4: Machoke Man

Pikachu

Red had taken his dinner up to our room from the cafeteria, slowly picking at his food as we pokemon chowed down on our meals. I watched him from the corner of my eye, noticing how he ignored the television playing in the background and stared out one of the many windows towards the night sky with furrowed brows from time to time.

I was sure he was thinking about Blue and his words, or could it have been White that was on his mind?

I scowled a little at my empty bowl then turned to look back at my trainer. I'd heard human emotions were complicated and after witnessing that for myself many times, I figured it could have been nothing else but that statement.

Blue had told him White was asking questions about him and that could only mean two things: one, she could just be trying to get information about his battling style in case we ever went up against each other. She could be trying to learn our strategies and try to overpower us during the tournament but somehow, I doubted she would be since she didn't seem to be the kind of person who would do something like that.

The second thought was far more complicated: she could have a developing crush on Red.

For some reason, it terrified me because why would she, someone we literally just met today, decide she likes him? I thought it took years, or at least a few months—even weeks for feelings to develop between humans.

After watching so many movies with Red and his mother in the living room back home, there would be drama and fights and sometimes heart-breaking endings that changed one or both people for the rest of their lives. I suppose that was what terrified me: I was afraid to see Red like that. Just seeing him sad at any time made me upset as well.

However, it was too early to think of that. It was still extremely early for any kind of romantic feelings or development. I leaned back against one of the loveseats, scratching my chin. If there were indeed feelings growing between the two, I could still squash them before they could even flourish.

I could save Red from a horrible heartbreak! I grinned and laughed to myself, ignoring Blastoise's curious look.

"What are you laughing about?" Espeon asked, suddenly next to me.

Her unexpected appearance made me jump. "Gah!" I yelped.

She laughed instantly, raising a paw to her mouth. "Did I scare you, Pikachu?"

"Yes, you did, you jerk!" I snapped and huffed as she snorted. "What do you want?"

"I asked why you're laughing."

I paused, then glanced at Red. He was focusing on finishing the last bits of his food, too engrossed with eating to notice us together. "White's asking questions about Red," I answered.

Espeon tilted her head a little and turned her eyes towards Red as well. "Why? She would only do that if she was interested or wanted to battle right?" she asked.

I was relieved that she shared some of the thoughts that I did. "Blue said she was asking him and Ethan personal questions about him."

She was quiet for a while then suddenly started to give me a toothy grin.

I stared at her as her tail twitched. That only happened when she grew mischievous and after seeing that sign, even Charizard stiffened a little bit when he noticed. No one was immune to her pranks or plans in this household—we had all been terrorized by her tricks more than once. "Oh really? What kind of 'personal questions' was she asking?"

I had to choose my next words carefully, afraid of any kind of sudden mishap she would bestow upon me. "I don't know. Why are you so excited?"

I looked at Espeon as she giggled and licked her paw to wash her face. "Oh, nothing." She wrapped her tail around her legs as Red got up from the table, heading for his room to get into the shower, completely oblivious of Espeon's antics.

"Espeon, please don't do anything dumb, Westley clearly said we weren't supposed to wander around without Red," Blastoise said from the couch, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"I'm not going to wander around without him. I'm just… curious about something."

"About what?" I didn't blame him for his cautious tone, last time she pulled a prank on him, he had been stuck in his shell until Red could get him out.

"About why White is so interested in Red."

That caused the other three to turn their heads at us. "What do you mean?" Venusaur asked curiously.

I sighed. I had not wanted to have any kind of conversation like this tonight. "When we were coming back in, Blue told us that White was asking questions about him and that… that he 'seemed to have caught someone's eye.'"

Espeon instantly looked up. "Say that again!" she shouted, startling the rest of us.

I looked at the others and they looked as surprised as I. "I—uh, he caught someone's eye?"

She was on all four paws by now, full of barely controlled excitement. "This—this is brilliant!"

Charizard huffed at her, not in the mood to deal with her sudden enthusiasm. "Whatever it is, don't do it," he warned.

"What is brilliant?" Snorlax questioned, sitting on the middle of the floor where the most space was.

She looked at all of us, tilting her head. "Do you guys not know what that means?" she asked then sighed at herself when each of us gave her a blank look. "Ugh, boys. I wish Lapras was here, she would know what that means."

"What are you talking about?!" I finally demanded.

She jumped up onto the back of the couch, making sure the others could see her clearly. "In human terms, to catch someone's eye is when someone else is interested in you. If Red caught White's eye, then she is attracted to him!" At our collective groan, she huffed. "Aw, come on, it's not like he likes her back! She was the one asking questions, wasn't she?"

"I do not think even us pokemon can 'catch someone's eye' that fast," Venusaur admitted.

"Ever heard of love at first sight?" Espeon smiled as most of us rolled our eyes. "Hey, maybe it would be good for him to look into the dating scene. It would help him open up to other humans."

From his corner in the room, Charizard's tail thumped the floor gently. "There is a perfectly good reason why he doesn't trust other humans," he replied dryly.

Blastoise crossed his stubby arms across each other, his claws tapping his elbow. "Team Rocket is long gone and she seems to be nice." He looked at the rest of us as Charizard gave him a doubting look. "While we're here, why not make a few friends, if not go out with someone? It won't hurt," he suggested.

I sighed. Blastoise and Espeon both seemed to be on board with this dating idea. They had good points, too. He did need to open up to others and at least become friends with more people other than Blue and Leaf. He talked a lot around them but he talked the absolute most around his mother and it would be good for him to open up even the slightest bit to have connections with other people.

While their intentions were good, Blastoise and Espeon's suggestion sounded harder than they realized.

However, Charizard also gave a good reason why we shouldn't help Red pursue White. He would never be able to forget what had happened seven years ago at Saffron City. Alongside other events, the trust he had with other humans was so low even I knew he'd avoid making new friends even if his life depended on it.

"In any case, he's gotten much better about his socialization. So what if they start liking each other? Shouldn't that be a good thing?" Venusaur asked curiously.

Espeon nodded, smiling again. "I say he can start dating if it happens after the tournament. We can't have either of them distracted, I'm sure her pokemon agree," she replied calmly. "You guys do too, right?"

"You know we can't tell him what to do, right?" Snorlax asked. "It's not up to us what he wants to do and when."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm just saying it wouldn't be a good idea to start dating now!"

While I didn't completely agree, I did know it was a bad idea to have Red even think about dating at a time like this—the tournament was important!

The water stopped running and a few moments later, Red stepped out in clean clothes, tossing the dirty ones to the side of his bed then blinked at us when he noticed us through the door, silently asking what we were all up to as we all stared at him.

Espeon trotted over to him and then the gem on her head glowed a bit to communicate our decision. "We've decided that you're allowed to like White, but you aren't allowed to date her until after the tournament," she informed him and he stared before there were a few scattered nods while I just shrugged.

It was obvious he wasn't expecting to hear that by the way his mouth opened and then closed itself several times, trying to think of what to say. He was silent for a long time and stared at Espeon until he abruptly started to laugh despite the fact his face turned a bright shade of pink, confusing the rest of us.

"You know what 'catching someone's eye' means, don't you?!" I exclaimed, frustrated.

"I think it's sweet!" Espeon exclaimed, twirling around in a happy circle.

Leave it to her to find anything like that sweet and cause our trainer to blush all over again and even make Venusaur chuckle softly by the way he was acting.

Red finally shook his head, his laughter dying down. Let's not talk about this right now. Mom is going to be here tomorrow afternoon, and I don't need her to act like you, he told Espeon and looked directly at her as she snickered. The thought came to us unexpectedly and each of us jumped a little, except Espeon as she transmitted our thoughts to him and his to ours. Our mixed feelings must've hit him, because he looked at us with a somber face, watching each of us with his red eyes. "What's wrong?" he asked out loud.

I stood in front of him on the couch, crossing my arms across my chest. "You promise not to date?" I replied, my ears flat on my head.

He blinked and smiled a bit as he patted my head, purposely messing up the fur that I so diligently had cleaned before dinner. "I intend not to date White or anyone else, if that's what you mean."

"We believe it best that if you do decide to start dating, then it should be after the tournament," Venusaur said with a shake of his head.

I huffed at him, flattening my fur back down after Red removed his hand. "Then you can be friends. You're allowed to like her, but not date her until after. Promise?"

He shrugged indifferently but when he looked around at all of us again and saw us all staring expectantly at him, he sighed. "Fine, fine, I promise. But why—?"

"I mean, I'm okay with you dating someone!" Espeon interrupted cheerfully. "Your mom wouldn't have any objections! I'm sure she'd be excited!"

Snorlax nodded once in agreement. I frowned a little and stole a glance at Charizard, who shared the look. Now it seemed only he and I agreed with the no dating situation.

Red rolled his eyes at her, not seeing our look. "You're all acting like Mom now."

"Well, if we're your mom, then clean up your room before your real mom gets here," Blastoise said sternly, nodding towards the pile of dirty clothes and motioning towards dishes in the sink. Red only shrugged.

I rolled my eyes at him. Blastoise was always a stickler for cleanliness while Red, being a teenage human boy, didn't really care. A few dishes and clothes on the floor weren't that big of a deal, and it was always funny to see Blastoise force Red to clean up after himself in the cave we stayed in up on the mountain.

I noticed the gem on Espeon's head still glowing, and heard Red's thoughts once more as he sat down on the couch. Trainers will be finishing a tournament of their own soon. They're allowed to choose a champion to fight, for no title should they win, but if they pick us, I want you to be ready. Red looked up at the team seriously and we straightened ourselves.

Immature as we all may be, we knew when to get serious. After all, being serious was our trademark. We had to practice it sometimes.

There's no telling how strong these trainers are. There could be someone out there stronger than us.

For some reason, I doubted that.

Espeon cut off the connection and glanced at the rest of us. Somewhere deep down, though, I hoped that there was someone as strong as us down there. But even if they chose another champion to fight—and there was a plethora of them—we would still need to train.

All of these champions had won their title somehow and if battling against them meant a challenge, I was more than willing to train hard for the next month.

-x-

Red's mother has always been a kind, gentle soul so when we picked her up later the next day, she was introduced to Ethan on our way into the hotel that evening. Naturally, she was all smiles and even offered to make him chocolate chip cookies if he should ever visit Pallet Town again. I was surprised to hear that, I thought they had never met before! Apparently, they had met before while Ethan had been on his journey and Red was naturally annoyed by this. We were both all too happy when the younger wandered off to have dinner with Nate and Rosa while we went to find her room on the third floor.

She chuckled at her son's behavior, noticing the irritated look on his face. "Oh, come on, he isn't a bad kid, Red. The way you treat him, it was like he's your brother!" she said, smiling.

He rolled his eyes again, causing her to erupt in laughter.

She dragged one of her suitcases to her bed, preparing to go for the other one until Red took it for her. Her room wasn't nearly as extravagant as ours, with a single queen-sized bed, and a television on the wall with a dresser underneath. She had a much smaller closet than we did and her bathroom was still large compared to the size of the room. It didn't seem to bother her, telling us when we had arrived that she was happy to have a chance to stay at a fancy hotel for free—technically the League was paying for it, but who cared. It was still a very nice room, don't get me wrong, but it made me glad that we got a suite on a much higher floor.

She pointed towards the small table near her mini-kitchen. "Over on the table for that one, honey. Thank you." She opened up the one on her bed, pulling out a shirt to put away. "By the way, how is Blue? Daisy is staying in Pallet Town and says that she will watch the tournament on television when it starts." He grew even quieter than usual all of a sudden and she caught it immediately as her face softened a little. "What's the matter?"

He looked a bit startled and uneasily set the suitcase onto the table like he had been told to. I knew why he was suddenly so nervous, we had only been on television during our fights against the elite four and championship match and we hadn't expected to be on television at all, even though we probably should have.

She chuckled and hung up a blue shirt in the closet. "You didn't think this gigantic event wouldn't be on T.V.? All the champions duking it out against each other? Especially with you in the tournament?" Red rolled his eyes at her as he unlocked the suitcase on the table to help her unpack. "All of Kanto basically has their eyes glued to this event. No one would want to miss it! Besides, the Trainers World Tournament thing has been on T.V. for the past few weeks since the preliminaries! Some of them even reminded me of you when you first started. I remember when Pikachu didn't listen to you at all!"

I nodded to myself. Those were fond memories indeed. Most mornings included me using Thundershock to wake the lazy boy up, or deciding to scratch my ears instead of attacking like he'd wanted. The first time I'd met his mother, I instantly decided I liked her when she bothered him about taking a bath and changing his underwear.

It was also the first time I'd ever heard him speak so freely, arguing verbally with someone over something so small and giving genuine smiles to other humans. This time was no different, though he didn't start speaking until we were clear in her hotel room. As Red helped her unpack, I sat on her bed, poking my head into the suitcase she was trying to work on. What? I was curious to see what she brought, but she chuckled good-naturedly as she pushed me out. "Please don't, Pikachu, I don't need fur everywhere."

I huffed. "Espeon sheds more than me!" I tried telling her but sat back anyway.

When she watched Red's face suddenly turn pink as he opened her suitcase then look at her, she laughed again. Instantly he closed the case and casually, she asked, "What? A lady needs to have some form of support—"

"Mom," Red simply interrupted, giving her a hard, albeit embarrassed, look.

"Stop being a big baby and just give that to me then if you're too scared to look at Mom's underwear."

She suddenly grinned again he picked up the case to give to her and I knew it was storytime as she flashed a mischievous look towards her son. Despite Red being taller than his mother, one could easily tell they were related, if not by their appearance, but by the way they had that same smile whenever they were up to no good.

As she took the suitcase from him to put her undergarments into a drawer herself she said, "I remember when you were maybe three- or four years old, you went through my entire dresser drawer and put one of my bras on your head, had your underpants outside your jeans, then tied your blankie around your neck and called yourself 'Machoke Man.'"

He looked mortified instantly, shaking his head as if he'd heard the story before. "Mom!"

She didn't stop there, all too happy to embarrass her son. "You would run around the house for hours, pretending you could fly and do all sorts of things! Then you would try to get into my make-up, saying that superheroes needed masks to hide their identities. Your favorite line was, 'Evil-doers look out! Machoke Man is here!' It never rhymed, but you didn't care. You were so young, so full of energy."

Agitated, Red's face was turning a dark shade of his namesake as he said sharply, "Mom! Stop it!"

I was laughing so hard, that I doubled over trying to hold my sides. I'd have to tell the others later tonight about what he had done when he was younger, I was sure they would appreciate an embarrassing story of our trainer. I hoped his mother had other stories to tell, this one was remarkable. Hearing bits and pieces of Red's past was rare, we only got to hear about it from either Blue or Red's mother since he never really talked about it. Espeon asked him once, though he claimed it was boring and simple. Boring and simple as it may be, everyone had their childhood adventures that needed to be told by mom on occasion.

She smiled and closed the drawer when she finished putting her clothes away with a long, drawn-out sigh. I stopped laughing, confused at her sudden mood change and as she sat down on the bed, I hopped up beside her, sniffing her arm in curiosity. She looked solemn in her thoughts and I could see her age suddenly beginning to show on her face as she looked at Red. "What's wrong?" I wondered out loud. She scratched my head, subconsciously like Red did.

Red was also concerned, a questioning look coming to his face when he too sensed she was bothered by something.

"You aren't so young and naïve now. It makes me sad that I can't protect you anymore."

"You make good meals, does that count?" Red asked and sat down next to her.

"Shush, your mother is talking."

He only grinned at her, then slowly lost it as she turned her head to look out the window.

"I am very proud of you though. All that you've accomplished is indeed a large feat at such a young age. You were barely ten when you took down that awful, awful Team Rocket." She paused, watching gentle white clouds roll by the setting sun. "I never thought my own child would become the champion, much less take down a criminal organization. To be honest, I didn't think you could do it at first." Honestly, she wouldn't have been the first to doubt us. Even Professor Oak had his uncertainties. "When I heard of you fighting Team Rocket at Celadon City, then Saffron… I was so worried about you. That is something no one, especially a child, should have endured in the first place."

He hesitated, looking at me and then back to his mother. He was quiet for a while as he thought of what to say next then asked, "If you had the power to do something to help others, wouldn't you do that something?"

She glanced at him. "I suppose I would," she answered as she looked back out the window again.

He took a breath, looking outside as well while I climbed into his lap. With his right hand, he started to pet me and I gave a soft, almost purring just like Espeon as he scratched my cheeks gently. They were silent for a long time before he finally said, "Throughout our journey, we saw things we shouldn't have seen and did things we shouldn't have done. I was scared a few times, and other times I thought I would really die."

She sharply turned her head away from the window to look up at him. I believed this was the first time he'd admitted anything we had been through to her. A flash of concern swept over her face and she took his left hand and squeezed it slightly in worry but didn't say anything to interrupt him.

His face was set into a determined line and shook his head. "But if we had done absolutely nothing against Team Rocket, then I would carry that regret for the rest of my life." He looked back at her and smiled. "I wouldn't trade anything in the world to change the past. It brought me and my pokemon closer together and that is well worth all the sacrifices we made."

She smiled softly and held a proud look on her face. "I guess you are right. A mother always worries for her child, you know." She chuckled, shaking her head. "You are very wise for your age, Red. It's like you're a worn-out old man stuck in a spry teenager's body." He flashed a playful glare and she hugged him and he immediately hugged her back. "I love you, Red, and I am proud to call you my son, even if you had done nothing."

-x-

Eventually, we left her so she could catch up on sleep and met up with Blue downstairs in the cafeteria for dinner. I wondered why they chose to come here instead of using the complimentary room service that all of the rooms offered. I guessed that maybe they just enjoyed having fresh food right away. I shrugged to myself. I was sure we'd try out the room service eventually.

While we were getting food, I noticed Ethan piling his plate full of food and his ever-loyal companion, Typhlosion, following suit. Red rose a brow slightly at the comedic pile and I wanted to know how he was going to eat all of it.

Blue snorted. "Got enough food there, Ethan?" he asked, taking a drink with another hand to head to an empty table.

Ethan looked up, not expecting us, and blinked with a little confusion. "What? I'm hungry!" he objected.

I rolled my eyes but when I glanced at Red's plate and saw a similar amount, I just sighed. Teenagers really did eat a lot.

Ethan followed us to Blue's table, about ready to dig in instantly. "Oh, man, Silver and Lyra are so missing out!" he said as he eagerly went towards them.

I tilted my head. "Are they not here?" I asked curiously.

Typhlosion shook his head as he sat down as well with his own plate of pokemon friendly food piled just as high as Ethan's. "Nope," he answered. "We were surprised because they canceled at the last minute."

Red gave Blue an inquisitive look. I'm sure they were both just as curious as me, maybe even disappointed that two other trainers weren't here. I had hoped to against Meganium or even Feraligatr, as annoying and arrogant as the water-type was. They were both tough to battle in their own right, and Lyra had even gotten us down to three pokemon before, quickly learning more and more about pokemon training in the many times we have battled each other—Ethan didn't need to know that we battled her far more often than him. In fact, we battled often enough we could see her learning and adapting her own strategies rapidly, so much that we should probably start getting worried about going against her again alongside Ethan, who was undoubtedly stronger than the last time we had met on the snowy summit.

The others didn't seem to notice my internal thoughts, their silverware clinking against their plates. "Wait, they aren't here? Why not?" Blue asked, cutting into his chicken. I could see he shared the same disappointment as I did. He claimed he didn't like the other trainers that much, but I knew how much he loved to battle strong opponents.

"Well, Silver didn't want to compete 'cause he's lame and Lyra's mom is in the hospital, so she had to skip out to help take care of her."

Silver I completely understood. That kid was an odd cookie, but it was too bad about Lyra. I felt sorry for her, knowing how close she was to her family. "What happened to her mom?" I asked.

Typhlosion shrugged as he chewed and answered, "Dunno. Lyra just said she was in the hospital and didn't say anything else. She called us the night before we left and when I heard her, she was trying not to cry so it must be bad."

I frowned a little, glancing toward Red. As far as I knew, it was just he and his mother and if something were to ever happen to her, I knew he would be distraught as well. "I hope she gets better soon, then," I answered.

"I think Lyra would appreciate that." He smiled at me.

"Got room for one more?" asked a new voice, one I didn't immediately recognize until I glanced back and my heart dropped slightly.

White sat down in the last chair between Typhlosion and Blue, eagerly digging in.

"Hey, White!" Ethan said cheerfully. I tilted my head slightly as she returned the greeting. Since when had they become so familiar with each other?

Red was quiet, keenly focused on his meal. From the corner of my eye, I saw Blue smirk slightly, but said nothing to him as he also greeted her.

"You guys ready for tomorrow?" she asked, grinning. "I honestly hope I'm chosen to battle. Me and Serperior are ready to take on someone strong!"

"Who says they're going to pick you? What if they pick me?" Black asked from the tables of food, grinning as she scowled immediately.

"No one asked you! Go away!" she retorted.

Her brother laughed and put some food in a to-go box, most likely heading up to his room to eat there.

As I munched on a berry, I wondered why a fancy hotel like this even had a catering service when they already had room service. They didn't seem to be well-equipped for it, to be honest, most of the tables that held the food were fold-out tables that were covered in plain white tablecloths. It wouldn't surprise me if Professor Oak or Lance had set this up for everyone, there were a lot of surprisingly young champions.

"I'm sorry about him, he doesn't know when not to butt in," White said to us when Black closed his box and leaned back in her chair with a piece of bread in her hand.

"Be careful with her, she's a hothead," he told us as he walked by the table, quickly running away towards the elevator to avoid a punch from his sister.

Blue set his fork down, full, and seemed to be amused while watching the interaction. "A hothead, huh?" he asked.

"Oh, shut up," White grumbled as she tore into her bread.

He shrugged and I looked at Ethan when he said, "I want to go train somewhere but trying to find somewhere quiet around here is really hard."

White looked between us. "Well, I could take you to the beach I showed Red," she offered. "It's really quiet and secluded."

Blue glanced at Red. "That's the same beach you came back smelling like saltwater, isn't it?"

Red ignored him as White chuckled and added, "We can all go train there if you want after the 'champion introductions to the public.'" She raised her free hand to make quotation signs.

"I think that's a good idea," Ethan said immediately.

"And we'll drag Red along, too," Blue added.

My trainer suddenly looked up and shot him a slight glare that he ignored and Ethan laughed about.

"What? Training by yourself can only go so far." Blue shrugged nonchalantly. I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at him. We were doing just fine training by ourselves for seven years, what makes this suddenly so different?

As we all finished our dinner, I sat in Red's lap now eating a slice of apple slowly, and stared at White as she laughed with Ethan and Blue. She really was nice and talked a lot about her friends back home that were supposedly coming to watch the tournament.

When I glanced up at Red, I noticed him stealing glances at White, and at first, I thought he was just sizing her up as an opponent. He had this calculating look in his eyes when going against other trainers but it wasn't that look nor was it the wary face he gave strangers when they approached us. He wasn't as stiff as a brick when someone was too close into his personal bubble, either.

All of those looks seemed different than the ones he was giving White. The look he had now was calm, but I couldn't tell what he was thinking and I scowled to myself. Surely, he wasn't interested in her, right? Maybe he really did want to know more about her and become friends. I pushed down thoughts in the back of my head that told me that it was something more and something that I should be worried about.

I felt Red begin to stand and I immediately jumped onto the floor to walk behind him toward the elevators. The others went with us and as we waited for the elevator, I heard the front doors open to the hotel and heard Alder laughing about something but I didn't care that much since I was paying close attention to Red and White's interactions, as little and awkward as they may be. Thankfully, Alder and the silver-haired man he was with went somewhere else with a passing greeting as they walked past us all.

When the elevator doors opened, we all stepped inside and Red immediately punched the number 15. I watched as White and Ethan both pressed different numbers, laughing about how we were all on separate floors, except for Blue and Red. Ethan was out on the eleventh floor, grinning as he exited the elevator.

I was surprised when Blue also stepped out and even Ethan glanced at him with a confused face. "What're you doing, Blue? I know you aren't on this floor!" he told the taller trainer.

"I know, but Lance is and he wanted to see me before I went back to my room," he answered simply then looked back at White and Red. "You guys have fun. We'll see you tomorrow." He walked away and Ethan seemed confused still even as he glanced at the closing doors with a shrug towards us.

I felt Red's nervousness immediately rise the moment we were heading up to the thirteenth floor. I could see that White was slightly anxious as well, keeping her eyes pinned on the numbers above the door. We all stood there in the awkward silence that seemed to stretch on for hours until the elevator doors dinged and then opened up, where she immediately dashed out. "Uh, good night," she told us quickly and then turned, looking like she wanted to sprint to her room.

As the doors closed, I felt Red relax instantly. I looked up at him from my spot on the floor, tilting my head slightly. He just shook his head, quietly telling me not to worry about it. Neither of us were expecting the elevator to suddenly stop on the fourteenth floor. Red looked at the panel full of numbers and saw that the number fifteen was still lit up, meaning that Blue had indeed hit the right number.

The door opened and the tall, looming figure that appeared in front of us seemed just as surprised as us when we saw each other. However, this was no kind or friendly person we were used to and I jumped to all four of my paws with my cheeks sparking madly. Red was stiff as all nervousness and relief went away, promptly replaced with anger.

Giovanni stood there in all his glory, his hair slicked back just like he always had it, his dark tailored pants and matching jacket fitting him perfectly, sans the giant red R on his chest. He glared down at us in the way he used to all those years ago and emitted that dangerous aura that made me want to just Iron Tail his face.

When he got over his own shock, a rigid frown formed on his face and he curtly said, "Hello, Red."