Psychic*Absol
Psychic Student
- 2,231
- Posts
- 20
- Years
- Age 35
- on earth
- Seen Dec 20, 2013
*authoress bows again* Happy St. Valentine's Day, everyone. No, no coincidence that I post it today. 0=)
Disclaimer: Any possible way to buy 'Pokémon ™' on ebay™? No? Then me not owns it. XD
Genre: x-chaptered fic
Summary: "It's not hard to get a boyfriend. The hard thing is to keep him." While the league struggles with its own problems- the arrival of two of the most prominent trainers of Sinnoh and a series of mysterious thefts, Sabrina is confronted with how true Erica's advise rings....
Rating: PG-13, minor swearing, minor adult themes, minor violence
Pairings: Psychicshipping, Blackthornshipping, Snazzyshipping (Cynthia x Lucian)
A/N: Sequel to "A Winter's Love" aka "Love's best Friend is Hate". No translation anymore, the original fic had no sequel. Probably because it took me weeks to get a decent plot and the current one is killing me. x.x
Timeline: A few days after Chapter 4 "Casualties&Confessions"
Spring's Revenge
1. Chapter Occassions&Orders
A world thirsty for scandals and unveilings normally adapts quite well to unexpected events. Normally, people pounce onto everything that might satisfy their hunger for gossip, and speculation. For they want to see that it's not only them who suffer from break-ups, unrequited love, money problems and lethal sicknesses. They want to see that beneath the shell of power, money and prestige they have, VIPS are still as human as they, the readers, the normal towns- and cityfolk are.
But, as life itself proves, this doesn't apply to anyone.
And so, sometimes, public is shaken out of its literal hibernation when something happens, something, so unbelievingly, so awkward and unsuspected, that there must be magic behind. Magic or psychic powers.
This time, it was clearly the latter.
For how else could a couple come off that was as different as night and day?
Clearly, everyone who opened his individual Yellow Press paper on the morning of the 19th April either read about the bankrupt of a small, unimportant computer company, yet another interview with one of the recently kidnapped gym leaders- Whitney this time, who babbled on and on for hours yet could not even describe the forest they had been in, or the presentation of a new league couple. It took the average reader five seconds to skim over the headline, get the facts straight into his mind and let them settle down and then drop the paper in shock.
Something unbelievable had happened.
Their league's freak, the unfeeling, callous banshee, had found love.
For the more romantic feeling folks, it was reassuring, calming, pleasing. They had a weak spot for these tear breaker stories, for these sappy endings. Almost sacrificing herself for the league, Sabrina was saved by the new psychic elite trainer and fell in love with him. How sweet.
How bitter for the masses of fangirls spread around Kanto and Johto, who had been dreaming of such happenings only in the deepest of the nights, only with themselves in the shoes of the damsel in distress. Not one of them realized that it was exactly this kind of girly girl Will didn't like, didn't want to love. Many, if not all of them felt jealousy and the gnawing of their unbelieving consciousness asking itself why, oh why he had chosen her and not you. Never mind the physical distance, the psychical difference and strangeness, and every other little factor that played into this as well as fate. Life's not fair, at least not for everyone and it never tries to explain itself.
Only humans try to find the reasons for things as love, for things that no rational mind can take, things one has to experience and to feel, not to analyze.
Sabrina had only started to realize that.
Just as millions of other citizens, she was sitting in front of a breakfast table. But unlike them, she was staring into space, her eyes not really flickering, not noticing the glass door in front of her, the garden behind, filled with various flowers, trees and other plants the league used to give off the expression of environmentally friendly and yet stylish, modern and exclusive. Neither did she notice her fellow gym leaders Misty and Erica, the former silently reading one of the aforementioned newspapers, her eyes darting from line to line, the latter taking a bite of her toast, enjoying it greatly.
"Goodness, they act as if the world's going to end…" Misty closed her eyes, shaking her head at the stupidity of some members of society and the ruthlessness and gossip addiction of Yellow Press journalists. "You really should have tried to take things slower, Sabrina, not exactly kissing him in public, ya know…I think that was a bit too much of a change." Instead of answering, the psychic gym leader continued to sigh and stare, not even reacting. Erica grinned, suspecting how fruitless Misty's attempts at conversation were. "Really, I'm serious. I know you have trouble with the public; of course one doesn't get along so good with it when they only printed bad news, all the stuff with the dolls and your split personality…but you don't help anybody, least yourself, when you let them go their way. Let them rip you and your newfound boyfriend apart. It was predictable that Lance would run to the reporters as soon as we had found the way out of the spring, he tries to make money out of every piece of rubbish. That was his perfect chance..." Misty stopped, realizing that she had probably been better off talking to the wall next to her, as the wall would at least not show openly that its mind was elsewhere, just not in this dining room.
"Oh, come on, stop playing the love dove! That's ridiculous!" Misty exclaimed, honestly irritated and banged the newspaper onto the desk. Erica put a hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her down. "Don't waste your energy, Misty. Try to think of how she feels right now. How everything's new for her. For the moment, she has lost the ability to think rationally, as shocking as that may sound, considering that we're speaking about Sabrina here." The grass gym leader smiled at the older girl, who had sighed and closed her eyes, not taking any notice of the conversation right in front of her. "Just let her have her time. She'll come back from the clouds soon enough. And then, the press will be very sorry that they ever dared to publish such nasty stories about her and her boy." Erica winked. "Guess that spring will become wide-known soon." "I hope you're right…" Misty sighed. "It's just so awkward seeing her so…different. Cheerful. And daydreaming. That's just not Sabrina!" Misty helplessly gesticulated with her hands, her arms over her head now. Erica sighed. Both didn't seem to mind that Sabrina was sitting not even a metre away from them, theoretically hearing everything they said. Theoretically. Because, to be able to hear, one does not only need ears, but also attention and Sabrina was missing one of these things.
"Like I said, she'll get normal over the next days, I assure you. Reality will get to her again, I know. It does to all lovers. Sad, but true. Let her enjoy this time as long as she can get. Life will get boring soon enough." Erica smiled. It was actually cute to see Sabrina in love; she should keep these pictures in mind, for it was never sure that they would ever return.
Out of the corner of her eye, the grass type gym leader could see the door being opened, but as she still hadn't finished her toast, she didn't pay it any mind. Misty let herself fall back onto her chair again with a feeble sigh, picking up the papers again, in the hope of finding something that wouldn't infuriate her and wasn't too hilarious to read.
Sabrina sighed again. True, she had heard every word of the conversation and she wasn't too absent-minded to let the meaning flow beside her, but for some awkward reason, she didn't feel like caring. It didn't matter. Why should it? Had she ever cared about others' opinions? Maybe, maybe not. She didn't feel like thinking too much about it. She had other things on her mind.
With an almost inaudible growl, she turned to the clock. Will was such a late riser! Okay, he had every reason to do so- it was his first 'real' week as an elite trainer and the work was almost killing him, not to mention that he didn't get much sleep during her time in the hospital. Sabrina chuckled. She hadn't noticed him staying by her side almost every day for a whole month, but now that she did, she found it unbelievably cute. She had been unconscious and still, he had stayed with her…
Suddenly, something white clapped over her eyes. Sabrina backed away in surprise, before noticing the structure of the white, it was leather. White leather gloves. She had to giggle. "Guess who I am!" A voice behind her said, a voice well known to her. "Will! You're finally up!" She removed the hands from her eyes, taking them in her own while turning around in her chair, smiling widely at him. "Morning, dear." Will bent down, kissing her on the lips. Misty rolled her eyes, smashing the newspaper down again and standing up fiercely. "Okay, that's enough! I'm going! You can have my seat, Will!" She exclaimed, muttering something about, retarded sweethearts' while walking down the hall in the search of another seat, one where you didn't have to bear newfound couples. Erica laughed. Nobody had tested so far how Misty was around her boyfriend...
In the far corner of the league's ground floor dining room, a small group, consisting of seven madly jealous girls, sat around a round desk, plotting and dropping ideas every minute. Plots to bomb the young love. Anger was deep inside them, mixed with frustration. The feelings that many young school girls had when they found out that their unreachable secret star had found a girlfriend that was probably ten times richer and prettier than them, the measure of IQ not counted in yet. It was foolish love, but fools make the gravest mistakes and these girls didn't even value the consequences of what they were plotting. They couldn't yet and the only one of them who was wasn't willing to voice her thoughts, for she was going to enjoy the suffering.
One of the girls hit the desk's smooth surface with her delicate, tanned fist, the long, dark blue fingernails crossing over. "Come on, girls! We have to do something. It doesn't help us if we keep on sitting here and come up with nothing! We have to act soon! So we need some ideas that are actually manageable!" She glared at her side, where another girl was staring at her own fingernails, shining and perfectly polished. "And no, kidnapping the witch and dumping her over a cliff is not one." Whitney shrugged. "Well, it almost worked once, didn't it?" She asked nonchalantly. "But it did not!" Claire screamed. She was angry, her own boyfriend had logged himself into his bureau again, trying to make as much money out of this unexpected event as possible. He wanted to do the organization behind by himself, as he assumed only he know what was the best, how the best marketing worked, which newspapers and talk shows paid the most for news and pictures. Lance had his minions, his secretaries and underlings, to do all the dirty work for him, but apparently, this wasn't any dirty work for him. He loved his work so much he was neglecting his girlfriend, the exact reason why Claire was now sitting here with some of the female gym leaders, trying to find a useful way to get the two psychics to break up again.
That a break-up might get her boyfriend into an even deeper working state did not occur to her mind.
Janine, silent until now, suddenly looked up and spoke, her eyes dashing only seemingly from girl to girl, when in reality, they were searching for her father.
"I have an idea..."
"Come, sit down and eat breakfast with us!" Erica invited Will, knowing that Sabrina was too joyful to think about words. "Misty hasn't left her seat for nothing!" Will shook his head. "No, thanks, but I'm just here to fetch my dear." Sabrina blinked, turning around again. "Hm? What for?" She asked, playing with the forks, unnoticed by the others. "Lance. He wants to meet us in his office. And before you ask…no, he did not say why." Will put his hands behind his head, staring into space. Sabrina glanced at Erica, who shrugged. "No idea. But you know how much of an eccentric Lance is. I bet he has some peculiar jobs for you." Erica smiled helplessly.
Sabrina stood up, shoving the chair aside with her head lowered. "Let's hope it's nothing about our relationship…" She grumbled grimly. Then she followed Will out of the room, keeping her path close to him.
"It won't be…" Erica reassured her, even though she was out of hearing range. "Lance isn't suicidal."
Lance's office was at the top floor of the league's headquarters. Well, that was not completely right; one of his offices was at the top floor. He had many more, too many to count, but that was more because Lance liked to call every storeroom his office as long as it was luxurious enough.
The office the two psychic trainers were called to was kept in a pastel blue, with an at least two inches high carpet that made you feel like walking on clouds, large curtains falling to the ground, hiding the huge glass windows and the view behind from the eyes of every visitor. An office desk made out of dark wood completed the atmosphere, along with equally dark cupboards that easily reached the ceiling and were probably filled with all kinds of important prints and contracts. And probably a few of Lance's dark secrets, but that was something Sabrina didn't want to find out, even though she easily had the power to do so. She had the psychic power, Lance the political and economical power and he wouldn't refrain from denouncing one of his own gym leaders if it was necessary in order to keep his own reputation from fading. No need for her to get into trouble anyway. She had been in enough trouble for the last two months.
Silently, the two psychics stood in front of the office desk, waiting for Lance to speak to them. He was looking over some white, narrowly printed paper, the words so small and upside down so that she couldn't read them. It might have been interesting to know what Lance was brooding over every day, but she had other things on her mind right now. Lance couldn't have called them in her just for watching him work; that would be even too odd for their boss.
Finally, he looked up, taking off his reading glasses and cautiously sucking on its frame. "Sabrina…Will…" He started, not looking them into the eyes. "I have a little mission for you." Now he finally looked up, but glanced sideways, still not daring to cross their eyes. Sabrina started to wonder if Lance was afraid of them. For whatever reason. Either he got to know about Will's newfound psychic powers- in the middle of the hype about their relationship, everyone had neglected that fact, or the mission he was about to send them on was risky and unpleasant. Normally, Sabrina wasn't an adventurous person and would have denied any offer to get on an adventure trip. After the rescue mission, nothing had changed. She still wouldn't throw herself into danger again. Of course, she had experienced that some good could come out of it, but now, all she wanted was to have some time to relax and enjoy her time with Will as long as she could.
On the other hand…how big were the chances that Lance would actually be willing to shove them into life-threatening events again? Not while he had still contracts with three talk show directors running.
"As you may know, the meeting- as it was interrupted in a most unfortunate way will continue for a few weeks. Originally, the champion of the Sinnoh region, Cynthia Monde, and her fellow elite four member and boyfriend," He paused to look at the two and Sabrina suppressed a blush as fiercely as possible which took her so much effort she didn't even manage to glimpse at Will to check if he was trying the same," Lucian Livre, were going to visit us on the last day of the conference, as some kind of ending event, but since Team Rocket attacked the day before, this was of course canceled as the league couldn't risk the safety of these two." Sabrina shortly glanced at Will. Both had an idea what their mission was about now, but that didn't make them feeling any easier. "Now, the league wants to make up for the last time and has invited the two again for next Wednesday." Lance took a breath now. Sabrina noticed some sweat falling down his temples. It wasn't warm at all in his office. So he was really nervous. Most certainly it wasn't them upsetting him- he had never been comfortable around other champions and this Cynthia was rumored to be the strongest- not to mention that she was a woman.
Sabrina snorted inwardly. Lance was so pathetic, the big, energetic champion being afraid of a woman. Noticing Will gulping, though, Sabrina banished these thoughts quickly, grinning awkwardly.
"Though this has caused problems I did not think off before." Lance let his head rest in his left hand, looking quite tired actually. "I can't give you details, but the original welcoming gift I had wanted to give the two isn't…available anymore." Sabrina blinked, glancing again at Will who was returning her confused look. Something not available? For the head of their state? The man who could get everything and more with a snap of his finger? Was this some kind of one of a kind thing? But even then, Lance would have made it a two of a kind thing and if he had to spent a year's budget on it.
"Well, anyway…I had to find a replacement and thankfully, I did." He paused, his mouth staying open. He was thinking about how to continue. Certainly, he was hiding something from them, but Sabrina wouldn't press him on this matter nor read his mind. Never. That wasn't in her interest anyway and she wouldn't benefit. "I just don't have the time to get it, I'm busy with re-organization, and I'm afraid I can't even present it to them personally. So I choose you two to do the duty for me." He smiled cautiously, a formal, artificial smile to get their trust and sympathy. "Right now, I think you two are the best representatives the league has, with all you've done for us, you being the new elite, William, and Sabrina being one of the best gym leaders…and, of course, your peculiar relationship." Lance smiled, both Sabrina and Will blushed even though they were trying hard to hold it back in front of the dragon trainer. It was just demolishing the formal attitude they had to keep, something they had agreed on since the very first day after their confession. Love was all nice and good, but it wasn't optional to live it up everywhere. Sabrina had already cursed herself for daring to kiss him in front of the hotel a few days ago, a slip simply happening out of happiness, but bacon for the hungry masses of reporters.
"So, what is it that you want us to do?" Sabrina was almost glad that Will was speaking for her, but only almost. Closing her eye, she sent him a telepathic warning not to dare to try to dominate her. She was not lowering her position just because of him, never. And she had just as much authority to speak to Lance as he had, even though their positions said otherwise. To some extent, she still couldn't get over the humiliation she had experienced merely a month ago, expelling it from her heart seemed impossible, but she would never openly show it. Not now.
She didn't want to drive the one man away that had fallen in love with her.
Lance started to rummage through his desk, not paying them any attention. Still, Will was very sure that had they tried to use this moment of thoughtlessness, Lance would have had knocked them over by his hiding bodyguards faster than they could ever access their powers. Well, faster than he could react anyway. He was still training with Sabrina- as much as their feelings allowed any serious training, but he had much to learn and was far away from accomplishing anything even near her level. He was happy if he even managed to teleport anything, much less teleporting to any specific direction or even more than one thing at once.
"Not much, actually. Just get to the post office down the south street and give the main operator there this letter." Of course, the letter was still in its envelope, no address written down, not a single word actually. Also, it had been glued together heavily, lowering any chance of seeing what was inside. Judging from its width, it couldn't be any more than a single sheet of paper. "That should tell him everything. If not, just call me and I'll settle the rest." Lance smiled mysteriously, making Sabrina wonder if he was just going to 'settle' things or blackmail the poor workmen there. "Be careful with the gift he's going to give you." Suddenly, the man's mimics had changed from mocking nice to daring serious. A look that told both psychics everything. If they screwed up, some heads were going to roll, even if that meant Lance decapitating the ones that had saved him from the Rocket's grasp. "Break it, and you're going to get broken, too. I won't be there to check for at least a week, I have own matters to attend, but when I come back, I will talk to Cynthia. And I will make sure that everything went well, got that?" His façade dropped. Apparently, the effort to keep looking unmoved had strained his face muscles.
"But I am sure that you two won't fail me." He smiled, leaning back in his black leather chef chair, camouflaged by his black cape. "You didn't fail us once, you won't fail us twice." He presented Will with the envelope when suddenly, his phone rang. For a moment, everyone was quiet in the room, then Lance cursed. "Sorry, excuse me." He shushed them off with a simple gesture and the two didn't waste any time in waiting. Interesting as it might be to hear who Lance was talking to and about what, that was a definite invasion of privacy and even without the danger of being escorted outside not too nicely by the bodyguards, Sabrina and Will wouldn't stay to hear him.
"Clair? Yes, I *know* that I have been working late…yes, I*will* come home today…yes, I still got the tickets for tonight…" He scribbled down something, probably a note to his secretary to buy said tickets. "And then, we'll have the week for ourselves…"
Especially if half a minute of listening was enough to tell them anything.
The young, blue haired woman looked down on her list again, not paying any attention to what the stewardess was saying. 'One egg, one pokemon..' She thought, shoving the note again into a pocket of her business dress. She shook her head. 'That's what I have been sent to Kanto for. Pathetic. ' Of course, it was all a matter of money. And her client had a lot of it. So much he paid for the plane ticket as well as the hotel room and any costs she might face in Kanto.
Looking out of the window, already planning her next actions, she just took a moment to wonder about her customer's motivations. This was unlike herself, as she usually never questioned any order and just did as she was told, but this mission was special.
End 1. Chapter
Disclaimer: Any possible way to buy 'Pokémon ™' on ebay™? No? Then me not owns it. XD
Genre: x-chaptered fic
Summary: "It's not hard to get a boyfriend. The hard thing is to keep him." While the league struggles with its own problems- the arrival of two of the most prominent trainers of Sinnoh and a series of mysterious thefts, Sabrina is confronted with how true Erica's advise rings....
Rating: PG-13, minor swearing, minor adult themes, minor violence
Pairings: Psychicshipping, Blackthornshipping, Snazzyshipping (Cynthia x Lucian)
Spoiler:
A/N: Sequel to "A Winter's Love" aka "Love's best Friend is Hate". No translation anymore, the original fic had no sequel. Probably because it took me weeks to get a decent plot and the current one is killing me. x.x
Timeline: A few days after Chapter 4 "Casualties&Confessions"
Spring's Revenge
1. Chapter Occassions&Orders
A world thirsty for scandals and unveilings normally adapts quite well to unexpected events. Normally, people pounce onto everything that might satisfy their hunger for gossip, and speculation. For they want to see that it's not only them who suffer from break-ups, unrequited love, money problems and lethal sicknesses. They want to see that beneath the shell of power, money and prestige they have, VIPS are still as human as they, the readers, the normal towns- and cityfolk are.
But, as life itself proves, this doesn't apply to anyone.
And so, sometimes, public is shaken out of its literal hibernation when something happens, something, so unbelievingly, so awkward and unsuspected, that there must be magic behind. Magic or psychic powers.
This time, it was clearly the latter.
For how else could a couple come off that was as different as night and day?
Clearly, everyone who opened his individual Yellow Press paper on the morning of the 19th April either read about the bankrupt of a small, unimportant computer company, yet another interview with one of the recently kidnapped gym leaders- Whitney this time, who babbled on and on for hours yet could not even describe the forest they had been in, or the presentation of a new league couple. It took the average reader five seconds to skim over the headline, get the facts straight into his mind and let them settle down and then drop the paper in shock.
Something unbelievable had happened.
Their league's freak, the unfeeling, callous banshee, had found love.
For the more romantic feeling folks, it was reassuring, calming, pleasing. They had a weak spot for these tear breaker stories, for these sappy endings. Almost sacrificing herself for the league, Sabrina was saved by the new psychic elite trainer and fell in love with him. How sweet.
How bitter for the masses of fangirls spread around Kanto and Johto, who had been dreaming of such happenings only in the deepest of the nights, only with themselves in the shoes of the damsel in distress. Not one of them realized that it was exactly this kind of girly girl Will didn't like, didn't want to love. Many, if not all of them felt jealousy and the gnawing of their unbelieving consciousness asking itself why, oh why he had chosen her and not you. Never mind the physical distance, the psychical difference and strangeness, and every other little factor that played into this as well as fate. Life's not fair, at least not for everyone and it never tries to explain itself.
Only humans try to find the reasons for things as love, for things that no rational mind can take, things one has to experience and to feel, not to analyze.
Sabrina had only started to realize that.
Just as millions of other citizens, she was sitting in front of a breakfast table. But unlike them, she was staring into space, her eyes not really flickering, not noticing the glass door in front of her, the garden behind, filled with various flowers, trees and other plants the league used to give off the expression of environmentally friendly and yet stylish, modern and exclusive. Neither did she notice her fellow gym leaders Misty and Erica, the former silently reading one of the aforementioned newspapers, her eyes darting from line to line, the latter taking a bite of her toast, enjoying it greatly.
"Goodness, they act as if the world's going to end…" Misty closed her eyes, shaking her head at the stupidity of some members of society and the ruthlessness and gossip addiction of Yellow Press journalists. "You really should have tried to take things slower, Sabrina, not exactly kissing him in public, ya know…I think that was a bit too much of a change." Instead of answering, the psychic gym leader continued to sigh and stare, not even reacting. Erica grinned, suspecting how fruitless Misty's attempts at conversation were. "Really, I'm serious. I know you have trouble with the public; of course one doesn't get along so good with it when they only printed bad news, all the stuff with the dolls and your split personality…but you don't help anybody, least yourself, when you let them go their way. Let them rip you and your newfound boyfriend apart. It was predictable that Lance would run to the reporters as soon as we had found the way out of the spring, he tries to make money out of every piece of rubbish. That was his perfect chance..." Misty stopped, realizing that she had probably been better off talking to the wall next to her, as the wall would at least not show openly that its mind was elsewhere, just not in this dining room.
"Oh, come on, stop playing the love dove! That's ridiculous!" Misty exclaimed, honestly irritated and banged the newspaper onto the desk. Erica put a hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her down. "Don't waste your energy, Misty. Try to think of how she feels right now. How everything's new for her. For the moment, she has lost the ability to think rationally, as shocking as that may sound, considering that we're speaking about Sabrina here." The grass gym leader smiled at the older girl, who had sighed and closed her eyes, not taking any notice of the conversation right in front of her. "Just let her have her time. She'll come back from the clouds soon enough. And then, the press will be very sorry that they ever dared to publish such nasty stories about her and her boy." Erica winked. "Guess that spring will become wide-known soon." "I hope you're right…" Misty sighed. "It's just so awkward seeing her so…different. Cheerful. And daydreaming. That's just not Sabrina!" Misty helplessly gesticulated with her hands, her arms over her head now. Erica sighed. Both didn't seem to mind that Sabrina was sitting not even a metre away from them, theoretically hearing everything they said. Theoretically. Because, to be able to hear, one does not only need ears, but also attention and Sabrina was missing one of these things.
"Like I said, she'll get normal over the next days, I assure you. Reality will get to her again, I know. It does to all lovers. Sad, but true. Let her enjoy this time as long as she can get. Life will get boring soon enough." Erica smiled. It was actually cute to see Sabrina in love; she should keep these pictures in mind, for it was never sure that they would ever return.
Out of the corner of her eye, the grass type gym leader could see the door being opened, but as she still hadn't finished her toast, she didn't pay it any mind. Misty let herself fall back onto her chair again with a feeble sigh, picking up the papers again, in the hope of finding something that wouldn't infuriate her and wasn't too hilarious to read.
Sabrina sighed again. True, she had heard every word of the conversation and she wasn't too absent-minded to let the meaning flow beside her, but for some awkward reason, she didn't feel like caring. It didn't matter. Why should it? Had she ever cared about others' opinions? Maybe, maybe not. She didn't feel like thinking too much about it. She had other things on her mind.
With an almost inaudible growl, she turned to the clock. Will was such a late riser! Okay, he had every reason to do so- it was his first 'real' week as an elite trainer and the work was almost killing him, not to mention that he didn't get much sleep during her time in the hospital. Sabrina chuckled. She hadn't noticed him staying by her side almost every day for a whole month, but now that she did, she found it unbelievably cute. She had been unconscious and still, he had stayed with her…
Suddenly, something white clapped over her eyes. Sabrina backed away in surprise, before noticing the structure of the white, it was leather. White leather gloves. She had to giggle. "Guess who I am!" A voice behind her said, a voice well known to her. "Will! You're finally up!" She removed the hands from her eyes, taking them in her own while turning around in her chair, smiling widely at him. "Morning, dear." Will bent down, kissing her on the lips. Misty rolled her eyes, smashing the newspaper down again and standing up fiercely. "Okay, that's enough! I'm going! You can have my seat, Will!" She exclaimed, muttering something about, retarded sweethearts' while walking down the hall in the search of another seat, one where you didn't have to bear newfound couples. Erica laughed. Nobody had tested so far how Misty was around her boyfriend...
~~~~~~~
In the far corner of the league's ground floor dining room, a small group, consisting of seven madly jealous girls, sat around a round desk, plotting and dropping ideas every minute. Plots to bomb the young love. Anger was deep inside them, mixed with frustration. The feelings that many young school girls had when they found out that their unreachable secret star had found a girlfriend that was probably ten times richer and prettier than them, the measure of IQ not counted in yet. It was foolish love, but fools make the gravest mistakes and these girls didn't even value the consequences of what they were plotting. They couldn't yet and the only one of them who was wasn't willing to voice her thoughts, for she was going to enjoy the suffering.
One of the girls hit the desk's smooth surface with her delicate, tanned fist, the long, dark blue fingernails crossing over. "Come on, girls! We have to do something. It doesn't help us if we keep on sitting here and come up with nothing! We have to act soon! So we need some ideas that are actually manageable!" She glared at her side, where another girl was staring at her own fingernails, shining and perfectly polished. "And no, kidnapping the witch and dumping her over a cliff is not one." Whitney shrugged. "Well, it almost worked once, didn't it?" She asked nonchalantly. "But it did not!" Claire screamed. She was angry, her own boyfriend had logged himself into his bureau again, trying to make as much money out of this unexpected event as possible. He wanted to do the organization behind by himself, as he assumed only he know what was the best, how the best marketing worked, which newspapers and talk shows paid the most for news and pictures. Lance had his minions, his secretaries and underlings, to do all the dirty work for him, but apparently, this wasn't any dirty work for him. He loved his work so much he was neglecting his girlfriend, the exact reason why Claire was now sitting here with some of the female gym leaders, trying to find a useful way to get the two psychics to break up again.
That a break-up might get her boyfriend into an even deeper working state did not occur to her mind.
Janine, silent until now, suddenly looked up and spoke, her eyes dashing only seemingly from girl to girl, when in reality, they were searching for her father.
"I have an idea..."
~~~~~~~
"Come, sit down and eat breakfast with us!" Erica invited Will, knowing that Sabrina was too joyful to think about words. "Misty hasn't left her seat for nothing!" Will shook his head. "No, thanks, but I'm just here to fetch my dear." Sabrina blinked, turning around again. "Hm? What for?" She asked, playing with the forks, unnoticed by the others. "Lance. He wants to meet us in his office. And before you ask…no, he did not say why." Will put his hands behind his head, staring into space. Sabrina glanced at Erica, who shrugged. "No idea. But you know how much of an eccentric Lance is. I bet he has some peculiar jobs for you." Erica smiled helplessly.
Sabrina stood up, shoving the chair aside with her head lowered. "Let's hope it's nothing about our relationship…" She grumbled grimly. Then she followed Will out of the room, keeping her path close to him.
"It won't be…" Erica reassured her, even though she was out of hearing range. "Lance isn't suicidal."
~~~~~~~
Lance's office was at the top floor of the league's headquarters. Well, that was not completely right; one of his offices was at the top floor. He had many more, too many to count, but that was more because Lance liked to call every storeroom his office as long as it was luxurious enough.
The office the two psychic trainers were called to was kept in a pastel blue, with an at least two inches high carpet that made you feel like walking on clouds, large curtains falling to the ground, hiding the huge glass windows and the view behind from the eyes of every visitor. An office desk made out of dark wood completed the atmosphere, along with equally dark cupboards that easily reached the ceiling and were probably filled with all kinds of important prints and contracts. And probably a few of Lance's dark secrets, but that was something Sabrina didn't want to find out, even though she easily had the power to do so. She had the psychic power, Lance the political and economical power and he wouldn't refrain from denouncing one of his own gym leaders if it was necessary in order to keep his own reputation from fading. No need for her to get into trouble anyway. She had been in enough trouble for the last two months.
Silently, the two psychics stood in front of the office desk, waiting for Lance to speak to them. He was looking over some white, narrowly printed paper, the words so small and upside down so that she couldn't read them. It might have been interesting to know what Lance was brooding over every day, but she had other things on her mind right now. Lance couldn't have called them in her just for watching him work; that would be even too odd for their boss.
Finally, he looked up, taking off his reading glasses and cautiously sucking on its frame. "Sabrina…Will…" He started, not looking them into the eyes. "I have a little mission for you." Now he finally looked up, but glanced sideways, still not daring to cross their eyes. Sabrina started to wonder if Lance was afraid of them. For whatever reason. Either he got to know about Will's newfound psychic powers- in the middle of the hype about their relationship, everyone had neglected that fact, or the mission he was about to send them on was risky and unpleasant. Normally, Sabrina wasn't an adventurous person and would have denied any offer to get on an adventure trip. After the rescue mission, nothing had changed. She still wouldn't throw herself into danger again. Of course, she had experienced that some good could come out of it, but now, all she wanted was to have some time to relax and enjoy her time with Will as long as she could.
On the other hand…how big were the chances that Lance would actually be willing to shove them into life-threatening events again? Not while he had still contracts with three talk show directors running.
"As you may know, the meeting- as it was interrupted in a most unfortunate way will continue for a few weeks. Originally, the champion of the Sinnoh region, Cynthia Monde, and her fellow elite four member and boyfriend," He paused to look at the two and Sabrina suppressed a blush as fiercely as possible which took her so much effort she didn't even manage to glimpse at Will to check if he was trying the same," Lucian Livre, were going to visit us on the last day of the conference, as some kind of ending event, but since Team Rocket attacked the day before, this was of course canceled as the league couldn't risk the safety of these two." Sabrina shortly glanced at Will. Both had an idea what their mission was about now, but that didn't make them feeling any easier. "Now, the league wants to make up for the last time and has invited the two again for next Wednesday." Lance took a breath now. Sabrina noticed some sweat falling down his temples. It wasn't warm at all in his office. So he was really nervous. Most certainly it wasn't them upsetting him- he had never been comfortable around other champions and this Cynthia was rumored to be the strongest- not to mention that she was a woman.
Sabrina snorted inwardly. Lance was so pathetic, the big, energetic champion being afraid of a woman. Noticing Will gulping, though, Sabrina banished these thoughts quickly, grinning awkwardly.
"Though this has caused problems I did not think off before." Lance let his head rest in his left hand, looking quite tired actually. "I can't give you details, but the original welcoming gift I had wanted to give the two isn't…available anymore." Sabrina blinked, glancing again at Will who was returning her confused look. Something not available? For the head of their state? The man who could get everything and more with a snap of his finger? Was this some kind of one of a kind thing? But even then, Lance would have made it a two of a kind thing and if he had to spent a year's budget on it.
"Well, anyway…I had to find a replacement and thankfully, I did." He paused, his mouth staying open. He was thinking about how to continue. Certainly, he was hiding something from them, but Sabrina wouldn't press him on this matter nor read his mind. Never. That wasn't in her interest anyway and she wouldn't benefit. "I just don't have the time to get it, I'm busy with re-organization, and I'm afraid I can't even present it to them personally. So I choose you two to do the duty for me." He smiled cautiously, a formal, artificial smile to get their trust and sympathy. "Right now, I think you two are the best representatives the league has, with all you've done for us, you being the new elite, William, and Sabrina being one of the best gym leaders…and, of course, your peculiar relationship." Lance smiled, both Sabrina and Will blushed even though they were trying hard to hold it back in front of the dragon trainer. It was just demolishing the formal attitude they had to keep, something they had agreed on since the very first day after their confession. Love was all nice and good, but it wasn't optional to live it up everywhere. Sabrina had already cursed herself for daring to kiss him in front of the hotel a few days ago, a slip simply happening out of happiness, but bacon for the hungry masses of reporters.
"So, what is it that you want us to do?" Sabrina was almost glad that Will was speaking for her, but only almost. Closing her eye, she sent him a telepathic warning not to dare to try to dominate her. She was not lowering her position just because of him, never. And she had just as much authority to speak to Lance as he had, even though their positions said otherwise. To some extent, she still couldn't get over the humiliation she had experienced merely a month ago, expelling it from her heart seemed impossible, but she would never openly show it. Not now.
She didn't want to drive the one man away that had fallen in love with her.
Lance started to rummage through his desk, not paying them any attention. Still, Will was very sure that had they tried to use this moment of thoughtlessness, Lance would have had knocked them over by his hiding bodyguards faster than they could ever access their powers. Well, faster than he could react anyway. He was still training with Sabrina- as much as their feelings allowed any serious training, but he had much to learn and was far away from accomplishing anything even near her level. He was happy if he even managed to teleport anything, much less teleporting to any specific direction or even more than one thing at once.
"Not much, actually. Just get to the post office down the south street and give the main operator there this letter." Of course, the letter was still in its envelope, no address written down, not a single word actually. Also, it had been glued together heavily, lowering any chance of seeing what was inside. Judging from its width, it couldn't be any more than a single sheet of paper. "That should tell him everything. If not, just call me and I'll settle the rest." Lance smiled mysteriously, making Sabrina wonder if he was just going to 'settle' things or blackmail the poor workmen there. "Be careful with the gift he's going to give you." Suddenly, the man's mimics had changed from mocking nice to daring serious. A look that told both psychics everything. If they screwed up, some heads were going to roll, even if that meant Lance decapitating the ones that had saved him from the Rocket's grasp. "Break it, and you're going to get broken, too. I won't be there to check for at least a week, I have own matters to attend, but when I come back, I will talk to Cynthia. And I will make sure that everything went well, got that?" His façade dropped. Apparently, the effort to keep looking unmoved had strained his face muscles.
"But I am sure that you two won't fail me." He smiled, leaning back in his black leather chef chair, camouflaged by his black cape. "You didn't fail us once, you won't fail us twice." He presented Will with the envelope when suddenly, his phone rang. For a moment, everyone was quiet in the room, then Lance cursed. "Sorry, excuse me." He shushed them off with a simple gesture and the two didn't waste any time in waiting. Interesting as it might be to hear who Lance was talking to and about what, that was a definite invasion of privacy and even without the danger of being escorted outside not too nicely by the bodyguards, Sabrina and Will wouldn't stay to hear him.
"Clair? Yes, I *know* that I have been working late…yes, I*will* come home today…yes, I still got the tickets for tonight…" He scribbled down something, probably a note to his secretary to buy said tickets. "And then, we'll have the week for ourselves…"
Especially if half a minute of listening was enough to tell them anything.
~~~~~~~
The young, blue haired woman looked down on her list again, not paying any attention to what the stewardess was saying. 'One egg, one pokemon..' She thought, shoving the note again into a pocket of her business dress. She shook her head. 'That's what I have been sent to Kanto for. Pathetic. ' Of course, it was all a matter of money. And her client had a lot of it. So much he paid for the plane ticket as well as the hotel room and any costs she might face in Kanto.
Looking out of the window, already planning her next actions, she just took a moment to wonder about her customer's motivations. This was unlike herself, as she usually never questioned any order and just did as she was told, but this mission was special.
End 1. Chapter
