Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Fear the Quintet ❯ The First Gym ( Chapter 8 )

AN: Sorry it took me so long! Hope you enjoy it.

In which there is undoubtedly less pwning. =(

Her eyes were shut and a slight smile played about her face. Her blonde hair was spread out around her head on the pillow like a halo, and she leaned back to expose her neck so that he could kiss it. He leaned in over her and obliged, soft warm kisses fluttering up her neck slowly, seductively. Hands moving up her face and into her hair. Her lips parted slightly.

“Kitty,” he sighed, lifting his head and looking deeply into her eyes, hands pushing her wrists down onto the mattress.

She moaned his name back, almost whispering, but she knew he could hear. “Matthew…”

*

Her eyes snapped open and she leapt out of bed with a shiver. It took a while to adjust to the lack of light, but when she did, she confirmed her location: the hotel they had checked into last night. She took a few deep breaths to calm her down and looked around.

Scott, Charlie and Elliot shared the room she was in. She nodded rapidly and climbed back into bed feeling warm, tingly and terrified.

This was bad.

This was very bad.

*
The next morning they debated whether or not to check out of the hotel or to wait until they found a new one. They weren't sure when the next one was, or how far they would get that day. They needed to defeat the Gym Leader and move on. Could they do that in one day? Kitty thought so.

“So let's just check out, go to the gym, beat him and move on,” she said irritably. Nobody questioned her mood, but they stayed away from her. She knew what they were thinking and she didn't want to scare them all by correcting them. Let them think it was PMS. Why not. She would never tell them the real reason. Not in a million years.

“Do you really think we can do it in one day though?” Matthew asked her carefully. “The only one with strong pokemon against a Flying gym is Fred, and he only has a weak Pichu.”

“Excuse me,” Fred said, tilting his head so he was glaring at him from under his eyebrows. “Don't you go dissing Sparky.”

“Oh my God,” Charlie said loudly.

“Arceus,” Kitty corrected automatically.

“Oh my Arceus,” Charlie said loudly, “I just realised something.” He looked around for effect but nobody cared yet. “We're registered as separate trainers. Only one of us can take part in the league.”

“That's not true.” Kitty frowned. “We all can.”

“No, because you can only fight in some gyms if you've defeated the other gyms…”

“But we don't have time to fight each leader separately,” Kitty said, shaking her head.

“Exactly, so what do we do?”

“We pick out who is the strongest out of all of us?” Matthew suggested with a grin.

“Which is me,” Kitty said quickly, the look of worry still on her face. “But I wouldn't do that to all of you.” Her mouth twitched and she smiled, knowing how that would make him feel.

“Whaaat?” Matthew exclaimed. “I'm way stronger than you and your little Eevee.”

“We all know Rocky could beat Candy in under a minute,” Kitty hissed hotly.

“Me and… Candy… are unstoppable!” he cried.

Kitty frowned and opened her mouth to reply.

“Kitty,” he sighed…

“Shut up,” she snapped, and turned away. “We can use my trainer card to log the badges. I'm sure there's some way one of you nerds can transfer the information onto the rest of us. Let's go defeat some birds.” And she strode out of the hotel, dress flowing behind her. Matthew raised an eyebrow.

“What's wrong with her?”

An arm slipped its way around her waist and Kitty's heart thudded as someone's nose buried itself into her neck for a second. She glanced at Scott for a second as he returned to his towering height and caught her breath once again.

It was a good question actually. Just what the hell was wrong with her?

“We need new clothes,” Scott said unhappily. Kitty looked at him. His smart suit had been reduced to nothing but a white button-up shirt hanging down over black trousers. His jacket and tie were slung over his arm. The rest of the boys looked more or less the same, but Scott looked so good in it.

Scott, Scott, Scott.

It was just a dream, just a dream…

She took a deep breath and let it out.

“Kitty, I challenge you to a battle,” a familiar voice called out from behind her. She looked at Matthew irritably.

“Fine, but quickly. Fred needs to train his Pichu up so the battle can go easily.” She looked at Fred pointedly and he nodded and went over to the route where they had come from to train.

“Alright. Go on, Candy.” Matthew threw out his pokeball and the Sandshrew appeared, already in fighting stance. Kitty wondered if they could hear from inside their pokeballs, and if they could, whether they listened. There didn't seem like a whole lot else to do in there.

“Go on, Rocky.” Her Eevee trotted over from a nearby bench where he had been sniffing around and leapt into his place in the battle. Already passers-by were beginning to stop and look on with slight interest.

“Defence Curl.”

“Tail Whip,” Kitty countered, not taking her eyes off Matthew. His eyebrows twitched slightly.

“Defence Curl,” he repeated.

“Tail Whip,” she growled.

“Fine, Scratch,” he said. Candy leapt forwards with her claws outstretched and unleashed them onto the Eevee's furry back.

“Take it and Tackle.” Rocky lurched and slammed his entire weight into the Sandslash's stomach, causing the Scratches to go in even deeper, but he didn't care.

“Keep Scratching,” Matthew ordered.

“Dodge and Tail Whip,” Kitty said. Rocky scrambled back and waggled his tail, then danced around her claws as she continued to attack. His tongue was hanging out now.

Ruthless, Kitty thought, You have to be ruthless.

“Defen…”

“Tail Whip, quick,” she snapped. Rocky whipped his tail about. “Tackle, now,” she said, before Matthew could return his defence any more. The Eevee slammed into Candy's body again and winced. A bigger crowd had gathered around. Candy was struggling to maintain the pace she had put up for herself.

Just one more Tackle, Rocky, Kitty thought and started to smile. She opened her mouth slowly to order the next attack.

Her lips parted slightly.

She shook her head violently.

She moaned his name back, almost whispering, but she knew he could hear. “Matthew…”

She screamed in frustration and Matthew looked at her in alarm. “Rocky, KILL HER!” she ordered. Rocky's ear twitched momentarily and he lunged forward with the hardest Tackle he could manage. Candy dropped to her knees, unable to fight any longer. Rocky hesitated, looking back to his trainer, but her look of impenetrable anger had not flickered. His chest rose and fell under his thick cream fur and he cantered up to deliver another attack to his already unconscious opponent, but she vanished in a swell of orange light. He let out a breath of near-relief and returned to Kitty's side. Still her fury had not dissolved.

“Um, well done,” Matthew said, wondering what he had done wrong this time. Usually he knew perfectly well, and it was worrying him.

“Yeah,” she snapped after glaring at him for a good long time. None of the boys had moved. Matthew's eyes were wide and concerned, but he couldn't blink or look away from his only female friend's scorching gaze. She walked away. “I need some warmer clothes,” she muttered.

How dare he invade her dreams? He annoyed her enough in real life; what right did he have to annoy her subconscious as well? Stupid boy. Her mind should have been the one place she was safe from him, but she couldn't tell him that. She couldn't let him know.

She was afraid that he would laugh at her. Or at least that was what she kept telling herself. That he would laugh. He would laugh in her face, and she would laugh too. But there was something else she was afraid of, possibly the real reason she would never admit her dream to Matthew. It was that maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't laugh.

There was the possibility that he wouldn't find it laughable at all. The possibility that maybe he…

“Kitty,” he sighed, lifting his head and looking deeply into her eyes.

Maybe he…

“Are you ok?” Scott jerked her out of her own head for a while and she realised that she had wandered into a charity shop and was furiously moving the hangers back and forth, not taking in any of the clothes. There wasn't a real clothes shop around here for miles. This would have to do.

“I'm fine,” she said, a little too brightly. He didn't buy it. She looked at him for a long time. Strong muscles, but not too muscular because that was gross, deep brown eyes that crinkled when he smiled. He had the best smile. Soft brown hair at the perfect length, soft lips… “Scott?”

“Mm?” he said, inspecting a denim miniskirt. “This is nice.” He looked at her with a cute little grin. How he still managed to be adorable when he towered over her was beyond her.

She chewed her lower lip for a moment and then stepped forward, threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. He breathed in quickly for a moment in surprise, and then kissed her back, matching her spontaneous firmness. She moved her hands roughly through his hair. It really was soft. He pushed her against the wall and the shelf of china chinked threateningly nearby. They stayed like that for a long time and then he brought himself away as if he had just realised what was happening and blinked dumbly. Kitty flattened her hair and went back to inspecting the clothes.

“Um,” he said softly. Her stomach fluttered. “Are you sure you're ok, Kitty?” He laughed quietly, as if he were sharing some kind of private joke with himself. She frowned at him, picked up the skirt he had been admiring and a plain white shirt and took them to the till. The old man behind it gave her a disapproving look but sold it to her after she flashed him her winning smile.

Scott trotted behind her and she smirked.

“Kitty?”

She turned around, feigning innocence. “Yes?”

“Seriously, what was that?” He laughed again, but with more uncertainty.

“I dunno, I just felt like it.” She looked at him reproachfully. “Should I be sorry?”

“No.” His expression changed suddenly to very serious and her stomach went mad again. This was better. She liked Scott. Scott, Scott, Scott.

“Good.”

She disappeared into a public toilet and came out with her dress in the charity shop bag. She checked that she looked alright, realised that the skirt was actually a little too short for her liking, but Scott's grin made her shrug it off.

“Come on then, let's go get Fred.”

*

Her first gym battle. She was almost drooling. It didn't really matter that she wasn't the one taking part.

Actually, that was a lie, of course it mattered. She wanted to be the one up there winning the badge, but if it had to be anyone else, she was glad it was one of her boys, and Fred wasn't likely to make any stupid mistakes. He had a decent electric attack on his side as well, and Pichus were small, so it wasn't a very easy target for a small bird.

“I've come to challenge the gym leader,” he had said as they entered. It was dark inside, but unlocked, so they had walked in. As soon as the words were out of his mouth the arena had lit up, one light in the ceiling after the other until it was almost blinding. Most birds didn't lose accuracy easily. Cheater.

“I am Spike. Welcome to my Gym,” a youngish boy with spiky hair had welcomed them. He was still older than them, it seemed.

Right now they were watching the intense-ish battle between a Spearow and a Pichu. There really was no competition, obviously, but it was a tricksy little thing and managed to avoid the Thundershocks. It was getting kind of annoying. They couldn't afford for Sparky to faint. Fred had no other pokemon, and they would have to rechallenge with a pokemon that had no advantage, and that was madness!

Finally though, the attack hit and the bird spiralled to the floor. Spike returned it and sent out a Pidgey. Fred ordered Sparky to use Charm at first, which was good. Taking precautions in case it was dodgy like the last one. Then a Thundershock, and it was down. Kitty's face twitched and she suppressed her laughter. Scott was actually asleep. She took his arm and leant against him as the final pokemon was released. A Staravia beat its wings hard but didn't take off. It was just showing off.

“Thundershock,” Fred said immediately, getting cocky. The Staravia took off into the air without so much as a run-up and circled above the Pichu. It missed. “Ok, Charm,” Fred said nervously. The Staravia's attack was lowered, but Kitty wondered how much good it would do him if the bird were to actually land an attack. It looked really strong.

“Double Team,” Spike ordered. The Staravia split into dozens of copies and they all flew in circles around the little Pichu's head.

“Alright, it's ok, just Thundershock your way through,” Fred said. Sparky obeyed and soon there was only one left. “Do your thang.” A huge burst of electricity frazzled its way off of the Pichu's tiny body and exploded onto the Staravia. It squawked loudly and dropped to the floor of the gym like a stone. Spike returned it with a slight frown.

“You're skilled for a beginner,” he said, almost suspicious. Fred grinned at him. “Alright, go out to the reception and I'll give you your badge.” Fred nodded and climbed down from the short podium he stood on. Sparky leapt into his arms and he praised it for a while. Kitty stood up, kicked Scott lightly who woke up with a snuffle, and they all trudged out to watch Fred get his first ever gym badge.

“Right, here you are,” Spike said. “Your Featherbadge!”

“Dodododooo!” Fred sang, holding it up, then blinked and clipped it into his wallet-thing, which would now be their collective wallet-thing for storing their badges. Spike gave him a funny look, handed over some money (a lot of money) and then walked off.

“That it?” Kitty asked. “No pep-talk or anything?”

“I think Fred scared him off with his ambiguous Zelda reference,” Charlie shrugged, and they all left the gym. Kitty counted the money.

“I have no idea exactly how much this is worth,” she said, “but we have loads of money now.” She looked up with uncertainty and seven boys shook their heads slowly. “Oh, please,” she whispered. “Just a little bit.”

“No way. We buy what we need and that's it.”

“Just for a little while!”

“No!”
“I have no clothes!”

“No shopping!”

Kitty humphed for a bit and then walked off. “Well let's press on,” she said. “We don't have very long to find another hotel.”

“We have all day,” Fred said, “that stupid match only lasted about twenty minutes.”

“Yeah, that was some uneventful battle you had there,” Matthew agreed.

“Well I'll try to make the next one more interesting,” Fred said haughtily.

“No one's making anything more interesting until we find out where we're going,” Kitty said sternly.

“Yes, ma'am,” they said as one.

“Where exactly are we going?” Elliot asked, popping up from nowhere as he had the tendency to do.

“I dunno,” Kitty said. “Charlie?”

Charlie inspected his map so closely his face was almost touching it. “This way,” he said, pointing straight forwards. Kitty blinked at him as he looked up and realised he was pointing straight out to sea. He frowned for a moment and then turned it upside down with an embarrassed grin. “The opposite way then.” He pointed instead to the forest they had just come from.

“Yoink,” Scott said, pulling the map out of his hands. “Ok, it looks like we have to…” He looked up. “Follow the sign that's pointing to the city?” He sighed and thrust the map back into Charlie's arms who took it and went a little pink.

“We… could…” he agreed. “Alright. Onward to… Clearwater Caves.” He scratched his cheek absently. “Then we can take a shortcut along the beach and we'll be at Parum Town in about a day.”

“What I'd give for the underground right now,” Kitty sighed. “Well, come on guys. Onward and upward and all that.”

*

Blip.

Blip.

Blip.

Blip blip.

Blip blip blip.

“Hey, did you hear that?”

Blip.

Blip.

“Hey, back up, back up. We got something there.”

Blip blip.

“There! Hear it?”

Blip blip.

“Left a bit.”

Blip.

“Right a bit.”

Blip blip blip.

“Ok, now that way.”

Blipblipblipblipblipblip.

“Bingo.”

“We got them?”

“We got them alright. Call Incendia and tell her we'll have them back quicker than expected…”