XYLOPHONE
→ oak town
Xylo and Ragnar had gone together to find the pokémon center and heal their pokémon, while the others continued exploring the town randomly. Strangely enough, Ragnar was in a much better mood than Xylo, even though the blonde boy had won. He found the taller boy annoying but at least it was good that he didn't find Xylo annoying back, he supposed.
When their pokémon were healed up, Ragnar suggested that they should try and find even more Raikou members to get to know, but Xylo said that he wanted to take a walk with his pokémon. Alone. Ragnar shrugged and left the younger boy alone as they both left the pokémon center in different directions.
The blonde boy was thoughtful as he strolled away from the center of Oak Town without thinking about where his feet took him. He had already won his first battle here, but it felt strange. Maybe it was all these new people whom he found annoying but who still wanted to give him a chance. Maybe... he should give them a chance. He had never had a hard time making friends; he wasn't a weirdo. But he usually chose what friends he wanted, they didn't force themselves upon him like now.
Suddenly one of the pokéballs at his white belt cracked open. His Butterfree emerged and giggled happily at him.
"Princess," he said with a soft smile. His very first pokémon, captured as a Caterpie. She always knew how to bring forth his sweet side, unbeknownst to himself.
→ beach
He took a look around. Where had he ended up? Oh, a warm sea breeze ruffled his hair. He was at a beach. But not one of those where the students relaxed and played; this one was relatively empty, only a few students here and there sunbathing, and a couple surfing further down the beach. The sand was a dark color, compared to most of the beaches where the sand was almost white or yellow. Xylo went down to the water but not near enough to get himself wet. He wasn't the kind of kid who took off his shoes and ran happily through the waves...
With shifty eyes, he made sure that nobody was looking right at him. His shoes quickly came off and his pants were rolled up. Then he tip toed slowly through the shallowest part of the waters with a content face. Princess dipped her feet in the ocean and giggled equally contentedly.
Maybe this island is bearable after all.
A deeper, louder noise than the sound from the light, rolling waves reached Xylo's ears. He suddenly spotted a large wave heading their way. Very close already. "Oh-oh," he had time to say, before the wave swallowed him and Princess both. Now, it wasn't excessively big; only bigger than your usual tiny one. Xylo and the Butterfree were washed ashore, drenched from head to foot. With not a few swear words that did not fit a twelve year old, the boy got up and kicked up some wet sand with his bare feet. His shoes had been dropped, but lay just some meter higher up on the shore. And next to them lay...
"Magi! Magikarp!" the helpless creature flailed.
Princess shook her wings rapidly to get the water off, then she jumped over to the fish in the sand.
"What is that... Oh, a Magikarp of course," Xylo said, frowning. "Not a very attractive nor strong pokémon. Let's go," he told Princess.
The Butterfree, having a kind heart but almost always obeying her trainer, fluttered off towards him and left the fish laying, Splashing about in panic.
The splashing noises annoyed Xylo when he sat down a small distance away and put on his soaked shoes onto his wet feet. "Ah, stop that!" he shouted to it. The Magikarp did stop flailing about, but breathed heavily and stared with its big eyes and small pupils at the boy.
He sighed and walked over to the fish, picking it up in an attempt to toss it back into the water. It was heavier than he'd expected, and it didn't exactly smell roses and love like Princess did. Nevertheless, it got back into the less shallow waters and Xylo, still with a frown, watched it splash about in a much happier way than before. Princess joined it in the splashing and it was obvious that the Magikarp was eternally grateful.
"Oh, for crying out loud, it was nothing. You'd been flushed out by the next big wave even if I'd done nothing," Xylo said with an irritated voice.
Even so, the pokémon kept smiling and jumping happily up and down. Xylo kept getting annoyed with it.
I can't even capture it, he thought,
because it's not worth anything in a battle. Then again... he looked at Princess. She wasn't a fighter either, even if she could hold her ground and deliver some annoying powder techniques when necessary. And he liked her. Well, beating a Magikarp might not yield much but it could be a battle anyways.
"Princess. Psybeam," he said.
Princess was a bit surprised, and the Magikarp was very surprised. For a second, nothing happened. Then Princess decided that it would be best to follow her master's rule and delivered a purple wave right at the fish, who got pushed back into the shallowest water and lost a lot of its mobility. With an offended look - it thought it had made a friend here but was backstabbed! - it retaliated... with a Tackle! It struck Princess right on since the Magikarp jumped up using its strong tail fin. But it didn't hurt her much.
"String Shot," Xylo said.
Princess obeyed and giggled while she tied the fish down and made it unable to move its fin enough to be able to jump again. Then, Magikarp retaliated by... Splash. It didn't do, uh, anything at all really.
"Sleep Powder," Xylo said, while wondering if this could even be called a battle at all.
The Magikarp was easily hit by the powder and was affected by it. It could hardly keep its eyes open but it saw how the Butterfree suddenly seemed to attack its own trainer. It stuck a hand down in a pocket of his pants, making the trainer fret and try to wave her away. The result was that the Butterfree got pushed away but something fell out from the pocket and rolled all the way up to Magikarp and touched it... then the fish fell asleep.
*ping* The pokéball quickly came to a stop after having sucked in its prey. Xylo didn't believe his eyes.
"I... captured a... Magikarp? PRINCESS!" he raged and turned around, ready to strangle the ever giggling Butterfree. But for once, she wasn't giggling at him. Instead she just fluttered at a constant height in the air and looked into his eyes with her big, deep ones. Xylo sighed. Oh well. If he remembered correctly, Magikarps eventually evolved. Into something stronger, hopefully.