Chapter 8: Veiled Past: Part 1
Unknown time and location
We set our scene in a large, open, windowless room. It was rather tidy with all of the floors void of litter and scraps. At the center sat a man sitting at a large desk. He was rather tall, and wore dark clothes; his most noticeable feature was the red "R" on the right side of his suit.
This man's name is Giovanni Terram, former gym leader, and cunning mastermind behind all of Team Rocket. His name was known by many people across the globe due to the relevance of the organization he had worked so hard to create.
And that same organization was beginning to anger him.
Recently, there have been a few... hiccups with his quest for power. Rocket grunts were getting arrested, which is something he would not tolerate. Every time one of his men got arrested, that's information going to the authorities if the grunts were unable to keep their mouths shut. It didn't help that the grunts were awful at being discrete.
At the same time, he had to be thankful for his high-ranking agents. They knew how to escape from the police, and they worked hard to not spill information over. For example, Proton recently told him about how he and a few grunts were caught in one of their smaller hideouts, so he used Koffing to explode and destroy as much information as he could. Unfortunately, the grunts were too panicked to remember the secret passage, so they were caught in the explosion. Proton succeeded in destroying all of the information in the room, but thanks to the grunts, the endeavor didn't conceal as much as Giovanni would have liked.
The man stood up and started pacing back and forth, he really needed to find a way to stop the leak of information, but how? "Perhaps Dr. Pama might be able to think of a solution..." he said to no one in particular
Just then his doors burst open, with an angry scientist being the disturber of the peace.
"What do you want?" Giovanni asked in an exasperated tone.
The scientist pointed his finger accusingly at him, "My name is Dr. NAMBA! You hear me? N-A-M-B-A! NAMBA! Get it right!"
"Silence you insolent fool!" Giovanni responded angrily. Then he cleared his throat; "Anyway, I need to discuss something with you."
"What is it sir?" Asked the scientist.
"It would seem that many grunts are getting arrested, in spite of the training we've given them." Giovanni explained.
"Hmm, as troubling as that is, it doesn't surprise me; most grunts are only working for the money and not for the sake of your organization." Dr. Namba pondered.
"I'm well aware, I guess that'll have to be the case until you and Dr. Zager are done with your project." Giovanni said.
The scientist perked his head up at the mention of his work; "Ah yes, we are making excellent progress on it sir. I'm certain we will be unstoppable then. In the meantime, why don't you visit Professor Sebastian, he's not busy and may be able to think of another solution to our problem."
"I think I'll send him in now, you are dismissed." Giovanni responded.
Dr. Namba nodded and left the room. Then Giovanni messaged Professor Sebastian to come and see him in his office.
While he was waiting, he dialed a number on his phone and waited for someone to pick up.
Then a voice presented itself from the other side; "Hello?"
"This is Giovanni, I have a task for you to complete." The leader of Team Rocket responded.
8 days later, Saturday, July 26th, 2005, 9:36 PM
...
Unfortunately, I could not provide any of you readers a more explosion-induci-
"BOOM!"
The collision between two attacks, Ice beam and Thunderbolt covered the field in a white, cool haze with streaks of electricity dancing around. The two Pokemon responsible for the attacks were Helioptile, the Generator Pokemon on one side, and Poliwrath, the Tadpole Pokemon on the other.
Helioptile is small electric/normal-type with a reptilian appearance. They are known for using the sun to generate energy, which is trait that scientists are still baffled at. Prior to Helioptile's discovery, it was believed that such an ability could only happen in plants or grass-type Pokemon.
Poliwrath on the other hand is a water/fighting-type. It was much larger than Helioptile, being almost four feet tall and standing on two legs. It swims in a similar way that humans do, using their front limbs to pull and their hind legs to propel themselves. Unlike humans, they are much faster and have way more stamina. A study found that a Poliwrath could swim from Kanto to Kalos (two regions that are very far away from each other) without slowing down, or taking any breaks, it is quite a remarkable Pokemon.
On opposite sides of the field stands two familiar trainers. On Helioptile's side is Casey, and on Poliwrath's side is Vincent.
So before continuing the battle, a bit of background to help the readers understand what's going on.
The group had traveled for another two days, they were nearing Ecruteak City and would likely be there by the next day.
Earlier today, Vincent had "booby-trapped" the salt shaker while the group was eating breakfast. Not only did he unscrew the lid, but he replaced the salt inside with sugar. His victim just so happened to be Casey Williams. She was going to shake a little salt on her scrambled eggs, but then the lid came off, caking her eggs in "salt". Everyone was in confusion, except for Vincent who was laughing his head off. Casey decided to keep her cool and push the excess "salt" off of her meal until an acceptable amount was left on.
Then she took a bite and her gag reflexes kicked in. The horrid combination of eggs and sugar left a very bad taste in her mouth. Vincent had almost fallen out of his seat laughing, proud that his prank had worked. At this point, Casey had decided she had enough. Absolutely fed up with the older boy's games, the younger girl challenged Vincent to a battle on the condition that whoever lost had to miss out on lunch AND dinner. "He must fast for his crimes." as Casey had put it (I'm pretty sure that's not how fasting works Casey).
So, that brings us to the present. Casey and Vincent were in the middle of their battle, with Casey currently having the upper hand. Everyone else just watched in silence, completely dumbfounded by the absurdity of their two friends.
"Let's keep this up! Use Swift!" Casey issued an attack on the Tadpole Pokemon.
The Electric/Normal type released a flurry of golden stars towards Poliwrath.
"Intercept with Ice Beam!" Vincent attempted to block the Swift.
The two attacks collided, creating another small explosion.
"Now get close and use Waterfall!" Vincent commanded his Water/Fighting-type.
"Dodge the attack and use Parabolic Charge!" Casey countered.
Poliwrath tried to get close to thee Generator Pokemon to issue a Waterfall attack, but Helioptile agilely leaped out of the way to avoid getting hit. Then the electric/normal-type released a bolt of yellowish-green electricity at Poliwrath. The attack hit it's mark and the Tadpole Pokemon grimaced in pain from the super-effective attack. Then a streak of electricity escaped through Poliwrath's body and Helioptile absorbed it, restoring the latter's energy a little.
While the two immature childre-
"EXCUSE ME?" Casey rudely interrupted our wonderful narrator.
...I mean while the two competent trainers were battling, the rest of the group were watching them, intrigued.
"It was a good call on Casey's end to use Parabolic charge." Khoury commented; "That move will damage Poliwrath significantly and also recharge some of Helioptile's energy."
"Right. I'll say, Casey's doing better than I thought she would, guess she really wants revenge on Vincent." Jimmy said.
"I don't blame her, if I was in Casey's place, I would be absolutely miffed at that guy." Lyra said, entering her input into the conversation.
Jimmy turned to Marina to see if she had anything to say, but she had a blank face, as if she hadn't been listening.
"Marina?" He asked. No answer. He waved his hand in front of her face; "Hello?"
The blue-haired girl snapped back into reality; "What is it?"
"You were spacing out. Are you okay?" Jimmy asked her concerned.
Marina nodded her head and put on a cheerful smile; "Of course!" Then she returned her attention to Casey and Vincent's battle.
Jimmy continued to look at her, not believing her; "Something's definitely bothering her. I'll talk to her later, but I'm not sure if she's going to tell me."
Jimmy then turned to the battle and his gaze landed on Vincent; "Maybe Vincent should come with me when I do, he'll want to know what's up with her."
Just then, Jimmy heard a loud voice, which he instantly recognized to be Casey's.
"YOU SNEAKY LITTLE- I'LL KILL YOU!" The young girl yelled at the older boy, obviously infuriated.
Confused by this reaction, Jimmy turned to Marina, "What happened?"
"Vincent lured her into a trap and landed a Toxic on Helioptile, so now it's badly poisoned." Marina explained before giving Jimmy a smirk, "Who's spacing out no-"
"Not. A. Word." Jimmy cut her off.
After that, no more words were spoken by the audience until the end of the battle.
"Use Waterfall Poliwrath!" Vincent commanded the Tadpole Pokemon.
Poliwrath quickly raced towards the Generator Pokemon while a floating bubble filled with water appeared above it. Then when Poliwrath got close, the bubble of water broke and spilled onto Helioptile. The water was pressurized and pushed the electric/normal-type back with a ton of force.
"While the water is there, use Thunderbolt!" Casey attempted to counter.
Helioptile's distressed expression disappeared and was replaced with determination, then it let loose a crackling bolt of electricity. Since it was surrounded by water, the electricity went haywire, zapping Poliwrath as it was nearby. The water/fighting-type fell on one knee as electricity coursed through its body.
Helioptile and Casey both had smirks on their faces until the former grimaced in pain, the Toxic that had hit Helioptile before had begun to affect it.
"Don't give up Helioptile! That poison's got nothing on you!" Casey shouted some words of encouragement to her partner.
"Use Brick Break Poliwrath!" Vincent ordered, aiming for a super-effective hit.
Casey knew that she had to think of something since there was no way Helioptile could tank a super-effective hit from a fully-evolved Pokemon; "Block it with Dragon Tail!"
The two attacks collided, causing both Pokemon to be pushed back from the impact.
"Before it can attack, use Ice Beam!" Vincent attempted to catch his opponent off-guard.
"Dodge it!" Casey reacted instinctively.
Helioptile tried to jump out of the way, but the poison acted up again, causing Helioptile to grimace and stay in one place. Meanwhile, Poliwrath formed a concentration of light blue energy and shot it in a beam-like form. The attack hit the electric/normal-type, freezing it in place in an ice mound.
"Now finish it with Brick Break!" Vincent commanded.
Poliwrath ran up and slammed it's fist against the ice, breaking it and sending Helioptile back.
The generator Pokemon skidded across the ground a few times before sliding to a complete stop, unable to continue.
...
Jimmy that's your cue-
"Oh, Helioptile is unable to continue, so that means the winner is Vincent and Poliwrath!" Jimmy declared.
Casey ran over and picked up her fallen Pokemon, "You okay Helioptile?"
The Generator Pokemon gave a small nod of reassurance.
"We'll get him back one day, we just gotta keep training." Casey said as she returned Helioptile to its Pokeball.
"Hey, good battle." A voice spoke in front of her.
Casey turned her attention to the voice, who happened to be her previous opponent; "Oh, you too."
"Now, about the bet we made..." Vincent began.
"I know... I know..." Casey said with irritation; "No need to remind me."
"Just making sure... but seriously, you did very well." Vincent said, trying to offer some encouraging words. Vincent may be an evil prankster, but he's not one to brag when he wins a battle and rub it in someone's face.
Afterwords, everyone packed up their stuff and hit the road. They were a couple of days from Mahogany Town, where Lyra would have her gym battle. Lyra was making sure to train extra hard so that she would be ready for the gym. The Cubone that Lyra had caught before had warmed up to everyone now (before it would only hang around Lyra).
While they were walking, the group conversed with one another about random topics, but Marina remained pretty quiet throughout, she seemed pretty deep in thought. This time, her disconnection from the group was noticed by everyone. It was almost like there was a gaping hole there, it couldn't go unnoticed.
Jimmy had a side conversation with Vincent about this; "Something's really bothering her, she isn't like this at all."
Vincent nodded, "I think we need to talk to her about it, and it'll be best to not involve the others so that we don't overwhelm her when we do."
"Agreed, but we also need to remember that we can't force whatever it is out of her. We can tell her that we've seen how she's acting, but it's totally up to her whether she wants to share it. The thing we need to do is be supportive friends." Jimmy said to his friend.
"I say we ask her about it after dinner tonight." Vincent suggested.
"I was thinking the same thing." Jimmy answered.
After their discussion, they went back to chatting with their friends. Their conversations were mostly friendly, until Casey and Vincent started having a rather heated discussion about which Pokemon-type was better, water or electric. As you could guess, Casey was defending the electric-type. It wasn't quite an argument, but it could have been one if Jimmy didn't say "Everyone has their own opinions, every type has their strengths and weaknesses."
Eventually, they got out sandwiches for lunch and ate lunch. As Casey decided to hold up her end of the bet and not eat. Vincent tried to be a nice guy for once and said that she could eat if she wanted to; but Casey insisted that she shouldn't eat. "I will starve myself so that I will work harder to beat you next time Vincent!" she had said.
(I don't see her logic, I would jump at the opportunity, I like food)
"You're not allowed to have input Penguinn! You aren't even in the same universe as us!" Vincent hollered.
(I do what I want, and you do what I want, I have storyteller rights over you!)
"YOU AREN'T THE BOSS OF ME!" Vincent retaliated.
Anyway, nothing important happened for awhile. Dinner came and went uneventfully, except for Casey, who refused to eat again. Around 8:07 PM, Jimmy and Vincent asked Marina if the three of them could talk privately, the blue-haired girl was confused by their gesture, but agreed anyway.
A few minutes later, the three met up a ways away from the campsite, they had already informed everyone else that they would be gone for a few minutes and to holler if they needed anything.
"So... what's up? Why'd you call me here?" Marina asked.
Jimmy took a deep breath, he wasn't exactly the best at talking about personal problems with another person, whether they attribute to himself or others. "I don't know if we're worrying over nothing, but me and Vincent have noticed that you've been acting differently. We want to know if anything is wrong." he said, getting straight to the point.
Marina raised an eyebrow; "I have? How so?"
Vincent spoke up next, "You've barely talked to any of us today, and you're one of the most talkative people in our friend group. We're not the only ones too, I have a feeling that everyone else has noticed too."
Marina's head dropped when she heard this; "And I thought I hid my feelings pretty well..."
"No offense, but you really didn't hide them well at all." Vincent added.
"Probably for the best too." Marina agreed.
Jimmy spoke up again, "So... is there anything wrong? We're your friends and we want to help you in the best way we can. If you're not comfortable with telling us yet, then you don't have to tell us, but please understand that we're here to help."
Marina didn't respond for awhile, seemingly comprehending what Jimmy had said to her. Then she finally spoke, "There is something wrong, but I feel like I won't be able to give you guys the full story if I told you now with all my thoughts messed up. Can you give me until tomorrow to collect my thoughts and give you a better perspective."
Both of her friends smiled at her. "Of course, take all the time you need." Jimmy responded.
Marina then pulled her two friends into a hug, "Thanks for caring you two, I couldn't ask for better friends."
"Of course." Vincent said.
"I will say this though, this has to do with me quitting show business awhile ago." Marina said to them.
Jimmy's eyes widened in surprise; "So you've had this in you for over a year?" he asked her. "Maybe she is good at hiding her feelings after all." he thought.
"Yeah, but I recently started thinking back on it a lot, which is why you've only noticed now." Marina answered. Sensing that the conversation was over for now, Marina decided to take her leave; "Well, I'm going to go sleep on this now, I should have an explanation to you two by then. Love you both, goodnight."
Then she started walking back to the camp.
Jimmy looked at the ground, seemingly embarrassed by Marina's last comment. This unfortunately was noticed by Vincent, who smirked and called out to the blue-haired girl; "Hey Marina! Be careful where you use the "L" word!"
If Marina heard him, she gave no indication, then she finished walking back the campsite and entered her and Casey's tent.
"Well, that went well." Vincent said.
"Yeah, it did, I'm glad too." Jimmy answered seeming to have recovered from before.
"Ponder your love life later dude, we gotta get some shut-eye." Vincent joked.
"Marina's not my-" Jimmy began.
"What? I can't hear fake news." Vincent chuckled before heading back.
Jimmy shook his head and followed his friend.
9:37 PM
Marina was having trouble sleeping, thinking about how to effectively tell her friends what she was going through right now. Casey's snoring didn't exactly help the case either.
A few moments later, she decided to go outside where it was hopefully a little more quiet than inside her tent.
She was wrong.
As she opened her tent flap, she heard this obnoxious laughter coming from the other side of the campsite. Turning her head towards the noise, she noticed that Khoury's tent flap was open and there was a light coming from Jimmy and Vincent's tent. There were silhouettes of all three boys doing who-knows-what.
Coincidentally, Marina wasn't the only one who heard the noise as she heard a zipping of a tent flap coming from Lyra's temporary shelter. The younger girl poked her head out, with tired eyes, she scanned the area until her eyes fell upon Jimmy and Vincent's tent.
Then Lyra took notice of Marina; "You heard it too?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'll go see what they're doing. If they chose to do this at this time of night, there's no reason that they can't be quieter." Marina offered.
"Thanks, I don't want to have to go over their myself and ruin my book more by using it on those morons." Lyra replied coldly.
Marina chuckled nervously, Lyra was definitely cranky when she was tired; "Of course."
Lyra returned to her tent and Marina walked over to the boys' tent; "Hey guys, what's going on in there?"
Their talking ceased and Jimmy opened the flap; "What's up Marina?"
Marina put her hands on her hips, as if trying to look displeased; "Can't you be a little quieter? Me and Lyra can't go to sleep with your noise."
"I would be quieter." Khoury began before pointing his finger accusingly at Vincent; "If this guy would stop pulling Draw 2s on me!"
Vincent had a laugh at Khoury's comment; "Don't blame me man, I pulled those from the deck! Fault the deck!"
Marina gave them a confused look; "You guys are playing UNO at 9:40?"
"We've done worse." Vincent said, trying to justify their game.
Jimmy shook his head at the two; "Yeah, I'll be quieter, I don't know about these two though."
"I will, I can't have Lyra strangling me in my sleep." Khoury said.
"Yeah, I will too." Vincent agreed.
Jimmy turned his attention towards Marina again; "Goodnight, sleep well."
Then he closed his tent flap and it was now a little quieter, the light from their tent even dimmed a little bit.
Marina now had the peace and quiet that she wanted. She wandered around the campsite for a little bit, trying to collect her thoughts together. While she was doing so, she thought back to the event that changed everything for her.
Flashback - 5 years ago - October 16th, 2000, 2:12 PM
She had done it, she managed to win the Johto Grand Festival on her first try. Months and months of training and hard work had finally paid off. With the help of her Pokemon, she had not only managed to win one of the biggest events in the region at a young age, but also defeated her biggest rival Leslie, who had more years of experience than her!
Grinning from ear to ear, she walked up to receive the Ribbon Cup, proof of having won a Grand Festival; from this day forward, she was now a top coordinator. Marina received the trophy from the judges and held it up high. The crowd erupted into cheers of happiness, and thus, the festival came to a close.
Later that day - 6:34
Marina had just finished eating dinner with the rest of the participants of the Grand Festival. Most of them congratulated her for her victory and wished her luck for the future. Some were salty and kept rambling about how they should have won. Oh well, she couldn't please everyone. She was walking back to her hotel room to think about what to do for the rest of the day. Coordinators that competed in the Grand Festival were given a hotel room to stay in for free until the Grand Festival was over, meaning that today was the last day Marina was allowed to stay there. This is the same for people competing in the Pokemon League.
On the way, she saw her opponent from earlier that day, Leslie, walking towards her. The older girl gave the younger one a smile and walked up to speak with her.
"How are you feeling miss "Top Coordinator?" Leslie asked Marina.
"Really shocked, I didn't think I would be able to beat you, especially considering how much experience have." Marina responded honestly.
"Good to hear. I was surprised too, but you deserved it, you obviously trained very hard for that battle." Leslie commented.
"Yeah, I actually feel kinda bad now, if you started coordinating at 12 and you're 17 now, does that mean this is the 5th year in a row that you've lost the Grand Festival?" Marina asked.
Leslie's smile noticeably faltered after the question was asked, making Marina regret asking; "Yeah, but don't worry, I'm bound to win one soon."
"Yeah, I would hope so, for your sake." Marina said, trying to cheer her older friend up.
Leslie still looked a little unhappy; "I hope so too."
Marina then decided to opt for a different strategy; "Don't start thinking that you're a bad coordinator now. Remember when we first met? You destroyed me in the first contest I ever took part in; but instead of bragging about your victory, you decided to help me learn more about coordinating. Not only that, you taught me patience, humility, and so much more. If it weren't for you, there is no way I would be where I am today."
Leslie's smile finally returned; "Thanks for your kind words Marina. I'm off to pack up my stuff now, see ya."
"See ya." Marina answered.
Over time, Marina would grow to be a very popular as a top coordinator. Being a top coordinator by itself is just an honorary title, but it did help someone gain attention. Marina's goal was to perform for people and help them smile, and she was finally starting to reach it. Even though she was young, she handled her fame very well and made sure not to let it get to her head.
Every year, she would also participate in the Top Coordinator World Tournament. A competition where top coordinators from all over the world competed in a giant contest to see who out of them was the absolute best; however she normally would lose to the big names such as Robert Erickson or Wallace Reyes so it wasn't something she was super invested in.
A downside of this however, was the lack of downtime, she would often go perform in one place, then go to another not long after. Because of this, she rarely ever saw Jimmy and Vincent around. Sure, they sometimes showed up to her performances, but she rarely got the chance to interact with them. This could have been prevented though, as activities she took part in were all optional, but she insisted on taking part in them for a majority of her free time.
On the other hand, Leslie was struggling, a lot.
The year after Marina won, Leslie had lost in the quarter-finals against this trainer named Amanda Fields. This girl was in her 20's and had way more experience than Leslie did. Marina's older rival remained optimistic for the future and continued working hard.
The next year was where something big happened, a coordinator from Hoenn that was Marina's age competed in the 2002 Johto Grand Festival. Her name was May Taylor, and she was paired up against Leslie in the semifinals.
May not only managed to win, but she managed to win with an overwhelming score of 87 - 26. May didn't just beat Leslie, she crushed her. May would later go on to the finals against another coordinator named Drew Rogers. The match was very close, but May ultimately turned out to be the victor.
As you could guess, Leslie was NOT happy that she had lost for the seventh time in a row, she was starting to lose patience in herself and others despite Marina coming to comfort her. In spite of this, Leslie still continued to train harder than ever before and took part in the 2003 Johto Grand Festival.
Remember that trainer that May faced off in the finals, Drew? Well, he and Leslie were paired up in the first battle of the second round of the Grand Festival, and he managed to beat her and won the festival.
These losses affected Leslie in such a drastic way that it started the collapse of her moral code. She stopped going to Marina for comfort and started hanging out with the wrong people, who encouraged her to do illegal things and make bad choices. Leslie still wanted to contests though, and would start working towards her goal in 2004.
Leslie didn't even win enough ribbons to even compete in the Grand Festival that year.
From there, Marina didn't know much as Leslie stopped contacting her altogether, or so she thought.
One day, after Marina had finished a performance and went to her hotel room, she received a call from Leslie. Overjoyed to hear from her friend, Marina quickly answered.
"Leslie? It's good to hear from you agai-" Marina started talking, but she was cut off.
"Shut up you little runt, you're going to listen to me." an angry voice answered over the phone.
Completely surprised by the response, Marina wasn't sure if she had heard correctly; "Excuse me?"
"You heard me, now listen up, I'm going to come to your hotel room, and you are going to hand me all the money you have. I know you recently got paid, so you can't use the 'I don't have any money on me' excuse." Leslie replied, nothing but anger emanating from her voice.
Marina was in absolute shock when she heard this, she had thought that her friend had contacted her so that they could reconnect, but no, all she wanted was money for who-knows-what; "And what if I don't comply?"
"Then I won't hesitate to tell my Ledian to use hyper beam on you." Came a voice from Marina's hotel door.
Marina's head instantly directed itself to the door where Leslie was standing, yet, she hardly recognized her anymore. The older girl usually gave off a calm, pleasant aura that made people comfortable around her, but this girl made Marina gulp in fear by the way she looked.
Leslie's skin was pale and wrinkly, a sign that she wasn't making very good choices, her bloodshot eyes bore into the younger girl. Her clothes were tattered and some even had blood on them.
As Leslie had said, a Ledian was by her side; but the Five Star Pokemon had a very different look than Leslie did. The bug/flying type had marks on its skin and a horribly misshapen set of wings, its eyes showed complete terror. From what Marina could put together, Ledian had probably been abused by its own trainer.
Marina started backing away, she couldn't call 911 as Leslie would notice and probably kill her on the spot; "W-why are you doing this?"
"Isn't it obvious? YOU did this to me!" Leslie accused.
"M-me? What did I do?" Marina asked, shocked by the accusation.
"You took away my future all those years ago! If you had just let me win, maybe today would have been different!" Leslie shouted.
"I won fair in square, I'm sorry you haven't been able to win yet, but blaming it on m-" Marina began.
"I found out that all those times of you comforting me after I lose have been LIES! My friends told me that you talk about me behind my back all the time, after everything I have done for you!" Leslie roared at the younger girl.
Marina started to tear up, one of her best friends would really believe that she was talking bad about her, how deep of a hole had Leslie fallen into?
"W-why do you want the money." Marina choked out.
"Since I was the one that should've won that day, I obviously deserve the money that you've gotten from your career. If you don't comply, I'll kill you, it's that simple." Leslie replied nonchalantly, completely oblivious to her own ridiculous logic.
Marina didn't have a choice, so she pulled out her wallet and just gave it to Leslie. Marina didn't really care about it anyway, she had a backup credit card hidden already and she was more concerned about her friend.
After checking the contents to make sure there was an adequate amount, Leslie closed it, satisfied; "I'll be coming for more another time, I deserve it after all."
Marina lit up at that statement, that meant that she could call the police and possibly trap Leslie before she had the chance to threaten her again.
This changed however, when Leslie started heading out the door; "Don't bother calling the cops on me, I will find out, and I will kill you before they get the chance to come."
Marina gulped and nodded her head.
And with that, Leslie was gone.
No matter how hard she tried, Marina could not get herself to sleep after that experience. The same friend that had taught her so many important life lessons had now become a loathsome criminal, it just couldn't be true. The same person who had taught Marina about taking losses well and learning from them had fallen victim to the very thing she warned against. Tears kept streaming down her cheeks as the recent events kept playing in her head.
Finally, Marina decided that she needed a plan, there was no way that she was going to let Leslie rule her life; she would have to give up the life that she had, but her safety was far more important. After a while of thinking, she had a plan: to go back home. She knew that Leslie knew where she lived, but she would still be safer, then she could call the cops.
The next morning
Marina woke up as early as possible and checked out as fast as she could. Then she released Xatu from her Pokemon and climbed on her back. Marina didn't feel safe with any public transport, so she decided that flying of her trusted Pokemon would be far safer.
A few hours later, contacting the police on the way, she finally reached New Bark Town. As soon as she landed, she raced to her home, greeted her mother and went to her room. She sat there for a few moments before her tears returned and she completely broke down.
...
Trainer card: Marina Davis
Age: 18
Hometown: New Bark Town, Johto
Birthday: June 28th, 1987
Height: 5'06"
Blood Type: B
Eye Color: Teal
Hair Color: Capri
Trainer Class: Pokemon Coordinator
Secondary Class: Pokemon Trainer
Other Hobbies: Jogging, Water sports, Panicking
Notable Achievements:
1999 Silver Conference - Top 16
2000 Johto Grand Festival - Winner
Special Conditions: n/a
Titles: Top coordinator
Pokemon:
-Feraligatr(F)
-Mismagius(F)
-Jigglypuff(F) (Shiny)
-Xatu(F)
-Minun(F)
-Bellossom(F)