"This is more like it, right guys?" said Cinna.
Her entire team had been freed from their Pokéballs for two days as a thank you for all the hard work they had put in.
Even the cranky Nidoqueen "Queen" was enjoying the day off. Cinna still had trouble controlling her, but she didn't want to leave her at Oak's in case she caused trouble.
Cinna didn't miss the looks of relief the other Pokémon gave her when she caught it.
She spent most of the day relaxing and enjoying the sun...and trying to avoid her new fan club, who had little in common with the one she did acknowledge.
"Arceus, I hate their stupid pick up lines!" said Cinna.
Really, the boys here had the worst pick up lines she had ever heard, and she had heard a few. So, in retaliation she curb stomped every single boy who dared use one on her. Thanks to them her Hoppip had evolved all the way into a Jumpluff and her Houndour had become a Houndoom. About the only downside was that her new Nidoqueen refused to listen to her half the time.
Her current team was Umbreon, Dragonair, Houndoom, Jumpluff, Nidoqueen and a Shiny Growlithe she recently caught. Her Ryusuke was close to evolving, which was why she sent her Fearow home.
"Time to visit the Science division they have here!" she said cheerfully, wrapping her bottom half with a sarong. Now she could walk around without getting picked up for indecent exposure.
It took her little time to find it, and even less time for the scientists to grow excited by her presence.
Cinna had become something of a minor celebrity among the Pokémon researchers, because of her papers on twin psychokinesis and how it might affect training.
Oak had published it under a pseudonym, but thanks to the CFC scientists already had an idea of who she was.
"Welcome to the lab Ms. Cinna!" said one excitedly.
"I had to visit when I decided on a vacation in Cinnabar. I hear your designs on reconstructing ancient Pokémon are to die for!" said Cinna ecstatic.
Of course nothing could be done but to give her the grand tour, with Cinna adding her own input. Traveling with Pokémon Researchers gave her a very good idea of what usually went where. And when they learned she had a Kabuto fossil, well they immediately went to show her how it all worked. She found it fascinating...even if she had to send away one of her own Pokémon for a while...she choose Dandy, her Jumpluff.
Cinna was about to go get something to eat when she spotted him.
'Target acquired.'
Blue stiffened when he felt someone hug him from behind wearing an unusual perfume...one that took him a few seconds to recognize as the Fire-attracting brand.
"Thank Arceus you showed up. Do you have any idea how annoying it is to hear lame pick up lines all day long?" complained Cinna.
"What did you expect wearing... What are you wearing anyway?" he stammered.
"I'll have you know this is more conservative compared to what the other girls three years older than us are wearing," said Cinna primly.
Her bikini top covered more of her shoulder than normal ones, and she had a sarong covering the bottom half. In fact some thought she was wearing a sports bra instead of a bikini with how thick the straps were. This time she was wearing fire red and native flora patterns.
This was actually more skin than Blue had ever seen of her. Then her comment finally registered.
"What pick up lines?" he demanded jealous. He had come to terms with the fact he had a deep crush on Cinnamon, not that Green's comments didn't help.
Cinna rolled her eyes.
"Nonsense like 'I got the sugar, you got the spice, so let's go do something nice'. It got old real fast, so I started beating them up and taking half their money. The worst part was the teenagers, four years older than me trying to hit on me," she said in annoyance.
"Why didn't you call a life guard or something?"
"Why bother? I tell them I'll go on a date if they can beat me, and then I curb stomp them using Ryusuke and Umbra. Thanks to the idiots on the beach my Hoppip has become a Jumpluff and my Houndour a Houndoom. Ryusuke is almost ready to evolve too," said Cinna.
"So have you seen the science center?"
"Third day here. Sent my Jumpluff to stay with Professor Oak and I now have a level 20 Kabuto."
"Where did you...?"
"Beat a fossil nerd and he gave me one. I would have preferred an Aerodactyl though," said Cinna.
Blue was about to reply when an older boy came up and casually said "Hey babe, how about you ditch this loser and go out with me?"
The guy had to be about sixteen at least, and Blue fought back a nasty retort.
"Sure, I'll go out with you...if you beat my boyfriend that is," said Cinna easily. No way in hell would this lunkhead beat Blue.
Blue fought back a surge of jealousy until he realized she meant him. It was clear this idiot didn't recognize him, though that would change pretty quick. An evil grin felt like it was trying to make it's way on his face.
It took all of fifteen minutes to beat down the teen, and even less time for Cinnamon to rope Blue into a proper date. Not that he minded, actually.
"So why Cinnabar? And where's Red?"
"Mostly for vacation. And we split up at Celadon. Coincidentally why didn't you warn me about the 'name' of our group once Green came up with it?" she asked.
"I didn't even know about the name until Gramps handed me that badge. After that it was too late to change it. And why did you split up from your brother?"
"He needed time away from me in order to learn how to use his own powers. It's been proven by some of the researchers that when twins both have psychic abilities, the 'stronger' of the two will absorb the excess from the 'weaker', making it harder to manifest. Well that and if I didn't leave then he never would have bothered to read those books I got him," said Cinna.
Blue could understand that...Red hadn't exactly been a model student when they were kids after all.
"So how long are you staying on the island?"
"Until I find Red. We were going to meet up here. Coincidentally, I got an odd e-mail from your grandfather yesterday," said Cinna.
"What sort of odd e-mail?"
She handed over the printed papers, and Blue's eyes widened.
"This is the mock final exam to obtain a researcher's license! Gramps tricked me into taking this before I left, but I didn't get a high enough score!"
The minute Blue came back, he passed with flying colors, but it had been a real shock learning he had flunked the first time around.
"So that's what these are. I thought they looked familiar. Guess I have something to do while I'm here," said Cinna.
Blue had little doubt she would pass it, but he wondered why his Gramps hadn't sent one sooner.
"By the way, have you talked to your Grandfather lately? He's made a few odd hints last time I called him," asked Cinna.
"Called him last week. What sort of odd hints?"
"He kept talking about places he took your grandmother out, and what restaurants were good to visit..." she said deadpan.
"Oh dear Arceus... are they still on pairing us up?" he said exasperated.
"It gets worse every time they hear we've seen each other for more than a day," she said rolling her eyes.
Blue rolled his eyes as well.
"What part of 'We're waiting for puberty to hit before making it official' do they not get?" he snorted.
"I have no idea. All I know is that my mother has been conspiring with your sister... don't give me that look, I overheard them when your sister went to visit my mom," said Cinna.
Blue looked horrified. It was bad enough his grandfather was in on this plot with Delia...it grew a hundred times worse with his sister joining in!
"Maybe mentioning out little date here will get them to back off," said Cinna.
"...It might also enraged the fan clubs..." said Blue after a moment.
"Not mine. I'm fairly sure the reason you have the second badge was because Green told the boys about you having first claim or something."
"I would not put it past her, actually," said Blue.
"How about this? We go out on actual dates to keep the fan hordes away and to keep our respective relatives from harassing us?" suggested Cinna.
"Not traveling companions, right?"
"No, just on the occasions we run into each other and have time. I have to keep Red from getting into trouble, remember?"
"Deal."
"Red, what in Arceus' name did you do?" hissed Cinna. The old mansion was destroyed, Blaine was missing (she had already challenged and beaten him) and the prototype revival machine had been completely destroyed. On top of that, Red now had an Aerodactyl on his team.
"It wasn't me! It was Team Rocket!" said Red quickly. His sister could wield a mean harisen.
"You have exactly five seconds to name all eight gym leaders. Starting now!"
"Misty, Brock, Surge, Janine, Giovanni, Blaine, Sabrina and Erika!" said Red terrified.
"Specialties!"
"Water, Rock, Electric, Poison, Ground, Fire, Psychic and Grass!"
"You're forgiven," said Cinna pleased. It seemed she had managed to get something through that thick skull of his after all.
"Sis, what's that in your pocket?" asked Red. He had noticed something plastic in her pocket that looked like a card, but hadn't thought to ask when he initially saw her.
She had used the week it took Red to reach the island (Blue had shown up and left after two days, by which time the others on the island knew about her 'boyfriend') to actually take the test Oak had sent her. Once she finished it, she had gotten bored so Oak directed her to the real one. It took her two hours, but she had finished it before the three-hour time limit.
A few days later Oak sent something through Pidgey mail...which turned out to be a card that would let her into more research institutions with relatively minor clearance.
She was now officially a researcher, albeit a rookie one. That meant she could get more difficult books, something she took quick advantage of here in Cinnabar.
"I'm a level two researcher now. This lets me in most low-level labs," said Cinna proudly.
"How did you get a level two ranking? I thought the test only made you a level one?" asked Red. (He had asked Oak about them a week ago.)
"Get a near-perfect score automatically bumps you to level two once you have a card. I got a ninety-nine percent score, so I was bumped to level two. Looks like my raids on the bookstores in each town paid off, eh brother?"
"Yeah. Anyway I need your help. I've been able to lift small things with my head, but they tend to wobble like crazy."
Plus there was the minor nosebleed he had gotten the first time he tried it along with the massive migraine. He didn't bother mentioning it, as Cinna had gone through the exact same thing and had covered it up with a fight against some snobby girl during a research trip that had ended with the other girl having a massive black eye.
Delia had bought it, and Oak had backed up the lie, as the other girl hadn't been able to hit Cinna at all, but she did have a black eye.
That brat Cynthia really shouldn't have made that comment around Cinna when she was in hearing range. Just because she was small was no reason to underestimate her punching power, even if Cynthia was a dragon-trainer from another region where the Palkia and Dialga legends came from.
"Alright, I'll walk you through the same things I figured out of boredom," said Cinna.
She didn't have any formal training outside the meditation exercises that she forced Red to join her in when they were seven. She mostly worked things out of trail, error, and a lot of books on the subject.
Blaine had left Red a badge, Red had saved his life and he wasn't in any condition to battle after all, and to Red's sister (once he heard from Red who she was) a map and set of keys, along with passwords.
Apparently Blaine was of the opinion that if he died, then he wanted his research to go to good hands, which immediately left Team Rocket out of the running.
Once they were off Cinnabar, all she had to hear was that he was heading to Saffron City next to decide to join him. She didn't want to run into Sabrina, who was a fellow psychic, but she had to protect Red in case Sabrina recognized what he was.
"There's a shield around Saffron," said Cinna. She was on her cell phone making a rare call to others...normally she just texted them with info or locations to meet up.
"Tell me something we don't know," said Green sarcastically.
"I finally went on a proper date with Blue?" said Cinna with a grin on her face.
"Spill girl!" squealed Green within seconds of that announcement. Red immediately made himself scarce for an hour. Smart move.
Once Cinnamon had spilled everything about it (including the battle with the idiot teenager with his poorly thought out pick-up line) Green was squealing even more about how romantic Cinna's unofficial boyfriend was.
In the words of Blue to his grandfather and sister, it wasn't going to be official until their hormones finally kicked in. It was a reasonable request from him, so they put most of their match-making schemes on the back burner...for now.
Once they had caught up on all the news (and Green had made a note about the two finally admitting that they liked each other) they plotted. Because of the barrier, there was no way they would be able to challenge Sabrina.
So Cinna tracked down her brother so they could visit their mother since they were close to Pallet Town anyway.
"Mom? You in?" Cinna called out. Something seemed wrong...the air was vibrating with a familiar power.
"She's not in here," said Red, having checked every room.
"Let's try Oak's lab, they might be conspiring against me again with Blue's sister Scarlet."
Opening the door, Cinna's hackles were raised the second she saw Oak. Her shields were at maximum, and she was ready to blast this imposter. Red noticed this and immediately went behind his sister...as it was safer to be behind her when she was going to use her psychic blast than to be anywhere else.
There was a reason why Blue took cover every time it even looked like she was about to lose her temper.
"Who are you?" she demanded.
'Oak' turned to face her, and it only appeared to be the Professor from behind. In the front it was blatantly obvious that this wasn't the man she respected.
"Umbra, use Shadow Ball!" said Cinna, having released her Umbreon out the second she got to the lab.
The blast threw the fake into the wall, forcing it to dispel the disguise. On the floor was a Kadabra, a well trained one at that.
"Hmph. Impressive that you knew he was a fake without even trying to talk to him," said a woman's voice. Cinnamon tensed even more, strengthening her shields and sending power to Red through their shared bond.
Just because she absorbed his ability didn't mean she couldn't give some of it back.
"And even more impressive that I cannot read you or your brother like most fools. You're a fellow psychic," said Sabrina.
She was very impressed with the shields she encountered...the girl had been trained, but not by an expert.
"If you want the town back, come to Saffron City. I shall deal with you later, little girl," sneered Sabrina.
"Things got infinitely harder," said Cinna after a moment.