"Gary..." May pleaded from the door. "She's fine, just like she's sleeping. Come and eat."
Gary shook his head, choosing not to talk. She sighed as she walked out the door and into the hallway. Rae's Espeon nudged his foot before jumping into Gary's lap, laying down. He petted her behind her ears. "That was close, Espeon." He said aloud.
"Espeon." Espeon said, agreeing with him. Gary threw his arms behind his head and glanced at the clock, seeing it was only noon the next day. He leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes.
Rae slowly opened her eyes, yawning as she sat up in the bed. She rubbed her eyes and glanced at the clock, which read 3:17. She examined the room and yelped when she saw Gary.
Gary quickly opened his eyes and grabbed a Pokeball, alert. He quickly examined the room and calmed down once he realized no one was there except an awake Rae.
"How are you doing?" He asked as he clipped the Pokeball back onto his belt. She stiffled a laugh with her hand.
"My hero." She said through her giggles. Her eyes widened as she remembered the past events. She quickly looked to her shoulder and saw a jagged scar. "How...?" She asked, confused as she ran a finger along the grey line.
"Nurse Joy's Chansey healed you." Gary said shrugging.
"Is everyone else okay?"
"Completely. You're the only one stupid enough to get hurt." He muttered running a hand through his hair. "We could have lost you to blood loss."
She was about to him a snappy retort, but stopped once she saw the worry in his eyes. "Gary, are you okay?" She asked as she slipped out of bed and walked towards him.
"Get back into-" He started, but thought better of it and wrapped her into a hug. He rubbed his arm up and down her back. "I thought I lost you already."
"I'm not that easy to get rid of." She said, lifting her head and looking into his brown eyes. She smiled while her frowned.
"Please don't say that." He muttered. She smirked and leaned in closer, giving him a peck on the lips. Smiling, she just stood there.
"I'm glad you're awake." Volkner said dryly. He proceded to glare at Gary who smirked. Rae on the other hand took a couple of steps back from Gary, turning to Volkner.
"What did the League say?" She asked him.
He studied her carefully, leaning against the door. "We're outnumbered, so they voted not to."
"Outnumbered?"
"Crasher Wake's with Fantina and them too. Candice and Maylene are with us, especially after you two saved saved Maylene's town. But Flint is the only one on the Elite Four with us and Cynthia."
"Gary's just being stupid." She muttered as she made her way to the Department store. It was about ten o' clock that night. Gary, who was insisting on letting her rest the rest of the day and to not go out alone, had practically confined her to the Pokemon Center. She had managed to sneak out, however, and was walking with her Haunter beside her.
"I mean it's not like they're going to jump me inside a dark alleyway, right?" She inquired, talking to her ghost Pokemon. It mimicked her, shrugging his shoulders and cackled.
"You mean who isn't going to jump you in an alleyway?" She heard a voice ask from behind. The trainer and Pokemon spun around in their tracks, her hand going to Salamence's Pokeball. "I sure hope you don't mean Team Thunder." Drake said, leaning against a random house. She cursed for her not noticing him the first time.
"What do you want?" She asked as she watched Haunter disappear. She furrowed her eyebrows, then just shook it off.
Drake took a step towards her. "What every man dreams of, world domination. And you, my dear, are going to help me reach that. Willingly or not."
"How?"
"Well, how much do you know about Arceus?"
Rae took another step back from the man in front of her, keeping her eyes on him. "Nothing."
He laughed. "How comical is it that a warrior of Arceus doesn't even know her heritage?"
She stopped. "My what?"
"Heritage, my dear. Who you are, what your ancestors were. Your ancestors were quite peculiar, quite peculiar indeed. You see, awhile back, people couldn't stop fighting. Wars between the regions crashed, almost ruining the planet. That's where your ancestors came in. Each ancestor had a particular liking to a certain type of Pokemon because of Arceus's plates are what powered them to be great trainers who stopped the wars. Over time, your ancestry line became muddled distorted, but we have you. The Dragon Warrior."
"The Dragon Warrior." She said jokingly.
Drake nodded enthusiastically, "Yes, the Dragon Warrior!" He rubbed his hands together. "And it's an honor to be the Dragon Warrior."
He was sitting on the couch, flipping through the television channels when someone knocked on the door of the room he was staying in. He slowly opened it. "Hello?"
Hearing no reply, he opened it wider. He stepped out into the hall and looked both ways, seeing no one. He turned around to go inside, but jumped back in surprise as he ran into Haunter.
"Haunter!" The ghost Pokemon said, waving his arms about. He floated down the hall, with Gary stumbling after it. He walked out into the night, looking for Haunter. Haunter, annoyed by the trainer, hit him on the head and motioned for him to follow. Rubbing his head, Gary stumbled until he could hear voices. He was stopped by Haunter, who mimicked how to listen.
"And it's an honor to be the Dragon Warrior." He heard someone say, he looked to Haunter questionably but the Haunter held up a finger.
"An honor?" He heard Rae's melodic voice ask. He moved to go to her, but Haunter stopped him, shaking his head.
"Yes, an honor. You've seen how you have always felt comfortable with Dragon Types. Even if you refuse to use the real team that you have, and use Pokemon that aren't even yours, you still keep two dragons on it." Gary heard the voice reply.
"Is that Drake?" Gary whispered to Haunter, who nodded his whole body. He glared, standing up, but stayed exactly where he was.
"I'm still curious as to why it's an honor." She muttered. Rae looked at the guy in front of her. "How do you intend to use me to awaken Arceus?"
Drake rubbed his hands together. "Being the Dragon Warrior, you have an almost special relation to Arceus, who was also a dragon type before he got rid of his plates. In times of trouble, he would come to your ancestors and help them control the situation, which made the Dragon Warrior the strongest trainer around."
"Right, so, I can just go, Arceus come to me and he'll come." She said rolling her eyes. "Look, I understand you have some strange delusion, but I really need to get going. I snuck out and it's getting late and they probably worried and-"
"Who said anything about going back?" Drake asked, walking towards her. She took steps back until she hit her head on the wall. Rubbing the sore spot she released Salamence's Pokeball. Salamence in turn roared at Drake who took a step back from the giant dragon.
Chuckling darkly, he murmured. "Who would have thought, the Dragon Warrior, choosing a dragon." He held a Pokeball in his hand. "Come now, Dragon Warrior and rid the world of its evil. Or, suffer a defeat."
"I'm going to go with her doing neither of those." Gary said as he walked towards Drake, Alakazam on his left and Haunter on his right. "Just let her go, Drake. You're out numbered."
Drake cursed, turning to Rae. "I will get you, my pretty." He turned and glared at Gary, looking him up and down. He let a Kadabra out of the Pokeball, and teleported away.
"Uhhh, hey." Rae said weakly as she recalled both Haunter and Salamence, praising them. "What's up?"
"What did he mean by using Pokemon that aren't even yours and your real team?"
"Err." She said, looking down. Gary stopped walking and turned to face her. "I'm borrowing half my team."
"Borrowing?"
"Poliwrath is Chuck's, Ampharos is Jasmine's and Haunter is Morty's, some gym leaders in Hoenn." She said as Gary nodded.
"Then what is your real team?" He asked, grabbing her arm. "This is serious. If you can be made any stronger, you must do it. You saw how Drake was acting towards you."
"I don't want to." She muttered, walking away from him in the opposite direction. Gary stood there, stunned for a moment then ran to catch up.
"Why?"
"Because I just don't." She said icily. She walked through the doors of a diner and sat down, and to her like and distaste, Gary sat in front of her.
"Explain."
"Don't need to." She said to him. She looked over at the waitress and ordered a Coke. Gary waved her away as he looked at the girl in front of him. Her head was hung low, the brunette's curly hair was over her face, and her shoulders were slumped. She knew that he was watching her, studying her.
"At least tell me your real team." He pleaded, looking at her defeated. "Rae, you're in danger, and having Pokemon that make you stronger and can protect you for the best is what you need."
She sighed and looked up at him. "Espeon, Charizard and Salamence are originally mine. When I went to the Battle School I didn't want overly powerful Pokemon, so I switched with them. "
"Then what's your actual team?" He inquired, leaning forward. "It can help you and the cause."
She looked at him and sighed. "Fine. My team is actually Salamence, Charizard, Kingdra, Garchomp, Dragonite and Espeon. My father was very into Dragon Types also and passed down Garchomp and Dragonite to me. The rest I had on my own."
Gary low whistled. "Then why switch?"
She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye as she sat against the wall and looked around. The diner had about ten tables, only hers and another was full. The other had four sitting with their backs to Rae and Gary. She thought she saw a tuft of purple hair under a hat a woman was wearing.
"Because."
Gary sighed, frustrated. "Look, if you're taking some kind of pride doing this with half your team not being yours, then go straight ahead and do it. I'm going back to the Pokemon Center." He stormed out the door, and Rae watched him go. She sipped quietly on her Coke as she waited for the door to open again, but became increasingly puzzled when it didn't. The four who were sitting at the table all stood up suddenly, making their way towards Rae.
She swallowed. "Uhh, hey?"
"Are you Rae?" A voice asked. She examined the four in front of her. The only woman in front of her had purple hair sticking out of her hat, the guy on her left had a muscular build and wore some kind of mask underneath his mask.
"Maybe I am." She said, standing up with her hand going towards her Pokemon. One of the two guys on her left grabbed her hand before she could reach her belt, however.
"No need for a battle, ma'am. You'll just come with us." Bryon said with a toothy grin. She squirmed but felt Crasher Wake grab onto her other arm. She could see something being brought up to her nose, then everything went black.
"Where's Rae, Gary?" Ash asked as Gary stalked through the Pokemon Center. He just grunted as he walked past all of them. They cringed as they heard his door slam.
"What the hell?" Misty muttered, looking to where the brunette had stormed off.
Volkner stood up. "I'm going to go look for Rae." He said as he walked out the door. Misty turned to her boyfriend.
"Why don't you try to talk to Gary, see what's up?" She inquired, poking him in the ribs. He rubbed the back of his head.
"I guess so. C'mon, Pikachu." Ash said as he stood up. He followed the same footsteps Gary had taken almost moments before. He knocked on the door he shared with him, but when he didn't get a reply he used the key card and walked in. "Gary?"
Gary was laying on his bed, arms behind his head and staring straight at the ceiling. "What?" He snapped, not looking at Ash.
"What happened?" Ash asked. "One minute you were here, then you were gone, then Rae was missing too."
Gary sighed. "Well, Rae snuck out and ran into Drake..." Gary began, sitting up from the bed. Ash whistled when he got to the part about the rest of Rae's team.
"She's tougher than she looks then." He remarked, giving a low whistle. He paced around the room. "Why don't you just go find her and apologize. She'll completely understand, you know." He said with a smile. "She seems really nice."
Pounding on the door made the two jump up. Gary walked over and opened the door to see an enranged Volkner. "She's gone. What the hell did you do?"
Gary stepped back a step. "She's... she's gone?" He asked shaking his head. "She can't be gone."
Volkner rolled his eyes. "She is gone! And there was this at the diner though, the waitress said she had seen with you her and gave it to me, it's a box."
"Great..." He muttered opening the box. What was inside made him jump back. Volkner looked at the box, and cursed when he saw Rae's six Pokeballs inside it.
"Great job, Gary. You screwed up and they got her." Volkner said with disgust in his voice. "Way to go. I'm glad she liked you and you let her down, not being there when she needed it." He walked out of the room, cursing under his breath.