(10)( ) (The) (Ouendan) (Continue)
Meanwhile, the Ouendan traveled along, trying to find their way around. They had discovered, to their displeasure, that they were, in fact, quite a ways away from Sinnoh, being in Johto. They didn't have enough money to get a boat and ride all the way there from Johto, so they'd just have to find a way to get there by foot. If we just hook up with the other people from our world here, they rationalized, we will have a better chance of getting home.
Unfortunately, things weren't going according to plan at the moment. "Are you sure we're supposed to go along here?" asked Suzu, glancing at her Morning City-dropout collegue skeptically.
Hibiki rotated the map first this way, then that, like a steering wheel. He had a confused expression on his face. "I'm...PRETTY sure," he replied slowly, sweat-dropping.
Kioshi anger-veined, then whipped his head around. "Dolt!" he shouted in English, and snatched the map. "Lemme see that! I'm the one who's got any experience in orienteering amoung us; I should've taken it in the first place," he irritably muttered in his native language, looking at the map. He checked his surroundings, then the sun in the sky. An Aipom skittered across the road while he did this. Above, a flock of Pidgey flapped along.
After a moment, Suzu asked, "Well? Where are we, scout?"
Kioshi sweat-dropped. "Errr..Seeing as I haven't been looking at the sun in the sky and we've been changing direction so much, and that we have no compass..." He looked back at everyone and smiled sheepishly. "...I'm as lost as Hibiki."
Hibiki and Suzu anime-fell. ""Uwaaaahh..."" They darted back up and grabbed back the map and began to argue.
Things had been going not so well for a while. The Japanese cheer squad had had a tough time procuring supplies, since they weren't as loaded as the EBA or Ash's group, and were running low on funds. They were approaching Team Rocket's level of poverty and constant hunger. That, and the heat didn't help them in their long sleeved uniforms, especially Kioshi's long, black gakuran. Their feet hurt, they had no camping supplies, and they began to feel like they needed some cheering of their own. All this, plus the fact they were now without a clue directionally, has culminated into their quarrel now.
Suddenly, they felt something. The same thing they felt when they knew someone was in trouble. Stopping their fight, they rushed off to investigate.
-----
A mountain loomed in the background. Around it was a moat of sorts, which was full of natural, glistening spring water. A lone house stood, being only a small hut, with a bus stop nearby. In front of the house were two people. One wore a coat, was male, and had short hair.
(Benishirina, Pokémon Naturalist [US name Cullen Cailix, I think)
The other had braided green hair and a pair of big, thin-rimmed, circular glasses.
(Luna, Pokémon Naturalist [?? Jap.)
They were sitting and talking. "I can't beleive the power of this spring water!" Benishirina said, holding up a beaker with water sloshing inside. "There are still so many things we can find out about this...I'm a little excited."
Luna sighed, smiling sadly. "Yeah, but we have to keep our lips tight on this," she reminded him. "If people realize that this spring is helpful, it'll turn into a tourist attraction, causing the water to become contaminated. The contaminated water would disrupt the habitat of the pokémon on Mt. Quena, the source of the water." They both looked at each other, then sighed.
"But this is such a find...We've known about it for so long..." Benishirina looked away. "Oh, if only we could tell someone and then NOT have them turn it into a massive media extraveganza," he dreamed. Suddenly, he had an idea.
Luna looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "UH-oh. I don't like that look." She crossed her arms. "Don't think that we can trust anyone with a medical marvel such as this. If the secret gets out, then we'll have a heck of a time making sure only certain people are allowed to collect some of the spring water. Otherwise, we'd be causing harm to the pokémon here, and it's not like we don't cause a lot of harm to pokémon habitats elsewhere!"
Benishirina nodded uneasilly. "Y-yeah, of course," he said. "And why would I ever think of telling anyone? I just...had an idea for dinner!! Yeah!" He smiled nervously, hoping that'd work.
Luna eyed him skeptically, then laughed. "Alright, then, honey!" she said, standing up. "You can make it for us tonight!" She smiled and turned to go inside.
Benishirina watched her go inside, then stood up and went to some trees. Behind them, he dialed something onto his cell phone. "H-hello? Prof. Yamada? I've got this amazing discovery, but I'll only tell you IF you PROMISE not to let it slip..."
- - -
Later on that month, the bus taking people around Mt. Quena arrived. Luna and Benishirina waited for it, smiling. When it stopped, the bus driver smiled and leaned out. "Hey, I've got some great news!" she said.
"What?" Luna asked. She and Benishirina looked in askance.
The driver broke into a grin. "You're not going to have to be so lonely anymore, because now, we're going to be coming multiple times per month, like a normal bus!"
Luna and Benishirina both shot their eyes up in surprise. "Oh, my!" Luna said, putting a hand to her chest. "And why? Is it because more people want to get around the mountain now?"
The driver shook her head. "Nope, it's because they wanna come HERE!!" she answered, and as if on cue, a horde of people in lab coats came crashing out, trampling the two naturalists. "I've gotta get some more people here, good-bye!" the bus driver said, and closed the door to her now-empty bus and drove off.
When Luna and Benishirina got up, Luna gave her boyfriend such a look, it seemed as if she burned with fury. "Benishirina??"
The man gulped and sweat-dropped. "Y-y-yes, Luna?" he replied.
"Did you have something to do with this?" she asked.
Benishirina gulped, hesitated, then slowly nodded his head. "I called the most trustworthy scientist I knew...and I guess he couldn't stay shut about it..." he confessed.
Luna roared, "YOU IDIOT!! NOW THE SPRING'S GOING TO BE RUINED!!" She turned and stomped off, fumingly mad.
Benishirina reached after her. "But honey--!"
Luna gave him a whithering look over her shoulder. "I'm NOT your honey anymore," she said darkly, and continued off.
Benishirina stood shaking, feeling his heart freezing and then shattering into a million peices. "O...O..." In desperation, he screamed to the sky,
"OUENDAAAAAAN!!"
-----
The ouendan looked at each other and nodded. "Right, we've got work," Kioshi said. "Let's put our bickering off untill then, at least."
Suzu and Hibiki nodded. ""Right."" "But what song?" asked Hibiki, tilting his head down in thought.
Suzu shrugged. "I don't know any that would fit off the top of my head," she said. She turned to Kioshi. "Anything?"
Kioshi rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well...maybe," he replied. "It's a bit of a stretch, but he DOES need to get his girlfriend to like him again, and so it may work for that, at least."
"What is it?" asked Hibiki. He and Suzu were told, and their eyebrows shot up. "THAT?? But...That's really a bit of a stretch, after all..."
"Can YOU think of anything better?" asked the Evening City ouendan, raising an eyebrow. "Besides, it's a nice song. And I know it's another anime one, but it's the best we've got."
The two other cheerleaders looked at each other, then finally nodded. "Let's go," Suzu said, and the three stood up and jumped out of the bushes.
Defend the Spring!! Can Both Relationships Be Saved?
Benishirina gawked at the scientists crowding around at the river. They were busilly taking samples and setting up machines that would take tests of the water on-site. "I've got to convince them to leave!!" Benishirina muttered, and ran over, waving his arms. "WAIT! WAIT! STOP! There's been a misunderstanding!!"
The scientists looked around at him in confusion. "But we were told that this water has immense medicinal properties," they said, "and that's right. So there's no misunderstanding." They turned back to their work.
Benishirina grabbed his hair, gibbering. "B-but...I...You..." He was starting to feel hopeless. Nobody seemed to notice the music that had started in the background.
Suddenly, he heard from behind him three voices cry, """OSU!!""" Instantly, his soul began aflame, and pure energy scorched out of him. He raised his arm in determination. "GOOOOOOOOOO!"
The young ouendan members slid into position. However, instead of coming from one side, they each entered from their home squad's respective side. This means that while Kioshi skidded in from what would be stage left, Suzu and Hibiki skidded in from stage right. The guitar began, and audiences around the world heard a unique, somewhat-yearning melody play out.
"""IKOIYA!! ...SAN! NI! ICHI! SURE!!"""
Karamitsuku kaze ni sakarai
Ushinatta kisetsu wo sagashiteiru
Wazuka demo mezasu houkou e
Azayaka na kioku ga tsukiugokasu
As the second opening song for a show whose tone was dead-opposite that of the one they were in began, Benishirina began trying to convince the scientists they had to go. At first, he was seen fumbling for words, going slowly. Only a few scientists turned to look at him and listen. But then, his desire to stop them from contaminating the water with their huge crowd caused something to click in his mind, and words came streaming out of his mouth. He emphisized these words with energetic gestures. With the enthusiasm he was speaking with, all the scientists turned and listened. However, perhaps because of the suddeness of the situation, or the fact that they were hungry, the squad floundered for a split second. With that unpleasing drop in the cheering, Benishirina breifly fumbled greatly. He was left standing, a blank expression on his face as he muttered to himself, "THINK! THINK! THINK!!!" Meanwhile, the scientists were busy happilly examining the water. The ouendan got back on track, though, and was cheering their best again, filling Benishirina with more fuel than before.
After a while, Benishirina reached a conclusion. "...So, in closing," he began ending, standing with a finger up, "I asked the guy who told you all to keep quiet about it, he didn't, you're all here, and you could end up contaminating the water with your large numbers. To prevent any further damage to the environment of Mt. Quena, I would like to ask you to leave and tell nobody about here."
The scientists murmured amoungst each other. "But this is a medical marvel," said one, raising a beaker. "You can't ask us to keep quiet about something that could save countless lives!"
Benishirina winced. 'They have a point...' He tried something. "Well, think of it this way: If you tell somebody, more will come, the water will be tapped, contamination will occur, thousands of pokémon will lose their homes, and the spring will lose its restorative properties quite quickly, thus defeating the purpose." He looked at them, hoping that logic would work. No response. "You'd end up spending more than you'd make," he added a little nervously.
THIS worked. The whole crowd of well-educated people groaned and packed up, saying, "Then what's the point?" irratably. They stomped off, but that was exactly what Benishirina had aimed to do. He mopped his brow and breathed a sigh of releif. "That was close!" he muttered.
Behind him, in the house and watching through the window, was Luna. She watched, a small smile on her face.
O
How many cuts should I repeat?
How many fates should I accept?
Does it have an end?
A breif time later, however, the bus returned, the driver cheerilly dumping off a HUGE crowd of tourists. They were dressed up as if about to go swimming. Benishirina looked in horror at these new arrivals. They rushed past, and he cried, "NO! I can't let them just go in! But they probably won't listen..." He gazed along the river's course, into the forested section. He thought for a second. "Perhaps convincing bug pokémon to come with and scare them off would work, but..." he muttered, trailing off at the uncertainty.
"""OSU!!"""
Again, the naturalist burned with motivation, and he dashed into a canoe.
Itsumo karadajuu wo
Kimi ga kakemeguri afuresou
Dakara kowakunai yo asu mo
Because I always feel you in me
As the wonderful chorus began and the ouendan hoped that what they were doing would be good enough, Benishirina began paddling at top speed, a burning desire to stop people from ignorantly causing damage to the ecosystem fueling him along. A wake of speed-boat caliber trailed behind him, and the forest blurred by. But then, the bluendan showed that their version of cheering was slightly different from Kioshi's, and as a result, the naturalist got tired and slowed to a normal pace. You could see a few wild bug pokémon on the trees in the background. Then, Benishirina lost his focus for a second, thanks in part to further discord amoung the squad, and ended up angering some beedrill and going top-speed the other way(much like the "Material Girl" stage from EBA's second section in a way). However, Kioshi said, "Enough clowning!!" very firmly, and the three cooperated again. Benishirina lost the beedrill through pure determination and turned back around, going the same speed as he had when fleeing, if not faster.
After a time, he found some spinarak, venomoth, aridos, and more beedrill(though he was much more careful to not upset them this time), frightening and/or unsettling bug pokémon indeed. He called, "There're some tourists here who are making your water dirty and messing up your home!! Come on, you need to scare them away!!"
The bug pokémon looked at each other. Benishirina began to paddle back, then looked over his shoulder. He gasped when he saw that the pokémon were following. "Do you all believe me?" he asked hopefully. The pokémon nodded intelligently, and the human grinned in joy. "Thank you so much!" he said, bowing like so as well he could from his boat, then the group dashed off.
O
Kawakikitta nodo e nagashita
Kimi no na de kokoro wo urushiteku
Benishirina came back to the hut, where the people were busy bathing indulgently. Luna was busy trying to convince them to leave, telling them that this was part of a pokémon ecosystem. However, nobody was listening. "Time to teach them a lesson!" the male naturalist told the pokémon. He rowed over, the bugs following, and announced, "I hope that you DO realize that you're swiming in bug-infested waters, don't you?" Luna looked over at him in surprise.
Everyone made a sound of displeasure of some sort, but not all of them got out. A few even swam to shore and grabbed some pokéballs. "Yeah, you just want this place all to yourselves!" they said, and sent out their pokémon. "If we win, we can stay. If you win, we'll leave and not say a word, like that green-haired girl says!"
Benishirina gaped. "WHAT? I'm not that much of a battler, and these aren't MY pokémon; they're wild!" he protested.
The trainers ignored him and sicced their teams on him anyway.
"""OSU!!"""
Determination filled the fire that ignited the naturalist again. With renewed gusto, he took his chances and tried commanding the wild pokémon.
How many cuts should I repeat?
How many fates should I accept?
Does it have an end?
Haruka ano tori no you
Sora wo tobikoete yuketara
Itsumo tsutaetai you ai wo
Because I always feel you in me
You taught me how to love
I feel I can do anything
While the ouendan got into their longest cheering segment, Benishirina began giving orders. When he was beginning, he was frantically pointing and shouting, the pokémon following his orders after a little while and barely deflecting the enemy's attack. He was a little nervous, seeing as his girlfriend was watching, with an unimpressed look on her face. However, it appeared that the ouendan had finally gotten it together and were truly feeling the groove. As a result, Benishirina, not wanting to fail in front of Luna, nor wanting to let these guys stay and ruin the river, got a handle on his own situation and was ordering with precision and pointing with firmness. When he did, one of the bug pokémon unleashed an attack that blew back one of the trainers' pokémon into the trainer. As soon as one was down, another would come up. When he got into his own groove, it was noticed that Luna had an impressed smile on her face.
Then, it came to the point where three trainers were left. "Alright," one said, "this is IT! It's time to blow you away!!" They sent out a flying type or a flying-fire type. One of them even sent out a charizard!! (The latter was unnerved by the fact he/she was above water at the moment.) Also, a staraptor and a frikkin' GYRADOS were sent out(it's part flying, remember?). The three trainers pointed at their respective pokémon.
"OVERHEAT!!"
"SKY ATTACK!!"
"HYPER BEAM!!"
Benishirina sweat-dropped, as did the bug pokémon. "AAAAUGH!! NONONONO--" He smacked himself. "CALM DOWN AND FOCUS!" he roared to himself, then pointed and ordered, "EVERYONE!! DODGE THE ATTACKS AND USE EVERY SIGNAL BEAM, FURY CUTTER, MEGAHORN, TWINNEEDLE, WHATEVER YOU'VE GOT!!"
Every pokémon swarmed out of the way of the twin beams of energy and fire, which surrounded a glowing, dive-bombing staraptor. The attacks missed, and the pokémon all rushed forth to the two who were now weakened and used their best attacks. (The staraptor was hit by the bugs in the rear of the swarm) An enormous explosion occured, and everyone in the river was blasted off, a la Team Rocket.
"OKAY, OKAY, YOU WIIIIiiiinn..." screamed some of the tourists as they flew off into the distance, their pokémon with them.
Benishirina gaped in awe. "Amazing..." He grinned and looked at all the bug pokémon. "Thank you SO much, everyone!! Now your river isn't filled with filthy bodies anymore!" he chirped. The pokémon all made happy sounds, then went back home. "See ya!!" the naturalist called after them, waving from his canoe. Behind him, Luna beamed at him.
O
The bus came back again, and this time, it brought a second batch of scientists. Benishirina groaned at this. "Oh, no, not MORE!!" he wailed.
The ouendan looked at each other an nodded. "Here we go!" Kioshi said, and the three did one last """OSU!!"""
The flames returned once more, and again, Benishirina set about convincing the scientists to leave.
Yume ni egaku sekai wo
Kimi no me no mae ni hirogetai
Dakara kowakunai yo asu mo
My beloved season calls me
Because I always feel you in me
The bus came one last time, empty now. Benishirina bustled the scientists off into it, but then one grabbed his shoulder. He jumped and turned around to face an old, grey-haired man in his 80s, at least. Benishirina gasped. "Prof. Yamada!!"
Yamada smiled a little listfully. "I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble, young Benishirina," he appologized, voice creaky like an old wood floor from age. "It's just that I got so excited, I couldn't help but tell a select group of scientists...which, I learned, told another group. Who knows what else happened?" He chuckled, then looked at the younger and answeered himself, "Oh, you."
Benishirina smiled and shook his head. "No, nothing at all happened," he lied. "But...please, don't do that again."
Yamada smiled and nodded, then looked longingly at the stream. "But...so many lives could be saved..." he muttered.
Benishirina frowned. "I know, Professor, but..." He waved his arm to the forest by the stream. "The pokémon here need it to survive. Mt. Quena has a powerful secret, but one that, sadly, must be left alone." He smiled and looked at the senior scientist. "I'm certain that we'll be able to find out a perfect synthetic duplicate to Purity Canyon springwater," he assured him.
The scientist smiled and nodded. "That we may," he said, and went onto the bus.
"Bad news, sugar," the bus driver said as she was about to go.
"What, back to the once-a-month?" asked Benishirina, smiling.
She nodded, sadly. "Yeah...This means I'm not gonna get all the pay I was hopin' for..." She sighed and closed shut the doors and drove off, Benishirina laughing silently.
Finally alone, Benishirina breathed in and sighed out the fresh air. "Crisis averted," he muttered, happilly, but his smile drooped. "Or...is it?"
He turned and saw Luna standing there, hands behind her back and a sheepish smile on her face. "Benishirina..." she mumbled, looking up and blushing. "I'm sorry for reacting like that...You...didn't have to do what we thought was the impossible...I..." She clammed up, then, a little embarressed at the situation.
Benishirina gently put his hands on her shoulders after hesitating. "I did it to save Mt. Quena," he told her, smiling. "Really."
Luna sniggered. "You did it because you wanted me back, admit it," she teased. This made him blush and her laugh. "Well, don't worry about that," she told him, and drew closer. "You pulled that off unlike anyone else could."
Benishirina gulped and smiled weakly. "Really?" he asked.
Luna took his hand. "In spades..." She smiled at him. "...Honey."
Benishirina gasped, unbeleivable joy in his heart causing him to smile hugely. "Oh, Luna!" They hugged tightly, standing at the bus stop. "I'm so glad I got you back! I've got you again, the mountain's ecosystem is safe..." He laughed. "I wonder what karma's gonna pull out of its hat on THIS," he half-joked.
Luna smiled and pulled something from behind her back after they separated. "This?" she suggested, holding up a brocure.
Benishirina gasped and took it. "Are we...Are we really going all the way to Hotel Gorgeous in Sinnoh?!" he asked incredulously.
Luna grinned. "Hey, after being the hero, it's the least reward you could have," she said.
Benishirina, with watery eyes, just smiled and cried, "Oh, Luna!!" again before hugging her.
They could, that night, be seen sitting side-by-side on the edge of the stream, looking up at the stars. In the background, the lights of the bug pokémon could be seen. Benishirina had a relaxed, happy look on his face and an arm around his girl.
Of course, before then, the ouendan had seen them hugging. They nodded to each other and went a ways off behind some bushes. Once there, they finished out.
"""OUEN!!"""
"DAI!"
"SEI!"
"KO!"
(WHOOO!! YEAAAHH!!! clappity-clappity)
Vrrrrrnnnn--Chuk. Chuk. Chuk. Chuk. Chuk. Chuk. Chuk. Chuk--
VWOOYYY-PSHH!!
TEUUSHH!!
The three nodded, then sat down and rested. "Oooohh, MAAN, that was tough," said Kioshi.
Suzu looked at him with an anger-vein. "YOU suggested the song!" she pointed out. "Thanks a lot! Now we're hungry and tired and have nowhere to go, nothing to spend..." She sighed aggrivatedly. "Why, oh, why, did I HAVE to jump into that television to help you?" she asked nobody.
"Because you knew it was the right thing to do," Hibiki answered. "Same for me. There was no time to question, only time to act. And if one acts on their heart's decision, they end up doing the right thing much of the time." He nodded. "Although, I DO agree that we should blame Kioshi on this one..." he added, closing his eyes and crossing his arms.
Kioshi sighed, giving up. "Okay, okay, look, sorry for the weird song choice, but..." His face brightened hopefully. "At least it was a good song, wasn't it?"
Suzu and Hibiki thought for a moment, then nodded reluctantly. "Yeah, you're right," Suzu said. "At least we had fun in the last parts. It took a little, but we could do it. And without practicing much, either!" she added, pointing to him.
"I especially like how we pulled together after we had some issues from our two different styles conflicting worse than just throwing out our arms differently," Hibiki stated. "It's a sign of good progress."
"Yeah," Kioshi said, smiling a little weakly. "Thanks, you two, thank you so much." He bowed deeply in his thanks. "I couldn't've done it without you two."
The blue-clad ouendan smiled at each other, then nodded to him. "And neither could we without you," Suzu said. "We're your backups; you're the leader. And you do a pretty damn good job of it, too," she commented.
Kioshi blushed and looked away. "Aw, thanks, but..."
The moment was interrupted by everyone's stomach whining for food. The three froze as their bodies groaned, then made their own groans and looked at their middles. "But we need food," Hibiki finished.
Kioshi sighed. "Now I know even more how Team Rocket feels...Poor guys..." He looked into the distance, into space. "You know, I've always hated how, whenever they're doing honest work, the damn producers make them blow it. If we ever get to meet them doing honest work for once, I wanna help them out. I think they really deserve it for all the crud they've gone through until now. Well, the crud that really is just unfair, not saying I WANT them to catch Pikachu," he added hastilly, sweat-dropping. He sighed. "But yeah...that's just me."
The other two shrugged. Suzu said, "Well, let's find a way to get some grub, huh?" She stood up and looked around. "Aren't there supposed to be tons of berry trees around here?" she asked.
"Berry trees are everywhere in the third- and fourth-gen series," Hibiki reminded, standing as well. "There are some here, but not as much..."
"Ugh...then what are we to do?" asked Kioshi, standing up as well.
"Stay with those two?" suggested Hibiki.
"I'd rather not," Suzu said. Kioshi nodded, agreeing. "Man...if only we had some way to at least make money, then we could walk to the nearest town and grab some food. Not even the Centers are free, though they do give people a place to sleep the night."
"Correction: Trainers, remember?" Kioshi said, holding up a finger. "The first Center we went into, Nurse Joy said that to us. Ouendan aren't trainers, unless we have all the junk that we'd have no use for in our world." He looked into the distance a little. "Though, it WOULD be cool to have a pokémon, at least one that travels with as a friend..." he muttered.
He was staring off into space, wondering how life would be were he to have a pokémon, when he heard Suzu and Hibiki gasp. "What?" he asked, shaking his head and focusing back on them. They were wearing gaping mouthes and pointing to a place behind and below him. He turned and looked down--then stopped solid-still.
A little, light-blue scaled, fin-eared snakelike creature stared back up at him, blinking big, shiny, black eyes and displaying a white underside. It appeared to be no more than a couple feet long. "Ti?" it squeaked, tilting its head.
Kioshi gaped. "A...a dratini..." he whispered, and bent down VERY SLOWLY. The little creature looked him in the eye as he got to its level. "What would one of you guys be doing around here?" he whispered to it.
The dratini tilted its head the other way and just squeaked, "Ni!" and nudged him cutely on the knee, closing its eyes in the way that any anime viewer knew meant that it was happy.
Kioshi gasped and looked in surprise at it. "H-hey, that...well...ah..." He blinked, thinking furiously. Finally, he dared ask, "Do...Do you want to come with me...?"
The dratini sprang its eyes open and bounced up and down--well, bobbed its head and upper body up and down enthusiastically. "Tini! Tini!!" it squeaked.
Kioshi just widened his eyes and slowly turned his head to the other two, shared in a group shrug, and turned back, smiling. "Well, ah, sure! But...we don't have any food for you..." This was emphisized by a gurgling in his stomach, which caused him to blush.
The dratini cocked its head at the noise. "Ni?" It looked up and down at the three, then turned and started to slither away. It stopped a few feet off and turned its head. "Dra! Tini!" it squeaked out, twitching its head forward, then began to slither off.
Kioshi rose up and looked at the other two. "I think it wants us to follow it," he said, amazed, and the three, with no better lead to food, did so. The tiny, ultra-rare pokémon led them along the forest, around trees and across breif stretches of grassy parts. Finally, to the three's surprise and delight, it led them to a patch of trees bearing pink, heart-shaped fruits. "Pecha berries!" Kioshi exclaimed when he reached up and picked one. "I can't believe it! I thought they didn't grow here!"
"They usually don't, unless you plant them," said a female voice.
The three froze, red-handed, and turned to find a youngish woman with a wide-brimmed straw hat, blue overalls, a white long sleeve underneath, brown boots, and soft pink gardening gloves walking towards them, wearing an amused expression on her round face. She winked a brown eye. "Don't worry, you three," she said, waving a hand, "go ahead and have some if you want. I won't charge a single Pokédollar!" She smiled sweetly. Her dark, long hair trailing from the hat fluttered in the breeze.
Kioshi looked at his comrades. "Well, what's to lose?" he asked, and the three proceeded to pick themselves each an armful of berries--not just Pecha, but Oran and Sitrus as well. When they had a full two arms of fruit, they sat down underneath a large, shady oak and proceeded to eat with gusto.
The woman sweatdropped as she saw them eat so. "Well, uh, it looks like you guys needed it," she commented nervously, and laughed like so.
The three looked at her with an expression that read, "You have NO idea," then went back to eating.
The woman smiled and waited patiently for them to at least slow down. When they did, she walked over and sat so that she was talking to all of them. "My name is Linda," she introduced herself. "I'm from the Hoenn reigon, though my parents were both American; hense the name and horrible accent," she explained, blushing slightly.
Suzu gulped down her mouthful and shook her head. "No, no, no," she insisted, "your accent is just fine. But I just take it you're bilingual, then, since you would have had to've gotten used to English before Japanese to develop your accent...?"
Linda nodded, smiling. "Yes, I'm skilled in both English and Japanese," she confirmed. "My teachers always were amazed I could grasp both so easilly. Although, let me tell you," she added, looking like she had just been through an unhappy job, "it wasn't as easy as they thought." They shared a small laugh, when suddenly, the dratini popped up behind her and squeaked, surprising the ouendan(especially Kioshi). Linda smiled and looked at the little dragon-type. "Ah, yes, I almost forgot about our little friend here," she said, and held her hand up. The pokémon went onto it, and she carried it to Kioshi, where it happilly slithered out of her hand and onto his lap.
Kioshi blushed as he looked down at it. "Er, hello," he muttered akwardly.
"Dra!" the dratini squeaked back, then nuzzled his body.
Kioshi looked nervously at Linda. "Is this dratini yours, Ms. Linda?" he asked.
Linda smiled and shook her head. "No, she isn't," she replied. "She's wild, and she came to my hut one stormy evening. She was bruised and hurt, and was even smaller than she is now." The woman leaned back a little and propped her hands behind her as she looked through the branches of the grand tree shading them into the sky. A small smile was on her face. "I took her in and fed her, cared for her injuries, and generally nursed her back to health. I let her go after I thought she was ready, but she basically hangs out around here." She looked at the cheerleaders again, who had finished eating(except Hibiki; he always was the last to finish eating, saying "he liked to savor the flavor"). "As for you three, I've got to give you a hand, because you did marvelously down there! I saw you guys because my house overlooks that part down there. I didn't see what went on inside the forest, but I saw you help that naturalist deal with the scientists and the stupid tourists."
The three nodded and looked serious, humble. "It's our duty, Ms. Linda," said Kioshi.
"Whenever someone of a good heart cries for our help..." Suzu began.
"...we do our best to cheer them on and grant them the energy to achieve whatever it is they need," finished Hibiki.
Linda chuckled and smiled, sitting straight again. "That's very noble," she said. "I've, to tell the truth, never actually seen Japanese cheerleading for real. I've heard of it, and seen clips on tv sometimes on movies and stuff, but never really seen it." She blushed as the three raised an eyebrow in unison. "I know, I know," she sighed, "I should've seen at least ONE performance in my days of school in the Hoenn reigon, but I don't really do sports, myself." She breathed deeply outwards, looking around her in contentment. "Living with nature is enough for me."
Hibiki nodded. "That is good that you should be happy with how you are living," he commented.
Linda nodded, smiling broadly. "Yeah, I'm pretty happy here," she agreed, then blushed. "Too bad you don't see any hot guys around this neck of the woods," she lamented brightly.
Suzu especially laughed as the four chuckled at both her complaint and her bad joke. "I can believe it!" she agreed.
Linda nodded, then sighed. "But anyway, I was surprised when little Ms. Dratini just squeaked and slithered off top-speed to you guys after you were done with that interesting choice of song. Honestly, Hyde's 'Season's Call?' Blood+'s second season's theme song? Unique, to say the least. I liked it." She nodded intriguedly, crossing her arms so.
Kioshi blushed and smiled sheepishly. "Well, it was my idea, though it may not have been the best," he confessed. "I personally think it probably wasn't the best choice, at least given our hungry state. We could've done better were we more focused on the cheering and not focused on how hungry and tired we were." He sighed and leaned back onto the tree.
Linda sighed and nodded. Shrugging, she said, "Yeah, oh well, doesn't matter now, anyway. You guys helped out Benishirina. I saw the whole thing before you guys got there," she explained. "Boy, poor guy, almost losing his girlfriend like that. I didn't need to hear what was said to understand that, as a naturalist, Beni needed to save the ecosystem of Mt. Quena, and, as a person, make it up to Luna for messing things up. Luna, wow, sweet girl, great neighbor; he's really lucky." She sighed. "But I digress. Anyway, then, I wondered why our dratini friend ran off after you guys were finished and got worried. Then, a few minutes later, she came back, looking like she'd been...well, you know," she mumbled, blushing, "trailing you guys. Letting you have some food is the least I could do for doing such a great job down there." She smiled and half-bowed while sitting.
Kioshi and the other two shook their heads humbly. "Duty is duty, and shouldn't have to be paid for," he disclaimed.
Linda smiled slyly. "Then you have some money to pay for my berries?" she asked slickly. The ouendan froze for a second, and she laughed. "Then accept this as, at least, a gift," she told them. "When you see a peice of change lying around on the ground in the middle of nowhere, you take it. Be thankful for the little things in life, 'cuz they can be few and far between." She nodded at her little bit of advice, then sighed again. "Off topic again!" She shook her head and laughed. "I'm sorry, I've got ADD, I get off things real easy," she confesed. "But anyway, then, let me continue: It appears, from the way she went off to you and the way she's snuggling with you right now, uhm..." She hung for a name. Kioshi gave it. "Kioshi, thanks, it appears that from those things that she wants to be friends with you guys, or at least you, Kioshi," she finished. She pointed at him.
Kioshi blushed a little. "Oh? Well, ah, hmmm..." He sweatdropped, looking down at the dratini. She squeaked gleefully. He smiled weakly. "This is kinda akward and a shock, since I had been yearning for a pokémon friend of my own when she came to me," he explained, giving a sorry shrug. "Sorry if I'm seeming ungrateful for her or anything."
Linda smiled and shook her head. "I've got no say in this whatsoever," she said. "Remember, she's wild, not mine. Although...I wonder if she wants you to battle and capture her, like a normal pokémon? Sometimes wild pokémon that want to join trainers do that." She looked at them for a bit. "But you guys don't have any pokémon, do you?"
They shook their heads. "This would be the first that would come travel with us," Hibiki said.
"So...Dratini, you wanna go with us cuz you like cheerleading, or do you think Kioshi's hot or something?" Suzu asked of the pokémon.
The dratini blushed furiously and sweatdropped, then looked sheepish, squeaking very quietly. This caused a few laughs. "I guess it's the latter!" Linda decided. Kioshi blushed even further. "Oh, poor Kioshi, things just got from surprise-akward to beasty-akward!" she said, a little genuine sympathy in her voice. This caused more laughter.
Kioshi's face looked like a beet now. "P-p-please," he stammered. He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment, breathing deeply. His blush faded considerably when he opened his eyes again. "Well, uh, I'd be honored if you'd like to come with us, Dratini," he said, looking at the pokémon.
Dratini gasped a cute little gasp and squealed in joy. She wrapped herself around him in as best a hug as she could.
Kioshi smiled weakly. "Wow...this feels...kinda weird..." he mumbled. "Er...you don't want me to battle you first, do you?" he asked, hope catching in his chest. If she wanted to battle, he was SOL, and there'd be no going with a pokémon friend after all.
Dratini blinked and gave him a look that was so obviously saying, "Are you out of your mind?" that it made him laugh. She shook her head once and said, "Ti!"
Kioshi smiled and, a little hesitantly, put his hand on her head, gently. "Then welcome to the ouendan, Dratini," he said.
"You guys take care, now!" called Linda as she waved goodbye to them in the setting sun's rays. The ouendan were walking from her orchard, carrying bags with blankets and a few other supplies that Linda gave to them. She also was extremely kind and gave them a bit of money. "And Kioshi, take good care of Dratini!!"
The three looked back over their shoulders and waved, and Kioshi, looking over the shoulder opposite the one Dratini rode on, called back, "Don't worry, I will!"
"Come back sometime, alright?" Linda asked, shouting now since they were far.
"""We will!! Thank you very much, Ms. Linda!! Goodbye!""" the ouendan called back in unison, and left as she returned the farewell.
When they were out of her earshot, Hibiki and Suzu gave Kioshi a look. Kioshi sighed and looked down. "It's just that...it's weird to have a creature that you thought was complete fiction end up liking you and riding on your shoulder, that's all," he explained softly, looking sheepish. "You'd feel the same way, admit it."
The Morning City ouendan nodded. "Don't worry about it too much, though, Kioshi," Hibiki said, smiling. "You get to do something any kid in Japan would die to do, and that's to be a trainer...sort of."
Kioshi smiled sadly. "Yes, you're right, Hibiki," he said, then looked at him. "But what about when we get back home?"
This left them silent as they walked off, making CERTAIN that the setting sun was to their LEFT, towards where they hoped would be Sinnoh.
// (4)\
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((I-tsu)-mo ka-ra-da-ju-u wo-oh)
( 1 2 3- ()4- () 5- () 6- ()7- ())
Ack...sorry for the crappy chart with not-really-exact phrase dots this time; this chart was done a while after I wrote the actual song part. And boy, was the song difficult to consider! But I first wrote this part with the song...well, I won't say, in mind, but I then realized it wouldn't really work. Then I listened to Season's Call again, and thought, "Okay, it's a stretch, but it might work." I think it might've done fairly well. What do YOU think?
And I wondered who would get the pokémon, and which pokémon. I considered scyther--bug place--and mew--he's seen in the spring in Mewtwo Returns, so he might've been there. But I was looking at my Pokémon poster above my desk, which has all the 1st gens on there(1-151), and just chose dratini just 'cuz, I guess. Sorry if it seemed Kioshi felt something furry-like when he was blushing and stuff with dratini, I HONESTLY had him do that because it was weird looking at a fantasy creature up close like that for him! I MEAN IT!! ;; Well, anyway, hope you enjoied this long one!! (Um...Luna and Cullen/Benishirina (funniest J. name for a guy I've ever heard) are bf/gf, right?)