Chapter Twenty-nine: Recruiting

Running From Myself

"Congratulations." Volkner said as soon as we escaped the loud-mouth gym leader. Professor Rowan stayed behind to talk to Captain Steel.

"Thank you." My smile was still glued on my face. I was honestly proud of myself and overly happy.

"You really do know how to battle," he smirked, "I can't wait for the day we get to battle."

"You mean when I beat you?" I teased.

"Yeah, sure." He sighed. "But you have to make it to me first."

"I'll beat Snowpoint, you do not have to worry." I matched his smirk.

"I know I'll be cheering you on. I don't really like that gym leader, she's weird. Almost like Fantina."

I nodded. "Fantina was weird."

"At least I didn't have to eat a meal with those people." He grimaced.

I cocked my head at him. "How did you know that?"

He smirked again. Humor crossed his face. "Word gets around." He paused, "especially about you."

"Oh." I didn't really know how to react to that.

"You're getting pretty famous, Miss Cynthia." Whenever he said 'Miss Cynthia' there was always sarcasm in his voice, it made me want to roll my eyes, but I wasn't going to let him call me Cynthia. I wasn't sure why, probably because that way I 'won' and he 'lost' because he didn't get to call me Cynthia. But I still hated it.

"I know. It's weird." I muttered.

"Why don't—" Volkner was interrupted when the gym door opened. My eyes fluttered over in that direction, Rowan was walking out.

"Miss Cynthia, I talked to Captain Steel about the whole rebel situation and he's in, he's willing to join us and let us use his boat."

I nearly had a heart attack. Rowan had just told my secret to some arrogant gym leader, and I wasn't happy about it. I dowsed my anger and tried to cover up the situation. I chuckled, "what are you talking about Rowan?" I laughed nervously some more. "You make the funniest jokes."

"Volkner knows about everything." Rowan chuckled. "That's why I called him down here."

"Oh." I felt stupid. "Of course, that makes sense. So are you joining us?" I scrambled to change the subject.

"I, uh, no." Volkner shook his head. "Don't worry, I'll keep your secret, I just don't want to join you."

"Why?" The word fell out of my mouth uncontrollably. It wasn't my business and I knew that.

He smirked. "Because it's dangerous. Plus I have a reputation to uphold, plus I don't want to get in deep with Lea. I've looked into those devil eyes before, I don't want to do it again." His smirk vanished. When he frowned all his arrogance flew away and was replaced with sincerity.

The reputation part I didn't like, the devil eyes…I could understand.

"We should get back to the Center. It's about dinnertime I would say. You two can head on back, I'll get some food, my treat." Rowan nodded and headed for the Mart. We started towards the Center.

We walked over the large bridge. The sunset was beautifully reflecting off of the water. It looked like it was dipping down into the sea, ready to disappear forever. I stopped walking so I could look at the view longer.

Volkner bumped into my shoulder. "You do that a lot." He murmured. "Why'd we stop?"

I looked at him. "The sunset is pretty. I wanted to look at it." I said bluntly.

He chuckled. "Right. Very pretty." I looked back at the sight. You never saw sunsets like this in Celestic. This was perfection. I looked out of the corner of my eye at Volkner, he was staring at me.

I turned my head and glared at him. "Why are you doing that?"

"Doing what?" He smirked, knowing he had been caught.

"Doing…What you were doing. Don't do that." He continued to stare into my eyes. I frowned and started walking away. I heard him laugh.

"You're a little too bossy, you know that don't you?" He came to my side.

"Maybe." I muttered. He laughed. "Please don't laugh at me."

"C'mon, I'm just having fun. That's more then you're doing, Miss Cynthia."

I rolled my eyes and glared at him again. "At least I'm being mature here."

"Oh, burn." He snickered. "Seriously, you need to lighten up. You did just win a battle."

I stopped walking and turned to him. "Tomorrow, I have to go to war. I have to worry about not getting caught and, oh yeah, winning. So excuse me for not being the life of the party." I started walking again.

He sighed and walked next to me. "You are right about that. I'm sorry for being a jerk."

"Well you are a jerk." We approached the Center. I walked inside and healed my Pokémon. Then Volkner and I walked into the dining room. Rowan was seated nearby with some food. I sat down.

"Here is a nice garden salad for the lady," Rowan pushed a container of leafy greens over to me, "and two vegetable sandwiches for the men." He took a bite of his sandwich, and I started picking at my salad. "You did exceptionally well tonight." Rowan said.

"Thank you." That was very genuine. I smiled.

"Volkner here was very impressed by you."

"I was indeed." Volkner nodded and smirked at me. His smirks seemed like a mixture of feelings. They were never backed up by his eyes, his eyes always showed a bit of sorrow. Maybe it's because they're blue, and blue seems like a gloomy color. And maybe because his eyes are always stern and focused and his smirks seem sarcastic. Other times they seem so genuine…Not like I've had enough time to study his smirks. Realizing I was staring, I looked away. I felt my cheeks heat up.

Small talk was made for the next few minutes. I tried to stay out of it as much as I could, although Volkner wasn't helping. He kept turning the conversation my way. He almost seemed amused by this, I glared at him once or twice.

I finally escaped back to my room. Ellena and Kedah sat on the bed. "How'd it go?" Ellena asked.

"Good, I won." I said. I sat on the couch and kicked my old shoes off. I pulled my hair up into a bun.

Ellena came and sat next to me. "And?"

"And what? I won. Got the badge and prize money."

Kedah walked over. "We saw you with some guy out on the bridge. Watching the sunset, it was quite the romantic sight." She raised her eyebrows.

"No, no, no, no, no." I stood up. "No!"

Kedah snickered. "Calm down. We just thought—"

"Well you thought wrong. No. No." I shook my head and grimaced.

"We couldn't help but think what we did." Ellena shrugged. "We were on our way here from training, we saw you two being all cute, and we assumed…"

"No." I repeated. "And that's final. Don't assume ever again." I sat back down and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Why are you all mad?" Kedah asked.

"I'm not mad." I muttered.

"Yeah, you are." Ellena agreed.

I scoffed. "You two assume so much."

"He was pretty hunky." Kedah elbowed me. "Got to like that."

I glared at her. "No. Let's change the subject. How was training?"

"A success. Geodude and Graveler are ready for tomorrow, and Kedah's Pokémon will be great. We're going to have a meeting tomorrow morning with everyone whose still here, and then have another on the boat when we leave out. I'm hoping that Brush comes back with a few more people."

"I hope it's not my brother." Kedah murmured. "I told him he's not allowed to fight with us, but if Brush lets the word out that we're recruiting, he'll jump in for sure."

"I sent out a letter to someone I know." I said, referring to Oliver. "I hope he shows up with people."

"I'm glad Marco brought all his brothers, that was a great addition." Ellena said, we agreed. We talked for a bit longer about tomorrow, then we decided to get some sleep, tomorrow would be a long day.

The water splashed around playfully. You could see some Water Type's swimming around underneath sometimes. It looked like fun. You know, to constantly be in the water. Be light as air. No worries at all. Just floating and swimming and living. Maybe eating some seaweed or leaping out of the water and seeing all of the 'other' world. Living in the sea would be easy…As opposed to living out on dry land, where I'm expected to go to war and live. Sea life would be magical.

I saw a Magikarp leap out of the water. I smiled. Then, a Gyarados jumped up and swallowed the Pokémon whole. Yeah, I guess life was the same all around.

"Hey." I heard. I turned around, Volkner was standing there. "What are you looking at?" He came to my side and leaned on the bridge rail with me.

"Just the water."

"You like the sea, don't you?"

"Yes, I do. I never saw it until I left for my gym battles. When I went to Sandgem, to be exact. What about you, don't you like the sea?"

He shook his head. "The sea's overrated. I grew up in the sea, it's not all that." Volkner lived in Sunyshore, it was known for its huge beaches.

"I grew up on a mountain. Mountains are overrated."

He chuckled. "Maybe we're both wrong." He met my eyes.

"Maybe." I mumbled. His eyes looked deep-blue and clear. They made me feel sad. I couldn't figure Volkner out at all, he just didn't make sense. He cared about his reputation, that I did not like, yet he was in Canalave talking to me, a rebel. I didn't get it.

"Why are you doing that?" Volkner smirked.

"What?" My brows furrowed together. "Doing what?"

"What you were doing." He raised his eyebrows. "Don't do that."

I frowned and looked away. I was staring again. He chuckled and looked out towards the water. "Looks like we should move, a boat of Lea's guards is about to leave." I looked over, guards were pouring into a boat. I nodded, we walked off the bridge. We stood and watched the bridge rise up. The boat glided under and away from the city.

I looked towards the library. "I should go, I think I'm late for a rebel meeting."

"Want me to come?" Volkner asked.

I shot him a mad look. "Absolutely not." I scoffed and walked towards the building. I went to the restricted section, which really wasn't all that restricted, and found the table. Marco and his group sat there along with Kedah and three new faces.

Ellena smiled at me. "These three guys were sent from Hilbert. This is Janson, Luke, and Surge." I nodded and smiled. They looked like beefy, ready-to-fight guys. Except for Janson, he looked like he belonged in a lab of sorts, he wore Professor Rowan apparel and had glasses pushed up on his face. But hey, we took what we got.

I sat down and looked at Ellena. "I hope more people are coming with Brush later, but if not I'm pretty confident in this group." She gestured at us. "Now everyone needs to be ready. Janson, Luke, and Surge, are your Pokémon ready to fight?"

"Yes ma'am, the three of us have good fightin' Pokémon, ready for the challenge." Surge answered. He definitely had a Solaceon accent.

"Great. Make sure to train today anyway, we can't be too careful, can we? Make sure you have items with you, but do not over pack. The cloaks we use have a pocket, all you need can be put in the pocket. It's a bad idea to juggle bags while running and fighting. Make sure you all eat before we go, and you all are rested up. It's going to be scary and hard, but we can do this." Ellena grinned. "Alright, let's go get ready. People will come and gather you when it's time, so stay in the area." Everyone left.

Ellena, Kedah and I walked out of the library. We were all excited for the nights battle. Volkner stood nearby, waiting for me. Ellena and Kedah looked at each other, I knew what they were thinking. They looked at me. "We'll be out training." Ellena said. They walked off.

Volkner approached me. "You seem to always have a fan club with you." He shook his head.

"No I don't." I rolled my eyes.

"You do that a lot."

"Do what?" I asked dryly.

"Roll your eyes. I don't like that."

I rolled my eyes again. "Frankly, I don't care what you like or dislike."

He smirked. "Yes you do."

"What? No I don't."

"Yes, you do."

"No, I don't."

"I can see through you, Miss Cynthia." His smirk grew into a half-smile.

I rolled my eyes for the third time. "No you can't, no I don't, you don't know me."

"That's true, I don't, but I'd like to." He raised his eyebrows. His smile vanished.

I squinted my eyes at him. "Don't say things like that."

He chuckled, "and why not?"

"Because I don't like it."

"Yes you do."

I stomped my foot. "Volkner, this is getting old. I'm tired of your weird games. Why do you want me to…To…" I shook my head. "I don't even know! You're driving me insane, I need to focus. I'm going to go train." I started walking away. "Just leave me alone."

An hour or so later, I was leaned against a tree, watching Kedah and Ellena battle. Once Ellena won the two-on-two, she walked over to me. "Why are you glum?"

"I am stressed." I answered.

"Stressed over boys?" Kedah walked over.

I rolled my eyes. "Sinnoh, if you say something like that again, I'll hurt you.

"Kitty's out for blood today." Kedah grinned.

"I'm stressed for the same reason you should be stressed."

"Everything will go swimmingly tonight, I don't have worries, you shouldn't either." Ellena said. She shrugged. "Relax, train a bit. It'll get your mind off things."

"Battle me!" Kedah perked up. "I need the practice against a tough competitor."

I smiled. "Alright, let's battle."

After the quick battle we walked back into town for lunch. I bought some Pokébread for the three of us then went to find Rowan. Kedah and Ellena were going to sweep the town for any new recruits. I walked into the Center and to Rowan's room. I knocked on the door.

Rowan answer. "Hello Cynthia, what brings you by?"

"Just wanted to talk to you about tonight." I stepped in. I was surprised to see Volkner sitting on the sofa. Of course he would be there. He was everywhere recently.

"Alright, let's talk." Rowan said. He sat on the bed.

Not wanting to sit next to Rowan or Volkner, I stood awkwardly in the middle of the room. "Ellena said to make sure your Pokémon are fight-ready, and for you not to take tons of supplies."

"Miss Cynthia, I won't be battling. I'm simply taking you out there then examining around the island for traces of gold or something." He shrugged. "No need to worry about me."

"Oh, okay. Are you expecting anyone else to come and help us?"

"No, I am not. I'm sorry for not getting more people."

"It's alright Rowan. I'll be around town." I left the room and headed outside. Kedah and Ellena were standing outside of the Center, I walked over to them. "Anything?"

Ellena shook her head. "Not one person that we could find."

"Is your hunk going to be with us?"

I frowned. "No, thank goodness. And he is not my hunk."

Kedah grinned. "That's what you say, maybe he thinks he's your hunk."

"Kedah, I warned you! I have Roserade with me." I reached into my bag and pulled out her Pokéball.

Kedah frowned and took a step back. "I'm done."

"I'm going to send a letter to Hilbert thanking him for his guys." Ellena walked towards the post office.

"Yeah, I'm going with her, I'm afraid you'll pull that thing when we're alone." She pointed to the Pokéball and took off with Ellena.

I sighed and walked back to the Center. When I reached for the door, it opened and someone ran into me. I started to fall backwards, but was caught and brought back to my feet.

Of course, it was Volkner.

I pushed myself away and stepped back. "Quit doing that!"

He chuckled. "Saving you? Yeesh, you've got it bad for me, don't you?"

My mouth opened. "What? You really are just as arrogant as I thought you were. Sinnoh, 'got it bad' for you? You really need to check yourself." I walked passed him and stomped away. He grabbed my arm and spun me around.

"I think you need to check yourself, Miss Cynthia." He frowned and walked off. I crossed my arms over my chest.

Check myself?! Please. Miltank would fly before I like that man.

Authors Note: Ha! Miltank, I felt clever.

So...You guys are awesome. I say 'Let's get TCB to 100!' and you guys attack me with awesomeness. Thank you, really, for reading and reviewing and everything else. You make my days, weeks, and frankly months. We've reached one-hundred! Woo hoo!

LET'S GET TCB TO 200! Harhar.