Getaway Car
Prologue
In Which Nothing Good Starts In A Getaway Car
The stillness of the room was broken by the sound of Cynthia's office phone. Amidst a spread of papers and other office supplies, the ancient landline rang, soon accompanied by a groan from the Sinnoh champion. The plus one on the screen told her it was from Unova, and she wasn't about to entertain that phone call again.
For the past two months, three to four times a week, a casting director from Unova would call her, and spend an obscene amount of time trying to convince her to sign on to some tv series. She had the number blocked on her cell phone, but she had yet to find a way to block them from calling her league extension.
She was sure by now they would have gotten the message. Yet no matter how many times she answered no, they still insisted, and asked her to "think it over". Lots of incentives were given to her to try to get a yes. Private transportation, expensive lodging, better pay.
Despite how slow the league was during the winter months, none of it was incentive enough to drag her from Sinnoh for two to three months in the spring. Besides, she wasn't even an actress. She hadn't acted a day in her life, yet despite that, the casting director wouldn't let it go.
The phone eventually went silent, and she hit mute the second it started playing the message the man was leaving.
Cynthia looked at the clock on her desktop. She had been in long enough. League matters were as organized as they were going to be, though, the same couldn't be said for her office. As always, she opted to ignore the mess of her office. There was a rhythm in the mess that made sense to at least her, so it was a problem for another day.
Just as she stood to remove her coat from the back of her chair, a knock at her door distracted her. The rhythm of the knock told her it was the league manager, Amanda.
"Come in," She said, keeping her back to the door as she shrugged on her jacket.
"Cynthia…how do you live like this?" The middle-aged woman asked, now staring her down. Though, Cynthia realized that thinking of her as middle-aged might have been a tad unfair. She was only ten years her senior at thirty-seven.
She was a pleasant enough woman to work with. She managed the affairs of all the elite four and champion, and often worked with the managers who oversaw the gym leaders. Though, she wasn't exactly textbook professional. She tended to speak her mind far more often than any of the old managers did.
It was something Cynthia at least appreciated.
"Look, I don't come in your house and tell you how to live your life," she joked, finally facing the shorter woman. Though, in comparison to Cynthia, it wasn't a hard thing to be.
"Dude, this is worse than normal."
She didn't want to talk about her messy habits. "Why are you here, Mandy?" She was one of few in the league who would use her nickname, and the only one who never was scolded for doing so.
She surveyed the messy, dark room another few seconds before refocusing her attention on Cynthia. "Got a call from Mason Bragg. Wants me to talk to you about that movie thing."
Sitting back in her chair, she pushed herself back until the chair hit the wall, groaning. "They're bugging you now?"
She shrugged, wiping her brunette bangs away from her eyes. "I mean, I am your manager, so this is at least part of my job."
Cynthia rested her head on her palm. "I'm not going to say yes. I'm not an actress! Why are they so dead-set on me?"
She shrugged, working her way to Cynthia's desk. She laughed to herself at the paper covered desk. "I'm gonna sit here," she said, taking a seat on her desk, something none of her other managers from the past ten years would have ever done.
"That's important research," Cynthia said, turning in her chair to better face her.
She laughed again, crossing her legs. "If it's that important, it's already on your computer. You don't leave things on paper for too long."
She couldn't refute it. "Okay, true, but look, you can't convince me to agree to this nonsense. I'm not an actress, I've never been an actress, and I'll never be an actress."
"Have you never wanted to be an actress? Just out of curiosity," She asked.
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, for like…a week when I was a kid, probably."
Amanda leaned back on her hands. "Entertain that part of you, then. They're gonna keep pestering both of us, and you know it."
"They told me they wanted me in Unova by the middle of March. It's— "she paused to look at the paper calendar on the wall "—The eighth of January. They're going to have to move on here soon enough."
She shrugged, keeping her brown eyes on Cynthia. "They might, but do you really want to find out?"
"Are you seriously about to try to convince me to do this?" She asked, pulling herself into a more proper seated position.
Amanda leaned forward off her hands. "Look, to be completely honest with you, I think that if you want them off your back, you're just gonna have to waste their time."
"Waste their time?" She repeated.
"Yeah. Say yes. Go through the motions, do whatever. Go over there, show them you're not an actress and that they made a mistake, and then they'll send you home and never bother you again. It's practically foolproof."
While Cynthia understood where she was coming from, it still seemed completely unnecessary. Besides, it was setting up a bad tone for the whole filming process. If they were this incessant and refused to take a no, how much worse could it be in person?
"Mandy…" she grumbled.
"Waste their time, babe." Another part of her informality. "You can consider it petty revenge for them wasting so much of your time. Besides, it's not like this place is going to liven up until then. You and I both know that you won't see a challenger until…. May at the absolute earliest," she continued.
That wasn't entirely true. In her ten years she had a February challenger now and then, and there had been a few years where she did exhibition matches when asked. When she brought all of it up, Amanda just laughed.
"All I'm hearing is excuses," she said.
She sighed, and in the motion, so did her whole body. Every bone, every muscle sighed in defeat. "You're not going to give this up, are you?" She asked.
A smile worked its way on her face, something akin to a satisfied Purrloin. "I want them to stop bugging me, too. I've got Aaron's winter antics to manage."
She couldn't resist laughing at that. His winter antics were nothing more than getting a few different injuries while ice skating, or doing some other winter activity that he wasn't skilled enough at. Nevertheless, Amanda was always on top of making sure he didn't injure himself too bad. He was first in line to be challenged in the league, after all.
Amanda continued talking. "I have a newer draft of the script if you want to see it. I also know who your costar is." She said it in a way that left Cynthia intrigued.
"Who?"
"So, you haven't seen this series, right?"
She shook her head. "Red Dawn? No. Can't say I've even heard much about it."
She nodded. "It's not that popular over here. Its's a Hupa series, but okay! So, you actually know her! Diantha."
She paused for a second. While not knowing any other person with the name, she still asked, "Kalos Champion?"
Amanda nodded a yes. "Madame Ruston herself," she said, imitating a Kalosian accent. Badly.
"I don't even think you tried to roll that R," she joked, crossing her legs.
Amanda rolled her eyes in turn. "Anyways, at least you would be working with another champion. It's not like you're going into something completely blind."
"Yes, but if I make a fool of myself, I've made a fool of myself in front of another champion," she pointed out.
Amanda took her thick framed glasses off her face, wiping the lenses on her shirt.
Cynthia watched her bring them back up to inspect them against the light, wiping them a few more times before getting frustrated.
"You wearing anything cotton? This just isn't the material," she complained.
Cynthia held out her hand, taking the glasses. "You sure I'm not your manager? I feel like this is something stuck up celebrities would have done for them," she asked as she wiped the lenses on the interior of her coat.
For a split second, she wondered if Diantha was a stuck-up celebrity and had people for situations like this. She hoped not, otherwise it might tarnish the way she looked at her as another champion.
She shrugged. "I'm just seeing how far I can take this. Managing you hooligans has got to have some perks," she teased.
Cynthia laughed, handing her glasses back. "You act like we're the hardest league to manage."
She put them on, blinking a few times at Cynthia. "There's still a smudge- "
"Get off my desk," she said, not letting her manager finish.
She hopped off, laughing to herself, but not before nearly tripping over a stack of papers on the ground.
"I would love it if you would clean this place before you leave."
She would like that too, but finding the motivation to do so was a whole different challenge. "You call them back and tell them yes for me, and consider it done." Hopefully she was right, and that by proving she wasn't an actress on any level, they would quickly send her home, and this would all be nothing more than a dumb memory.
She smiled at her, something more genuine this time. "That a promise?"
"Promise."
She gave a curt nod, about to head back out the door for good this time. Stopping in the doorway, she put her hand on the frame. "How much of the script do you know?" She asked suddenly.
Cynthia thought it over for a few seconds. "I know my costar is Diantha. That's about it. I've been ignoring their calls for the past two weeks, so no clue what else they wanted to entice me with." Surly there wasn't anything in the script that they could use as incentive.
The grin on her face as she turned around left a growing dread in Cynthia's stomach.
"Hope you're ready for a bunch of kisses you big, dumb blonde," She teased, breaking out into a laugh.
Her heart sank at that. "Hold— "
"Nope!" She was out the door. "You already said yes! And promised to clean your office!" Just before she was completely out of ear shot —How fast was she even running?— Cynthia heard a faint "Should have taken those calls!"
With a deep breath, she rested her head on her desk, the dread only growing stronger. She hadn't wanted any of this. She didn't want to leave the comfort of her region. She didn't want to spend a spring in Unova. She didn't want to try to be an actress for even a moment. There was only room for one champion to be an actress, and that role was already held by Diantha.
"They better realize I'm not an actress and send me the fuck home," she grumbled.
Unfortunately for Cynthia, during her contract meeting, she inadvertently agreed to having a personal trainer sent to her a month before she would leave for Unova. Five days out of the week would be spent working with them and getting her up to speed and ready for filming.
As Amanda had pointed out, the league wouldn't pick up until May, so there was nothing she could use as an excuse to get out of it.
If it was even possible, the dread in her stomach had turned into full-blown despair.
The sun's rays were warm in the sunroom, even with it being a chilly mid-January afternoon. Lumiose City was covered in a light layer of snow, and despite the warmth of the sun, it still wouldn't be enough to melt the snow.
"So, I've gotten word of who your costar will be."
Diantha looked up from the view of the city to her manager who had walked into the room. She held her large black tablet in her hands, scrolling through something.
It was a wonder she never bumped into anything with how glued her vision was to the device.
"Who might that be?" Diantha asked, sitting up more properly. She had been wondering who would fill the role of Elizabeth for a while now. Ever since she had been offered the chance to re-star as Scarlet and received one of the first drafts of the script, curiosity was getting the better of her.
Especially since word on the street was they had one person in mind that was being stubborn about saying yes.
"I think you'll be surprised," she said, taking a seat next to her on the white couch.
"I'm enjoying your attempt at suspense, but I doubt there's a single name you could drop that would honestly surprise me." The description of Elizabeth from the script left at least a few Unovan actresses in mind.
Kathi Lee looked at her, her pale brown eyes seeming to challenge her words. "Cynthia Jenness," she said simply.
Her manager hadn't lied. She was surprised to hear the name. Unless there was another Cynthia Jenness she wasn't aware of that she should have been. "As in…Sinnoh's champion? That Cynthia?"
"The very one," She said, returning her attention back to her tablet.
The very notion confused Diantha. She tried to think of any interactions she had with the other champion to see if she could recall any interest in acting from her end. However, the more she thought about every meeting since Kalos joined the league officially, she realized she never once had a full conversation with her. She couldn't even recall if she ever got to go past an introduction.
"She's…not an actress? Right?" If she was, she was going to feel embarrassed for missing such a key detail. And an important bit of common ground for them to have talked about. Other than that, the only thing she knew they had in common was being women champions, but they also now shared that with Iris.
Kathi Lee sat her tablet on her lap, typing something in a memo. "You're not wrong."
Now Diantha was even more confused. "My costar is a rookie?" If she could even be considered as such.
Was there a step below rookie?
"Not just your costar. Your new love interest from what I've gathered in the newest version of the script." She stopped typing, looking up at Diantha. Her voice was as monotone as ever. "Kissing a rookie could be bad for your reputation. I can see about pulling you from this if you want."
For a moment, she considered it.
While it wasn't necessarily the idea of working with someone so new that was putting her off —though it was a good part of it— it was the worry that the director had lost his absolute mind. She remembered him being a pain to deal with, but nothing like this.
However, it would at least provide an opportunity to finally work with Cynthia. "Send me the script."
She nodded in response, moving to her mail app to send a copy of the script to her. In a moment or so Diantha's phone got the notification.
She spent a few minutes in silence with Kathi Lee, looking over the script. A lot had been changed since the first draft she was sent back in November. The warmth in the sunroom suddenly seemed to get even more intense.
Forcing down all feelings on the matter, she put her phone down and shrugged. If the content of the script were enough to make her a little anxious, surly Cynthia would drop within the first week of filming. "Honestly, Kathi Lee, I have a feeling Tom will come to his senses and recast her once they see she's not an actress."
Kathi Lee had long returned to her tablet while Diantha had been contemplating everything. "I can't remember, do you and Cynthia not get along?" She asked. A few of her taps were accented by her nails. A distinct sound that now filled the sunroom.
She shook her head in response. "I wouldn't say that. We've talked a few times during the international meetings. We were even supposed to have a battle last year, but you pulled me into some interview nonsense instead."
"My bad." Though, anyone other than Diantha might have thought her tone indicated that she didn't feel any remorse towards it.
"No, no, I'm not blaming you. It was the groups fault for it being such a subpar interview." All the questions could have been answered in an email, and she didn't like taking time out of her day for such trivial things. It at least hadn't been worth missing a battle with Cynthia for. "I respect Cynthia as a champion, but…I can't say I understand why the director is having her fill this role. I mean, sure, she's stunning to look at, but…" She trailed off, thinking on the description of Elizabeth from the script.
Suddenly, the casting of Cynthia in the role made perfect sense.
The more she thought on it, the more she realized they had made the fatal error of creating a character with only one person in mind. Now they were running the risk of never getting rid of her because she wasn't just a good fit. She was the fit.
Filming still didn't start for a while, but she could already feel it becoming quite the process…
— — — —
FADE IN:
SEPIA OVERLAY
EXT. DEEP IN UNOVA'S DESERT. HIGHWAY - DAY
In the heart of the desert, the sand blows across the barren landscape, covering the road in a light dusting.
MOVE TO:
EXT. CENTER OF HIGHWAY - DAY
Two cars race down the highway. One an old, beat up, black getaway car. The other, a police car, sirens BLARING.
Intro text comes across the screen as the cars zip by, racing down the highway.
GETAWAY CAR flashes on the screen and fades out before introducing part of our main cast.
SCARLET, classic Unovan beauty, on the taller side, lean build, late 20's, wearing her signature lipstick that breaks the sepia tone of the shot, leans out of the window. Her hair now blowing all over the place.
Color bleeds into proper scope.
SCARLET laughs, but in the car it's a different story.
INT. CAR
SCARLET
Can't you move any faster?
WILLIAM, driver, every bit of the cliché of tall, dark, and handsome, mid 30s, visibly sweating as he looks in the rearview mirror.
WILLIAM
We're going as fast as we can, damnit!
CHARLES, slender build, strong chin, constantly a grungy mess, 30s, looks Scarlet in the eyes.
CHARLES
We need cover.
Both nod, two poké balls now in hand.
CHARLES releases BRAXIEN. SCARLET releases her signature KIRLIA.
EXT. CAR
BRAIXEN leans out to deliver a strong FLAMETHROWER. KIRLIA does the same but with SHADOW BALL.
Police Car is blown off the road, allowing them to escape.
The getaway car swerves on the road before going straight, pushing the old car to its absolute limit.
In the distance, a small town in the desert comes into view. For now, they're safe, setting the stage for GETAWAY CAR.
— — — —
