[Pokémon] Protectors of the Sinnoh Region

Welp, this is a story that I was working on a while ago and posting on another forum. Sadly, that forum has started to die so I guess I'll post it here. Hopefully I keep up with this story this time. Also it's like 4 in the morning so I'll probably regret this later.

Evelyn Green

"Millie, I think that Mommy hates me." Evelyn frowned as she sat at the counter of the flower shop and picked at a dying flower. She was staying in Floraroma Town for a few days because of her father's funeral, and she didn't want to go outside and have to deal with her mother's constant glares and hateful comments. She wasn't an idiot. She knew that she was the reason her father had died, no matter what the girls at the flower shop tried to tell her. She may be little, but she wasn't gullible.

"I'm sure Jocelyn doesn't hate you, Evie. She just doesn't know what to feel," Camille murmured as she flitted around the shop, cleaning up various things. "Think about how she feels. This must be very hard for her to deal with."

Evelyn rolled her eyes and looked up as she heard someone enter the shop. Nobody in town ever came to the shop, since they could just pick flowers outside, so the only customers were from out of town. There were only three people who worked at the shop, and two of them didn't even show up most days. It would be a miracle if they were on time the days that they did come to work.

"Millie, when are Shino and Natsumi coming?"

"Shino's asleep in the back, and I don't know where Natsumi is. I can't believe I'm stuck with her."

"Why don't you fire them? They never do any work, anyway."

"It's… Complicated, Evie. Shino really needs this job, and I'd feel bad if I fired her… She works hard at her other jobs, so I figure I should let her catch up on her sleep here. Nobody ever really comes here anyway, so it's okay…"

Evelyn frowned as she looked up at Camille, who was walking around the shop absentmindedly, writing down a bunch of things in her notebook. She assumed that she was taking stock or something and didn't want to interrupt or anything. Camille hated to be bothered while she was working, and the last thing Evelyn wanted to do was make her mad or anything.

"When do you think everyone will start being nice to each other again?"

Camille stopped taking stock and looked at Evelyn, her green eyes gentle. She smiled, but it wasn't the smile that Evelyn was used to. This smile seemed forced somehow, and it didn't reach her eyes.

She was trying to hide something, like every other adult that Evelyn talked to. She thought that Camille would tell her the truth, but she was just the same as everyone else.

"Something's wrong, isn't it? Something bad's happening. Nobody wants to tell me about it, except for Natsumi, but you and Shino always shut her up. Is it Team Galactic? Are they back?"

Camille opened her mouth to respond, probably to try and convince Evelyn that everything was alright, but the front door to the shop slammed open, the bell ringing loudly. Evelyn flinched slightly at the sound and fell out of her seat, wincing as she hit the cold ground. She looked up and frowned as Natsumi marched over to Camille, her eyes full of anger. I've never seen her look this angry before…

"W-What's wrong?" Camille asked, putting a hand on Natsumi's shoulder. Natsumi glared at her and pushed her away, slamming a piece of paper on the counter. Evelyn tried to read what was on it, but all she could see were two words printed in bold script at the bottom of the page: Team Nebula.

"You know what's wrong, Cammie," Natsumi hissed angrily, pushing the paper closer to Camille.
"They got her! You promised me that she would be safe!"

Camille frowned as she read over the paper multiple times and looked at Natsumi, who was pacing around angrily and muttering a stream of curses under her breath, most of them directed towards Camille. Evelyn stood up slowly and looked between Camille and Natsumi, frowning.

"We can get her back, Natsumi," Camille said slowly, setting the paper down gently. "She'll be safer this time. I'll call the commander and—"

"That's not the point! You promised me that they wouldn't even get their hands on her! She's my little sister! I'm tired of you and all of these stupid members of the resistance lying to me! You're useless!" Natsumi let out an animalistic growl, and her eyes seemed to grow darker. Evelyn backed away slowly and felt her eyes fill with tears.

She had never seen Natsumi look this angry before. Natsumi was known to have a short temper,
and sometimes she stormed out of the shop if she had to deal with a particularly annoying customer, but she had never gotten this angry before. She hadn't even gotten angry when Shino had accidentally spilled a cup of piping hot coffee on her.

"What's going on?" Evelyn asked, running between them. She didn't understand what had Natsumi so angry, but she didn't want to risk her accidentally hurting Camille. She had seen arguments like this happen before between her mother and father, and they always ended badly.

"Nothing," Camille said quickly, pushing Evelyn behind her and narrowing her eyes at Natsumi.
"Nothing's wrong. Everything's fine."

"Give it up, Cammie. Evelyn deserves to know what's been going on." Natsumi glared at Camille and tapped her fingers against the counter, scowling slightly. "I'm just going to spit it out. Bad things are happening, kid. Team Galactic's back with a different name and different motives. We don't know what they're planning, but it's our job to get rid of them. Cammie and I are part of the Resistance. We can't tell you much of what we do, but just know that we're doing our job. Most of us, anyway."

Evelyn frowned and looked down at the ground, taking in the information. She wasn't alive when Team Galactic was around, but she knew that whatever they had done was pretty bad. She had only read bit and pieces about them before her parents banned her from reading books about them. Apparently Team Galactic was a bit of a forbidden subject, since nobody ever wanted to talk about them.

"So… You're like the police? Is Shino working with you, too?" Evelyn asked, looking towards the back of the shop. Shino didn't seem like the type of person to be part of a rebellion, but then again, neither did Camille and Natsumi. Maybe she shouldn't judge books by their cover anymore.

"No. And you can't tell her about this, either. It's a secret. Shino's… Different. That's all you need to know."

Evelyn pouted and opened her mouth, ready to complain about how it wasn't fair to keep secrets, but the door to the employee's lounge opened slightly. She watched as Shino walked towards the front of the shop, dragging a pillow behind her and rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"What'd I miss?" she asked with a yawn.

It's a good start. A nice introduction to the characters and sets the scene nicely. I can't wait to see the story unfold :)

Yay, chapter 2! This is the only other chapter I had prewritten, so there may be a delay of updates because I have the attention span of a hamster.



Camille sighed as she took in Shino's appearance. The younger girl's hair was unkempt and sticking up at odd places, and she had shadows under her eyes. She had planned to tell Shino about her involvement with the Resistance, hoping that it would make her feel better about living in Sinnoh. It wasn't a secret that Shino hated Sinnoh, since she always managed to find time to complain about it between working and sleeping.

Team Nebula had taken over most of the other regions. As far as Camille knew, they were still trying to take over Kanto and were saving Sinnoh for last as it was to be their base of operations. Shino's home region of Kalos had been one of the first to fall under Nebula's control. Most people managed to escape before Nebula had cut it off from the rest of the world, but the remaining citizens were being used as Nebula's goonies.

"We were just talking about Nellie's upcoming visit," Camille lied smoothly, sliding the note from Nebula into her pocket. It's technically not a lie, she thought, frowning slightly. Nellie was due for a visit sometime this month. Camille was used to lying to members of Team Nebula, but lying to Shino felt totally different. It felt wrong somehow. She felt like Shino deserved to be told the truth, but she didn't seem ready for it. She was stressed out enough from working almost 24 hours a day.

"Mmm," Shino murmured, dragging herself over to the counter. She sat down behind it and looked at Camille, her eyes slightly cloudy. She was still drowsy. "When I'm not busy working, can I go to the gym that you and Nati visit? I've gotten chubby lately."

Camille bit her lip and frowned. She and Natsumi didn't actually go to a gym every week like they'd been telling Shino. They had to go through a bunch of physical training in order to be an operative for the Resistance, and they were tested every week. The only excuse they could come up with for leaving work so often was that they visited a gym every week.

"You look cute chubby," Natsumi said quickly, shooting Camille a look that said, We'll talk later. She shuddered at the hostile glare that Natsumi was giving her. She'd have to find a way to make things up to her soon.

"Is the employee's lounge locked?" Evelyn asked softly. Camille had almost forgotten that she was even there, since she was so short and quiet. She reminded Camille of Shino's Dedenne. "I need to use the bathroom and take my medicine…"

"I didn't lock it… But try to be quiet. Bella's taking a nap next to the coffee machine."

Shino smiled at Evelyn as she threw her pillow onto the counter and put her head on it. Evelyn reached into her Teddiursa backpack and pulled out her bottle of medicine before she ran to the break room, closing the door behind her gently. The room was silent for a few moments before Shino's soft snores filled the room. Natsumi narrowed her eyes at Camille and smiled wickedly.

"Looks like we're all alone now," she said, walking closer to Camille, smirking as she started to step back. "Want to tell me what happened to my sister?"

This is bad, Camille thought with a frown. She looked around for something to defend herself with in case Natsumi got violent. She knew that she didn't stand a chance against an angry Natsumi, but she could try to talk her down.

"We're not exactly sure what happened… She was with the other… experiments," she began, wincing when Natsumi's face darkened. That was probably a terrible choice of words, but she couldn't go back on them now. "There must have been a break-in or something… Someone took her. We haven't managed to track her down yet."

"And was anyone else taken?" Natsumi asked through her teeth, her eyes glowing red. She pulled out a knife, seemingly from nowhere, and bared her teeth. "Did any other 'experiments' get kidnapped, or was it just Hina? Don't lie to me, Camille!"

"N-No… They seemed to only be after Hina." Camille glanced towards the door to the break room and frowned. "Do you think it could be your father?"

"Don't call him that!" Natsumi yelled, throwing the knife at Camille, who had barely moved out of the way in time. She winced as the knife grazed by her shoulder and narrowed her eyes at Natsumi.

"Getting mad at me won't solve anything. Nellie's coming sometime this week, and we'll think of a way to get Hina back. You have to calm down."

"Do you have any idea what they'll do to her?" Camille flinched as Natsumi's voice grew louder, echoing against the walls of the small shop. "We can't sit around here waiting!"

"You have to calm down," Camille said gently, putting a hand on Natsumi's shoulder. She winced slightly as she moved her shoulder and stared into Natsumi's eyes, which were growing redder by the second. "I understand you're worried about Hina, but she's a big girl now. Besides, they won't hurt her. They probably just took her to get to you."

Or because Driskell feels that he should take back what's his, she added mentally.

Thomas Driskell was one of the Resistance's biggest enemies, and the toughest one out of all of them. His work revolved around turning innocent people into biological weapons, then shipping them off to other regions where Team Nebula would train them to be the perfect soldiers.

Natsumi and her sister happened to be some of the first people experimented on, but thankfully the Resistance had saved them just in time. Camille wasn't exactly sure what went down at one of Driskell's facilities, but it must have been pretty terrible to leave Natsumi in such bad shape. She was without a doubt one of the Resistance's strongest assets, but she was extremely unstable. It was Camille's job to keep a close eye on her and make sure that she didn't hurt anybody. So far she wasn't doing a great job of it.

"Driskell wants to finish what he started," Natsumi muttered angrily, marching over to where the knife had stuck in the wall. "He doesn't see us as his daughters anymore. He thinks of us as his prized possessions that you guys stole. I should have expected him to do something like this. We can't leave her there, Camille."

"I can't just drop everything and try to track your sister down," Camille said, watching as Natsumi pulled the knife out of the wall and examined it closely. "I have to think of a plan. I have to make sure someone's here to protect—"

"Your idiot boyfriend and your stupid kid." Natsumi blew a bit of dark hair from her face and whistled. Camille felt her face grow hot and gasped as Natsumi summoned shadows, which were moving across the floor slowly. She shuddered as one moved across her foot and glared at Natsumi.

"You know how I feel about them! Put them away before Evelyn sees them!"

Natsumi yawned and threw the knife at her shadows, smiling as it slowly disintegrated. Camille scowled at her and crossed her arms, flinching as she moved her shoulder again. She knew she had to get the wound fixed, but she didn't feel comfortable leaving Natsumi alone with Evelyn and Shino.

"I can't 'put them away'. They're living beings too. And besides, they were getting bored. And you know what happens when my shadows get bored, don't you?" Natsumi smiled and leaned against the wall, nodding her head towards Camille's shoulder.

"You really should patch that up, Cammie. Wouldn't want you getting sick or anything."

Camille glared at her and looked towards the break room. They did have a first aid kit in there, and Evelyn was in the bathroom. She could get in and get out without Evelyn even knowing. She had a feeling that Natsumi was planning something, though. She had seen that mischievous gleam in her eyes before, and it was never good.

"You win this time," Camille said, clutching her shoulder tightly and walking towards the break room. "But don't think for a second that I won't report this to Nellie."

"Like that'll scare me," Natsumi scoffed, narrowing her eyes at Camille. "Don't forget who has more to lose here. All I have left is Hina, and she's gone. What's to stop me from doing whatever I want? I bet your hubby and daughter would just love if I paid them a visit."

Camille growled and stomped towards the break room, hoping that Natsumi was bluffing. She wouldn't really hurt Alex and Sophia, would she? It had to be a bluff. Even Natsumi had boundaries.

Wow. Natsumi is a ****! I can't wait to read the next chapter and see what happens!