Hola! I'm back from a...weird first week of school, and just as I thought...its EVIL. DARN YOU HIGH SCHOOL. Anyways

Okay, don't hate me, BUT YOUR MEETING 2 NEW CHARACTERS TODAY! I promise that they will be the LAST in a looong time, so bear with me. Here's a backstory of them::

Girl 1: Kara's number one bestie who she always texts her journals to.

Girl 2: Kara's cousin.

Everyone else you might remember, FORGET 'EM! I'll remind you about them later.

Oh, and this chapter is nooot in Lale's POV, if anyone was wondering. That was a one time thing...maybe two-time if I ever need another filler chapter. Read on pplz :D

Amethyst and Carmine presents…
Episode 20
Friends that Tie Loose Ends

"DAY 15, CONTINUED,

"OMG TASHA, worst thing just happened on the road T_T I was eating my food, then it was stolen! So I took the pie I had kept in the cooler, and SLATE TRIED TO EAT IT! I mean really, MY PIE. WHY CAN'T HE UNDERSTAND THAT.

"Anyway, other then finally meeting up with you again, I'd like to stress the fact that I am also here for my cousin, MARY. Or as I like to call her…MARY-SUE. UGH. She's SOOO perfect, she's nice, strong, independent, has a perfect body, and ALL her Pokémon are shiny! She's eighteen and has a perfect life working in the Solaceon Daycare, and what's more, YOU'RE HER APPRENTICE! Sigh.

"AHH! We're here! See ya in a few! …and Mary. Blah."

The trio and their psychic fox entered the town in their multi-purpose golf cart. It was a pretty small town to be honest—you could ride straight through the town in five minutes and be back in the wild again. There were several plants and flowers around, almost like Floaroma, only berries triumphed over the flowers. On the left side of the road was one building that took up the whole left side of town—the Daycare. It was pretty hard to miss it. A white picket fence stopped people from trespassing and Pokémon from escaping, although most Pokémon that they housed could merrily jump over the fence. On the right side of the town were a few neighborhoods, the PokéMart, and the Pokémon Center, where the trio and their golf cart parked as soon as they entered the homey town.

"So," Noel started, "Slate and I will wander around town while you catch up with your friend, come on Slate—"

"NO" Kara stopped them before they could go anywhere, "I've been telling Tasha about you guys since day 1; it's only fair that she meets you!"

"Didn't you say you're cousin was here too?" Slate asked, she nodded.

"Is she hot?" Noel inquired.

"…I don't know! I don't think about family that way!" she replied, "You'll have to stick around to find out! But just in case you try and run away, I have Kado on my side."

The guys were confused by what she meant, but once they tried to move, they found themselves stuck in the air. Noel's Alakazam laughed in the background, receiving glares from his owner and owner's friend.

"Traitor" Noel grumbled.

"Damn psychics" Slate agreed, covering his face with his sunglasses so the passerby's wouldn't be able to see his face. Kara rolled her eyes and chained their golf cart in place, then took her bag and checked through her PokéGear's messages.

Tasha: I'll be right there! I can't wait to see my kaiwa! :3

She sweatdropped at her little device and put it away. Just as she was about to reach for something else in her bag, something in the shadows attacked her arm and sunk its teeth into it. She only had to blink before the pain began to surge in her arm, and she screamed,

"AHH! What the heck is this! Get it off get it off!" she wailed, flailing her arm around. It only made the thing bite harder—it was like her arm was caught in a rattata trap. Painful.

"You're on your own sister" Slate said, and was able to turn around and cross his arms, despite the Alakazam's psychic hold.

"Agreed—Gible extraction is someone else's job" Noel said, covering his face with his hat, and Kara glared at the two. She looked down at the creature—it was a land shark, blue, with a long head fin and ridiculously sharp teeth. It was only a matter of minutes before her arm would be chewed off.

"…OH MY GOD! Chomp-chomp, let go of her!"

The Gible's teeth stopped, then loosened its grip on her bare arm. It landed on the floor, tasting its teeth. It smiled in satisfaction…

"Carnivore…" Kara muttered, rubbing her arm where the bite marks were. It was worse than that time when her hand got caught in her Grandmothers Slowking's spikes! Not a happy memory. She looked up to her savior, her eyes lighting up, "Tasha! There you are!"

Her friend smiled, then slapped the land shark, "Sorry about that, my stupid Gible is always eating people…"

"You should really get that fixed" Noel said from the sidelines. He got several glares from the females. As for appearances, Tasha was brown skinned with dark brown eyes, and had short jet-black hair with the front bangs dyed white, for some strange reason. She was wearing a pink jersey with the words 'Team Jacob' embossed on the back, jeans, and some sandals. Both of her arms were covered in scratches.

"It's so great to see you Kara! I missed the old times…" Tasha dramatically ran her finger down her eye as if there was a tear there.

"Me too! I miss Sunyshore so much…" Kara replied with a sigh, slightly covering up the arm that was mauled by her friend's Pokémon.

"I'm actually surprised you wanted to do a journey, let alone walk around the whole country with that lazyness of yours," Tasha commented with an innocent smiled.

Kara glared playfully, "Whatever! At least in our group of friends I didn't turn out to be a model…or a Daycare assistant."

"It's a step up, trust me." Tasha grinned, "So who are your friends? Wait, let me see if I remember from your texts—Noel and Slate?" she pointed,

"Actually, it's the other way around," Kara sweatdropped, "But they're basically the same, they're goofy and are always abandoning me."

"Not true!" Slate protested, "I am much smarter than Noel!"

"Ouch…" Noel muttered, "And I am smart, I just choose not to sound it!"

"Could've fooled me" Tasha said, "Are you guys hungry? Mary is cooking up lunch…"

"My cousin is cooking without needless packaging and preservatives? That's a first…" Kara gasped, "And we might as well, since your Gible bit a chunk out of my arm…"

"Heh…sorry! He does that. You wouldn't believe the number of people who lose their hands when they roam around the Daycare at night…" Tasha sweatdropped, leading them in the general direction of the Daycare.

The four teens and two Pokémon quickly arrived at the Daycare house, which was about three stories high and about the size of an elementary school. They entered to the lobby, which was manned by a teenage boy who was probably playing solitaire on the computer. He and Tasha exchanged nods and then she led the group down the right hallway, although Slate tried to stray to the doors on the left, which led outside. He gave in when a Gible was thrown at him.

The hallway that they went down almost had an 'S' shape—it opened doors to Pokémon rooms and storage, as well as café's for wandering Pokémon trainers who were waiting for their Pokémon. They finally reached the end of the hallway to a stairwell—and climbed up it, of course. There was another S-shaped hallway to match the one downstairs, but they didn't go all the way through it, to the trainers' relief. Instead, they came upon a door with a number, almost like a hotel door.

"Mary, you in there?" Tasha called, knocking on the door. Her Gible began to talk in its language as well, probably to warn her that he'll chew the doorknob off if she doesn't open it.

"Come on in!" Said a voice on the other end of the door. Kara began to feel uneasy at the thought of reuniting with her mary-sue of a cousin, and she was about to run away if Tasha's Gible hadn't locked its beady eyes on her leg. Her friend opened the door, and inside revealed a couch, TV, and a kitchen on the far right. The person who occupied this room was at the sink, washing her hands. She turned away from the sink and wiped her hands on her jeans, then smiled at her guests. "Hey! Come right on in guys!"

Great, she's already won them over with her hospitality. Kara grumbled to herself as she entered her cousin's dorm. She could already smell the scent of food coming from the oven, and her never-satisfied stomach growled. Her cousin laughed and let them get cozy.

"Wow Kara, I haven't seen you in the longest time!" Mary smiled at her.

"Hi." Kara grumbled in response, taking a seat at the round table in between the kitchen tile and living room rug.

"Someone's crabby~" her cousin sang. Mary, like her cousin, had purple hair, although it was more in the lavender shade instead of eggplant, and her hair was up in a short ponytail. She was tall, almost as tall as their fridge, as was wearing a jean jacket, white tank top, and some skinnies. Several pokéballs' lined her belt, which obviously meant she was some kind of Pokémon trainer.

"She was bitten by a Gible," Tasha shrugged.

"Aww, let me get you a bandage…" Mary sighed, disappearing into a closet.

"Told ya she was a mary-sue…" Kara muttered to the males sitting on the couch.

"She's hot!" Slate whispered excitedly.

"Dibs!" Noel whispered,

"She has a boyfriend" Kara pointed out. The guys groaned and began to mumble words. Mary returned with a cotton roll and tossed it to Tasha, who began to wrap up her friend's arm.

"So, who are you guys?" Mary asked, resuming cooking on her stove.

"I'm Slate,"

"Noel" the guys introduced, and she nodded.

"Are you guys trainers?"

"Yep" they chorused in response.

"Oh that's cool, I'm a breeder!" she chirped, "I'm also the person in charge of taking care of the shiny Pokémon, but I'm also a pretty decent trainer."

"Then let's battle!" Noel said, "Let's see how strong your "shinies" are!"

"Actually, I've always wanted to battle Kara," the eighteen year olds eyes lit up, "Let's see if you're fit to be in that contest tomorrow!"

"So you know I'm entering?" Kara gave her cousin a raised eyebrow look, STALKER!

"…Well, you should! Registration ends in two hours though, so we better eat!" her cousin replied.

"Uhh…okay…" she agreed to the battle and registration, not sure what she's gotten into.

After eating and listening to Slate and Noel's stories, Mary led the teens outside beyond the white picket fence where the Pokémon roamed and played. Several of the Pokémon were eating out of white bowls, provided by the Daycare assistants. "The owners are on vacation," Mary says as she leads them through the field, "We have plenty of Pokémon around from all over the region—it's amazing where we get all the food from…" they passed lakes full of Poliwags and mountains scattered with steel-types, and soon they got to the edge of the picket fence where there were oddly colored Pokémon hanging around. "Some shiny Pokémon like to keep to themselves, while others like to blend with the other Pokémon. We probably only have about 12 stored here, not including mine."

"…I think I'm in heaven," Slate gasped, his eyes wide at all the Pokémon, "They're so beautiful! I…I have the urge to lick that shiny Teddiursa's paw!" The others began to inch away from him…

"You can study the Pokémon all you want!" Mary chirped, "They're all very friendly…well, except for that herd of Tauros, they like to tend to themselves."

"Why are we battling here?" Kara asked, looking around. The only thing around was grass. Grass, grass, and more grass. All this green was enough to drive someone wild if they stared at it long enough.

"There aren't much Pokémon around," Mary shrugged, "Plus, the Pokémon here get terrified when they see fights."

"That's what you get for babying them…" Kara muttered.

"I'll judge! You better win Kara!" Tasha grinned, standing in middle of where the battle was gonna take place. The girls began to spread out, while the guys just leaned on the picket fence to watch.

"So who do you think will win?" Slate asked, "I bet you the driver's seat in the cart if Mary wins."

"Uh huh, and if Kara wins, then you have to give me your shades for tomorrow." Noel said, smirking smugly.

"But they said it'll be the hottest day tomorrow!" Slate protested.

"Exactly," Noel replied, "So do we have a bet?"

"Fine," Slate agreed, and the two shook hands on it.

"Really? A bet?" Tasha gave them looks, feeling as though she's known them as long as her best friend has, "Okay, this is a full battle between Mary and Kara! No time limit, no substitutions! Go!"

Mary wordlessly tossed a pokéball up, and out popped a Pokémon after a white flash of light. Emerging from the light was an Azurill—a green one at that. It chirped its name cutely and got the eye-rolls from several male spectators.

"Huh, it's shiny, so unpredictable…" Kara muttered, pulling a pokéball out from wherever she keeps them,

"She's my baby!" Mary cooed, "She hatched just last month!"

"…Congrats? Shina, Time in!" Kara released her Luxio onto the field, who glared at her opponent, although the oddly colored Azurill just continued to bounce on its tail obliviously. "Use Spark!" after a second to charge her fur, Shina raced towards the small green mouse—

"Body Slam!" Mary commanded, Azurill sprang into the air from her tail and landed with force on Shina, whose electricity went out as she was pounded into the ground.

Kara sighed, "Déjà vu anyone? How does a baby know those moves?"

"She was bred, that's how!" Mary laughed, "Alright Azurill, another Body Slam, and make it hurt!"

Technically, a month old Azurill is stronger than a 2-week Luxio…wait, when was Shina hatched? Ow, this strategy is hurting my head. Maybe I should leave that to Slate. "Use Bite on that tail!" Kara said, unsure what she was risking. Shina hopped into the air, her teeth bared with dark energy coating it, and sunk her teeth into Azurill's huge ball-tail-thing, but the two bodies slammed into the ground the second she caught onto the tail. Dust rose from the impact, and two seconds later, it was pretty obvious that Shina was knocked out. "You've got to be kidding me…" Kara muttered, face palming.

"Ha! Take that!" Mary cheered, and her cousin glared at her and returned her fallen Luxio, then sent out a Buneary. "Aww, it's cute!"

"Bun Buneary!" Lun screeched, and since no one had a translator on them anymore, they just took her angry expression as "I'm not cute!".

"Azurill, use Bubble!" Azurill blew out pretty bubbles from its mouth,

"Use Frustration!" Lun glided through the bubbles and lashed out on the teeny mouse, and apparently that was enough to knock it out. It fell off its tail and fell to the ground with swirls in its eyes.

"Hmm, good job," Mary said as she returned her Azurill, "Try this!" she tossed up another ball, and a golden colored dog with a beret and a red-paint dipped tail hopped out. A shiny Smeargle.

"…What is that?" Kara spat, and regretted every figuring out how to turn off her pokedex. Too bad she dropped the batteries in the lake last chapter.

"That's Smeargle, the Painter Pokémon!" Slate explained from the sidelines, "They mark their territory by using their tails like a paintbrush."

"Do they use the bathroom with that paintbrush too?" Noel asked out of nowhere. He got no answers.

"Use Frustration!" Kara commanded, Lun hopped off with fire in her eyes,

"Dodge and use Sketch!" Mary yelled quickly, Smeargle quickly hopped into the air to dodge the Buneary, then swiped its tail in the air, then landed on her with the exact same move. Lun ended up being tossed to the other side of the field.

"(How does it feel to have your own move tossed at you?)" Smeargle laughed,

Lun grunted and hopped back on her feet, "(You're dead, whatever you are! What are you, a Pokémon or fusion of a dog and a French painter?)"

"Lun, enough talk and use Quick Attack!" Kara said, getting almost impatient. She didn't like the fact that her cousin was beating her, it's just another quality of her annoying mary-sue personality. Lun crashed into Smeargle in a snap, but she was slapped with its tail and ended up getting paint across her face. She cried out in horror and tried to wipe it off—

"Frustration!" Mary yelled, Smeargle attacked, and Lun was tossed across the field again. The rabbit began to growl, the red paint still on her face. Her trainer, who she was laying exhaustedly next to, brought out a mirror and showed her face.

Hell.

The Buneary pulled on her ears in frustration, and loud out such a ferocious yell that it scared almost everyone on the field.

"Uhh…is it okay?" Tasha asked, feeling as though her Gible was chewing on her arm again. It probably was without her looking.

"Hey Slate, wanna go check out the Pokémon? Yeah let's go…" Noel said, and the two guys were able to escape from the field from where the Buneary was gonna bring hell. Even Smeargle was getting a bit scared, and when he was suddenly hit by a rabid rolling ball of rabbit, everyone assumed he was unable to battle. Mary returned it quickly, and Lun calmly hopped back over to her trainer and accepted the quick shower from a portable water bottle. Two seconds later, she was back to her bubbly self.

"Hmm, I think I might follow the guys…" Tasha said, inching away, but stopped when she saw her friend's glare,

"Move and ME UNLEASHES ZA RABBIT!" Kara exclaimed in cave-man accent, which would probably have freaked out Slate and Noel if they were there. Since Tasha and Mary knew her for a long time, they knew her fruit-loop strings were pulled whenever she wasn't talking straight. They were kind of stuck in the battle now..

"Metagross, finish this battle!" Mary released her starter Pokémon, a huge metal contraption with an X where its mouth should be. Well, it has a mouth, just with an X over it. Unlike her other Pokémon, Metagross was regularly colored.

"…Are you serious? You have…whatever that is?" Kara gasped, shaking in her shorts and tank top. The metal monster seemed indestructible.

"Give up?" Mary smirked.

"Uh, no," Kara defended lamely, "Lun, use Frustration!" the Buneary hopped off, but just as she got to the face of the metal contraption—

"Hammer Arm." With one simple smack from Metagross' stub of an arm, the Buneary was out. In a depression in the ground. But those will fill back up eventually, right?

Damn, not even a scratch on that stupid gloss, Kara thought as she returned her Buneary, "Lale, Time in!" she released her Lotad to the middle of the battlefield, who looked up obliviously to the floating metal hunk with arms and legs.

"Meteor Mash!" Mary says, Metagross prepares its glittery fist—

"Mist! Quick!" Kara cried out frantically, Lale blew out white fog that immediately obscured the battlefield. Metagross stopped its attack and looked around, trying to spot the tiny bug. "Now use Nature Power!" the Lotad began generating power—

"Psychic." Mary deadpanned. Metagross' eyes flashed, and the fog was blown away by a string-y force. Lale was clearly visible now.

Holy crap we're dead! "Hurry up and do it!" Kara cried out. Lale fired the attack—it came out as Seed Bomb. The seeds erupted on Metagross' coat, but afterwards it still looked fine as if the attack was merely a flick from someone's finger. Annoying and hardly painful.

"Meteor Mash." One painful rock-hard jab later, and the Lotad was found in a crater, overturned and knocked out. Kara shook her head in defeat and returned Lale, then tossed her last pokéball up, releasing her Prinplup named Emporor, or Emp for short. "Aww cute, was it your starter?" Mary cooed.

"Yeah, and don't call him cute!" Kara protested, "Show her Emp! Bubblebeam!"

"We'll pity you," Mary laughed, "Go ahead and take that attack Metagross."

Shouldn't have done that, Kara smirked, let's try and break your perfect win streak. Emp span and released the bullet bubbles, and to everyone's surprise, the bubbles pushed Metagross back almost a few inches. The metal contraption shook off the attack and let out a roar, which the Prinplup replied with the middle finger/wing. (:O ooh that's baad bad prinplup baaad)

"Metal Claw!" Mary commanded,

"Emp, you use Metal Claw too, the way you did it in the contests!" Kara replied, the two Pokémon began to look like blue spinning metal tops. When they collided, they ended up pushing each other backwards. This kept going on for another eighteen or so seconds before the last collision threw them backwards more than usual, unraveling them from their metal body parts.

"Hammer Arm!" Mary yelled, Metagross charged towards the penguin with its glowing fist behind him—

"Dodge and use Bubblebeam!" Emp jumped into the air just as the punch came, then bombarded the metal hunk with bubbles from the top. This obviously did more damage then last time, and Metagross had to knock him out of the sky with its arm to stop him.

"Finish this! Use Metal Claw!" Mary said, and it was too late for the Prinplup to dodge. He got the metal stub/arm in the gut, then collapsed on the ground with an open beak.

"…Prinplup is unable to battle! The Metagross wins!" Tasha announced. Mary squealed and hugged her Metagross, who was scratched up from all the fighting.

"…Just great, the mary-sue triumphs again." Kara groaned, falling to the ground to sit, "I should've seen this coming, it's totally Pokémon story cliché…"

"Don't feel bad Kara, you did great!" Mary cheered from a few feet away.

"Whatever…" her cousin muttered. It was silent for almost a second before they could feel the ground moving under them, like a mob with heavy feet were running their way…

"Slate did it!" Noel cried out accusingly as he and Slate began running towards them with a pack of angry Tauros chasing them. Mary sighed and put a hand to her forehead,

"Interesting friends you have there…"

Kara just smiled sheepishly.

This chapter makes me sad, it was more Mary-centric then the other girl. Anyway, the contest chapter is next, so fingerscrossed that something good happens! -crosses fingers that ache from schoolwork-