Greetings and welcome back to 'All I Want For Christmas is a Pokémon'! My apologies for being fairly late with this update...I guess I just hit a patch of fatigue that had me feeling kinda wiped (which I can attribute a bit of that to keeping up with my nephew, who fairly recently turned 1 and is getting the hang of walking...so cute). But, worry not! I'm still going to work on this, so hopefully, fatigue won't be that much of an issue...for now.
Now, a recap of last chapter: AJ was set to take the stowaway Pikachu to see one of the medics but not before a sudden encounter with Maryse that thankfully got taken care of with a simple lie. We then switch over to see Stephanie dealing with a fairly frantic Paige and Emma, who give her a clue in regards to just what kind of Pokémon their stowaway could be, which leads the Billion Dollar Princess to making a plan to call another roster-wide meeting soon.
Recap done, onto the new chapter! I hope you all enjoy this, my dolls. =)
(Just a bit of a heads-up here...there's a bit of strong language in this chapter.)
As Alex would soon learn, solo searching for the stowaway was not fun. At first, she thought AJ's idea was a good one. So, to actually be searching for the stowaway all by herself, ...it had slowly become one of the most boring things the brunette had ever done-'Why can't this've been like Scooby Doo where the group splitting up to look around would lead to finding the object of their searching in no time?' the brunette thought with a groan as she kept up her search….
...Which only lasted a few minutes longer before she decided to put the search on hold to find Jeff and see how things had been going with him. 'And who knows? Maybe he'll let me borrow Splat and we can work on painting something.'
Liking the sound of this idea, the brunette walked on her way as she looked around for her brother, ideas for possible paintings beginning to bounce around in her he-
"Merde! (Damn it!) OK, whoever that was, can't you watch where you're going?!"
"Whoops! Sorry, Maryse. I guess I wasn't paying attention to where I was going," the brunette apologized, nervously scratching the back of her head.
Taking a breath before letting it out, the platinum blonde said "It's fine, Alexis. I'm, ...how do you say it? My head's not all in place, either."
"I think I get what you mean," Alex said. "So, what's got you seeming so lost? Normally, you always seem to have things in order in that pretty blonde head of yours."
Feeling a slight warmth in her cheeks at the shorter woman saying that, Maryse said "It's all of this stuff with the stowaway. It seems like we've looked for it everywhere, but still haven't found the pest."
"Well," Alex began. "Steph has said a lot that she just wants to find it and release it somewhere. Hopefully, we'll find it soon, as the searching is getting pretty annoying. And boring, very boring."
"Well, chérie (darling), you can only have so much fun when you have to help find something," the platinum blonde said with a laugh. "Just ...try to make the most of this?"
"I guess I can," Alex said with a sigh. Wanting to change the subject, Alex asked "Have you, by any chance, seen my brother around here anywhere? I was going to see if he'd let me borrow one of his Pokémon to go work on a painting before the show starts."
"Ahh, I see. Well, last I remember seeing Jeffrey he was in an area of where some of the other equipment crates are. You could try looking for him there."
"Equipment crates. Got it. Thanks for the heads-up, Maryse," Alex nodded before turning to walk away.
"De rien (you're welcome)," Maryse said. Watching as the younger brunette began to walk off, Maryse said "Alex. Wait a minute!"
Stopping as she turned to look at the platinum blonde, Alex asked "Hmm? What is it, Maryse? What's up?"
"I, uhh…. I just wanted to say désolé (sorry) for when I would tease you in the past. I guess I was just trying to fit in with the others and better get my bearings among you all."
"Ehh, that's water under the bridge. It's all in the past. I mean, yeah, it did hurt back then when it seemed like I had another ...fan on the roster, but I just let it roll off my back. No sense in dwelling on stupid shit like that," Alex waved this off as she rubbed her upper left arm.
Noticing this, Maryse pressed on. "Yes, yes, I know that. I just wanted to apologize for it all. I actually talked with your brother about all of this, and he said that it would be best if told you that. I just hope that you forgive me for everything that happened."
"And I do, Maryse. Really, I do. It's just ...I only ask one thing for now in return," Alex said after a moment's thought.
"And, just what is this one thing that you want?"
"Well," Alex began before scratching the back of her head. "Don't think this is weird, ...but I was wondering if I could maybe draw you and your Delcatty at some point. Doesn't have to be now, seeing as how we've got more important stuff to deal with. Just ...whenever you're free."
This was certainly a surprise. She had been expecting the shorter woman to say she wanted a match of some sort against her. So to hear her ask if she could draw her and her Delcatty was something she never would've expected. "Wow. Umm, ...sure, Alexis. I have no problem with that."
Alex hadn't been expecting Maryse to Yes. So, getting this answer was definitely one of the bigger surprises she had gotten in recent memory. "Awesome. Well, I'll be sure to let you know when I want to draw you and your Delcatty. See you later, and wish me luck with finding Jeff."
"Bonne chance (good luck), Alex," Maryse laughed with a wave before she turned her attention to finding her faithful feline.
...
Delcatty had been walking along by itself when she noticed that her Trainer wasn't with her. Retracing her steps, the feline felt a sense of relief when she found her Trainer talking to one of the other humans that traveled along with them. Managing to find a table to hide under, she sat and listened to her Trainer and the other human, the one known as Alex, had a talk with the most curious thing being talk about drawing. Delcatty sat in wait for a bit longer before she watched Alex walk away. Seeing that the other woman had been gone long enough, the feline heard her Trainer call out for her. Feeling that she had been hiding long enough, Delcatty walked out from under the table and said "Nyaa!"
...
Retracing her steps in the hopes of finding her faithful feline, Maryse called out "Delcatty? Delcatty! Où es-tu (Where are you), my précieuse (precious) Delcatty?" Looking under the tables in the area but not finding anything, the platinum blonde started to feel a bit worried until-
"Nyaa!"
Spinning around as she saw her faithful feline, Maryse breathed a sigh of relief as she ran to meet Delcatty and then, dropping to her knees, gave the feline a hug. "There you are! Oh I was so worried about you."
"Nyaa," Delcatty responded as she relaxed in her Trainer's embrace and listened to her soothing words.
...
Her walk with the stowaway to the medic's office had been going pretty well. The only real hiccups AJ had to deal with were a few people asking her about the Pikachu she was carrying around-"This is Kaitlyn's Pikachu that she calls Sparky. I'm just taking him to try to find Kait because he's been missing her a bit," the brunette lied to them.
"I gotta say, Sparky, you've been pretty well-behaved," the Latina said in a soft voice with a smile. "I was honestly worried you would've tried to zap most of the people that saw us. So, it's very good that you didn't."
"Ka Pika," the Pikachu responded after hearing this. From what the human was saying, it sounded like she was pretty pleased with how it managed to keep its temper under control and not attack any of the other humans they encountered. And in a way, ...Pikachu was feeling pretty pleased with itself for this.
Hearing this coming from Pikachu had AJ feeling pretty pleased by how things were going herself. She never would've thought that one of her initial thoughts about dealing with the stowaway would've worked. 'I guess giving it hugs and kisses in a way actually helped. Pikachu seems so calm and content right now. I just wonder…. What if-'
"AJ? There you are. What brings you to these parts? And what are you doing with a Pikachu?" the Latina could vaguely hear.
Snapping out of her inner thought bubble and looking to see who it was, AJ nervously said "Hey, Kait. Hey, Lay. Uhh, I can explain."
*needle scratching a record* Ruh-roh! Looks like AJ and Pikachu have been caught by Kaitlyn and Layla. This ...may not be good or end well. ...But, on a slightly better note, at least Maryse has finally worked to bury the hatchet between herself and Alex. So, I'd say that's a good thing. ...But, back to AJ and Pikachu, ...this may not end well. We shall find out how this goes...next time! Until then, don't forget to RR please. =)
(Stay safe and healthy out there, lovelies. *sends love and good vibes out to you all*)
