Thanks for the reviews! Can't believe so much has happened this summer, it's been fantastic, but here's another brand new chapter that you've all been patiently awaiting for a whole month. Enjoy!
Disclaimer…. Sadly, I don't own Pokemon or any of its characters except the ones that I made up: Angelina Murakami, Danielle Styles, Jeremy Cretonne, Christina, and others you don't recognize from the show.
Chapter 6: Symbol Stories
Last time, Angelina and friends stopped at Cerulean Cape to meet up with Danielle and Seamus. Angelina's curiosity got her best when she discovered an old power plant where she was attacked by the legendary Pokemon Zapdos. After going through a dangerous battle with five of her Pokemon, Angelina finally captured the electrical bird and ran into her rival Seamus, whom was also looking for the Pokemon and grew very suspicious of his friend's badly shaped appearance. Even when the truth was revealed, Angelina's friends were in complete shock, but Dani warned the girl to keep Zapdos hidden, especially from Team Rocket.
Now they arrived at the Battle Arena so Angelina could earn her second frontier symbol. She and her friends met Greta, the Battle Arena's leader and holder of the Guts symbol: a woman in her twenties with short blonde hair that curled at the ends of her head, bright blue eyes, wore an outfit consisting of a black and red outline karate jacket over a tight blue body suit underneath her, a long white sash tied around her waist, and patted feet. Angelina spun the roulette wheel, which could land on any versus dot. To her luck, it stopped on one-vs-one; Angelina's Absol against Greta's Medicham, and the battlefield had been heated with everyone's attention ever since it began and neither Pokemon not ready to give up.
POKEMON
It's a battle, winner or lose
It's the friends you make
It's the road you choose
We got the right stuff
So make your mind up
Find the courage inside of you
If you're strong you'll survive
And keep your dream alive
It's the Battle Frontier
POKEMON
Be the best you can be
And find your destiny
It's the master plan
The powers in you hand
POKEMON
"Keep it up, Shadow! Use Double Team once more!" Angelina called out to her Absol as it created multiple illusions of himself around Greta's Medicham, who was giving him an angry glare.
"Medicham, use Reversal!" Greta yelled as her Pokemon randomly selected a target and gave it a straight punch. The illusion disappeared obviously not Shadow.
"Let's finish Medicham off! Use your Slash!" Angelina commanded.
Shadow and his illusions came at Medicham with an outstretched paw as they all slashed at the confused Medicham. Shadow's illusions went through Medicham as the real Shadow slashed at him from the side. Medicham howled out in pain as Shadow critically hit his face, collapsing to the ground suffering a one hit knockout.
"Medicham!" Greta called out, staring at her Pokemon with a pale look on her face.
"Medicham is unable to battle!" called out the referee. "The victor of this battle is Angelina from Pallet Town!"
"Sol absol!" Shadow cried, running up to Angelina as she smiled.
"You did it, Shadow! I'm so very proud of you!" Angelina cheered as she knelt down and hugged the Pokemon.
"Great job!" Seamus said, cheering with Jeremy and Dani while Christina ran up excitedly and hugged her older sister.
"Thanks," Angelina smiled as Chocolate also ran up and jumped onto her trainer's shoulder.
"That was a good match," Greta said as she approached Angelina and was holding out a small golden circle badge that had an oval-like prism encrusted on the top of it and shined in a beautiful light as Angelina took it into her hands. "And you showed a lot of guts out there, so you really deserved this Guts Symbol!"
"Wow, thank you, Greta!" Angelina said, admiring her newly acquired symbol. "All right! I won the Guts Symbol!" she stood with her legs apart and gave a peace sign.
"Pi-pi-ka-chu!" Chocolate mimicked her trainer's actions.
Greta began to laugh, asking, "Are you related to Ash Ketchum or something? Either that or you're a big fan of him since that's his pose."
"Oh…." Angelina said, and began to sweat drop. "Uhm, well, I am his older sister…." she blushed in embarrassment while her friends and sister laughed.
"Well that's nice," Greta said, then bowed to the trainer. "I wish you the best of luck on you remaining challenges."
"Thank you, Greta," Angelina said, bowing back, then departing the Battle Arena with her friends onto the rest of her journey.
(S)12345(S)
After their Pokemon were being healed by Nurse Joy, Angelina and friends celebrated her second symbol winning with a victory dinner. It was close to eleven when they settled into their beds.
"Dani," Angelina asked quietly to not awaken her little sister, "have I done something wrong by catching that…. you know…. Zapdos?"
"Since when have you worried about what's right or wrong?" Dani joked.
Angelina knew that there was some element of truth in this. She couldn't blame Dani for saying it. But she pretended to be highly offended by the remark. She turned up her nose and rolled over.
Dani laughed her high, melodious laugh and said, "You're such a hoot, Lina." she clasped her hands over her stomach and paused to think. "You know, I've never heard anyone say that trainers aren't allowed to catch Legendaries.… but then again, why would Legendaries be so set apart if they weren't protected by some sort of law?"
"Oh, don't talk to me about the law," Angelina sighed. She was falling asleep.
"Well we know Noland has a legendary. There's also a rumor that Prima wants a Legendary. And she's in the Pokémon Defense League."
"And don't ever talk to me about the PDL."
"Oops.… sorry, is that a bad subject? What I'm saying is.… you haven't done anything criminal but if I were you, I wouldn't make a show of it. Keep it under wraps."
"I have this awesome new Pokémon and you're asking me to keep it under wraps?" Angelina laughed into her pillow.
"It's your choice. But you'd certainly be wise to wait a little before letting it loose in battle. It must be of a high level." Dani paused to yawn and think for a while. "You seemed to have a struggle with it. I've never seen anyone look in such bad shape after fighting a wild Pokémon. What was it like?"
Silence.
"Angelina?"
More silence.
"Oh, never mind," Dani said with another yawn.
(S)12345(S)
Rock Tunnel wasn't much further off from the center. It's entrance was surprisingly crowded for this time in the morning. People were setting out early. Looking into the blackness of the cave, Angelina shrank back a little. It didn't look half as inviting as Mount Moon. No lights. She mentioned this to Dani and Jeremy, who've been through it before.
"We'll confess, it's not. It's tough. It'll probably take us all day, and that's if we keep going non-stop." Jeremy replied.
Angelina groaned. Jeremy's idea of "non-stop" would mean sprinting all the way through Rock Tunnel.
"I don't mind sleeping in there," Angelina admitted. "If we have to. I'm not in a rush to get to Lavender Town."
As she gazed around at the crowds of trainers, Angelina had an idea. She beckoned her friends while Christina played with the Pokemon (Togepi, Pichu, Pikachu), whispering to them,
"Don't you think this would be an awesome time for me to use that HM Flash to teach one of my Pokémon?"
Jeremy, Dani, and Seamus smiled brightly. At least Angelina was saying something sensible now, which didn't seem to happen often.
"That's a great idea!" Dani said, clapping her hands. "Are you going to teach it to Mistress?"
"No, no, no…." Angelina shook her head. "Mistress's too busy."
Dani furrowed her brow, even the guys looked suspicious. Too busy? What did that mean?
"Which one?" Jeremy asked.
"Duh! Tempest!" Angelina's eyes lit up.
"You're going to teach it to your Zapdos?" Seamus asked incredulously, his smile faded.
Dani grabbed Angelina's arm before she could make a move to carry out her plan. Usually when Angelina decided on doing something, there was no stopping her, unless her friends were around for their opinion. Dani knew this had to be stopped, Jeremy and Seamus agreed too.
"Why not?"
"Angelina, let's think about this logically, okay? You've only just caught this Pokémon. It's beyond your control at the moment. It's too strong and way too noticeable. It would be stupid to go around showing it off, right? So the last thing you want to be doing is walking through Rock Tunnel amongst all these other trainers with a massive Legendary Pokémon beside you, giving out a million-amp Flash."
"So you guys think it might not be a good idea?" Angelina asked blankly.
"That's kind of what I'm saying, yes." Seamus forced himself to smile. "It's okay: my Mr. Mime has Flash. He'll get us through." he called out the clown-like Pokemon, which burst into white light.
The light actually made the narrow tunnel they were in seem like a lit hallway, and Seamus congratulated his Mr. Mime with a high five. Following the hallway, our heroes made small talk, while Togepi and Pichu fell into a nap and Mr. Mime guiding them. The trip was surprisingly uneventful, and they seemed to have been walking for hours.
Christina repeated that immortal, annoying question 'Are we there yet?' at regular intervals. Finally (oh so finally…) the gang reached the other side. Christina was a few paces behind them, still complaining.
"Are we there yet? My feet hurt. I'm hungry. I'm tired. I hate this place. Why couldn't we fly?"
"Relax, Tina dear," Angelina said, pulling her sister out of the tunnel. "We're there."
They were standing on a gently sloping hill looking down into a valley, nestled in which was a tiny town that consisted of a few small buildings, a church and a tall tower. The view was breathtaking. The sun had set, so the place was bathed in the beauty of twilight. There were no lights on in the town. It looked like the perfect mountain village. The church bell was tolling. It sounded as if it were miles away.
"I can't see there being any hotels here," Angelina whispered, not wanting to break the silence. "Where are we gonna stay?"
"There is a hotel, just a small one on the near side of town, I think," Seamus replied, calling Mr. Mime back into his Pokéball. "Or if not, I'm sure we'll find a place to rent. We won't be here long."
Angelina knew he was right, the Battle Dome was her next stop and wasn't that far away. She'd had way too much drama recently, and Lavender Town looked like the perfect relaxation spot.
"Why not? Can't we stay for a while?"
"If you want," Seamus replied with a shrug. "But there's really nothing special here."
(S)12345(S)
No sooner arriving at the hotel and getting a room with two queen size beds, the gang took good use of the hot springs to relax and end their day of traveling. There was one side for guys, like Jeremy and Seamus, and the other one for girls, where Angelina and Dani were while Christina played with the Pokemon. Both hot springs are separated by a bamboo fence which makes hearing what the other side is saying kind of easy.
The hot spring was just what Angelina needed after a very long journey. It was very relaxing and comforting. She thought of how good it felt being in bubbly warm soothing water, of how strenuous her journey had been. Her feet were always sore and her body aching from always moving. One thought lead to another and one thought lead to the symbols she was collecting and there were seven total she had to receive to become a battle frontier brain and own a facility. Her first frontier battle was her favorite memory she would never forget, and it happened as if it were yesterday when it only was last month.
(S)FLASHBACK(S)
Angelina stared across the battlefield at a man in his thirties with light brown hair sported by a red paperboy's hat and dark eyes. His attired was a black sleeveless shirt, a white sleeveless lab jacket, black pants and brown boots over them, and brown gloves. Usually she would fall hard for a guy like Noland if it wasn't for the age difference. She met him the night before flying with his legendary Articuno during her night-training with Charizard. She didn't know he was in charge of the first frontier symbol until he told her, so right then they planned for their battle.
"We will now begin this frontier battle between Battle Factory Brain Noland and challenger Angelina from Pallet Town!" Surgeo announced, he was Noland's assistant with brown hair wearing a dark red jacket and gray pants. "Please send out your Pokemon!"
"Articuno! Let's rumble!" Noland commanded. The mystical ice-bird Pokemon flew into the arena with a dome-like ceiling that opened up into the blue sky above.
"This will be fun!" Angelina smirked. "Charcoal, I choose you!" she threw a Pokeball into the air and from the white light came the fire-dragon roaring loudly.
"Wouldn't be the first I've faced a Charizard," Noland commented, this reminded Angelina when Scott told her about Ash's battle that took place a few days ago.
"Doesn't mean I'm anything like my brother, but I know how to play fair," Angelina grinned.
"Is that so? Okay sweetheart, bring it!" Noland grinned back.
"Trainers begin!" Surgeo announced.
"Articuno! Start off with Blizzard!" the legendary Pokemon fired a storm of ice shards at the fire dragon, who took the front of the attack. Charcoal let out a roar as he flew back a ways.
"Shake it off Charcoal, and use Dragonbreath!" Angelina commanded. Her Charizard launched a golden beam of light crackling with red electricity.
"Articuno, Ice Beam!" Articuno opened its mouth and shot a blue beam; the two attacks collided and created a giant explosion.
"Now Articuno, get up close and use Ice Beam again!" Noland shouted to the bird. Articuno nodded and flew up to point blank range, his beak already opened and charging his Ice Beam attack. Charizard was shocked at the speed of Articuno, and flew back a little bit.
"Charcoal, use Safe Guard!" Angelina instructed. As soon as the Ice Beam shot, an energy field appeared around Charizard, and cancelled out the attack, creating a giant smoke cloud form around the arena. 'Now's my chance,' Angelina thought to herself with a smile. "Go up out of the smoke and charge up a Hyper Beam!" Charizard nodded and flew up out of the smoke and into the sky.
"No you don't! Chase after that dragon!" Noland commanded. Articuno flew out of the smoke, but was shocked to see Charizard right in front of him.
"Hyper Beam now!" Angelina shouted. The fire dragon shot a golden beam down at Articuno, who didn't have time to react as he was shot through the smoke. The gold beam dispersing the smoke in the process as it shot Articuno hard into the ground. The two trainers could hear the giant bird as he screamed after the attack. When the golden beam disappeared, Charizard flew down and glanced at Articuno who was still standing.
Jeremy and Christina stared in shock. "Impossible, no one could take a direct hit from Hyper Beam at close range!"
Articuno made to attack again but fell down onto the field, his eyes becoming spirals.
"Articuno's unable to battle! Therefore our victor is Angelina from Pallet Town!" Surgeo called out.
"Articuno!" Noland called out as he jumped into the arena and ran over to his friend. Angelina jumped down as well and ran over to help the injured Pokemon, returning Charizard to his Pokeball in the process. They got the bird out of the arena, and Noland was about to treat it before he turned to Angelina. "That was a good strategy to lure Articuno out of the smoke and right into Charizard's Hyper Beam."
"Yeah, I knew it would work," Angelina blushed sheepishly, Jeremy and Christina followed right behind.
Surgeo stepped forward with an opened box that held a golden-colored badge with three diamonds carved into it. "This is a frontier symbol and it is something that can only be earned in the battle frontier."
Noland takes the badge and holds it up. "This is a Knowledge Symbol, Angelina. It is proof of your victory at the Battle Factory. This is for you." he hands the badge to Angelina.
"Thanks a lot, Noland," Angelina smiled, she laughed and then poses with the badge excitedly. "I won a Knowledge Symbol!"
"Pi-pi-ka-chu!" Chocolate said, after climbing onto her trainer's shoulder.
Noland chuckled softly at the scene, "I take it your brother got that from you, right?" he grinned when Angelina blushed, then holds out a purple square case. "Please accept this too, Angelina."
"What is it?"
"It's a portfolio for all of your symbols, its called a frontier folio. It's the least I can do since you gave me such a great battle." Noland explained, Angelina takes it graciously and thanks him again. "So, you'll now be heading to the Battle Arena?"
"Yep," Angelina nodded.
"Well, good luck," Noland said.
"Thanks," Angelina said, bowing to him and began to leave the factory with Jeremy and Christina. Turning back slightly to see Noland entering the infirmary. "Say bye to Articuno for me!" Noland simply waved as he disappeared from view. Angelina smiled as she looked at the road ahead of her for the next destination.
(S)END FLASHBACK(S)
The sounds of the crashing waterfall mixed with the laughing and relaxing sounds to make the experience of soaking in the springs so enjoyable that they regretted the time when it finally ended for them. They climbed out of the springs and dried themselves off before changing into their night clothes and walked back to their room for a well deserved sleep.
It was late into the night when Angelina woke up from tossing and turning on the bed. She looked over at the digital clock on the nightstand, it read 2:45am. She thought she'd sleep peacefully after spending a couple hours in the hot springs, but she couldn't stop thinking about Seamus.
'Why him? He's not my rival anymore, and cares too much beyond friendship.' Angelina sighed, knowing the guy liked her a lot or he wouldn't have asked her to dinner after their battle at the Silver League Conference. She was even surprised when she received a new traveling outfit from him for her journey to Hoenn. She wasn't upset over their battle inside the abandoned ship on the way to Slateport City, it helped her Chikorita evolve into a Bayleef and found out he had a Shadow Bell. She didn't mind that her best friend Dani was dating Seamus so she'd be happy for them, but they decided to remain friends when hearing Dani was still in love with Jeremy. Then Seamus whined somewhat about another battle loss, but placed in the top 16 finalists when Angelina got second place in the Hoenn League Championships.
Now traveling back in the Kanto Region for the Battle Frontier, she was confused by his actions towards her. He admired her beauty and bravery when they attended the tournament and ball honoring Sir Aaron at Cameron Palace. Then he followed Angelina to the abandoned power plant back in Cerulean City only to discover she already captured Zapdos.
"Are you gonna frisk me for it?"
"You wish, sweetheart."
Angelina blushed at the though of Seamus doing that to her, although she was in a similar situation with Butch for her Gengar back in the Orange Islands and still never forgave herself.
'I need some fresh air to clear my mind,' Angelina climbed out of bed and left the room quietly as she stepped outside onto the balcony, sitting down on the padded bench. She jumped when the sliding glass door opened, though relieved to see it was Seamus. Her face went red when she saw how tight his white shirt was and how it looked good with his messy black hair and black boxers.
"Hey, what're you doing out here?" Seamus asked, blushing as he eyed up his friend's curves revealed from her nightdress.
"Couldn't sleep, I guess, got something on my mind," Angelina said, looking away and moved down slightly so Seamus could sit next to her. "And I wanted to see the stars."
"I see, let's look at them together then," Seamus grinned at her.
They turned their gazes upwards and their breaths simultaneously caught in their throats. The black velvet of the sky overhead was awash with tiny glittering diamonds. Glittering giddily in their celestial dance, they showered their light over the darkened city and lit it with their faint glow.
For a moment, neither spoke. It was Angelina who broke the silence, with a whispered, "They're beautiful." she hardly noticed the fact that Seamus put his arm around her waist. When she did, she looked at him, right in the eyes and saw that he was smirking. She blushed and snuggled up closer to him. "So why are you still awake?"
"Well, I've got something really complicated on my mind, too," Seamus said hesitantly. "And I kinda wanted to tell you…."
"Really? What is it, Seamus?" Angelina asked, turning her body towards his. Her hazel eyes showed concern. "Come on, you can tell me anything."
Seamus blushed, hoping his talk with Jeremy earlier wouldn't blow up in his face. "Well, we've been through a lot, and things have changed, something's haven't, and I hope you'll understand since I've kept it for so long…."
"What Seamus?"
"Angelina…." Seamus took her hands gently into his, caressed them with his thumbs, his dark green eyes peering into her hazel eyes which the stars were reflected in them, he said in a whisper, "I love you, with all my heart. At least, I think I do. I admire and adore everything about you, and I want to be with you forever…."
"Oh Seamus…." Angelina said softly, but was cut off when he gave her a quick kiss on the lips. She blushed as he brought one hand up to caress her warm cheek.
"If you give me the chance…. I know I can make you happy…. You really mean a lot to me, Angelina."
Angelina simply nodded, knowing his words came from the bottom of his heart. "I…. love you too, Seamus Nichols. You said exactly what I needed to hear because there's no other guy that I'd rather be with than you." she moved closer to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms around her waist tightly and pressed his lips to hers in a gentle yet passionate kiss. It lasted a few seconds, and they pulled apart for air, sitting on the bench and hugging for a long time.
§To Be Continued§
*Angelina battles Greta for the Guts Symbol; hers was one-versus-one: Absol versus Medicham
*Angelina and friends travel through Rock Tunnel; she wants to bring out Zapdos, but Seamus has his Mr. Mime use Flash to light their way
*the gang arrives in Lavender Town and relax at the hotel's hot springs; Angel remembers her favorite Battle Frontier battle with Noland and earning her the Knowledge Symbol
*Angelina thinks about Seamus and her feelings for him.
*Angelina and Seamus admit their feelings for each other and sleep outside on their room balcony.
I am so happy this chapter is finished: two weeks and 27 pages written to boot. Thanks for reading and your comments are appreciated. I shall brainstorm the next chapter and have that posted sometime before next weekend.