A week later, Satoshi went to the pokèmon trainer's meeting that was being held in Tokiwa City. He knew most of the trainer's there, as he had battled most of the them for badges or at a stadium. The afternoon went by fairly quickly and, after several very boring hours, he headed for the one thing he had been waiting for the entire day – the "Expo of Electric Pokèmon". Pikachu was overly thrilled to be going, of course, being one of the pokèmon in the exposition was enough of a reason to be.
As Satoshi walked around to greet all the other trainers there that he knew, an older man in a suit, a persian at his side, walked up to Satoshi. The young man greeted the middle-aged gentleman, offering his hand for a shake, but the man just smiled away. Satoshi thought he looked awfully familiar for some reason, but he could not place the older man's face. He had a feeling, though, that they were not on any sort of good terms.
"I have heard from a very reliable source that Lady Reidan has asked you to go to her island. It's quite an honor, you know. Not all that many outsiders are permitted to even know about her and her island."
Rather surprised to hear that this man, whose name he still could not remember, knew about the offer. He scoffed. "I'm not going…"
"Good." The smile on his face widened, thoroughly pleased to hear that. "Then I would be glad if you would come to work for me, Satoshi. I'm sure I can find something that would make it worth your while."
The trainer raised his eyebrow, wondering why such the sudden offer. What was so special about him that would make two strangers want to have him work for them? He hoped it was not some stupid thing about him being a "chosen one" again. "And just who are you to be offering me a job?"
"My name's Sakaki. I'm the leader of the gym here in Tokiwa."
Satoshi almost burst out laughing. No wonder he had thought he knew the man! And no wonder he had had the feeling they were not on friendly terms. "You're the boss of Roketto-dan. You should know that I have no interest in working for someone like you."
"And yet you don't want to work for someone like Kira either." He leaned forward a little bit, getting eye to eye with Satoshi – he was still taller than the trainer. He grinned. "I can make you a greater trainer than you already are. I can help you achieve things that you've never dreamed of." He gave a slight snort of laughter and turned, but did not walk off quite yet. "Think about it, Satoshi. You would be a great asset to the team. More so than you could possibly imagine."
Sakaki then headed out of the room, his loyal persian at his heels still. As he went, he could hear whispers from outside the room – and they were getting louder. He knew she was there, too. She had most certainly come to give her offer to Satoshi again. Suddenly he was face to face with her. She was wearing a red kimono that was designed with golden starbursts and a red and gold floral obi around her waist. Her hair was pulled back today with golden combs. Her golden eyes were piercing into the gym leader's. He gave her a twisted smile but she was far from amused by his presence. Her look was terribly cold, but it did not faze him one bit.
"I will give you approximately five seconds to step out of my way, Sakaki…," she was speaking through her teeth, glaring at him, "…or you will regret it."
With a deep bow, that she knew was more curt than apologetic, he stepped aside and watched as she walked into the room he had just left. He chuckled a little as he left the convention center. She was of little concern to him at the moment, and whether or not she convinced Satoshi to go to her island did not matter to him, either. Their day would come sooner than she probably wished it – and he had a few things to attend to concerning that back at his gym, too.
Satoshi had been watching Sakaki leave, so he had seen Kira enter the room, as well. He shot her an annoyed look. First the leader of Roketto-dan, and now her again? He sighed as she walked to him. He was just going to have to tell her flat out that he had no interest in going.
"I can still try and convince you to, though, can I not?" She stopped in front of him, smiling so very sweetly. "To amuse myself, at the very least."
The trainer was taken aback by what she had said. "How…"
"I am psychic." She just continued to smile. "I know everything that you think, so you cannot fool me, Satoshi."
"Then you know I have no interest in going to your island. No more interest than I had in Sakaki's offer." He was about to say something else when he saw a pokèmon float into the room, looking around very interested at all the things he was seeing. His jaw dropped slightly, not believing his eyes. "A…mew…?"
Kira laughed, realizing she should have figured Satoshi could see her mew companion, considering he had had dealings with two others before, though she believed he only remembered the second encounter. "Yes, a mew. His name is Pinkuashi."
The pink pokèmon floated over to her and looked at Satoshi. It was not like the one he had seen before – the solid light pink one. This one was pink all over with dark pink on the tip of its tail and on its toes. It giggled, looking at the trainer with eyes full of interest. After a moment, he turned to Kira and asked her something quietly.
"Yes, this is Satoshi." The little pokèmon giggled some more and went over to him, waved happily, and said something. Kira gave a small laugh. "He said 'hello' to you."
"Oh," he was in shock, having not seen a mew this close in years, "hi."
After a moment, when Satoshi's shock had waned enough, Kira spoke up again. "Satoshi, look, I understand why you are suspicious of me. Most people are when they first meet me. But…I promise that if you come to Umute, you will not regret the decision." She sighed. "And though you said you have no interest in working for Sakaki, let me just say, what he offers you, though it is almost the same as what I offer, they are still two different paths. And since you know who he really is, as I do, you know he's not the best man to work for anyway."
"And you're any better?" He felt proud of himself that his remark made her annoying smile disappear. "He's obsessed with finding powerful pokèmon, probably to take over the world with and you…you're just crazy."
"Such is your opinion at the moment of me. I can assure you, though, that is not the case."
The look on his face made it all too evident he still did not believe her.
"I will only come to ask you one more time after this. My offer still stands. I would like you to come to Umute, but the choice is completely up to you. I will not force you to come work for me. I am only offering you the safest route to achieve your fullest potential. I have already shown Shigeru the way…and given him far more than he could have imagined. Now all I need is your help. It would make me very happy if you would come to my island."
Satoshi gave her a groaning sigh. "Look, why should I believe anything you say? What's so important about my coming to your island?"
Kira looked at him for a long moment in silence. She closed her eyes and gave a soft sigh. "Because it is the only way to truly ensure the survival of the world you know."
Leaving Satoshi in shock from that little bit of information, she turned and left, Pinkuashi following her (apparently invisible to everyone else in the room but him and her), for the whispers around him that he suddenly just noticed were all about her, not the pokèmon that had been with her. Who exactly was she to illicit such a response from people? Why did he not know of her if so many others around him seemed to know her? He wanted to ask someone, but he was sure that they thought he would know more about her than they did, considering she had greeted him by name. He knew he would have to wait till he got home to ask his mom more about her…or the professor. He was sure one of them would have more answers.
& & & & & & & & & & & & &
Just as a reminder in case you forgot –
Satoshi - Ash
Shigeru - Gary
Kasumi - Misty
Takeshi - Brock
Yukinari (Ookido-hakase) - Samuel (Professor Oak)
Hanako - Delia (Ash's mom)
Tokiwa City – Viridian City
Sakaki - Giovanni
All traditional pokèmon and characters are copyrighted to Nintendo/GAME FREAK/Creatures (and any others I've forgotten) from 1996-2006. Author's created pokèmon and characters, though, are copyrighted Sati.
