Chapter 7.5: Battling Bugsy, The Walking Bug Pokemon Encyclopedia!
The first things Julia and Maisy saw when approaching the Slowpoke Well were the myriad of police cars surrounding the area. It didn't help that there were many armored police officers aiming their guns and rifles at the well. Their bullet shields made it nigh impossible for the two girls to get through whatsoever. But they were able to see police officers coming up the well, taking with them handcuffed Team Rocket goons. Others had slowpokes underneath their arms. Some had their tails cut off. Others' had their tails in tact.
"Wow. Its so crowded," Maisy said, her tiny hand gripping Julia's tightly. "I hope Grandpa's okay."
"I'm sure he is," Julia told her reassuringly. To be honest, Julia wanted to go in there and confirm it for herself before telling Maisy a white lie. She hated giving reassurance over things she didn't know. But she knew she could afford to let little Maisy be sad. In her heart, she worried about Perrine and whether she was okay, too. Then again, she had more experience as a trainer than Julia did, so for all she knew, she handled herself just fine.
Their worries were assuaged when the policemen scattered, allowing them to see the well. Perrine and Kurt came right out of the well. Perrine's orange hair was even more scraggly than usual, with her black ribbon practically untied, hanging by one lock of hair by a thread. Her shoes and stockings were wet from the water, making them darker than usual, and some dirt spots dotted her white stockings and white blouse.
"Perrine!" Julia pushed through the dispersing crowd, leaving Hikaru to tend to Maisy. Perrine turned her head to the side upon hearing her friend's voice. Julia flung her arms around the frazzled, orange haired girl, her soul drowning in relief. "You're okay! Thank goodness!" Soon, Julia let go, and just put both hands on both of Perrine's shoulders. "What the heck happened in there? You're all dirty."
"Team Rocket gave me and Kurt a hard time," Perrine began, brushing some dirt out of her hair. "There were so many of them, it's a wonder Kitsune and the others managed to hold them off," After that, she kneeled down to pull off one of her shoes, shaking them up and down to push some pebbles out. Pebbles dug into her stockings, rubbing against her skin, and she hated that feeling. "But we managed to save the slowpoke."
A warm smile tickled Julia's face. "That's good. I was worried for a second there."
"Grandpa!" Her eyes swelling with tears, little Maisy lunged at her grandfather, wrapping her tiny arms right around his kimono.
Kurt let out a hearty laugh. "Maisy, dear! You're safe. Were you nice to Julia?"
"Yes I was! Are you hurt?"
The old man shook his head. "I'm just fine. Don't worry about a thing," He took a hand and rubbed Maisy's black hair with it, almost messing up one of her pigtails.
Hikaru crawled up Julia's shoulder and pointed to Perrine's dirty clothes. "Pichu chuuu!"
"Hikaru! Don't point that stuff out!" Julia scolded.
"What's up?"
"Hikaru says you're really dirty and should take a shower," Julia told her ruefully. The doubt in her heart from when Perrine accused her of lying rose back up, adding to the fact that Hikaru did something that everyone else perceived as rude. Whenever Julia would point something out, like if someone had a stain on their shirt, a big injury, or a mark on their skin, people would either scold her about it or her parents would take her to the side and tell her it's rude to say stuff to people like that. She couldn't help but wonder if Perrine was thinking Julia was being rude.
Oddly enough, Perrine let out a chuckle and pulled her black ribbon out of her hair. "Well, she's right. I do need a shower. Want to go back to the Pokemon Center? We can battle Bugsy later," Perrine told her. Julia's eyes widened. She couldn't believe it. Perrine was back to her old self.
"Bugsy's in Ilex Forest right now," Kurt suddenly interrupted.
"Ilex Forest?" Perrine asked.
"Yes. He's real big on bug pokemon, and there's loads of them in the forest, so when he's not battling trainers, he's in there," Kurt explained, pointing to the far end of town. The two girls could barely make out a huge blanket of dark green trees in the distance. "Last I heard he was going there to study the flight patterns of butterfree."
"I know!" Julia exclaimed, slamming a fist into her hand. "Maybe we can go in there and find him ourselves! We can ask him if he can battle with us!" Perrine and Kurt looked at each other with confused faces before turning back to face her.
"I don't know. Wouldn't he be busy?" Perrine asked.
"That, and the forest's real dense and thick. It's not hard to get through, but there's lots of pokemon in there, and there's lots of bushes, trees, and plants in there. It's practically a jungle," Kurt explained.
"Oh," Julia frowned. Good points.
Perrine forced a smile and put a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay! We don't have to rush it!" She told her reassuringly. "Besides, we can always try and see him tomorrow. How about this? After I take a shower, how about we train some more? It'll be good for when we do get to battle him."
"Pichu!" Hikaru agreed. The brown haired girl looked back up, taking notice of Perrine's wildly orange hair. "Sure. That'll be fine."
Neither girl minded spending the day together. After all, they had just become friends, so it didn't hurt to get to know each other better. Team Rocket's machinations did leave them a little rattled, so being able to relax with their pokemon would be perfect. Like Perrine said, there was no rush. This time, Julia took the time to go to the PokeMart and buy some more things such as bowls and a bag of pokemon food. She made sure to keep the egg with her so nothing bad would happen to it. As much as she liked Perrine, she wasn't sure if she could afford to leave the egg alone with her. Not only that, there was something else she wanted to find.
"Do you have any books on shiny pokemon and the book called The Bond Between Shooting Stars?" She asked matter-of-factly. That one Team Rocket grunt had said that Hikaru was a shiny pokemon. It had been on Julia's mind since the attack on Kurt's house. Perhaps that was why Hikaru's fur color was darker than normal.
"I'm afraid we sold our last copies of the last book," The male store clerk explained, pointing to the bookshelves. "But we did receive some books on shiny pokemon. Wait here," He ran to the books and pulled two out. One of them had a butterfree on the cover, but its eyes were green, its hands and legs were a reddish pink, and its wings were a very pale pink shade. The other book had pokemon on it such as diglett, meowth, and pikachu, all of them different colors.
Julia paid for them diligently, like any good customer would. "Thank you, sir!" Mission accomplished. With her cargo and egg in hand, she returned to the Pokemon Center. She fed her pokemon, rubbed the egg gently, and immediately opened the book on shiny pokemon. The egg rested on her lap as her green eyes absorbed everything the books on shiny pokemon had to offer.
Like with the one Falkner lent her, Julia found herself unable to look away from the book and its pages. It talked about how shiny pokemon had been around since ancient times, only being referred to as shiny because whenever they would pop out of PokeBalls, the air around them would sparkle like glitter as though they were shining. Some pokemon such as pichu could have colorations a few shades darker or lighter than normal. Others could have vastly different colorations. For example, the pokemon charizard is normally orange with blue wings, but shiny charizard are black with red wings. To this day, no one knows why shiny pokemon exist. Some scientists attributed it to changes in the environment or genetic mutations. Neither theory has been explicitly confirmed.
"Whew! All nice and squeaky clean!" Perrine came out of the bathroom wearing different clothes this time. She put on a short sleeved pale green shirt, a long, white, lace skirt, her brown shoes, and black socks. Her hair was tied back into a scraggly ponytail, warm from intense blow-drying. The first thing she saw was Julia reading the book, her expression unchanging. "You must really love reading."
"I do. Books are great brain food."
Perrine chuckled as she sat down on the bed. "I'll bet. But I'm more into fantasy stuff and fiction."
"Hey! Me too! I tried looking for The Bond Between Shooting Stars but the PokeMart didn't have it."
"It is pretty popular."
"Get this! Hikaru's what they call a shiny pokemon! This book says so!"
"Hey, umm…"
"Hm?"
The orange haired girl looked down at her feet, her hands brushing against the comforter underneath. "Listen...I'm...sorry for calling you a liar earlier," She replied in a low, rueful voice.
Julia glanced at Perrine's pretty lace skirt. Perrine didn't call her a liar, she just asked if she was pulling her leg, which meant the same thing. Julia just shrugged and returned to her book. "It's okay. I'm used to it."
"No. It's not okay. I mean…" Perrine's nose crinkled as she closed her eyes. Julia sat up, putting her book down. "Friends should love everything about each other and understand each other, good or bad. I should never have doubted you, especially since you've been nothing but nice to me since we met," Her voice caught in her throat as she clutched a piece of the comforter in her fist.
"Chuuu?" Hikaru tilted her head to one side, wondering why Perrine looked so sad. This time, Julia tried to look at Perrine's face. She noticed her fluffy bangs parted down the middle, revealing her long forehead. Her nose was longer, more triangular than Julia's, and her round eyes were a darker shade of blue than Amara's. A twinge of despair peppered her pretty voice, indicating her regret. Subtle as it was, Julia could hear the rue in her voice, and to her, that was enough.
"You're right, but I'm not mad," She told her kindly. Perrine looked up, facing Julia, who briefly looked away. "Nobody in the whole world knows how to talk to pokemon and understand them, and people always thought I was just playing pretend," Hikaru hopped onto Julia's lap and hugged the egg, looking up at her with a look that begged for free pets. Julia stroke Hikaru's head gently, pulling her hand back and forth. "...I'm not lying when I say I can do it, but nobody else can do it, so...I'm not surprised you thought I was pulling your leg."
"Can you...really understand them? I mean...what's it like?"
"Well…" Julia lost herself in thought. "To me, pokemon talk like people, full sentences and all. Everyone else says they say nothing but their names. I never noticed the difference."
"Ohhh," The frown curled back into a smile, the doubt in her heart finally fading away. "Well, regardless, I believe you. Team Rocket appeared like the slowpoke said. We're still friends, right?"
"Of course!"
After that, the girls spent the day either relaxing with their pokemon or training for their upcoming gym battle. Perrine was surprised when Julia revealed that Neji evolved into a furret. It must be confessed that Perrine snuggled Neji like a little kid, hugging her and nuzzling her like he was a big teddy bear. Neji didn't mind at all, as he liked being hugged and cuddled. Of course, that didn't interfere with their training, as they had to get strong or else they might not stand a chance against Bugsy.
When night fell, Julia found herself unable to sleep. Although she kept herself calm, her insides were doing backflips, and she wanted to cry out of sheer joy. Perrine accepted her. Perrine didn't shun her for being able to understand pokemon. Perrine believed her. Where had Perrine been all her life? Her cup of happiness was full already, but Perrine's apology was the final drop that made it completely overflow. Her dream of having human friends had finally come true. Perhaps the angels decided to smile down upon her for once.
"So...according to Kurt, Bugsy usually frequents the Ilex Forest," Perrine noted as she and Julia got dressed. The milky morning light illuminated the room, giving it a warm, cozy atmosphere. Since the walls were a beige color, the room seemed to light up like a lantern. "Let's take a stroll in there and see if we can find him."
"Let's do it!" Julia exclaimed cheerfully. When they left for the forest, Perrine noticed that the girl was smiling real big. Her cheeks were rosy, and she was walking far ahead of Perrine.
"Julia! You're walking too fast!"
"Oh! Am I?" Julia stopped and walked back to Perrine, backwards. "Sorry! Force of habit."
"It's okay. Let's be careful. Kurt said the forest is dense, so let's stay close."
"Okay! This'll be fun!" Julia chirruped, her face radiating delight. Even Hikaru couldn't help but look upon her with a confused expression.
"You're...cheerful this morning," Perrine mused. "We're just going to Ilex Forest."
Julia jumped up once. "That's exactly it! I never told you, but I actually really love Ilex Forest!" She exclaimed right as they approached the entrance. "My parents and I have been through here lots of times, and...I can't really explain it, but being in there just makes me all happy, like I belong there."
'Belong there?' Perrine almost dropped her PokeGear, the answer was so sudden and out there. But she didn't want to put a damper on Julia's happy mood. Besides, forests usually mean pokemon, and they could catch some while they were in there, so she figured she better make the best of it.
The day immediately turned to night the minute they entered the forests. Sunbeams could still be seen peeking through some trees, with sunspots dancing on the grass, but the green trees were all so closely packed together that the sun seemed to be entirely blocked off. Overgrown bushes and thistles lined the path through the forest and areas off the path. Sometimes they passed by large rocks, some of which had horizontal claw marks on them. To the normal person, this forest would definitely not be a place for anyone to go into without any kind of supervision or safety supplies, as anything could happen.
Perrine looked up at the trees, noting their thick leaves blocking the sun. But as soon as she turned around, she found Julia marveling at almost everything she saw. A hoothoot flying across the path. A group of metapod clinging to a nearby tree awaiting evolution. A little pond where a rattata was seen drinking out of. The myriad of flowers and plants lining the bushes. Her smile was so wide, it was almost radiant, and her green eyes twinkled like the sunspots dancing on the grass beneath them.
Tiny, sunny yellow buttercups sprung up from the ground, begging for sun, their round foliage open wide for sunlight to enter. Fluffy purple clovers and yellow ox-eye daisies stood guard before one large bush dotted with cotton candy pink roses. Snow white water lilies floated aimlessly on little ponds they walked past, with butterfree dancing on the water, sucking the nectar right out of them.
"Wow! Look at all the pretty flowers!" Julia squealed, kneeling down before some purple campanulas.
"There's lots of them here," Perrine mused, adjusting the strap on her bag. "Ilex Forest is known for having lots of flowers that grow in and out of season," She plucked off one white flower and stuck it behind her ear. The stem tickled the back of her ear, but she didn't mind.
"Look! There's the shrine!" Julia shouted before running off toward a tiny wooden shrine no bigger than she was.
"Julia! Wait up!"
What the girls saw looked more like a tiny wooden temple sculpture than a shrine. Said tiny temple stood tall, being held up by four wooden sticks. A horizontal perch going across the roof, running parallel to it, stood on top of it as though it were made for bird pokemon to perch on. A hoothoot was sitting on it before Julia's presence made it fly away. "Hey, Perrine! Have you ever seen this before?"
Perrine stopped in her tracks. "Yeah, I know what that is. Isn't that the little shrine?"
"Yep!" Julia pulled out an Oran berry and put it on top of the perch. "You know of the legend, right? About how the supposed guardian of the forest lives here?" Her arms stretched out far and wide, like she wanted to hug the sky. "It may not look like much, but it's very important! In fact, this and Ilex Forest are my favorite places of all time!"
"Uhh…" Perrine raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Hmm...I can't explain it, really. But both this shrine and the forest are brimming with life! There's pokemon everywhere! Nobody's touched this place in years, if what Mom and Dad said about it is true. It's practically a pokemon paradise!" Julia explained cheerfully, her voice going up an octave the minute she went on her cheerful palavering.
"That's fine and all, but we're here to find Bugsy, not go sight seeing."
"Hm? Who's that over there?" Julia pointed to a tree nearby.
Sitting on a big branch at least seven feet up was what appeared to be a young boy in his preteens or maybe a little older. He had dark mauve hair going down to his chin, arranged in a neat, tidy style, matching his eyes. He was wearing a green uniform that consisted of a short sleeved shirt, very short shorts, a yellow tie around his collar, white socks with a green stripe going across them, and big brown shoes. Dangling from his belt was a brown leather case, and in his hands was a small notebook. He looked up at a butterfree perched on another tree, vigorously writing something down with a black pen.
"That's him!" Perrine exclaimed. "That's Bugsy, the Azalea gym leader!"
Julia cupped her hands around her mouth before shouting, "Hello up theeeeere!"
No response. She tried again. "We're trainers! Can we battle with yooooou?"
Once again, no response. Julia turned to Perrine. "He does hear us, right?"
"I read that when he studies bug pokemon, everything around him is just white noise to him."
"Excuse me?"
"It means he focuses so much on his studies that he unknowingly ignores everything else around him."
"Ohhhh! I get it!"
All of a sudden, a white light shot out from one of Julia's pokeballs. The light morphed into Tsubasa, who cooed proudly, happy to be out of the pokeball. "Tsubasa?! What the heck?!" Tsubasa suddenly flew up toward Bugsy, who didn't even notice the pidgey flying right up to him.
Julia gasped. She was sure Tsubasa was going to do something that might end up getting Bugsy hurt. What if he fell off the branch? Sure, the tree wasn't too high, but it was certainly high enough that if someone fell, they could get hurt, or at the very most get falling related injuries. Was Tsubasa going to make him fall? "Tsubasa! You come back down here right now, young lady!"
"What's she doing?"
The brown haired girl's hands flew to both sides of her head, not covering her ears. The cheer in her eyes immediately morphed into worry and fear. "I don't know, but I know it can't be good!"
Tsubasa flew right up to Bugsy and swiped the notebook from his hands. "Hey! That's mine!" The mauve haired boy cried, swiping at the naughty pidgey to get his notebook back. Too bad the pidgey descended back to Julia, laughing with the notebook in her beak. Julia grabbed Tsubasa and yanked the notebook out of her beak.
"Tsubasa! We do not steal stuff from other people!" Julia scolded like a stern parent. "That's bad!"
"Coo coo coo coo!" Tsubasa argued like a defiant child, right as Bugsy hopped down from the tree.
"Oh! I'm so sorry! Here's your notebook back!" Julia handed the notebook back to him, and he took it without a word.
"That's okay. Is this your pidgey?" Bugsy asked.
Julia facepalmed. "Yeah. Sorry about that. She's a mischievous little one," Already, she was mentally preparing herself to be berated, just like with that girl she ran into on Route 31. Tsubasa just looked away, not caring about the situation at all. Oddly enough, he just smiled and put his pen and notebook in the case on his belt.
"Don't worry about it. I've dealt with some mischievous pokemon, so I know how you feel," Bugsy explained kindly. Julia let out a sigh of relief before putting Tsubasa back in her pokeball. Something told her that this little pidgey wasn't going to stay in there for long. "Are you two pokemon trainers?"
Perrine took the initiative. "Yes, we are. I'm Perrine, and this is Julia," The latter shyly waved to him with one hand. "We were hoping if we could ask to battle with you in the Azalea gym, if that's okay with you."
"Sure!" Bugsy rubbed his mauve hair with one hand. "I haven't battled in a long time, so this'll be fun!"
"Wait a minute!" Julia suddenly exclaimed out of nowhere. "You're a gym leader? You don't look much older than us!"
As rude as she knew this sounded, she couldn't resist bringing this up. As far as she knew, Falkner looked to be in his late twenties. Bugsy here looked no older than them, so how a young kid like him could be a gym leader was beyond her. She was sure gyms had a lot of baggage for gym leaders to deal with. Money had to be one of them. She was no expert on paying for houses, nor did she know anything about mortgage, but she was sure gym leaders had to use their money to keep their gyms afloat, especially adult gym leaders. Bugsy was a kid.
"Yep!" Bugsy pointed to himself. "I'm thirteen! Azalea gym used to be my mom's, but she left it to me while she's out in the Kanto region. Plus, I passed the gym leader exam!"
Perrine clasped her hands together when they started walking out of the forest. "That's so cool! I hear you're really smart."
"But isn't it hard to take care of a gym?" Julia asked.
"My mom pays for everything. She's more business savvy than I am," Bugsy replied, his face turning red like a tomato.
"How come people call you Bugsy?" Julia asked again. "That doesn't sound like a real name."
A hoothoot fluttered across their path, cooing as it perched onto a tree. A caterpie crawled up a tree in search of a big flower that blossomed on a branch. "My real name's Tsukushi, but since everybody knew I loved bug pokemon, they just started calling me Bugsy. That nickname's stuck with me since kindergarten. I like it, though. It sounds much cooler than my real name," He definitely sounded thirteen, as his high pitched, boyish voice hadn't cracked yet.
Perrine couldn't help but think that Julia seemed a bit too curious. There was nothing wrong with that, but the questions seemed a bit personal, such as his age and his nickname. In her heart, she knew she wasn't asking out of malice or out of intent to pry, just genuine curiosity. If Perrine met someone with a weird name, she was sure she would have asked about it, too. Bugsy didn't seem to mind. In fact, he looked happy to talk about some parts of his life, so Perrine decided to keep quiet. She didn't want Julia to feel bad about wanting to ask questions.
It took a while, but they made it back to Azalea Town. It helped that they weren't very far from the entrance, so it was easy getting back to town. The minute Bugsy stepped onto Azalea soil, he suddenly turned around and exclaimed, "I just had a brilliant beyond brilliant idea!"
Julia tilted her head to one side. "Like what?"
"We should have a double battle!"
The two girls looked at each other. "Double battle?"
"Yeah! You both want to challenge me, so why not do it at the same time?" Bugsy suggested.
Double battles...they had heard of them before. Perrine remembered seeing them on TV when the Johto League was on. There were many different battling styles. Triple battles, rotation battles, inverse battles, there were lots of them. Bugsy did make a good point, and if they both won against him, they would both win badges without having to stay longer. But she knew they hadn't actually practiced having double battles.
"That sounds like a great idea," Julia answered.
"I do have some stuff to do, so any time after five o'clock this evening would be fine. Is that okay?" Bugsy said.
"Sure!" Perrine interrupted. "That'd be great! We can practice double battles during that time!"
With that, the kids ran to the stadium behind the Pokemon Center to practice double battles. It turned out to be a little harder than they thought, as they have to command two pokemon on both sides, and have others defend each other from incoming attacks.
Finally, five o'clock arrived, and true to his word, Bugsy was at the gym. Julia and Perrine walked right inside, finding that the gym looked to be a self-contained jungle. Thick trees and bushes circled the stadium, with pokemon such as caterpie and metapod scuttling about. "Hi, girls! Welcome to the Azalea Gym!" Bugsy leaped off a tree and onto the battlefield gracefully, like he had done it for years.
"Wow! There's so many pokemon in here!" Julia exclaimed. She saw some butterfree and beedrill flying about, silently praying that the beedrill not attack her. Other pokemon popped up from the grass as well, such as a pale green, bipedal praying mantis with long, scythe shaped sickles, a big brown pokemon with two grey crescent shaped horns that had smaller horns dotting them, a big blue beetle, and hairy orange bugs with horns on their heads and oval shaped pink mouths.
Bugsy glanced over to a butterfree and the praying mantis pokemon. "Scyther! Butterfree! Want to battle?"
"Eeee free!"
"Scy-ther!" Both pokemon hopped onto the battlefield.
Julia pulled out her PokeDex to check out scyther's information. "Scyther, the mantis pokemon, and the pre-evolved form of Scizor. Scyther is blindingly fast. Its blazing speed enhances the effectiveness of the twin scythes on its forearms. This Pokémon's scythes are so effective, they can slice through thick logs in one wicked stroke."
"Kitsune! You're up!" Perrine wasted no time getting Kitsune out of her pokeball. The tiny fox let out a battle cry upon being released.
"Alright…" Julia pulled out a pokeball, losing herself in thought. 'Hikaru and Tsubasa are strong against bug types, so I could use them. But Aqua hasn't had much battling experience lately. I think maybe this would be a good time to let her let off some steam,' She thought to herself. With that, she threw her pokeball, and Aqua came right out.
There was no referee, so the battle began right on the spot. "Scyther, use Quick Attack!" Bugsy cried.
"Scytheeeeer!" The green mantis's large wings fluttered so fast, they almost seemed to be completely invisible. The giant bug itself was quite agile, as neither trainer could call an attack before the mantis lunged at poor Aqua, sending her rolling on the ground.
"Kitsune! Use Flamethrower!"
"Vuuuuul!" A stream of fire poured out from Kitsune's mouth.
"Butterfree! Use Whirlwind to blow it away!"
"Freeeeeee!" Bugsy's butterfree flapped its large wings, blowing the flames into nothing. This gave Aqua the chance to get back up.
"Aqua! Use Water Gun on butterfree!" Julia commanded.
"Marill!" Aqua took in a huge breath before shooting a huge water geyser at butterfree, sending the big butterfly rolling in the air. With a flap of its wings, butterfree regained its balance.
"Confuse Ray!"
"Stun Spore!"
Kitsune tried to confuse butterfree, but the big butterfly called forth a big golden cloud of glittering dust. Aqua was quick to use water gun on the cloud so nobody could get paralyzed. But scyther cut through the dust and sliced Kitsune with a fury cutter attack. The attack wound up making Kitsune fall right on top of Aqua, making them lose momentum. But the two pokemon got back up and were ready for more battling. This time, Aqua cutely wagged her tail to distract the two, giving Kitsune a chance to use flamethrower on the two of them.
It was super effective, as they came out of the flames with their skin covered in black burns. But the flames weren't enough to completely knock them out. Butterfree managed to use Stun Spore on Aqua, leaving her paralyzed. "Aqua, no!" Aqua's body became almost completely numb, and her muscles tightened up if she so much as tried to stand up. Her stubby arms and legs felt heavy, like someone had put rocks in them.
"Bug types are good with moves that hinder their opponents," Bugsy said, crossing his arms. "You girls are pretty good if you managed to get this far," He flashed an unflinching smile. "But don't think I'll go easy on you!"
"We never asked you to!" Perrine shouted.
"Aqua! Use Tackle!"
Aqua tried to tackle the scyther, but she tripped on the way down. Bugsy wasted no time commanding scyther to use Fury Cutter on her. Before long, Aqua was completely unable to move, which meant she was out of commission. Julia ran over to Aqua and handed her a Cheri berry to eat. "Sorry about that, Aqua. Are you okay?"
"Marill…" The blue mouse croaked weakly.
Julia put Aqua back in her pokeball. "It's okay. You did great," Right then and there, Tsubasa came out of her pokeball again. Oddly enough, Julia didn't find herself exasperated this time. "Do you want to battle?"
"Coo coo!" Tsubasa flapped her wings vigorously. Julia could see the determination in her eyes.
With that, the battle resumed. "Tsubasa! Use Wing Attack on scyther!"
"Quick Attack!"
Tsubasa's small wings glowed in a harsh white light as scyther lunged at the tiny bird. This time, the two pokemon collided. Tsubasa's wing managed to scrape one of scyther's wings, leaving it sitting on its knees. Perrine made Kitsune use extrasensory on butterfree. This time, butterfree couldn't escape being caught in a purple light and thrown to the battlefield at least three times. The butterfly tried to get back up, but its tiny body was too battered from the battle. With that, it laid on the ground.
Bugsy put butterfree back in it's pokeball. "I'm impressed with you girls. You only just started learning about double battles, but you managed to beat one of my pokemon. You two exhibit great teamwork."
Although she liked the compliment, Julia looked down at her feet with a hand on her arm. They had only just met, so she was sure it was only dumb luck that they were winning. That, or Perrine had more experience with battles than she did since she dreams of winning the Pokemon League. But he did have a point. They had beaten one of his pokemon, so they had to be getting somewhere.
Perrine spoke first. "It's not over yet! Kitsune, use Confuse Ray!"
Two balls of glowing yellow light appeared from Kitsune's eyes, floating over to scyther. They would have confused it, had Bugsy not told scyther to fly away from it as fast as it could. Even though the green mantis was large in size, it flew faster than either smaller pokemon could see. Its wings made a distinct buzzing sound when it flew.
"Swords Dance, Scyther!" Scyther spun around in a circle, moving so fast it resembled a tornado.
Tornado...a light bulb lit up in Julia's head. She whispered it into Perrine's ear. The orange haired girl listened and nodded. Before long, the two girls adopted battle stances. "Kitsune! Use Flamethrower as its spinning!"
"Vuuuul!" Before scyther could stop spinning, Kitsune spat forth a torrent of blazing red flames that consumed scyther from the bottom up. Soon, scyther was trapped in a fiery twister. Even Bugsy couldn't prevent the ungraceful dropping of his jaw, his eyes wide with shock. The heat was intense, and Bugsy had to back away two steps.
"Scyther! Get out of there!" Bugsy yelled, praying that his scyther was alright. After a while, the flaming tornado dissipated, and scyther came out, but its entire body was covered with black burns, wings and sickles included. With heavy pants and gasps, it tried to walk over to Kitsune and Tsubasa, holding its sickles up. But one of its legs gave out.
"Tsubasa! Finish it off with Wing Attack!"
"Ram into it, Kitsune!"
Both Tsubasa and Kitsune rammed their bodies against scyther, finally knocking it out. There was an eerie silence. Scyther didn't stand back up at all. With a frown, Bugsy called scyther back into its PokeBall. "I guess I lost. Durn."
"WE WON!" Julia found a huge mass glomping her to the point of almost knocking her off her feet. It was a jovial Perrine, who wrapped her arms around Julia and was hugging her tightly. Her warm cheek nuzzled right up against Julia's peach fuzz and all. Normally, Julia would recoil at someone she didn't know touching or hugging her. She wanted to get to know them before letting them touch her, but she knew Perrine long enough to let her hug her. Perrine was nice, and this was a reason to celebrate.
"We...we really did it!" Julia cheered, wrapping her own arms around her friend. The two girls jumped up and down like fangirls at a concert. Even Tsubasa and Kitsune got in on it. Tsubasa was cooing like crazy, dancing and flapping her wings, whereas Kitsune just jumped up and down, her curly orange tails bobbing right along with her.
The mauve haired boy scratched his hair, giving them a congratulatory grin, even though his eyebrows were furrowed, making him give off a somewhat sad expression. 'They must be real good friends,' He thought to himself. The radiant joy on their faces was unmistakable. Oh well. A loss is a loss, after all. He put his hand in one pocket and walked over to the girls, who, at this point, finally calmed down.
"That was a great battle," Bugsy told them kindly. "You were amazing."
"We're sorry we hurt your pokemon!" Julia bowed before him apologetically. Perrine found herself aghast. Julia was apologizing after a battle? This was the first time she had ever seen someone do that. Then again, Perrine was a girl who didn't hate pokemon battles, finding them to be commonplace, like any other trainer. This showed her that Julia was far kinder and empathic than she assumed. No, Julia had always been kind and empathic, toward people and pokemon. The kindness she showed her during their encounter in Union Cave only solidified that.
"Jule! You don't need to apologize!" Perrine exclaimed.
"She's right. You two won fair and square. Your strength and the faith you had in your pokemon helped you win," Bugsy said. He pulled his fist out, opening his hand up. In his hand were two red and black badges, with the red part covered with some black dots, making them resemble ladybugs. "Henceforth, here are your Hive Badges."
Perrine wasted no time taking hers, whereas Julia just gently took it after a few seconds. "Thanks so much, Bugsy!" Perrine exclaimed.
"Yeah. Thanks. Will your pokemon be okay?" Julia said, putting her badge away.
"It's nothing a trip to the Pokemon Center won't fix," Bugsy replied. "I'm glad we got to battle. I guess this means I still have a lot to learn."
"Do people still call you the Walking Bug Pokemon Encyclopedia?" Perrine asked.
Bugsy burst into laughter. "Yep! They still do!"
"Huuuuh?" Julia gave them both a quizzical look. "People call you that?"
The two girls spent one last night at the Pokemon Center before leaving. It was late, and their pokemon were tired, so they figured it'd be best to get a good night's sleep before heading into the forest. When morning came, the girls headed straight into Ilex Forest. Despite the morning light passing through the trees and the milky sunspots dancing on the grass, the trees were still very thick. It was a wonder any sunlight even managed to come through.
"I wonder why this is called Ilex Forest?" Julia asked herself. Hikaru sat on her shoulder, her body glowing in a soft light so as to light the way. "Why didn't they just call it Azalea Forest? I mean, there's so many flowers here, azaleas included."
"Pichuuu…"
The soft cooing of a hoothoot echoed in the distance. "I read about that!" Perrine began, holding up one index finger. "Ilex is actually the genus name for holly. During the summer, there's lots of holly plants. I hear that people thought about naming it Holly Forest, but decided Ilex Forest had a better ring to it."
"Ohhhh. So that's why!" A grin curled onto Julia's face. To Julia, new knowledge was always good.
It was here that an orange bug pokemon came scuttling across their path. Said pokemon was slightly bigger than Hikaru, with large claws longer than its face digging into the grass. Round eyes scoured the dirt beneath it, and two red mushrooms with yellow dots on them grew from its back. Perrine's blue eyes glimmered at the sight of the orange pokemon.
"A Paras!" She cried sweetly. "How cute!"
Julia pulled out her PokeDex and pointed it at the orange bug. "Paras, the mushroom pokemon. Paras has parasitic mushrooms growing on its back called tochukaso. They grow large by drawing nutrients from this their hosts. They are highly valued as a medicine for extending life." A blue male sign appeared at the corner of the PokeDex.
"They're cute, but not my favorite," Julia mused to herself.
"Pichu…"
"Well, I'm catching it!" Perrine pulled out a pokeball and threw it. "Fukuro! Go and use Peck on Paras!"
"Hoothoot!" Once Fukuro materialized, he flitted over to the unsuspecting paras and pecked on its claws repeatedly. The paras tried to run away, with its buggy legs carrying its weight, but the bird pokemon wasn't going to relent. It slashed its claws back and forth in an attempt to scratch Fukuro, but the hoothoot dodged every attack by flying upward. With a final peck, it knocked paras to the grass.
"Pokeball, go!" Perrine swung her arm out, with the pokeball escaping her grasp. Fukuro hopped out of the way, allowing the pokeball to hit the paras. Once paras went inside, the pokeball wobbled left and right, with the center blinking in a red light. Perrine crossed her fingers, keeping her eyes on the pokeball. Finally, after what seemed to be an agonizing few seconds, the pokeball stopped moving.
"Yay! I caught a paras!" She picked the pokeball up and spun around. "I'm gonna call it Mushi!"
"That one's a boy, just so you know," Julia added.
Since Perrine already had six pokemon, Mushi's pokeball disappeared to lord knows where. Oddly enough, Perrine didn't seem worried about it. Julia assumed she knew where her pokeball disappeared to. With that, the two girls continued onward. Although the forest seemed like a straight road, everything about it would seem creepy to the normal person. Rows of seemingly endless trees lined the path, their thick leaves blocking out almost all sunlight. Pokemon scuttled about. Some beedrill flew right by, and Julia screamed a little before hiding behind Perrine, right as they appeared.
"Yeek!"
The girls weren't sure how long they walked. Julia's feet began to hurt. Her shoes felt rather snug, like they had suddenly become tight around her feet. Her legs burned, and she could feel the weight shifting to the back of her legs with every step she walked. She didn't dare complain, as she didn't want to annoy Perrine. Sometimes, Hikaru would hop off of Julia's shoulder and walk alongside her. Finally, they saw some big rocks and sat down.
"Whew! My feet are starting to hurt," Julia pulled out some pokemon food and poured it all into two big bowls. She let her pokemon out and they happily munched it all down. Julia clutched the egg in her hands, making sure it didn't fall out of the container.
Perrine had pulled out a granola bar and ate off a piece, noting that Julia didn't have any food for herself. "Aren't you gonna eat?" She asked.
"No. I'm good," Julia waved one of her hands back and forth, brushing off her concerns. "It's okay! My pokemon are probably hungrier than I am. Besides, I can deal with-"
Her stomach begged to differ with a thunder-like rumble. Perrine managed to stop herself from laughing by holding a hand to her mouth. "Well, your stomach is saying otherwise. Here," Perrine rummaged through her bag and pulled out two bananas. "I overheard you say you like bananas, so I brought some with me just in case."
"Is...that okay?"
"Sure!"
"Wow. Thanks," Julia took them both and scarfed them down. She wished there was a trash can nearby so she could throw away the peels. It'd be wrong to just leave them here.
"It's good that you love your pokemon, but it's just as important to take care of yourself," Perrine explained.
No trash cans were present, so Julia had no choice but to leave the banana peels at the rocks. Julia hated littering, even if she did occasionally leave little bits of trash around the house sometimes. Thankfully, some caterpie appeared and ate the banana peels happily, so that helped alleviate her anxiety about littering. Without complaint, the girls continued their trek through the forest. Soon, there were no sunspots dancing on the grass anymore. It had become completely dark. Julia clutched her bag strap tightly.
"Whelp. It looks like we're gonna have to sleep outside tonight," Perrine sat down and pulled out a large, orange sleeping bag that was big enough to hold two people at most.
Julia froze. "S-S-S-Sleep outside?" Shivering, she found herself lost in her thoughts. As much as she liked Ilex Forest, she was fully aware of the dangers of sleeping outside in the open. She had seen enough shows on TV to know that sleeping in a forest wasn't like sleeping at home.
"Yeah. It's too dark to go on," Perrine told her as she rolled out her sleeping bag. "It's ten thirty already. We'll get lost if we grope around in the dark."
"I...I...I don't know…"
"Do you have a sleeping bag with you?"
The frightened girl shook her head vigorously. Perrine silently facepalmed. She couldn't believe it. Julia didn't buy or bring a sleeping bag with her. "I take it you've never slept outside before, have you?"
"No…" Julia groaned. She chastised herself for not buying a sleeping bag beforehand, and for making Perrine deal with her apprehensiveness. "I...I'm scared to sleep outside."
Perrine held her exasperation inside, knowing complaining wouldn't do any good. "How come?"
"Because what if some vicious pokemon pop up and try to kill us?!" Julia yelped.
Perrine rummaged through her bag once more, pulling out a grey spray can. She sprayed the area around the sleeping bag in a circle. "That's why I bought repels, so no wild pokemon can attack us."
"What if night prowlers or creepy guys come and kidnap us?!"
"You can have your pokemon sleep right beside you," Perrine told her matter-of-factly. "Pokemon have better hearing than we do, so if there's trouble, they're the first to let us know beforehand."
Some of her anxiety left, but some still remained. Julia still didn't want to sleep outside. It seemed too risky. But most of all, she preferred the safety of a solid building, the warmth of soft, fluffy comforters, tucked away in a bedroom with doors and windows sealed shut. Sleeping in a forest meant exposing herself to danger and the wilderness. She hated feeling so rigid, so inflexible. She knew she was going to have to deal with this sometime, but didn't want to think about it. But Perrine did make good points. Perrine pulled out an electric lantern and turned it on.
"This is nice and bright," She set it down right above the sleeping bag, just a foot away from their heads. "It'll keep pokemon and people away. If you want, you can sleep in here with me if you want."
"Is...is that okay? I mean…" Julia stammered shyly. "I've never slept with anyone before…"
"That's fine," Perrine gently put a hand on Julia's shoulder. "Sorry about this. You're probably used to sleeping in a bed. I get that, and that's okay. This is your first time doing this, so I'm not mad. When I first slept outside, I was scared and didn't even have a sleeping bag or any of this stuff."
Julia looked up, her green eyes wide. "Really?"
"Yep. But Kitsune was with me, and I managed to survive. You don't have to do anything you don't want to, but sometimes we may have to do things we don't want to in order to get what we want," Perrine answered calmly.
She was right. Julia kept telling herself that this journey would be hard. There had to be things she didn't want to do but had to endure in order to move forward. This was one of them. With a solemn nod, she let all of her pokemon out. She changed into her pajamas behind a tree, as she didn't want Perrine looking. She hated undressing in front of others. Ladybug slept on top of their sleeping bag, and the two girls found themselves stuffed inside. They were so close together that their skin almost touched. Neji curled right around the girls' heads, putting himself between them and the brightly lit lantern.
Already, Julia felt trapped. Her body felt trapped inside an alien container, begging for air. She kept tossing and turning. Sometimes she would unknowingly kick Perrine's legs, or put her hands on her face. It didn't help that she would shiver upon hearing the wings of beedrill echoing in the air, or hoothoot crying in the trees.
"Ow! Julia, you just kicked me!"
"Sorry!"
"Your hand's on my face."
"Oww! You just rolled on my arm!"
"Sorry. This sleeping bag is not big enough for two people, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't talk in your sleep."
"You scratched my ear!"
Yellow sun spots danced along their faces, waking them from their sleep. Once they had Perrine's premade breakfast, which was mostly cold leftovers from last night's dinner, they went back to walking forward. But purple bags tugged at the bottom of their eyes, making them feel heavy. Their bodies felt sore, like someone had stuffed piles of rocks in them.
"We are never sleeping together in the same sleeping bag ever again," Perrine groaned.
"I knew this would happen...sorry…" Julia groaned.
Right then and there, a small pokemon leaped out of the grass. It was a small, round, blue pokemon with five big green leaves swaying back and forth on its head. The only body features it had were a mouth, small red eyes, and two small feet. Seeing this cute, tiny pokemon made Julia become alert and wide awake with delight. "Awwww! An oddish! How cute!" She pulled out her PokeDex and aimed it right at the oddish.
"Oddish, the weed pokemon. Oddish often plants its root feet in the ground during the day and sows seeds as it walks about at night, although they can be active during the day if they want to. Its scientific name is "Oddium Wanderus." At night, it is said to walk nearly 1,000 feet on its two roots," A female sign appeared. Julia pulled out her pokeball.
"Odd odd oddish…" The little oddish walked around aimlessly, watching everything around it.
"I am SO going to catch it!"
Perrine raised an eyebrow. "But oddish is part poison type. Aren't you afraid of poison types?"
"I liked oddish before I became afraid of poison types, plus they're nice, so I'm not scared of oddish," Right as she said that, Tsubasa popped right out of her pokeball, slamming the poor, hapless oddish into a nearby tree with a Wing Attack.
"Odd!" The little oddish cried as it fell to the ground.
Tsubasa put her wings on her hips and laughed loudly. "Coo coo coooo!"
Julia facepalmed. "Tsubasa! Would it kill you to wait so I could give you a command?!"
"Is...your pidgey always like this?"
"Yes."
Tsubasa turned to face Julia and yelled, "Coo coo coo coo!" ("You want to catch this oddish, right?!")
"You have a point. Okay then," Julia threw her pokeball at the oddish. As usual, the pokeball wobbled around and the red light blinked, then the light disappeared. Fastest capture ever. Julia picked the pokeball up and nuzzled it with a warm smile. "Yay! I caught an oddish! I'm gonna name her Blossom!"
The sound of clapping hands pulled the girls out of their victory. They looked up to find themselves speechless. A woman in a purple kimono stood before them, clapping her hands with a soft smile on her face. She looked a lot like Zuki, only her kimono was a light lilac color with reddish purple pokeball patterns on her sleeves, with a darker purple and red obi wrapped around her waist. She had everything else that Zuki had: black hair tied in Mt. Silver style with gold barrettes, geta sandals, and pasty skin.
"You trainers are quite skilled at catching pokemon," The lady in the purple kimono told them in a low but kind voice. Julia could tell it didn't sound much like Zuki's at all. It sounded lower pitched, almost husky, even.
Julia waved her hand back and forth modestly. "No no. It was my pidgey here that did the work, so you're better off giving her the credit," Tsubasa folded her wings and stuck out her chest, begging for somebody to praise her.
"Wow! Oh my gosh!" Perrine suddenly ran up to the woman and shook her hand. "You're Naoko, one of the Ecruteak Kimono Girls! I'm a huge fan! It's suuuuuch an honor to meet you!" Naoko's eyes widened upon seeing this girl shake her hand so roughly, but a smile spread across her face.
"I'm flattered by your kindness, young lady," Naoko told them.
"I watch tapes of your performances all the time! A couple times Mom even took me to your shows! You're amazing!" Perrine shouted.
"You...know this woman?" Julia asked.
Perrine gasped, like she heard Julia say that she murdered someone. "You don't know about the Kimono Girls?!" She shouted loud enough for Julia to cover her ears. Tsubasa simply fluttered onto the girl's shoulder. "They're, like, the most well known female dance group in all of the Johto region! The world, even! They dance and perform plays and even sing a little! There's even an urban legend that they're supposedly descended from the God of all pokemon, Arceus!"
Everything else sounded plausible to her except the last part. Julia gave the excited Perrine a quizzical look. "That last one cannot be true and you know it."
Naoko found herself giggling. "Yes. I'm afraid that last part is just a rumor, nothing more."
"So...exactly what are you doing here?" Perrine asked once she calmed down.
"I actually came here to catch some pokemon," Naoko explained. "But it seems I wandered in too far, and now I'm lost."
Julia pulled out her PokeGear, scrolling through the map feature. Ilex Forest showed up on the app, and she zoomed in. A flashing green light showed that she was just a ways away from what appeared to be a black line. "Hey! It says here that we're almost at the end of the forest!"
"Ohhh! Thank Arceus!" Perrine stretched her arms out before turning to Naoko. "Hey! Here's an idea! Since we're almost out, want to travel along with us?"
The woman smiled gratefully, bowing in gratitude. "I would be honored to accompany you."