VERY sorry about the lateness of this chapter here. Exams and case of pneumonia kinda held me back, so :3 Great guesses, but sorry guys, I took the cliche man for the job. And to you sir/madam who guessed right, HERE YOU GO! +1 Internet added to your score. Anyway, enjoy. DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POKEMON OR ANY OF ITS CONTENT.
The steel boulder known as Metagross touched down on a worn, dirt path atop a hill. Anabel and Ash slid off the hulking Pokémon and thanked it before returning it to its Pokeball.
'I wonder who the replacement could be,' Anabel thought to herself, a bit excited and nervous. The girl used this moment to survey their surroundings. Currently, they were looking over a modest town. Nothing too out of the ordinary, but that made it easy to identify their location.
"Pallet Town? Did you forget to pick something up?" she asked.
"Nope. This is where the replacement is at the moment," replied Ash, standing beside her. Anabel raised an eyebrow and looked at him.
"'At the moment?' He doesn't live here?" Ash shook his head.
"He used to live here, but now he comes around occasionally to visit." The lilac-haired girl wrapped her arms around him.
"You, I'm assuming." The raven-haired boy returned the embrace.
"Yeah, me. And his grandad." Ash felt Anabel stiffen as she turned to look at him; her eyes wide.
"You…got…" She could barely speak. He, however, was relishing in her surprise.
"Well, he said he was looking for a change of pace while the Kanto challenge was on break, and you said he had to be good at Pokémon battles. Plus he owes me one." Ash started to have a little difficulty breathing; and figured out why. Anabel's embrace had increased…
…to a vice-grip.
"When I said 'good,'" she half whispered, half derangedly laughed, "I didn't mean the freaking Elite Four!" She let go of the wheezing boy and watched him fall like a tonne of bricks. "My facility is in no state to be visited by someone of such high regard! How do you even know him?" Ash sat up, coughing.
"Well, he's a childhood friend."
"Oh well, 'childhood friend,' that makes it so much better!" Anabel groaned and held her head. She began to pace. "There will never be enough time to facilitate the cleansing needs of every glass panel and uniformed article of material or enough time to arrange the flora forms in a stately and unequivocally perfect arrangement of…"
"Anabel…? You're using long words again." She swivelled sharply to face him.
"I. Don't. Care!"
"Getting better."
"THIS IS SERIOUS!" She kicked the ground, hurling dust into the air. "A member of the Elite Four will be here any minute and you're lazing about him being," she put on a falsetto, "'a childhood friend!' When will you take responsibility, Ash?" Ash held up his hands as if he were warding off blows.
"But it's fine. It doesn't need to be formal, he's a-"
"Finish that sentence and I swear I'll poison your food!"
That shut him up. Anabel went back to pacing, running off several lines of formal welcomes and torture methods. Ash stood up and eased away from the lilac bomb. He stared off into the horizon and spotted a blurry shape rocketing towards the hillside. Ash smiled and faced his girlfriend.
"He's here." A flash of terror bolted through Anabel's body and it looked like she might faint.
Several seconds later, she did. Ash kicked off the grass and sprawled himself underneath her, catching her before her limp body touched the ground. He shimmied his way out from underneath her and began checking her vitals.
Fine. Just unconscious. Ash had a brainwave.
'Could this be related to…? No. It couldn't be.' He shook his head and propped Anabel's body into the recovery position.
A flurry of flapping feathers filtered its way through the trees, followed by a sharp squawk. A large, majestic bird landed atop of the hill and a lean man slid off the back of it. The man went to grin but instantly shrunk it down into a look of concern.
"Not the best time, Ashy?" The other man looked over his shoulder and offered a slight grimace in response.
"No. Do you reckon you could take us back to the Battle Tower?" Ash carried Anabel's limp body over towards the grand bird. The other man rolled his eyes and hoisted himself back onto his Flying-Type Pokémon.
"The escortee escorting the escorter? That's a first." Ash sighed, ignoring the comment. "I know I'm a lady-killer, but this is-"
"Gary."
"Hm…?"
"Shut up."
The elevator doors dinged open. Ash, carrying a woozy (but conscious) Anabel and the man known as 'Gary,' stepped into Anabel's office. Ash carefully lowered the lilac-haired girl onto the couch and walked off to fix her some tea. Gary plopped himself down on the huge leather chair stationed at the back of the office and plonked his feet on the wooden desk. He surveyed the room with a big grin.
"Say, I could get used to this." He ran a hand through his light-brown hair. "I don't think I've ever seen a place so clean or so huge."
"T-thank you," said Anabel, accepting her drink. Ash took a seat next to her. He looked around and had to agree. It was clean. Scarily clean. He swore Anabel must have relayed a message to her workers while they were on their way to make the place spotless, either that or she was telepathically connected to them.
'Wait a minute …' Ash thought, before mentally slapping himself. Anabel chuckled and sipped her tea. 'She is telepathically connected to them.'
Forgetting that I have psychic powers, again, Ash? She broadcasted to his mind.
'Sh-shut up!' Ash thought, blushing. Anabel ruffled his hair and said out loud:
"You're so cute when you're flustered." Gary, finished with his analysis of his temporary office, cocked an eyebrow.
"What are you…?" He shook his head. "Y'know what? Never mind."
"Say Gary," Ash said, removing Anabel's hand with a playful slap, "you've been with the Elite Four for several months now, what's it like?" The light-brown haired man removed his feet from the desk and sat up straighter.
"It's odd, y'know? You spend your whole life psyching yourself up for it, putting in the hard hours, training your ass off and now it's like…what do I do? I've reached the top of what I do and…"
"Hold on." Ash interrupted, "Isn't the Champion at the top of the league?" Gary snorted and both Anabel and Ash frowned. "What?"
"If only you simpletons knew just what we do in our spare time. The Pokémon League literally lets the Elite Four go and do whatever we please. The Champion is the face of the League. They have to stay sober and straight. Any slips and they're booted out!" He emphasised the last statement with a jerk of his thumb. There was a silence as the couple absorbed this new information. Gary continued: "I realised when I became part of the League that, being the Champ wasn't for me; too much responsibility. It's like when you reach the top of your game and you soar to your peak, they clip your wings and ground you. Not me, man, not me."
I guess that's what you meant by, 'change of pace.'
'Yep,' Ash replied, 'he was really eager for this position when I spoke about it. Also, why haven't you spoken to him properly, yet?'
I have, though.
'Yeah. One sentence. Are you afraid of him because he's a member of the Elite Four?'
Of course not! Ash rolled his eyes. Despite being capable of telepathy, Anabel was a horrible liar.
"Hey Gary." Ash winked at him. "Do you mind not eyeing up my girlfriend?" Gary had the slightest twitch of a smile emerging on his features.
"Damn, Ashy. That was a good spot! I'm sorry, it won't happen again." Ash sighed with a great amount exaggeration. Anabel looked around, confused.
"Now, now, Gary Oak. I saw how much you wanted her and since I'm in such a good mood, I'll let you hug her." Anabel nearly jumped out of her seat.
"What?" she cried. Gary grinned and left his chair. "Stop." He lifted his arms like he was a poorly-hired actor playing a zombie and slowly made his way over to the couch. Anabel made to stand up but found she couldn't. Ash had 'fallen asleep' across her lap. "Stop!" She looked up, frantic, and found Gary was nearly on top of her.
A blurted shriek echoed throughout the Battle Tower. Several seconds later, the elevator at the far end of the room dinged open and eight security guards, armed with stun-rifles, flooded the office.
"Miss Anabel! Are you okay?" yelled the Captain of the squad. "We heard you screaming and got here as soon as we could, Ma'am!" Anabel turned around; her eyes were a bluish tinge. She smiled.
"Fear not, Captain Oakley. I believe I have the current situation under control." Oakley lowered his rifle and signalled for his squad to do the same. He tugged at his white uniform.
"Heh. I can see that." The tall squad captain had been serving at the Battle Tower for several years now, and knew to stay out of Anabel's way when she was focusing her powers. The blue eyes were all he needed to see. He looked at the helpless men levitating in the office and grinned. He knew that feeling all too well.
Anabel was having so much fun flicking her palm and watching the respective man careen through the air that she didn't notice Captain Oakley come up from behind.
"Miss Anabel," he said, tilting his black cap with his free hand, "perhaps you should give yourself a high-five for a job well done?" Anabel tilted her head towards Oakley's sly smile.
"Why, Captain. That's a splendid idea." Anabel turned back to the helpless men and positioned her hands like she was stalking a particularly annoying fly. "Absolutely," she contorted her face into an evil grin, "splendid!"
Ash and Gary spared each other a fleeting glance before Anabel smashed her palms together.
The rest of the afternoon proceeded as planned, aside from occasional breaks when the two men had to stop and rub their aching bodies. Anabel, needless to say, became comfortable in Gary's presence. Gary, in almost no time, learnt the responsibilities concerning a Frontier Brain and seemed more excited at the prospect of being one than before. Ash, however, was distant. He spent the remainder of the day being quiet with his own thoughts. Unfortunately, he failed again to remember Anabel's talent and wondered why she was becoming increasingly frustrated with him.
Eventually, the tour ended and they were back outside. Ash and Anabel were standing in front of the door and Gary was sitting atop his Pidgeot, his grin bigger than ever.
Pidgeot are huge breed of Bird-Pokémon. They are known for their loyalty, speed and overall effectiveness in fights. As a great Pokémon to have in and out of battle, many professional trainers own their own Pidgeot.
"I hope you have fun, Gary. There's not as much freedom than as an Elite Four member, I'm afraid."
"Don't worry," said Gary. "I think having a hundred people doing whatever I tell them to kinda makes up for it." Anabel laughed and waved as Pidgeot took flight. The light-brown haired man glanced at the two standing on the ground and smiled.
"Hey, Ash." The raven haired man glanced up at his friend. "You're a lucky bastard, y'know?" Ash grinned and performed a quick, casual salute. Returning it, Gary took off and flew over the surrounding hills.
Immediately, Anabel stormed back into the Battle Tower and threw open the elevator doors with a telekinetic flick of her fingers. With an equally powerful slam, the doors snapped shut. Ash was left standing outside the elevator, face burning.
He stomped the ground hard and swore into his hands.
This was going to be a long night.
Anyone else waiting for a domestic? I am! NEXT CHAPTER, AWAY! Oh and, R&R.