Young Writers Society

David | Celadon City

“Y’know,” David said as the gang ambled down the busy Celadon streets, “maybe we could just come back to deal with Crebbins later.” He was half-paying attention to walking, tossing a pokeball up and down with a flick of his wrist.

Art nodded in agreement, weaving through a stampede of kids with ice cream cones. “Technically, since Crebbins took over the Celadon gym, it was upgraded to a level 35 instead of 25--which means that most pokemon would be fully evolved, and definitely more trained than our gang.”

Sam crossed his arms, stopping and leaning against a light post at the cross walk. “I never did understand all that level jazz. I always figured my pokemon would figure themselves out, and we’d just train until...well, we became the best.”

Laura caught up with the stalled group, an eevee on her shoulder. “My family’s ranch has this one competitor in Fuchsia City--they use the level system to monitor pokemon growth, and it’s so confusing.”

David arched an eyebrow. “So you could measure the levels of our pokemon somehow?”

Art nodded, pulling out his pokedex. “Technically, yes, but I’d have to install the app in my pokedex...and I think the nearest app mechanic is in Gringey City, to the west.”

Sam pouted, seeming disgusted. “Just the name of that place makes me wanna hurl.”

Laura scoffed, and her eevee did the same--only cuter. “Gringey City ain’t all that bad these days. Sure, they have a pollution problem, but who doesn’t these days?”

Art interjected, “Technically, Pallet Town has a near-zero pollution rating.”

David poked out his chest proudly. “That’s right! I helped with the last Really Big Really Busy Clean Up Day. It keeps the plants in Pallet fresh and lush almost year-round. I mean, nothing hurts a plant more than toxins in the air.”

There was a long, drawn-out pause. Everyone turned to David. David turned to Art. “If Dax were to evolve...if he were a Nidoking...how much higher would his level count?”

“There’s only one way to find out.”

“You can’t want to leave Sin and Sunshine behind,” Sam groaned.

“It’ll take less than a freakin’ day to visit Gringey and get back in time for rematches! And maybe we’ll come up with a killer strategy in time, too; it’ll take it to beat Crebbins!” David looked at his miniature gang hopefully. “All in favor, say ‘Aye!’”

Laura Sherwood | Celadon City

Laura shrugged. "Aye," she said. "Why not?"

Truthfully, she needed the time to think. After the beating Toby took, she couldn't stand thinking of putting him through that again. But it was her only option. Crebbins wanted a rematch with Toby. Not with any of Laura's other pokemon.

Her hand drifted into her pocket as she glanced at the Eevee walking beside her. He had recovered just fine, thanks to the antidote, but she hadn't wanted to put him back in his pokeball yet. Fresh air was the best cure, her mother had always said, after all.

Her fingers brushed against the heavy fire stone in her pocket - so what, she'd snatched it from Crebbins' office. What did he need a box of fire stones for, anyway? He wouldn't miss one - and her heart flipped. What if Toby was happy being an Eevee? What if neither he nor Eli wanted to evolve?

"A party of six Eevees may be cute, but you'll be a terrible trainer. So you can't go adopting every Eevee mom and dad hatch if you're not going to evolve them."

Laura sighed and pushed her brother's voice out of her head. She really did need that trip to Gringey City to think.

"If Bluesy's in, so am I!" Sam shouted, clenching his fist in front of him. "We'll take that hole of slime down, and when we get back me and my pokemon will show Crebbins we mean business!"

Laura rolled her eyes and laughed. "If you say so, Samson." She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, and laughed even harder as she saw his quickly reddening face. "So are we going to get this show on the road, or what?"

Sam Martin | Celadon City

Well, Samson was better than Veronica. But Sam's face warmed up anyway, and he tried to hide it by saying, "Hahaha! Show on the road... Laura's so punny."

Everyone looked at him.

"That wasn't... funny," Laura said, looking at him like he grew a third head.

"Let's get going," David said, still looking at Sam strangely. "Which way, Art?"

Art peered at his Pokedex, and turned around in more than a circle until he decided upon, "We start with Snivy Street here, turn off onto Bulba Boulevard, then we'll find the Route."

"We not gonna tell Sunshine we're leaving?" Sam said. "I mean, Grimer City is muk paradise."

"It's Gringey City, Veronica."

Sam glared.

"Kristine and Sin will be too busy... doing what they do to even notice we're gone," David reassured. "It's not like Team Rocket would kidnap us."

"And they'd be more stupid than I thought they were if they tried anything in Celadon City," Laura put in. "I think we're good."

David nodded. "So let's start heading out now. The sooner we leave, the better!"

Kristine | Celadon City

"Siiiiin!" Kristine sang softly as she opened the front door. She looked around the room, but it was quite clear no one was there. "Sin?"

"Come in."

Crebbins the butler stepped into the room from the kitchen, as standing marble-still and emotionless as he always was, yet Kristine could detect that strong snotty presence he had as Crebbins the gym leader. She stepped inside anyway and closed the door. "Where's Sin?"

"Sinclair doesn't wish to see anyone at the moment."

Kristine raised an eyebrow, taken aback. "Is that Sin talking or you?"

"I recommend finding the rest of your powwow and returning at a later time."

Kristine wanted more than anything to reply to that snark, but instead she felt herself cower slightly and hunch inward innocently. "I'm afraid I don't know where I can find them now. Could I perhaps stay here without disturbing him?"

Crebbings thought for a minute. "Of course." Then he turned around and left the room again.

Sam Martin | Celadon City

"I bet we run into Team Rocket in Grimey City."

"It's Gringey City," Laura put in. "And you can barely handle our current bet. Why make another?"

"I'm just saying," Sam said, throwing his hands behind his head and staring up at the sky. "Now that we've actually mentioned Team Rocket without running into them, they're going to turn up."

"Have you even met them?" David asked.

"If Team Rocket had any intellect as well as a desire to ambush our group, they would come after us," Art said, leading the way with David. "While Kristine and Sin are on their own, they have Crebbins with them, and Crebbins is Sinclair's butler."

"I think the key word there is intellect," David said.

"We've had countless Team Rocket visits and ambushes on our Eevee farm," Laura said. "We've had to relocate a couple times just because they learned where we lived. But we're always moving around, and so they probably wouldn't find us if they wanted to."

"Here's the Route," Art said, staring up at the Route 3.14 sign. He tilted his head. The others followed his action.

"I've never seen a decimal route number," Art said, looking back at his Pokedex.

"Is it a trap?" David put in. "I don't think... Team Rocket's that smart."

"They are if we fall for it," Laura said.

"It's on the map though," Art muttered, squinting at his Pokedex.

"What route number is on the map?"

"It looks like a 314," Art said. "Maybe there's a decimal in there and the pixels aren't clearly displaying it."

Sam snorted. "Route 314? That must be the only large-number route in Kanto."

Everyone looked at each other, then they looked at David. He sighed. "Alright, let's take it. Even if it is Team Rocket, it lines up with the map, so let's hit the road and get to Gringey City!"

Kristine | Sin's Penthouse

She sat on the sofa and let out her little Lucy, Lumichu, Berry, and Peach. As much as she loved Melon, she really didn't need Crebbins on her bad side.

While the three pokemon talked and quietly played together on the floor, Peach meandered up to Kristine's feet. He looked up and cocked his head. "Pidge?"

Kristine smiled and picked him up. "I'm sorry for not having asked you if you were interested. Did you want to try the battle? I can't promise we'd be able to, but--"

"Pidge pidge!" Peach jumped up and down, flapping his wings so quickly, the objects around them started to move -- including Lucy. She tumbled back a few rolls before Lumichu pounced on her tail and held her down.

"For someone who doesn't train her pokemon, you have a good pidgey."

Kristine looked over her shoulder, and Peach jumped on her other one as Crebbins walked back into the room. "He looks ready to evolve any time, in fact."

"Pidgey!"

"I guess the opportunity hasn't come," Kristine said. "And he can evolve if he wants to."

"Why didn't you battle today?" Crebbins asked, appearing in front of her. "You might've lost, but a true trainer doesn't give up. You gave up before you even tried."

"I'm not much of a trainer--"

"Breeders are just as good as trainers."

Kristine looked up. "What?" She never mentioned to him the Pokemon orphanage she and her mom ran. "How did you find that out? Are you a secret spy as well?" she added with a giggle.

Crebbins didn't laugh. "None of you are clearly as strong as you should be, especially Sinclair. He is my concern, and at this point, he will have to go through another training program -- one that doesn't include children of your backgrounds."

Kristine looked at him with a small smile, trying not to show how hurt she was. "I don't know--"

"I wouldn't blame you, of course," Crebbins said smoothly. "After all, there was no male representative anywhere in your life to show you the ropes. You were born and bred meek." Kristine turned bright red, her face growing extremely hot right up to her ears. Crebbins didn't seem to notice. "Sinclair, however, had quite a bit of training and was once on a very strong track. Ever since he left for this tournament, he's been straying. It's time we get him back in the game, don't you think? If you cared about Sinclair's future at all, you would agree."

Kristine was too focused on breathing and keeping her tongue in check to respond. Peach did the talking for her, flying straight up to him and squawking as loudly as he could, flapping his wings rapidly. Crebbins, again, didn't seem to care. He walked toward the kitchen again. "Like I said before, he deserves better. Oh, and keep your pidgey under control. Fortunately for you, I'm in a good mood."

((Happy Pi(e) Day! 8D ))

Hayden | The Road to Saffron

The next few days traveling were tense, with Eve wanting Nick to herself, Katya still mad at Nick for forgetting about one of his pokemon, and Nick himself caught somewhere in the middle.

Hayden decided the best way to deal with the situation was to ignore it and focus on his own pokemon. With Saffron hosting a gym, he wanted to get some idea who had had traveling with him.

Ophelia was still strong, as was Kaze, but Salem and Murtle were a... slightly different story. They had directed themselves for so long, it was nearly impossible to get them to do anything he wanted, when he wanted.

Eve, when she wasn’t hovering around Nick, was always quick to point that out.

‘Maybe you should’ve spent more time training them’ she’d said once. Another time it had been, ‘What do you expect, having taken Pokemon in from random places?’

‘Felia had THONKed her for that one.

Hayden just tried to ignore her. At least she learned and mostly stuck to some variation of her first comment. It was getting slightly more difficult to control his pokemon, and prevent them from attacking her.

Katya didn’t help the mood much. While she didn’t attack him, she did attack Eve for attacking him. Whenever they got into a fight, Hayden just went away to try and train a bit. But the training tended to be more him watching pokemon play and trying to wrack up the courage to go back to the group.

Sometimes, Murtle wold go to his bag. When Hayden followed its rummaging, he found the Farfetch’d egg the haunter had saved awhile ago. He pulled it out and held it in his lap, getting the rest of his pokemon to gather around.

“Think it’s any closer to hatching?” he asked the group.

There was a slight murmur of pokemon noises, with a few shaking heads. None of them, Hayden included, were really sure how to hatch an egg. Let alone one from an endangered species.

“What kind of egg is that?”

Hayden jumped at Nick’s voice, not having heard other boy come up. He looked up from the egg as Nick sat down. “Farfetch’d. Its parents...”

“Haaaaaunt,” Murtle said sadly, looking down.

Nick frowned. “Its parents...?”

Hayden shrugged. “We found the egg in a mass of Grimmer and Muk. The pokecentre’s best guess was its parents flew away to find a non-polluted lake.”

The other boy looked sad at hearing the story, especially as he stared at the egg. “So you took it in?”

Hayden jerked his head towards the purple ghost pokemon to his left. “Murtle did. Wouldn’t let it go.”

Nick chuckled a bit. “Protective, is it?”

Hayden nodded. "I'm just not sure how long it’ll take to hatch...”

“Lemme see,” Nick said, holding his hands out for the egg. After a quick check with his pokemon to make sure it’d be alright, Hayden handed over the unhatched pokemon. Nick rubbed it very carefully, holding it just above his lap as if to check weight. “I think its close. But, it’s cold.”

Hayden rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah. Been in my bag the whole time...”

Nick frowned. “Just in your bag?”

A headshake. “In towels, so it didn’t freeze.”

“Good.” Nick examined the egg some more, still being careful about it. “Maybe if you let Kaze sleep with it, it’ll hatch faster.”

“Maybe.” Hayden rubbed the back of his head again. “I hope so, anyway.”

“Haaaunt.”

Nick looked up to Murtle, just a bit puzzled. Hayden did the same, only he had a slightly better idea of what it wanted.

“I think Murtle wants to hold it...”

Nick held the egg out for Murtle to take, and kept his hands close as normally-intangible ghost hands clasped themselves around the egg. Murtle seemed to be copying what Nick had done, rubbing the egg and almost seemed to be trying to warm it up.

“Want to take care of it, Murtle?” Hayden asked after a few moments.

“Haunt haunt,” it said with a nod.

Hayden looked at nick. “D’you think that’ll be enough?”

Nick nodded. “Eggs need to be cared for, usually. So if Murtle plays ‘parent’...”

That got a smile out of Hayden, albeit a small one. He pulled out his ‘dex to see what a Farfetch’d would need. He raised an eyebrow. “According to this, it’ll need a stick when it hatches.”

Nick peered at the screen, over his shoulder. “Hopefully it’ll hatch in the city... says here they like leeks the best.”

Hayden thought back. “There had been a lot of them in the Grimmer and Muk sludge...”

Nick got a sad look again. After a moment of looking at the words ‘endangered pokemon’ on the screen, he looked at Murtle. “Hopefully this egg’ll hatch.”

Hayden nodded, not sure what else to say.

Nick | Saffron City

Nick remembered as soon as he saw it.

Saffron City. The place his father died.

The metropolis hadn’t changed since he left it four years ago. Dusty buildings, law firms, banks, all reaching skyward. The Silph Co. tower sat in the centre like a spider in the middle of a commerical web. It was the same city. Only the adverts on the billboards had changed.

Katya whistled. “What a city...”

“Only the busiest city in the region,” said Eve sharing in the wonder. “They talk about it even outside Kanto.” Her dratini-scarf observed yet another landlocked city with mournful eyes.

Hayden just looked on. It looked like he was trying to drink up the whole scene with his eyes. To capture it and hold it and never let it go. Nick, on the other hand, had already had enough of it.

“I don’t understand why they couldn’t have kept some of the trees,” said Nick. The others ignored him. It looked like they were still transfixed by the skyscrapers.

“You know they have a train here,” Eve continued, “that floats along the track on magnets. They say it goes so fast it could take you out to other regions in the blink of an eye.”

“Art would love to see that,” murmured Nick. He missed his technologically gifted friend. Twice in the last week he’d had to reset his Pokédex. The screen kept locking with the weirdest message displayed. Something about ghost energy.

Eve pulled Nick to one side. With a sigh he turned to face her. It was better than looking at... that city. Eve was wearing that half-sympathetic look again, the type that expressed concern mixed with impatience. It would be easier if she were wholly indifferent rather than half-concerned.

“Have you thought about what I asked?”

Nick looked down at his shoes and hid his face behind his collar. It wasn’t something he wanted to deal with right now. Every time he thought about it his feelings constricted in his chest. Nick knew he needed space and fresh air.

“I’m not gonna call him,” Nick told her. “I can’t call either of them yet. It’s... too much, too soon.”

A real friend would have held out her hand at that point. Nick imagined they’d be soft and cool like the Water Pokémon she trained. Instead Eve placed her hands on her hips.

“Well you can’t say I didn’t try.” Eve flounced off toward the city. The rest of the group followed her. Only Hayden turned back to see if Nick was tagging along. Nick managed a smile and waved him on. After a minute his heartbeat steadied. It was the time to be strong again.

Nick let his eyes roam once more across the skyline of Saffron City.

It’s me, Dad, he thought. I’m home.

David The Man David Yeah Apparently

David wiped his sleeve across his forehead, letting out a whew of a breath as the gang slowly came to a stop. It was the middle of a highway--asphalt, painted lines, and lots of heat--and they’d been going for an hour with only the sounds of Sam and Laura picking at one another to break the silence. Sitting down on the abandoned roadway, David crossed his legs and looked at the bottom of his left shoe, poking at the slightly-melted rubber sole. It made his backside burn on the tar beneath him.

“Art,” he said, his voice cracking, “how much further to Gringey?”

Art had been tinkering with his gizmos for the entire walk, so when he let out a long, agonized sigh, everyone turned to look at him. “Unfortunately, my hardware is finding difficulty operating the current...operating...conditions.”

“I wouldn’t wanna work in this heat, either,” said Sam, stretching out his arms as Laura gawked at his sweat stains.

“No,” Art replied, taking a screw to the back of his PokeNav, “these are top-of-the-line Pokegadgetry; they can--and will--withstand a Charizard’s fire blast.”

“Then it must be another magnetic storm,” mused Laura. She looked at David. “Kristine was telling me earlier how you fought off that Magneton in Vermillion City. She said her Pokedex wouldn’t work for the entire day afterwards until the magnetic field returned to normal.” She put her elbow on her knee and tilted her head. “Down at home, we have problems with our Jolteon when thunderstorms come around. They make all this static electricity, and it really messes with the electronics. Heck, one time we had a cult of Rotom pop out of our appliances because they got a fake distress signal from Mama Jolteon...”

Laura kept talking as David’s mind drifted off. He thought for a minute, and then turned his attention back to Art, half-expecting him to know what the heck a Rotom was. Then he looked up at the sky, squinting. Then, his eyes grew very, very large. “Holy mother--! It’s Zapdos!”

There was a streak of lightning through the clouds above, a streak of light that burst into a golden bird with enormous wings. The wind blew down against the group of four as its wings pushed against the air around it, and it burned off into the distance with a crackling cry.

Laura ran ahead up the highway hill to watch it off, and gawked at what she saw. “Guys,” she said, brushing a hand through strands of blue, “you definitely wanna see this.”

The boys followed her lead, stopping at the crest of the hill with open mouths.

“Well-p,” said Sam, “looks like we found Gringey City.”

It looked like a scene from a thriller flick--a mass of black, rumbling stormclouds, all gathered over the towering factories and skyscrapers. And all through the city, jolts of lightning and rises of smog and purple gas.

It took them only a short while to reach the bridge that led into the city, and the policeman at the stop booth halted them, shaking his head as he came out to greet them. “I’m sorry kids,” he said in a deep, bitter Gringey accent, “a government task force has issued a strict command that absolutely no visitors may enter the city until hazard levels have dropped to a level conducive to the public.”

Laura raised an eyebrow.

“Basically,” he said, making the mistake of talking down to her, “y’all can’t come in.”


And that’s why the gang waited; heck, they waited so long that Sam fell asleep and started snoring, but finally, when the guard walked away--probably for a donut or bathroom break (or both)--they crouched down low and snuck through the gate and into the tunnel bridge leading into the gaseous city. It didn’t take long for the difference between the city and country to kick in; the smog and thick air caught them almost together, and their pace slowed.

“Perhaps it would’ve been ideal if we would’ve left, as the guard said,” Art murmured. Laura had taken a blue handkerchief from her bag and wrapped it around her nose and mouth.

She came up closer to David and brushed against his taller shoulder; “D’ya really think anyone’s gonna give us business while their entire city’s covered in superstank?”

David coughed and pulled the collar of his shirt around his face. “I dunno. But if they won’t, we can always try and help...I mean, KAH! It doesn’t look natural to me. And that usually means Rockets.”

”Did someone say ~*Rockets*~?”

Suddenly, there was a blast of rock and debris at David’s feet, knocking him back into Laura, into Sam, and then into Art. They flew back against the side of a bus stop, cracking the glass and making Art squeak in pain. David opened his eyes to get a look at their attacker, and slowly stood to his feet. In front of him stood an older teenage girl in a lab coat, hair pulled back and pokeball in hand. And to her side stood a prowling Persian.

David snarled. “If you’re with Team Rocket, get ready for trouble!”

Sam swung around to his side and held out Manny’s pokeball. “Make that double!”

“Oh, please. As if I’d want to fight any of you and tucker out my darling Persian.” She pulled a slender red device resembling a screwdriver from her lab coat and held out her hand. “I’ll need your pokedexes, please. Only they can verify trainer identification and clearance.”

“...clearance?” asked David.

“Yes. You see, Gringey City is under quarantine at the moment due to an invasion of poisonous pokemon. I am a member of the civilian resistance, and my name is Olivia Lovegood. Now please, show me your pokedexes.”

The four looked to one another and nodded in unison, providing their dexes to be checked.

“So you’re a band of three-badge trainers. Why are you here?”

“Uh--”

“--adventure--”

“--pokemon--”

“--to acquire a level app for our pokedexes,” Art concluded.

David nodded to him. “But we changed gears when we saw this place. People clearly need help, and we can give it to them.”

Olivia looked the four over for a few moments, retrieving a handheld from her coat pocket. She pulled up a grid of the city and pressed a button, causing all four pokedexes to beep together. “There. I have prior commitments, but if you can make it past the grunts, looters, and troublemakers, then meet me at the Silph Factory in an hour. Our team has reason to believe that the rocket hideout is stationed in an underground complex beneath the factory, and that’s where we’ll be fighting. Be ready for anything--this isn’t your normal Rocket antic.”

Olivia didn’t give time for a nod or reply. She pulled Persian back into its pokeball and released a Kadabra in its place. “Teleport.”

“Kadabr--!” And they were gone.

David turned back to the others and looked at the screen of his pokedex. In place of the usual encyclopedia was a blue, gridded map of the city with a path highlighted. “Guys,” he said, “I think we’re on a task force.”

“Heck yeah!” Sam cheered, “Task force AWESOME!”

Laura sighed and tightened her bandana around her face. “There’d better be money involved in this.”

And Murtle murtled.

Kristine | Sinclair's Penthouse

Sinclair never showed up.

Kristine sat quietly for a long period of time, but not even Crebbins made an appearance. She considered going in to check on Sinclair herself. It was unlike Sinclair to be hiding for so long, but with Crebbins breathing down his neck right now, she couldn't blame him for hiding away. She wanted to hide herself.

In fact, she would do just that.

She stood up, juggling the four pokeballs in her tiny hands. "Come on, guy," she whispered. "Let's go find the others. We can stop by later, maybe bring some ice cream or something--Where's Lucy? And Lumichu? Peach!" she hissed. The pidgey tumbled onto the coffee table in front of her like the loyal friend he was. "Pidgey, go find the others. Berry, help me look for them."

Peach flew away, and Berry followed Kristine around the room. She searched everywhere -- under the couch, behind the TV, in the bookshelves, on top of the lamps. At one point, she had knocked over an expensive-looking vase without knowing. Bulba caught it just in time -- as well as other miscellaneous items she neglected to notice fall to their dooms from her own two feet -- but Kristine never witnessed his ninja moves.

And she thought she was the babysitter around here.

Sam Martin | Gringey City

"Awesome!" Sam yelped, punching the air in excitement. "Alright, team, this is how it's gonna go. David and I are Red Squadron, Bluesi and Artsy Fartsy are Blue Squadron. Geddit? Geddit?" Sam winked at Bluesi's dumbfounded expression. "Okay, Red Squad will head in first, and Blue will take the flank. Watch our backs, Blue, and we'll go into any battle that's set in front of us. Be prepared to swap places if our pokemon get tired. Let's only use one pokemon though since we don't want to wear out all our pokemon in this poisonous gas air stuff--"

"Let's just move forward," Laura finally blurted. David and Art gave her grateful looks.

"But what about--"

"Just put one foot in front of the other," Laura said, indicating his own two feet.

Sam looked at them, shoulders slumped.

David looked from Sam's motionless feet to Sam's depressed face. "Soon, you'd be walking across the floor."

"Yes..." Laura eyed David carefully before casting her usual stern look at Sam. "Like I said, put one foot in front of the other--"

"And eventually, you'll even walk through doors!"

"On the contrary," Art intervened, "it is highly improbable for him to walk through doors as only ghost pokemon can, in fact, walk through doors and walls. Arguably, a pokemon with the Teleport ability, like we just witnessed, can also be considered to walk through doors, but I find that incredibly unreasonable as said pokemon is, in fact, disappearing from one spot and appearing on the other side with no sort of pathway in between."

Everyone stared at someone blankly.

"Let's just move foreward," Sam said dully, and led the way.

Lumichu the Lucious, Lumilicious, Lovable Likachu Lapparently | Sinclair's Penthouse

"Pike pi?"

Lumichu poked his head through the crack of the door for that little fluffy ball of trouble. Kristine never seems to witness the true troublesome nature of this baby eevee since Lumichu finds himself babysitting the pesky thing all the time. Once again, he has to go track the eevee down before any serious trouble occurs. Even if he never battled again, Lumichu would still evolve just by babysitting this pesky creature. And he wanted to evolve, oh, so much.

He would rule ALL THE MOUSE POKEMON.

"Pika..."

Lumichu finally snuck inside. He paused at the strong familiar human scent -- the scent of the boy with the really good snacks (oh, and the other eevee) -- but there was no indication of any humans in the room. It was as if the boy had left this very room only moments before Lumichu had entered it.

"Pika," he sighed to himself.

He perked up at the scent of an eevee.

"Pika--"

"Eev!"

And the sound of her voice.

"Chu!" Lumichu sprinted toward the closet and peered into the door. At the door's creak, Lucy popped up from the pile, her head hitting some see-through spectacles. Trapped beneath this strange human eye-wear, Lucy whirled and beamed at the sight of her playmate. "Eevee!" Lucy pounced -- and hit the clear goggles, falling back into the pile of toys.

Toys. The same toys Lumichu found earlier with Kristine. The pikachu grinned mischievously.

"PIKA PIIII!"

Lumichu cannonballed into the pile.

Sam Martin | Gringey City

"Maybe Kristine should've come after all," Laura mused. "She does have the one pokemon that could withstand this poison better than the others. It actually breathes this stuff, I'm sure."

"We haven't seen any action for two blocks," David muttered. He peered at his pokedex. "We're not even a fifth of the way there--"

"More like seventh," Art corrected.

Sam could hear their voices faintly. Even though he started in the front, he was now dragging far behind the group. The poison was finally getting to him. He wouldn't cover his nose with his shirt though as he found that to be the most uncool thing to do -- "Oof."

"Oh, for eevee's sake." Laura turned back toward the fallen comrade and kicked him in the arm. "Get up, Samwise. We've wasted ten minutes already."

"Twelve, actually--"

"Whatever." She dug in her bag and threw down an extra blue handkerchief. "Get up. Be a man."

"With all the--"

"I'm not doing the poetry thing again," she snapped. The poison seemed to be getting to her, too.

Sam put the handkerchief to his nose and stumbled to his feet after them, the three already on the move again. He tried to keep up, his head spinning ferociously, his hands clinging tightly to his nose through the handkerchief.

"Guys, could we stop for... a moment and... catch some water? Kristine always... has water for us... to use. And she dun have... no money. I ain't sayin' she a gold digger, but--"

A water gun hit him with fantastic aim, hurling him across the street onto the sidewalk. The sound of his friends speaking and eventually challenging to a pokemon battle was faintly heard through his ringing, water-clogged ears.

But he had to admit, he wasn't thirsty anymore.

Kristine | Sin's Penthouse

Kristine and her two remaining pokemon dashed toward the sound of her pikachu's voice. Peach flew into the room without another thought, but Kristine froze, recognizing the doorway as Sinclair's bedroom. Berry hobbled up to the door and stopped as well, peering up at her.

She tiptoed up to the door and knocked softly. "Sinclair?"

"Pika!"

She didn't wait. Kristine lunged into the room and hurled herself at the closet door, flinging it open.

Tiny Lucy popped up beneath a huge pair of goggles, nested in what appeared to be a helmet stuffed with gloves and other clothing gear. Lumichu whirled around behind the pile, holding a magnifying glass as if it were a treasured lollipop he didn't want to get away. His chubby face appeared even chubbier behind the glass. Peach wasn't down there, though.

"Pidge..."

Kristine looked up and gasped, her hands flinging to her mouth. Peach seemed to have darted into the closet before her, but he darted right into a bunch of shirts and sweaters that inevitably tangled up onto one hanger and trapping Peach in a net of clothes.

"Oh, Peach, thank you for finding them," she said, untangling the pidgey and releasing him. He flew out of the closet immediately and sat on the top of the closet door.

Kristine looked down at Lumichu, hands on her hips. Berry was already rescuing poor Lucy from the prison of gear. "Eevee!" she squeed as Berry's vines carried her out of the closet with him.

"Pi?"

Lumichu continued to peer up at her through the magnifying glass. Kristine tried her very best not to giggle. She had to prove she could control her pokemon just fine! So she looked at him. With the most awfully-played stern look.

"Chu!" He smiled, pleased with himself.

Kristine couldn't help it. She giggled. "Oh, come on. You know you can't do this!" She held out Lumichu's pokeball. "We're heading out now, so in you go."

Lumichu vanished into his pokeball, and Kristine put him on her belt, giving the Faelane Industries equipment one last puzzled look.

She turned out of the closet and shut the door. Lucy and Berry made it into their pokeballs, and Peach was the only pokemon out of his ball when the door opened. Kristine froze, speechless and staring at the person in the doorway.

"What are you doing in here?"

David Birch | West-Central Rocket HQ

David swung an enormous handle open, shoving wide an immense steel door with metallic echoes. After peering down into the long hallway of a descent, he turned back to his team and gave a quick nod, brushing his hair from his face. “Whatever Alex was talking about earlier must be operated from down here.” He looked back down while the others came to stand beside him. After a moment of toxic silence, he grinned. “If we take out the goons in this hideout, we may be able to fix an entire city. This is huge!”

Art tapped away on his Pokepad, squinting at the screen. “Before we go charging in, at least let me get a sensor map of the underground...”

“That can load while we advance and strategize,” said Laura, taking the first steps into the bunker. She turned to face the others. “We’ll be fine. What’s the worst that could happen?”

That’s when Sam perked up and trounced forwards with her, walking bravely into the tunnel. “I’m with Bluesi here. Nothing can get the best of the pros.”

David quietly shuffled past him, pulling a flashlight from his pack and shining it into the darkness.

“Except, you know,” Sam added, “a butler.”

__ __ __

The four trainers didn’t walk for long until they reached a large, open room with cameras adorning the walls. The ceiling, David thought, had to be at least thirty feet high. Red lights flooded the metal coating on the walls, giving the entire cistern chamber a very evil feel. The strange machines lining the walls didn’t give David any comfort either, as if the inhabitants were up to something bad.

David turned his head, looking at Art for affirmation. “These machines,” Art said, reading from his Pokepad, “seem to be taking in water from the Celadon Bay, harnessing it for...well, something bad, of course.” He scratched his head for a moment and pointed at one very large pillar machine that rose from floor to ceiling. “My bet is that this is what’s caused the blackouts in Gringey’s filter systems!”

David began to nod, cut off as a BANG echoed through the room. A huge door had fallen, blocking their path out. Sam eeped and dove behind Laura for cover.

“Welcome to the Rocket Hideout, my meandering little slugs.” Metallic whirring filled the room as an elevator shaft brought up a woman with long, angular black hair. She had a purple Pokeball in her hand, tossing it up and down, up and down. “Speechless, I know.” She sneered, pushing back a long strand of hair. “I am Agent Rose, and you’ll all about to become statistics on a news flash.” She thrust her arm forward with her pokeball, throwing out a stream of red light. “Golbat! Teach these twerps a thing or two about trespassing.”

Out from the red light, Golbat burst into its large physical form, screeching as its wings fluttered, stirring up a gust.

Sam stepped forward from behind Laura and took a pokeball from his belt. “I’ll take care of this, guys. Just leave it to Samwise the BRAVE!”

Art coughed into his sleeve, muttering under his breath. “If you have to say you’re brave, then you’ve horribly misunderstood the concept.”

“Nonetheless!” he declared, unphased, “Agent Rose! Golbat! You’re both goin’ down! Marie!” The pokeball threw out a stream of light, producing a stand-up-straight sheep with sparks jumping from its cheeks. “Marie, thunderbolt!”

The sheep charged forward into action, light dancing around its body as it discharged electricity into the air. Agent Rose pressed a hand to her mouth, chuckling.

The last thing Sam saw was Golbat diving--not for Flaaffy, not to dodge the thunderbolt--but in a beeline straight for him.

-- -- --

It all happened so quickly, David wasn’t sure how to react. Laura rushed to pull the unconscious Sam away from the battlefield, and David took out Charmeleon’s pokeball, throwing him into action. “Vash, that thing hurt Sam--don’t you dare hold back.”

Charmeleon’s eyes glossed over, jaw tightening into a beastly scowl as he ran forward. He pulled apart his jaws as Golbat dove once again, and the lizard spat out one, two, three blasts of fire out into the air, all barreling into Golbat with a loud thunder. The bat shrieked and fell to the floor, wings twitching.

Agent Rose didn’t react. She slowly retrieved her pokemon into the dark ball and pressed a finger to her ear. “Yes, sir. Yes, I understand.” And then, in the creepiest, most villainous way David could imagine, she smiled.

“My higher-ups would like to see you, Mr. David Birch.”

David gritted his teeth, balling up a fist. “I should have Vash roast you for what you did to Sam!”

Laura had the unconscious boy lying in her lap, trying to rejuvenate him. Art was quick at work, trying to figure out what Golbat had done.

“Well, you certainly aren’t afraid of that nasty little taste for revenge, now are you?” Agent Rose slid a finger across a control on her wrist, discretely hovering over a button. “Like I said, my higher-ups would like a word with you.” And she clicked.

Before David could move, the floor beneath him had swung open, dropping both him and Charmeleon out of the room.

Pleased with her loss, Agent Rose smirked at the other three remaining. “You two should rush him to a hospital. We’ll be sure the press is there waiting on you...in fact, tell them what Team Rocket did to your friend. And tell everyone that we’ve taken another.” She grinned, pressing the lever to release the barrier behind them. “Now run.”

Kristine | Sinclair’s Penthouse

“Oh, no!”

Kristine jumped up from the couch, alerting everyone around her – including Sinclair. He had found her in the closet with Lumichu and Lucy, but once they sat down, the two of them finally talked things over. From what Kristine could tell, he was still down but feeling better nonetheless, even if it was fake.

She looked up from her Pokedex. “I got a message from Laura. Apparently, Sam’s in the hospital!”

Sinclair stood up now. “Anything else?”

“Just that they’d explain things when we got there.” Kristine was incredibly panicked now, and she returned Lumichu and Lucy to their pokeballs without any warning. “We have to go.”

Sin blinked as she walked around the couch and headed for the door. “Hold on, it must not be that bad. Just calm down.”

Kristine stopped and whirled. “No! You know how tough he likes to act no matter how hurt he is. Well, he was either caught or seriously injured. Now, let’s go!”

“I’m partial to the former,” he muttered to himself as he grabbed his bag. “We’re going out, Crebbins.”

There was no reply as he closed the door behind him.

----

Sam | Celadon General Hospital Room #1337

“I’ll take care of this, girls. Just leave it to Samwise the BRAVE!”

“Oh, Sammy!”

“You’re so strong, Veronica!”

Sam’s chest puffed out further as the ladies swooned in his arms. The redhead was all giggles and praised nearly everything he said and did. The other girl was snarky and clever, but for some reason, he really liked that.

“My higher-ups would like to see you, Mr. David Birch,” said some obscure voice ahead of him.

“Oh, hell, no. Not while I’m around. Excuse me, ladies,” he said, leaving the giggling and smiling girls behind him. “I challenge you to a duel.”

Some weird sensation told him the person smiled wickedly. “So be it. Marie, thunderbolt!”

Sam growled. “You dare use my own pokemon against me? I should have Vash roast you for what you did to Marie! But I’ll get her back right here, right now. Vash, get ‘er—and don’t you dare hold back!”

Before Sam could figure out what happened, the fight was over. Sam was on his knees, his charmeleon nowhere in sight. His head hurt so badly, his knuckles turning white from how hard his grip was on his temples. The mysterious figure walked away, her voice echoing in her wake. “Tell them what Team Rocket did to your friend.

“And tell everyone that we’ve taken another.

“Now run.”

Sam couldn’t, though. His legs wouldn’t move. All he could do was sit there, doubled over, holding his head and praying to friggin’ Zapdos that his head wouldn’t explode. The girls seemed to have vanished considering that, instead of them, two completely different individuals came and pulled on his arms, trying to get him to move.

“Samuel Veronica Martin, we must do as she says. It is the most logical thing to do considering the awful circumstances you got us into. I also recommend you no longer lead the group—”

“Shut-up, Artsy-Fartsy. Get up, you idiot. You look like a pathetic puppy I want to kick. Hard.”

“Wait... I know you—OW!”

“OW!” Sam sat straight up in bed after that kid’s sharp kick to his skull and clutched his throbbing head. “Damn that Jason—what the hell?” He paused, staring at what appeared to be a blanket on him. He blinked. He looked up at the room he was in, the bed he occupied, the red and white balls lined on the side table.

Another throb to the head. He winced and clutched at it again. “Why does my head hurt this fu—”

He blinked at the sight of the person in the door. He squinted. “You were in my dream.”

Kristine | Hospital Room #1337

“You were in my dream.”

“Sam!” Kristine cried out with relief. She ran into the room and hugged the guy despite his protests and questions. “I was so worried when Laura sent me the message that you got hurt. You should have told me you left town!” She withdrew to see Sam stare at her blankly. Her brow furrowed. “Sam? Are you alright?”

Sam didn’t move.

Kristine smiled weakly and sat down in the chair next to the bed. “Sam, it’s me. Kristine.”

He stared.

She tilted her head.

“You were in my…. Um. Wait.” Sam’s cheeks flood bright red and he shook his head, which only made him wince more. Kristine put a hand on his knee. He looked at her, his face still scrunched in pain. “What’s going on? Where’s Jason? I’m going to—”

It was Kristine’s turn to stare blankly. “Okay, um. Art filled me in,” she started extremely slowly which would probably seem insulting on a normal day to Sam, but he seemed to be struggling following even this tempo. “He said you infiltrated the pizza delivery parlor in Gringey City, slipped on a chunk of cheese and pizza sauce on the floor, skidded into the kitchen through the swinging doors, and caused a collision with about five employees, falling down and hitting your head pretty hard on the counters.”

Sam and Kristine stared at each other.

For a long time.

He sat up. “That’s bull!” he shouted. “Art told you that?! I saved his damn life! Marie thunderbolted the damn Golbat and—”

Kristine started laughing now, covering her mouth as she tried to hold it back. Sam fumed. “Who’s idea was that, then? I bet it was—”

“So you were dreaming about Kristine, huh?” Laura said from the doorway. “That’s adorable.”

“She wasn’t the only one in my dream—ah,” Sam quickly shut his mouth, his face turning an even darker shade of red. He looked away. Laura eyed him carefully, pulling up a chair next to the giggling Kristine.

“Are the others coming up?” Kristine asked.

“Slowly but surely,” Laura nodded.

“Okay, well!” Kristine’s eyes brightened. “You’ll never guess who showed up while you were out.”

Sam looked at her. “How long was I out exactly?”

“Like… two minutes, but that’s beside the point,” she said quickly. Even Laura looked at her strangely, but Kristine paid no mind. “Hayden! Hayden showed up! He said he might travel with us some more! It’s so fantastic. The old group is almost back together again!”

“That’s the… quiet twerp, right?”

She stared, still smiling. “…Yes. Yes, it is!” She giggled. “I imagine he’s still at the Pokecenter right now. I’ve been here the whole time, though. I’m not sure what’s happening. I do know Art was feeling really down, though, after David was… taken. He was thinking about not traveling anymore to maybe help locate him.”

“I wonder how he knew you were awake now.”

Sam | Hospital Room #1337

Sinclair entered the room, about as depressed as Sam remembered him to be. He walked in with good ol’ Hayden following him. Unfortunately, a third familiar face followed that one.

Sam blinked. He looked to Laura. “David’s really gone?”

She nodded.

He looked up at Crebbins, the unfortunate face in this new, broken gang. “I’m so loved, even you came to see if I’m alright!”

“Unfortunately, no,” he said. “I came with a challenge for you all – or for the remainder of you all.” He eyed Sinclair at these words, skimmed over Kristine and Laura, and back to Sam. “I figure I would share it once you were awake.”

“I woke up not even ten minutes ago, though. Were you spying on me or something?”

“Good timing, I daresay,” he said. He turned to the entire group at this point. “I realize none of you won a badge this last round, and I believe it’s quite explanatory as to why that is: You all are weak.” He studied Sinclair again. “However, I’m willing to give you another chance later.

“What I suggest is you to continue your travels – possibly to Fuchsia City – and come back when you’re pokemon are stronger. We will face each other then, and I hope to see you all improve quite dramatically. I refuse to battle you until then.” He looked to Hayden and then to Kristine. “This can very well include you. In fact, I hope to see that pidgey again.”

Kristine looked away in thought. The others also looked away, not wanting to face Crebbins. Sinclair, however, was the exception, watching him with that defeated look.

“That’s all,” Crebbins said simply and left the room without another word.

Sam watched the group, everyone looking at each other. No one really knew what to do now. David was gone, Art wasn’t around, Hayden apparently wasn’t sure if he was still going to travel with them or not. Buying time, apparently? Who knew? In the end, everyone looked to Laura the most.

“Fuchsia City, Bluesi.”

Laura looked to him. “Ready to hit the road?”

“The road or the boat?”

“You get the road.”

“…Ow, my head is really killing me. I think… I think that medicine has some… drowsy effect. I might be asleep for another week…”

“See you at the Tournament then—”

“I’m up, I’m fine, let’s go,” he said, and hastily swung his legs over the bed. Laura and Kristine immediately turned away and out the door. Sam sighed heavily, looking down at the hospital gown he apparently wore, face red once again.

“You astound me sometimes,” Sinclair said.

Sinclair Audley | Celadon Hospital

"All ready to go?" The nurse smiled at Sam.

"Personally, I still think he has concussion," Sin muttered. Sam scowled at him.

"I'll just get a doctor to come check you out, then you should be good to go on with your friends!"

"Thank you." Sam smiled sweetly then gave dagger-eyes to Sin. "See what you've done? I have to have another check up?"

"Oh, get over it."

The doctor, an elderly man with a Sinnoh accent, came and pulled a curtain around Sam's bed but urged Sin to stay. Thus, Sin and Hayden heard a lovely conversation about Sam's various bodily functions, his last bowel movement, last micturition, his last-

"Dude, I'm a dude!" Sam shouted loudly.

"My mistake. I can't keep up with you kids' fashion these days."

Sin sniggered. "Hayden?"

"Yes?"

"Let's never forget this day."

Eventually, Sam was discharged though with a warning to mind himself some ointment for the bruising on his chest.

"Right!" he said, rubbing his hands together. "First of all, come here, Hayden, you little idjit."

Hayden was pulled into Sam's attempt at a bear-hug. While Sam was bigger than Hayden, the difference wasn't enough for the hug to be anything but infinitely uncomfortable and awkward.

"Now, if I can give Bluesi a proper hello..." Sam said, freeing Hayden who quickly stepped back to give him a very wide perimeter.

"Yeah, keep dreaming. Here." She tossed him a set of Pokéballs. "You can repay me later for keeping your Pokémon alive. You know they're the ones who are supposed to take the hits, not you? You're supposed to be around to look after them."

"Yeah, yeah," said Sam, releasing Dexter from his Pokéball. "So, how do we get to Fuschia City?"

"Ferry."

"Do we have the fare this time, or can we stow away again?" Kristine asked excitedly. "Oh, oh, please say stowing away! That was so much fun!"

"Um. No it wasn't. Remember? We got bored and ended up in Fight Club and nearly died."

Laura looked shocked. "You were all a mess before I came along, weren't you?"

"Besides, I'll pay for you all," Sin said. "I broke my piggy bank when I was at home." They all gave him a strange look and he shrugged. "It's not like I'll be there again any time soon. Might as well put the money to good use."

No one argued. They left the gym and went into the blaring Celadon sunlight. "Ferry terminal's this way," Sin said, pointing with one hand as his other played with his Pokéballs, and eventually decided to let Lea and Noah out. Lea gambolled along the street for a while with Laura's Eevees before getting tired and Sin picked her up and carried her the rest of the way, arranging the blue ribbon around her neck as she slept in his arms.

He was walking at the front of the group, and heard Sam hurrying to catch up with him. "So... you sort out your butler issues?" Sam asked.

"What issues?"

"Seemed like there was some tension between you and Crebbins."

"Yes, well, there is," Sin said curtly.

"He's been a Trainer much longer than you, you shouldn't be ashamed to lose to him-" Sam began.

"I really don't want to talk about it," Sin said honestly.

"Okay. Well." Sam laid a hand on his arm. "If you need anyone to talk to, I'm here."

Sin had to stop walking to stare at Sam, the stare was that intense. Kristine caught up to him. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong with Sam, you mean. He's being so... nice."

Kristine looked to where Sam was gambolling with the remaining Eevees. "They give him any special drugs in the hospital?" she asked out of the corner of her mouth.

"Maybe you've all just been a good influence on him," Hayden said hopefully.

"Then let's hope we don't meet any bad influences," Kristine said and giggled.

"Well, it looks like it's just us five," Sin said. "Until we find David."

"Or Jason," Kristine pointed out.

"Yeah but come on. What are the chances of that happening?"

Profile


History:

Pokemon Team:




Malcolm Jayne| Celadon Bay Ferry

“Your Heracross punches like a baby girl wanting her bottle!” Jason took a huge gulp out of his water bottle, snapping his fingers. “Tyrogue, take that joker down already.” The little pokemon rolled forward, arms and legs tucked to his body, and let out an energy-packed Strength blow into Heracross’ gut.

“Now that is down right dirty.” Mal grabbed a pokeball from his belt, bringing back the blue beetle. “I thought you were better than that, Durden.”

Tyrogue stood up, laughing as he stretched back and forth. Jason walked out from his side of the ring, dropping a towel over Tyrogue’s head. “Dry up, bud. Gotta smell good if any ladymons are on the boat.”

“I’m a bit peached, wanna head into that fancy dining hall and grab some food?” Just as Jason was about to answer, his stomach growled, rattling the wrinkles in his shirt.

“Yeah. Yeah, I guess I do.” Jason tossed his towel over his shoulder and fastened his gloves on his hands. “But as soon as we clean out the buffet, it’s training time again. Only Jazz is really good against poison types, and I hear Koga’s grandkids don’t play around in the Fuchsia gym.”

“Yeah, we need to be in peak physical condition for this one.” Mal headed towards the ring’s exit. “I say my Vulcan versus your Tuck, test of flames.”

_________________________
Cafeteria

“Let’s get out of here, it smells like old,” Jason said through a pinched nose. Mal nodded, and the two pushed back through the army of the old. “What is it with old people and 4pm dinner anyway?” Jason collapsed into a lounge chair, causing a wave of gravy to splatter across his chest.

Mal chuckled as he sat himself down at a table nearby. “I don’t know, and I don’t feel like talking about old people while I eat my peas.”

Jason scoffed, loaded his mouth full of some strange green corn. “Dude, what are peas without the smell of old people diapers?”

“Better off.” Mal groaned, unable to see his peas without thinking of pee. “You are the worst, you know that, right?” and before he could answer Mal scooped up a heap of mashed potatoes off his plate, chucking them towards Jason.

“Whoanelly--” Jason ducked, sliding down into his chair just as the potato glob-bomb flung over his space, soaring straight across the dining area and into a mesh of very familiar, very red hair.

The red-head screamed. The red-head turned around. The red-head saw Jason, and Jason turned, bolting out of his seat towards the door.

“Stop! Right! There, Jason Mason!”

He froze mid-stride, face pale.

“Wait one moment. Mason? Your last name is Mason? I am so so--” Jason grabbed at Mal’s arm, frantically trying to pull him away from the scene. “I take it you know these people, Jason?”

“Of course he knows us,” one boy said, walking up to the two. Mal looked up at him and tilted his head. “He spent the best part of the past month traveling with us, you’d think he’d remember.”

“He didn’t mention any of it to me, granted we’ve only been traveling together for a few weeks.”

The red-head came up next, with a blue-haired girl combing potatoes out of her hair. “Yeah, well, did he mention that he left us in a hurricane?”

Jason looked away while the other two joined the scene. “Technically, Sunshine,” another boy said, “we left him in the hurricane.” The others turned to give him glares, and he just shrugged. “Y’know, just being fair to an old buddy.”

Jason looked around at their faces, and then looked at his food. Back at their faces, and then at his food. “Guys, it’s cool seeing everyone and all, but...” He really stared at his food. “I have, uh. I have a spastic...colon... Yeah. And if I don’t eat now, it’ll just be a lost cause for the rest of the night.” He took in a breath, holding out his hands. “So...”

“I think my friend means to say he would love to catch up, how about five. We can meet at the battle ring up top.” Jason nodded. “See, now why don’t you all get settled in or what have you.” Mal turned to the girl brushing potatoes out of her hair. “And I must apologize for that, I meant to his Mr. Spastic Colon.”

“Honeslty,” Blue said, “we’ll get out of your hair if you just stop saying spastic colon.” She chucked a handful of potatoes over her shoulder and into an old lady’s teacup. “Five o’clock. The arena.” She looked warily at Jason. “Not sure if it’s nice to meet you yet.”

As they all walked out of the dining hall, Jason let go of Mal’s arm and went back to his seat to dig back into his food.

“Spastic colon? Really?”

“Shut up and eat or I mention elderly bowels.”

“And now I’m not hungry anymore.”

Jason | Outer Deck

“I get that you don’t like traveling with people who aren’t that strong, but why just walk away like you did?” Mal was picking his teeth with a tiny metal screw from a broken pokeball, and tossed it over the railing into the ocean when he was done.

“It seemed like the right thing to do,” Jason replied, “they all had such different interests in battling than I did.” He looked out over the land as the boat moved past Celadon harbor. “They were all so friendly and lax with their training, and I wanted to be stronger, be the best I could become.” And he shrugged. “So I left to fly solo so I wouldn’t be held back.”

Malcolm pressed the call button for the deck elevator and leaned against the wall. “So we’re just gonna leave these guys when we land in Fuchsia?”

Jason stepped into the door as it opened, a vaguely sad look in his eyes. “Yeah. Yeah we are.”

The elevator door opened to the arena level on the top deck, and the heavy sea breeze rolled in, blowing back Jason’s hair exposed from under his hat. He and Malcolm walked out onto the deck and watched as the others looked up from their conversation.

“I think it’s time we catch up,” said Sinclair as they walked out onto the deck, “now that you’re unarmed and cleaned of colon issues.”

Jason shrugged and walked out to the battlefield. “I left Vermilion, met Malcolm on the Saffron Bypass--by the way, this is Malcolm--trained in the Northern Lavender mountains, and then got my Sanctuary Badge from Aquila in Lavender Town.” He took out his badge case and held it up, showing off the purple cross. “Wasn’t sure about challenging Sabrina or Crebbins, so we skipped Saffron and Celadon, and now we’re here.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Sin said, interrupting him. “You knew that Crebbins was the Celadon gym leader?!” His face flushed red. “You knew and you didn’t tell me?!”

Kristine and Lumichu pulled him back with hugs and little mouse noises.

“You never asked,” Jason replied. There was a long moment of nothing while Sin tried to calm down, arms crossed and eyes rolling. And then Mal walked up beside Jason.

“I’d like to battle you,” he said, and turned to Jason when he gave him a Look. “Both of us would. If you’ve traveled with Jason before, I’d like to know how strong his company is, and, well, if I measure up any.”

Sin scoffed. “Absolutely not! We won’t play into your childish little ga--”

“You can treat it as a grudge match,” Jason interrupted.

Sin paused, lips pursed. “...fine. A double battle. Sam and I against you and Malcolm.”

Jason retrieved a pokeball and nodded.

On a side-bar, Kristine asked Sin, “Are you sure using Sam is a good idea? What if he can’t even remember what pokemon do?”

He shrugged. “It wouldn’t be that much different from before, really.”

Sam smirked. “I heard that!” And he pulled out a pokeball and clicked the button, shrinking it down to pocket-size again. And then he just stared at it. “Uhm. I meant to do that!” And then he threw the ball onto the deck, releasing Scyther. The green mantis stretched right and left and swung its scythes in front of itself, leering at the two opposing him.

Malcolm took out his pokeball and released Vulcan--his prized Quilava.

Before Jason could make a move, he heard pokedexes ding on the other end.

“Never seen a Quilava? I feel special!”

“Shh,” said Kristine, “this is my favorite part!”

Quilava

The Volcano Pokemon. The evolved form of Cyndaquil, this fire-type pokemon is covered in flame-resistant fur that can withstand even the strongest fiery assault. Before battle, it turns its back on its opponent to demonstrate how ferociously its fire blazes.

“That sounds--”

“--epic! I never thought I’d see another Johto starter in Kanto!” Sam did a quick dance and balled his fists. “Oh HECK yeah! This’ll be fun!”

Jason, making his signature battle routine, turned his cap backwards and tossed out his pokeball, sending Gligar onto the field. He was shortly followed by Sinclair’s Squirtle.

Again, pokedexes sounded off with the appearance of a new pokemon. Jason sighed.

Gligar

The Fly-Scorpion Pokemon. Gligar is capable of flying through the air without making a sound. After locating prey, it will clamp down onto its victim’s face and inject toxins with its poisonous tail.

Jason looked to Malcolm, and they nodded together. The blue-haired girl walked to the edge of the ring and took a handkerchief out of her pocket, holding it in the air. “I’m Laura, and I’ll be your mediator, since no one else volunteered to do so.” She looked questionably at Hayden. “On my mark...get ready...battle!”

“Vulcan! Swift attack!”
“Gligar, Hone your attack power and ready for fury cutter!”
“Noah, start water gunning until they beg for aquatic mercy.”
“Scyther...do your thing.”

The Pokemon took to the battle, choosing their targets immediately. Quilava dove over the center of the ring, releasing a flurry of star bolts right over Squirtle’s head. The turtle bounced into his shell and began spinning, deflecting the stars as quickly as they fell.

Gligar and Scyther took to the air, engaging in a sword fight that Jason could only describe as epic. Though Scyther’s speed was greater, Jazz’s attack power was getting higher the longer he battled.

Down below, a standoff between fire and water blew steam around the battlefield, and each time one combatant would relent their attack, the other would dive in with a new trick, trying to gain the upper hand. When Squirtle dove into his shell to defend from another blast of swift, Quilava dove under him, tossing the shell into the air and breaking the duel going on above. The two pokemon broke apart, each taking after their other respective opponent.

As squirtle fell to the deck floor, Gligar began spinning in his descent, the sharp edges of his claws glistening in the fake stadium lights. Squirtle popped out at the worst possible time, taking a direct blow from the scorpion pokemon. Dizzied, he rolled off to the edge of the battlefield to regain his focus.

Scyther dove after Quilava, trying to get in several good slashes before the inevitable blast of flames could hit him. Just as he was getting winded, Quilava missed a step in his dodging, taking a direct blow to the shoulder. The fire pokemon rolled to the side, but tucked its legs and arms under its belly and began spinning on the deck, gaining momentum in the biggest, fastest, most wicked flame wheel Jason had seen from him. Vulcan shot forward, pummeling scyther before he could move out of the way.

And that just left Jazz and Noah. Jason caught Sin’s eye, grinning at his old rich friend before calling out to Gligar. “Finish him off, Jazz! Faint attack!”

Gligar vanished, his speed taking over his focus, and dove in to finish off his opponent--but Sin recalled Noah at the last moment, and Gligar stabbed his claws into the floor of the battlefield, promptly getting himself stuck.

As the battle clearly ended, Laura couldn’t say a word, like she was still perplexed in the heat of the match. When it finally caught up to her, she tossed the flag at Jason. “Jason and Malorie--”

“--Malcolm--”

“--win!”

Jason pulled Jazz back into his pokeball and walked over to Sin, who was having a quiet, under-the-breath conversation with Kristine. When they looked up at him, there was an agonizing moment of silence akin to the breath before diving into a pool of freezing water. And they all just looked at one another. “You’re going to Fuchsia?” he asked, looking at Sin, then Kristine.

Slowly, hesitantly, Sinclair nodded.

“Then...”

Malcolm interrupted, pushing Jason aside. “He’d like for us to join your party. To train, I suppose. Is that right, Jason?”

He nodded.

“Then yes. It’s settled.”

There was another pause. “No,” Sinclair said, angry eyes turning to Jason. “You left your friends in the midst of a disaster, and did not warn me that was well on my way to grieving the closest person in the world to me!” He turned away, grasping the railing of the ship’s guard. “You could have warned me.”

Jason looked out at the sun going down and took off his hat, his hair fluttering out in the wind. “Would it have hurt any less if I would’ve told you, Sin?”

The boy loosened his grip and paused.

“Honestly. Honestly tell me that you would’ve actually taken anything I said to you as legitimate help.”

There was complete, awkward silence from the others.

“Guys like me, Sin, we’re not good at helping friends before the fact.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets. “But I’m going to assume that this isn’t about me being a bad friend.”

Kristine gave Jason a look, that please look.

“You fought Crebbins, and you lost.” Jason turned on his heels, ready to walk off. “And the only way to consume that anger is to beat him and show him that you’re a good trainer. Feel free to stop me if I’m wrong.”

But Sinclair stayed silent.

“If you want our help, we’ll talk when we meet in Fuchsia. I hate emotional moments, and I ain’t about to have one tonight.” He put his cap back on and walked off the deck, Malcolm hesitantly following him.

Kristine | Outer Deck

Kristine bounced anxiously on her toes. The tension lingered in the air way too long for her to handle. Hayden stood quietly next to her. The only source of any sort of amusement was Laura occasionally kicking Sam, who sat on his knees in the spot he had battled in.

“Well, I’ll admit it!”

Out of nowhere, Sam bounded on his feet. Laura jumped out of her skin and right on Kristine’s other side. The boy put his hands on his hips as if he were Superman.

“I think Jason’s gone mental!”

Silence.

Kristine snorted. A long one. Like a foghorn.

She peered up at the entire group staring at her now pink face, and she shrugged innocently.

Laura looked to Sam. “I’m fairly certain one could argue that statement right now.”

Sam meandered over to the group until he could swing both arms around Sin’s and Hayden’s shoulders. Kristine wondered for the briefest moment if he was… well. Mental. He had a goofy smile on his face, winked in the girls’ direction, and said opened his mouth as if about to say something. It stayed open for about a minute.

“I think a fly just went down his throat,” Laura muttered.

“I’m thinking we should take Sinbad here and go meandering around the ship—”

“Please do not include me in any sort of plan that’s concocted by yourself,” Sinclair said, removing Sam’s arm from his shoulder.

Kristine popped over by Sin, hands behind her back. “Siiiiiiiin, I think we need some ice cream.”

“No, thank you.”

“Yes, thank you!”

Kristine took Sinclair’s arm, dragged him over to Hayden to link with his as well, and led both her boys off the outer deck, leaving Laura and Sam by themselves.

Laura (Sorry, Jabber’s tired. Apparently.) Sam | Outer Deck

Sam huffed and leaned his back against the railing, his mouth twisted in such a weird facial picture of deep thought.

He thought.

Thought some more.

“See ya—”

“Wait, Bluesi!”

The girl stopped in mid stride and sighed before slowly turning back around.

“I’m all concerned—”

“Wait!” Laura put up a hand, stopping Sam from speaking further. She took a moment to think about what he had just said. After a long moment, she peered up at him from the corner of her eye. “I had no idea that word was in your vocabulary.”

Sam blinked. “You know… I don’t think it was. I never say that word.” Now he was confused.

“Okay, just… talk before you hurt yourself. Again,” she said, waving that topic aside.

“Okay, okay. I was thinking we need to cheer him up like… more.”

Her face fell into such awe-inspiring awe – it was awesome. “That Golbat really hit you hard, didn’t it?”

“What?”

“Don’t include me in any of your plans, Samantha.” She turned around and started walking off.

“I’ll bet you ice cream that I can make him smile!” He threw his fasts onto his hips again, his chest puffed out proudly.

She stopped, turned, and smirked. “You’re on.”

Kristine | Cafeteria

“So I was looking at the dessert menu earlier, and there’s this spectacular sundae with just about everything you can imagine on it. Let me find it quick.” She dug her face in a menu as the boys helped themselves to a stool at the ice cream bar.

“I won’t be having anything,” Sin said.

“I’m not hungry either,” Hayden muttered.

“Here it is!” Kristine piped up, ignoring the boys. She pointed to the dessert as the boys leaned in to read it:

Vulpix’s Volcano

Have the favorite dessert recommended fully and completely by every Vulpix around (or any other pokemon whose name begins with the letter V)! Three scoops of vanilla ice cream is the beginning of a blast-astic dish: fudge, butterscotch, chocolate chips, sprinkles, and a red, red cherry top this bad-émon right off. This dessert’s so kickin’, Hitmonlee’s Mega Kick will seem like a mere spoonful of sugar!

“That is a heart attack waiting to happen.”

“Oh, don’t be silly, Sin. Excuse me! Can we get three of these—”

“No!” Sin and Hayden both said with remarkable urgency.

“Just the one, and make sure it’s delivered to her,” Sinclair said slowly. The bartender smiled and acknowledged the order, walking off to fix it up. Sin looked at her. “And you had better not be able to finish that thing or you won’t be sleeping for a week.”

“Oh, don’t worry! You guys can help me eat it!”

Hayden’s head hit the desk counter.

The three of them sat at the counter, awaiting the disaster-in-a-bowl. Kristine chattered on and on about such nonsense, it was putting Hayden to sleep for sure. Sinclair lost interest in her conversation, finding the art of napkin folding to be quite an intriguing endeavor.

“The Vulpix Volcano for the little lady!”

Kristine’s eyes widened at the beautiful blonde bartender. He flashed a charming smile as he set the dessert before her. “You look like that guy from One City! Oh…. Sin, what was his name?”

Sin looked at her hopelessly.

“You know, the charming boy. With the ponyta.”

“…Sam? The surfer?”

Sin and Kristine looked at him, the former looking particularly astonished and the latter’s eyes growing even brighter. “Yes! Oh, yes!”

The man laughed. Kristine’s eyes drifted to his name tag: Samson. Sinclair seemed to have notice as well as he muttered something along the lines of, “Oh, bother.”

“Enjoy your Vulpix Volcano. Let me know if you need anything.” The bartender left.

The three of them looked upon the dish of heart destruction.

“Kristine…. That Vulpix Volcano…” Hayden seemed unable to finish that sentence in any way.

“Or any other pokemon beginning with V!” Kristine said proudly.

“…Like Crebbins’ Venasaur.”

Kristine looked over at Sin, watching his distraught face turn away as he unfortunately remembered the gym battle in which Cade was pwn’d by the Venasaur. She frowned then plucked her cherry and handed it out to him. “A cherry a day makes the pain go away!”

Sam | Cafeteria

“Okay, so the Volcano isn’t going to work.”

Sam slumped behind their side of the bar in deep thought. Laura sat with him with a very irritable and bored expression on her face. Her head was in her hand as she slouched against the wall. Sam, the cool-guy-turned-bag-of-jumping-beans, was ~*on pins and needles*~ as he tried to think of a plan.

“Sammich, none of your plans ever work,” Laura finally said. “Can we go now—”

“I got it!” he exclaimed, and Laura could almost see the light bulb above his head brighten up. Which only seemed to scare her. “We’ll just find someone with a Bulbasaur, dress it up as a Venasaur, and convince him that Saurs are his best friends!”

One could almost hear Laura’s heart sink with such disappointment at his possible IQ level that she slumped even lower toward the ground. “Kristine’s not going to—well, I shouldn’t say that.”

“Yeah! I’ll sneak over there, nab her Berry…”

As Sam spoke, he started crawling around the bar. Laura suddenly panicked and crawled after him. Just as Sam was reaching for a pokeball, Laura pounced on him. The sudden weight on Sam’s leg caught him off-balance as he reached behind Kristine. He grabbed onto the pokeball closest to his hand before toppling to the ground with Laura.

There was a woosh – the familiar sound of a pokemon exiting their pokeball. Before Sam could register who he had just released, there was a flash of bright light and a stark shock of lightning pulsed through his body.

Sam groggily opened his eyes when the action ended, and he looked up at the four of them peering down at him. Kristine was now holding Lumichu in her arms, the Pikachu looking rather perturbed at having been kidnapped.

Sam lifted his hand slowly and made a weak salute. “My… bad…” He flopped back on the floor.

Laura sighed and heaved him up onto the nearest stool, which so happened to be by Hayden. “I don’t understand how you survived eleven years, Veronica.”

The bartender – Kristine’s new lovecrush – laughed. “Dude, you’re name’s Veronica?”

Sam sat there a moment, confused. Then quickly shook his head. “No, man. It’s Sam. It’s Sam,” he repeated with remarkable emphasis for Laura’s sake. His eyes suddenly drifted to the ice cream. “What in the world do you have there, Sunshine? I hardly think a sweet thing like you needs anymore sugar, let alone that much.”

Laura looked away with her jaw clenched, exchanging looks with Sinclair. Sam looked at them with confusion before Laura finally said, “I think dear Lumichu just fixed Sam back to normal.”

“Bluesi, I’ve been perfectly sane this entire time.” Sam looked back at the bartender, squinted at the nametag, then said, “Hey, Sam, can I get a pop?”

“Sure thing, Sam!”

“…You call it pop?”

Sam looked back at them before changing the subject. “I’m pretty sure I made Sin laugh, so you owe me some ice cream, Daisy Duke.”

"Oh, well, sure thing, sugar!" Laura mocked, then her eyes shot darts at him. “If you lose a bet. While you were seizing on the floor, I was actually watching what was happening. Sinclair didn’t crack a smile. Therefore, not only do you owe me ice cream, but I’m taking you up on that lunch deal we made when betting on Crebbins’ gym battles.”

“…Uh, no. We agreed to save it for the rematch.”

“At the time, it was the rematch tomorrow which, by the way, hasn’t happened and isn’t going to happen. Therefore, the bet is, once again, in limbo. Let’s just save you the pressure and say I win?”

Sam looked at her, leaning on the bar as he inspected her face. “I’m pretty sure my gym battle was way more awesome than yours.”

“…You tortured your Totodile,” Laura stated. “Crebbins, on the other hand, was quite impressed with my gym battle. We don’t even need to refer to the audience here to decide whose battle was better.”

Sam leaned around her. “Hey, Sin! Kristine!”

The two looked up.

“Whose gym battle was better? Mine or Laura’s?”

“Laura’s.” No hesitation.

Sam slumped as Laura gave him a victorious smile. “Tomorrow, I expect I’ll be splurging for lunch a bit, so fair warning.” She put a hand on her stomach, daydreaming. “I’m really feeling like I’ll be eating more than I’ve been eating for any meal this entire trip.”

Sam’s head hit the desk counter.

Little did he know: Sin smirked and popped the cherry in his mouth.

The Sinner | The Cafeteria

"So then I hit him- pow!and he hit the dumpsters- crash!" Samthesurfer had Laura and Kristine both under his spell.

"Hey, hey Bluesi? Sunshine?" Sam waved at them, but they were immune. He stared at Sin. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Leave them to it, trust me," Sin said, slipping off his stool. "At least he doesn't have a Ponyta this time."

"What?"

"You know, there are a lot of stories we really need to fill you in on," said Sin. "I'm going to go to the bathroom."

"Fine. I'll just sit here and wallow in self-pity."

"Sounds excellent."

The ship bathrooms were not high in Sin's expectations, although the person vomiting their guts out in the next cubicle was not a pleasant addition to the dreary off-white tiles and grey fixings. As he left, he saw Kristine standing out in the lobby.

"What happened to Sam?"

"His shift ended," she said sadly. "But we'll see him again won't we won't we?"

"Maybe," Sin said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"You seem in a better mood," she said.

"Yeah," Sin said, surprised at himself. "I guess I am."

"Yo, girlies-"

"I resent that."

"Whatever," Laura said. "Want to go explore?"

"Where's Sam?"

"Gone to find Jason, I think. In a weird way, I reckon they missed each other."

"Well, Jason went and replaced us," Sin said rather bitterly. "With Mal."

"We did replace him with David," Kristine pointed out. Notincing Sin's chin quivering she added, "But don't worry! We'd never ever replace you, ever."

"You're one of a kind, Sinner," said Laura.

"Don't call me that." They headed up to the top deck, and once in the sea air, Sin let Julius and Noah out of their Pokéballs. Julius flapped his stubby flipper wing claw hands excitedly. "Psy-duck-psy-duck," he began chanting like some strange sea shanty. Noah rolled his eyes.

They went to the edge of the deck and below, noticed Mal and Jason. "I have an idea!" said Laura. "My brother used to do this all the time, and Jason is just the guy to fall for it. Rich boy, give me some cash."

"I don't just hand money out-"

"You'll get it back, promise."

Sin and Kristine shrugged at each other and Sin handed Laura a wad of notes out of his wallet and watched as Laura pulled thread out of her rucksack.

"You sew?" he asked doubtedly. She snorted, and tied the thread around the cash. And then she reeled it out down to where Mal and Jason were standing.

"Look! Floating money!" said Jason and followed it as Laura ran along the upper deck, slowly reeling it in and watching Jason jump. Sin couldn't help it.

He-

He-

He laughed.

He burst into a fit of the stuff, so loud, he was sure Jason could hear.

"Wow, Laura," he said, wiping his eyes as she came back to them. "Your brother sounds like a cool guy."

"Yeah." Laura shrugged. "You might just meet him, he lives in Fuchsia, remember?"