Waking up nauseated in the early morning isn't exactly the triumphant feeling I predicted I'd get from successfully starting a rebellion. I sit up, and realize these aren't just jitters. My stomach does a flip, and I groan, waking Skyla.
"Touko?" she asks, sitting up. "My stomach hurts."
"Mine too," I wince, as it gives a huge lurch.
I toss off my sleeping bag, and dash madly out of the tent, realizing that last night's dinner is about to make a reappearance. Skyla follows me, and soon, we're both puking our guts out into the river.
"Ugh," she frowns, wiping her mouth, "What was that?"
"I think I may have given us food poisoning," I admit sheepishly.
"You what?"
"Sorry?"
"Ugh," Skyla whines, flopping down on the ground. "Great way to kick off a rebellion, Touko."
"Hey, I said I was sorry," I protest.
"Whatever."
"But, now that we've decided that we're a rebellion, I think we need to move camp."
"What? This camp's been my home for five years." she cries.
"And that increases the possibilities of being traced back to it. Plus, we kind of just polluted the water source."
"Okay. Fair point," she admits reluctantly. "I'll pack the tent once I don't feel like barfing."
"Cool." I say, laying down next to her. Then a thought pops into my head."How many gym leaders are still on the run? We could use all the help we can get."
"Well, I haven't really thought about that," Skyla says, which is kind of hard to believe.
She rolls over and starts writing a list in the sand, as the undulating water threatens to wash away her progress. As she writes and crosses off names, or marks the ones she's unsure about, I think really hard about packing, but just sit up. Watching Skyla's progress. I notice her wince as she crosses off the name Caitlin.
"Skyla, who was Caitlin?"
"Caitlin was a good friend who sacrificed herself to save us."
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked."
"No. It's fine. Caitlin, Shauntal, and I were hiking up a mountain in this forest, when suddenly three grunts burst out and surrounded us. We were so scared until Caitlin –who was only thirteen– stepped forward and yelled, 'Guys run. I'll hold them off!' The guards grabbed the Pokeball out of her hand, broke it on the floor and slapped handcuffs on her wrists. 'Run!' was the last thing I heard her yell as two grunts hauled her away. Shauntal and I split up, and the grunt chased Shauntal. I doubled back here. I don't know what happened to Shauntal. I hope she got away." Skyla says.
"That sucks," I frown and hug her. "But I know how you feel. Team Plasma abducted my parents when I was four."
"Oh, Touko–" she winces sympathetically.
"I remember most of it, and sometimes I still have nightmares about it, where I'm stuck watching the whole thing replay, and there's nothing I can do but watch."
"It's gonna be okay. We're both gonna be okay." Skyla hugs me. "I promise."
Touya's P.O.V.
When Touko said she did something small to piss off Team Plasma, I assumed she'd been rude to one of the grunts, or something. I didn't expect to see her wanted on every news broadcast in Unova!
"What happened?" I cry, to which the TV responds by playing a video of Touko catching a Snivy, and telling a grunt to 'Kiss her ass.' Yep. That's the Touko I know. I have to go after her, don't I? I hastily scribble a note saying,
"Mom, Dad, I'm leaving home to go find a criminal. Love you. Touya."
I pack some clothes and other necessities before dashing out of the house to find my best friend. Little did I know that I would find some of my own criminal associates first.
I am watching the electric news board in Undella Town, scanning it hopefully for news of Touko's whereabouts, but all that comes up is her picture and that clip of her battling a grunt. Then a warning sounds about how unstable and unpredictable she is –which I agree with to a certain extent– and how anyone with information about her should contact a grunt immediately. Yeah, like I'm gonna do that. I watch the entire news bulletin four times through, and the only information I've managed to glean is about a former Gym Leader named Skyla who was possibly sighted in the Lostlorn Forest, and about a redhead, Chili, who was seen in the White Forest some time ago. I'm just about to leave and decide I'll start my search in the White Forest when the grunt in charge of this information booth decides I've been viewing the news screen for an abnormally long amount of time. He ambles over to interrogate me, and asks,
"What do you think you're doing?"
"Oh, um," I improvise on the spot, "I was just, umm, looking to see if I could help bring any of these wanted criminals to justice. There have been some reported sightings around my house, and I just wanted to keep Unova safe."
The grunt sighs.
"Kid, look," he tells me, "that's very admirable, but you should save the fighting and law enforcement to us. Just let us know if you see anything. That's the best help you can give us."
"Will do." I answer before dashing out into the White Forest.
I walk through the densely packed trees of the White Forest, when I pass a big moss covered rock. Isn't that the third time I passed this rock in an hour? Accepting the fact that I have indeed been walking in circles, I head over to the rock and plop down on it, trying to regain my bearings. I could see why someone would hide out here. Everything is so thick and similar that it's impossible to tell where you are. In fact, I'm about to decide I'm on the wrong path entirely when I hear a noise that sounds like a hushed laugh. I know it's not much to go on, but I'm desperate and my instincts are telling me to head in the direction of this noise. I tiptoe in the direction I think the sound came from when I hear rustling. I pop into a small clearing lined with Pecha berry bushes, but otherwise, it's empty. I walk over to a bush and pluck a Pecha berry from its branch. I pop it into my mouth, and chew it slowly. The flavor isn't that good, but it reminds me of Touko. We had so many heated debates over whether Pecha berries were the best, and now she's gone. I would admit a hundred times that Pecha berries are better than aguav berries if I could just find her. I reach down to pick another berry when I notice a small patch of purple buried in the center of the bush. Leaning in closer to examine it, I slowly reach into the bush and grab a firm hold of it. Intending to pull it out and examine the object more closely, I yank on it and,
"OW!"
I jerk my hand away and back up a few paces. Slowly, a young girl, maybe twelve or thirteen, emerges from the bush rubbing her head. She looks taken aback when she sees me and snaps,
"That really hurt you know."
"Umm, sorry?" I say, but it comes out sounding more like a question. I'm not sure how to react to hostile girls who I find hiding in bushes.
"Chili, you know the drill," she orders and snaps her fingers, "knock him out and drag him in the bush."
And that's when it clicks.
"Chili? Iris? You guys are the missing Gym Leaders." I say, feeling stupid. Iris and Chili share looks before Chili steps forwards menacingly. Realizing that they're trying to stay hidden and having strangers stumble upon them in a forest probably isn't such a good surprise for them, I take a step back, hold my hand up defensively and say, "Whoa, whoa. I'm not gonna rat you guys out. I need help finding my friend. Have you seen her?"
"Who's your friend," Chili–the redhead–asks, still suspicious.
"Touko White. She's a newly wanted criminal, and I was wondering if you'd seen her." I explain.
"Then why'd you come here?" Iris asks doubtfully.
"Because I looked on the alert bulliten for information about criminals, and the only leads I got were on you two and someone named Skyla. I thought Touko might have seen the same information and come here too." I tell them.
"Team Plasma has information on us?" Chili asks, suspicions forgotten. He shares a concerned look with Iris before telling me, "You'd better be telling the truth."
"Cross my heart." I say, drawing an 'X' over my chest.
"Yay! We'll totally help you find your friend!" Iris says, suddenly super cheery.
"Iris!" Chili frowns at the sudden pledge of their assistance.
"What," she soothes his fears, "there's two of us and one of him. We could totally take him if anything goes wrong."
Chili nods, and even though Iris' logic scares me, I go along with it.
"Right. So do you guys know where we could look?" I ask.
"What was the information you had on Skyla?" Chili asks determined.
"Umm, something about a different forest," I muse, trying to recall this crucial location.
"The Pinwheel Forest?" Iris tries, being helpful, "The Lostlorn Forest?"
"That's it," I cry, "the Lostlorn Forest."
"Then let's go." Chili says.
Touko's P.O.V.
Skyla and I are hiking slowly through the forest trying not to step on any twigs or frighten any Pokemon out of the surrounding bushes. We're attempting to be as quiet as possible– I thought I heard someone walking around in the woods earlier– but our attempt are thwarted by Servine. I let him out of his Pokeball to get some fresh air with us, and he has gone out of his way to step on every twig, dead leaf, or otherwise noisy projectile in a five yard radius. When he breaks another twig, I hiss,
"Servine. You have to be more quiet, or I'm gonna put you back in your Pokeball."
Obviously not understanding the warning in my tone, he shrilly exclaims, "Servine!" loudly in excitement.
That's when we hear the footsteps.
Adrenaline floods my veins, and I can hear my heart pumping in my ears. I'm ready to switch into my famous 'who the hell are you, fuck with me and I'll screw you over' mood, but the-deer-in-the-headlights look on Skyla's face is enough to remind me, right. We're two of the top-ten-most-wanted criminals. Skyla grabs my arm, and drags me into the surrounding brush. We worm our way into the middle of a bush and are so preoccupied with covering ourselves that, too late, I realize we've forgotten,
"SERVINE!" My bewildered Pokemon screeches in confusion.
"Fuck. We're screwed." I mutter.
And it looks like I'm right too, because at the sharp cry of my Servine, the footsteps speed up and grow closer. I find myself holding my breath, willing the wanderer to turn around and leave us alone, but I'm out of luck. Abruptly, a girl with matted purple hair breaks through a tangle of vines and stumbles into our section of the woods. Twigs and leaves are wrapped in her shoulder-length locks, and apparently this makes her trustworthy, for Servine runs over to her and tries to explain the plight of his missing owner to this mystery woman by waving his arms in circles and wailing,
"Servine, Servine, Servine," repeatedly in Pokemon.
"Calm down little guy. Are you alone?" She responds in a melodic tone.
Skyla draws a sharp breath, and bolts from the bush, exclaiming, "Shauntal! You're alive!"
"You're Shauntal?" I query, emerging from the undergrowth as well. "Well, welcome to the rebellion field trip." I walk over to Servine and recall him to his Pokeball, causing Shauntal to ask,
"Is he yours?"
"Yep," I proudly respond.
Skyla and I explain the concept of the rebellion to Shauntal, while she gives a brief explanation of how she ran away from the grunt, and how she lost her Pokemon in doing so. We are hiking in the shadows of Route 14, until I hear a familiar voice calling my name.
"Touko?" Touya calls.
"Touya!" I screech, and drag my friends out to meet him.
I notice the other two gym leaders with him.
"Great. You brought friends."
We are all camped out at the Abundant Shrine, and we pitch our tent.
"So, what's for dinner?" asks Touya
"You have to let Touko cook! She's amazing!" Skyla cries.
"I gave you food poisoning!" I say,
"Yeah, but the food tasted good. You know, before it made me sick."
"I hear Chili was the best cook in Unova, let's let him make dinner. I'll make dessert, and some refreshments." I say. "Plus, he won't poison us all."
"Okay." Skyla consents.
Chili beams with excitement, and gets right to finding herbs. I dance off into the forest in search of Pokemon and berries. In an hour I'm done gathering things, and I start to juice my Sitrus berries. Then I make a pie, well, really a sweet soup, for dessert. We all feast on crayfish steamed with powdered revival herb, and other herbs I haven't heard of. Chili really put my makeshift tools to use.
"I have a surprise for you guys." I tell them. "We wouldn't be much of a rebellion without Pokemon, so Shauntal?"
She steps forward, and I hand her a Pokeball with a Dusk Stone. She turns the Pokeball over in her hands, smiling, but doesn't open it.
"Iris?"
Iris steps forward, and I hand her a Pokeball which she, unlike Shauntal, opens immediately, releasing the Haxorus inside. Iris beams at me.
"Chili?"
I hand him a Simisear.
"Touya?" I ask hesitantly.
As he steps forward, I hand him an Oshawott. Shauntal opens her Pokeball, revealing the Lampent inside. She hands it the dusk stone, and a blinding light fills the tent. After the light dissipates, I notice Shantaul is crying, and really, so is every one in the tent but me.
"Wow. Way to be emotionless, Touko," Touya teases.
"I've seen this happen before. And it terrified me," I inform him. "Now who wants dessert?"
Eleven voices beam yes at me, five human, six Pokemon, and I dish out the soup into newly acquired bowls, and hand out spoons.
"Oh, that reminds me," Touya says standing up "I brought you your favorite berries, Sitrus berries." He beams, and hands me five cases.
I gape.
"Touya, first of all, I like Pecha berries, not Sitrus berries! Get your facts straight. And second, couldn't you have given me theses beforeI made desert?" I shout.
"Sorry." Touya says, still grinning.
"Shut up," I say, though there is no real venom behind it.
We all sit down, and enjoy some berry soup.
"Three cheers for the rebellion." I announce.
We all cheer.