Fan Fiction / Pokemon Fan Fiction / Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Can I Really Love Someone Like You? ❯ Ditched by Domino ( Chapter 1 )

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Set in Orre (Pokémon Colosseum). Two very different Pokémon trainers - one Sanibel, a failed Team Rocket trainee and the other Tatsuya, a small town teenage rock star - meet in the subterranean town of The Under...

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Kelly: Hello there people! I'm taking a break from Rayearth fanfiction-

Tash: You haven't updated your Rayearth fics for WEEKS!

Kelly: Anyway. I'm writing a shonen-ai Pokémon fic. The shonen-ai does not involve the questionable use of Pokémon, it just involves my two characters, Tatsuya and Sanibel. Tatsuya was named after Uesugi Tatsuya in one of Murakami Maki's first manga, Tragedy of the Narcissist (Murakami-san is the artist behind Gravitation), and Sanibel was named after Sanibel Captiva. Which is a place in Florida.

I'd also like to point out that this is set in the region of Orre, which is from Pokémon Colosseum. It's mainly set in The Under and occasionally Pyrite Town. Also, 'Domino' or 'Black Tulip' is the Rocket Agent from the movie Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns. I think that's it!

I don't own Pokémon, it belongs to Nintendo and originally to Tajiri Satoshi but I do claim Tatsuya and Sanibel!

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"Why are we here, Domino?"

"Because Team Rocket has joined up with Cipher and Cipher are short on agents." Domino informed her young apprentice. Sanibel, or 'Silver' (all Rockets were supposed to have codenames), was several years younger than herself, and, Domino didn't hesitate to admit, a right pain in the ass.

"Apparently there's a band playing. Can we go see?"

Domino sighed. "Yeah, it's not like there's anything else worth doing around here."

Sanibel grinned and pulled Domino by her hand down to a popular nightclub. Sanibel didn't think much of The Under, but it had some crazy nightlife - and every minute was night deep underneath Pyrite Town.

"Silver! Let-"

"Call me Sanibel!" Sanibel yelled back. Domino sighed and decided to give in at last. Sanibel would not be called by his code name. "And we should be going incognito, right?"

Before Domino could demand what the hell Sanibel was going on about, the boy had pulled her into the nearest club wear store.

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"We twist and turn where angels burn
Like fallen soldiers we will learn
That once forgotten twice removed
Love will be the death...
The death of you!"

The audience screamed as the seventeen-year-old boy on stage raised his electric guitar above his head. Sparks flickered across the strings as the Manectric powering the amplifier lost control of his electricity.

Seven years ago, Tatsuya had been given his first Pokémon. This Pokémon had been a gift from his older sister - she'd caught it for him on her travels around Hoenn. Tatsuya hadn't been very interested in challenging gym leaders or the Elite Four and simply visited Johto on a few occasions with his sister. That was where Electrike had evolved into Manectric and he'd captured Sneasel and Murkrow. He was happy with just the three. Besides, the region of Orre was his home, and it didn't have a Pokémon league. Orre was obsessed with battles and there were numerous colosseums around.

Tatsuya released his other two Pokémon from their Pokéballs, which had once been standard red and white but had been painted with black and chrome nail varnish in one of his more bored moments.

"Some more friends would be nice." Tatsuya commented to his three companions in the smooth voice of a teenage singer. "All I get is girlfriends. Not even that, just girls who find me attractive. One night, and then I never see them again."

Tatsuya buried his face in his arms, his leather-clad legs hugged to his chest. Manectric gently nosed one of his arms away and nuzzled his face.

"Just so they can say 'I slept with that guy who sings in The Under'."

Sneasel, ever the pessimist, gave him a lecture on how he wasn't exactly refusing them.

"I'm a teenager, Sneasel." Tatsuya laughed, as if that explained everything. "It's everyone's dream to reach the top. But you either have to be at the top or be happy. I've learned that I can't have both." He smiled as all three Pokémon disagreed with him simultaneously. "Yeah, okay, I'm happy with you guys. But I want some friends of my own kind, too. Can you understand that?"

Manectric forcefully pushed him down on the bed and curled up next to him, as did Sneasel. Murkrow perched on a horizontal bar of the bed's frame near Tatsuya's head.

Another night alone.

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"Wasn't that guy last night cool?"

"Yeah, if you're into little boys."

"Hey, I bet he was older than me!"

Domino patted Sanibel's head. "I'm sure he's very attractive to you, because you're queer. But we have a mission to attend to."

Domino sighed, because her apprentice had run off somewhere. She looked over to see most of Sanibel sat at one of the stools in a ramen shop. Which was in fact the only ramen shop in The Under. At this point Domino completely gave up and sent a message to Sanibel's mobile phone telling him that he'd have to find someone else to team up with if he wanted to continue working with Team Rocket.

"See the show last night?" Sanibel enquired, oblivious of the message Domino had sent to him.

"You could say that."

Sanibel looked over at the boy next to him. He was wearing a long black trenchcoat that he had fastened only around his neck, sort of like a cape, and there was a Murkrow perched on his shoulder. It was now regarding Sanibel with eerie red eyes. If Sanibel had ever heard of Edgar Allen Poe, he would probably have been reminded of something out of The Raven.

Sanibel smiled. "It looks like you take good care of your Murkrow. He's in very good condition."

The boy looked around at him, and he got a good look at him for the first time. His hair had been naturally black and now carried a tint of 'electric blue' metallic dye. His eyes were a dark, deep blue color too. "How did you figure that?"

"Oh my God, you're that boy from the nightclub!" Sanibel exclaimed, looking genuinely shocked. "Dude! You were great!"

Tatsuya shrugged. "It's what I do for a living. It's not as easy as it looks."

"You live here?"

Tatsuya nodded this time, taking a moment to feed Murkrow a piece of fish from his chopsticks. "Well, I was born in Pyrite Town. When some of the mine shafts collapsed below Pyrite, this town was created. The people left behind made the remaining shafts as safe as they could and set up The Under. Unfortunately it's not the shafts that are dangerous now, it's the people living here."

"Really? I've gotten used to this place now. I think it's pretty cool."

Tatsuya turned right round on his stool. "There's thieves everywhere! Haven't you heard of Cipher? They've even got backup from-!"

"Aw, what? Domino's left me! For good!" Sanibel wailed, shutting his flip-phone.

Tatsuya blinked. "Your girlfriend?"

Sanibel laughed like it was ridiculous. Which it was. "As if. She was my partner. I'm a field agent." He stopped. "No, actually, she was training me to be a field agent."

Tatsuya narrowed his eyes. "A field agent?"

"Yes."

The singer leapt off his stool with startling agility. "For Cipher? Team Rocket? Team Magma? Team Aqua?"

"Uh." Sanibel said, unsure of where this was going. "Team Rocket."

Sanibel soon found himself in a very sticky situation. Tatsuya had dragged him off his stool and pinned his arms behind his back.

"Scum." Tatsuya hissed. "What is it? Steal Pokémon for profit, exploit Pokémon for profit..."

"All Pokémon exist for the glory of Team Rocket." Sanibel choked out in an ashamed whisper. He grimaced as Tatsuya twisted his arm. "But I'm not working now! My teacher deserted me!"

"That doesn't change the fact that you joined."

"You're hurting me!" Sanibel cried, though nobody else took any notice. Like Tatsuya had said, things like this happened all the time in Pyrite Town and The Under. "I demand a Pokémon match!"

Tatsuya released him and stepped back until they were far enough apart for a battle.

Sanibel ran for it.

"Rocket scum!" Tatsuya declared, giving chase. Unfortunately for him, Sanibel had passed all the 'getaway' training on the assault course with flying colors, and Tatsuya considered it suicide to run after him on the uneven mine shaft roads of The Under. He ran a hand through his short hair and started on his way home.

"I can't believe I lost him." Tatsuya commented, then flicked an accusing finger at Murkrow. "And don't you tell me it's my fault for letting go of him. He might have been a Rocket but nobody can refuse a challenge once it's been made."

Murkrow smirked to himself and told Tatsuya how much of an idiot he was.

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"Can you hear something?" Tatsuya asked, prodding Murkrow awake. Murkrow glared, telling Tatsuya that he really didn't care right now. Sneasel, however, was awake. She'd slept most of the day when Tatsuya had been out. Admittedly she was supposed to be guarding the house...

Sneasel disappeared underneath Tatsuya's bed.

"Ow!"

Tatsuya hung upside down from his bed and studied the underneath. "You! Of all the places in The Under, you hide under my bed!"

"I didn't know it was your house!" Sanibel argued, sliding out from under the bed. "I wouldn't have come in here if I'd known it was yours!"

Tatsuya studied the blond boy carefully. His expensive-looking nightclub clothes (charged to Domino's Team Rocket card...) were now covered in coal dust, cobwebs and rips. Where his clothes were ripped, his skin followed suit, displaying many cuts and scrapes.

"Was this in the job description?" Tatsuya asked.

"No. I only wanted to be in Team Rocket because..."

"It sounded kinda cool to be bad?"

Sanibel sat on Tatsuya's floor and looked dejectedly at the carpet. "Yeah. And the prospect of seeing legendaries..."

Tatsuya's eyes visibly softened. "You're not a bad guy at all, are you? You're just a kid who wanted to be cool."

"I'm not a kid! I'm sixteen!"

"...you're still a year younger than me." Tatsuya patted his bed, inviting Sanibel to sit with him. "My name's Tatsuya. What's yours?"

"It's Sanibel."

Tatsuya couldn't stop an amused grin spreading across his face.

"You can laugh all you want, but it's the name my parents gave me."

Tatsuya tried to straighten his face and failed miserably. "Not from Orre, are you?"

"No, I'm from Johto, and got posted there with Domino...then the boss sent us here to help out Cipher." Sanibel sighed.

Murkrow was once more sat on Tatsuya's shoulder. Sanibel reached over to touch him but got his finger pecked.

Tatsuya raised an eyebrow, showing no sympathy. "You're supposed to ask Murkrow if he minds being touched first. And Murkrow, that's not a very nice way to treat our houseguest."

Murkrow jumped down from Tatsuya's shoulder and flew away to sit on the windowsill.

Tatsuya smiled. "Dark types are kinda introverts, you know?"

"Mm? You look like a dark type yourself."

"So do most of the residents of The Under." Tatsuya pointed out. "Anyone dressed like you is obviously an outsider. Even the people of Pyrite Town stand out down here." He crossed one leg over the other, smiling. "I've decided I like you, so I'll let you stay the night. Wanna go out tomorrow?"

Sanibel blinked. "Like a date?"

Sanibel realized this was a no just by the way Tatsuya stared at him with a blank expression on his sun-deprived face. Sanibel had just made his gender preference pretty clear.

"Um, no. I mean, like, I'll take you into the town." Tatsuya looked over at Murkrow, who was cleaning his feathers. "Murkrow, can you and Sneasel watch the house tonight?"

Murkrow nodded and briefly 'talked' to Sneasel. The two went down the stairs.

"Don't you lock the door?" Sanibel asked.

He shrugged. "Who needs keys when you can have guards like mine?"

"Well, Sneasel let me in earlier."

"Sneasel doesn't care about much." Tatsuya replied. "But she's a brilliant fighter. Ice types are pretty rare, you know."

"Yep."

"You got any Pokémon?"

"One." Sanibel replied, producing a black and white Pokéball from somewhere on his person. It had a red 'R' logo on the upper black half of the shell. "My Eevee."

Tatsuya smiled. "That's an unusual Pokémon for a Rocket."

Sanibel maximized the ball by pressing its central button. "My parents gave me Eevee when I was little, as a pet. Then I decided I wanted to do something with my life so I started training...had a few run-ins with Team Rocket...and joined them. They never gave me any other Pokémon."

"Gave you?" His new friend asked with a hint of incredulity. "You're supposed to catch Pokémon. Not just get given them. Aside from your first, I guess. My sister gave me Electrike."

"Didn't you ever want to challenge any of the other Pokémon leagues? I mean, like Kanto, the Orange Islands, Johto, or Hoenn?"

"Nooo, I'd just shrivel up in the sunlight."

Sanibel giggled. Yes, giggled. "What are you, a vampire?"

"...yeah." Tatsuya decided, eyeing Sanibel's neck.

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Kelly: And there's my first chapter. I know it's pretty boring, but I wanted to introduce you to them...

Tash: Now get writing your Rayearth fics! You have...four on the go!

Kelly: Writer's block! ((runs away))

Tash: Anyway, Kelly promises the chapters to come will be more shonen-ai...y...(ew!) and there will actually be proper Pokémon battles. Please review if you like it!