Pokémon: 19 Deaths: 3

"Are you Lucy?" Saylee choked out. The tall brunette had hugged her so hard that Saylee was swung off of her feet and couldn't quite find the ground again. Silver was sniggering.

"Yep!" Saylee's cousin set her down and held her at arm's length while she looked her up and down. Lucy had dark red eyes and long, wavy brown hair. She was wearing silver-rimmed glasses and a long white coat. "You'll do. Nice to meet you! And is this Silver?" She let Saylee go and crouched in front of Silver, who crossed his arms and glared at her. "Ornery little brat, aren't you? Nice to meet you, li'l cuz! Cute hair. Are you a boy or a girl?"

"Oi! I'm a boy, you stupid bitch!" Silver yelled angrily.

"Silver, what did I tell you about calling people stupid bitches?" Saylee said warningly.

"She called me a girl," Silver complained, pointing at Lucy, who giggled. "Mag!"

"Mag, if you electrocute anyone in this house I will have Georgia remove you from it," Saylee said levelly. "Silver, don't set your Pokémon on your relatives."

"Oh, maybe he should!" Lucy said, getting to her feet.

"Excuse me?" Saylee said, confused.

"Well, y'know, the traditional way for two trainers to get to know each other and their Pokémon is by battle, isn't it?" Lucy said, pushing them back out of the front doors. "C'mon, there's this great field that everyone uses for casual battles. Hey, Greta?" she said, pressing the intercom. "I'm taking Saylee and Silver out for fights, if anyone's looking for us."

"Of course you are," sighed the woman that had greeted Saylee before. "Have fun!"

"Shall we?" Lucy said, closing the doors and setting off down the road.

"I'm all for it," Saylee agreed, glancing over at Silver. "You?"

"…she's probably really weak, I can beat her," Silver decided, sticking his hands in his pockets and following sullenly.

They passed through a street of shops and a couple of blocks of houses, with Lucy keeping up a random running commentary of good shops, friends' houses and places of interest, before a line of boulders abruptly cut off the houses from wide open fields. "These are the remains of an old city wall," Lucy said, patting one of the boulders as she went past. "Pat it there, where the hand mark is. It's good luck."

"Why's there a hand carved into it?" Saylee asked, patting the red mark about four feet up on one of the grey boulders. It was a huge hand; her own barely filled its palm.

"Archaeologists think it might have been ceremonial, something to do with welcoming people into the town," Lucy said with a shrug. "There's something like fifteen distinct boulders from the old wall that all have their own little superstition or myth attached to them. I'll show you sometime. Right, for now—see those two flat rocks?"

"I see them," Saylee said. Two large rocks were set roughly forty metres apart across a worn area of grass with random chunks gouged out of the ground. Saylee could see a worn-smooth oval in the nearest rock.

"You're the challenger, so you have to go stand on the farther one," Lucy said, giving Saylee a push. "I stand here, we fight. Three on three sound good to you?"

"Where do we go?" Mag asked Silver.

"I dunno, but I'm gonna go find something interesting to do unless they stop talking and start fighting," Silver grumbled, kicking the dirt at the base of Lucy's stone.

"Don't worry, I'm in," Saylee said, running off across the field. When she got to the designated boulder, her fingers danced across the pokéballs on her belt for a while before settling on one. Saylee held it up in the air to signal that she was ready to go.

"On go, then," Lucy shouted, holding up her own first choice. "Ready… set… GO!"

Lucy's first Pokémon was a Dewgong. Saylee was very, very relieved that she'd picked Nider first. Chip and Georgia would both be at great risk from a Dewgong, and powerful as Chaz was, he still wouldn't fare much better.

"This is Seraphine," Lucy said proudly. "Sera, this is my cousin Saylee, the one I was telling you about!"

"Hi," Seraphine said, bowing her head and flicking her tail elegantly. She looked to Nider. "And you are…?"

"Call me Nider, babe," he said, grinning. "I promise I'll go gentle on you…"

"And they said chivalry was dead," Seraphine commented dryly. "Well, I can fix that. Luce, darling, are we fighting or having tea on the battlefield?"

"Just getting the introductions done," Lucy said. "Alright then, Ice Beam!"

"You too, Nider!" Saylee ordered. Nider and Seraphine both fired streams of ice from their horns at the same moment. The two beams clashed in a shower of ice fragments. "Now Double-Kick!"

Nider leapt over the ice shower and kicked Seraphine forcefully. She wailed in pain as she hit the ground hard.

"Aurora Beam!" Lucy called quickly. Seraphine smirked as she hit Nider with a beam of rainbow light from point-blank range.

"Looks like a KO to me!"

"Conor, what are you doing here?" Lucy called, looking up to her left. "Don't you have a job?"

"Yeah, but rumours that if you go to the lake you'll be attacked by mutant Gyarados have kinda cramped my business," A man called back. He was sitting on a ledge about six feet high that ran along the north side of the field. He had light brown hair, almost blond, and the same dark red eyes as Lucy. "Greta said that the new cousins got here and you immediately kidnapped them out here. Is this them?"

"Nobody kidnapped us," Silver said indignantly, running over to climb up onto the ledge next to Conor. "Hey, you, why didn't you tell me there was a good view from up here? Who're you, anyway?"

"I'm Lucy's big brother and your most awesome cousin, Conor," Conor said, holding out his hand for Silver to shake. Silver pointedly ignored him. "Well, it's nice to meet you too. Silver, right? Are you Saylee, then?" he shouted.

"That I am," Saylee called back, returning the unconscious Nider. "Nice move."

"Awww, I had the advantage anyway," Lucy said, her proud grin at odd with her modest words. "Great stuff, Sera. Alright, cuz, ready for round two?" she asked, returning Seraphine and selecting another pokéball.

"Bring it on," Saylee said, choosing Georgia. She had decided not to use Chaz for this fight, so Chip was her best and she wanted to save him for last. She suspected that Lucy was doing the same. "Ready… set… GO!"

Lucy's second Pokémon looked like a pile of brown hair with tusks and a round, pink nose. Saylee clicked open her Pokédex and identified it as Piloswine, a ground/ice type.

"Sasha, this is my cousin Saylee," Lucy explained. "Saylee… whoa, what's up with your Golem? Are they meant to have four arms?"

"Oi'm perfec'ly foine, moy love, don't you worry about me," Georgia said, cracking all of her knuckles. "Oi'm Georgia, oi am. This one o' your cousins, then, Lee?"

"Georgia, Lucy and Sasha," Saylee introduced them. "Lucy, Sasha, Georgia. Georgia, Rock Smash!"

"Roight you are!" Georgia charged forwards, all four fists ready to smash into Sasha. The Piloswine was quicker and managed to dodge one pair of fists, but couldn't avoid the second. "Oi really don't know 'ow most Golems get used t'usin' just two again," Georgia commented as her opponent staggered back.

"Ice Shard!" Lucy called. Georgia was pushed back by a barrage of ice splinters. "Don't let her near you!"

"Aye, lass, I winnae," Sasha said gruffly, firing more ice shards from under her thick, shaggy fur. "That wis sair!"

"Nice strategy!" Saylee called. "Shame it's useless! Georgia! Flamethrower!"

Georgia grinned at the immediate look of panic on Lucy's face and opened her mouth. Something clicked and sparked inside and then a stream of fire hit Sasha hard.

"Sasha, return!" Lucy called as Sasha squealed in pain. "That has got to be cheating somehow. Nobody could predict that!"

"Yeah, that's the point," Saylee laughed. "She won't tell me how she actually does it. I'm assuming flint is involved somewhere."

"Trade secret, moy love, oi ain't tellin'," Georgia said. "Your boy Chaz 'elped me get it down perfect, though."

"Great job," Saylee giggled, returning her.

"Sneaky bugger," Conor was heard to comment.

"Yeah, she does that," Silver added. "Weak people are sneaky."

"The scores are now one-all, then!" Conor boomed, holding up an imaginary microphone in imitation of the Pokéathlon commentator. "Tiiiiiiime for the tiebreaker, ladies!"

"Bring it," Saylee called, holding up Chip's pokéball.

"I promise you, I saved the best for last!" Lucy shouted back. "Ready… and… GO!"

They both threw their pokéballs into the air. Chip appeared and reared up, his mane igniting. He was facing what Saylee first took for a Vaporeon but, on closer inspection…

"Are you an eeveelution?" Saylee said in surprise to the pale-blue Pokémon. "Never seen anything like you before."

"I don't doubt it, darlin'," the mysterious eeveelution said, flicking her head and making the long tresses of darker blue fur that hung past her ears flap and sparkled. "The name's Emilie. Are you that cousin Luce here was goin' on about?"

"I'm Saylee," she introduced herself with a nod. "This is Chip. Before we start, I just have to know… what are you, Emilie?"

"She evolved when we were on a skiing holiday to Snowpoint City in Sinnoh about four years ago," Lucy said proudly. "They say she's a Glaceon… an extremely rare ice-type eeveelution!" She frowned at Chip. "He's a Typhlosion, isn't he…? Bollocks."

"I ain't afraid of him, darlin'," Emilie said proudly.

"Yeah!" Lucy said, perking up again. "You're way too strong to worry about type advantages! Ice Beam!"

"Admirable sentiments, but types aren't meaningless," Saylee called. "Lava Plume!"

"Whoops," Emilie giggled, nimbly flipping out of the way of a flying clump of red-hot lava. Her Ice Beam still got through, but turned to steam as it hit Chip, causing no visible damage. "Careful, darlin', you could singe someone like that!" She leapt out of the way of shot after shot of lava, never reaching Chip herself but too agile to be hit.

"This be goin' nowhere," Chip muttered between spitting lava. "Lee? Can I be tryin' what Chaz taught me?"

"It might be overkill," Saylee said dubiously. Chip fired another shot of lava that barely missed Emilie once again, and had to dodge backwards as she darted towards him before firing the next shot.

"I'm hardly bein' strong as Chaz," he pointed out.

"If you've got somethin' of interest up your sleeve, darlin', use it!" Emilie called.

"Double Team!" Lucy ordered. Dozens of Emilies surrounded Chip. "Don't you dare hold back! Let's see what you can do! Go, Emilie! Blizzard"

"You asked for it!" Saylee yelled. "Blast Burn!"

Chip's mane flared up, burning blue as dozens of Emilies blasted powerful frozen gusts at him. Chip roared and blasted out a wave of living fire that obliterated the blizzard. The waves split around Saylee, Lucy, Conor and Silver, rolling into fireballs that homed in on Emilie's images, dissipating them and surrounding the real Glaceon. Nimble as she was, she couldn't escape the fire that tracked her.

"Emilie, return!" Lucy called just before the fire struck. "Ceez… if that's the weaker attack, I'd hate to fight your Chaz. We've gotta do that sometime."

"Game, set and match!" Conor called. "You're pretty good, for girls."

"Says the man whose loss tally is well into triple digits," Lucy said sweetly, not looking up. Conor winced.

"Ceez, how weak are you?" Silver said incredulously, staring at Conor.

"Hey, I'll fight you too, if you want, Silver!" Lucy offered. "If you're a trainer too, we need to meet 'n' greet the traditional way, right?"

"Whatever," Silver said, hopping off of the ledge and heading over to Saylee. "Just go get healed first. I don't want to waste my time on someone weak."

"Yes, sir," Lucy said, rolling her eyes and running off in the direction of the town. "Clinic's right by the edge of town, I'll just be a minute!"

Silver stopped in front of the rock that Saylee was standing on. "Move, you're in my spot."

"What's the magic word?" Saylee asked.

Silver stared at her incredulously. "What do you think I am, five?" he objected.

"Are you going to act like you are?" Saylee retorted. "Adults say please. Save the threats for when that doesn't work."

"Fine," Silver grouched. "Will you please move, you stupid bitch?"

"Ceez, kid, who taught you how manners work?" Connor said, appalled.

"Nobody, that's the problem," Saylee said, crossing her arms. "Try again, Silver. Of course, you don't have to stand here…"

Silver scowled, probably trying to decide whether "losing" constituted saying please or giving up the spot. "Please move," he eventually growled.

"Of course," Saylee said, smiling broadly at him and stepping off the rock. "Was that so hard? And if you'd just said that from the beginning, it'd all be done just that quickly."

"Yeah, yeah…" Silver picked one of his pokéballs out of his pocket and tossed it up in the air, juggling it impatiently. Mag sparked every time it bounced near him. "Where's that stupid loser? She's slow."

"You know, kid," Conor put in, "they say in Sinnoh that you catch more Combee with honey than with vinegar."

"I dunno what a Combee is, but it sounds weak," Silver said boredly. "Why would I want to catch something weak?"

"Aye-yi-yi… how the hell do you get through to that kid?" Conor asked as Saylee and Chip came over to join him. Chip boosted Saylee up so she could reach the ledge more easily.

"I'm banking on patiently," she said. "Believe it or not, he's made a lot of progress since I first met him." Conor looked incredulously from her to Silver.

"Sorry about the wait!" Lucy called, running up with her pokéballs in her arms. "Let's do this!"

"Finally," Silver complained.

{}

"She's so pretty!"

"I totally am," Siren agreed, basking in Lucy's squeals and awe. At the end of the day, Saylee stood with two wins against both Silver and Lucy, Silver with a loss against Saylee and a win against Lucy, and Lucy with two losses. She'd taken it well, rounding on Conor when he'd teased her for it and pointing out that as he'd never beaten her, he was by default weaker than his nearly ten-year-old cousin. Silver had actually laughed at that, a mocking snigger but still a laugh. Conor hadn't bothered to challenge either of them and had instead headed off somewhere on his own, so Saylee still didn't know what Pokémon he had. She, Lucy and Silver were sitting together in the interior garden of the huge Pryce house with all of their Pokémon mingling and meeting one another.

The front path through the gate actually lead into the dojo hall, which Saylee had yet to see inside but was apparently cavernous and filled with permanent icebergs created by the Pryce family's extensive collection of powerful ice-types. They'd gone around the side to get to the front door to the main house, which was a loop around the ornamental garden. Saylee and Silver were having bedrooms made up in the west wing, which according to Lucy were probably formerly her brothers' rooms. There was also a guest room in there which was often Wyatt's, and an entertainment room with the biggest television that Saylee had ever seen. The east wing was where their grandparents' room and Lucy's parents' room was, along with the study and the library, which seemed to have wall-to-ceiling bookshelves instead of walls. Saylee couldn't wait to go through it; she'd picked up quite an interest in history since coming to Johto and finding out that there were records older than she was. Plus, there'd been nothing much to do in hospital but read.

The north wing had bathrooms, including a huge old-fashioned heated bath, and the rooms belonging to Greta and Hunter. Greta was the housekeeper, a ferocious ball of energy that seemed to be capable of being in four places at once to maintain the huge old house. She'd appeared briefly to shake Saylee's hand in welcome and pinch a horrified Silver's cheeks before seeming to teleport away to make up fresh beds for them. Lucy had warned Saylee that Greta was a tremendous history buff and would be able to tell Saylee every last thing that had happened to every plank of wood in the house over the past six thousand years. Hunter was Greta's youngest son, and while he'd waved at Saylee and Silver, he seemed painfully shy and had finished tending a bush in the garden very quickly and scurried off to somewhere else in the house without speaking. He was twenty-one, like Conor, according to Lucy, and had two elder sisters, one working on a ferry service and the other studying medicine in Sinnoh.

The south wing had the kitchen, dining room and a formal sitting room for greeting guests. Conor had gone off to find his parents while Saylee, Silver and Lucy had went through the dining room to the ornamental garden to hang out, let out their Pokémon and get to know one another.

Silver had surprised Saylee by introducing his Pokémon—reluctantly, sullenly, but introducing them—by name. When she asked him, he retorted, "I didn't ask for their names, they just told me on their own, okay?"

"Silver, you don't need to defend yourself as if you said something wrong," Saylee told him, sitting on the wooden porch that ran around the ornamental garden and dangling her feet above a flowerbed. "I'm very impressed that you remembered all their names."

"I didn't try to," Silver said quickly, looking away from her.

"Even more impressive," Saylee said, leaving him looking confused as she turned to Gareth, his Haunter. "How are you?"

"Feeling tough," Gareth said with a broad grin. "But I still feel like I can get tougher, and I'm not going anywhere until I do!"

"Did I ever tell you that I used to have a Kadabra friend named Alan?" Chaz was saying to Alec. "His moustache was shorter than yours, though."

"Long moustaches are a symbol of our power," Alec explained.

"So this Alan of yours must've been weaker than Alec here, and that's pretty weak," Gareth laughed.

Chaz glared at him. "He died young, protecting his friend and student," he said shortly.

"That sounds very noble," Alec said, bowing his head to Chaz.

"Yeah, weak but fearless," Gareth put in again. "A fatal mix, but oh so noble."

"I can't tell if you're complimenting him or insulting him," Chaz growled, "but I've fried ghosts before and I'll do it again if you're disrespecting my late friend."

"Don't give him the satisfaction, he's just messing with you," Zeb sighed, before snapping his fangs at Gareth. "Jerk used to mess with my sonar back before I had eyes."

"It was funny!" Gareth insisted.

"My oldest brother's called Alan," Lucy told Saylee. "He's basically Conor, but less muscly because he's not a sports nut like Conor. He's never beaten me either, but he thinks he should inherit because he's the oldest. He lives with his girlfriend by the lake. They'll probably come down for dinner, you can meet them then."

"I can't wait for Red to meet all of you," Saylee told her, "although you'll have to get used to three people being able to beat you…"

Nider was walking around Mag next to one of the ornamental trees. "How d'you even work?" he asked in confusion.

"Magnetism," Mag said simply.

"The amount of sense that makes to me," Nider said in confusion, "is just below jack-squat. Oi, Georgia! D'you know how this thing works?"

"Just 'cause oi used to 'ave a magnetic core moiself don't mean oi knows 'ow that one works," Georgia said, turning back to her conversation with Sasha. "Oi knows how rocks work, that's all, not them metals. 'Ow about you, moy love? See alroight through that?"

"Aye, but ah dinnae need tae," Sasha said, fluffing her long brown hair. "Goat me nose, aight? Smells every'hin' jus' fine. Even rocks." She sniffed at Georgia. "You goat a wee bit ay exposed sandstone, ken?"

"Her accent be 'mindin me o' Mary's," Chip commented. "They both be havin' that same funny way t'be speakin'."

"Isn't that the sea calling the river wet," Tyra grumbled. "Still can't figure out how you of all people got badass. You were a snivelling little wimp of a Cyndaquil!"

"And you ain't been changin' a bit, Tyra," Chip said levelly. "Wonder 'ow Chet's been doin'. I ain't been seein' 'im in months."

"Probably still sucking up to everyone," Tyra sniffed. "Who wants to play around with a bunch of little kids, anyway?"

"Your trainer's a little kid," Chip pointed out.

"He doesn't play."

{}

{}

Long days working, long evenings watching Star Trek TOS… I decided to do this after watching Into Darkness and I'm glad I did. I'm kinda understanding why people are so famously obsessed with this show.