A Brand New Chapter
Chapter IV
By: Shigeru
Insert Legal Disclaimer and Shounen Ai warning here.
Sorry for taking so long to get this part up, everyone. I've just been really busy with the holidays, and it's caused major writers' block. But, after listening to a little bit of inspirational music, that's all gone, now. So, I should be cranking out parts of this story as fast or faster than before.
~~
"Oh, God," Kasumi sobbed into hands, which were covering her face. It was now midnight. And in the hours since Satoshi had talked them into going ahead, Takeshi had watched Kasumi go from angry, to upset, and now, to downright depressed. The only time he remembered seeing Kasumi cry was when they had thought Satoshi and Pikachu to be dead, having found their bodies crushed under a chandelier inside of the Pokémon Tower.
"Kasumi . . . You had better think of finding transportation back to Hanada City," Takeshi said as soothingly as he could manage. The girl had been grinding even his carefully guarded last nerve.
It took several seconds before Kasumi's mind registered what Takeshi had said. It caused he to look up at him, a look of disbelief on her tearstained young face. "W-why on earth would I want to go back home..?" she stammered, obviously having no clue on what Takeshi had long since figured out.
"Because staying here any longer is useless. Satoshi won't be coming back. I've already arranged it with my father to take back control of the Nivi City Gym when I get there. Maybe you can talk your sisters into letting you run the actual gym, and let them handle the performances." Takeshi seemed so calm and calculated that Kasumi thought she would explode.
"What do you mean Satoshi won't be coming back?!" she roared, nearly putting every Gardie on the planet to shame in the process. She certainly had a way of making herself be heard. Although, perhaps, at the cost of a few eardrums.
"If here were coming, he'd be back long before now. Let's face it—for once, Satoshi outsmarted us." It was then that Kasumi couldn't take it anymore. She rushed into the back of the center, in the direction of the guestrooms that the center offered to passing trainers. On his way to his own room, Takeshi knew that if he woke before Kasumi, it was not likely that they would see each other again.
~~
Both Satoshi and Shigeru carried sleeping bags along with them. But when the small alarm clock Shigeru had brought along went off, sending a screech impossible to ignore echoing through the cave, only one was in use. Although it had two forms stuffed inside of it.
After the night's incident, the two boys had tried to get some sleep. It was going to be a long day tomorrow. But both of them had found it impossible. They would have been better off winding through the pitch-black cave, than wasting time tossing and turning inside of their bags. Halfway through the night, Satoshi had had enough of it, and had crawled out of his sleeping bag, and without saying one word, crawled into Shigeru's.
He met no resistance. In fact, as soon as he was in place, a set of deceptively strong arms had wrapped around him. He had assumed Shigeru to already be asleep, but he was glad that this had managed to happen first. In no time, the two had dosed off together.
But now, several hours later, the alarm that meant morning was either on its way or had already come was sounding with a vengeance. It even beat out the sound of Takeshi snoring, which Satoshi had grown accustomed to. So it was then that the two boys crawled out, stretching their muscles for the rest of the walk that awaited them.
At the sound, Pikachu had also awoken, its sparkly cheeks giving just enough light to see by, enabling them gather their things and make minimal adjustments to their hair in a handheld mirror. Shigeru's needed the most work, for he didn't have an official Pokémon League Expo hat to cover up his hair if it was in sloppy condition. Maybe he should have done like Satoshi and sent in a few hundred post cards . . .
"Ready to go?" he asked as he slipped his mirror away, his hair being set for the day.
"Yeah, just give me a second," Satoshi replied, still stuffing a few leftover pieces of equipment into his backpack.
God, Shigeru thought to himself, seems like he packs his life into that little bag. It was a few seconds later that he realized it was the truth. Satoshi's life was training, same as Shigeru's. Although, it seemed, as if their definitions of "life" had just broadened slightly.
"Alright, ready!" Satoshi called, slinging his backpack on and giving Shigeru a way-too-perky-for-six-in-the-morning grin. Especially considering how little they both had slept. Rolling his eyes towards the heavens in a "why me?" expression—and already grinning at the answer—Shigeru pulled out one of his PokéBalls, and soon, they had begun walking again, with an also too-perky Pikachu and a slightly groggy Lizardon leading the charge and lighting the way.
"We ought to be clear of the cave within…" a loud yawn escaped Shigeru's lips as he spoke, "another two hours or so." This was good news for both of them. Shigeru wanted to get Satoshi out of the cave, and Satoshi merely wanted to earn another badge—among other things.
"Great! I can't wait until we can see sunlight again. I think I'm starting to forget what it looks like," the younger boy said with a soft chuckle. The sound was enough to make Shigeru's heart jump, and he suddenly wasn't sleepy anymore. Instead of his tired expression, a huge grin was in place. Satoshi certainly had a way of getting a person going.
~~
"Musashi! Kojiro!"
The face glaring at the two Rocketto Dan members was half hidden behind shadows—but there was never any mistaking who it was. Only one person had access to the line that was running the feed to their portable screen. Only one person could put so much force behind a pair of names, so much venom and disgust and superiority.
Sakaki. The founder and head of Rocketto Dan, not to mention the master of Tokiwa City Gym. And, for all intents and purposes, he was quite possibly one of the most dangerous men on the face of the earth. Talking to him had never been a pleasure, and neither had working for him. But they did what they had to do.
"Y-yes, Boss?" Musashi stammered, obviously nervous of what this call could mean for them. They had done a lousy job since they had started hounding the Twerp for his Pikachu. Not a single Pokémon had been sent to The Boss in nearly four years. He was on the verge of demoting them back to the drab, black uniforms, which were major fashion no-nos.
"I want to know why you two haven't sent me any Pokémon."
Just the sound of that calm, deep voice sent chills down the two humans' spines. Nyase, who was being unusually smart, was hiding elsewhere.
"We're working on it, Sir, but stealing Pokémon isn't as easy as it used to be," Kojiro supplied in response, surprising both Sakaki and Musashi. It was rare that the blue-haired gangster gathered the courage to speak to The Boss.
"Well, you have two choices. You can either start taking your jobs more seriously . . . or else the police shall receive a very detailed report of exactly how many crimes you've been involved in." No change of face or tone of voice could be told. He spoke the words so casually, it was hard to believe that they were meant to be as serious as they were, but they knew The Boss was not lying.
"How do you propose we go about taking it more seriously than we already are, Sir?" Again, it was Kojiro to speak. Silently, Musashi was thankful. She despised having to talk to Sakaki. And she knew Kojiro felt the same way, but he was leading them through this.
"Do not think I haven't been keeping up to date. Kojiro, I know you know how to use a gun. In fact, you had one with you inside of the Safari Zone, and did a fine job of displaying it for the world to see. If need be, go back to the Old World ways—they always worked. Use force, use pain, and, when you have to, use death to get what you need to do done. If I am made happy, there's nothing to worry about with the law. I keep those fools in my back pocket."
Kojiro gave a quick, almost military nod. "Yes, Sir. We shall do what is expected of us."
"See that you do." The next thing they saw from the screen, was blackness. The connection had been severed by Sakaki's end.
"Kojiro, are you mad?!" Musashi raged as soon as she gathered herself from the fear of talking to The Boss. "You really plan to use a gun on the twerp?"
"I'm sick of The Boss being pissed at us. I'm sick of being showed up. That little piece of shit is going to pay for what he's done to us—one way, or another."
Musashi had never heard such determination in her partner's voice. It frightened her. Far more than a talk with Sakaki ever could.
~~
A soft purring sound resonated around the room as Sakaki's hand stroked the perfect fur of his prized Perushian. The feline, like its owner, was used to nothing but the best—which was exactly what it received.
A soft grin danced on the man's lips. Dragging his grunts through the mud had always amused him and none more so than Musashi and Kojiro. Especially in modern days, where they never failed to fail. He highly doubted that they would bring him a Pokémon. In fact, the only reason he bothered to keep the two pieces of cannon fodder around was for mild entertainment.
But, perhaps they could do one thing right with their newfound "freedom." He knew the boy whose Pikachu they chased after. He knew that boy all too well. And the boy was a liability.
Oh, at first the thought that this certain boy had been the one to give his formerly best outlaws so much trouble had been enough to make him laugh long and hard. But now, the boy was a nuisance, always in the way of something important. It was time to correct a mistake he had made fourteen years ago.
After all—who else besides his own son could raise an electric rat to be so powerful? But, it was long overdue for the time the boy should be put in the past.
Permanently.
~~
"Hey, I can see light up ahead—and it's not coming from our Pokémon!" Shigeru announced, extremely relieved. He told himself he only wanted Satoshi out of there, but ever since that encounter with the mysterious Pokémon in Tokiwa, he had become a tad less fearless than before.
"Great, I'm starving!"
That, of course, could only come from Satoshi. Shigeru swore that the kid could eat like a Kabigon—and if left alone, could sleep like one as well. He shook his head softly as he continued towards the opening of the cave, a still too energetic Satoshi not far behind. It only took a few moments to reach the exit that they had been striving for since the last day's afternoon.
"Whoa . . ." Satoshi said, the tone of voice saying he was more than a little awed at the view. They were high up—very high up, especially since Shigeru had not noticed much, if any incline as they went through the caverns. Although, the view was, indeed, quite impressive.
Almost a mile of mountain stretched down towards the valley far below. Even the tallest buildings seemed like nothing but small shadows and they disappeared into the beauty of the large lake to the north, and the grassy fields surrounding what had to be Choju Town. A little ways away, there was also another mountain, although it seemed to be much, much colder, still being covered with ice, despite the late summer warmth.
"Amazing, isn't it?" Shigeru asked softly. When Satoshi turned to look at him, the older boy was wearing a huge grin, and for once, the look seemed pleasant instead of menacing. Whenever Satoshi saw that look, it always meant he was going to be cut down, but now it seemed to be devoid of everything he had always seen in it before.
"Yeah, it is. But, come on, Shigeru, we can't wait too long, we have a gym leader to beat."
Shigeru was mildly disappointed. The spot was so beautiful, the perfect place to be alone for a while with Satoshi. To explore just what that kiss last night meant. But, he knew Satoshi was right. There was a gym leader nearby that needed a good trouncing. And who was Shigeru to ever turn down an opportunity to battle?
"Alright, but be careful, Satoshi," and with that, Lizardon was returned to its PokéBall, the huge fire dragon's services no longer needed for now, since they were outside in the sunlight. And then, with Shigeru in the lead, the two boys started to make their way down the mountainside. It wasn't easy, and it wasn't exactly fun, but neither of them felt up to taking the easy way out and flying down on a Pokémon.
Five minutes into the climb, a large shadow passed by overhead. Neither paid much attention to it, for the sky had seemed fairly cloudy when they had been admiring the scene far below. It wasn't until the voices rang out that their attention was drawn upwards.
"Prepare for trouble!" sang a female voice. Satoshi felt sick to his stomach.
"And make it double!" sang an equally unwanted male voice.
"Um, could you just go away, now? We're really too busy to deal with you at the moment," Satoshi said up the floating Nyase balloon that housed the infamous Rocketto Dan members and their mascot.
"How dare you interrupt our motto?!" Musashi cried, outraged at the idea that the little twerp would stop their lovely (*Rolls his eyes*) motto after only the first two verses.
"Because we're too busy trying to get down this mountain," Shigeru said with a roll of his eyes. "As if it wasn't already plainly obvious. Now would you please get out of my sight? You two are a monumental waste of space."
"Oh, but we just came by to help you down," Kojiro said, in a tone of voice Satoshi had never heard before. He seemed . . . serious. As if he actually was working on doing this for once. "Now, if you'll just hold still for a moment, we can get all of this over with." And quite suddenly, Kojiro had a shoulder mounted rocket launcher in his right hand, being brought up to aim.
"Oh, shit—" Satoshi began, but never had the chance to finish. For it was then that the explosive projectile embedded itself into the cliff just below them, and did the job it was made for—causing a very big bang.
Kojiro began a slightly hysterical laugh as the rocks began to tumble down the mountainside, along with the bodies of the two boys. Musashi and Nyase simply watched in fear, for a side they had never seen of the rich-born gangster had just been displayed.
~~
Well, that's all for now. Don't you just love a cliffhanger? Uh-oh. The Pun-Police just showed up at my front door. No Officer. Sorry, sir, it was Onix-pected.
See you all next time!