Chapter 55 - Castelia Pizza


The journey back to Celadon would have taken the group a week or two had they gone by foot. Instead, they opted to take the trains to get there, as now both Logan and Seshiru were on the clock to beat Midori and Jindai respectively before the season was up. They wanted to take as much time as they could train at the Pokémon Center, and if they had come to Celadon by foot, they wouldn't have had any time to battle.

"I failed to defeat the Sinnoh Battle Frontier, but not this time. I've been doing nothing but training up my Pokémon to be powerful and adaptable, but it doesn't look like it was enough," Seshiru exclaimed. "Poliwrath, use Ice Punch!"

"Nidoking, Smart Strike!" Logan ordered.

The two Pokémon lunged towards one another. Poliwrath swung his fist, but Nidoking's attack allowed him to make a calculated strike, putting Poliwrath to a stop. The Water-type stumbled back while clutching at his midsection where Nidoking had hit him.

"I've never been this pressured on time before," Logan said. "In fact, when I won my last badge in Alola, I had so many months left before the conference. Admittedly, I spent most of my time Mantine Surfing, but even so, my Pokémon and I had so much time to prepare. Now, if I manage to beat Midori, there's no saying how far ahead everyone else will already be."

"Looks like we're in a predicament," Seshiru said with a sigh. "Go, Poliwrath!"

"Attack, Nidoking!"


The Celadon Dome was the biggest arena in all of Kanto. It was usually reserved for sporting events like baseball or world cups, but for one week, it would be the location of the Kanto Grand Festival.

Since Yurie was competing, she was allowed to walk onto the stage and look around. At the moment, it was empty, and it was so quiet that she could hear a pin drop. She could imagine the crowd. She didn't think that this year would be much different from the last, but the Celadon Dome was massive. She realized just how loud it would get when the crowd piled in, and she felt herself getting nervous.

"Kawahara-senpai?" a voice called.

Because she was lost in her thoughts, she was unable to hear another contestant approaching. She turned around, finding Reina and Yuta. She was wearing her usual long brown sweater and red skirt. He wore his green plaid shirt and black jeans.

"Reina, it's good to see you! I was glad to hear that you earned enough ribbons to make it!" Yurie exclaimed.

Reina blushed. "And you made it too! I'm so happy for you!" Reina ran forward and hugged Yurie violently. For a small, mousey kind of girl, she had a lot of strength to her, which let her lift Yurie off of the floor. Eventually, she put Yurie down, and let her find her balance.

"Congrats," Yuta said when Yurie looked at him. "Glad you don't suck."

Yurie huffed. "You have a weird way of showing it. How have you been?"

"I'm great," Yuta said.

Reina tried to stifle her giggles, but she couldn't. "He can't beat the Viridian City gym leader though! He's lost four times!"

"You said you wouldn't tell her!" Yuta snapped.

"Well, you lied by saying you're great," Reina said back. She locked eyes with Yurie. "I've been waiting for this for a long time! Celadon is my home, and I get to perform for thousands of people! Kawahara-senpai, thanks to you, I've gained a lot of confidence over this past year."

"I didn't do much!" Yurie exclaimed nervously. "If anything, it was Yuta that helped pull you out of your shell."

Yuta glared. "Don't make me take the blame for her."

"You all are loud," a boy's voice called from behind. They turned to find Omori with his perfect white teeth and his popstar haircut. Although they weren't competing that second, he was dressed nicely, wearing black slacks, a white dress shirt, and a buttoned forest green vest.

Yurie sighed. "I heard that you also earned enough ribbons, but I was hoping that you'd get lost on the way here."

Omori laughed and then inched closer. He looked at Yurie in the eyes. "The only place that I get lost is in your beautiful brown eyes."

"Shut up."

Reina pulled on Yurie's sleeve, getting her attention. "You gonna introduce me? He's so cute."

Yurie groaned. "Omori, this is Reina. Reina, this is Omori. He's the worst."

"It's so nice to meet you!" Reina said while trying to hold in her screams. "I'm a fan of yours! I hope you win the whole thing!"

"Reina, you're competing too?" Yurie said.

"Oh yeah! Um, I hope you get second place!" Reina said, correcting herself and making Yurie groan again.

Omori shrugged and then looked past Reina. "You have dinner plans tonight? What do you say we go out and eat?"

"I'm supposed to go eat with Logan and-"

"Logan?" Omori wondered. "Of course. When are you gonna dump him already? He's a loser."

Yuta stepped forward and glared at Omori. "You're really obnoxious. Get his name out of your mouth if you're going to speak ill of him."

Yurie was taken aback. She knew that Yuta respected and looked up to Logan, but she wasn't aware that he would have gotten that angry over it.

"And who are you?" Omori snapped back. "Don't recognize ya, so you must be a nobody."

"Let's just calm down!" Yurie said while stepping between the two boys. "Yuta is competing in the Indigo League. He's the third strongest trainer I know."

"Third?" Yuta wondered.

"Am I the first?" Omori asked with a cocky grin.

Yurie shook her head. "On my ranking, you're not even in the top ten."

Omori's shoulders slumped.

"Now, as I was saying. I'm supposed to eat pizza with Logan and Seshiru tonight. It's Unova-style, I heard. I read in a book that pizza is a social food that you eat with your friends," she explained. Then, what she said next took all of her energy. "Why don't all of us, including Omori, go eat it together. We can share our stories, and I'm sure that Yuta and Logan would love to catch up."

Yuta and Omori exchanged glances before looking away.

"I guess that's fine," they said in unison.

Yurie sighed with relief. She looked at her two contest rivals and smiled. She was happy to see them both, even if meeting them was exhausting. However, she couldn't help but worry about Michika and where she was at the moment. Did she ever earn her fifth ribbon?


Cyan took in a deep breath and smelled the fresh air. It was a nostalgic smell, and his body shuddered. He grinned and looked out at the small town. It was green and vibrant, as it usually was in spring. There were huge fields of grass in between houses that looked as though were randomly built without regard as to where their neighbors would be. Every house had its own flower patch and a small garden where the locals grew their own vegetables.

"Pallet Town!" he exclaimed happily. It had been so long since he had come to the small town. He was glad to see that it wasn't in shambles. He had feared coming back after seeing that Pallet Town had been marked on Team Rocket's system.

"What could Team Rocket want with Pallet Town?" Skylar asked. "No offense to your home, but it seems like there's not a lot going on here."

Cyan and Skylar walked along the stone paths that made up Pallet Town's roads. The town hadn't changed very much since he had lived there. The houses were in the same place, and even the elderly folks that he once knew were still very healthy and taking their usual walks. They passed by the trainer's school where Cyan had studied, but he intentionally made sure that they never once went on the road that would have led to his old house. He didn't want to see who was living there now, as it would have filled him with sadness for what once was.

Instead, he opted to take Skylar to the most popular building in the town, Professor Oak's laboratory. He knocked on the wooden door and waited.

Skylar looked around, finding that there were dozens of Pokémon roaming in the fields to the side. If Professor Oak's lab was anything like her aunts, then he'd have acres filled with other trainer's Pokémon.

The door opened, and Cyan was ready to exclaim happily that he was home, but it wasn't Professor Oak. It was instead a teenager who wore a lab coat over what looked like a black dress. She was putting in earrings, appearing like she was getting ready to leave.

Cyan froze. He recognized the girl as one of the trainers that his sister battled alongside when they fought Team Rocket so many years ago.

"Can we help you?" the girl asked. "You look familiar."

"My name is Cyan Kokura, and this is my friend, Skylar. We wanted to talk with Professor Oak," he explained.

The girl's eyes widened. "Cyan? You haven't grown an inch. I thought you'd be much taller now."

Cyan huffed. "It's a long story."

"I know. We've heard all about your little space adventure. I just wanted to mess with you," the girl said. She looked over at Skylar. "I'm Akane Hakata. Nice to meet you, Skylar. Please come in. I'm about to leave for Celadon City, but if you go to the lab, you'll find Professor Oak."

Cyan knew the house well enough to get there on his own. Skylar followed him through a living area and into a massive room with tons of machines and computers. Sitting in a chair and facing away from them was an elderly man with grey hair. He was typing away at a computer, too focused on whatever was on the screen to notice Cyan and Skylar coming into the room.

Skylar looked to the right of the room, noticing a large window that overlooked some of the professor's fields. The glass appeared brand new, as though it was installed only a couple of weeks ago, and she took note that the walls around the glass were stained black, probably from an explosion.

"Professor Oak?" Cyan said, getting the man to turn around.

Oak instantly smiled upon seeing Cyan. He stood up from his chair and walked across the room as quickly as he could, taking the boy into his arms.

"Mr. Kokura! It's so good to see you!" he said. "I've heard everything. I'm very glad that you're safe and healthy!"

"It's good to see you too," Cyan said before pulling away from Oak's tight grasp. "We-uh-we wanted to come to Pallet Town to ask a couple of questions."

"Questions?" Oak wondered. "I'll make some tea, and we can relax for a bit, eh? My back is sore from bending over my keyboard all day, so I think it's time for a break." He looked towards Skylar. "And you're Skylar, I take it? I saw the highlights from your battle with Yuji. Congratulations."

"Thank you," Skylar said.

Oak left the room, and Skylar brought Cyan's attention to the blackened walls. Cyan had been smiling up until that point, and when he realized that it was Oak's lab that had been targeted, his heart sank into his chest.

Cyan and Skylar moved to the living room and sat on a couch while Oak prepared the tea. He brought out a tray with small glass cups which he served the tea in. Cyan enjoyed the taste, but Skylar wanted something with a little bit more of a sweet flavor. She drank it anyway.

"So, what kind of questions do you have?" Oak asked. "I've been wondering if you were ever gonna go on a real adventure, Cyan. You'd do wonders by traveling and collecting badges. It's too late to start doing any of that in Kanto, but next season would be good! I can get you all of the information you might need."

"It's not any of that," Cyan said. He sighed and then put his tea down. "We wanted to ask about Neo Rocket."

"Neo Rocket?" Oak wondered, his shoulders slumping. "Why do you want to ask about them? They're just children. Hoodlums. Nothing to take seriously."

Skylar shook her head. "We thought the same thing about the Rocket members that we met in the Orange Islands, but we were very wrong. The new group that they're forming is very dangerous."

"We're here to stop them before anyone can get hurt," Cyan added. "When we were fighting Daidai Rocket a couple of months back, we saw a map of Kanto. It had red dots all over it. At first, I thought that it was a map of future targets, but I'm starting to realize that it was a map of places they've already been to."

Oak took a small sip of his tea and enjoyed the flavor momentarily. "Well, we did have a run-in with them here. But, a couple of bright young trainers drove them off. It wasn't too big of a deal."

"Professor," Cyan muttered. "I think they're planning something really big. Daidai Rocket was really strong, and if they're teaming up with Neo Rocket, it could get dangerous again."

Oak remained quiet momentarily while he thought over what he should say to the two. "I don't want you to get involved again, Cyan. You and your family have suffered enough at the hands of Team Rocket. You're only 15-er-13; I'm still not exactly sure how it works for you. You need to enjoy your adventure and have fun. This isn't your job."

"Then whose job is it? Clearly, the police haven't been doing anything," Cyan snapped.

Oak sighed. "There are many strong trainers with the hearts of heroes in Kanto. When the time comes to stand up and fight, Team Rocket won't be prepared for it. Just like what happened with Giovanni and Aoi many years ago in Saffron City, it'll happen again. Team Rocket will rise, but they will fall just as quickly. That is something I can promise. But, Cyan, Skylar, it's not your job."

Cyan sat back on the sofa, his eyes wide. "Saffron City?"

"What?" Oak and Skylar asked in unison.

Cyan looked at Skylar and grinned. "On the map, Saffron City wasn't marked. If Neo Rocket are as much of copycats as I think they are, then wouldn't Saffron City be where they go for their big plan?"

"It's worth a shot, I guess," Skylar said. "But what about what Oak just said-"

"Thank you, Professor!" Cyan exclaimed before chugging the rest of the hot tea. He put the cup down with a hard thud. "We know where to go!"

Oak shook his head violently. "Did you not hear a single word I just said?!"


Logan and Seshiru finished their training session and met with the coordinators and Yuta at the pizza shop. Because Logan knew all about Unova-style pizza, the others let him choose what they'd have. He was delighted to have more people come, as that only meant more varieties of pizza.

"So, he's evolved into a Charizard?" Logan, the pizza shop owner, asked. "I never even thought he'd be able to pick up on Flamethrower, let alone evolve. You've done a great job with him, kid."

"Thanks!" Logan said. "He's a great Pokémon, but he is currently struggling with flying. We'll figure it out though!"

"I'm sure you will," the pizza shop owner replied while setting down a four cheese pizza. "Enjoy!"

"So, Logan, it looks like we're both struggling with Midori," Yuta said. "Let's do our best. I want a rematch at the Indigo Conference!"

Usually, Logan would have been very eager to talk about the conference and Pokémon battling, but the only thing that he loved more than competition was cheesy pizza. He served his friends and Omori each a slice and nodded before devouring his piece.

"Omori, you're wearing your emerald suit today," Reina said nervously. "My favorite suit of yours is the one with the dark purple trim. It goes really well with your eyes."

"Huh?" Omori wondered. He observed Reina momentarily, slightly disgusted at her brown knit sweater. "And you look very retro."

"Stop trying to impress him, Reina," Yuta said after taking a bite of the pizza. "He's clearly too involved with himself to even consider you."

"You're just jealous!" Reina exclaimed loudly.

"Jealous of what?"

"Jealous that Omori and I have something!"

"What?" Omori snapped.

"You wish that you had what we had! After all, you have a crush on Yurie," she blurted out.

Everyone paused.

"You what?" Yurie wondered, surprised if it were true. She couldn't even fathom that possibility, but she did hear that the kids who pick on other kids only do it because they have small crushes.

"She doesn't know what she's talking about!" Yuta screeched.

Seshiru looked over at Logan, who was too preoccupied with his pizza to be listening to anything the group was saying. She enjoyed all of the chaos that the group had created by being together. Surely it was going to be an interesting week.

"Whatever," Yurie said. "I wouldn't believe it. And anyway, you're not my type." She pulled out her PokéNav and lifted it high enough so that it blocked out the others from her vision. She looked at the different articles, trying to find Michika's face, but nothing came up. Finally, she just looked up her rival's name, bringing up tons of results.

But unfortunately, all of the reports were ones of defeat.

Last year's top rookie from Sinnoh fails to get her fifth ribbon.

Close, but not enough: Imamura Michika takes second place.

Michika: Has she lost her step?

"I can't believe it," Yurie muttered quietly.

"Well, it's not true!" Yuta yelled. "I don't like you! I only see you as a friend."

Yurie tucked away her PokéNav and then looked down at the food. She didn't reply, and no one could figure out why she was silent. They continued to eat and share their stories of adventures.

Logan looked towards Yurie and put down his piece before wiping his fingers clean. He nudged her lightly. "You alright? Nervous?"

"I guess you could say that."

When they finished, the group split up. Omori, Reina, and Yuta were staying at the Celadon Hotel near the dome, and the other three would be joining them the next day. They wanted to spend their time training at the Pokémon Center courtyard.

When the three arrived at the Pokémon Center, Yurie walked to the counter to get her Pokémon back from Nurse Joy.

"They're in great shape!" Joy said. "I'm going to be one of the judges tomorrow! Good luck, Yurie!"

"Thank you," Yurie said while releasing Torchic from his ball. He materialized and then shook his tiny body before looking up at Yurie and chirping happily.

Then, from the side, a small blue figure appeared out of nowhere, tackling Torchic to the ground. Yurie was surprised and screeched, thinking it was a threat. She quickly dove and pulled the figure off of Torchic, finding herself face to face with Piplup.

"Piplup?" Yurie wondered.

"I'm sorry," a familiar voice softly said. "She just couldn't control herself. She got so excited when she saw her old friend."

Yurie's heart fluttered and she turned to find Michika. She wanted to cry, but she managed to keep it in. She put Piplup on the floor and ran to Michika, hugging her as tightly as she could.

"You made it! You made it! I'm so happy!"

Michika sighed. "There was a last chance contest in Saffron. Won it this morning. I got very lucky."

Yurie pulled back and grinned. "I knew you'd make it though! We made a promise!"

Michika couldn't help but smile. "My luck has turned around, Yurie! You just watch! This year, I'm winning it all!"

Logan and Seshiru were watching from the side.

Logan laughed and then folded his arms. "I remember having rivals like Michika. Nothing is better than a friendly rivalry!"

Seshiru cocked her head and pursed her lips. "I've never had a friendly rivalry before, so I wouldn't know. All of my rivals were too weak."

"Starting to think that you didn't have any friendly rivals," Logan said before pausing. He wasn't sure if he wanted to say what he was going to say next. "Because you're not very friendly, Seshiru."

"Maybe if they weren't so weak, I'd be nicer."

Yurie made a fist and waved it over her head. "Jah! Let's get this party started!"


AUTHOR'S NOTES:

So, a small heads up. The next chapter is set to feature two rounds of appeals, and because of this, I might end up writing eight appeals in total (if Yurie and her rivals all make it through). If I used my usual structure, the chapter would end up being way too long. So, I want to sort of experiment with the chapter/appeals; the next chapter is going to be a collection of poems. When I was in college, I took part in a multitude of poetry classes, but I haven't written a poem since I graduated, so the next chapter will be me doing that (I'm not very good, but I like poetry). The first round of appeals will be four haikus, and then the second round will be a little bit more experimental. I hope you can enjoy it! If not, don't worry! It's just a one-time thing!

Also, as mentioned in my Ascenidng Alola chapter, I recently went through a break-up. I'm gonna try to keep posting regularly, but as of right now, I'm very depressed and sick to my stomach. I'd appreciate any kind comments or reviews. Or ya know what, share with me the name of your favorite fanfiction on this site, and I may go check it out.

REVIEWS:

wisdom-jewel - "I'm sure Seshiru would get her rematch sooner or later. Zaptos would be a good addtion but it only help her so far and so much. Zaptos might win against a couple of the Regis but might lose. She has to think outside of the box to win this one. Like how Logan needs to think creatively to win his last gym battle." - I'm very excited for her rematch. You're right. She'll have to think outside the box.

pokemonking0924 - "I was surprised however by how upset she was by that loss, I guess that's what happens when your so close to your goal only to find out your best wasn't enough. Can't wait to see how she bounces back and Logan's next rematch." - I tried to justify the crying by having Seshiru claim at the beginning that the battle was for her Vaporeon. As far as she's concerned, she couldn't fulfill her promise to her old Pokemon.

SceptileBlade - "Talking about this chapter though, I see Brandon still has the whole Regi trio to fight. I honestly wasn't expect to Seshiru to win first try, and it makes sense that she didn't. Hopefully Yurie has better luck with the Grand Festival though." - I'm not sure if he only sticks to using two per battle or if he should use all three. I'm conflicted, but we'll see.

CrescentApple - "Cyan and Skylar, the dude who looks like Giovanni... im gonna wager he is a huge fan of the ex Team Rocket boss." - I think this might be the direction that I go in. I'm not too interested in writing "Surprise! Another family member!" type of arc.