Chapter 2: A Quiet Rockstar

Normally the late evenings were a time for the Gym Leaders to sleep. Unless if you're Roxie. A few times a week she would sing improvised rock songs and karaoke loudly on the microphone while everyone was sleeping. It was a bad habit of hers too. She have gotten a few noise complaints from her neighbors, but what can she do? There wasn't any music studio or karaoke bar nearby the apartment complex. It was more than a pastime. It was her life, her job.

So much so that Roxie would stay holed up in her apartment all day. Sometimes she would write songs and experiment if it would work with her style when she played it. Other times, she would wing it. On really lazy nights, she would spell out "Pokémon" to a tune she made up when she's burned out. Tonight is one of those nights. Unfortunately, this bad habit of hers turned into a nightly thing.

"P-O-K-É-M-O-N. Pokémon!" Roxie sang into the microphone for about fifty minutes. Her apartment was dark and a purple neon lamp was the only thing that lit up the room. She strummed her electric guitar and the speakers sounded like they were about to burst. The microphone let out a loud screeching sound that penetrated the walls, disturbing Lenora and Burgh's evening. She then proceeded to scream lyrics of her favorite songs, such as "Crawling" by Linkin Park, for ten minutes. After her session of singing, she took a huge sip of water.

"Whew! That sure took a lot of energy out of me!" said Roxie. She turned off the speakers and lamp unplugged the guitar from them. Sleep, peaceful sleep at last. Unless if there is at least one noise complaint that will kick her out of the apartment complex. Little did she know it wasn't a noise complaint that'll keep her quiet.

The next morning Roxie arose from bed early. In the bathroom she washed her face, completely waking her up. Clearing her throat, she finally felt refreshed. Her Koffing and Whirlipede were waiting for her outside. Usually they would stay in their Pokéballs during the night. Perhaps they missed her when she had done her singing session and wanted to join in?

"Good morning guys," Roxie croaked. Must have some phlegm stuck in my throat still, she thought. She cleared her throat again. "How you two doing?" Her voice was as sore as ever. Don't you worry about it Roxie. It'll go away soon, she hoped.

Her two Pokémon chittered back in response. They didn't seem to mind about her voice. Roxie headed downstairs for the first floor. At the far side of the floor was a vending machine. She bought 2 bottles of Fresh Water and went back upstairs, only to find Lenora getting out of her apartment.

"Hello there Roxie," said Lenora. "I'm just heading to work. What are you up to lately?"

"Nothing much. I'm just gonna stay in my apar-," Lenora cut her off and blocked Roxie's apartment.

"Woah there. You're not sounding so good. You got to go the doctor. This is serious."

"What? No, I'm- I'm completely fine. The soreness will go away soon," Roxie wheezed and showed her the two bottles of water.

"If you're not going to go, then I suggest you lay off on the singing," said Lenora. "Probably for a week."

"Yeah yeah, I got you," Roxie opened the door to the apartment, ignoring her advice. Going to the doctor? Roxie thought. Like I'm gonna do it. I can just sit around and do nothing! She uncapped the water bottle, gulping down all its contents and coughed. She turned on the TV and flipped through the channels. Nothing interesting for her to watch. She turned off her TV and let out her two Pokémon.

"So now I can't sing, what should I do?" Roxie asked. Her Whirlipede rolled by her and petted it. "If only I can understand you," she said. "How about you Koffing? Have anything to say?" Koffing let out a plume of smoke.

"Oh what am I going to do? Keeping quiet is harder than I thought," Roxie wheezed. She grabbed a book about the history of rock and roll. Reading it, it quickly bored her even though it was about her favorite hobby. She looked at her electric guitar. It was tempting enough to play it.

No. No I'm not doing it. I am not, Roxie strongly thought to herself. If I'm not gonna do it, then I'll... Oh fine. I'll go the doctor, if it's the only thing I can do to pass the time.

...

At the doctor's office, Roxie waited until her name was called up. She told her doctor about her sore voice. He gave her many solutions on her problem.

"Seeing that you sing on a daily basis, it's best that you rest your voice for at least a week," he advised. "I suggest you buy some medicine and drink lots of water. Don't raise your voice," he went on. Roxie nodded her head as she listened.

"Thanks," was all she could muster from this conversation before leaving the building. Roxie went to a nearby pharmacy to buy some medicine. Now she was back in her apartment. She drank a little bit of the medicine and some water. To pass the time however, was a different story.

All she could do at the moment were watching TV and texting the other Unovan Gym Leaders to see what they were doing. Once she tried going outside for a walk around the apartment complex. It was quiet enough for her to enjoy the peace. Clusters of Rufflet and Pidove flew in the sky. Roxie couldn't help but watch. Eventually it got warm and she retreated back inside her apartment. So far, so good. She kept quiet for five days. Only two more to go.

Roxie's electric guitar was in between Koffing and Whirlipede. It seemed like they wanted her to play it.

"No you two, you know I can't sing right now," Her voice was getting significantly better, but she still sounded a little sick. "But that doesn't mean I can't play it." She picked it up and slowly strummed it. Roxie was usually crazy with the strumming, but given that she's taking things slow, she played a calm melody. From the looks of it, they seemed to like it. Roxie ended it with a beautiful flourish.

"Thanks for listening you two," said Roxie. She yawned. It was only late afternoon outside. Maybe the melody made her sleepy. She went to her bed and took a nap. By the time she woke up it was already eight o'clock. The only option at this time was to eat dinner. After dinner she got ready for bed.

The next day, she received a text from Clay. It read "The Unova Gym Leaders are having a meeting today at seven. Meetings at that unused room on the first floor. Text me back if you have something important to do at that time."

My voice can't be that bad, Roxie thought. I'll go. She set an alarm on her phone for the meeting.

...

As usual, the Gym Leaders dreaded the meeting. It was boring for the most part. All they talked about were ways to improve their battle prowess in Gym battles. This was a low point of the meeting for everyone. Some were almost at the verge of sleeping like Iris. It was time for Roxie to change up the mood.

"What even are the point of these meetings? We just talk about things we already know about," she complained.

"The point of these meetings, young ma'am, is to make sure you are up to your standards as a Gym Leader," said Clay.

"That doesn't mean we should be reminded every month."

"This is important-."

"What does it matter if it's important? We already know!" Roxie yelled. The other Gym Leaders flinched at the sound of her voice. Iris woke up to the sound of it. Roxie stormed out of the room.

"What's wrong with her?" Iris asked. The other Gym Leaders shrugged.

Feels great to yell again, Roxie thought as she went upstairs. She turned on the karaoke set and scrolled through the selection of songs. She stopped scrolling when she spotted a song she overlooked. It was "Yume no Tsuzuki" by Mariya Takeuchi. She clicked on the play button on the microphone.

It was easy to see why she skipped this song. It was mostly in Japanese, but it had an optimistic tune to go along with it. Roxie tried to pronounce the romanized Japanese lyrics at the bottom of the screen, but failed. At the end of the song she felt really optimistic. The lyrics at the bottom of the screen said, "Just believe someday you find your hard time's gone. Try not to look back on your yesterday. So keep on dreaming of tomorrow, don't you look so sad, girl. There will be a fine thing, everything will be all right."

With a feeling of knowing she would have a great day, Roxie turned off the karaoke set. It was a fine way to end her night at last, and with a good finale.