19

"Leah, are you done yet?" Kohan asked while pounding on the bunk door.

"Yes, hold up! Don't you want me to get some clothes on first?"

"Not really." Kohan said to himself.

"There. Happy?" Leah opened the door, stepped out, and held her arms out toward the bathroom door. "Allll yours."

"Thank you." He purposely ran his elbow into her chest as he passed her.

While Leah was waiting for him to get out, she decided to take a good look at Dratini. "Hi Dratini. My name is Leah. Earlier, we didn't get a chance to get to know each other." She sat down in front of her. "You are a very beautiful Pokémon Dratini. I've always had a love for dragon type Pokémon."

"Tini dra, tin, tini tini dratin."

"I wish that I could understand you. Hey! I could get Bandit's collar and put it on you! Then we could talk! Hold on." Leah got up and turned toward the bunks. Forgetting that Kohan was taking a shower, she opened the door without knocking. Kohan just happened to be standing in the middle of the room with only a towel around his waist, and his pants in his hand. After a few second of awkward silence, Leah realizes what she is looking at and screams. "Ahhh!" She turns around, covers her eyes, and, "Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry!"

"Wow! It's okay. At least I have something on."

"Sorry. If you don't mind me saying, though, you have a great body."

"Thanks. Uh, what did you need so badly?"

"Nothing important. Sorry. I'll leave."

"You don't have to. I have my boxers on already. I just don't like to take the towel off until I do. For obvious reasons of course." Kohan added.

"No, it's okay. I have to return Dratini to her Pokéball." All through the conversation, Leah's hand had not left her eyes. She clumsily found the doorknob, and swung the door closed behind her.

"Bandit, do you think that she forgot on purpose." Kohan said as soon as he heard her talking to Dratini again.

"I don't know, maybe. I think that she does have a crush on you though."

"So do I." Meaning that statement in more than just one-way. "She has a wonderful personality, of what I've seen. After all, she did save you."

"Yeah. She's a wonderful person. Don't you think you should get dressed? We'll be there soon."

"Oh. Yeah. Right. Thanks."

20

When they arrived at Cinnabar Island's port, there were some dockworkers there to help the tie the boat up. "Thanks guys!" Kohan yelled. "Where do you want to go, Leah?"

"Well, it would be a smart idea to go to the Pokécenter. I caught two more Pokémon while you were taking a shower. I want to heal them."

"Okay then. Off to the Pokécenter. Who'd you get?"

"Tentacool and Magikarp." Kohan and Leah walked for about ten minutes around the city because Kohan could not remember the way.

"Kohan?"

"It's just around this corner, I'm sure of it." In actuality he was correct and Leah had no probable cause to bitch at him.

21

"It'll be a few minutes, okay Kohan?"

"Yeah. I'll walk around and see my friends if they're still here."

"Okay. If you find them, I'd like to meet them. Okay?"

"Sure. Bye." Kohan was hoping that Leah would like to meet his old friends. They were good influences on him after all. Kohan headed toward the old part of the city. It took him about eight minutes. When he finally stopped, he was standing in front of an old and tattered looking building. He could hear laughing and the sounds of a battle. Then, just as he was about to change his mind about going in, the door opened, and a very beautiful and strangely dressed girl was standing there. She was still facing the interior of the building and talking to someone.

"I'll be back in a half hour guys. I'm going to the Pokécenter and the Pokémart. Bye." She then stepped out of the threshold while looking at the ground, closed the door behind her, and looked up. "Uh! Kohan? Is that you? Kohan! My Gods, it is you!"

And she ran over to him and hugged him. "Kian. Hi. I'll walk you to the Pokécenter. My friend's there."

"Really? You have a friend outside of us?"

"Quiet you. Your just jealous that I could get over you guys."

"Uh!" Kian brought her hand up to her chest as if she had just been shot. "That hurts Kohan! Me? Jealous? Uh! You pig."

"You haven't changed a bit, Kian."

"Thank you Kohan."

"So, did anyone else leave? After I did, I mean."

"You mean, like Lianta? No, everyone's still there. She misses you though."

"I know. I missed her for a while to."

"She hurt you, didn't she?"

"Yeah. She did." Kohan swallowed back the choking feeling in his throat.

"She's sorry Kohan. She thinks that she was the reason that you left."

"She was always very conceited."

"We're here. Where's your friend?"

"Inside I 'spect." Kohan reached for the handle of the door while looking at Kian, and when he put his hand on it, the door flew open and nearly hit him in the face. Kian shrieked in Kohan's un-inflicted pain. "Ah!" Kohan reacted.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!" Leah cried.

"Leah?"

"Kohan? Oh! Did I hit you?"

"No. You missed."

"Your friend nearly hit you. What kind of friend is she?" When Kohan backed up, and Leah could open the door, Kian answered her own question. "A very pretty one."

"Kian. No."

"Oh. She's straight?"

"Yeah. She is."

"Man. Meh. Hi. I'm Kian. And if I heard correctly, your name is, Leah?"

"Yes it is. Nice to meet you Kian." Leah held out her hand. Instead of returning the favor, Kian flipped it and started to read it.

"Ooohhh. This is interesting." She pronounced the whole word. "I see, a very, intimate set of lines here, but they are all connected. Know what that means, right Kohan?"

"Kian."

"It means that the first person that she falls in love with, she'll be with forever. Do you remember what your intimacy lines said, Kohan? They said that you would have two loves. But the second one was true, and long."

"Kian. Stop."

"Fine." She let go of Leah's right hand. "I have go in now anyway. Good-bye. They would like to see you, Kohan, I bet." Kian opened the door to the Pokécenter, and disappeared inside.

"Is she…?"

"A lesbian. Yes. But she's a great friend, when she lays off the palm reading."

"What was she talking about? The people, I mean, not the hand thing."

"My friends." Kohan smiled. "Lets go."

22

When they reached the old building, Leah read the giant sign that was hung above the double doors. "THE PIRATEERS CLUBHOUSE. That's why she was dressed like a pirate?"

"Yeah. I used to be one too."

"You? Really? Do you still have your outfit?"

"It's in there. When you leave, you leave everything."

"Can we go inside?"

"Yeah, yeah we can." He opened the door for her, and she walked in. Then Kohan followed. Everything looked the same. When the only person in the entrance hall, who was about the age of Kohan, but a little taller and a lot lankier, looked over at the door, there was a very loud,

"Wooooooh! Kohan's back! Yeah!" He jumped into the air and ran toward them.

"Ar. Ce."

"Kohan. You came back." Ar. Ce. Then wrapped his arms around him and started to shake. Leah could not see the man's expression under the hood that was covering his head.

"Um, excuse me, but, are you crying?"

"Me?" He looked up to face Leah. "No. I'm laughing. He's back." He let go of Kohan. "He's back! Everyyyone! He's baaack! Kohan's back!"

"What are you yelling for, Ar. Ce.!" When he heard his name come from behind him, Ar. Ce. spun around and cocked his head to one side.

"Huh?" Arron then ran over to the girl at the door at the other end of the room, and put his hands on the sides of her arms, just missing the long braid hanging over the shoulder of one, brought his face very close to hers and whispered, "He's baaaack. Hehe." He laughed with a giant grin on his face.

"Who…?" Arron turned his head toward them and she followed. Her expression went from confused anger to excited happiness. Kohan slapped his forehead with his left hand and dragged it slowly down that side of his face. "Kohan!" Arron let go of her, and she turned around to face through the door, her braid nearly slapping Ar. Ce. in the process. "He's not making it up! Kohan's back!"

A series of "What!" and "No way!" followed. Then the sound of things falling on the ground and running met their ears.

"Dear Gods, kill me now." Kohan pleaded.

"Are you embarrassed, Kohan? You shouldn't be. I like your friends. They're interesting."

All of a sudden, five people exploded out of the door. The sight of them trying to stop and then fall over one another was quite childish and cartoonish. Kohan lowered his head and put the balls of his hands on his eyes. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. It makes up for me seeing you half naked."

"Okay. I feel better now. Yeah, guys, I'm back!" Kohan threw open his arms to embrace them. At this, they all ran for them. Kohan was greeted by a group hug that he used to be smaller than. Now, he was the third tallest in the group.

"They make a great family, don't they?"

"Huh?" Leah looked behind her. "Hi Kian. When did you get back?"

"Soon enough to hear you say that you've seen our Kohan half naked."

"He was wearing a towel."

"I figured. He never locked the door. Wasn't exactly what I had been picturing when I wondered what someone else's privates looked like. I was young enough to not figure that all women looked the same. Just in case you didn't know, there's someone missing in that little picture."

"That woman that you were talking about?"

"Yeah. His ex."

"Why?"

"Well. When she heard Ar. Ce., who else would scream? I heard him a mile away. When she heard Ar. Ce., she must have ignored him, or gone to do something else."

"Leah! Come meet my friends. This is Kioko, the 'basketball player'. That's Jaika, with the giant liberty spikes, next to him. On Jaika's arm is his girlfriend Kaikana, the 'Vine Queen'. Behind her is Nekina, her sister, who is 'normally' obsessed. And behind her is Caaregan, the hiking king, and Carcey, our feisty fire princess." Carcey was the little messenger girl from earlier. "Oh, it's great to see you guys again. This is my new friend, Leah. She's from Pewter City."

"Hey, I have relatives there." Someone said. Leah never found out who it was.

23

The rest of the day and afternoon was spent discussing who trained what type of Pokémon. Leah had gotten the hint for several of the trainers during their introduction, so now she found out that Kioko trained fighting types, Jaika, the hardcore punk in the 3 Gun Salute shirt trained rock type, Caaregan trained ground type, Ar. Ce. trained flying types, and Kian, the leader of the gang, trained water types. Leah was tempted to ask about Kohan's ex, the girl she had yet to meet, or even hear anything about, when someone commented on Leah's mother.

"I still can't believe that you're related to every single Nurse Joy." A calm Ar. Ce. said.

"Well, I can. She's just as pretty as they are." Kioko replied.

"Kioko, you're hitting on Kohan's chick." Carcey laughed.

"Oh, I'm not Kohan's chick."

"Of course you are!" Kohan yelled as he put his arm around her shoulders. Everyone laughed.

"Ha ha ha. Ohh. Well, what shall we talk about now?" Caaregan asked to no one in particular.

"Ooo. I know. I bet Leah has been dying to know about the day that that scoundrel named Kohan was found." Ar. Ce. remarked as he turned his chair around so that he was sitting backwards.

"Oh, no one wants to hear that, Ark." Kohan moaned.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe your girlfriend? Huh? Tell it, Ar. Ce." Jaika joked.

"She ain't my girlfriend guys. That was a joke."

"Well I'm gonna tell it anyway. It was about, six years ago, right? Yeah. Well, I was ten, and energetic as Hell is ablaze. Excuse my French. Ha Ha, shut up. Well, it was storm season, and a really bad thunderstorm had been annoying us for about three days. We had exhausted all of our board games, and any interesting books that could have kept our sanity intact, so I was subjected to the extreme boredom that would inevitably lead to lying on my back, and staring at the ceiling. Four hours. Ohhh. Boredom. Well, I was about to get up and go stand in the rain, just to collect my thoughts, don't ask, when I heard a noticeable thud on the double doors. I thought, 'What the…? Are those troublesome Pikachu back again?'. So, I went to the doors. I prepared myself to yell at them, so when I opened the door and saw no trace of yellow, I was distraught. I was about to close the door, when something at my feet groaned. I looked down, and saw a heap of black cloth. 'Oh my Gods! Hey, everyone, help! There's a person at the door steps!' I knelt down next to it to see if the person was still breathing. I thought that it had been struck by lightning. When I saw that 'it' was a boy about my age, I knelt down beside him, and gently lifted 'is head in my arms. A few moments later, the group came and gasped. 'My Gods, Ar. Ce., what have you got there?' Kian asked with a look of horror on her face. 'It's a kid who apparently was stuck in the rain. Kian, get a towel, or a stretcher, or an ambulance. Get something! He's becoming hypothermic!'"

"Um, excuse me, Ar. Ce., can you remember everything that you said that night?" Leah asked inquisitively.

"Oh yeah. Kohan taught me a while ago how to recover very trivial memories. Now, back to the story. Kian ran over and knelt down beside me. She felt his forehead and looked at his face. 'What's wrong with him?' I asked quietly. She lowered her hand to his side and felt the pulse of his wrist. 'He's just exhausted and cold, and probably dehydrated. He's not going to die. He'll be fine if we take his cloths off and get some dry ones on him. We should also start a fire for him. Get the others to help you with the fire. Go.' Hesitantly, I stood and ran for the back room. I found Carcey and Jaika folding towels and blankets into the hall cupboard, they apparently hadn't heard me. 'I need your help to build a fire. And gimme.' I grabbed the four towels that were still in Jaika's arms and ran back here. They came out and saw us attending the boy in the sitting area were Kian had carried him. Jaika, taking the clue, ran to the kitchen, through there." Ar. Ce. pointed to a door behind Leah that she hadn't noticed earlier. "He got some of the spare firewood that we used for cooking, and brought it out to the fireplace. By the time he had a small stream of smoke, Kian, Carcey and I had stripped him to his boxers, and re-clothed him in a pair of my sweats and one of Carcey's sweatshirts. We also had him wrapped up in the towels and were just starting to dry his hair. When he had a strong flame, Jaika came to the couch and lifted the boy. He set him down on the rug in front of the fireplace. 'Ar. Ce., get one of the thick comforters from the hall.' I laid one of our thickest blankets over him. He slept through the rest of the night that way. I was awakened very suddenly the next morning at six- fifty- two. I lay there, staring at the ceiling and wondering what had woken me up. Then I heard someone softly crying for help. I got up and made my way toward the reck/lobby room. I knew who it was. When I opened the door, I could see the boy sitting up and staring into the flames. Every few minutes he would utter a soft cry. Then he would go back to staring. I slowly and quietly walked up behind him. 'Thank you for finding me.' I jumped two feet in the air when he spoke to me. 'I now it was you. Thank you.' 'Your welcome.' I sat down next to him. It was still raining outside. 'What's your name rescuer?' 'Ar. Ce. A. R. C. E. It stands for Arron Ceton. What's yours?' 'Kohan Syche. The colors dance and play.' 'Huh?' 'The colors of the fire dance and play in the recesses of my mind scaring the daemons of the dark.' 'Oh.' We continued to talk about the fire 'till seven- twenty. Then he asked about my past, and what this place was. I told him that it was a place for young trainers to decide what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of us were trying to become gym masters others were training to defeat Blaine. Others still, to be teachers here. He asked why I was here. I told him that I wished to be able to help fellow travelers on their path to life. He understood. However, whenever I asked him about his past or how he got here, he would just shrug it off and think of a new subject. The whole time he was here, Kohan never told us his story."

"Hey don't you think that it's not nice to talk like that to someone's face?" Leah asked Ar. Ce..

"Sister, he left the circle ten minutes ago."

"Huh?" Leah looked to her side to see that he had vanished. "Kohan?"

"He went to his room." Kian said.

"How do you know?"

"He always does."

"Where..?"

"Through that door, down the hallway to your left and the second door on the right."

"Thanks." Leah stood up, pushed her chair back, and headed for the door.

"Knock first." Ar. Ce. said.

24

'Thud, thud, thud.'

"Kohan? Can I come in?"

"Yeah."

"Why'd you leave?"

"I don't like that story's all. Come sit next to me?"

"Sure." She walked over to the window seat in the back of the room. "What happened?"

Kohan new exactly what she meant. "On my ninth birthday, my mother was murdered by my father. I left that day for my Pokémon Journey just to piss him off. He was a bitch anyway. I was found on their doorstep because it was the only place that still had lights on at that hour, and I was exhausted. But, the reason that I never told them my story was because they never thought to pester me about it. They just dropped it."

"And what about that one chick who wasn't there? What about her?"

"Lianta. She. We. I asked her out the last year that I was here. I was planning on leaving and I didn't want to not have done it. You know. We went out for a couple months. Then she asked me. I couldn't resist. She was beautiful. I was young and horny. I thought she loved me. The next day, she broke up with me. She had used me. I was devastated. I decided to leave then. I couldn't stay around any longer. I couldn't bear to see her face again. So I left."

After a few seconds, "I wouldn't do that to you."

Kohan took his eyes away from the window and looked into hers. He stared into them for a few seconds. The look of sincerity never left her face.

"I know." As he said this, they slowly leaned closer to each other. Leah closed her eyes. As he grew closer to her, he could smell the sweet scent of her Violet perfume and her hot, rapid breath. When their lips were an inch apart, he raised his hand between them. "No. Not yet." Leah opened her eyes and nodded. She then put her left hand on his right, which was still on the window seat supporting his weight. He turned his hand over, and closed it around hers. She looked down at them. Kohan slowly put his other hand on her back, and pulled her closer to him. Then, they embraced each other in a warm hug. "Thank you."

"Your welcome." Leah kissed his cheek.

"Your welcome to sleep in here, if you want to." Kohan carefully asked.

"Sure. I wouldn't mind. But what...?"

"Who cares what they think. If they want to believe that we are together, then, let them think that."

"Hmm. Are we?"

"What."

"Never mind."

"It's late. Tired?"

"Yeah. A little bit."

"Maybe you can train the water Pokémon that you caught today tomorrow."

"Good idea. Um?"

"Through that door."

"Thanks." Leah picked up her backpack and walked into the bathroom.

When Kohan heard the lock snap, he whispered, "Yes. If you want to be mine, you can. I want you too, Leah." While Leah was changing in the bathroom, Kohan took off his jacket, folded it, and laid it next to him. Then he took his shirt off and threw it into the laundry box over his shoulder. He stood up and unbuttoned his pants. As he slowly pulled off his jeans, he thought of Leah opening the door. After a few moments, "Damn." He reached into his backpack and pulled out a clean pair of boxers and put them on. The second that he took his hands off of them, Leah opened the door. "Hey." Kohan said, startled.

"Oh." Leah covered her eyes again. "Yet again, I'm sorry." Kohan walked over to her and took her hands down.

"You don't have to be embarrassed. I'm wearing something. Besides, if we're to be friends, why should we keep some things secret?" Kohan asked, then he winked.

"Hmm. You're cute. And an idiot. This is no way to talk or be in the presence of a woman."

"Where the hell have you been, sister? It's the twenty-first century! I'm surprised that I'm still wearing somethin'!"

"Ha ha ha ha ha! You're weird!" Leah took a step back, and punched him in the chest.

"Oh. Now you're in for it! Ahhhhhhh!" Kohan lunged, and Leah stepped out of the way, and jumped onto the bed. Kohan went flying into the bathroom. When he caught himself, he ran out and tackled the sitting Leah in the stomach. When he had her lying down, he sat on her waist with his legs on either side of hers.

"Ha ha ha! Hey, get off!"

"No! Your mine now! I will have victory over the evil within! Aaataaack!" Kohan started tickling Leah's sides.

"Ahhh ha, ha! Stoaap! It hurts, it hurts!" Leah laughed.

"Ha, ha, ha!" Kohan released his grip on her sides. Big mistake.

"Ha! Now your mine!" Leah sat up and pushed him off of her and sat on his stomach.

"Ahh! Wow! You win! You win! Get off!" Kohan pleaded. Leah slid off his stomach and lay on the bed next to him, facing the opposite direction. Kohan raised his left hand and put it just below her stomach. "I know what that is."

"What is it?" Leah asked, intrigued.

"The womb." Kohan stared into her eyes with a slight smile on his lips.

Leah smirked. "Yup."