Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait! Homework and Writer's Block kind of got in the way! So, chapter 11 is finally here!
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.
I entered the Castelia Gym, but I stopped dead in my tracks as I found myself trapped in a large wall of honey.
"Yuck!" I groaned, disgusted. "It's all over my clothes!"
"I don't see any bad things here!" Ruffle chirped, licking the honey walls.
"Blech! Ruffle, I don't get how you can eat that disgusting sweet stuff!" Bianca groaned, disgusted.
"What? Are you telling me you don't like sweets?" Ruffle asked.
"Sweet things never do sit well on my taste buds," Bianca muttered.
"But, you don't even have a visible mouth..." Ruffle thought.
"Hey, Ruffle," I said, "I've got an idea. How would you like to go to an 'All-you-can-eat Honey buffet?"
"Really?! You mean I can lick all of this honey?" Ruffle asked, excited.
"Yup, just enough so we can get to Burgh."
With no hesitation, Ruffle happily licked each honey wall we passed through before they melded back together. By the time we got to Burgh's area, Ruffle's belly was slightly bloated, and slumped on the bottom of the stairs that led to the battle platform that Burgh was standing on.
"Wow," Ruffle said, "I've never eaten so much honey in my life!"
"Are you okay, Ruffle?" Marceline asked, worried.
"I'm fine, Marcy," Ruffle replied. "I may be full of sticky honey, but it was totally worth it."
"Why don't you rest? Marceline could help me battle instead!" Piko insisted.
"Alright. I'll catch up with you guys when you finish!"
Everyone walked up the steps toward Burgh's direction. When he looked at us however, Burgh gave us a horrified and disgusted expression.
"Oh my!" Burgh exclaimed, "Hynden, whatever happened to your outfit?"
"The honey walls," I answered, deadpan, "The honey walls happened."
"No matter, after this battle, I shall call Elesa, and have her see this through!"
Burgh sent out his first Pokémon, a small Pokémon with a rock for a shell called Dwebble. I decided to use Piko as Dwebble's opponent.
"Dwebble, use Faint Attack!" Burgh cried.
Dwebble sneaked behind Piko, and gave him a powerful punch to the back. Piko merely stumbled over a little bit before swiftly getting back on his feet.
"Piko, use Flame Charge!" I commanded.
Piko rapidly stomped his feet as they started to spark up strong flames. He charged straight into Dwebble, knocking it back a few feet.
"Now, Dwebble! Use Sand-Attack!" Burgh called.
Dwebble summoned a patch of sand, and scraped some of it into Piko's eyes, causing him to shriek in pain. Taking advantage of Piko's temporary blindness, Dwebble hurled a medium sized rock at Piko, knocking him to the ground. As Piko weakly stood up, he finished Dwebble off with several Ember attacks.
"Alright, Marceline!" I exclaimed, "It's your turn!"
Marceline fluttered forward, standing face-to-face with Burgh's newest Pokémon. Checking my Pokédex, I saw that the new Pokémon was called Leavanny.
"Leavanny, use String Shot so Woobat slows down!" Burgh yelled.
Marceline quickly stopped the sticky string from getting on her body, but the String Shot completely immoblized her right wing. She tried to gnaw her wing free, but found that she couldn't. Leavanny attacked Marceline with a Razor Leaf attack, causing her to scream out in pain.
"Marcy!" cried Ruffle from the bottom of the stairs.
To my surprise, Ruffle swiftly flew up to the battle field. He quickly pecked Marceline's wing free from the String Shot's sticky material. Marceline blushed at Ruffle's brave gesture, and quickly started flying again.
"T-Thanks, Ruffle!" Marceline said, blushing.
"It was no big deal," Ruffle responded, blushing even harder, "I just thought you needed help."
"Wow!" Marceline thought, smiling, "Ruffle actually helped me!"
Marceline's body started to illuminate completely. She was surrounded by many pink, wavy rings as her head started to grow more visible. Her wings also got slightly longer, and I noticed feet starting to grow from her bottom. After the light died down, Marceline fluttered happily.
"Yes!" Marceline exclaimed, "It's about time I finally became a Swoobat!" Using only a single Air Cutter attack, she managed to critically weaken Leavanny. Now that Leavanny was too weak to attack, Marceline finished it off with her signature Heart Stamp move.
"Woo-hoo!" Marceline cheered, "I did it!"
Ruffle stepped forward as Burgh sent out his last Pokémon: Whirlipede. Being very wary of Whirlipede's poison, Ruffle stood his ground.
"Whirlipede, use Poison Tail!" Burgh commanded.
Whirlipede lashed out at Ruffle with its short tail. It managed to make a scrape on Ruffle, but Ruffle still tried to stay strong.
"Ruffle, finish Whirlipede with Air Cutter!" I yelled.
Ruffle rapidly flapped his wings, unleashing several powerful gusts of wind. Whirlipede was harshly blown across the room. It tried to stand up to fight, but collapsed from its injuries.
"You truly are quite the trainer," Burgh said as he returned his wounded Whirlipede to its Pokéball. "For defeating me, I give you the Insect Badge."
The team and I cheered once the Insect Badge touched my palm. When I opened my Badge Case, I noticed a small note attached to it. The note said "Hynden, when you reach Nimbasa City, ask a woman named Elesa for a new, non-honey stained outfit."
"Thanks, Burgh," I said, "I'll go ahead to Nimbasa City!"
Once I left the Gym, my Xtransceiver began ringing. I pressed the answer button to see Bianca is the one calling me.
"Hi, Hynden!" Bianca greeted. "Listen, do you want to have a battle with me?"
"Um, sure!" I agreed, "I don't see why not! I just got the Insect Badge and all."
"Great! Meet me at the entrance to Route 4, which is right near the desert!"
After I healed my Pokémon team, I ran to the Route 4 entrance gate. I remembered where it was because it's the same place where I recruited Gummy. Suddenly, I was stopped by the gate admin.
"Hold it!" she said, "Miss, how many Pokémon do you have with you?!"
"Uh, let's see..." I pondered. "One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven."
"My apologies, but as a Trainer, you are only permitted to have only a maximum six Pokémon with you at all time! Either you store at least one Pokémon in the Pokémon Center's PC storage system, or I don't let you pass through!"
"Well, I'm certainly not going all the way back to the Pokémon Center just to do that!" I scowled.
"No matter. If you don't want to go back to the Pokémon Center, then just use the PC Storage feature on your Xtransceiver."
"You can do that?!"
"Yes, just press the little button with the computer on it, and select the Pokémon you want to send back."
I did exactly as she said, and a little menu came up with a list of all the Pokémon that were with me. I sadly looked at my team, not wanting to box up anyone.
"Do not be sad, Hynden," Jackie assured, "I volunteer to go."
"But, Jackie..." I said.
"It is fine. After all, you can always put me back on the team, right?"
"Right. I'll try and put you back as soon as possible, okay?"
"Hynden, wait!" Marceline exclaimed, "I'll box up too!"
"Marceline, no!" Ruffle yelled. "What am I gonna do without you?"
"Don't worry, Ruffle!" Marceline assured, "I promise I'll see you again!"
"...Do you absolutely promise?" Ruffle asked.
"Cross my heart, and hope to fly!" Marceline said, kissing Ruffle on the cheek.
"D-Duh, okay!" Ruffle said, blushing.
I reluctantly selected both Jackie and Marceline on the Xtransceiver, and pressed 'Confirm'. Jackie and Marceline evaporated into beams of light, and quickly vanished. I assured myself and the team that we'll hopefully see them again. I saw Bianca come in after that.
"Hynden!" she beamed, "I'm glad you could make it! Are you ready to battle?"
"You know it!" I said, excitedly.
Bianca sent out her Herdier to battle first. Remembering the type match-up rules, I sent out Piko. Herdier's first move was Take Down, critically pouncing on Piko, but Herdier got a bit hurt as well. Piko used his Flame Charge attack, and sent Herdier flying across the room.
"Alright, Herdier, you've done your best!" Bianca said, sending Herdier back to its Pokéball. "Munna, it's your turn!"
I sent Piko back, and decided to put Gummy in the battlefield for the first time. Munna used its Psybeam attack, but it didn't do much damage on Gummy. Gummy trapped Munna in a Sand Tomb, leaving it surrounded by a fairly large tornado of sand.
"Munna, try to use Psybeam again!" Bianca called.
Munna's Psybeam attack managed to pierce through the tornado, and temporarily knock Gummy on his back. Gummy shakily got up, but he still looked strong enough to fight.
"Gummy, finish it with Assurance!" I commanded.
Hearing my command, Gummy leaped through the Sand Tomb tornado, and repeatedly pounded his tiny fists into Munna. When the Sand Tomb cleared, I'd seen that Munna had fainted. Bianca quickly sent Munna back to its Pokéball while I did the same with Gummy.
"Wow, Hynden!" she beamed, "You've gotten really strong! But I'm not done just yet! Servine, Panpour, come on out!"
Once Servine and Panpour re-materialized, I called out the two Pokémon that were the most super effective against a Grass-type and a Water-type: Piko and Bianca (my Petilil).
"So, this is the other Bianca you were talking about," Bianca remarked. "Looks pretty flighty to me, but she could seem like a worthy opponent!"
Piko easily took Servine down with one Flame Charge attack, while Bianca took down Panpour with a couple Mega Drains. As she returned her unconscious Pokémon back to their Pokéballs, Bianca stared at me with utter awe.
"You sure have gotten a lot stronger!" Bianca said to me.
"Thanks, you too," I responded.
"Waah!" the gate admin cried, "Look at all of this sand!"
"Oops," Bianca and I said, "We're sorry."
"You will be!" the gate admin snapped, "You two aren't going anywhere until you clean up all of this sand!"
"What?! All of it?" I groaned.
"Yes, all of it!" the gate admin insisted, "If you don't, then I'll be forced to call authorities on you two!"
Suddenly, Ruffle summoned a powerful Gust attack. The sand blew straight into Route 4, making the entire area spotless.
"Is that clean enough for ya?" Ruffle asked.
"...Um, okay, you can go ahead I guess," the gate admin said, urging us toward the exit.
"Thanks!" Bianca responded as we walked into Route 4. "So, Hynden, are you headed to Nimbasa City?"
"Yes actually," I said, "I am!"
"Wonderful! When you get there, look for me at a place called the Pokémon Musical center! You can't miss it!"
"Alright, Bianca, take care!" I said as Bianca ran off once again.
Pokémon obtained: None.
Deaths: None.
(New!) Boxed: Jackie the Sawk, Marceline the Swoobat
Author's Note: I kinda made up the PC Box feature on the Xtransceiver so no one would have to find a Pokémon Center to box Pokémon. It's more convenient that way! Stay tuned for Chapter 12!
