The Year of Rocket's Revenge
Session: November, Part 3 (11.21.05 / 02.22.07)
Whilst Gary was competing in the Pokémon Junior Master Tournament, his two followers, Stephanie and Amber, were nowhere to be found. Much to Cassie's dismay, who seemed to thrive on jabbing at any supposed romantic relationship he may have had with them. Particularly Stephanie.
After a short break to visit their families and such, Stephanie and Amber rejoined Gary as he made a trip to the Johto Region. Gary's in the midst of tackling a new challenge, trying to gather all eight Johto badges. Along the way, he has to fight off the advances of Stephanie, who still refuses to let it sink in that he doesn't like her that way, and Amber's fleeting whims, as she searches the world trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life.
But today, a third girl threatens to enter the picture and muddle it even further. Is Gary on the fast track to putting together a brand new squad of cheerleaders? Or will Stephanie refuse to share Gary with anyone else? And just what does Amber want to be this week?
Thursday, November 15th, West Route 29, Johto Region
Meanwhile, somewhere on the road to Cherrygrove City...
"Oh, come on!" shouted a shrill voice. "When will you admit that you're in love with me? We all know it's true!"
A group of three was walking along the road, but one of them in particular was being quite loud about it.
"Please, Gary-poo!"
Loud enough to disturb some Pidgey and Hoothoot, who flew away from their nests to get away from the disturbance.
"I thought I told you not to call me by that name!"
"But it's my pet name for you, Gary-poo! If it makes you feel any better, you can call me Stephanie-poo!"
The shrill voice happened to be Stephanie Applegate, who was openly flirting with the guy she cheered on everyday, Gary Oak.
"Then again," Stephanie reconsidered, "that sounds funny with my name attached."
Ahead of them, their 'third,' a younger girl who was also one of Gary's supporters, was frustrated that the duo was lollygagging behind. She was Amber Gyro, who was in a rush to get to Cherrygrove City.
"Come on, hurry up! I so wanna get there so Horsea and I can go tryout to become Pok?on cheerleaders for the Seadra professional baseball team!"
"Amber's right," Gary said as he started walking faster, leaving Stephanie behind. "Let's pick it up."
"But don't you wanna walk with me anymore?" Stephanie asked as she picked up her pace to stay beside him.
Before Gary could answer her question, the three of them started hearing music coming from nearby. Out of genuine curiosity, the trio started heading towards the fanciful tune.
TWEET! TWEET! TWEET TWEET TWEET!
TWEET! TWEET! TWEET TWEET TWEET!
In a clearing just ahead, a blue-haired girl was in the midst of showing a display of team spirit as a boom box played at her feet the introduction to her favorite team's fight song. She was dressed the part of her team, too, decked out in yellow jacket with black pinstripes, white baseball shorts, and a white cap with a lightning bolt insignia front and center on the bill. She also had a miniature plastic yellow bat, which she was swinging to and fro. Next to her was her lone Pok?on, Chikorita, who was bobbing her head up and down to the beat. Chikorita was also decorated similarly, sporting a yellow and black headband with the same lightning bolt insignia in the center.
TWEET! TWEET! TWEET TWEET TWEET!
"Okay, Chikorita, you know what to do!" the girl exclaimed. "Say it loud, sing it proud!"
"Chika!" Chikorita chirped.
With that, the girl and her Chikorita started singing.
"Let's all cheer Electabuzz, greatest team of all!
The players charge the field and double-team the ball!
They're the crew with Mega Punch when they are in a crunch!
Metronome, safe at home, Hyper Beam too!
Win! Win! Through thick or thin!
Electa-buzz, it's you! YAAAY!"
"YAAAY!" Amber repeated, applauding as she ran out into the clearing. "A Pok?on cheerleader, in the flesh!"
"Huh?" the girl blinked, noticing Amber but unable to hear her because of the loud music.
Chikorita used her vines to stretch over to the stereo and push the 'stop' button, bringing calm back to the surrounding forest.
"That's better. Now... what were you saying?"
"So you're a Pokémon cheerleader!" Amber gasped with excitement, beginning to talk faster and faster. "What kind of cheers do you do? How much do you get paid? Do you really get to meet the actual players? Anyone tell you that your Chikorita is adorable? Is that the actual uniform a cheerleader has to wear? I guess shorts are preferred to skirts, huh?"
"Uh..."
"Silly me, where are my manners? My name's Amber."
"And I'm Gary Oak," Gary introduced himself as he appeared in the clearing. "Perhaps you've heard of me?"
"And I happen to be the beautiful Stephanie Applegate," Gary's other 'friend' proclaimed, "here to tell you that Gary-poo here is taken! Oh, and to ignore Amber. Before you know it, she'll want to be the next Pok?on Idol or something like that. She's trying to figure out what to do with her life."
"Like you have any reason to talk!" Amber shot back.
"And I thought we agreed that you'd stop calling me by that name!" Gary objected.
"Details, details," Stephanie shrugged.
"My name's Casey," the blue-haired girl told them. "Pleased to meet ya!"
"Likewise," Amber replied cheerfully.
"So... you don't look like you guys are from around here. Where ya headed?"
"To Cherrygrove City! My Horsea and I are going to try out to be Pok?on cheerleaders for their professional baseball team, the Seadra!"
"The... Sea... dra?"
"What? Is something wrong?"
"You're a Seadra fan? Oh, no no no! We can't have THAT! Don't you know that the Electabuzz are the greatest team in the land?"
"Electabuzz, 6th place out of 6 teams, with a record of 57-80-3," Gary read from the Cherrygrove Chronicle, one of the local newspapers. "Finished 20.5 games out of first place, sixth season of last seven in which team has finished in last."
"I don't know much about baseball," Stephanie admitted, "but that sounds bad."
"We've just had bad luck and horribly-timed injuries and stuff," defended Casey. "Next season, we'll take the pennant and everything, JUST YOU WATCH!"
"Whatever you say, kid."
"All I'm sayin' is, that when it comes to team spirit... the Electabuzz are better than the rest!"
"Is being a cheerleader for the Electabuzz really that much better?" asked Amber with curiosity. "The only reason I picked the Seadra was because they were the closest team to New Bark Town, and I really wanted to get into it while the getting's good."
"Well, my friend, allow me to introduce you to everything being a fangirl of the Electabuzz entails!"
"Like, how to cheer a team that totally sucks!" interrupted Stephanie.
"They don't SUCK!"
"I bet they're so stupid that they'll kick a ball into their own net on purpose!" Stephanie said, imagining said event with two small Electabuzz posing as the players.
"That's not even the right sport!"
Stephanie then imagined five miniature Electabuzz grappling with a large Snorlax, to the cheering of thousands of spectators.
"Or they're so weak that the entire team gets pushed out of the ring by one big guy, all at the same time!"
"That's not it, either!"
Stephanie's thoughts turned to an Electabuzz struggling against a Pichu in a game of Go.
"They're so pathetic, they can't win even with a nine stone handicap and a komi of eight points!"
"THAT'S NOT EVEN A SPORT, AND KOMI CAN'T EXCEED FIVE-AND-A-HALF AT THE PRO LEVEL!"
"Do you understand what they're arguing about?" Amber asked Gary.
Gary shrugged his shoulders. "Eh... I stopped listening when Stephanie started talking."
"And you're my squad mates!" Stephanie yelled at Amber and Gary. "You should be helping me show this poser her place!"
"Two members don't make up a squad," Amber told her.
"And last time I checked, I'm not a cheerleader!" Gary defended.
"Poser?" Casey shouted. "Only a real poser would call somebody else a poser!"
"Oh yeah? Only a poser would come back with some lame law like that!"
"You're just jealous because you can't comprehend what it means to cheer for such a great team like the Electabuzz!"
"I comprehend that they're horrible, and you don't have what it takes to admit it! If you're a real cheerleader, you need to stand behind someone who understands what it takes to be the best. Someone who's always on the top of his game. Someone who doesn't take kindly to losing!"
"Please don't tell me you're talking about yourself," Casey said, rolling her eyes.
"I'm talking about Gary Oak!" Stephanie exclaimed, pointing at him. "He's a member of the Pokémon League, has collected over 60 Pokémon, and is the fastest trainer on record to reach the 1,000 and 2,000 win career mark! You should be worshipping Gary like the God he is!"
"Even I don't like to get THAT carried away," Gary muttered.
Casey snapped her fingers. "I knew that name sounded familiar."
"That's right, you little rookie! The best team in town is in the hands of Gary Oak! And you're looking at the official cheerleading squad of the Gary Oak Fan Club!"
"Steph, really, two people does not equal a squad," Amber reiterated.
"Now, it's time to show you the official Gary Oak Fan Club cheer! Usually, we only do this when Gary's whooping the butt of some pathetic trainer. But we'll do it for free, just this once!"
Stephanie reached into her backpack and pulled out her purple pompoms. She went into her normal cheerleading routine, swinging them around and jumping about.
"Gary, Gary, he's our man! If he can't do it, no one can! YAAAY!"
Casey just stood there, her jaw having figuratively dropped to the ground in shock. Stephanie then shot an angry glare at Amber, who was shyly hanging by Gary and trying to stay out of it.
"Amber, get your butt over here and help me show this brat up!"
"But..."
Stephanie pulled out a second set of pompoms out of her backpack and tossed them at Amber, who instinctively caught them.
"No buts! Except for the one you should be shaking! Now..."
Reluctantly, Amber walked over and joined Stephanie in reciting their cheer.
"Gary, Gary, he's our man! If he can't do it, no one can! YAAAY!"
Only Amber didn't have any enthusiasm in her cheering or her pompom swinging... which Stephanie duly noted.
"This is Gary Oak you're cheering on here, girl! Shake it like your life depended on it!"
And so, once more...
"Gary, Gary, he's our man! If he can't do it, no one can! YAAAY!"
Casey sighed. "Talk about striking out. No wonder Gary didn't win the title of Pokémon Junior Master. He just didn't want it bad enough."
"YOU TAKE THAT BACK, YOU LITTLE MUNCHKIN!"
"OH YEAH? MAKE ME!"
"GARY!" Stephanie shouted at the spiky-haired one. "MAKE HER TAKE IT BACK!"
But Gary was in the midst of checking something in his Pok?ex.
"Hmmm... according to this map I downloaded, we're only about two miles away from Cherrygrove."
"WHY AREN'T YOU TAKING THIS SERIOUSLY, GARY-POO?"
"Because I have better things to do then to get mixed in the middle of a girl fight."
"I agree," Amber said, walking over to Casey and interlocking arms with her... to Casey's surprise. "Besides, Casey's got me all excited about becoming an official Electabuzz fangirl!"
"But you wanted to be a Pokémon cheerleader just a minute ago!" Stephanie reminded her. "Besides, the only person you should be a fangirl of is Gary!"
"Amber knows where it's at!" Casey smiled. "Give me a high five!"
Amber smiled back and did high-five the Electabuzz fangirl.
"THAT'S IT! It's one thing to steal a fellow squad member, BUT NOW YOU WANT TO STEAL GARY FROM ME TOO?"
"What?" Amber asked, a bit confused.
"WHAT?" Casey added, in rage.
"I don't belong to her," Gary stated nonchalantly as he pulled out the Cherrygrove Chronicle again and started reading.
"I challenge you to a one-on-one Pokémon battle!"
"What?" Amber gasped.
"WHAT?" Casey questioned as she glanced at her Chikorita.
"But you don't have a Pokémon of your own," Gary admitted truthfully, his face covered by the paper.
"That's okay!" Stephanie smiled as she held up a Pokéball. "I'm secret borrowing Amber's for this."
"What?" Amber freaked, searching her pockets and finding her lone Pokéball missing.
"WHAT?" Casey growled.
"Seriously," Gary dittoed. "enough with the repetitive gags already! Next person to start one gets a bat upside the head!"
"If I win," Stephanie said to Casey, "you hop along your merry little way and promise to proclaim the greatness that is Gary Oak! While simultaneously promising never to have any romantic feelings for him ever again!"
"But I don't have any..."
"If you win, you can... I don't know, get a free peck or something. Oh, and I'll allow you to teach Amber how to be an Electabuzz fangirl."
"But I wanna be an Electabuzz fangirl no matter what," Amber said pleadingly. "It's my life long dream!"
"Some dreams were meant to be broken," Stephanie told her.
Amber reached over and plucked Casey's hat from her head and put it on her own.
"Hey!" Casey objected.
"Win! Win! Through thick or thin!" Amber cheered. "Electa-buzz, it's you! YAAAY!"
"You gave me a great idea!" Casey said as she giggled with delight over Amber's cheer. "If I win, then you, Stephanie, have to learn the entire Electabuzz fight song and promise to sing it all the way through at Gary's next televised battle!"
"Ha! I suppose I can live with those terms! Not that I'm gonna lose to begin with!"
"We'll see who's laughing when the final out is recorded!"
Minutes later, Casey, who had gotten her cap back from Amber, and Stephanie were at the opposite ends of a battlefield that had been horribly rushed together, with nearby tree leaves and branches used to mark the field boundaries. Gary had somehow been roped into being the battle judge, with Amber too enamored with the Electabuzz fight song that she was on the sidelines, trying to create a cheer routine based on it.
"Okay, let's see... left, right, pivot step, right, left, pivot step, pelvic thrust forward..."
"YOU TRAITOR!" Stephanie yelled at her. "YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE CHEERING FOR ME!"
"I'm only doing this since I don't care who wins," Gary said truthfully.
"AND HE'S SAYING THAT BECAUSE HE HAS TO BE IMPARTIAL!"
"Stop yelling and throw your first pitch already!" Casey exclaimed.
"Fine then! I choose Horsea!"
Stephanie throughout her Pokéball, the one she 'secretly borrowed' from Amber, and out came Horsea, a little confused about why her trainer was over on the sideline.
"Just do whatever she says, please!" Amber pleaded to her Horsea.
"And I'm sending Chikorita up to bat!" Casey announced, as her Chikorita stepped forward.
"Chika!"
"This battle is a one-on-one match between Stephanie and Casey!" Gary proclaimed. "There is no time limit. The match ends when one trainer's Pokémon is unable to continue!"
"Since I'm older, prettier, and wiser," flaunted Stephanie, "I'm going first!"
"Fine with me!" Casey shot back. "We'll knock it out of the park!"
"BEGIN!"
"Now, let me see..." Stephanie thought aloud. "Which attacks does Horsea know how to use?"
"BOOOO!" Casey jeered. "Bring in a relief pitcher!"
"Ah, I got it! Horsea, use..."
Casey and Chikorita leaned back in defensive positions, ready for the first attack.
"Hydro Pump! Blast that grass thing of hers into the next region!"
Horsea blinked her eyes several times, then glanced at Stephanie with a blank expression on her face.
"Horsea?"
"Steph!" Amber exclaimed from the sidelines. "Horsea doesn't know how to use that move yet."
Stephanie facefaulted.
"Ball one!" called Casey.
"Well, then," she recovered, getting back to her feet. "Horsea, let's go with Water Gun!"
Horsea nodded, then wrinkled her mouth as if she were going to fire a stream of water from it. She tried, and tried, and tried again, but nothing came out. Despondent in her failure, Horsea sighed disappointedly.
"Horsea..."
Stephanie facefaulted again.
"That's ball two!"
"DAMN IT, AMBER, DOES SHE KNOW ANYTHING?"
"Well," Amber thought aloud. "There is Bubble."
"BUBBLE?"
"Don't blame me!" Amber apologized. "I just caught her three days ago!"
"Fine! Horsea, use Bubble!"
Horsea finally succeeded in pulling off a move, letting loose a stream of bubbles towards Chikorita.
A stream that consisted of three... yes, three, bubbles.
"Finally, a hittable pitch!" Casey exclaimed. "Chikorita, Razor Leaf!"
"Chika CHIKA!" Chikorita screamed.
Chikorita's Razor Leaf easily destroyed Horsea's Bubble and drilled right into Horsea, sending her flying into Stephanie's arms.
Where Horsea promptly fainted.
"Horsea is unable to continue!" Gary decided. "The match goes to Casey!"
"Perfect game!" Casey shouted with joy. "Chikorita pitches a perfect game to lead the Electabuzz to victory!"
Amber ran over and retrieved Horsea's Pokéball, recalling her lone partner back to safety as Stephanie bawled her eyes out, dropping to her knees.
"If I knew I was going to stink this bad, I would've challenged her to a cheer-off... WAAAAAAA!"
"You should've 'secret borrowed' from Gary," Amber chided.
"This calls for a celebration!" Casey stated. "Amber, hit it!"
Amber nodded, then bolted back over to the boom box and hit the 'play' button on it. In seconds, Casey was singing her heart out.
"Let's all cheer Electabuzz, greatest team of all..."
Amber enthusiastically joined in on the second line...
"The players charge the field and double-team the ball..."
"I can't believe I'm being reduced to singing a fight song... that doesn't praise Gary Oak! WAAAAA! This is the worst day ever!"
Two hours later, Gary, Stephanie, and Amber were getting ready to depart, as sunset was fast approaching. Casey had a smile of satisfaction spread across her face as she prepared to bid them adieu.
"Now remember your promise!" Casey glared at Stephanie.
"I know, I know!" Stephanie nodded.
"And ya have to sing it like ya mean it!"
"Of course I will!"
"I guess going to Cherrygrove's a waste now," Amber said. "Truth be told, I knew it wasn't worth it."
"Why not?" Casey asked. "I know it's not the Electabuzz, but still..."
"Well," Amber bonked herself lightly on the head as she pulled a flyer from her backpack, "it's only November. Cheerleading tryouts aren't until early February. Oopsie!"
Stephanie facefaulted to the ground.
"You mean I battled that girl for NOTHING?"
She then turned to her right and saw Gary gritting his teeth angrily as he brandished a wooden baseball bat.
"Uh... Gary-poo?" she chuckled nervously. "Is that what I think it is?"
"What did I say about repeated gags?"
Gary swung at Stephanie's head, but she ducked under it. She then began to high-tail it towards Cherrygrove, with Gary in hot pursuit.
"This won't do wonders for our relationship!"
"We never had one to begin with!"
"Won't Mothers Against Wailing on Women sue us or something?"
"I'm sure they'll excuse this case because of your horrible sense of humor!"
"That's mean, Gary-poo!"
"AND STOP CALLING ME GARY-POO!"
As they disappeared over the horizon, Casey and Amber hugged each other, as Chikorita cheered them on.
"Say," Amber smirked, "you never did get that free peck."
"That's okay," Casey blew it off. "I'm not into boys yet."
"How about next time we meet, you treat me to an Electabuzz game?"
"Count on it! Then I'll show you the true meaning of being a fangirl!"
"Take care!" Amber said as she waved goodbye, heading in the direction Stephanie and Gary were running in.
"Bye bye! Electabuzz rule!"
Casey and Chikorita waved goodbye as Amber disappeared into the sunset, hoping to catch up with Gary and Stephanie before both of them ended up doing something they would later regret.
To be continued next week in Part 4!