Chapter 10: Bonding

It was early morning; the sun had yet to rise. As usual, I was already up thinking.

For that is what a Master does; he thinks— he is the brilliance behind the team.

Today, I happened to be contemplating the obvious.

The too obvious.

Often times the most obvious solutions are overlooked for the very reason they are obvious.

In this situation, I calculated a 53% chance of the obvious being true.

The possibilities:

Mew teleported elsewhere or transformed and ran off.

Mew was one of Miss Parkwood's or Miss Kendle's Pokemon.

Mew was Miss Kendle.

Mew was Miss Parkwood.

1, 2, and 3 were all very viable situations. Very viable.

The fourth hypothesis was more than viable.

It was probable.

Which made me suspicious.

Yet, the data lined up perfectly.

The first piece of supporting data was that Miss Parkwood traveled the same exact path Mew traveled. This, of course, applied to the other options as well.

A more interesting bit of information was that, according to Miss Goldenthrill, Miss Parkwood moved to Melonbi Town in the summer before the two girls were in second grade, approximately six years ago. My father found Mew just outside of Melonbi Town six years ago, and no member of Team Glop'emm has glimpsed the Pokemon since. Coincidence? Unlikely.

Miss Goldenthrill also provided some unusual information about Miss Parkwood's childhood. Apparently, Miss Parkwood was unusually comfortable with wild Pokemon at an early age. Before she had her own Pokemon, herds of wild Pokemon would follow her to and from school. This is not the case with normal human children.

Furthermore, the girl had psychic powers.

The silly girl may as well have been screaming, "I am Mew!"

But would Mew really be so unsubtle? According to the obvious… it seemed so.

However, the data needed to be confirmed. I had to verify everything possible before jumping to conclusions.

Much of the information had been obtained by watching the video tape of one of our member's grunts speaking with Miss Goldenthrill. There was no known reason for her to lie, but I would still have to get her information verified.

I would also need more information about Mew. Research on this rare Pokemon was the reason I left my headquarters in the first place. Others could not be trusted with information on one of the most powerful creatures in the world. I would start my research in libraries throughout Acceber… I would have to confirm the legends.

The most important legend I would have to confirm was that Mew kept its psychic powers when it transformed. If my research revealed that this was not the case, I would need a new hypothesis.

And there was also the legend that all psychics and psychic Pokemon have purple eyes. Again, Miss Parkwood fit this criterion.

However, this legendary rumor was actually proven false by several researchers a couple of years ago.

They found that 20% of all purple-eyed Pokemon and humans were not psychics, though many were descendants of psychic humans or Pokemon. This piece of evidence could not be relied upon. It was interesting that one of Miss Parkwood's Eevees had slightly violet eyes. Although Pokemon with unusual coloring were not all that uncommon…

I breathed the cool morning air in deeply. My brain raced forward, foreseeing where this research would eventually take me.

In the end, there would be only one way to confirm my hypothesis.

I quietly pulled a Pokeball from my belt and let loose the Pokemon within. A bird Pokemon with large dark wings and a white feathery chest appeared before me.

I pulled out a pen and a pad of paper. I scribbled the note quickly and tied it to my Honchkrow.

Chief Assistant, Mr. Arkle,

I need you to pull all of our top scientists out of their current projects. Order them to begin researching Ditto and to create a device based on this research that will force a Pokemon to transform. Not evolve—transform as Ditto and Pokemon X can. I need this device ASAP. My Honchkrow will stay to oversee that you and the scientists do as I ordered.

-Master

I held the note up to the Honchkrow, and watched as the bird's eyes darted from line to line, reading. I folded up the letter and tied it to Honchkrow's held out claw.

"Deliver this to my assistant, the one I left in charge," I commanded. "Make sure he and the scientists do as ordered."

Honchkrow nodded, and flapped off into the dawn.

I closed my eyes.

And planned.

o o o o o o o o o o o o

"Good morning, Miss Goldenthrill."

"Humph," I grumpily replied while stumbling into my chair behind the desk. The man sat before me in one of my private rooms for the second time this week. This was where I originally discussed Anita with him.

What in the world could he possibly want at 6:00 in the morning? If John hadn't already let the man in the house, I would have ignored the man's request to speak with me. Beauty sleep was much more important.

I crossed my arms and frowned at the man. "What do you want?"

The man fumbled with his laptop until he finally go it open. He placed it in front of me.

A man appeared on the screen. His face was halfway in the shadows, but I could see his semi-long straight brown hair and dark eyes. He also looked like he had a 5:00 shadow, but it was hard to tell in this light. He had to be in his twenties.

"Miss Goldenthrill, I am glad we finally have the chance to talk." The man seemed to try to smile warmly, but failed. "I have a proposition."

I sneered, "What could you possibly want with me?"

"How would you like to start your Pokemon journey early?"

o o o o o o o o o o o o

{So explain this to me again,} I requested as Apple and I quietly made our way through the dimly lit woods.

Apple sighed. {You can only read his thoughts if he wants you to. See, the mind is actually in the brain. Your powers do not affect any physical part of a person or Pokemon that is dark type. Thus, you cannot see into his mind or even sense where he is. However, when a person projects his or her thoughts, the thoughts are literally flung outside of the body. Therefore, you can pick up this boy's thoughts if he projects them.}

{But he hasn't done that yet. Even when he is speaking, he does not automatically project his words like most Pokemon and humans do.}

{Right,} Apple answered.

{Which makes him even more suspicious.}

{Of what?}

{I don't know,} I said exasperatedly. {Something's up with him though.}

Apple nodded. {I don't like the idea of traveling with him.}

{We're going to have to be careful to not let any of your… weirdness slip.}

Apple frowned slightly. {So are we going to be doing this often? Sneaking off in the morning to practice our psychic powers?}

{Yeah, I think we should make a habit of it. But just to be clear, Apple, this is to practice your psychic powers, not mine. You're not a complete expert you know! You're barely eight years old and need to practice as much as I do.}

Apple snorted. {Well, I'm much better than you!}

{Which is why you can't be practicing in public. Erin already knows I'm a newbie to this whole psychic thing and can barely make a simple barrier. If you started using your psychic powers in public, I'd have to claim they were mine, which is obviously not the case.}

Apple rolled her eyes and huffed, {I know, I know. But really, I don't need the practice. You do!}

It was my turn to roll my eyes. {Sure. You're so obviously perfect; you're much too good for practice.}

Apple smiled smugly. {That's right.} The Eevee eyed me shiftily and then glanced at our surroundings. {I think we're far enough away from camp now.}

Suddenly, my body felt lighter. It took me a second to figure out what was going on.

Unfortunately in that second, I was flung twenty feet into the air.

Let me tell you, floating in midair is an unnerving sensation. It feels like you're stuck in the middle of one of those glass floors, only you're not sure if the glass floor is strong enough to hold your weight. You could fall at any second.

I tilted my head to glare at the Eevee several feet below me. {What do you think you're doing?}

Apple yawned lazily. {Practicing.}

{Put me down, Apple!}

{Hey, you're the one who said I needed the practice.}

I started spinning slowly in the air.

{Apple,} I growled.

The Eevee grinned. {I could be doing worse, you know.}

I was being held upside down.

{Yeah, right.}

{I could transform back into my real self and have better control.}

{Apple!} I gasped.

{Geeze, it was just a joke. I would never transform in public.}

{We're not in public.}

{Ah. In that case, I can see why you're worried.}

{Apple, seriously. You cannot transform, especially with that boy around. Neither of us can sense when he's approaching.}

{I was joking. It is regretful though. I have so much more control as Mew. I could make you float, stop you from blinking, uproot a tree, and move Lemon Lake all at once as a Mew. As an Eevee, I can barely control you and move a pebble telekinetically at the same time.}

{Which is why you need to practice.}

{I thought you wanted me to stop!}

I groaned.

Apple's ears pricked like mini radars. Suddenly, I was plummeting to the earth.

{APPLE!}

I was stopped inches above the ground so suddenly that my breath was knocked from me. Apple released me from her psychic grip.

Apple's ears were twitching this way and that, extremely alert.

{Sorry. We have—}

"Company would be nice; don't you think?" A voice spoke behind me.

I whirled around.

Between two thick trees not ten feet away, Liam stood watching me.

How much had he seen?

{Don't worry. He just arrived,} Apple assured me.

"What are you doing here?" I snarled.

"I woke up, saw your sleeping bag empty, and heard some rustling in the bushes. Naturally, I wanted to see what you were up to. It was very easy to follow your trail." Liam's eyes flickered to Apple and then back to me. "The real question is, what are you doing here?"

"I was practicing my psychic gift. I didn't want to wake up anyone." I glared at Liam when I said "anyone" to emphasize I did not want him here.

Liam ignored my implication, and continued, "What were you practicing?"

"I was… err—"

{Dodging.}

"Dodging. Apple was throwing… or actually kicking… things at me, and I had to move out of the way," I lied. I kept eye contact even though my heart was pounding and my breath came up short.

{You suck at lying—}

Something hit the back of my head. "Ow!" I exclaimed.

{—so I have to make this a convincing show.}

I turned to see Apple smirking at me. She shoved her leg forward and kicked another pebble at me. I ducked.

{You better close your eyes so the boy knows you are actually using your psychic powers to dodge, not your eyes.}

I complied.

Another pebble hit my leg.

{Umm, Apple? How am I going to dodge like this? I can't actually dodge with my eyes closed!}

I could imagine the grin on Apple's face as she said, {You're going to actually have to use your gift.}

I doubled over as something hit my stomach.

{Oooh, sorry about that one.}

{Apple, I don't know how to do this!}

{Easy, just do the same thing you've done for everything else. How do you use telepathy? You reach out with your mind and sense a living being and then project your thoughts. This should be easier. You're just reaching out with your mind to sense where something is.}

"I can see you need the practice," I heard the boy sneer.

I cursed him under my breath.

I reached my mind out to where Apple was and automatically jumped into her mind.

I felt her kick something else in my direction so I jumped to the left. The rock skimmed my right arm.

{You're cheating. Get out!} I was shoved from Apple's mind.

I felt suspended in nothingness and noticed that I could kind of "see" what was around me.

Except the boy, of course.

I was naturally drawn to Apple, but I did not allow myself to go toward her mind again.

This was actually not hard. It was almost the same thing I had done when I checked for other life forms near the pond, only now I was attempting to locate nonliving objects.

I suddenly "saw" a twig flying toward me. I ducked out of the way.

It was easy after that. I was able to dodge everything Apple kicked my way.

Until there were two things coming at once.

One was coming from a different direction.

I dodged the one coming from Apple, but was hit by the strange round object flying at me from behind.

I turned around and opened my eyes.

The boy was frowning at me, closer than he had been before.

As I glanced down at the ground, I noticed a Pokeball beside me.

"Why did you throw a Pokeball at me?" I asked.

Liam smirked. "You're going to have to be prepared for anything in a real battle. Even things flying at you from different directions."

I felt Apple suddenly become smug. She must be planning something.

"And what makes you an expert on battling? You're a researcher," I snickered.

I sensed something coming at my head from behind me so I ducked.

The Pokeball launched over my head directly toward Liam.

The boy seemed to twist out of the way, but abruptly his arm reached out and snatched the ball out of the air.

It was very cool.

{Aww, man,} Apple whined sourly. {I wanted to hit him in the face.}

Liam lightly tossed the Pokeball in the air and caught it again while smirking at me. "Believe it or not, I was once a trainer. A gifted trainer. I know what the gym leaders will throw at you."

I grimaced at his pun. And at him. Both were horrible.

"I can help you train better than your Eevee can. I have two arms, and probably better aim."

{Yeah, right. My aim is perfect,} Apple interjected.

"Plus, you're going to need to be able to dodge more than twigs and pebbles."

{He's right. Remember what Abalina said? You could have to battle alongside your Pokemon, which means you may have to dodge all sorts of attacks.}

{So what am I supposed to do?}

{Let him help, I guess. Might as well make the most of the situation.}

"Fine," I said, answering them both at once.

Liam immediately ran toward me and lashed his left leg out.

I stumbled backwards.

I was surprised; I hadn't actually expected him to attack me… to try to hit a girl.

Well, no time to think about that. I had other issues.

{Uh, Apple, I have a problem. I have no way of predicting where he is going to hit.}

{That is a problem.}

Liam's arm was racing toward my face.

Crap.

I moved to the side, but he still managed to hit my shoulder. It didn't hurt as much as I thought it would, but I would definitely have a bruise later.

"You know, I can't sense where you will strike," I panted, ducking a wild punch.

"I know. You will not always be able to rely on your psychic powers," Liam answered calmly. He did not seem to be exerting much effort.

I jumped over a leg Liam attempted to trip me with. Then I ducked because I sensed Apple aiming a quick attack at my back.

Apple hit Liam instead. For once, he looked shocked.

{That felt good.} Apple did a little victory dance. {I know I agreed to let him help you, but don't think he can give you a few bruises without getting a few himself.}

"You will not always be able to rely on your uncanny ability to dodge what's coming your way," I mocked the dark-haired kid.

Liam had gotten over his shock quickly. He stuck out a leg and twirled, causing me to fall over.

"It's called reflexes," the boy said. He stood up and offered me his hand.

I gave him a dirty look and got up myself.

He kicked at me again, and this time I dodged.

/ / / / / / / / / / / / /

We continued for about an hour until I was thoroughly exhausted.

As we crept back to our camp, I thought to Apple, {How did he get so good at fighting?}

{He says he was a trainer. If that's the case, then he'd have to figure out a way to beat the gym leaders, just like you. Unlike you though, his actual power is not very useful, unless he's fighting a psychic. He probably learned to fight to make up for lacking a useful power.}

{What abilities does a person with the dark type gift have, besides being unaffected by psychics?} I asked curiously.

{I'm not entirely sure. I know they can see perfectly in the dark, and tend to have more energy at night. I think they are also good at hiding.}

We were silent until we reached camp.

"Thanks for helping," I mumbled grudgingly to Liam.

He didn't reply.

"I said thanks." I spoke more loudly.

Liam turned to look at me. "So?"

"So you're supposed to say, 'you're welcome'."

"Oh."

He didn't say anything else.

{Rude, much?} I commented, irked.

I looked around our sleeping grounds for Erin. Her sleeping bag was empty, but I spotted her crouched over sketching something by the edge of the clearing. I was surprised she was already up.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

She looked up at us. "Oh, you guys are finally back! I was drawing a picture of this sleeping Weedle I found." She waved her notebook at us. "So how was your bonding time?"

"Bonding time?" I looked at her like she was insane… or more insane than usual.

"Or maybe it was make-out time?" She suggested, raising her eyebrows at me. "You guys were in the woods for a while."

I gagged. Liam snickered.

"Are you kidding me?" I exclaimed. This girl must be on drugs.

{I would have smelled that,} Apple stated dryly.

I suddenly realized the scene from Erin's point of view.

"Wait a second. You woke up to find both of our sleeping bags empty this morning, correct?"

"Yeah," Erin answered.

"And you didn't come searching for us?"

"No. Should I have?"

"Did it ever occur to you that I could have been kidnapped, or murdered, or taken advantage of by this stranger?" I gestured to Liam who frowned at me.

"Nope."

"Erin!"

"Did that actually happen?" Erin questioned. She started packing up her sleeping bag and her few other possessions. I did the same.

"Well, no—"

"Then I don't see what the problem is."

"Erin, if the situation was reversed, if I woke up to find two sleeping bags empty, I would have immediately come looking for you!"

"There would obviously be no problem and you would be stupid for worrying," Erin replied.

"How can you say that? HOW CAN YOU BE SO TRUSTING OF A COMPLETE STRANGER?"

"How can you be so sexist and judgmental? You don't even know him." Erin looked at me coldly.

I was about to yell at her again when Apple put in, {Anita, you're losing your temper again.}

{I DON'T CARE!}

Apple winced. {You're going to have to at least try to stop doing that. Soon your powers will get out of control under extreme distress or emotion. You have to practice being in control at all times.}

So instead of screaming, I fumed quietly as we finished packing.

I stormed off after quickly feeding my Pokemon and eating a granola bar.

"Anita, that's the wrong direction."

I stormed the other way.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

It had taken four battles against random trainers dispersed about the route and a lot of walking to calm Anita down. After eight hours of traveling, we were finally at the Tinted Town Pokemon Center. Anita had not said a word to Erin or Liam the whole journey, though Erin and Liam had spent most of the time happily chatting about their past research projects.

Or in Liam's case, perhaps his phony research projects. For all I knew, he was making the whole thing up.

Oh, how I wish I could simply see what he was thinking.

Anita's argument with Erin about whether Liam could be trusted would not be resolved unless Liam did something particularly disturbing. He'd have to do something to prove he couldn't be trusted.

But I did not think that was going to happen.

I did not trust the kid, but for whatever reason, he clearly wanted to travel with the group. He wouldn't do something that would get him kicked out.

When I wasn't battling or trying to help Anita practice making barriers despite the fact that she always failed on our journey to this town, I was thinking about Anita and Erin's argument and watching Liam.

I thought Erin had a valid point. However, because I could not read Liam's mind, I thought Anita was correct in not trusting Liam. I guess my perspective is kind of skewed though.

Liam did not react to any of Anita's accusations. It was very strange. He just looked at her kind of funny, like he was confused by her actions.

I suddenly felt Anita's temper prickle again.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU ONLY HAVE ONE ROOM AVAILABLE?" Anita angrily yelled at Nurse Joy. I rolled my eyes; she was blowing up all over the place these days.

"Well, we get many trainers passing through this town to battle the gym leader, visit our famous museum of Pokemon history, and participate in contests," Nurse Joy replied.

"Anita, relax. We can all share a room. There's no difference between sleeping ten feet away from him inside and sleeping ten feet away from him outside." Erin put a hand on Anita's shoulder.

Anita shrugged her off and glared at her.

{Anita, calm down. Nothing will happen.}

{Except being killed in our sleep.}

I sighed.

Nurse Joy showed us our room and then asked Liam to help her move a cot into the small sleeping space. The room was smaller than our room in Azul City, but it had more space because there was a bunk bed instead of two twin beds. Of course, putting a cot in the room defeated the purpose…

"Let's go do something fun," Erin suggested after everyone had put their bags on a bed. Anita had chosen the top bunk, Liam the cot, which left Erin with the bottom bunk.

"I want to go battle the gym leader," Anita said.

Of course she did. {Right, that's a great idea. In your state of mind, maybe you'll get yourself killed before Liam can do it,} I joked morbidly.

Anita gave me a death stare.

"Nope, we're going swimming!" Erin announced. She gestured to the single window at the back of the room. "It must be nearly seventy-five degrees, which is warmer than it's been in a while!" The girl started searching through her bag for a swim suit.

I smiled. Relaxing by the pool would be nice. Maybe they had hotdogs…

"I don't swim," Anita and Liam said simultaneously. They looked at each other in surprise.

Wow, they finally agreed on something.

"Too, bad," Erin said cheerfully, pulling out a white bikini from her bag. She ran into the bathroom, the door slamming behind her in her excitement.

Anita frowned. "Do you have a bathing suit?" she asked Liam.

He shook his head.

"Me neither. Think we could convince Erin that we are going to the library to have more 'bonding time'?" She finger quoted 'bonding time'.

Liam rolled his eyes.

{I don't think Erin will be taking no for an answer,} I told Anita. {She's way too excited to let this pass.}

Erin burst out of the bathroom in a blue tank top and light grey mini skirt. Her bathing suit was on underneath.

"C'mon, guys!" The overexcited girl grabbed Anita and Liam's arms, forcing them to follow.

I trotted after them.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o

I jumped in the water. The coolness tingled on my skin; it felt amazing.

I did an underwater flip and came up for a breath.

Anita and Liam were still sitting in their lounge chairs. Anita was reading a book and Liam was looking around the pool with those unnerving green eyes.

Anita was still in her capris and t-shirt. I had made her buy a cute purple bikini, which she had on underneath her clothes after my insistence, but she refused to strip down to her bikini and get in the water, claiming it was "too cold." Excuses, excuses.

Liam, on the other hand, had simply grabbed the first pair of trunks he found in the store to appease me. He refused to even touch the water, but gave no excuse. He sat in his trunks, observing everything going on at the pool.

My eyes lingered on Liam for a bit. On a scale from one to ten, ten being gorgeous-hot and one being gross, he was about a six. He was very lean, and it looked like he had some muscle, but whatever chance he had at being hot was ruined by his insanely pale skin. It looked like he hadn't ever sat in the sun. Maybe he would gain a bit of color today.

I suddenly caught Liam's eye. I waved and called, "Come on in! The water's great!"

Liam rolled his eyes. Anita peered at me over her book and scowled.

I sank under water. When I came up again, I watched our Pokemon.

This pool belonged to the Pokemon Center so it was of course for people and Pokemon.

Wella, my Whooper, was floating on her back a little ways away from me. Tweal was playing with one of Anita's younger Eevees, and Griffy was using psychic to entertain the other three young Pokemon. Apple snoozed by Anita's feet, and Fiery was watching the younger Eevees. He always seemed so protective.

Liam had not let any of his Pokemon out.

It was so annoying that nobody, besides Wella, was coming in the water with me. They were such party poopers. I would play with Wella, but she generally liked being left alone.

An idea suddenly came to me.

{Griffy!} I called, knowing he would hear.

{Yes, Erin?}

{Could you tell all the Pokemon to gather here by the edge of the pool?}

{Of course.}

o o o o o o o o o o o o

I tagged Tweal then scurried away. He was it!

Tweal flapped after me as I ran under the lounge chairs.

A couple of people gave me dirty looks, but for the most part, the lounge chairs were empty. There were not many other people or Pokemon at the pool.

I nearly tripped a blonde boy just entering the pool. When I looked up at him, I realized I had seen him before. Anita had battled him in the last town.

I wanted to battle.

{Excuse me, Erin is planning something. She wants us by the pool edge,} Griffy said in my head.

Sounds exciting! Almost as exciting as a battle would be!

I twisted around, nearly tripping the boy again, and ran to the pool edge while Tweal flew after me.

Everyone else was already there.

"Alright guys, here's the plan." Erin smiled deviously.

I liked that smile.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Reading was soothing.

It was just what I needed today.

I had made a deal with Erin that I would buy a bathing suit if we went to a book store for a few minutes.

So I bought the first thing Erin liked and then found a book that looked interesting, called The Gift: More Than a Myth. It was by someone named Tamara Lilac and was apparently criticized by a number of researchers. The author claimed that everything written was true, but critics claimed it was fiction. I found it in the fiction section of the book store.

I was finishing the introduction when I noticed something suspicious.

My chair was inching toward the pool.

I looked at Liam. We turned around to see what was moving us forward.

Nothing was there.

Maybe I was imagining things.

I went back to reading.

Wait, where was Apple?

She had been sitting by my feet minutes ago. I jerked up. Where were all the Pokemon?

As I turned around again, I felt my chair speed ahead.

Behind me, I saw Griffy concentrating on our chairs. I also saw eight Pokemon lifting our chairs.

Crud.

I chucked my book at Griffy as I fell—

SPLASH

—into the water.

I came up for a breath.

"ERIN!" I yelled. "What was that for? I'm in my clothes!"

Erin shrugged. "You guys were being so boring."

I turned to see all of my Pokemon laughing at me.

{That was awesome!} Splash squealed. He tried to jump in the water, but Vanilla grabbed his tail.

{You can't swim, idiot,} she said.

{Oh yeah.} Splash pouted.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Liam glaring at Erin from the pool edge. He climbed out of the water so fast that, if I wasn't in the water, I would have thought it was poisonous.

I heard slow clapping.

I swiveled my head to see who was applauding my downfall.

I should have known.

Jake Veneer stood there, smirking, in a bathing suit.

For a moment, I seriously considered drowning myself.

{Crap! He definitely scores ten out of ten on the hot guy scale!} I heard Erin scream. I winced. I hadn't even been trying to hear her thoughts.

This was one thing I just didn't get about Erin. There was a very good looking man lying by the concession stand, but she didn't give him one glance. What about Jake Veneer turned her head over heels?

"That was very clever, Erin," Jake complimented.

Erin beamed.

Oh, please.

He looked at me and snickered.

How I wished I could move things with my mind at that moment. I would make him fall on his face into the water.

{I could do that for you,} Apple suggested.

{Thanks, but no thanks,} I replied. {You've dumped more than enough people into the water today.}

I dragged myself out of the water and went over to the towel stand, where I took about ten towels.

When I turned back to where our lounge chairs were (Griffy must have returned them with a psychic to their original places), I saw Jake flirting with Erin in the water. He said a little too loudly, "I'm here just for the rest of the day because I've already beaten the gym leader." His taunting eyes flickered to meet mine for a millisecond.

I turned my attention to Liam, who was glaring at Erin. I almost felt sorry for him. His glare was going completely unnoticed. I shoved two towels at him, sighed, and started taking off my wet clothes.

When I was finished, Erin and Jake were standing in front of me.

Jake was holding what looked like a mini-basket ball.

"So, Anita, Erin and I want to face you and this new kid in a game of water basketball," Jake challenged. He gestured to the basketball hoop on the shallow side of the pool.

I answered, "You're on," at the same time Liam answered, "No thanks."

I turned my glare from Jake to Liam.

"What, are you chicken?" Jake flapped his arms and made squawking noises.

Liam's fists clenched. However, he calmly retorted, "No. I don't want to waste my time playing against an arrogant snot like you."

"Oh, I'm insulted," Jake mocked. His eyes flashed. "I saw the way you got out of the water. I think you're scared. Scared of a little wa-wa." He flicked his wet hands at Liam so little water droplets hit the kid's face. Liam flinched visibly.

{Whoa. What's up with him?} I thought to Apple.

{I think… I think he might actually be scared of water. Weird.}

Liam got up angrily. "Fine."

He stalked to the shallow end of the pool and hopped in, shuddering.

Jake smirked. Erin looked a bit worried, but she shrugged it off.

I glared at Jake and followed Liam.

When we were all in the water, Erin declared, "Griffy's referee. First team to thirteen wins. If you score, the other team gets the ball. Any questions?"

In the silence, I heard Griffy's tail say, {You must favor the team that dresses like a banana peel on a Wednesday.}

"Alright, then. Let's get started." Erin glanced at me. "Anita, no cheating."

Jake looked at me curiously, "How would she cheat?"

"She's a—" Erin started.

{SHUT UP, ERIN!} I yelled at her. I did not need Jake finding out I was a psychic.

"Anita, get o—" Erin began to shout at me.

{I'll get out of your head as long as you don't say anything to Jake,} I interrupted.

Erin nodded. "Let's go."

She passed the ball to Jake, who shrugged and leapt over Liam to dunk it in the basket.

{Wow, Apple, now I know what it's like to want to use my powers to get an advantage over an opponent. I see what you mean about it not really being cheating… especially against Jake…}

Apple chuckled, and the other Eevees looked at her funny, except for Splash.

Liam had the ball now. He threw it over Jake's head to me. I swiveled around Erin, and passed it back to Liam who was already by the basket. Liam got a lay-up.

And so the game went on.

My favorite part was when I blocked one of Jake's shots, and the ball hit him in the face.

When Jake and Erin won the first game by two points, we played again.

Midway through our second game, a strangely familiar looking man bent down near our basket.

"Excuse me," he said as Erin intercepted my pass to Liam. I clambered after her to stop her from getting to the basket.

The man kept talking. "I'm selling hot—"

Jake got the ball and shoved it into the basket. He fell backwards, which created a huge splash.

The man was thoroughly soaked, as was his tray of whatever he was selling.

"—never mind."

Apple had been racing toward the man until he was covered in water. Then her ears dropped and she went to pout by Fiery. She glared at Jake.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the man toss out his food tray and march away muttering angrily to himself.

Liam and I won the second game.

By the end of the third game, it was getting dark. We were all laughing (or in Liam's case, smiling), and had stopped counting long ago.

I was starting to believe that Jake might not be evil, that Erin might not be annoying, and that Liam might have the ability to act normal when it was suddenly time to go.

Jake playfully kissed Erin's hand and bowed. "Good-bye my fair lady."

In his mind, I felt him debating actually kissing Erin. I cleared my throat loudly to remind him who was still here.

He gave me a dirty glance.

Jake stood up straight, turned to Liam, and nodded.

Then he turned to me and stuck up his middle finger.

Nice one.

He could go to hell.

Erin stared after the twit as he stalked away.

"He's such a sweet boy," I said dryly.

Erin, not catching my obvious sarcasm said, "I know. He's amazing."

I caught Liam's eye.

We both stifled a laugh.

Who knew?

There was one thing we could bond on after all.