Pokemon: 7, Deaths: 2, Badges: 2

Ch: 11

~...I can't believe we went in there. That human was creepier than a Jynx and how in Arceus' name did he even grow those trees in his house?!~

Stepping out of the Trickmaster's House, Aya glanced down at Vash and offered him up a small smile as they continued on their way through Route 110 in order to make it to Mauville City. They had woken up extra early in the morning in the hopes of making it to their next destination by at least noon. "...It wasn't that bad...At least...we got some items out of it...And there were...other trainers too...Leon even managed to evolve..."

~The items we found and were given were useless, especially that TM: Taunt that the creeper gave us, and oh yes, Leon totally evolved...Stronger? Yes...Pansier?...Most definately...~

"Vash...Be nice...Leon's doesn't look like...a pansy..."

~...Aya?...He looks like a female ballerina...~ Vash gazed up at his trainer as he said this while a deadpanned expression was on his features the entire time. He did kinda have a point there... ~We need ta find an Everstone and make the pansy hold it. I refuse ta let him get any worse by eventually evolvin' inta a Gardevoir of all things...He's gonna hold an Everstone and after that, we'll both pray ta Arceus that we find a Dawn Stone as soon as possible so he can evolve inta a Gallade and not...look like he was born the wrong gender...~

"Vash...That's rude..."

~What?...It's true. He looks like a girl right now...~ When Aya shook her head at him and continued on her way through the grassy path, Vash sighed lightly in defeat and jogged after his trainer. ~Alright, alright. I'm sorry.~ Well, not really. But hey! If it stopped Aya from being upset with him, then he was willing to lie to make it happen! Of course, before she could even say anything in response to it, another voice interupted and at reconigzing it, the starter cringed. ~Ugh...The human with the ugly guppy...~

"Aya! I didn't know you'd already made it all the way out here." Jogging over to his friend, Brendan casted her a friendly smile before taking a closer look at both her and Vash. The sight actually caused his smile to widen a bit more with a slight sense of pride almost. "You look a lot stronger than the last time I saw you. That's such a relief. I was actually kinda worried about you, you know? I-I mean,...not that I don't trust your pokemon to keep you safe, cause I do!" The slightly older teen had lifted his hands in front of himself in a slight panic and out of self defense when Vash shot a glare up at him towards the worried comment, thus making him quickly add in that last part about her team. Thankfully,...that had save him from being pretty much roasted alive.

Sighing softly in relief that he'd get to see another day, he coughed lightly as he nervously glanced off to the side. "What I meant was,...well,...I know you were reluctant to even go on this journey and take the League Challenge and I know it must be pretty hard on you given...well,...everything..." Casting his sharp ruby gaze back onto his childhood friend, his eyes softened a bit in sympathy at the sight of slight confusion towards the last part he had said. Of course she would...She still can't remember anything at all...Still though,...the sight of that old black bandana wrapped around Vash's forehead,...it sent a pang of guilt at the memories that single piece of cloth had brought back...And even moreso at the fact that it was being worn by that very same evolution chain...

"Brendan...?"

Quickly snapping out of it, Brendan flashed a cheerful grin towards the shorter girl before pulling out a pokeball. "Anyways, I wanna see how much you've grown so far Aya so how about a friendly battle; no to the deaths?" When Aya hesitantly nodded her head lightly, the boy smiled sweetly and distanced himself from his friend so that they'd have plenty of room for their battle to take place. "Alright Aya! Lets see how much stronger you've gotten! Let's go Shroomish!" With a toss of his pokeball, his own Shroomish appeared out onto the grassy field.

Watching this happen, Aya pointed towards the grass type lightly. "...Vash...?...Time to battle...Don't kill though..."

~Yeah, yeah. Sure, sure. Whatever ya say Aya.~ Grinning practically like a Gengar already, Vash instantly rushed out onto the battle field as he became engulfed in flames and smashed into Shroomish with a Flame Charge; boosting his speed and also knocking out his opponent. However, as he skidded to a halt once this had been done, Vash suddenly clenched his eyes shut in a flinch before slowly opening one eye slightly. ~T-Tch...Sneaky little bugger...His ability landed a poison on me Aya...~ Bringing his slightly pained, yet very stubborn gaze towards their opponent as he returned his fainted Shroomish, he gritted his beak as the next one that was released was the very one he despised;...that ugly guppy, Sinbad, who apparently had evolved. ~Geh...And h-here I thought that...ya couldn' get any uglier ya stupid, ugly guppy...~

~What was that, you overgrown, mutated chicken?!~

Panicking slightly towards the poisoning that Vash was enduring along with the hostility he was creating with Sinbad yet again, Aya quickly forced him to return to her side as she sent out her own Shroomish, Zell now to deal with the Marshtomp. "Z-Zell...Hold out for a second, ok?...I-I need to...treat the poison on Vash."

Zell narrowed his eyes at this in understanding and stood his ground as he glared towards the water/ground type. He was positive that he could easily endure anything the pokemon threw his way. As his trainer fed their friend a Pecha Berry that she had in her pack, he closed his eyes on instinct when his opponent released a Mud Shot, splashing it all over him. Squeaking lightly at getting mud thrown all over him, Zell shot an annoyed look towards the larger pokemon before he heard Aya's thoughts ringing out to him in the back of his mind.

"Sinbad, use Bide!"

Watching as the pokemon stood his ground and prepared himself to absorb the damage, Zell smirked faintly as he unleashed Mega Drain on the pokemon; absorbing his opponent's energy and almost making him collapse onto one knee as he actually staggered a bit. Grumbling slightly as he noticed that Sinbad had managed to hold out against his attack, he irritatedly cried out as he used Mega Drain once more. This time, it thankfully finished the Marshtomp off. Watching the pokemon get returned, only to have a Slugma replace him, Aya quickly called him to fall back as she released Tana to fight in his stead, who instantly smashed into the lava covered pokemon with a Headbutt; making the pokemon flinch slightly with the rough impact before he quickly retaliated with Ember.

Being knocked back from the fiery blast to the face, Tana backflipped in the air and dug her claws against the ground when she landed to stop herself from skidding back. Narrowing her eyes from the sting of the flames hitting her in such a place, she growled and rushed in quickly as her claws glinted. Leaping up into the air, the Linoone released a battle cry as she lashed out with Cut; finished her opponent off.

Aya and her pokemon watched as Brendan returned his final pokemon before he chuckled softly and rubbed the back of his head in defeat as he spoke. "Man, you've definately gotten a lot stronger Aya. That fight was practically one sided. I barely even caused any damage to your team, haha." It was then that a sudden glow caught his attention along with catching the attention of Aya and her team as well that were still out. What they saw surprised them.

Zell blinked slightly as he found himself beginning to glow brightly as he held a confused look on his features. ~Hey, what's going o-W-Woah!~ He was instantly cut off as the light suddenly engulfed him entirely and began to change in shape. As the glowing light exploded around him and vanished, he now stood there completely dumbfounded at how he was suddenly almost as tall as Aya was now. Glancing around him innocently as he tried to figure out why everything suddenly looked smaller or not as big anymore, he finally glanced down at himself, only to have his eyes widen in surprise as he jumped a bit in startlement. ~Wh-What? What happened?...D-Did I really evolve just now?~ Lifting his arms in front of himself, he stared at them in curious wonder before turning his slightly elongated neck around to look at the rest of his new appearance. He had evolved into a Breloom and now he looked much more dino-like in his appearance and the way his slightly leaned over stance was.

Blushing faintly as he finished taking in his new look, he finally casted his gaze back onto Aya as he beamed brightly in a manner that a delighted child would show. ~Heheh. Aya, lookit. I have hands now!~

That...earned an instant facepalm from Vash as he smacked the palm of his claws against his own forehead at this. First thing he says about his new form and it ends up being about him now having hands?!

...Then again...

If he hadn't evolved at the point when he had and hadn't been totally pissed at the trainer for almost making Aya cry, he...miiiight have reacted in a similar fashion...Might...

...Ok, ok. So he totally would've reacted in the same manner towards having hands.

Both trainers couldn't help but laugh at Zell's reaction to finally evolving, though Aya merely chuckled softly. She found her pokemon's complete innocence towards it all to actually be really cute. It had also actually made her happy to see him so excited about it too. After all, the sight of his now actually trying to catch his new tail was quite the sight to behold and it made her almost wonder if he had a tiny bit of Skitty or Delcatty in him even though that was most likely not the case.

"Hey, Aya? You're planning on facing the Mauville Gym eventually, right?" Brendan grabbed Aya's attention once again and when she nodded her head lightly in confirmation, he spoke up again. "Well, be sure to train your pokemon hard for this battle. Wattson's pretty tough with those electric types that he has." Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he healed up his friend's entire team before smiling as he handed her a strange item that pretty much looked like insect antennae that you'd put on top of your head. "It's an Itemfinder. A lot of items are scattered about all over the region and kinda hidden from sight. That item will help you locate those items easily. It's actually really helpful; I use mine all the time, heheh." As he chuckled lightly in amusement, he pulled out what looked like a remote control and pressed the button on it. When he did, Vash jolted slightly in shock as a bike suddenly materialized before them. Brendan casted a glance towards Aya and her team and sent her a playful wink after he climbed onto his bike. "Makes carrying a bike a lot easier whenever you decide to travel on foot. See ya later Aya! Take care!" With that, he quickly rode off; leaving his friends behind.

Waving slightly as she watched, Aya sighed softly to herself before returning Zell and Tana back into their pokeballs right as Zell had gone into mid pounce in another attempt to catch his tail. As always though, she left Vash out with her and as of since he joined them, the girl kept Menos out as well as he continued to slumber within her hood. No matter how strong he was, Menos was still just a baby so she felt the urge to keep him out with her, rather than within a pokeball. Vash stayed out, not cause he was her starter, but rather, cause he reaaally hated being cooped up in his pokeball. Fortunately, the rest of her team didn't mind being in them at all. Sighing once more to herself, Aya silently motioned for Vash to follow as they continued on through the path as they saw the entrance into Mauville City in the distance. Needless to say, since neither one of them had ever been to this city, nor any other within Hoenn really, both were about to get quite the shock once they arrived and stepped inside...

To be continued.

Little Tsu: Ok, that's that. The next chap, they'll finally be in Mauville, but it's bound ta be at the very least, an amusing chapter cause of the shock and awe that Aya and Vash'll undoubtbly be in. lol Side note: Zell's adorableness...has now shot through the roof.

Till next time.