A/N:Thanks so much to everyone who's favorited this story, and even more thanks to those who took the time to write a review! Please continue to do so!
Sorry this took so long, with the holidays so close, my free time has been cut really short. Please enjoy, and a (late) merry Christmas, a (late) happy Hanukkah, or whatever holiday you all celebrate!
Chapter 16: Moonlit Memories!
A warm breeze blew over the lush and green path of Route 3, the grass rustling together in it's wake. Both Mandy and Nicole shared a large grin on their faces, anticipating their trek to Cerulean City.
"So what's our plan?" The blond inquired, turning toward her friend.
"Well, there are a few Pokemon I'd like to capture, but otherwise, not much. Unless, your aiming to get in some training or catch a few Pokemon yourself."
"Nah, the only Pokemon I'm interested in right now is a Clefairy." Her blue eyes then shifted to the sky, "Well, it's a little after noon now, so we better get started. We'll probably have to spend the night out here."
"Figures."
The two walked for about 20 minutes before they spotted a patch of tall grass. The pair then crouched down and quietly began to walk through the foliage. It was only about 5 minutes before Mandy spotted a silhouette in the distance. Slowly, she inched her way closer, Nicole right behind her, and began to observed it's appearance.
The Pokemon was somewhat small and spherical in shape and light pink in color. It's two ears were positioned at the top of it's head and were the same shade of pink as the rest of it and a small tuft of hair was in the middle of it's forehead. It's limbs were fairly tiny compared to the rest of it's body. A smile was on it's face and it's blue eyes were sparkling. It was just bouncing and rolling around. This Pokemon was all too familiar.
"A Jigglypuff..." The brunette breathed, pulling out her Pokedex.
"Jigglypuff, the Balloon Pokemon. Nothing can avoid falling asleep hearing a Jigglypuff's song. The sound waves of its singing voice match the brain waves of someone in a deep sleep."
"You gotta catch it Mandy!" Nicole whispered, "We'll match! Plus, both of your voices are extraordinary, you'll be so close!"
Mandy couldn't help but chuckle. Slowly, the red clad trainer rose from her hiding place and took her typical challenge stance.
"Alright Jigglypuff, I challenge you to a battle!"
It's eyes narrowed and body swelled up a bit, a signal of acceptance. Mandy assumed her battle stance and had a small smirk on her face
'Alright, strategy time. Charmeleon and Bulbasaur were used in the last battle, so there out. That leaves me with Pidgey, Rattata, Butterfree, and Beedrill. Neither Beedrill or Butterfree have been used in a true battle, so... I'll use Beedrill. Hopefully I'll be able to poison it.' Moving her hand to the series of spheres on her belt, her hand griped onto one, pulled it off, and enlarged it. "Beedrill, I choose you!" The large Ball flew from her hand and onto the grassy earth in front of her. In a flash, the bug/poison type appeared, it's needles poised for battle.
Jigglypuff's arms began to glow and it began to charge.
"Beedrill, dodge and use Poison Sting!" The bug type easily dodged the attack, managing to fly to the left, thus facing Jigglyfuff's back. He then released a series of purple needles from it's body an scoring a direct hit. Though it did some damage, the attack was unsuccessful in poisoning the normal type.
Quickly turning on one of it's feet, Jigglypuff's body began to enlarge, then launching itself towards Beedrill.
"Beedrill, look out!" But Mandy's command came too late, as the bug type took the full force of the Body Slam. Beedrill stumbled a bit, but quickly regained it's footing. Jigglypuff then took a deep breath. Mandy instinctively knew what this meant.
"It's using Sing!" Both Nicoole and Mandy covered their ears. "Beedrill, quick! Use Twineedle!" And before Jigglypuff could sing more then a few notes, two needles slammed into it's body, cutting it's song short.
"Now use Poison Sting again!" Once more, a seres of purple needles were Shot from Beedrill's body. and again scored a direct hit. This time knocking Jigglypuff out cold. Mandy's hand reached back into her bag and grabbed a spare poke ball. "Alright! Poke ball, go!" The red and white sphere flew from Mandy's palm, then hitting the tiny pink Pokemon. It slowly opened, engulfing Jigglypuff in it's red light, before sucking it into it's confines. The red and white ball closed, it's middle flashing red and it's body shaking. After about five more vibrations, it stood still. A smile appeared on Mandy's face as she raced over to her poke ball and scooped it into her hands.
"Yes, we caught a Jigglypuff!" Both Beedrill and Nicole were equally thrilled. But soon, the poke ball disappeared in a flash of red light, bound for Professor Oak's lab. After returning Beedrill to it's container and listening and thanking Nicole for her constant compliments and congrats, the two headed further down the path.
A Few Hours Later......
"How much farther till we get to Mount Moon?" Nicole asked
"No clue," Mandy replied, exasperated.
The two had been walking for what felt like forever. The sun was beginning to set, and they knew their time for capturing was running low.
"Nicole, it's getting dark. We should probably set up camp. We can't even see Mount Moon yet, so we're obviously not all that close to it. Let's just start fresh tomorrow."
"I guess...." Nicole said.
"I know you're eager to get to Mt. Moon Nicole, I'm also eager to keep catching Pokemon on this route, but we can't do any of it in the dark."
"I guess your right... hey, look!" Nicole's depressed look and attitude quickly did a turn around. She quickly dashed over to two small bushes. They both had beautiful white flowers growing on them. "Wow, I can't believe we found some of these!"
"What are they?" Mandy inquired, walking over to her friend.
"See these?" Nicole said, bending down, "These are called Moon Lillies. There called that because of their look and where they grow. These only grow at a certain time of year near Mount Moon. They're very popular in perfumes and other beauty products because of their smell and are very valuable. Here, smell one." The blond then picked one off, then handed it off to Mandy. Placing the flower beneath her nose, she took a deep breath.
"It smells like summer evening air!" The brunette said, somewhat in awe of the little bloom in her hands.
"Let's camp out here! This way we can enjoy the Lillies more!" Nicole said enthusiastically.
"Sure, lets!"
Within a matter of twenty minutes, the two girls had set up their camp and started a fire and a pot of stew. As their dinner neared completion, both trainers released their Pokemon from their confines and served their food too.
"So, why are you journeying Mandy?" Nicole asked, taking another bite of stew.
"I really want to be a Pokemon Master. Not very original, I know!" the brunette said, a little embarrassed.
"Who cares if it's 'original'? As long as you believe in yourself and in your goal, who cares what other people think."
"Thanks, I appreciate that. What about you, same question?"
"I really want to be a Pokemon Beauty stylist. The thing is, my mother is a stylist for people and my father is a Pokemon caregiver and they want me to choose between the two. Neither of them are willing to meet in the middle."
"But what about what you just told me? Do you not believe in that?"
"It's not the same when your dealing with your parents. I... I'm a little lost."
"Even though they are your parents, your will is free. It's like you said, you only get one life, live it like you want, not what other people want. They can't control you forever."
Tears began to well up in Nicole's eyes. "Thanks. I ... I guess I never really thought about it like that."
"Anytime, my friend."
The two then spent a few more minutes in comfortable silence, both enjoying their food and each other's company. By the time everyone had finished eating, the sun has set and the stars were beginning to show themselves in the night sky. Both Mandy and Nicole returned their Pokemon and crawled into their sleeping bags for a nice rest.
A few hours later, Mandy awoke to what sounded like a young child's laughing. Slowly, she opened her hazel eyes and saw the ghostly image of a young. She immediately shot straight up.
The younger girl looked like a younger version of herself. She had shiny, deep brown hair and pretty hazel eyes. She wore a white flannel dress and straw sandals. In her hands was a bundle of those Moon Lillies that Nicole had showed her. Another giggle escaped the young girl's mouth before she ran into the underbrush near the Moon Lily bushes.
Mandy quickly threw on her shoes and vest and chased after the image. As she began to make her way deeper into the brush, a thought crossed her mind.
'What the heck am I doing?' the teen thought, stopping in her tracks, 'That girl was most likely just a image i saw because I was drowsy.'
Just as she was about to to turn around, the laughter started again. Quickly whipping her head in it's direction, her set of hazel eyes soon landed on the same ghostly image she had seen earlier. The girl was running ahead of her, further into the brush. Mandy quickly gave chase.
A few minutes later, the image faded again. As the brunette looked at where the image once was, she spied a glimmer of an opening ahead. She quickly ran to it and was amazed at what she saw.
Dozens of Moon Lily Bushes surrounded the clearing. The water that lay on the petals of the flowers sparkled beautifully under the light of the moon. The flowers seemed to be everywhere, save for a small circle in the center.
The image of the girl appeared before her and began to run to the bare circle. As it got closer, another image appeared in the bare patch. It was that of a bird with spiky yellow and black plumage, resembling lightning bolts and dark feather's around it's face.
"Brother! Brother Zapdos, I got them!" The image of the young girl said, running up to the large bird's image.
"Very good, little sister" the bird replied.
'I guess Zapdos has some telepathy powers also.' Mandy thought.
The young girl placed the flowers on the ground in front of the legendary bird. "So what do we do now?"; she asked.
"Deep within these flowers are tiny seeds," He said "I was planning on making making a garden here, since I know how much you enjoy flowers."
"Wow, really?! Wonderful!" the little girl said, a huge smile on her face. Zapdos used it's narrow beak to grab some seeds out of the tiny flowers, while the girl used her hands. both planted the seeds in various places around them.
"Were done now," the mighty bird said, "By next year, the flowers will be in full bloom."
"Wow, look at the mountain!" All three sets of eyes turned to the horizon north of them. In the distance, Mount Moon could be seen. The moon gave it a slight blue aura around it. "I guess that's why it's called 'Mount Moon.'"
"Indeed. I.. I forgot how nice the view was here. I guess you were right, it has been too long since I left my roost." The bird then turned to the young girl, "Thank you, Thank you Sister Jewel."
'Jewel!?' But before Mandy could do or say anything, the images faded.
"Mandy!? Mandy you there!?" The brunette quickly turned around and saw a relieved Nicole standing there.
"I've been looking everywhere for you! I woke up and you were gone, do you know how worried I was!?"
"I... I'm sorry. I just remembered this place and I wanted to see it." the teen quickly said, deciding to keep the things she saw to herself.
"What's so special about this-- Whoa!" The blond said, finally taking notice of all the flowers. "This place is beautiful! We could do so many things with these flowers! we could make perfume, or daisy chains or-"
"No." Mandy said, cutting her friend off.
"Why?"
"This place is special. Let's just say I have some memories here. We need to keep this place our secret and keep the flowers where they are."
"Aw man... ah well, if this place is special to you and you want to keep it our secret, I'll respect that. C'mon, let's go back to sleep." Nicole began to walk back to their camp site."
"Yeah... yeah lets." Mandy followed her friend and began to track back through the brush. But this time, with a few new thoughts in her head.
A/N: Yay, another Chapter down! I've become a little concerned about the lack of reviews for the past few chapters, so please, pretty please, write a review! And, once more, Happy (late) Holidays!