Okay, I'm back with another chapter! Sorry this took so long! ^_^ The
next few parts shouldn't take NEARLY as long. I just had to make a bunch
of plot changing, crucial decisions for this part and that's why it took
forever and a day. Well, enjoy! Yay! I have ten reviews! Thanks to
all who reviewed!
Revolution
Chapter 1, Part 2
Sunlight flashed off of the windows of passing cars, causing shadow
lights to dance briefly across the wall and flee in a matter of moments.
The day was hot and muggy, and the building across the street could
barely be seen through the shimmering heat waves that rose from the acrid
smelling tar and cement.
With a sigh, Misty cupped her chin in her hands. She had been in the
Pokemon Center for nearly an hour now, and not a single person had come
in.
She had been working at the Center for nearly a year now, mostly as a
waitress in the adjoining café. Beyond the café was the Breeding Center
Brock had opened up, and the residential area was beyond that. Until she
had found out there were two job openings, she had only been staying
there as a visit to an old friend. But Cherry Grove City was charming,
and above all, was far away from her sisters.
"You holdin' up there, Misty?" Duplica stuck her head around the door
jam, her green ponytails bobbing.
"How can I not? There's been absolutely nothing to do," Misty groaned.
"It's been so slow today."
"Just checkin'!" Duplica disappeared.
Usually they had several trainers on their way to the gym in Violet City
coming through Cherry Grove, but not lately. Business had been bad at
the café, too, especially since the band had quit nearly a month ago.
Duplica's older brother Mikel had opened the Center when their parents
had died. He had thought that a café in the small city would keep them
out of debt, and he had been right.
Until now.
As Misty sat there, lost in thought, the door opened, the bell above it
ringing joyfully. She sat up straighter when the two trainers, both of
them boys and about her age, walked in.
"Hello, welcome to the Cherry Grove City Pokemon Center!" she said with
false brightness. She wondered if the Nurse Joy's ever felt like this.
Half lost in thought, she set out two trays, each able to hold six
pokeballs. "Please put your pokeballs on the tray and I'll heal your
Pokemon for you."
"I win," the auburn haired, and obviously older boy, grinned at his
younger companion, who sighed and pulled a quarter out of his pocket.
"And she's not even a Nurse Joy."
"You're right, you're right" his friend sighed, again, and relinquished
the coin.
"Of course. I may not always be right, but I am never wrong,"" he
smirked, then noticed his friend's dejected look. "Lord, Ash, it's just
a quarter. It's not the end of the world or anything.
Ash fingered a bit of lint that had accompanied the quarter. "Yeah, I
know. But it's also the last of my money. How much do you have?"
"Now? 'Bout fifty cents. I'm so gla-"
"Ash! Gary!" she squealed, bouncing to her feet.
They both really looked at her for the first time, and immediately
cringed.
"Hey, Mist!" Ash said shakily. It had only been a year, but he looked
much older. The red cap she was used to seeing had disappeared, and his
black hair fell into utter disarray without it. "I think we should be
asking you that question, actually."
"Pika pi!"
"Right, sorry," he picked up his Pikachu and set it on the counter, where
it simply lay there. "Um...so, what are you doing here?"
"What, no hello?" she put her fists on her hips and glared at him.
"Hi, Misty, it's great to see you again," Gary replied this time,
grinning at her.
"How've you been? We're just fine, thank you. So, tell us, what are you
doing here?"
"Working," she carefully placed Pikachu on the tray. "The Cerulean Gym
is being run by my sisters, so I decided to run around. Well? Answer my
question. Now."
"Or there will be hell to pay, we know," Ash groaned. "We're just
passing through."
"We're broke, we're hungry, we're dirty, we're tired, and I personally
don't have time for this," Gary added, his grin replaced by a sour look.
It was almost funny. "Now, Ash, you can sit here and reminisce about the
'grand old times' you two had, but I'm going to go see what they have to
eat around here."
Misty smiled and shook her head. "He hasn't changed at all, has he."
"Nope," Ash shrugged.
"Oh, yes, and the part where they talk about me like I'm not there," Gary
turned away, sounding exasperated. "Wonderful."
"Well, not much, anyway," Ash grinned at his friend. "But that food
sounds rather tempting right about now."
"Okay, okay, you can go to the café, it's just on the other side of that
door over there," she pointed at the door, just as it opened, allowing a
spiky-haired young man to come through. He was much taller than anyone
else in the room, with ruggedly good looks, a strong jaw, squinted eyes
and the scrubby beginnings of a goatee on his chin.
"Hey, Misty, are you-"
He paused and turned towards the newly arrived duo.
"Hi Brock," Ash waved.
"It's squinty!" Gary started laughing.
"Hello, Ash, Gary," the last word was said rather coldly before Brock
turned his attention back to Misty. "I was wondering if you had some
super potion. Some of the Rattata in the Center freaked out and started
trying to kill each other."
"Yeah, somewhere," Misty began searching underneath the counter. "How
are the Pichu?"
Brock's left eye twitched ever so slightly. "They're great.
Really great."
Everything was said between clenched teeth, and the fact that he was
growling the words made him even less convincing.
"Fine, ignore us," Gary folded his arms and glared at them. "You'd think
they'd have a bit more respect for a great trainer and the League
Champion."
"Was that SUPPOSED to sound like an after thought?" Ash asked
sarcastically.
"Maybe," Gary shrugged. "Anywho, are we going to get food any time
soon?"
"And a bath or at least a shower," Ash added. "And a place to crash for
the night would be nice too."
Brock looked at him. "You look like you're about to die."
"I am. Right here. Right now. On the floor," Ash nodded.
"Right."
"There! I KNEW we had some!" Misty held up two flasks of super potion.
"Thanks," Brock accepted them and turned towards the door he had come
through. "Come on, guys, I'm sure we can find something in the kitchens.
If no, I can whip something up really fast."
"Eight course meal from two cups of peanut butter, just like old times!"
Ash laughed.
"Peanut butter doesn't sound half bad now," Gary said, a thoughtful
expression on his face. Brock gave him a weird look and led them both
into the café.
The room beyond was carpeted in a pale pink. Small round tables
surrounded by chairs were set up evenly around the room. At the far end
several unused instruments gathered dust on a stage, a rather large
portion of the carpet in front of it was lined out for dancing. A bar
lined with stools curved from the wall they were currently standing by to
the one perpendicular to it. Standing behind this was a young man with
auburn dreadlocks, bobbing his head to music blasting from his
headphones. It was recognizable as "Hemorrhage" by Fuel from where they
were standing.
"No, don't tell me," Ash put one hand over his eyes, then removed it.
"Alright, I'm not hallucinating. Todd's here, too-"
"Yeah, you should consider moving here," Brock chuckled.
"No way! That would look like some freaky coincidence that would look
like it'd been planned when really it hadn't and oh, I dunno, I'll
consider it."
"Todd, the guy who takes pictures, right?" Gary asked.
"Yep, that's Todd, the weirdest person I know."
Todd had caught the tail end of the conversation between songs. He
turned off his CD player and pulled up his headphones. "And gettng
weirder by the day, I assure you. Am I imagining things, or is that
Ashy-boy?"
"Last time I checked it was me," Ash crossed the room and took a seat on
one of the stools. "Oh, this is Gary Oak, by the way."
"Thank you so much for remembering that I'm here," Gary, who had followed
him, said sarcastically. He extended on hand to Todd. "Well, I suppose
I could get along with you. You act like you're good and crazy."
"That I am!" Todd shook the proffered hand. "When you're a Russel you
can't be anything else, well, 'cept dead."
"Sounds good to me," Gary looked around the room. "Nice place. You
might want to fire your decorator."
He motioned to the pink carpet. Brock and Todd grimaced, the offending
shade of the floor was a constant source of complaint for them, too.
"Hey, are you here to join the band? Oh, that's great!" a young woman
with waist length brown hair had entered the room, seen Ash, and ran
strait for him. She began running her fingers through his hair. "Well,
we'll have to do something with this, maybe give you an earring, and I
think you'll do great! If you can sing, that is. If not, I guess you
could lip sync. Oh, and your friend here," she turned to Gary, looking
him up and down. "Change the hair, maybe put him in red."
Ash stared at her, something akin to terror on his face. "Do I know
you?"
"Ash, I want you to meet my girlfriend, Elisabeth Schnitzler," Brock
introduced her.
"Call me Liz," she waved all introductions aside. "What I mean is, you
could do great for the lead singer or whatever for our band! You
DEFINITELY have the look."
Ash held up his hands, looking more than a little confused. "What?"
"I could ask the same thing." Gary muttered.
"Aren't you here to addition for the band?" Liz asked.
"No," they said together.
"Rats," Liz turned to her boyfriend for help. "Brock, what are we going
to do? If we don't get a band soon we'll lost all of our PAYING
customers and then we'll have to sell the café and live on the street and
I'll have to sell all of my clothes to stay alive!"
"I take it that's a lot of clothes," Ahs muttered to Brock.
"She has a walk in closet the size of the Titanic, and it's overflowing,"
Brock confirmed.
"Well, what are we going to do?" Liz repeated, stamping one
sandal-strapped foot down.
He smiled reassuringly. "Mikel and Duplica will think of something. But
in the meantime we have enough business in the Breeding Center and with
Duplica's imitating shows that we don't have to worry about not having a
band, or having to live on the streets."
"And my clothes?"
"They're perfectly save, I promise," a man with teal hair strolled in.
He carried himself like the owner of the establishment, and he had a
little pin that said "Owner and Manager" on his shirt. "Now, what's this
about a band?"
"Well, I wanted this Ash guy and his weird friend to audition, but they
said no," Liz pouted.
"Oh, great, it's happening already," Gary glared at Ash. "I've already
de-generated to 'his weird friend'. This is all YOUR fault, you know."
"Name's Mikel," the owner introduced himself. "You two trainers?"
"Friends of mine, Mike," Duplica entered the room through a different
door than Mikel. "Ash and Gary. And yes, they are trainers. And yes,
they DO need a place to stay for the night."
Mikel shrugged. "Fine by me. How long will you be staying?"
"Not to lo-" Ash was cut off by a high pitched, single instrument
rendition of the League's opening ceremony anthem. Frowning, Ash dug his
cell-phone from his pocket. "Hello?"
"Wow, on the second ring, we must be nearly in the same time zone," the
voice of the Dragon Master held a hint of amusement. "Where are you?"
"Hello, Lance. I'm fine, thanks for asking. How are you?" Ash asked
sarcastically.
"Just answer the question," Lance sounded exasperated. Ash was pretty
sure the Dragon Master was trying to pull his hair out.
"We're in the Cherry Grove City Café," Ahs answered. "Bumped into a few
old friends-"
"I guessed," Lance didn't explain himself. "Good, glad I caught you
before you left. I want you to stay there, and that's an order. All of
the arrangements will be made through the League."
"Um...okay," Ash began, but Lance had already hung up. He looked at Gary,
who was wearing a bemused expression. "Does ANYBODY say goodbye anymore?
Or hello for that matter."
"Lance told us to stay here, huh?" Gary leaned up against the counter.
"You're taking this awfully well."
"It could be worse," he shrugged. "He could take away your funding or
the tent."
"Heaven forbid that he take away the tent," Ash gave his friend a sour
look. He noticed that everyone was staring at him. "What?"
"You're staying here? Oh, that's so cool!" Liz began playing with his
hair again. "Let me give you a hair cut! Please?"
"Just let her, Ash," Brock advised him.
"Alright."
Mikel shrugged. "I suppose I'll be getting a call from the League soon."
"Probably," Gary nodded. "So, where do we stay?
*****
Yeah, a bit more of a light hearted chapter this time, but it gets
better. Trust me. Oh, and I don't own anything, except for Liz, who's
just whacked. ^_^
Yay! Lance! ^_^ And he was FINALLY in the anime! And he had pink
hair! ::dies:: This is an outrage! Oh well...I'll just give him red
hair...yeah...
Anywho, what are you waiting for? There's a button down there with your
name on it! Okay, so it doesn't have your name on it, but click on it
anyways and leave me a nice little review! ^_^ Or not...
next few parts shouldn't take NEARLY as long. I just had to make a bunch
of plot changing, crucial decisions for this part and that's why it took
forever and a day. Well, enjoy! Yay! I have ten reviews! Thanks to
all who reviewed!
Revolution
Chapter 1, Part 2
Sunlight flashed off of the windows of passing cars, causing shadow
lights to dance briefly across the wall and flee in a matter of moments.
The day was hot and muggy, and the building across the street could
barely be seen through the shimmering heat waves that rose from the acrid
smelling tar and cement.
With a sigh, Misty cupped her chin in her hands. She had been in the
Pokemon Center for nearly an hour now, and not a single person had come
in.
She had been working at the Center for nearly a year now, mostly as a
waitress in the adjoining café. Beyond the café was the Breeding Center
Brock had opened up, and the residential area was beyond that. Until she
had found out there were two job openings, she had only been staying
there as a visit to an old friend. But Cherry Grove City was charming,
and above all, was far away from her sisters.
"You holdin' up there, Misty?" Duplica stuck her head around the door
jam, her green ponytails bobbing.
"How can I not? There's been absolutely nothing to do," Misty groaned.
"It's been so slow today."
"Just checkin'!" Duplica disappeared.
Usually they had several trainers on their way to the gym in Violet City
coming through Cherry Grove, but not lately. Business had been bad at
the café, too, especially since the band had quit nearly a month ago.
Duplica's older brother Mikel had opened the Center when their parents
had died. He had thought that a café in the small city would keep them
out of debt, and he had been right.
Until now.
As Misty sat there, lost in thought, the door opened, the bell above it
ringing joyfully. She sat up straighter when the two trainers, both of
them boys and about her age, walked in.
"Hello, welcome to the Cherry Grove City Pokemon Center!" she said with
false brightness. She wondered if the Nurse Joy's ever felt like this.
Half lost in thought, she set out two trays, each able to hold six
pokeballs. "Please put your pokeballs on the tray and I'll heal your
Pokemon for you."
"I win," the auburn haired, and obviously older boy, grinned at his
younger companion, who sighed and pulled a quarter out of his pocket.
"And she's not even a Nurse Joy."
"You're right, you're right" his friend sighed, again, and relinquished
the coin.
"Of course. I may not always be right, but I am never wrong,"" he
smirked, then noticed his friend's dejected look. "Lord, Ash, it's just
a quarter. It's not the end of the world or anything.
Ash fingered a bit of lint that had accompanied the quarter. "Yeah, I
know. But it's also the last of my money. How much do you have?"
"Now? 'Bout fifty cents. I'm so gla-"
"Ash! Gary!" she squealed, bouncing to her feet.
They both really looked at her for the first time, and immediately
cringed.
"Hey, Mist!" Ash said shakily. It had only been a year, but he looked
much older. The red cap she was used to seeing had disappeared, and his
black hair fell into utter disarray without it. "I think we should be
asking you that question, actually."
"Pika pi!"
"Right, sorry," he picked up his Pikachu and set it on the counter, where
it simply lay there. "Um...so, what are you doing here?"
"What, no hello?" she put her fists on her hips and glared at him.
"Hi, Misty, it's great to see you again," Gary replied this time,
grinning at her.
"How've you been? We're just fine, thank you. So, tell us, what are you
doing here?"
"Working," she carefully placed Pikachu on the tray. "The Cerulean Gym
is being run by my sisters, so I decided to run around. Well? Answer my
question. Now."
"Or there will be hell to pay, we know," Ash groaned. "We're just
passing through."
"We're broke, we're hungry, we're dirty, we're tired, and I personally
don't have time for this," Gary added, his grin replaced by a sour look.
It was almost funny. "Now, Ash, you can sit here and reminisce about the
'grand old times' you two had, but I'm going to go see what they have to
eat around here."
Misty smiled and shook her head. "He hasn't changed at all, has he."
"Nope," Ash shrugged.
"Oh, yes, and the part where they talk about me like I'm not there," Gary
turned away, sounding exasperated. "Wonderful."
"Well, not much, anyway," Ash grinned at his friend. "But that food
sounds rather tempting right about now."
"Okay, okay, you can go to the café, it's just on the other side of that
door over there," she pointed at the door, just as it opened, allowing a
spiky-haired young man to come through. He was much taller than anyone
else in the room, with ruggedly good looks, a strong jaw, squinted eyes
and the scrubby beginnings of a goatee on his chin.
"Hey, Misty, are you-"
He paused and turned towards the newly arrived duo.
"Hi Brock," Ash waved.
"It's squinty!" Gary started laughing.
"Hello, Ash, Gary," the last word was said rather coldly before Brock
turned his attention back to Misty. "I was wondering if you had some
super potion. Some of the Rattata in the Center freaked out and started
trying to kill each other."
"Yeah, somewhere," Misty began searching underneath the counter. "How
are the Pichu?"
Brock's left eye twitched ever so slightly. "They're great.
Really great."
Everything was said between clenched teeth, and the fact that he was
growling the words made him even less convincing.
"Fine, ignore us," Gary folded his arms and glared at them. "You'd think
they'd have a bit more respect for a great trainer and the League
Champion."
"Was that SUPPOSED to sound like an after thought?" Ash asked
sarcastically.
"Maybe," Gary shrugged. "Anywho, are we going to get food any time
soon?"
"And a bath or at least a shower," Ash added. "And a place to crash for
the night would be nice too."
Brock looked at him. "You look like you're about to die."
"I am. Right here. Right now. On the floor," Ash nodded.
"Right."
"There! I KNEW we had some!" Misty held up two flasks of super potion.
"Thanks," Brock accepted them and turned towards the door he had come
through. "Come on, guys, I'm sure we can find something in the kitchens.
If no, I can whip something up really fast."
"Eight course meal from two cups of peanut butter, just like old times!"
Ash laughed.
"Peanut butter doesn't sound half bad now," Gary said, a thoughtful
expression on his face. Brock gave him a weird look and led them both
into the café.
The room beyond was carpeted in a pale pink. Small round tables
surrounded by chairs were set up evenly around the room. At the far end
several unused instruments gathered dust on a stage, a rather large
portion of the carpet in front of it was lined out for dancing. A bar
lined with stools curved from the wall they were currently standing by to
the one perpendicular to it. Standing behind this was a young man with
auburn dreadlocks, bobbing his head to music blasting from his
headphones. It was recognizable as "Hemorrhage" by Fuel from where they
were standing.
"No, don't tell me," Ash put one hand over his eyes, then removed it.
"Alright, I'm not hallucinating. Todd's here, too-"
"Yeah, you should consider moving here," Brock chuckled.
"No way! That would look like some freaky coincidence that would look
like it'd been planned when really it hadn't and oh, I dunno, I'll
consider it."
"Todd, the guy who takes pictures, right?" Gary asked.
"Yep, that's Todd, the weirdest person I know."
Todd had caught the tail end of the conversation between songs. He
turned off his CD player and pulled up his headphones. "And gettng
weirder by the day, I assure you. Am I imagining things, or is that
Ashy-boy?"
"Last time I checked it was me," Ash crossed the room and took a seat on
one of the stools. "Oh, this is Gary Oak, by the way."
"Thank you so much for remembering that I'm here," Gary, who had followed
him, said sarcastically. He extended on hand to Todd. "Well, I suppose
I could get along with you. You act like you're good and crazy."
"That I am!" Todd shook the proffered hand. "When you're a Russel you
can't be anything else, well, 'cept dead."
"Sounds good to me," Gary looked around the room. "Nice place. You
might want to fire your decorator."
He motioned to the pink carpet. Brock and Todd grimaced, the offending
shade of the floor was a constant source of complaint for them, too.
"Hey, are you here to join the band? Oh, that's great!" a young woman
with waist length brown hair had entered the room, seen Ash, and ran
strait for him. She began running her fingers through his hair. "Well,
we'll have to do something with this, maybe give you an earring, and I
think you'll do great! If you can sing, that is. If not, I guess you
could lip sync. Oh, and your friend here," she turned to Gary, looking
him up and down. "Change the hair, maybe put him in red."
Ash stared at her, something akin to terror on his face. "Do I know
you?"
"Ash, I want you to meet my girlfriend, Elisabeth Schnitzler," Brock
introduced her.
"Call me Liz," she waved all introductions aside. "What I mean is, you
could do great for the lead singer or whatever for our band! You
DEFINITELY have the look."
Ash held up his hands, looking more than a little confused. "What?"
"I could ask the same thing." Gary muttered.
"Aren't you here to addition for the band?" Liz asked.
"No," they said together.
"Rats," Liz turned to her boyfriend for help. "Brock, what are we going
to do? If we don't get a band soon we'll lost all of our PAYING
customers and then we'll have to sell the café and live on the street and
I'll have to sell all of my clothes to stay alive!"
"I take it that's a lot of clothes," Ahs muttered to Brock.
"She has a walk in closet the size of the Titanic, and it's overflowing,"
Brock confirmed.
"Well, what are we going to do?" Liz repeated, stamping one
sandal-strapped foot down.
He smiled reassuringly. "Mikel and Duplica will think of something. But
in the meantime we have enough business in the Breeding Center and with
Duplica's imitating shows that we don't have to worry about not having a
band, or having to live on the streets."
"And my clothes?"
"They're perfectly save, I promise," a man with teal hair strolled in.
He carried himself like the owner of the establishment, and he had a
little pin that said "Owner and Manager" on his shirt. "Now, what's this
about a band?"
"Well, I wanted this Ash guy and his weird friend to audition, but they
said no," Liz pouted.
"Oh, great, it's happening already," Gary glared at Ash. "I've already
de-generated to 'his weird friend'. This is all YOUR fault, you know."
"Name's Mikel," the owner introduced himself. "You two trainers?"
"Friends of mine, Mike," Duplica entered the room through a different
door than Mikel. "Ash and Gary. And yes, they are trainers. And yes,
they DO need a place to stay for the night."
Mikel shrugged. "Fine by me. How long will you be staying?"
"Not to lo-" Ash was cut off by a high pitched, single instrument
rendition of the League's opening ceremony anthem. Frowning, Ash dug his
cell-phone from his pocket. "Hello?"
"Wow, on the second ring, we must be nearly in the same time zone," the
voice of the Dragon Master held a hint of amusement. "Where are you?"
"Hello, Lance. I'm fine, thanks for asking. How are you?" Ash asked
sarcastically.
"Just answer the question," Lance sounded exasperated. Ash was pretty
sure the Dragon Master was trying to pull his hair out.
"We're in the Cherry Grove City Café," Ahs answered. "Bumped into a few
old friends-"
"I guessed," Lance didn't explain himself. "Good, glad I caught you
before you left. I want you to stay there, and that's an order. All of
the arrangements will be made through the League."
"Um...okay," Ash began, but Lance had already hung up. He looked at Gary,
who was wearing a bemused expression. "Does ANYBODY say goodbye anymore?
Or hello for that matter."
"Lance told us to stay here, huh?" Gary leaned up against the counter.
"You're taking this awfully well."
"It could be worse," he shrugged. "He could take away your funding or
the tent."
"Heaven forbid that he take away the tent," Ash gave his friend a sour
look. He noticed that everyone was staring at him. "What?"
"You're staying here? Oh, that's so cool!" Liz began playing with his
hair again. "Let me give you a hair cut! Please?"
"Just let her, Ash," Brock advised him.
"Alright."
Mikel shrugged. "I suppose I'll be getting a call from the League soon."
"Probably," Gary nodded. "So, where do we stay?
*****
Yeah, a bit more of a light hearted chapter this time, but it gets
better. Trust me. Oh, and I don't own anything, except for Liz, who's
just whacked. ^_^
Yay! Lance! ^_^ And he was FINALLY in the anime! And he had pink
hair! ::dies:: This is an outrage! Oh well...I'll just give him red
hair...yeah...
Anywho, what are you waiting for? There's a button down there with your
name on it! Okay, so it doesn't have your name on it, but click on it
anyways and leave me a nice little review! ^_^ Or not...
