jack said.
Nicholas gave him an odd look. "And you never felt the need to tell me that because..."
Jack shrugged. "You never asked."
"Fine," Nicholas said, facepalming, "I'll write the note; where's a pen?"
After Nicholas had written a short note saying where everyone had gone, and placed it on the pillow next to Maylene's head, the two trainers made a beeline for the stadium. Both of them were excited to see who they'd be up against, and both of them hoped it would be each other.
Me: Okay, not the most action-filled chapter yet; but I felt that I had to officially bring Nicholas back before I moved on to anything else. And now that's out of the way, the action can continue.
Jason: Since Jack is… 'otherwise engaged,' I will stand in for him by saying that's a pretty lame excuse for not giving us any action; or even a good training scene! Not to mention that this chapter is the shortest one yet in the new story, by almost a thousand words.
Me: Like I said, I didn't really have a chance to work on it; I only got it finished yesterday. And I'm honestly sorry about how short it was; it was not my intention to make it so brief, but by the time I was halfway through it my inspiration had all but dried up. The next few chapters will be much better, I promise. And I'll tell you right now, I'm building up to two very important things near the end of the tournament; they'll wrap up some things that have been left hanging since the last half of Book 1, and the second will have repercussions that will echo through the rest of the story. So you have that to look forward to.
Jason: If Jack were here, he'd call you out for making excuses; personally, I am actually interested to see exactly what you intend to do. I mean, I know you're planning something with O…
Me: Say one more word, and you'll join Jack on the other side of the world.
Jason: Understood; although I think I'm starting to put the pieces together.
Me: I don't care about that; just don't spoil it for the readers. I'm trying to be evil here, and I don't want you messing it up.
Jason: Fine.
Me: Anyway everyone, see you in the next chapter.
