Chapter 3- Partners
"Linda?"
"grnmmrshmrm"
"Linda? Hello? Anyone there?"
Linda gently opened her eyes, finding herself looking straight at Nurse Joy, the one who helped her with Belle.
"Nurse Joy? What happened? Where am I? What time is it?"
"Well, you, a Pokemon, and thirty-one other people just passed out in the middle of the street about 6 and a half hours ago. Belle was sitting in the middle of it all. You're in the Pokemon Center now and it is 5:00"
Linda's memory was returning. "Oh, the sweet scent."
"Yes, I could tell from the clothes. But not just any Sweet Scent. You see, Belle has this special ability. I've seen it one or two times before, but never here in Johto. You are very lucky."
Linda looked at her blankly. "Ability?"
"Yes. You see, when a grass Pokemon such as Belle learns moves such as Poison Powder and Sweet Scent, the special powders for these moves are stored in the Pokemon's body. Belle has this ability called Spore Blend, which is very rare. It mixes up two or more powders, and blends them into one.
"So that's why when I used Sleep Powder on that Torchic, it fainted so quickly from Horsea. It was asleep and poisoned."
"Probably paralyzed and stunned by the sweet scent as well."
"Wow, that's amazing. Wait- what time is it?"
"Five"
"Oh no! I'm going to be late for the opening ceremony!"
Joy smiled. "Well, your Oddish is in the Lobby. I took the liberty of healing it and your Horsea."
"Oh, thanks Nurse Joy! Well, I'll go get them now."
Linda quickly got up, picked up her backpack and walked out of the room. She went to the front desk of the lobby and saw Belle there.
"Oddish Odd!"
"Hey there, Belle. What's that you got there?" Belle handed Linda a Pokeball. "Oh that must be Horsea! Well good, that's everyone, better get going now."
She quickly ran to the edge of the city, then ran across the port and jumped on the boat.
Phew, finally I made it to the Stadium Linda thought. She ran for a long time looking for it, but she found it. She was standing at the NE entrance, with 15 other kids, ranging between 11 and 18. At the head of the line was a huge security guard.
"Hey you! You're Oddish needs to be in a Pokeball."
"But, she's-"
"I don't care! Just do it!"
Linda thought for a moment. "Hey I know! Here Belle." Linda opened her knapsack. Belle immediately understood and hopped in. "I'll get you out of there as soon as possible, ok?"
"Oddish Odd!" said Belle cheerfully.
After about 3 minutes, the line walked in. Linda could see Jorie walking in from the NW entrance. She turned and saw Linda, gave her a sneer and looked forward again. Linda sighed Hopefully, I am NOT partners with her.
The ceremony began, all four lines now lined up in four columns in the middle of the stadium. There was a stage in front of them.
An old man walked on stage. "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Blossom Tournament!"
The crowd and trainers around Linda erupted in cheering, including, to Linda's surprise, Jorie. The man continued. "We hold this tournament every year to commemorate the beautiful blossoms of Cherrygrove City's cherry trees. Well without further ado, let's begin the ceremonies!"
Oh blah, blah, blah thought Linda impatiently. Let's get to the point here.
After the man (who turned out to be Cherrygrove City's mayor and founder of the tournament) finished his speech, all the trainers walked up on stage and sat down.
The festivities began. There were acrobats, dancers, singers, Pokemon tricks, and best of all, FOOD! Linda dug in as all the food was brought to her and the other trainers. She even was able to sneak a few things to Belle. Man, this is a WAY bigger deal than I thought.
After the ceremony, the trainers were taken back in their lines out of the stadium, into a large building. Inside was a large room with four red carpets, where the four lines of trainers stood. At the back of the room was the box of registration forms Linda saw the men from that morning holding.
A tall, black haired woman was at a small wood podium near the box. "Hello, trainers and welcome to the Blossom Tournament. I'm here to introduce your partners, and then show you to the dorms. Okay, here we go." Her voice was kind of strict and firm.
She kept reading the names out loud. This is taking forever thought Linda. She was tired from eating so much food at the ceremony, and wanted to go to bed.
"Robert Landing and Winthrop McGilligan
Alexis Hess and Herman Smith
Matt Raleigh and Linda Stevenson
Jorie Morrison and Taylor Bone"
Linda had blanked out her voice so much that she didn't notice until Jorie hit her as she walked by, as if saying Hello? What the hell are you doing? Linda quickly walked behind the other seven people who were called. She lined up with a tall boy about her age with shiny brown hair that went to his eyebrows in the front in spiky bangs. He had a remarkably sparkling blue in his eyes. He wore a cerulean colored blue T-shirt over a turquoise long sleeve shirt with the sleeves rolled up a bit. He had on cargo pants, black fingerless gloves and cargo pants with black trainers. He wore a shiny silver ring on a short twiny string around his neck.
"Now, I'm going to make sure you are who you say. This is for security reasons. Okay, lets start with you two." She went down the people until she came to Linda. "Okay, what's your name?"
"Linda Stevenson"
"How old are you?"
"Fourteen"
"How tall are you?"
"Five foot Five"
"Which Pokemon are you using?"
"Horsea and Oddish"
"Ah yes… the girl who made the whole crowd pass out this morning, yes?"
Linda turned bright red, "Ye…yeah" How does everyone know about that? The boy next to Linda tried to hide a chuckle and Jorie smirked at her.
"Okay, you're good. Okay, what's your name?" she turned to the boy.
"Matt Raleigh" he said
"How old are you?"
"Almost fifteen"
"So fourteen?" she snapped a bit sarcastically.
The boy, Matt, turned pink a bit, feeling like he said something stupid. "Yeah."
"How tall are you?"
"About five ten"
"Which Pokemon did you choose?"
"Eevee and Mareep."
"Okay, next. What's your name?"
Matt sighed with relief. She scares me, he mouthed to Linda, smiling.
Linda giggled. Me too she mouthed back.
Eventually, everyone had met their partners and were shown to their rooms. The woman led the eight from before down the path of doors. Her and Matt were room 22.
"Well here we are. The rooms are very clean and nice, so try not to get them dirty. There are two bathrooms, a kitchen and a living room."
Linda looked around. Pretty nice facilities, they got here. This tournament really is big.
"Oh" the woman said "There's only one bedroom, but the couch pulls out into a bed." She started walking out then turned one final look at Matt and Linda. "If you need it." With that she closed the door.
Matt let out a big sigh. "Oh, thank god she's gone. She's kinda creepy."
Linda laughed. "Kinda?"
Matt laughed with her. "I wonder what she meant by 'if we need it.' We just met, we're not gonna sleep in the same bed."
Linda nodded. "Well, we should unpack now. We have a big day tomorr-" she stopped. "Crap! I forgot about Belle!"
Matt looked at her blankly. "Who's Belle?"
Linda quickly unzipped her knapsack.
"Odd…" Belle looked tired.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Linda hugged Belle tight. Belle didn't seem to be bothered though, so Linda put her down.
Matt still looked confused. "Does she not like Pokeballs?"
"She's kinda… claustrophobic. You see, a girl from my town, Jorie, buried this poor little thing in the ground, with only its grass-head poking out! So needless to say, enclosed spaces bug her."
"Wow, that's awful! What a jerk," said Matt. "Well, let me introduce you to my Pokemon!" Matt pulled out two Pokeballs from his pocket. "Go Sadie! Go Mareep!"
A groomed Eevee popped out and a happy looking Mareep appeared next to her. Sadie and Belle made friends quickly, then went to sleep on a large chair in the living room. Mareep soon joined them. Linda sent out Horsea and soon, he joined the other three.
"Well, let's go unpack" said Linda.
Matt nodded. "You can have the bedroom; I'll take the pullout bed."
"Wow, are you sure?"
"Oh, it's no problem."
"Oh, how sweet. Thanks!"
"Your welcome."
Linda walked in and looked around at the bedroom. There was a queen bed with red hearts on the bedspread. On the wall above the bed were the letters L O V E in polished brass. Normally, Linda would have raised an eyebrow, but she only had enough energy to unpack her clothes, lie down and go to sleep.
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In Chapter 4- Linda and Matt discover strange hints that seem to be popping up all over the place and they have their first match.
