[X] My Assistant

[PinkiePie]

As Vincent watched the young man walk away, Vincent considered he repercussions of what he just allowed to happen. Out of pride, he just let a Rebel rob an Aqua warehouse. Granted, Vincent didn't care in the slightest; if he got fired, however, he'd have no choice but to go home. He wasn't ready to face his father just yet. Instantly he begane considering different alternatives. Could he lie? The guards on the other side would not have noticed anything. He was the only witness.

It didn't matter. It was five fourty, and town was a twenty minute walk from here. And he had a date.

-----------A Few Minutes Later-----------

Noverus was a great and mighty city. Even Vincent's hometown, not his place of birth, but his real and honest hometown, wasn't this impressive. As huge as it was, Vincent knew exactly where he was going, despite having only been there once. It was a diner, not too far into the city, that he had been to with a friend before. Already there, he sat at the table he had reserved only a minute before, waiting for the familiar head of crimson-red hair to appear in the door.

Sure enough, she walked in right on time. A teenage girl, about 5' 8" in height and strikingly beautiful, entered the diner and looked around, spying Vincent almost immediately. She smiled widely, an expression Vincent mirrored, and Lanette ran straight to the table and wrapped her arms around him. It was an awkward hug, since Vincent was still sitting down, so she was pretty much laying on him.

"Oh, I missed you so much, Vince...." she whispered past tears.

"Vincent. I hate being called Vince...."

"Yeah, yeah...." She sat down. "I'm just so happy to see you!"

"I missed you more than you can imagine."

"How have you been? I can see you were looking for a job." Lanette pointed to his blue shirt, with his bandanna under the collar.

"Oh, yeah, that. They pay well."

"Hungry?"

"Not particularly," he replied. "I just lost a battle."

"How?" she gasped sarcastically. "What did you do?"

"I....don't make fun of me. No, Sneasel toppled over a tower of boxes, and I was too embarrassed to continue. So I resigned."

"Aww, you first loss in....how long?"

"Almost a year. I was so close," Vincent said, taking his thumb and forefinger and making a pinching motion, leaving about a centimeter between the tips.

"Well, maybe having me around will cheer you up."

"What?"

"It took me forever to find you. I finally have. I'm not letting you get away this easily."

"Heh," was all he could muster to say.

"So?"

"So what?"

"Where do I sign? I've always liked the Aqua uniforms better than Magma's," she said cheerfully.

"I could get you in, I guess, but why would you-"

"Want to?" she finished. "I can't stand to be away from you."

"I feel the same way. Alright, I'll arrange it with the Commander."

"I love you...."

"I....love you too...."

"Waiter?" Lanatte said, ruining the moment, though Vincent didn't care. "Can I get a cheeseburger?"

"And a Sprite for me. I'm not hungry," Vincent said. He was experiencing Deja Vu with the orders.

[BlackStarLine]

Daniel was lying on the sofa watching Max chase his tail, when he decided to take a walk... he didn't know where he was going to go, except that he fancied a walk..

"Max, Lily, come on, we're going for a walk." Daniel called to his pokemon. They quickly ran to his side and followed him out the door of the Pokemon Centre.

"It's quite a nice night out tonight..." Daniel thought to himself "I think i'll do a bit of exploration of the City... At least at night there's not many people around to bother me.."

Pretty soon Daniel had reached the shopping sector of the City. He thought about buying the latest version of the PokeNav as he walked past the shops... but as the shop was shut he decided to get it tomorrow..

Daniel carried on walking through the shopping sector and soon reached the restaurant sector. He had never seen so many restaurants all packed into one place.. not even Rustboro was this congested...

[PinkiePie]

The meal slowly progressed as the two lovers conversed over life and their experiences apart. They were completely oblivious to everyone around them for the longest time, even thought they got many odd stares as they carried on. Almost every thrird ended in either 'I love you, by the way' or 'You look great, by the way.' Any passerby going past may have thought the two married, engaged, or even dating. Truth was, they were technically engaged, unmarried as of yet. And, despite infrequent pleading from Lanette, the couple remained virgins.

Time flew. They finished their meal and paid the waiter, tipping him just a little extra from the privacy (or the illusion thereof,) and slowly walked out of the restaurant holding hands. The moment was perfect, ruined only when Vincent happened to turn and see a familiar young man walking around outside.

"You!"

He pointed to the ununifored Rebel agent.

"I told you not to let me see you again," Vincent said.

Lanette looked back and forth at the two for a second, then shook her head, deciding not to get involved. Vincent took notice of this, and sighed, looking back at the Rebel. His face was slightly apologetic.

"Sorry. I'm not going to ruin my date over what happened earlier. I would, however, like a rematch."

Again, Vincent presumed the boy would be confused by the proposal. He explained, "I counted that first battle as a loss, since I technically resigned. Now, out in the open I won't let a blunder as stupid as the last one upset our duel. Interested? Just for fun?"

[BlackStarLine]

"Huh... I never thought i'd see you again... and with a girl this time? This is a surprise.." Daniel said "But if it's a battle you want, it's a battle you'll get."

Daniel smiled as the Aqua Grunt stared him down.

"So.. will there be a prize on the outcome of this match?" Daniel asked, "And it might be better if we relocated, because I doubt the people around here would appreciate a pokemon battle in the middle of the street."

"If you really want to battle me, meet me at the Pokemon Centre battlefield in 20 minutes. We'll have our battle there, so we don't disturb the ordinary citizens."

With that, Daniel turned and started walking towards the Pokemon Centre.

[PinkiePie]

As the young man walked away, Vincent stared at his back. Lanette was confused; it was writen all over her face. When the Rebel vanished from sight, Vincent turned to his girlfriend and smiled.

"You look confused."

"I am confused," she replied.

"Let me see if I can help."

"Your excuse for a battle was rather lame. You want a rematch because your pokemon fluked?"

"Don't worry, I meant that part. But there's more to it than that."

"Enlighten me," Lanette replied.

"You want to be an Aqua?" Vincent asked.

"If only to be with you."

"Then I have an asignment for you, recruit."

-------------10 Minutes Later---------------

Vincent and Lanette walked into the pokemon center field and looked around. The boy, Vincent's opponent, was waiting there for him. The Aqua handed his girlfriend two pokeballs.

"Lanette, take Sneasel and Shellder to Nurse Joy. I'll handle this with Seel and Snorunt."

"Alright," she replied. "And then I have to use the restrooms, so I'll be a minute or two."

As she walked into the Center, Vincent addressed his opponent. "So, my friend, you know my name. What's yours?"

[BlackStarLine]

Daniel smiled. "So you want to know my name do you? My name is Daniel Reeves." he replied.

"So how shall we do this? One on one? You choose considering you're the one that challenged me." Daniel asked him.

Daniel could see the Grunt deciding on what to do. Daniel had decided on trying a new combo with Lily, but wondered if the Grunt would use his Shellder and Sneasel like last time or use the other 2.

"Hurry up and decide would you? I'm getting bored just standing here." Daniel called to the trainer.

[PinkiePie]

"Double Battle. I know you only have two pokemon, but I only have two as well. Daniel, let me introduce you to the rest of my team."

Two red pokeballs opened to reveal a stream of energy, which compilated into Snorunt and Seel. When Snorunt frist appeared, though, it turned around and hugged Vincent's leg before going back to stand next to Seel. The little critter was affectionate toward its master; Vincent was the only parent it knew. It felt obligated to give him a hug before every battle, just to be nice.

"Aww, I love you too, Snorunt. You both ready?"

They excitedly chanted their reply.

-------------Meanwhile------------

Sneasel and Shellder with Nurse Joy, Lanette rounded the corner and started searching. However, the bathroom was not what she was looking for. Vince had predicted the Rebel would've left his stuff here, since this is where he was supposed to have come after robbing the warehouse. Each room seemed mildly used, so it was hard to discern which room the man would've hid the stolen items in. At last, she decided to pick a room at random and try it. With no luck there, she tried another. And another. And another.

After all the rooms had been searched, she buckled her knees and thought, hard. They were....Rebels. vincent had described them as hiders, people who stuck to the shadows and didn't tend to reveal themselves. Perhaps she wasn't thinking like a Rebel. Once more, she stood up and started over. This time, she tried touching the walls and pulling books off the shelves. To her surprise, one of the rooms suddenly opened, revealing a small storage space. Inside were two bags of items. Lanette pulled one out with much effort, and went to get the other, but couldn't. It was just too heavy.

"Agh!" she cried in exasperation.

So she just took the lighter bag, the one with less stuff in it, and went to find a bathroom, leaving the other bag alone.

[BlackStarLine]

"Ok, two on two it is then. Come on you two, time to finish this kid off." Daniel said as he threw up his two pokeballs.

In a flash of white Max and Lily were on the battlefield and waiting for the command to attack.

"Right then... Max, I want you to get in close to Snorunt and then use Bite, and Lily, use Quick attack on Seel and the follow it up with Absorb, now go!" Daniel commanded.

The pokemon acknowledged the commands and went in with their attacks. Max and Lily, using their speed, got in close before unleashing their moves. Lily's absorb was super effective on Seel, and coupled with the quick attack had left Seel reeling. Max's bite had normal effectiveness on Snorunt but had the added effect of making Snorunt flinch.

This post has been edited by IceColdGlaceon: Apr 2 2010, 01:16 PM

[PinkiePie]

Vincent flinched as the attacks made contact, at the time wondering if his pokemon were hurt. When Seel turned to look at him, he knew his first pokemon was fine, but when Snorunt had taken a bite, he saw what the other trainer didn't; his pokemon had been unaffected. Snorunt's Inner Focus had kicked in and prevented it from flinching, leaving the Poochyena wide open to an immediate counter-attack.

"Snorunt, quick, Powder Snow! Seel, you use Water Sport."

A cold blast of snow hit the puppy at full force and point blank. It was soon completely covered it a light sheet of frozen water. Seel, who had jetted a large amount of water onto the battlefield, was still behind Snorunt. And the ground around the three pokemon had slickened and frozen into ice, with Treecko off to side a little ways, unafefcted by either attack. The rest of the field was frozen and slick.

[BlackStarLine]

"Humph... I should have expected that.... This is going to be a tough one." Daniel thought out loud.

Suddenly, Daniel had a brainwave. He needed to use the battlefield to his advantage...

"Max, use your claws to dig into the ice and charge at Seel and hit it with a full force tackle! Lily, slide along the ice with quick attack and then use pound on Snorunt!"

Max set off at speed at Seel, whilst Lily criss-crossed in front of him using quick attack. At the last second, Lily, changed direction to go behind the Snorunt hitting it in the back with quick attack and then hitting the shocked pokemon with the full force of her tail, straight on the head. Whilst Max carried on charging at the weakened Seel and hit it with a tackle so forceful, it knocked the Seel back a few feet.

"I really hope this worked... Max is almost running on empty... he can't take another full hit... Lily is getting tired as well... I hope to god this has worked..." Daniel thought to himself.

This post has been edited by IceColdGlaceon: Apr 5 2010, 04:50 PM

[PinkiePie]

It was too obvious that Seel was playing the support role this time around, and thus Vincent felt stupid for not letting Snorunt cover him better. A thin layer of ice wouldn't keep Max and Lily away from the duo....unless they were actually sliding. So, Vincent changed strategies.

"Seel, Encore."

Seel slowly got up and started barking, clapping its fins together in a round of applause. Little Snorunt, not knowing any better, copied the older pokemon in the motion, also clapping the little round balls it had for hands together. Max, forced to use tackle again, simply charged forward and missed, sliding on the ice ahead of him. As he slowly slid past Seel, Vincent saw his chance.

"Snorunt, freeze it in place. Powder Snow!"

Snorunt stopped clapping and blinked, then launched a flurry of cold snow at the slowly sliding Max. The snow stuck to the ice and froze the Poochyena's paws to it, effectively stopping it for good. Its legs were locked in place by the now frozen snow boots it wore.

"And that should keep it busy. Seel, slide into Poochyena with a Headbutt."

The attack met dead center, pushing Max out of his little prison of ice with a mighty force that knocked it to its back. Seel barked in delight; it had gotten a good hit, and was proud of its good effort. Vincent had to give it credit for working so hard, but he also felt like this batte was amiturish. If it were a real battle, like he was used to back home, his Seel would be a Dewgong, and Snorunt would be a Glalie. And their moves would be much more destructive. But, alas, he was doomed to stay in Noverus until his father reconciled, which would probably never happen.

[BlackStarLine]

"Dammit... That wasn't supposed to happen..." Daniel muttered to himself.

Max had taken the full force of the headbutt and was on his last legs, Lily meanwhile, was still skating around the frozen battlefield.

"Right, Max, return." Daniel held out Max's pokeball and watched as Max disappeared in a flash of red light. "Thanks for all your hard work Max, take a good rest."

"Right Lily, it's all up to you now! We need to take out that Seel! Start off with quick attack and then follow it up with absorb!"

Lily skated along the ice and hit the Seel with quick attack and then finished it with Absorb. This had the added effect of completely refreshing Lily.

"Perfect. It's gonna be a one on one now." Daniel thought to himself.

[PinkiePie]

Seel had just taken a huge hit. Vincent was about to recall it when he noticed something odd, though. His poor pokemon was fidgeting, like it had been crippled and couldn't stand. This was a strange occurrence, but Vincent knew what it meant, and decided to let Seel stay on the field for now. He knew how the inner workings of a pokeball functioned, and he also knew Seel hated his ball.

"Seel, can you move?" Vincent asked.

Seel barked weakly, but made no effort to try moving closer to Vincent.

"You just stay there and rest. Snorunt, you're on your own, buddy."

Not know what that meant and assuming it was something good, the baby Snorunt clapped with glee and bounced back and forth. It then released a powerful Icy Wind attack before Vincent could tell it to do so, completely tacking Lily, Daniel and Vincent by surprise.

[BlackStarLine]

"Good god... Where the hell did that come from!?" Daniel exclaimed.

Lily had been caught unaware and had taken the brunt of the Icy Wind, but had somehow managed to recover from it.

Daniel could see that his opponent was as shocked as he was. "Time to take advantage of his shock.." Daniel thought to himself.

"Lily, Quick attack! Then pound!" Daniel commanded. Lily skated along the ice using all her speed and collided into the side of the Snorunt and followed up with a forceful pound that knocked the pokemon sideways and to the other side of the battlefield.

This post has been edited by IceColdGlaceon: Apr 11 2010, 01:12 PM

[PinkiePie]

Snorunt took a hit and skid across the icy field on its feet, as though it were a figure skater. The little pokemon, though hurt (Vincent was sure of it....?) was actually enjoying itself, using the momentum of the attack to skater in a perfect u-turn. It perfomed a pirouette in place and cheered, happy.

"Wha....?" Vincent was still a little taken aback. Was it not hurt?

Then he remembered Seel. He had not returned it, and thus it had been given a moment to catch its breath. Now the sea lion was, shakily, up on its fins and ready. So, Snorunt had been theatrical to keep Treecko preoccupied with it so Seel could stand. Now was his chance, and Vincent took it.

"Seel, Water Sport! Snorunt, Icy Wind!"

A jet of water came down on Lily from a short distance, not much, but enough for Vincent. Then, before the water had made contact with the Treecko, a blast of ice-cold wind hit the jet dead center and froze it into a pillar of ice, freezing the poor gecko pokemon solid in a tube of solid, 3-inch thick ice.

"Ah....umm, good game?"

In all honesty, Vincent hadn't expected that to work, but, whatever.

[BlackStarLine]

"Grr... This can't be over... not yet..." Daniel muttered to himself

All of a sudden Lily began to glow green, taking Daniel and Vincent by surprise.

"Could it be..." Daniel said "Could that be Overgrow?"

Suddenly, the ice surrounding Lily shattered and Lily stood up strong, the green light surrounding her dissipating.

Daniel could see that Vincent was visibly shocked by this turn of events.

"Lily, time to finish this! Use quick attack on Seel and then absorb on Snorunt!" Daniel commanded, knowing that the power of absorb would be doubled whilst Lily was under the power of Overgrow.

[PinkiePie]

Seel got rocked way off its feet, completely out for the count this time. It spun over and flipped, landing hard on its back. However, despite the Absorb, even with Overgrow, Snorunt merely tottered back and forth, showing no signs of pain or fatigue. Brave as he was, Vincent knew Snorunt was just about done. It had to be! How many hits could it take? Vincent withdrew Seel and returned its pokeball to his belt, and reached for Snorunts, but was stopped by a resolute cry from the infant.

"Huh?" Vincent replied.

The baby merely stared at Vincent, defiant. Was it really alright? It wasn't possible. Vincent unclipped the pokeball and, subsequently, had it blasted out of his hand by a Powder Snow attack.

"Ah! Snorunt-!"

But it just stared at him....

Then it turned around and, without warning, attacked Treecko once more, to Vincent's great astonishment. A powerful Powder Snow attack rocked the unsuspecting Lily to the ground, where it was frozen in place. If it had any energy left, it wouldn't be enough to move, let alone break free from the frozen ground and counter attack.

"Snorunt," Vincent cried, "stop!"

Snorunt turned around, defiant.

"It's alright.....stop fighting. Don't overexert yourself."

"Sno!" it cried back at him.

"What, are you trying to prove something? Stop! Alright?"

It merely shook, bristling off some ice that had stuck to its coat.

"I think we won, anyway. Just take a rest, alright? You'll hurt yourself if you keep going."

Then it seemed to click with the baby. It graciously nodded and held up its hands, wanting to be held. Vincent oblidged, picking up the little cone-shaped baby and cradled it, rocking back and forth. He addressed his opponent while he had a moment of silence to do so.

"I'm sorry about Treecko. It appears that my little Snorunt here was feeling a little too brave, and Lily may have been hurt."

It was then that Lanette came out of the pokemon center, her purse and Vincent's backback in tow.

"Aww, I missed it!" she complained. "Did you win, Vince?"

Vincent looked to her, then at the Treecko.

"Yeah....I guess we did."

[BlackStarLine]

"Well I must admit, you're pretty good for an Aqua. Your pokemon were tough. And you raise them with a lot of love. Well done. Oh and don't worry about Lily, she's pretty tough." Daniel said.

Daniel returned Lily to her pokeball, and walked off towards the Pokemon Centre, wanting to get Lily and Max healed up for their next mission.

"Let's hope we meet again under different circumstances." Daniel called to Vincent as he entered the Pokemon Centre.

He left Max and Lily with Nurse Joy and then went to check on the stash, only to find a bag missing.

"Hmm... his girlfriend must have taken the lighter bag whilst we were battling..." Daniel thought to himself. He quickly checked the bag to see if the most valuable goods, the pokedexes, were in this bag. Lucky for him, they were.

Daniel decided to take the gear back to headquarters the next day, and decided that making the hole more secure would have to be a priority. He headed over to Nurse Joy, took back his pokemon and paid for a room for the night. He went to bed with thoughts on his battle with Vincent, mainly thoughts on how he could improve his battle style.

[PinkiePie]

The journey back from the pokemon center was quiet, which was unusual for Vincent and Lanette. The pair were always talking, and even when they weren't, they were communicating in some fashion. But almost the entire trip was silence. Nothing had to be said, so why bother talking, right? But it didn't sit right with Vincent, so when they arrived back at the warehouse, he turned around and gave his fiance a hug.

"Ah! Vincent?"

He let her go. "Yes?"

"What was that?"

"It was too quiet. I needed to hear your voice."

She smiled sarcastically at him. "Yeah, okay."

"I'm so glad to have you back. This lifestyle isn't meant for solo flyers. If anything, you'll be here to keep me sane."

"And I can always come with you on missions," she added, "though I don't feel comfortable bring pokemon with me."

Vincent hauled the inflatable raft into the river and started the engine, offering Lanette a helping hand. Accepting it, the pair sped off into the forest, enjoying the feel of the river's water splashing up at them together, Vincent's greatest wish finally realized.

~Fin....?

"FAILED?!"

Vincent sat in a chair in his CO's office the next morning. She was furious that one of her units had failed yet again.

"Yes, ma'am. The thief broke in and stole some equipment, which we were able to recover a fraction of."

"I DON'T WANT TO HERE IT, LANCE!" she bellowed, trying her best to compose herself and failing. "I...." She sighed. "I expected a lot better from you! A punt Rebel, and you couldn't stop him. Absolutely pitiful."

A man barged into the room.

"As punishment for your-" the woman stopped, seeing the man. "Ah....sir!"

"At ease, Veronica," replied the man. Vincent had no idea who he was. "Go back to your quarters. I've got it from here."

"Yes, sir!" And Vincent's CO left the office. Her PorygonZ floated in the corner, eyeballing the entire conversation in silence. The man walked up to it and started talking in a low voice, so that Vincent couldn't hear him. After about five seconds, the pokemon left the room as well, leaving the man and the Grunt alone.

"So, you're Vincent?"

"Yes, sir."

"Your reputaton preceeds you, I hope you know. Your exploits are not unknown to me, including what you've done inside and outside this operation."

"I....thank you, sir?"

"You failed yet another mission. It cost you your CO. Your performance-"

"Sir, what'd you say? It cost me my CO?"

"Yes. Veronica will be transferred over to another station in Hoenn. I'll be in charge of you and your unit from now on."

"I see," was all he could say. Mentally, inner-Vincent was fist-pumping in glorious victory, overjoyed that the woman was out of his life forever.

"Now, what was I saying?" said the man unexpectedly.

Vincent paused, then replied. "You were sending me back to me room."

"Was I? Very well, at ease."

Vincent nodded hurriedly and opened the door, leaving the room with a sense of accomplishment, despite his failure to protect the warehouse. He'd made a new rival, got his CO transfered, and reunited with his fiance. His world was perfect, for however fleeting a time, and he was determined to enjoy it.