Chapter 22: Strolling On Lake Rage
"Jeremy, shouldn't we be there by now?" Angelina complained, she and Jeremy had been traveling towards Mahogany Town for two hours straight without stopping to take a break. Although she checked her Pokegear's map feature to see if they were going the right way, and the current route was the only one from Ecruteak to Mahogany, so they weren't getting lost.
Their pathway slowly narrowed out after a few moments, and a few rock outcroppings started to rise up in front of them. There was a small gap in the rock walls that the path still went through, and the duo had to go single-file to get through.
"Calm down Angelina, we are," Jeremy said.
Their destination was evidently surrounded by low, jagged mountains, and the town itself was small and rather quaint. Most of the houses were wooden and looked like small cottages, complete with window shutters and lightly smoking chimneys. At least there was a Pokémon Center near the town's entrance, and the red roof made it stick out quite badly from the rest of the buildings.
They were greeted by the Pokemon Center's Nurse Joy; giving them a room to rest up so Angelina can take on the gym for her seventh Johto badge bright and early the next day. After a couple bowls of chicken rice soup for dinner and knowing his Pokemon were also being healed, Jeremy was ready for a good nights sleep. However, Angelina's curiousity got the best of her and snuck out of her room for a midnight exploration of the town.
"Ring-ring-ring! Ring-ring-ring!"
Angelina awoke to the sound of a faint ringing the very next morning. She sat up and recognized the ringing from her Poke-Gear, retrieving the devise from her backpack, which was ringing madly with the screen flashing slightly. She pressed the button so the voice on the other line was heard.
"Hello?" Angelina asked, yawning.
"It's Jeremy, where the heck are you! I woke up and your bed was empty!" Jeremy said, he sounded worry and wasn't thrilled either.
"Oh, I'm over at the Levine's." Angelina replied, the memory of last night coming back to her. "Ya know, that house you said you knew about."
"So that's where you went? That's good," Jeremy sighed in relief. "They're really nice people. I thought they weren't home, how'd you get in there?"
"Well long story short, I ventured over to the Lake of Rage, but I almost drowned by these monstrous waves, and…. my leg started to hurt and I couldn't move." Angelina paused for a breath before continuing. "Thank Arceus someone was around, it was this guy wearing a red cape…. and he had a Charizard. The guy was Lance, and he told me I was bitten by a Gyrados, and he said that the Magicarp are going beserk and evolving from radio waves that are being traced back from Goldenrod City. Lance and I made it back to the Levine's. I told him I had no where to go since the Pokemon Center was closed, so he just told me I could stay the night…. Just sleep on the couch."
There was silence on the other end, until Jeremy finally spoke up. "You met the Dragon Master of the Elite Four? Wow, that's awesome! Is he still there? I'm coming right over! Bye!" there was a click and the dial tone came on.
Angelina stared at her Poke-Gear, then closed the link. She wondered how Jeremy knew about Lance, she shrugged and decided to find out about that later. She checked the time…. 9:30am…. The Levine's and Lance were still sleeping. She yawned and decided to go back to sleep until the Levine's or Lance would come into the living room and awake her to look over her Gyrados bit on her leg.
Angelina was re-awoken a half hour later when Jeremy finally arrived. He explained to her that Lance was a famous Dragon Pokemon Trainer from Blackthorn City and was the Champion of the Elite Four, which made alot of sense to Angelina. They waited for the Levine's to wake up, and were told that Lance had taken off hours ago when everyone was still asleep. Mrs. Levine was in the kitchen making breakfast while Anglina had to stay still as Mr. Levine bandaged up her leg.
"Be careful with that leg now," Mr. Levine said, standing up. "Your injury wasn't that bad, though change the bandage daily until the wound heals."
"Okay, I will." Angelina said, also standing up with Jeremy nearby in case she would lose her balance.
They were called into the kitchen for breakfast and sat down at the table. In front of each seat was a plate filled with eggs, toast, bacon, sausage, and hash browns.
"I wonder how Goldenrod City is connected to the Lake of Rage?" Jeremy asked, picking at the eggs and hash browns on his plate.
Angelina was thinking quietly, yet almost choked while drinking her orange juice. "R-radio waves come from a radio tower. M-maybe its the one in Goldenrod City?"
"That kinda makes sense, but if Team Rocket really did invade that building, then we're not doing any research or traveling in your condition," Jeremy said, refering to Angelina's injury.
Angelina nodded, and she also decided that the Mahogany Gym could wait until tomorrow. So they headed back to the Pokémon Center to heal and relax for the rest of the day.
§To Be Continued§
*Angelina and Jeremy arrive at Mahogany Town and stay overnight at the Poke Center.
*Angelina sneaks out in the middle of the night for an exploration of the town.
*Jeremy finds Angelina at someone's house after she explains she got bitten by a Gyrados at Lake of Rage and was helped out by Lance, the Dragon Master of the Elite Four.
*Angelina and Jeremy think the radio waves are from Goldenrod's City Radio Tower.
*A day of rest is needed before Angelina takes on the Mahogany Town Gym.