The New Kids on the Block: Chapter Seven
Quinn- "The Emerald Forest"
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The Emerald Forest
Near Comet Plains, Silver Millennium
May 25, 2028
Tall trees with lusciously round green tops jutted out of the earth at a height of at least one hundred feet. Pale yellow sunbeams managed to poke through the leafy canopy, causing little circles to speckle the ground. When I looked up, I could see all sorts of different pokemon leaping from branch, doing all the duties of daily life. It smelled like a creek was nearby, and I could even hear the sound of rushing water as we grew closer.
We had spent the night on the outskirts of the forest. We had all taken out or dome tents, well, the girls shared one and we, the guys, shared one too. I built a fire in the center and we all ate a meal and talked until we each grew sleepy.
Actually, I decided that ten in the evening was a good time for rest, especially if we wanted to explore the forest in hopes of capturing pokemon; so, I had Purin sing to us. It was really beautiful. It wasn't strong enough to put us directly to sleep, after all, the attack was meant to put pokemon to sleep, not humans; but the maneuver was potent enough to make us overly tired.
We woke up at six in the morning. Actually, they woke up at six; but I woke up at five and decided to find something edible for us to eat. A nearby dewberry bush was spotted, and I took enough to satisfy our morning hunger, but enough for the pokemon to still live on happily.
After all, it is not good to disturb nature's cycle.
I noticed that Celeste was back to normal again. As a matter of fact, yesterday, she hadn't mentioned the scuffle at all. I knew that she would get over it. She didn't complain and, most importantly, she couldn't hold a grudge for long. Besides, it wouldn't do anything beneficial to both parties.
I hear some water just around the bend in the path, Raja announced as he large ears began to wiggle.
"Yeah," I added, "I can smell it. We can replenish our water supply once we get there." I sneaked a look at Charlize, who had completely downed all of the rest of the water from last night.
"I was thirsty! I couldn't help it if I was thirsty, right Selene?"
"Someone must be feeling a bit guilty, aren't we?"
No...she shared it with me though.
I smirked, Selene was really starting to lighten up. Yes, she was still timid, but she was more so around people that she wasn't familiar with. She was really starting to be herself around all of us.
"Hey," Brian asked, "what do you mean you can smell the water. I thought it was supposed to be a colorless, scentless, and flavorless liquid."
I sighed, "I can't exactly smell the water, but I can smell the things that the water has touched, like the rocks on the bank, and the plants. It's really distinct."
"Oh."
Celeste patted him on the back and said, "when you've been around the water as much as we have, it becomes a part of you. You'll learn one day."
He smiled flirtatiously, "maybe you can teach me."
She smiled back, "You mean that you don't know how to swim?" Her voice was high with disbelief.
"I swim like a rock—I don't."
She covered her mouth jokingly, "you mean to tell me that a big, strong, manly guy like yourself can't even do a doggy paddle like Raja? Tell me it isn't so. Tell me!"
Hey! I resent that! Raja exclaimed. I think that I'm a good swimmer for a Phanphy.
"You're a good swimmer for a pokemon that once didn't know how to," I corrected him.
Thanks Quinn, he said with a grin.
"I think that I could do a dog paddle, just not all of that other stuff," Brian commented.
"You mean the breaststroke and the butterfly?" she asked. "I could go on an on with the different techniques, you know."
"I'm sure that you could."
We're getting closer! I can hear it, Raja cheered as he quickened his pace.
We all maintained our normal pace though, none of us were that thirsty, or so that I gathered. Raja was practically at a dash as we got even closer to the creek, but he soon came to a screeching halt.
We have company! he cried, with a lift of his trunk. It looked like some sort of gesture he would use in the wild to alert other pokemon of nearby danger.
"Raja looks like he spotted something," Celeste informed us, "we'd better go see what it is."
We all hurried to see what all of the noise was about. How surprised we were when we saw that it was just another pokemon. A pokémon with voluminous fur that was tinted an odd sky blue; yet, it was somewhat familiar... I had seen one before, but never in that color.
"I could use my new pokétalky to see what it is!" Celeste beamed as she snatched up her device and aimed the two insect-like antennae at the drinking pokemon, who's head immediately perked up upon our noticing that it was not alone.
"Mareep: the sheep pokemon. When this grazing pokémon comes into contact with the electricity from some other source, its fur puffs up with static electricity. When the coat lies flat, this pokémon has no more electric power," an electronic voice said aloud.
"I knew that it was familiar. He has a cute blue coat, very rare," Celeste inspected with a thoughtful rub of the chin.
"Well?" I snapped.
"What do you mean?"
"Aren't you going to try an capture him?" Charlize informed her.
"Oh...yeah. He'd make a valuable member on my team," Celeste replied as she pulled out a pokécrystal, for when the time came to capture it.
"What team?" I scoffed.
"My future team, you ass," she retorted.
The Mareep slowly began to walk towards us, its nose twitched in anxiety, and its eyes were almost like daggers, piercing us with his gaze. This pokemon did not look like it wanted to be captured.
"He looks like he's about to attack;" Charlize pointed at the revving sheep pokémon. It batted its paws along the ground ready to charge.
"You can do this Raja," Celeste said with a clench of her fist, "I have faith in you."
Raja smiled wryly as he faced his opponent, who was about ten meters away. This would be the first time that I'd ever seen Raja in action, and I was eager to see exactly what the little Phanphy could do.
Do you think Raja will be able to handle him? Purin asked as she looked at her companion. I sure know that I could.
"I think we all do," I muttered.
You got that right, she haughtily agreed.
The Mareep gracefully barreled at his opponent with a steady face (A/N: Cool! I used an oxymoron!). We all quickly moved out of the way. I didn't want to get attacked by a provoked pokemon.
"Tackle him."
Raja leaped into action and dashed at the Mareep, his trunk proudly suspended in the air as he bellowed out a battle cry. He was pretty loud for such a small pokémon.
The two met at the five-meter point. A loud crack resulted from the crashing of their skulls. The Mareep fell back from the blow, and desperately shook his head from side-to-side to rid himself of the pain.
The Mareep jumped back a few feet and let out a high-pitched squeal as a stream of crackling, blue thunder was emitted from his multi-banded tail, aimed directly at Phanphy.
"Stand still Raja, it won't hurt you. You're a ground type," she reminded him.
I noticed that Celeste took on a different, more serious tone while she battling. She was more focused than usual. And to any onlooker, she clearly knew her pokémon information: she had no trouble at all when choosing different techniques.
Raja reluctantly stood rooted in place as he faced the blue energy that made an odd, whirring noise as it danced on his pebbly hide. Raja closed his eyes and dug in his heels as he braved the attack. His body was shaking.
The Mareep was obviously surprised that it's powerful attack had failed. Anger flashed in his eyes as he opened his mouth and produced an intense, head-boggling, ear-clutching scream.
Everyone grunted as they tried to cover their ears. The air seemed to waver and everything was in slow motion. I believe that I could actually see the sound waves coming from his mouth!
Raja sunk to the ground and placed his front legs in front of his ears to stop the noise but it clearly did not help at all.
"W—h—a—t—'s—h—a—p—p—e—n—i—n—g—t—o—u—s? W—e—h—a—v—e—t—o—s—t—o—p—t—h—i—s!" Celeste drawled.
Suddenly the noise came to a halt and I could see the Mareep trying to make a hasty retreat.
"Oh no you don't," Celeste hissed, regaining her senses. "After that Mareep, Raja! He's not going anywhere."
After recovering from the eardrum-rupturing scream, Raja quickly dashed at his opponent. He was fast, much to my surprise. Fast enough, to even race ahead of the Mareep and block its path.
With a battle cry, Raja rammed into the Mareep with all of his might. The force of the blow sent the pokémon flying into the air, landing in a heap not too far from Celeste's feet.
"That's your cue, girl," Celeste told her.
"Right! Pokécrystal, release and absorb (A/N: I needed a change to the normal go pokéball, so I decided to do a Cardcaptor Sakura approach ^_-!)!" She mightily heaved the crystal at the beast. It poked the skin and rose into the air, up to my eye-level. The crystal began to rapidly spin as a mint green energy was dispelled from the crystal and unto the pokemon. The pokemon became a mass of green energy as it was sucked into the pokécrystal.
A smile showed on my sister's face as the crystal lowered onto her hand, taking on a sheep-like visage. She clutched it proudly in her hands as Raja sauntered over to see his handiwork.
"You did it Raja, you caught us our first pokémon!"
Hooray!
He sounded much like a six-year old who just got his most-desired toy on his birthday.
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"We're about halfway through the forest," I notified my peers as we approach a gradual dip in the scenery. We were just coming from a gradual incline of a rolling hill.
"Let's take a break," Charlize whined as she stopped moving. "We've been walking for three hours since Celeste caught her Mareep."
"If we keep on walking, we could get to the shortcut that's on the map, thus getting to the next city even faster," I said through clenched jaws.
She was really starting to get on my nerves. She'd been complaining of never getting to take a break and that I was a complete totalitarian. There was no democracy here.
"I know, I know," she nodded, "but what's the rush? Twenty minutes won't make a difference."
Celeste dropped her bag on a nearby stone and promptly sat upon it. "She's right, you know. It would be nice to take a break and eat some lunch to replenish our energy. Besides, I have to get to know my new poké-pal."
"Whatever," I scoffed, "you all have got to be some of the laziest brats that I know." I dropped my bag and leaned up against a tree with Purin by my side.
You tell them Quinn! she supplicated.
I chuckled as I pulled a firm, red Fuji apple out of my pack and handed to my friend, who gingerly ate the fruit, while I peeled my own Granny Smith apple.
For some odd reason, I found that I am allergic to the apple peel and not the fruit itself. I learned that a long time ago, when I first noticed that my mouth began to tingle and it became hard to breathe after I ate an apple.
"You're such a G.I. Joe, Quinn," Charlize said as she munched on a firm Bartlett pear. "Do you ever feel like just going to back to the way you were before."
My eyes narrowed. "Of course not," I barked.
"Well damn, you don't have to chew my head off. I was just kidding," she said defensively as she shifted her position so that she would face her friends.
I personally didn't care.
"Your brother has a serious attitude problem," she told Celeste.
"I know, I know—that's the way that he is. I like him anyways. He's not a bad person at all," she said, "just very cynical and everything. You might even start to warm up to him after awhile."
"I doubt it."
"He's OK," Brian commented. He shrugged his shoulders, "I don't really have a problem with him."
"He gave you a wedgie!"
"That's minor though."
"Dude," she said, "I think you're still under his mind control." I imagined that she waved her hands in front of his face. "Snap out of it."
"You'd better just get used to it," Celeste flatly concluded, "because he's not going to change for anyone but himself."
A smile tugged at the corners of my lips.
Celeste was the best.
The nerve of those people, Purin ground out, it's impolite to talk behind someone's back.
"I know. I don't let it bother me. I won't let it bother me; that's the difference between us." I turned to Purin and asked her, "why don't you go hang out with Selene, Pip, and Raja for a while?"
You sure that you don't want my company?
"I'm sure," I answered, "I can handle those three all on my one."
Whatever you say, she replied as she scurried off to the other pokemon.
After eating my apple and listening to the Brats talk amongst one another, I heard someone rumbling inside his/her pack. I figured that it was probably my sister finding her crystal compact.
"Pokécrystal, release and disperse!" A heard the whirring noise as the crystal hovered in place and spun, dispersing the pokémon directly beneath it.
I decided to shift around to see how this Mareep's first reaction to Celeste as a trainer would be.
The Mareep, itself, upon being released, stared at Celeste for a thoughtful moment and fearfully backed away from her beaming smile, which immediately turned into a frown because of his gesture.
Get away from me! he cried as he backed away, his coat fizzling with electricity. You too, you Phanphy!
Phanphy looked genuinely hurt, What did I do?
You attacked me! he replied.
I only roughed you up a little bit so my capture you. We should be friends now. He went forward a few steps with a welcoming smile.
Friends don't beat each other up! the Mareep countered. And I never wanted to be captured in the first place.
Some things are completely out of our control, Raja declared as he looked down at the ground. I was indebted to my trainer because she saved me. Nevertheless, I still had a choice.
Mareep gritted his teeth, My choice was to fight and then to escape. But you eliminated them! Now I'm here and I'm a slave for a human, just like you.
If that was meant to hurt Raja, I don't think that it did. He lifted his trunk gallantly and declared, I'm not a slave for anyone. I think...that this whole training thing is a two-way relationship. Everyone helps one another and things all work out in the end.
Mareep looked as if he were beginning to understand, yet I could tell that he was still unsure about the whole affair.
I saw the Celeste had left Raja to make Mareep understand. She probably thought that he could get through to him better than she could, considering that he was a pokémon and she was not. She stood there with hopeful eyes and clasped hands.
You'd better be right about this...uh...what's your name?
I'm Raja, he proudly chirped.
My name is Fuzz, Raja.
Usually when meeting a new Phanphy, we lift up our trunks and press them together. But I guess that we could make up our own gesture.
He pressed his trunk to Fuzz's outstretched leg and he grinned. It was all too heartwarming. I felt a smile on verge of spreading on my lips. I brushed a stray wisp of hair from my hair.
I'm glad that I made you understand that this isn't a bad thing at all, Raja said.
I'm still not too sure about it, but I'll give it a go. He approached Celeste with a lowered head.
She stooped down and cupped his face, rubbing it with her thumb. She received a smile from her pokemon and she gladly said, "I'm Celeste, your new trainer. I hope that we can become good friends. Thanks, Raja."
She stroked his head affectionately.
Soon, the rest of the pokémon advanced towards their new companion and began to make introductions. It caused a great deal of pokémon chatter and noise. There were parts of names recited over and over again, but somehow, it meant different things, that I could understand.
It's very unusual that out of all of my brothers and sisters, the one that actually wanted to be a pokémon trainer was the only one that could not understand pokémon speech. I'm sure Celeste felt the same way.
"Wow, I have two friends now," Celeste said as she sat back with her friends.
I knew that she was feeling pretty damn good right then. It was probably much like the way I felt when Purin came into my life. I was overjoyed, ecstatic, and most of all, relieved that I would have someone to make the last hurdle of the military experience not so horrible.
I looked at Purin out of the corner of my eye. She was battling to be the center of attention with Fuzz, who, by default, was getting the most because he was new to the group.
Pip had taken a divine interest in his fellow electric type and asked him many questions. He was practically jumping all over the place in his excitement. A few places where he landed were in Brian's lap, on Charlie's water bottle, on Celeste's leg, ending up on Fuzz's head: he was insanely hyper.
I stood up from my post beside the chair ten minutes later, "let's get on a move. We should be at the next city by 5:00, if we move now."
Charlize groaned as she hauled herself up and smoothed her hair back into a long ponytail. She dusted off her purple duster and smooth her skirt. Then she tugged at the ends of her tank.
It was very annoying.
"Is that necessary?"
"To me it is."
I shrugged my shoulders as Purin wriggled her way to them, causing her to cling to my bicep before she fell. Watch out Quinn!
"Oh yeah," I said with a chuckle, "we don't want you falling off of me again. Or else someone might have a major mood swing."
She squinted her eyes at me, you must be talking about the both of us, because Raja told me that I wasn't the only one in a bad mood.
"I don't know what he's talking about," I declared as I shrugged on a backpack and began to walk, at the head of our group.
I was the appointed leader—appointed by myself and by my mother.
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"What's the name of that next city anyways?" asked Charlize as we neared the thickest, and last part of the forest.
"It's called Moonbeam City according to the map."
"Oh."
"Is there a Gym?" Celeste inquired.
"I think so."
"Good," she looked at Raja, "we can challenge it win we get there and maybe even win our first badge." She walked in silence for a few moments, "but I don't even know how this whole Gym thing goes. Hyacinthe wasn't very helpful when it came to telling us about that."
"She had her reasons," I replied.
"And what that be Mr. Quinn, the know-it-all?" retorted Charlize as she stared at me petulantly.
I could tell that I was really starting to get under her skin. It kind of made me feel better, in a way. It let me know that behind that sharp tongue and wit, she was not invincible. However, in many ways, I guess that I was invincible. Well not that admit to myself that I wasn't...I would find out if I really was in the future...
"If you all had any type of memory, you would have remembered that just a few days ago when we were back at home, when we all were sitting there talking, Mom and Hyacinthe were talking about it. She said that she 'was not authorized to tell you everything, and that you'll just have to wait and see'."
Charlize grunted.
I grinned.
I felt Brian and Celeste staring at us with weird looks on their faces. I saw them slow down and I saw Brian whisper something in Celeste's ea out of the corner of my eye. She shook her head in agreement with him, and slight laughter was audible.
I wondered what they were saying.
Wait, scratch that, I didn't care about what they were saying about me and Charlize. If it was even about Charlize and I.
OK, as much as I wouldn't like to admit it, I think I did care.
Just a little bit, of course.
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I hope that everyone has enjoyed reading this chapter. More trainers are welcome, even if you have already submitted one. I like interpreting them. I'm deciding on who I should make into the other two ring bearers. I have an idea for one of them...shh...I'll never tell! -_^! Remember to review! I need some male trainers! Yours truly—Duke of Briarcliffe