Disclaimer: I am so SO sorry that I don't own Pokémon. I know it's disappointing for a lot of you, and I just want you to know that I'm trying, really. Every day. But it's hard. I'm hoping maybe, with your support, I can gloriously overthrow Nintendo but, for now… I still don't own it. Keep the fires burning, my brethren. And sistren.

Chapter 23: A Siren

I don't care.

Why should I care?

I shouldn't, which is good, because I don't.

… All right. I might care a little bit. But not for why you might think.

You see, while I was growing up, my father told me that any man worth his salt would first treat me like a person, then like a queen, then like a Greek goddess, and then like a person again. Skyler sort of skipped the first two when we first started working together. He'd shower me with compliments, spin a new freestyle almost once a week, and he started calling me by my last name 'Alexis' (shortened to Lexi when we became more familiar with each other) instead of my first name, Helen.

Knowing Skyler, it's probably because a lot more rhymes with 'Lexi' then Helen, though I like to think it's also because it sounds (to him) more Greek. To be honest, I kind of liked the change. Helen always seemed a bit stuffy and old-fashioned… even if it was the name of the most beautiful woman on earth once.

After Chief Aggie had let me go, I'd originally intended to go right to bed, maybe crying into my pillow a little. I don't know why. It was stupid because I didn't even like Skyler that way, but I couldn't help but feel jealous. I don't know. It's stupid, and I know it's stupid, but he was never actually supposed to move on! Where does he get off seeing someone all of a sudden?

But like I said, I was going to bed, but… well, things change I guess. And instead of staring at my alarm clock and trying to fall asleep, I ended up sitting out on top of the lab's roof, staring up at the moon. It wasn't full, but it was close, and it was bigger than it had been in a long time. Occasionally, I thought I saw Skyler coming back in the balloon… but it was just wishful thinking. I'd have to wait until morning to give him a piece of my mind, I suppose.

I ignored the flashes of light at first, because I was upset and honestly didn't care about what random trainers were doing so late at night on Mt. Harrow. The flashes kept going, though, at such a set pace that I started to become suspicious. Swinging my legs up, I crawled across the roof's edge, eventually setting eyes on a trainer with a green jacket and a black visor, with a Cyndaquil on his shoulder. Nearby, a Meditite sat strumming a guitar, and a Treecko sat meditating. Was he… training? It didn't seem like it.

Then he threw a Pokéball onto the ground, and I nearly screamed as a monstrous Skarmory burst out with a loud screech. It glared at the trainer, eyes full of malice, as he asked: "what is your name?"

The Skarmory responded with a loud Screech, and holy crap, it charged its owner! The trainer slammed the bird over the head with its Pokéball, and the beast retracted inside forcefully. The trainer took a deep breath, collecting himself, and threw the Pokéball onto the ground again. As the Skarmory burst out again, the Trainer asked, slowly and clearly: "what is your name?"

The bird paused, eyes still full of malice, but wary. It was panting; clearly still wounded from whatever battle the trainer had gone through to acquire it, and was clearly thinking. It Screeched again, but didn't charge, and the trainer looked over at the Meditite.

"It said 'Deathwing'," the Meditite told him.

"Wrong answer," the trainer said with a sigh, smashing the Pokéball back into the steel giant, causing it to retreat once again into the sphere. The young man, clearly distraught, sat on the ground, cradling his head in one hand and sighing.

Poor guy. I didn't know what he was doing, but whatever it was it seemed important to him. I almost wish I could cheer him up. But doing so would reveal where I am, and where the lab is, and so there's no way I can...

"My name's Axel, by the way" he said after a moment's pause. "Any chance you could tell me your name, cute girl who's staring at me?"

I gasped, caught completely off guard. "How did you do that?" I asked, impressed.

"Ack!" Axel yelled, jumping to his feet and whirling around, clearly as caught off guard as I was. His head darted around, looking for me, and I considered hiding... but didn't. Eventually, he looked up, and found me perched atop the roof. "Where did you come from?" he yelled, still not over the shock.

"I've been up here… and, wait, you knew I was up here!" I yelled, confused. "Why are you acting surprised?"

"It's never actually worked before," Axel said with an apologetic grin. "Sometimes, when I'm out training alone, I'll just kind of… say that. If no one's there, then whatever, but if someone were there." He smiled. "Totally awesome excuse to start chatting someone up, right? Sort of like Pixel's Wager… but applied for randomly meeting women."

"Pascal's Wager, PASCAL," the Meditite lectured his trainer. "Come on, Axel, it completely blows the 'eccentric intellectual' angle if you botch the reference like that."

"But isn't my angle 'lovable idiot' anyway?" the trainer asked.

"That's not the kind of thing you admit out loud!" The Meditite yelled.

This was ridiculous. The Treecko face palmed, which was really just the icing on the already deliciously ludicrous cake, and I burst out laughing, trying to get rid of whatever bad feelings I'd been having. It kind of worked, plus I had a feeling this wasn't the only laugh I'd be having with this 'Axel Jackson'. Jumping from the roof to a nearby tree, I slid down to the ground to join him.

The interesting thing was, aside from the scripted 'Pascal's wager' line at the very beginning, Axel never came on to me… directly, anyway. He talked freely and openly about his Pokémon, like how his Cyndaquil had been hand-raised by a childhood friend, and about… well, everything really. Every now and then I'd catch a look in his eye, or a smile that lingered a bit too long and I knew, with almost one hundred percent certainty, that he was interested in me… but I could never prove it. It was almost frustrating and I found myself, without really thinking about it, leaning in towards him a bit too much or stretching my back out for no real reason.

I'm not normally like this, you understand. It just… felt right, somehow. Granted, I had a lot on my mind, and my head wasn't exactly working like it usually did, but even still… I'm sure some of my actions were sincere. He was genuinely charming… for an idiot.

"So why is it that you're wandering through the woods alone, hoping a random girl passing by hears you, instead of enjoying the company of one your available travel companions?" I actually batted my eyes. What was I doing?

"Ah… well, hm," Axel said, looking down. "Well, as far as Vanna is concerned, I get the feeling she's just looking for a good time. Not that there's anything wrong with that… I mean, I'm guilty of it myself… ah… but it's not something you get into with someone you then have to see tomorrow and the next day and…" He shook his head. "I'm sure you understand."

"Better than you might think," I nodded, smiling slightly. "And Amber? Same reason?"

"Well… yes and no," Axel fumbled. "We're complicated. We've known each other since we were kids and… well, we've tried before. It didn't go well." I listened attentively, waiting for him to continue. He blushed, scratching at the back of his head in an embarrassed motion. "I'm sorry, I really… I really shouldn't talk about it…"

"No, no!" I comforted. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have pried. It was pretty rude of me, actually."

"Ah, c'mon…" Axel chided. "I'm sure you couldn't be rude if you tried."

"I so could!"

"All right, then," he laughed. "Go ahead. Try."

I mustered up the reserves of the sorrow I felt from Skyler's… whatever, letting it loose in a single, caustic remark: "You're a big… stupid… dumb… jerk… handsome face."

"Why thank you!" Axel laughed. "How nice of you to say such a thing."

"Oh… be quiet," I pouted. "I can so be rude if I want to."

"Well, be my guest," Axel invited. "I've got all night, and I've got nothing better…"

Before he could finish, I kissed him. Taken by surprise, his jaws continued to move, trying to complete his last sentence for the briefest of moments, before relaxing and matching my motion, gently cradling the back of my head in his hand as he did so.

I'd like to think that, had circumstance not been what they were, I still would have done it, but I'll never be sure. All I knew was that here, right now, he tasted like lemonade and his arms felt strong and steady as they held me and the fire in my chest was burning hotter than it had in a long time, and it replaced the cold sorrow from earlier almost completely.

After what could have been an hour, I finally broke away from him, shooting him a coy smile. "Well? Was that rude enough of an interruption for you?"

"I… uh… I didn't actually hear it," Axel replied. "You might want to say it again, just so I can… ah… judge its rudeness properly."

I smiled. "Well… if you insist," I said, walking two fingers up his chest. "But we should probably go somewhere a little more… private, right?"

"Everyone, return," Axel said immediately, and the three Pokémon contracted into their Pokéballs. I took him by the hand and, not caring about how it would look tomorrow, took him around back to the lab's secret entrance. It was closer to my room.

"Why does your lab hide a secret entrance in a large, dead oak tree with three medium sized branches on it?" Axel wondered aloud.

"For security," I explained. "Some of the more cutting-edge research is done in this area, and we don't want any rival scientific teams making off with our findings."

"Oh, I see, it's to hide the sensitive research area," he repeated. "Cool."

After typing a few numbers into a hidden keypad, the bottom of the tree (that we'd now squeezed inside) dropped out, and a lift took us underground to the living quarters/sensitive materials section. Two of my coworkers were standing near the lift when it reached the bottom, and I tried to ignore their snickering as I grabbed Axel and pulled him along the steel-lined hallways. What did they know, anyway?

"There's cameras everywhere," Axel noted, suddenly insisting on describing everything he saw. "And I take it that the large ventilation system is for making sure you all have enough air down here underground?"

"Yes, very good Axel, stop talking," I shushed. Rushing him past Aggie's office as fast as humanly possible. After what seemed like ages of sneaking around and avoiding classified areas (which Axel, for some reason, felt compelled to describe), we finally reached my room. Before Axel could comment on what the living quarters hall looked like, I shoved him in through the door, shutting it quickly behind me and locked it firmly behind me.

I kissed him more desperately this time, and he responded as passionately as I could hope for, even lifting me off my feet at one point to bring me crashing down on to my bed. I broke away, chuckling, and ripped his jacket off, quickly making my way to his shirt.

"Um… wait," he stuttered quickly as I began to unbutton it. "Maybe I could leave my shirt on? I'm not comfortable with…"

"How could you not be comfortable with… oh…" I smiled playfully, holding a small cord gingerly in my fingertips. "And what do we have here? Is this… a recorder?"

"Too kinky?" Axel asked, desperately searching for an excuse. "Sorry. I can turn it off if you're not into…"

"You really think I'm this easy and stupid?" I spat, pressing the metal barrel of my hidden Glock to his temple. "You're pathetic. Now sit down, shut up, and put your hands over your head. And if you even think of reaching for a Pokéball, I will blow your brains out."

Sometimes, I actually have to agree with Skyler. It is nice to be absolutely flawless.

Author's Note:

First things first, we have a question! And its from adventurerXD again. Is anyone else even trying to earn points? Learn from Ms. XD! Anyway, her question was:

When Gardevoir said she cant talk because it hurts, what did she mean by that? Theoretically? Physically?

That's a good question! A good…question… in… deed…

Um. I hate to say this, but this is another question I can't answer because of spoilers. You have a very good knack for picking up on intentionally untied plot threads, Ms. XD. In fact, I can't even hint at this one. Sorry.

But it's ok! Because it's now time for another segment of:

Ramblings of a Veteran Pokémon Master

A lot of you probably already understand why Axel's gauntlet is called the BBUTTON. I've hinted that it's a pun before, but I realized that some of the very young among you might not fully understand/remember why it's relevant to Pokémon. So I figure, why not?

When Red, Blue, and Yellow first came out, there was a lot of competition amongst us first graders to figure out the best way to catch Pokémon. Alternating the kind of balls you threw, varying status effects, that sort of stuff. I was even given a cardboard medal for being the first and only person in recorded history (at the time) to catch Mewtwo without using the Master Ball. I never did tell them the only reason I did that was because I used the Master Ball on Zapdos and was stupid enough to save right afterwards.

But back on task. The most prominent and seemingly legitimate rumor passed around both in social circles and online (which was a big deal back then) was that if you held down the B Button on your Gameboy after the Pokéball had wiggled twice, it would automatically catch any Pokémon. Attempts at disproving this were futile, since people who failed simply 'hadn't gotten the timing right'. I don't know why, but up until I stopped playing Pokémon at Sapphire, I always held the B button in, no matter what. As long as you didn't let go, the Pokémon was guaranteed to be caught! What more could you ask for? Part of me still thinks this is the only reason I was able to catch that Mewtwo.

But anyway: now you know!

And also…

Viva la feminism?