Chapter 10
No Rest at the Rival's Place
Crystal slowly opened her eyes. Sunlight was filtering in from a nearby window and her pokegear, laid out next to her, was telling her it was already well past eight in the morning. With a yawn and a stretch, Crystal pulled herself out of her sleeping bag and stood up. She then walked over to the window and looked outside.
Out in the backyard, several pokemon could be seen frolicking about. Most were fairly weak-looking pokemon. A grass-type pokemon called hoppip floated around the yard. Several bug pokemon like weedle and caterpie could be seen crawling around. Magikarp splashed around in a small pond. The only oddity was a pink blob known as Ditto sleeping peacefully next to a red-furred, vulpine pokemon known as Flareon.
"It's just like being home..." Crystal said quietly to herself. A smile began to cross her lips until she saw a certain brown-haired walked out into the yard carrying a bucket of pokemon food. Crystal's smile quickly faded when she saw her.
Why does it have to be HER grandparent's place!
While Lyra was outside, Crystal quickly got washed and dressed in hopes of getting down to the kitchen before she came back inside. To her dismay, she was already back by then. In the kitchen there was a table off to the side. Lyra sat at one end of the table, with Ethan sitting directly next to her along the side. Angela was seated at the opposite end of the table from Lyra. Crystal was fuming silently as she took the closest seat to Angela.
"You were almost late to breakfast," Angela chided her. Crystal ignored her, though. She seemed to be more focused on Lyra.
"It was the weirdest thing but the other day, those two had an egg!" Lyra said cheerfully as she was in the midst of telling Ethan a story.
"An egg, huh? I'd be pretty surprised if two of my pokemon had an egg," he replied idly. He didn't seem to be nearly as much interest in the story as Lyra did. He was waiting impatiently for breakfast, which an old woman was busy cooking up in front of the stove.
"Ehh... my pokemon better not do anything weird..." Angela muttered. "They're all water-type, so I'm pretty sure they're all compatible..."
"That reminds me! I should show you guys a really weird egg we picked up recently!" Lyra said excitedly. "Well, after breakfast at least."
"It's so nice to have guests once in a while," the old woman said. She expertly flipped a pancake over in the frying pan to ensure it cooked evenly before turning to the group and smiling. "So you're all friends of our granddaughter Lyra, then?"
"That's..." Ethan began to respond, but Lyra cut him off.
"Ethan's my future husband!" Lyra replied enthusiastically, causing both Ethan and Crystal to twitch noticeably.
"Wow. Forward AND energetic," Angela noted, then turned to Crystal with a smirk on her face. "You don't stand a chance."
"Shut. Up." Crystal growled.
"W-well maybe that's going a bit too far..." Ethan said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.
Lyra pouted. "But you promised, remember!" she said sharply.
Ethan sighed. "When I was five..."
Angela giggled. "Childhood marriage proposal too? You should probably just find another guy."
"I'm telling you, you've got the wrong idea!" Crystal shot back.
"Now, now! There's no need for such a fuss at breakfast!" Lyra's grandmother said to them. "The pancakes are ready now."
The elderly woman turned the stove off and then used a spatula to move the remaining pancake, now cooked, from the frying pan and onto the top of a stack of pancakes sitting on a nearby plate. She then took the plate over to the table and sat it down in the middle. It was a decent sized stack of pancakes, easily more than enough to go around.
"Eat up, everyone!" she said as she set them down and then backed away from the table.
Everyone immediately dug in, but Lyra and Angela did so with more gusto than Ethan and Crystal. Both seemed to be lacking energy. Though, as they began eating, Ethan was quickly regaining his energy. When he was finally full, he quickly stood up from the table and stretched his arms.
"Ahhh! That was good!" he said, satisfied. "I feel recharged and ready to face that gym leader now!"
"EH! You're not leaving already, are you!" Lyra asked him in disbelief. Crystal felt a smirk form on her lips. As much as being at that daycare was annoying her, it seemed it would be a short lived stay.
"Well why not?" Ethan asked, but then he remembered. "Oh, right, that weird egg?"
"Right!" Lyra said, then quickly got up from the table. "I'll go and get it!" Lyra then bolted out of the kitchen and returned moments later carrying a strange blue egg with a glowing red core. The core of the egg almost seemed to be pulsating.
"This egg washed up on a shore in Sinnoh," Lyra explained as she held up the egg for Ethan to see. "It got passed around a lot after that. Eventually it ended up in Professor Oak's hands and he left it here, hoping it'd hatch. I bet it'll hatch into some kind of water-type pokemon... Oh!"
Lyra smiled and turned to Angela. "That's right! You're a water trainer, aren't you? Maybe it would be better off in your hands?" Ethan and Crystal immediately started shaking their heads, but Lyra didn't seem to take notice.
"Sure! I'll take it!" Angela replied enthusiastically. She immediately got up from the table and took the egg from Lyra. "I wonder what it will hatch into?"
"There's pokemon that can be found in deep ocean waters that can't be found anywhere near land. It might be something like that," Lyra suggested with a shrug. "Anyway, so you're all heading to Goldenrod now, right?" she then asked them.
"Yes!" Crystal quickly blurted out in response, then clasped her hands together. "It was... GREAT staying the night here, but we really need to get going!"
"That's fine. I've decided to go with you!" Lyra replied, smiling as always. The room went silent when she made this announcement, save for the sound of china clinking together as her grandmother gathered plates from the table.
"Always good for children to go out exploring together, I say," the old woman uttered, humming quietly to herself as she gathered up the dishes.
"Ah, well, the more the merrier!" Ethan finally said. "I mean, we might as well travel together while we can, right?"
"Right!" Lyra said in agreement. Crystal just sighed.
Why can't we just be rid of her? Crystal wondered.
With the party size increased once more, the group of four trainers set out from the Route 34 daycare. Save for Lyra, the group walked in silence. Lyra was busy chatting away with Ethan, but Ethan was lost in his own world as he contemplated his upcoming gym battle. Crystal didn't speak up at all until she noticed the way Angela was carrying the egg she received from Lyra.
"Angela, should you really be caring that in the open?" Crystal asked her. "Anyone can tell that's not a normal pokemon egg. It might even contain a legendary pokemon..." she said to her.
"I never thought of that," Angela said. She held up the egg so she could take a look at it. The red core of the egg was still pulsating. Each time it glowed, the egg vibrated. While normal pokemon eggs might start to shake when they were close to hatching, the strange egg Angela had received seemed more like it was alive itself.
"Maybe the egg will transform into some kind of super cool legendary water-type pokemon?" Angela mused. She imagined the egg hatching into a mini-Kyogre and couldn't decide how she felt about that. On one hand, having her own Kyogre would be cool. On the other, Kyogre was one of two pokemon responsible for causing massive damage to her home city of Sootopolis.
"What to do... that kind of power could be bad, but on the other hand it could make me unstoppable... hmm..."
Crystal narrowed her eyes at her. "If it really is going to be a legendary pokemon, isn't there someone you else you should be giving that to?" When Crystal pointed that out to her, Angela hung her head sadly. She knew what Crystal said was true.
"W-well I'll just wait until the egg hatches and then contact them!" Angela said defensively.
"Contact who?" Lyra asked, finally taking notice of the private conversation that Angela and Crystal were having.
"None of your business!" Crystal replied tersely.
"Ohh... must be bodyguard-related stuff, right?" Lyra said quietly, then grinned. "Well, don't worry! I won't say a thing!"
You don't get it at all! Crystal thought, rolling her eyes.
Lyra then suddenly stopped in her tracks and stroked her chin thoughtfully. "But now that I think about it... that makes sense. For her to need a bodyguard, of course she's going to be wrapped up in the legendary pokemon somehow..."
"Like I said before, even I don't know why I need one!" Crystal shot back. She then pointed toward Goldenrod City, which now lay ahead of them. "And look! Ethan's already gotten way ahead of us! If you stop now, you'll definitely lose him!"
"Wh-what!" Lyra looked to where Crystal was pointing and saw that Ethan had already reached the city, seemingly unaware that the girls weren't with him anymore. "Ethan! Wait up!" she called out, then took off running after him.
To Angela's surprise, though, Crystal didn't run off with her. "Aren't you going to go after Ethan too?" she asked her. Crystal shook her head. "Huh? Why not?"
"Ethan will probably be going straight to the gym, and I don't need to see the gym battle. I've already battled Whitney once before," Crystal explained to her. "Actually, Angela, there was something I was hoping you could help me with..."
Angela blinked. "Huh?"
Crystal's request lead to her waiting patiently outside the Goldenrod GTS. After arriving in Goldenrod, Angela wanted to go straight to the GTS to trade her onix. Ethan and Lyra had already gone to the gym, or at least Crystal assumed. After Ethan went off ahead, the group had remained split up. Lyra and Ethan went one way, while Crystal and Angela went to the GTS.
"I wonder if I should have stopped her..." Crystal said quietly to herself. Letting out a sigh, she walked over to the edge of the pier and leaned against the railing. "I just hope that onix will at least get a good trainer. Even so, at the very least I should have convinced her to hide th egg."
Crystal pictured all the trainers that would be inside the building, eying the strange egg Angela was carrying. Among all those trainers, she was sure there was someone who wouldn't hesitate to try stealing it. Anyone could tell the egg is special. Though it also occurred to her that Angela was probably the most suspicious trainer in there.
"Even so, I can't see Angela being a thief," she mumbled, eyebrows furrowing as she thought about her. "Come to think of it, I don't know much about Angela. She seems pretty ordinary. Aside from lacking in morals a bit. Maybe I should try being a bit friendlier with her?" Letting out a sigh, she added, "It does seem like I'm stuck with her afterall. And Lyra..."
Crystal frowned. Anyone could tell she didn't like Lyra. It wasn't because of the childhood marriage promise, though. In fact, when they were younger both girls had pressured Ethan into promising to marry them. Crystal still even liked Ethan. But neither she, nor Ethan, took the proposal seriously anymore. Crystal knew she was being silly back then and only forced Ethan to make the promise out of jealousy.
Lyra, however, was still holding onto that promise five years later. The way she clings to Ethan at times had become annoying to Crystal. Ethan, on the other hand, didn't seem to think of girls at all and especially wasn't interested in marriage. Like many boys his age, Ethan was only interested in pokemon and battling.
"Next time I see her alone, I'll definitely confront her about that..." Crystal said to herself
"Confront who about what?"
Crystal whirled around and came face to face with Angela. She was still carrying the odd egg in her arms and giving Crystal a curious look.
"N-nevermind," Crystal replied, shaking her head. "Were you able to make that trade?"
"Yep!" Angela replied, then held up an ordinary looking pokeball and grinned. "It's a foreign pokemon, too! I don't know anything about it and it looks kinda weird now, but I bet it'll evolve into something really cool!"
"A foreign pokemon? I guess that isn't that odd since its a global trade," Crystal said. "So what kind of pokemon is it?"
Angela put the pokeball away and stuck her tongue out at crystal. "You'll see soon enough! I'll use it when we train."
Crystal nodded. That was the favor she had asked Angela for. Before fighting Whitney, she wanted to make sure she was ready. In particular, she had been making use of the pokedex she had received from Professor Oak recently and noticed her pokemon knew attacks that she didn't realize they knew as they weren't exactly standard for their species. She was hoping to practice those techniques against Angela.
"Well I guess that means we're ready anyway," she said to Angela. "Let's go train just outside the city. On the edge of Route 34." Angela nodded in agreement and followed Crystal out of the city. Still carrying the egg with her instead of putting it somewhere safe.
Crystal and Angela quickly made their way out of the city again, stopping as soon as they were just outside on Route 34. The two then distanced themselves and took a pokeball in their hands each, preparing to start the training battle. Angela had finally set the egg down as well so she could more easily switch pokemon if need be.
"Even though this is just for training, I don't want you holding back any!" Crystal called out to Angela.
"That's fine by me!" Angela replied.
"Then I'll lead off with the pokemon I'm counting on to beat Whitney's Clefairy!" Crystal held out her pokeball and pressed the button. "Hooty, I choose you!" she called out, releasing Hooty the hoothoot from her pokeball. Hooty blinked tiredly and let out a yawn.
"And I'll lead with my new pokemon!" Angela said as she held out her own pokeball. "Oshin, I choose you!" The pokeball in Angela's hand opened and released a small, bipedal pokemon onto the field. The pokemon has a light blue body with a shell on its chest, dark blue feet and tail, white hands, and a white face that appeared to have freckles.
"I see why she said that thing is weird now," Crystal said to herself, blinking in confusion. "That thing looks like a clown... wonder if my pokedex has any information on it?" Crystal then reached into her pocket and took out her pokedex to check.
"Oshawott, the Sea Otter pokemon," the pokedex read. "It fights using the scalchop on its stomach. In response to an attack, it retaliates immediately by slashing."
"So it can actually use that shell as a slashing weapon..." Crystal mused, then pocketed her pokedex. "Okay, Hooty, looks like this is the perfect target to try out that technique! Feather Dance!"
"-Oh, joy. Excuse me while I shed my precious feathers for you,-" Hooty said dryly. As usual, in spite of her complaints, Hooty followed through on the attack. She jumped into the air and started spinning around, unleashing a barrage of feathers at Oshin that clung to his body. Oshin looked down at the feathers covering his body in confusion.
"Oshin, nevermind those feathers! Get in there and use Razor Shell!" Angela commanded while pointing a finger toward Hooty. Oshin blinked and glanced back at her.
"-Oh, so that's my new trainer now? She's kinda cute.-" Oshin said, though his face remained expressionless. Grabbing his seashell from his stomach, he then turned to face his enemy.
"-Anyway, prepare to taste my shell blade, fiend.-" Oshin said as he raised his shell over his head. He dashed toward Hooty and made a downward slash, but Hooty had plenty of time to prepare and made a short hop back to avoid it. Making only a short hop turned out to be a bad idea as Oshin simply followed her and followed up with an upward slash that knocked Hooty flat against the ground. It was a hard blow that took Hooty a few seconds to recovery from.
"Good thing Oshin's attack was weakened. Now we can show it our own power!" Crystal said confidently. "Hooty, Uproar!" Hooty quickly stood up and took a deep breath.
"-SCREWWWWWW YOUUUUUUUU!-" She yelled at Oshin. The sudden blast of sound threw him back through the air and he hit the ground hard. After having the wind knocked out of him, Oshin slowly climbed back onto his feet, shook his head, then showed the first sign of emotion since being released from his pokeball. Surprise. He couldn't believe how much power Hooty's attack was.
"That IS powerful..." Angela noted quietly. "Well we're not backing down yet! Oshin, use Razor Shell again!"
Oshin quickly dashed forward while Hooty was drawing in another breath to continue her attack. He knew he didn't want to risk taking a second blow at this point. Holding his shell low, he moved in and made another upward slash that sliced up the front of hooty's body in a spray of feathers. Hooty immediately collapsed, leaving Oshin the victor.
"That's a surprisingly strong pokemon," Crystal said to Angela as she recalled Hooty. "Even though you just got it in a trade it took down Hooty pretty easily. And while under the effects of Feather Dance, too."
Angela nodded and grinned smugly. "Definitely worth trading an onix for!"
"-So THAT's what he meant by wanting a solid snake...-" Oshin mused.
"Well let's keep this going!" Crystal said. She put Hooty's pokeball back on her belt and then took another one in her hand, held it out, and pressed the button. "Stan, I choose you!" The pokeball opened and a red beam fired out. The beam materialized into Stan the stantler. Stan snorted and narrowed his gaze at Angela when he realized who his opponent was.
"Okay, that was a good workout Oshin but you can rest for now!" Angela said to her pokemon before recalling him and returning his pokeball to her belt. She then took another pokeball in her hand and held it out.
"Slicey will take this one on! Go, Slicey!" Angela called out, releasing Slicey the staryu from its pokeball. Slicey stretched its limbs when it appeared, showing a bit of flexibility despite its stiff-looking body.
"Slicey, you know the drill." Angela smirked. "Or maybe I should say the saw! Rapid Spin!" Slicey nodded its uppermost limb and then jumped in the air. It immediately began spinning and hovering low, then shot toward Stan.
"Stantler, try hitting it with Megahorn!" Crystal called out. Stan lowered his head and his antlers began to give off a sickly green glow. He was too slow in making the attack, though, and Slicey moved straight past him and slashed him across his right flank. Stan groaned and staggered to the side, but managed to remain standing.
"Looks like your stantler could use a bit more practice with that technique!" Angela said to Crystal. Stan snorted and glared at her.
"That's kinda the point of the training," Crystal pointed out to Angela.
"You'll need to do better than that, then. Slicey, keep it up! Rapid Spin!" Slicey immediately began to turn to come around for another attack. Realizing the attack was coming, Stan quickly moved to the side. Slicey flew by him, missing entirely, but this put it in front of Stan now. Stan readied himself, lowering his head as Slicey began turning again to make yet another pass.
"Stan, one more time! Megahorn!" Stan's antlers began to give off that sickly green glow again, signifying the bug-type attack he was using. Slicey was again flying to the side of Stan but this time he was ready. Stan quickly moved to take the attack head-on and, at the last possible moment, made a powerful upward motion with his head. His antlers struck Slicey from below and launched it high up into the air.
"ALRIGHT! Nice shot, Stan!" Crystal cheered. Angela looked up in disbelief and then gasped. Crystal blinked and then looked up as well and saw what had made Angela gasp. Stan had flung Slicey straight up... and into the underside of a passing, wild fearow. Both pokemon plummeted and nearly hit Stan when they smashed into the ground, landing only a few feet away from him.
"Wh-what just...?" Crystal stammered in confusion.
"Wow. That's probably about as likely as being struck by lightning," Angela noted. "And regular lightning. Not pokemon-related. I mean, how often is an evolved flying-type pokemon just going to fly directly overhead like that? The sky's a pretty big place, you know, and..."
"NEVERMIND HOW UNLIKELY IT IS!" Crystal screamed at her, flailing her arms. "It just happened! And that fearow probably isn't going to be too happy about that, either!"
As if on cue, the wild fearow suddenly got up and shook its head. It then looked around at everyone gathered. It glared at Stan when it spotted him, then spread its wings and let out a loud, menacing cry.
"Understatement," Angela said, nodding to Crystal. "It's definitely pissed." Then, to her surprise, she noticed Slicey get up and stagger away from the enraged fearow. After that hard blow from Stan, and having a fearow fall on top of it, it was still somehow conscious. But just barely.
"Thank you for pointing out the obvious," Crystal said dryly, then noticed Stan was still conscious. "Angela, let's hit it at the same time! Stan, Tackle!"
"Alright then! Slicey, Rapid Spin!"
Stan charged forward, catching the wild fearow off guard by charging straight into its exposed underbelly. While Stan was still pressed against it, Slicey managed to shake off the impact from falling and quickly jumped into the air and began spinning. Slicey flew into the fearow from behind, causing the wild bird pokemon to shriek in pain as Slicey grinded into its backside. It couldn't flee the attack, however, as Stan was holding the fearow firmly in place.
After Slicey had been grinding into it for a few moments, Crystal finally decided the fearow had had enough. "Okay, Stan, let it go," she said to her pokemon. Stan slowly backed away and Slicey did likewise. The fearow fell to the ground, panting heavily. From the ground it glared at Stan, still the only attacked it could see. After considering its options, the fearow suddenly stood up, began flapping its wings, and took off into the air.
Crystal sighed in relief as the wild fearow quickly fled the scene. "That was unexpected, but at least we were able to chase it off without any problems."
"Hmph. It wasn't anything major," Angela said, shrugging. "So, should we keep going?"
Crystal shook her head. "I think that's enough. I'm pretty confident I can take on Whitney now."
"If you say so," Angela said, then held up Slicey's pokeball. "Slicey, that's it for now then. Return!" Angela pressed the button and recalled Slicey, then returned its pokeball to her belt.
"You too, Stan. Now that you've gotten the hang of Megahorn we can put it to good use against Whitney. I already know just how to use it!" Crystal said to her pokemon. Stan nodded to her in agreement and was then recalled into his pokeball.
"Guess now we can head to the gym," Crystal said, then glanced toward Angela's egg. "Before that, though, maybe we should get you something to carry that egg in..."
"Can't I just use a pokeball?" Angela asked. Crystal blinked and then let out a sigh.
"I guess you COULD, but it'll take longer to hatch like that," Crystal said. Without another word, Angela took out an empty net ball and tapped it against the egg. The egg wobbled like it was made out of jelly at the tap before being sucked into the pokeball. Being an egg, there was naturally no struggling.
"Should really just get a backpack for it..." Crystal said, then shrugged. "Oh well. Let's go see how Ethan did at the gym!" Angela nodded in agreement. The two girls then made their way back into the city, where Crystal's next gym battle waited.
Author's Notes: Originally this chapter was going to take place in full at the daycare, but then I realized I really didn't have any events planned there and decided to move things along.
Bit of character development for this chapter once things move along. And Angela has a new pokemon. And an egg. I think she might be a bit disappointed when she sees the supposed legendary pokemon that hatches from it, though.
And I'm sure no one really cares about the wedding I attended last week, but I just want to make one quick note here. It introduced a new term to me. "Candy Buffet". This term exists and I had the chance to partake in such.