Smile Junkies
Chapter 3
Owly chirped and slowly eased out of the bed before flying to the window of the small house he'd slept in. He landed on the window sill, looking back at the little girl. Maybe Lex would catch a HootHoot and give it to the girl when they found her? Lex always did those kinds of things. Owly used his beak to open the lock before flying off since the sun was up now. He landed and rubbed the strap around his neck against a smooth light pole, one of the poke balls dropping and he opened it, Jasmine coming from the ball in a beam of red light. "Help me with this, please?" Owly asked and Jasmine nodded, helping get the poke balls off the black strap and opening them, letting everyone out. "Should we destroy these balls too?" Jasmine asked and Raptor thought about it, setting the bag down.
"No, we'll put them back in the bag. No one can catch us if we keep the balls with us." Raptor said, Ravage piping in, "Besides, they look really fancy and it's really nice inside." They put the balls back in the beige duffle bag before Raptor put it around his neck and slung it on his back. "We have to keep to the same direction we were going." Ravage said and they all nodded before heading out again, avoiding trainers and other pokemon, staying in a close knit group so if one fell behind the others would help them catch up. Lex would have been very proud of their team work.
Even in tag team battles they never really seemed to support each other until their trainer vanished. They continued on into the town where they stopped near the entrance to the Great Marsh.
"Ok, let's look around for Lex." Lala exclaimed. "Uh, go-good luck every one." she wished them, Raptor adding, "When the sun goes down, let's all meet up back here!" They all agreed and went off in their separate directions.
0 Pastoria City, Great Marsh 0
Lex stood in the observation deck, looking at a pamphlet of the pokemon that could be caught before bending over and looking through the binoculars to look at the different areas of the Safari Zone as Cyrus came up the stairs to the observation deck. "I'm sure you'd like somewhere else to go," Cyrus said as she stood up and looked at him, "-But my employees all said they wanted an employee vacation here." Lex blinked as he stood next to her and she covered the lower half of her face with the colorful leaflet pamphlet.
"It's alright." She said as she hid a small smile. "I would bring my pokemon here and let them watch me from the TV down stairs. The staff would put a free camera on me as I went through the areas. Other wise my party would cause a fuss." Lex explained and Cyrus chuckled.
"What are you reading now?" He questioned and she handed the little three page pamphlet to him. "It's just a leaflet about the Safari Zone and what pokemon can be found here." Lex answered, looking out the window with an arm across her stomach and her right index finger curled to gently cover the parting of her lips. Cyrus looked at her than the pamphlet, trying to figure out what type of pokemon would suit her preferences best. One of his Commanders (Jupiter) had told him that some women like pokemon to be caught for them and that impressed them.
Maybe…a Carnivine? He thought as he read the pamphlet on catching them. 'Rare' it said. Wouldn't a rare pokemon be best in this situation? He questioned himself mentally as she looked out of the window, the sun highlighting her hair as she looked at something outside. No, Carnivine won't work. Something much rarer- Maybe I should ask her. "So you've come here before?" Cyrus asked casually and she nodded.
"Yes. I was told I could get Carnivines here." Lex replied vaguely before adding, "I didn't know I had to wait for a certain day- I just found them and caught two. One for me, one for trading." Cyrus blinked and looked back at the pamphlet as she leaned down and looked out the binoculars again.
Two? Then something rare is definitely what I have to get her. Cyrus looked over the paper, seeing it was harder to get a Psyduck but there was a single percent chance to get a Azurill and an eight percent chance to get an Arbok. I should try to get one of each…
Lex sighed, putting her right hand on her cheek, "I don't see them anywhere. Oh well." She said, frowning as he looked up, "If only I had my bag…I could go find one on my own." Lex said disheartened as Cyrus stood there for a moment before voicing, "What's the problem?" Lex turned to him, "I lost my bag with all my things in it and I've been trying to find an Ekans…that pamphlet says there are Arbok here…" Lex looked at the window, "No matter how many times I look out of this window into the Marsh…I can't see any Arboks…even if I did, since I don't have my duffel I can't really pay to catch anything." Cyrus blinked.
"I'm going to go join my commanders. Perhaps you'd like to come?" Cyrus asked and she looked over and gave him a questioning look, "Maybe if you went through the Marsh you'd find an Arbok." Lex blushed faintly.
"Uh, n-no, it's alright." Lex said unwilling to be alone with him again, "Would it be alright if I looked around the town a little instead?" Cyrus didn't like how she rejected his proposal but at least she did it somewhat gently.
"Yes." Cyrus agreed and went down stairs, Lex following him until he paid the staff member and received his thirty safari balls, looking at her, "Do you like Ekans?" He asked and Lex was caught off guard by the question.
"Hm?" She asked before it registered in her mind, "Oh well not particularly but I LOVE Arboks. They just seem really strong. My Aunt had an Arbok and it was very reliable." Cyrus stood there and she looked down, touching all of her finger tips together, "It's sort of like- having a desire to have a pokemon-the equivalent of my ideal man." She said quietly before looking at him, "I'll be here when you get back…Cyrus." Cyrus nodded and stiffly left the building, holding his head as the back of his neck and face felt hot. That weird feeling began to slowly swirl behind his sternum as it did when she smiled and that reddish pink tint came to her cheeks. Arbok or Azurill! I need an Arbok or an Azurill and then she'll definitely stop putting up such a resistance against me and fall for me! She needs to smile. Cyrus said, smacking his cheeks lightly, Get a hold of yourself, Cyrus, keep those emotions down and focus! He then went off into the Marsh to find the two pokemon he sought out but that sentence she said kept swirling in his head.
'Like the pokemon- equivalent of my ideal man' started to distort itself into something strange each time it appeared in his head with her voice. 'Strong…and reliable…' 'My ideal man.' 'My ideal man is strong and reliable.' was the final and permanent wording of the sentence, jumbled up and pieced together. There was a hissing sound that broke the vicious yet strangely relief-bringing cycle to his mind, and he looked over, seeing an Arbok in front of him, hissing angrily. Why? Because when Cyrus looked down, he was stepping on it's tail. "Char-Bok! (Back off!)" It said and attempted to bite him before Cyrus jumped back and it bit it's tail instead, "Chhhhhaaaaaaarrrr booooookkkk! (WHY ME!)" It yelled, tears down it's face from the impact on it's own body and it began to lick the wound.
"You're coming with me." Cyrus said and it looked at him before going back to licking it's wound as He threw a poke ball at it, hitting it in the head before it reared up, pissed and got a ball of mud to the face before another pokeball was thrown at it. With not much to see to fight against, it was caught, and Cyrus picked up the pokeball, staring at it.
'Oh, Cyrus, you caught me an Arbok!' Lex's voice said in his imagination as she hugged the Arbok and then hugged him, 'Not as good as an Azurill, but I've almost completely fallen for you now.' Lex smiled at him happily, 'Now- I don't need to restrict my self that much when I smile towards you…'
"…I need an Azurill…" Cyrus concluded, wanting the image in his mind to be better and looked around, checking his pace-counter app on his watch. Four-hundred eighty-three. He had seventeen steps left to take before he was disqualified. Cyrus decided to check his inventory. Out of thirty balls, he had fifteen left and he had seventeen steps to go. He'd never find an… "Azz-rill!" Cyrus looked up, seeing an Azurill looking at him adorably. "Azrill?" It asked, smiling as he stared at it.
-With Lex-
Lex wandered the town, feeling helpless without her pokemon as she walked around, sighing, wondering how her pokemon were going before she heard a familiar hoot and looked around. "A Noctowl? But they're not in this area…" She voiced a loud, looking around before a Noctowl came and hovered in front of her and she smiled happily, "Owly!" She offered it her arm and it hooted, landing on her arm and scooting over to her mid-upper arm and rubbed against her, "I missed you Owly." She smiled and it rested on her shoulder, "Do you know where every one else is?" She asked and it hooted, turning it's head to the side, "That way? Alright." She smiled, putting her full trust in.
"Everyone, I found her!" Owly called and the other pokemon of the party stopped, "Let's go to the meeting place!" The other pokemon went to the meeting place as Owly led her there and she smiled happily, "You guys are all here!" Lex said and her Pokemon surrounded her as she hugged them, the familiar scent of her natural sweet apple smelling skin. "How did you rascals get out of your poke balls?" She asked them and they, huddled closely to her, "Poor Raptor. You must have been really worried." Lex said and Raptor nodded, "It's ok, I'm here now, but I've got some bad news." They looked at her attentively. "You guys will have to do in your poke balls for a day or two. I'm really sorry." she said, clasping her hands together to apologize and they accepted, just happy to be back with her.
Since Lex couldn't find their original poke balls she put them in black and gold Luxury balls, the only type she had on her, before she put them in her bag, the black strap in there too, and she carried the duffle bag back into the Entrance building to the Great Marsh and waited for Cyrus who came back after his 500 steps were up. She stood up, her duffel on the seat next to her as she smiled gently to greet him, "Welcome back." She greeted and he nodded, a few of his silver-clad employees returning as well. "Catch everything you needed too?" She asked and he scoffed.
"Yes but there weren't a lot of them worth catching…" Cyrus admitted dully and Lex frowned, "What are those scratches and grass stains from? You're covered in them." Lex voiced and Cyrus looked down at his green grass-stained uniform and he had various nicks and shallow cuts on his face and hands. "They're nothing." Cyrus said, glancing over and seeing her duffle bag, "Is that-?" He started, letting the sentence hang as she looked back at the object of his gaze.
"Oh, yeah it's my duffle bag that I was looking for." She said, "I guess some little mischievous kid dragged it all the way over here and his mother made him turn it in to the poke center's lost and found. I was surprised to have found it." Lex said, "I'm so relieved that none of my stuff is missing." she said, smiling softly and Cyrus watched her, fumbling with the poke balls in his pocket. The Arbok and the troublesome Azurill he'd chased to get.
"…These…" Cyrus said, drawing her blue-eyed gaze as he lowered his head, trying to form words into a sentence. "I don't necessarily need them but I kind of stumbled upon them so…" Cyrus pulled the small poke balls out and put them in her hand, surprising her, "Take them off my hands if you don't mind." Lex looked at them, then him, and blushed faintly.
"If you insist. May I look at them?" She asked and Cyrus nodded, raising his head up as the staff members watched curiously. She opened them both up and let out the Arbok and the Azurill. The mud-faced Arbok hissed and shook off the mud, making her yelp as the flung mud hit her and Cyrus, the Azurill bouncing up and down on it's tail before hitting Lex with water gun. Cyrus stood there and watched, silent and mentally dumbfounded, as Lex stood there, brown hair in her face. Where her clothes weren't muddy, she was soaking wet and she slowly spat out a small fountain of water from her mouth, the Arbok and the Azurill watching.
"Cyrus…" Lex said and Cyrus perked up, snapping out of his shock. "Could I…get a towel?" she asked, closing the balls as a staff member brought one for her, Cyrus handing it to her and she dried her hair mostly, until it was damp and patted her face before brushing her hair back out of her face with her fingers. She then wrung out her clothes the best she could onto said towel and went over to the Arbok that hissed at her, pulling back, "You know you're all dirty- You want me to clean you up or not?" The Arbok slowly stopped hissing and she reached up then began to clean the Arbok's face and muddy hood with the damp towel. "Better, right?" Lex asked and it flicked it's tongue out quietly. "Back in your balls." She said, opening the safari balls and making them return, before she shivered and sneezed, putting the balls away and folding the towel, Cyrus giving it back to the staff member.
"Mars, get her bag." Cyrus said to his Commander, taking off his jacket and putting it on her shoulders as she sneezed a couple more times and sniffed.
"Thank you." Lex said, Cyrus looking at her as he walked her out and she smiled at him, "Even though this happened to me, I really like the pokemon. Thanks a lot." Cyrus nodded, that weird feeling come back, "It looks like the Arbok is hurt though. Do you mind if I bandage it up at you're safe house?" Cyrus shook his head, feeling some-what responsible for how the pokemon treated her. "I'll bandage you up too." She said softly, "you did go through a lot of trouble to get me those two."
When they got to the safe house, Cyrus unwillingly sat through a session of 'doctor-patient' as Lex dabbed his various nicks and cuts with peroxide before putting anti-bacterial ointment on them and smoothly putting a air bubble-free bandage over each one. "It burns." Cyrus grunted for the twentieth time as she dabbed another open cut with a cotton ball touched with a hint of peroxide.
"This is the last one." She assured him and put another bandage on it. "There, all done. No itching." Lex said and Cyrus huffed childishly as he resisted the urge to rip the bandages off. He watched as she gave the same unfeeling regimen to the Arbok who had bit it's own tail and it hissed angrily at her. "Ssh, you, its only a few moments." She told it and the Arbok begrudgingly laid down on it's stomach, wincing as she dabbed a new cotton ball of peroxide (pokemon and human friendly) to the bite marks. She rummaged in her bag and pulled out a different medication for the Arbok, putting a strange, mint-smelling salve into the palm of her left hand and rubbed her hands together, sliding the slippery-textured looking salve on her hands and mostly on her fingers, the Arbok looking at her warily and uneasily. "This helps. Try to relax." The Arbok stared at her before flicking out it's tongue and lying back down as she gently pushed her fingers into the semi-deep holes from the Arbok's own fangs. Cyrus got up and went over to watch as she massaged the salve into the crevices of every scale and the holes themselves and the pokemon sighed almost contently, flicking out it's tongue more.
"How?" Cyrus questioned and she looked at him, her hands moving to another hole and she started the same massage there.
"This salve calms the pokemon and helps speed up the recovery rate for 'minor' wounds like this." Lex explained, "But for it to be effective, it has to be effectively massaged into the area and the area around it. Arboks are one of the most temperamental but if you know where their scales are it's a lot easier. My mom taught me this. She's a Pokemon medic." Lex added and Cyrus nodded. "I'll cut to the chase and not beat around the bush. I found my bag and all of my pokemon were in it." she said bluntly. Cyrus only frowned, knowing that might have been the case. "So…since I have no reason to stay anymore, I'll give this back to you and leave as soon as I bandage up this big softy." Lex said, pointing to the Team Galactic ring on her wedding ring finger.
Cyrus sat there. A part of him- no, a large portion of him- wanted to make up something to keep her. Something, anything, to ensure her staying there. Anything. A voice inside of him yelled, tell her anything. But he didn't. He watched as she bandaged the Arbok's tail up, clasping it and putting him back in his poke ball, then went to the kitchen to wash her hands of the medical solution. He sat there when she placed the ring next to him, grabbing her bag and leaving him there. Saturn burst in, "Boss, the girl-!" Saturn said with urgency before Cyrus interjected, "Leave her be." Cyrus said and Saturn stood there, Lex walking off. "It's fine. It's fine." Cyrus added, a hand covering his face. "Make sure you keep tabs on her though." He said and Saturn nodded.