27 Bluegreen Lane, Viridian City
"Welcome! Come in! I'm glad you could make it! Now allow me to introduce myself. My name is Giovanni." Giovanni shakes hands with Hugo as he welcomes him into what appears to be his home.
"Please, keep your shoes on and follow me. Our discussion is about to begin now that everyone's here."
"Thanks. It's Hugo by the way." Hugo says as looks around the hallway they're in. There are many pictures on the walls of Giovanni in many different scenarios. In one of them he's standing triumphantly next to a fainted Rhydon, looking proud to have won a tough pokémon battle. In another he's happily grooming a Persian. Another picture depicts him appearing to give orders to a large group of men and women. The men and women are all wearing white, but they have their back to the camera that took the photo so the front of their shirts can't be seen.
"Excellent. Come, young Hugo. The others are down here, in the basement." Giovanni leads Hugo down some stairs into a faintly lit room with no carpet. There are four other young men sat around a table. Four other people are stood around them. Two men and two women, all wearing thick black coats. Hugo wonders why they're dressed so heavily, they must be really hot.
"Please Hugo. Take a seat."
Giovanni stands at the back of the room where the light is poorest. The four heavily dressed characters stand beside him, two per side. Hugo and the four others turn their chairs so they can see him.
"Gentlemen, thank you for coming. You see, the reason I brought you here is simple; you are all competent battlers we've been observing for a while.
Hugo is immediately confused by this. How has this man he's never met been observing him?
Giovanni focuses his dark gaze upon one of the other men. "Jack, I applaud you for your performance in the last Indigo League."
"Thank you." Jack smiles nervously. He doesn't look comfortable being here at all.
"Peter and Toby, you two are two of the best trainers Viridian City has to offer."
The two men both put on a fake smile upon receiving this compliment. Something about the way Giovanni speaks seems to be making everyone nervous.
"Julian. You're something special. You've fought off Team Rocket on a number of occasions." Julian doesn't even bother to smile or thank him, giving him a serious glare.
"Now, what I would like you men to do is-"
"Excuse me, uh, Giovanni." Hugo speaks up.
"Ah, I was going to ask for questions in a moment, but go ahead." Giovanni responds in a very calm manner.
"How could you possibly have observed me? I've never entered any pokémon league, nor am I from around here. I am hardly famous either."
"Actually, young Hugo, I know more of your accomplishments than any others here. I was given a detailed description of you by two of my employees who were very eager to get you on board with our mission. I must say, it took you quite some time to travel from Pallet Town to Viridian City didn't it?"
Hugo is stunned. How can this man possibly know this much about him?
"Sorry to be a nuisance, but can I ask who these employees were?"
"Not a nuisance at all." Giovanni responds. "But I'm struggling to answer your question. What were their names now? They slip my mind, but it was the two with colourful hair. They travel around with that unusual Meowth." "Prrrrrrrrr." An aggressive purring can be heard from the darkest corner of the room. "I believe they have since travelled to the Kalos region."
Hugo definitely knows who Giovanni is referring to. He stands up quickly. "That means you're..."
Giovanni calmly waves his hands vertically, as if to say 'sit back down'.
"Ah, it seems you've got me all figured out. You see, I am indeed a member of Team Rocket. Some might even say I am their leader. But please, I've no intention of attacking any of you. Allow me to explain my reason for bringing you here."
The other four men all stand up, looking very unhappy to be there.
"Criminal!" Peter shouts angrily.
"Disgrace!" Julian yells furiously.
"Ok, well I was going to do this AFTER our talk but it seems things haven't quite gone as expected. Never mind." Giovanni claps his hands twice. On cue, the four coated characters zip down their coats, revealing their Team Rocket uniforms. The table the men were all sat around is lowered into the ground by some sort of machine. In its place rises up a large, transparent, sphere shaped object.
"Enjoy our mind-control amplifier." Giovanni says in his usual calm tone as he marches up the stairs out of the basement.
"Oy! Where do you think you're-" Two of the men try to chase him, but by the time they reach the bottom of the stairs, two more Rocket grunts come rushing down, blocking their way. For some reason, they are both wearing quality looking earmuffs.
"Deploy Hypno's!" One of the grunts yells. All at once, the six grunts throw two pokéballs each, summoning a total of twelve Hypnos.
"What is this madness?!" Peter yells, reaching for his pokéballs. "We have no chance but to fight ba-"
"HYPNO HYPNO!" All of the Hypno's begin to use a move. By this point Hugo notices the other four grunts have also equipped themselves with earmuffs. "HYPNO HYPNO!" Strange, hypnotic looking waves begin to fill the room. The sound created by these Hypno is nothing like Hugo has ever heard before. The waves seem to reflect off the strange looking contraption in the middle of the room, appearing to make them much more intense. Hugo looks around. Three of the men are glaring at the Hypno's surrounding them with emotionless expressions on their faces. Julian has his hands over his ears, trying to drown out the noise. This appears to work for a few seconds, until eventually he too succumbs to their hypnosis attack and stares at them, emotionless.
A few moments pass and the mass hypnosis attack ends. All of the Hypnos are returned to their pokéballs and the grunts remove their earmuffs. "I'll get the boss." One of the grunts on the stairs explains as they exit the room.
The five remaining grunts walk around the room high-fiving each other.
"Yeah! Awesome job!" One of the female grunts exclaims.
"Look at them! They're like zombies!" Another female grunt says, looking very pleased with what they've done. She's right. The four other men are stood with a very straight posture with their arms by their side and a blank expression on their face. Hugo decides the best thing to do is pretend that he's also brainwashed. Wait a minute… why isn't he brainwashed?
"WAHEY! Look at this bunch of wankers!" One of the male grunts decides to have some fun. He punches Julian in the face as hard as he can, giving him a bloody nose. Julian flinches as his head is knocked back due to the force of the punch, but he does not react and continues standing straight, emotionless. "That's what you get for calling big G a disgrace, dickhead!"
"Bring them up!" Giovanni's voice calls from above.
"Okay, come on zombies." One of the females orders. The four other guys begin to follow her up the stairs. The second female and one of the guys follows them, leaving just two male grunts in the basement with Hugo, who had stupidly forgotten he was supposed to go with the woman when they were ordered to.
"Hey, what's up with this one? I think it's broken." One of the men states, and the other grunt sneers. By this point, Hugo has given up on pretending to be brainwashed so he just stands there with his hands in his pockets, deciding that talking would be unwise.
"Maybe he's so stupid he can't remember how to walk!" The same man remarks while his mate is still laughing.
"Should I switch it off and back on again?" He continues to joke around while the other grunt is absolutely hysterical.
Hugo decides to have some fun with them.
"Me need to follow lady?" He asks, trying to sound as unintelligent as possible.
One of the grunts has a tear in his eye from laughter by this point. "I love mind control!" He blurts out, through his laughter.
"Another one unable to follow orders?" A voice calls down from above.
"Yeah, give us five minutes we'll use our Hypno's again." One of the two grunts calls back. The two men reach for their pokéballs, but Hugo doesn't really fancy listening to that horrible noise the Hyno's make again.
"What dat?" He asks in his dumbest tone of voice possible. He points with both hands towards the grunt who'd been teasing him. Specifically, he points towards his crotch.
"What? My trousers?" The man asks, holding his two pokéballs, one in each hand.
"No, dat!" Hugo keeps up his act.
"My hips? My shirt? I don't get it. What you pointing at?"
"Dat thing dere!" Hugo shouts in his idiot voice.
The second grunt is once again hysterical "I think he's on about your penis, mate!"
"What?" The first grunt exclaims. "Are you a gay zombie or something?"
"Dat thing! Why does it stick out?" Hugo asks, struggling to keep himself from laughing.
"BWAHAHAHAHAHA! He must be on about your boner mate!" The second grunt is loving this conversation.
"I don't even have a bo- oy! You're taking the piss!" The first grunt finally catches Hugo out as he notices him struggling to hold back his laughter.
"You're asking for it pal!" In a typically unintelligent move for a Team Rocket grunt, instead of just using his pokémon to attack, the grunt instead puts his pokéballs back in his pockets and throws a punch straight at Hugo. This particular grunt is of less than average height and cannot even reach his face so he has to settle for punching his chest. In response, Hugo picks him up by the elbows, rendering him unable to throw any more punches.
"Okay, you got me!" Hugo admits. "But I'm twice your height and weight." "And five times as strong!" The second grunt adds.
"You really want to pick a fight with me?" Hugo asks with a grin since he already knows the answer. The grunt merely shakes his head, obviously terrified.
"Good." Hugo puts him back down.
"Now please excuse me while I make an exit." He begins to stroll towards the stairs and out of the room. As he walks past the second grunt they give each other a fist bump. "Respect man. That was awesome!" The grunt exclaims as he wipes away his tears from laughing so hard, not caring that they're supposed to be enemies.
The Team Rocket pair stand and watch as Hugo walks up to the top of the stairs, looks around to ensure there are no grunts around, then bursts into a run, going out of their view. "Wait a minute..." Realises the second grunt. "How the hell is he not hypnotised?"
Meanwhile, Hugo sprints over to the door at the end of the corridor. There is a rectangular window next to it, much larger vertically than it is horizontally. He kicks it as hard as he can, successfully smashing it to pieces. He carefully slides through the shattered window as shouts of "What's going on?!" and "What the hell was that?!" can be heard from within the building. The house's alarm begins to sound, ringing loudly.
He jogs over to the end of the driveway, where he sees Dawn, Brock and a ginger woman stood waiting for him.
"What the hell happened?!" Dawn asks, having to shout over all the noise.
"I'll explain later. Just run!"
Dawn rolls her eyes as she, Brock and the ginger woman begin running down the street alongside Hugo.
"So…" Hugo begins to ask, running alongside the ginger woman. "I'm Hugo. What's your name?" He expected his response to be her telling him her name, so he gets a surprise when she just slaps him around the face instead.
"Oh..." Hugo rubs his cheek as he continues to run. "Dawn 2.0 apparently."
"That's Misty!" Brock calls from behind. "The one who fancies Ash!"
Hugo is please he only got a slap when he turns around to see Brock receive a punch in the face.
"I don't think anyone's following us!" Dawn calls.
Hugo looks behind, there is indeed nobody there.
"Cool. Let's slow down then." Hugo decides, and they all stop running and begin a fast-paced walk. Dawn, Brock and Misty put their hands on their knees, catching their breath.
"YOU IMBECILE!" Misty shouts angrily. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
Dawn smiles sheepishly at her new friend, while Brock explains. "Told you. He's just like Ash."
"No, he's not! Ash is more...more..."
"Sexy? Attractive?" Hugo asks, deciding to play along with Brock's 'game'.
Expecting a punch to the face, he is surprised when Misty simply turns her back, folds her arms and sticks out her tongue. "You've spent too much time with Brock." She complains.
"So tell me, what ridiculous, dangerous situation did you get yourself into this time?" Dawn asks.
"Well… turns out that house is owned by Team Rocket." Hugo tells them.
"We know..." Dawn, Brock and Misty all reply together, rolling their eyes.
"And that man was their leader."
"We know..." They all reply again.
"And he's way more evil than he seems."
"WE KNOW!" They all reply for a third time.
"And some other dudes got hypnotised, then I legged it outta there!"
"What do you mean?" Asks Brock.
"An army of Hypno's brainwashed some other guys, so I just left when nobody was looking."
"Huh? So why didn't they hypnotise you?" Misty asks, giving him eye contact for the first time.
"I dunno. Wanna go in and ask?"
"Very funny." Misty folds her arms again.
Dawn frowns. "Hugo, you were lying weren't you? You ARE on drugs."
"Come on! You're talking to the guy who owns a Shinx that knows flamethrower! Is that really so hard to believe?"
"One things's for sure: something's not right. We need to figure out what is going on. But before that, let's stay over at the pokémon centre tonight." Brock decides, and the group all agree.
Viridian City
It's early in the morning, just before 7AM. Hugo is rubbing the sleep out of his eyes having only just gotten dressed as he leaves the Pokémon Centre. He can only assume that Brock & co. are all still asleep.
"H-hey mister." A voice beckons. Hugo looks around, and sees a young looking boy. The boy has green, messy hair and wears a smart looking purple coat. "M-my name is Wally. I'm 12 years old. I just recently started raising my first pokémon, and I was wondering if you'd like to battle me.
Hugo isn't sure what to do. At 21, wouldn't it look weird battling a 12-year-old?
"That's great, kid! Have you battled much yet?"
Wally looks even more nervous. "N-no actually. I'm supposed to be too young to battle Pokémon, but th-they changed it."
Wally's right. Hugo had heard that Kanto recently lowered the minimum age for trainers from 14 to 12. That's ridiculously young, surely! Sinnoh's mimimum age is still 17.
"Good morning. What's going on?" Brock wonders outside having just woken up.
"We're going to have a battle!" Wally exclaims.
"Really? Great idea! I'll be the referee!" Brock is surprisingly enthusiastic considering it's first thing in the morning.
After making their way to the battlefield behind the pokémon centre and having to wait for an intense battle between a Magikarp and a Metapod to finish, Wally's battle with Hugo begins.
"Rotom, let's do this!" Hugo sends out his partner who has now possessed a washing machine, meaning it's in Rotom Wash form.
"Go Ralts!" Wally sends out his partner.
"Ok, battle begin!" Announces Brock.
"Ralts, future sight!" Wally orders.
Ralts glows for a while and then stops.
"Hydro pump!" Hugo winks at Rotom, who fires a hydro pump attack that deliberately misses its target.
"Woooooow! Wally exclaims. "So powerful!"
"Aw shoot, we missed! Now we're defenseless!" Hugo pretends to be worried.
"Confusion!" Wally orders. Ralts's eyes glow red, and it is able to push Rotom a few inches to the side.
"Another hydro pump! Hugo orders. When he's sure Wally isn't looking, he gestures for Rotom to tone down the power. Rotom fires the weakest hydro pump it possibly can, a few splashes of water really. They hit Ralts who makes a poor effort of dodging.
"Nooooo!" Cries Wally. Ralts falls to the floor, fainted.
Just then, a beam of energy appears from nowhere and hits Rotom, obviously the future sight attack.
"Rotototo!" Rotom chuckles, as if it has been tickled.
"And the winner is Hugo!" Brock sighs.
"Um… yay?" Hugo pretends to be excited.
"Ralts, I'm so proud of you. You fought really really really well." Wally tells his partner.
Brock walks over and whispers to Hugo. "You could've gone easy on him mate! He's only a kid!"
"How easy d'ya want me to go?! We could be here all day, that kid ain't knocking anything out."
"Have a word with him." Brock tells him.
"Um…hey, kid."
"Yes, what's up mister?"
"Look, I know you lost and all, but in reality losing is a good thing. You know, I always used to lose to my brother, apparently, but my experience of all those losses helped me learn so much that I was able to defeat him when it mattered most. The only way you can truly lose is if you take nothing away from the experience."
"Really? Th-that's good advice! Th-thank you so much mister!"
"Please, call me Hugo." Hugo smiles.
"How about growing pain? I like that name better." A female voice teases. It's Misty, who just got up.
"Hahaha! Okay, I'm gonna take my Ralts to get all healed up. Thank you, old people!" And with that, Wally dashes off inside the pokémon centre.
"OLD?! The nerve of that kid! We're all in our twenties!" Misty folds her arms and stomps her foot.
"Hey Hugo, now that I see you in the daylight for the first time in a while, I can't help but notice that you're in much better shape than when we left Sinnoh. You joined a gym?" Brock asks.
"Actually, I was trapped on a magical island for weeks with nothing to do except train."
"This guy makes up a lot of bullshit, huh, Brock?" Misty asks.
Brock facepalms. "Trust me Mist, you'd be able to tell if he were kidding. Remember, he's like Ash, things that are unbelievable to most people happen to Hugo every day."
Misty stares at Hugo for a while. "You're not that much like Ash, are you big guy? Ash doesn't have any of this!" She points at Hugo's biceps, which makes him feel uncomfortable. "And he'd NEVER be up at this time! It's barely 7:30."
Hugo scratches his head. "Yeah, sleep is for the weak, I'd much rather be up bright and early having a good workout with my pokémon. Besides, the sooner I'm done working out the sooner I can have breakfast!"
"You should see him eat!" Brock comments.
Misty sighs. "Oh no! Not another bottomless pit."
"Give him some of your cooking, it wouldn't be so bottomless then!" Brock chuckles, until he receives a swift backhand to the face.
"You know what?!" Brock groans. "We live in such a sexist world. Why is it okay for you to hit me and I can't fight back?"
"Because that's how it works!" Misty smiles. "Women are intelligent, beautiful and strong while men are stupid, weak and always horny."
"Now hold on a second! Women are just as bad!" Hugo argues.
"Oh yeah, you know what happens when a good looking girl gets into a crowded area? You know how many men approach me? The men of Kanto are all pervs!"
"Oh yeah?! The women are just as pervy!"
"Yeah right!"
"I can prove it!"
"There's an idea!" Brock interrupts. "We can have a little contest." He grins. "It'll be a long time until Dawn gets out of bed anyway. We have a few hours to kill."
Half an hour later, the pokémon centre is getting crowded. Lots of hustle is going on as many aspiring pokémon masters make their way in and out. Brock is sat quietly in the corner, readying a stopwatch.
Misty walks in, doing her sexiest walk possible. She stops next to a group of young men, and instantly grabs their attention.
"Oh no, my lace is untied." She says in a weirdly seductive way. She pretends to trip, and falls right into the arms of one of the young men, whose face is now bright red. "Oh, I'm so sorry." She whispers sweetly. The young man helps her back to her feet, and looks down at his crotch. "Uh oh… GAH! I gotta get outta here!" He rushes straight into the men's bathroom.
Brock and Misty make their way outside to find Hugo who is sitting at a bench scoffing down a sandwich consisting of Miltank meat.
"What time?" He asks, between bites.
"1 minute 6 seconds." Brock tells him, as Misty folds her arms looking confident that she's going to win.
"Hold my sandwich." Hugo stands up and marches into the centre, with Brock following in order to time him.
He marches straight over to a pair of young women who appear to be tourists staying in the pokémon centre. Neither of them seem to pay him much notice.
"Oh man. It's SO hot in here today." Hugo says loudly. He removes his vest, revealing his tone body. Instantly, both of the women are struggling to keep their eyes off him.
"Man, this heat is making me drowsy." Hugo yawns a long yawn. While doing so, he stretches his arms and flexes his muscles right in front of the women.
"I-I left something in my room. Might take a while to find it." One of the women stammers with a red face. She dashes off into the hotel section which is behind every pokémon centre.
"Really? So did I!" Her friend follows her back into the hotel.
"Hmm. Wonder what it was they forgot?" Hugo grins at Brock, who gives him a high five.
Brock and Hugo make their way out of the centre after Hugo gets fully dressed again.
"45 seconds." Brock laughs. "And he got two of them. He showed you up!"
"Told you women are just as pervy as men!" Hugo winks at Misty.
Misty stomps her feet. "That's unfair! You only won because you took your shirt off!"
"Or maybe I won because I was right and you were wrong?" Hugo laughs, clearly enjoying his victory.
"I hate you both!" Misty groans.
Brock nudges Hugo with his elbow. "She loves us really." He winks.
Not much time has passed since Hugo and Misty's 'competition' and the gang, now joined by a sleepy Dawn, are enjoying breakfast in the Pokémon Centre. Hugo's portion is, of course, larger than everyone else's combined.
"EVERYBODY STAND UP AND PUT YOUR ARMS IN THE AIR!" Suddenly, a group of five men storm into the building. They are all wearing Team Rocket uniforms and one of them is pointing a machine gun at the crowd within the building. The other four guard the entrance.
"WE'RE HERE FOR HUGO! WHERE IS HE?!"
Everyone in the building jumps to their feet and puts their arms in the air, except for Hugo, who continues scoffing down his fifth Miltank meat sandwich of the day. He's a noisy eater, as he scoffs it all down as fast as possible.
"OY!" Calls the grunt. "WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?! I'M POINTING A GUN AT YOU! YOU'VE GOT THREE SECONDS TO STAND AND PUT YOUR ARMS IN THE AIR OR I'LL BLOW YOUR HEAD OFF!"
"Can't talk. Eating." Hugo casually drops a pokéball to his side. Two seconds later, a giant Tyranitar has almost created a hole in the roof as its head is inches below the ceiling.
"WHAT THE HELL?! YOU CAN'T DO-" Begins the grunt, until Tyranitar bends down and picks him up by the head. The grunt begins to spray bullets at Tyranitar's body, which merely bounce off and land on the floor.
"Seismic toss." Hugo manages to say with a mouthful of food, not even looking up from his sandwich.
Tyranitar throws him as far as it can. The grunt is launched into the other three grunts and all three are sent sprawling out of the door. They all hit the hard ground over 100 yards away from the building, just in time for the police to arrive. Neither Hugo nor any of his friends bother to even glance over to see whether they escape.
"YAAAAAAAAAY!" The crowd of people scattered around the Pokémon Centre cheer.
Hugo finishes his sandwich and stands up. He returns Tyranitar to its pokéball. "Cheers, buddy."
He turns to his companions Dawn and Misty. "We need to go, don't we?" They both nod.
"Wait a minute..." Begins Dawn. "Where's..."
The trip turn around to see Brock leaning over the counter where
"Hey there sexy, I've another pair of balls I'd like you to see, but they're much more impressive." He tells her. The Nurse looks surprised, but before she can respond, Misty's fist connects with Brock's face and he staggers backwards, holding his face in pain. He trips over a table behind him and ends up embarrassingly sprawled out on the floor.
The group are now headed out of Viridian City, in the north direction towards Viridian Forest.
"What do we do now?" Dawn asks, trying to understand a map of Kanto she's holding. "How are we gonna find this man?"
Hugo is next to her, also puzzled by this map. "This whole region is confusing. Why are all the towns named after colours?"
"Easy." Says Brock, who seems to act so differently without attractive women around. "We search for clues."
Right on cue, the group reach the border between Viridian City and Route 2. A young couple can be seen sat on a bench seemingly crying their eyes out.
Out of respect, the gang attempt to quietly make their way past the weeping couple.
"Wait, STOP!" The man shouts to them through his tears. "There's a horrible, HORRIBLE man that way! You DON'T wanna go near him! He has this weird stick, and he did something to my Roselia… and..." The man broke down in tears once again. He hugs his girlfriend who looks equally upset. "My poor poor Pinsir!" She weeps.
"We'll avenge them." Hugo announces as he quickens his walk up to a jog. "Come on guys, let's catch him!"
Brock and Dawn follow, and just behind is Misty, who seems reluctant to run.
"Why… do we always… have to run… when he asks us to?!" She complains.
After fifteen minutes of continuous running, Misty stop. "That's it! I'm not going a step further!" She fumes.
"Bye then!" Hugo waves sarcastically as he carries on without her.
Dawn stops too. "Come on guys, we can't keep leave Misty. Besides, we're charging straight into danger!"
Brock stopped too, and so did Hugo, reluctantly.
"She's right, y'know." Brock tells him. "Besides, we've come a long way since leaving Viridian's Pokémon Centre. I'm feeling hungry, and I've heard Dawn's stomach rumble several times now. Do I even need to ask you if you're hungry?" Right on cue, Hugo's stomach rumbles loudly.
"Let's WALK to the top of that grassy hill over there, and have ourselves a picnic." Misty decides. "Fine!" Hugo gives up, folding his arms. "But after watching your attempts to cook breakfast, if you've prepared any food I ain't eating it, Mist."
"Hmph. You're not as big of a foodie as Ash then. He loved the sandwiches I used to make him." Misty says, insulted.
"Aw, that's cute! Wonder what you did after he'd eaten them?" Brock teases, receiving a high five from Hugo.
"Ugh! You know very well that me and Ash were merely travelling companions and nothing else so I suggest you shut your stupid gob before I shut it for you!"
"Exactly what someone who's madly in love would say." Brock jokes, and he and Hugo burst into laughter. Even Dawn can't help but smile at that one.
Just then they are interrupted by a voice that sounds vaguely familiar to Hugo.
"It's been a while, my battling friend. But now your battling luck will end."
"Who's this clown?" Misty rudely asks, still angry with Brock.
"Johnny's the name, Bug catching's the game." Johnny replies.
"I've caught myself something new. I'd like to test it out in a battle with you." He tells Hugo.
Hugo shrugs. "Sure, why not?" While Brock and the girls set up the picnic at the top of the hill, Hugo and Johnny make their way to the bottom in order to have their battle.
"Pinsir's my pokémon of choice. I'll win easily and then rejoice." Johnny sends out his Pinsir.
"Sure you will pal." Hugo sends out his Rotom, now in fan form.
"Pinsir's muscles aren't just for show. Your chances of a win are low." Johnny teases.
"X-scizzor's the move I'll use. This is going to make you lose." Pinsir uses its X-scizzor attack, hitting Rotom directly. Rotom flinches slightly.
"Air slash." Hugo says. In one swift movement the battle is over.
"I can't believe I lost, but hey! I'll make you lose some other day..." And with that Johnny takes off down the road.
Hugo makes his way to the top of the hill.
"What a thrilling battle!" Dawn remarks sarcastically.
"Had to be at the top of my game to win that one." Hugo replies, seeing that the picnic food has now been laid out.
"Finally, time to eat-" "OH MY GOD!"
"Huh? Did you hear something?" Asks Brock.
"Sounded like a female voice." Says Dawn.
"An exhausted female." Adds Misty.
"IS IT REALLY YOU?!" The voice calls, getting closer.
Hugo can't help but think he's heard that voice before, but the slightest effort to remember where he's heard it results in an intense headache.
"Gyaaah." Hugo collapses to his knees.
"Hugo, we talked about this. What did I tell you about trying to remember?" Brock tells him in a very serious tone.
"N-no…that voice..." He says, but tries his best not to think about it due to the headache it causes.
The source of the voice arrives. A young woman runs over. This woman is incredibly skinny, to the point where she looks ill. She has long brown hair, wears a light green vest and a red skirt. Her brown eyes look desperate, as if there's something she needs that she cannot be given. When she gets closer it's clear that this girl is very tall for a woman. She's around the same height as Brock, and towers over Misty and Dawn.
She runs straight past Misty, Brock and Dawn, who are all trying to enjoy their picnic and goes straight over to Hugo. Since he's down on his knees she grabs his hand and pulls him to his feet, then embraces him in a hug.
"H-Hugo. I can't believe it. It's really you." She wraps her arms tightly around his waist, making it more difficult for him to breathe.
"Y-yeah. It's me." He answers.
"Oh, there's so many things for us to talk about." She says. "So many bad things have happened."
"Y-yeah, I'm sure there are." He replies. His face has now turned red from embarrassment due to the fact that he doesn't have a clue who she is.
The girl's eyes widen, and she immediately stops her hug and takes a step back from Hugo.
"Y-you don't remember me, do you?" She looks distraught.
"Well, uh… I… uh..." He scratches the back of his head and smiles sheepishly.
"Oh, spit it out!" Misty interrupts. "He doesn't have a clue who you are! Look at him!"
"Oy, Mist! That's rude!" Says Brock.
"Fuck off Brock, arsehole!" Misty replies.
The anorexic girl looks devastated. Tears begin to well up in her eyes. She collapses to her knees.
"No. NO! NOOOOO!" She screams, bursting into tears.
"Oh crap." Hugo complains, not knowing what to do other than stand there awkwardly.
Dawn wonders over, getting in-between the girl and Hugo. She kneels down with the girl, and speaks to her in a soft, quiet tone.
"Shh. It's okay. No need to worry. You know, Hugo forgot EVERYTHING."
The girl sobs. "Yes, I was told that, but I thought for sure he'd remember me once he saw me."
Dawn turns around and frowns at Hugo. "Speak to her. Come on." She tells him.
Hugo kneels down with the girl as Dawn stands up and takes a step back, to where Brock and Misty are now standing. Hugo's eye catches the food behind them, but Dawn scowls at him, indicating he should focus on comforting this girl.
"Hi, look, I'm really sorry..."
The girl continues to sob. "You really don't have a clue? It's me! Leaf!"
Hugo's eyes widen. He still can't remember a thing, but he gets a horrible feeling that associates that name with a dark, suffering past.