Chương 23: Chapter Twenty: I have to be the very best
I can feel Masaru's warmth next to me as we lay in silence. Excitement and relief are simultaneously crashing over me.
I felt as if this is where I need to be in this moment.
"I don't… can you just sleep here tonight?"
Am I even myself? The things coming out of my mouth don't make sense.
I feel him stiffen beside me, with what emotion… I can't tell. "If that's what you want." Is his quiet response.
"I mean, only if you want to stay here." I still have no idea what I'm doing.
"I do," he responds almost instantly.
I'm still freezing from our walk through the rain, my teeth are slightly chattering.
I feel him reach over and pull the blanket over us. My breath catches again. He's laying on his back and I'm turned over on my side, facing away from him.
My heart feels like it's going to explode for some reason. I need to calm the fuck down.
"Do you want me to turn off the light?" He asks.
"Yeah I'm exhausted, you can." I answer stiffly.
Soon we're cloaked in darkness, the only light coming from a small alarm clock on the table between our beds.
I gain more courage and roll over so that I'm facing Masaru. I can't really see him but I can feel his energy somehow. It's as if we're both humming in this moment.
"Sorry if this is strange." I breathe quietly.
"Why would it be strange?" He's oddly calm.
"I mean… I don't know. It just is." I say in a huff.
He chuckles and doesn't say anything. I feel him starting to stroke my hair and instead of batting him away I silently allow it.
Calmness washes over me and I drift into sleep…
Sunlight wakes me. I blink against it and am greeted with shock when I see Masaru next to me. He's on his side, one hand rests on my leg.
I'm mesmerized for a moment before I shove him off of me. Ack! What did I do? Why would I invite him to sleep in my bed? Surely he'll read into it.
When I remove his hand he opens his eyes, surprise registering on his face vividly. He's bleary and his hair is even messier than usual.
I smile at him and climb out of bed.
He sits up, and rubs his whole face with calloused hands.
A shiver goes down my spine.
"What are we doing now?" I ask him faintly.
"Remind me to call Silver tonight," he groans and stands up. His black shirt presses against him and I can see the outline of his lean muscles underneath.
"I will. Are we going back to Base?" I shut the bathroom door and quickly change back into my Team Rocket garb.
I open the door to find Masaru back in his uniform as well. Which answers my question.
We check out of the Center and make our way back towards the Base, on foot. This sucks.
Eventually we arrive, ragged again from the walk. I do not want to keep doing this.
This time when the short man at the door sees us he bows quickly and asks us to wait. Scurrying off, he looks almost excited.
Masaru raises an eyebrow at me and I shrug at him.
Finally the man skitters back to us, with two Grunts straggling behind him.
One is a woman with bright red hair and glaring blue eyes. The other is a man who looks as if he could be her twin.
"This is Ace and Aza. They'll be challenging you to a double battle today. Orders from the Boss." The short man says. "Proceed to the battle area at once. He'll be there, watching."
The twins glare at me and I look over at Masaru hopelessly. "You're talking to me right?" I ask.
"Of course!" The man responds hotly.
I bite back a scathing retort and follow him and the twins towards the battle area. Masaru close behind, hands shoved deep into his pockets.
I'm surprised to see that the stands are lined with Grunts. In the midst of all of them I see a square box, surrounded by glass.
That must be where the Boss is sitting.
I really need to prove my strength this time as well.
The twins release their Pokémon; Toxicroak and Arbok are summoned.
I release Arrow and Nidoking.
"Arbok, Sludge Bomb on Aerodactyl, go!" Shouts Aza, extending her gloved hand.
"Toxicroak use Stone Edge on Nidoking!" Ace yells.
"Nidoking, end it using Earthquake." I command cooly. "Arrow be ready to use Aerial Ace on Toxicroak." I hold out my hand in a waiting motion.
My Pokémon dodge without being commanded to and Nidoking unleashes a massive Earthquake. The floor of the arena cracks open and the people in the stands stomp and cheer.
Dust billows up and fills my eyes and lungs. I blink through the grit as Nidoking bangs on his chest and lets out a booming roar.
Both opponents lay crumpled on the ground. A double one hit K-O. Fuck yeah. These Grunts suck just as much as I remember.
Bounty Hunters are stronger and more impressive than most Team Rocket members. Team Rocket more so relies on scheming tactics to get their Pokémon.
Once you've smacked one "overpowered Grunt" you've smacked them all.
"This time we have to eat in their shitty mess hall. You're a fucking celebrity." Masaru is beaming at me when I turn around.
I sigh and follow him and the crowd of people down into a large room. Large benched tables line the walls and the center of it.
At the back was a counter where a few people stood serving food.
We wait in line to receive clumps of some rice amalgamation. I wince when I look at it, take a glass of water and retreat to a seat.
Grunts crowd around me, eating their rice without any looks of displeasure. I sample it and decide that it isn't as bad as it looks.
People chatter at me and I struggle to answer all of their questions. It's like talking to a group of children.
I spend almost three hours doing this before Masaru and I stealthily remove ourselves from the hall.
"Don't tell me that we have to stay here tonight," I rub my eyes and blink at him.
"So should I just not tell you and lead you to the rooms?" He shuts his eyes and turns his head away.
"Fuck!" I shout.
"Hmmm," he says while narrowing his eyes.
"I mean. Fuck yes!" I roll my eyes.
We make our way to an area reserved for Grunts. Small metal rooms line the walls. Each one holding a rickety bunk bed.
We enter one together and a shiver goes down my spine. "I don't wanna stay here." I complain in a whisper.
"I haven't wanted to stay in these rooms countless times. I don't want to be a dick but you're gonna have to deal with it." Masaru shrugs.
He's right. Ugh.
I sit down next to him on the bed, not trusting the top bunk. Someone knocks on the door frame and I lean forwards to see who.
It's the short man from the door. He clears his throat. "The Boss is requesting your immediate presence."
I stand up and so does Masaru.
"He wants to speak with the girl, alone." The man hisses and narrows his bloodshot eyes.
Masaru and I exchange a glance and I give him a reassuring nod.
I follow the man out of the room. After a moment of awkward silence I ask, "what's your name?"
He whirls around to look up at me with widened eyes.
Fuck… was I not supposed to ask him what his name is?
"My name?" He croaks.
"Uh, yeah your name." I'm befuddled.
"Nobody has ever asked my name… I'm Goro…" he turns his back to me and keeps shuffling.
How interesting…
We enter an elevator together and he punches the bottom number. Which is eight. My stomach lurches as we launch upwards.
Nervous sweat saturates my palms and I wipe them on my skirt. Hopefully this isn't something bad. I tried to impress everyone. I did my job.
I just hope it doesn't blow up in my face.
The elevator dings and we arrive at the eighth floor. I let out a huge breath and follow Goro down a moldy hallway. I see a large red door glaring at us from the end of the hall.
Goro and I stand adjacent from the door, my heart is pounding as he knocks roughly.
A few silent moments pass and Goro steps back as the door swings open.
An attractive woman stands there, sizing me up. She flips a golden curl out of her gleaming silver eyes.
"Come in," she jerks her head and I quickly follow.
A man is seated at a large desk. His office smells of cigar smoke and I fight the urge to crinkle up my nose.
The woman stalks over to where the man is sitting and stands beside him. She eyes me like something watching it's prey.
I'm not sure what to do and stand awkwardly near the door, waiting.
"Sit!" The man booms.
He's probably around thirty years old. He had an attractive face and physique but something about his eyes scare me. They're almost black and glittering with something that is not joy.
I swallow and seat myself in a cushioned black chair across from his desk.
His eyes wander over me before he clears his throat and casts a glance up at the woman. "You impressed me. That's not an easy feat."
Relief floods over me, I keep my face stony and continue listening.
"So, I want to offer you a job." The man says.
Fuck.
"What's the job?" My heart is starting to beat faster out of anxiety.
"I need you to collect something. You can bring any Grunt along to help if you choose to. You got a partner?" He stands up, he's taller than I thought.
"Yes, I do have a partner. I normally work with the same guy." I shrug nonchalantly.
"Good. I'd like to assess him at some point as well. Your instructions are in your room. Now leave." He waves a hand at me.
I retreat out of the doors and make my way back into the bowels of the Base and into the living facilities.
I knock on the doorway of our room before entering.
Masaru is laying in the bed tapping his finger like crazy. When I enter he sits up as if he's been shocked by something.
"This came for you." He juts an envelope at me. "What happened?"
"Boss is impressed and wants me to do a job for him. Whatever is in this envelope is most likely that job." I tear it open and pull out a single sheet of paper.
Scanning the page a chill falls over me. He wants me to steal evolution stones. Specifically from this old woman who sells them out in the country.
Disgusted I hand the sheet to Masaru who reads it and then hands it back to me.
"That's an easy one. We can acquire the stones through monetary means and provide them that way." He winks.
"I forget that you've been doing this for years," I breathe a sigh of relief.
"Yep. I'm gonna send Silver a message since it's not safe to call him. I'm ready for bed." Masaru stretches and pulls out his phone.
Quickly he types something up and sends it. Taking off his hat he lays back down.
"Is this bed even safe?" I pull a face while inspecting the rickety bunk bed.
"Honestly? I doubt it. But we don't have much of a choice." He eyes the bed frame nervously.
I attempt to climb the ladder to get onto the top bunk and it snaps away from the bed. It lands with a metallic ping in the ground.
Masaru and I make nervous eye contact.
"Maybe we should both sleep on the bottom bunk…" I suggest.
"Yeah, I think someone might die if we don't. I can sleep on the floor instead, though." He offers.
I think on it for a moment. We end up pulling down the mattress from the top bunk and placing it on the ground.
Masaru lays on the mattress, I lay on the creaky bed and soon we're both asleep.
I wake up to a blaring horn that I assume is an alarm for the Grunts. It scares the shit out of me and I rub my eyes.
Masaru is muttering on the floor next to me, pushing his hair back blearily.
"What time is it?" I glance around and finally see that it's 6:00am.
"Fuck." Masaru complains, sinking back down.
"We need to get this task out of the way today," I climb out of bed and shiver as my feet hit the cold metal floor.
We both pull on our boots and hats and head out into the main hallway. It's bustling with Grunts, most of whom look like they've just woken up.
We grab breakfast, quickly scarfing oatmeal in the mess hall before moving ourselves towards the exit.
Masaru is responding to a message Silver sent him last night. It's a warm morning, the smell of dew hanging in the air. Faint steam rises from the blades of grass as we walk by.
Masaru maps the way to the Old Woman's Hut. It's going to be a long day.
We walk for what feels like an eternity, until we see a sign for the Ilex Forest. We still have a few miles until we make it there. My feet and legs are killing me.
I check the time and groan when I see it's almost noon. At this rate we are going to spend our entire day traveling.
Ilex Forest looms in the distance and I feel relief at the sight of branches and foliage. Almost there.
We stop to rest on a large rock, unwrapping crusts of bread and canteens of water. We eat and drink quietly, staring up at the clouds together.
A sense of calm peace falls over me briefly. In this moment, while the breeze whisks through my hair and I'm surrounded by the sounds of the forest.
We stand up and enter the trees, using a small path to evade the stabbing thorns laced within.
Eventually we come to a small broken down hut. A sign is stabbed into the lawn that reads "evolution stones sold here" in shaky handwriting.
Masaru and I knock on the door and wait for someone to answer. We had removed our Team Rocket uniforms and had causal clothing on.
The door opens and a small woman is revealed. Her silver hair is piled in thick braids around her head. She smiles sweetly at us. "Are you here to buy some stones?"
I glance at Masaru, who's looking at the woman warmly. "Yes ma'am," he replies.
She waves a wrinkled hand and we follow her inside.
"How many of each stone do you have?" Masaru asks her.
"How many? Oh… I'd say I have about twenty of each stone right now." The woman strokes her chin while she thinks.
"Fantastic. We'll take them all." Masaru fishes into his back pocket and pulls out a billfold.
"That would cost you 25,000 Pokédollars!" The woman says, aghast.
"I figured it'd be something like that. Put them all in this bag for me." Masaru extends a ragged burlap sack to her. "I don't want a receipt. Please don't make me one."
Masaru takes a chunk of money from his billfold and hands it to the shaking woman. After about twenty minutes she's emptied her stores into the sack.
It's too heavy for her to lift and Masaru grabs it from the floor.
"Thank you," he waves a hand and we exit the hut. Leaving the woman dazed, gazing after us.
"We aren't fucking with this," I say once we're outside.
"With what?" Masaru grunts and shifts the weight of the bag on his shoulder.
I throw a Pokéball into the air and Arrow is summoned. He lets out a fierce cry and lowers his head to nuzzle me.
"We aren't walking, I mean. Climb on." I jump onto Arrow's back and reach my hand down to grab the bag from Masaru.
He sighs with relief and hands it to me before hoisting himself up. Once he's behind me he moves the sack into the backpack I'm carrying.
We take flight. Wind rushes through my hair and I feel Masaru clutching my waist tightly. I can feel his nerves working overtime.
"Arrow, climb!" I command.
Immediately he rises higher, pumping his muscular wings and letting out a joyous cry. We climb up further until I can almost touch the clouds.
"Plunge!" I yell.
"Wha-?" Masaru is cut off as Arrow closes his wings and begins an exhilarating plummet towards the ground.
Masaru grasps me more tightly and I grin wickedly. Adrenaline courses through me as we race down at a terrifying rate. I'm laughing now, tears streaming from my eyes.
Masaru is cursing. Which makes me laugh even harder.
When it seems like we're going to crash against the very earth beneath us Arrow unfolds his wings and we drift back up.
"Are you insane?" Masaru howls from behind me.
I can't answer, all I can do is laugh.
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