Author's note: Happy thanksgiving all! I hope you enjoy a wonderful turkey day (for those of you in America such as myself) and have a wonderful weekend!

Chapter 53 Seeing MORE Green & A Date?!

Heidi readied herself across the room from Green, where Jacob stood.

"I want a one on one battle! So choose your pokemon!"

"Ok, ok, jeez, what a feisty girl. At least let me be happy for my wedding! It's gonna be big! With a cake the size of a Blastoise and-"

"COME OOOOOOOONNNNNNNNN~!"

"ALRIGHT ALRIGHT! Charizard! Go!"

"Go, my Squirtle!"

"Hahaha! You think a Squirtle's gonna beat a Charizard?!"

"You never know!" Heidi winked and the pokemon went into action.

Squirtle went into action with a Rapid Spin, Water Gun combo, doing a good amount of damage to the obviously type-challenged Charizard. It grabbed the spinning shell in midair, and used a painful seismic toss attack. Squirtle's shell took the brunt of the attack, protecting it from massive amounts of damage. Its Bubble attack missed closely as the Charizard took to the air, flying in circles above the vertically challenged Squirtle. More water guns missed, while Charizard used Heat Wave. The attack did little to the Water-type, but it threw the Squirtle off balance. The Flying/Fire-type dove in at this opportunity to land its Fly attack, and took back to the sky to fire Flamethrowers down upon the Squirtle. Water guns doused each and every long-range move, so Charizard dove in one more time.

The bad decision led to a direct hit from a Water Pulse attack, confusing the Charizard which tumbled on the ground and came to a stop in front of Green. It started to fire Embers and Flamethrowers in different directions, hurling one at the feet of the Squirtle. It dodged gracefully with a Rapid Spin and began a Rain Dance. The battlefield was now being rained upon by a small storm cloud in the air, and Green could see that the battle was close to over.

Squirtle dashed up to its opponent and landed a harsh Aqua Tail, bringing the comparative giant down to its knees. A direct Water Gun to the face just about finished it off, when Charizard pulls out its trump card. Fire starts shooting up from the ground and hurtles outwards in all directions stemming from Charizard. Squirtle couldn't possibly avoid an attack of this magnitude, and is forced to retreat into its shell in order to survive the attack. The smoke soon clears to reveal an extremely tired Charizard, and a Squirtle that won't retreat from its shell. Charizard hobbles over to its opponent to pick it up one more time. It notices something strange about the shell… it seems bigger than the last time he held it in his hands… As the shelled pokemon emerged, it opened its mouth wide and fired a long torrent of water directly to the body of its opponent. The Hydro Pump won the battle for Heidi and- Squirlte?

"Squirtle! That was amazing!" Heidi runs over to her pokemon to discover that it isn't the adorable tiny-turtle pokemon it once was. With wings for ears and a longer feathery tail, Heidi embraced her Wartortle as the victor in the battle.

"It's embarrassing isn't it Jacob? You couldn't win the badge, yet a 12 year old girl did!"

"Isn't it more embarrassing to lose to that 12 year old girl Green?"

"Touché… But it doesn't matter! Brother."

"Oh Arceus kill me now. Why him Erika?"

"He's, in a word, charming.." She blushes without realizing it and hides her face behind her Hoppip.

"Hahaha! She called me charming!" His loss didn't even affect his vitality. Green jumped around the room in joy because of his earlier victory.

"HEY! I need an Earth badge over here!"

"Oh, yeah, here, follow- MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Green gracefully flew out of the room with Heidi sprinting closely behind.

"Hey! Wait up!" Their shoes beating the tile of the hallway eventually faded.

"So you're gonna have to battle again to get that badge!"

"I will!... and NO I won't help set up for your dumb wedding! What did you mean that you waited for this to happen too?"

"Well, I do like Green but I didn't want to marry him just yet. I needed a… dramatic excuse. Teehee!" Jacob gives her a soft slap upside the head.

"You're a real jerk, making a man wait is rude."

"Oh hush." Erika sticks out her tongue in Jacob's direction.


"So while they're at the gym, what do you want to do?"

"Dunno… something though." Mike didn't want to make it too painfully obvious he wanted to spend time with Alexandra in some form.

"Well… how about a movie?" She hops on the bed next to him, and grabs the remote to scroll through the movie channels. "OH! I LOVE THIS ONE!" She stops on a channel showing the movie "A Psyduck Romance," which luckily just started.

"What's it about?"

"It's a poke-movie, which means no human actors,-"

"I already knew THAT much-"

"-whatever, anyway, a Psyduck falls in love with an Eevee, but the Eevee is in love with a Quilava! It's such a cute story!" She sits up with her hands pulling her feet in, her knee accidentally poking Mike in the side.

"Ow. Your knee."

"Oh! Sorry. I'm just excited because I haven't seen this movie in such a long time!" She sits up straight again, smiling as the opening credits scroll.

"They'll be gone for a while, we should do more than watch a movie."

"But I don't wanna get dressed now that I'm already so comfy." It was true, he didn't want to leave his pajamas too. Her knee started to poke him again.

"If you want I can move to the other bed-"

"No, I'm sorry, I'll try to restrain myself." She laughed at her comment and went back to focusing on the movie. Mike got up, walked to his bag, and pulled out a ball. His Alakazam came out.

"Wanna get some popcorn? You know where it is. Right?" The Alakazam nodded and teleported. No less than 10 seconds later, Alakazam reappeared in the same spot with a small box. "Thanks so much buddy!" Alakazam walks to the corner of the room and assumes a meditative stance.

"You didn't have to do that," Alexandra playfully exclaims.

"Well we can't have a movie without popcorn!" He throws a small bag that came from the box into the microwave.

Alexandra giggles, "It's just a silly movie, no need to go all out."

"Ok, fine, I'll take the popcorn out-"

"No, no, it's ok. I like popcorn!" She smiles at him. The movie starts rolling. He sits down in the bed next to her, nothing but the popcorn separating them. The movie is actually pretty funny, the two viewers sharing an occasional laugh. Mike will sometimes inch a bit closer, with no reaction from Alexandra, who seems to be really into the movie.

The popcorn soon runs out, only maybe 40 minutes into the movie. There's only another hour or so left so Mike makes some more popcorn for the both of them. Alexandra only yells at him playfully because the popping is louder than the TV, to which he chuckles at her. The popcorn's done and Mike assumes the position he was in before he got up. Alexandra pays no mind and only continues to focus on the movie, reaching for popcorn often. The two reach for the bag at the same time and their hands collide. Mike pulls his back expecting one of those clichéd scenes where his partner would look at him too and they'd share a giggle, but Alexandra would have none of that. She only wanted her popcorn and continued to shovel it down.

Mike told himself he'll try again somehow.

The opportunity never came though. The movie ended with an ovation from Alexandra and a sigh from Mike.

"It's still pretty early, wanna go out and do something?"

"Sure! I've needed to do some shopping for a while!" Shopping… He dreaded the thought but figured it's worth it if he's with her. The clock says 2:10 PM when the two head out the door towards the nearest mart. It doesn't take much time at all to find one, and while Alexandra bounces inside, Mike takes note of her more-revealing attire: a turquoise skirt with a matching top that looks more than perfect on her. Summer has ended but Alexandra dressed like it was about to begin. Mike was only wearing a conservative black t-shirt with red trim and black jeans. He follows his counterpart into the shop, where she's already fawning over some trinkets.

The old lady behind the counter asks, "Oh, are you her boyfriend!?"

"N-NO! N-nothing like that!" He starts to blush then realizes he answered way too quickly and now she might get the wrong idea. While silently cursing himself he walks over to Alexandra and asks, "So… watcha lookin at?"

"Oh! Just this adorable little necklace!" She holds up a necklace with a small charm in the shape of a Marill. "I'm gonna buy it!"

"Let me!"

"Haha, it's okay, I have the money for it."

Mike gives up and goes around to the other side of the shelf where he finds a collection of small pokemon dolls. He can see every single pokemon ranging from Caterpie to Regirock, but instead picks out a small Azumarill doll. It has a large smile and tiny body parts, and he figures it's just what the doctor ordered.

"Hey, Alex, look at this!"

She comes walking around to see the small doll in his hands, "Oh my God it's soo adorable! Gimme! I wanna hold it!"

He holds his arms up just out of her reach, forcing her to hop up to try to grab it. "Hahah! you gotta try if you want it!"

After a few seconds she pouts dejectedly and looks up at him with big sad eyes. "Okay, okay, here, you can have it!"

"YAY!" She runs to the counter with the doll and the necklace in her hands. "How much for these?"

The old woman carefully examines each object, giving the final verdict, "Aaaahhhh, 40,000 pokeyen.

"WHAT!? Why so much!?"

"That necklace is an heirloom made one hundred and thirty years ago by a tribe of people that worshipped the Marill and its evolutionary family. The doll though is only 500."

"Well… okay…-" Mike slams down four 10,000 pokeyen bills at the counter.

"She'll buy it!"

"Wha-"

"Ok then!" The old lady rings up the necklace and doll at the same time, and hand them back in a small plastic bag.

"Wai-"

"Aren't you happy you have it now?" Mike smiles down at her, but she looks sad for some reason.

"You didn't have to do that."

"Well why not?"

"You wasted your money on it!" She pouts at him again, "It could have been used for something more useful than a necklace."

"I don't think it's a waste if it's for you…" Mike blushes again, turning his head away from Alexandra.

"Haha, well thanks then! I really appreciate it!" She looks up and gives him a big smile. The two walk out of the store to go find more places to shop.