Chapter 23
After that intense match, I see Quil panting as he coughs. I tilt my head and bend over him, my arm around him. "Quil?"
"P-Pokécenter, I got badly poisoned… Toxic spikes…" Oh, SHIT! That's right! I quickly shake Burgh's hand, and run out of the gym; Quil's wing just around my shoulders while we run to the nearest Pokécenter, and get right to the front desk. "Nurse Joy, help out the champion here, Quil's been badly poisoned, and…" I take out the rest of my Pokéballs and hand them to her. "The rest of my team needs healing too. Thank you!" She nods and takes Quil, along with everyone else. I relax and sit down near the coffee table. I sigh. I nearly forgot about how Toxic Spikes worked… I need to refresh my memory about battle techniques. Before any other thought can cross my mind, my phone rings. It isn't the Xtransciever ringtone, so I can safely assume it isn't anyone from Unova. I take my phone out of my pocket and stare at the screen. It's Lance. I roll my eyes and groan. What the hell does he want now? I reluctantly answer, and put on my best cheery voice. "Yeeeeeellow?"
"Hey, bud, where are ya? Seems you aren't home."
"That's because I'm not. I'm in Unova, gonna participate in the Pokémon World Tournament!"
"Damn, you serious?! That sounds fun! That the only reason though?"
"Of course, why?"
"Well, neighbors got a noise complaint from your house. Didja get a housesitter recently?" No way. Not now. It's Nokto. What the hell could he possibly be doing?!
"You know what Lance, I'll call ya right back, yeah? My Pokémon just got finished being treated at the Pokécenter, so I need to get busy. Biya!"
"Wait, befo-" I hang up without another word, fuming over whatever Nokto could have possibly done. I dial the home phone and wait for Lurantis to pick it up. The phone rings for a couple of seconds, and Lurantis picks it up. "Lurantis, what's going on? Why are you guys getting noise complaints at home?"
"Buddy, this is Lance." WHAT?! What is he doing in my house?! Now I'm pissed off!
"Lance, get the fuck out of my house!"
"Listen, Ethan, I get we're good friends, but I have to do my job, I can't let these things slip."
"On what grounds are you allowed in my house?! Do you have a warrant at all to even be in there?!"
"We do, actually. With the constant noise going on, the judge allowed a search warrant to go through, and so, here I am."
"Well get out, whatever you're trying to search for, isn't there. Or never existed, to begin with."
"If you say so. All I know is that your new Dusk Lycanroc and Lurantis have been giving me problems." So what's happened to Nokto?
"The Midnight one seems just fine with us searching. In fact, he even seems like he's helping."
"Lance is Lurantis in the room with you right now. If she is, put me on speakerphone. I want to say something to her."
"Alrighty, bud." I hear a beep, and now the audio from Lance's end is condensed up a bit. Now I know I'm on speaker. "LURANTIS, SOLAR BLADE ON NOKTO AND LANCE!"
"WHAT?!" I hear the home phone get put down, and Lurantis yell, "Forgive me, Lance! And this is what you deserve for not staying put, you mangy mutt!" I hear some sort of crashing sound, and Nokto grunting out loud. And then I hear Lance shout, and get thrown against something. Then I hear Lurantis pick up the phone. "Ethan, what now?"
"Get Hayner, yourself, and Nokto back into your Pokeballs. First clean up, search for any important papers on Lance and tear them up. Throw him out of the house and onto the beach, and hopefully, he forgot what he had to do today. Next, after that, have my parent's number on speed-dial. If anything happens, call them first, then the nearest Kahuna, and then me. I'll get them and the Kahuna's to get you to safety. Now go! Don't fail me, Lurantis!"
"Don't worry, I'm on it! Best of luck, Ethan!" The line cuts and I throw my phone against the wall. Thankfully, it doesn't shatter. All I do is shout at the top of my lungs: "DAMN YOU, LANCE!" Some eyes stare in my direction while I pant like a marathon runner. From this point on, Lance isn't my friend anymore. He's my enemy.
After a few more minutes, Nurse Joy has my Pokémon ready. I take them back, and let Quil walk by me. Throughout our walk back to the motel, I stay silent. Quil seems to just continue to grow concerned. "E-Ethan?"
"Not now. Wait until we get to the hotel. It's not safe out here anymore." I hear a quiet gulp from him, and then we silently head back to our hotel room. Once there, I dial up Juniper on my phone. Thankfully, she answers quite quickly. "Yes, Ethan?"
"Juniper. I've run into trouble." I then brief her with the previous events, and she sighs. "Well, good on you for being so meticulous, but the next step may be you going back to Alola."
"Are you kidding?! I have to be at this tournament, it's my only way to end this stupid law!"
"You may be right, but now the police will most likely be right on your tail. You can't just rely on memory loss and call it a day. What will most likely happen is the precinct will ask him what happened, and with his memory gone, they'll just make him check again."
"I already planned for that. I made Lurantis make sure no other noise would happen, and everything that could cause suspicion is cleared immediately. Nokto's been knocked out, and only Lurantis is on the watch." Juniper ponders for a moment and nods.
"Then as it stands, you'll have to stay and participate. For now, lay low. Don't answer ANY calls unless they're from me or anyone else important. Are we clear?"
"Crystal clear."
"Perfect. I wish you the best of luck, Ethan." She hangs the Xtransceiver up, and I sigh, plopping down onto the bed. What a roller coaster… I look up, and see Quil with that look again as if I was about to drop dead on the spot. "I'm sorry for worrying you, love. This needed to be taken care of quickly."
"I could tell…"
"What matters is, it's done, and we don't have to worry anymore. Now we relax and stay here. Maybe watch a movie or two while we lay low."
"Got it. It's what I wanted to do anyway." I bring him close to me, and embrace him in my arms, gently squeezing him as I close my eyes.
"As I said, I will not ever stop fighting for us. We ARE going to win this tournament, and we WILL be free to love each other. We just need patience, strategy, and intelligence. Thankfully, we have that here. You and me." He chuckles softly and nods.
"And that's a fact. Oh, and how long until the tournament again?"
"About 5 days."
"I see… Do we need to prepare?"
"We've had enough preparation when we were in Alola. We're fine." Quil nods again. The day slowly starts passing by, and my phone hasn't rung for anything at all. No calls from Lance, nothing. I guess my plan worked. Good riddance.
The sun begins to set, and the moon starts to rise high into the sky. Quil falls asleep next to me while I stay painstakingly awake, without even a shred of drowsiness on me. All of my thoughts were pure of worry, concern, and fear. And all because of one 7 minute call from Lance. I spend hours awake, trying to figure out if there are any loopholes in my plan, to see if there's one itty-bitty problem that Lance could possibly expose. All I do is shake my head, rub my eyes, and walk into the bathroom. I put both hands on the sink, and stare into my reflection on the mirror. Sadly, all I see staring back is the reflection of someone who's at his wit's end. My eyes are red, and I can't stop thinking about possible negative outcomes to this. I hear the bed creaking as I look back, Quil rising out of bed to accompany me. He wraps his wings around me and mumbles. "Babe, get back to bed… You haven't slept, this is unhealthy…"
"I know, my love… I know…"
"You need to relax, all day you were glaring at your phone every five minutes… Please rest, at least for me…I'll let you like... I'll rim you or something tomorrow if you come to bed right now..." I couldn't help but let out a light chuckle as he kisses my forehead, with me returning his hug.
"Heh, deal… Now let's go to bed…" We walk back to the bed in each other's arms, eventually lying down and slowly falling asleep. I guess I'll leave tomorrow's problems to tomorrow's me.