"Thanks Truman! It's delicious!" May said through a mouth full of pancakes as she munched on her breakfast. "I agree. Phenomenal as always!" Dawn agreed, popping an orange slice into her mouth.
"Mm," Paul mumbled, biting into his whole-wheat, 100% plain, bread.
"Thanks May! At least you're nice and polite! Everyone else trashes my food. Well...you don't either, Paul. You don't waste much, do you?" Truman laughed, wiping off the metal table in the kitchen.
"Ngh," Paul grunted, obsidian eyes still focused solely on his toast.
Dawn grinned through her mouthful of fruit. "I had a good reason. Gary called me fat, and made a jab at Leaf about how he knew she had a crush on him or something. Leaf denied, and he said something about her being stupid and him being wanted by lots of fans, and she screamed at him, and he said that no one would want Leaf, so I got mad. I punched him in the stomach. That's how it all got started. Ash saw an opportunity to eat, and so...you know," Dawn said.
"I think I should become these agents like you kids are. I'm only twenty seven," Truman pondered, wringing out his towel. "Your lives are so much more interesting."
"It's hard," Paul said emotionlessly, crunching his toast loudly.
"It is!" Dawn agreed, nodding. "But you could do it Truman! Then you could help the Base and stuff when you're bored! And Paul's just grumpy. It's not that hard."
"Nn," Paul grunted, his version of a protest.
May stood up, and wiped her mouth with her hand. "I'm done!" she announced.
"Ice? Glaceon's winning today. You know that right?" Paul challenged with a barren expression, standing up as well, and placing his napkin in the trash.
"Yours, or mine?" May teased.
Dawn quickly shoveled the rest of her fruit salad into her mouth, and placed her stacked dishes in the sink.
"Bye guys!" Truman called out as the threesome left the kitchen. "See ya Truman!" Dawn yelled back.
"Mine," Paul snorted, as if the answer should've been obvious.
"Nope," May said, "Glaceon and I have been working hard. Yours...he's always like...he's going through the motions. Battle with emotion dude!"
"Ha," Paul scoffed, "Ice, you may be 'connected', as you call it, with your Glaceon, but me and my Glaceon, actually do have a great bond, and we know how far to push it. You and Grasshead...when you two battle, it's crazy. Mayhem."
"That's 'cause it's Drew." May grumbled.
"Mew! Paul knows the word crazy!" Dawn fake gasped, smirking. May muttered angrily under her breath, not happy with Paul's response.
"Yeah. It defines you pretty well, Troublesome," Paul glared.
Paul was generally a cold and empty person, but there was a light rivalry between May and Paul. Paul treated May like he treated Reggie. Basically, a slight bit more warmth than normal people. And a larger urge to talk. Paul's nickname for May was Ice, as May had accidentally froze Paul on her first official day at the EIA, where the Eevee Brothers and the Eevee Sisters had met. Dawn had to ask her Flareon to melt him, Jimmy's Flareon helping.
Dawn was also okay to talk with, because even though she was 'Troublesome' as Paul called her, she seemed genuine enough to Paul, and never ceased trying to get everyone to get along, and talk, and just be a normal group. Though she was fiercely protective of her friends, and if an Eevee Brother tried anything on the Sisters, Dawn would not hold back.
May and Paul argued about which Glaceon would do better that day as they walked towards the base of the south stairs, where all the dorm rooms were located.
"Fine! Let's see who gets their team down here the fastest, and to the training grounds. Ready? Set? Go!" May shot at Paul, immediately turning around and screaming at the top of her lungs.
"SISTERS! IF YOUR NOT DOWN HERE IN TEN SECONDS, YOU'LL GET LAST PICK!" May screamed at the foot of the stairs; Paul simply pulled out his phone and clicked away.
POP. BOOM! BAM. Pop.
"WHAT THE HELL!?" Gary screamed like a little girl.
"PAUL SHINJI! TU VAS PAYER!" Calem's loud, annoyed voice echoed.
(You will pay!)
"YOU ARE SO DEAD SHINJI!" Drew sounded frantic, and panicked.
"MY PIKACHU PILLOW!" Ash sounded downright petulant. Ash and his Pikachu, it was his starter after all. Jolteon(Eevee back then) was the first Pokemon he caught himself.
"PAUL! I THOUGH YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE A LEADER!" Jimmy cried. Oh Jimmy, his way of thinking would never get him anywhere.
Paul merely thought for a moment, then pressed another key.
BOOM.
The entire base shook.
"OKAY! WE'RE COMING!" All of them shouted together. Though it was more:
"OKAY!..."
"KAY!..Mmm...COMING!"
"Yeah...Me too!"
"I'm coming!"
"You are?"
"We're coming!"
"Am I coming? To where?
"Shut up Ash! We're on the way!"
Misty was the first one to come down the stairs. She appeared at the top of the stairs in only a sports bra and workout shorts, hair in her normal side ponytail. "May! Ya done eating?"
"Hey Mist! Yep! The others?" May asked.
"Let's see..." Misty thought for a moment. "Serena's tying up her hair, Leaf's looking for her socks, and Marina lost Wani Wani's Pokeball, and Little Miss is helping her. They'll be down in a sec."
She bounded down the stairs, May, Paul, and Dawn scooting over to let her down.
Ash ran out looking sad, as Pikachu sat on his shoulder, and swatted at his head. "Hey! It's not my fault Paul placed the smoke bomb right inside my Pikachu pajamas! Blame him!"
Pikachu glared at the purple-haired guy for a second before unleashing a Thunderbolt. Paul sidestepped, and made a motion towards Pikachu. Pikachu nodded, smirked, and went back to swatting Ash.
There was silence, before Ash starting protest again, and May stared curiously at Paul.
"Paul, what'd you do?" May asked suspiciously. "Nothing. Just offered ketchup," Paul replied coolly.
A disgruntled Calem appeared next, Serena and Leaf following as the two girls shoved each other towards the stairs.
Calem's hair was sticking straight up, and due to his shoulder-length black hair, it was a large spiky halo around him. Sort of like Gary's hair. "He set off a bomb 'Rena. A bomb Leaf! Don't you guys care?"
"Nope!" Serena giggled, popping the 'P'. "If Grouchy Pants wants to set off a bomb to get your butts moving, he can be our guest!" Leaf added, thumping down the stairs, as she ripped her normal hat off in exchange for a ponytail-holder.
Paul raised an eyebrow at the term, 'Grouchy Pants', because that's what pretty much the entire Team Eevee called him.
Jimmy appeared next, his hat sideways and his eyes were angry. "Paul! You didn't have to explode everything I actually liked in that room!"
"HURRY UP MARINA! WE GOTTA BEAT THE BOYS!" May yelled just as the blue haired girl appeared at the top of the stairs, Little Miss, her Misdreavus trailing behind. "I'm here!" she exclaimed breathlessly as she rushed down the stairs. She nearly bowled over Jimmy as she ran towards the assembled group.
Jimmy groaned and rubbed his head as he knocked it against the railing. "Oh! I'm so sorry!" Marina looked even more upset as she fretted over Jimmy. Jimmy just acted irritated, and just a little bit pleased. "Okay, okay Marina! Just because we grew up together...hey! Let go!"
Marina straightened out his jacket, and twisted his cap back correctly, the way he liked it.
"There we go," Marina said, satisfied.
"How much do you bet that they like each other?" Dawn whispered to Serena. They were the ones who were into love and all that making couples thing.
"Fifty PokeDollars?" Serena whispered back. "But I though we already established that."
"Nope," Dawn grinned.
Paul stared at his watch, and was obviously displeased. "It's been five minutes," he grumbled irritably. He pressed another button.
"FUCKING HELL! I'M COMING!" Gary screeched as he ran from his smoking room, hair even more eccentric than normal, his hands frantically patting out little bursts of fire as he rushed down the stairs.
Drew was not far behind his hair sticking up as well, smoke wreathed around him, his clothes had little burn holes in them. "Arceus Paul! Smoke bomb? Electrical? You are insane!"
Paul gave him a noncommittal stare, and twisted around, stalking towards the training grounds on the other half of the Base.
"I don't have last pick do I?" Marina asked breathlessly.
"Nope, that'd be the boys," May smiled.
"Hm," Drew muttered, glaring at May.
"Race time girls! Ready? Set? Go!" May shouted, the girls taking off after Paul, leaving behind the confused boys. "They're going to beat us!" Drew shouted as he started running, almost easily catching up. The rest quickly followed.
"Ready? Passage six, nine, twenty one, and forty three," May whispered, jogging lightly, nowhere close to being out of breath. "GO!"
The girls all peeled off from each other, darting into the shadows as some mechanism in the walls clicked. Within seconds, they were gone.
"Where'd they go?" Gary yelled, still sprinting next to Ash and Paul.
"Dunno!" Jimmy said back, speeding up. "But if I know Marina and Misty, they're in some secret passageway, or something similar. A shortcut. Pick it up!"
"I know Rena," Calem said quietly, and nodded. "It's definitely a shortcut. They're going to beat us if we don't move it." And with that, the Eevee Brothers picked up their pace, moving even faster.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dawn clicked in her unit, Leaf probably locking in on her with her Mac mini.
"Fire? Grass talking," Leaf's voice echoed in Dawn's right ear.
"Yep, Fire here. Who's in?" Dawn replied back, her feet finding notches inside the walls as she ran towards the main training room.
"Water!" Misty's eager voice echoed.
"Fairy," Serena acknowledged, her voice resounding behind Dawn. Dawn started running backwards, getting a glimpse of the honey-haired girl.
"Ice, and I'm with Psychic," May whispered.
"Yeah, I'm with Ice, Psychic speaking," Marina agreed.
"Got it! Links on all six of us, Grass talking," Leaf crowed as her made her way through the tunnels.
Misty had gone through tunnel six, which was straight up, so she was running in the ceiling, but the tunnel cut through the walls, and didn't follow the hallways necessarily. It slowly merged with tunnel nine.
Dawn and Serena were in tunnel nine. It went to the right of the hallway, going straight through certain walkways. It eventually fed into tunnel forty three. Nearly all tunnels did, allowing the girls a break as they basically went on an extremely fast roller-coaster ride.
May and Marina were in tunnel twenty one, which went even further underground, and was in between sublevel three, and four. Anything from sublevel eight, and down, you had to have level nine clearance to enter, which Team Eevee did. They had level ten clearance. The highest you could be. Same as the UL and FLL. Twenty one fed into tunnel nine, then went on to feed into forty three.
Leaf was alone in tunnel forty three, which, lucky for her, was a sliding, moving tunnel, that slid around and jostled the person, but she didn't have to anything. She was carried at breakneck pace, zooming just as fast as the Sisters, towards the training grounds. This was good, because Leaf was typing away on her laptop, locking in the rest of the girls, marking where Aaron, Flint, Bertha, Lucian, and Cynthia was waiting for them, and the boys, who were running at an impressive pace.
"Incoming!" Misty's voice drifted down the tunnel as she ran, leaped and fell neatly into tunnel six. Dawn and Serena ran next to Misty, waiting for May and Marina to show up. The two girls quickly popped up, vaulting up and out of the hole.
Then as a sudden drop, they all leaped off together...and fell on top of a surprised Leaf.
"Guys! You're crushing me!" Leaf protested.
They tried to disentangle themselves as the moving floor rushed them out, and they all tumbled out onto the clean, gym floor.
"You guys won. The race. That you probably had," Lucian said monotonously, his face close the the tangle of limbs.
"Ugh..." Dawn groaned, rubbing her temples, "We won?"
"Yep," Cynthia sighed, tapping her foot impatiently.
"Calm down Cynthia, the Brothers are probably already getting a workout," Aaron soothed.
"Hm, they better be working hard!" Bertha grumbled, tapping her cane against May's head.
"Yes Grandma..." May mumbled as she yanked her arm out from between Serena an Marina.
The doors bursted open as Drew, Gary, and Paul tumbled onto the wooden, polished floor; Jimmy, Calem, and Ash stumbled over them and crashing to the ground in front of them. They were all panting hard, and their faces red from exertion.
"Ahhh...Ugh...Hmmm..." Jimmy groaned, flailing his arms as he tried to break free from Ash's butt. Ash shifted, as if trying to get comfortable, though he was obviously trying to get off Jimmy, disentangle from Calem without jerking his hair, and make sure he didn't fall on top of Gary's perfect hairdo.
"OWW! GET OFF ME, YOU ASS!" Jimmy screeched, shoving wildly at Ash. Drew and Gary scrambled off Paul, who was growling low in his throat, a dangerous warning.
Both boys ran far from the mess, Gary running towards Leaf and Marina, who were standing together, glaring at the Brothers. "Help!" he yelped, running behind them. Drew ran, but slowly decreased his pace, running over to May and Serena, stopping and spinning around when he was a decent distance away from Paul. Misty glared at him, and her fist twitched, and so he inched further away from the girls, muttering under his breath.
Ash finally managed to fly off Jimmy, who sat up, and shot a crooked smirk at the frightened Ash. "I won't hurt you," Jimmy smiled, and said, almost venomously, "This time."
Ash grumpily, and childishly stuck out his tongue at him. Calem also sat up, got up, and walked calmly towards the nearest wall. They were his favorite thing, Mr. Wallflower. He leaned casually against the wall, gently brushing his black hair out of his eyes.
Paul nodded at him as he stood up, a quiet, but authoritative presence.
May was standing in a 'come-at-me-bro' stance, her upper body leaned back casually, but her feet were planted firmly, and her hands lazily on her hips. The girls surrounded her, with Gary and Drew nearby, still looking nervously at Paul. Misty had a full-blown smirk, while Marina looked pleased, and Dawn, Serena, and Leaf simply had a innocent smile an their faces.
Calem rolled his eyes at the girls, showing that he really didn't care that much, but the half-smile on his face made the girls know that he simply found this amusing.
Ash, Jimmy, Gary, and Drew all congregated around Paul, while Calem gave Paul a nod, so that he knew that Calem was listening and participating, even from far away.
"So, we're only training for four hours today."
Cynthia paced between the two groups, her blue summer dress billowing around her. Aaron started to protest, but Bertha slapped him on the head, motioning to the thick stack of papers in Cynthia's hand. Aaron grumbled a moment about fairness, before he succumbed to her wishes and motioned for her to continue.
"You guys have a mission," Cynthia stated, stopping to stare at both groups. May and Paul both shot an appraised at Cynthia.
"We already have a mission Cynthia!" Ash said innocently, wrinkling up his eyebrows in confusion.
Misty face-palmed, sighing at the pathetic Ash.
"No Ash, a mini-mission," Drew rolled his eyes. "Dumbass."
May glared at Drew for a second and explained further. "Remember how on the Vivillon Mission? We had to be sent out forty nine times? Each is a mini-mission. Okay Ash?"
Ash put on a thinking face, pondering. Pikachu's ears sparkled and he pinched Ash's neck. "Ow! Hey! Yeah..I get it!"
Pikachu nodded, satisfied.
"So we have a four hour training session? Then a mini-mission?" Marina piped up, her left arm waving in the air.
"Yes," Aaron said, as he and Cynthia shared an amused look, "First hour is AD training, second and third is OA training, and fourth is MR training."
AD stood for Advantage training, OA, for Overall training, and MR, for Mock and Realistic training. AD training was simply to try and make an agent excel even further at what they were already good at. Overall training was mostly training with your Pokemon, and also included training in the parts you weren't good at.
"Bertha?" Aaron said.
"Alright kids! Serena, May, and Drew, targets! Ash, Misty, and Paul, mats! Marina, Dawn, Gary, and Jimmy, obstacle course! Calem and Leaf! Go find Lucian," Bertha barked, motioning with her hands.
The targets, were 'live', moving targets, that resembled humans and Pokemon uncannily, and behaved like them as well. They were built for long-distance agents, who excelled with bow and arrows, throwing knives, darts, shurikens, spears, guns, and anything of that sort.
Serena was really good with arrows. Like Katniss Everdeen good. Anywhere, anytime, she was ready to shoot. When she shot, arrows glided from her fingers, and embedded themselves on the targets. All kill shots. Her hand knew exactly where to go to find the right arrow, and she was graceful about it. It was an ethereal, unnatural beauty when Serena shot. It left you breathless as your mind placed her shooting skills in a multitude of situations. And it had served her well.
May was good with knives, and anything sharp you could throw. But she preferred knives. She threw them with the deadly accuracy that Serena had, hitting them in the exact spot she needed to hit. Her arm was a blur when it drew knife after knife out, the sickening thud as it squelched into the dummies. Shurikens were fun, and May handled them with ease, but the Orange Island style of fighting, just wasn't for May. May also enjoyed spears, but they were annoying to carry around, so May mostly stuck to knives.
And just because May was impossibly good at throwing knives, did not mean she was horrible at using them in combat either. Give her two hunting knives, each as long as your forearm and extremely sharp and lightweight, and tell her to fight her way out of a hundred people, hellbent on capturing her? Everyone single one would be dead within fifteen minutes flat.
Drew...he was a gun person. Really. A gun person. He was decent with a broadsword, but the recent technology of guns and silencers? Perfect. Especially because they shot tranquilizer darts, an agent's' best friend. From fifty meters away, give him five seconds, and he could shoot an apple off your head without you noticing. And he loved silencers, because most of his targets never even realized he was there. And just because Drew was good at shooting, didn't mean he wasn't fit and physically able. In fact, he was nearly as good as Jimmy at physical combat, and Jimmy was the best fighter, who didn't have physical combat as his AD.
The mats were literally, a series of mats. Well, there was a dummy section, punching bags, weights, reflexes drill area, and more, but otherwise, it really was a large, twenty foot by twenty foot square of firm foam, with wire surrounding the mats. There was a large red dot in the center, and both agents would start just outside of the mat, and then when Bertha yelled, GO!, you were allowed to do whatever was necessary, to get the other agent to surrender. But you weren't supposed to physically harm each other much. There was a special mat, made for Pokemon and agent battling, so that you could use both, and mostly, it was built to withstand the fierce attacks of the Pokemon.
Ash was an offensive battler. Both with his Pokemon, and without. He was fast, but his blows hurt. His arms, legs, and head, dealt out a flurry of blows so fast, most people couldn't follow. Sometimes, even Ash himself couldn't follow. It was automatic. Punch, twirl, kick, headbutt, twist, left hook, jab... His blows were heavy as well, always leaving bruises, and sometimes broken bones. And despite the fact that Ash was pretty dumb and oblivious, he actually did know all the places that hurt the most to hit, and pressure points to knock someone out.
Paul was more of a defense battler, and more power. His Pokemon attacked not as often as average person, but most of his hits were immensely powerful, and the sheer might of the force they could unleash, was incredible. He mostly parried when he fought though, and hit hard when there was an opening, hitting rarely, but hitting hard. He took out most opponents with one attack, stopping them abruptly. And when he parried, most targets hesitated to hit him again, because it caused more pain to the target, than Paul himself. They practically punched solid muscle and pure power. He was silent when he fought, and was fast in his blows as well, striking you in a place you didn't think he'd hit. One blow to the back of your neck? Then you would be dead. A CRACK! And you would be dead. Then the body would crumble, and shoot forward, the force of the blow still carrying through. You'd land five to ten meters away. Yeah. That's how hard he hit.
Misty...she was pure talent. She wasn't crazy powerful, or incredibly fast, none of that. She was pure talent. Her speed could rival Ash's when she was focused, her muscle and power could fend back Paul, she was sneaky, clever, agile, and just an amazing fighter. Paul and Ash couldn't even beat her once, and she could fight off all ten of the other Team Eevee agents when she needed to. She talent, skill, speed, power, knowledge...all of it. She knew what techniques to use in certain situations, and so much more. She could slip out of the trickiest holds, and her parries were strong and solid. Even when Paul was hitting, she knew how to divert his punches so that it would glance a certain way. Like before, again, Misty. Was. Amazing. And pure talent.
The obstacle course, was simply a name. When you went in, it was designed to be a simulation like thing. They put you inside a large room, and the simulation put you right in the middle of the worst situations an agent could imagine, and told them to get to the other side of the room. They had holograms that acted like a real person would, and the goal was to get to the other side unseen, or sometimes, to get something from inside the simulation, out of the room before the 'alarms' went off.
But if you weren't in a simulation, you could simply work out and do normal obstacle courses too. The EIA workout wasn't that different from your average workout. There were bars, those fancy trampolines that everyone used for fun, climbing walls with deadly traps, trigger friendly minefields...okay. Maybe it was a little different from your average workout, but they served their purpose, preparing an agent for the worst, and mostly, everything outside the Sim room was just for drill purposes, and working on flexibility and all that crap.
Jimmy, Marina, Dawn, and Gary were all 'scouts', or otherwise called, the Shadows. They were the ones that sneaked in to buildings while the other Eevees were backup. They all knew basic hacking, so when Calem and Leaf needed them to hack it from the inside, they were usually able to do it. They were silent when they needed to be, agile, flexible, quick, athletic, and generally, like Shadows. They hid, they tricked, they sneaked, they stole, and mostly, they slipped out of the enemy's grasps.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SMACK! THUMP.
"Ahh! OWWWW!" Ash screamed loudly, crying out in pain. Misty just grinned wickedly, and twisted his left arm harder against his right. Ash twisted backwards, and tried to kick out, but Misty kicked him in the knee, and he fell down as his knees buckled.
"Oh you'll have to do way more than that Ashy Boy!" Misty cackled, flipping him onto his back, and pinning his legs beneath his body.
"Dammit! Let him go Misty!" Paul grumbled, walking onto the mats to force Misty to let go.
"Oooo! More fun! Two on one! Bertha!" Misty called out eagerly, letting Ash go and darting backwards, still grinning wickedly. Bertha walked over to the edge of the center mat, and tapped her cane. "Pokemon or not Misty?" she called out, her cane down one last time with a resounding thump. "None this time!" Misty called back, backing away slowly in a protective stance, her eyes trained on the groaning Ash, and the furious Paul. Because as much as Paul dislike Ash, he was a Brother, and everyone did care for the others, even Paul. "Knock-out darts?" Misty asked, pocketing two of the sharp needles, coated in a special formula.
"Let's go Mist! Kick their asses!" May called out from across the room, grinning as she did a front flip, and in mid-air, twisted her hunting knife into the moving dummy's heart. She got splattered with red-colored water, as she turned to watch Misty take down the two boys.
"Boo."
May shivered at Drew's cool breath washing over her neck. "Argh. Go away Drew," May spat, trying, and failing to turn around.
"Oh, but I think I'm very comfortable right here," Drew uttered close to May's face. Heat rushed to her face and May found herself blushing, and that made her mad. She wasn't supposed to like the arrogant, perverted Grasshead!
"Oh, you should go screw yourself!" May snarled, and tried to break free from his tight grip.
"Oh, but what if I don't want to?" he breathed right next to her ear, and May jumped, shocked, yet, her two hunting knives crossed and darted out at the sentence. "Whoa there!" Drew exclaimed, hooking one of his pistols underneath her crossed hunting knives, breaking them apart and causing May's arms to splay out. May's right arm immediately began moving again, stopping at the apple of Drew's throat.
"Hey! I meant no harm!" Drew said angrily. May wasn't even breathless, her eyes deadly and her mouth was set in a hard line. "So? You never, ever, say that type of thing, or sneak up on me," May's eyes glinted with a deadly promise. "Do you understand?"
Drew tried to shrug carelessly, but with the razor sharp edge of the hunting knife still pressed to his throat, all he could do was a little rise of his shoulders, and gulp silently. He stared defiantly back at May, glaring.
May's second knife came out of nowhere, the flat of the blade knocking straight into his mid-back, making the air in his lungs escape him in a 'oomph'. Drew gasped for breath, heaving with the point of the slightly curved edges reflecting the light into his eyes.
"Do you understand?" May demanded again, her eyes filled with laughter, the thought of having Drew at her mercy was exhilarating.
"Yes?" Drew pretty much squeaked out. May tilted her head elegantly, and flicked her head, and asked without turning around, "Tu es prête?"
Serena, who was shooting behind May, said, "Oui."
Serena prepped an arrow.
Serena giggled behind the pair as she loosed the arrow, whizzing by Drew's ear, and burying itself in the head of the dummy behind him. He would have jumped, but then the hunting knife would've jabbed up and into his throat. He swallowed nervously, and muttered a more decisive, "Yes."
May nodded, accepting it.
She turned to look at the fight again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Yah!" Misty swung her right leg out, knocking into Ash hard, as she parried Paul's left hook. Sometime during the lesson May and Serena taught Drew, Misty's ponytail-holder came flying off, and she whirling and fighting heatedly with her orange colored hair whipping around the air.
"Ugh," Ash groaned as he flipped backwards, his left hand clutching his stomach and his right, out in defensive position. He backed up far enough so that Misty wouldn't be able to knock him out, and hoped that Paul could fight off Misty. Paul was keeping Misty busy though, parrying her every blow and seemed to be curling up into himself. His sturdy arms meeting Misty's forceful punches hit for hit.
"Yah! Uh! Dammit Paul!" Misty yelled, speeding up her punches, and she started twisting and kicking as well. That did Paul in, and Misty was able to land a flurry of blows on Paul's left side, one of Misty's fists colliding with his chest, her foot catching his hip, throwing it off onto the side, and her head knocked into his shoulder, and Paul fell forwards, twisting into a perfect, but painful landing.
Misty smirked, and jabbed a needle into Paul's arm expertly, effectively taking him out. Unluckily for Misty, Ash, as oblivious as he may be, had sneaked around her, and launched himself at her, his fists and feet flying towards Misty, feinting and darting out to trap Misty.
But Misty was prepared.
She crouched low, and Ash's feet ran into Paul's solid body, knocking the limp body backwards, where Bertha dragged him out.
By this time, even the Shadows had taken a break to watch the furious fight between the Fighters.
Leaf and Calem were in a good mood, and they manipulated the lights to glow blue, illuminating the large platform. Pounding music started and Marina started cheering her cousin on, the others cheering for Ash, or Misty too.
I've had a little bit too much, much
All of the people start to rush, start to rush by
How does he twist the dance? Can't find a drink, oh man
Where are my keys? I lost my phone, phone...
Ash rolled onto the floor, popping up in a perfect stance, arms out and ready, and Misty circled around him, her lean body low, and her face passive. Ash's face was tight with concentration, and sweat glistened on both Ash's and Misty's faces.
"Ready Ash?" Misty called out, tilting her head tauntingly, grinning.
"Ready Mist?" Ash countered, his lips quirked into a grin as well.
"Let's do this thing," Misty smiled, motioning with one hand towards the spectators. Ash grinned widely, nodded to show his assent, and darted forward, starting the fight.
Misty twisted to the right, just dodging a kick, ducking low as Ash's left arm flew towards her head, and launching herself over Ash by grabbing onto his left arm, which was still trying to lose momentum from the punch, and Misty landed on her feet, her back towards Ash as she literally used Ash's momentum, to toss him onto the ground.
But Ash didn't go down without a fight, catching himself with his hands, springing into a landing. Misty's laughter echoed over the bass, her eyes alight with glee.
Leaf and Calem were watching from the room high up, a thick glass pane separating the two from the training grounds below them. Lucian was kicked back, letting the pair hack through three different codes that other agents had trouble with, which they got done within minutes, and then two were supposed to work on their new signal design. They did dutifully for about half-an hour, before they noticed Ash and Paul, fighting Misty, and then Calem had started manning the DJ system, and changing the lights. Leaf hacked into the intercom after a while, which only CYNTHIA was supposed to use, but she started screaming her allegiance to Misty.
"COME ON MIST! BEAT HIS ASS!" Leaf called over the intercom. There were some static as Calem tried to wrestle the microphone from Leaf's hand, but Leaf was having none of it and her fist shot out to punch him in the gut. "Ugh!" Calem groaned out, his voice magnified as it filled the gym.
Dawn pointed out the three figures high up, laughing at Calem's horror stricken expression. "You're okay Calem!" Serena called out, giggling a bit herself. He tried to motion at the excited Leaf, who chanting into the microphone eagerly. "LET'S GO MISTY, LET'S GO! LET'S GO MISTY, LET'S GO!"
Just dance, gonna be okay, da da doo-doo-mmm
Just dance, spin that record babe, da da doo-doo-mmm
Just dance, gonna be okay, d-d-d-dance
Dance, dance, just, j-j-just dance...
Misty glanced up at the booth, and smirked at the dancing Leaf.
Ash panted across from her, analyzing her every movement. "Done yet Ash?" Misty taunted, grinning. "Never!" Ash stuck out his tongue, twisting his arms together.
Without warning, Misty shot out, and then the fight heated up again, the pair parrying and throwing out blows, ducking, twirling, and rolling. Misty was mainly focused on wearing Ash out, as it was much easier to parry, then actually deal out the blows.
"Uh!" Ash punched at Misty three times in a row, alternating hands while his foot twined around Misty's, trying to trip her. Misty smirked at his attempt, and folded down, rolling through his legs, and kicked upwards, knocking him...uh, there. Yes, where it hurts.
Ash let out a babyish, high-pitched wail before falling on his face, and Paul, who woke up a few minutes earlier to watch the end of the fight, winced in sympathy. Misty's kicked him there before three times before as well.
May cheered loudly, whooping and high-fiving Serena, the honey-haired girl letting loose her last arrow at the dummy nearby, not even looking, relying on her peripheral vision.
Misty stalked over triumphantly, and held the needle poised over Ash's arms.
"Eh-hem!" Bertha said authoritatively, motioning that the fight was over. Misty pocketed the dart, and smiled at Ash. "You kick hard," he groaned, rubbing at his forehead.
"Yeah," Misty snorted, laughing. "You haven't noticed that yet?"
Misty's cheeks were flushed as she pulled up Ash, who looked tired and worn. Ash's eyes twinkled at Misty's suddenly shy appearance. "Come on Mist," Ash chuckled, taking her hand and pulling her off the mat.
Everyone ran from their own stations to congratulate Misty, and poke at Ash.
After everyone had calmed down, they had moved on to the rest of training, mostly stretching and working out the Pokemon, and keeping in shape, not real intense training.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finally, after the hours of exerting their bodies, they all gathered, sweaty, to listen to what their mission was.
Aaron looked grimly at Team Eevee, his mouth pained. "Your mission? You have to infiltrate a ball. A formal ball. With fancy dresses, suits, waltzing, and all of that. And Brothers? Your parents will be there. And so will Team Solaceon."