-------------------------------------------

Chapter 4- A Loving Accusation

-------------------------------------------

Linda opened her eyes drearily. Where am I? Oh yeah, Belle's special ability, opening ceremony, Matt, creepy woman, bed with L O V E at the top… got it. Linda looked up at her last thought. Did they give us some kind of honeymoon suite or something?

She walked into the living room. Now that she had had a good night sleep, she was able to look around a bit. It did look like a honeymoon suite. The couch had a heart-like back rest, and there were several seats barely big enough for two people, if they were close together. There were dim, pinkish lights and candles all over the room, with a cozy fireplace in the corner.

"M…Matt? Does something seem weird about this room to you?" she asked.

Matt was still snoozing away on the pull out bed. Linda shrugged and made herself a bowl of cereal and some toast.

Later that day, after Matt had finally woken up, Linda brought up the room again. They were sitting at lunch at a restaurant near their building, free for all trainers in the tournament. Matt was chowing down on a sandwich.

"Yeah, now that you mention it, it does seem that way" said Matt through bites of his sandwich.

"It is weird that they'd have a room like that, because the tournament is only for age 11-18," said Linda.

"Maybe for a teenage couple who wanted to be together?" he suggested.

"That would be sweet, but why would they put us there then?"

"Good point" said Matt. "But whatever, who cares? It's probably nicer a room than any other contestants get. We have to worry about our first match now. I think we should start out with Horsea and Mareep, for a strong offensive force."

"Yeah, that's a good idea," said Linda, looking down at her food. He seems to know a lot about battling. Linda sighed. The whole lover's suite thing was still bugging her. "Say Matt," she added. "Have you entered the Blossom Tournament before?"

Matt chuckled a little bit. "No but my sister entered it before. She was very determined to teach me all about battling before I came here. Most people from Cherrygrove City call it the B-Tourney."

"Oh, okay" said Linda. "I didn't know you had a sister."

"Yeah, she's very much older than me though. Her name's Whitney, she's almost 27 now. She's the gym leader in Goldenrod City."

"You mean, the Whitney of Goldenrod Gym!" Linda sounded shocked.

Matt smiled. "So you've heard of her."

"Yeah, of course! Did she win the tournament?"

"No. But she's still pretty famous all right. Everybody likes her."

Wow, no wonder he knows so much about battling. Linda thought. "Well don't be thinking you are the only one. My aunt is Misty, of the Cerulean Gym."

"Wow, really? That's cool." Matt stood up. "I wonder who battles us. Well, we better go check the draws. We wanna think up a good strategy right? This is our first battle together, let's make it count!"

Linda smiled. "Yeah!"

------

But not far away from the optimistic team, trouble was brewing.

A girl with was sitting at a table nearby, with a newspaper to disguise her. She had on a dark red beanie with a white stripe at the bottom, with a hole messily cut in the back for a jet black ponytail. She had on a dark red T-shirt with khaki capris. Unfitting to the rest of her, she had a gold heart shaped locket around her neck. The jet black bangs fell over her pretty dark black eyes, but the only visible part of her to others were her black painted fingernails and black fingerless gloves.

"Elite 568, you there?" a deep voice came through an earphone in her ear.

"Hm?" the girl answered through a tiny mic hidden in her shirt.

"Make sure you pick up on every detail of their conversation. For this plan to work, we need proof of our… heh… accusations."

The girl smiled. "Yes, I'm on it." She sounded diligent but really, she was rather bored. She began listening again.

"…Maybe for a teenage couple who wanted to be together?"

"Yeah, but why would they put us there then?"

The girl chuckled. They had noticed. Behind her newspaper was a laptop, a state-of-the-art piece of equipment full of useful features, such as writing down anything words it hears, and labeling its voice "boy" or "girl."

Working for Team Sand sure has its advantages the girl thought. But still, I miss him… The girl stopped and composed herself. She needed to be listening.

"…name's Whitney. She's almost 27 now…"

Ah yes, his oh so great sister, thought the girl. Don't worry cutie, you'll be more like her than you know. She smiled and looked down into her bag. There was a bottle of dye, a camera. a portable photo printer, and the CD case of a digital editing program. She went though her plan a couple times in her head, then listened in again.

"...check the draws. We wanna think up a good strategy right? This is our first battle together. Let's make it count!"

"Yeah!"

That was her cue to go. Everything was going according to plan.

---------

"Hmmm…" said Matt, looking at the draw. They were to play two boys named Andy and Lenny. Andy had a Rattata and a Butterfree, and Lenny had a Goldeen and a Pidgey.

"Well the Goldeen should be easy," said Matt. "We have a Grass element and Electric Element on our side."

Linda nodded. "And that Butterfree will be simple, it's just a bug Pokemon."

"Yeah," Matt agreed. "But that Rattata worries me. It's very fast and has a high attack power. But it has low HP and defense, so if we can manage to strike first, it will faint quickly."

Linda smiled. "Looks like we have a strategy. I'm gonna go take a shower, and you probably should too. Don't want to be gross for our first match, do we?"

"I guess not" said Matt.

Linda and Matt made there way back to their room. Linda let Matt shower first, since she knew she would take longer. She watched a few Elite Four matches on TV, and then saw Matt walk in the room with just some pants on with wet hair.

"Your turn" he said, putting on his shirt. Linda nodded and went to take a shower. In the master bathroom, there was a large marble shower, with 3 shower heads! Ahhhhh… Linda thought. She had always liked showers. After she got out, dried off and got dressed she walked back out to see Matt ready to go. But something was different.

"You ready?" he asked.

"Wow, Matt, what did you do to your hair?"

He gave her a puzzled look. His hair had changed to a soft light brown to a rich orange-reddish color. It made his sparkling eyes look even bluer.

"Did you dye it red? I kinda like it. Kind of a strange time to do that though" she said.

"I didn't dye it red…" he said. He turned to a mirror. "WHAT THE?" he touched his head, then pulled down his bangs in front of his eyes. Sure enough, they were red.

"You mean you didn't dye it red?"

"No! What is in that shampoo!"

Matt ran to the bathroom and examined the bottle. "That's so weird. Did you use thi- oh!"

Linda raised her eyebrow. "What? What is it?"

"Look in the mirror."

Linda looked. "EEEEK!" she screamed. Her hair had also gone to the same orange-red color. "My hair! My blonde, blonde hair!"

"Well this is gonna look weird" said Matt. "Two teens become partners and decide to dye their hair the same color? And worst of all, red."

"What's wrong with red?"

"Well, ever since my sister became gym leader, everyone else always figured I would follow in her footsteps, you know, try to be like her. But I wanted my own life, so I tried to avoid situations that made it look like I wanted to be exactly like she was," Matt sighed. "Now everyone will just think I'm trying to get publicity from looking like her. We look very similar, except for the hair. Well, now including the hair."

Suddenly, they heard a knock on the door. "'Matt and Linda' your match is in two hours. Please meet at Arena 5 at 6:00 sharp."

---------

"Excellent"

The girl with black hair had just finished copying her article. She proofread it one more time, to see how it looked on paper.

A Couple of Redheads

Matt Raleigh, brother of Whitney of Goldenrod City and Linda Stevenson, niece of Misty of Cerulean City were paired up for this years B-Tourney. When they met, they knew they were destined to be together. It's hard not to love these two's enthusiasm as they are interviewed about each other and the match ahead.

"Maybe for a teenage couple like us, it does seem like we just wanna be together, but we are still determined to win" says the couple.

When interviewing Matt he said "she is very pretty and determined. I like that." Linda mirrored his praise saying "he is strong and so sweet he would win the tournament for me."

It's clear that we can expect bit things from these two. They both even dyed there hair red 1) to try to be like their famous relatives and 2) to show their feelings for each other. Now if that isn't the sweetest thing you've ever heard, then come to their match and you can see them for your own eyes.

Written by an anonymous author

The girl smiled. She tucked it away in her bag and walked out of the small room she was in to go find her boss. Suddenly her earphone went off.

"Jade? Umm... Come in, and all that stuff."

Ugh, why does my little brother always bother me at a time like this?

"What is it? And I told you not to call me by my name, we can't reveal our identity or else people will think we're spies."

"Fine, sorry… But boss says to come down with that article now."

"I'm on my way. Do you have those pictures done?"

"Yes."

"Good boy. I'll be right there."

-----------

Matt tried washing his hair out for the umpteenth time.

"That's not gonna work, I don't think" said Linda.

Matt sighed and sunk to the floor. "I know… I just wish I could do something.

"Why don't we go to a hair salon in town and dye it back to our normal hair color?" suggested Linda.

"We can't go outside Tournament campus, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Well, we'll just have to stick it out. But I wonder… why did the shampoo dye our hair red? Did someone plant dye in it or something?"

"Who would wanna do that?" said Matt skeptically.

"Well, that Jorie Morrison sure would. But only we, and probably the staff of the tournament, have a key."

"You don't think…."

"No, no, not the creepy lady. But maybe… I don't know. But let's just forget about it now. Our match is soon. We should get going."

Matt nodded and got up. The two walked out of the door, wondering what to expect next.

---------

Okay I lied, they didn't have their first match yet- but they will!

Next: Linda and Matt have their first match and learn of the devious speculations against them by Jade. Who is this Jade, and why is she so secretive? Find out in Chapter Five!