"That oddish is still following us." Kelsie glanced over her shoulder at the happy, hyperactive plant that was bobbing along behind them. It was singing, cheerfully, getting along well with both James and Kelsie's pokemon.
Kelsie giggled at it, but James just rolled his eyes. "And?"
"You should catch it."
"Why don't you?"
"I don't really want an oddish."
"What makes you think I do?" Kelsie shrugged at his retort. Once again, it was getting dark. This would be the third night camping out in Ilex forest and neither of them had no clue as to how near or far the exit was. James had completely ran out of food and Kelsie only had a little left.
They stopped to set up camp, near a random pond. For some reason, the air felt cooler, refreshing. James set up the tents whilst Kelsie fed the pokemon with the last of her food. Even the oddish.
"Why did you feed him?" James hissed.
"I couldn't let it go hungry!" The oddish squealed in agreement. James stomped off to the pond in a huff, resolving to catch a magikarp for dinner.
Polly dived in the water, happily. She had missed it; swimming about in the cool liquid, playing in the weeds with the other water pokemon. She was more at home in the water than on land. She helped James catch a magikarp easily.
"I guess I'll have to get used to this." Kelsie sighed. "Magikarp, magikarp stew, magikarp pie… I hate fish!"
Flaaffy sat on the log near the pond, watching her friend in the water, ducking when a splash of water came her way. Rex and spearow headed into James' tent, ready for bed. The oddish, who was nocturnal and had become steadily more energetic the darker the sky had become, had completely overexcited itself, watching Polly jump into the pond. It squealed loudly, in exhilaration, and rushed towards the water.
Big mistake.
Though the pond wasn't exactly deep, to a tiny, bulbous pokemon it was. It wasn't until the oddish had plunged itself into its depths, that it realized. It thrashed and flailed about, struggling to keep its head above the water. Polly was underwater at the time, enjoying her swim, so she didn't notice. Flaaffy couldn't do much, she was too afraid that the static in her wool would fry every pokemon in the water, the oddish and Polly included.
It was James who came to the rescue. He waded through the mud and the weeds that surrounded the water's edge and swam over to the oddish, carrying it back to the camp.
From that moment on, oddish never left James alone.
Finally, Lysander was gone, leaving Scott alone. He could think in peace, at last.
His initial idea involved body-bags to smuggle out weaker pokemon. That way, if he could co-operate with the pokemon, he could pretend he had been conducting experiments with dire consequences. The 'dead' pokemon, maybe even more than one, could then be carried outside, hidden in the body-bag, and released. All he needed was an outside contact to lead the pokemon to safety. Perhaps someone with a farm or ranch, who would make sure the pokemon would remain safe. The only downside was that, in order for his plan to succeed, some pokemon would have to be sacrificed and left behind, so that Vasseur, and all the other sadistic henchmen, wouldn't get suspicious.
Ok, so that wasn't the only downside. He also needed a contact. Liana Rose was the only person he could think of with the facilities to contain a large amount of pokemon. But, she had Pedro and her farm to look after. She also had no means of getting to and from Kanto herself, let alone transporting pokemon as well.
He also had no means of contact. He was sure that the phone-lines were tapped. Every word he said, every plan he revealed, would be heard by the enemy. He would have to think of another way to communicate with the outside world.
He had had another brainwave. It would require a lot of planning, though. If he could, somehow, create a sort of army with the stronger pokemon, perhaps he could bring Vasseur down. It would also be a way to make it look less conspicuous; keeping the stronger pokemon behind, whilst helping the weaker ones escape.
"Morning campers!" A loud, but breezy voice sailed into James' tent, waking him. Actually, it was Rex who had woken him. Once he had heard the strange voice, he leapt up and started howling. Spearow awoke with a start, launching himself at the houndour, trying to get him to shut up. It had the opposite effect- it made Rex worse.
James threw the blanket, that was covering his sleeping bag, at the scrapping pokemon and, when that didn't work, he wriggled his way out of the bag, frantically scrambling around for his belt, the one that had Rex and spearow's pokeballs on.
What his tent must have looked like from the outside was laughable.
Once he had finally gotten his pokemon to behave, by returning them, he hurried to get dressed, to find out who that strange voice belonged to.
Kelsie looked just as tired as he did. The air was still cool and a few ledyba could be seen in the trees; it must have been pretty early. Kelsie and James usually got up late morning, their pokemon just before them. Never had any of them awoken this early, though.
"What's going on?" James yawned, stretching. Kelsie pointed at the campfire. There, crouched over, prodding the already charred wood with a twig, trying to fuel the flames, was a teenage girl. Her attire was perfect, she clearly hadn't been camping as long as James and Kelsie had. Her crimson hair was familiar, James seemed to remember meeting someone who had the same amethyst and electric blue tints decorating their hair.
"Hungry?" She asked, with a smile, fixing her chocolate-coloured eyes especially on Kelsie's pokemon. "Breakfast is almost ready." At the word 'breakfast', James' stomach growled, loudly. Last night's magikarp hadn't gone down too well.
Oddish, who had been sitting near the pond, waddled over to the group gathering around the fire. It settled itself next to the new girl, gazing up at her in curiosity. "Aww, cute oddish!" She exclaimed, the oddish beamed. "Whose is it?"
Kelsie pointed to James, before he could even say anything. He glared at her, but oddish's beam grew bigger and it rushed over to its saviour, plonking itself down in his lap.
"It likes you." The girl giggled.
"Not to be rude, but who are you?" James' tone contradicted his words.
She, however, was unaffected. "Oh, sorry. I should have realised you wouldn't remember me. I'm the girl whose pokemon you saved."
A look of realization struck Kelsie's face. "Oh!" She cried. "You're the breeder! Kirralie!" Kirralie nodded. "What are you doing here?"
"I've started my journey." She looked immensely proud of herself, as she indicated the pokeballs on her belt. There was one more than last time. "I was on my way to Azalea to get my first badge."
"That would explain why you don't look so dirty and tired." James mumbled, glancing at her again. She didn't even look fazed that it was only seven o'clock in the morning. She was very pretty though; creamy skin, mesmerising smile.
Kirralie chuckled. "I can usually make this journey in two days." James was beginning to find her attitude annoying, despite her beauty.
"Get you."
"That's great, when did you start?"
"About two days after I left you. I took my pokemon and headed out to Violet. Got my badge and went to Goldenrod. Whitney is tough though." The three of them spent the morning talking about their adventures so far. Kirralie introduced her pokemon; she had a female bellsprout who had been her first ever caught pokemon, a female hoppip which she had caught on her way to Violet city, a female togepi who had just hatched a few days ago and a male pichu. Which was a darker yellow than any other pichu or pikachu James had seen.
"So that's settled then," Kelsie's voice brought James out of his trance. "We'll see you in a few days." Kirralie got up, waved goodbye to the two of them and their pokemon and then started her journey to Azalea.
"What?"
"I invited her to hang around with us for a little while, once she won her gym battle against Bugsy." Kelsie got up also and began to pack away her tent. "Hope that's ok?"
"Looks like I don't have a choice."
