My Great Big Adventure
Sabrina was scheduled to fly in the day after I finished my hosting duties. Mr. Deeoh informed me it would take about another week or so to film Mystery Doors of the Magical Land, or less, as Sabrina could only stay for one week. That was all fine with me. I didn't want to spend any more time filming than I had to. However, I wasn't entirely sure what I would do after that.
"…And that's a wrap!"
I relaxed in my chair on the set, paying no mind to the studio audience clapping. I was glad to be done with Pokemon Today. Although the show wasn't as bad as the movies, and Christoph wasn't as vain as I had originally judged, I really don't like being on the camera one way or another.
And as much as I hate to admit it, I was beginning to miss Hugh. Even though I knew why I had put distance between us, I still wanted to see him again. Christoph was nice, and I suppose he is a friend now, but he's not Hugh. No one could ever replace him.
"Well, that was a successful show, don't you think?" Christoph asked, standing and stretching. "Too bad it was your last one… I rather enjoyed having you as my co-host."
"Yeah, you're not so bad either," I replied, smiling. We headed back to our respective dressing rooms.
"Oh, Rosa?"
"Yes?" I asked, pausing in the doorway.
"Umm… Never mind," he said, his face flushing. "So… I guess this is goodbye?"
"I'm still here for another week," I reminded him. "I'm sure I'll see you again."
"Actually… I'm leaving tonight. I have another show booked for next week," Christoph said, sounding incredibly sorry.
I shrugged him off. "Don't worry about it. I have to come back here once a month anyway; I'm sure our paths will cross again."
He still looked a bit sad, so I hesitantly added, "Well, we could always exchange numbers?"
Christoph blushed, really really red. "Ah…yeah, about that… I don't think that's a good idea—"
"Oh, I see," I replied, feeling rejected. "Well… later."
And then I slammed the door in his face.
Zorua poked his head out from under the bed. What was that all about? his face read.
"Ugh, I don't even know why I suggested that." I moaned and flopped onto the couch, pointedly ignoring the knocks on my door. "Of course he wouldn't want to exchange numbers. He's too… and I'm… not."
Zorua crawled up next to me and tilted his head.
"No, I don't think it's because he's shy. Trust me, Christoph is not like that. I swearing he was flirting when he thought I was a school girl."
Zorua snorted.
"You don't believe me? Or are you saying no one would flirt with me? Is that it, you little stinker?"
The Pokemon merely shook his head, but I wasn't sure what he meant by that. Then he hopped off the couch and trotted over to my purse, jumping inside. I heard him digging around…
"What are you doing in there?"
He came back out of the purse, dragging Curtis's xtransceiver with him. I shook my head.
"You want me to call Curtis? I can't; he hasn't given me his number. I haven't spoke to him since Hugh ended our call…"
I grabbed the xtransceiver from Zorua's mouth and personally dug around in the purse. I pulled out my xtransceiver and switched it on.
42 Missed Calls. All from Hugh.
I was torn. I was angry at him for everything, but then I was sort of happy he had tried to call me. Forty-two times. I sighed and patted Zorua's head.
"Alright," I agreed to no one in particular. "I'll try to work things out with Hugh… assuming that's why he called. Well, after I get this stupid movie out of the way."
Zorua suddenly ran over to the door, growling.
"Rosa, I know you're ignoring me," Christoph's voice called through the door. "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. I would give you my number if I could, but… I can't. I still consider you a friend, and I hope that we'll meet again. I'm positive I'll talk to you soon."
Oh is he? What the heck is that supposed to mean?! I should really just keep ignoring him…
"Bye, Rosa…"
But having to lose two friends was a bit much.
I rushed over and jerked the door open. Christoph was walking away, but he turned around at the noise.
"Christoph!" I called out. "Wait!"
"Yes?" he asked, sounding unsure. I could see several suitcases and assistants waiting at the doors down the hall. I ran over and stopped right in front of him, not really sure of the right thing to say.
"I…"
"It's ok, Rosa," he said, smiling. "You had every right to be angry."
"No, I overreacted and was being stupid… I mean, I don't even talk on the xtransceiver much anyway…"
Christoph looked a bit surprised to hear that. I guess everyone in show business uses their xtransceiver. "Don't worry about it," I continued. "…friends?"
"Of course," he agreed. He threw his arms around me and gave me a hug. Then he was off, running down the hall and waving goodbye.
"Bye…" I said weakly, feeling strangely numb.
Was it because I'd never really been hugged a boy before? Or was it just that I didn't hug many people, at all? Even my own mother rarely hugged me as a child. I remember I hugged Hugh once, a long time ago, but he shoved me off because "girls are gross and have cooties." Well, whatever the reason, Christoph's hug left me feeling funny, though I'm still not sure if that's a bad thing or not.
... ... ...
And so now we're caught up to the present time!
Oh, wait, right… the movie.
So Sabrina eventually showed up and we filmed the movie, Mystery Doors of the Magical Land. Sabrina fit the part of the evil queen perfectly. Not only does she have the mysterious looks, but I think… she might have some sort of psychic powers or something. Weird stuff kept happening while we were filming, like tape getting erased and props being moved around seemingly by themselves…
However, Sabrina herself is a lovely person; she came off as very nice to me. Plus, she's beautiful! She told me she's almost thirty, but she really looks only twenty or so. I hope I look as good as she does when I'm thirty.
Anyway… yeah… It's been a few days since filming ended, and I've just been hanging around my dressing room. A cleaner just came in and collected my dirty clothes, and Zorua is currently pacing around the room and sniffing at things.
I'm still on the fence about where to go next. The most likely course of action is to return to Driftveil and challenge the gym leader, I guess. I'm hoping that perhaps Hugh has already moved forward. He's probably on his 8th badge or so, taking down everything in his path to Team Plasma.
Do I really even need to challenge gyms anymore? I only became a trainer because Hugh made me get a Pokemon, and it was sort of fun traveling around with him. But if I don't keep training, what else is there? I definitely don't want to be a Pokemon Celebrity Idol like Christoph or Nancy… If my mom and I were on good terms, she would probably pull a few strings to get me in training as a Nurse… but I'm not interested in pursuing that field anyway.
Something brushed against my leg, and I looked down to see Zorua pushing my Pokeballs out of my purse.
"Hmmm? What about my Pokemon?"
Wait… What about my Pokemon?! What do they want? Servine, Lucario, Flaffy, Tranquill, Azumarill, Growlithe…
Zorua growled.
"You too, of course," I agreed. Trying not to think how ridiculous it would look if anyone were to walk in right now, I called out each of my Pokemon. Servine immediately crawled into my lap while Growlithe laid at my feet. The others sat or stood, watching me curiously. I rarely held meetings… if ever, so I bet they think I'm about to pull something drastic. Lucario and Zorua are having a staring match; I don't think they're quite used to each other yet. Actually, this is probably the first time they've even met… Ha.
"Alright, guys… girls… Pokemon," I said, clearing my throat. They all looked at me expectantly. "Umm… First off, I'm sorry I haven't seen you in a while. I needed a break from… training. I'm not sure if you all enjoyed the rest, but… this brings me to the next thing. What do you want to do? Should we keep challenging gyms; do you even enjoy that? I mean, from what I've seen, you all seemed to like it… But there's also Pokemon Musicals… or Movies… or other things. I mean, we could live out in the wilderness or something…"
Syaoran, my Servine, attached himself to waist and shook his head. You aren't going to release me, are you? his eyes asked.
"What? No! Did Zorua give off that idea?" I asked, glancing at the fur ball who shook his head. "Zorua may have… a different background, but I'm not about to ditch any of you, ok?"
Lucario retrieved my badge case from my purse. He opened it in front of me and pointed to the four empty slots. Then he pointed to the four badges I already have.
"You're right," I conceded. "We've come this far, and we shouldn't give up now. I've had each one of you, aside from you Zorua, since the beginning. I caught each of you before I even had my second badge. You all worked so hard to get these badges…" I paused, looking at each of them.
"Before, I only wanted to take on the gyms for selfish reasons, to follow Hugh. Now I realize I should have thought of you from the beginning. And for that, I'm sorry. From now on, we're a team, ok?" I said, apologizing.
They all nodded reassuringly and then one by one, went back into their Pokeballs, until only Zorua and I were left standing in the room.
I turned to him. "Thanks. I needed that." He merely gave me a smug look before settling on his usual armrest for the night. Hmmm, it was getting a bit late.
I was in the middle of looking for new pajamas when my xtransceiver rang. I made a dash for my purse, tripping over my stool in the process. Maybe Hugh was calling again…!
"Hello?" I asked anxiously, my heart pounding so hard that if I didn't hear Hugh's voice—
"Rosa!"
Dang it. Not Hugh. Just Bianca. What a letdown.
"Look, Bianca, can I call you back?"
"NO!" she screamed, and for the first time I looked down at the screen. Bianca's hair was a mess and her eyes were red and puffy behind her glasses. What in the…?
"Rosa, listen to me!" she pleaded. "Don't hang up!"
"What happened? Are you ok?" I asked. "You look like you've been crying."
"Rosa, you have to come back to Driftveil! Cheren… he's...," she started to sob. "He's… he's been kidnapped!"