Chapter 17: Crash
"That does not sound like a good encounter," Shelly said, her arms crossed as she frowned at her younger sister. Gabri had just explained her battle with Trip while the group of four sat on a bench in the Pokemon Center to catch up after training.
"He was rude to me, but there's something I like about him," Gabri commented.
"He sounds like someone you should stay away from," Gary warned.
"I don't think you know enough about him to know that," Dani pointed out. "I would try talking to him. He seems more open to that than Paul."
Gabri smiled at her. "I will. Thanks."
Shelly rolled her eyes. "You two are hopeless."
Gary nodded, his eyes shining with disapproval. "Be careful."
"Hey guys!" a high voice rang out. Gary and the sisters turned to see Dawn burst through the doors of the Pokemon Center, and Kenny walked in – out of breath – a second later.
Shelly immediately brightened upon seeing their friends. "Hi, Dawn. Hey, Kenny. Are you here for the contest?"
"You bet!" Kenny said with a grin. "I'm assuming you are as well."
"Yep!"
"That's great!" Dawn exclaimed.
Piplup stood beside her and nodded his head. "Piplup."
Dragon walked over to the water type and smiled. "Tepig."
Next, Mo crawled down Dani's leg and walked until he stood near the other two Pokemon. "Quil!"
Shelly smiled at the three of them. "It's good to see they're getting along."
"Yes," Dawn agreed. She looked form Kenny to Shelly. "Let's do our best in the contest!"
"Good luck to all of you," Gary said.
The contest was still five days away, so there was time for some more training! After a good night's rest, that was exactly what they all planned to do.
Shelly examined herself in the mirror one last time before deciding she was satisfied with her look. She did not have the space for extra clothes, so she wore her contest dress, and her hair was done up in a bun. She nodded and turned to look at the TV backstage so she could see what was going on.
"Hey, Shelly!" Dawn said, waving at her as she approached with Kenny. "Good luck today."
Shelly smiled. "Thanks. You too."
Kenny smirked. "I don't plan on losing this time."
"Piplup," the penguin Pokemon said from his trainer's arms.
Just then, Astoria announced the start of the contest. Shelly was surprised to find she was giving the first performance. Her friends gave her one more set of smiles before she took a deep breath and headed out to the stage.
She could see her friends sitting in the fifth row, and this made her feel better. Crystal, her Eevee, sat with Gary so that she could learn from this contest. She took a deep breath before releasing her Pokemon. "You're up, Angel!"
The Mincinno spun in a circle in the air and then landed on her feet, striking a pose. Shelly smiled slightly. "Ok, prance!" As Angel moves across the stage, Shelly tossed out flower petals, which rained down on the Pokemon. "Tickle!" The Mincinno swished her tail back and forth, hitting the petals and causing them to move around her faster.
"Now use Pound!" Angel's tail slammed on the ground. The petals flew up in the air and then gently rained down around her, falling to the floor. "Baby-Doll Eyes." The Pokemon sat down and made a cute face. Then she stood up and bowed with her trainer.
Shelly felt nervous and she returned backstage, but she knew she had done her best. She wanted to give her new Pokemon some experience even though she did not know many attacks yet. She only hoped it was enough.
She was impressed as she watched Dawn with her Togekiss and then Kenny with his Pidgeot. The two of them stood beside her, saying noting. Finally, the coordinators who would be moving on were announced.
Shelly held her breath. Dawn and Kenny had gotten in, but she could not see her own picture yet. She let out her breath when it became clear that she had not made the cut.
"It's alright, Shelly," Dawn said, giving her a sympathetic smile. "It happens to the best of us."
"Well, it never happens to me," Kenny said. Dawn shot him a look and he shut his mouth.
Shelly shrugged and glanced at Angel on the ground. The Mincinno looked up at her in concern. "It's not your fault," she said to the Pokemon. "We have not had enough time together to train."
"I'm sure you've both learned a lot from this experience," Dawn said.
Shelly wanted to be hard on herself, but she could not do so with her friend's encouragement. "You're right. Thanks. And good luck to you." She would have plenty of time to worry about what went wrong later. Right now, she had to root for her friends!
It turned out that Dawn and Kenny made it all the way to the finals. Dawn battled with Quilava while Kenny used Magnemite. It was close, but in the end, Kenny pulled through. Shelly made her way to the stands while she watched Kenny receive his ribbon. He had deserved it.
"Shelly!"
The pink-haired girl turned to see her friends coming towards her. Gabri had been the one who shouted. The coordinator forced a smile. "Hey, guys."
"Sorry you didn't win," Gary said as he handed her Eevee back to her.
"I thought Angel was good," Dani said.
"You'll win for sure next time," Gabri said.
Shelly was glad that they were not disappointed in her. "Thanks. Now I need to find another contest to attend." It was time to start looking to the future!
"We can discuss that at the Pokemon Center," Gary said.
The four of them headed off together. Once they returned to the Pokemon Center, they asked Nurse Joy where she recommended they travel to next.
"Nimbasa City has a gym and a contest coming up soon," Joy said. "However, you might want to stop in Nimbasa Town on the way there. The Battle Club will be hosting a tournament. It would be great practice if you were all to take part."
"That does sound fun," Dani said. "I could use more training for my next gym battle."
"Me too," Gabri said.
"That sounds like a good idea to me," Shelly said. She turned to Gary and smiled shyly. "You should join too. Then we could all have fun together."
Gary hesitated before nodded. "It's been awhile since I've entered a tournament. Ok. I'll do it."
Everyone looked at each other and grinned. They needed something exciting to get themselves out of this current slump. A Battle Club tournament seemed just the thing!
The group departed the following day. It was only until they were looking to stop for the night the following day that anything of interest happened. They had just emerged from the trees into a green area when they found that this camping spot was already taken.
"Isn't that Drew?" Dani said, watching the green-haired boy take out cooking supplies.
"I think it is," Gary said with a smile. The four trainers continued forward.
"Drew!" Dani called once they were a yard away.
The boy looked up in surprise. Then he smiled upon recognizing the group. "Hey, guys. What are you doing out here?"
"We're on our way to Nimbassa Town, but we're stopping for the night," Gabri said. "Can we join you?"
Drew hesitated and then dipped his head. "Sure. If you do the cooking." He smirked.
Shelly rolled her eyes. "Fine. Whatever."
"I'll do it," Dani offered.
"And I'll help," Gary said as he took his bags from Gogoat.
Shelly frowned as she watched them. Perhaps she should not have been so bitter. She shrugged off her feelings and focused on setting up a space for them to eat.
A little while later, everyone had eaten there fill and were lying in the grass, looking up at the darkening sky. The Pokemon of the five trainers appeared pleased to be let out of their Pokeballs. Dani kept her eyes on Drew's Flygon, and she soon had an idea. "Hey, Drew, have you ever flown on Flygon?"
Drew sat up and blinked at her. "No. I've never thought of that."
"It would not hurt to learn," Gary said as he stood up and started to collect their ditches. "You never know when it may be helpful to be able to fly out of a tricky situation."
Dani wondered if Drew would even know how to ride on his dragon. She remembered how he had seemed to fear flying on Luke when he had first evolved. "I'll help you out." She offered him a warm smile. "You ride on Flygon and I'll ride on Luke." When she stood up, the Charizard took a step towards her.
"That sounds like fun!" Gabri said.
"If you're not too scared," Shelly said with a smirk.
Drew shot her a look and stood up quickly. "Alright. Show me how it's done."
Dani grinned. "Great!"
Everyone cleared the way so that Luke and Flygon had space to stand side-by-side. Drew watched as Dani grabbed onto the place where Luke's wing met the rest of his body and hoisted herself onto him. Drew now turned to Flyogn. A determined look crossed is face as he copied his friend. It was a struggle, but he was eventually able to secure himself on his Pokemon's back.
"Not bad," Gary said. "Now let's see you fly."
Dani glanced at Drew and nodded. "Let's go." She gently patted Luke's side, and he launched himself into the air. The girl closed her eyes as the wind whipped through her hair. Then she opened them to see Flygon take off with Drew on his back. The Charizard waited until they were flying side-by-side. "This is not too bad, is it?"
Drew smirked. "This is easy."
Dani laughed. "Then let's go higher." Luke flapped his wings and gained speed, and Flygon was right on his tail.
Shelly watched them from the ground, a sad smile on her lips. That sure looked like fun. It was not jealousy that drove her emotions, however. She glanced at her younger sister who was playing with her Pokemon. If only she could be so carefree. She sighed and leaned against a tree.
"Is something wrong?"
Her eyes widened at Gary's voice, and her heartbeat quickened. "N-no, I'm fine." The last thing she needed to do was to burden him with her problems.
Gary stopped in front of her and frowned. "You can trust me, you know. We're friends, right?"
Shelly immediately felt guilty. She had not meant to make him feel like she did not believe she could talk to him. She hesitated before speaking again. "I'm just disappointed with my last contest performance. It's been awhile since I've lost two contests in a row and even longer since I've not even made it past the appeals round." She had only made it seem like it was no big deal so as not to worry anymore.
Gary looked at her in concern and put a hand on her shoulder. "I understand. I used to feel that way when I lost several battles in a row. But if you focus on those feelings, you're never going to improve. It's ok to feel down, but you have to let motivate you to try your hardest next time."
Shelly nodded. For some reason, his presence made her calm instead of nervous like usual. She appreciated how much he seemed to care about her. "Thanks, Gary. I'll be alright. I need to stay strong for my Pokemon."
He smiled at her. "Good."
She turned and stared at the sky once again. She felt happy for Dani and Drew in her heart. This journey had its ups and downs, but it was worth it already for all the friends that they had made.
Dani and Drew ere happy yet tired when they returned to the ground. By then, the sun had set, and stars had begun to litter the sky. Everyone agreed it was time to wind down and rest for the night. Since the weather was so nice, they all decided to sleep outside instead of setting up their tents. The sleeping bags were set up in a circle in this order: Gary, Dani, Drew, Gabri, and Shelly.
Dani lay on top of her sleeping bag and gazed up at the sky. "The stars are so beautiful. They remind me of home." She was not from a big city, so it was easy to see the stars on a clear night.
"Same here," Gary said. "The stars are brilliant in Pallet Town."
"I can see the stars better here than in my hometown," said Drew. "That's one of the drawbacks of living in a big city."
Dani turned her head to glance at him. "Do you ever miss it?"
"No. I'm fine where I am. I have no need to go home."
"I miss home," Gabri admitted. "I've never been away from my parents for so long."
"I did not miss home at first, but now I feel homesick sometimes," Shelly said.
"At least we're all together," Dani said. "It's good we can stick together as a family."
"Family is important," Gary agreed. "I feel lonely if I don't go home every now and then or at least call Gramps."
"I agree with you in theory, but I don't think blood itself is enough to create strong ties," Drew said. "Everything doesn't always work out the way it should."
Dani gazed at him in compassion even though he was staring at the dark sky. "I'm sorry you feel that way. It must be terrible to not have a family you can count on."
"That's life sometimes," Gary said, a hint of bitterness in his tone. "Maybe blood should be enough, but some people don't care. They betray blood and refuse to form ties. They leave family members alone to fend for themselves."
"Exactly," Drew said. "Even when family does stay... that doesn't mean they'll love you. It doesn't mean they'll act like a family should. Sometimes it's harder for them to stay when you know they really don't feel much for you."
"That's terrible," Shelly murmured.
"I'm sorry," Gabri whispered.
Dani returned her gaze to the stars as she reflected on the words of her friends. She wondered if Paul had a similar story. That would certainly explain his attitude. There had to be answer that would help them all. "Maybe blood isn't all that's important," she said quietly. "Maybe family can mean those people who love you even if you aren't related. Maybe choosing to care about someone means more than staying out of obligation."
"I'm starting to realize that," Gary said. "That's why I'm glad I agreed to go on this journey."
"And if you don't have other people, if you're a trainer, you'll always have your Pokemon."
"Yeah," Drew said. "Pokemon are family."
Dani saw him smile. At least he understood that much. She hoped this was a lesson Paul would learn someday as well. Regardless, she was grateful for her sisters and friends.
