Young Writers Society

Annie
Middle of Nowhere

"Mama! Mama, is--is..." Her voice drifted off for a moment as she re-situated the bundle of blankets in her arms. "Mama, is Budew sleeping?"

She laughed softly, shaking her head. "No, darling, but she will be soon."

Annie looked into the blankets Mama held to see the baby Budew drinking from the bottle Mama held for her. Eyes half-closed, the Budew was slowly being lulled to sleep. Annie nodded. "Yup, she will sleep soon."

"Is larvitar sleeping, too?"

Annie fell back onto her heels and looked down at her own bundle of blankets. She removed some of the cloth to reveal the stuffed pokemon's face staring up at the ceiling. Annie nodded. "Yup, he's sleeping. I will... probably let him sleep for just an hour though or he... he won't sleep through the night."

Mama only smiled.

Annie could hear the faint heartbeat in her best friend's chest, calm and soothing. It had put her into one of those serene states that made the world seem like it was a quiet, peaceful place to be in rather than a world in which evil knocked on every door you faced, forcing you to pick the lesser of all evils. At least, what you would believe to be lesser.

The truck wasn't a very smooth ride as it drove down the dirt road. They didn't seem to be in the city anymore but rather were surrounded by fields and meadows. She wondered how long they'd be allowed to ride before the driver was forced to let them go. Then she stopped wondering about it.

She pulled out a pokeball from her bag. The pokeball that used to be Larvitar's but was now home to a stray Muk. She swallowed a lump in her throat as she turned the pokeball in her hands.

"Mama, do you like all pokemon?" Annie asked while watching the TV.

"Of course, I do. All pokemon should be loved."

Annie shook her head. "I don't think I like bug pokemon. Or mean pokemon."

Mama laughed lightly. "No two pokemon are alike, but they all need to be loved. How would you feel if you were unloved simply because you were blonde?" Annie looked at Mama with a small pout, but she only smiled. "A pokemon you dislike deserves more love than the pokemon you instantly fall in love with."

Annie looked back to the TV to see the muk scaring off wild animals with an ugly, wide grin. It terrified her, and she had to look away again, snuggling her stuffed larvitar. "I don't want a grimer. What if it turns my hair purple or... or poisons me to death? It could leave slime all over the house and the flowers and kill baby budew and-- "

Mama only laughed. "You don't have to have a grimer. They don't like living in houses anyway. Loving pokemon doesn't mean you have to live with it."

"Okay, good." Annie nodded and watched the TV again. "Then I love all pokemon just like you!" Her eyes instantly widened with horror as she saw a diglet pop up in a lump of grimer slime and instantly start feel sick until eventually it keeled over. So this is love...

"Hey."

Annie felt the nudge in her arm, and her eyes fluttered open. The truck seemed to have stopped, and Miles' attention was stolen by the driver walking around back. Annie sat up a bit too quickly as her head started to spin. She pocketed the pokeball as he opened the back door.

"Sorry, folks. You're on your own from here."

The stench of gas flood Annie's nostrils, and she finally registered that they were at a gas station. Miles didn't seem very thrilled by the idea, but Annie wasn't fazed by it. She smiled excitedly and crawled to the edge of the truck. "This is just fine! Thanks so much for taking us this far--Oh, thank you!" she added as he extended a hand to help her down.

"My pleasure, miss." He nodded at Miles as he helped himself down. "You're pretty close to the docks right now. 'Bout twenty miles out. Hope that's alright."

Miles nodded. "Yeah, we've got it from here."

"Good." He closed the backdoor and tipped his hat at them. "Take care of 'er, boy, and you kids have a good 'un."

Jasmine handed the cab driver a payment plus a tip and stepped out, double checking that nothing had fallen out of her purse in the back seat before going to the newly-popped trunk and the two suitcases therein. One for dresses and their various accessories, one for everything else.

She waved to the driver as he left, then proceeded to sit on top of the stacked suitcases, feet just off the cobblestone area designated for waiting. Not wanting to risk getting kicked out of this location for her pokemons' pranks— a valid worry, considering the number of hotels she'd gone through in London— Jasmine kept them in their pokeballs and checked her phone.

One text from her mother sent at five fifteen this morning that was a simple five letters and one punctuation mark:

How r u?

Jasmine countered with four letters:

Good

She went back to the home screen and flicked over to her maps, considering Miles had mentioned they were going to Poland and Jasmine wanted to make sure she wasn't remembering her geography incorrectly.

No, she had been right. They were going to cross most of the European coast before landing, going right between Denmark and Norway. Why they had to go there, Jasmine couldn't quite fathom. Roy would go absolutely stir crazy on a boat trip that long.

As the sun kept rising, docks getting progressively busier, with was no sign of the others, Jasmine pulled up her texts again and started a new conversation.

Send to: You're Going Down; Bundle of Energy; Frenchie; Pokemon Fanboy; David Tennant

Where are you guys?

Miles zipped up his sweatshirt and huddled his knees against his chest, making his shoes squeak against the bus seat. Annie was beside him, talking about how lucky they were to find a bus heading to the exact-right town at the exact-right time. He let his head fall to the side and hit the window, his hair clinging to the cold glass. For one reason or the other, he just had no energy. He checked his phone preemptively as it beeped.

Where are you guys?

Miles blew his hair to the side, making more of it stick to the window, and checked the bus’ destination sign. He typed:



His phone beeped again as he sent it, and he received four replies.

Artibartifast: Outside Grays. Harbor and a boat, mates?
Artibartifast: Thank you Siiri.
Artibartifast: Aardvark you’re embarrassing me in front of my new friends! exclamation mark !
FemmeMagnet: Grays. I’m going to buy us a boat.
PrincessPeaches: With Miles!
TropesB4dopes: I’ve got a jar of dirt.

Best of luck to Eric, buying a boat. Miles let out a hmph as he thought about how much cash that was just to dish out for nothing. He also thought about what he could buy with that cash. Lots of stuff, he was sure. His phone beeped again.

FemmeMagnet: Cancel that. People here don’t like being bought. Also, I left my credit card with Jean-Baptiste. Perhaps he can transfer some funds later on, but for now, we are without a boat AND without servants. How droll.

Miles groaned. “Why’d we have to pick up the french guy again?”

“He bought me ice cream!” Annie giggled and clasped her hands together. “Plus, he seems really nice!” Her phone began to glow with a surprisingly intense light. She pulled it out of her jacket pocket and gasped as it projected a hologram between them. In the light there were three coins with hearts on them. Annie blinked. “So pretty!” A soft voice announced, robotically:



The light faded, and Annie and Miles were left staring, wide-eyed, between them. Their phones beeped with notifications from the PokeFest app.

First points have been awarded, and we’re certain you’re all wondering what just happened! I, Mr. Pokemon, will explain! Whenever you display shining characteristics based on predetermined criteria, you will be awarded points in your favor from one of four sets:

Coins of Heart: Displays the shining nature of friendship and love for all creatures.
Coins of Diamond: Displays the richness of courage in the face of danger.
Coins of Spade: Displays of strength when faced with challenges.
Coins of Club: Displays the purity of character in the face of opportunity.

Each coin is worth a number of points, depending on the level of your achievement. More will be explained later. For now, hurry on to Poland! Your first opportunities await in the north countryside!

Their phones shut off when a low hum.

“Huh,” remarked Miles. “So I guess you’re winning, then.”

Annie beamed. “IIIIIIII’ve never won anything! How exciting!”

The bus came to a screeching halt, and Miles nearly fell in the floor. “All stop for Grays!”

“Let’s go! They’re probably waiting on us!”

Miles groaned and slumped to his feet, following as Annie jerked him forward by his hand. It was going to be a long trip.

"No boats?" Art spluttered. The girl behind the counter, noisily chewing her gum, shrugged.
"All booked up," she said. "All the trainers from the Pokémon thing -"
"PokéFest."
"Whatever. They, like, bought out all the seats yesterday. So all the boats for, like, the next week are full up."
"Lapras Liners? CleFerry? The unfortunately-named Magcargo Boating Services?"
"Sorry."
"Wow," Art muttered. "PokéFest must've been bigger than I thought. How many extra boats did you guys schedule in preparation?"
The girl stopped chewing and looked at him in apparent bewilderment. "Extra boats?"
"Er... never mind." Well, that explains a lot. Art thanked her and turned towards the door.
"Wait, wait." The girl picked up a slip of paper and began speaking in monotone, never taking her eyes off it. "Thank-you-for-choosing-Grays-Cruises-we-are-proud-to-have-helped-you-with-your-travel-needs."
"... Even though you know you haven't?"
The girl blew a large bubble, which burst with a loud pop. "Haven't what?"
Art left.

"I'm sorry, lad, but I don't know about any other travel agencies." The man had a strong accent that Art couldn't quite place. "Grays Cruises has been here for as long as I have, and in that time no others have opened up. Probably afraid of competing with them."
"That's all right," Art sighed. "Thank you very much for stopping, regardless."
"Not a problem, m'boy."
Art sat down on a nearby bollard and flicked on his PokéGear to send a message to the others.

Useless, Jasmine's voice said inside his head. I knew it. I knew it.
Thanks, Obama, said Mal's voice sarcastically. By which I mean Art.
Their faces, as well as Miles', Annie's and Eric's floated around in front of his face, flickering between disappointment and anger. Art shook his head vigorously and turned back to his device.

"Siiri, please send a message to... er, Tails," Art said, remembering the nicknames he'd assigned his companions on his phone. "Grays was a no-go. Has he got any leads?"
"Sending message to Tails. Message. Grays was a know-go. Have you got any Leeds? Sent."
Art rolled his eyes and made a mental note to update Siiri's dictionary. He was just getting up to look for more people that looked like they might know something about boats - at this point, he'd ask anyone that looked like they had ever seen a boat - when a pink blur shot between his legs and pulled them together, becoming a shivering lump as it huddled against the back of his calves. Art scanned it with his 'Gear and skimmed the entry.

Snubbull, the Fairy Pokémon

Snubbull looks intimidating, and can use its looks to frighten away smaller Pokémon. However, this Pokémon is usually very affectionate and friendly, and can get quite upset if it accidentally scares other Pokémon away. Most Snubbull are also very cowardly, although they try to hide it by growling. Interestingly, it is quite popular among women, most of whom find its looks and personality endearing.

"Stupid 'mon," a grouchy voice said. Art looked up to see an old lady hurrying forward with her arms outstretched, while a sullen-looking man - clearly the source of the voice - trudged slowly behind.
Art reached down and gave the Snubbull a pat; it opened one eye and looked cautiously up at him. By now, the old couple had reached them. Before he could say another word, the old man donned a green monster mask from his pocket, looked square into the puppy's eyes and shouted "OOGA-BOOGA-BOOGA!"
Had Art not been quick enough to grab the Snubbull, it would certainly have bolted. Instead, Art managed to lift it (with some difficulty) and hand it over to the old lady. The instant Snubbull was in her arms, it settled down entirely.

"Thank you, dear," the lady panted, smiling at Art, before turning to the old man. "And Eustace, don't you" (she punctuated this word with a slap to the back of his head) "ever frighten my sweetheart Courage again!"
"Ow!" Eustace grunted. "Dang it, Muriel! What'd I do?"
"Now shush!" Muriel sad sternly. "Now that we've got Courage back, go and load the boat so we can take this week's Corphish shipment to Gdansk."
"Yeah, yeah..."

"Er... excuse me?"
The old lady turned around. "Yes, dear?"
"I'm sorry, but... did you say boat?"

Annie
Bus Stop

"Finally!" Annie said as she hopped off the last step of the bus. She beamed, admiring the sight of a rundown docks, ships and boats of varying sizes tied up in place. People in stained with water and grease wandered around without a worry in the world.

And boy, did it reek of fish.

She spun around, hands clasped together, as Miles stepped off the bus and the doors closed behind him. "Poland, here we come! Do you think the others are together yet?"

"Why don't you ask?" Miles said and started walking toward the docks.

Annie skipped after him as she pulled out her phone, white and pink rhinestones glittering in her hands despite the cloud-coverage.

Hipster Vampire, Nasira, Doctor Who??, Prince Charming, Artsy-Fartsy

Hi, guys! Miles and I are at the docks. Where are y'all?"

Nasira: That doesn't scream American.

Annie gaped at her phone, suddenly picturing a murder scene.

Artsy-Fartsy: Actually, it was rather tame.

Annie made a mental note to love him more.

Artsy-Fartsy: Oh, wait, and we found a boat.
Me: Great! Which one?
Prince Charming: You can hardly miss us.
Hipster Vampire: No truer words were spoken.
Doctor Who??: Where the run Fine mamamama
Doctor Who??: Get sure run first
Hipster Vampire: wtf?
Nasira: Autocorrect saves you for once. Don't question it.

Annie blinked. She looked up at Miles. "Did you say you found them--"

"WHERE'S THE RUM GONE?!?!?!"

Miles was already looking in that direction, and Annie looked over to see someone turning from a familiar group of people with him to wave rather drunkenly in their direction, looking as if he hadn't changed clothes in weeks.

"HEEEEY!" he shouted at them. "GET SOME RUM FIRST."

Miles looked to his phone. "Jasmine's right. Autocorrect did save us."

"Are those... goats?"

"They are never finding us transportation again," Miles muttered. Annie laughed as she followed him toward the group.

Miles
Grays Harbor

Skiddo, The Mount Pokemon
Skiddo typically has a gentle nature and is said to be the first grass Pokémon to live alongside humans. Because of this relationship, Skiddo doesn't mind carrying people or supplies on its back. Due to its close relationship with humans, Skiddo has developed the ability to read the feelings of its riders through their grip on its horns.

“So it’s just a--”

“GOAT!” Annie dropped her bag, her phone, and her pokegear; and dove to tackle Skiddo, taking them both the ground. Skiddo responded with a scared bahhhh. Miles could practically see the hearts gushing out of her head. “I love love love love LOVE you so cute so adorbab so oh my gosh so cute!”

The little goat squirmed out of her arms and galloped away, only to be chased by Annie. A snubbull joined the chase, squeakily barking with each bound. Miles sighed and stowed his phone after reading snubbull’s entry.

“His name’s Courage,” came an old, gentle voice. Miles turned around and raised an eyebrow. A round old lady with curly white-blonde hair and round glasses stood in front of an old, scraggly man with a jutted-out jaw and a scowl on his face. He wore a brown farmer’s cap and overalls that just screamed workin’ man in a deep southern drawl.

“Tails, these are my new friends, Muriel and Eustace. They’re going to be taking us to Gdansk!” Art popped a thumbs up in Miles’ direction and grinned nervously.

“I don’t do charity!” shouted Eustace. “You midgets are gonna work on my here boat or you’ll be Sharpedo food by morning.” He pointed to a large red chair that he’d loaded onto the boat. “I’m not leavin’ this chair. No sir, not leavin’ this chair.”

Muriel took Miles by the arm and pinched his cheek, hardly getting any skin in her fingers. “Oh, sweetheart,” she cooed, “you’re all skin an’ bones! I’ll be sure t’make ye extra food at dinnertime. No use havin’ a skeleton work on the boat!” Miles cringed. He imagined himself as well-fed and chunky as Eric and cringed, sucking in his gut.

“I’ll, uh, I’ll be sure to eat up, ma’am!” He said with a grin as wide as his eyes.

“Alright then,” grumbled Eustace, “get your girlfriend off mah goat and load up. Daylight’s burning.”

Annie
S.S. Nowhere

"Wonderful!" Muriel said as the boat started to set sail. "We are going on vacation!"

"Snub!"

"Blah, blah, blah..." Eustace magically pulled out a newspaper from the armchair (or behind it -- Annie couldn't see from her angle). "I'm not getting out of this chair."

"How long does it take to get to Gdansk?" Annie asked. She had already found her spot next to Skiddo, who was also laying down next to some food. He paid no mind to her as he ate.

"It won't be a quick trip, that's for sure," Art said. He pulled out his PokeGear and swiped around the screen, clicking a button whenever he pleased (Literally. Annie was sure it didn't take that much clicking of buttons to get to a GPS.). "Uh... it's going to be a long time."

"How long?"

"Go away!" Eustace yelled, waving harshly at Snubbull. The pokemon squeaked a "Snub!" and ran hastily out of sight, no doubt looking for Muriel. Unfortunately, Snubbull's reaction scared the bejeebies out of Skiddo, and he, too, ran off after him.

Annie flailed and scrambled to her feet. "Wait! Skiddo, it's okay!"

"Wait, hold on!" Art suddenly said as everyone started following or looking in the direction of the commotion. "Don't go all running around the boat or we'll--"

The pause in his words made everyone, including Annie, stop and turn. Annie gasped and giggled in her hand. A couple others, including Jasmine, snickered as well.

Art looked down at his shoe and whined.

"Arrr, swab the poop deck, ye mateys!" Mal exclaimed, his fake-hook flailing with his words. Miles had to duck or risk getting smacked by its plastic shape.

Eric cleared his throat and adjusted his collar. "I imagine dear Muriel will need a hand with the, uh... " his voice trailed off as he slowly distanced himself from the gorup. Annie watched him curiously as he departed.

Snubbull and Skiddo suddenly returned on the other side of the boat, only this time, Snubbull was chasing after Skiddo. Everyone had to jump out of the way as they ran back around, clearly making circles on the boat as there was no where else for them to go but inside.

"Eustace!" Muriel shrieked from afar. "Stop them for me, please! They'll ruin my pie!"

"PIE." Mal dropped his pirate act for a split second as he silently celebrated the idea of a slice of pie.

"No, sir! Not gettin' outta this chair!" He turned the page of his newspaper in defiance.

“Arr! I see ye have a tressure of yer own, fair lady!” Mal strutted into the kitchen, nearly drooling at the half complete disc of delicious pie. “What might a seadog like myself need do to steal a piece of that booty?”

Muriel smacked Mal’s creeping hand away from the pie with a spoon, tasking at him. “Now young man, no pie until after dinner!”

Mal frowned, taking a swig of his Orre-Zone Ice tea to calm himself. “End when, migh’ I ask, will dinnar be sarved?”

Muriel smiled and scooted over to the closet, ushering Mal over towards her. “As soon as you youngsters catch it. You look like strong lads. Oh, I’m sure you can catch us some delicious treats if you work hard.” She reached into the closet and pulled out three Old Rods, shoving them into Mal. “They might not be the best, but it’s all we’ve got.”

“Des will sarve jus’ fine,” Mal grabbed the rusted, splintered rods, being very careful not to break them by breathing too hard. He let his act drop for a moment, as he wasn’t sure how to make the next bit sound piratey enough. “I was wondering though, maybe we could hold a little contest? Whoever catches the best fish gets the biggest slice? It only seems fair.”

“Oh I don’t see why not, we have enough to go around and more-”

“Did you just say whoever gets the most fish gets more pie?” Art said, seemingly appearing out of nowhere and not because of lazy writing. He also seemingly pulled out a Great Rod from his backpack, which makes total sense because a fishing rod fits there. “You don’t stand a chance.”

“I didn’t know you cared that much about pie,” Mal said, still forgetting to reinstall his Pirate.doc.

“Nobody gets between me and my pie.” Art sprinted out the door, his line in mid cast as he swung out the door.

“Hey that’s my paper!” Eustace complained, but he wasn’t getting out of his chair, not one bit.

Mal blinked, confused by the Artstralian’s sudden love for pie, and reinstalled his Pirate.doc as he moved out into the open boat. Standing next to Art was Jasmine, her Ultra Rod already cast into the water, the small exclamation point popping over her head.

In one swift motion she pulled her line out, attached to it was a rather large Seaking, which floundered on the boat, flailing and splashing it’s way back into the water.

“Why’d ye let the king o’ the sea away like thart?” Mal growled, cometeing against a pie maniac and a competeition maniac was no fun.
“I can do better, when I win I don’t settle for barely.” She cast her line back into the water, a good few yards ahead of Art’s, who had his Pokegear out scanning the water.

“I’ve programmed my Pokegear to let out a small little sound wave every few seconds, this way I can align my hook right…over...the...winner!” Art’s line snapped back as he pulled his catch in, an oversized Whiscash landing on the side of the boat, but he let it go back in. “Never keep a Whiscash, they taste like stale dirt when you cook it.”

“Talented and picky, what a great combo,” Mal muttered as he took a seat far away from them, casting his antique of a rod into the water, that alone caused an audible moan from the wood.

This repeated for a while, Art catching massive, but inedible, Pokemon for himself, Jasmine consistantly getting bigger and bigger catches. They were sitting there the entire day, reeling in and casting out, an endless chore. At the far end Mal was having less luck, he had busted two of his Old Rods while trying to reel in a rather sizeable Corphish, and a runty little Luvdisc, while the third one wasn’t evening letting him get a fish.

Eventually Jasmine was satisfied, she had landed a woopering 150 pound Gorebyss, which made Mal look like a Joltik in comparrison. Art stayed at it a bit longer, every once and awhile throwing in some weird Poffin crumbs into the water to attract different fish.

“You see, the spicy flavor in this poffin will drive away any Tentacool, because their-” After awhile Mal had started to block him out, not even being a Pirate was amusing him at this point, and the fish-techno babble was putting him to near sleep.

After about the tenth poffin was destroyed, that one was sweet and sour, Art was finally content with his catch. “If prepared right a Lumineon is one of the most delicious fish out there, and you barely even need anything special for it!”

Mal, now broken, tired and sore trailed behind Art but was stopped by an overly long cane/ “Remember what I said kid, if you don’t work you don’t ride. So you can either catch us some dinner or you can swim to Poland, got it?”

“Aye captain,” mal muttered, picking his decrepit Old Rod off the ground and sitting back down. He was there for what seemed like days, just waiting for the line to shake or stir, but nothing wanted to bite the thing, even they knew the hook was too dirty to touch.

“Crap”

Art was mortified.

Oh sure, he'd made an effort to cover it up during the fishing session, and no one had seemed to notice that, the whole time, his face had been redder than the Dr Pelipper can he was now drinking out of. But it didn't change the shame Art felt at the awkwardness his subconscious insisted on surrounding him with, not to mention the fact that he might need to buy new shoes. He kept scrubbing at it - the stain didn't bother him so much, but he really hoped the smell would come out without too much trouble.

"Arooo!"
A familiar pink blur shot under his chair, overturning him onto the deck. I hope no one saw that, he thought, feeling his face get warm again. His drink had spilled all over the deck, too -

"Hau-hau-hauu!"
"Dree!"
"Oh, of course it's you two," Art said, rolling his eyes. "I get that you love pranking us, but must you torment that poor Snubbull? Its disposition is more nervous than mine..."
Art narrowed his eyes at the old grouch in the armchair across the deck. "And that farmer fellow doesn't seem to help matters at all."
"Mop that soda up!" Eustace hollered. "This ain't yer bedroom!"
"Are you insinuating that I make it a common practice to pour carbonated beverages onto my bedroom floor?" Art asked, one eyebrow raised, as he lowered himself onto his knees to wipe up the spill. Murtle and Ariel drifted off with a chuckle.
"... Be quiet!"

Art climbed to his feet, admiring the clean deck in front of him. An electronic ding sounded from behind him, where Art suddenly discovered Courage the Snubbull frantically tapping at keys on Art's laptop.
"Whoa, what are you doing?" Art said, startled. "Come on, that's delicate, leave it -"
OH, YOU TWIT.
Art and Courage both backed away from the computer, which was suddenly speaking in a pompous British accent. Art felt something behind him as he moved; the feel of a large tongue on the back of his head told him Murtle had returned.

YOU WANT TO KNOW HOW TO GET RID OF GHOSTS, DO YOU? WHO YOU GOTTA CALL?
Art shot another unamused look at Murtle, who faded from view with an angelic look on her face.
ALL RIGHT, ALL RIGHT, the laptop said. LOOK AT ME CAREFULLY AND I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT YOU SHOULD DO.
Art sensed foul play and simply put his head in his left hand as Courage leant forward, staring intently at the screen. All of a sudden the bright orange face of Citrus the Rotom blinked onto the screen, baring its fangs and screeching at the poor dog.

"Not you too!" Art exclaimed. "Very droll, Citrus. Now come out of there."
Citrus responded by blowing a raspberry.
"Come on!" Art took out Citrus' Poké Ball and aimed it at the orange screen - only for the red recalling light to break when it came into contact with the plastic of the laptop. Art seethed.
"Come on out, Citrus. Please?" he offered as a last resort. Citrus, very slowly and very slightly, poked its head out through the screen. "Yes, yes?"
A yellow pulse of electricity shot past Art's head, narrowly missing his ear, as Citrus shot backwards into the screen again, laughing itself silly. Art didn't even have time to react or chastise Citrus before an angry buzzing reached his ears.
"Oh no... Ohm, don't -"

Art's heart sank as his laptop was fried by another, much larger, electrical pulse. This one had come from Ohm, who - Art could tell, even if no one else could - looked furious. Citrus burst out of the laptop's remains with a rather annoyed look on its own face, and immediately the two butted heads.
"Don't -"
Citrus began wailing at high volume, making Ohm cringe - as Art could tell, even if no one else could. Ohm shot back with Metal Sound which, combined with Citrus' Uproar, culminated in an ungodly row that echoed across the entire boat.
"Stop -"

"Make it stop! Sacre bleu, make it stop!" Eric wailed with his hands over his ears.
Annie, in a similar pose, shot Art an annoyed look. "Art, can you do something about this?"
Art's teeth grated against each other. "RIGHT." He thrust his hands in between the feuding powerhouses and wrenched them apart. Before anyone could react he pointed their respective Poké Balls at them.
"Inside, please," he said quietly. Ohm obeyed immediately; Citrus hesitated, then followed suit, and both vanished in a red flash. Without another word, Art picked up his smoking laptop and strode towards the cabin.

No one knew quite what to say next. Fortunately, the awkward silence was broken by Mal's remaining fishing rod suddenly jerking about: Mal leapt towards it excitedly.
"It's about time something - oh, really? Really?"
A Magikarp dangled from the end of Mal's line. Mal dragged a hand down his face.
"NO"
He seized the fish and plucked it from the line.
"NO"
He held it out in front of him and raised his right foot.
"NO NO NO NO NO NO NO"
He dropped the Magikarp and punted it back into the water.
"NOOOOOOOOO"

"Well, that escalated qui-" Miles almost said before he was interrupted by a blinding white light coming from the river. Once everyone was able to see again, it was apparent that a livid Gyarados was towering over the boat, glaring at Mal.

Jasmine
Middle of Nowhere

The chances of them getting out of this situation unscathed were so close to zero, Jasmine decided to write off the possibility completely.

Gyarados' roar covered the sound of most pokemon being released at once, Annie hiding behind Miles with a yelp, and Snubbull yelping only to hide against Eustace's legs. He either didn't notice the might-as-well-be-dragon type getting ready to capsize the boat, or he really did care more about that 'dratted dog' trying to hide in inexistent space between his legs and the chair than he did about capsizing.

Eric was the first to call out, "Claude, use thunder shock!"

Art almost immediately followed this up with, "Don't!"

The latter's cry went unheard as a wave crashed over the boat, which soon became charged with electricity as the thunder shock hit it instead of its intended target.

Jasmine managed to recover from the shock fairly quickly, as did everyone else. Had to, if there was any chance of them getting out of here.

"Murtle and Ariel, hit it with confuse ray at once!"

"Isabelle, ice shard!"

All of the attacks barely made a dent, only angering the Gyarados more. Confusion had affected it a little, but not much. Another growl, and another wave.

Yells from Eustace, Courage, and Mal, followed by a splash on the other side of the boat, let them know this wave had done more damage than the last.

Miles pulled out another pokeball and released a Torchic. The small fire type looked like, well, a sitting chicken in the face of a giant water type. But one look at Mile's face let Jasmine know exactly what he wanted to do with the water-soaked pokemon in front of them.

Jasmine released Roy, just in time for both of them to yell out, "Flamethrower!"

Both pokemon let out a stream of fire directed squarely at their massive target; the flames merged into a firestorm before hitting, producing a copious amount of steam. Everybody kept calling out attacks, the combined effort resulting in a final, defeated roar before the Gyrados dropped out of sight with another splash, causing the group to get soaked a second time.

The wave also caused a loud, grumpy, "Hey!" to come from where their thrown overboard members had landed.

Everybody ran to the other side, seeing Courage on Eustace's head, with Mal trying to swim next to the chair that still, somehow, held the old man.

"I'm not getting out of this chair!"

Everybody looked at Eric, who sighed and said, "Isabelle, go rescue them."

Art looked at Miles and Jasmine. "I thought only water types learned scald."

Annie sat on her knees, staring wide-eyed at the spot Gyrados used to be. Her life flashed before her eyes for that instant, the boat threatening to toss them all overboard. She could have drowned. She wouldn't have been alive at that very second.

"Ans, you okay?"

She blinked and looked deadpan up at Miles. Instantly, she broke into a wide smile of relief and bound to her feet. Her hands combed through her wet hair. "Wow, I have never seen a gyrados up close before! And I don't think I ever want to get close to one again."

Miles' brow creased for only a second before returning to Jasmine and Art as this was clearly normal Annie behavior. Annie could vaguely hear Miles saying, "Yeah, it was sort of improv, I guess," as she stepped closer to the boat railing next to Eric.

Lapras was already carrying Mal and Courage the Snubbull, but Eustace sat stubbornly in his armchair. "I said I'm not getting out of this chair!"

"Just push it over, Isabelle," Eric called out. "If you can, anyway."

"I suppose that's a lot of weight she's carrying," Annie said with just the slightest shade of concern in her voice. "She seems happy enough to do it, though. Do you not let her out often?"

Eric shrugged. "I haven't much since I left home, no. She really prefers ze vater, and ze only vater ve've ever passed vas the English Channel ve flew over and ze London rain."

Annie looked up at his serious expression. At least, it wasn't that charming smile she loved. No, it seemed to be more disappointment than anything. She patted his arm. "You and Claude did great--"

He removed his arm from her comfort. "It vas a rookie's mistake." His eyes never left Lapras, who was trying with all her might to move the large armchair toward the boat. To her demise, the chair kept spinning and floating the wrong direction, making her work more. Then again, Annie wondered if she was doing that on purpose to swim longer.

"Even electric-type pokemon can damage a water-type if they've trained enough." Annie gave him a comforting, cheerful smile ( ^_^ ). "You push a pokemon's limits so that they may learn to overcome them."

He shook his head and stayed silent for the longest moment. Then finally he smiled and chuckled lightly. "You're really, how you say... 'scraping ze bottom of ze barrel' vit' zat vun."

Annie laughed, scratching the back of her neck. "Miles says that a lot, too! But it's true!"

Eric still only shook his head at the same moment the armchair bumped the boat. He and Annie both walked up to the side where the ladder hung and reached for Mal, but Courage bounded at Eric's arm, digging into Eric's arms. Eric let out a brief cry of pain before the snubbull bounded onto the boat and ran off.

"Mal, c'mon!"

Mal grabbed at the ladder and started climbing up. Eric and Annie both helped him onto deck, the drenched de-pirated Captain Jack Spearow coughed out water until he basically collapsed on the deck. Neither Eric or Annie paid him any mind, though, since Mal was just weird like that.

"Mr., uh... Mr. Eustace, sir," Annie said. "Couldn't you come on board?"

"Eh?" Eustace looked over his soggy newspaper and peered up at here with daring eyes. "No, sir." He flipped the newspaper back up to read more (only to have it droop back down from the water's weight).

"Um..."

Eric looked around for a moment before grabbing a rescue tube and flung it at Eustace as if playing horshoe. The tube easily slid down Eustace. "Hey! What in the--?!"

Eric tied the rope to the railing. "If you vant to stay in ze armchair, zen you can stay in ze armchair!"

Annie squealed and clapped her hands. "Oh, you're so clever!" A small smile appeared on Eric's face, and Annie was pleased to see him regain some hope. She looked down at Mal, who was still lying there. "Hey, Mal, why don't you go lie down on a chair maybe?"

Annie shook his shoulder. Eric peered down at him, then picked up his wrist. He held it for a moment.

"Is he okay?" she asked, panicked.

Eric laughed, brushing his wet hair out of his eyes. "He'z just sleeping."

Miles
SS Nowhere
Gdansk, Poland

”What do yeh mean the Corphish escaped?!” Miles trembled, backing away from angry Eustace with a stagger.

“Y-You see, s-sir--”

“You hippies cost me and Muriel 900 Euros!”

“I-I’m sorry! They just looked so...helpless--” Miles almost regretted cutting the net.

“AH COURSE they looked helpless! That’s why they were gon’ be grade-A cuisine here in Gdansk! But now they’re free,” he made a voice to taunt Miles, “to swim and play and make all sortsa babyphish! BAH!”

Miles took a deep breath as the old man stormed away, giving Courage a swift kick in the breadbasket on his way back on the ship. Before anyone could say or do anything else, Eustace had hauled the boat into gear and was leaving shore.

“Have fun on yer travels, dears! I left ye some macaroni in yer backpacks!”

“They’re so nice,” commented Art, “why did you cut their catch free?”

Everyone’s eyes turned on Miles, who turned his shoe in the dirt innocently. He flicked the knife closed and stowed it in his back pocket smoothly. “If Pokemon can’t help themselves, then someone has to stick up for them. If not, humans would walk all over the poor things.” He took out two pokeballs and grinned. “But now we’re on land, and it’s time to have some fun with my best friends!” Two flashes of light released Torchic and Patrat onto the grassy harbor ground. Annie pulled Larvitar out of his ball and into her arms; Jasmine let her ghosts fly; Art released Ohm, but not Rotom (Miles guessed he was still PO’d about the computer thing); Mal already had Chan sitting indian-style on his head, and Eric stood far away from the group, letting his Lapras enjoy the last few minutes in the bay waters.

Miles turned to Mal and blinked several times. “Arentcha gonna change clothes like you did in Grays?”

Mal squirmed. “Dude, don’t question a master in action.” Miles wondered if he even had more clothes. He scribbled something quick in his notebook and Miles wondered, this time, if he had some sort of social anxiety.

Annie hugged up against Miles, making him jolt reactively. “Someone’s frantic today!” She had her hair up in pigtails, making her look 30% cuter, but 40% younger. She could probably pass for a 12 year old in that get-up.

“HEY ERIC!” Miles shouted across the bay, “We need to plot where we’re going next!”

Eric recalled Lapras and eased over to the gang loosely formed around Miles. “Well, I think we need a leader to make ze decisionz for uz.”

Miles blinked. “A leader? Why?”

Annie beamed. “Having a leader makes everything easier! No more hard decisions or tie-breakers!”

“Ze questions iz,” Eric schmoozed, “who will be our leader?”

“Miles,” interjected Jasmine. Everyone turned to stare at her. She shrugged. “What? I don’t want the job, and no one else can say they’re a Champ at anything pokemon...except our resident cosplayer.”

Eric shrugged. “All in favor of Milez?”

“Aye!” shouted everyone--except Miles.

“NEIGH! NEIGH! NEIN! NO! NICHT!” Miles was reaching into his languages bag for help. “I can’t...be a leader. I can hardly keep track of Annie, much less all of you…”

“Oh hush your whining,” Jazz groaned. “Man up and accept responsibility, or we’ll happily move on without you.” She smirked. “No ties in a five-man band.”

Miles blinked, imagining being left behind again and slowly nodded. “Alright then. I say we head to…” He checked his map and found a small town that looked tiny enough to be full of nice people. “Ein Sekt Village. Just five miles south of here.” He grinned. “Surely there’ll be someone there who can let us stay the night.”

Jasmine waited for Miles to go past, then fell into step beside him. Annie was blathering on about all the things they could see and that she hoped to see, holding onto Miles' arm, and taking up most of his attention.

She couldn't quite help but smirk. Distracted leaders tended to be a bit easier to beat. She wasn't sure when, exactly, they'd find a battle station, but they'd find one. Eventually.

They walked around till they found a transit stop, where Miles asked if there were any rides to Ein Sekt Village.

"Nope," a vaguely familiar girl at the desk said. "We don't have buses going there. You'd have to hitch a ride—"

"Okay, got it."

As he turned around, the girl called out, "Wait, wait!" She pulled out a slip of paper. "Thank-you-for-choosing-Gdansk-Travel-we-are-proud-to-have-helped-you-with-your-travel-needs."

Miles raised an eyebrow. "Even though you haven't?"

She blinked and the group walked away.

Art sighed. "So what do we do now?"

"I know!" Annie said. "Let's go to the road to get a ride!"

Art and Jasmine looked at her. "What?"

Mal, still in pirate costume, went, "Arrr! Listen to the little lady! She knows how to use those feminine charms!"

Jasmine tried not to roll her eyes, but followed along anyway.

They got to a road leading out of town, and Annie stepped up to the side and lifted up the pant leg of her jeans, watching car after car go by and getting more dejected at each passing.

She turned back to the group, pouting. "They're not stopping!"

Jasmine took a few steps forward. "Of course they're not."

As everybody watched, Jasmine took out the bows holding her pigtails in place, running her fingers through her hair to get her mane of thick black locks out of the pigtails that seemed to stay stuck for an hour. With her arms above her head her spine was arched more, making her slightly taller. Before she even finished that, a truck pulled up.

"Need a ride, kids?" he asked.

Jasmine looked up, hands still in her hair, and tried not to frown at him. Annie spoke up beside her. "Yes! We do!"

"Got enough room for all of us?" Miles asked.

"And our stuff?" Art added, referencing the pile of luggage they'd dragged through the city.

The man smiled. "Of course!' He got out of his truck, taking Jasmine's hand out of her hair and holding it, bringing his face. "I have all the room in the world for a lovely girl such as you. I'm Mr. Arbok."

Jasmine smiled. "Oh, how interesting! We just met a Mr. Ekans a week ago."

The man paled.

Jasmine kept smiling, nodding as she spoke for emphasis. "Unfortunately, he was very afraid of ghosts."

Ariel screamed behind Mr. Arbok, causing his hair to stand on end and him to drop her hand to jump off the ground. Murtle laughed from deep in its stomach, causing his fingers to wiggle and feet to move, him still in mid air.

"Take it! Take the truck! It's stolen anyway take iiiiiiiit!" His voice vanished as he took off through the hills, feet still moving too fast for most laws of physics.

Jasmine watched him run, hands now behind her back. She worked on putting her hair back up, this time only pulling it halfway back. As she tied a bow tie knot with both ribbons for a bow as big as possible, she turned back towards the group. "Anybody know how to drive?"

All: "Pokemanz!"
Annie: "You must be swift as a Squirtle’s rapid spin!"
All: "Pokemanz!"
Eric: "Wiz all ze force of a Pidgey's gust!"
All: "Pokemanz!"
Mal: "With all da strength of a Cubone's bone club, arrr!"

Slight pause. Jasmine sighed.

Jasmine: "Mysterious as the dark side of Tyrooogue."

Annie laughed and clapped from the front seat. Larvitar copied her actions. "Ahh, that was great! Let's sing it again! Again!"

"Lar! Lar!"

"This time, Miles can sing the verses solo!"

Miles, whose chin was resting on his fist against the door, lifted his head just enough to narrow his eyes at her. She giggled. "I remember when we would sing it way back in grade school--"

"That's enough of that story," he muttered, though Annie could see the slightest shade of pink rise in his cheeks.

They had been driving for about an hour, and Annie had finally gotten everyone to coordinate a rendition of Pokemanz. Even the pokemon ended up singing and acting out the song as they all sang. Jasmine and Miles were both extremely hesitant, but Pirate Mal was helpful in prodding Jasmine, and Annie batted her eyelashes at Miles for his part.

Annie was now playing hand-clapping games with little larvitar when the Polish rock band cut off from the radio into static. Miles and Annie exchanged looks, but he shrugged. "Must be away from a cell tower."

"Doubtful," Jasmine called out from the back. The radio was turned up loooudly, so it wasn't a surprise everyone outside could hear the static. Pirate Mal had gotten all excited about pumping out the Polish jams. (Miles could only explain it by telling Annie, "He's a weird dude.") "I should think we're pretty close to town by now, unless they don't have any cell towers anywhere."

”We interrupt this program zzzt to forebear a forbearing forbearance of the utmost important nature! zzzt Fire! Delicious fire! Get your fire today! Raining fire! Falling fire! Burning, rolling fire! zzzt zzzt zzzt Artibartifast Siiri Fire!”

“Say wot?” Art raised an eyebrow and leaned forward through the truck.

”Fire on sale today and today only! Bugs and bugs and zzzt delicious Butterzzzt”

Miles grunted and lifted his right foot, kicking the radio with his heel. Mexican music began playing instantly.

“Gah! Citrus, would you quit doing that?!” Art grumbled.

Annie poked larvitar, who sat frozen in her lap with wide eyes staring at the radio. He looked up at her. “Lar.”

“HAAAAUNT--”

“LAR!”

The larvitar fell onto the floor of the truck when the haunter appeared from the seats. He laughed maniacally before floating around the front seat with pride. Miles waved his hand. “Git outta ‘ere.”

“Haunt, haunt, haunt!” Murtle flew back outside. Jasmine could be heard snickering quietly.

“Alright,” Miles announced, grabbing everyone’s attention. “I’m seeing some town up ahead.”

Everyone celebrated. “Aye, aye!” Mal shouted, standing up and staring out in the distance. Annie couldn’t see what he was doing, but she certainly imagined him staring through a rolled up newspaper. “Town, ho!”

2004

The Egyptian sun only smoulders without her here.

Candles line the walls of a dimly-lit funeral home, the walls lined with mourners from all the neighboring towns. Everyone who’d known Mother Priya had come to pay respects. Zoom in on a young girl no older than 6, her hand cupped over her chest in the bravest salute she can give her grandmother. The room feels sorry for her. The room thinks it understands her because another little girl lost another little grandma in another little town in a little country east of nowhere. The room says this happens every day, that sorrow can wait until the morning breaks. The girl says goodbye to her best friend and moves along to the end of the room where candles are lined against the wall in an altar. Without thinking, she reaches out, touches one, and watches the burning wax encase her fingers without feeling a thing.

Miles
Ein Sekt Village

"What'rrr ye lookin' at?" Mal poked his head over Miles' shoulder, which was ducked under the hood of the truck. Billows of smoke were fuming from the insides, and it made Miles cough.

"I wish I knew," Miles said, "but I'm just trying to be manly." He pulled out his head and wiped his hand across his mouth, leaving an oil mustache on his lip. "For all I know the truck is fine."

Annie rolled by on her back, followed by Larvitar and Patrat, tumbling down the hill and into a pile at the bottom. Giggles and Lar!s ensued.

"Where's Art and Jasmine? I asked them to scout out the village, not repopulate the planet."

"That be lookin' for booty, argh."

Eric sat in the back of the truck with Mareep under his head. A regular pillow, that one. "Perhaps they've been had, like ze delizus corphish would have been had you not zet zem free."

"FREE!"

Miles arced an eyebrow. "Eric has a cheering squad now?"

"FREEEEE!"

"Matey, ye have a matey on yer back."

Miles pulled out his phone and took a picture of himself and whatever was on his back.

Butterfree, The Butterfly Pokemon

Butterfree's wings are covered with poisonous powders that fall off continuously as it flies. This powder repels water, enabling it to gather honey even in the rain. Butterfree will roam up to six miles from its nest in search of honey, which it carries with the hairs of its legs.

Miles beamed. "A Butterfree!" He turned to see it, but it clung to the back of his shirt, making him spin in circles. It giggled.

"Free! Freeeee!"

Miles sighed. "Mergh. This thing won't let go. I wanna see it!"

"Well, it's a big blue butterfly with white wings and huge red eyes. Not much more to see, champ." Jasmine emerged from the bushes with an armful of fruit, followed by Art and Ohm, who tilted his head sideways to see the Butterfree.

"Well, if it won't let go, then I'll have to convince it to!" He balled his fists and began jogging in place, letting out a quick yelp before hauling ass to the hillside, leaping as high as he could over the ravine. In all honesty, he closed his eyes in fear of falling and hurting something skinny and breakable...like his body. But when he felt nothing, he opened his eyes and saw himself dangling mid-air over Annie and the baby pokemon. They waved.

"Freeee!"

Miles' eyes widened and bulged, and he flailed. "D-Don't let me down, Butterfree! I'll, uh, I'll give you food! Lotsa food! And candy! Poffins?!" Butterfree flapped her wings and swooped down, giving Miles a taste of a flying pokemon's life. Before long, his fear was mostly gone, and he was enjoying the sight seeing. From where they hovered, he could see a small huddle of houses beyond the trees. "GUYS! I SEE HOUSES!"

Jasmine called back, "I see a skinny hipster about to break his tail bone!"

Butterfree let out a weak sigh, nodding her head and dropping her wings low. Suddenly, Miles could feel gravity all too well. He let out a bellowing yell as he fell towards the truck, Butterfree right behind him.

"MELON!"

"MUK!"

"AHHHHH!"

"MUK! 8D"

Miles opened his eyes and blinked, safely cradled in Melon's loving arms. He looked around, making small noises as he searched for Butterfree. "Where...did she go?"

"Muuuuuk," said Muk, and pointed at a Pokeball that had fallen off of his belt. It was shaking back and forth with a light blinking in the center. A second shake, third shake...and it stopped.

Miles scrambled out of Melon's Muk and knelt in front of the Pokeball. "I...I caught a Pokemon..."

Everyone was silent, confused by the sadness in his voice. He turned to look at everyone else. "I didn't befriend her or even get to see her face properly, and she's trapped in a pokeball."

"Miles, Pokeballs aren't traps--"

"--but they're so small and compact, nothing but light can fit in there." He picked up the pokeball and pressed the button, releasing Butterfree in a gust of light. She blinked and dove into Miles' chest, hugging him with her tiny arms. "B-Butterfree?"

"Free!"

Art interjected: "Your pokeball did save it from a pretty nasty fall, mate. She probably loves you like her best friend now."

Miles blinked, studying Butterfree with a soft smile. "Mate. I'll call you Mate."