Author's Corner.
Slybill: Scarlet continues his journey in search of Reshiram…
White: …And the travelling duo soon learn that Unova will see some seriously darker times soon…
Scarlet: …Will they pull through and reach their destinations?
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POKEMON.
Gear Station, Nimbasa City, Unova Region.
"Don't forget to cherish her and love her for the rest of your life!" Elesa called as Scarlet boarded the train. Giving the model a death glare, he handed his ticket to the train attendant and walked past the doors. At a seat not too far away, White and Jolteon had their heads poking out the window facing Elesa.
"Thanks for the fruit shake!" White yelled and waved. Elesa smiled and waved back.
"No problem, just remember that your boyfriend is paying for my roof, okay?"
"Not okay!" the hunter snapped before White could nod. "She destroys, she pays!"
"Bye Scarlet~" four giggling girls called in unison and Scarlet cringed before pulling his head out of the window.
"Be sure to come back often. Pokewood could use models like you too!" Elesa chirped as a whistle blew and the train began to move.
"We sure won't you perverted supermodel!" Scarlet yelled and slammed White's window shut. Elesa grinned and waved again before looking up at the empty sky.
"There she goes, Black… that sister of yours," Elesa muttered before smacking her forehead. "Look at me, I'm telling off a girl to her dead brother…I think age is finally getting to me."
On the train, Rain sat himself down on a seat one passenger car away from Scarlet's position. He had to confirm whether the boy he was stalking was the real deal before he could make an arrest. Also, he had to get him alone in case he tried to use the girl as a hostage.
"How do you think we should approach him?" the ranger asked and the person sitting next to him turned his head.
"Huh?"
Rain turned to the person and shook his head. "Sorry sir, I was talking to my friend over here." And they were the only ones in that car. Quick as lightning, the other passenger packed his things and went for another coach far, far away leaving Rain 'alone', so to speak, in that entire car.
"Wonder why he left…?" the bluenette muttered.
On Scarlet's end, White was busy counting the passing trees while Scarlet was reading a newspaper without much interest.
"Scarlet, why do we have to take the train to Driftveil?" White asked, still facing the window.
"You wanted to walk?" he replied dryly, face covered by the newspaper. White pouted a little. Driftveil would have been a three-day journey by foot thanks to the rocky terrain and traces of desert around Nimbasa's outskirts, that much, she knew. Going by train, and in business-class mind you, was expensive according to her brother and besides, there was more fun in walking anyway.
"It's quite expensive by train. Where did you get the money?" she asked.
"I'm being sponsored…" he replied coolly and continued scanning the crime section of the paper. As expected, Team Plasma's appearance in Castelia made a headliner with little bits of hunter sightings here and there. Luckily, the press was more familiar with the name LP than Scarlet so it was no surprise that the pompadour's face had a small column for itself. "Poor guy…" he scoffed and folded the newspaper to check on his pokemon.
Jolteon lay on White's seat with his head on her lap, thoroughly enjoying her small scratching behind his long, spiky ears, which caused his owner to raise an eyebrow. Looks like Jolteon's more attached to this girl than he is to Violet or even Lecher (Vann), he observed and glanced at White. Maybe that bonding stuff of hers is…wait, no. Maybe Jolteon just has his preferences.
"Hey White, tell me about Reshiram," he stated, deciding to keep himself busy. Also, it may have been a little late, but maybe he could now find out if White was joshing him or not. Said girl sighed dreamily and faced her companion with a look of thought in her golden eyes.
"Let's see…he's white!" she stated and received a sharp flick on the forehead. "What's that for?"
"I know Reshiram is white. Also, who said it's a guy?" Scarlet replied and leaned back in his seat. "Be more specific."
The trainer scrunched up her eyebrows in thought. "Hmmm…he's very big, with long wings that go on forever when he's flying. He's also got the most beautiful blue eyes I've ever seen but what I like most about him is his tail."
"Tail?" Scarlet echoed curiously. Truth be told, he had never seen the Vast White pokemon before except in paintings, which he thought to be inaccurate. The tails he had seen were all long wispy trails of smoke and fire. "What does his tail look like?"
"Well for one thing, its fat," she replied.
"Fat." Okay, that contradicted all the paintings for sure.
"Not disgustingly fat of course. It's just very wide cos he has to blow fire out of it." So that's where the smoke and fire came from.
"Go on."
"It's got a center-plume and ribbon-like extensions on it, surrounded by large, see-through bands. When he wants to go faster, his tail spins and glows red before shooting out fire."
"Like a rocket, maybe?" White nodded. "Then you're saying he has a turbine for a tail?" Another nod. Scarlet reached out his hand and traced her nose before twisting it lightly.
"Hey! I'm not lying!" she whined nasally.
"My pokedex has no entry on legendary pokemon so I can't certify if what you said is true or not. From all the paintings I've seen though, you're described Reshiram pretty well."
White pulled his hand off her nose and opened her bag. Riffling through it, she pulled out a long, white feather. Holding it in front of Scarlet, she smiled haughtily.
"Do you know what this is, Scarly?"
Scarlet glanced lazily at the feather before sighing. "A feather."
TWIST!
The bewildered hunter jammed a hand to his nose to stop the blood trickling out.
"What the fuck was that for, bitch?" he cried as White flexed her fingers.
"You are correct. It is a feather," she replied haughtily and cleared her throat. "Be more specific, please," she stated, impersonating his voice horribly.
"That feather doesn't belong to Reshiram if that's what you're trying to imply," he spat out and held his head high to let the blood flow back. "You didn't have to wrench my bloody nose."
White scowled. "It does belong to Reshiram. I used to pull some out when we're on his back."
"We? As in you and that brother of yours?" Scarlet snapped and leaned sharply towards her. "Riddle me this, then. How come you and your brother were allowed to ride a pokemon that supposedly belonged to a Pokemon Champion…?"
Silence...
"Oh don't tell me…." The hunter sighed and smacked his head on the wall. Reshiram, big brother, ride, Battle White, Beartic…it all made sense now. Why the hell had he ignored that fact for so long?
"Jolteon, I think I've just established the fact air-headedness is contagious," he sighed and pointed at White. "Why didn't you tell me that Black was your brother in the first place?"
The trainer looked blankly at his finger before giving a goofy smile. "You never asked, silly!" And as Scarlet felt his body slowly turn upside-down and smash itself head-first into the floor, he asked himself one simple question. To what extent can foolishness surpass logic or in other words, how stupid could an airhead get?
"Give me that feather!" he snapped, snatching the item from her hand. Taking out his cube, he brushed the feather across its smooth surface and tapped the cube's sides with his thumb. In a short while, the cube began to flash different colours before splitting apart to form a small tabloid with a changing list of Pokemon species on its holographic pane. White scooted over to Scarlet's side as he scrolled down the list and tapped some areas. In a short while, the tabloid displayed a big, fat UNKNOWN on its pane and snapped back to cube form.
"That's weird. The cube can't find a match on this feather." How strange. That means…
"I told ya so! Reshiram soooo exists, I rode on him and if you wanna meet him, you're gonna help me become the strongest trainer in Unova!" White cooed as she pulled on his cheeks in glee. Instead of slapping her off, a wide grin stretched across his face.
Our ticket to 49.5 million is so secured! Scarlet rejoiced inwardly as he beamed at his pokemon. Not only that, I've got the champion's baby sister to boot. This will be over in no time.
"What's with the beaming, Scarly? You're supposed to huff and tell me off when you're wrong, remember?" White asked, spotting the smile glued to her coach's face. Said boy stopped his rejoicing and stood up.
"I'm going to get some food. What're you having?" he asked cheerfully and Jolteon raised a sceptical eyebrow (wherever that was…).
Playing Butler too, the lengths you go to for money these days… the lightning pokemon remarked and rested his head back on White's lap.
"Oh! Can you get me some doughnuts?" White asked, drooling at the thought of biting into those warm, soft, cream-covered rings of delight. "I love doughnuts…"
"Eat too much of those and you'll get fat," Scarlet replied but still headed for the food stands anyway. "I think they're somewhere at the front of this train…"
White continued petting Jolteon while watching Scarlet disappear behind a connecting door. Smiling softly at the yellow pokemon on her lap, she thought about Scarlet's reaction when he figured out that she was Black's sister.
"You know, Jolt, I thought Ginger would act like all the other kids back home and start fawning over me or something cos Black's my brother. But he was even more interested in the feather than in my status and I'm thankful for that," she murmured quietly and Jolteon rolled on his back to face her.
Oh how right…and wrong…. you are, honey, he remarked and whined happily as she tickled his smooth belly.
From Rain's end…
The doors opened behind him and a tall, well-muscled man stepped into the car. Seeing as only one person was there, he gave a small sigh and walked past the ranger. A little way before the adjoining door on the other side, he stopped and shot a small glare at Rain who up to that point had been staring at him.
"Something on your mind, stranger?" he growled slowly and Rain gave a ghost of a smirk.
"We smell bloodlust, stranger," the bluenette replied casually and faced the window. The man narrowed his eyes before walking through the door. In a minute, six men in Team Plasma uniforms came from the door behind Rain and surrounded the ranger with their pokemon.
"Are you Rain from Almia?" one of them asked coldly and Rain sighed.
"We came here for Scarlet but it looks like we've got to deal with these guys for now…" The grunts remained silent as they wondered who he was talking to. Rain stood up slowly and faced a grunt. "What do you need, friend?"
"Our King deems you a hindrance to his plans. You are to be eliminated on this train, friend," the grunt spat out menacingly and the group tensed, ready to attack.
Rain ran a hand through his short, spiky hair and smiled. "How troublesome…"
On White's end…
Jolteon's ears twitched and he jumped off White's laps, landing on all fours perfectly before looking around at the other passengers. There was a looming tension heading their way, or so his sixth sense was telling him and as he expected, no one seemed to notice it. From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the door at the far end opening and a Native American lookalike walked through it. Looking around, he seemed to have spotted something and was now strolling towards them. The electric dog pokemon stared warily as the man stopped right in front of White's seat and rested a brown hand on the seat's polished, wooden frame.
"Excuse me miss," he said and White turned her head to face him.
"Hi Mr Indian!" she greeted goofily and the man's eyebrow twitched before he gave an obviously forced smile.
"You wouldn't happen to be White, would you?" he asked calmly and White tilted her head, puzzled.
"Um…yeah, I am. Do I know you from somewhere?" she asked innocently. She couldn't ever remember meeting this strange guy before.
"No I believe this to be the first and last time we will meet," he replied coolly and White arched an eyebrow.
"Huh?" she blurted, confused. Mom always told her not to talk to suspicious-looking strangers but her outgoing nature always found her chatting openly with anyone. Maybe now was a good time to put that advice to good use. "Uh…sorry but I don't think we should be chatting if we don't know each other. Could you please leave…?"
The man smiled and looked to the window. The train was currently passing through a desert and from the looks of it; a sandstorm would be brewing soon. Perfect.
Jolteon, who was standing opposite White, would have ignored the large man if not for the creepy vibes he was getting from him. This guy looks like trouble, he pondered warily. What does he want with White?
"Mister, I asked you to leave, unless it's something important…" White reiterated impatiently and slowly dipped a hand into her bag, searching for her pokeballs.
"Oh it is important, Miss White," he replied softly and leaned closer to her. Then Jolteon saw it. A stylized blue P on a black shield was poking out from between his jacket. "Your death, that is…" And Jolteon charged up the biggest discharge he could muster.
On Scarlet's end…
Scarlet had just picked up the plate of doughnuts from the counter when he got a feeling. A feeling he knew all too well, like what you'd feel if you found yourself surrounded by five wild Garchomp on drugs. Something in his gut told him to get back to White and pronto.
"Is something wrong sir?" the girl at the counter asked, mildly puzzled that her customer had frozen in place. Scarlet jerked and shook his head before turning and heading out of the car. However, a sickly familiar smell caught him off-guard and caused him to look to the door connecting the food stall section to the first-class carriage and the control room.
"Hold this for me," he stated and handed the plate back to the puzzled girl before taking slow steps to the door labelled FIRST CLASS. Taking out his cube, he cautiously opened the door a little and peeked. What he saw confirmed his uneasiness as his mouth went dry and his eyes widened in slight horror and disgust.
Blood. Everywhere. On the seats, on the walls and even on the ceiling like paint with bits of corpses decorating the floors and walls. At the far end of the coach, a man soaked in blood crawled weakly as if trying to escape from the very cabin itself. Terror filled his eyes and his shredded clothes made the hunter wonder just what caused this maniacal massacre. He was answered with a scream however as a large shape reared up from behind a seat with a limb dangling from its jaws. Slowly, the monster stalked its way over to the crawling man and watched with interest as he turned slowly to realize the Garchomp behind him. Scarlet looked away as the Mach pokemon brought its claws down on the human before he could utter a scream. Quietly shutting the door behind him, Scarlet took the girl's hand and dragged her out of the food stall before sitting her down on a chair.
"Sir…?" she asked, a little startled by what he was doing.
"You didn't hear anything from the first-class carriage, right?" the teen snapped, grabbing her shoulders. The girl shook her head quickly.
"Each carriage is sound insulated so as to block out the screeching of the wheels on the railway. Only downside is it blocks out sound between the carriages too. Someone could blow a bomb in the carriage right next to yours and you'd never know," she elaborated nervously.
No wonder she doesn't know… he remarked as he let go of her shoulders. "Damn, this is gonna be a pain," he muttered and the girl cocked an eyebrow.
"Is something wrong-" she asked before being cut-off by a very loud explosion. Both heads cracked in the direction of the door labelled BUSINESS CLASS and Scarlet knew something was up. On cue, Plasma grunts burst through the windows on both sides of the carriage and formed a crescent around the hunter.
"Mr Scarlet, we're here to eliminate you," one of them boomed as he tossed out a pokeball. The rest did the same and in no time at all, a lot of Watchog, Liepard, Scraggy and Trubbish stood side by side forming a wall around the ravenette and ready to kill (yes, kill!).
"Let me guess, you're probably responsible for the mess in first-class," he guessed as he twisted his cube sharply. In an instant, he tugged on the gloves now sheathing his hands and glanced at the brunette girl rooted to her seat in slight confusion and fear. "Are you gonna hide or what?"
Nodding sharply, the girl dove behind a counter and Scarlet faced Team Plasma with his back to the door where a homicidal Garchomp fed. He had two choices. Face the dragon or fight the numbers. Well, anyone would choose the obvious answer.
"Do we really have to fight?" he asked as he stuffed a doughnut in his mouth. "We can talk about this over doughnuts, my treat."
Still silence. Scarlet scowled. What happened to the good old days where love and peace ruled the world?
"I take back what I said earlier," he declared and grabbed Trubbish sneaking up on him from the ceiling. Flinging it into some grunts, his gloves glowed purple and he took on a defensive stance. "This is gonna be a real pain in the butt."
Back to White's end…
As passengers screamed and scurried out of the carriage, White held her head to stop the dizzying feeling in her brain. Pignite stood not too far from her with Jolteon at her side crackling with electricity. The stranger's Gabite crouched, growled menacingly and rubbed its two claws together as if sharpening them for another attack.
"I must say, you're quite fast when it comes to calling out pokemon," her attacker called not too far from the Land-shark pokemon.
White shook the dizziness out of her head. That explosion from Jolteon's discharge colliding with Gabite's Dragon Breath had certainly knocked her off her feet. Facing the man, she noticed the Team Plasma emblem and stifled a gasp.
"Team Plasma," she growled and put on her best glare. "What're you doing here?"
"In case you didn't catch that, we're here to kill you of course. King Ghetsis thinks of you and your friend as possible threats to his organization so he saddled me with the nasty task of wiping you off. And everybody else on this train in case of witnesses."
"Kill…" White squeaked and slapped a hand to her mouth in shock. "That's horrible. I understand if it's just me but everyone else too? That's not fair and I won't let that happen!"
The man rolled his eyes. "Great, you're one of those noble people too," Seating on the head of a seat and pointing out to the window, he gave a sinister grin exposing his sharp dentures. "Luckily, I have them to help me."
Looking out the window, White bit her lip in surprise and fright to see four large, shark-looking dragons sprinting beside the train on the desert sand. Despite its speed, the train couldn't seem to outrun the murderous-looking Garchomp who looked like they were ready to jump on-board and slaughter every living thing on the train. Putting on a brave face, White faced the man and crossed her arms.
"It doesn't matter how many of 'em you bring!" she called confidently and put on Scarlet's trademark grin of overconfidence. "We'll beat' em any day and any time!"
"Hey, that's my line!" a voice sneered and everyone looked to see the door fly open and one battered grunt staggering out from behind it.
"It's bad Sir Terra!" the grunt spluttered and coughed, clearly poisoned. "That boy is a monster-"
BAM!
One solid boot crashed into the back of his head, sending him sprawling on the ground and passing out. Scarlet stamped his boot on the grunt's back and stuffed another doughnut in his mouth.
"Scarly!" White cried happily and Jolteon smirked. Scarlet however scowled at her and pinched her nose.
"Don't go stealing my grin to boost your confidence. It only looks good on me, got it ditz?" he scolded and faced Terra. "I can't vouch for what she said though Mr Knight, but I can guarantee that those Garchomp won't be a problem if you don't leave soon."
Terra stared at the boy and laughed a little. "Oh really, well then, show me just what Alphinia was talking about, human," he scoffed and pulled off his jacket revealing a grey, tight-fitting sleeveless shirt with the Plasma emblem imprinted on the centre. "I'll have you know that I am far tougher and more experienced than the knight you faced in Castelia City."
Snapping his fingers, two Garchomp from outside crashed through the windows beside Terra and gave off hideous, bloodthirsty howls that rattled White to the bone. Scarlet and Jolteon however stepped in front of her and took on defensive stances.
"Back us up, 'kay?" the hunter murmured and White nodded before digging into her bag in search of Beartic's ball. "Hey, Injun Joe! Aren't you at least gonna introduce yourself?"
Terra's eyebrow twitched again before he took a deep breath to maintain his calm demeanour. "I am called Terra Maka and as the Subterran Dragon Knight, I shall do the honours of ripping you limb from limb."
"Bring it, Redskin!" Scarlet and White called in unison and began their attack on the knight.
Author's Corner.
Scarlet: And we're back with another epic fight. Honestly, it's about time I made another cool entrance.
White: Oh! Oh! Can I do the cool finisher this time. I wanna be the one to wear the gloves and do cool stunts with 'em.
Slybill: After what you did on father's day, I'm gonna have to say NO!
White *picks up a slab of concrete*: Jerks! *hurls it at Scarlet*
Scarlet *bleeding all over Sly's new carpet*: I never knew red went well with cream coloured carpets...
Slybill: Sly sees dirty carpet! Sly no like dirty carpet! SLY SMASH!