Author's Note: Hiya! Thanks for the reviews and characters! I've decided to make this fic my main priority (for now anyway). It's easier to handle one at a time. When I'm done this one I'll start Saddy up again (unless I get a massive urge of inspiration). Anyway, your characters will probably show up soon.
Now for your guesses about which (type of) Pokemon Nell would get. I'm sorry to say that they were wrong. I had actually considered them both, but I figured the way I'm about to write it will work in the sense that Nell will eventually regret her decision from the previous chapter. Anywho that was a long AN, now on to the chapter!
If, for any new people reading this, you want a character in this fic, just give me a basic profile and any Pokemon the character might have.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything Pokemon related. I do own my characters and the Lochbay region.
Chapter Two: Saying Goodbye
Nell, who had her eyes closed, heard nothing from Merick, who was no longer beside her. He had taken two steps forward.
"Oh…my…Nell, open your eyes!"
The girl complied, and gasped.
"What!"
In front of her stood a blue blob with a green lily pad on its head. The Pokemon looked up at its new trainer, its eyes unfocused. In all truth, Nell thought it looked intellectually challenged. She voiced this opinion and received no reply from Merick.
Merick was shocked. Staring down at the red dog in front of him, he couldn't believe what was happening to him.
"I have shamed my family!" He shouted.
Nell whipped her head toward him and stared. "What? Why-" She looked down at the Pokemon in front of him. "Aww! Cute! It's a…oh now I see why your saying that! I'm sure they'll understand! I mean, you can't change the test results!"
"There must be a mistake…I need to go talk to Professor Nariko…" Merick muttered, turning his back to Nell.
"Oh no you don't buster! If you don't want the Pokemon then I'll trade you! At least yours looks like it has a brain! Why you got a Growlithe, I don't know." Nell took out her yellow pokedex and pointed it at the dog.
"Growlithe, the Puppy Pokemon. It has a brave and trustworthy nature. However, it is very protective of its territory, and will bark and bite to repel intruders from its space."
Before pointing the gadget at her own Pokemon, Nell murmured, "Brave my butt." Merick heard her though and turned back around.
"Lotad, the water weed Pokemon. It floats upon clean water ponds. Sometimes it will ferry small Pokemon across ponds by carrying them on the broad leaf on its head."
"Like you would even know how I feel right now! You know perfectly well how serious my parents are about this matter! Now I'm going to go talk to your cousin!" Merick returned his Growlithe to its pokeball and stomped off toward the school without another word.
Nell did know perfectly well how strict her friend's parents were. She had actually heard them threaten to disown the boy if he didn't end up with a grass Pokemon. They had said something about 'family honor'. After that, Merick had gone into one of his angry spells. It terrified Nell when he did that. He would lock himself up in his room, only leaving to get food, sometimes not even for that. If somebody tried to talk to him, he would snap at them- just like he was doing now.
The Lotad croaked at its trainer and started to jump up and down. "Taddddddddd" It screeched.
Knowing that Merick probably wasn't going to come back for a while, Nell decided to further explore the functions of her pokedex. The pokedex informed her that her Lotad was a male, and asked if she would like to give it a nickname. She answered yes, and chose to name it Palee. In class, Nariko had only talked about the Lotad family once, so Nell couldn't remember much. The pokedex told her the Pokemon's current stats, its level of evolution, its current level- which was five-, its attacks, and much more.
What she couldn't help but notice was the large red button on the side of the gadget. Being the curious person that she was, she pressed it.
"Taaaad-noooo!" The Lotad continued to screech. Nell stopped pressing buttons for a second.
"No?" She said, tilting her head to the side.
"Yes! No! What?" Palee said, jumping up and down then stopping.
"Wait a minute…did you just speak?"
"I've been speaking the entire time, you dimwit!" Palee scowled.
Nell screamed. She saw that Sarah Appleton was running over to her.
"What is it?" She asked with her Oddish in her arms.
"Yeah, what is it, Master Dimwit?" Palee mocked.
"Did- did you just hear that?" Nell asked Sarah.
"All I head was 'Lotad tad'." Sarah answered.
"Oh god, I'm going insane. Say, Sarah have you pressed that massive red button on the side of you pokedex?"
"No, should I have?" Sarah asked, confused. She continued to cuddle the Oddish closer.
"Do it."
The girl listened and looked around.
"…I- How come I can hear Chime?"
"Yeah, I don't know. I can't hear your Oddish talking, and you can't hear Palee…" Nell stated.
"Palee? What kind of name is that? Nell, you are such a dork." With that, Sarah left toward her house.
"You know, you are a dork." Palee once again mocked.
It had been a half an hour and Merick still hadn't come out. Opting to go home, Nell left the school yard, though only after returning Palee to its pokeball. Why hadn't Nariko told them about the button? She should have assumed that most ten year olds would be curious as to what it did. The thing didn't even have an off switch. Now that was bad.
Ten minutes later, Nell rounded in on her house. It was a normal size, two-story home, situated on the beach, and had a white stucco finish. Most of the houses in Whitevale Beach were like this, except for the homes of the wealthy- like Sarah and Merick. Nell had never been jealous of them though. She preferred her beach house to their more inland mansions. That and it was frustrating to constantly get lost in Merick's house.
There was a tall palm tree in the front yard of the house and a perfect view of the water. That was what Nell loved about the place. She would always sit on her bedroom patio and look down at the surfers and their water Pokemon. Sometimes she would even draw them.
Nell walked into the kitchen, only to be greeted by her mother, Rose. The woman immediately dropped what she was doing and ran over to hug her daughter.
"So how did it go?" Rose asked, letting go of Nell.
"Fine.' Nell shrugged.
The kitchen was simple. The walls were an off-white colour and the floors were of light wood. There were long, glass double doors that led to a patio along the back wall. A kitchen set was along the left wall, where freshly baked pastries were sitting. Rose was the local pastry chef, so Nell had always gotten the honor of tasting everything. The table was in the middle of the room, along with two chairs- Nell's father had been visiting relatives in the nearby Momora region for the past month. He wouldn't allow Nell to come with him because he knew she would be getting her Pokemon, and he knew that Nell's cousins would no longer be at home.
"Fine? That's it?" Rose asked with a worried expression on her face.
"Yeah. Fine for me, but not so fine for Merick."
"Oh? Why?"
Nell explained the situation to her mother, leaving out the part about the button. She didn't want to worry or confuse her mother any more.
"Well? Are you going to let me see this Palee?"
Once again, Nell shrugged. She pressed the button on her pokeball and it emitted a red glow, soon to form Palee.
"It's about time!" Palee complained.
As Rose fussed over how cute she thought the Pokemon was, Nell walked over to the counter and helped herself to a fresh donut. It was apple-cinnamon flavored. She liked that.
"Oh, honey, I got you something…now where did I put it?" Rose said, looking around the room. She walked to the front closet and returned with a bag. Giving it to Nell, she smiled and returned to Palee, who was crying out complains.
Nell sat down and removed the contents of the bag. It was a new outfit. First there was a shirt. It was about knee length, flared out slightly at the bottom, and was a light blue-green colour with two yellow stripes at the bottom. Next there was a matching yellow tank top with a stripe through the center of it the same colour as the skirt. After that, there was a pair of blue-green boots. Finally, at the bottom of the bag, was a matching yellow belt meant to hold pokeballs and a pokedex.
"Thanks Mum, I love it!" Nell said.
"I don't." Palee retorted.
"I wasn't asking you!" Nell mumbled.
"What was that honey?" Rose asked, standing at the oven. She was putting a batch of blueberry Danishes in to be baked.
"Nothing Mum."
"Oh, I have one more thing for you. It's in the closet, would you go get it?"
Nell nodded and walked out of the room. She opened the closet and saw a backpack that matched her skirt. She loved how her mother was so colour-coordinated. Picking the bag up, Nell walked back into the kitchen, sat down, and began to dig through it.
Rose had filled it with stuff. There were ten pokeballs, five greatballs, twenty potions, a small radio chip for her pokedex, a few antidotes, paralyze heals, a pokeblock case, some TMs containing water-type moves- Rose must have guessed that Nell would get a water type-, and other things. There was a small cube at the bottom of the bag. Holding it in her hand, Nell noticed that there was a red button on it. Uh oh, she thought. She had no desire what so ever to press the button.
"Hey Mum, what's this?" Nell asked.
"Press the button and find out. Wait, just don't press it on the-"
It was too late, as Nell had pressed the button, and now on the table- and threatening to break it- was a teal-coloured bicycle. Nell looked at it with stars in her eyes. She had always wanted a bicycle of her own, and to not rent one from Merick's dad, who ran the surf shop. That was how their family had gotten their fortune. The Lockes owned the only surf shop in town, which was surprising, seeing as Whitevale Beach got all of its tourists because of the beach. The shop not only sold surfing gear, but also scuba and snorkeling gear, skateboards, and bicycles.
"Wow! Thank you so much Mum!" Nell said, jumping up and down while trying to get the bike off of the table.
"It's a good thing that we are good friends with the Lockes, or else I wouldn't have gotten a good discount on it. It is supposed to be a new model." Rose informed, implying that Nell should take good care of it.
Meanwhile, Palee sat on the floor, bored.
"If I'm going to be subjected to being your Pokemon, could we at least do something?" He asked, not so politely.
"Honey, why don't you take your Pokemon to the beach? Maybe you could go see if Merick-"
"I'll take Palee to the beach, but I am not going to see if Merick wants to come! He's being a jerk!" Nell cut in. She instantly regretted it though. That wasn't really how she felt; she was just frustrated with him.
"Okay, it was only a suggestion. Now go on."
"Sure, I have to get changed first."
Nell walked up the stairs to her room. The colour schemes of each room in the house were pretty similar. Light colours and light wood floors. Nell's bedroom walls were plain white. There was a balcony that faced the water, door open. Along the left wall was a set of stair that lead up to an inside balcony, where her dresser and a couch were located. Underneath this balcony was a round table and two cushioned stools. Her school books still littered the table. On one side of the left side of the balcony door was a small tropical plant, and on the other side, her bed. At the end of the bed stood a night table with a lamp on it. Just like Nell's clothes, everything in her room was colour coordinated- mainly white with cerulean blue accents. Everything except the table that is. It was cerulean blue with a white runner on it.
Nell dropped Palee on her bed, and walked up to her dresser. She grabbed a yellow bikini top and yellow accented brown board shorts out of it and got changed in the bathroom down the hall. She returned to her room, only to get Palee, and left the house.
Walking down the thin boardwalk, she considered inviting Merick to the beach. However, any thoughts she had of that were dissolved when he came running up to her.
"Hey, I was just at your house. Your mom said you were going to the beach. It's a good thing I caught you." Merick said, keeping pace with Nell.
"Why?"
"Well…I talked to the Professor…" Merick started slowly.
"And?" Nell asked, urging him to continue.
"She said she couldn't do anything about it, even if she wanted to. I need to get out of this place. My parents can't find out about this."
"Merick, you can't. Please talk to them." Nell pleaded.
"Listen, I don't have a problem with what happened. I'm actually kind of glad it did. I just don't want any more people to hate me, okay?" Merick tried to explain. Nell looked sadly up to him.
"You have to at least come to the beach with me!" She said, trying to smile. The boy nodded. He took his pokeball from his belt and released the Growlithe.
"Oh, spare me." Palee said to Nell.
"By the way, did you happen to press that big red button on the side of you pokedex?" Nell asked Merick.
"Of course, that was the first thing I did! What do you take me for?" Merick said.
"A loser." Palee sang.
"Oh, I hope your Growlithe isn't as much as a jerk as this stupid thing." Nell said rudely.
"No, he's actually okay."
"Lucky!" Nell moaned.
"I named him Griff. What did you name yours?" Merick asked curiously.
"Palee, although I regret wasting such a good name on that thing!"
Palee ignored her.
The new trainers and their Pokemon headed north towards the main beach, where they knew that a lot of their peers would be. They were both hoping to start battling people. Nell was kind of jealous of Merick, because his Pokemon knew a half decent attack. All Palee knew was Astonish and Growl, which would do basically no damage to most Pokemon. Today she would be looking out for psychic Pokemon to battle, and avoiding normal types.
There was no breeze at the main tourist beach today. The beating sun was making the already hot temperature impossibly hotter. The water was littered with people and Pokemon alike. Little kids who weren't in the water were building sand castles on the beach while there parents watched over them. Only one beach volleyball net was being occupied, and that was rare. There was a long line up at The Surf Shop, where people were most definitely buying cold drinks. As predicted, there were many new trainers on the beach, all battling each other. Sarah Appleton was decked out in a short pink skirt and pink bikini top, and was battling a shirtless Kevin Broderick. It was needless to say that she was getting slaughtered. His Doduo was Pecking her Oddish mindlessly, while she kept trying to order it to use Absorb. Nell and Merick were both laughing at Sarah. She should have known better than to sick her Oddish on a flying-type. But then again, she was never the brightest kid in the class.
"I've an idea. Me and you. Right now." Nell proposed to Merick.
"You're on. Griff!" Merick said, "Bite attack!"
"Try to dodge it Palee, then use Astonish!" Nell countered.
"How about 'no'?" Palee said getting hit full on by Griff's bite attack.
The Lotad use Growl.
"Bite him again Griff!" Merick ordered, laughing at Nell's unfortunate Pokemon.
"I've got it! Palee! Use Growl!" Nell said, glaring at Merick.
It was at that time Palee decided to use Astonish. The attack hit its opponent ineffective.
"Cut the crap Palee! Growl at him!"
"One more Bite attack Griff!" Merick said confidently. He pointed his finger at Palee.
The Lotad made a noise that sounded like humming and used another Astonish attack. Griff bit Palee one more time and claimed victory. Nell growled in frustration and stomped her foot while she applied a potion to her injured Pokemon.
"Sorry Nell." Merick said grinning.
"Oh har har. Why me? Why couldn't I get a good Pokemon who listens to me?" Nell asked, looking up at the sky.
"Because you're not cool enough." Palee replied.
"Sucks for you. Hey, Kevin!" Merick called, running off toward the boy who had just beaten Sarah.
Nell wondered aimlessly around the beach, battling anyone who challenged her- and losing every time. Since the heat was starting to get to her, she decided that she would take Palee for a swim.
The cool water felt good on her skin. Even Palee seemed happy. He floated lazily on top of the water, taking in the sun. Nell dived under the water and grabbed a handful of wet sand. She snuck up behind the Lotad and smeared it on his leaf. This made him growl at the girl, and try to get the mud off of him. When he couldn't, Nell splashed him. This started a small water war between the two, which resulted in a very angry Nell. She couldn't even win a water war against her pathetic Lotad.
Back on the sand, Nell sighed dejectedly and dried off. Merick was running around like a mad man trying to find people to battle. Nell watched him as he challenged one of their classmates, Kara, and her Ralts. Nell's eyes opened wide and she sped toward them. Kara had a psychic Pokemon! If there was any chance Nell could get Palee to cooperate, than there was a chance that she would win.
"Hey, Palee…" Nell whispered, "Could you actually try to win this one? I'll…buy you an ice cream if you do!"
"Wow, what a bribe. How can I resist?" Palee replied sarcastically.
"Fine, what would it take for me to get you to actually try to win?" Nell asked pleadingly.
"Let's see…if I listen to you in battle, you have to do whatever I say outside of battle." Palee stated.
"Ugh. Fine."
Griff had just done the final blow to Ralts, and Merick, yet again, claimed victory.
"Hey, Kara. Can you battle me?" Nell asked the girl. She nodded, her short blonde hair falling in her face. She quickly gave her Ralts a potion and was ready.
"Okay! Hale! Use Confusion!" She commanded.
"Palee, find a way to dodge it and come back with Astonish!" Nell yelled.
A purple aura surrounded Palee before he could dodge the attack. He was able to use astonish after being it by the powerful attack.
The battle continued. The Pokemon were evenly matched, hitting each other blow-for-blow. As Palee had a slight advantage, he had manage to gain a bit of a lead, forcing Kara to throw Hale a potion.
In the end, Nell was able to claim her first victory.
It was five o'clock and the sun was beginning to set. Whitevale Beach stayed warm all year round, but in the winter months it was normal for the sun to go down this early. Nell and Merick found themselves on Nell's front porch watching the sunset for the last time. Tomorrow Nell would be leaving and Merick tonight. Nell had tried to get him to stay until tomorrow, but he flat out refused, on account of not wanting to go home. He held his Growlithe in his arms knowing that the puppy would be his only source of comfort.
"You know, it isn't like we'll never see each other again." Merick said.
"Yeah, I know. It's just weird though. I always thought that we would travel together…" Nell responded quietly.
"I have to do this on my own. I'm sure you'll find other friends along the way. Hey, maybe Palee will even listen to you one day."
"Sure…" Nell said doubtfully.
"I should really get going. I want to make it to Carina Port by nightfall." Merick said, glancing at his watch.
"Okay. Well…I guess I'll see you around." Nell said standing up beside him.
She gave him a small hug, and then let him walk down the stairs.
"Bye Nell." He said.
"Goodbye. Wait, we have to see each other again! I have to kick your butt in battle!" Nell said confidently.
"Yep, I remember." Merick smirked, and was gone.
Nell looked toward the ocean and wished that her sadness could be washed away in the tide, just like the day's sandcastles.
"He's…gone." She whispered softly.
"Oh boo-hoo. Now go make me a sandwich!" Palee ordered.
A/N: That chapter was longer…
Now, notice how Palee is a jerk. Palee will always be a jerk, but Nell isn't yet regretting her decision. She will start regretting it much more when Palee evolves and gets more defiant. Anywho, look out for your characters in the next few chapters! (Not like your going to miss them being there or anything…)
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