Okay, I know what you all have been thinking. I need to update A LOT more often and Ralts is a really iffy character. Ralts, I can tell you that his character is going to become a lot more solid pretty soon. As for updating more often... hopefully that will be solved as I actually have an idea of where I will be going with this and with future chapters. Thank you for taking the time to read this, I really appreciate your patience with my updating. Without further adieu, on with the chapter!
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Jack's POV
"Everyone, wake up! I've got good news about Alexa!"
As if the ruckus the other pokémon were now causing wasn't enough, Idiot stormed into the room even more loudly (and caused my head ache to hurt even more) before he started, "What're you talking about Greg?"
"This guy just phoned me. He said he knew where Alexa was and said he'd help us. I kept trying to ask why and who he was but..." I stopped paying attention at that point in favour of searching for food; I was too bloody hungry to really give a damn on what they were talking about.
After wandering out of the room and into the bigger one where a whole lot of people were, I spotted a bowl of food and dove forward. Unfortunately, some bloody human picked it up and gave it to what looked like a pink fur ball. My head was pounding even more now, something that irritated me to no end while I glared at the small pokémon. But, that annoyance faded when I saw some food getting nudged to me from Mudkip. Her voice made my ears ring but it was inviting all the same, "Eat up, we have to go soon. I hope you're not feeling too poorly..."
"It's time to eat!" I couldn't help but grin as I dived into the food, the taste of it almost heavenly as I pretty much inhaled all that was in the bowl in front of me. I probably would have gotten to more if I had the chance, but it looked like Mudkip and Houndour were guarding their dishes carefully. I couldn't help but wonder one thing as my head ache finally started to leave...
"Where the bloody hell is Ralts?" I would really regret asking that in the next couple of seconds.
The next thing I knew, my head was being pounded painfully into one of the walls of the Pokémon Center, a psychic voice booming around me, "What the hell did you do to me yesterday?! You're terrible terrible terrible terrible TERRIBLE!" Someone had a wicked temper.
By the time Ralts had finally stopped banging me against the wall (only because Idiot had the sense to return the psychotic psychic to his pokéball) I was wobbling around the place, blinking blearily as everything was still spinning. Maybe I should have just kept Ralts drunk to avoid this kind of damage... At least then when he was using his psychic powers he wasn't smashing me into stuff while trying to break my head off.
It was soon after that when Greg returned Mudkip to her pokéball before he and Idiot stared at the mutt and me, "You two are walking. You'll be able to pick up on any trouble a lot faster than the rest of us. Come on out, Swellow!"
I stared at the giant pigeon while it stared at me, if I didn't know any better I'd say the damn thing was hypnotized. Wait, did I know any better? Probably not, which made it even more creepy damned actually. Finally, after what seemed like at least five minutes, the bird squawked out something, "You'll stop staring at me or you'll be kissin' the dirt, got it?"
"You stared at me first."
A wing was pointed at me while the Swellow narrowed his eyes at me, a low and very eerie voice being used to talk at me now, "You've got moxy, but don't push it. Otherwise you'll find yourself without that tail of yours when you wake up."
"Swellow!" For whatever reason Greg was calling the bird I was just thankful that he stopped glaring at me now, at least the white-haired one was good for something. Apparently the bird was only released to scout the area ahead of us and warn us of anything coming up, and as the feather cushion took off I looked to the mutt who just looked at me back.
"Should we be glad that he is up there and not down here?"
"So we can agree on some things. Yes, we should," At least the mutt was perceptive. Still didn't like him though.
At long last we actually started moving towards what the humans called 'Rustboro City', probably another place where the humans had all of their buildings to live in and such. It was a pretty long and boring path just outside of that sea captain's and his pokémon's house, but soon enough we reached a gate. Behind it there were a lot of trees, and it seemed really dark in there too. But, unfortunately enough, according to Idiot it was the fastest way to the next city. I really had to get a better agent.
What, you don't like human sayings? You have no sense of humour, really.
There really isn't much to say about what happened in the forest, we just walked aimlessly for a while. It seemed like the combined efforts of the damn bird, Greg and Idiot kept getting us lost. Which of course was beyond annoying, and of course it inevitably led to trouble. What kind of trouble? The kind carrying a short green stub that looked like it could have been either a plant or a pokémon. And it was guess number two, something I found out when it started moving wildly in the arms of the human holding it.
"What the... You're the trouble makers from the Dewford Base!"
The little tree stump thingy finally managed to run away as the grunt faced us, and unfortunately I could recognize that damn red human letter anywhere; this was definitely a Team Rocket member. Which meant that the guy would be a pain in the ass to deal with, that being proven as Idiot and Greg tried to go after him, the grunt now seeming to run for his life while shouting to himself. Bloody wanker. Why do they always run?
As it turned out, the human wasn't muttering to himself; he had used some device that ended up alerting others of our presence. How did I know? Well, the people swarming around the other human was a bloody obvious clue. All that one human did was stall for time, and if it weren't so annoying I probably would have commented about how brilliant it was.
Instead, there was something else to be said, "Well, at least they saved us the trouble of finding them. Now what?"
Houndour stared at me when I had said that, right before he yelped and jumped back. I could see why too, one of those Dustox things had dive bombed towards it. And, as luck would have it, another one came for me. In fact if I hadn't fallen over then it probably would have nailed me right between the eyes with that damned wind it blew at me.
"I. Hate. Bugs," I glared at the moth thing as it flew over my head, and of course things could only get worse; it looked like these humans had caught several of the stump things, and they started coming after me as well. Looked like the Swellow from earlier came down and started to help, but so far I was still getting swarmed by the bugs and the stumps. And then, even more bugs showed up when the Rockets released them from their pokéballs.
"Go, Beedrill! Use Twineedle!"
I didn't know what to be more freaked about; It was a choice between the giant bugs just released had stingers and were trying to use them on me or that all of those humans had said those words at the same time.
The damn bugs didn't give me time to decide, I was too busy trying to make sure I didn't get skewered by the needles, it was like the bugs wanted Jack-Kabobs or something! Granted, they had been ordered to attack, but unfortunately I wasn't the only victim; Idiot, Greg, Houndour and the Swellow were getting swarmed as well. And it looked like the mutt had gotten hit a few times, since he was running with a limp now. I might have hated him but I hated the bugs even more. Mostly because they were trying to kill me at that moment and the mutt had left me alone since Dewford.
I had to stop paying attention to the others because of a piercing sensation in my side. One of the bugs had finally hit me, and it stung like a bitch. I ended up using my tail to pound at the bug until it left me alone, and unfortunately my blood looked like it was almost purple. The bloody stings were poisonous? Wonderful, just wonderful...
But, finally some bugs showed up to help us. Things that looked similar (but a lot less ugly than) the Dustox things came out of no where, showering the other bugs with different kinds of winds that made a lot of them... Uhm... Buzz in pain. Finally, there were bugs I liked. Because they weren't trying to kill me, obviously.
It looked like they were attacking the Rockets too. Which was probably a good thing because I started to feel more and more dizzy with every step. It wasn't the good kind of dizzy either, my head felt even worse than me being on a hangover. Before I could fall over though, Greg had picked me up, and with Idiot carrying the mutt we managed to run out of the forest in the middle of the battle. And there was no way I was going to object, not with my head acting the way it did.
Soon enough the trees thinned and we were on another path now, my head feeling hotter than a Cheri Berry while everything kept spinning. However, rather suddenly something sweet was shoved into my mouth, someone forcing me to swallow before I blinked. Almost instantly I wasn't dizzy anymore, something I found odd as I looked up at Greg in confusion.
At least he wasn't completely oblivious; he seemed to notice what I was confused about and explained, "That was a Pecha Berry. It cures poisons from pokémon stings almost instantly. We had to give one to Houndour too, since you guys really took a beating in there."
For once I was glad that the guy was around. I nodded before looking over to try and spot the bird. I couldn't find it anywhere, but I noticed that Greg took out a pokéball and threw it, "Swellow, come on back out!"
Great, bird breath was back. He looked like he wasn't hurt at all either, bloody bastard probably had the advantage against the bugs. I glared when he smirked at me, but unfortunately I was too distracted to do anything about it; Crescent was coming back in his Vaporeon guise. How did I know it was him? Because he started talking to us, opening with all-too-familiar sarcasm.
"What took you so long? We even got a bunch of Beautifly to help you out! Slowpokes..."
The Swellow stared at the Vaporeon (along with Idiot and Greg obviously) while Houndour sighed in relief, but something bothered me about that comment, "Where do you see a pink tail and a dopey expression?"
"One of the two isn't bad."
I was too annoyed to come up with another comment, something that made him laugh at us before turning his back to us and moving towards the city, "Come on, let's go. Anti's waiting and he's probably bored out of his skull."
"Anti?"
"You'll find out about him later. Right now, we've gotta move remember?"
I hated the fact that the other pokémon was right, mostly because I was enjoying the contest of wits. Even if I was losing. In silence the group ran towards the city, Crescent leading us into the pokémon center where we were all treated. After about 15 minutes Houndour and I had bandages around our middles, the two of us along with the humans walking out. What happened to the bird? He was in his pokéball, which was good because he kept glaring at me. And I didn't like getting glared at, I can tell you that much.
In silence we went to the outskirts of the city, looking towards the ocean and spotting the base across the water. I just had a feeling that this was going to be one hell of a ride, so there was only one thing to say. At least, I thought there was, but nothing came to mind. Thankfully Crescent said something for me.
"Okay, I don't have any comments that wouldn't make you gag. So let's go in and kick their butts already."
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Yay, I finally finished the chapter! I hope you enjoyed reading it, honestly it was a pain to write until the fight scene started. I'm sorry I took so long to update, but now I have a great idea about where it's going so I know that I'm going to be able to give you the next chapter a lot sooner! Thanks for staying with me all of you readers, and hope you're eager for more! See you next time!