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[Pokémon] Mentor (PG-14)

Dagzar

The Dreamer
444
Posts
15
Years
Mentor
Chapter 15: Fuchsia City





Fuchsia City was drearier than she expected. True, it wasn't raining (though those few clouds in the sky looked rather ominous…), and nothing about her surroundings appeared sad, but there was something about the place that made her fidgety.

Currently, she was taking a walk in the park. Truthfully, she would rather be reading or something, but the Fuchsia City Hospital had sucky magazines and Ed and Ally were too annoying to put up with at that moment. They were acting weird, too. The boy had been nervous ever since he heard that his parents had been called and the girl just sat around, looking depressed.

Their attitudes were irritating, as said, so therefore, she had left to go do… something.

As it was, Leah's only activity options stemmed to either finding something to do or thinking. Thinking, unfortunately, led her back to the events from yesterday.

Lorelei, before leaving the day before, told her not to repeat what happened on Seafoam Island, especially about that Plate thing and those thieves. Leah hadn't really cared for the reason why, even if Lorelei never gave it. It wasn't her concern and she would rather not waste time thinking about it. But, the topic couldn't help but slip into her mind when she had better things to think about. It, like almost everything else currently in her life, was annoying.

As Leah looked around as she walked, she couldn't help but find it odd on how someone's environment could change in a short amount of time. Yesterday, she was on the icy Seafoam Island and now, she was walking around a random park she had stumbled across.

Actually, it reminded her a bit of Pallet Town. Not only did almost all the same Pokemon live there, but the people were the same too: boring, dull and completely caught up in their lives. Though, there were some differences. The forests and plants were more lush and colorful, but still had that boring shape to it; seemingly a blend of Pallet and Cinnabar's wildlife, somehow.

Leah yawned, having not gotten that much sleep the night before. She had piled several blankets on her bed and was still shivering all night long. It had gotten better when she woke up, but definitely not enough for her to ditch her jacket on such a warm morning. Some people, the ones wearing tank tops or baggy sleeveless shirts, gave her perplexed glances.

Honestly, she was at a perfectly fine temperature at the moment, not too hot and not too cold; just right. She didn't find outdoors very warm at all, to tell the truth.

Continuing to walk down the cement pathway, Leah looked around her and spotted a large tree with long overreaching branches in the distance. Making a snap decision, she veered off the trail and walked to it, hiking up the hill that the tree stood upon. It was shady, out of everyone's path and kept the sunlight from blinding her. Though, it also kept the sun from being her convenient heat source, but she just sighed and took her Fire Stone out of her pocket.

The Fire Stone had become quite useful to her, enough for it to be always carried around in her pocket. Leah turned the stone around in her hands, looking at the mixes of reds and oranges. Taking her eyes off the rock, she looked down upon the park, eyes trailing over the moving people that she could see.

She was bored.

Like Pallet Town, there wasn't much to do. She supposed that she could go watch a movie or something, but she had no clue what was playing or where the movie theatre even was. Fuchsia City was a town that attracted trainers because of its Safari Zone, but Leah was not a trainer and she wasn't interested.

Partly to bounce ideas off of and partly because she was bored, Leah took out her Pokeball and released Sands. She honestly didn't need the company (really!), but hey, she did strange things when she was bored. And really, she was starting to brood and that was never a good sign.

Sands looked around, nose and ears twitching at the new sounds and smells.

"I'm over here," Leah said, not wanting to be ignored. Sands looked over to her, blinking.

"I'm bored, not lonely," she told him when he scuffled over to her and leaned his paws against her legs. "Get off."

Sands obviously didn't believe her as he stood on his tiptoes and sniffed at her curiously. Leah stared for a moment before she looked at the Fire Stone she was playing with in her hands in understanding.

She held it up. "Oh. Want this?"

Sands seemed to nod, though he probably just moved his head. Either way…

"Too bad," she said, smirking as she didn't let go of it. "I'm using it."

Making a whine and seeing the hopeless situation, Sands abandoned his pursuit and went off to sulk a few feet away. Like Leah, he watched the people going about their businesses, but with a more gloomy atmosphere.

Her attempt of relieving her boredom failed, Leah sighed and absentmindedly stared at the sunlight streaming though the branches.

It was then she realized that she was being reminded of Pallet Town, especially her last day there. The day when the dreaded journey started and all her hopes and dreams shattered… And when that stupid brat beat her in that Pokemon battle. She had not forgotten about that, even if some people did.

How long had it been since that day? It was July now, almost a month later. How depressing was that? It was almost like she would never get away from following the brats around. Beginning trainers usually gave up in the first two weeks (or was it one week? She couldn't remember any more), but that obviously didn't happen. She was not waiting until they got their four gym badges, one of the only other ways to get out of being a mentor to them.

But, luckily, hope was still present.

That morning and just as she was leaving the hospital, Leah had met Ed's parents, who had driven over to see their son when they found out that he had gotten hurt. They were… nice people and very concerned.

Ed's parents were curious on what happened to him and how he got hypothermia.

Leah, of course, seeing how concerned they truly were, told them the whole honest story. On how they were knocked overboard and how she thought Ed was washed away by the tides. That he had survived, but was trapped in an icy environment with no way of getting out. How, with the help of some vague person Leah made up to substitute for Lorelei, Leah was able to save him with him almost dying.

The best part was that Leah didn't lie, going with Lorelei's wish and vaguely describing her and keeping those weird people and the artifact out of it… Okay, she did do some exaggerating, so sue her.

When done her tale, Ed's parent had exchanged concerned looks and went off to talk to their son, while Leah departed, having done her good deed for the day.

And now she was here, sitting bored under some random tree.

Leah sighed and glanced at Sands, who was still sitting at the edge of the hill in one of the patches of sunlight.

Well, if you couldn't find excitement, you just had to make your own.

Untangling her legs, Leah stretched one of them out. Sands obviously didn't see it coming, judging by the squeak he made when she nudged him off the hill. Leah quickly crawled closer to watch Sands roll down the hill, its body perfect for doing such a thing. Halting at the bottom, the Sandshrew slowly unrolled itself, seemingly dizzy, as he tried to shake the sticky grass from his skin. His ears dropped and he looked up to his trainer, in a way that screamed, 'Why?!'

Leah grinned and laughed loudly at her Pokemon's expression. "Nice, Sands!"

Sands ignored her and laid down where he sat, letting the sun's rays dry him off.

Still chuckling, Leah leaned back with her legs outstretched. Ah, that was fun. What an excellent (if somewhat immature) way of curing her boredom. Now, to stop herself from being pulled back into the abyss of melancholy, she had to keep thinking; and she knew just the topic.

The seeds had been planted. If things went according to plan, Ed's parents would stop him from going on his journey since they seemed like such nice people that cared about their children. With that done, all Leah had to do was to think of a plan to get rid of Ally. The girl didn't seem to be stubborn, but she had a hard interior that wouldn't be denied… Hmm, what to do, what to do?

Unfortunately for Leah, her plotting time was interrupted when a shadow fell over her, one that wasn't in the shape of branches. She looked up and regarded the weirdo above her. "What?"

"I know you," the teen said with conviction. "You're from Pallet Town."

Leah's eyes narrowed. "Yeah? So?"

"I hardly ever meet people I know out here," he said as he flopped beside her, letting Leah see his face now that the sun was no longer behind him. He looked older than her and a bit foreign. He had long-ish black, matted hair with tanned skin and wore a plain white tee-shirt and jeans.

Leah stayed silent, trying to non-verbally tell him that she didn't want him sitting next to her like he knew her.

He either ignored it or didn't notice. "It's been a while, eh?" he said with a smile, though it looked more like a smirk to her. "What have you been up to?"

"Who're you and why are you talking to me?" Leah asked bluntly.

Looking hurt, the teen put a hand over his heart. "Ouch, that hurts. Come on, we're both Mentors, right? Remember, we chatted a bit before we got handed the kids."

Leah thought back and dimly remembered talking to someone. "Oh," she said, finally recalling. "You're the Ekans kid!"

"I got an Ekans," he said, nodding along and seeming not knowing what to say about his nickname. "I never got you're name."

Snorting, Leah turned away from him, loosing interest. "I never got yours either."

"I'll give it to you, if you want."

"No."

His face fell. "That goes straight to my heart." He looked around and spotted Sands lying at the bottom of the hill. "That's your Pokemon?"

"Yeah."

"Then I'll call you the Sandshrew Girl," he said happily, copying her style.

He really wasn't going away, was he? Leah asked herself.

"So," he stared. "How're your kids going?"

She stared at him blankly. "The brats? Annoying."

"You still have yours?" He seemed cheerful with the way he was grinning. "That sucks. I got rid of mine weeks ago."

"They give up?"

"Nope, I ditched them in Viridian City."

Honestly, Leah had never considered that solution as an option before and said nothing.

He continued on. "Really, the Mentor Program has only been in use for a few years and trainers survived before that. People are just coddling them."

Leah tried to imagine Ed and Ally doing their journey alone, but all she could think about was their stupidly, shyness and inability on how to survive in the real world.

The Ekans Kid was staring at her and she glared back, not interested in the conversation. The teen seemed to see that and switched topics. "Hey, I'm bored. Want to battle?"

She was going to refuse, really, she was… But, it wasn't as if there was anything better to do. And if that meant actually battling, then fine, she'd do that.

"Fine," she said coolly and called out to Sands. The Pokemon raised his head, not at-all wondering whether she would knock him off the hill again, right when he got to the top. After another shout, Sands seemed to sigh and he got up, stretching, before slowly hiking up the hill.

"Doesn't look very tough," the Ekans Kid commented when he saw her Pokemon.

Leah ignored him. "Where's yours?"

The teen grinned and grabbed one of his Pokeballs from his belt. "This'll be good training for Lucifer," he said, before releasing it.

The Pokemon was, predictably, an Ekans. It had bright purple scales covering its entire four foot long body that was stretched out from head to tail. There was a yellow band around its neck and yellow was also apparent on its underbelly. The Ekans tail flicked, the rattle at the end of its tail made a small and hardly apparent sound. Yellow eyes opened, revealing split pupils that narrowed further as it took a look at its pray.

"You named it after Satan?" Leah asked in disbelief.

He pouted. "It's a snake! Besides, I think it's an awesome name."

Leah only sighed. People would name their Pokemon the strangest things; at least it wasn't Slither or anything like that. "So, are we battling right here?"

"Sure." He nodded and looked around. "It'll do."

The two trainers got up and separated to different sides of the hill, the Pokemon between them. As Leah did so, she couldn't help but feel a sense of déjà-vu. She was completely mirroring that final day of freedom; how annoying! It was then that she decided that she wasn't going to let that happen any further.

Sands was uneasy, constantly glancing at its trainer and the Ekans, not very willing to fight. Lucifer, on the other hand, seemed to mirror its trainer's grin and its forked pink tongue darted out of its mouth and over its lips.

"Don't be intimidated," Leah warned Sands. "Come on; don't be a coward."

The Ekans Kid edged his own Pokemon on. "That's right, Lucifer. Leer!"

Lucifer hissed, the noise unusually loud and grabbing Sands attention. It raised its head higher, showing its yellow belly as it looked down on the Sandshrew with gleaming eyes.

"Scratch it, Sands!"

Seeing that Leah didn't want to repeat her command, Sands stayed cautious as it approached the snake, who was eying him hungrily. When the Sandshrew had edged close enough for the Ekans to strike, he leapt out of the way only seconds before Lucifer's jaws had bit down on the space where the Pokemon previously was. With the Ekans head to the ground, Sands went for the face, managing to get a swipe at the Pokemon before it pulled away.

"Scratch again!" Leah commanded.

The black haired teen also gave orders. "Lucifer, Wrap!"

Lucifer lunged, its body quick and agile as it dodged the mediocre attack and curled around the Sandshrew, embracing it with its long body. Sands struggled, kicking out its feet and digging into the Ekans' flesh with its claws. Lucifer hissed in pain and unwound itself enough for Sands to get free.

"Lucifer," the Ekans Kid cried. "Bite it before it gets away!"

Hissing, the Pokemon complied, untangling itself and allowing its sharp teeth to be seen.

Leah, however, had a plan. "Defense Curl!"

Sands didn't have to be told twice He curled, tucking his muzzle into his stomach and keeping his arms protectively over his head. Lucifer bit down onto Sands mid-section, the plated skin protecting the Sandshrew from most of the damage, but the Ekans didn't let go.

"Bite harder!" the boy said. "Don't give up; its hide isn't that thick." He then turned to Leah. "Better give up now, my Ekans isn't letting go. Besides, Lucifer's fangs are poisonous so you won't last long anyways."

Leah snorted and crossed her arms. "Don't lie. Your Ekans can hardly even rattle and you're saying it's poisonous? I've seen Ekans before and they're not poisonous anyways." She looked at Sands, who was staying still despite the pain the Ekans was probably causing. "Okay, Sands, Rapid Spin."

Despite not liking her Pokemon journey, Leah was sometimes forced to help the two brats train their Pokemon. A result of that was that Sands got training himself, even if he hardly ever used the skills. Technically, the Sandshrew didn't know Rapid Spin very well, the move being a more work-in-progress than anything else.

Lucifer's fangs were apparently not in far enough as they were wrenched out and they briefly scraped across Sands skin as the Sandshrew sharply jerked into a spin. Though, it couldn't be classified as a spin as he didn't make a full turn. But it was enough, however, as Sands was once again free, rolling onto his side and back onto his feet. He wobbled slightly, dizzy from the pain the Ekans caused.

"Scratch," Leah said and added, "If you win, you can have the Fire Stone."

With a shake of the head, Sands concentrated as he jumped forwards and scratched the recovering Ekans on the chest, leaving three bloody lines.

The battle, Leah supposed, would have gone on longer if the Ekans Kid hadn't admitted defeat by suddenly returning his Pokemon to its Pokeball. Sands was left confused on the makeshift battlefield as its opponent disappeared from sight.

"Giving up?" Leah asked, smirking.

The Ekans Kid huffed. "No, it's just that Lucifer had already been in a battle this morning and was already worn out."

Leah mentally doubted it.

"But," he said as he clipped the Pokeball back onto his belt. "I wanna rematch tomorrow."

"What if I'm busy tomorrow?" Leah questioned.

The Ekans Kid shook his head with his on smirk. "You don't live here. Besides, what else could you do here?"

"The brats control my life right now," she informed him dully.

He gave her a strange look. "Just ditch them. They're ten; give them candy and run out while they're distracted. They won't notice."

Leah wanted to tell him that the brats were ten, not five, but thought better of it and instead just returned Sands to his Pokeball and began walking away.

"Remember!" the Ekans Kid called out from behind her. "Tomorrow at this time!"

"Whatever," Leah said, rolling her eyes, but she was smiling. She couldn't help it, she tried to make it revert back to a frown, but it just wouldn't work. She had won! Technically a draw, but the Ekans Kid had forfeited and she would have won anyways.

Wow, her first victory!

No, wait! Leah shook her head, trying the clear the thoughts away. No, it didn't matter if she won or not. She didn't care about Pokemon training. Besides, she had won battles before, playful ones against Ed and Ally when they trained together. Just because the battle was against a stranger made no difference.

Sighing half-heartily and with a grin still on her face, Leah kept walking, not being able to help the flashback of her victory playing over and over again in her head.





Leah had walked around a bit more before going back to the hospital to check up on things.

Ally was sitting quietly in the lobby, surprisingly not by Ed's side. A magazine was on her lap and Leah saw the flowers and leaves in it before Ally closed it when she spotted her mentor.

"What's up?" Leah greeted, still in a good mood.

"Ed's not happy," Ally informed her, ignoring the question. She nervously played with the edges of the magazine. "He doesn't want to talk to me."

Leah raised an eyebrow at that. Ed and Ally had been hand-in-hand practically the entire journey so far. "Why?"

Ally bit her lip. "H- He talked to his parents and he started shouting. Then they closed the door and I couldn't hear."

Well, that was fast. Maybe her seeds had already bloomed?

"Where's his room again?" Leah asked, looking around the crowded lobby. True, she had been to Ed's room before, but she wasn't paying attention on how she got there. And now she had better check up on him and see what had happened.

Leading the way, Ally walked quickly, hoping Leah could solve the problem. Leah on the other hand was mentally chanting, 'please let the brat be grounded, please be grounded, please be grounded-'

The room was quite a ways a way and Leah was already getting tired of seeing the white hallways and moving out of the way of other people. Finally, Ally stopped in front of a closed door and knocked hesitantly.

"Go away!" Ed's muffled yell told them.

"Out of the way," Leah said as she moved past Ally and pushed open the door.

Ed was alone in the room, the parents no where to be seen. The window was open, letting fresh air in. There were four beds, two on each side of the room and facing one another, but only Ed's was occupied, the others being empty and made. Ed himself was huddled in the middle of his bed, arms around his knees and his now not-so-neat orange hair brushing his eyes.

"What's up?" Leah said, trying her previous greeting on him.

Like Ally, Ed ignored it. "Go away."

Leah sat down on one of the chairs near his bed, the chairs already being conveniently angled so that she could face him directly. "Don't feel like it."

Ally sat down next to Leah, hands clasped on her lap. She opened her mouth, as if going to say something, but closed it with nothing said.

"So," Leah started when she saw that Ed wasn't going to reply. "What'd the parents say?"

"They don't want me being a trainer anymore!" Ed burst out, making Ally flinch at the noise.

Instead of dancing in happiness at the news, Leah only said a vague, "I see."

Ed continued. "They don't want me getting hurt like William did and they said it'd be better for me if I stayed home!" He looked almost in tears by that point and Leah suppressed the inch of guilt that surfaced.

"Are they…" Leah tried to word it carefully, suddenly mindful of not hurting his feelings. "Going to force you?"

"Dunno," Ed muttered, spent at his outburst. "They wanted me to calm down before speaking again."

"Right." At that moment, Leah was having a mental crisis. She was thrilled that it looked like one-half of her problem was going to be forced to give up. On the other hand, and for one of the first times in the whole journey, she realized that Ed was a genuine ten-year-old. An annoying, mostly two-dimensional and immature ten-year-old. One whose hopes and dreams rested on his journey.

Leah tried to imagine what would happen if she was prevented on going on her journey when she was ten (before That Incident happened). Truthfully, she would have probably thrown a tantrum and went crying and complaining to her mother… Okay, technically, she didn't have a mother at that point, but it was a good enough example.

No, Leah told herself firmly, stopping those thoughts in their tracks. She wasn't going to look at Ed's perspective in the situation. She wanted out of the whole Mentor thing and she would get out no matter what it took. Besides, Pokemon training was more of a fad than anything else. In a few months, maybe years, Ed would suddenly be grateful that he got to stay at home. Somehow.

"Y- You can't," Ally said and Leah was surprised to note that she too looked like she was about to cry. "We were going to do this journey together!"

Ed nodded, lost in thought. "Yeah, I want to go! But… I don't know what to do, how can I convince Mom and Dad?"

"M- Maybe you can show them how well your Pokemon can battle," Ally suggested. "And then they'll know you're protected."

Grasping onto the idea, no matter how illogical it seemed, Ed nodded again and brightened up. "Yeah! Yeah! I show them what Paras can do."

Despite how persistent the brats were, Leah was sure they would fail. If Ed's Paras couldn't protect him then, then what made Ed so sure that the Pokemon could do so after a small amount of training?

Well, it didn't matter because, either way, Leah was getting out of the stupid journey no matter what it took.

And that was that.




A/N: Sorry for the long wait, guys! Nothing much to say on this chapter, but hopefully it wasn't too boring in the beginning and the ending wasn't too cut off. Anyways, I hoped you liked it.
 
Last edited:

Giratina ♀

what's your sign?
1,439
Posts
15
Years
  • Age 27
  • Seen Jul 23, 2013
Even though grammar errors are in no way my thing, there were a few more than usual here and I felt I should point 'em out.

"I never got your (as opposed to 'you're') name."
Sands didn't have to be told twice. (There should be a period here, of course) He curled...
Ed was alone in the room, the parents nowhere (as opposed to 'no where') to be seen. (I don't know if you live sonewhere else where this error might not be considered an error at all, because I've seen it happen before, so please excuse my New Jersey literacy skills if where you are it's considered okay.)
As for the chapter itself, the whole 'Parents forbidding kids to go on/continue ADVENTCHURR' thing is kind of overused, but I haven't yet seen it happen this far into the story plot-wise. I'm impressed that Ed didn't just decide then and there to disobey his parents like so many other kids in this predicament; and, to be honest, I don't think Ally's idea was very illogical at all. Looking forward to the next chapter!
 

Dagzar

The Dreamer
444
Posts
15
Years
Thanks for reviewing, Giratinasaur, and I'll fix those mistakes as soon as I shake off my summer laziness.

As for the chapter itself, the whole 'Parents forbidding kids to go on/continue ADVENTCHURR' thing is kind of overused, but I haven't yet seen it happen this far into the story plot-wise. I'm impressed that Ed didn't just decide then and there to disobey his parents like so many other kids in this predicament;-
Heh, yeah, a lot of Pokemon fanfics that I've seen around do have that. About Ed's situation though, I don't really see how Ed could have disobeyed his parents unless you mean by him running away or something like that.

-and, to be honest, I don't think Ally's idea was very illogical at all. Looking forward to the next chapter!
Maybe you're right about Ally's idea being logical, but what Leah was thinking was that if Paras couldn't defend Ed already, it'd take a long time for Ed to train his Pokemon up enough that it could really defend him. And really, a Paras doesn't look like much and I doubt it would impress his parents with it not being bigger than a Pidgey.

Thanks for the review! :)
 

delongbi

I C U
161
Posts
16
Years
Hello! I apologize for disappearing... it's a bad habit of mine.

Anyway, I really enjoyed the chapter about Blue and Green. I'd like to see why Green really wants those plates; I'm so sad they'll be out of the picture for a bit. I await their return! Blue is officially my favorite character in your story thus far

I find it amusing that Blue remembers Leah and her Sandshrew of anything, especially when Leah could care less about the whole situation and her Pokemon in general. Nice irony.

Has it really been a month? Wow, for some reason, it only seemed like a week or two to me. It's neat that Leah half won, finally. She deserves the bit of happiness.

I really dislike the Ekans kid. For some reason, I get the feeling he's going to try to cheat in their next battle. Anyway, great chapters! Keep it up! :)
 

Dagzar

The Dreamer
444
Posts
15
Years
Thanks for reviewing, delongbi!

Anyway, I really enjoyed the chapter about Blue and Green. I'd like to see why Green really wants those plates; I'm so sad they'll be out of the picture for a bit. I await their return! Blue is officially my favorite character in your story thus far
Heh, I'm glad you enjoyed the last few chapters. And I'll have to agree with you, Blue is also one of my favorite characters (unlike some of the others, he's just so easy to write).

It's neat that Leah half won, finally. She deserves the bit of happiness.
Leah originally wasn't supposed to win (I like being hard on her), but then I found out poison attacks don't effect ground types, so she got a free victory.

Has it really been a month? Wow, for some reason, it only seemed like a week or two to me.
You're lucky. I admit, I love summer, though only when it's spring, autumn or winter. When it actually is summer, I always rediscover that it's very boring and I always have nothing to do. I also rediscover that the first month of summer enhances my laziness so that it's hard to write.

I really dislike the Ekans kid. For some reason, I get the feeling he's going to try to cheat in their next battle. Anyway, great chapters! Keep it up!
The Ekans Kid is a tricky character and I've started to notice he comes off rather arrogant.

Thanks again, delongbi, and since it's Friday…




Mentor
Chapter 16: Talks


-

Luckily, Leah didn't have to put up with the brats determination and optimism for the whole day as it wasn't more than a few hours later that Ed was released from the hospital. Ed had brightened up considerably during that time, but as soon as his parents came to pick him up, his sullen mood returned with a vengeance.

"No," Ed told his parents with a glare. "I don't want to go home. I want to stay with Ally and Leah at the Pokemon Center."

"Eddy-" Mrs. Williams said, giving a worried look to her husband. "We just want what's best for you."

"I'm a Pokemon trainer, Mum," Ed argued. "I'm not giving up!"

The argument carried on for a few more minutes as the topic subtly shifted from 'Ed being a trainer' and back to 'where Ed was going to stay'. It was finally decided that instead of Ed staying at the Pokemon Center with Leah and Ally, the trio would stay at Ed's house until the whole problem was solved.

So, Leah found herself looking out the window of Ed's car, squished in the back with the two brats, Ally being the unlucky person in the middle. There was a certain silence about. Ed's parents tried to make conversation about the Pokemon journey, but Ed stayed strong in his mood and answered in one-word answers, Ally was too shy to talk much and Leah just didn't care.

It was certainly awkward.

"So, Leah," Mr. Williams asked, having abandoned his attempt to talk to the other two. "Why did you decide to be a Mentor?"

Oh, joy. Why was it always the hard questions?

Leah shrugged and put on a casual face of disinterest. "Don't really have a reason. Didn't have much to do this summer, you know?"

Lies. She had several things she wanted to do this summer, including sleeping in, be lazy and pretty much doing nothing. Summer was the only time she could get away with all that. Instead, she was stuck babysitting brats and walking around a lot.

What she would give to sleep in her own bed again…

Mr. Williams nodded and once again, the awkward silence returned.

Leah looked out the window with vague interest. Cars whooshed by in other lanes, but other then that, that wasn't really anything to be exited about. The car was in the suburb area by then and all she could see were houses, houses and more houses. Actually, the houses looked rather nice and Leah assumed that Ed and his family lived in an upper-class area.

The car turned the corner and almost immediately after, Mr. Williams steered it into a driveway of a rather good looking house. He parked the car in front of the garage and turned back to the trio. "Here we are."

Leah got out and Ally followed her. Looking around, Leah stared at the modern-looking house, which was almost the complete opposite of her own home back in Pallet Town. The lawn was neat and trimmed and colorful flowers filled the garden. There was porch with a white rail railing and it had beautiful hanging baskets hanging from the roof on wires.

Ed came to stand beside Leah as his parents walked up the steps and unlocked the front door. The boy didn't look very angry anymore, as far as Leah could tell. He looked more… relieved than anything else.

"Daddy!" a high-pitched voice announced from the doorway. Mr. Williams smiled and opened his arms as a pink blur ran into them. "You're home!" Big eyes peeked from over her father's arms and caught Ed's similar ones.

The little girl's big grin showed missing teeth. "Eddy! You're back!" She promptly abandoned her father to go run up to Ed instead.

Ed smiled at her, instantly brightening up. "Hi, Carla!"

Carla, with curly auburn hair tied with a pink ribbon and wearing a pink dress, looked up at him as she put her small arms around his waist (or tried to). "Eddy!"

"I- Is this your sister?" Ally asked curiously, charmed by the girl.

Of course she is, Leah answered sarcastically in her own head. Why would she be in the brat's house then?

"I'm Carla!" Ed's sister said, not letting go of Ed as she smiled shyly back at Ally. "I'm five."

Ally looked like she was going start aw-ing the ball of cuteness, so Leah quickly broke the moment. "So… Are we going inside?"

According to plan, the cute moment was dissolved and Carla reluctantly let go of Ed as they all trailed through the front door. The room they came into was small and there was a staircase pressed against the wall with a door on the wall beside it. Other than that, the room was practically a hallway, with only a table and a coat-rack pressed against the other wall.

Carla jumped onto the first step on the stairs and waited for Ed to kick off his shoes and drop his backpack before running up the stairs, giggling. Forgetting about everyone else and his current problem, Ed chased his sister up the stairs, grinning with delight.

Leah and Ally were left behind with the parents as they listened to thumps of running feet above them.

"Ed!" Mrs. Williams yelled up the stairs. "Don't forget about your friends!"

It only took a few moments for Ed to show up at the top of the stairs, his face slightly red. "Sorry!" he said, still smiling widely and looked down at Leah and Ally. "Come on!"

Leah just sighed as she purposely followed Ally up the stairs as slow as she could, making both of them wait at the top. She hardly got a glance around at the hallway she found herself in before she was herded down the hall by Ed's cheerful glances and annoying words.

"I'll show you my room!" Ed said excitedly, pointing down the hall to the farthest door. It opened easily and Leah peered half-curiously over Ed's head at his bedroom. It was surprisingly neat and tidy; the bed was made, the floor was spotless and everything on the shelves, from toys to books, looked organized.

Ed looked around his room in wonder, like he hadn't seen it for a long time (which was true). He spun around and hurled himself on his bed back first, landing on the Pikachu printed covers with a bounce. One of the bed's many pillows teetered before falling to the ground and Ally picked up, holding it with a smile.

"This is my room," Ed declared, looking at the two. "Isn't it neat?"

The room looked like the type of room most kids might have; there wasn't anything special about it. Though, Leah refrained from saying so, not feeling that comfortable to be standing in someone else's room.

Ed looked at the girls expectantly. "Aren't you going to sit down?"

It seemed like Ally was as nervous as Leah was, despite her smiling demeanor, since she visibly hesitated before taking a seat beside Ed. Now two sets of eyes were on Leah, and she sighed again before sitting down against the wall.

Leah was starting to regret not going to the Pokemon Center.

Oblivious to his companion's awkwardness, Ed started to rattle on, seemingly delighted at having friends over.

Bringing her knees to her chest, Leah mentally groaned.

She really should have stayed at the Pokemon Center.

-

Around ten minutes later, Ms. Williams popped in to see how they were doing.

"Would anyone like anything to drink?" she asked.

Seeing her chance, Leah slowly got up, feeling the ache in her back. "Sure."

Ed and Ally hardly took a moment to decline before going back to their discussion on whatever they were talking about. It wasn't like Leah had been listening.

Leah followed Ms. Williams to the kitchen where she saw Mr. Williams and some teenager at the table, the father reading the newspaper and the teen playing with a handheld device in his hands.

"What would you like?" Ms. Williams asked Leah, who tore her glaze off the teen and thought quickly.

"Water will be fine," Leah replied.

Taking the glass with a small 'thank you', Leah leaned against the counter as she sipped. She did that for a few moments, trying to lengthen the time away from the brats and when she finished, she wondered whether she get more water.

"William," Mr. Williams spoke up, having seemingly been observing Leah for the past few minutes. "Do you think you can show Leah to the computer room?"

William looked up from his gameboy, or whatever it was, and glanced at Leah through the lens of his glasses. "Sure,"

Leah wasn't sure how she was supposed to reply, but not wanting to reject such a kind and courteous offer (anything to get away from the brats), she gave a relieved smile. "Eh, thanks."

"It must be boring to have only children for company," Mr. Williams explained. "Don't hesitate to ask for anything."

William stood up with his gameboy in hand and he led Leah back to the staircase where he wandered downwards. As he did so, Leah couldn't help but notice the limp he sported, which made him clutch the rail tightly as he walked carefully down the stairs.

Now at the front room, they went through the door that Leah had seen before and down that hallway, he turned into another room. The next room was a dead-end, having only three desks with computers place on them. All of the monitors were dark, but Williams went up to one of them and jiggled the mouse, making a background with an ocean appear.

"You may use mine," he said.

"Thanks," Leah said, sneaking a more studious glace at the teen. He looked older than her and even older than the Ekans Kid from that morning. He had orange hair, like Ed's, but messier, and he was wearing a baggy shirt and pants.

Surprising Leah, William didn't leave the room, instead sitting down at one of the other chairs in front of the computers. He didn't touch the computer, however, only going back to his gameboy and getting lost in whatever he was looking at.

Leah looked at him for a couple more seconds before she turned got in the chair and opened the internet. It'd had been so long since she had been on the internet…

-

The next half-hour was conducted in silence. Leah kept to the computer, only sometimes looking back at William, who hadn't moved. The silence was filled with the clicking of Leah's mouse and the rapid taps of William's fingers on his gameboy. Though, the more she looked, the more she was aware of that the teen's gameboy wasn't quite a gameboy. It looked like one, but there was something familiar about it.

And it was only when she went to Google to confirm her suspicions, did she actually turn around in her chair and say, "Is that a Pokedex?"

The taps paused and William looked up. "Yes."

The Pokedex was one of the older models, hardly used or seen since they all had been traded in for the newer models with many more functions. This particular older version was the eye-catching red, though the red paint was peeled in many places, revealing the silver metal beneath it. Unlike the newer versions, the Pokedex was in the shape of a rectangle with a thin cover that flipped off. It was also less fancy than its more modern counterparts.

Leah had never actually seen that version of the Pokedex before in real life. She herself was given a newer version when she was ten (though she traded it in for the newest Pokedex before she was given the brats).

"Why are you looking at?" Leah asked.

"If I want to be a Pokemon professor, I have to know about Pokemon," he said, frowning as if the answer was obvious.

"I guess," Leah said, not satisfied with his answer. "But it's summer. Don't you have better things to do?" And that didn't even account for the fact that he'd find better information on the internet if he wanted to know about Pokemon.

He shook his head and said, "No." After which, he went back to his Pokedex and abandoned the whole conversation.

Leah was in a talkative mood and she wasn't finished with him quite yet. "Why are you down here, then?"

"It's cooler down here," he explained with only a hint of annoyance. "And quieter than upstairs."

"… Right," she said dryly, honestly not noticing the temperature. She didn't know why she was even talking to him. Didn't seem much like a social type. But really, what else was there for her to do? She had gone on the internet and went to her usual sites, but oddly, they seemed pretty dull. They just weren't as interesting as she remembered.

"Why do you want to be a professor?" Leah asked the older boy.

"I like Pokemon," he said plainly. "And I want to work with them. That's all."

She pressed, "Nothing else you want to do? There're things other than Pokemon."

"Not for me."

Damn, she was having a hard time trying to talk to William. He always drove the conversation to a dead end; he could at least ask her what she wanted to do or something. She just wanted him to entertain her. That wasn't so hard, was it?

As if reading her thoughts, William pressed a button on his Pokedex and closed it with a snap of the lid clicking into place. He placed the device onto the desk next to him and crossed his legs.

"Why are you so interested?" he asked, eyes focused on Leah.

She shrugged and gave him a strange look. "It was just a comment. Besides, you're the only one I can really talk to around here."

"Oh?" he said. "Then what are you interested in?"

"Stuff; Reading, listening to music," she said, not knowing what else to list. It wasn't like she had any interesting hobbies.

"Don't like Pokemon then?"

Leah shrugged again. "Not everyone likes Pokemon."

"Then why are you a trainer?" he asked. Suddenly, Leah felt that she was being the one interrogated instead of the other way around.

"I'd rather be a trainer than go to a boarding school." Though, her heart wasn't in the comment. Going to a boarding school looked more and more like a better option as the days went by. She vaguely knew in some part of her mind that her grandmother would unlikely send her to a boarding school. It was more a threat to make her try training again; her grandmother had never liked the way she had neglected Sands and her always lazing around the house.

Now it was William's turn to look at her funny. "Boarding schools aren't that bad, or so say my friends. You'd have freedom, for one thing."

"I'd live at a school," she shot back. "I really don't like that idea."

"Suit yourself then." William paused. "So, you really don't like Pokemon?"

She snorted. "No. I don't want anything to do with them."

"You'll have a hard time getting away from them, though," he said. "Pokemon are everywhere these days. In nearly every industry, they're there. You'd be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't own a Pokemon."

"Not really," Leah replied. "Pokemon training is dying down."

"Training is a sport," he said back. "It'll come back up eventually. It has in the past."

Leah blinked. "Really?" She certainly hadn't heard about anything like that in history class.

He nodded. "Yes. Around fifty years ago, Pokemon training suddenly died. Ten years later, it came back very suddenly in 1964 after the Indigo League championship. It was that final battle that spurred up trainers again."

1964. That date sounded suspiciously familiar to Leah and it took more than a few moments to remember its significance. "Wait, wasn't that battle between…"

"Samuel Oak and Agatha Madeline," he confirmed. "It was quite a battle."

Yeah, okay. Leah was officially tired of that topic and no longer wanted to talk about it. She remembered that event now. Her grandmother had been there on that day and told her about it many times. Supposedly, it was a really good battle. Though, she doubted it.

"Really," she said.

Awkward silence tried to descend, though William kicked it away before it settled.

"My parents never told me," he started and unease came over Leah. "But how did Ed end up in the hospital?"

"Pokemon cornered him on Seafoam Island when we got separated," Leah said, having already repeated the edited story to his parents.

"He didn't get any other injuries?"

Leah shrugged. "No? Well, the hospital released him, so he's fine."

William sighed in relief. "That's good; I was a bit worried he might've ended up like me."

"Like you?"

"I had an accident when I was thirteen," William said with a suddenly bitter tone. "And I had to quit being a trainer."

"Oh," Leah replied, hating it when conversations turned depressing. "That sucks."

William nodded and said nothing, making Leah scourer her mind for something to say. She started the conversation so she might as well get some information.

"… So your parents are going to keep Ed from being a trainer?" Leah asked in what she hoped was a casual voice, though William looked at her as if he saw right through it.

"Maybe," he said finally, picking his Pokedex off the desk and caressing its surface. "They're concerned for him, like they were for me. They weren't happy when Ed became a trainer and they don't want him to get hurt like I did."

Whoa, the depressing topic was coming up again. She'd better reply fast. "Well, they are right to be worried."

William looked at her and Leah continued.

"Pokemon trainers get hurt all the time and some even die, right? It's always on the news; trainers getting mauled or killed by wild Pokemon."

Silence returned, but this time, neither of them did anything to get rid of it. William slowly got up, Pokedex in hand and surveyed the room before meeting Leah's eyes.

He concluded, "My parents haven't really decided yet. Though," he said, pausing. "If you're worried, it'd help if you were there for Ed."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Leah asked, confused and defensive.

"Well," William explained coolly. "Ed's a kid and you're his Mentor, right? It's your job to stop the trainers you're looking after from getting hurt."

Leah frowned. What he said was true, but…

"Hey, me and Ally searched for a long time to find him and it's not like he died or anything."

"That's true," William conceded, pushing his glasses up with his free hand. "But you should have been able to stop him from getting in trouble in the first place." He held up a hand to stop Leah from protesting. "Now, I don't know the whole story yet, but I don't like it when my siblings get hurt."

Leah honestly had no clue what to say and watched as William left the room, limping, and leaving behind, "I'm going to go say 'hi' to Ed."

So, Leah just sat there for a moment before she turned around on the chair and back to the monitor. She felt mix emotions on what Ed's brother said, but she pushed them to the back of her mind and only regretted trying to talk the teen.

-

Upstairs, Ed and Ally were enjoying themselves.

"I'm going to catch another Pokemon," Ed said out of the blue.

Ally blinked as their conversation was suddenly turned towards a new topic. She quickly caught up with his thought and said, "What type of Pokemon?"

Thinking, Ed let himself fall back onto his bed with his feet dangling off the end.

"Dunno, but it's going to be awesome! Something big, like a Rhyhorn." He grinned. "Wouldn't it be so cool if I had a Rhydon? It'd beat any Pokemon in ten seconds flat!"

Ed's enthusiasm was contagious. Ally smiled and pitched in. "Maybe you can get a Dratini!"

"A Dragonite!" Ed gasped, but then frowned. "But Dratini are never seen in the Safari Zone. Some people say they aren't even there!"

"Then… What other Pokemon are in the Safari Zone?" Ally asked as her mind hit a dead end.

"Scyther, Pinsir," a voice said from the doorway. "Nidorino."

Instantly, Ed jumped off the bed and jumped at the figure. "William!"

William laughed and ruffled his brother's hair. "Hey Eddy!"

Ally watched the scene politely, but also with curiosity.

"Ally," Ed said after hugging his brother and motioned to William. "This is my brother!"

"H- Hello," Ally greeted shyly.

William smiled. "Nice to meet you."

Suddenly, Ed pouted and crossed his arms. "Why didn't you greet me at the door?"

"I thought you wanted to spend time with your friends," William replied quickly with embarrassment, not meeting Ed's gaze.

Ed grinned again. "You're my friend." He paused and then burst out, "Does the Safari Zone really have Scyther? I didn't know they did!"

"Not many people do," William explained. "They're rarely seen and are always very deep in the jungle. They're like Dratini in a way."

"Then I want to go to the Safari Zone!" Ed said in determination. "And I'll catch a Scyther!"

"So soon?" the older boy questioned. "You did just get home after all. Maybe you should take a few days rest."

Ed frowned. "I need another Pokemon so I can show Mum and Dad that I can go on a journey. That I'll be safe."

William sighed as his smile dimmed. "Don't worry, Eddy, I doubt Mom and Dad would actually keep you from going on your journey."

"They might though," Ed countered. "I need a new Pokemon and I need to train Paras so that he'll be even stronger than before!"

William nodded in thought. "Well, I'll go talk Dad and see what he thinks. Maybe we can go in a couple of days."

"Awesome!" Ed exclaimed. He once again took a seat on his bed and turned to Ally. "We get to go to the Safari Zone!"

Ally smiled. "Have you ever been there?"

Shaking his head, Ed said, "No, but William's been there and he always says it's a lot of fun."

"Hmm, I'll leave you guys alone now," William said, giving a knowing glance at the couple, though he waited for Ed's and Ally's goodbyes before departing.

"Your brother's nice," Ally commented.

"Yeah," Ed replied happily. "He's the best… Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

Ally grew sad at that.

"No, I'm an only child."

Feeling sorry for her, Ed said, "That sucks!"

"Ed," Ally asked, placing her hands on her lap and revealing what had been prying at her mind for a while. "What about Leah?"

Ed blinked at her.

"What about her?"

"I don't think she wants to do this anymore," Ally said sadly. She, unlike Ed, was affected by Leah's personality, feeling sad whenever Leah put her down (even though she was quick to apologize when she went too far). Though, Leah had redeemed herself in Ally's eyes when she went after Ed anyway, even if she didn't have to.

But…

Ally had been watching that morning as Leah told Ed's parents what had happened and she had noticed that Leah hadn't told the whole truth. Lorelei was hardly mentioned and their mentor had made everything seem worse than it actually was. It was like she was trying to get Ed to stop being a trainer. True, Leah had never been secretive with her dislike of Pokemon training, but she had never actually gone out of her way to get out of it before.

"But-" Ed was almost lost for words. "She wouldn't abandon us! She cares about us, right? She helped me on Seafoam Island!"

"I- I had to convince her," Ally said slowly. "And-"

"And what?"

Ally tried to word it right. "Leah doesn't want to do this, so she might try to go against us."

"I don't get it," Ed said, frowning. "How would she go against us?"

"I- I don't know." That was the best answer Ally could give. She just had a feeling that Leah might try to go against them and make it hard for Ed.

Ed was thinking hard, nonchalantly swinging his legs back and forth. "… Leah doesn't want to do this anymore because she doesn't like Pokemon?"

"She likes Sands, doesn't she?" Ally asked out loud. "She teases it, but… she doesn't do anything bad to it."

"Maybe she's in denial," Ed suggested. "Maybe…"

Ed looked directly at Ally with a grin as an idea came to him. "Then let's get her to like it!"

"Like what?"

"Pokemon! Pokemon training!" Ed was clearly excited, his eyes wide. "Then she'll come with us willingly and then she won't be all mean anymore!"

Ally liked the idea, but there was a problem.

"How?"

That was the dead end to Ed's excitement. He deflated and his eyes narrowed in thought, trying to think of a solution. Ed looked at his bedroom door as another idea swiftly revealed itself to him.

"We can ask William!" Ed said, grin once again on his face. "He'll know what to do!"

Ally had hardly met Ed's brother, but it was a good suggestion. Maybe there was a way to convince Leah to come with them.

Maybe.

-

A/N: Ugh, I hated this chapter. I think this chapter ties with chapter 7 as my most hated chapter of all time. Also, my dislike of dialogue has reminded me that it exists; stupid dialogue. And don't get me started on William; he came out way different than I intended. Anyway, sorry for the boring chapter, but the next one should be more exciting if everything goes according to plan.
 
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delongbi

I C U
161
Posts
16
Years
I find it slightly disturbing that you hate the chapters that I love. Actually, I don't remember if it happened back in chapter 7, but I certainly liked this chapter. *Looks back at my review for chapter 7* Nope, I didn't love that chapter- thus destroying my hypothesis. Anywho, I really did like this chapter a lot. I'll try to list reasons.

1. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT!!!
That was basically all this chapter was. Leah, starting to be inquisitive, and Ed and Ally plotting on their own, more logically than usual.

2. William
Basically, he's a good foil for Leah. He is one of the first (if not the first) people to throw her usual attitude right back. I like him.

Hmm, I think that is it. Here are my other comments:

Though, Leah wasn't through with him yet and was feeling in a talkative mood. "Why are you down here, then?

Well that's a first!! Also, that's a sentence fragment...or at least an awkwardly structured sentence. I think it should be "Leah wasn't through with him yet though and was feeling in a talkative mood."

Actually, it still sounds slightly awkward. I'm not sure how to fix it.


"Then why are you a trainer?" he asked. Suddenly, Leah felt that she was being the one interrogated instead of the other way around.

I love William!!!

Though, Leah had redeemed herself in Ally's eyes when she went after Ed anyway, even if she didn't have to.

This whole starting the sentence with "Though" thing is starting to become a habit, and I'm not sure it's legal....


Great chapter (even if you didn't think so) and keep up the great writing!
 

Dagzar

The Dreamer
444
Posts
15
Years
Thanks for reviewing, delongbi!

Heh, I'm glad you liked the chapter. The reason I didn't like this particular chapter was because it was boring to me. I have a tendency to dislike chapters that hold a lot of dialogue and / or have little action. It was also pretty tough for me to write and I had to do an unusual amount of editing to make the chapter better.

2. William
Basically, he's a good foil for Leah. He is one of the first (if not the first) people to throw her usual attitude right back. I like him.
That's part of the reason William exists. I got a bit concerned when I realized that no one really calls Leah out for her attitude, so I decided to make him a bit hostile.

This whole starting the sentence with "Though" thing is starting to become a habit, and I'm not sure it's legal....
Don't worry; I'll cut back on the 'though' for the next chapter. Yeah, I do use that word pretty often now that I look. It almost ties with my constantly used word 'seemingly' which I use like ten times a chapter.

I'll go fix that awkward sentence now, and thanks again! :)
 

Dagzar

The Dreamer
444
Posts
15
Years
Mentor
Chapter 17: Battles





The next morning was colder than the last. The pale gray clouds, always just on the edge of her vision, floated silently in the sky. But for once, they weren't what she thinking about. She had a few more problems on her hands. Specifically one huge one:

Why was she here again?

Here she was, sitting on the dry grass with the tree once again over her head. The tree's leaves rustled in motion with the wind, making her look up and scowl at the noise. There weren't many people at the park that morning. They, the smart ones, didn't want to risk rain getting in the way of their day, so they didn't bother to come. She, on the other hand, wasn't acting as smart.

Seriously, was she that bored that she had given thought to the Ekans Kid's demand that she appear for a rematch? Apparently, she had because here she was; waiting.

"Sands," Leah said suddenly. "I think there's something wrong with me."

Sands, sitting beside her and having learned his lesson not to sit close to the edge of a hill when around his trainer, just blinked his big dark blue eyes.

"I'm not kidding," Leah assured him and motioned to the clouds. "I can't believe I'm sitting outside in this weather."

Sands apparently could, because he just made a vague whine of his name and nuzzled his Fire Stone. Leah stared at him in annoyance and wondered if Pokemon could get addicted to Elemental Stones. It sure wouldn't surprise her.

Well, Leah told herself, she supposed (supposed) that maybe she was better off staying outside. Before she had left Ed's house, she couldn't but notice that Ed and Ally kept staring at her during breakfast. It was just a bit creepy and she immediately started wondering what they were plotting.

Probably nothing good.

"Where is that idiot?" Leah mused to herself as she looked around from her hill. She, against her entire character, had showed up and the idiot who demanded her presence hadn't yet? She wasn't that patient and was already fidgeting by the end of ten minutes of waiting.

Screw it. Five more minutes was all that Leah was going to give him. If he didn't show up, she was out of there.

-

So, around fifteen minutes later, Leah was questioning her decision to stay seated. She had already come up with all sorts of excuses. She hadn't left yet because she was lazy and didn't want to get up; because she didn't want to disturb Sands, who was propped up against her lap, sleeping (which, she admitted, was her weakest excuse); because she was bored and honestly had nothing better to do.

But in all honestly, she had stayed sitting because… she wanted to (with hints of excuses 'a' and 'c'). Yeah, pretty lame reason.

Though, seriously, where was that idiotic bastard?

"Sands," Leah barked and her Sandshrew snapped awake, looking around for any signs of attack. "When he shows up, whack him with your claws."

Luckily for the Ekans Kid, he chose that moment to show up.

It was like he appeared out of thin air; one moment there was nothing and the next he was climbing up the hill with an embarrassed grin on his face. He dodged Leah's glare and sat on the other side of her, though doing it carefully so not to disturb his Ekans, who was curled around his neck.

"Sorry I'm late," he apologized in response for another evil look from Leah.

"Yeah?" she said coldly. "What's your excuse?"

He thought about it for a moment and nodded when he came to a decision.

"I forgot."

Leah felt like slapping him.

"Lucifer is all patched up," The Ekans Kid said happily, ignoring her expression. "So this time, we can't lose."

"So you say," she replied, thoughts of vengeance taking form within her mind. First, she'd use Poison Sting…

The Ekans Kid got up after hardly sitting down for a minute. He grinned as he untangled Lucifer from his neck.

"Wanna start now?"

Leah followed his example, pushing Sands off her lap, getting up and then nudging her Sandshrew up with her shoe.

She smirked. "Sure."

And the battle was on.

-

It was hardly five minutes later when the battle finished and once again, Sands stood victorious over its fallen foe.

The Ekans Kid scowled while Leah did mental victory dances in her head and smiled widely.

"Good job, Sands!" she said and, for one of the few times, actually meant it. She knelt down in front of her Sandshrew and, trying to be a nice person for once, flicked the dirt from his hide and cleaned him up the best she could (or before she realized what she was doing and stopped).

Lucifer was returned to its Pokeball without comment and the Ekans Kid just sighed and ran a hand through his thick black hair. "Damn it."

Leah was tempted to yell: "Haha! Loser!" to his face, but stopped herself.

"Say," the Ekans Kid started casually after a moment of thought. "What other Pokemon do you have?"

"Only Sands."

The Ekans Kid was obviously surprised as he stood there for a few moments before saying, "Seriously?"

"Yeah."

"Whoa." Disbelief was in his voice. "I thought Mentors had to have over six badges to volunteer. There's no way you could beat six gyms with only a Sandshrew."

Not having any clue on the guidelines to being a Mentor, Leah only shrugged. "I'm a special case."

"Did you really want to be a Mentor that badly?"

Leah spluttered, "What? No! It wasn't my decision."

"… Didn't think so," The Ekans Kid said, shrugging. "You don't seem like the type."

"Hold on," Leah said, eyes narrowing as a thought came to her as well as the memory of yesterday's conversation. "Why did you become a Mentor? Didn't you ditch your brats?"

The Ekans Kid stood there blankly for a few seconds at the sudden question. "Well," he said, dragging out the answer. "There's a lot of reasons."

"Really?" she asked, manipulating the conversation away from her. "What are they?"

He shrugged again before saying, "I hoped it might give me some inspiration."

That answer threw her. "Huh?"

"I've been training Pokemon for six years now," the Ekans Kid explained. "I'm just getting a bit… bored, you know?"

Actually, no she didn't, but she stayed quiet as he went on.

"I was hoping that guiding new trainers might get me motivated again, but that sure didn't work." He seemed rather bitter about it.

Leah took a seat at the base of the tree and leaned back, Sands lying down at her feet. She was rather comfortable at just commenting vaguely on his troubles.

"The kids not motivating?"

Seeing that Leah had sat down, the Ekans Kid followed her example and continued, "Yeah! They were just so boring and whiny. Even their Pokemon weren't interesting, just a Spearow, Geodude and Oddish. I couldn't get away from them fast enough."

"So now you're out looking for a purpose in training?" Leah asked, trying not to roll her eyes at the cliché she just uttered.

"Y- No." the Ekans Kid took back his answer quickly. "Not like that; that's not what I mean."

"Whatever," Leah said, no longer interested in his motivations.

The boy though was quite insistent on her not misunderstanding what he was doing. "Besides, that was weeks ago. I've found something to do now."

"Really now."

"Yeah!" he said, seemingly insulted that Leah didn't believe him. "It's a tournament. One that's nothing like I've seen before."

Leah sighed. "I honestly don't care about tournaments." Though, she listened to him anyway when he disregarded her comment.

"It's going to take place two years from now and already things are getting set up," he said excitedly, happy to share. "Only the best trainers will compete and they'll come from all over."

"That's nice."

"I'm so going to enter it and I'm already training non-stop."

"So your Ekans is going to be in it?" Leah asked dully, trying to squeeze the last bits of entertainment out of him. "That's the only Pokemon I've seen of yours."

The Ekans Kid smiled. "Probably, if I can train him up enough. Though-" his voice took on an arrogant tone. "I do have other Pokemon."

"… Right," Leah said, not caring.

"You know, that gives me an idea," the Ekans Kid said, his smile morphing into a smirk. "Let's have another battle, right here, right now."

"I just beat your Ekans for the second time."

"Not Lucifer." He waved his Pokemon off. "Why don't you try one of my others?"

Leah smelled a trap. "No."

"Aw, come on," he teased. "I'll go easy on you."

"No."

But the Ekans Kid was stubborn. "My Pokemon aren't that tough."

Unfortunately, Leah was just as stubborn. "What else do you have? Kadabra? Gyarados?"

"Right now?" he shrugged. "Just a Rhydon."

Leah choked.


-


Yeah, that was about it. Her confrontation with the Ekans Kid was cut off rather quickly once he started getting whiny. Sure, her winning the battle again gave her an ego boost, but next time (no, there wasn't going to be a next time) she wasn't going to stick around for the after talk.

Taking a bus back to Ed's house, Leah noticed something was off the moment she stepped onto the porch. When she left that morning, she could hear the laugher all the way to the driveway, but now it was eerily quiet.

Maybe they had gone out somewhere? Leah considered, letting herself inside, but she discarded that thought as soon as she heard the talking coming from the kitchen. She took off her shoes and went up the steps, pausing outside the doorway. In the kitchen, Mr. and Ms. Williams weren't present and neither was the daughter. Only the brats and William sat at the table, one playing with his Pokedex and the other two staring… at her.

Seriously, what was up with them?

Leah cautiously made her way to the sink after getting a glass, aware of the two sets of eyes staring into her back.

"Why are you two staring?" Leah asked after drinking some water. She winced at the thump the glass made on the counter when she put it down too hard.

Ed grinned and playfully said, "Nothing…"

Ally also grinned, which looked disturbing when put beside the memory of the small, gentle smile she usually supported.

Leah mentally sighed. Oh great, the brats had an evil scheme in mind.

"Hey Leah," Ed said, his chair creaking as his legs swung. "Do you wanna play a game?"

Leah didn't even consider it. "No."

"Aw," the younger boy's voice took on a pleading tone. "Please."

Ally joined in. "Please." Then she added, "You'll have fun, we promise!"

Highly doubting it, Leah was just going to ignore them when William spoke up.

"You know, you'd have a lot of fun. You should play."

Ed grinned at his brother and then back at Leah. "Yeah, Leah! It'll be fun. Play with us."

Okay, if a general 'no' wouldn't cut it, logic would. "I'm worn out," Leah said casually, hoping she looked tried enough. "I've been doing stuff all morning. I'd rather just go relax in front of a computer."

William shook his head and with an apologetic face, he said, "Sorry, but the internet went down not long after you left and unless you can work one of the programs or play with one of my games, I doubt it'd be very fun."

"What a coincidence," Leah deadpanned, suspicious of William's honest face and vaguely wondering if he was telling the truth, but then shook her head of the notion. Nah, why would he do that for if she could easily check?

"Leah," Ally said, annoying confident now that she had two people backing her up. "Please play with us?"

"Leah," Ed mimicked. "Play with us!"

Leah slowly let out a breath and tried to stop her frustration from rising any further. She refused to consider…

"Okay, fine," Leah snarled. "What's the game?"

Ed and Ally cheered while William hid a small smirk behind a cough

Suddenly, Ed jumped off his chair and went to the door next to Ally, opening it and letting the outside air penetrate the kitchen. Ally also stood, while William took his time, closing his Pokedex and stretching before getting up.

Apparently, the game took place outside, so Leah followed the three onto the deck, frowning all the way. Then they walked down the stairs (or in Ed and Ally's case, ran) and stepped onto the soft grass below. The backyard wasn't as good looking as the front, though it was twice as big. There were no pretty gardens, the grass could use a good trim and there were clumps of upturned grass next to holes all over the yard. A tall brown fence wrapped around the area, though in one place at the back of the yard, the fence had a long crack running through it.

"So," Leah started, her trip outside having done no favors for her mood. "What's this game?"

"Battling!" Ed said, smiling as he took out his Pokeball.

Leah felt no strings of excitement strung though her.

"… And?"

William instructed her. "Send out your Pokemon and I'll explain what you'll be doing."

She didn't want to, but she did so anyways, letting Sands out onto the ground in front of her.

Ally also let out her Pokemon in a beam of light. Though, it wasn't Amber that stood before her, but Sparks, her hardly seen Voltorb. His always angry expression didn't morph into a smile when seeing his trainer, but he didn't make any moves to attack her either.

Leah frowned at Ally, wondering why she didn't send out Amber, but William started talking again, so she turned her curious disapproval upon him instead.

"Before we start the game I have planned," he started off. "I want you guys to warm up. So, if you wouldn't mind, could you three fight each other?"

Leah snorted and crossed her arms. "Like what? A three-way battle?"

William nodded and didn't seem to consider that they (she) would say no because he started walking back to the stairs, saying, "Yes, that's what I want you to do." When he was back on the deck, looking down upon them, Leah had to tilt her head back to see him. He continued and repeated. "So, if you wouldn't mind…?"

"You can do it, Eddy!" Carla cheered down to him and Leah blinked because she was sure the kid hadn't been sitting beside William a second ago. Carla had her legs between the bars of the railing and she was trying to do the same with her head, but failing that, she just looked through the bars.

Ed grinned up at her sister and then turned to Paras. "You ready, Paras?"

Paras gave its trainer a bored stare that claimed apathy on whether it won or lost. Though, it did seem rather satisfied at just being taller than the grass.

"Sparks," Ally said nervously. The girl's confidence at the idea had drained away once her Voltorb was actually in front of her. "C- Can you please listen?"

The Voltorb gave no comment, preferring the glare.

Leah, who didn't even bother trying to talk to her Sandshrew, oddly was confident for once. Battling was never her strong point, but Sands had already beaten some experienced trainer's Ekans twice already, so she had a shot of victory. Not only that, but she also had the type advantage (sort of). As long as Sands stayed away from that stupid Paras long enough for Ally's Voltorb to knock it out, she was sure to win.

So, the three trainers and their Pokemon stood opposite of each other in a triangle. They were just standing there, waiting for someone to take the first move.

"Paras!" Ed suddenly shouted and Leah winced at the noise. He didn't have to shout, Paras was right there in front of him. "Use Stun Spore on Voltorb and Sands!"

Paras got to work and didn't move a muscle. Leah wondered how the Stun Spore was going to reach its opponents, who were all the way on the other side of the yard.

"Stay here, Sands," Leah said quietly and the Sandshrew was quite happy to obey orders, having gotten on the wrong end of that attack before.

Sparks, however, had no such worries. Before Ally even opened her mouth, the Voltorb had spun forwards. The grass hindered his movement somewhat, but not enough to slow him down.

Ed, remembering the last time that the Voltorb had run full force into Paras, didn't have many options and was frozen like a deer in headlights as Sparks barreled towards them. He snapped out of it, though, and tried to come up with an idea. It was only when Sparks was a few seconds from impact did Ed kneel down, pick up his Paras and run for his life.

Leah and Ally could only blink at the sight and up on the deck, William only sighed and wondered if he should yell at his brother. Picking up a Paras while it was making Stun Spore was never a good idea; there was a good chance that it would unleash its attack on its holder instead. Though, he would give him points for creativity.

Sparks spun over the place where Ed and Paras had stood and then abruptly stopped for some reason. The Voltorb turned around to see Ed over to where Ally was, putting his Paras back onto the ground and wiping a bit of Stun Spore off his shirt. Ed was seemingly hoping that if he hid behind Ally, the Voltorb wouldn't try rolling them over again in case of hurting his trainer.

But of course, the Voltorb didn't care. Since his movement was hindered by the grass, he concentrated and took aim instead. A moment ticked by and in the next, a high pitch wail sounded as the grass in front of Sparks visibly flattened and a force was shot straight at the two trainers and the Pokemon. Ed picked up Paras again and got out of the way and so did Ally, but a little slower. The force flattened the grass, showing its straight trail, as it zoomed by its targets and hit the fence behind them, hitting it was a loud crack.

Leah, not one to interfere, was having second thoughts. Was this supposed to be fun?

Since it looked like Ed and Ally was going to flee in her direction, Leah took charge, commanding Sands into action. "Poison Sting."

The small needles that left Sands' mouth were perfectly aimed and would have hit Sparks, if the Voltorb was still in the same place. Being annoyingly speedy, Sparks rolled out of the way and directed his angry gaze towards Leah and her Sandshrew instead.

Leah cursed under her breath. Luckily, Sands was a ground type and could stand any electric attacks that were thrown at him. Unluckily, Leah was just a human and would probably get a good zapping or scorching if hit.

"Get 'em, Sands!" Leah ordered, backing up a great deal as Sands burst into action, running over to the Voltorb pronto. The Sandshrew had beaten the Voltorb once and he could do it again!

Well, maybe if Sparks hadn't learned Sonicboom. With another intense look, the Voltorb looked at his incoming attacker and concentrated…

Sands may have not noticed, but Leah had. "Defense Curl!" she shouted. "Stop!"

The Sandshrew got the order in mid-leap and finally spotted Sparks' attack. Sands turned his body so that his back was facing the attack and quickly curled as best as he could in those few seconds. The Sonicboom scored a direct hit, throwing Sands into the air and the Sandshrew landed a few feet away.

"Paras!" Ed suddenly yelled, running up to Sparks in the confusion and placing Paras by the volatile Pokemon. "Stun Spore!"


-


Sands winced as Leah sprayed the potion's contents on his back. The Sonicboom made a nasty bruise on the Sandshrew's skin, but seemingly not bad enough to take him to the Pokemon Center, or so William said when he handed Leah the potion.

"That was not fun," Leah was saying to William as she patched up Sands.

"I didn't think it'd go out of hand like that," William said, watching Ed show Ally how to use the Parlyz Heal. Sparks didn't want to be treated if his angry face said anything, but since he couldn't move, the only thing he could do was sit and silently rage. Paras wasn't making things any easier for the Voltorb as the bug type oozed smugness at being the only Pokemon that got out of the battle unscathed.

William suddenly called out, "Carla, don't touch the Voltorb."

"Aw," Carla whined, but did as her brother instructed and took her hand away from Sparks.

Leah, somewhat like Sparks, was currently trying to prevent her feelings of frustration to overflow. The battle had hardly lasted five minutes and she already wanted to go back inside. Was it too much to ask to go on the computer? Apparently so, and she couldn't help but wonder if the internet would be mysteriously online if she went inside.

"William!" Ed called out as he stood up with a grin on his face. Unlike her, the brat enjoyed the battle, especially since he had technically won. "Can we play the game now?"

Sparks had been cured of his non-movement since Ally was on the ground in front of him, trying to calm him down. Not that it looked like it was working.

William nodded as he reached into his pocket and pulled out an old Pokeball. He enlarged it and let it hit the grass, releasing a Pokemon.

The Pokemon was instantly recognizable. Light blue scaled skin covered most of its small body. A brown shell with white edges was on his back and the underside of the shell, on the Pokemon's front, was a pale yellow. It had little arms and legs with a long, squirrel-like tail coming from under its shell.

Its large maroon eyes didn't look around as it was familiar was the area, but they did pause over Leah and Ally. It opened its mouth in wonder, showing a hint of sharp teeth.

"A Squirtle?" Leah asked with a bit of surprise. Squirtle were pretty rare, after all.

"Yes," William said proudly, kneeling down to pat his Pokemon's bald head. "She's going to be taking part in our game."

Ed was excited, practically jumping up and down. "What do we have to do?"

William smiled, but it didn't look friendly. "Beat my Squirtle."

"That's it?" Leah said, rolling her eyes. True, she didn't have the type advantage, but come on! It was a Squirtle! Sure, if it was a Wartortle she might worry, but really, how hard could a Squirtle be?

Seeing her brother's nod, Carla raced up the stairs and back onto the deck where she took her seat, happily waiting for battle to begin.

Leah discarded the empty potion bottle and decided her Sandshrew could use a few words of encouragement.

"Sands," she said, waiting for him to look up at her before continuing. "If you mess up more than usual, consider the Fire Stone drowned."

The Sandshrew pawed the grass for a moment with a blank look, like he was trying to consider a world without his beloved Fire Stone.

Once again, positions were taken, but this time, William was against the fence while the other three trainers had their backs towards the house.

William gave no indication that the battle had started, except for, "Squirtle, Bubble."

Before Leah could even command a Poison Sting, the Squirtle had already inhaled and unleashed its attack. And what an attack! The pink storm of bubbles instantly filled the yard, a lot of them gently tumbling over the fence. They were like a monster, easily rising above Leah's head and up on the deck, Carla giggled and tried to touch them with her feet.

Putting her hands over her mouth since she didn't want to taste bubbles, Leah tried to look around, but couldn't see anything other than the pink bubbles. They were everywhere she looked and, while hoping that they wouldn't get in her eyes, she also shuddered in dislike at the sound they made when they popped, which they did every time she moved an inch.

"Sands?" Leah called out, her voice muffled against her hand. Hearing the sound of the bubbles popping to the side of her, Leah held out her leg and only put it down again when it bumped into Sands.

Leah took a hand away from her mouth and made a sweeping motion, both popping and pushing back the bubbles. She did that many times until she unveiled Sands, who kept shaking his body and sneezing.

"You alright, Sands?" Leah asked, looking around the bubbles, trying to see anything at all.

It was common knowledge that ground types were weak to water. Though, the better term would be that they disliked water. Ground types were suited for desert environments and were used to not drinking water for long periods of time. Too much of it and they couldn't help but get panicky.

"S- Sparks!" a voice called out from someone on Leah's left. "Sonicboom! Please!"

Apparently, the Voltorb decided to obey as a series of pops were sounded and then a crack as the attack hit the fence.

"Yeah!" another voice said and there were no guesses on who he was. "Let's pop the bubbles! Come on, Paras!"

The air was filled with nothing but popping bubbles and since Sands was too spooked to help, Leah just crossed her arms, closed her eyes and waited for the bubbles to clear.

After a few minutes, the bubbles seemed to be pooping away on their own because when Leah opened her eyes next, she could actually see! Ally was standing behind her Voltorb and Ed and Paras were quite far ahead, only a few meters from William as they had snuck up during the Bubble attack.

Leah supposed that William could see pretty well too as he once again attacked.

"Squirtle, Water Gun. Blow the closet away."

"Squirt!" Squirtle cried, inhaling again, but instead of a stream of bubbles, out came water. It was hard and fast and hit Paras full on, pushing the bug-type back nearly ten feet and then letting it lay there by Ally. While Ally went to help the poor Paras, who definitely wasn't very happy at getting wet, Ed was also blasted with water.

"Will!" Ed gasped out after Squirtle stopped hosing him down. The brat's orange hair flopped in his face and he pushed it and the water out of his eyes. He was absolutely soaked, his clothing hanging off of him like they were two sizes too big and he was looking at his brother in betrayal.

"Sorry, bro," William said, smirking with a shrug. "No hard feelings?"

Since Paras was no longer with him, Ed had no choice but to stomp back towards Ally, his clothes slapping him every time he moved. William, having seemingly left his protective older brother persona inside the house, let Squirtle let loose another blast of water at Ed's unprotected back to send him sprawling on the now wet grass.

Leah couldn't help but chuckle.

Then William's eyes past over Ally and met hers. His smirk got wider as his eyes narrowed on his next target.

Oh crap! Leah thought.

"Poison Sting!" Leah told Sands hurryingly and the Sandshrew complied.

Unfortunately, it did no good as Squirtle was able to get inside her shell with no problems and the purple needles only bounced off her protective skin.

William silently mocked her from the other side of the yard and Leah had no doubt in mind that she was going to get hosed.

"Hey Sands?" Leah said casually as an idea came to mind. She unzipped her jacket and took it off, revealing the white shirt underneath. "I'm going to be nice. Here, have a towel."

Sands only had time to look up before the jacket was dropped on his head.

Leah grinned as she crossed her arms and stood tall. Okay then, let him try to hose her down now.

William's smug smirk faltered and he visibly hesitated. His brows drew together, wondering whether he should hose her down or not. A dejected expression came on William's face when he decided that he would have to switch targets. Damn, he thought, why couldn't she be wearing a red shirt or something? At least that color didn't go see-through when wet.

"Water Gun," William told his Squirtle. ""Go after the Voltorb and its trainer."

Squirtle nodded as she stared directly at Sparks, her cheeks bulging as she squirted out another jet of water.

Ally gasped as Sparks was hit and the cold water bounced off his smooth surface, spraying the girl's legs. Ed clumsily got out of the way of the spray, not wanting to get wetter than he already was.

Sparks growled and was slowly rolled back, only the grass and his determination keeping him from being pushed into the house. He couldn't see or fight back and wasn't strong enough to go against the water's pressure. Without any mean to defend itself, there was only one other thing it could do.

The Voltorb's attack happened in seconds and Leah almost thought she imagined it.

Small sparks of electricity circulated around Sparks' body and in a flash, traveled up the water jet and electrocuted Squirtle right in the mouth. The mouth snapped shut and the water-type raised its shorts arms to its sizzling mouth, eyes narrowed in pain.

Ally screamed as the sparks also hit her. The electricity followed every drop of water to stop the attacker and unfortunately for her, she just happened to be in the way. The girl dropped to the ground once Sparks stopped his attack, and held her legs, crying.

Whatever fun feeling the battle was able to produce stopped instantly and William ran over, nearly slipping on the puddles of water. He knelt down by Ally, next to Ed, who was closer and had gotten there first. Leah also walked up, but kept her distance, just watching curiously from the back.

"Are you okay?" Ed asked quickly, touching Ally's shoulder, but Ally just shook him off.

Ally bit her lip and in between tears, said. "It hurts."

William in the meantime, grabbed Ally's Pokeball and got Sparks out of the way.

"We should get you to a doctor," William said, a bit of guilt in his voice since he ordered the attack. He returned Squirtle to her Pokeball also and then got out his cell phone.


-


Afterwards, William got quite a talk from his parents since he (apparently) should have been able to keep any accidents from happening. Leah thought that was just a bit unfair since it was Ally's Pokemon that shocked her, but said nothing in William's defense since Ed was doing enough of that.

Ally's injury wasn't serious, luckily enough, though she refused to let out her Voltorb again.

"I- I just don't w- want to," Ally said when asked why, looking uncomfortable.

Leah didn't really care why, but was a little concerned that Ally seemed to have reverted back to the state she was in before the Pokemon journey had really started. Her stuttering had come back full force, she kept to herself despite Ed's efforts, and she tried to pretend that Sparks didn't exist.

It was annoying and it was starting to affect everyone else in the house. Well, not Ed's parents or Carla since they seemed oblivious to those things, but for everyone else…

Leah watched Ed walk around, lost in his own little world. He was clearly thinking and kept bringing up his arms in front of him only to let them fall back to his side. His eyes were narrowed and would sometimes glance at Ally like he trying to think of a way to fit her into an evil scheme. Or something like that, Leah didn't really know or care.

The only thing she did care about was that Ed looked like he was going nuts from being inside all the time (he didn't want to go outside without Ally).

It also looked like Ed would do something drastic if he didn't get what he wanted.

And what he wanted was to go to the Safari Zone.


-


A/N: Long chapter is long.

Anyway, the reason I didn't show Leah and the Ekans Boy's battle was because there were already two battles in this chapter and this chapter is already long enough.
 
Last edited:

Venia Silente

Inspectious. Good for napping.
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More Review. Yes because I like this!

And here I am, reviewing again, because I simply can't unhook from this story. Nevermind that I still have my thesis to be done. Seriously, people, sometimes I worry that I can't seem to be worried by such "more important" "real life" stuff.

Anyways, off my rant and now, with my trusty anchorconsciusness Reviewer!Solovino...

The interlude (Ch.14) was a pretty interesting thing to read. Not many times one sees the Elite Four assembled together. Bonus points for referencing Lance's "cape fetish" BTW.

Now, I'm not that good at grammar but I think I may have fond some things...

"Afterwards," Lorelei started. "I dropped off the two girls and the boy at Fuchsia City Hospital. I talked with them and asked what they saw or heard. The youngest girl, provided no information, but the other two had something useful.
I think the comma marked in red is unnecessary because there's only subject before it. The second comma (before the "but") may be unnecessary as well but that I am pretty unsure of. You know, my one weakness curiously is commas usage.

The older girl, named Leah Gordon as I found out, found Pokemon forced asleep by Sleep Powder in one of the caverns. The boy, Edward Williams, knew much more. The thief had given the boy his name, which is most likely an alias, though I can't be sure. This 'Blue' talked about his 'Boss' and referred her as a 'she' several times."
There's a "the boy" repetition where you don't change subjects. Maybe saying "The thief had given him his name" instead. As for the "referred" I'm pretty sure the correct form is "referred to her...".

Lance nodded, pleased that they could actually do something. "Okay, then that's what we'll do. Hopefully, we can get this guy in a few weeks."
The wording is kinda strange or it is just me (most likely). It's not gramatically incorrect or anything, but the tone and timeframing seems too lazy. In the first part using "then" that soon kinda dulls the sentence (as from coming from an authoritative figure who is essentially asserting a good proposition and promoting it to actual command), and "in a few weeks" suggests that they actually expect that such a situation (with one of the most dangerous artifacts the world has ever seen) will only be defused near the completion of that lapse.
I'd rather put "then" closer to the end sentence, that way I at least feel it reads more commanding and assertive.

And a little detail at the beginning of Ch.17:

She had a few more problems on her hands. Specifically one huge one:
Maybe the underlined "one" should be a "that" or "a" instead, taking into consideration that the next sentence is semantically attached to it via the enumeration of One in which you take the chance and introduce it in a narrative rather than expositive way.


You know, maybe I can try to go a bit deeper on the writing and actually do some recent grammar review, that would be quite good of a change.

For now, I'll return to my usual "why I like it" kind of review.

I may have commented before that I like the perspective flip in this story. (*checks*) Yes, I did. The last chapters have taken quite a good turn of events and you haven't much of skipped a beat when it comes down to portray how the situations around her cause Leah to project ver view on Pokémon Training to the point that Aly and Ed found out quite easily about her "probably she wants to dump us" thing in my opinion. Add to that the effect that her previous experiences seems to have in her ways to describe stuff (another thing I brought up before) and you have a protagonist who is actually set to "suffer" the story without it becoming a sort of wangst.

Then you use the kid's perspective to suggest or try to imprint a mood switch on Leah which she both admitedly finds luring and actively fights against (as when in the scene where she kicks Sands...). Having her trying to turn back the questioning from William and after that set her mind made about the rematch was very interesting given how this conflicts with her entire projected vision of goals (both droping the kids and forgetting the whole Pokémon issue). So a good job here. I want to remark how we got from this:
"So, Leah," Mr. Williams asked, having abandoned his attempt to talk to the other two. "Why did you decide to be a Mentor?"

Oh, joy. Why was it always the hard questions?

Leah shrugged and put on a casual face of disinterest. "Don't really have a reason. Didn't have much to do this summer, you know?"
, where Leah seems to be in active denail of her early motivations, as if she has actually decided at some point she does not want to be her earlier self...

To this:
"Sands," Leah said suddenly. "I think there's something wrong with me."

Sands, sitting beside her and having learned his lesson not to sit close to the edge of a hill when around his trainer, just blinked his big dark blue eyes.

"I'm not kidding," Leah assured him and motioned to the clouds. "I can't believe I'm sitting outside in this weather."
, where she goes around and opens herself to Sands that she knows she knows herself too well.

That treat in her character made the second battle against the Ekans Kid quite enjoyable and revealing despite the fact that it took place off-screen. You were right: there would've been too much battle in the latest chapter (much for your current pace) and leaving the battle implied helps open the dimensionality of the characters without having to write long scenes with them.

Of course, one of the particular things this work has is how things get more twisted as they advance, taking a kind of "obviously doomed shortcut" instead of the "obviously clear and sunshine path" in every step where it would look like Leah was to take profit of the short path instead. Particularly the fact that she accepted the first battle with Ekans Boy to begin with, and more surprisingly displayed when she intervened in the fight between Blue and Lorelaei...

I very much like the latest chapters with Leah being dragged in to an emotional roulette in her plans to defect from the mentorship thing and drop the kids (what with the whole Ally prompting Ed to keep going on also). It's like if somewhere-who-is-not-us is actually having great pleasure in actually having everything she wants to happen pushed towards before us but countered and undone the very moment she takes action ot tries to take advantage.

I'm not going to ask...


A nice mind trip with the triple battle and the four-way battle, which I noticed the choice of both Pokémon and attacks, albeit limited by plot, projects very well the emotional perceptions the characters seem to have right now about their journey. Ed is both physically and emotionally resolved to get his hands dirty, which when put down to him picking Paras and taking him to the targets makes me wonder if he will try and actually come up with a turnaround solution to his current crisis... or maybe he already had, given the battle with William, and the whole thing is simply about to be undone against Leah. Ally calling in her Voltorb was a very nice touch by emotionally bridging her coming up with the idea (and appaently with the realization that Leah wants to drop them) with the simple fact that right now it is something that is quite FAR beyond her to control, and suggesting that the further advancements may actually "shock" her if the parents hold the position of forcing Ed to drop his journey (or worse if Leah does).

Cut to Leah protecting Sands and then cleverly and fanservicengly putting herself on the way of damage in a way that makes William actually unable to attack her... or, knowing her, maybe she actually wanted to mentally screw William (Oh wait, that didn't sound the way I wanted to) and helping Sands was just an unwanted bonus. Anyways thanks for the extra fun for the adults.. :D

And yes I undertsood the Star Trek reference. Or was that unintentional...? If it wasnt', very well thought.

Or maybe I'm reading too far with the whole battle... But you made me into it and I just can't sotp, which means the work is good enough to give my mind constant tickles.

I'm also very fond of the fact that you don't miss a chance when it comes up to putting not-very-obscure references to the Pokémon games (Kanto generations in general). Three or four more chapters of this and I thing we'll be able to play drink games with it (drinking Soda Pop's, of course...).

This one ringed my bell:
"If you're Blue," the woman started. "Then does that make me Red?"

Blue tried to picture it, but no matter what he tried, the image of his Boss and the color red didn't compute. "Red doesn't suit you; you'd look better in green."
+5 Mood EVs for the reference!

Kudos for the reference to the battle between Oak and Agatha here:
He nodded. "Yes. Around fifty years ago, Pokemon training suddenly died. Ten years later, it came back very suddenly in 1964 after the Indigo League championship. It was that final battle that spurred up trainers again."

1964. That date sounded suspiciously familiar to Leah and it took more than a few moments to remember its significance. "Wait, wasn't that battle between…"

"Samuel Oak and Agatha Madeline," he confirmed. "It was quite a battle."
My mind was deluged for a while with a premise fo fanfic where the battle goes up to eleven and, in the last round, Agatha sends her Gengar against Oak's Nidorino, thus giving us the legendary opening for the games.

Oh and... Thanks for giving Agatha a family name. Would you authorize me to burrow it for my fanfic? I'll credit you, of course. I like to take elements that other fans come up with and reflect them in my writing as a means to show appreciation and interest in their works.

Now, one of my bestest absolutest and extremeest favourite things in this fic is... in case you haven't figured it out before...

If there was one thing that Leah had learned about her Pokemon in the past two weeks, it was that if Sands wanted something, he would use all the annoying tactics he knew to get it.

Sands obviously didn't believe her as he stood on his tiptoes and sniffed at her curiously. Leah stared for a moment before she looked at the Fire Stone she was playing with in her hands in understanding.

She held it up. "Oh. Want this?"

Sands seemed to nod, though he probably just moved his head. Either way…

"Too bad," she said, smirking as she didn't let go of it. "I'm using it."

Making a whine and seeing the hopeless situation, Sands abandoned his pursuit and went off to sulk a few feet away.

"Scratch," Leah said and added, "If you win, you can have the Fire Stone."

With a shake of the head, Sands concentrated as he jumped forwards and scratched the recovering Ekans on the chest, leaving three bloody lines.

Sands apparently could, because he just made a vague whine of his name and nuzzled his Fire Stone. Leah stared at him in annoyance and wondered if Pokemon could get addicted to Elemental Stones. It sure wouldn't surprise her.

"Sands," she said, waiting for him to look up at her before continuing. "If you mess up more than usual, consider the Fire Stone drowned."

The Sandshrew pawed the grass for a moment with a blank look, like he was trying to consider a world without his beloved Fire Stone.

Yes I absolutely love the way you depict the relationship between Sands and his (sic) beloved Fire Stone. It is one of the funniest things in this fic (besides Ally). Having it function not only as a sort of swiss army knife (with the radiation and heat stuff back in the cave), but having Leah use it as emotional leverage "against" Sands, has become to me a cornerstone of Leah's chaarcterization. Granted, she has grown to understand a little bit more how desolated Sands feels without his Fire Stone and that kinda melts (IncrediblyLamePun unintended) her emotional walls against her Pokémon, providing a nice form of character advancement on Sands after the whole "it" incident.

O'Kay, I'll stop dodging the bullets and blurting almost-nonsense and admit straight ahead: I'm a fan of Sands♥FireStone. The #1 fan I hope... Heck, now I'm taking the chance and unofficially issuing a Call for Shipping Name. I know it's pretty one-sided of a Shipping and a pretty rushed and bold move coming from me, but still... I just can't help it. I actually think it is pretty romantic in its own, fully utilitarian (for now) sense. And the fact that Leah fiddles with this for her own profit yet having second thoughts by the time gives it an extra dimension...
I hope you appreciate my current level of craziness over the cute little creature-and-rock stuff.


Whatever... look, I should be going. I'll be waiting to read more chapters, maybe come up with something better as review. If I am truly lucky, do a useful grammar review to begin with. Or maybe more suggestions on pace...? -- I would also be glad if you can review my current pet work, "Sixth", or at least comment on the style, or something.

Good luck and continue the very good work.
 

Giratina ♀

what's your sign?
1,439
Posts
15
Years
  • Age 27
  • Seen Jul 23, 2013
A note: I don't think i said this before, but I am very happy that someone actually remembered Lance's thing for capes other than me. Have a cookie! [hands cookie]

Well, anyway, I'll get on to the pointing out errors thing. There wasn't much here, but I'll five you the ones I noticed.

"Squirtle, Water Gun. Blow the closet away."
Was this perhaps supposed to be 'closest'? xDDD

At least that color didn't go see-through when wet.
Nothing wrong, just made me giggle. x3

"Water Gun," William told his Squirtle. ""Go after the Voltorb and its trainer."
More quotes than necessary, methinks?

Ohhh boy, the Safari Zone. Good luck keeping Ed in one place (Ally would still be in her pre-Awesome Journey of Lifechanging state, probably) for more than two minutes when there are so many Nidorina to ride on...
 

delongbi

I C U
161
Posts
16
Years
Great chapter! There were some grammar issues though- something I feel like I haven't done in a long time.

But for once, they weren't what she thinking about.


Nya, very first line! Should be: "But for once, they weren't what she was thinking about."

Apparently, she had because here she was; waiting.


Should be : "Apparently, she was OR had been because here she was; waiting."

Obviously, pick one or the other, not both. =P

Nah, why would he do that for if she could easily check?


"What would he do that for" would work better or "Why would he do that if she could easily check?"

Though, he would give him points for creativity.


*Grumbles* Third time using "Though" this way at the start of the sentence... not that I'm counting.

Grammar issues aside, this chapter was very good. The battles were exciting, and we can see Leah (perhaps) starting to change. Poor Ally, though...

Also, I liked the humor, the following lines in particular:

"Right now?" he shrugged. "Just a Rhydon."


LOL!!!

"Hey Sands?" Leah said casually as an idea came to mind. She unzipped her jacket and took it off, revealing the white shirt underneath. "I'm going to be nice. Here, have a towel."

Sands only had time to look up before the jacket was dropped on his head.


Leah grinned as she crossed her arms and stood tall. Okay then, let him try to hose her down now.

William's smug smirk faltered and he visibly hesitated. His brows drew together, wondering whether he should hose her down or not. A dejected expression came on William's face when he decided that he would have to switch targets. Damn, he thought, why couldn't she be wearing a red shirt or something? At least that color didn't go see-through when wet.


Best idea ever!!! Hehe, it was a bit of a gamble, though. If he wasn't as caring, things could have gone incredibly wrong...

Bleh, I tried to post this earlier today, but the server went wanko... Anyway, good job. Keep it up! :)



 

Dagzar

The Dreamer
444
Posts
15
Years
Thanks for reviewing solovino, Giratinasaur and delongbi (you almost ninja'd me, delongbi, thank god I scrolled down)!

Don't worry, I'll fix the mistakes you three pointed out to me as soon as I stop procrastinating (I'm not sure why I'm procrastinating, though. It's not like I have anything better to do during the summer <_<).

Solovino's post.
Wow, solovino, that's a lot of text and now I'm wondering how much time I stole from your thesis. :shocked:

Cut to Leah protecting Sands and then cleverly and fanservicengly putting herself on the way of damage in a way that makes William actually unable to attack her... or, knowing her, maybe she actually wanted to mentally screw William (Oh wait, that didn't sound the way I wanted to) and helping Sands was just an unwanted bonus. Anyways thanks for the extra fun for the adults..
I was wondering whether I should have put that in or not, but I finally decided it was too awesome to leave out. I'm glad you enjoyed it. ;)

And yes I undertsood the Star Trek reference. Or was that unintentional...? If it wasnt', very well thought.
I've never watched Star Trek, except for the 2009 movie, so it was completely unintentional, whatever the reference was. (Though now I'm curious.)


Oh and... Thanks for giving Agatha a family name. Would you authorize me to burrow it for my fanfic? I'll credit you, of course. I like to take elements that other fans come up with and reflect them in my writing as a means to show appreciation and interest in their works.
Go right ahead. :)

O'Kay, I'll stop dodging the bullets and blurting almost-nonsense and admit straight ahead: I'm a fan of SandsFireStone. The #1 fan I hope... Heck, now I'm taking the chance and unofficially issuing a Call for Shipping Name. I know it's pretty one-sided of a Shipping and a pretty rushed and bold move coming from me, but still... I just can't help it. I actually think it is pretty romantic in its own, fully utilitarian (for now) sense. And the fact that Leah fiddles with this for her own profit yet having second thoughts by the time gives it an extra dimension...
I hope you appreciate my current level of craziness over the cute little creature-and-rock stuff.
Don't worry, you're the #1 fan and Sands and the Fire Stone appreciate your fangirl-ism. Unfortunately, I'm bad at shipping names (especially since Fire Stone won't be meshed well), so if you'd like, you can name it.

Whatever... look, I should be going. I'll be waiting to read more chapters, maybe come up with something better as review. If I am truly lucky, do a useful grammar review to begin with. Or maybe more suggestions on pace...? -- I would also be glad if you can review my current pet work, "Sixth", or at least comment on the style, or something.
I'll go review 'Sixth' tomorrow since it's getting late and that Harper's Island episode has been waiting since yesterday to be watched. ;)

A note: I don't think i said this before, but I am very happy that someone actually remembered Lance's thing for capes other than me. Have a cookie! [hands cookie]
*takes cookies and munches on it*Mmm, chocolate…

Ohhh boy, the Safari Zone. Good luck keeping Ed in one place (Ally would still be in her pre-Awesome Journey of Lifechanging state, probably) for more than two minutes when there are so many Nidorina to ride on...
Haha, you just gave me a great mental image, though I think Nidorina are a bit small, even for Ed's size. Kangaskhan, on the other hand…

*grins*

*Grumbles* Third time using "Though" this way at the start of the sentence... not that I'm counting.
Heh, at least I didn't use it ten times, like I did 'seemingly' (I counted and now I'm watching for that word too. <_<).

Best idea ever!!! Hehe, it was a bit of a gamble, though. If he wasn't as caring, things could have gone incredibly wrong...
Not really. Sure, Leah could have gotten wet and her bra would have showed through, but she could have also gotten William in trouble with his parents because he did it on purpose (probably).


Anyways, thanks for reviewing you three! I appreciate it. :)
 

Dagzar

The Dreamer
444
Posts
15
Years
Mentor
Chapter 18: Safari Hunt (part one)


-



A week had past since Ally's accident and only after days of pestering, whining, and complaining did Ed's parents finally give in to his demands.

They were going to the Safari Zone, finally. Ed had practically been waiting his entire life to go to the Safari Zone. He had heard so much of it from his brother, and in his mind's eye, he pictured it as a huge jungle with roaring waterfalls with dangerous Pokemon waiting around each corner…

Of course, there was a problem.

"Ally," Ed said, aghast on the way the events were folding out. "You have to come!"

Ally only shook her head and looked down at her hands. "I- I don't want to…"

"Oh, give it a rest," Leah snapped at Ed. Her temper was at the breaking point and so would be most people's if you had to watch over a hyperactive ten year old for the whole morning.

Ed honestly didn't know what to say. "But- But-"

"Hey," William greeted as he walked into his younger brother's room, clad in a casual shirt and baggy pants that were tucked into his boots. There was a bag that hung over his shoulder and he hung onto its strap loosely with one hand. His other was holding onto a polished brown cane.

"Ready to go?"

"Yeah, but-" Ed said, looking at Ally with a frown.

"He's all upset that Ally wants to stay here," Leah explained to William, hoping that they'd just leave already. All she wanted to do was to spend the morning surfing the internet and all its interesting content.

William rubbed the back of his head and said, "Ed, if Ally doesn't want to go, we can't force her."

"But we're supposed to go together," Ed whined, looking upset that his friend didn't want to enjoy the wonders of the Safari Zone.

"E- Ed," Ally spoke up. "C- Can I please stay here? I really d- don't want to go…" Her voice trailed off as she once again looked down to her lap.

It looked like Ed was raging a war inside of himself, stuck in indecision, before he finally swallowed and said, "Okay…"

"Can you stay with her?" William asked Leah, motioning to Ally.

Leah didn't care; she would agree to anything if they'd just leave already. "Fine."

Since that was probably the best answer William was going to get, he nodded and led Ed out of the room and to the foot of the stairs.

"Hey," William said, trying to cheer his brother up. "Come on, we can still have fun together, just you and me."

Ed looked back at the doorway to his room, as if hoping that Ally would suddenly run out and beg to come with them. "I guess…"


-


The boys' father was kind enough to give them a lift to the Safari Zone and the ride was held in silence, with only small attempts to make conversation since Ed wasn't feeling up to it.

"Remember that zoo?" William asked suddenly, grasping Ed's attention as they both looked out the older boy's side of the window. The high cement fence went on in both directions and every so often there was a sign with a red arrow on it, pointing to the nearest entrance.

"Yeah." Ed nodded, rising slightly from his flunk. "There were awesome Pokemon in there."

William smiled at the memory. "Which one was your favorite?"

Ed gave his brother a narrowed-eye look. "Kangaskhan! You know that."

"I kind of liked the Omanyte better," William said, ignoring the look. "It's one of the only few of its kind in the world."

The car went past the last patch of fencing and left the zoo behind.

"They're boring," Ed announced. "Kangaskhan are gigantic!" He waved his arms for emphasis. "And they can knock down trees!"

William conceded, "That's true." He then changed the topic to something more relevant to their current situation. "Did you bring your Pokemon?"

"Yeah," Ed said, not sure where the line of conversation was going. He reached into his pocket and brought out Paras' Pokeball. "I never leave Paras behind."

"Well, you're going to have to since you're not allowed to take Pokemon into the Safari Zone."

Ed blinked and held onto the Pokeball tighter. "But why? How else are we supposed to catch the Pokemon?"

"We throw Safari-Balls at them," William said, like that explained everything.

"How do we weaken them?" Ed still seemed confused.

William sighed. "We don't."

"Ed," their dad said from the driver's seat. "You just throw Safari-Balls at them and hope they stay inside. That's all there is to it."

"But they're big and strong, right? Won't they just break out of them?"

Shrugging, William said, "Usually."

Ed went quiet before asking, "Will, what Pokemon have you caught from the Safari Zone?"

"Lots. Rhyhorn, Nidorina, Pinsir…"

"But I've never seen them," Ed said, brows furred. "I only ever see your Squirtle and your Pidgey."

There was a beat before William said, "I released most of my Pokemon after I stopped being a trainer."

Awkward silence befell the car and Ed couldn't help but look at his older brother's cane, which he held at his side. The cane was smooth and wooden with an umbrella-like handle. William only ever took it out when he was out of the house, though Ed knew that he hated using it. Actually, no one actually liked seeing the cane, except for Carla, but that was more because the wood was 'pretty and felt nice.' It wasn't uncommon for William to sometimes 'loose' his cane and it appearing later in some random part of the house.

"We're almost there," their dad said, breaking the silence. "You got everything, Will?"

William nodded and held onto the bag. "Yeah."

Ed looked at the bag curiously. "What's in there?"

His older brother just smiled mysteriously. "You'll see."


-


Mr. Williams walked the boys into the building which all trainers had to pass through to get to the Safari Zone. The building was pretty much just one large room, save for the two doors on the right that were the bathrooms. On the left were several vending machines, containing both food and drinks. Straight ahead of the Williams' family was a large desk that seemingly trapped the two receptionists against the wall if it wasn't for the swinging wooden panel. Behind that desk also contained a door with a green and light blue logo with a large black 'S'.

Ed looked around with a dopey grin on his face, hardly noticing anything else other than the door up ahead.

"Have you planned how long you'll be out there?" their father asked William.

"Two hours should do it," William said, his cane tapping against the tiled flooring as they walked up to the front desk. "We're not going out that far."

Mr. Williams stuck his hand in his pocket, pulling out his wallet and taking out a couple of bills. "You should get some water too," he advised, glancing at Ed, who was looking at the Pokemon pictures up on the wall in wonder.

William nodded and took the money with his free hand. "I plan on it."

"Alright-y then," their father said loudly, getting the attention of Ed. "I guess I'm off, I'll pick you two up in two hours."

"Bye, Dad!" Ed said and had hardly waved goodbye before turning and jogging past William, up to the desk. "Come on, Will!"

William chuckled and followed. "Two for two hours," he said to the pretty receptionist, placing the acquired amount of money on the table after looking at the chart above her head.

The receptionist nodded and the other one reached under the desk and got out a beige satchel that was bulging with what looked like Pokeballs.

"Here," William said, giving the satchel to Ed and the remaining amount of money. "Go get some water."

Ed's arms buckled under the wait of the satchel as it was handed to him, not expecting it to be so heavy. After a bit of experimentation, he was able to get it over his head and one arm to mirror his brother's own bag. Then, with the coins in hand, he went over to the vending machines, feeling the bag uncomfortably bouncing on his hip.

As Ed inserted the coins and got the water bottles, he kept glancing upwards at the pictures that were all over the walls. They were carefully taken photographs of Pokemon taken in their natural habitats. There were a lot of good ones; a Nidorina and a Nidorino locked in battle, a Goldeen splashing in a lake, a Kangaskhan roaring its victory over a fallen foe.

But the one he liked the most wasn't that spectacular. All it contained was a leafy undergrowth and right in the middle, a large mushroom, but if he looked closer, he could see that it was not. The mushroom was red with yellow shapes and dots and it had two orange legs producing under it, holding it up. Two large pincers were held up, as if just noticing a threat. Two white beads that were its eyes stared unseeingly away from the camera.

It was a Parasect, Ed knew that. He also knew that one day, it would be his Pokemon. Paras, currently his only Pokemon, would evolve into that once it was strong enough. Ed almost couldn't wait for the day. If Paras evolved, it would become even stronger and would help him become a great trainer.

Ed snapped out of his thoughts when his brother called his name and he quickly remembered why he was there. He went back up to the desk and handed William the two water bottles, which he put into his mysterious bag.

"Ready to go?" William asked.

Ed grinned and held onto the satchel's strap like his brother did. "Yeah! Let's go!"

And thus, the receptionist let them through the swinging flap and Ed pushed open the door, letting sunlight hit his face.

The Safari Hunt had begun!


-


"I- I don't want to do this," Ally said, her head bowed, looking at the grass of Ed's backyard.

Leah scowled. "We get it, your Voltorb shocked you; get over it."

Ally's eyes darted around, like she was looking for an escape that wouldn't come as long as Leah watched her every move.

On the ground, two Pokemon were sniffing around. Or rather, Amber was sniffing around; Sands was quite content at just holding his Fire Stone. Leah was tempted to quickly grab the stone out of her Pokemon's grasp, but wasn't willing to face claws and whines for it.

"Hey," Leah said sharply at Amber, who was sniffing too close to Sands and the Fire Stone to be comfortable. The last thing the older trainer needed was the Vulpix spontaneously evolving into a Ninetales and using up the Fire Stone, which in turn, send Sands into a snarling rage… Actually, that'd be kind of cool to watch as long as it wasn't directed at her. Maybe Leah should arrange an 'accident'?

"S- Sparks hates me," Ally moaned, her eyes starting to tear up. "I've tried to be his f- friend, but-"

Leah snorted and crossed her arms. "Voltorb doesn't want a friend, so stop trying."

Ally blinked and rubbed tears from her eyes with her hand.

"If you want your Voltorb to obey you," Leah continued. "Then you have to be firm. You're a trainer. You're supposed to use what ever means necessary to train the Pokemon to obey you." Leah sighed. "Look, friendship doesn't always work; sometimes you need to be their master, not their pal."

"A- Amber's my friend," Ally defended. "He obeys me. If I can just get S- Sparks to listen, then maybe-"

Ally fell silent at the look Leah gave her.

Leah decided to try a different route. "Send out Voltorb."

"N- No!" Ally said with a wide eyed look and shaking her head wildly, letting her black hair slap her cheek. "He'll shock me again!"

"So what then? You'll just keep Voltorb in its Pokeball for the rest of its life?"

Ally bit her lip, not knowing what to do.

Leah sighed again. She could be inside right now and on the computer, doing nothing but casually surfing the internet. But no, she just had to drag Ally outside and demand that she face her fears. Really, the girl's attitude was getting really annoying and Leah had suddenly found herself wanting to fix it. If Ally became less introvert, then she would play with Ed more and give Leah more alone time.

"Sands will protect you," Leah said, rolling her eyes. "Electric attacks don't affect ground types."

Surprisingly, Ally took that to heart and only hesitated for about ten seconds when sending out Sparks.

Sparks, who wasn't in a better mood than the last time he was out, only growled, eyeing both the Pokemon and trainers. Ally jumped back as soon as the Voltorb was released, taking a place behind Leah and Sands.

Amber, pawing the ground, walked forward curiously, having seen his trainer's other Pokemon but never really interacting with him. Nose first, he sniffed lightly at the creature, greeting with a simple, "Vul?"

For the fire-types efforts, the Voltorb shocked him.

"Amber!" Ally screeched, her hands going to her mouth as Amber abruptly jumped back, shaking his head in what appeared to be confusion. Leah raised an arm to keep Ally from going over to comfort Amber.

"Here's the plan," Leah said calmly, making things up as it went along. "Voltorb isn't going to obey you, so you need to show it whose boss. All you need to do is beat it up."

Ally mind made the connections quickly. "S- Sparks versus… Amber?"

Nodding, Leah suggested, "Treat Voltorb as a wild Pokemon."

Since it didn't look like Ally was going to move from behind Leah, the older girl turned, walked behind Ally and lightly shoved her forward.

"W- What if I hurt him?" Ally asked, watching Amber hiss at the electric-type for the shock.

Leah shook her head in mock disappointment. "Voltorb's wild now. You don't care if wild Pokemon get hurt. Just bash it around with Ember or something until it gives in or faints. It's not hard." Leah paused.

"What are you waiting for? Get started."


-


"Will," Ed spoke up.

Beside him, William looked over. "Yes?"

Ed's face shifted through many emotions before he decided to just say what was on his mind. "This is… boring!"

The brothers had been crouched behind some bushes for over five minutes now, both keeping an eye on the clearing just up ahead. The clearing didn't have anything interesting, whether it was Pokemon or plants, except for a small plastic bowl that was overflowing with brown pellets.

When Ed had first taken a step into the Safari Zone, he had marveled at every square inch. Long branches, pink flowers gracing the green leaves, overhung pretty much the entire area, with only patches of sunlight flowing through. It was very pretty, but unfortunately, he had been staring in awe for a bit too long and was now just bored of it. It and everything else.

He hadn't seen a single Pokemon yet and they had already been in the Safari Zone for half-an-hour!

"Patience, Eddy," William said, still watching the clearing. "If we make too much noise, we'll scare the Pokemon away."

Ed gave his brother a confused look. "Pokemon don't run away from us."

Sighing lightly, William took a sip of his water bottle. "These Pokemon do," he said between gulps. "Pokemon around here aren't used to humans and they're very skittish. They'll flee at the first sign of danger."

"That's stupid," Ed grumbled, but went silent, hoping that the Pokemon would come out soon.

It took another ten minutes and by that point, Ed really wanted to get up and go hunt the Pokemon down. He dreamt about catching a Scyther, long scythes and all. It would be so awesome if he could get one. It'd be big and strong and then Ed would prove his parents wrong; that he could go on a journey, that'd he be safe.

Suddenly, William grabbed Ed by the arm, who looked at his brother in confusion. The older brother put his finger to his lips in a shushing motion and pointed to the clearing.

Out of the bushes came a bunch of purple Pokemon. They were quite big and had large ears that had points on the end. Spikes came out of their backs and on their head was a pointy horn. There were about five of those Pokemon and they walked up to the bowl of Pokemon food nervously. Some pawed the ground with their clawed feet and one of them made a low growl, as if threatening any close predators.

"Nidorino," William whispered to Ed.

But that wasn't the only Pokemon as another one came out of the bushes, this one much smaller than the rest. It looked quite like the other Pokemon, but its limbs were shorter and it had somewhat of a cuter look to it with its big red eyes.

"Nidoran," Ed said before William could speak up. He turned to his older brother. "Now what?"

"We wait," William replied, keeping a hand on bother's shoulder in case he decided to suddenly jump up and chase after them.

The next few minutes ticked by in nervous silence. The Nidorino and the single Nidoran kept close watch on each other as some munched on the food while others supposedly kept guard.

Ed fidgeted. "Will-"

"Alright, alright," William said. "Get out a Safari-Ball, enlarge it, but don't throw it."

Practically diving at the bag, Ed almost ripped it open as he grasped the topmost ball and enlarged it in his hand. Instead of the familiar red top, it was dark green with a small black 'S' right above the button.

William continued. "Aim for the Nidoran, leave the Nidorino alone."

"Why?" Ed whispered.

"You'll have a better chance at catching the Nidoran than the Nidorino."

Ed nodded at the logic and focused on the little Nidoran. He carefully got up and made his way out of the bush, the Safari-Ball held out like a weapon. The leaves rustled with his movements and he tried to make as little noise as possible. The Pokemon hadn't spotted him and Ed halted only a few feet away, taking refuge behind a tree. He looked back at his brother, who nodded, before Ed suddenly whipped the ball at the Nidoran.

Unfortunately, Ed had bad aim and the Safari-Ball hit a nearby tree with a thud. The poison-types instantly looked up and moved back several steps as one. Three of the Nidorino were even so frightened that they broke off from the group, fleeing back into the bush.

That left two Nidorino and the Nidoran staring at him warily, almost daring him to do something.

"Ed," William said and Ed turned around to catch another Safari-Ball. "Try again."

Ed breathed in deeply before he took aim at the small Pokemon and threw it. This time, he did much better, actually hitting one of the Pokemon, though not the Nidoran. The ball opened once it hit one of the Nidorino's head, but it didn't suck the Pokemon in, only falling to the ground.

"Will!" Ed stared at the ball in dismay. "Why didn't it work?"

The Nidorino that was hit also fled, bounding out of the clearing with a small cry.

William slowly got out of the bush as well, holding both of the bags. He came to stand slightly behind Ed.

"The Nidorino was too strong for the Safari-Ball to pull it in. That's why I said to go for the Nidoran."

"Than I can't catch Nidorino or anything strong?" Ed frowned.

"The Safari-Balls are only Pokeballs with a green cover," William explained. "They aren't strong enough. If you found a weak Nidorino, then yes, you could catch it."

Ed snatched another Safari-Ball from his brother, not happy that his choice of Pokemon just got caught in half. Scyther were strong! Did that mean that they were uncatchable unless he found a hurt one? That wasn't fair!

"Go!" Ed said loudly, but halted his arm in midair. A thought came to him and instead of freely throwing the ball, Ed did an underarm throw instead. The ball arched in the air, spinning, before neatly hitting the Nidoran on its back. The ball opened and the Nidoran tried to jump away, but was converted into red energy and sucked into the ball. The Safari-Ball closed with a snap and rocked, the Pokemon trying desperately to get out.

"Come on!" Ed said, nervousness making itself known in his gut. Stay in the ball, stay in the ball…

A burst of white light caught his attention and the Nidoran rematerialized on the ground. It shook its head for a moment and then quickly ran into the bush, the remaining Nidorino following it.

Ed frowned, feeling tears prick at his eyes. He failed!

"Don't worry, Eddy," William said, ruffling his brother's hair. "We'll find another Pokemon for you. There are a lot here."

Sniffing, Ed nodded and tried to be happy. He didn't need a Nidoran. Like Will said, there were tons of Pokemon in the Safari Zone. He would catch something much cooler than a Nidoran! Like a Rhyhorn or something as cool as that!

William retrieved the bowl and the remaining Pokemon food, putting them back into his bag. With another pat to Ed's shoulder, he led his younger brother out of the clearing and into the bush.


-


Back at the house, things weren't looking quite as hopeful.

"Amber!" Ally gasped as her Vulpix was thrown back, courteously of a Sonicboom.

Leah just watched, trying not to sigh. When she said that she wanted Ally to battle the Voltorb and treat it as a wild Pokemon, Leah had hopes that things would just… turn out well. It would have been nice if Ally had beaten Voltorb, earned its eternal respect and loyalty and everything would be all nice and filled with rainbows.

Of course, life didn't go like a cartoon or a story and Leah could only watch the Vulpix get thrown around, despite his trainer's pleas. Ally, not following her mentor's advice, wasn't going to any lengths to beat the Voltorb. All she did was order Embers to scorch the grass around Sparks to try to get it to back down, but all that did was anger it. To Sparks, it looked like Ally and Amber was threatening and taunting it and if there's one thing you didn't do, it was teasing an explosive Pokemon with a short temper.

"This isn't working," Leah muttered to herself.

"Shrew?" Sands seemingly asked, also watching the battle with mild curiosity, though most of his attention was given to the Fire Stone.

Leah got up, scowling and walked over to Ally. "Okay, that's enough."

Ally turned, wilting under Leah's angry expression.

"Why aren't you attacking it?" Leah questioned, preparing herself for an idiotic response that would probably be filled with friendship speeches.

She was not disappointed.

"I- I don't want to attack him," Ally wailed. "He's my friend!"

Leah sighed heavily. It was hardly twenty minutes ago that Ally was scared of the Pokemon and now she kept saying it was a friend. Would it be too hard for Ally to make up her mind? "It's a Pokemon and he's not your friend."

At that moment, Sparks let loose a low growl, reminding the two trainers of its presence.

"Seriously." Leah frowned, eyes narrowed.

With only a wary glance back at the Voltorb, Ally repeated, "Sparks is my friend!"

Ugh. Leah had had enough of that word to last a lifetime! Why couldn't Ally get it? Right now, Voltorb was a dangerous Pokemon and would attack anyone, including its trainer, when threatened. Hell, Ally was even shocked by the Pokemon and she still didn't understand. Leah needed a new plan, and the one that had been circling her thoughts would do nicely.

"Sands, Scratch on Voltorb."

The Sandshrew's ears perked up and it took a moment for Sands to untangle himself from the Fire Stone, but once he did so, he ran forward and past the trainers. Sparks saw the incoming Pokemon and growled again, but when that didn't stop Sands, the Voltorb quickly rolled out of the way.

"L- Leave Sparks alone!" Ally told Leah and looked at her other Pokemon. "Amber! Please help Sparks!"

From where he laid, the Vulpix raised his head and looked over to the battle. He got to his feet, wobbling slightly and his two tails fanned out behind him. Battling Sparks one minute and then being ordered to help him the next had the Vulpix left feeling a trite confused. So, he was rather cautious when approaching the battle, neither helping nor attacking the Voltorb.

Sands landed on the patch of grass where the Voltorb had just been, claws only digging into the dirt. He turned to see Sparks beside him, the electric type literally sparking with fury. Luckily, the electrical discharge did nothing, only making the Sandshrew shake his head at the bright light.

"Amber," Ally cried. "Use Ember on Sands!"

The Vulpix paused only a meter from the battle and then inhaled and blew out. The small ball of fire scorched the grass and made Sands jump away to avoid the heat and flames. Now, with two opponents on his head, the Sandshrew was stuck looking wildly between the two, confused on who to attack.

Oh great, Leah thought to herself. Now she was being double teamed.

"Sands, Poison Sting the Voltorb! Ignore the Vulpix."

The poisoned needles from the Sandshrew's mouth didn't do much to Sparks, only bouncing off its tough metal-looking skin. The Voltorb eyes narrowed into slits and his round body started to give off a mild yellow glow.

Leah blinked and stared hard, a bit worried at the glow. When did Voltorb learn Selfdestruct again?

Ally didn't seem to be worried. "Amber, protect Sparks!"

That didn't seem to be a wise move, however, and the Pokemon knew it too. Sands backed away warily from the glowing Voltorb while Amber hesitated a great deal. Neither of them knew what the glow meant but their instincts were telling them that it wouldn't be a good idea to get close. Unfortunately for Amber, he couldn't disobey orders so he crept close to Sparks, staying in-between him and Sands.

Okay, Leah thought to herself, one more time. She had a feeling what the Voltorb's technique was, and despite her limited knowledge of a Voltorb's move pool, she was pretty confident in her assumption.

She looked at Sands and commanded him to get back some more before saying, "Poison Sting the Voltorb."

Sands kept his distance as he quickly leapt to the side, trying to get a better shot on Sparks. Amber did as his trainer ordered, trying to stay in-between the quick Sandshrew and the motionless Voltorb. The fire-type did his best and no matter how many times Sands circled and no matter which way, Amber wouldn't let him get a direct shot.

Leah rolled her eyes and was getting a bit dizzy just by watching them. "Okay, fine; attack the Vulpix."

And so Sands did, Amber not ready for the sudden attack. The fire-type howled out when the needles pierced one of his front legs, quickly moving backwards only to bump into the angry Voltorb he was trying to protect. However, Sparks couldn't help but see the Vulpix as a threat, a barking one that had just roughly ran into him.

So, of course, he defended himself… Violently.

The electrical discharge from Sparks was much brighter and stronger than it usually was. Leah was so surprised, despite expecting it, that she backed up. Ally let out a small scream and fell over onto the grass when trying to back away from the scene. Sands wasn't affected by the attack, but was still scared off, running over to Leah in fear.

Amber wasn't so lucky. Having direct contact with a charged Spark definitely wasn't a good thing. He was blasted backwards, landing roughly and flipping over until he rolled to a stop on the cool grass. His fur was on end and his tails constantly twitched like he could no longer control them.

"Amber!" Ally screamed when she broke out of her surprise. She forced herself up, not giving a second glance at the Voltorb. Running over to the fallen Pokemon, she knelt down and gasped at the shock she got when she tried to touch Amber.

Leah sighed at the scene and looked over to the Voltorb. A few leftover sparks jumped across his body and the grass around him was blackened.

Turning around, Leah was going to check on Sands (who was being comforted by the Fire Stone) when Ally stormed up to her.

"W- Why did you do that!" Ally was screaming at her. "Why did you attack Sparks? Now Amber's hurt!"

Leah held up her hands with an annoyed expression. "Calm down."

Ally stomped the ground, letting her own temper be known. "No!"

Wondering how she was supposed to deal with a temper tantrum, Leah gave another look to Sparks, who wasn't doing anything since he seemingly had used up all his power.

"Hey, Sands doesn't know any electric attacks; don't blame us," Leah said sharply.

Ally did not accept that answer. "No! If you didn't attack Sparks, Amber wouldn't be hurt! It's all your fault!" she cried and walked up closer to Leah, closer than what was comfortable. In what appeared to be a threat, Ally pushed Leah with all her strength, making the older girl take a step back.

Leah would have liked to defend her actions, which she did have an ulterior motive for, but Ally wasn't done.

Everything that happened on the journey and everything that Leah did to the two brats was suddenly out in the open, Ally unleashing her bottled fury. "You're always mean to us and putting us down, saying we're stupid and making fun us! You attacked Ed's Paras before and now my Sparks!"

Leah was honestly lost for words. She had no clue what to say, but she tried. "L- Look, it's not like I want to be here-"

"And why's that?" Ally asked. "Because you gave up and you're scared that you're going to fail again? You only don't like us because we're doing better than you! We're succeeding! We have a badge and we've won battles! Have you done that? You failed, quit! We're doing better-"

"Oh, shut the **** up!" Leah exploded, not taking those words lying down. "You know nothing!"

Leah's words seemed to snap Ally out of her rage and the girl was left standing there, eyes starting to tear up.

"You're going to start crying now?" Leah sneered, any qualms about not making Ally cry crushed.

"Y- You're just-" Ally struggled with what to say while trying not to cry. "You're just a big mean-y!"

Okay, that was it. Leah snorted and turned around, walking away. She didn't even look at Sands and the Fire Stone as she went past, not caring to deal with them.

As she stomped back up the deck's steps, she mentally raged.

That stupid brat knew nothing about her! Nothing! She wasn't jealous of the two; she just didn't care! Was it unreasonable of her to want to go home? Apparently so! She didn't care what they did with their pathetic lives; she just wanted to get on with hers.

And she did have an ulterior motive for attacking Sparks, honest! If Ally wouldn't see the Voltorb as dangerous, than either she had to be forced to see the Pokemon as dangerous, or maybe somehow convince the Voltorb to give Ally a chance, which certainly wasn't going to happen!

Though, underneath all of Leah's anger and rage was quite a lot of surprise. Ally going nuts on her was certainly something that she never expected. Maybe from Ed since he was impulsive like that, but from Ally? If Leah hadn't been there, she would have never believed it.

Leah scowled at the kitchen and shut the screen door behind her.

That was definitely the last time she was being nice.


-


A/N: I have no clue what to think of this chapter. One minute I was casually writing and the next I was looking at the finished product and thinking, "What the-?" I hope Ally's actions were realistic since I personally think that might've been a bit out-of-character for her.

Anyways, I wasn't planning on making this chapter a two part-er, but it grew too long and now I have no choice. ;)
 
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delongbi

I C U
161
Posts
16
Years
Oh, man. I was forced into babysitting for these kids for two days, and I thought, what could cheer me up? Then I remembered there's a new chapter every Friday illustrating kids who are harder to deal with than the ones I have to babysit for! :) So thanks for writing this!

Grammar... bleh...

The last thing the older trainer needed was the Vulpix spontaneously evolving into a Ninetales and using up the Fire Stone, which in turn, send Sands into a snarling rage…

It should be "which in turn, would send Sands into..."

If Ally became less introvert, then she would play with Ed more and give Leah more alone time.

Introvert is a noun. Either "If Ally became less introverted" or "If Ally became less of an introvert"

And she did have an ulterior motive for attacking Sparks, honest! If Ally wouldn't see the Voltorb as dangerous, than either she had to be forced to see the Pokemon as dangerous, or maybe somehow convince the Voltorb to give Ally a chance, which certainly wasn't going to happen!

Should be, "If Ally wouldn't see the Voltorb as dangerous, then either"


Alright, so yes, I did think it was slightly out of character for Ally to explode like that. However, I do not think it is completely unreasonable because Ally has shown to be very defensive of her Pokemon in the past and this fits that characteristic, at least. Also, I find it a bit fitting that she explodes. Kinda like her own first Pokemon...

Anyways, I wasn't planning on making this chapter a two part-er, but it grew too long and now I have no choice.

That happens more often than not with me, lol.

Anyway, this was a solid chapter. I don't have anything else to comment on- as usual, great job! I look forward to next week, and seriously, thank you for writing this!!!!
 

Dagzar

The Dreamer
444
Posts
15
Years
Thanks for reviewing delongbi!

Oh, man. I was forced into babysitting for these kids for two days, and I thought, what could cheer me up? Then I remembered there's a new chapter every Friday illustrating kids who are harder to deal with than the ones I have to babysit for! :) So thanks for writing this!
Heh, I've never babysat before and I can just imagine all the trouble kids would get into without their parents around.

Alright, so yes, I did think it was slightly out of character for Ally to explode like that. However, I do not think it is completely unreasonable because Ally has shown to be very defensive of her Pokemon in the past and this fits that characteristic, at least. Also, I find it a bit fitting that she explodes. Kinda like her own first Pokemon...
Okay, I'm glad that Ally's tantrum wasn't totally unrealistic. Since Leah had been on her case since day one, I'd figure she'd have to snap sooner or later.

Anyway, this was a solid chapter. I don't have anything else to comment on- as usual, great job! I look forward to next week, and seriously, thank you for writing this!!!!
Thanks and no problem! I love writing this story and I really hope that I'm able to finish it. :)
 

Giratina ♀

what's your sign?
1,439
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15
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  • Age 27
  • Seen Jul 23, 2013
"Two hours should do it," Williams said, his cane tapping against the tiled flooring as they walked up to the front desk.

William Williams? When you're writing a character with a name like that, be careful and make sure you're using the right word. Here, there shouldn't be an S at the end of the word, because it's referring to Will.

Mr. William stuck his hand in his pocket, pulling out his wallet and taking out a couple of bills.
And again, in the opposite direction. It should be Mr. Williams, I believe.

That's all I found. Overall, I think this was a pretty good chapter! Leah could have done a better job of giving Ally the facts bluntly - 'Your Voltorb isn't the same as your Vulpix. Your Vulpix will cuddle up like a baby to anyone who's nice to it, but Sparks just needs to be beat up to get it through his thick metal plating that you're the boss' or something like that. She certainly seemed angry enough to say that to Ally in an attempt to make her see sense.
 

Dagzar

The Dreamer
444
Posts
15
Years
Thanks for reviewing, Giratinasaur! Sorry my reply is so late.

I'll fix those mistakes later now. (Seriously, I need to break my procrastination habit because this is getting ridiculous. <_<)

That's all I found. Overall, I think this was a pretty good chapter! Leah could have done a better job of giving Ally the facts bluntly - 'Your Voltorb isn't the same as your Vulpix. Your Vulpix will cuddle up like a baby to anyone who's nice to it, but Sparks just needs to be beat up to get it through his thick metal plating that you're the boss' or something like that. She certainly seemed angry enough to say that to Ally in an attempt to make her see sense.
Heh, yeah, Leah kind of dodged around the subject there. Though, I laughed at what you suggested that Leah should of said. It would have probably have probably worked better than Leah's subtle advice.
 

I Laugh at your Misfortune!

Normal is a synonym for boring
2,626
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15
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Hey, long time reader, first time commenter...

well, to start, you're fricking awesome :D ...that's pretty much it.

although, I didn't find Ally's reaction to be very OOC...you normally find with the quiet ones that they have a tendency to just snap :D
 

Dagzar

The Dreamer
444
Posts
15
Years
Hey, long time reader, first time commenter...

well, to start, you're fricking awesome ...that's pretty much it.

although, I didn't find Ally's reaction to be very OOC...you normally find with the quiet ones that they have a tendency to just snap
Thanks for reviewing, Screw the rules, I have green hair! (awesome name, by the way)! I'm glad you enjoyed the story. And yeah, unlike the loud characters who make their emotions known, quiet characters usually bottle up emotions until they suddenly snap (that's why I like them)! :)


Also, I'm going to have to apologize to you readers. I'm having problems with Chapter 19, so no update this week. Though don't worry, I will get it up next Friday and hopefully it'll be a good chapter (though right now, I'm having doubts <_<).

Sorry again, guys!
 
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Dagzar

The Dreamer
444
Posts
15
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Mentor
Chapter 19: Safari Hunt (part two)


-



The water rippled with movement as the Pokemon swam just underneath the surface, its frilled white and pink tail waving behind it. Its large blue eyes scanned its surroundings for predators, but when finding none, it swam onwards with hardly a care in the world.

Unseen, the predator smiled to itself, its projectile grasped firmly in hand. It crept along the water's bank, moving silently but quickly, following its prey's movement with watchful eyes. It stilled when the Pokemon it was following paused, but breathed a small sign of relief when the Pokemon continued its swim. Just when the prey thought it was safe, when it finally relaxed, turning its horned head in the opposite direction, the predator struck.

The predator's projectile sunk into the water with a plop, but the prey, having seemingly been luring its predator into a false sense of security, dodged easily. With a flick of its tail, the Pokemon that was once prey swam off, leaving a trail of bubbles behind it.

"Aw," Ed groaned, seeing his target going farther out into the river. "I missed!"

"Goldeen are pretty quick," William commented, walking up to him. "You'd need a fishing rod to get a better chance to catch it."

Ed frowned. "I didn't want a Goldeen anyways," he muttered. "They're only good in water."

William held out another Safari-Ball to his brother and Ed took it, scowling.

"Don't pout," William scolded as he looked around. "You're doing pretty well for your first time here. You're lucky you're even finding Pokemon."

Even if the Goldeen had fled, Ed and William continued walking down the lake's bank, Ed out front and the older brother following. They had gotten out of the forest a while ago and were now surrounded by grass and water, the trees quite a distance back from the water's edge.

"Will," Ed said as they walked. "What time is it?"

William only sighed. That question was starting to become the bane of his existence and no matter how many times he answered, it would be asked again a few minutes later.

"We have around forty minutes left," William answered without looking at the watch on his wrist.

Ed made an odd sound at the back of his throat and his face shifted into a worried expression. "We're going to run out of time."

William sighed again. His patience was starting to wear thin and if worst came to worst, William supposed that he would have catch Ed a Pokemon himself, something he would rather not do.

"We're going to be fine," William said.

His younger brother didn't answer, looking around as if a Pokemon was going to suddenly pop out of the grass in front of him.

"You know," William said suddenly. "Your second Pokemon doesn't need to be from here. They're lots of Pokemon just outside Fuchsia City you can capture." He paused as the thought grew larger in his head. "Your Paras is a half grass-type and half bug-type, so maybe you can catch a Pidgey or a Spearow."

"But they're common," Ed said, obviously not liking the idea. "I want a Pokemon that you can't catch easily; a special Pokemon."

William suddenly stopped and it took a few minutes for Ed to notice.

"Ed," William started. "I don't think that's a really good idea to have."

The brother continued walking while William continued to talk.

"Look, there are pros and cons at having special Pokemon," he was saying. "Not only in battle, but outside it as well. For example, when we had that battle a week ago and your Paras went up against my Squirtle, how did you plan to beat it?"

Ed thought for a moment and then shrugged. "Don't really remember. Scratch and Leech Life?"

"Okay." William nodded. "Now, how confident were you in beating it?"

"Pretty good," Ed admitted. "I never really see you train your Pokemon, so…"

William continued the thought. "You assumed that my Squirtle was untrained." He went on before Ed could say anything. "Now, what would your strategy be if you went against a Blastoise?"

"Stun Spore, I guess," Ed said, frowning. "Blastoise are powerful."

"Why didn't you try using Stun Spore on Squirtle?" William asked.

Ed tried to explain. "Squirtle are… small."

William nodded at the answer, as if he expected it. "You underestimated my Squirtle and got wet because of it. In battle, smaller Pokemon aren't taken as seriously as bigger ones. Bigger ones usually require strategy while smaller ones are handled with brute force."

"What does that have to do with special Pokemon?" Ed asked.

"It's the same with special Pokemon," William replied. "In a battle, which do think would win, a Rattata or a Clefairy?"

Ed frowned. It was probably a trick question, but…

"The Clefairy."

"Why?"

Ed honestly couldn't think of answer because Clefairy being the winner just seemed obvious.

"I personality think Rattata would be the winner," William told his brother. "Clefairy, no matter how mysterious, aren't good fighters and their signature attack, Metronome, is luck based. Rattata, on the other hand, are very fast and their signature move, Hyper Fang, can tear through flesh."

William continued. "If you have common Pokemon, most people would generally underestimate you in battle. Rare Pokemon would be taken seriously, not only because they're not seen often, but because people assume they're stronger than regular Pokemon."

"Also…" William frowned, wondering how he should broach the topic. "If you have rare Pokemon, you're going to become a target."

"Target for what?" Ed asked curiously.

William said simply, "Thieves."

"Why would they do that? Why don't they get their own Pokemon?" Ed knew that Pokemon sometimes got stolen, but it always seemed so far away from him, like there was no chance of it happening to him.

"They just don't," William said. "Thieves go after rare Pokemon to sell and it's always easier to just steal from someone than using so much time and effort to get their own." He paused. "Look, people who steal Pokemon will go to any means necessary to get a Pokemon that they want."

Ed felt an uneasiness race up his spine at those words.

William seemingly noticed his brother's worried face because he said, "I'm not trying to scare you, just warning you. If you do get a rare Pokemon, don't flaunt or brag about it and you'll be fine."

Ed nodded, still uneasy.


-


She had tried, honestly, she did. But no matter how many times she tried to concentrate on what she was doing, her attention kept wavering. The internet just wasn't interesting to her. Whether it was because she was still knee deep in anger still hadn't been decided yet.

Leah leaned back in the computer chair and grumbled to herself, but it was much more subdued than it was half-an-hour ago. She was still angry about being yelled at, especially when she was trying to help, but she supposed that Ally may have had a reason to yell at her. It was technically her fault that one of Ally's Pokemon was hurt.

Oh, Vulpix would be fine, Leah told herself in annoyance. Yeah, it was her fault, but seriously. Pokemon always got hurt and Ally never really complained then. Sure, Vulpix got a shock, but at least that's all it got… But it was a rather big shock, wasn't it? Vulpix looked pretty hurt with its fur sticking up in an almost a cartoonish way…

Amber's beaten image popped into her mind, twitching silently with Ally screaming in the background.

Scowling, Leah erased the image from her mind.

Now that her anger had half-faded, guilt was making itself known, slithering through her mind like a parasite. What if that charged Spark attack seriously hurt Amber? Now that was a question: could Pokemon die if they were electrocuted enough? Leah had never really heard about something like that, but it wasn't like she was seriously interested in Pokemon anyways. Besides, Amber was just a baby Vulpix, only having two tails instead of six.

Damn it!

Leah got to her feet, scowl fixed firmly on her face. She left the computer behind her as she exited the room and went upstairs. At the top, she halted and looked around. Mrs. Williams had gone out a while ago, shopping supposedly, and took Carla with her. The mother didn't seem to be concerned at leaving two strangers alone in her house, even if Leah and Ally had been there for over a week already.

Since William was the only one other than Ed who kept Pokemon, Leah doubted that there would be anything useful in the kitchen.

She went down the hallway and passed Ed's door, not giving it a second glance. There were three other doors along the hallway, each leading to a bedroom, but there was only one in particular that Leah was interested in. It was the last door, and Leah pushed it open, not at all ashamed with herself for breaking someone's privacy. The bedroom was like Ed's, but colored in browns and greens. The floor was a bit messy; a pile of clothes in the corner, but other than that, it looked spotless.

Leah felt a bit uneasy at rooting through William's stuff, but squashed the feeling. It wasn't like the guilt would leave her alone if she didn't.

Not knowing where to start, Leah absentmindedly went to the bookcase by the bed, which was filled with books, packed together so tightly she had difficulty removing one from the shelf. She flipped through it, raising an eyebrow when she saw drawings and panels instead of lines and paragraphs.

"He reads comic books?" Leah asked herself. William didn't seem like the type. Besides, what was she doing looking at the bookcase anyways? Unless he had a secret door behind it, it was pretty useless to her.

It took about a minute to get the book back in place and after doing so, she abandoned the bookcase for the closet, which looked much more interesting. Grasping the thin circular knob, she stepped back and pulled it open, looking inside. Despite the opportunities the closet might have held, it was only filled with coat hangers and clothes. There were boxes on the floor of the closet, but they looked suspiciously like the same boxes Leah used to hold her old clothes.

Disappointed, the closet was also abandoned and Leah was stuck standing in the middle of the room. William was a boring person, if you judged him by his room.

Come on, there had to be something

Leah's eyes caught the small table beside William's bed. She knelt down next to it and pulled open the first drawer.

Empty.

She frowned and went to the other one underneath it, which was much larger and pulled open like a door instead of a drawer.

She was in luck. The cupboard / drawer contained many interesting and colorful things. On the left was a stack of thick books that had a thin layer of dust over them. Curiously, Leah took the top one out (grimacing at the dust) and looked at the cover, which had shades of blue and showed some type of coral reef. The title of the book, outlined in gold, was 'Pokemon: Myths and Legends'. Leah only raised an eyebrow and put the book back where it belonged. The thought of William discovering his books were no longer dusty only partly crossed her mind.

Now, the things on the right were what she was looking for. They were bottles of various shapes and sizes, but most were spray bottles of different colors. Leah looked through them, her hand bumping a few out of their way when she spotted what she wanted. At the back was a small spray bottle and despite its glassy look, it only made a dull sound when Leah tapped it with her nail. The see-through material the bottle was made out of was completely colored and it made the liquid inside look a bright orange.

Her eyes scanned the label, making sure the bottle was the right one. And it was, quite plainly. The label read 'Super Potion' and Leah couldn't help but wonder who named all the healing items 'Potions'? Seriously, it sounded like something from out of a stupid video game.

Since Vulpix was shocked instead of just brutally beaten, she also grabbed a pale yellow bottle, a Paralyze Heal.

Her mission completed, Leah slowly got up, the two items in hand. She closed the cupboard door with her foot and went back down the hallway.

The things she did sometimes…


-

"Wait," William said suddenly, stopping and holding his arm out to prevent Ed from going any further ahead.

Ed bumped into his arm and gave his brother a confused look. "What?"

Pointing to a vague creature in the distance, William lowered his voice, as if the creature would hear him. "I think we've gone a bit farther out than I intended."

The Pokemon, around forty feet out, slowly trotted towards then, its three whip-like tails swishing behind it. The closer it came, the more Ed realized how big it was. Almost as big as a Ponyta, but it looked much more deadly with two silver horns attached to its head that pointed outwards. It had a brown fur coat, but with a long mane around its neck in a darker shade of color.

Ed's grip tightened on the Safari-Ball in his hand. "A Taurus!"

"It's coming right towards us," William muttered, more to himself than to his brother. "Shit."

Ed didn't seem to share his brother's wariness. "Can I try catching it?"

William ignored him, only grabbing Ed's arm and looking out to the forest. It was far back and William didn't think he could make it, limp or no limp.

"No," William finally said, realizing that Ed was waiting for an answer. "There's no way you can capture a Taurus here unless you find it asleep or something."

The Taurus shook its head as it picked up the pace, its mane shaking with every step.

"Will…" Ed said, eyeing the Pokemon as it came towards them instead of going away from them. "I thought the Pokemon here were scared of us?"

The older brother grimaced. "Most are, but some don't really having any reason to fear us." Seeing that the Taurus was picking up speed, William's hand dived into one of the bags he was holding and took out a Safari-Ball.

Ed frowned. "Hey, what are you doing?"

"Get behind me," William said, ignoring the question and keeping his eyes focused on the Pokemon.

"Huh?"

William enlarged the ball with one hand and repeated himself. "Get behind me."

"What're you going to do?" Ed asked, doing as his brother said.

Not taking his eyes off the Pokemon, William said, "Taurus are dangerous and they will attack unprovoked. I'm going to see if I can chase it off."

Switching his grip on his cane so that he was holding it under the handle, the older brother held it out to Ed. "Hold this for me."

Ed did so and after another glance at the Taurus, swung the cane over his shoulder like a baseball bat.

The Taurus wasn't more than fifteen feet away now. It was close enough that Ed could see the three silver circles on the Pokemon's forehead. It looked like it was breathing deeply and it sunk its head, letting its horns lead.

William took a deep breath and before the Taurus could take another step, he threw the Safari-Ball. It shot through the air and bounced off the Taurus's horn, stopping the Pokemon in its tracks. The ball opened, but it was futile as it just fell to the ground, not strong enough to suck the wild Pokemon in.

The Taurus threw its head back, snorting, and turned to the side, showing both the huge muscles on its legs. Its hooves clopped on the ground as the Taurus seemed to circle.

William's hand darted into the bag again and got out another Safari-Ball, but didn't throw it. He only stared at the Pokemon, judging it and waiting to see if it would lose interest on its own.

As the stare down commenced, Ed swallowed nervously. If there was a time that he ever wanted his Paras, now would be it. Sure, Paras would have some problems battling a Taurus, but at least it was better than having nothing in-between them and such a big Pokemon.

Slowly, William's free hand went to the bags, but instead of going to the ones with the Safari-Balls, he went to the bag he brought with him.

"Why don't you give it food?" Ed whispered. "Maybe that's all it wants."

"It'll take too long to set up," William replied, his hand still blindly rooting through the bag. "Besides, I don't think it wants food; only a fight."

The Taurus suddenly stood in place, its eyes fixed on the brothers. A pause went by before it took a few steps forward and then broke into a trot.

William's hand was a blur and hardly after the ball left his hand, his other came out with what he was searching for: a regular Pokeball.

"Squirtle!" William called out, opening it in his hand. "Water Pulse!"

The blue turtle responded instantly, holding out its paws and letting a ball of swirling liquid materialize between them.

The Taurus, having easily knocked the Safari-Ball out of the way, didn't stop, even if it saw the attack coming. The Water Pulse blasted out of Squirtle's hands, reforming into a ring as soon as it was let go. The ring of water was outlined in an odd glowing dark blue line with the middle of the ring a swirl of colors, not unlike a bubble. It flew across the distance, the bottom of it turning into water as it skimmed the ground.

The Water Pulse and the Taurus met in-between and despite the normal Pokemon's appearance, it proved no match for the attack. The ring of water overpowered it and swept it off its feet, dragging it back a few feet before immaterializing, leaving the Taurus in a heap on the ground. The Pokemon was soaked in water and when it tried to get up, it had a bit of trouble not slipping on the water that now covered the earth.

"You brought Squirtle?" Ed asked William, having now just found his voice.

William nodded, finally starting to relax. "I always bring a Pokemon with me, just in case."

Ed frowned. "Then why couldn't I bring Paras?"

"My Squirtle's more than enough protection," William replied.

The Taurus finally got to its feet, snorting and shaking its head. It seemed to have finally gotten the notion to leave the trainers alone since it turned around and trotted away, its set tails flicking water behind it.

"Thanks, Squirtle," William said to his Pokemon before returning it with red light. He put away the Pokeball before taking back his cane from his brother.

It was then Ed realized how hard his heart was pounding. He put his hand on his chest and tried to calm down. Then he frowned and thought for a moment.

"Hey, Will. What time is it?"


-


At the foot of the deck stairs, Ally sat silently as she mulled over what to do. As she did so, she stroked her Vulpix's limp form with her free hand, her other holding the Pokemon close to her chest. She could feel Amber breathe softly and was relieved that his twitching was finally starting to calm down.

She kept all of her attention on Amber's situation, completely ignoring Sparks, who hadn't moved from his spot on the grass. She was so completely lost in thought, that she was surprised when an orange spray bottle bumped into her hand. Looking up, she almost immediately averted her glaze from Leah's, both out of embarrassment and shame.

"Here," Leah said, still holding the Super Potion out. The older girl's face was blank, but inside, she was feeling anything but. It was mostly a mix of emotions, but Leah was quite certain that it was mostly anger and guilt. Guilt for hurting the Pokemon that badly and anger at Ally for saying those things (even if they were true).

Ally lowered her head, so Leah had to repeat herself. "Here! Just take it."

Ally took the Super Potion, loosening her grip on Amber so that the Pokemon wilted further onto her lap. After a brief bit of hesitation, Leah sat down on the step behind Ally, leaning forward so that her elbows rested on her knees.

"Thanks," Ally said, her voice barely audible. Her fingers rubbed against the Super Potion, going over its cap and to the small trigger at the top.

Leah waited patiently for the younger girl to turn over her Pokemon, revealing the damage on the lower portion of his body, mostly on the back of his legs. Ally was a rather small girl, so it took a bit of adjusting to get Amber in a position where she could spray his legs without him falling off her lap. The idea of just putting the Vulpix on the ground to spray him didn't seem to cross her mind.

The two stayed silent for next few minutes, both listening to the sound of the Super Potion as it undid the damage that the Voltorb made.

"Voltorb isn't going to listen to you," Leah said, watching Ally work.

Ally's voice was quiet. "I know."

"What are you going to do about it?"

"I don't know."

A few more seconds of silence ticked by. "You know," Leah started. "You don't need to get Voltorb to listen to you."

"He's my first Pokemon," Ally replied miserably. "I can't abandon him."

"If he's never going to listen to you, then why keep him?"

Ally thought about that. "I- I'll find a way to make him listen. Other people have Voltorb; they must have found a way."

Leah looked over at Sparks, the Pokemon doing nothing but glaring at them, unable to do anything but watch.

Voltorb are angry Pokemon, Leah told herself. They'll attack anything without provocation. Their attacks were loud, annoying and usually flashy, perfect for getting and keeping attention. If a Voltorb was around, you would keep an eye on it at all times, always wary that it might suddenly explode.

So, if Voltorb were used to getting attention, then what would happen if they were ignored?

"Hey," Leah said to Ally, sharing her idea. "Ignore the Voltorb."

"What?" Ally asked distractedly, still busy with Amber.

"Your Voltorb. Instead of putting all your time into trying to get it to listen to you, just ignore it."

Ally looked up, frowning. "Why would I do that?"

"If it's ignored," Leah explained, "It'll try to get your attention back. You always give it a lot of attention, right? If you suddenly don't, it might try being a good little Pokemon to get it back."

"Why would Sparks do that?" Ally asked. "Wouldn't he just misbehave worse?"

Leah shrugged. "Maybe, but Voltorb seems like the type of Pokemon to like attention, good or bad. If he starts attacking again, just return him to his Pokeball."

The empty Super Potion bottle was placed on the stair next to Leah's leg and Ally was left just petting Amber.

"How long will it take for him to listen to me, then?" Ally asked, her mind grasping onto the idea.

"It's not going to work in a day," Leah replied vaguely since she had absolutely no clue. "Give it a few weeks and we'll see how it goes."

Ally sighed and looked over at her motionless electric type, still sitting in the circle of dead grass.

Since her guilt was finally edging away, Leah got up, leaving the full Paralyze Heal behind in case Ally needed it.

"Leah," Ally called out before Leah had even gotten up a single step.

"What?" she replied shortly, looking down upon the girl.

Ally lowered her head, eyes focused on Amber. "I'm sorry for saying all those mean things."

A part of Leah would have liked to have replied, 'And I'm sorry that I've been pestering you the entire journey', but no matter how hard she tried, the words just wouldn't leave her lips.

So she settled by saying, "It doesn't matter."


-


"I can't believe it!" Ed complained as he and his brother walked through the front door of their house. The younger brother's face was slightly red, whether out of anger out of not catching a Pokemon or sadness for the same reason, William couldn't tell.

"I didn't catch a single Pokemon!"

William tried to comfort him. "Most people don't on their first try."

It was almost like Ed didn't hear him. "This wasn't how it was supposed to go!"

"We can get you a different Pokemon," William said, putting the bag on the floor and taking his shoes off. "I can name tons of Pokemon around here that you can properly catch."

Ed frowned and crossed his arms, a pout almost permanently fixed to his face.

William sighed and said, "What do you want me to do?"

"… I know you said that you only have two Pokemon," Ed started, seeing an opportunity, but was also uncharacteristically nervous. "But you really don't have any others?"

Sighing again, William could see where the conversation was going. "Well," he said. "I gave a few to Professor Oak for breeding purposes…"

"Do you think I could have one of those?" Ed burst out and then hurried on. "I really don't want to have any of the Pokemon around here and if I can't catch any in the Safari Zone-"

"The Pokemon I gave to the Professor," William said firmly. "Were pretty much all in their final evolutions so they won't obey you-"

Ed cut him off. "What do you mean 'pretty much all'?"


Tightening his grip on his cane, William considered lying to his brother since he wouldn't let the discussion go. True, William did have a Pokemon that was conveniently low-leveled, but it wasn't the type of Pokemon that was good for Ed.

"Look," William said, hooking his cane on the banister. "I admit, I do have a Pokemon that you could technically look after, but it isn't your regular Pokemon." William wondered if giving him a rare Pokemon would render their earlier conversation of common Pokemon being better than rare Pokemon moot.

The two brothers climbed the stairs, William holding them up because of his limp.

William continued once they were at the top. "It's a good Pokemon for me, since I know a lot about Pokemon in general, but if I did give you it..." William trailed off when seeing Ed's suddenly eager face, but continued on. "You would have to really study to make this work. Especially if you're going to challenge Koga."

Ed grinned; his previous mood vanished with the prospect of getting a rare Pokemon. "I'll study, don't worry!"

The brother entered the kitchen and Ed immediately went for the door leading to the backyard, which was open a crack. After a brief pause of consideration, William followed him outside.

"I'm not saying I'll give you the Pokemon," William said. "I'll consider it."

The grin didn't leave Ed's face as the younger brother was sure that he had already won.

"Hi, Ally!" Ed greeted, spotting his friend sitting on the stairs alone. He was about to walk down the stairs, but he just happened to look out to the yard and did a double take.

"Hey, why's the grass all black?"


-


A/N: Sorry that I skipped last week's update, guys! I had lot and lots of trouble with this chapter and I hope it came out okay. Anyway, if you've noticed that there are hardly any grammar mistakes in this chapter, it's because my sister-in-law was kind enough to look it over and purge any she saw.

Sorry again for the wait and I hoped you enjoyed it. :)
 
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