Author's Note, Side story part 1.
Slybill walks in to find a disturbingly quiet atmosphere in the studio. Spotting a neatly folded note titled "SLY" in bold red letters on wooden writing table; our author picks and unfolds the paper with shaking hands. Dear Sly, it reads, Gone fishing, won't be back till Arceus-knows-when. Don't forget to do the disclaimer. Oh, and White says hi! Scarlet.
Setting the note aside, Slybill pushes up his glasses and looks at his calendar with a sad smile. Tears running down his pale cheeks, he seats himself on the group leather couch and fingers a hole that White had left some days ago.
"They forgot my birthday…." He mutters sadly and pulls out his laptop.
DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN POKEMON. ELSE….ELSE…. OH JUST FILL THE BLOODY BLANK ON YOUR OWN ALREADY!
Abandoned Team Plasma Hideout, Castelia City, Unova Region.
Scarlet pulled White out of the way of an oncoming Super fang. Using his free right hand, he blocked an Iron Tail from two Watchog and ordered his Jolteon to unleash another discharge. The lightening pokemon complied, letting loose a devastating pulse of electricity effectively paralyzing the three Purrloin clinging to his furry spine with their claws. Shaking them off, he let fly another round of double kicks on the stubborn Sandile bursting out from the floor. At the same time, five grunts surrounded the teenagers and made a grab for them. Thinking fast, Scarlet grabbed the panicking trainer by the waist and, with as much strength as his lean muscles could muster, threw her into the ceiling. On cue, White grabbed on to one of the steel beams and pulled herself out of reach from the grunts below.
"Now that she's out of the way," the raven-haired hunter casually ducked an incoming grunt, side stepped another, parried a blow, spun out of another's grasp and found himself in front of the last one, a female, who simply looked in awe at the boy's nimbleness.
"Impressed? You should be," He remarked as he gently brought a gloved palm to her face and expelled the last of the nauseous gas in it. As the grunt collapsed in a heap, Scarlet stepped over her and faced the remaining grunts. As each one ran towards him, he gracefully dodged their blows and pressed their pressure points instantly knocking them out. He continued until he got to the last grunt of who by now was shaking in fright at the smiling hunter.
"I think I've done enough persuading for today," Scarlet concluded, cracking his knuckles. A knocked out Garbodor flew past him and smashed into the window beside the grunt leaving a large crack in the glass and Jolteon trotted up to his master without so much as a scratch. "Can you tell us where that Pignite is?"
The grunt was just about to speak up when a crack was heard from above and White crashed unto the unsuspecting man. "Why me…." He had whispered before passing out with swirls in his eyes.
"Yay! I helped and beat up a bad guy!" the trainer exclaimed happily as Jolteon sweatdropped and a visible stress mark appeared on Scarlet's temple.
"You clumsy ditz! I left him conscious for a reason you know? Now how will we find that Pignite?" the pissed off hunter ranted as his head swelled to anime-like proportions and fire flashed from his eyes. Tilting her head innocently to ask what she had done wrong, Scarlet face-palmed before telling her to get up.
"Oh hang on a sec," the girl said as she pulled out a key from the unconscious grunt's breast pocket. "I saw it flashing from above while you were fighting so I figured this might be a key to a storeroom or something. Hopefully, Pignite is there."
"Nice deduction, princess, but I don't see a door anywhere," Scarlet deadpanned as the girl walked past him and pushed the wall beside the smashed window where the unconscious Garbodor lay. Something clicked and the wall shifted to reveal an elevator.
White turned to smirk smugly at the open mouthed duo behind her.
"How did you know?" Scarlet asked as the girl pressed the red OPEN button.
"I saw a grunt escape through this elevator while I was up on the beams. Thanks to my sharp memory, I took note of where it was hidden and simply waited for you to finish your business," she explained as the doors slid open.
I guess even airheads have their uses, Scarlet remarked as he deactivated his gloves which in turn reconstructed themselves back into the Rubik cube.
"Someone had fun, "a voice called out from behind causing White, Scarlet and Jolteon to look back and see Violet emerging from the original elevator gingerly stepping over the fallen grunts with Burgh in tow.
"My heart rejoices to see you three unharmed and I must say that I'm quite surprised at the outcome of your battle," the artist exclaimed dramatically.
"How did you guys fare?" Scarlet asked as he stepped into the hidden lift. Violet giggled and latched on to Burgh's arm before holding up two fingers. Raising an eyebrow, Scarlet wondered what the older teen meant by the gesture.
"If my timing is correct, it took us two minutes at the most," Burgh stated as he and Violet stepped in along with the trio.
"Amazing," White gasped in admiration as the doors closed behind them and the lift descended. Minutes later, the lift stopped and the doors slid open. Everyone stepped out cautiously in case there were some more grunts out there. The area they were in looked like a large meeting room or lounge with polished wooden tables and chairs on the smooth floor. On both sides of the grey walls were long balconies held up by strange-looking pokemon sculptures. At the end of the room was an elevated stone stage with a golden throne on it and two long banners hanging from the ceiling on both sides of the throne. Each banner held an emblem of a black shield with a navy blue stylized 'P' on it.
"I'm soooo loving the décor," Violet softly exclaimed as she admired a marble Gyarados-shaped fountain. Burgh could only whistle in awe at the regal painting covering the ceiling as White ran up to a door on the far right labelled STORAGE and thrust the key into the keyhole. Giving it a turn, the door unlocked itself and a Pignite leapt out from behind it and tackled White in a hug while grunting happily.
"Pignite, I missed you so much! I'm so sorry for losing you and I promise it'll never happen again!" the trainer cried as tears of relief ran down her face to which her Pignite licked off in sympathy.
"Gross…" Scarlet muttered rolling his eyes at the teary reunion and received a sharp kick on both shins from the huntress and the Jolteon on either side of him as if telling him not to ruin the moment. Stepping into the storage room, Burgh caught sight of some other, most likely stolen, pokemon huddled together in fear and slight apprehension.
"Now that we know where the other missing pokemon went," he said as he walked over to them, "let's get you guys back to your trainers."
"Other missing pokemon?" Scarlet questioned raising an eyebrow. Burgh nodded.
"Venipede and I were initially investigating a string of pokemon thefts that had suddenly popped up in Castelia. Since Team Plasma had been supposedly disbanded eleven years ago by the late Champion, I didn't give it much of a thought to try searching this building. After all, I had made a couple of rounds on it some weeks ago and not a grunt was in sight. It was only after Venipede suggested going through this place one more time and I stumbled upon you three that I've now seen this secret storage room," the artist elaborated.
"I guess this Team Plasma must have gone underground for a while and waited for the heat to die down before deciding to resurface gradually," Violet stated as she tapped her heels on the concrete in thought.
"So it's just another bunch of Pokemon thieves then. Let the police handle it. C'mon White, let's get outta here," Scarlet said impatiently and grabbed White's arm. We don't have time to waste on Team Rocket wannabes anyway, he concluded inwardly.
"I resent that derogatory statement scar-face. We are not thieves."a crystal clear, albeit slurred, voice resounded from the balcony closest to the group and all heads turned in the direction of the voice. Leaning on the marble balustrades was a girl around Scarlet's age and height with curly, shoulder-length, strawberry-blonde hair. She had a pair of ridiculously large headphones jammed on both sides of her face and was blowing a pink bubble of gum out her pink, pursed lips.
Scarlet narrowed his eyes and gave the blonde a once-over before releasing White's arm. The girl was dressed differently from the medieval crusader-looking grunts. "I'm guessing you're with these goons and by your outrageous sense of dressing, you're probably the head Honchkrow here," he stated as he brought out his cube.
At the reference to her dressing, Violet eyed the blonde warily. She was donning a buttoned-up, collared white coat with really long sleeves that covered her arms like a kimono. The coat itself was cropped so it stopped just below the girl's exposed slim belly. Black leggings and sky blue boots coated her legs and on her waist was a large, brown belt that slanted slightly to the right with a single pokeball on it. The Plasma emblem was imprinted on the centre of her coat and for some reason; she had a black streak of paint running across her left eye and down her cheek. Under her right eye was a simple black dot. Overall, it made her face look like a clown or a royal jester minus the silly hat with bells on it.
"Baby bro is right…your wardrobe needs to be completely overhauled!" the purple haired huntress gasped in mock fright. White giggled.
Said blonde's pink bubble of gum burst revealing disinterested blood-red eyes. She looked from human to human and yawned loudly revealing a set of white Sharpedo-like dentures.
"Just when I was enjoying my nap, some silly grunt came in to tell me that a group of bugs infested the hideout. It's not this boringly rude bunch, is it?" she soliloquised loudly in a tired voice and rested her chin on her covered hand. This girl bugs me, the group below thought in unison as the blonde rubbed her tired eyes.
"If your group hadn't stolen her Pignite, maybe you'd not have been disturbed, your highness," Scarlet uttered sarcastically and made to leave. "We've gotten what we came for White. Let's go."
"Go?" the blonde echoed to no one in particular. "It's a shame but I can't allow you guys to go. According to the King, anyone who's seen this branch should be summarily executed on the spot."
"What if we don't want to be executed? I have an appointment with this very fashionable hair stylist and I can't afford to miss it by dying…" Violet piped up obnoxiously, clearly unfazed by the threat the blonde had just issued.
Burgh stepped up to the front of the group and cleared his throat. "Before we start this unavoidable battle, who is this King of yours? I had assumed N had cut all ties with Team Plasma after the Black-white incident at the Unova Pokemon League."
Violet's ears perked up. The Black-white incident was a codename given to the epic battle 11 years ago between the late champion Black on the Vast White pokemon, Reshiram and the, then supposed, king of this Plasma gang on his Deep Black pokemon, Zekrom. Truth and ideals were pitted against each other and in the end, truth prevailed as Black had won and N had exiled himself in search of self-discovery. Only the members of the Unova elite four, previous champion Alder and a select set of gym leaders had known of this event. Those who had claimed to see the legendary pokemon had been shot down as liars in an effort to keep the pokemon a secret from hunters and other never-do-wells in society. The purple haired huntress had only come across the codename when she had heard rumours of a deep black pokemon flying around in the skies of Sinnoh some years back.
"Then you probably weren't told that King Ghetsis had escaped arrest when the Shadow Triad created an opening during his final battle with Black that fateful day," the blonde slurred as she took interest in her short fingernails.
Unbeknownst to the group, Scarlet and Jolteon were missing and White had tensed up suddenly at the mention of the name Ghetsis.
Burgh fell silent at the statement. Ghetsis had escaped? He asked himself. Why weren't we told anything about it?
"So now that I've answered your pointless question, I think it's time to start cleaning out the trash," the blonde sighed as she straightened herself up and stretched. In a flash, Scarlet and Jolteon rushed at her from both sides of the balcony. Twisting her arms behind her and pointing a stun-gun to her face, Scarlet smirked.
"You were saying Blondie," he sneered as pressed the gun to her cheek. A slow smile broke out on the blonde's small face.
"I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself," she said in a tone laced with slight disgust. "I am Alphinia F. Quincy and as the Aria Dragon Knight, I am absolutely honoured to kill you. I hope we'll get along nicely."
"Dragon Knight? What kind of cliché title is that?" Scarlet hissed in annoyance. "Besides, no one's dying today."
Suddenly, White felt like she was slammed with a sickening wave of bloodlust. "Scarlet!" she cried, "Get away from her now!"
The hunter was just about wondering what the white-haired trainer was shouting for when he felt a searing wave of heat from above fly past his face. Looking up at the source, his eyes widened and he jumped back from the blonde just in time to dodge a stream of bluish-white fire heading straight for him.
A shape burst through the ceiling and landed with a heavy crash beside the Plasma knight. Rearing its head, the pokemon gave an insanely loud roar that shook the very foundations of the floor on which Scarlet, White, Jolteon, Burgh and Violet had been standing.
As the roar died down, Burgh shook the noise building up in his head and faced the pokemon cautiously. "Is that a-"
"Salamence," Violet stated in a low tone. Alphinia didn't call herself the Dragon Knight for nothing. Salamence were very hard to take down even with an ice-type pokemon due to their expansive movepools. They were tanks with wings that could cover their weaknesses extremely well and this Alphinia's huge Salamence looked every inch like a tough opponent to beat.
Said Salamence purred deeply as Alphinia stroked its long, slender, sky-blue neck and smiled wryly. Turning to face the insect that had made the mistake of touching her, Scarlet could only make out the glowing red orbs boring into him as the Knight's face had an ominous shadow cast over it.
"Now then," she mumbled menacingly. "Let's get this slumber party started."
Author's Corner, Side story part 2.
Slybill finishes his latest page and looks at the time. 11:00PM. Sighing, he shuts the door to his studio and heads for his bedroom slowly. Opening his door, he steps into the dark room and slumps on his bed with a grumble. Almost immediately after, a voice moans into his right ear.
"Happy birthday Sly..."
Instantly sitting up, the lights were turned on to reveal three people in classic playboy-bunny suits all strewn across his bed.
Slybill: White, Violet and...Scarlet? What are you guys doing here? And why does Scarlet look so good in a bunny suit?
White: Silly Billy! It's ya birthday remember? Big sis Alphinia suggested we surprise you so we all went shopping for birthday presents and Violet said these would be the best for you since you like bunnies! *Steps back and wiggles her fluffy tail causing Slybill to nosebleed slightly* So do you like it?
Slybill: Uh...
Violet: There was a 3 for 2 promo going on and I deemed it fit to get the suits. We had a problem wondering what to do with the extra costume so the shop attendant suggested that Scarlet's figure would go nicely with it so we had Scarlet dress up along with us. Some make-up here and a couple of hair-pulling there and voila, we have an effeminate if not devilishly redhead sexy temptress. *Siddles up to Slybill and plays with his collar button* Ready for your birthday present?
Slybill *with a light waterfall trickling slowly down his vest*: Uhhh...
Scarlet is pushed forward and faces the author with a scowl before facing sideways and folding his girly-looking arms across his chest.
Scarlet: V-Violet made me were this and since you liked bunnies and all, well, i-it c-couldn't hurt to try the stupid costume.I-It's not like I'm doing this for y-you or anything. *Is that the slightest tinge of red on his cheeks?*
Slybill: TSU-TSU-TSUNDERE! *nosebleeds heavily and passes out with a contented look on his face*
Scarlet: Ha! I did your stupid tsundere gig so pay up Vi! * rips off the bunny ears and run out shouting FREEDOM at the top of his lungs*
White: Wow! I didn't know he had it in him to do that.
Violet: Yeah...who would've known that Sly had a tsundere fetish...