Young Writers Society

Kent Walker|4:50pm| Dome B

“Iron Tail,” Cody said calmly.

No one heard him, though. Even though the Ref hadn’t made the call, Kent was hooping and hollering like a mad man. The crowd was with, or against him, and the announcer drowned the last of the sound out. Leaving Cody alone, taking the moment.

“Mam. Mam-Mamooo.” The beast of a Pokemon was sent into the air as if it were a leaf. Where it once laid was a new face, a large, powerful, and fierce Luxray, tail erected, with a black sheen. The Luxray let out a wicked howl and then charged towards the falling Mamo, with a Night Slash.

Kent was still in his own world, only snapping out of it when Mamo hit the ground. The beast was left panting, a barrage of night slashes leaving their marks. Kent gulped, back into the game, while Cody snobbishly glared.

“A real trainer would never let themselves be taken away from a match, it was a fluke that you made it this far, we’ll end it here,” Cody barked. “Now, use your Fire Power!”

Luxray gave a nod and shot into the air, its muzzle engulfed in thick flames, falling towards a helpless Mamoswine.

“Endure!” Kent cried, desperate to hold on. If he lost because of his own ego, because he didn’t pay attention, he couldn’t take it.

Luxray crashed into Mamo, biting through the barrier, at half strength. Mamo grunted in pain as the fangs dug deeper into him. His fur began to burn away, leaving a bloody, bruised skin to show. While Mamo tried to shake the beast off, its tail flexed up, muscles appearing inside it. With one more swing it sent Mamo flying backwards, hitting the revealed weak spot.

Mamon gave out another grunt of pain, but didn’t fall, it was too stubborn to let go. Another war howl and Luxray charged in, batting Mamo away with a powerful Iron Tail. With a loud crack the ice caved in, Mamo sinking to the bottom.

“And Mamoswine is-“

“Finish it off with Iron-Power,” Cody commanded.

“I said Mamoswine is-“

“I heard you,” Cody sneered, edging Luxray to continue. The beast dove into the water, sending a muscled out Irontail at Mamo. Kent too shocked to return it was left standing there, not sure what to do.

“I said stop!” The ref was now running towards Cody, who kept falling out attack combos. He didn’t care if Mamo was done for, he wanted to continue.

“I’m putting it out of its misery! A life with a weak trainer is no life at all!”

~~~~~~~~~~

Kent sat alone in the backroom; a nurse was taking solo care to Mamoswine, which Cody had refused to let up on. Not until the Ref was able to return Luxray did it stop. Kent was near tears as he waited, he had been there, and he had let it happen. He was right there, he had let down his guard, and Mamo had been taken down. Even when he was there he was too out of it do a thing. He was frozen, unable to think, unable to do a think as Mamoswine was barraged with hits. It was Ru all over again.

Because of the excessive beating Cody was disqualified, and Kent was sent into the next round. It was far from fair, Kent though, I didn’t earn it, I lost the battle. If anything I should be disqualified, for not paying attention. Maybe Cody was right, maybe Mamo is better off with out me…maybe all of them are.

Shut the fuck up, Kent thought. Stop getting down on yourself. Be strong, Cody is a jackass, don’t let him get to you, Push through, and don’t let today go to waste. Don’t make Mamo’s pain be for naught. Win this thing.

Even if Kent was going crazy, he felt batter. He couldn’t doubt himself, no matter what.

The nurse told him Mamo would be fine, but should take it easy till tomorrow. Kent thanked her, able to wipe away his tears with the news. But still, he had caused it, and he wouldn’t let Mamo’s efforts go too wasted. No matter how hard he tried to push it away, he did have to take the blame.

“If I hurry I can still se Jack and Tyler fight,” Kent said aloud. “Deep thinking comes later, now comes some fun.”

Kent took off in a rush, leaving his team with the nurse to be healed, keeping only Meta and Ru, who both were riding on his shoulders. Meta had also found a new form, while at the center it had played with a Pichu, and so took a liking to imitating it. So now he had two babies who refused to stay in their Pokeballs.

“Hey Gals, how are they doing?”

Sierra, Sam, and Jerri were all sitting together. The awkwardness was nearly audible, so Kent coming was like a breath of fresh air. Well, Fresh Air that needed a shower. Right after Kent had sat down the final match up was in, Crawdaunt and Citrus mano-a-mano.

"Both trainers are now reduced to one Pokemon each!" echoed the voice of the announcer. "Tyler's Crawdaunt will face off against Jack's Rotom! Both Pokemon have an advantage and a disadvantage against the other! How will this play out?"

“Crawdaunt, Water Pulse!”

“Discharge!”

The wave was blasted apart by the strike of electricity, though that was only half of it. Using the wave as a power up, the electricity flew through the residue, hitting Crawdaunt hard.

“Faint Attack!”

“Double Team!”

Crawdaunt disappeared for a moment, while Rotom focused all its energy making copies, trying to confuse the crustacean. Too bad Jack didn’t know, because Faint attack never misses. A claw came out of nowhere, sending Rotom to the ground. Rotom let out a sort cry before feinting.

“Rotom is unable to battle, the winner is Tyler!”

~~~~~~~~

“And with Sierra’s win, we are now into the Semi-Finals! Tomorrow we will be finishing off this tournament, with a bang!”

On the center stage Tyler, Sam, Kent and Sierra stood tall. Trying to present themselves to the crowd as mature, well mannered. AKA Bull. And with all the trainers were a single Pokemon, Crawdaunt, Charmeleon, Gligar and Snealse, respectively. The crowd was staring at them, intense lights beating down on them. From now on they were going to be broadcast, the last three battles were going to be the ‘best’ and so the only ones worthwhile to show.

“And remember, the winner of the tournament will not only earn glory, but the rare, elusive, and powerful Dragonair, which will be awarded by Joseph Walker. Famous Dragon Tamer of Blackthorn and father of semi-finalist Kent Walker. See you tomorrow folks!”

~~~~~~~~~~

“That. Was. Crazy.” Sam collapsed onto the bed. The group had to stay at the dome for a good half hour signing autographs of their new fans. Tyler’s hand was the most worn, he had gathered a huge following of fan girls. He was peeling phone numbers off his shirt, and earning the envy of Kent.

“So, you’re dad is coming here,” Jack asked. He had been waiting for the others to arrive.

“Apparently so. I guess he wanted it to be a surprise,” Kent said. At that moment it struck him, though. His dad was coming. His dad was going to be here. His dad was going to be watching him battle. That was fine; it was the least of Kent’s worries. The thing that was freaking Kent out was Gible, or rather the lack of. His dad had given Kent the egg, told him to raise it…he didn’t want to know how he would react to him being gone.

“Kent? Are you there?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, what do you need, Sam?”

“I was saying. You dad breed the Dragonair, maybe you helped raise it.”

“Oh, yeah, maybe,” Kent said, letting the conversation die. “Well, I’m going to go train.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Kent Walker| Pokemon Center| 8am, the next day.

“One more time! Aqua Tail!”

Gligar flew into the air, drawing the moisture around it. The water shook, Gligar unable to keep a grip on it.

“Don’t try and hold it, just try and use it fast!” Gligar nodded and began to vibrate his tail. The water spun fast, but barley extended from the tip and collapsed not five seconds later.

“Once more, this time just try and extend it out, try and get as far away from you as possible! Make it a new tail,” Kent was running out of ideas. How did the attack work? He had seen his dad teach it a hundred times, but he never paid attention to it.

“You know, if you want to teach it a move, the best way it to let it see it done," Kent turned around to see what one could consider ‘bad ass’ man, with all of the normal vibes, like his windbreaker, scars, gauzes. Oh, and he was standing on the tail of a giant, pale blue monster.

“Salamence, Aqua Tail,” even with the man on him, the beast jerked into the air, drawing the moister around it, and slamming enough water into the ground to drown a whale. The man stayed still the whole time, expression not changing at all.

“The first rule of being a trainer is simple. Trust. Trust in your self, and each other, Pokemon need to know you have confidence in them, or they will have none in themselves,” Kent recited and ran up and squeezed the man. “Long time no see, Dad.” (Real shocker, eh?)

~~~~~~~
“Even after fourteen years, you didn’t pick up on how to do it, huh?” Kent and his father sat on the beach, Salamence and Glide in the air playing.

“I was more concerned trying not to fall in to Trapinch traps, and keeping Gible in their pens,” Kent said. “Remember, because you had more important things than keeping me alive?”

“I only stabbed you once, get over it.” And they laughed. “Glad to see you’re doing alright, Kenneth.” Kent sighed, his father chuckling to himself.

“When I heard you were going to be here, and that you were in the Semi-Finals, I had to come,” Mr. Walker said. “Sadly your mother can’t make it, well not before the tournament ends, off climbing a pile of rocks somewhere. But to think, you were the same kid who challenged the Dragon Master’s to battle, with a newly hatched baby Gible, and little Swinub. And now, you’re a semifinalist, in a tournament full of Cianwood’s best, ones who made it into the tops of Pokemon leagues. Taking down a fleet of Team Rocket, which if your Mother asks I said you were grounded for.

“Needless to say, I’m proud of you, son,” Mr. Walker picked himself up. “So, how are those Pokemon of yours? That Gligar seems in top shape, how about Swinub?”

“Hmmm, Swinub is doing alright,” Kent said. With a click ‘Swinub’ was released from his home, towering above the two of them, with a deliriously happy grin. In a single lick Mr. Walker was soaked from head to toe, and lifted right onto the things back. He laughed, again.

“How about Gible?” He asked, ruffling Mamo’s fur. Kent froze, he had been so excited he hadn’t thought of Gible. Hell, he hadn’t though of the little guy is awhile, with all that had gone on, he had drifted away from his thoughts. And then it hit him again, all at once. This time more pressure, his gift, his father’s gift to him, wasn’t there, and how do you say you tell him that?

Kent never found out, Jack barreled out the center a bit later, looking for Kent. When he came face-to-face with a Salamence you could see the fear in his eyes, as he backed away in shock. “Kent?”

(Tired, and if I put this off, I will probably forget to finish it, so I’ll end it here

Tyler Cohen | Cianwood Bay | 9:24AM

A geyser of saltwater plumed into the sky, leaving a lazy mist to rain down on the two on the beach. A low Alto hum bled through the water as a wave of energy passed. Tyler ran a hand through his wet blue hair and leaned back on his elbows on the sand.

"Kingdra is way too fast," Sierra smirked, taking a drink of water from a blue canteen. "It's probably breaking the speed limit."

Tyler raised an eyebrow and looked at her beside him, shifting his eyes back to the Kingdra and Lapras fake-fighting in the water. "Well, your Lapras' singing probably breaks every noise law in Jhoto."

"Touche." Sierra pulled out a little pamphlet from the tourney with the chart printed on the back. In red ink were scratched out the names and faces of competitors who had fallen already. "I really thought that Alby was going to be a big problem for me this year," she bit down on her bottom lip and shook her head, pinning a strand of platinum bangs behind her ear. "But you guys have swept through all the champs from previous years like they were tumbleweeds."

"Well, there's still one champ remaining," Tyler turned diamond eyes up to her face and watched for a reaction, but she just smiled softly, still reading through the competitor bios. "What if we don't talk about Pokemon for a while?" A Salamence roared in the distance and both winced under the sound.

Sierra turned her eyes away from the sheet in her hands and gave the boy beside her an intimidating glance. But then it registered, Tyler guessed, that a little break from strategy would be a good thing. "Fine," she said and stowed the brochure in her bag, giving him a reassuring smile. "Tell me about yourself."

Tyler tilted his head back towards the sky and watched the clouds. His tiny Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed his wet breath. "My name is Tyler Rayne Cohen; I look before I cross the street, eat more veggies than meat, and wear a size-ten shoe."

"Disappointing," Sierra murmured.

"I know I'm not that interesting," Tyler pipped, a bit hurt.

"No, I mean that the last one didn't rhyme."

"Oh..."

They stayed quiet for a minute, just listening to the waves and the Wingulls above. In the distance, a baby Lapras called out in song.

Tyler stood to his bare feet, stretching out a hand to Sierra, smiling under his shadow that blocked the sun from her eyes. "I want to show you something." Sierra pulled herself up by his hand and dusted her shorts off, slinging her bag over her shoulder. She reached for Lapras' pokeball and the creature vanished in red light. Tyler recalled Kingdra and sent out Crawdaunt into the shallow surf. Once the boy straddled the crustacean, he nodded to Sierra. She hopped on behind him and brushed her hair from her face, lowering sunglasses over her eyes.

Crawdaunt nudged forward and jostled the two as he entered the ocean tides. Sierra's hands clutched lightly to Tyler's hips and held on innocently for support. Tyler blushed and nudged Crawdaunt on. "T-To the cave, Crawdaunt..."

Sierra Stone | Cianwood Bay | 9:30AM
It was not that easy, dismissing thoughts of the battles; not with the previous day's still fresh in mind, nor with those from the day before that fresher still, but—she could try. Now, when it was just Tyler and her and the sea, perhaps it was okay to let go of the tension and the planning, the calculations. Safe, as safe as the sea could ever be, and there was something strangely soothing about being so close to another human being, one that wasn't trying to cage her or her pokemon.

It felt like it’d been a while since the last time she’d been able to do that. She shifted, so used to sitting on Lapras’ shell when at sea that Crawdaunt’s was another alien, though not unwelcome, aspect to this morning, and smiled to herself, a bit self-deprecating. You’re being ridiculous. She’d had no qualms about getting close that first time she’d seen him on the Santa Olivia, so balking now was absurd.

And it’d mean letting the recent events get to her—and no way she was letting that happen.

So she leaned closer still, (temporarily) pushed away the vague impulse to push back a stray strand of blue hair back behind the headband to get a better look at where they were going.

“Is that where we’re going?” The quiet sound of waves lapping at weatherworn stones and the jagged spines half-emerged around that dark opening in the cliffside hinted at an accessible passage, but this was high tide, when the waters were at their highest. Tyler nodded, and then Crawdaunt was maneuvering between the rocks until they’d reached a drier area, slippery stones that still made for reasonable walking on, as long as you weren’t an idiot and ran around like one of Kent’s disciplinarily-challenged pokemons. Both of them slipped off Crawdaunt, and Sierra stepped deeper inside, grey eyes rising to the low, hanging ceiling before drifting down to look properly around.

"It's--" dark in here, with the light behind us and slithering through the cracks in the rocks, glinting off the stream that shimmered in the slight depressions in the ground as it languidly made its way towards the waves from the darker depths of the cave, and around them the whispers of water and the tiny scuttling sounds of small, small Corphish coming out to investigate at the sound of their footsteps and her voice. "--beautiful here." Not the way ice was, of course not. But this was the sea and the land and a certain sort of solitude that did make itself known save for a quiet murmur of encouragement and the lumbering dampness permeating through the walls. She'd grown up around those coasts: this was all of home in one neat little package, of sorts.

"This is where Crawdaunt was born," Tyler said from behind her, and she turned her head back, smiled at him through a curtain of water dripping from a fissure above. Maybe he couldn't see it well in the dark, but it was a chance she could take.

"Was he so small when you got him?" She inclined her head to the tiny red Corphish clicking their pincers at them, eyeing them curiously, and then glimpsed up again. "Oh, sorry. You didn't want to talk about pokemon, right?" Hard to do when their lives seemed to revolve around them, but she could try. For Tyler. "Such a nice place. How did you come to find it?"

Samuelle Park | Cianwood | 11:12 AM

After three months of seeing the same faces every single day, Sam needed a break. That and a haircut. Her hair had grown out, and it required so much care now. So much for easy-to-manage. She didn’t think the others would mind if she chopped it off anyway.

She was still hungover from the fan barrage, and she finally understood what Abel meant when he said it wasn’t all that easy. She’d tried to spend the morning relaxing at the beach, but every few moments or so someone would come up and ask for an autograph, or a picture. So much for swimming. She swore a few people even took stolen snapshots of her. She’d planned to eat her lunch at the beach, then go back to the hotel and take a nap until late afternoon before heading down to town, but her plans changed. She returned to the hotel at ten, then, bored out of her wits, decided she ought to head to town early. She tied her now-long hair into a ponytail, donned one of Sierra’s oversized sunglasses she’d borrowed early this morning (with permission, of course), put on a colorful wide-brimmed hat, and stepped out of the hotel’s shady confines. The sunlight never shone so brightly.

Breezes from the sea drenched every part of Cianwood, filling her lungs with refreshing, salty air every time she breathed. Of course, Sam preferred the cold mountain air in Mahogany, but Cianwood was better than the suffocating smog in the cities. Sand drowned out any roads that might be in Cianwood, and Sam was tempted to simply take off her flip-flops and wander around the entire town barefoot. It wasn’t as if they had anything important to do today anyway.

First things first, though. She needed to find the salon. Along the road were benches, and on those benches lounged a few louts, and maybe a decent kid or two. One of them blew out a deep puff of smoke as she passed by, and got up, crushing his cigarette under his foot. Sam paid him no mind, even as he walked beside her, blocking the sunlight’s rays. Not that she minded.

She gave him a critical once-over. Classic pretty bad boy, she thought. It would have been pathetic if he didn’t wear the look so well. His button-down polo’s first three buttons had been left open on purpose, and a shiny cross hung on a slim chain around his neck. His dark hair (at least, she thought it was dark – Sierra’s sunglasses tinted her vision) flew in the breeze, and Sam thought she spied the beginnings of a black dragon tattoo on the right side of his neck. He stood a good six inches taller than her, and was perhaps taller than her friends. Then she caught his lip twitch into a smirk, and realized he’d caught her looking at him.

She harrumphed and quickened her pace, as if she could leave him behind by doing so. He smoothly adjusted his stride to her semi-jog, much to her annoyance. After a while, their steps coordinated with each other’s, and Sam busied herself trying her best to avoid walking in step with him. It made walking awkward and difficult, if a bit funny. She quit her game when he snickered at her, though. She spied the salon out of the corner of her eye, and a slow grin spread over her face. Ha. He’d have no reason to follow her in there. She abruptly stopped in her tracks, and he did so with her. As if he’d read her mind. Baffling, but she refused to let it faze her.

“Confused?”

…So maybe she wasn’t so good at hiding her emotions. Sam simply gawked at him. He chuckled.

“You’re not really all that difficult to figure out.”

Sam puffed up her cheeks. “Oh yeah? You’re not difficult either,” she snapped back. Fail response, but at the moment, her brain was still a bit hungover from last night, and she wasn’t really in the mood for stalkers and madmen.

He leaned in close, invading her personal space and forcing her to step take a step backwards. “Oh really? Try me.”

“Try what?” Sam spluttered.

He laughed again. “Go ahead. Tell me everything you know about me from our little walk.”

Okay, so maybe her response wasn’t the best one. Sam realized that now that she could only stuttered a few syllables, nothing really comprehensible. “I-I-what?”

He straightened again, and Sam finally let out a breath of relief, glad to recover her personal space. “All right, since you’re so unsure of how to do it, allow me to go first. Your name is Samuelle, but you like to shorten it to Sam, because you don’t really like the way your name is so boyish. You try to be a tomboy, no mistake about it, but you’re a bit envious of your feminine friends. You wish you were like them, but you don’t really think you can pull it off, so you stick to your nature. You have a male figure you look up to, probably a brother or a male cousin, and your tomboyish persona also stems from your admiration of him. Should I go on?”

“…How did you know my name?”

He shrugged. “You’re wearing a bracelet with your name on it. I figured it didn’t stand for a boyfriend, and seems as if I’m right. Can I claim my prize now?”

“You’re wrong,” she replied defensively. She wasn’t jealous of Sierra. Why would she be jealous of Sierra? Sierra didn’t have any champion for an older brother. She’s a champion herself… Sam shook it off and glared at the other boy. The only reason she resented Sierra now was because he put the thought into her mind. She wished she hadn’t returned Kite to his Pokeball now. She would feel much better with him by her side, of that she was sure. Her hand crept towards his Pokeball. Surely she wasn’t this easy to psychoanalyze? He had to have found all that out from someone else.

Around them, the sun beat down mercilessly. People chattered, mothers screamed for their children to come home and eat their lunches, and their kids ignored them by playing tag for a few moments longer.

Furious, she took off Sierra’s sunglasses and glared at him with all her might. “Who the fuck do you think you are?”

He clicked his tongue. “Turning into a potty mouth, are we? You really should find better friends.”

“Like who? You?” she spat.

“Why not?”

An awkward silence passed, and Sam couldn’t really hold it against him anymore. Couldn’t help but smile a bit. “Like you’re any better.” Her stomach growled then, and she glanced around. “So. You know any place where we can get some good food?” She felt like eating something other than her friends’, or her own, cooking for once.

“Me? I know every place in Johto.”

She doubted that, as he didn’t seem all that much older than her, but she let it go. Hey, as long as she had company, right? Besides, her Pokeballs were still with her if she ever needed to defend herself. Blaze and Kite weren’t exactly the easiest Pokemon to beat.

--
Abel Park | Cianwood | 9:03 PM

Late. She was late. She’d never been out for this long before. Abel paced around the hotel lobby, wearing a pattern on the rug. He’d been pacing ever since thirty-three minutes – thirty-four now – ago. Her curfew was eight thirty, she knew that. Why was she not here yet? What in the world was she doing?

Then he heard her laughter from outside the hotel lobby, and his head shot up. He knew it was her, knew it. Sure enough, she squealed and ran through the lobby and into his arms. Abel enveloped her in a tight hug, stroking her hair and murmuring soft admonishments in her ear. “Where have you been? I’ve been waiting for you since eight thirty. Are you hurt? What happened?”

Sam squirmed away from his grip and he released her, albeit reluctantly.

“I’m fine. You worry too much. And I didn’t go gambling today. Or go up against Rockets. Or Graves. I just spent the day in town,” she said, twisting a lock of hair around her finger. “Oh? Did you hear? I'm in the final four! I didn’t win against Tyler, but they said it was a good fight.”

She was so excited, like a little puppy. “That’s why I came. It was a good fight, Sam. You’ll beat those so-called friends of yours eventually. Win that tournament tomorrow.” He smiled a bit, then frowned when he noticed her hair. “Your hair. It’s long.” He’d gotten used to her donning short hair; it had been that way ever since she was a little girl. Why should it be any different now?

Her smile wavered and she chewed her lip. “I forgot to get a haircut.”

He laughed, to assure her. He didn’t like seeing her sad. It tore him up. “Don’t worry about it,” he assured. “It’s all right. I do like the bob better, though.”

A breathless young man entered the lobby then, gasping and panting. Sam glanced at him and waved, grinning. Who was that?

“Is he someone I should know, Sam?” He disliked her current friends, but this one seemed to be an even worse prospective friend. He knew the boy. And he didn’t like this one bit. He was the son of the mayor of Goldenrod, and though yet sixteen, he was shaping up to be a staunch defender of Pokemon rights, and subsequently quite a trouble-maker at times, starting rallies and organizing raids of Team Rockets’ various hideouts.

“Oh. Oh. Kieran, this is Abel, my brother.” Sam seemed unsure now, as if the boy would forget her because he’d met Abel. Kieran seemed unfazed, though, by the fact that he was meeting Abel.

How was that even possible?

“Nice to meet you,” Kieran said in a cheerful voice.

“Nice to meet you too.” Flat, flat as hell. Cold eyes, dead eyes. Sam noticed nothing. “I’m afraid I’ll have to go, Sam. I have a tournament tomorrow.” A lie. He need not see Sam fawning over her new friend.

“Goodnight, then. And good luck!”

“What tournament? I wasn’t aware of any tournaments tomorrow,” Kieran cut in, noticing Sam’s mood shift. “Surely you can stay a night?”

“The tournament’s in Hoenn.”

“I’m sure there isn’t any. My father hasn’t received an invitation.”

“Your father,” Abel replied icily, “does not receive an invitation to everything.” A blatant lie. Goldenrod’s mayor was one of the most prolific people, a sort of celebrity-politician. Abel didn’t want to spend any more time arguing with the little upstart, though, and with that, he stormed out of the hotel.

…Kieran? How long will he stay your friend, Sam?

Kent Walker| Flying over the beach|9:30am

“So, I see you have…a following,” Mr. Walker said. Below them was a booing crowd. Kent turned his head to the sea as they climbed the skies, Salamence roared as the wind blasted them. The father-son duo found a small island off the coast and landed.

“So, I take it you didn’t have a great win?”

Kent nodded. “I only got in because my opponent was disqualified, he didn’t stop battling, and I was too late to help Mamo.”

‘Well, fuck him, and fuck them.” Kent burst out laughing, his dad swearing always made Kent laugh.

“Well, it’s sor-”

“I said, fuck them,” Mr. Walker repeated. “I saw the fight on TV, I know what happened. You did good, you made one mistake. Your opponent made a lot of them. Quit blaming yourself for it, we all fuck up,” Kent held back a smile. “what matters is getting over it and moving on. Just learn from it.”

“I gave away Gible.”

“You…what?”

“I said, I gave away Gible,” Kent wasn’t thinking at this point, the words were just coming out. All the talk about mistakes, and guilt, he didn’t want to, but he had to say it.

“Did you have a reason?”

“Yeah,” Kent said. “We were at the Pokealthlon, and Gible was having a lot of fun, he was tearing shit up.”

“Watch your language,” Mr. Walker said.

“Sorry, he was owning-”

“Owning?”

“He was doing good,” Kent said with a laugh. Even when he felt bad, he could still laugh at his ancient dad. “When we left, Gible didn’t want to go. He just stood there, and when I tried to bring him into his Pokeball he just popped back out. Eventually the owner came by, and he offered to keep him, train him, so I let him. I’m so…wait, no, I’m not sorry. It’s just…well I’m sad.”

“That’s normal, Kenneth,” he put his arm around Kent. “I felt the same way when you left. Your mother and I missed you, but we knew it was for the best. You wanted to go, we couldn’t keep you back, and you were better off there. It’s the same here. Gible is you, and the trainer is the journey. You’ll always miss him, but you shouldn’t feel guilty. No matter what, just remember you did the right thing, and that is all that matters.”

“He evolved,” Kent stated. There was no emotion behind it, more just him stating a fact. “He evolved there, and now he doesn’t remember me.” Still, no emotion was there.

Mr. Walker put his arm over Kent’s shoulder, the boy pushed his head into his fathers chest. Tears dripped down.


Kent Walker| Pokemon Center| 11:30am

Kent sat on his bed, he was feeling better. His dad couldn’t help him over the Gabite part, but the cry had helped a lot. There was one thing clear to him, though. They would be heading to Goldenrod soon, and when they did he was going to face his fears.


Kent Walker| Forest| 5pm
Kent wiped the sweat from his brow. “Once more, Fire Fang, max power!”

Glide jetted into the skies, the space around him rippling from the heat. The bat began to spin around, his body covered in twisting fire, it crept around his body, extending like a fiery aura. Kent could feel the intensity, beads of sweat rose from his pores, instantly vaporizing. Glide landed, the fire popped away like bubbles, small sparks drifting down to the soil.

Kent smiled, his body now was flooding with sweat, his eyes stung. “Okay, we need a name for that…how about Flame Ace? Aerial Burn?” Glide smiled brightly. Of all Kent’s Pokemon he had been training the hardest, Kent didn’t want to, but the bat was eager to learn. Whenever Kent woke up the Pokeball was empty, and the bat was somewhere, either perfecting some aerial maneuver, trying to add a twist to a move, or learning a new one in this case. While trying to do some spins in the air Glide had learned the all-important aerial ace. Kent hadn’t even though of this move, but instead remembered an old battle tape of his dad’s, he had combined flame-thrower with Dragon Rush, and it had a similar effect.

Kent brought Glide back into his Pokeball, it was getting late, and both of them needed rest. The new combo was dangerous, and for Glide too. He wasn’t immune to fire, so by making a shroud of it around himself he got hurt, and the combo had some recoil. Kent hadn’t even been hit directly and the heat had took a toll on him. If they could bring it to the field they would be unstoppable.

Kent Walker| Outside the Pokemon Center| 6:30pm
Kent strolled into the Pokemon Center, he felt great. It didn’t matter than he was covered in sweat, and wanted to pass out, he was happy, for the first time in a while. Ru could feel this, and he was happy as well. More vibrant than ever, the little phantom was hopping around. Cheering. The little cheers were a little creepy, but soothing at the same time. He spun, and spun, it was impossibly fast. Dashing around Kent as he walked, he was perplexed by the little ghost’s ability.

Kent took a step and his butt met the wood, they said hello with a mutual grunt and moan. How did he trip? Kent was asking himself, but when he opened his eyes it was clear. Deep in his mind he swore. In front of him the little phantom was glowing faintly.

His helmet was first, the pink bump splitting in half, floating towards each side. Green strands dropped from it, weaving into a perfectly-straight hair like shape. The front receded, making a triangle in the center of it, allowing the dark-pink eyes to show. Next the legs grew, Ru unevenly rising to Kent’s waist, the drooping gown popped up, forming a ruffled-circle around his waist. Right leg over left, and arms perfectly bent at his side, the glow faded away, and Ru stood, dazed, on the steps.

Revival calls for time-skip.

Tyler Cohen | Santa Olivia Dome | Two Days Later, 9:14AM

Whether it was the lure of the cameras or the rising intensity of the battles, Tyler was unsure; but the crowds were thicker and louder and the roar of the battlefield was suddenly twice as intense. Tiny beads of sweat condensed on his forehead as he stood against the steel wall, watching the arena in front of him. “Just imagine what the league will be like,” Sam called from behind.

Tyler turned and nodded to her, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. “I’m not gonna lie, Sam,” he said, a nervous chuckle in his voice. “I’m scared to death.”

Sam grinned and shook her head. “The only thing you should be afraid of,” she said, pointing her thumb at her chest. “Is me.” Her laugh came across clear and confident as she skipped towards the arena.

The weak expression on the boy’s face faded, and he nodded confidently. “We’ll see, Sam.”

“Are you gonna win?” Tyler jerked his head around to where a sweeter voice called out. A young, brown-haired girl near his age and wearing a VIP pass stood in the archway behind him, holding a Togepi. “I think you’ll win.”

Tyler smiled softly and nodded. “Thanks, err...”

“My name is Chel--...”

”Ladies and gentlemen!” the announcer’s voice roared in the speakers, now turned up to an ample volume.

"We'll have to talk later, Chel."

“Are you ready for the semi-finals?!” The crowd roared in response. Green stage lights flooded the darkening arena and the battlefield lit up in an eerie Irish veridian. “Let’s make some noise as our competitors make their way to our Element field--where the environment changes depending on the Pokemon!” The volume came down a bit. “Element fields are provided by our partners from the Tantii region, the V-Rage Company!”

Tyler loosened his shoulders and breathed out, slowly. “Time to win, Tyler.” He walked forward into the gate and awaited his name.

The girl hugged her Togepi closer and forced a smile and an airy chuckle as he walked off. "Chelsie..."

Across the arena, Sam balled her fists, plotting a strategy in her head. She couldn’t rely on evolutionary strength because Tyler had Kingdra. She would have to get clever, to outsmart him. She ignored the announcer and watched the lights fluctuating around the room until he called her name--simple enough. “Samuelle Park!” She clutched a Pokeball at her side and jogged up the ramp to the combatant’s box, suddenly blinded by intense lights from above.

“Now let’s give it up for Tyler Cohen!” Tyler composed himself and ran up the incline to his box, tucking his hair behind his ears as he stood up straight, not catching a word from the announcer for the roar of the crowd. He cracked his knuckles and closed his eyes, halfway meditating on what he could do--if anything--to take Sam down.

The voice of the announcer was soon replaced by the roll of a bass guitar in the speakers. Tyler sighed and clutched a ball, nodding to Sam across the field. She nodded back, and, through the anticipating battle music, she released Charmeleon. The lizard rolled out onto the field, which was quickly consumed in magma, rocks, and spouts of fire all around. The house lights turned a bloody red, and Tyler released Haunter onto the field. Through the slags of molten stone, spires and gravestones, cobwebs and shadows began sprouting out of nowhere. The ghost laughed maniacally as he stared down at the red lizard, and readied for his master’s first command.

The air grew thick with anxiety, and Tyler grinned at the clear prospect of his victory. “Haunter! Get this party started with a roll of shadow punches!” The ghost swiftly vanished from sight.

“Charmeleon! Dig down and hide from Haunter!” The lizard dove to the ground with claws outstretched, only to be thrust backwards by an unseen force. The lizard plopped in a pool of magma and came out furious. Once more, he dove for the rocky earth, but another invisible punch sent him flying into the air, into a volley-like action.

Sam’s eyes grew wide with fear, watching her little Blaze get pummeled by the unseen attacks. She grimaced and clenched her fists tighter. “Flamethrower towards the ground!”

The lizard turned his head towards the ground just before another punch, and spewed a torrent of flames around an awaiting Haunter, torching him. The ghost reeled backwards and covered his charred face with his hands as Charmeleon hobbled around to regain his orientation. Once the two were slightly recovered, Tyler and Sam stared down at one another. Simultaneously, the two trainers called out their next orders.

“Shadow ball!”

“Flamethrower!”

The attacks launched together, an orb of miry shadows hurling forward into a stream of steady fire. The two forces collided between the two Pokemon and erupted in a nova of black fire. The explosion took in both Pokemon and took the lights out around the house. In darkness, the trainers waited.

Soon, the hum of lights returned to the field to reveal both Haunter and Charmeleon out cold on a cleared battleground.

Red beams of light returned both Pokemon into their resting places, and the opponents nodded to one another. Together, they released Rhyhorn and Crawdaunt onto the field. A torrent of waves and a blast of rocks and earth shot from the battleground floor, combining in a messy swamp terrain.

“Rhyhorn, give him a horn attack!”

The beast charged forward through the thick mud, and rampaged straight into Crawdaunt’s armored belly. The lobster pushed back against it and both began to sink into the mud. “Crawdaunt, shoot him down with Surf!”

The field began to shift again, but this time due to an attack. Slowly, a tidal wave of mud came crashing down over the two Pokemon, sending Rhyhorn sinking to the bottom, into the pure water below. “Follow through with a waterfall, Crawdaunt.” The lobster dove beneath the mud and a small bit of time passed. With a slow gurgle, Rhyhorn burst through the top layer of loamy swamp in a plume of water, unconscious.

Sam tensed, obviously disturbed, but her face remained stony as the men came in to drag Rhyhorn away. “You haven’t won yet, Tyler.”

“I’m closer than you are, Sam.”

The crowd went crazy.

Samuelle Park | Santa Olivia Dome | 9:29 AM

Why was she here again?

Oh yeah, because she wanted to impress Abel. And become a great Pokemon trainer. But who was she kidding, really? She wasn’t Abel, and this match only proved it. Of course, one Pokemon down wasn’t too bad yet, but Tyler had Kingdra, and Kingdra wasn’t out yet.

When Kingdra came out, it ended for Sam. This she knew for sure.

She remained passive as the crowd cheered for Tyler, knowing full well her brother was nowhere in sight. If she lost, it’d be without the humiliation of having to face her brother later. She pulled her somewhat long hair into a ponytail, and then let her hands drop to touch the cold glass of the balcony she stood on.

Who was she pulling out next? She took a deep breath, closed her eyes. One choice, one moment. Wordlessly, she flung a pokeball out onto the field.

Duskull emerged, and the little Pokemon even danced that small number he usually did for her when he knew she was feeling down. Sam only smiled; she didn’t notice Tyler withdraw his Crawdaunt and send out Snorunt until the scenery changed.

The world beneath them shifted; grave markers sprung from the ground, and the occasional gaudy monument rose to glare at the trainers. Ice filled the cracks in the stone faces, and frigid winds blasted through empty spaces in leafless trees.

Sam could have sworn she saw her name on one of the graves. Tch.

“Snorunt, start this off with blizzard!” Tyler was eager now, wasn’t he? His Snorunt immediately responded, sending a strong blast of wind carrying snowballs in Duskull’s direction.

“Will-O-Wisp, Duskull!” Even as she said it, her Duskull had already begun to counter the attack. Blue fireballs lit the graveyard in an eerie light, tinting the snow unnatural colors reminiscent of the ocean.

Some fireballs crashed into snowballs head-on, while others whizzed past and made a beeline for the Snorunt, who cried out as several of them crashed into him. Duskull, carefree as ever, roamed around and inspected a few graves. As if this wasn’t a tournament. Sam almost adored it for its freedom.

Sam was aware Tyler was staring at her, trying to get her to back down, but she refused to meet his eye and instead pointed at the crying Snorunt who was attempting to soothe its burns by burying its face in the cold snow blanketing the field.

“Use future sight while it’s down.” Her own cold voice frightened her.

Had she really given up on this battle already? Duskull’s eyes glowed blue instead of their usual red, and the entire stadium grew quiet, shattered by one command.

“Snorunt, use headbutt and knock that Duskull into the open grave beside it!”

Duskull had no time to react, and the Snorunt crashed into it head-first. Duskull crashed into the grave, and Sam realized what Tyler was about to do. Buried alive? Bury her Duskull alive? “No, Duskull, use psychic – now!” Sam screamed, panicky.

“Snorunt, use ice beam.” Tyler was winning again, winning again and there was nothing she could do about it. Sam cringed, ready for men to come take away Duskull’s frozen body when suddenly, the whole auditorium started laughing.

Duskull had managed to wrench control from Snorunt in time, and was now making the Snorunt dance. Sam breathed a sigh of relief, but half of her wanted to berate her Duskull for being so playful at this time.

And just as she was about to issue another order, a blast of black energy from nowhere attacked Snorunt, forcing Duskull to relinquish control. The audience burst into applause, and this time, Sam managed a bigger smile.

The battle wasn’t over yet. It was only going to go on for as long as Tyler didn’t take out Kingdra. And with the score tied at one-one, Sam knew which Pokemon was coming next.

“Is that a Kingdra? Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we’re seeing Tyler’s famed Kingdra out on the field! This is going to be one hell of a fight now, and Sam’s going to have to work hard to beat Tyler’s trump card.”

She wished the commentator would shut up. She didn’t need his opinions on top of her own fears. The graveyard melted away into water, and Duskull jumped into the air, surprised. It hovered over dark blue waters, and yelped in surprise when a shadowy siren emerged from the waters to kiss it. The siren cackled before disappearing underwater once more.

Sam couldn’t even see where Kingdra was in all that water.

“Kingdra, use flash cannon and knock that Duskull into the water!”

Silence. “Duskull, look out for it-“

Duskull glanced left and right, but was obviously fascinated by the ghostly sirens. It gave Sam an inquisitive look, and Sam realized that her flaky Pokemon didn’t know its opponent lurked in the waters beneath, nay, didn’t know that the match had started.

A silver beam tore through the water and straight into Duskull, and the small ghost fell into the stormy waters. Sam almost yelled, but she found her voice missing. She’d been expecting this.

“Duskull?” she managed, her eyes searching for the Pokemon.

A black figure emerged floating, clearly knocked out. Sam refused to cry and held back tears as men came to fish the poor ghost away. Really, what choice did she have?

She glanced at her last Pokeball. Kite. It’d be bad form to quit. Shameful. She steadied herself and willed her heart to calm down. She was already losing this. She wanted to quit so badly, to default, but she would never be able to forgive herself for that.

“Kite, let’s finish this quickly,” Sam said as she flung her pokeball to the field. Surprised herself with her own confidence.

Kite appeared as the landscape changed once more, turning into a mini-archipelago, the bare, rocky islands formed in the shape of a dragon. The waters beneath the islands remained a sinister dark blue, but Sam paid it no mind. She had to focus on Kite, otherwise this battle was lost.

Ha. As if it wasn’t already lost.

“Kingdra, use brine – knock Kite into the water,” Tyler commanded.

Ft. Tyler knew Kite was heavy enough to sink to the bottom and never come up. Sam had to avoid that. She quickly scanned her memory for anything, anything Kite could pull so he wouldn’t fall into the water, and came up with one solution.

“Kite, use rollout, and don’t stop moving until I tell you to do so!”

Kite didn’t even have to do much. It simply retreated into its shell and began to spin at a dizzying rate, heading from one island to another without touching the water. Streams of water followed closely behind Kite, but whenever they did hit him, they only hit a corner of his shell, and bounced off harmlessly.

Even after Kingdra had stopped attacking, Sam let Kite move around a bit more, afraid Kingdra was only lying in wait. Then an idea hit her, and she couldn’t resist.
“Kite, use rock slide!”

Kite stopped moving around and instead purposefully crashed itself onto a particularly rocky island. Large pieces came crumbling off the island and into the water, but Tyler reacted at once.

“Hydro pump!”

A blast of water, stronger and powerful than any of the last ones, came through the water, breaking through everything in its way and hitting into Kite with such force that he stood no chance. Kite was thrown into the air despite its heavy weight, and when the attack stopped, Sam screamed, unable to help herself, afraid Kite’s shell would break.

Kite fell into the water, thankfully, but caused such a big splash the audience and the trainers themselves weren’t spared from the water. Divers immediately hauled an unconscious Kite out of the water, and Tyler only grinned.

Sam had nothing to say. The wild crowd, the excited commentator – none of them reached her. They all fell on deaf ears, nothing but blurred sounds to the dazed trainer. She left the field without a word, not looking at Tyler, or his Pokemon.

All she wanted to do was check on her Pokemon and maybe curl up in bed with them. Yes, maybe cry. Not that she’d ever admit she’d cry.

Kent Walker| Santa Olivia Dome | 10:30AM


“And now, we have the Ice-Queen of Cianwood, the one and only Sierra Stone!” The crowd cheered on her name. She jogged to her spot, waving to the crowd. She was loving it. “Facing off with Miss. Stone is the Breeder of Blackthorn, Mr. Kent Walker!” nothing came this time, there was no booing, just deathly silence. A few nods, and maybe a clap or two, but nothing to pump Kent up.

He looked down on his stand. "I may not of won my last match, you may think I don’t deserve to be here, but goddammit, I will show you the best fucking match of the tourney..oh fuck, did I just say fuck, fuck. Oh shit, sorry. Fuck. I am so fucking sorry...er. Sorry. I'll fight now."

“Well folks, let’s...let’s fight. Remember, the finals are brought to you by V-Rage of Tantii, who have generously provided us with the most state of the art battle- system of our time! So let’s go!”

Kent sent out Lax first, and the crowd burst out laughing. The field began to morph into a giant Marshmallow, sweets popping up around the edges. Lax drooled and dove into the mess, pawing away at it. Sierra chuckled and sent out her choice, Sneasle. The dark-ice type changed the scene quick, but not by that much. Ice crept over the field, morphing the soft goo into a tick ice cream, nothing dark other than the cavities it would bring. Lax changed the licking.

Sneasle pawed through the ice-cream, trying to get to a submerged Munchlax. The heavy eater was at home in it, and somehow could swim through it like water. For once, being a Munchlax gave a speed boost. Sneasle finally got near enough, but Kent acted fast. “Now, suck in that ice cream and Gunk Shot!”


Sneasle dove below, the pre-eaten mess of cream landing harmless on top of the icecream. Sneasle began to shake under the ice-cream, agility’s speed b oost turned into offencive. The Gunk-Shot above shook, parts flying all over, most at Munchlax. It rained junk and slobber covered sweets. Kent laughed a bit. “Munchlax, you have the edge here, use it. Rapid Fire Gunk Shot!”

Munchlax turned into a vacuum, the ice cream sucked away from the floor, pellets flying at a stuck Sneasle. Sneasle tried to free itself, but found its efforts were useless quickly. The first three pellets hit hard, making Sneasle fall back into the cream. More and more stacked on top, the digestive acid creeping towards the Pokemon. The Ice Cream was falling all around, the pile was massive, but the structure weak. Munchlax fired one more, but soon realized it was out of ammo.

The cream slid away, a small curled Sneasle slipping out. “Now, Agility!” Sierra called out for her Pokemon. Sneasle’s body radiated a faint glow faintly, the black fur standing on edge as if charged with electricity. The ice-cream flung off, as if pushed by some invisible force, and then the beast charged. Munchlax tried to avoid, but in one step slipped and fell on his face. Sneasle launched a metal claw, knocked Lax to the edge of the ring, the dark-type retreated away.

Munchlax stirred bit, trying to get up, trying to use the moment to get back into his shelter, but his fur had stuck to the ice. Sneasle charged forward, using the extra space to charge. Sneasle spun at the last second, a critical-strike.

“Munchlax in unable to battle, point Sierra.”

Kent sighed and brought back Munchlax. “Good job, Lax. Take some rest.”

Kent looked at the field. He thought Munchlax would make a good tank in this fight, he knew Ice would dominate the field, but that didn’t, he would need some speed. He randomly picked a Pokeball. “Now more Machine Fire, think, Kent, think.”

“Ru, you’re in!” The ghostly ballerina curtsied to the crowd, with an almost unnatural elegance. Even on the black-ice he kept perfect balance. The field began to morph when Ru came out, the ice cream vanished into the floor, the ice patching it self up. Around it small handle bars appeared, with mirrors lining the walls. Little Kirlias and Sneasles floated around the field, dancing like they were in a ballet. And they were. Just a deeply fucked up one.

“Icy Wind!””Magic Leaf!”

Both Pokemon dashed on the ice, moving as if it was simple flooring. The came in as close as possible before attacking, but both spun away before the attacks could land. Icy leaves littering the floor. Sneasle slid around them, letting its claws scrap against the ice, moving in for a slash attack. Kirlia dashed right into it, waiting for the right moment, and then he jumped into the air, blasting a magic leaf barrage, which sneasle sped past. It was a battle of speed. Agility was already up, Psychic was useless, and Teleport was more harmful here. All they had was a stike-strike, waiting for some luck.

“Metal Claw!” Sierra called. Sneasle stayed low, again, letting its claws tear at the ice. Neither Pokemon were tiring, Kent had to switch it up.

“Role Play!” Kirlia stopped in his tracks, the hands that usually stayed attacked to his hips placed outward, a blue aura spreading around Kirlia. All at once the aura lashed out, little strings grabbing Sneasle, each limb tied to tightly to Kirlia. “Now, teleport!”

Kirlia disappeared with a loud cracking noise, which had never happened as a Ralts, maybe it was Role Play up. Kent pushed that away, for now, he had a lead on victory. Sneasle stayed still, but its eyes were telling a different story, they were spinning, like each molecule was being pulled, but only the eyes were small enough to move with it. Kirlia popped out in the far corner, and Sneasle was pulled towards him. Kirlia spun again, popping into the center, and again to the side. Sneasle was being pulled around, but it didn’t seem to even hurt, whenever it was going to hit a wall it was pulled away. If anything, Sneasle would get a little sick. Kirlia, on the other hand, was sweating. The strain of Role Play and Teleport was massive, and after the fifth one, Kirlia fell to the floor.

Sneasle easily bounced back to its feet, swaying slightly, but fine. Sneasle then disappeared, as if sucked away, Sierra had ordered a feint attack. Kirlia tried to paw away, but Sneasle couldn’t miss. With one swipe, Kirlia was knocked back. Still, the ballerina stood, ready to keep fighting. Sneasle smiled, a creepy smile, and charged forward, A Slash and Metal Claw ready, the dark-type jumped into the air, free-falling into Kirlia. Kirlia was down.

Kent sighed again, bringing back Kirlia. “Take a rest, you did amazing....” Kent grabbed a third Pokeball. This one was the gamble, he was a last resort, though in this battle Kent would never have one of those. In this battle, with this type of Pokemon, it was risky.

“Glide, take to the air!” The scorpion-bat circled the battle field, snapping his claws with excitement. The field below morphed. The field became craggy, rock spires pushing thought the ice, the walls were covered in a thick frost, but underneath you could see some rough stone. But, oddly, even the the top changed. Gray stone blocking off the field from the stadium. Kent swore, What the hell was that? Sierra only laughed, though. She saw something else...she saw it. Creeping towards Kent...well nothing, nothing was creeping towards him, the stones covering it began to fade away, allowing a full view inside. Little outlines showed there was a ceiling, though. A mic rose out of his stand.

“It seems we have our first instance of a cave fight, folks!” The announcer was as giddy as a schoolgirl. “In these types of fields, where a ceiling would be needed, the field is able to make it invisible, allowing us a full view. For your connivance, we have cameras inside the field, so you can see what they are doing a lot easier! Battle on!”

Kent made the first move. “Glide, smash Aquatail onto the ice!” Kent was awkwardly speaking into the mic, he didn’t want a single word cut off, Sierra, on the other hand, was staying back, not as worried.

Gligar drew water from the icy vapors around him, willing them to bind to himself. The force was still weak, but it was good enough, he didn’t need it to hit. Gligar let the tail fall to the ground, with enough force to crack the ice a bit, perfect. Sneasle tried to dodge, but it was pointless, it actually made Kent’s plan work better. As soon as the water hit Sneasle was sent spinning, unable to hold a solid grip.

“Now, Aerial Ace and X-Scissor, together!” Gligar spun into a dive, his claws sharpening into fine-points. Sneasle was unable to escape, not that it could anyway, and Gligar landed hard. As soon as Gligar had hit, he struck again, tearing at Sneasle with the X-Scissor, making cuts in the rock around it.

Kent retreated back to the air, ready to bring out a fire-fang to finish it off, but Seirra acted fast. “Freeze the water with icy Wind, then again on Gligar.” The dark-speed demon recovered quickly, and the field returned to normal, if not a little uneven. Kent’s eyes popped, Sierra noticed, but kept on offence.

“Gligar, use Aquatail again, but this time grab the bats!” Gligar’s tail flooded with water, this time it seemed to come on his will, not from around him. The water swung around the cave, stealing bats from their slumber. Sneasle was jumping up when the attacks hit. Sneasle fell back, now covered in a flock of bats.

“Sneasle, ignore it, strike with slash!”

“Counter with Firefang!”

Sneasle blindly jumped, the attack would of hit home, but Gligar clamped down on its arm and set it to flames. Sneasle grunted, but sent out a frigged icy win, blinding Gligar, With the bats now gone, Sneasle climbed onto Gligar, and sent out another Icy Wind. Gligar dropped down a few notches, the new weight straining the weak cave breeze, his form now uneven and jagged.

Kent waited. In the background he heard the announcer say something like ‘It seems Kent is committing battle suicide.” Kent still waited, he saw Gligar in pain, but he had to wait for the right moment, anything would be useless right now. Gligar kept strong, taking the hits, while shaking the dark-type to break them up, the damage was obvious, though.There was a little *pop.* Kent finally spoke.”Gligar, now fly into the walls!” the timing was perfect.

Another pop rang, this time with a disturbingly loud crack. Below the ice-field explodes, shards flying everywhere, Gligar barely avoiding it by spinning on his side. Sneasle was hit hard, the shards weakening its grip. Kent smiled. When Aquatail hit, the first time, the ice had cracked open, water filling them. When sneasle re-froze it, that water expanded. The ice was tight, but the puffed-up cracks finally broke. Gligar spun so that Sneasle took the blunt of the damage, hanging close to avoid shards. Sneasle’s grip loosened, almost falling off, Gligar spun again, hanging close to the wall. Sneasle was crushed by the wall, and scrapped off with in moments.

“Now, finish it!” Gligar smiled, his mouth sparking into flames. Sneasle grunted as the flaming flames clamped on.

“Sneasle is unable to battle, point Kent.”

Kent smiled, but his joy was thin. He had lost two Pokemon already, Gligar was in bad shape, and the remaining Pokemon were all Ice-Types. Gligar would have to hold out for one more fight to give Kent a fighting chance.

“Cloyster, you’re in.” Sierra called. Kent swore.

Sierra Stone | Santa Olivia Dome | 10:50am
Say what you will about Kent, the guy was persistent. Annoyingly so, in this case, given it’d gotten Sneasel KO’d after what had been a nice streak of victories. Sierra narrowed her eyes, and let Cloyster loose.

With a crackle the ice over the ceiling resolidified, shimmering blue-white for a moment before the gleam dulled to an obscure transparency. Water rose to cover the ground, even as spikes slid out from the sides of the cave, cold stone emerging from shallow waters with the quiet menace of an abyss you’d be walking next to; not threatening, not moving, just there and waiting.

Cloyster would have been just another rock in there, with the irregular bumps and spikes jutting out of its shell, had it not been for the open shell, the dark sheen of the horn above its head and its eyes; above it Gligar hovered, battered but still clicking its pincers defiantly.

Time to take it down.

“Cloyster, whirlpool!” The water started swirling, quickly picking up speed in the limited space, and the waves started rising around the edges of the arena, a rough circle of high currents running centripetal around the center that was Cloyster, dark spot in the white field of foam the tide formed. A leaping wave caught at Gligar’s wing membrane and pulled him in, and Sierra smiled, a sharp twist of lips that might have involved a short flash of teeth. Got you.

...or not, as the blasted thing seemed to let the water take him, limbs splayed for buoyancy; the whirlpool was bringing him closer and closer still, accelerating. “Cross Poison!” she heard Kent call, and it was too late to call for Cloyster to stop with the whirlpool and defend itself. Gligar’s claws came to cross in front of him, gave a short burst of purple, and slashed right at the fragile, dangerous point between the shell before being swept past Cloyster, still gliding on the water. Poisoned, she could tell from the way Cloyster started trembling, just minute shifts in the angle at which the carapace was held open and a waver in the spikes.

And Gligar was coming back for another strike, visibly trying to take advantage of Cloyster’s current off-balance. Not happening. “Spike Cannon!” she called, just as Kent ordered “X-Scissor!”

Both pokemons shimmered blue light, and the ice above them caught it, made it like stars; reflection on reflection in the jagged shards of ice sticking out, to the white waters and back.

Just a little bit faster, and Gligar might have made it. As it was, Cloyster’s spikes flew faster, and flew true, before he could reach it; they caught in the joints of the Gligar’s carapace, and it hissed in pain. Sierra wouldn’t wait for it to recover--”Now send an ice beam!”

White, so much white. Now the ice was a mirror, and the mirror was everywhere. From the tip of Cloyster’s horn it condensed and then flew on, coldsnap fast and enough to make the water freeze when it came near. Still slightly shaken by the spikes Gligar wasn’t fast enough to dodge out of the way, and it crumbled, having finally reached his limit--on a straight course for Cloyster, who was wincing from the poison still coursing through its system. Before he could be called back he’d slammed straight into Cloyster, the shock making it stagger.

It shuddered again under the poison. Trembled, and then stilled.

The water lay quiet and just as unmoving.

“Aaaand it’s a double KO!” called the announcer, his voice grating on her ears.

They both returned their downed ‘mons to their pokeballs, gazes meeting over the arena as the water slowly drained out.

“Veon!” “Jynx!”

The instant their feet touched the ground the ring shifted again. Still a cave, still the ice, but thinner; darker. There were strange little charms suspended to the ceiling, strange ornaments clashing oddly with the wires spitting out electricity from the walls.

Wait, was that a voodoo doll? The guy in charge of this must’ve had the time of his life.

Focus. Battle now.

“Veon, quick attack!” Well crap. There was a blur of yellow and white, and then Jynx was falling down to the floor, a bristling Jolteon pinning her down. A crackle of electricity and an arc of light flashing between the spikes of fur at his neck were all the warning they got before it released a Discharge, blue light bright and near-blinding.

“Get him off,” Sierra said, and Jynx’s hand shimmered ice-blue, cracked like ice on ice and rammed into the canine’s side. He yelped, and was rewarded with a well-aimed Wake-up Slap that sent it reeling back against the wall.

Going good, she thought, just before she realized that she’d decided too soon again, as Kent's eyes widened. "Veon, get the wires!"

...what?

The wires in the wall crackled under the Jolteon's fangs. Lightning jumped from them to Veon, and he seemed to grow bigger, though it was probably just how his fur was getting even spikier from the static. He was drinking up the electricity like a cat would lap up milk, and what the hell?

This was Not Good. “Veon, Discharge!” Lightning slammed into Jynx, and she staggered back a step. “Again.” A sound like a broken song, and Jynx was crumbling, little sparks dancing around her frame. Paralysed. Great.

“Finish it! Pin Missile and Swift!” From the yellow fur needles formed, and were propulsed forward, a small, sharp rain falling straight towards Jynx, accompanied by a flurry of stars. Around lightning still crackled, possibly a side-effect of Veon’s absorbing that energy and burning the surplus off. Through the electricity still coursing her Jynx still righted herself, stiffly but determined. “Get out of here,” Sierra told her, and she did; dodged most, if not all, of the projectiles via a well-timed dive for the ground that had the added benefit of bringing her in close range of her opponent. Her hand shone again, and shot forward--but she was slowed by the paralysis, if not stopped, and the Jolteon jumped over her, paws scrabbling at her shoulder and pushing her past him, adding a boost to her momentum so she could not stop herself.

The wall was waiting there, wires still crackling and exposed. Jynx cried out, a high-pitched, discordant note that made Sierra wince, and then collapsed.

A voodoo doll turned on its string, and smiled a stitched-up smile as it bled its stuffing out through the tear a needle had left in it.

“And threeee pokemons down on either side! This is the determining match--whoever wins goes to the finals!” And now they were getting noisy.

Thank you, peanut gallery.

Well. Time to finish this. “Lapras, your turn.” She couldn’t lose this.

Lapras turned his head to her, gave a soft trill, and she smiled, softer than earlier, though her eyes were still as flint, chipped away at until they cut. The ground turned to water again, though it was nice enough to ice over under Veon’s paws. The cave walls melted away to allow for the water to spread, and it was like an arctic sea, except with more thunderclouds and the odd floating piece of machinery.

She wasn’t going to let Kent take the initiative this time, not when he seemed to take advantage of every weird thing around with what looked like sheer dumb luck.

“Let’s finish this now, yeah? Get him off the ice, Lapras!” Before Veon could move water streamed up to his patch of ice, shattering it to bits. Somehow it caught its footing just as it exploded, coiled and poised and tensed to leap to another floating mini-iceberg...

...where another jet of water was waiting for him to land. It flung him sideways into the cold water, left him dogpaddling and buzzing angrily, careful little cracks of lightning in the spikes of his ears and fur. “Ice Beam!”

There was a strange hush now as cold curled into a ball in Lapras’ mouth, and when it flew out on wings of ice even the murmur of water seemed muted. It pinned Veon against the side of a block of ice, and he was pawing at it trying to climb when Sierra gave her final order.

“Body Slam.” Lapras charged.

Veon didn’t really stand a chance, when the terrain favored Lapras so.

Silence, still, for a heartbeat, then a roar.

“Aand this is it, ladies and gentlemen! Victory goes to Sierra Stone! We’ll see you at the finals!”

There. She called Lapras back, giving the pokeball a fond pat, and stepped down.

"Nicely fought," she told Kent when they met in the middle, on their way out, and meant it, however annoyed and frustrated she'd been at his erratic style of fighting during the match. He was calmer than she'd expected, almost like nothing of importance had happened; only nodded in answer, and she figured that would be enough. She never knew exactly how to take him.

And there was her next fight to worry about now. The finals, against Tyler.

Her hands clenched at her side; relaxed. Her lips curled. Yes, that was going to be interesting.

She couldn't wait.

Tyler Cohen | Chi Na Woo Buffet | 12PM

“Did you see his face when Cloyster clipped Gligar’s wings?” Everyone belted out laughing. The tiny Chinese restaurant was packed full of tourney goers and Pokefans from all over the world. The owner had caught the gang right after the semi-finals and offered them a free meal, which they accepted with a hardy round of ‘hell yeah’s. The whole gang was together again, and it they loved it. In reality, it had been nearly a three weeks since they had all just stopped and chilled out together, ever since Kent’s vanishing in Ecruteak. And really, he was the happiest of all of them to have his friends back. But Tyler, he saw something odd and off-putting about Kent at the table. He seemed distant in a way. He thought of mentioning it to him, but ignored the idea once Kent shoved a spring roll in his nose and pretended to be a Walrein. So it was true, then, that they were all happy--everyone from Sam and Jerri to Jack and Sierra--everyone smiled and forgot about battles and rockets and life.

They were all infinite.

“So how kickass is this element fielding?” The group roared like a Tyranitar with their approval.

“There was actually a baby that started crying during Jynx’s battle with Veon,” Jack said. His plate was piled high with wantons and noodles, and he smiled at everyone while he retold the story of the clumsy battle. “Voodoo dolls and everything!”

Sierra made a dorky, creepy face and asked, “Has anyone noticed the health bars on the new screens?” Everyone grew quiet and looked at her, to which she just looked back at everyone, platinum hair covering half of her face. “It’s like this new field has a censor that can tell when a Pokemon is hurting.”

Tyler and Kent spoke in hive mind. “It shows status conditions, too.”

And everyone, of course, laughed. The two boys just stared at each other, creeped out. Kent continued, “When Jynx was paralyzed, her side of the screen turned yellow.”

Everyone leaned in, interested. Kent continued explaining just before Jerri dropped her hand into a bowl of egg drop soup and the room roared with laughter between the group and their followers. Jerri flushed a violent red and covered her lap with her napkin. That’s when the fans started asking questions about their Pokemon, and one finally asked if they could see the stars of the semi-finals: Glide, Sneasel, Stratus, and Blaze.

That’s why, after lunch, the gang went outside and let their Pokemon play in the plaza. It was like they had complete rule over the town, like royalty. Lapras and Stratus swam in the pool with tiny Mudkips and a Squirtle; a Horsea swam after Kingdra the entire time like a baby following its daddy’s footsteps. Tyler and Sam sat on a bench near the fountain as people skated on the ice made by Sneasel.

“No hard feelings, right?”
“Of course not.” Just like Kent, she seemed distant.
“You don’t sound very pleased.”
“I lost, Tyler.”
“So there are hard feelings.”
“Maybe. Just one, though.”
“Why’s that?”
“I lost, Tyler.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.”

He got up from the bench and left for a little stand where a man in an Abomasnow costume sold ice cones. The man slapped through the slushie machine to get his order together and handed the cones to him just as a man in a blue safari hat came running at the kiosk. “Sir!” he yelled. “I must have a bucket of ice for my Shelder!”

Tyler raised an eyebrow and nommed at his icee as the owner heaved a bucket of ice over the counter and into the man’s scrawny arms. The guy staggered back with the bucket and nearly fell over before he scrambled to his balance, sweaty-headed and exhausted already. “I can help you.”

The man dropped the bucket of ice on the ground and wiped his forehead. “Can you? There’s no way I can get this back to the boat in time, and my Shelder is getting overheated.”

“Sure.” Tyler slid his pinky and ring fingers around his second Pokeball on his belt and released a large Crustacean beside the man. The guy nearly died with shock at the size of the Crawdaunt. “Crawdaunt, can we help this guy out please?”

Crawdaunt grabbed the bucket in one of his claws and began shuffling his lobster feet after the man in blue. All the way, Tyler kept licking at his cone until his lips were blue. When they reached the bay where the boat was docked, Tyler looked on in awe at the design--it was in the shape of a huge Blastoise with a viewing deck wrapped around the outsides of the shell. On the paws and feet were docking platforms that Tyler guessed divers would use. The man ushered Tyler and Crawdaunt inside the mouth of the Blastoise and they stopped when they came to a small room in the middle, where the belly of the Blastoise should’ve been. In the center pool was a tiny Shelder on its back, tongue sticking out and eyes closed.

“Shelder, we’ve got ice for you,” the man called, and the Shelder meekly stared up at him.

“Shell...”

Tyler recalled Crawdaunt and knelt beside the man, helping shovel ice into the Shelder’s little tank with his icee-free hand. The tiny Pokemon didn’t respond much at all, and eventually the ice melted. “What’ll I do now?” The guy looked down at his knees and frowned. “Our oceanic tours, they require the special lure that Shelder and Cloyster make in their shells when they’re cold.” He looked at Tyler and shook his head. “Without it, we can’t give our tour of Cianwood Bay. And if we can’t tour, we can’t make any money...”

“Maybe I can help,” Tyler pondered, and stood up.

The man stood up, too, fists balled and face eager. “Can you?! That’d be great!”

Tyler nodded and ran off without another word, dropping the icees in a trash bin outside.

__ __ __

“Where’s mah icee?” Sierra was lounging back in a chair shaped like a Lickitung’s tongue, huge sunglasses covering half her face and her shirt pulled up into a bikini style around her chest.

“I dropped it in the bay.” She peeked up at him and he shrugged. “I got distracted by this guy who needs help...who needs a Cloyster.”

“Oh God.” Sierra sat up, pulling her shades off her face. “You don’t mean Safari Joe, do you?” She pulled her hair back behind her head and snagged it into a ponytail with a hairbow. “His son went to school with me last year before I hit the field program.” She popped a piece of gum in her mouth and stood up next to Tyler. “Tried to kiss me at Sadie Hawkins.”

“Did you let him?”

Sierra narrowed her eyes. “A lady has to have mysteries, Tybear.” The began to walk towards the plaza. She didn’t say much of anything until they got to the square where the others were playing and eating. “But yeah. Safari Joe runs guided tours of the bay and Whirl Islands.” She snapped her fingers and turned, staggering Tyler’s walking pace. “Which means that our little tango with the Rockets in his corner of the world must’ve messed up his business.” She clicked her teeth and shook her head, trying to look sad. “Poor guy.”

They stopped and she put a hand on Tyler’s shoulder. “Alright. Since I feel guilty,” she winked. “I’ll help.” She grabbed Cloyster’s Pokeball from her bag and nodded. “Where to?”

“The bay.” Tyler nodded in the direction from which they came. “Three miles.”

Sierra groaned and grabbed him by the arm, ushering him back to the harbor. When they finally got back to the Blastoise boat, the man in blue was pacing out front. “Hi, Mr. Davis,” Sierra called from across the street. The man looked up and his face illuminated.

“Sierra!”

The blond girl pulled Tyler out into oncoming traffic that immediately ceased for the tanned legs in front of them. When they had reached the guy, Sierra gave him a half-hug, keeping her shades on. “It’s been too long! How’re your mom and dad?”

“Oh, they’re fine. Off on a social justice trip to the Coronet Villages in Sinnoh.”

Mr. Davis laughed hardily and nodded. “That’s them, alright. Always worried about us poor folk.”

“Heh. Yeah.” She nodded towards Tyler. “My buddy here tells me you need Cloylure.”

Safari Joe nodded and gestured to the Blastoise’s mouth. “This way, please.”

__ __ __

The lights in the main room were dim and blue, the color of the Water Stone cave. Over the ceiling of the open-ocean pool was an aurora of colors that reached across the entire room. Safari Joe led them to a stairwell that wrapped around the outside of the pool to a lower viewing deck. At the bottom was a clear view of the bay with all its coral and wild aquatic Pokemon. Near where Tyler stood, a school of Remoraid peered in at the trio. “It’s very simple,” Safari Joe called out over the hum of the air vents. In these little pools here,” he opened a hatch beneath their feet where another chamber of water encircled the viewing room. “You’ll be swimming with your Cloyster to give out the Cloylure to get the Pokemon to come near the boat.”

Joe motioned all around the glass viewing room. “In our trip, you’ll probably swim around it five times, at most.” He grinned.

Sierra just stood there, staring at him, and then at Tyler. “So your divers can’t do it?”

“Well...” Joe put a hand behind his head and looked off to the side. “To be completely honest, I gave him the day off once I knew it was you coming.” He shrugged. “I mean, you are the Cianwood swim-and-Pokemon-and-beauty-and-decathlon-and-piano champ.”

Sierra shrugged and looked at Tyler. “I was an overachiever.” She nodded back to Mr. Davis. “I’ll do it.”

Joe clasped his hands together and grinned happily. “Great! We embark in twenty minutes!”

__ __ __

“Yeah, Jerri, I know today’s supposed to be our training day.” Tyler sighed. “Yeah, yeah. I know.” She barked back. “Yeah, but...just bring the others to the Blastoise boat. We’ll meet you on the dock.” Tyler clicked his Pokegear closed and sighed to Sierra. “Are you sure you’re up to this?”

“Why not?” She was leaning over a sink, scrubbing off whatever makeup she could remove.

Tyler shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know. We do have our final match tomorrow morning.”

Sierra smirked and turned her head to him, a streak of eyeshadow blazed across her face. “The night before last year’s finals, I spent scouring the Whirl Islands for a silver wing.” She licked her napkin and scrubbed again at her cheek. “The year before that, I rode a Dewgong to Olivine and back just for the thrill of seeing the lighthouse.” She tossed the napkin and looked back in the mirror.

“And the year before that?”

“The year before that, I studied for a math test because I was a good girl who did her homework.” She leaned in and pecked Tyler on the cheek, leaving a faint stain of gloss. “Go grab the others. I’ll see you all when I finish up.”

__ __ __

“It’s about time,” Tyler sighed and walked out to the planks. The others drug up to the dock with tired faces. Kent was soaking wet and Citrus was encircling his head and making his hair stand up on-end.

“Jack wanted a hot dog,” Sam deadpanned.

“And how.” Jack held up his half-eaten hot dog triumphantly. The others clapped.

“What happened to y--”

“Don’t.” Kent quipped. “Not until my pants are dry.”

Tyler chuckled and checked his Pokegear. “We have three minutes until the boat leaves. Go go go!” The girls all walked in, leaving Jack, Kent, and Tyler outside. Tyler started to walk in when Kent stopped him by slinging water onto his back.

“Wait.”

Tyler turned around and raised a blue eyebrow. “Yeah?”

“I want to ask you before I forget.” Citrus orbited his head faster. Tyler waited. “I want to battle y--”

”And we’re off, ladies and Gentlemen!”

The three turned at the last minute as Blastoise closed its mouth, departing from the dock. Tyler’s eyes sunk into his head and he turned to Jack and Kent. In hive mind, they all agreed. “Fuck...”

__ __ __

All they could do was sit on the dock and watch the steel turtle sail off. Kent sat between Tyler and Jack, wringing out his shirt in his hands. As Tyler peered into the water, he could see their reflections. He sighed. Jack watched as Citrus transformed into his Heat Form to blow Kent dry. The added heat made Tyler sweat, but he didn’t care. “You think they’d let us on if Crawdaunt sailed us over?”

“Maybe,” replied Jack.
“Nah,” Kent sighed as he held his shirt out in front of him. “I don’t think they like stowaways on boats anymore.”
“Are we talking SS Anne stowaways?”
“I was thinking Titanic.”
“What did stowaways do to the Titanic?”
“It’s obvious,” Kent smirked. “Three stowaways sailed out to the Titanic on a Lapras, but the Lapras got tired halfway there. So it made an iceberg for them to rest on.” Jack nodded and Tyler hummed. “So when the Titanic got too close, BAM! No more Titanic.”

Jack held up the last bite of his hot dog just as Kent said BAM. Sadly, he dropped it in the water. “No!” With that, Jack’s world ended.

__ __ __

Oliver Davis

“Excuse me, sir.” A young Asian Girl said.

Safari Joe turned from the wheel. “Yes?”

“Um, I think my friends got left at the docks....Jack Preston, Tyler Coh--”

“Tyler got left behind, oh my,” Safari Joe grabbed a Walkie Talkie next to the wheel. “Oliver, can you read me?”

“Yeah, what’s up, Dad?”

“It seems we left a few people behind, mind going back for them?”

“Ah, sure. I’ll take The Mudkip out right now.”

On the other side of the Walkie Talkie Oliver swore. Why did he have to go back and get them? It wasn’t his fault they were too dumb to get on the fucking boat. Still, he walked over to the Mudkip boat, he loved that boat, it was actually his idea. Popping the keys in, he turned the engine and powered towards the dock.

Oliver brought Heracles out of his Pokeball, and the beetle fluttered into the air. With a quick loop to wake it self up. “Hera.” he said in a somewhat gurgled-voice. The beetle dipped back into the boat, collapsing onto the backseat, his shell blending in with its leather. Oliver wanted to tell him to move...but....he looked so comfortable. Oliver reached a hand out and patted the Pokemon.

__ __ __


“Sorry t’ intrude, guys.” Another guy’s voice called out behind them. “But it looks t’ me like you could use a boat.”

The trio (sans Jack) turned around and stared at the new boy, who stood with one foot on the dock and one foot on a peculiar speed boat--in the design of a Mudkip. “I hear you like Mudkips.”

Kent and Tyler jumped to their feet and pulled Jack along. While he mourned more over his lost hot dog, the duo drug him into the boat and they took off into the water full-speed.

__ __ __

“It won’t take long at all, once we get through the Comet Strait.”

“Comet Strait?” Kent queried, holding one hand in the water as they sped by.

“It’s a part’a the bay where Staryu and Starmie live...it’s really pretty at night, but it’s not that special during the day.”

Tyler peered out over the endless horizon of water. “I’ve always wanted a Starmie.”

Jack laughed and Kent sneered; Tyler wondered why. Jack shook his head, pointing at Kent. “He’s already had bad luck with Staryu today.”

Tyler arched his eyebrow.

“A Staryu named Esteban tried using Aqua Jet on a Pidgeotto in the sky...”

Jack smirked. “And...?”

“...and it drenched me.”

All of them--except Kent--laughed until they were sore. But, after they stopped laughing, Oliver stopped the boat. “Alright, then.”

The trio looked up at him as he began scrambling through his bag. He brought out four chunks of sandy gems. “Star pieces. The best lure to get Staryu and Starmie out in the open.” He tossed a gem to each of them, and then pointed into the belly of the Mudkip. “There are fishin’ rods in there we can use.” He grinned. “Blue, we’re gettin’ you a Starmie.”

__ __ __


Jerri yawned, laying her head against the glass of the viewing room. She nearly nodded off, but opened her eyes suddenly when a scratch came at the glass. When she looked up, she screamed like the first girl to die in a horror movie because in her face--eye to eye--was a Sharpedo.

She scrambled away from the glass and backed into a brown-haired girl, knocking them both to the ground. “Togepree!’ Out of the other girl’s arms fled a Togepi that ran off down the viewing hall.

“Togepi!” The girl called out and scrambled to her feet, running after her Pokemon.

The tiny Pokemon ran faster than she imagined it could, but eventually stopped when it saw a mass of blue body passing by the window. “Togi! To!”

“Togepi!” The girl scooped the baby Pokemon into her arms and held it safely against her chest. The baby egg squealed with glee and waved its arms around.

Jerri, out of breath and panting, ran up to the girl, trying to speak through heaving breaths. “Sorr-...I...scared...Sharpedo...Guh.”

“It’s fine,” the girl said, smiling brightly. “She likes to explore on her own, don’t you, sweetie?” The baby cheered. “No harm done.”

Jerri smiled and tickled Togepi on what she thought was her chin. “I’m Jerri.”

“Chelsie.” The girl nodded. “I saw you in the tournament!”

“Oh, well...then I guess my first impression was pretty bad.”

“No, you did great!” She smiled and they walked on, avoiding the things that looked like sharks.

__ __ __


“I swear, if no one gets a bite in the next minute...” Kent fell back into Mudkip’s belly and groaned, his sun-baked back turning red. Unfortunately, the other three were having no better luck.

Jack’s line snagged and he jumped to his feet, reeling in as quickly as he could, excitedly. The other three jerked to attention as he pulled in his catch--the last bite of his hotdog from before.

The four in the boat just sat there for an eternity, watching Jack watching the hotdog. They all knew what he was thinking--they all knew what he wanted.

“Jack...”
“...don’t do it.”

And, mouth opened wide, he popped the last bite into his mouth and sat down contently in the Mudkip.

The rest continued staring at him as he chewed and swallowed, eyes closed and hands folded behind his head. Tyler looked up from Jack to the guy who had driven them there--Oliver--who was looking...just pissed off. He arched an eyebrow before they made eye contact; that’s when the fury in the boy’s face vanished. He smiled and looked back to the fishing ro--...

“Where are the rods?”

Each of them looked up around the boat to where the rods were supposed to be, and where none of them were.

A splash came from the deep water, and the boat rocked.

“See? Stowaways. The Titanic.” Kent moved away from the center of the boat. “I learned my lesson from the movie.”

Oliver leaned over the side of the boat, and Tyler did, too. A dim red light flashed below just before a torrent of water blasted him in the face. With a mystic-sounding cry, a purple sea star landed in the middle of the boat, looking as angry as a sea star can. In four of its appendages were hooks.

“Holy baaaaalls, it’s pissed.”

“Heracles, Night Slash!” The blue beetle spread its wings and lifted off the leather seats, sending out waves of sonic slices through the air. The Starmie’s core flashed red and blasted out a torrent of electricity through the slashes--and dead into Heracross’ wings.

Tyler grabbed a Pokeball and released Haunter into the air, who saw his target instantly, locked on, and dove in with a trio of Shadow Punches. Starmie fought back with flumes of water, but between Heracross’ slashes and Haunter’s assaults, it was quickly subdued. Haunter gave it one last punch and sent it flying across the little Mudkip, into Jack’s gut. He gagged and choked up something from inside his stomach, spewing it into the air--bread and hot dog together--into the water.

Starmie landed in Mudkip’s innards and Tyler threw a Pokeball onto the KO’d star, capturing it without a second chance.

Over the side of the boat, Jack cried. Tyler held his newly-occupied Pokeball proudly while Kent read up on Starmie in the Pokedex. Oliver took back to the helm without a word. “Thanks, Oliver, for the fishing.”

“Yeah,” he said flatly, and sped the boat along towards the Turtle in the distance.

Oliver Davis| Off Shore of Cianwood/ Whirl Islands| 4:35pm

Yeah, yeah go fishing. Not like I want to see the tour. No, watching still water is so much fun, I mean I could be watching Remoraid dance. Oliver kept up a smile, sitting at the drivers seat, while he complained in his mind. Finally one of them got something, all of them did, actually. The Starmie had every hock in between its stars, it was pissed. Crap. How did that happen? That didn’t even seem possible. He looked at the group, none of them seemed like they were ready to move.

“Heracles, Nightslash!” Heracross jumped out from his perched, his arm glowed briefly, even without eyes Starmie was seen in a dazed, as all of the light was sucked away from its odd vision. Heracles smiled for a mila-second, but was soon blasted back to the ground by a nasty thunderbolt. Craptastic. Okay, not too bad, he’s had worse. Now much anyone could of done...

The Haunter came out, and quickly took out Starmie, and Tyler caught it. Tyler thanked Oliver, and Oliver replied with a not-so enthusiastic “Yeah.”

Oliver pushed down on the throttle, and the Mudkip glided atop the water. “The waters are gonna get rough, the water stones are under us.”

“What does that mean?” Jack asked.

“Well, this area is a little odd, compared to others,” Oliver said, then he pointed to Tyler. “See, his Starmie, it shouldn’t be found in the wild, and in most places it wouldn’t be. But due to the whirl islands, this area has little area, which is basically a giant water-stone. During the mating season, Staryu will go there, which isn’t easy, and break off a piece of the stone. Then, as Starmie, they break off part of their jewel, and place the two together, which slowly makes a Staryu.

“Now, aside from their little ritual, the water stones serves a nautical purpose. The stone is right in the middle of a special current that never moves from one place. When it hits the stone, the waters get nasty.” Yup, cause I’m a walking encyclopedia. Did he not read the tourist guide, they give it out? Of course not, no one does. Oliver gave a smile.

“Ah...” Jack trailed off, and then he looked back to the fishing spot, right where the boat had sat.

“Please tell me don;t want to eat your vomit,” Kent said. “Because if you do, I’ll have a helping for you.”

“Me too,” Tyler said, and faked vomiting.

Oliver laughed, but his eyes were hallow, not that they could see. The Blastoise was getting closer. At this point of the tour they would be pulling in near the Whirl Islands, if they didn’t get there soon they would be fucked. And we’re almost screwed....stupid fishing....

Oliver pushed on the throttle, and the Mudkip blasted forward, jumping up on the waves. They were getting close to the Blastoise now, they might just make it, then Oliver stopped. The Boat spun in a full circle, then came to a full stop. Oliver brought out a small telescope from the side and took a look.

“Well...we missed the boat.” The Blastoise had just entered a ring of whirlpools, and he could make out a Cloyster keeping a single spot open, Sierra was on one of the legs.

“Fuck,” Tyler said.

Kent looked over to Tyler. “See, I said stowaways...” it was obvious he meant the Starmie, Oliver noted, but Tyler seemed stumped.

“So, what do we do now?” Jack asked. “I’m starving...”

I don’t know, Jack, we could try and dive into the whirlpools and commit suicide, or we could fucking go back... Oliver grabbed a walkie-talkie. “Dad, dad, are you there?”

There was a buzz of static, but he heard a faint “Yes” over it. “We missed the boat, we can’t get though the whirlpools...what?” Oliver grabbed the telescope again, and he genuinely smiled. “Got it...yeah...see you in a bit.” Oliver put the boat back into high gear, and Kent was flung against the side, throwing up, he heard him swear. “I’ll clean it up.”

The boat got to the whirlpools fast, where you could see a Cloyster still there, it was, somehow, beginning to sink into the water. Oliver got close to it, and the thing popped up, smiling, sort of. Cloyster dashed upon the water in a way that seemed impossible, speeding ahead of them and right over to Sierra, who was back on the boat, waiting for them.

Oliver pulled in slow, he didn’t say a word. What would he say? It would of been awkward in any case, but with his inability to say what was on his mind, he would just be stepped on, as usual. He saw Tyler and Sierra hug, and the other two greeted her, but it felt a little forced, like they were barely friendly. Oliver focused on Tyler and Sierra, their was tension there. He couldn’t put a full peg, he could tell some sexual, some competitive...all around it seemed awkward. There was a lot between the two, not enough for a single hug to see, Oliver would keep an eye on those two.

He kept his head down as he tied down the boat, even pulling on a hat to hide his face. Ducking down, he spun out of the dock, and into the supply room, dashing into the closet. He threw a mop and bucket out to Kent, then grabbed a general toolbox. As Jack, Sierra and Tyler went up to the main deck he slipped out. Kent stayed down to help clean up.

Oliver popped off the blocker to the boat’s controls, most of which were fine. A few wires were out of place, and Starmie had made a good dent in it. He jotted down the damage, putting in the parts it would need; Oliver couldn’t fix it, but he might as well note what was wrong with it. In the back of the boat Kent was trying to clean up the vomit, and trying meant he was vomiting more. Every time he went to scrub....more....more...more.

“Kent, go up, I’ll get it.”

The boy’s eyes lit up and he jumped onto the dock, swaying slightly. “Thanks! Watch out for Stowaways!” Yeah, sure. Oliver thought.

It didn’t take more take more than five minutes to clean it. “Couldn’t even do that?” The Blastoise was already coming around the Island, which meant the trip was almost over...which was perfect. Oliver sighed and sat down on the Mudkip’s seat. “Vulcan, come on out.”

The Quilava purred, resting his head on Oliver’s lap. It was odd for a fire-type pokemon to be so mellow on the water, but Vulcan felt comfort with Oliver, safe. “When a fire-type feels safe, or comfort, when it trusts, you cannot feel the flames. It will not harm you with the heat,” Oliver whispered. Whenever he was down Oliver would recite what he had learned, what he knew about connections. He thought that if he could learn the gears then he could work the rest. If only he could figure out those gears.

“Oliver?”

Crap Oliver turned. “Hey Sierra.”

Sierra Stone | Safari Boat | 4:50pm
She shouldn’t have been surprised, really. Oliver was Joe’s son, it only made sense he’d be around to help him out with the business. No, that he was there wasn’t that much of a shock.

She would’ve expected him to be up on the dock with them, though. “It’s been a while,” she smiled. “How’ve you been?”

He didn’t look all that great, she thought to herself, but maybe it was just the shadows. And it’d been a while; he’d changed, if only just a bit, and that might’ve had something to do with it too. “I’m good,” he answered, and that was good enough for her.

“You coming up with us? We’re almost there, you can’t have much else to do here, do you? Hey there Vulcan.” She skipped closer, extending a hand towards the Quilava even as she looked askance at Ollie. Vulcan nudged her hand gently with its nose as she watched Oliver. Silence.

“I guess.” He stripped his eyes away from her to stare at the mesh of gears and cogs in the engine of the boat. His cheeks flushed, and he grunted as he tugged at the turbine until it gave way and straightened out.

“Good.” Her voice was light and airy, barely there. Sierra tried to be numb to whatever cold shoulder Oliver was giving her. She refused to let it bother her. Oliver closed the engine box and pulled Quilava back into its Pokeball before hopping onto the dock. Sierra followed suit and they silently walked in together.

For a while, the entire gang sat on a circular couch around the viewing tank and just stared as the Pokemon passed by. When the waves calmed down, they knew they were on the Whirl shore. Sierra stared into the warm saline and seemed to lose herself in the vastness. Diamond eyes peered beyond the tiny Pokemon in the water and imagined herself far, far away, caught up in a rushing foamy current. Though surrounded by friends and rivals, she felt utterly alone in that room. As she stared, the air currents in the room shifted at once, converging from two vents onto her. A chill grasped her neck and she closed her eyes, indulging in two familiar--but completely different--scents. She didn’t have to look up.

To her left, standing near the door for a quick getaway, was the ocean-tide-and-salt Oliver. The blond nearly smirked as she recalled balmy summer nights in the palm trees of Cianwood, all the midnight battles and their days together without sleep. And then the dance, when he grew brave and shook her foundation.

She needed a foundation.

And to her right sat Tyler. Clean water, shower gel, and whatever citric soda he’d just downed. Predictable and tamed. As she breathed out a long, heavy sigh, the seat beside her squeaked.

“You alright?”

She looked up, shook her head as though to dissipate dark thoughts. “I’m good.” The water through the glass caught the light as sunrays filtered through the tides, the shifting patterns slower now that the boat had stopped moving. She missed it; the movement, the light, and suddenly the walls seemed to draw closer and the air tasted stale under the clean scents of friendships and bodies and life.

“I need some air,” she grinned, affecting just a fleeting fancy, and rose, skipping to the doorway. She looked at Oliver on the way; she wasn’t sure what to say, so she figured the meeting of their eyes would serve--a silent, implicit invitation to come along, if he wanted to. He didn’t look so comfortable here either.

It was a quick walk up to somewhere she could see the sky, cloud-white reflected in the foam that rode on wavecrests, carried over from the whirlpools, and she breathed in the sea breeze. For a moment it felt like she was back on her own, as it’d been before she’d joined the merry little band still hanging around belowdeck. Except even then there’d been nothing flat, solid under her feet, just the slippery rough slopes of Lapras’ shells. Funny how things changed.

Hurried footsteps behind her made her shift just enough to look back, meeting Oliver’s eyes. She took in his frown, the way his gaze tended to rattle as the salt air grafted through his hair. He stood still then, and pried his gaze away from Sierra.

“It’s been nice, being back in town and all.”

“I guess you’d think so with you being gone...and all.”

She hesitated, losing her perfect rhythm. Glacier eyes heaved to the west, away from his face and away from her feeling any more convicted.

She squinted, eyeing a swift wave in the distance. “It’s not Swampert season yet, is it?”

”Have you been gone that long...?” Oliver turned to see what had caught her eye, and squinted along with her. “...no.” He jogged to the railing and knelt behind a quarter telescope, sliding the coin into the slot and watching as a particularly lustrous Mudkip dashed away on the waves. A particularly familiar, lustrous Mudkip. “For the love of Arceus...”

Oliver leaped from the viewing deck and sprinted inside the Blastoise’s shell. Sierra watched him leave before catching her own glimpse of the boat--Oliver’s favorite boat--being stolen. “Pirates?” The blond gripped the railing and slid to her feet, following suit on Oliver’s tail.

Oliver Davis | Pokeboat Dock | 5:29PM

“Come on, we need to get to the other side of the boat,” Oliver sprinted down the hall, ducking under low-hanging pipes. This is a real safety hazard. The two of them got to the stairs, their fast feet making a metallic ring. Oliver winced. The stairs led into the cockpit, where Safari Joe was sitting, almost asleep at the wheel.

“Dad, we got a stowaway,” Oliver shouted quickly. “Took off on the Mudkip. Going to try and catch him. Taking the Wooper.” Oliver didn’t even stop before going down an adjacent staircase, Sierra followed behind, a bit flustered.

The pair barged into the dock, nearly sliding right into the water. On the end of the dock was a shiny-blue Wooper, but the surprising part were the people. “Sierra?”

In the middle of the odd Pokeboat was the entire gang, a couple of the younger Pokemon playing in the belly of it. Oliver stood speechless for a moment, just holding the boat keys in one hand, not sure what to make of this. That moment passed in a second, before he just jumped right inside, not caring about Kenny, Mac, and Kyle. He just slammed the key in, and as soon as Sierra was on, hit full throttle.

“Neptune, Surf.” The Vaporeon popped out of his Pokeball, and instantly conjured up a current under the boat, propelling them forward. “Petrie, scout the skies for me.” The Aerodactyl didn’t even touch the ground, instantly getting in front of the boat, the strong ocean winds blasting him forward. Oliver took a breath Okay, now take a breath. Breathe Oliver, breathe. Okay, now just keep your eye on the boat, it’s easy from here.

Oliver ordered the Vaporeon to push harder on the current, and before long, they were catching up with the Mudkip. Whoever was onboard--Oliver could only make out that it was a single person--released two Pokemon into the air, both taking flight against Petrie. The steady hum of the engines was soon disrupted by several sonic blasts as a Fearow swooped down towards Aerodactyl in an Aerial Ace. The Dino ducked down near the waves and came up with a hard-bashing Wing Attack, knocking the Fearow out several dozen yards.

The guy with the blue hair, Kyle, he called out over the chaos and ordered his Snorunt to blast the other bird with an Icy Wind. The little blue Pokemon hopped up on deck and parted its tiny lips to blast, but stopped as everyone grew gravely still.

All three birds, both boats, and everyone’s breath stopped in awe of the tower of water in front of them.

“God.”
“Fuck.”
“Shit.”
“GO!”

Oliver jerked the wheel of the boat to the left and throttled the engine, but the Wooper didn’t move. The man in the Mudkip began cackling as he called back his two birds. The cyclone inched closer, violently shredding on loose rocks near the islands. Blue boy called back his Snorunt as the two boats drifted into one another; the man in the Mudkip turned and cackled again. “Ain’t she beautiful?” He cocked his head towards the cyclone. “It means that the world’s still alive...”

“What...is that?” The Asian girl stood in the back of the Wooper and watched in awe as storm clouds rolled in over the horizon.

“It’s Lugia, lass, and he’ll be mine before low tide rolls in.”

The old man tossed up a Pokeball and held up his hand, catching his weight on the talons of his Fearow before flying off to the islands.

Oliver ambled over the higher deck and onto the deck of the Mudkip. “Alright, guys. Let’s head back.”

“Are you crazy?” Blue stumbled into the driver’s seat of the Wooper, putting his hand on the throttle.

“Get out of my cockpit, Miles.”

“It’s Tyler, asshole, and we’re going to stop that fool.”

Oliver stared ahead at Tyler, and Tyler stared right back with the intensity of the raging sea. Neither of them broke their line of sight until Sierra hit the ignition in the Wooper. Coincidentally, the clouds bottomed out in that moment. The Wooper’s engine roared to life and Tyler throttled the gas, heaving the boat away on a swell of water.

Oliver stood alone, then, in the rain and just watched as they raced away with his boat. With his boat, dammit. Thunder crashed behind him and he turned his head to watch the lightning flash. Hesitating, he began to consider all the shit he’d put himself through in the past year; and in the shadow of the cyclone’s violence, he had a choice to make.

Live alone or die together.

With a knot in his throat, Oliver throttled the Mudkip after Tyler.

Tyler Cohen | Whirl Island Cave | 6:01PM

Triplets of thunder blasted outside, echoing decibels louder inside the caves. Each time light flashed outside, the gang shielded their ears before being rattled by the bangs. Cries of sea Pokemon rang out below in the threshold between the ocean and the land. Tyler led the gang deeper into the caves, led by Haunter and Casper, both casting flash into the dark beyond. Thunder echoed once more outside before fading into a gush of water. A wave from outside crashed into the caves and released a surge of water into the inclined cave.

“How do you know this is the right cave?” Sam edged forward in the group.

A low-tenor, mysterious note rang out from right beneath them. She nodded. “Good answer.”

The water God’s symphony rang out again below. The ghosts froze midair, shutting off their lights and stopping the group.

“Haunta Haun?”

“Haun, Haunta...Ta Haun.”

Casper put his hands together, drawing a shadow ball into his grasp. Jerri’s Haunter did the same, and they just waited.

“What are they do--”

The darkness around the kids began to shift, the sound of trumpeting wind encasing them. Casper blasted out another flash of light around them and revealed a horde of Golbat fluttering up from below. “Haun!”

“Get down!” Tyler shouted, and pulled Sierra and Sam down. Jack grabbed Jerri and Kent and Jerri’s friend hit the ground together. The light around them began to flicker as the ghosts released their energy into the swarm of bats. Supersonic wails blasted through the cave, but the sound of wings fluttering drowned it out. Tyler uncovered his head and grabbed a Pokeball, throwing out Starmie. “Thunderbolt!”

The light in the cave turned a crimson red before being sucked into the diamond on Starmie’s front. A surge of wicked red static filled the cave in front of them, picking out every last Golbat. When the sound of crackling faded, the floor of the cave was covered with unconscious bats.

“Anyone want one?”

Jerri slowly stood up and took out a Pokeball. “Don’t mind if I do, Ty.” She began to dig around the bats, picking them up and dropping them one at a time until she found the brightest one. “Here we go...” Oddly, she threw the bat into the air and tossed the ball at it, then. The light sucked it in before it could hit the ground, and just sat there. No twitching or anything.

“Welcome to the team, Edward.”

“What a dumb name for a vampire,” Tyler laughed.

“That’s true...” Jerri bit down on her lip and looked at the crew. “Any suggestions?”

“.............”

“Edward it is, then.”

Tyler and Sierra face-palmed. Kent and Jack burst out laughing

Oliver Davis

The Mudkip slammed into the sand, pushing a good three yards in before coming to a complete halt. Oliver took a few seconds to breath; the adrenaline of the moment was wearing off and he realized what he was about to do.

Am I seriously about to follow a crazy pirate into a cave to find a bird?
Am I seriously riding a Mudkip into one of the most dangerous islands in the world to find a bird?
Am I seriously out of my fucking mind? Am I seriously about to team up with five complete strangers, to go into a light less labyrinth, to find a freakin’ bird?
...why yes, Oliver, you really are screwed...and you must like birds.

“Vulcan, light the way,” Oliver said begrudgingly, The Pokemon set himself on fire, and then leaped into the cave. The two of them didn’t slow down at all, Oliver knew if he stopped he would seriously stopped. He freaked out, a second to think and he would collapse, and probably just stay there forever. So, without letting his mind focus on anything but not tripping, he ran.

The cave was filled with a deep, horrific, cry the entire time, an eternal echo to trap it in his ear. Layer upon layer topping on top of each other, yet at the same time it felt...hopeful. Not that it gave hope, no it stripped hope away in a sickening ear-rape, but it felt hopeful, like a cry for hope, like the screamer knew someone was here to help it, and knew they would. Oliver was scared for his life, but he could not turn away from it. Even Vulcan, who was a rather timid Pokemon, faced this bravely and with more confidence than Oliver had ever seen in his life. The Pokemon looked like it was answering a call, a sacred duty it had to do, and wanted to.

The blond came to a split path. Until then it has been an easy choice, the turns were right or left, you could easily tell where the cries came from, but this one, the difference between them was feint, and the echoes were stronger. “Vulcan, what do you think?”

“Quil, Qui-Qui,” he said, like it made sense.The Pokemon blasted a ball of fire down one of them, lighting the entire passage up for them to see. Oliver nodded, and the two of them charged forward, not letting anything stop them on this quest.

Then something ahead of him sparked to life, a little sparkle that peels his eyes off the ground, off his mark.

“...Ow.”

Oliver landed flat on his face, but again he didn’t stop, ignoring the stinging and the blood he went back into full sprint. He followed the little sparkle, like the tail of an Ampharos. Slowly it came into focus, something was littered on the floor, and a few people were sorting through what looked like...no...it couldn’t be. The corpses of thirty or so Golbat were scattered across the ground. Oliver stopped dead in his tracks.

The scene in the ocean had given him enough Nightmare Fuel, the cave itself was enough to make him pee his pants, and the screeching was making him want to crawl into bed with his mommy. Oliver gulped and backed away, he was already knee deep, he wasn’t going waist deep into creepy-crap like this.

“Oliver, wait.” Sierra stepped forward, trudging through the mesh of Golbat. “They attacked us because of Lugia’s awakening.”

Oliver hesitated. “Why would Pokemon attack innocent people?”

Tyler stepped forward as the two Haunter began gently pushing bodies aside. “He’s the guardian of the sea.” Out of his bag, he pulled a freshly-mined Water Stone. “Everything in the sea is connected, so if the guardian is in trouble, he’ll tell the others to flee. Attack. Whatever seems like it would save their way of living, they’ll do it.”

The cave around them shook violently, rocks falling all around them. Lugia released another cry down below. Everyone grabbed onto the walls and held on while the ground finished shaking. “We don’t have much time,” Sierra stated calmly. Oliver waited, but finally nodded.

“Okay.”

Tyler Cohen

They’d finally found the right path. As the team ambled down what nearly seemed like a stairwell, they all stayed quiet, stopping only for Earthquakes. As they came to the end of the cave, they all ceased instantly, staring out over the chamber before them.

Cyclones. Thunderheads beneath the waves. And the most frightening thing of all was the brilliant, frosty-white bird in the center of the chamber. The size of a ship, Lugia was ensnared by electrical cables on each side. He roared and beat his wings against his constraints, but to no avail. Wild eyes searched the room for aid. For escape.

Tyler’s fists clenched as he began running over the stone pillars that led to the center of the cavern. “Tyler!” Sierra called out and followed him, but she couldn’t stop him.

In his head, all Tyler could think about was the pain Lugia was in, about how the entire sea could be in danger for one idiot’s actions. He sprinted down the stone path until a blast of energy broke apart the bridge in front of him. Clenching his fists, he looked up at the Fearow hovering over him, wings flapping. He grabbed a Pokeball and released Starmie once more, watching as the star began to draw in light into its core without an order. As it spun upward into the air, it released another blast of red lightning into Fearow’s belly. The bird squawked and dove down into Starmie, pushing it into the roiling waves below. Starmie recoiled and pummeled Fearow with an Aqua Jet before finishing it off with another Thunderbolt.

Sierra ran up behind Tyler and reached out to touch his shoulder just before he jumped--stupidly and bravely--across the gap in the bridge. The scrawny boy caught himself on the ledge with his arms, hanging halfway off.

Sierra’s heart stopped beating. “T-Tyler...”

He began to angle himself up until he caught the ledge with his foot and pulled himself up to stand. As he peered up, he came eye-to-eye with the guardian of the sea, Lugia.

The beast’s eyes were as whirlpools, surging in perfect circles around the abyss the contained such power, such force. He was still struggling against his captors, but was running out of energy.

“You’ve done a fine job of subduing him,” a man’s voice called.

“I’ve done no such thing for the likes’a ye.” It was the pirate from before.

“Oh, but you have no idea how much trouble you’ve saved us all! Even solving the puzzles in the caverns. You’re very clever.” The mystery man laughed darkly. Tyler crept forward, inching around Lugia to see the sailor standing face-to-face against three men in black.

Rocket.

“Now, if you could be so clever as to stop these cyclones so that we can leave...”

“They won’t stop, you fools.”

The Rocket boss laughed and shook his head. “Don’t expect us to fall for such idiocy when you had every intention of claiming the beast as your own in the first place.”

“....” The sailor backed up, and the rockets advanced.

“Now, now...is it Lugia that controls the traps? The storms?” The man grinned and turned his head to look at Lugia’s wing. “If so, we could just subdue him further.” Between the wires he reached out and plucked a silver feather from Lugia’s side before nodding to one of his subordinates. The other man cranked up a dial and the wires around Lugia began to shimmer an arctic blue, packed with electrical power.

Lugia screeched and fought against the cables, but to no avail.

Tyler shirked back around the platform and ran to the others. “They’re going to take out Lugia.”

“But that will throw the entire sea off...” Sierra was solemn, reserved in her grave revelation.

Sam placed her hand on her chest. “We have to stop them before they do something awful.”

Lugia roared and strained against the tug of the cables. The earth around them shook, and rocks fell from the high ceilings into the water below. The waves roiled more fiercely and the cyclones sped up, drilling into the cavernous walls.

Jack clenched his fists and nodded, stepping forward. “Citrus and I will deal with the cables.”

Oliver shook his head. “Not alone. I’ll help.”

Sam, Kent, and Jerri nodded to one another. “We’ll handle the Rockets.”

Sierra and Tyler looked at one another. “And we’ll deal with the cyclones before this chamber caves in.”

Sam Park | Lugia’s Chamber | --:--PM

“Hop on bitches,” Kent yelled, about to toss Steelix’s Pokeball out onto the platform.

“Kent, we’re in the middle of the ocean.” Sam deadpanned, pressing a foot on the Pokeball.

“Shut up, stowaway....”

She didn’t have enough heart to come up with a rebuttal. What was she doing here? She told herself she wouldn’t get involved in this shit ever again, but here she was, stuck in the middle of a godforsaken cave in the middle of the ocean. She shivered and bit her lower lip.

She glanced at the Lugia and pity surged in her.

Would she die for it, though? She barely made it out of the last few; how about now? How about another little gamble? Her breath hitched as waves crashed all around them. The stupid Rockets hadn’t spotted them yet, not yet. But soon, they would.

Especially since Kent was running his mouth again. Sam glared at the boy and muttered something under her breath before turning her attention back to the Rockets.

Her Pokemon were safe in their Pokeballs - she didn’t want them drowning, so she’d returned all of them there. But what if she’d dropped a Pokeball somewhere? Sam quickly reached for her belt and counted six. Six. Good.

What in the world were the Rockets trying to do? How would hurting Lugia benefit them? If anything, it’d destroy whatever balance the world had achieved. Sam froze, a knot in her throat. This wasn’t about a Pokemon anymore; the entire world was in danger. Alternatively, Abel could be right, and she was just looking for an excuse to gamble again. Play with the roulette of risk.

Because everyone knew that danger was her poison.

“Enough, old man.” One of the Rockets--a woman--said clearly. Something hissed as it slithered across loose rocks; the trio neared the scene and Sam clenched her fists as she saw the Arbok curling around the old man.

Sam reached for a Pokeball, assuming it was Prinplup’s. Prinplup was the only one of her Pokemon she trusted near water. She took a deep breath and gave the other two trainers a glance. They all seemed to be thinking the same thing.

And they simultaneously stood up and flung their pokeballs towards the platform, without a word. The Rockets didn’t notice anything until the Pokemon were already out of their pokeballs.

“What the fuck...?”

The other rocket reacted quicker, sending out four of his pokeballs before the trio’s Pokemon could fully emerge from their pokeballs. Sam let out a horrified squeak when she realized she’d thrown out the wrong Pokeball. What was Kite doing out there?

It was too late to withdraw Kite - the fight was beginning, and commotion was all around. Sam clenched her teeth. She’d just have to deal with it, and pray to whatever God was out there that Kite didn’t fall into the water.

Ha. God. What a joke. She’d never seen a higher being lift a finger to help them when they were in trouble.

“Aqua Tail!” Kent commanded. Gligar took the pair out with speed, an enormous whip of water sending them flying.

“Kite, Dragon Breath!” The mini-tank blasted three oncoming rockets with neon-green flames; they never even got their Pokemon out.

“This is too easy,” Kent said. “Not joking, this just seems too easy.”

“Yeah, I know,” Sam said.

Two of the Rockets tumbled back, over the edge of the jagged platform. The Rocket in the middle--the girl wearing white--she stepped up again and brushed the emerald flames from her shoulders. Everything stood still as she held up a Black Pokeball. “I don’t know why,” she laughed, “you’ve been following us, ruining our plans...” She took a step forward and shook her head. “But you hop off of Team Rocket’s ass now.” With a sudden toss of her wrist, she released a monstrous, black Dragonite above the platform. Violent, garnet eyes glared down at the trio and they took a step back.

Sam clutched her shirt over her chest and her breath caught in her throat as she watched the Dragonite advance. Together, their Pokemon began attacking the beast; and together, they began losing.

The black dragon swung down a claw, coated in blue fire, across Gligar’s face, casting him to the ground without a second breath. Its antennae released a volley of thunderbolts that engulfed Haunter and threw him into the blue wires ensnaring Lugia. Sam’s emotions began to swell as the Dragonite opened its mouth.

She couldn’t hear her friends shouting commands at their Pokemon. She couldn’t hear the woman laughing. Sam didn’t even feel the rocks beneath her feet as she ran.

But with her arms around Kite, her skin burned as they were cast off the rocks by the Hyper Beam.

Suddenly, all the reserved screams and panic hit her at once, and she yelled as Kite left her grasp. Her eyes melded shut with scalding tears and she addressed herself as the failure she knew she was.

And it was by some unforeseen miracle that she landed on armored scales.

A deadly roar echoed in the chamber and Sam grasped the hot, rigged shoulders of her rescuer, her savior...her Salamence.

As her eyes widened, a surge of light blinded her. Salamence released a torrent of chaotic light into Dragonite’s direction and dove down beneath the platform to avoid a counterattack. Roars filled her ears and the salty gusts of wind assailed her face.

Salamence rose up once again and hit a zenith near the top of the cavern. Its mouth parted wide and Salamence forced out a blue inferno--a Dragon Rage--down into the gut of the Dragonite. Cheers mixed with crashes and screams echoed in Sam’s ears and her spirit calmed a bit.

Oddly, the most comforting sound to her was the cry of a fainting Dragonite.

Sierra Stone

“How the hell are we supposed to out-whirlpool Lugia?!” Tyler screamed over the gushing water around them.

“We get creative!” Sierra called back. Lapras and Crawdaunt swam them across the stormy waves and brought them to the first Cyclone. By then, they could barely see from the falling water around them; their hair stuck to their foreheads and brushed over their eyes in curtains of flaxen and blue. Sierra released Cloyster, watched him rise from the cold waters. This--the wild roaring waters and the rush of wind over their faces--they knew even more than the ring, though it had never been so crucial, so important.

Tyler narrowly opened his eyes as he flung two Pokeballs into the waves. In a flash, Starmie and Kingdra surfaced, and the two balls flew back into his hands without him even looking. The duo were right on the edge of it, just barely out of the deathly fall.

“We’ll need them all for this,” Tyler yelled over the winds. “Sounds simple, but enough spinning should work.”

Sierra just nodded, looking over the raging water to call to Cloyster. Spinning it was. “Whirlpool!” There wasn’t need to indicate where to apply it; the gaping mass of swirling waves dangerously close to them was a good hint. A faint glow came from the dark shell, before a slight deceleration of the whirlpool came to show maybe this wasn’t a complete suicide mission.

As in, maybe their chances had now improved from 0 to 5%.

Sierra wasn’t sure what it said about this bunch or how used she was getting to being around them that this sounded like good odds. Over the roar of the elements she heard Tyler call for a Rapid Spin, his voice taut and worn from the salt caking in his throat. That aubergine star of his blinked twice before spiraling from the water--nearly too fast for Sierra to see--and into the eye of the cyclone. At first, nothing seemed to change. Sierra clenched her right hand over one of the spikes on Lapras’ shell and watched as sparse gaps in the tower began to spread, weakening the drilling force up above.

But the diminished power was obviously still enough to do damage.

“Craw!” Tyler’s Crawdaunt growled against the roar of the waves as he swept a rust-tinted claw through the air, batting a boulder away from the trainers.

Not getting squished was good. “Ice Beam, Lapras.” The shelled sea-dragon hummed in a brilliant Alto as she opened her mouth, relinquishing a torrent of bitter cold into the tower of water. Slowly, it crystallized over; fleeting glimpses of ice shards catching the light and the electric arcs that rose above the cables before they crumbled under the weight and the force of rushing water. Cold enough, though, to solidify along the edges, where the water tension was at its weakest.

It should have come as no surprise to her, then, that the shards of ice free-falling from the spiral weakened its driving force. The slits in the cyclone’s current began to broaden, and suddenly there was a chance, the smallest of opening.

Across the small distance between them Sierra caught Tyler’s eye, saw the glint in them; knew that he had hope. And dammit, she thought, if that boy has hope, then there’s hope.

He called out something, but she lost his words between the waves and the boulders and Lugia’s cries and--oh God, was that a Dragonite? Sierra turned her head to the side as a beam of terrifying, horrific, glorious light emanated from the jaw of that legendary beast. Her eyes grew wide as she clutched Lapras by the neck, holding on for her life as the surge of energy passed just by their little corner of chaos, but when it was over, they both were back on their feet.

Kingdra rose from the depths like morning mist over sleepy valleys, his eyes glowing a winter-dawn blue that brought to mind the play of light over icebergs, up north where the day could last for months. With a heave of intrinsic power, the dragon released a gale of energy into the water, prompting it to surge counter-current; for a mere second, both streams of water ran completely still, equal and opposite forces..then the equilibrium tipped; borne by the undertide of Cloyster’s Whirlpool the Twister rose and rent the cyclone asunder. Sierra shielded her eyes as it dissipated, raining down on them in minuscule flakes of ice and floe, while the light still crackled in wild arcs above their heads, and then opened her eyes to meet Tyler’s.

The two gazed at each other over the slowly-calming waters and couldn’t help but to hazard a smile.

“One down.”

“Three to go.” Tyler nodded.

“Three to go.” Sierra nodded back, and off they went again.

Rocket Boss Ariana

And Dragonite was down. Ariana braced herself on the rocky platform as the cavern shook. Dragonite gave out a final wail and fell beneath the waves below before anyone could call it back. The Salamence landed in front of her and gave out a roar. Ariana merely shook her head. “You still haven’t prevailed, child.” Behind her, the roaring of the cyclones began to diminish. Ariana turned her head and watched as a tower of water withdrew into the tides.

“Just give up, Rockets.” One of the children stood forward, fists clenched, and glared at the red-head. “You haven’t beaten us yet, and you won’t.” Ariana merely shook her head.

“Why are you so compelled to combat us?”

“Why are you so compelled to be wicked?” The girl on the Salamence hopped down and shook her head. “All you do is cause problems in nature and fight against the way that humanity works.” The girl withdrew Salamence into a Pokeball and looked at her friends. “And we’re the only ones who have the gall to stand up to you.”

Ariana crossed her arms and smirked. “There’s a reason for that, girl.” The woman glared at the group of kids, her hands discretely wrapping around a sphere on her wrist. “No one else has the bravery to combat Team Rocket because they know we’ll crush them.” She took the orb into her fingers and grinned. “But, by all means, feel free to take a stab in the dark!” Ariana threw the ball on the ground, forcing a plume of inky smog into the air around them. The kids coughed and their vision blacked out.

Ariana slipped away, into the innards of the cage. The woman swiped her hand across the control panel, firing off a fray of smaller cables to ensnare the three children still on the platform. Their screams were enough to tell her of her job well-done.

The femme fatale walked into the center of the cage, coming face-to-face with the nearly-unconscious Lugia. The beast wailed out against the cables, but was only met with more resistance. “Hush, now, beastie.” From her belt, she pulled a purple Pokeball with an M scrawled across the front. “Gregory Silph was afraid that your power could even fight against the containment of a Master Ball...” She smirked. “And by the looks of things, he was right.” The sphere enlarged in her hand and her eyes narrowed. “But in a few moments,” she chuckled, “you’ll belong to Rocket.”

Ariana tossed the ball up and down in her hand for a moment before nodding. Lugia’s eyes slowly closed, and the cables around him began to grow lax as his power waned. “It’s been a blast, Lugia.” She craned her neck back and tossed the ball into the air, grinning wide as it engulfed the grand beast in brilliant purple light. The sphere fell to the ground as the cables retracted around her; Ariana counted as the orb twitched.

One...two...three...