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Post by Pastyourbedtime on May 31, 2013 12:52:53 GMT -8
Davis was a bit groggy when he woke up from the nap he'd been taking on the train. He had gone to bed extremely late the night before, so the long train ride to Pastoria had been a convenient way to catch up on missed sleep. It was worth it, though, because he felt closure for the first time in a long time. He could focus on himself now without feeling guilty.
He sat up, stretching, yawning and rubbing his eyes before interrupting a conversation he had missed out on. "Who's the gym leader in Pastoria?"
"Crasher Wake. He trains Water Types." Sutton answered. "Way to sleep through the whole train ride, by the way." She added.
"Are we here?" He asked, looking out the window and saw wetlands, but no buildings.
"They said we'd be there in 10 minutes a little while ago." Dekota chimed in.
Davis nodded. "I'm gonna go for the badge." He said out of the blue, only deciding it himself a moment before.
"Awesome, glad to see you're feeling confident." Cairo said, patting Davis on the shoulder. Dekota and Sutton smiled supportively. The train started to slow down as they entered Pastoria City, and eventually came to a halt. The four trainers shuffled into the crowd of people exiting the train, and took in the sights of Pastoria.
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Post by scissorhands on Jun 5, 2013 16:26:47 GMT -8
"I was thinking of just going for it tonight. I feel like I can do it," Cairo began before Dekota interrupted.
"Don't think that's possible," Dekota said.
"Why not?" Cairo asked.
"Take a look at this," Dekota said as he handed Cairo a Pastoria events calendar he'd been handed when he'd boarded the train.
Cairo's eyes scanned the various dates and events plastered across them in appealing fonts and atop vibrant, attractive colors. He saw the day's date and a big picture of a face he was too familiar with for his own comfort. "Tonight only," Cairo read, "Justin Bibarel live at the Pastoria City Gym. All ages. Forty-five dollar cover at the door. Great. Are you kidding me? Great."
"Well," Sutton chimed in, hand holding Cairo's, "at least now we know what to do tonight!" she concluded, laughing.
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Post by Pastyourbedtime on Jun 5, 2013 16:37:36 GMT -8
"Justin Bibarel is here?" Davis said, trying not to sound too excited, but not doing a very good job as Dekota turned to him with a raised eyebrow. It wasn't something he'd ever admit to, but Davis was somewhat a fan of the young singer. In Gringey, Davis's first and only job had been washing cars at an auto dealership a few times a week. It paid minimum wage, took forever, and was an all around horrible job. The only way he'd been able to get through most work days had been with his CD player. Since there was no music store in the entire city, his CD collection was limited what he could find at the supermarket. And that's how he had become a Justin Bibarel fan.
"We should go, I mean it's not like we have anything else to do." Again, he came across a lot more eager than he meant to. He had to turn his head away to keep his smile from the others. Cairo passed the events calendar over to Davis who read every detail about the concert while Sutton convinced Cairo and Dekota to go.
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Post by scissorhands on Jun 5, 2013 16:48:06 GMT -8
"Yeah!" Sutton said throwing Cairo's hand away from hers as he rolled his eyes and throwing her arm up and around Davis' shoulders, "I like Justin Bibarel!"
"Aren't you supposed to be smart? Like a scientist or something?" Dekota asked, sharply sardonic as he and Cairo laughed the situation off.
"His music is fun. Asses. And besides, you guys could have a great time making fun of people or something! Let's do it, it'll be a good time. Let's do it, we're doing it."
"It's forty-five dollars." Cairo reminded Sutton.
"It's Justin Bibarel." Dekota added.
"It's settled, then! We're going!" Sutton announced, excitedly and loudly.
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Post by Pastyourbedtime on Jun 5, 2013 17:11:36 GMT -8
The walk to the Pastoria Gym was practically a surreal experience. The entire city was littered with girls of all ages wearing Justin Bibarel shirts, and there were posters all over the place with the singer's face on it. Davis couldn't stop grinning. When they finally reached the gym, the line was ridiculously long. Cairo and Dekota groaned even more, but Sutton told them to stop complaining as they took their spot. They waited what seemed like forever until the line started moving, and then even longer until they were at the door.
Once they were inside though, the excitement of the room made it all worth it. Everyone in the audience was brimming with anticipation, waiting for Justin to take the stage. The gym was large, but there wasn't much seating. The bleachers were already completely packed and there were no other chairs. The large pool that Crasher Wake used for battling was also filled, with groups of young fans either swimming or floating on inner tubes, bouncing large beach balls up in the air.
"I see a good spot!" Sutton said, dashing off into the crowd and dragging Cairo by the arm.
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Post by scissorhands on Jun 5, 2013 17:24:40 GMT -8
While he wasn't particularly excited about the event itself, there was something about the way the Gym had been transformed into concert venue. The water from the pools reflected beautiful, dancing streaks across the ceiling that was accentuated by the lights' being turned off. He even liked some of the music that they were playing for the anticipant crowd.
Sutton found the four trainers a relatively clear spot, though they'd needed to elbow their ways to it. "You can see the stage pretty well from here, right?" Sutton asked, smiling, for some reassurance.
"Sure," Dekota said before jumping a bit, startled as some, what must have been preteen, girls ran away from him giggling.
"They just grabbed my butt!" Dekota called out as the other three trainers laughed him off.
Cairo looked around for a moment as Davis and Sutton tried to console the severely irritated Dekota for some drinks he'd hoped would be free considering the cover charge. He wandered only a few feet away before he abruptly stopped. His heart stopped similarly, then, as he thought he'd seen a familiar head of red hair pass by in the not-so-distant distance.
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Post by Pastyourbedtime on Jun 5, 2013 17:47:46 GMT -8
A large figure ran out onto the stage, getting everyone excited for a minute thinking it was Justin himself. It was instead a large, older man who seemed to be missing his shirt. "That's Crasher Wake." Davis heard someone say. So this was the gym leader.
"Pastoria City!" Crasher screamed into the mic, getting the crowd riled up. "I'm happy to open my gym doors to my good friend, Justin Bibarel!" He stopped to allow the crowd to scream at the mention of Justin Bibarel. "This concert has been a long time coming. Those of you who know me can vouch when I say that I've been talking about getting Justin up here to perform since he was just a little kid. I bet a lot of you didn't believe me when I said I knew him, did you?" The crowd laughed. "Well, I just have one thing to say to all those people who didn't believe me." He raised his large hand, flipping his middle finger to the entire screaming crowd. Crasher Wake's speech went on for a while, and most people were just waiting for him to stop talking so the concert could begin. Finally, he got to the end, his words speeding up like he'd been told to hurry up, which in fact he had.
"And now without further ado, Justin Bibarel!" Crasher waved his hand out to welcome the teenager onto the stage just as the loud music started to play. The entire crowd went wild, including Davis and Sutton who started cheering and singing along.
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Post by scissorhands on Jun 10, 2013 16:01:28 GMT -8
Cairo's heart began pounding, quickly and with some unsolicited vigor. It seemed to him that his heart was in some sort of inane contest to outdo the noise level from the speakers spread throughout the gym. He turned to Sutton who had his hand clutched firmly, caressing its side with her thumb. His heart seemed conflicted for a moment, but his eyes did all the reassuring that Sutton was the only girl he'd ever wanted even without having known it. But he had to know.
"I'll be right back." Cairo said, hand cupped around his mouth and Sutton's ear, "Gonna find the bathroom."
Sutton nodded and smiled. She kissed Cairo on the cheek before he left her side and took to pushing through a slew of preteens who were sweatier than he could ever have imagined five minutes of objectifying the surfer kid on stage could account for.
"Hey kid!" A voice screamed as an arm grabbed Cairo's, "Wanna buy some nachos? Real cheap. Huge portions. No kidding. Eight ninety-nine."
"No," Cairo said prying his arm from the grip of the overweight cheese purveyor, wearing the dirtiest apron Cairo'd ever seen.
"But, but eight ninety-nine! They're so freaking cheesy. It'll blow your mind," the man said, grabbing at Cairo again.
"No. Jesus Christ, no. I don't want any nachos for ten dollars. Jesus Christ," Cairo managed.
The man looked at him, eyes squinted and pursing his lips. He scrutinized him for what felt to Cairo like five whole minutes as he began to feel apprehensive.
"Okay," the man said, abruptly, "no cheese!" before walking away. Cairo shook his head and turned around with some aggravated force, bumping directly into a girl and knocking her from her feet. His eyes grew wide as he reached down, apologizing repeatedly.
"I'm sorry, so sorry," he'd said a final couple of times before she reached her feet and the light illuminated familiar eyes and cheek structures.
"Alison," Cairo said, breath fleeting, "Hi."
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Post by Pastyourbedtime on Jun 11, 2013 22:00:44 GMT -8
Davis was completely caught up in the moment. He was too focused on the music, which he was dancing terribly to, to notice that Cairo hadn't come back yet. It was only when Justin started to perform a song that hadn't been featured on Davis's CD that he took a break from singing along to look to his friends. Sutton was enjoying the concert in much the same way Davis was, jumping all around and singing with Justin. Dekota didn't seem very enthused, but he didn't look as bothered by the concert as Davis thought he'd be.
But Cairo, Davis noticed, was nowhere to be found. "Hey," Davis said to Sutton. He had to repeat this a few times, and eventually just shook her shoulder to get her attention. "Where'd Cairo go?"
Sutton eyes shifted to the left as she thought for a while before answering, "Uhh... bathroom?" Davis accepted this with a nod. He decided he could use a bathroom break himself, and since he wasn't very into this song it would be a good time to go.
He made it all the way in and out of the bathroom without running into Cairo at all. He did run into a man selling nachos for eight ninety-nine, which he bought. When he'd squeezed his way through the crowd and back to their spot, Cairo was still gone.
"I didn't see him in the bathroom." Davis said. Justin was playing a slower, quieter song now and he didn't have to shout as much to get Sutton to hear him.
"That's weird." Sutton said, grabbing a nacho. "Maybe he left or something, he didn't want to be here in the first place."
"Maybe." Davis shrugged, deciding to drop the subject.
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Post by scissorhands on Dec 29, 2013 9:59:48 GMT -8
"Whoa," Alison said.
"Yeah, nice to see you too," Cairo said.
"Why are you here?" Alison sort of had to call out as Justin's music started booming again as he debuted an apparently new song.
"What?" Cairo called out, sort of looking the other way and for an exit.
And then he saw something. He could hear Alison speaking, but it was white noise, more or less. He saw them creeping around in darkness, evidently looking for something. He saw their fingers swiping along stronger-looking trainers' belts, misdirecting them as they were so capable of doing. Their eyes were familiar and hit his heart hard even just because of a glance.
"Excuse me," he told Alison, disregarding whatever it was she had said. Alison looked slighted.
Cairo looked around anxiously for his friends, but seemingly to no avail. All he could see were swarms of kids of dancing, bouncing up and down, screaming. The room was coated in thick blankets of disorienting lights. He wouldn't have been able to find his friends if they were screaming for him and waving flares.
And then he did notice something as he looked back that took him into a sprint. That is, he caught Alison being ripped away from the venue by what he knew were two Galactic members. They were covering her with a large coat, covering up her mouth and leading her off.
He sprinted, knocking into countless patrons of the event and shoving tweens to the floor. He ripped a Pokeball from his belt and readied himself to fight. But he lost her in the lights. Justin was screaming, lights were strobing with some seizure-inducing capacity, and it was just about impossible to get anywhere in a hurry.
"dang it. Alison!" Cairo called out. He saw them, at what must have been the last possible moment, dragging Alison out a door he never would have noticed was there.
Cairo finally made his way there, too, but only to be greeted by a man at his knees before an unconscious Infernape as he opened that hidden door.
"Are you all right?" Cairo said instinctively and rushed, looking around for Alison apprehensively.
The man looked up and Cairo almost immediately saw fury in his eyes.
"You," the man said, "you're Cairo. You. YOU are the reason they took her! They took Alison because they thought she was important to YOU! What have you done?"
The man stood up.
"Who do you think you are?!" The man continued as he shoved Cairo backward and began weeping openly.
"Where did they go?" was all Cairo could muster.
"What do you care?"
"Where did they go?" Cairo said a trifle more insistently.
"Even if I knew, I wouldn't tell you! You're gonna get her killed!"
"I'm not gonna get anyone killed! I just want this to end! You have no idea where they went?"
"They said," the man mustered, throwing hands to face, overcome with emotion, "they said something about Goldenrod. But what's it to you?"
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