"So you really don't know how they got there?" asked Katsu as I twirled the flowers around in my hands. Poochyena barked gruffly while padding loyally at his master's feet, staring at the flowers with suspicion.
"No... I have no idea. I did have this dream, though..." I answered quietly. Only four flowers were already bloomed, bursting with life and vibrant purple petals. The other three's flowers were packed neatly into a tiny green bud, waiting for their right time to sprout while soaking in sunshine and water while they waited. The flowers were truly beautiful, but it didn't distract me from my confusion. "I appeared in this old lady's store and she gave me these flowers."
"Maybe she has a thing for you," Katsu snickered playfully while he raised his eyebrows. I'll spare you the details - all you need to know that soon enough he had a couple rather large bumps on his head and a red hand mark on his face. "Don't be so uppity about it, I was kidding." He rubbed his cheek, wincing. "So was there anything weird about that old lady? Except the fact that she has a fetish for 13 year old girls?"
Soon enough he was on the ground again, writhing with pain in a fetal position, the aftermath of being kicked in "a place where the sun don't shine". I snickered as he got up angrily, face red with anger and embarassment. "Anyway, she seemed like one of those weird people who put curses on guests. And I would bet that she lives with a bunch of Haunters or something."
He nodded. "Well, those flowers could be a curse, you know. Or a sign."
I rolled my eyes. "A sign of what, exactly?"
He grinned and put on his most evil face, "Aliens!"
I sweatdropped as he let the ten year old inside of him take over. "Yep, more proof of aliens. There's cropcircles, and... abductions! And the flowers!" He exclaimed, puffing out his chest importantly. I slapped him and scolded him for being so stupid.
"Please, we live in a wolrd with strange animals with special powers. What is the difference between the two?"
He shrugged, looking defeated. "I dunno. But it's possible."
"There's already alien Pokemon," I replied. "Deoxys? Jirachi? You never heard of them?"
Katsu sighed and shook his head. "Nope. I never really got the chance to study space like I wanted to. The school's decided it wasn't needed and only built up the budget, so they got rid of it." His face saddened. "I try to learn about it in libraries, though. It's pretty interesting."
I nodded, smiling and pulling out my Pokenav and looking at the map. "Let's see... The gym isn't far from here. We should get there in 10 minutes or so." I closed up my Pokedex and grinned, looking down at Kin who was latched onto my shoelace. I had tried to pull him off, but he insisted on being dragged along by my shoelace. I'd have to get new shoes soon...
-----
"You may have beaten my rival, Lt. Surge, but I'll beat you like that!" I shouted proudly, snapping my finger at the word "that". Lt. Surge just laughed, and patted his Raichu on the head.
"I don't think that'll be happening anytime soon." He replied, grinning. His Raichu let out a confident "Rai!" and leapt into the battle arena, cheeks already sparking with his eagerness to battle. Lt. Surge chuckled as he looked at his Pokemon. "So, it looks like Raichu is ready. Are you?"
"More than I'll ever be!" I replied, and pointed a finger towards the arena, shouting, "Go! Kin!" Kin looked up at me, cocking his head to the side. "Time to battle, Kin," I said impatiently, scooting him onto the floor. He growled at me and reluctantly put on his battle face and dug a hole in the ground without my saying it.
"Dig, eh? No problem." The gym leader said as he saw my Sandshrew ready for attack. "Raichu, use Swift."
Raichu nodded, opened his mouth as power began to form inside of it, taking the shape of dozens of tiny stars. And then, quick as a bullet, they sped out of his mouth and down and through the hole that Kin had dug. Lt. Surge grinned with pleasure when he heard a devastating "Shrewwwww!" come from underground.
Kin was angry now, and, positioning himself just right, leapt out of the ground directly under Raichu who flew back first into the wall. Katsu snickered and pointed out, "I see someone's not fixed."
Lt. Surge was fuming at my attack and Katsu's comment on his Raichu. "Raichu! Quick Attack!" Raichu immediatly responded and dashed towards Kin, changing places every other step. He circled Kin, dizzying both of the Pokemon, but out of nowhere he launched himself into the ground-type with all his might, forcing his body weight onto the small Pokemon.
"No sexual contact!" screamed Katsu jokingly, causing me and Rune to crack up, and Kin to shove the Raichu off of him. Lt. Surge was absolitely steaming with rage now, his glare directed towards Katsu. "You shut up or I'll haul your smart little mouth out of here, ya got it, kid!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. Katsu sunk in his seat, blushing, and nodded meekly. "Yessir. Won't happen again."
"Kin, while he isn't looking! Use Rock Tomb!" I shouted, causing Raichu and Surge to turn in surprise.
Kin nodded, and shut his eyes, and waved his arms around for a few seconds. Out of nowhere, chunks of the ground were risen from the floor, all of them toppling around Raichu, creating a tomb-like structure. Kin continued to pile more and more rocks on the electric Pokemon who was now shouting helplessly as he tried to Thundershock his way out - failing, of course.
The Sandshrew opened his eyes and looked pleased with his work. He closed his eyes again, waved around his arms and the tomb suddenly collapsed onto Raichu without mercy, some of the rocks big enough to crush a few bones. Raichu was wailing out in pain as he lifted a shaky brown paw in defeat, and fainted on the ground looking dazed.
"Alright, Kin! Ya did it!" I squealed as I scooped him up in my arms, hugging him tight. I set him down as Rune teleported off my head, and the two shook hands - er, paws - as a way of saying congrats. I grinned at the two, happy that they were getting along.
"Keiko! Keiko! You did it! Alright!"
I spun around to see Katsu rushing towards me, Poochyena sprinting ahead of him happily. His Pokemon jumped into my arms and licked my face playfully. Katsu chuckled and pulled Poochyena off me, and shook my hand. "Well, you beat Lt. Surge before me. Congratulations, Keiko." He smiled, and I smiled back. "But don't think I won't beat him or you someday!" he added fiercefully, suddenly remembering that we swore to be rivals.
I shook my head, smiling, when Lt. Surge turned to us. "Hey! You're that punk who kept insulting my Raichu!" He shouted angrily, balling his hand into a fist.
Katsu sweatdropped. "Uh, I better get going!" He spun around and took off out of the gym, Lt. Surge following close behind with his now-restored Raichu zapping Katsu with all his might.
-----
I'll spare you the boring details of Katsu's victory for now. In a nutshell, Poochyena and Shuppet had leveled up quite a bit since Katsu's last match with Surge - just enough so they could barely beat the little electric rat, though it was hard for Katsu to order the commands seeing as he had been burnt to a crisp. Surge was obviously quite angry about my rival's remarks and fought with his best, but couldn't quite make it. Naturally, Katsu had to do a stupid little victory dance, embarassing me and Lt. Surge alike.
"You think we'll be able to catch some more Pokemon around here? All I'm seeing is Caterpie, Caterpie, and more Caterpie." Katsu asked as we both admired our new badges.
"Of course we will. I heard that Bulbasaur can be found here. And even Treecko have been spotted!" I replied, grinning.
"Treecko? But they don't live in Kanto." He replied, cocking his head to the side in confusion.
It's true, Katsu. Professer once told me that one day, a man brought his two Treecko to Kanto and left them here to breed, so they could spread all over. They're very rare, but it'd be interesting to see one. Rune added, nodding his head. I had no idea he knew so much. I guess the Professer must have talked to his Pokemon a lot.
Katsu nodded, amazed. "Wow! If I see one, I'm defiantly catching it!" He grasped a Great Ball in his hands, prepared for any rare Pokemon that he would need it for.
"Well, I'm on the lookout for Bulbasaur or maybe even a Scyther. They're supposed to be pretty powerful." I replied, grinning at the thought of beating Katsu's wimpy Pokemon with a mighty Scyther. Heh heh heh... He'd be so embarassed! I thought to myself, chuckling as Katsu sped off to find a Treecko. Wrapped up in my dream world, I tripped over a rock. At least, I thought it was a rock.
"Ow! Hey, Rune, you okay?" I asked my Abra, who had fallen off my head in my process of tripping. He nodded, and climbed back on, this time gripping my hair for dear life. I rolled my eyes and laughed, but stopped short when I saw what I had tripped on.
It was a yellow egg, with pink flower petals decorating the bottom of it. Two red, bud-like circles were circling the top. I blinked, confused - there was no Pokemon with this design, was there? I pulled out my Pokedex in hopes for an answer.
This is a Pokemon Egg. When in a trainer's possesion long enough, it hatches to reveal a baby Pokemon. The species inside this egg is unknown.
I rolled my eyes. "Well, that was helpful." I picked up the egg and looked it over. It occasionally wiggled a couple of times, but otherwise seemed like it wouldn't hatch very soon. "Well, shall we keep it, Rune? It doesn't look like there's any Mother for it out here..."
Rune nodded. Let's keep it. I don't see why not, as long as we don't find it's Mother.
I grinned, and cradled the tiny egg in my arms as Kin looked at it nervously. I looked down at him and waggled a finger playfully. "You better get along with this egg, Kin. It's not a shoe and you can't eat it, believe it or not." He looked disapointed and waddled off somewhere, as me and Rune shared a laugh.
"Keiko! Keiko! Look what I found!" Shouted Katsu through the thicket, rushing out to find me. "Come over here, quick!" I nodded and ran over, the egg in my arms, Rune on my head and Kin by my side. Peeking through the tall grass I gasped...
"It's a whole herd of Treecko!"
It was true. Dozens of Treecko, Grovyle and the occasional Sceptile were basking themselves on rocks, baby Treecko were playing and practicing battling with each other, and some just calmly nibbling on some grass. There were even some green-and-red eggs laying around, which the Sceptile were guarding protectively. It was a Treecko-lover's paradise! Katsu was nearly drooling in anticipation.
"I'm gonna try and catch a Treecko!" He exclaimed as quiet as possible, still holding the Great Ball. He eyed a rather small Treecko that had wandered away from the group, and he grinned and quietly followed it. "You stay here, Keiko. I'm gonna go catch that Treecko!" He whispered to me, and stalked off after it.
I chuckled and prepared myself to see Katsu get mauled by a puny Treecko. "I wish I had my video camera," I thought out loud. I heard a slight rustle, and then a thump, and I looked down to see the seven Forget-me-nots had fallen out of my backpack. Just as I went down to put them back, I noticed something...
One of the buds had blossomed.