Uploaded June 15th, 2012

Here's chapter 30!

Bane: Duh, they can read, ya'know.

…Oh, be quiet.

"So," I started after Bane got back up. "Who's going to battle you first?" The question was directed at Serena, of course.

Serena thought for a moment but Bane made half of our decision for us. "Not me. Porygon and Anorith are tired from the battle I had with the brat."

I shrugged. "Okay then. Alysson-"

"Not it!" she interrupted me.

"…Hey! That's not fair!" I argued.

She shrugged. "You snooze, you lose." I glared at her for a moment. Why do I travel with these two again? I asked myself. Bane was playing patty-cake with Elekid and got shocked. Alysson was smiling at me. I smiled back. That's why.

Serena and I took our positions. "Ready?" she called.

"Yup!" I answered, taking out my pokeball.

She nodded and took out a pokeball. "Go, Dratini!" She released the light blue, snake-like, world-renowned dragon pokemon, Dratini. I chose to start with Karryash, saving Shellder's ice-type advantage for later.

"Okay, Karryash, let's open with an ember!" I called. Karryash unleashed a spread of embers at Dratini, doing fair damage.

"Dratini, retaliate with thunder wave!" Dratini sent a small wave of sparks outward, hitting Karryash…and Bane. Bane shook spastically for a minute, then fell over, stiff as a board. "…Okay… Dratini, slam!" Dratini slammed into Karryash, knocking my fire chick back a-ways.

"Karryash!" I shouted. "Come back with a blitz!" Yeah, since blitz can be used with ember and peck I usually have to specify, though I usually use just plain blitz for a peck blitz.

Karryash attacked Dratini, but Serena had a counter ready. "Dratini, use aqua jet to escape, then counter with dragon rage!" Dratini cloaked itself in water and propelled itself away from Karryash, then followed by shooting a ray of bluish, almost lightning-filled mist from its…mouth… Again with the pokemon without mouths.

Karryash took a bad hit, but quickly shook it off. "Nice job, Karryash. Now show her your new move!" Yep, Karryash learned a new move while we were training for the Gym. Karryash ran around Dratini at amazing speeds. Suddenly, copies started appearing through its trail: double team. Dratini was getting extremely disoriented. "Great job, Karryash! Now use running tackle!" I just don't run out, do I? Karryash quickly ran out of the circle of copies, hit Dratini with tackle, then got back into formation, staying hidden and doing a good amount of damage.

Serena wasn't just going to sit there and take it, though. "Dratini, hyper beam!" she shouted.

"What the Heracross!" I shouted; though could you blame me? Hyper beam! It's the most powerful move in the pokemon universe! I mean, seriously!

Dratini shot an amazing beam of energy at a point in Karryash's circle, then moved it opposite the direction of the Karryashes. Unfortunately, it didn't take long to find the real Karryash, who was knocked into the far wall of the Gym, KOed. Serena gave a satisfied smirk. "Well, that was easy. Who's your next pokemon?" she asked impatiently.

I can see why Bane and her are best friends, I thought as I returned Karryash and got Shellder's pokeball ready. I released Shellder and quickly shouted, "Quick, while Dratini's recovering, icicle spear!" Shellder complied as quickly as I had shouted, shooting icicles from its horn at Dratini. Dratini, who was forced to recover due to a side effect of hyper beam, was hit head-on, and took massive damage!

"Tiiniiii!" the tiny dragon squealed as it flew backward and hit the floor with a thud. Dratini was knocked out. "Dratini!" Serena shouted, her disposition now completely changed by the KO of her first pokemon. She went over and picked it up, said something to it, then returned it. She got up and addressed me. "Nice, but you're not out of the waters yet," she challenged with a smirk, pulling out a pokeball.

I smirked back. "Bring it on," I challenged. Serena released her pokemon: a Horsea! I raised an eyebrow. "Umm, you know Horsea isn't a dragon-type, right?" I asked, looking the small seahorse over.

She nodded. "Yeah, but it evolves into one," she explained. "And it does know some dragon-type moves, like dragonbreath!" As soon as Serena said the word, Horsea shot the blue lightning mist at Shellder.

"Shellder, withdraw!" I shouted. Yes, withdraw doesn't heighten special defense, but it does put Shellder in a better defensive position. Shellder took the hit well considering it knocked him into the wall, bounced him around a bit, back into the line of fire, and finally back into the wall. "You okay?" I shouted. Shellder responded with a squeal and a hop. "Alright, now use twinneedle!" Shellder's horns glowed and elongated, then it hopped at Horsea.

"Horsea, dodge!" Serena commanded. Unfortunately, water-type pokemon have little to no movement on land and Horsea took the hit. "Horsea!" Horsea was hit hard, but it wasn't done yet.

"Seeeaaa!" The Horsea squealed. It quickly retaliated with a water gun, which directly hit Shellder.

"Sheeeehhllll!" Shellder squealed. Shellder got up, although I knew it had taken some serious damage.

"Shellder, stop!" I hollered. I wanted to help my family, but I wasn't gonna let my pokemon take this kind of pain. I could clearly see a crack in Shellder's shell, and I was getting really worried about it. Shellder looked at me, panting. It shook itself. "What? Shellder, are you nuts! You have a crack in your shell!" I took out Shellder's pokeball. "We need to stop."

I shot the pokeball's beam at him, but he hopped out of the way. I tried again, but he dodged it just as easily. Shellder looked at me, almost glaring. We stood there a moment, then I chuckled quietly. I know, I thought to myself. "You're not gonna give up, are ya'?" Shellder shook violently. I chuckled again. What was I thinking? I was gonna give up? …Thanks Shellder. I took Bane's smirk. "Shellder, full-focus triple play!"

Shellder charged up twinneedle first (Shellder and I trained, and we figured out that if he focusses control over twinneedle first, he'll have better control overall, during triple play), then spun so fast he was a purple blur. Next comes the good part.

"Horsea, water gun!" Serena's command brought me back to the field. Horsea spat water at Shellder, which started to slow him down.

"Shellder, keep going!" I encouraged. Shellder kept on, struggling by the sound of it. But it kept going, and finally shot off an icicle spear! Horsea didn't stand a chance; the poor seahorse was knocked around the field and right into the wall, icicles piercing the area around it.

"Horsea!" As Shellder slowed to a halt, Serena ran over to Horsea and picked it up. "You did well, take a good rest," she told it, returning her final pokemon. She got up and congratulated me. "Nice job, Storm. I never expected you to pull out an attack like that," she complimented. "What was that?"

Bane and Alysson walked over. "That," Bane started. Is the move that almost made me a human pincushion."

I glared at him and Shellder hit him with a light water gun. "Thanks, Shell. And it was only because we hadn't used it before. Now Shellder can use it no prob."

Alysson was smiling. "Yep, and now you have two badges! And the reward," she added with a wink.

I smiled at her and nodded. "Thanks, Alysson." I turned to Serena.

Serena was smiling too. "Yep, you won. Congrats!" She pulled something out of her pocket: an envelope and a badge. This badge was shaped like an orange V with a circle in it, and two slits that looked like eyes on the V. Inside the envelope was, of course, the prize money. I beamed; 2300 Poke was inside that envelope! "That's the Victorious Badge," Serena told me. "Wear it with pride!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Wear?" I asked. "What do you mean?"

Now Serena was the one raising her eyebrows. "Really? Most people wear their badges on the inside of their jackets. You don't?"

I smiled. "I do now." I opened my jacket, took the Stalwart Badge Rocky gave me from my pack, and set both of my badges side-by-side inside my jacket.

Serena nodded, as though approving it. "It suits you," she complimented. She turned to Bane. "Now, I'll need a few minutes before we can have our battle, so you all can just wait here." She went back through the ornate doors that are in every Gym.

"…So, waddaya wanna do?" Bane asked.

I shrugged. "I gotta go heal Karryash and Shellder."

I turned to leave, but Bane joined me. "Me too. Wanna come, Al?"

Alysson walked past him. "It's Alysson," she clarified. "Not 'Al'." She walked past us cheerfully and Bane and I shrugged, following at a distance.

At the Pokemon Center, we ran into someone we did not expect to see. No, not Roderick or George. Actually, it was- "Mom!" I shouted upon seeing my mom at the center desk.

"Storm!" she shouted excitedly, running toward me then embracing me in a hug. "Ohh! It's been so long sweetie! Are you okay? How've you been? Is Karry doing well?"

"Mom," I choked out through the iron hug. "Running low on oxygen here."

"Hmm? Oh, sorry sweetie!" she said as she released me. "I'm just so happy to see you!" She heard Bane snickering and looked behind me, seeing him and Alysson. "Are these your friends?"

I looked at them. Bane was snickering like an idiot and Alysson was smiling. "Yes. I'm Alysson," she greeted, then pointed to Bane. "And this snickering idiot is Bane."

Bane jerked up at her comment. "Hey!" he shouted. "I have feelings too, ya'know!"

Alysson's eyes almost blew up. "Woah! Really? That's amazing! Next thing you'll be telling me is that you have a brain!"

"Buuurrn," I whispered. My mom nudged me. "Sorry," I muttered. "Well, Alysson, Bane, this is my mom."

They greeted each other and we chatted for a few minutes. "So, how many badges do you have, Storm?" my mom asked.

I opened my jacket. "Two, so far. In fact, we just…" Oh, snap. "The Gym! We were just at the Gym, I got my badge, we came here, we talked, and we were supposed to be at the Gym about-" I looked at the wall-clock. "-ten minutes ago! So, sorry but we gotta go let Bane have his battle and-"

"Okay, okay!" mom interrupted. "I understand; your friend has a battle with the Gym Leader." She waved us away. "Go ahead, I'll still be here afterward."

I nodded. "Thanks, mom." I turned to leave. "We'll see you after the match!"

We got to the Gym to see Serena waiting for us. "Well, it took ya' long enough!" she snapped. "Where were you?"

I glared at her slightly. "We were talking with my mother," I told her.

She looked away. "Well, I guess that's alright," she mumbled. She looked up at Bane. "By the way-"

"BEEEEEEEEEEEE!" We heard a horrible scream from back in the Gym.

"What was that?" Bane screamed.

"The baby Elekid!" Selena screamed back, barely audible over the noise. "It's been crying since you guys left, and we can't get it to shut up!"

Jack, Serena's little brother, ran in carrying the crying Elekid. "Sis, it's still crying!" he said.

"We can hear that!" Serena replied irritably. Suddenly, Elekid jumped out of Jack's arms and ran over to Bane, hugging his leg and immediately quieting.

"…Why'd it stop?" Bane asked. "...Um, what's going on?" he asked upon notice of the little electric-type on his leg.

Serena sighed. "I'm just glad it stopped crying."

The Elekid was hugging Bane's leg and tiny sparks were flying from one horn to the next (I'm not sure where, but I've seen them officially referred to as horns before). "I think it likes me," Bane said, rubbing it. He quickly pulled his hand back after a short spark.

Serena nodded. "Yeah, it does seem to like you," she agreed. She turned to Jack. "Hey, Jack?" Jack nodded. "Do you know the first thing Elekid did when it was born?"

Jack thought for a moment. "Yup, it copied Bane. That was funny," he laughed.

Serena nodded back. "That explains it. When a pokemon is first born, it thinks that the first thing it sees is its parent. And the first thing it saw was…"

"What? ME?" Bane asked in shock. "You mean, it thinks that I'm its parent?"

Serena nodded. "In a manner of speaking, yes."

Bane looked down at Elekid. It all but confirmed Serena's suggestion as it was cuddled up against Bane's leg, sleeping. "…I'm a mom?"

Bane: …You made me its mom?

Yup, deal with it.

Bane: …Hey, Elekid isn't my pokemon!

You just figured that out?

Bane: But in the last chapter we were talking about me getting a new pokemon!

Yeah, but… Oh… Oops…

Bane: Oops? Really? You got my hopes up and then crushed them! How could you! *sobbing*

…Moving on, I hope you guys are enjoying the story, and I guess I'll post next Friday.

Bane: BTW, Halestorming's decided to change from posting on Wednesdays to posting on Saturdays, because it's easier during summer.

Yup. So, enjoy! ENJOY, DANG IT!