Chapter 5: The Battle Frontier and Scott

By the time we had landed in front of the Battle Frontier Headquarters night was upon us. We decided to set up our tent on the outskirts of the building, fearing that going inside this late would only mess up their moods.

Before long we had gotten a fire going, eaten dinner, and managed to get a tent set up despite my lacking skills in assembly. Things were actually going pretty well… until an official from the Battle Frontier busted us.

We (or more like Gary) had thought about not camping out on the Battle Frontier's property, but quickly decided against moving. It would have been hard to find another spot in the dark and we had already set up everything. Besides, officials from the Frontier would never be able to see us at night, right?

Wrong.

True it would be difficult for him to see us, but apparently he had an Arcanine. So there we are playing Black Jack in our tent, sipping apple juice, and having a great time, when a giant furry dog tore open the flap and dove at me.

"Ack! Get off me!" I cried, trying to shove the sudden weight off. This only seemed to encourage the canine, and between his paws pushing down on my throat and over three hundred pounds on my stomach, I was sure that I had reached my end.

"Arcanine, heel!" A deep voice rumbled. Suddenly, all the weight was lifted away, and I sat up, desperately gasping for air. A man was peering inside the tent, watching us carefully.

"You're lucky I called my Pokemon off," the man growled, his eyes drilling into me. "Come with me, all of you. It was a bad idea to try camping out here. A very, very bad idea."

The man carted us into the lobby of the Headquarters where he disappeared to talk with a lady at the table for a moment. "Should we make a break for it?" I asked as soon as he was gone. "We still have our Pokemon with us."

Gary shook his head. "It'll be too risky. We'll end up getting in even more trouble."

"You already didn't let me fight once today. And you're not going to do it again," Emily snapped. "C'mon Crystal, we're getting out of here." She grabbed me by the arm and began herding me towards the door.

"Hey, wait a second, I never said I wanted to run!"

"You suggested it!"

"Well…" I thought desperately for some kind of excuse, before finally settling on the truth. "I didn't mean it!"

Emily paused for a moment. "Oh well, we can still break out of this place. We'll show Gary!"

"Calm down, Emily. I'm coming with you guys," Gary jogged to catch up with us. "Three's better than two, right?"

We were halfway to the door when a voice stopped us dead. "Take one more step and I'll throw you all in jail!" The man had come back.

"Sorry, sir, we were just looking for the… uh… bathroom!" I stuttered.

"Nice try. President Scott's in the building, and I'm sending you straight to him!"

"President Scott?" Emily's voice was filled with a mixture of what sounded like fear and awe. "You mean the owner of the Battle Frontier and President Scott?"

The man rolled his eyes. "Who else?"

We followed him in stony silence to an elevator. As I stepped inside, I realized there was absolutely no chance I would be challenging the Battle Frontier.

The top floor of the Headquarters was open and luxurious, complete with soft red carpet and velvet sofas. On one far end of the room was an enormous desk with papers piled high and scattered everywhere. A plaque reading 'President Scott' was pinned above it, confirming my suspicions about this being his room. The President himself, however, was no where to be seen.

"Sit here," the man snapped, shoving us onto the nearest couch. He started towards the door, but paused for a moment and added, "You're being watched, so don't even bother trying to make a run for it."

We sat in miserable silence, trying to ignore the deadly fate that loomed terrifyingly close. Seconds, minutes, or even hours might have passed - I was too busy dreading the future to bother looking at my watch - before the stillness was interrupted.

But when it finally was, it disappeared with a crash.

"OOPS!" boomed a loud voice. All three of us leapt to our feet, looking around wildly for who had made the sound.

A moment later, our questions were answered when big man dressed in a light blue Hawaiian shirt, khaki shorts, and sunglasses walked in. He was carrying a large stack of papers and folders, which he dumped unceremoniously on his desk before running a hand through his curly, light brown hair.

Gary, Emily, and I stood ghostly still, unsure if the President had seen us or not. It didn't seem so, by the way he had his back turned to us while he opened a can of Mountain Dew.

"M-Mr. President?" Emily squeaked in an unusually high voice.

"MOUSE!" Scott shrieked, whirling around to face us and spilling soda all over his shirt in the process. "Oh, never mind. Just a couple of KIDS!" He apparently found this hysterical and doubled over laughing, dropping the can of Mountain Dew on the carpet.

I watched him rigidly, unsure how to respond to his reaction to us. "A-Are we in trouble?" I asked hesitantly.

"Trouble? What trouble? NOBODY should be in trouble!" I was surprised that he managed to say that through his continuing laughing fit.

"Ok then…" I trailed off, unsure of what to say next. Deciding that being direct would probably be the best method, I stood up straight and in my most dignified voice said, "I'd like to challenge the Battle Frontier, Mr. President."

This had an immediate reaction on him and he straightened up, pushed his sunglasses higher, and looked me in the eye. "Call me Scott. Do you have an invitation?" he asked in an almost business like tone. It was hard to believe this was the same man who had been laughing less than a minute ago.

"Yes," I said confidently, not bothered by the fact that I was speaking to the President and owner of the Battle Frontier. Searching my pockets quickly for the letter, I pulled out the folded piece of paper and handed it to him.

"Very well, then," Scott said after reading the letter over quickly. "You were supposed to be here a tomorrow, but I guess a day early is fine." He gestured for us to take a seat on the couch before sitting down himself.

"And who are these two?" he asked, looking at Gary and Emily.

"We're traveling together," I said shortly. I didn't want to get into their lives - this was about me and my Frontier Challenge.

Scott seemed to find my answer acceptable, because he simply eyed me over for a moment before continuing. "Are you sure you have what it takes to take the Battle Frontier Challenge?"

"Um," I glanced at Gary and Emily, not sure about how to reply. Gary was watching Scott through narrowed eyes, and Emily started at the owner in awe. "Well, yeah, I guess." Why else would I be here?

Scott nodded. "In that case Nicholas will help you upgrade your Trainer Card." For the first time, I noticed that the man who had first brought us here had come inside at some point. The sight of him sent a chill down my spine, and beside me Gary stiffened. "You'll probably want to go to the Battle Factory first - Noland is the head of that. Now you better get going."

After thanking him, we followed the man - who I assumed to be Nicholas - outside. As we left Scott's office, I heard him shouting, "Now there's a couple of good KIDS! YEP, they sure are GOOD KIDS!" The words were followed by a hearty bout of laughter.

Once I received my upgraded Trainer's Card from Nicholas, Scott allowed us to sleep on the sofas in the lobby until dawn, an order that Nicholas did not seem to approve of. As we tried our best to spread out on the limited space, Gary suddenly grabbed my and Emily's arm and pulled us outside.

"What the heck?" I hissed at him.

"Just be quiet," Gary snapped.

Emily shook off Gary's hand and looked him straight in the eye with a glare that could match a dragon's. "Why did you take us out here? Our stuff is still inside!" I was just glad that she didn't hit him.

"It's about that guy obviously!" he exclaimed.

"What guy?" Emily questioned exasperatedly.

"That guy!"

"What guy?" Emily repeated, this time significantly more irritated.

"Haven't you both realized it yet?" Desperation creeped into his voice.

"Realized what?"

The sight of the color draining out of his face turned my blood cold. "That man - Nicholas. We've met him before. He was the one who attacked us when we were flying here."