Young Writers Society

Malcolm Jayne | Lower Deck

Jason sure was a simple one, he was capable, but he was far too simple for his own good. Made traveling with him to be a chore, but I liked him enough to let it slide. Plus it led to some great stories, like the time he mistook a Voltorb for a Pokeball, what kind of idiot does that? And today was no different.

“Look! Floating money!” Jason ran off down the deck, chasing a ball of money as it rose above his head. “Ergh!”

On the deck above I could hear the sounds of girlish laughter, someone was messing with Jason and they would pay, quite literally. I grabbed the Pokeball of my trusty Alfred, the bird might have been on the dim side, but boy could it run. “Come on boy, Yip Yip!”

While the trio above were distracted with Jason, jerking him back and forth across the deck, I rushed in. With Alfred’s speed and jump I was able to reach the money before they could react, ripping the cash off the line.

“Wowe, this here sure is a lot of money.” I slid off of my Doduo. “Whoever was stupid enough to throw this money away sure is a dummy, right Jason?” I winked at him, hoping he would pick up on it.

“Um...oh.” Jason was slow too. “Yeah, they really are.” But he usually came through, he just needed enough time.

“Hey!” It was those kids from earlier, the ones Jason used to travel with, storming down the deck towards them. “That is my money!” Sinclair was the one yelling.

I leaned towards Jason. “I got this.” I walked over to the trio, smiling wide. “Well, it looked to me like it was being thrown away. I mean, it was pretty much falling off the boat, and you were laughing, seemed like just three people being wasteful, and I hate waste.”

They weren’t convinced, the Sinclair was especially mad. “Give me my money, or I get the guards.”

“Jason, attack plan Operation: Super Ninja Attack Power.”

“OSNAP?” Jason whispered. “Are you sure?”

“Never been more sure in my life. Run!”

Jason | Ferry Hallway

Jason and Mal had taken a mad dash through the maze of hallways for at least five minutes, and Jason was certain they’d lost his old friends a good minute before, but he had to be absolutely sound about his safety. That’s why Jason shoved Mal into what he thought was a closet, but ended up being the ferry kitchen. Jason had his eyes closed, face smooshed against the door so he could hear any and all bypassers as they came and went. It was hard, though, because of the rattling and talking from inside the closet.

Jason slapped Mal in the ribs several times. “Shhh,” he said, fumbling around for the boy’s mouth. When he had it covered, Mal sighed.

“Jhsn, hf yd jst lhk bhnd yh yhd knw wh’r n h ktchn.”

“Shh, Mal,” he repeated, “I think I hear them coming!”

“You two are late!”

Jason perked up an eyebrow, confused as to why another, rather flamboyant male voice, had entered his closet. He slowly turned his face to look at the man standing behind them, arms crossed and lips scowling. He had a miniature goatee growing around his mouth, and a large, poofy chef’s hat towering over his bulky, Snorlax-esque figure. “I’ve been waiting for my new recruits all evening, and you’ve even missed rush hour!” He grabbed the two by the arms and put them in a changing room where two white chef’s outfits hung. “Now get changed and ready to wash dishes, or I’ll fire you both and send you back to the grimey mess you call a kitchen at Burger Queen.” He ended his rant with a big, animated z-snap and a slam to the changing room door.

While Jason didn’t hesitate pulling off his clothes to put on the new ones, Mal just stared, expressionless. “You can’t actually want to work for this balloon! He’s almost too round to function.”

When Jason didn’t reply and continued taking off his shoes, Mal puffed out a long, breathy sigh. “Fine,” he said, neatly untying his sneakers, “but if we don’t get paid for this, I’m shoving a carrot up your nose.”

Jason pulled his chef’s hat on and stood victoriously in front of the mirror. “Wouldn’t be the first time, won’t be the last!” He looked at his pokeballs lying on the floor with his jeans and t-shirt. “D’ya think Waut would like to help wash dishes?”

“He’d probably love to hel--No.” He looked at Jason, who just returned with a blank stare. “Water, Jason. Water and...nevermind.” Malcolm looked at the name tag that came with his outfit. “Huh. Apparently I’m Ted,” he said. “What does yours s--”

“Victoria!” Jason’s jaw dropped to the floor, and then he noticed how strangely his clothes didn’t fit. He gave Mal a shocked face that slowly grew into a heavy laugh. “I’m a girl!”

-- -- --

Team Rocket Andy of The Infamous Andy & Mandy Fandom

“But Mandy, I don’t want to wear the dress this time!”

“Too bad,” the blonde sneered and fastened the last button on the thin-legged black pants suit she’d harvested from an uppity passenger’s bed chambers. “There are times for looking like a woman, Andrew, and there are others when you just give into nature’s desires and look at my rear in these pants!”

Andrew craned his neck to look where she commanded, but met a swift slap across his face from Mandy.

“One should never stare at a lady’s bottom, Andrew. It’s quite rude.” She adjusted her hat and struck a pose in the mirror. “Now, the plan is simple, is it not?”

“Yes,” he whined, pulling the blue ball gown over his head. “You’ve made it quite clear.”

“Good,” she said, cautiously eyeing a whip stowed in the coat pocket of the pants suit. “Do you have our precious pokemon?”

Andy held up a bag of pokeballs he’d stowed in one of their black bags. “Thirteen eevees present and accounted for,” he said, triumphantly.

“Good.” Her fingers smoothed out a fake mustache over her upper lip. “When the Fuchsia ranch hands hear that their precious babies are missing, they’re sure to put out a reward...and who better to claim it than the rough-riding president of Hoenn’s Ranch Dressing and Pokemon Racing Club and his ugly step-sister?”

Andy popped a parasol over his shoulder and made the girliest face possible. “I do declare, that sounds quite delightful!” in the worst southern Hoenn accent imaginable.

“...his mute ugly step-sister.”

-- -- --

Jason--I mean Victoria

Dish soap flew everywhere. “I’M BORED,” Jason groaned, dropping his head against the steel sink. It made a loud thud, and shook a pile of ceramic plates into the water with a splash. Meanwhile, Malcolm continued scrubbing pots.

“It’s not that bad,” Mal said, wiping a bubbly hand in Jason’s hair, “after all, according to the navigation screen in the dining hall,” he pointed a thumb to the window between them and the cafeteria, “we’re about five minutes away from the Fuchsia shore.”

Jason perked up, craning his neck to read the television screen in the other room. “Shoot, Mal! If we don’t hit the deck before we land, they’ll find out we’re stowaways and throw us in jail.” He gulped. “I’m too young to have a M♥m tattoo.”

Mal put down his pot and dropped his gloves in the water. “In that case, we’ll need a distrac--”

“HEY LET ME GO I WAS GONNA PAY I SWEAR LET ME GO!”

Jason and Mal turned towards the kitchen doors where, kicking and screaming, in came Sam being drug by Flamboyant Snorlax and a very large assistant. “Now listen here, little boy--”

“--I’m not little. I’m manly.”

“...you tried to bite my assistant when he asked you for two Pokedollars. That don’t sound manly t’me.” Flamboyant Snorlax made another z-snap and sauntered away. His assistant remained, rubbing a cold pack on his hand.

“You’ll stay in here and wash dishes, yes.” Snorlax’s assistant turned to see Jason and Mal watching the scene. “Street urchin interns, you are free to go now, have a nice night, yes.”

The two looked at each other, and then looked at Sam. At each other, at Sam.

Sometimes bros just need a look.

Jason waited until the assistant was gone, waited until all eyes were off him, and reached into his pocket. Slowly. And gently. And found a pokeball, felt for the flame symbol scratched on the front. He brought it to his mouth and whispered flame burst against the cool metal. And then he clicked.

Magby shot out of his pokeball and puckered his yellow lips, shooting a bullet of fire into a fire detector on the ceiling. The internal thermometer exploded, firing off the alarm and sending gallons of water down on them in the kitchen. “OSNAP,” Jason yelled, and the three took off out the door.

In stride, Sam began asking questions. “Why. Were you. Two working. For that. Angry. Guy?”

Mal yanked off his hat and pushed open a door in his way, knocking a garson out of the way. “He thought. We were. His interns. We wanted. Money.”

When they reached the bottom platform of the loading deck, the three panted, all out of breath...and then Jason realized something. “Mal,” he said, pulling the Magby in his arms back into his pokeball, “we left our clothes in the closet.”

“It was a kitchen, Jason.”

“But my Pokedex!”

“You can have David’s,” Sam said, reaching into his backpack. “He dropped it before vanishing, never to be heard from again.” He had the most awkwardly sincere, optimistic expression on his face. “Anyway, I doubt he’ll need it now, wherever he is!”

Jason took the little red digibook from Sam, flipping it open and checking the stat screen. “Huh. David’s pokemon were a higher level than mine.” He pondered for a minute. “Tsk. But he only had three.” He flipped it closed. “Guess we know who won that race.”

Mal looked at the two of them. “Am I the only one put off by the fact that this boy vanished?”

Jason and Sam shrugged as the ship came to a halt at the Fuchsia dock. “You don’t know David.”

Laura | Fuschia City

They arrived at last in Fuschia City and immediately Laura felt a sense of comfort and a sense of looming dread all at once. She hadn’t been back in her hometown in months, and before joining the group she hadn’t intended to return until she could at least begin to measure up against her brother.

The city was gorgeous, she had to admit. Clean and rustic, a home to the breeders and enthusiasts alike with the Safari Zone and Laura’s own home: Sherwood Breeding Ranch.

As soon as they entered the city, familiar faces were calling out her name and asking her about her journey. She only forced a smile and waved, not ready to admit she had come home with just a handful of measly badges and nothing to show for herself.

Around her, her new friends “ooh”ed and “awe”ed at the city, chattering about what they might catch at the Safari Zone and whether or not the local museum was worth the trip.

Laura kept her arms wrapped – perhaps too tightly – around Sweetie and pushed forward at the lead of the group. The ranch was at the other end of the city, and she really wanted to get her homecoming over as quickly as possible. She had given her parents a call on the way, but knowing her mother it would still be a big emotional to-do.

She couldn’t have prepared herself for what came when they made their way up the long dirt road to the huge ranch house her family lived and did business in.

“Lauralee, my darlin’ baby girl!”

The front door flew open when they were still a good ten yards from the wraparound porch. Laura’s mother, clad in a brightly colored sundress and blond hair styled perfectly underneath her wide brimmed straw hat ran down the steps and threw her arms around Laura, squashing her – and Sweetie – in a deceivingly tight embrace for such a tiny woman.

“My baby is home at last!” she squealed, letting Laura go and holding her at arm’s length to examine her. “Really, darlin’, you could have done without that atrocious color in your hair. Don’t you like blond?”

“Bluesi here’s a blonde?” Sam guffawed behind her.

“Shut it, Veronica,” Laura growled, casting him a threatening look.

Laura’s mother frowned and gave her a tap on the shoulder. “Now Lauralee that is no way to talk to your friends,” she scolded. “Now, quit being so rude and introduce your family, darling!” She turned back toward the house and gave a shout, “Papa, Tommy, come out and see Lauralee and her new friends!” She turned back and smiled at them. “Would you kids like some fresh lemonade?”

“Mom, please, call me Laura,” Laura groaned.

“Well if it isn’t my little girl.” Laura’s father, a broad-shouldered imposing sort of man, stepped out onto the porch. He ambled down to stand by his wife and pulled Laura into a firm hug. He glanced over her friends. “I didn’t expect there’d be so many boys.”

“Mom, Dad,” Laura said, turning back and nodding her head toward her friends. “Sin, Kristine, Sam, Hayden, Jason, and Mal. Guys, these are my parents.”

“Oh it’s so lovely to meet each of you!” Laura’s mother said, clasping her hands under her chin. “You’re all welcome to stay as long as you like, we’ve plenty of beds.” She gave a wide smile and wrapped an arm around one of Laura’s fathers. The contrast between her thin form and his thick, tanned forearm was huge, but in a strange way it felt like home. “Now how about that lemonade?”

“Lemonade would be lovely, Mrs. Sherwood,” Kristine said, sweet as ever. “Thank you for your hospitality!”

“Well of course, darlin’,” she said with a smile. “Any friend of Laura’s is a friend of ours.”

Laura’s parents led the way into the house, and the gang quickly deposited their bags in the front parlor – a room that Laura groaned at the thought of possessing in her own home – and walked through to the kitchen where a massive pitcher of lemonade and a plate piled high with sugar cookies were waiting. Laura set Sweetie on the table and handed her a cookie.

“I want to show everyone the ranch,” Laura announced, taking her glass of lemonade and walking toward the door that let out to the back of the house. “Come on.”

The Sherwood Breeding Ranch consisted mostly of wide open fields, full of tauros and miltanks grazing, scattered growliths herding them around to new grazing areas and keeping them out of the way of other Pokémon that could spook them and cause a stampede. In the distance, a group of ponyta and rapidash galloped.

Some of the more specific Pokémon pens could be seen, groups of pidgeys and pikachus and a depressed looking Pokémon called torchic that Tom had brought back from Hoenn when he shut down his gym could be seen from the back porch. Baby eevees – eevee being a sort of specialty at the Sherwood Breeding Ranch – tumbled around in the tall grass that grew alongside the porch steps. Laura knew that in the distance there were acres upon acres of different Pokémon of every type imaginable.

“This is quite something,” Sin said from where he stood somewhere behind Laura.

“Are you kidding, Sin?” Sam threw an arm lazily over Laura’s shoulder, his gaze sweeping the fields of Pokémon in front of them. “This is amazing.”

Kristine ran to the porch railing, practically throwing herself over it. “Look at all the ponyta! They’re coming right this way!”

Laura shrugged out from under Sam’s arm, resisting the urge to sock him in the nose, and groaned as she caught sight of the approaching ponyta Kristine had pointed out. Particularly, she groaned at the guy sitting on the bare back of the rapidash at the lead.

The rapidash came to a violent stop just in front of the porch steps, it’s rider – the infamous and apparently incredibly handsome and charming Tom Sherwood – stared at them as he gasped for air.

“Eh, baby sister, you’re home,” he said, flashing a smile at Laura. A smile that he quickly transferred to Kristine. It only lasted a moment, though, before his eyes were back on Laura. There was a strange sort of panic in them. “Laura, I need you to get mom and dad before they leave to run rounds at the Safari Zone.”

Laura glanced back into the kitchen, but her parents were nowhere in sight. “They’re already gone,” she said. “What’s going on, Tom?”

“We’re missing thirteen eevees,” he said.

“What’s thirteen eevees out of a hundred,” Jason said, glancing to the group of eevees tumbling around below them.

“These are special eevees,” Tom said. “I’ve been breeding them for a particular purpose, and it’s critical we find them ASAP.”

Laura raised an eyebrow. “What are you messing with now, Tom.”

“Well you know how there are only seven known eevee evolutions?” Tom asked, waiting for each of the kids to nod their heads in recognition. “Fire, water, electric, dark, psychic, grass, and ice,” he said, still, for his own benefit. “There are more types than just those, so I extrapolated that there certainly must be a way to breed evolutions that match each unaccounted for type.”

“You’re genetically engineering Pokémon?” Mal asked, voicing the surprise each of them certainly felt.

“Not quite,” Tom said. “But these thirteen missing eevees are a part of those experiments, and may or may not be set to evolve anytime in the next few days. And when they evolve, there’s really no knowing what we might end up with.”

“Sounds like our Team Rocket friends are at it again,” Jason said.

Tom glanced in his direction, but didn’t do anything to acknowledge his comment. “We need to find them before they evolve.”

Sam jumped onto the porch railing, grabbing one of the stabilizing posts and hanging out over the edge. “Sounds like a job for Team Sam!” he cheered, throwing a fist triumphantly into the air.

Forgive me, Crebbins, for I have Sinned | The Sherwood Ranch

"So y'all are going to help us find our Eevees, that's great." Tom flashed a very white smile.

"Yes, but I would like to clarify that we are Team Jason, not Team Sam."

"What? You only just came back!" Kristine complained. "No way. Team Kristine for the wins. I'm like the glue that holds the group together."

"Well, you don't call something after the glue do you, you call it after its most important part," said Sam.

"I'd like to put forward Team Mal as an idea," Mal said, to a vehement chorus of 'NO WAY's. "Just a suggestion.

"Kids, kids, relax. You'll get a good team name at some point." Tom smiled again. It was a bit like looking straight into the sun. "You have any ride-on Pokémon?"

"I have my Ponyta," said Laura.

"And I have a Doduo."

"Okay," said Jason. "I guess I'll go with Mal and-"

"Are you kidding?" asked Tom. "We'll just lend y'all our Ponyta!"

Sin looked to where Kristine was standing beside him.

Correction: where Kristine had just been standing beside him, and where Kristine was now lying on the ground beside him.

"Kristine!" He knelt down. "Are you alright? Do you need some water?"

"Is she alright?" asked Tom.

"Just fainted, I think," Sin replied with a frown.

"Not fainted," Kristine whispered so only he could hear. "Swooned."

Sin was about to roll his eyes, then looked over to where Tom was swishing his hair, in slow motion, and had to condone this swoon. It wasn't like he was Sam or Slam or Morgan Freeman. No. No, Tom Sherwood was something else entirely.

Kristine suddenly shot straight up. "I want my Ponyta," she said. "And I want it now."

--

In the end they split up, Mal and Victoria, Laura, Kristine and Hayden, and Sin and Sam.

"Try and keep him under control," Kristine said to Sin. "I'll see you soon."

As she said it, Sam yelped. "These things hurt," he said of his Ponyta, sticking a hand in his mouth.

Sin rolled his eyes. "Come on, Veronica."

"Wait, no, you cannot call me that."

"I don't know, I think it suits you."

"Fine then Sin... Sin... Claire."

It was going to be a long ride.

--

And unfortunately, the lost Eevees were nowhere to be found. Veronica and Claire went east as Tom had suggested, and began searching in the outermost parts of the ranch.

"They could have jumped the fence," suggested Sam.

Sin pointed to the fence, which was at least eighteen feet high.

"Oh. Um. I don't know. Burrowed underneath?"

"I doubt it. Why would they try to run away? Lea never would..." at least he hoped not. "And the Sherwoods seem so nice."

"I guess. How did a family like that raise a kid like Bluesi?"

"Thought you liked her."

Sam did not reply. "She's not much like her brother," Sin agreed. "How old do you think he is?"

Sam shrugged. "I don't know, ask Lauralee."

"I heard he used to be a gym leader. He's so young though, imagine already having been a gym leader and then retiring and still looking like that-"

"Do you have a crush on him or something?"

Sin felt his face heat up. "No. Don't be ridiculous."

"Whatever, Claire. Okay. I don't see any Eevees around here, do you?"

Sin shook his head, disappointed that they would be returning to the ranch house empty handed, but swung his Ponyta around. "Bet Kristine's enjoying her ride," he said.

"Well, at least if any Ponyta go missing, that'll be an easy case to solve. Let's turn around. Who knows, maybe one of the others has found them."

Mal Jayne | Fuschia City

“We’ve been here for an hour and we have nothing,” Jason collapsed to the ground. “Is this really helping in anyway?”

“I don’t know, but it’s better than sitting on our hands and waiting for the answer to come to us,” Mal squatted under a hedge.

“That’s what we are doing! Except instead of sitting in a nice air conditioned room with lemonade, we’re waiting around in the blazing heat asking random people.” He reached for a pokeball with a music note carved into the front. Jazz, a Gligar, popped out. “Mind giving me some shade, buddy?” Jazz popped up on his tail, creating an umbrella with his wings over Jason, who threw him a pokeblock.

“Well, I don’t much care what we’re doing. We promised them we would help, and my momma--”

“Yeah, your momma taught you a lot of things, but I doubt she would sweat a few gallons for no reason. I doubt Team Rocket just walked around with thirteen eevves on a leash.”

Mal scratched at his head. “I suppose you’re right, but that don’t make leaving right either.”

“And you’re all about right, did you even return that money to Sin?”

“I--Well it didn’t come up yet, and he didn’t seem to...Well what do you propose we do with the stack of flyers we have?”

Jason got up, flipped through the flyers. “This. He took the pile and pushed them into a trash can and followed it up by pouring a bottle of water down with them. “I’m going to go train for the gym, you know the reason we came here.” Jason hopped onto his Ponyta, Jazz floating above him. “You can come if you want.”

Mal frowned. “This really isn’t right, you know that.” Jason just shrugged. “FIne, but if anyone asks-”

“Yeah, because I’m going to go shout to everyone that we ditched our chores.”

“Just don’t throw me under the bus, kay?”

Jason | Fuchsia Harbor

“Alright, Malphista Hoy Choy, let’s get down to business.” Jason dropped his bag on the ground beside their chef’s jackets and tapped a few buttons on his wrist gear. “The name of the game is volleyball for accuracy. Durden and Pitch.”

Mal and Jason had tied up Ponyta and Doduo to a nearby dock post and were getting ready to train on a vacant dock in the Fuchsia Harbor. They both released the two pokemon between them to get ready for the session, and Jason scratched his head, looking at his gear. “It’s weird,” Jason said, “but I can’t find the speedometer on the program list right now.” He pressed another button and the dowsing machine began beeping, pointing towards a nearby crate. “Ooh, treasure.”

Mal arched an eyebrow and followed Jason as he began moving wooden boards out of the way. Under all the mess sat a little brown disc in a plastic casing with 78 written across the top. Jason sat cross-legged and opened the case, tilting his head to examine it. “Is this like a DVD or something?”

Mal shook his head and took it from Jason, sitting on the dock beside him and taking out his pokedex. “Give it here.” Mal popped open a disc slot on his pokedex and put it in, closing the slot. “It’s a Technical Machine...they teach Pokemon how to perform moves that they may not learn on their own. Pretty rare stuff these days.”

Jason leaned over to see what was on the screen of Mal’s dex, and blinked when he read upside down. “Bulldoze, eh? Sounds earthy.”

“Ooh,” said Mal, “remember that kid in the Lavender mountains? With the Geodude. He used Bulldoze against Vulcan, and it was a really good move. So yeah, it’s earthy.”

Jason sat back and put his chin in the palm of his hand, looking at his choice of pokeballs. “I guess Durden could try it out, then. Fighting types are usually good at earthy things.”

“Hold up. These things have a limited number of pops on ‘em.” He scrolled through a few pages of data. “It keeps folks from abusing the Big Boy moves like Hyper Beam.”

Jason went starry-eyed. “Hhhhh. Hyper Beam, the move to end all moves.”

“As long as your pokemon’s a good blaster, that is.”

Jason looked at his pokeballs again. “I guess Waut and Tuck would be good blasters. The other guys are mainly fighters.”

Mal nodded and took out a pokeball, releasing Heracross onto the dock. The blue beetle stretched and took off for a quick fly around the dock while Mal kept looking through the ™ data. “There’s supposed to be an app for the pokedex and gear that tells you different stats and things. Unnecessary if you have a good feel for your pokemon, but still useful, I guess.”

“Well, there’s obviously Offense, Defense, and Speed. But those don’t really cover it as far as psychic powers go. But I just avoid psychic pokemon as much as I can.” He looked across the dock to where Tyrogue was kicking around a ball of rope. “Durden’s getting really kick-y lately.”

“Then he may be headed towards being a Hitmonlee,” Mal mumbled, not looking up from his dex.

“Yeah.” Jason sat back, propping on his hands and looking at the empty harbor. “I wonder why this place has no boats in it.”

“Two,” Mal said, “Bulldoze has two charges.”

“So the question is...do we use it for ourselves, or let two of the others have it.” There was silence for a minute. Silence, waves crashing, and Durden’s kicks. “Nah, they’ll get over it.”

__ __ __

Sam Martin | Downtown Fuchsia

“Okay, okay,” Sam said, “I’ll see your Kristine after a swim in the Cerulean falls and raise you Laura riding a Rapidash in the rain.”

Sinclair stopped his ponyta, mouth wide. Sam turned back to look.

“Sorry, bro, didn’t mean to distract you that much.”

Sinclair snapped out of it, giving Sam a quick scolding look. “No,” he said, pointing at the line of shops ahead of them. “A sale!”

Sam and ponyta turned their heads to look at the row of buildings ahead. Everything was built to resemble an old western town in this section of the city, with the more modern buildings and restaurants further down the road. It was like riding a ponyta in a time machine. And, sure enough, there were signs everywhere with big, golden letters declaring SALE. “Oh brother,” Sam groaned, but Sinclair was already trotting down the road towards the first shop. Sam sighed as ponyta carried him along after Sin. “Why couldn’t I have gone with Jason and Mal?”

“Pooony,” Ponyta replied.

“I know, buddy,” he returned, “life ain’t fair.”

By the time Sam made it into the first shop, Sinclair already had his arms covered in bags full of clothes.

“What’re these for?” he asked, eyeing the ecstatic Sinclair warily.

“They’re for Malcolm and his traitor friend!” his eyes sparkled.

Sam pondered. “I thought you hated Jason now.”

As he sauntered out, Sinclair shrugged. “I suppose I may harbor a certain degree of...we’ll call it dramatic disdain towards Jason, but,” he paused, “imagine how guilty he’ll feel after presented with the latest fashions from the Almia region!”

Sam reluctantly followed him out the door and down the wooden walkway between shops. “Y’know, you could just ask him to apologize, or, like, grovel or something.”

Sinclair turned around and cocked an eyebrow at him. “Oh, and I suppose he’ll just fall on both knees and beg for forgiveness without being presented with incredible gifts from faraway lands!” Sinclair scoffed. “You know so little about men.”

Sam didn’t know how to respond, but kept walking, shrugging. “I think you’re getting guilt confused with spoiling.” He eyed a hat in the window. “Also, get that hat for Jason--he’ll cry tears.”

“As opposed to sand?”

“Tears yes, sand no.”

“Excellent,” he replied.

__ __ __ __

Jason | Fuchsia Beach

“Okay, Durden! Show me your bulldoze!”

“TY!” Tyrogue stretched right and left, got into a fighting stance, and threw his arms into the sand, shoving his body forward with a small dune of sand and shells. He stopped after running, and the dune flew forward, crashing into the waves a bit ahead.

Mal’s pokegear dinged, registering the speed of the throw. “That was decent, but still not as good as a true ground type.”

Jason pursed his lips as Durden gave a yawn, sitting down in the sand. “I think that’s as good as we’re gonna get it today,” he said. “He’s still tired from our training on the boat.”

Mal looked at Heracross lying back in the sand and Pitch sitting on his shoulder, who nodded at him. “I guess so.”

Jason began packing up his things as a voice called at them from their dock from earlier. “Hey! Kids!” They both looked up to a man in a sailor’s uniform with a flashlight in his hand. “Are these your pokemon up here?” He was pointing at ponyta and doduo, who were eating a bowl of poffins Jason had sat between them.

Jason threw his bag over his shoulder and tied his chef’s jacket around his waist. “Yeah,” he shouted back, startling a flock of Wingull that had nested in the cliff above him. They flew off down the beach, and Jason watched them curiously, speaking to Mal. “Why d’you think Hoenn pokemon are so common in this area?”

Mal shrugged, sending Aipom tumbling into gymnastics around his shoulders. “I guess it could be Tom? He did have that depressed torchic earlier, remember?”

“Ah yeah,” Jason said, thinking. “I wonder if a depressed torchic grows up to be a depressed blaziken.”

“Hah!” Mal laughed, “Kicking only as hard as life kicks him first.”

Jason’s smile melted, and he frowned at Mal. “That’s just mean.”

The two boys walked up to the dock to fetch doduo and ponyta, and Jason caught the sailor man before he could leave. “I have a question,” he said, tapping him on the shoulder. The large man turned, towering over Jason as he asked:

“What?”

Jason pointed at the empty harbor. “Why are there no boats out here? We were kinda relying on one to get us out of here later on, and, well...you’re kinda lacking in that department.”

The man sighed, crossing his arms. “Story of my life, kid.” He took out a roll of papers from his back pocket and pointed to a chart with a boat schedule. “Fuchsia does things weird since they like preserving cultural mumbo jumbo, so boats are scheduled in and out once a week, which happened to be yesterday.” He pointed at a block a few days down the line. “That’s the first boat out of here, and it’s headed to Sayda Island. A week from now.”

Jason stared at the man. “So you guys have other means of getting places, right? Planes, trains, carpools?”

The sailor nodded. “Every three days, we have a train that comes through town, but that’s mostly for cargo, old southern folks, and pokemon transfers.”

Mal perked up. “Pokemon transfers?”

Sailor nodded and turned the page to another schedule. “Tomorrow,” he said, “the Saffron Line will pull into town. Pokemon aren’t allowed in their pokeballs on train rides--”

“--because tradition?”

“--because tradition,” he agreed, “and that’ll be the first quick transportation out of here until the next train, which comes right before the boat next week.” He grinned. “Gotta go, though.” He took out a blue pokeball and tossed it over the dock, the light from the ball forming into a Gyarados. “If you need help with boats later, go to City Hall and ask for Dock. He’ll help.” He hopped onto Gyarados. “Yip yip!”

__ __ __ __

Sam Apparently Ilu Jabber | Fuchsia City Yip Yip

Sinclair clearly didn’t know when to stop. Sam had counted at least seventeen bags he’d loaded onto Ponyta’s saddle, and he expected there’d only be more to come. But, just as Sam thought he would spend the rest of his life being a purse holder for his little buddy, Sinclair stowed his credit card and grinned brightly at Sam, nodding. “I think we’re done here!”

“Taa,” said Ponyta, and Sam agreed. The sun was beginning to get low in the sky. They’d just mounted their pokemon when something caught Sam’s ear, bringing his attention to a little boy toting around a particularly sad-looking green sandshrew. Sam’s eyes widened and he hopped off ponyta to go get a better look.

The little boy saw him coming and rolled his eyes, putting the sad sandshrew down on the ground. “What do you want? Want to challenge me to a battle? Well TOO BAD,” he yelled, giving sandshrew an angry scowl. “Because my pokemon won’t do what I tell it!”

Sam knelt down to look at the little guy, holding sandshrew’s paw in his hand. “Whatcha mean, he won’t do what you tell him? Sandshrew is a great pokemon!” He smiled, his teeth glistening.

“Your breath stinks,” the boy said.

Sam closed his mouth and blinked several times at the boy before he kept talking.

“Sandshrew won’t do what I tell him because he’s not a rock-type pokemon! No matter what I do or what I tell him, he won’t be a rock-type! And I want a rock-type of my own.” He glared at sandshrew again.

Sam gave him a puzzled look. “Sandshrew can’t become a rock pokemon, kid. It doesn’t work that way, no matter what you tell your pokemon.”

The kid pouted. “B-but...I wanna rock pokemon.”

Sam thought for a minute, and then remembered the pokemon he’d been given back on Three Island. “What,” he began, “about a trade?”

The little boy crossed his arms, trying to look important. “I’m listening.”

Sam took out a pokeball and pressed the button on the front, releasing Bonsly from inside. “Meet Bonsly--he’s a rock-type pokemon! And he even evolves into a stronger rock pokemon if you take good care of him!”

The boy clapped his hands, picking up bonsly and staring at him, sparkly-eyed. “I WANT HIM I WANT HIM I WANT HIM!”

Sam nodded, and picked up sandshrew. “Do you promise to take good care of him?”

“Of course!” he grinned at his new pokemon. “He’s awesome, sir! Thank you!”

Sandshrew tilted his head at Sam, leaning forward to lick him on the nose with his tiny tongue. The kid ran off as Sinclair rode up behind him, clicking his tongue against his teeth. “You just traded a baby not-a-tree for a shiny pokemon.”

“Yyyyep.”

“Do you feel accomplished, ripping off a kid like that?”

“Yyyyep.”

Sin nodded, approving. “Very nice, Veronica. You’ve taken a very nice step towards becoming a very classy thief.”

“I think I’ll name him Tails.”

“Tails?”

“Yeah. Because...of reasons. I don’t know, it sounds good.”

Sinclair shrugged. “It does have a ring to it.”

Tails has joined the party!

Kristine Yay Jabber Is Back Now | Fuchsia Somewhere Over The Rainbow City

THONK!

Kristine sighed happily despite Lumichu rubbing his head gingerly. “I miss ‘Felia.”

Hayden looked at her.

“Well, I mean – Lumichu certainly needs his brain cells and probably doesn’t appreciate getting thonk’d on the head so often, but! That’s why we love her.”

Lumichu rolled over onto his back and looked at Kristine with a mixture of shock, hurt, and disgust – basically, open-mouthed and much curling with ears drooping to the sides and big eyes and… well.

Irresistible.



"I wonder where Laura wandered off to," Kristine mused. Laura had left them to cover more ground, leaving the two of them to continue on their own.

Hayden shrugged. "She knows this place better than we do."

“True. What have you been up to then, Hayden?” Kristine asked, leaning forward on her ponyta in some form of a hug and happy dreamstate mixture. She sighed happily.

There was an odd pause, and Kristine had to open her eyes to catch the look on his face. Hayden ended up just saying, “This and that. You?”

“That and this! Ooh, is that the gym?”

“Pika pi—PI!”

Thonk, thonk on the head!

Kristine giggled. “Ladies first, Lumichu!”

Ophelia trotted forward, leaving Lumichu behind:



“What type was it again?” Kristine asked.

“I think it’s poison,” Hayden muttered.

“Oh! Have you met Mukmelon yet?!” Kristine pulled out a pokeball before Hayden had the chance to answer, and Melon appeared right in front of Ophelia.

THONK—wait.

‘Felia lifted her oozy bone, her eyes full of sad horror. Melon grinned up at Kristine, not having noticed anyone else around him, including ‘Felia’s attack. Lumichu crawled carefully up to ‘Felia and peered up at her, but the cubone didn’t move. She was shocked at her failure.

“This is Melon!” Kristine said. “He’s my new muk pokemon! I found him – or, I should say he found me in Three Island -"

"I was there, Kristine -"

" - And he has a new fascination… for…” She dug in her bag and pulled out a book. It was more of a scrapbook with papers angled in different directions inside, some of them with bent corners. Then she pulled out a plastic bag, the contents of it being muck-covered crayons. “We officially have an artist in the family!”

Hayden didn’t seem to know how to react. He tried to be friendly about it, but it seemed just too weird for him to say anything. He looked as if Kristine had amnesia... or extreme ADHD. It left him speechless. “Kristine… I still don't understand why you have a muk.”

“He’s such a sweetheart though!” Kristine handed a new piece of paper and the crayons to the eager Melon, who was waving his arms at her to give them up. She was careful not to touch Melon with her own hands, angling her arms in odd ways to avoid contact, but once she gave them away, she sat up on the ponyta and grinned a Melon-grin at Hayden.

“Pika!”

The two of them looked down on the sidewalk where the three pokemon were stationed. Lumichu hopped around Melon as if it were normal procedure to work around a big blob of purple ooze and looked in the direction of the gym.

Another Muk.

This one didn’t smile, though. Melon continued coloring, not paying any sort of attention, but it was probably for the best. Kristine rediscovered her fear of Muk back in Three Island. The thing parked itself on the sidewalk, covering the entire width of it, and glaring at them. He was daring them to enter.

“I think we should keep moving,” Hayden said.

Kristine nodded slowly. Then quickly. “C’mon, everyone, let’s go check out the ice cream shop down the road. Melon, hand those over.”

Her heart sank at Melon’s frowny face as he reluctantly gave his toys up. Kristine shoved them in her pack, and the ponyta started moving forward at Kristine’s command. Hayden watched the pokemon anxiously.

“Muk.”

“Muk?”

Melon turned around. The new Muk placed itself directly behind Melon. It was quick. Kristine was tremendously nervous now. She reached for her pokeball. Melon wouldn’t stand a chance against a pokemon as scary as that.

“Muuuk.”

Muk!” Melon grinned.

The Muk’s eyes narrows. “Muk.”

“Mukkity-muk-muk, mukkity-muk-muk, look at Melon gooooo,” Kristine sang under her breath, trying to calm her nerves.

“Come on, guys,” Hayden said. “Save it for the gym battle.”

“Mukkity-muk-muk, mukkity-muk-muk, look at him go so sloooow.”

The new Muk roared.

Like… mouth open so wide, it could’ve eaten Melon then and there. Ooze flew out of its mouth right into Melon’s mucky self. Melon didn’t seem fazed, though. When the new muk closed its mouth, Melon just smiled and clapped his hands. “Muk muk!”

“Return!” Melon disappeared into the pokeball. “Go, ponyta! Run like the wind!”

“Ponytaaaa!”

Hayden Apparently Exists but only if you think hard enough | Fuschia City

He and Kristine stopped only when Laura became visible in the distance. The change from full gallop to stopping involved Kristine pulling back just a little too hard and causing ponyta to whinny and rear, causing Hayden to lose his grip around Kristine’s waist and land rather painfully on his back. He felt a solid thump as the last two hooves planted themselves firmly on the ground.

“And this is why I didn’t want you two tagging along,” Laura said from a few feet away.

Kristine had jumped off and was kneeling beside a still stunned Hayden. “Are you alright?”

“Sure,” he managed to squeak out.

She helped him get up and waited until he caught his breath, which was a bit more difficult than he’d thought. Especially since she didn’t let go of his arm, wanting to make sure he was alright. Not like Hayden was about to admit he’d missed her.

Laura watched them from a distance. “Now that the quiet one is breathing again... what are you guys doing here?”

Kristine finally let go of his arm and bounded up. “A muk. On the road. Wasn’t friendly.”

Laura just raised an eyebrow and shook her head. “If you’re going to stick around, stay outta my way.”

Hayden was reminded of Eve. Or Katya. He wasn’t sure which. “We could just stay here...”

Kristine shuddered. “I hope that muk doesn’t catch us.”

Hayden just eyed her, thinking they had run plenty far but not about to say anything. Kristine looked around. “Any luck finding them?”

Laura just shook her head.

Kristine’s wide, sad eyes were enough to get a small, sympathetic look from Hayden. He shifted his bag, wondering if he’d brought his book on pokemon habitats, or if it was still at the Sherwood Ranch. Laura was likely to know more about it, anyway.

Laura was about to give up on them all when Kristine got her voice back. “Three sets of eyes would be better than one, right? Hayden, you’d be alright helping, wouldn’t you?”

Hayden nodded, albeit reluctantly. Especially when he noticed Laura’s Look in their direction.

She mounted her ponyta again. “So long as you two stay outta my way, this might work.”

Malcolm Jayne | Sherwood Ranche


“I evolve my Charmeleon into Charizard and use Burn Down on your Nidoking!” Jason slammed down his holofoil Charizard card, fist pumping the air. He leaned over and grabbed Mal’s fifth prize card. “I got this in the bag.”

“You keep saying that, but I don’t think you have any idea what is means,” Sin said from the sidelines. “Charizard is the last Pokemon on your deck, Mal could win this just as easily.

“But you don’t know what I have!” Jason nearly screamed.

Mal didn’t say a word, too focused on his pokermon face, he wasn’t giving anything away if he could.

“Mal is using a ground deck-”

“And I have a flying type!”

“A lot of ground types are rock types too!”

“But Holozard is only weak to--damn you.”

While the two bickered Mal revealed his final Pokemon, the one and only Stunkfish, equipped with the perfect energy. “Stunkfish uses Thunder, which is, super effective.” Mal started grinning like an idiot. “And who said I was stupid to buy the card?”

“I did...” Jason dug into his pack, pulling out a large binder. “What do you want?”

“I’ll take that pretty Gengar card,” Mal swiped the binder away.

“I am bored out of my skull,” Jason said after only three seconds of silence. “Why are we even playing cards? We’re at a Pokemon ranch! RANCH! There are all sorts of things out there, like those red bird things!”

“I would love to get a closer look at those Tauros,” Mal said. “And we barely even got a look at some of those pens.”

“And this can’t wait until morning why?” Sin asked. He wasn’t as enthralled with the idea.

“Because morning is boring. Night is mysterious, adventure filled and sexy,” Mal said as he fiddled around with his flashlight. “Dammit Jason, I told you to stop taking my light.”

“I had to pee.” Jason threw a few batteries at Mal. “If you don’t want to come don’t come, Sin. You aren’t going to stop our fun.”

“Just don’t be a tattle-tale and we’ll be pechay.” Mal and Jason grabbed their Pokebelts and Flashlights and snuck out the door.

Audley the Sinner | The Sherwood Ranch

Let's be honest here, Sin only had one reason for going along with the Let's wander around unknown terrain full of large Pokémon in the dark plan. And that was to get his money off Jason. Or, at least, if he couldn't get his money back, he could count on some humiliation on Jason's side. So they packed up the cards and went 'exploring'.

Except the humiliation started soon as Jason walked into a table and yowled in pain.

Sin waited for people to come running but the only thing that happened was Sam sticking his head out the door. "Hello," he said, clearly confused by the fact that Sin was hanging out with the Big Boys and he wasn't. "What are you doing?"

"Don't you worry Veronica," said Jason. "We're just going for a walk. Go back to bed."

"Oh no," said Sam. "I'm coming with you, or I'm telling Mrs Sherwood you three aren't happy with her letting you stay in her lovely abode."

Jason had a sharp intake of breath. "You wouldn't dare-"

"Wouldn't I?" Sam grinned. "Let me get my shoes."

They left the house without any further mishap. "Right!" Jason clapped his hands together. "Where shall we go from here?"

Sin wasn't listening, pulling Cade out of his Pokéball. "What are you doing?" asked Mal.

"Your flashlights aren't exactly reliable and I'm not going to get lost on this ranch in the pitch black, okay? I'm covering our backs."

Cade growled threateningly at Mal.

"Jeez, sorry," Mal said, turning around and walking. One of Sin's other Pokéballs wiggled and he let Lea out as well.

"Just taking your dogs for a walk?" Sam asked, but followed suit, letting Tails out as his new companion.

The four boys and their Pokémon walked a good distance from the house and then came to a crossroads. "I'm up for seeing some Eeveelutions," said Sin. "I'd like to know what I could evolve Lea into."

Jason snorted. "Boring, Tom can just show that to you in the morning."

"Tom! Do you think he's around at the-" Sin stopped when he got looks from all sides. "I miss Kristine," he said under his breath.

"Speaking of Sunshine," said Sam. "I have an idea."

And when he explained it, even Sin was impressed. "Even I'm impressed," he said.

The Ponyta shelter was close to the house so that Tom could get his Ponyta in the mornings to do the rounds, Sin presumed. Wow, he was so cool.

The door was unlocked and the Ponyta were all asleep in their stalls. They chose the one that woke up first and Sam gently looped a rope over its neck.

"Won't it burn through?" asked Jason.

"Fireproof rope, apparently," said Sin, watching closely. “Let’s go.”

They went up to the window that belonged to Kristine, and the others kept quiet while Sin snuck inside. Mrs Sherwood had a craft room, he had seen it on his way in, and he very easily snuck in and found some red ribbon and a pair of scissors. He went back out to the other boys and pushed them all back as he constructed the perfect bow around the parts of the Ponyta where the ribbon wouldn’t be burnt to shreds. Then they put the gift tag on, ‘With love, from Tom’ threw pebbles at Kristine’s window until they saw the lights come on, then ran. They were still within earshot when she squealed.

“Let’s go look at the Tauros,” said Mal so that’s where they went next. They hopped over the gate into the pasture where the Tauros were all asleep.

“Wonder if you could ball one of these,” Jason said, fingering an empty Pokéball.

“Think that counts as stealing,” said Sam.

“Says you,” Sin pointed out. “Mr ‘This-is-a-fair-trade-with-a-little-kid.’”

“I never said I didn’t approve of stealing,” Sam said. “Just that it would be.”

“Well I disapprove.”

“Whatever,” said Jason. “They’re all asleep anyway,” and he kicked a piece of dirt, which came free with his shoe and soared in a perfect arc towards the closest Tauros.

“Oh dear,” said Mal.

It was as if strange music was playing as they ran from the Tauros who bellowed “TAAU!” and woke up all the others. Mal managed neatly to get two to headbutt each other and KO. Sam ducked under a fence with Tails in his arms and the Tauros chasing him got its head stuck between the two slats. Sin ducked under a handy piece of wood in the corner and the Tauros after him ran on top of it, only for Sin to hop over the fence while it was confused. Jason did not seem to have a clever plan other than running around in circles. So as he finished his next lap, the other three hauled the gate open and he ran out, slamming it before the Tauros came, and wiping their hands of the matter.

Then they were stuck for adventures.

“Eeveelutions?” Sin suggested, though only half-heartedly. He wanted Tom to show him those. Besides, the puppies were tired.

“Nah. Let’s go see how Kristine is doing?”

Kristine was dancing around the Ponyta in Jigglypuff pyjamas saying, “He loves me, he loves me and look look look it’s a Ponyta!”

Sin couldn’t bear to leave his friend to face such bitter double disappointment, so instead he just patted her shoulder and said, “No. He doesn’t.” Kristine stared at him, puzzled. “But you’re right. It is a Ponyta.”

Jason | Sherwood Ranch

Jason’s foot twitched, nose crinkling as he caught a snore in the back of his throat. The sound popped in a bubble and woke him with a start--and then he felt really, really hot. He opened his eyes and pulled the red Magma Cap from over his eyes, slowly remembering that he’d fallen asleep in the only unoccupied space in the entire Sherwood house: the bathroom. He slowly sat up, turning over the floor mat he’d used as a blanket, and blinked at the steam filling the room. Jason wiped his forehead, blinked, and then looked ahead at the shower curtain ahead of him where a silhouette stood, scrubbing its arms. Jason’s eyes popped wide as he scrambled to his feet, awkwardly inching towards the door.

“You’re awake!” The voice was deep and rough--definitely not any of his friends. A spot in the curtain popped open and Tom poked his head out, grinning. “Cool, breakfast is in the dinin’ room if yer hungry. Sorry if you wanted the first shower of the mornin’, but it’s just the most relaxin’ thing in the world t’me!”

Jason was confused and disgruntled. “Do you often shower in front of eleven-year-old boys without a care?”

Tom snorted, popping his head back into the steam. “That’s what shower curtains are for!” Jason heard the farting sound of a mostly-empty bottle of shampoo being squeezed, and Tom spoke again. “Yer friend Malcolm told me about yer theory with Team Rocket and the train, and I think it’s worth checkin’ out.”

Jason sat on the toilet and put his chin in his palm, still drowsy. “Well, it only makes sense. They wouldn’t try to move thirteen eevee on foot, and the trains are the only transport outta here for a week, so who wouldn’t want a quick getaway?”

“I know I sure would!” Tom shut off the water and grabbed a towel from the curtain rail. “But I called the police, and they said they reckon a police raid of a Fuchsia City traditional train ride would be mighty obnoxious, particularly with the new factory openin’ up near Route 18.” Jason’s stomach growled, and Tom waited. “But that don’t mean we caint take matters into our own hands.”

Jason got up off the toilet, and opened the door to the hallway. “We can plan when I get food in my gut.” He pulled his magma cap on and sulked to the kitchen, static in his socks making his loose hair under the cap stand on-end. Sin, Hayden, and the girls were sitting around the table with girly grins on their faces. They turned to see Jason, and just giggled.

“I hear someone’s bathroom business took all night!” Kristine covered her mouth to keep a giggle in, but Pikachu happily took the chance for her and broke into squeaky chu cackles.

“Yuck it up,” Jason said, grabbing a plate of bacon, “but some of us like to sleep without Mal talking battle strategies in his sleep.”

Hayden nodded. “Last night, he woke me up explaining the perfect strategy for taking down a Steel type with a Normal pokemon. It was like reading a guidebook, only drowsily!”

Laura shrugged, taking a big gulp of iced tea. “Kris here kept giggling about her new ponyta, which she so kindly named Papaya.” She rolled her eyes and covered her mouth to one side to keep Kristine from hearing. ”She doesn’t know she has to give it back yet. I mean really, who names Pokemon after fruit?”

Jason just pointed at Kristine and stuffed his face with bacon. Through a full mouth, he said, “Sho Tom shaysh we’re ghonna rob a train!”

Sin’s nose turned up. “Have some manners, you...you Uncouth Ruth!”

Jason just stared at him, bacon hanging out of his mouth. He put the plate down, taking the pokeball off of the center of his simple chain necklace and clicking it open. Gligar roosted on his shoulder, tail wrapping around his neck like a scarf. “Ah,” Jason said, and Gligar popped his mouth open as Jason threw bacon in. Gligar beamed, nuzzling his face.

Kristine watched gooey-eyed. “That...was socute.”

In walked Tom, flanked by Sam and Mal, all dressed as if ready for a train robbery. “You’re dressed as if ready for a train robbery,” noted Sin. Jason noted that Tom even had a black cowboy hat on, tilted to one side to cover an eye. It was pretty dramatic.

“Well, fellas, that’s exactly what we’re gon’ do today!”

Mal slammed a paper the size of a poster down on the table. “Here’s the plan of attack!”

“You knocked over my orange juice...” Hayden mumbled.

“The train leaves at 10am sharp,” Tom said, “and it’ll arrive at this spot,” he pointed at two A-shapes on the map, “at 10:30am, which is where we’ll be crouched ‘n ready to hitch a ride.”

Sam took two tickets from his sandshrew’s little paws and tossed them on the table. “Two of us will be on-board the train already to find the eevees and get ready for a quick sweep in and out.”

“We figured it’d need to be a coupl’a classy folks, so we chose Sunshine and Claire. We got some clothes fer y’all to wear to make you blend in.”

Jason looked at his buddies groggily, handing more strips of bacon to gligar. “And the rest of us, like, storm the heck out of the train, guns blazing?”

Tom shook his head. “We’re gonna do two things. Create a landslide to block the tracks, and hold the train still until we can get my babies outta there.”

Everyone nodded. Kristine clapped. “This is so exciting!”

“Boys,” Tom said, “Saddle up!”

Sam Not-At-All-Classy Martin | Sherwood Ranch

Sam sat himself down and clutched at a fistful of bacon without hesitating. He paused when everyone looked at him, so he dropped a couple strips back onto the plate before throwing the rest on his plate. His greasy little fingers made for the eggs—

—until Sinclair snatched the bowl from underneath him.

“What gives?!” Sam said, outraged. He bit into a strip of bacon and chewed it up like a miltank ate grass.

“First of all, eat with your mouth closed,” Sinclair said sternly, eyeing the bacon crumbs falling out of Sam’s mouth and all over the table. “Secondly, don’t use your hands.” He set the bowl back down and nudged the spoon toward Sam.

“I thought we covered this,” Sam muttered, snatching the bowl irritably and dishing up some grub.

“We did,” Hayden piped up. “You’re the least classy of all.” Sam paused and made to talk back at that comment when Tom interrupted.

“Uh, boys…” Tom said, finally shaking himself out of his daze from watching Sam devour the breakfast, “I said, ‘Saddle up!’”

Everyone paused and looked up at him in silence.

Well, except Kristine. She jumped out of her chair and bounced up by Tom. “Let’s get ready! What clothes did you get me? I do hope they match Papaya. By the way, thank you so, so, so much for giving me Papaya. You are the sweetest!” She flung her arms around the stunned brother.

Sam looked to Mal and Jason, and all three of them laughed. Loudly.

Kristine Apparently the Classiest Of Them All | Sherwood Ranch

Laura had whisked Kristine out of the room before Kristine could ask why they were all laughing and explain the tag that Papaya came with which clearly stated Tom’s undying love for her.

They arrived in Laura’a room, and Laura closed the door, locking it even. Kristine looked at her curiously, but Laura was prompt in saying, “I’ve got your clothes for you.” She walked to her bed and indicated the large bag sitting there.

Kristine squeaked and eagerly looked inside.

Her jaw fell open in awe at the classy dress Laura pulled out.

Laura let Kristine wriggle into her classy outfit she doubted the boys got for her since it was so pretty. Kristine was so excited to be wearing a dress again. And looking so pretty. There was glitter, too! And a classy, blue ribbon tied around her waist, the ends tied in a classy, huge bow on her back. Kristine’s classy shoes glittered like a pair of classy, sapphire slippers.

“Oh, Laura!” Kristine said, looking at herself in the mirror. “You should have gotten a dress, too! We could pretend to be sisters! Classy sisters!”

Kristine whirled and reached for the headband. She twirled back and…

…fell right into the mirror.

She heard Laura slap a palm to her own forehead.

“Whoops!” Kristine giggled, brushing any wrinkles out of her classy dress. She slid the classy headband into her fiery-red hair and smiled brilliantly. “Oh, and I should have Lucy travel with me! That’s classy, right? Say! Is there a classy coat? It would match my classy dress! Ohhh, I wish I had blue eyes.”

Laura huffed and made to stand next to Kristine, looking in the mirror. Kristine couldn’t quite make out the expression on her face, but it didn’t faze Kristine’s excellent mood. Laura shook her head and walked away. “Classy.”

Bologna and Cheese Sammich | Fuchsia I-Will-One-Day-Spell-This-Correctly City

“So how come we don’t get to actually saddle up on some ponyta again?” Sam asked, dragging his feet.

“Walking’s more convenient,” Tom said, not even a little tired. Kristine was just as invigorated as Tom was, watching the strong man walk like he was born to.

“Yo, Sunshine,” Sam piped up, straightening his posture slightly as she looked at him. “You could ride your ponyta. You know, the one Tom gave you.”

“Nice sweater vest, Claire,” Mal said, pinching the fabric and letting it naturally fall back onto Sin’s shoulder. Sinclair brushed it down and straightened his classy shirt cuffs while he was at it.

“Alright you two,” Tom said, coming to a stop. The kids all looked around him at the overly-crowded train station. “Ya’ll stick together and keep to the plan, y’hear?”

Kristine bounced on her feet, nodding ferociously. Lucy sat on her shoulder with a bright pink ribbon tied around her neck. Sinclair heaved a sigh, straightening his posture as if he were the snotty rich boy they had originally met back in Viridian.

“Oh, just go,” Jason said impatiently, shoving Kristine forward. A pokeball fell onto the ground, and Kristine, of course, stepped on it and struggled to keep her balance before plopping down on the street. Sinclair didn’t bother helping Kristine though, checking the pokeballs on his belt.

“Psy!”

“Oh, no,” Sinclair breathed.

Everyone had fallen silent. Tom helped Kristine back on her feet (which only made Kristine’s cheeks pink), and they all listened to the squawking psyduck marching around in a circle. Finally, Sam grabbed Tom’s arm and dragged him away at a run. “See you on the other side, Sunshine!”

Captain.Classy Kristine | Fuchsia Train Station, 9:55 A.M.

“Kristine, he has to get back in his ball,” Sin said through clenched teeth as they sat on the bench.

“Oh, no he doesn’t. Look, he’s having fun!” she said, indicating the psyduck now wearing an old newspaper as a cape and waving around a beat-up, holey umbrella. Little Lucy pranced after him as if he were the best Uncle Julius in the world. “Oh, couldn’t Lea come out to play, too? I could let Lumichu—”

“No!” Sin said quickly and loudly, though that was hardly noticed in this noisy crowd. “We’re supposed to be sophisticated. It’s bad enough that Julius is out fooling around, and you can’t walk in a straight line unless there’s a brick wall in your path.”

Kristine laughed and looked at him. “Classy’s no fun if you can’t be happy.”

“Classy is happy,” Sin said clearly and looked away.

Kristine giggled again. “Fine, no Lumichu. He does tend to cause a scene…”

There was a pause as people scuffled past them, constantly tripping over Julius. Eventually, Kristine scooped Lucy up into her lap for fear that she would get stepped on. Sinclair stood up at their signal of the train boarding and reached for the pokeball to put Julius away.

But Julius waddled off.

“Julius, get back here!” Sin shouted. Kristine followed the charging Sin as he cleared a path through the crowd after the insane psyduck. Kristine noticed other pokemon getting interested and following the chase after the psyduck. It was as if strange music was playing as they ran through the crowd.

Kristine heard Sinclair shout, “Gotcha!” before tripping over a squirtle and falling on top of Sinclair who fell on top of Julius, everyone falling in a heap in front of the train doors.

Kristine clambered off of Sin as he propped himself up on his hands. A man above them cleared his throat, and everyone in the pile looked up at the huge mustache. It threw Kristine off. Fortunately, captain.classy Claire was there to speak. He stood up and brushed himself off, not caring about any of the pokemon or Kristine he could have kicked or shoved. Or both. He straightened his sweater vest. “Time to board, is it?”

And he stepped onto the train.

Jason | Rockbreak Ridge, The Perilous Canyon North of Fuchsia

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” asked Jason, noting that the question usually foreshadowed a plan gone awfully wrong. In fact, he couldn’t think of a cartoon he’d seen when the Good Idea had been a Good Idea. But nevertheless, he asked, once again, “Seriously. Is this a good idea?”

Tom, who had taken off his shirt and wrapped it around his right hand to keep from getting callouses, set a barrel of homemade napalm on the dusty ground and wiped sweat from his forehead, also with the shirt around his hand. “Jason, mayn, I can think of a lotta things that’d be bad ideas, but none of ‘em are really relevant when I’ve got my babies on that there train comin’ t’wards us.”

Mal poked his head over a rock from where he was seated with Laura and Hayden, who was quiet, and cocked an eyebrow. “I think I’m with Jason on this one, Tom. Goin’ all Fight Club on that train doesn’t seem like it’ll come out too well.”

“Besides,” noted Laura, who was seated beside the quiet Hayden, “we could get our Pokemon to safely place several boulders on the tracks to keep the train from train...ing.”

Everyone stared at Laura - even Hayden, who remained quiet.

“Look, I didn’t get any more sleep than any of the rest of you last night, so can it, or I’ll have Tom’s steel-toe boots so far up your butts you’ll taste leather until you’re sixty.”

It was quite clear to everyone that something was eating at Laura.

“I wonder how Claire and Sunshine are doing,” said Sam, who had continued to move the barrels of napalm unnoticed through the entire exchange.

“Sam, don’t you think that napalm is a bit much?”

Sam thought for a moment, even stroked his invisible chin-beard, but then shook his head. “Nope nope. I think it’s a great idea, and I know these things because I am me.” He grabbed the hem of his shirt and jerked it over his head, tying it around his hand to imitate Tom. “And I know me more than anyone else!”

“The implications,” noted Hayden (quietly), “are astonishing.”

Tom looked at Sam, and more importantly the barrel of explosives he’d just sat on, and had an awful realization. The explosives tended to explode things - and from all his research, Eevees were most definitely not explode-proof.

“I think napalm is a bit much,” he said. Sam was clearly heartbroken - and this was clear only because he formed the shape of a heart over his chest, and then broke it in two.

Jason nodded, turned his Magma cap backwards, which really did nothing to the appeal of the hat, as it is the same on the back as the front, and took out a pokeball or two or three. He was ambitious. “So we’ll just use our pokemon, who conveniently recently learned the move Bulldoze, and move the rocks onto the tracks to keep the train from training!”

Laura glared.

Mal coughed. “At the risk of internal bleeding, I’d like to nickname Laura ‘Boots’ from here forward.”

Just then, the faint sound of a kerfuffle came from down the ridge. Everyone, except for Hayden (who had his nose literally in a book), turned to see the source.

Two adults - a man and a woman - were wrestling with a baker’s dozen of eevee, all leashed together and held by the man. One at a time, our heroes’ faces turned to the same expression, much resembling Laura’s most-used text emoticon: : |

Tom put his hands in his tight jean pockets. “Guys?”

Everyone responded: “Tom?”

“I do believe those sons of guns have my foxy babies.”

Sam tried to roll up his sleeves, but then realized he had taken off his shirt. Still, though, the gesture was appropriate.

Everyone reached for a pokeball at the same time, but were stopped when Quiet Hayden said, quietly, “Wait.”

They waited, but they were unsure what for.

“Releasing all our pokemon at once is a bit napalm-ish, don’t you think?”

“But,” Jason said, dejected, “pokemon!”

Hayden shook his head, closing his book. “Watch this.” He retrieved a pokeball from his backpack and opened it. A dark purple mist formed into Murtle, the mischievous Haunter. “Murtle,” said Hayden, and pointed at the couple, “mischief.”

Klassy Kristine | Fuschia Train

“We’ve got ten minutes,” Sinclair said as he flopped against the wall of the storage car. “And we have no eevees--what are you doing?”

Kristine and Julius stopped mid-dancing, Lucy still prancing around them excitedly. Quickly resuming her “classy” composure, she nodded. “That sounds like a great idea, Sin! You’re so smart!”

Sinclair rubbed the bridge of his nose while his other hand pulled out a pokeball, and Julius disappeared inside. Lucy stopped and looked at him with huge brown eyes, forcing Sin to look away. “Put her away so we can get things done. Time’s ticking!”

Kristine pouted with a matching set of green eyes as she picked up Lucy and sadly put her into her pokeball, promising to release her as soon as she could.

“Alright, why don’t you stay here and look some more, I’ll go to the front--” Sinclair studied Kristine, who still held her dress out and twirled it about like an eight-year-old girl, then sighed. “No, you’re not staying anywhere on your own. We’re checking out the front of the train.”

“Okay!”

The two of them traveled down the train, Kristine trying her hardest to keep up with his fast pace. There was no sign of a collection of eevees. Perhaps the occasional one sitting with their owner, but no more than that. As they let a worker past them, a child tugged on Kristine’s dress and said out loud to her mother, “A princess, mommy!”

Kristine beamed at her.

By the time they reached the the engine itself, they were told to turn back. They did, but only as far as the nearest guest car, seating themselves there. Sinclair peered through the window into the front car as Kristine hummed happily to herself a very familiar tune, but no luck.

There were no eevees anywhere.

Sammy Makes-A-Comeback Martin | Rockbreak Ridge

“Murtle, mischief,” Hayden told his haunter.

“Haaaunt.”

The haunter faded out of view, and Hayden led the sneak closer to the runaway couple. Sam was unwilling at first, really looking forward to the napalm experience, but followed anyway with a dejected feeling.

“Shouldn’t we still stop--”

“Shhh!” Hayden said, waving behind him at Jason.

The bunch of them parked themselves behind bushes and boulders. Sam half crawled onto an equally-sized Mal, producing some grunting and groaning from Mal’s end. “Dude, what are you--”

“Shhh!” the group hissed.

Sam looked down at Mal, who glared right back up. After flashing a victorious grin, Sam looked away and watched the duo carrying the eevees.

Maybe thirty seconds passed before the large group of eevees suddenly fell silent. The duo froze and stared at them, but the eevees stared right back at them. Sam had forgotten to breathe and took a sharp gasp when Haunter appeared behind the oblivious couple.

The Haunter was 100% opaque, the two still not noticing him. The woman looked at the man cautiously, but neither of them were sure what was causing the eevee to be so quietly watching them.

“...HAAAAAAAAUNT!”

“AHHHHHHHH!”

They both jumped out of their skins, the man completely losing grip of all the leashes. A mad chorus of “EEEVEEEEE!” rang all around them, and the eevees scurried every which way.

“Go catch some eevees, Jazz!” Jason shouted, hurling a pokeball out in front of him and allowing his gligar to go play chase with some energetic balls of fluff.

“Here,” Laura said, letting her ponyta out of the ball. “Tom and I will round them up. You take care of them!”

“And make it fast!” Tom said, pointing to his watch. “Train’s coming and coming fast!”

“I got this!” Sam said, hopping off of Mal’s shoulders. “Dex, go help Marty!”

“It’s Murtle,” Hayden said.

“Same thing!”

Mal let out his doduo, hopped on his back, and helped himself away from the Sam Disaster Train to catch some eevee.

Hayden never looked so helpless.

Kristine’s Klass | Fuschia Train

Sin looked at the clock on the train then outside the window. And then back to the clock. Then back out the window.

“Sin, you’re making me dizzy!”

Sin looked at her from the corner of his eye before fully facing her. “We have no eevees, and we’re supposed to be jumping out of the train in five minutes. Why do we not have eevees?”

“Probably because they’re not here?” Kristine asked. “The only place we haven’t looked is the engine room, and they made it pretty clear we weren’t allowed to go there--ohhh my gosh they have chocolate here what is this--”

Sin slapped her outstretched hand and let the woman continue on her way.

“Siiiin, I want some chocolate--”

Sin stood up, grabbed her arm, and dragged her after him down the car. “We need to get out of here.”

“The train’s going to stop for us, Sin,” Kristine said quite confidently. “They said they’d have a whole landslide! I’ve never been in a trainwreck before. I wonder if it’ll ruin this new dress? I really absolutely love it. I think it brings out the color in my eyes! Except that they’re green, so probably not as much as I’d like, but I always looked good in blue, too. I look colorful!”

Sin slowed down to a halt as he thought about that. Kristine beamed, remembering exactly everything Tom said about their plan. Who couldn’t remember anything he said?!

Sin leaned over to look out the window again. Kristine hummed to herself, waiting for Sin to get some sort of plan or calm or something.

“You must be swift as a Squirtle’s rapid spiiin,” Kristine sang.

Sin didn’t move.

“With all the force of a Pidgey’s guuust.”

Silence.

“With all the strength of a Cubone’s bone club.”

“There’s something going on down there,” Sin suddenly said. Kristine perked up and peered out the window next to him. Out in the distance was a small pink spot flying around the tracks, but most of the action was blocked out by trees anyway, let alone they were too far away to scrutinize anything.

“You don’t think...?”

Sin immediately stood up and hurried down the car. Kristine ran after him, failing to smoothly dodge passengers of all sizes. Doors flung open and carry-on bags were shoved aside for Kristine to easily run through -- or so one would think. She still somehow managed to run into the door frame, trip on two briefcases, get her ankle trapped in a backpack strap, and tripped head-first into the wall.

Then Sin stopped again at the emergency exit door. And he looked outside.

“Sin?” Kristine asked, breathing heavily. She tenderly tapped at the new shiny bruise on her forehead. “Sin, what’s wrong?”

He looked at her, face pale. “Our five minutes are up.”

Sam Martin | Rockbreak Ridge

“Surrender now or prepare to fight!”

Sam yawned and stretched. When he noticed Team Rocket standing in some mighty-confident poses, he straightened slightly. “You’re done?”

“Hey, how many do we have?!” Jason’s voice shouted in the background.

“Dex, get those two out of here!” Sam shouted, pointing at the two. “No one takes Bluesi’s eevees and gets away with it!”

“Murtle!”

Dex shot a large spout of water towards them, leaving them soaking in their spots. Mandy was just about to release a pokemon when Murtle suddenly flew through her, and she jumped again, falling onto her rear.

“We’ve got six!” Sam managed to hear Tom say from behind.

“What are you two doing with the eevees anyway?” Hayden inquired. Murtle vanished again, and that made both of them nervous all over again.

“For their p-p-power, of cousre--”

“Blast them off again, Dex!” Sam shouted. “I don’t feel like chatting!”

“You never do...” Hayden sighed.

The team blasted off sky-high and out of sight. Sam brushed his hands, proud of his totodile’s hardwork. Dex disappeared inside his pokeball, and Sam spun on his heel to check on the others when he found nothing but Murtle and screamed. Like Kristine.

Hayden walked away, completely pleased with himself.

“Okay, that makes thirteen!” Tom said with a huge sigh of relief. “That means--” The sound of a train’s choochoo sounded behind him, making Tom freeze in mid-wipe of his forehead. “Oh, no.”

Lauren’s jaw clenched as she glared at him.

“Sunshine’s still on that train!”

“We have to stop it--”

“GET DOWN!”

Tom swooped the boys back from the tracks until they all fell onto the ground. The train whizzed by loudly and quickly, no one could hear any of the rude shouting and complaining they were making. Sam managed to weasel out from under Tom’s arm, but as soon as he stood up, he realized there was really nothing he could do.

The train was here and gone. And so were Sin and Sunshine.