Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon, or the Pokémon Special manga.
Sometime slightly in the past...
Raquelle sat on the ground, her legs crossed beneath her, and looking a bit crazed. Stray hairs were sticking out from her usually smooth ponytail, and her eyes were bloodshot and devoid of expression. She had lost him.. again. She smiled grimly. At least this time she knew where he was going. She stood slowly, not bothering to brush the dirt off her pant legs, and looked around her. Her girls were lying about, despondent looks plastering their faces. Suddenly, her eye caught something approaching the group from the distance. Squinting she made out a large group of people making their way closer to her entourage. She watched until the lead girl was standing before her, and they looked each other over with suspicious eyes.
"...I'm Erin." The girl said.
"Raquelle." She answered.
"We've come from Hoenn. Fans." Erin gestured to her group, a mix of girls and boys.
"Kanto and Johto. Likewise." Raquelle answered. The beginnings of a smile working their way into her features.
"I have members of the Sapphire fanboy group, the Emerald fangirl group and the Ruby fangirl group that want the Hoenn trio to be separated." Erin said.
"Ditto. And I know where all the dex-holders are going." Raquelle replied. Erin smiled grimly.
"I believe we can work together."
"Likewise." And the two shook hands.
"You all! Get up! We're walking to Goldenrod, double time!" Raquelle yelled to her group, and Erin waved at her group to do the same.
"I'm coming Greenie." Raquelle whispered, her eyes crazily fixed on the outline of Goldenrod far in the distance.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oo0o0o0o0o0oo0o0o0o0
Present time
"Goldenrod." Green relaxed slightly as the words left his mouth, watching the street come closer as charizard began to fly lower. Behind him, Blue heaved a sigh of relief. Charizard touched down, and they dismounted. They both glanced down the street.
"Sooo... Where do you think they are? It's not like we have much time to look for everyone." Blue said. Green began walking down the street.
"Hey! Wait up!" Blue yelled at him, and followed.
"You jerk! Why'd you just wander off like that?" She began berating him as she jogged to catch up.
"What did you see that- oh." She murmured, as Green stopped in front of a building with lots of neon lights and a sign proclaiming 'Game Corner' on it.
"If we're looking for some of our group this is our best bet." Green stated, and opened the door.
"Sure. And it has nothing to do with the fact that you're really good at slot machines." Blue muttered to herself as she followed him through the door. The inside of the building was crammed with slot machines, roulette, and assorted card tables. The lighting was dim, and colorful flashes from the animated displays on the slots briefly illuminated the interior. Blue noticed Green glancing sideways at them, grabbed his arm, and forcefully yanked him closer towards her.
"Now is not the time to win another Porygon mister." She hissed in his ear.
"Pesky woman." He sighed, but nodded in agreement all the same.
"Now, we just have to find Gol-" She stopped.
"Well, that was easy." Commented Green.
Gold was standing at the only pool table in the whole joint, laughing his head off with his arms slung around the shoulders of two girls, who were giggling away at some joke that he had evidently just made. There was a large group of people crowding around the area, and the Blueboy Jay was holding all of Gold's winnings. In a large shopping cart. That was full to the brim. Jay suddenly caught sight of Blue. His eyes widened, his mouth fell open, and he immediately flung himself to her feet.
"M-Ms. Blue!" He gasped. Green looked away in disgust.
"Oh, Jim!" She exclaimed.
"I-it's Jay.."
"Jim this is wonderful! Now we have someone to carry all that money!" She gushed, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the giant cart. He nodded eagerly and leapt to his feet, tripping over himself in order to please his idol. Blue turned to Gold, her features immediately rearranging themselves into something decidedly more evil. She walked towards Gold, who still hadn't noticed them. His laughter faded when he finally caught sight of her, bearing down on him.
"As for you..." Gold withdrew his arms from around the girls, and tried to scramble away, but too late. She caught him by the hood of his sweatshirt.
"You sure won a lot of money there Gold!" Blue trilled in a sickeningly sweet voice.
"I-I'm not giving you any Blue! No matter what you do! I won't give in!" Was the panicked reply.
"Oh really? Does Crystal know that you've been gambling and flirting with girls? Someone ought to tell her.."
"NO! Not that, anything but that!" Gold pleaded, staring imploringly at Blue.
"Sorry Gold, but that's what I have my heart set on!" Blue sang, clearly not at sorry in the slightest. Green shook his head at the devious smile on her face.
"Fine, fine! You can have one quarter of all my winnings!" Gold sobbed, staring sadly at Jay attempting to lug the incredible amount.
"I won't stop for anything but one half!" Blue admonished, and Gold stared incredulously at her.
"Okay! Fine! But you better believe that this isn't the last you'll hear of this! I will get reven-" He was cut off when Green hoisted him onto his shoulder and made his way towards the door, ignoring the barbed words and blows that came from the younger boy.
"AAAHH! You idiot prickle head! What are you doing!? This is a kidnapping! Kidnapper! Somebody help meeee!" But he received nothing but awed stares from the rest of the gamblers.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Silver felt like he was young again, running from the masked man. The all-consuming fear that ate at him, leapt at him when he turned corners, afraid of what would be waiting for him. Except that this time he was running from a horde of fangirls.
He glanced over his shoulder to make sure that his friends were still with him. Sapphire, Crystal, Yellow and Jack were keeping pace with him, while Emerald, Ruby and Julian trailed slightly further behind. They were making their way towards the Game Corner that Gold and Jay had rushed off to, and Silver was praying that they would somehow find Blue, Green and Red before the fans found them. He tore around a corner, fear driving whatever stealth he usually used from him.
"Is that it?" He asked Yellow, pointing at one of the gaudy neon buildings that lined the street.
"Yeah," She panted, "This was definitely the one they went into." Crystal pushed passed Silver, miniature fires blazing in her eyes.
"I'll go get him, if you guys stay here. It might get ugly." Ruby shuddered at the word 'ugly.'
"Go get 'im senior Crys! An' make sure ta' hit 'im some fer me too!" Sapphire said with a fist pump. Crystal nodded, and began to stalk towards the place. Just then the doors flew open, nearly smacking Crystal, and Blue, Green and Jay burst out of the building, Jay pushing a cart loaded with what looked like money, and Green carrying Gold potato-sack style.
"Green! Blue! Gold?" Crystal gasped at the sight of them.
"Don't worry, he's already received enough punishment. No need to hit him~!" Blue told Crystal, "Oh, and it's nice to see you all!"
"It's good to see that you two are okay, but those fans have caught up to us! And we still haven't seen senior Red!" Ruby informed them.
"Red? Hmph. Well, he'll show up at some point" Green sighed.
"Yeah, but the situation calls for something a bit more urgent than 'at some point.'" Silver snorted, and gestured to the dust cloud on the horizon.
"They'll be here in thirty minutes, tops." Crystal added, "And are you sure Gold's okay? He hasn't said anything in a full minute."
"I only hit him once." Said Green, reassuringly.
"Oh, that explains it." Said Ruby.
"But what're we gonna do 'bout senior Red?" Sapphire hollered.
The nine dex-holders and three blueboys looked at each other.
"I-I guess there's nothing for it but to wait." Yellow began, "Because we aren't leaving without him!" Her faced flushed a little, and she glared around the group, who all nodded in agreement.
"Don't worry, we weren't planning on it." Green sighed in exasperation, "We all just have to blend in with the crowd. Let's just disperse around this area, and send out a group message on your pokégear or pokénav if you see him." The rest nodded at the logic in his plan, and slowly receded into the thronging people of Goldenrod, trying to seem at home, and nervously glancing at the cloud which was advancing towards the city with frightening speed.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Goldenrod city in sight!" Came a cry from the frontlines. Raquelle acknowledged the words, as she pounded down route 32, her feet throwing up dust from the dry and cracked path. The veil of dirt wavering in the air was stifling, but every person in the group was single-minded, only wanting to reach the one they were after, and nothing more. They weren't bothered with anything else.
"Increase speed!" Erin shouted from beside her, and the people around them began charging headlong, eyes blazing with determination and wrath. Raquelle nodded at her direction, and they smiled at each other. They made a good team.
With a scream, Raquelle picked up the pace, her bloodshot eyes focused singly on the outline of Goldenrod, froth dripping from the corners of her mouth. Some of the girls nearby stared at her with wide eyes, but she paid them no heed. She was going to get the only person that she had ever wanted. And no one was going to stop her.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o00o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Red sat crosslegged on a mat. He was beginning to cramp up from sitting there for so long, but he still hadn't uttered a word of complaint. Unlike his two companions.
"Agh! Muchacho, my backside is sore from sitting here!" Jose said to Red, shifting uncomfortably. Jaden was unreachable. He had retreated into the frenzy of salvaging his hair, which had come slightly astray from the fixed position that liberal amounts of hairspray usually kept it in. Red let out a slow, hissing breath from between his teeth. Since Bugsy had found them in the well, they had made absolutely no progress. And it was all the fault of the two sitting beside him. Not only had he been forced to go to the local pokéball expert to remove the ariados thread from his pokéballs, but he also had to endure Jose and Jaden trying to flirt with Bugsy. That had probably been the most embarrassing moment of his life. He breathed deeply once more, trying to calm himself, and stop himself from wringing the necks of the two pathetic fanboys next to him. A sliding door opened, and an old man walked into the antechamber, a small girl following him.
"Here y'are." The man said gruffly, "Free of ariados thread and completely operational. Gave that pikachu of yours a pecha berry too." Red stood up, and the man placed his pokéballs in his hands.
"I don't know how I can thank-" Red began, but Kurt cut him off.
"Don't mention it. I know a skilled trainer when I see one." He got a glint in his eye, "I could make you a special pokéball, because you're the champion aren't you-"
"Nope! Not the champion! The champion is really cool and doesn't hang out with losers like this!" Red yelled, grabbing hold of Jose and Jaden and shoving his way out of the small house.
Wiping away a bead of sweat from his brow, Red replaced all his pokéballs where they belonged on his belt except Aero's. All of a sudden, Kurt burst out of the house, flung himself at Red's leg, and grabbed on.
"You're a skilled trainer! I know! I always know!"
"Agh! What're you-?!"
"I can make you a special pokéball if you want! C'mon!"
"Stoppit! Let go of me!" Red shouted, shaking his leg in an effort to get the terrifying man off of him. The little girl ran out after him.
"Grandpa! Stop!"
"B-but, he doesn't want my pokéballs!" Kurt whimpered, and the small girl spun around, staring scarily at Red and tilting her head sideways.
"You... Don't want my Grandpa's pokéballs?" She asked, her eyes widening in an unnatural way.
"Yes! Precisely! Exactly that! Could you make him let go of me now?"
"You must... My pokéballs... Skilled trainers!" Kurt screeched, foaming at the mouth and gripping Red's leg tighter.
"Ohmyarceus gethimoff!" Red screamed, but Jose and Jaden were petrified with fear. The little girl took a step closer to them.
"Your friend better take my Grandpa's offer... Only the best trainers use pokéballs made by Kurt..." She said in a sing-song voice.
"C-c-c'mon man! J-just take it already!" Jaden stammered, backing away from the girl, who was beginning to smile in an eery way.
"Never!" Red screamed, and released his pikachu.
"Pika! THUNDER!" He screeched.
"NO! IDIOT!" Jose and Jaden screamed in unison.
But it was too late.
From the smoking crater arose an aerodactyl, struggling beneath the weight of three people. Three people that seemed a little charred. A trail of smoke and the smell of singed clothes was left on the wind as Aero sped towards Goldenrod city.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o00o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Yellow felt sweat trickling slowly down the nape of her neck as she stood, breathing shallowly, behind a larger man. She had caught sight of the small team of three girls poking around in the café where she had been hiding, and they had nearly seen her. Now she was acting normal and thanking Arceus that she was small, because it made it quite easy to duck behind people. She could tell that they were fangirls because of the slightly crazed and rabid aura that they gave off. Where was Red? They would be forced to leave soon if their position got became too overrun with the enemy. She glanced down at her pokégear. It was still and silent in her palm. Sighing, she began edging her way towards the door, hugging the wall and keeping the other customers between herself and the team.
Sliding the door open quietly, she was halfway out the door when her pokégear decided to ring loudly. Her friends had always had the best timing.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"So, Silver. I think we have something to talk about." Silver glanced nervously at his adopted sister. They were hiding out in an upper story of a building in an office that wasn't currently in use. Silver frantically scoured the room for something to change the subject.
"Man, the person who last had this office sure had bad taste huh?" This was actually true. The room resembled a cross between Sapphire's secret hideout (decorated by Ruby) and Lorelei's house on the Sevii Islands.
"Silver, don't try to change the subject." Blue said seriously.
"To what? I have no idea what you're talking about!" Silver spouted frantically.
"I'm talking about Cobalt." Blue said pointedly. Silver froze.
"You know, your sister. I met her." Her icy voice broke through the momentary silence.
"Oh." Silver said in a small voice.
"How come you never told me about her?! I thought that I was your only sister, the most important person in the world to you?!" Silver sighed, and looked away awkwardly.
"Because I knew that you'd react like this... and.. I didn't want to hurt you." Blue stared at him, her normally warm sea-blue eyes transformed to chips of ice.
"You didn't want to hurt me."
"No! Never! No one else has gone through what we went through, nobody could ever have the relationship that we do, you mean the world to me! Nobody can replace that, not even Cobalt!"
Blue didn't speak. She stared into his his deeply serious silver eyes. Silently, she wrapped her arms around Silver, and held him tightly. He returned the hug, and they sat there for a minute, on the floor of an office. Suddenly Blue hugged him tighter.
"Oof! Uh, Blue, you're hugging me a little- Ugh!"
"Hehehehe, 'don't want to hurt me' eh? You know Silver, I want to know everything about everyone, so not telling me is what hurts me the most!" Blue said, and evil glint coming into her eyes.
"I wonder what I should do to get back at you.. mm? I wonder what would happen if I showed Gold your baby pictures..." Silver stared at her in horror for a second.
"W-wait a minute.." He stammered, "You can't-" But at that moment he glanced out the window.
"Hey! It's Red!"
"Seriously?!" Blue asked, and ran to the window, "Ehm... Is he okay?" Aero was flapping slowly over the city, flying low due to the weight of three people slung over his back. The three people looked unconscious.
"Who cares?! Now that he's here, we need to get out of here!" Silver shouted, running for the door and dialing up the rest of the dex-holders on his pokégear.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Red woke up groaning. And fifty feet above the ground.
"AAAHHH!" The panicked screams of Jose and Jaden informed him that they had also come to.
"R-Red bro, what's happening?"
"Relax, we're on my aerodactyl." Red replied, running a hand through his hair, which resembled a boufalant's afro from Pika's electricity.
"B-but there's a crowd of angry people down there!" Jose managed. Red looked down. There was indeed a large horde of people shrieking and pointing up at him.
"Oh.. That's not good." Red said. He glanced around for a safe landing spot, and caught sight of ten tiny figures waving at him from the roof of a very tall office building.
"Aero, land over there!"
They touched down and Red collapsed off of Aero, staring up at the faces of the Hoenn and Johto trio.
"Y'alright senior Red?" Asked Sapphire, with concern.
"Yeah. Johto is a scary place." Red said, dazedly.
"Why, did you meet some scary hot girl?" Questioned Gold.
"Worse. I met Kurt." Was the reply.
"Oooooh!" The three Johto dex-holders groaned in sympathy.
"Anyway, everybody's here now, so let's go." Said Green, striding up to Red.
"Go where? And hold up, where's Yellow?" Red asked, glancing around the group. The ten figures on the top of the building had been the Hoenn and Johto trios, Blue, Green, Jay (who had been forced to carry Gold/Blue's money all the way up to the roof) and Julian. They all peeked over the side of the building. They saw a small blond girl tearing around the corner of the building that they were perched atop of, her ponytail streaming out behind her. It soon became apparent that she was fleeing three girls... Who were running on all fours. The long strings of saliva coming from their mouths visible even from the dex-holder's vantage point.
"...Improvisation time." Said Silver, and they jumped off the building.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Yellow's throat ached, and each breath scratched her throat and drove the pain in her lungs deeper. Her pursuers didn't seem to be slowing or tiring in the slightest. She couldn't bring herself to fend them off with pokémon, because they were still humans... She glanced back at them. Their eyes were bloodshot and strings of saliva flew from their mouths. On second thought, maybe they weren't human.
A shadow fell over the street. Yellow glanced up, and saw that the sky between the buildings had suddenly been blocked by a jigglypuff, aerodactyl, charizard, murkrow, xatu and a tropius. And a boy falling towards the street.
"aaaaaaAAAAHHH! INCOMING!" Yellow ran out of the way, and heard a crash as Gold hit the pavement.
"Ummm... Gold? Are you... okay?" She asked tentatively, approaching the small Gold-shaped hole in the street. From inside the hole emerged a hand making the peace sign at her.
"J-just fine... That wasn't actually.. part of my plan.." Came the shaky reply. Yellow helped him out of the hole as the others landed and dismounted their pokemon.
"Crys! You jerk! Why didn't you let me ride?"
"Why would I?" Came the cool reply, "You have your own flying pokémon."
"Yeah well.. WHATEVER!" Gold yelled, his face going red. Silver facepalmed.
"Umm... Guys?" Sapphire cut in, "We gotta little problem."
The group of three fangirls who had been watching the spectacle unfold was now more than three people.
"Reinforcements." Ruby clarified.
"We really need to know where we're running to now." Said Emerald, in an offhand voice.
"I have an idea." Said Red. They all stared at him.
"Seriously. And it should be safe for us." Red continued.
"Gah, but I'm tired of running! Can't we just fight?" Gold interrupted.
"Well the place I'm thinking of will give us an advantage in a fight. It'll thin out the enemy lines too."
"Sounds perfect! Anyway, we can't fight here Gold! There're too many innocent people around! We're in the biggest city in Johto!" Crystal scolded.
"Psh, whatever.." Muttered Gold.
"Where are you talking about Red? Because we gotta get out of here, and fast." Green asked, glancing nervously at the crowd of fans that was steadily growing in size.
"Gold and I are the only ones who have been there, but we should be able to get to the peak without too much trouble, seeing as we are some of the best trainers around." Gold grinned at this statement.
"Oh, I see now, Red." He said, in an irritating know-it-all voice.
"Where?" Growled Silver.
"Mt. Silver!" The two said in unison.
A/N Alright! Yeah, so Kurt is a scary, scary person.