"Kya~!"
Shu and Ayame jumped. They turned, their eyes wide."What the heck? What happened, Miyuki?" Ayame asked, concerned as she watched the blonde turn red, from anger or something else, she couldn't tell. Shu's eyes flicked to the boy standing next to her, questioning with his eyes. "He...he..." Miyuki spluttered, a rarity for her, as she waved her arm around, pointing in the vague direction of the blue-haired boy. "Kei? What did you do?" Ayame asked sternly. To both their surprise, the man grinned and raised his hand and...
"Kya!" Miyuki's scream filled the air.
"What happened? We heard screams! Are you four alright?" Chiyo took in the sight of her four friends with wide eyes. Beside her, Daichi cocked his head to a side in confusion as he saw that they were all quiet alone in the forest, save for some wild pokemons. Shu and Ayame, both had quite an angry look while Kei was wearing a shit-eating grin, despite the large, angry print of a hand on his cheek and two bulges on his head. Miyuki was the most curious. Her face, a mixture of anger and embarrassment, was a steaming shade of red. She was trying to put as much distance between Kei and herself, her hands clasped behind her.
"What happened?" Daichi asked even as realization donned on Chiyo's face.
"No...tell me you didn't." Chiyo deadpanned, staring at Kei.
"He did." Ayame replied, glaring at Kei.
"Pervert...pig..." Miyuki was mumbling, even as Daichi and Shu tried to calm her down, disbelief etched on Daichi's face.
"Kei...would never do that...Kei, you didn't, did you?"
"And what makes him a saint who wouldn't try that?"
"No, I mean come on, Kei...Miyuki, of all people?"
O.o
"What the hell?" Exclaimed one confused Carlos as he received the group of six at the back-door. Shu sighed but did not reply. Three angry women entered next but he knew better than to ask them.
He stared at the other two boys expectantly, Kei sporting a large red hand-print on his face and two bulges on his head while Daichi was having three bulges on his head.
"Uh, Kei, Dai, what happened? Are you both alright?" Carlos asked, apparently worried.
Both the boys grinned widely, "It was worth it."
The two boys followed after the other three, leaving a very confused Carlos in their wake. A small moment of contemplation passed and Carlos followed the others, hoping that maybe he can also get an explanation.
The group walked to their boss' office, trying to ignore the sounds of a furious battle taking place at the front of their headquarters. They reached the large wooden door, and Carlos pushed it open.
Inside, Shimizu was seated at the head of the table with Madam Suzuki standing behind him and Damon was seated a few seats down the table. They all quietly took their seats, Shu next to Shimizu, followed by Ayame, Miyuki, Carlos, Kei, Chiyo and Daichi in the order.
Shu opened his mouth to say something but closed it again with the words not coming out. A few moments of silence passed, often broken only by the sounds of blasts when someone opened the door of the office to deliver a message or report the position of the battle.
Finally, Shimizu released a sigh and raised his eyes to look at each of his administrators in turn. His mouth pressed down in a grimace when he looked at Kei and Daichi, "And what did you two do now?"
Everybody looked up to see who was being talked to. Miyuki immediately turned red and Ayame's lips pressed in a firm line. Kei and Daichi gave a small grin, "Don't worry, boss. It was not something very big."
Shimizu's eyes flicked over to Shu and the raven-haired boy gave a small shake of his head, signaling that nothing was wrong. Shimizu turned back to the rest, his face set in a grimace.
"This," He gestured vaguely to the south, where the front of headquarter was located, "what is this?"
"A battle?" Kei offered and instantly shut up when Ayame glared at him.
"Boss, we'll go and see that-" Daichi half-raised himself from the chair.
"Sit down, Daichi. The force is enough right now to control the assaults."
Daichi sat down, releasing a big huff. Carlos and Damon sighed in unison. Suzuki adjusted her glass and raised her eyebrow at Shu. Shu shrugged, and checked his watch, "I don't know. A few minutes more, maybe."
"Ah, I hate your silent conversations!" Shimizu cried, turning around to glare at Suzuki who just raised her eyebrows.
"Calm down, boss." Ayame sighed.
"Are there guards around the crystal?" Kei asked, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table. Shimizu shook his head, "No one can be trusted. The security equipments are the only things protecting it."
Kei's eyes widened, "And how reliable is the equipment? Even I can hack it!"
"Kei," Chiyo snorted, "there is a reason that the technology department worships the grounds you walk on."
"Yeah well…" Kei mumbled, his eyes shining for the compliment.
"Don't boost his ego anymore." Miyuki commented. Kei looked at her and grinned. Miyuki gave him a slightly freaked out look.
"Well, aren't we pleasant today?" Ayame mumbled, resting her forehead on the table.
"Let us go!" Daichi pounded the table, earning a glare from Chiyo and a tired sigh from Shimizu.
"Sure, go. Go and fight. And when their boss is here, he can visit your Pokémon in the hospital wing." Suzuki mumbled under her breath.
"What is going on?" The door of the room burst open and a distraught looking Damon stood there, panting heavily and clutching his shoulder with one hand while his other was on the side of his stomach.
"What happened to you?" Carlos asked, alarmed as he rose and went to the raven's side.
"Those…those…" Damon panted as Carlos settled him in the chair next to Daichi.
"What happened to your shoulder?" Shu asked.
Damon stopped and looked at him blankly, "What?"
"Your shoulder. What happened? Were you in the battle? Were you attacked?" Carlos poked the said shoulder.
"Hey!" Damon winced, "This…I slept wrong at night."
Everybody present in the room sweat dropped. Everybody turned to look at Shu as his mobile started vibrating and moving on the glass table.
"Pick it up." Ayame said after a few moments passed with everyone staring at it as it moved towards the end of the table.
"Hello?" Shu spoke as he held the mobile to his ear, "Drew, yo!...What? I can't hear you…what is going on? Who won? Ah...what? Bomb? What? What are you saying? We'll be there! Yes, yes, give us a…Drew? Drew!"
By the time he was off the phone, the other seven members were standing and were already out of the double doors.
O.o
"Team Magma, I'd wager." Kei commented idly as he set his helmet on his bike's handle.
"Aqua." Daichi retorted, fixing his hair in the mirror of his bike.
"Boys!" Ayame cried, exasperated, "This is an emergency."
"And I am with Kei when I say Magma." Ayame spun around to glare at Shu who had his comb out and was in the process of retying his pony. Miyuki gritted her teeth as she, flanked by Carlos and Damon, proceeded towards the front of the building where she could hear several bombs and screaming. Ayame and Chiyo rolled their eyes at the three boys as they followed the trio.
"Sometimes, I think only Carlos and Damon are the only two males of our group that possesses even a sliver of maturity." Chiyo commented.
"Yeah, right." The ginger jumped when Daichi whispered right next to her ear. The two girls turned to give the man a questioning glance when Daichi suddenly extended his palm, his arm passing from between their heads. The two girls turned around to see both Damon and Carlos grudgingly placing a few yens in his hand.
"And who all said that it's Magma?" Daichi shouted, shaking his raised fist. Miyuki, Ayame and Chiyo turned to stare at Damon and Carlos.
"Like, honestly?"
"What?" the two said boys chorused defensively, "They were also betting!"
"And while you police people are betting, we, the ordinary civilians are forced to fight!" They all turned to the voice to see an angry Drew who looked oddly on the verge of crying.
"What happened?" Shu cried, reaching towards Drew.
"Rose…she was injured." Drew mumbled, turning away. Shu released a breath, giving his younger brother a one armed hug and then a pat on his back.
"Come on, Drew! We have a fight to win." Shu said determinedly and the group made their way to the main door, where the battle took place.
O.o
"Turns out, Aqua really attacked the Contest hall."
"Seriously? No decoys?"
"Nope. They attacked it."
"Dopes! They made our plans far easier!"
"Yes, boss."
"And all the brats are at the contest hall?"
"Yes, sir."
"And their headquarters?"
"Not exactly defenseless…only the admins are out."
"I see. Did they actually send all the admins?"
"They did."
"…And the boy?"
"Sleeping like a baby. It makes our task a lot easier."
"Is the plan put into action?"
"No, sir. Brodie got sidetracked."
"That fool! Can you contact him?"
"It'll be risky. But, sir, Brodie can be trusted."
"Only you would say so."
"Sir."
"Fine. We'll let him handle it. And you get out and start."
"Sir."
O.o
I CAN EXPLAIN! …No, actually, I can only try to explain. This chapter, I know, was nothing of what you were expecting after such a long gap. I had this chapter written in late June but I was hoping to add something more but…I finally uploaded. During the summer holidays, I spent the first 20 days finishing the 2 month worth of homework and I was not at home for the next month. I just returned on 1, had an attack of Varicella (you know, the one that causes chicken pox) virus, and we have our exams right now! Other than this, I have no explanation….I am sorry.
I know I probably lost most of my already few readers but if anyone is reading, please review…