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Chapter Two
Same day (November 20th)
Cerulean City
6:30 p.m.
There was a girl in the Pokémon Center of Cerulean City. She wore a short light-blue dress and kept her long red hair down. Almost everyone in the town knew her and thought that she was pretty. And every man in the center stared at her, admiring her beauty. None of them needed to heal their Pokémon; they just wanted to stare at the girl.
"Wow…" one man mumbled, staring at the redhead.
"She's amazing…" another said. "Just look at her…"
Meanwhile, the teenage girl stood as still as a board, backing up towards the wall, staring wide-eyed at them. She didn't exactly like their company; she was afraid of staring, drooling men. She never liked them, and they could be pretty fierce at times.
Where's Greg anyway? she thought to herself, turning her attention to the glass doors of the center. He SAID he'd be here… I want to know what this big surprise is and go home… they're staring at me… She then shivered, not wanting them to stare at her like that.
Soon, a black-haired boy about the girl's age came in, his left arm against his heavy winter coat. He wiped his now foggy glasses off, for snowflakes had been on them. He wore a pair of jeans, along with a pair of boots. It was one of the coldest and fiercest winters that Cerulean had had in years, and the worst that the girl and the boy had seen in their lives.
Quickly the girl put her coat on, cursing her outfit. It would be very cold out there, and she couldn't teleport like she usually could. She had been interviewed, and no one liked an unpatched psychic around machinery. The last thing she needed to do was get nervous and break it all.
"Can we go?" the girl asked. She then twisted her head at the men, as a way of signaling that she was creeped out by them.
"Yah, I got your surprise. Let's get going before those fanboys attack you," the teen mumbled, walking out of the center.
Both of them were out in the street. It was snowing heavily. The snow swirled around them as they walked with difficulty to a local restaurant. It was only down the street a short way, but it felt farther away with the wind blowing at their faces.
The restaurant wasn't busy, for most people were at home. Only a few employees were in the back, just in case someone wanted something to eat. The only other person there was a girl with long brown hair in a ponytail. She also wore a thick winter jacket and also wore a blue hat.
"What took you Greg?" the girl sitting down said. "You said you'd bring Arielle in a flash. I need to see flashing here…" she said, grinning mischievously.
"Shut up; I went as fast as I can. It was hard getting past all those rabid people to get the application. And thank god they didn't ask if I was psychic. If they did, I would have been busted and I would have never gotten this!" Greg yelled, pulling a large tan envelope out of his jacket.
Arielle stared at the envelope that was now on the table. It was quite thick.
"What is it?" she asked, staring at it.
"A job application for the Timetravelers. They pay big, you see. You know how Mom would like enough money to quit her job, and she has pay off the debt the family owes the league," the girl sitting at the table said. "By this time next year, we could be out of the gym and living somewhere else. Just think about it! Mom will be happy, we'll have some more spending money, and you won't have to perform anymore and have guys drooling all over you!"
Arielle picked up the packet. It was like a dream come true.
Currently she preformed at the gym to get publicity. She was paid very little for it, for she was only a demi-gym leader. They were not paid as much as the main gym leaders were per match, and Arielle almost never had to battle. Luckily her mother convinced the district manager to pay her a little more for bringing publicity to the gym.
"You mean it?" Arielle said, eyes sparkling, smile on her face.
"Of course!" Greg said. "We talked to some trusted contacts about it. If you practice your combat skills a bit more, they think you can get into Group A. You have the smarts to, just polish up on the skills, okay?"
Arielle nodded. It wouldn't be too hard to sneak out and practice her combat. Besides, her mother approved of self-defense. If she just said it was self-defense lessons, her mother wouldn't care.
"But… do we tell Mom?" Arielle asked. She was quite nervous, since her mother disapproved of psychic combat except for self-defense. The woman didn't like psychics at all, considering that they could easily defeat her, and maybe even her Pokémon if they were insane enough to try.
"Geesh, who do you think had the idea in the first place?" the girl at the table asked. "Mom would have asked if she wasn't at the Pokémon League convention. I know it's out of her character to ask you do kick ass for a job, but I guess she's that desperate for the money. Now let's go; we have to watch the gym still."
The other two nodded and went outside in the snow. It took a good fifteen minutes to walk back to the Cerulean City Gym, but soon they were inside the warm building.
The Pokémon Gym was looking the same as always. The yellow walls had picture of water Pokémon on them. Above the giant pool were the stands, which where clean. The pool had several water Pokémon floating around it in, having fun as always. A few floating boards were in the pool as well to keep trainers afloat while battling.
"I'm cold…" Arielle commented, rubbing her legs to keep them warm.
"Put some pants on," the other girl replied. "Or soak them in water. Last thing we need is to tell Mom we had to send you to the hospital because of frostbite. I'll stay out here, just in case someone is insane enough to want a battle in a snowstorm. You two can relax," the girl continued, jumping down into the pool area. She then sat down, waiting just in case. The girl did not take off her jacket, for the gym wasn't heated well.
Arielle nodded. Holding the packet, she went down to the lower levels of the gym. The area was where all the bedrooms were.
The girl had spent her whole life living in the gym. Her mother had to run it. The family was in debt to the Pokémon League, and they couldn't quit until it was paid off due to an old contract. It seemed a little unfair to Arielle, but there was nothing she could do about it. The contract could not be broken. She was stuck living in the gym until she was old enough to move out. That is, if she were one of the lucky two who would be able to leave. One would have to stay behind and be the gym leader when the mother eventually passed away, or got too old to even battle.
Arielle never liked doing matches. She had to do practice ones with the Gym Pokémon, and she had done a few official matches before, but she didn't enjoy it at all. Just thinking about spending the rest of her life fighting trainer after trainer made her upset.
How does Mom even do it? It's boring, she thought to herself. I couldn't run a Gym even if I wanted to. It would be worse than performing. Hopefully when we draw straws, it won't be me. That is, if we're still here…
I hope I get in, she continued, looking at the packet in her arms. It was her ticket out of the Gym and making everyone happy, if it was used right.
We'd be much happier, not having to worry about the Gym, or the money we have to pay off…
The girl soon found herself in her room. It was decorated nicely. A few posters were on the wall of her favorite things, like cute Pokémon and cute boys. A dresser had some perfume and makeup on the top. One wall had the closet, and against the opposite wall was the little bed with a pink quilt on top.
Next to the bed was an end table with a lamp and a few pictures on it. One was of her and her pet Skitty, a cute cat Pokémon. They were in the gym, Skitty in her arms. The other picture was of her, her mother and siblings. Her mother had orange hair and wore a dress similar to what Arielle had to wear.
Arielle and the other two didn't know who their father was; their mother never liked to mention it. The triplets could only wonder why their mother never mentioned him.
Arielle went to the closet and pulled out a pair of thick cloth pants. Quickly she put them on, along with a sweater. Next she pulled out the papers in the folder, got a pen and started to fill out the application. The sooner she filled it out, the better. But soon the power went out, and Arielle lied down on her bed, thinking about her past. It was one of the few things that didn't require electricity.
flashback
Arielle was about thirteen, and she had just finished her first performance. It was the scariest thing she had ever done in her life. Everyone, even television cameras, was staring at her. Arielle didn't like it at all, but she knew she had to do it. That was the only thing that kept her going that day. If that weren't there, she would have run out in the beginning.
The girl was drying off near the pool. Her sister Ashley, who didn't have to perform because she wasn't as "pretty" as Arielle, gave her a towel. The girl felt guilty, since Arielle hated to perform.
"You did pretty good," Ashley said. "You did better than I could have."
Arielle took the towel. Quickly she dried herself off, feeling cold. Once she was satisfied she draped it around her shoulders.
"Where's Mom?" Arielle asked.
"I donno, I think she's talking to the press about the performance," Ashley replied. "I'll go look."
Soon Ashley was gone, and her mother came by. She wore a pink dress similar to Arielle's. The woman had also preformed, being the Gym Leader. Her short hair was still dripping.
"Are you okay?" she asked with concern. Arielle nodded, still scared and upset about performing.
"Do I have to do it again?" Arielle asked. "Because I didn't like it…"
She could tell that it upset her mother to see her so upset over performing.
"Sadly, yes. We really need the money, you see…" the woman trailed off, and Arielle thought she was guilty for making her daughter perform just for the money, or so her facial expression showed.
Arielle sighed. She looked down to her feet. The girl didn't want to perform like her mother did week after week. One performance was bad enough, but more? It was torture, plain and simple.
"Why?" she mumbled to herself. "Why me?"
Her mother then turned to her.
"One day, you'll never have to do this. I promise…"
The last line kept ringing though Arielle's head. The girl couldn't wait until she could quit performing. She then started thinking about how different her life would be without performing, or having to worry about a gym, or not having to worry about such a big debt…
The next thing Arielle knew, she was snoozing quietly on her bed.