Ragdoll Chapter 9

The image I was looking at was grotesque.

On the other side of a window, a Malamar and Emboar looked down at the scene that laid before them. A Hypno was sprawled on the floor bleeding out from a multitude of glass shards. Splattered on top of him was a Leafeon sporting grey shriveled leaves, where a giant 9 inch  blade was jammed through his paw and the glass shards that stuck out of the Hypno were impaling the Leafeon as well. A mixed mess of blood and chlorophyll had sprayed all over the floor of the room, illuminated by the lamp hanging above in the center of the recording room.

And I had witnessed the whole thing… In fact, everything that just happened was… my fault.

It all happened so fast that it took a while for me to realise I was screaming.

Near the pile of downed Pokemon, the Malamar and the Emboar watched as they processes the scene before them.

The Malamar then looked up to face me from window on the other side of the room.

“Rosie Ann, I suppose I should thank you.” She spoke, “You just knocked down one of the most dangerous and notorious Pokextinction Killers only by throwing a knife. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t impressed, even if it didn’t really kill him. You’re pretty tough for a Delcatty.”

I fell on all fours.

“What have I done?” I mumbled to myself…

The Emboar then crossed his arms.

“So… he’s not dead?” He asked the Malamar, who bent down to feel his pulse.

“It’ll take more than a shiv attack to bring this monster down,” She explained as she felt the pulse of the Hypno underneath, “However, I will make sure that will be remedied soon enough.”

I curled my paw into a fist and began banging it on the floor, loud enough for the both of them to hear.

I then heard a bang as the Emboar rushed through the door and pointed one of his claws at me, which was lit with a small but bright flame. In response I slowly got up and put my paws in the air above my head, as if I was held at gunpoint.

“You should feel proud,” He said to me with a smile, as he kept his claw trained in my direction. “You defeated a psychopathic murderer.”

That statement made my blood boil.

“He’s not a psychopath, and I did nothing of the sort!” I screamed, “I was aiming for the Malamar!”

The Malamar soon floated into the room as well with the clipboard under her tentacle.

“And if I hadn’t have used my psychic power to spring the Extinctionist up into the trajectory, your ‘bullet’ probably would have hit its mark.” She smirked. “Still, that was quite the throw.”

I fell at a loss for words. I slowly got up from all fours and wiped the sweat and tears off my face. I looked around the dark recording studio, and saw that the Documents that ‘he’ made; the ones that weren’t destroyed; were sitting on top of some sort of folded grey blanket.

The Malamar looked at me in delight.

“At the very least, thanks for making my job easier.” She sneered, “I’ll finish the job eventually.”

I couldn’t take it anymore… I couldn’t stand here and listen to this vile ‘woman’s ramblings!

I swung my fists down and let out a shout, and when I did, I fired an Ice Beam right out of my jaw, landing a direct hit on the Malamar. The beam launched her through the empty window with one of her arm-tentacles hitting the ceiling lamp along the way, into the the room where the two victims rested, falling somewhere into the darkness. I heard a ‘thud’ but couldn’t see where she landed.

Quick to react, the Emboar launched a beam of his own. It was a Flamethrower, firing through his claw as if he was wielding a weapon. Seeing the flames, I only had a few nanoseconds to react. I quickly held up my arms and covered my face, activating Protect. The Flamethrower hit my arms but bounced right off in all directions. When the flames stopped I lowered my arms. Sparks of embers rained down from above, thankfully nothing caught fire, but the sprinklers soon went off. As soon as they did, the Emboar quickly reeled back in discomfort.

This was my only chance…

I grabbed the Testimonial as well as the blanket and booked it out of the room. The Emboar tried to chase me as best as he could, but with the sprinklers going off, he had no hope of catching up to me. As I ran down a dark hallway, I quickly glanced through a window and realised I was above ground, so I burst through a door and raced down the emergency stairs, making sure not to trip over my own feet or drop any of the items.

I reached the ground floor and crashed through another door down a hall. At this point I was sure that the Emboar wouldn’t have the energy to continue chasing me, but I was NOT about to take any chances, especially with that Malamar.

I finally kicked open an emergency exit and ran outside. Still holding his belongings in my arms, I continued to run down several back streets until I was confident that the Emboar nor his boss wouldn’t be able to find me. I finally stopped and leaned on a wall of some building on some crummy backstreet.

I was completely out of breath and my heart was beating too fast for its own good, so I think I can stop now. I slowly slid down along the wall and sat leaning against it, panting like an idiot. I was way too tired to hold my tail up, so it fell to the ground. As I rested what I was holding on my lap, a terrible truth dawned on me...

Not only did I accidentally injure someone I knew personally… but I also left them to die in exchange for my own life.

No one should ever feel this way…

Feeling the guilt swell up in my body was eventually gonna overcome me, so I decided to look through what my friend was holding before I... accidentally stabbed him. At this point I had nothing to lose: they were the only mementos I had of one of my closest human friends… one that also transformed into a Pokemon.

First was… the greyish blanket.

Wait… this isn’t a blanket… it’s like some sort of snuggie… no, it’s more like a winter garment that can cover your whole body. Anyways, it felt super thick, and it felt smooth and comfortable when I rubbed the fabric between the digits of my paw. He must have been wearing this before he got captured.

Something then fell out of one of the sleeves into my lap.

A… key?

It was a standard key, stained blue in color. This must have been the key to his apartment or dorm, I better hold on to this real tight.

Finally, there was a manilla envelope resting on the ground near my feet, landed there after I lifted his winter cloak. I slowly undid the tab on the lid and carefully slid out the papers within.

“Confession Part C ~ Identity Withheld”

That’s all it said on the first page. Those PRT monsters claimed that he was a part of Pokextinction. If they were right, then this must be his memoirs of when he was with them. I peeled back the first page to take a quick glance at the second.

“All I could see was the fire, as it engulfed everything it could.

Metal was melting, people were screaming, and I had burned my fur away and broken almost every bone in my body after slamming into several vehicles. Soon after, the concrete wall of the Highway was bustling with wreckage after wreckage, blocking traffic with injured, helpless citizens.”

I couldn’t stop myself as the paw not holding the document instinctively sprang up to cover my mouth in shock. The carnage that unfolded within the paper was enough to fill my heart with despair and make me want to glue my eyes shut. If this was the opening act, what the hell could have happened afterward?!

More to the point, what the hell did that he GO through all this time?!

I carefully placed the testimonial back into the file and clipped it closed. Gore was one particular subject that I could never get used to. I slid the envelope into the sleeve of my friend’s coat along with the key and began to stand up, dusting myself off as I did so. I had managed to catch my breath for long enough to where I should probably get back to my hotel room ASAP. My manager is probably losing his mind at this very minute… yelling at my poor bodyguard. God, after everything that has happened to me today I didn’t even wanna talk to that asshole right now.

I sighed, slowly draped myself with my friends cloak to escape the incoming cold winds, and casually made my way towards a public map of this base to view. I have to be honest: his coat was very comfy to wear, and bonus points to the fact that nobody will be able to recognise my face if I walk with the hood on. Well, I guess my tail dragging along the sidewalk behind me can be a possible giveaway… hopefully there’s more than one Delcatty in this base that I can pretend to be.

I felt a drop of water hit my tail. A few seconds later, I felt another drop.

Rain? How? I thought this base was thousands of feet underground… unless this is artificial rain… either way,  it began raining because of course it did. Like anything else can go wrong for me today. AT LEAST I had some kind of protection from getting wet. ...Normally I’d follow up with a dirty joke about being wet but at this moment I wasn't in the mood.

Eventually I finally came across a map I could use. Finally, No more wandering aimlessly for this cat! Let’s see… I was currently on Lyzer Street, and the hotel that I was staying in was on… Maker Avenue...

… All the way down on the southwestern corner of the base. And I was… Northeast. Farthest northeast. Ugh.

“Trolley.” I mumbled to myself as I looked for the nearest train stop. It wasn’t far, I just needed to pass the next block and wait at a street corner. Hopefully there’ll be some kind of semi-shelter while I would wait there.

Not hesitating or waiting any more, I turned around to pick up my own tail, still laying on the wet sidewalk. I really didn’t want to waste any more of my lingering energy having to hold it up anymore, so I was just gonna carry it manually in my paws. I then walked away from the sign towards the train stop making sure that none of the possessions I was carrying fell into the rain.

Once I reached the first intersection, I looked around this base’s environment while waiting for the sign to flash ‘walk.’ Even though I was at a corner, I was standing in front of a walkway to a rather tall-looking building, but shorter compared to the other skyscrapers I’ve seen around this base. Judging from the sign out front, The building appeared to house a collection of different businesses; each were renting a room within the building. Curious, I began skimming some of the businesses shown on the sign. Most of them simply seemed to be unique one-off wonder shops, which you seem to see a lot of in the world of Pokeumans. It made me a little curious to see what these shops housed, but at this moment I just wanted to get out of the rain in my own hotel room. And eventually cry myself to sleep tonight... or plan my next move.

Finally the light flashed ‘walk’ and the trolley that I saw stopped for the intersection. Seeing my chance, I walked briskly over to the other side of the street and finally continued my trek to the stop…

That being said, I couldn’t help but stop a little ways after  the intersection and stand in awe at the newest building that stood before me.

Looking at the building at one glance would tell anyone that it was the Courthouse, but even then it’s pretty rare to see such an oppressive yet somehow warming atmosphere coming from a building standing in a place like this. Back at the base where I lived on the other side of the country; The Pokeuman base was more… Old-fashioned, so the courtroom was really just one big room. I’ve never actually seen a building dedicated to the law before in a base, so this sight honestly made me do a doubletake. If the courthouse was this grand on the outside, I wonder how it looked like on the inside.

But those would have to be thoughts for another day. I was wasting time at this point, so I began to lightly jog the rest of the way to the train stop.

The trolley stop was actually at the next intersection, and technically I was still standing in front of the Courthouse, so luckily I didn’t have that much farther to go before I could rest on a trolley. I sat at the bench with the trolley sign right next to it and waited. Strangely enough, I seemed to be the only one actually waiting for a train. Come to think of it… even stranger still, I don’t think I passed anyone else on my way to this stop. This base was giving off a real New York-ey big city feel, and yet this place seemed surprisingly barren. Me thinking over the top again, I suppose.

It didn’t take long for a Trolley to see me and make a stop right in the road in front of me. The LED that flashed along the base of the roof was flashing Monorail #CDE. Once it opened it’s door like a subway car, I made no hesitation to step on. Once I boarded I lowered the hood of the cloak I was wearing so I could talk to the train driver, A Dewgong resting on the seat with it’s hands on the controls.

“Excuse me,” I began, “Does this train make a stop at the Visitors Hotels?”

The driver turned to face me… and it’s eyes went wide with surprise upon seeing my face.

Oh yeah… Singer, Duh.

The driver began to get a little flustered.

“M-Ms. Rosie Ann?” He was almost afraid to ask me that question, as of he was worried that he might offend me.

“Heheh, Sorry… I’m not Rosie, I just get that a lot.” I replied with a smile~ y’know, like a liar.

The Dewgong gave out a little disappointed sigh.

“T-This monorail will eventually make a stop alongside Monorail #RSTU, Miss.” He explained, “Board that train, and you’ll be taken straight to the Visitors Hotels.”

I nodded with a smile.

“Thank you.” I replied,

The Dewgong smiled in response and while he turned to face the train’s controls, he kept trying to sneak a look at me… as if he was trying to prove that I was the real Rosie Ann.

Either way… I sat down near the front of the train and finally let out a sigh of relief, fiddling with my tail in my paws as I did so. it was all I could do to try to not think about the fact that I just killed someone. Maybe if I’m lucky I’ll wake up in a few minutes and this will all have been revealed just to be a bad dream. Just to be sure, I pinched my tail… well that just hurt. Maybe I should just go straight to a therapist if I'm going to be doing stupid shit like that.

I looked around the train. There were only a few other Pokeumans riding the trolley, and I guess the both of them must have heard the trolley driver’s question, because they were secretly trying to get a lood look at my face. Joke’s on them; This grey cloak is working wonders for hiding who I am. I placed the hood back on and began to think about this coat’s owner. Was he… still alive? Was that monstrous woman going to try and finish him off?

I was there at knifepoint when they strapped him to that chair, so I was listening when they mentioned that he ‘can’t die.’ I’m not really sure what they meant when the Malamar said that, but I hope to Christ she was right.

Eventually, after hopping onto a different trolley like the Dewgong suggested, I found myself staring at the Visitors Hotel in the rain. I let out one last sigh and slowly made my way into the building, anticipating my jackass of a manager screaming at the staff for something they wouldn’t have had any control over.

I passed the double doors and stepped into the lobby, the only thing that wasn’t completely soaked from the artificial rain was my friend’s testimonial, which I made sure to guard. Luckily, my manager wasn’t anywhere to be seen, but rather than make me satisfied, I began to worry even more.

I began shaking my tail to dry it out as I approached the receptionist. Unfortunately, the Gardevoir reading the novel in her hands recognised me immediately even with the giant cloak on.

“Ah, Good Afternoon Ms. Ann.” She began, looking out of her book, “You might want to let your manager know you’re back. He’s been down here so many times today looking for you.”

“Out of horrid curiosity, what has he been doing since he first came down here?” I asked, sighing.

The Gardevoir went back into her book.

“Mostly absorbed in a phone call.” She replied, “Sounded like a heated conversation.”

Not even a few seconds went by when~

“Ms. Ann!” I heard a screechy voice shout coming from the elevators nearby. I couldn’t have escaped him even if I wanted too.

A Sandslash began walking up to me as fast as ‘walking’ considers... ‘walking.’ with a cellphone within its claws.

“Yes, she finally decided to return back to this pit of a hotel.” He spoke into the phone, “I expect the teleporter to New York to be ready within 30 minutes, do you understand? I’ll be calling you back when we’re on our way.”

He then finally hung up his phone as I stood before him.

“Hello. Nigel.” I replied sarcastically. The smug Sandslash couldn’t help but stare at my current appearance.

“Where the hell have you been?!” He began to pelt me with questions, “What is that ugly piece of trash wrapped around your body?!”

Nigel then stuck up to claws in my direction, reminiscent of the ‘talk to the hand’ pose.

“Screw it, the latter question for when we get back to the room.”

He began to look at his phone again as the two of us boarded the nearby elevator. I waved to the Gardevoir at the desk, begging that she would pick up my subtle gestures and get me away from my manager… but all she could do was wave back silently wishing for my safety. As the elevator door closed and we ascended to the penthouse, Nigel began looking at me (more specifically, what I was wearing) in absolute disgust.

“I told your bodyguards to keep you AT LEAST 50 feet from the scum and filth of this wretched place.” Nigel lashed, Obviously we have a failure to communicate. I can already smell the poverty radiating from your homeless rag.”

Nigel then began staring at my neck.

“Were you bitten by a were-peasant?” He asked,

“Shut the fuck up Nigel I’ve had a long morning!” I snapped, slurring my words together. Nigel scoffed, waiting for the elevator to stop.

“I’ve had it with this hellhole.” He began talking again, “Throw out that piece of trash wrapped around your body and start packing your things: We’re leaving in a few hours.”

“Excuse me?” I asked, “What do you mean, ‘we’re leaving?!’”

Nigel rolled his eyes while still checking his phone.

“Hmph. We have no business staying here in the slums.” He explained, “You aren’t worth the time of ANY of these crusty vermin, so I’ve taken the liberty of changing your vacationing spot. You can thank me when we get there, Rosie.”

My jaw hit the floor in a rage.

“Nigel, I told you to stay the hell out of my business when I’m going on a holiday!” I yelled as the elevator finally came to a stop, “Why the hell did you even come with me if you don’t like where I was going?!”

As Nigel got off the elevator and into the lobby in front of our hotel room, he suddenly turned around and lightly poked above my chest with his claw.

“You don’t get it!” He hissed, “Do you REALISE how valuable you are as a singer? What would happen if you got hurt out here in the boonies?! Even more importantly~  Don’t you see the possibilities of how much extra green you can make if you relax at a more… expensive venue… like the Long Island Base!”

I pushed the selfish Sandslash’s claw away from my chest and walked towards the door to the penthouse suite.

“Go to Long Island by yourself.” I said in a nasty tone as I approached the door… and the Pokemon standing in front of it.

A Machamp stood between me and the door. He stood at a tremendous 8 feet tall and he basically was sprouting muscles on top of his already bulging muscles. As soon as he saw my face under the hood I was wearing, his own face revealed a mix of excitement and nervousness as he slid his hulking body to the side of the door, letting me in.

“Welcome back, Lady Rose.” He spoke. His low pitched intimidating voice would make any other Pokemon on Earth back away from him slowly.

“Again, honorifics aren’t necessary Eugene.” I replied as Nigel arrived standing behind me self absorbed into his phone like a prick. As I entered the Penthouse, I signalled Eugene to enter the room with us. Once the three of us were in the room, Eugene closed the door behind us and stood once again on the side of the door.

The Penthouse suite always seemed to be the room in every hotel that Nigel would book me in. Of course, the room always looked nice no matter what base we went to, but unlike the others… I had zero desire to be in the Penthouse this time around. I had my reasons.

I looked around the Penthouse. It was the top floor of the New Detroit Visitors Hotel, and The entire ceiling was made of a sturdy glass. Even though the rain was really starting to come down hard, the glass ceiling must have been layered because you couldn’t hear the drops pelt the ceiling. That said, you could still hear the oncoming thunder, fake or not. Even though it was the middle of the day, the fog and the rain made the city feel more at night. The wall facing the city was also made out of a sturdy glass; if it wasn’t for the pouring rain and fog, I bet that the view of the city would have been beautiful. The room itself was spacious, and had way more features than any normal hotel room would provide. No matter what I did, my eyes kept getting drawn to the hot tub near the center of the Penthouse… fit with a banister serving as a towel rack, and a panel that could change the contents of the tub to satisfy other Pokemon types… like filling the tub with hot wet sand for Ground-Types like Nigel. The Bed looked fancy AF, the plasma-screen TV on the other side of the room felt like it stretched over  the entire wall, and something told me that the speakers were loud enough so no matter where you were in the penthouse, you could still hear the TV.

I looked back over from the room and saw Nigel fiddling on his phone again on the red double-length sofa.

“Ugh, they actually charge Pokemon to use the teleporters here?!” Nigel belched as he stared into his phone resting between his claws, “Get with the times, you moronic plebeians, some of us don’t WANT to waste our hard-earned money on pathetic slummy bases like THIS one!”

While I was still standing near Eugene by the door, I glanced over at the Machamp Bodyguard to see his reaction to Nigel’s outburst and like I thought; I’m not the only one that wanted to see that Sandslash thrown into the penthouse hot tub on ‘water-mode’. I made my way to the other blue sofa by the wall window and pulled the testimonial out of my sleeve. I then quietly slipped the testimonial into the drawer attached to the table where one of the fancy lamps were, being careful not to let Nigel notice. Eugene spotted me but luckily I put a digit to my mouth signaling the big lug to be quiet before he could ask. I then walked over to the hot tub towel rack and carefully slid off my friends cloak, being careful not to damage it. Once I had it off, I slid the towels over and draped it over the towel rack to let it dry from the rain; an act that made Nigel shutter.

The strange key that he had then fell out of the cloak sleeve and pinged onto the floor. I quickly snatched it up before Nigel could register that something just fell and gripped it in my paw so tight that no one would be able to tell what I was hiding.

“What was that?” Nigel asked, as he looked up from his phone from the sofa.

“It was nothing.” I replied, “You wouldn’t care.”

Nigel grew curious, but nonetheless fell back into his phone.

“Alright, the Teleporter has been paid in full, thanks to the company.” Nigel announced, “Finally, we can go somewhere actually worth some money.”

I turned around to face Nigel with a blank expression, I was leaning on the towel rack as Nigel continued his speech.

“Long Island base has gotten VERY popular since Mr. X was defeated, perhaps we can make your popularity soar even higher if I arrange a meeting with THE Pokeuman who defeated Pokextinction for good! Imagine how wild the Paparazzi would get!

I stomped my paw on the floor, loud enough for Nigel to look up from his phone and towards my general direction.

“Did you hear A SINGLE WORD that has come out of my mouth?!” I slammed, “I have no plans of leaving this base in favor of another base!”

Nigel looked at me like I was drunk, then began laughing.

“Hah! Like someone as valuable as Rosie Ann would waste her precious vacation time in a dump like this! This hotel room isn’t even up to standards compared to the images of the scenic spots that I’m seeing in New York!”

I was never able to understand Nigel’s reasoning patterns, but this was insufferable. How this bastard managed to weasel his way through the Pokeuman music industry to become my manager is BEYOND me, but at this very moment I was ready to fire his sandy ass.

Nigel got up from the couch and began walking towards the coat rack by the door. He signalled Eugene to get away from the door as he removed an expensive looking scarf from a hangar and began to put it on.

“I’m going to inspect the Teleporters to make sure it’s up to standards,” He continued, “Pack your things and I’ll meet you and Eugene therein hopefully 10 minutes. Also, for christ’s sake throw that damn rag away before you get there!”

He then turned to Eugene.

“Break any Pokeuman in half who tries to even look at Rosie as you two are heading to the Teleporters, do you understand? Don’t forget that I’M the one who writes your paycheck.”

He then closed the door behind him before either Eugene or I could reply. As soon as I heard Nigel’s footsteps walk towards the elevator away from the Penthouse, I quietly crept towards the door~ and locked it.

“Finally, that f*cker is gone.” I sighed.

Eugene couldn’t help but chuckle.

“New plan!” I shouted as I turned to Eugene still standing next to the door; “Hungry? Let’s go get something to eat.”

The giant mass of testosterone that was the Machamp gave me a look of confusion as one of his four arms held up a finger as if to explain something,

“Er, Lady Rose~ I-I mean, Rosie…”

He began to stammer. Having Nigel as a source of income must be the worst feeling in your chest.

Plan A: Negotiation.

“Eugene, I will give you ALL the money I have in my wallet right now if you ignore everything that Sandslash just said and come enjoy my vacation with me.”

The big tank began to stammer even more.

“But R-Rosie, That goes against my orders…”

I put my paws on my hips.

“Screw your orders Gene, I’m talking like Nigel right now, and if he were in your position that greedy asshole would have taken my offer in a heartbeat.”

Eugene just shook his head, but I could tell he was starting to flake.

Plan B: Demanding.

“Eugene,” I commanded holding my paw up in the air, “Nigel is nothing compared to me; In fact, you’re being paid to protect ME, and I say we’re going out to eat!”

Eugene began to protest even further.

“Rosie, this city is dangerous, what if you get kidnapped and held at knifepoint?” He asked,

“IF anything were to happen like that Gene, all you would have to do is rip their tentacles off their body.” I smirked, “And rip their stupid pig nose right off!!!”

Eugene jumped a little since I got louder and louder as I pronounced that.

“Tentacles? Pig nose? Are… Are you referring to someone specific?” He asked.

I sighed. Eugene was a fantastic bodyguard, but dammit he could be such an airhead!

“Gene, for christ’s sake forget about Nigel and look up at me, I’m requesting that we get some grub.”

Eugene began twiddling this thumbs… all four of them.

“I… can’t defy Nigel.” He pleaded.

I huffed in frustration. Time for the big guns.

Plan C: If all else fails, Break Rule 9.

Plastering a greedy grin on my face, I cracked the knuckles in my paws and began to sway over in the big lug’s direction. Once I reached where he was, I put a digit on his mouth.

“Shhh…” I purred as I caressed Eugene’s chin, “It’s okay. That sandy little prick is gone, it’s just you and me now.”

Eugene’s face quickly turned beet red, despite still holding a calm expression.

“My my… your muscles seem to be so tense, Genie…” I continued to purr, “How about we go and… relax those pulsing veins of yours with some… fine wine?”

Eugene bit his lip, His face turning even more red.

I licked my chops.

“Truth is, I have… business here in New Detroit… it would be lovely if I had a handsome and bulky bodyguard to… protect me…” I winked, as I wiggled my tail in front of his nose.

I then jumped into the bottom set of his arms. As I thought, he held me up like it was no problem at all. Those pecs weren’t just for show.

“Hey Gene… those black tights… do they come off? Doooooo they?”

It was at this point where I think Eugene couldn’t breathe. I then wrapped my arms around his neck to snuggle. if I haven't made it clear already… I'm VERY good at this kind of negotiation.

Eugene began to babble like a baby.

“R-Rosie… what about N-New York? That base seems… a little n-nicer…”

I looked up, thinking about that comment while continuing my act. True, while I probably WOULD have enjoyed my vacation in the Big Apple, I had no intention of leaving if a very close friend was in danger. So… Time for the knockout punch.

“But Geeeeeeeeenieeeeeee.” I whined, “I wanna stay heeeeeeeeeeeeere!”

Eugene’s face turned from red to blue as I took one of my digits and began moving my paw down his arm and onto his bulky chest. THAT was the finishing blow.

“O-Ok! Ok! I’ll help you stay here I’ll help you stay here! Please, j-just stop! I have dignity and pride! I can’t be lusty over c-clients!”

I couldn’t let that comment stand.

“Gene, have you SEEN the pin-up calendars I posed for?” I replied, annoyed as I got down from his arms, “You should feel honored that I’m willing to let myself go for you!”

Eugene fell at a loss for words, again. I don’t think he was smart enough to realise I was fibbing… kinda… maybe.

“You should have seen me when I was a human.” I said, looking down at my own chest~ “I wish I could have kept my E-cups when I turned into a Delcatty… They made everyone jealous, boy and girl alike.”

Eugene immediately covered his mouth and nose and quickly faced away from me. All I did was chuckle.

“Wipe your nose and get ready to go.” I said, heading to where the cloak was hung, “We gotta send Nigel a farewell for his trip to New York.”

I reached the cloak… and of course it was still soaked. I finally opened my paw and stared at the key for a few seconds.

“Um… Lady Rose?”

While once again clasping the key in my paw, I whirled around to lecture him.

“Rosie.” I replied, “Stop calling me Lady Rose.”

Eugene wiped his nosebleed and covered the bottom half of this face.

“If I may ask… where did you get that… rag?”

My face turned red.

“It’s not a rag!” I shouted, “It’s a valuable article of clothing that belonged to a close friend!”

Eugene looked like he just signed his resignation letter without reading the fine print.

“So… So THAT’S why you wanted to vacation here! If you just wanted to see your friend… why didn’t you just tell Nigel that?”

I began to walk back towards the drawer where I hid the testimony.

“Because.” I sassed, “Nigel’s definition of the word ‘friend’ can be summed up to those who have the most cash at the best of times. Anyone who doesn’t have enough money to buy Disneyland isn’t worth his time.”

I grabbed the document from the drawer.

“In a world of Pokemon where money should no longer matter… Some dumbasses are STILL too greedy to realise how out of touch they are with this world.”

Eugene fell silent.

“You… don’t care about money?”

I smirked, and began to make sure the testimonial was intact while I reached for my purse on my hotel bed.

“I just have to fake that I care by carrying a wallet so I don’t have to listen to Nigel’s selfish ramblings.” I snickered as I crammed the key and document into my purse without damaging it, “More importantly, let’s get going. I’d rather talk about other things. Have you ever battled before?”

“Yes, I’m very good at crushing things, as you know, Lor- Rosie…”

I shook as my head as Eugene and I left the penthouse and locked it behind us.

“Pokemon Battling, genius. Not Bodyguarding.” I piped, “I’ve been a little interested for a while now, but after a few… events… that happened to me earlier today, I’ve decided to put Performing aside for awhile and practice true, Pokemon Battling here!”

I pushed the button for the elevator to arrive, and Eugene immediately began to fluster.

“B-BATTLING!?” He freaked out, “LADY ROSE, If you get hurt while being in a place like this, Nigel will have my head! Please, let me handle the battling in your place!”

The elevator finally opened.

“No offense, honey. But if Nigel knew what happened to me earlier today, you’d have been fired and castrated by now.” I smiled as we stepped onto the elevator, “Screw Nigel’s dreams of glory, it’s high time I used my Pokemon Abilities for what they were designed for~ Kicking ass!”

…

“And I suppose I could still sing on the side…”

Eugene couldn’t believe a thing I was saying. He began to show signs of a panic attack… which was hilarious, because the equivalent of a walking talking unstoppable fist was worried for my ‘safety.’

“First, we need to get rid of Nigel.” I began, “Afterward, I can tell you what my plans are for today. Think you can keep up with my lunacy, big boy?”

Eugene was floored, scared, and slightly aroused (much to his embarrassment), as he slowly nodded. That said, he’s been my bodyguard long enough to not be surprised by this, Which was the best part.