"I love this!" I cried delightedly, holding out my wrist and admiring the way my new shiny Pokétch glistened in the Jubilife City neon lights.
"Let me see! Let me see! Let me see!" Juliet was yelling, so I grinned and kneeled, modeling it for her. It had a plastic design of my favorite color, blue. It was the new Pokétch boys' model, hot off the factory, state-of-the-art. And the best thing was, I was the only person in the world who had it. It would go on sale in half a month, and I only had it because I was the one who won the battle tournament promotion that the Pokétch Company had hosted.
"And congratulations to our winner, Roland of Twinleaf!" shouted the MC. The four or five people who had stopped to watch on the street applauded and drifted off. The battle stage was taken down. The paid Pokétch Company clowns went off to switch shifts. All remnants of my victory had gone.
I was about to head to the Pokémon Center, since Juliet and Natalie were in the yellow, but I noticed someone near the road to the Ravaged Path. Professor Rowan and Dawn were standing by some people who were wearing weird, outlandish outfits. I went toward them. The strangers jumped when they saw me, quickly taking on scowls. One of them grabbed Dawn's arm roughly.
The professor looked up. "Ah, Roland, impeccable timing as always. These miscreants are babbling utter nonsense that I just can't stomach. Show them some manners, if you will."
"Oh, Professor Pokémon, must you be so difficult?" asked the man who grabbed Dawn. "We are approaching you strictly as businessmen. All you must do is provide us with all your research findings. In return, we'll refrain from doing massive damage to your assistant."
"Roland!" said Dawn, struggling and prying at his fingers, but he clamped both her arms behind her back firmly. "Battle and teach these horrible men a lesson!"
Juliet and Natalie were hurt, which left my little toughie, Mandy. I sent her out, and the men grinned and unleashed their Pokémon, a Glameow and Zubat. I frowned and motioned Juliet in. It was a short battle, but so intense. The space men had no chance, actually, but the thought that Dawn was in peril made me hold my breath the whole time, terrified.
The first grunt cried out. "What is this madness? The two of us losing to a child…"
"This will do. Time to retreat," the second said pertly, shoving Dawn back towards us. "This mission is a success. It had been quite… educational. Because Team Galactic is benevolent to all, we will leave." Then they turned tail and fled into the Ravaged Path.
I raced to Dawn's side. "Dawn! Are you okay? Are you alright?" I took hold of her shoulders and looked her up and down. When she said she would only have a few arm bruises, I was relieved and turned to Professor Rowan. "Who were they, Professor?"
"That lot…" he said. "They call themselves Team Galactic. You see, when Pokémon evolve, they seem to release some type of energy. However, I believe it is a mystic power far beyond our control. But Team Galactic seems to be trying to use that power for something. Anyway, Roland, well done. You battle quite capably…" He trailed off, seemingly lost in thought. After ten seconds he shook his head and continued, "The sight of you, Trainers and Pokémon battling together… I made the right decision, entrusting you with a Pokédex."
"Thank you, sir," I said. Then I said, "Pokémon evolution… my Pokémon evolved, you know. She's a Kricketune now instead of a Kricketot."
"Really? Congratulations!" Dawn exclaimed. "You know, statistics say that about 90% of all Pokémon are somehow tied to evolution! I guess that means some Pokémon must undergo startling evolutions." She paused. "Did you know that Professor Rowan studies Pokémon evo-"
"So, Roland," interrupted the professor and giving Dawn's shoulder a warning squeeze. "Keep working on your Pokédex project for me, and hurry back to the lab when you're done! Let's go, Dawn." She waved goodbye as they went.
I sighed with a dreamy smile. Juliet wriggled her eyebrows at me. I snorted, giving her a light shove with the side of my foot.
A man ran up to me, practically jumping up and down. "That was amazing! Wow! WOW! Thank you for letting me see such a great battle! In fact, let me give you this!" He shoved some sort of jewelry box into my hands. "I am with Jubilife TV! Stop by our studio any time! You'll be welcome there always!" I had just enough time to yelp my thanks before he scurried off again.
Mandy gasped when she saw the box. "A Fashion Case! Eek!"
"This is a Fashion Case?" I looked at it with new appreciation. "Wow! These are so handy for Contests! I can't wait to get to Hearthome!"
Both Mandy and Juliet gave me incredulous looks.
"You like Contests?" asked Mandy.
I went defensive. "Well, my mom is a famous competitor, and so we watched a lot of them. Before I wanted to be a scientist, I wanted to be just like my mom."
"Well, let's go to Jubilife TV!" said Juliet, clapping her flippers. I grinned, picking her up and blowing into her stomach.
"You are CUTE!" I told her as I returned Mandy and placed her on my shoulder.
We easily found the building, it being the largest in Jubilife. Grinning foolishly, we walked inside, all of my Pokémon out of their balls. I walked to the front desk, where a smiling woman offered me a lotto ticket. It was free, so I took it, but I lost. No big deal, although Natalie was very disappointed.
"Floor one, battle corner and lotto, two, records station, three, fashion studio, and four, director's office," read Juliet off a sign.
"Third floor," Mandy and Natalie agreed. They were all so excited, glee sparkling in their eyes, like kids in a candy shop. I laughed and said, "Okay, okay!" We headed up the stairs.
On the third floor, a big, burly man was standing in front of a door with a sign over it: dressing room. "Are you here to dress up your Pokémon?" he squealed in an extremely girly voice. "Tee hee! Please dress them up adorably!" He stepped aside for us, but when I tried to follow Mandy, Natalie, and Juliet in, they turned and stared at me.
"We're girls, Roland. You can't come in here with us!" said Juliet, ogling like it was obvious, as if they didn't walk around naked all the time. I apologized and stepped back. Being girls, they took almost forty-five minutes in there. I sat out with the Jubilife TV man, and he gave me some hot tea in a thermos.
My head jerked up from my conversation when I heard Natalie call, "We're ready~! We're coming out now~!"
First strode out a very proud Natalie, looking like an elegant old-timey movie star with a huge boa made of fluffy pieces strung together. She had a flower tucked between her antennae. I cheered. She laughed bashfully and copied the noise. Then waddled out coy Juliet, wearing a piece of pink fluff and a headdress of feathers. I applauded.
Lastly, a very glum looking Mandy exited the dress up room. She had a few wayward strands of ripped fluff caught in her crags, but was otherwise unadorned. When she looked up at my perplexed face, she blinked away tears.
"Aw, Mandy," I said, scooting over to her and pulling her onto my lap, despite her weight nearly crushing my legs. "What's wrong?"
She wiped away her tears, although the rock around her eyes was still red-tinged. "It's nothing. Just, I don't have many f-features, and I don't look very girly… even when I evolve, nothing will change. All the Accessories just look d-dumb on me, and I rip the fluff when I try to put it on." Angrily, she pulled at a strand of fluff.
"Oh, come on," I said, putting her down and standing up. "There has to be something in there that will work on you!" I retrieved the Fashion Case and looked through everything, but I couldn't find a thing that would look becoming on that bulky, lumpy body.
"See?" Mandy said gloomily, sighing.
A metaphoric light bulb went off over my head. I'm so clever! "You just give me a second, Mandy!" I dived into the Fashion Case, rummaged around, and claimed a Piplup mask.
Mandy had to laugh, even though it was sadly, as if she should have known better to tell a boy about her fashion concern. "Uh, no, Roland."
"I'm a Contest expert, remember? Gimme a chance!" I took the mask and yanked the red ribbon off it. I kneeled in front of Mandy and affixed it as a bow on her head. She looked to Juliet and Natalie. They shrieked and squealed as only girls can. She looked in the mirror and grinned broadly.
I gave her a playful shake. "You freaked me out there. You're a toughie; who knew you had a girly side?" I said it with such disdain that the girls laughed. "Hey, come on, I'm a ten year old boy! I can't be a super scientist all the time!"
Next was the photo shoot, which I knew was the main attraction. They got to strut it, be divas, and pretend to be their favorite Pokéstars on an authentic red carpet while the TV man showed his aptitude with a camera, yelling things like, "Work it!" and "Attitude!" Honestly, the last thing my girls need is more attitude, but who am I to judge? There were three backgrounds to choose from. Juliet preferred a shot that looked like a blizzard in front of a log cabin with candlelight glowing from the windows, while Natalie liked a cheery forest scene, and Mandy went with a single Pokéball on a background of blue stripes.
"The photos will be ready in a few days," we were told. "We know you're a Pokémon Trainer and you travel, so we'll just file them away until you get the opportunity to come back."
The girls got out of their outfits, but Mandy decided to keep the bow permanently to add some feminine nuance to her look. After they were done, Natalie asked me, "We've done what we want; now it's your turn~. What do you want to do~?"
I had an immediate answer. "There's a Group Center somewhere around here. I've seen it on the news. I want to join a Group!"
"Well, alright then," said Juliet. We got instructions from the lotto lady on the first floor. The Group Center was just across the street! We headed over to the stall, and I signed up to be a part of the Rowan Labs Group. Updates would be sent daily to my Pokétch, so I'd be up to date on what interested me.
"I guess it's time to go," I said. They surprised me by not getting too upset. It had been a nice break, but it was time to get moving. "And the next stop is… Floaroma Town! Right at the end of the Ravaged Path."
"Sweet, a little trip home," Mandy said, which made me laugh. I returned Natalie and Mandy to their Pokéballs, Juliet climbed on my shoulder, and we set off.
"It's dark in here," I grumbled after hitting my head on a stalactite. "Are you sure we're going the right way?"
"Yes, Roland," Juliet answered, exasperated. "I can read the Map too, you know! Hey, is that light over there? Yeah, it is; there's the exit! Sweet!" She carefully slid down my arm and dropped to the ground. "Come on, let's go!" I ran after her, laughing.
I blinked as we burst into the sunlight. My nostrils flared at the aromatic scent of thousands of flowers that dotted the countryside. Darting around Trainers, we grabbed a discarded TM of Bullet Seed and entered picturesque Floaroma.
"This is just gorgeous!" laughed Juliet, the day lilies even taller than she was.
Our admiration ended when a little girl ran up to me, tackling my leg and shouting, "Papa!"
"Uh, I don't know you," I said, trying to shake her off. She looked up at my face, and I watched her expression drop. She started to sob. Flustered, I looked around. "What? What did I do?"
"Please, strong Trainer," the little girl begged between hiccups and streams of tears. "Bring my Papa back for me. Strange spacemen broke into Papa's work two days ago and he hasn't come back to me! Please!"
My heart broke for her. Juliet waddled up and hugged her. The girl was so little that Juliet was almost her height. "We will, don't worry." She looked up at me. "Right, Roland?"
"Right," I answered firmly, lifting her out of the despairing little girl's arms. "Where does your Papa work?"
"The Valley Windworks. Please find him, strong Trainer!"
-0-
The Valley Windworks was only a short distance out of Floaroma town. It was still beautiful, with tall, waving grass and trees with sweet smelling bark. Huge windmills churned the air around us. Standing in front of the door was a Team Galactic grunt, which made my stomach drop unhappily. I was hoping that when the little girl said that spacemen kidnapped her papa, it didn't mean Team Galactic… real aliens might have even been preferable.
The grunt saw me, and threw me off by smiling and motioning me over. She ducked into the building and left the door open a tantalizing crack.
I released Mandy. "Rock Throw at the ready." I edged over to the door cautiously and peered in. It was too dark to see. Ominous. Worriedly, I readied all my courage and nudged the door open. The lights immediately flicked on, and five grunts were waiting for me, Pokémon released and waiting. I let out a yell of surprise, but Mandy was ready, crushing two Zubat and coming back around with a Tackle on a charging Glameow. I returned her and the grunts waited graciously until Natalie was out of her Pokéball. Natalie finished off the lot of them, with Juliet contributing only a Bubble or two. The three were breathing hard, but more were waiting as we progressed through the building. Backs pressed together, my girls fended them off, letting Natalie do most of the work for the experience. Natalie was level-wise the strongest of all of them, almost five levels above them both, but she still only knew Hidden Power and Leech Life for attack moves. It worried me.
Too tired to even breathe loudly, they collapsed, draped over one another after the final grunt had been vanquished. I went for the last door at the end. Through the window I could see an imperious red-haired woman standing over an exhausted man at a computer. I rattled the doorknob, but it was locked.
"The Works Key is in there with our Commander, and the only copy is with our cohorts in the Meadow," said a grunt, triumphant despite being beaten. Because in the end, they had won. I couldn't get in.
I tucked the nugget of information about the Meadow into my brain for later. As for now, my Pokémon needed to get to a Pokémon Center.
-0-
Juliet, Mandy, Natalie and I enjoyed a meal at the Pokémon Center before heading out. They were bolstered by being healed and getting a rest, and we were just about ready to head out. I stopped to pick some berries outside Floaroma Town's only shop, and looked up when a shadow was cast over me.
It was a girl, probably my age or a little bit younger. She had long, voluminous hair that gave a little curl toward the end. She had a cutely sculpted face and a flattering dress with a pale green floral pattern.
"Here, take this," she said, giving me an item she was holding. "It's called a Sprayduck. It'll help you, if you like to garden."
"Thanks! I do!" I took it appreciatively. "I'm actually working for Professor Rowan and doing research as a favor for him." I stood up, dusted my pants off, and shook her hand. "Nice to meet you!"
"Wow, you're so young for that!" she exclaimed.
"Yeah, I'm ten," I said. "My name's Roland. What's yours?"
"I'm Flora! I help at this shop with my Mom and Auntie," she explained. "I love living here with so many flowers, but only day lilies and sunflowers grow here. I wish I could see more kinds, but I don't want to leave Mom and Auntie alone here at Pretty Petal Flower Shop."
"I can do that for you," I said without thinking. She was confused, so I said, "I can find flowers for you and press them in books and mail them to you."
She gasped happily. "Can you do that?"
Juliet butted in. "I hate to interrupt you lovebirds, but don't we have a date with some Galactic grunts, Roland?"
"Right," I said. I apologized to Flora and left.
On the way to the Meadow, Juliet pecked at my ear and smirked and teased, "Well, aren't you a ladies' man! First Dawn, now this Flora chick…"
Oh no! I could feel my face flushing! Oh, I hoped the red wasn't showing up! I hid my face. "Can we just concentrate on Team Galactic?"
Juliet laughed, hugging my neck. "You know I'm messing with you. We'll always be Roland and Juliet, right?"
"Exactly," I said as we approached the mouth of the Meadow.
I heard the Galactic grunts before I saw them. "You must give us the Honey! We have to use it to attract droves of Pokémon! You don't understand what Team Galactic's goals are in this world. If you help us, you will be creating a better universe!" I saw the second grunt hit the poor man they were bullying, and that was when I couldn't stay back any longer. I ran forward.
"Hey! You leave him alone!" I shouted, jumping into their midst.
The two grunts turned in surprise. Seeing me, recognition flitted across their faces, and they loomed over me, taller than me by three feet at least. They had to be more than twice my age, and looked rough and tough.
"This brat saw everything," said the second grunt, sliding around behind me to block my exit.
"What are we going to do with you, boy?" smirked the first, leering at me. I went for my Pokéball, but he lifted his hands in a placating peace gesture. "Come on, we're not going to battle you; we're not that stupid. I mean, I don't want to have my butt handed to me by a ten year old boy! Oh, don't panic," he said, grabbing my arm before I could get away.
"Agh! Let go of me!" I shouted, trying to pull away, but his grip was like iron. He grabbed my other wrist, pulling me close to him, so I could feel his breath. "Juliet, help me!" Juliet could only take one step before the other grunt's Glameow sprang forward onto her back and pinned her down.
"Do you know how Team Galactic stays discreet even though a brat sees them doing business?" asked the second grunt, leaning in close.
"No," I tried to say, but fear closed my throat so I only managed a strangled, high pitched noise.
"Yeah," answered the one who was holding me. "We make sure that brat will shut up about us- permanently!" With all his strength, he pulled up and kneed me in the stomach. My vision completely went, and I doubled over in agony as pain flared through every pore of my body. It was as if I could actually feel the individual organs the grunt's knee had violated. He let go of me and I collapsed onto the ground while my vision trickled back. I slowly curled up around myself, but it hurt to move. I heard Juliet screaming my name.
The grunt wasn't done. I lifted my arm in front of me as if to shield myself from him, from pain, but he flipped it over with his foot and pinned it down, his boot making my bones creak. "Please," I gasped. They both kicked me once, in the lower back and chest. A groan leaked from my mouth as I forced myself to sit up and began to drag myself away. The grunt picked his foot up and let me go. I leaned against a tree, breathing heavily as my vision leeched away and I blacked out.