Secrets Exposed
Part 6 : Splashdown in Aqua City
By Freakachu
::Authors comment:: I know, there's a bloody authors note in practically every part now. =P But this time I'd just like to point out, that since this fic doesn't follow the plot line, Brock doesn't go and stay with Professor Ivy, but instead returns home. All in all, Brock still leaves. o^_^o Also, battle scenes bore me to death, but I'll try to do my best ::End bakani (foolish) authors comment::
"Do you really have to leave Brock?" Ash asked his old friend.
Brock nodded. "I'm afraid so."
They were back in Pewter City, where Brock had lived and taken care of his younger brothers and sisters. Now, after visiting his family, he found out that his father wasn't well, and needed help with the children. Pikachu stood on Ash's shoulders, with one paw on his head with the other paw extended out towards Brock. Brock shook Pikachu's paw, and then Ash's hand, slipping him a piece of paper, which Ash stuffed in his pocket.
"Bye you guys, and bye Togepi," Brock waved as he went into his house. "Have a good trip."
Ash turned to go, and Misty was already heading away, with Togepi in her arms. While Misty was farther ahead, Ash tugged the paper from his pocket and unfolded it.
"I hope you find her, Ash.
-Brock"
"What's that Brock gave you?" Misty asked curiously.
'Damn,' He cursed mentally, 'She saw the paper, she isn't stupid.'
Ash put his arm behind his head and laughed nervously.
"Oh, this?" He waved the paper, "It's just Brock's phone number, in case I ever have to call him."
Misty didn't look all that convinced, but she refrained from any further questions, and kept walking, only she waited for Ash, and walked beside him, their footsteps a slow rhythm on the ground.
Sighing, and studying the design of the gym before her, Lilja sat on a wooden bench and waited. She had been about to go up the stairs to the gym, when a smaller girl had ran up ahead of her and gotten there first. Since there could only be one match at a time, and the kid seemed to be in a hurry, Lilja had let the girl go, without even bothering to tell her that she had been there first. She scuffed her sandals on the ground, which was sand because Aqua City was right on the water, and the gym was built near the beach. The three Freakachu sat in the sand and made castles to pass the time.
The door of the gym opened and the girl came pouting out, obviously unhappy about the outcome of the match. She walked up to the bench where Lilja sat.
"I'm sorry for rushing in there ahead of you." She stated, looking appologetic. The girl looked to be about a year or so younger than her, with shiny raspberry colored hair pulled back into a ponytail.
"That's okay. Hey, did you win your match?" querried Lilja.
The girl looked down at her feet which were bare. "No, I only had a Cyndaquil, an Ekans, and a Jigglypuff. Sita has really strong water pokemon. By the way, my name's Flora. What's yours?"
"Lilja. Say, what badge does Sita give you if you win?"
Flora plopped down on the bench beside her. "She gives you the Dew Badge. I wish I could win it. You're going to compete in the Rainbow League then right?"
Lilja nodded. "How many badges do you have?"
"I don't have any yet, because I just started training. I want to get enough badges to battle in the Rainbow Leage. You need at least six. Do you have any?"
Just as Lilja was about to say that she didn't, one of her Freakachu landed in her lap. Apparently, it had been trying to fly on those little pink wings.
Flora's expression went completely blank, then she gasped.
"Is that yours?" She pointed to Freakachu, amazed.
"Yeah," Lilja put the Freakachu on the ground with the other two, causing Flora to have a fit.
"Ooooooh! They are so cute! Can I pet one?" Lilja sat one on Flora's lap, and she proceeded to scratch it behind it's big blue vaporeon ears.
"You better get to your match," Flora pointed out after a couple more minutes, "Sita'll be leaving for a break soon."
Lilja had forgotten that she was there for a match. She took off for the gym, two of the Freakachu running behind her, and the one that had tried to fly before, succeeding with it's wings and took flight after her.
After having to attend Cletus and Zeke's jig, the two Team Rocket groups decided to stick together, and ended up running into the two 'twerps' in Cerulean city.
"To protect/infect the world from/with de-"
"What the hell are you doing?" Sergio asked Jessie and Cassidy quizzically. The two had started a motto of some sort, letting the two kids spot them, and give them time enough to walk away. Vera, Sergio, Cletus and Zeke were all dressed in normal everyday clothes, and had already snagged a bunch of pokeballs from oblivous trainers, just by walking by and bumping into them, then appologising after the pokemon were safely with them. The others, however, insisted on wearing their uniforms in public, and they ended up with no stolen pokemon at all. It seemed that most everyone knew about Team Rocket nowadays, and people avoided them. The only way to work the crowds was to go undercover.
"Reciting the motto!" Jessie and Cassidy yelled in unison, then glared at each other.
"Your motto is all wrong!" Cassidy shook her fist at Jessie, "Say it right, or don't say it at all!"
Jessie's eyes flared. "I'm saying it wrong?! You and Butch mutilated the Team Rocket motto!"
"Yeah!" James jumped in. "You two have ruined Team Rocket tradition."
Sergio put his arm between the two girls who looked like they were going to bite each others heads off.
"There is no motto. Where did you guys come up with such a thing? All you guys are doing, is informing everyone that we're here, and people know that Team Rocket steal pokemon. Jessie, Cassidy, change out of those uniforms unless you're in TRHQ. Then, and only then do they need to be worn. You guys change too." He waved toward James and Butch.
Cletus snapped the strap on his dirty overalls. "See, I'm a wearin' reg-u-lar everyday clothes. Which reminds me, I gotsta buy me some new duds." He looked down at the hole in his knee.
Vera looked disgusted, and backed away from Cletus. At least Zeke had the decency to wear clean stuff. Maybe he wasn't so bad. She turned to Sergio. "Does this dress make me look fat?"
Zeke looked her over. "Yep."
He soon found himself on the ground with a lump on his head. "I wasn't asking you, moron." She snapped.
"You look fine." Sergio complimented, and Vera looked smug. "Much better."
"You challenge me?" The gym leader cooed, with a slight Indian accent.
"Yeah, I do." Lilja called back.
Sita sat back in a chair by the side of the gym pool and crossed her legs. She seemed to be about 15, and quite tall. Her dark chestnut hair was about shoulder lenght, and her eyes were colored like chocolate and slighly ovalish. Sita's skin was the color of coffee with cream in it, and she had a smooth way of moving, like she was underwater.
She shrugged. "Well, then lets start. First, it's a three on three match. Second, how much are you willing to bet?"
"Bet?!" Astounded, Lilja had to stop herself from falling in the pool.
"Yes. Bet. In the Rainbow League gyms, if trainers want to battle, they have to settle on a bet, and show that they have that money and are willing to give it up if and when they lose. If they cannot produce money, they cannot battle.If the challenger wins, the leader pays their end of the bet." Sita explained.
"But-but why? The Indigo League gyms don't use that system, and neither do any of the other leagues!" No one had told Lilja that the Rainbow League gyms based their battles on bets.
"I'm sure in time they will. First of all, gym leaders need money to start their gym, or they inherit it from their parents. But they still need money to keep the gym running, and to pay for the official badges to be made. It's not a cheap process, so that's how it works. I imagine that the other leagues give loans to gym leaders. To keep the money coming in, you have to be a good gym leader." She rambled.
Lilja considered this. Gym leaders needed money, and what better way to make a profit, is to make bets on matches. She nodded. "Okay, well I'll bet you three dollars then."
"Show your three dollars, and I'll show mine." Sita held up her money for Lilja to see. Lilja found three dollars of her own and held it up. "Fine, fine. Okay then. You may call out your first pokemon."
The three Freakachu were lounging by the wall, carrying on some conversation, until Lilja interupted them by calling one to come battle.
"Chuu freaka fre chu ka!" (It's not my turn!) The middle Freakachu replied.
"Freaka cha chu ka." (I'll go then.) The first one yawned and waddled over.
"Freeeee ka!" (Haaaaave fun!) The last one yelled.
The first Freakachu gave the others the thumbs up sign, and turned toward the pool.
"That is a strange pokemon you have. Go Vaporeon!" A sleek and marine blue vaporeon appeared in the water.
"Freaaaaaakaaaaa!" Freakachu leapt out toward the middle of the pool.
Lilja held her breath. "Freakachu! No, your tail!" Freakachu created a splash, soaking Lilja. Oddly enough, it's flame tail was still burning under the water. "How in the hell..." Then she remembered that Freakachu were also psychic, and it probably surrounded it's tail in a psyonic bubble to keep it from going out. Lika a plastic bag.
"Vaporeon! Water gun!" The impact of the water gun pushed Freakachu to the edge of the pool.
"Leech seed, Freakachu!" Freakachu leaped out of the pool and into the air, throwing a seed at Vaporeon which wrapped it up, and started draining it's energy.
Sita looked intrigued. "Break loose, and Ice Beam!" The vines around Vaporeon snapped, and it delivered a magnificent ice beam towards the multicolored chu.
"Freakachu, watch out! Barrier and Flame Thrower!" Barrier reflected the icebeam from hitting Freakachu full force, but it could only take so much and shattered. Freakachu shot a blast of fire out of it's mouth at the hurtling ice chunk, melting it.
The gym leader seemed stumped as she thought of an attack that could work on Freakachu. "Headbutt!"
Vaporeon swam towards Freakachu at an incredible speed, and the poor rodent froze.
Lilja threw her arm up into the air and yelled. "THUNDERBOLT!"
"Freeeeakaaaaaa CHU!" The electricity of the thunderbolt traveled throughout the water in the pool and zapped the Vaporeon, leaving it unusable. Still in motion from the headbutt it was going to deliver, the crispy Vappy hit the side of the pool.
Sita's eyes widened, and she recalled Vaporeon. "That is one mighty mouse, I'll give you that. But even so, I'll send out a stronger pokemon." She tossed a pokeball into the water, and as it hit the bottom, another pokemon popped out.
"Clllloysterrrrrr!"
"A Cloyster, eh? Well Freakachu, go get it." Lilja pointed to the Cloyster. "Bodyslam it, Chu." It was a stupid move on both Lilja and Freakachu's part. Cloyster are all spikes, and when they use withdraw, nothing can hurt them easily.
Freakachu hit the Cloyster, and a pointy part of it's shell slamed into it's side.
"Chuuuuuu!" It wimpered as it grabbed it's abdomen and slowly swam back to the edge of the pool, where it climbed out and crawled back over to the wall where the others were.
Lilja rushed over to the chu to make sure it was okay. It winced in pain, but nodded nonetheless.
"What pokemon to use, what one to use..." she looked down at her belt at the pokeballs that were there. There were only three, because her three Freakachu walked with her. Their rainbow pokeballs she kept in her bag. She had Quilava, but that would be no good. Her Ditto was worth a shot, but it would be like Ash using his Charizard. Xerox paid no attention to trainers, it was a rebel pokemon. But still, it was better than nothing. She also had her Farfetch'd, but would save that for later.
She tossed out the pokeball belonging to Xerox, and immediately, the Ditto was over by the wall lounging with the Freakachu.Only it had transformed into a Freakachu and from where she was standing, she couldn't tell which one was Xerox.
"What is going on over there?" Sita pondered, as she waited.
Lilja laughed, embarrased. "Um, I seem to be having a little difficulty with my Ditto. I think I'll use something else instead." Throwing another pokeball, Farfetch'd appeared.
"Faaaaar!" It swung it's leek in the air, aiming for nothing.
For sure, the rest of the battle would be interesting.
Nyarthashi sat up in a tree just outside of a farm. Her stomach was growling terribly, she'd had nothing to eat for a while. The Miltank that were grazing looked tempting. Just a sip of milk, that's all she wanted. For now. She swung down out of the tree, and landed near one. The Miltank was startled, and shifted away. Nyarthy looked around for something to hold the milk. A milking stool and a bent pail sat a little ways away. She was near the bushes, but the pail was right out in the middle of the field. If she was to get it, she'd have to be careful not to be seen. Nyarthy dashed out as quick as lighting, grabbed the bucket and sprinted back to the Miltank who had gone back to chewing grass. After she had filled the pail halfway, Nyarthashi started back into the bushes.
"TAUROOOOOSSS!"
Her head snapped around to see what had caused the sound. An angry Tauros was charging towards her, infuriated by her contact with the Miltank. It had already broken a couple of fenceposts.
"Oh shit!" Nyarthy sat the pail down and stood perfectly still, "If the guy who owns the farm hears that his Tauros has mad cow disease, I'm pretty screwed!"
The Tauros bore down on her and just as it was about to ram her, she stepped out of the way and grabbed it's horns in her hands. She pulled it to the ground and flipped it onto it's back.
"Take that!" She hissed at it. Questioning whether or not to tie it up so it couldn't chase her again, she noticed that the pail of milk had spilled over. Nyarthy slapped her head in disgust. "Crap."
She pulled a rope from the fence and tied up the distressed bull pokemon. Wandering back over to the Miltank, she set the pail upright and proceded to refill the pail. With her sharp hearing, she should have heard the sound of feet on the dry grass. But as it was, she was too busy listening to the sound of that warm, delicous milk hitting the pail.
"What d'you think yer doing?" A gruff voice demanded.
Nyarthy stood up. "Um, I.." She was wondering whether or not to kill the guy, and raid his house for food, "I was milking your Miltank for you, heh heh."
The old man looked her over and noticed her ears. "Eh, what 'ave we got 'ere? Ain't you Giovanni's kitten?" He tugged on her tail.
Nyarthashi gasped. How did he know about Giovanni, and most of all, how did he know about her?! His pulling on her tail was annoying and her fist was itching. She wondered if she should scratch it on him.
"Ya look 'ungry. Need some food, kitten?" He took her arm and led her towards the house. The guy would live, she decided. He seemed nice enough.
Lilja's battle wasn't going to great. The Cloyster that had impaled her Freakachu had also bashed Farfetch'd.
"Clooooyster cloy ster st cloys!" (I'll take that onion of yours and ram it right down your throat!) It had said to the Farfetch'd after the fetch'd had told it to 'eat leek and die'. The Cloyster had used HydroPump on Farfetch'd as a final move, literally blowing it away.
Lilja grabbed a handfull of her hair. "Oooohhhh..." She snatched a Freakachu by the wall and pushed it to the edge of the pool. Promptly, the Freakachu gave the Cloyster the finger.
"Freaka!" It yelled, and without directions, or jumping in the pool, it used Thunderwave and paralyzed the Cloyster. It then used Vine Whip, knocking the shellfish out.
Sita fell back in her chair. "Whew, you fight tough. But you will soon see my next pokemon!" Her pokeball let loose an evolved version of Marril, Azumarril.
Azumarril sounded it's 'war cry' and sent a Watergun toward the Freakachu. The chu zapped the spray and instantly shocked Azumarril. Even though it was a little fried, it wasn't ready to give up and used Bubble on Freakachu. The chu dove in the water and swam towards Azumarril.
"Chu freaka!" (Idiot!)
"Azu zu marril?" (What did you call me?)
Freakachu doubleslapped Azumarril. "Fre chu chu freaka." (You heard me.)
Lilja looked confused. She wasn't giving Freakachu any orders, it was doing all that nasty stuff and dirty fighting all on its own.
Freakachu kept battering on Azumarril, with the blue guy fighting back as well.
"CHUUUU chu fre chu freak!" (You are going DOWN!) Freakachu scratched Azumarril across it's face, it's blue bunny ears stiffened from the pain and it fell over so that it floated on it's back in the water.
Freakachu grinned, and swam back over to Lilja's side. She picked it up and held it in front of her face.
"What on earth has gotten into you? You are nasty!" Criticized Lilja.
"Chu." Right before Lilja's eyes, the Freakachu began to melt into a pink blob. "Diiiit!"
Lilja became dizzy. Was this actually Xerox, or was it her Freakachu transforming into a Ditto? That was the trouble of having both a Ditto and Freakachu. It must be Xerox, because none of her Freakachu were rude enough to give a poor Cloyster the finger.
Lilja sighed and collected her badge and three dollars from Sita. Oh well, at least she won.