Author's Corner. Side Story: Review Craze (1)
Scarlet walks in to find a cloud hanging over Slybill's head.
Scarlet: Not that I care but is something up? Please tell me you're going hiatus.
Slybill: Sorry but no. I just found out that our story has over 409 hits and 120 visitors.
Scarlet: So…isn't that a good thing?
Slybill: Of course it is. What I want to know is how come there aren't 120 reviews yet? My story might just become an anime or a manga or something!
Scarlet: It doesn't have to become an anime. That would be a drag and besides, authors like Alphinia aren't complaining.
Slybill: You know what, maybe you're right-
White dashes in with a laptop in hand and bulldozes Scarlet out of the way to meet Slybill.
White: Sly look! Alphinia's story just got filming rights with Taylor Swift set to voice Lydia Leaf and Leo DiCaprio voicing Red! Your senior's so cool!
Slybill: Oh…excuse me guys but I think I've got some hanging to do…again.
Scarlet: I'll get the rope.
White: Hey! Do I get to tie the noose around Sly's neck this time?
DISCLAIMER: I REGRETTABLY DO NOT OWN POKEMON. BUT I DO OWN THIS STORY! IN YOUR FACE SATOSHI TAJIRI!
Route 4, Unova Region.
The sun was just beginning to set and the sandstorm had died down a little enabling a few desert pokemon to come out and play. One small crocodile-looking pokemon burrowed its way out of the sand and shook of the dust off its scaly back. The pokemon, a Sandile, stretched and was just about starting a stroll when a low rumble resounded through the atmosphere causing the croc to look around cautiously before starting its stroll across the desert. It had barely taken two steps when a red and white orb smashed into her skull and all went black.
The low grumble slowly turned into a familiar roar of black wheels and solid machinery as a light cycle tore across the horizon. Leaning down, one of its passengers scooped up the now-occupied pokeball on the ground as the cycle flew through the area of sand where the unconscious Sandile had previously lain
"Alright! I caught a Sandile!" White exclaimed as Scarlet accelerated the already speeding vehicle. "That makes my second smash-em-catch-em pokemon!"
"With that awful method, I actually kinda feel sorry for those pokemon…"Scarlet murmured as he and Jolteon sweat dropped at the trainer's rather unique technique. On her insistence, Scarlet had slowed down a little so she could spot some pokemon and make hasty captures. So far, she had caught a Scraggy and a Sandile.
"I think those guys should be enough," he concluded as he spotted some faint signs of city lights in the distance. "We're almost at Nimbasa by the way. Hold on tight, the next stretch is the bumpiest."
Stuffing her pokeballs into her bag, White leaned forward and wrapped her leather-clad arms around her companion's chest. At the slight pressure of her chest on his back, Scarlet tensed and accidently gave the handle bars a twist sending the cycle into overdrive. With screaming passengers, it sliced through the hilly sand faster than a speeding Ninjask.
At Nimbasa City…
Two Plasma grunts cornered an old man at the entrance terminus and demanded the keys to the pokemon day-care centre on route 3. They were just about to snatch the keys from him when that familiar rumble echoed through the evening air. Looking towards the terminus doors, the grunts wondered what could be making that growing noise. In a moment, the doors flung open to reveal a motorcycle literally flying through the air!
Time seemed to slow down as the grunts caught a glimpse of the three familiar faces on the flying scarlet monster.
"YAAAAAAAHOOOOOOO!" White screamed as gravity took control of the cycle and it came down hard on the poor grunts. Not noticing the temporary road-kill, the group continued on their speedy journey in search of a Pokemon Center and the tyre-track-covered grunts could only recap on the beauty of Scarlet's cycle as they drifted into unconsciousness.
10 Crazy Minutes Later…
Scarlet pulled on the brakes making his bike skid across the tarmac, past the doors of the Pokemon Center, through startled trainers and right up to the service counter where an ever-smiling Nurse Joy stood ready to serve.
"Nothing gets past you guys huh?" Scarlet remarked and the nurse simply nodded.
"You're not the first one to make such an entrance," she replied as the trio got down from the bike. "…but hopefully the last in this flashy city."
"That. Was. AWESOME!" White exclaimed, throwing her arms in the air. "Did you even have a license Ginger?"
Scarlet grabbed her nose and gave it a very sharp twist. "You're asking that now?" he replied before facing the nurse and ordering for a room. The nurse however beckoned for him to lean in closer.
"Your name doesn't happen to be Scarlet does it?" the pink haired nurse whispered. Scarlet nodded cautiously and gazed at the nurse but relaxed a little when she gave a smile. "Relax, I'm undercover from ORPH. The client asked that I stay here for today and give you and the other hunters some reserved rooms."
"How convenient," Scarlet remarked as she placed a key and a card on the table.
Grabbing the key, he walked up to his cycle and tapped it twice before stepping back as the machine groaned and deconstructed itself into cube form.
"How did he do that…?" some trainers mumbled in awe. Ignoring the stares, the hunter grabbed his bag and called over his Jolteon.
"Let's find a shower Jolt. We gotta take that sand out of your fur," he said as he hovered up the stairs. "You'd better come too. You've got sand in your hair."
White flicked some sand out of her hair before going after him. Nimbasa's PC is almost like a hotel, just the way Black described it, she inwardly commented as she admired the carpeted hallways with numerous doors lining its sides. After walking for a while, Scarlet stopped at a large door labelled SUITE.
"She said room not a freaking suite…" he remarked as he checked the number on the card. Seeing as it was correct, he flipped the white piece of plastic and saw some words printed on the back.
"Courtesy of the client," White read aloud as she peeked at the card in his hands. "Who's that?"
"An acquaintance I guess," Scarlet replied as he quickly pocketed the card. Unlocking the door, the trio admired the spacious suite. In the living room were soft red couches and a large plasma screen TV was mounted on the peach coloured wall. In the bathroom, shiny tiles of porcelain lined the floor and the walls leading up to a large round bathtub with gold-painted faucet handles. The suite also offered a kitchen and dining facilities and to top it off was the bedroom with two regal-looking beds and a side of the wall made of glass that showed the beautiful city of Nimbasa and its colourful lights. A section of the transparent wall was carved out to form a door leading to a long terrace that faced the city.
"Why is all this in a Pokemon Center…?" the teens muttered in unison. This was definitely a place for either Elite Four members or very influential trainers.
"Can I live here?" White mumbled in awe as she sank into her bed and Jolteon followed suit. Scarlet dropped his bag and picked up his sleepy pokemon before heading straight for the bathroom. Filling up the tub with warm water, he plopped the lightning pokemon in and took a brush out from one of the cabinets. Giving him a quick scrub, the teen dried him off with a thick towel before smirking at the Jolteon's now puffy fur. The yellow pokemon frowned at his master's source of amusement and shook himself down to straighten his fur. As payback, the dog pokemon got behind him and pushed him into the tub before turning and walking away with his snout held high.
"Cheeky, aren't we?" the hunter spluttered before giving himself a wash and changing into a t-shirt and shorts. Too relaxed to wake the sleeping White, he padded off to the bed beside the window-wall and fell into its comfy clutches. Mumbling a goodnight to Jolteon, who was asleep at the far end of the bed, he quickly found himself in dreamland.
The next day…
Scarlet's natural clock buzzed and the hunter awoke to find White, still asleep, on his bed with her head on his chest. Mumbling a quiet "What the hell…?" he lifted himself up letting her head fall not so gently on the bed.
Rubbing his eyes, he walked into the living room and picked up the card from the other day. Tapping its centre lightly, a little hologram of Boss' secretary, Luca, materialised on top of the card and began talking.
"To the participants of this hunt, you are to meet your client at the Gear Station private lounge at 10AM today. You will know him as Mr P. Please dispose of this card once you deem it unnecessary. Good luck."
The image vanished and Scarlet placed the card into his bag before stepping into the bathroom to brush his teeth. Noticing a wet, sticky patch on the front of his shirt, he immediately guessed that his pawn was a drooler and pulled a face in disgust.
"Gross…" he muttered as he lifted off the shirt and hanging it on the railing holding up the shower blinds. Note to self, fit a washing machine design into the cube in the near future.
"What happened to you?" a voice cried out from behind in shock. Scarlet rolled his eyes and turned to face the surprised White who apparently just woke up.
"Stuff," he bluntly replied and stepped into the tub before drawing the curtains together and turning on the shower. "You can go now pervert."
White shook the frightening picture of his scarred torso out of her mind before stepping out of the bathroom. Sleeping in a leather jumpsuit wasn't an activity she would repeat anytime soon as it made her stiff and sore all over.
An hour later…
White skipped down the steps into the empty reception and pulled out her pokeballs. Releasing her pokemon, she introduced Pignite to the new members of her team.
"Pignite meet Scraggy and Sandy!" she said causing the fire pig to snicker at the desert croc's embarrassing nickname. Sandy in turn opened her jaws and mouthed something, apparently foul, at Pignite. The two pokemon glared at each other before turning away in contempt.
"Awwww, you're friends already!" White cooed, not catching the flying sparks of hostility as usual. Scraggy just stuck to her leg and stared creepily. After a while, Scarlet and Jolteon came down and gave the trainer's pokemon quick glances.
"Let's head over to the Gear Station," the ravenette stated and made for the door.
"I thought we'd head over to the theme park…" White mumbled. Ignoring her, Scarlet walked past the sliding doors and out into the street. White pouted a little at being ignored before calling her pokemon to follow her. Beartic preferred pokeball to outside so she kept him away in her bag.
Within minutes, they came to a street entrance with a set of steps leading underground. A sign post labelled GEAR STATION stood beside the entrance. Noticing trainers and workers going down the steps, the group followed suit and found themselves in a massive and busy train station.
For those who have never been to Unova, the Gear Station served not only as a useful transportation hub but also as a successful source of entertainment and fun too. Known as the infamous battle subway, trainers can experience exciting battles on moving trains against each other in an effort to meet and conquer the Subway Bosses, Ingo and Emmet (but readers can just check this out on Google so I'll shut up now).
"What exactly are we doing here?" White asked as her coach spotted a service counter and walked over to the two ladies in blue behind it.
I might as well give this girl something to do, the hunter thought.
"May we be of service to you sir?" the identically dressed women asked in unison.
"Can you give us a ticket for a battle train of her level?" he asked, drawing White to his side whose Scraggy was rooted to her head and kept up his ever-creepy stare. The women eyed the snow haired trainer before nodding thoughtfully and pulling out a ticket from a ticket-reel.
"For beginners, the single line is recommended as it draws out the confidence in newly caught pokemon, enabling trainers to observe and draw their inner strengths and also spot weaknesses," The women stated, handing the ticket to Scarlet. "This ticket allows for your pokemon to be healed after every battle in each of the seven cars. The train will be arriving very shortly. Happy Battling!"
"You heard' em White, happy battling," Scarlet exclaimed as he bundled her over his shoulder, threw her into the nearest train, shoved the ticket in Pignite's nose and made a break for it. It was all so fast and before White could grasp the situation at hand, the train doors closed and her ride began.
Jolteon followed his master with a questioning look. Scarlet caught the glare and laughed a little.
"Chill buddy. As much as I'd have loved to, I didn't send her on a trip to nowhere. She'll be back in two hours or so and besides, as her coach, I've gotta make sure she gets some training done."
Yeah and the stronger she gets, the sooner your hunt ends…that is of course, if she ain't farcing you, Jolteon commented inwardly. Finding the private lounge, the duo stepped into the well-furnished area and immediately noticed that they weren't the first ones there. Four men, hunters most likely, were sitting not too far off and helping themselves to drinks and food on the coffee table. Without so much as a greeting, the teen took a seat and checked his watch.
"9:55 huh?" he muttered as Jolteon hopped onto the seat next to his master. One of the older hunters looked up to see a boy staring at them with just the slightest hint of disgust.
"Hey brat! This ain't some place for kids. If you don't wanna get hurt, leave," the man stated gruffly. All he got was a hiss however as the boy took out a Rubik cube and started fiddling with it.
"Oi! You heard the man. Get out!" another man growled menacingly. Obviously these guys were new. Receiving silence, one of the men got up and proceeded to get him out. Jolteon simply smiled, knowing that his electricity would not be needed to settle this matter. In a few minutes, all four men were on the ground bruised and sore with Scarlet sitting down comfortably on his seat.
"Excellent display of strength, Mr Scarlet," a voice called from the doorway. All five hunters turned to see a… figure wrapped in a long black overcoat and matching gloves. The strangest thing about him though was that his face was wrapped completely in bandages with a weird top-hat to crown it all.
"Mr P…?" Scarlet asked cautiously. If this guy's going for distinctive then this is waaaay over the top, he and Jolteon pondered in unison. Mr P nodded his wrapped up head and stepped over the floored hunters to meet the teen before grabbing his hands in a handshake.
"I am honoured to meet ORPH's best hunter. I only wish the suite was prepared more to your liking," he chattered excitedly. The other hunters perked up in surprise.
"This brat's Scarlet?" they cried as one.
"The brat got a suite?" a pompadour cried, poking its frame through the door. "All I got was a normal room!"
"Us too…" one hunter chipped in.
Mr P glanced at the latecomer briefly before turning back to Scarlet. "As I was saying, I have heard so much about your exploits from Boss and I was simply thrilled when he told me you would accept my request."
"Okay..." the teen remarked, not too thrilled that the man/child was prattling stories of his hunts to every dick and harry he came in contact with. "I just want to know if the reward is real so...show me the money."
"Quite professional. Of course you'd want a reconfirmation," Mr P commented as he whipped out a big, leather suitcase from nowhere and opened it deftly.
"Bills..." LP muttered in awe over Scarlet's shoulder. "Fat wads of 'em too."
Snapping the suitcase shut, the client cleared his throat and glanced over to the four other hunters.
" How was the food?" he asked.
"Well, it was good," some of them grunted. Why was he asking that. Mr P gave a thumbs up to them and saluted. As if on cue, every one of them collapsed, dead.
"Good to hear that. I can't send you off without a good meal now, can I," he replied with a chuckle. LP winced but Scarlet was not too surprised. His intuition had been right. The client probably needed him and this Elvis Presley knock off for his plans and would dispose off the rest.
"Now that they're out of the way, I trust that you can get this job done quickly enough?" Mr P asked.
"Yup," Scarlet replied not disturbed in the least. Jolteon just wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Too many cooks spoil the broth after all."
"Quite right there," his client laughed. LP looked at the two before speaking up.
"Hey! What am I, chopped Magikarp or somethin?" The laughing stopped and the two turned to stare at him.
"...Do I know you?" Mr P asked with a tilt of the head and LP banged his pompadour on the nearest wall.
"Other than getting rid of them, what else do you have to say?" Scarlet asked, ignoring the other hunter.
"Ah yes, apparently something is needed for Reshiram to appear. You have to be in a certain place at a certain time with a certain item according to my sources. We don't know what this item is but the location is the Pokemon League on route 10. It's your job to find this item, get Reshiram and come to Lacunosa Town east of Opelucid City to make the exchange. That's all for now."
"Got it," Scarlet replied as he picked his bag. "Anything else?" Mr P looked thoughtful for a second before snapping his fingers.
"Boss says hi...and you should pick up your phone more often!" he answered with a chuckle. Scarlet rolled his eyes and whistled to Jolteon.
"Let's go buddy," he stated and stepped over the dead bodies. Jolteon stepped on the bodies before leaving with his master. Mr P waved to them before turning to face the forgotten LP.
"You have something for me, yes?" he asked in a much darker tone. LP nodded stiffly before handing over the chip.
"If I may ask...what's in that chip anyway?" the lone hunter asked.
"Oh just some minor details on Scarlet's toy," the client replied before pocketing the chip and facing LP. Placing a hand on the taller man's shoulder, he whispered ominously. "You have done well Mr LP. Its best for you to return home now and forget about this hunt unless you want to get in Scarlet's way and die of course."
LP froze a little before smiling widely. "Sorry Mummyman but I'm Cool LP. I never back down from a hunt and I sure as hell won't let that brat show me up. Have my money ready in a few months."
Mr P chuckled n his happy sing-song voice. "Then I raise my hat to your courage. Good day sir." And with that, he was gone. LP pulled on his collar before walking out of the lounge.
"Well brat, looks like things just got interesting."
Author's Corner. Side Story: Review Craze (2)
Our author sits in a bar drinking booze despite being a minor. White and Scarlet (on Violet's insistence) walk in to cheer him up.
Slybill: Its not faaaaaiiiir!
Scarlet: Life's never fair man. Man up and get used to it.
White: That was a little harsh but Ginger's right! I actually just prefer being a normal book character with no voice actor or anything.
Slybill: Oh I've come to terms with that! I just wanna know why Sam Worthington is voicing Professor Oak!
Scarlet and White: SAM WORTHINGTON?