Lilac could stare at her forever. The gentle curves hugging her body, the flex of her smile, the gentle lit to her laugh.
"A sky full of stars," Valerie whispered, reaching out to take Lilac's hand in her own. "And you're staring at me."
Her eyes glittered with a brilliance that made the stars pale in comparison. Lilac gazed at her, heart overflowing with love.
"I'd be a fool not to," he murmured, planting a soft kiss on her hand. He followed it with a trail of gentle bites up her arm, earning a shuddering sigh from the gym-leader.
Valerie suddenly pounces forward, catching Lilac and knocking him back, laughter spilling out of her like music.
And Lilac just smiled up at her as she leans down to press her lips to his. God, she tasted amazing, sweet like rain.
"I love you," she whispered. "I know it's wrong, but I love you. Maybe in the future, it won't be so bad."
It wasn't until later, much later, that he wondered what was so wrong about it.
"He's getting better, I tell you. Look, he's waking up!" Masculine, rough. It had to be James.
"He damn well be getting better- you nearly killed all of us!" A feminine voice. Seo.
There, to his left? right? A faint murmur, with a southern accent. "I done told you that she needed to be snake-bit, not dropped like a shot-duck from the sky."
Lilac opened his eyes to find several faces looking down at him, not all of them familiar. There was Seo-yun, her hair pulled back from her face in a braid. To his left was James, looking down at him with a spark of excitement in his eyes- and still with leaves, dirt, and grass in his curly beard. To his right was a dark-skinned girl, maybe sixteen, with narrowed eyes.
"Malachite?" he croaked, sitting up. There was a faint pain in his abdomen, at the base of his spine. Wearily, he looked around.
They were in a clearing, lined by tall, massive oak trees. There was a campfire in the center of the space, cackling, and various pokemon gathered about. He recognized John in the distance, tossing a rock with his Feraligatr. Above, a flygon circled overhead, as did a Hawlucha. The sun stood still in the highest point of the sky.
"Thank god you're alive, no thanks to James," Seo-yun cooed, pressing the back of her hand to Lilac's head. He pushed her hand away grumpily, like a child.
"Malachite? Where are we? How long was I out?" He asked, wincing in pain.
"We're in the middle of nowhere," Seo-yun said nervously.
"Not nowhere, just a few thousand kilometers from the nearest town. Seo-yun here is just overreacting." James said.
Lilac blinked. "What happened?"
Silence. It was the dark-skinned girl who spoke up, irritation marking her features. He placed the country voice with her.
"Well, I reckon it's about time we told ya. The big 'em here got it in his mind to bring down the ship 'cause my sister beat him fair and square in a battle. I done told him that she wasn't a force to be reckoned with, but he done had to bite off his nose to spite his face!" she exclaimed.
"Wait, hold that thought," Lilac began, turning to face his companions. "Who is she?"
Seo-yun's face flashed with mild anger. "She's Ivory, Ebony's sister. They're part of a nefarious Team called Plasma. Ebony sent her three stooges to kidnapp me, luring you two into her trap. James, since he's such a sore loser, brought the ship down using Earthquake."
"Why is she here?"
"'Cause I'm more use to ya'll alive then dead. And, just like you, I gotta bone to pick with my sister."
Lastly, his Pokemon. "Malachite?" he asked, choking on his own fear. Seo-yun's face softened.
There was a whimper, and Lilac spun around to see Malachite laying weakly on the ground, wagging her tail. Her limbs were bandaged, pulled straight by a stint, and her green eyes shone weakly. She licked his hand, and Lilac glared at James.
"Why didn't you heal her?!" He cried, suddenly furious at this injustice.
"We couldn't. She wouldn't let anyone near her for the longest, and we had to put her to sleep just to snap her legs into place." James mumbled.
"Don't worry, she's okay, just a little beat up. She took the fall for you, after all. Broke nearly every bone in her body, but she did it. You had a broken spine and a ruptured kidney, but it turns out James here has a few friends around that healed you."
Lilac couldn't keep the cynic out of his voice. "Friends?"
James held out his arms- and pokemon came charging. Rattata, Hoothoots, Golducks, Chanseys- the list went on. "These are my friends," he said.
Lilac blinked. "So you're a jungle-man."
The man glowered. "No."
"A Disney princess?"
Seo-yun chuckled. "All jokes aside, you're fine. We're all fine."
Lilac beheld his friends with a sort of sad gaze. "Seems like we'll have to put our adventure on hold- after all, we can't battle in this condition."
"You still have the bug and the bird," Ivory offered with a shrug.
A strange look overcame Lilac's face. "You know, I'm hungry. Why don't we put Rowlet on a skillet and flay him alive? I'm sure he'll taste wonderful slathered in barbecue," he said. Rowlet squawked loudly.
James let out a laugh. "Yeah, John told me all about your little fiasco with Rowlet. Apparently he won't listen to you because you only have one gym badge," he baited.
Lilac glared at the man. "You fucking prick," he spat.
"The one and only," James shot back.
"Both of you, shut up! Christ, it's like I'm raising two children," Seo snapped, but she was smiling.
Ivory glanced over at the trio of trainers- Seo-yun, James, and Lilac- a small smile pulling at her lips. It would do her well to stay with those three. She could practically see destiny and fate curling around them, as if they were meant change the world.
But she had her own reasons as well. Ebony had developed a strange interest in Lilac over the past months, something about a secretive Pokemon lingering in his shadow. Ivory focused her gaze on the crippled male, just as the sun made it's daily ambit to the highest point in the sky. His shadow was long and distorted, but nothing out of the ordinary.
But the Silph. Scope didn't lie. If it read a mystical Pokemon, it was going to be there.
Seo-yun, on the other hand, was perfectly ordinary in every sense. There was nothing intimidating or powerful about her, no self-important Pokemon. Just a quiet intelligence and maturity about her, as if she were older than her years.
And James, this angry and irritable man with a beard attached to his face. He always wore a frown, but he seemed more than companionable towards Lilac, although his own relationship towards Seo-yun was strained. Ivory was good at interpreting relationships, and she could tell both of them were holding their own secrets.
Lastly, John. A quiet boy, hardly a man, always with a Feraligatr at his side. He was obviously one of the newer components of the group, as he hardly had any relationships at all with any of them.
All that was left was Ivory.
Ivory yawned, reaching out and resting her hand on the curve of her masterball. As much as she wanted to release it's contents and cuddle to her heart's desire, she didn't. This pokemon was rare, legendary, priceless. If anyone attempted to take it, she wasn't sure she could fend them off with her two Pokemon alone.
"We haven't done much training. It's been almost two weeks- I'm itching for a fight," Lilac snapped, inconsolable. Seo-yun was seated nearby at the base of an oak tree, cradling a Litwick in her lap. At her side was a rather massive Flygon, flicking it's tail lazily in the midday heat.
"I'm craving a hot shower. God, I smell terrible," Seo-yun offered, pulling back her hair from her face.
James was the only one who seemed unfazed at the constant sun exposure and lack of air conditioning. In fact, he seemed even more in his element now than ever, sitting in the highest branches of trees and chattering with wild Pokemon.
Ivory agreed with the other two, however. She was growing tired of the constant idleness, and steady meals of berries each day. They were right- it was time to move on.
"What's good for the goose is good for the gander," she said, no longer trying to hide her southern accent. John cocked an eyebrow at her sudden outburst, and even Lilac seemed surprised. Up until now, she had chosen to be silent. Which made sense- they tolerated her, barely.
Lilac got to his feet, wincing at the pain in the base of his spine. Seo-yun watched him with a worried expression.
"Tell James we should go. He might listen to reason," he responded, looking to Seo-yun.
The woman's face darkened. "Yeah, when Spoinks grow wings and fly away," she snapped.
Ivory chuckled, getting to her feet and dancing to the center of the clearing. "James, I didn't think of you as a quitter! If a man killed my bestfriend, I'da give him chase till' the day I died," she baited.
But Ivory wasn't finished. "What would Baurus say? Does he get to speak here, or is he just a bad memory?"
Seo-yun sucked in a breath, preparing for the outburst that was surely to come. James hopped down from the tree, fists clenched. The wild Pokemon around him seemed to feed off his energy, angrily chattering from the treetops. Without another word, he drew Luna from his belt, and she appeared, holding her head high. However, one look at her trainer's pained expression set her off in a series of growls.
"You want to ride this rodeo?" Ivory asked, grinning. "Here's the deal. If I win, we get to continue on our journey- and we shave your beard. If you win, I leave, and I'll disclose the location of my sister."
Seo-yun sat up at the sound of this. "We agree. Fuck yes, we agree. James, I hope to god you lose."
Lilac grinned, glancing over at John, who was now interested in the current events. "You there- we have unfinished business."
A swirl of emotions danced within James, building speed like a hurricane. This woman had no idea of the pain he'd endured for the past decade. She had no clue of the lonely nights, the heartbreaking days, the anxiety and self-hatred curling within his chest.
"I'll enjoy crushing you," he snapped, setting his hard gaze on the woman.
Ivory smiled, tilting her head. "I reckon you will," she said, her accent thickening her words.
To their left, Lilac stood with Wimpod and Rowlet on either side of him. Malachite, still unfit to do battle, howled restlessly from behind. John stood with his Feraligatr, an arrogant smile pulling at his lips. And Seo-yun watched silently, eyes glinting with interest.
She drew a masterball from her belt, the masterball of her beloved. Her face switched from serene peace to hunger, a twisted smile pulling at her lips. She suddenly seemed very crazed, and Lilac could see more than a bit of Ebony in her face.
It wasn't a good look.
Ivory threw the ball in the air, grinning.
"Go! The lover of hoops, twister of time, bender of dimensions!"
"I call on you... Hoopa!"
Oh yeah. Hoopa. Someone opened this can of worms, and something tells me that one of our beloved heroes will be thrown from this world... to the next.
Or, not!