Pokemon Heroes: The Wrath of Jealousy

[Umbreongirl]

<3

I can't just sit around and do nothing. Erin thought anxiously, the sole of her flip-flop making a loud clacking noise as thoughtlessly she tapped it against the hardwood of the center's floor. Her brow furrowed her concentration, as absently, she raised a nail to her mouth to bite at it. It was one of her worst habits, really, but it was very calming, she thought, and with her hands-on occupation, Erin supposed perfect nails were virtually useless. As Erin attempted to hone her focus on her super-natural predicament, another had eased up just in front of her face, staring at her with what appeared to be a combination of fascination and bemusement.
As Erin's foot now tapped loudly in beat with her rapid nail-biting, the thing, which appeared to be a ghost-type of sorts, shifted slightly, catching her attention.

"GAH?!" Erin cried out, startled, as fear instantly penetrated her being. Her eyes nearly bulged from her skull, and as the shock finally passed from her system, she just edged as far back from the creature as she could be, her thin body hugging the booth as she stared petrified at the pokemon who continued to stare.

Why is it staring at me? Is it because it knows about my powers? Did it pry into my mind and see my vision?!

Erin was really creeped out now, and as she shuddered, goosebumps arose along her thin arms. The pokemon was a Haunter, she now realized. Not only a Ghost type, but also a Poisonous type. A deadly combination.

N-nice ghost thingy. She thought, just in case the pokemon was reading her mind. Erin didn't know a lot about Ghost-type pokemon, except that they were incredibly eery, and all seemed to have an ominous presence about them. Then, just as soon as the Haunter had appeared in her face, he soon seemed to lose interest and disappear, reappearing again at the opposite side of the room. Erin breathed a heavy sigh of relief, and after making sure he wasn't coming back, resumed in her thoughts.


But really, what am I supposed to do about it by myself? She responded to her own statement, letting her head drop so that it was cradled within both slender hands. Not a person occupying the Pokemon Center had even seemed to hear her spontaneous declaration, and even if they had, what would she say to them?


Hi, Nice to meet you. My name's Erin Tamayo, and I have some pretty sweet super-powers granted to me by Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres. They let me see stuff that happens somewhere else, and there's a boy at the Spear Tower who got attacked by a Lairon.


First of all, are there even wild Lairon at the Spear Tower? Erin thought, her heart sinking at what the sure reactions of whoever she tried to tell would be.


"It's alright, miss. Everything's being taken care of. Just go quietly, and we won't have any problems."


Erin raised an eyebrow at the thought, trying to envision herself sitting within a padded room restrained by a straight jacket.


Huh. She thought, clearing her head of the vision. Well, it would look cute on me. She thought absently, standing up and immediately pulling the sundress that had begun to ride up her thighs. She meandered up to the Counter of the Pokemon Center, and picked out a couple of Moon pies, Cherub's favorite known treat as she slid them across the counter. She began flipping through a magazine while she waited for Nurse Joy to ring the items up, and nearly had heart failure when her eyes settled specifically on one page, on one face. A boy thin in appearance with ebony hair. Erin's eyes nearly popped out of her head as her mouth fell open, and she read the headline of the article again and again.


"Breck Pierson, renowned Journalist predicts another successful match again!"


Apparently, the face in the magazine page was the face Erin had seen in her vision, and this face of fame was pretty seriously injured. From what the article said, Breck Pierson was quite a character, being able to successfully predict the winners of hundreds of pokemon matches.

The article presented in this magazine was commemorating that. Here Breck was depicted in a full-body color picture taking up approximately half the page, standing side by side with a rather proud-looking Charizard and its trainer who were the apparent victors.


He must be a pretty big deal. Erin thought, closing the magazine abruptly and sheepishly handing over a handful of money to Nurse Joy who stood before her impatiently, arms crossed as she huffed. Erin took the Moon Pies and looked around for Cherub, who at the moment seemed to be conversing with an Absol. Erin grinned, and walked over to the Umbreon, slipping out one of the Moon Pies and waving it in front of her.


"Ready to go, Cherub?" She teased, slipping the snack cake open and pretending to take a bite. Narrowing her crimson eyes, the pokemon leapt daintily into the air, ripping the Moon Pie from between Erin's fingers, beginning to nibble happily at it as she lifted her nose high into the air, and began to walk in front of her trainer. Effortlessly, she pushed the door open with one delicate paw, and Erin rushed to get ouside before the door closed, fearful that she again wouldn't have the strength to open it. After scouring the town for at least several hours and not finding a single place cheap enough to lodge for the night, Erin and Cherub eventually just settled on the outskirts of town, taking shelter under a large, shady tree.

 

[Kansas]

The new arrival had definitely made himself comfortable among the group and Breck really had no idea how he had ended up camping on this island with two strangers but that was the least of his concerns.

He awoke the next morning to a gentle aroma wafting into his nostrils. He lazily woke up to see the late arrival from the night before bustling around busily preparing food. He sat upright as he scanned the surroundings through drowsy eyes. He picked up the bowl of soup and sipped it silently.

"...thanks" he said overtop the bowl to the boy.

The new day had brought a partly cloudy sky with Wingull gliding on the warm air currents above the island. It seemed peaceful enough... nothing like the previous evening's events. It almost seemed like a dream but the Heavy Ball laying on the ground near his feet and his bandaged arm were definitely painful reminders that it definitely happened... Breck brought himself to his feet, wincing slightly at the pain but standing none the less. He held his fingers to his mouth and let out a short, but incredibly loud high pitched whistle. In no time at all, Ponyta awoke from her slumber as did Sandslash. Mantine who had been playing happily in the early morning Ocean poked its head slightly above the surface of the water.

"Come on you three, we're leaving. Thank you for all the hospitality you two. I'll be sure to mention you in my next article, aye? I'm gonna head back to Pacifidlog and probably leave on Mantine from there. What were your names again?" Breck said as he pulled his camera from his bag with his good arm, taking quick pictures of his two companions.

"Hm... i'll remember those then..." He responded to their names. He walked to the shore line looking at Mantine as he prepared to hop on his back. "Come on buddy, we're headed to Pacifidlog."

Mantine's usually joyful face turned to a quick frown at the sound of their destination. It looked down into the water, flapping its fin and diving under water and coming back quickly, signaling a single direction under the surface.

"Whats up Mantine? Something down there?" Breck asked curiously. It was very uncommon for his pokemon to disobey. He looked to the other two who also seemed very restless about going to Pacifidlog. "Okay... well since you three seem so insistent about going down there. We'll go. But we need to go to town first got it? remember this?" He scolded his pokemon with the broken arm he held at his side.

The guilt trip of his team had worked as Mantine let Breck board his back. Breck stood tall, recalling his two partners. He sat cross legged on Mantine's back as he slowly pulled away from the shore.

"Hm... i'll need some equipment to go down there... not to mention i'll need to at least get this arm bandaged properly... so much to do. But we'll definitely see whats down there tonight. These three have me worried... last time they acted this way was around the time Deoxys gave me this eye..." He commented silently to himself.

Him and Mantine glided silently across the ocean surface towards town. Once they were done at Pacifidlog... the next stop... the Ocean Floor. There was definitely something down there.

 

[Trainer Kat]

"Get it away from me!" The voice that emerged clearly sounded alarmed. Jett Donnovan's chest heaved as he slowly backed away from his 'assailant'. Just moments before, he and his Nidorino had been engaged in battle with the Starly that now pecked lightly at his dress shoes. In response to the fear that consumed him, Jett pulled his foot back and struck the Starly with one black-clad foot. The bird let out a shriek, causing his once-staunch trainer to withdraw her Pokéball, along with her Pokémon. She stormed off, though not before leaving Jett with a few choice words about his mistreatment of Pokémon. The pale boy slumped against the wall of the Pokémon Center, letting out a heavy sigh. If there was one thing he hated, it was bird Pokémon. Of course, he hated multiple things.

That morning, he had awoken, recalling Dusclops before grabbing an apple for breakfast. After leaving the Center, he had been promptly challenged by a brunette wearing next to nothing. The battle had gone smoothly, that is, until she had pulled out the Starly. In his panic, Jett had let Houndour get knocked out by the small bird, and Nidorino had taken a bit of damage. The Starly's trainer had erupted in laughter, at which point Starly had begun to peck at Jett's shoes. Now, as his head fell back against the brick, his thoughts were interrupted by the loud crash of waves falling back on the ocean. When he looked up, his eyes met with a figure he was certain he'd never lay eyes on again. Cross-legged on a Mantine, the male appeared to be favoring one arm. Jett, always one for conflict, stood and made his way towards the path on which the Mantine would certainly dock.

"Breck!" Jett growled. With his arms crossed and a scowl upon his face, he exuded rebellion. It was a stance he had often taken when his parents compared him to Heather (though unlike then, he would not recieve a beating this time). He grinned slyly. So. We meet again.

 

[Sweet Dreams]

The Ghost Pokémon chuckled at the girl's reaction before speeding back to annoy Nurse Joy and disrupt her preparations for the night. Dusk passed the time by scaring small Pokémon, pressing brightly coloured buttons on unoccupied machinery, annoying other patients and "burrowing" things out of other, unimportant trainers' pockets, forcing them to either chase after him or just be furious and seething.

He gave these items back in the end, of course; he had absolutely no use for them. It was funny to see puffed up young boys try and get their underwear back, however. He checked up on his human friend every once in a while because some of the other trainers and their Pokemon looked shifty.

Her head rested in her arms as she slept, having fallen unconscious sometime during sketching. The pad and pencil lay at the edge of the table, slipping onto the floor as Cara shifted slightly.

~ 'Daddy! Daddy!' A six-year-old girl yelled, laughter bubbling from her as her father picked her up and spun her around in a circle.

'Yes, what is it, Princess?' He asked, rubbing their noses together.

'I have a new friend!' She exclaimed brightly, eager to tell her dad the good news.

'Oh really? Who?' He asked, watching in amusement as she scrunched up her face, remembering the levitating, deep purple orb that she was sure was a Pokémon.

'They don't want me to tell you. And I promised I wouldn't, so I can't tell you, but they're real nice!' She nodded, happily.

'Well, then, you've got to keep your promises them, don't you, Princess?'

'Yeah!' She hugged her father tightly, safe in his arms. ~

A long groan rang through the Centre as a grinning Haunter nudged a teenage girl awake. She stretched, wincing slightly as her muscles flared in pain, protesting the awkward position that she had kept them in during the night. Rubbing her eyes, she slowly stood, trying to relieve some of the soreness. It didn't work.

Dusk chuckled behind a hand which was more for effect than to genuinely hide his amusement. His laughter doubled as she scowled at him and attempted to swat the Ghost away, bringing the rest of her Pokémon slowly to her. Then she remembered; she needed a job that payed halfway decently and that she could actually accomplish. Her stomach grumbled in a reminder that she hadn't eaten anything since the boat trip last afternoon, effectively preventing her from marching out the door and getting herself into trouble.

Of course, breakfast was provided at the Pokémon Centre much cheaper than you could find anywhere else. Cara polished off two slices of toast and jam in record time before leaving the dishes for Nurse Joy, picking up her bags and striding out without a backwards glance. Her Pokémon, having finished their meals long before, followed her out the door.

Thus, the party did not notice the worn sketchbook lying closed on the floor, with only a name scribbled on the front in ink.

A content Glimmer, having received a good polish from the Nurse, watched another argument between two males beside the wharf, much like a couple had the day before. Then she had a vague suspicion that the two were the same as, or really quite similar to, the ones that had confronted each other the day before. Subconsciously, she had stopped in her tracks to watch, which caused the others in the group to turn and see what had caught her eye.

Loudly, a snort sounded somewhere to the left of the Scizor as her trainer smirked at the duo whom were, again, battling over their territory. It was easily compared to two male Rhyhorns, battling over their territory. When one lost, it nursed their wounded pride and trained itself by charging at anything unfortunate enough to get in its way. After a while, it would go back and challenge that same Rhyhorn and tried to win.

Since she only had a probably rather unprosperous morning ahead of her, Cara settled herself down, surrounded by the Pokémon who took their cue from her and watched the confrontation as if it were a soap opera. Dusk even managed to get some popcorn for himself, although Cara did not particularly want to know how. Leaning against Atra and crossing her arms, she gingerly rubbed a crick in her neck before raising an eyebrow in amusement, popping one of the buttered snacks of Dusk's in her mouth.

 

[Shadowfaith]

Aisha shrugged her shoulders as the boy left for shore. She patted Jake on the head and got up from her sleeping space. She stretched her limbs and smiled at the cook. "Well, I'm off too. I gotta go find out what's causing the Pokemon to be causing such a fuss around the town." She returned the most part of her Pokemon and heaved Jake up onto the back of Fafnir with little difficulty, having heaved the Arcanine onto the back of the Dragon countless times she was getting use to lifting the canine. "Your heading back to town right? I would give you a lift, but I have never put Jake back in his Pokeball since I got him and I don't think he'll appreciate me starting now." She looked at the dog who sat proudly atop the Flygon, she shook her head at it and turned back to the boy. "Umm, are you okay getting back to town on your own or do you want me to force him back in his Pokeball, it won't kill him."
As soon as she had said the last word a small fire ball hit her arm, crisping the hairs, she clutched her arm and ground her teeth together. She tore her eyes from the boy and swiftly cast her gaze on the Arcanine. "Don't you dare do that again, Jake! Were friends remember? But even so, you're a Pokemon and you can get in that Pokeball for a few minutes when I give him a lift back, got it?"
The Arcanine whimpered and bowed his head in shame, he knew the fireball was a step to far.
Aisha whipped a bandage from her pocket and professionally curled it around the abused arm within the blink of an eye. She sighed, but the smile was soon back on her face. "So whaddya say?"

(OOC- I know it's short, I'm sorry, but there was little much I could do without seeing if a lift was needed XD.)

 

[Kansas]

Breck and Mantine slowly glided along the surface of the water to the docks of Pacifidlog. Splashing water onto the wooden logs. Mantine whipped around, settling aside the docks and pulling up next to it. Breck stood up slowly, carefully taking a step onto the floating city.

"Nice work as usual, Mantine. Go play for a bit.." Breck said to his partner, letting out a small short whistle. The signal allowing Mantine to leave his company.

"Breck!"

Breck's ears perked at the sound of his name, let alone from an unfamiliar voice. He looked up curiously, cradling his injured arm then flicking the hair from his eyes. He straightened his glasses, bringing the figure into focus.

"Oh...its just you. The kid from before, Heather Donnovan's little brother right? What was your name? Chet?" He said with a curious and tired tone. "What do you want? A hand out? Maybe some battle tips? I don't have time. I'm a busy guy, why don't you go play with your pet pokemon somewhere."

He continued to walk passed Jett, ignoring the boy's presence and going straight into the pokemon center. The door slid open, greeting Breck with the morning crowd of people in the center. He approached the desk casually with a familiar look. He leaned on the counter towards Nurse Joy giving his best smile.

"Oh Mr. Pierson! An uncommon visit from you, and to what do we owe the pleasure this time? Another vacation?" Nurse Joy asked him cheerfully as he leaned near her.

"Hiya Joy! Call me Breck... you know that. But on to the matter at hand, no vacation this time. Strictly business. I'm gonna need some gear." He responded with a suddenly serious tone. "I'm talkin scuba tanks, goggles, maybe a wet suit. I'm going down."

"Oh? Whats down there? Hunting treasure?" She joked to him

"mmm maybe? So what do you say? Got any gear for me?" He joked back.

"Well we do have a bit, would you like me to treat Ponyta, Sandslash, and Mantine while you wait?" She asked cheerfully.

"Mantine is out to play a bit before we leave. But you can take Ponyta and Sandslash...." He leaned in closer over the counter, lowering his voice. "I've also got a new addition to the team... Its a bit... eccentric. I want to train it but its...well...aggressive." He added, motioning to his arm. "Be careful with it, okay? Its a Lairon, i don't know whats wrong with it." Breck finished with a serious tone

Joy resumed a serious look as well, taking the pokeballs from Breck.

"Go take a rest, Albrecht! Maybe get that arm checked out, i'll have everything ready for you shortly, okay?"

"Thanks Nurse Joy, I'm okay though, i'll be right over here waiting." He called to her as he walked across the center to a small corner table. He opened up his sketch pad and began to try and recall the image of his new pokemon, Lairon. He began to feverishly draw the image that was burned in his head, Lairon charging with a horrific red aura around him. No one would know what the aura really means but he didn't care. The Lairon was starting to become the center of his thoughts.

"That pokemon could be great...there definitely hasn't been a red aura since Heather Donnovan...If he could rival the power she had, then it would be a force to be reckoned with, not to mention if it evolved into Aggron..."

He looked out the window at the open sea sparkling under the bright sunny day and let out a heavy sigh at the adventure ahead of him that day. What could have had his pokemon so spooked.

 

[Jim]

Jett grabbed Sierra's shoulders and began to walk her to the other side of the Pokémon Center.

"Do not release that thing in here." He stopped when he reached the opposite corner of the room. "...Stay here." And with that, the ebony haired boy returned to his seat.

"Okay! I'll be right here!" she yelled joyously. "What a great friend!" chirped the little voice in her head. After about ten minutes of standing stationary, Sierra was approached by Chikorita, clutching two ice creams in her vines. "What took you so long, Chika?!" Sierra asked as she seized her mint flavored ice cream, nearly camouflaged against her clothing, and immediately started to devour it.

<"I don't have money! I had to use my feminine charm to get them!"> Chikorita yelled. Sierra pretended not to hear her Pokémon's rant and continued to eat her ice cream in peace. Once finished she glanced over to where Jett was. He'd fallen asleep.

"Chikah~! I'm tired!" she yawned.

<"Go to bed then, there's plenty upstairs.">

"I can't, my new friend told to stay here... He's a really nice guy!" she chirped.

<"Okay... I'll just go and GRASSWHISTLE!"> Chikorita yelled, before starting to whistle a peaceful, yet ominous, tune. She whistled extremely quietly, so to only affect Sierra.

"Chika- Jett - told- ... vroooom!" she yelled in a dazed state. Eventually the tune got the better of her and sleep took over, she fell backwards but was immediately caught by Chikorita's vines, which the Pokémon wrapped around her waist. Chikorita went and placed her on a nearby chair. Chikorita leapt onto the girl's lap just as she let out one huge snort before starting to snore.

*​

6:00AM

The Pokémon center was dark. Illuminated only by a small lamp near Nurse Joy's chair, where the Nurse was sitting solitary, reading a magazine.

Sierra's PokéGear Alarm had woken her up, she always had the time set for this early for training purposes, any time between dawn and noon was the best time to practice Solar Beam. Sierra quickly shut off the alarm, careful not to awaken anyone and crept outside with the sleeping Chikorita in her arm. Upon exiting the Pokémon center, she was greeted by an amazingly beautiful sunrise. The light from the sun gave the sky a pink-orange tint which was gloriously reflected by the crystal clear ocean, currently of the same colour. Sierra smiled and rummaged in her bag for two Pokéballs, which was quite hard with Chikorita under her left arm. She threw each of the two Pokéballs, one at a time. In the evanescent light that followed the opening of each Pokéball came the shapes of two Pokémon. First was a small, reptile like, Pokémon with four tattered leaves and a bright pink bud on it's back. And he second was a Dinosaur shaped Pokémon with a long neck, four huge leaves that served as wings and, most distinctively, Bananas growing from it's chin. Ivysaur and Tropius respectively. After waking Chikorita up, she gave her instructions. She threw her arm out over to the empty ocean.

"I want as many Solarbeams from each of you over the next thirty minutes. Then Ivysaur and Chikorita will practice combat and Tropius can continue with his aerial maneuvers, Mewtwo will be here later on today, you need to be ready."

<"Hehheh, I'm the best, you both know it. I'll win!"> Ivysaur yelled to the other two Pokémon.

<"Win what?"> Chikorita responded, rubbing sleep from her eyes with the leaf on her head.

<"If you're talking about the amount of Solarbeams... again..."> Tropius interrupted. <"I always win,"> he grinned, feeling proud of putting the arrogant Pokémon in his place. Chikorita laughed.

"Okay... Start...Now!" she yelled, timing the Pokémon on her PokéGear.

*​

8:00 AM

"Okay, Chikorita, Ivysaur. Stop, you've done enough for today." she called to the two sparring Pokémon. "I'll take you into Nurse Joy in a sec, I just want to see Tropius's most powerful Solarbeam!" she yelled, turning to Tropius. "...most powerful Solarbeam!" she repeated, apparently Tropius didn't get the hint.

<"Oh, sorry!"> he apologized, before turning back to the sea. Tropius closed his eyes and began to gather the light energy radiating from the sun. Every part of his body that was floral -all the green parts and the Bananas- started to glow white, getting brighter and brighter. After about fifteen seconds Tropius opened his eyes and mouth, a ball of energy formed at is mouth which he then fired, as a beam, into the distance. The beam was so powerful that it was bigger then the Pokémon himself. It went so far that it nearly vanished into the horizon.

"Tropius, watch out!" Sierra yelled. The Solarbeam had nearly hit a docking cruise ship. Torpius hastily turned his head to redirect the beam somewhere else, hitting a bird Pokémon in the process. As the beam faded, the white seagull Pokémon that took the Solarbeam plummeted into the water. "You two, wait here! Sierra yelled, hopping onto Tropius's back. "You hit a Wingull!"

<"I sorry,"> Tropius muttered.

"Take me to it, I'll bring it to the Pokémon center." and within seconds, the grass-flying Pokémon took off. He soared majestically over the surface of the water. They approached the landing sight. "It landed around he-" Sierra was interrupted by a bright white light from under the water. The light subsided after a few seconds and an entity burst from underneath the waves. "Th-the Wingull you hit, it's perfectly fine... That was a full powered Solarbeam and it just got up and evolved." Sierra articulated flatly, dumbfounded by the endurance of the Pokémon. The silence was quickly broken by the Pelppier pulling off a successful turn in the air, and swooping down towards Tropius with an Aerial Ace. Sierra shrieked and Tropius dodged. "Tropius, Magical Leaf!" Sierra yelled. The tropical Pokémon flapped his leaves, summoning a lot of sharp, colour changing leaves and hurled them at the Pelipper. The Pelipper effortlessly used a Gust attack to repel the wings and followed up by firing a huge torrent of water towards the two, which Tropius narrowly dodged. "Th-that was a Hydro Pump!"

<"I can't fight if my wings get wet and waterlogged, what shall I do?">
Tropius asked, rather calmly.

"Uhh... Nothing, hold on." Sierra stood up on Tropius's back. "Hey, Pelipper! We're sorry! It was an accident!! If you're hurt, we can take you to a Pokémon center or something, but we won't fight you! We want to help." Sierra yelled in an attempt to reason with the Pokémon.

<"A trainer? I didn't see you there!"> Pelipper responded as it gently swooped down to her level. <"I love humans!"> it yelled, before landing on Tropius's back, next to her. <"What's the point in living in the wild, when I could live the pampered life with Trainers I always say but do the other Wingulls listen no? Just the other day I said to my buddy Wi-">

"Can I stop you there? You can come with us, defiantly! You're amazingly powerful, if not too over powered! Plus I need to use the Lure Ball I was given anyway." she told Pelipper, pulling out the red Pokéball, tipped with blue stripes. She touched the button against it's beak, which enveloped the Pokémon in a translucent red light. "Anything to stop you attacking us". The red light on the button vanished and Sierra called her new Pokémon from it's new spherical home. "Welcome aboard!" she yelled. "I can't wait for you to meet Ivysaur and Chikorita... and Jett! I'd love you to meet my good friend Jett!" After flying back over to Pacifidlog, Sierra introduced her new Pokémon. The three grass-type Pokémon welcomed the new addition and the five of them set back to the Pokémon center. The sun was high in the sky now, and people were starting to fill the outside of the center. A certain person caught Sierra's eye.

"Jetty~!" she yelled, running over to the boy and embracing him in a forceful head-lock-hug. Her four Pokémon caught up with her. "Jett, I'd like you to meet my other Pokémon. She pointed to Ivysaur and Tropius. "These are my main two battling Pokémon. They're really strong and so funny!... uhh, I mean they would be, if they could talk." she paused. "Oh! and this is my team's newest addition! He's really powerful! Meet Pelipper!" she yelled, yanking him from the sky by his wing and thrusting him in Jett's face. "Isn't he cute?!"

 

[Sweet Dreams]

Cara scowled as one of the pig-headed boys simply walked away. The guy was obviously the one that won last time and had something more important on his mind. And here she was, having had prepared herself for a show of some sort. She sighed, leaning further into Atra until she was almost laying flat. The clouds were starting to gather, which meant that a shower was in store sometime in the near future. She sighed, closing her eyes.

She missed her mother.

For a while, Cara just lay there, almost dozing off when something occurred to her and caused her to jump up, inevitably making herself stumble and almost fall back down. Recovering quickly from that, she examined the area around her with a sinking heart. Three of her Pokémon were nowhere to be seen, and she had no idea where they were. Well, except Dusk. He would be out in the town, wreaking havoc on others, and Dazz would be either right with him or as far off as possible from the ghost. Glimmer would be with one of the two, arguing all the way.

Growling under her breath, she turned back towards the Pokémon Centre when an unexpected current rocked the planks beneath her. This time, she really did fall; but it was her good fortune that she didn't fall into the water. It was an inconvenient time to remember that she couldn't swim.

Well, it didn't faze her before, and it wouldn't then.

She hurried back to the glass doors of the Centre, knowing that her Pokémon would look for her there in their own time. The main commotion in the room emanated from the same couple whom she had drawn before.

'Meet Pelipper! Isn't he cute?!' A girly, rather high-pitched voice yelled. Cara winced and reached up to rub her ears. She spotted another person; the guy that denied her something to take her mind off her own life. To say that he was sketching would be slightly inappropriate. He had a certain gleam in his eye and an aura of excitement about him as his hand moved across the page at an alarming rate. He was another one of these insane people that seem to converge here.

Her hands had already unzipped her travel-bag and were rooting around for that worn sketchbook of hers without her consciously thinking about it. Her brow furrowed and her search became slightly more urgent as her first search wielded no results. And neither did the second one.

After about the fifth search, she had to admit to herself that it was gone. Just like those nuisances of Pokémon that had all wandered into the city.

Cara sank into the nearest seat, twisting that silver band fixed around her left, index finger. She cursed under her breath and wondered if Nurse Joy had seen it, as unlikely as that was. Smiling to cover her anxiety, she approached the lady dressed in white with hair of a vivid, unnatural pink.

'Excuse me, uh, Nurse Joy?' She asked, her voice wavering with uncertainty. The nurse smiled brightly at her, an expectant look on her face.

'Yes?' She prompted when Cara didn't say anything. She wasn't really used to approaching a total stranger and asking for help, and in that respect was almost as shy as the guy who had come up to her and asked her if she was sure she hadn't spoken.

'Um, have you-have seen a sketchbook anywhere around here, because I think I lost it and I've only really been in here yesterday after I arrived at port, although I drew in it yesterday and then today it wasn't in my bag…' Cara trailed off as she realised she was babbling. This really reminded her of that instant with the odd guy. *Maybe next time I should let him off easier?* She wondered, thankful that it seemed all Nurse Joys were nice. Giving the nurse a nervous smile, she cursed herself inwardly.

'I'm sorry, I don't think I have,' the pink-and-white Joy told her, the sincerity of the statement somewhat marred by the patronising look she subconsciously gave her.

'Right, well, thanks anyway,' Cara said, desperately trying to keep her tone light. Turning away, she groaned and resumed twisting the ring on her left hand, plonking herself onto a random seat.