Chapter 14 – Psycho Alliance
The journey into Neutron wasn't terribly exciting. They made decent enough time, thanks to Thrasher, who had no difficulty carrying the two humans thanks to his experience hauling Ana's electronics and cookware. That's not to say the trip wasn't without delays, though. The main problem was that the trainers were unaccustomed to riding a pokémon and had difficulty keeping their positions. More than once they had to stop to either reposition themselves, or get back on after completely falling off (Kimiko silently cursed herself for choosing band practice and softball over joining Michelle when she took lessons on riding ponyta).
The sun was beginning to set as they reached Neutron that evening, but they still had about an hour before they were to meet with Lillia and whatever she had planned for them. Following a guide map at the city's entrance, Alex directed Thrasher through the streets to the pokémon center. For the late hour, the city streets were rather busy. People walked all directions, not even batting an eye at the two trainers and the menacing tauros just casually walking among them. In fact, several pokémon wandered through the town as well, most accompanying a human or two but a few seemingly on their own.
They arrived at the pokémon center not long after. They didn't see any sign of Lillia outside, so they went inside instead, Thrasher following uncertainly behind. Alex felt uneasy about leaving the tauros with the nurse, but she didn't seem at all bothered by the fact that the two young trainers had someone else's pokémon in their possession. He also had no idea how long he and Kimiko would be staying in the city, nor how long it would take Ana and Kari to reach it, so in the end they decided leaving Thrasher, as Ana wished, was the best option. The nurse returned him to his ball, promising to take care of him in the meantime, and headed off to the back of the center to give him a checkup.
After dropping their bags in their borrowed room for the night, Kimiko attempted to call Lillia to let her know the pair was in town and ready to meet. Her pokédex appeared to be off, however, going straight into voicemail. The trainers instead returned to the lobby, left their own pokémon in the care of the nurse for the night, and proceeded to raid the kitchens – whatever Lillia wanted to do likely didn't involve food, simply because she often forgot to make the time.
At the end of an hour Kimiko again tried to call their mutual friend, but again got no response. Puzzled and starting to grow concerned, they split up to search the center, in case she was waiting around there for them. "Figures she wouldn't even set a place to meet," Alex said.
"Figures I didn't think to ask," Kimiko replied, frustration evident, before turning and heading to the lobby once again.
Alex decided to head to the basement, where many pokémon centers offered an arena for the use of the pokémon and trainers staying there, whether it be for trainers to prepare for a gym match or for recovering pokémon to get exercise and test their strengths. He found a poliwrath wailing on a punching bag, but no human in sight. He stayed for a few minutes, watching the fighting-type beat the stuffing out of the bag before he noticed the sling on the pokémon's right arm, previously hidden from view. He made a note to mention it to the nurse, concerned that the poliwrath may be potentially risking its recovery. The thought also reminded him of something else to ask the nurse – maybe Lillia had left them a note? – so he gave the poliwrath one last glance before returning to the upper level.
He never had to, however. Kimiko nearly crashed into him on her way down the stairs, and he had to catch her as she slipped trying to hold herself back. "You alright?" he asked.
"Yes, thanks. Lillia just called," she responded as she brushed her bangs out of her eyes, barely acknowledging the incident. "She's been standing outside the center for the last half hour, expecting to meet us as we came in."
"Great… well where is she now?"
"Still there. She wants to take us out somewhere, and she's really impatient."
"Oh my god!" cried the black-haired girl as Alex and Kimiko emerged from the pokémon center into the early night breeze. The girl dived at Alex, pinning his arms to his side as she squeezed him tightly. She was a fair bit shorter than him, but he was able to bend his elbow enough to pat her awkwardly on the back in response. "It's so great to see you guys again!"
Before either of them could reply, she detached herself from the male and launched herself at Kimiko instead; the blonde anticipated the hug and had her arms already out and waiting, returning the affection. "You too, Lillia," Kimiko replied, but she was drowned out as Lillia continued talking.
"We've got so much to catch up on! You both have to show me your teams! Oh, but that can wait, we've got less than an hour before showtime! Let's move!"
And with that she removed herself from Kimiko, grabbing her hand instead, and physically yanking her along as she began to run – Alex, unsurprised, sprinted to keep up.
"So where are you taking us, anyway?" he called. "What was so important that we had to be here tonight?"
"You'll see!" Lillia called, looking back with a bright smile and brushing the white streak in her hair out of her blue eyes, a decoration she added as a reminiscent of her favorite comic book character. The rest of her hair, while not as long as Kimiko's – it only went down to about her shoulder blades – was tied back in a ponytail just like the blonde's at present. She was dressed rather oddly for the unusually windy evening, sporting her signature pale blue tank top and black jeans, but she didn't seem to mind the cold.
"Nice tattoo," Kimiko commented, noting a new decoration on her friend's body that had appeared very recently, as she didn't seem to have it when the couple watched her match on tv not long ago – a detailed, vaguely bird-like skull tattoo with flames in the eyes and dripping from its mouth just below her right shoulder on the arm currently guiding Kimiko forward.
"Isn't it? It's supposed to be an undead ho-oh. The fire looks so realistic, I just couldn't resist," the fire-type trainer responded. "Hurt like a bitch, I wasn't expecting it to be so bad. The guy had to stop halfway through before I could suck it up and let him finish, but it looks amazing!"
"You didn't know that having a needle shoved into your skin would hurt?"
"I just didn't think about it. I passed by the place like two weeks ago, saw the design in the window, and went in."
Alex smiled at that. His friend hadn't changed very much since they last saw her in person. She was the only person he knew that would get a tattoo on a whim without a second thought.
The small party darted around the fair number of people and pokémon still wandering the city, running against the breeze. Alex found himself wishing he had a jacket. It was late summer so no one expected it to be cold in northern Vidiva, even at night, but the wind only seemed to be picking up. With Lillia ushering them to keep moving, it didn't take long at all to arrive at their destination, which appeared to be some sort of bar or night club.
"What are we doing here?" Alex asked as Lillia began to pull them inside, not one for this sort of evening outing.
"We do need a break," Kimiko answered instead, entering with perhaps a little less hesitation than she otherwise would have without the other girl leading them.
"Relax, Alex, you won't have to sit through a wild party tonight!" Lillia shouted over the blasting music, still pulling Kimiko ahead. She led them passed both the bar and the dance floor, up onto the stage, and behind the curtain. She waved at something on the far side, which Alex noted was an electabuzz tuning an electric guitar. The pokémon made an indifferent grunt and waved back before returning to the guitar. He also caught sight of another pokémon near the back of the stage which looked suspiciously like a porygon, several wires connecting the pink and blue thing to a large computer terminal and speaker.
"Gibson! Nelson!" Lillia shouted as the group entered the area backstage. "I'm back!"
Lillia's shouts caught the attention of a small group of men in suits, all shouting at each other over the blasting of the music from the stage, much louder than it was at the club entrance. Two of them broke away, with varying expressions of relief, and started towards the newcomers.
"Ah, thank you for coming!" the blonde haired man on the left said, adjusting his navy blue tie before offering his hand for a shake. "I am the owner of this club, Fitzgerald Gibson. This is my associate, Kyle Nelson."
"Pleasure," Nelson said, also shaking hands with them, and then clasping them behind his back. "Again, thanks for coming on such short notice." Nelson's red tie was around his neck loosely, and his short brown hair looked as though he had been pulling at it a little too much.
"Uh, it's no problem," Alex answered uncertainly.
"The instruments in the recording room behind us are free for you to use before the show, please feel free to practice if you would like before you begin. But remember, the show starts in exactly… forty-two minutes," Gibson said, checking his watch.
"What instruments?" Kimiko asked, too confused about what she was supposed to be doing to ask why there was a music recording room in a night club.
Lillia answered before either of the suited men opened their mouths. "The band they had scheduled to play for tonight's charity show had to cancel; something about one of their guitarists had a gym battle or something last minute. And I just happened to overhear it and I knew you guys were in the area, or at least on your way, so I got us the gig! Just like old times, yeah?"
Alex's eyes widened as he realized at last what she was getting at. "Wait, you did what?" he shouted. "You want us to play a show?"
Gibson's and Nelson's relieved expressions shifted to ones of concern as the two trainers rounded on their old friend. Lillia put her hands up in a gesture of surrender, but Kimiko grabbed her and pulled her away, shouting at the suits, "Excuse us a sec."
Kimiko led her to a corner and shoved her a little roughly in front so she couldn't escape as she and Alex cornered her. "What were you thinking?" the blonde yelled. "I haven't so much as picked up a guitar in years! We can't do a show!"
"That's why I wanted you here early!" Lillia pouted, crossing her arms. "So we could get in some practice!"
"An hour? Lillia, there is no way we can be rehearsed enough to play in under an hour! We don't even have the full band together!"
"We can do it!" Lillia replied, stomping her foot in defiance. "Gibson's already paid me, and they have a bassist already! Didn't you see the electabuzz? And Gibson's porygon can fill in any of the missing instruments! It won't be as perfect as having a real person playing them, but it will work for what we've got!"
"Why are you getting paid for a charity show?" Alex asked, momentarily distracted, but Lillia ignored him.
"And actually, I was thinking you should let Alex take the lead guitar instead, you've always had the better singing voice."
"Which I haven't used in years!" Kimiko shouted back. "And singing in the shower does not count!"
"Come on, guys!" Lillia begged now. "We used to be great! We can pull off one more show! Please!"
"And you don't think the fact that none of us have played in years will be the slightest bit of a problem?"
"Not really," Lillia answered calmly.
"And what songs would we do? How will the electabuzz know what to play?" Kimiko asked, mentally wondering just how the electabuzz learned to play an instrument to begin with, but not voicing it.
"Don't worry about that! He's been doing this for years," came a male voice from behind them. Gibson and Nelson had apparently been listening in, somehow over the music. "I can pretty much guarantee that as long as you're playing something hardcore, he'll be able to keep up."
Kimiko felt her reluctance slipping at the intrusion of the club owner. She crossed her arms as well, frowning, and glanced at Alex.
"What do you think?"
Alex, however, was still hesitant. Gibson continued politely gazing at them, his expression growing more desperate. He looked from him, to Kimiko, to Lillia, who spoke directly to him, apparently under the impression that Kimiko had been convinced.
"Look, he's already paid me, and at this point it's too late to find a replacement. It's for charity, and even if we do awful, we're better than nothing at this point. What's the worst that can happen? We blow and can never play in the city again? We're not planning to, so who cares? And in the meantime, we'll be helping out the club!"
Alex paused to think. While it was true that they all took to music fairly early in life, neither he nor Kimiko had played in several years. He was sure he remembered enough to stumble through a song or two, but there was no question that he was out of touch. He assumed Kimiko was in the same boat, though if she were singing and doing backup, she might be a little better off. He realized he wasn't sure when Lillia last practiced was, so he couldn't really make a judgment based off that, at least. "Do we even have a track list?" he asked, his gaze drifting back to Kimiko.
"Nope," Lillia answered. "That's the best part! We can play whatever we want! We can finally play some of our original stuff for the public!"
"The electabuzz doesn't know any of our songs."
"I've already given him some of our old favorites!"
"He seems to have gotten them down pretty well," Gibson added. "He's a quick study."
"Trust me, guys!" Lillia said, throwing an arm around her friends' shoulders. "We can do this! What's the harm in giving it a try?"
"I wish I had your confidence," Kimiko said, barely audible over the music from the stage.
Alex sighed. "Well… I think we need to practice."
"Yes!" Lillia shouted, fist in the air. "The Psycho Alliance is back in business!"
"Disaster doesn't even cover what's about to happen here," Kimiko complained as she headed to the microphone on the stage. The curtains had been closed so the band could get set up, and the trio took their positions.
"Don't worry about it," Gibson said, following them in with Nelson. Alex noticed that Nelson had completely removed his red tie. "My porygon can connect to the internet, download a song, and fill in any missing instruments you might need. We've already programmed the samples of your own music from Ms. Mason into his system so he can fill those in as well. None of it will be as perfect as a live performance, but it will get you through the night."
Kimiko frowned, unconvinced, but said nothing. She watched Alex fiddling with the strings of his guitar and then heard Lillia test out each piece of her drum set. The electabuzz seemed impatient to begin, arms crossed and glaring straight ahead at the curtain, occasionally glancing over to Kimiko and growling. With a sigh, the blonde looked down at her own guitar, and decided a last minute tuning couldn't hurt.
"Well, I'd never have expected you guys to get back together," came a voice from behind Gibson. The trio turned to see a male in a bright yellow button-up shirt and very short brown hair enter the stage. "I thought Roxie was supposed to be in town?"
"Cory?" Alex asked, surprised. The tall man nodded, and Alex sprinted over to give him a hi-five. "Wow, this really is like a school reunion tonight. What are you doing here?"
"Came to see my electabuzz on our night off," Cory replied. "He often fills in here when we're not otherwise occupied. But what are all of you doing here? Trying to start up Psycho Alliance again?"
"Roxie had to bail," Gibson told Cory. "She's having more difficulty balancing her gym and touring than she expected. Whoever her temporary replacement was, they made a mess of the gym and she had to cancel this show to go back and clean up."
"Mmm," Cory murmured, only half listening as he saw Kimiko walk up to greet him. "You're as beautiful as ever."
"Flattery will get you nowhere," Kimiko responded, hugging him all the same.
"Watch it, I'm not done with her," Alex said jokingly.
"I wouldn't dream of it, man. Actually, I would, but I'd never actually –"
"Yeah, yeah," Kimiko said, pushing him away. "And no, we're not reviving the band; this is a one-night thing to help out the charity event. Old Heatstroke over there thought it would be a good idea for us to play our first real show a good seven years after our last practice."
Cory looked up at Lillia, who hadn't moved from her drum set, and waved. The girl waved a drum stick back at him. "Well then, you guys had better be ready, the show's about to start," he said, passing them and stepping up next to his electabuzz. "You feel okay about performing new music?"
"Buzz, elebuzz," the pokémon replied, glaring at Kimiko again.
Cory nodded. "Right, just ignore her and focus on the music," he said, puzzling the others. He pat his pokémon on the shoulder, and followed Gibson and Nelson out of the room. "Don't go anywhere after the show," he called over his shoulder. "We need to catch up."
"Alright," Kimiko sighed. "Let's get this over with. Any preferences on what we open with?"
"How about Livin' on a Prayer? That's pretty much what we're doing, isn't it?" Alex replied with a forced laugh. Lillia just shrugged. Someone from the other side of the curtain at the front of the stage, likely Gibson due to the sound of the voice, announced his apology for Roxie's cancellation and promised a killer replacement. They didn't have much time to decide.
Alex turned to Kimiko – she was the lead singer, she should decide. "Okay… if you're serious, might as well start strong then. After that let's do Covered By Roses," she said, nodding to the porygon. The pokémon made a beeping sound and suddenly began to glow as it loaded to appropriate instruments. It also opened a music sheet on the stand in front of the electabuzz so he could follow the song. "I want to slide into Amaranth afterwards, and then let's try Alluvion. We'll just wing it from there. Sound good?"
Seconds later, the curtains began to raise, the lights flashed to blinding levels, and the show began.
It was well after midnight when the pair left the club. After their show, they hung around to talk with Lillia, Cory, Gibson and Nelson. The latter, as it turned out, was from a record company looking to sign new bands. He'd frequent Gibson's club due to his tendency to allow general unknowns to perform rather than well-known musicians.
"Thanks, but this was sort of a one-time thing," Kimiko told him. "It's tempting, but we've got our journey to finish. Besides, it was really obvious we hadn't played in a long time. My throat is so sore…"
"At least you made it the whole night," Alex said. "I completely fucked up my solo on Heartkiller."
"Actually, short of Lillia forgetting the beat during View to a Kill, I thought you guys rocked it!" Cory said, ordering drinks for everyone. Lillia, to her credit, crossed her arms and looked away in embarrassment. "Too bad Craig didn't see that performance; he might have offered you guys a spot in his band."
"Who's Craig?"
"Gym leader of Pebble town," Lillia answered, still looking away and slurring her words a bit, surprising her two friends. "Music is kind of his thing. You know 'im?" she asked, turning to Cory.
"Well sure," Cory replied with a grin. "All of us gym leaders know each other."
"Wait, what?" Alex said, nearly spilling his drink as he leaned forward. "You're a gym leader?"
"That's right. Right here in the city. How else would Electabuzz have gotten so much practice here?"
The electabuzz in question grumbled, glaring at Kimiko. "El buzzzzzzz elec," he said, small electrical sparks dancing around his body.
"Easy now," Cory said, drawing the pokémon's attention. "Here, have another drink."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Nelson asked with a hint of worry, pulling his own drink away from Gibson's porygon, who buzzed angrily and zapped itself into Gibson's phone. "He's the most drunk out of any of us right now."
"Party hard," was all Cory said by means of reply before passing his own glass to his pokémon. He then turned to Kimiko. "If you guys come to the gym, you might want to change your shirt. He doesn't like it."
"My shirt?" Kimiko asked. She looked down at it, puzzled, before it clicked in her mind. Her shirt, Nelson's tie… "Oh, right. Electabuzz don't like red."
"Indeed," Cory replied, nodding approvingly. "He knows enough not to attack any red things he sees, but he still doesn't like it very much."
Kimiko suddenly looked very apprehensive, physically shying away from the electric-type. "He may be trained, but he's also drunk."
The electabuzz seemed to take offense to this for some reason, and sparked in her direction again with another angry growl.
"Hey, I said take it easy," Cory said sternly. The electabuzz looked back at him, shrugged, and downed another glass. "See, he's fine."
"Anyway," Alex cut in. "Why didn't you tell us you were the gym leader sooner?"
"I said we'd catch up later," Cory replied. "I couldn't very well tell you right before you took the stage, could I?"
"Well, we've officially got two badges now, so we'll be by tomorrow for yours."
"Is that so? How about the day after tomorrow? After tonight, you might want to take a day to rest before facing me."
"Why's that? What's your gym's catch?"
"You know I can't tell you that," Cory grinned, tapping his fingers on the counter to get another drink.
"Alright then," Alex turned to Lillia. "You've already faced him. What's the gym theme?"
"HAH!" Lillia laughed, nearly falling out of her chair and spilling most of her drink down her front, clearly drunk. "Aw shit, I wasn' done wi' that," she groaned, her speech slurring even more, and finished whatever was left. "Another!" she shouted, literally throwing her glass over the counter. The bartender glanced over as it shattered without so much as flinching, though he did eye the black-haired girl warily, wondering if the girl was trying to out-drunk the electabuzz. Cory nodded at him though, and with a shrug, he retreated to fetch a new bottle. The gym leader was buying, and he always tipped well, so it was better for business to keep him satisfied and let him worry about the girl's health.
"You know I can' tell you tha'," Lillia said, answering Alex's question. "I wanna see how fast you fail without my help!"
"Thanks for the support," he sighed.
"'M so glad we did this," Lillia said suddenly. "Is such a good night an'– oh, fuck yeah!" She cut herself off as the bartender returned with a new bottle, poured some liquid into a new glass and handed it to the girl, who immediately dropped it. He sighed and filled another. "Good show, cherrio, mate!" she said, waving her new glass with both hands before downing half of it in one gulp.
Cory's electabuzz slammed a fist on the counter, demanding a new glass himself, eyeing Lillia as he did so. The bartender obliged, but cast a pleading look at the gym leader, who laughed.
"Alright, I think you two have had enough."
The electabuzz downed his entire glass in one gulp before slamming it down and angrily hissing at his trainer. Lillia, meanwhile, had seemingly passed out, the remains of her most recent glass spilled all over her leggings.
"I didn't know she was such a drinker…" Kimiko said, staring with worry at her friend and then setting her own drink down.
"And a weak one at that," Nelson added. "I've never seen someone get so drunk so fast."
"She does have one thing right, though," Alex said, taking another sip of his drink. "I'm glad we did this. Even if the performance was a bust, we really needed a break, and this was a really good time."
"Okay, I'll drink to that," Kimiko said with a small smile and picked up her glass once again. Cory gave a toast and they all drank.
"So I sent Craig a recording of the concert from last night," Cory said. "He was impressed; after I told him how long it's been since any of you performed. He's looking forward to meeting you all, and seeing you again, Lillia."
"Yeah, I bet he is," she replied from her spot on the couch, words muffled due to having her head buried under a pillow to shield it from the lights in the gym's lounge. "Took me four tries to beat him."
"Why did you do that?" Alex groaned, sitting on another couch with Kimiko snuggling up next to him, still half asleep. She remembered to change into a low-cut pink V-neck shirt and jeans instead of her short red top, at least. "We're not interested in music careers right now."
"I'm not letting you waste that potential without putting up a fight. Besides, what about afterwards? It's a good idea for any trainer to have a backup plan in mind."
"Well yeah, but… we don't get that much opportunity to practice on the road. We're not going to get any better by the time we reach him."
"Don't argue with me about this," Cory said over a light sizzling from the pan he hovered over.
"Isn't he the seventh gym leader?"
"He's sixth actually, if you're going traditionally. But you could go as early as the fifth if you skip Phantom Village and go there first."
"Fair enough… we might end up doing that. Who knows?" Alex cast a worried glance down at Kimiko, but she was either pretending not to listen or had fallen asleep again.
"Well, anyway, breakfast is ready for anyone who wants some."
"Mmm…" Kimiko groaned immediately, detaching herself from Alex and sitting up. "Why do you gym leaders always have to be up so early?"
"I suggested putting off the battle for another day, he didn't want to," Cory replied.
"You could have slept in," Alex told her, accepting a large plateful of eggs and bacon from Cory.
"And miss the chance to see what I'll have to deal with?" she said with a sleepy smile. "Er, I mean, miss your battle?"
Alex just rolled his eyes. "Well, we were out pretty late last night. You can go back to bed if you want."
"No," Kimiko protested, but curled back up on her boyfriend anyway, her eyes closed. She opened them just long enough to steal a strip of bacon off his plate.
"Anything for you, miss?" Cory asked softly, kneeling down next to Lillia.
She swatted him away. "Uuuuugghhh… earmuffs, a blindfold, and a wailord-sized aspirin."
A/N: Last update: August 21, 2015. This update: September 21, 2015.
Okay, so I know this chapter at large had little to do with pokémon or plot, but it's a bit of backstory that I've wanted to write about for a while and I decided to be kind to my OCs and let them have one night of fun, so sue me. My story.
Besides, there's still a few little details and history in there. I know the whole "band" thing is fairly cliche (or, it used to be), however I haven't seen a story involving it for a long time so I'm content to use it now. Again, my story.
Random Trivia: I didn't put a lot of thought into the band name... I googled a randomizer and after about four really dull lists I found this at the end of the fifth. It sounded vaguely like a name that a middle/high school-aged group would come up with, and they just re-used it instead of coming up with a brand-new name.
Yes, Fitzgerald Gibson is another name taken from an episode of Jimmy Fallon. Also, yes, I'm showing off my awesome taste in music.