Author's Corner.
Slybill: Now that we're out of that rut, let's get on with this show!
DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN POKEMON. ELSE, PIKACHU WOULDN'T KNOW HOW TO LOSE BY NOW!
Outskirts of Mistralton City.
"Oi! How long are you two gonna sleep dammit!" Camille exclaimed loudly, opening the door with a bang. "Get the fuck up already-"
The goth stopped her command midway however as her eyes took in the sight in front of her. Two sleeping figures lay on the bed, one on top of the other in a rather provocative fashion and the one on top, obviously White, moaned suggestively in her sleep causing Camille to gulp. Tracing the slowly heaving girl's frame, the young technician found the cause of the slightly kinky noises and finally went red-faced as Scarlet's hand unconsciously squeezed tightly on White's left boob.
"Per-" Camille stuttered and raised a hand. "FUCKING PERVERT!"
Scarlet stirred and opened his hazy eyes, letting out a yawn. "Morning Camie. What's up-"
SLAP!
A dishevelled and utterly confused Scarlet brushed his teeth that fine morning and winced as his swollen cheeks throbbed painfully.
"That tiny bitch…" he hissed and rinsed his mouth. Glancing at the mirror, he raised a puzzled eyebrow at the now chin-length lock of hair covering the entire right of his face. And had his neck-length hair just grown by four more inches? "What the hell…" he hissed, gripping the sides of the mirror and peering closely at his reflection. Even worse, bits of blood red tinged the sides of his bottom edges.
Taking a pair of scissors, he gripped the frustrating lock and snipped a fist-sized portion off. He couldn't do anything about the hair at the back though unless he wanted a bad hair day so he found a rubber band and made a small pony tail.
"I'm gonna need a new bottle of hair dye."
Later that morning…
"What happened to your hair, Ginger?" White asked, spraying bits of food in her coach's thoughtful face.
Scarlet sighed and flicked off bread crumbs from his cheek. "It grew. Any problem with that?"
"But it was definitely shorter yesterday," Omni stated, setting his tray of food down beside the guzzling trainer. "And unless someone switched your shampoo with growth mulch, I'd say that was too fast for natural growth."
Scarlet faced the window. "White, finish your food so we can go already."
Ignored…the greenette lamented comically and started on his food. "By the way, Camille's client said he'll meet us at Mistralton today so I'll have to say my goodbyes here."
"Why?" White asked. "Aren't you following your sister on this job of yours?"
Omni shook his head. "She's a better technician than me anyway and besides, they wanted only her. I'll just have to head back to ORPH so-"
"ORPH?" White cut in and Scarlet slammed a knife on the table suddenly, reminding Omni of the situation they were in at the moment.
"Okay bro, I think you've had enough breakfast for today!" Camille declared from nowhere and pulled the greenette to his feet roughly. "Maybe you should start heading back to the ORPHanage now."
"Orphanage? Oh…" the snow haired trainer said and tilted her head. "You live at an orphanage?"
Camille huffed. "Duh! In case I forgot to mention it, my folks kicked the fucking bucket on an expedition 8 years ago so Omni and I were taken to an orphanage by an I-don't-give-a-fuck uncle of ours. Then I met the kids there and I was put in charge of taking care of them. After a year or two, they kinda grew on me like baby brothers and sisters."
Then the head of the orphanage abandoned the place and you joined ORPH so you could earn a living to take care of the little runts, Scarlet's mind chipped in, making him smirk. Despite her tough exterior, she changed totally when she was around those innocent monsters of hers. The hunter himself knew this after coming across her taking her troop out for shopping in Celadon's Mall.
"I'm sorry," White said sadly. "It must be hard."
"Well compared to what most hunters make, she's actually quite made," Omni chipped in proudly before doubling over in pain as Camille stabbed an elbow into his stomach.
"Hunters…?" the trainer asked, wondering if she heard right.
"He meant job hunters," Scarlet hastily remarked and got up from his seat. "I'm gonna have to agree with Camie on this one. Omni, bye."
"But I-" Omni was about saying.
"B.Y.E," Camie and Scarlet interjected strongly. Crestfallen, the greenette picked up his tray and sauntered over to the garbage bin. After dropping off his food, he picked his bag and hugged his sister (in case I forgot to mention it, Omni towers over Camie despite them being twins).
"Take care," he said. "I can't believe you'll be gone for two whole months."
Two months? Scarlet inwardly asked. That's quite a while.
"It's okay bro. Don't forget to take care of the others. Oh, and give this to Jerry." Camie extended a pokeball towards her brother. "That Joltik decided to follow me in the end and it agreed to stay with the kids while I'm gone."
Nodding, Omni took the ball and pocketed it before turning to White.
"Scarlet told me you want to become the strongest trainer in Unova. From what I saw with Killa, you're well on your way to success. Best Wishes."
White suddenly crushed the boy in a hug. "Safe journey."
Turning to Scarlet, the greenette extended a hand. "I'll see you around buddy. Make sure my sister gets to Mistralton without ripping anything apart."
"I'm not some errand boy," the hunter replied and gripped the hand slowly. "But I'll at least make sure she doesn't rip me apart since we're going together anyway."
Chuckling, the greenette shook his hand and turned. "Oh BTW, happy hunting, Scarlet."
Scarlet stiffened and both he and Camie raised their fists.
"I should shut up now," Omni stated.
"YOU THINK!"
BAM!
Having sent the loudmouth on his not-so-merry way with two black-eyes as their parting presents, Scarlet, White and Camille picked their pokemon from the resident Nurse Joy and started on their way through the small forest to Mistralton City.
"What did Omni mean by happy hunting?" White asked and Camille sweatdropped.
This girl asks a lot of questions.
"Happy…success hunting," Scarlet replied. "He's wishing me good luck in my journey to train you into becoming the most successful trainer in Unova."
"Oh!" the trainer cooed and skipped ahead enthusiastically down the grassy path, singing loudly to herself.
"Well, she's bubbly," Camille remarked, speeding up to walk beside Scarlet.
"She's always bubbly," the boy replied. "Who's this client of yours anyway?"
Camille scrunched her brows up in thought. "Actually, I don't really know. Boss himself just said they were some company working on to change the earth's future...or something like that."
"Sounds like some engineering company or something. How will you know the clients when you see them?"
"Luca said their representative will definitely stand out."
Kinda like Mr. P, thoughtScarlet.
"Ginger! Camie! The city's right below this hill!" White called, a sizeable distance from the other two teens. Picking up the pace, Scarlet, Camille and Jolteon soon found themselves admiring the smallish city from atop the tall hill.
"Meet Mistralton City! The City Strewn with Windblown Leaves!" And on cue, a gentle wind swept past the group carrying freshly-fallen green leaves as if to accentuate White's recent statement. Stretching her hands out, the trainer did a little dance and giggled as her long hair danced about like curtains.
"Whatever. Let's just find this Skyla person and be on our way," Scarlet stated, trudging down the hill.
"OK!" the trainer replied and took a step before missing her footing entirely. Wobbling, her flailing hands caught the unsuspecting Camille and sent them both tumbling into Scarlet who in turn rolled down the rather steep hill with both screaming girls tangled around him. The laughing Jolteon was definitely not spared as his master's boot accidentally made contact with his legs, sweeping him from underneath and making him follow the humans' grassy course downhill. All good things had to come to an end though so without further ado, the tumbling group slammed themselves hard against a concrete curb.
"Fucking hell..." the bruised goth groaned, rubbing her head slowly. Then she froze as her chest moved from underneath her. White did the same and looked down to see Scarlet's face snuggled conveniently between Camille's smallish mounds and White's biggish melons.
"I've lived…" Scarlet moaned as blood flowed down his nose ferociously. Gasping at the provocative position they were in, Camille went red and stumbled off the temporarily contented teen before landing her foot into his crotch twenty solid times, screaming PERVERT at each kick. Laughing, White got off the agonized hunter and gazed at her surroundings. They seemed to have rolled into some kind of airplane runway given the white tracks and tiny lights lining the tarmac.
"Are we in some kind of airport?" Camille asked, pausing her kicking as a plane suddenly flew right above her, causing their hair and clothes to rustle violently. In a minute, the blue machine landed on the road with a small screech and continued its course to a nearby hangar, gradually coming to a stop in front of the green-roofed building.
"That should answer your question," Scarlet replied, getting up painfully.
From nowhere, the shrill cry of a whistle pierced the air and the group looked up to see a uniformed man on his flying pokemon, an Unfezant, hovering above them. Landing in front of them, the airport official jumped off his pokemon and gave a brisk tip of his blue hat.
"I'm sorry but this is a restricted zone. Unless you have a plane to catch, I suggest that you please leave the runway as it gets dangerous when the planes start their take-off."
White dusted her shorts and bowed quickly. "Sorry, we'll leave immediately but first could you tell me where Gym leader Skyla is?"
The official rubbed his chin. "Pilot Skyla? Hmmm…she'd normally be at the airport at this time but I doubt she'd want to see anybody given the mood she's been in lately."
"Thank you, that's all we need to know!" White exclaimed and grabbed Scarlet and Jolteon. "C'mon guys! Let's go find Skyla!"
Camille coughed as the trainer zoomed off towards the airport's main building, leaving dust and smoke behind. "Hey! Wait the up, will ya!"
In no time, White stepped through the glass doors and found herself in the sparsely populated lobby. Mistralton Airport was initially a courier service, transporting cargo and parcels but after some years, it had grown into a passenger-friendly corporation often flying people to other parts of Unova and even some other regions.
I would've landed here if I hadn't jumped off that plane, Scarlet mused as they passed a service counter.
"May we help you?" two attendants asked in unison as soon as White headed up to the counter.
"I want to see Skyla please!" she chirped, placing her hands on the polished desk. The attendants glanced at each other uncertainly before turning back to the girl.
"Um…she doesn't like being disturbed when she's busy," they replied, making White frown slightly.
"But I have to meet her. I know she's probably down in the dump right now, that's why I came. To talk to her and help."
An attendant sighed sadly. "You're right about Miss Skyla being down. She used to be so bubbly before."
"Now's not the time to be mopey, Serena!" the other attendant scolded lowly and turned back to White. "I'm sorry but Miss Skyla has been keeping to herself lately and as such, she won't see anyone these days. I'm afraid you'll have to leave if that's all you came for."
"But-!" Scarlet put a hand on White's shoulder and stepped forward slowly. Resting his elbows on the counter, he leaned forward and came uncomfortably close to Attendant Serena's face. At his intensely passionate look, the girl blushed and turned away shyly.
"Serena…" he began, using his hand to gently raise her face to meet his. "Won't you please tell us what happened to Skyla? We're in a really tight situation here and I don't think I've got the time to waste."
Getting redder, the girl nodded and began her tale, oblivious of the scowl sent at her from her colleague.
"Years ago, Miss Skyla's grandfather passed away and it seemed to affect her badly. She rarely ate anything for the first few months after his death and put her carrier on hold to recover. She did after a year but just as she was about getting back to her normal life, her prized Swanna died during a particularly dangerous battle. She was devastated and developed a sort of phobia for pokemon battles in general. She got over it though after meeting a friend some years ago who helped her get her self-confidence back and returned being a gym leader. Then that friend died too, eight years ago and she's been down ever since."
Talk about rough, Jolteon remarked inwardly while White looked down sadly.
"I see…" Scarlet said and sighed. "May we please know where she is? We're very close friends of hers and we wish to offer our condolences."
"Pilot's Lounge, top floor," Serena replied dreamily as he stroked her face. Nodding, the teen let go and grabbed White's arm.
"You owe me again, ditz," he stated and dragged her towards an elevator with Jolteon following closely at their heels. Pressing a button, the metal doors slid open and the group walked into the small space.
"Fucking flirt…" Camille hissed, crossing her arms and Scarlet shrugged playfully.
In a minute, the elevator stopped and opened to reveal a spacious lounge with large windows facing the runway and the city on both sides. At the very end of the room, a woman sat on a long couch facing the city.
"Skyla…?" White called cautiously. Without so much as a grunt, the young woman turned slowly to the group and waved, a tired smile forming on her roundish face.
So this is Skyla, Scarlet remarked, gazing at the woman. She looked pretty much the same as she was eight years ago when she was still seventeen. Her dark-red hair had grown to waist-length however and was now left to fall freely, framing her tanned face. Her uniform had also changed too as she now wore black instead of blue and had slim-fit trousers instead of the shorts she used to wear. She kept the blue boots and gloves though.
"It's been a while White. I'm guessing the attendants told you I was here."
Her voice sounds a little choked up, like she hasn't been doing a lot of talking lately, Camille observed. Walking up to the woman, White plopped beside her and embraced her tightly.
"The last time I saw you was at Black's funeral," she stated and Skyla sighed.
"Yeah…his funeral," she echoed and got up. "I'd love to stay and chat but my break is over and I've got a shift to cover."
"Get someone else to do it! I came to cheer you up!" White cut in, grabbing her hand and sitting her back down on the couch.
"White…" Skyla began tiredly but stopped as the girl pressed a finger to her lips.
"Now, tell me what's on your mind," she said and ushered for Scarlet and Camille to sit somewhere farther away.
"There's nothing to tell really," Skyla replied and gave a small sigh. "Listen, White. Bianca's already tried and I gave her the same answer. I. Am. Okay."
"No. You're. Not," the trainer stubbornly replied with a vigorous shake of the head. "You don't look okay, you don't talk okay and you certainly don't act okay."
Silence followed for the next couple of seconds and White stared strongly into the tired looking redhead.
"Are we really gonna do this?" the woman asked and White nodded viciously. Sighing, the redhead got up and straightened her uniform. "Meet me at the top of Celestial Tower at 5 in the evening. We'll talk then." And with that, she left the room silently without even greeting the other three.
"Well that was vague," Scarlet remarked, padding up to his trainee.
"She's so hollow…" White muttered and Camille shrugged.
"Hey, she said she was okay. So maybe you should just give her some space-"
"I'm not giving up on her! She's Black's friend and as such, she's my friend too!" the girl cut in and stood up. "If Black could get her back to her old self, then so can I!"
Her voice echoed for a few seconds before silence reigned once again and Scarlet checked his watch.
"It's 11 right now so we've still got some time to chill. I'm heading to the nearest shopping mart."
Camille tugged on her duffel bag strap and looked to the window. "Maybe I should start looking for my client." she murmured lowly and started towards the elevator.
"I'll stroll around Mistralton then!" White chipped in and took out her pokeballs. "These guys probably need a stretch anyway."
"Hair dye, hair dye...found it," Scarlet muttered and dropped two cans into a basket sitting on Jolteon's back. "I'll probably need pokemon food too."
Having found a mart across the street, the hunter and his pokemon had entered to refill on supplies and perhaps pass the time waiting for Skyla to finish her shift. White took to exploring the city with her pokemon while Camille opted to stay at the library nearby. All in all, the coming afternoon seemed uneventful and Scarlet sighed as he took a weighty bag of pokemon food and dropped it into the basket, much to the lightning pokemon's discontent.
Not taking notice of his friend's growling, Scarlet mentally checked his list for any more supplies that would come in handy later. Finding none for the moment, he took the basket off of Jolteon's back and strolled over to the check-out counter.
"I hear you buddy. That Skyla's gonna kill herself with depression at this rate."
Scarlet scowled as he watched the guy at the counter chatting mindlessly on the phone. Honestly, why does everyone care so much for Skyla anyway?
"She's still hot though, depressed or not," the man continued, giving a sly smile. "I wonder if she's still a virgin."
Figures, the ravenette deadpanned mentally. She does have a rocking bod though.
"Ahem!"
The man stopped his rambling and faced the teen in front of him.
"Oh! Sorry about that!" he blurted and ran up the bill for the goods. "That'll be 20.99 please."
Handing the man his money, Scarlet put the items into his bag and walked out of the store.
"Hot," he remarked as the heat from the sun poured over him. Was Mistralton at 12 noon normally this hot or was it just because summer was fast approaching. Scarlet paused.
Summer already. How long have I been with that ditzy broad anyway...? The ravenette recapped on his eccentric and sometimes dangerous adventures with the girl from their fateful encounter in Pinwheel up to now. One thing was for sure, it had been one hell of a ride so far. "It's almost like she's what's making this mission more exciting."
"It's four-thirty!" White exclaimed, sitting in between Emboar's broad shoulders. "Let's find Scarly and Jolteon and get to Celestial Tower!"
Grunting, Emboar ran down the road and stopped at the city's library after a few twists and turns.
"You think he's in here?" her trainer asked and the pokemon nodded. "Thank Arceus Scarly smells so good. Else we'd never have been able to track him."
Emboar grunted heartily and lowered her trainer to the ground before returning to her pokeball. Taking out Scraggy for company, the girl opened the large wooden doors and found herself in a long hallway lined with rows upon rows of books and desks.
"Wow...this is just like Nacrene's Museum!" she exclaimed and was rewarded with a "SSSHHH" from an old librarian hidden behind a mountain of books.
"Sorry!" she whispered loudly and shuffled through the hallway. Looking to the balcony, the girl caught sight of her target and ran towards a set of wooden staircases. Upon getting to the first-floor, she gazed at the raven-haired teen sitting ahead at the large window and poring over a book studiously.
I never knew he wore glasses... she remarked, admiring Scarlet's cool-nerd look. The latter, on the other hand, failed to notice his companion staring at him as he was too absorbed in his Reshiram research.
"Whatcha reading?" White asked from nowhere, instantly derailing his train of thought.
"Reshiram," he sighed and closed the old-looking book. "Although I just keep seeing weird-ass stories and stuff about truth and ideals."
White giggled. "They're true anyway."
"As if. If I've got any questions on Reshiram, I'll just ask you," he scoffed lowly and put the books away. "Stop staring at me."
White shook her head and smiled. "You look sexy with glasses and a ponytail, Ginger!"
Jolteon snorted and Scarlet rolled his eyes. "Sexy? Have you been talking to Elesa over the phone lately?" Facing her, the teen pulled off his glasses and picked up his pokemon. "Let's head for that tower of yours."
Celestial Tower, Route 7, Unova Region.
Atop the high, brick tower sat a redhead girl swinging her legs freely at the thirty story drop below her.
"How many times have I considered jumping anyway...?" she murmured and gazed at the orange clouds. As she could recall, it was among those clouds that she had met that guy on that fateful evening 11 years ago.
"Hey Skyla! You're not jumping are you?" a voice rang and she turned to see White catching her breath before jogging up to her. "Those stairs were soooo long. Maybe we should be meeting downstairs from now on."
"I'm surprised you even got here so fast. Didn't you fight the psychics and ace trainers on the way?" Skyla replied, turning back to the skies.
"Oh, them? I didn't have to worry about them because my pokemon are super strong!"
"Hmm..." Skyla drew her knees up to her chest and watched a flock of Swanna fly by. "What happened to those friends of yours?"
"Scarly will be here in a minute since he stayed behind to look at some gravestones. Camille didn't follow us here in the first place," White replied, sitting carefully behind the gym leader. For the next couple of minutes, the girls watched the clouds with White's Deino straddled across her lap.
"So how come you want to help me so desperately?" Skyla spoke up, breaking the silence. "I never really knew you anyway..."
"You lost your glow," the trainer replied solemnly, stroking her pokemon's black fur. Skyla arched an eyebrow.
"Last time I checked, I'm not a vampire so I don't glow in sunlight."
White chuckled. "At least you still know how to make a joke. Just like Black said."
"Yeah..." the woman replied and gripped her own shoulders tightly. "What do you mean by glow anyway?"
"Whenever I saw your battles on TV, I always noticed some kind of...I don't know...light radiating from both you and your pokemon. And the way they moved through the air at your command, it was beautiful."
Skyla gave a wan smile. "Thanks...but that didn't help when my Swanna died..."
"I know Skyla and I'm sorry about that but I also know that Black got you out of that phase. Now that he's not around anymore, it's my job to help you get over his death."
"Your job? What're you, some kind of psychiatrist or something?" the young woman scoffed and tightened her grip on her shoulders. "Like I said, I don't know you very well so its not your business to pry into my emotional life."
White sighed. "Black was right, you can be so closed-minded when you're sad."
"Black said that?" Skyla asked and lowered her eyes. "That tattletale..."
"That doesn't mean I'm giving up though. I can be stubborn too!" White declared and extended a hand towards Skyla. "Hi, I'm White! 14 years old and future champion of Unova!"
Skyla looked puzzled. "What're you doing?"
"Getting to know you better. So what's your name?"
And I thought Black was weird... "...I'm Skyla, 25 and future ex-gym leader of Mistralton City, I guess," she replied, grasping the girl's hand weakly.
"Now that we know each other better, time for me, as your friend, to help you."
"Okay..."
"So let's cut to the chase, do you love Black?" White asked and Skyla's blue eyes widened.
"Where'd that come from?" she stuttered as her cheeks grew faintly red from embarrassment.
"Do. You. Love. Black?" the girl stated flatly and leaned closer to her.
"I was crushing on him at one point...but that's as far as I went," Skyla replied in a small voice. "Why d'you ask?"
"No reason," White said and stroked Deino again. "Can you please tell me how you met him?"
"Huh?" Where exactly was she going with this...? And besides, doing that might open up old scars.
"Please?" Great, she's breaking out the Black's Igglybuff eyes too...
"Fine..." the woman sighed and crossed her legs. "But it might get a little long."
"Yay!" White cried, pumping a fist in the air. "It's Story time!"
Mistralton City Terminus.
Alphinia eyed the sky wearily and yawned. She never cared for the sunset's beauty whatsoever and the orange in the clouds only served as a reminder that it was time for another nap.
"Why do I have to wear these clothes?" she groaned and her brother hung his head in mock sadness.
"And I went through a lot to get that sundress too..." he bemoaned before straightening up. "Relax sis. You'd stand out too much if you went in your uniform anyway. Remember, we're here to pick up our technician."
The blonde huffed and crossed her arms before walking out of the terminus and into the street. "I feel so human," she muttered as the passing crowd of people brushed past her. In truth, this was one of the first few times she was this far from the castle and she felt a little hesitant. Of course, her face didn't show it so people often took her for the bored girl with headphones on, watching humans and pokemon go by on that semi-busy road.
Her expression changed however as she smelt a certain smell that threatened to drive her wild with excitement. Noticing his younger sister's heaving shoulders, Draco came from behind and wrapped his arms around her gently.
"Draco...?" she pleaded and the man smiled. How could he ever say no to her?
"Maybe we'll stay for a few more days," he stated with a sigh and led his sister to a hotel for the night. Sorry Camille, maybe we'll pick you up later.
At that moment...
Scarlet rose his bloodied finger to his face and scowled. Great, now I'm gonna need a bandage...
Author's Corner.
Scarlet: Jeez, what a cliffhanger.
Slybill: I know! At least now, Draco will participate when the fight eventually comes.
Camille: D'you think we're screwed if we fight them.
White: We'll just have to stay tuned and find out.