The New Kids on the Block: Chapter Eight
Celeste- "Moonbeam City"
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The Moonbeam City Pokemon Center
Moonbeam City, Silver Millennium
May 26, 2028
We had finally made it to Moonbeam City after walking for that extreme period of time. Quinn could be so demanding and so stern. With him as our so-called leader I'd make it through the Silver Millennium League in record time.
It was work, more work, and even some more work after that. There were hardly any breaks except for the obvious bathroom ones. Only did we get a break when Char nagged Quinn enough to make him angry. Sometimes, I cherished those moments.
But I couldn't blame him for it. Things like this were like pancakes compared to the wedding cakes that he was used to. I mean, this was a routinely sort of affair. And it is hard to break someone out of a routine. It takes a lot of diligence and willpower...something that nobody felt like wasting on him.
I decided not to waste my energy and to be accepting: in other words, just to go along with the flow.
I was ecstatic over the fact that I had caught my very first pokémon. It was a beautiful experience, one of the things that you never forget; one that will live with you forever. But deep down, I think that I'd never forget any of my pokémon capturing.
Fuzz was a good sort. He was scared of Raja and me, or so that I had gathered when I first released him. But, I suppose that Raja used some rather potent persuasion (A/N: I watched a movie late last night called that on Bravo! It's based off a novel by Jane Austen.) in order to make him give me a chance.
Right now, we had just arrived in the Moonbeam City Pokemon Center. It was a large building with three mini-domes with a large 'P' on top of it. The domes were made of glass and the rest of the building was composed of the crimson and white bricks. It had a warm appeal to it.
We walked inside, our pokémon close by: either on our shoulders or in our arms, or even walking beside us, in Raja and Selene's case. They were much too heavy.
Everything was bright in the center. The crystal domes showed a spectacular view of the Crescent, the floor was made of sparkly, white linoleum, and the counters appeared to be made of some sort of oak, maybe cherry. It looked brand-new. And, I almost forgot to mention, there was a pretty Nurse Felicity with an equally bright smile, aimed directly at, who else, but my big brother, Quinn.
"Hello! Welcome to the Moonbeam City Pokémon Center, how may I help you on this fine evening?" she leaned over the counter just a bit, that's when I noticed that she was exposing just a little cleavage.
I giggled to myself.
"Could you give my pokémon a free checkup?" I asked with just a hint of a smile on my face.
She seemed not to hear what I said. Or maybe she was just ignoring me. Either way, her eyes were completely transfixed on my brother's physique. I saw Charlize roll her eyes.
"Excuse me," she chided as she waved her hand in front of Nurse Felicity's face. She must have waved it ten times before Felicity snapped out of her trance.
"Oh yes," she said quickly said, "I beg your pardon? Something was on my mind." A blush began to bloom on her cheeks.
And I knew what she was thinking about.
"My friend wants you to give her pokémon a checkup. Do you think that you'll be able to do it?"
"Of course! That's my job, you know," she reminded her she scurried over to a rack and produce a plastic tray with six hollows.
"How could I not?" she asked sarcastically. "Could you heal my friend as well?"
"Sure."
"Mine too," Brian said as he recalled Pip into his crystal.
"All right Raja, just follow the Nurse Felicity and behave. I know that you will," I told him as I placed him on the counter. He shook his head in agreement.
Nurse Felicity grasped the tray and began to walk away when all of a sudden, she just stopped before she turned the corner, and hurried back to the desk.
"I suppose that you'll want that adorable Jigglypuff healed also, am I right?"
"Sure," he blankly said. He returned Purin into her crystal and placed her into a hollow. His arms instantly crossed over the breadth of his chest.
She remained there, mesmerized for a few moments. Her eyes locked on to him. This was really starting to annoy me. It seemed like Quinn always had some woman following him at his heels.
"Well?"
"Well what?—oh! I'm sorry," she shuffled away, but not before sneaking a peek at my dear brother as she turned the corner. I sighed as we headed over to an assortment of chairs.
"The ladies love you Quinn!" Brian said as he playfully punched Quinn on the shoulder.
Quinn fixed him an icy glare and he backed down, walking more towards Charlize and I. His smile had turned sheepish all of a sudden. I guess he realized that Quinn wasn't the type of person to do that with, unless you were me, of course.
I found my place, cuddled up next to Brian, and Quinn and Charlize sat in chairs that faced us. Charlize appeared to be a bit agitated and I'm pretty sure that Quinn was agitated too. I guess that they were the moody couple while we were the content couple.
Char would probably kill me if I ever mentioned her and my brother together, in any way. Quinn would probably give me a look like the one he gave
Brian just a few moments ago. However, the difference would be that it wouldn't have phased me one bit. I'm immune to it.
"Maybe we should eat out tonight," Brian suggested, "we haven't done that yet."
"That would be cool," Charlize and I agreed.
But as always, Quinn just had to dampen the rather happy mood by saying, "we have to economize if you don't want to be stuck foraging for food. We can just eat what we have, it's just as good."
"You're only saying that because you haven't had one of those new Sonic cheeseburgers," Char sighed in contentment, "they're the most scrumptious—"
"Char!" I interjected.
"Oh," she said, just a bit flustered, "I forgot that you were a vegetarian. Uh...the Sonic veggie burgers are probably good too."
I smiled.
"Like I was saying, Quinn, you're just used to that military gruel or slop, whatever it is that you ate."
"I did not eat any gruel or slop. Those are for pigs," he retorted as he shifted his position in the armchair.
"Oh!" she placed her hand over her mouth and emitted a loud gasp. "I'm so sorry. The last time I checked, you were a pig!"
"And the last time that I checked, you were a flea. Always hanging around where nobody wants you to be. Or better yet, you'd make a great tick, because fleas are so tiny and unnoticeable, which means that as a tick, you'd be an even bigger pest."
I clutched my mouth and giggled. They were both much too clever and witty, which, as you've witnessed, means that their wit always clashed with one another.
"This isn't over," she affirmed.
Charlize stared at him hardly and he defiantly stared back. Someone had to back down, and neither person wanted to be the one to do so. Brian and I stared at them stare at one another. We remained that way for several moments, only to be interrupted by Felicity's cheerful voice.
"All done," she chirped as she gave us each our respective pokémon and pokécrystals. Raja jumped into my lap and brushed up against me and Pip maintained his perch on Brian's head. Purin hobbled over to Quinn's feet, puffed up in anger when he wouldn't lift her up, and declared something I couldn't comprehend. And lastly, Selene hurried into her trainer's lap.
All better! Pip announced as he pulled on Brian's hair.
Me too! Raja seconded.
Me three, Selene agreed.
Purin looked flatly at us all and muttered, wouldn't it be irrelevant if I said what they said?
Naturally, I didn't understand any of it, but Quinn did, and he softly chuckled. Purin really cracks him up.
"If you're hungry," Nurse Felicity said as she propped herself up on the back of a chair. "You can always go downstairs to the caféteria and eat in the buffet line. It's free for the trainers."
Then, she sauntered back behind the counter and attended her next customer.
Gosh, if someone could supposedly be talking to an entire group and really be focused on just one person, Nurse Felicity sure was a pro...
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"What looks good to you Raja?" I asked as we eyed the selection of different pokémon foods. I squinted my eyes to get a better look at it. Damn, I thought that I might need to get a vision test.
Ooh! Peanuts! I want peanuts and bamboo shoots, he cheered with big starry eyes, pointing at his desired items.
"Your wish is my command," I answered as I picked up two dishes with three hollowed-out spaces in them. They were shaped like triangles.
Hooray!
"You know, peanuts are high in protein and have iron as well. A good choice my friend. I suppose that bamboo shoots are nutritious too. What do you think Fuzz would like to have?"
Those wild dandelion greens over there, he replied, using his trunk to show me the way.
He'd really gotten used to showing me these things. I almost completely understood his body language.
"That's what I was going to get! I guess that if I were a pokémon, I would be one of the sheep types."
You could be any pokémon that liked just vegetables.
I didn't know what he said so I just fixed a dish with dandelion greens and rolled oats and filled another section with water. After that, we made our way back to the table, and I placed the dishes on the ground for my friends. I released Fuzz and then he and Raja proceeded to eat with the others.
My plate that had a wild greens salad and raspberry vinaigrette was already there, so after I made sure that my pals were all right, I began to eat. It was really appetizing.
"Tomorrow morning we can make a trip to the Moonbeam City Gym," Quinn told us.
"That was the plan," I muttered.
"Right."
"I wonder what type of pokémon that the Gym will specialize in, if they do that here at all," Brian wondered.
"Me too."
"Maybe you should check that Silver Millennium Guidebook that Hyacinthe gave you, it might have some info about it," Char suggested as she sipped her cranberry lemonade.
"I'd never even thought about that!" I exclaimed as I rummaged in my messenger bag, then, when I felt the hard spine of the book, I yanked it out and began to flip pages.
The pages were full of illustrations of the Gyms themselves but there were no pictures of the Leaders. I arrived at the Moonbeam City section and scanned the paragraphs.
My brow furrowed as I said, "hmm...there's nothing here about the pokémon types. It just tells you how to find the Pokémon Center and how to find the Gym from here. It even tells you the Gym Leaders name and his age, but nothing about his pokémon. It's really weird."
"Let me see that," Char demanded as she reached for the book. She surveyed the page and slammed it down, producing a slapping noise. "Who gives a rat's ass if the Leader's name is Taylor and he's eighteen and that he's been the leader for three years?"
"That's what I was thinking..."
"This whole League is so secretive. I bet that the winners of whatever Championship they host at the end is like guaranteed to be a Pokémon Master. You probably have to go through enough shit just to get to it, I'm sure," Brian remarked.
"Probably," I agreed with a nod of my head.
The idea of being a Pokémon Master was a bright one, and not completely unattainable; but I was a trainer because I wanted to enjoy the experience. I don't care if I became great or anything. Notoriousness wasn't the most important thing to me.
"Whatever you have to do to get wherever, you'll find out tomorrow. You shouldn't even be worrying about it so much. Just go with the flow," Quinn told me.
"I've been trying to, but this thing is so interesting, I can't help but wonder about it sometimes. I'm sure you would do the same thing if you were in my place."
He didn't answer.
I looked at my Fossil watch, it was 10:00. Quinn looked at his too. I proceeded to do a countdown from 5. 5—4—3—2—1—
"I think we'd better get some sleep if we plan on getting to the Gym early enough so that there won't be any other challengers," he proclaimed.
"As if we have a choice," Charlize muttered as she downed the last of her cranberry lemonade.
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The promise of a bright, sunny, and fairly warm day was high when I woke up at six the next morning. Raja still was asleep and Char was snoring gently as she cuddled with her adorable, although quit alive, teddy-bear.
I opened the window in the small room that we had all shared. It was filled with two bunkbeds. I slepped on the bottom bunk while Charlize was on the top. I think I outweighed her by about 5 or 10 pounds. I was 120 back then. Not that the bed would break, but we also had to keep in mind that Raja was no light pokémon.
I dragged the handle of my messenger bag towards me and pulled out my thick capsule-case and pulled out a khaki-short capsule and a white and blue jersey-tee with ¾ sleeves. Then I took out my toiletries and advanced towards the shower room to take care of business.
While I was walking down the hallway, I was intercepted by Quinn, who's silvery-blue hair was still wet from his shower. He was fully clothed, I'm sure that he had been up for an hour now. He's so much like a robot when it comes to waking up at 5.
"Hey bro, how are you this morning?"
"The same as every morning. I'm fine," he replied.
"Me too."
"Where's your friends? They should be up by now."
"Sleeping of course. I decided not to interrupt them. We don't anyone grumpy today."
"Eight hours is a healthy amount of sleep. No more, no less."
"Well," I began, "it's not my job to delegate this, and neither is it yours. But you seemed to have taken over that duty as well."
"And?"
"Nothing," I shook my head and laughed to myself. I could somehow feel his eyebrow beginning to rise. I just brushed past him and walked to the girls' shower room.
Those guys were about to be involved in a rude awakening.
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The walkways of Moonbeam City were very beautiful and clean. The railings were all painted white and white crocuses bloomed between the spaces of the railings. Paintings and sculptures of the Crescent were visible everywhere. Hence the name, I guess.
We neared a building that was completely see-through. It was shaped like a crescent moon, and it curved along the ground in a neat arc. I could see people working behind desks and I could also see anticipating trainers, waiting for their turn.
However, what I failed to notice was that a tall figure was rapidly approaching us as we neared the door. I felt a light, but somehow forceful, tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see who it was.
And my stomach flip-flopped.
It was him...Collin.
"Hello Celeste," he said cooly, then, when the other's turned around to face him, he said, "hello everyone."
"Hey Collin," Charlize said, "you're here to challenge the Leader too?"
"Yeah."
He stooped down to Raja's level, "hello, Raja. You look well."
He ducked behind my legs when Kao sneaked him a low, rumbling growl. Man, the Growlithe has got to get an attitude readjustment. There's no reason why it should be so...evil, or pehaps mean would be a better word.
"Kao looks the same," I said. Once again, our conversation was just as bland as before. I prayed for the moment that he would leave and go challenge the Leader. Oh wait!—that's what I was there to do.
"Let's go in now," I told everyone as I breezed through door, not really giving the others time to react. Raja scurried through the door, narrowly avoiding getting hit in the butt by the door.
The air in the lobby was cool and the atmosphere was rather busy. It was what I should've expected it to be, considering the influx of new trainers and such. I wondered how far ahead the quickest trainer was. I shook the thought out of my head. Thanks to Quinn, we were making good time.
Besides, Collin was there, which means that he was going the same pace as us. Which meant that...he could have been following us. No!—that couldn't be right—why would he want to follow us? Well, he was weird like that, I could only speculate about his alibi.
"Why the hurry?" Brian asked as he caught back up with Raja and me. Pip looked at me expectantly.
"No reason...it was getting kind of muggy out there."
The air had been pretty thick. I supposed that it was because of Collin's presence. That evil aura radiating off of him.
I heard an indistinct rumbling from inside; it was close to thunder. Oh wow, I'd never experienced a Celestiette thunderstorm.
I liked the rain.
"Yeah," he agreed. He rubbed his nose with the tip of his thumb. "Hey...is that the Gym Leader?"
I turned around to where his free finger was pointing. Talk about individuality and freedom of expression! He had to be the most Gothic guy that I'd ever seen. He was attired in all black, jet black, except for the gray, wide-leg pants that were in tattered strips at the bottom. Silver spikes protruded from a leather choker that fit securely around his neck and metal beads were visible on his wrists. The lighting seemed to make them gleam. His skin was almost a milk-white and his cobalt blue hair hung long in wet, oily locks.
"Oh my, A Gothic dude!" Charlize exclaimed.
I shushed her with my finger. We wouldn't want him getting angry at us, or else he would probably use his authority and decide not to honor my challenge.
There was nothing wrong with dressing the way you like to dress. Individuality is a good thing.
I walked up to him, Collin was at my side. I think that I moved over a bit to increase the space. I felt like such a coward.
As if on cue, the Leader said, "Hello. Welcome to the Moonbeam City Gym. I am the Leader, Taylor. I suppose that you're here for a match, right?"
His oily tone made me feel positively unclean. (A/N: this was adapted from Julia Quinn's novel, The Viscount Who Loved Me. It was such a good phrase that I just had to use it. Thanks Ms. Quinn!)
"Yes," we replied.
"Before I take in one of you, I have to lay down some rules."
Finally!
"In the Silver Millenium League, we do things a lot differently than the other leagues, such as the Johto, Orange, and Flower. We challenge the trainer, the trainer's abilities, and of course, the pokémon."
"But how?" I asked.
"Firstly, before any battling occurs, the trainer must endure a sort of physical challenge. It may be swimming, rock climbing, or maybe even rowing. After all, a trainer must be in good shape.
"There are also a few rules that pertain to the actual battling. First of all, whatever element of pokémon the Gym specializes in, you, the trainer, must have at least one of the same element. Also, you must have use a pokémon that has a disadvantage to that type. And the last pokémon is chosen by instinct. Am I clear?"
My stomach rumbled. I only had two pokémon! That meant that I was behind.
"The pokémon that this Gym uses are...the flying types."
My stomach rumbled even harder. I didn't have any flying types.
His icy gaze riveted onto me. "You, get out now!"
I couldn't believe my ears. "What?"
"You don't have any flying pokémon; therefore, you don't belong here. Come back when you're prepared."
My mouth fell to the ground. I looked at my friends and at Raja, they all looked shocked.
"Will I have to have an officer escort you out of here?"
I was speechless.
Quinn grabbed me by the arm and said, "that won't be necessary." He dragged me out of there.
How strange...I was just kicked out of a Gym. What a way to start collecting badges.
I sneaked one more look inside the Gym as I was hauled away. I saw Collin's frame slightly shake.
He was laughing at me...
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Hello everyone! I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. Sorry that it took so long. My first day of school was today. I think I had anxiety or something. I guess that I'd like to answer a question of Erriel's (BTW, thanks for Bayli Carson! ) Fuzz is a blue Mareep as you all know. Why, you ask? Well, in the Animé, when Ash and Co. was in the Orange League, the pokémon's coloring was a bit different because of climatic changes. Therefore, different coloring is a result of planetary changes. Comprennez? I hope so. Oh, thanks P. Farley for submitting Taylor. Signing off—The Duke of Briarcliffe