"Save it for a Pokemon who cares," was the Absol's smart aleck reply. She flipped her menu shut, placing her paw on top. "I feel sorry for you. You seem like a nice guy, which is why you'll probably be the first to die. Innocent souls always taste better, I've heard."

Ginger was just trying to scare Lighthouse. She always heard that the more malicious the person, the more flavorsome the soul. Evil always added a bit of spice. But that still didn't prevent her from worrying about her trainer's safety.

"Gonzo!" Sidney called, a sharp note to her voice. "Sit still!" But the bug ignored his trainer, still buzzing about the ceiling. "Lulu, little help?"

The Medicham looked up, then extended her hand, the Ninjask freezing in midair. The psych then sent him headfirst back into his chair, the Pokemon landing with an unpleasant crunch! "Be still."

"Sorrysorrysorry."

A waiter came by the table soon after the ninjask was restrained, followed closely by a nervous looking gastly. "Are you ready to order?" asked the human of the pair, holding a small pad of paper and a chewed up pen.

Cassius put in an order quickly for himself and his six pokemon, then turned back to the ninjask. "Did you evolve your ninjask yourself?" he asked Sidney, curious. Shedinja were the only species of ghost pokemon that didn't frequent his gym.

"Sorry, but no." The young woman stopped so she could order for her group, then turned back to Cassius, trying not to speak too loudly. "Awhile back, we had a picnic. Then Gonzo showed up and ruined our lunch, kinda like he almost did now." She sighed. "Ginger gave him a beating, but he kept coming back...so I had no choice but to catch him."

Taro abandoned his place on the Pokedoll, walking across the table towards Godfather. "Cubo," he cooed, apparently recognizing the Gengar from the toy. Without the Pokemon's concent, he made his way along his arm and climbed to the top of his head. "Cuuubo!"

"If you're wondering if I have a Shedinja," Sidney went on, "I don't. Wish I did. That way I'd have a ghost Pokemon."

Gengar, surprisingly, smiled at the little cubone, despite giggles from the rest of Cassius' team. The large gengar wiggled his ears/horns a little, gently enough not to disturb the baby pokemon on his head.

The waiter nodded, and left with the first set of orders from Cassius. "Well, Gonzo seems pretty interesting himself. I must admit, I'm almost relieved you don't have a shedinja- they're the ghosts even some other ghosts are afraid of."

((My apologies for being very slow to reply today- I just got pokemon leafgreen after waiting two weeks for my favorite store to restock it ))

The Cubone giggled, obviously enjoying the overwhelming amount attention he was getting, and he tugged a bit at Godfather's horn.

"Oh, right. The hole on its back acts like a black hole, drawing in everything." The idea was a bit scary. "Do you have one? Or are you frightened of them?" Thinking about Cassius afraid almost made Sidney laugh. So far, she imagined him as this fearless gym leader.

((I have FireRed. Mastered it twice already, but it's a fun game. ^^))

"I've met a few, but I've never trained one" Cassius replied. "They're, ah, difficult to communicate with." That was a bit of an understatement- the last group of shedinja he'd encountered had tried to take his human head as a trophy after defeating Pandora in a battle.

Meanwhile, Maiden had floated over to little Taro, doing a few little flips in the air in an effort to keep the baby occupied and amused. Pandora looked just a little grumpy at having the misdreavus's attention directed at someone else, but even he had to admit the little cubone was adorable.

Taro seemed to like this, and he reached out, trying to touch Maiden's hair.

Sidney finally noticed what the little Cubone was up to, smiling slightly. "I hope Taro isn't bothering your Pokemon. He has a habit for being clingy and demanding."

Ginger sank into her chair as she watched the two conversing, her head now on the table and her arms stretched out in front of her. She released an extended sigh.

"It looks like they're all pretty happy to entertain him- Godfather loves kids, even if he doesn't always look it" said Cassius. Godfather snorted at this comment, but since it was entirely true he couldn't really argue. He continued to wriggle his ear/horns, and Maiden jiggled her head so her hair bounced about.

"Where's our fooood?" the Absol whined, putting both paws over her head in an exasperated fashion.

"Don't you ever stop complaining?" Lulu asked, drumming her fingers on the table. "This is a restaurant. You wait for your food. You're so used to having a berry in your mouth before your stomach even begins to rumble. Show a little patience."

"Patience? You're asking me to be patient?!" The Absol was now towering over her friend, and the Medicham backed up into her chair in alarm. "The sooner we drop of Mister Ghost in Fortree, the better."

Lighthouse sighed, shook his head in dissapointment, and left to reunite with his fellow electric friends. "She's watching him like a hawk; she doesn't trust the Ghost Trainer for a nanosecond.", Lighthouse said to his teammates.

"It's not surprizing, Dark and Ghost Types form a very strong rivalry, as clearly shown.", Proton, the Manectric replyed.

"Oh knock it off already!" said Marionette, speaking up for the first time during the meal when she yelled at Ginger. "Your obsession over Cassius is as bad as how that mutt from earlier obsessed over you; worse, since at least he stands a chance with you once you get that stick out of your a-"

"Marie!" interrupted Maiden, shocked at the banette's language. Cassius just put his hand to his forehead and tried to pretend he didn't know the other ghosts.

"I'm just hoping the Ghosts get there food before they decide to eat Ginger; I heard that Absol meat tastes mighty good.", Shockbox said. He usually liked to instigate, for whatever reason, or lack of thereof. Lighthouse just rolled his eyes.

"What was that, puppet?!" Ginger lept onto the table, the impact causing a few forks and knifes to clatter to the floor. But before she could make an even worse scene she felt someone grab her tail and yank her back, her claws causing the wood to peel along the way.

Suzaku now had her, the Absol dangling from his hand. "I don't know what's going on here," he said, looking into the dark Pokemon's face, "but I don't like your attitude. You need to learn to show a little respect to your trainers."

Ginger couldn't respond. She knew that if she rebelled the Blaziken would probably pummel her into next Tuesday--and she didn't stand a chance against the fighting Pokemon. "Will you at least behave long enough for us to enjoy our meal?" Ginger nodded, swallowing hard. He set her down gently, resisted the urge to drop her on her head. Maybe if she developed a case of amnesia everyone would be happier.

Ginger slowly slank back to her seat, curling up so that she was mostly hidden under the table.

"Gee, I thought absols were supposed to bring disaster on others, not themselves" commented Pandora, speaking to Marionette but making it quite clear that he meant for Ginger to overhear to comment. The puppet ghost opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a sharp tap on the head from Cassius.

"Haunter haunt, haunt haunter! (cut it out, the both of you!)" he hissed. "Or I'll call back that waiter and replace all your orders with chansey egg omelettes."

"I'm just hoping the food gets here soon; I'm just as starving as my trainer.", Static said.

"I'm just hoping someone doesn't make a complete idiot out of him/herself.", replyed Lighthouse.

Sidney seemed shocked by Ginger's behavior, and she too went silent, biting her lip and staring at her lap.

"Thatwasreallyreallyreallyexciting!" the Ninjask exclaimed, hovering out of his chair again. "Doitagaindoitagaindoitagain!"

The Blaziken fixed him with a hawk-like stare. "Sure. I'll do it one more time. All you have to do is leave your chair again." The Ninjask, obviously getting the hint, descended into his seat. "Hehehe. Justkiddingyouknow."

The waiter returned, bearing several trays of food- two of which were floating beside him, carried by the gastly. "Are the rest of you ready to order?" he asked, looking at the electric trainer as he set down the plates of food.

((Edit: BTW, the waiter's an NPC.))

"Yes.", Mike said. "One large batch of Spicy Hot Wings for all of us to share." Lighthouse sighed in dissapointment. Mike took note of this, and added. "And one medium salad for the Ampharos." Lighthouse was very pleased with this and couldn't help but putting a smile on.

"Mmm. Can't wait to dig in," Lulu said, picking up her pair of chopsticks.

Suzaku, who was prodding his hot wings, leaned over to look at Lulu's sushi. "Hmm, they didn't cook your fish very well. Here." He plucked a single roll from the Medicham plate, holding it in his palm. He curled his claws up into a fist, and his hand burst into flames.

"Ah, Suzaku...?"

The Blaziken set the charred sushi back down on her plate. "There."

"Nevermind," she sighed. "Thanks...I guess. Have this." She dumped her wasabi onto the side of Suzaku's wing basket. "It's hot. You'll like it."

Taro crawled down the Gengar's face. There was food! He ran over to Sidney's bowl, the trainer catching him before he could dive into the steaming liquid.

Cassius picked up his chopsticks, dipping one of the spring rolls he'd ordered into the sweet and sour sauce provided. It was pretty good, for human food, but he did catch himself staring at Pandora's salad for a bit longer than he should have been. The haunter smiled sympathetically, waiting for Ginger to drop her guard.

Abina was sloppily eating her wings, not even bothering to pick them up and tear the meat off. In fact, it didn't look like there were any bones left at all.

Sidney took her spoon and dipped it into her soup, lifting it up and blowing on it for Taro. "Eat up." She held the spoon in front of the Pokemon and he hastily slurped it up.

Ginger's bowl was untouched. No one could even see a hair of the Absol. "Is she alright?" Lulu asked the Blaziken. He looked over to check up on the traumatized Pokemon...but she wasn't there. Suzaku nearly gagged on a bone, and he stuck his head under the table, hoping to see her.

"What? What's wrong?"

"She's missing," he hissed quietly, his eyes darting around nervously.

Cassius immediately stood up and looked behind his chair, dropping his chopsticks in the process. For a moment, he looked downright shocked, but that quickly turned into a more dignified sort of annoyance with the absol. Pandora, ever the opportunist, took the opportunity to slide a few leaves of nightshade onto his trainer's plate.

"She's not in the room," Suzaku informed Lulu.

"AreyoulookingforGingerbecauseIjustsawher. Yepyepyep," the Ninjask hummed.

"Where is she?" Lulu asked, sounding worried.

"Sheleftleftleftshedid. Walkedrightoutthedoor."

The Medicham made a strange sound, tugging on her 'ear' in apprehension. "What are we gonna dooo?"

((Guess what. I have to go to bed early again. I'm taking the SATs tomorrow. -gag- xX;; ))

"Suzaku says Ginger isn't in the room, and Gonzo saw her walk out the door just a moment ago" translated Cassius, for the benefit of the humans present. He wasn't sure what to do next- she was Sidney's pokemon, after all- maybe this was just normal behavior for the moody absol?

((Ooh, SATs! The PSATs were fun Best of luck with them

Edit: my weekly anime marathon is over, so I'm gonna head off to go pummel Brock. This whole charmander-with-metal-claw thing kinda takes away half the fun, though.))

((Meh, the FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test) makes the SAT look like a 3rd grade spelling test.))

"Why am I not surprized?", asked Lighthouse to no one in particular.

"Well, maybe because one of the ghosts...or the trainer ate her.", Quickster replyed.

"However satyisfying that may be for you...and possibly everyone, I very highly doubt it.", Lighhouse interrupted.

"Spoilsport...", Quickster grumbled.