(Disclaimer: Note that Avalon…
Avalon: No no! You've already said that in Chapter one! Ahem, I've given up on trying to find some sort of 'respond to review' button, so I'm just going to say it here… Sakume, thanks a bunch for both of your reviews! I'm honored that I've made it to your favorite author list!
Cyberfrog, of course I'm going to update:D Thanks for saying it's interesting.
Dragon Shadow1, thank you for you reviews! Deckadrill was burning in the back of my mind as a good Pokemon. (Too bad Pokemon never evolve more then twice. Beedrill needs an evolved form…) I suggest that you do start writing! I'll be one of your first readers.
Notes from Avalon will always be in bold. Okay then, if you have any questions/comments, you can always review. Hint hint… Yeah… so here's Chapter three.)
"And who are you to comment on our battle, hm?" Star snaps at the boy, her feathers ruffling angrily.
The boy pauses for a second and stares from the aggravated Taillow, to her trainer. "You know," He finally says to Sara, "I don't speak Taillow. Maybe you could translate for me?"
Sara shakes her head, "You don't want to know what she's saying."
"What!"
"Oh okay. Beginning trainer, I see." He mumbles, causing Sara to blush, "I just happened to notice that you're partner less."
"Oh that… that's stupid."
"So I want thinking… maybe… well, if your Taillow's up to it, of course…" He was stammering, and now it was his turn to blush.
"Spit it out, bucko."
This time, Sara repeats what Star says. The boy jumps at Sara change in tone and finishes his sentence. "…That maybe, if you two can put up a fight before losing to me; maybe we could be partners."
Sara and Star both visually bristled as he finished. "I accept your challenge, but that doesn't mean that I'll lose to you." Sara growls, glaring at the boy angrily.
He was grinning, actually widely, "My name's Drake by the way." He says as he whips a Pokeball off his belt, steps a good distance back, and flung it out. There was an almost blinding flash of light, and a Pokemon Sara had never seen was standing there in a battle-ready position.
"Dreaaaa!" He cried, displaying two rows of stubby, yet sharp fangs. This Pokemon was lizard-like, about three feet long from snout to tail tip; he stood on four tiny webbed feet that had even smaller claws on them. His back was smooth and all of the sea greenish scales looked slick and shiny.
Sara whips out her Pokedex and lets it scan the peculiar Pokemon. "Drateni, the sea-lizard Pokemon. Drateni are said to be distant relatives of Dratini, and have been hunted nearly to extinction for that reason."
Drake was beginning to hum to himself, "Yes yes, it's quite sad and all. But if you don't mind… the battle?"
"Oh, right." Sara mumbles, "Now Star, I wouldn't underestimate this… thing. It looks tough."
"Nothing I can't handle!" Star snaps, and takes flight into the battlefield.
"Tackle it Star!" Sara exclaims to her Pokemon, who nods and begins to descend; aimed for the Drateni's back.
"Blow it away with Water Gun!" The Drateni opened his mouth and let a torrent of water surge upward, aimed directly for Star. She rolled out of the way once and dove quickly to slam herself on the middle of Drateni's back.
He lets out a loud cry, and then while Star was beginning to rise again, he shot another Water Gun that absolutely soaked her.
"Star!" Sara cries as she sees that her Taillow is losing altitude fast, "Fly up, fly up! Do something!" Star did do something, she opened her wings as wide as she could make them at the very last second; and put on a burst of speed. Star knocked right into Drateni, who was knocked over onto his side.
Drake got an evil glint in his eyes, one that his Drateni mirrored as he heard what his trainer had to say. "Finish it with Crush Claw." Drateni got to his feet at once, and watched as Star retreated upward. The tiny claws on his webbed feet began to glow an eerie white. The right moment would come soon… wait… there! He jumped into the air and grazed Star's chest in a downward stroke of his left claws.
Drateni landed first, and stood with a proud gleam in his eyes as Star crashes to the ground with a heavy plop.
"Star!" Sara cries again, and rushes over to her Pokemon. Star chirrups weakly, and yelps as Sara gently picked her up.
"I win." Drake states with a victorious grin. He ignored Sara's angry glare, "And I guess you're good enough to by my partner." His Drateni bobs his head and cries loudly. Even Star was staring as the Pokemon glowed a bright white and began to evolve.
He grew about a foot longer, a small horn and half-grown spines jutting out on his head and back. Some of his scales had turned a sapphire color, and glistened wetly in the sunshine. Sara was gaping, Star asleep, and Drake was choking up.
"My Drateni evolved for me!" Drake cries, and causes his Pokemon to jump as he hugged him around his lengthened neck.
"Dorovi, the evolved form of Drateni. There have been debates about this Pokemon and its relationship with Dragonair." The Pokedex then showed a picture of a long, beautiful dragon that had a strange but stunning resemblance to Dorovi.
"Congrats." Sara mumbles to Drake, who was still marveling over his Pokemon. It would be an understatement to say that Dorovi wasn't enjoying every minute of it.
As Sara was recalling Star, Drake actually got up and approached her. "Good battle." He states, and offers her his hand. "I've never got your name, by the way."
"Sara." She tells him, and clenches his hand hard, "I'm going to win next time."
Drake laughs, "I'm sure you will." He says in a mocking tone, "Now, where should you go next, beginning trainer Sara?" She gave him a stumped look and shrugs. "The Pokemon Center." Drake finishes for her.
"Oh right… yeah, I knew that!" Sara stammers, and begins her march back to the Pokemon Center. Amazingly enough, Drake followed her.
"Are you going to follow me all the time?" She asks him as they entered the Pokemon Center together. Dorovi shot them both an amused look, and said something to Drake that Sara really couldn't understand. "And you know Drake, I don't speak Dorovi."
Drake burst out laughing. "Oh my… ha! He says that we both are going to be following him from now on!" He says, Dorovi nodding to prove that was what he had said.
"Can I help you two?" Nurse Joy asks, and Sara suddenly turned pale. What would she say when she saw the condition poor Star is in?
"Uh yes, I uh… need my Pokemon to get… healed." Sara stammers and hands the Nurse her two Pokeballs quickly. She escaped over to the cushioned couch and watched as Drake gave Nurse Joy a Pokeball and Dorovi.
He then turned and walked over to Sara. "Scoot." Drake orders, and with a sigh, Sara scoots over. Drake sits down next to her and still was grinning. "You know, I've turned in my Pokemon to Nurse Joy when they were in worse condition then what you Taillow is in now."
"And what did she do to you?" Sara asks, her eyes getting wider.
"And she half killed me." Drake finishes, causing Sara to glare at him again.
"Thanks a bunch for the confidence booster." She snaps darkly.
There was a pause, broken only by Drake saying, "I have a feeling that we're going to get along very well."
"Huh?"
"You do know that we're going to be stuck together, right?"
"Stuck together! I thought that this was only a one-battle thing…" Sara had turned a shade of light pink.
"Nope, we're going to be stuck together."
"So what are they going to do? Write 'Sara Wellington' in permanent marker across your forehead?"
That caused Drake to laugh, "Wellington? Is that your last name?"
"Yes, it is." Said Sara, looking quite flustered.
"Oh yes, and they're going to write 'Drake Drencos' across your forehead too…" Drake muttered. It was Sara's turn to laugh.
"Drencos! Oh, never heard that one before!"
"Now you have." Drake stated matter-of-factly.
They spent the next hour talking about their names and Pokemon. In this time, Drake had explained the reasons why Dorovi is a water Pokemon; and not a dragon Pokemon. By that time, Sara was starving. It was now lunchtime, and she hadn't had anything to eat since yesterday.
Nurse Joy had come out just in time though, bringing food and their Pokemon with her. She didn't comment about the state Star was in, which was a relief. Dorovi had walked out of the recovery room, with a Taillow bandaged up around her chest perched on his back.
"You're alright!" Sara exclaimed, plucking Star off Dorovi's back and letting her settle in Sara's lap.
"Of course I am!" Star exclaims, ruffling her feathers and flinching as they bristled around her tender chest. "Drakie Drencos can't get this Taillow down for long!"
Dorovi lets out a hiss like laugh and tells Star something. Star chirps at him and mutters, "And his Dorovi can't get me down for long either…"
"Am I the only hungry one here?" Drake asks, glaring lightly at Sara and Star as he took a bite out of a very juicy apple. Star tweets a no and dive tackles her bowl of Pokemon food which Sara placed on the floor.
Sara let out her Vulpix and fed her too. It was then that she realized that Vulpix hadn't had a go in the Pokemon Translator. After they were done eating, Sara would use it on her. Drake only had one of his Pokemon out, the other was still in its Pokeball.
"Drake, what about your other Pokemon?" Sara finally asks after gulping down her second glass of apple juice.
"Huh?" Drake asks through a mouthful of sandwich. Sara elbows him and repeats her question. "Oh, him. He doesn't eat much…"
"Then let him out and get him to eat!"
"He gets moody if he eats too much." Drake states, but after a while of getting chewed out about being a 'lazy Pokemon trainer', Drake agreed to let his other Pokemon out.
Drake's other Pokemon was a Horsea, which truthfully didn't eat very much before asking to go back into his Pokeball. One point for Drake… he got to give Sara a look that must have said: 'You see?'
Once they were done eating, Sara recalled Vulpix and placed the Pokemon Translator around her Pokeball. "Now, all I have to do is press one of these buttons…" Sara mumbles to herself, the Translator had three different buttons: a green one, an orange one, and a bluish one.
"Uh, it was this one!" She finally exclaims. Star, who had came to perch on Sara's shoulder, took flight nervously.
"Um Sara… I don't think…" But Star's warning was too late. Sara pressed down the orange button and… BUZZAT! "Told yah."
Sara coughs out a puff of smoke and yowls. "Ouch." Star let out screech like laughter at her.
Drake was no better, tears streamed down his face as he gazes at Sara, whose hair was sticking out in every direction like an atomic fluff ball. "Try the… green… button." He finally says, then went into another fit of laughs.
Growling, and fixing Drake with an irritated glare, Sara pressed down the green button and watched as the gizmo began to pop and hiss like it did at Professor Appawich's lab. After her Vulpix had been fully Translated, Sara let her out again.
Vulpix yawns and sits down, looking up at her trainer with an amused glint in her eyes. "What happened to you?" She asks, staring at Sara's strange new hairstyle.
Sara, who looked like she herself could spit out an Ember attack, snatched up a comb from her backpack and fixed her hair.
Drake and Star wouldn't leave her alone about her hair the whole walk to the Gym. Vulpix had gone back into her Pokeball after telling Star that she was acting 'immature' and Dorovi walked a good distance in front of them all, ignoring everything that went on behind him.
Sara's mood was horrible when they finally did get to Opal Gym, and were let in by the same two guards as before. They took down both Sara and Drake's full names and let them into the heart of the Gym.
Opal Gym's arena was plain. Other then being painted all white, there was nothing special about it. To one side stood two ladies, the Gym leaders by the looks of them, both were dressed in flowing white dresses and manila hats. They took their places on the left side of the arena, Drake and Sara to the right. A group of about fifty people stood on the sidelines, spectators to be sure.
One of them wasn't though, a man dressed in a royal purple velvet tuxedo with a microphone and a voice that boomed all across the Gym would be their referee. "This will be a two-on-two match between Gym leaders Mickey and Pan…" The ladies in white waved to the crowd, which was cheering their lungs out. "…against challengers Sara Wellington of Brittle Branch Town and Drake Drencos of Opal Town!" There was booing and hissing from the crowd. Star booed back at the crowd, and got an even louder response from them.
"There will be one Pokemon per trainer and no time limit." He continued, "Let the battle begin!" More cheers greeted the two Pokemon that the Opal Gym leaders send out, a Meowth and a Rattata. They both looked quite used to the cheering, and were enjoying the loud clatter coming from the crowd.
"I'm counting on you Star." Sara tells her Taillow, who fluffs importantly, "Go out there and take them down!" With that, Star takes to the field, her bandages not hindering her flight at all. Drake had a similar conversation with Dorovi, then sent him charging in after Star.
"Scratch the Dorovi!" Called one of the ladies. The Meowth began to charge across the battlefield, the cheers increasing from the crowd.
"Water Gun." Drake commands and Dorovi sends a jet of water out to greet Meowth and soak him back. Boos and hisses met this upset, as the Meowth mews angrily and shakes himself in an attempt to get dry; not even remembering the battle going on.
"Star, use Wing Attack on the Rattata!" Sara exclaims up at her Taillow, who nods and sky-dives at the Rattata. She levels out with a sharp slap across the Rattata's head and avoids the Bite attack his trainer told him to use by twirling in mid-air. There were more boos and more hisses.
I'm glad that's all they can do to us. Sara found herself thinking as she examined the angry crowd.
The Meowth was still trying desperately to get dry when Drake orders Dorovi to use Crush Claw. It was then that Meowth got back to Earth and avoided the attack and giving Dorovi three marks across his cheek in the process. The roar from the crowd was deafening, but the Gym leaders seemed to be enjoying it. They were grinning as if they'd already won.
Star was having a much better time with her opponent, she was literally flying circles around the Rattata. Sara noticed that the more Star avoided the Rattata, the angrier the crowd got. "Finish it Star! Quick Attack!" Sara cries a final time. The crowd held its breath as Star dove at Rattata, gaining momentum until she crashed into the Rattata.
He let out a ringing cry, and flopped over limply. His trainer returned him to his Pokeball. The referee called out, "And Pan's Rattata is down!" The crowd let out a furious boo before he continued, "That means that it is just Mickey's Meowth against Dorovi and Taillow! Can Meowth lead a turn-around!" There was a joint 'yes' shouted from the crowd, and the battled continued to rage on.
"Try to pin it down Dorovi!" Drake orders his Pokemon, and gives Sara a look that must have said 'finish it too'. Sara nods to show she understands, and waits for the tired Dorovi to knock the Meowth over and stand on him.
"Star, land." Sara began, and waits for her Taillow to do so, "And Peck the Meowth." Star looked overjoyed to have a captive Pokemon to attack, and she went at it right away. Meowth squirmed and mewed, but to no avail. He was knocked out as well, and the battle ended there as his trainer recalled him.
Ignoring the crowd, which was in hysterics, Drake recalled Dorovi and Star perched tiredly on Sara's shoulder.
"Great job! I'm so proud of you!" Sara exclaims, smoothing Star's moist feathers. Star was puffed up from the battle, and kept ruffling her feathers after Sara smoothed them down.
Star gave Sara an affectionate nip on her finger and says, "The Pokemon is only as good as her trainer." Sara smiles warmly, and although the crowd was hissing angry statements at her and Star, she couldn't be happier. Following Drake, they approached Pan and Mickey to acquire the badges they had just earned.
"Enough!" The Gym leader the referee had called Pan bellowed. The crowd was silenced faster then you could say 'silence'. She then turned to Drake and Sara and gave them a slight, painful smile. "Good job. You two have earned the first badge; the Opal badge from us. Don't get too cocky, you both have a long nine battles to go." The other Gym leader, Mickey, thrust a badge at both Sara and Drake, who swiped them up quickly.
"The next Gym is in Jade City." Mickey tells them stiffly, and turns away. Pan does the same, and they exit the battlefield; following them was most of the crowd.
Sara cries with happiness, "We did it, we did it!" She jumped up and down like a Mexican jumping bean and nearly knocked Star off of her. Drake -careful not to hurt Star- hugged Sara briefly. To Star's relief, Sara stopped bouncing after that. She was much more interested in the badge she'd just gotten.
It was small. A four pointed, iron star had been shaped so that it bends up from the tips and attracts attention to the small opal embedded in its center. "I don't think all that noise was worth loosing something like that." Star states, she had been looking at the badge too.
"You know, the badges get bigger." Drake says, "And they get more… after each Gym battle. It's said that they put real gold in the last badge. Ha, I guess they don't think anyone will get as far as the tenth Gym, and sadly they're probably right."
Sara and Drake exchanged glances, and shook their heads, "Pokemon Center?" Sara asks after a while, "I'm starving."
It was about dinner time. They agreed to go back and heal their Pokemon; and get a good meal while they're at it.
At the Pokemon Center, Sara and Drake had to wait about thirty minutes for Dorovi and Star to finish being nursed back to health. Star came out bandage less, Dorovi only having a patch over his cheek. Drake had shown Sara a poster that she hadn't noticed before, of the ten badges they'd have to get. The Opal badge was the smallest one, the Jade one not much bigger. But as a trainer pair moved up in the ranks, the appearance of the badges got better, and they also became bigger.
The Pokemon Center served them all a great feast of a meal in celebration of their victory. To Sara, food had never tasted better.