Chapter #5
Andy didn't come back until two days later. She never told us where she was.
A week after we all agreed to Victoria's decision to get the Orb of Mew, we started to train our pokemon to get ready. Getting there would mean we would have to use Carol's Lapras, since the distance from the nearest beach to Rukonia was too far for us to fly. I spent most of my time practicing my flying skills. As time progressed, I got better and better. I was soon able to fly with the other girls, but I was unable to dodge Andy's Ninetales Flame Thrower attack—which was their way of practicing their dodging skills. We decided we wouldn't leave to the ruins of Rukonia until we were all prepared.
As I fed my Raichu and Eevee an apple, I watched as Andy and Victoria battled their pokemon. Andy used her Sandslash, since her Ninetales had already battled a lot that day. Meanwhile, Victoria was using her only pokemon, Sunflora. She had the obvious type advantage, but then again, a Sandslash's dig attack could do a lot of damage. So it was a pretty even competition.
"Sunflora, Poison Power!" Victoria called to her flower pokemon. Its body swayed around in a funny sort of way with the wind, then released a glittering power. It flew straight over to Andy's Sandslash.
Andy made sure to react quickly; having a poisoned pokemon in battle never works. "Sandslash, get away from the powder!" She shouted. Sandslash jumped up high into the air, did a flip and landed several feet away from Victoria's Sunflora. "Now, Dig under!" With that, Sandslash jumped up again, and claws first, dove right into the ground.
Victoria had a nervous look on her face. I could tell she was worried about Sandslash's Dig attack, it was completely capable of knocking out Sunflora with one hit. She had to think fast, before Andy's pokemon made the winning hit. "Sunflora, use your Solar Beam on the ground and blast Sandslash out!"
I looked at her stunned—what was she thinking?! The odds it would even work were low, and Sunflora will lose a lot of its energy using its Solar Beam attack. I wondered if she had done this before, so I continued to watch, not saying anything.
Sunflora began to collect the Sun's rays and formed a bright glowing orb infront of its smiling face. I watched carefully as it performed its Solar Beam attack. Then, it jumped up into the air and blasted its Solar Beam onto the ground, scanning the ground in search of Andy's Sandslash. After a few seconds, a huge amount of dirt blew up from the grass along with Sandslash. It hit the ground hard, knocked out. Victoria was the winner.
"Seadra?" Carol started as she walked up behind me while I rubbed Raichu's cheeks; "can I talk to you?" She asked quietly. I looked back to her and smiling, nodded. She sat down beside me, "Are you scared?"
I shrugged, not wanting to admit I was nervous about getting the Orb of Mew. It seemed dangerous, but it was a good thing we were taking our pokemon with us. "Not really" I lied, "Victoria and Andy will protect us, and we have our pokemon. We'll be fine, don't worry."
Carol nodded, looking over to the lake where her Lapras was swimming around, enjoying itself. "Lapras is a good swimmer, it will take us to Rukonia safe, right?" She asked and as she turned to look at me.
I smiled, "Lapras specialize in carrying people across water. I'm sure your Lapras will do the job just fine, don't worry about it. I'm sure we'll get the Orb easily and our lives will get better once we get it." Who was I kidding? I didn't even totally understand why the others thought the Orb of Mew was going to help us at all. I honestly didn't know what to think about everything that was going on. I sighed and laid down on the soft grass, putting my hands behind my head. Raichu curled into a ball beside me.
Smiling, Carol got up and walked towards Lapras in the lake. She turned back to me and nodded. She then curled her hands into fists, making her knuckles white. Suddenly, her wings erupted from her back, tearing a hole on the back of her shirt. With a couple flaps of her wings, she took air and flew gracefully to the lake where Lapras was waiting for her. I couldn't help but smile while watching her fly. Sometimes, I preferred to just watch the other's fly, then fly myself.
With Raichu curled up close to me, I gingerly stroked its silky fur coat. Eevee was in its pokeball after a hard battle with Andy's Ninetales. Unfortunately, Eevee lost the battle when it missed with a Quick Attack and Ninetales got it back with a Flame-Thrower attack. I was going to battle with Raichu soon, but I didn't know who I was going to battle. No matter who Raichu battled, I knew it would win. Raichu was my strongest pokemon and would never let me down.
As I gazed up at the clouds above me, I noticed some looked like pokemon. I thought they looked cool so I spent what seemed like hours just searching them to discover more pokemon. The wind brushed against my face and blew my flowing hair in the air. The smell of the fresh-water lake and the pine trees surrounding me made me feel at peace. I sighed and closed my eyes, smiling to myself as Raichu drifted off to a sleep.
"Wake up!" I heard Andy shout at me. My eyes snapped open and I jumped from her yell, for it had startled me. I quickly got up and Raichu did as well. I guessed it was still sleeping like I was and Andy's yelling woke it up too. I rubbed my tired eyes and looked to Andy. She had her hands on her hips and an unforgiving glare in her eyes. "It's time for your battle, Seadra." She said in a straight tone.
I nodded quickly and kneeled down to pick up Raichu. I stood back up and looked to her, "Who am I battling?" I asked quickly.
Andy turned to look behind her, where Carol was caring for her Lapras. It looked weakened so I figured she just battled and may have lost. Victoria was there helping her. Andy then looked back to me; her expression was the same as before, "Victoria." She said.
Victoria from where Carol and her Lapras were looked over to me and smiling, waved. I waved back, though I didn't know why exactly. She got up from beside the Lapras and ran over to me. She was only about 50 feet away, so getting where I was didn't take her very long. "Ready to battle?" She asked with a grin, holding a pokeball in her hand.
"You bet I am!" I said confidently. I knew Victoria had only one pokemon, her Sunflora. Already it had two battles, one against Andy's Sandslash and I bet the other was against Carol's Lapras. Raichu hadn't battled at all that day, so it would probably have more energy for the battle. Of course, I was well aware that you can't judge a battle that easily.
Victoria gave me a few minutes to get ready. I gave Raichu's cheeks another rub to get them charged up for the battle. By rubbing a Raichu's cheeks the right way, their electric power can increase. I would use this technique before every battle I used Raichu in—it helped a lot. I remember once when I didn't do it, and Raichu was unable to defeat a Bulbasaur because of it. The next day I did rub its cheeks and when we went into battle, Raichu won with one Thunderbolt attack.
When it was time for our battle, I made sure Raichu was ready. It was throwing a few practice punches and kicks, getting its muscles ready and heart rate up. Victoria and I each stood on one side of the large grass field were we normally had our pokemon battles. She had her Sunflora beside her, smiling as usual. Andy was standing on the side of the field; she volunteered to be the referee of the battle. Carol was swimming in the lake with Lapras and Mason. He had brought a beach ball with him that day for them to play with.
Andy raised her hand up high into the air, "Begin!" She shouted.
Immediately, Raichu leapt up into the air, charging up for a Thunderbolt. Meanwhile, Victoria's Sunflora ran out to the field and began to use its Razor Leaf, sending several leaves at Raichu. Fortunately, Raichu was able to dodge the attack then used a hard Thunderbolt on the flower pokemon. A huge bolt of electricity shot out from its cheeks and charged straight at Sunflora. When it struck, you could hear it scream in pain. When the attack ended, Sunflora was still standing! I was shocked!
Victoria just smiled, "Sunflora is my strongest pokemon, don't expect it to give in that easily" she grinned. "Sunflora, Seismic Toss!" Victoria called out to Sunflora. It responded right away and ran over to Raichu. Before my pokemon could react, Sunflora had thrown Raichu high up into the air. While in midair and falling to the ground, Raichu used a Thunder Shock, startling the grass pokemon. Fortunately, Raichu was able to land on its feet.
Our two pokemon stood a few feet away from each other, breathing heavily and getting ready for the other to do something. I looked over to Victoria; she was just staring at Raichu, probably trying to figure out what it was going to do next. She looked up to me and smiled, I smiled back and then shouted, "Raichu! Thunder Punch!"
Victoria seemed surprised by my order, since it came out of nowhere and it was unexpected. Raichu charged at Sunflora, with electricity building up in its paws. Victoria had a look on panic in her eyes, trying to figure out what to do. Before she could think of something for Sunflora to do, Raichu hit it hard with a devastating Thunder Punch. Sunflora was knocked over, landing on its back with electricity sparking around it. We paused, waiting to see if it would get up. Raichu was breathing heavily, for it had used most of its electric powers during the battle. If the pokemon were to get up, Raichu would have to use its normal attacks.
Andy ran over to Victoria's Sunflora and looked down at it. After a few seconds, she rose one arm. "Seadra is the winner! Victoria loses!" She shouted out, smiling at me from where she stood.
"Great job, Raichu!" I smiled as I kneeled down, extending my arms out to my pokemon. Raichu ran to me and leapt into my arms. I gave it a tight hug, an award for winning the battle. I looked over to Victoria as she picked up her Sunflora and stroked its pedals gingerly, making it smile. I put Raichu down and got up, walking over to her. "That was a good battle there."
Victoria smiled at me and nodded. "It was. I'm glad I lost actually."
I blinked, baffled, "Wha?"
She laughed, "I now know that your Raichu will be capable of protecting you when we get the Orb of Mew. It's a relief to me, because I don't want you to get hurt. All our pokemon are doing well with their battles, none lost easily. We should all be fine." Victoria then turned away and walked over to the lake where Mason and Carol were still playing together in the water. I never thought about it before, but Victoria was like a big sister to not only Carol, but me as well. I wondered if Andy did too, but I didn't say anything.
That night while laying in my bed with Raichu and Eevee curled up beside me, I wondered what would happen when we went to get the Orb of Mew. We had planned to get it in four days, giving us some time to prepare. Mason was very supportive, telling us he believed that we would get it easily. We decided to get there by riding Carol's Lapras—and Mason would be coming as well. We told him he would have to stay behind in case something was to happen.
I could hear Carol mumbling something in her sleep. I looked over to her to see her cuddling her Pikachu doll close to her—I smiled. I rolled onto my side, facing the closed door that lead to the small TV room. Like every single night, I could hear the sounds made by the TV. Mason always stayed up late, watching his favorite late night programs. Sometimes when I was unable to sleep, I could get out of my bed and talk to him. He was always nice to me, making sure I was happy and comfortable with my new home. I believe I was there for about a month now, I'm not sure. I've found losing track of time a lot easier since I got there.
I decided to just get some sleep. With only four days before our dangerous, yet exciting adventure, rest was important. I closed my eyes and hugged my soft pillow close, with my blankets draped over me. I sighed and with thoughts of my new family, I drifted off into a peaceful sleep.
