A few hours later found the duo resting beside a broad, peaceful river, sunlight filtering through the trees they were resting under. Their Pokémon were around them, playing together, resting, or chowing down on some fruit Absol shook down from the trees.
"This was a great idea, just taking a break from traveling." Iriana commented, leaning back with her eyes closed.
"Thank Medieon, he suggested it." Harry snickered, feeding Vulpix. The little Fire-type had moved up from formula to soft PokeFood. "Though we need to take a break now and then, the League doesn't start for another few months, we can slow down our pace."
"How's your meditation exercise coming along?" Iriana asked, gazing at the other teen. "I haven't heard you during the night, so the nightmares must be calming down."
Harry nodded, wiping Vulpix's muzzle. "Yeah, it's helped tons. My mind doesn't feel….cluttered you could say, anymore. And I've been adding to my barriers whenever we meet new Pokémon." Iriana nodded, happy for her friend.
"Magikarp, be careful." Iriana said, staring at the Water-type that was flopping around in the shallow water.
"It isn't the Pokémon that needs to be careful brats."
The two whipped around at the new, cold voice. It sent shivers down their spines. Suddenly, the area was filled with dozens of Luxio and Magmar, way too many to battle. Behind them were the thugs they have been running into, a few carrying whips that glowed with a demonic red light. They parted and a man in his late fifties walked forward. He was dressed in a black stripped business suit, had slick brown hair and the blackest eyes Harry had ever seen, they made Snape's look like they were filled with laughter and joy. With a jerk of his head the thugs and Pokémon rounded them all up in a tight circle, the Pokémon getting either burnt or shocked by the enemy Pokémon. Iriana whimpered when one thug actually kicked her Magikarp into the middle of the river.
"You kids have been a thorn in my side, ruining all my careful planning." He continued.
Harry stood tall, passing a shaking Vulpix to Iriana and standing protectively in front of them, "Who do you think you are?" He demanded.
"Be quiet, you are in no position to demand anything of me. But since you all won't leave this area alive, I guess I can tell you. My name is Garm Kesorir, owner of Kesorir Inc. and leader of Team Quasso; some of its members surround you now." He gestured at them with his hand.
"What is it you are trying to do, and what exactly is Team Quasso?" Iriana asked. Harry wasn't sure if she was trying to buy them some time or she really did want to know.
"Very good question. You see those lovely plasma whips? They are the crown jewel of my company, they are used to train Pokémon into behaving, and not even the strongest Pokémon is too much for us."
"Training? You torture Pokémon with those!" Harry yelled outraged. "I've seen what they can do! You people are monsters."
Kesorir merely chuckled, raising a hand, "There's no need for such name calling, besides. You really want those as your last words?" He chuckled again when he saw the murderous looks he was receiving. "I guess you do. Farewell you impudent-"
He was cut off by a thundering roar. Everyone, human and Pokémon alike, turned their heads to the river, where suddenly a large Pokémon that vaguely reminded Harry of dragons seen in Chinese mythology. Its serpentine body is mostly magenta, but its underbelly was white, as well as the spots along its body. It had a three-pointed, dark purple crest on its head and four white fins down its back. Its mouth is very large and gaping, bearing four canine teeth. As it roared again, Harry brought out his Pokedex: Gyarados, the Atrocious Pokémon. This Pokémon is the evolved form of Magikarp. It has a vicious temperament, so use extreme caution. Its fangs can crush stones and its scales are harder than steel.
"It's my Magikarp, she evolved!" Iriana said excitedly. "Gyarados! Get rid of these thugs!"
Gyarados roared again, which Harry thought she said, "With pleasure" and slapped her tail on the water, causing it to rise quickly. It swarmed onto dry land, completely missing Harry and company, sweeping the thugs screaming away into the woods.
"You haven't seen the last of us!" Kesorir screamed, sending chills down their spines before being washed out of sight.
"Great job Gyarados." Iriana said, petting the side of her newly evolved Pokémon. "You saved us."
"It was my pleasure." Gyarados said, enjoying the caress from her Trainer.
"Iriana, we got to get the Pokémon to the Center, they were hurt by those Quasso Pokémon and the plasma whips. Plus I need to tell Oak and Giovanni about what we found out." Harry said, returning all of his Pokémon. As Iriana did the same he added, "Great job finding out all that stuff. Was that on purpose or were you trying to prolong our end?" The two took off at a fast job to reach Fulmen.
"I wanted to see if bad guys, given the right prompt, will actually rant. Turns out I was right."
They reached Fulmen in record time and headed straight for the Center, giving a concerned Nurse Joy their Pokémon. While Iriana went to grab them a quick snack Harry headed to the video phones. Hoping that Giovanni was with Oak, he called the Pokémon Professor first.
"Harry! How are you lad…what's wrong? You seemed very flustered?" Oak asked concern lacing his features.
"I'll explain, first is Giovanni with you?" Harry asked.
"No…one second. I'll connect with him; I was just discussing you with him on the other line. He's been very worried about you." Oak said with a small smile, his image on the screen splitting to show the Rocket Boss in his office.
"Harry? What's the matter?" Giovanni asked concerned, Persian moving into the screen with him.
"I found out quite a bit about the thugs I told you about with the whips, thanks to Iriana." He started and began explaining everything that had happened in the clearing leaving nothing out.
"I've heard of Kesorir Inc. and none of it good. I'll get my people on it right away Harry." Giovanni said, frowning.
"On another note, please tell Iriana congratulations on having her Magikarp evolve, and such an interesting color as well." Oak said, ever the Professor. Harry grinned as the older man continued, "Also congratulations on your recent victories, you two are becoming quite popular I hear. You haven't lost a battle yet."
The two men laughed as Harry blushed to the roots of his hair, "Yeah…well…I gotta go." He said lamely, ending the call, the ring of the continued laughter echoing in his ears. "Why is my embarrassment always an enjoyment for others?" He wondered out loud.
"Because it's adorable when you blush." Iriana's voice said behind him, turning to laughter when Harry blushed again. "Nurse Joy said that checking all of our Pokémon will take some time, she wants to be sure everything checks out, so we have time to resupply before we can pick them up."
"Alright, let's go shopping…" Harry gave a melodramatic sigh at this thought, snickering at the look his friend gave him.
"Just for that, you're carrying everything." Iriana said. It was her turn to snicker at the look Harry gave her in return. "Revenge is sweet."
Arriving at the shopping center, Iriana suggested that they split up to get everything they needed. She had made a list with a lot of extra things, including Burn Heals, salves, and bandages, her excuse being 'We've been running into these Quasso creeps all the time, with their type of Pokémon, this stuff will really help if we can't get to a Center.' So now Harry was walking up and down aisles, grabbing everything he needed to get, grumbling about 'evil shopping obsessed girls' when he ran into a solid mass.
"Oh man, sorry kid." A voice said concerned. Harry looked up to see a dark skinned man in his late twenties with short light brown hair, kind light blue eyes and wearing a yellow tank top, black jeans and combat boots holding out a hand to help him up. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."
"Sorry sir neither was I." Harry said, taking the offered hand and helping the other pick up his purchases.
The man laughed, "Now none of that 'sir' business. Name's Bolt." He held out a hand with a grin.
"I'm Harry," The emerald eyed teen said, grinning as well. A thought struck him and he stared at the other. "Sorry if I'm wrong about this, but I seem to have the weirdest luck, are you by chance, the Gym Leader here?"
Bolt seemed surprised, "Yeah I am, good guess kid. How'd you know?"
Harry sighed, "I seem to have this strange ability of finding the Gym Leader of a town before my friend and battle partner does."
The blue-eyed man laughed, "Really? You'll have to tell me about it sometime." He glanced at his wrist watch his eyes widened, "Oh man, I'm gonna be late…"
Harry watched the now frantic man run to the counter to by his items. Following him and getting his bought by the other checker, Harry asked, "May I ask what's wrong?"
Bolt gave a sigh, "My younger siblings' eighth birthday is today, I wanted to surprise them with a party, but I'm running late. I hope you and your friend won't mind waiting until tomorrow to battle, I just got too much to do today."
As their items were placed in bags, Harry's natural 'help-people' instincts kicked in, "Is there anything Iriana or I can do to help? We're not in a hurry to battle you." Bolt eyed him, surprised by the offer.
"Really? You'll help? That would be a big help in getting everything ready, the triplets will be home in a few hours and I wanted the Gym set up all nice." The teen grinned.
"We'll help, no problem…well I will anyway. I'm sure Iriana will too." Bolt nodded happily and the two gathered their things. It took no time to find Iriana, and once explaining the situation to her, she agreed readily, excited at the idea of a party. The trio made their way to the Fulmen Gym, past the main area that was just dirt with large rocks for some cover, into the back living area large enough for a nice party.
Entering the kitchen they began taking out the gifts they had gotten for the birthday kids when Bolt said, "Uh oh…"
"Now that's a word you don't want to hear on a birthday, what's wrong?" The lavender eyed teen asked.
"I forgot to pick up some food for the party, as well as a cake. There's no time to go and get some from the store…" Bolt said, frowning worriedly. Iriana turned to Harry, who just rolled his eyes and sleeves.
"Alright, here's what we'll do. Bolt you go and get the area fixed up for a party, wrap the presents, get the decorations, etc. Iriana, you go and get our Pokémon and then come back to help Bolt; distract the kids if they get here early. I'll take care of everything else."
While Harry started moving about the kitchen, Iriana nudged Bolt out, saying, "Harry's a pro at cooking on the fly. The kids will love what he makes; now he gave us jobs to do."
For two hours Harry cooked up a feast of popcorn chicken, macaroni, fruit salads, and a layered marble cake. While he was working masterpieces in the kitchen, Bolt and then Iriana started fixing up the dining room with streamers, balloons, the whole nine yards.
The silence of their work was broken when they heard three voices chorus, "Big Brother!" Bolt was tackled to the ground by three dark blurs. Iriana started laughing at the look on Bolt's face on the ground.
"Ian, Oracia and Jade could you please get up?" Bolt wheezed out. Laughing, the two girls and boy got off and Iriana finally got a good look at them. All three had the same eyes and hair color as Bolt, with Ian having the same hair style while the girls each had a pony tail. Ian wore a black T-shirt with yellow shorts and sandals, one girl wore a yellow sundress with black daisies while the other wore a black dress with yellow daisies. "Iriana, I would like you to meet Ian, Oracia" He pointed to the yellow dressed girl, "And Jade." The black dressed girl. "Kids this is Iriana. She and her friend Harry have been helping me with your special day. The two of them are Trainers hoping to battle me later."
At these words the three hyper children gathered around Iriana, firing questions at a random pace. While she tried her best to follow and answer them, she was 'saved' by Harry walking though the kitchen door, saying,
"Lunch is ready! Cake afterwards" He added, seeing the kids' eyes light up and then fall comically.
Twenty minutes later and much compliment giving by the four family members, Harry brought out a beautiful looking cake with eight candles, "Now blow them out and make a wish you three." The triplets shared a hurried whisper and then blew out the candles together, having the older ones clap enthusiastically.
While they enjoyed the cake and were watching the kids unwrap their gifts, Bolt asked, "What did you three wish for?"
"We wished to see you battle today Big Brother." They chorused, looking up at him.
At a loss for words, he turned to the two teens.
"That's fine by us; we could do it after we finish the cake." Harry said, Iriana nodding mouth full of the dessert. Everyone grinned when the kids started cheering and running around them happily.
