Chapter 3
*8 months later*
Iris shot up in her bed with a grin on her face as her alarm clock buzzed. Eve looked around panicked that something had happened to cause Iris to move so quickly. Frosty on the other hand simply lifted her head up and glared at Iris with disdain. Hitting the OFF button on the clock silencing it Iris hopped out of bed, turned around, and lifted Eve into the air.
"It's my birthday Eve!" Iris proclaimed happily as she hugged her Eevee close. Setting a slightly confused, if not happy, Eve back on the bed Iris moved down to the bed and started scratching Frosty's head causing her to no longer glare at the red head. "Common Frosty. I'm sure Mom has something whipped up already. I turn fourteen today you know and Mother said that I should be getting an important gift today."
Changing into her normal outfit, red skirt and a white top, with speed that made a Speed Forme Deoxys look slow Iris headed downstairs. Eve and Glaceon looked at each other with confused looks on their faces before chasing after Iris. Coming to the stairs Iris had to put on the brakes as her Aunt Luna reached the top. Luna was a tall woman, only a few inches shorter than Mika, with long jet black hair that she let cascade down her back. Luna's pale skin only seemed palier when contrasted with her dark hair. She had on an ankle-length black skirt and crimson blouse. Attached to her right arm was a red PokéBrace, something that every Pokémon Trainer had. Her golden eyes went wide with shock as she thought her niece was about to crash into her.
Iris had stopped in enough time that she didn't cause the both of them to start tumbling down the stairs. Sadly the same could not be said for Eve and Frosty's stopping ability. First Eve's small form crashed into the back of Iris' knees causing her to lose balance so that when Frosty's larger form collided with them Iris had no choice but to fall forward due to the force. Unprepared for the avalanche of limbs wasn't able to hold her ground and started to fall backwards. Both humans and Pokémon were surrounded in a pink outline as they were psychically saved from painfully rolling down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs stood a pair of Kirlia both with eyes closed in concentration. The two Psychic Pokémon let the group down at the bottom of the stairs.
"Thanks Kirlia and Kirlia. Sorry Aunt Luna," Iris apologized before dashing off again. Nothing was going to stop her from heading to the kitchen to find her favorite breakfast, scrambled eggs with peanut butter and maple syrup waffles and a side of bacon. Sure enough as Iris slid into the kitchen her mom and Uncle Sol were finishing up the last plate of delicious food. Professor Solaris Adamas was a tall man standing at six foot eight inches. His short shaggy brown hair was in need of a combing. Gold colored eyes seemed to analyze everything around him as he went about setting tower of waffles. Many of the Pokémon that lived in the house had bowels of their own food and were already chowing down. The table was set for nine, seven humans and two Kirlias.
"Happy birthday sweetie," Rin said when she spotted her daughter. Never the neat cook Rin had flour on her apron and when she hugged Iris the birthday girl got a big ol' puff of flour. When she was released from her mom's hug some of Iris' hair was dyed white with ground grains.
"Hey Umbreon," Sol smiled as he looked at his sister's Pokémon. Umbreon was lying on the floor resting after a filling meal. "Would you mind waking Mika up?" If an Umbreon can grin evilly, then this one certainly did. Mika may be his partner but that didn't stop him from enjoying messing with her from time to time like it did to others.
"Be kind to your sister Sol. She's taking a well deserved break to be here for Iris' birthday," Rin sighed as she hung her apron up on a nearby hook. That group from eight months ago, the Gold Feather, had since started doing bigger crimes and that meant that Mika had started working even more than usual. Iris had overheard her parents talking on the phone the other day and Mika was getting really worried about what this group of criminals was up to. Today wasn't the day to worry about such things though.
A very tired looking Ciro came trudging into the kitchen in his PJs which were a pair of black sweat pants and and a faded blue t-shirt. With a large yawn he plopped down into his chair at the table and waited for the others. Iris hopped into her chair and had a stare down with the pile of waffles closest to her. Even though she wanted to start digging in right away she knew that her mom would yell if she tried eating before everyone made it to the table. Both Kirlias levitated up into their chairs and patiently waited for the rest of the household.
It wasn't long after Sol had sent Umbreon to wake up Mika that the entire downstairs heard her scream as she woke up. Iris wondered what Umbreon had done to cause her mother to wake up screaming but some questions were better left unasked. Fast paced footsteps could be heard as Mika presumably chased Umbreon around upstairs.
"Oy, Aunt Mika is at it already?" Ceres asked as she entered the room with her mother. Iris' other cousin and twin sister to Ciro, Ceres was had her father's dark brown hair but kept it long like her mother's. A few inches taller than her brother, enough that people thought there was an age difference between the two; Ceres looked more like her father than Ciro did. However, unlike her parents and brother Ceres' eye color was green, a gift from her grandmother that she loathed.
"It's your father's fault," Rin told her niece in defense of Mika. "He's the one that sent Umbreon after her."
"I'm just glad it wasn't Mother's Houndoom," Ceres replied as she took her spot between her Kirlia and Iris. "Last thing we need is Aunt Mika being burnt to a crisp this early in the morning."
"SOL-AR-IS!" Mika's voice shouted from up above. A series of footsteps descended the stairs and soon Mika appeared in the doorway. Her blonde hair was in a mess from sleep and for the most part she looked normal. That is if you ignored the black pawprints on her cheeks. Having cleaned those exact pawprints off the floor more than a few times Iris knew that they were put there by Umbreon. "I know it was you Brother! You sent Umbreon in to wake me up didn't you?!"
"I told him to wake you, not decorate your face." Sol was trying not to laugh at his sister. If she got any more mad she was likely to erupt like a Camerupt.
"How did he even?" Rin started before she just shook her head and went to get a paper towel to wipe off whatever it was that was on Mika's face.
"That's what I want to know! How did he get ink on his paws and manage to ONLY get pawprints on my face?!" Mika took the wet paper towel from Rin and rubbed the ink off her face dying the towel black as she did so. It took three paper towels to get the ink completely off. Umbreon came strutting into the kitchen and back to the spot he had been lying before Sol had disturbed him. Without looking at Mika he plopped back down and went back to his after meal nap. "You're getting payback one day Umbreon, count on it." Mika huffed and sat down at the table.
Now that everyone had gathered they were allowed to eat and Iris dug right in. For a little wisp of a girl she could pack it in, she needed fuel for her hyper activeness. As the meal wound down and there was only one waffle left in the middle of the table Ciro made the mistake of trying to take it. As his hand went for the sweet fluffy a fork appeared between the hand and food. Iris was standing up to reach far enough across the table but she was going to defend her waffle. Ciro, who had woken up enough by now, stared at his cousin. A tense air settled over the breakfast table as the two started their showdown. Ciro kept trying to get the waffle only to have Iris slam a fork in front of his hand over and over again. It didn't cross Iris' mind to simply take the waffle off the plate, it was too much fun to fight over it first. A few times Ciro got close to getting poked by the fork but he never made it the last remaining slice of food. Instead his own Kirlia stole it right from underneath the feuding teens. Both Iris and Ciro's mouth dropped in shock as their prize was stolen from them.
"That's what you two get for playing at the table," Rin scolded them both like they were little kids rather than teenagers. Both of them sat back in their chairs defeated by a hungry Psychic Pokémon.
Sad, and still feeling peckish, Iris got up from the table and headed into the living room with Eve and Frosty hot on her heels. She didn't know what her family had planned for her today but she was willing to bet that a party was going to be involved. Pris and her family were coming over today and that was all that she knew for certain. A few weeks ago Tina had come back home from her trip to collect the gym badges. She already had four badges but the season was over and the Clestia region had just ended witnessed the continuation of its champion's reign. So with no rush to collect another four badges within a year's time Tina had come home to rest her Pokémon. Pris had been over the moon to have her older sister back home, even Ciro seemed a bit more chipper since the return of Tina. Iris didn't have to be as smart as her Uncle Sol to figure out why, though Sol appeared to be completely oblivious to his son's interest in Tina. Thankfully the other adults in the house seemed to grasp what was going on.
Sitting down on the large couch Iris let Eve hop up onto her lap and Frosty climbed up to lay down next to Iris. With her two Pokémon sitting next to her Iris tried to find something on the television to entertain her until it was time to go and hang out with Pris. As one would expect there wasn't really much on at eight in the morning so Iris settled for watching reruns of the League battles. She tuned in to see a match of Dragonite against a Florges. Type-wise the Florges had the advantage but the Dragonite was holding its own using a few Earthquakes. Iris had seen the battle before and knew that the Dragonite lost because the Florges had surprised everyone with its Toxic.
"Chicchicchicchicchicchic!" Ceres' Torchic came scampering into the room and leapt onto the back of the couch to stare down at Frosty. Ceres and Ciro had accompanied their parents on a trip recently to meet with a visiting professor and Ceres had gotten the fire chicken from him. Ever since it had come to home it had seen Frosty as a rival and wanted nothing more than to fight the Ice Eeveelution. Pitty that even with the type advantage Torchic kept losing. Frosty was years older and had far more experience under its belt. Glancing up at the pest Frosty opened her mouth and let out a blast of cold wind, the weakest move that she knew, Icy Wind. Torchic's eyes turned into spirals as it fell off the back of the couch, one hit K. by a Icy Wind.
"Ceres should really keep a better eye on her Torchic," Iris said as she peeked over the couch to see if Torchic was alright. "Poor little guy is going to get himself hurt one of these days." While she did feel slightly sorry for the Torchic the feeling quickly passed. It was the one that kept asking to get blasted and knocked out. Sadly the Torchic was as hardheaded as his trainer and enjoyed pitting itself against stronger opponents.
Speak of the devil and so shall she appear. Ceres came in with her Kirlia not far behind her and she instantly spotted her fainted Torchic. Rushing over Ceres picked up her fallen Pokémon. Glaring daggers at Frosty, Ceres took her Torchic to her father's lab where they had a small machine to help treat injured Pokémon. Torchic spent more time than it should have in that machine. Iris watched Ceres depart and wondered why her cousin let her Torchic go around picking fights only to come in after the Chick Pokémon had fainted. It wasn't Frosty's fault that Torchic had disturbed them, it wouldn't have left until it got its fight. Besides, Frosty had more powerful moves than Icy Wind in her arsenal that could have frozen Torchic solid.
After she had killed enough time by watching T.V. and reading some of her newest book Iris looked at the clock and noticed that it was finally past ten. Two hours had successfully been wasted and now she was allowed to head over to Pris' house and hang out with her best friend until she was called back home.
Heading out the door Iris called out to her parents, wherever they were at, and told them that she was heading out. Waiting a few seconds Iris heard an "Okay" from her Aunt Luna and then she bolted out of the door. Not before ducking back in and grabbing her messenger bag off the hook on her way out. It held helpful things inside of it.
Pris was fun to hang out with. She was a little shy and downright ignorant of the advances the town boys made on her. Well the boys that weren't simply trying to use Pris to get to Tina. So Iris got to play bodyguard and sic Frosty on guys that got to forward with Pris and she had fun doing it. Her biggest problem with hanging out with Pris was the fact that all the boys paid attention to Pris rather than her. Just another reason to have Frosty use an Ice Beam or two to scare them off.
Today they had gotten permission to go and explore the forest surrounding the town so long as they took Shin's Haxorus, Rai, with them. The forest sported many small Pokémon such as Pidgey and Taillow but it also housed a few things like Trevenant and Zoroarks. Frosty and Nimbus were both pretty powerful but when a hoard of Trevenants gathered around even Frosty had problems without messing up the weather. Iris didn't mind a "chaperone" but she did mind that it was a huge ol' Haxorus. A Haxorus isn't exactly the smallest Pokémon out there and Rai was a tad fight happy. Okay "tad" was putting it mildly. He loved to fight and ever since Shin settled down he hadn't been getting enough action in his life.
Waiting in between the two fences around the yards was Pris, Nimbus, and Rai. Your normal Haxorus coloring was a yellow-green. But like his wife and daughter, Shin had a shiny Pokémon and Rai just happened to be that Pokémon. A shiny Haxorus was black-grey instead of yellow-green. Pris looked so small standing next to the six foot tall dinosaur. Yeah he's 5'11" (1.8m) but do you really want to split hairs over an inch with a Haxorus?
"Heya Pris!" Iris called out as she waved to her friend.
"Eev ve ve!" Eve called out as she bounded towards Pris. To be more precise Eve was heading towards Nimbus. Over the course of eight months not only had both girls gotten along but their Pokémon had become fast friends. Frosty was the eldest of the three Pokémon and she already looked out for Eve like a worried aunt. Now that Nimbus was added to the group Frosty felt she had another child to watch over. It really didn't help that Nimbus was a bit of a scaredy cat. Frosty didn't seem to mind having another body to look after though, in fact she seemed quite pleased with herself.
Nimbus fluttered down to meet with Eve and the two started conversing excitedly. Frosty approached and looked up at Rai carefully as if expecting the Dragon type Pokémon to start a fight. While not far from the truth even Rai wasn't going to start a fight with Pris and Iris standing right next to him. It simply wasn't worth the scolding he would get afterwards.
"So Pris," Iris said happily, "ready ta head on out and look for some rare Pokémon?" That was the big plan for the day until it was time to come back home at four o'clock. Rin had made sure to repeatedly remind Iris that she needed to be home at FOUR. Not only had Rin drilled it into her head she had also made Iris write it in her notebook. Many times Iris had forgotten important dates or the answer to a question she had already asked. So Rin had gotten her an electronic journal with a substantial amount of space on it for something that was supposed to be for writing only. It doubled as an alarm for any dates Iris wrote down in it. Alarms weren't the only extra feature that Sol had managed to add to the device for his favorite niece.
"Are there really rare Pokémon around here?" Pris asked a little hopeful that they would seem something different than the normal hustle and bustle of the forest. So far all there had been were highly common Bug Pokémon and Grass types that you would expect to find wandering the forest.
"No clue," Iris admitted with a grin. "That's half the fun though. We don't know if there is anything special in the forest or not! Think what it'd be like if we spotted a Shaymin!" Iris facepalmed as she remembered that Terra had a SHINY Shaymin. You really don't get more rare than that. "Or you know, a Celebi."
Pris giggled a bit at Iris for forgetting that she lived with a rare Pokémon. With others Pris would have been worried about hurting their feelings for laughing at their forgetfulness. Iris had made it very clear she didn't care if Pris laughed at her expense in fact Iris had enlisted Ciro's help in making herself look like a fool until Pris had no choice but to laugh. Pies to the face ARE funny, especially when the one getting hit can't stop laughing. That was Iris though, making people she deemed her friend happy. Iris deemed Pris her friend not long after the whole Venusaur incident.
"Do you have an idea of where you want to start looking?" Pris questioned though in the back of her mind she already knew the answer.
"Uh…" Iris pondered the question with a lot of thought like she had someplace that she wanted to go to but couldn't quite grasp it. Reaching into her bag Iris pulls out a small electronic device. It's about the length and width of a large book but almost as thin as a child's book. Tapping the screen that took up the majority of the surface the device woke up. It was Iris' notebook and she had already had the file for today opened up with the name of the river that she wanted to check out written in large blue letters with a Butterfree drawn next to it. "Oh! The Gray River. Uncle Sol wants me to check and see what kinds of Pokémon are living around it this time of year. It's so close to home though." Iris kept looking at a small map of the forest that she had on her notebook as if the river would suddenly move farther away and thus increase the fun it would take to get there.
"Well once we finish what your Uncle Solaris asked we can continue looking can't we?" Pris came and stood next to Iris looking down at the screen. Some might see it as an invasion of privacy but Iris was open with her friends and family, besides her more important files were password protected. Oddly she never had troubles remembering the password. There was a bunch of what could only be described as squiggles on the page. The stereotype that all girls had nice and neat handwriting did not hold true for Iris. You needed a translator to be able to read what was written. "Iris," Pris hesitated for a second, "I can't read this." It was the first time that Pris had seen Iris' horrid excuse for handwriting.
Iris laughed sheepishly and had the decency to look embarrassed. "Mom says I need to work on my penmanship. The notebook knows what I'm writing though and so do I. Who's gonna want to read my writing anyways?" Next to the two girls their over-the-top bodyguard started to get antsy. It was clear that Rai was getting bored with just standing there, he did enough of that at home and this was his chance to stretch his legs. "Good point Rai. We should get moving, we're burning daylight." Placing the device back into her bag Iris headed down between the fences expecting the others to follow after her.
Only taking a the few seconds required to get up the Pokémon followed after Iris with Rai sticking behind Pris looking the part of a bodyguard. Eve let herself be known when she reached Iris by swatting her tail against the girl's leg. Barely breaking stride Iris swooped Eve up and deposited the Eevee on her shoulder. Nimbus fluttered about in the open sky until they reached the edge of the woods where then she plopped down on Pris' head looking like a cotton cap once again.
The edge of the forest was really obvious. It was like someone had drawn a circle around the town that prevented any trees from crossing over. Even the undergrowth you find in a forest was perfectly right up to the edge. With a grin on her face Iris jumped over the invisible line and into the forest like it was the start of some big adventure. Frosty walked with her ears perked up as she listened to the noises around her. A small amount of frost appeared on the leaves around the Glaceon as she adjusted her temperature to deal with the warm are under the canopy. Pris and Rai walked in like you normally see people doing.
With Iris leading the way the group headed in the direction of the Gray River. It was a short walk from the edge of the forest like Iris had said. In the brief thirty minutes that it had taken to reach the river that they had been instructed to go and check they had spotted no Pokémon. Zip, zero, zadda. If she had bothered to think about it Iris would have wondered why there had been no Pokémon on the way to the river. Normally you could spot a Paras or two sleeping as you walked about. She was too wrapped up in getting to their destination to even notice that she hadn't seen a thing.
"Hey Iris, don't you think it's odd that we didn't see anything?" Pris asked as Iris knelt down by the water.
"What?" Iris was baffled by the question. "We saw something there was the… no. Oh there was a huge group, no wait, that was last time." Iris put a finger to her chin in thought as she tried to remember seeing any Pokémon but gave up after a few seconds. "Guess you're right Pris. Wonder why we haven't seen anything. This time of year there's normally a HUGE Pidgey/Caterpie war going on and the forest is much livelier."
"I'm not sure I'd like to see that." Pris said sadly as she thought about how many Caterpie were eaten by hungry Pidgeys each year.
"Frosty and my cousin's Kirlias come out each year and we help the Caterpie out a bit. The Pidgey really get greedy and if we didn't help out there'd be a few less Butterfrees in Clestia." Iris patted her Glaceon on the head in a proud manner. Then Iris looked like she had swallowed something really bitter. "Now that Ceres has Torchic she's going to want to pit him against the Pidgey."
Stopping any conversation in its tracks both Iris and Pris gasped as a small green fairy looking Pokémon flew in between the two of them. It had a round head that came to a curved point. Giant baby-blue eyes looked at them with wonder. The black rings around the eyes made them seem ever larger than they probably were. It was Celebi, the Time Travel Pokémon.
"OH M-" Iris started to shout in glee before Pris placed her hand over her friend's mouth to stop her from scaring the mythical Pokémon. Putting a single finger up to her lips Pris told her friend to be quiet. Iris nodded in agreement and Pris took her hand off of the red head's mouth. "We should follow." Iris whispered as softly as she could. No matter how quiet she was it couldn't stop the sheer amount of excitement she felt for seeing Celebi of all Pokémon from leaking into her voice causing it to go higher than normal.
Nodding her head in agreement Iris and Pris watched the Celebi dart back and forth through the trees as if it was looking for something. Sadly it didn't take long for Eve to notice the flying Psychic/Grass Pokémon. As curious as Iris is but without anything to hold it back Eve jumped down and ran off after Celebi. The lack of furry warmth on her shoulder was the only tell to Iris that Eve had jumped down. Instantly Iris stopped watching the Celebi and started looking for her little Eevee. She really shouldn't have taken her eyes off of Celebi as soon Eve was below the time traveler and jumping up trying to catch it. Take away the fact that Celebi might be scared by a leaping Eevee, the scene was cute. Thankfully Celebi didn't seem to notice that Eve was bouncing up and down beneath it.
"It's times like this I wish I put Eve in a Poké Ball," Iris muttered to herself. While Frosty had a Poké Ball to all her own, Eve had no such thing. By all accounts Eve was a wild Pokémon and anyone could capture her. Iris just couldn't bring herself to put Eve into a Poké Ball if even only for a little while. Frosty didn't seem to enjoy her's very much but would go in it for long travels.
Celebi seemed to be checking one tree quite thoroughly as soon hovered lower, low enough that Eve was able to finally catch one of its feet in her mouth. All of the sudden Celebi vanished and clinging to the tree at the same height Celebi had been at was a Zorua, Eve had bitten the Tricky Fox Pokémon's tail. Letting out a cry the Zorua retaliated by scratching at Eve with one of its front claws. The pain of the attack caused Eve to let go and fall back to the forest floor. Without thinking Iris ran over to Eve and picked up her Pokémon. Eve wasn't used to battles she was more of a pet than a battler.
Rai on the other hand seemed to sense the situation and was glad that there was something he could fight, even if it was a puny Zorua. Knowing that its foe wouldn't be fooled by an illusion the Zorua let out a long howl. Leaves rustled on their branches as a few somethings came through the trees at the call of the Zoura. Dropping down in front of Rai a pack of ten Zoroarks stood between him and the annoyed Zorua. The bipedal fox-like Pokémon had greyish-brown fur with crimson mane and black accents. Its snout and ears were both pointed and its red claws seemed like they were dyed with blood. None of the Zoroarks looked happy that their pre-evolved form had been attacked and even less pleased that a Haxorus had been going after it.
"Iris is Eve okay?!" Pris shouted at her friend who happened to be on the other side of the greyish furred wall. She was more worried about Eve than Iris thanks to Rai being there to deal with the Zoroarks.
"Yeah just a scratch really, I think she's more shocked at being attacked." Nevertheless Iris held Eve close to her as she stood up and looked at the pack of Zoroark in front of her. They looked pretty strong for a Pokémon that relied on illusions to avoid fights. But Zoroark was also a Pokémon that fiercely protected its own. "Pris, can Rai handle all of these guys?"
"Papa's trained Rai really well, he should be able to." There was a hint of pride in her voice at the prospect of her father's Pokémon being able to soundly beat ten Zoroark.
"I hope you're right." Iris said not entirely convinced. After all, all she had was Eve on her side of the pack.
(A/N): Here's a nice addition to my stories. I'll give you two Pokédex entries and you all try to guess who it is. The answer will be given in the next chapter. Those who guess in their reviews won't have to wait to see if they are right.
Who's That Pokémon?!
Entry 1: By controlling its body heat, it can freeze the atmosphere around it to make a diamond-dust flurry.
Entry 2: It causes small ice crystals to form by lowering the temperature of the surrounding atmosphere.
