DISCLAIMER: I don't own Pokémon or any of its characters, place names, etc. The only characters I own here are the lovely Samara Kantaris (or rather, she owns me...hehehe) and her 'rival' Ivan...and Kate Roscoe too. I guess Stella's mine as well, you could say. None of the other characters are mine (although I heartily wish I owned Lance and Giovanni, but unfortunately I don't...)
AUTHOR'S NOTE: runs in screaming Yay! I got reviews! So sorry for my impatience. Now I can die happy. LOL. Joking. I can't die happy until I've finished this whole TWINE series…yah. Really. Sorry the chapters are getting so long…I wrote myself a new chapter plan which is good because now I can just look at the chapter plan, see what I'm meant to be doing and get on with writing it. But it's bad because I can't use the 'writer's block' excuse. Hehe.
sniperkitten313: Welcome to the crazy world of Kantaris and TWINE. Stalkers are most welcome here.
Hail, Lunar Sphinx! Thanks for your review! Ivan is evil, yes. But evil is gooooood….mwahahaha.
Sorry this took so long. And…oh, I almost forgot: ENJOY!
The next day, the two girls set off East, totally unchanged by the previous day's drama (other than Kantaris' burns, grazes and bruises, that is). Or maybe they were changed. They were acting differently: Kate was silent, which was unusual for her. She kept giving Kantaris sideward glances, and whenever Kantaris glared at her, she merely smiled and looked away. But Kantaris knew what Kate was thinking, so there was no point in asking. Nevertheless, it was annoying, and at Kantaris' first opportunity, she ran off to chase after a Spearow that she'd seen. Meanwhile Kate sat down by the roadside and watched her catching it.
"Nice one," Kate said, when Kantaris returned.
"Sure, sure." Kantaris batted off the praise and sat down next to her companion.
"You don't care about it?"
Kantaris stared at her blankly.
"What?"
"That's a new Pokémon you've just caught. Don't you care?"
Kantaris shrugged.
"It's just a Spearow."
Kate gazed at her amusedly. This time Kantaris had to question it.
"What now?"
"Nothing. It's just you."
"You mean you never caught a Pokémon just for the sake of it?"
"You mean, just for it to sit in my Storage System?" Kate shook her head. "Nah, I never did that…but I know that people do. Ignore me, Kantaris, I'm being doctrinaire."
Kate stood up, Kantaris followed suit, and they continued on their way. Now that the silence had been broken, Kate seemed a lot more like her usual self. She chatted away idly about this and that – Kantaris wasn't really listening – until they reached a Pokémon Centre and Mart outpost somewhere in the middle of nowhere where they stopped to spend the night after Kantaris had ambitiously blown all of her money on Pokéballs.
"Kate," Kantaris asked suddenly just as they were about to go to sleep, "have I done something wrong by catching that…you know…Zapdos?"
"Since when have you worried about what's right or wrong?" Kate joked.
Kantaris knew that there was some element of truth in this. She couldn't blame Kate for saying it. But she pretended to be highly offended by the remark. She turned up her nose and rolled over. Kate laughed her high, melodious laugh and said,
"You're such a hoot, Kantaris." She clasped her hands over her stomach and paused to think. "You know, I've never heard anyone say that trainers aren't allowed to catch Legendaries…but then again, why would Legendaries be so set apart if they weren't protected by some sort of law?"
"Oh, don't talk to me about the law," Kantaris sighed. She was falling asleep.
"There's a rumour that Lorelei wants a Legendary. And she's in the Pokémon Defence League."
"And don't ever talk to me about the PDL."
"Oops...sorry, is that a bad subject? What I'm saying is…you haven't done anything criminal but if I were you, I wouldn't make a show of it. Keep it under wraps."
"I have this awesome new Pokémon and you're asking me to keep it under wraps?" Kantaris laughed into her pillow.
"It's your choice. But you'd certainly be wise to wait a little before letting it loose in battle. You don't have the badges yet. It must be of a high level." Kate paused to yawn and think for a while. "You seemed to have a struggle with it. I've never seen anyone look in such bad shape after fighting a wild Pokémon. What was it like?"
Silence.
"Kantaris?"
More silence.
"Oh, never mind," Kate said with another yawn.
The next day, Kate woke up to find the opposite twin bed empty and unkempt. A Team Rocket uniform was strewn over the floor, and its owner seemed to have attempted to hide it by shoving it partially under the bed. Kate couldn't bear the sight of a messy room so she got up for the sole purpose of making the bed and folding up the uniform. She'd never seen a Team Rocket uniform up close before and couldn't resist taking a look at it. It looked pretty warm and comfortable, but black just wasn't her colour. She held it up, examining the 'R' on the front.
Suddenly there came a series of bangs and the door was flung open. Kate dropped the uniform instantly and stood up beside the beds, stretching as if she'd just got up.
"That bloody door…" Kantaris muttered, throwing her bag down onto the floor. "Hey, Kate."
Kate surveyed Kantaris disapprovingly. She looked just as untidy as the room had done before Kate had tidied it up. Her hair was wild and tangled, her jeans were muddy and her shoelaces were undone. Kate, on the other hand, looked perfect as usual. And she'd just got out of bed. Kantaris seemed to neither notice nor care. She seized her Team Rocket uniform, not realising that it had been folded and put on the bed, and she stuffed it into her bag. Taking an apple out of her bag and munching on it, she started to ramble on incoherently about how she'd attacked a Drowzee and captured it, spraying bits of apple around the room as she did so.
Kate stood there with a brilliant white smile and nodded occasionally as Kantaris told her tale.
"Oh, it was great," Kantaris concluded. She stood up on her bed – muddy trainers and all – and began bouncing on it lightly.
"What are you doing up there?" Kate burst out laughing. She wasn't sure whether she should be more concerned about the bed getting muddy.
"I dunno," Kantaris shrugged. "Why not? I like heights."
"But you don't like flying on a Pokémon?"
"Uh-uh." Kantaris shook her head vigorously. "Airsick."
She wasn't actually thinking about what she was saying. How could she be airsick? Three times a week for the past two years she'd been travelling from Saffron to Viridian and back in a helicopter. She wished she were back there now, actually. She thought that she could just use a lie-in at Giovanni's mansion, or a morning spent lounging around by the pool, or….
"Whatever," she said hastily, jumping down off the bed and banging her head on the ceiling in the process. "We going or what?"
Rock Tunnel wasn't much further off. Its entrance was surprisingly crowded for this time in the morning. People were setting out early. Looking into the blackness of the cave, Kantaris shrank back a little. It didn't look half as inviting as Mount Moon. No lights. She mentioned this to Kate, who replied,
"I confess, it's not. It's tough. It'll probably take us all day, and that's if we keep going non-stop."
Kantaris groaned. Kate's idea of 'non-stop' would mean sprinting all the way through Rock Tunnel.
"I don't mind sleeping in there," she lied, "if we have to. I'm not in a rush to get to…wherever it is we're going."
"Lavender Town," Kate reminded her.
"That's the one. Lavender Town."
As she gazed around at the crowds of trainers, Kantaris had an idea. She beckoned Kate and whispered in her ear,
"Don't you think this would be an awesome time for me to use that HM you gave me? I could teach one of my Pokémon how to use Flash."
Kate smiled brightly. At least Kantaris was saying something sensible now, which didn't seem to happen often.
"That's a great idea!" she said, clapping her hands. "Are you going to teach it to Stella?"
"No, no, no…" Kantaris shook her head. "Stella's too busy, man."
Kate furrowed her brow. Too busy? What did that mean?
"Which one?" she asked.
"Duh! Tempest!" Kantaris' eyes lit up.
"You're going to teach it to your Zapdos?" Kate's smiled faded. She grabbed Kantaris' arm before she could make a move to carry out her plan. Usually when Kantaris decided on doing something, there was no stopping her. But this had to be stopped.
"Why not?"
"Samara, let's think about this logically, okay? You've only just caught this Pokémon. It's beyond your control at the moment. It's too strong and way too noticeable. It would be stupid to go around showing it off, right? So the last thing you want to be doing is walking through Rock Tunnel amongst all these other trainers with a massive Legendary Pokémon beside you, giving out a million-amp Flash."
"So you think it might not be a good idea?" Kantaris asked blankly.
"That's kind of what I'm saying, yes." Kate forced herself to smile. "It's okay: my Mr. Mime has Flash. He'll get us through."
Rock Tunnel itself was the most mind-numbingly boring place Kantaris had ever been to. It was nothing but rock. It was cold, dismal and uncomfortable. There were Zubats hanging from the roof of the tunnel – Kantaris managed to catch one of them – and other slimy, creepy crawly things hiding behind rocks. Water frequently dripped down from the ceiling and soon Kantaris was damp and shivering. Her leather jacket was waterproof but did little to keep the cold out, and although she was wearing her Team Rocket cap, which shielded her hair, water kept dripping down the back of her neck.
"This sucks," she said, her teeth chattering.
"Why don't you go off and battle or something?" Kate asked cheerfully. She was wrapped up in a waterproof coat, scarf and gloves. "Lots of trainers here."
Kantaris gave her the evil eye. She wanted to say various things. She also wanted to steal Kate's coat. But she was shivering too much to do either. So instead, she nodded mutely and wandered off to find some innocent trainers whom she could battle. Maybe she'd trick them into betting their coats instead of money.
When Kate and Kantaris found each other some hours later, Kantaris was still without a decent coat but she'd warmed herself up by battling. Stella trailed in the air behind her, panting with exhaustion and looking a funny colour.
"How did you do?" Kate asked amicably.
"Good. I beat everyone. Caught a rock thingy. Geodude."
"You look a lot healthier than you did before," Kate commented with a wink. "Thought you were gonna have to be treated for hypothermia when we got to Lavender Town."
Kate wished she'd never mentioned Lavender Town. For the rest of the journey, Kantaris repeated that immortal, annoying question 'Are we there yet?' at regular intervals. Finally (oh so finally…) Kate reached the other side. Kantaris was a few paces behind her, still complaining.
"Are we there yet? My feet hurt. I'm hungry. I'm tired. I hate this place. Why couldn't we fly?"
"Chill out, Little Miss Rocket," Kate said, pulling Kantaris out of the tunnel. "We're there."
They were standing on a gently sloping hill looking down into a valley, nestled in which was a tiny town that consisted of a few small buildings, a church and a tall tower. The view was breathtaking. The sun had set, so the place was bathed in the beauty of twilight. There were no lights on in the town. It looked like the perfect mountain village. The church bell was tolling. It sounded as if it were miles away.
"I can't see there being any hotels here," Kantaris whispered, not wanting to break the silence. "Where are we gonna stay?"
"There is a hotel, just a small one on the near side of town, I think," Kate replied, calling Mr. Mime back into his Pokéball. "Or if not, I'm sure we'll find a place to rent. We won't be here long."
Kantaris wasn't the sentimental type. But she liked the look of this place. She'd had way too much drama recently, and Lavender Town looked like the perfect relaxation spot.
"Why not? Can't we stay for a while?"
"If you want," Kate replied with a shrug. "But there's no Gym or anything."
"You!" a voice exclaimed suddenly from behind them.
Kate turned round instantly to see who was yelling. Kantaris didn't need to turn round. She knew. Her little reverie had just been shattered. She looked up to the sky and wanted to collapse. Ground, please, just swallow me up…
"Kantaris, do you know this guy?" Kate asked, full of curiosity.
"No, no…why me?" Kantaris moaned. "Am I cursed?"
She forced herself to turn round. Ivan was standing there, tapping his foot impatiently.
"I have a bone to pick with you, Rocket," he said.
"What else is new?" I just can't be bothered with this guy, Kantaris thought to herself.
Kate looked as if she was about to introduce herself to Ivan. Kantaris glanced at her sharply and the look said it all. Kate held up her hands and stepped back. She could take a hint, and she didn't want to get involved in any fighting. It wasn't her thing.
Kantaris nodded in satisfaction and glared at her 'rival' archly.
"Talk," she commanded.
"You caught Zapdos." It was an accusation, not a question.
"What makes you think that?" Kantaris raised an eyebrow and met his gaze confidently. "Are you gonna frisk me for it?"
"You wish, sweetheart."
Kantaris blushed but managed to maintain eye contact, not for reasons of battling but to prove her confidence.
"Look," she said, "it was an accident. It attacked me, I fought back, it fell, I caught it. I didn't know what it was until you turned up spouting off about it! How was I to know that you wanted it? It wasn't as if I stole it from you, although if I had done, I guess that would make us even seen as you blatantly snatched that Eevee from under –"
"Stop talking and battle me."
Kate looked at Kantaris concernedly and placed a hand on her shoulder. Kantaris sighed. Yes, her Pokémon were tired. She was tired. But she'd already avoided battling with this guy once, hadn't she? To do it again would be…cowardly.
"Oh, let me guess…" Ivan rolled his eyes at her hesitation. "You can't battle me because you came all the way through Rock Tunnel without stopping to heal up, right?"
"That's true, actually," Kantaris replied. "But I'll battle you all the same, if it makes you happy."
They moved apart, clearing a space as a makeshift battlefield. Kate clapped quietly and went to sit under a nearby tree. She sensed a hostile atmosphere here. It simply didn't fit, given the tranquillity of the current location. But nevertheless, this battle was sure to be good. Kantaris was crazy, though. If she won it would be a major achievement, given the state of her Pokémon.
"Seen as you're obviously too weak for a full-scale battle," Ivan said, "we'll just have a three-on-three."
Lucky. Three Pokémon was all Kantaris had left. The others were way too tired to battle.
"You could make it a three-on-one, your advantage," Kantaris replied, "and I'd still beat you. Quality over quantity."
Ignoring her comment, Ivan threw in his first Pokémon silently. It was a newly evolved Croconaw. It looked just as boisterous as it had as a Totodile, only tougher. In return, Kantaris called out Stella who had retreated to her Pokéball due to fatigue. Stella emerged with a plainly audible yawn. Kantaris blushed again.
"Stella, Thunder attack!" Kantaris yelled.
Stella's aim was off. Croconaw dodged the attack easily and began to dance on the spot.
"Slash attack!" Ivan ordered. "No, wait…that's a Normal attack…damn, that won't work…"
"Shadow Ball!"
Kate widened her eyes in mild surprise. Maybe Kantaris could win this after all. And besides…what kind of trainer tries to use Normal attacks against Ghosts? The Shadow Ball attack hit its opponent full on. Croconaw spiralled backwards and landed in a heap at its trainer's feet. To Kantaris' annoyance, it got up, still raring to go.
"Bite attack, Croconaw!"
"Oh, shit," Kantaris muttered. Dark kicks Ghost's ass.
And it sure did. With one final yelp, Stella went down. Kantaris held her head in anguish. She hated to see her best Pokémon (and friend) faint, especially at the hands of…Never mind. Get on with it.
"Go, Staryu!" she exclaimed with renewed fire in her voice. "Spin Tackle!"
Almost as soon as it had been released, Staryu leapt into the air and performed an impressive and rapid Spin Tackle that hit its opponent in the face a few times before returning like a boomerang. Croconaw growled weakly.
"Slash attack!" Ivan commanded.
"Dodge it with another Spin Tackle!"
Staryu avoided the powerful-looking Slash attack and flew round in another Spin Tackle, catching Croconaw in the back of the head.
"Now finish it off with a Swift attack, Staryu!"
Still dazed from the last hit, Croconaw didn't make any move to evade the Swift attack (although any attempt to dodge it wouldn't have worked anyway). It wasn't very powerful, but it was enough to take Croconaw's last ounce of strength. Ivan called his Pokémon back with a grimace. Kantaris concealed a sigh of relief behind a smirk. Two Pokémon apiece now, she said silently. We're on equal terms.
"I'm gonna be predictable and use Eevee," Ivan said casually, throwing in Eevee's Pokéball.
Kantaris twitched. Her own Eevee had collapsed in Rock Tunnel and to make matters worse, her opponent's Eevee looked stronger than hers. There would be no mercy here.
"Water Gun, Staryu," she muttered.
"Sand Attack."
The vigorous Sand Attack completely doused Staryu's Water Gun and the Water Gun even assisted the Sand Attack, making the sand heavier and stickier. Staryu staggered around on the spot as if blinded, its central jewel matted with sand.
"Swift!" Kantaris yelled, choosing the only attack that she knew to have infallible accuracy.
Eevee turned heel and tried to run from the attack. It was a fast runner, but the shower of stars caught up with it and knocked it to the ground.
"Spin Tackle, Staryu!" Kantaris exclaimed as Eevee rose to its feet.
Staryu launched another Spin Tackle, sending clumps of sand flying in all directions as it spun through the air. Unfortunately the attack missed as Eevee gracefully leapt to the side.
"Quick Attack, Eevee," ordered its trainer calmly.
The Quick Attack was perfectly timed. It hit just as Staryu was landing from its Spin Tackle; it was unavoidable and surprisingly strong. Staryu collapsed on the spot. Kantaris started to hyperventilate.
"Two against one, Kantaris," Ivan whispered, adding to her unrest. "You're losing."
And Kantaris didn't have any choice. She had only one Pokémon left. One that she had never used before. Her hand hovered over its Pokéball nervously and she glanced at Kate although she didn't know why: since when did she need Kate's opinion or permission to do something?
"No," Kate whispered.
"I have to," Kantaris whispered back desperately.
Taking a few steps back as she did so, Kantaris went for it and pushed the button on the Pokéball that held Tempest, her Zapdos. It emerged with such vigour that Kantaris fell back onto the ground. Tempest hovered above her and gave her an evil eye. Kantaris swallowed hard but firmly pointed towards the battle field.
"Tempest," she said, "I'm your trainer and you're gonna fight for me."
Surprisingly, Tempest left her alone and flew up into the air. Kantaris narrowly missed being hit by one of its wings as she got up and dusted herself off.
"Well, well, well," Ivan said with a smile, staring at the Zapdos. "Looks like I won't have to frisk you after all. Damn, Kantaris! How did you manage to catch this thing? And in a Pokéball?"
"Just…skill…" she replied breathlessly. "Something that you…wouldn't know about."
"I gotta admit, I'm impressed."
"You can't win this battle now." Despite her fatigue, Kantaris laughed. "You can't."
Ivan glared at her.
"We'll see."
"You think you can beat a Zapdos with your bunch of amateurs?" Kantaris laughed again, this time in scorn. "Okay, Tempest: Thunder attack!"
Tempest rose higher into the air with a loud battle cry and began to fly around in circles, swooping and diving and generally making a show of itself. Kantaris cringed.
"I'm still waiting for the Thunder attack," she said nervously.
To her horror, Tempest merely gave her another evil look as it flew past. It perched on the top of the hill, above the entrance to Rock Tunnel, and spread its wings in a triumphant pose. It stayed there like some glorious statue.
"Great Pokémon you got there," Ivan commented. "I see you have perfect control over it."
"He's just getting warmed up!" Kantaris snapped, her cheeks burning. "Enough messing around, Tempest! Show me a Sky Attack!"
Tempest began to preen its golden feathers, taking no notice of Kantaris whatsoever.
"No!" she hissed. "Don't do this to me! Not now!"
Nothing.
"Tempest!" she yelled. "Come on!"
"Ha!" Ivan exclaimed victoriously. "Well, isn't that ironic? Looks like Zapdos knows better than to listen to some cheap ghetto wannabe like you."
"This battle isn't over yet!" Kantaris screamed.
"Why? You don't have any more Pokémon. That thing ain't gonna listen to you." He smothered a laugh. "Just forfeit."
Despite herself, Kantaris looked to Kate desperately yet again. To her dismay, Kate frowned and shook her head. It was a no-win situation.
"Fine," Kantaris muttered furiously, her blood pounding in her ears, "there. You beat me. You got your revenge. Now can you please leave me alone?"
"Ah, we'll have to see about that, won't we?" Ivan replied with a wink. He crossed the 'battlefield' and held out his hand. "Give me the money, honey."
Kantaris fished into her pockets and pulled out half of what she had. It wasn't much. The trainers in Rock Tunnel had been stingy with their cash rewards.
"Now that's not very nice," Ivan said, pocketing the money and holding his hand out for more.
"It's all I have!" Kantaris snapped as she called Tempest back to its Pokéball.
"Empty your pockets, then."
She reluctantly emptied both of her pockets and turned them out. Luckily she'd put her gun into her bag (or maybe that was unlucky). Ivan snatched the other half of her loot.
"Don't lie to me again," he muttered threateningly, "or else I really will get mad."
"You can't do that!" Kantaris cried as he walked away. "What am I meant to do for cash, huh?"
He carried on, not even looking back. Kantaris was glad that she couldn't see his face. She imagined that he was laughing.
"Ivan!" she yelled. "Give me my money back! Don't make me come after you, dammit!"
Kate grabbed her by the shoulders and held her back.
"Calm down," she said, rubbing Kantaris' arms reassuringly. "You won't need any money for now, will you?"
"Of course I need money!" Kantaris snapped.
"You'll manage until we get into Celadon. There's nothing to spend money on here in Lavender anyway." Kate linked arms with her and led her down the pathway towards Lavender Town. "If you need any money, I can lend it to you. Don't worry about it."
"You can't just take somebody's money like that!" Kantaris was still furious. Okay, so she'd done a lot worse things than ripping trainers off after battles…but the injustice of it was different now that she'd experienced it for herself.
"Yeah, that was a little mean," Kate agreed. "How did you end up meeting a guy like that?"
"He sort of…ran into me. He thinks he's my rival."
"Ah. I see."
"He pisses me off."
"I imagine so."
Kantaris called Tempest back vehemently.
"Well…he's overstepped the mark. If it's a rival he wants, it's a rival he'll get. Now it's personal."
