-chapter 8-
The next morning, I woke up to...nothing spectacular.
Phoebe was curled up along side me, still asleep, her soft feet pressed against my legs.. her head just below my own.
-quietly- Me: "Baby girl... you awake yet?"
-cutely, grumpily, softly- Phoebe: "Let me...sleep...another...few minutes.."
-quietly- Me: "Ok."
-quietly- Me:"Well.. while you're sleeping, I had an idea..."
-cutely- Phoebe:"Hmm?"
-cutely, grumpily- Phoebe:"Tell me later..."
Me:"Ok."
-a few minutes later-
-softly, a bit more awake- Phoebe:"What were you going to say?"
Me:"I was thinking, since, it's sunday, Nina's home, and the gym is probably closed for repairs.."
Me:"Why don't we let Nina watch Charley for a bit and go out together?"
-lovingly- Phoebe:"Ohhh Cj..."
Phoebe:"I don't know."
Me: "You know you want too."
Phoebe: "But what about Charley?"
Me: "Nina will keep him occupied, you know they get along well."
-cutely frustrated- Phoebe: "I know, but ...mmmm...I really wanna go Cj, but I don't know if Charley will be ok."
Me:"It's allright baby girl.."
Me:"We can wait for some other time.."
-unsure- Me:"Maybe we can find a sitter..."
Phoebe:"Ohhh...let's just do it.."
-confused- Me:"Heh?"
Phoebe:"Let's go out..."
Me:"Ok."
Phoebe:"Where are we gonna go?"
Me:"I don't know yet."
-unsure- Phoebe:"Okaaay."
Me: "You wanna turn around?"
-unsure- Phoebe: "Why? I'm comfortable."
Me:"I just want to see your face."
Phoebe: "oohhhh ok."
She turned around to face me, even in the mornings, she was still beautiful.
Me :"-sighs-, ... you're so pretty... you know that."
-playfully- Phoebe: "Oh stop it..."
Me:"Barely started yet."
Phoebe:"Start what?"
I gave her a kiss.
-playfully- Phoebe:"-giggles-, what was that for?"
Me:"Do I need a reason to kiss my beloved wife?"
Phoebe:"-sighs-, I guess not...""
She kissed me.
-lovingly- Phoebe:"-sighs- I love you."
Me:"love you too baby."
We started to make out for a moment.
Phoebe:"What time is it?"
Me:"I don't know…."
Phoebe:"Can you check the clock?"
Me:"Sure.."
Me:"Um..it's 8:20.."
Me:"We still have some time."
Phoebe:"Ok."
Me:"Are you fine with just laying here and snuggling like this...or I don't know.."
Phoebe:"No...not right now...not if we're going out tonight.."
Me:"Ok, then we'll just snuggle...I guess..."
-cutely- Phoebe:"Mhm."
Me:"Sounds good."
Phoebe:"Good."
She kissed me again..
-playfully- Phoebe:"Maybe we can make out a bit too?"
Me:"Maybe."
It was a slow morning, like many mornings, we got out of bed when we heard Charley crying for attention. We both went to retrieve him this morning, it seemed to surprise him when we both showed up, but he was happy none the less. The morning passed by without anything unusual happening, and then we all headed into Goldenrod for lunch.
-during lunch at the Tauros Steakhouse place-
Phoebe: "Nina, we've been thinking.."
Nina: "I can skip school to challenge the gym?"
Phoebe: "No, don't be silly."
Phoebe: "Your father and I have been thinking about going out tonight."
-unsure-Nina: "Where?"
Phoebe: "We haven't decided yet, but, if we do, we will need you to look after Charley for us."
Nina:"I'm not going with you?"
Phoebe:"We'll come back, don't worry."
-confused- Nina:"Why?"
-jokingly- Me: "Because we love you..."
Phoebe: "Cj that's not what she meant."
Phoebe: "Nina, try to understand, your father and I just need some alone time, together, outside of work...ok...?"
-unsure- Nina: "Sooooo...you can have sex?"
-somewhat upset- Phoebe: "Nina...!"
-surprised- Me: "What?"
All I could think at the moment was...did she really just say that?
-very disgusted- Phoebe: "NO...nononononono..."
-cutely imitating- Charley:"No nonono mawa ses.. ..."
-cutely- Charley: "Cawey dunno...nonono..."
Me: "hehe..."
-playfully- Charley: "Dunonononononononononononono."
Phoebe:"That's not the reason..."
Phoebe:"Don't talk like that..."
Me: "We just want to spend time together ok? Like we used too."
Nina: "Before me?"
Phoebe:"-sighs-...Nina...don't think like that, you're not the reason, ok? The reason is your father and I still love eachother very much, and we just want some time...alone...ok?"
Nina:"Ok."
-playfully- Charley: "nonononononono."
Nina:"Do you think Charley will be ok with it?"
-lovingly- Phoebe:"I think he'll be fine with his big sister looking after him."
Phoebe :"Are you ok with that?"
-empowered- Nina: "...Mhm..."
Phoebe: "Ok then it's settled."
-playfully- Charley: "nonononononono -giggles-"
Phoebe: "Thanks sweety."
Nina:"Ok."
Charley:"Nonononononono...nonono.."
-unsure- Phoebe: "Charley, what are you doing?"
Charley: "Cawey duno...nononono..."
Me: "He's being silly."
Phoebe: "I see."
-playfully- Charley: "Mawa ses nonononono -giggles-."
Phoebe: "Mhm..I said that..."
Phoebe: "Why are you saying it over and over again?"
-cutely- Charley: "Cawey dunno...nonono..-giggles-."
Me: "ehh I guess he thinks it's funny."
Phoebe: "I guess so...I just think it's really cute.."
-cutely- Charley: "Mawa Cawey ess seewee nononononono."
Phoebe: "Mhm...you're very silly."
Nina:"I think our food is comming."
Phoebe: "Ok."
-loudly- Charley :"Cawey wa FOOO!"
Phoebe: "shhhh...we know sweety."
Me:"Charley ...no reason to be so loud."
The waitress arrived with our food just seconds later.
We had a nice, pleasant lunch, and then we headed home afterwards.
During the afternoon, it was a warm day out, so we brought Charley outside for the first time in awhile. We let some of our pokemon out to play as well, and had a great time. At around 4:00pm Phoebe headed inside to prepare dinner for the kids, so they would have something to eat when we left for our date. Nina could make a few things on her own, but Charley was very finicky and had to have everything cooked a specific way, he didn't like things too warm or too cold, and once he discovered a particular meal was either, he couldn't be convinced to try it again. After making a few sandwhiches for Nina and warming up some milk for Charley, she headed upstairs to prepare for our date, even though it was atleast another hour or so before we were planning to leave.
I stayed outside with the kids, trying to keep an eye on Charley who was playing with Blossom. Blossom was about his size, and like the rest of our pokemon she was very kind and careful around him, even though Charley sometimes played a bit rough, even though he didn't mean it, pulling on her arms and leaves, he even pushed her down once, which was why I was watching to make sure Charley didn't accidently hurt her and she didn't get mad and retaliate.
-somewhat mean- Charley: "-giggles- bwassa fah dow..!"
-upset- Blossom :"Bell!...Bellossom."
She gave me a somewhat angry look.
Me: "Charley be nice."
Me:"She's not a toy."
Me:"She's a pokemon."
Charley:"Bwassa pomah..."
Me:"Mhm."
Charley:"Seewee bwassa...fah dow."
Me:"That's because you pushed her, don't think I didn't see that."
Me:"Sorry Blossom, he just a baby, he doesn't know any better."
I helped her back up.
Me:"You ok?"
Charley:" Bwassa fah dow ageh.."
Me:"Charley..."
I easilly prevented him from pushing Blossom down again.
Charley:"Dawhy bwassa wa fah dow..."
Me:"I don't think she does..."
Me:"Now stop it before you hurt her."
Blossom:"Belllll?"
Me:"I don't know what's gotten into him."
Me:"I guess he just doesn't realize he could hurt you."
Me:"If he's just going to keep pushing you down, maybe you shouldn't play with him."
Me:"I'm sorry, but I don't want either of you to get hurt."
Me:"Charley come let's go see if we can find Cubey, I'm pretty sure you can't push him down."
I don't know where Cubey went, Nina was playing in the backyard with her pokemon, so I did a quick search, Bubba and many of the larger pokemon were out in the field behind the house, quite far away. HellBlade was...asleep...on the porch...odd way to spend free time, but...whatever. Polli and Mr. Jiggles were out back, Cloudella was on the roof, for some reason, and everyone else seemed to be hiding. I couldn't find Cubey in the yard, but I found my Staraptor instead and asked him to search as well. Then I went to the backyard to ask Nina.
Me: "Nina have you seen Cubey anywhere?"
Nina:" Um...I don't think so."
Nina:" I think he's out in the field with Bubba and the others..."
Me: "Ohh ok."
Nina:" Come on Gulpin, another sludge attack."
Me: "Just remember to clean up all the sludge when your done ok? If you leave it around the yard starts to smell."
Nina: "Oshawott's already on it."
Me: "Ok."
Me: "Well Charley I guess we can't play with Cubey either."
Charley: "Cawey wa dow.."
Me: "Mhm, you won't hold still long enough for me to carry you out to him will you."
Nina:"Noooo he won't..."
Nina: "I though he was playing nice with Blossom."
Me: "Yeah, but he started to get mean, so I decided to find someone else for him to play with that he couldn't push around so easilly."
Nina: "Why what did he do?"
Me: "He pushed her down, he doesn't mean , but I'm afraid he'll hurt her or she'll get annoyed and hurt him."
Nina: "Charley that's not very nice..."
Charley: "Newa Cawey nigh..."
Me: "Oh really?"
Charley: "Cawey wa dow."
Me: "I don't know where to put you down though."
Charley: "Cawey wa ma bwassa fah dow ageh..."
Me: "No."
-upset- Charley: "Cawey was DOW..."
Me: "Charley that's enough."
He began to squirm around and cry, I had to hold him tight so I wouldn't drop him.
Me: "Stop it..."
-Charley: "CAWEY WA DOW!"
Me: "That's it I'm taking you back inside."
Nina: "Awe..."
-unsure- Cubey: "Marrow...marrowak?"
Me: "Oh...hey Cubey..."
Apparently Staraptor had found him and sent him to me. It was too late however, Charley was out of control, I knew I would have to bring him to Phoebe, she was still the only one that could calm him down when he was like this.
Me:"Um, you can go back to what you were doing, I was going to have you play with Charley, but as you can see he's not really happy right now."
-somewhat annoyed- Cubey: "Marrowwaack."
He turned around and headed back towards the field. Somewhat annoyed for having to come all the way over here for nothing.
I brought Charley back into the house, trying to keep from dropping him, he was trying to make this as difficult as possible by constantly wiggling around and trying to get away.
His crying woke up Hellblade, who wasn't happy about it.
Me: "Sorry buddy, he just won't calm down."
He growled at me, obviously annoyed, but he understood none the less.
I barely stepped through the front door when Phoebe came out of the dining room.
Phoebe: "Awwwe Charley...what happened?"
Me: "He's being a bit mischevious."
I handed him over to her.
Phoebe: "Awwwwe...calm down little guy."
-crying- Charley: "BWASSA NO FAH DOW..."
Phoebe: "What?"
Me: "He wants to push blossom down, he keeps playing rough with her, so I tried to find another pokemon to play with him, but he's too impatient, and now he's going ballistic because I won't set him back down."
Phoebe: "Why did he push her?"
Me: "I don't know."
Me: "I guess he thinks it's funny, but he doesn't understand that he could hurt her."
Phoebe:"That makes sense."
-screaming- Charley: "MAWA!"
-calmly- Phoebe: "Charley that's enough, calm down now."
She tried to comfort him, but he was being stubborn and wouldn't calm down. He just kept screaming that he wanted down, that he wanted to push Blossom down again, and that Phoebe wouldn't let him down.
Eventually he stopped screaming only because he tired out, which took about five minutes.
-somewhat upset- Phoebe: "Charley I'm dissapointed in you, throwing a big tantrum like that."
Phoebe: "I think you need a nap."
Me:"Atleast that makes Nina's job easier."
Phoebe: "Yeah...atleast.."
-tiredly- Charley: "Cawey no wa nap."
Phoebe: "Well too bad, you're taking one."
-somewhat annoyed- Phoebe: "That's what you get for throwing a fit because daddy won't let you be mean to his pokemon."
I followed her upstairs to Charley's room where she set him in his crib.
Phoebe:"There, now you stay here.
Charley: "No mawa, Cawey wa pway."
Charley: "Cawey wa may bwassa fah dow ageh."
Phoebe: "Let it go Charley."
Phoebe: "Blossom isn't a toy, if you keep pushing her down like that you could hurt her."
He still seemed to think it was no big deal, like we were in the wrong from keeping him from it. It just goes to show that he still had a lot to learn.
Phoebe: "You can sleep, you can cry it out, as long as you calm down I don't care."
-upset- Charley: "Cawey no wa go beh..."
-upset- Charley: "Mawa?"
-upset- Charley :"Cawey no wa!"
Phoebe was on the verge of crying, Charley wasn't making it easy.
Me:"Pheebles...relax..."
-somewhat upset- Phoebe:"It feels like I'm betraying him."
Me: "You aren't betraying him."
Me: "Though that may be how he sees things."
-upset- Charley: "Mawa?"
Charley: "Cawey wa dow."
Me: "Come on, let's talk about this...I guess."
I took her hand and let her out of the room, while Charley began to get even more upset.
Phoebe: "I don't know what to do.."
Me: "I don't know either...nothing I can come up with seems right, but he won't calm down and he won't play nice..."
Me: "And this is the first time we haven't been able to cheer him up by distracting him."
Me:"-sighs-, he probably gets it from me..."
Phoebe: "How do you know?"
Me: "I was kind of like this when I was kid..."
Phoebe: "Atleast that means he can grow out of it."
Me: "Yeah..."
Me: "It also means that no form of punishment will actually work."
Me: "Well...aside from...maybe just letting him cry it out."
Phoebe: "How do you know?"
Me: "Because my parents tried everything."
Me: "Pheebles, all I can say is that he'll have to figure it out for himself. There's nothing we can say or do that will help him at this point."
Me: "He can't cry forever, he'll cheer up eventually, and then we can take him back out again, and then, maybe he'll learn not to do these things."
Me:"But it will take some time you know, because well, he has to learn how he works at the same time that he learns about everyone else and he'll need some time to develope a sense of self control before we can even expect improvement.."
Phoebe: "I hope you're right."
Me: "So he'll be like this for awhile, we just need to help him by keeping him contained and not letting him take things too far."
Phoebe: "So basically we're protecting him from himself?"
Me: "Right."
Me: "So...are...we still going out tonight?"
Phoebe: "If he calms down by the time we need to leave, I don't want to leave him with Nina when he's like this, she won't know what to do."
Me: "Yeah."
Phoebe: "I'm sorry."
Me: "It's ok baby..."
Me: "We still have an hour or so, I think he'll calm down by then."
Phoebe:"You think so?"
Me:"Mhm."
Phoebe: "I should get ready to leave then..."
Me: "Wait...did you finished making dinner for the kids?"
Phoebe: "Oh right...you interupted me...I should finish that first."
Me: "Allright then..."
Phoebe :"Cj..."
Me:"Yes?"
Phoebe: "Could you stay by his door, and just listen for when he stops crying?"
Phoebe: "Please?"
Me: "Of course honey."
She headed downstairs while I waited by Charley's door.
I could still hear him crying through the door, but he settled down a few minutes later, so I went in to check on him.
Me: "Charley...you ok now?'
-upset- Charley: "DAWHY!"
He seemed a bit more sincere than angry now.
I picked him up, tears were still streaming down his face, but he wasn't screaming anymore.
-calmly- Me: "Are you done?"
-sadly- Charley: "Cawey no scwee..."
Me: "Ok."
Me: "Good enough...let's go downstairs."
Phoebe came in behind me.
Phoebe:"Is he ok now?"
Me: "It seems like it."
-somewhat desperately- Cawey: "Mawa..."
Phoebe: "Charley, you had me worried for a moment."
Phoebe: "Why don't you take him to Nina? I'll go get ready and then we'll leave in half an hour or so."
Me: "Ok."
Phoebe: "Also we should probably return our pokemon as well."
Phoebe:"They should start comming back within the next hour or so anyway, it's almost sunset."
Me:"True."
Phoebe:"Can you return mine for me?"
Me:"If they'll listen."
Phoebe:"Of course they will."
Me:"Ok then sure."
I brought Charley back outside and quickly found Nina in the backyard again.
Me: "Hey Nina, we're getting ready to leave soon, so we need to start returning our pokemon, and you should as well because we'll need you to come inside to watch Charley for us."
Nina:"Awwwweee...ok."
Nina:"Charley are you feeling better now?"
Charley: "Cawey see Newa..."
Nina:"Matches, Gulpin, Cobalt, come over here."
Nina:"Oshawott finish cleaning up after Gulpin, Sparky...where'd you go?"
Me:"He's not in his car?"
Nina:"No he left it and now I don't know where he went..."
Nina:"SPARKY...WHERE ARE YOU?"
He suddenly came out from under a bush.
Sparky:"Rrrrrotom.."
Nina:"Why are you hiding?"
Nina:"Get back in your car, I have to return you now."
Sparkey:"Rotom tom..."
He repossessed the rc car so Nina could return him.
Nina:"Cobalt have you seen Spike Anywhere?"
Cobalt:"Beldumm...bellll."
Me:"You don't know where he went?"
Nina:"He likes to wander off on his own sometimes.."
Me:"That means he's not used to you yet, you need to work with him a bit more."
Oshawott:"oshawott..osha?!"
Nina:"You're done cleaning up...?"
Nina:"Ok, goodjob."
Nina:"You can stay out a little longer if you want to help me find Spike."
Oshawott:"Osssshhhaawott."
Eventually she found Spike, hiding out in a tree, how he got up there was a mystery, but he didn't seem to want to come back down.
It took quite awhile to return all of our pokemon.
Nina found all of hers first, then I returned HellBlade, since he was still on the porch, as he had fallen back to sleep. Then we returned whoever we could find that was close to the house, before heading out into the field to return the others, most of which were already starting to head back anyway, after we made sure we had everyone, we headed back inside and watched some tv.
After I had returned all our pokemon to the drawer in our room, Phoebe was still getting ready in the bathroom, and Nina was now playing with Charley on the floor.
-unsure- Nina:"When were you and mom going to leave again?"
Me:"Um, hopefully she should be ready any minute now."
Me:"Are you ready sweatheart?"
Nina:"Mhm."
Me:"It's a lot of responsibility."
Nina:"I know..."
Me:"Ok then...we trust you..."
A few minutes later, Phoebe came down the stairs, wearing one of her nicer dresses, I don't know what she did with her hair but it looked even prettier than usual, like it had some sort of glossy shine to it.
Nina:"Mom!?"
Me: "Awe...Pheebles you know you don't have to dress up like that..."
-playfully- Phoebe:"Oh Cj come on, you like this."
Me: "I know..but..."
Nina: "Good grief..."
Nina:"You guys are so weird."
Me:"What did I do?"
Phoebe: "Oh just wait sweety...you'll fall in love someday.."
Me: "Yeah... and then it will all make sense to you."
Phoebe:" Mhm."
-unamused- Nina: "Whatever..."
Charley: "Mawa..."
Phoebe: "Do you think I look pretty Charley?"
Charley: "mawa...Cawey dunno, ula pwety..."
Me: "hehehe..."
Nina: "-giggles-, Charley..."
Phoebe: "-sighs-, Oh well...Nina be careful with him while we're gone ok?"
Nina: "Ok."
I headed up the stairs...
-unsure- Phoebe: "Cj where are you going?"
Me: "Well if you're going to look nice...I might as well dress up a bit...too...I guess."
Phoebe: "Um...ok."
I changed into a nicer shirt, combed my hair out and a few other minor things before heading back down.
Me: "Allright baby girl you ready to go?"
Phoebe: "Mhm."
Phoebe: "Here Nina, remember I want him in bed by 7 and you by 9, don't stay up, you have school tomorrow, I don't want to come home to find you asleep on the couch again, understand?"
Nina: "Mhm."
She gave her and Charley a hug and a kiss goodbye.
Phoebe: "Ok, take care sweety."
Nina: "Mhm."
Me: "Love you."
Nina: "Love you dad."
Phoebe: "Wait..."
Me: "Huh?"
Phoebe: "I almost forgot."
Phoebe: "Nina, I made some sandwhiches for you , they're in the fridge, and there's also some pancakes for Charley in case he gets hungry.."
Phoebe: "Ok?"
Nina: "Ok, thanks mom."
-excitedly- Charley:"ANCAYS!"
Phoebe:"Mhm."
Nina:"Charley..."
Charley: "Newa, mawa ses may ancays fo Cawey..."
Me: "Hehehe..."
Nina: "No, she said she already made pancakes for you silly."
Nina: "Bye...mom, bye dad...be carefull."
Charley:"Wehgoweee?"
Nina: "Come on Charley, let's go to my room..."
She picked him up and took him into her room to distract him from us leaving.
Phoebe: "Allright...let's go Cj."
Me: "Allright then."
We both left the house.
Phoebe: "Can we take my car?"
Me: "Sure..why not."
Phoebe: "Great!..This is going well already."
Me: "hehe.."
Me: "So, where you wanna go?"
Phoebe: "I don't know, I thought you had everything planned..."
Me: "Right...I planned to ask you where you wanted to go..."
Phoebe: "Um...ok."
Me:"You want to get something to eat?"
Me: "If we can find a place, we could go dancing..."
Me: "We can go to the pokemon center and have a battle."
Phoebe: "We didn't bring our pokemon..."
Me: "Oh...right..."
Me: "Well, we can do anything you want baby girl."
Me: "All you have to do is pick something."
-unsure- Phoebe: "Hmmmm."
Phoebe: "Why don't we get dinner and then ...maybe we could go dancing.."
Phoebe: "We could go to the beach by Nina's school."
Me: "Eh...it's a little late for that, it'll be dark by the time we get there."
Phoebe: " True."
Me: "That and it will probably be pretty cold."
Phoebe: "Yeah..."
Me: "So where should we go for dinner then?"
Me: "You just want to go to the usual place?"
Phoebe: "mmm...I don't know."
Phoebe:"Why don't we do some exploring and find a new place?"
Me:"If that's what you want."
We passed through the portal in Slabtown, made it through the experiment facility and headed into Goldenrod. After leaving the highway that ran through the city, we began to cruise the streets, looking for restaurants.
Me: "Lets see, there's a hardware store, um...a pokemart, a potion store...what?"
Phoebe: "For specialty potions?"
Me: "What are specialty potions?"
Phoebe: "I don't know."
Phoebe: "You want to go see?"
Me:"Nah, it's probably closed for the night anyway."
Phoebe: "Probably."
Phoebe: "There's a pizza place."
Me: "I think we should just go to the usual place, think about it sweety."
Me:"We can get our usual booth, all to ourselves."
Phoebe:"I know where we're going."
Me: "You do?"
Phoebe: "Mhm."
Me:"The pizza place?"
Phoebe: "No."
Phoebe: "I looked it up before we left."
Me:"Then how are we exploring?"
Phoebe: "Well, we never drove through this part of town before."
Me: "Fair enough."
Phoebe: "Why don't you use your phone and try to find somewhere else we can go after dinner?"
Me: "Ok."
Phoebe: "We can take turns like that..."
Me: "If that's what you want baby girl."
I got my phone out of my pocket and started searching the internet for entertainment locations in Goldenrod.
It was hard to keep from getting car sick, but eventually we made to the restaurant she was talking about.
Phoebe: "Well, this is it."
The restaurant was in a building by itself, there was a small, neon "open" sign in the window,in the usual red and blue colors, and another sign, with "Leppa Lee's Steakhouse & BBQ" printed on it.
Me :"Leppa Lee's?"
Phoebe: "Mhm."
Phoebe:"It has good reviews..."
Me:"Allright then, let's go in."
Phoebe:"Wait...tell me where we're going after this..."
Me:"Um...I haven't figured it out yet."
Me:"Do we need a reservation to get in...?"
Phoebe:"I don't think so."
Me: "Do you want to go dancing or ..."
Phoebe:"No, dancing is fine..."
-unsure- Me:"ok."
Me :"Why can't we just decide later?"
Phoebe: "Ohhh..allright."
We both got out, and held hands as we walked up to the entrance, I held the door for her as we walked in.
Inside, some instrumental music was playing, the restauraunt was busy, but we were shown to a booth none the less. Decorations of all kinds graced the walls, it was a complete sensory overload, so much stuff I knew absolutely nothing about. There were pictures of planes and vintage toy cars, trains, records and lots of other things hung from the walls. There was so much to look at I could barely order my drink. That being said, we were here for us, so I tried my best to focus only on Phoebe.
-unsure- Me: "Where do think they get all the stuff they use to decorate?"
Phoebe: "I don't know...there is a lot of it though."
Phoebe: "Are you serious about dancing tonight?"
Me: "If that's what you want to do."
Me:"Who do you think that guy is?"
I pointed to a picture on the wall, it was a black and white photograph of a man and his pokemon team by a lake, a houndoom, a machamp, a meganium, a rhydon, and a gyarados. which was in the lake, but it was looking at the camera, so it couldn't have been a wild one. WIld gyarados rarely come up unless they're angry, and when they're angry, you'd have to be insane to take a picture.
Phoebe:" I don't know."
Phoebe: "It looks like he was a pretty strong trainer."
Me: "Yeah."
Phoebe: "Maybe he was a gym leader or something?"
Me: "Maybe."
Phoebe: "Maybe the waitress knows?"
Me: "Ehhh..I don't know."
Phoebe: "I'll ask."
Me: "Ok."
The waitress returned with our drinks a few minutes later.
Phoebe: "Um...excuse me miss, do you know that man in the picture?"
I thought it was pretty pointless, but she asked anyway.
Waitress: "Um...no sorry, I could ask the manager though, he might know."
Phoebe: "Um...ok.."
Waitress: "Anyway what can I get you to eat?"
Phoebe: "Hmm...I don't know...it all seems nice..."
Me: "I'll just have a tauros steak, cooked medium..with fries..."
Waitress:" Ok."
Phoebe: "Um...yeah, I'll have a steak too..."
Waitress:"Ok."
Phoebe: "Cooked rare..."
Waitress: "With fries?"
Phoebe: "Yeah..."
Waitress: "Ok...we'll have it out as soon as we can..."
Me: "Ok."
The waitress left.
Phoebe: "She knows who we are."
Me: "I don't think it will matter that much."
Phoebe: "Yeeeahhh."
Phoebe: "Don't fill up too much.., we're going dancing after this..."
Me:"I know baby girl."
Me :"Where would you like to go dancing anyway? There's a few different clubs..."
Phoebe: "I don't know.."
Me: "Why are you so indecisive today...?"
-unsure- Phoebe: "I...don't know...?'
Me: "You miss Charley don't you?"
Me: "Or you're worried about him."
Phoebe: "-sighs-...you know me too well..."
Me: "Mhm..."
Phoebe: "We need to get a phone for Nina..."
Phoebe: "Atleast that way I could text her and make sure she's taking care of Charley."
Me:"Nina, with a cell phone?"
Phoebe: "Mhm..."
Me: "Well that's something to think about."
Phoebe: "Mhm."
Me:"Do you think she'll get in trouble with it?"
Phoebe: "I don't know..."
Phoebe:" I just want a way to keep tabs on Charley."
Me:" Aweeee...babygirl..."
Me: "Relax ok?"
Me:" We're here to have fun."
Phoebe: "I know Cj..."
Once our food arrived, we ate quickly, I wanted to hurry and get her out on that dance floor, so just maybe she could cheer up, and stop worrying about Charley for a few minutes.
Meanwhile, back at the house...
Nina was watching tv, in her room.
Nina: "-giggles-...See Charley isn't that funny?"
-realizing- Nina: "Charley?"
Charley was nowhere to be seen.
-concerned- Nina: "Charley where'd you go?"
She looked under her bed, behind the tv, she even made sure the window was she as she was panicking and beginning to look in places that made absolutely no sense for him to be..
Then she headed out the door and looked for him in the living room.
Nina: "Charley?"
The front door was closed, so he couldn't have gone outside.
Thankfully Charley began to cry so she was easilly able to find him after looking for just a few minutes.
He was in the kitchen, trying to open the fridge.
-frustrated- Charley: "Cawey huhwyyyyyy..."
Nina: "What are you doing in here Charley?"
-frustrated- Charley: "Cawey huhwyyyyyy..."
-unsure- Nina: "Is that why you wandered all the way over here?"
She picked him up.
Nina: "I should get you something to eat then..."
She took him back into the dining room and set him in his high chair.
Nina: "Just wait here Charley, I'll get you some pancakes."
He suddenly cheered up.
-excitedly- Charley: "Ancays...!.."
Nina: "Hehe...mom said she made some for you."
Nina: "You stay here I'll go get them."
She left to get his pancakes, hurrying to keep him from waiting too long.
She heated them up in the microwave and brought them back to Charley, who immediately began to rip them up, stuffing bits and pieces of them into his mouth.
It didn't take long for Nina to realize she probably shouldn't have put syrup on them. Charley quickly made a mess of himself.
Nina: "Eww..Charley, you're all covered in syrup.."
-completely oblivious,stuffed- Charley: "Cawey luh ...pakays.."
Nina:"Mom won't like this..."
Charley: "Mawa?"
Charley: "Newa...Weh mawa?"
Nina: "She'll be back tomorrow..."
-back at the restaurant-
Me:"This steak is pretty good..."
Phoebe:"Yeah.."
Me: "But I don't think it's quite as good as the other place..."
Phoebe: "Maybe we should have tried their roast instead..."
Me:"Ehh..I don't know..."
Me:"I like steak more..."
Me:"But if you want to come back here sometime and try something else, I don't see why not."
Phoebe:"Ok then."
The waitress approached us.
Waitress: "Are you ready for your ticket ? Or would you like to order some dessert."
Phoebe: "Yeah, can we just get the ticket please?"
Waitress: "Ok."
Waitress: "Also I spoke to my manager and he said that guy in the picture was like a gym leader or something a long time ago."
Phoebe: "Ohhh...ok...cool..."
Phoebe: "Thanks mam..."
Waitress: "Mhm...no problem."
She left to get our ticket.
We paid the ticket a few minutes later, with a little extra for a tip, and then we left to find somewhere to dance the night away.
Me: "Ok we have to go back across the overpass I think, according to this map, there should be a club there, it's across from a hotel."
Phoebe: "Ok..."
-worried- Phoebe: "Do you think Nina remembered to feed Charley...?"
Me: "If she didn't, Charley would probably remind her anyway.."
Phoebe: "Yeah...I guess."
Me:"Hey Pheebles?"
Phoebe:"Mhm?"
-sincerely- Me:"If you're really that worried...maybe we should just go home..."
-cutely, sincerely- Phoebe: "No...Cj..."
Phoebe: "No..."
Phoebe: "I want this."
Me: "Ok..."
It wasn't long before we made it to the club. We parked in the lot out back.
Phoebe:"It looks like there's a long line to get in..."
Me: "Do you have our agent Ids?"
Phoebe:" Hehe...I don't know if that will work."
Me: "Why not?"
I gazed into her eyes..
Me:"Baby girl..."
-unsure- Phoebe: "What are you doing?"
Me: "I don't know.."
Me:"What are you doing?"
Phoebe:"Are we going to go in?"
Me:"I don't know..."
She looked away and opened the door.
Phoebe: "Come on...let's go..."
Me:"Awwee..."
We got in line, as this was the pokemon world, a machop and a medicham were acting as bouncers, while their trainer was slowly letting people in. Machops were small, but they could easilly match the physical strength of a human. The medicham could fight too, but it was also their to prevent people with psychic pokemon from bypassing security via hypnosis.
Me: "Are you sure we need to wait in line?"
Phoebe: "I don't know.."
Phoebe: "I guess we could try to get in."
We got out of line and headed up to the entrance.
Phoebe: "Um...excuse me..."
Bouncer: "Cj and Phoebe right?"
Phoebe: "Mhm..."
Bouncer :"Yeah, I'm not buying it."
Phoebe:"What?"
Bouncer :"You know how many people try to get in by claiming they're someone famous?"
Bouncer: "You're the third gardevoir\human couple that's tried to get in tonight..."
Bouncer: "And the fifth that's claimed to be Cj and Phoebe.."
-somewhat disturbed- Phoebe: "You mean people have been pretending to be us to try to get in here?"
Bouncer: " No people have been pretending to be Cj and Phoebe..."
Me:"So you're saying if we could prove we're us we can go in?"
Bouncer:"Right, but there's no way you're them.."
Phoebe:"Oh really?"
Phoebe:"What exactly are we supposed to look like?"
-unsure- Machop:"Machop?"
Bouncer:"Calm down machop..."
His machop walked between us..
Phoebe: "What exactly are you going to do?"
-loudly- Medicham:"Medi..."
Medicham: "Medicham...medi..."
Machop: "Machop?"
Bouncer: "I see..."
Bouncer: "My apologies...miss...my medicham says you're the real deal."
-somewhat annoyed- Phoebe: "Well no duh..."
He let us in, fortunately without the crowd noticing who we were.
Inside, there was loud music, bright lights, lots of people and a handful of pokemon mingling and dancing around.
Phoebe:"Can you believe that Cj? People pretending to be us?"
Me: "Yeah I know...it's weird...but they just wanted in...you can't blame them."
Phoebe: "-sighs-, I guess not..."
We waited for the next song before we began to dance.
Phoebe was starting to have fun, so I was as well. There was such a crowd that nobody recognized us, about an hour after we arrived the Dj decided to start a dance competition, we didn't take part, because we didn't want to draw attention to ourselves, so we left the dance floor and took a short break at the bar, she got some oran berry juice to drink, and we watched the competition below.
Phoebe:"-sighs-, Cj, you getting tired yet?"
Me: "Of course not...we just got here a little bit ago."
Phoebe: "Good."
Me: "I'm just glad you're so happy babe."
-cutely- Phoebe: "Awwwe...Cj."
She kissed me on the cheek and we went back to dancing after the competition ended and the winners were declared.
Me:"Hey Pheebles?"
Phoebe:"Yeah?"
Me:"In the corner..."
Me:"Isn't that..."
Phoebe:"Myrenthall?"
Phoebe: "What's he doing here?"
Me:"I don't know."
Me: "He's with somebody..."
Sitting across from him was a figure in a robe...I couldn't tell who they were because they were facing away from us, but it looked like they were talking.
Phoebe:"Does he actually have a girlfriend now?"
Phoebe: "Atleast he's done trying to marry me.."
Me: "I don't know sweety.."
The figure suddenly dissapeared..
Me:"Whoever it is, they can teleport."
Phoebe: "How did he get in?"
Me: "Teleporting?"
Me: "It's busy, if he made it in here it would be hard for the medicham to notice wouldn't it?"
Phoebe:"Yes, but that would be so risky, you could end up fused with another person."
Me:"Yeah, but that corner of the room is completely empty..."
Phoebe: "Hmm.."
Me: "Hey bartender, is it possible to reserve tables here?"
Bartender:"Yeah, it's 200 a night though."
Me:" What if I wanted to reserve that table in the corner.."
Bartender: "I think it's already reserved."
Me: "By who?"
Bartender:"A Mr. Smith...strange guy ..."
Me:"Is he the one at the table?"
Bartender:"Nope...I actually haven't seen him all night, but that guy is apparently in his party."
Bartender: "Is that all you need to know? "
Me: "Yeah, thanks."
Bartender: "Well, I'd be careful around that guy, he seems really shady."
Phoebe:"-giggles-, Don't worry, we're used to it."
Phoebe: "Right...C...uh...I mean..um...RJ...yeah..."
-confused- Me: "Huh?"
Phoebe: "Just play along..."
Me: "You changed my name by one letter..."
Phoebe:"Well I ...uh...I..."
-a bit frustrated- Phoebe: "Ohhhh , he knows who we are anyway."
Me:"Pheebles come on, stop fooling around, he knows who we are..."
Me:"Don't you?"
-embarassed- Phoebe:"Um...
-unsure- Bartender:"Yes...I do...why?"
Me: "Sorry."
-confused- Bartender: "Ok..."
We stepped away from the bar.
Phoebe: "sighs...oh arceus Cj, I'm sorry I screwed that up."
Me: "Oh calm down baby girl, it's no big deal..."
Me :"So what should we do?"
Phoebe: "I think we should just leave before he notices we're here."
Me: "Yeah..."
Phoebe:"We shouldn't go after him now, we don't have our pokemon, and there's too many people around..."
Me:"Yeah..."
Me: "You should tell Melissa we found him though..."
Phoebe: "I will."
We were just about to leave, when a bunch of team rocket grunts stormed in ...
-surprised- Me:"What the hell?"
Phoebe: "Team Rocket?"
She took my hand and teleported us to the roof.
Phoebe: "-gasps-"
Me:"Nice move.."
Phoebe:"What's going on? I thought team rocket was gone for good?"
Me:"I honestly don't know...maybe a few members escaped..."
Me:"I doubt there's as many as there used to be."
Me: "What are they doing trying to rob the place?"
Phoebe: "Um..."
Phoebe: "Give me a moment..."
She sat down and closed her eyes.
Me: "Pheebles?"
Phoebe: "Shhh...there's a lot of people down there, I need to focus."
Me: "Ok."
-surprised- Phoebe: "Wow..."
Phoebe:"Ok..."
Phoebe: "From what I can understand...Myrenthall has joined forces with Christine, and a few other members of team rocket that have managed to escape..."
Me:"How many time is Christine going to escape?"
Phoebe: "That's not the crazy part."
Me: "Well then what is?"
Phoebe: "Myrenthall plans on kidnapping all the women in the club..."
Me: "Say wha?"
Phoebe: "I don't know...Cj...I think he has issues..."
Me:"Seems like it."
Phoebe:"I'm contacting Melissa, we can't let him get away with this."
Me: "Right."
I saw something I hadn't seen in awhile, a black team rocket van.
Then the grunts walked out, with Myrenthall in chains..
Me:" Baby girl..."
Phoebe: "Yeah.."
Me:" You see this?"
Phoebe: "Hmm...looks like Christine double-crossed him."
Me:"This just keeps getting more confusing."
I heard sirens in the distance, the police were comming.
Me: "Here come the cops."
The grunts quickly threw Myrenthall into the back of the van, and then the hooded figure, who I could only assume was christine, got in the front seat and sped off.
Phoebe: "Melissa says she'll tell James, but nothing will be done about it until tomorrow."
Me: "Ok."
Phoebe: "Let's just go home now, ok?"
Me: "You don't want to find another club?"
Phoebe: "No...I want to see my little baby boy..."
Me: "Ok then..."
She teleported us back to the ground, and then we got in her car and left just as a police car arrived. We had to show them our Devon Ids so we could leave without questioning, though we told them everything we knew anyway. I don't know what Christine wanted with Myrenthal, but it seemed like she was trying to rebuild Team Rocket. Their relationship was extremely questionable as both were more than willing to betray the other for their own purposes as demonstrated by her litterally kidnapping him instead of any of the women they presumably agreed upon. A somewhat fortunate situation for us, as now there atleast wasn't anyone innocent to worry about. Nobody was hurt, but everyone was a little shaken, including us.
-somewhat dissapointed- Me:"-sighs-..."
Phoebe: "Oh Cj...come on...we had fun..."
Me:"I know, I just...wish it would have lasted a little longer.."
Phoebe:"Ohhhh don't worry honey...we can go out again next week."
Me: "Ok..."
-lovingly- Phoebe: "We can take your car..."
Me: "Allright then."
Phoebe: "But right now I just want to make sure Charley is ok."
Me: "Allright, well if that's what you want..."
Phoebe: "Thanks..."
Eventually we made it home. The kids were ok, as expected, Charley was asleep in his crib and Nina was watching tv.
Nina: "Mom...dad...hi... you're back already?"
-somewhat surprised- Phoebe: "Nina what are you still doing up?"
Nina: "Watching tv.."
Me :" You know it's passed 10 right?"
-unsure- Nina: "It is?"
She checked the info guide on the tv for the time.
-realizing- Nina: "I'm sorry, I didn't mean too."
Phoebe: "It's ok, just go to bed silly."
Nina: "-sighs-, ok..."
She got up and trudge to her room.
Phoebe: "Goodnight."
Nina: "Goodnight."
I wrapped my arms around Phoebe..
Me: "so what now baby girl."
Phoebe: "ooohhh...Cj.."
Phoebe: "I need to make sure she didn't make a mess in the kitchen."
Me: "Um...ok.."
Phoebe: "And then i need to make sure Charley's ok."
Me: "Ok."
-quietly- Phoebe: "And then maybe...we'll have some fun...ok?"
-quietly- Me: "Sounds good baby girl."
Phoebe:"Good."
Phoebe:"Why don't you just go to bed I'll go up in a bit."
Me: "Ok."
We kissed before I let her go and headed up to our room, the beginning to what eventually became a fun night...
