Pokemon Fan Fiction / Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Neo-Poke ❯ Forced to Travel Together? The Unwilling Alliance ( Chapter 4 )

Neo-Poke: Episode Four, Season One: Forced To Travel Together? The Unwilling Alliance.

As Hoshi stared at the van, her parents suddenly hopped out from either side of the front of the van. First, they both hugged her, glad they weren't traveling back with a corpse, or visiting a hospital emergency room, but then, first her mother and then her father gave her a 'you-are-in-so-much-trouble-young-lady' look.

"Hoshi Kimberley Morgan, may I ask what you were thinking?" asked her father in a tone that had forced itself to abandon all fury.

"My question exactly," agreed her mother.

"Umm…" she said, looking at the ground and shuffling her feet, "Well, Nyasu was lecturing me and basically said I bend the rules to make everything not my fault and that was behavior that was endorsed by members of Team Rocket and I said I wasn't like that and I'd go beat them and…well, I went."

"And where is Nyasu now?" asked her mother with raised eyebrows.

"At this moronic Shinji kid's house in Pallet Town. She didn't think I was serious."

Her mother turned to look at her father, "I think we should resolve this there, then."

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Getting out at Shinji's house was a huge relief for Hoshi, who had endured stony silence in the car for fifteen minutes. Too eager escape the silence, Hoshi never noticed the look of remembrance and nostalgia that her parents shared with each other as they looked at the Ketchum family residence. Upon opening the door, Shinji practically leapt on her, "You don't have a bullet hole in your head!"

"No I don't. It's really too bad you don't have one though," snapped Hoshi irritably, eager to lash out at someone who couldn't punish her.

"Huh?" asked Shinji, looking adorably clueless for a moment. Then it dawned on him and he frowned, but decided it was too late for a comeback.

"Thank God!" said Nyasu, running up next, "Oh I bet I'd be as good as dead if I let you die…"

"Why don't you ask my parents about that? They're coming in now," sniped Hoshi.

Nyasu gasped and ran to the door, "Musashi! Kojiro! I'm sorry, I honestly didn't expect-"

"It's alright," said Kojiro reassuringly, "We don't blame you for this."

'Oh yeah!' thought Hoshi angrily, 'No one cares that SHE practically egged me on! How typical,' she crossed her arms.

Kasumi walked into the area where the rest of them were. She eyed Hoshi critically, looking like she was checking for injuries, then, apparently satisfied, she turned her eyes to Musashi and Kojiro, "Excuse me, but who exactly are you?" it seemed she didn't immediately recognize her old adversaries.

"My parents," muttered Hoshi.

"You in trouble?" whispered Shinji.

"Gee, no, I almost got myself killed in what everyone basically thinks was a reckless act, of course I'm not in trouble," mumbled Hoshi back sarcastically.

At the word 'trouble' Kasumi suddenly had a flashback to sometime about twenty years ago…a man with blue hair and green eyes and a woman with crimson hair and blue eyes, named Musashi and Kojiro…a part of Team Rocket, or rather an ex-part of Team Rocket the last time they'd seen each other. And she made the connection, "Let's…discuss this in the kitchen," she said, raising and eyebrow at Jessie and James. She looked at Shinji, Hoshi and Nyasu--well, mostly Shinji--, "And I advise you all against eavesdropping."

"Mom is a psychic!" Shinji said excitedly. Hoshi and Nyasu rolled their eyes.

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Four or so hours later, long after Satoshi had come back saying happily that Team Rocket had been locked in jail and gone to join the conversation in the kitchen, Hoshi, Shinji, and Nyasu were utterly bored. Keiko had stopped by earlier, her earlier brawl with Hoshi forgotten, but then about forty-five minutes later, she declared it was time for her to be going because her mom probably had supper nearly ready.

"We could play pretend," suggested Shinji meekly, staring at the room before him, strewn with earlier boredom remedies that had failed.

Hoshi snorted, "No."

"How about we play 'I Spy'?"

"Didn't we do that earlier?" asked Nyasu.

"Well, yeah but-"

"Are you sure you don't have any more computer games?" asked Hoshi.

"Nope. Except those first-person shooters that mom forbade me to play when she found out about them. I 'spect she'll burn them when I leave."

"What's going on in there that takes such an ungodly long time?!" moaned Hoshi.

"Who cares what yer mom said about eavesdroppin'! I'm gonna find out what dey're talkin' about!" declared Nyasu. But unfortunately for her, when she touched the door, a few volts of electricity coursed through her body, "WHAT'S ON THAT DOOR?!" she yelled angrily.

"Oh, that's what I thought mom probably did to the door. We have a certain system that you can turn on in the kitchen and in my parents' bedroom. If they turn it on, anyone that touches the door gets a few volts of electricity sent through them," said Shinji mildly.

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In the Kitchen…

"Ah," said Satoshi glancing at the door and hearing Nyasu's yell, "The anti-eavesdropping security system still works."

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Back in the living room…

"I'm hungry," whined Shinji, "Why couldn't they talk somewhere else?"

"Go look under the couch and maybe you'll find some crumbs," suggested Hoshi sardonically.

"No. Mom just vacuumed yesterday," replied Shinji solemnly.

"Ugh!" moaned Hoshi in frustration, "My life for an intelligent conversation!"

"Are you sure that's wise?" asked Shinji, wide-eyed.

"You got no concept of melodramatic, do ya?" asked Nyasu.

Suddenly, the kitchen door opened, and the three stared attentively as Satoshi, Kasumi, Musashi, and Kojiro came out.

"Thank you! I was gonna starve!" yelled Shinji gratefully, running for the kitchen.

Satoshi chuckled slightly, "We can eat after we discuss something with you."

"Is it going to take as long to explain as it did for you in the kitchen? I don't wanna wait that long," complained Shinji.

"We'll give you the condensed version," said Kojiro.

"Oh good!" said Shinji looking at them, "but what does 'condensed' mean?"

"It means if we're lucky, we might be done talking about whatever it is by midnight, or maybe one in the morning," replied Hoshi, acting as though that would be the best-case scenario.

"What?!" Shinji looked stricken.

Musashi gave her daughter a hard stare, "It shouldn't take more than fifteen minutes."

"Or hours," muttered Hoshi for Shinji to hear. His eyes widened, but he then realized she *hopefully* wasn't serious and scowled at her.

"Well," Kasumi began, "We were thinking it over, and we decided that instead of having three children on separate journeys getting into separate trouble, we would have three children on one journey, keeping each other out of most trouble."

"Who's the third..?" asked Hoshi, unable to think of anything else to say at the moment.

"Keiko," Satoshi answered, "I talked to her parents over the phone and they thought it was a good idea."

"But…but…that means I'll be with two girls!" protested Shinji, throwing his parents a pleading look, "Girls put on make-up and have slumber parties, and giggle, and have ear-splitting screams, and worry too much about how they look, and only want cute Pokemon, and worry about breaking their nails! I won't be able to get very far at all with people like that!"

"I don't want to travel with anyone else!" cried Hoshi, trying to convince her own parents to let her go on her own, "Keiko is really spoiled, and I don't want to have to travel with someone like that! And he's," she gestured towards Shinji, "the most gullible, pathetic boy I've met! Please…I won't take on Team Rocket or anyone like that alone anymore!"

"If dey went on dey're merry way, could I go back home?" asked Nyasu, considerably cheered by this thought.

"Sorry, but no," Kojiro replied over the two children's yelling, pouting, screaming, and threatening to hold their breath until the parents gave in.

"Well, dis don't concern me in no way then," mutter Nyasu crossing her arms and glaring at the ground.

"Shinji, you are twelve years old now, and you cannot continue to act like a baby and try to hold your breath and whine when things don't go your way!" reprimanded Kasumi. Shinji let out the breath he had been holding and crossed his arms obstinately.
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At the Sketchit residence…

Keiko's parents, Kenji and Haruka, called their daughter after dinner to inform her of the plans they had made with Shinji's and Hoshi's parents, "You're going to travel with Shinji and Hoshi, whom I hear you met early today," concluded Hakura.

Keiko stared at them, and then shrugged, "Ok mommy, daddy," she said, and walked towards her room again, wondering what the yelling going on at the Ketchum's was all about. Probably, Shinji had turned up the TV too loud to a soap opera, she thought. Oh well. She went to sleep.
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The following morning…

"Just because I travel with you does not mean I will be kind to you, by any means," groused Hoshi, towards a sour-looking Shinji.

"Hello!" called Keiko's cheerful voice, "Ready to travel?"

"Oh yes, especially since it'll be with you. I would have never been able to ask for better company, not in a million years," snapped Hoshi sarcastically.

"So be it. Just 'cause you both are crabby, I'm not going to let it ruin MY day," she proclaimed.

"Please tell me that you didn't pick the most sickeningly cute starter Pokemon that you could have!" said Shinji, looking at Keiko hopefully.

"I was able to get Chikorita," she answered, "Why?"

"Will you let it evolve?" he asked.

"No, of course not! I think the evolved forms are sorta UGLY!" she answered, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I was RIGHT about girls!" he muttered to himself, "It's always about how cute something is for them…"