Chapter 49: The Lockers
Frost hurried to his room to get Ninetales, he knocked on the door twice and asked his pokemon to open the door for him and sure enough, it opened but what he didn't expect to see was that it was the Sinnoh beauty that welcomed him back.
"Cynthia?"
"Where were you I thought Leaf told you to rest?" she asked.
"I was down at the HQ, Ember got the guy we caught in the morning to talk."
"Wait…. Really." Cynthia said as her expression shifted from caring to serious.
"Yeah but more on that later Champion I am in a hurry right now come on NInetales…." Frost said as he noticed.
"Cynthia, did you brush her hair?" Frost asked as he observed the shiny hair of his partner Pokemon.
"Well we were waiting for you and I had some time on hand so I did it, I am sorry if I didn't ask for your permission." She said apologetically.
"No no I mean it is fine thanks," Frost said as he gestured his Pokemon to return into her Pokeball.
[I just didn't expect Ninetales to be this open around her.] he thought as the red glow engulfed Ninetales back into the Pokeball.
He picked up his suitcase which made Cynthia raise a brow as she very much knew about its lethal content by now.
"If you are going on a mission mind if I tag along this time, I hear there are Pokemon battles and Garchomp would like to stretch." She presumed as she asked.
"Not going on a mission Champion just running an errand for the team and feel free to join but I am afraid there won't be any action involved." He replied much to the blonde's disappointment.
She sighed but quickly replied with a pout that made even Frost blush at her childish disappointment.
"Fine lead the way."
[For an adult she can be dangerously adorable.] Frost though as both of them made way towards the garage.
Rain was not a person you wanted to be kept waiting although on the field she had the most patience in day to day scenarios she wanted to get things done quick, she had already gotten them a red pickup truck to visit the lockers and was currently waiting for Frost to return.
[What is taking him so long.] she thought as she lightly tapped the ground with her feet.
Thankfully it wasn't long after that Frost finally decided to show up and not to Rain's surprise he brought the Champion along with him.
[Both of them are practically attached and don't even realize it.]
"Arceus Frost what took you so long." She whined playfully while gesturing towards Cynthia.
"Just get in the car," Frost replied dryly as he sat in the driver seat.
"Rain how are your injuries?" Cynthia asked not understanding what just happened.
"This" Rain said while pointed at her bandages
"This is nothing Champion, I don't even feel it." She replied confidently as she joined Frost inside the car.
Cynthia sighed at the woman's answer
"For some reason, I doubt that." While thinking
[Are all of them like Frost when it comes to being injured.]
The drive wasn't long when compared to the one to prism tower as Cynthia observed the pedestrians from her window while thinking about Frost's Ninetales and the fact that she wanted to ask Frost what happened with her Rain saw Cynthia through the front mirror and asked
"Champion mind if I ask you something?"
"No, go ahead." Cynthia replied while snapping out of her stupor.
"You met Ninetales, right? What do you think about her."
[Wait how did she….know? maybe I am just thinking about that pokemon too much.] Cynthia stumbled in her mind.
Frost saw Cynthia's confused reaction and immediately eyed Rain and said
"Rain stop it."
"Stop what?" Rain replied mockingly.
"Talking about my pokemon," Frost replied while turning the car into a compound.
"She is as intriguing to me as her trainer nothing more, why do you ask?" Answered Cynthia to Rain's initial question.
"No reason it is just that most people that meet her don't have a positive reaction like you."
"Huh, why is….."
Before Cynthia could ask further Frost slammed the brakes of the truck bringing the conversation and the vehicle to an abrupt stop.
"Here is our stop, maybe another time Champion." Rain began as she exited along with Frost.
With Cynthia alone in the car she wondered
[What just happened.]
They arrived at a self-storage compound with a lot of shutters signifying storage units that were rented by different individuals.
Cynthia was walking slowly behind the two rangers with considerable distance between them and her. She took her time to grasp her surroundings.
[What the hell are these to up to here out of all places, Frost said it was an errand for the team so they must have something to pick up.] she thought as they walked through the sea of units.
Meanwhile, Frost asked Rain
"What were you trying to do in the car or should I ask what you DID do?"
"You know what I did so stop thinking about it" Was her simple reply as she stopped in front of a particular storage unit much to Frost's annoyance.
Cynthia joined them shortly as she realized they stopped at one of the units.
Rain produced a key from her coat pocket and opened the lock that was attached to the metal shutter while Frost lifted it revealing a row of gym lockers lined inside the unit.
[What?] Cynthia thought as she looked at the lockers with a dumbfounded expression.
"Cynthia don't tell anyone about this ." Frost said as he walked inside.
"Your errand was these lockers?" she asked as she still could not understand.
"Not the lockers dummy their contents is what are important to us." Said Rain with a chuckle as Frost started to open the locks on each locker while inputting each of the individual number pads with a six-digit code.
Soon after with the unit closed again they had six black duffle bags, with Frost carrying three, one of which was on his back, Rain carrying two and Cynthia with one.
As the three of them made it back to the truck and loaded the bags into the back Cynthia asked
"What is this place and what did I carry?"
"Consider this place our personal stash and as for what you carried was Frost's bag." Replied Rain not wanting to keep the curious Champion in the dark.
"I don't get it? What are you guys up to?"
"Get in the car I will tell you everything." Said Frost as Cynthia did what was asked of her.
The entire ride back to the hotel was used to explain Cynthia of what the two rangers knew and that they were just getting "More Firepower" at the end of which Cynthia just said.
"You guys are planning the raid soon aren't you."
"Yes and for that we needed guns lots of them at that too, Pokemon's are not enough or actually we don't want to risk their lives by throwing them in middle of a gunfight." Replied Rain.
"We were going to tell you guys eventually when all of you were present so please don't take it as us being not faithful." Added Rain and Frost just nodded.
"No it is fine, it is just that I know you are the good guys here but the idea of well, killing someone just can't sit right with me," Cynthia added solemnly.
"This is the life we live Champion and now that all of you are somewhat a part of it we can't hide it from you forever." Frost added as he pulled up in the garage and parked the truck.
It didn't take Cynthia long to figure out that each bag belonged to one of the escorts and its contents were their personal belongings.
The bags were then taken to Rain's room as it was decided that the others would be able to get their stuff from her room later, leaving Frost and Cynthia alone once again with Frost holding his bag in his hand.
"Let's go." He said as they walked back to his room where he finally kept the bag on his bed as he sat down on the couch getting to rest after a long while.
Cynthia joined her escort on the same couch but didn't speak anything for a while it was Frost who began.
"Look Champion I don't expect anyone of you to be a big fan of guns." He began obviously referring to the Champions.
"And the only reason I didn't want you to accept Goodshow's offer was because of the same reason but since you accepted it I know you guys discussed about this too so I only request one thing from you please don't judge us by our work we know it isn't honest work and it looks like we brag about it but we are also humans just like anyone else… (sigh) I just wanted you to know that."
Cynthia's eyes were widened in surprise as this was the first time Frost willingly opened up towards her, it made her feel safer as it genuinely made her see Frost as someone who just wanted to protect others be it in his own way.
"I am also sorry I didn't mean to make you guys feel awkward just because you use …..guns." she said still stuttering at the end.
Frost smiled as he felt his message was conveyed properly as he stood up and walked to his bed to inspect his new belongings.
"So what is in it other than well you know…" she asked as her curiosity got the better of her.
"Clothes, knives and some utility." He answered dryly as he slid open the zipper on the bag and took out a pair of boots and what seemed like a custom Ranger uniform to Cynthia it had a long black coat with cyan colour linings with matching black pants.
"Is this your uniform?" she asked finally getting out of the previous gloomy atmosphere.
"Yeah, all of us specialists have a particular colour allotted to us mines cyan." He replied as he carefully folded the clothes in a neat pile.
Cynthia saw Frost hesitate a bit as he pulled an entire assault rifle out of the bag.
"And well this too." He said as he inspected the sights and the finish on the weapon in his hand as he looked over to Cynthia looking at him almost expectantly.
"Here why don't you hold this since you seem so interested in it?" He said as he placed the rifle in her hands."
"It is lighter than I thought." She said as she weighed it.
"That is because it has a special polymer-based frame that is lighter than metal also it is not loaded." Frost replied as he took the gun out of Cynthia's hands and kept it back in the bag.
Frost showed her more of the utilities that were in the bag most of them were completely new to Cynthia as she didn't even know most of them even existed.
They were having a conversation about the various tech that Spark actually help design when Frost's Pokegear buzzed. It was Rain texting him to come back as Stone had returned with Ash and the other champions and they were in Ash's room waiting for them.
He looked at Cynthia who nodded back as she also read the message.
It was the beginning of something completely different for the Sinnoh Champion.
Author's Notes
I am still here. Nothing much to say this time other than the fact that I appreciate your reviews be it positive and negative as they help me improve my future writings. As usual, I love you guys and until next time
PEACE