Musashi kicked an empty soda can into the gutter while strolling leisurely down
the street with her partner in crime, Kojiro. Both were in white squadron
uniforms of the famous Rocket Gudan, or just Rocket Dan for short. Musashi's
mind was on the changing temperature. Spring had brought forth a heat wave and
so both Rocket members were in only their black tops and white bottoms,
accompanied by black boots.
"Musashi? can't we stop for lunch now?" Kojiro whined, wiping his
brow. Musashi shot him a cold glare and Kojiro looked forward again, continuing
to walk.
"Nya! Look here you two!" Nyase pointed to a large poster. The two
humans stopped to look.
"Hakuryu's(Dragonair's) ice skating ring open starting today. Be sure to
sign up for our special skating contest; big reward for the winners,"
Kojiro deciphered the kanji.
"Well? I say we go check it out. It's too hot out here anyways. It
shouldn't be hard to learn to skate," Musashi pointed out.
*Northern Lights*
Chapter 1
"WHOA!" for the fourteenth time, Musashi's feet slipped from
underneath her and Musashi landed heavily onto the unmerciful ice. Kojiro
quickly helped her up and decided to risk his safety. He put both hands on
Musashi's waist and guided her along the rink. Musashi blushed a light pink
across her nose.
"It's just like riding a bike, Musashi. You gotta take it slowly at
first." Kojiro encouraged her, seeing she looked glum about having help.
He gave a weak smile.
"How did you skate so well on your first try, Kojiro? you never
skated." Musashi asked, putting out her arms to the side to feel the
frigid breeze while she skated. Kojiro grinned.
"Oh. Will you tell me how to skate?" Musashi was getting the hang of
this new sport.
"No, I have to teach you how to skate." Kojiro smiled and let go of
Musashi, seeing that she had her balance.
"YANA KANJI!!!!!!" Musashi crashed into the wall. Kojiro hung his
head low, a sweatdrop forming on his head.
"....we have a lot of work to do, Musashi." Kojiro said to himself.
Musashi quickly got up and glided over to Kojiro. With anger etched in her
face, she hit him over the head with the famous paper fan.
"Hai, but you were ready. Don't let your confidence slip away just because
I pull away and let you glide. Maintain balance." Kojiro winced, rubbing a
large bump on his head. He then put hugged his partner to reassure her. A trio
of children laughed at the two. Musashi and Kojiro quickly pulled away.
"HA! You need a lot of work, Musashi!" Satoshi jeered. Pikachu
laughed from the top of its owner's head.
"Hmph! The queen of style sure is such a klutz!" Kasumi joined in,
cuddling her Togapi. Nyase growled at Katsumi, still angry she took his Togapi
from him.
"How dare you! I challenge you to a pokemon match!" Musashi
announced, pulling out a monster ball. Kenji grabbed her wrist and said,
"Looks like she finally got skating around down," Satoshi said.
"But she still needs lots of work," Kasumi replied.
Chapter 2
"What?! you've got to be kidding!"
"That's the contest. It's a couple-skate contest. Each couple
participating has to skate out what they see love as and how they saw their
love for the other. Its for armatures but it helps to learn a few skating
moves," Joi said at the Pokemon Center. All four people were gaping at the
type of contest it was.
"So...we have to be..." Satoshi began.
"In love?!" Musashi and Kojiro finished, both blushing like crazy.
Satoshi and Kasumi joined in the blushing game.
"Yes. Good luck, love birds" Joi winked and handed out two registration
forms to the two "couples". Kenji and Nyase laughed a safe corner,
out of earshot. After parting ways with Jari-tachi, Rocket Dan walked slowly to
their cheep hotel room and got ready for bed. As both humans were in their
shared bunk bed and Nyase was in his travel hammock across from them, Kojiro
leaned over the railing to talk with his partner.
"So, how are we supposed to set this up, Musashi? I don't even know if we
are in love or not." Kojiro sighed, looking down at his red-haired partner
in the lower bunk.
"We just pretend, silly." Musashi grinned. Kojiro smiled back.
"That is perfect!" Kojiro blurted out, then he said, "to get
back at Jari-tachi."
"Got that right. Good night, sweetie." Musashi giggled dreamily.
"Good night, Musa-chan." Kojiro laughed in return.
"Are you sure you are just pretending to be in love, or are you two
flirting while you are "just pretending"? Nyase snickered from his
hammock. Two large pillows found themselves in Nyase's face.
Kojiro muttered under his breath while throwing his costumes from failed
attempts onto the floor. Musashi did the same.
"AH HA!" both exclaimed at the same time. Both held up their old bike
gang clothes. Musashi put the once long skirt to her waist. Now it hung a just
a little below her knees. The sailor girl shirt just fit her, but exposed more
of her midriff than ever. Kojiro examined his old clothes too. The cap fit
fine, as usual, but the coat sleeves were too tight and so Kojiro cut them so
it was a sleeveless-look.
"hahaha! you two look cool together! Are those your costumes?" Nyase
smirked. Both humans blushed.
"Hai, Nyase. Now to work on our skating technique," Kojiro muttered.
Chapter 3
Musashi finally learned to skate on her own, a week before the contest.
Contestants all around them worked on their moves.
"Hai! Musashi, now we can work on our 'dance on ice'"
After several hours of comparing, rejecting, and deciding on ideas, they both
worked it out. Musashi glided to one side of the ice and struck a pose and
Kojiro laid down on the ice, like he had just collapsed from bitter cold.
Musashi then skated to the middle of the ice and helped him up, a look of
concern in her eyes. Kojiro smiled and they skated together, hand in hand.
"Just like how you found me, huh, Musashi?" Kojiro laughed.
"Hai."
The two them glided to opposite sides of the ice and reached out to the other.
"Representing distance?"
"Yeah. Two classes, two separate worlds."
"Mmm,"
A triple loop by Kojiro and he glided to her side, in an attempt to hug her.
Musashi quickly made a step away from Kojiro and let him fall.
"Ow." he said. "And what does THAT represent again?"
"You figure it out."
Musashi did a little move and "ran" a bit before gliding quickly to
the other side of the rink. Kojiro got up and chased after her. After a few
repetitions of this, Musashi fell.
"OW!" she whined. "That wasn't supposed to happen!"
"Mistakes always happen, Musashi. Lets start over."
And so they continued to rehearse, day after day. All went well, until the
ending. Kojiro and Musashi both had to do a Lutz jump and then Musashi was
supposed to do a layback spin, stop and fall back for Kojiro to catch her. They
never got passed the layback spin the last day before the contest.
Chapter 4
"3.5, 4.0, 3.5, 4.1, 3.5" the PA system announced the scores for
another couple's program. "Up next in our contest are Kasumi and Satoshi
of Pallet and Cerulean . Give them a hand!"
Everyone gave a polite applause as the two young "lovers" entered the
rink. Kojiro smirked. Satoshi was in a costume resembling a koiking, Katsumi
was in a modest blue dress that hung by her knees. Her hair was done up in a
messy ponyta-tail and a fishing rod was in her hand.
"Musashi, the brats are ready to start." Kojiro said, adjusting his
cap.
"No kidding. Lets see what they came up with." Musashi answered,
fidgeting with her bike gang skirt.
"Its rather ingenious if you think about it. Wait and see." Kenji
whispered. "GO SATOSHI AND KASUMI!" he cheered.
Satoshi started at the opposite end of the rink while Kasumi stayed in the
middle. The music started up slow and Satoshi slowly slinked to the middle,
making dramatic swimming motions. He grabbed the loose end of the fishing line
and Katsumi yanked, tangling the "useless koiking" in her line. She quickly
untangled him, put down the rod and they took the other's hand, but looking not
necessarily wanting to. They went around the ice a few times, doing some
graceful movements with their hands. After a while, Satoshi did a solo in the
center while Katsumi watched. He did a spin, then a double, and then a spread
eagle. As he glided to where Kasumi was, she grabbed his costume by the collar
and it came loose. Underneath the koiking costume was one resembling a powerful
gyradoes. At the same time, the music picked up speed and energy; so did the
skaters.
"That is rather clever, huh?" Musashi whispered.
"Rather. But don't give up on our plan, Musashi."
After all this time of pretending to be in love, he felt even more in love with
Musashi than ever before. It was way beyond a crush now. It was an obsession; a
passion.
'I wonder if she feels the same,' he wondered. 'Nah.'
Katumi was now in the center, doing her own solo. A triple then a butterfly and
some spins to top it off. Satoshi watched from the side. As she finished, he
grabbed her costume by the collar and yanked. It came off and underneath was a
tight, reveling red skating outfit with white sequins on the front. The girl
yanked out her ponyta-tail holder her hair hung messy and down slightly above her
shoulders. They both struck a pose and Satoshi spun his partner around before
they ended with looking lovingly in each other's eyes.
There was enormous applause.
"She looks sorta hot like that, huh?" Kojiro whispered.
"Don't even think about it, Kojiro," Musashi muttered. She admitted
to herself, after this pretending, she did love Kojiro after all. She always
thought it was more like a sister-brother relationship. No, this was truly
love.
'Who couldn't resist him? I wonder if he feels the same,' she wondered. 'Nah.'
"4.7, 3.7, 4.7, 4.5, 3.4" the PA system announced. "Next up are
Musashi and Kojiro of Rocket Dan. Give them a hand."
No one applauded but...
"Go Rocket Dan!"
"Good luck!"
"Pikachu!"
"Togi briiiii!!"
"Gee, those kids are actually decent." Kojiro grinned ruefully.
"Hai. Lets get this show on the road."
They got ready in their positions.
Three minutes later, they were coming to the end of their program. .
"Lutz jump, layback spin, stop and fall back," Musashi reminded herself. She
got the Lutz jump right but when she went into the layback spin, she lost
balance completely and started to fall; gracefully but still falling. Kojiro
saw this and abandoned his spin to glide to her aid. He grabbed her just before
her hand touched the ice and pulled her up to meet her eye to eye.
"I really do love you, Musashi," he smiled as he pulled his arms out in front,
still holding her hands and started to whirl around with her, as if they were playing
'ring-round-the-rosy' with her on ice as an improvise of the last part. The
momentum pulled them apart from the center of their spin. Their hair whipped
their faces as they spun faster and faster. As the music ended, Kojiro stopped
their spinning and Musashi collapsed in his arms. Applause and laughter rang
out from all parts of the stadium as they posed.
Musashi reached out to Kojiro's face. Kojiro prepared himself for the usual
slap to the check for saying something stupid. To his surprise, she yanked at
his collar, bringing his lips to meet her's. The applause grew even louder.
Musashi and Kojiro skated off the rink as the PA system announced their scores.
It didn't matter anymore to them. They changed in the locker room, returned
their rental skates and they started to head outside with Nyase to resume their
journey.
"Hey! Rocket Dan!" Satoshi ran outside to stop them, still in his skating
costume. He panted and pointed back at the ice rink. "You know that there's
still the celebration party and the prize claim."
"So?" It doesn't matter; we're Rocket Dan, we never win," Musashi frowned at
him.
"YOU TIED WITH US FOR FIRST PLACE!" Satoshi threw his hands into the air in
disbelief. "Two million pokèyen and you don't even care about it?!"
"Why didn't you say so?!" Kojiro said before thumping the young trainer on the
head.
"What could we do with all that money?" Musashi pondered.