Chapter 31: The Decision

5 AM was the time as Frost who was sitting in a now dimly lit waiting room along with the rest of the Rangers who were all currently asleep. After Rain's constant nagging to try and get some sleep he finally tried to sleep on a sofa but to no avail. He looked to his side to see Rain cuddled up in a fetal position on one of the four sofa's in the room.

Realizing sleep was not an option now Frost stood up to stretch his body and decided to go check up on the Champions.

[It's been almost 9 hours what are these guys discussing?] he wondered as he slowly moved out of the room.

While walking to the conference room which wasn't that far away from the waiting room he saw that on one of the chairs outside the room, a Pikachu was curled up and was in sound sleep.

[Must be Ash's.] Frost concluded as he walked by the sleeping Pokemon without making any noise.

When he reached the door to the conference room he saw that it was slightly ajar and light was still visible from the slight opening.

Frost didn't think before opening the door revealing 4 people and 1 Pokemon completely asleep either on their respective chairs with their heads on the table or the sofa on the side.

[Why is Glaceon out of her Pokeball.] was Frost's initial question followed by [ and where the hell is Cynthia?]

Although Alder was also not there but Frost didn't pay any attention to that as he tip toed his way towards the sleeping Pokemon to ask for her trainer's whereabouts.

By slightly shaking the small figure of Glaceon the Pokemon eyes opened and it stood up after a small yawn.

"Where is Cynthia Glaceon?" Frost asked softly.

The pokemon simply climbed onto Frost's shoulder before using one of it's long ears to point at the door.

Frost didn't need anything else as he surveyed the room again with no signs of Goodshow and Forester.

[Maybe they left.] he thought as he made his way to the door with Glaceon on his shoulder.

While shutting the door behind him, Glaceon smelled the surroundings and pointed Frost towards the area where the vending machines were.

[This is about the sense of smell you expect from a Champion's pokemon.] Frost internally praised Glaceon as he started walking.

Soon in the view of vending machines he saw a figure of a women Cynthia to be precise sitting on one of the chairs opposite to the machines slowly sipping on a cup of cold coffee.

"Just woke up?" Frost asked the women.

She moved her head sideways as Glaceon promptly jumped ,ff Frost's shoulder and coiled herself to sleep on Cynthia's lap.

"Never slept..." came the reply.

"That makes the two of us." Frost replied while smiling as he sat on a chair, leaving a chair worth of gap between the two of them.

"So….." he began.

"We took the offer." Cynthia replied instantly.

"Oh.."

There was a few seconds of silence and Cynthia took this time to slowly caress her Pokemon's fur.

Frost sighed deeply, he knew it was done now and no one was changing their mind not the Champions and definitely not the council.

"Well whats done is done." Frost replied calmly much to Cynthia's surprise.

"I thought you'd be angry?" Cynthia pointed out.

"Champion my job was to warn you, the choice was yours to make."

"Very noble of you." she said.

"No it's not, it just allows me to accept whatever the situation is." he replied as he rested his head on the wall behind him.

Another round of silence followed but this time it was Cynthia who spoke first.

"You know when we were discussing this Forester said something interesting."

"What did he say?" Frost asked without taking his head off the wall.

"He said that us Champions are being asked to do this because of lack of man power in the specialists, now he didn't really expand on this but when Rain said that you guys have lost a lot of friends was she talking about….."

"Yes." Frost cut her off sternly.

"I am sorry and I also want to apologize on behalf of Lance during the meeting we grilled him a lot for the same."

Frost didn't want to reply to that but he knew he was also aggressive back then so he said

"I also want to apologize because of my sudden and undesirable actions."

Cynthia nodded and before she could continue the conversation Frost stood up and said

"Get some rest Champion, you still have a few hours before we leave for the hotel I have to make preparations."

"Preparations for what?" Cynthia asked he obvious question.

"Get some rest and I'll tell you once you wake." He replied while proceeding to walk towards the elevator.

Cynthia stared at him disappearing into the elevator going down before she herself closed her eyes and shortly after surrendered herself to sleep.

Frost now inside the elevator pulled his Pokegear out and quickly texted Rain

'Going back to the Mobile HQ once you wake up also take Cynthia along with you and tell the others to return to the hotel with their Champions.'

Afterwords the door opened and he left the tower. It was 6 AM when he entered the car and the sun had just risen.

[I'll deal with the Champions later first I need to figure out how was a sleeper agent inside the Hotel.] he thought as he drove of quicker than usual.

Frost rolled down his window to allow the morning air, freshen him up, he also let Ninetales out in the other passenger seat and opened her window too. As the wind was making the Pokemon's magnificent white hair flutter he asked

"Ready to work again?"

"Nine-nine" Came as a reply.

"Good because something is wrong in Lumious and we have to deal with it fast." Frost said as the Pokemon looked at him concern.

After 2 hours Rain woke and immediately saw that Frost is missing, she looked at her phone and read the text from Frost before proceeding to wake up the rest of them up.

"Chop-Chop everyone we are on the clock here." she said waking every single Ranger up from their slumber.

Ember and Stone woke up first and while rubbing their eyes said the same thing

"Where is Frost?"

"Frost's left to go back to the Hotel."

"He is back in working mode and so should we." said Spark as he and Leaf started packing their stuff.

"What are our orders big sis?" asked Leaf.

"Frost said to drop the champions back in their hotel rooms, and then we can join him." briefed Rain.

Soon everyone was ready, and all left to get the Champions out the conference hall.

Back at the Hotel Frost was examining Stone's report on the two grunts they caught in the car chase yesterday evening, ninetales was sitting upright on an adjacent chair observing Frost working carefully.

"Rain's assessment revealed that only the guard was the sleeper….. " he muttered while not taking his eyes off the screen.

Ninetales just sat and stared at her trainer.

"If that is the case we need to find the root cause..." Frost muttered while standing up from his chair and picking up his black case that had Frost's pistol securely kept inside it.

Ninetales saw that Frost was ready to leave to find this 'root cause', stopped him instead.

"Nine-ninetales." she said making Frost stop in his tracks.

He turned around and smiled wryly at her as he said

"Alright fine…. I'll clean myself first."

Well Frost had to agree with his Pokemon since he hadn't bathed in a while and Ninetales knowing him too well figured that before he would be engrossed in working he should at least shower.

Making his way from the mobile HQ to his room was a short walk and once inside he immediately discarded his casual clothes to go and take a shower. Ninetales perched herself on the sofa with grooming brush besides her waiting for Frost to return.

Frost glanced over to the table and was surprised to find a full set of black formals kept neatly in a pile with a sticky note on top which read

[Try not to ruin this one within half a day. - Forester]

While lightly chuckling at the note Frost went to the washroom to freshen up and while showering made sure the water did not touch his arm which he stitched yesterday.

As the cold water trickled down his back Frost's mind automatically went to Cynthia and her decision to join the specialists.

[I shouldn't lose focus by overthinking this, there still is a possibility that Lumious is compromised.]

He thought while snapping out of his trance and quickly drying himself with a towel.

Frost re-did the bandage of his arm and went outside with a towel wrapped around his waist.

Once outside the bathroom he was greeted by his Ninetales that was carefully examining his left arm.

Frost realized his Pokemon's unease as he assured "Don't worry Ninetales it doesn't hurt anymore."

The Pokemon in turn coed in a sad tone as she rubbed on Frost's leg.

"Yes I am also sorry for not telling you about this earlier." Frost replied as he patted Ninetales on her head.

Frost wore his replaced suit after the last one got ripped in the van accident and decided to ditch the tie this time.

Once satisfied by his appearance he brushed Ninetales and then left along with her to investigate the 'sleeper situation'.

Cynthia along with Diantha and Rain was currently in a car coming back to the hotel after the meeting was over.

Although she was very disappointed by the fact that Frost had left without her she didn't show it on her face, instead she took this opportunity to interact with Rain.

"So Rain how long have you guys been working as a Ranger?"

Cynthia decided that a simple question like that would be a good ice breaker.

Rain who was driving looked back to see Diantha sleeping on Cynthia's shoulder as she replied

"6 Years."

"I see…." Cynthia replied because of a lack of words.

There was a short silence before Rain spoke up

"Champion what do you think about Frost?"

" ! " Cynthia exclaimed as the sudden question caught her off guard.

[Where did that come from?] Cynthia internally asked herself before Rain interrupted her.

"Champion!" Rain called out to snap Cynthia out of her thoughts.

"I mean….. to be honest I don't know, he is a mystery to me."

[Although that makes him more interesting.] she summarized.

"Is that all?" Rain asked as if she heard Cynthia's thoughts.

"Ye..yes that is all I mean Frost isn't even his real name and I am pretty certain that is true for all the others too." Cynthia staggered a bit but quickly changed the topic.

Rain did not take her eyes off the road as she smiled wryly before replying.

"Well you got that right."

"Speaking of Frost, why did he leave early?"

"Well he didn't tell us either but I am pretty certain he is investigating the 'sleeper agent' situation." concluded Rain.

"Is he always like this?" asked Cynthia.

"Yes he is…." said Rain with a sigh.

Looking at Rain's expression Cynthia knew she was troubled by this but she didn't say anything regarding this.

"You told back at the tower that you and Frost are old acquaintance."

"Yes I did."

"So can you tell me when did you two meet or how? If it's okay."

Rain looked at the back mirror before teasing

"I think Frost has caught the Champion's eye."

Cynthia flushed red because her way of trying to get to know Rain backfired on her unexpectedly.

"It's not like that!" she retorted.

"Haha I am kidding, although I wouldn't blame you to be a little bit interested." said Rain.

"And as on how I met him he was my classmate back in Ranger school." added Rain.

"Oh really!." said Cynthia.

Soon they reached the hotel garage and Cynthia shook the sleeping Diantha to wake up.

"Just fawv mor minuts…..." said Diantha in a groggy voice before falling off to sleep.

Cynthia sighed at the grown women's antics and Rain simply laughed.

"Well I suppose even Champion's have a side they don't want seen." Rain said as she walked closer to Cynthia who was still standing out the door where Diantha was sleeping.

"I mean we are also human." replied Cynthia.

"So how to we plan on getting her to the top floor?" asked Rain.

Cynthia tried to wake her up again a few times but Diantha didn't budge instead curled up even more.

"Wow she is a heavy sleeper…." commented Rain at the women.

Cynthia just sighed and simply pulled Diantha's purse off her hands and took out a Pokeball.

Rain observed Cynthia carefully as she didn't realize what she wanted to do.

"Gardevior a little help here." Cynthia called and soon appeared the said Pokemon in all it's glory.

Rain had seen a Gardevior before but there was something about this one that made her stand out more.

Whatever it was to Rain this Gardevior was beautiful.

"Can you please help us carry her to her room sweetheart." asked Cynthia to the gliding pokemon.

Gardevior acknowledged and soon got enveloped bluish-white aura and gently made Diantha float in the air to which Cynthia casually wrapped her arms under the sleeping Diantha and got her out of the car.

[Frost was right about her being good with Pokemon, For another Champion's pokemon to listen to her.] Rain thought while observing the scene unfolding in front of her.

"Shall we go." Cynthia said while starting to walk towards the elevator with Diantha in her arms and Gardevior following shortly.

"Huh.. yes." Replied Rain as she handed the keys of the car to the attendant and followed Cynthia.

Once inside the elevator no conversation happened between Cynthia and Rain but Gardevior who was standing behind the three women examined Rain and soon made contact with Cynthia using telepathy.

[Cynthia this person is dangerous.] warned Gardevior.

Cynthia who was aware of Gardevior's powers didn't react at all and simply responded by thinking of the answer.

[How so?]

[She is carrying a weapon in that case of hers, should I take her down.]

Seeing it was obvious for a pokemon to be worried about such things Cynthia calmed her down by thinking.

[Yes I am aware of that weapon and don't worry she is only carrying it for self defense and I am sure she won't use it carelessly.]

[If you say so…..] replied Gardevior but her gaze did not shift from Rain who currently blissfully unaware of the psychic conversation unfolding.

Or so Cynthia thought as soon Rain spoke up

"Gardevior calm down I am her for your Trainers protection."

While Gardevior was visibly shocked by this Cynthia managed to maintain her cool.

"Your stare is very intimidating Gardevior." Added Rain.

[How did you know.] asked Gardevior this time both Cynthia and Rain could hear her.

Rain was about to reply but before she could do Cynthia spoke up.

"She probably saw your reflection on the shiny elevator door, isn't that right Rain…."

Now it was Rain's turn to be surprised as she thought

[Frost was right , she is sharper than she looks as well.]

"Frost did a similar thing with me back on the plane, is this something you ranger's like to do?" asked Cynthia.

Rain smiled wryly as she spoke up

"Not really but due to the nature of our job one might say this has become a habit of ours."

"Very strange habit." replied Cynthia while looking a Rain carefully but before Rain could answer the door of the elevator opened.

They had arrived at the top floor.

"Well we should continue this conversation later Champion, can I ask you to drop Diantha at her room, it seems I have some work to do now." Rain said while looking at her Pokegear.

"Sure..." replied Cynthia as she was a bit disappointed that such an interesting conversation had to end.

As Cynthia and Gardevior exited the elevator and the doors shut close, Rain took a sigh of relief as she thought

[The Champion didn't drop her guard around me at all well it was expected after whatever she heard at the meeting.]

"But I should worry about the more trivial matters now." she said to particularly no one as she re examined the text message from Frost on her Phone which read

[We have a problem meet me at the mobile hq ASAP.]

Author's Notes:

Well well well look who is back again. Sorry I just couldn't type this chapter for a long time because of time restraints and personal issues but now I am back and will try to upload twice a week from now on. Also the suggestion contest I mentioned in the previous Chapter's author's notes is still on so feel free to review and PM me your suggestions. Until next time.

PEACE