FicWad

Don't Give Me Diamonds

Diamond 77: Give me Attraction

Night time fell upon Kanto and soon most of its inhabitants got ready to go to sleep. In Pallet Town, Professor Oak observed Skye's pokemon. Given and Dia were sitting on the couch and Givan was flipping through the TV's channels. 'This couch is as hard as an Onix,' Givan commented as he tried to find something worth watching.

'I know, it's so uncomfortable, but there's no where else to sit,' Dia agreed. Sitting on the floor was starting to look tempting. Since they didn't have their collars on, Professor Oak had no idea what they were saying.

None the less, the professor continued watching the pair with fascination. 'If he keeps staring at us...' Givan glared threateningly towards the elderly professor. Oak visibly shuddered at the intense look Givan was directing towards him. Yet he was too interested in his study to leave.

'Calm down, he means no harm,' Dia spoke sweetly, 'you should take it as a compliment,' she encouraged. Dia patted the empty space on the couch beside her with her paw and smiled. Professor Oak returned the expression and took the invitation to sit down.
'I don't know how much patience I can spare,' Givan growled. He stopped changing the channels at a movie that looked promising. 'I think I found something to watch.'

The flat big screen TV showed a man in a black tuxedo running through some kind of militaristic fortress. The fortress was an odd mix of medieval and modern. Its gray stone walls had a few metal pipes propounding from the structure in several places. The floor was also made of dark gray stones. The ceiling mostly matched, save for some areas where dim unprotected light bulbs hung from wires. There were also air vents with bars covering them and spinning propeller-like structures.

The man in the tuxedo had black hair which was neatly brushed back with the shine of hair gel. All but one strand of hair was in place. The single strand fell on the side of his determined face. His bright blue eyes and prominent chin were his most noticeable features. He turned a corner quickly, his breaths heavy. He pressed his back against the wall looking left and right. He took the gun from his belt and clutched it in his hand, "one bullet, I only have one bullet left," he dramatically emphasized.

He heaved a deep breath, "one bullet was all it took to steal your life away. One bullet will be enough to avenge you," the emotion in his voice was almost tangible. "This last bullet is for him, for the one who took your life." The man returned the gun to his belt.

Givan frowned, 'are you done with the cheesy lines?' He growled at the protagonist, though he knew the man on TV couldn't hear him. 'Go fight something already!'

'Shh, be quiet, I'm trying to hear what he's saying,' Dia shushed, 'maybe he wants to avenge his deceased lover.'

'Whoever he wants to avenge, he better quit the cliche and get with the action fast or I'm changing the channel,' Givan pouted.

'Don't you dare, it's just getting good!' Dia took the remote control away from Givan just in case.

The man on the TV checked his fancy watch. "It's eleven fifty," he stated dramatically. "If I don't stop him by midnight, he'll launch the missiles," the actor's expression changed to exaggerated agony, "then the entire city will be doomed!"

'Oh sure, stand there talking, announcing your presence. If I was in charge of that fortress, he would have been caught ages ago,' Givan was becoming quite impatient to see some action.

'I bet those ten minutes are going to last more than ten minutes,' Dia commented. That was how it happened in many movies; the most important few minutes took much longer to show than the length of time within the story.

"I'm coming for you!" The so called sneaky spy ran down the dark corridor. He jumped out of the darkness at the L shaped turn at the end of the corridor. His fist collided with an armored guard's face, who was conveniently without a helmet. The thug fell against the wall instantly knocked out.

A multitude of footsteps were heard. The spy looked at the air vent above his head. Using the knocked out enemy's shoulder to gain height, he jumped and grabbed the bars covering the vent. He retrieved a small but incredibly sharp knife from his pocket and cut through the metal bars one by one. He then threw a rope with two metal balls, one at each end, at the spinning fan. He had that in his pockets too, though they didn't bulge out with the multitude of things he had in them. The rope somehow coiled itself around the fan's blades, stopping its motion. The man climbed up to the air vent and disappeared in the darkness of the small tunnel.

Somehow, the spy miraculously had enough time to perform his complex escape before the multitude of enemy soldiers arrived at his location. The minions didn't realize that the vent was open. The cut off bars that should be on the floor were not present on the scene.

The movie was interrupted by the loud voice of Skye, coming from a different room. "I don't know what words to say..."

'Then don't say any!' Givan growled loudly.

"Oh my..." Professor Oak got up and went to investigate what the commotion was.

'If the old man doesn't make Vandel shut up in ten seconds, I'll go shut him up myself. Even that guy's cheesy lines are better than this!' Vandel had his front paws over his ears, holding them down flat.

Professor Oak arrived at the site of the agonizing noise. It was one of the guest rooms where Belle slept. The loud mouth Bellsprout didn't like staying in her pokeball. "Flowers sing a silent lullaby!" Skye bellowed completely off key. It was his lullaby that should have been silent.

"That's quite enough Skye," Professor Oak gently placed his hand on the boy's shoulder to get his attention.

"Gary told me to sing to Belle if she couldn't sleep," Skye explained. He looked at the Bellsprout who was covering her yellow head with her two green leaves. She closed her eyes and stayed perfectly still. "It looks like she fell asleep. Well, that's the last of my chores for today. I really need to get some sleep."

"Ah yes, you should get some rest," Professor Oak agreed. Skye was right up there in the list of most terrifying singers along with Ash and Gary. At least they meant well. Even so, it would be disastrous if they decided to form a musical trio to sing the pokemon to sleep. That would probably give them nightmares.

xoxox xox xoxox

In Cerulean City, Giovanni was feeling glad to have the largest suite at Razzo Albergo permanently reserved for himself. He did own the hotel after all. The suite took up all of the top floor and the one below it with grand private stairs connecting them. It was equipped with everything from two spacious bedrooms, to a fancy living room, a big refrigerator, a mini-bar, a hot tub, a sauna, an office and various luxuries. With Delia insisting on letting all her and his pokemon out at once, it would have been quite crowded without all the extra space.

Gold was the predominant color of that particular suite with red being its secondary color. The walls seemed to glow as if plated in gold, but at the same time they were not bright enough to annoy. The carpet was a deep crimson, while the furniture was exquisitely sculptured and covered in real gold. A 3D TV mirror took all of one wall. The sound system's speakers were well hidden and could not be seen, but they could be heard all around.

Large bulletproof glass windows with golden frames lined another of the living room area's walls. With the red and gold curtains parted, they showed an impressive view of Cerulean City from the height of fifty floors. The first ten floors were occupied by large casinos. The casinos were constantly full of wealthy gamblers that left less wealthy than they arrived, but they enjoyed their time there none the less.

The casinos included all the classic games plus others that were not so common in gambling, including throwing darts and pool. Some of the tables took requests from the customers on what to play. They were willing to play anything as long as bets were made. Everything from poker to crazy eights and even several board games were available to gamble with. The next ten floors featured various entertainment areas such as live shows and movie theatres. Special premiers were often held there.

The pokemon were greatly enjoying their time at the hotel. Giovanni's pokemon had mostly been fighting or in their pokeballs. The experience was also a novelty for Mimey, who was fascinated. Persian seemed to be the only one who was familiar with such accommodations.

While Delia and the pokemon enjoyed the luxuries, Giovanni was focused on his laptop. He checked his messages, read a few updates and made sure things were still running smoothly. Everything was as well as it could be and there were no new reports.

As the night progressed, the pokemon fell asleep one by one. Delia was just about ready to go to bed too. She assumed Giovanni would be working late to make up for the time he would be spending at the wedding and reception the following day. She showered, changed and went to bed. He would be sleeping there as well, since the pokemon occupied the other room. The bed was certainly big enough to allow for plenty of space between the two. Without a second thought, Delia fell asleep.

She woke up some time later, hearing the faint sound of water. She disregarded it and shifted hugging one of the large golden pillows. The water stopped. There was a flicker of light as a connecting door was opened. The brightness quickly disappeared, as the light was turned off. Delia rolled closer to her end of the bed. She sleepily reached for the glass of water sitting on the night stand and drank. She set the glass back down on its cooling pad. The circular pad emitted a high amount of coldness for its size, making the water feel as if it had been inside a refrigerator all along.

"Are you awake?" Giovanni asked in such a quiet voice that it would be unperceivable for someone who was sleeping. He already knew the answer to the question.

"I'm sleeping," Delia whispered back, knowing all too well that replying gave away the opposite. Her eyes were closed, her breathing even and peaceful. She was half way to slumber land when she felt someone kissing her, someone who was suddenly very close to her. Her eyes shot open, "what are you doing?" Her voice came out louder than she intended. She hoped she didn't wake the pokemon that were sleeping in the room below. Maybe the rooms were sound proof, with all the other luxuries, it seemed quite possible.

"What do you think?" Giovanni whispered, but was interrupted by a pillow to the face.

Delia continued stacking the abundant pillows in the middle of the bed. "Your side," she pointed to the other side of the pillow wall, "my side," she pointed to her own territory, "no trespassing!"

"You don't have to be so dramatic!" Giovanni protested.

Delia peeked out from behind her pillow barricade. She leaned on the pillows and seemed to consider her options. "Oh, what's the harm? It's just a little fun, right?" Her tone of voice was unusually seductive.

Giovanni grinned victoriously, "exactly." He received another pillow to the face.

"Oh sure, it's just a little fun," Delia sent another golden fluffy projectile Giovanni's way. "Maybe for you, but did you even," she grabbed a pillow and hit him with it, "stop to," she hit him with the pillow again, "think about," the relentless attack didn't cease, "how I feel?"

"Stop it!" Giovanni defended himself with another pillow. "I told you, you don't need to get so dramatic. If you're really not in the mood, you could just say so."

"That's not the point! You're so insensitive!" Delia argued.

"What did I do now?" Giovanni honestly didn't think Delia would be that upset. For a minute he actually thought she would agree to everything being harmless fun. She didn't even get that upset when she used to call him Charmander and tell him to chill out.

"The worse part is that you don't even realize it," she held the pillow in front of her and did a pillow tackle attack. It was one of the deadliest techniques of pillow fights.

Giovanni had interpreted Delia's lowering of her pillow as a sign of surrender. He wasn't particularly experienced with pillow fights. He was taken completely off guard with a pillow tackle that knocked the wind out of him and pushed him back on the bed.

Delia had plenty of pillow fighting experience. When she was a student with Professor Oak she was the champion among her classmates. Furthermore, Gary and Ash often had sleepovers orchestrated by Delia or Gary's mother. They saw it as a chance to spend the night competing against each other. After Ash lost his first few pillow fights miserably, Delia decided to train him in pillow combat. It became the only thing in which Gary never again got close to besting Ash when they were little.

Giovanni wasn't even sure what just happened, but an upset Delia was staring down at him. It was one of those rare occasions in which her aggressive side managed to surface beyond her constant sweetness. He kind of liked it. In a split second he turn both of them over so he was pinning her to the bed, "I win," he grinned.

Delia tried to free her wrists from his grip, but found she could not. Instead she shifted her leg, "let me go or I'll knee you below the belt," she threatened.

"You wouldn't," he paused, observing her fierce glare, then finally let her go, "alright, you win."

Delia returned to her side of the bed and rebuilt the pillow wall. "Let's make a truce so we can get some sleep. Respect the pillow wall or I promise you Charmander, I'll fight dirty, nails and low kicks included."

She looked less threatening, almost amused, which only bothered him more. Giovanni huffed, "you really didn't need to be so dramatic."

"Chill out, Charmander, let's get some rest," Delia resumed her peaceful slumber, uninterrupted until the following morning.

xoxox xox xoxox

The next day, Delia woke up to find that it was ten in the morning. "Why didn't you wake me up?" She called out loudly. Giovanni wasn't in the bedroom, but the door was opened so he could probably still hear her. He was most likely in the office area working on Team Rocket related things. She was sure she had set the alarm clock. She wanted to meet everyone early that day and help Daisy get ready for her big moment. She checked the alarm clock. It was off; it had to be Giovanni's little revenge for the events of the previous night.

Delia hurried to get ready, she showered changed and stopped by the office area before leaving. "I'll be back when it's time to get ready, don't forget the wedding starts at two, but I want to be there by one." She pouted indicating that she noticed his messing with the alarm clock.

He gave her a victorious smirk, he had not done much, but something small was still something, "don't be late."

"Don't worry; this peasant knows better than to leave the great king waiting." She turned to leave whispering, "unless she finds a new date," just loud enough for Giovanni to hear.

Giovanni didn't dignify the threat with an answer. She wouldn't mess things up. She would be back right on time to get into her dress and leave to go to the wedding. There was no need to remind her to be punctual. Then why did the possibility bother him so much?

xoxox xox xoxox

Razzo Albergo was a short walk away from the Cerulean gym. Delia made it there on foot and was pleasantly received. Daisy was already beginning to prepare, though Lando thought it was too early. None the less, he was forbidden from setting foot on the second floor so he wouldn't see Daisy's dress before the wedding. He also had to leave earlier then her.

Ash thought it was too early to get ready. He was quite content snacking on some of the samples they brought over as a preview of what the snacks at the reception would be, before the big dinner. The guys seemed to be amused playing a pokemon themed card game so they could battle without making a mess.

After chatting with Ash and the other young men for a moment, Delia went upstairs to where the girls were. Time flew by as they talked about the approaching wedding and discussed the vacation spots Daisy and Lando would visit in their honeymoon.

Delia checked the time on her cell phone, "I should have brought my dress so I could get ready here. I have to go change; I'll see you at the wedding." After exchanging her goodbyes with the Waterflower sisters Delia left the gym. Lando and the men had already left to wait for Daisy at the church.

Delia hurried down the streets towards the tall building that was Razzo Albergo. She had dressed in a hurry in the morning and regretted wearing those healed sandals, simply because they looked cute. It was rather inconvenient to walk in them, but she had been in too much of a rush to think about that.

A voice called out, "Oddish," and caught her attention from the side of the tall building. She caught a glimpse of a large Raticate carrying a little Oddish away. A woman dashed after them, "give me back my Oddish!"

Delia ran over to the action. It sounded like she needed help defending her pokemon from that seemingly wild one. She followed them to the back of the building.

The woman caught up to the Raticate and fought against him. The Raticate let go of the Oddish and ran away. "Are you alright Oddish?" She was on her knees with the Oddish in her arms. "Oddish, don't die!" The little Oddish was bleeding abundantly.

"You have to get her medical help right now!" Delia urged.

The unknown woman looked up from her Oddish, her expression full of worry. Tears were running from her eyes, her face partially covered by her thick blond hair. "I'm not from here, I don't know where the Pokemon Center is," she stammered. "Please," she began to stand up, "tell me where, oh!" The woman fell to her knees. "My ankle..."

"Oh no, you got hurt in the fight too," Delia closed the distance between them, determined to help them. "There's no time to get to the Pokemon Center, I'm sure there's a pokemon nurse at the hotel. I'll help," Delia took Oddish in her arms, allowing the woman to lean on her shoulder to get up.

"Thank you so much," the woman's frightened voice turned aggressive, "Delia." She suddenly gripped Delia's neck in her arm, locking her in place.

Delia couldn't breathe. With the bleeding Oddish on one arm, she tried to pry the woman's arm away from her neck with the other hand. "Oddish is hurt," she pushed the choking words out.

"That thing can die for all I care and so can you," the mysterious woman reached behind her back. In a split second before she could turn her knife against Delia, Delia stomped hard on the woman's left foot.

The gold plated pointy heal of her sandal was stabbed into the woman's foot. The unknown woman hollered in pain and stumbled back, the knife still in her hand, and Delia's shoe stuck to her bleeding foot.

Taking advantage of the momentum, Delia quickly turned and kicked the unknown woman. She left her sandals behind and ran as fast as she could towards the front of the hotel with Oddish in her arms.

The doorman immediately noticed there was something extremely wrong. He recognized Delia as a very important guest. She was staying at the hotel with Giovanni, their boss. He was quick to lead her to the medical facilities, while the guards were dispatched to patrol the area around the hotel.

A doctor took care of Oddish, with two nurses also collaborating. The three surrounded the little pokemon fussing in complex medical terms. They worked to save the Oddish as if their very lives depended on it. For all they knew, it could have been true.

xoxox xox xoxox

Up in the best suite, Giovanni received an urgent phone call. "Sir, there has been an incident," the hotel manager's nervous voice came from the room's phone.

"What happened?" Giovanni demanded to know immediately. It was almost time to leave for the wedding. Delia claimed she wanted to be there an hour early, she was running late. Giovanni didn't need more trouble to deal with on top of that. The thought crossed his mind that she might not return, but she wouldn't miss the wedding, she had to come back.

"A suspicious woman was in the area. She attacked the lady's pokemon." The manager's voice turned quieter and more frightened with every word. The lady meant Delia, but all her pokemon had stayed behind at the hotel. They would go to the wedding with them when Delia returned. "She is here, in the medical area." The call dropped. The manager knew Giovanni must have hung up and was on his way down. He hurried to meet him in the medical area.

xoxox xox xoxox

Giovanni found Delia at the hotel's medical facilities. She was watching the doctor and nurses working to keep an Oddish alive. His eyes went to the big blood stain on her shirt. "Did you get hurt?" If that was the case, why was the medical staff tending to some pokemon and not her? They were trained to treat both.

Delia was focused on watching the medics and didn't hear Giovanni approach. She jumped a little, startled at suddenly hearing his voice. "Oddish is hurt!" She realized he was looking at her bloody clothes, "I'm alright, this isn't mine, it's Oddish's."

The hotel manager stood quietly to the side, he didn't dare speak. Giovanni casted a glance at him as if indicating that he was not excluded from his following question, "what happened?"

Delia began the explanation. "I was returning to the hotel. There was a Raticate attacking that Oddish. A woman chased after them and saved Oddish. Poor Oddish was badly hurt. I followed her to the back of the building. She sounded really worried. I thought she needed help, so I tried to help her. She caught me off guard and attacked me. I managed to get away from her and ran inside."

"Has the culprit been caught?" Giovanni's question carried a great deal of severity.

The manager was a tall man, only an inch or two shorter than Giovanni. He had dark green hair brushed back with a generous amount of hair gel so that it wouldn't curl and look like seaweed on his head. His yellow eyes remained focused on the floor. "No sir, the security cameras in the back were deactivated at the time of the attack. We found the possible accomplice, he worked on security. We've detained him and are conducting an investigation."

"I expect results by the end of the day at the latest," Giovanni gave the manager a piercing glare.

The manager could only manage a worried, "yes, sir," before excusing himself to oversee the investigation.

Giovanni looked at Delia; she was once again watching the medics. Their voices were calmer and their motions more relaxed. "The danger has passed," the doctor finally announced, seeing Delia's expectant look. "I believe this entire situation was a set up. The cut was too deep and precise; it didn't match a Raticate's claws and teeth. I believe it was made with a knife. In any case, Oddish is in a stable condition now, but she must remain under medical watch outside of her pokeball."

"Thank you so much," Delia expressed her sincere gratitude towards the medical staff. They seemed pleasantly surprised at the honesty in her face and voice. "I will entrust Oddish to you, please take good care of her."

Delia spoke with the medics for a few more minutes before rejoining Giovanni. Everything indeed pointed to a set up. Someone had specifically targeted Delia. Giovanni had been more careful ever since the Tempest and Neo Rocket incident. Who planned the attack? What was their true goal? Was it an inside job or outside? Was it somehow related to Neo Rocket or Tempest? He thought he had cleaned that mess. Whatever it was, he would have to get to the bottom of it. He felt that someone had dared to challenge him again. The idea of Delia getting hurt infuriated him.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon. The song Vandel (Skye) sings to Belle is Melphina's song from Outlaw Star. Razzo Albergo means Rocket Hotel in Italian.