Mae govannen! That's hello in Sindarin Elvish :) Yeah, I know, why am I talking in a language from Lord of the Rings when this is an iCarly and Pokemon story? Well, I don't know! I like Elvish, don't judge me! XP Just read the story and LIKE IT, OKAY? Also, I'm sorry for the long delay in posting this chapter, I've been working on another story AND am visiting Kentucky for spring break, so I've been a LITTLE bit busy! Anyhoo, on with the story!
"Conner! I need you to run and pick up Happiny and Magby from the Pokemon Center!"
"Alright, Mom!" Conner replied from her bedroom, where she threw on her usual plaid miniskirt, purple tank top, cropped black jacket, and chunky silver jewelry, brushed out her hair, then grabbed her Poke` Balls and purse and ran downstairs and out the front door. "I'm gone!"
"Don't take too long, honey!"
Conner stepped out onto the sidewalk of her subdivision, and after walking about two blocks, she was in downtown Viridian City. Viridian was a small city in relation to Saffron, but it was busy and thriving nonetheless, with tall buildings and bustling people. Conner passed this way almost every day to collect Pokemon that were under the care of her family's Day-Care Center from the Pokemon Center, one of her many duties in her parents' business. It wasn't always fun and games, but working for your parents didn't give you much chance of getting fired, at least!
"Oh, hello again, Conner," Nurse Joy greeted the teen kindly as she walked into the Pokemon Center. The two knew each other well, with Conner coming by so often.
"Hey," Conner returned the greeting as she made it up to the counter. "I'm here for Happiny and Magby."
"One step ahead of you," Joy smiled, pulling out two Poke` Balls and handing them to Conner. "I knew you'd be coming, so I got them ready for you in advance. They're both doing wonderfully. Just keep Magby away from the refrigerator and let Happiny get lots of fresh air and they should be right as rain in a day or two."
Conner laughed. "Thanks. Ah, yes, I remember when Magby nearly melted the fridge. Good times, goooood times."
"EEEEEEEEEEK!"
"What in tarnation?" Conner turned to face the source of the ear piercing shriek of surprise or terror, she couldn't tell which.
"FREDDIE? WHERE ARE WE?" a dark-brown-haired girl was yelling at an (incredibly cute) guy with brown hair a little bit lighter than the girls. Close by and looking around in amazement were three others: a girl dressed in punk-sporty street clothes with curly blonde hair, a man probably in his twenties with floppy brown hair and wearing a paint-splattered t-shirt and jeans, and another girl with a reddish-brown ponytail who had the same look on her face as people who've just discovered they've won the lottery.
"I don't know!" the cute brown-haired boy panicked. "Do you think I have a GPS built into my head?"
The blonde girl asked, "Actually, didn't your mom get that chip put in there like three years ago—"
"Sam, don't start that again!" the auburn-ponytailed girl admonished. "Don't you get it? Look around! We're in the Pokemon World, guys!"
"Wha…NOOOOO!" the blonde shrieked, dropping to her knees dramatically. "I'M SURROUNDED BY ANIME NERDS! OH MY GOSH, MAKE IT STOP!"
The brown-haired boy looked around, saw Conner, and did a double take. Conner waved and flashed him a little smile. What harm could it do to flirt from afar?
"Hey, Fred-man, what up?" the floppy brown-haired man called after him as the brunette boy walked over to Conner.
"Hey, I'm Freddie Benson," the boy told her.
"Conner O'Malley," Conner replied, leaning against the counter, still smiling. This guy was hot! And he looked just like the tech producer on her favorite webshow…even had the same name!
"Well then…Conner, would you mind telling me where me and my friends are?"
"Not at all."
Silence.
"Um…" Freddie trailed off. "Will you tell me?"
"Certainly."
Another silence.
"So where are we?" Freddie blurted.
"Now we're getting somewhere," Conner smirked playfully. "You're in Viridian City, of course."
"Are the Elite Four trying to take over the world?"
"Uh…" Conner hadn't been expecting that question. "…not that I know of?"
"What level does Metapod evolve into Butterfree?"
"Level?"
Freddie looked over his shoulder and yelled back to the others, "We're in Viridian City in the anime, guys!"
"Oh my God," the brunette girl squeaked.
"Just curious," Freddie asked, looking back at Conner, "but why didn't you just tell me where we were right off the bat?"
"Well, you never asked. First you asked whether I would mind telling you, then you asked if I would tell you. You never really asked the straight question."
Freddie laughed. "That does make sense…in a way, I guess."
"So, who are your friends over there?" Conner asked, jerking her head in their direction.
"That's Carly Shay, Sam Puckett, Spencer Shay—Carly's brother—and Amber Spier—Sam's cousin."
Okay, this was too bug of a coincidence to be real!
"Oh my gosh, I know you guys!" Conner cried. "Only now you look normal instead of all bulgy."
Freddie looked very surprised indeed. "What?" he gasped. "How?"
"I watch iCarly, duh!" Conner replied as if it were the most obvious thing on the planet.
"They get iCarly here?" Carly asked as she, Sam, Spencer, and Amber joined Freddie.
"What do you mean, 'here'?" Conner asked.
"In the Pokemon World!" Amber cried.
"You just can't stop saying that, can you?" Sam rolled her eyes.
"Wait," Spencer cut in, "you're saying that anime is real…and real is anime?"
"Apparently!" Amber replied.
"Aaaagh, my brain hurts!" Spencer groaned, holding his head.
"Chansey!" One of the Nurse Chansey ran up and slapped a band-aid on Spencer's forehead.
"Hey, what giv—oooh, that feels better, thanks!" Spencer said.
"Chans!" Chansey cried, flashing a peace sign and skipping away.
"You mean you guys don't have Pokemon in Seattle, wherever that is?" Conner asked.
"No, I'm afraid we do not," Spencer replied as he tried to scrape as much of the dried paint as he could off of his jeans.
"Weird! Where exactly is Seattle, anyway? Somewhere in Orre?"
"No, it's in another dimension!" Carly replied.
"…seriously?" Conner asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.
"Seriously!" Sam said, crossing her arms.
"We just got pulled here from Seattle," Carly explained. "My cousin Jade was, too, a couple of weeks ago. Do you know her?"
"Jade's from another dimension?"
"So you know her?" Spencer asked.
"Yeah, I know her, but she's in Johto!"
"Well, we already know that!" Sam cried. "Where are we?"
"We're in Kanto, Sam," Freddie sighed at Sam's noobishness.
"Do I care?"
"Well, you asked!"
"Okay!" Carly stepped between the two. "What is this accomplishing?"
"How do I look, Chikorita, Shaymin?" Jade asked, twirling around on the ball of her foot once. "A lot better than I did in the Violet Contest, huh?"
"Chikori!" Chikorita confirmed cheerfully.
"Shay!" Shaymin meeped. *Ooooh, pretty colors!*
*Phooey that she's not letting me compete in this one! Oh, well…I'll ask if I can do the next contest! Yeah! I wanna show off my new Magical Leaf move so bad!*
That had been Chikorita. Jade still felt kind of weird being able to read her Pokemon's minds, but it was a nice ability to have nonetheless. She could tell if she was pushing them too much, if they were going to learn a new move soon, what they were feeling at the moment, among a lot of other things.
She laughed. "Of course you can compete in the Goldenrod Contest, Chikorita."
"CHIKOR!" Chikorita cried, jumping up into the air for joy.
Jade had spent about half of the prize money she'd won in Union Cave to get a new contest outfit, which she was currently modeling for Chikorita and Shaymin. God knows she needed one after returning that piece of nothing that Conner had stuffed her into. She looked much more modest now in a dip-dyed tank top in shades of green, slightly fitted at the torso but flaring out and hanging flowing around her thighs, a pair of white leggings, and white strappies. She wore her orange curls loose and held them in place with a makeshift headband—a strand of black elastic wrapped around her forehead with a Gracidea flower pinned onto the side.
"Whoa," Jade said to no one in particular as she looked at herself in the mirror of the Pokemon Center ladies' room. "I look like a hippie!"
"That you do," a voice from behind her giggled.
Jade turned to see a purple-ponytailed girl come into the bathroom.
"Oh, hi, Raquel," Jade said, trying to be polite, at least.
"You're competing in the Azalea Contest, too?" Raquel asked as she nudged Jade to the side a bit so she could see herself in the mirror, too, shaking out her ponytail and pulling a couple of rhinestone barrettes and a brush from her bag.
"Yeah, I am," Jade said, adjusting her headband, not wanting to just stand around.
"Great! I'm looking forward to competing against the winner of the Violet Contest again." There was something sarcastic about the way Raquel had said that.
"I'm looking forward to it, too," Jade said good-naturedly. "Which Pokemon are you using?"
Raquel began to brush out her pin-straight purple hair. "Oh, my Beautifly, Rainbow, and Delcatty, Marie. What about you?"
"My Shaymin and Oddish."
"Oooh, you have a Shaymin? Lucky you."
Apparently Raquel hadn't even noticed Chikorita and Shaymin were right there next to her, which made Jade think that the Cooltrainer's response wouldn't have been any different if Jade had caught a Mewtwo, Rayquaza, and Arceus in the same Nest Ball while wearing a leopard-print bikini and reciting the Hail Mary backwards.
"Hmm…there!" Raquel said to herself as she swept her bangs to one side of her face and pinned them there with her rhinestone barrettes.
"Well, I'd better get going," Jade sighed, picking Shaymin up and preparing to leave, as Raquel seemed to have lost interest in their conversation and was more preoccupied with her hair. "My friend's waiting outside."
"Hm? Oh, alright, see you at the contest, then!"
Jade, Chikorita, and Shaymin made their way to the door and exited the bathroom, both the Coordinator and the Leaf Pokemon glad to be away from the Cooltrainer. Shaymin hadn't a clue what was going on.
"Whoa. What up with the hippie getup?" Josh asked with a small laugh. He was, of course, the friend waiting for Jade outside the bathroom.
"Oh, like yours is any better?" Jade asked, playfully smacking his arm. "You look like a Riley sprite fused with a Christmas tree!"
"Okay, first of all, ouch, and second of all, who is this…Riley…you speak of?"
With a sigh, Jade replied, "Never mind."
Whoosh, whoosh.
Lauren held onto her black beret-like hat to keep it from blowing off of her head, though she failed to stop the wind from splaying her brown hair around her face, making it difficult to see.
"Stratos, can you go a bit lower?" she asked her Altaria, which she was currently riding. Stratos complied, swooping down through a thin layer of clouds until the ground below became visible. The annoying gale above had stopped, and now that Lauren's vision was unobstructed, she could see Ilex Forest directly below her. With a slight smirk, she leaned forward a bit, signaling her Altaria to land.
Once they were on the ground, she returned Stratos and quickly and quietly made her way through the dense trees. She had heard that Team Rocket had some strange goings-on going on here as well as in the Sevii Islands, so she had decided to investigate for herself. She kept on walking until she reached a small building.
Oh…so this is the Ilex Forest Shrine…I'd never seen it until now.
Whipping out her digital camera, she took a few pictures of the shrine and its surroundings; who knew when she might need a visual reference of this area? She was just about to get a snapshot of the interior of the shrine when she noticed something out of the ordinary about the building itself.
Hm…what's this? She knelt down at the entrance of the shrine and carefully traced out a round indentation in the floor. Wonder what goes here…?
A rustle in the leaves behind her, and Lauren was back on her feet in an instant. "Who's there?" she asked sternly, unafraid.
"Hn. Surprised you didn't recognize me," a cold, not-too-friendly voice said, the owner of the voice stepping out from a particularly thick patch of trees.
"Oh," Lauren sighed, relieved. "It's just you, Silver. For a minute I thought you were a Rocket Grunt or something. What're you doing here?"
"Killing time," the redhead replied smoothly, lounging back against a tree. "And yourself?"
"Trying to dig up some dirt on Team Rocket," Lauren replied, then looked down at the knees of her black jeans, which were by then covered in exactly what she was trying to dig up—only not exactly the kind she had been talking about. "No pun intended, I guess."
The two had met two years ago after Team Rocket disbanded temporarily, and they had been switching whatever they found out about the organization back and forth ever since. They worked alone together, I guess you could say. Silver hadn't had the word friend in his vocabulary since Team Rocket disbanded, and Lauren was stubborn enough about making new friends as it was, so when you put two people like that together, the relationship isn't likely to progress beyond the acquaintance line. (A/N: DON'T GET ANY IDEAS!)
"Hm. So what have you found?"
"A hole in the floor of the shrine. Helpful evidence, huh?" Lauren stood up and stuffed her camera back into her dark blue waist pouch, joining Silver as she leaned against a tree right next to his. "What brings you to this neck of the woods, anyway?"
"Just passing through on my way to Goldenrod City."
"Of course you were. Whole story, please."
Silver grunted. "Fine, I was following this girl, okay?"
Lauren began to laugh rather loudly in spite of herself. "Following a girl? Didn't your mother ever teach you manners?"
"My FATHER taught me manners. I just don't use them on weaklings light-years below me."
Come to think of it…I've never seen his mother, Lauren thought. She had seen his father, alright…but he was long gone now. "How is this girl as weak as you say?"
"She refused a battle with me just because I obtained my Quilava by stealing, then she forfeited a match with me just yesterday when she realized she was going to lose."
"Well, on the second situation you may be in the right, but I would have done the same thing for the first one."
Silver shot Lauren a sharp glare. "Why?"
Lauren sighed. "Silver, you've told me yourself that you hated Team Rocket with all of your being. Why are you doing exactly what they do? Steal, exploit Pokemon for your own benefit? Deprive it of the loving Trainer it could have had? I feel sorry for that Quilava."
Silver looked at the ground, making no reply.
"This place is creepy," Hileriarai whispered as she and Xandra made their way down the dimly lit hallway of a chamber in the Tanoby Ruins, every step they took making an echoey sound.
"Oh, don't be such a sissy," Xandra teased, then shrieked as a Spinarak dropped down from the roof and crawled away.
Hileriarai laughed. "Yeah, you're one to talk!"
"Oh, shut up. You see anything suspicious?"
"Not yet, I – whoa! Look at that!"
Hileriarai pointed to a section of the wall covered in carvings that looked like strange writing. When the two girls went over to get a better look, they saw that the bottom half of the carving had been worn away, only faint outlines of the letters remaining.
"I think these are Unown," Xandra observed, tracing her fingers over the letters that were still legible.
"Well, what do they say? You're better at reading these things that I am."
Xandra read out loud:
"'When the world is cloaked in unrest
Time against space and fire against forest
Brother against sister and father against child
Sky against thunder and tame against wild
Heroes emerge with Life on their side
Against many dangers and fights they shall bide
One's journey shall bring about a change of heart
And reveal that true love is brightest in the dark.'"
The girls looked at the carving blankly for a moment.
"Well, what's that supposed to mean?" Xandra cried.
Another girl, with long turquoise hair and clad in jean shorts and a white tank top, a female Pikachu by her side, was waiting for the two G-Women as they came back outside.
"Did you guys find anything?" she asked excitedly.
"Alison," Hileriarai sighed, "if we find any more cryptic prophecies, we might as well let Team Rocket win for all the good we'll be able to do!"
"Nice job, Jade!"
Jade and Josh high-fived as Jade and Shaymin ran back to the waiting area for Coordinators before they perform. The two had managed to wow the audience gathered in the Azalea Town Contest Hall with Shaymin changing to Sky Forme in midair, then pulling off a Magical Leaf and Synthesis combo, all while doing a series of midair back flips. Jade hadn't really planned the back flip part, but Shaymin had been so excited it couldn't contain itself!
"Thanks!" Jade giggled. "You're up next, get out there and break a leg!"
"Oh, so now you're wishing injury on me?"
"You know what I mean!"
Josh just laughed.
The crowd went wild as the Coordinator stepped out, garbed in his dark green tuxedo and bright red hat. He chuckled to himself, then whipped out a Dusk Ball.
"Go, Sableye!"
The green orb opened with a shadowy burst to give form to what seemed to be a small imp, covered in gems. It grinned at the crowd with its vicious, sharp teeth.
"OK! Now, use Night Shade!"
"Sableye!" The jewels on its body slowly turned dark. It slowly built up in them, then seemed to burst, covering the stadium in darkness. Josh was unfazed by this.
"Now use Power Gem!" Nothing seemed to happen. Josh waited for a few moments, then cried,
"FLASH, SABLEYE!" Suddenly, the imp's gems each gave off a piercing light, including its frightening grin. This also reflected off the gems, casting several beams of light around the coliseum. Slowly, though, the Flash overcame the Night Shade, and the stadium returned to normal, with the rocks quickly disintegrating. Josh took a deep bow, as did his Pokemon. The stadium burst into a roar of applause—
BOOM!
"What in the - !" Josh cried, leaping back out of the way of the smoke quickly spreading over the stage. Pulling out a Poke` Ball, he yelled, "Skarmory, I choose you! Gust attack!"
The smoke was quickly blown away by the Armor Bird Pokemon's move, revealing several Team Rocket grunts standing in front of a massive hole in the stadium wall, surrounded by several Koffing. At the head of the group stood an older teenage woman who seemed to be in charge, wearing a black miniskirt, a black Team Rocket logo shirt, thigh-length silver boots, and a black newsboy cap on top of a lavender-pink bob that framed her face.
"Hope you don't mind us crashing the party here!" the leader said somewhat sacastically, loud enough so that a good portion of the people in the first rows of the stadium could hear.
Josh pulled out three more Poke` Balls, releasing a Marowak, Scizor, and Larvitar to join Skarmory and Sableye.
"You'll do no such thing, Celia," he growled.
GASP! Team Rocket decides NOW to attack? How in the names of all things fuzzy does Josh know about Celia? And how did the iCarly team get to this dimension?
Find out in the next chapter. Bye-bye, mis amigos slash amigas!
Again, I AM SO SORRY it took so long!
One more thing, I give full credit to WaddleDeeAnarchy for Josh's contest routine! He wrote it, check out his stories 'cause he is amazing!
Okay, I'm done.
