"No, please!"
"Mon ange…please…" The older boy knelt down to the level of the young boy clinging to his leg, "I have to…"
"No! Mom! Ask him to stop! He can't go!" The boy cried, tears streaming down his face, and turned to his parents standing behind him.
The women had her hand clasped tightly on her mouth to stop the sob from escaping her lips. The man standing next to her tightened his grip on her shoulder, blinking back the tears.
"Hey…" The elder boy said softly, cradling the young boy's face between his hands, "We'll meet again, won't we? I won't be gone forever! When you get older, you want to be a coordinator, don't you?"
The child nodded, still sobbing with endless tears spilling, and the boy continued, "When you grow older, and become the top coordinator…I'll always be watching you. We will meet again, and that time, everyone will know you. And I can say, 'yes, I am his brother!'."
"Please…" The child sobbed, clinging to the boy, "don't go…don't leave me…"
"Don't cry!" The boy insisted, hugging the child, "Don't cry, please..."
"Mom, dad…please…tell him that he can't leave me…" The child turned in his brother's embrace to face the couple standing behind him.
The boy looked at his parents helplessly as he held the crying child. He felt tears well up in his eyes when a single tear slipped down his mother eye.
"Mama…papa…"
The man looked away, afraid that he might let his tears escape.
The boy stood up, kissing the child's head, and turned to leave.
"NO! Don't go! Come back! You can't go!"
"Please!" Drew suddenly woke up with a scream, sweating and panting. He raised his hand to his face, felt something wet on his cheeks and realized that he had been crying.
He turned his head to right, and sighed in relief that he had not woken up the brunette with his outburst. His hands scrambled to reach his mobile to check the time.
6:56 pm.
He ran his hand through his hairs as he continued to pant. It had been a long time since he had that dream. He looked around, trying to remember what he had to do now when a soft knock on the door startled him.
Throwing aside his covers, he raced for the door and swung it open, still slightly out of breath.
He came face-to-face with a raven haired man who wore an almost confused expression, with his eyebrows raised and eyes slightly wide.
"What happened? Ran a marathon in your sleep?"
Drew pocked the inside of his cheek with his tongue and shook his head, "Noth ecjacly."
Shū stared at his younger brother, "Are you alright?"
Drew nodded, his tongue still poking his cheek.
"Stop doing that." Shū said, tapping the bulge on the boy's cheek.
"Ack, sorry." Drew said a little sheepishly. The brothers continued to stand on the doorway in a silence, both at a loss of things to do.
"Uh, Shū?" Drew started, "Don't think of it as creepy…but…uh…"
Shū stared expectantly at the boy, "I…can I…I mean…will you…hug me once?"
An awkward silence settled over the boys before Shū started laughing and pulled the boy into a brotherly hug.
Arceus, it had been so long…Drew had just realized just how much he missed his brother. After that night, and a few weeks of crying and watching his mother mope around the house, Drew had hardened his heart.
He had set a belief that it was his brother who did not love them, who didn't love him. His sadness slowly dimmed as a kind of anger welled up inside the boy.
But now, when he saw his brother, was saved by his brother once more that hardened heart began to melt again. He couldn't have hated this man, no, not his brother.
"You idiot…" Shū said softly, affectionately ruffling the boy's hair. Drew, though red faced, smiled softly.
After a minute, Drew finally let go of his brother with a small 'thank you' mumbled. Shū shook his head as he turned to leave, "I came to wake you up. Anyway, get ready."
"Sure, sure, bye!" Drew nodded and waved good bye as Shū closed the door behind him. Drew let out a large breath, turned around and ran to the bathroom.
May's POV
Arceus, wasn't he taught to keep quiet when people are sleeping or what?
I winced when the door slammed behind him hard and shifted so that I was lying on my stomach. I turned my face to the wall and searched for the poketech with my eyes closed. I opened one eye to see the time, 7:02 pm.
I stuffed my face in the pillow. Drew will wake me up…I can sleep just a bit more.
It felt like an eternity had passed when Drew finally opened the bathroom door. I turned my head; my eyes open just a crack as I watched him move about the room in sweatpants and his black tee shirt.
Hmm, he didn't notice me awake…maybe he forgot that he has to wake me up as well.
I turned bright red when he started to strip off his shirt and flung it over on his bed. He moved across the room to his bag, scratching his chest as he did so, and opened the black bag. I blushed harder when his hand crept to the waistline of his pants while he held up two shirts.
He finally decided on the wine colored shirt as opposed to the gray shirt and pulled out a pair of black jeans.
He laid the jeans on the bed and proceeded to wear the shirt. As he buttoned the shirt, he made to take off his pants and I was about to jump when I heard Shū's voice call.
"Drew! Wake up May too!"
"Yes!" Drew replied, glancing in my direction. I quickly closed my eyes, hoping against hope that my face was not red.
A few seconds passed when I opened my eyes again and shut them back quickly when I saw Drew running around in his underwear. This time, I felt my face burn.
After he had finally worn the black jeans –which I will admit made him look hot- he sat down on the bed opposite mine, facing me as he began to pull on his shoes.
"May, you can open your eyes now." There was a trace of laughter and smugness in his voice that made me hurl a pillow in his direction. He laughed loudly when he dodged it, "Get up now, May. I am sure you enjoyed the show but you need to get ready now."
I glared at him, despite my burning face, "Shut up, you pervert!"
"My, my! Me? A pervert when it was clearly you spying on me?" He teased.
I got out of my bed, glared at him, picked up my towel and marched into the bathroom, slamming the door extra hard.
"Oi!" I heard him shout, "These are centre's door! I won't pay if you break one!"
Drew's POV
I ran down the stairs as quickly as I could to find Shū, Ayame and Daichi sitting in the lobby while Kei tried to flirt with Nurse Joy.
"Where is May?" Ayame asked.
"She is getting ready." I replied as I seated myself near Daichi and we continued to watch Kei getting ignored by the nurse.
"You have a contest tomorrow, isn't it? R1?" Daichi asked.
"Yeah, tomorrow afternoon."
"Ayame? Are you joining?" Daichi turned on the couch to face Shū and Ayame.
"Yes, yes I am." Ayame smiled.
"Great! Which Pokémon are you using?" I asked, leaning forward in interest.
"Hmm," Ayame moved her head side to side vaguely, "Umbreon. What about you, Drew?"
"Roselia!"
The five humans present in the room jumped.
"Roselia! What are you doing out of your pokeball?" Drew cried.
"Rose!" The Roselia crossed his arms. Drew rolled his eyes.
"Ooh," Shū murmured, sliding down to the ground to come to the level of the grass Pokémon, "so this is your starter Pokémon…didn't you use it as a Budew in your first contest?"
"Yeah, I did." Drew smiled fondly at his Pokémon. Roselia stared at the man kneeling in front of him with its eyebrows both raised.
"Rose." The pokemon muttered and turned away from Shū.
Shū blinked in surprise while Drew cried in mortification, "Roselia! For Arceus' sake, behave!"
The other three laughed. Kei patted Roselia's head, "You sure have some fine Pokémon, kid!"
Roselia made to bite his hand and Ayame and Daichi laughed harder at Kei's offended look.
Drew covered his face with his hands, "Roselia!"
"Rose! Roselia rose rose?" Roselia shouted at Drew, pointing its blue rose at the other occupants of the room.
"Rose!" Drew shouted, catching the Pokémon's arm and cupping its face, "Calm down! That is my brother, Shū. You probably don't know him but that doesn't mean that you'll misbehave!"
Roselia glanced at the four people who stared back at it.
"Apologize!" Drew said. With a little reluctance, Roselia bowed.
"Aww!" Ayame cooed.
"Wow…quite disciplined." Daichi commented, glancing at Kei who still held his hand.
"I am sorry," Drew said, looking at Kei and Shū, "I don't know why she is so uptight today…"
"It happens sometimes." Shū said, kneeling down again and he held out a hand to the Pokémon, "Sometimes when they are shut in a pokeball too long. It's a male, isn't it?"
Roselia looked at the hand warily before she touched her nose softly at the tip of his fingers. Shū smiled and stood up.
Drew laughed when Roselia looked at Shū with a light of admiration, "You won him. You did it."
"Did what?" Ayame asked.
"Shū was the, as far as I can remember, first person to correctly guess that Roselia is a male."
Shū, Ayame, Daichi and Kei laughed at that while Roselia crossed its arms and glared at Drew, its cheeks puffed out in indignation.
"You can let your Pokémon out at headquarter. We have a greenhouse there." Drew nodded.
"You hear that, Rose? You can return now!"
At that moment, May ran down the stairs, panting slightly, "I am sorry!"
"Sorry later! First," Kei said, holding up his watch, "hurry up!"
Nurse Joy looked at Chansey and smiled as the group of young adults made their way out of the centre, "Interesting to observe isn't it?"
"Chansey!" The pink Pokémon smiled and picked up the tray and made her way to the back of the centre.
O.o
"You're late." May shivered at the cold voice as the group turned around to face Miyuki who had her arms crossed and was staring at them with a strange expression of anger and amusement.
"Gomenasai!" May cried, almost on the verge of kneeling down with her deep bow.
"May! May, chill! Its fine! She was just kidding!" Kei said, waving his hands around and then turned to glare at the petite blonde, "Weren't you, Miyuki?"
Miyuki turned away from them and began to walk down the corridor without a word.
"Damn woman." Kei muttered under his breath as he motioned the others to follow him.
May noticed that for once, not all of them were in black with an exception of Shū and Miyuki.
Ayame was wearing white top with jeans while Daichi was wearing a zipped red hoodie with black jeans. Kei was…well, blue.
Miyuki was still in black; black jeans and a full sleeved tee shirt, while Shū was sporting a black jeans with a white shirt, topped with a black jacket.
May looked down at her outfit; white jeans, a green sweater and a pair of sneakers. Nope, nothing fancy.
She caught Drew's eyes and she smiled. Drew smirked back as he took her hand in his. May liked it, holding his hands.
"Where are the others?" Shū asked as Miyuki pushed open the big black doors, directly opposite to the entrance, connected by the long corridor.
"They are in the dining halls already." Kei replied, grinning back at them, "Feel honored! Boss himself supervised the kitchen today."
"I just hope he didn't cook himself..." Ayame muttered.
"No, don't worry." Daichi said quickly, "The kitchen staff won't allow it since he blew up the kitchen the last time he tried."
Everybody, expect Miyuki who frowned, laughed.
"At least he was trying." Miyuki muttered.
"Yes, Miyu." Ayame said before Kei could reply, "At least he tried."
O.o
"And? Are we supposed to sit here and wait for the Aqua-dan to fight?"
"No, no, we are not supposed to do that. We are supposed to find Aqua-dan and squeeze out the information they have."
"Why can't we attack them directly? We can take them down and we-"
"Take them down? And pray tell me, how will you manage to do that?"
"How? Are you asking me how I will take those brats down? They are nothing more than an overly conceited bunch of flies! I will smash them under my-"
"Although I do appreciate your optimism in the matter, I also oppose the underestimation of the opponent. The seven administrators make one of the most powerful team in the Rubello Town and possibly in the whole of the international police team. There is no way we can oppose them while we have many of our own members away and without any plan!"
"But I am-"
"I said no. We need a plan, and we need to know the location of the Stone."
I think this was quicker than the last update…I am really sorry for the huge gap between the update last time! No excuses, we are sorry.
This chapter…well, it was kind of filler. It was short also…not really an important chapter, but still. Next chapter, we'll continue with the story!
Please, review so that we keep our motivation to continue writing!