Zac wanted to cry.
She hated being a girl, hated the idea of being cared for all the time, hated the prim and polish, all of it.
She pulled her bandanna off, letting her long hair fall around her shoulders. She grabbed all her pokeballs, and all of her loyal "dogs" surrounded her.
"Hey, guys." She smiled. Arcanine cocked his head, surprised by her appearance. "Oh, don't give me that."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Zac re-appeared at dinner that night, her hair back up, hidden away in her beloved bandanna, all traces of femininity gone. She forced a smile when passing Brock, Ash and Misty, and tried to glare at Leena, but couldn't.
"Payback's a bitch, huh?" Zac muttered to her.
"Well, so are you." Her voice was cheery.
"Thanks." She slammed her head onto the table. "You make my confidence as an upstanding female of society soar with every word you sugar-coat. Listening to you is like swallowing M&M's with arsenic inside."
"Yep!" Leena smiled.
"Yee-up."
"Uh-huh!" Wider grin.
"Sure."
And with that, they had come to a truce.
Misty and Ash looked to each other and shrugged.
Brock stood up.
"Zac, can I see you outside for a minute?"
"You've seen me outside, I look the same inside!" she barked.
"I need to talk to you."
Zac got up silently and followed.
The door slammed behind her.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
She pulled her bandanna off, and her hair fell free.
This time Brock recognized her instantly. He dug into his wallet looking for something, and pulled out a concert stub.
"You had a concert in my gym, back in Pewter City."
"I had thirty concerts in Pewter City, Brock."
"What happened?"
"I got tired of guys ogling me. Is that so wrong?"
Brock shrugged. "Leena doesn't seem to mind." He laughed. "She doesn't seem to have to deal with that much, though."
"She's usually totally oblivious." Zac paused. "Even when it does happen." Zac's tone suggested it was rare.
Leena then poked her head out the door. "Hurry up you guys! Ash and Misty are really annnooooooyyyyyiiiiiinng!"
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The night had been uneventful. Everyone was exhausted from the trying day, and Ash was busy moping that their departure was delayed due to the random displays of emotion. Leena had risen very early that morning, and was, as usual, packing Zac's stuff so that when she did get up, they'd be ready.
Leena and Zac weren't exactly sure how to tell Ash, Misty and Brock that they were tagging along. Leena had initially thought they would follow in secret, but that didn't look like it was about to happen.
Leena finished packing and sat on the edge of Zac's bed. Truth be told, she felt bad about the way she had acted the day before.
But not bad enough to let Zac sleep past 7:15.
"Okay, nevermind what I said about payback, you're the only bitch I know!" Zac's yell woke the others up in the room across the hall.
Ash had been awake for a while. Dressed and ready to go, he swung his bag over his shoulder. Even Pikachu was still asleep.
"I'm gonna go get breakfast, okay?"
When he walked into the cafe, looking for Zac, a very pretty girl called him over.
"Ash!"
"Uh, can I-i-i help you?"
"It's me, you numbskull."
"O-Oh! I keep forgetting--"
She was very pretty. She was wearing her hair down, wearing a low-cut shirt and a loose, wavy skirt over tight jeans and boots.
"Leena packed all of my normal clothes."
"Oh, so that's why she's all the way over there."
Leena was indeed on the opposite side of the room, eating an extravagant breakfast. All Zac had was a huge cup of coffee and a small orange, which she was squeezing its juices into the cup.
Leena, appearing to have finished, walked over to the table they were at. "Good morning!" she piped.
"Who asked you?" Zac grumbled. Leena giggled.
"Oh, hi Leena!" Ash replied, glad for the distraction. Leena noticed this and decided to use it to further bother Zac.
"Oh, hi Ash! Isn't Zac preeeeeeeeeeeetty today?" Leena, much to Zac's disdain, began to play with her hair. "I picked it out~! ♥"
Ash quickly agreed and left. Zac gave Leena a disgruntled glare. Leena just beamed.
As this exchange of facial expressions went on, a young-looking trainer wandered in. He was at least four years younger than Leena, but was wearing a very serious expression, and looked determined to accomplish a goal of some sort. As soon as he saw Leena and Zac, his face lit up. "Found you!"
Zac and Leena both looked over. "Crap..." they grumbled simultaneously. "We just battled one of these goons four takes ago! Usually it takes a week before another finds us." Leena sighed at Zac's comment.
"Well, let's hope the others don't see us," Leena began. "If they do, we're in trouble. Big time."
The boy did nothing to help with secrecy. "Elite Reidlos Zac and Leena, I challenge you to a battle!"
The entire cafe looked to the two Reidlos, who were cursing under their breath. They were glad Ash had left.
"Your challenge is accepted!" Zac yelled. "We're in a hurry," she added, "so we'll double battle. Choose two Pokemon. Whichever team is left standing wins."
Zac and Leena quickly chose their two Pokemon--Arcanine and Marowak. They weren't wonderful at double battles, since their battle strategies were dramatically different, but it was faster, and the regulations allowed it in special cases--special cases such as the Reidlos being under cover.
"Go! Ditto! Gyrados!" Zac and Leena exchanged explitives, already easily piecing together the boy's strategy. At least it would be over fast...
By now a large crowd had gathered. Leena scanned the crowd every few seconds to make sure Ash, Misty and Brock weren't there.
"Alright..." Zac muttered. "Leena, he's going to copy your Marowak if he's got half a brain cell. You take on the Ditto. I'll try to fight the Gyrados..."
Luckily, the two Reidlos had the first strike. Ditto went down in a blast of fire, and Gyrados had a rather large bump on his head. However, the Gyrados alone was enough to bring them to their knees within the next two turns.
Leena quickly wrote the boy a pass to challenge Lance. Both girls signed it. Normally they would have had to accompany him, but these were special circumstances.
The crowd quickly backed off. Three figures, however, remained standing in front of them.
Ash, Misty and Brock had been there the entire time.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Zac swore under her breath.
"I'm sor-" Ash started to say, but Brock cut him off.
"So what was that?" Brock asked, feigning honest curiosity.
"Reidlos," Zac said calmly, "are the basis of the Esrah league. Before you can see a gym leader, before you can open the door, you have to fight the three Reidlos of the gym. The three pieces of the badge you will recieve work as a key to the gym."
"So where are the Reidlos?" Ash couldn't help but ask. This sounded bad--harder than he thought a league could be.
"Wherever the wind takes them." Zac smiled.
"And you two?" Brock eyed them suspiciously.
"I don't know how to say this," Zac began, "so I'll just let Leena blurt it out thoughtlessly."
"We don't work for you anymo--Oh, wait, wrong thing." Leena scratched her head, deep in thought. "Oh! RIGHT! We're Reidlos, too!"
Misty looked confused. "Where's the third?"
"Oh, we don't--" At this, Zac clapped her hand over Leena's mouth.
"We don't get along with him," Zac lied, hoping they would drop the subject. Thankfully, they did. Leena took Brock's arm and led him off, yammering about the concept of Reidlos. The three still looked confused, but Zac said no more, and Leena was only talking to Brock.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"So, Jessie."
"So, James."
"How'd we end up back here?"
A sign read "Welcome to Pallet Town".
"That is a wonderful question, James."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Wandering through the woods got boring after six hours.
"I'M BORED!" Leena screamed.
Zac walked past her. "Waffles."
And Leena was entertained once more. Singing some weird song about breakfast pastries, she lead them through the woods.
"Just for the sake of my curiosity," Ash whined, "Where are we going?"
Leena looked up from her watch, which she had apparently been staring at the entire time. "We're looking for Reidlos!" she piped, shoving her watch--which was in fact her Poke`Gear--at his face. He saw a small red light flashing on the screen. "You have to beat the trainer at that dot." She rolled her eyes. "You have one of these trackers in your Gear, too, silly." Leena turned and continued to skip through the woods.
"I think I might need to stop soon," Misty panted. "My stomach hurts."
"PMS sucks, huh?" Leena yipped. Misty turned beet-red and the calvary came to a halt. Leena fished through her back and pulled out a book. She fell back on the grass and started reading it.
Seeing as it was around 2 in the afternoon, Brock saw it fitting to make lunch. He proceeded to pull an ungodly amount of cooking supplies from his back and set to work.
"So he cooks," Zac commented boredly. She sat down carefully near Leena.
Ash sat with Pikachu on his head. He laughed a bit, as if an idea had just struck him, and turned to Leena. "Leena, since you're a Reidlos, can't I just battle you?"
"Well, you can." Leena sat up and put the book down. "But it won't be anything official. You have to beat all the Reidlos before me before you can gain anything from battling me other than practice."
"And how many is that?"
"Enough that you won't get anything from either of us for a while," Zac retorted. The questions were evidently starting to annoy her.
"Oh..." Ash was dissapointed. Then he stood. "It doesn't matter! I challenge you to a battle!" Leena just laughed.
Zac rolled her eyes and sat on a fallen tree.
"What, really?" She giggled, batting her eyes. "Well, all right, but on ONE condition-" Leena's coy smile could have lit up a room. "If you lose, you have to go on a date with Zac!"
"Wha-" Zac sporfled and fell from her perch.
Ash turned bright red. "Well, hold on, what if I win?" He stammered.
"I'll give you half the pass you need to get to our leader!"
"You can't do that!" Zac roared.
Brock and Misty poured themselves some tea.
"Is this entertaining to you two?" she screamed back at them.
Leena smiled back at Zac. "I'm done picking on you after this, okay?"
Zac moaned.
Leena laughed and produced a plain pokeball and one of her odd looking ones. "Double battle. First person out of Pokemon loses!" She threw the pokeballs into the makeshift arena. "Marowak! Absol! Don't let me down, okay?" The monsters emerged in a flash, ready to battle.
Ash smirked. "Corphish, Taurus, go!"
Leena laughed hysterically. Ash turned red.
"What's so funny?!" Leena didn't answer him. She only kept laughing. Ash had failed to notice that in the midst of her laughing fit she'd launched her attack.
Corphish found himself fried and smelling like dinner. Taurus was unconcious. Marowak and Absol growled contentedly. Ash gasped and gazed down at his partners. After a moment, he recalled them. "How--"
"Absol knows Thunderbolt," Leena said, cocky. "Any more takers?"
Ash hesitated. Then he confidently lifted his head. "Pikachu! Bulbasaur! I choose you!" The Pokemon entered the arena.
Leena again burst out laughing. Ash knew what she was doing, but was dismayed in spite of himself. Before he could think, his partners had been reduced to nothing.
"Give up yet~?" Leena chirped. Ash looked at his Pikachu, who was face down in the dirt, helpless. He could have cried.
"I guess so. No point in the rest of them getting hurt." He recalled his partners and Leena recalled Absol. She picked up Marowak with ease and walked over to Ask. She held out her free hand to him, which was full of vials of various sizes and colors.
"Home-made revives," she piped, seeing the confusion in his face. "Much cheaper and more effective than the store-bought brands." She smiled. "You'll need to save your money, because you have to wear a tuxedo AND you get to pay!" Leena skipped to where Brock and Misty were and sipped some tea.
The expression on Ash's face suggested that during the battle he'd forgotten about the date.
Zac sighed.
Well, at least Leena was done with her torment.
Not much could be said otherwise, though.
Ash looked rather confused for just a moment longer and then laughed. "Well, I guess I'll make due."
On the inside he was trying to punch himself in the face.
Finally, Zac spoke up.
"Not until he beats the first gym," she said. "He doesn't even have to think about it until after he beats Lilian."
Leena frowned, knowing her fun would now be delayed for quite some time. "Alright. You're no fun," she pouted.
The group then sat and had a leisurely lunch. Leena looked at her PokeGear from time to time. She'd nod contentedly, then go back to whatever conversation was going on. After about ten minutes, she stood up.
"Looks like we don't have to wait much longer!" she chirped. "The Reidlos we've been hunting is headed this way!"
The group quickly packed and ran in the direction of the Reidlos.
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