Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or it's original characters.
Chapter 5,
Kuro left the mayor's house, and on his way back to town, Pepper jumped into his path.
"Oh F- Pepper!" Kuro said angrily. He put a hand over his heart and tried to stop himself from panting.
"Heh, how about that. I can still jump-scare you whenever I want." Pepper said and Kuro glared at her.
"Ok, ok, this is seriously not the time, ok." Kuro said and Pepper rose an eyebrow at him.
"Why are you...?" Her sentence dimmed as she noticed something unusual about Kuro. Her eyes glance over his whole being, looking for something that wasn't there.
"Where's...? Did you leave Eev with the mayor?" Pepper asked and Kuro sighed.
"Pepper-"
"But he- How could- I thought you- You-" Pepper stammered to get out one of the hundreds of sentences that suddenly swarmed her mind.
"Take a deep breath." Kuro said with his hands up. Pepper wasn't happy about it, but she controlled herself long enough to take a breath in and then out.
"Did you?" Pepper asked, feeling betrayed.
"Yes, but-"
"I Can't Believe You Would-!"
"PLEASE! Let Me Finish!" Kuro said and Pepper took another breath in and out.
"I only left Eev up there because she just produced an egg, and I wanted her to spend some quality time with it while I went home and packed." Kuro said and Pepper took a step back.
"Ok, more then one comment needs to be made." Pepper said confused, but still a little tense.
"Go on." Kuro said and Pepper looked down at her Spinda who was looking at some flowers.
"Alright. First of all, Eev doesn't like a lot of other Pokemon." Pepper said and Kuro blinked.
"What?" Kuro asked, his turn to be insulted, and Pepper shook her head.
"No, not like that. It's not like she can't get a long with Pokemon, but I think Spinda was her only Pokemon friend. I mean, you know how breeding works at the nurseries. Pokemon don't necessarily need to be with their own species. They will most likely have the breed for the mother, but the strength and personality from the father. Eev never needed another Eevee or Eeveelution to fall in love, but she never seemed interested in any other Pokemon that way." Pepper said and Kuro sighed.
"Yeah, I know. That's one of the reasons why this was a big shock." Kuro said and Pepper nodded.
"And second of all, I wasn't aware that Locke had a Pokemon. I never see him with one- well, not one of his own. I kinda thought he was against the idea, and only pretended he loved Pokemon for the public." Pepper said, half rolling her eyes as she spoke.
"Well he has one at his house." Kuro said and Pepper almost scoffed.
"I can't believe Eev... you've only been gone like two hours... I guess that Pokemon must really be special." Pepper said and Kuro nodded.
"Oooohhh, it is." Kuro said and Pepper rose an eyebrow at him.
"Huh... What kind is it?" Pepper asked. Kuro paused for a moment. He smirked and put his hands behind his back.
"I could tell you. But you sure as hell won't believe me." Kuro teased and Pepper's eyes widened.
"What?" Pepper asked and Kuro nodded.
"Oh, yeah. No point in telling. You'd just call me a liar." Kuro said and then he walked past her.
"I might as well go home and pack then. I'll see you later, Pepper." Kuro said and he heard some grumbling behind him. His joy was short-lived however, because he felt a sudden pain on his jugular vein that brought him to his knees.
"Come back here!" Pepper said and Kuro groaned.
"Fine, fine, just stop pinching there!" Kuro said and Pepper let go.
"You KNOW I hate that." Kuro said as he rose to his feet and looked at her.
"I don't get the big deal. My mother use to do that to me, and-"
"And she would drag you across the store that way, I know. But you built up a tolerance to it, and I haven't." Kuro said rubbing his neck and Pepper nodded.
"Alright I'm sorry." Pepper said and Kuro smiled slightly.
"You must really want to know what kind of Pokemon the mayor has." Kuro said and Pepper shrugged.
"I'm mildly interested, like the next average person." Pepper said and Kuro looked around real quick.
"Ok, I'll tell you." Kuro said and Pepper walked over to him.
"Freddie Locke's Pokemon is a Spireon too." Kuro whispered and Pepper blinked.
"But... how is that even possible?" Pepper asked and Kuro smiled.
"It just is." Kuro noticed how low the sun was and bit his lip.
"Listen Pepper, I would love to gossip like a bunch of chattering Torchics, but I really do have to go home and pack; hopefully before my father gets home." Kuro said and Pepper gasped.
"Wait, you were serious about that?" Pepper asked.
"Yeah, I got to go." Kuro said. He started walking home and Pepper walked along side him.
"Why? What happened to your research at the library." Pepper asked and Kuro glanced at her.
"Turns out the mayor did that too. Other then the Eevee's unstable genetic code, our library doesn't really have a lot of useful information." Kuro said.
"And you're just going to believe him without checking the information yourself?" Pepper asked and Kuro nodded.
"I suppose I could, but I think it would be better to travel and do some field research." Kuro said and Pepper rubbed her arm.
"By yourself?" Pepper asked and Kuro looked at her.
"Heh... one part of me wants to drag you out of here, kicking and screaming, with the notion that friends stick together." Kuro paused when Pepper giggled.
"However, you still have a life here. You have a good relationship with your family and you constantly fight to save the Pokemon from being abused or poached or anything else... I can't force you to leave that all behind, just so little old me doesn't get lonely." Kuro said and Pepper paused. She was silent for a few moments actually; but Kuro let her process this.
"Wow... We seen each other every single day, ever since I moved here... It's gonna be weird not to see you anymore." Pepper said sadly and Kuro nudged her.
"Ah, what are you talking about. We can still talk on video phones and we can do letters and emails or whatnot." Kuro said.
"Yeah... I guess..." She said with a sigh and Kuro gently grabbed her chin and made her look at him.
"I thought you liked a challenge. This isn't gonna scare me away. You and I will always be friends, I promise." Kuro said and Pepper blushed and pulled her head out of his grasp.
"Shut up, dude." Pepper said and Kuro chuckled.
"I'm gonna miss you too." Kuro said and Pepper turned back to make sure Spinda was close to them
"I was hoping we could to camp out tonight and catch those Sizzlipede jerks before they do something awful, but I guess that's out of the question." Pepper said and Kuro looked at the sun again.
"Maybe not. I mean, I need to pack and get Eev and her baby and then we got to go on the road. But we may need to camp out in the woods anyways." Kuro said and Pepper smiled.
"Alright. One last huzzah before you guys go... uh... where are you guys going?" Pepper asked.
"Oh... Eev is special. She's always been a fighter, but it's so important now, to train her and make her strong. First I'm gonna take her around the different gyms in our region, battling the different gym leaders and maybe even our region's champion. Once that's done we'll go to another region and... do it all over again." Kuro said and Pepper furrowed her eyebrow at him.
"Ok... and then what?" Pepper asked and Kuro bit his lip.
"I'm hoping that I can find other Eevee variations, and learn more about them. Maybe I can meet more like-minded people too." Kuro said and Pepper smiled.
"Like you always wanted to." She said as they entered his house.
"Yeah. But somehow it doesn't feel like I am living the dream." Kuro said as he entered his bedroom. Kuro went over to his desk and Pepper went over to his closet and grabbed his suitcase. She placed his suitcase on his bed and opened it. Then she went over to his closet, but her hand hesitated over the clothing. Kuro looked at Pepper, and stood up straight.
"Are you ok Pepper?" Kuro asked and Pepper looked at him.
"I... I'm sorry... I was just... I was just kinda thinking... You're kinda just running away." Pepper said and Kuro scoffed,
"Don't be ridiculous, I'm not running away." Kuro said and Pepper tucked some hair behind her ear.
"Well... aren't you...?" Pepper asked and Kuro blinked at her.
"What do you mean?" Kuro asked.
"For starters, you are packing up as much as your life, and there is a good chance that you will never be back. I mean you are gonna travel the world searching for something... well... that has never been found before. And unfortunately there is a good chance that what you're searching for doesn't even exist." Pepper said and Kuro breathed in and breathed out.
"Maybe... but I don't think so." Kuro said and Pepper shrugged.
"I don't know what to think. Either you're wrong, which seems unlikely with Spireon, and you are gonna do this fruitless journey. Or, you are right, which means... either this is an untapped information or a fiercely protected secret... either way you have to make some decisions." Pepper said and Kuro blinked.
"Like what?" Kuro asked and Pepper gestured with her hand as she thought.
"I-I... ok, like if you are the first person to discover this whole Eevee thing, then you are gonna have to determine how you're gonna deal with the information. First of all, it's possible that people may not believe you, even with Spireon. And if people do believe you, are you just going to tell them everything about Eevees? Or are you gonna tell people information gradually? Is there some information that you're gonna keep to yourself, at least until you are sure that people can handle it? There is just... way too much for one person." Pepper said and Kuro nodded.
"You're right. It is a lot for one person." Kuro said and Pepper looked at him.
"As my friend, I would love nothing more then to travel the world with you. But as you're best friend, I think I love you too much to force you to do that." Kuro said with a smile and Pepper smiled.
"Yeah?" Pepper said and Kuro nodded.
"You have always been a passionate fighter. You fight against so many things, it's almost hard to keep track of. I've always respected that. And I would hate for you to give that up for me. I could never ask that of you." Kuro said and Pepper chuckled softly and sighed.
"I swear no one gets me like you do." Pepper said and Kuro shrugged.
"Don't say that. A lot of people get you. You just haven't met them all." Kuro said and Pepper laughed.
"Still, maybe I should go with you." Pepper said and Kuro eyed her and grabbed some clothes from his closet.
"Would you really want to?" Kuro asked and Pepper shrugged.
"Maybe. You literally are gonna travel the world. Do you have any idea the type of solutions people can have on saving the world? People's idea of plastic, and fisheries, and coral reefs. It could be the opportunity of a lifetime. Hard to pass those up." Pepper said and Kuro smiled at her.
"I would feel a whole lot better if you didn't use the word 'maybe', Pepper-dearest." Kuro said and Pepper rolled her eyes.
"I just didn't wake up this morning preparing to travel the world you know." Pepper said and Kuro put a hand on her shoulder.
"I know. Nether did I." Kuro said and Pepper sighed.
"I might be ready one day." Pepper said and Kuro ruffed her hair.
"And when that day comes, I'll be at the train station with a dozen bellflowers." Kuro said and Pepper smiled.
"Better then the red spider lilies you got me for white day." Pepper said and Kuro groaned.
"Ok, give me a little credit. I was trying to show up that baka who laughed at you on valentines day." Kuro said and Pepper bumped her shoulder against his.
"Oh yeah, you looked real tough in the hospital with that rash driving you crazy." Pepper said and Kuro scoffed.
"How was I suppose to know that red spider lilies where so bad?" Kuro said and Pepper playfully glared at him.
"We, or I should say 'I', learned that back in science class... Hm, I think you may have been too focused on that ama standing in front of you." Pepper said and Kuro got flustered.
"Lilian was not a ama. She was... just... very particular about who she spent time with." Kuro said and Pepper shook her head.
"She only dated jocks to improve her social circle, and then she flirted with all the smartest kids so that she could manipulate them whenever she wanted. I'm no profiler for NCIS, or Scorpion, or Kate Beckett, but I think that sounds pretty ama-ish to me." Pepper said.
"Last time I checked, Detective Beckett was a simple hard-working NYPD employee." Kuro said.
"Don't forget that she had a incredibly annoying sidekick who just refused to leave her alone." Pepper said.
"Annoying, but he's creative and he allows Kate and the rest of the team to see things from a different angle, and he has a acute senses and a fairly accurate attention to detail. Not to mention he is a writer and can help the police in unique ways." Kuro said and Pepper rolled her eyes.
"You are so not the Castle to my Beckett." Pepper said and Kuro smiled and shrugged.
"I never said I was." Kuro said and Pepper walked over to the closet.
"Besides there is one thing that Castle would do, despite how much he would have hated it." Pepper said and Kuro picked up some notebooks and put them in his suitcase.
"What's that?" Kuro asked and Pepper took a deep breath.
"Castle would have left his mother a goodbye note." Pepper said and Kuro froze.
"What?" Kuro said and Pepper grabbed some more clothes and handed them to him.
"He sometimes hated his mother, wished she was never a part of his life, and whatnot. But when it all comes down to it... if he had a chance... he would at least tell her goodbye." Pepper said and Kuro shook his head.
"I don't know if I can... I mean, I don't even really care if I see him again. How do you say goodbye to a guy like that." Kuro asked and Pepper rubbed his back gently.
"I can help." Pepper said and Kuro looked at her and sighed.
"Fine." Kuro said and Pepper smiled at him.
"Anytime." Pepper said and Kuro nodded.
"Hey, can I... can I ask you to do something for me? I-If you don't mind that is." Kuro asked and Pepper blinked but nodded.
"Sure, what's up?" Pepper asked and Kuro hesitated.
"Well, it may be a little strange, but... since you're staying here... you think you can help out the pokecenter." Kuro asked and Pepper looked surprised.
"Really?" Pepper asked and Kuro shrugged.
"I work there, and I'm about to leave them high and dry... I thought maybe you could help them out. Maybe even work the shifts I was scheduled to do. They kinda need as much help as they can get." Kuro said and Pepper smirked softly.
"Ok... Maybe they will even allow me to train your replacement." Pepper said and Kuro rolled his eyes and smiled at her. Together Kuro and Pepper packed Kuro's bag and left Cypher a note. They started to head back to the Mayor's house. They were talking about this and that, and then suddenly she fell unto the ground.
"Oh, God, That Hurt." Pepper said frustrated, and she looked up at Kuro. He held out his hand to her.
"Anything broken?" He asked as he helped her to her feet.
"Spinda?" Her Pokemon asked in concern.
"No. But my anger is getting kinda swollen. What did I even trip on?" Pepper asked and Kuro looked down at the ground. He saw something silver.
"A metal stick?" He questioned, before he picked it up. Once it was in the air, they saw the stick had a sort of lasso on the end of the stick. Pepper's eye widened and she snatched the object from him.
"That's no metal stick. It's a catch pole. I bet those dirty poachers brought this here." Pepper said and Kuro bit his lip.
"Ok, Pepper. Spireon and I will help you save that shiny Sizzlipede tonight." Kuro promised.