A/N: Fun, fun, fun, under the sun.  ^_^  Thanks for your reviews!  They really motivate me.  I would have updated sooner, but I have other stories to work on.  I wonder what makes this story so much more popular than my other ones….*shrug* oh well.  I shouldn't complain.  On with the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, and I don't own Slayers or anything else that isn't mine to own.

Ch. 7 – Politics Pow-wow

Double Shock in Saffron City

            Lina led the way to Saffron City, with Zel and Gourry in tow.

            "Oi, Lina…"

            "Can't you walk for ten minutes without asking a question?"

            "Umm…. How long is ten minutes?  I don't have a watch."

            Lina rolled her eyes and sighed.  Without looking back, she asked, "Ugh.  Never mind.  What is it then?"

            "Uh…Where are we going?"

            Lina almost fell over in surprise, but she caught herself easily.  Straightening back up, she put a hand up to her forehead and answered exasperatedly, "You just asked that half an hour ago!  We're going to Saffron City!"

            Gourry paused to contemplate this.  He replied back with a drawled out "Why?"

            Lina ticked the reasons off her fingers at a rapid speed.  "Well, first, to get the Marsh Badge from Sabrina of the Saffron City Gym, then visit Amelia to get a place to stay during our visit-"

            Zel interrupted, "Who's Amelia?"

            Lina paused her list to answer, "Oh, you don't know her, do you?  We met up with her a little while ago.  She's the daughter of the mayor of Saffron City.  I think her full name was…um…Amelia Wiltesla Saillune.  Ever heard of her?"

            "As a matter of fact, yes.  I believe I met her on one of /visits/ to my grandfather a few years back.  She's a raven-haired little Daddy's girl about this high, rants on and on about justice, right?"

            Lina eyed Zel with a slight turn of her head and nodded.  "That would be her."

            Lina turned her eyes back on the road, and after a pause, they simultaneously sighed.  Lina and Zel both thought, "And /that's/ who we're staying with?  It's going to be one loooonngg trip."

            Zel waited for Lina to continue, but after a few minutes, she didn't, so Zel asked, "Well?  Is that all you're going to do there?"

            Lina jumped slightly as if shaken out of a daze.  "Huh?  Oh.  No.  Where was I?  Oh yeah.  After we get that over, um…Lavender Town's not too far away, so make a quick trip there…maybe catch a ghost pokemon or two before challenging the Lavender Town Gym Leader…Then go back to the other side of Saffron, and head for Celadon City.  I hear they have tons of great stuff to buy at the shops.  That's basically the current outline.  Hey look!  I can see Saffron City!  Last one there's a rotten egg!"

            With that, Lina raced off into the distance.  Not wanting to be left behind, Gourry and Zel rushed after her.

            Even having said all that, Lina's first stop was the pokemon center, to drop off her pokemon for a check up, and stock up with food both in her tummy and in her bag.  With nothing better to do, Gourry and Zel did the same.

            After their pokemon were well rested, they headed for the Saffron City Gym.  They roamed the halls looking for the gym leader, and were met by someone very similar to the one Ash and co. had met.  Seeing them, he sneered, "What are you doing here, you little brats?  Only those who have business here are allowed inside; all others should leave immediately."

            If this was meant to intimidate them, he did it all wrong.  In fact, it only served to fire up Lina's spirit.  "Oh yeah?  Well it just so happens that I /do/ have business here.  So lead me to the Saffron City Gym Leader!"

            The man in a lab coat seemed snuffed.  A bit grouchily, he turned and muttered, "Follow me."

            And so, Lina and her two male companions were led to a set of double doors, bigger than the rest.  He left them there and walked away, having said that this was where the gym leader was.

            Taking a deep breath, Lina pushed open the doors, or rather, she stepped forward and the automatic sliding doors opened on their own.  On the other side of the room, behind a thin, burgundy curtain, a female figure was seated on a chair, on a platform, with her legs crossed.  Squinting her eyes, Lina tried to make out distinguished features, any features at all, of the mysterious figure.  Lina determined that the female was wearing a black outfit complete with black boots, and had short, black hair to match, before the figure called out, "Who dares to intrude in my domain?"

            Not one to be easily daunted, Lina took another step forward, accompanied by a slightly extended fist, and replied back, "The name's Lina.  Lina Inverse!  I come from Pallet Town and I hereby request a challenge from the Saffron City Gym Leader!"

            Jumping up, the female flung out her arm and the curtains obeyed her psychic command to pull open.  Her other hand was on her hip, as a confident smile tugged on her lips.  As soon as the female's figure was fully unveiled, Lina saw Zel's eyes pop wide open and his jaw drop a little, in the corner of her eye.  Inquisitively, Lina asked Zel with a look.  Taking no notice of Lina, Zel shook his head to clear it and regained his posture.  In a completely calm voice, Zel greeted, "It's been a while, Eris."

…

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(^_^)

A/N: What, you wanted me to write more than 850 words?  Well fine, since you've been so faithfully reviewing…

-_-

…..

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…

            "What? (Lina)"

            Lina was surprised that Zel knew her.  But then, as she thought about it, he /had/ said he had been here before, and he /was/ a gym leader…

            Nevertheless, Lina, too, shook her head to clear it before she went on to check out Eris on her Statidex.  This is what she read:

Name: Eris (Last Name Unknown)

Race: Human

Hometown: N/A Current Residence in Saffron City

Height: 5' 5"

Weight: 110 lbs.

Pokemon:

Ditto (Lvl. 55)

-Transform

-Mimic

Kadabra (Lvl. 21)

-Teleport

-Confusion

-Psybeam

-Disable

Overall Grade: B

Status: Temp. Saffron City Gym Leader

# of Badges: 1

Voice-over:  Eris has always been a longstanding companion to the blind but great Pokemon Scientist Rezo and is assisting him in his lifelong passion to cure his eyes.  However, she currently has taken the place of the Saffron Gym Leader while Sabrina goes on a much-needed vacation.  Sabrina and Eris are second-cousins.

            Lina bit her lower lip in slight worry.  'A level 55 Ditto?  It looks like I might have to rely on a lot more luck than skill on this one…'

            Shaking any further worry off, Lina called out, "Whatever.  I don't care how you know her.  I'm here for my Marsh Badge and I'm going to get it."

            Eris triple-flipped into the air and landed perfectly in her trainer box.  "Then let's start."

            With a grin, Lina power-walked to her trainer box.  Eris declared, "This will be a two-on-two pokemon match.  Match Start!  My first pokemon is…Kadabra!"

            Eris released her Kadabra onto the field.  Keeping her grin, Lina released Pyro.  It was still a Charmeleon, but Lina had faith in all of her pokemon, fire-pokemon especially.  Lina initiated the first attack.

            "Pyro!  Start things off with a Headbutt!"

            "Kadabra – Teleport."

            Pyro missed and Kadabra reappeared behind him and attacked after Eris commanded, "Now, Confusion."

            "Pyro, quick!  Dig!"

            With that, Pyro dug himself into a hole, narrowly missing the attack.  Kadabra, just like any other pokemon, looked around for its target.  Eris' voice came again, "Be on guard.  Be ready to teleport."

            Lina smirked.  "Pyro!  FIRE GEYSER NOW!"  Immediately, several dozens of spots on the field erupted vertically with pillars of fire, no doubt also toasting Kadabra.  When the fire dispersed, and the smoke had cleared, Pyro and Kadabra could both be seen facing off, and breathing hard.  Now it was just a matter of wills.

            Lina knew the Fire Geyser took a lot out of her pokemon, but it was a sure-fire attack.  Lina was surprised that Kadabra could still stand.  Determined to win, Lina called out, "Alright Pyro, collect your energy and use Fireball Version 109!"

            "Kadabra, disable."

            Lina's smile widened.  By collecting his energy and the energy around him, not only was he immune to special attacks, but it actually helped to heal him and power him up.

            While he had been collecting energy, Pyro had closed his eyes and put his paws together in front of him, like people do when they pray.  Suddenly, Pyro's eyes shot open, his paws parted slightly, and like a Fire starter, blew fire from his mouth into the section between his paws.  In one swift move, Pyro moved his paws between his mouth and ball of fire, the ball of fire grew immensely, and Pyro released it towards his opponent.

            Kadabra didn't need to be told to teleport, even though he was (told) anyway.  Charmeleon feinted surprise as he looked around, gathering his strength again.  When Kadabra reappeared, Charmeleon turned to point a claw at him.  Not knowing what he was pointing at, Kadabra stood at a standstill, making him a perfect target for the fireball as it made its way around and behind Kadabra, and succeeded in scorching his back.  The impact of the hit made Kadabra fall flat on his face.  When he didn't get back up, Zel imitated a referee and announced, "Kadabra is unable to battle.  Charmeleon wins this round."

            Lina cheered and congratulated Charmeleon.  Eris grimaced as she returned Kadabra.  She released Ditto, which changed to Charmeleon before Lina had a chance to react.  Lina grinned once more.  Lina held up a pokeball and called for Pyro to return.

            "You did a great job, Pyro.  Next up is… Raticate!"

            "Ditto Transform!"

            Ditto transformed into Raticate.

            Lina knew that since Normal Pokemon didn't use special attacks, if Ditto transformed into Raticate, it would make no difference.

            "Raticate, Quick Attack!"

            "Ditto!  Quick Attack!"

            They collided head on, with a force of speed that made them both fly backwards.

            "Raticate Hyper Fang!"

            Lina's Raticate shook off the residing pain in his head and bulldozed towards his opponent.  As Ditto had also gotten up, Eris commanded for it to do the same.  However, since Lina's had a slight lead in starting, it had clamped onto Ditto's neck before Ditto could do it to him.  Ditto flinched in pain.

            Lina launched her fist into the air for emphasis.  "Alright Raticate!  Body Slam now!"

            Ditto's eyes popped wide open as it felt the sudden weight on it.  Before it had a chance to recover, Lina called out, "Finish it with Thunder!"

            As Raticate had yet to get off, the impact was astounding.  Ditto changed back to its original form, and its eyes revealed that it was knocked out.  Zel again mimicked a referee and proclaimed in a rather monotonous tone, "Ditto is unable to battle.  Raticate wins the round, Challenger Lina Inverse is the winner."

            Lina cheered again.  She thanked Raticate and returned him to his pokeball.  Eris silently returned Ditto   With a spring in her step, Lina skipped across the battlefield to Eris.  With an extremely happy expression, Lina outstretched her hand in anticipation.  Grudgingly, Eris handed over the Marsh Badge to Lina.  Lina held the Marsh badge in front of her eyes so that she could get a good look at it.  More practiced instinct than anything else, Lina bowed her head a little and thanked Eris.  Turning to run back a few yards, Lina stopped, turned again to wave, and then went back to her friends.  She flashed her newest badge at them before going out the door, with them following her.

            After getting back outside, Lina stretched in the sunlight.  Half to herself, Lina quietly said, "Now then, off to Amelia's!"

            By asking directions once, and Zel looking down on the city from Pidgeot's back, they easily found the Saillune residence.  It wasn't all that hard, really.  Their house was by far the largest house /or/ building in the metropolitan area.  Unfortunately, although they left the Gym well before high noontime, the sun was setting when they finally got there.  After the late morning people woke up in Saffron, the streets were as busy as bees during mating season.  The numerous roads on top of roads, with some leading to dead ends and others to other cities or towns, didn't help their case at all.  Nevertheless, the trio reached their next planned destination.

           It turns out, that the Salliune family as well as some other important guests, were having dinner at the moment.  Okay, it was actually supper, but what's the difference?  (:P People can have supper and dinner separately right?  I think supper goes first)

            Lina rang the doorbell from behind the tall, speared, black gates, that acted as a barrier between her and the property.  An aged voiced, probably that of a butler, answered, "Yes?  Who's there?"

            Lina spoke up happily into the receiver.  "The name's Lina.  Zel and Gourry are with me.  We're friends of Phil and Amelia.  We're here for hopefully a short visit."

            The reply back came as a bit of a surprise to Lina.  "Oh!  Zelgadis-sama, is that you?  Quickly, open the gates William-san!"

            The black pearl gates parted with spine-chilling groans just as the porch light flickered on.  As they walked up the cobblestone driveway, Gourry looked around with an impressed air about him.  Intricate topiaries of legendary pokemon lined the straight walkway on either side.  Behind them, tall garden hedges surrounded a garden of flowers, designed to look like a certain pattern when in full bloom, that mirrored the other side of the path.

            The house itself was a large Victorian model.  Together with white pillars on the front porch, were the high Monticello windows that showed themselves in all three stories.  The very doors were of grandiose quality.  Lina looked back at Gourry in the corner of her eye as she walked.

            "Hey, Gourry, what's with your expression?  Have you never been to a fancy estate before?"

            Gourry continued to look around, amazed, as he answered, "Nope.  My family wasn't all that rich growing up so we never really had the opportunity.  What about you?"

            The butler had opened the front door for them, and another awaited to lead them to the dining hall.  Lina answered with her hands behind her head.  "My family's not too rich either.  We'd like to say we are, but we aren't.  I've been to mansion before though.  Lots and lots of them.  If I can, I always try to stay or eat at the richest place, and that usually happens to be mansions."

            Zel started, "Is that why-"

            "Yup.  I wouldn't be here otherwise."

            Zel nodded in understanding.

            The inside of the house was even more glamorous than the outside.  After the long front hallway, it opened up to a large room that split up into several different paths.  On the left was a long hallway to the west wing, while the right lead to the east.  Directly ahead were two pairs of slightly curved stairways the connected on the second floor.  The second floor looked very similar to the first, with a hallway going left and right and a doorway directly in the middle.  Between the staircases, perfectly aligned with the matching double doors above it, was a pair of double doors.  From these doors, an energetic Amelia burst through.

            In a flying leap, her arms managed to wrap themselves around Zel's waist, the momentum forcing Zel to spin around in a circle.  When Amelia let go, Zel was still blushing as he looked the other way.

            "Zelgadis-san!  I'm so glad you could make it!  Are you staying long?  This means you can come to my birthday celebration right?  Right, Zelgadis-san?"

           Zelgadis put a hand on his face and groaned into it.  He then tilted his head back so that he could see Amelia.  "Look, I only happened to travel here by chance.  That doesn't mean I came here just to see you."

            Amelia's eyes immediately became on the verge of tears.  She put the fingernail of her thumb at the entrance of her mouth, with her other fist supporting her elbow.  To finish, Amelia whimpered softly as those big blue eyes looked into Zelgadis'.  Zelgadis sweated.

            Lina thought this was perfect timing to butt in.  "B-but I did.  I came here /just/ to see you.  Do you mind if we spend the night here?  I'm including Zel, Gourry, and myself, of course."

            Amelia's eyes lit up at this, and she rubbed her eyes on her arm.  She replied back happily, "Of course!  You must be tired!  Come on into dining hall and say hello to Daddy!  Wait 'til I tell him I'm having my first sleepover!"

            As Amelia pulled Lina along by her hand, Lina leaned back and whispered to Zel, "Oh yay.  We made one little girl happy tonight."

            He rolled his eyes in response.  "Oh Whoopee."

            "Oh, well if it isn't Lina-chan!  Gourry-san and Zelgadis-san as well!"

            A chill went up Lina's back then.  She still couldn't get over the fact that Phil, Amelia's father, looked as if he should be in a horror film.  He reminded her of those dwarves her sister had read to her about all those years ago.  If not a dwarf, then maybe a bandit.

            Upon seeing two other people seated at the table, Lina's instinct told her that she should be extra polite.  She formally bowed towards them and said as she rose, "Good evening."

            If anything, the guests were taken aback by her formality.  In this day and age, you would almost never see someone do something like that, especially a child.

            The two other guests stood up.  One of them, a graying mistress, said, "Well, as it is getting late, we should be going now.  It was nice to meet your daughters Phil-san.  We wish you the best of luck in the election.  Rest assured that you have our votes."

            Phil stood up.  "I'll walk you to the door."

            As soon as the adults left the room, Lina turned to Amelia.  "Daughters?  Does she think that /I'm/ Phil's daughter too?  And what's this about an election?"

            "Come on, sit down.  I don't know about the daughters thing, but you made a good impression, I'm sure of it!  Those two were Mr. and Mrs. Vanheider.  They're the most influential people in Saffron City.  Aside from the mayor, of course.  This election is just a re-election for the mayor, but Daddy's only other competitor is worrying him a little."

            Zel asked, "Who is it?"

            "Umm…I heard Daddy talking about it before… I think Rezo Akahoushi?"

            Zel's eyes widened.  "It can't be…Rezo died four months ago."

A/N:  How do you like the little itty bitty cliffy?  ^_^  You realize of course that I can't have Rezo go through all that trouble with Shabrinigdo, well, maybe I can if I just fix it a little.  ^_~  Anyways, you've read it, now review it.  Sorry this chapter took so long by the way!