Yeah, so I didn't get it out as fast as I wanted, but I have a life part of a life outside of writing. This chapter is longer than the others, but that because there was just so much and I didn't want to split it into two parts. I don't know when I'll be getting another chapter out so thank you faithful fans who are willing to wait so long. Hope you Enjoy.
After a long break on Route 35, Luna and Silver continued on their way to Ecruteak City. Luna held Gin in her arms as they walked. When they finally came to the route gatehouse, Luna noticed multiple posters on the abnormally large gatehouse.
"Pokeathlon?" Luna read.
"It's a series of games that you and your pokemon compete in. Four teams of three pokemon try to win the games for points and the trainer with the most points wins that course. You also get a medal for winning. I think that there are five courses to compete in." Silver explained. "You get points to buy things with too, but I'm going to assume that some of the prizes are really expensive."
"You want to give it a try? We still have time till it's dark and Ecruteak City isn't far from here." She asked. Luna loved a good challenge which was probably why Voltorb Flip was her favorite card game.
"Sounds like fun. Should we add a little wager too?" He asked.
Luna gave him a sly smile. "What kind of wager?"
"One where you can ask for anything you want. You don't have to think of it right now. You can come up with it later."
"Deal." They shook on it and then walked towards the Pokeathlon Dome. There were quite a few people training around the area. A woman was selling some sort of juice over by the pavement. There was one person who caught Luna's attention. Her hair was long brown and she was wearing a pale yellow blouse with some light blue capris. Four pokemon were running laps around the pavement, Bayleaf, Mareep, Furret, and Pikachu.
"Keep going guys! You've got two more laps!" She shouted. Luna handed Gin to Silver.
"Emily?" Luna questioned. The girl turned to look at her and her mouth dropped.
"LUNA!" Emily screamed, leaping towards her. "How are you? What's up? What are you doing here at the Dome?" Her pokemon walked over to them and Pikachu climbed onto her head.
"I'm fine. I came to compete against Silver." Luna answered.
"Really? Where is he?"
"I'm right here Emily." Silver spoke.
"Wow, so Professor Elm actually let you come on a journey?" She asked.
"Yep." He answered.
"OH MY GOODNESS! Is that an Eevee? It's so cute. Where did you get him? I'm assuming it's a boy because most Eevees are boys." She ranted.
"Careful, Emily!" Luna shouted. "He's really shy." Silver handed Gin back to Luna and he quickly shoved his head into her chest. "I got him from my dad while I was in Goldenrod with Silver."
Emily looked at her confused. "Your dad? With Silver? Ethan said you weren't traveling with anyone and he didn't say anything about your dad."
"Ethan said that?" Silver questioned.
"He couldn't have known about my dad, but he knew I was with Silver. I've been traveling with him since Violet City and we ran into him yesterday morning." Luna explained.
"I'm going to kill that boy. Right after the Stamina Course. You guys said you were going to compete, right? You should do the Stamina Course too! We can go up against each other."
"Sounds like fun. Silver?" Luna replied.
"You're on." Silver grinned. Emily returned her Pokemon to their balls and then the three walked inside the Dome. Luna was suddenly blinded by bright flashing lights. Screens above counters showed pokemon racing each other on a dirt track. "We have to go check in at that desk. If this is your first time you're going to need a point card and a uniform. Don't lose them or its a pain to try and get your points transferred."
"You sure know a lot about this Emily." Luna pointed out.
"Well, I've been doing this for a while and I would watch the competitions on TV when I was younger. While you and Ethan were into battling, I preferred Pokeathlon. I didn't really like watching pokemon fight with each other." Emily explained, walking up to the desk.
"Hello, Emily. What course do you want to compete in today?" The attendant asked.
"I'm going to try the Stamina course again. Bayleaf, Furret, and Mareep are going to be participating with me."
"Alright. You know the drill. I hope you guys do well." Emily walked behind the desk and went through the door. Luna went up to her. "Welcome, Do you have a card?"
"Um, no. This is my first time." Luna answered. The woman pulled out a card.
"Alright. Please sign your name on the back. We have five courses, Skill, Speed, Stamina, Power, and Jump. You may compete with three of your pokemon in the three games. Just follow the other competitors to the domes. The host will explain each game to you when you get there. What course would you like to play?" She explained.
"The stamina course," Luna answered.
"What pokemon do you want to compete with?"
"Mareep, Eevee, and Croconaw."
"Your team color is blue. Please come through here and go into the room on the left." Luna walked behind the desk and followed the woman's instructions. Stacks of Red, Blue, Yellow, and Green uniforms were on shelves. Luna grabbed a blue uniform and walked farther into the dressing room. Emily was sitting on a bench putting on her shoes. When she finally got them on she stood up and started to leave.
She turned before exiting."Good luck, Luna!" Luna waved and then went to change.
Silver walked out of the boy's changing room. He was uncomfortable in the uniform. If brought back the memories of the Team Rocket uniform his mother put him in when he was six. He tried to shove those thought out of his mind.
When he got out to the track where everyone was waiting, he saw Emily, who was wearing a green uniform, warming up with her pokemon. There was another girl whose brown hair had purple tips and she had hazel eyes. She was also warming up with her pokemon which were Feraligatr, Togetic, and Vaporeon.
Luna walked out and released her pokemon; Silver did the same. "Alright, Trainers! Line up. Red, Blue, Green, Yellow." All of them lined up in from of the podium Silver tried to mimic Emily and the girl in yellow. "Welcome to the Pokeathlon! Today's event is the stamina course. Who will shine the brightest today? Let's meet the competitors today.
"There's a goal to be reached and we aim for success! Team Silver: Quilava, Pidgey, and Mareep. I can see victory! That's because I don't think there's any way we'll lose. Team Luna: Mareep, Eevee, and Croconaw. We never crumb no matter what. That's the friendship we have. Team Emily: Bayleaf, Mareep, and Furret. My pokemon are strong, but our hearts are stronger. Please welcome the Stamina Course Champion, Lily with Feraligatr, Togetic, and Vaporeon!" Silver watched as Emily's jaw dropped. She was staring at the girl and her fearsome team. "Alright, we're ready! Aim for the top! Let's POKEATHLON!" Lily and Emily started walking to a dome. Luna and Silver ran to catch up with them.
"So you're Emily. I was wondering when I would finally get to meet you." Lily spoke.
"R-really?" Emily stuttered.
"Of course. You've come pretty close to breaking my records. I can't let you beat me, can I?" Lily laughed. "Not too many people compete anymore. It's nice to have some worthy competition to keep me on my toes."
"Well, then we'll do our best." Emily smiled brightly.
Lily held out her hand. "I hope you will. Good luck."
Emily shook her hand. "You too."
"Tooth. Tris. River. Let's go win a Ring Drop." Lily and her pokemon entered the dome. As the others followed her, they entered a room with a large stage in the center. Lily's pokemon climbed on with Emily's not far behind.
"Okay, Cinder. You're the leader of the team. I need you do help Pidge and Bow. Make sure they do their parts. Good luck and do your best." Silver encouraged.
"Quil!" The Pokemon replied. The three ran up to the stage.
"Seems like the pokemon do most of the work. Hope they all do alright." Luna spoke.
"Yeah. Do you think that Gin will be okay?" Silver asked.
"He'll figure something out. He's got to learn how to get used to other pokemon if he's ever going to battle." She answered.
"I guess. I just feel like this is going to be too much from him. He hasn't even really interacted with our pokemon." He replied.
Luna opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted, "Welcome to the Fight Dome! The first event is the Ring Drop. Your Pokemon will be placed in on an arena ring, one at a time, against your three opponents. The object is to knock your opponents out of the ring. You'll earn points based on how many Pokemon you knock out, but you'll lose points when your own Pokemon are knocked out. Let's get ready. 3… 2… 1… GO!
After competing in the Ring Drop, Relay Race, and Block Smash, it was finally time to add up the points. "Great job Athletes. Which team fought the hardest? We've got the results, but first who's overflowing with fighting spirit. A challenge bonus for pokemon and team." Points were added to the board. "Continuing on, the individual prizes, Luna's Croconaw, and Lily's Feraligatr. Moving on to point leader, Silver's Quilava. Next up, prizes for effort, Emily's Furret. The pokemon who hit the most, Silver's Quilava, Luna's Mareep, Lily's Feraligatr and Lily's Vaporeon. Finally, we add up the event points. Event 1." The points on the boards quickly increased. "Event 2. Event 3." The points stopped moving. Silver looked at his score. "355." He looked over to Luna's score. "355." They had tied. Silver and Luna stared at each other. "And the winner is Team Lily with a total of 460 points. She will be presented with the Stamina badge. Thank you all for joining us today and we hope you come again. This is Pokeathlon FOREVER!"
"You received 355 points. You can use those points to buy prizes from the clerk or from the vending machine. We hope to see you again." The woman explained. Luna and Silver walked outside. Emily was taking a picture with Lily and her pokemon. They sat down on a bench. Silver opened a can of lemonade he had brought. Luna held Gin in her lap. The poor Pokemon was exhausted.
"So what are we going to do about our wager? We both lost." Luna asked.
"Well, we could forget about it or we could both get something from each other since we tied. It would have to be small of course." Silver answered.
"The second one sounds like a good idea, but I still don't know what I would even want," Luna replied.
"I do." Silver said before taking a drink. Luna wanted to ask what it was, but just then Emily ran over to them. Lily was following behind with her Vaporeon.
"That was so much fun, Luna! We should do this again sometime." Emily rambled.
"That should like a good idea. We should have Ethan join us next time too." Luna smiled. A blank look appeared on Emily's face before she pulled out her pokegear and dialed a number.
"ETHAN!" She shouted before running off. He was gonna get it. Luna learned that if she was going to lie to Emily, she needed to make sure she wouldn't get caught.
"So your names are Silver and Luna?" Lily asked, trying to come up with a conversation.
"Yeah, and you're Lily." Silver answered.
She nodded. "So where are you headed to?"
"We're going to Ecruteak City to get a badge," Luna answered.
"Sounds funs. Still, have a badge I need to get, but I'm trying to have a little fun before I kick Lance's butt." Lily replied.
"Lance?" Luna questioned.
"He's the champion. He prefers dragon pokemon for some reason. We know each other, but I haven't really seen him since he took over for Red." Lily explained. "Well, you probably have things you need to do. I hope I see you guys here again."
"Us too." Silver spoke. Lily waved goodbye and walked off just as Emily came back over.
"Hey, Em. Will you give your pokegear number?" Luna asked. Emily gave her a blank expression before nodding.
"Um, yeah. Sure. Do you want my number too, Silver?" Emily offered.
"Why not." Silver answered. The three exchanged numbers.
"Go ahead and call me if you need anything or if you want to compete against each other again."
"Alright. Thanks." Luna told her.
"We should probably start going, Luna." It's going to be dark by the time we get there now."
"Yeah, okay. See you later Emily." Luna waved. The two walked to the gatehouse. As they entered National Park, Luna's eyes widened. It was beautiful. Flowers were planted by the sidewalk. The street lamps were starting to turn on and there seemed to be music in the air. People played with their pokemon in the grass and there were couples sitting on the white benches. A fountain sat in the middle of the park, reflecting the oranges and reds of the setting sun on the crystal waters.
"If only Hannah could see this," Luna whispered.
"Hey, Luna." Silver spoke.
"What?" She asked, turning to face him. Suddenly, Silver pulled her to him and kiss her. Luna's face burned as her face turned bright red. When he pulled away, Silver wore a shy smile.
"That's what I wanted." Luna couldn't say anything in reply. Sentences refused to form. Every part of her screamed to kill him, but her legs didn't move.
Silver stuck his hands in his pockets and started to walk towards the gatehouse. Luna unconsciously followed him. "It's pretty here."
"Y-yeah." She stuttered.
He looked over his shoulder. "You aren't going to kill me?" He asked, jokingly.
"Yeah, but it doesn't mean anything. It was for the bet." She explained.
"Maybe not to you." He replied. "Have you decided what you want?"
"No, not yet."
"Okay, well tell me when you do." As they continued towards the gatehouse, Luna gently touched her lips with her fingers.
Yeah... I'm probably going to get yelled at by Millie for this chapter. :P