Power Shot
Reignited with Ego!
***
With a final grunt, Max completed his hundredth pushup. True, the gym leader didn’t have much to do while the gym was closed, but his normal routine regimen was almost obscene. He trained nonstop with his Pokemon for hours in preparation for his daily business, from the moment he woke until noon. Strangely, he had gotten up rather early that morning, and had been unable to get back to sleep. The gym leader sat up and stretched to make certain that he wouldn’t sprain any of his aching muscles.
What was weird, though, was the fact that he had been getting roughly two hours of sleep for about a week. In the past, he had needed was eight, bare minimum. But now he was going to bed at midnight and rising a mere few hours later like clockwork. Something was giving him an extraordinary caffeine boost. He’d have to ask his sister if she’d been changing the coffee filters to espressos. He glanced at the thing dangling from his neck: the emerald he had taken from the museum. They hadn’t seemed to notice its absence, and he for some reason didn’t ever feel like he wanted to be parted from it. So he’d had it fit onto a small necklace.
He’d been training for almost ten hours. The house was alive and well. His parents were off taking care of some of the bills and invitations the family had received, they had mentioned something about a gala in a week they wanted to go to. His mind was on other things though. More specifically the Dark Sapphire Ranger, the PKM Rangers, and why both sides seemed to want his sister. May must have been born under an unlucky star, he thought, to have two high-tech sides fighting over her. He remembered the Rangerlings, and growled. He started for the weights, and grabbed his twenty pound barbells and started pumping his arms up and down in repetition. He preferred to train when he knew Sarah was asleep, which she happened to be, especially since it was a weekend.
Music was blaring in his training room, and his entire body was glistening with sweat. He wasn’t built like a bodybuilder, but had instead compact, powerful muscles that were more then capable for his daily needs. Likewise, his Pokemon were equally powerful, and it was a rare, but somehow satisfying, day when he had to hand out one of his Balance Badges. But today he felt optimistic that someone would show up that would be a challenge for him, and thus made sure that his Gallade and Mightyena were ready for a fight. Grovyle, always cool and collected, worked on the balance board to make certain that it wouldn’t trip up during a fight. It had been having trouble keeping oriented during fights with digging Pokemon.
Finally, when a buzzer rang through the training room, Max called for everyone to stop. The three Pokemon did so with some reluctance, as they loved training almost as much as Max did. Their trainer smiled, talked with them about their strengths and weaknesses, his usual pep talk before a day of fighting, and they roared their approval. He recalled all three into their Poke Balls, and went to shower and change so he didn’t smell quite like a locker room.
When he completed his shower regimen, he put on a green shirt and some blue jeans. He had learned from experience that fancy clothing was not the way to go when it came to a profession that involved him fighting all day. His sneakers squeaked as he made his way down to the battle field. He stopped by the kitchen to grab some orange juice and drained the glass before he reached his beloved battlefield. His first opponent was already there, conversing with his sister. A giant, a very familiar giant, to Max.
“Hey!” he shouted in welcome, and ran over to his sister and the challenger. His future opponent stopped talking to see Max approach. “How’s it going? You here for a Balance Badge?”
The man smiled. “Yeah, something like that.”
May blushed as the man looked over to her, which struck Max as odd. His sister wasn’t prone to schoolgirl crushes. “Sorry, Mr. Toby,” she said, and turned to Max. “Bouzu, this is Keean Toby from the Saffron City Contest. Remember?” Max thought for a moment, then grinned.
“Absolutely,” he replied, and shook Keean Toby’s hand. “You handed it pretty badly to my sis, Keean. Would you like to challenge me? I promise I‘m tougher then her.”
“As if,” May retorted, and stuck her tongue out at her brother.
“I thought I should have a complete set,” he explained. Max then noticed that a small woman was standing next to Keean Toby, holding his hand. “Sorry, honey. This is my girlfriend.”
“I’m Serena Brine,” she said. Max offered his hand to her, and she shook it abruptly.
Max replied, “Great to meet you.”
“Hello!” she said excitably, and turned to May. “Nice to meet you all. Sorry about my boyfriend’s crass nature. He doesn’t know any better.” She looked up at him, and grinned. “He’s very dim-witted sometimes.” She giggled, which Max found oddly adorable. This girl knew how to talk, unlike her lover, who was eloquent but brass.
“Anyway, how’s about a battle, Keean?” Max offered. “I’d love to take a closer look at that whole ‘talking Pokemon’ trick.” Keean Toby nodded, and moved to the challenger square on the other side of the battlefield. Serena followed him like a lovesick puppy, and Max geared up Gallade’s Poke Ball. The gym leader wasn’t certain what Pokemon Keean Toby would use, only that he would use something strong. The tactical expert lifted up a Poke Ball, and a Riolu exploded from the small orb. Max didn’t wonder why Keean Toby had picked a Baby Pokemon to fight, and sent out his Gallade. “Let’s go!”
“Okay,” Keean Toby replied. “Riolu, go easy. This is our first battle, don’t strain yourself.”
“Lu, Rio!” confirmed the Pokemon, after which it beat its chest in anticipation.
“Gallade, False Swipe!” Max commanded. Gallade charged up its left arm and shot forward, much faster then most of its species.
“Riolu, Iol!” ordered Keean Toby. Riolu remained stationary until the final possible instant, when it tilted itself a few degrees to the right. The arm of the giant Gallade went wide, and Riolu retaliated with Copycat as it passed the larger Pokemon. The strike went deep into the Blade Pokemon’s left leg, causing it to trip. “Lu Rio Riolu!” A high-pitched Screech burst from the Baby Pokemon, keeping its opponent down.
“Gallade, Psycho Cutter!” the gym leader shouted. This was impossible, he thought. Keean Toby’s strategy had no flaws, none at all. The tactician could take in the most minute details and convert them into an advantage, like using Gallade’s height against it, and even compensating for the type disadvantage. Max’s Pokemon began to glow, and sharp blades emerged small enough to deal with the tiny Riolu. Keean Toby was calm, and calculated the best option.
“Lu Rio,” he said, and Riolu started to glow with its Endure. The blades struck over and over again, but Riolu wouldn’t be losing this turn. Finally, Gallade yielded, and Riolu activated its second portion of its plan. Its body glowed, and a second set of blades emerged. Max tried to order Gallade away, and the Blade Pokemon avoided most of them due to Riolu’s inexperienced aim, but several struck its hide in crucial joints. Riolu didn’t wait for them to subside either, and burst forward with a Quick Attack that knocked its opponent down to the ground. By this point, Max was getting desperate, and the calm neutral expression on Keean Toby’s face was not helping. The gym leader was losing to a Baby Pokemon. It was highly embarrassing.
“Finish it,” Keean Toby muttered, this time in his rough Orre dialect. Riolu obeyed, as it apparently understood what that command meant. Gallade didn’t even see the Force Palm coming and, though it had Psychic type advantage, Riolu didn’t miss, and fired its blast between its foe’s eyes. Gallade dropped, and stayed down.
Keean Toby held out Riolu’s Poke Ball, and smiled. “Return,” he said, and clicked the button. Red light burst out of the ball and captured Riolu, sending it right back to his Poke Ball for a well-deserved rest. Reluctantly, Max withdrew Gallade’s Poke Ball from its holster on his belt, and recalled his own Pokemon.
“Man, that was tough,” he chided himself. “We’re going to have to train harder.” He walked across the battlefield to shake Keean Toby’s hand. “You’re pretty good. How long have you had that Riolu?”
Keean Toby thought about that. “A few weeks. Lu’s been really fun to work with. It almost might actually be ready to evolve, but I don’t think it knows me all that well yet.” He chuckled.
“Cool,” Max said. “Hey May, would you mind giving Keean the main tour of the building while I go and stick Gallade in the Pokemon Restoration Machine? I’ll only be a minute.” May nodded.
“Sure, I can show Mr. Toby and Serena around,” she replied, with an odd interest in keeping her eyes on Keean Toby. He seemed oblivious, so Max headed out into the back where the PRM was located. The machine looked a lot like a power generator, but when he opened the top half of the machine, it revealed a machine similar to something in a Pokemon Center. He’d had one installed by Nurse Joy when he decided that it seemed kind of undignified for a gym leader to have to rush to the Pokemon Center each day. He plugged Gallade’s Poke Ball inside the first slot, and was informed that the Pokemon would be fully restored in ten minutes. Sighing, he rested himself against the machine to wait.
“Hey, gym leader.”
Max looked up. No one was in the room with him, he was alone. Let he had heard a voice somewhere. “Yes?” he asked, looking around. “Dad, is that you?” No one replied for a few seconds, and Max got a tingling feeling in his spine that conveyed something bad was about to happen. And, as usual, such a feeling would prove correct.
Something punched him hard in the stomach, like a sharp stone. Max lurched, then fell over. “Not your dad, kiddo!” replied the voice with an immense amount of glee. Max’s vision was blurred, he had lost his glasses, which he vaguely noticed had been dropped almost beyond his reach. Groaning, he stretched his arm out to snatch them, but a dark boot crashed down on his arm. He shouted in pain. “This is interesting. I was so sure you’d be scared of me.”
Max glared up at the figure who had attacked him, a man dressed all on blue and black. “I think…I know that voice,” he grumbled. His free arm slinked behind his back for one of the Poke Balls on his holster. “I’m guessing the name Sappho rings a bell with you, right freak?” The Dark Sapphire Ranger, if he registered the insult, did not respond to it in an angered sense.
Instead he cackled, and bent down so that he could look Max directly in his blurry vision. “You know, that’s such a stupid name,” the Dark Sapphire Ranger retorted, and grabbed the gym leader by the neck. Max, chocked by the pressure, was lifted into the air, and rammed against a nearby wall. “I think Golden Boy makes fun of me when he calls me that. Are you making fun of me?”
Max spit at his visor. “What do you think?”
Sappho smashed the back of Max’s head hard against the wall. “That’s a bad, bad gym leader,” the Dark Sapphire Ranger murmured in dismay, then kneed Max in the groin. Blood trickled from the man’s mouth as he groaned feebly. “Now’s not the time to be a big brave hero, boy. I might just kill your precious Pokemon, if you don’t quit with the puns.” That shut Max right up. “Good, you’re learning,” he whispered. “That’s very good.”
“This lecture got a point or are you just here to bug me?” Max asked. “I’m a busy guy, and I don’t like you.”
“Shut up,” Sappho replied, and used his other hand to grab the emerald that Max was wearing on his neck. And, though Max knew that the guy was wearing a helmet, he could not help but sense a wave of disappointment from Sappho as his hands curled around the emerald. “This is just perfect. Just perfect.” In his irritation, he tossed Max to the ground on his back. “Just great. It’s bonded to you. It’s bonded to you!” He kicked Max’s stomach in anger.
“I-I don’t understand-” Max was silenced, as the Dark Sapphire Ranger decided that that moment was perfect to grab the man’s mouth and force it shut.
“You know, I work hard too. Why the hell would you want to ruin my job?” Sappho was acting like all the problems of the world had suddenly fallen onto him. “The stupid thing’s bonded to you now, so there’s nothing I can do… Man, they’re gonna kill me for letting anyone have the damn thing… Eh, I guess you’ll be good enough for them. We don’t recruit that often, but I’m sure they’d love you to be with us…”
Max started shouting vehemently, but Sappho didn’t quite understand. Tilting his head to his side, the Dark Sapphire Ranger relaxed his grip just enough so that Max could speak. “What is it, idiot?” Sappho muttered.
“What are you talking about?” Max gasped.
“I’m talking about the Dark Emerald, you ***-****!” screeched the annoyed Sappho, and smashed Max’s head again. “That little green gem you have strapped to your neck! It’s supposed to be with me, and with my friends, so they can use it.” His grip tightened on Max’s throat as he grasped the Dark Emerald, which had started to pulsate in reaction to Sappho’s beatings, matching the heartbeat racing through the gym leader’s body. “This is a talisman of evil, boy. We wanted it for that reason. And now the damn thing’s bonded to you instead of one of our soldiers. Do you know what this means?”
“No idea,” the battered man mumbled to himself.
“It means you’re going to take responsibility for it,” Sappho explained, and giggled as he forced Max to look him right in the visor. “You’re going to be the one to use this thing, and you’re going to be the one that kills with it, and you’re going to be the one who brings us one step closer to our goal!” He cackled, but softly, as he had made a lot of noise, and didn’t want the whole place to know he was there. Max glanced down at the Dark Emerald, which beat wildly in synchronization with his heartbeat.
“Wh-what do you want with me, Sappho?”
The Dark Sapphire Ranger giggled, and bent closer to Max’s crumbled body. “The Dark Emerald might be bonded to you, little boy, but it hasn’t fully taken hold yet.” Through his black visor, Sappho glared at his lost prize. “No use crying about it now. Dark Gems can’t be removed once they choose a host. But of all the luck…” Sappho lamented his failure by lowering his head in shame.
“Nothing you’ve just said makes sense,” Max said.
Sappho lifted his face sharply, and slapped Max’s cheek. “Do you even understand the words that are coming out of my mouth, boy? The Dark Emerald is special…and powerful. It takes the soul of one dead Pokemon, but the degree of power that is amplified from that is incredible! It’s like a supercharge! But-” And at this Sappho turned away, as if discussing the subject with someone else “-it’s so very picky. It is the food critic of Dark Gems.” Sappho groaned, then grabbed something out of a compartment on his belt. It was a long, silvery chain, kind of like the one Max was wearing, only it has a specially set place for a gem. Sappho grabbed Max by his chain, and somehow managed to transfer the gem between the two chains. “When the time comes, use this, and all your dreams will come true boy!” He shoved the chain hard onto Max’s right forearm, almost breaking the skin. “Bye-bye, kiddo! Let’s do this again sometime!” He cackled, and leapt away, vanishing just as quickly as he had come.
Max, pained by his injuries, curled up into a ball. The Dark Emerald, previously a nice necklace ornament and now some sort of evil chalice, gleamed in the semi-darkness of the room, flashing to the beat of his heart. The chain, wrapped around his arm, began moving, much to Max’s surprise. It wound along his arm, up his shoulders, and around its neck, where it finally went dormant and stopped pulsating. Max, breathing hard, sat up and leaned against the wall.
“What have I gotten myself into?” he asked himself, and his hands curled around the Dark Emerald. He wanted to get rid of the emerald now, but was somehow incapable of doing so. A nagging voice in the back of his head roared against the idea, the mere notion, that he could get rid of it without anything bad happening. Max glanced at the old, seemingly harmless chain that was now strewn across the floor. The new one felt like it would kill him if he got rid of it. “What’s going on?”
Vaguely, he noticed that the Poke Ball machine was beeping. He didn’t even notice that his wounds had completely healed, or that he grabbed Gallade’s Poke Ball and stuffed it into his pocket. All he was thinking about was the fact that somewhere, for some reason, something was laughing at him, bugging him to an extent he had never felt before.
***
Serena Brine was in the belly of the beast. Oh, she knew what she had been getting herself into when she had agreed to come, but she couldn’t refuse those cute little tantrums that 0 was prone to throw any time they had to do something even remotely related to his family. The man had issues but, as she looked at him now, she couldn’t find them at all. The mask called Keean Toby hid them perfectly, down to the very last detail. He was cool, charming, even funny, things the White Ranger had never before been aware that 0 could be.
“This is the garden,” May said, and opened the door to the outside. For some reason, Serena disliked May. She wasn’t quite sure why, it might have been that May had oddly puffier hair then Serena did, or the fact that May looked beautiful despite having a few noticeable injuries. Or maybe it was the fact that Serena’s Baby-chan was focusing solely on May and ignoring Serena completely. Whatever it was, Serena did not like it, and made every effort to get between May and 0.
“Would you like to join us for some lunch?” May offered, and Serena guessed she sensed the discomfort between them. “My mother makes great food.”
Serena smiled. “I would love to,” she said, and glanced up at 0. “Right, Kee-chan?”
He nodded. “Right,” he said, and looked at May. “We’d love to.”
She showed them through the gym to the modest kitchen right next to the battlefield. Inside, Caroline was busy preparing a primarily pork-based meal, with sides of rice. Serena gripped 0’s hand to make sure he didn’t start saying anything stupid. The woman was aging quite gracefully, with few wrinkles adorning her head. 0 and Serena sat at the table, and she turned around in surprise.
“Why hello,” she said with a smile. “Who are you?”
“Serena Brine and Keean Toby,” Serena answered for her fake boyfriend.
Caroline chuckled. “It’s been a while since anyone’s bothered to stop in for lunch after fighting,” she murmured, and removed a frying pan from the stove. “It’s an old tradition sure, but young people these days don’t understand courtesy. They come here for the badge my son gives and then leave.”
“Such a shame,” Serena murmured sympathetically.
Caroline agreed, and handed the couple some beef bowls to enjoy before the main course. They waited for May to join them before beginning. “Any mail today, Mom?” May asked, and dug into her bowl. 0 strangely didn’t eat the food, but merely pretended to as best he could.
“M-hm,” Caroline confirmed, and brought out a letter from her apron. “An invitation from the city.” She handed the letter to her daughter, and made busy with the rest of the luncheon’s food.
May put down her bowl and laid down the chopsticks. “Dear Miss Birch,” she read, “‘We are pleased to invite you and your guests to the annual Gala Ball.’ How lovely. ‘Please RSVP your party size so we can reserve your table.’”
“When it is?” Caroline asked.
“In a week.”
Caroline thought about it. “I haven’t been dancing with your father in ages. We should go.”
“And…” May turned to 0, and Serena caught a glimpse in her eyes of something she became suspicious of. “Would you like to join us?” She had eyes only for 0, and Serena fumed to herself.
“Love to,” he replied. Serena’s hands suspiciously began to gain claw-like attributes, and her hand slinked towards her partner’s leg. “I’m…” He paused, and briefly glanced downwards to notice Serena was feeling left out of the conversation. “I mean, we, would love to go. Right honey?” He glanced at Serena, and attempted a smile. Serena dug her talons into his flesh.
“Of course, dear,” she said sweetly, and tilted her head with a smile. She would make him pay for this insubordination. But for now she would play the role of loving girlfriend, until the instant they were out of public view. Caroline finished her food and, after calling to her husband, Sarah, and Max, sat down and poured herself a glass of lemonade.
Sarah wandered in only a few minutes after Caroline had ordered her appearance. She looked tired, and Serena noticed a slight scar on her hand. “Food?” the little girl asked, Serena sensing the inner cravings of a creature in need of feeding. Caroline nodded, and pointed to a spot at the table with a bunch of food ready. Sarah nodded and sat down. She picked up her chopsticks and, without further ado, attacked her food like a rapid Pokemon.
“Sarah, say hello to our guests,” Caroline said, and looked to Serena and 0.
“Hi,” she said, without looking up.
0 chuckled, which caused Serena to increase the pressure on his leg. “Sarah,” he said calmly. “How have you been?”
“Fine,” the girl said, then stopped eating briefly. “Mr. Toby?” She had not noticed him at all, far too focused on eating. She smiled when she looked at him, and Serena glanced at 0’s face for any problems.
0 had none, the man seemed a natural born actor when in the face of his audience. “Thought I’d stop by and see you all,” he explained, and grinned at May. “Your mother invited me over to enjoy some food with you all. And fight your uncle.”
Sarah giggled. “Did you beat Uncle Max?”
He lifted a thumb’s up. “Piece of cake,” he replied.
“Yay!” Sarah squealed with delight.
“Baby girl,” May murmured, and her daughter calmed down slightly. “It seems we’ve been invited to a party.”
Sarah asked, “Party, Mommy?”
May nodded. “Mr. Toby and Ms. Serena said that they would love to be our guests. Do you want to come too?”
“Yes yes yes yes yes!” The little girl was very excited, and required a stern look from her grandmother to settle down. She looked at her food with a sudden disinterest, and Serena caught that girlish gleam in the little one’s eye that only a gala event could produce. “Mr. Toby?” she asked, and turned to the friendly giant.
“Yes?” he replied.
“Will you dance with me there?”
The entire table chortled at the request. Serena glanced at 0, who had covered his mouth to cover the grin on his face. “S-sure, Sarah,” he muttered, very close to laughter. Serena peered into the locks of hair that masked the majority of his face. 0’s mask was shaking.
***
…Present Day…
Serena grumbled, and attempted to stomp hard on her partner’s foot. The music was elevated, heightened to match the frenzy of dancing that was her and her Baby-chan’s rendition of the waltz. Other couples, in fear for their personal safety, had begun to distance themselves from them, resulting in a circle around both rangers. Serena and 0 took no notice; Serena because of her inner wrath and 0 in justifiable fear of his life. The odd thing was that no one else seemed to understand the tension between the two, and simply assumed they were professionally trained.
Serena grunted with annoyance as 0 side-stepped her. “Want to tell me what this is about?” he asked, and twirled her with one sweep of his left arm. She almost jerked it out of its socket, but 0 loosened his grip in time.
“You know you have this coming,” she retorted. In retaliation, she threw her hips out, knocking 0 right in the pelvis. He was annoyed, but didn’t let that show, as he grabbed her by the aforementioned hips and lifted her right off the ground. Serena growled, unaccustomed to being lifted, and tried kicking him right in the groin. 0 pivoted so the kick flew by harmlessly, then took the move one step further. He flipped Serena, grasping her by the legs she had thrown out, and had her hand on his feet right beside him. Her eyes shot daggers at him. The crowd cheered.
“No, seriously,” he muttered. She was dancing very close to him, almost as if she was preparing to jab him with her nails. “What is this about?”
Serena grumbled in a very angry way, and tried to crush his feet again. In a terrible contortion of a box step, 0 avoided the heels each and every time. “Why don’t you go dance with your wife?” she snarled. “Oh, that’s right. Because she’s not your wife.” She wanted to be cruel to him, the gigantic idiot that he was, who could not even interpret the slightest bit of her attraction to him. 0, oblivious, lowered the mask he had been wearing as Keean Toby.
“Low, 3,” he whispered, and took hold of her arms. “Very low.” He didn’t give her a window of chance to escape, and before she knew it, she was being pressed against his muscles, which did the work he had assessed they would. Serena melded into them like glue, albeit unwillingly. “Explain your behavior. It is jeopardizing our cover.” The gruff voice was unmistakable: 0 had stopped playing the game.
She refused to answer him, and instead fought her physical and emotional compulsions by tackling his. She wiggled suggestively against his body, up and down, side to side, diverting the attention of the majority of the men present from their significant others. She swayed her hair seductively, utilizing every inch of the body she had been given to drive 0 away. He was obsessed with May, and would leave her soon.
But, to her extreme surprise, he did not. Instead, the Golden Ranger took her gently and forced her to face him. “Are you angry at May?” he asked, finally deducing the correct question. She looked away to the lady who stood by the sidelines with Drew, and nodded. “Why?”
“Because,” she explained, and looked up at him. “You’re not her husband. Not anymore. But you’re my partner.” She didn’t even notice that, as they began to slow down, so did the music, and finally others were beginning to brave the dance floor once again. “And you insist on thinking that you can be both.”
“Why can’t I?” he replied, calm as ever. He didn’t understand the complexities of emotions that were raging through Serena’s brain, or what his answers would result in.
Serena looked away. The music had changed into a slow, mournful song of what both guessed was love. She allowed him to lead her through the crowd, her cheek pressed to where she assumed his heart was located. Assuming he had one, she thought bitterly, as he had missed signs that even a blind trained Aipom would have automatically understood. She couldn’t understand how anyone could be so unbelievably strong like 0 was yet at the same time be so utterly dimwitted.
Because I want you to be mine.
But she didn’t say that. To say that would mean putting herself completely out there for him and, while she did indeed want him, she wasn’t quite sure which part of him she wanted. Did she crave the first friend she had ever had, and had maintained, since coming to PKM, or had she fallen for the dark warrior that hid 0 when the world became unbearable to him? Which one was the real Golden Ranger?
At the same time, she wasn’t sure about his interests either. 0 was still attached to the idea that he wanted to be May’s husband, whether this was something he actually wanted or something he simply needed to be. He defined himself by the failures of his marriage and the loss of his child. In every aspect he acted like someone torn between the past and the future, with no clue what to do in the present.
“I’m sorry, 3,” he replied. “I didn’t understand that you felt that way.”
Fairly certain that he still did not understand exactly how she felt, she sighed. “Baka,” she grumbled, and pressed herself against him. “You’re mine for the night, could you at least not forget that again?”
“Of course, 3,” he replied. There was a subtle gentleness in his voice, something she had not heard before. She smiled in content that she could feel his arms surrounding her in their powerful, protective embrace. She smiled that she could feel his heart beating in his chest, and that it sounded so warm and strong. Even if she knew it was just an act to him, she liked it nonetheless.
“0?”
“Yes, 3?”
“What do you think of me?”
With a final grunt, Max completed his hundredth pushup. True, the gym leader didn’t have much to do while the gym was closed, but his normal routine regimen was almost obscene. He trained nonstop with his Pokemon for hours in preparation for his daily business, from the moment he woke until noon. Strangely, he had gotten up rather early that morning, and had been unable to get back to sleep. The gym leader sat up and stretched to make certain that he wouldn’t sprain any of his aching muscles.
What was weird, though, was the fact that he had been getting roughly two hours of sleep for about a week. In the past, he had needed was eight, bare minimum. But now he was going to bed at midnight and rising a mere few hours later like clockwork. Something was giving him an extraordinary caffeine boost. He’d have to ask his sister if she’d been changing the coffee filters to espressos. He glanced at the thing dangling from his neck: the emerald he had taken from the museum. They hadn’t seemed to notice its absence, and he for some reason didn’t ever feel like he wanted to be parted from it. So he’d had it fit onto a small necklace.
He’d been training for almost ten hours. The house was alive and well. His parents were off taking care of some of the bills and invitations the family had received, they had mentioned something about a gala in a week they wanted to go to. His mind was on other things though. More specifically the Dark Sapphire Ranger, the PKM Rangers, and why both sides seemed to want his sister. May must have been born under an unlucky star, he thought, to have two high-tech sides fighting over her. He remembered the Rangerlings, and growled. He started for the weights, and grabbed his twenty pound barbells and started pumping his arms up and down in repetition. He preferred to train when he knew Sarah was asleep, which she happened to be, especially since it was a weekend.
Music was blaring in his training room, and his entire body was glistening with sweat. He wasn’t built like a bodybuilder, but had instead compact, powerful muscles that were more then capable for his daily needs. Likewise, his Pokemon were equally powerful, and it was a rare, but somehow satisfying, day when he had to hand out one of his Balance Badges. But today he felt optimistic that someone would show up that would be a challenge for him, and thus made sure that his Gallade and Mightyena were ready for a fight. Grovyle, always cool and collected, worked on the balance board to make certain that it wouldn’t trip up during a fight. It had been having trouble keeping oriented during fights with digging Pokemon.
Finally, when a buzzer rang through the training room, Max called for everyone to stop. The three Pokemon did so with some reluctance, as they loved training almost as much as Max did. Their trainer smiled, talked with them about their strengths and weaknesses, his usual pep talk before a day of fighting, and they roared their approval. He recalled all three into their Poke Balls, and went to shower and change so he didn’t smell quite like a locker room.
When he completed his shower regimen, he put on a green shirt and some blue jeans. He had learned from experience that fancy clothing was not the way to go when it came to a profession that involved him fighting all day. His sneakers squeaked as he made his way down to the battle field. He stopped by the kitchen to grab some orange juice and drained the glass before he reached his beloved battlefield. His first opponent was already there, conversing with his sister. A giant, a very familiar giant, to Max.
“Hey!” he shouted in welcome, and ran over to his sister and the challenger. His future opponent stopped talking to see Max approach. “How’s it going? You here for a Balance Badge?”
The man smiled. “Yeah, something like that.”
May blushed as the man looked over to her, which struck Max as odd. His sister wasn’t prone to schoolgirl crushes. “Sorry, Mr. Toby,” she said, and turned to Max. “Bouzu, this is Keean Toby from the Saffron City Contest. Remember?” Max thought for a moment, then grinned.
“Absolutely,” he replied, and shook Keean Toby’s hand. “You handed it pretty badly to my sis, Keean. Would you like to challenge me? I promise I‘m tougher then her.”
“As if,” May retorted, and stuck her tongue out at her brother.
“I thought I should have a complete set,” he explained. Max then noticed that a small woman was standing next to Keean Toby, holding his hand. “Sorry, honey. This is my girlfriend.”
“I’m Serena Brine,” she said. Max offered his hand to her, and she shook it abruptly.
Max replied, “Great to meet you.”
“Hello!” she said excitably, and turned to May. “Nice to meet you all. Sorry about my boyfriend’s crass nature. He doesn’t know any better.” She looked up at him, and grinned. “He’s very dim-witted sometimes.” She giggled, which Max found oddly adorable. This girl knew how to talk, unlike her lover, who was eloquent but brass.
“Anyway, how’s about a battle, Keean?” Max offered. “I’d love to take a closer look at that whole ‘talking Pokemon’ trick.” Keean Toby nodded, and moved to the challenger square on the other side of the battlefield. Serena followed him like a lovesick puppy, and Max geared up Gallade’s Poke Ball. The gym leader wasn’t certain what Pokemon Keean Toby would use, only that he would use something strong. The tactical expert lifted up a Poke Ball, and a Riolu exploded from the small orb. Max didn’t wonder why Keean Toby had picked a Baby Pokemon to fight, and sent out his Gallade. “Let’s go!”
“Okay,” Keean Toby replied. “Riolu, go easy. This is our first battle, don’t strain yourself.”
“Lu, Rio!” confirmed the Pokemon, after which it beat its chest in anticipation.
“Gallade, False Swipe!” Max commanded. Gallade charged up its left arm and shot forward, much faster then most of its species.
“Riolu, Iol!” ordered Keean Toby. Riolu remained stationary until the final possible instant, when it tilted itself a few degrees to the right. The arm of the giant Gallade went wide, and Riolu retaliated with Copycat as it passed the larger Pokemon. The strike went deep into the Blade Pokemon’s left leg, causing it to trip. “Lu Rio Riolu!” A high-pitched Screech burst from the Baby Pokemon, keeping its opponent down.
“Gallade, Psycho Cutter!” the gym leader shouted. This was impossible, he thought. Keean Toby’s strategy had no flaws, none at all. The tactician could take in the most minute details and convert them into an advantage, like using Gallade’s height against it, and even compensating for the type disadvantage. Max’s Pokemon began to glow, and sharp blades emerged small enough to deal with the tiny Riolu. Keean Toby was calm, and calculated the best option.
“Lu Rio,” he said, and Riolu started to glow with its Endure. The blades struck over and over again, but Riolu wouldn’t be losing this turn. Finally, Gallade yielded, and Riolu activated its second portion of its plan. Its body glowed, and a second set of blades emerged. Max tried to order Gallade away, and the Blade Pokemon avoided most of them due to Riolu’s inexperienced aim, but several struck its hide in crucial joints. Riolu didn’t wait for them to subside either, and burst forward with a Quick Attack that knocked its opponent down to the ground. By this point, Max was getting desperate, and the calm neutral expression on Keean Toby’s face was not helping. The gym leader was losing to a Baby Pokemon. It was highly embarrassing.
“Finish it,” Keean Toby muttered, this time in his rough Orre dialect. Riolu obeyed, as it apparently understood what that command meant. Gallade didn’t even see the Force Palm coming and, though it had Psychic type advantage, Riolu didn’t miss, and fired its blast between its foe’s eyes. Gallade dropped, and stayed down.
Keean Toby held out Riolu’s Poke Ball, and smiled. “Return,” he said, and clicked the button. Red light burst out of the ball and captured Riolu, sending it right back to his Poke Ball for a well-deserved rest. Reluctantly, Max withdrew Gallade’s Poke Ball from its holster on his belt, and recalled his own Pokemon.
“Man, that was tough,” he chided himself. “We’re going to have to train harder.” He walked across the battlefield to shake Keean Toby’s hand. “You’re pretty good. How long have you had that Riolu?”
Keean Toby thought about that. “A few weeks. Lu’s been really fun to work with. It almost might actually be ready to evolve, but I don’t think it knows me all that well yet.” He chuckled.
“Cool,” Max said. “Hey May, would you mind giving Keean the main tour of the building while I go and stick Gallade in the Pokemon Restoration Machine? I’ll only be a minute.” May nodded.
“Sure, I can show Mr. Toby and Serena around,” she replied, with an odd interest in keeping her eyes on Keean Toby. He seemed oblivious, so Max headed out into the back where the PRM was located. The machine looked a lot like a power generator, but when he opened the top half of the machine, it revealed a machine similar to something in a Pokemon Center. He’d had one installed by Nurse Joy when he decided that it seemed kind of undignified for a gym leader to have to rush to the Pokemon Center each day. He plugged Gallade’s Poke Ball inside the first slot, and was informed that the Pokemon would be fully restored in ten minutes. Sighing, he rested himself against the machine to wait.
“Hey, gym leader.”
Max looked up. No one was in the room with him, he was alone. Let he had heard a voice somewhere. “Yes?” he asked, looking around. “Dad, is that you?” No one replied for a few seconds, and Max got a tingling feeling in his spine that conveyed something bad was about to happen. And, as usual, such a feeling would prove correct.
Something punched him hard in the stomach, like a sharp stone. Max lurched, then fell over. “Not your dad, kiddo!” replied the voice with an immense amount of glee. Max’s vision was blurred, he had lost his glasses, which he vaguely noticed had been dropped almost beyond his reach. Groaning, he stretched his arm out to snatch them, but a dark boot crashed down on his arm. He shouted in pain. “This is interesting. I was so sure you’d be scared of me.”
Max glared up at the figure who had attacked him, a man dressed all on blue and black. “I think…I know that voice,” he grumbled. His free arm slinked behind his back for one of the Poke Balls on his holster. “I’m guessing the name Sappho rings a bell with you, right freak?” The Dark Sapphire Ranger, if he registered the insult, did not respond to it in an angered sense.
Instead he cackled, and bent down so that he could look Max directly in his blurry vision. “You know, that’s such a stupid name,” the Dark Sapphire Ranger retorted, and grabbed the gym leader by the neck. Max, chocked by the pressure, was lifted into the air, and rammed against a nearby wall. “I think Golden Boy makes fun of me when he calls me that. Are you making fun of me?”
Max spit at his visor. “What do you think?”
Sappho smashed the back of Max’s head hard against the wall. “That’s a bad, bad gym leader,” the Dark Sapphire Ranger murmured in dismay, then kneed Max in the groin. Blood trickled from the man’s mouth as he groaned feebly. “Now’s not the time to be a big brave hero, boy. I might just kill your precious Pokemon, if you don’t quit with the puns.” That shut Max right up. “Good, you’re learning,” he whispered. “That’s very good.”
“This lecture got a point or are you just here to bug me?” Max asked. “I’m a busy guy, and I don’t like you.”
“Shut up,” Sappho replied, and used his other hand to grab the emerald that Max was wearing on his neck. And, though Max knew that the guy was wearing a helmet, he could not help but sense a wave of disappointment from Sappho as his hands curled around the emerald. “This is just perfect. Just perfect.” In his irritation, he tossed Max to the ground on his back. “Just great. It’s bonded to you. It’s bonded to you!” He kicked Max’s stomach in anger.
“I-I don’t understand-” Max was silenced, as the Dark Sapphire Ranger decided that that moment was perfect to grab the man’s mouth and force it shut.
“You know, I work hard too. Why the hell would you want to ruin my job?” Sappho was acting like all the problems of the world had suddenly fallen onto him. “The stupid thing’s bonded to you now, so there’s nothing I can do… Man, they’re gonna kill me for letting anyone have the damn thing… Eh, I guess you’ll be good enough for them. We don’t recruit that often, but I’m sure they’d love you to be with us…”
Max started shouting vehemently, but Sappho didn’t quite understand. Tilting his head to his side, the Dark Sapphire Ranger relaxed his grip just enough so that Max could speak. “What is it, idiot?” Sappho muttered.
“What are you talking about?” Max gasped.
“I’m talking about the Dark Emerald, you ***-****!” screeched the annoyed Sappho, and smashed Max’s head again. “That little green gem you have strapped to your neck! It’s supposed to be with me, and with my friends, so they can use it.” His grip tightened on Max’s throat as he grasped the Dark Emerald, which had started to pulsate in reaction to Sappho’s beatings, matching the heartbeat racing through the gym leader’s body. “This is a talisman of evil, boy. We wanted it for that reason. And now the damn thing’s bonded to you instead of one of our soldiers. Do you know what this means?”
“No idea,” the battered man mumbled to himself.
“It means you’re going to take responsibility for it,” Sappho explained, and giggled as he forced Max to look him right in the visor. “You’re going to be the one to use this thing, and you’re going to be the one that kills with it, and you’re going to be the one who brings us one step closer to our goal!” He cackled, but softly, as he had made a lot of noise, and didn’t want the whole place to know he was there. Max glanced down at the Dark Emerald, which beat wildly in synchronization with his heartbeat.
“Wh-what do you want with me, Sappho?”
The Dark Sapphire Ranger giggled, and bent closer to Max’s crumbled body. “The Dark Emerald might be bonded to you, little boy, but it hasn’t fully taken hold yet.” Through his black visor, Sappho glared at his lost prize. “No use crying about it now. Dark Gems can’t be removed once they choose a host. But of all the luck…” Sappho lamented his failure by lowering his head in shame.
“Nothing you’ve just said makes sense,” Max said.
Sappho lifted his face sharply, and slapped Max’s cheek. “Do you even understand the words that are coming out of my mouth, boy? The Dark Emerald is special…and powerful. It takes the soul of one dead Pokemon, but the degree of power that is amplified from that is incredible! It’s like a supercharge! But-” And at this Sappho turned away, as if discussing the subject with someone else “-it’s so very picky. It is the food critic of Dark Gems.” Sappho groaned, then grabbed something out of a compartment on his belt. It was a long, silvery chain, kind of like the one Max was wearing, only it has a specially set place for a gem. Sappho grabbed Max by his chain, and somehow managed to transfer the gem between the two chains. “When the time comes, use this, and all your dreams will come true boy!” He shoved the chain hard onto Max’s right forearm, almost breaking the skin. “Bye-bye, kiddo! Let’s do this again sometime!” He cackled, and leapt away, vanishing just as quickly as he had come.
Max, pained by his injuries, curled up into a ball. The Dark Emerald, previously a nice necklace ornament and now some sort of evil chalice, gleamed in the semi-darkness of the room, flashing to the beat of his heart. The chain, wrapped around his arm, began moving, much to Max’s surprise. It wound along his arm, up his shoulders, and around its neck, where it finally went dormant and stopped pulsating. Max, breathing hard, sat up and leaned against the wall.
“What have I gotten myself into?” he asked himself, and his hands curled around the Dark Emerald. He wanted to get rid of the emerald now, but was somehow incapable of doing so. A nagging voice in the back of his head roared against the idea, the mere notion, that he could get rid of it without anything bad happening. Max glanced at the old, seemingly harmless chain that was now strewn across the floor. The new one felt like it would kill him if he got rid of it. “What’s going on?”
Vaguely, he noticed that the Poke Ball machine was beeping. He didn’t even notice that his wounds had completely healed, or that he grabbed Gallade’s Poke Ball and stuffed it into his pocket. All he was thinking about was the fact that somewhere, for some reason, something was laughing at him, bugging him to an extent he had never felt before.
***
Serena Brine was in the belly of the beast. Oh, she knew what she had been getting herself into when she had agreed to come, but she couldn’t refuse those cute little tantrums that 0 was prone to throw any time they had to do something even remotely related to his family. The man had issues but, as she looked at him now, she couldn’t find them at all. The mask called Keean Toby hid them perfectly, down to the very last detail. He was cool, charming, even funny, things the White Ranger had never before been aware that 0 could be.
“This is the garden,” May said, and opened the door to the outside. For some reason, Serena disliked May. She wasn’t quite sure why, it might have been that May had oddly puffier hair then Serena did, or the fact that May looked beautiful despite having a few noticeable injuries. Or maybe it was the fact that Serena’s Baby-chan was focusing solely on May and ignoring Serena completely. Whatever it was, Serena did not like it, and made every effort to get between May and 0.
“Would you like to join us for some lunch?” May offered, and Serena guessed she sensed the discomfort between them. “My mother makes great food.”
Serena smiled. “I would love to,” she said, and glanced up at 0. “Right, Kee-chan?”
He nodded. “Right,” he said, and looked at May. “We’d love to.”
She showed them through the gym to the modest kitchen right next to the battlefield. Inside, Caroline was busy preparing a primarily pork-based meal, with sides of rice. Serena gripped 0’s hand to make sure he didn’t start saying anything stupid. The woman was aging quite gracefully, with few wrinkles adorning her head. 0 and Serena sat at the table, and she turned around in surprise.
“Why hello,” she said with a smile. “Who are you?”
“Serena Brine and Keean Toby,” Serena answered for her fake boyfriend.
Caroline chuckled. “It’s been a while since anyone’s bothered to stop in for lunch after fighting,” she murmured, and removed a frying pan from the stove. “It’s an old tradition sure, but young people these days don’t understand courtesy. They come here for the badge my son gives and then leave.”
“Such a shame,” Serena murmured sympathetically.
Caroline agreed, and handed the couple some beef bowls to enjoy before the main course. They waited for May to join them before beginning. “Any mail today, Mom?” May asked, and dug into her bowl. 0 strangely didn’t eat the food, but merely pretended to as best he could.
“M-hm,” Caroline confirmed, and brought out a letter from her apron. “An invitation from the city.” She handed the letter to her daughter, and made busy with the rest of the luncheon’s food.
May put down her bowl and laid down the chopsticks. “Dear Miss Birch,” she read, “‘We are pleased to invite you and your guests to the annual Gala Ball.’ How lovely. ‘Please RSVP your party size so we can reserve your table.’”
“When it is?” Caroline asked.
“In a week.”
Caroline thought about it. “I haven’t been dancing with your father in ages. We should go.”
“And…” May turned to 0, and Serena caught a glimpse in her eyes of something she became suspicious of. “Would you like to join us?” She had eyes only for 0, and Serena fumed to herself.
“Love to,” he replied. Serena’s hands suspiciously began to gain claw-like attributes, and her hand slinked towards her partner’s leg. “I’m…” He paused, and briefly glanced downwards to notice Serena was feeling left out of the conversation. “I mean, we, would love to go. Right honey?” He glanced at Serena, and attempted a smile. Serena dug her talons into his flesh.
“Of course, dear,” she said sweetly, and tilted her head with a smile. She would make him pay for this insubordination. But for now she would play the role of loving girlfriend, until the instant they were out of public view. Caroline finished her food and, after calling to her husband, Sarah, and Max, sat down and poured herself a glass of lemonade.
Sarah wandered in only a few minutes after Caroline had ordered her appearance. She looked tired, and Serena noticed a slight scar on her hand. “Food?” the little girl asked, Serena sensing the inner cravings of a creature in need of feeding. Caroline nodded, and pointed to a spot at the table with a bunch of food ready. Sarah nodded and sat down. She picked up her chopsticks and, without further ado, attacked her food like a rapid Pokemon.
“Sarah, say hello to our guests,” Caroline said, and looked to Serena and 0.
“Hi,” she said, without looking up.
0 chuckled, which caused Serena to increase the pressure on his leg. “Sarah,” he said calmly. “How have you been?”
“Fine,” the girl said, then stopped eating briefly. “Mr. Toby?” She had not noticed him at all, far too focused on eating. She smiled when she looked at him, and Serena glanced at 0’s face for any problems.
0 had none, the man seemed a natural born actor when in the face of his audience. “Thought I’d stop by and see you all,” he explained, and grinned at May. “Your mother invited me over to enjoy some food with you all. And fight your uncle.”
Sarah giggled. “Did you beat Uncle Max?”
He lifted a thumb’s up. “Piece of cake,” he replied.
“Yay!” Sarah squealed with delight.
“Baby girl,” May murmured, and her daughter calmed down slightly. “It seems we’ve been invited to a party.”
Sarah asked, “Party, Mommy?”
May nodded. “Mr. Toby and Ms. Serena said that they would love to be our guests. Do you want to come too?”
“Yes yes yes yes yes!” The little girl was very excited, and required a stern look from her grandmother to settle down. She looked at her food with a sudden disinterest, and Serena caught that girlish gleam in the little one’s eye that only a gala event could produce. “Mr. Toby?” she asked, and turned to the friendly giant.
“Yes?” he replied.
“Will you dance with me there?”
The entire table chortled at the request. Serena glanced at 0, who had covered his mouth to cover the grin on his face. “S-sure, Sarah,” he muttered, very close to laughter. Serena peered into the locks of hair that masked the majority of his face. 0’s mask was shaking.
***
…Present Day…
Serena grumbled, and attempted to stomp hard on her partner’s foot. The music was elevated, heightened to match the frenzy of dancing that was her and her Baby-chan’s rendition of the waltz. Other couples, in fear for their personal safety, had begun to distance themselves from them, resulting in a circle around both rangers. Serena and 0 took no notice; Serena because of her inner wrath and 0 in justifiable fear of his life. The odd thing was that no one else seemed to understand the tension between the two, and simply assumed they were professionally trained.
Serena grunted with annoyance as 0 side-stepped her. “Want to tell me what this is about?” he asked, and twirled her with one sweep of his left arm. She almost jerked it out of its socket, but 0 loosened his grip in time.
“You know you have this coming,” she retorted. In retaliation, she threw her hips out, knocking 0 right in the pelvis. He was annoyed, but didn’t let that show, as he grabbed her by the aforementioned hips and lifted her right off the ground. Serena growled, unaccustomed to being lifted, and tried kicking him right in the groin. 0 pivoted so the kick flew by harmlessly, then took the move one step further. He flipped Serena, grasping her by the legs she had thrown out, and had her hand on his feet right beside him. Her eyes shot daggers at him. The crowd cheered.
“No, seriously,” he muttered. She was dancing very close to him, almost as if she was preparing to jab him with her nails. “What is this about?”
Serena grumbled in a very angry way, and tried to crush his feet again. In a terrible contortion of a box step, 0 avoided the heels each and every time. “Why don’t you go dance with your wife?” she snarled. “Oh, that’s right. Because she’s not your wife.” She wanted to be cruel to him, the gigantic idiot that he was, who could not even interpret the slightest bit of her attraction to him. 0, oblivious, lowered the mask he had been wearing as Keean Toby.
“Low, 3,” he whispered, and took hold of her arms. “Very low.” He didn’t give her a window of chance to escape, and before she knew it, she was being pressed against his muscles, which did the work he had assessed they would. Serena melded into them like glue, albeit unwillingly. “Explain your behavior. It is jeopardizing our cover.” The gruff voice was unmistakable: 0 had stopped playing the game.
She refused to answer him, and instead fought her physical and emotional compulsions by tackling his. She wiggled suggestively against his body, up and down, side to side, diverting the attention of the majority of the men present from their significant others. She swayed her hair seductively, utilizing every inch of the body she had been given to drive 0 away. He was obsessed with May, and would leave her soon.
But, to her extreme surprise, he did not. Instead, the Golden Ranger took her gently and forced her to face him. “Are you angry at May?” he asked, finally deducing the correct question. She looked away to the lady who stood by the sidelines with Drew, and nodded. “Why?”
“Because,” she explained, and looked up at him. “You’re not her husband. Not anymore. But you’re my partner.” She didn’t even notice that, as they began to slow down, so did the music, and finally others were beginning to brave the dance floor once again. “And you insist on thinking that you can be both.”
“Why can’t I?” he replied, calm as ever. He didn’t understand the complexities of emotions that were raging through Serena’s brain, or what his answers would result in.
Serena looked away. The music had changed into a slow, mournful song of what both guessed was love. She allowed him to lead her through the crowd, her cheek pressed to where she assumed his heart was located. Assuming he had one, she thought bitterly, as he had missed signs that even a blind trained Aipom would have automatically understood. She couldn’t understand how anyone could be so unbelievably strong like 0 was yet at the same time be so utterly dimwitted.
Because I want you to be mine.
But she didn’t say that. To say that would mean putting herself completely out there for him and, while she did indeed want him, she wasn’t quite sure which part of him she wanted. Did she crave the first friend she had ever had, and had maintained, since coming to PKM, or had she fallen for the dark warrior that hid 0 when the world became unbearable to him? Which one was the real Golden Ranger?
At the same time, she wasn’t sure about his interests either. 0 was still attached to the idea that he wanted to be May’s husband, whether this was something he actually wanted or something he simply needed to be. He defined himself by the failures of his marriage and the loss of his child. In every aspect he acted like someone torn between the past and the future, with no clue what to do in the present.
“I’m sorry, 3,” he replied. “I didn’t understand that you felt that way.”
Fairly certain that he still did not understand exactly how she felt, she sighed. “Baka,” she grumbled, and pressed herself against him. “You’re mine for the night, could you at least not forget that again?”
“Of course, 3,” he replied. There was a subtle gentleness in his voice, something she had not heard before. She smiled in content that she could feel his arms surrounding her in their powerful, protective embrace. She smiled that she could feel his heart beating in his chest, and that it sounded so warm and strong. Even if she knew it was just an act to him, she liked it nonetheless.
“0?”
“Yes, 3?”
“What do you think of me?”