Part Five
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All That Glitters
"I wake up evey night,
to see the state I'm in.
It's like an endless fight
I never seem to win."
"Where Are You Now" by Britney Spears
***
~ Pallet Town. Professor Oak's Residence ~
Gary Oak looked over the edge of the cards held tightly in his hands. One more to go and it would be over for him. He stared up into Cirrus' face, saw the look of determination on it, and he stared at the two cards in her hand.
Amber eyes flicked at him, and her mouth quirked in an unfamiliar expression of smugness. She knew she had him beat, unless Gary got very lucky.
"Four," He said tightly. At the word, Gary saw her eyes sparkle and he knew he was sunk.
"Go fish," she said, her tone for once light and playful.
With a groan, Gary reached forward and picked up another card. Great, another mismatch.
"Eight," The blond girl said.
Gary sighed, and handed over the lone eight. As soon as the card was in her hands, the girl whooped with delight, dropping all three cards on the table.
"Yes! I win again, Oak boy!" The triumph in her voice was disgusting. "What is that? Five games I won against you? You really should try something you're good at, and this isn't it."
"You're such a snot, Vulpix," Gary said, picking up all of the cards, "Hasn't Brock ever tried teaching you some manners?"
"Brock doesn't need to teach me anything," Vulpix shot back. "I just happen to be very good at the things I do. It's not my fault you're such a loser at 'Go Fish.' "
Gary gritted his teeth. "If it weren't for the fact that Cirrus has to save Brock's ass, I'd be tempted to force Mewtwo to change you guys back."
Vulpix paled, "Don't say that."
"What?"
"Don't say that about Brock! You...you don't know him like I do." She looked troubled. "I can't stand the fact that Cirrus has to do this and not me. Brock is MY Trainer, not hers."
"I know, but don't forget," Gary stretched, "I don't think Cirrus likes this anymore than you do."
"Not like I could forget," Vulpix stretched as well, staring down at her arms. "It was harder to get used to these than I thought. You humans make it look so easy."
Gary laughed, "Don't worry, you've only got a month in that body, and then it's back home for you."
"Thank goodness."
A knock at the door had Gary frowning, "Uh oh, if that's who I think it is..."
"Yo, Oak! Open up!" The voice was loud, male, and unfriendly sounding.
"Oh yay," Vulpix said drily, "It is my brother. Oh hooray."
Gary shook his head as he walked to the front door, opening it to see Cirrus' brother Matt. The older boy was not alone though. Ash and someone Gary couldn't see was with Matt. "Come on in, guys."
The three walked in to the foyer and Gary eyed the third person suspiciously. The guy looked familiar. "Ash, you mind introducing me to...?"
"Oh man! I'm sorry!" Ash laughed, placing a hand behind his head, "This is AJ, a trainer I met when I first started out on my journey!"
Gary nodded, remembering where he'd seen AJ. It had been in one of Gramps' journals on Trainers. AJ was a tall guy, with brown spikey hair, and piercing mahogany brown eyes. He nodded cooly at Gary and said, "Hello." He had a low voice, with a tone to match the coolness of his attitude.
"I was on my way to pick up Cirrus when I met up with these two," Matt said, running a hand through unruly blond hair, "They were on their way to see you."
"Right, well," Gary led them to the great room, "Vul...Cirrus is in here. We were playing a game."
AJ snickered, "Sure..."
Gary glared at him, but the older boy merely looked at Gary, unaffected by the unspoken threat in Gary's eyes.
When Gary led them into the great room, Vulpix was staring out the window, looking into the inky blackness of the night. As she turned to see them, Gary heard AJ gasp softly, and Gary felt his stomach tighten.
Vulpix had practically forced Gary to take her to the nearest salon. It took a few minutes to explain that she had to go to a human salon and not one for Pokemon. At any rate, Vulpix had a few inches snipped from the waist length curtain of blondness, muttering something about split ends to the stylist. Then she had the woman fix it so that the strands were curled softly, falling to the middle of her back in a cascade of loose curls.
"Glad to see you finally visited a salon," Matt said jovially. "Geeze, it's been months since you did anything with that rats nest."
"Ash!" Vulpix cried out, sweeping the boy in a fierce hug, "It's been forever since I've seen you!"
Ash looked stunned, but returned the hug, "Good to see you too, Cirrus."
Vulpix stepped back, a flash of hurt in her eyes, "Yeah..."
"Who is this vision of lovliness?" AJ asked, brushing Ash away and sweeping one of Vulpix's hands up in his own. He kissed the back of it. "You are astonishing!"
Vulpix giggled, the first happy sound Gary had heard her make. It had him wondering when he'd heard Cirrus giggle like that, and he realized it had been a long while. He would have to make it up to her.
Ash rushed over to AJ, saying, "That's Cirrus Blaine, AJ. She's Gary's girlfriend!"
Unabashedly, AJ still held on to Vulpix's hand, "Really?"
From the corner of his eye, Gary could see Matt staring at him. "Yeah, really."
"Well then," AJ let go. "I suppose I shall remain single...for the time being."
It irked Gary to see Vulpix looking disappointed. "Yes, how sad." Gary said flatly.
Ash looked at Gary, confusion in his dark gaze.
***
~ Blackthorne, Kanto Region ~One paw in front of the other, down the dirt road, following behind Brock and that girl. I looked up at their backs, looked at their entwined hands, and wondered if he would finally get lucky. I was amazed that he kept his wits about him while he was around this girl. So, what was her name anyway? It's Lia Sario. It sounds like a boring name to me, but who am I to judge anyway.
"Here's the Pokemon Center," Brock said, stopping at the walk to the large center.
"Yeah," the teal haired girl agreed. "You want to go in?"
"Yeah," Brock said, looking incredibly happy. "Then I'll buy lunch."
Darn, I thought. I was hoping he'd make lunch.
Following them inside, I shivered at the air conditioning. The Center was pretty busy, with a line of about twenty people. Some had pokemon by their side. The smells of cooking food, it was around noon, wove through the air, along with the sounds of chattering voices.
I looked over to my left and saw a girl and her charmander, and I smiled, remembering the good ole days with me and Flare...er Gary...I sighed. It had been great fun back then. Then I stopped smiling. With all that had happened, it felt like something was desperatly missing, and I didn't know what it was.
Moving forward automatically, Brock and Lia were in line after all, I saw sudden stars when I bumped into something.
Owww, I whined inwardly, looking up at my bumpee. It was Brock, smiling down at me.
"Poor little Vulpix," He said, crouching down, "You look tired. Do you want me to carry you?"
I rubbed at my muzzle. It hurt to bump that! Then I looked up at him and nodded. I was really tired of all this walking.
"No, Brock," Lia said, "Let me hold her. I've always wanted a Vulpix." She crouched down too, "Would you mind?"
Blinking, I looked up at her, trying to judge her. I was really wary of strangers, especially since someone was supposed to kill Brock. Weariness wore out and I nodded; it's not like she could kill me.
The girl scooped me up carefully, cautious to not crimp my tails, and tickled me under my chin. Out of some Vulpix reflex, I lifted up my chin. It did feel good. Lia giggled and her warm brown eyes twinkled. "You are a cutie," She said.
Brock smiled and as we slowly, but surely, moved forward, they talked. Mostly it was Lia questioning Brock, but he answered each question. It was good to see him talking to a girl instead of falling all over himself.
"So what are you doing up here?" She asked, scratching absently at my shoulder. "Doing some secret Gym Leader thing?"
That caught my attention and I listened carefully.
"No," Brock laughed, "Nothing like that. I'm up here to enter Vulpix in a Pokemon contest, then I'm going to see an old friend." He leaned forward to whisper something in her ear. I only caught, "Suzie...going back...really happy..."
She smiled at Brock, "That's so sweet! I wish someone would've let me care for a Pokemon like that! You must've really caught her eye for her to do that."
Brock blushed for the first time, "Oh no...It's just that Suzie is...she's..."
"...Someone special?" The tone of Lia's voice was quiet for the first time.
"Well, uh.." Brock stammered, "No..well, she was but now...She's involved with someone now."
"And you wouldn't try to break the relationship?"
"No!" Brock looked stunned. "Why would I do that?"
I looked up at Lia. This would be an important reaction.
She just smiled, a small smile, "That's good, Brock. You're a good person."
I rolled my eyes. 'Such a sweet reaction, I'm getting cavities over here.'
***
~ Viridian City. Cirrus's house ~Matt stared out the window but saw nothing. She was out late again, for the second night in a row! He didn't know where his sister was, but she wasn't with Gary. Matt had called the Pallet Trainer, but he hadn't seen her for the past two days. As for Matt, he'd only seen Cirrus in the late afternoon; she slept till then, only getting up to get ready for going out at night.
Glancing at the grandfather clock in the foyer, Matt grew concerned. It was almost one in the morning and his sister was not home, and not with her boyfriend. He was seriously considering calling the police.
He let the curtain fall and walked over to the small hallway table. A wide brown belt was laying haphazardly on it, six pokeballs attatched to it. It was Cirrus' trainers belt, and her Pokemon were safely inside. Matt fingered the smooth leather, and wondered when she had last let her Pokemon out.
Sighing, Matt wondered why he remained behind, instead of going back with his parents. This world had been good to them, it had resecitated their parents' marriage, and gave Cirrus a lot of confidence. She'd been confident in their world, but it went with a lot of attitude and anger. Matt had lost count of the number of times his little sister had been sent to the pricipals office or had a teacher call home.
Suddenly, one of the Pokeballs rattled and popped open. A white beam of light flared and a small shape formed into a small creature. It looked like an anteater to Matt, but Cirrus had told him repeatedly that it was something called a Cyndaquill.
The Cyndaquill blinked up at him, and said, "Cynda?"
Matt groaned, "I bet you're hungry."
The small creature nodded.
Matt had been forced to put his dog turned Pokemon to sleep a month ago, and since then he hadn't even wanted to look at another of the creatures. The nurse hadn't been able to say why Cozmik was so sick, but in his heart, Matt knew his old friend just couldn't take the change, and in the end Matt decided it would be the kindest thing to do.
"And I bet all your friends are hungry too."
Another nod, this one more vigerous.
"Just when was the last time you guys have seen Cirrus?" Matt picked up the belt, and walked to the kitchen, the small Pokemon scampering ahead of him.
The Cyndaquill leapt up onto the counter, picked up a blue marker, and wrote something on the dry erase board. With wide eyes, Matt read the message:
"We haven't seen her in a week. We are all hungry. Feed us now, or face the consequences."
"A week?" Matt was astonished, "And how is it that you know how to write?"
The little creature picked up a towel that had been hooked on a towel hook, and wiped away the words. It wrote some more:
"Don't be such a troglodyte. I can write out the Polynumericomaneuristic Quadraticalinine Dyoxyrybonuecleic Equation in five minutes if I wanted to. Writing out that I'm hungry is not difficult."
"Uh..." Matt was flabbergasted. He held out the belt. "What about these other guys?"
::Wipewipe::
"They're hungry too, doubtlessly. Just because we can be fit into those tiny balls does not mean we don't get hungry regularly."
"Do you know what is inside?" Matt looked at the pokeballs dubiously. "I know some Pokemon can be pretty big."
The Cyndaquill rolled its eyes and sighed resignedly.
::Wipewipe::
"There is a Ponyta, Umbreon, and an Espeon/Umbreon mix."
Matt frowned. "But there are six Pokeballs..."
::Wipewipewipe::
"She keeps the extra Pokeballs incase she sees a wild one she likes! You aren't very bright."
"Well you aren't very nice." Matt eyed a Pokeball. "Just how big can that Ponyta be?"
The Cyndaquill stood on its hind legs and stretched a forepaw up.
"Huh, I'm guessing you're including the the floor and up for the height?
A nod.
"Okay, that's not that big then," Matt picked up three Pokeballs, "C'mon out, guys."
Nothing happened for a second, then the three that were on the counter popped open, and three more Pokemon were staring up at him. Matt glared at the Cyndaquill. "You knew I was holding the two empty Pokeballs?"
The Cyndaquill grinned and laughed.
***
Twenty minutes later, Matt finally figured out what food the different Pokemon wanted. Of all four, only the purple Espeon/Umbreon Pokemon was still eating. The rest had practically wolfed their food down. The Ponyta had recalled itself into its Pokeball, and the rest were patiently listening to Matt. He was talking to them about Cirrus' mysterious behaviour.
"And I'm not sure where she's at now," Matt shrugged. "Gary hasn't even seen her."
The Umbreon looked at its purple counterpart, "Um eon."
The purple pokemon shrugged.
The Cyndaquill wiped at its last statement, then wrote:
"Mystique said Cirrus is about to be dropped off."
Matt and the four Pokemon raced to the foyer, and peeked out the window. Matt was shocked to see AJ get out of a sleek black car and walk around to the passengers side door. The door opened to reveal his sister in a formfitting red dress. AJ helped her out of the car and the two shared a deep kiss.
Matt heard the Pokemon at his feet gasp collectively, and he shared their sentements. Wasn't Cirrus dating Gary?
"Cynda," Cyndaquill murmured, then walked away.
The Pokemon at his feet darted off to the living room, and Matt noticed AJ was now walking Cirrus up to the porch. With a start, Matt dropped the curtain, and walked quickly to the living room. Unfortunatly, he didn't have a pokeball to hide in.
He lay down on the couch, dragging a light blanket over himself, and listened as a key turned in the lock. The door opened, spilling in night air and sounds of murmered talking. The sound of a last lingering kiss was loud in Matts ears, but the door closed, and he heard the sound of a car starting up and loudly leaving a few seconds later.
Heels clicked on the white tiled foyer floor, then paused.
"You can get up now, brother dear," Cirrus' voice rang out. "I know you're here. And awake."
Matt grimaced, but stood up. "Have a nice date?"
Cirrus grinned, "Yes, actually, I did."
"What about Gary?"
She shrugged, "What about him?"
Matt struggled to keep from falling over. "What about him?! He's your boyfriend!"
"No he's not!" Cirrus said firmly. "He's a control freak and a perfectionist, not to mention a vain, arrogant jerk. I don't know what I ever saw in him." She turned to walk up the stairs, "Oh, and you can have my Pokemon. I don't want them anymore."
The sounds of her footsteps faded, and Matt heard her walking upstairs, Mystique and Umbreon close on her heels, then the sound of her bedroom door as it closed gently. In the dark, the blond boy could only stare, frozen by the callous tone of his sisters voice. He heard the sounds of a shower starting, and he dropped to the couch, his mind spinning with what had just happened. He had only one question.
Who was this stranger and what had she done with his sister?
Oh no! What is Vulpix up to? Looks like the fire fox has a lot to answer for, or does she have something in mind? Find out in the next Hidden Journey!