Chapter Five: The Team of Three
"This is Jubilife?" Totodile asked when it saw the city. It was mourning now, so everything was presented clearly. There was even a fountain with Goldeen swimming in it that Kiffeny hadn’t noticed before.
"Yeah, it is. I know it's too big." Kiffeny responded plainly as she walked up to a small restaurant. "You hungry?"
"Uh-huh." Totodile nodded and followed her up to the restaurant. Then came a totally off topic question. "Do you have any other Pokémon?"
"Yeah, I have Aron and Shinx." Kiffeny took out her two other Pokéballs and released her two other Pokémon. In flashes of white light, the two Pokémon appeared next to Totodile.
"Hello." Totodile waved happily. Shinx waved back and smiled, but Aron didn’t. Aron just turned away and sat down at Kiffeny's legs, completely ignoring Totodile.
A waiter came up to Kiffeny and smiled. "Can I take your order?"
"Uh, yeah." Kiffeny gave the menu to the waiter. "Poffin for these guys and eggs with toast for me."
"Right away, miss." The waiter nodded and walked into a back room, probably the kitchen.
"Aron, why are you ignoring me?" Totodile asked, poking the Iron Armor Pokémon.
"I don't like you." Aron said simply, still sitting at Kiffeny's feet.
"Why?" Totodile sat down next to Aron.
"Because I had a bad experience with a Feraligatr." Aron didn’t seem willing to give up any more information, so Totodile stopped asking.
A waiter walked up to Kiffeny's table, balancing four plated on his arms. Three of the plates held what looked like coloured patties of bread. One was blue, the other was red and another was yellow. The waiter put those on the ground in front of the Pokémon, then put a plate with an egg between two slices of toast in front of Kiffeny. Shinx, Aron and Kiffeny began to eat, but Totodile just stared at his Blue Poffin.
"What is this?" It asked, picking up the blue bread.
"Uh... Food. You're supposed to eat it." Shinx replied, taking another bite out of his yellow one.
Totodile took a bite out of his Poffin and hesitantly chewed and swallowed it. It stared at the Poffin for a few seconds, then quickly ate the rest.
Kiffeny paid and walked out of the restaurant with her two Pokémon and Totodile following. The sun had climbed higher in the sky so it was brighter and hotter then when they first came. A few people walked in and out of stores, but most of them were still gathered at the Battle Tent Kiffeny had seen the day before. The clown in the blinding yellow suit must have spotted Kiffeny, because he came running over.
"You're back!" The clown exclaimed happily. "I thought you were going to enter the Battle Tent the last time!"
"I don’t have three Pokémon." Kiffeny said.
"But it sure looks like you do!" The clown pointed to Aron, Shinx and Totodile.
"But Totodile isn't-" Kiffeny tried to explain that Totodile was a wild Pokémon, but she was cut off by the clown.
"Aw, come on." The clown shoved Kiffeny into the battle tent. "Go and register."
"Fine." Kiffeny sighed and walked up to a desk in the middle of the tent. The desk had four doors behind it.
"I would like to enter a Battle Tent challenge." Kiffeny said to the woman at the reception desk.
"Okay," The woman smiled and nodded. "First, you need to choose a level."
"Beginner." Kiffeny said quietly.
"Now, you are only allowed to enter three Pokémon. I'm guessing you're going to enter your Aron, Shinx and Totodile?" The woman pointed at the three Pokémon at her feet.
"Yes." Kiffeny gave another simple answer.
The woman typed on the computer for a few minutes, then smiled. She spoke into a microphone and her voice came over the intercom. "Dylan, please come to the reception desk."
A blond hair boy with green eyes came a few minutes later. He wore a red hoodie and blue jeans. "Hi, I'm Dylan."
"This is Kiffeny," The woman said. "You two are going to battle in room five."
Both nodded and were instructed to go through the door on the far left. It would be the first room on the right.
The room's floor was made of grass with a Pokéball painted in white in the center. The battle field was divided in half by a line of white paint.
"You can choose first." Dylan said to Kiffeny once they got on the opposite sides of the field. Dylan's Pokémon were lined up behind him, so were Kiffeny's.
"Shinx!" Kiffeny pointed out into the field and her cat Pokémon jumped out from the sidelines, ready for battle.
"Go, Marill!" Dylan's water Pokémon hopped out onto the field with a determined look. "Use bubble beam!"
The Aqua Mouse Pokémon puffed up and opened it's mouth. A thousand blue bubbles jetted at high speed from it's open mouth and right at Shinx. Shinx jumped to the side and missed some bubbles, but he wasn’t paying much attention and was bombarded my more bubbles.
"Shinx, use charge!" Shinx began to glow yellow as he charged up electricity. Dylan seemed to find this a perfect chance to attack.
"Marill, finish Shinx off. Use take down!" Marill charged at Shinx at high speed. It's head made contact with Shinx's body and sent the cat Pokémon flying back.
Shinx staggered weakly to his feet, but Marill charged again and he was sent flying yet again. Dylan didn’t command Marill to do anything, but it jumped high over Shinx and released a stream of water, it was a strong water gun attack. The water gun totally finished Shinx. He lay dazed in a puddle of water.
"Return, Shinx." Kiffeny held out her Pokéball and in a flash of red light, Shinx disappeared into the Pokéball. "Okay, Aron, you're up!"
Aron jumped into the arena, as proud as the day he was born. He lowered his head threateningly and pawed the ground, sometimes turning around in a circle. He looked very intimidating, and Marill noticed, so did Dylan. Marill backed off a little.
"Marill, don’t be intimidated! Use take down!" Marill hesitated for a moment before lowering its head and charging straight for Aron. Aron reacted without Kiffeny's order and ran, head down, towards Marill. There was a moment were time seemed to slow as their heads clashed. The two Pokémon stood there with their heads against each other's for a minute. The Marill rolled over, knocked out by the sheer force of the head clash.
"Never try to go head to head with Aron." Kiffeny smiled a little.
"Go, Pikachu!" The yellow mouse Pokémon jumped high into the air and landed on two feet. "Use tackle!"
The little yellow Pokémon ran at Aron with it's head down. Aron just snorted and ran back at it with just as much determination to win. Their heads crushed together and Aron seemed unfazed, but Pikachu looked already completely worn out.
"Use thunder shock!" Dylan cried, and with the last of it's energy, Pikachu let out a blinding shock wave that enveloped both Pokémon for a minute. There was a cloud of dust and both trainers covered their faces do they could breath. When the smoke cleared, they looked at their Pokémon.
"That was a nice trick," Kiffeny said. "Getting up close so the attack power would be doubled. But you've gotta remember, rocks are horrible electricity conductors."
Pikachu was lying on the ground, completely wiped out. Aron stood over the other Pokémon, looking proud that he had won two rounds in a row on his first battle. He kicked up his hind legs and ran in circled to show off.
"Okay, last Pokémon. Piplup!" The proud penguin Pokémon jumped onto the field and scowled at Aron. Aron stopped and lowered his head, pawing at the ground to look threatening.
"Okay, take down!" Aron snorted and ran, head down, at the penguin Pokémon. Piplup stayed planted to the ground, it's little flippers clenched into fists. The distance quickly closed between the two Pokémon.
"Piplup, water gun!" Piplup opened it's beak and a jet of water hit Aron directly in the face. Aron was blown back, hitting one of the walls with a huge amount of force. Aron lay dazed for a second before staggering to his feet, panting heavily.
"Mud slap!" Aron ran forward, closing the space between Piplup and himself once again. At the last moment, Aron planted his front feet firmly into the ground. Unfortunately, the ground wasn’t so firm. Piplup's water gun had made the ground muddy so Aron's feet slipped, sending him flying. Piplup jumped out of the way as Aron smashed into the opposite wall.
"Piplup, bubble!" Dylan commanded. Piplup nodded and bombarded Aron with a flurry of bubbles. Aron struggled against the bubbles for a minute, then went limp. Aron was knocked out.
Kiffeny sighed and returned Aron to his Pokéball. She had nothing left so she began to raise her arm. "Okay, Dylan. I-"
"How about me?" Totodile tugged at Kiffeny's pants. "I want to battle."
"But..." Kiffeny hesitated. "You aren’t my Pokémon."
"Yes I am!" Totodile insisted.
Kiffeny thought this was a little strange, but she shrugged it off for now and pointed out into the field. "Totodile!"
"Piplup, water gun!" Dylan commanded and his Piplup released a powerful jet of water. Totodile hopped right in front of the jet and opened his jaws. Another jet of water sprayed out of the crocodile Pokémon's jaws. The two water jets collided, sending a mist up into the air. Non of the Pokémon wanted to back down so the jets slowly pushed from one side to the other. After a long time of struggle, Piplup’s water gun inched towards Totodile.
"Totodile, get out of the way!" Totodile stopped his water gun and jumped into the air directly above Piplup. Totodile then pointed his head down and clamped his jaws right on Piplup's head. Piplup freaked, it began to run around and wave it's flippers franticly. Totodile hung on tight.
Finally, both Pokémon seemed to tire. Piplup just dropped to the ground and sat there, it refused to move.
"Come on, Piplup! Move!" Dylan yelled but Piplup just shook it's head and continued sitting. Totodile was still attached to it's head.
Dylan finally put his arm up in the air. "Piplup doesn’t want to battle anymore. You win."
"Totodile, you can let go of Piplup's head now." Kiffeny said.
"We won?" Totodile asked when he got off Piplup.
"Yeah," Kiffeny nodded. "We won, more or less."
Dylan didn’t say anything, he just left the arena. Kiffeny shrugged it off and walked out of the door with Totodile following.
She just walked out of the Battle Tent when her Pokédex began to ring like a cell phone. She pulled it out but it slipped, she nearly dropped it before she got a good grip.
"Hey." Kiffeny held the Pokédex in front of her face. She got a live feed of April, Sydney and Kyle.
"Kiffeny!" April exclaimed. "I caught a new Pokémon! I'm going to enter it in a contest. You're invited, it's in Floaroma."
"It's one of those unofficial ones, right?" Kiffeny asked.
"Yeah, I figured I need some practice before I entered in one in Hearthome City." April smiled. "So you gonna be there?"
"Yeah, I'll come." Kiffeny replied. Everyone said good-bye and hung up. Kiffeny shoved her Pokédex into her pocket and headed for the Pokémon center.
"Here are your Pokémon." Nurse Joy handed Kiffeny two Pokéballs and Totodile. Totodile jumped at Kiffeny straight away.
"Thanks." Kiffeny walked out of the Pokémon center.
"Hey, Totodile. I'm going to Floaroma now, so you have to go back to route two hundred three." Kiffeny said to the crocodile Pokémon.
"But..." Totodile looked at Kiffeny sadly. "I don’t want to."
"What do you mean?" Kiffeny looked down at the sad Pokémon.
"I want you to be my trainer. I want to travel with you." Totodile said.
Kiffeny took a deep breath and looked around for a minute. "Totodile, welcome to the team."
"I tend to live in the past because most of my life is there."
"I hope life isnt a big joke, because I dont get it."
"Dont worry about people taking your ideas. If it's original, you'll have to ram it down their throats."