"That son of bitch took the crystals!" Ace slammed his pack to the ground.
"That's not what's upsetting you!" Nero stood watching with anger in his eyes. “Just admit it Ace!”
"We're stranded stupid! You think I'm upset about something else?” He shoved Nero. “Shut up Nero!"
"You should have trusted him! Ace! Damnit! He was your only friend for years! He would never do anything to intentionally hurt any of us!"
"It wasn't intentional I was afraid of, it was accidental like last night. Shit! I should have hid the damn crystals!" He got up hiding his true feelings, he missed the big orange klutz. "We have to go find him."
"Now we are getting somewhere!" Nero smiled.
"We're stealing the crystals back fool!" Ace sneered.
"Call it what you want." Nero jeered.
"Shut up!"
*****
"You stupid fool! What the hell were you thinking!" Cynder shouted loud enough to scare away several Nidokings hanging around the park.
"Yeah! What are we going to do now!" Snorlax as usual began to cry. "We're gonna die of starvation!"
"Ahhhhh! Shit! Now he's crying!" Cynder covered his ears. "I can't wait to see what Drow will say!"
"I'm too young to die this way!" Chester bawled.
"Shut up! Shut up!" Cynder bellowed.
"Stop yelling at me!" Snore cried louder.
Draco pokéballed them. He had a killer headache. He waited till the pain subsided before he released Cynder. He stood facing his best friend. He couldn’t help but, think the Ty could learn to be a bit more sensitive. Draco narrowed his eyes, maybe he should teach him! He punched him in the face, the sudden attack threw Cynder off his feet.
"You are so damn insensitive! Snore is emotional you know that Cynder!" Draco gave him a cross look.
"I'm sorry. It's just finding out all this shit kind of messed me up too." Cynder snarled as he worked himself back on his feet.
"Now me and you are going into the city to find out what we are going to do." He dug into his pack and counted the cash. So many years living and training with Ace, so many years living so human. Draco didn’t know if he should be disgusted that he knew every domination of each different bill, knew how to use it. "Twelve hundred should get us some where to stay and food for a month."
"Yeah but, when does Chad arrive?" Cynder added.
"Don't know. We'll have to make money somehow. Don't worry we'll make it!" Draco couldn't believe he was a free pokémon.
*****
"You won't believe this!" Cynder ran up to Draco.
"What is it?" Draco had been apartment searching with no luck while Cynder was shopping for jobs.
"There are tournaments held here for free pokémon to fight in for prize money!" Cynder knew Ace had made one hell of line up with Draco, himself, Drow to confuse and hypnotize, Pichu for charming and sweet kissing foes, Qwil for poison attacks and Snore to take direct attacks while the others healed up. "We can take on any chumps from around here!"
"Great! Now we need a place to stay. All the land lords around here ban chars." Draco sighed.
"Try the Fire Units." Draco found a Ponyta next to him.
"Excuse me can you tell me where that is?" Draco smiled.
"Take the 32, that subway train stops right in front of it on the first stop." She smiled as she walked toward the subway stairs.
"Thank you." Draco felt better seeing a fellow fire pokémon helping him out.
"It was nothing. This city has something against us fire types. Well goodbye." She went into the station below.
"Hey, she was cute." Cynder had a stupid smile on his face.
Draco rolled his eyes and shook his head. Cynder thought with something other than his brain all the time. Draco figured they should go see this Fire Unit.
"What am I saying! She was cute! I didn't get her! I'll see you later!"
"Wait right there!" Draco shouted.
"What!" Cynder almost tripped as he halted.
"We are going to register ourselves for these tournaments." Draco didn't want Cynder harassing that Ponyta especially since she helped them.
"But..."
"Now Cynder!" He walked on.
*****
"You cheated somehow! I know it!" The kid whined.
"I won fairly! Now pay up!" Ace roared.
"You suck!" The kid ran off.
"Ace we need money not that this is paying off pretty well but, putting up with wimps like that isn't fun." Nero leaned against a tree.
"We are stuck here too, we need to go into the city." Laura swatted mosquitoes away from her face.
"I know that! I just want to get a little more training in." He wanted to make sure Grendal could steal the crystals from Draco.
"Grreeeen! Dal!" The Larvitar flexed his muscles, Ace looked about he was sure another challenger was approaching by the way Grendal was showing off.
The Stanler bleated and fell. Grendal pounded his chest and howled deeply. Ace collected his prize money this time. He took off his hat and ran his fingers in his sweaty hair, working with Grendal was hard. Grendal wasn't well adjusted to Ace so getting him to follow orders was an experience for Ace.
"I thank you for this chance to fight you! Wait till I tell my friends I fought Raptor!" The kid ran off.
"Why did he call me raptor?" Ace returned his monster.
"Probably confusing you for another trainer." Nero shrugged.
"We need to make a fire, it'll be dark soon." Laura pointed out.
As the last rays of the day fled Ace followed behind. He was lost in thought. As the moon rose he looked at it. Standing there he wondered if Draco missed him. He knew he was missing him. At Laura's beck he caught up.
*****
Looking out the window of his apartment Draco wondered how his new life would be like. Watching the moon rise he wondered where Charcole was and if she was watching the stars at this moment thinking of him. Then his thoughts fell on Ace. He hoped he felt bad about not trusting him.
"This is a great pad!" Cynder flopped on the couch. "This is way suave!"
"Cool! I like it!" Snore felt the marble floor, fire proofing of course.
"This has to be real expensive." Drowxena had a worried look.
"Eight hundred a month. We can make it easy if we fight in the city." Draco had to admit it was trendy sort of a place.
"Fight! Fight, fight, fight, fight!" Pichu hopped about pumping her fists.
"Well let's get the others out here!" Snorlax smiled.
"Alright time to check out the place Qwil." Draco tossed the ball.
"Smeargle?" The little pokémon stood eyeing the room wondering where he was.
*****
"Smear!" Nero raised an eyebrow as the disgruntled puffer fish hissed and flopped about him.
"The fight! The balls got mixed up! Draco has my Smear!" He had the baby pokémon since his sister gave it to him. "Veronica gave me little Smear!"
*****
Draco stood confused, where was Qwil? How did Nero's pokémon end up here?
"So who's in this ball?" Draco held the stun ball.
"Daddy!" Pichu ran and hugged the raichu.
"Hey! Ray! Long time no see!" Cynder hollered.
"Yeah well here I am!" He put Pichu on his shoulders.
To be continued..........