Hello there, readers!

Well, let's begin with the basics: apologies.

Firstly, sorry 'bout the delay. I had wanted to have a double chapter yesterday, but I was kinda out of ideas, so... yeah.

Secondly, not only is it late, but this chapter is the smallest chapter so far. I wanted to end on a cliffhanger, so... yeah.

Lastly, the title is somewhat misleading, 'cause there is absolutely no sea in this chapter. Heck, there isn't even a single mention to any kind of water whatsoever! But it sounded nice, and it rhymed, so... yeah.

Once more, I apologize for all of that. Now that that's out of the way...

Enjoy Chapter 11!

Less than Legends, More than Myths

Chapter 11: Sea, Seed, and Seedot

As the group made its way through the dirt road, each member was silent, lost in his or her thoughts. The little clouds that had been gathering nearby had mysteriously disappeared, leaving only clear blue sky. Shining overhead was the bright Hoennian sun, casting its warm and welcomed rays upon the earth beneath its ever-burning gases. The trees bordering the road stood tall and proud, the long grass around them shuffling lightly in the wind.

All this peace and calm as interrupted when Jake tripped on his shoes and fell headfirst onto the rough ground. He got up, spitting out quite a lot of dirt, and saw Brendan suspiciously whistling. A little chase ensued, and Brendan was left limping slightly.

May and Sara talked to each other, mostly about pointless things like shopping and different dressing styles. May was absolutely shocked to hear that Sara knew very little about the subject, and was now trying to teach the smaller girl everything she herself new. At that precise moment, she was introducing the many different sizes and types of skirts: mid-thigh length, thigh length, knee length, ankle length, full length (apparently, they were two different sizes), cut skirts, long-cut skirts…

After walking for a few hours, the group decided to stop in a convenient clearing to rest for a while ('the group' being May). As Brendan, Sara and May sat down on the ground, Jake stood up, listening attentively. Around him, all the Pokémon that had been released watched him quizzically.

"What is it?" Sara asked, immediately scared. After all the recent encounters she had had, she was becoming slightly paranoid.

"Humn? What?" Jake replied, looking back at the girl. He seemed to have lost focus of things around him for a while. "Oh, it's nothing to worry about. Just heard some wild Pokémon around. Think I'll catch one. After all, you've all gotten one recently, and I wouldn't want to lag behind."

"Scorch's probably the strongest Pokémon we have now, though." Brendan commented. "Maybe Mudkip can beat him, but it's only 'cause he's got a type advantage."

"You're just trying to convince me not to get another Pokémon so I can't kick your behind." Jake shot back. "Hear this, my dear friend: You're going downtown! Let's go, Scorch. Time for another challenge."

He walked out of the camp, Scorch on his trail. Sara seemed a bit relieved, and May rolled her eyes. The other Pokémon began to chat once more. Looking over to Brendan, May saw that the boy had a pouting look on his face, completed with crossed arms. Noticing the girl's stare, he turned around to face her.

"That's not true. Not true!" the boy said, sounding like a baby. Sara giggled and May rolled her eyes. "I'm serious!"

"Boys…" May and Sara muttered at the same, looked at each other and laughed.

--XXXXX--

"Well, hello there, darlings!" Wingull said gallantly to Torchic and Ralts, doing something that seemed like bowing. However, since his body was way less than an inch from the ground, it was hard to say for sure. "I think that two stars just fell down to Earth, because I see them in front of my eyes at this very moment!"

"Uhm… what?" Ralts asked, sounding confused and flattered. Though no one noticed, her normally green horn began to slightly shine pink.

"Are you two free tonight?" the seagull continued. "I have a friend in these parts, and he would very much appreciate the sight of two beautiful damsels!"

"Oh, get lost!" Torchic shot back in a hostile tone.

"How can I not get lost in your endless beauty?"

"Hey! She told you to get lost!" Mudkip said, stepping in. Everyone looked at him awkwardly with 'you don't belong here' expressions. "What!?"

"I'm sorry, my friend, but I cannot see how this is any of your business. So, scramble." Wingull replied, flapping one of his wing in a 'go away' way. With the other, he pointed towards Torchic and Ralts. "This is between me, Beautiful Lady and Hot-Headed Beauty."

"Who are you calling 'Hot-Headed', you freaking piece of birdic poop!?" the Fire type shot back, on the verge of attacking the bird.

"And who are you calling 'Beauty'?" teased Mudkip. "Plus, 'birdic' isn't even a word!"

"HEY! Who's side are you on, blob-ball!?"

"FOR THE LAST TIME, I'M NOT A BLOB-BALL!"

"Step away from the beautiful damsel, you overgrown puppy!" Wingull shouted, stepping in.

"Dude, the bro isn't, like, you know, overgrown, dude. If something, he's like, undergrown, man. Right, dude?" Zigzy said to Wingull. The bird stared back at him with a confused, hurt, disgusted, shocked, and frightened expression all at once. Zigzy stepped backwards like as if he had been physically hit, shocked by the emotion of stare.

"Urgh…" groaned Ralts. Her horn was glowing like a rainbow, but much more subtly. The Feeling Pokémon hugged her head. "All this emotions… it's just… BEAUTIFUL! So alive, so many different feelings! I feel so happy!"

"Step away from my darling!" shouted Wingull.

"I'M NOT YOUR DARLING! TELL HIM, BLOB-BALL!" Torchic shouted back.

"I'M NOT A BLOB-BALL! AND WHY SHOULD I TELL HIM!?" Mudkip added to the flying shouts.

"So many feelings!" Ralts yelled as she span around maniacally.

"Dude…" Zigzy said, over-watching the absolute chaos in front of him. "Cool!"

--XXXXX--

"Almost there, Scorch…" Jake whispered to his faithful Charmander as the two walked around the forest. Sure enough, they reached a small clearing, and inside stood a lone Seedot. In an almost paranoiac way, the boy frantically looked around for a large tree, and let out a sigh of relieve when he found none. Then, he nodded to Scorch, and the Fire type stepped forward.

"A Seedot, huh?" Jake thought. "Ah, so many memories… anyway, Scorch shouldn't have a problem dealing with it, seeing as he's a Fire type and Seedot's a Grass type…"

"Scorch, let's heat things up with an Ember attack!" the boy ordered.

The Charmander complied and shot white-hot embers at the Seedot. The Acorn Pokémon squealed in shock and fear at the recent events, then tried to throw itself out of the way of the attack. It was too slow, though, and ended up with a glancing burn. The Grass type squealed in pain, then set its eyes on Charmander. However, it did nothing else. Hearing his trainer shout more orders, Scorch shot another Ember attack at the Seedot, scoring a direct hit. The enduring Pokémon groaned, but was still up and about when the attack ceased. Frustrated, Scorch came in close with a Metal Claw, with another direct hit. The Seedot flew through the air and few heavily on the ground.

Surprisingly, it still managed to get up, and shot a colossal beam of power back at the Charmander. While it flew through the air, the beam took on the shape of a huge iron fist coated in fire. Scorch tried to dodge the attack, but the latter was extremely fast, and scored a powerful hit. Jake flinched when he heard the loud impact, his eyes went wide when he saw Scorch fly through the air, and he flinched again when the Charmander hit a tree with shattering force.

The Fire type struggled to stand up again, but succeeded. He looked at the Seedot, who was snickering at him. Scorch felt his blood begin to boil with rage, and felt a wave of heat wash over him. His trainer shouted more orders, and the Charmander used another Ember attack. However, this attack came out much stronger than before, with the embers being much bigger and more. The Seedot's grin vanished at once, and it desperately turned tail and ran. The attack caught him almost instantly, severely burning the Pokémon. No longer strong enough to move on, the Grass type collapsed. Jake grinned and threw a Pokéball at him.

As soon as the ball hit, the Seedot dematerialized into red light and was sucked inside the object. The Pokéball shook for a few moments, but soon become still and locked shut. Jake collected the ball and clipped it to his belt, then congratulated Scorch and recalled him for a nice, long rest.

After that ordeal was over, the boy turned around and headed back to camp, satisfied.

--XXXXX--

"And then, we got on this clearing, and down there was a green dragon tied up…"

May and Sara were informing Brendan of the events they had been through two days

before. They would have talked earlier, but May was still somewhat pissed off at the boy for the prank he had pulled on them and had thoroughly refused to tell even a single word about it. Sara hadn't wanted to betray her best friend, so she kept her silence as well. But now, May had apparently cooled down enough.

The trio was seated under the protective shadow of the trees bordering the clearing. In the center, the Pokémon were having some sort of argument, but no one really cared. Sara was lying on the ground, watching the clouds, Brendan sitting against a trunk, and May was sitting cross-legged on the grass. It was her that was talking at the moment.

"Wait, green dragon?" Brendan interrupted, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "A Flygon, maybe?"

"No… Jake said something like 'Salad Dance' or something…" May replied, slightly annoyed. "Can I go on?"

"Not just yet. 'Salad Dance', huh? What could that have been… humn…"

"I think Jake said 'Salamence'." Sara corrected. "Something about a 'shiny Salamence'. And he was pretty outraged about it."

"WHAT!?" Brendan shouted, springing to his feet with lighting speed. "You got to see a shiny Salamence!? That's like, my dream!"

"Well, too bad." May said, now definitely annoyed. "Can I please go back to the story now!?"

"Wait a second. You actually saw a shiny Salamence? Oh, man! That's so unfair! That's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"

"If you wanted so much to see it, you should have came with us!" May shouted, frustrated.

"I couldn't! I had to stay at the Pokémon Center, almost killing myself just so I would have something to do! And guess whose fault is that!?" Brendan shouted back. May opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, as if to say something, but no sound came out. Then, the girl hugged her knees and rocketed back and forth lightly, muttering an apology.

"Brendan!" Sara chastised, going over to May. "That was just mean! Apologize to May right now!"

"Why should I!? It's only the truth!"

"You know she didn't mean it! Now apologize!"

"Fine! Sorry! Are you girls happy now!? Jeez!"

"C'mon May… you know he didn't mean it…" Sara comforted May, sitting by the girl's side.

"Yes I did!" Brendan interrupted on the background. No one gave him any attention.

"He's just a big idiot…" Sara continued, ignoring the boy. "You know that. You've been travelling around with him for longer than I have…"

May let out a short laugh, then got up and hugged Sara. "Yeah, I guess I should've learned that by now, huh? Thanks, Sara."

"Anytime."

On the background, Brendan puffed, then muttered, "Girls…"

--XXXXX--

"So, dudes, it's like, settled, right?"Zigzy asked to the mass of faces in front of him.

He looked at the angry faces of Mudkip, Torchic, and Wingull. The discussion they had had previously had broken out into a borderline war, but luckily it was stopped by Ralts' Confusion attack. Apparently, the Feeling Pokémon was so filled with feelings she became extremely weird, freezing everyone in place with a her Confusion attack before smashing her head against the ground several times and fainting. Zigzy had just naturally taken that unexpected event to try and calm the enraged Pokémon down. His proposition: a three-mile-long race to a nearby clearing he knew and back.

Actually, no one had any idea of precisely how long it actually was. Wingull, being a Flying type, had (or at least should have) the innate ability to accurately measure distances and locate where North was, but he was so caught up in a verbal war with Mudkip and Torchic to do any scouting, so Zigzy had guessed about three miles. The raccoon suspected it would take a good deal longer, since he had just made the clearing up, but he decided that it would be best for everyone (him specially) if he just didn't talk any more than needed.

And the prizes varied. If Wingull won, Torchic and Ralts had to go accompany him on his date (since Ralts was unconscious, it was just natural that the others made the choice for her); if Mudkip won, Torchic would stop calling him a 'Blob-Ball' and Wingull would stop annoying everyone; and if Torchic won, she could still call Mudkip 'Blob-Ball', and Wingull had to, in her exact words, "Go hide to a dark corner and die!".

"Dudes, remember: Run straight ahead 'till you reached the cool clearing with some freaking awesome fruits," Zigzy was saying. "Then, you dudes should turn around and run back here, capito? Go rock the world, dudes!"

At his last word, Mudkip, Torchic and Wingull charged ahead. The bird seemed so focused on racing that he forgot he could fly, and as a result he was painfully dragging himself across the ground as the other two competitors vanished in the luxurious undergrowth surrounding the trees. It took him several moments to realize his mistake, but he finally did so, and flapped his wings hard against the still, cold air. A few moments later, he was souring through the skies.

"Ahh, another job well done!" Zigzy congratulated himself. "Those guys won't be back in a while." Suddenly, he yawned. "Humn, guess I'm tired. Where's my little trainer and her divine hands? I really could use some scratching right now…" He looked around for May, quickly spotting her sitting cross-legged near a tree with the Funny-Smelling Weird Boy and the Smaller-Than-My-Trainer Girl. The raccoon briefly wondered where the Mean Pokémon-Aggressor Punk was, but then remembered he had left with Scorch, presumably to aggress some innocent Pokémon.

--XXXXX--

"And that pretty much sums up the essence of it." May said. Zigzy subtly sneaked in and sat by on the girl's lap, and the girl began to automatically scratch him behind the ears. "It may seem complicate, but it's actually quite simple. Right?" She looked around. Sara had a deeply troubled look on her face, while Brendan looked almost terrified. "What!?"

"Never, ever, do that again!" the boy screamed, hugging his knees and rocketing to and fro. "I just spent the last ten minutes listening to you talk about shoes! Do you have any idea of how painful that was!? DO YOU!?"

"Oh, shut up, you big baby!" May shot back, not for the first time annoyed at the boy. She then turned to Sara. "It wasn't that bad, was it?"

"May…" Sara began rather awkwardly. "I'm really sorry, but I don't know what to say..." Her voice piped down to a mumble. "Without being offensive, at least…" The girl then cleared her throat and began to speak normally again. "It was… interesting… to say the least."

"Hmph…" May pouted, crossing her arms. Zigzy let out a small cry when the girl stop scratching him, but then curled up in her lap and seemingly fell asleep. "Jerks…"

There was a small moment of silence, broken only by the soft rustle of the grass and leaves, and by the ever-rocketing Brendan.

"Uhm... soooo…" Sara said awkwardly, trying to start up another conversation. "Flowers. Pretty things, no?" There was no response. "Yeah, I didn't think so either… what about Pokémon, then? Did you guys know that there is a beautiful Pokémon named Milotic? Pretty interesting, huh?" Zigzy yawned, but that was the only thing that happened. "Oh, come on! Food! Tourism! Sleeping bags! WHY WON'T YOU TALK!?"

"Jeez, Sara!" Brendan shouted, jumping to his feet and finally snapping back to the present. He was clearly surprised by the sudden burst of sound. "Fine, we'll talk! See? I'm talking. No need to shout…"

"Sorry…" Sara grumbled.

"It's okay." May said. The group then fell silent once more.

"Wow. D'you know that you guys are really pitiful without me?" came a new voice.

Everyone turned around to see Jake, walking through some nearby trees and into the clearing. The boy had a smirk in his face, and so had Scorch, walking by his trainer's side. The Charmander's grin however, was one of happiness, contrasting Jake's, a much more mocking one.

"Every time I leave and came back, I find you sitting around like a bunch of Psyduck! Don't you have anything better to do?" the boy continued.

"Hahaha." May laughed sarcastically. She was beginning to get used to the boy's unexpected appearances. "Don't you have anything better to do than constantly annoy us?"

"Let me see…" Jake replied, rubbing his chin. "Wake up, check, brush teeth, check, catch wild Seedot, check… Nope, I got nothing."

"Hey!" Brendan interrupted, indignant. "I came up with that! It's my line! You stole my line!"

"Like they say, stealers keepers looser weepers." the older boy replied calmly.

"Humn… I'm not quite sure that's how it goes…" Sara said.

"Whatever."

"Hey!" May interrupted, looking around. "Look at Scorch! He's behaving kinda weirdly…"

Sure enough, the Charmander was frantically looking around for something. He was so desperate he actually began to lift rocks on the ground and look underneath them.

"What's he doing?" Sara asked.

"Probably just went nuts again." Jake answered, shrugging. "Happens all the time."

"I don't think so…" Brendan argued. "Look. Normally, he runs around in circles, flapping his arms… but now, it looks as though he's searching for something."

At that moment, Scorch notice the group's gaze. He looked at the boys and girls and let out a sad "Cha!". It was then that something clicked on Brendan's head.

"HEY!" the boy shouted, causing everyone to look at him. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and toned down his voice. "Where's the rest of the Pokémon?"

Everyone's eyes went wide at those words. May began to imitate Scorch, frantically looking around for the missing Pokémon, and Sara soon began to assist her. Jake hang a bit back, eyebrows frowned. Brendan rubbed his chin thoughtfully. But whatever they did, the problem persisted.

The Pokémon were missing.

Well, there it was. Not long, but (hopefully) enjoyable.

Once more, sorry for everything (if you missed it, there's a list of reasons on the top). Hope that didn't ruin your (non-existant) expectations for this story!

Chapter 12 should be out by Sunday 16th, but, knowing myself, be ready for it by Wednesday 19th.

On a separate note: Yay! Almost three hundred hits to the story (using the Reader Traffic thing; the Story Status says I have around 335)! Thank you all so much!

On a different separate note: Yay! With this chapter, the story breaks the 50'000 word mark! IN ONE MONTH! Wo-hoo!

Gotta Go With The Flow!
BlackShadowKnight