First chapter of this story in 2015! I will be updating this story more frequently now!
In the last chapter, stuff happened. In this chapter, stuff will happen! This chapter will focus on both Dipper's group and Mabel's group. That's...about it.
Oh, and Robbie will do a lot of stuff this chapter...except he won't do a lot of stuff. He'll do quite a bit but he won't do quite a bit.
Sorry, I can't say much about this chapter because it's just too big!
Now, on with the show!
-Chapter 24: Back Together Again!-
A small, black and gray dog Pokemon trailed behind Robbie as he followed Wendy and Dipper towards Hearthome City. The dog Pokemon nuzzled his leg and Robbie picked it up into his arms.
"You finally caught something on your own. Good job." Wendy said. "It's been forever since you caught your first Pokemon."
"I realize that." Robbie said. "It's been like, what, one or two weeks?"
"It's been a month." Dipper confirmed. "Plus, Poochyena isn't that great stats wise. While he is a decently fast Dark-Type if bred in Sinnoh, his other stats falter when compared to, say, a recently evolved Bibarel." The mention of the full evolved beaver Pokemon made Dipper think about Mabel. He was determined to battle her again. After all, a full month had passed since their journeys had started...well, tomorrow would mark a full month.
What better time than tomorrow?
If I wait a year, the Sinnoh Conference will be over before I get to challenge her...
The Sinnoh Conference began in 3 months, which meant Dipper had to pick up the pace if he wanted to become champion and conquer the region.
Though when he was finished, he'd have to go home.
Shaking off the thought, he neared the gate to the next city and waited patiently for the others to catch up.
"Figured you'd catch a Dark-Type…" Dipper muttered under his breath as Robbie passed by.
"What?" The gothic teen asked, a slight hint of demand in his tone, as he raised an eyebrow, narrowing the other.
"Nothing, just noting how it took you forever to catch something new." Dipper replied nonchalantly. "Since I saw you in Oreburgh, you haven't caught anything new until now." He placed his hands in his pocket and followed Wendy towards the gate. Robbie glared daggers at the back of the boy's head.
"Well three things." Robbie began. "One; I have a total of three Pokemon now. Two; I have an egg in the PC storage. And three; You. Me. Battle."
"...I don't feel like it." Dipper said, not even turning to face the 17-year-old behind him. "I'd rather battle Mabel again before I fight you for the first time." He shrugged and walked off.
"Not if I have anything to say about it…" Robbie muttered under his breath. He withdrew a small Pokeball from his pocket and clicked the button to enlarge it. He stared at the Pokeball, thinking.
The first Pokemon I'd ever caught, his musical symphonies sounding harmonious to my ears…
He gripped the Pokeball hard and threw it. "Go, Kricketune!"
Out of the ball came a large, red cricket-like Pokemon that had black, glassy eyes and a mustache. It resembled a composer as it stood on it's hind feelers, brandishing it's main arms like bladed batons. It had two large, red, bent antennas on it's head that made for great echolocation tracking.
Dipper and Wendy began to turn in surprise before Robbie made his move.
"Attack Dipper with Frustration! Now!"
A few hours later, Mabel, Candy, Grenda, Pacifica, Lazy Susan, and Soos were now tied in the league with three badges each, and they all sat waiting on a bench on one of the many streets of Hearthome, hoping to catch Dipper and the others.
"Mabel, it's been, like, days." Grenda said. "I know you want to wait for them, but I really think we should just move on to Solaceon Town for now."
"No!" Mabel shouted angrily. She gasped slightly when she realized how assertive her tone was. "Oh, I'm...sorry. I just...really want to meet with Dipper again, I feel bad for leaving him in Eterna."
"Mabel, I don't mean to sound like a jerk...but I really think those dudes can catch up to us, even if we are in another town." Soos said. Mabel wanted to reply, but she stopped herself.
"...maybe you're right." Mabel agreed sadly. "Come on, let's go to the Pokemon Center before we leave."
They all agreed to that and walked to the Pokemon Center, Mabel in the lead riding on her Grotle. She lay flat on her back and stared at the clouds. They looked great, none of them colored gray due to being filled with rain. Surprisingly, the weather was warm, despite Sinnoh being the coldest region in Japan. It was...quiet. Calm. Peaceful. The only sound was the ambient noise created by the wind as it blew in one ear and out the other. She sighed; she wasn't used to being away from Dipper for days. She wondered how close he, Wendy, and Robbie were to Hearthome.
When they arrived at the Pokemon Center, Mabel slipped off of her Grotle and recalled it, then nearly gasped as her mood instantly brightened as she saw Wendy sitting at a table, twiddling her thumbs with her head down on the desk.
"Hey, Wendy!" Mabel called out, startling the red-head.
"Gah! Don't freak me out like that!" Wendy lifted her head and turned, crossing her arms. "Good to see you all, too."
"Took you guys long enough." Mabel said, though her smile slowly faded. "Where's Dipper and Robbie?"
"...that's why I'm here." Wendy said. "Robbie attacked Dipper with his Pokemon. Dipper went unconscious and I called for help. Robbie was arrested and Dipper was taken here for treatment." Her gaze fell on the second floor stairwell. "He's been in there for hours..."
"...oh god, Dipper!" Mabel felt her gut churn as she ran for the stairs, but bumped into someone as she neared the first step. She landed flat on her back with a grunt as she rubbed her head.
"Ow, geez, I just got back-stitches!" A new voice said. It sounded familiar to Mabel, who looked up at who she had bumped in to.
"Dipper!" She threw herself at her twin brother as soon as he got up, hugging him tightly.
"O-Ow, Mabel, I-I just got my i-injuries treated!" Dipper winced in pain but wrapped his arms around Mabel all the same. "G-Good to see you, t-too."
"Oh, sorry…" Mabel pulled away but continued to grin, crossing her arms. "Like I said to Wendy, took ya long enough!"
The next half-hour or so was spent explaining what had been happening to each of the groups, and by the time they finished, Dipper couldn't believe their group was now made up of 8 trainers.
"And we'll be the strongest 8 trainers in the region." Dipper pounded his fist on the desk with determination.
"But what about Robbie?" Soos intervened. "Why is he in jail for attacking you? Isn't that a little harsh?"
"Actually, laws state that it's legal to attack trainers with Pokemon, so I wonder why as well." Pacifica added.
"Well, after he attacked Dipper with his Pokemon, he started to strangle him." Wendy leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms. "Police officers got there just in time."
"But hey, I'm fine now, I just have to take it easy." Dipper said. "Which is why I'll be off at the Hearthome City Gym taking on the challenge for my third badge!" He got up to leave but Mabel grabbed his wrist.
"Whoa whoa, bro, you aren't going anywhere." She said.
"Oh, lemme guess, I have to take it easy?" Dipper pulled his wrist away and narrowed his eyes.
"No, just be careful and train more, the Gym Leader is tough!" Mabel said. "I mean, you're pretty strong too, but I think we should have another battle first!" She grinned and Dipper couldn't help but chuckle.
"Alright, we'll battle tomorrow, but it's getting kind of late." Dipper said. "Besides, tomorrow will mark the first month of our journey since we started." Of course, they both agreed to that, and as the sun finally began to set, everyone settled into their rooms on the third floor of the Pokemon Center.
For a time, quietness and serenity enclosed on the group, until a small knock at the door of Room 319 shattered it. The room was inhabited by Dipper, Mabel, Soos, and Wendy, as these rooms allowed up to four people to sleep in them. Wendy was the only one to wake up from the knock and slid out of her bed, grabbing her hat and her boots. She opened the door and saw a small letter on the ground. She picked it up and looked around before quietly stepping out of the room and closing the door. She used the moonlight coming in from the windows to illuminate the words on the parchment.
Dipper,
Why did you lend the key to Wendy for safe keeping? Get it back, and go back to Eterna, we need you to do this. The secret is in the largest building.
Cxxxxx
Wendy remembered early that day.
"Hey Wendy, I don't know what's so...special about this key, so I'd like you to hold onto it for now."
Wendy read over the letter again and decided to investigate. She left the Pokemon Center quietly and shivered in the cold night as she stared out into the desolate, quiet Hearthome City, once lively and now seemingly dead. The nights in Sinnoh were very different than the days; they had pretty much nobody walking around, driving, or working all-nighters.
Wendy unhooked her blue bike from the bike rack near the door and got on it. Turning on the small front lights attached to the, well, front, she started pedaling out of the city and along the route to Mt. Coronet. She passed through and road towards Cycling Road. Within an hour, she managed to arrive back at Eterna City.
'The largest building...' Wendy thought. Her eyes landed on the Team Galactic Building. She biked towards it, parked it out front, and stepped over the large tree stump that blocked the entrance.
The inside was dark, so she called out her Rotom to light the room up. Cobwebs and dust particles showed the place was obviously abandoned some time ago, though the small amount of them told how recently it was shut down. Wendy took out the key to inspect it again, but as soon as she did, her Rotom immediately began to freak out. It flew all around the room and zapped some of the left behind furniture.
"Whoa! Rotom, what's gotten into you?!" Wendy exclaimed. Her Rotom finally stopped flying in front of a wall panel in the back left corner of the room. Wendy walked over and stared at the wall. "So? It's the wall."
Then the key began to glow and beep, and the wall panel started to slide to the right, revealing a darkened opening. Wendy gasped as her Rotom lit up the room.
"Whoa...what is all this stuff?"
The room was small, the walls were a dirt-stained white and the floor was a cheap looking metal. A small chair and table were off to the side, with boxes stacked everywhere else. The back of the room had five old appliances; a washing machine, a fan, a lawnmower, an oven, and a refrigerator. All of them were a chrome white color and appeared to be turned off, or completely dead.
"Rotom? What are you doing?" Wendy asked as her Rotom inspected each of the appliances. It went inside each of them, electricity sparking from them as it did. "What the heck…?"
Her Rotom finally went inside the refrigerator, but it didn't come out. The appliance turned a scarlet red color, and Rotom's light orange electrical aura radiated off of it. Rotom's face appeared on the front as a spike protruded from the top panel.
"...wow." Was all Wendy could manage to say.
Later that night, Wendy quietly returned, and the next day, she acted like nothing had happened at all. She sat with the others on some benches in Hearthome City with the exception of Dipper and Mabel, who were prepared to battle, and Soos, who was the ref.
"The battle between the two Pines twins of Piedmont, California, will now commence!" Soos announced. "Each trainer is allowed the use of three Pokemon as per the request of Mabel Pines. In the event of a storm, heat wave, deep freeze, or any sort of out of hand violence, the battle will be stopped in order to prevent further harm or from one side getting an unfair advantage. Neither trainer is allowed to use the terrain for their advantage, meaning moves like Dig and Fly are strictly prohibited."
"Wow, soos, you memorized all that?" Dipper asked.
"No, I'm just reading off of a paper Mabel wrote for me." Soos smiled and held up a slip of paper. "Um, anyways, let the battle begin!"
Both twins smiled and readied their Pokeballs. It was going to be a long but fun battle.
-(End Of Chapter)-
And finally, the group is back together again! However, Robbie is in jail, Dipper is behind on badges and training, and Wendy has uncovered something mysterious in Eterna City! What could this all mean?
This chapter was fairly short, but it was still pretty fun to write. Expect more chapters coming soon! Sooner than you should expect!
Oh, here's the cipher code for this chapter:
WKHUH LV D ORW PRUH WR WKH HYHQWV WKDQ BRX WKLQN. UREELH ZLOO QRW EH UHWXUQLQJ IRU D ZKLOH. NHHS LQ PLQG WKDW WKH QHAW FKDSWHU ZLOO FRQWDLQ PRUH WKDQ MXVW D EDWWOH EHWZHHQ GLSSHU DQG PDEHO, DQG WKH EDWWOHV WDNH WLPH IRU PH WR ZULWH. BHV WKLV LV D ORQJ FRGH.
Yes, it's long, but just solve it, ya brainiacs!
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, reviews are highly appreciated, and as always…
Stay Tuned!
~087-B