~ Chapter 10 ~
Pokétch Problems
"If there is one thing that I can pass on to you, just one thing that will get you through anything, it's that as a Pokémon Trainer, every little thing that you do is connected, and all of your actions have reactions, and every choice you make—from the very first choice—will lead you down a path to your destiny. And if there is a second piece of advice I could give you, it is that trouble always seems to find you when you're on a Pokémon Journey, whether you intend to go look for it, or not. Oh, and one more thing: if you EVER get dragged into a situation with a member of some so-called "evil organization" turn around right away. Otherwise you're going to probably spend the rest of your journey thinking that because you got involved the first time, it's your duty to put an end to all their actions, and not to mention that they are vengeful people, and will peg you as an enemy from the start."
The group sat around the table silently, not willing to speak to each other after the incident earlier this morning.
Sam and Jeremy's Starly were let out to eat with the other Pokémon when they woke up, but instead of eating peacefully, both Starly started to show off to each other, and fight over who was better. They almost had a full-on battle over the food just minutes after being broken apart.
"I did some reading," said Niya finally—she had never been one for formalities—as she closed her book, "This behaviour is normal between Starly bred in the wild, in captivity too."
"How is acting like a bunch of self-righteous roosters normal?" asked Alyssandra, "It sounds stupid to me."
"Well, it's actually very similar to roosters," explained Niya, "See, male Starly are very competitive, and they live in an Alpha-based society. Male Starly compete for territory, hunting and food rights and for mates. Leadership or Alpha Male positions as they're called, are usually competed for in a similar manner. So, you see, it's only natural for these two Starly to compete against each other for everything, we're just going to have to get used to it."
"That's going to be fun," groaned Sam, "I'm going to be pulling our two Starly apart for the rest of this Journey, aren't I?"
"Probably," said Niya as she bit into some toast, "But on the plus side, if yours wins, you'll know it's the better Starly."
Jeremy let out a laugh. "We all know my Starly is the better Starly," he said plainly, "He almost won this morning, there's no way Sam's Starly could beat him."
Sam looked over at Jeremy. "Now hold on there," he intervened, "Who said your Starly was any good? My Starly is much tamer, and more obedient. And his feathers are nicer!"
"Oh please," argued Jeremy, "Your Starly couldn't even hold his own against a scruffy little Glameow let alone my Starly."
"Oh yeah?" challenged Sam, to which Jeremy replied with, "Oh yeah!"
The two instantly turned back to their breakfasts and refused to look or talk to each other for the rest of the meal.
"It seems that Male Starly aren't the only Pokémon that like to compete over everything," joked Alyssandra.
Niya smiled. "I know," she said, "Men, whether they're Pokémon or people, are all the same."
The girls laughed, but neither of the boys found it funny, and instead stood up from the table—glaring at each other from across the table—and walked off in separate directions.
"Ugh," groaned Alyssandra, "They're going to be like this until Oreburgh, I know it."
"Do you deal with this on a daily basis?" asked Niya as she finished off her toast casually.
Alyssandra shook her head. "Well, not all the time," she replied, "They're been rather well behaved lately, but it seems that this whole Starly thing has them acting like children again. Seriously."
"So, what do you plan to do?" asked Niya, "If I may suggest, a large stick usually works wonders."
Alyssandra held back a laugh. "No, I think I'll just talk to them this time," she smiled.
"I'll take Sam, you take Jeremy," said Niya as she stood up.
"Why do you get Sam?" Alyssandra asked curiously.
"Because Sam and I have this…special connection," said Niya as Alyssandra and her walked towards the door of the Pokémon Centre.
"It's because he's stubborn as a brick wall and you're blunt and to the point isn't it?" asked Alyssandra.
Niya smiled. "That, and I'd love to just deflate his ego," she joked.
Alyssandra smiled. "Well don't deflate it too much, I do like him with that ego," said Alyssandra "It gives him confidence."
The two girls shot off down opposite ends of the streets, looking to catch up with their friends.
After almost twenty minutes of searching, Niya finally found Sam sitting outside of a café, a warm coffee on the table, and a newspaper in his hands. Niya approached Sam instantly not taking a second to think about a plan of approach.
"Well, hello there, sir," she said jokingly, "May I sit with you?"
Sam lowered the newspaper and just stared blankly at her, to which Niya replied with an over exaggerated look of surprise and shock, and a small gasped.
"My goodness, it's Sam," she said with an exaggerated tone, "Whoever would've guessed. The way you sat there I would've thought you were thirty years older."
"Oh please, spare my intelligence," he said as he returned to his newspaper, "You're not shocked at all."
Niya sat down across from Sam, with her legs crossed one over the other,
"Actually, I am," she said, "I'm shocked you can read."
"Did you come here to insult me, or did you lose a coin toss with Lyss?" asked Sam in a saline tone.
Niya smiled as a waiter came by and brought her a coffee. "Man, I love this instant service thing," she said, "But no, I volunteered to come here if you must know."
"Why?" asked Sam, "To make fun of me?"
"No, not only for that," she said, "I also came to talk some sense into you. Seriously, this is some good service and good coffee."
"Jeez, your attention span is shorter than mine," said Sam as he put his newspaper down and took a drink from his cup, "But since you're here to talk, then talk."
"Right," said Niya as she placed her cup down, "Look, I don't see why you and Jeremy are the ones fighting. It's your Starly that are supposed to be competing, not you two."
"He insulted my Pokémon," stated Sam.
"So? What does that have to do with you?" asked Niya, "Let him fight with your Pokémon then."
"It's not just that he insulted my Pokémon," said Sam, "It's the principle of the thing. By mocking my Pokémon, he was mocking how I raise them and if there's anyone that knows about raising Pokémon in this group it's me. It's in my blood, and I've spent summers learning to care for Pokémon on the ranch."
"I see," said Niya, "Interesting. Well, you definitely have a right to be mad, but I suppose Jeremy does as well."
"Oh yeah, and why's that?" asked Sam as another coffee was brought to him.
"Hell, if I know," said Niya as she finished off her coffee and wiped the foam from her mouth, "You'll have to ask him that yourself."
"Then how can you say he has a reason?" asked Sam.
"Because," stated Niya, "Everyone has a reason for doing what they do. Nothing happens without a reason. If he is mad, he has a reason, even if we don't know what it is."
"Well it's probably a wrong reason," said Sam.
"And even if it is, it's still a reason," said Niya sternly, "And you still owe it to him to listen. Understand?"
Sam sighed. "All right fine!" he said, "I'll do it. But only if he comes to me first."
Niya sighed, but quickly regained her composure. "May I ask something?"
Sam nodded, to which Niya replied. "Why did you come here of all places?"
Sam paused for a moment, debating on whether he should tell Niya the truth.
This was something he had never shared with anyone, not even Alyssandra or Jeremy. Finally, Sam agreed that he could trust Niya; she wasn't the type to tell people things that were meant to remain secret.
"Promise to keep it a secret?" asked Sam; Niya nodded in agreement.
"All right well, I heard stories from my grandmother and the rest of my family that this café was where my grandparents met over fifty years ago. They were twenty, and a few months later they got married."
"Things were definitely different in those days," said Niya whimsically, the only time Sam had seen her like this.
She paused and realized he had noticed her whimsical attitude, to which she replied. "Hey, I'm a sucker for a good romance and a hopeless romantic myself, sue me!"
Sam chuckled a bit and continued his story. "You know, just a few months before my grandfather passed away just after they reached their fiftieth anniversary," reminisced Sam. "That was almost seven years ago…but that's not the only reason I came here. I also came here because this place also happens to be where my parents met. My mother met my father here when she was eighteen, coming here with her parents on a visit to the city for vacation."
Niya paused for a moment, realizing the somewhat pained tone coming into Sam's voice. "You never knew your parents, did you?" she asked softly.
Sam shook his head. "No," he replied. "My mother died in childbirth with me, and from what I was told my father left before I was born. No one knows where he is, or if he's still alive. We don't speak about it, so I don't really bother asking questions. Anyway, I came here because when I was a kid, I vowed that one day when I came to this city I would sit down in this café and meet the woman of my dreams."
Niya smiled softly at Sam, and gently patted his arm. "Well, my friend, the girl you want is in another castle," smiled Niya.
"No not you!" responded Sam quickly, "No, no, no, no! I was hoping—well, I was hoping it would be someone else."
"You were hoping that you would come here with Lyss, huh?" asked Niya as she returned to her coffee, watching the surprised remark on Sam's face. "Oh please, everyone knows. You don't make it obvious in the sense that you're trying too hard, but it's obvious in just…well I don't know, it's predictable."
"Yeah, Jeremy's mother said that once," laughed Sam, "I don't know why I've never asked her."
"Because you're a coward when it comes to woman, and a lion against everything else," said Niya simply, "But that's all right, it's kind of cute actually, and I'm sure once Lyss finds out she'll think so too."
"You have just this awesome way of making people feel better about themselves, you know?" said Sam sarcastically as he placed some bills on the table and he and Niya began to walk down the street.
"Besides," said Sam as he placed his hands in his pockets, "It's not like I could ask her out anyway. She likes some other guy back in Twinleaf."
"Hmm," said Niya with a furrowed brow, "She's never mentioned that to me, I'll have to ask her later. Regardless though, you need to keep fighting for her, if you want her that bad, keep fighting! If anything, this anger you have towards Jeremy right now should be redirected towards the asshole trying to take your woman."
"How do you know he's an asshole?" asked Sam, "No better question, why the sudden support?"
"Well, let's just say I've done my years of hopeful wishing," answered Niya, "And I know you'll be good to her."
"Well, thank you," said Sam.
All of a sudden, Sam heard several trashcans hitting the ground, and the screams of a loud and angry crowd. Sam and Niya turned to their left, to witness a loud angry mob hammering away at the doors of some tall building with broadcasting towers on top.
"Hey, that's the Pokétch Company building!" pointed out Niya, "Why the crowd though?"
"I don't know, but they seem angry," said Sam.
The two approached the crowd and walked up to some of the stragglers at the back of the group.
"What's going on here?" asked Sam.
One of the men in the crowd, with large scraggy hair and a big walrus moustache responded. "Our Pokétch are malfunctioning!" he shouted.
"Well that's hardly a reason to riot in the streets," stated Niya.
"It's the type of malfunction that has us this angry," said the man, "We all checked our PCs this morning, and found out that they've been emptied! All our Pokémon, gone! We want our Pokémon back and an explanation!"
The man then turned around and returned to rioting with the crowd.
Niya and Sam stepped back from the crowd and thought about what the man had said.
"It's times like this that I'm lucky my Pokémon are either with Professor Rowan or at my family ranch," said Sam.
Niya nodded in agreement. "I keep my Pokémon in my party or with my aunt, Fantina. I know that when they're with her they're always kept in Contest shape even if I'm not using them."
"Hey, you guys!" shouted Alyssandra as her and Jeremy dashed towards the two of them.
"What's going on here?" she asked.
Niya and Sam explained quickly, and all of them looked at each other, sighing thankfully as they realized the same thing that Sam had.
"So, what are we going to do?" asked Alyssandra.
"What can we do?" Sam retorted quickly.
"Lyss is right," said Niya, "Something doesn't seem right about this. The Pokétch Company wouldn't just be taking Pokémon from people, it's too small for that kind of operation, and besides, what could they possibly gain from it?"
"Who knows, but we're about to find out; look!" said Sam as he pointed towards the street corner, "It's Officer Jenny and Looker, from before when Jeremy and I—"
Sam stopped midsentence, realizing that he and Jeremy still weren't talking.
The group remained silent until Niya, with the roll of her eyes, led the group towards the two officers.
"Officer Jenny, Looker," said Sam, "Nice to see you again."
"Oh, Sam, it's you!" exclaimed Officer Jenny, "I'm glad that you're here."
"Why?" asked Niya, "What could Sam possibly offer you guys?"
Sam glared at Niya, but he knew on the inside she was only joking.
"Do you remember what I told you about Team Galactic the other day?" asked Officer Jenny, "Well this is one of their operations that has affected the city."
"What do you mean Officer?" asked Alyssandra, "How could they have caused this?"
"We're not sure," answered Looker, the first time Sam had ever heard him speak—his voice was deep and commanded authority. "But we know this has Team Galactic written all over it. It would appear that grunt from yesterday had a hand in this too."
"How is that possible?" asked Sam, "What are they doing?"
"They're stealing Pokémon from people's PCs using the Pokétch PC application. They've taken over the Pokétch Company Building and are abusing their technology for their own selfish gains," explained Looker, "They've got all of the workers and the company president locked up in there as hostages, and they've completely bared entrance from the outside."
"What do you want us to do?" asked Jeremy—Sam looked away as he spoke.
"Infiltrate the building somehow," said Looker, "I know it's a very movie-like scene, and that you're only children, but any attempt at us trying to approach the building would cause the entire operation to leave this location. But they won't be on guard for you guys, you're just kids. Make it look like an accident, that you're just walking by, down the back alley or something and get inside. Find out what's going on when you're in there, and try to shut the operation down, we'll follow you in once you reach the nerve centre of their Pokémon stealing rig."
"We can do that," said Sam, "I have an idea how to get in, come on!"
The group took off towards the back alleyway behind the building and paused as they entered it. They scanned the area for cameras and saw one sitting above the backdoor.
"We'll need to take out the camera before we can break in," explained Sam, "Once we do we'll only have a few minutes before someone comes to check on us. I'm going to use Starly to cut the camera, and I'll break the hinges with my Prinplup and Chimchar."
Sam stood to the side of the camera, not wanting to be seen by it, and tossed a Poké Ball in the air. "Go, Starly!" he shouted, "Use Wing Attack and destroy that camera!"
Starly chirped obediently and flew towards the camera, parallel to the ground. As it passed by, it slicked the camera in half; effectively ending its usefulness to anyone inside.
"Now's our chance!" said Sam, "Prinplup, Chimchar, we're going to take down that door! Chimchar use Ember to heat up the hinges, then Prinplup, I want you to quickly use your Bubble Beam to cool the hinges off quickly! Then both of you do it again!"
Sam's Pokémon did as commanded as the rapid heating and cooling of the hinges occurred, the hinges began to grow brittle and fall apart.
"All right, that should do it," said Sam, "I'll take it from here you two!"
Sam charged towards the door, his shoulder lowered toward it, and he rammed right into it. The door wobbled, but didn't break, so Sam repeated this action, until finally, the door broke down. Sam stood up, and everyone filed into the doublewide hallway, their Pokémon released as well.
Sam knew that to be more efficient, everyone would have to split off into two groups, and he knew didn't want to go with Jeremy, not after this morning, so he would leave the groups up to the others—or else he would just use the same groups as this morning.
"Let's split up," said Sam decisively, "One of us will go left, the other goes right."
"Why can't we just search together?" asked Alyssandra, "It's scary in here."
"Oh, toughen up," said Jeremy, "We need to split up to cover more ground, it's just common sense."
Sam and Jeremy turned away from each other, while both of their Starly were glaring hard at each other.
"Well, if we're going to split up we'll at least swap partners," said Niya, "I'll go with Jeremy, Lyss, you go with Sam."
"And maybe I can succeed where you failed," whispered Alyssandra as the two girls passed each other to follow their partner down their respective hallways.
Niya nodded in agreement as she passed Alyssandra, and the two shot off into the darkness of the hallways.
"It's like they turned the power off in here," said Alyssandra as she, Sam and their Pokémon explored the halls in the dark.
"Well, something like stealing thousands of people's Pokémon would take a lot of power," stated Sam, "They probably redirected the power to whatever machine they're using to steal the Pokémon, so they could do more at once."
Alyssandra nodded. "Let's go find out where they're doing this."
Sam and Alyssandra continued down the hallway, turning right, and left until they reached an impasse.
"We have one hallway to the left, and one straight ahead," said Sam, "I hate to say it, but we need to split up."
"What, why?" asked Alyssandra.
"Because we'll get more searching done that way. If anything happens just scream or something, and I'll come running," explained Sam, "And if it really comes to a fight you have your Pokémon."
"All right, fine," groaned Alyssandra, "If that's what you want."
Sam continued down the hallway to the left. The walk was silent, except for the sound of his and his Pokémon's footsteps, until a banging sound starting to ring through the hall.
Sam paused, as did his Pokémon, all of them silently looking for the source of the noise. Sam followed the banging noises until it took him to what looked like a storeroom closet.
"It's coming from in here," said Sam as he pressed his ear against the door.
Sam slowly turned the handle and as he did, the door burst open, and a large man in a blue suit burst from closet. He was all tied up, and a gag was in his mouth. He grunted from behind the gag and struggled against his bonds.
"Hold on, I'll get you out," whispered Sam.
Sam untied the gag and released the ropes that bound the man's hands and body, then took him back into the closet and closed the door.
"Just in case they come for us," whispered Sam, "Who are you?"
"I'm the President of the Pokétch Company," said the man as he scratched his beard, "Mr. Rockford is my name. Thank you for saving me by the way."
"Don't mention it," said Sam, "My friends and I are here trying to stop Team Galactic, I'm Sam."
The two men shook hands firmly. "Nice to meet you, Sam," said Mr. Rockford, "Have you found them yet?"
"No, I haven't, but we're still looking," replied Sam, "Can I ask what you're doing in here?"
"It's a long story," sighed the president, "You see, Team Galactic burst in here this morning, they threatened to attack us with their Pokémon, and to blow up the entire building if they didn't get what they wanted."
"What did they want?" asked Sam as he sat down on a nearby box.
"They wanted us to hack into peoples' PCs and steal their Pokémon, using our Pokétch PC application. But, you see, we don't have the authorization to do that, so I told them. I was afraid of something like this happening, so I purposely made it so that we could only deposit Pokémon in our user's PCs, and not withdraw. Well, suffice it to say they weren't happy when we told them that."
"They locked us all up in different parts of the building and brought their own computer technicians into our electrical room. They started to hack the computers themselves, and they've been stealing Pokémon ever since. I've been trying to break free, but they caught me, and tied me up and then threw me in here."
"I see," said Sam, "Do you know how to work the computers and reverse the process?"
The president nodded. "Of course, we may have a large office building, but we're only a small family run business," he replied, "We know how to do every job here in case one of us is sick or away. In fact, I wrote half of the code for the program myself"
"Perfect," said Sam, "We need to stop them, do you have any Pokémon on you?"
"Not on me," he said, "They stole my Luxray, and my other Pokémon are hidden away in my office."
"All right, I'll do the fighting then, stay close to me," said Sam as he and Mr. Rockford exited the closet and scanned the hallway, "Do you know which way the computer room is from here?"
"I do. Come I'll show you," he said continuing down the hallway.
Sam followed Mr. Rockford. The building was like a maze, and Sam knew that if he missed even one turn he would get lost.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of walking, they reached the electrical room. Sam and the president stopped in the doorway, ducking behind a nearby machine as to not be seen.
"We have almost seven hundred Pokémon stolen from people just in this city alone," said one of the grunts sitting at the computer.
"Good, I'll inform the boss of this. He'll be happy to know the operation is a success," said a tall, thin man with blue hair that curved into a half moon shape like two horns, "We'll prepare to leave soon. I'll have the Pokémon loaded onto the trucks out back, don't leave anything behind, destroy the machines when you're done."
"Yes sir!" replied the grunts, and the man left the room.
"All right, now's our chance to strike," said Sam to Mr. Rockford, "Looker and Officer Jenny are probably outside stopping the trucks right now. If we capture these grunts we can stop the operation completely."
Sam returned his Prinplup and Chimchar to their Poké Balls, but kept his Starly out for battling purposes, and prepared to jump out from behind the machine. He stopped however, when he saw Niya and Alyssandra being dragged into the room, with their hands tied behind their backs, and Galactic grunts on their side of them.
"They have Alyssandra," hissed Sam to himself.
Sam looked back at the president, then at Alyssandra, before returning his attention to the president.
"You need to escape," said Sam, "Run outside through the backdoor, and go find Officer Jenny and Looker. Tell them to come now."
"What about you?" asked Mr. Rockford.
"I'll be okay," said Sam, "I'll hold these guys off, now hurry, before they catch you!"
Mr. Rockford did as he was told and ran off down the hallway towards the back entrance.
Sam turned back to the situation at hand just in time to see Jeremy dash into the room and tackle the two grunts that were guarding Niya and Alyssandra. As the three of them hit the ground, one of the grunts fell unconscious, and Sam took the chance to jump out from behind the machine.
"Now, Starly, use Wing Attack to cut their bindings!" shouted Sam as he pointed to Alyssandra and Niya.
"Starly!" cried the Pokémon, as it flew towards the two girls at top speeds, cutting their bonds as it passed.
Jeremy and the girls dashed over beside Sam in the confusion, and Jeremy—who also had his Starly out—looked over at Sam.
"Not bad," he said with a small smile, "But let's see if you can best my Starly's skill in this battle."
The two grunts stood up, and both released a Golbat to combat the two Starly.
"Golbat, use Poison Sting, both of you!" shouted one of the grunts.
"Starly, dodge!" said Jeremy.
"You, too Starly!" shouted Sam.
Both Starly were too slow however, and they took the Poison Sting straight on.
"Starly!" shouted Sam and Jeremy in unison; the two friends looked at each other as they did.
"Starly, swing to the left and use Wing Attack on Golbat!" commanded Jeremy.
"I can do better than that," smiled Sam, "Starly, use our manoeuvre that we practiced before!"
While Jeremy's Starly attacked Golbat, Sam's Starly ducked low to the floor, flying at top speed. As he neared one of the Golbat, it prepared its Wing Attack, then flew underneath it, and pulled up quickly, attacking it from below.
Sam and Jeremy's Starly flew back to their Trainers as their attacks landed, but Team Galactic wasn't going to give up so easily.
"Now, both of you Golbat, use Confuse Ray, then follow it up with Swift!" shouted the grunts.
"Dodge, Starly!" cried the two boys in unison.
"Starly, spin around Golbat really fast and prepare a Wing Attack!" shouted Jeremy.
"You too Starly! Do it in the opposite direction!" said Sam.
The two Starly instantly shot top speed into the air near the ceiling, circling around the two Golbat quickly, their wings glowing, ready to attack.
"Faster, Starly!" cried Sam.
"You too, Starly!" shouted Jeremy.
Both Starly tried to speed up, each trying to outdo the other. Suddenly, both Starly started to glow and their entire bodies shone white as they spun around the confused Golbat.
As the light finally broke from their bodies in several white sparkles, both Pokémon emerged as Staravia.
"They evolved into Staravia!" exclaimed Alyssandra, "They competed against each other so vigorously that they evolved together. Maybe now their little feud will end."
"Actually, according to the book I read before, it's supposed to get worse now that they've evolved," explained Niya.
Alyssandra sighed. "Great," groaning in annoyance.
"Now, Staravia, Wing Attack!" shouted Sam and Jeremy together.
Both Pokémon dashed towards their targets, and as they struck their mark, the Golbat collapsed unconscious.
"No!" cried the Galactic Grunts.
All of a sudden, the grunts were grabbed from behind, as several police officers, led by Officer Jenny and Looker poured into the room.
"Nicely done, all of you," said Looker as he came by and shook each of the groups' hands, "I can't begin to thank you enough for what you did."
"Looker is right," said Officer Jenny, "You did the city a great service."
"It was nothing," smiled Sam as he and Jeremy returned their Pokémon to their Poké Balls, "Are the stolen Pokémon okay? I heard one of their superiors talk about loading them onto a truck."
"Yes, thankfully we managed to stop the truck and apprehend the drivers before they got away," said Looker, "If you hadn't sent Mr. Rockford to find us when you did they would've escaped."
"Well, he didn't have any of his Pokémon on him," said Sam, "And if we failed, we didn't want anything to happen to him, so I felt it the only logical thing to do. Honestly though, I couldn't have done any of this without my friends—they came in here with me, and especially Jeremy here, he helped me battle the grunts with his Staravia."
"We'll make sure you get honourable mentions in the newspaper," said Officer Jenny, "This is twice in two days that you've saved Jubilife City from trouble like this."
"And on behalf of the International Police, I'd like to present each of you with these medals," said Looker as he held out his hand, "They commemorate your service today."
"Awesome!" said Alyssandra as she took a ribbon and pinned it on the strap of her shoulder bag.
"Now, let's start processing these criminals," said Looker.
"Yes, Looker, sir!" saluted Officer Jenny, and together the two of them escorted the other police officers and the arrested Galactic grunts from the building.
Sam then turned to Jeremy and extended his hand slowly. "Look, I'm sorry for fighting," he said, "You raised your Starly pretty well—it even evolved already too."
"Same to you," apologized Jeremy, "I shouldn't have doubted your skills at raising Pokémon. It's just, I felt a bit jealous, because you have all this experience at raising Pokémon due to the family ranch business. And everyone's always going about how you're following in your grandfather's footsteps, and your destined to become a great Trainer—"
"It's all right, I understand," smiled Sam, and the two drew in for a man-hug.
"Well, at least you two learned to settle your fighting calmly and quietly," said Alyssandra, "Usually it would've come to blows."
"Well, even if it did, I would've won," laughed Sam as the group began to walk down the hallways of the building to the exit.
"And who says I wouldn't have won?" asked Jeremy, "I'm strong too you know."
"I know," said Sam, "But most of the other times I've won."
"But that doesn't mean you'll win now!" argued Jeremy.
"Oh yeah?!" argued Sam, to which Jeremy replied, "Oh yeah!"
Alyssandra groaned as the group continued to walk down the hall, Sam and Jeremy arguing all the way to the exit.
"I guess I spoke too soon," she sighed.
"Well, the book did say the competition was going to get worse now that they evolved," said Niya, "But it never did specify to whom it was referring."
"Well, Niya," said Alyssandra as she ignored Sam and Jeremy fighting up ahead, "Did I tell you that I got a Mime Jr. while I was exploring the place?"
"Really?!" asked Niya, "How'd you manage that?"
"One of the researchers gave it to me for rescuing them," said Alyssandra, "She said she would be happier if she knew that Mime Jr. was safe with me—plus she didn't have much time anymore to care for it."
"Doesn't Mime Jr. know Double Slap?" asked Niya.
Alyssandra nodded in response. "Why?" she asked.
"Maybe we could use it to knock some sense into the boys," laughed Niya.
Alyssandra laughed as well; although she knew that no matter how much Sam and Jeremy argued, they were friends—just like everyone was—and no matter how hard things got, they'd always have each other's back. These fights were just tests of friendship, and as far as Alyssandra knew, they passed—even if it wasn't perfectly, they still passed.
