Chapter 18: Ice-cream melting in the heat of summer
A few months later
Early morning
Kanto, Celadon city
Dex criminal's hideout: Execution's room
Gold lazily entered the chamber to see Diamond and Red already duking it out with each other, the slow teenager was doing his best to improve the speed of the pokemon and a large gyarados was trying to fight in the cramped space. The blue serpent looked enraged, in complete contrast to Red's other pokemon. This one was reluctantly obeying orders and it did not look too happy to have the champion command it around. On closer inspection, he could see small blemishes dotting the pokemon's body, must be newly caught then, the Johto native concluded.
"We are done capturing the Legendary titans." the gold eyed trainer announced and observed as Lack-2 put his smartphone away and bounded over with a grin stretched on his face. The two fist bumped and Red watched the exchange with an amused half-smile.
"Good, sorry to send you all off like that, we needed the titans captured as soon as possible, seems like the police are going crazy." The leader commented, in the background, Diamond narrowed his eyes at the atrocious pokemon and commanded his torterra to fire another set of razor leaves, all of the leaves were blown away with a roar except for one, it stuck squarely on the fish pokemon's head and Gyara did not look amused. Dia took a step back.
"Training!" Lack-2 demanded childishly and Gold groaned, they boy was overly persistent nowadays. Pulling out a pokeball, he tossed it into his student's eager hands.
"Here, I got a present for you."
The child's russet tinted eyes dimmed after he thoroughly examined the pokemon peering out of the clear covering of the ball, "you got me a ducklett..." he listlessly stated.
"Yeah." agreed Gold "looks cute doesn't it?" The small pokemon was released and it meandered around the room on webbed feet, in the end, it halted at its trainers legs and quacked happily spreading it's tiny wings, the elder male chuckled, "see, it likes you."
"It likes me" a sly smirk formed on his face and he took out his Pokedex, glancing at it he commanded, "okay Ducklett, use water gun! Make sure to soak my teacher thoroughly, he didn't shower this morning."
"H-HEY!" Red and Dia laughed as the second eldest got a thorough washing down. Unhappy with the current situation, Gyara caused a waterfall to rain down on its new trainer and the black haired adolescent's laughter sputtered out like a dying exhaust. Amidst all this commotion, a door slid open and Yellow walked in holding a clip board in her hand.
"Senior Red, Green is asking you to make your way to the legendary pokemon...Holding...Cell" she looked up and flushed. The trainer in question was wringing his shirt out of excess water and he swept his sodden bangs out of his eyes. Next to him, his underling was doing the same thing, except Gold did not have enough decency and had taken off his shirt, a puddle of water formed on the wooden floor.
"Coming Yellow, I'll get changed first, inform Green that I'll be there in a minute."
A few minutes later the leading trio was standing before the Perspex tube holding a curled up Mewtwo. Blue tapped on the glass and relayed the information she learnt about the creation of the world. Green and Red nodded in a somber manner. The three stared at the corrupted legendary, the psychic feline was now almost completely black and instead of trying to straighten itself out, it remained in its fetal state ignoring the humans. Green started musing about its power and what it might be capable of, he inputted a few figures on his palmtop and his eyebrows shot up in surprise. When he showed his friends the numbers on the screen, Blue whistled and Red merely scratched the back of his head and cited that he had no idea of effort values and individual values. Green's cheerful smirk wore off and he face palmed in a defeated manner.
"So only the creation trio can create an original world is it?" the ruby eyed male contemplated aloud, "does this mean Green's work just went to waste?"
"No Red...By Uxie you are such a moron sometimes...I gained experience, if we ever need to create a more powerful pokemon, I'll be able to use this method...Provided that this Monster I created actually listens to us."
"Don't worry" Blue chimed in and fixed her white hat on her head, "if something like happens, we can count on Red to clear it up" she giggled and pulled his cheek in an affectionate matter. "Say Green?"
"Hmm?"
"Why don't we all go on a vaca-"
"Declined" the male brunette sternly stated, "you saw the situation out there, police are hounding down anyone who breaths in the wrong direction, don't be stupid."
"Oh come on! We've been working hard. Everyone has been working hard. My team has already secured the time and space orbs and I'm sure Execution already captured the legendary titans, even though the police are hot on our trail, none of us has given them the slip, except of the cards of course. Most of the time, we go in masked. I NEED A BREAK!" she stood her ground and glared. Red, who was in the middle, took a wary step backwards.
"Then rest at home!" Green riled up and glowered in return. Knowing she won't be able to win if the arrogant man took a firm stance, she switched tactics, there was one person in the entire Poke-verse Green Oak would cave into and that was his best friend.
"Red!" the man flinched and paled "you want a vacation too don't you? I mean you and your team were hard at work getting all the legendries, well not you since all you did was lounge around the base, but your team! Think of their feelings!" The woman looked at him with crocodile tears threatening to spill out of her large, expressive eyes.
"A vacation...Sounds nice...How 'bout it Green" he sheepishly stated, "it's summer so we could go to the beach. I heard that the beach in Slateport is one of the nicest in the world." Giving up, the brown haired male waved his hand in the air.
"Yay! You are the best Green!" Blue gushed.
"Pesky woman..." he muttered under his breath.
Several days later, afternoon
Hoenn
Slateport beach
White dug her toes in the warm sands of the beach and watched the cream foamed waves of the ocean roll in and out; she wriggled her toes as the pleasantly cold water washed over her feet. A few meters in the water, most of the male members of the organization were busy playing a game of volleyball, their respective pokemon partners were also released from the confines of the pokeballs so that they may also partake in the fun. She watched as Pearl struck a beach ball with vigor and it soared over to the other side, Black jumped up and slammed the ball in return, his carracosta fired a water gun and the plastic orb soared over the heads of the opposing team. The only males absent from the impromptu competition were Lack-2 and Gold, the teacher-student pair were trying to woo some girls; and Green. She twisted herself backwards to see the leader sitting cross-legged in the sand, his shirt was open and he rested his cheek on a fist, glowering at anyone who came close. The Unovian's eyes drifted up to his hair, the spikes were parted in the middle and his brown locks were dyed black. Near him, Yellow and Sapphire were busy building a sandcastle and Blue...was probably swindling some swimmer into buying her what she wanted.
Lazuli irises combed the beach and the chocolate haired girl sighed in content, it was summer and a lot of beach goers were present. Children too young to swim on their own sported inflatable tubes around their bodies, cheerful pokemon cries rang out in the air, teenagers and adolescents wore swimsuits and amused themselves in the water or by playing a game or simply laying around tanning themselves. White began to make her way back to her team, she gave the obviously fuming leader a wide berth and sat next to Whi-2 who was giving her Servine a massage, the smug pokemon was crooning in delight. A while later something cold was pressed into the young girl's cheek and the she looked up to see a grinning Lack-2 presenting her with a can of Lemonade.
"Thanks" she accepted the drink and popped the seal open. The brown haired boy straightened up and observed his senior getting chewed out and refused by Crystal, a while later Ruby came running out of the ocean and dug through his bag, retrieving a long sleeved shirt, the teenager quickly wore it mumbling about the sun's bad effects on his flawless skin. One by one, the other members also joined them. Green's scowl deepened when Red flopped down on the sand next to him. Pika squeaked happily and bounded on the brooding male's head.
"Cheer up Green!" the ruby eyed trainer added and stretched lazily "hmm, it's a nice day to be outside. We need to unwind once in a while y'know"
A grunt was his only response.
Sapphire whooped when their sandcastle was completed, she and senior Yellow did some good work on it. The sand sculpture was pretty impressive, there was a towering castle in the middle, surrounded by a moat and a crude drawbridge, even though it was constructed recently, parts of the palace was already breaking down, the entire thing disintegrated when Blue, with Cleffy in a tow ran up to them, through their creation and landed on Green's back. The man was at first too shocked to say anything, then slowly he faced her and hissed under his breath. Gold whistled appreciatively as he eyed her and Silver raised a fist and smashed it in his friend's head.
"Green, buy me some ice-cream!" she moaned incessantly and smiled at him, "it's hot here, and since you've been sitting here like a darmanitan statue for the past couple of hours, you are the only one I can ask. Pleaseee~? Do your co-worker a small favor?" she finished her request with a sultry wink.
Reflective pendant glinting in the sun, the adolescent picked himself off the sand amongst many mumblings of 'pesky woman' and a few rude words. Blue hopped in the sand in delight as she beheld him walk past a few couples and their pokemon, some sailors and a little group of children. He stood in line to get his turn of buying ice cream, once Blue was sure he was not coming back she turned to the rest of the organization.
"Okay people" her fashionable sunglasses flashed, "let's scram outta here. You don't want to spend the whole day at the beach do you? RED!" she kicked the snoring individual, "wake up and MOVE before Green gets back here."
"Why?" Rather contented with his surroundings Dia asked, he and Pearl were having fun smacking each other down in the sand.
"Because Mr. Professor needs some time alone, to appreciate the wonders of the ocean or whatever." Groaning, the rest of the members got up from the beach or deck chairs and went off, once Blue started on one of her schemes; it was wise to remain out of sight. Red threw a shirt on, snatched his Pika away from Chuchu and dashed after Ruby and Saph who were making a quick escape. Finally, it was only Yellow and Blue on the beach, the junior, wearing a saffron sundress instead of a bathing suit was dusting her dress off and preparing to leave.
"Uh Yellow, could you stay here and inform him the rest of us are gone to explore the region? I mean he's going to get really mad if no one waits for him right?" The girl nodded in agreement. "Thank you, you are so understanding, unlike Red" the girl smiled at the name "he ran first without even waiting for his best friend!" Tossing her curls, the older woman grinned and made a speedy exit. Having nothing to do now that every one of her team mates were gone, she sat on the deck chair and waited. A wide beach umbrella shaded her from the sun.
Done buying two cones of ice cream (he was sure his black haired best friend will wake up and demand for one) he made his way back, sandals crunching in the sand. He returned to see the spot he and the organization was hogging, was deserted. Only Yellow waited for him with an innocent smile. It was really hot and he felt even hotter due to the sheer anger he was unable to articulate. Sweat poured from his forehead, he was pretty sure Blue orchestrated this particular scenario. That pesky woman knew too much. His emerald irises focused on the twin cones of the frozen confectionary in his hands. One of them was melting already and the stuff was running down the sides of the cone. He offered one to Yellow and she informed him:
"The others left to explore the city and have fun, it's only us on the beach." she took the ice cream and began eating it. He sat down with a respectable distance between them.
It's hot, he reasoned, perfectly normal to have flushed cheeks under these circumstances. He risked a peek at the blonde sitting next to him. Immersed by the simple pleasure of eating ice-cream, she ignored everything around her.
Green simply watched, the forgotten ice-cream melting in his hands.
Around the same time
Slateport
Saph, Ruby and Red were walking through the aisles of Slateport market, the teenager was perfectly fine with his best friend walking with their senior, after all, the wild trainer aspired to be like him. Red pulled his cap lower and looked around impressed by the sights and smells of the different items offered by the shops. A few flat screen televisions were showcasing a variety of shows. He stopped by one and watched, enthralled by the Pokemon contest. An aquamarine haired man, wearing a rather revealing outfit, was commandeering two pokemon to show off the most beautiful moves ever to grace human eyes. A luvdisc and seaking sprayed water from their mouths, this water suddenly changed into a fountain of ice and it was neatly shattered. Sunlight penetrating from the windows caught on the white particles and the dust glowed in an array of colors. The diamond dust scattered when a multicolored aurora beam was fired by a clamperl held by the graceful trainer. The crowds in the television cheered madly and Ruby, who was standing next to Red and also watching the show clapped enthusiastically. His eyes shone with awe and he began to ramble about how great Wallace was. Saph, infuriated because she was ignored, pulled him away by the ear.
"You said you were going shopping! Stop gawking at the monitor and let's get going." He looked back at Red who was still glued to the screen with a dumb smile on his face. Shrugging, the duo visited the markets. As usual, Ruby picked up a large skitty doll, they moved to the next shop and the fashionista held up a few incenses and sniffed them. Saph was busy reading the labels of a few technical machines and deliberating which one to buy, she selected a few and paid the cashier. The trekked onwards to the Energy Guru and here the red eyed trainer splurged all his savings on Protein and other vitamin supplements. He stuffed the crate of medicine bottles in his bag his eyes sparkling at the prospect of his pokemon becoming healthier and more beautiful. At the secret power club shop, Sapphire spent quite a bit of money on the hidden base decorations. She was going to liven up her bedroom in the organization's Hoenn base.
The two exited Slateport market and dragged an unwilling Red along with them.
Inside the oceanic museum, a multi-story blue roofed building, Black squashed his face against the glass displaying cases. His face was set into permanent wonder as he read the metallic plaques and scribbled bits of vital information down on a pad. His musharna was happily growling on his head as he flitted from one case to another, marveling at skeletons of pokemon which were extinct a long time ago. White and Whi-2 followed much more slowly behind him, the two girls, one carrying an amoongus and the other a solosis were chatting in an amiable manner and peering here and there in an interested manner. Their sneakers squeaked on the pristine floors as they caught up to Black. The pre teenager was gaping at a skeleton reconstruction of some ancient pokemon. In a flash, the brown haired boy retrieved his camera and began taking pictures of it from all angles.
"Senior Black is very spirited isn't he" Whi-2 commented, her hair was pulled in a ponytail.
"Yes..." White agreed with lopsided smile, "he gets carried away sometimes." The person in question was screaming words out. Platina, who was descending from the upper floors wearing a delicate frown joined them and admonished the ebullient trainer.
"Do not scream." her chiming voice cut in the screeching like a knife "this is a public place it's best to be quiet." The male apologized and breathed heavily.
"Say senior, why don't you come with us? We'll have fun together touring the museum." The heiress smiled and dipped her head in agreement. Together the new band kept on chatting and walking amongst display cases housing history and pokemon of forgotten times.
Lilycove
Department store
Crystal counted her money and her face morphed into dismay. She sincerely regretted paying a large sum out to Gold just a few days ago. The golden eyed trainer had whined about getting a new skateboard and both she and Silver pitched in and gifted him some money. He bought what he wanted and showed off the decorative plank of wood fitted with adjustments it did not need. Unfortunately the past was the past and she could only wait for the end of the month to get more money. She eyed the various types of pokeballs on the shelf before her, some of them had run out and she needed to replenish her supplies, the heavy balls displayed on the shelves taunted her and she gave up, moving to the next isle, she spied Emerald trying to reach a few containers on higher shelves, alas his short stature was disabling him. With a soft smile on her lips, she picked the boy up and he yelped in surprise.
"It's just me" she soothed and held him comfortably. The boy shot an arm out and retrieved several glass bottles of X-Accuracy and defense.
"Thanks, but please put me down, I still have horrible memories when senior Green...Carried me...Yuck, I need a dream eater to scrub my brain clean."
"Must be a horrific experience," Crys agreed and her eyes strayed to a few pokeball seals, some of them were in breath taking designs. Throwing worry to the winds she gave up and bought several of them, a girl needed to indulge herself once in a while. Emerald was off again and this time she nearly threw her purchases to the ground as she found him, on an upper floor, asking the sales clerk to give him the best deals on a portable computer, the price of the machine he wanted nearly made her faint.
"...I'll take it" the under developed boy declared and the clerk looked at him in a concerned manner.
"Hey kid, where's your mom, I mean you need to pay..."
"I'm not a kid and I don't have a mom, here, let me pay for that." Walking to the checkout he stood on tiptoes and placed a wad of bills on the counter. He was thanked and the large laptop was dumped in his arms. The blonde staggered with the weight.
"Crys...Could you hold on to this?" Astonishment vanishing, she gingerly took the device from him and held it, exiting the store, the duo took the elevator to the rooftops, apparently there was a sale going on there. The doors slid open and a warm breeze welcomed them.
"Say Rald, let's sit here and eat, I'm a bit hungry." The boy nodded.
The located a vacant bench and sat down, the concrete was hot underfoot. The indigo haired woman left Emerald to get something to eat. She returned shortly with two cans of soda, pudding, a cake and other sweet stuff. The boy eyed her in an apathetic manner.
"This is food? I thought you were going to get me a sandwich or something, geez Crys, you and your sweet tooth." The female in question laughed and apologized. After finishing everything, they went around to the stalls. Not caring if her savings were in the red zone, Crys bought several posters, dolls and scrolls whilst Emerald purchased a seedot themed flat screen television, a berry tree and a mini model of Castelia city. The boy grinned viciously showing a mouthful of teeth as adults gaped at him. It was fun to be rich.
With Diamond and Pearl:
"I want this one..."
"No! This one, the one you are holding is lame Dia!"
"Okay, then how about this one?"
"Bahahaha! Good choice, add it to the pile!"
Diamond stood up and carefully placed the latest DVD on top of a wobbling pile. He and Pearl were currently squatting down on the video store carpet and sifting through a huge mound of video discs and taking whatever they wished, they had already assembled the entire Proteam Omega series and were now picking several comedy themed animations up in order to acquire inspiration for their stand-up comedy. Dia had also picked a few exercise routines and his best friend picked a few on meditation techniques. A few live action movies were added, Unovian blockbusters. The tower of cases wobbled dangerously as the hyperactive blonde got up and added a game to the list. A worker, concerned about the huge mess and ruckus they were making approached them. He eyed the swaying column with alarm.
"Sirs, if you are not going to purchase all of that please don't take them down from the shelves."
"Hmm, we are taking all of those," Pearl pointed to the tower and grinned, indignation rose within the salesman's chest. The nerve of these brats.
"Please, those cost a lot of money and I'm sure your parents won't agree to it."
"We will be paying for them, I saved up all my money from my work." the blonde replied again and the clerk's eyebrow twitched.
"Oh yeah! What do you brats even do?" he challenged.
"Steal legendary pokemon" Diamond indolently answered and took a bite out of his chocolate bar. There was a silence as the worker's face turned red in anger.
"Just pay and leave!" he hissed "you are keeping the other customers up." the duo turned and saw they were blocking an aisle and a whole line of irate customers where glaring at them. Bowing and apologizing, they paid for their goods and made a speedy exit. Outside, the two gathered in the bustling lobby and wandered around looking for another shop to cater their needs. A huge fountain sprayed water and the duo alighted at the edge and peered over the crowds and at the shops. Neon signs, gaudy colors and loud music beckoned them and it was a hard time judging which one to go into. Finally Dia stuck out a chubby finger and pointed at a bookstore. The fancy lettered script making up the shop sign had an old age feel to it. Excitedly the two teenagers entered and made a beeline for the back shelves. The smell of pages and ink filled their noses as they scanned the titles of their favorite comic books.
"I found Proteam Omega!" Diamond's blue eyes shone, "I'll take the whole lot" he declared and brought the books down from the dark wooden shelves. His best friend was meticulously sifting through a few and he held a book up. The cover featured a young boy wearing a red cap with a pikachu on his shoulder. The youth had distinct markings on his cheeks.
"It's a new series, based on a boy and his journey of becoming the champion of the pokemon league, but the poor guy never makes it and each time he is forced to travel to a new region and make new friends...I think I'll read it, we can get good gag material from this."
Another tower of comics was being created. The cashier, an aged man wearing a form fitting suit and a neatly groomed mustache approached them.
Half an hour later the duo, clutching a bag full of books and screaming, exited the quiet shop.
Late afternoon
Mauville Game corner
The lights decorating the machine flashed in seizure inducing colors and Silver watched as Gold pumped a fist in the air. So far the black haired trainer was doing a fantastic job...Of course he was, apart from being a professional gambler, Gold was a competent cheater as well, the red head was sure Aibo was there, somewhere, not only ambipom but togekiss as well. The Johto native raked in the coins with a greedy smile. Silver himself was not so interested, he had won a few times, lost a few times, exchanged his coins for powerful (and most probably illegal) technical machines and now he sat next to his best friend as the latter laughed in a maniacal manner every time he won. Eyes locked on the screen, the gold eyed trainer failed to notice a dark skinned beauty approach him, he only jolted to reality once she stroked his cheek in a playful manner. The adolescent whirled around to impart a few choice words but his voice died in his throat.
"Hey there!" he smoothly voiced and ran a hand through his bangs, "nice meeting you, name's Gold from Johto." behind him his partner face palmed.
Wearing a cyan blouse and skirt, the female tossed her voluminous mane of black hair and smiled. Her fringe was highlighted in blue and she introduced herself: "My name is Shelly and this," she dragged a pale skinned girl hiding behind her and thrust her forward, the girl, sporting short pink hair stumbled in Gold's arms and pulled her thigh length dress to cover her knees, "is Courtney."
"Hello" she blushed "n-nice to meet you." Silver, ever the observant one, saw how her eyes narrowed slightly, despite her apparent discomfort; she made no move to shift from his friend's arms also, there was another thought nagging at the back of his mind…this Courtney seemed familiar. Seeing the trio exchange pleasantries he shrugged, it was probably his imagination. In a relatively few minutes, the three became best friends and agreed to hang out together. The red head suddenly felt like a fourth wheel, he wished Crystal were here, a kick was all it took for Gold to regain his senses. The newly formed group walked toward the exit with the silver eyed male trailing behind. At the gates another commotion was taking place.
"I'm old enough" another low tone washed over, "I just look young you know, I've got a lot of battle experience." Lack-2 twirled a lock of his brown hair between his fingers and showed a seductive smile. How a kid managed to make her heart flutter this fast was a question only Kyogre could answer, the guardswoman mused. He was half her size and yet every time he smiled she found heat rising in her cheeks. Unfortunately no matter how much he whined or begged, she stood firm. Lack-2 with his Bouffalant star sign matching well with swasbuck (according to him that is) was under the legal age for entering. The boy eventually pouted and she wanted to give up her post and go somewhere else, preferably far away from this child.
"Oh...You finally decide to come out..." he drawled as Gold exited with two women in a tow. The student's eyes shrunk in displeasure. "I was trying to get in but Ms. Pretty over here said no! Its late already." He complained and his voice changed in tone again as he saw Courtney, bounding up to her and holding her hand he added,. "My teacher here is a total moron, how bout we hang out together?"
"You didn't tell me you had a student." Shelly, hanging off Gold's shoulder peered at the boy; he was clinging on to Courtney like remaroid to mantine.
"Gah! I'm sick of this!" Lack-2's simper widened as the pink haired woman lost her cool. Breaking away from her, he dropped several short knives and a belt studded with Pokeballs. Her eyes widened.
"You...really picked the wrong people to mess with." Gold held the admin's arm in a vice grip and picked the tracking device she discreetly placed on his clothes. "Run along home and be good girls." he showed gleaming teeth, "criminals are bound to be punished!" he finished and the three males watched as the second in commands of team Magma and Aqua made a dignified retreat.
"Aww...And she was quite pretty too." Lacing his fingers behind his head, the trainer looked up to see the moon making an emergence in the sky. "Let's go home guys" he said and the trio nodded, departing for their regional base situated inside Mount Chimney.
"Today was a great day...Did you enjoy yourself Lack-2?"
"Hell no!" he droned "I spent over half of my day trying to get inside the damn game corner so I could warn you about those two shady women...All my effort went to waste it seems!"
The trio shared a chuckle as they walked down together.
A/N: Much gratitude to AngelMaster14 for following the story, virtual cookies for you. At Silver: N is going to be fun, his character in the manga was rather...a refreshing addition to all our (mostly hotheaded) protagonists. As for the title, I'm glad is sounds funny to you, to me it was just an nonsensical sounding word salad, but I bet such a ridiculous title will snag attention. To the readers: I hope you enjoy this chapter, I certainly had fun writing it. Please keep on supporting the story and drop a review for encouragement.