At the Pond
Ruby stood, panting, next to a tall white fence. He'd finally gotten to the pond that he called 'The Magikarp Pond' only to learn he couldn't get in right away. He should have remembered that annoying fence…and that the gate was on the other side.
He would have facepalmed for his own forgetfulness, but as it was, he was too tired to do anything but walk. He started to move slowly, shuffling his feet along the ground, but he heard someone shouting.
"No! Not like that, Gold! No, yer just–"
Was that…Sapphire's voice? He was nearly positive it was. He quickened his pace.
There were some noises accompanied by unintelligible yells from Sapphire and a splash!
Ruby sped to the gate and flung it open. "Gold! What in the name of Mew–" He broke off when he saw Gold standing by the pond having a glaring contest with a Magikarp and Sapphire sitting nearby.
When she saw him, Sapphire's face lit up and she joyously waved him over. "Hey, Ruby! Wanna teach Gold with me?"
"Hm…?"
"He wants t' learn how to catch Pokémon without that cue stick of his," Sapphire explained. "I'm all tired out from tryin' 'cause he can't do it right!"
Ruby gave a sigh of relief. All was well.
Blue Oak had followed Ruby to the pond, but his intentions were entirely different. While Ruby worried about what Gold might be doing to Sapphire, Blue was preparing to take on the evil matchmaking girl in a battle of words. He had no doubts that she was spying on Gold and Sapphire, but exactly where would she spy from?
He needn't have worried, though. As he approached the white fence, a pink Jigglypuff floated down to him with none other than Green on top.
"Hey, Blue~" she sang out.
"Obnoxious girl," he muttered.
A lot of things happened in the few moments that followed. Sapphire yelled, there was a big splash, and Green, caught off guard, tumbled off her Jigglypuff and into Blue's arms. A faint blush appeared on his cheeks as he tried in vain not to look at her.
"My knight in shining – oomph," Green tried to say before Blue dropped her on the grass. It was only a few feet to the ground, of course, so she was more annoyed than hurt.
Blue chose to ignore what Green said and asked instead, "What are they doing in there?"
"I dunno," Green replied. She grabbed Blue's arm and dragged him on to her Jigglypuff. "Let's go check it out!"
"Let go of me, you pesky girl!" Blue tried to twist away, but Green just clung to his arm more tightly as the pink balloon-creature rose into the air.
"But I want you to come help me," Green whined, giving him puppy dog eyes. "I'm not good with video cameras."
"Video cameras? Why?"
Green pressed a finger to Blue's lips. "For blackmail, of course. What did you think?"
Blue was having a hard time thinking with Green invading his personal space. He wanted to push her, but was slightly worried about what would happen to her if she fell off the Jigglypuff, which was already quite high in the sky.
When he felt her grip on his arm loosen, he let out a small sigh of relief. Green detached herself from Blue to pull out her camera as they neared the sight of the pond. She grimaced as she noticed through the viewer that Ruby had joined the two, but soon a slight smile spread across her face.
"Well," she said, "This might get interesting."
A boy with blond hair, a redhead, and a girl with gravity-defying pigtails stared in dismay at another 'Magikarp Pond'. It was painfully obvious that this was not the pond Gold and Sapphire had gone to. In face, this pond looked as if no one had been there for a while.
"I just knew it wouldn't be the spot," Pearl sighed. "This is a lake, not a pond. But then again, what do I know about this region? For all I knew, the Lake of Rage could've been mistakenly named!"
Silver said nothing. Of course, silence was to be expected. He hadn't said a word while they traveled.
"Well, this was the place where I caught a Magikarp," Crystal defended her decision. "That's what it says in my Pokédex."
The three of them stood a while longer before Crystal took out her map and they began to look for other ponds.
"We're almost there!" Yellow's sweet voice rang out.
Red walked a little faster. He and Yellow were slowly making progress to a pond. It was the Magikarp Pond alright. After they'd left Platinum's mansion, Yellow had found the directions to the pond in her hat. Sneaky Green must have hidden them there.
"Here we are!" Yellow called. She was next to a tall white fence. "This should be it."
She swung open the white gate and was surprised to see not only Gold and Sapphire, but Ruby too.
"Uh, hi, guys!"
"Hey, Yellow! Gold can't catch a Magikarp!" Sapphire yelled.
"So you know why you're here, right?" Red asked.
Gold turned. "Oh, hi, Red! Didn't see you there! So, why we're here, well…um…Green said she…oh, I forget."
"Yes! I see them!" Crystal punched the air. "Land there, Xatee!"
"Yeah!" Pearl grinned and leaned forward from his seat on Silver's Honchkrow. Silver as always, silently directed his Honchkrow while holding on to its claws.
The two birds landed by the pond where most of the other Pokédex Holders were standing.
"Oh yeah! Green was going to tell us a secret!" Gold was saying. "But now that you're all here and she's not, I guess that's not happening, right?"
Red looked around at the group uneasily. When no one said anything, he spoke up. "Um, Gold," he said, "Green sent you and Sapph here to…uh, fall in love."
Sapphire's eyes widened. "But – but –" She grabbed both Gold and Ruby's arms and dragged the boys next to her. "These two are both my best friends! But I ain't in love with both!"
Gold pushed her away. "Green's crazy if she thought it would work. You see, Sappho and I are…uh…partners in crime!"
"Yeah!" Sapphire agreed, desperate to prove Green's theory wrong. "I just ain't taken yet 'cause somebody is in denial!" At this statement she glared daggers at Ruby, who began to inch away.
"Okay, okay! Settle down," Crystal interrupted. "Listen up. Green is the one who wants you together. Not us."
Gold nodded, although his eyes were still narrowed.
Sapphire nodded as well, but her hands were still in fists.
That was when they all heard a soft tee hee! from above. Crystal felt the corners of her mouth tug down in a frown as she looked up. For among the leaves of the trees, there was a large pink Jigglypuff floating in the air.
"Green!" Sapphire yelled.
"Whoopsies~ at least I got some good footage." Green lowered her video camera and leaned down toward her Jigglypuff. "Retreat! Retreat!"
Blue just groaned, folding his arms. He fortunately had talked his way out of holding the camera, but was still forced to tag along.
The pink balloon pokémon slowly made a 360 turn and lazily floated away. Blue could hear angry shouts from below and began to regret some of his earlier decisions.
"After her!" yelled Gold. He pulled out a Poké Ball and released his Togekiss. Togebo seemed to share his determination in catching the girl who'd caused so much trouble. As soon as Gold climbed on, Togebo rose into the air and shot toward the shrinking pink dot in the distance. The boy and his Pokémon quickly gained on the Jigglypuff, the other dexholders following not far behind.
But before Gold and Togebo could reach the troublemaker, there was a big flash and a big blue turtle appeared. Gold watched helplessly as Green hopped on to Blasty, pulling Blue along with her. She stuck out her tongue playfully as the Blastoise blasted away.
"Ralts, almost got her," Gold panted.
Sapphire's Tropius caught up as Togebo slowed down.
"Yeah, I ain't done with her yet!" Sapphire puffed. "Right, Ruby?" She turned to the boy sitting next to her.
"What we need is some sort of revenge," Ruby stated.
"Gee, never thought I'd hear that from ya, Prissy Boy," Sapphire commented.
"Well, of course, our revenge will be beautiful!" Ruby amended.
Sapphire just sighed.
Silver, Crystal, Pearl, and Red soon joined the group.
"She's gone," Pearl said.
"We need a good plan to get back at her," Gold declared determinedly. "I suggest plotting all together. We'll never get her if we work individually."
"Hold on a second," Crystal put in. "You and Sapph were the only two in her plan. What did she ever do to the rest of us?"
Sapphire rolled her eyes. "Ya mean, what did she do, 'sides blackmailing y'all, tryin' to match you up countless times, playin' pranks on ya–"
"Okay, okay, I get it!" Crystal interrupted, unhappily remembering all the things Green had done in the past. "Alright, I'm in."
"I'm in, too!" Red agreed.
"Yeah!" Gold grinned. "Fist bump!"
Just then, Yellow sailed in on Kitty. "What's going on here?"
"A plan," Crystal explained, "for revenge on Green."
"Oh…then I don't think I'll be participating," Yellow replied.
She was about to fly away, but Red grabbed her arm gently.
"Why not, Yellow?" he queried.
She shrugged. "Whenever I'm part of a plot, it seems to fail."
Red pulled her back towards the group. "Come on, silly, you're not the one who messes things up. It's just that the plans aren't that well thought out. C'mon and join us this time. I'm sure it'll work if we all plan carefully."
Yellow bit her lip, considering. But of course, in the end, she couldn't say no to Red's puppy dog eyes.
"Okay, I'll come," she said quietly.
"What's that, Straw Hat Gal?" Gold yelled.
"I said I'll come!" she repeated a bit louder.
"Yes!" Gold punched the air. "We're all in this together, right guys?"
There was a chorus of yeah!s. (Quite a few were half-hearted, but Gold didn't really care.)
"Where and when are we going to create and discuss the plot?" Crystal asked.
Gold looked around the group. "Well…uh…since you brought it up, we'll give you the privilege of providing your house for the meetings! Maybe, um, tomorrow morning?"
"Okay…" Crystal replied doubtfully, "I guess I'll ask my mom, although she probably won't care, considering how she is."
"Are we all free tomorrow?" Pearl asked.
Everyone nodded.
"Then we're all set!" Gold declared. "We'll meet first thing tomorrow morning!"
So here it is! Sorry for the long wait. This has actually been hard to write. I was writing only a couple sentences per day (sometimes none) until today when Dia Newman said she was going to try to write Faith Academy and I decided to finish this chapter for her. Hopefully this is satisfactory for you guys!
This story is officially becoming a friendship story, so this is the last shippy chapter you'll get in Mischief Makers. But not to worry! I do have some ideas for another story, which will hopefully be romance-centered. (If you want to help write magic spells for it, please say so in a review!)