The Secret of Lake Eerie
"I'm so glad we're finally here," Kameron said, skipping a stone across the still surface of the lake. Razor sprang out of the water, catching the pebble with his nose and flicking it back. The Seadra seemed very happy to be out of his Pokeball, it had been a long time since we had been near enough water to let him frolic. All of our Pokemon were relaxing by the shores of the lake, or playing in the water. Vaporeon and Eevee were wrestling in the shallows, the poor Eevee getting the worst of it because it was smaller and less used to the water. It was soaked. Dancer and Maki were playing chase amongst the long stemmed flowers that lined the bank and Cubone appeared to be playing fetch with Flareon. The only one that was near us, was Spike, who lay stretched out on the shore beside me, begging to have his head scratched. He seemed to have calmed down a lot since the days when he would attack anything on sight. After we had put a stop to the Pokemon fighting ring, where they had fought Pokemon, no holds barred, with special moves restricted (something very cruel) and did not get adequate treatment for their injuries, Spike seemed to actually like us. I had done away with the lead today, since I hardly thought he needed it anymore. Perhaps one day I could start fighting with him in controlled battles again.
"Yeah, but it's a shame we can't get this fossil until tomorrow," I replied, "I'm very curious to see it."
Kameron shrugged. "Oh, well, at least here we can relax and perhaps have a swim." He removed his trenchcoat, laying it down gently beside him as though it were breakable, or a small child. Beneath it he wore a greyish-white shirt with an red "R" embroidered on the breast pocket, and black shorts.
"I see you've still got the Team Rocket shirt," I pointed out.
He shrugged, "I've gotta get myself a new shirt soon, but just cos I wear the shirt doesn't mean I'm with them anymore."
"Are you sure you were fired?" I asked. He still had the shirt, still had the ID card… It all seemed a little suspicious if you ask me.
"Fired, quit, what difference does it make? The boss called me a complete imbecile and that he didn't want to see my ugly mug again. How would you take it?"
"It's not an ugly mug," I replied, then blushed, realising what I'd said.
Kameron just smiled enigmatically. "I guess I missed your Maki one too many times." He replied. "The boss says his only men that do worse than me are Jessie and James, who've been after a Pikachu forever."
"Yeah, my cousin Ash's Pikachu. He says they've been enemies so long, they're almost closer than friends. I suppose that happens sometimes."
"You're Ash's cousin. Cool. I hear he's famous."
"Yeah, he's one of the reasons I decided to become a trainer, I heard they were filming his adventures and all. Of course, I'm not so much into the professional fighting, I just want to meet lots of new Pokemon."
"Like Cumlupus."
"Yep."
Kameron stripped off his evil Team Rocket shirt, throwing it into a pile next to his treasured trench coat. He was somewhat scrawny in a sinewy kind of way. Not too displeasing to the eye, but what did I know? I was only thirteen. "Coming in?" He asked.
I shrugged. "I'll have to find my bathing suit first. I know I packed it somewhere…"
Kameron shrugged. "Well, you don't have too." He replied mischeviously, then darted into the water before I could kick him. I watched as he paddled out a short way, and suddenly began screaming. "Argh, its got me!"
"Vapor!" Ozmos rose her head and sounded concerned, she dived beneath he water.
"Kameron, are you ok?" I yelled, running into the shallows. A familiar looking head rose form the water beside Kameron.
"Seadraaa!" Razor laughed happily.
"Razor, you vagabond!" I shouted. "You had us really scared for a moment there."
Razor looked shame-faced, but I could see he was grinning on the inside.
"VapoR!" Ozmos dived at Seadra, pulling him under. Little Eevee stood in the shallows watching its friend play with Razor.
"Eevee," it said sadly. I picked it up.
"Don't worry Eevee, Ozmos just likes playing with her water mates. It doesn't mean she doesn't like you."
"Eevee eevee," Eevee did not sound convinced.
"I know what it's like," I told it. "I'll tell you a secret."
"Eevee?" Now it sounded curious.
"I won't go in there because, like you, I can't swim," I whispered in Eevee's pointed ear. "Only, I don't want to tell Kameron that because he'll laugh at me."
"Eevee eevee vee," Eevee crawled into my lap and nuzzled me affectionately.
"You know," I said to it, "you're a really sweet wee fellow. I'm glad we found you."
"Eevee!" It was glad too.
In the water, Kameron was splashing Razor, who flapped awkwardly into the air with his oversized fins and then descended quickly into the water with a great "splash" that drenched both Kameron and Ozmos. Ozmos shook her head and dived beneath the water, sending the Seadra skywards in a blast of water. Kameron laughed and grabbed Ozmos by the tail. The vaporeon immediately formed into water and disappeared.
"Kids," I said, shaking my head, secretly wishing I could be out there too, having fun. I had never learnt to swim, when I was four I had almost drowned playing by a lake not unlike this one, and I had never liked going in water deeper than a bath since. Which was funny, because many of my Pokemon were Water type. Flareon and Cubone had grown tired of their game and Cubone was making a haphazard attempt at putting up the tent, with the "assistance" of Maki. Flareon, I noted with some satisfaction, had fallen asleep on Kameron's wretched trench coat, his second skin. I hoped it got hair on it. Oh well, I might as well be useful. I wandered over to where Cubone had just managed to drop a tent pole on his foot and was hopping around muttering.
"Cu bone bone bone," in a cursing fashion.
Maki laughed, handing me a tent peg.
By the time Kameron and the others came out of the water, we more or less had the tent set up. Sure, it sagged a little and sure, the pole was a little crooked, but it was up. We returned all the Pokemon, except Maki, Eevee and Spike to their Pokeballs. Then Kameron grabbed a towel, cursed at Flareon and meandered off somewhere private to dry off and get clothed. I changed out of my travel stained clothes into some more comfortable ones and clambered into my sleeping bag. Maki curled up beside me head, eyeballing Eevee and Spike sagged by the door. At least they were small, otherwise there would not be enough room in the tent for the lot of them. A moment later Kameron crawled in. He was wearing an overlarge shirt with an Eevee painted on it and sweat pants. I chuckled as he came in.
"Where's the trench coat?" It was sort of a running joke between us. He did not ever sleep in it, of course.
Kameron folded up the trench coat and put it at the head of his sleeping bag. "The greatest thing about this coat is that is also doubles as a pillow," he said with a grin. "I guess your neck will feel it in the morning."
"Nah, I'm use to it," I replied. Eevee snuggled under Kameron's chin, its head resting on his shoulder, big dark eyes still staring at Maki. Maki groomed his tail then went to sleep in a similar position.
"What about the ghosts?" Kameron asked sleepily. "Ain't this lake supposed to be haunted?"
"Yea, but we needn't worry about them – if Spike doesn't keep them away, the smell of your feet will."
"Or your snoring!"
"Nido," Spike muttered sleepily, clearly wishing us to shut up.
I was walking through the woods when suddenly something descended on me, it felt like a deflated balloon. It was huge, kind of heavy and suffocating. I tried to push it away with my hands, but it was as if they were made of treacle and could not be moved. Suddenly I woke, flailing in the air with hands and feet. The tent had collapsed on us. Two minutes of controlled panic, much cursing and screams of "Oww," or "Maki!" or "Eevv!" and we were all safely outside, to find Spike growling at something. A large, dark, shadow-like thing that hovered over the tent. It appeared to be laughing.
"Haunnteeerrr," it whispered in a ghostly voice.
"Nido nidoran!" Spike insisted.
"What is that?" I asked Kameron. I certainly hadn't seen one before.
"I think it's a Haunter," he informed me. "It would appear it let our tent down, they're great practical jokers. Let's catch it!"
"Ok," I shrugged. "Spike use that fancy beam thing!"
Spike turned to me and shrugged, looking puzzled. "Nido?"
"Astral beam?" Kameron ventured.
"Yeah, try that thing."
A beam of light shot from Spike's horn, glittering as though laden with stars.
"Haunnntterrr," the Haunter dodged aside and started making movements with its hands.
"It's trying to put him to sleep!" Kameron shouted. "Go Dancer!"
Dancer exploded into the air.
"Dancer, flap your wings at it really hard!"
"Freeee!"
"Maki, star blaze attack!"
Maki jumped boldly forward, putting his hands on his hips and staring intently at the Haunter. Suddenly it turned around and floated away.
"Don't let it get away!" Kameron shouted. "Toxic dust it, Dancer!"
But it was already vanishing. "Chase it!" I shouted, and we ran after it, heedless of the fact that it was very dark and the water lay to one side like a great black void. This was what excitement was all about.
We had not run far when Kameron, who was faster than me, stumbled to a stop. "It went in there," he informed me.
Before us was a dark tunnel, mostly obscured by vines and thorny plants. They were easy to get rid of anyway.
"Flareon, flare those bushes!"
"Flare!" The plume of fire reduced the bushes to crisp black dust, which we broke through easily. Beyond it was a dark tunnel, only large enough for us to crawl down.
"I'm not so sure about this," Kameron muttered.
"You don't want to let the Haunter get away do you?" I asked.
"Well, it's just that Haunters like practical jokes and this tunnel seems awfully suspicious…"
He was right of course, but that didn't mean I had to agree with it. "You're not afraid of the dark are you?" I goaded.
"It is awfully dark, there could be strange monsters or holes or anything."
It seemed I had just found Kameron's secret phobia. "Maki, make the star on your head glow." He did. "See, now we have a light, let's go. First, Flareon, Spike, return."
"Return Butterfree, Eevee," Kameron stated, but Eevee shook its head vehemontly, dodging the beam. It did not want to be returned to its Pokeball. "It seems my Eevee is as stubborn as your Maki!" Kameron joked.
"Maki," Maki scolded, as Eevee muttered, "vee!"
"They don't think they're stubborn at all. Come on, let's go, before it gets away."
We dropped to all fours and crawled down the tunnel, Maki scampering ahead, his little star glowing like a beacon. Something flapped overhead, shrieking shrilly.
"What's that?" Kameron almost shrieked, trying to cover his head with his clay covered hands.
"Just a zubat," I replied. "They probably like it here, lots of insects and nice and dark."
He shuddered. "As long as they keep away from my hair," he muttered. "I wish I'd put my trench coat on, its blinking freezing in here."
Something occurred to me – it was not that Kameron was scared of the dark, not that he hated enclosed places, it was something much more interesting. He obviously felt vulnerable without his trench coat. Maybe that was why he wore it continuously, even if he had to take his shirt off from underneath to keep cool. I smiled to myself, it was nice to find that others had their weaknesses.
"Zuuuuuu," another Zubat flapped past, its cries high and eerie. Maki cowered back, close to me. He didn't like zubats either. The passage had been steadily going downwards, now it evened out, the roof lifting so that we could kind of stand upright.
"Makiii!" Maki cried, leaping back into my arms, spraying me in damp clay. I could see why he was frightened, for the whole area was lit with an eerie green luminiscience.
"What is it?" I asked, mostly rhetorically, for surely Kameron could not know they answer. I saw that Maki was daunted by the green radiance.
"Did you find the Haunter?" Kameron asked. "Why is everything so green?"
"No Haunter, and I don't know why, but Maki doesn't seem to like it at all.
Suddenly something jumped out in front of us. It was large, and green, but oddly familiar.
"Slash, slash," it cried, striking at us with machete like claws. We dropped back, staring at it.
"It's a Sandslash," Kameron muttered, sounding almost awed.
"But it's green!" I added.
He turned to me. "I know what this is – it's a Leaf stone! A really big Leaf stone. That's why the light is green." He sounded awestruck. "This I must catch, grass is weak against fire, send in your Flareon!"
"Go Flareon," I cried.
"Flare-on!" Flareon leapt out but immediately drew back, whimpering as though pained.
"Flareon, return!" I cried, before it was hurt more. "I think the radiation is so strong that Flareon can't stand it. It must be strong, to make a Sandslash green. Maki, starblaze it!"
"MaKI!" Maki shrieked as the ray of light arched from his forehead. Vines, not unlike tentacles sprang from their resting position at the Sandslash's side and both hit Maki, who was too distracted to dodge. They flipped him over backwards.
"I don't think he likes the radiation either," I interjected, "I think he's trying to resist evolving, try Butterfree, I'll try Spike."
"Freeee!" The Butterfree sprang into the air, dodging the Sandslash's tentacles.
"Dancer, dust cloud," Kameron cried, and Dancer stirred up the lose clay on the floor.
Suddenly the Sandslash leaned forward, straightening up abruptly, so that it fired its spines, which were leaf-like, straight into the air.
"Dodge Dancer," Kameron cried, although the Butterfree already was.
The Sandslash suddenly turned and raced back, further into the green glow.
"Don't let it get away!" Kameron shrieked, as Dancer flapped after it. Eevee, who had been peacefully sitting on his shoulder, also sprang off, darting into the green glow after it. "No, not you Eevee, come back!" He called, but to no avail.
"Maki, stay here," I ordered him, knowing full well he probably would not obey. "Come on Spike, let's get it." I did not know what effect the Leaf Stone would have on a Nidoran, probably very little. He did not have the highly irregular genetic code of an Eevee or –eon. An Eevee, what would a Leaf stone do to Eevee? I had no idea, but I charged down the tunnel after Kameron, almost skidding over in the wet clay.
The Sandslash lay pinned to the ground, beneath the world's most determined Eevee. Sandslash was flailing with its talons, but Eevee was staying just out of reach, its teeth clamped on the Sandslash's throat. Dancer flapped above, looking confused and a little dazed, whilst Spike was clinging to one of it's tentacles. So far nothing untoward had happened.
"Go Pokeball," cried Kameron, and I had no idea where he'd been hiding the thing. Probably he'd grabbed it when we had collected the full ones. The Sandslash made a spirited attempt to get away, but Spike threw himself at its leg, still clinging to its tentacle, knocking it down. The ball flashed, twitched once or twice and was then still. The Nidoran pranced around it happily.
"Nido, nidoran!" He said proudly.
Eevee, on the other hand, had a strained look on its face and the glow that surrounded it was greater than that of the stone.
"It's evolving," Kameron muttered, sounding awed by it all. "My Eevee is evolving because of a Leaf Stone!"
The light settled around a creature about the same size as Flareon, with a ruff of what appeared to be leaves around its neck. Its fur was a greenish colour, darker on the forehead, and its tail was peculiar. It had a long, narrow tail, terminating in a great ball of needle like spines. It shook itself.
"What is that?" Kameron asked, as the Grass Eeveelution pranced over to him, looking dazed.
It looked up at him with big dark eyes. "Flori-Florian!" It stated.
"I guess that's your answer then Kam," I chuckled. "It's Florian. Now, let's get out of here and have some breakfast."
"Hear hear," Kameron chuckled. "And to think I was trying to steal rare Pokemon, yet now I have caught two of my own. Wouldn't Team Rocket be jealous if they knew!"