As we left the gym and started walking back to the Pokemon Center, we saw the man we helped chasing two Team Aqua grunts. "Let's see what's going on," I grinned at Tecy. She nodded but didn't return the grin. The man was leaning over, panting, right in front of the route. "What's up?" I asked him. He looked up at us, still panting.
"Those men took the Devon goods, I was supposed to take them to Slateport but now..." He huffed and groaned. "If I don't get those back I'll get fired for sure!"
"Don't worry, we'll help." Tecy reassured him. "Where did those thugs get to?" The man pointed to the route. I grabbed Tecy's wrist and pulled her away from the town. "You don't have to pull me." Tecy frowned, wrenching her wrist from my grasp, "It's not like I wasn't planning to find those Aqua grunts anyway."
"I know." I stated, "It's just more fun to kidnap you." Tecy rolled her eyes.
We battled a couple trainers while looking for the Team Aqua grunts. Finally we ended up at the entrance to a cave where an old man with a long white beard was standing right outside. He saw us approach and walked up to us.
"Someone took my precious Peeko and went into that tunnel." The man told us, pointing to the tunnel. "I'd get him back myself, but I don't have any pokemon other than Peeko. Will you girls please help?"
"We'll get him back for you, Sir." I told him with a smile; Tecy nodded in agreement.
We entered the tunnel and I couldn't help but grin started to sing a particular ditty. After a moment Tecy laughed and joined in. "Secret Tunnel! Secret Tunnel! Through the mountain! Secret, secret, secret, secret Tunnel!" I then exclaimed. "Hey, I remember the rest of the song!" Tecy and I sang in unison at a very low key "and Died." The Team Aqua grunts were right up ahead, a huge rock wall blocked their exit.
"Aww, now what? We can't get these goods to the boss now!" One of them groaned.
"We could fly on this bird." The other offered, holding up a wingull by its wings. The bird pokemon struggled against the grunt, but to no avail.
"In a cave? No way, besides, if we leave then the cops will find us!"
"Forget the cops, how about us?" I laughed. The two goons turned around to face us, one of them recognized me and groaned.
"Oh, no. Not YOU again!"
Tecy and I laughed. "Sorry, boys. It is us again." Tecy said with a mischievous glimmer in her eyes. "Now, you could either give us the bird and theDevon goods and we might let you out of here with your pokemon still conscious."
"No way! We got stronger from our last battle! Go Poochyena!" The grunt holding a suitcase shouted, throwing a pokeball with his spare hand. The puppy pokemon was, indeed, bigger than it was before. Tecy smirked and sent out Charmander. The little fire pokemon grinned evilly and growled; poochyena lowered its head, intimidated, he remembered Charmander and remembered him well. The second grunt, trying to hold onto the struggling wingull with one arm, threw out his Carvanha. I brought Trouble out.
"Oh-ho! This is going to be fun." She laughed sinisterly, knowing that I was letting her battle.
"Yeah, knock your socks off." I told her. "Whatever you think is necessary, just get Carvanha out of the way first."
"Whatever." Trouble leaped out and took the carvanha down and into the rock floor, growling with every bit of malice she had. Carvanha; however, was not impressed or intimidated. That just made Trouble want to kill him even more.
"Poochyena, use bite!"
"Carvanha, use crunch!"
"Charmander" Tecy grinned at her pokemon. "You know what to do." The fire lizard nodded and grinned as well. The poochyena tried to run away, but this is a trainer battle and, hey, you can't run from a trainer battle! Charmander caught up to it and set the pooch on fire. The pokemon ran in circles, panicking. It knocked into Trouble, which got some of her fur burnt.
"Hey! Watch it, idiot!" Trouble growled, ignoring the piranha pokemon that just attached itself to her tail. She ran up to the flaming poochyena and flicked her tail, flinging the water pokemon onto it. The carvanha spat out some water which, not only put the fire out, but also caused the poochyena to faint. The carvanha got up and started moving towards charmander. Tecy bit her lip; even I knew this type match-up was not good.
"Charmander, use slash." She told her pokemon. I could see that she wasn't sure that was the best choice to make. The fire lizard started running towards Carvanha, one of his claws shining. The piranha pokemon swam in place and spat out a large bubble of water which exploded on impact. The fire lizard fell onto one knee, eye closed and panting heavily, slash had failed and charmander was wet. Not a good combination. Tecy bit her lip more, and I wasn't sure if it was bleeding. Turning back to the battle, the carvanha readied for another attack when Trouble blocked the way, taking the second watergun attack on herself. Dripping wet she growled.
"I'm your opponent, fool." Her teeth sparked with electricity and she bit down on the side of the pokemon, giving it a painful electric shock. The carvanha fainted. Battle over and won, she glanced behind her at Tecy. "Idiot, why did you let your own pokemon get into danger like that?"
"She can't understand you, Trouble." I reminded my pokemon, slightly thankful for that truth.
"I think I got the message." Tecy said, letting out a sigh. She walked over to Charmander and picked him up, cradling him in her arms. "That was really stupid." She glanced down at her pokemon. "Sorry." He growled something. Trouble trod back over to me and I looked up at the Team Aqua grunts. Tecy walked over to where I was, glaring up at the pirates.
"You've been beat, now hand over the hostage and the devon goods." I told them, holding a hand out. They grudgingly brought their pokemon back, let go of the wingull, and handed me the suitcase. The goons then ran off and out of the cave, yelling empty threats. Tecy, still holding onto her unconscious pokemon, started to walk towards the exit when the old man from outside hurried up to us.
"I saw those two thugs leave. Is Peeko here?" The wingull squawked in reply. "Oh, there you are, Peeko!" The old man hugged the bird pokemon, who seemed to smile. The pokemon hopped onto the man's shoulder as he turned to face Tecy and me. "Thank you so much for rescuing Peeko. If there's anything you need, stop by the house on the dock near Petalburg." He looked at his pokemon. "Ready to go?" the bird squawked once more and they left the cave. We followed after him; the sun was high in the sky when we came out of the cave.
"I need to stop by the pokemon center." Tecy announced, motioning to Charmander.
"That's cool. I'm going to go shopping, and maybe do some training." I told her. She nodded and we started walking back to Rustboro. Carrying the suitcase, I was more than curious of what was inside, though it wasn't any of my business. The man we told we would help was waiting for us where we left him, seeing the suitcase he ran up to us.
"You got it back! Oh, thank you! Here." The man handed us two great balls each. "If you two don't mind, could you come with me for a moment?" We said we didn't mind and the man led us to a large corporation building. "You see, I work for a company that creates new kinds of pokeballs as well as PokeNavs and apps for the PokeNav, and a couple other things." He explained. "I told my boss about what you did for me in Petalburg woods, and I told him what you offered to do just now and he wanted to meet with you." We entered the building and he led us up the stairs to the third floor. "Wait here for a second." He walked over to a man behind a desk, the name tag on it read "Mr. Stone."
"You know this is your future father-in-law, right?" Tecy whispered over to me, knowing that I was- and am- a huge Steven Stone fangirl. I blushed vividly and nudged her in the side and told her to shut her face. "What? I like having my face open, lets my brain fall out." She then gave me a creepy grin. She returned to her normal expression when the man came back.
"Our president will see you now." He said then, leading us over to the desk, introduced us to Mr. Stone before leaving. Mr. Stone had grey hair, icy blue eyes, and wore a rich navy blue suit with a tie that had a pattern that made it look like it was made out of stainless steel. We were invited to sit down in the two chairs in front of the desk. Tecy did so, setting her sleeping pokemon in her lap; I stayed standing but leaned against the back of the empty chair.
"I understand you two saved one of my workers from team aqua twice." He said, closing his hands and setting them on the desk. "I was wondering if you could deliver that" he pointed to the suitcase we took back from Team Aqua "to Captain Stern in Slateport. Of course, you won't be doing it for nothing. And also" He took out an envelope from the desk and handed it to me. "could you take this to my son? He should be somewhere in Dewford."
"Yeah, sure." I agreed, knowing that it'd be worthwhile to do it. From the games, when you delivered the letter and the goods and return to Devon Corp, Mr. Stone gives you the Exp. Share. Pulling out a drawer, he picked up and handed us both a bulky touch-screen phone.
"These are PokeNavs, at least the most recent development of them. It has match call, which shows who you've registered and if they would like a rematch with you, the Hoenn town map, which shows you the entire region of Hoenn at the push of a button. There's also a new feature on these that plays music from the internet." He scratched his head. "Although, because it is so new, we don't know how well it will work. Chances are, there will be a couple bugs and glitches with it. Just be sure to update it when it asks to." We nodded in unison, checking out the different apps on the PokeNav. "Do you have any questions?"
"Just one." Tecy said, checking out the detailed town map. "On this, it says that Dewford is an island. How are we supposed to get there?"
"There's an old sailor by the name of Captain Briney. If you tell him Mr. Stone sent you to go to Dewford and Slateport, he'll give you a ride on his boat." Mr. Stone explained. He glanced over at me and I took the suitcase.
"Don't worry, sir. We'll get the goods to Capt. Stern and deliver the letter for you." I grinned with a salute. Tecy rolled her eyes, put Charmander in his pokeball, and got up. We left the corporate building and started walking to the Pokemon Center. Tecy went inside while I started wandering around, looking for a clothes store. It took a little while, but I found one and was super happy that most of the clothes there were steampunk. I grabbed pretty much anything that would fit me and tried it on, after a long while of trying on clothes, I picked out five outfits that I liked the best and left the dressing room. Trouble came out of her pokeball and rolled her eyes at me.
"Seriously? Clothes shopping?" She asked in a condescending tone.
"Well, yeah. It's fun." I told her. "We could look for an outfit for you." I offered, already trying to see her in a steampunk outfit. Her ears flattened and she gave me a death glare.
"No."
"Aww, come on. I think you'd look cute in steampunk."
"I said no." Trouble growled. "I don't want to be 'cute'."
"Too bad, you already are." I giggled, picking her up and cuddling her close, burying my face in the long tufts of fur.
"Let go of me." I did and set her back down on the ground. I walked over to a stand where bandanas were displayed, and glanced down at Trouble. Her ears flattened. "I know what you're thinking, and no."
"It's not an outfit. And bandannas are pretty cool."
"No. Just no." Despite her saying that she didn't want to try anything on, I took off a bandanna from the rack and held it up to her. She frowned but didn't do much else. I showed her the pattern. "Fine." She finally muttered, after taking a good look at it. I giggled and tied it around her neck, making sure it didn't choke her. The gear pattern on the bandana looked really nice on her. She didn't say anything about it, just kept her ears down and looking off to the side angrily.
We went over to the counter where I bought the clothes, then Trouble and I left for the route to the cave. We battled and trained the rest of the day and started heading back to the Pokemon Center when dusk broke. Tecy was waiting for me out front. "How long have you been out here for?"
"I just got out here." She replied. "I hope you don't mind, but I went training in Petalburg woods a little while ago and we just finished eating dinner when I saw you coming back. There's leftovers if you want some." Tecy pointed with her thumb towards the Pokemon Center.
"That sounds great right now." I smiled, hunger pangs starting to get to me. Tecy led the way to the room where three doggy bags were laid out on the table. I let my pokemon out and we started to eat the leftovers.
"When did Trouble get the bandanna?" Tecy asked, noticing the eevee's attire. Her ears flattened but she kept eating.
"We went clothes shopping earlier and I wanted to get something for her."
"It looks really good on you." Snorlax smiled, also noticing her bandanna. Trouble didn't say anything, but I could see the hint of a blush on her cheeks. Treecko was too busy stuffing his face with wacan berry slices to care. He didn't care much about clothes in general. We went to bed right after dinner, I didn't realize how tired I was until I hit the pillow and fell straight to sleep.
(A/N Tecy: Still avoiding god-modding, even though I established that Charmander is anywhere between 3-7 levels stronger than they are. Thank Arceus that I'm not doing a Nuzlocke.
Menial things are menial and Kali gets some bonding time with Trouble.
Also, Snorlax. I love Kali's Snorlax. He's so much fun to write (though he doesn't get much screen time) and he's just plain adorable.)