Hiya! Yes, yes. I know you all hate me with a passion for taking so flipping long, but my computer broke so I couldn't get on for a really long time. My apologies! This one's for Anica and Malory! Thanks for reviewing every chapter, it means a lot to me. So, fasten your seatbelts, here comes…Chapter 4: Battles on Boats, and…Poison?
On the U.S.S Aqua~
"Ohhhh, I feel sick," Cleo moaned, her head hanging over the side of the streamlined cruise liner. Taffy patted her back and handed her a lemon smoothie with a cute pink umbrella. Cleo grabbed it, gulped it down, and handed it back. Taffy sighed, shook her head, and went for her nineteenth smoothie that Cleo had downed in one.
"Why did you pick going to Hoenn by boat if you knew you get really bad sea-sickness?" she asked the miserable girl who was now turning a shade of lime that matched her mini skirt (picked out by Taffy) perfectly!
"Because we didn't have any flying Pokémon," Cleo moaned. Taffy nodded sympathetically. Cleo groaned again and her legs gave out from under her and she crumpled to the deck, moaning and groaning.
"All righty then, up you get! This is a cruise! Let's go to the restaurants!"
"This is a battle cruise. If you go downstairs, anybody you make eye contact with, you have to battle!" she said, clutching her stomach.
Taffy sighed, her shoulders sagging. "Oh well, I guess I'll be doing a lot of battling, because I am really hungry. Come one, let's get you cleaned up!" she chirped, and heaved Cleo onto her feet, much to the discomfort of Cleo. She staggered slightly under her weight, even though Cleo was very slight, Taffy was even slighter.
~In their Cabin~
"Hmm. Here, wear this, this and this," Taffy said, and pulled out a dress with a flourish. Cleo was amazed that she didn't hate it. High-heeled black ankle boots and a pair of silver fingerless gloves accompanied an silver dress with a sweetheart neckline, a cinched waist, and a skirt that flowed out to about her knees.
"Where are we going? Dinner with the Queen?" she finally asked.
Taffy giggled, "Of course not! If we were, I would totally make you wear a floor length ball gown!"
"Oh no, anything but that!" Cleo mock cried, a hand over her heart. The two girls grinned and Taffy threw her arm around Cleo, who seemed to have forgotten her sea sickness all of a sudden, and turned her to face three dresses on the wall: A yellow floor length one, a black one in a style identical to Cleo's, and a white one that hugged her body and stopped at about her knees.
"Which one? I like them all."
Cleo's nose crinkled, "I don't like the white one, it's yucky. Wear the black one!" A whoosh of clothing later, and the girls were in identical outfit-minus the color- and ready to eat! Cleo looped her arm through Taffy's and the two waltzed out the door.
Taffy stopped suddenly, causing Cleo to crash into her. "Why'd you stop?" Cleo asked, nursing a bruised nose. Taffy pointed down the hall. A black haired boy in a red jacket and pants was patrolling the hall, tossing a pokéball in the air. "Oh. What do we do? I can't take him out, I'm in heels!" Cleo whispered. Taffy gestured to a closet on the left side of the hall. The girls ducked into it. It was full of cleaning supplies and Taffy started to yell in surprise as a bucket dropped on her head and clattered to the ground. Cleo clamped a hand over her mouth and the two girls listened attentively as they heard footsteps pause, and then continue going by. Cleo removed her hand and mouthed, Three, two, one, Go! The girls flung open the door, knocking the poor boy to the ground -he hadn't quite cleared the door- and scrambled down the hall.
"Hey! Wait a second!" came the frantic yell as the boy jumped to his feet and chased after them. The girls were long gone however, so he pouted, then went back to trolling for innocent victims.
The girls stopped a ways away, and, panting, straightened up and dusted imaginary dust off their dresses. "That was fun." Taffy commented, rubbing the knot on her head where the bucket had clonked her on the head.
"Yeah. Let's never do that again." Cleo panted, hands on her knees. She eventually straightened up and put her hands behind her head. "Can we eat now?"
"Alright. It's just now this hallway." Taffy said and skipped down the whitewashed hallway.
"How would you even know that?" Cleo groaned and followed.
"Here! Whoops! Sorry!" Taffy shrieked as she flung open a door, just to reveal a large group of people in suits and a dumbfounded man with a series of charts with up and down lines on them. Cleo peered in.
"Hmm. Pokémart is going out of business. Remind me to sell my stock." Cleo deadpanned, and slammed the door. Taffy was bright red and stuttering. Cleo rolled her eyes and mumbled something about 'Scatterbrained'. She snapped her fingers in front of Taffy's face. "So. You know your way around the boat do you?"
"Hehehe…whoops…" Taffy said, chuckling nervously. Cleo sighed and shook her head.
"Taffy, Taffy, Taffy. What am I going to do with…fudge." Cleo started, but trailed off as a girl in a similar outfit to the boy they had knocked to the ground came around the corner, a blue pokéball in her hand. She was clutching it so tightly her gloved hands were quivering slightly. Taffy looked up and looked the girl in the eye. Instantly the girl grinned and pressed the button on the pokéball.
"Hah! We locked gazes! You have to battle me!" A long seviper coiled around the girl and hissed, revealing the cruel fangs in its mouth. Taffy gulped. Her hand shook as she reached behind her and pulled out the ball where Dragonair was squirming happily…until it saw its opponent.
"C-come on o-out D-dragonair," Taffy stuttered, her face turning bright red as the dragon shook her head, clearly not willing to fight. "C-come o-on, p-please?"
With a sigh, Cleo snatched the ball out of Taffy's hands and chucked it. The
Dragonair fell out of the ball with a great thump as the machinery inside the pokéball forced the Pokémon to evacuate.
The challenger looked rather unimpressed as she saw Taffy struggle to pull herself together, but smirked anyway and raised a single hand to point at Cleo. "You. You judge."
Cleo glared, "Can I get a please, Prissy?" Receiving no response didn't help her mood, but she shuffled over the stand between the shaking-like-a-leaf Taffy, and the confident Prissy. A quick flash of her hand signaled the start of the match.
Prissy leapt back and yelled, "Quick Seviper, use Poison tail!" The snake's tail glowed purple and crashed down on Dragonair's head, knocking it flat. Taffy yelped and flailed her arms helplessly, completely confused as to what to do.
"Taffy! Tell Dragonair to use dragon rush!" Cleo said, snapping Taffy out of a self-induced panic attack.
"Uh, yeah! Dragonair, Dragon Rush!" Taffy squeaked out. Dragonair reared back and a vortex of blue energy formed, whirling and spinning. Cleo paled.
"Uh. Taffy. That's not Dragon Rush!" She threw herself to the ground and covered her head, just as the opposing girl yelled for Seviper to use poison sting.
Taffy shrieked as Dragonair released the energy and it collided with the poison sting, sending them spinning everywhere, including the Seviper, and the blasted through, throwing the Seviper into the wall. The boat shuddered.
Cleo looked up. The Seviper was out cold, its eyes spinning and its body punctured by several spiked needles. The trainer had potions and antidotes out, and was healing it slowly, taking care of every wound carefully. Dragonair, on the other hand, was curled tightly around something unmoving. Oh no… Cleo scrambled to her feet and rushed over to Dragonair, leaping over her pink sides to drop to her knees and gently lift her best friend's head up to rest on her lap. Taffy's chest had been peppered with needles and a few stuck out of her neck and arms. She was sweating and her face had a purple tinge to it, signifying that she had been severely poisoned. Cleo started panicking. Oh no…
Cliffie! Yeah, I know, I'm late! *Is shot. Again* But did ya like the chappie? Send me a review and tell me what ya think. I'll give ya a hint. The next chapter has both Gryphon andLucas! Enjoy!
