A Jewel in Water

Chapter 33

Drew walked through the halls and was dragging his feet. He was just waiting for the King to come back now so that he could be released from the castle and be sent back home. In a way Drew felt sad. May aside, it seemed like he was going to have some fun at the castle. It was reminiscent of his old travelling days, just doing stupid childish things and chasing his dreams. If things were different he would have liked to stay here longer. Also where was Ash and his 'favour' friend? The trick Misty plan would have given him something to laugh about before going home again. But hey, he still had the rest of the day to relive the old days. The first thing that was going through his head at that point was May. It felt so wrong but he wanted to get inside her head as Elliot before he left. There was no hope for Drew. Drew didn't exist anymore. But the playing field was wide open for Elliot. He smirked and sauntered off to go find May.

"Dawn!" her mother called from downstairs. Dawn sat up tiredly and rubbed her eyes.

"What mom?" she cried frustratedly.

"Kennys' here and wants to see you! I would have sent him straight up but I'm sure he wouldn't want to see you with your bed head." Dawns' eyes shot wide open.

"O-Okay, just a second!" she called as she scrambled to get her clothes on and smooth out her hair. Piplup who was soundly sleeping on her lap was catapulted into the air, landing on the floor, head first. It cried angrily but Dawn wasn't listening. Oh my gosh, she thought, Kenny's here! Thank goodness Mom didn't send him straight up. Dawn had a feeling that her mother already knew about her little crush on Kenny, but pushed the thought aside as she sprinted down the stairs, slowing down as she came into view to not look too desperate.

"Hey Kenny, whats up?" Dawn said as she saw Kenny sitting in his usual spot, equipped with some biscuits, courtesy of her mum.

"Hey Deedee," he said with a mouthful of biscuit. "Ha, I see you were having a nice lie in today. What happened to the morning training you were so adamant about?"

"Oh, be quiet Kenny, is that all you came here to say?" She sat opposite him, on a sofa across the table and picked up a biscuit. Kenny swallowed quickly as he remembered his purpose.

"Oh yeah, Deedee, do you have Pauls number?" Dawn remembered that she had his mystery phone, but curiosity got the better of her.

"Maybe, why are you asking?" Kenny paused for a few seconds. He was so pumped to come see Dawn, but forgot to make up a proper cover story as to why he needed to drop by.

"Oh well, I was wondering because you know yesterday we saw him with Misty? I just wanted to have a man-to-man chat. You know, as someone who's been in love with Misty for a while," he added the last part and rubbed his nose, to see what Dawns reaction would be. The comment seemed to have gone over Dawns head, but inside she was simmering.

"Well, I think your situations are a bit different. I mean he is her cousin and everything."

"Oh... well yeah. Do you have it or not? If you don't then that's fine, I'll just leave now." He tried to look angry.

"Ah, just wait. I don't have his contact details but I have something else. Wait here." She ran upstairs, grabbed the phone and came back down. She tossed the phone to Kenny who was taken unawares but managed to catch it with both hands.

"What's this?"

"Its Pauls mystery phone."

Brock sat in the dining hall. With no company he was at a loss as to what to do. He took his phone out and started scrolling through some of the sights to see at Cerulean city. The only thing that caught his eye was the Cerulean cave. It had been a while since he had gone down there. It might be nice to go down memory lane. Either way, he decided that he was going to take a day out of the castle drama and go out on the town. Maybe make a quick stop at the Pokemon centre to flirt with one of the Nurse Joys for a bit. He went up to his room and gathered his wallet and jacket, but as he made his way through the door, he saw May heading down the central staircase.

"May!" he called. May snapped out of a daze and looked up at him, smiling.

"Hey Brock! What's up? You going somewhere?"

"As a matter of fact, I was heading out to visit the city for a bit. You up to much?" he noticed she had also donned her jacket.

"I was heading out for a bit too," she smiled sheepishly. "Needed to get some air, the castle is making me feel claustrophobic."

"I know what you mean. For such a large building, it sure makes you feel like you are trapped."

"Yeah, it's a wonder how the other guys can live like this…" May agreed, and for a few moments there was silence, as if they were in remembrance of the sacrifices the others had to make, whilst the two of them could freely wander the city.

"So…" Brock said, to break the sobering silence, "Wanna join me?"

"Oh, um, sure!"

The King sat quietly as the council men around him argued endlessly. Green policies, taxing, trade, alliances, these were the main topics constantly being argued, but only slowly being improved. The King wasn't required to become involved in any of the issues being discussed, but he was required to sit in on these tedious and ever circling meetings. He tried to look engaged but he was not interested in whether Cerulean cave needed re-excavating after there had been several reports of unusual sightings over the past 6 months.

"And our final, but perhaps most pressing issue that I'd like to address. Prisoner 467 has been officially deemed missing as of 14th August this year." The room erupted with alarm.

"How could you be telling us this now? This was the man who tried to take over Kanto 15 years ago!" The Kanto prime minister roared.

"It took over 2 weeks for this news to reach us! How can your Kanto guards be so useless?" a Sinnoh ambassador snidely remarked. After a few minutes the councilman heading the meeting managed to quell the noise.

"Regardless of how this happened, what we need to do now is secure all our current prisons. The last thing we need are his associated workers to stage a coup and escape to join him. I also want everyone to make sure security is the best it can be, in all large and small cities. There will be a lot of lower members who will gather as soon as they hear him call. I want the Kanto security to be especially tight, as there is a high chance he will re-establish his home base there. And I want everyone in this room to do all they can to make sure he doesn't rise again. As you can all imagine, escapees rarely make the decision to give up on a chance for revenge."