Chapter 10: The City of Flowers

POV: Azure

I could smell the flowers before we had even made it over the hill. It was beautiful.

"I could get used to this," Lucy told me happily. My other Pokémon seemed to be enjoying it too, Lexi and Ari rolled around in a bed of yellow flowers.

"Come on, let's go register," I told my Pokémon. We headed into the town, and made our way to the Pokémon Center. I registered for the contest.

"And do you have any single rooms available?" I asked Nurse Joy.

"Oh, I'm sorry, we're fully booked out thanks to the upcoming contest," She told me "You could try the Rose Inn?"

"Thank you," I replied, heading back out. It looked like I was going to be camping in the woods again.

"I wouldn't mind a night under the stars," Lucy told me, trying to cheer me up. I gave her a grateful smile.

I walked back out of the town, to a clearing surrounded by trees on three sides, and a lake on the other, where I set up my tent.

"I guess we can train here," I told my Pokémon. I started off with battle training, pairing them off and letting them attack on their own, without me shouting out moves to them. I was hoping they would learn to attack and dodge on their own, which would make us quicker at reacting in battles.

After that warm up, I decided it would be Ari who would compete in this contest, since she was yet to compete in one. We were about to start with our usual target practice, when a noise grabbed my attention. It sounded like a group of Pokémon in distress.

I headed towards the sound without hesitation, my Pokémon running alongside me.

As we entered the clearing, I was surprised to see the woman with the silver-grey hair again, along with a group of Shieldon.

"I see you have new Pokémon," Hunter J told me, eying off my Eevee. "I think I'll take them with me, along with these Shieldon,"

"I won't let you," I replied. "Everyone, attack now,"

Hunter J gave me a tight smile "You honestly think your baby Pokémon will be a match for mine?" She snickered "Come on out," she released an Ariados.

"Tie them up," She said simply, and her Ariados aimed a powerful, sticky, string shot at not only my Pokémon, but me. She defeated us instantly. None of us could move.

"You won't get away with this," I told her.

"Make her be quiet, and tie up those Shieldon too," Hunter J told Ariados.

A sticky ball of string shot was tied around my mouth, and the Shieldon were tied up together. My plan hadn't worked at all. I should have thought it through before rushing into the clearing.

"Can we get out of this?" I asked Lucy.

"I'm not sure," She replied.

"I can't move at all," I told her.

"I think that's the point," She replied.

"Load them into the ship," Hunter J told her Pokémon "And let's get out of here,"

As she started to move us, my head once again exploded with a burst of pain. I groaned and rolled over to my side. This pain was really starting to get on my nerves.

Hunter J laughed "You're going with the old 'I'm dying so you have to let me go trick?'" She asked me. "Well, I won't fall for that,"

This time the pain was accompanied by a static voice. Az... Az… Az… ure. I felt tears prick my eyes.

"Get them in the ship!" She snapped at her Pokémon.

As I wondered how we would get out this, and if my head would ever feel normal again, a voice called out "Stop right there,"

I opened my eyes a crack to see Killian standing in front of Hunter J.

Hunter J sighed "Not this again," She muttered, releasing her Salamence "Finish them off this time,"

Killian countered by releasing his own Pokémon; a Charmeleon and his Weavile.

Strong hands gripped my mouth ripping off the sticky string shot.

"Are you okay?" Madi asked me, Gemma coming up beside her.

All I could do was groan in pain.

Reuben and Quinton came to stand next to Killian, joining their Pokémon to his.

Hunter J sighed and pulled a phone out of her pocket "Get here now," She said into the phone. She released another Pokémon; a Drapion, to aid her Salamence and Ariados in the battle.

The Mystery Team held their own against her, until a group of men dressed in black came into the clearing.

"We have to get out of here," Madi muttered, reaching into my pocket and pulling out my pokeballs. She returned my Pokémon and called out to Killian "There's too many of them,"

His eyes flicked from her, down to me. "Everyone get out of the way," He said, reaching into his pocket. Madi and Gemma pushed the Shieldon into the bushes, taking off the string shot and telling them to run with us.

I tried to pull myself to my feet, but the pain from my head was just too much, and I fell back down again.

"What's wrong with her?" Killian asked.

"I don't know," Gemma replied.

"On the count of three," He said.

Their Pokémon were starting to tire, as more of Hunter J's henchmen entered the clearing and joined their Pokémon to the battle. Hunter J looked at Killian and scowled, as though she knew what he was about to do. She returned her Pokémon and hurried to her ship.

"One," Killian shouted.

Hunter J's men kept up the battle, not even bothering to look at their leader as she started up the ship and turned on the invisibility.

"Two," Killian shouted.

Although we could no longer see Hunter J's ship, we could hear it, and see the plants around it bend in the breeze it was causing.

"Three," Killian shouted.

On the count of three, they all returned their Pokémon, and Killian dived for me, scooping me into his arms. He threw something over his shoulder, and they all ran in the opposite direction. A huge explosion followed, almost causing Killian to lose his footing. The movement of his body running caused my head to explode with even more pain. I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth.

After a while we finally came to a stop and Killian placed me on the ground. The Shieldon called out a quick thanks, before hurrying off into the bushes. I crawled to another group of bushes, where I started to throw up. If I hadn't been in so much pain, I would have been completely embarrassed.

Madi held my hair while Gemma rubbed my back. I prayed to Arcius she wouldn't feel that it was a wig.

When I had finally stopped retching, Killian snapped at me "What were you doing there? What on earth made you think you could take Hunter J on your own?"

I blinked up at him and answered with a groan.

"Can't you see something's wrong with her?" Madi defended me "We need to take her to the hospital or something,"

"Did J give you something?" He asked me.

"No," I gasped. "I'm fine,"

"You're obviously not fine," He told me "We will take you to the hospital,"

"No," I said again. Lucy released herself from her pokeball, coming to stand in front of me.

"I won't let them take you," She told me.

"This is ridiculous," Killian said, wiping his hand down his face in frustration.

"How about the Pokémon Center? I'm sure you have a room there? You could rest up and maybe get Nurse Joy to check on you?" Gemma suggested.

"No," I replied shakily "They were all booked out,"

"We have a spare bed," Madi piped up, making Killian glare at her.

"Fine, we will go to the Pokémon Center," He muttered. "Can you walk?" He asked me.

I tried to stand, but fell back to the ground. My head throbbed. Azzzz.

Killian sighed again. I was surprised he still picked me up gently, cradling me in his arms. "You really should eat more," He muttered in a voice so low I was sure I wasn't supposed to hear it.

We made our way back through the forest and to the Pokémon Center, where Team Mystery took me into a large room, filled with 6 beds. I was placed in one of the corner ones, while they went to get Nurse Joy.

"Shouldn't someone stay with her?" Quinton piped up.

"She shouldn't even be here at all," Reuben replied "She could jeopardize the mission,"

"Shut up, both of you," Madi scolded "This isn't permanent, and we always help friends in need,"

"She isn't our friend," Killian growled at her "She is just some girl that always seems to get in the way,"

I felt my chest clench at that. Just some girl who was always in the way? Ouch.

"Let's just get Nurse Joy to look at her," Gemma mumbled.

They all hurried out of the room, and moments later Nurse Joy returned.

She took my temperature, and shook her head "You have a fever," She told me "Do you hurt anywhere?"

I pointed to my head and muttered "Am I dying?"

She laughed at that "No, no, it just sounds like a migraine,"

I contemplated how much I should tell her, before finally saying "I've been hearing voices, and seeing things,"

Nurse Joy's face showed surprise, before quickly wrinkling in concern "I'm sure they're just hallucinations,"

"But-" I tried.

"I'll go grab you something for the headache," She said, before hurrying out of the room.

Something was wrong, she seemed to know something about this headache that she wasn't letting on. I was going to ask her about it when she came back, but when I took the pills she offered me I fell into an immediate sleep, one that was finally not plagued with strange images.

xOxOx

"Is she awake yet?" One voice asked.

"I'm hungry," Another said.

"We know Quin, you just have to wait,"

I opened my eyes, too see that Team Mystery were back.

"Finally!" Quinton exclaimed "Let's get some food,"

"How are you feeling?" Madi asked me.

Besides from embarrassed? "Fine," I said out loud "Thank you for the… err… bed and stuff,"

"We're going out for dinner, did you want to join us?" Madi asked me.

Remembering what they had said earlier, I decided against it. After all, I wasn't their friend.

"Umm, no, that's fine," I replied. I saw Killian glaring at me and changed my mind "Okay but just for a little while,"

We headed to a restaurant, where they all ordered extravagant meals. I settled with soup to start, some bread, and a marinated tofu & roast vegetable salad for dinner. They all stared at me like I was crazy.

"Is that all you want?" Quinton asked me "Because if you can't afford-"

"Quinton," Madi scolded.

"Oh, no, I'm just not awfully hungry," I replied with a thin smile. If only they knew how much money I really had, even if I couldn't access it.

I watched as their meals came, roasted meats, vegetables, pizzas, pastas all placed in the center of the table for them to share. I wondered how they all stayed skinny if this was the way they ate.

I ate as quickly as I could, determined to get away as fast as possible.

"Don't you ever get lonely travelling alone?" Madi asked me.

Her question took me off guard. Of course I got lonely, I missed Gracie every day.

"I have my Pokémon," I replied, avoiding answering her question.

"What if you have another… episode?" She asked me.

"Well… my Pokémon help me," I replied.

"So this has happened before?" She cried.

Crap, crap, crap, I had definitely let that one slip. "Not often," I replied with a wince, which was a lie, since it happened every other day. I looked down at my half-eaten food with a sigh. It was time to go.

"I should get back to my training," I told them, leaving the money for my meal on the table. "Thanks again and I'll… see you all at the contest I guess,"

I quickly hurried out of the room, only to notice I was being followed.

Killian looked at me with his impossibly dark blue eyes. "Are you in trouble?" He asked me.

"N-n-no," I replied. Inside I was screaming yes. My mission seemed further away than ever.

He looked at me again for a while before nodding, accepting my response. He then turned and went back into the restaurant.

"We have to be more careful," Lucy told me "We don't know who they are. They seem nice enough, but who knows what they will do if they find out who you are,"

I made my way back to our camp grounds, and started to train with Ari. I needed to take my mind off of Team Mystery and these strange headaches I had been getting.

xOxOx

The contest was finally here. I sat in the waiting room alone, as people started to trickle in. I wasn't surprised to see Willa make her way over to me.

"Hi Rookie," She said with a grin "Prepared for another epic fail?"

I looked at her and sighed "I don't have time for this, Willa. Go bug someone else,"

She huffed in annoyance "You should feel privileged to be talking with me,"

"Shoo, shoo, little bug," Another voice said. I looked up to see Madi and Gemma. They sat down on either side of me.

"So how's your head?" Gemma asked.

"Much better," I lied. I had suffered through several more headaches in the days leading up to the contest, and more of the static voice calling out my name. My dreams had been filled with flashing images, though I had managed to memorize some now. Buildings, Hunter J's ship, a large battle between Team Galactic and another group of people. I was exhausted.

"I hope you really prepared for this contest, my Pokémon is so going to win," Madi told me, leaning back in her seat and grinning.

I laughed "I guess we will see,"

The contest followed the usual pattern, with Quinton being called up first. He grinned at Madi and sashayed out of the room.

"So what's going on between you two?" Gemma asked her quietly.

"What's going on with you and Reuben?" Madi countered.

Gemma blushed and mumbled "Absolutely nothing,"

Madi grinned and said "Come on let's watch,"

We looked up at the screen to see Quinton make his way onto the stage. He released his Pokémon; a Growlithe.

He started off his appeal with a fiery, spinning flame wheel, followed up with morning sun.

Growlithe's body glowed at the bottom, with the fiery wheel spinning above his body.

He finished off his performance with an agility and heat wave combination, Growlithe's body glowing as it sent bursts of heat up into the air.

"What a heated performance," Nurse Joy said.

"You definitely lit up the room," Mr. Contesta told Quinton.

"Remarkable," Mr. Sukizo added.

He received a score of 26.1. He hurried off the stage, and eventually it was Madi's turn.

"Let's get this party stared!" She said, hurrying onto the stage.

Madi released her Mudkip, starting her performance with Ancient Power, creating a silvery orb, and releasing it into the sky. She followed this up with mud slap, hitting the silver orb and causing it to explode in silvery lights that fell down around Mudkip. Madi then got her Mudkip to use whirlpool, gathering the silver fragments into the water attack, and finished off with ice beam, encasing the whirlpool in ice. Mudkip landed on top of the whirlpool and bowed.

Their performance had definitely been mesmerizing.

Madi got fairly good compliments for her appeal round, and received a score of 27.3, before heading into the waiting area.

Next up was Gemma. "Good luck for your round," Gemma told me.

"Thanks, you too," I replied.

Gemma appeared on the screen, releasing her Chimchar.

She called out a series of moves to her Pokémon, and they started their appeal round.

Chimchar started off with sunny day, quickly followed by flame wheel, curling up into a ball of flames and rolling around on the stage. Chimchar then followed this up with acrobatics, jumping, flipping and running all over the stage. Her finishing move was a combination of will-o-wisp and fury swipes, creating little balls of fire that Chimchar could then hit with its claws.

Gemma scored 25.8.

Next up out of their group was Reuben. As he made his way to the stage, Killian sat next to me.

Reuben released his Pokémon; an Elekid.

He started off with charge, followed by thunder.

The whole stadium shook with the power of his attack.

Elekid then followed up with a light screen/ thunder wave combination, creating an electrified screen. He then aimed an electro-ball attack at it, smashing the screen into small, shiny, electric pieces.

He received a score of 28.2.

Next up was Killian. He turned to me as though he was going to say something, before deciding not to. He made his way onto the stage.

Killian released his Pokémon; an Aron.

He started off his performance with rock slide, followed by iron head. Aron hit each of the boulders with its shining silver head.

He finished off his performance with rock tomb, encasing Aron in rock, followed by dragon rush. The boulder glowed with blue light as Aron broke his way out, his body glowing with the same blue light.

He received a score of 28.5

Finally it was my turn. I took a deep breath and headed onto the stage.

I released Eevee, starting our performance with wish.

"Now use double team, followed by shadow ball," I told Ari.

There were now six Eevee's standing in a circle. They all sent out shadow ball attacks at the same time, causing them to crash in the middle and cause a cloud of smoke.

Eevee's wish attack now came true, with tiny golden stars appearing amongst the cloudy fog from the explosion. This gave off the appearance of the night sky, with Eevee's body glowing in the center.

As the smoke cloud disappeared, we finished off our performance with swift, picking up all of the tiny glowing stars with the bigger ones.

Eevee bowed while surrounded by a swirling halo of stars.

I received the score of 28.6.

I hurried to the waiting room where Gemma and Madi hurried up to me, escorting me away from Willa.

"That was great!" Gemma told me.

"Yeah, I can't believe you got more than Killian," Willa added with a chuckle.

We looked up at the scoreboard; we had all made it to the next round, and for once I wasn't up against Willa.

I was up against Reuben.