Innocence Can Never Last

[Yami's Girl]

I shrugged.
"Life is like that sometimes." Hydro walked over to the Feebas and eyed it. Seeing no harm yould come to her, she started to dig up the moist edge of the pond and made bigger. She refilled it with her water attacks and splashed in. Flare and Flammie, who were nearby, got sprinkled and moved farther away, still talking. I shook my head.
"Amazes me how pokemon can just strike up a conversation and keep going."
Dragonite flew over to me and pointed to his back.
"Fly?" I jumped on and Dragonite flew up sharply and did a loop. I let go while we were doing the move and plummeted towards Earth. Just as it looked like I was going to crash into the ground, Dragonite quickly flew under me and caught me. I jumped off to the ground.
"Scare ya?" I chuckled and poked Dargonite. "Cuttin' it close there."

 

[Alter Ego]

"Life is like that sometimes."
"Yeah, it is." Alex concured solemnly. He watched with a measure of amusement as Hydro tried to evaluate wether Cascade was a threath or not, obviously deciding on the latter the Vaporeon expanded the pool by digging and refilling before joining Cascade.
"Fee!" the Feebas called out enthusiastically, jumping at the chance to finally have a friend to play with, in an attempt to impress Hydro the little fish pulled of her proudest achievement, a Mirror Coat; leaping into the air, Cascade's scales suddenly gave of a glow so intense that it was almost impossible to look at her, the illumination only lasted for a few minutes before she fell back into the pond, returning to normal.
"Show off." Alex chuckled, having seen the performrance before.
Turning around he noticed Emily taking a flight with her Dragonite, first rising up nearly vertically and then entering a loop. For a moment, it seemed like Emily was really going to crash as she suddenly seemed to loose her grip and started falling downwards. But to Alex's relief, the Dragonite managed to catch her trainer before it was too late.
"Scare ya?" Emily chuckled and poked Dargonite. "Cuttin' it close there."
Alex shrugged, he had probably been more scared than the Dragonite.

 

[Yami's Girl]

I gave Alex a smile.
"I guess not." Dragonite gave me a push. It was intended to be a poke, but Dragonite had too much strength.
"Thanks," I said, standing up and brushing off dirt. Hydro and Cascade were in the pool, splashing each other.
"Ya know, after this tournament celebration, I'm going to go back on my journy. Would you like to come along?"

::Short post, I know. I'm having a bit of a post problem.::

 

[Alter Ego]

Come along? Alex hadn't actually ever thought of travelling with anyone, mostly because no-one from his hometown had the skill or inclination required. Emily on the other hand seemed to possess both traits in abundance, and their pok?mon got along just great. Well, except for Sleet, but no-one really got along with her so it was fine. And although his pok?mon did provide Alex with company it wasn't really the same as having a real human, friend.
"Sure." he replied, smiling in return "If my company hasn't bored you to death already. What do you think, guys?"

"Sab!" Shade replied with a shrug, raising his paw into the air.

"Char!" Flammie gave his voice enthusiastically.

Brie looked a bit hesitant, but seeing Flammie grin at the prospect she raised her paw too.

"Feeba!" Cascade splashed about excitedly.

"Well..." Alex said "Looks like we have a majority-" he was cut of mid-sentence by an unusual occurence; Iris, who had been acting in her usual absent way this far suddenly turned her eyes towards Alex and Emily, clearly watching the both of them, her eyes glowed for a moment before she let out a solemn "Xa!" and raised her left wing into the air. Whatever it was Iris had seen, she approved of it.

 

[Yami's Girl]

I was nearly jumping up and down with excitment.
"This is great!" I said, Salamance poked me from behind to tell me not to jump on Alex. I embraced Alex in a bear-hug, almost falling over on him.
"This'll be so much fun! I can teach you how to do tricks from the sky, we can battle side-by-side, and our pokemon will have so much fun too!" I let go of Alex.
"Wanna get something to eat? I'll buy!"

 

[Alter Ego]

"Whoa..." Emily's hug, although a far less suffocating experience than Flammie's, caught Alex by surprise, but he managed to keep her from falling over until she regained her balance and released the grip. Caught in the moment, Flammie let out an affectionate cry and hugged the nearest pok?mon, which happened to be the Dragonite. Shade snickered at the scene, attempting to sneak closer in order to tie up Alex's shoelaces but was promptly stopped by an angry glare from Brie. Iris had returned to her usual state of indiference, and was presently observing a patch of dirt with great interest.

"This'll be so much fun! I can teach you how to do tricks from the sky, we can battle side-by-side, and our pokemon will have so much fun too! Wanna get something to eat? I'll buy!"

Alex listened to Emily's flurry of speech with a smile on his face, she was so energetic, thinking of possiblities rather than obstacles. Was this what his friends had been prompting Alex to do? Just take what life has to offer, rather than plan and agonize over things? Just 'live a little'? He soon snapped back to reality, realizing that it would be impolite to let her wait too long for an answer.

"Sure" he replied "But I insist on paying, consider it a consolidatory prize for getting to third place."

 

[Yami's Girl]

I blushed slightly.
"How 'bout we split the amount? Fair?" I smiled. "But this place has so many places to buy food from. Should we get hamburgers, mabye pizza, or mabye we should both get something different?" I took a look at my pokemon.
"I can make poke-food for our pokemon, so we don't have to buy any, but if we decide to get different things, I insist on paying for yours, just because you were a good opponent." I walked over to Dragonite, who was despretly trying to get free from Flammie's grasp. I calmly asked Flammie to let go, but Dragonite just slipped out of his grasp. I smiled slightly again.
"I guess it works. Now, shall we get our food?"

 

[Alter Ego]

Alex smiled back, noticing the blush on Emily's face he decided to comply with a deal, not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable "You drive a hard bargain Emily...but alright, we'll split it."

He turned to watch as Emily went to dislodge her Dragonite from Flammie's embrace, although the dragon seemed to manage it fine on her own. Flammie looked slightly dissapointed but the moment passed quickly enough and he turned towards them with a cheerfull grin, remembering the earlier talk about food.

"I guess it works." she said, coming back towards Alex "Now, shall we get our food?"

"Certainly." Alex replied "I'm not too picky with what I eat myself, and I have a good stock of pok?food in my backpack, although I suppose they would prefer something a bit more fresh." This suggestion recieved an enthusiastic welcome from all but Iris, who ignored it.

"You think they'll be alright if we leave them here with each other?" Alex asked, eyeing the gathered pok?mon with a slight hint of nervousness.

 

[Yami's Girl]

"They should get along. But my pokemon know that if someone wants to be alone, they'll leave them alone." I set off towards the main square, sniffing all the wonderful aromas.
"What to eat?" I wandered around the stalls, eyeing all the food they had to offer.
"Alex?" I turned and noticed there was no Alex with me. I quickly retraced my steps and found him.
"C'mon, silly! I think I've found the perfect place!" I led Alex back to the stall I was viewing.
"It's an Italian-American mix place. They somehow manage to make pasta" I took a look at thier menu and ordered a mini-pizza and spagetti.
The clerk behind the stall looked at Alex. "And for you sir?"

 

[Alter Ego]

"And for you sir?" The clerk gave Alex the politely snooty look of a person who 'expects a certain standard from those he serves'

Alex performed a quick scan of the menu, still slightly embarassed about having lagged behind like that. Decisions, decisions. he thought for himself. I'll take this...he pointed out his choice to the waiter who promptly took note of it and gave the typical monotonous reply:

"Excellent choice, sir. Your orders will be up momentarily."

OOC: I'm too tired to think up a proper order at the moment and didn't really want to resort to the old 'the same' cliche?. Feel free to put in anything of your choice if it's important. I'll make sure that Alex chews it down like a good boy. ^_^

 

[Yami's Girl]

::He'd better. XD::

I took the tray which had our food, and took Alex's share of the money and paid. I then walked back over to the valley. A small table resided in a corner.
"Flare, get me some berries for poke-food," I said. Flare took off and returned minutes later. I set down our food at the table and Darkness came bounding up.
"If you so much as touch my food, or Alex's pizza, and you're dead!" Darkness retreated back to the group of pokemon. I took out a bowl and started to mush berries of all kinds. I added a few herbs and spices from my bag. Awhile later, the food was all ready.

"I made food especially for you pokemon," I seperated all thier food.
"This is for Shade," I pointed to a the far bowl. "This for Cascade," I pointed to a blue colored liquid. "And this for Iris," I pointed to the middle one. "And then this for Brie, and this for Sleet." I gave my pokemon thier food and started to eat mine.

"When do you think we should hit the road again, Alex?"

 

[Alter Ego]

OOC: None for Flammie? He's going to be sad...I'll just assume there is and you just forgot to mention it.

IC:

Alex sat down with his pizza, releasing Sleet from her pok?ball and informing her of the situation. The ice pok?mon gave a simple nod and went to eat with the rest of the pok?mon.

"When do you think we should hit the road again, Alex?" Emily asked.

"Well..." Alex said "I was considering hanging around until the final competitions were over. But it's not such a big deal." He suddenly stopped mid-sentence, noticing that Cascade was having difficulties in getting to her food.

"Here, let me help you with that." Alex said, crouching down by the pond and lifting up the bowl, pouring its contents into the Feebas' waiting mouth. Suddenly, the fish pok?mon's scales began to shimmer faintly and Alex stopped in alarm. Nothing more happened though...but Alex suddenly had a hunch that he'd cracked the mystery that had baffled him for so long.

"Emily?" he asked slowly, the anticipation evident in his voice "What kind of berries did you put into Cascade's food?"

OOC: Looks like a good spot to evolve her.

 

[Yami's Girl]

::Oops! Yeah, I forgot. Heh, sorry. *pats Flammie*::

I stared wide-eyed at the Feebas.
"I put in Leppa, Mago, Razz and Bluk berries. Do you think I just maxed out her beauty status?" All the pokemon had stopped eating, watching Cascade. I stared too.
"I just thought, well, I thought something which I can't remember!" Looking at Cascade's glowing scales had made me forget what I put those berries in there for.

Wow! I really am useful for something!

 

[Alter Ego]

"I think I know what you were thinking." Alex said, turning back to Cascade and resuming her feeding "Come on girl" he said encourageingly "That's it. Drink it all up.".

As the last drop of liquid dissapeared down Cascade's throat, the light emanating from the fish pok?mon was so bright that it was almost painful to watch. Suddenly, Cascade's body began to change, her rather plump body stretching and twisting into an elegant serpentine shape as something that looked like a long sheet of hair began growing down from her head. The light finally became so intense that Alex had no choice but to shut his eyes although, they soon opened in response to a new, yet hauntingly familiar, melodic cry:

"Milooo!"

"Cascade?" as he opened his eyes again, Alex found his Feebas replaced by a golden scaled Milotic with something that looked like light blue hair situated above a pair of gentle, brown eyes which were wide-open in wonder as the creature splashed about in the now rather small pond, taking in its new appearance. For a while, Alex just stood there, speechless, stunned by this drastic transformation. The answer seemed so simple now Beauty, what else? Every bit of recorded data was lamenting how hopelessly shabby a Feebas looked like, which meant that few had attempted to change the fact, which in turn explained why there were so few Milotics in the world.

 

[Triaspia]

I was sitting in the champ lounge with the e4 and some of the past champs and their pokemon when there was a bright light out on the nearby lake. I turned my head to look out the window and saw one of the trainers I just only just managed to beat in the semi finals. I back turned to everone else who had already recovered from the light and were talking again. "Do you think we should invite them in I think its going to rain soon?" after a bit of mummering lance nodded his head and said, "of course this is the champions house and untill a new chalenger beats you, you get to say who comes in."

the chapmions house was just like a 3 bedroom house with forrest's, fields, and lakes surrounding it and a vast hallway with photo's of past champs and their pokemon which lead to the battle stadium.

I excused my self and began walking out towards the two trainers. "hey I recognise you from the semi-finals, you realy put up a fight. ...Oh sorry my name is chris but my nickname is scythe you may call me either and your emily right and your alex right?" i said turning to the other trainer
"would you two like to come inside the champs house theres too much food in there for us to eat alone and ill introduce you to the past champs."

 

[Yami's Girl]

I stared at the Milotic before me.
"I did that?" I poked my food with my fork.
I can't believe I maxed out her beauty status! What are the chances of that happening?! I took up more spagetti on my fork and heard a voice behind me.
"You're Emily right?" I turned, spagetti hanging out my mouth. I quickly slurped it up and stood.
"Yes, I'm Emily. You're the new champ, I suppose." I acknowledged his invitation and after a brief pause I answered.
"I'd be glad to come. I'll just finish my remaining spagetti noodles and head in." I sat back down and quickly slurped up the rest of my spagetti.

"Should I return my pokemon?" I asked. "Or do you perfer I leave them here?"

 

[Alter Ego]

As the new champ presented himself and put foth his invitation, Sleet was the first to react, approaching the boy with menacing calmness, locking her blue eyes with his into a stare so glacial that the chill was almost tangible. The girl was under her master's protection and was not to be harmed, but the same privlige hadn't been extended to this one.

Noticing Sleet's vicious expression, Alex snapped out of his trance. "Sleet! Stop!"

"Gla-" the Glalie gave an indignant snort but halted her advance, giving Scythe one last, murderous look before she turned around and returned to her food.

"You do seem to know a good deal." Alex said with a nod to Scythe, quickly eating the rest of his pizza. "I'll come too, but Emily made a good point, should the pok?mon come along or not? Sleet is under control by the way" he added "She won't disobey a direct order from me."

 

[Triaspia]

"they can come too, there is no need to return them." I said giving alex and emily a hand to wash their dishes and pack up. "Once we get there I'll open the doors to the staiduim and our pokemon can play in there while we sit around in the living room eating the food and watching the massive screen tv then maybe we can have a battle." we finished packing then headed up to the house.

 

[Yami's Girl]

I cleaned up the rest of our dishes and placed them in a tub.
"OK, guys! Let's go to the Chapmion's place!" My pokemon roared thier approval.
"I'm ready to go."

:Shortness.::

 

[Alter Ego]

"I take it, you guys want to come too?" Alex asked

"Rai!" Brie called excitedly, leaping back onto Alex's head. Flammie concured with the deafening roar of approval from Emily's pok?mon so he was in too. Cascade was busy admiring her new scales but gave an absent-minded nod and slithered out of the pond.

Shade gave an amused chuckle from the corner, having successfully tied together Scythe's shoelaces while the champ was distracted by Sleet, and happily bounded to his trainer.

Iris gave an indiferrent shrug, but the look in her eyes suggested mild interest, and Sleet of course was always willing to follow her master.

"Now Sleet." Alex said in a serious voice, locking eyes with the Glalie "You are not to attack, intimidate, torture, maim, or kill anyone without my approval, understood?"

Sleet snorted but gave a nod.

"Good." Alex replied, turning to Scythe "I'm ready as well."