x-x-x
Episode 53: Dropping the Flint Bomb!
"So Kyle!" I wrapped my arm around his waist the next morning as we headed out. "Tell me what you and Flint were so secretive about yesterday!"
Kyle just smiled as he continued walking, and we were greeted by a familiar red ball of hair at the door.
"Yo!" Flint waved, walking right past us to Nurse Joy. He handed her an envelope. "I need this delivered. I know it will probably get there quicker than I can."
"Will do." Nurse Joy took the letter and inspected the address, taking it to her PC.
"Okay than!" Flint said, wrapping one arm around each of our shoulders. "Let's go gang!"
"Huh?" I shrugged him off and looked to Kyle.
"You really want to know? He asked if he could come with us today. If he could accompany us to the league."
"What?" I turned back to Flint now. "Are you competing too?"
Flint snickered. "You could say that."
"How come nobody asked me?" I whined. "I mean, you know I don't care but…" I said this, but deep down I was hoping for a romantic trip across the ocean and to the league. Just the two of us.
"Well, if you don't care, than let's go!" Flint marched forward. "Kyle said he has an awesome gyarados we can ride!"
"Gyarados?" I whined as we headed outside, straight for the beach line. "But I wanted to ride a boat!"
"There aren't any boats that run on this route!" Flint started dying laughing. "What, did you think we were going to make it that easy on trainers?"
"What?" I stopped walking, confused by his statement.
"Uh." He stopped as well, turning around with an innocent look. "I mean, the league that is. They don't make things easy. You have to figure out other ways to get there."
Kyle spun a pokeball on his finger, staring out to the sea. "In other words, no leisurely ferry rides up to it huh?"
"No sir-e." Flint grinned as he snuck up behind me. "In fact," He used a scary tone of voice. "After you get past all the water, there's a deep, dark, creepy cave to get through!"
I turned to face him, putting my hands on my hips. "And I have to spend all that time with you?"
"Shonna! Don't be so rude to our guest." Kyle tossed the pokeball into the water. A huge light shone out of it, before Gyarados raised his head out of the water. He was even more massive, and fearsome than I remembered.
"But he's teasing me Kyle!" I turned back to Kyle, only to see Flint now giving me bunny ears with his fingers behind my head. "See!"
Kyle walked over to Gyarados, stroking his scaly head. The monster let out a low, content sort of growl. "I think it will be fun having a third person with us, just for our short trip to the league." Kyle now scratched under Gyarados's chin like one might do for a skitty. I cringed as the beast gave a toothy grin, and slowly raised his long blue tail up in happiness. I stood hapless as Gyarados slammed its tail down on the water, making it splash all over Kyle and me. Flint peered over my shoulder after the mist vanished.
"Kyle!" He yelled. "Your girlfriend's so tall that if you stand behind her you won't get wet!"
I hung my head as Kyle helped me climb aboard Gyarados's back. "Let's just get this show on the road."
x-x-x
It was a long, and tiresome trip up the ocean route. Kyle insisted I fight a few of the water type trainers along the way, though he and Flint never battled any of them. In fact, they sat back comfortably and watched me do all the hard work of battling the pestering trainers. And though I knew I needed the training, it annoyed me to no end. Perhaps what made me mad the most though, was a selfish reason.
I glanced back during one of my battles on a small island, to see Flint and Kyle cracking up about something atop Gyarados's back. I'm glad he made a friend. I thought to myself. Kyle told me once that he doesn't have many friends. And after the incident with Ricky, he's pretty wary about making new ones. So really, I'm glad Flint came along…
"You're not paying attention!" The fisherman I was fighting screamed. "Kingler! Use Vicegrip!"
"Dodge Staraptor." I didn't turn my gaze, but I knew she could easily fly away from that. What on Earth are they laughing about so much? Flint had better not be making fun of me again!
"Errr…" The Fisherman growled. "Sand Attack!"
The Kingler threw its pincers into the sandy beach, making sand spray up. Staraptor flew up and missed every grain. But it sloshed up on me, flicking tiny granules into my eyes.
"You jerk!" I rubbed my eyes feverishly, making my glasses fall off. "Teach your pokemon to aim at its opponent, not their trainer!"
"Who says that wasn't what I was aiming for?" The man snickered.
I couldn't see anything, but I knew Kyle and Flint had suddenly went quiet.
"Star!" Staraptor hovered above, concerned.
I kept rubbing my eyes as I issued the command. "Finish this with Brave Bird!"
"Star!" I felt the wind as Staraptor zoomed by, and heard her crash hard into what had to be Kingler.
"Good." The fisherman huffed. I squinted to see him recall his pokemon. "I'm glad this battle's over."
"Same here." I grumbled.
"Hey you!" I heard Flint yell. Him and Kyle had climbed down to stand beside me. "Attacking another trainer is against pokemon league rules!"
"Yeah well she was the one dragging on the fight!" The fisherman complained.
Kyle looked pretty angry, from what I could tell. "Get out of here now before I turn your Kingler into fish food for my Gyarados!"
"Oh. I'm so scared." The creep let out his Kingler once more. I thought at first he was going to have a go at battling Kyle, but he hopped on the crab's back instead, and sped away.
"What a sore loser." Flint stood with his hands on his sides. "People like that will never get through the league."
"Star!" Staraptor landed beside me and scooped up my glasses in her beak. She pushed them into my hand.
"Thanks Staraptor." I reached into my pocket with my other hand, and got out her pokeball to recall her.
"Try to open your eyes Shonna." Kyle said, forcing my eyelids open.
"But it stings!" Out of reaction, I kept closing them.
"Well, there's plenty of water around here!" Flint started heading for the shore.
"No!" Kyle yelled. "Salt water will only make it hurt worse." I could hear him digging around in his backpack for something. "Here we go. Open your eyes Shonna."
I did as he said, and felt cold water trickle down into my eyes. I instinctively closed them. But when it stopped, and didn't hurt, I opened the other eye to let him clean it out. After a minute, I was able to put on my glasses, and see Kyle standing beside me with an empty water bottle in hand.
"That was our last bottle." He tucked it back into his backpack. "I hope there's someplace we can stop and refill it soon."
Flint crossed his arms. "You could always get gyarados to spit out a hydro pump in it."
I gave him a shocked look.
"Or not." He laughed. "I mean, I have a canteen on me."
I crossed my arms as well. "I'm not drinking after Gyarados! Or you! Yuck!"
"Suit yourself." He smiled. "But being out on the water will make a person pretty thirsty."
"I'll be just fine." I climbed back up onto Gyarados.
Kyle climbed up with me, muttering under his breath. "Water water everywhere and not a drop to drink."
Flint chuckled. "You know that's not the only thing that having a lot of water around will make you want to do."
"Oh hush." I grumbled as he slid up behind us on Gyarados's back. Without command, we began moving forward. I don't have to go yet. I'm going to try and hold out. As necessary as it is sometimes, I really hate going in the bush. I looked around nervously. There are no bushes!
"Quit freaking her out Flint." Kyle said sternly.
"Alright alright." He fluffed up his red hair. "Besides. You'll make it. There's a pokemon center just ahead. As soon as we go up the waterfall, we'll be able to rest."
"Well that's good." Kyle sighed. "We've spent practically all day on the water."
"Yeah…" I nodded. "Wait. Flint? How do you know this route so well?"
"Well, let's just say I've fought in the Sinnoh league several times. I know my way around here."
"I see." I looked back toward the ocean in front of me, spotting a huge waterfall in the distance. "Just keep coming back for more?"
"Yeah." He chuckled. "Can't get enough of it I guess."
x-x-x
By sunset, we had reached the massive waterfall, and we hung on tight as Gyarados swam up it sideways with ease. Just as Flint said, there was a small pokemon center, sitting at the waterfall's peak. Night began to fall, and I found myself getting a breath of fresh, salty air as Kyle and Flint signed up for separate rooms. Though it was dangerous, I walked over the water's edge, watching the water run by with furiosity. The closer I got to the waterfall, the more rapid it would flow. I couldn't help wandering out to the edge, peering over at the ocean below.
"What are you doing?" Kyle said from behind me. He made me jump, and I nearly fell, but regained my balance.
"Umm… just looking at the view. It's a beautiful night out."
"You shouldn't be out here alone Shonna." His expression held concern.
"Well." I wrapped my arms around him, pulling him into a hug. "I'm not alone now."
He held me by the water's edge, and looked up toward the moon. I noticed how its light made his green eyes lighten, and the red highlights in his auburn hair glisten. I buried my face into his shoulder, trying to hide my flush.
"Shonna?" He finally spoke. "Are you perhaps a little jealous lately?"
"Jealous?" I pulled away to look at him. "No. No way. I mean… I just don't like sharing your attention, that's all."
"In other words, you're jealous." He chuckled.
"No!" I shouted. "I'm really not!" I hugged him once more. "I'm happy you made a friend. Really."
He leaned his head against mine. "You know of course, that you'll always be my best friend." He pulled his fingers through some of my hair.
"I know." A reflection from the water caught in my glasses, making me turn. "And I know, you don't have many people that you like well enough to call a friend."
"True." He looked up again. "It's funny you say that, because I just got off the phone with one of them. He's in town anyway, so I asked that he come watch us at the league match."
"Who?"
"His name's Bill. You might have heard of him."
"Bill?"
"He's known for his inventions. Particularly that of the PC systems."
I pulled away from him again. "The Bill? The Bill that created the pokemon storage system? The Bill that made that possible?"
"The very one." He nodded.
"Wow." I walked past him, heading up the river. "I guess it only makes sense. Famous people only make friends with other famous people."
"Ain't that the truth." He mumbled. "But no! Actually I've been friends with Bill for a long time. Childhood friends you might say."
"You go that far back huh?" I watched the water run by once more. "Kyle, you steered your Gyarados right up the side of the waterfall like it was nothing."
"Yeah so?" He walked over to stand beside me.
"Do you think…" I paused. "Do you think I'll ever be able to ride on Palkia? I would love to have him surf me around. Just once, you know?"
"I don't know Shonna. That's a pretty tall order." He spoke firmly. "Palkia's doing much better in training. It will even somewhat obey commands, but I wouldn't push things. I think the last thing it wants to do is give you a pleasant ride across the water." When I didn't say anything, he continued. "How about Vaporeon? She can surf you around to places."
"Yeah…" I sighed. "But she's so small my legs dangle in the water when I ride her. And sometimes that scares me."
"Scares you?" Kyle laughed. "Why? I haven't seen a magikarp latch onto your foot throughout this whole region!"
"Yeah. Maybe the ones here don't have a taste for my feet." I laughed as well. "You're right. It was a silly idea."
His arms encircled me once more, pulling me toward him. "Shonna, it won't be easy, but somehow we'll rein in Palkia. And I'm going to be there to help you, every step of the way."
I looked into his eyes. "Do you really mean that?"
He leaned forward, whispering. "Of course I do Angel."
"Hey!" A voice screamed to us from the doorway of the pokemon center. I glanced over to see Flint and his ball shaped head of hair, standing there looking slightly regretfully. "Uh oh. Sorry. I just got bored and wanted to know if you guys were up for a card game."
"Not now Flint." Kyle never turned his gaze away from me.
"Okay." Flint put one hand behind his head and laughed. "No big deal." He went back inside.
"Thanks Kyle." I looked down in embarrassment. "But if you want to go, you can."
With that, he pulled me closer, into a kiss. One that I couldn't free myself from, even if I had wanted to. I silently wondered if I would always melt in his arms like this.
After a minute, we walked back inside in silence. Flint was playing poker, or gin rummy, or something with the Nurse Joy. I've never been good at card games. It's a good thing that I'm better at pokemon battles than I am with those. I thought to myself, as we headed on to bed.
x-x-x
Part of me didn't want to leave when the sun peeked through the window the next morning. In a way, I wanted to just curl up and go back to sleep. But I could feel Kyle stirring in the bunk above, and knew we'd be taking off soon. We only had two weeks to reach the league. Which meant not a lot of time for training once we got there. I pulled the pillow over my head as I heard a familiar voice on the other side of our door.
"Hey! You guys awake yet?" Flint yelled. "I'll be waiting in the lobby. Okay?"
"Five more minutes." I grumbled, turning over in the bed.
Kyle seemingly slid down the ladder from his bunk. He was humming some tune as he headed for the bathroom.
"He seems happy." I grumbled, hearing the shower kick on. I yawned knowing I had a little while longer, but he reemerged fully ready to go by the time I'd fallen back asleep.
"Wake up Shonna." He nudged me. "Time to go."
I mumbled something incomprehensible as I trudged off for the bathroom. I showered, brushed my teeth, and stared at my reflection in the mirror, still half-asleep. "Eh. Good enough." I put on my clothes, and decided to let my hair air dry. If I used a brush and hairdryer, it came out straight. But if I let it dry naturally, it usually had a light curl to it. I peeked out from the bathroom to see Kyle had stepped out. Probably went to get his morning coffee. I smiled, leaping back for the bed.
x-x-x
"You okay in there?" Kyle knocked on the door before opening it. "Shonna? Oh Shonna. C'mon! You can't sleep all day!" I felt him pulling my arm, making me sit up.
I yawned. "I'm ready! I just wanted to take a little nap."
"You're ready huh?" He looked at me with question.
"Yeah!" I got up unsteadily. "Let's go!" I marched out into the lobby, getting a couple odd stares. I assumed it was because I was still half asleep. I saw Flint stand up, and stare at me as well. Then, he smiled.
"Shonna, I knew you liked my hair, but really, you just can't compete. Nobody does an afro like me." Flint ran his hand over his red hair, rounding it out.
"What are you talking about?" I stopped when I saw my reflection in the tv. Going to bed on it wet, had made my hair stand up in all directions, with thick curls, and tangles. "Agh!" I ran past Kyle, headed back to our room.
"She'll be back." Kyle said, twirling the room key on his finger.
"Kyle!" I screamed from the hallway. "Can you let me back in?"
"I thought you said you were ready." He teased.
"I changed my mind!"
Kyle laughed a little. "Be right back Flint."
x-x-x
At somewhere around noon, we headed out for the nearby cavern. It was dark, with zubat flying around everywhere. I clung onto Kyle's arm, nervously pulling back a piece of my now straightened hair behind my ear. Flint snuck up beside me, making a scary face.
"What'd I tell ya? Dark and creepy!" He yelled, echoing throughout the cave.
"Shut up." I said, clinging even tighter as we walked along.
"The terrain is getting rougher by the minute." Kyle interrupted. "I think we might have to call upon our pokemon in a minute."
"Fine by me." Flint released Rapidash, as Kyle let out Arcanine.
"Want to ride with me?" Kyle asked, holding his hand out.
"Or me?" Flint asked with a grin.
"Definitely not!" I yelled. "And I'll just ride my own pokemon thank you." I let out Luxray, who happily scooped me up.
Kyle smiled at us. "Luxray is actually a good idea. He'll be able to see through the cliff walls. He's our best chance at making us get out of here without getting lost."
I grinned widely. "We'll lead the way then!" I pat Luxray on the head. "Can you help us get out of here?"
"Luuuux!" Luxray growled playfully, walking over to the first thick rock wall. He stared at it for a long time, before turning to head right.
x-x-x
I checked my poketch at around 5:00 pm. We hadn't been going circles thanks to Luxray, but it was still taking forever to reach the end of this cave. I'd eaten a snack before we left the pokecenter, but now, my stomach growled as loudly as Luxray was.
"Lux lux." Luxray laughed at me.
"It's not funny." I smiled, pulling him to a stop. I looked back at Kyle and Flint. "Can we stop and eat?"
"That sounds like a good idea." Kyle pulled Arcanine to a stop beside me, and tossed his book bag off his shoulder. "Luckily I packed these away from the forest before we came in here." He reached down, pulling out an armful of twigs for Arcanine to light. Within minutes, a campfire was blazing on the cavern floor.
Flint sat on his Rapidash, looking down at him. "You really going to fix something to eat?"
"I don't have much, but it should be enough to get a soup going, and some tea." Kyle worked away with the pots he had stowed away in his bag.
"Kyle's a great cook." I pointed out. "Without him, I probably would have starved on this journey!"
"Oh wow." Flint grinned, stepping off his Rapidash. "So you've got yourself a real homebody of a man eh?"
Kyle gave him a funny look and laughed as he continued cooking.
"Don't get me wrong." I watched Kyle in the corner of my eye. "He's not so good with laundry, and he certainly needs to learn how to clean. Not the most organized fellow."
Kyle looked up at me. "Luckily I have you for that, right my love?" He winked, making me blush and turn away.
"You guys are cute." Flint seemed to daze off for a minute.
"Hey Flint!" I jumped down from Luxray. "If you know this path so well, you must know your way through here right? Are we close to the end of the cave?"
"Huh?" Flint blinked. "To be honest, it's been a while since I came through the cave. I usually fly over it."
"We could have flown over it?" I whined. "Why didn't I think of that?" Nobody said anything. I let out a sigh. "I just wish we could hurry up and get out of here. It's too bad we can't all fit on Kyle's bike."
"It wasn't even meant for two people you know." Kyle stirred away at the broth, holding the pot over the flame. "Besides… I sold it."
"You what?" I stared at him with a shocked look.
"I sold it. I was showing it to Flint during that poffin contest, and somebody approached me with a good offer, so I took it."
"But you loved that bike!"
"It was starting to wear down. You remember how it needed repairs recently. And besides, I could use the money." Kyle just stared down into the soup.
I didn't know what to say. I couldn't imagine for the life of me why he would get rid of his bike. I know he has other means of getting around. I mean heck, Arcanine is faster than his bike can top off, but still! We had so many memories on that thing. I sort of missed it. And If I miss it, I know he has to…
"Soups on." He said calmly.
"Awesome!" Flint sat down beside Kyle and took a bowl, slurping it down with no spoon. "Dude. You are pretty good."
Kyle laughed, handing me a bowl. "Well thanks."
I took a spoon and slowly ate away at it. Even so, I finished before everyone else because I only had one bowl. While Kyle and Flint worked on their second helpings, I made my rounds to the three pokemon surrounding us. Flint's Rapidash happily ate my poffin treat I gave it, as well as Luxray. I then approached Arcanine.
"Arf." Arcanine barked quietly.
I wrapped my arms around his neck, giving him a brief hug. "Good boy. Would you like a poffin?"
"Arf." He nudged his furry head gently on me.
"Okay." I giggled, feeding it to him. He licked my hand for crumbs. He sniffed at me, then put his nose to the ground. He walked away from our trail a little, heading into the caverns. "Hey Arcanine wait!" I followed him out. It was not very far from our campsite, but I still clung to his side, gripping onto some of his fur as we walked along. I noticed that with each step we took, the cold and damp cave became less cold, and more damp. I gasped when Arcanine led me around a corner to grouping of two seemingly untouched hot springs.
"Arf! Arf!" Arcanine bounded, head first into one of the far springs.
"Well look what we have here." Kyle said, walking up behind me with Luxray. Flint and his Rapidash close behind.
Flint stood jaw-dropped looking at the Arcanine, which sank happily into the hot water.
I sat down my bag, and walked along the edge of the cave, peering into a tunnel. "Wow. There's even more back in this area."
Flint turned to Kyle, looking serious, which wasn't like him. "Kyle! You must tell me how your Arcanine is able to do that! To sit so happily in water!"
"Well Flint if you must know," Kyle sat down his bookbag and turned his head to the side. "I trained most of my fire types in hot springs. It's the reason why they have somewhat of an immunity to water."
"So that's your secret!" Flint pulled his Rapidash into the far tunnel I was standing beside. "Let's go train Rapidash!"
"Brrr!" His Rapidash looked none too pleased by the idea.
I watched them leave as Kyle whirled me around to look at him. "Well that got rid of him."
"Huh?" My eyes met with his, and I could see a seductive look in them.
"What?" He leaned in closer, grinning at me. "Weren't you the one who said you wanted some more alone time? Just the two of us?" He let go and slinked off to the nearby hot spring.
"Umm…" I blushed, looking at Arcanine happily splashing in the spring nearby, taunting Luxray to join him. Luxray stepped in with no problem, and the two began play fighting in the spring. "You know, this isn't really what I had in mind."
"What a shame." Kyle pulled off the t-shirt he was wearing and threw it to the ground. "Guess I'll have this whole spring to myself then."
I tried not to show my embarrassment as he slid down his pants, and eventually was in nothing but his boxers as he stepped into the water. The spring was large, and it looked deep. I sat on a rock close by, looking away. "I guess you will."
"Do you have a bathing suit?" Kyle asked, swimming around.
"No!" I blushed. "I don't even own one."
"Well. That's okay." He swam over and grabbed my arm. "C'mon."
"Kyle don't!" I screamed, jerking away.
"Shonna?" He let go and leaned against the rock, kicking his legs in the water. "You okay?"
I hung my head, watching as my long blonde hair shifted in front of my face. "I'm not a very good swimmer. That water looks deep."
"Huh?" He swam back a little. "You've swam before though. I know you have. You did to save your riolu egg, right?"
"Yeah." I kicked off my shoes and stuck my feet into the water. It was so hot, I almost jerked them back out. "It was kind of a heat of the moment thing. That hot spring was owned by somebody, and not very deep. I knew it was safe. But really, I'm not a very good swimmer."
"If you're scared, I'll hold onto you." He suggested. "I'll make sure you don't go under."
I got tired of my glasses being fogged up and sat them to the side. "Doesn't it bother you, having your glasses be fogged up like that?"
"It does." He laughed. "But I'm pretty much blind as a bat without them. If I ever lose mine, you'll have to lead me around okay?" He smiled, holding out his arms. "We all have things we're scared of Shonna, but you don't need to be afraid of this."
I smiled at him, as I slid into his embrace. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and closed my eyes shut as I began sinking down into the hot water. I felt his knees push me up, and he shifted me around, to where I was safely in his arms. I opened my eyes, seeing my hair float all around us. "I must be heavy…" I said quietly.
"You're not. And no one is heavy in water." He added.
We were quiet for a while, enjoying the silent embrace.
"I could teach you how to swim better you know." He blushed as he looked at me. It was very rarely that I saw him blush. It could have been from just the hot water, but I wanted to think that maybe he was feeling just as embarrassed as I was.
"Not right now." I buried my face into his neck. "Let's just enjoy this moment."
He turned his head to look at me with a smile. He pressed his wet lips against mine. And if I didn't feel weightless enough, I definitely did then. I let out a sigh as I happily kissed him over and over.
"Excuse me." A sullen voice interrupted. I opened my eyes to see a young girl, probably around thirteen years old, standing beside the spring. She stared at us with a look somewhere between nonchalance, and annoyance. I was taken back by her attire. She was wearing a black and white, gothic dress, and a bow to match. She looked almost like a doll standing before us. A creepy one. "Excuse me." She said once more as we stared back at her.
Kyle looked just about as annoyed with her. "Yes?" He swam over to the edge, letting me crawl up on the rocks.
The girl didn't say anything now.
"Umm, are you okay?" I slowly approached her, trying to wring out my hair. "Are you hurt or something?"
Again, she didn't speak.
"Hey." Kyle stepped out and quickly put on his clothes. "What's up with you?"
The girl looked up to our Arcanine and Luxray, who had quit splashing in the spring behind us. "I need help."
"Okay?" I stepped forward. "What can we do for you?"
"You two," She seemed to struggle to get her words out. "Are trainers right?"
"Yes?" Kyle slid on his shirt and walked over to where I was.
"I can't find my way out." She hung her head, with no expression.
"Oh." I looked back at Kyle, who shrugged. "Well, we are going to be heading out of here soon."
"May I… come?" She asked meekly.
"Sure." I said with a bit of hesitation. "I'd hate for you to be wandering around lost in here."
She hung her head once more.
"Woo!" Flint called out from the tunnel, sliding on his yellow polo. "That was great Kyle! Rapidash wouldn't try it, but all the rest of my pokemon loved the water!" He stopped when he saw us. "Hey. Who's the emo chick?"
I glared at him. "Don't mind him." I said, trying to comfort her. "Can you tell us your name?"
"Marley." She said quietly.
"Okay Marley." I grabbed my bag, and put on a smile. "We'll help you get out of here. It'll be nice having another girl around!" I waited a minute to see how she would react, but Marley only frowned.
"We've been riding on our pokemon Marley." Flint patted his Rapidash. "Would you like to ride with one of us?"
Marley stared at each of our pokemon with question. "I have one." She released a large Arcanine. Not as large as Kyle's, but still pretty big.
"Oh no!" I groaned. "Not another fire type trainer!" I laughed now, but Marley just hung her head again. "Gosh, I was just joking. It's okay!" I hopped up onto Luxray's back. "Well uh. I guess I'll lead the way again."
x-x-x
As with the first stretch of the cave, there were plenty of trainers to fight along the way. Kyle and Flint fought a few, but I took on most of them. Marley shook her head no to every offer, and remained quiet through the whole trip. Eventually, light shone around the corner, and Luxray turned it to find a tunnel with light at the end of it.
"I think this is it everyone!" We ran forward on our pokemon, and when my eyes finally had time to adjust, we found ourselves on a huge cliff base overlooking the ocean. In the distance, just beyond the city, sat a beautiful, cathedral-like building. It was the façade for the entrance to the Sinnoh league. "Ye-eah!" I cheered as Luxray bounded around on the soft grass. I looked back to see everyone all smiles, except Marley. "Marley? You okay?"
"This is not the way out I wanted."
"What" I sat stunned.
"I wanted to see a field of flowers, and a place with a miniature version of all of Sinnoh. A stone tablet's there, and a pokemon…"
Kyle crossed his arms and eyed her strangely. "She finally speaks and it's a bunch of weirdness."
Marley was unresponsive. She turned her Arcanine in the other direction, back to the cave. "I shall keep searching. Thank you for escorting me."
"Marley!" I yelled. "Are you sure?"
She didn't say anything, but headed back inside the cave.
"She was a strange one." Flint said once she left.
"No doubt." I agreed. "But I feel bad letting her go like that."
"Her choice though." Kyle shrugged. "Besides, we made it!" Arcanine and him turned back around. "We're at the league, right?"
Flint nodded. "The one and only Sinnoh League."
