Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.
Chapter 3: Love's Protection
Three days had passed since Lisa and Marie did battle with Malcolm and Troy. During that time Lisa and Marie had been getting along very well, at times even reminiscing about the days when they were kids. There were moments when it almost seemed like the previous thirteen years had never happened. The two had also continued sleeping together in the same zipped together sleeping bag, something that Marie had been quickly getting used to it seemed. That particular morning, Marie woke up once again to find Lisa preparing something to eat.
"Well good morning." Lisa greeted with the same warm smile she had used the mornings before. "Did you sleep well?"
"Yeah." Marie replied as she sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "Is it noon again?"
"Yep, but it's not like we're in a hurry to get to Half Moon Bay." Lisa pointed out. "Besides, we should get there tomorrow. We only have to go through this one little town."
"Well, as long as I'm not slowing us down." Marie told her.
"Hungry?" Lisa asked.
"You bet." Marie said with a smile.
"Good, we'll get moving after we eat." Lisa informed her.
After they had eaten lunch, or in Marie's case breakfast, the two rode ahead on Rapidash. Before long they had come upon a small town known as Cedar Town. Right away it seemed like a quiet little community filled with little houses with red roofs. There were a few small businesses along some of the streets, but the town was far from being a place of industry. Lisa and Marie stopped in front of the sleepy little town's Pokemart, and upon dismounting Lisa called Rapidash back to its Pokeball.
"As long as we're here, I going to step into this shop for some supplies." Lisa told Marie.
"Okay, I think I'll wait outside." Marie replied.
"I won't take too long." Lisa assured her before stepping into the shop.
Marie gave a relaxed sigh as she sat down on the wooden bench in front of the Pokemart. She then looked up at the sky and thought about all that had happened since the incident at Lilycove. It seemed to Marie that things had started to go well for her, and she had before thought that they never would again.
"Well what do we have here?" a familiar voice suddenly said, causing a chill to run down Marie's spine.
Hesitantly Marie looked to her right. Standing near the bench with her arms crossed was a woman who looked to be in her late twenties to early thirties with long wild black hair, pale skin, and crazed light-blue eyes. A vertical scar ran down her left cheek, and she wore a buttoned-up brown leather vest with no shirt underneath, long black leather pants, and black boots. Though it had been years since she last saw her, Marie recognized the woman right away. It was one of her fellow inmates from Scorch Gate, Sharon.
"Never thought I'd see you again runt." Sharon said with a sinister smirk. "Word around Scorch Gate was that you died when that quake hit. I sure would like to know how you got out and ended up here."
"That's none of your business!" Marie said defiantly as she cautiously stood up. "But I would like to know how a psychopath like you got out."
"I got out last year when the cops shut that hell hole down." Sharon explained. "They finally found out about the warden selling Pokemon on the black market. But the important thing is I got out early. As for why I'm in this dull little town, you could say I'm here on business. But now it looks like I can mix in a little pleasure too."
Just as Sharon began to advance on Marie, Zoroark emerged from its Pokeball and got in front of Marie. The monster fox roared and bared its claws and fangs.
"Well, the surprises just keep coming." Sharon said unafraid. "That's not a bad friend you got there, runt. But you're not the only one with a Pokemon. Go, Toxicroak!"
Emerging from Sharon's thrown Pokeball was a dark-blue frog-like creature with a somewhat humanoid build, standing at over four feet tall. It had bight yellow eyes and a noticeable red upper lip. A large spike jutted out from the creature's forehead, and under its chin was a large red sack. The creature's three fingered hands each had a long red spike jutting out the back. It had muscular legs, and the middle toe on both its three toed feet were red.
"Quick, use Night Daze!" Marie commanded in a somewhat frightened tone.
"Too slow!" Sharon said as Zoroark raised its arms. "Use Poison Jab Toxicroak!"
Just as the red aura began to form around Zoroark, Toxicroak leapt forward with incredible speed and punched the monster fox in the stomach as the red spike on the back of it hand glowed purple. The red aura ceased to form and Zoroark looked as if it had had the wind knocked out of it.
"Now use Low Sweep!" Sharon commanded.
With incredible speed Toxicroak swung its right leg at Zoroark's legs, knocking the monster fox to the ground. Zoroark writhed in pain on the ground, causing Marie to become extremely concerned.
"Uh oh, looks like your friend got poisoned by Toxicroak's Poison Jab." Sharon observed with a cruel grin. "What're you gonna do now runt?"
Marie quickly called back Zoroark. She then reached behind her back and took hold of Darkrai's Pokeball.
"I'm really gonna enjoy this." Sharon said as she and Toxicroak began to advance on Marie.
Just as Marie was about to send out Zoroark, Phoenix leapt in and hit Toxicroak with a flaming kick. The poison frog creature tried to get up but was soon out cold.
"What the…?" Sharon began to curse.
"Hey!" Lisa called from behind Sharon. Sharon turned around and threw a punch at Lisa, but Lisa swiftly got out of the way, grabbed Sharon's arm, twisted the arm behind Sharon's back and pinned her to the ground. "I don't know who the hell you are. But come near Marie again and I'll make you sorry you ever lived! Clear?"
"Fine! Just get off!" Sharon begged.
After a moment Lisa released Sharon. Sharon got up, called back Toxicroak, and walked off cursing beneath her breath. Marie stood as if she was frozen in shock.
"Hey, you okay?" Lisa asked Marie in a worried tone as she went over to her.
"Yeah, I'm uh…" Marie trailed off.
"We should get Zoroark to a Pokemon Center." Lisa suggested. "There's one not too far away."
"…Uh, right." Marie said as she snapped out of her trance. "Let's go."
A few minutes later Lisa and Marie were sitting on a couch in the town Pokemon Center as Nurse Joy tended to Zoroark. Marie had not said a word since the incident with Sharon aside from telling Nurse Joy what had happened. This caused Lisa to become very worried.
"I'm sure Zoroark will be fine." Lisa assured Marie.
"Yeah…" Marie replied, still in a somewhat dazed tone.
"That woman back there… it seemed like she knew you." Lisa observed. "Did you?"
"Yeah, that was, uh… that was Sharon." Marie finally told her. "She was one of the inmates at Scorch Gate... Sharon and her friends would beat me up if I just looked at them wrong. One time… they broke a couple of my ribs."
"Oh Marie." Lisa said as she took Marie's hand. At the same time Marie was starting to tear up.
"I don't know why I'm crying. I mean it was years ago and…" Marie began, but she could not finish as she suddenly broke down sobbing.
Right away Lisa pulled Marie into a tight embrace. Marie continued to cry in Lisa's arms, and as she did it felt to Marie almost as if thirteen years of fear and stress had been released. Eventually Marie finally stopped crying, but Lisa did not let go of her. Marie didn't mind though. She found that she felt safe in Lisa's arms, the safest she had felt in a long time.
Eventually a woman with pinkish-red hair wearing an old style nurse's uniform walked up to the couple, and next to her was a large pink egg-shaped creature with stubby arms and stomach pouch containing a white egg. This of course was Nurse Joy and her Pokemon assistant, Chansey. Chansey was also wearing a nurse's hat, and in its arms it carried a tray with a single Pokeball on it.
"Is everything okay?" Nurse Joy asked, getting the attention of both Lisa and Marie.
"Oh, we're fine Nurse Joy." Lisa assured her.
"Well, you'll be glad to know that Zoroark is back to perfect health." Nurse Joy informed them.
Zoroark suddenly emerged from the ball on the tray and went up to Marie. Marie laughed a bit as Zoroark licked her in the face.
"I'm fine Zoroark, don't worry." Marie assured the monster fox.
"You're both welcome to stay the night." Nurse Joy informed the two. "The hour is starting to get late after all."
"Thanks, but Marie and I should get back on the road if we want to get to Half Moon Bay before tomorrow night." Lisa replied.
"In that case, we hope to see you again." Nurse Joy said with the trademark smile of her clan.
A few minutes later Lisa and Marie were back on Rapidash as they headed onward. The sun began to set over the horizon as they left the sleepy little town.
"Are you feeling better?" Lisa asked, finally breaking the silence.
"I am, actually." Marie replied. "Thank you for… protecting me before."
"I would do anything to keep you safe Marie." Lisa told her. "Especially since… it was my fault that you even met that bitch Sharon in the first place. You went through all that pain and suffering because of me. Because I…"
"Lisa stop!" Marie interrupted. "Look, I… I've thought about this a lot these past few days and… I don't blame you for what happened anymore. I realized that Andre was only using you, and I'm sure that what you did caused you about as much pain as it caused me. So… why don't we just… start over?"
"Do you mean that?" Lisa asked with a hint of hope in her voice.
"Of course." Marie answered with a small smile. "If you would like to… that is."
"…I would like that a whole lot." Lisa said with a tearful smile as she turned her head to look back at Marie. And after a moment the two kissed on the lips. "Now, let's find a place to camp out before it gets dark."
Meanwhile in an old abandoned barn outside of Cedar Town, Trapper Jack entered to see a scrawny man working on a large silvery device resembling a sort of futuristic death ray. The man in question had thinning brown hair and was wearing thick glasses, a white t-shirt with oil stains on the front, a brown leather vest, green long pant, and brown boots.
"Yew sure that gizmo of yours is gonna work Specs?" Trapper asked the scrawny mechanic.
"Don't worry boss. If Cresselia really does show up at the Lunar Festival, this baby of mine will snare her in an energy field and pull her in for us." Specs assured Trapper as he patted the device. "I just need to make a few little adjustments."
"Well it had damn well better work Specs!" Trapper warned. "Otherwise it won't be pretty fer ya."
At that moment a slightly muscular man with short read hair ran into the barn. He was wearing an outfit similar to Specs's.
"What is it Ronnie?" Trapper demanded upon seeing the redheaded man.
"Well boss, your girlfriend's back. And she's not happy." Ronnie informed him. "In fact she's also a bit drunk."
"Out of my way dumb-ass!" Sharon shouted as she pushed her way past Ronnie into the barn, knocking him to the ground in the process. She then went over to a large black box near the device Specs was working on, pulled out a large bottle of clear liquor and took a swig.
"Hey now, what's wrong sugar?" Trapper asked Sharon as he went over to her.
"I ran into this one girl I used to beat up when I was in prison." Sharon began to explain after taking another swig from the bottle. "But just when I'm about to have a little fun with her, this bitch comes along and almost pulls my arm off!"
"If yew want, we can hunt her down and teach her a lesson." Trapper suggested.
"Nah, she's not worth the trouble." Sharon told him. Besides, I'm more worried about getting rich."
"Well that won't be much trouble." Trapper assured her. "Once we bag Cresselia tomorrow we'll have all the cash we ever wanted."
"Are you sure that buyer of yours will pay what he promised?" Sharon asked.
"If he won't, I'll find someone who will." Trapper said as he pulled Sharon up to him. "In the meantime, why don't I take yew out back and take yer mind off yer bad day?"
"Sounds good to me big boy." Sharon said with a smirk.
Author's Note: I'm sure that many of you reading remember Sharon from Rise of Noir Mask. I had planned to bring her back in Half Moon Bay since the beginning. But it wasn't until I actually started working on this story that I had the idea to have Sharon Trapper Jack's girlfriend. Anyway, the next chapter is going to be rather steamy, and is the main reason for this story's M rating. And yes, it'll focus on Lisa and Marie.
Please review and let me know what you think.
