A blaring alarm sounded, and flashing lights were everywhere. A crowd of men in blue dashed into the stadium, armed with various guns of all shapes and sizes. A single buff man stepped forward with a mega-phone.
"Evelyn Hughes. You're under arrest for the mass murder of two dozen pokémon."
The girl stammered in disbelief, not even willing her own mouth to open. All her effort would reap would be incoherent syllables. The men surrounded her, forcing her hands behind her back and locking her handcuffs with a loud snap.
"I didn't do anything! I swear I-" The officers seemingly disregarded her statements.
"As per Miranda's Law, you have the right to remain silent; anything you say can and will be used against you." The crying girl was forcefully led out of the stadium, the hundreds of competitors watching in disbelief. Several of the competitors followed out of curiosity, only to be pushed back by a dozen police officers. Depite that, a certain curious trouble-maker managed to force their way through the crowd. Lauren. She definitely knew there was something weird going on, and she was going to be the one to find out, the legal consequences be damned.
She quietly pulled a moon ball and released a tiny, purple demon-like pokémon with white jewels on various places of its body..
"Nights," she whispered, leaning down to look at the sableye. "I need you to use Shadow Sneak to carry us into the back of the van. Be silent, and be quick." The tiny demon nodded, and jumped onto Lauren's shoulder before he was knocked off by what looked like a floating cicada shell. He fell to the concrete floor, groaned, and jumped to his feet, vocalizing numerous growls to his attacker. The shedinja floated backwards until he floated at his trainer's side. The trainer with the dark red hair, long navy blue coat, hand-made wooden necklace... Red-haired Quiet Guy. He grunted through his frown, and locked his dark green eyes with Lauren's spectacled olive green ones.
"So," he started coldly, his neutral expression not leaving, "You must be a criminally curious type, huh?" The lifeless bug shell merely stood there, staring at Lauren as coldly as his trainer. Red-haired Quiet Guy sighed, muttering something under his breath. About her, Lauren deduced.
"You could say I'm looking out for you. You seem a bit naive to do the task properly..." His voice trailed off. Lauren grunted at his comment.
"I'm not naive."
He raised an eyebrow. "Alright. Stupid. Only a fool would let her curiosity get to her like that."
Lauren bit her lip and sighed, exasperated. "What the hell do you think you are? You don't even know my name, yet you're so rude to me? Just who the hell are you?"
He smirked at her comment, and stretched his arms. "Quite the little hypocrite, aren't you? Well, if it helps you control your temper, my name is Orion Quicksilver. You don't have to remember it if you don't want to. I'm not really expecting you to, anyway."
Orion. Huh. He sure was a lot snappier than he was on the plane. People sure are odd, Lauren thought. He turned away, not bothering to say goodbye, as anyone would expect of someone like him. Yet, he didn't leave.
"Something was odd about the way that girl was just suddenly arrested," Orion said without turning around. "Her bond with her pokémon was strong. I'm hard-pressed to believe she would up and decide to kill a bunch of pokémon just for kicks..." The conversation had gotten so deep that Lauren just then realized that he held a new-looking carving: a creature that looked like a winged pixie with a v for ears. He looked over his shoulder and smirked at her.
"Maybe you aren't so foolish after all. That is... if you weren't just chasing after 'em just for kicks. Heh."
He turned to his right. The police cars had already driven away, their black forms mere silhouttes in the distance.
"Still, I think you should just hang back for a little while. It's still too early to tell." With that, he finally began walking away, his creepy bug-type following close behind. Lauren was too weirded out to move until the man was out of her sight.
Lauren had a lot to think about. She had tried letting her pokémon out of her pokéballs, but only Zephyr had decided to stay out for the rest of the night. Lauren lay on his cottony form, sprawled on the queen-sized bed the hotel provided her with. Zephyr's melodic snore harmonized with the clicking of the clock to create a sort of lullaby. Nevertheless, Lauren stayed awake, recounting the day's events over and over again. What made the police target Evelyn? Like Orion, Lauren was hard-pressed to agree that she really did kill the pokémon out of cold blood. Didn't she have a gallade? That pokémon would never listen to a trainer who was evil. Only a trainer that loved their pokémon could raise a pokémon like gallade.
Just what was going on?
Lauren pushed herself out of bed. She groggily stumbled her way across the room, smiled at the sleeping Zephyr, and turned off the lights. She had just finished removing the thin white pokéball belt with blue rhinestones from around her waist and gently put it on the desk before she heard loud banging from the window. Horrified, she crept over, peaked through the curtains and-
Lauren fell backwards. Repeated squawking sounds were heard, and not too long after, a crash and a young girl squealing. Lauren rubbed her eyes and reached for her glasses. She opened up the window, and gasped in surprise at what she saw, for Eleanor sat at the bottom of the building, treating the injured flying-type with a potion. It didn't take a genius to figure out it was Eleanor's unfezant who made the squawking sounds.
"Eleanor?" Lauren yelled incredulously. The cobalt-haired trainer waved energetically with a smile.
"Lauren! The weirdest thing happened-" She suddenly stopped mid-sentence. "Can I come up there?" Before Lauren had a chance to reply, Eleanor jumped onto her unfezant, who, despite earlier klutziness, flew her up to Lauren's window with ease.
"Eleanor! What are you doing here this late at night?" Lauren said, helping the girl and large bird through the rather tiny window. Eleanor hopped onto the floor with grace, but her pokémon fell to the ground with a comical thud. She smiled, shook her head, and returned the unfezant to her pokéball at the bird without even a subtle hint of worry on her face.
Lauren's altaria had woken up from the commotion, cooing and chirping in protest. He picked up his large form and flew over to Lauren't pokéball belt. Annoyed and exhausted, he opened up his pokéball and put himself inside.
"Sorry about Wings. Anyway..." Why she didn't apologize for barging in so late was a mystery for the ages.
"Lauren, there's these weird people outside the hotel! I got up 'cause I heard some talking outside the hotel, I look down, and... well, you get the picture. I didn't think it was a good idea to chase 'em off myself, so... I got you."
Lauren continued rubbing her eyes. "Eleanor... what... we barely know each other. Why don't you-"
"Because you're the only person I know in this hotel, and they're wayyy too loud. I don't want them to wake up Static! Oh, and please, call me Ellie. Can you help me? Pleeeeeease?"
There was no way in hell Lauren would help her. It was rude enough that she wakes her up (that was a lie to herself; Lauren hadn't slept all night) and flies in uninvited, but this girl actually had the balls to ask her to chase possibly innocent strangers off? Lauren rolled her eyes and shook her head. However, in spite of herself, Lauren found her mouth moving automatically:
"Okay... lemme go get my pokéballs and get dressed."
Not even five minutes later, the two were at the entrance to the hotel, hiding behind a fat palm tree. The suspicious strangers were still there, just standing in the dark outside the hotel. Their voices were in hushed whispers. Lauren was shivering, and not just because of the cold desert night.
"(Okay, Eleanor -er, Ellie. This is just too freaking creepy. I don't think I can take this!)" Lauren whispered. She had put on her 'pleading' face, her eyebrows furrowed and her lips tightly pressed together. Eleanor rolled her eyes at this, shaking her head.
"(Shut up! I'm trying to listen in on them!)"
Lauren made a sound of protest, but listened to her. Weren't they going to stop these people? She didn't recall Eleanor saying that she wants to eavesdrop on them. Normally Lauren would be more than up for a little listening in, but it was late and she wanted to sleep. And in Lauren's mind, there was nothing better than sleep. Still, these people were among the scariest she'd ever seen. She didn't like to be judgemental, but the fact that they appeared in front of the hotel under the full moon wasn't helping their case much.
At that moment, one of the weirdoes let out a loud obnoxious laugh, making Lauren jump. Eleanor, as per 'instinct,' slapped her hand in front of Lauren's mouth, which she threw off in annoyance.
"And after that, the world'll be purified again. That is, if nobody suspects a thing..."
"But hey! That'll be easy! Most people are just sheep, anyway. If we can get someone to..."
"Huh? What is it?"
One of the men glanced around. Lauren and Eleanor stood low, trying to keep their breaths as quiet as possible.
"Nothing. Just thought I heard something, but it's nothing. What do you say we get back to our hotel rooms? It's getting late, and we've worked hard for today's success."
All the men agreed, and headed back into the hotel, one by one. Lauren let out an audible sigh of relief. Eleanor looked back at her, smiling.
"Thanks for helping me out. I really appreciate it. So... see you tomorrow?" Lauren nodded, still in a state of surprise at what she saw. And just like that, Eleanor was gone. The event was over.
Lauren looked up at the night sky for several seconds in deep thought before heading back in.
Last night's events felt so surreal to Lauren. Eleanor's unfezant tapping on her window, sneaking out of the hotel, listening to the odd strangers...
She wondered if it truly did happen; it was all so sudden. Innocent girls like Evelyn don't just get arrested out of the blue. And just what were those men talking about? The world being purified once again? Getting someone to do something? A success? If she didn't know any better, it would sound like a plot to dominate the world or something out of a TV show. It all made her head hurt. Lauren was hardly ever honest with herself, but she was sure of one thing: she was scared.
In any case, something weird was definitely going on. She was dressed and ready before she knew it, and crept downstairs as if hiding from someone. Was she... unconciously practicing stealth? Preparing for something?
She tossed those thoughts aside and upon passing a mirror, realized that she hadn't brushed her hair. It sticked up all over as if reaching out for something, and she had very noticeable split ends. Not that she cared. She had more important things to worry about. Like evil people and breakfast, for instance.
The hotel's breakfast café was very full at that hour, as 8 o'clock was a popular time for trainers to get going; after all, it was the average Pokémon Center's only breakfast time. She looked around the café, decorated her plate with several breakfast foods and sat down at the only empty table she could find. Eleanor had already got going, she surmised. Either that or she was sleeping in. Lauren couldn't wrap her finger around that girl.
She looked around the café for the odd trio of strangers that she and Eleanor had spied on last night, but they were nowhere to be found. Figures, she thought, Suspicious people never want to be around others...
She finished up her breakfast and lazily lounged in the hotel's public hot tubs before finally heading to the stadium to watch today's matches...
The announcer's voice was as loud and obnoxious as ever. There were two new competitors, a boy and a girl. The boy was a dark brown-haired young-looking trainer wearing mostly green and blue. The girl looked slightly older, countered by the fact that she was pretty short. Her wardrobe consisted of a violet shirt, black pants, and grey hoodie.
"The Finis Tournament's second match will be a three-on-three battle between Dyson McGolen and Nina Mares! Now, Trainers, send out your pokémon!"
"Go, Ninetales!" the boy yelled, throwing a great ball from his belt. It popped open, revealing an ivory fox with nine tails. It cried, its front legs in the air in an effort to look intimidating.
"Kurage, I need you!" The girl threw a lure ball, which released a tentacruel. The creature barely reacted at all, merely blinking in realization that it had been called out.
"Kurage, open with Rain Dance!"
The tentacruel began waving its front tentacles around, and all of a sudden, it started raining. Indoors. Some members of the audience shrieked, pulling out their umbrellas.
"Shit..." the boy muttered under his breath. "Ninetales, use Extrasensory!"
The fox obliged, his eyes glowing white. All of a sudden, Tentacruel was hurled into the air, and was spun around several times before it fell to the ground. And that wasn't the end of it. Tentacruel, stunned, was unable to retaliate when Nina ordered him to use a move, and Ninetales, once again, used Extrasensory, but used this one to hold the jellyfish in place.
"Now, Ninetales! Finish it off with Iron Tail!"
All nine of the kitsune's tails glowed silver, and it dashed for its target. One second, and whack! It hit all nine of its tails at Tentacruel at once, sending the poor water/poison type flying into the ring of water surrounding the stadium. And, Lady Luck on Dyson's side, the rain concluded with a refreshing drizzle that faded away not too long after.
"And Tentacruel goes down almost immediately! Wow! That leaves Nina with just two more pokémon! Which one will she choose next?"
Nina returned tentacruel and eyed the other five pokéballs attached to her belt. She picked up a heavy ball, and paused. Then, deciding against whatever other judgement she had, she threw it, revealing a steelix.
"Gyra, Earthquake and Crunch! Go!"
The steelix was on it immediately. She slammed her huge body into the stadium, creating cracks almost as big as her. As all trainers were taught to do, Dyson jumped into the emergency stand made for the competitors. In spite of this, Ninetales gracefully avoided all of the fissures that opened up, until Steelix lunged itself at him.
But he got cocky. Just as Steelix was about to connect with her attack, Ninetales did a triple back flip - and landed in one of the fissures. He instantly fainted. Dyson threw his great ball, returning the great fox.
"Good work, Ninetales..." he muttered, before throwing a pokéball. It was a swampert. Unfortunately, the swampert just so happened to land in one of the fissures, and grunted in pain. Dyson smirked.
"Swampert, Avalanche!"
And immediately, the mud fish pokémon jumped back up, releasing a wave of snow out of what appeared to be nowhere. The attack covered almost the entire battlefield, and appeared to have connected with Steelix. Damien cheered.
...Before he noticed a large hole in the ground. The was an audible gasp throughout the stadium.
"Good job, Gyra! Dig, and when you come up, use Crunch, just like we practiced!"
Damien bit his lip. "Swampert, Surf!"
A wave of water overtook the stadium, washing the snow away and fiooding the entire field almost completely. The battling trainers' pants were soaked. However, the water quickly drained into the giant hole that the steelix made.
"Gyra...!" To say that Nina was not prepared for this would have been an understatement. Her steelix, on the other hand, was. Before the water completely filled the hole, she emerged right behind Swampert and picked him up with her giant mouth. She clamped down on him hard. Dyson repeatedly shouted commands, but the swampert couldn't react at all: he had fainted.
Nina was so caught up in her steelix's success that she failed to notice just how much damage she had taken. Bruised, battered, and soaked, the steelix collapsed, Swampert still in her mouth.
Dyson threw his pokéball at the steelix's head and Swampert was swallowed into the ball, which Dyson gracefully caught in his hand. "That... was close..." he muttered, unhooking the ball containing his third and final pokémon.
"Both trainers have only one pokémon left!" The announcer yells, "Will this round be as dangerous as the last? Who will come out victorious?"
"Luxray!" Dyson yelled, throwing his pokéball a good distance from the (now flooded) fissures.
"Go, Lily!" Nina threw her pokéball at roughly the same time as Dyson. Hers released a roserade.
The pokémon began the battle with their most physical moves: Poison Jab and Ice Fang respectively. Both connected at the same time, with Roserade's blue flower's poison spikes jammed in Luxray's face and Luxray's subzero fangs digging into the grass-type's arm.
The battle went downhill from there. Dyson commanded Luxray to bite down harder and send thundershocks to add insult to injury, while Nina asked Roserade to retract her poison spikes and drain Luxray instead.
At the moment it looked like Nina was going to win, Dyson quickly commanded Luxray to use Attract, stunning his opponent. Nina held her breath, but didn't order roserade to retreat.
One more Ice Fang, and Dyson was the winner of the match.
"And after a brutal match, Dyson comes out on top! Congratulations!"
Sorry for the sudden ending, but I was started having severe writer's block towards the end there. Anyway, yay! Finished my longest chapter yet! I'm so awesome!
Anyway, I have a massive five-day weekend ahead of me, so I'll try to update as much as I can. Keep watching! The plot is only just starting!
Credits:
Evelyn Hughes - Gentle Blossom
Orion Quicksilver - Magmoor
Eleanor Morris - DeadlyThunder195
Dyson McGolen - Grim Reaper Kid
Nina Maes - kitsunelover300