9: Finding N
Pikachu
It was getting tedious searching the city every single day and we had yet to find N, or even spot any other people or pokemon watching us. Perhaps it had all been a fluke and Bisharp was just a one-time thing. I hoped that was the case. We had enough life-threatening disturbances to last the rest of our lives.
Our search eventually dwindled over the next few days when no one found N in town, Espeon hadn't sensed a thing around our room and Giovanni hadn't come to us again. It was almost unnerving that nothing was happening but we at least got a few hours of training in every day before we went out for a quick look around town until we eventually just stopped looking.
I couldn't help but notice how Red had gone to search with Black and Ethan during that time, while Blue stuck with White. Maybe my trainer was trying to prove to us that he didn't like her but by then even Charizard knew better, much to the fire-type's displeasure. He repeated over and over again how much he didn't like how much alone time the two humans were spending together and vowed to us that he would never accept her. Espeon just rolled her eyes and called him an 'overdramatic, overprotective and temperamental lizard.'
The days passed by rather quickly after we started to put our minds to training, stalker pokemon and resident ex-mob boss all but forgotten and before we knew it, mid-May turned into June. The gym leaders who had won over their regions were having their final matches this week and I was disappointed but not surprised to hear that Giovanni had beaten Brock to claim that spot.
On Monday, I was starting to get antsy. I wanted to start our tournament and know who we were up against and prepare for the upcoming battles, but unfortunately, no one would know who they would be up against until Friday. All we could do was wait and see.
I followed Red out of the room and when we were outside, I made a face when the air started to get warm. It was already getting hot, but thankfully it wasn't so bad that it made me want to run back inside and hide in the air conditioning. I paused on the stairs as my ears flicked themselves towards the sounds of a battle not too far away and I looked up to see Red heading in that direction anyway.
We weren't going our normal route to the beach this time and it made me wonder what we were going to do today. Were we going to have a battle with someone? I missed battling, we hadn't battled someone in such a long time.
We stopped at a park close to the chateau and as we entered, I saw two pokemon on a small field, though the blue one collapsed just as we entered. Serperior looked triumphant, thumping his tail against the ground, and turned when he heard us coming close while on the other side, Black pouted and went to his fainted pokemon with a full restore in his hands. "You always pick Serperior," he complained as White laughed.
"Then stop picking Samurott! You always pick Samurott when it's one versus one," she answered with a smile. Serperior nodded with agreement, looking happier than I'd ever seen him as she patted his head and healed him with the last of the full restore from Black. The blue pokemon that I could safely assume was Samurott shook out his fur and got back up to his paws and let out a yawn, complaining to his trainer that he was hungry.
Black huffed at White instead, crossing his arms across his chest as he scowled at her. "Well, you're scared of Cofagrigus, and since I'm such a caring brother I never pick him!"
"Everyone's scared of Cofagrigus! Pick a different pokemon to be on your team!"
Her twin looked offended. "Hey! Cofagrigus is awesome! He makes really good cookies and definitely doesn't deserve all the hate!"
White paused, surprised. "Wait, Cofagrigus knows how to bake cookies?"
"Yeah, and he's a better cook than you'll ever be!"
Red looked back and forth between them as we listened to the siblings squabble and watched them finish healing their pokemon. I glanced up at him and he returned the raised brow. Times like these made me glad that Red was an only child.
She scowled right back at Black again and pointed at him with an index finger. "I can make a mean pot roast and you know it!"
"Pfft, you burn everything you touch!"
"No, I don't!"
By now, Red and I were leaning against the fence, watching them banter until they would notice us. At this rate, I doubted it would be any time soon. Samurott even saw us, but as curious as he looked, he didn't let Black know that we were there as he sat down lazily, waiting for the twins to finish arguing just like we were.
"Cofagrigus doesn't burn everything."
"Yeah, well, pick someone else other than Cofagrigus! Like Emolga! Emolga is just fine!"
"Yeah, 'cause he stands yay high!" He motioned with his hands the short height the pokemon would be. Black suddenly blinked when he finally saw us and turned towards us with a smile and wave. "Hey, Red!" he greeted.
White turned quickly to face us and smiled. "Good morning!"
Serperior simply nodded towards us yet he couldn't help his slight glare when he glanced at me but said nothing.
Black looked at Samurott and grinned a little. Samurott returned the look, their unspoken communication telling me that they knew what they were up to. I sensed mischievousness suddenly radiate from the two of them and I heard him abruptly declare quickly and in a single breath, "Samurott and I are gonna go somewhere else and train and probably get some breakfast so I'll see you two later today, bye!"
White shot a glare towards her brother's back as the two suddenly sprinted away towards the city. "Black! Black, get back here you stupid, lazy bum!" she shouted but it was pointless, he was already gone. She sighed and didn't do anything for a few moments, leaving it awkwardly silent for a nearly full minute before she mustered the courage to turn towards my trainer.
Red had given Serperior a poffin, who delightfully took it and he gave a small smile as he gave the teenager his full trust, going so far as to nudge his hand for another. I scowled. I didn't like Serperior and Serperior didn't like me, but one little poffin and suddenly, he was Red's best friend. I wanted to shove him away but when White walked up to him, I simply accepted the fact that Red was oblivious to our dislike of each other.
White rubbed his head as she got close. "I think that's enough poffins for today, Serperior," she said and smiled when he pouted and even looked at her with the best puppy-dog eyes I'd ever seen. She seemed to be used to his begging faces and looked up at Red. She was abruptly nervous all over again and I tilted my head slightly as she asked, "So… um… Red, what are you up to today?"
Red thought for a moment and shook his head. "Training, mostly," he answered simply.
"Oh, yeah… training. That's—that's something we need to do too, huh Serperior?" She laughed nervously as she rubbed the back of her head.
Serperior stared at her with a confused blink and continued to stare as she looked back up at Red. Then he looked at me without a glare and I just shrugged. At least we could both agree that humans were strange creatures.
She coughed quietly to catch Red's attention again. "Black actually suggested this. He, ah, he said…" Her face turned a beautiful shade of ripe tomato and Red's face twisted with sudden confusion when she started to fiddle her thumbs together.
Were humans seriously this dull when it came to any form of attraction or was it just my trainer?
White took a deep breath and finally blurted too fast for any human or pokemon to understand, "HesaidifIlikeyousomuchIshouldaskyououtonadatebutIdon't—" is she even breathing? "—knowifIshouldbecausewhatifyoudon'tlikemesoIdon'tknowwhattodo."
She gasped and Red blinked a few times as he tried to comprehend what in the world she tried to say before he started to laugh, the rather unexpected sound startling the girl.
She blushed again when he finally stopped, a smile still on his face as she grew frustrated, most likely with herself. "I-I'm sorry, you probably didn't understand half of that, huh? Black gave me the idea last night. He said if… if I, well… enjoyed your company so much, we should do something... um, you know… together." She gulped as the blush returned. "H-he kinda figured it out a long time ago. I'm sorry, this is really hard."
My eyes widened. Was this a confession? That night when I had pushed her into him was no mere coincidence! I felt a victory for O.G.A.D. and myself as I smirked. Espeon was going to kill me. Hey, it was her fault for not wanting to walk around with us today.
I looked up at my trainer and sighed immediately at his puzzled face. Why was he confused? She was admitting her crush to him and he was letting it go right over his head.
White's hands fell apart during his silence, trying to rid herself of the nervousness that controlled her. "Are you hungry? I'm hungry. Like, starving hungry. Enough to eat an entire bouffalant. Let's go eat breakfast. I know a good place here, and it isn't really that expensive."
Serperior seemed extremely confused by his trainer's behavior and then slowly began to understand, his eyes widening slightly as he looked back and forth between the two humans. He then looked down at me and then back again, saying nothing as if his mind had been blown.
I snickered at his look, jogging after Red as they started walking. When I got close to him, I tugged on his pant leg and he stopped to look down at me. "I need you to get Espeon out! I need her to tell everyone else something!" I told him as White looked confused.
"Ah… what's he saying?" she asked.
Red shook his head but reached behind to grab Espeon's pokeball.
Espeon appeared soon and stretched. "I wanted to nap some more," she whined but tilted her head when she saw the others with us. "What's wrong?" she asked, the gem on her head glowing.
"We don't know, Pikachu just started rambling something," White answered and Red nodded.
Espeon looked between the two and then glanced at me with a curious face.
I knew I had to lie now. I didn't want either of them to know that we had plotted O.G.A.D. just yet. "Espeon was just telling me before we left the room that she wanted to walk with us before it got too late." I looked at Espeon, silently begging her to understand that I needed her to stop translating.
She seemed to understand and that made her even more curious and came to my side and looked up at the humans with a nod. "He's right. I wanted to sunbathe more but we didn't have enough time."
Red looked a little confused but slowly nodded, thankfully accepting the answer. He and White turned around again, both of them quickly losing interest as they walked ahead of us.
Espeon's gem stopped glowing and she looked at me. "You better have a good reason why you woke me up. What do you want?" she asked me with a huff. "I was having a really good dream, too."
I grinned. "Look at them right now and tell me that this isn't O.G.A.D. in the works," I told her.
Serperior looked confused as he slithered beside us. "What is O.G.A.D.?" he asked but we both ignored him.
Espeon instead looked ahead as we trailed behind Red and White and ever so slowly, she started to grin.
"So, I figured that we should tell Blue and Ethan's teams somehow to keep them away from us for today," I continued, my tail swishing back and forth as we walked on the sidewalk towards the city.
Serperior suddenly slithered in front of us, impatient that we hadn't answered him. "What are you two plotting?" he hissed, the famous glare of his trained back onto us.
Espeon seemed unfazed by his tone and smirked at him. "O.G.A.D. is something we talked about on the beach a while ago," she answered coolly, walking around him to keep our humans in our sight. "Zebstrika and Mienshao were both all for it, too. Did they tell you anything?"
Serperior looked unsure as he watched us two and then started to follow us again. "You mean they weren't joking?" he asked then turned his eyes towards White. "But Hilda and Red don't have anything in common. They just seem like another pair of trainers to me."
Espeon chuckled. "They have a lot more in common than meets the eye." She stopped behind them as we waited to cross the road. "Red won't tell anyone, but he loves to watch rom-coms, he's a total sap for them. Plus, they're both very outdoorsy people, I can tell White doesn't like being cooped up inside for long and Red doesn't either."
Serperior shook his head when the light changed and we crossed the street. "No, she does not." Then he glanced at her, amused. "How did you know what kind of movies she likes? Did you read her mind?"
She chuckled. "Maybe," she answered in a sing-song tone.
I rolled my eyes at the two of them. "Anyway, can you tell the others to keep Ethan and Blue away? I don't want this moment to get interrupted by them," I interrupted.
Espeon nodded and the gem glowed again. "Please keep Ethan and Blue away, O.G.A.D. is underway!"
There was a pause before I heard Alakazam's distinct voice answer, "O.G.A.D.?" That seemed to be the common question around here.
"Do you honestly think we'll be able to keep Blue away from Red?" said an uninterested Machamp.
"You make it sound like it's some ultra-important mission," Scizor mentioned.
Togetic was quick to respond with, "It is super important!"
"We need details as soon as possible!" Pidgeot's excited voice said.
I heard Ursaring's tired sigh then he asked, "If it's so important, how will we get Ethan away from Red today?"
"And Blue too? He's been telling us he wants to have a mock battle," Gyarados added.
"I could always just sit on Blue," Arcanine offered.
"Just do whatever you can to keep them in their rooms until we get back," Espeon said and cut off the connection as we neared the central plaza of the city. She glanced at me. "That should do it."
I snorted. "Yeah, and hopefully Arcanine doesn't suffocate Blue with his fur," I said and she laughed.
We finally stopped at a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant called Flapjack Central and Red opened the door, holding it open for the rest of us. Upon entering, the overwhelming scent of syrup hit my nose and I couldn't help but feel excited. I would say I smelled waffle more than pancake, though Espeon would tell me that pancakes tasted better. To each their own, I suppose.
The waiters allowed Serperior, Espeon, and I to remain out of our pokeballs as long as we didn't cause a ruckus, and obediently Espeon and I sat down on either side of Red's side of the benched seats and Serperior slithered beside White.
She grabbed one of the menus that were sitting on the edge of the table and after briefly looking it over, she said, "The house scramble is really good. So are their pancakes, they're to die for." She then glanced at Serperior. "You want your usual?"
Serperior nodded eagerly. "Yes, please!" he said.
Red stared at the menu a little longer than she did before he nodded once, setting it down as Espeon pointed to a picture with a fruit bowl. "That looks good. We can all share that," she said and he looked at me as I pointed to the picture of a plate full of pancakes. Espeon nodded eagerly and looked up at him. "Please, can we get pancakes?" she begged, making sure he could understand.
"I thought you wanted fruit," I told her.
"I said we could all share it."
He sighed. Just don't go crazy this time, his thoughts answered and I nearly jumped for joy. I high-fived Espeon, seeing how excited she was as well. Sweets were very rare and human sweets tasted much better than the average poffin did.
White watched our exchanges with a smile, then finally looked up at Red. "How do they know what you're saying if you don't say anything?" she asked curiously.
He smiled a little and patted Espeon's head, causing her to immediately purr.
"I knew that." White hid her face behind the menu again and I watched Serperior look down at her and then turned his head towards us.
"Why is she blushing?" he asked.
It took everything for Espeon not to jump up and squeal by the way she nearly started to dance on her paws but she stayed as calm as she could and remained sitting beside Red.
I was surprised Red was as calm as he was, I thought he would be just as nervous as White, however, all I sensed from him was his naturally calm demeanor and focus on the smallest details. There was a heavy air of uncertainty about him, though. He still had no idea what to do even as a waiter came up with water cups and to take our order. He simply pointed to the fruit bowls and held up three fingers, then towards the house scramble that White had suggested and a plate of pancakes for us.
After White ordered her and Serperior's food, she looked at Red. "So, usually when people have a meal together, they talk about something." Her eyes lit up and she smirked at him. "And although we may be eating breakfast and hanging out, don't think I won't go easy on you during the tournament."
That was finally something that caught Red's interest and he narrowed his own eyes in a challenging way, giving a slight grin as she returned the smirk.
"We're both champions, and although I don't run around and brag about it, I can be a tough opponent." She paused when Red rose a brow. "What? You saw me take down Samurott this morning, didn't you?" She clapped Serperior's back proudly. "Serperior is awesome! He's been with me through everything!"
Serperior nodded quietly, using his tail to grab a water cup for him to drink.
Red then patted my head and smiled as I glanced up at him curiously.
"I'm kinda curious though, which was your starter: Charizard, Blastoise, or Venusaur? I heard Kanto gives out a charmander, squirtle, or bulbasaur to new trainers as starters."
Red shook his head and then briefly lifted me. I gave her a peace sign with one paw, the other holding a straw from the cup I had been drinking water out of.
"Pikachu your starter?"
He nodded then set me back down.
"Oh. I didn't know Kanto gave out pikachus as a starter."
"Not anymore," Red finally answered out loud.
"Really?"
Red nodded again.
"Huh. That's really weird. How come?"
He shrugged. Honestly, we'd never asked why I was given out as a starter and not the typical three Professor Oak gave out now. It reminded me to ask him the next time we saw him, but I was sure I'd forget by the time we got back home.
White changed the subject as she flicked her gaze back toward the other human. "But is your real name Red? It's not like me and Black, with our aliases."
Red nodded.
"What about Blue?"
He gave another nod.
She laughed as she said, "Man, your parents must've been on something when they named you."
Red smiled, shrugging to tell her he didn't mind, and scratched Espeon's head.
"Well, do you have anything to ask me? I've been asking you, like, a whole lot of questions." She smiled. "Ask me anything! Don't be shy!"
Red was silent for a while and I was a little afraid he'd lost his voice before he finally nodded to himself, looking at White. "Why do you call yourself White? I think Hilda is just fine," he said and blinked when her face turned pink.
"I don't know, it's just something silly. I've never really liked my name, everyone made fun of our names when we were little so we decided to call ourselves Black and White after the two legendaries." Her face flushed in embarrassment and she gave another nervous giggle. "The story of the two heroes always fascinated us and yeah, that—that's why." She twiddled her thumbs and forced herself to pull them apart and looked at him despite her small blush. "Ask me something else!"
He smiled and that mischief returned to his crimson eyes. I tilted my head. What was he up to now? "Do you blush for everyone or just me?"
My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets and I nearly dropped my water cup. Was he flirting!? I can freely admit that I was proud of him for coming out of his shell. One look at Espeon and she was the same way, smiling brightly and she looked at me with a nod that the two humans didn't see.
With that said, White's face turned bright red again and she tried hiding it with a two-handed facepalm and tried ignoring Red's laughter. I was just happy that someone could make him laugh so much, especially from someone other than Blue.
"Yes—I mean, no! Shut up! It's not funny!"
She too was smiling but the furious blush finally faded as the food came and I faintly heard her stomach growl in response. Both teenagers ate ravenously and I stole a glance towards White; judging by the chomping noises coming from her side of the table, it was possible this was also White and Serperior's first meal of the day.
As we ate, I saw Espeon's tail twitch. She only ever did that if she sensed something and I blinked as I looked at her, chewing a piece of pancake covered in syrup. "What's going on?" I asked as I shoved another piece into my mouth.
"Pikachu, we need to distract Blue and Ethan now! Before they get inside and know they're here!" she said and abandoned her half-eaten pancake and fruit to slide out from the table.
"But I want to eat my pancake!" I whined but sighed right after. I knew if I left her alone, nothing good would come out of it. I took a slice of an apple for the road and slid off the bench to jog after her. I briefly heard Serperior slithering behind us, but I didn't care if he stayed to finish his meal or not.
Espeon opened the door with her psychic power and I noticed from the corner of my eye Red and White were looking at us pokemon in pure and innocent confusion, though Red quickly caught on and narrowed his eyes with his face clearly telling us, Don't you dare leave me alone with her!
I only smiled at him and ran out to catch up to Espeon. We ran around the corner and I was surprised to see Blue and Ethan already and both of them jumped in surprise. Then they looked confused when they couldn't see either of our trainers.
"Where's Red?" Blue asked.
"And why is Serperior with you guys?" Ethan added.
I nearly pointed toward the restaurant but with one death glare from Espeon as the gem began to shine, I pointed in the other direction. "That way… yeah, they went that way," I mumbled half-heartedly.
Ethan looked towards the dead-end street while Blue just crossed his arms across his chest. "Why are all you pokemon acting so strange all of a sudden? Pidgeot was excited about something, Gyarados was blocking the door and Jolteon didn't shock him for once. Then Arcanine nearly suffocated me with his fur—I'm pretty sure I'm going to be coughing up hairballs because of it!"
Ethan laughed but it quickly faded as he said, "Well, at least you weren't manhandled by a giant Ursaring all morning. You saved me from watching another episode of a stupid talk show Scizor likes to watch! He literally held me in his lap! He never wants to cuddle, so it was really, really weird. It's like they wanted to keep us away from something. What are you guys up to?" He turned his eyes to us suspiciously.
Blue nodded in agreement. "Espeon, you're usually the one causing problems."
Espeon huffed at that.
"Tell us what is going on."
She shook her head immediately. "No because I don't always cause problems around here," she retorted.
He groaned loudly, annoyed. "We'll get to the bottom of this. Let's go, Ethan." He took a step towards the restaurant, the complete opposite of where I had pointed.
I panicked slightly and jumped in front of them, waving my paws at them to try and get them to stop. "They aren't there, they're over there! They went past the fence, I promise!" I said to them, pointing towards the dead-end again.
"Yeah, you say one thing, but it's usually the other way—you aren't a very good liar, Pikachu," Ethan said with a snort.
I gave Espeon a hopeless look. I was a bad liar and Serperior sighed before he slithered in front of the two humans. With agile movement, he used his tail to grab their arms that were beside each other to pull them back as they walked past us.
They both yelped as he spun them around to face Espeon before letting them go. "Thank you, Serperior."
He nodded at her quietly and then came back to our sides.
Espeon then looked at Blue and Ethan as they rubbed their arms and told them, "Pikachu is correct. Red's being swarmed by pokemon again and White chased after him. Heard that it's a bunch of bug-types that feast on human flesh. You had both better go find them before they get digested in bug goo."
I smacked my face with a paw. That wasn't the lie I would want her to go with but Ethan glanced at the fence in a worried expression anyway. He was extremely gullible when it came to things like that.
Blue rolled his eyes, seeing right through her lie. "Then if that is the case, why are you two so desperate to stop us from coming this way?" He looked annoyed but I knew Espeon found some sort of cruel joy in tormenting them. "This is ridiculous, Espeon!"
She licked her paw innocently to wash her face. "Maybe you should have stayed in your rooms today and this wouldn't be happening."
Ethan suddenly narrowed his eyes at us as something clicked in his mind. He then pointed an accusing finger at Espeon and yelled, "You're the one who made Ursaring hold me hostage?! Do you know how uncomfortable that was?!"
"Please lower your voice, you'll make yourself look like an idiot." I laughed as Ethan sputtered something. He just wasn't used to Espeon's quips and insults yet. "It was not my intention for him to do so. I will apologize on his behalf." She finally got onto all four of her paws, getting ready to head back. "It is best you both return now. Red and White are currently occupied at the moment and it is a very top-secret meeting that you two have no part in."
"Super-top secret," I said with a nod at the humans.
"So secret that no one else but them should know," Serperior added. I was surprised he was totally on board with this so easily.
Ethan seemed suspicious but finally sighed in defeat. "Fine. We'll leave him alone for now," the golden-eyed boy said.
Blue nodded in agreement. "But don't think we won't figure out what's going on. Super-top secret or not," he added with a look towards Serperior and I.
I smiled innocently up at them and waved as they turned around and went the opposite way. I made sure they were gone before we headed back towards Flapjack Central.
"That was close. Too close," I muttered. Then I rubbed my chin as I walked on my two back paws. "But why is it so bad for them to at least know he's on a sudden date?"
"It's not our place to tell them what is going on in Red's personal life. They don't need to know every single detail, as clingy as they are. If Red feels comfortable, he will tell them himself," Espeon replied calmly.
Serperior nodded in agreement. "I'm sure one of them will tell them later, anyway," he told me.
I couldn't help but scowl at him. "Why are you just agreeing with Espeon about everything?" I demanded.
He ignored me again as Espeon opened the door to the restaurant again.
I scowled as he slithered inside before me. I really didn't like him.
We headed back for the booth that held Red and White and I could see that they were almost done eating and had certainly slowed down since we had left them.
Red gave us a quizzical look as we slid back into our seats as if nothing had happened.
White looked confused as well but shrugged as she suggested, "Maybe they just wanted to go for a walk?"
"Yeah, let's go with that," I said as I popped a grape into my mouth.
-x-
We left the restaurant almost fifteen minutes later, completely stuffed and thirty pokedollars and twenty-four cents poorer, but happy. They led us through the city towards the beach and when we exited the small cave and blinked to adjust to the bright sun again, we realized it wasn't empty.
I saw Blue standing on Gyarados' back in the water, trying to stay balanced on the slippery scales on the water. Red rose a brow at the odd behavior and Blue only shrugged with a simple answer of, "Balancing."
Arcanine rushed over to greet us happily while the others of Blue's team gave us a brief greeting before they returned to doing whatever they were doing.
Red scratched Arcanine's chin when he was close enough and White seemed amazed as she pet his mane as well. "How do you keep his fur so soft?" she asked Blue when he jumped off of Gyarados.
"Lots and lots of brushing sessions," Blue answered. Arcanine barked to confirm it as his trainer glanced at Red and White. "Ethan and I were looking for you earlier, by the way. I don't know what is going on, but all of our pokemon were acting weird this morning, and that includes Pikachu, Espeon, and Serperior." He looked at us three with suspicious eyes.
Red tilted his head questioningly and looked at us two while I simply jumped onto his shoulder in a single leap. Serperior remained stoic, staying right behind his confused trainer.
"What do you mean weird?" White asked.
"Meaning that Arcanine sat on me to keep me in my room and Ethan was kept in his room, too."
Red immediately shot an accusing look at Espeon and she smiled as innocently as she could as he asked out loud, "What did you do this time?"
She shook her head and licked her paw to feign ignorance. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Pikachu, Serperior nor I did anything. We just told the others to keep Blue and Ethan in their rooms until we got back to the hotel. O.G.A.D. is in full effect and we didn't need any interruptions while we were out."
His face twisted in confusion just as much as Blue and White's, and he looked between us. "What in Arceus' name is O.G.A.D.?" Blue asked, bewildered.
Red shook his head, still looking at Espeon in disbelief. "O.G.A.D.?"
I was getting tired of hearing that now.
Espeon eyed them with a smirk. "That is something for you to figure out."
Blue groaned and motioned towards her. "See?! Weird, right?"
Red nodded in agreement then knelt to our level then I heard his thoughts through Espeon say, What is OGAD?
Without hesitation, Espeon cut off the connection to Blue and White, set her paws back down, and looked at him straight in his red irises to reply calmly, "Operation: Get A Date. We thought of it a while ago, actually. The other teams were all for it, though Charizard is still trying to keep you two apart."
Red's face was pink instantly. "What?" he blurted out loud with a dead-panned tone.
Blue blinked. "What, what?"
"What's what?" White asked, then glanced at Serperior as he kept an eye on Espeon as well.
Red looked up at them silently and then at us two, ignoring them for the moment.
"Espeon, Zebstrika, Mienshao, and Ampharos thought of it first!" I claimed though Red still seemed to be too shocked to say anything.
Espeon nodded. "We did but I wouldn't consider this breakfast a date, so the mission is still ongoing!"
Red shook his head. What in Arceus' name are you going on about? What is O.G.A.D.?
"We literally just told you what that meant," I said with a roll of my eyes but he ignored me.
Espeon chuckled instead. "You'll figure it out. You are smart, Red."
"Can someone please elaborate and tell us what the hell you two are arguing about?" Blue demanded.
I could tell Red was frustrated with us, but none of us would any of them that O.G.A.D. wouldn't be over until the two most stubborn humans in the world directly admitted their feelings for each other, no matter how many dates they would have. He would eventually figure that out but until then, he decided we needed to train for the upcoming battles next week and the annoyed glare on his face told me he wasn't going to go easy on us.
Blue and White left after a long period of bewildered silence and Red took out the others to train us all. Blastoise questioned us mercilessly during the entirety of it, wanting to know what had put Red in such an awful mood. Espeon just laughed and told them all that he was just upset that he found out about O.G.A.D.
We only stopped training when there was no more beach left and we had to take Charizard to escape the rapidly rising tide. I looked down with awe when we were in the sky and landing on the cliff above the beach. White hadn't been kidding, the tide rose quickly and whatever sand we had been on, it was covered in water now. If we had stayed any longer, we probably would have been swept away to the sea.
Charizard landed on the ground with ease, allowing Red to slide off and turn around to face the ocean. The breeze felt amazing and I made an awed sound at the horizon. Charizard sat down beside a fallen tree log that Red used as a makeshift bench. He pulled his hat off briefly to wipe his forehead with an arm and let out a tired sigh. I looked at him and jumped up beside him, but got no further than just flopping onto my stomach with my hindquarters hanging off the ledge of the log.
He smiled apologetically and glanced down at his lap as Charizard laid down on the ground and set his large head on his lap. Red patted his head gently and we sat there for a while as the air grew cooler and the sun started to set. It was a pretty view and we all stared at the ocean as the sky turned pink, then slowly a dark blue until it turned black. Call me biased, but nothing beat the sunsets and sunrises on our mountain home.
Eventually, our hunger won over and Red eventually stretched but stopped when Charizard suddenly looked at the trees with a soft growl. I also turned around, hearing a twig snap, and was about to jump ahead with an Iron Tail until I heard a delighted yelp, "I found you! Daddy, they're over here!"
I sighed, relieved and Charizard's growling instantly died off when Deerling jumped forward. She seemed to be unaware of how close she already was to us and jumped right into Red, knocking him off of his feet and I laughed as he tossed a magical poffin out of his pocket and off behind the log to get her off. "I'm very sorry about her," Sawsbuck instantly said and easily jumped over the log, nudging Red with his snout gently. "You aren't hurt, are you?"
Red grunted as he sat up, then patted his head to tell him he was fine.
"Nah, he's okay, he's had worse," I told him.
Sawsbuck nodded and then looked at Deerling as she swallowed the poffin. "What have I told you about jumping like that? Apologize to Red!"
Deerling looked instantly guilty and shyly went to Red. "I'm sorry for knocking you over, Red," she said. "It was an accident."
"You need to be careful from now on. Be more aware of your surroundings."
She nodded. "Yes, Daddy."
Charizard sighed when she jumped beside him happily, too young to notice his annoyance but thankfully he didn't snap or even growl at her. Maybe he had a soft spot for kids; he seemed like if he did, he wouldn't admit it to us.
"What are you two doing over here?" I asked, watching as Red got to his feet and brushed the dirt off of him.
"We were looking for you, actually. Someone wanted to meet you."
I frowned a little bit. "This someone isn't a bisharp, is it?"
Sawsbuck shook his head. "No, why would it be? Do you know a bisharp that's looking for you?"
I breathed a sigh of relief. "No reason."
He looked at the forest. "We found him wandering around the forest and I think he got lost, so maybe you should take him back to town with you."
I was confused and glanced at Charizard. He was frowning a little bit but we both looked at the trees as a human stepped out of the forest as he pulled a leaf out of his pale green-colored hair—one that seemed like it had come from Sawsbuck's horns.
He saw us and then suddenly smiled, kind and warm. "I heard you were looking for me," he told us.
Red stared at him and I did as well. "Wait, is that N?" I asked and looked at Sawsbuck.
The young man then looked directly at me. "I am."
I was quiet for the longest time before I finally let out a loud and startled yelp. "Wait, what? You can really understand me? That's not a joke? White wasn't lying to us?"
He seemed concerned but nodded. Red looked lost, looking back and forth between myself and the green-haired teenager, then stepped around the log to properly greet him.
N turned his eyes to him. "You must be Red. I've heard a lot about you."
I wasn't done questioning him, my curiosity had a firm grasp on me and I jumped onto Red's shoulder to meet his eyes. Thankfully he and Red were the same height, so I didn't have to look up when I perched on Red's shoulder. "So, you heard everything between me and Sawsbuck? And scolding Deerling?"
N chuckled. "Yes, I did." Then he glanced at Red again when he noticed his confusion. "I'm sorry. I am N, and your Pikachu is very talkative."
Red looked awed then looked at me. I didn't need to be a mind-reader to know he was thinking how cool it was to understand me without Espeon's help.
"How can you understand us?" Charizard asked. He seemed curious, but he stayed close to us.
"I've always been able to understand pokemon, I don't know how." We all stopped when we heard his stomach grumble and he looked embarrassed. He scratched the side of his head and then added, "Ah, Sawsbuck was right. I got lost on the way here."
Red finally smiled and nodded then climbed onto Charizard's back. He offered a hand to help N up and when he was sitting behind us, we took off and went straight for the hotel after bidding Sawsbuck and Deerling a quick farewell.
The ride there was just me interrogating N, wanting to know more about how he could understand us, but when he repeated that he didn't know, I felt disappointed. I figured out he was no psychic, but he was incredibly nice and seemed happy to hear that Charizard and I loved Red and we were one happy little family.
When I saw the hotel come into view, I watched Red pull out his pokegear and quickly text something then pocketed the small device back into his vest. I quickly saw the little screen say Message sent to Blue Oak and I knew just from that he had told him we were coming with N. I was so glad we didn't have to keep looking for him and now we could spend our last few days training before our tournament started.
As we landed, I glanced inside to see Blue just coming out of the doors. "Wow, you weren't kidding," he said. Red barely acknowledged him as he recalled Charizard to let him rest. Blue then jabbed a thumb behind him. "I got everyone gathered in Black's room, so let's get going."
"Dinner first," Red interrupted.
"Dinner?" He then glanced at N and Red as they walked past him to the doors. I chuckled as he sighed, just accepting that the two were hungry.
We quickly stopped by the cafeteria to get food. Red grabbed two boxes and handed one to N, who grabbed a few things to eat immediately and I wanted to laugh when his mouth watered at some of the food. Maybe it was just him being starving, I had no idea but he closed the lid to the box instead of digging right in and followed us to the elevator.
We were quiet the ride up and Blue led the way to Black's room. He knocked a few times until he opened the door. "They're here," he said and entered.
When we followed, I was surprised to see not only Black, but also Ethan, Rosa, and Nate all lounging in the room as well while White turned to face us from the kitchen and a glass of water in her hands. "Hi, N!" she said with a bright smile.
Black sat on the couch and turned around in his seat to smile at him. "Did you get lost again?" he asked.
"We don't talk about that," N answered.
Rosa and Nate were on both loveseats and they smiled when they saw him as well. "N!" Rosa said cheerfully and got up, bounding over to hug the taller male.
He returned it with a smile of his own, awkwardly patting her back. "Hello, Rosa. It's nice to see you again," he said as she let go.
I watched as Black gave N a fist bump and then he glanced at Ethan. "This is N," he said as he sat down at the table. "N, that's Ethan and Togetic."
"Hello," he greeted.
"Hi," Ethan replied and smiled at him while Togetic waved at him.
Red sat down at the table as well as N made his way to the table to eat his food. "Where've you been all day?" White asked us.
"Training! He put us through hell today," I whined, then made a delighted noise as she scratched my chin.
"Were you training the entire time?"
Red nodded and I allowed her to pick me up and scratched the fur on top of my head. I felt like I was in heaven as she scratched behind my ears. Her nails were slightly longer than Red's constantly trimmed ones, allowing her to get a deeper massage. When she stopped, I nearly whined but I did grab her hand to make her keep scratching me and pulled it back onto my head. She laughed and obeyed and from the corner of my eye, I saw Red smiling a little bit.
We then looked at N as he closed the empty box of food and he calmly glanced at Red. I felt my mouth open on its own. How did he eat all of that so fast? "I heard you are being watched by the Shadow Triad," he said to Red.
I frowned and closed my mouth, my happy mood suddenly gone, and looked at Red as he mirrored my look and nodded.
Blue was leaning against the wall and nodded as he answered, "Yes, and Alakazam said that he sensed a strange presence when we were training earlier as well. He said it was likely a dark-type pokemon, he couldn't pinpoint the location." He sighed. "It was probably our Bisharp friend that Espeon had seen a few weeks ago."
Well, that was news to me. Red gave Blue a concerned look although the latter waved it off with a quick, "We're fine."
N tapped the table once with a finger. "It is likely then all of you are being watched, not just you two," he said.
"Obviously," I couldn't help but mutter to myself.
"Oh, be nice to him, Pikachu," Togetic scolded.
"What? I'm not being mean!"
"No, but you're being rude."
"Obvious or not, you two should help keep an eye out for anything suspicious when you go and train," N interrupted.
I laughed as Togetic visibly flinched and yelled, "Holy moly, you can really understand us?!"
N blinked and kept his face blank and free of emotion. "Yes."
"Don't worry, I had a similar reaction," I said and laughed as she gaped at him.
She looked bewildered, then looked up at Ethan, using one of her arms to point at N. "Ethan! He can understand me! Why can't you be more like him!" she accused, much to Ethan's confusion and quiet, "Huh…?"
I glanced back at Red when I saw him shift slightly with unease so the others wouldn't notice. Knowing that we weren't the only ones being watched made him nervous and I went back to him, jumping into his lap to allow him to scratch my fur and calm himself.
"What does the Shadow Triad want anyway?" Rosa asked, though no one had an answer for that. "I thought we beat them already."
"I don't know," N replied. "I am no longer in contact with them."
My hopes fell instantly. I'd hoped that he at least had some form of communication with them but with one look at Red, I wanted to tell him not to go looking for them.
N continued and we looked at him as he said, "But you say this Giovanni person was visited by them?" Red nodded once while I was surprised. When had he been informed of everything that was going on? I decided not to think about it when he looked troubled and muttered, "It is disturbing. Maybe we should ask him some more details—maybe they have come to see him again."
I shook my head instantly. "That's not something we should do," I told him and N blinked, looking at me. "Giovanni isn't the kind of person who'll tell anyone anything so willingly. Besides, when he told us about what happened, he came to us at exactly 3:28 in the morning." I was still annoyed by that, I liked my beauty sleep. "I have a feeling that he would tell us if they visit him again, though."
"Well, then I supposed we can just wait then."
Ethan sighed. "This talking to pokemon thing is something I'm never going to get used to," he mumbled, mostly to himself but I agreed with him for the first time in history. "Can you translate?"
N did so and leaned forward to rest his head on a hand on the table. "I would suggest waiting for the Shadow Triad to relay information before doing anything else, though," he suggested.
It was the only thing we could do unless we wanted to go see Giovanni willingly but that was something I didn't want to do and I was positive Red wouldn't want to, either.
White clapped her hands together to cause all of us to look at her. "So Blue, since we are going to wait for a call, this is the later where you can explain who Team Rocket is!"
Blue rolled his eyes at her.
"Team Rocket was the biggest crime syndicate in Kanto and Johto," Ethan answered for him.
Blue sat up a little. "I don't know a lot of details about what happened, but basically Team Rocket was a group of criminals that had the most cliché goal in the world."
"World domination?" Nate asked.
He nodded at the younger trainer. "Bingo. But they didn't go around and ask for people to let their pokemon go. They started out stealing trainer's pokemon, then they quickly progressed to kidnappings, murder and took over Saffron City."
"What's in Saffron City?" Black wondered.
Blue leaned back in his seat. "Saffron City is home to Silph Co. HQ, which makes pokeballs and other trainer essential things, and we both went in there to try and get rid of them. I didn't do anything but my pokemon were all exhausted and Red pushed forward. I helped free a lot of the pokemon they wanted to experiment on, but then Red blew up the building."
"You blew up Silph Co.?!" Rosa exclaimed.
Red sighed as Blue looked at him and said, "See? You didn't need to blow it up."
"At least I never blew up a building," Nate added.
"It wasn't our fault!" I exclaimed.
N looked disturbed, though, stirring uneasily in his seat. "Then why would Team Plasma want to team up with Team Rocket? This is very troubling."
"There isn't much we can do," Black replied and tapped his chin thoughtfully. "If we thought you were hard to find, the Shadow Triad are practically invisible." He laughed. "And you're the one who found Red."
White looked at N and asked, "You think they would at least hear you out? Call them over and ask them what the hell's going on?"
N shook his head and hesitated before answering. "Maybe. They might still listen to me but as far as I know, they answer to Ghetsis and Ghetsis alone. If I can get a chance, I will do my best."
Rosa looked at Red, grinning at him. "And you just watch out for a potential visit. Easy, right?"
"No, not really." I looked at Red as he remained silent as ever, sighing quietly again.
The sound of a chair scraping on the floor caught my attention and I saw N standing up. "Well, I wish you all the best of luck in the tournament next week," N said with a smile. "I'll be watching in…" He pulled out a ticket from his breast pocket, squinting slightly. "Section E, row thirty-four, seat seven."
"You need to get glasses, don't you?" Nate asked and laughed when he glared a little.
He stuffed the ticket back into his pocket and shook his head. "No, my eyesight is perfectly fine."
"When did you get a ticket?" Black asked, standing beside him. "I thought you didn't like battles."
"My secret," N answered and smiled as Black scowled.
Ethan flashed a smile at everyone. "And we'll kick everyone's butts, right Togetic?" he proclaimed and Togetic smiled and nodded.
Red looked at him with a face that said, Really?
"Oh yea, Johto boy? You're on!" Nate retorted, their friendly rivalry sparking instantly.
White spun to Black and Rosa, her eyes slightly narrowed. "And neither of you are allowed to use Reshiram or Zekrom!" she declared.
"I wasn't going to!" Rosa objected.
"Who says I can't?!" Black retorted. "You?"
"Red, right?"
Red blinked, looking between them and then at me as I shrugged. I wasn't sure what they meant by using Reshiram and Zekrom, either. He smiled as White scowled at him when he didn't give her an answer.
"Fine, fine. I'm going to my room and I'm not coming out until later. Good luck, y'all need it!" she said and smiled as she exited the room.
The others exited shortly as well until N put a hand on Red's shoulder to stop him from leaving just yet. Red looked at him with a small frown. "Hilda was never like that around me," he said quietly as the others chatted with each other. "Don't hurt her."
I tilted my head a little bit as he removed his hand. Why would he tell us that? And why was he allowed to call her Hilda and not us? Red said nothing as he walked out, glancing at N one last time before we went for the stairs to get to our room.
I looked at my trainer with a confused blink. What in the world was that sudden passive-aggressiveness I sensed from them both? I thought they liked each other! As we entered the room, I watched Red release the others and grab bowls for our dinner and eyed him as he went to the table with his unopened box of food after giving us all food.
I decided to dismiss my thoughts before they started as I ate, my hunger taking over. When we were done eating, I told the others what happened and we were quiet for a while after that. "We will just need to be careful from now on," Venusaur said.
"And keep an eye out for Bisharp," Blastoise added with a nod.
"I just want to know what they want," Snorlax admitted.
Espeon sat on the bed as Red showered, curling her tail around her legs. "Who knows? We just have to wait and see," she said and sighed. "I don't like waiting."
"None of us do," I told her. "But without any leads, we have no idea where to look or even what to ask except for 'what's your evil plan we know it's evil,' or something like that."
Espeon rolled her eyes at me.
"What? Where's the lie, Espeon?!"
"This Shadow Triad seems to be good at hiding," Venusaur interrupted and glanced up as Red came out of the shower in a fresh tank top and shorts. "We just have to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid, like go after them by himself."
I heard Charizard snort and I could agree when he said, "Good luck with that."
When it came to dangerous things like that, Red was the king of doing stupid stuff. I just hoped we would be there to protect him from it.