A Pallet Pair #6:
Cerulean Showdown
Ivonar sighed as she hiked her backpack farther up her back. "Are we almost there?" she complained. She pretended to yawn. "I'm starting to fall asleep, here. We need some action." She rubbed her stomach. "Not to mention breakfast. How do I let you talk me into hiking before we eat?"
Remmy chuckled as he unfolded the map he'd started to keep in his pocket ever since his partner had started to get edgy. "We'd be there already if we didn't get lost in Mount Moon."
"Oh be quiet," Ivonar muttered, pouting. Sweetie trilled sympathetically from where she was perched on her trainer's backpack. "I said I was sorry. Besides, you wouldn't have gotten Fairie if I hadn't gotten us lost."
"If I hadn't gotten Fairie, we'd still be lost," Remmy laughed, holding the map out ahead of him as he walked.
Ivonar chuckled dryly, rubbing at a bruise on the back of her wrist. "Remind me never to call that cruel little fuzzball 'cute'," she told him. "You'd think I called her ugly!"
Remmy laughed again. "I will," he promised. "And yes… according to this, we're almost there." He folded the map again, and put it back in his pocket. It was really Ivonar's map, but they had quickly realized that Ivonar couldn't read it. She couldn't even pretend to read it.
"What's with you, anyway?" Ivonar demanded. Remmy smiled vaguely to himself as he prepared to listen to another rant. "I mean, you don't even want to train, but you're the one who is just born with this… this skill! This luck! I don't know what! All I know is, you battle-"
"-coach-" he corrected her patiently.
"-whatever, Pokémon with this natural… thing!… and you get rare Pokémon like… like… I don't know what!"
He chuckled. "It's my feet," he told her, grinning. Drake trilled its own laugh from where it was coiled on his backpack. "I caught Drake by fishing with them - unintentionally, but I did - and I tripped over Fairie. It's my feet."
"I don't care what it is," Ivonar pouted. "It just annoys me that you have it. Can't you share, or something?"
Remmy just laughed. He pointed ahead of them. "Cerulean City should be on the other side of this hill we're on," he said. "That road sign probably says as much."
"Let's check." Ivonar ran ahead, Cole, Fluffball, and Static at her heels. Shaking his head tolerantly, Remmy kept up his normal pace, not wanting to make Drake cling to his pack for dear life, like Sweetie was doing to Ivonar's. Manx, out of his ball as always, gave Remmy a glance of approval; after all, who wanted to chase after Ivonar when she got like this? The Eevees had an excuse, of course - they were just kids.
Neither the boy nor the tailless Persian reacted in any way when they heard Ivonar wail a moment later. They simply took their time getting to where she was, staring at the sign.
"Look at this!" she cried.
Remmy looked.
"CERULEAN CITY", it said, with an arrow pointing the way they were going.
Then, in small, hand-written letters, it said in a corner:
"Gary was here. Ash is a loser!"
"At least he didn't say anything about us," Remmy told her.
"Who cares about that?" Ivonar demanded. "Gary beat us here! He's ahead of us!"
Remmy sighed tolerantly. "Eevee, forget that we walked here from Old Farley's. Even if we biked the whole way, we wouldn't have beaten him." Ivonar pouted at him. "Eevee," he said again, "what did you expect? Forget the bikes. Gary has a car."
Ivonar just pouted. "He beat us," she muttered again.
Manx rolled his eyes, snorting softly.
Remmy grinned, chuckling. He threw one arm around Ivonar's shoulders, forcing her away from the sign. "The longer you stand there, the farther ahead he gets," he pointed out.
"What?!" Ivonar screeched, as if the thought hadn't occurred to her. There was a possibility it hadn't. "Ahh! Come on!" She sprinted ahead, holding the straps of her backpack with her hands to keep it from bouncing too much. The three Eevees on the ground ran after her.
Remmy and Manx shared a knowing look, then ran after her.
*
Remmy grinned as he slowed to a stop at the bottom of the hill. "Don't tell me you're tired already."
Ivonar leaned over, her hands on her knees. Sweetie leaped to the ground. Ivonar glared up at Remmy's grin. "Shut… up," she gasped. "Don't… you know… what… 'slow down'… means?"
Manx sat down beside Ivonar and started licking nonchalantly at his right front paw.
Ivonar glanced at her Pokémon. "Knock it off," she told him, giving his head a backwards rub. He glared at her, then began getting the fur on his head back into place. "That paw healed a long time ago. And you're no better than Remmy." She returned her glare to her fellow trainer as she stood up straight again. "What's the big idea, with you two running so far ahead?"
"You seemed in such a hurry," he told her, spreading his hands as if to show that it wasn't his fault. "Sorry you couldn't keep up."
"Be quiet!" she told him, taking a mock swipe at him. He dodged anyway. "Don't mock me. It's not nice." He just grinned. She looked forward again, toward their destination. "This is Cerulean City, huh?"
"Didn't you say that about Pewter City?"
"I said nothing like that about Pewter City. I said that Pewter City was gray. This is…" She tried to think of a single word to describe it, but couldn't. Unlike Pewter City, Cerulean City didn't really strike her as different from any other city. "This… isn't." Remmy laughed. Ivonar glared at him tolerantly. "Let's find that gym," she told him, picking Sweetie up before she started forward again. Manx stood up, took a nice, long, stretch, then trotted after her. He paused only to give Remmy a significant glare and to let Fluffball and Cole catch up to him.
Remmy gave the Persian a faint smile, then reached into one of his pockets, gripping the pokéball there. "Come on, Chia," he murmured, following after them. "We'll get you to the Pokécenter." While in Mount Moon, they'd had a few problems, not the least of which was when Ivonar got them lost by chasing after a Paras. Chia had stumbled into a ditch, spraining her ankle; the last few days had been strange, without her. Cole was kind of mopey; he didn't romp around with Fluffball, as he had when they first found him. Instead he sort of tagged after her, staying back more with Static.
The eight of them - the five Eevees (so to speak), Remmy, Manx, and Drake - entered Cerulean City, with an understated commotion not too much unlike that which greeted them in Viridian City. Now, though, there was only one of them who drew much attention in the bigger city.
"Is that a Dratini on his backpack?"
"A what?"
"It's a stuffed animal, or a balloon, or something. It's not real."
"It just blinked!"
"No way! He's got a Dratini!"
"Hey, kid! How much for that Dratini!"
"I'm tellin' ya, it's not real!"
"Remmy?" Ivonar frowned a little, even as she hugged Sweetie close. "I think you'd better put Drake back in its pokéball. It's drawing an awful lot of attention."
"I know." Remmy was frowning, too. He shook his head as yet another prospective buyer walked toward him, heavy wallet in plain view. "Drake, she's right. I don't think it's safe for you out here."
Drake pouted, trilling in annoyance, but it dissolved in a flare of red light, making several people cry out, and zipped back into its pokéball.
"See, I told you it was real!" the companion of the disbeliever chided them.
"Hey, kid! I'll give you a Charizard and a Blastoise for all your Eevees!"
Ivonar groaned, hugging Sweetie tighter. "What is with these people!" she grumbled. Then, she stopped walking, put Sweetie down, and screamed at the top of her lungs, "We are NOT selling our Pokémon!"
Several people around them cried out in surprise, some cringing, others literally leaping for cover. Several others glared at her, saw her scowl, and decided to look elsewhere for a deal.
"You drive a hard bargain," Remmy teased her, grinning.
"Be quiet." Manx snickered, smiling faintly at Ivonar. She glared at him. "I noticed nobody offered anything for the tailless Persian, Manx, so stop grinning at me." Manx scowled, his ears rotating back. She reached for his head, but he pulled away roughly. "Hey, I was kidding!" He snorted, growling softly, and looked away. "Sheesh."
"That was kind of harsh, Ivonar," Remmy told her, frowning.
"I didn't mean it," she grumbled in reply. She looked around, then paused. "Hey, look at that!" she said, pointing. "Sound like fun?"
What she was pointing at was a fairly large poster, advertising some sort of synchronized swimming show. Remmy frowned, looking at it more closely. He read the fine print. Come see the amazingly talented trio of Synchronized Swimming Sisters of Cerulean City before all shows sell out! His frown deepened. "Only three?" he muttered.
"Huh?"
"Yeah, it sounds great," he said, sounding distracted. "Let's get our Pokémon to the Pokécenter for now, then see when the next show is."
"Cool." Still, Ivonar frowned. Something was bugging Remmy… but what?
What did he mean, "only three"?
*
After quick breakfasts, baths, and changes of clothes, they left the Pokécenter and went to in search of the location of the show. It turned out to be pretty easy to get directions to the aquarium-like gym where the show was supposed to be. Ivonar frowned thoughtfully at the huge sculpture of a Seel that graced the front of the building. "Could almost be a Pokémon Gym," she muttered. Remmy shrugged a little. Whatever funk he'd fallen into hadn't lifted. Cole rode on his shoulder while Fluffball squirmed in his arms; Sweetie had her tail curled around Ivonar's neck while she kept up her usual perch, and Static was much more behaved than Fluffball as he half-dozed in Ivonar's arms. It felt funny, not having Manx along, but he'd decided to nap back at the Pokécenter, leaving the humans to deal with the restless little Eevees.
It was a little difficult to find seats, but they got lucky - there were a couple seats half-way up, situated near the middle of the pool. The only problem they had was when somebody sat behind them and asked them to get the Eevees off their shoulders. That, of course, was easily fixed.
The show started about ten minutes later, and, to be honest, Ivonar was disappointed. It was kind of boring. The music was soft and gentle, which kind of lulled her half-asleep, and while the three performers were graceful, they were nothing compared to Ro or Drake. Sure, that wasn't a fair comparison, but it was how she felt. She started yawning before it was half over. By three-quarters of the way through, she'd untied one of her shoelaces to keep an equally restless Fluffball, and herself, amused. Sweetie napped under Ivonar's seat - considering, once off Ivonar's shoulders, she couldn't see what was happening anyway - and Cole just sort of moped on the floor.
The only two that were at all interested were Static and Remmy. Static, of course, stared longingly at the pool, while Remmy squinted down at the three swimmers, as if he recognized them from somewhere, but couldn't remember their names. "What's wrong?" Ivonar whispered to him once. He just shrugged. Everyone else around them "shh!"d her. She gave them all a funny look, and returned to her shoelaces.
*
"Hey, Eevee, you can tie your shoe now." She looked up at his grin. "Show's over. Come on."
"Glad you liked it," she said, tying her shoe quickly. She stood up, yawning. "But it was kinda a waste of money, in my opinion."
"Yeah. Let's go."
"Where're you running to?" Ivonar asked, scooping up Fluffball and letting Sweetie jump onto her shoulder. "The Pokémon Gym? What are we going to do, battle with the Eevees?"
Remmy shook his head. "There's somebody - well, somebodies, anyway - that I need to talk to here."
"Somebodies?" she echoed curiously. "And who might those bodies be?"
"The somebodies who were swimming before. I know them."
"You do?" Suddenly, it clicked. "That's why you said 'only three' before! What, there used to be more?"
He shrugged as he jogged off the stands, Ivonar at his heels. Cole and Static hurried at her heels; Cole came close to tumbling end-over-end down the last dozen steps, but managed to catch himself. "Something like that," Remmy replied vaguely.
They were quiet as they made their way around the pool, Remmy's face expressionless, Ivonar's expression a mix of confusion and curiosity. Static "accidentally" fell into the pool, and paddled his way through the water instead of walking. Cole giggled, and jumped in after him. Fluffball looked at them both as if they were crazy; Sweetie just gave them a funny look; and Remmy and Ivonar kept an eye on them, making sure they didn't tire themselves out and start drowning. Once around the pool (and once Static was fished out of the water, very much against his will), they headed down a set of damp stairs, going below the pool. Ivonar gasped in surprise at what she saw: it was an aquarium! The entire bottom of the pool had transparent walls, giving view to the bright plants that swayed with each movement of the water. A Seel peeked out at them, grinned, and swam quickly away. "Wow," was all Ivonar could think to say. Remmy just shrugged a little. "What? This is a heck of a lot better than that show we just saw."
He shrugged yet again. "I've seen it before," he replied. "We'd better hurry it up, or we'll miss them."
"Miss who? You haven't given any names. How do you know these people?"
He looked at her, flashing a quick grin. "You'll see." He headed down the corridor a little more quickly. Ivonar hurried after him, but kept her eyes on the clear side of the pool.
Soon, from down the hall, voices could be heard.
"My timing was so off. I am so, so sorry!"
"As if! You were perfect, like always, Violet."
"You really think so?"
"Of course you were!"
"I don't know… I was sure I was ruining everything… I didn't get much sleep last night, and…"
"Oh! Is something wrong?"
"Tell us!"
"No, no… everything's cool and all. I just didn't sleep well. Too much on my mind, I guess."
Remmy and Ivonar turned a corner, coming face to face with three older girls. The tallest had damp blond hair and a slightly worried look on her face; the one of middle height was violet-headed and grinning; the third had hair of brilliant pink, and a slight smile on her face. All three had towels thrown over their shoulders. In unison, the trio looked down at the pair of trainers. "Sorry," the tallest said, frowning a little. "We, like, don't give autographs and stuff."
"No worries there," Ivonar assured her, smirking a little. "He's looking for somebodies, that's all." She pointed at Remmy.
"You are?" The smallest looked at Remmy, then frowned, too. Her eyebrows drew downward, as if something had occurred to her, but she didn't quite know what she'd figured out. "We run everything at the gym, so you must be looking for us." Remmy nodded, his expression blank. "You look, like, familiar, and stuff. Do we know you?"
He shrugged a little. "It's been awhile."
"Wait!" The tallest covered her mouth, smiling. "I know that little shrug!" She took a step forward, leaning down to Remmy's eye level. "Lily, Violet, it's Little Joey!"
Ivonar cringed; the blond girl had squealed out her revelation in a very high-pitched voice, one that grated every single molecule in her spine. Static and Cole cowered in surprise, pressing their ears to the floor with their paws in case she did it again. Fluffball gave her a hideous glare she didn't see, but Sweetie just whimpered a little.
Remmy didn't even react to it; he just turned up the corners of his mouth in the faintest of smiles. "I'm not as little as I used to be," he replied, then added, "I hope."
The tallest girl gave him a bear hug. "Aw, Joey, you'll always be little to us!" she cried happily. Then she turned to give her sisters a pointed look. "Are you two just going to stand there? It's Little Joey!"
"Little Cousin Joey?" the violet-headed one echoed blankly. "I thought he was, like, six or seven, or something."
"Ten," Remmy said.
"'Little Joey'?" Ivonar murmured quietly, smirking at him.
"Shuddup," he replied, just as quietly. Then he held out one hand, toward the tallest. "This is my cousin, Daisy," he said, then moved his hand right, toward the smallest. "That's Lily, and-" he moved his hand toward the last one, "-Violet."
Ivonar shifted Fluffball to one arm so she could wave a little. "Hi."
"Where's Misty?" Remmy asked.
Lily rolled her eyes. "On one of her tiffs," she replied. "You know how she is. Get her a little upset, she's ready to kill somebody."
"Your parents here, Joey?" Daisy asked. "And who's your girlfriend?"
Ivonar gave her a cold glare that greatly resembled the one Fluffball was still wearing. Remmy wasn't sure if he wanted to grin at the glare or cringe at the mistake, and decided to ignore both. "This is my friend, Ivonar," he replied. "Everybody calls her Eevee, though."
"I can tell why," Lily said, smiling. She crouched down, reaching out toward Static. "These cute little sweeties are all hers, aren't they?"
"That's… another reason," he agreed. Ivonar looked at him; he just shook his head a little. The message was clear: don't even try to make them understand. Then, in the same way as before, he finished the introductions. "That's Static, Cole, Fluffball, and Sweetie."
"Oh, how cute!" Static gave Lily a wary look, wondering if she, too, would squeal, but all she did was rub him gently between the ears. She frowned slightly. "This one's all wet!"
Ivonar giggled. "He and Cole helped themselves to the pool. Static loves water."
"Then you've come to the right place, little guy," Lily said, smiling. She took the towel off her shoulders and, after draping it over Static's back, gave him a quick rubdown.
"So, like, what brings you here?" Daisy asked.
"Cascade Badges, we hope," Ivonar replied.
"Badges?" Violet gasped. "You're ten already, Joey?"
Ivonar and Remmy traded a look. "And Ivonar's twelve," he replied, for lack of anything better to say.
"That kid from Pallet Town said there were more trainers coming…" Daisy slapped her forehead. "Oh… my… gosh! You're the other trainers?"
Ivonar scowled a little. "And that other trainer would be Gary Oak." Her eyes widened. "Wait! How'd you know about Gary?"
"Yeah, that was him." Lily looked up at them, then frowned. She picked Static up as she stood up again. "And don't you know this is the Pokémon Gym?" She blew some stray strands of hair out of her eyes. "Hey, wait. You guys don't have any pokéballs, or anything. You don't, like, battle with these guys, do you?"
Ivonar shook her head quickly, while trying to get the facts straightened out in her head. "Our battling Pokémon are at the Pokécenter right now." She paused. "You three are the gym leaders?"
"I feel so old," Daisy moaned, pouting. She didn't seem to have noticed Ivonar's question. "Misty almost a teenager, Little Joey already training Pokémon?" She sighed.
"So, what Pokémon are you training, Joey?" Violet asked.
"I started with a Bulbasaur," he answered, "then Eevee and I each caught a Pidgey and a Spearow. Then we found the Eevees, and Ivonar gave me her Rattata so she didn't feel bad about keeping them all."
"Where did you find Eevees around here?" Lily asked.
"We found them in Viridian Forest," Ivonar replied.
"Since when did Eevees live there?" Daisy asked, then shook her head. "Look, I am so beat. Let's go to the pool and sit down, okay?" As a group, they started back the way Ivonar and Remmy had come.
"They were in an abandoned den," Remmy answered her question. "Their mother died, so we adopted them."
"Correction." Ivonar laughed. "Manx adopted them."
"Manx?" Violet echoed. "Who's Manx?"
"My mom's Persian," Ivonar replied. "My mom made me take him with me, because I wanted to take my Psyduck." She shrugged. "Moms. Who can figure them out?"
"As if," Lily agreed.
"The nurse at the Viridian Pokécenter gave me a Pikachu, who evolved into Raichu recently, and I fished a Dratini and three Magikarp out of the river-"
"A Dratini?" Daisy squealed. Ivonar and the Eevees cringed.
Remmy just grinned to himself. He was starting to get used to that reaction. "I gave Ivonar one of the Magikarp, because I didn't need three. We went through Mount Moon, where we both caught a Zubat. Then Ivonar started chasing after this Paras she saw, and we got lost. There was this one really dark section, but before Eevee sent out her Charmander to give us some light I tripped over something. Turned out to be a Clefairy. Fairie helped get Eevee and me out of Mount Moon, and I got another Pokémon." He frowned a little. "And… I think that's it."
"How long have you been training?" Daisy asked.
"A few weeks," Ivonar answered.
"And you already have ten Pokémon? Wow." Violet beamed at him.
Remmy laughed. "That's nothing. Eevee walks around with ten."
Ivonar pouted as she gave Fluffball a gentle squeeze. Fluffball gave her a tolerant glare. "I don't battle the Eevees," she explained, sounding defensive, "so I'm not cheating by having them, and six Pokémon - am I?"
"Of course not," Daisy assured her. She smiled to herself as she looked over the pool; all looked in order. She wandered to the side and, sitting on the edge, stuck her feet in. "Make yourselves at home, guys."
Lily giggled as she let Static go. He slipped a little on the moist floor, but hurried right over to the pool and jumped in. "Him and Vapor would get along really well," she snickered, sitting down beside her sister.
"Vapor?" Ivonar echoed.
"One of my Pokémon," Lilly replied. She pouted. "That other kid's Squirtle beat Vapor, though. She's still at the Pokécenter. She Tail Whipped the Squirtle's shell, and her poor tail is all bruised."
"What about you, Eevee?" Violet asked.
Ivonar shook her head. "I'll say later. We still have a battle to do."
"How many do you have?" Lily asked. "That can't be a bad question, can it?"
Ivonar frowned a little, putting Fluffball down so she could use her fingers to count. "Um… Nuisance, Manx, Char, Pidge, Ro, Sweetie, Static, Cole, Fluffball, Rahta, The Kakuna, Poe, Ouch-Two, a Caterpie, a Pikachu, and a Zubat." She looked at her hands in surprise. "Sixteen."
"Wow." Violet and Daisy both sounded impressed.
"We just deal with water Pokémon," Lily told them. "We each have three Pokémon… and Seel just sort of belongs to all of us. It's too weak to battle - it's just a pet."
"Don't underestimate pets," Ivonar said, thinking about Nuisance. "They can get pretty strong, too."
"So here's the deal," Daisy said. "When we battle, you go against each of us once. Three battles. You're allowed to use three Pokémon."
"Sounds fair," Ivonar agreed. "When's good for you?"
"We don't have another show until late this afternoon," Violet replied. "Anytime between then and now would be great." She wrinkled her nose. "It's either that, or scrub the pool."
"Ew!" her sisters agreed, cringing.
Ivonar clapped her hands. "Great! We'll be back real soon."
*
"You know," Ivonar whispered to Remmy, "there are far too many Joys who look way too much alike working at Pokécenters these days."
He nodded. "Definitely."
The nurse in question returned, a tray in each hand, Manx at her heels. Manx spared a glare for Ivonar, then occupied himself with checking on the Eevees, ignoring her completely. "Here you are!" Nurse Joy said cheerfully. "All as good as new."
"Chia?" Remmy asked, and one of the balls in the left tray popped open. With a flare of red light, the Raichu appeared, grinning. Cole leaped into her forepaws with a squeal of delight. Remmy crouched down to the Raichu's eye level, and rubbed the fur between her ears. "Feeling better?"
"Chai," Chia agreed, helping Cole to her shoulder. She wrapped her tail once around his middle to help him balance.
"Are you going to the Pokémon Gym?" Nurse Joy asked them.
"Yeah, right now," Ivonar replied. The nurse nodded, then disappeared into the back again, as Ivonar concentrated on getting her pokéballs in order. Using a water-proof marker, she'd written numbers on the button of each to make it easier. Char's had a "one", Nuisance's "two", Manx's "three", Poe's "four", Ro's "five", and The Kakuna's "six". She'd also drawn a ring around the middle of each pokéball, where the red and white halves joined. At the time she'd said it was to tell them apart from other people's pokéballs, but really she'd just done it because she'd been bored.
Remmy had also drawn waterproof circles around the middle of his pokéballs, but while Ivonar's pokéballs had black rings, his had blue. Quickly he placed half his pokéballs in one of the pockets in his shorts. Normally he only kept one pokéball in each pocket, but he was wearing shorts and a tee shirt instead of his normal jeans, tee shirt, and jacket, and didn't have enough pockets. "How do you keep them organized like that?" Ivonar asked him.
"I let the Pokémon do the sorting for me," he replied vaguely as he stuck the other three pokéballs in the other pocket of his shorts.
"Excuse me?" They looked up. Nurse Joy had reappeared. "This Pokémon is ready to go back to Lily at the gym. Could you return it, since you're going there?"
"Sure," Ivonar replied with a slight shrug.
"Be sure to tell Lily that it's not to battle for the next two weeks," Nurse Joy told them sternly as she ushered the Pokémon out from behind the counter.
It was a watery blue, its eyes large and black. Its large ears were fin-like, and it had a long, mermaid-like tail whose beauty was marred by the section of it wrapped in gauze.
"Vay," the creature greeted them, its bandaged tail held in a gingerly way. It rubbed its chin against Remmy's leg.
"Hey, Vapor!" Remmy grinned. "Haven't seen you in awhile."
Ivonar smiled a little at the Pokémon. Manx regarded her for a moment, then ignored her.
The Eevees all had their own reactions. Cole was too busy "chatting" with Chia to take any notice of her; Fluffball regarded her for a moment, her ears laid back slightly, before taking refuge under Manx. Sweetie looked down curiously from her perch on Ivonar's shoulder. And Static…
Static stared, open-mouthed, then approached slowly. "Vee?" he said softly.
The larger Pokémon looked down at him, then smiled softly. "Pour," she giggled, leaning down to look at him in the eye.
"Looks like Static's got a new friend," Remmy said, rubbing Vapor's head.
"I wouldn't doubt it," Ivonar replied. "I mean, he probably wants to be just like her when he's older, don't ya?" She grinned down at Static, who didn't even look at her. Instead he sniffed the Vaporeon's nose. "Come on. We have battles to fight."
Vapor looked up at her curiously, then back down at Static. She nudged him with her nose. "Ree," she murmured, heading for the door. Static scampered after her.
Yet again the group made quite a scene, but they managed to get back to the gym without much difficulty. "We're back!" Ivonar announced. She whistled softly, stopping right next to the pool. "Looks different." Now, several large floats were arranged on the pool. The three sisters stood on one on the far side.
"Vapor!" Lily called out. The Vaporeon's fin-like ears moved forward, and she trilled happily. "Come to mommy, honey!" The Vaporeon hurried off. Static whimpered softly, but before he could tag along, Manx grabbed him firmly by the scruff of the neck. He held him up until the smaller Pokémon gave up, then put him down. Static pouted, sulking, as he watched the Vaporeon leap onto the float with the three older trainers.
"You first," Remmy said.
"Huh?" Ivonar looked at him; he was standing against the bleachers, his arms crossed. "Oh!" She judged the distance to the closest float, then leaped onto it. She skidded a little on the smooth surface, but managed to get her footing. The float drifted farther into the pool; if it kept going the way it was, there was no way Ivonar was going to be able to jump back. She grimaced; swimming in wet jeans was no fun.
Daisy stepped forward. "You know and understand the rules?" she asked seriously. "We use one Pokémon each; you use three. You have to defeat all three of us to win."
Ivonar bit her lip for a moment, then nodded. "I understand."
Daisy nodded slightly, then threw out a pokéball. "I choose Staryu!"
Ivonar grimaced again, then reached quickly into the fourth pouch of her belt. "Go, Poe!"
Twin flares of light formed into two very different Pokémon. One Daisy's side, a starfish-like Pokémon landed on a float with a sharp cry of "Yah!" On a float near Ivonar, a dark-skinned beach ball with arms and legs got his bearings silently, then regarded his opponent with slightly narrowed eyes.
At the same time, Daisy and Ivonar pointed toward their rival's Pokémon. "Water Gun!" they shouted in unison.
Twin blasts of water met in the center of the pool, but soon the longer-trained Staryu began to get an edge. More water sprayed toward the Poliwhirl than the Staryu. "Poe!" Ivonar shouted. "Stop and Duck!"
The Poliwhirl was surprised, but he quickly dropped his attack, then fell face-first onto the float, so that the Water Gun attack went harmlessly above him -
- and not-so-harmlessly knocked his trainer into the pool! Ivonar came up quickly, sputtering. "Should've seen that coming," she muttered to herself. "Poe, dive in and get closer!" she shouted as she boosted herself back onto the float.
Poe gripped the front of the float and pulled himself forward. His slick skin slid quickly against the smooth surface, so he was almost catapulted into the water long before the Staryu could take better aim. He skipped once across the surface of the pool before going under.
"Staryu, after him!" Daisy ordered. "Take it to the water!"
"Poe!" Ivonar yelled. "Don't rely water attacks! The Staryu's too strong!"
Daisy glanced at the younger trainer, impressed. She'd figured that fact out quite quickly…
For awhile, nothing could be seen but an occasional bubble. Ivonar squinted, but it was impossible; the water was sparklingly clear, but too many floats were in the way.
Then, with a sudden splash, the Staryu burst out of the water, flipping backwards onto a float. Poe leaped out after it, fists clenched. The Staryu tried gunning him again, but Poe dodged, and slammed a tight fist into its sparkling core. The Staryu grunted, and Poe squealed, as a sharp crack sounded through the gym.
Whimpering in pain, Poe took a step backwards, holding his sore arm with his other hand, to reveal the crack that spread from one side of the Staryu's core to the other.
"Yes!" Ivonar hissed under her breath.
"Staryu, return!" Daisy called. She smiled. "Nice job, Eevee." She took a step backwards.
"My turn," Violet said, stepping forward. She held out a pokéball. "I choose Seadra!" The pokéball cracked open, and a new Pokémon coalesced. It glared at the Poliwhirl. For a moment, Ivonar blanched: what to do? But Violet wasn't so stuck. "Ink Spray!"
The Seadra shot out of the water and into the air, spitting several globs of pitch black ink at Poe. Poe managed to avoid some of them, and deflect others, but he got one in each eye. Blindly, he stumbled into the pool, but even that didn't wash the thick ink off.
"Poe, return!" Ivonar yelled. After a moment's pause, during which he tried to simply wipe the ink off and failed, the Poliwhirl did as he was told. Ivonar replaced his pokéball with one hand, and swiped some wet hair out of her eyes with the other. She reached into the fifth pouch, and threw the pokéball she withdrew into the air. "I choose Fearow!" She caught the pokéball as it came down again, empty. The Pokémon who had once occupied it flapped her long wings powerfully, screeching a warning. "Ro!" Ivonar shouted. "Be careful of its ink!"
"Seadra! Tackle! Get it in the water!" Violet ordered quickly. The Seadra leaped upward, fanning its needle-sharp fins quickly, as if to fly.
"Gust attack, Ro! Put it back down!"
With an ear-splitting scream, Ro flapped her powerful wings as fast as she could, hovering in place as she blasted the other Pokémon with gale-force winds. The Seadra fell back downward, bouncing once off of a float before slipping back into the water. Stunned, it shook its head quickly, trying to clear it.
Suddenly, Ivonar smiled. "Fish it out, Ro!" she shouted.
Ro glanced at her, then folded her wings and dove. She raked her talons forward.
"Dive!" Violet screamed, but not quickly enough - Ro's talons closed tightly around the Seadra, pulling it neatly out of the water. The Fearow flapped again, pulling away from the water.
Ivonar was grinning. This was what Pokémon battles were supposed to be like. They were listening to her! "To the ceiling!" she shouted. Ro flapped hard in the dead air of the gymnasium, going higher and higher, until her wingtips skimmed the ceiling with each upstroke. "Bombs away!" she shouted gleefully.
Ro crowed out victoriously, releasing her passenger. The Seadra fanned its fins as fast as it could, but it barely slowed its fall. Yet again, it smacked into a float, but this time, it didn't bounce. Instead, it squealed, and went limp.
Immediately, Ivonar's mouth fell open, her excitement turning to dread. "Is it okay?" she shouted across the room.
Violet smiled reassuringly, even as she pulled the pokéball out again. "She's survived worse," she replied. "Return!"
"You too, Ro." Ivonar held up the pokéball. The Fearow glared at her, but did as she was told.
The moment both Pokémon had returned, Lily stepped forward, Vapor at her side. "Now you face me," she said. She, too, pulled out a pokéball. "Ready?"
Ivonar nodded, pulling the pokéball out of the first pouch. "I choo-"
She heard a snarl behind her, and the float she stood on suddenly wobbled. She nearly fell off twice, first from losing her balance, then from surprise. "Manx?" she cried, staring at the large, tailless cat that had leaped onto the float. "What's with you?"
He glared at her, ears back. Then he looked forward again, and leaped to the next float. He skidded a little, but, unsheathing his claws, held on. He snarled challengingly at the pink-haired woman.
Ivonar frowned a little, then replaced the pokéball in its pouch. "Sorry, Char," she said, addressing the Pokémon inside. "You'd've had a disadvantage anyway. Next time." She patted the pouch.
Lily frowned a little, then tossed out the pokéball she held. "I choose Seaking!" she yelled. The pokéball landed in the water before opening to let out the enormous fish. "Seaking, Horn Attack!"
The huge fish darted forward like a torpedo, the horn on its head aimed at the float with the Persian. Manx bared his teeth threateningly.
Quickly, Ivonar went through the list of attacks her mother had taught the Persian. By the time she was done, it was too late to counterattack - there was barely enough time to get out of the way. "Manx!" she shouted. "Agility!"
With a sharp snarl, Manx ran forward, leaping into the air just as the Seaking did the same, barely leaping over the fish as it tried to attack the place he no longer was. He tried twisting around in mid-air, but, without his tail, landed slightly awkwardly on another float. He dug his claws into it, fighting for traction.
"Peck!" Lily snapped.
The Seaking ducked under the float between it and Manx's perch, then leaped out of the water again. It aimed its horn at the Persian, who braced himself.
"Manx!" Ivonar shouted, as the large cat took the brunt of the larger fish's attack in the shoulder. The weight of the Seaking drove the cat backwards; with a loud screech like fingernails on a blackboard, Manx's claws scraped through the surface of the float until he slid into the water. "Manx!"
"Horn Attack!" Lily snapped.
"Get out of there!" Ivonar shouted.
Meanwhile, Manx paddled like crazy as the Seaking came around for another attack. Just before it slammed into him again, though, he grimaced, and dove.
Ivonar grimaced in sympathy. She knew that Manx, though he didn't really hate it, generally avoided water. The one thing he did hate about it was being under water. "Come on, Manx," she whispered. "You gotta get out. You gotta get out!"
The Persian paddled quickly, going under another float, the Seaking turning again to resume pursuit. Ivonar frowned; the Seaking, while having the advantage of being a water Pokémon, had a problem stopping its attacks. It put as much force as it could behind them, which had cost Manx greatly in the one that had landed. But, when it missed… She grimaced as Manx climbed awkwardly onto the float; through his soaked fur, she could see that an ugly bruise was already forming where the Seaking had rammed him. There was only one real chance the Persian had; the enemy outweighed, outsized, and simply out-classed him.
The one thing it didn't do was out-turn him.
"Manx!" she snapped. "Keep up the Agility!"
The Persian snorted in reply, his eyes focused on the oncoming Seaking.
"Tackle!" Lily yelled.
"Agility!" Ivonar shouted again.
The Seaking leaped out of the water.
In a perfect mirror of Poe's earlier move, Manx dropped to the float, his stomach smacking it as he landed hard. The Seaking sailed above him.
"Up again!" Ivonar yelled. "Fury Swipes! Now!"
Manx leaped to his feet, wheeling around. He stood, crouching on his hind legs, slashing the Seaking's underside repeatedly with his front claws fully bared. He added a sharp bite to its tail for good measure, ripping a good chunk out of the fin.
Surprised by the attack, the Seaking tried turning in mid-air, but simply ended up flopping back into the water on its side.
Energized by his successful counterattack, Manx grabbed the Seaking by its wrecked fin, digging his claws into its tail before it could swim away, and hauled it back onto the float. He dug his back claws into the float, using his front claws to pull the struggling fish backwards. He grinned viciously as, at last, the huge fish was hauled completely onto the float. He bared his teeth, his ears laid back, as he sunk his claws into the Seaking just behind its gills, then, opening his mouth wide, lunged downward-
"MANX!" Ivonar screamed, horrified. He jerked in surprise, his ears rotating forward again. He looked over his bruised shoulder at her. "Don't eat it!"
A little startled, he looked down at his opponent. The Seaking stared back, shivering. Manx grunted, half confused, half disappointed, and let it go. The Seaking didn't move except to shake with fear.
"That was a bit harsh," Lily rebuked Manx, recalling her Pokémon.
He rotated his ears slightly backwards in acknowledgement, then slipped into the water, letting its coolness soothe his sore shoulder. He paddled around several floats, then climbed onto the one where Ivonar stood, staring at him. He shook off, spraying her, but his equally wet trainer barely noticed. She was too busy being a little numb.
"You listened to me," she murmured, crouching down. He sat down and licked at his right forepaw, ignoring the pain in his shoulder, and pretended to ignore her, too. "You never listen to me." He glanced at her, his gaze shooting invisible daggers, then returned his attention to his paw. "Wait… this is about before, isn't it? Manx, you know I didn't mean it." His glare was longer this time, even more deadly. Its deadliness turned to surprise as she wrapped her arms around him tightly. "You did great, Manx. Just don't get carried away next time." He grunted in reply, shoving her away with his raised paw. She grinned at his tolerant scowl, then stood up. Together they jumped off the side of the float and swam to the side of the pool. Once out, Manx shook off again. Ivonar grinned as she shielded her face. She wrung out her hair as she approached the bleachers, and Manx went to check on the Eevees. "Your turn," she told Remmy.
His expression was unreadable, until she was standing right next to him. Then he smiled, just faintly, and, unfolding his arms, held out one hand, palm up.
Ivonar looked at it blankly for a moment, then, grinning, slapped him five. "Tag," she said. "Your turn." She kicked off her drenched sneakers, and, tying the laces together, tossed them over the railing of the bleachers to let them dry. She slipped her socks off, too, and put them over the railing as well.
Remmy chuckled as he headed for the pool. He looked at the nearest floats, frowned a little, then bent down to untie his sneakers. He kicked one off, slipped off his sock, and shoved it in his sneaker, then did the same for the other foot. He pulled off his shirt, putting it on top of his sneakers.
"What are you doing?" Ivonar demanded.
Remmy looked over his shoulder at her, and grinned. "Unlike you," he replied, pulling slightly on the leg of his "shorts", "I remembered my bathing suit." Ivonar stuck her tongue out at him as he jumped into the pool. He climbed onto the nearest float, then felt in his pockets. His frown returned as he pulled three pokéballs out of one pocket, but only one out of the other.
With a splash, a white form leaped out of the water, onto the float with him. He looked at it in surprise.
The Seel grinned at him, then opened its mouth. It held two pokéballs gingerly between its teeth.
Remmy grinned. "Thanks," he told the Pokémon, taking the pokéballs. The Seel barked in reply, then slipped into the water again. He held the pokéballs in his hands, three in one, three in the other.
Violet stepped forward. "I want to go first this time," she said, "and the Pokémon I choose is… Squirtle!" She threw out another pokéball.
Remmy's frown returned. "Drake," he said simply. One of the pokéballs in his left hand opened on its own, letting the long Dratini out. It looked around the pool, its eyes lighting up, then saw the Squirtle, and frowned in a startling resemblance to its trainer. Remmy put the pokéballs back into his pockets.
"Squirtle!" Violet ordered. "Water Gun!"
"Drake, into the water!" Remmy snapped. Drake slipped into the water, ignoring the attack that missed him completely.
"After it!"
Obediently, the Squirtle dove into the water. The two Pokémon swam toward each other warily. When they were nearly upon each other, the Pokémon trainers shouted out orders at the same time.
"Whirlpool!"
"Bind!"
Both Pokémon lunged at each other, crashing into one another. This was good for the Squirtle, as that had been its intention, but not for Drake, who was a bit stunned. The Squirtle grabbed Drake around the middle and swam in tight circles, creating a slight whirlpool, as it tried getting the Dratini dizzy and disoriented.
"Drake!" Remmy shouted. "Leer!"
"Squirtle, Withdraw!" Violet barked.
Drake forced itself to look at the Squirtle, its eyes glowing a harsh blue, but the Squirtle ducked its head into its shell. Unable to see, it slowed its spinning attack. Drake took advantage of this blindness to re-aim its head, and sank its small but spine-sharp teeth into the Squirtle's arm. The Squirtle's head popped out of its shell in surprise; with a cry swallowed by the water, it let go.
"Wrap it!" Remmy shouted, leaning forward.
Drake wound quickly around the Squirtle, and squeezed its coils tight.
"Withdraw!" Violet shouted.
The Squirtle pulled its arms and legs, as well as its head, into its shell, taking refuge in its strength. Drake squeezed at the shell, but it refused to give.
Remmy grimaced a little, then shouted, "Try Whirlpool!"
Drake considered for a moment. When the Squirtle had been told to use Whirlpool, it had grabbed it, and spun around a lot. Drake already had hold of the Squirtle… Drake began swimming in tight circles, faster and faster, keeping a tight grip on the Squirtle's shell. The water above them started to whirl, just a little at first, then more and more, until there was a definite funnel formed going down to the battling Pokémon. When Drake found the attack starting to backfire - when it started to get itself dizzy - it snapped itself straight, leaving only one coil around the Squirtle's shell, and shot upward, out of the funnel, to land on one of the floats that had been pulled toward the whirlpool. As it landed, it slammed the Squirtle's shell into the float. Panting a little, Drake let go of the shell, and waited to see what would happen. As an afterthought, it nudged the shell, flipping it onto its back.
Slowly, the Squirtle emerged. It groaned, waving its arms weakly in a half-hearted attempt to flip over. It knew it was on its back, but it was so dizzy, it had no idea which way it wanted to go in order to stand up.
"Your Dratini is as smart as it is beautiful," Violet called across the pool as she recalled the confused Squirtle. "It learns quickly." Drake trilled at the compliment, but Remmy didn't appear to notice it.
Lily jumped forward. "Dibs!" she cried cheerfully. "Since Vapor can't fight and Seadra's out cold, I'm going to use my Goldeen!" Again, the pokéball landed in the water before its occupant came out. The golden fish dove under the water.
Drake watched the fish silently from where it was perched on the float, its expression best described as being grumpy. It had had more than its fair share of experience with Goldeens, after the time it had spent in the river; it knew quite well what to do with it. Remmy relaxed on his float, trusting that his Pokémon wasn't being overconfident.
"Goldeen, Horn Attack!" Lily cried.
The Goldeen launched out of the water, straight at Drake.
Remmy remained impassive.
Drake looked almost bored as it watched the Goldeen sail through the air. With almost careless ease, it lifted the lower two-thirds of its body and twisted, using a well-aimed Tail Whip to knock the Goldeen sideways. Fluffball jumped aside as the Goldeen bounced off the foot of the bleachers, where she had just been standing. The Goldeen flopped helplessly on the tile floor, unable to move itself enough to get back to the pool any time soon.
Lily pouted. "I know, I know," she muttered as she recalled her Pokémon. "I really have to train my Goldeen more often. I hope that landing didn't bruise it too badly. Your turn, Daisy."
"Yep." Daisy stepped forward, pokéball in her hand. "Okay, last round! I choose… Cloyster!" She dropped the pokéball over the side of the float, allowing the heavily armored Pokémon to come into being in the water.
Remmy frowned; the Cloyster was too wide for Drake to Wrap or Bind it; Drake wasn't long enough to go all the way around. Physical attacks would probably do little on the Cloyster's hard shell. There had to be another way…
"Cloyster!" Daisy snapped. "Missile Attack!"
Drake squealed in surprise as several of the protruding spikes on the Cloyster's heavy shell burst forward, straight toward it. Drake leaped off the float it was on, diving deep into the water, as the Missile Attack completely destroyed the float.
Remmy squinted into the water. Where was Drake? The floating Cloyster was impossible to miss, but the Dratini, as crystalline blue as the water, was no where to be seen.
The Cloyster's eyes narrowed as it shifted from side to side. It, too, had lost track of its opponent. For several long moments, all was quiet. The Cloyster couldn't attack, not knowing where the Dratini was, and Remmy wasn't about to order Drake to do something if it had something of its own in mind.
Suddenly, the Cloyster… jerked. It heaved slightly upward in the water, and its eyes opened wide. Then it sort of chuckled to itself, floating backwards, towards its trainer.
From beneath it, Drake floated slowly upward, out cold.
Remmy shook his head as he recalled his Pokémon. Drake had tried to attack the Cloyster's shell, which he'd already determined wasn't the way to go. He needed to do something to attack the Cloyster itself. He glanced behind him, at Ivonar; Nuisance's psychic attacks would've been pretty handy. He doubted that Psychic Toss was the only one the unusually strong Psyduck knew. Grimacing to himself, he considered the other Pokémon he had. Finally, he spoke. "Fairie?" he called, sounding almost as if he was asking a question.
From his left pocket, a beam of red light arched out, then down. Beside him, a two foot tall Pokémon with black-tipped ears appeared. It looked around, confused. "Clay?" it murmured.
Remmy leaned down, putting his hands on each of the Pokémon's narrow shoulders. "Fairie," he said softly, so the other trainers couldn't hear, "you see that big ol' Cloyster over there?" The Clefairy glanced out over the pool, and pouted a little, looking worried. "Don't worry," Remmy assured the Pokémon, who looked back at him, "it won't hurt you." He grinned. "It thinks you're cute." The Clefairy's eyes widened in surprise, and she took a small step backwards. For a moment, her surprised expression became upset, then immediately turned to anger. The small, darker pink markings on her cheeks seemed to grow as an angry flush came over her, and she glared murderously at the Cloyster. Remmy's grin became teasing. "Aren't you going to thank it?"
"Fair-ee!" Fairie snapped, shoving his hands away. She leaped to the next float, her little fists clenched.
"Cloyster!" Daisy shouted, now sure that her cousin was back into the battle, "Missile Attack!"
More of the spines shot from the Cloyster's shell, but Fairie didn't even flinch. She simply continued toward the Cloyster, jumping from float to float as other floats exploded around her. Amazingly, the Clefairy was still absolutely dry by the time she came face-to-face with the Cloyster - or face-to-shell, anyway. Several feet of shell filled the space between where she perched on a small piece of float, and the actual body of the Cloyster.
Dumbly, the Cloyster stared at the angry Clefairy just before it.
"Cloyster!" Daisy yelled. "Clamp!"
"Fairie, Tackle!" Remmy shouted at the same time.
The Clefairy leaped at the Cloyster. With a heavy crash, the Cloyster's shell snapped shut…
…with the Clefairy inside.
"No!" Daisy wailed.
Calmly, Remmy sat down on the float he was on, and waited. Across the pool, Daisy nibbled on her fingernails. For awhile, it was silent. After that while, the only thing to be heard from the floating shell was a muffled sound, oddly sweet but unrecognizable. The three sisters, closest to the closed Cloyster, yawned several times, suddenly feeling groggy; Remmy and Ivonar, as well as Manx and the Eevees, being on the other side of the gym, felt nothing.
Ten minutes later, Daisy rolled her eyes. "You know, Joey," she said, giggling, "I can't recall my Cloyster until your Clefairy gets out of it."
"I know," he replied.
"But I think it's safe to give him and Ivonar the Cascade Badges now, right?" she asked her sisters. The other two nodded. Daisy reached into her pocket, and stamped her foot on the float. Immediately, the Seel leaped onto their float. Daisy held out her hand, feeding it something, then rubbed it on the head before it jumped back into the water. A moment later, it leaped onto Remmy's float again, and stuck out its tongue. On its tongue rested two blue pins, shaped like water droplets.
"Sill!" the Seel barked, its call odd from trying to keep its tongue still.
Remmy grinned as he took the two badges. "I'll trade my badge for Fairie back," he told the Seel teasingly.
It barked again, grinning, and slipped into the water. It maneuvered around the few remaining floats to the still closed Cloyster shell. With a bark, it placed the hard horn on its head to the crack in the shell, and shoved with all its might.
With a squeal not unlike a door with rusty hinges, the Cloyster's shell opened, just a crack. The Seel shoved at the shell again, and the shell opened a little more. A small pink arm emerged from the opening, then another. The Seel shoved a third time; with a startled squeal, the owner of the pink arms tumbled out of the shell, bounced off a piece of float with a surprised squeak, and plunged into the pool. Within, the Cloyster, its face reddened from several Double Slaps, snored softly, fast asleep.
"I thought only Jigglypuffs and Wigglytuffs could Sing," Violet said, frowning a little.
Overhearing, Ivonar shook her head. "Clefairies can, too," she disagreed. "Says so in the Pokédex."
"Or maybe she just used Metronome," Lily suggested, "and that's how it turned out."
"Or a Hypnosis attack," Daisy added.
Remmy shrugged a little, then dove into the pool after his Pokémon. Fairie wasn't drowning, but she wasn't making any attempt to swim, either. She was simply floating, looking a little stunned to find herself all wet.
Ivonar grinned. Picking up Static, she ran forward and leaped into the pool feet first. Static's happy squeal was cut short as they went under together.
Lily giggled. "Looks like fun," she said - then ran forward, shoving Daisy into the pool.
"Hey!" was all Daisy managed to say before she went under. She came back up, sputtering and giggling. "What was that about?"
Violet grinned. "What's with you, sis?" she demanded, turning on Lily. They both burst out giggling as they tried to shove each other off the float, but in the end Vapor jumped on her trainer's back, knocking them both off in the process, leaving only the Vaporeon high and dry.
Near the bleachers, Manx just shook his head. He growled half-heartedly at Chia as she came to see if he was okay, letting her know he had no interest in sympathy. Fluffball cringed away from him as he shook off again. He glanced at her; she glared angrily at him. With a quick lunge he grabbed her by the scruff, keeping hold no matter how much she squirmed. He walked right to the side of the pool and dropped her in. She came up sputtering, and glared at him again; ignoring it, he pulled her out and began licking the water off her drenched fur. Sweetie came over to help, but before she could even stick out her tongue, she was tackled from the side and knocked in the water. She fell in with a squeal, coming up spitting out water, and gave her black tail tipped brother a nasty bite on the ear to show him how she felt about his sneak attack. He yelped, cringing, then dunked her under and swam away quickly, giggling.
Sweetie surfaced, spitting water out again, but this time she didn't mean to come up so quickly. She looked in surprise at her drenched trainer, and purred out a "thank you" as Ivonar put her back on the edge of the pool. "Get back here, Cole!" Ivonar shouted, swimming away again, doing her best for speed in spite of her drenched jeans.
*
"That was fun," Violet said, as they sat together by the pool later, after they had made a trip to the Pokécenter. "And it was great to see Little Joey again." She gave Remmy a squeeze around the shoulders. "We don't see nearly enough of you."
"Really!" Lily agreed. "Like, we haven't seen your brother or sister at all. That shouldn't be! I mean, Pallet Town isn't Lavender Town. It's so nearby, and stuff."
"Exactly," Daisy said firmly. "Next time you get home, Little Joey, you have to get your parents to bring your brother and sister - and you and Ivonar - back here. Okay?"
Remmy smiled thinly. "Only if you can promise Misty'll be here."
Daisy rolled her eyes. "As if."
Lily giggled. "We can't promise anything for Misty any more than we can make it rain." She gave Vapor's head a gentle rub. Static loped in circles around the Vaporeon, grinning happily.
"No offense or anything," Violet said, "but why are you so upset about missing Misty? I mean, she nearly killed you last time."
Remmy frowned. "She did not."
"Oh, really?" Ivonar asked politely, though she didn't address anyone in particular. She just wanted a little more detail.
She got it. "She got mad when her Horsea turned out to like Joey better than it liked her," Lily giggled.
Remmy shrugged a little. "Pokémon like me," he said. "I can't help it. It's not like I do anything on purpose."
"Clee!" Fairie giggled. She was perched on Remmy's shoulder. She was a little too big; she had to hug Remmy's head to keep from falling off. It almost looked like Remmy was wearing a pink halo around his forehead.
"Vee!" Sweetie agreed from Ivonar's shoulder. She sat down, wrapping her tail around the back of her trainer's neck to help keep her balance.
Ivonar smiled. "Y'know, I've decided not to let Gary's getting ahead of us get to me," she told the others. "I mean, you're right, Remmy. He's got a car. He's missing out on a lot, driving around. I mean, how is he going to catch wild Pokémon with the motor scaring all the Pokémon away?"
"Good point," Remmy agreed.
"Besides," Ivonar continued, grinning, "Ash is still behind us, isn't he?"
"Ash?" Violet echoed.
"Yeah." Ivonar smiled wickedly. "As long as we stay ahead of him, I think everything should be fine. I mean, he started out on foot, while we got how far on bikes? No way he's going to catch up to us."
The sisters traded a worried look. "Who's Ash?" Daisy asked.
Ivonar shrugged. "The slowpoke of Pallet Town." Remmy coughed politely. Ivonar turned a little red. "There's four trainers out of Pallet Town this year," she corrected herself. "Gary ahead of us, because he's got somebody to drive him around. Then there's us, and behind us is another kid, Ash."
The sisters traded another look. "I hope he doesn't get here anytime soon," Lily said, frowning. She stroked Vapor's head nervously. "I mean, we're out of Pokémon!"
Daisy shrugged a little. "We'll figure something out," she assured her sisters.
Violet nodded. "You're right. I mean, it's just, like, a badge, right?"
"If he's even half as good as the other trainers from Pallet have been this year," Daisy said, winking at Remmy and Ivonar, "he'd've won the badge anyway."
Ivonar frowned. "You're not just going to give him the badge, are you?" she demanded. She thought about Poe's sprained wrist from punching the Staryu, and Manx's bruised shoulder, and Drake's concussion. After all their Pokémon had been through, how could they consider just giving someone else the badge?
Violet shrugged. "Don't worry about it," she told her. "Like Daisy said, we'll figure something out."
"Hey, Remmy," Ivonar said. He looked at her curiously. "You're the half of us that can read the map. What's the next closest gym?"
Remmy reached for his pocket, but Daisy waved her hand, shaking her head. "No, wait… wait… let me think… um…" She bit her lip. "There's the Vermilion Gym, and the Saffron Gym - both are south of here. But I think Route Five is closed, so you'd have to go to Vermilion Gym first. And there's that other gym… what was it again?"
"There's Haven Town, right near Viridian," Violet said. "But you'd have to go back through Mount Moon, and besides, I don't think it even has a gym - just a Pokémon Tower."
"Are you thinking about Haven Town, or Lavender Town?" Lily asked her.
"I think both of them have Pokémon Towers, but Lavender's is haunted," Violet replied. Lily shrugged.
"No, I don't mean Haven Town," Daisy said, shaking her head. She snapped her fingers. "Periwinkle City! That's what I was trying to think of. That's not too far away, either."
"Periwinkle?" Lily wrinkled her nose a little. "I'd stay away from there. It is so nasty."
"Nasty?" Ivonar echoed.
"Not only does the Periwinkle Gym leader, Zan, use only Ghost and Poison Pokémon," Lily continued, "but the whole place is, like, a toxic dump."
"Periwinkle City was really nice, when it was just a town," Daisy told them, "but that was before either of you were born. They discovered oil under it, and all the drilling polluted the place. Disgusting."
"What about Vermilion?" Remmy asked.
"Vermilion's Gym leader is really tough," Violet said. "But I don't think we should say anymore than that. Unlike Zan's gym, Vermilion's gym is well-run and… well…"
"Vermilion's gym leader doesn't have many Pokémon, so we shouldn't give any more away," Daisy finished for her. "I really think you guys should head for Vermilion. Zan's probably easier to beat than the Vermilion Gym leader, but Periwinkle City is just not healthy."
"Since you're asking, though," Lily spoke up, "I really think you guys should get to Opalian City sometime. It's is so beautiful there, and the gym is absolutely awesome."
"The whole city is built out of prismatic glass," Daisy told them. "It's like one big rainbow. It is so awesome."
"Where's that?" Ivonar asked.
"The opposite end of Route Fifteen as Fuchsia City. You can't miss it," Violet replied. She giggled. "I mean, you can't miss it, because it's so big, but you can't miss it, because it is so absolutely cool, too."
"Er… okay," Ivonar replied. "We'll be sure to get there."
"You won't be sorry," Lily assured her.
Remmy slid backwards, away from the pool, and reached for one of his socks to put it back on. "We'd better get started," he said. "Ivonar's obsessed with keeping ahead of Ash - as you've heard."
"I think I heard something like that." Daisy grinned at Ivonar. "Good luck, Ivonar. Take good care of Little Joey, hear me?"
Ivonar didn't even wait for her to finish. "What, now I got to baby-sit, too? You think training isn't hard enough without him tagging along?" she demanded, standing up. Remmy glared at her; she winked at everyone, grinning. "Gotcha."
"Shuddup," he told her. She gave him a funny look. "Hey, you tell me to shut up. Why can't I tell you to shut up?"
"Because I'm older," she replied firmly.
He sighed, rolling his eyes dramatically. "Okay… Old Lady."
"Why you little-!"
Remmy shoved his second shoe on and jumped to his feet. "Come on, Drake!" he shouted, running from the pool.
The Dratini raised its bandaged head with a curious trill. It had been lounging happily on its back in the water. At its movement, the two other Pokémon with it - one brilliant yellow, one a rubbery dark blue - also sat up.
Ivonar jumped to her feet, too. "Nuisance, Poe, get outta there!" she shouted. "Dry off while I go kill a little pipsqueak!" She raced after him.
The three sisters giggled as the three Pokémon got out of the pool. "She kinda reminds me of Misty, you know?" Violet asked her sisters.
"Put the two of them together, that's who you get," Lily agreed.
Daisy giggled. "I'm with Lily. No way one person could be equal to Misty!"
They continued to laugh for awhile. The Pokémon left after their trainers. Finally, Lily managed to keep a straight enough face to ask, "What about that other trainer, though?"
Daisy shrugged. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure that little problem will work itself out. Besides, we have a show to do in a couple hours."
*
Once they had calmed down and gotten their Pokémon sorted out, and after a quick shopping spree to replenish their supplies, Ivonar and Remmy started on their way once more, Sweetie on Ivonar's pack, Static on Remmy's, simply because Static wanted to. They had a little bit of a problem when Ivonar's pack proved wider than the door she tried to use to leave the gym, but Remmy quickly opened the one beside it.
Just before Ivonar could thank him, someone shoved rudely passed them. The only features Ivonar caught were the person's deadly scowl, and their hair, which was a couple shades brighter and at least one shade more orange than Remmy's own rust-colored hair. "Out of my way!" the person shouted impatiently over their shoulder.
"What was that about?" Ivonar demanded of no one, considering the person had long disappeared into the gym.
Remmy shrugged, turning back toward the road. Wordlessly, he started south. Chia, Cole on her shoulders once more, was right beside him.
Ivonar stood scowling in the doorway a moment more, as if to dare the rude person to return, when she felt a sharp nudge against her leg. She sighed, reaching down without looking, to rub Manx's head. "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming." She hurried after Remmy, Manx at her heels, Fluffball at his. "Hey, Remmy, wait up!"
Remmy glanced over his shoulder - and grinned. "What - you're not in a hurry, are you? Because-"
"Oh no you don't!" she shouted, sprinting to catch up. She scowled at his grin as they turned down the main street.
*
Interestingly enough, if Ivonar hadn't sprinted ahead, she might have seen a couple of boys heading toward the gym, both familiar - one, older than she, with short brown hair; the other younger, with a red baseball cap over his black hair…