Me: New chapter! Yay! *cough* Anyway, to the Anonymous reviewer… I'll have to think about including that OC, I had originally planned for it to be only for Final Heir's and Legendary Fairy's OCs, so I need to think it over, sorry.
Chapter 3
HOOOOOONK!
"Whaaaaa…?-!" A very shocked, dazed and drowsy Holly exclaimed as she bolted up in her sleeping bag, eyes half closed and looking like a Pichu who'd just been cornered by an Onix, shocked by the sudden noise.
"What the hell was that?-!" Nathen said in a slightly groggy tone as he too was blasted awake by the loud sound. Gemma only sat up with a loud yawn, stretching her arms out behind her head, cheeks a little flushed from the heat that always was much more present in her body in the mornings. She then reached across…
…And turned off her Hydruck alarm clock.
"That… was your alarm?" Nathen said incredulously, giving her a strange look. Gemma shrugged.
"Hey, I'm a heavy sleeper, and you know it. That was what it took to wake me up when I was younger!" She said, pouting and then giggling, jumping up on top of her bed and bouncing again, springs creaking in an annoying rhythm. Nathen sweatdropped, standing up, locking his fingers and stretching them behind his head as he cracked his back, then looking at the girl with one eyebrow raised higher than the other.
"That is beginning to get annoying."
"So? I'm not stopping!"
"Oh really? You'll stop in a minute!" Nathen said as he playfully tackled her. Gemma squeaked in shock but then giggled. Holly sweatdropped at the two. The two were really very close, she could tell that, and it looked like the preteen girl brought out the playful side in the fourteen year old. Holly was sure this journey would be fun, even if they would be on the run from Existence.
She sweatdropped more as Gemma tried to wrestle Nathen away, failing miserably, and then turned to the large window in the room, opening the panes and stretching her head out of it, her long hair blowing around in the wind that ran through the trees of the town. She leant on her arms, and peered up at the sky, looking to spot something again, just as she had when she arrived. She sighed sadly not seeing anything, not that she could see through the trees, and what little of the bright sky above that was visible betrayed nothing, nothing that she wanted to see. The Blaziken girl pulled her head back into the room, and turning she saw Gemma had finally managed to pin down Nathen, though she guessed that Nathen had just let her.
"If you two are finished, we need to get dressed and get going. Plus, I can smell bacon downstairs." Holly said, grabbing her bag so she could go get dressed in the bathroom. She'd try and look out of the window again in there, but she'd just get the same result.
"Bacon?-! Mom's cooking bacon?-! Oh hell yes!" Gemma cheered as she jumped up, before grabbing Nathen and shoving him out of the door, giving him his clothes and banishing him to go to the bathroom instead.
"Hey!"
"What? There's no way you're staying in here! You're a teenage boy! Just go to the bathroom! Geez!" Gemma called out, before giggling and just running to grab her stuff. "I'll get changed behind my wardrobe, I'm pretty sure I can still fit in the gap between it and the wall and still be able to get dressed."
"Alright, if ya say so." Holly said, putting her clothes down and starting to change.
"Hey, Holly?" Gemma said from behind the wardrobe, getting changed too. Holly could hear a few bangs, followed by 'ow's, as she did so.
"Yep?"
"What were you looking for, out of the window?"
Holly's heart skipped a beat, she hadn't realised they had seen her looking out, or maybe it was just Gemma that saw. But either way, she panicked a little, not ready to tell her why she stared out of the window, what she was looking for. She only just met Gemma, and nice as she seemed, she hadn't even told her two childhood friends yet. She had left before she had time to anyway; neither of them knew what was flying through her mind. Like Gemma and Nathen, Holly had secrets of her own.
"Nothing really, I just wanted some fresh air is all. It's not like I could even see anything if I wanted to anyway, the tree cover is too thick!" Holly said, cheerful voice maybe just a little to exaggerated. If Gemma noticed, she didn't comment.
"Okay, guess that makes sense." She said. Holly sighed in relief, and pulled on her own wrist bands, looking at them for a moment with a smile. But she then sighed, they were a gift off someone special, but… "Come on, I'm ready, so if you are we can go and eat all the bacon before Mr. Canine Pokémon can eat it all!"
"You should've let him change in here and locked him in." Holly suggested as she laughed, walking out of the room with Gemma.
"Damn, why didn't I think of that?" Gemma cursed, clicking her fingers and stamping one foot. Holly laughed again, "Come on then! Race you!"
"You know I'm faster."
"So?" Gemma said as she ran down the stairs two at a time. Holly giggled and simply jumped down the stairs all in one leap, before Gemma was even half way down. Gemma gave her a wide eyed look and tripped, landing on the face in classic anime fashion. Holly giggled.
"Blaziken can jump over thirty story buildings, remember? I have plenty of that power in me to jump down a measly staircase." Truth be told she had rarely used that ability, but god it was fun, "You okay down there?"
All she got was a mumble, muffled by the floor. She sweatdropped.
"Need a little help?" Another amused voice said with a chuckle, walking down the stairs behind them. He knelt down and helped Gemma pull herself out of the floor, then held a hand for her to grab to get up. Gemma smiled up at Nathen, red from embarrassment, and grabbed the hand, letting him help her up.
"Heh, thanks…" She said, looking at his chest (its right on her eye level) to avoid looking at his eyes, "I'm too clumsy for my own good."
"That's true, but it's you." Nathen smiled, ruffling her hair, making her squirm. Gemma smiled up again, "Come on, if you were that eager to eat we better go do so, 'ey?"
"Hehe, yeah." Gemma said, still a bit red. Nathen laughed, and walked into the dining area of the kitchen, Gemma following quickly, and Holly going after them with a small chuckle. Yep, they were definitely a close pair of friends.
"There you all are, eat up," Carol said with a smile, placing plates of breakfast on the table.
"Alright! Man I have missed your cooking!" Gemma cheered as she sat down. Markus ruffled her hair as he walked past, and her mother giggled. Nathen took his seat next to her.
"What's wrong with my Cooking?" Nathen said.
"Nothing, but there's just something about a Mom's cooking," Gemma said with a shrug, giggling again. Nathen smiled.
"She's right there, Mom's cooking is always the best," Holly said, sitting down opposite the two. She took her cutlery into her hands and started to eat, "Thanks for the meal, ma'm, sir."
"It's just Carol and Markus to any friend of Gemma," Carol smiled. Holly smiled, shrugging mentally as she only just met Gemma, but she guessed they were already friends.
"This is great as ever mom!" Gemma said with her mouth full, coughing a bit afterwards. Nathen patted her back to help her not choke, making her a bit red. "Heh, oops." Nathen just chuckled, and started to eat too. Gemma continued to practically shove the food into her mouth, making her parents laugh and try not to watch, though it wasn't easy. The sight was too funny.
Soon they'd finished, and they grabbed all of their stuff, ready to leave for the road. Gemma looked up at her parents, before jumping on them and holding them tight.
"I'll call as many times as I can! Promise!" She said, burying her face in their shoulders, "I'll miss you!"
"W-We'll miss you two dear, please do keep in contact… and don't get into trouble…" Carol said, keeping her close.
Gemma knew she would be lying if she promised not to get into trouble, she knew that was going to be near unavoidable, trouble was going to follow the three around. She would have to promise, though, or they might not let her continue on her journey so soon after they had seen her again.
"I-I promise, I will keep in contact… and I'll stay out of trouble…" She crossed her fingers over their shoulders as she said the final bit, even if she felt bad doing so. Nathen caught this and gave her a sympathetic look, making Gemma smile at him.
"Good luck, Gemma…" Markus said, ruffling his daughter's hair. Gemma kissed his forehead and smiled, smoothing down his ever annoying little bit of hair that always stuck up.
"Thank you… Love you mom, love you dad…" She hugged them one more time, then let go and walked to her friends, taking Nathen's hand almost immediately. Nathen smiled a little.
"You take good care of my girl, boy," Markus said to Nathen, arms folded.
"I will. We'll all be looking after each other, so there's nothing to worry about," Nathen said politely, looking to the two girls and getting a nod and a grin off each. Markus chuckled.
"I think I can trust you. Well, off you all go on the road then! Good luck to each of ya," Markus said, waving a hand. Carol giggled.
"Bye!" Gemma said, grabbing Holly's wrist, dropping Nathen's hand, and running off as fast as she could. Holly laughed, and knowing she could run even faster she dragged Gemma instead.
"Hey! You two!" Nathen said, running off at just above average human speed, so as not to end up showing off his extreme speed, trying to catch up with them.
Holly slowed down a bit to a speed Gemma could keep up with, and let her arm go, though neither actually stopped moving.
"HEY! Wait up you two, come on!" Nathen said, trying to catch up.
"Should we wait?" Gemma said with a giggle.
"Nah," Holly said, also giggling, "Let's keep going." Gemma laughed.
"Girls!"
"Come on, you can catch up easier than that!" Gemma called back. Nathen shook his head with a laugh, and sped up a bit, which in turn made Holly speed up, which also in turn left the slowest of the trio, Gemma, stuck in the middle straining to try and keep up with Holly, "Hey! Holly!"
"Come on! Man, you really are slow aren't you?"
"I can't help it!" Gemma pouted.
"Oh don't worry, you'll reach her soon enough!" Nathen called, scooping her up as he ran past her. Gemma shrieked for a moment.
"NATHEN!"
Holly and the elder boy both burst out laughing as Nathen finally caught up to her, Gemma slung over the lone boy's shoulder. She hit his back.
"Lemme down! Lemme down! God you guys are going to rub the fact you're fast in, aren't you?"
"Maybe," Nathen said. Gemma pouted and hit his back again, "Hey!"
"Lemme down!"
"Nope, we'll lose you if he does!" Holly joked.
"That better not be a jab at my height as well as my speed…" Gemma said with a glare. Holly waved her hands in front of her face defensively.
"O-Of course not!" Gemma's glare didn't falter, making Holly sweatdrop. She took one side step away so she wasn't killed by the short eleven year old, "Where's the next town?" She asked to change the subject.
"Berrybud City! Holds the first gym, and a big bug catching contest! You can guess the gym type," Gemma said, hitting Nathen's back again.
"Ow! Stop!"
"It doesn't hurt and you know it."
"Meh."
"Shuddup."
"Don't want to."
"Both of you stop it!" Holly said with a laugh. Gemma pouted and Nathen chuckled. Holly giggled again, "How long do you think it'll take?"
Gemma shrugged, whilst Nathen chuckled prodded her arm, making Gemma make a little 'o' shape with her mouth, tapping her Pokédex to turn it on, then the PokéOrg, turning on the map.
"So?"
"According to this… an average day's walk," She said, "We might get there before nightfall I thinks."
"If you don't slow us down." Holly giggled playfully.
"Hey! That's it, lemme down Nate! I'm so getting her!" Gemma said with a pout, struggling against Nathen's grasp. Nathen chuckled, letting her down to her feet but grabbing her wrist instead. Gemma tried to pull against it to get at Holly, quite a comical sight considering how strong Nathen was and how he could easily hold her back, until his hand slipped down to lock his fingers with hers, which soon made her stop and just blush. Holly giggled again, before subtly giving her pendant a squeeze as it seemed to shake slightly.
"Let's try not to kill each other on the second day of knowing everyone, okay?" Nathen said, moving his hand away again now she was relatively calm. Her blush barely faded at all.
"O-Okay…" Gemma said, trying to keep her tone normal. Nathen gave a tiny chuckle to himself.
"Come on, let's get walking then, as she said we have to keep walking or it'll take longer than an average day," He said.
"Right!" Holly said, nodding, "Hopefully nothing will disrupt us along the way!"
"…You do realise you likely jinxed that, don't you?" Gemma said, sweatdropping. Holly mouthed an 'oops' and covered her mouth before giggling.
They continued to walk ahead, chattering as they went, occasionally having what appeared to be friendly bickering matches. Nathen watched with a sweatdrop until butting in with something that got him smacked around the back of the head most of the time, and Holly occasionally randomly flailed around to grab her necklace as it shook. She got weird faces from the other two when she did, but just scratched the back of her head and laughed nervously. Oh yes, this would be one interesting journey for the three.
~X~X~X~
Half an hour previous…
"Wonder where we should start off our little journey, 'ey Electra?" Annette said as she got dressed, currently fastening up her pure coloured jacket. The little electric squirrel Pokémon shrugged its little front paws and hopped up to her shoulder, then scurrying up to her head. The vacationing Pokémon Ranger giggled.
"Well, we might as well just go up to the next town, I guess. Heh, wonder how Bea's doing? I heard she became the Gym Leader now, I remember seeing her a few times when mom and dad took me up there when they did errands or had to work up at the city when I was too young to be left alone," Anne giggled to herself, putting her bag on. Electra ducked as she put the strap over her head, squeaking a bit, "Oops, sorry Electra."
"Pachi!"
"Come on, let's get moving," The young woman said, walking out of the room and to the main lobby, thanking the owner of the inn before walking outside and taking a big breath with a smile, "Nature is still as great as ever here, it's nice to be in a town, not a huge city, then again there aren't many big proper city cities here."
She walked through the small town, smiling the whole time, remembering her old home. She looked at some of the familiar buildings, before walking out onto Route 1 of the region, ready to head to the same city our main three heroes would be heading for shortly after her. Electra sat happily atop her head, occasionally fiddling with her bangs, long tail swaying happily. Anne giggled the whole time she did so.
As she continued to walk, she suddenly became aware that one of the rocks at the side of the road was… floating? It had a blue outline, much like a psychic attack, around it.
"Must be a playful psychic type or something… though I'm sure there aren't many psychic types on this route…" Anne muttered to herself, letting her natural curiosity she had gained during being a ranger (well how else could she make sure nothing bad was happening?), she started to head to the trees beside the rock.
"Ah damn!" A human girl's voice exclaimed as she dropped the rock, "I'm normally better than that… Must be because it's so early in the morning…"
"Who's there?-!" Anne exclaimed. She heard someone jump. That person, whoever it was, they used psychic? She immediately put together the pieces, realising this girl must be something to do with the team that few knew to be evil that she had hoped to investigate and decide if it needed Ranger Union attention.
Sudden silence as soon as Annette spoke.
"I said who's there?-!" Electra hoped to the ground beside her and sparked a bit as a warning.
"Okay, okay, I'm coming out just don't zap me, please!" The female voice said, before they came walking out of the trees, revealing a familiar girl, "What's the problem?" She said politely.
"You… you're from that existence group aren't you?-!"
"N-No! I-I don't even know what you're talking about!"
"You just used psychic don't pull that rubbish on me!" Maylu jumped a bit, she should've realised the elder girl must have seen her, "Look, kid, tell me!"
"Wh-Why're you so interested anyway? I don't even know what you're talking about…"
"I'm a Pokémon Ranger!"
Ah. She knew she would be in big trouble if she led a Pokémon Ranger into the business of the two teams she was under the control of; it would probably mean a very bad punishment she would rather not face, so she knew she had to get out of there right away. But how? She was practically cornered, and she was still a young agent, she didn't know how experienced this ranger was and she could easily be ten times more agile than her.
…Wait.
She mentally facepalmed when she remembered she could just teleport out of there, the morning was not agreeing with her. Maylu closed her eyes, and with a deep breath, she disappeared in a quick flash.
"…Shoulda known she could do that…" Annette said, sighing. Electra scurried back to her head, "She had to be part of that team, from what I know about them all the people in it have strange gifts… she has to have some link to it… right? Man… this journey just got started and already I'm confused…"
"Pachi! Ri su-su!" Electra said, hanging her head over the top of her human partner's and smiling at her. As if trying to say it'll work out. The Ranger smiled and scratched behind her Pokémon's ear.
"Thanks Electra, you're the best, come on, we should get moving."
"Pachi!"
Annette giggled once more, and with a last glance to where her first clue to the mysterious force that was Team Existence, she ran off, not knowing she had just cleared the path for our heroes who were soon to follow the path she walked down.
~X~X~X~
Back with our main trio…
"Rylee stop trying to get out of your ball! Geez! Stop!"
Holly and Nathen sweatdropped as they watched Gemma try to keep the Poké Ball holding her Phoenix Pokémon closed, holding the top and bottom together as the playful creature tried to escape.
"Does this happen often?" Holly asked Nathen as they watched with greatly amused expressions.
"Once a week or so," Nathen said with a chuckle, "I'll give her some help in a minute."
"Why doesn't she let her out?"
"Rylee hasn't really changed from her youngest form, she's still the most mischievous Pokémon either of us own, and it's not always the best to have her trying to carry you half way across a region when you're trying to get somewhere," Nathen said, shaking his head with a laugh. Holly giggled.
"I see your point. Man, you two sure are unique aren't you?"
"You could put it that way," Nathen said, "or you could describe us, mostly Gemma, as insane. She rubs off on me every now and again."
"Nathen can I have a hand please?-!" Gemma said, trying to force the ball closed still, "Rylee you troublemaker stay in the ball!"
"Give it here," Nathen sighed lightly, hiding an amused tone, going to her and putting his hands over hers so that Rylee couldn't get out during the hand over. Gemma hid her blush for the millionth time that day, and slipped her hands from under his so he could hold it shut, before he sent a small wave of aura to calm the Pokémon inside through it, "There we go."
"Heh, thanks… again," Gemma said, taking the ball back and clipping it to her belt, "She's so troublesome."
"Kind of like her trainer."
"Y-… hey! Which one of you was that?-!" Gemma said, looking around with a playful glare. Both just laughed or smiled and didn't say. Gemma pouted and crossed her arms, "You guys… I've just met one of you and already you're both teasing me like we've known each other for years!"
"It's too easy to, that's why, besides," Holly said with a light giggle, "you do kind of bring it on yourself."
"Ah shuddup!"
"How far from the town are we?" Holly asked, trying not to keep giggling. Gemma looked back to her PokéOrg to check, even though they hadn't been walking long.
"We still have a long while to go, since we've only been walking a couple of hours… still think we can get there before nightfall though," Gemma said, turning the device off again.
"Okay, I can't wait to see the city, I really want to know what my home region is like," Holly said, adjusting her bag and brushing some hair behind her ear, touching her pendant absentmindedly.
"I went there a couple of times, my parents only went there to work and get food and stuff, they usually took a small car though since it was quicker, or rode on a Pokémon's back… or a short-… ah man there was a shorter road there that I forgot about!" She suddenly realised.
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Nathen said. Gemma pouted again.
"Oi! I can't help it! I haven't thought about it for years!" She said, hitting him over the back of the head, "You owe me a piggyback now mister!"
"Fine fine, get on my back," Nathen said, crouching. Gemma clambered on and giggled.
"Doesn't surprise me either from what I've seen of your so far, Gemma," Holly giggled, "Well, what's done is done, we've started the long way now so we'll have to keep going this way, besides, it's gives us time to get to know each other since we've just met."
"Most of us 'getting to know each other' has been you guys teasing me," Gemma said. Nathen chuckled.
"Come on, we can talk properly on the way now, you're not getting her for anything whilst you're on my back, that's for sure," Nathen said, tickling under her knees, making her squirm.
"Nate!"
"Heh, I'm gonna beat you now!" Holly said, running off. Nathen took a minute to notice, before laughing and running after her.
"That's no fair! Cheater!" Gemma called from Nathen's back. She had to hold on tight even at this speed. Nathen kept running, until he caught up with Holly and the little race pursued, "Eek! Guys!"
Looks like they'll be getting there quicker than planned.
~X~X~X~
Me: I'll be going on a holiday from Saturday for a week, for any regular readers, so no updates during that week. I'll put a note on SR on Friday too, since I won't get a chapter out for that then. Anyway, onto this story, its mostly a character development chapter, so… a filler, there might not be another chapter for a while.
R&R!