Day 10

Warm and sunny

Current mood: estatic!

Current location: Flowender Town

Dear Diary:

Finally! Civilization!

We arrived in a little town called Flowender this morning, (so named because of all its pretty gardens) and apparently I'm not the only one glad to see a town after all this time. Misty wanted to go look around, and Brock was excited about courting a pretty girl or two...so he promptly set up shop in the town square with his guitar, his great voice, and a cup marked 'TIPS'. Last time I checked, he had about 150 credits' worth of tips.

Meanwhile, Ash, Misty, and I decided to check out the games and shows...it looks like the annual Pokemon Exhibition is going on; and I certainly saw my fair share of cool Pokemon today! There were Flareon jumping through hoops, Oddish balancing on Electrodes, Primeapes showing off their kicks and punches, an Alakazam telling fortunes...but the best act of all, I think, was a pair of Bellossom--and they were hula dancing to Brock's island song. (considering that the stage was on the edge of the square, they could hear him very well.)

Suddenly, one of the Bellossoms tripped in the middle of a loop step and fell off the stage--Ash caught her in the nick of time! She was okay, save for a few squished petals.

The trainer, a girl named Bailey, was relieved that Bella (the Bellossom that Ash rescued) was all right...Ash just smiled and said it was nothing--and about then, Brock stopped playing long enough to enter "crazy romantic" mode about Bailey...but Misty gave him a HUGE tip just to keep playing and singing!

Bailey explained that she wanted her Bellossom to win first prize in the Exhibition's Music and Dance division, but Bella always misses the loop step when they get to that part.

Ash and I offered to help Bella out--so what Ash did was write a new routine for the Bellossom to do that included the loop step, but was still easy for them to do, and then we talked them through it. Bella's getting the hang of it, but is still having trouble on the loop step.

If you want to know how it goes, here's the calls Ash wrote for it and the steps you do with it:

First part:

First your left, (touch your left toe to the floor and step to the left)

And then your right, (touch your right toe to the floor and step to the right)

Now, one step back, (take two steps backwards)

and two steps forward.... (take two steps forwards)

Now, your right, (touch your right toe to the floor and step to the right)

And then your left, (touch your left toe to the floor and step to the left)

Take two steps back, (take two steps backwards)

and toe, now. (touch your heel, then your toe, to the floor)

After you do this part twice, then comes the second part:

Kick your heels nice and tall, (do some kicking)

Turn all around until you're dizzy, (the loop step, basically turn around four times to make a loop)

We'll be dancing all day long, (take two steps back and turn)

Toe, and we shall repeat, now. (touch your toe to the floor and turn back to your starting position)

Kick your heels nice and tall, (do some kicking)

Turn all around until you're dizzy, (the loop step, basically turn around four times to make a loop)

We'll be dancing all day long, (take two steps back and turn)

Toe, and we shall repeat, now.. (touch your toe to the floor and turn back to your starting position for the first part)

Easy, huh? I'm having fun teaching the Bellossom to do it...Ash is calling the dance for me, so I better wrap this up and keep rehearsing for tomorrow's performance. First your left, and then your right....

Dancing on until tomorrow,

Pikachu

Day 11

Warm and sunny

Current mood: joyful

Current location: Just outside of Flowender Town

Dear Diary:

What a day! The people really liked our dance, and I had fun doing it for them too! On that note, I'll write about it here, just to relive the excitement and adventure!

We woke up early this morning to practice the dance--which I had to teach to Misty, Brock, and Togepi. They thought it was a good dance--and Brock promised me a surprise if I did well in the performance. I didn't have time to ponder what the surprise could be, though, because we were called to the stage soon after that.

At first, the stage was perfectly normal...but when I saw that the Pokemon were being tied up in a huge net, I immediately noticed that something was up--Team Rocket was there, trying to ruin the show before we even got started!

So, Heracross launched me onto their Meowth balloon, allowing me to pop it (again) and free the Pokemon! Team Rocket wasn't too happy about this, so they summoned Arbok and Victreebel to duel us! Ash decided to call our dance and let me try dancing to defeat them. If you want to know how that worked, here's what happened:

Arbok tried to Poison Sting me, but as soon as Ash called "Take two steps back," he ended up stinging the floor instead! Victreebel tried a Take Down attack, but no sooner did Ash call "Kick your heels nice and tall" did he receive a face full of feet--I kicked him four times in sync with the music. By this time, Arbok and Victreebel were more than a little angry, so they both sprung at me! Thankfully, I just "Turned all around until you're dizzy" out of the way, making them crash!

Misty and the others decided to help Ash call the dance--before they could call another step to me, Victreebel had me all wrapped up, and Arbok was about to Vine Whip me...at least until Bailey called "Turn all around until you're dizzy!" to the Bellossom. Amazingly, Bella got the loop step right, breaking me free!

Brock made the perfect call to summarize what happened next--"And Team Rocket's blasting off, now!" We combined our power and sent them flying!

The other trainers were so happy, and the judge gave us the first prize medallion--and as thanks, we did our dance for the crowd, and they LOVED it!

What was Brock's surprise, you ask? A harmonica! Now, I can learn to play the song we danced to, plus all of our campfire songs, and many more songs...but I can't actually play anything decent just yet...but when I do play it, I think of Bailey and her Bellossom...I'm going to miss them so much...

Well, I have some time before lights out, so I think I'm going to practice on my harmonica for a while...

Until tomorrow,

Pikachu

Day 12

Sunny

Current mood: happy

Current location: Just outside Cattalia City

Dear Diary:

We arrived in Cattalia City yesterday morning...and the first thing we noticed was there were police cars everywhere! Thinking that Officer Jenny was in one of them, Brock led us down the street, all the while singing My uniformed beauty is simply the best! She's got my heart under house arrest! We got more than enough weird looks as we raced by.

In his zeal to find Officer Jenny, Brock wound up getting caught in a Spinarak web...we tried getting him out, only to get ourselves caught in it! I have to feel sorry for Misty though--she was the first one to discover that the Spinarak was home!

Thankfully, Officer Jenny came and clipped us out of the web. She thought we were apprentices to the Black Arachnid, a master thief that terrorized Cattalia many years ago--her ancestors caught him by way of a Spinarak, so that's why the force uses Spinarak instead of the traditional Growlithe.

Later that afternoon, the Cattalia mayor told us that the Black Arachnid was coming to steal the town's prized trophy--the Golden Spinarak--at midnight. It sounded fishy to me, but Ash told me that they were taking it very seriously--so we were going to catch Mr. Black Arachnid right in the act!

That night, we all set up guard at the mayor's house. Since everyone else took the best spots for a lookout point, I stayed with Ash and practiced my harmonica for a while-- both to pass the time waiting for midnight, and to keep Ash awake. It wasn't a total loss, though--I figured out how to play "Sunset Farewell", the ending theme to Misty's favorite movie, while we waited...Brock helped by adding in the yodels you hear over the harmonica part...it was nice hearing the Oooh-doo-ooh-ooh-do-ei-di... complimenting my song.

Midnight came and went without incident, but just as we were about to give up, Team Rocket arrived and snatched the trophy! It turned out that they were planning to steal the trophy all along under the guise of the Black Arachnid. Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Charizard, and the Spinarak combined their power to bring Team Rocket down, buying me time to give them their just desserts: a nice big Thunderbolt! That should teach them a good lesson...but knowing them, they're not the type that gives up easily.

So here we are in camp...we all took a nap to refresh us from staying up late last night...but I'm feeling a bit groggy, and Togepi looks cold, so I'll sleep with him and keep him warm tonight.

Until tomorrow,

Pikachu