[Pokémon] An Apple a Day (pg 13)

delongbi · Jan 17, 2009

Now a giant Sunkern loomed over Apple.

I gulped, and thought that Apple was probably doing the same.

"Ingrain," Abalina commanded calmly.

The giant Sunkern suddenly sprouted roots and dug into the ground. Apple performed a rapid set of quick attacks, but they did little harm to the Sunkern.

"Absorb!"

Apple suddenly fell to the ground, as the Sunkern sucked its life.

"Apple, we've got to finish this ASAP! The longer the battle drags on, the stronger that Sunkern gets!"

Apple nodded in agreement and tried to tackle it, but the Sunkern once again was not damaged very much. It was constantly recovering through its roots and the energy it was absorbing from Apple.

I was pretty desperate by this point. Even though I knew Apple had not practiced enough, I ordered an Iron tail.

Apple's tail flickered and she swung it at the Sunkern, but she ended up hurting herself more than her opponent.

"Apple, come on! You can do this! Try again, and aim for the roots!"

More energy was stolen from Apple, but the Eevee looked at the giant Sunkern fiercely. Her tail suddenly glowed bright, and she spun around, cutting off all of the Sunkern's roots.

"Now finish it!"

Apple kept her tail lit up and flipped through the air, landing squarely on the giant Sunkern.

<Oh, yeah!> Apple squealed and did a celebration dance atop her opponent.

The Sunkern was knocked out.

The oversized Pokemon was returned, and in its place a Leafeon appeared. Abalina looked irked.

"Razor leaf!"

Leaves flew at Apple from all directions. The Eevee tried to dodge with a quick attack, but most of the leaves hit anyway.

Apple fell down in exhaustion.

"You got this, Apple!" I cheered.

Apple tried to get up but was knocked back by the Leafeon. This time, Apple did not get back up. I ran onto the field and scooped the Eevee into my arms. She was completely knocked out, but was otherwise fine. I patted her on the head, handed her to Erin, and then returned to my battle post.

I ordered Fiery onto the field.

The Leafeon once again spun razor-sharp leaves at my Pokemon. Fiery, however, was not worn from battle, and thus was able to dodge out of the way. I smirked at Abalina. "You won't beat me the same way twice!" I called.

Abalina was unfazed. She smiled slightly at me. "Or maybe I will."

Her Leafeon hurled leaves, and Fiery dodged once again. This time though the leaves turned around and boomeranged right back at Fiery.

Abalina grinned at me. "Magical leaf never misses."

"Iron tail!" I ordered.

Fiery used his iron-hard tail to slice the leaves chasing him to bits. He continued past the leaves and launched toward Leafeon.

"Quick, leaf blade!"

There was a loud clang as Fiery's tail met Leafeon's. Leafeon twisted away and tried again. Again, their tails met with a clang.

Both Pokemon continued to strike with their tails. It was like watching a sword fight. Leafeon's weapon was quicker and sharper than Fiery's, but Fiery's was thicker and stronger. With a silent vow not to order any other attacks, Abalina and I watched the two Pokemon twirl and lunge.

As the battle prolonged, I began to notice signs of endurance failures on both Pokemon. Their tails moved slower and their blows were less powerful. This seemed to hinder Leafeon more than Fiery, as the Leafeon's main advantage of speed was taken away.

The test of endurance continued until finally, Leafeon faltered under Fiery's strike. The Pokemon fell backwards, and Fiery struck again with his powerful tail. The Leafeon was too tired to block and too slow to dodge.

Fiery was the only Pokemon left standing on the battlefield.

Holy crud.

We won.

Fiery's fur was dirty and sticking up in places from the battle, but I didn't care as my bursting pride caused me to cuddle Fiery in a tight hug.

I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my hand, causing me to release Fiery. I squealed, "Oww!"

Fiery had bitten me.

I suppose hugging him was not the smartest idea.

I looked down at the ragged Pokemon, and he was grinning.

Erin hugged me and did a little dance. Even Apple, who had woken up toward the end of the battle but was still exhausted, smiled weakly.

Abalina gave me a gracious smile, though her eyes revealed a tad of annoyance. She took off the dark band (thank goodness) and handed me a badge.

"It's been a long time since I have given out more than one badge in a day," she commented. "But congratulations. You now have the Maple Badge."

"Did Jake get the other badge?" I asked curiously.

Abalina nodded and then sighed. "At least I beat one person today… I think I will train more before I hold another tournament."

I stared at the badge in my hand. It was shaped like a red, spiky maple leaf.

Wow, my first badge.

Fiery eyed my hand slyly.

Suddenly, my badge was swiped out of my hand.

Fiery held it proudly between his teeth.

He closed his mouth, smirking.

And swallowed.

Aww, so much for my first badge.

--------------------------------------------------

<No more eating badges.> I scolded Fiery several hours later.

Nurse Joy had healed my Pokemon and assured me that my badge would … come out Fiery's other end without any harm to Fiery. She had been correct. I now was washing and rewashing the badge as Fiery and Apple watched.

Apple giggled. She had been in a significantly better mood since she beat the Sunkern.

Fiery scowled. <If you saw the look on Anita's face, you would have done the same. She was completely engrossed with the thing!>

Apple thought for a moment. <You know, I think you're right.>

I rolled my eyes.

When I was finally satisfied with the badge's cleanliness, I left the bathroom and sat down on my bed. The moon's light glittered across my bed and barely reached Erin's. Erin was reading a magazine with a reading light under her covers. She had been abnormally quiet the whole afternoon. I was surprised but glad she was not bugging me as I thought she would about the psychic thing. Of course, she could just be waiting for an opportune moment…

Just then Erin began speaking. "Anita, about you being psychic?" She looked at me expectantly.

Oh, the irony.

"Good night, Erin." I completely ignored her question and lay down. Apple jumped beside me.

<I'd rather sleep in my Pokeball,> Fiery said. He trotted over to my bag, found his Pokeball, and pressed the center button. He was gone in a flash of red.

"Hello!? Are you going to explain?"

I rolled over to face the window. "Nope."

"Anita!" Erin started to whine.

"GOODNIGHT!"

All was quiet.

I fell asleep to Apple silently chanting, <Anger management, anger management.>

delongbi · Jan 25, 2009

Chapter 8: Reminiscence

The sea suited me.

I watched the dark waves crash against the beach.

The gloomy water reminded me of another time.

A time before Team Glop'emm and Masters.

A time that I lived on the other shore.

A toddler clutched his father's hand as they made their way through the crowd. The boy was amazed by the plentiful colors that surrounded him. It seemed that everywhere he looked merchants were showing off Pokemon dolls, balloons, mats, and a wide variety of furniture.

A woman accosted the father. "May I show you this table, sir? It—"

The father ignored the woman and kept walking. He kept scanning the crowd, as if he were looking for someone.

"Daddy, when can we go to the beach?" the boy whined.

"We need to go find Mommy and Auntie to tell them where we are going while they shop," the father replied. He wished his wife had left her PokeTech on.

The father finally spotted the women he was looking for just beyond the market place fence, stepping into a store.

Despite the mass of people around them and the bright overhead sun, the air chilled the boy. He moved closer to his father as they escaped the lively market place and followed the women inside the store.

The store was named "The Submerged Swamp" and had obviously at one time been someone's house. Upon entering, the boy was astounded by the vast number of pretty trinkets lying in every nook of the room.

"Don't touch anything because you might break it," the father warned. He held onto his son's hand and carefully made his way around the random ornaments to where he could see his wife was standing; she was talking with his sister-in-law and the apparent owner of the store.

As the father moved toward his wife, a small T.V. caught his eye. It was a noticeably new television, and it seemed out of place in this cluttered store.

On the T.V., a news woman stood in front of an image of Hoenn.

"A drastic change in weather has occurred in the past hour in several Hoenn regions," the women announced. She gestured to the map behind her. "Sootopolis City seems to be experiencing the worst of this disturbing weather, and all Sootopolis citizens are advised to evacuate the city. Lilycove City and Dewford Town are also experiencing mild flooding. The cause of these storms has not yet been identified, although—"

"Hello, there." The father was distracted from the television by a woman hugging his waist. "I didn't expect to see you here. You said you were going to spend the day at home relaxing and catching up on some well-earned sleep."

The man raised his eyebrows at his wife and chuckled. "That was the plan, but I was convinced otherwise by a devious child." He nodded toward the boy, who despite his father's warning was reaching to touch a glass knick-knack.

"So, what's the plan now?" the wife pulled away from her husband to pick up their four-year-old son.

"We're heading out to the beach. It's a nice day; a bit of a chill, but not a cloud in the sky here." The man then added hesitantly, "Though that doesn't seem to be the case in other parts of Hoenn. Did you see the news?"

The wife nodded. "It is horrible," she agreed.

The sister-in-law approached the couple. "Sue, what do you think of this vase for my kitchen?" she asked the wife, holding a neon green vase up in one hand and another young boy with the other.

"It's too brightly colored to fit in. Do they have it in any darker shades?" Sue, the wife, answered.

"I'll go check with the owner," the sister-in-law replied.

The dark haired boy she was clinging to complained, "Why can't I just go home?" but she ignored the plea and dragged the boy with her.

"Maria brought her boy?" the father questioned in a surprised tone.

Sue laughed. "Yeah. Apparently, Don is at a Corporate event right now in Rustburo, and she didn't want to bother you with another kid to watch. I told her she was being ridiculous, but you know how stubborn she gets."

"I can't believe my own brother didn't tell me he was going out of town! We could have helped Maria out… Well, now that I'm here, why don't I just take both kids to the beach?" the father suggested. "You two will be able to finish your shopping faster, and there will be no opportunity for our rambunctious nephew to break something."

"Great! Now you just need to convince Maria—"

CRASH

Sue and her husband could hear a stream of apologies spout from Maria's mouth. "Oh, I am so sorry. Here, let me get that. Really, sorry. I'll pay for it, of course. Wait here for a second, and then I'll help clean up this glass."

Maria came from around the corner, now holding her son. She looked at her brother-in-law with pleading eyes.

Before she could say anything, the man held out his hands for her son and said, "I'm taking the boys to the beach."

Maria smiled gratefully, handed over her son, and rushed back to help the store owner to clean up the broken glass.

Sue kissed her husband on the cheek and placed their son in his free arm. She patted the two boys on the head. "You two be safe. What do you do if a stranger offers you candy?"

"Run away screaming," the two cousins replied in unison.

The mother smiled and began walking toward the back of the store where Maria was cleaning up glass. "We'll meet you boys on the beach once we're done here," she called over her shoulder.

The husband watched his wife round the corner. He heard the store manager say, "Seriously, don't worry about it. Let me show you the vases we have in the basement…"

The man walked out of the store holding his son and nephew. The two boys were giggling madly as they played peek-a-boo, their green eyes shining with excitement.

A few blocks away from the beach, the father put the boys on the ground, mumbling, "You two are getting too heavy to carry anymore."

The boys sprinted ahead to the sand while the man sighed and jogged after them.

By the time the man reached the beach, the two boys were already splashing happily in the calm water.

The man sat down on a beach chair under an umbrella and pulled out a book. There was nobody else on the beach, but this was to be expected when there were big market sales. Plus, though it was sunny, the air was cool. It was definitely not beach weather, but the boys didn't seem to care.

The man read for a bit and then gazed over his book at the two boys. From his seat it was hard to tell which boy was which. He smiled. When strangers saw the boys together, they often thought the two were twins. Both had unkempt hair, green eyes, and differed in age by only six months.

He watched the boys play until he finally dosed off.

"Let's go searching for shells!" one of the boys suggested excitedly.

"Yeah! Oh, but not too far or Daddy will get upset," the other boy said.

"No he won't. He's asleep, silly!" The dark-haired boy started skipping down the shore.

"Wait for me!" The other boy ran after his cousin.

Several minutes later, the man awoke with a start. Something wasn't right. The sun was still shining brightly, but the air was too still. The man looked around for his son and his nephew, but neither was in sight.

The man rose in a hurry and quickly flipped his head side to side, looking down the shore. He noticed clouds were approaching rapidly.

There was also something weird about the ocean. The man squinted into the distant horizon. It looked like the horizon was getting taller for some reason…

The man froze in fright. His eyes widened.

He turned and frantically ran down the shore, calling "Landon Mendol! Liam Mendol! Get back here this instant!"

No reply.

"Liam! Landon! Where are you?"

Nothing.

The man saw the ocean grow even more out of the corner of his eye. Did the rest of Slateport City know? Should he go warn everyone? No, the boys were more important. "LANDON! LIAM!" he cried.

He spotted something a couple hundred meters away. Was it his son?

He pumped his legs faster than he ever had in his life. The mountain made of ocean rushed toward shore.

He could now make up the object he had spotted. It was his son. The boy stood staring at the ocean.

The man finally reached his son and pulled him into his arms.

"My son," he murmured, kissing the boy's head. Then he asked, "Where is your cousin?"

The boy shrugged. "He wanted to keep looking for shells, but I wanted to come back. So I turned around."

The man looked down the shore. He couldn't see the other boy; not a glimpse of his nephew's dark hair against the pale beach. The man turned to the ocean.

"Daddy, what's that?" The boy pointed to the ever-rising ocean. The giant wave was much too close.

The man estimated it would hit in less than two minutes. Not enough time to warn the city.

Now he had to make a decision.

His nephew or his son.

He knew what his decision would be in the end. He could not risk his son's life.

He could only hope that his nephew would get lucky.

"I'm sorry," the man murmured. He pulled out a Pokeball and released a Sharpedo.

Holding tightly to his beloved son, the man clambered onto the shark Pokemon.

"Alright, Sheedo, ride into that wave."

As the man departed from the beach, he imagined his dark haired nephew watching from a ways down shore. Guilt churned his stomach. He ignored the feeling.

The man and the boy rode toward the City's doom.

The sea suited me.

It reminded me of the day the Tsunami hit Slateport City.

The day of the battle between Kyogre and Groudon.

The day my cousin disappeared.

The day my father saved me.

The day my mother drowned.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"So, you're a psychic?" I repeated for about the thousandth time.

What a surprise; no reply.

Anita and I had been walking the entire morning and half the afternoon, and she had still not said a single word to me.

Unbelievable!

We were traveling southwest toward Tinted Town, which was a bit out of the way for me, but there was a gym leader there for Anita to battle.

At this point I was considering abandoning her. If she was going to ignore me the rest of our travel time together, then I was going to be bored out of my mind! Ugh.

I wished we could bicycle through these parts to make the time go faster. Unfortunately, there were too many trees and wild Pokemon. We could ride Griffy, but he would get tired if he had to carry the two of us for more than a few miles.

So we were stuck walking, and I was stuck being ignored.

Her two strongest Eevees did not appear to mind the silence. They trotted beside us and attacked wild Pokemon that crossed our path to gain battling experience. Strangely, Anita had not commanded them once. Maybe that had to do with the whole psychic thing….

I really wish she would explain it to me.

Huh, when I consider the questions I've been asking all morning, they all had to do with her being a psychic or whatever the heck she is. Maybe if I asked something that has nothing to do with that whole business, she'd answer, as any procrastinator would to keep me from asking worse questions.

"Why don't you keep your Pokemon in Pokeballs?" I asked, actually curious.

Anita didn't answer for a whole minute. I was about to return to my pouty plotting when she answered, "They don't like their Pokeballs. I only keep the other Eevees in their Pokeballs because they are too young to be left unsupervised and I can't have them wandering off."

One of her Eevees, the one with ragged hair, growled at her.

"That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard," I told the girl, thinking of my own Pokemon. They never minded their Pokeballs. Well, it didn't seem like it, as far as I could tell. Then again I wasn't a psychic…

Ooh, I had a great question for her.

"How do you know they don't like their Pokeballs?" I asked. Hehe. She was caught in a trap now.

Anita seemed to know this too. She whipped her head forward and went back to pretending I didn't exist.

"It's not because you're a psychic, huh?" I taunted.

I was ignored again, but mostly because the ragged Eevee (ugh, why couldn't I remember his name?) had Anita's attention.

For some reason, the Eevee seemed upset with Anita. They were having an intense staring contest… I think. I'm not really sure what Anita is doing half the time; she's very strange.

Suddenly, the Eevee pounced at her. I was too shocked to react and Anita fell backward.

The ragged Eevee disappeared in a flash of light.

I glanced at her hands, expecting to see the Eevee's Pokeball. However, there was none.

Was this another one of those psychic tricks?

Then I spotted her Pokeballs hanging from her belt. She couldn't have had time to snatch and put back that Pokeball so quickly…

I remembered the ragged Eevee letting itself into the Pokeball before bed yesterday. Everything fell into place.

I started cracking up.

"You were just tackled by your Eevee because you wouldn't let him back into his Pokeball," I choked through my laughter. "Talk about irony."

Anita glared at me, her face bight red.

I grinned widely- mostly because Anita's face might as well have been an announcement that she really could communicate with her Pokemon psychically.

I'm sure the last thing Anita wanted right now was me to start rambling. So I did just that.

"You know, Pokeballs are specifically created to feel spacious and comfortable on the inside. Plus, Pokeballs exist for a good reason. Wanna know why? So, a couple thousand years ago someone decided it would be a good idea to get protection. You know, from opponent families, tribes, clans, or whatever other dangers there were back then. Anyway, some person recruited Pokemon to do their protection, and soon everyone was feeding, providing shelter for, and befriending these creatures in order to gain their security. It was a mutual agreement between Pokemon and human: food and shelter for protection. Eventually, the world became a safer place with no rival tribes straining for survival - Pokemon became more of a sport than a need. Then shrinking technology was invented. Before that, there was usually only one or two Pokemon for one person because it was hard to keep track of more than that, but with the invention of the Pokeball, a person could carry many Pokemon at one time. So many, in fact, that a rule had to be made limiting a person to carrying 6 Pokeballs—"

"SHUT UP!" Anita yelled. Ah, just the reaction I loved and expected. Now that Anita was sufficiently annoyed, phase one of my evil plan was complete.

"So, wanna tell me about your psychic powers?"

"NO!"

"Well, then I'll just have to continue talking—"

"WILL YOU JUST SHUT IT!?" Ooh, she was really getting mad now. Her face was practically purple.

I smiled playfully and retorted in a sugary voice, "Only if you tell me about your gift."

Anita snorted. "Yeah, my gift of attracting annoying…people." Her eyes flickered to her Eevee, Apple.

A wild Nidoran popped out of the rustling grass. Anita watched Apple defeat the Pokemon in silence.

"So..?" I led.

Anita sighed and muttered, "If it will get me some peace and quiet… fine."

I cheered but held my tongue.

"What do you want to know?"

"Well, what's 'The Gift'?"

"It's basically where a person has some sort of Pokemon power."

I nodded. That would explain Abalina…

"So you have the powers of a psychic Pokemon?"

"Yes," Anita confirmed.

"What can you do? I know you can read minds, but can you go deeper, like memories?"

The brown haired girl shrugged. "I can mostly just listen to thoughts."

"And that includes Pokemon?"

"Yup." Well, that clarified a lot.

I tried to act like I was having a normal conversation on a normal topic. "So, how'd you learn to do that stuff?"

"Apple taught me," Anita said seemingly automatically. Her hand suddenly flew over her mouth as if she had said something dangerous.

"I thought Apple was a normal type Pokemon. How could she teach a psychic?"

"Um… Apple used to have a friend Natu who was being taught by a Xatu," Anita said sheepishly. "She ended up learning all of the techniques as her friend learned them, even though she couldn't actually perform them."

Anita blushed and wouldn't meet my eyes. Was this something I wasn't supposed to know? Or maybe she was lying… though there was no apparent reason for that.

"Well, maybe Griffy could teach you a thing or two," I said casually, as if this psychic thing did not bother me a bit. In fact, though I was slightly unnerved by the situation, I was mostly curious. I wanted to know the extent of her powers, exactly how she used them and what she could do…

Get ahold of yourself. You are a Pokemon researcher, not a human scientist, I reminded myself.

Another part of me argued, Well, she has Pokemon abilities…

Anita rolled her violet eyes at me… or maybe my thoughts.

I'd have to see if there was a way to keep Anita out of my head. The idea of her reading my every thought was rather uncomfortable. My head was supposed to be private!

Anita's attention suddenly turned to Apple, who was trotting beside us.

I grinned. Even if she did have psychic powers, she was awful at hiding who she was communicating with psychically. This sure was going to be an interesting journey.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

<Come on, Anita! Now is the perfect time!> Apple whined.

 I replied.

Apple scoffed, <Well, that's your own fault, you blabber mouth. A friend Natu? C'mon.>

<Well, if Fiery hadn't decided he wanted to go back in his Pokeball just to prove me wrong, she would have never figured out I could use telepathy!>

<Yeah, because Abalina didn't already give that away,> Apple said sarcastically.

<She didn't say any specifics!>

<Whatever, you know Erin would have figured it out eventually. You suck at lying, and your body language always gives away who you are using telepathy with.>

<That's not true!>

<Then why is Erin already suspicious?>

Apple had me there. <Fine,> I muttered.

<Hey!> Apple narrowed her eyes at me. <You've been distracting me!>

<From what?> I asked innocently… not.

<From my original suggestion. You should practice your psychic abilities now.>

<No!>

<Why not?>



<Suspicious! She KNOWS you are a psychic!>

<Not of that, of you. She already suspects something is up with you.>

<Which is why I recommended you ask Erin if you could use Griffy to practice right now.>



<Yeah, you could. But if you want to learn something new, you should ask for Griffy's help.>

 I explained.

<Didn't you hear Abalina? You can't go into these gym leaders unprepared or you'll get your *ss handed to you! You have to learn to use all of your powers if you want to gain gym badges!>

Why is it that everyone but me seemed interested in my powers? Sure, they were kind of cool, but they seemed to be causing more trouble than they were worth.

Apple suddenly smiled widely with her miniature fangs.

<What?>

<If you had been listening to Erin's thoughts, you would already know.>

I hadn't been listening to Erin's thoughts because I wanted to respect her privacy… somewhat. Mostly, I just didn't care what she was thinking.

Now that I was paying attention to her thoughts, I could feel her dying curiosity about what Apple and I were discussing.

"What are you two talking about?" Erin suddenly blurted out.

"Nothing."

Apple started growling at me, and then looked directly at Erin with wide eyes.

"Why won't you—" Erin glared at me, and started again, "You know what—" The girl pulled out a Pokeball and pressed the release button. "Griffy, can you tell me what that Apple and Anita are discussing telepathically?"

Griffy was confused for a moment, but then Erin showed him what she already knew about my psychic abilities. <Why certainly, Erin.>

I heard his tail say, <We can use this situation to our advantage if we build a giant vacuum to suck up all of the mind energy in the world. Wahahahaha!>

Yeah, that tail had serious issues.

<Will you ask Erin to allow you to teach Anita some psychic stuff right now while we are walking?> Apple asked Griffy.

I groaned as Griffy relayed the message to Erin.

"Sure! I think that's a great idea!"

"I don't," I mumbled.

<Well, then. Anita, you're outvoted so it's lesson time!>

<Since when are we taking votes?!>

<Since I decided you should have a lesson now.>

<But you didn't even vote!>

<All in favor, raise your hand, paw, or hoof,> Apple said and Griffy relayed to Erin.

Erin's hand shot up, as did Apple's paw. Griffy shrugged and raised a hoof saying, <I'll vote as my trainer does.>

Griffy's tail rose. <If you turn into a pineapple, we win.>

Apple and I stared.

I finally shrugged. <Bleh. You guys stink.>

 Griffy politely inquired.

<Well, we just worked on telepathy, and I was thinking of starting telekinesis next. How about you teach her the basics?>

<Very well.>

Erin squealed with excitement when Griffy told her what the lesson plan for today was.

<Miss Anita, are you ready to begin?>

If I didn't give in, I would never hear the end of it. <Fine,> I answered sourly.

<Psychic powers are based on the ability to project your mind elsewhere. The weakest form of projecting your mind is telepathy. The next level of mind projection is creating barriers.>

<Like Reflect and Light Screen?> I asked.

<That's correct, Miss. Like telepathy, the greater the distance you try to create a barrier from, the harder it becomes. This is why many Pokemon simply make a barrier directly in front of them during a battle, rather than when their opponent is halfway across the field. Very few Pokemon can do more than that, though there are a few exceptions, such as Mr. Mime.>

I nodded.

<Creating a barrier is very similar to projecting your mind into another's. You pour a small bit of your mind out of your body with such force that it freezes the air. Listen to my mind as I use Reflect.>

I tried to enter Griffy's mind, but I found it harder to enter this foreign mind than Apple's. It was also hard to concentrate on Griffy while walking. Eventually, Griffy had me ride on his back, but even then it was several minutes before I was deeper than the emotion level.

Erin watched us the whole time with a look of fascination. At one point, I thought I even saw her take out her notebook to scribble something down.

When I was finally in Griffy's mind, he illustrated Reflect. First he stretched a strand of his mind forward toward Apple and said <Moving your mind slowly like this is telepathy.> He retracted his mind, and then shot several strands forward in front of Apple very quickly. Apple walked into the solid barrier and fell down.

This sent me into a fit of laughter, and I was unable to maintain a connection with Griffy.

<Hey!> Apple exclaimed. <That was uncalled for!>

<Your blue frog-squashing watermelon is uncalled for!> Griffy's tail yelled back.

I sat up on Griffy's back and rubbed my head, slightly dazed.

<Ready to try, Miss?>

I definitely didn't feel ready, but it wasn't like I ever would. I tried to focus my mind on the air in front of Apple.

<Why me?> Apple complained.

I ignored her and continued concentrating.

Nothing happened.

"Um, what's going on?" Erin asked, probably hoping for some interesting data she could analyze.

I tried again.

And again.

And again.

Nothing.

No matter how hard I concentrated, nothing happened.

<She needs to really want it,> Apple finally said. <She needs to want it to the point of needing it; otherwise her mind will not gain enough force.>

I sighed. If that was the case, I would never get it because I really didn't want it. It was everyone else who was forcing this upon me. Even though I knew I would need my powers against gym leaders, I couldn't get myself to care enough.

I certainly wanted to beat the gym leaders, but psychic powers still did not appeal to me. The actual abilities were pretty cool and useful, I suppose, but they were not worth the complications they had caused. I didn't want to be gawked at, to be treated like an outcast. I had had enough of that in school…

After half an hour of trying, I gave up. <I'm just not ready for this,> I told Apple and Griffy.

Erin sighed sadly and returned Griffy to his Pokeball.

I enjoyed the half a minute we walked in silence, and then Erin started talking again.

"So, what is your favorite kind of ice cream?" she asked.

"Why are you asking me?"

"I needed an ice breaker."

"Because there is so much tension here," I retorted sarcastically.

Awkward silence.

"Touché," I muttered.

"Well, can you think of a better one?"

I shrugged.

"C'mon, I need multi-word answers here. How about, how has your life been thus far?"

I reflected a moment. "Pretty sucky."

"And why so?" I thought it was rude of her to be so nosy.

"Huh, let's see," I retorted scathingly. "My father left my mom and me when I was six, my mom hates Pokemon, I was picked on at school, my two best friends left on their Pokemon journey a whole year before I did…

"I'm sorry," Erin replied simply. She apparently hadn't recognized the "leave me alone or else" tone because she then asked, "Wanna expand on any of that?"

"No," I replied curtly.

"Okay then. How about boyfriends?"

I rolled my eyes at her. Was there an end to her shallowness?

<Technically, yes, assuming she is a shallow person,> Apple added to my thoughts.

<Butt out,> I grumbled to Apple. Then to answer Erin, I said, "Kinda."

"What kinda answer is that? I want specifics!"

I sighed in exasperation. I turned my head toward the sky for a moment, and noticed some clouds rolling in from overseas. Great, more rain was just what I needed. I decided that answering Erin might appease her so I finally started talking about my one almost boyfriend…

"He invited me to the school dance, and brought me—

"A rose."

My best friend, Mia, giggled. "Awe, that's so cute! What are you going to do with it?"

Mia stuck her face over the sink to get closer to the bathroom mirror while she applied a thin layer of lip gloss to her lips.

I shrugged. "Dunno. Maybe I'll just stick it in my purse or something…"

Mia gasped, "You can't do that! Give that to me!" She snatched the red rose from my hand and twirled me around to face the bathroom mirror. I felt pressure on the back of my head as she fiddled with my pulled back hair to make the rose fit. "There, that's perfect! Look, the color even matches the dress we picked out for you!"

I rolled my eyes. She had done all the dress-picking. I had just followed her wordlessly, praying for the shopping to end before I dropped dead of boredom. "Whatever, can we go now? Matt probably thinks we're sick we've been in here so long."

Mia fixed one last invisible strand of her blonde curly hair and then turned to the bathroom door. "You're so lucky! My date abandoned me as soon as he saw the chicken wings! Yours has stuck with you thus far through the night, and he even gave you a rose after your first dance together!"

"He has been really nice," I agreed. "I just wish we could bring our Pokemon. We always have more fun with them around."

Mia opened the bathroom door for me. Matt, of course, was waiting just outside. Mia winked at me, and then scurried toward a table of boys to drag her date onto the dance floor.

The music changed to a slow song, and the DJ announced, "Alright, kids, last song of the night! Make it a good one!"

Matt held his hand out questioningly. I took it and we walked to the dance floor.

Slow dancing with Matt was slightly awkward. Though I was comfortable resting my hands on his shoulders, he held my waist as far away from him as possible, as if he was overstepping some boundary.

I was content to watch his cute round face as we stepped to the tune, but he tried to look everywhere but me. When our eyes met, we both looked away, blushing.

Carly spotted us across the dance floor, and gracefully pulled her date, Reece, toward us. "I always knew you two losers would end up together," she snickered.

I felt heat rise to my face.

Reece flicked his eyes from my face down to my shoes and then back again. "Yes, you could do much better, Anita," he taunted.

I grabbed Matt's hand and tore away from the dance floor, too angry to speak.

Matt and I left the dance and walked toward our homes through the cool, moon-lit night in silence. I missed Matt's normal friendly chatter.

For years Matt and Mia had been my two best friends, but when Matt asked me to the dance, things got weird between the three of us. Mia scurried away whenever she saw Matt, and my relationship with Matt was just plain awkward.

We finally reached my house. I didn't worry about Matt walking home alone; he lived next door. I turned to say goodnight when I suddenly felt Matt's lips on mine.

It certainly was not what I expected… more wet than anything.

"G'night, Anita,"

"—were the last words I heard him say. The next day he left to go on his Pokemon journey without even saying goodbye."

Erin whistled.

I grimaced.

"So, do you still, you know, like him?"

"I'm not sure I ever liked him in the first place," I replied. Then to change the subject, I asked, "What about you? Any boyfriends?"

"A couple," Erin answered.

"What kinda answer is that?" I mocked, "I want specifics!"

Erin was silent.

I was genuinely shocked. "Are you seriously not going to talk about it?"

Erin nodded and looked away.

I tried to read her mind, but she was just thinking about grey clouds.

A rain drop hit my head. I looked up and noticed the clouds I had seen earlier were now directly over us. Lightning flashed through the sky, and was followed by crashing thunder.

<A downpour is coming,> Apple warned. <There is a small ledge just ahead we can take cover in if we hurry.>

I relayed Apple's warning (without mentioning that it was Apple's prediction) to Erin, and we ran for cover through the drizzle. We reached to ledge just as the drizzle turned into a downpour. Erin, Apple, and I sat huddled in silence, watching the rain.

After an hour of squatting under the ledge, the rain had still not ceased. I sighed when Erin said, "Well, looks like we're going to be stuck here for a bit. We should take advantage of the opportunity by continuing to get to know each other better!"

Boy, would this be a long afternoon…evening…night. I suddenly realized how long the rain could keep me here…

under a rock…

in the cold…

….with Erin.

"So, you never answered my first question: what's your favorite type of ice cream?"

Buoysel · Jan 31, 2009

HAHA that's a great way to end a chapter. I am not a fan of physic types, however you portray them in a way that make me very curious about them, and would one could really do.

I understand the title now, and I think that you are comming up with great nicknames, just don't evolve "Firey" in to a Flareon.

Now for the lines I want to point out: [FONT=&quot]

Apple lightly padded after Erin and me through the Pokemon Center doors. <She better not snore.>

[/FONT]
Proper English would be "I".

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] ROTFLMAO!![/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]

<So I have heard. The pink lady informed me after I was healed.>[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Silence[/FONT][FONT=&quot].[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]<What do you want to do?> I finally asked.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]<What can I do?> the Eevee bitterly replied. <My family is hurt. We will not be able to fend for ourselves in the wild.>[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]<Would you and siblings like to travel with Apple and me?> I gestured toward Apple, who was peering at the Eevee curiously from behind my legs, unsure if it would attack.[/FONT]

Click to expand...

[FONT=&quot]Silence should be replaced with description of silence, such as "after a brief awkward silence, <What do you…>[/FONT], or "I broke the silence after a few tense moments."
[FONT=&quot]And when you refer to yourself in a sentence such as that, you use "I" instead of "me".

Probably a Magikarp.

Click to expand...

Misspelled.

Now back to the praise.

I find the tid bit about the typhoon interesting, and I really like Apple's character. I didn't think that s/he would obey a human, especially being a Mew. The mental brake down of Apple was classic, how often does a Pokemon become filled with self pitty in a story. I really like that part, it makes Apple seeme almost human.

Oh, and [/FONT]Griffy reminds me of the overbaringly happy computer on the space ship from "Hitchhickers Guide to the Galexay."

delongbi · Feb 22, 2009

This chapter is a bit more inappropriate than the others. Definetely pg-13...

Aww, it's just 100 words over the limit, so 2 posts. Sorry, 1st post is short b/c I didn't want to split the chapter at a weird part.

Chapter 9: Peepin Pond

I stared at the walkie-talkie.

A child's toy really.

And yet this mere toy would enact my brilliant plan.

I pressed the green button.

"Yes, Master?" my assistant answered.

I spoke quietly into the toy. "The detective has been dispatched. My plan has begun. Remember my warnings."

"Of course, Master."

"Nothing more. Master out." I ended the transmission and grinned.

If my calculations on Miss Parkwood's location were correct, she would soon be meeting someone quite special.

Now things would really start to get interesting.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Ladies and gentleman, the Master has left the building.

I smiled widely. The past twenty-four hours had easily been the happiest hours of my life. By some stroke of luck, or perhaps G-d's will, it was finally my turn to shine. I was in charge of Team Glop'emm. I was in control.

And yet… there was still work to be done.

For though I was in command now, as long as the young Master lived, my position was not permanent.

Furthermore, the Master had succeeded in disappearing, and this would be the perfect opportunity to eliminate the brat if I could find a way to identify him. I had seen his luminescent eyes a thousand times, and I could probably estimate how tall he was, but that would not be enough to recognize the snotty teen if I ever saw him in broad daylight.

I fiddled with my Pokeballs, thinking.

I had searched through everything he left behind for any clue; the desk I now sat at, his private quarters, the library, and the labs. I found nothing.

All I had was the little information the boy had told me, and my own experience with the boy and his father.

But if I could kill the previous Master without getting caught, I could certainly find the man's teenage son.

BZZZT

I looked down at the Master's desk… no, my desk… and saw the talkie the boy had given me vibrating.

Speak of the devil.

I pressed the green button.

"Yes, Master?" I answered tiredly.

"The detective has been dispatched. My plan has begun. Remember my warnings," the boy replied coldly.

Whoopee, I thought sarcastically, though I responded with an "Of course, Master."

"Nothing more. Master out."

How tiresome that boy could be.

Even if the boy wasn't the Master, I would want to eliminate the child because of how he flaunted his arrogant attitude.

The boy simply had to be destroyed. I sighed as I racked my brilliant brain for vital details that could help me identify the teen.

Mendol.

That was one detail I had— the name Mendol. That was the name written on the gym door. It was the name the boy's father went by, and the name the boy was called. Master Mendol. The father had become a gym leader before he joined Team Glop'emm. Thus, when the name was engraved, there would have been no reason for him to hide his identity.

The name was a possible lead. It couldn't hurt to check it out.

Then there was this detective, the man the boy had sent after Anita Parkwood. He had said the detective was a relative. The boy was probably lying, but either way, it would be useful to have someone watching the detective. Maybe this "relative" would let something slip.

Plus, I needed to make sure I was getting all the information the Master was getting about Pokemon X. If I could figure out a way to find and capture it before he did…

I smiled wickedly.

Well, then it would be a lot easier to take him down.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

I ran a hand through my dark hair as I stared at the walkie-talkie. It was silent now.

I had my mission.

I was in position.

Now all I could do was wait.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

CONTINUED --->

delongbi · Feb 22, 2009

The first four times I woke up, it was still raining.

The fifth time, the sun was blazing into my eyes.

I blinked, and looked around me, confused. Erin was laying a little ways away, still fast asleep under the protection of the ledge. I was barely under the ledge, and my clothes were still damp. The air was a lot warmer than it had been before. I looked around for Apple, and finally spotted her bathing in the sunlight.

After stretching, I looked at my watch.

3:41 p.m.

That couldn't be right.

I shook my head and blinked a couple of times.

3:41 p.m.

I jumped up and ran into the sunlight. The sun was high in the sky, and there wasn't a cloud in sight.

<Apple,> I growled.

<Nya?> Apple answered groggily. Her body remained motionless, sprawled in the sunlight.

<Why didn't you wake me up when it stopped raining?>

Apple finally got up and yawned. 

<You realize if we had left as soon as it stopped raining, we could have reached Tinted Town before the sun went down. Now that we've wasted most of the day, we'll have to camp out again.>

<Na,> Apple argued, <It didn't stop raining till noon. No way would we have reached Tinted Town. We would have to camp out anyway.>

<Maybe, but now we're going to have to start setting up for camp in just two or three hours before it starts getting dark! We're not going to make any progress. The day was completely wasted!>

<Whatever.>

I walked over to Erin and shook her with a foot. "Wake up!"

Erin sat up quickly, her hair a complete mess. "Huh?" She blinked. "Whoa. How long did we sleep?"

"It's already mid-afternoon! We have to get going!"

Erin stretched. "What about breakfast?"

"Ugh. Come on!" I grabbed her arm and started exasperatedly marching through the lightly wooded area. Apple followed.

So we walked… and walked… and walked….

Did I mention we kept walking?

"Huh. There are more trees here," I noted dully after half an hour of— you guessed it— walking. We had eaten as we traveled.

Erin nodded. "It's because there is more water here. About half a mile to our left is Peepin Pond, and four miles to our right is Lemon Lake."

"And how far until we reach Tinted Town?"

"You really don't want to know. Too far."

I frowned and grumbled to myself. Then suddenly, I remembered Fiery was still in his Pokeball. "Oh!" I exclaimed as I released him. "Sorry, I forgot about you."

<Darn, I was hoping you wouldn't remember,> Apple pouted.

<Under normal circumstances, I would be offended that you forgot me. However, I already told you, I like my Pokeball!> Fiery growled.

 I replied.

<Yeah, no normal Pokemon would like being stuck in that thing!> Apple added.

<Have you ever considered the possibility that you're the abnormal one, Apple?>

<No.> Apple smirked.

Fiery chose to ignore Apple. <Anita, just because Apple does not like her Pokeball does not mean all Pokemon dislike Pokeballs. Some of us actually enjoy resting and being away from you crazies.>

<Well, you need the exercise,> I argued. I already knew I had lost; I was just being stubborn. Abruptly, I realized Fiery and Apple had stopped walking.

<What's up?>

Apple and Fiery were staring into the sky.

Erin stopped behind the Eevees. "What's wrong?"

"I'm not—" I stopped speaking as I followed the Eevees' gazes.

SPLAT

All was suddenly dark.

And wet.

Three different laughs came from beyond the wet darkness.

<Whew, I feel much better,> an unfamiliar voice said.

I wiped the wetness from my eyes and saw a large Fearow flapping away above me.

It occurred to me what the wet goo covering me was.

"EWWWWWWW!!!" I yelled.

Fiery snorted. <Now you know how I feel!>

"This is so not funny!" I gave the three giggling hyenas my fiercest glare.

It was ruined when a bit of… crap… fell from my hair to my nose.

<It wouldn't have happened if you had listened psychically or had better normal hearing,> Apple commented.

"It's supposed to be good luck when a bird poops on you," Erin remarked.

"Yeah right," I grumbled. "So far, today might qualify in the top ten worst days of my life." I unsuccessfully tried to wipe the crud from my face; it just ended up smearing.

And now my hands were covered in **** too. Great.

Apple joked to Fiery, 

"Which way is Peepin Pond?" I asked. I spat as… you really don't want to know.

Erin pointed.

"I'm going to go wash up. Erin, can you take my pack if it's not already disgusting? I don't want to drip on it…"

"I'm not touching that thing if there is a single drop of crap on it," Erin answered. She inspected my pack carefully before removing it from my back. "We'll start setting up camp here. No way will we have time to keep moving by the time you're done."

<What a waste of a day,> I thought to myself…

… or not. <Maybe it just wasn't meant to be,> Apple replied.

<You stink,> Fiery put in while wrinkling his nose.

"I'll be by the pond—" I said to Erin.

<Hopefully in it,> Apple interjected, though only I could hear.

"Make sure you give these two some daunting task." I waved to the Eevees.

"Don't worry. They'll be fetching firewood!" Erin replied.

<Oooh. So daunting. I couldn't possibly handle that,> Apple snickered.

Fiery chuckled.

I left.

The walk to the pond was quiet, and I probably would have enjoyed it if it weren't for the awful stench and disgusting goop on my face.

The trees became denser as I neared the pond, and the shade sent a shiver down my back.

The first thing I did when I reached the pond was splash the pond's warm water on my face to scrub the crap off. As I squatted by the pond, I made a mental note to buy soap when I reached Tinted Town.

When my face was wiped off and I could finally see clearly, my reflection in the pond revealed that I was covered in even more poo than I had imagined.

And I have a big imagination.

Not only was my hair streaked with brown and white, but so was the top of my long-sleeve t-shirt. Even my pants had some crap on them; I must have accidently put my hands on them when I squatted down.

I glanced to my left and right to make sure the pond was abandoned.

Seeing no other signs of life, I sighed and carefully stripped off my pants, shirt, and shoes.

While leaning over the pond, I dipped the shirt in the water and began scrubbing it with my hands.

A soft cool breeze sent a chill down my spine.

"That's a nice look for you."

I fell into the water, surprised by the voice.

The pond was shallow. I swerved around and squatted so only my head was above the water, while I clutched my shirt tightly to my chest.

My heartbeat quickened when I saw the speaker.

"Reece," I hissed.

"Ah, Anita, it's been a while," Reece said casually, leaning against a tree.

<Apple? Fiery? Erin? Anyone!?> I called out psychically.

I held my breath hopefully.

No answer. I was out of range.

Reece strolled toward the pond smirking nastily. I backed into the pond's reeds nervously, my feet getting tangled in the roots.

Reece stopped by my pants. He nonchalantly bent down and picked them up, seemingly inspecting them.

"Back off my pants you pervert!" I called.

Reece's amber eyes met mine. "Anita, I thought you were going to be a Pokemon trainer."

"I am! Back off!"

Reece smiled and put the pants down. "So where are your Pokeballs?"

"Nearby," I answered hastily, fear accelerating through my veins.

"Is that so?"

<APPLE!?> I strained.

Still no answer.

Holy crap, I was alone.

The creeper took a step closer to the pond.

"Stay back, or I'll…" my mind came up blank.

"Or you'll what?" Reece spoke softly. "Scream? No one will hear."

He lifted his foot slightly.

I was frozen with fright. Reece chuckled and started to take another step.

That perv had to stay the hell away from me! I automatically thrust my mind at the hated boy.

"Ow! What the—" Reece looked around blankly for the source of his pain. He tried to step forward again…

And hit an invisible wall. Again.

"Huh? What—"

"I said, back off Reece!" I hollered fiercely. I sent another psychic pulse to my barrier. Reece was repelled backwards.

Now, Reece's eyes were widened with fear. "Anita—" he started.

"AWAY!"

He flew back again. The pervert carefully treaded backwards while watching me. Then he turned and fled through the thin layer of trees.

I sank back in the reeds as relief flooded through me, still clutching the poop-stained shirt to my chest. Slowly, my fear trickled away into the pond. For fifteen minutes, I watched from the reeds to make sure the boy didn't come back. I sent my mind out to make sure there was truly nobody there.

When I finally felt it was safe, I began lifting myself from the water plants. I scanned the shore just to double check…

There was someone by the edge of the pond! I quickly ducked back into the reeds.

How hadn't I sensed this person?

I sent my mind out again, but found nothing.

I peeked through the reeds.

A dark haired young man was crouched by the pond. The setting sun made it difficult to make out any exact details, but I could see he was scooping up the pond's clear water and drinking it.

How long had he been there?

Suddenly, the young man looked straight at me. The fact that I could see his eyes shocked me. They were green and luminescent, shining like the moon.

"I can see you in there," the kid said quietly, his voice sending chills up my spine.

Okay, today definitely qualified as the worst day of my life.

The strange adolescent got up and started walking down shore towards where my pants were laying. He watched me the entire time.

"What are you doing?" he asked, stopping just before my pants.

My fear had returned. My heart had to be going a hundred miles an hour.

"Get away," I warned, mustering up my mind. I was exhausted, but fear powered me.

The boy began to take another step.

I threw a barrier in front of him.

He walked right through it.

The young man suddenly looked down. He had stepped on my pants.

"Oh…" he said. He stared at my pants and then called vaguely, "C'mon. Even I know better than to do that!"

What the heck?

The teen spun on the spot and stalked into the woods.

I determined waiting was a bad idea. I quickly scrubbed my hair as best I could and got out of the water. I decided washing my pants wasn't worth the risk of yet another person finding me in only my bra and underwear.

Because I was wet, my pants and shirt clung to my body. The air was a lot cooler now, but all I cared about was getting away from the stupid pond.

As soon as I began marching away from the pond, I called out to Apple with my mind.

It was another five minutes of walking before I finally contacted her.

<Apple!>

<Anita, what took you so long? I was about to come looking for you. Why didn't you contact me earlier?>

 I muttered, and then I showed her what had just occurred.

<Congratulations on making a barrier!> Apple replied when I was finished.

I rolled my eyes. Should have known I'd get that response.

<And…> Apple continued. <Well, erm, then you're not going to be very happy when you get here.> She showed me an image of Erin talking to the dark haired boy I had just seen by a fire.

<Oh, she is so dead.> I could see a dim light up ahead. <I'll be at the camp in less than five minutes.>

<You know what that guy is?> Apple asked suddenly.

<No.>

<C'mon, you should know this.>

<Well, I don't.>

<He's gifted. He has a dark type gift!>

Oh, wow. That was obvious now that I thought about it.

I finally burst through a bush into the firelight.

I must have been a sight because Erin yelped. The strange young man, however, didn't seem phased at all.

"Oh, Anita. You nearly gave me a heart attack! This here is—"

"GET OUT!" I yelled.

"Anita, he's just—"

"OUT!" I barked.

Erin sighed and reached into her pack. The kid didn't move.

"I don't know how you got so soaked, but go put these on." Erin handed me dry pants and a shirt she had pulled out of her bag. "Then maybe we can have an actual discussion."

I put on the clothes behind a tree and heard Erin mutter, "I am so sorry. She's—"

I tuned out the rest. I didn't want to hear.

 Apple said calmly.

<But he's a perv!>

<From what you showed me, I'm not—> I angrily shoved Apple from my mind.

I came out from behind the tree and laid my disgusting clothes out to dry. I sat down by the fire across from Erin and the perv.

"He can't stay," I said unwaveringly.

"Anita, he's just—"

"HE'S A PERV!"

I looked straight at the dark haired young man. Now that I could see him properly, he looked about my age, maybe a bit older. His bright eyes gazed at me from under his spiky jet black hair.

"I am not. You are simply stupid," he replied stoically.

"What!? I was nearly naked and you kept walking toward me!" I yelled.

"Whoa!" Erin scooted away from the boy.

"Oh, excuse me," the kid started sarcastically. "First off, I had no idea you didn't have clothes on. Before today, I believed nobody would be stupid enough to do such a thing."

"I was pooped on by a bird! What else was I supposed to do?!"

"Oh, so that's what happened?" The boy smirked. "Still, it's a pretty popular pond; you're lucky there wasn't anyone fishing."

"Yeah, real lucky!" I groaned, irritated. "How was I supposed to know Peepin Pond was popular?!"

"You are in Acceber. Everyone knows."

Erin nodded. She was siding with him! What?!

"Even if you didn't know, who would undress by a pond named Peepin Pond? As in, people peep. Really, how stupid can you get?"

I didn't have a reply.

I blushed, took in a deep breath, and turned to Erin. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Erin shrugged. "I assumed you knew! It is a pretty common vacation spot. Plus, I didn't actually think you would undress in the wilderness. Eww."

I took another breathe and then asked, "What do you want?" I met the boy's odd gaze again.

Erin answered for the kid. "Before you so rudely interrupted, we were just discussing the possibility of traveling together—"

"NO!" I yelled stubbornly. What in the world was she thinking? What happened to not giving half a thought about a guy? We didn't even know this person, and I couldn't read his intentions. He could be dangerous.

"Will you let me finish? He's a Pokemon researcher like me and is very interested in my area of study."

Erin caught the boy's eye and grinned.

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at the boy. I told Apple.



"Since we share interests, I believe it would be beneficial to travel together," the young man added. Then he continued, "As a researcher, I am also intrigued by the evolution Pokemon, Eevee. Erin, here, told me you have quite a few of those."

<Oh, sure. This guy just happens to be interested in exactly what Erin is researching and the Pokemon I have. Why does he want to travel with us so much?> I wondered to Apple.

<He can't know what I am. Maybe he knows you're gifted,> Apple thought.

<Whatever the case, he can't travel with us. I'll tell Erin of the situation psychically.>

<Careful, you've never actually spoken to her through your head. You don't know how she'll react,> Apple warned.

I reached out to Erin psychically. <Erin, there is—>

Erin snapped her head to me, her eyes flashing with anger. "Anita, is that you?"

I spoke aloud, "What are you talking about?" but psychically said, <Yes.>

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD, ANITA!"

<Well, if he didn't know you were gifted before, he knows now,> Apple groaned.

<Erin, I'm not even listening to your thoughts. I just need to tell—>

"STOP! If you have something to say, say it out loud," Erin snarled at me. Wow, and she said I had a temper.

The kid was watching me, as if he was analyzing my every move.

"You're gifted," he said coolly. It wasn't a question.

"Yes," I answered.

I turned back to Erin. "Now what I'm try—"

"Psychic?"

I looked at the boy irritably. "Yes." He gazed thoughtfully at the fire.

"Erin," I said curtly. "This kid, like me, is gifted."

"So what?" Erin frowned at me. "You just don't want to be shown up!" Erin accused.

Geeze, why was she getting all uptight about this one boy?

<Must be that time of month.> Apple rolled her eyes.

"He's a dark type." I glanced at the boy to see his reaction. He had none.

"And?" Erin led.

"And therefore I can't read his thoughts, making him dangerous to us."

<Actually, technically you can read the thoughts he wants you to hear,> Apple put in.

<What?> I looked quizzically at Apple. <Ugh, never mind. I'll ask later.>

"Just because you think he is dangerous doesn't mean he is dangerous to us," Erin answered. She glanced at the boy and muttered, "You'll have to give me some tips on keeping her out of my head."

"Erin, be serious for a moment!"

Erin stood up. "I am serious. If he wants to travel with us, let him travel with us. If you can't read his mind to discover his intentions, sucks to be you. I can't read anybody's mind; for all I know, you could be planning to steal my Pokemon."

What was she really thinking? Why was she so trusting?

I carefully crept into her mind.

<—just hates him because he caught her doing something stupid. There's really nothing wrong with him at all. And he seems validly interested in my research without one hint of flirting! It will be nice to have someone to bounce research theories off of. Plus, Anita needs someone to put her in her place, balance all that psychic crap out so it doesn't get to her head. Huh, I wonder why she stopped talking—>

I jumped out of her mind before she could become suspicious.



<This is really a pointless argument. Can we eat dinner now?> Fiery requested.

"How long?" I asked.

"Huh?" came Erin's reply.

I looked at the boy. "Supposing we allow you to stay, how long will you be traveling with us?" Erin threw me a dirty glare.

The boy shrugged carelessly. "Until I find a more interesting topic of research."

 I told Apple. <But Erin already has her mind made up. I could always leave them if things get too horrible… though the company is kinda nice, as much as I don't want to admit it.>

Fiery spoke up. 

I grinned. 

"Alright then," I started. Erin smiled— she thought I had given up. I looked at the boy squarely and gave him my best challenging gaze. "I'll battle you. You win, you can stay. I win, you leave."

Erin frowned.

The corners of the boy's mouth rose. "No."

"Then you forfeit. You can leave now."

"No, I decline the challenge."

"What, scared you're going to lose?" I taunted.

The boy seemed amused. "No. I won't accept your challenge because I know I would win."

Great, another cocky smart-*ss to put up with.

I glared into the boy's green eyes. "Listen up. I am only putting up with you because at the moment Erin sees some imaginary good in you, and I owe her. If you slip up even once, do something suspicious, or cause harm to any of my friends, you are dead meat. Got it creepy-eyes?"

Fiery was shocked. <Did Anita just call Erin a friend?>

Apple nodded. <She did. Knew this was coming.>

The boy snickered, "Ooh. I'm real scared now." Then as an afterthought, he added, "And I wouldn't be accusing other people of having weird eyes. Yours are purple." The boy gazed into my eyes for a moment, making me shift uncomfortably.

Erin clapped happily. "Well, now that that's settled. Let's get some dinner!" She started shuffling through her bag for food.

The boy got up and walked around the fire until he was in front of me. He held out his hand.

"We never got to introduce ourselves properly—

"I'm Liam.

"Liam Mendol."

delongbi · Mar 8, 2009

Chapter 10: Bonding

It was early morning; the sun had yet to rise. As usual, I was already up thinking.

For that is what a Master does; he thinks— he is the brilliance behind the team.

Today, I happened to be contemplating the obvious.

The too obvious.

Often times the most obvious solutions are overlooked for the very reason they are obvious.

In this situation, I calculated a 53% chance of the obvious being true.

The possibilities:

1. Mew teleported elsewhere or transformed and ran off.
2. Mew was one of Miss Parkwood's or Miss Kendle's Pokemon.
3. Mew was Miss Kendle.
4. Mew was Miss Parkwood.

1, 2, and 3 were all very viable situations. Very viable.

The fourth hypothesis was more than viable.

It was probable.

Which made me suspicious.

Yet, the data lined up perfectly.

The first piece of supporting data was that Miss Parkwood traveled the same exact path Mew traveled. This, of course, applied to the other options as well.

A more interesting bit of information was that, according to Miss Goldenthrill, Miss Parkwood moved to Melonbi Town in the summer before the two girls were in second grade, approximately six years ago. My father found Mew just outside of Melonbi Town six years ago, and no member of Team Glop'emm has glimpsed the Pokemon since. Coincidence? Unlikely.

Miss Goldenthrill also provided some unusual information about Miss Parkwood's childhood. Apparently, Miss Parkwood was unusually comfortable with wild Pokemon at an early age. Before she had her own Pokemon, herds of wild Pokemon would follow her to and from school. This is not the case with normal human children.

Furthermore, the girl had psychic powers.

The silly girl may as well have been screaming, "I am Mew!"

But would Mew really be so unsubtle? According to the obvious… it seemed so.

However, the data needed to be confirmed. I had to verify everything possible before jumping to conclusions.

Much of the information had been obtained by watching the video tape of one of our member's grunts speaking with Miss Goldenthrill. There was no known reason for her to lie, but I would still have to get her information verified.

I would also need more information about Mew. Research on this rare Pokemon was the reason I left my headquarters in the first place. Others could not be trusted with information on one of the most powerful creatures in the world. I would start my research in libraries throughout Acceber… I would have to confirm the legends.

The most important legend I would have to confirm was that Mew kept its psychic powers when it transformed. If my research revealed that this was not the case, I would need a new hypothesis.

And there was also the legend that all psychics and psychic Pokemon have purple eyes. Again, Miss Parkwood fit this criterion.

However, this legendary rumor was actually proven false by several researchers a couple of years ago.
They found that 20% of all purple-eyed Pokemon and humans were not psychics, though many were descendants of psychic humans or Pokemon. This piece of evidence could not be relied upon. It was interesting that one of Miss Parkwood's Eevees had slightly violet eyes. Although Pokemon with unusual coloring were not all that uncommon…

I breathed the cool morning air in deeply. My brain raced forward, foreseeing where this research would eventually take me.

In the end, there would be only one way to confirm my hypothesis.

I quietly pulled a Pokeball from my belt and let loose the Pokemon within. A bird Pokemon with large dark wings and a white feathery chest appeared before me.

I pulled out a pen and a pad of paper. I scribbled the note quickly and tied it to my Honchkrow.

Chief Assistant, Mr. Arkle,

I need you to pull all of our top scientists out of their current projects. Order them to begin researching Ditto and to create a device based on this research that will force a Pokemon to transform. Not evolve—transform as Ditto and Pokemon X can. I need this device ASAP. My Honchkrow will stay to oversee that you and the scientists do as I ordered.

-Master

I held the note up to the Honchkrow, and watched as the bird's eyes darted from line to line, reading. I folded up the letter and tied it to Honchkrow's held out claw.

"Deliver this to my assistant, the one I left in charge," I commanded. "Make sure he and the scientists do as ordered."

Honchkrow nodded, and flapped off into the dawn.

I closed my eyes.

And planned.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Good morning, Miss Goldenthrill."

"Humph," I grumpily replied while stumbling into my chair behind the desk. The man sat before me in one of my private rooms for the second time this week. This was where I originally discussed Anita with him.

What in the world could he possibly want at 6:00 in the morning? If John hadn't already let the man in the house, I would have ignored the man's request to speak with me. Beauty sleep was much more important.

I crossed my arms and frowned at the man. "What do you want?"

The man fumbled with his laptop until he finally go it open. He placed it in front of me.

A man appeared on the screen. His face was halfway in the shadows, but I could see his semi-long straight brown hair and dark eyes. He also looked like he had a 5:00 shadow, but it was hard to tell in this light. He had to be in his twenties.

"Miss Goldenthrill, I am glad we finally have the chance to talk." The man seemed to try to smile warmly, but failed. "I have a proposition."

I sneered, "What could you possibly want with me?"

"How would you like to start your Pokemon journey early?"

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

<So explain this to me again,> I requested as Apple and I quietly made our way through the dimly lit woods.

Apple sighed. <You can only read his thoughts if he wants you to. See, the mind is actually in the brain. Your powers do not affect any physical part of a person or Pokemon that is dark type. Thus, you cannot see into his mind or even sense where he is. However, when a person projects his or her thoughts, the thoughts are literally flung outside of the body. Therefore, you can pick up this boy's thoughts if he projects them.>

<But he hasn't done that yet. Even when he is speaking, he does not automatically project his words like most Pokemon and humans do.>

<Right,> Apple answered.

<Which makes him even more suspicious.>

<Of what?>

 I said exasperatedly. <Something's up with him though.>

Apple nodded. 

<We're going to have to be careful to not let any of your… weirdness slip.>

Apple frowned slightly. <So are we going to be doing this often? Sneaking off in the morning to practice our psychic powers?>

<Yeah, I think we should make a habit of it. But just to be clear, Apple, this is to practice your psychic powers, not mine. You're not a complete expert you know! You're barely eight years old and need to practice as much as I do.>

Apple snorted. <Well, I'm much better than you!>

<Which is why you can't be practicing in public. Erin already knows I'm a newbie to this whole psychic thing and can barely make a simple barrier. If you started using your psychic powers in public, I'd have to claim they were mine, which is obviously not the case.>

Apple rolled her eyes and huffed, 

It was my turn to roll my eyes. <Sure. You're so obviously perfect; you're much too good for practice.>

Apple smiled smugly. <That's right.> The Eevee eyed me shiftily and then glanced at our surroundings. 

Suddenly, my body felt lighter. It took me a second to figure out what was going on.

Unfortunately in that second, I was flung twenty feet into the air.

Let me tell you, floating midair is an unnerving sensation. It feels like you're stuck in the middle of one of those glass floors, only you're not sure if the glass floor is strong enough to hold your weight. You could fall at any second.

I tilted my head to glare at the Eevee several feet below me. <What do you think you're doing?>

Apple yawned lazily. <Practicing.>

<Put me down, Apple!>

<Hey, you're the one who said I needed the practice.>

I started spinning slowly in the air.

<Apple,> I growled.

The Eevee grinned. 

I was being held upside down.

<Yeah, right.>



<Apple!> I gasped.

<Geeze, it was just a joke. I would never transform in public.>

<We're not in public.>

<Ah. In that case, I can see why you're worried.>

<Apple, seriously. You cannot transform, especially with that boy around. Neither of us can sense when he's approaching.>

<I was joking. It is regretful though. I have so much more control as Mew. I could make you float, stop you from blinking, uproot a tree, and move Lemon Lake all at once as a Mew. As an Eevee, I can barely control you and move a pebble telekinetically at the same time.>

<Which is why you need to practice.>



I groaned.

Apple's ears pricked like mini radars. Suddenly, I was plummeting to the earth.

<APPLE!>

I was stopped inches above the ground so suddenly that my breath was knocked from me. Apple released me from her psychic grip.

Apple's ears were twitching this way and that, extremely alert.

<Sorry. We have—>

"Company would be nice; don't you think?" A voice spoke behind me.

I whirled around.

Between two thick trees not ten feet away, Liam stood watching me.

How much had he seen?

<Don't worry. He just arrived,> Apple assured me.

"What are you doing here?" I snarled.

"I woke up, saw your sleeping bag empty, and heard some rustling in the bushes. Naturally, I wanted to see what you were up to. It was very easy to follow your trail." Liam's eyes flickered to Apple and then back to me. "The real question is, what are you doing here?"

"I was practicing my psychic gift. I didn't want to wake up anyone." I glared at Liam when I said "anyone" to emphasize I did not want him here.

Liam ignored my implication, and continued, "What were you practicing?"

"I was… err—"

<Dodging.>

"Dodging. Apple was throwing… or actually kicking… things at me, and I had to move out of the way," I lied. I kept eye contact even though my heart was pounding and my breath came up short.

<You suck at lying—>

Something hit the back of my head. "Ow!" I exclaimed.

<—so I have to make this a convincing show.>

I turned to see Apple smirking at me. She shoved her leg forward and kicked another pebble at me. I ducked.

<You better close your eyes so the boy knows you are actually using your psychic powers to dodge, not your eyes.>

I complied.

Another pebble hit my leg.

<Umm, Apple? How am I going to dodge like this? I can't actually dodge with my eyes closed!>

I could imagine the grin on Apple's face as she said, <You're going to actually have to use your gift.>

I doubled over as something hit my stomach.

<Oooh, sorry about that one.>

<Apple, I don't know how to do this!!>

<Easy, just do the same thing you've done for everything else. How do you use telepathy? You reach out with your mind and sense a living being and then project your thoughts. This should be easier. You're just reaching out with your mind to sense where something is.>

"I can see you need the practice," I heard the boy sneer.

I cursed him under my breath.

I reached my mind out to where Apple was and automatically jumped into her mind.

I felt her kick something else in my direction so I jumped to the left. The rock skimmed my right arm.

<You're cheating. Get out!> I was shoved from Apple's mind.

I felt suspended in nothingness and noticed that I could kind of "see" what was around me.

Except the boy, of course.

I was naturally drawn to Apple, but I did not allow myself to go toward her mind again.

This was actually not hard. It was almost the same thing I had done when I checked for other life forms near the pond, only now I was attempting to locate nonliving objects.

I suddenly "saw" a twig flying toward me. I ducked out of the way.

It was easy after that. I was able to dodge everything Apple kicked my way.

Until there were two things coming at once.

One was coming from a different direction.

I dodged the one coming from Apple, but was hit by the strange round object flying at me from behind.

I turned around and opened my eyes.

The boy was frowning at me, closer than he had been before.

As I glanced down at the ground, I noticed a Pokeball beside me.

"Why did you throw a Pokeball at me?" I asked.

Liam smirked. "You're going to have to be prepared for anything in a real battle. Even things flying at you from different directions."

I felt Apple suddenly become smug. She must be planning something.

"And what makes you an expert on battling? You're a researcher," I snickered.

I sensed something coming at my head from behind me so I ducked.

The Pokeball launched over my head directly toward Liam.

The boy seemed to twist out of the way, but abruptly his arm reached out and snatched the ball out of the air.

It was very cool.

<Aww, man,> Apple whined sourly. 

Liam lightly tossed the Pokeball in the air and caught it again while smirking at me. "Believe it or not, I was once a trainer. A gifted trainer. I know what the gym leaders will throw at you."

I grimaced at his pun. And at him. Both were horrible.

"I can help you train better than your Eevee can. I have two arms, and probably better aim."

<Yeah, right. My aim is perfect,> Apple interjected.

"Plus, you're going to need to be able to dodge more than twigs and pebbles."

<He's right. Remember what Abalina said? You could have to battle alongside your Pokemon, which means you may have to dodge all sorts of attacks.>

<So what am I supposed to do?>

<Let him help, I guess. Might as well make the most of the situation.>

"Fine," I said, answering them both at once.

Liam immediately ran toward me and lashed his left leg out.

I stumbled backwards.

I was surprised; I hadn't actually expected him to attack me… to try to hit a girl.

Well, no time to think about that. I had other issues.

<Uh, Apple, I have a problem. I have no way of predicting where he is going to hit.>

<That is a problem.>

Liam's arm was racing toward my face.

Crap.

I moved to the side, but he still managed to hit my shoulder. It didn't hurt as much as I thought it would, but I would definitely have a bruise later.

"You know, I can't sense where you will strike," I panted, ducking a wild punch.

"I know. You will not always be able to rely on your psychic powers," Liam answered calmly. He did not seem to be exerting much effort.

I jumped over a leg Liam attempted to trip me with. Then I ducked because I sensed Apple aiming a quick attack at my back.

Apple hit Liam instead. For once, he looked shocked.

<That felt good.> Apple did a little victory dance. 

"You will not always be able to rely on your uncanny ability to dodge what's coming your way," I mocked the dark-haired kid.

Liam had gotten over his shock quickly. He stuck out a leg and twirled, causing me to fall over.

"It's called reflexes," the boy said. He stood up and offered me his hand.

I gave him a dirty look and got up myself.

He kicked at me again, and this time I dodged.

------------------------------

We continued for about an hour until I was thoroughly exhausted.

As we crept back to our camp, I thought to Apple, <How did he get so good at fighting?>

<He says he was a trainer. If that's the case, then he'd have to figure out a way to beat the gym leaders, just like you. Unlike you though, his actual power is not very useful, unless he's fighting a psychic. He probably learned to fight to make up for lacking a useful power.>

<What abilities does a person with the dark type gift have, besides being unaffected by psychics?> I asked curiously.

<I'm not entirely sure. I know they can see perfectly in the dark, and tend to have more energy at night. I think they are also good at hiding.>

We were silent until we reached camp.

"Thanks for helping," I mumbled grudgingly to Liam.

He didn't reply.

"I said thanks." I spoke more loudly.

Liam turned to look at me. "So?"

"So you're supposed to say, 'you're welcome'."

"Oh."

He didn't say anything else.

<Rude, much?> I commented, irked.

I looked around our sleeping grounds for Erin. Her sleeping bag was empty, but I spotted her crouched over sketching something by the edge of the clearing. I was surprised she was already up.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

She looked up at us. "Oh, you guys are finally back! I was drawing a picture of this sleeping Weedle I found." She waved her notebook at us. "So how was your bonding time?"

"Bonding time?" I looked at her like she was insane… or more insane than usual.

"Or maybe it was make-out time?" She suggested, raising her eyebrows at me. "You guys were in the woods for a while."

I gagged. Liam snickered.

"Are you kidding me?!" I exclaimed. This girl must be on drugs.

 Apple stated dryly.

I suddenly realized the scene from Erin's point of view.

"Wait a second. You woke up to find both of our sleeping bags empty this morning, correct?"

"Yeah," Erin answered.

"And you didn't come searching for us?"

"No. Should I have?"

"Did it ever occur to you that I could have been kidnapped, or murdered, or taken advantage of by this stranger?" I gestured to Liam who frowned at me.

"Nope."

"Erin!"

"Did that actually happen?" Erin questioned. She started packing up her sleeping bag and her few other possessions. I did the same.

"Well, no—"

"Then I don't see what the problem is."

"Erin, if the situation was reversed, if I woke up to find two sleeping bags empty, I would have immediately come looking for you!"

"There would obviously be no problem and you would be stupid for worrying," Erin replied.

"How can you say that? HOW CAN YOU BE SO TRUSTING OF A COMPLETE STRANGER?!"

"How can you be so sexist and judgmental? You don't even know him." Erin looked at me coldly.

I was about to yell at her again when Apple put in, <Anita, you're losing your temper again.>



Apple winced. <You're going to have to at least try to stop doing that. Soon your powers will get out of control under extreme distress or emotion. You have to practice being in control at all times.>

So instead of screaming, I fumed quietly as we finished packing.

I stormed off after quickly feeding my Pokemon and eating a granola bar.

"Anita, that's the wrong direction."

I stormed the other way.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

CONTINUED --->

delongbi · Mar 8, 2009

It had taken four battles against random trainers dispersed about the route and a lot of walking to calm Anita down. After eight hours of traveling, we were finally at the Tinted Town Pokemon Center. Anita had not said a word to Erin or Liam the whole journey, though Erin and Liam had spent most of the time happily chatting about their past research projects.

Or in Liam's case, perhaps his phony research projects. For all I knew, he was making the whole thing up.

Oh, how I wish I could simply see what he was thinking.

Anita's argument with Erin about whether Liam could be trusted would not be resolved unless Liam did something particularly disturbing. He'd have to do something to prove he couldn't be trusted.

But I did not think that was going to happen.

I did not trust the kid, but for whatever reason, he clearly wanted to travel with the group. He wouldn't do something that would get him kicked out.

When I wasn't battling or trying to help Anita practice making barriers despite the fact that she always failed on our journey to this town, I was thinking about Anita and Erin's argument and watching Liam.

I thought Erin had a valid point. However, because I could not read Liam's mind, I thought Anita was correct in not trusting Liam. I guess my perspective is kind of skewed though.

Liam did not react to any of Anita's accusations. It was very strange. He just looked at her kind of funny, like he was confused by her actions.

I suddenly felt Anita's temper prickle again.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU ONLY HAVE ONE ROOM AVAILABLE?!" Anita angrily yelled at Nurse Joy. I rolled my eyes; she was blowing up all over the place these days.

"Well, we get many trainers passing through this town to battle the gym leader, visit our famous museum of Pokemon history, and participate in contests," Nurse Joy replied.

"Anita, relax. We can all share a room. There's no difference between sleeping ten feet away from him inside and sleeping ten feet away from him outside." Erin put a hand on Anita's shoulder.

Anita shrugged her off and glared at her.

<Anita, calm down. Nothing will happen.>

<Except being killed in our sleep.>

I sighed.

Nurse Joy showed us our room and then asked Liam to help her move a cot into the small sleeping space. The room was smaller than our room in Azul City, but it had more space because there was a bunk bed instead of two twin beds. Of course, putting a cot in the room defeated the purpose…

"Let's go do something fun," Erin suggested after everyone had put their bags on a bed. Anita had chosen the top bunk, Liam the cot, which left Erin with the bottom bunk.

"I want to go battle the gym leader," Anita said.

Of course she did. <Right, that's a great idea. In your state of mind, maybe you'll get yourself killed before Liam can do it,> I joked morbidly.

Anita gave me a death stare.

"Nope, we're going swimming!" Erin announced. She gestured to the single window at the back of the room. "It must be nearly seventy-five degrees, which is warmer than it's been in a while!" The girl started searching through her bag for a swim suit.

I smiled. Relaxing by the pool would be nice. Maybe they had hotdogs…

"I don't swim," Anita and Liam said simultaneously. They looked at each other in surprise.

Wow, they finally agreed on something.

"Too, bad," Erin said cheerfully, pulling out a white bikini from her bag. She ran into the bathroom, the door slamming behind her in her excitement.

Anita frowned. "Do you have a bathing suit?" she asked Liam.

He shook his head.

"Me neither. Think we could convince Erin that we are going to the library to have more 'bonding time'?" She finger quoted 'bonding time'.

Liam rolled his eyes.

 I told Anita. <She's way too excited to let this pass.>

Erin burst out of the bathroom in a blue tank top and light grey mini skirt. Her bathing suit was on underneath.

"C'mon, guys!" The overexcited girl grabbed Anita and Liam's arms, forcing them to follow.

I trotted after them.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I jumped in the water. The coolness tingled on my skin; it felt amazing.

I did an underwater flip and came up for a breath.

Anita and Liam were still sitting in their lounge chairs. Anita was reading a book and Liam was looking around the pool with those unnerving green eyes.

Anita was still in her capris and t-shirt. I had made her buy a cute purple bikini, which she had on underneath her clothes after my insistence, but she refused to strip down to her bikini and get in the water, claiming it was "too cold." Excuses, excuses.

Liam, on the other hand, had simply grabbed the first pair of trunks he found in the store to appease me. He refused to even touch the water, but gave no excuse. He sat in his trunks, observing everything going on at the pool.

My eyes lingered on Liam for a bit. On a scale from one to ten, ten being gorgeous-hot and one being gross, he was about a six. He was very lean, and it looked like he had some muscle, but whatever chance he had at being hot was ruined by his insanely pale skin. It looked like he hadn't ever sat in the sun. Maybe he would gain a bit of color today.

I suddenly caught Liam's eye. I waved and called, "Come on in! The water's great!"

Liam rolled his eyes. Anita peered at me over her book and scowled.

I sank under water. When I came up again, I watched our Pokemon.

This pool belonged to the Pokemon Center so it was of course for people and Pokemon.

Wella, my Whooper, was floating on her back a little ways away from me. Tweal was playing with one of Anita's younger Eevees, and Griffy was using psychic to entertain the other three young Pokemon. Apple snoozed by Anita's feet, and Fiery was watching the younger Eevees. He always seemed so protective.

Liam had not let any of his Pokemon out.

It was so annoying that nobody, besides Wella, was coming in the water with me. They were such party poopers. I would play with Wella, but she generally liked being left alone.

An idea suddenly came to me.

<Griffy!> I called, knowing he would hear.

<Yes, Erin?>

<Could you tell all the Pokemon to gather here by the edge of the pool?>

<Of course.>

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

I tagged Tweal then scurried away. He was it!

Tweal flapped after me as I ran under the lounge chairs.

A couple of people gave me dirty looks, but for the most part, the lounge chairs were empty. There were not many other people or Pokemon at the pool.

I nearly tripped a blonde boy just entering the pool. When I looked up at him, I realized I had seen him before. Anita had battled him in the last town.

I wanted to battle.

<Excuse me, Erin is planning something. She wants us by the pool edge,> Griffy said in my head.

Sounds exciting! Almost as exciting as a battle would be!

I twisted around, nearly tripping the boy again, and ran to the pool edge while Tweal flew after me.

Everyone else was already there.

"Alright guys, here's the plan." Erin smiled deviously.

I liked that smile.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Reading was soothing.

It was just what I needed today.

I had made a deal with Erin that I would buy a bathing suit if we went to a book store for a few minutes.

So I bought the first thing Erin liked and then found a book that looked interesting, called The Gift: More Than a Myth. It was by someone named Tamara Lilac and was apparently criticized by a number of researchers. The author claimed that everything written was true, but critics claimed it was fiction. I found it in the fiction section of the book store.

I was finishing the introduction when I noticed something suspicious.

My chair was inching toward the pool.

I looked at Liam. We turned around to see what was moving us forward.

Nothing was there.

Maybe I was imagining things.

I went back to reading.

Wait, where was Apple?

She had been sitting by my feet minutes ago. I jerked up. Where were all the Pokemon?

As I turned around again, I felt my chair speed ahead.

Behind me, I saw Griffy concentrating on our chairs. I also saw eight Pokemon lifting our chairs.

Crud.

I chucked my book at Griffy as I fell—

SPLASH

—into the water.

I came up for a breath.

"ERIN!" I yelled. "What was that for?! I'm in my clothes!"

Erin shrugged. "You guys were being so boring."

I turned to see all of my Pokemon laughing at me.

<That was awesome!> Splash squealed. He tried to jump in the water, but Vanilla grabbed his tail.

<You can't swim, idiot,> she said.

<Oh yeah.> Splash pouted.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Liam glaring at Erin from the pool edge. He climbed out of the water so fast that, if I wasn't in the water, I would have thought it was poisonous.

I heard slow clapping.

I swiveled my head to see who was applauding my downfall.

I should have known.

Jake Veneer stood there, smirking, in a bathing suit.

For a moment, I seriously considered drowning myself.

<Crap! He definitely scores ten out of ten on the hot guy scale!> I heard Erin scream. I winced. I hadn't even been trying to hear her thoughts.

This was one thing I just didn't get about Erin. There was a very good looking man lying by the concession stand, but she didn't give him one glance. What about Jake Veneer turned her head over heels?

"That was very clever, Erin," Jake complimented.

Erin beamed.

Oh, please.

He looked at me and snickered.

How I wished I could move things with my mind at that moment. I would make him fall on his face into the water.

 Apple suggested.

<Thanks, but no thanks,> I replied. <You've dumped more than enough people into the water today.>

I dragged myself out of the water and went over to the towel stand, where I took about ten towels.

When I turned back to where our lounge chairs were (Griffy must have returned them with a psychic to their original places), I saw Jake flirting with Erin in the water. He said a little too loudly, "I'm here just for the rest of the day because I've already beaten the gym leader." His taunting eyes flickered to meet mine for a millisecond.

I turned my attention to Liam, who was glaring at Erin. I almost felt sorry for him. His glare was going completely unnoticed. I shoved two towels at him, sighed, and started taking off my wet clothes.

When I was finished, Erin and Jake were standing in front of me.

Jake was holding what looked like a mini-basket ball.

"So, Anita, Erin and I want to face you and this new kid in a game of water basketball," Jake challenged. He gestured to the basketball hoop on the shallow side of the pool.

I answered, "You're on," at the same time Liam answered, "No thanks."

I turned my glare from Jake to Liam.

"What, are you chicken?" Jake flapped his arms and made squawking noises.

Liam's fists clenched. However, he calmly retorted, "No. I don't want to waste my time playing against an arrogant snot like you."

"Oh, I'm insulted," Jake mocked. His eyes flashed. "I saw the way you got out of the water. I think you're scared. Scared of a little wa-wa." He flicked his wet hands at Liam so little water droplets hit the kid's face. Liam flinched visibly.

<Whoa. What's up with him?> I thought to Apple.



Liam got up angrily. "Fine."

He stalked to the shallow end of the pool and hopped in, shuddering.

Jake smirked. Erin looked a bit worried, but she shrugged it off.

I glared at Jake and followed Liam.

When we were all in the water, Erin declared, "Griffy's referee. First team to thirteen wins. If you score, the other team gets the ball. Any questions?"

In the silence, I heard Griffy's tail say, <You must favor the team that dresses like a banana peel on a Wednesday.>

"Alright, then. Let's get started." Erin glanced at me. "Anita, no cheating."

Jake looked at me curiously, "How would she cheat?"

"She's a—" Erin started.

<SHUT UP, ERIN!> I yelled at her. I did not need Jake finding out I was a psychic.

"Anita, get o—" Erin began to shout at me.

<I'll get out of your head as long as you don't say anything to Jake,> I interrupted.

Erin nodded. "Let's go."

She passed the ball to Jake, who shrugged and leapt over Liam to dunk it in the basket.

<Wow, Apple, now I know what it's like to want to use my powers to get an advantage over an opponent. I see what you mean about it not really being cheating… especially against Jake…>

Apple chuckled, and the other Eevees looked at her funny, except for Splash.

Liam had the ball now. He threw it over Jake's head to me. I swiveled around Erin, and passed it back to Liam who was already by the basket. Liam got a lay-up.

And so the game went on.

My favorite part was when I blocked one of Jake's shots, and the ball hit him in the face.

When Jake and Erin won the first game by two points, we played again.

Midway through our second game, a strangely familiar looking man bent down near our basket.

"Excuse me," he said as Erin intercepted my pass to Liam. I clambered after her to stop her from getting to the basket.

The man kept talking. "I'm selling hot—"

Jake got the ball and shoved it into the basket. He fell backwards, which created a huge splash.

The man was thoroughly soaked, as was his tray of whatever he was selling.

"—never mind."

Apple had been racing toward the man until he was covered in water. Then her ears dropped and she went to pout by Fiery. She glared at Jake.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the man toss out his food tray and march away muttering angrily to himself.

Liam and I won the second game.

By the end of the third game, it was getting dark. We were all laughing (or in Liam's case, smiling), and had stopped counting long ago.

I was starting to believe that Jake might not be evil, that Erin might not be annoying, and that Liam might have the ability to act normal when it was suddenly time to go.

Jake playfully kissed Erin's hand and bowed. "Good-bye my fair lady."

In his mind, I felt him debating actually kissing Erin. I cleared my throat loudly to remind him who was still here.

He gave me a dirty glance.

Jake stood up straight, turned to Liam, and nodded.

Then he turned to me and stuck up his middle finger.

Nice one.

He could go to hell.

Erin stared after the twit as he stalked away.

"He's such a sweet boy," I said dryly.

Erin, not catching my obvious sarcasm said, "I know. He's amazing."

I caught Liam's eye.

We both stifled a laugh.

Who knew?

There was one thing we could bond on after all.

delongbi · Mar 29, 2009

Chapter 11: Watch and Watch Out

I sat down on the mat across from Tamara and her Espeon.

Leafeon walked in nervous circles around me.

I was the first, besides Tamara, to arrive. I sighed. It would probably take another fifteen minutes for everyone to gather.

Tamara and her Espeon both sat perfectly still with their eyes closed. It was best not to disturb them when they were meditating.

For a moment, I observed the room our meeting was to take place in. The austere room was shaped in a circle and had bare white walls with no windows. The plain door to my right was the only way to enter the room. Eight light blue mats lay on the wooden floor in a circle, only two of which were currently occupied.

The room was much too dull and lifeless, in my opinion. I wished for there to be at least one window, and maybe a cute potted plant…

I decided to meditate with Tamara.

I closed my eyes and whiffed the homely smell of wood. Sadly, the wood was dead.

I felt below the wood and took pleasure in the richness of the dirt. I silently shared my enjoyment of the dirt with the grass rooted just outside the room. I swayed in the wind with the blades and felt the warm kisses of the sun—

The door slammed.

My eyes flew open as I was jolted away from the grass blades.

Kyle looked at me apologetically as he entered the room. His Vaporeon, Tonsil, followed him in. He and Tonsil silently sat beside me.

I glanced at Tamara, but the older woman was still meditating.

Kyle shrugged and smiled at me, his deep blue eyes kindly questioning "How are you?"

I smiled back to indicate I was fine.

The door quietly creaked open as Nai and her Glaceon, Whisper, entered the bleak room. As always, she was frowning slightly and her grey eyes were cold and distant. She sat down next to Tamara and Whisper sat on her lap.

The sight of her next to Tamara made me chuckle. One looked angry and the other peaceful. It was amusing because the grey streaks in their hair made them look alike, though Tamara's grey was due to age and Nai's was probably because of her gift.

Nai glared at me when I chuckled. I swear the room temperature dropped five degrees.

It was ten minutes before anyone else entered the room. I was with the grass outside again when I heard a booming laugh. I checked my watch; they were late.

The door hurled open and in walked a cackling old man and an obnoxiously loud red head, Sparky and Aden respectively. Sparky's Jolteon, Sparkles, and Aden's Flareon, Eon, also entered.

"HELLO ALL!" Aden announced loudly. Sparky continued to laugh madly. Electricity made his grey hair stand straight up and every once in a while a spark would ripple across his body. These sparks were what earned him the nickname Sparky; his original name was Sam.

Tamara finally opened her eyes and scowled at the two gym leaders.

Aden smiled wickedly at Tamara and sat down next to Nai. Sparky sat in between Aden and me so I scooted my mat closer to Kyle, not wanting to accidently be shocked.

"So, what did you call this emergency meeting for?" Aden asked Tamara.

I rolled my eyes. As if he did not already know.

"We'll discuss it once everyone arrives," Tamara answered stiffly.

"But not everyone will be arriving!" Sparky yelled and then continued to chuckle under his breath. The old man scared me a bit.

Aden happily thumped Sparky on the back but then shook out his hand when he was shocked. Nai sneered at the two of them and then spoke: "Crazy has one thing right. One of our members will obviously not be coming. Why don't we just start and get this horrid thing over with?"

"We have to at least wait for the twins to arrive," Kyle reminded her.

"And how do you know both of them will be coming?" Nai asked spitefully.

"Tamara put out two mats," I said a matter-of-factly. Tamara smiled at me. Nai glared again.

Aden snorted. "Those two are always late. We could be here another hour before they show up!"

Just then, the twins, Dustin and Tali, entered the room, each holding an Eevee. Technically only Dustin was a gym leader, but because he did nearly everything with Tali, she was often included in our monthly meetings.

The twins, at age seventeen, were the second youngest current gym leaders of Acceber. The youngest was the reason this meeting had been called.

Dustin looked around the room, snickered, and sat down. Tali smiled mildly at me and then sat next to her brother. Their Eevees, Ray and Cassie, grinned at the other Eevee evolutions around the room. My Leafeon finally stopped pacing and sat by my knees.

For one moment the room was completely silent. Even Sparky had stopped laughing.

Then Tamara cleared her throat and spoke: "Before we get to the main issue of this emergency meeting, we must go through the traditional updates.

"In the past month, over one thousand different trainers have attempted to challenge at least one of us. Currently, there are a total of approximately fifteen thousand active trainers in Acceber. There are two new gifted trainers. One is Florence Traken, who has a weak rock gift. The other is Anita Parkwood, who has a strong psychic gift.

"Now for individual gym updates. Nai?"

"Only one individual has visited my gym this month. He lost, but I believe he will be attempting to beat me again soon, as he has not left my town," Nai answered.

Tamara nodded.

"Well, I haven't been successful as Nai here," Aden started. "Of course, I don't live on top of a mountain nobody can reach." Nai threw him a nasty glare. "I've had… oh, about twenty kids beat me this past month. Just two days ago, a kid named Jake Veneer whooped my butt."

Wow. I knew the boy was good, but that was fast. He had beaten two gym leaders in half of a week.

"Exactly twenty-seven children earned a badge from me," Sparky cackled. "Twenty-four of them had a ground type Pokemon though."

"Let's not make excuses," Tamara said dryly. "Find a way to win despite your weakness. I do."

The old man laughed. "All of Acceber is scared shitless of you, though."

"And they're not scared of you?" I murmured to Kyle.

It was my turn to speak. "I have been beaten by eighteen challengers this month. One of these challengers was Jake Veneer." I nodded to Aden. "Another was the gifted child, Anita Parkwood. I expect she'll be challenging one of you two—" I gestured to Sparky and Aden. "—relatively soon."

"Thirty challengers beat me this month. Especially noteworthy was Megan Dorin and Matthew Rowbean," Kyle pronounced clearly.

Tali did not say anything but looked expectantly at her brother.

"We've lost thirteen times this month," Dustin said. He frowned.

I sighed. He despised losing.

"I was beaten by four," Tamara stated. She looked at Kyle. "Megan Dorin was indeed noteworthy."

Dustin snickered.

Kyle calmly asked him, "Is something funny?"

"Just that you two found Megan to be some amazing trainer. Tali and I beat her and her friend easily."

"If you do not have any constructive criticism, say nothing at all," Tamara snapped.

"Someone's a sore loser," Dustin taunted.

Tamara glowered.

This could not be going anywhere good. I gave Dustin a reproachful look and interrupted their argument before things got out of control. "Can we get back to important matters?"

Tamara blinked. "Of course." She looked around at the Pokemon and thought to all of us, <Is there anything the Pokemon would like to add before we move on?>

The Pokemon shook their heads. That was usual. The Pokemon tended to only get involved when absolutely necessary. For the most part, they were just not interested in the politics that came with being a gym leader.

"Obviously there is one of us missing," Tamara began. "For the record, not one person beat him this month."

Dustin rolled his eyes and mocked, "For the record, nobody has ever beaten a Mendol." He gazed at Tamara slyly. "Not even you."

I stared harshly at Dustin. He was always causing trouble, but I had hoped he would tone down today. Luckily Tamara was taking it well. She ignored him.

Sparky's laughter grew louder.

Kyle cleared his throat. All eyes turned to him. "How do we know he is missing?"

"Let's see," Nai answered severely. "Maybe it's that nobody has seen or heard from him for the past four days."

Kyle shrugged. "He was never very sociable."

"I called him about every other day just to make sure he was alive. I can check up on any of you at any second, but not him," Tamara added. Dustin looked irked. He hated the fact that Tamara could watch any of us at any time. It didn't bother me much; in fact, I felt safer. Tamara continued, "Four days ago, the boy left a note on the gym door indicating that finding him was the new prelim for the gym. Since then, I have not been able to contact him."

"Has anybody else been able to contact him?" I asked. I looked pointedly at Dustin, as he was the only person I had ever seen the Mendol boy act semi-friendly toward.

Tamara looked around the room into the eyes of each individual. I knew she was sensing if we were hiding any information.

She looked into Dustin's golden brown eyes.

He sneered at her.

She looked harsher, and suddenly Dustin's expression became angry. "Stay out, Tamara," he warned.

"You spoke with him," Tamara said quietly.

"OUT!" Dustin yelled at her. "I can block you."

The air was still, full of silent tension.

Both Tamara and Dustin were concentrating intensely.

"STOP IT!" Tali yelled with such force that my eardrums hurt. She was the reason we always met in rooms without windows. Her gift gave her power over sound, and if she lost control of her emotions, windows often shattered.

Tamara, apparently, was shocked out of Dustin's mind with Tali's yell. She kept shaking her head.

"Keep out of my brother's head," Tali growled.

Tamara's eyes flickered to Tali for a moment and then returned to Dustin. "Would you like to inform us what he told you before he disappeared?"

"Not really," Dustin snickered.

"I wouldn't be pushing my luck, boy," Aden threatened. "You're in a room full of gifted gym leaders and their best Pokemon."

Dustin shrugged. "He only told me he had research to do and that he would be leaving for a bit. He said if anyone actually found him, he would accept their challenge."

Tamara must have sensed that he was not lying because she said nothing.

"Well, that bit of information was sure worth getting all worked up about," Nai put in sarcastically.

"Like anyone will actually find the lad," Sparky said, chuckling. "We are the only people who have actually seen his face."

"So what do we think he's actually doing?" I questioned, curiously wondering.

Dustin answered dryly, "Maybe research, like he said he was."

"Why would he need to do research?" I watched Dustin inquisitively.

Dustin shrugged.

"Oh, c'mon you guys!" Nai exclaimed. "It probably has to do with Team Glop'emm!"

Aden's face darkened, as did Tamara's.

There was silence.

Nai looked around. "I know you have all heard the rumors. Master Mendol. Who else could it be?"

"There are plenty of Mendols in Acceber," Tamara answered carefully.

"Really? When was the last time you checked?" Nai asked icily.

Tamara was silent.

"We cannot make assumptions based on rumors," I added logically. "We do not have actual proof."

Kyle, Dustin, and Tali nodded in agreement.

"Plus, it does not really matter where he went," Kyle started practically. "The fact is, he's gone. We just need to decide what we are going to do about it."

Silence.

We all looked around the room, waiting for someone to talk.

Finally Nai said bitterly, "What can we do about it? He technically has not violated any rules. We cannot replace him because he did not officially give up his gym and has not officially gone missing. Technically, it's just part of his prelim."

"For all we know, he could have just gotten tired of answering Tamara's phone calls," Kyle joked.

Yeah right.

"So we do nothing," Dustin decided.

"No," Tamara argued. "We watch. If one of us finds him, we immediately contact the others."

All but Dustin and Tali nodded in agreement.

The Pokemon, except Dustin and Tali's Eevees, nodded as well.

"Fine. Dismissed."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I sat silently on the uncomfortable cot and thoughtfully watched the girl on the top bunk sleep.

Moonlight crept through the window and glimmered just above the girl's head. Her usually straight brown hair was strung out wildly across her pillow, sharply contrasting her cream colored face. The rest of the girl's body disappeared beneath the pearl white bedcovering.

The girl looked completely at ease in her sleep.

Completely normal.

Could this girl really be one of the most powerful Pokemon known to man?

I sighed and quietly reached into my bag, carefully pulling out a grey walkie-talkie.

There was not even a squeak of the old cot or a creak of the door as I slithered from the room.

I had a call to make.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The walkie-talkie vibrated.

I overcame the impulse to chuck the toy out the window and answered the childish device.

"Yes?"

"It's the Master," came the irritating voice through the radio. Of course it was. The detective had yet to contact me and I was starting to believe the two twerp relatives were hiding information from me. All the more reason to get Carly on the detective's trail as soon as possible…

"You received my message?" the boy inquired.

"Yes, Master," I replied with disdain.

"And our top researchers are currently experimenting with Ditto?"

"Just as you requested, sir." His dratted bird hadn't left me alone until I had made his request an order.

"Excellent. I need the device as soon as possible." The master paused, almost hesitantly. "Also, I would like to speak with Rita Teal."

I snarled under my breath. I was supposed to be the one left in charge. I was supposed to be the only person allowed to talk to the Master through this device. It was my power. Why would he need to speak with Rita? She was the team's top researcher, but he could tell her anything through me. Anger rose in my throat.

"I need to talk to her," the Master continued smoothly, "to arrange some experiments I have just discussed with our detective."

I was seething, but I tried to keep my voice steady. "When would you like to speak with her?"

"Now."

I considered calling her to my office. She would have the advantage then. She would have the ability to spread lies of the master's trust in her or horrid rumors about me. No, it would be better if I went to her. Other researchers would witness the conversation, and perhaps this would create jealousy. I could use their jealousy to my advantage.

"This will be a few minutes," I informed the Master icily. I rose from my leather chair, and walked out my door to the elevator.

The Team Glop'emm headquarters building consisted of several floors, most of which were opened to the public. The building was supposedly used for the gym leader's research, which was ironically true at the moment, as the gym leader was also the leader of Team Glop'emm.

When the empty elevator arrived, I pressed B5.

The building looked to be four stories from the outside. Floors one and two were open to the public and we held several displays on some of our minor research on these levels. Floors three and four were closed for "privacy reasons." They were actually mostly used for meetings and some high ranking team members' private offices. My office and the Master's office were both on floor four.

There were seven basement levels, five of these levels filled with labs. Only levels six and seven were strictly closed to the public. The other levels could be seen upon request, for the most part.

The elevator door opened and I walked into a blue-tiled hall way. I entered the first lab on my right and scanned the room for the woman I was looking for.

Even though it was early morning, there were several scientists about the room working with complex looking machines. A couple of the machines had glass boxes in which Dittos were being held. A cluster of scientists near the back of the room were observing a Ditto transform into different objects, animals, and Pokemon. I easily spotted Rita walking toward this cluster.

I cleared my throat. The lab became silent as everyone turned to look at me.

For a moment I savored the respect they were showing. Then I said, holding out the walkie-talkie, "Rita, you have a phone call."

There was almost complete silence as Rita changed directions and approached me. Only the soft buzzing of the machines and the clack of Rita's heels against the cold floor could be heard.

Rita waved a hand and the other scientists returned to their work. Or they at least pretended to. Many eyes continued to flicker between the walkie-talkie and Rita.

With a large concentration of people in this building, news spread fast. It was no secret that this talkie was the only device used to contact the Master.

And up until this point, it had only been used by me.

Rita grinned widely as I bitterly handed her the phone. The top scientist of Team Glop'emm was a very bizarre character. The woman was a few years younger than me, but only an inch shorter with her high heels. For reasons unknown to me, she kept her hair died a solid Wobbuffet blue and wore multicolored Pokeball earrings. The woman could be found in one of the labs at nearly any hour of the day. Along with overseeing every one of Team Glop'emm's research projects, she often developed her own projects and experiments. She was also rumored to be an excellent battler.

"Yes?" she said into the walkie-talkie. I strained to hear what the Master was telling her, but only managed to hear the words, "experiment" and "Pokeball."

Rita seemed to absentmindedly walk across the room to one of the glass cages and let out one of the Dittos. She held a blue Pokeblock out to the Ditto. "If you transform into me, you can have this," she told the Pokemon. Immediately the Ditto transformed. Now there were two Ritas standing side by side. Rita gave the Ditto-Rita the Pokeblock, and the Pokemon gobbled it up.

"Yes," the real Rita murmured. "The Ditto still likes the Pokeblock." Rita then stuck her hand in her pocket and pulled out a Pokeball. She threw the Pokeball at her duplicate.

The Pokeball bounced off of the Ditto.

"The Pokeball does not affect Ditto in this form, Master. The Ditto has entirely human genes at the moment." Rita paused. "No, you are right. There has to be some DNA in the Pokemon somewhere that allows Ditto to transform back. It cannot be completely human." Rita nodded to the Ditto and the Pokemon transformed back to its original form. Rita scooped the pink blob up and lifted it into the cage. The scientist then took out a piece of paper and began scribbling notes.

Five minutes later, Rita looked her writing over. "Yes, I'll be sure to do these. I'll inform Jam—" The Master must have cut her off. "Fine. I will. Here's Jamie."

I took the phone from Rita's gloved hand and held it up to my ear as I walked out of the lab. "I am having Rita perform a series of experiments for me. She will send the results to me via Honchrow."

I grimaced. The Master trusted me less than I expected. "Of course."

"Master out."

I scratched my chin aloofly as I waited for the elevator. Clearly, the Master was purposefully keeping information from me. I had believed putting me in charge was a sign of his absolute trust. I angrily grinded my teeth. This put a slight damper on my plans. I would have to figure out what he was hiding. I reviewed the scene I had just witnessed.

Rita had thrown a Pokeball at a Ditto transformed into a human.

Of course.

He suspected the girl was Mew.

But what was the point of withholding that information?

He's paranoid, I reminded myself. Or… or maybe he does not want you getting to Mew first.

Whatever the case, I had clearly overestimated the amount of trust he put in me.

I eyed the room with the Mew tracking device in it and grinned.

Well, if he was not telling me everything…

I didn't have to tell him anything.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

CONTINUED -->

delongbi · Mar 29, 2009

I put the walkie-talkie down and breathed in the cool early-morning air.

I wondered how my assistant was taking my talk with Miss Teal. He often became angry when I did not confine solely in him. It was actually quite amusing.

But nevertheless dangerous. It was too bad I had no other means of contacting Miss Teal without revealing my location. Then my assistant would know nothing of the experiments I wanted her to perform. The less he knew about Mew, the better.

I watched the setting full moon.

My gift made it nearly impossible to sleep on nights like this.

So instead, I sat alone, contacting my assistant and remembering.

My memories were the reason I was here.

I hated my memories.

They made me emotional.

They made me weak.

Yet the more I tried to forget, the more I remembered.

The warm sun shone high in the sky.

Over Slateport City's graveyard.

A man and his son walked silently through the graveyard's entrance.

Despite the warm weather, both were wearing black.

A breeze whistled quietly over the grass.

The recently well-trodden grass.

Many of the older graves toward the back of the graveyard were strewn about, as if they had been displaced from their original location.

There were several new graves near the graveyard's entrance.

All were in perfect condition.

The man and the boy stopped at the twenty-third grave on the right.

The man sat down on his knees. He pulled a single white flower from inside his jacket and placed it in front of the grave.

The grave read:

Sue Mendol

April 13, 1971 - July 2, 2003

Wife, mother, and friend.

A light of the dark.

Tears rolled down the man's cheeks.

The son watched his father weep with distant eyes.

"Why?" The man murmured. "Why why why why why?"

The boy frowned, intelligence glinting in his eyes.

"Mom and Auntie are dead. They are gone forever?" The boy asked as if there was some misunderstanding, as if there was hope that this reality was fantastical.

The father turned to his son and enveloped him in a hug. "Yes, they are gone."

The boy's frown deepened. "But then where's L—"

"Shh." The father held his son closer. "Your cousin is still missing."

"So he's not dead?" The boy looked hopefully up at his dad.

"We're not sure," the man replied hesitantly. "There is a very good chance that he is."

"But we don't know yet?"

"Not yet."

"When will we know?"

"I don't know."

The father patted the son comfortingly on the back, but then broke down crying.

The son sat in his father's arms staring at his mother's grave coldly.

"Sue." The father spoke quietly. "Sue, I have failed you." The man's breathe quickened. "I couldn't protect you. And now you're gone."

A desperate moan escaped the man's lips. His body quivered.

The boy stared ahead.

"I couldn't save you. I couldn't save Maria. I couldn't even save— No. Gone. Everyone." The man waved his hands wildly. "All these people are dead! Why?" The man laughed hysterically. "Because some legendaries decided they wanted to battle!?"

The man's chest heaved.

The boy stared ahead.

"They got their battle alright. It took just one wave to decimate half the loved ones in this city. Just one wave." The man closed his eyes and tried to calm his uneven breathe.

"One f*cking wave," he shouted angrily. "F*cking legendaries with their f*cking powers. F*ck them!" The man was sweating. "They ought to be killed. Too much f*cking power. That's what they have. Too much. Not good for society. Too much f*cking power and too much f*cking destruction."

The boy stared ahead. His bright eyes never wavered from his mother's grave.

"I ought to kill them," the man murmured frantically. "No. No no no no no. I can't. I won't. I failed you, Sue, but I will not fail our son. No. We will leave. Leave this horrid f*cking country with its f*cking legendaries."

Tears flew freely off from the man's face into his son's hair.

The boy stared ahead.

"We'll go somewhere safe. Somewhere without legendaries." The man grinned wildly. "How about it son? Want to leave this dump?"

The boy finally turned to his father.

"Yes, Papa. Yes."

I clenched my fists.

F*cking memories.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I woke up with a start.

Light poured into my eyes.

I jolted into a sitting position. The clock on my PokeTech said 5:00 a.m.

Phew. I had dreamed that I overslept and lost the opportunity to battle the gym leader.

Beams of moonlight fell through the window onto my covers.

Ahh. That was what had woken me.

I lied down on my side to try to fall back asleep.

The cot across the room from me was empty.

I closed my eyes.

The cot was empty.

I jolted up and rubbed my eyes.

Where was Liam?

I cautiously crept down from the top bunk, careful not to wake Apple or Erin.

I slipped out of the room.

The hallway was dark and empty, as was the staircase leading to the main floor.

I shivered as a gust of cool air brushed my skin.

Wait. Cool air? Someone must have just entered or exited the Pokemon Center.

I warily stepped down the stairs to investigate.

I ran into someone on the final step.

My wrist jerked away from my body.

I tried to shake the grip off but failed.

I turned to glare at whoever had grabbed my arm.

Luminous green eyes shone into mine.

"Hey!" I exclaimed.

"Sorry," Liam said, releasing my arm. He actually sounded sincere. "Reflexes."

The boy must have been swiftly walking toward the staircase. It was hard for me to take my eyes away from his strange ones. They glowed in the dark like a cat's.

"What are you doing up?" I hissed.

"I could ask you the same question."

I waited expectantly, glaring harshly.

"Fine. I couldn't sleep. It's very difficult for me to sleep on nights when there is a full moon," Liam answered. "I went for a walk."

My gaze softened.

"Oh," was all I could say.

"And you came to catch me molesting a girl or doing something horrible?" The boy snickered coldly.

I was taken aback.

"Are you going to go back to sleep?" Liam questioned intensely.

Did he want me to?

"No," I replied defiantly.

His eyes glared at me harshly.

He really wanted me in bed.

Ooh, that sounded so wrong. I did not mean it that way. Good thing Apple was not up to read my mind.

"Fine. Then you're training." He grabbed my hand again and strutted toward the exit. "We'll work on your barriers too."

I made a mental note to be more compliant in the future.

Me and my big mouth.

-------------------------------

CLOSED

"COME ON!" I yelled. "What gym closes on a Tuesday?"

Liam grinned knowingly.

Weirdo.

Erin shrugged. "Maybe there's a shoe sale."

"The gym leader's a guy," I answered flatly.

"So?"

I rolled my eyes. So did Erin. "I'm just kidding."

I sighed. "Well, we have the whole day free. What should we do?"

"Shop!" was Erin's immediate response.

"No!" Liam and I answered.

Erin sulked.

 Apple suggested.

I relayed the suggestion.

"I heard that too! I also heard they have a new, cool special display on Mew! We should definitely go check it out."

Liam, Apple, and I all chuckled.

Apple and I stopped abruptly and looked at Liam.

Why was he laughing?

Liam's face turned stoic. "What?"

I shrugged.

"We're going now!" Erin declared, ruining our awkward moment.

Ruining any moment, for that matter.

Typical.

---------------------------

The museum had a number of odds and ends. There were quite a few fossils and several rare stones. I was tempted to take the fire, electric, and water stones on display. They were hard to get and I would be able to evolve the Eevees with them. I resisted despite the encouragement from Apple.

<Aww. They were pretty and useful. Pretty useful. Could'a taken them no problem,> Apple whined.

<Except the I-get-thrown-in-jail part. That would be a slight problem,> I replied sarcastically.

We reached the Mew exhibit.

Mew contains the DNA of every Pokemon, I read.

No, duh. Hadn't heard that one before.

I walked over to wear Erin was looking at actual pictures taken of Mew.

<Are any of those you?> I asked curiously.

<Hmm.> Apple examined the pictures. <Most of them are from other regions. Ahh. That one on the end is me.>

I looked at the picture. It was a picture of several houses on fire. In the bottom left corner there was a pile of ash. A Mew stuck its head out of the ash.

<That's from when I was just born,> Apple said proudly.

<Err, did you cause the fire?>

<Not purposefully!>

I turned to the right and saw Liam examining a different wall. I walked over to see what he was looking at.

Mew die and are reborn every 5,000 years. Legends of the phoenix actually originate from this Pokemon. After a Mew has lived for 5,000 years, the Pokemon undergoes a process in which it releases all of its excess psychic energy, causing an explosion. The new Mew is born from the old Mew's ashes after the explosion.

The latest rumored Mew explosion occurred just a few years ago in Acceber's own Vintage Village. If it did indeed occur, it would be the first time a legendary Pokemon was ever sighted in Acceber. There were only ten witnesses, seven of whom were not able to confirm that they actually saw Mew.

<Is this all true?> I asked Apple.

<What? The whole blow-up then reborn thing? Of course! They got the place—Vintage Village—right, too.>

<Why did you decide to blow up in Vintage Village? Shouldn't you have gone to a more secluded area?>



Liam was watching me intently.

<He is seriously a creeper,> I commented to Apple.

<Yeah he is. He kind of reminds me of the man who chased me just after I was born.>

<Right. You told me about that. I'm amazed you got away.>



I smiled down at Apple.

My stomach growled.

Liam was suddenly next to me.

"Here, want a piece of candy?" he asked.

I looked at him dubiously. Was he trying to poison me?

He offered it again. "Here, I insist. It will calm your stomach." He shoved the candy into my hand.

What the h*ll?

I narrowed my eyes at the boy and held my hand with the candy in it towards Apple.

<Is it poisonous?> I asked.

Apple sniffed. <Nope. Smells yummy.>

<Are you positive nothing is wrong with it?>

<Yup.>

Liam was still watching me. "Go ahead; aren't you hungry?"

I slowly unwrapped the candy and then took a bite.

It was a good sign when I didn't die.

It was a bad sign when I spit the candy out onto Liam's shoe.

"Ew. What was in that thing!? It tasted like roasted barf-covered bananas!" I exclaimed.

Liam shrugged.

Apple gobbled the chewed remains from Liam's shoe.

Erin walked over and grimaced at Apple, apparently having witnessed what had just taken place.

When Apple finished, Liam casually returned to his examination of the Mew exhibit.

Erin and I exchanged looks of disgust.

Apple licked her lips.

<Delicious.>

This group had serious issues.

delongbi · Apr 12, 2009

For no real reason, I really like this chapter. Also, I'm going with a friend's advice and trying out a cliff-hanger. Here we go, enjoy! And thanks for reading!

Chapter 12: Rare Encounters

The warm waft of coffee filled my nostrils as I stared out the window at the hoards of people moving through the bustling street. It was much quieter in here than it was on the street. I picked up my pink cell phone and dialed.

I tapped my nails against the table as I waited for someone to answer my call.

"My dear, to what do I owe this pleasant surprise?"

I snickered silently. This man on the line was full of such bullsh*t.

"As you said, Mr. Arkle, I was supposed to call you if I found any information."

"Ah. And what information might that be? You cannot have already met up with Anita; neither of you could have reached Nelcorn City in just two days."

I leaned back in my chair and glanced at the teen sitting across the table from me.

"No, Mr. Arkle. I ran into a friend when I went to stalk up on supplies in Azul City, and we were talking in a coffee shop when he mentioned some interesting information about Anita." I smiled widely.

"Who is this friend, exactly?"

I stared into the amber eyes of the teen.

"Reece Dracuta."

"Who?" The voice asked through the phone.

"Reece. He's a friend of mine from elementary school."

"And how did the topic of Anita Parkwood come up in your conversation?"

"I started to tell him how all my dreams were coming true; how if I completed this mission involving Anita I would be—"

"You told him about tracking Anita!?"

"Well, duh—"

"You g-ddamn idiot! This mission was supposed to between you and me. Not another soul is supposed to know about it. Now I'm going to have to—"

"Don't worry. Reece can be trusted. He hates Anita as much as I do, and he wants to come with me on my mission."

"Fine. If you tell one more person, I swear I will have you murdered. What information did you find?"

"A couple of days ago, Reece was by Peepin Pond and he saw Anita in the water…err… taking a bath." I held a hand over the phone and hissed, "Pervert!"at Reece. He shrugged and grinned. "Anyway, he tried to walk over to the pond to greet Anita and he hit an invisible barrier. Then Anita shouted at him and he was flung away from the pond. Reece swears he saw no Pokemon and Anita never commanded one anyway."

"She has the gift…" The voice trailed in the phone.

"The what?"

"She's a psychic. That explains— Never mind. As I promised, you, as well as Reece, shall be rewarded for this information."

"You'll get me into Acceber's beauty pageant!!" I screamed in excitement. Other customers in the coffee shop scowled at me. Reece snickered.

"No. That's only if you complete the mission." I growled angrily, but kept listening. "I would give you money, but we both know you have no need for that. Thus, I would like to offer both you and Reece one Pokemon each."

"Any Pokemon?"

"I can get you nearly any non-legendary Pokemon. We have quite a selection. It will have to be a pre-evolved Pokemon because you may have trouble controlling a very strong Pokemon without badges."

"Reece, if you could have any non-legendary, pre-evolved Pokemon, what would it be?" I asked Reece casually.

"Bagon."

"Reece wants a Bagon, and I'll have a Dratini."

"Excellent choices. I'll have them delivered to you personally by my Yanmega. Do not hesitate to call if you find more information. Goodbye, Carly."

The line went dead.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I walked slowly through the silent hall of basement number seven toward the single door at the end of the hall. I placed my hand on the door. After a quick scan of my DNA, the door opened.

Only a select few members of Team Glop'emm that were permitted through this door. As far as I knew, only I, the Master and Rita Teal were allowed to access this room.

I breathed in deeply and grinned. I was one of the few trusted.

I had access to any and every Pokemon Team Glop'emm had captured or stolen.

The dragon aisle was to my right. I walked toward that isle. Each isle was filled with thousands of Pokeballs. In each Pokeball, of course, was a Pokemon. Before the Pokemon arrived in this room, its memory was wiped through several intense cycles of psychic waves from psychic Pokemon, such as my Hypno.

I passed the aisle filled with Pokeballs containing dark Pokemon. Dark Pokemon were the one exception to the mind wipes. However, there was rarely a demand for such Pokemon as there were so few of them, and those we did sell were dealt with by the Master. With the Master's affinity for dark Pokemon, these Pokemon were really not an issue.

I reached the dragon aisle. The Pokemon were sorted by type and then alphabetical order. The shelves containing Dratini and Bagon were relatively easy to find, as these letters are near the start of the alphabet. I chose the least experienced of the Dratini and Bagon for my spies. No need to waste the good Pokemon on such fools, though successful fools.

The information they had given me was golden; it was the jackpot. Who would have guessed that Anita Parkwood was psychically gifted? It had to be fate that this piece of information stumbled into my hands.

It explained everything. Of course the Master suspected Anita of being Mew. It was completely obvious that this had to be the case.

And of course he would not want Anita being taken in and tortured. He wanted Mew for himself. He did not want to risk anyone getting the power before he did. He needed Anita to stay away from Team Glop'emm so there was no chance that the most cunning and powerful people could capture Mew before he captured the legendary.

Plus, to capture Mew, he needed her to transform back into a Pokemon. That explained the device he needed to be made and the Pokeball Rita threw at the Ditto. He wanted to capture her safely away from Team Glop'emm.

Wow. He must really trust that relative-detective-whoever-it-was of his. He trusted that sneak more than his assistant! Grr…

He had threatened the rest of Team Glop'emm to stay away from the detective and the girl.

If only I had the power to override that threat…

If only I could overthrow the Master…

I stared at the Pokeballs in my hands.

I smiled widely.

Perhaps there was a way.

Now that the Master was gone, the team's income money was not being wasted on hundreds of useless research projects.

We had a surplus of money.

And a surplus of Pokemon.

That I was currently in charge of.

If I could bribe Carly and Reece with a few Pokemon…

How many Glop'emm members could I win over with a pocket of gold and a handful of rare Pokemon?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I woke up hating the world.

This happened to me sometimes.

I was unhappy, and I didn't know why.

I had everything. I was a psychic, I had friends who cared for me, and I was going on an adventure.

So why did my life suck so much?

Why was I unhappy?

<Hormones,> Apple answered in response my thoughts. 

I shook my head.

<Come on, Anita, stop moping! I want to go battle the gym leader!>

I sighed, got out of bed, and changed into my regular clothes.

Erin burst out of the bathroom attached to our room surrounded by the steam of her hot shower.

"Where's Liam? I want our breakfast now!"

<Me too!>

I rolled my eyes. After Liam and I had practiced again a bit this morning, Erin had woken up and demanded that Liam pick up breakfast from the pancake restaurant a few blocks away from the Pokemon Center. I had gone back to sleep.

Liam had been gone for nearly an hour now. What could he possibly be doing?

<Maybe he's looking for or making that delicious candy you spit out yesterday,> Apple suggested.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

Erin answered it, and Liam walked in holding several delicious smelling bags.

Of course, Apple immediately tackled Liam to the ground, any wariness towards the boy completely forgotten.

<FOOD!>

"What took so long?" I asked sharply.

Liam got up and took out our breakfast. Well, what breakfast Apple had left for us.

<You should just be grateful he brought food!> Apple commented, her mouth bulging from her attempt to swallow about ten pancakes at once.

Liam's eyes pierced mine. The rest of his face remained unchanged.

"There was a long line."

Erin and I sat on Erin's bed and Liam sat on his cot as we ate breakfast. Erin chattered on about some nonsense, I pouted, Apple timed how long Erin could go without a breath, and Liam ignored us all.

The usual.

Finally, Erin asked, "So, Anita, do you think you're ready for today?"

I nodded absentmindedly.

Erin smiled and squealed, "I can't wait to watch! Liam and I will be cheering for you!"

Liam shifted… almost uncomfortably. "I will not be watching. I have some… research to do at the library here."

"What research?" Erin asked curiously.

"None of your business," Liam answered harshly.

Maybe I wasn't the only one in a bad mood today. Then again, Liam was always in a bad mood.

Erin looked offended.

I shrugged. Maybe if I beat the gym leader today I would be able to somehow force Erin to leave town without meeting up with Liam.

After we ate a rather quiet breakfast, Erin and I released the rest of our Pokemon so they could eat as well. Liam sat and watched.

I asked him, "Why don't you ever let your Pokemon out to eat? Actually, why don't you ever let them out? Do you even have Pokemon?"

"Of course I have Pokemon," Liam sneered. "When inside their Pokeballs for a prolonged period of time, Pokemon have no need for food to survive."

"Don't you want them to be happy and free!? To enjoy their lives!?" I retorted.

"They are perfectly content."

"But are they happy?"

"Nobody can ever be truly happy."

"I'm happy," Erin and Splash objected at the same time, though no other human could understand Splash.

"Let me rephrase that. No intelligent being can be truly happy.

"Ouch," I interjected with a grin on my face. This was just the conversation I needed to put me in a more cheerful mood. Maybe it wouldn't be so hard to convince Erin to ditch Liam.

"Hey!" Erin's voice changed from the usual high and whiny to serious. "I've written several research papers for Acceber's world reknown Scientific Daily. I was also the valedictorian of my class and I won the academic actress of the year award from my after-school acting class."

"So what if you are book smart? If you have no ability to take and use that information on a deeper level, it does not matter. You're too… shallow to qualify as intelligent."

Erin looked like she was about to start yelling but I cut in. "You haven't known Erin for long enough to judge her. She may look shallower than a child's pool, but it's a façade. She's really a profound and clever person."

Erin beamed at me. Liam snickered.

Erin grabbed our Pokeballs, returned our Pokemon, took my hand, and sprung to the door. "C'mon, Anita!" she yelled, angrily stalking from the room.

Erin calmed down a bit once we left the Pokemon Center.

"Anita… thanks for standing up for me."

"No prob."

"But I have a question for you: What did I do to make you understand I'm not shallow?"

For a moment, I considered telling her that she was one tricky b*tch. Then I thought better of it. "Well, once I realized you were purposefully talking a lot, I knew you were more than you appeared to be. It also helped that I was a psychic. Mostly though, it was that despite your obnoxiousness, I know you care about me and your Pokemon. You're not self-centered."

"Hmm…" Erin murmured thoughtfully.

"Why do you care so much about what he thinks?"

"Grr… I always make a good impression. Always! I thought I did a good job when I first met Liam. We discussed our research for hours!"

"Erin, you should really forget about it. In fact, forget about him! I'm all for ditching him after the gym. He's the self-centered, shallow, *sshole!"

Erin rolled her eyes.

"I'm not kidding!"

Erin sighed. "Believe me, I know. But we can't just abandon him! He's not a bad person. I just need to think of a way to prove… well, I'm me, I guess."

"I think you're taking this whole thing too seriously. You should forget it."

"I'll think of something," the red-head mumbled.

<She's as stubborn as I am,> I noted to Apple.

<Yup! Can't wait to see what she comes up with,> Apple answered cheerfully.

We stopped walking down the narrow street. On our right, only a block away from the Pokemon Center, was the gym in plain sight. The building, like the road and the sidewalk, was made of red brick. Above the doors, there was an indent in the wall of bricks that held a small flame.

The most important feature of the gym, however, was the sign that read OPEN on the giant metal front doors.

Apple, Erin, and I ran up to the doors. As I slowly cracked the door open, I heard a booming laugh. If I didn't know better, I would have classified the laugh as borderline evil.

The room I entered was pitch black.

Or at least it was until a bright spotlight blinded me.

I blinked several times, but couldn't force my eyes to focus.

"Muwahahaha," a loud voice boomed from somewhere in the darkness. "Welcome, Anita Parkwood, to Tinted Town's gym of fiery doom! I have been expecting you. Muwhahahah!"

<Oh boy, this guy is a freak,> I said to Apple.

"Please give the Pokemon that you will not be battling with to your friend. You may not use these Pokemon in your prelim today, but they, along with your friend, may watch from a distance from behind a thick layer of heat-resistant protective glass. After your friend has your Pokemon, she must exit the room."

A red exit sign lit up to my left. I handed the Pokeballs of the four youngest Eevees to Erin and she walked toward the exit sign. After I heard a door close, the loud voice spoke again.

"Your prelim today must be completed alone. Release the two Pokemon you will be battling with… should you actually pass my prelim—a doubtful occurrence! Muwahahaha!"

A blue square illuminated in front of me as I released Fiery from his Pokeball.

"Ah, Eevees. Expected. Well, Eevees, step onto the blue square."

<How can he tell what Pokemon you are?> I asked Apple curiously as I sensed her trotting toward the blue square.

<This gym leader is gifted with fire and heat. He can sense the temperature of people, Pokemon, and objects… almost as if he can see in infrared.>

<What will happen when you touch the blue square?>

Apple and Fiery touched the square.

My question was never answered.

They had disappeared.

I panicked and reached out to them with my mind. "What did you do with them!?" I yelled. I could vaguely feel they were still alive so they couldn't have gone too far. However, it was too much of a strain for me to attempt to communicate with them. They were just beyond my psychic range.

"Muwahahaha! I have transported them to me for safe-keeping! Or rather, unsafe-keeping!"

A screen appeared just above my head. This whole being kept in the dark thing was starting to get on my nerves. I got the feeling that the gym leader only did it for effect…

Fiery and Apple appeared on the screen. They were in a metal cage being held over a bowl of bubbling lava. How the gym leader managed to keep the lava from burning through the bowl is beyond me. I squinted to see their expressions. Fiery looked angry and kept trying to break the cage open with iron tail. Apple was just rolling her eyes… maybe at the whole situation. Her expression calmed me. If she was not worried, then they probably weren't in any real danger. Probably. Maybe she had read the gym leader's mind and knew something I didn't know.

"Is this really necessary?" I asked mildly. For goodness sake, this was supposed to be a gym. Threatening my Pokemon with death seemed a little extreme.

"Of course it is!" A red-headed man appeared on the screen. "I have not had the chance to formally introduce myself. I am Aden Flarrent, master of fire and leader of the Tinted Town gym."

"Congratulations," I said dryly. As an afterthought I added, "Is it even legal to hold my Pokemon hostage?"

"Well, seeing as the gym leaders make the laws in the first place— yes."

"My Pokemon could die!"

"So could you. So could I, for that matter. You don't see me complaining about my mortality though."

I opened my mouth to retort, but Aden held up a hand to silence me. "I would prefer it if you held your questions and comments until the end of my prattle. Let me explain your prelim for this gym." Aden paused. "Tell me, Anita, have you ever played a Mario game?"

What the hell?

"Err… I had a Gameboy Color that I could play Mario on… but what the heck does that have to do with anything?"

Aden chuckled loudly. "Let me show you."

Suddenly, bright lights blinded me. I blinked for about a minute before I could finally see straight. Then I had to blink several more times to verify the reality of what I was seeing.

Large stone bricks were stacked everywhere. The wall to my right, the ceiling, and the floor were all stone. The wall to my left was entirely glass, except for a metal door directly next to me. Beyond the glass there were wooden stands. Erin waved to me from her seat; she was the only person in the stands.

I could see now that the screen above me was hanging from the stone ceiling. Aden was smiling brilliantly on the screen. Beyond the screen there was what looked like… a Mario level. To be precise, it looked like one of those Mario castle levels from my Gameboy game. Fireballs hurled in every direction and there were several twirling sticks of fire. At times there were gaps in the floor, and I did not doubt that between these gaps was hot lava or fire, just like in the games.

I strained my eyes to see if this hall of stone and fire ever ended, and I swore I could make out a brown bridge at the end of the tunnel.

My eyes stared at the scene in amazement.

Another booming laugh came from the screen.

"Welcome to the Tinted Town Gym."

No doubt about it. This guy was insane.

"The prelim is very simple. You just have to make it to the end of this tunnel and defeat Bowser. Then I will release your Pokemon and you may battle me."

I shook my head. "Did you just say defeat Bowser?"

The camera shifted so I was looking at a Torkoal. "This is my Torkoal, Bowser."

"I have to battle him!?" I exclaimed. I didn't have my Pokemon; how was I supposed to do that?

"I never said battle. I said defeat. There is, of course, the standard button on the end of the bridge that will cause the bridge to collapse and Bowser to fall."

"Are you mentally stable?" I asked seriously.

"Stability is a funny thing…"

"You can't have put other trainers through this! Nobody would pass!"

"Of course not. You, however, are a gifted trainer. I can put you through whatever I want—including this brilliant setup."

I shook my head in disbelief.

"Oh, I didn't mention: there's a time limit," Aden casually said on the screen. "Your Eevees are being lowered toward the lava bowl about six inches every minute. I'd say that gives you about ten minutes before—"

"They'll be fried!!" I interrupted.

"Nah. Just severely burned. Actually, in your case, they might evolve. It's been known to happen."

That should have been a relief. Should have. But Apple was not really an Eevee, and thus, Apple could not really evolve. So if I did not reach them in the next ten minutes…

Apple would not only be burned…

She could be exposed.

"Time's a-ticking."

delongbi · May 26, 2009

Sorry it has been such a long time! Now that APs and some family stuff are finally done with, I should have more time to write. Buoysel, try not to kill me because of this chapter...

Chapter 13: Fire Away!

I looked over the list.

1. Pokeball- failed to catch transformed Ditto

2. Pokeblock- transformed Ditto ate with delight; should be noted, however, that different Pokemon like different flavors

3. Pokeflute- did not wake transformed Ditto from sleep

4. Battle- is a better fighter than most humans, still loves to fight as a human

5. Physical touch- interestingly, the transformed Ditto does not react normally to human touch. The Ditto often takes touch as a signal to battle. Also, when touched by another human for an extended period of time, the Ditto becomes uncomfortable.

6. Language- the transformed Ditto cannot speak in English; we are currently attempting to see if it is possible to teach the Pokemon

I leaned my head back against the thick tree. The results of the tests thus far were fairly inconclusive.

"Honch!"

I looked up at my Honchrow, who hovered, awaiting orders. I nodded to the Pokemon. "Go back."

I closed my eyes. The one other test I could use was Miss Parkwood's background. Perhaps I could find a hole in her story…

As my eyes darted across the list one more time, I smiled to myself.

My detective was the only person in the entire world I would entrust with such a job.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

A ball of fire randomly swung towards me. I ducked and felt a rush of heat fly across my back. I winced as the heat continued, and then screamed when the pain became too unbearable. I rolled onto my back.

The stone floor was nice and cool. I stood up and touched my back. The blistering pain made me grimace. I felt my hair, and when it was not as soft as usual, I held up the ends so I could see them.

They were black and burnt. My hair had caught on fire. That must have been what had scorched my back. Quickly, I flipped my hair into a ponytail.

I ran forward. Another fireball came at me but I dodged to the left and was unharmed. I silently thanked Arceus for Liam. Without his practice I would have been dead in the first thirty seconds of this prelim.

I came upon the first stick of twirling fire tied to the ceiling. As it spun, I looked below it and realized the flames did not ever touch the floor. The tip of the stick came short of the floor by about a foot every time it twirled around. I got onto by belly and inched my way forward like a beat up Seviper. Each time the fire came inches away from my back I held my breath.

Just as I was beyond the reach of the twirling sticks of fire, I looked up to see yet another fireball hurling my way… less than two feet away. I closed my eyes.

I tried to summon a barrier.

I really did.

But since the pond, despite working with Apple, Griffy, and Liam, I had not been able to create even one barrier.

I prepared for the pain I was about to endure.

It never came.

I opened an eye and saw that the fireball was gone.

<You're welcome.>

I looked around, confused. <Apple?>

<Yeah?>

<Did you stop the fire?>

<Duh.>



I could imagine Apple snorting. <This is the thanks I get for saving your life!>

<Apple, stop! I'm serious.>

<Relax, Anita. It looks like you summoned a barrier. Nobody will suspect it was really me. Plus, if you don't get your butt down here soon, I will be exposed anyway!>

<So you realized it, too?>

<What, do you think I'm a moron? Actually, don't answer that.>

I got up and looked to my next obstacle. It happened to be a gap in the floor I would have to find a way over. I walked to the edge of the stone and peered over the ledge.

Heat flashed against my face as a fireball rose from the lava below and then dropped back down. Again, I would have been severely scorched if a barrier had not appeared in front of my face.

<Anta! You need to be more careful; it's exhausting trying to create barriers from this distance.>

<Thanks, Apple.> I paused. <Wait a second. How can I even talk to you?>

<This distance may be out of your range, but it's not out of mine! Now get a move on!>

I took a step back from the lava and waited. The fireball rose from the lava again. As soon as it started going down, I took a running start.

I really shouldn't have looked down.

But I did.

I leapt. Fire flashed before my eyes. I looked to the stone on the other side and realized I wasn't going to make it.

No. I had to.

I fell. I reached out for the stone with my arms, and I barely missed the stone.

Suddenly, I felt an unnatural force push me forward. I gasped as my breath was knocked away, but I caught on to the stone ledge.

<Anita, I just told you to be careful!> I could hear strain in Apple's voice, from both worry and tiredness.

The heat beat against the soles of my feet. I struggled to pull myself up over the ledge with my arms and made a mental note to do push-ups every day before bed. Finally, I found an invisible crook to stick my foot into and maneuver my body over the ledge.

For a moment, I panted on my hands and knees. I looked at my PokeTech. It had been five minutes.

Crap.

I turned my face forward and could clearly see the bridge now. It was still a ways away though. If I was going to survive and move quickly, I needed to be more attentive.

I closed my eyes and listened.

I "saw" a fireball coming my way and easily ducked under it.

I approached another stick of twirling fire, but this time, instead of wasting my time squirming my way beneath it, I waited for just the right moment between twirls and ran through it.

Another ledge was ahead of me.

This time I was already running, and my eyes were closed; no chance of looking down.

I jumped and made across.

Ahead of me was a giant green tube taking up the entire hallway. If I remembered correctly, giant green Venus Flytraps came out of those tubes in the games. They sometimes spit fireballs.

A Carnivine rose out of the tube.

I didn't think it could spit fire…

But I sure was not about to stick around to find out.

The giant plant lashed out at me as I reached the tube. I pretended it was Liam's leg attempting to trip me. I jumped up and landed on the Pokemon's head.

I wish I could say I then used the Carnivine's head as a springboard and to gracefully jump over the hole following the tube.

I wish.

Instead, I fell off of the Pokemon, bruised my head, and tumbled to the ledge.

The Carnivine was stunned for the moment from me hitting its head. I wearily picked myself up and stared across the ledge. On the other side, there was a twirling fire stick on the ground, and then, finally, the bridge. Apple and Fiery were now hanging less than a foot above the lava bowl on the other side of the bridge.

First things first, I needed to get across the ledge. I didn't want to tire Apple out any more if I did not have to; she still had a battle after all of this. Because of the green tube, there was no room for me to take a running start.

How the heck was I going to get across?

I looked at the Carnivine that was starting to recover. Maybe…

<Hey you! Carnivine! I bet you can't catch me!> I challenged.

The Carnivine glared angrily. <You little twit! You'll be my dinner!> The grass Pokemon lunged at me. I stood on the very edge of the ledge and the Carnivine couldn't reach. <Man, if I was not tied to the stupid tube, you would be dead meat!>

I stuck out my tongue and taunted, <Nya, nya, nya, nyaaa, nyaaa! You stink! You're a lemon-headed stupid looking, plant with vines that couldn't hurt a fly! And you're supposed to eat flies! Ha ha!>

The Carnivine licked its lips. <People are actually my favorite snack. And these vines are good for something—> The Carnivine threw its vines at me. <—catching you!>

If this Carnivine could laugh evilly like Aden could, I'm sure it would be right now.

This, however, had been what I was waiting for. I jumped up onto the tube beside the Carnivine so the vines would not hit me.

Carnivine vines are long and very powerful. When they miss, they go a long distance and take a few seconds to retract. This Carnivine's vines happened to reach all the way across the ledge, nearly to the final twirling stick of fire. I took the opportunity and ran across the vines to get across the ledge.

Immediately, the vines started to curl up and retract quicker. When the end tips of the vine reached my feet and started grabbing for my ankles, I jumped as far as possible and then broke into a dead sprint.

A vine caught my leg. I reached with my mind ahead of me and sensed a gap in the twirling fire. I twisted my leg and tumbled through the gap.

The vine attempted to grab my leg again, but it was hit by the fire.

For a moment, I watched the vine wither in agony and then retract.

I shakily rose to my feet. Apple and Fiery were just inches above the bowl of fire.

Bowser, the Torkoal across from me, threw a fire ball at me. I sprinted forward and jumped over the ball. I reached the Torkoal and took a giant leap over the turtle Pokemon.

As if in slow motion, I watched Bowser open his mouth beneath me and let loose a flamethrower attack. A circular barrier appeared under me, and the flame was bounced back at the attacker.

I landed on the button.

The bridge's support snapped and Bowser fell to the lava below.

Beside me, the metal cage was just touching the lava. Fiery and Apple were both doing what looked like a potty dance to avoid getting burned. I rapidly opened the cage to release them.

We all fell to the ground and sighed in relief.

<Thanks, Apple,> I said while patting both Eevees on the head. Fiery didn't even seem to mind.

<It's a lot easier when you are right next to me. Really though, you should learn to make barriers yourself.>

<I'm trying!>



"Muwahahaha!" I rolled my eyes and smirked when I saw Apple doing the same.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the bridge rebuild itself. I did a double take. There the bridge was, like it had never been destroyed.

Beside the bridge I saw Bowser climbing up over the ledge. <That was fun!> I heard the overexcited turtle shout as he jumped off the ledge into the lava again.

"Congratulations, Anita Parkwood, on making it past the prelims."

I snapped my head around to find Aden standing directly in front of me. He was wearing a very attractive amber vest and jeans, and somehow his hair seemed redder in person. His mud-brown eyes glinted with laughter as he held his hand out to help me up. I took it and his strong arm pulled me up easily.

I glanced back at the bridge. "How did you—"

"Rebuild it?" Aden finished. He pulled out a remote control and pressed a button. The bridge collapsed, or rather, it folded downward so it looked like the bridge collapsed. Aden pressed another button and the bridge rebuilt itself. "Very simply, actually. So how did you like the prelim? Was it fun?" There was not a drop of sarcasm in his voice.

I scratched my head, not sure how to answer. "Err…"

Aden thumped me on the back, ignoring my awkwardness. "I knew you would like it. It's just too bad I'm only aloud to use this setup for gifted children…"

"Too bad…" I echoed.

"Well, I guess we should get down to business. Because you passed my prelim, you have to battle me. Muwahahaha!"

"Why do you always do that?" I asked.

"Do what?" Aden replied.

"Try to laugh evilly."

"Doesn't it make everything more dramatic? Don't you fear me more because I can laugh like that?"

I shook my head. "No."

Aden snapped his fingers. "Damn. I have a friend that can pull a fear-instilling laugh perfectly. I thought I'd give it a go. Oh well…"

"So the battle…" I reminded the gym leader.

"Right. Well, my battle is a bit different because you are gifted. Essentially, you and I will both act as Pokemon."

"What?"

"This is a three-on-three battle. I choose two Pokemon and you choose two Pokemon. In addition, since we have Pokemon powers, we act as Pokemon and battle as well. Unlike usual battles, all three members of each team will be fighting at the same time and any member of one team may attack any member of the opposing team. It is unlikely that you will be able to command your Pokemon because you will be battling beside them. The first team to knock all three members of the opposing team out wins the battle."

"So basically, this is like a double battle… only it's really a triple battle?" I asked, realizing soon after how stupid I sounded.

Aden nodded. "We will be battling on the bridge. You will be using your two Eevees, and I will be using—" Aden released two Pokemon from two of the Pokeballs tied to his belt. "—Eon, my Flareon, and Nip, my Growlithe." Aden raised his voice and spoke down the hallway. "My other Pokemon should evacuate the area to avoid interference."

<Hey! I'm still tied here!> I heard Aden's Carnivine call.

I almost decided not to inform Aden. Almost. But it would be awful if the Carnivine did manage to get loose and try to eat me during the battle. Thus, I repeated the message to Aden, who pressed another button on his remote control.

A shiny Ninetales I hadn't seen, Bowser, and the Carnivine all exited through another door in the glass wall. Aden led me to the side of the bridge and then suggested, "You should leave anything you do not want ruined by the side of the bridge."

Aden took off his belt of Pokeballs and his vest so he was left bare-chested. For a moment, I couldn't help looking at his tanned six-pack.

I gulped.

He was strong.

I put down my pack, and after a moment, I decided to take off my t-shirt so I was just a tank top and shorts.

I slowly walked across the bridge, trying to calm myself with deep breaths. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach and I couldn't help thinking, What if I screw everything up?

<You'll be fine! You just handled that obstacle course by yourself!> Apple said in an attempt to comfort me.



<Well, I can still use my psychic powers to help you, so we are all good.>

When we reached the end of the bridge, I turned around to face Aden. We stood in silence for a moment. Then Aden declared, "Begin."

Immediately Eon, Nip, and Aden threw flames at us. Yes, I included Aden. He apparently had a powerful fire gift and could create and throw fire with his hands.

I watched in shock. A psychic barrier rose in front of me.

<Move, Anita! You need to fight and protect yourself. At this rate, I'll use up all of my energy protecting you!> Apple hissed. I jumped to the side and Apple released the barrier. Both Apple and Fiery launched themselves at Eon and Nip. Aden decided to join Nip to take on Fiery. I watched uselessly as Fiery attempted to dodge the Growlithe's bites and Aden's punches along with the fire they both could control.

Apple, in the meantime, was exchanging tackles with Eon.

<Anita, go do something!>

<What can I do?!>

<You've been practicing with Liam! Go help Fiery. Or come help me. Just. Do. Something.> Apple growled while using sand attack. Eon was temporarily blinded and Apple took the opportunity to help Fiery by hitting Aden with a quick attack.

I noticed that Fiery was not as harmed as I thought he would be from taking on two. I approached Fiery and Nip.

I felt very awkward. Even though Nip was battling Fiery, I did not want to attack the Pokemon. I had fought with humans… but Pokemon seemed almost sacred to me. They never seemed to be the ones causing the problems of this world, only innocent bystanders. To go up and kick Nip just seemed so wrong.

Fiery saw me watching him out of the corner of his eye.

<Thanks, Anita, for stopping all of the fire attacks,> he said as a barrier appeared between him and Nip's ember attack. Apple, on the other hand, took a hit from Eon.

Guilt flooded my mind.

Apple was doing everything for me… because I was too pathetic to do anything.

Pain rushed through my body as something hit my back.

"Hehe. Do you think I'd let you miss out on all this fun?" A booming voice said above me. "I'm surprised you did not see that one coming; you've blocked nearly everything else."

I reached out with my mind and felt Aden throw another punch at me. I rolled to my right and he missed.

I heard Fiery yowl in pain.

Apple must be getting tired. I reached out and felt the minds of my opponents. None of them were wearing out quickly. I leapt into Aden's mind and through his eyes, I watched him prepared to throw fire at me.

I saw the fire was about to come from the palms of his hands. With my own body, I kicked his arms up so they fired fire away uselessly. I sensed his surprise.

Because I was in his mind, I could always see what he was doing next. I always dodged.

The only problem was he didn't seem to be getting tired.

Every once in a while, I checked up on Apple and Fiery. In a moment when Fiery seemed about to falter from wheel of fire coming towards him, Apple knocked him out of the way with a quick attack. Apple then began fighting Nip, while Fiery took on Eon.

Apple was holding her own against Nip.

Fiery, on the other hand, was nearly exhausted. He was taking more and more hits, as Apple was too drained to continue creating psychic barriers.

I ducked under one of Aden's kicks. He was extremely strong, but he was slower than Liam. Besides the first hit, he hadn't hit me once.

An agonizing scream pierced the air. Fiery had been struck by Eon's fire fang.

I ran towards Fiery to help. Apple attempted to reach him too, but she was blocked by Nip's extreme speed.

Fiery lay weakly on the ground. Aden's Flareon stood above him with a triumphant look on his face. A small ball of fire began to build in the Flareon's mouth.

<STOP!> I yelled. Eon was momentarily distracted. He looked at me, and a moment later, I hit the ground.

My foot was on fire; it felt like a thousand needles were being stuck into my lower leg. I jumped into Eon's mind and could taste my own blood.

He was biting me.

I lifted my leg up and pain shot up my entire body. I then slammed my leg onto the ground. I felt Eon wince in pain and he released my leg.

Darkness tickled the corners of my eyesight. My body wanted to faint, but I couldn't abandon my Pokemon. I felt Eon prepare to bite me again, and I felt Aden begin to launch his fire at Fiery.

Many things happened at once.

I mustered up all of my energy and hurled myself toward Fiery, who was still lying on the bridge a few yards away. Then I forced my mind out in front of us.

Eon missed me and hit the ground hard.

Both Fiery and I would have been cooked by Aden's flames if I hadn't managed to create a barrier in front of us.

The force of Aden's fire, however, created holes in the bridge's railing on either side of my barrier. I heard the splash of rocks tumbling to the lava below.

Aden's fire did not cease. He kept up a continuous stream, and I tried to hold my barrier. I kept being forced backwards.

Aden summoned a giant pulse of energy and sent the fire down his continuous stream. I was hurled backwards over the edge of the bridge.

Fiery and I fell towards the lava, but I managed to catch hold of the bridge's ledge. I tried to catch Fiery.

I failed.

<FIERY!> I called desperately as the Eevee plummeted towards the lava.

I put every last bit of energy I had into forming a barrier below Fiery to hold him.

I'm not sure if I succeeded, but even if I did, it was only for a few seconds. I was just too tired… I was a failure to my Pokemon.

I considered just letting go.

I didn't think Aden would let me die, but I'm sure I would be knocked out. Then this battle would be over…

WHAM

I looked above me and saw Apple growling at Aden, who was knocked on his butt.

<Get up, Anita!>

 I said weakly.

<C'mon, Anita, don't give up now! I knocked out Nip!>

I tried to pull myself up. I felt Apple debate with herself silently and then give me a small psychic boost. I was up on the bridge again, but Apple had collapsed. <Apple!>

Eon and Aden were both on the ground, but getting up. Aden was grinning.

"Alright, Eon," Aden said, turning to his Flareon. "Let's finish this."

I closed my eyes and tried to summon my psychic powers. So did Apple.

Flames rushed toward us. Neither Apple nor I had managed to summon the strength to create a barrier.

I prepared for pain.

But it never came.

I opened my eyes and saw a Flareon standing in front of us, smiling widely. The fire had no effect on the Pokemon. For a moment I was confused. How were there two Flareons? And why was one protecting us?

<Miss me?>

I gasped. <Fiery?>

Fiery, the newly evolved Flareon, nodded. I grinned. Beside me, Apple smiled weakly.

<Let's go!> Fiery launched himself at Aden. I limped toward Eon; the bite on my leg was still painful. Eon easily dodged around me and aimed a flamethrower at Apple. Apple's eyes widened with fear.

But Fiery was there again.

He stood above her, protecting her from the flames. The flames gave him strength.

I felt Apple's final strength leave her as she used helping hand to transfer her energy to Fiery. Fiery glowed with energy.

He launched himself at Eon.

Something hit the back of my head.

Darkness overcame me.

-----------------------------

Fire splintered through my body. I winced.

"I think she's awake," I heard someone whisper.

I opened an eye. White surrounded me.

"Hey, Anita, how are you feeling?"

I tried to speak but my voice stuck in my throat.

I blinked several times until I could see Erin standing above me. "That was a sweet battle, you know."

"What happened?" I mumbled.

When I turned my head, splintering pain ran down my back. On the bed next to me, a Flareon stood protectively over a sleeping Eevee.

The Flareon noticed I was up.

He grinned.

<We won.>

I passed out.

Buoysel · May 26, 2009

Why would I kill you.

But I do have a couple of things to point out.

But first the good. I actually really like the chapter. I especially like the part where Anita did not want to hurt a Pokemon, made her seem more human.

But:

1. If a Flareon was biting me, lift my leg up and slamming it down would probably cause more pain and injury to me then it would to the Pokemon, because the slamming of the weight of the aPokemon would cause flesh to be torn. How ever, one's reaction to pain is to swing a limb at the cause. So even though Anita did not want to hurt Eon, she would do it out of reaction, not becuase she wanted too.

2. This evolution only confirms my theory, all of your Eevee's are named as to what they are going to evolve. Except Apple, cuase there is already a leafon (flower) so what are you going to have her evolve into? (I ~~hope~~ gues a Umbreon)

Orange text FTW (I think, if I can remember, I start posting orange.)

delongbi · Jun 26, 2009

Thanks, Buoysel for the review! I never knew that about the reaction thing, thanks. Hehe, Anita will be in much more pain than Eon from the bite... Good luck with the guessing evolution thing =P

My goal is to be updating here every one to two weeks this summer. I'd like to be halfway done with this by the end of the summer. However, I can't promise anything. I tend to only update about once a month.

Chapter 14: Visions of the Passed/Past

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Time.

Something that there was just too little of.

Air swished around me as I streamed ahead rapidly.

A deep aching rumbled through my entire body.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

My body shuddered involuntarily from head to tail. I continued my journey through the clouds, my whip-like tail propelling me forward.

Tick.

I begged my internal clock to slow. I begged time to slow. What I would give to be a Celebi…

Tick.

The ocean below glittered like ice in sunlight. Little ships were sprinkled about.

The land was behind me. Far behind.

As were my old problems.

Tick.

Never again would I clash with the clone.

Never again would I endure such a struggle for power.

Power was simply not worth it.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

My new self would be safe… if only I could make it.

The old land behind.

The new land ahead.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Another deep rumble.

The only problem—

Tick. Tick. Tick-tickity-tick. Tick. Tickity-tick.

Time was almost…

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

… a melody whistling through my ears. Soft notes caressed my fuzzy brain.

I was in two places.

A pair of eyes blinked open and I saw my own body relaxing in white bedcovers.

I yawned, or rather, the body I was in yawned.

A wave of surprise suddenly sent a shiver down the body's spine. <Hey! What are you doing in here?!>

Oh.

I was in Apple's body.

 I replied.

Apple yawned again. 

<Hey, me too!>

 Apple started.

<There was a melodious clock—> I said at the same time.

We both paused.

<You had it too?!> we yelled at once.

<Yes!> we answered, again together.

To make the situation less awkward, I stopped talking. <That was some serious déjà vu,> Apple commented.

<This has happened to you before?>

<Kind of. Well, not the part where I wake up with you in my head too, but the actual dream… It just felt so real, realer than my usual dreams. Almost like a vision…>

A pause.

<Is that possible?> I asked.

<Maybe. I don't know…>

I came to a sudden realization. <Hey! The shape of the land, remember? The land that we were flying towards in the dream—that was Acceber!>

<Duh.> I felt her eyes roll.

<Well, sorry! Not all of us have the gift of your brilliance, Miss I-attack-anything-with-food.>

<Only if it's good food. Now, will you kindly return to your own body so I can rest in peace?>

<You're not dead yet,> I countered.

<Your lame puns are killing me.>

I was pushed from Apple's mind back into my own.

As I opened my actual eyes and shifted my legs, I groaned in pain. I felt awful. My head hurt and there were too many bruises below my skin for me to find any one in particular extremely painful. The worst was my right leg, which was bandaged. Every time I moved it, a sharp sting rushed from my toes to my torso. When I didn't move, it just ached.

"Hey, you're finally awake!"

I moaned at the voice… at Erin's voice. "Go away."

"You think I'm going to leave after waiting a day and a half for you to wake up?"

"Please…" I mumbled.

Erin abruptly changed the subject. "How do you feel?"

"Awful."

"Yeah, you were battered pretty badly, but at least you won! You should have seen Fiery! After you were down, he went crazy. He knocked out that other Flareon in just one hit, and then the gym leader never landed a punch or kick on him! He was like BAM and—"

"Eevee, Ee!" <Shut up!> Apple barked at Erin.

<Hey, you read my thoughts perfectly.>

<Well, I am psychic,> Apple answered. I turned my head. To my right, Apple was snuggling next to a snoozing Fiery on a white hospital bed identical to the one I was laying on. To my left, Erin was sitting in a chair and had clearly understood Apple's message because her mouth was clamped shut. Next to Erin, much to my surprise, was another figure.

Liam.

"What are you doing here!?" I asked accusingly.

"He's here to support you! He's been really sweet, and he rushed back here after the battle. He was even playing a flute for you when you were asleep," Erin answered.

<Yeah, and I had to tackle the kid to make him stop playing that stupid instrument. I couldn't get an ounce of sleep when he was playing; you, on the other hand, slept through the entire thing,> Apple complained.

"Why are you defending him? Didn't he call you stupid the other day? Are you over your argument so soon?!" I asked almost desperately. My hope of abandoning Liam was fading away too quickly.

"Nope, I still think she's a shallow idiot," Liam stated as he folded his arms across his chest.

Erin glared at him for a second. "I'll have his mind changed by the end of the day," she said stubbornly.

"Now I really need some painkillers," I grumbled.

"Oh, the nurse told us to come get her if you got up!" Erin announced as she jumped to her feet. "I'll be right back…" She ran out the door.

I turned to Apple and watched as she rested her head on Fiery's paw. <Since when have you and Fiery become so close? Are you two dating or something?>

Apple snorted, causing Fiery to twitch in his sleep. <You think Pokemon date?>

<…No…>

Apple grinned evilly. <What Fiery won't know won't hurt him. He's so big, warm, and fluffy now; it's really comfy to curl right up next to him.>

<He'll kill you if he finds you practically on top of him when he wakes up.>

<He can try,> Apple snickered.

<Whatever, it's your problem. Just don't seduce him or anything…>

<Are you trying to imply something?!> Apple snapped.

<Nope. I don't know what you are talking about,> I replied too innocently.

<Why you little—> I blocked Apple's thoughts when she started swearing at me. I looked over at Liam, who was staring at me again.

"So… tell me something about yourself," I began, attempting to pull an Erin icebreaker.

"Everything is none of your business," Liam responded sharply. The teen narrowed his eyes at me. "How about you tell me something about your life."

I rolled my eyes. "Like?"

"Like your childhood."

"And why do you want to discuss my childhood?"

Liam shrugged. "I don't."

"Then why are you asking?!" I practically yelled.

"To prove a point. Neither of us is willing to give private information to each other." Liam grinned knowingly.

If I was not stuck in this bed I would have punched him for his smugness… or tried to punch him. I probably would have ended up falling on my face. For the sake of disagreement, I replied, "Not true."

Liam's grin widened. "Then prove it. Tell me a childhood story."

"Fine!" I closed my eyes and recalled…

A typical salt-scented breeze swept through a typical alley on a typical evening in Goldenrod City.

A small girl with a lightly freckled nose and cropped brown hair crouched just outside the alley, leaning towards a fallen garbage can. In the girl's hand was a piece of bread.

"Don't be afraid," the girl whispered as she held out her hand.

There was a whimper from the garbage can. The girl inched closer.

"Hey, watch out!" a teenage boy on a bicycle suddenly cried. The boy struggled to get his bike under control as it swerved toward the small girl. The girl's violet eyes widened as she watched the bike hurtle towards her, and she let out a surprised shriek.

The biker thrust his bike to the side with all his might to avoid hitting the girl. Despite his best efforts, the bike tipped over and careened toward the girl while he was thrust in the opposite direction.

As the bike collided with the girl, she tumbled forward into the garbage can. There was a fierce growl and the garbage can rolled slightly. Then the ear-shattering scream of a six-year-old girl in pain.

A Poochyena leapt from the garbage can with a blood-stained piece of bread in its mouth. The hound didn't pause before scrambling into the dark alley. The girl continued to yell from the garbage can.

The teenage boy shakily picked himself off the ground and stumbled towards the garbage can. He thrust his arms into the fallen garbage can and swept up the crying girl. The girl shrieked even louder as the teen put her on the ground. The girl was covered in grime and her arm was smeared with blood.

"What's your name?" the teenage boy asked kindly as he scanned the area for anyone who might be able to help. It was a quiet Tuesday evening. Only a few ragged-looking beggars and one hurrying business man were currently on the street. The boy turned back to look at the girl to find she was already running down the street, still sobbing.

"I want Mommy!" the girl cried as she turned onto another street.

The teen looked at his watch. He was late; he couldn't afford to waste any more time getting to his job or he would be fired. The boy sighed, picked up his bike, and rode down the road. When he reached the corner, he glanced down the next road and saw the girl standing on the small porch of a run-down dwelling. With another sigh, the boy continued to pedal forward, trying to forget the girl. He succeeded before he reached work.

The girl, in the meantime, paced the porch of the too-narrow house while trying to muffle her sobs. The raised voices on the other side of the wall made the girl afraid to enter.

"Gav, you can't keep doing this to us! We've been here for nearly a year now and Anita's just started first grade! It's time to settle down!"

"Ellen, honey—"

"Don't you Ellen, honey me Gavin Arnold Parkwood! We talked about this. You told me this would be the last time— that you would find a steady paying job!"

"Ellen, look what they're offering me! We can't afford to turn it down! This will be our last move. We'll go to Acceber, I'll do my flashy trainer stuff to get the money, and then we'll get steady jobs."

There was a pause in the conversation. The girl too paused her pacing, trying to decide if it was safe to knock yet. Her arm was really starting to hurt. Soon she would have to go in even if they were still yelling. Red blood trickled down her arm onto the white porch, forever staining it.

"Gav, you know I love you, but we can't keep doing this. Promise me this will be the last time. Promise me you'll put your trainer career on hold, at least as long as our daughter is growing up."

"Ellen Samuel Parkwood, I swear—"

There was a quiet knock on the door. The small girl had decided it was safe to enter now that the loud voices were gone.

Ellen opened the door and gasped. "Anita! What happened to you? You said you were going around the corner to play at Kati's house! Come here, come here! Let's get you in the bath!" Ellen scooped the muck-covered girl into her arms.

"It hurts Mommy," the little girl, Anita, said as she pointed to her arm. "It hurts more than a normal boo-boo. It hurts like eighty boo-boos."

"Oh my! Tell me, what happened?" Ellen anxiously repeated as she dumped Anita into the bathtub and turned on the water.

"A doggy bit me when I fell in the trash can—Ow!" Anita exclaimed as her mother started to scrub her bleeding arm.

"Gav, this is worse than I thought! Call the hospital! She's bleeding all over!"

The girl's head was dizzy. Her arm felt hotter than fire.

Her eyes fluttered shut as confusing memories of black dogs and different towns swirled through her head…

I opened my eyes.

"Then what?" Liam asked… almost as if he cared. He was curious, at the least.

I snickered. "The rest is obvious. I went to the hospital, and they gave me stitches. It took my arm a lot longer than they expected to heal; I still have a scar. Then we moved to Acceber. Four months after we moved to Melonbi Town my dad got another offer in Cerulean City. My mom wouldn't move. They split up. My dad still writes occasionally, but I haven't actually seen him since he left. He's a true traveling Pokemon trainer at heart… never could settle down. My mom didn't take his absence well. She refused to even look at Pokemon for months after he left, and she still has some funny quirks."

Liam nodded absentmindedly.

"So what about you?" I asked.

"What?"

"It's your turn. Tell me something about yourself."

"I already told you it was none of your business."

"That's no fair! I gave you a childhood story so you should give me one!"

Liam shrugged.

I leaned my head back against my pillow. "Ugh, why are you so secretive? Do you work for the government or something?" I glanced slyly at Liam only to find he had averted his eyes. He looked at his shoes.

"I just don't like to talk about my past," Liam answered solemnly.

"You don't have one happy memory you are willing to tell me?"

Liam didn't reply.

"What about when you got your first Pokemon?"

Liam hesitated for a moment. He finally answered, "Fine. I'll tell you. My grandpa, like me, had a dark gift. He told my parents and my cousin's parents that he would give his grandchildren their first Pokemon when we first showed signs of having the dark gift."

"What if you didn't have the gift?" I interrupted.

Liam gave me a cold look. I wasn't the least bit deterred. "I wouldn't know. I'm sure my parents would have eventually given me a Pokemon anyway." Liam seemed to look past me. "It was a Sunday evening…

A family of three walked up a graveled path toward an old mansion. Gargoyles resembling Pokemon long deceased stared down at the family from the mansion's crumbling roof. Thick, pressing dew hung in the air.

"Dad, I don't want to go to Grandpa's!" a little boy whined.

"Hush. We do this every Sunday, Liam. You can play with your cousin," the father replied.

"But dad, Grandpa Willy's weird! He's always doing weird stuff!"

The father sighed and looked to his wife for help. She only raised her eyebrows and said, "It's your family."

"You're the one who married into it. It's not my fault I'm related, but you chose to become a part of it." The man smiled good-naturedly at his wife.

The wife grinned. "Did I make a mistake?"

The man leaned towards his wife and gave her a quick peck on the lips. He paused, as if considering the value of the kiss. "I don't think so," he muttered into his wife's ear.

The child looked away in disgust.

The family reached the large, wooden front door. Mysterious shapes and shadows were engraved upon the grand entrance. Not bothering to knock, the father opened the door and called, "Da! We're here!"

The main hall the family entered was dull and simple—an empty area of wooden walls and floorboards. An elderly man with scraggly white hair and a walking cane appeared from around a dusty corner. "Come in, come in," he said. "We're just eating appetizers. Ah, Liam, my boy, come give your granda a hug!"

Liam wrinkled his nose at the old-person smell that filled the room. However, he complied and walked across the stiff wooden floorboards to hug his grandfather. Somewhere in the house an old clock chimed, indicating that it was six-o-clock.

"Liam, what do you say you play with Tal a bit before dinner?" The old man patted the head of his grandchild. He reached into a pocket and pulled out a Pokeball.

Liam looked pleadingly at his parents. When they didn't respond, he said, "But grandpa, I don't want to play with Tal. I always play with him! Can't I play with Landon instead?"

The grandfather chuckled. "Landon can be there too, of course. We'll all go to the other room to play." The old man gave the boy a gentle nudge toward the living room.

The family entered a carpeted room. The brown couch facing the stone fireplace was well worn, as were the antique pictures scattered about the wooden walls. At a small table in the corner of the room sat another family of three— two adults and one boy who looked strikingly similar to Liam. On the boy's lap sat a tiny Houndour.

"Landon!" Liam yelped when he saw his cousin.

Landon looked up and smiled. He picked up his Houndour and ran to greet Liam.

"Now hold on a second, boys," their grandfather said. "Liam has to play with Tal before you two can run off." The old man fingered his Pokeball and in a flash of red, an Alakazam appeared.

Landon promptly sat down on the torn couch. Liam grumbled about Landon not having to play with Tal anymore. Three Sundays ago Tal's tricks stopped working on the lucky boy and grandpa gave him his Houndour.

"Are you ready, Liam?" the grandfather asked.

Liam frowned but nodded. He tried to prepare his stomach for the awful feeling.

"Tal, use psychic," the grandfather demanded. The Alakzam's eyes grew purple in concentration. Liam closed his eyes and waited, dreading what he was to come. The feeling of toes leaving dusty, plush carpet; the feeling of helpless weightlessness; the feeling of no control…

The feeling never came.

Liam opened his eyes. His mother and father were smiling proudly. The grandfather raised a hand to stop Liam from running to embrace them. He narrowed his rust-colored eyes at the boy.

"Tal, mind reader."

Liam's heart sunk. He hated when Tal used that trick even more than psychic. It felt like he was being invaded, like his mind wasn't safe.

Liam felt wisps of a presence in his mind. It was different— not as overwhelming as usual. Then the presence was gone.

The grandfather frowned slightly. "Well, he definitely has the gift. Mind you, Tal can still delve into some of his memories so it's not as developed as Landon's, at least not yet."

"Dad, you know that the gift will develop as Liam develops. Testing how strong his gift is right now is pointless," Liam's uncle stated.

The grandfather sighed. "Of course, of course. Well, as promised, I'll give Liam his first Pokemon." He patted Liam on the head and then knelt down to Liam's height. "How would you like a new friend?"

Liam's green eyes shone brilliantly. "Like Landon's Buster?"

The grandfather chuckled at the Houndour's name. "A little different." The old man shakily pulled out a Pokeball and pressed the white release button.

An adorable dust-colored puppy appeared in front of the boy. Liam stared in amazement.

The grandfather handed Liam the Pokeball. "This Poochyena is yours now. You can name her whatever you would like."

Liam looked up at his grandfather. "Does this mean I don't have to play with Tal any more?"

The grandfather nodded.

Liam smiled and knelt to the scraggily Poochyena. He rubbed the pup behind her soft ears.

"I'll call you No-Tal. Notal."

The Poochyena licked the boy's face.

"It's nice to meet you too."

"I had just turned four. My grandfather died just two weeks later."

"What about the rest of your family?"

Liam's frozen eyes felt as if they would burn through my skull. "None of your business."

I rolled my eyes and daringly questioned, "Aren't we past this 'not your business' thing?"

 Apple suggested. <Interesting story, though…>

Liam just continued to stare at me, sending a shiver down my spine. I looked away and muttered, "Guess not."

Suddenly the door slammed open.

Fiery woke up with a bark.

"Oops. Sorry about that," Erin said, not looking the least bit sorry.

Fiery growled at her for a moment. Then he realized Apple was curled up next to him. <What the...?> His growl immediately changed directions. <What do you think you're doing?> he demanded.

Apple yawned. <Snuggling.>

<Why I oughta…> Fiery's tail lit up and he whipped it down at Apple.

Apple casually flicked her tail forward as it too lit up. Her tail easily stopped Fiery's. She yawned again. 

The nurse entered the room after Erin. "Excuse me! There is not to be any fighting in the hospital!" she scolded. She turned to me. "If your Pokemon cannot behave themselves, then kindly return them to their Pokeballs."

Apple unlit her tail and closed her eyes. Fiery growled under his breath, but he too unlit his tail. He walked to the other end of the bed and settled down.

The nurse glanced down at her clipboard and then turned her attention to me. "Aside from a severely bruised ankle and several deep cuts, you are perfectly fine. You're free to leave the hospital, but your foot will have to be wrapped for the next week to prevent further injury. I'll also give you some pills for the pain." She put her clipboard down. "Let me show you how to bind your foot." She nodded to Erin. "You watch, too."

After we observed how to wrap my foot up, Erin and the nurse helped me out of bed. The nurse filled a small container of purple pills for my pain while I practiced walking. When I was finally comfortable enough to walk without a limp, the nurse dismissed us and told us to check out at the front desk within the next hour.

Erin, Liam, Fiery, Apple, and I left the room and walked toward the exit. Surprisingly, a small evil smirk danced across Erin's face. I peeked into her mind.

<Liam won't know what hit him—> was all I heard before a bellow interrupted my mindreading.

"THEY DID WHAT?!?"

Erin, Liam, and I all exchanged glances. We knew whose voice that was…

"WHY DIDN'T ANYBODY TELL ME?"

Aden.

We rushed toward the room around the corner the voice was coming from. Aden was lying in a hospital bed… yelling at a nurse.

The nurse sighed. "This is the very reaction we were trying to prevent. Your body is not healthy yet, and we don't want you overexerting yourself. Believe me, Officer Jenny is hot on the case."

"What happened?" Erin asked curiously as she entered the room. I followed. Liam was nowhere to be found. Funny, I thought he was right behind me.

"Oh, hello there you two. I was just discussing why nobody bothered to tell me my city was robbed yesterday."

<Discussing? Yeah right… more like bellowing,> Apple commented.

"What was taken?" I asked.

"Most of the new exhibit on Mew at our city's museum along with a couple of rare gem stones. It was Team Glop'emm; we caught their uniforms on tape though their faces were covered," the nurse explained, exasperated. "By the way, visiting hours are three to six; you aren't even supposed to be here."

Aden ignored the nurse and continued, "Team Glop'emm has been fairly active in this city within the past year. I think they might have a base here. If I were allowed out of this dratted bed I would be hunting them down—"

"I already told you not to worry, sir. Officer Jenny can handle it. Now if you two will kindly leave…" The nurse pushed us out the doorway. I waved to Aden who grinned at me.

"You have a pretty fierce Flareon!" he called. "Did a real number on me, that one! Take care and good luck, Anita! Oh, and your friend, Erin, has your badge!"

"Out," the nurse ordered. She pointed down the hall to exit.

We scurried down the hall until the nurse stopped glaring after us and turned down a different corridor. Erin suddenly pulled me to a small niche and looked around suspiciously.

"What are you doing? Do you think—" I started.

Erin shushed me and said, "I need you to find Liam and then go to the northern outskirts of Tinted Town. I'll meet you there. This is yours." Erin handed me a golden-red badge in the shape of a small flame. "It's called the Blaze Badge. Now see ya!" Erin started to walk away, but I grabbed her arm.

"Wait! What are you doing?"

"A few errands…"

"Does this have to do with finding those robbers? I want to come, too!"

Erin gave me a funny look. "No, of course not. You should leave Team Glop'emm to Officer Jenny—its best not to get involved. I'm going to be getting back at Liam… Now don't say a word to him!" Erin hissed. She then glanced down the hall and was gone in an instant.

I blinked. <Where do you think Liam went?> I asked Fiery and Apple.

Fiery sniffed the air and sneezed. He trotted down the hall towards the exit and sniffed again. Apple and I followed as he veered to the right just before the door leading to the check out counter. He stopped in front of a door.

<Figures,> Apple snickered. <Bathroom.>

Just then Liam walked out of the bathroom.

"Why didn't you tell us where you were going?" I asked accusingly.

"What, now I have to ask every time I need to take a dump?" Liam retorted.

I folded my arms and started walking to the door to the checkout counter.

"Where's Erin?"

"She had some 'errands' to do," I answered. "She said she'd meet up with us in the northern outskirts of the town. Humph…" I paused just before the door, a new plan formulating. "Hey, do you want to see if we can help look for the Glop'emm robbers?"

<Anita, I don't think that's a good idea—> Apple started.

"Why would you want to do that?" Liam scoffed. "You think you're going to be able to do a better job than Officer Jenny?"

"Well, I can use my gift—"

<No,> Apple cut me off. <Anita, you're already hurt. The robbers have nothing to do with you! It's just plain stupid to get involved. Do you want Team Glop'emm hunting you down? And what if they discover something about me?>

Apple had pulled the putting-your-Pokemon-in-danger card. How evil… but she was right, unfortunately.

<Since when do you care so much about who knows about you? You would transform back into Mew right here if I weren't around.>

Apple smirked. <That's right—I don't care, but you do. So you won't put me in danger.>

I grinded my teeth, annoyed.

"What did she say?" Liam asked.

"She agrees with you," I muttered.

"Good. Then you're overruled." Liam held the door open for me. He was looking rather pleased with himself for no apparent reason.

 I growled to Apple. <Wipe that stupid smirk off his face…>

<Oh, believe me, she will. Didn't you read her mind?>

<No.>

Apple grinned. <Just you wait. The fun is about to begin.>

delongbi · Jul 13, 2009

This is one of my favorite chapters I have written thus far. Hope you like it!

Chapter 15: Erin's Revenge

Pop.

Ring.

Scratch.

Shuffle, shuffle.

Pop.

Ring.

Pop.

Ah, the sounds of a secretary's workspace.

The shuffling of the carelessly turned magazine page. The scratching of butt, numb with overuse. The ringing of the ignored phone.

And, of course, the eternal popping of overchewed gum.

The girl at the hospital checkout counter was no exception. She sat in a well-worn chair reading a popular Persons magazine and chewing a large wad of pink bubble gum. Her dark hair was tossed in a sloppy bun with bits falling freely over her lightly freckled face. As we approached the counter, she looked up from her magazine. Her eyes, covered with a thick layer of mascara, flickered from me to Liam before blatantly returning to the magazine.

I waited in front of the counter for about half a minute before giving the girl a weak, "Ahem."

The girl made a big fuss of smoothly folding her magazine and placing it on the counter before turning her attention to us. "What do you want?"

"I'm checking out."

The girl blew and popped another bubble. "Name?"

"Anita Parkwood."

The girl rolled her chair to a computer and began typing. The phone rang.

Probably attempting to prolong our time wasted at the counter, the girl decided to actually answer the phone. I sighed wearily and listened to Liam mutter curses at the girl under his breath.

The girl unemotionally stared at me as she listened to the person on the other end of the line. Her eyes flickered to Liam for a minute. I got the feeling whoever was on the other line was speaking about us.

After a minute the girl put the phone down and continued typing. "Anita Parkwood, you're good," she stated simply. Then she turned to Liam, who had begun to turn away. "You— kid with the messy black hair." Liam turned around. "You're on bathroom duty."

Liam took about ten seconds to process what she had just said. "What did you say?" he asked darkly, giving her his cold stare.

"You heard me, kid: bathroom duty."

"And why exactly, may I ask, would I be put on bathroom duty?" Liam questioned scathingly. "Do I look like I work here?"

The girl picked up her magazine and leafed through it. "Don't know what you look like, kid."

"You didn't answer me," Liam growled.

"You're on bathroom duty cuz my manager said you were on bathroom duty. Just got the phone call that some dark-haired kid with green eyes clogged up the toilet and that if the kid came to my desk, I was to tell him to get his scrawny butt in the bathroom to unclog the toilet."

"I didn't clog the toilet, though!" Liam exclaimed. I looked at him in surprise— this was the most emotion I had ever seen him show… and over a toilet, nonetheless.

The girl shrugged and blew another bubble.

I grinned at Liam, who shot me an angry glare in response. <This is too awesome,> I told Apple and Fiery.

"Can I speak with your manager?" Liam asked, his voice surprisingly calm.

"Nope."

"Don't you have janitors in your facility?"

"Yup."

"Then why doesn't one of them clean the toilet?"

"Don't know."

"Can I please talk to your manager?"

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"Don't feel like picking up the phone. I'm too busy."

"I didn't clog the toilet."

"Not my problem."

"That's it." Liam angrily started to reach for the phone.

"I'll call security," the girl threatened.

"Fine. I'm not going to deal with this; I'm leaving." Liam started to turn away.

The girl turned the page of her magazine. "Security will just drag you back. They've also been notified that you are to clean the clogged toilet."

Liam froze. He turned back to the girl. "Give me the phone," he said slowly.

"Or what?" the girl snickered.

"I'll…" Liam glared. Apparently he couldn't come up with a good threat.

"I suggest you run along to the bathroom now. The toilet is not going to clean itself."

Liam shoved a stack of fliers sitting on the counter at the girl. Instead of flying everywhere, they mostly stuck together and landed in a pile on the floor. Liam stormed off towards the bathroom. I sat down in a waiting chair and when I glanced at the girl I swear I saw a small smirk flicker across her face. I shook my head and looked at the girl again. She sat unemotionally, looking bored. I must be imagining things…

Fiery hopped onto the chair next to me and started to curl up. Then Apple hopped onto the same chair. <Get off!> Fiery exclaimed as he shoved Apple off the chair. <Haven't you heard of personal space?>

<Personal space only applies to a person!> Apple retorted.

<Fine, haven't you heard of Eevee space?>

<Nope, but there was a movie called Eevees in Space that came out a few years ago. Plus, wouldn't it be Eeveeal space?> Apple giggled. <Hehe. Eeveeal sounds kinda like Ovule.>

<Save me!> Fiery jumped onto my lap and nudged his Pokeball attached to my belt. He disappeared in a flash of red.

While Apple was still giggling quietly, I closed my eyes, deciding to put this time to good use by meditating.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Idiot!" I hissed through the walkie-talkie.

The moron, my assistant, did not reply. He did not even attempt to justify his own stupidity.

"Did I not specifically order you to stay away from Anita Parkwood? Did I not insist that you leave all of the research on Pokemon X to me? Were these demands too difficult for your midget-sized head to understand?"

There was no reply, again.

"Answer me," I commanded coldly.

"No, Master."

"Then why is it all over the news that Team Glop'emm broke into a museum in Tinted Town? Why did my detective just call me to inform me that Team Glop'emm struck while Anita Parkwood was in Tinted Town? And most importantly, why did you feel the need to steal the information on Pokemon X displayed in the museum?"

My assistant hesitated before speaking. "I was trying to help you, sir. I thought more information on Pokemon X would be useful to you. As for Anita Parkwood, I did not realize you wanted all of our normal operations to shut down if she was within twenty miles."

"You shithead. The information was open to the public. My detective called me a few days ago to supply me with the information on display. There was no need for you to steal it! Now there is a chance that the authorities will get suspicious. They might figure out that I am aft—we are after Pokemon X!"

"I apologize. It will not happen again," my assistant said lamely.

"No it will not. G-ddamn you. One more act of stupidity and I'll figure out a way to complete my research from Drape Town. Stay away from Anita Parkwood. Stay away from anything that has to do with Pokemon X. Understand?"

"Yes, Master."

I shut off the connection. That fool; it was a mistake to leave him in charge. To steal something that was open to the public… how brainless. If only my research was complete, I could return to Drape Town to resume my command over Team Glop'emm. Unfortunately, I was not even close to finished.

The various libraries and ancient book stores I had visited thus far provided me with little to no new information. I had found virtually nothing about Mew transforming into other Pokemon.

I sighed and stared at the bare wall—a habit of mine. At least I was getting results from the tests Rita and I had arranged.

Mew… such a peculiar Pokemon.

I stared ahead and recalled the first time I had seen the creature…

A boy and his father stood before the docking railway. A salty breeze swept over them as they silently observed the massive ship they were about to board. Small waves lapped against the side of the boat splashing upward to nearly where the boy and his father stood.

"Vel, wait! Vel! Velkan!" A voice called. The father turned at the sound of his name and peered past the dock to the street. His eyes settled upon a man rushing toward the dock. "You forgot the picture! You forgot it!" the man yelled. The man had a black mustache and hazel determined eyes.

The father and the boy watched as the man rushed towards them. When the man finally reached the two, he had to bend over to catch his breath.

Velkan frowned at the man. "Don, my brother…" he muttered under his breath. For a moment, he looked upon his brother spitefully, as if the man had done something terribly wrong. The father quickly recovered a calm expression.

"The—picture—here—" Don panted. He reached into his pack and pulled out a small, framed picture the size of his hand and handed the picture to Velkan.

The father's frown deepened. He and the boy stared at the picture.

Six smiling faces stared back.

Two dead.

One missing.

Two running.

One hoping.

What a family.

Tears welled in the boy's eyes as the father pocketed the photo.

"Are you sure about this?" Don asked, looking sadly beyond his relatives to the grand ship.

Velkan, the father, nodded absentmindedly. "We need a new start. It's been over a year and a half. We've waited long enough," he replied grimly. "You're sure you don't wish to join us?"

Don sighed. "I'll keep waiting."

The ship's horn sounded.

The father glanced at the ship and then nodded to his bother. "Arceus be with you."

"Arceus be with my son."

Velkan winced. "I hope so." He grabbed his own son's hand.

The ship's horn sounded again.

The boy and his father turned and walked up the rusted docking railway. Wingulls cooed atop the ship as they boarded.

The boy watched his uncle leave stoically.

The ship began to move.

The boy looked up.

A glint of pink streaked the sky—disappearing towards the future.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

After thirty minutes, Liam finally stalked out of the bathroom carrying a wet toilet plunger. He strode towards the checkout counter and placed the toilet plunger plunger-side up in front of the secretary. He then swiveled around and marched out the front doors.

I could hear the distinct sound of bubblegum popping as I jogged after Liam.

-----------------------------

"Please?" Anita whined for the millionth time.

"No!" <No!> Liam and I chorused.

"But it's right around the corner! Can't we just check it out… Maybe try to figure out what Team Glop'emm is doing…"

I rolled my eyes. This had been our discussion since after lunch. We were now walking down the old, brick roads of Tinted Town. The town was fairly small with lots of adorable stores and great restaurants. Many of the shops looked old and worn, but not quite run-down; it actually gave the town a comfortable feel.

Liam sighed. "What they are after is always the same. They're pretty forthright with their goals. Don't you know what Glop'emm stands for?"

"No."

"G-L-O-P-'E-M-M. Get Lots Of Pokemon 'En Make Money. Glop'emm."

"I never knew it was an acronym…" Anita trailed.

<Me neither,> I piped.

"…How'd you find out?"

Liam shrugged and snickered. "I hear things," I heard the boy mumble sarcastically under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Never mind."

I looked up at Liam's expression curiously, only to find his face was blank with his usual stoicism. They walked in silence for a couple of minutes. I got bored so I began weaving between the legs of people walking in the opposite direction for fun…

…until I tripped a bulky, mean-looking man. After the man started swearing profusely at us and threatened to beat up Liam (Anita and I laughed our butts off when he blamed Liam for being tripped), Anita decided it would be better if she carried me.

I was sulking in Anita's arms when Liam randomly asked, "Why don't you talk to your mother?"

Anita and I stared. <Whoa. Did he actually initiate a conversation? Something's up,> I said suspiciously.

<Something's always up when it comes to Liam,> Anita retorted.

Liam's eyes flickered between me and Anita. "You know it is slightly disturbing when both of you stare at me with violet… or almost violet eyes," he commented dryly.

Anita smirked. "We're just surprised you are actually trying to be social."

"I'm not trying to be social."

"Then why start a conversation?"

"Will you just answer my question?" Liam asked irritably.

Anita shrugged.

I knew she did not really feel like explaining her mother's intense dislike for Pokemon. Anita loved her mother, but her mother would not want to know or talk about her journey very much. Anita had only called once thus far—the day before we met Liam, just to check up.

<He does have a bit of a valid point. I mean, you were in the hospital. Shouldn't you tell her?>

<She'll just want me to come home, and I don't want to. The less she knows, the better,> Anita replied to me. She still didn't say anything to Liam, pretty much just to annoy him.

"What kind of answer is that?" Liam narrowed his eyes at Anita accusingly.

Anita snorted. "The kind you always give me."

"Why don't you want to discuss your mother?"

"Well, that is none of your business," Anita mocked.

"I'll bet she's fictional."

Anita looked at him weirdly. "Um… that's not really possible."

"Sure it is," Liam replied cheerfully. He looked at Anita slyly and added, "I'm onto your secret." It was a bit awkward because I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic.

Anita chuckled nervously. <Is he joking or just plain insane?>

<It's hard to tell.> How I wished I could peek into his mind. But alas, Liam was one strange cookie…

Speaking of cookies…

I sniffed the air. <Bakery!> I yelled to Anita. <Two blocks straight ahead, half a block to the right! Huge chocolate chip cookies with—>

<Hush up. We are not going to a bakery. We just ate!>

I suddenly stopped, sensing a large crowd directly down the street on my right. A sudden premonition of excitement and revenge flashed through my mind. It involved flying hot dogs.

At that point, of course, I had no option but to leap out of Anita's arms and sprint full speed down the road on my right.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Apple! Wait up!" I called to the crazed Eevee.

I grabbed Liam's hand and started to run after her. "C'mon!"

Liam jerked his hand back to fold his arms across his chest. He continued to walk at a leisurely pace. I scowled at him and took off after Apple.

When Apple reached the large crowd of people, she stopped running and slipped through their legs. Seconds later, I reached the crowd. <Apple!> I called out to her. She didn't answer.

I skimmed the crowd to find a space I could slip through to reach the front, but failed to find anything. Liam finally arrived at the scene and stood beside me. I grumbled and started shoving people aside. "Excuse me! Sorry! Was that your foot? Whoops. Hey, don't you dare flick me off…" ensued for five minutes until I managed to spot a fluffy brown and white tail in the very front of the hoard of people.

<Apple!> I exclaimed when I finally pushed my way to the front next to Apple.

Apple looked up at me, grinning. <Hey, Anita. What's up?>

I started to scold her. <Why in the world you run off like that? You could have—>

<Just watch the show,> Apple interrupted.

Startled, I looked at the scene in front of me, the scene that the crowd was gathered around. A girl with brown eyes and curly brown hair in a colorful dress was juggling flaming torches. Behind her was a clear tub of water about the size of a queen-sized bed. Above the water was a tightrope, some twenty feet in the air. A ladder led up to a platform on both sides of the tightrope, and beside the ladder closest to the girl was a small table. A Kirlia stood watching the girl with brown hair while leaning against the tub of water. In the tub of water, there was a Wooper swimming.

Someone jostled me and I was shoved to the right. "Hey! Watch it!" I yelped. I turned to apologize to whoever I had bumped into only to find myself looking at the cold, green eyes of Liam. "Err… Sorry," I said awkwardly before returning my attention to the street show.

The girl had put down the flaming torches and was now announcing: "For this next act I'm going to need a volunteer!" The girl skimmed the crowd. "You, in the front! With the dark hair and polo shirt!" The girl pointed at Liam. "Yes, you. Come here!"

Liam frowned, but stepped forward carefully. The crowd whooped.

The girl nodded to Kirlia, and the Pokemon began climbing a ladder up to the tightrope. The girl whispered something to Liam and then shoved him in the direction of the other ladder on the opposite side of the tub of water. Liam eyed the tub of water and then folded his arms in a refusing manner. The crowd booed. Someone cried out "Chicken! C'mon, get up there!" Flung from somewhere in the crowd, a red tomato soared through the air and hit Liam square in the head.

Liam's eyes flashed angrily. He shook his head, causing tomato bits to fly everywhere, and he began climbing the ladder.

In the meantime, the Kirlia was dancing about the tightrope. She (at least, I thought the Kirlia was a female) did a few flips and maintained perfect balance. The girl with curly hair, who was apparently the hostess of this street show, signaled the Kirlia with her arms. She then bent under the table and pulled out three brown objects.

I squinted at the objects.

Hotdogs.

Of course.

I looked down and found Apple drooling. Strangely enough, she stayed put and did not tackle the girl to the ground as expected. I would have asked her why if not for fear of giving her ideas…

The girl tossed the hotdogs up to the Kirlia, who promptly began to juggle them on the tightrope. She performed several tricks, juggling the hotdogs behind her and even while jumping. Then the Kirlia threw one hotdog to the Wooper, one to Liam, and one into the crowd.

The Wooper jumped into the air and gobbled the first hotdog before returning to the water with a flip. Liam, now on a platform, caught his hotdog with his mouth, but spit it out in disgust. The hotdog fell towards the water and the Wooper devoured his hotdog as well.

As for the hotdog thrown into the crowd…

<Mine!> Apple yelled with a determined look in her eyes. She pounced into my arms.

Using my body as a springboard, Apple leapt into the air.

Of course, she snatched that third hotdog out of the air and landed safely in front of the cheering crowd.

And, of course, I tumbled back into some guy with a Mohawk and tattoos, meekly muttering "I'm sorry."

After a round of applause, Apple returned to my side, grinning wider than that fat cat from Alice in Wonderland. The hostess held up a hand to halt the applause.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, our final act. Our kind volunteer will jump into the arms of Kirlia!"

The Kirlia, still balanced on the tightrope, motioned for Liam to jump from the platform to her. Liam looked down for a moment at the water. He closed his eyes, squatted, and then jumped towards the Kirlia. The crowd was silent as Liam landed on Kirlia's arms and Kirlia began to raise Liam over her head…

Kirlia wobbled.

The girl with brown, curly hair frowned.

Suddenly, Liam was tumbling towards the water.

As soon as Liam left the Kirlia's arms, the Pokemon managed to regain balance. She seemed slightly upset.

A water geyser rose from the tub and stopped Liam's fall. The crowd broke into applause, believing this was all part of the show. I was not so sure.

The Wooper slowly lowered its watergun to bring Liam safely to the pool.

Apple was still smiling giddily. <Aren't you glad I dragged you to the show?>

I chuckled. <Well, I did get to see Liam get soaked. I guess so. Was it just me though, or did the Kirlia mess up and drop Liam?>

<Well, duh,> Apple responded. I looked at her in surprise. <Kirlia balance like that using their psychic powers. The moment Liam touched Kirlia, her psychic powers were cancelled. Thus, she couldn't maintain balance. She also tried to stop Liam from falling with her psychic, which obviously wouldn't work either.>

<You knew all of this, but didn't stop Liam from going up there?>

Apple shrugged. <Hey, there was water beneath him. And I knew he wasn't going to die or anything… I had a vision beforehand…>

<People with the dark gift can show up in psychic visions?> I asked curiously.

<Not exactly. He was kind of omitted from the vision… but I knew he had to be there because you were there. No one was upset in the vision so I knew nobody would die and nothing bad would happen…>

"Ahem."

I looked up to find Liam standing in front of me, thoroughly soaked. His wet black hair was unusually disheveled, falling into his face. Good thing it was currently sunny and about seventy-five degrees or he would be freezing. I smiled sweetly at him. "Hey, Liam," I said casually.

Liam walked past me and stalked through the dispersing crowd. Several people were walking the other direction to give the girl with curly hair compliments and tips.

I smirked after Liam. I mentioned off-handedly.

<We could leave him,> Apple suggested.

<Yeah, but then I wouldn't be able to make fun of him. There'd be no fun in that.>



We happily trotted after the angry, wet boy.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Wait till Erin hears about your performance!" Anita cackled.

I rolled my eyes at the irritating girl. This was the girl I was investigating. The girl believed to be a powerful, legendary Pokemon.

The girl was suspicious in a hundred different ways. Her powers, her background, her mother…

Even her naïve, bipolar, annoying personality. Well, that's how Mew was rumored to be, anyway.

I closed my eyes, willing myself to relax. Today had been rough.

We stood outside an ice cream shop on the northern outskirts of Tinted Town. Supposedly, Erin had said she would meet us around here. Supposedly.

I shuddered slightly at the cool air; I was still damp, unfortunately. That obnoxious, curly-headed brunette was lucky I was on a mission and lacked time to avenge my embarrassment.

"Well, I'm going to go get ice cream! Want some?" Anita asked me cheerfully. For some reason, today she had been unusually happy. Maybe it had something to do with me having a g-d-awful day.

"No," I flatly refused.

Anita shrugged and skipped into the shop, closely followed by her Eevee.

I sighed and leaned against a brick wall of a closed clothing store. I silently watched people wander up and down the street.

An attractive girl with long straight black hair caught my eye. She was wearing four inch heels and a skimpy black dress that hugged her body and ended just above her knees. She had long legs. It took me approximately two and a half seconds to realize those long legs were walking towards me.

My eyes were naturally lured to her chest where there was a tad too much cleavage showing. I couldn't help staring for a moment. Hey, I'm a guy.

I closed my eyes. Geeze, she looked like something out of a stripper club. Now was not the time to be distracted by women, I tried to remind myself.

I opened my eyes and found myself staring down the girl's top. Yeah, she was that close. Heat rose to my face and I quickly looked up.

Up close, I could see the girl had dark eyes, surrounded by dark eye shadow.

"Hey, there," the girl said silkily.

I gulped and flattened myself against the wall.

I had an urge to shove her away and stalk off. She had no business doing this to me! On the other hand, if she wanted to…

The girl moved forward. My mind blanked. "I just happened to see a fine man standing here all lonely and handsome, and I thought: It's my lucky day," the girl murmured. Her breath was minty and calm. Mine was sour and fast.

The girl put one hand on my shirt and one hand on the wall behind me.

My pants tightened. ****.

The girl leaned in, her lips hovering over mine.

I closed my eyes. I could feel her warm breath on my nose.

"Gotcha," she whispered.

The girl twirled away from me and began screeching madly with laugher. Stunned, I slowly slid down the wall, urging myself to breathe.

The girl pulled off a wig to reveal reddish-golden hair.

Double ****.

Erin.

I heard another squeal of laughter. I looked up and saw Anita had joined Erin. I put my head between my knees in shame.

"Erin, is that really you? That was amazing!" Anita squeaked.

I peeked up. Even Anita's Eevee was grinning.

Erin readjusted her dress so it wasn't so… ****ty.

She strutted over to me, eyes glinting with laugher. "So, did you have an enjoyable day?"

I snickered.

"What, is poor wittle-Wiam tired of awl Erin's tricks?" Erin said in a baby-voice. I nearly gagged. Her voice returned to normal. "What, didn't enjoy cleaning a toilet? How about plunging into water?"

I looked up at her. How did she… awe, f—

"You… it… you…" I stuttered.

Behind Erin, Anita looked confused. Erin smirked. "You know, it's amazing what you can do with a wig and a bit of make-up. The bonus was I got to use this hair twice! Once for the check-out desk girl and once for this one!"

"Just wonderful…" I muttered darkly.

"Wait. So you were the check-out girl?" Anita started. Erin opened her mouth to reply, but Anita continued before she could say anything. "And the street show girl?"

Erin nodded.

Anita whirled around. "And you knew!?" she barked at Apple.

The Eevee shrugged.

Erin held out her hand to help me up. I took it. "So, do you still think I'm shallow?"

Yup, I wanted to say. You're even shallower than I originally believed because you went this berserk over what a person thinks of you.

Unfortunately, that answer would have probably earned me another horrible day.

So instead, I gave her my second best answer. "Nope. You're not shallow." Erin grinned at me. Then I added, "But you are a *****."

Anita chuckled. Erin scowled at her and gave her a death glare.

Anita ignored her and continued to smile. "What? You are."

delongbi · Jul 20, 2009

Chapter 16: Rock & Roll Disaster

My eyes skimmed over the file.

Marcus Ingblot

Age: 19

Join Date: 1/7/12

Pokemon: Gloom, Pelipper, Hippowdon

Characteristics: Not Recorded

Successes: Stolen Pikachu from Orquid City, Orquid City kidnapping/hostage squad

Failures: Smith hostage incident

I sighed and pushed the file aside. Just another inferior Glop'emm grunt. Scratch that—another corruptible, inferior Glop'emm grunt.

The thought brought a smile to my lips.

If only the Master knew… I would love to see the look of fury upon his face, his cool calculating eyes finally out of control, filled with anger.

My smile widened as I recalled the Master's little tantrum yesterday. It was the first time in over two years I had witnessed the boy lose his temper.

It was wonderful. Not only had I obtained information about Pokemon X the Master wished to keep hidden from me, but I had caused an unexpected outburst.

His anger sang of sweet victory.

My victory.

And if he knew of my little scheme…

His helpless anger would be enough to make my eyes prick with tears of joy.

But alas, he could not know of my ploy yet. For at this moment, his anger would not be so helpless.

And that is what I planned to change.

I pressed the buzzer. "Marcus Ingblot, please enter."

I folded my hands atop my desk and silently went over the planned bribe as I waited. Marcus was number seventeen.

Seventeenth of over one thousand Team Glop'emm members.

Seventeenth in my plan to take over Team Glop'emm.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

"But Carly, I don't want to go shopping," Reece whined playfully.

Idiot.

"Ugh, I don't want to go shopping with you either. But we have to find something to wear that will proficiently hide these cameras," I retorted. Shopping with Reece was like shopping with a rock. He was unresponsive to every outfit I tried on, usually muttering how "it would look better off on my bedroom floor," and he had to be practically dragged by the ear from shop to shop. In fact, shopping with a rock would be easier because at least rocks didn't argue.

"Yeah, yeah. The cameras he sent to us with our new Pokemon. I don't get why he wants us to wear them when we meet Anita. Is he checking her out or something?"

I rolled my eyes as I pulled him into a scarf shop.

"Seriously, why does he want us to wear the cameras?"

"I don't know," I answered coldly as I tried on a vermillion scarf. Maybe if I folded the scarf like this, the camera could rest hidden just beneath my shoulder… "How's this look?" I asked. I found a mirror and examined my beauty, highlighted by the scarf.

Reece shrugged.

I frowned at him and stomped off to the register.

Walking outside again, Reece said, "We need a plan or something. You know, to make it not obvious that we were supposed to find and talk to Anita and her friends."

"Alright then, do something useful and come up with an idea while I find you something to wear," I snapped. I peered into a store window and examined the different collar styles for men. I wished we were in Zahavah or even Azul City, where there were thousands of stylish shops. Here in Nelcorn City, my choices were pretty limited. A tawny shirt with a flared collar would emphasize Reece's eyes, I mused silently. Not that I could probably find that around here…

Reece was silent for a minute and followed me into the store.

"How about a party?"

I had been eyeing a navy zip-up jacket. I turned to Reece. "What?"

"A party?" Reece asked again. His voice went a bit high, like he was scared of me or something. Whatever.

I smiled at him sweetly. "I do love parties."

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

I took a step. "Ouch," I complained.

I took another step. "Ouch," I complained again.

Unfortunately, my complaints were ignored. All two hundred and thirteen of them, thus far.

We were currently walking on a rocky hill next to Mint Mountain, or so Liam told me. After I had led the group in a wide circle earlier this morning, nobody would let me hold the map. In fact, since I had led the group astray, nobody had spoken more than two words to me.

And those two words had been uttered by Fiery an hour ago after my forty-third complaint.

They were: <Shut up!>

Erin and Liam had been arguing for the past half an hour. Something about whether albino Sneasel actually existed… In the meantime, most of my and Erin's Pokemon had been let out of their Pokeballs for exercise (and because it would be hard to cause excessive trouble on a rocky hill in the middle of nowhere). Erin's Taillow, Tweal, was happily doing air tricks above us. Allo, Sunflower, and Vanilla were taking turns riding on Griffy's back. Vanilla kept trying to take longer turns so her fur wouldn't get covered in the dusty dirt that covered the hill. Apple and Splash were attempting to jump from boulder to boulder without touching the ground. They were taking the game very seriously; once, Apple had jumped onto Liam's head to avoid making contact with the ground. Liam had thrown me several dirty looks while I snickered at his well-ruffled hair after the episode. Fiery, of course, was muttering to himself and keeping a watchful eye on his younger siblings. Erin kept Wella in her Pokeball because there was no water and Wella would not be able to keep up waddling.

Thus, I was left to complain about my aching body while nobody listened.

Early this morning, Liam had woken me up to practice fighting. When I laughed at him, he aimed a kick at my stomach. That got me moving. Now, not only did one leg hurt from the Flareon bite, but both legs (and actually, my whole body) hurt from this morning's practice.

Remind me why I was traveling with these wackos?

I couldn't even make the time go faster by riding my bike. This area was way too rocky.

Bored, I watched Apple jump on top of a particularly large boulder. A slightly evil idea flickered across my mind… so I immediately implemented it.

I took a small breath and then rapidly shoved my mind in front of Apple just as she was about to jump to another rock. Apple ran into my barrier and fell back onto the boulder.

I chuckled.

Apple glared at me, and suddenly something caught my foot.

I didn't have to look down to know Apple had tripped me using her psychic powers. Reaching out with my mind again, I felt something strange. There were multiple minds near Apple, though I could see no other people or Pokemon near the Eevee besides Splash.

Curious, I entered one of the unexplained minds. Immediately I was bombarded with anger. The mind opened its eyes and spotted Apple jumping onto another rock. It was watching Apple with fury from a low angle, as if it was a boulder…

I snapped back to my body and peered behind Apple.

The large boulder had eyes. Angry eyes. In fact, the large boulder and several smaller rocks had angry eyes.

Geodudes and a Graveler.

"Uh… guys?"

Nobody even bothered to glance at me.

<Guys!> I yelled in everyone's (except Liam's) minds. Everyone turned to me. Oh, now they pay attention.

I nodded to the angry rocks with eyes behind me.

<Cool!> Splash yelped as he started leaping towards the large Graveler. I immediately returned him to his Pokeball, and then as a second thought returned the other three younger Eevees. Erin also returned Tweal.

The rock Pokemon stared at us and grunted angrily.

"Let's try to back away slowly," I muttered. "I'm going to see if I can figure out why they're upset." I entered the large Graveler's mind and tentatively asked, <Hello?>

Anger was slowly flooding the Pokemon's mind. Images flashed through his head—of us entering his territory, waking him from his nap, and someone currently invading his mind…

Hehe, my bad.

I was about to try explaining how we didn't know, when the world started spinning.

Literally.

Ground-sky-ground-

Aw, crap.

The Graveler was rolling towards us. Quickly returning to my own body, I ordered, "Fiery, iron tail!"

Fiery leapt into action and twirled his bright tail at the Graveler.

Unfortunately, because the Graveler was spinning, the attack did barely any damage…

….and the Graveler kept rolling towards us…

…and Fiery had been flattened like a pancake….

…and the Geodudes and Graveler became even more upset because we attacked…

…and this was generally a really bad situation, thus deserving a run-on sentence.

"Anita, that was very stupid," Liam commented dryly.

"Ya think?" I growled. I mustered as much of my psychic energy as I could and thrust it in front of the Graveler. I felt Griffy add some of his power as well.

The Graveler hit the psychic barrier with a large crash. The barrier shuddered but held against the rock Pokemon.

Quickly, I returned the knocked-out Fiery to his Pokeball.

The Geodudes' grunts turned into a sort of chant, and the large Graveler that had hit the barrier pulled his fist back. It began to glow.

I scrambled backward to where Erin, Liam, and Erin's Pokemon were attempting to back away slowly. When Erin spotted the Graveler's glowing fist, she blanched.

"He's using brick breaker," Liam said nonchalantly.

"What does—" I started.

The Graveler threw his fist into the psychic wall. It shattered.

"Oh…" I trailed. Internally, I yelled to Apple, <Do something!>

<Ixney on the owerspey! Griffy would be able to sense it was me using psychic powers if I used them to build a barrier or psychic…>

<Okay, okay! Hey, how did you not know you were jumping on Geodudes, not rocks? I sensed it.>

<Oh, I knew. That's what made the game so fun!>

<Apple, your stupid game might get us killed!>

<Hey, you're the one who created the barrier that disrupted the Graveler's sleep. I fail to see how any of that is my fault—>

"Um, now would be a good time to run," Erin pointed out, interrupting our argument. Right. There were angry Geodudes in a semi-circle around us. Just in front of the Geodudes, a Graveler grunted loudly and stomped his arms against the ground.

We took Erin's suggestion.

Several seconds later, I heard what sounded like an avalanche of rock Pokemon tumbling after us.

I gasped as a sharp pain shot up my wrapped foot, causing me to stumble. I tried to continue forward with a one-legged skip; my wrapped foot just wouldn't move fast enough.

Erin noticed. "Griffy, pick up Anita!"

Something knocked under my legs, and suddenly I was on Griffy's back.

<Thanks,> I told the Girafarig.

<It is no problem, Miss,> Griffy replied while his tail declared, <The cloud of doom will not rain on your feet.>

I glanced back and saw the Geodudes and Graveler were still in hot pursuit. We were going downhill and despite our small head start, they were gaining on us.

Erin yelled something to me, but I couldn't hear her over the rumble of rolling rock Pokemon.

<Erin,> I said to Erin and Griffy. For once, the girl did not start freaking out because I was speaking telepathically. <Can Griffy carry all three of us and Apple?>

I felt Erin bite her lip. <It's pushing it, but I suppose it's worth a shot.>

<How about it, Griffy?>



Apple, who had been running beside Griffy, jumped into my lap.

Griffy cantered over to Liam.

After taking a quick look behind us, Liam hopped onto Griffy in one swift motion.

He scooted closer to me to make room for Erin, who was soon also on Griffy's rump attempting to prevent Griffy's tail from biting her.

There was so little room that Liam had to wrap his arms around my waist and Erin had to wrap her arms around his waist to keep from falling off. Awkward much?

Now that we were all aboard, Griffy broke into a gallop. "Alright, Griffy, use agility!" Erin called over the loud rumble of the rocks.

Griffy put his head down and prepared to surge forward…

But he never did.

"Griffy, I said use agility!" Erin yelled in a panic. Griffy looked like he was struggling and failing to use the attack.

I tried to contact Griffy telepathically, but found that I could not.

Two and two clicked. Aw, ****, I knew what was happening.

I turned to Liam. "You suck, you know that?"

Liam gave me his distinct, all-too-familiar frown.

"Anita, this is not the time to be insulting—" Erin scolded.

"Liam's dark gift is preventing our psychic powers from working. Griffy can't use agility because Liam is touching him," I explained.

"Liam, you do suck," Erin agreed.

We all looked behind us. The Geodudes were only about ten yards from Griffy's tail. They were still gaining because we couldn't pick up speed. From Griffy's heavy breathing I could tell he was already getting tired.

"Now what?" Erin asked helplessly.

"I vote we chuck Liam off."

Erin kicked me.

"Fine. You could pull out Wella and spray water at them," I suggested.

"Right. Because one Wooper would hold off all thirty or so rock Pokemon trying to squash us," Erin replied sarcastically.

Liam sighed and pulled out a Pokeball.

A giant Pokemon appeared in a red beam. Sand began to whip around the area, limiting my sight, but not before I got a good look at the Pokemon that Liam had released.

It made my jaw drop.

Liam rolled his eyes. "Tyranitar, keep up that sandstorm and follow with an iron tail."

Sand now flooded the air. I couldn't see more than two feet ahead of me. Then again, neither could the Geodudes and Graveler.

While Fiery's iron tail did very little damage, the Tyranitar's tail was big and strong enough to send several Geodudes and the Graveler flying.

Or at least that's what it sounded like from the loud CRACK followed by several thumps.

Less than a minute later, Liam returned his Tyranitar. The sandstorm, however, remained for several minutes as Griffy galloped forward.

"How—you—Pokemon—" I stuttered.

Liam snickered, "Told you you'd lose if you battled me."

I angrily elbowed him in the stomach, causing him to be shoved backwards into Erin. Erin yelped in response and was pushed towards Griffy's tail. Consequently, Griffy's tail took the opportunity to bite into Erin's shirt and tug her off of Griffy. Of course, chaos ensued, not helped by the dying sandstorm.

"What was that about?!" Erin demanded of Liam once we all dismounted to find where she had fallen.

Apple, who had been unusually quiet the whole ride, mumbled <Excuse me> before wandering a few yards away to puke.

Liam scowled and jerked his thumb at me. "She started it."

"You're the one who pulled a really strong Pokemon out of your butt! You could have saved us long before we were chased for a couple of miles by rampant rocks!" I yelled at him.

Apple paused from her puking for a moment. <Out of his butt? Really now?>

<Shut it.>

<Better out than in, I always say. Speaking of which—> Apple returned to… well, you know.

Liam folded his arms and snidely remarked, "Shouldn't you be thanking me?"

I marched up to the irritating jerk and poked my finger at his chest. "Shouldn't you be explaining yourself! What's your problem?!"

Liam opened his mouth and said, "None—"

I threw my arms up in frustration. "—of my business," I finished for him. "I know. I've heard. But you know what? IT IS MY BUSINESS! WE'RE ALL FREAKIN TRAVELING TOGETHER!"

"Anita," Erin said softly.

I whirled around. "And don't you start siding with him! You—"

"I wasn't going to!" Erin hollered crossly. "Will both of you just quit it?!" She jabbed her finger in my direction. "You need to control your temper, and you—" Erin's finger swiveled to Liam. "Anita's right. We do deserve some answers!"

Liam looked from me to Erin, and then turned around on the spot. He started to stalk away from us…

…only to run into something?

Or someone. The dust storm was finally settling so we could see again. Liam had walked directly into a tall figure. Behind the figure was a large building surrounded by a tall stone wall.

"I thought I heard voices over here," the tall figure said. I could see now that the figure was a man with short black hair and a mustache. "How did you kids get out here? You very well know the campus rules!" The man grabbed Liam by the arm. "Now come along."

Erin and I exchanged looks of confusion. She returned Griffy to his Pokeball while Apple trotted to my side.

Liam, meanwhile, yanked his arm out of the man's grasp. He looked like he was about to pull one of his fighting moves on the man so I sternly said, "Liam, don't." Strangely enough, he actually listened. A puzzled look crossed his face, though.

"Excuse me," I said politely. "Where exactly are you trying to take us?"

"Now don't play dumb with me, girl. You know you're outside the Standard Trainer Academy Boarding School boundaries." The man took Liam's arm and pulled him towards the stone wall. I realized that there was an open doorway in part of the wall.

I looked at Erin and she shrugged. We followed the man.

Apple sighed. <He thinks you guys are students.>

Well that certainly explained things! "Sir, we're not students; we're trainers."

The man snorted. He shoved Liam through the open doorway, and before Erin, Apple, and I could react, he had pulled us through as well. A door slammed behind us.

"Like I haven't heard that one before."

evertime · Jul 20, 2009

i loved the union alalogy!

cant wait for more!!!!!!

delongbi · Jul 25, 2009

Hello! I was so excited about finishing chapters 19-21, that I decided I had to post another chapter. So, here you go.

Evertime- Erm, what analogy? And, wait no longer ;)

Chapter 17: Mis-Taken

I was Master of Team Glop'emm.

I was Master of dark Pokemon.

I was Master of my emotions.

My memories…

Those remained unmastered.

There was a baseball field, a playground, and a swing set at the Vintage Village Elementary School. During the recess hour, the well-kept baseball field and playground were populated by several children while the rusted, old swing set usually remained unoccupied.

Except today.

Today, a six-year-old boy with hair the color of the midnight sky and eyes brighter and greener than the moon sat on a decaying swing.

Usually, the boy could be found on the outskirts of the baseball field or on the edge of the playground. The boy always watched the other children play, though he refrained from participating in their games. Aside from the occasional bully, the other children ignored the strange boy. A few months ago, some children had kindly reached out and talked to the boy; the boy had coldly rejected them.

On this day, nobody noticed the absence of the quiet boy mingling where the grass met the woodchips—with one exception: a girl with raven-colored hair and eyes just as dark.

She had watched the lonely boy before, but never dared approach him. Now, however, the boy looked so miserable that her pity overcame her fear. She skipped over to the boy and sat down next to him on another worn swing.

"Hi! My name's Lillian Isabelle Penelope Smith," the girl said, wiggling her legs to get the swing moving slightly. "But you can call me Lily. What's your name?"

"Go away," the boy replied stiffly, staring into the sky.

The girl's stomach went sour and her throat clenched. She knew the boy did this to everyone, but she couldn't help feeling hurt.

Tears slowly trickled down the girl's face. She pumped her legs, forcing the swing to move. Then she slumped over, letting gravity take control. The wind brushed her cheeks, drying her tears as they fell.

The boy watched her for a moment and then turned back to the sky. "Sorry," he mumbled.

The girl smiled bitterly and slowly let her swing come to a stop. "I understand. You're sad and lonely."

"I'm neither sad nor lonely," the boy replied harshly.

"Then what are you? Why aren't you on the edge of the playground, where you always are? Something's wrong," the girl said, almost accusingly.

"I'm thinking. Nobody noticed anyway."

"I noticed." The girl paused to blow her nose in the sleeve of her shirt. "What are you thinking about?" she asked more kindly.

The boy hesitated, but decided to tell the truth. "Death."

"Oh." Then the girl spoke in almost a whisper: "My grandpa died last year. I miss him. He used to read me stories…"

"I'm sorry," the boy responded solemnly.

The two children sat in comfortable silence for a time.

Finally, the boy confided, "My mom drowned two years ago. I miss her too."

The girl nodded.

The unusual sound of nearby crumpling woodchips sounded in the boy's ears. He looked up.

A large kid with taunting eyes and wind-whipped hair approached. Apparently, the occasional bully had tired of whatever game had previously been occupying his time.

"Hey, Cat, who's the new puss?"

The boy refused to acknowledge the bully. 'Cat' was the name the bullies had given the boy—his eyes glowed like a cat's.

The girl wound her fingers nervously.

"I asked you a question, Cat."

Still no reply.

The large kid turned to the girl. "So are you the Cat's girlfriend? You're a freak, just like he is."

The girl looked down at her shoes, her face and eyes red with tears.

"Stop it," the boy demanded, staring down the bully. "She didn't do anything."

"Ooh, your mom did teach you to talk!" the bully exclaimed in mock excitement. "Did she teach you to be chiv-al-ruz too? Standing up for little ladies? She must be a dumb—"

WHAM

The black-haired boy jumped from the swing and tackled the bully. Despite the size disadvantage, the large kid fell on his back.

"DON'T TALK ABOUT MY MOM!" the boy shouted, punching the larger kid in the nose. Blood flowed freely. The bully made a grab for the boy, but the boy darted back. He aimed a sharp kick at the bully's stomach.

With an "Oof," the bully rolled into a ball.

Ding-ding.

The bell rang, signaling an end to recess. The boy and girl quickly left the swing set and the fallen bully. They walked inside towards their classroom while adults checked the outside to ensure that no kids tried to stay behind.

"That was brave," the girl whispered. Even though other students were chatting, the hallway seemed abnormally quiet.

The boy shook his head, but didn't say anything. He walked with the girl all the way to her assigned desk when they reached their small classroom. As he hurried to his own desk, he expected to be called down to the office at any moment.

The moment never came.

Neither did the bully.

The only time the matter came up in class was when one of the bully's friends raised his hand and asked, "Where's Tommy?"

The teacher calmly replied, "He fell during recess. He's going to be alright though. I'm sure he'll be back tomorrow."

The boy was surprised, but glad. Apparently, the bully was not a tattletale.

The minutes ticked by. Not soon enough, school was over.

The boy gathered his lunchbox and wandered over to the girl's desk. He waited silently while she packed her bag. Together, the two children strolled out of school.

Once outside, the girl started toward the playground. "Wait," the boy said. "Isn't your mom or dad here to pick you up?"

The girl shook her head. "My parents work far away near the mountain, and I live near the mountain, too. It's really hard for them to pick me up and drop me off at home before six."

"What do you do till then?"

The girl shrugged.

The boy held out his hand and smiled slightly. "C'mon. My dad can take you home. Maybe we can get ice cream!" The boy led her to his car, a small black convertible with the top up.

"How was school?" the boy's father asked as the boy entered the car.

"Dad, can we go get ice cream with Lily?" The father smiled. This was the first time the boy had ever made plans with another child since they moved to Vintage Village.

"Of course."

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

"This is all your fault," Erin hissed to me quietly. "If you hadn't yelled so loudly…"

"And you gave me that 'Don't hurt the poor, confused man look' before!" Liam whispered. "I would have kicked his ass!"

"I thought he would actually listen to us! I thought someone would listen to us!" I hissed back at them.

"Ahem!" The teacher cleared his throat loudly and stared at us. That's right. I said teacher. The man (I think he was a security guard) had escorted us into the building and told us to get back to class. When he wouldn't listen to our objections, we decided we'd just leave after class and walked into a random classroom.

So now, we were sitting in a large room with about one hundred other students. The teacher was lecturing and writing some nonsense on the blackboard. He, apparently, had too many students to realize that we did not go to this darned school.

Apple sat in my lap and watched the teacher intently. I think she was actually paying attention…

<Anita, I had another vision.>

…or not.



Apple opened her mind, allowing me to view what she was viewing, to think what she was thinking, to remember what she was remembering—

A dark cave.

Tickety, tickety, tickety…

My heart was racing, skipping an occasional beat.

Pounding because time was up.

I took in a deep breath and shut my eyes. With my last reserves, I reached around my cave to ensure my safety…

Or rather, the safety of my child.

"Yes, we've detected strange psychic readings around Mint Mountain in the past few days. My team and I are checking it out…" a voice said from directly below my large cave's entrance.

Too close! Too late…

My eyes flew open.

No! I would not allow my child to be endangered! I could hold it off until I found a new haven. With a psychic pulse, I propelled myself out of my cave.

Pain shot up my spine. My body convulsed.

I was falling.

My energy was drained. I had not enough to levitate, not enough to save myself, not enough to save my child.

I plummeted through a purple cloud. Little purple townhouses rushed towards me.

Everything was purple.

I closed my eyes.

The purple remained but a second.

Red and blue burst through the air.

I gasped, causing Erin and Liam to give me funny looks. <That's not what's going to happen to you, is it?!>

<Not any time soon. No, I'm afraid, that is what has already happened to me… Those, I believe, were the dying moments of my father Mew.>

<I'm sorry.>

<Don't be. If it weren't for those moments, I probably would have never met you.> Apple retreated back to her own mind.

I shook my head, attempting to drive the images from my mind. It was too painful… Slowly, I breathed in. I imagined a picture of the vision I had just seen, and I imagined shoving that picture to the back of a very messy file cabinet. I slammed the cabinet shut, and breathed out.

That, my friends, is what I did with painful things.

Pretending I had never seen Apple's vision, I looked around the room and saw that a few other kids had Pokemon beside them or on their lap. There was a Zigzagoon, a Mankey, and a Delibird that I could see.

I watched Erin and Liam for a moment. Liam was staring off into space and Erin was doodling hearts on a piece of scrap paper.

Curiously, I peeped into her mind.

—his hot rugged breath filled my nose. So delicious and warm. I leaned in for more, and received not just his breath, but the eccentric tingle of his lips on mine. His arm wrapped around my waist—

I leapt out of her mind and gagged. This, I reminded myself with a mixture of guilt and disgust, is why I shouldn't go drifting into other peoples' minds, unless absolutely necessary.

Minutes ticked by slowly. Eventually, I became so bored, I actually turned my attention to the teacher. I noticed the teacher was placing a stapled packet upside down on everyone's desks. I peered past the teacher to the board as the man distributed the papers to my row; it read Quiz.

"Alright, class," the teacher said as he returned to the front of the room. "Remember, Kadabra will catch you if you try to cheat. So don't. Now make like the Browns and turn it over!"

There was a loud shuffling of papers throughout the room as the students turned their papers over. Liam, Erin, and I did the same.

"What are the Browns?" I asked Liam quietly. Liam was glancing over the test.

"They're a fantasy football team," Liam replied.

"Fantasy football?"

"It's the most popular Gameboy game," Liam explained. "The player picks teams based off of certain skills and then plays a game utilizing these skills. The game involves attempting to make a team throw and pass an oddly shaped ball to score points. Practice can improve a team's skill. It is actually a bit like a Pokemon battle, with all the strategy and recognition of weaknesses involved in the game… Anyway, the Browns are notorious for being the worst team a player can choose to play with on the game. 'Turn it over' refers to giving the possession of the ball to the opposing team."

"Huh," was all I could say. These researchers and their rants…

"Ahem."

Liam and I looked up to find the teacher standing in front of us. His hazel eyes were filled with a smug happiness, as if he found joy in catching students misbehaving.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your conversation, but you two have an appointment with the dean." He spoke like he thought he was actually funny. "Now!" he added with a warm fuzzy smile. The kind of smile that made me wish a pot would drop from the ceiling and knock the man out cold.

Liam shrugged and got up from his desk. I followed suit. We wound our way back to the wooden door we had entered through.

"Oh, and zeros for both of you!" the teacher called after us as we reached the exit. Like that was a big threat to us.

I looked back at Erin, who seemed at a loss of what to do. <Get yourself kicked out of class,> I suggested.

Taking my advice to heart, Erin stood up and punched the teacher in the stomach.

Erin's greatest moment, in my opinion.

The teacher doubled over while the other students began chuckling and murmuring. Pointing to the door, he muttered, "Dean's office."

Erin didn't hear because she was already with us at the door.

Liam delayed a moment while he watched the teacher. "I've never seen you resort to physical violence. Why'd you do it?" Liam questioned.

Erin stuck her thumb in my direction. "She's the one who told me to get thrown out of class." Erin changed the subject as we left the classroom. "So, anyone know where the dean's office is?" she asked jokingly.

"I'm pretty sure it's not on the campus," I answered, walking towards a door below an EXIT sign.

There was a white flash of light in front of us. The assistant Kadabra appeared.



We all sighed and followed the Kadabra.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

"So you see, sir, we really aren't students here," Anita finished explaining to the dean. She had recounted our adventure with the Geodudes and Gravelers, which explained how we came to this remote school. Apparently, most people did not travel the way we came through the hills. I had a good idea why.

The dean stoked his tiny goatee thoughtfully. The man was ugly and unfashionable, wearing extremely high waisted Cauchy pants and an orange striped shirt.

The dean poked his keyboard and sighed. "Well, you kids have valid Ids and you aren't in the school's system…"

Anita and I looked at him hopefully. Please, I begged silently, let us out of this hell-hole…

The dean cleared his throat. "Clearly, you three are not students. However, I think it would be beneficial for students to learn from you—actual trainers—"

"Actually, Liam and I are researchers," I interrupted.

The dean eyed me, agitated. "Nonetheless," he continued. "It would be beneficial for our students to interact with you. Plus, due to… bad behavior… I believe you three owe me. Why don't you stay a night or two? I'll have someone get your rooms ready for you." He said this all in a tone that made it seem like we had no choice.

This is why I always hated school. They're always filled with controlling adults who think they know everything. Like that teacher… he was such a jerk to Anita and Liam. When he acted like a kid himself, I wasn't going to treat him any differently than I treated other boys I deemed nasty.

I peered at the faces of my fellow travel buddies to gauge their reaction.

Liam, as usual, looked like he didn't care, and Anita looked a bit worried. I think she wanted to leave, but wasn't quite sure how to ask. When she turned her attention to Apple, I knew she was discussing something telepathically.

"What if we don't want to stay?" I asked the question Anita wouldn't.

"Kadabra!" The dean called. The annoying psychic Pokemon appeared out of nowhere. "See to it that these kids don't leave the campus." He took a last look at us. "You three are dismissed for now. Enjoy your stay. Kadabra will show you where the mess hall is for dinner."

As we walked out, Anita glared at me. Well, if she'd known this would happen, she should have spoken up.

As we entered the mess hall through plastic double doors, strange fumes filled my nose. It smelled like cinnamon, grease, pineapple, and maybe meatloaf?

I took one look at the food and lost my appetite. "I'll go find us a table," I said. Neither Anita nor Liam looked surprised, though they both got into the food line.

I wandered about until I found a group of nice-looking kids about our age. "Are these seats taken?" I asked a girl with dark skin and sun-bleached hair and a freckled boy with orange-tinted hair.

They shook their heads. "Are you new here?" the girl asked. "I'm Tara, by the way, and this is Max."

"I'm Erin, and no, I'm not a student…" By the time I was finished explaining our situation, Liam and Anita had already sat down. Anita had taken a plate of food for her bizarre Eevee as well.

"Most faculty members don't approve of Pokemon eating human food," Max said, nodding to a group of teachers staring Apple down from across the room. "They say it's a waste. I've gotten detention before for doing it."

Anita shrugged.

"It's not like they can actually do anything about it," I pointed out. "They can't really give us detention."

Just as I spoke, Apple's plate of food started floating away. Our Kadabra "escort" was deeply concentrating on the plate.

"Eev!" Apple complained. Anita turned around and saw the problem. She stared at the plate for a moment and clenched the fork she was holding tighter. Just as the plate was nearing the Kadabra, her eyes glowed for less than a second and she smiled.

The plate flipped over, spilling its contents all over the Kadabra.

We all giggled while the authorities threw mean glances our way.

"Attention students, attention students!" We heard the dean's voice ring over the PA system. "There has been a change in the schedule. All students are to report to the arena and sit in their assigned row. Also, I would like to see the following people in my office immediately: Brandon Vilcove, Tara Kain, Aaron Arnold, Liam Mendol, Anita Parkwood, Erin Kendle."

"Looks like we were called to the office," Tara commented dryly. "Wonder what cockamamie scheme he has this time…"

"You mean it's not because we're in trouble?" Anita asked in surprise.

Tara raised her eyebrows. "I'm one of the school's top students. So are Aaron and Brandon. We don't get in trouble."

---------------------------

The dean clapped his hands. "This is simply marvelous! A chance to show the good of the Standard Trainer Academy Boarding School and prove the academy is a more effective way of teaching kids that becoming a trainer at age thirteen!"

Anita and Tara both rolled their eyes.

"Anyone else notice the school's acronym spells STABS?" I asked.

The dean ignored me. "Kadabra, make sure you get all of it on tape. We can use it for a promotional video."

"Kadab," the Kadabra agreed.

A video camera floated beside the dean as he hustled us out of his office down a flight of steps to the arena's entrance.

"Alright, kids. You six will be battling each other." The dean turned to look at the floating camera. "Kadabra, turn the camera on!"

The Kadabra nodded and a green button flashed on the camera.

"Here in Pokemon Academy's own arena we have three experienced trainers battling our own students—" The dean spoke to the camera until I interrupted.

"Excuse me! Liam and I are researchers," I exclaimed. "Not trainers! And it's hardly fair that you're having us battle your top students!"

"Kadabra, remind me to edit that out later." The dean blatantly ignored me. He smiled at the camera and continued, "The battles will be one on one. Brandon versus Liam, Anita versus Tara, and Erin versus Aaron."

Liam stepped in between the camera and the dean. "We did not agree to any of this nonsense."

The dean shrugged.

Anita stepped beside Liam. "I agree. If any of us do not wish to battle, we shouldn't have to. I, for one, would like to battle, but Erin, for instance, might not want to. You can't force her."

Actually, I suspected Liam was the one who didn't want to battle, but whatever…

The dean frowned.

Anita's eyes flickered between the dean and the Kadabra. She saw I was watching her.

<Kadabra noticed we were eager to leave by picking up some of our thoughts,> Anita said. I grimaced at her voice in my head. I hated when she did this. It was like my mind was invaded… <Not that he needed to read our minds to know that—>

"Anita," I said sharply. She stopped speaking.

The dean smiled smugly. "How about if you win two of three battles, I won't attempt to stop you from leaving after. You won't be followed by your escort." The dean gestured to Kadabra.

"We could leave now if we wanted to," Anita replied challengingly. She narrowed her eyes.

"Not with Kadabra on your tail!" the dean answered cheerfully.

Anita opened her mouth, but closed it after a stern look from Liam. Apparently, Liam wasn't keen on other people knowing their abilities.

The dean checked his watch. "Time's being wasted!" He opened the arena doors and herded the six of us forward.

We were standing on the far side of the arena stage. The floor was made of dirt and the ceiling was open to the stars. It looked like about a thousand people were in the stadium. Bright lights illuminated the area. An announcer's voice boomed, "First up is Brandon Vilcove versus Liam Mendol. It is a one-on-one battle. Participants, please report to your sides."

Liam and Brandon walked in opposite directions and then stood facing each other on either side of the field. The audience was murmuring quietly. I sat down next to Anita in a plastic chair provided by the dean.

Liam crossed his arms.

In the very center of the stadium, the dean held a red flag up. As he pulled the flag downwards, he yelled, "Begin!"

Brandon released a Wartortle.

Liam stood still, his arms stilled crossed.

Anita started yelling at him frantically, telling him he had better battle or she would "feed him to the Geodudes without his balls! Both types of balls!"

Funny, I thought. She had said earlier we shouldn't be forced to battle. Then again, that was before the dean had sort of made a deal with us…

"If you do not release a Pokemon, you will be disqualified and Brandon will be declared the winner!" The dean said to Liam gleefully.

Liam rolled his eyes.

Ten seconds later, the announcer declared. "The challenger has failed to release a Pokemon within the time limit! Brandon Vilcove is the winner!"

Brandon looked baffled, but he returned his Wartortle and walked off of the field.

Liam smiled and strode over to a still yelling Anita. He silently withstood her insults until she finally yelled, "Now we'll be stuck here for at least another night!"

Liam's smile widened. "Not if you win."

"Will Tara Kain and Anita Parkwood please take their positions on the playing field," the announcer requested.

Anita gave Liam a final glare before marching out onto the field. Her Eevee skipped after her.

Tara already was in position; she had a confident air about her. The dean waved his red flag, signaling the start of the battle.

Anita nodded to Apple and the Eevee assumed a fighting stance.

"Kit, go!" Tara ordered. In a flash, a beautifully-coated Delcatty appeared. "Sing!" Tara yelled while Anita ordered a "Dig!"

I covered my ears as the Delcatty's voice blared throughout the stadium. Apple popped up beneath the Delcatty, abruptly cutting off his voice. The Delcatty proceeded to attempt to hit Apple with his paws, but Apple dodged with a spin.

The battle went on.

Bored, I turned my attention to my opponent, Aaron.

He was a well dressed boy, wearing a loosely collared shirt. His dark, curly hair fell about his face. Next to him an older boy, Brandon, whispered something in his ear.

Aaron's eyes flickered from the battle to me. I smiled, and he returned the favor.

I watched the battle again.

Apple was now lightheartedly flirting with Kit. The Delcatty's cute charm ability seemed to have finally affected Apple, but I wasn't so sure it made a difference. Anita was yelling at Apple in frustration and while Apple ignored Anita's commands, she continued to playfully dodge Kit's attacks to the point Kit couldn't lay a hit on her.

This was so stupid. We were battling these kids because the dean wanted publicity… because the dean wanted the dean wanted us to stay… because the dean wanted yada-yada-yada.

I wasn't a student here. I didn't give a flying **** about what the dean wanted.

I wanted to kick his rude ass.

Aaron caught my eye again. I grinned and walked over to him. Before he could say a word, I said, "I'm not going to battle you."

Aaron's smile faded. "I was looking forward to it."

"Sorry, I'd rather kick the dean's butt though," I replied.

Aaron grinned. "Now that's something I'll look forward to even more."

"Delcatty is unable to battle! Anita Parkwood is the winner!" the spokesman announced.

I looked at the field and saw Apple jumping around Anita.

Tara returned her Delcatty, frowning. She stiffly congratulated Anita and walked back to us. Apparently, she didn't lose well.

"Next up, it's Aaron against Erin!" The announcer chuckled lamely at the play on words. "Aaron Arnold versus Erin Kendle!"

I boldly stepped forward and yelled, "If it's alright with you, Mr. Dean, I'd rather battle you than Aaron."

The crowd hushed.

Scratching his head nervously, the dean stared at me. He obviously didn't know how to react.

"You don't think you can take me?" I challenged.

"Of course not," the dean replied quickly. "I mean, of course I can beat you. I just… Aaron, is this okay with you?"

Aaron shrugged and nodded.

"It seems there had been a change in match-ups! Our very own dean, Mr. Johnkloven will be battling Erin Kendle!"

The crowd roared.

The dean strode across the field to his position as I walked to mine. Aaron took over the role as referee. He waved the red flag about his head and then thrust it downwards, giving us the signal to begin.

"Kadabra!" the dean called. Our stupid "escort" Kadabra teleported to his side. I noticed Brandon had picked up the video camera. He was zooming in on his own toe.

"Griffy, go!" I released Griffy from his Pokeball. <All we have to do is get a physical hit in. Kadabras have crap physical defense,> I thought, knowing Griffy would hear.

"Agility," I yelled, remembering Kadabras were extremely fast.

Kadabra's eyes were already glowing with a psychic. Griffy had started to pick up speed, but was stopped abruptly by the Kadabra's attack.

"Light Screen!" I ordered. Although I couldn't see it, a barrier must have formed between Griffy and the Kadabra because Griffy could move again.

"Keep it up!" I hoped to force the Kadabra towards Griffy by blocking his psychic attacks. The dean took the bait.

"Fire punch!" He commanded.

"Let it hit!" Griffy stood still and prepared for the punch. The Kadabra's fist glowed as he rushed at Griffy. "Once he hits you, finish this with a stomp!"

Kadabra hit Griffy on the side. Griffy reared and stomped down hard on the Kadabra. The Pokemon visibly flinched.

"Bite!" I demanded, irked that the stomp didn't finish off the Kadabra.

Griffy turned around and jumped backwards. His tail lunged at the Kadabra and bit down hard on his long ear.

Our Kadabra "escort" was knocked out cold.

The dean stood still, a stunned look on his face. The students all whistled and hooted loudly.

I approached the dean and held out my hand. He took it, eyeing me oddly, like I was an endangered bird or something.

"So long, control freak!" I said before spinning around to join Anita and Liam.

Anita high fived me and Liam gave me a quirky smile. I peered past them to Brandon, Tara, and Aaron. Aaron gave me a thumbs-up.

A teacher accosted us as we walked toward the arena entrance.

Before he could say a word, Anita sharply replied to his thought: "We'll escort ourselves out. Thanks anyway."

delongbi · Aug 10, 2009

Evertime- Oh, you mean onion, lol.

Anyway, new chapter, and now I'm a chapter behind so I'll have to post again sometime this week.

Chapter 18: Emotional Complex

My memories were revisiting me for very simple, logical reasons.

For the past four years, I had been trapped in Drape Town. I had to work to gain the trust of Glop'emm members— I focused solely on making Team Glop'emm successful while I awaited the DNA tracking device.

Then the opportunity arose to travel. It was necessary, of course. My research could not be done in Drape Town and no other human could be trusted to do it.

Such a drastic change of scenery would obviously reawaken memories I had buried long ago.

Simple.

A boy, a girl, and the boy's father drove in a convertible away from an ice cream shop.

The girl and the boy were happily licking their fingers after eating ice cream, arguing over which flavor was better while the boy's father drove the routine route to the girl's house. "I called your mother, Lily," the father said, a hint of worry in his voice. "Nobody answered so I left a message."

The girl replied, "Don't worry. They don't usually answer at work."

"I know." The father frowned, but kept driving. The mountains grew. As the car arrived on the girl's street, the father came to an unexpected stop. "What's that?"

The two children peered through the front windshield.

A pink object was falling from the sky over the scattered houses.

Abruptly, there was an explosion.

Blue fire burst through the air where the pink object was before. Several houses and buildings collapsed, while others caught fire—red flames meeting blue.

Nothing happened to the car, though several nearby houses were up in flames.

The father picked up his phone. Sirens could be heard in the distance. He dropped the phone; help was already on the way.

Pulling the car around, the father sped back down the road.

The girl burst into tears while the boy tried to comfort her by patting her shoulder.

"Mom and dad… they were near that… they—I want my mom and dad," the girl cried.

"Hush. We can't go into the fire," the father replied. There was a sharp edge to his voice. A mile down the road, the father pulled into the police station. He swiftly opened the back door and yanked the girl from the car. "Come on."

"Bye—" The door slammed shut.

"Bye, Lily," the boy replied softly.

Five minutes later the father returned. "She'll be alright," the father assured his son. "The police will handle it."

"We could've… She could've stayed with us a little longer…" The boy stared out the window as they pulled out of the police station. He noticed they were driving back towards the fire.

The father ignored his son's comment. "It had to be a psychic pulse," he explained. "I had dark material twined into this convertible when it was being built. It was unaffected by the explosion."

"Are we going to find Lily's parents?" the boy asked, unable to think of any other explanation for his father's actions.

"No," the father replied harshly. "The police will handle that, too. If that pulse was what I think it was, I have to capture and destroy the Pokemon that created it."

The boy noticed his father was shaking.

"Damn them!" the father burst out suddenly. Ahead, the road was blocked by a wall of bright blue flames. "Hold on!" The car jerked forward, zooming into the flames.

"Stop!" the boy screamed. He shut his eyes tightly, expecting to feel pain any second.

Surprisingly, the car easily passed through the wall, the blue flames licking at the window. The inside of the car heated up slightly, but in the next moment, the car was on the other side of the wall. The father pounded on the brakes and the car skid to a stop.

The father and the boy panted in the car for a moment. The father turned around. "Are you okay?"

The boy nodded.

The father searched the boy's eyes. They were wide and round—but mostly green.

"First they destroyed our city… our people—your mother, your aunt. Now they destroy this town and hundreds of other innocent people—families are split apart."

Lily, the boy thought.

"Legendary Pokemon are too dangerous, too hurtful, too random… Nobody seems to understand this. I came here to escape—so you would be safe." The man shook his head sorrowfully.

The boy looked away, out the window and into the flames.

"But you're not. Nobody is. I have to destroy the cause of this destruction... for your safety, for everyone's safety."

Tears welled in the boy's eyes.

The father began to climb out of the car.

"Dad, I'm coming, too. You'll be hurt by the psychic without me." The father began to shake his head. "Dad… I don't want to lose anymore." More quietly, the boy added, "I don't want to lose you." The boy looked fiercely at his father.

Father and son stared at each other for a moment. The father sighed and opened the car's passenger door. The boy took his father's hand and stepped out of the car.

The air was hot and dry, but breathable. Blue fire did not create smoke.

The blue wall of fire surrounded the area. Everything else, besides the convertible, was ash. In the center of the ring of blue fire was a large mound of ash.

And purple eyes, peeking through the ash.

They blinked.

The father pulled out a Pokeball and without uttering a word, his Houndoom appeared.

The eyes moved up in the ash.

"Crunch."

The Houndoom lunged toward the pile. In a split second, the eyes burst from the heap of ash. The Houndoom missed its target and circled the creature from below. The eyes belonged to a grayish-pink body, now floating in the air. It was the size of maybe a loaf of bread, though its tail was twice that length. The creature had short, stubby arms and thick, rabbit-like legs.

The father smiled grimly. "Mew. What I suspected."

The Pokemon looked confused, like it was lost. It continued to float in the air.

"Flamethrower," the father commanded.

Flames spouted from the Houndoom's mouth. The Mew floated above the attack and then curiously stuck its tail into the Houndoom's fire.

A screech of pain flew from the Mew's mouth. It circled the blue fire wall once, causing the blue fire to fade.

The red continued to burn.

In the blink of an eye, the Mew was gone.

"Do you know the scent?" the father asked his Houndoom. The dog Pokemon nodded.

"Mew won't be far from here, at least not yet—the apple won't fall far from the tree. We'll track down this apple. We'll find it. We'll destroy it—for the good of Acceber."

Simple.

So why didn't it ever feel that way?

* * * * * * * * * * * *

I kicked my leg out.

Liam caught and twisted it so I fell awkwardly on my stomach onto the hard, dry ground.

I tried to get up, but couldn't. Liam must have been sitting on my legs. I threw my right arm backwards in an attempt to hit that irksome kid. Of course, he caught that too, folded my elbow, and pulled painfully upwards. I winced—just when my leg was feeling better he had to go injure some other body part…

"I give up," I muttered between breaths.

"Find a way out of this," Liam demanded.

If he was any normal person, I could have created a barrier and my current problem would disappear. But nooo; he had to be super special with his dumb dark gift.

"Ow!" I cried out as Liam pulled my arm back farther. "Are you trying to break my arm?"

The pressure on my arms and legs ceased.

"Get up," Liam ordered.

I remained face down on the ground for a second longer before forcing myself up. I shook my arm a bit in an attempt to make its soreness dissipate. My attempt failed miserably.

"I've taught you all the basics," Liam said. He paused, not sure how to continue. Yeah, he sure taught me the basics—he had basically killed me with his practices! Yesterday, I had spent nearly the whole day practicing a simple punch while we were traveling. Yes, people stared at me like I was a lunatic. Luckily, there were very few people in the area. The day before… well, the day before we were chased to a screwy school by rampant Geodudes—but before that we had worked on kicks.

"The basics are all you need," Liam finally continued. "Now you have to work on implementing these basic skills in a useful, original manner."

"And how will that help me beat you?" I asked, irritated.

"If you act in an unexpected manner, your opponent will be unable to foresee your attacks and you will have the advantage," Liam lectured. "Also, you very well know that I am not your opponent—"

"Really then? Who else am I going to be fighting without my powers?"

Liam smirked. "I never said you could not use your gift."

I started to complain that my gift didn't freakin affect him, but he chose that moment to lunge at me.

I dodged to the left, but he was already correcting his movements so his next attack would hit. I expected him to throw a left-handed punch my way, but instead found myself falling from a quick twirl of his right foot.

The air was knocked from me. I looked up in time to see Liam's leg coming down hard. I scrambled out of the way.

This was so stupid. He had obviously been doing this his whole life. How could I be expected to do something to catch him off guard? I had been training for what, a week?

Liam aimed another punch at me. I wearily jumped to the side, only to be hit in my abdomen anyway. I wish I could stop his punches like he could mine; I simply wasn't strong enough.

Before I had time to consider my next move, both of my arms were twisted behind my back. For a moment, I struggled. When my efforts once again proved futile, I slumped over.

Liam let go. "Get up."

Just as I was picking myself up, Liam lunged toward me again. I dropped back to the ground as Liam passed over me, his foot barely not crushing my fingers.

I got up, wishing my gift would affect him. This was all too painful…

Wait. My powers did not affect him, but they did affect me.

Maybe…

Liam was coming at me with a spinning kick. I ducked down and rapidly created a slanted barrier behind me. As Liam's foot passed over me, I used the barrier as a springboard to launch myself forward faster than Liam believed possible. I ended up losing control of the punch I was planning and tackled him to the ground. Still, it was the first time I had actually landed a hit on him.

A second later, I found myself painfully rolled on my shoulder, my arms pinned tight to my back and my legs once again useless.

"Are you through?" I asked. Liam shoved my back. I growled under my breath and peered over my shoulder at Liam. He was scowling.

"Hey, I managed to hit you!" I exclaimed defensively.

Liam smirked. "I congratulate you," he replied mockingly. Then he proceeded to twist my arms painfully. Seriously, I think he was taking this practice too far.

I gasped. "Do you take pleasure in my pain?"

Liam's eyes glinted for a moment before he released me.

I rubbed my shoulder as I got up. Liam watched me thoughtfully.

"Well?"

Liam's eyebrows furrowed. Ah, he had thought my question was rhetorical. Well, it most certainly was not!

"No," Liam answered slowly. "I don't believe I do." His dark hair fell into his face as he looked away.

Not knowing what to make of his response, I replied jokingly, "Oh, good. I was beginning to suspect you weren't human." I started walking back towards camp as the sun began to rise. Liam fell in pace beside me.

He smiled slightly. "What do you think being human is all about?"

"What are you, a philosopher?"

He didn't respond.

I considered the question. "I guess it's about living life to its full potential—about experiencing and feeling and thinking everything you can in the time you're given." I hesitated before asking, "What about you?"

"Obtaining a goal. You'd know about that; you're a trainer after all."

I frowned while Liam smirked at me. I thought his philosophy was missing pieces, but I couldn't come up with a good argument. Silence filled the rest of the walk.

Upon reaching camp, Apple stretched and trotted happily over to me, having just woken up. As I scanned the camp, I noticed the lump of Erin's sleeping bag was still full—of Erin.

I lightly shook her bag. "Erin, get up! Time to move out."

"No thanks, Anita. I don't want the muffin," Erin replied, her voice muffled by the sleeping bag. I nudged her again, only to get a loud snore.

Irked, I slid into Erin's mind.

The air smelled of sugar cookies and blueberry muffins. Erin, Liam, Anita, and Jake sat in a small corner of a small bakery.

Anita was offering Erin a blueberry muffin.

I smiled. This would be fun.

Suddenly, the muffin Anita was offering Erin grew until it was human-size. It also grew a tail—a tail that strangely resembled Griffy's.

The muffin's tail's voice boomed: "YOU DO NOT ACCEPT ME?!? THEN I DO NOT ACCEPT YOU AS MY EATER! I WILL BECOME THE EATER! MUWAHAHAHAHA!"

The tail opened its mouth and leaned toward Erin.

"Ahhh!" Erin leapt up from her sleeping bag with a start. Upon seeing no killer muffin, she sighed in relief.

Liam, who had begun packing, looked up at us, startled.

I couldn't stop cracking up.

Apple looked at me in wonder. <That was brilliant. I've been teaching you well.>

Because I was laughing, Erin immediately suspected I had something to do with her interesting dream. "ANITA!" she yelled. "That was not funny!"

I shrugged. "It got you up."

Erin grumbled inaudibly and started stuffing her sleeping bag into her pack (where it was, of course, shrunk to a more portable size).

"What did you do?" Liam asked, careful to not sound too curious. As I shrunk down a few pots, he took out our map.

"I stuck a giant killer muffin with Griffy's tail in her dream," I answered casually.

"Right…"

When everything was packed up, we gathered around the map.

Liam pointed to a spot slightly northwest of Mint Mountain. "We're right here." He moved his hand. "This is Nelcorn City. We went astray back with the Geodudes, but now we are nearly back to the more traveled route from Azul to Nelcorn. The path from this point forward will be flat, though we will likely encounter people. We can ride our bikes."

I sighed and pulled out my shbinker. Liam and Erin followed suit. I mounted my rusted-over purple bike while Apple jumped into its large basket. Erin and Liam mounted their shiny magenta and dark olive-green bikes, respectively.

And we were off.

Although the wrappings on my leg hadn't hindered me much during practice this morning, riding my bike felt awkward. I could not bend my ankle as usual.

To take my mind away from the discomfort, I watched our surroundings. Behind us, the terrain was rocky and dry. As we pedaled forward, however, the surroundings became more fruitful. There was short grass, and even an occasional tree.

<Hey, Anita?> Apple interrupted the calm, quiet atmosphere of an early morning bike ride.

<What?> I asked stiffly.

<You, your powers, and your emotions are all growing. All at once.>

<That's nice.>

<They're all connected. You've got to start learning control not only over your powers, but your emotions. Otherwise, things will start exploding. Besides you, I mean. Really—> I tuned Apple out; there was no point in listening to what I already knew.

I focused my mind—I needed to practice. At first, I just "listened" with my mind to the Pokemon in the surrounding grass. Then, I moved on to what I wanted to work on: barriers.

Today, I had been able to create a barrier for myself to use against Liam. I had created a slanted barrier, something I had not thought to do before. It opened up all sorts of possibilities, the biggest being: could I create a barrier in different shapes?

I imagined a bent barrier, almost like two flat barriers stuck together at a one-hundred twenty degree angle. I pushed my mind rapidly in front of me, attempting to create the barrier on the ground, in front of my bike.

My bike slowed as it rode up an invisible barrier, bumped slightly as it got to the top, and quickly rolled down the other side of the ramp-barrier.

I smiled.

This would be a fun ride.

------------------------

By mid-afternoon we were back to the main route. In the morning, I had practiced creating barriers until my head hurt. Then after lunch, I had battled several of the plentiful trainers in the area and had now taken to avoiding eye contact with said trainers because Apple was exhausted. She was currently fast asleep in her basket. I had battled a bit with Fiery but had not wanted to push him too hard because he was still recovering from the Graveler that had flattened him. We had still not gotten to a Pokemon Center, and in the meantime I only had given him one potion.

According to Liam's calculations (which, for the record, always seemed to be accurate), we had an hour more of traveling before we reached Nelcorn City. This news had not seemed so bad to me, but it had caused Erin to sigh unhappily.

You did not need to be a psychic to know she was bored out of her mind.

"I know, let's play a game!" she exclaimed in this final cycling hour.

Liam grunted and I rolled my eyes.

"Alright, I'll take that as a yes!" She really needed to work on her interpretations of our actions. "How about truth or dare?"

"NO!" Liam and I both shouted at once. We gave each other questioning looks.

Erin ignored us. "Okay, fine. I spy?"

"No, thanks," Liam replied, while I said, "Bor-ring!"

"Twenty questions?" Erin asked hopefully.

Liam shrugged, and I answered, "Whatever."

"Okay, I have one. Ask away!"

I peeked into Erin's mind.

"Is it a toaster oven?" I asked.

Erin's eyes widened. "How'd you—Anita, you cheater!"

I smirked.

"That's no fair! Ugh—"

"I have one," Liam interrupted.

I scrunched my nose. I wouldn't be able to peek into Liam's mind… bleh.

"Alright… Is it living?" I asked.

"Sometimes."

"Is it bigger than a condom?" Erin asked.

I turned to Erin. "What kind of question is that?"

"Sometimes," Liam replied. "And you have seventeen more."

"How does that count?!"

"Sixteen. This is twenty questions. You get to ask only twenty questions."

"Grr…" I growled.

"Can it fly like an ea-gle?" Erin sang.

"Sometimes."

"Is it human?" I asked.

"Sometimes."

"Can you say anything other than 'sometimes?!?'" I demanded.

"Yes. Thirteen left."

"Does it have eyeballs?" Erin asked.

"Usually."

"Are there any present?" I asked.

"That depends."

"Depends on what?"

"Perspective," Liam answered.

While I sat silently, thinking this clue over, Erin asked, "Does it jiggle like jello?"

"Not usually…"

"Will you stop asking stupid questions!?" I yelled at Erin.

"You're the one wasting questions by shouting useless questions at me and Liam!" Erin shot back.

"Point taken," I grumbled.

"You have eight more," Liam stated.

"Is it a thought?" Erin asked.

"No."

"Can you think of it?" I queried.

"Yes."

"Can it come in many shapes, colors, and sizes?" I asked, finally getting an idea.

"Yes."

"Is it a Ditto?" Erin immediately assumed.

"No."

I smiled. I thought I knew the answer, but there were two possibilities I could think of. "Do you have it?" I questioned.

Liam hesitated. "I'm not sure."

I frowned. Not the answer I was expecting. Last question…

"Is it… a friend?"

"Obviously."

evertime · Aug 10, 2009

Good luck writing!
Liams caracter has become more intresting.....

delongbi · Aug 16, 2009

Sorry this next chapter is short... it works best if you think of it as a three parter.

Chapter 19: (Act One) Missing Links

As we rode through the afternoon, Erin and Liam continued to play twenty questions—Erin kicked me out of the game when it was her turn to think of something. In the meantime, I could not rid myself of a nagging feeling.

Over and over, I replayed that second game of twenty questions in my head.

Mew or friend?

Mew or friend?

All of his answers matched both. Maybe he meant both…

<Anita, you are being paranoid,> Apple thought drowsily, just waking up from her nap. <Why in Arceus's name would he think of Mew? And if he did, so what?>

<He could be after Mew! It could be the reason he's following us! Remember, when I asked, "Do you have it?" he replied, "I'm not sure." He's not sure because he hasn't confirmed you are Mew!>

<Get a hold of yourself! There is absolutely no reason for him to suspect I am Mew! And even if he did, why would he reveal any of this in a stupid game of twenty questions?!>

<Maybe to get us to react,> I answered weakly.

Apple shook her head. <Way too paranoid… if, in fact, he is searching for Mew—which he is not—he has absolutely no way to prove that I am Mew. We'll be fine as long as we keep acting normal as we always have been.>

<Normal… yeah, right.>

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

I tiredly stirred my coffee, taking a whiff of the bitter, caffeinated drink. The Pokemon Center's couch pulled me into its lush, blue pillows as I collapsed backwards, exhausted from the day's preparations. Next to me, Reece casually flipped through the battle section of the Nelcorn News.

"Reece, they're not here yet," I said tensely.

Reece shrugged.

"What if they don't come in time?" I hissed. "Did you think of that when you planned the party? What if we planned it all for nothing and they don't even stop in Nelcorn!?"

"Then I guess we will be enjoying a party without them. Honestly, Carly, who cares?"

"I CARE!" I yelled. Nurse Joy gave me a scolding look from behind the counter. I ignored her. "I've been given the opportunity of a lifetime, and you're asking me why I care? If I do this, I can become a model—I can do what I've always dreamed of!"

Reece looked up from the newspaper and sighed. "I'm sorry. Seriously, they'll be here. I know it," Reece said solemnly, for once in his life. When I did not respond, he continued, "Look, we have everything set up perfectly. We'll be fine. If we don't catch them in this town, we'll find them in the next."

I took a sip of my coffee, trying to relax. "What if they don't come to the party? What if they never attend parties? What then?"

"Everyone comes to parties. They'll be there."

"But Anita hates parties."

Reece folded his arms. "Carly, we've been through this. The party includes a battle tournament. Yes, Anita hates parties. However, she will want to come for our battle tournament. We're giving away a crap load of money to the winner, and what trainer does not need money?"

Just then, the Pokemon Center doors whooshed open. A girl with straight brown hair and purple eyes stomped through the door followed by a black-haired boy, a pretty red-haired girl, and an Eevee. Reece quickly picked up the newspaper and pretended to be reading while I turned my head to the dark window, careful to not let the group see my face.

The company did not notice us as they approached Nurse Joy's counter, requested two rooms, and asked if there was a bike shop in town.

Five minutes later, the group disappeared up the stairs, no doubt retiring for the night.

Reece smirked at me. "Told you it'd work out."

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Sir, we really can't afford that!" I exclaimed.

"I'm sorry," the manager replied. "But with a flat wheel, a set of brakes that need to be replaced, and several necessary tune-ups, that's the best price I can give you."

I sighed. This is a lesson for all Pokemon trainers: never almost run over a Rattata with a bike.

I had been so absorbed in my own thoughts that I had not noticed the small Pokemon munching on a piece of grain directly in my path—that is, I did not notice it until it was a yard away from my front wheel. To avoid hitting the Rattata, I swerved my bike… right into Erin's. We both careened to the ground causing Liam to crash, bike and all, right in to us.

My poor bike couldn't survive the collision. Its brakes literally fell off and parts of its metal were twisted in awkward directions. Liam's and Erin's bikes were newer and more durable; they only received a series of scratches.

Then, just when we thought the worst was over, an angry Raticate attacked us. Apparently, she thought we were trying to kill her child (which I guess we almost did). Apple and I managed to calm her down, but not before she had taken a bite out of Liam's bike wheel.

Now, because we were down to one working bike, we had located the Nelcorn City Bike Shop. Unfortunately, we didn't have the money to fix the bikes—we had to save nearly all of what we had for Pokemon supplies and basic necessities, like food.

"What if you were to fix just one of the bikes? How much would that cost?" I asked desperately.

"Half the price I gave you before."

"But that's still too much!"

"Look, I'm sorry, but replacing bike parts is expensive," the manager replied.

"Thanks," I grumbled as I spun around and shuffled out of the store.

"Now what?" I asked dejectedly outside the bike shop.

"Looks like we'll be walking," Liam commented dryly.

"We're not leaving 'till tomorrow anyway," Erin insisted.

I frowned. "I thought we voted. We're leaving tonight."

"You two are so boring!" Erin complained. "You'd rather be traveling by foot than attending a party every teenager in a mile's radius is going to be at?!"

"Duh," I answered. I assumed Liam would annunciate some similar form of agreement; he had voted with me earlier against the party. I looked at him expectantly.

"Our current dilemma changes everything." Liam pulled a flyer out of his pocket—one of the billions around town stating the party information. He pointed to the bottom of the paper. "There is a tournament for prize money. We need money to fix our bikes. Therefore, we should attend the party so we may participate in said tournament."

I crossed my arms. "No. We already voted! We're leaving tonight."

"C'mon, Anita. You know you'd love to battle," Erin whined. "Who votes we leave tonight?"

I raised my hand. I looked down at Apple; she didn't even raise her paw.

<What?> she asked sheepishly. 

<Traitor.>

"Alright, who votes we go to the party?"

Liam and Erin each raised a hand. Apple raised a paw.

"We already voted!" I repeated. "We voted to leave, remember? Two against one." I glared at Liam.

"Who votes we can overturn old votes?" Erin asked. Both she and Liam raised her hand. Again, Apple lifted a paw.

"Oh, come on!"

Erin tugged my arm. "Let's go. We have lots of shopping to do before tonight!"

"Shopping! We don't even have enough money for new bike parts!"

"Who said we were going to buy anything?"

I groaned.

-----------------------

"What color eye shadow do you want?" Erin asked, spreading my numerous choices in front of me on her wooden nightstand.

"Neon green," I replied without even glancing at my options.

Erin examined her different eye shadows. "I don't have that…"

"No, duh."

"A little cooperation would be nice!" Erin cried out. "How about a light lavender? It would match your tank top."

"I'm not wearing eye shadow, Erin." The mascara was bad enough…

Erin started at me with the eye shadow anyway. I thrust my mind forward, creating a barrier at her feet. Just as I intended, she toppled forward, smearing the eye shadow across the floor.

"Anita! That was one of my favorites…"

"Well, I told you I didn't want any!"

<Will you two stop bickering and come brush me?> Apple demanded.

I rolled my eyes but complied.

Erin looked me over thoughtfully. "I like that grey mini-skirt on you. You can keep it.

"Just what I've always wanted," I replied sarcastically.

Erin ignored me and turned to examine her own reflection in the mirror. She was wearing high black boots and a magenta dress that ended above her knees. Dark eye shadow above her eyes and straightened hair—she was, in a word: hot.

I, on the other hand, was wearing a simple tank top, skirt, and sandals. I had just wanted to wear my normal capris and tee-shirt, but Erin had flipped out on me. She had immediately pulled out her shrinkable wardrobe (which was filled with G-d knows how much clothing) and tossed clothes at me. After two hours of constant arguing (I would not wear that revealing red shirt… or those enormous heels…or, well, you get the picture), we finally settled on my current outfit.

Erin turned around. "I'm ready to go," she announced.

Apple jumped off of my lap as I finished brushing her tail. She shook her soft coat. <I'm ready, too!> I rose, brushing the Eevee fur off of me.

"Now all that's left is Liam," Erin muttered to herself. She stuck her hand into her gigantic wardrobe and pulled out a black suit and tie. "This'll do…"

"Um, Erin, why do you have guy's clothing in your closet?" I asked tentatively, not sure I actually wanted to know the answer.

Erin shrugged. "I've got to be prepared for everything. Now, where did I put the wardrobe shrinker?"

As Erin searched for the shrinker device, I picked up a party flyer and read it over again.

Attention Teenagers!
You are invited to party at the Phanpy Party Center (PPC)!
Who: Any teenager between the ages of thirteen and eighteen. You must have an ID to be admitted.
When: 7:00 p.m. July 16, 2013
Where: The PPC, of course!
What: Dancing, fun, and battle tournament!
Dress: Semi-formal
Please Note: Due to the large number of young trainers that will be present at the PPC, Pokeballs will be strictly forbidden within the PPC. By taking this precaution, the PPC hopes to avoid stolen Pokemon and unauthorized battling. Trainers entering the tournament may bring one Pokemon outside of its Pokeball into the PPC. Pokemon must be small enough to carry. Trainers will be checked at the door. Any trainer who violates PPC's rules will be detained. To obtain a complete list of PPC rules or if you have any questions, please call 1-800-PAR-TEEE.

"What Pokemon are you going to bring?" I asked Erin curiously.

"Tweal. Are you coming, or what?" I looked up. Erin was holding the door open and the gigantic wardrobe was not in sight. Apple and I followed Erin out of the room.

"You know, Liam never told us about his Pokemon…" I said as we stood before his door.

Erin bit her lip. "I know. We'll ask him now—" She knocked on his door and held up the black suit. "—after he changes into this, of course."

A teenager wearing black jeans and a black loosely buttoned shirt opened the door. His hair was brushed just enough so it didn't look messy, but kept its slight wildness.

I blinked. Geez, that was Liam?

Erin's jaw dropped. "Guess you don't need this," she mumbled. "You look…uh…good."

Liam nodded, a small smile playing on his lips.

I coughed slightly to get their attention. "We need to talk."

Liam opened the door wider, inviting us in. The room was a lot cleaner than the one Erin and I were sharing. Erin and I sat down on the extra bed while Liam sat on his.

"We need to know why you don't use your Pokemon, how you have a Tyranitar, and why you did not tell us," I bluntly said.

Liam's expression returned to its usual stoicism. "I'd prefer not to talk about it."

"Well, Erin and I would prefer that you tell us. We don't feel like we can trust you without this information."

Liam looked away, hesitating before saying, "There was an accident a long time ago… I used to be a trainer… I was a very good trainer."

Well, that explained the Tyranitar.

"Then, my Pokemon…" Liam continued. "They… they nearly killed a good friend of mine… It was an accident, of course…"

Liam stopped to take a breath. Alright, maybe I really shouldn't have asked.

"My Pokemon… I loved them but… I couldn't remain a trainer… I couldn't bear seeing them, letting them out of their Pokeballs—I wouldn't let them out of their Pokeballs, not unless it was absolutely necessary…"

"Wow." Erin whispered.

Liam looked me in the eye. Solemnly, he said, "I explained the situation to them. I loved them… but I couldn't be around them. I offered to release them… The Pokemon I have left are the ones who refused…"

Erin got up and sat down next to Liam, patting his shoulder. "I'm so sorry." She gave me the "this is all your fault" glare. Hey! She agreed to do this, too.

"Yeah, sorry" I murmured, not sure if I was more annoyed with myself, Erin, Liam, or this whole situation. "Umm… you know the tournament?" I continued uncomfortably. "Well, we really need that money… so we should all bring a Pokemon. If you're not comfortable bringing your own Pokemon, maybe you could barrow one of mine?" My voice went kind of high and awkward at the end.

Liam smiled slightly. "Sure."

 Apple said.

<Why?>

<Well, who do you think is going to be paired up with him? You think Fiery will listen to him?>

<Let's find out.> I pulled out Fiery's Pokeball and Fiery appeared out of the red light. <Fiery, would you battle for Liam?>

<Is Liam my trainer?>

<No, but—>

<Is Liam a blood relative?>



<Do I care about Liam?>

<Not that I'm aware—>

<Then why the hell would I battle for him!?!>

<Told you so,> Apple snickered.

I sighed. <Apple, will you battle for Liam?>



<Apple, come on! Please? We need all the chances we can to win that money!>

<If we win the money, can you use some of the money to buy me a jumbo hotdog?>

I rolled my eyes. <Fine.>

<Then we have a deal.> Apple trotted over to Liam, sniffed his foot, and plopped down next to him.

"Apple will battle with you," I told Liam. "Fiery, you're with me."

<Joy.>

"Alright, ready to go?" I asked. I looked at my watch. "The party already started."

Liam and Erin got up.

<Well this has been an interesting evening,> Apple commented. 

She couldn't have been more wrong.

[Pokémon] An Apple a Day (pg 13)

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