Chapter 11: Fool Target

Okay, so it's been too long since the last update, something that I plan onavoiding in the future. I had several issues with this chapter, since I kept changing what was going to go on. Plus, I grew bored with the battle scene, an issue that I'm constantly running into nowadays. Still, I'm glad with what I managed to pull out of my bag of tricks, and I hope that all readers are too. Anyway, onto the chapter.

Thursday, March 31st 8:30 pm

For the first time since our journey began, we actually camped out using the medium sized tent that Sam had luckily packed in his hefty knapsack. All three of us managed to squeeze into the tent with our Pokémon safely away in Pokéballs, while both Kenneth and Mark deciding to snooze right outside in their thick sleeping bags.

With my ears listening peacefully to the peaceful night sounds of a flock of Hoothoot, I eventually drifted off to sleep.

Friday, April 1st 9:36 am

The first thing that I was aware of waking up was the date. April Fool's day fell on April first, and I was prepared for any tricks that life was going to throw at me. At the same time, I wasn't in the mood to receive pranks or deliver them, but I knew that that wouldn't be too much of an option, especially with three guys around.

As I rolled my sleeping bag up, I prayed that no one would bother to check the calendar app on their Pokégear.

As usual, there was no such luck.

Friday, April 1st 9:40 am

Everything was packed up in a matter of minutes, and we were eventually on our way to Azalea Town. Arnold and Mark were still with us, mainly because both were going in the same direction. It wasn't as if this was a bother or problem at all, since they were pretty entertaining on the road.

Arnold had all sorts of facts to inform us of about his home country of the Orange Islands, while Mark was thoroughly interesting with his remarks about Pokémon contests. Neither of them showed the slightest interest in pulling the old handkerchief prank on us, and furthermore, Mallory and Sam weren't showing any awareness of the date either.

After twenty non-stop minutes of walking, we eventually took a refreshing break in the shade of a massive, woodsy oak tree. Pokémon were released from Pokéballs, and lunch was brought out, with all of us experiencing grumbling stomachs and tired limbs.

Sunlight filtered through the oak leaves, showcasing dancing spots of gold on the dewy grass below. I found this image to be graceful as I leaned against the trunk of the tree, lunch in hands. As I went through a six inch sub sandwich and a pack of cheese puffs, I thought about the gym battle to come, which I already knew would be all about Bug-types.

I was completely fine with that, though I silently hoped that there would be no Heracross or Pinsir. Zorro was enough after all, and my journey had already proven to be a successful one form the beginning. I had not been close to dying (unless one counted the idea of starving to death with no light in Union Cave), and I had not received any injuries of any kind. Really, my journey was going great, and I was confident that the next gym badge would be resting in my prideful hand soon enough.

As soon as I was through with eating, I leaped to my feet and called my three Pokémon to my side to commence training. With observant eyes, I surveyed each of them, checking for any needs of improvement. Levina grinned and did a confident stance, since she knew she was being evaluated. Looking her up and down, I decided that she was fine.

She had already won me the Zephyr, something that I relished with a sense of satisfaction. And, really, she was tough enough as it is. A cocky tomboy with a really fierce Swift attack. We were completely fine, and went well as a team. My eyes moved from the still grinning Levina and settled on Spykes.

Small in both stature and size, Spykes was agile with a decent Ember. I enjoyed using the flames that spiked up from his back to my advantage in battles, since it was routine for him to do after coming out of his Pokeball. Certain moves needed some perfection, so I decided to assist him in working on that. He'd be the perfect opponent for bugs in no time.

I glanced at Zorro, and caught his eye. He narrowed his black ones at me, and grimaced. Sighing, and rolling my eyes, I chose to just wok on one Pokémon's training for now.

First and foremost, Headbutt would have to be practiced, and I set to work with that.

"Spykes! Keep this ball bouncing!" I tossed the inflatable beach ball that I held in my hands up into the air, high above my little Cyndaquil. Despite being filled with air, the multi colored ball slowly came back to the earth. I watched with glee as Spykes hopped into the air, and managed lob it back up by butting his head upwards. "Keep that up, Spykes."

He nodded to me before doing another Headbutt to keep the ball airborne. "Cyndaquil, quil!"

Across the small field, close to where the others were still digesting lunch, Sam stood underneath the shining sun, working on moves with Fisher and his newly caught Gastly, whom had had recently dubbed as Delano. Apparently, it meant night in some other language, but what notified me more was how confident Sam was with his Gastly. He used to be frightened of them, but not any longer it seemed. Was he still afraid of the dark?

Thinking about that reminded me of how I had never gotten back at Sam for letting Zorro run off with me a few days earlier. That got me thinking, what could I do on April Fools for revenge? No one was showing any signs of realization about the date, so this could be my big chance.

As I continued training, I thought over different pranks, but not a single decent one came to mind. I shrugged this off, and assured myself that I would come up with something eventually.

Friday, April 1st 11:47 am

So far in our journey, I had participated in two battles, one with a gym leader and the other with two other trainers alongside Sam. Both battles were won, and like every other legal winner, I received prize money for the success. This was one of the many good aspects for Pokémon journeys, but that was only if you're the winner.

If you lose, you've also got to cough up some cash, and you just might end up being the broke loser who has to sell their own Pokémon to afford meals. Okay, maybe not that dramatic, but close enough, though I doubted that anyone could be that bad off.

For training, Sam and I teamed up for another double battle, this time against Arnold and Mark. Levina and Delano against a Pidgeotto and an odd Electric-type that Mark called Plusle. I had never seen one before, so I figured that it had to be from a different region. It was pretty cute, but I wasn't about to underestimate raw electricity.

"Ged, let's start off this battle with a little Gust, if you will." Arnold addressed his Pokémon with a grin, and his Pidgeotto obeyed, flapping his wings swiftly. This whipped up a steady wind that soon formed into an actual miniature tornado. "Direct at them quickly!"

Levina was quick to dodge the cyclone without me even advising her. I instructed her to keep dodging, but she seemed to have plans of her own. Rotating her arms in the usual way, electricity charged out of her prong-like ears and into the cyclone of wind. Electricity and air clashed together, causing the odd Gust to go wild.

Plusle was the first to be hit by the Thundershock-Gust combo, but she appeared to be perfectly fine. Levina was also hit, but again, wasn't harmed at all. The electric cyclone that nearly clashed into Delano, but Levina managed to save him by jumping in the way and using Thundershock again to push the combo move right into the Pidgeotto, Ged.

"Pidgeotto, pid!" Ged was hit by the electric powered Gust, but managed to destroy the tornado with a single Wing Attack. Narrowing his eyes, he powered up a Tackle as he made his towards Delano and Levina. "Pid!" He clashed into Delano first, but his airborne body appeared to go right through the Ghost-type. "Pid?"

Delano looked pleased, and stuck his tongue out at Ged. "Gastly!"

I watched as Sam gave Arnold a smug look. "Did you forget that Normal-type moves don't affect Ghost-types, Arnold?"

Arnold rolled his eyes, and signaled at Mark in an odd way. It was as if they had some sort of special language, cause Mark did a bunch of signs with his hands, and Arnold responded with more sign language and nods. Plus, a few grins were exchanged ones that made me feel pretty uneasy. Their Pokémon both seemed to get what was going on as well, and were able to dodge a Shadow Ball and a Low Kick from both Delano and Levina.

With a final nod, Ged and Plusle went into action. Ged whipped up another Gust, and Plusle used Spark. Soon, they had yet another cyclone powered with electricity. Amazing! They decided to copy our own combo!

As the Gut twisted to us, Plusle hopped onto Ged's back and they were airborne, and charging in our direction. Plusle's paws were juggling tiny electric pom poms, whilst Ged was powering up a wing for Wing Attack.

"Delano, use Shadow Ball!" Sam called out, adding a small note, "Direct it at Plusle!"

His Gastly obeyed, and an eerie ball of purple and black was soon whizzing its way towards the small, reddish Electric-type. However, Ged flew higher in a way that made the Shadow Ball hit him in the chest. Since he was a Flying-type, Shadow Ball did nothing, and the two were still charging with power.

What we needed was move that wouldn't miss and would be effective against both Flying and Electric types. I lit up when I realized what to do, and I knew that it would have to be a quick activation. "Sam! Get Delano to use Psychic to leviatate Levina!"

Sam looked a little confused, plus it took him a few seconds to get what my plans were. I tapped my foot impatiently while throwing glances at the charging Plusle and Pidgeotto. Finally, he nodded and commanded his obedient Gastly. "Delano, you heard what she said!"

Delano grinned in a mad man way and nodded his floating head of a body. "Gastly!"

My cocky Elekid was soon floating high in the air, at eye level with the flying Ged. Narrowing her eyes with confidence and concentration, she nodded when I gave her a thumbs up, and released one of her awesome Swift attacks. "Elekid, kid!" The usual shower of rays thrashed into Ged, who crashed into the grass.

Plusle hopped off of his back while attempting to escape Swift, but it was no use. However, Mark wasn't about to call it quits. "Overpower that Swift with a decent Discharge!"

"Plusle, plus!" A mega stream of electricity erupted form Plusle's body and collided with the star-shaped rays, dissolving them into a shower of glass thin sparkles. Plusle's Discharge also reached Delano, and electrified him to the point of a fainted state.

"Gas!" He groaned as hovered close to the grass, eyes closed.

With both Ged and Delano out of the battle, it was between both Plusle and Levina now. Both took confident stances, and I locked eyes with Mark. He half-smiled at me, and I returned it with a kind of cocky grin.

"Plusle, use Quick Attack!"

"Levina, collide with Low Kick!"

This didn't work, since Plusle was very agile. She ducked before Levina's foot managed to come into contact with her head, and threw Levina back with a quick charge. With Levina trying to get up, Plusle charged her again with Quick Attack, and Levina was soon down as well.

"Darn!" Sam and I both cried in unison. The two of us both hurried to our fallen Pokémon, with me helping the tired Levina to her feet. I glanced over at Sam, who was holding Delano in his arms. I couldn't get how something so ghost-like could be physical enough for that, but I managed to divert my attention on how much money would have to be given to the winners of this battle.

With one hand supporting Levina, I pulled several rumpled dollar bills from my belt pocket, and made my way to the older trainers to give it to them. Arnold raised an eyebrow at the money while Mark pushed it away when I attempted to give it to them.

"Consider this to be a training battle, Gwen, and not an official one." He stated, smiling.

Making my way back to my belongings with Levina, I still considered more prank plans in my mind. Unfortunately, I still couldn't think of anything decent enough for execution, so I simply dismissed the entire idea. I was ten years old after all, and too old to still carry thoughts like that.

Besides, Sam probably wouldn't do anything mischievous to me, even if I had scared him to death with an easily irritated Pokémon.

Back underneath the tree, Sam and I healed our Pokémon the best that we could, and all five of us were soon back on the road towards Azalea Town. Despite the long break, I felt tired before we had even walked a half mile. It wasn't that my legs hurt, but my back sure did.

I had to readjust the way I was carrying my backpack at least eight times, and it was getting very annoying. When we took a fifteen minute break, I loosened the straps of my backpack in order to alter it in some way. But, when we were back on the road again, it still felt odd, kind of heavy almost.

I decided to check the insides of it when we stopped again, but the next thing I knew, we were in Azalea Town itself.

Azalea Town was smaller than both Violet and Cherrygrove City. In fact, it was actually smaller than New Bark Town, with a good sized population of azaleas. I mean, seriously, there were azalea bushes in every corner of the town, and they seemed to overpopulate the humans. However, I was wrong about that, since there was something else in the town that overpopulated the people. That something was Slowpoke, the lovely slow, salmon-pink Pokémon.

They were located all throughout the town, decorating the dusky colors of the houses with slow moving pink lumps. The inside of the Pokémon Center(our first stop) also had about four Slowpoke lumbering around. In total, I had so far seen more than fifty different Slowpoke, and I was beginning to wonder if this was the town's April Fool's day tradition.

We booked two rooms at the Pokémon Center, one for the guys and the other for Mallory and I. Inside, we set our backpacks on our beds, and while Mallory was quick to run off and explore Azalea Town, I stayed behind to inspect my cumbersome, heavy backpack.

With caution, I carefully opened both side flaps where most of my money, my empty Pokéballs, and my Pokégear were usually held. Nothing was wrong with anything there, as my Pokégear(still dead and in need of charging) was mainly fine and I had all of my money. I unzipped the large part next, where my change of clothes, supplies, and portable sleeping bag was kept. However, that wasn't the only thing in there.

Rocks of all shapes, sizes, and colors tumbled out of my backpack and onto my bed. There were at least two dozen different ones, plus a few more inside my backpack. My fist clenched and my eyes narrowed, I stomped out of the room in search of Sam.

When I found him, he looked me straight in the eyes. Finally, he said with a smirk, "April Fools, Gwen!"

Let's just close this by saying, my attempts at strangling that short, so called friend failed miserably.

This chapter also lacks a trivia question, since I'm busy thinking up difficult ones. Also, I've decided that future winners of trivia questions will be allowed to submit a character who will participate in the Johto League. If I manage to bring contests into this story, the winner might be allowed to send in a Grand Festival character as well, but it truly does depend. As always, leave a review with your opinion, critique, suggestions, or whatever else can be though up.

Anyway, au revoir, readers!