Back with another chapter yay. Please leave feedback if you think it's any good and/or if you see errors anywhere. Thanks!
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Gita and Thomas found Amy at the Celadon Caf later, already into her sixth drink. On a bad day, Amy was usually only getting her first round by then - but then again, she'd had an early start. Gita sat down next to her and surveyed the empty glass in front of her.
"Six Diet Cokes already, Amy?" she asked, giving Amy a scolding look. "You should not try and drown your sorrows in sugary beverages."
"Shut up," muttered Amy, face in her sleeve. "You didn't get told to stand down by Officer Jenny. Another one, please," she added to the woman at the counter, who smiled indulgently, but didn't move an inch. Amy and Gita were regulars here, after all, and she knew when to stop.
Gita smirked, but gently. "That's 'cos I'm the secretary, Amy. Anyway, stop being such a downer. Why don't we go visit Jeff in the hospital? I'm sure he's dy- wanting for some real company. It'll make him feel better. Did you hear they think he's going to pull through?"
"Nah. D'wanna go," said Amy, sleepily. "I'll just drown in my own misery here, thankyouverymuch. No sense in adding my misery to his to make a big swimming pool of misery."
Her friend snapped her fingers sharply in front of her face. "Snap out of it, Amy! It isn't the end of the world, and there are worse things that could have happened. Why don't Thomas and I take you home, and then you can get a good night's rest. It'll be all better in the morning. Right, Thomas?" she said, forcefully.
Thomas nodded vigorously. At the moment, it didn't seem like such a good idea to make either of these women angry right now. "Er... so, let's go, eh?" he said, hopefully.
Gita grabbed a hold of Amy's arm, prying her off the counter by force and dragging her in the direction of the doors. "Come on, old girl, let's go home."
Fifteen minutes later, Gita and Thomas had left Amy safely at her quiet little condominium on the eastern side of town. As they walked away, Thomas asked, "Is she always like that?"
"Like what?" asked Gita. "Constantly on the verge of a nervous breakdown, you mean? If so, the answer is yes. Ever since she started working here, she and Officer Jenny have been on... less than great terms. They just have very different ideas of how things should go, and it bothers her, not being in charge. As a consequence, she's generally a little... frustrated all the time. She's a great person once you get to know her, though..." finished Gita, although Thomas didn't seem to be quite so sure about that.
"Mm."
There was a brief silence. "Well," said Gita, looking down at her feet, "I'd better get back to the office. I've still got some things to do before the night-shift dispatcher comes in. See you tomorrow."
"Yes," replied Thomas, as he turned in the direction of his apartment building. "Goodbye."
As they parted ways, Amy watched from her window until they had disappeared from sight. What a day, Amy thought, glancing at her watch. It was only a little past five in the evening, and things had gone from bad to worse.
A noise issuing from her stomach reminded her that she ought to make dinner, and she headed to the kitchen to warm up something. She cooked for herself most of the time, though if she was in a rush she'd resort to a prepackaged dinner. Tonight, dinner was leftover spaghetti from two nights before. She slopped some on a plate with sauce and put it in the microwave to warm up. While she was waiting, she took a quick look a the calendar and froze.
Was it really that day again? Had it really been seven years already?
Gloria Wood's mother had always wanted her to be a doctor or a veterinarian. She'd given her daughter play-doctor sets, Pokmon plush toys, books about animals and even her own horse in hopes that she might show an interest in such professions. When her daughter had begun to show an interest in Pokmon training, Mrs. Wood was very excited.
However, it left something to be desired in that Gloria liked... odd Pokmon, for a little girl. She had a predilection towards things like Bellsprout and Oddish and Magnemite, rather than the ones a little girl should like, like Ponyta and Clefairy and Butterfree. She'd also always been set on the actual training, rather than making the cute little things feel better, which disappointed Gloria's mother a little, but not too much. After all, Pokmon trainer was a prestigious profession.
She started out at the age of fourteen, like several of her classmates, and soon had a number of gym badges from all over. By the age of nineteen, she was competing in the Indigo League tournament. However, not long after that, she dropped out of sight for some time, only reappearing a couple times to visit her family, not saying much about where she'd been or what she'd been doing. It was curious, but the Wood family didn't mind much - she was at an age where she would have been moving out soon, anyway. Had someone told them that their daughter had joined Team Rocket, they would have laughed and told them that little Gloria would never do that.
Gloria, now twenty-four years of age, snapped her fingers impatiently at the three people before her. They were dressed all in black, save for the red "R" emblazoned on their uniforms, the symbol of Team Rocket. "Come on," she said. "Out with it. Do you have the technology or not?"
The woman, who was the leader of the three, scowled. "Yes," she said, tersely, "we do. But there are... complications." She glanced at the man on her left, who continued to stare straight ahead until she nudged him in the side.
He blanched, and coughed lightly. "Well, erm," he managed. "You see... we got the- them all right, and we... we put them in Mac's uniform, hidden, and we were almost here when some idiot kids caught up with us... and they slowed us down enough that the police..."
"Go on."
"The police got there and hit us with a stun gun. Something must have shorted them out, and... they might be unfixable. I... I was unable to get them open." He shuffled his feet and lowered his eyes, waiting for a reprimand.
"Hmm," said Gloria. "Well, you can go, for now. Move along." She waved them away with a hand, and then picked up the phone on the wall and dialed. After a few rings, a receptionist picked up on the other end.
"Hello? Yes, could you connect me to Jackson Hughes? Thank you," said Gloria, and waited for her call to be redirected.
"Hello. You've reached Jackson Hughes, Strout Corporation's Technology Department. I'm out right now; please leave a message after the tone, and I'll return your call as soon as I can. Thank you," said a tinny male voice. There was a beeping noise.
"Jackson, this is Glory. I need you to do a favor for me. If you could stop by my place later..." she said, leaving the code phrase for him. It wasn't safe to leave information by phone - especially on an answering machine where anyone could listen.
She hung up the phone and sighed. Depending on what Jackson could or couldn't do for the Master Balls, things could get sticky for Gloria Wood. Very sticky, indeed.
A nudge on her leg brought Amy out of her shock. She looked down and smiled, lightly, before frowning. "You know you're not supposed to come out before I call the all-clear," she scolded, weakly, knowing very well that she should have called it earlier, anyway.
The Marowak looked up at her, questioningly. Amy just pointed to the calendar hanging on the side of the refrigerator. "You know how I get at this time of year," she said, making an attempt at a smile. "Just the memories, that's all. Memories." She stared out into the darkened sitting room across from the kitchen, and then looked down again. "I'll have dinner soon for all of you. Why don't you go, and I'll bring the bowls soon. 'Kay?"
The Pokmon hesitated for a moment, but then nodded her head and padded away, turning a couple times as she walked away to make sure Amy was all right.
Amy waited until she was gone to start crying.