Pokémaniacal~!
Chapter 6
The hours passed by as Ran, Sen and Mika made their way to Galvol City, training and studying along the way. The sky was fading from deep orange to purple-black and the clouds were so thick they covered almost the entire sky, leaving but a patch of stars to shine through. The moon's glow was still visible through the cloud cover, revealing no less than a radiant, crescent-shaped silhouette, pleasantly disturbing the blank canvas of grey.
Ran and Sen had just finished a battle and were making their way over to Mika and their fire pit. She was reading the book she'd borrowed from the Pokémon Center's library, Pokémon: They're People, Too, with Shinx on her lap eating a berry it had stolen from a wild Wurmple during training earlier that day.
Mika shifted her glasses.
"Did you know that there are several different kinds of Shellos and Gastrodon, depending on where they live? They've found two more kinds in the Northern and Southern oceans, and they're already being hunted! That's so cruel!"
Her voice was jubilant with intrigue, but Ran just couldn't find it within him to even pretend to know what Mika was talking about. Sen's eyes were wide, and he sat down, wanting to learn more.
Ran rolled his eyes as the others filled their heads with new knowledge of the world they live in. He decided it was time for him to sleep, seeing as it was just now dark and an old saying was ringing through his head: "Early to bed, early to rise make's a healthy, wealthy, and wise." He rolled out a sleeping bag, and the mini sleeping bag for Piplup he'd bought in Persevaid Town, before wrapping himself tightly within his own and soon falling asleep with thoughts of glory bounding around his mind.
Sen soon followed suit, but Mika was so into her book that she ended up staying up most of the night reading while everyone else slept peacefully.
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"Good morning!"
Ran shifted in his sleeping bag. He heard Sen do the same, then Mika's voice chimed.
"Ran, Sen! You guys should wake up now, people are here and they want to challenge us."
Ran jumped to his feet and readied himself for battle as though it were instinct. Mika poked at Sen with her foot, but all he did was grumble something inaudible and turn over.
The couple Mika was talking about were already standing at the other end of the clearing. They were tightly grasping each other's hand, sending the message that they were in love.
"I guess it'll have to be us then, Ran," Mika said worriedly.
Ran nodded and motioned to Piplup, who'd been awake for a few hours already. The tiny penguin walked out into the field and prepared itself for battle, followed by Mika's Shinx, who seemed to be radiating confidence. The opposing trainers threw their pokéballs, which opened to reveal a burst of black smoke from one and white smoke from the other.
Mika whispered to herself.
"Seals."
Ran looked at her, confused.
"Seals," she repeated. "They are stickers you put on your pokéballs that give it an effect as you send out your pokémon. They're mostly for Pokémon Contests, but are sometimes handy at the beginning of a battle. Watch out."
Ran focused on the field now, and the smoke was lingering; black smoke drifted along the ground, while the thick white smoke covered the air. Ran and Mika could hear their foes commands.
"Poison Sting!" the two trainers called at once from across the field.
Ran couldn't think. What moves would help him out of this situation? He looked at Mika. She had the exact expression on her face that he was feeling. They were in trouble.
Suddenly, bubbles shot through the top of the smoke, slightly lifting it as tufts of cloud rolled upward. Sparks began to dance around inside the smoke, crackling and snapping, clearing it away. When it was just thin enough to see the opponents' moving silhouettes, Ran and Mika called out their attacks.
"Piplup, use Bubble! Shinx, Charge your electricity!"
Piplup moved and stood in front of Shinx, who was now glowing bright yellow with sparks caressing its fur. Piplup began shooting bubbles from side to side, trying to prevent the foes from getting closer. They seemed to be around the same general size as Piplup and Shinx.
Before anyone could command their pokémon to attack, Shinx burst in front of Piplup and dashed toward the enemies' shadows with great speed, leaving a trail of bright light along its path. Mika gasped, and Ran wondered what it was trying to do. Without warning it launched itself at one shadow, covering itself with electricity as it leapt through the air, and smashed itself into the opponent's pokémon, knocking it away.
Ran and Mika heard one of the other trainers let out a yelp before returning their pokémon.
Again, without giving it a command, Shinx rammed its bolt-covered body against the other pokémon and knocked it out. The smoke seemed to be fully clear by now, and the male Nidoran was lying on the ground in front of its trainer. The female trainer had a cut on her arm from the previous pokémon, it seemed. Mika stared at her pokémon in wonder and amazement, and Ran knew she was thinking something was a bit weird.
The trainer couple congratulated Ran and Mika, gave them prize money, and left on their way in the opposite direction.
Ran looked at Mika.
"Are you as disturbed by that as I was?"
Mika didn't say anything. She just continued patting her Shinx with a stone-like expression on her face.
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A few more hours had passed as the trainers made their way along the path to Galvol City, and they suddenly had to stop. Ran and Mika were looking up, and Sen followed with his eyes. Directly in front of them, completely blocking the entire width of the path, was an enormous, red-coloured tree.
Sen let out a yelp.
"That's really big!"
Mika ran toward the tree with a smile on her face.
"Let's go inside! I want to explore!"
Inside? Ran thought to himself. Then he noticed a large, cave-like hole a few meters about the ground. He had the suspicion that once Mika wants to do something for knowledge, she won't stop, so he followed right behind her.
Sen was hesitant, but felt he couldn't just wait outside. What if he were attacked? Quickly, he made his way up to the cavernous hole and wandered inside with the others.
It was moist and sticky everywhere. Not a surprise to the group, as they were inside a tree, but it had a different texture than sap. More like...
"Honey!" Mika shouted, licking her fingers.
"Yes, darling?" Ran said jokingly, looking around in the darkness.
Sen laughed.
"No," she continued, "Honey. This isn't sap, it's honey! We must be in a hive!"
Sen stiffened.
"A-a... H-hive?" He slowly tried to turn around, but was grabbed at the collar and pulled deeper into the tree.
"No!" he whined, "I don't like Beedrill! They sting!"
Mika laughed and pulled out a flashlight from her pokétch. She examined the inside of the hive, admiring the structure of the honeycombs and the stored honey clusters. Eggs were tightly packed into honeycombs, protected by a layer of thin honey.
Ran leaned over and almost touched one, but Sen smacked his hand away, warning him not to touch anything. He was scared Beedrill would kill them if they didn't leave as soon as possible.
Mika finally turned around and told Sen that Beedrill don't make honey and that they're a different kind of bee pokémon. She knew this hive must belong to a colony of Combee.
Sen sighed heavily and scooped a handful of honey.
"Well, then," he said, licking it from his palm, "Can't let this opportunity go to waste."
Mika rolled her eyes and turned back around, realizing that they were entering a large room. She slowly moved her flashlight along the walls, examining the brilliant comb designs, before her light fell upon an enormous bee. Vespiquen.
The queen let out a roar-like sound that resonated throughout the hive, and in from several different holes in the wall came many Combee to her aide.
The group turned around and began to run out the way they came, but they heard Vespiquen order the other pokémon to do something. Mika turned around as what looked like the entire hive came flying toward them through the tunnel. Just as Sen and Ran jumped out of the honey-filled cave, Mika turned around, jumped out backwards and threw a pokéball into the hive.
Sen hurried to try to catch her, and she landed in his arms before the two of them fell over onto Ran.
"Ow," he said blankly.
Suddenly a pokéball rolled down the tree and came to a stop nearby. Mika picked it up and looked at her pokétch, which indicated she'd gathered more information on another pokémon. She'd caught a Combee!
"Augh, can we just go to Galvol City now?" Ran said as he shoved the others off of him. "I'm bored now and I'm craving battles with other trainers."
Mika and Sen agreed and the three of them made their may around the giant tree. Sen kept looking back at it, feeling guilty that they had trespassed in the Combee's home.
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Mika placed her pokéballs on the counter for the nurse to take. She sat in a nearby chair and waited, wondering where the other two went. She knew Ran had to be somewhere with other trainers nearby, probably battling until his Piplup fell asleep with exhaustion. Sen was possibly out shopping for necessary items, like the three had agreed he'd do this time. She could only hope he was getting the items on the list she'd given him.
Soon the nurse called Mika over and handed over her pokéballs. Before Mika turned to leave, the nurse grabbed her arm.
"Um," the nurse hesitated. "I have to talk to you about something."
Sen walked inside, mumbling to himself about the ridiculous items he'd had to find. He looked up from the list and saw Mika with her eyes wide and her jaw dropped. She rushed away as he got closer.
Ran entered the building and set his pokéball on the counter to be healed, and Sen told him about what had just happened. Ran looked curiously at the nurse, who gave him his pokéball again.
Mika returned to the counter and said that she'd like to return a book to the library section and replace it with another, which she was holding. Sen saw that it was called Keeping Your Pokémon Healthy: The Upside to Pokérus.
He gasped and nudged Ran, who also noticed the cover. He looked at Sen, confused.
Minutes later, the three were headed for the Galvol Gym in the center of town. Ran asked Mika what Pokérus was, and she explained that it was a very mysterious virus that only infected pokémon. She said that nobody's noticed a downside to the virus yet, so her Shinx should be okay.
Ran stopped walking when she said the name of her pokémon.
Mika looked at him.
"I know. That's the realization I came to in the Pokémon Center. Shinx is getting stronger, and fast. I just wish I knew what the cause for the virus was."
Eventually they came to the front of the city's gym. Ran tried to open the door, but it was locked. Mika looked at a sign in the window that said "Gone to Magnet Temple. Be back soon!"