Chapter 10: Countdown
5 days until the Tournament
Touko awoke in the morning to the creak of the door opening. Sleepily, she glanced at the clock, bleary eyes barely making out the red numbers.
10:17 am.
"Touya?"
No response.
"Hello?"
She was answered with the sounds of someone toppling and tripping over things.
Growing concerned, she sat up, sheets clutched in her hand.
Footsteps approached her.
Grabbing the closest weapon like object near (which happened to be a super rod), she quietly stalked towards the next room, cursing the fact that she had left her bag and pokeballs in that room. Pressing her back against the wall, she carefully listened to the 'invader' clumsily stumble around the next room as she prepared for war.
"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!", flicking on the light, Touko leapt out from behind the wall with her battle cry and super rod in hand only to stop and blink at the figure.
"Bianca?"
The girl turned around, headphones in her ears and smiled happily as she caught sight of her friend.
Running over, she embraced Touko, squeezing her friend in a huge hug.
"Touko! I'm back!"
Catching sight of the super rod in Touko's hand, Bianca gave her a weird look as she quirked an eyebrow.
"Why are you holding a super rod?"
Touko flushed and tried to hide the fishing pole behind her back.
"I thought someone was stealing our stuff! I didn't realize you were coming back today."
"Well, I got what Professor Juniper wanted relatively quickly and then came straight back."
Checking her watch, Bianca's eyes widened at the time.
"You're still not awake? You should be out training" she scolded.
Pushing a protesting Touko towards the shower, she shoved her inside and shut the door.
"Hurry up! I'll let Cheren and Touya know."
Walking away, a thought struck her and she turned around.
"And I know how you sleep in the shower! Don't make me come in there and make me wash you myself!"
-o-o-o-
An hour later, they were all gathered in the restaurant for brunch, Touya having invited Elesa and Touko having dragged Red with her.
"You know dear," commented Elesa when Red had excused himself to the bathroom, "You've picked up quite a stud."
"We're not going out," Touko blurted out loudly, mouth full of food. Touya looked at her disapprovingly, and she swallowed before she continued.
"Why does everyone always say things about us," she hissed, looking around her. "Ash and I are NOT an item."
"Oh? Is that so." Elesa arched a delicate eyebrow. "Well, I have just the thing planned. After one of us," she said, pointing a finger at herself followed by Touko and Touya, "wins the prize money, we're going shopping. We're going to find you some nice clothes to wow him."
"Also, no complaining from either one of you." she added, a wicked glint in her eye as both Touko and Touya had opened their mouths to protest.
"Yes Ma'am." came the reply from both of them, just as Red sat back down.
"So Bianca," said Touko, desperate to change the topic before Elesa continued down the same road. "What kind of research did Professor Juniper ask you to do?"
The researcher perked up, always happy to talk about her work.
"Well, the Professor had me head down to the Giant Chasm to see if I could scrape together and find some DNA samples from rare Pokemon! Some of the Professor's colleagues have come up with some new technology. It's kind of like a cross between how we revive fossils and cloning."
Pushing up her glasses, she excitedly continued.
"I'm exactly sure how it works, but we're hoping that we can revive some Pokemon just by having a sample of its DNA instead of the whole fossil! Wouldn't it be cool to see some of the extinct Pokemon that walked the world back in the day?!"
Touko patted her animated friend's back, glad to see her so happy.
"That's amazing!"
Cheren put down his fork and sat back, contemplating and digesting the information he had just heard.
"While it would be great to see, are you sure its a great idea? I can only imagine how this kind of technology can be exploited."
The lights in Bianca's eyes dimmed slightly.
"Well.. you see" she stuttered out, until Touko whacked him on the back of his head.
"Stop being such a pessimist Cheren! I'm sure the Professor has thought of something for that." She smiled at the researcher, receiving a grateful smile back.
"How was your time at the gym Cheren?" asked Touya. "How's Shino doing? Last time I saw him he was still chasing after that one girl."
Cheren snorted. "Same old. He hasn't given up on that girl either. Still chasing. However..."
His toned darkened and turned serious.
"Officer Jenny visited me at the gym. There have been reports of Pokemon going missing. We don't know if they're being stolen. In fact we barely have any information."
At this, Red turned his full attention to Cheren, the information having piqued his interest.
Elesa's eyes widened. "That's terrible!"
Cheren leaned back in his chair, eyes on the ceiling, chewing on his straw.
"Team Plasma again?" asked Touko. "This would be the third time..."
"No, I don't think so. There are no signs of Ghetsis or the Shadow Triad. She thinks that gangs in red and blue may be responsible.""
Sighing, he took the straw out of his mouth.
"I stopped by Driftveil City on my way back. Officer Jenny there had also mentioned having seen an influx of people wearing those colors, but no particular increase in crime. All we can do is wait for more information."
The group was quiet as they contemplated what they had just heard, with Elesa breaking the silence.
"Well, since we're all depressed now, want to hear one of my new jokes?"
Next to her, Touya groaned internally.
"What did the Raichu say to his girlfriend?"
"I really get a charge out of you?" Touko answered hopefully.
Elesa grinned, a huge smile on her face as she burst out into song, the whole place staring at her.
"I'm not gonna Raichu a love songggggggggggg."
Touya dropped his face in embarrassment. It was great dating a model. But sometimes her jokes were painfully bad.
4 days until the Tournament
"You're leaving?"
Red nodded, eyes looking out on the road as if judging the distance between his current and future location.
"How am I going to train then?" Touko asked anxiously, eyes on him as if he would run away if she turned around.
"Like you used to. I need to go see something."
"You're coming back right?"
"Yeah."
Tightening the straps on his bag, he set out on the road, footsteps taking him away from the tournament.
He could hear Touko call out from behind him.
"If you're not here by the time of my first match, I'll kick your ass!"
Blue relaxed in his chair after another day at the gym as he watched the latest episode of PokemonVsFood.
Frowning at the contents on the screen, which consisted of a Snorlax (again) devouring food, he was perfectly alright with being interrupted as his ringtone started playing.
"We all live, in a Pokemon world. Pokemon! Put my se-"
"Hello?"
"It's me."
It had been a while since he had heard that voice.
"Nice to hear you're alive Red."
"Of course," came the reply. "Have you heard anything about Team Rocket?"
Blue sighed. Straight the to point as usual.
"No. I haven't heard a thing about them since the Johto incident. Why do you ask?"
Blue waited a few seconds before the answer came.
"Curiosity."
"Ah..."
Knowing how difficult it was to press information out of Red, he decided to let the question go.
"Sooooooooo, how's the tournament?"
"You knew."
It wasn't an accusation. Simply a statement.
Blue grinned. It wasn't often he was able to surprise his friend.
"A simple educated guess."
"How?"
Settling deeper into his chair, he replied.
"A trainer recently came by asking to challenge you. I told him you were on Mt. Silver and about a week later he angrily knocked on my door, claiming you weren't there, so I went to check myself."
"You weren't there," he continued. "And like everyone else, I assumed you went to the tournament."
"Everyone else?"
"News got around that you weren't there. People put two and two together and got four point five. People have been spreading rumors about how you'll be in the tournament."
At this, Blue turned serious. "Be careful. I know you don't have Pokemon."
A pause, as if Red was contemplating what to say.
"How are they?"
"Fine. They still train even when you're not there."
"I see..." came the terse reply as it trailed into silence, Blue able to detect but unable to identify the emotion in his rival's voice.
Moments passed, and for a few seconds, Blue couldn't tell if Red was still on the call.
The lull in conversation was broken as Red spoke, his voice neutral again.
"Keep the number."
"Huh?
"This number. It's mine."
Blue nearly dropped his xtransceiver.
"Who the fuck convinced you to keep a xtransceiver? We tried for months before you went to Mt. Silver!"
"..."
"Is it a girl?"
"..."
"It has to be a girl!"
"..."
"Awwww, does Red have a girlfriend?"
"Shut it. Things were different then."
"Touchy. Anyways, if you're still there, I might come watch the finals. Free tickets. Perks of being a gym leader."
"Is SHE coming?"
Red could almost hear his friend's smirk over on the other line as Blue replied.
"Why don't you ask her yourself?"
3 days until the Tournament
"Is that Rosa?", Touko whispered as she eyed the bun haired female. The person in question was currently kneeling on the grass and looked to be in a very serious conversation with her Eelektross.
"I want to meet her."
Beginning to stand up, she was unceremoniously dragged back down onto the ground by the two hands around her arm.
Touko nudged Cheren harshly in the ribs in retaliation as they hid behind the bushes, her pointy elbow digging into his side and earning her a glare in response.
"What was that for?" she hissed at him, eyes threatening him (not that he was scared of Touko) if he didn't come up with a good reason.
"Stop being a bitch." was his reply as he rolled his eyes. Leave it to Touko to ignore the plan she had set up herself.
"What do you think they'll say if you go now? We'll meet them later. It was your moronic idea to come spy on the 'competition' instead of watch the preliminaries anyways. "
"Yeah but I didn't know it was going to be ROSA."
"Shhhhhhhhh!"
Rosa glanced over in their general direction, eyes scanning the foliage. She could have sworn she had heard someone... A stray Pokemon perhaps. After a few moments, she turned her attention back to the Pokemon sitting in front of her.
Cheren breathed a sigh of relief as he peeked through the leaves, his hand over Touko's mouth as they both laid flat on the ground. Removing his hand, he sat up again with Touko mimicking his actions.
"Don't get us caught you idiot."
"Hmph." She crossed her arms. "I'm still mad at you."
"What are you? Twelve?"
Ignoring him and carefully peering over the top of the bushes, Touko observed with large eyes as Rosa continued to lecture her Pokemon.
"I bet she's passing on some important battling wisdom. Or maybe teaching it some super devastating technique", said Touko, eyes still on the girl in front of her and admiration clearly evident on her face.
"Why are you so star struck? You're a Pokemon League Champion AND you're older than her."
"Well, she's Nate's sister, so she's bound to be a great trainer! And uhhhh... she reminds me of myself?"
Touko sheepishly scratched the back of her head before grinning. "Yeah, that's it."
"Whatever. You're so weird. Let's get out of here and find someone else."
Cheren began creeping away, only to turn around at the sound of a thud and rustling branches to the sight of Touko face down on the ground.
He tried to unsuccessfully stifle a laugh, only for something that sounded like a cross between a snort and a giggle to escape.
"Stupid root", Touko hissed as she glared at the offending object that had tripped. Planning to give it a good kick, she froze in mid swing as the sound of someone's voice reached her ears.
"Hello? Is someone there?"
Rosa eyed the bushes and stood up as she stopped talking to her Pokemon.
Touko began crawling away as Cheren frantically motioned towards, her mouthing something that suspiciously looked like 'hurry up and get the fuck over here'.
Skulking through the shadows, the two stealthily (and frantically) crept out of the area without further incident to both their relief.
Rosa shrugged as she looked down behind the bushes where the two had been moments before. Maybe she was imagining things. Must be the wind.
Returning to her Eelektross, she picked up where she left off.
"So anyways, just because you see another hot Eelektross..."
Red hid himself behind a corner as he tried to listen in on a pair of grunt in white space suits talk quietly to each other. He had arrived in Driftveil City last night, the short trip having taken only a few hours. The first thing he had done was speak to Officer Jenny as he tried to glean any information he could. Unfortunately for both of them, it seemed she didn't have any herself.
He had proceeded to walk through the city, keeping an eye out for businesses, corporations and alleyways that could double as hideouts for any criminal organization. Having found nothing, not even a Game Corner, it was pure coincidence he had stumbled upon these two as he turned onto an abandoned street.
"They stole it ... us."
"... that's why... get it back."
"We'll ... war.."
"... change ... universe."
Glancing around the corner, Red knew there was no way for him to get closer to be able to actually listen in on the conversation. His peek had already cost him, one of the grunt's Stunky had caught a whiff of his scent and had bared its teeth, alerting the two to a possible presence.
Narrowing his eyes as the two grunts began to check their surroundings, he slipped away, blending into the crowd and disappearing.
2 days until the Tournament
Bianca winced as she watched a Simisear absolutely get crushed by a Conkeldurr. The poor thing hadn't stood a chance and had been instantly knocked out on contact. Which may have been a good thing, considering that it didn't have to deal with the pain of being driven into the ground.
"Well, that's it with the preliminaries. Luckily, you guys get an automatic pass into the main draw, having eight badges, being a gym leader or a Pokemon Champion and all."
"Yeah..." came the lackluster reply, as Touko stared, completely spacing out.
"What's up with you today?"
The two had cut training early to come take a look at the preliminaries. Cheren had went off to watch a different match with Touya and Elesa, leaving the two alone here.
"Normally, you'd be jumping up and down cheering after arbitrarily picking someone to support."
A pause.
"Is it your time of the month?"
"What? No!"
"Hmmm." The Assistant Pokemon Professor tapped a finger under her face, before her eyes lit up at a realization, a sly grin appearing on her face.
"Oh I know what it is. Want me to tell you?"
Touko's attention was immediately directed at her friend, perhaps realizing the danger she was in.
Warily eyeing the wicked grin on the blonde's face, she slowly backed away, making shooing motions with her hands.
"I don't like that look on your face. So no, don't tell me."
Bianca wouldn't be deterred. Keeping pace with Touko, she smiled happily at what she was about to do.
"Its because you haven't seen N in a while right?"
Touko stopped and stared at her friend, a slight blush across her friend.
"No, its not!"
She continued to march forward, trying to outpace her friend next to her.
"Or is it because Ash is gone and he didn't give you a good bye kiss?" teased Bianca, puckering her lips and creating some pretty realistic smooching noises.
Touko proceeded to stomp off, ears burning and neck flushed, completely ignoring the bespectacled girl.
Bianca giggled. It was so fun teasing her best friend.
Eve of the Tournament
The two were sitting in the hotel lobby, enjoying a late night snack while Touko kept an eye out for a certain person. The others had already retreated into the room to get a good nights sleep in preparation for tomorrow.
Crossing her legs, she tapped her foot impatiently as checked her watch and then the doorway again.
"Where is he? He was supposed to be back by now."
Checking her xtransceiver for new messages, she growled as nothing appeared.
"He didn't even text me back!"
"You never told me about how your time with Ash went."
"Bianca..." Touko warned. "If this is going to another one of your tease fests..."
The blonde held her hands up in complete surrender.
"I'm completely serious this time! You spent a couple weeks with someone who doesn't talk much! How did it go?"
The brunette looked at her dubiously, before giving her an answer.
"It was great. Despite not being a fantastic talker, he was great company."
The blonde researcher watched as her friend animatedly talked about dark haired man, trying to hide her smile behind her hand.
"He's a good guy, even if he's a bit of a jerk. He's got some really interesting and unique training methods too! You know, he had m- WHAT?!"
Catching sight of the smile on the researcher's face, Touko stopped.
"Oh nothing. Just that I haven't heard you talk about someone like this since that one time with N" she said, sincerity in her voice. "Seems like you had a good time."
"Y-yeah." came the stuttered reply.
"Speaking of Ash..." Bianca pointed over towards the door of the hotel. "It looks like he's back."
She grinned as Touko ran over to him, jabbed him in the chest a few times, no doubt lecturing him on proper xtransceiver conduct.
She was going to have so much fun with this spectacle over the next few days.
-o-o-o-
He stood on the roof of the building, fingering the device in his pocket, staring out into the night. Below him, he could hear the sounds of people bustling about, excited voices talking about the events tomorrow.
Red didn't know what was going on, but he was fairly sure it wasn't Team Rocket. He hadn't found anything except for a broken conversation that had told him absolutely nothing in Driftveil. No red or blue gangs. No devious plots. Yet, there was a niggling feeling in the back of his head that something was about to happen, but no hard facts to support it.
Still, it might be better to be safe?
Staring out into the night again, he took out his xtransceiver and he dialed a number, the effects of his choice weighing heavily on his mind.
-o-o-o-
There he stood in the middle of the gigantic stadium, engaged in his toughest battle to date.
The crowd gasped as Pikachu narrowly dodged the torrent of water heading its way, the Pokemon's small yellow body flashing to the side. Leaping into the air, it let out a huge bolt of electricity at its opponent, the opposing Blastoise rolling out of the way and disappearing into the smoke and rubble that appeared as the attack exploded into the ground.
He searched the fog for the water Pokemon, Pikachu having retreated back moments ago. A drop of water fell on his head, followed by more and more. Looking up, he narrowed his eyes and watched as the rain steadily increased, turning into a downpour and soaking the battlefield. Rain Dance.
It made sense, he reasoned. With both down to one Pokemon each and Pikachu being faster and having the type advantage, his opponent was going for all or nothing. The next move would be the last. The crowd was completely silent, tension building as he searched for his opponent's Pokemon.
As the smoke thinned out, he spotted a dark shape in the smoke, its outline barely visible.
Two voices were heard in that instant. Two commands were given.
"Thunder!"
"Hydro Pump!"
Red woke up upright, his chest heaving and gasping for breath.
Checking the time, he flopped back onto his bed. It had been a while since he dreamt of Pokemon battles and glory. It was ironic, he thought, that he would dream of such things a few hours before a tournament he wasn't participating in started.
Lying there, staring at the ceiling, Red tried to quell the unfamiliar emotion in his chest.
The morning couldn't come soon enough.
"Only one more thing needs to be obtained before we start our final preparations. I trust you will be able to obtain it?"
"Yes sir, we have already created a plan to obtain it."
"Good."
He stood and turned around, staring out of the window into the night.
"Spread the word. Have the ones who have arrived prepare a stronghold. We're moving out."
Author's Note: One of things I've just noticed is that I'm calling Rosa, well, Rosa and not Mei. If you don't mind, I'll just keep it that way since I mentioned her in an earlier chapter. It's just a little inconsistent in terms of Japanese names vs a western name.
I realized that this chapter wasn't entirely full of substance, but it was necessary to introduce some things as well as develop characters a little more. I'm beginning to like how I've represented a bit more as well, though poor Touko seems to get teased every time I write something about her. Don't worry, her badassness will start to shine through once she starts battling.
Also, I know some of you have eager for some action. We're approaching the start of the tournament. Get excited. Wooo! Admittedly, I'm probably not the best action writer (or writer in general), but I'll try and entertain you.
Please please review! D:
And if there are any corrections/grammatical errors or general problems and inconsistencies in the story please let me know!