It's a Date

"Weeeeeeeee," I cried as Tubby ran as fast as his stumpy legs could take him through the trees. Andy hung on to Tubby's head for dear life, screaming as the wind whipped past him. He didn't seem to notice when I held his hand to comfort him. Tubby suddenly made contact with something, causing our form of transport to jolt unexpectedly and Andy slipped from his position on Tubby's back. Fortunately for him, I still had hold of his rope which prevented him from falling to the ground and hurting himself. I looked around to see what Tubby had hit but instead found Rina. I told Tubby to stop so we could say hello and slid off his back expertly.

"Hi Rina!" I said, hugging her tightly. I then noticed the sour-faced girl standing next to Rina and decided to say hi to her too. I thought it best that I act really friendly towards her so she could smile, and wasn't disheartened when she didn't hug me back. Rina, always the kind peace-maker, formally introduced her friend Rikki to me. I smiled at the curly-haired blonde encouragingly.

"So who's your friend?" Rina asked. I was glad to have an opportunity to show off my new boyfriend to my friends, and did so happily.

"What the heck?! He doesn't look like your boyfriend; more like a boy who wants to leave because he shouldn't be with you." When Rikki said this, I just knew she was jealous of Andy. She probably fancied him. I'd have to watch her from now on; I couldn't lose Andy to her. I could see why he might like her though: she was really pretty like a Vulpix. Any boy who resisted that must be crazy. I knew I had to distract Rikki from the handsome face of my boyfriend Andy so, thinking quickly, I said:

"This is my Snorlax!"

"No. Really?!" Rikki said. Yes! My distraction worked!! For some reason, Rina started giggling. I hoped she wasn't trying to flirt with Andy. Rina then tried to pull Rikki away, saying something about Pastoria City. They didn't get very far before Rina asked Rikki if she could cook. I threw my hand in the air to get their attention.

"I can cook!"

"Really?" Rina asked hopefully.

"Nope!" I couldn't believe she had thought for a moment that I could cook. I always bought my food (or borrowed it or stole it...). I laughed hysterically at the thought of me cooking. Andy – probably hypnotised by her blue eyes – stepped closer to Rikki so I tugged on the rope and forced him to stay by my side. Andy offered his cooking skills to them; he was such a kind-hearted person!

"We're starving!" Rikki said. Andy got started straight away, pulling his cooking utensils from his bag. It didn't take him that long to cook everyone lunch and I sat on Tubby's soft stomach to eat mine, since Tubby was lying on his back. He was really tired after eating so much – today he had eaten three whole cakes, twelve cookies, five pies, six bowls of noodles and the front cover of my magazine. That was a lot, even for Tubby. Rikki kept asking questions about Andy's life which annoyed me but I knew I had to let him have some space to make friends – just friends, mind you. When Andy told them about what Team Elemental did to him I kept quiet, especially when Rina went on about how they were after Sky and Mew. It was like someone said "and...Cue overreaction": Rikki jumped up and pumped her fist in the air.

"I swear in the name of Arceus I will help you get your Pokemon back! I heard about what those jerks put Rina through and I hate them even though I've never met them... But still! We will find them!" I felt a bit taken aback when Rikki said she hated them. She didn't even know them! I wanted to defend them but I knew that Andy wouldn't want to talk to me ever again so instead I said:

"That means if you're going to help Andy Pandy we will have to travel with you guys! Yaaay! Hear that Tubby? We get to be with Rina and Rikki twenty four seven!"

"Snorrrr..." Tubby mumbled. His belly vibrated underneath me, causing me to giggle.

*

"There isn't much to d-do here..." Andy said. We were in Pastoria City at long last, and I had to agree with Andy that it looked a little empty. Rikki had repeatedly told him to speak up more and she was starting to get on my nerves; why couldn't she leave my boyfriend alone?! He was with me, not her. She should just stop trying to flirt with him right in front of me.

"Well, I want to check out the Great Marsh. There is apparently a few rare Pokémon and there is one in particular I'm interested in." Rikki said to everyone.

"That sounds cool! Me and Sparky might just tag along." I saw this as the perfect opportunity to separate Andy and Rikki, at least for an hour.

"Well me and Tubbykins certainly won't be coming along. It's too muddy in there and I don't want to ruin my shoes! I might just go and play or something like that! And where ever I go, Andy goes," I said snootily. Someone had to remind Rikki who Andy was with. I flounced off, dragging Andy behind and with Tubby following us. We ended up not going anywhere in particular; we sort of just slowed to a stop. An idea came to me spontaneously.

"Hey! Why don't we have a picnic?" Andy agreed with this idea and since we didn't have a blanket we just used Tubby's belly. He was such a useful Pokémon. I poured two packets of cookies in his mouth to keep him happy before turning to Andy.

"Do you think Rikki's pretty?" I blurted out. Andy looked surprised.

"D-do I...what?" he asked, playing dumb. I repeated the question slower and Andy appeared to be amused.

"It's not funny!" I wailed, pushing his arm. I accidently pushed him too hard and he went flying, almost falling off of Tubby's stomach. I pulled the rope and soon Andy was sitting next to me again.

"Sorry," I apologised shamefully.

"I'm u-used to it." I grinned sheepishly at him. "Rikki is a fairly pretty girl." My heart plummeted to the ground. I felt nauseous and sad all at the same time. I knew he liked Rikki. She was so clued up about being a trainer and she wasn't too tall and she probably didn't create chaos for her family every time she visited and she didn't have to tie people up just to get them to stay with her...Tears fell from my eyes and on to the sandwich I had been about to eat. Great, I thought. It needed salt anyways. I didn't care that it was going to get soggy.

"Oh dear god please don't cry! I hate it when people cry...I couldn't say that Rikki isn't pretty because she is. Tizzy, please stop crying!" Andy begged. If this was his attempt to make me feel better, it wasn't working. I cried harder, the sandwich dropping from my hand and to the ground. As quick as a flash, Tubby had eaten the sandwich. At least it made him happy! He was never upset about anything. Tubby never had boyfriend troubles.

"Oh for goodness sake! Tizzy, if it makes you feel any better I think you're ten times as nice as Rikki. I'd choose you to be the one holding me against my will over her any day."

"Huh?" I looked at Andy, my lip quivering. Andy quickly looked away from me.

"I don't care if Rikki is pr-pretty. She's not nice, like y-you," he said quietly. I brightened immediately, gasping with delight.

"Please don't hug me!" he pleaded desperately, although it was too late; my arms were already wrapped around his neck. It was possibly the nicest thing he had ever said to me. We soon resumed our lunch date – because that's what it was – and when we were finished went back to the Pokémon Centre to wait for Rina and "pretty" Rikki to get back. They did eventually but went straight upstairs to shower. Rikki got down first and wasted no time telling us what had happened in the Great Marsh: how Nicholas had showed up, acted all snotty and then...

"...caught the Tropius?" Andy asked.

"Yep; he's such a jerk. I really wanted it," Rikki said bitterly. She looked really down about losing out on the Tropius (although why she wanted it was a mystery to me. Those things were scary) so I offered to rob Nicholas to get it off him.

"We could get arrested for that..." Andy, ever the angel, pointed out. Ah, but only if we get caught! He clearly had an issue with stealing Pokémon so I decided to just pout at him rather than saying what I was thinking. Rina appeared then, with Sparky on her shoulder. Hold on – didn't it use to be a Pichu?! I started to ask Rina about Sparky but then someone mentioned food and Tubby went into hunger-mode even though he had just eaten. We made our way to the Pokémon Centre canteen and I ordered two portions of food: a small one for me and an extra-double-mega-large one for Tubby. I sat next to Andy, making sure there was hardly any space in between us. I couldn't forget what he had said to me earlier. I couldn't contain myself: every so often I would burst out with "I love you" and I would get Andy to say it back to me. It was so sweet.

And then it happened. When we were all finished eating, Rina and Rikki went into the Pokémart and Andy asked if I would release him because he didn't want to spend the rest of his life being dragged around by me. I couldn't believe him. After what he had said to me earlier, there was no way he could do this to me!

"Come on Tizzy! We aren't even dating! Just let me out of this rope. I won't run away I just want my personal space back!!" he yelled. Luckily I was used to these little outbursts of his and knew just how to handle them. I played ignorance.

"What was that?" I said innocently. Andy sighed.

"N-nothing," he muttered. I noticed that Rina and Rikki were out of the Pokémart by now and they led the way to the Pastoria City gym. When we were outside a boy who I cleverly guessed to be Nicholas challenged Rina to a battle. I zoned out as he and Rina batted verbally back and forth with each other like a pair of school children until someone uttered the magical word "festival". This instantly perked me up. Nicholas walked off when he was finished with Rina and I asked if we could go to the festival, knowing they would most likely have candyfloss. How I loved candyfloss!! Oooh! And those machines with the Pokémon plushies!

Note: Argh! I'm so stupid!! I forgot to upload a chapter so I had to replace things and upload things and arggghh. It's called "Team Elemental Aren't All Bad". Argh!!!