"Hey, guys! Wake up!" Clover shouted. It was late morning and Free, Heather, and Deka were still asleep. "We're not gonna make it to Olivine before dark if you keep sleeping!"
"Uhhh…" Heather groaned, struggling to get out of her sleeping bag. Free started to get up, gently nudging Chikorita awake, and Deka began to rise as well.
"Why are you so loud?" Free asked sleepily, rubbing his eyes.
"To wake you up! You guys are so LAZY!" Clover complained loudly. Espeon pawed at her ears from the noise and Swablu fluttered her wings angrily.
"Fine, we're up!" Deka shouted.
The four trainers packed their stuff up, returned their Pokémon, and set back off on the path to Olivine. After awhile, the trainers became wary and stopped to take a break at a small lake a little ways off the road. They took a seat on a large, mossy rock at the water's edge to rest. The sound of water lapping at the lake shore was immensely relaxing.
"Hey, are you guys Pokémon trainers?" A familiar, annoying voice asked from behind them. They turned around at the same time and saw Rachael, the trainer they had met way back in Azalea. Recognition dawned on her face. "Hey, I know you guys!"
Rachael ran over to give them all hugs. They reluctantly hugged back, but just so she wouldn't force it upon them.
"Do you want to have a Pokémon battle? I was looking for someone to battle, and I'm just so lucky that I found you guys!" Rachael asked, grabbing a ball off of her belt.
"How long do you have?" Deka asked.
"Well, if I battle one of you, I have to go right after−"
"I'll battle you!" Heather volunteered. The other three silently sighed in relief.
"She's taking one for the team, guys," Free sighed quietly to the others.
"Alright! Go, Whismur!" Rachael shouted.
"Whismur, Whis!" The Pokémon cried in a terribly high-pitched voice. It was a light pink color with curved ears and almost addition signs for eyes. It looked petrified, but that could just be its expression for everything. Free pulled out his Pokédex at the sight of a new Pokémon, as usual.
"Whismur, the Whisper Pokémon," Free's Pokédex read.
"Tauros-poop!" Deka shouted over the Pokédex. "That thing does not whisper!"
"Shh… I can't hear my Pokédex," Free mumbled, placing the speaker next to his ear.
"Normally, Whismur's voice is very quiet - it is barely audible even if one is paying close attention. However, if this Pokémon senses danger, it starts crying at an earsplitting volume. If it starts to cry loudly, it becomes startled by its own crying and cries even harder. When it finally stops crying, the Pokémon goes to sleep, all tired out."
"Such an annoying Pokémon fits such an annoying person," Deka murmured. Clover and Free giggled at this.
"Go, Jolt−"
"Grimer!" A red beam of light shot from a ball on Heather's bag to the ground where Grimer appeared.
"Aw, not again!" Heather cried.
"Whismur, use pound!" Rachael ordered.
"Grimer… um… attack!" Heather commanded, still not knowing any of Grimer's attacks.
Grimer followed her orders though, and as Whismur charged at him, he gathered a huge ball of sludge and flung it at the small, pink Pokémon. It caused Whismur to tumble backwards uncontrollably and the grime stuck to his face.
"That's a sludge attack, Heather!" Deka told her.
"Right… Do another one then, Grimer! Sludge!" Heather shouted.
Grimer gathered another ball and threw it at Whismur.
"Whismur, use uproar!" Rachael commanded. Whismur opened his mouth wide and started crying. The sludge broke apart from the rattle of sound waves and fell to the ground. The trainers, including Rachael, covered their ears.
"What other attacks does Grimer know?" Heather asked herself out loud once Whismur had quieted.
Free pointed his Pokédex at Grimer and scanned it.
"It knows sludge, fire punch, and shadow sneak," Free informed her.
"That's pretty nifty! Try your fire punch, Grimer!" Heather shouted.
Grimer nodded and leapt into the air to his best of abilities, his fist on fire. He came down near Whismur and prepared to jab.
"Fake tears!" Rachael ordered quickly.
Whismur flinched and began to cry dramatically. Grimer stopped his attack and looked at Whismur, confused and worried.
"Now, headbutt!" Rachael said happily. She felt like she had fooled her opponent into a victory for herself.
Whismur lunged forward and smashed her head into Grimer's body. Grimer didn't take much damage from this, but he shifted back anyways.
"Alright. Let's try that shadow sneak attack!" Heather ordered.
"Wait, no!" Free yelled.
Grimer focused his energy and his shadow suddenly repositioned itself under Whismur. Whismur had a worried expression on her face whenever suddenly, the shadows rose from the ground and smashed into her. Nothing happened.
"Ghost-type attacks like shadow sneak won't have any effect on a normal-type like Whismur," Free reminded her.
"Oh yeah," Heather murmured.
"You idiot. Forgetting something like that is so stupid of you," Deka cackled.
Heather tuned towards Deka, anger in her face. "Shut up, Deka! I'll punch you in the nose!"
"Not even Rust over here would make that kind of mistake," Deka said, motioning towards Free.
"Don't call me Rust!" Free screamed before murmuring to himself, "I'm not a rusty trainer."
"I'm going to need a stronger attack!" Heather yelled. Grimer turned and nodded to her and gathered a larger ball of sludge.
"I think he's going to go for a sludge bomb!" Free exclaimed, watching Grimer's every move. Deka nodded in agreement. He also held his Pokédex to scan any of Grimer's attacks.
As Grimer gathered the sludge, he began to glow a bright white and started to expand.
"Is he evolving?" Clover screamed over Whismur with curiosity filling her voice.
"Muhhhhhk…!" The purple pile of sludge answered. This time, Free's Pokédex was already out to scan the Pokémon.
"Muk, the Sludge Pokémon. Poison-type. From Muk's body seeps a foul fluid that gives off a nose-bendingly horrible stench. Just one drop of this Pokémon's body fluid can turn a pool stagnant and rancid."
"Awesome! I got a Muk! Muk, use Sludge Bomb!" Heather said excitedly. "And keep away from that nice lake!"
He violently threw the ball into Whismur's mouth, silencing it. Whismur fell back to the ground, unable to get up.
"No! I can't believe my best friend LOST!" Rachael shrieked. "And I bet my poor baby is poisoned, too!"
"She's almost as loud as her Pokémon…" Free snorted. Deka chuckled at his comment.
"Well, I guess you won. What happened to that egg you had?" Rachael asked, returning Whismur to his Poké Ball.
"He just beat you! I guess Muk just wanted revenge from you shaking him as an egg," Heather muttered the last part. Rachael didn't seem to hear her.
"Well, look at the time! I have to go!" Rachael cried. She quickly gave them all hugs before turning to run off. "Bye! I love you all!"
"That was an interesting battle," Deka said. "What an interesting girl…"
"I think the most interesting part was how Grimer evolved. I really wonder how that happened after so little battle experience?" Free asked.
Heather nodded. "Maybe he's special or something. Some Pokémon have great potential."
"Uh huh…" Clover sighed. She sat back down on the rock as soon as a small blue Pokémon hopped out of the lake.
"Aw, what kind of Pokémon is that?" Clover asked.
"That's a Poliwag!" Deka answered proudly. Free smiled as he held up his Pokédex for the fourth time that day.
"Poliwag, the Tadpole Pokémon. Water-type. Poliwag has a very thin skin. It is possible to see the Pokémon's spiral innards right through the skin. Despite its thinness, however, the skin is also very flexible. Even sharp fangs bounce right off it.
"It's cute, I want to catch it!" Clover replied. The Pokémon turned to face her, hearing this statement.
"Yes, seeing its innards is so cute," Deka called sarcastically at his sister.
"Poli?" It said, innocently.
"Swablu, use sing!" Clover said.
Swablu flew off of her head and began to sing sweetly to the Poliwag. Poliwag gently drifted to sleep and Clover pulled out a Poké Ball.
"I'm gonna catch you!" She cried as she threw the ball. Hit gently hit Poliwag and then sucked her into the ball with a red beam. It calmly rocked three times then let out a soft ding.
"Well, that was fast," Heather stated. Clover smiled cockily.
"I'm the best!" She replied, going to pick up the ball. She spoke to it then. "And you're gonna be the best too!"
"This has been a pretty eventful hour," Free laughed.
A/N Looks like we had a lot go on! Things should be picking up in a bit with a gym battle and eventually the Whirl Cup! We also did a poll for our stories, if you'd like to go to the profile and totally check that out. We'd like to thank any of the new readers that we've received over this past week. Thank you new readers... that is all.
Q1) What do you think of Rachael?
Q2) How do you think Free and Heather's battle against Janine will turn out?
Q3) Out of all of our stories, which is your favorite, so far?
Much goofy love, JohtoBlue