A/N: Hello all! With this chapter here, it'll be the last for about a month or so as I will be visiting my girlfriend from July 22nd to August 6th. So you won't see another ES until roughly August 23rd. I do apologise but I've been planning this trip for a long time. I hope you all understand and I hope you all enjoy this chapter.
"Hey!" I heard whispered at me.
"Huh?" I opened my eyes to find Lisia standing over me, looking worried. She cleaned up and went to her room after we were done but it seems she had a pressing issue. One so pressing as to wake me up.
"Brendan?" she asked, looking around the room quickly. She was nervous for some reason.
"What is it? It's late… or early, I dunno." I mumbled, not moving. Lisia would have to ask me what she wanted before I fell back asleep, which would be soon.
"Uh, I hope that you're not going to, uh…." She swallowed and looked around. It was only now that I noticed she was only wearing a clean pair of panties. I'd compliment her with an erection but I am incredibly tired. Then I felt it growing. Fuck. I hate my libido sometimes. "I just hope you're not gonna tell anyone about how I got while we had sex." She looked really concerned, just like the other day. Arceus's sake she got paranoid.
"Listen" I grumbled "I won't tell anyone unless you want me to. I expect the same I guess. I dunno. All I know is I'm tired and I'd like to sleep some more before we leave. Me and Thalia. Whatever." I buried my face in the comfortable couch and grumbled into it.
"Oh. Okay then." Lisia stood around for a second. I looked over to her and raised a tired eyebrow. Did she want something else?
"Something else?" I asked.
"Huh? No. No." Lisia stood straight and walked off to her room, which was fine. I closed my eyes and was about to drift off to sleep when I felt something go between me and the couch. Something with five appendages. It worked its way into my pants and wrapped around my erect member. I shifted, turning on my side, to see Lisia on her knees. "Sorry!" she whispered. "I just wanted to see if I was right. I'll deal with it." She spoke ever so quietly as she pulled out my member and began quickly sucking it, taking in most of it on the first try. She worked quickly, getting me close within about a minute. Then she grabbed it in her hand and began licking what would normally be the underside of it, turning her head sideways. That about did it. I bit my lip as I came, my erection throbbing as it shot burst after burst into Lisia's mouth, which she happily took. When I was finished, she swallowed it all and gave me one final suck before putting it back and quietly apologising again. Then she headed off to her room and I turned back onto my front, falling back asleep quickly.
I hope Thalia doesn't wake me up soon.
Maxie gripped a pen in his hand as he stared at the screen before him. Things were equalising in Hoenn, which meant Archie was doing something. His grip on the pen tightened. Damn that Archie! He was getting more and more unpredictable by the day and it was pushing Maxie to his limits. He was putting so much of his own brain power into trying to figure out what Archie was planning that very little else made it into his list of things to do, let alone gained any sort of priority. Only messages from Tabitha and Courtney made it to him much now, and he gave Courtney what she wanted to just make her avoid talking with him more. He needed to concentrate. Archie was planning something drastic, he was sure of it. If he had the Blue Orb already, he would have drowned Hoenn as soon as he could have. Maxie didn't even have the Red Orb, so both of Hoenn's Legendary Pokemon were unusable right now. Even if Maxie knew where the Red Orb was, he still needed to find Groudon and control the beast.
Bing! A notification appeared on Maxie's screen.
"Open." He ordered acutely, the file opened to show a message from Tabitha. Apparently his underling, Terra, was able to draw with Aqua from the other side though Terra fared a bit better. He requested Terra be put on the front lines for a push that would surprise Team Aqua once his Pokemon were healed. Maxie considered this. If Terra was put into a squad and sent to the front, he could push into one of Team Aqua's less important locations. Perhaps… Maxie looked around the Hoenn Region and noticed that if they deployed right, they could sneak into Fortree City over a night or two and take them by surprise. Maxie quickly typed his approval and plan, sending it to Tabitha and going back to his map. Hoenn was divided evenly, but that was soon to change. Maxie smiled, though his grip on the Pen remained.
"BAHAHAHAHA!" Archie was looking at his Hoenn map and watching the red dots stand still. "That fool! He over thinks too much. All I have to do is wait and that little baby boy squirms!" Archie let out another bellowing laugh. On other screens, Shelly and Matt watched their commander revel in his simple plan.
"Of course, sir." Shelly purred. "I'm working my way into Meteor Falls as we speak, Team Magma won't know what hit them."
"I'm pushing towards Lavaridge as we speak as well!" Matt announced. "We won't attack until you give the order!"
"Excellent!" Archie grinned widely, baring his white teeth, contrasting his heavily tanned skin. "We'll soon show those Magma cowards what it means to deal with the might of the Ocean!" Archie raised a fist and Matt cheered as well. Shelly simply smiled.
"We will indeed. I hope for our combined success." Shelly signed off, as did Matt. Archie felt his heartrate increase tremendously. Maxie wouldn't know what hit him.
"This bacon's burnt." Thalia complained as she munched the blackened meat strips. She did so begrudgingly, her face screwed up as she tasted the hard shards to meat. "Badly."
"Bit obvious." I commented, forking some hash browns into my mouth. "Least these are done well." I motioned to my food and Thalia stuck her tongue out at me. Mature.
"How're you two this morning?" May asked, rubbing an eye. She wore what she had on yesterday, which I thought was interesting.
"I'm fine. Thalia's as bitter as her bacon." I said, turning to my companion, who was pouring salt onto the burned meat. She looked at me. We were silent for a minute before I finally added "About as salty, too."
"Shut it." Thalia pointed the salt shaker at me menacingly, or as menacingly as she could with a salt shaker. "Last thing I need is you being irritating this morning."
"Well Thalia, burnt meat is-"
"Shut it." Thalia pointed the salt shaker at May as well, spilling some of its contents. Thalia's arm was a whip as it grabbed some of the spilled salt and threw it over her left shoulder in one fluid motion. My eyebrow shot up as she did this and I would bet May's did as well. Thalia looked at us and shrugged. "What? I don't want bad luck."
"I,uh…" I started, wondering what I should say. "I didn't know you were really the superstitious type." I commented as safely as possible.
"Well I'm kind of not, kind of am. I'm just taking some precautions, y'know?" Thalia shrugged her shoulders and went back to eating her burnt and salty bacon. "Salt makes everything better." She sighed.
"Especially your fluid intake." I joked and Thalia glared at me.
"You're pushing your luck, buddy." She growled.
"Now, now." May stepped to the chair between Thalia and I and sat down. "Let's stop our lover's quarrel."
"It's not a lover's quarrel." Thalia growled at May. "Just an argument."
"Not even." I smirked. "A slightly aggressive disagreement." Thalia looked at me and inhaled, probably to say 'shut it' again before May suddenly said
"Boy am I horny!"
"What?" I asked
"What!?" Thalia's head jerked up and she bumped the table a bit. May smiled at the both of us.
"Well, glad I solved that issue." May sighed. "I swear, you two fight too much."
"We actually don't fight a lot." I replied. "It's more like we have small spats and usually just talk at each other."
"It's sadly true." Thalia sighed. "Fights would be more interesting."
"Really?" I raised an eyebrow and Thalia grinned. May sighed deeply.
"Oh Arceus…" she covered her face with her hands and Thalia chuckled as she finished off her bacon before standing. She was only in a black tank top and white shorts.
"I'm gonna go change and then we can go, okay Brendan?" Thalia began walking around me without waiting for an answer.
"Yeah, sure, just don't take too long." I called to her.
"Ha." She called back as she headed to her and May's room. I watched as she went and turned to May, who looked a bit disappointed.
"So what did you two do yesterday?" I asked finally, jerking May from her mood.
"What?"
"I said, what did you two do yesterday? You've been quite friendly recently, I'm curious as to what's going on." I raised an eyebrow. May, if it wasn't air conditioned in this room, would've began sweating bullets by her facial expression. I grinned wide and toothy at May, who swallowed.
"Okay, don't laugh." She said, almost quietly.
"I won't laugh, but other reactions might happen." I kept my grin. I felt like that one character in a video game. This giant snake with big human teeth. Forget his name but his appearance was unsettling. Big red eyes, grey skin, and giant teeth.
"Brendan…" May frowned at me but realised the futility of her coming argument and simply sighed. "Fine." She took another second to gather her courage. "Thalia and I engaged in coitus yesterday." She said eloquently, probably hoping I wouldn't get it. Sadly I got bored sometimes and went clicking through internet encyclopedia's back in Johto.
"So you fucked? How much?" I asked, grinning widely as May blushed, realising that I knew what she meant.
"I-uh-um…" May stammered, her face going red. "Maybe a bit?" she shrugged and I smiled.
"More than that, you two met me a long time after my win over Wattson." I bared my teeth in that grin again. "So how much?"
"Um, well…" May looked around, hoping no one would see her I guess. "We may have spent about an hour practicing some fighting stuff before Thalia got me pinned." May's face could blend in with various red fruits at this point.
"Oh so she was the dominator?" I asked, curious. "She was when she made me eat her out but we haven't done anything since." I shrugged. "But that's neither here nor there."
"Oh. Well yeah, Thalia got dominant and we did it for a bit before finishing and falling asleep. Then we did it again before we realised the time and ran over to you." May admitted, almost sadly. "That's it."
"Nothing last night?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"She ate me out as thanks I think. But that was it." May hurried to add that bit at the end. Then she looked at me. "What about you and Lisia?" she asked.
"We got really into it." I shrugged. "Like super lustful fucking without regard for anything but what we were doing."
"I see." May raised an eyebrow.
"Oh yeah. She got really horny for some reason." I said before Lisia's words popped into my head.
I just hope you're not gonna tell anyone how I got while we had sex.
"But don't tell anyone, especially Lisia." I spoke in harsh, hushed tones. May raised an eyebrow at me. I coughed and revealed "She asked me early this morning not to say anything but I just fucked that up."
"Don't worry, my lips are sealed." May said, making the gesture of zipping her mouth closed. She smiled at me, her face having returned to its normal skin tone.
"Thanks." I sighed, rubbing my face. "I can't believe I said it, though."
"It's okay. We make mistakes. Besides, if anything, at least it was me. I work with her so it should be fine." May consoled me.
"Yeah, that's true." I muttered, standing. "Well I should go get packed now. Thalia should be finished pretty soon." Not a second after I finished speaking did Thalia walked out in her usual Magma outfit, hood down, bag over her shoulder.
"You ready yet?" she asked, seeing me still bedraggled. She rolled her eyes at me and sighed. "Arceus almighty, you're so lazy."
"Nice to see you too. Now I'll be a second." I walked over and grabbed my bag and headband, checking myself out in a mirror. My clothes were fine for now and I could wash these later. "Ready." I said, turning to Thalia. She shrugged.
"All right, let's go."
"Stupid Anne." Jacqueline cursed her comrade's name as she paced her room. It was called her room but it was really a cell. It was white and white and more white. White bed, white walls, ceiling, floor, sheets, pillows, white everything. It was a boring cell, all because Anne did something, she was sure of it. She and Malcom drank water that Anne had grabbed them and soon other Team Aqua members found them in a severely lustful state. Jacqueline was so embarrassed over it. She had to sleep with various male members of the team and was now the butt of several jokes. All of them distasteful. "That cunt." Jacqueline cursed as she paced her room, wanting to kick the walls. But she couldn't. She wanted to kill that little whore that drugged her and Malcom. But she couldn't.
BZZZZT! She heard the door buzzing and Jacqueline turned to face the wall, hands on the wall. She felt exposed in this position. She'd seen the videos of her in her state. She was pinned against the wall as she cried out for more. Jacqueline shivered at the memories that plagued her. The door opened and she heard the tapping of the high heels behind her. The doctor. Michaela.
"Jacqueline, how are you today?" the woman asked. She was in her early forties and had a penchant for enjoying her work.
"Fine." Jacqueline answered curtly. She hated Michaela.
"Any issues? Sexual frustration? Urges?" she asked in her formal manner.
"No, no, and no." Jacqueline answered curtly once more. She hated her.
"That's good. Maybe in a bit you can be released." Michaela said and Jacqueline could practically hear the smug satisfaction in her voice.
"Yes." She answered through gritted teeth. "Fantastic."
"Now, now, no need to be angry." Michaela chastised her. "You can turn around." Jacqueline turned around to see Michaela. Her hair was kept short in a bob cut, the hair framing her face beautifully. She had round glasses over her ice-blue eyes and small, pink lips. Her bust was nothing to give a second look in Jacqueline's opinion. She had a vague memory of her revealing she had only B cups. She wore a purple button up blouse tucked into a knee length grey skirt. Over that, a lab jacket.
"I hate you." Jacqueline growled.
"That's fine. I'm just saying we're done for the day." Michaela turned and walked out. "Have fun." She called. The door closed.
"Cunt." Jacuqeline growled.
"So what are you trying to say?" Thalia asked me once again, and at this point I was tempted to just let it go.
"Okay." I began once more. "The reason that panties is a big fetish is what you can use them for and the simple taboo of them."
"Taboo? Because you normally can't see them?" she asked and I nodded.
"Exactly. Now then, much like how in some shows you hear about, what is it, and indirect kiss?" I asked and Thalia shrugged.
"I think? That's when, like, guy drinks from a glass and a girl drinks from the same glass right?" she asked.
"Bingo." I smiled. "Panties can be seen as, for lack of a better term, an indirect pussy." I cringed a bit at the terminology but I'll live. "I mean, as a girl, you see that a lot and therefore are more or less immune. Meanwhile it's been shunned from my eyes, not allowed to generally be viewed. It's why I look, a lot."
"So what you're saying is that you kept a tally of all the girls panties you saw in school?" Thalia jokingly asked. I gritted my teeth.
"Not me, no. Guy I knew of, Gerald." I remembered the whole saga. "Kept not a tally, but a large spreadsheet of every incident he saw female undergarments. Wasn't super subtle about it either. As in he checked that in the middle of class."
"I have the image of a large, acne ridden, greasy individual in my head." Thalia commented.
"Close but no cigar." I commented. "Gerald was actually pretty fit, and kept showered at least often enough. Acne was bad though, he had a condition. Basically meant he was shunned. A shame, but her mannerisms just made it more or less justified in some eyes. I honestly didn't care. Anyway while I said he wasn't subtle, he at least tried to be sneaky about it. However, people talked and Gerald got more antsy and when someone trying to be stealthy gets antsy, they begin to flub." I remembered a couple of incidents of my own that I would refuse to own up to if asked about them. "Basically one event lead to another and various girls complained of a peeping Tom. Or rather, a peeping Gerald." I chuckled. "Anyway complaints were lodged but the supposed culprit was never explicitly caught in the act. He always managed to escape. This caught the ear of someone who would be his complete and utter downfall."
"That Victoria girl." Thalia answered.
"Bingo." She managed to get him alone with a ruse and talked with him. How I know this is because Gerald managed to talk to me about it." I swallowed. "Basically she paid him what he would consider worth more than any money he could make in a job. She gave him the panties she had worn that day, fresh off of her body."
"Holy…" Thalia made a face. "She knows how to bargain."
"Quite, but something so valuable as Victoria's underwear right then and there comes with a very hefty price." I revealed. "Poor old Gerald had to steal Victoria fifty pairs of panties for her, minimum, within the next month lest she reveal the truth to school officials. So poor Gerald worked hard but only got a few pairs within a week. He had no chance, really. But he persevered until about the last week, when he managed to get about half. He was desperate and came to me, not asking for help, but just telling me. You can imagine my reaction."
"Disgust at Victoria?" Thalia asked, eyebrow raised.
"Yep. However this was far too deep for me to do anything about it. Victoria's reach was just too far so I was forced to watch one day as poor Gerald was arrested on suspicions of peeping and stealing women's undergarments. Though Victoria underestimated him. A bit." I shrugged. "Seems Gerald, in his desperation, managed to hide the underwear somewhere not even the police were able to find. Gerald admitted to peeping, but only with what the police could interpret from his spreadsheet, which was sights during class at best. Can't charge him with much from that aside from a slap on the wrist for harassment. In the end he was released and his family moved somewhere else. From then on, the tale of Gerald's Panty Treasure has taken on the status of a myth, something people aren't quite sure really exists."
"What do you think?" Thalia asked me. I was quiet for a minute as we walked. It was just past noon and mostly cloudy, rays of sunshine shining through the breaks in the clouds. I could smell rain on the horizon.
"What do I think?" I asked back. "Honestly I think Gerald had either a fluke or just a single moment of good luck. I think he bagged the underwear with some stones and dropped it in a lake or pond no one uses. I think it sits there, at the bottom, just existing until someone decides to find the thing."
"Sounds like quite the legend." Thalia commented.
"Oh yeah." I grinned. "It was quite the saga. Almost made school a bit exciting." I shrugged. "But whatever, that's in the past."
"Still, quite the tall tale." Thalia smirked and sighed.
"Yeah, too bad they'll likely never find the panties if Gerald was that good."
Ethan's mind went back to when he helped out poor Gerald in burning the underwear so that the cops couldn't get him when Victoria sent them after him. He smiled at the memory, one way of shoving it at Victoria without actually being known.
"Why are you grinning?" Krys asked as they walked.
"No reason. Thought of a funny joke." Ethan responded.
"A shame, really." I sighed. "Probably a nice treasure trove. Though it's likely it's all ruined by this point."
"Obviously." Thalia retorted. I heard her stomach growl and she sighed deeply. "Damn it, I'm hungry."
"We can stop and have some lunch." I offered.
"Yeah, we're gonna need it. Fallabor is quite far, about a week and a half at least of travel." She commented as we turned off onto a path and found a small clearing, but we were not alone. Sitting in the clearing, feeding a Pokemon was a guy. He was big, well built, but dressed conservatively and dark with a turtleneck sweater on despite the heat the past few days, and blue jeans. His black hair reached just past his ears, which were pale. He was quite pale, almost purely white. He looked up at us and his eyes were, ironically, a warm chocolate brown. He gave us a kind smile as we entered.
"Hello." He greeted kindly, feeding his Pokemon by hand. It was a Lairon.
"Hey, I didn't think we'd meet someone else." I said, first thing. Idiot. Nice way to say hello.
"Well, other trainers are trying to beat the gyms as well." The guy chuckled.
"Yeah." Thalia commented, elbowing me.
"Sorry. Just don't see many trainers that I don't fight." I rationalised.
"That's fair enough." The guy smiled, still feeding his Lairon. "I'm Laurence, by the way."
"Brendan. This is Thalia." I introduced us. "Mind if we sit?"
"Not at all." Laurence gestured before him and Thalia and I walked over and sat down, pulling out some lunch.
"So you beat Wattson?" I asked arbitrarily.
"Oh yes. Good fight it was, Iron and I did quite well." Laurence patted his Lairon's head.
"Iron? His name?"
"Her name, actually." Laurence sighed. "I was about five when I got her as an Aron and knew she was a metal in terms of type, but I didn't know which one. Iron sounded the coolest so, the name." he chuckled at the memory. "I sometimes wondered if I should go and change it but Iron likes it so much and I couldn't stand to see her deal with it." He patted Iron's head and Iron closed her eyes in an expression of bliss. They were quite close.
"Quite the tale. I never named any of my Pokemon, really." I admitted. "Never bothered."
"It's quite all right. Lots of people don't but some do and it's always nice to meet the ones that do and learn the origin stories. It's like finding out a super hero's origin story in a sense." He smiled.
"Into comics then?" I asked, curious. Ethan enjoyed them quite a bit.
"Oh yes. My collection at home is quite the target of envy." Laurence chuckled. "Many shelves dedicated to the various adventures and misadventures of the many super heroes and villains of new and old. Quite interesting reading the differences between the two. The styles of art and writing were so different back then, it's like reading a history text. Though history was never particularly my subject." Another chuckle.
"A shame, I always did good in history, though battling was always my game personally." I admitted.
"Oh? A battler, are you?" Laurence chuckled again. He liked to chuckle. Either that or everything was humorous to him. It was an odd quirk. "Perhaps we should put our Pokemon to the test."
"That'd be cool. How about a one on one duel after lunch? Your Iron vs. my Lairon. Winner gets to say they've won." I offered. Laurence smiled cheerfully.
"Sure. I'd be happy to battle. Though I'd suggest we rest for just a bit before we do, battling after a meal right away can lead to issues." Laurence sighed. "So let's chat, shall we?"
"Sure thing." I opened Lairon's Pokeball and out he came, in his full glory. Had he been more like Combusken, I would have had some issues. However, Lairon was as bashful as he was as Aron, so it came as no surprise when he simply stared at Iron instead of roaring or something.
"That's quite a specimen!" Laurence exclaimed, impressed. "He's quite large for a Lairon, I must say. Almost as big as Iron." Lairon looked at Iron and noticed that he was just a bit smaller. Iron had a bit more bulk to her and she smiled at Lairon, who, if he could, would've sweated bullets.
"He's nervous." I chuckled, pulling some of the dry Pokemon food and feeding Lairon from my hand. He ate nervously, staring at Iron as she sat beside Laurence. Iron paid him little mind, or it seemed that way to me. I patted Lairon on the head as Thalia ate quietly beside me.
"It's fine. Iron's dealt with Pokemon who've been more nervous. Other Lairon." He chuckled. "They were swiftly defeated."
"Sounds threatening." I joked, grinning. Laurence chuckled heartily.
"Oh, hardly. Though don't think Iron has only fought weakened opponents. She's been through some tough scrapes."
"I wouldn't expect anything less. After all you made it past Wattson, you must be of some skill level." I admitted and Laurence nodded his thanks.
"I suppose your Lairon evolved during your fight with Wattson, it seems." He guessed, getting it right. He shrugged. "Newly evolved Pokemon exude a bit of an aura or feeling. You can feel it with other Pokemon if you haven't seen them evolve. It's something they exude." He explained quickly and I nodded.
"Makes sense, I guess." I agreed, looking to Lairon. He did seem to be shining beside me despite the lack of real sunlight hitting the small clearing. Interesting.
"Well, what's your story?" Laurence finally asked me.
"Oh. I moved here from Johto a while ago, about a month or so now. Mostly because of my parents since my dad is a Gym Leader in Petalburg City. Norman. I finished school and I decided to go on my adventure." I shrugged. "That's about it." Laurence nodded.
"What about your friends in Johto?" he asked.
"Ethan and Krys. They've been my best friends since childhood. Ethan has always been a bit timid and introverted but me and Krys, especially Krys, managed to help him break out of his shell. He's going on his adventure in Johto with Krys and a friend of theirs, Lyra. Krys is basically the outgoing one of the group. She's always one for outdoorsy exercise and hiking and all that." I waved my hand dismissively. "But she was really good at keeping Ethan and I in some form of shape though she was also great at keeping my wandering eyes away from the local female population." I chuckled and Laurence raised an eyebrow.
"Local female population?" he asked simply, a wry grin on his face. I was going to explain when Thalia answered.
"He's a complete pervert. Trust me, can't keep him off of the women, at least his eyes. If they're unlucky, his hands as well."
"Shut up!" I frowned at Thalia, who grinned slyly. "I don't grope women randomly. I just observe." I said, as if it was any better. "But anyway, that's not the main thing. Krys and Ethan began dating just before I left for Hoenn and they seem to be having fun."
"Well that's good." Laurence commented. "It's quite a story you've got there." He chuckled some more. Okay now it was a tad unsettling, the chuckling. He turned to Thalia. "What about you?"
"Um." Thalia began, looking to Laurence. "I'm a grunt in Team Magma. That's it, really." She said unimpressively.
"Hmph." Laurence shrugged. "Well, I think it's been quite long enough." He stood up, brushing himself off. "I say it's time to battle."
Anne arrived at the hotel in a heap, tossing her bag onto the floor and flopping onto the bed. In her bag, as it landed, the pill bottle rattled. It was about three quarters full still but Anne was just coming off the high of the previous pills. She didn't want to experience it again. She was simply tired of sex right now and wanted to sleep, masturbating of her own volition. She had nothing but time so she would likely watch a movie or something. Maybe just fall right to sleep. That would be nice, wouldn't it?
"Ugh." Anne groaned aloud. Lavaridge was a small town so she was convinced that nothing would happen. Well small wasn't the right word. With cities like Mauville having populations in the hundred thousand, Lavaridge was one of about eight thousand, if that. It had its attractions and was developing but it was still quite a small town. And Brendan wouldn't be here for another week or two at least! Shelly was too cruel! Maybe it was punishment, maybe it was strategy. Anne didn't know. She didn't care almost. She just wanted to do something to pass the time.
"Sleep would be nice about now." She yawned aloud before she turned onto her side and fell asleep, despite the sunlight pouring into her small hotel room.
Courtney examined her tablet for information she had hacked from Shelly's files. Still the same stuff, unimportant plans and all that. Just more things she didn't have to care much about. She flipped through more and more info until she got to Shelly's journal, which was the only interesting thing the woman had. It detailed more boring details on how the grunts were being hard to deal with as of late, getting antsy and bored. Blah, blah, blah, boring. Soon, however, she reached a short entry about Brendan. It read
So far Anne's efforts are not producing viable results. It's possible she may outlive her usefulness by the time they arrive in my presence. I may have to convince Brendan on my own, in my own way, to get him to join.
"Interesting." Courtney muttered.
"Ma'am." A grunt greeted her.
"Hm?" she looked up. She had been leaning against the helicopter as it had to refuel.
"We're ready for lift off."
"Oh, okay." She said, climbing into the vehicle and waiting for the pilot to close the door and get into the pilot's seat and began the pre-flight check ups. Courtney found Shelly's possible involvement interesting.
Very interesting.
"You ready?" Laurence asked me.
"Yeah." Lairon stood beside me as Iron stood beside Laurence.
"Okay then." Thalia announced. "go." Unimpressive to say the least.
"Lairon, Iron defence!" I ordered and Lairon stabilised himself, his metal hide shining bright as his defences boosted.
"Iron, Iron Head." Laurence commanded calmly, Iron began running forward, head lowered. This would work! Lairon's defences were too good! Iron impacted with Lairon and sent him stumbling with the force of the hit. He rolled but wound up back on his feet. Lairon looked relatively unharmed.
"Lairon, use-"
"Double Edge." Laurence ordered and Iron charged at Lairon, hitting him full force, sending him rolling back again.
"Iron Defence!" I ordered and Lairon boosted his defence as Iron charged, head lowered for another Iron Head. Now to dupe him. Iron neared Lairon and then I gave the order. "Iron Head!" Lairon charged forward, clashing with Iron, head first. Both Pokemon stopped in their tracks and struggled to push the other back. However, Iron was quickly taking the lead over Lairon, pushing the poor guy back until she got her head under his and managed to fucking flip him onto his back. Lairon struggled while on his back, unable to do much as Thalia raised a hand in Laurence's direction.
"Laurence wins!" she called out. Iron walked back over to Laurence and he patted her head. Holy Arceus. I quickly got down and attempted to push Lairon back onto his feet. It took a second but I managed and he shook it off, literally. Laurence smiled at me simply before addressing me.
"There's a reason I won." He mentioned.
"You're better than me?" I asked and Laurence simply shook his head.
"Oh, we're about the same. You had a plan and I can respect that. However I trained Iron to attack fast and hard. She's good at taking on other slow Pokemon. Faster Pokemon can out manoeuvre her still but Iron can take on even the most stable of Pokemon." Laurence smiled. "You lost because I trained Iron to be a specific fighter."
"I see." I raised an eyebrow. I'd heard of selective training, many pro trainers used it in non-official competitive matches. Balance reasons they said but I always was a fan of doing whatever you want with whichever Pokemon you wanted. "I've never faced a specifically trained Pokemon before."
"They're good Pokemon, bit limited, but still. My strategy doesn't even play to Iron's real strengths, which is her defence. You play to your Lairon's strength of his defence, which is good, but not good enough to beat Iron just yet. I'm sure any of your other Pokemon would put up a far better fight but Iron and I simply get too aggressive and put too much pressure on the person to think of a counter attack. It generally works. Iron's pretty fast when she wants to be." Laurence smiled at her and patted her head. He was so incredibly proud of her.
"Well you have been working since you were young. But why is she still a Lairon? Shouldn't she have evolved?" I asked. Laurence shrugged.
"She'll evolve when she's ready. Same with your Pokemon, no?" he said simply. He chuckled again in that unsettling tone. I wanted to say something until Thalia walked up and asked
"So what's up with the chuckles?" blunt as usual. Laurence simply smiled as he sat beside Iron.
"Oh, I just find many things a bit humorous. It makes me seem a bit unsettling or untrustworthy, no?" He chuckled and I guess that the explanation made sense. In some aspect at least.
"Makes about as much sense as anything else." I shrugged, returning Lairon. Laurence smiled at me.
"Well this was fun, wasn't it? Do you have a PokeNav?" he asked.
"Oh, yeah. You want to exchange numbers?" I asked.
"Of course." He pulled his out and I pulled mine. We exchanged contact information and Laurence was satisfied. "Well it was nice meeting you Brendan, Thalia. However I shall remain here for a bit. Feel free to move on ahead. After all" he pointed up and I noticed that the clouds were gathering again, really thickly "it looks like it is going to rain soon. Quite heavily."
"Okay, thanks Laurence." I waved at him as Thalia and I left the clearing, leaving Laurence to his own devices. We headed back onto the beaten path and I noticed the thick scent of rain gathering.
"Holy Arceus, it is going to fucking storm." Thalia observed, looking up with worry.
"Worst case scenario we have to sleep in a small tent in the middle of a storm." I joked but as we walked, we saw no caves or alcoves to hide under and it was beginning to look like we were going to have to deal with the consequences of sleeping in a small tent.
"Seems that way." Thalia commented idly as we walked. We risked some more travel as the thick scent of rain in the air, almost strangling us. "Yeah let's build it now before we get annihilated by rain." So Thalia and I set forth to building the tent as quickly as possible. It was small, barely able to fit a couple people, but we managed to build a simple orange tent. Somehow. We got in with our backpacks and zipped up just as lightning lit up the sky, thunder cracked loudly, and rain began pouring against the tent. Thalia and I sat close together, forced to in the coziness of the tent. We sat, waiting for the rain to die off despite the fact it was just past noon. It wasn't.
"The work of Team Aqua?" I asked, jokingly. I looked to Thalia, whose face was one of legitimate concern.
"I'm not sure. If I'm right, whatever Team Aqua's after is causing this. Whether it means to or not." Her tone was grim.
"Well, I mean, what could cause these freak weather twists?" I asked aloud.
"I know." Thalia admitted, a grimace on her face. "But I'm not allowed to say anything."
"Why not?" I asked, aggravated.
"Because if it's let out that I told you, I'm severely fucked. Hardcore." She frowned. "I just can't tell you."
"Fine, I'll deal with it." I rolled my eyes. She was really defensive about it. Maybe she didn't really know. Or maybe she thought she did but wasn't entirely sure. Either way it was irritating so I took the easy option and took a nap. A long one.
"The weather is shifting." The computer announced in monotone. Maxie watched as the area over Mauville was being covered in a surprise low pressure area. Meanwhile Lillycove city was dealing with a surprise high pressure area, sunlight was creating incredible heats.
"Incredible. Even dormant, they can wreak such havoc. Imagine what one could do if they had the orbs." Maxie felt his heartrate speed up but he didn't care. A smile pulled at his lips but it never came to fruition. Soon the Legendary Pokemon would be his and his alone.
Archie was watching his computer before he went for a swim. Lovely weather out. The western area of Hoenn was getting drowned while the eastern end was being drenched in sunlight. Incredible. Soon he would have the orb and he could control such power!
It was late, quite late. Thalia was asleep beside me and it was dark and would be silent but for the rain. It had been pouring for hours. HOURS. To the point Thalia gave up on the day and fell asleep for the night. My nap made me quite awake tonight and it would be a long while before I would sleep. I pulled my PokeNav and, despite the weather, I had good service. I pressed the dial button and held the device to my ear, turning from Thalia so that she would stay asleep. It rang a few times before I got an answer.
"Hello?" I heard.
"Ethan? Brendan."
"Oh hey!" he sounded excited. "How's things?"
"Pretty good. I'm stuck in a freak thunderstorm in a tent. You?"
"Well I'm in Goldenrod. Still have yet to beat the Gym Leader." Ethan sighed heavily.
"Gym Leader?" I sent my memory back to school. "Whitney right?"
"Sadly yes." Ethan sighed. "She has a Miltank and it owes up to the last half of that name. Big time."
"How bad?" I asked, ready for it.
"She wiped me, Krys, and Lyra out one after another." He admitted.
"Ouch." I cringed. "Miltank's that good?"
"It can drink its own fucking milk to heal and sue Rollout like crazy!" Ethan exclaimed. "Thing's damn near untouchable."
"Can't be that bad." I tried.
"Quilava was squashed flat within a second. Literally a second." Ethan emphasised for me.
"Arceus that's bad." I sighed.
"Oh yeah. But I think I have a way. Basically have Quilava dodge as much as he can and burn the thing. Its milk gives it energy and heals it a bit but burns and things like that will stay. So I think that'll be my strategy." Ethan sounded proud of it.
"That's good. Meanwhile my strategy for my third Gym was don't lose. My Aron wound up evolving into a Lairon."
"That's awesome man! How's that Totodile as well?"
"Slow progress. But we're getting there."
"That's good. Anyway it's close to bed time for me and I've got a battle tomorrow."
"All right man. Good night."
"Night." Ethan said and we hung up. I lay down on my bag and I looked up at the ceiling of the small tent. Rain pounded down more and more as thunder boomed and lightning flashed. I was asleep quickly.
A/N: Hello all! Sad to say this will be the only chapter you see for a month. Going to visit my girlfriend in the states for a couple weeks, then the rest of that week off when I get back, then a week for an AS chapter. Hope you enjoyed!