Chapter 8
Clash of the Titans
There was a long, uneasy, stunned silence as the two young women fixed their eyes firmly on the man standing only a short way from them.
"Ivy…" Michaela whispered hoarsely. "Am I seeing things…?"
"I…" Ivy's mouth hung open in disbelief. "I don't think so… Unless we're both seeing things… But that wouldn't make any sense… there's no way both of us could make up the exact same thing at the exact same time… Not unless we were in… like a mutual dream state or something…? You think that's possible…?"
Michaela responded by shooting her sister an incredulous look and angrily questioning her sanity.
Ivy apologised meekly.
Letting out another exasperated sigh at her ditzy older sister, Michaela attempted to bring them back to reality "But look, it's Blue, Ivy! Blue!"
"I know…" Ivy said in bewilderment.
Ivy wasn't going to lie. The idea that she could possibly be meeting Blue had been circling her mind for quite some time, but she certainly hadn't expected the encounter to be this soon! Still in shock, she glanced at her sister once more, who returned an almost identical look of pure, unmitigated amazement. That was almost a feat in itself, Ivy inexplicably found herself thinking. Her motor-mouth of a little sister actually lost for words. That wasn't something that came around all that often, and it only seemed to serve to make the whole thing that much more unbelievable.
It was at that point that Sebastian began waving enthusiastically across to them at the front of the Pokemon Centre doors. Michaela let out a little squeak, and looked up at her sister. "Is he waving at us…?" she asked in awe.
Ivy stared at Sebastian who was still gesticulating madly, motioning for them to come over. She swallowed. "I think so, yeah…"
"But that's… that's Viridian City's Gym Leader he's with! I mean, I knew I said I wanted to see him, but I never thought I might get to meet him!"
Ivy took in a deep breath and pulled herself up to her full height. "Well, let's not hang around here like star-struck fangirls—"
"Even if we sort of are?" Michaela asked, her eyes comically widened.
"You may be, I'm not!" Ivy attempted to say as primly and matter-of-factly, but it was a wasted effort. Both she and her sister knew she was just merely putting up a front. While she may have not have been an avid fangirl, per se, of the famed Viridian City Gym Leader, she was most certainly star-struck, and more than a little intimidated at the sheer sight of him. Ivy wasn't the type of girl to know a lot about Pokemon training or any of the figureheads associated with it, but in a world of such heightened media interest, there was no way anyone could go through life without having at least heard of Blue and his exploits and reputation of being the strongest Gym Leader in all of Kanto and Johto. But perhaps the most amazing thing of all was just how ordinary Blue looked in real life. On the television he seemed to carry such an air of confidence and poise, but seeing him, even from a distance, he looked just like any other unremarkable man. In fact, that made Ivy even more nervous. She knew what a good trainer Blue was. Everyone knew what a good trainer Blue was. So, how could someone with so much power and strength look so unremarkable?
"Can… can we go and speak to him…?" Michaela's voice was barely above a whisper now. She certainly was making no effort to keep secret the fact she was star-struck anymore…
"Well, we can't really hang around here like spare lemons," Ivy muttered, plastering a fake smile on her face as she looked across to where Sebastian and Jack were now enthusiastically waving them over.
"I can't believe I'm going to meet Blue!" Michaela squealed excitedly as the two of them began the walk across to the guys.
"Well d-don't show me up!" Ivy hissed at her younger sister, mentally cringing at Michaela's fangirl tendencies. However, while Ivy warned her sister to behave, she had to admit she wasn't all too confident in her own abilities to not show herself up.
"Hey," Sebastian called cheerily as the two girls nervously approached the group of boys. "You made it."
"Eventually," Jack intercepted, with a teasing smile.
Ivy, pointedly ignoring Jack's quip at her expense, found herself oddly incapable of speech as she fixed her eyes upon the rather calm, yet still imposing figure of the Viridian City Gym Leader. When Ivy glanced at her sister, looking for a little assistance, Michaela looked completely dumbstruck, evidently completely incapable of speech. Ivy mentally groaned, wishing she could either get her mouth to engage and make it look like she wasn't completely stupid, or somehow will the earth to rise up and swallow her whole…
Thankfully, Sebastian came to her rescue. "These are the sisters I was telling you about, Blue," he said, waving his hand casually in their direction.
"Nice to meet you," Blue said pleasantly, his voice calm and assured as he addressed them, shooting them a warm smile.
Ivy felt her sister flinch at Blue's voice, and she had to struggle to keep herself from laughing at her sister's uncharacteristic behaviour. Instead, she compromised by summoning up a smile in return. Privately, she thought that this Gym Leader seemed a lot calmer and mellower than she had been lead to believe he was. He had always been presented, both in the media and in history as a rather cocky and arrogant individual. However, here he seemed calm and pleasant, almost scarily similar to Sebastian.
Michaela was still stupidly star-struck, her eyes widened and her jaw hanging comically open like an ensnared Magikarp. At this point, Ivy couldn't resist glancing in Jack's direction, and they both giggled as they unanimously caught sight of the rather gormless look adorning the younger sister's face. Robert, still looking decidedly unimpressed, folded his arms and let out a haughty sigh, shaking his head in disdain.
It was at this point that Blue seemed to fixate himself solely on Sebastian. He turned to look at his old friend, an easy expression of cool nonchalance spreading over his face. When he spoke, his voice held an official, almost business-like tone. "I'm glad you could come for our battle again, Sebastian."
"Me too," Sebastian said with a knowing smile. "You are, after all, one of the only trainers that can present a good fight for me,"
"Oh, we are a cocky one, aren't we?" Blue said with a mischievous grin. "That could be your downfall one day, my friend."
"You're one to talk," Sebastian quipped back expertly.
Blue nodded. "Well, there's no sense in beating around the bush. We may as well get right down to business."
"Of course," Sebastian nodded. "I hope you won't mind some spectators, though…" he said, turning to eye the rest of their odd little party, particularly Michaela, Jack and Ivy.
"Not at all," Blue said warmly. "I do know you love showing off,"
Sebastian laughed in a good-humoured fashion, before clapping his hand on Blue's back and telling him to lead the way in. He then motioned to the others, who obediently followed in his wake into the Gym. Jack, looking thoroughly bemused, but still relatively at ease to be entering the Gym, led the way, whilst Michaela and Ivy exchanged bewildered looks before nervously following suit, and finally a wholly disinterested Robert brought up the rear.
The odd little travelling party followed Blue effortlessly through a series of darkened corridors, rooms and doors until eventually they emerged in a giant arena. It was quite possibly the biggest indoor battling arena any of the three amateur trainers had ever seen, and resounding gasps issued from all three of them as soon as they set foot into its intimidating open space. While Jack paid attention to the distinctive Roman-style décor and architecture, impressive pillars, ancient mural and brown colour scheme, Ivy and Michaela were simply so stunned by the sheer amount of open space and the stunningly high ceilings that the décor didn't even register in their minds. In fact, they were so astounded by the whole thing that Robert had to bark at them to get off the battlefield and into the bleachers if they didn't want to get themselves killed when the battle got underway.
While Blue and Sebastian positioned themselves at either end of the massive battlefield, Ivy sat nervously, almost rigidly, in the stands of the imposing surroundings of the Viridian City Gym. To her left, sat Robert, who was still doing his best impression of a particularly emotionless statue, barely even acknowledging the scene unfolding in front of him. While waiting for the proctor to appear, Blue had approached the older Rhodes cousin, propositioning him also for a battle, but Robert had denied this chance, stating that he "couldn't be bothered". He had then retired to the stands looking as if this was the last place on earth he wanted to be. To Ivy's left however, and a total opposite to the stoic and emotionless Robert, Michaela was a bundle of nervous energy, completely elated at the privilege of being permitted to see a battle of this calibre. Jack also looked uncharacteristically excited, squeezing the Pokeball that held his beloved Phoenix as he eagerly looked down.
Looking at the Pokeball that Jack was holding suddenly sent a shock through Ivy's body. It was with suddenness she remembered her own Pokeball, containing her very own tiny little Weedle. A lump rose in her throat and she bit her lip furiously. The feeling of the Pokeball against her leg burned like fire, and she found herself wishing that it wasn't there…
With a sudden shout from the Gym Proctor, the battle suddenly officially seemed to get under way. Sebastian still looked as cool, calm and sophisticated as ever, while Blue held a look of quiet confidence, offering his opponent a grin and a handshake.
"This will be a six-on-six Pokemon battle between leader Blue and challenger Sebastian." The proctor called out, his voice rising clearly like the cry of a Pidgeot. "There will be no items or no time limit. You may not substitute Pokemon. And… begin!"
The word had no sooner left the proctor's mouth when Blue, in an almost indecipherably fast movement pulled a Pokeball from his belt and released a Pokemon. On the release of Blue's first Pokemon, Ivy, Jack and Michaela all promptly almost fell off their seats.
With an ear-piercing roar that seemed to echo and reverberate right around the entire battlefield, a giant dark shadow fell across the arena as the Pokemon was released. The darkened silhouette soon showed its true colours and the intimidating figure of a gigantic blue serpentine Pokemon was revealed. With another vicious roar, Ivy shrieked, Michaela gasped and Jack fell backwards off his seat. Robert however cast the three amateur trainers looks of disdain and continued to look as if the whole situation was boring him.
When she finally calmed down, Ivy looked at Jack and Michaela in pure shock. "That's… that's a Gyarados…" Ivy said in sheer awe.
Jack, who normally would not have hesitated at the opportunity for a sarcastic quip at Ivy's expense at the obviousness of her statement, could not even bring himself to do so, so amazed he was at the sight of the giant Pokemon. (The fact also remained that he was in no position to mock Ivy, considering he had been the one to fall backwards off his seat on the benches in the stands) Even the perpetually loud Michaela was stunned into rare silence.
"What on earth is Sebastian going to use against a Gyarados?" Ivy asked hoarsely to no-one in particular.
"I don't even know…" Jack sounded equally lost for words.
"Oh please. Gyarados aren't that great," Robert deadpanned, looking as unimpressed as ever.
Ignoring the remarks of the perpetually apathetic Robert, Ivy, Jack and Michaela turned their eager eyes onto the scene unfolding in front of them. Sebastian looked surprisingly calm in the face of his intimidating opponent, plucking a Pokeball from his belt almost lazily. Ivy's heart inexplicably leapt, a strange, alien excitement flooding her senses. What kind of amazing battle was she about to see? A battle between the rumoured most powerful Gym Leader in all of Kanto and Johto, and a man who enjoyed a close personal friendship with said Gym leader, and was coming back for what appeared to be only one rematch of many… She didn't know what the outcome was going to be, but there was one thing she did know.
That it was going to be downright awesome.
Her suspicions proved right.
While Ivy expected the battle to wage for hours on end, the 6-on-6 battle was actually over in a surprisingly short amount of time. Each trainer had their Pokemon trained and primed to almost perfection, their strengths and abilities evident. Their battles were smooth and fluid, Blue and Sebastian both utilising their surroundings, their Pokemon's unique moves and abilities and the years of experience they had to their advantages. It was impossible to tell at any given time which trainer would eventually emerge the victor, as both young men were relentless forces, clawing back the upper hand sometimes in even the most unlikely of instances. It was clear anything could happen, and no-one's victory could be ensured or even predicted.
For the first round, Sebastian sent out a Skarmory to deal with the tour de force that was the Gyarados that Blue had sent out. Skarmory, although blessed with great defence and speed, had little attack force and nothing powerful enough to break through the Gyarados's own high defences. Sebastian knew this, and took advantage of what Skarmory did have to tire and wear down the giant Gyarados, forcing it to exhaust itself executing move after move in an attempt to hit the wicked fast Flying type. A combination of Agility to rack up the Skaramory's speed, followed by a barrage of Sand-Attacks to lower Gyarados's accuracy was all that Sebastian needed. He then ordered an all out offence, paying no heed to the attacks Blue was having Gyarados use. His Skarmory had such a high defence that any attacks used against it seemed to do little to no damage at all initially. Proceeding from this, Sebastian ordered a bombardment of Air Slash and Night Slash to gradually wear down the Gyarados's guard. But Gyarados too had a vicious arsenal of attacks, and after a long, bloody dual between the two Pokemon, the Skarmory eventually fell to the ground, defeated.
Sebastian however did not seem worried at his first loss, and when a horrified Ivy turned to Robert, looking for reassurance, Robert only shook his head in exasperation. "This is how he works, Ivy. This is the way he battles. He doesn't go for the all-out powerhouse attacks. He sets things up, he works slowly, he makes strategies… Sure he may sacrifice a Pokemon here and there, but it's all for a reason. Just trust me."
Ivy understood what Robert meant by the time the next bout was over. Sebastian's next Pokemon was a Venomoth. Even Ivy knew for a fact there was no way a puny Bug type like Venomoth with no heightened attack or defence could stand up to a Gyarados, but Sebastian was entirely calm about the whole affair, ordering Venomoth to use a Sleep Powder. Ordinarily, a Pokemon like Venomoth would be swept aside as if it were nothing by the sheer power of a Gyarados, but Blue's Gyarados, so exhausted and worn down from the battle with the Skarmory couldn't attack fast enough and fell victim to the incapacitating move. Just like that, with one single move, the Gyarados had been taken out.
Despite his eventual success against the Gyarados, the next battle did not go in Sebastian's favour. Blue unleashed a vicious Rhyperior. Sebastian's Venomoth barely lasted a full minute on the battlefield, despite Sebastian's best efforts to incapacitate it with a Supersonic and a Sleep Powder. The Rhyperior simply rampaged out of the way of the incoming attacks and struck with a powerful Stone Edge, knocking the delicate moth Pokemon to the ground, completely defeated.
Sebastian recuperated in the following round, sending his Exeggutor into battle, which dominated the Rock type with a series of Leaf Storms. With the scores tied, a noticeable shift in atmosphere spread across the gym arena. Blue's next Pokemon was a Tyranitar that immediately took the advantage as it summoned a vicious sandstorm as soon as it was released. The Exeggutor, blinded by the sandstorm, couldn't even see clearly enough to attack the Tyranitar encompassed in its protective sandy shroud. Sebastian took a stab in the dark, sending out a Hypnosis in the hope of catching the Tyranitar, but his efforts proved fruitless. The Tyranitar then took full advantage of its dark type moves to knock out the dual Grass and Psychic type within only a few short minutes.
Sebastian sent in his Tentacruel following this, but much to Ivy and Jack's amazement, Sebastian did not initially use his Pokemon's Water type moves to his advantage. He chose to have Tentacruel safeguard itself with a Barrier, then use Screech to lower the Tyranitar's heavy guard and solid defences. While Tyranitar hit back hard, Tentacruel hung on long enough to use Scald, a move which inflicted a burn on the massive dual Rock and Dark type. Upon Tentacruel's defeat, Sebastian sent in Kangaskhan. Luckily for Kangaskhan, it had very little to do against the Tyranitar apart from to dodge its attacks as the burn damage eventually wore down its health, causing it to eventually faint from sheer exhaustion and pain from its burn.
Sebastian's luck held out for the following round, even against the odds, Blue's Pidgeot failing to be any decent competition. Kangaskhan used a combination of brutally physical moves, including Mega Punch, Double Hit and a particularly powerful Rage to take out the giant bird Pokemon whenever it swooped in close for an attack. However, in the following round, Kangaskhan went down to Blue's Machamp. The Normal type didn't stand a chance against a relentless force of Fighting type moves. However, in retaliation, Sebastian scraped back a victory using his Arcanine to inflict massive burn damage on the Fighting type.
The final battle consisted of Sebastian's Arcanine versus Blue's Charizard. For a long time, the two trainers simply stared each other out on the battlefield, making no move or even any indication they would move. Then, all of a sudden, they both sprang into action. Wheels and plumes of flames suddenly erupted and burst all over the battlefield, igniting in the cool air and sending vibrant displays of orange and red dazzling across Ivy, Jack and Michaela's vision, making them recoil in a strange mix of wonder and fear. The Pokemon threw themselves bodily at each other, clashing in a violent battle of claws, paws and streams of burning fire. This battle of the titans went on for a considerable amount of time amidst a burning backdrop of exploding flames.
Eventually, the battle ended when Charizard snatched the victory from Sebastian's grasp with a vicious Air Slash, followed by a crushing Dragon Rage. Arcanine wavered uncertainly on its paws before its eyes rolled back into its head and it collapsed. Sebastian went to his Pokemon's side immediately, not even acknowledging his victorious opponent, while Jack, Ivy and Michaela, who all realised they had been holding their breath for the final few seconds of the battle, let out heavy, resigned sighs.
Sebastian, after murmuring words of comfort and thanks to his Arcanine, recalled the exhausted Fire type and stood up to meet his old rival. He held out his hand and accepted his defeat with a firm handshake.
"I believe the score is now 51-49 to you?" Sebastian said, his face nonchalant, betraying no emotion.
Blue nodded. "I believe so."
Despite himself, a smile tugged at the corner of Sebastian's mouth. "I will catch up to you, you know?"
Blue was smiling now too, his face looking surprisingly open and friendly with the addition of such a warm smile. "Oh, I know." He said offhandedly, with a cheery wave of his hand. He then cast a glance upwards towards Ivy, who had left her seat at the stands to approach Sebastian. She had suddenly been afraid Sebastian would have taken his loss badly, but upon seeing his smile as she got closer, had stopped in his tracks. Now, with both Blue and Sebastian now staring at her, she felt stupidly nervous and sheepish.
"Uhm…" she stuttered apprehensively under the watchful and rather intimidating eye of the young Gym Leader. "Sebastian… are you okay?"
"I'm just fine," Sebastian said with a smile, his eyes flicking back to look at Blue. "It's been a long time since I had a battle that exciting, so it's fine. Besides… there's a reason they made Blue the Gym Leader. He's good. He's very good. Not even experienced trainers like me have much of a chance of winning…"
"Oh…" was all Ivy could say, now feeling incredibly foolish and wishing she could just slink away back into the stands again. "Well, so long as you're okay…"
"He'll be just fine," Blue intercepted, slapping a hand on Sebastian's back. He perhaps put a little too much force behind it than he intended to, as Sebastian noticeably winced in pain. "He's a good guy. And a good battler too. Very rarely do I get a challenger who's good enough to take me down to my last Pokemon."
"Oh…" Ivy squeaked.
"Who knows, though?" Blue said with another good-natured smile. "You're a Pokemon trainer too, right? Maybe one day you'll give me a run for my money?"
"Eh?"
"Yeah," Blue nodded. "Anyone who hangs around the Rhodes cousins has to be good, or at least have the potential to be good. And maybe in 6 months, a year, two years, however long it takes, you'll be at that stage too. And if you ever are, I want you to come challenge me. I don't get many good opponents."
"But I'm not really that interested in battling…" Ivy blurted out before she could stop herself. "I've never… even…battled before…" she said, her voice slowly trailing off and diminishing into nothingness as she realised that that probably wasn't the cleverest thing to say in presence of a gym leader...
"Give it some time," Blue said, looking down at the young woman in front of him with a gentle smile. "Give it some time, think it over, try some battling… if you like it, good. Keep battling. Become a great trainer. And then come back and battle me. Okay?"
"Uh… okay?"
"Good. I'll hold you to that,"
And with that, the Gym Leader turned on his heel, motioned for Sebastian to follow him, and the two young men disappeared into the back of the Gym, leaving a very bemused Ivy in their wake.
For a few moments, Ivy was incapable of coherent thought, let alone speech or movement. When she finally regained some control over herself, the first thought that came to her mind made her want to mentally facepalm. "Oh, shit. What the hell did I just agree to there…?"
"Ivy!"
Suddenly, an excitable blur collided with her, and Michaela and Jack appeared by her side. Ivy almost didn't even register their presence until Michaela began noisily demanding her older sister's attention.
"What was all that about?" Michaela asked, jabbing her dumbfounded sister impatiently in the side. "Ivy! What happened there?"
"I… I think I just got challenged by the Viridian City Gym Leader…"
There was a moment's silence. Jack and Michaela exchanged equally confused looks, before Michaela let out a haughty sigh and crossed her arms firmly. "Oh, don't be ridiculous, Ivy! What on earth would the Viridian city Gym Leader, the strongest Gym Leader in the whole of Kanto—"
"And Johto," Jack added.
"And Johto…" Michaela added, nodding in Jack's direction. "…want to challenge a rookie who's barely been on the road a week? You only have one Pokemon! A Weedle, for goodness sake! You must have been mistaken."
Ivy opened her mouth to argue, but snapped it shut a few seconds later, thinking better of it. "Yeah… I guess I must have been."
"Exactly," Michaela said with a swift nod. "Jeez, Ivy, you really are a ditz sometimes…"
"Yeah…" Ivy replied noncommittally, her eyes fixated on the empty spot where Blue and Sebastian had just been standing. "A ditz…"
"Look, you're even zoning out right now…" Michaela said with another sigh. "Even after that amazing battle, you're still zoning out. Didn't you see what happened there? That was incredible! They're both so strong! I've never seen trainers that strong before! I mean—"
Ivy stopped listening at this point. Her sister carried on blithely in the background, positively gushing in enthusiasm and excitement over the display they had just seen, but Ivy had gone past the point of caring. Her mind was awash with bizarre thoughts, seeping through her brain and making a strange icy cold feeling take over her body. She couldn't help but wonder about what Blue had said to her. Why her? Why did Blue see some manner of potential in her of all people? She didn't even want to be a trainer… Was it something as simple as because she associated with people like Sebastian and Robert? Or could there be something else involved too…? Something that Blue could see or tell, but Ivy herself wasn't aware of…?
These thoughts remained stubbornly ingrained in the depths of her mind for the rest of the day. Not even the walk to the Pokemon Centre proved enough to sober her up. As they all checked in to the Pokemon Centre and walked to their respective rooms, she still could not shake what had seemed to have planted firm roots in her mind. Even when she and Jack began planning their itinerary for the following day, the thoughts were still prominent. She barely even listened as Jack worked out their plan of action, which he simply described as heading straight to Viridian forest for a combination of training and to begin looking for the first Pokemon on Ivy's list, a Pidgey.
Her mind still refused to be stilled even when Sebastian returned from the Viridian City gym, and the odd little party of five sat down for a meal together. Michaela, still smarting from her loss to Robert earlier in the day, oozed hostility towards the older of the Rhodes' cousins, but at least remained in control of herself, choosing instead to continue her enthusiastic gushing in Sebastian's direction. Ivy privately expected the younger Rhodes cousin to get tired of her sister's incessant jabbering and compliments, but he proved a patient man, listening to the younger McKenzie sibling's awed questions, and providing some helpful advice on how to win a battle without having to rely on brute strength alone. While Ivy did recognise it was good advice and being given away for free, it probably could have been a good idea to listen in, especially since Jack was paying close attention as well, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it.
When night fell, and it was eventually time to turn in, Ivy's mind was no closer to being settled. She lay awake for hours, mulling over Blue's words, turning them over, searching for some sort of deeper meaning. What Blue had said had affected her in a way that she had never expected it to. Blue was a hotshot Gym Leader, who probably knew Pokemon better than he knew himself…
"People like Blue don't say stuff like that for the hell of it," Ivy thought, turning over in her bed for what felt like the millionth time that night. "Even hanging around people like Sebastian and Robert wouldn't make him say that, right…? When you're a Pokemon trainer, it's not who you know, it's what you know, surely… Just like everything else in life…"
At this point, Ivy let out a low groan of frustration into the charcoal black surroundings of their Pokemon Centre room and punched the pillow feebly. From the other bed, Jack murmured something in his sleep, snorted, rolled over and began to snore. Loudly. Another groan escaped Ivy and she jammed her pillow over her head in an attempt to block out the noise. It didn't work.
"Jack!" She hissed, only a few seconds later. "Will you shut up? There's normal people trying to sleep here!"
He responded by letting out an even louder snore.
"Oh, I hate you sometimes!" Ivy muttered vehemently, haphazardly tossing her pillow at Jack's slumbering figure. The pillow veered completely off course, sailed over Jack and ended up at the opposite end of the room. "Oh, really?" she groaned, beating both closed fists onto the bed. "The universe hates me…"
Trying to ignore the minor annoyances, Ivy lay there for a few moments longer, carefully deliberating. "Okay, well… maybe Blue really does see something in me… I don't know why or how though… But I guess that's kinda nice… To have someone like him believe I could actually be good at this… Especially when no-one, not even me… believes I could ever be good at this… Or good at much of anything, really… I guess I proved that already…"
Feeling bitter, she rolled over again, this time onto her back, before letting out another colossal sigh. Jack's snoring had reached record decibel levels, and Ivy could already see the light beginning to slowly creep in from outside. The sun was already coming up. Ivy groaned once more and her mind began to tick over again. "Well, I can't sleep… And if Blue really thinks there's something in me that could have some potential… there's no reason why I shouldn't maybe try and see if I can… I dunno… try my hand at this Pokemon battling and catching thing for myself…?"
Her mind made up, Ivy pushed back the duvet, slipped out of bed and dressed quickly. She had to remind herself to stop and pick up her new Weedle's Pokeball on the way out the door. The unfamiliar metal sphere lay heavy in her hand as she locked the door to her and Jack's shared room, slipped down the corridor and out the Pokemon Centre door into the watery morning light, her sights now firmly set on the figure of Viridian Forest just on the horizon.
Author's Note
I am so sorry!
I have been a terrible person the past couple months, not updating and everything... I hope this story still has readers and everything...
Updates will now be forming some sort of regular pattern, so you'll be seeing a lot more of me until I retire :)
Well, I have to give MasterFreezeman, my wonderful boyfriend, some special thanks for putting up with my bitchiness and craziness through Skype while I was trying to write this damn thing. And for helping me pick Sebastian and Robert's teams, and for the logistics behind the Blue v Sebastian battle :) Thank you, love :) *hugs*
Thanks to WildCroconaw, MasterFreezeman (again) and Shadow Serenity 57 for the reviews!
I'M SORRY IF THIS CHAPTER SUCKED!
OceanSpiral out!
Until next time (which should be hopefully soon)
