This story is dedicated to Dana, Nicola and especially Blank7 for encouragement, feedback and help with tricky things like plots. If you hadn't wanted it first, this story wouldn't have happened.
I walked through the garden Kanna leaning on my arm. "Do you like the flowers, Lady Kanna?"
"Oh yes," she said, smiling prettily. "They are incredible . . .as are you Takeshi."
I shrugged modestly. "Oh, I'm nothing special . . . just your average future rock clan trainer."
"I beg to differ, Takeshi--I may call you that mightn't I?"
"If I may be permitted to call you Kanna," I said, suavely.
"Of course," Kanna gave me another brilliant smile. "Would you like to walk around the garden again?"
As I opened my mouth to say yes I felt Onix tug at my shoulder. "Not now," I hissed. "Of course --Onix, can't you see I'm busy?"
"Rrrrrrr."
"What do you mean I'm just sleeping? I'm--" I turned around and discovered that Onix was right. Lady Kanna was not standing next to me. I was lying on my bed Onix leaning over me with a 'why did I have to get you for my trainer' look. I sniffed. "Ahhhh, it was just a dream!"
Thwack!
Kasumi's pillow hit me in the face from across the room. "Will you be quiet! I'm trying to get my beauty sleep!"
"Hah . . . " I sighed. "Lady Kanna doesn't need any beauty sleep . . . "
"Rrrrrrr."
"Onix . . . " Kasumi growled burying herself under her covers. "Either you get your trainer out of here now or I'll kill him!"
"Rrrrrrr," Onix commented. I glared at him but decided not to dignify that with an answer.
"I was about to get up now anyway," I said. "Come on, Onix." I was getting hungry. That half eaten sushi roll was beginning to look good . . . I sighed.
"Oh! Takeshi!"
"Oh! My apologies, Petal-rose-san," I said, as I stepped into the corridor, only just managing to avoid collision with Satoshi's mother.
"That's okay, Takeshi. I was just coming to see if you were awake. I have a job I was hoping you might want to help me with."
"Sure," I said.
"Oh! Thank-you," Petal-Rose smiled. "Follow me."
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"Satoshi's rooms. I want him to take a bath and I'm not about to take any chances with him."
I sweated as we reached Satoshi's room and found Yuuji, Matisse and two other storm clan warriors outside his door. "Aren't you taking this a little bit too far?"
"Nonsense! You don't know how hard it is to get Satoshi to take a bath," Petal-Rose said. "Are we ready?"
Yuuji nodded. "Yes. I'll just go over our plan of attack one last time. Takeshi and I will grab Satoshi first to prevent him from using Pikachu then you two will grab his legs. We'll move quickly before he can think of a way to get away from us, and carry him to the bathroom. Petal-Rose will choose his clothes and Matisse-san will go ahead to make sure the bath is ready. Has everyone got that?"
We all nodded.
"Right then. Charge!"
The plan worked perfectly. Satoshi was taken completely by surprise although he managed to get halfway to a window. "Pikachu! Heeeelp! Thundershock 'em, Pikachu!"
Pikachu opened one eye, saw that it was just us and closed his eye again.
"Pikachu!" Satoshi wailed. "Aren't you going to do anything?"
I froze as Pikachu got up and stretched slowly. I hadn't forgotten Onix and my attempts to transport Pikachu form the ice-clan more than a year ago . . . but my fears were unfounded.
"Aww, Pikachu!"
Pikachu's response to his trainer's plea had been to steal his place in the bed.
"Some Pokémon you are!" Satoshi complained, hanging on to the bed post as we tried to get him out the room.
"It's just a bath!" Yuuji said, tugging on his ankle. "Come on, be reasonable about this!" He gave Satoshi's leg another tug. "Somebody pry his hands loose!"
"Jynx, Jynx?" Kanna's Jynx spoke up worriedly.
"Is that--" Yuuji blinked. "Satoshi, what did you do to it?"
"I let it sleep in my room," Satoshi said, pulling himself out of my grasp. The storm trainer's had loosened their holds on him and he was doing his best to pull his sleeping robes into some semblance of dignity.
"You didn't decide to collect one of Lady Kanna's Pokémon, did you?" Yuuji said. "Satoshi, she'll be furious!"
"You know, Yuuji, I might have figured that out myself," Satoshi said haughtily. I was suddenly reminded very strongly of Shigeru in one of his 'Ookido' moments. "As a matter of fact Jynx is a present to me from Lady Kanna."
"A present?" Yuuji repeated dumbly. He'd gone quite pale.
"A present," Satoshi repeated. "Now if you'll all excuse me, I have some things to do." He stalked out of the room.
"A present . . . " Yuuji shook his head. Then blinked. "After him! Don't let him get away!"
Luck was with us. Although he had taken off the moment he was out of the room, Satoshi had run down the corridor only to collide with Matisse who had come to tell us the bath had been run per Petal-Rose's instructions. When we caught up with them Matisse was holding a struggling Satoshi casually under one arm. "I thought the plan was to grab him before he got away?" Matisse said.
"You can't do this to me! I'm your daimyo! Help! Help! Bulbasaur! Squirtle! Help!"
"There were extenuating circumstances," Yuuji replied.
"What?"
Yuuji waved a hand at Jynx hovering uncertainly further back down the corridor. Pikachu was with her, attempting to reassure her that, despite all appearances to the contrary, Satoshi was not being murdered. "I think the ice-leader giving Satoshi a Jynx is extenuating circumstances enough, don't you?"
"The ice leader--what?" Matisse looked stunned. "I think this calls for an emergency council meeting. Call Victor."
"Oh, too bad," Satoshi said cheerfully. "If we're having an emergency council session I'll just have to take my bath later."
Matisse grinned. "Not necessarily."
"I'm perfectly capable of taking a bath myself," Satoshi said sulkily.
"Mmhmm," his mother said. "Shut your eyes, I want to start on your hair."
"Rrrrrrr," Onix remarked.
I nodded in agreement. "This would have to go down on the list of the weirdest council meetings we've attended." I didn't know whether to be flattered the storm clan had considered me worthy of being included in their council or worried Satoshi was going to get my robes wet. He had stopped trying to escape but he was sulking.
"I should just be grateful that Kasumi wasn't invited to join this meeting," Satoshi grumbled.
Matisse sighed. "I think we have more important matters to concern ourselves with. The Jynx."
"Jynx, Jynx?" Jynx said unhappily.
"It's not your fault, Jynx," Satoshi said.
"We need to decide what we're going to do with the Jynx," Yuuji said. "Victor, what does the clan protocol demand?"
"Well," Victor said. "We have two options. Either we return the Jynx which would breach good manners and possibly insult the ice-clan . . ."
"Out of the question," Matisse said. "We don't want to do anything to offend the ice-clan."
"Or we accept, in which case we are indebted to the Ice clan until such time as we can repay them."
Matisse sighed. "Neither of those options sound very good."
"Blame Kanna, not me!" Satoshi said happily. "It's not my fault!"
"Don't gloat, sweetie," Petal-Rose dunked him underwater. "It's not becoming."
"The question should be," I said thoughtfully. "Not what you should do about the Jynx. It should be what is the ice-clan trying to do?"
"You're right," Yuuji said. "Do you think they want us in their debt?"
"We'll find out when we have the council meeting today," Matisse said. "If they want to negotiate any contracts that will be when they bring them up."
"Another meeting?" Satoshi said crossly. "I hope I'll be allowed to have clothes on for that one."
"Don't be sarcastic, dear," His mother said washing his hair. "You can't pull it off right. Besides, this is your own fault. If you'd only be a little more reasonable about your baths . . ."
"Another meeting," Matisse said firmly. "We'll need to inform the others . . . "
"Aww!" Satoshi sounded miserable. "But I wanted to introduce Jynx to my other Pokémon!"
"Absolutely out of the question!" Matisse thundered. "You will not--"
Yuuji grabbed his sleeve and Victor and pulled them all into a huddle. When they came out of the huddle Matisse was frowning.
"We've decided to hold the meeting without you," Yuuji said. "After all, the ice-clan's gift should be treated with as much care as the Lady Kanna herself."
"I don't know," Matisse said. "If Satoshi isn't there the ice-clan may be offended."
"And if he is there . . . ?" Victor said.
"Point taken," Matisse said.
"Woohoo!" Satoshi cheered.
"Perhaps if you had Satoshi offer to show Lady Kanna the former fortress or his Pokémon later," I said thinking fast. "That way, Lady Kanna wouldn't be offended by his absence in the morning."
"That's a very good plan," Yuuji said.
"I guess it could be worse," Satoshi said.
"Pikachu!" Pikachu said smiling.
"Jynx!" Jynx had also brightened up now that it looked like people were no longer mad at her.
"In that case, I guess this meeting is over," Yuuji said.
"Wonderful," said Satoshi "Now can you all please get out of here so I can get dressed?"
Petal-Rose brought me to the room the Storm-clan trainers ate in for breakfast. I found Kasumi sitting at one table. "Where have you been?" she asked.
"Um . . . Satoshi's bathroom," I said, sitting down.
"What were you doing in Satoshi's bathroom?" Kasumi said in a 'I don't quite believe this but I'm willing to go along with it' tone of voice.
"Attending a council meeting," I said, accepting a tray of food from a storm clan trainer.
"Oh? And why wasn't I invited?" Kasumi asked.
"Well . . . Satoshi was having a bath. It wouldn't have been proper," I replied.
