Convergence
"So did you hear anything interesting Nutjob?" asked Sarge.
Blackjack stretched out and laid down in a sunny spot. "We're shipping out tomorrow," he told the skarmory. Sarge looked over the treetops with a sigh, "That's a shame, I was really beginning to like this place." The umbreon yawned groggily. "We're coming back you know," he said, "Mark still needs to win here." "Humans and their baubles," Sarge chuckled. They both contemplated the future silently.
"Hey Nutjob, you seem pretty close to the humans…" Sarge said, breaking the peaceful silence. "Yes, I suppose so," Blackjack answered cautiously. "What do you think of them – humans?" Sarge asked quietly. Blackjack arose and pondered the question for awhile. "…It is not my place to say," he whispered.
"Oh, don't give me that cryptic bullshit! Just give me a straight answer!" Sarge bellowed in lighthearted frustration. Blackjack smiled: his buddy was a bit smarter than he gave him credit for. "I don't know," Blackjack stated. "That's how I feel," Sarge said, "I can't decide what I think of them; they seem so powerful and yet so weak! It frightens me sometimes." Blackjack nodded slowly, as if straining against some enormous weight. The two said no more; each looking at some point in the distance.
"You're welcome to stay anytime," Carl said, trying to mask the sadness in is voice. "Hey, we'll be back before you know it," said Marcus as he gave Carl a big hug. Marcus ran over to where the others were waiting. The servant covertly handed her master a tissue as everyone waved goodbye. "till we cross that river again," Paul whispered.
"Aw cheer up Mark, we'll be back before you know it," Janet said. She picked up her pack with a strained grunt; perhaps buying all those things with her share of the battle money wasn't such a great idea. "We're going to take it nice and slow today," said Tracy as she popped a berry into her mouth. "Yes, it would be best if we worked our way back up after idling for so long," Paul noted.
"Ummm, where's Blackjack?" asked Tracy apprehensively: he was supposed to be her umbreon after all. "He said he needed some space," said Marcus, "but he is following us, so..." "Well as long as he's following us everything is alright, right?" Paul reassured him. "So what's the itinerary?" Marcus asked, trying to keep the subject lighthearted. The tension between Blackjack and him had eased a little and the pain of betrayal had dulled, but it would be awhile before they could talk like they used to.
Tracy cleared her throat and donned her radio voice, "Okay, I mapped out a mix of easy and rugged terrain, that way we get a nice balance of battling against other trainers and spots where we can catch some more pokémon. I've also bought some medical junk with my share of your gym purse, so we can also battle each other for practice. This route's pretty scenic, but we can't stop for every detour –sorry Janet – so I've made a list of choices for everyone to look at." They all examined the list curiously.
"arceus, only two?" Janet pouted. "Look how long this list is Jan? We don't have a thousand years!" Marcus exclaimed. "Sorry Janet," said Tracy apologetically, "but I already booked the boat to Cianwood and I wanted to leave plenty of time for Marcus to battle the new Jasmine, we can hit more things on the way back."
Tracy flashed the three tickets in an effort to mollify Janet. Marcus looked at the tickets in confusion, "Why are there only –" " – Paul doesn't really like water," explained Janet. She pinched his cheek playfully and donned her mocking voice, "He can fly all over creation without a moment of hesitation, but show him a pool and he'll head for the hills."
Paul nodded sheepishly. "I'm also going to do some medicine-y stuff while you guys go there," he explained, "Plus I wanted to visit an old friend."
"Anyways, where does everyone want to go?" asked Tracy impatiently. They were burning precious daylight. "Well I really, really want to see the Cliffs of Joy," said Janet, pointing to the tiny landmark on the map, "and we really ought to go see Whitney's family farm, since she practically begged me to check up on her grandmother's health." Paul and Marcus looked over the list again and agreed. They couldn't stop Janet once she set her mind on something, so there wasn't any point saying no.
"Good, now that that's settled, let's have a little one on one battle," Tracy smirked.
The arcanine crouched in the dense foliage, clumsily trying to maneuver her new body into a position that was more camouflaged. Laura hissed as she slipped into the plants. The toxins had left her muscles rather sore, in spite of all the antidotes her trainer had given her.
Damn that dirty thief! Laura had thought that evolution would have leveled the playing field, but that dirty thief refused to fight fair. She could see him now, smug as ever with that stupid nidoking grin. It burned her up inside.
Something brushed up against her tail. She jumped out of hiding with a yip and loosed a flamethrower. Blackjack quickly ran out of the burning clearing, the little prank not seeming so funny anymore. "Hi Laura, good to see you too... you look like you put on some weight," said Blackjack. "Uncle Blackjack!" Laura barked, excitedly bounding on the umbreon. "Laura – can't breathe – fire," Blackjack gasped. "Oh right," said Laura as she released him and went to smother the small fire she had accidentally started.
"Uncle Blackjack, look at me! I'm way bigger than you now," Laura said cheerfully. "Yes I noticed," stated Blackjack as he regained some of his breath, "and I thought I told you not to call me 'Uncle'." "Yes! Yes! Yes!" Magnemite the magnemite said in its own unique way. Blackjack and Laura gazed up at him. "Damn it Blackjack, you made me lose," she growled in frustration.
Magnemite led them back to the clearing where they began every round of hide and seek. Despite their differences, it was usually fairly evenly matched. Carolyn could hide in a lot of places, but she was noisy. Captain Oblivious was too… slow to find good hiding places and Magnemite emitted a constant hum. All in all, they were pretty bad at hiding, which made the games short.
"Blackjack, you gonna join us?" chirped Carolyn. "Maybe later," said Blackjack.
He eyed the quagsire staring at him with an open mouth grin. "…Since when did you evolve Capt- I mean Harry?" asked Blackjack. "What! I evolved!" Captain Oblivious stared down at his body with bewilderment. "Oh he evolved during the fight against – what was it called? – the big fight in the human place: Moldy-cod city," explained Carolyn, "Poor dear, does this all the time, it's really quite funny."
"Yes! Yes! No!" Magnemite said in its own way. "Ha! I couldn't agree more," chuckled Blackjack. "Oh, hi Blackjack," said Harry the quagsire. Laura rolled her eyes. "Hey have any of you seen Golem? I haven't really gotten to know him," said Blackjack. "No! No! No!" chimed Magnemite. "Why don't you stay and play a game or two with us?" asked Laura, her tail wagging enthusiastically. Blackjack sighed, "Well I don't see why not."
"Great you're it!" Laura said pouncing on him.
"… great, so it's settled then," Tracy whispered.
"See you then Tracy," Sarah beamed. The phone went silent.
Tracy hummed triumphantly to herself. She had finally set the plan into action, now all she needed to do was make it back to the tent. She crept out into the night, treading carefully so as not to disturb the other campers at the site.
"Trace –" Tracy's heart froze as she suppressed the urge to scream as loud as she could. "Janet what the hell do you think you're doing!" Tracy 'whisper-yelled' as she slugged her friend. "Ow! I saw that you were gone and I came looking for you," Janet said as she nursed her newest bruise. "What if I was going to the bathroom or something, I mean Arceus Janet! You can't just sneak up on people like that, it's creepy as hell!" Tracy whispered harshly, her heart still pounding.
"Just wanted to make sure everything was fine," said Janet pointing to the rosewood baton she had purchased in Azalea town, "and don't worry I always check first after the bug catching contest." Tracy turned bright red. "Don't worry about it, every –" " – changing subject," Tracy said quickly.
"So … I couldn't help overhearing you two schemers," said Janet with a little smirk.
"…You won't tell Marcus right? It was supposed to be a surprise," said Tracy. "Of course I won't!" Janet shouted, making Tracy shush her. "Oh whoops," Janet whispered, "Of course I won't." "Good," Tracy said with narrowed eyes. "Oh, this is going to be so much fun," squealed Janet. "Yeah, yeah, we can talk about it tomorrow," said Tracy as she ushered Janet back towards the tent.
"Oh and Janet…"
"Hmm, what is it Tracy?"
"Follow me again and I will hurt you."
"I got it Trace."
