Disclaimer: same as on Chapter 2
It was dusk, the sea was still as a rock besides Magikarp splashing about in the water occasionally. Students were slew across the beach in front of Tyler's house. A large bonfire was going on in a pit with teens all around it far off to the side of the house on top of a dune. Party music was blaring from inside the house as people walked, some stumbling, in and out of the front door.
Inside, people were packed in, making it hard to walk about at times. In the main room, the bar was bustling and the TV was on showing highlights of the professional battling league, no one really watching it. There was a DJ on one end fully equipped with lights and speakers running through the house, and Tyler's lava lamp collection on full display. A "chug" chant was going on in one of the side rooms, everyone around cheering the person on, most of them solo red-cupping. As the song changed a group of girls grew ecstatic as it was "their song".
Off to the side of all the action, Charlotte was standing against the wall, next to her Elektrik, who was balancing a red cup on his head, acting silly. Charlotte smiled at her Pokémon as a random guy at the party walked over to her. "Hey baby," he slurred.
"Um... hi?" she replied with an awkward side glance.
"Thas a sweet 'lectik," he said while swaying, using the wall as a balance.
"I see somebody's had too many... I'm uh... gonna go now. Come on Elektrik." Her Pokémon levitated after her as she walked away from the guy, the cup staying on his head.
"W-wait, lemme git yer numbah!" he got out before sitting down.
Charlotte walked through the crowd into the main room, where she saw Kirk talking to two girls. "Ooo, cause when I get locked in, I'm unstoppable. Like a comet. An enigma, you know what I'm sayin'?" he said, earning gasps from the two girls. Charlotte rolled her eyes and continued on. She looked to the bar and saw Tyler and Megan chatting.
"So what do you think of this joke: 'so what's the deal with airplane food? I mean it tastes shitty right?'," Tyler asked her before bursting into exaggerated laughter. Megan smiled at the captain, laughing mainly because he was. Charlotte found Eavan and Nyx and began talking to them. Nyx had already had a few from the way she was holding herself.
"It's um, pretty good Tyler, I wouldn't use it too often, you might get too many... laughs," she said with a smile.
"Hold on a second baby. YO! Cheerleader! Order us my favorite beverage," he called to his personal cheerleader.
She walked over from the other cheerleaders and told the bartender: "Dos mojitos, por favor."
"Grazi," ((Grazie – 'thank you' in Italian)) Tyler said to his cheerleader before shooing her away.
"Wait, so who is that?" Megan asked him, watching her walk away then looking back to Tyler.
"Oh nobody, she's just my personal cheerleader."
"I know that much, but like... what does that even mean?"
"Every couple of weeks, I pick one of the cheerleaders, and they do whatever I ask them to do that's in my manifesto after memorizing it," he replied, the bartender saying 'here you go guys', giving them the two drinks. "One for you," Tyler said taking them, giving her one, taking a big drink from his.
"Why thank you. You have a manifesto?" she said with a small laugh, taking a sip of her mojito.
"Oh ears perkin' up now. Yea, I have a manifesto, but I'll tell you more about that later," Tyler said, finishing his drink and picking up a megaphone that was next to his feet. He walked over to Eric, who had just walked in with a backpack on. "Rick! About time you finished, Karim like bitched me out a minute ago about his Pokémon."
Karim was standing off against the wall in the main room, his only reason being at the party because he basically had to be. He was staring at the scene with his usual blank expression, but his mind was full of anger. He still hadn't gotten his Pokémon back, none of the other freshmen had either. And on top of that, his mind was fuming at the notion of teenagers partying, polluting their minds and bodies to 'have a good time'. He watched a girl fall over, clinging to her best friend, both of them losing their minds laughing at the accident. Karim scowled at the sight.
"Hey man, what're you doin' over here dawg?" Kirk said walking up to him, the two girls from earlier around his arms.
"Nothing," Karim replied.
"I can see that. Come on homie, have a drink, hit on some girls-"
"Sup guys?" Tommy said, walking over and standing next to them.
"Hey dude. Karim, have some fun!"
"I'd rather eat chalk," Karim stated blankly.
"Dude, you could get with any girl here," Kirk said.
"No."
"Then help me then!" Tommy said, looking at the two girls Kirk had with him.
"Tommy this is-" he began.
"What's the frequency, losers?" Tyler boomed on his megaphone with a smirk, putting it right between their heads from behind. Barry appeared next to him out of nowhere. "Here's your precious little Pokémon," Tyler said, holding the backpack open with all the freshmen's Pokéballs in it. Kirk, Tommy, and Karim reached in and took their three out.
"Hey Tom, you still think this place is gay?" Barry said, pointing. All heads turned, seeing two girls kissing each other.
"Actually, that's pretty gay," Kirk said, looking on intensely.
"It's two chicks making out!" Tyler rebuttaled.
"That's actually... gay," Karim pointed out, staring at Tyler.
"Oh, and my face actually just looks like your ass!" Tyler mocked, earning a few weird stares.
"Hey, you can't talk to him like that," Kirk began, the drinks were starting to have an effect on him as his words began to slur, "He challenges you to a game of beer pong!"
"No. I don-" Karim started.
"You're on! Beer pong! Right now! Let's go Barry!" Tyler yelled back at them, Barry jumping on his back, shaking his head violently while going 'wooooo'. "Get off me Barry," Tyler said strained.
"I'm not playing. OR drinking," Karim said, staring menacingly at Kirk.
"Oh come on man, it'll be easy. You won't even have to drink, I'm amazing at this," Kirk assured as he put his arm around Karim, and with the help of Tommy pushing, brought him over to the table.
**A few minutes later**
"P-put a.. backspin on et," Karim got out as Kirk swayed, pushing his foot into the ground to keep him straight as he threw the ping pong ball at Tyler and Barry's cups, missing the table completely. A large crowd had gathered around as the game had started. All of them, including Tyler and Barry 'ohhhhh'-ed as Kirk missed the shot. "Me.. I, uh... though' you said you was ah-mazin'?" Karim mumbled, using the table as a balance. He and Kirk were losing seven cups to one. The table they were playing on had drawings to make it look like a Pokémon battle field.
"Congrad-yalashuns... Ya got meh, Kreem... I lied..."
"You wanna see amazin'? I'll show you... amazziing!" Tyler said, he was much more 'in his element' then the two freshmen. The crowd grew silent, even the music stopped, as he held the ping pong ball up, aiming for the one cup remaining. He threw the ball and it went straight into their cup, not even touching the rim. The crowd cheered and Barry slapped Tyler on the ass and then went ballistic as they won. Shane, Colin, and Freddie were yelling as well, walking over and giving Tyler a teammate slap on the ass each, who stood there with his arms crossed looking smugly at his victory.
"Ooohhhh... Thas cuz ya din't put tha backspin on it!" Karim jumbled.
"Ain't nothin... but a thang," Kirk said as he began to drink out of the cup. The music started back up and the crowd dispersed to go back to what they were doing, a new group of four stepping in to play on the table next.
Tyler turned around to see Megan, who, also, gave him a slap on the ass, saying, "Nice job!" with a smile.
Tyler smirked, putting his hand on her shoulder, "Wait til you see what I have planned next." He took his megaphone back from her and nodded over to Barry who was at the bar with four champagne glasses. "All frosh report to the bar, you know who your are!" he said through the megaphone. "Not you!" He yelled into the megaphone, pointing it at a random freshman guy who walked up, making him jump and turn around quickly.
A few seconds later the four of them were in front of him, Tommy helping Karim walk. Tyler shooed away any 'extras' who came with the freshmen. Barry had already poured some champagne in the glasses, handing them out to the four. Tyler told them to follow him, saying he was going to 'show them something'. He led them outside and around to the back of the house. Tyler stopped, facing the house and lined them up in front of him.
"Not bad for your first Beach House party, huh?" Tyler asked them, earning cheers from the guys and a smile from River. "Now everyone turn around and look at the house!" As he finished his sentence, Tyler sprinted off to the side. Kirk, Tommy, Karim, and River all turned around, seeing a Kirlia standing against the wall.
"Wha' bout it?" Tommy asked, not realizing Tyler was gone. He suddenly felt extremely heavy. Karim fell to the sand, passed out.
Kirk laughed, "Heh, lightweight." As he finished his statement, River fell down as well. "Dafuq-" Kirk's world went black as he hit the sand as well, Tommy falling right after him.
"That's my girl!" Tyler said, congratulating his Kirlia on her Hypnosis.
((The next morning))
Karim slowly woke up, his head throbbing. He kept his eyes slammed shut. It must have been midday because the light was killing him through his eyelids. He rolled onto his stomach and grass rubbed against his face. Wait... Grass. Where am I? he thought, opening his eyes slowly. Sure enough, he was outside. Karim sat up, making his head throb even more, shielding his eyes from the sunlight sneaking through the tree branches. Squinting his eyes, his vision came into focus a little more, but it was still blurry. He could make out trees... and that's basically it. Apart from Kirk, Tommy, and River laying next to him, still asleep.
Karim picked up a stick next to his leg and poked Kirk with it, hard, in the side. Kirk awoke with a start, "F*ck! What the hell mom!... Oh, right," Kirk stood up, stretching his arms out. He was calm for a few seconds as he looked out at the forest, then his facial expression went from relaxed to a mix of surprise and suspicion. Kirk kicked Tommy, who also woke up with a small jump. Karim shook River to wake her up.
"Wait... This is definitely not where I fell asleep last night. I think," Tommy said, trying to remember as he stood up.
"Last thing I remember is... beer pong with Karim. Wait, River, you didn't drink that much, right? Where are we?" Kirk asked walking over towards her.
River shrugged while shaking her head in reply. She looked down at the ground by Kirk's feet and saw a piece of paper. She pointed at it and Tommy grabbed it. "You're in the woods, morons. Is this serious?" Tommy asked after reading the note that was more than likely left by Tyler.
Karim reached for one of his Pokéballs, letting out his Vibrava. "What the-!?" he yelled in surprise, seeing his Pokémon. His Vibrava was a different color. It was completely hot pink. His Vibrava fluttered its wings but could only hover, the paint was too heavy for flight.
"You've got to be kidding me..." Tommy said, letting out all three of his, and sure enough. They were all hot pink in color too. "I can't believe this! We're lost in the middle of nowhere with no help from our Pokémon and no directions! AND no food!" Tommy said, as he put his hands in his pockets, feeling something in one of them. He took it out and unfolded the piece of paper. On it was a crude drawing. In one corner was four circles with X's for eyes and their tongues hanging out. A dashed line twisted around a few landmarks and led back to the Beach House. And drawn everywhere else was a vague concept of the landscape. "It's a map! Alright!"
"Which way?" Karim asked, using both of his hands to shield his eyes from the sun. Tommy glanced around, trying to line up his surroundings with what the map showed.
"Uhhmm... This way," Tommy replied, beginning to walk, putting the map back into his pocket.
"Relax dawg. Ain't no way some woods is gonna scare us," Kirk reassured as the group started after Tommy.
The woods were thick, and wet. Roots were unearthed all over the place, making it hard to walk. And Pokémon scurried around from time to time, making noises off in the distances at random intervals.
"What is that?" Karim said, hearing a loud buzzing noise from above them.
River pointed into the air, a look of shock on her face before she began sprinting away. The guys looked where she pointed, seeing a swarm of Beedrill bearing down at them. "Shit! I ain't bein' no bug bait! Alls I gotta do is be faster than one of you!" Kirk yelled, high-tailing it after River. Karim and Tommy following suit.
"That's for an Ursaring or Beartic you dick!" Tommy yelled after him.
***...***
Tyler was sitting at the bar in the Beach House, wearing just a faded purple colored bathrobe with different colored, steaming coffee mugs on it. He was eating his Froot Loops and reading the sports section in the paper to see if his team was mentioned at all. Behind him were the bodies of countless students, still passed out from party, sleeping. This was a usual for the house after a Beach House party.
Some random girl stepped through the sea of bodies, coming to the bar. "Hi Tyler."
"Hi..." he replied awkwardly, mid-chew.
She grabbed herself a water from the fridge, navigating through everyone again. Turning around and waving at Tyler, "Bye Tyler."
"Bye..." he said nervously, having no idea who that was or where she came from.
***...***
"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Kirk asked Tommy, after about a half hour of walking and not hitting the first 'landmark' on the map. All of them had survived the Beedrill attack unscathed, besides Tommy tripping on a root and falling into the creak that they had been following. He had a cut on his cheek from a rock in the water and his clothes were drenched.
"Yea man, I'm positive. See the creak is on the map and we've been following it the whole time," Tommy replied. "This giant rock, or whatever it is shouldn't be too far away."
"Let me check the map," Karim said blankly, feeling his abilities to read the map would be better than that of Tommy's.
"I'm 100% sure bro, no need," Tommy felt the need to take charge, as if it were his duty to get them out of this. "Trust me guys, I got this. I am the nerd after all this week..."
"At least you're not 'El Capitan's' houseboy..." Kirk muttered under his breathe.
"Well my Pokémon are pi-...oh yea."
***...***
Megan stirred in her sleep. Something was going on, and it was loud. She slowly opened her eyes, taking in the scene. Tyler was staring at her, making her jump back, clutching her chest. "Oh Arceus... it's just a poster," she said to herself, sighing in relief. Wait a minute... I'm in Tyler's room... On his waterbed... she thought.
"HEEYAH!" came someone's voice, followed by a loud bang, making her jump and the water bed roll underneath her. This is quite comfy though. Still wearing her clothes from the night before, she got up to see what the yell was. Then there was a sound as if someone was getting punched rapidly. She hurried after the sound, going through the main party room and into one of the side rooms. It was Tyler's workout room. He was wearing just sweatpants, and was quite sweaty, swinging around nun-chuks like a mad man, "WOO-YAAAH!" he yelled as he pushed his arms out in front of him, the nun-chuks fulled extended between them.
"Tyler," she called. He showed no recognition to her voice, dropping the nun-chuks and giving a one-two punch to one of his punching bags and then kicking it hard, sending it across the room along its path on the ceiling. "Tyler!" she yelled this time.
Tyler jumped, turning around slowly, "Arceus, Megan! Couldn't you have just said my name instead of yelling it?"
"I did, you didn't hear me," she said with a smile. Tyler snorted, returning to his workout. "I need to ask you something..."
"Not now chief. I'm in the f*ckin' zone," he replied without looking back, facing the second punching bag.
"Why was I in your room... in your bed!?" she demanded, walking right up to him.
"It was either there or the floor. It's called a favor."
"You... picked me up while I was sleeping?"
"When I woke up before my Froot Loops, yea,"
"Oh... So we didn't...?"
"I wi-.. Of course not," he said slyly, beginning to punch the bag again.
Megan blushed, having caught the first bit, "Oh... I don't know what to say."
"How about 'you're welcome'?"
"You're... welcome?" she said unsure.
"Thank you!" he said, turning to her with a smile.
***...***
"How long have we been out here? It seems like it's been hours," Tommy complained.
"58 minutes," Karim stated, looking at his Pokégear. His head was still throbbing. They had tried using them earlier, but there wasn't any service where they were to make a call or Pokégear-GPS their location.
"Where are we?" Kirk asked.
"I believe that is the second landmark," Tommy replied, pointing at a very tall tree on the other side of the river.
"We ain't even hit the first one!"
River tugged Kirk's arm and showed him her Pokégear, she had written: Give Karim the map. "Hey dawg, lemme take a look at that map right quick," Kirk said, taking a step towards Tommy with his hand out-stretched.
"Why is everyone so obsessed with the map?" Tommy asked them, stopping in his tracks to face his teammates.
"Because we tired of bein' your trail donkeys! Actin' like you some one-man-GPS. Goddammit! We lost! We f*ckin' super lost man! Tell him Karim, tell him what time it is!" Kirk yelled, very frustrated at his teammate.
"I don't believe you people!" Tommy exclaimed, taken aback.
"Give me the map," Karim stated, his voice as dead as always.
"Dawg! We sick of walkin' around like a Pidgey with its head cut off!" Kirk yelled.
"Give it to me, now."
"No! I'm leading the way!" Tommy shouted. He and Kirk began yelling at one another, neither's words very audible.
"CHILL!" River screamed, her face was red and looked stressed out. The three guys shut up instantly. All heads turned to her, different expressions of surprise on their faces.
"You... talked," Tommy stated.
"You should more often, you gotta sexy voice," Kirk complimented her with a wink.
"Alright, enough from the peanut gallery. Into the water, we gotta cross here," Tommy said, striding into the running river.
"We're going the wrong way," Karim said.
"Alright! Now that's enough of this insubordination!" Kirk yelled, making Tommy stop and turn around. "If the machine breaks down. We break down," he began walking up towards Tommy. "Hey man, you know how in his first year in the Elite Four, Bruno was real thick, kinda puffy? And then his second year, he was all shredded up? That's how you look right now man."
Tommy pulled in head back a little bit in surprise at the sudden compliment, looking at his arms, flexing them to see his muscle tone, "Oh. Well-"
"Not his first year in, but the second."
"-thanks."
"Yeaaa, when he was cut up!"
"Well yea, that's what I'm goin' for, mainly for the ladies-"
"Come on dude. You more shredded than an Oddish salad man... What's the secret dude?"
Tommy looked on with suspicion, Kirk being much bigger, and more muscular than he, "...Just lifting and eating ri-"
"Really? Cause I'm tryin' to come up a little.. but, it's tough, man. Any tips?"
"What?"
"Any tips ya got?"
Tommy looked up to think, "Well, you gotta eat a lot of protein and-"
"Give me that goddamn map!" Kirk yelled, snatching the map from Tommy's hand, walking back to Karim and River quickly.
"Hey!" Tommy screamed, reaching for Kirk.
"F*ck you!" Kirk turned his torso halfway around quickly then back as he yelled.
"That's bullshit! A pussy move!"
"We just gettin' a second opinion, doc. What it is Karim? Tell us where we really at," Kirk said, handing the map to Karim.
He studied it briefly before saying, "We've been going the wrong direction."
"Son of a bitch..." Kirk almost whispered, turning to Tommy.
"You were holding it sideways," Karim said.
"...There's no way! Guys, we're supposed to be a unit!" Tommy replied.
"Suuck my unit... We headin' back. The right way," Kirk said, following Karim as he walked off with River.
AN: There it is guys! Longest chapter yet. This was a ton of fun writing, and surprisingly took me not too long at all the couple times I worked on it. A lot of swearing towards the end, but desperate times man... xD How'd you like everything? Hit up that review button, I greatly appreciate them. A lot 3
Obvs the next chapter is gonna finish up this scene and possibly have an unexpected twist :3
Broski
