I think this is the quickest I've ever released a successive chapter in any of the chapter fics I've written, but, just like with the first one, it was just so much fun that I couldn't bring myself to stop, so enjoy the second chapter of There's A Reason They're Called A Jynx. Oh, just so you know, I think this might be a little more serious in parts than the first chapter. It's really hard to write humor, actually, especially when it's not what I'm used to producing.
"You are out of you pink-haired little mind, Shuichi," K lazed out for what seemed like the millionth time that day.
"Oh, please, K? Please? Please, please, PLEASE, please, please, PLEASE, please, please—"
"Make him shut up!" Suguru shouted, covering his ears against the barrage of 'pleases'.
"I don't see what the problem is with taking that way back to NG," Hiro put in, walking beside Suguru, following behind K and Shuichi.
"Really? I would have thought you would understand more easily than the rest of them," K commented, ignoring the puppy-dog eyes Shuichi was giving him from where he was walking backwards in front of K. It was the next day, and they were continuing down the same path that they'd started on, heading for Nittletown to find a phone to call Sakano at NG with. And, they were going in the opposite direction of the route Shuichi and Hiro wanted to take.
"Why's that, K?" Hiro wondered, not quite trusting their manager's motives for saying such a thing.
"Well, not only do you seem to be the more logical and level-headed of these two, but you also have long hair like I do." This made everyone pause and think… and think… and think.
"How the hell is that relevant?" Suguru asked, frustrated with his whole team at this point.
"Simple, my dearestSuguru."Suguru blushed. "When we took that road last time, Zubats attacked us."
"… And?" they all asked in unison, not yet getting it.
"And, I, for one, don't want those blue little creatures getting caught in my hair," K answered as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
Jaws dropped.
"You really are insane, aren't you?" Suguru muttered to himself. K nodded, a self-satisfied smile on his face.
"Please, K," Shuichi began begging again, clasping his hands supplicating in front of him. "I'll let you have some of my spare pokeballs."
K shook his head, eyes shut. "Nuh uh, I can just get more when we're back at headquarters."
Shuichi began rummaging through his pockets, trying to find anything that would tempt K enough to let them take the same road the blonde stranger with beautiful eyes had.
"Wuh um, I'll… I'll… I'll give you my old pokedex!" Shuichi exclaimed, producing the old-fashioned, beat-up piece of equipment. "Who knows, it might be a collectors' item some day, and you'll be the only person who kept one, and you'll make thousands, no, trillions!"
K shook his head again.
"Why do you hate me?" Shuichi cried, tears overflowing and hands, still with the pokedex in their grasp, brought up to cover his mouth.
"You're as bad as Ryuichi, Shu-chan," K guffawed. "He was always trying to bribe me with the useless junk he found in his pockets in order to go off on crazy, unplanned escapades, too."
Shuichi gasped, immediately brightening at the mention of Ryuichi's name. "Really?" he questioned breathlessly.
"Mm hmm." K nodded. "But, we're still not going to take "Zubat Road"."
"But, if we don't, I'll never get my chance to see him again or confront him for what he said!" Shuichi shouted whiningly.
"Who's he talking about now?" Suguru asked, mumbling to Hiro.
"The guy he met yesterday that his Jynx attacked," Hiro informed him.
"That guy? I thought Shuichi would have forgotten all about him already," Suguru commented in quiet amazement.
"Why would I forget about someone that quickly?" Shuichi asked testily, overhearing them. "Are you implying something?" He started glaring.
"Oh don't worry, Shuichi," K comforted. "We already know you are the way you are."
A look of confusion sat on Shuichi's face before he decided that whether the comment had been an insult or not didn't matter.
K suddenly stopped in the middle of the road, Hiro and Suguru almost running into him because of it.
Kneeling down, he slid off his backpack and began hunting for something in its confines.
"What are you doing now?" Suguru asked. Shuichi had slid up next to K's backpack attempting to get a look at what was in it, but K found what he was looking for before Shuichi really had a chance to see any more than a jumble of rolling pokeballs and some spare tins of Pokémon food.
"Here you go, Shuichi. To keep that fickle little head of yours warm." He held out to Shuichi a rumpled red and white baseball cap, the letters 'BAD' stenciled on the front.
"… Huh?" Shuichi stared, mystified.
"It used to be Ryuichi Sakuma's—"the cap was ripped from his hand and on Shuichi's head before he could finish speaking. "Heh. That was the first and last time I ever accepted a bribe from Ryuichi, especially one where whatever he traded he claimed would eventually be worth "trillions"." K smirked at the memory.
"Oooooooooooh, K… This probably IS worth trillions!" Shuichi's adoration was practically blinding. "Thank you!"
"If he had the hat, why was he so worried about Zubats in his hair?" Suguru asked Hiro, exasperatedly.
Hiro just stood beside him, scratching the back of his head, sighing and looking at the clouds for guidance.
"Now, no more talk about following this person you met yesterday," K commanded, returning to his full height and putting on a pair of sunglasses he'd also snagged from his pack. "I can't have any trainer in a team of mine being distracted by trifling occurrences that happen along the way, understood?"
Shuichi looked up at him from where he still squatted on the ground, now realizing that the baseball cap came with a price. He took off the cap and rotated it in his hands, contemplating the universe for all the outward appearances he gave.
"So… if I give back the cap… can we go after the guy?" he asked, looking up through his pink bangs at the team's manager.
Taking the cap from Shucihi's hands, K fitted it on the boy's cranium with a tug of his wrist.
"No."
Shuichi looked down in defeat, the bill of the cap hiding his eyes from view.
"Well, let's get a move on," K announced, stepping around Shuichi, Suguru following his lead. Hiro stayed behind with Shuichi, his friend.
"Don't fret, Shu-chan," he comforted. "Most people who take that road do it to get to NG, anyway. We'll probably meet him there getting supplies or even joining up with a team in the company. You'll see him again."
Shuichi nodded imperceptibly. And, after a moment, he leaped to his feet.
"Who cares, anyway?" he said with a giant, glowing grin on his face, a mask covering what he was truly feeling. "I mean, look. I, Shuichi Shindou, have a cap that was worn by my hero, the god of Pokémon, Ryuichi Sakuma! My life's wish has practically been fulfilled!"
Shuichi practically danced down the path, Hiro smiling at his friend's antics, while still knowing that, underneath it all, Shuichi was hurting.
The other part of my wish that still needs to be fulfilled, Shuichi thought to himself, is meeting that man again.
"Hello, Sakano!" K greeted cheerfully, shoving his mug close up to the camera that allowed phone calls to also be face-to-face rather than singularly audio.
"He-he-hello, K. Uh, how are you?" the man questioned nervously. K had always put Sakano on edge, ever since the first moment they'd met and K had been introduced as Sakano's replacement as the manager of Shuichi, Hiro, and Suguru's team. He didn't begrudge the man, Sakano preferred being in the Pokémon labs at NG rather than out in the field anyway, but K was the type of person who was just a little… much for someone like Sakano to deal with.
"We're going to be heading back to NG sometime in the next few days, so get everything ready for—"
"What? No! No, no, no. You can't come back; didn't you get the memo?" The team all looked around at each other, none of them having a clue.
"Nope."
"Nuh uh."
"No."
"It would seem, no, we haven't, Sakano," K replied with another giant smile.
Sakano sighed, dragging his hand down his face. "I can't believe you haven't heard," he muttered into his hand. "The original team of NG has gotten back together. Seguchi, Ukai, and Sakuma have decided to team up again, and they want you and the team to meet them on their way to Nittletown."
"We're already in Nittletown, so that all works—"
"No! You're to meet them as soon as possible! You need to take the same road between there and NG that they're taking… uh, I think it's Rhydon Road, through Weedle Wood. You know, the one with all the Zubats, but, oddly enough, no Rhydons. Anyway, your orders are to converge with them approximately halfway down the road."
K's lips disappeared into a tight, white line. "Why can't we just wait for them here?" K gritted out.
"I'm just passing along the orders, K," Sakano defended.
"Just great," Suguru started. "Not only do we have to follow Tohma's orders, but now we're also expected to compete with him. What a rotten cousin." He crossed his arms and turned away from the phone and screen. Looking around, he asked, "Where's Shuichi?"
"Down there," Hiro answered pointing to the ground to his right. "I think he's gone into shock or had an overdose of good news or something of the kind."
And, indeed, he had, all three. Rocking back and forth and clutching Ryuichi's cap to his chest, he was muttering a string of incoherent, merriment-filled nonsense words, intermixing it occasionally with a gleeful, manic giggle.
"Nittle *snort* Grasper's… back together! Tee heehee! ...Stranger… eyes, gorgeous… gonna meet up with HIM! Mwahahhaha...! *gulp*"
"Is he going to be okay?" Suguru asked unsurely and somewhat concerned for his fellow trainer.
"Not until we find Sir Gorgeous Eyes and Shuichi comes face to face with his idol," Hiro answered, used to Shuichi's spastic moments of euphoric joy after all the time they'd spent together.
"Fine, Sakano! Be that way! As if I ever should have asked you for a favor. At least I'll know better next time!" K said, playing the part of an utter drama queen to get as much remorse and guilt out of Sakano as possible.
They heard Sakano groan to himself before K, in full theatrical mode, slammed the phone receiver down, disconnecting the line and the video feed.
Turning around, K glared down at the still jovial buffoon who, K somehow knew, was to blame for all of this (not really).
"Give it back," the team manager suddenly demanded, holding out his hand, palm up, to Shuichi, breaking the fangirl, I mean, boy, out of her, HIS, overjoyed stupor.
"Huh…? Give what back?" Shuichi asked, not appreciating being broken out of his climactic trance.
"The hat. Ryuichi Sakuma's hat. I want it back, especially now that you don't need its cheering effects since you're getting what you wanted."
"Wha… NO! It's mine!" Shuichi clutched it to him even more tightly.
"Shuichi…" K said in warning tones. He reached forward, as if to snatch it away…
"Not. One. More. Inch," Shuichi growled rabidly, eyes glowing a demonic red, teeth seeming to transform into fangs, ready to rip K's hand from his arm should he attempt to take the hat back.
…Or, at least, that's what Hiro and Suguru would swear they saw happen.
Any who…
"Don't worry, Shuichi. K's just joking around, right?" Behind Shuichi, Hiro made drastic, striking movements, trying to convey the message that K, in no possible circumstance, should he try to even touch the cap of the famous Ryuichi Sakuma.
After glaring suspiciously at Hiro for a time, long enough that Suguru joined in with the desperate gesturing, he stood up and pasted a smile to his face. "Yeah, Shuichi, it was all a joke. Ha ha."
Hiro and Suguru sagged in relief.
"Oh. It didn't seem like a joke," Shuichi distrustfully commented.
"Oh, it was. It was! Heh heh… After all, I can always trick it away from you later," K muttered the final part to himself, turning away from the three trainers to plot and scheme to himself.
"So… are we heading out now?" Suguru asked. "I'm pretty sure he mentioned something about meeting up with Tohma as soon as possible."
After a moment, K chuckled, turning around to face them again. "He said no such thing. All he said was for us to meet them half-way."
A malicious glint came to K's eye. "We can wait a little while before setting out. Get some rest, resupply, all that good stuff."
"But, the longer we wait, the more likely we are to not catch up with the guy I met!" Shuichi protested.
"I know."
"But—"
"Shuichi, what do you think is going to come of you seeing him again?" K asked.
"Well, I was thinking…"
"Whatever you were thinking, Shuichi, is probably as far from reality as you could get. Nothing good will happen if you meet him again." Faced with Shuichi's naïve, broken-hearted face, K sighed and took his vehemence down a notch. "Shuichi," he started off much more kindly, "I don't mean to be mean, but you need to know the facts. You said yourself that the guy hated you. And, after just a brief meeting with him you've become fixated on the guy. Normally, things like this wear off with you pretty quickly, but this is turning obsessive, and I can't have a member of this team without their head in the game. Meeting him again will only distract you further and possibly do you harm. Do you understand?"
Shuichi nodded, tears gathering in his eyes.
"Hey, it's all good," K declared brightly, slapping Shuichi on the shoulder. "I really was joking about the hat thing, you know? Okay, let's find a hotel to stay the night in. We'll get an early start tomorrow and make our way to "Zubat country" then."
They all began walking again. Suguru called his Seadra from its Poke Ball, trying to block out the awkwardness that surrounded the group. K blithely ignored the feeling of discontent, strong-arming whatever guilt he felt to the back of his mind.
Shuichi walked along on auto-pilot, trying to block the despondency he felt from taking over. After all, that would be another unwanted distraction in a member of K's team. Hiro looked down on his friend, really worried… and really fed up with K coming in and taking charge of their team like this. He didn't know what would happen if Shuichi was allowed to see this stranger again. Neither did Hiro, for that matter, but he trusted that his friend would do what was right for the team when it was needed of him, and he trusted himself to be able to help Shuichi through whatever slump meeting up with the beautiful-eyed stranger might put him in.
K may be their manager, but he wasn't always their friend. Hiro was always Shuichi's teammate, and he was also always his very best friend.
Even if it may not be for the best, Hiro was going to make sure Shuichi found that man again.
Shuichi bounced up and down on his seat behind Hiro on their "borrowed" motorcycle, his grip around Hiro's waist the only thing keeping him from flying off the bike and onto the unpaved bumpiness of Rhydon Road.
"How did you convince the owner to let you just borrow it?" he yelled to Hiro. Hiro smirked.
"It wasn't me who convinced him; it was my Charmeleon."
"Oh," Shuichi drew out in understanding.
They were traveling down Rhydon Road at unstable speeds, with the only light coming from the bike's headlamp, which Shuichi swore was dimming by the second.
"Thank you for doing this, Hiro," he shouted, gratitude evident in his voice.
"No problem," Hiro grinned back. He would have done anyway, even if Shuichi hadn't leapt at the idea. This stranger needed to be taught a lesson about judging trainers as good or bad. Not only that, but K needed a reminder over who was working for whim. Hiro figured he was killing about three, maybe more, birds with one stone. Besides, he hadn't been on a bike in so long.
He and Shuichi had made plans to sneak out that night from the hotel after the others had gone to bed. Hiro had gone first, in order to get the bike, but he'd been caught. Suguru's Seadra had heard someone creeping outside their room, and his trainer had gone to investigate it.
Suguru being Suguru, once he learned their plan, he'd threatened to tattle so as to avoid the rest of the team (himself) getting in trouble. Hiro had looked at him for an intense, charged moment, then reminded Suguru that never had Shuichi formed this sort of attachment with anything before, just as K had pointed out earlier. From there, he'd gone on to convince Suguru that, not only was no one being harmed (if anything, they were ensuring to be on time for the meet-up with Nittle Grasper), but also that, if they pulled this off, Shuichi might just become easier to live with.
It was only a little white lie. In any case, someone who believed that Shuichi might ever be easy to live with deserved to be lied to.
"Still, thanks… Just make sure that you don't run him over with this thing, okay?" Shuichi warned nervously.
Hiro laughed. "Don't worry. That guy has been on the road for two whole days. We won't be running into him for a wh— Get out of the road!"
A figure had suddenly popped up directly in their path. Swerving, Hiro tried to avoid the figure, but slammed on the brakes too hard, causing the riders to go flying into the road.
"Oh, ouch," Hiro muttered, no too far away from where the motorcycle itself had come to a tumbling rest. "Shuichi, you okay… Shuichi?"
"Yeah, I'm okay," squeaked the bundle of pain that was Shuichi. He was several feet beyond the bike, but he actually wasn't all that hurt. Just some scrapping and nasty bruising to his knees and elbows. In truth, he was more worried about Ryuichi Sakuma's hat than himself.
… Ah, it was fine.
Looking up, Shuichi saw the face of the stranger. A raised hand blocked the light from the bike's headlamp, but the golden eyes were still visible in the shadow cast.
"Oh, Christ," the stranger with beautiful eyes grimaced. "Not you again."
And, that was all Shuichi heard before he fainted.
It seems I have this thing about making sure Shuichi ends up sprawled on the ground, whether it's by fainting, falling, or fangirling, it's all good.
Stay tuned to see how many times Shuichi falls down in the next and final installment of… this!
