~ Meteor Mashed! ~

...

After the FANGS had disappeared into the distance, Storm and Roselio sank down, panting.

"That was too close," Storm wheezed. She felt really sore because of all those Foul Plays.

Roselio nodded. After a while, he turned to her. "You OK?"

Storm glared. "Of course I'm OK!" she snapped. Then she seemed to remember how he'd bailed her out when Krokorok attacked her, and she went silent, turning away.

For a while they did nothing but sit there listening to their ragged breathing until at one point Roselio stood and was about to offer Storm a hand when someone suddenly grabbed his shoulders from behind.

"GYAAAAH!" he cried, jumping and quickly turning around to meet Darwin's annoyed face.

"Chill out, mon frére," she snarled. "Dear Arceus, you really are jumpy-"

She tailed off when she saw the state Storm and Roselio were in.

"Wait, what the heck have you been up to?"

Then her eyes lit up with understanding as she turned to Storm. "Oh... I suppose that's because you kicked his butt already?"

"Non, our battle didn't even take that long," Roselio said dismissively. "We've been in a battle with some thugs instead."

The Roserade stared at them with a horrified expression on her face, then shook her head as she decided to just ignore that. Instead, she changed the subject and got down to business.

"Have you seen Hypno and Snivy?"

"Oh, them." Her brother shrugged. "Oui."

Darwin zeroed in on him like a hawk on a rabbit and grabbed his shoulders, rattling off a barrage of questions in French. "Where are they now? Where did you see them? What were they doing?"

"They were there when Storm and I were walking through the Arbor Area before we came here," Roselio said. "Snivy said that she was going to show Hypno some sights."

Darwin glared. "They weren't there when I passed through the Arbor Area," she said with a doubtful squint. "Are you sure? When exactly was that?"

"Oui, I'm sure," Roselio answered, only to get his shoulders violently shaken again.

"Why didn't I see them, then? Did you hear what they were talking about? Did Hypno give Snivy any compliments? Was there any hand-holding? What was their eye contact like?"

Roselio looked blank. "What's eye contact got to do with anything?"

"Gaaaah," Darwin cried in frustration, shaking his shoulders again.

Luckily for Roselio, Storm swooped in to his rescue. "Give him a break. Fancy asking about subtle things to someone from Mars." She rolled her eyes. "However, he wasn't lying - we did see them in the Arbor Area and overheard that they'd be there for quite some time. And as for why you didn't see them, you said yourself that you passed through the Arbor Area. If Snivy was going to show Hypno some sights, she'd surely take Hypno to spots you won't normally come across when you just 'pass through'."

Darwin huffed but didn't deny the fact that Storm could be right.

"ANYWAY," she said loudly. "As I was saying, what were they doing when you saw them?" She narrowed her eyes at Storm.

"Chatting, of course," Storm said nonchalantly.

"Did you hear what they were talking about?"

Storm shrugged. "Royalty stuff, Snivy's adventures, and whatnot."

"Did Hypno give Snivy any compliments?"

Storm shook her head. "Nope."

"Any hand-holding?"

"Nope."

"How about eye contact?"

"Nothing serious," Storm replied. "Chemistry, none."

Darwin looked pleased. "Good. Then there's still time." She looked back at the entrance to the Arbor Area. "Then I guess I'll be going now." She turned back to Roselio and Storm. "See you two later."

She smirked specifically at Storm. "Go for it," she said. "When you have another battle, kick his butt for me, will ya? Hit 'em as hard as you want. I don't mind."

With that, she turned and walked away in the direction of the Arbor Area.

Roselio glared at her vanishing back. "Hey, you're not exactly helping...!"

But Darwin only waved her red rose.

Looks like Darwin is getting closer to catching up with Hypno, at last! She only needs to return to the Arbor Area and look for him where Snivy's showing him some sights. I wonder what will happen if she does meet him?

Anyway, Lopunny is glad Pairing 5: Roselio x Storm is finally calming down after the FANGS fiasco. Who knows, maybe they'll even have fluffy, Lopunny-back-to-fangirling-again moments like some other pairings? At least something that doesn't involve kicking each other's butts. (Lopunny glares at Darwin.)

Gremlin Ombre the Sableye had angered Froslass Yukimenoko.

He had made the stupid mistake of not watching where he was going, and had ended up falling off their Dance Inferno stage right onto Lopunny. Froslass hadn't been pulled down with him, but she still became the center of attention of those still on the stage.

When Gremlin Ombre had finally climbed back onto the stage, he'd known that he'd really done it.

Froslass Yukimenoko's face had been a brilliant shade of red.

...But that was before she burst out laughing!

"You are right about one thing," she said between giggles as Gremlin stared in surprise, "we have no hope of winning now. But who cares? Let Medicham and Jynx have their stupid trophy, I did not even want it in the first place – you do know that I am a Pokémon of science and not of dance."

She grinned. "In fact, I thought your display was actually pretty funny, Gremmy! I felt really amused! My favorite part was when Lopunny's outcry got amplifed. It was so loud that even Chandelure was surprised."

Gremlin zeroed in on something Froslass said.

Gremmy?

He suddenly realized that the Ice-type had given him a nickname. The elegant Froslass Yukimenoko had actually deemed himself close enough for a nickname. The very idea enthralled him – he took that as a sign that Froslass had finally considered him a friend and not a little goofball she just had to spend time with. He took that as a sign that Froslass was going to get less uptight with him from now on. He certainly hoped that was the case.

Gremlin had to laugh, too. "Yeah, and I fell right on her top hat and accidentally pushed it down over her face and half the time she was trying to pull it off since it seemed to be stuck fast. I'm glad she didn't suffocate in it or anything. But my favorite part had to be when you gave Medicham and Jynx a cold shoulder! It was high time, too, they were really beginning to get onto my nerves. They think they're so good." He pouted.

Froslass laughed again at what a ridiculous goofball he was being. "Actually, I do think they are pretty good. They are probably going to win, but like I said earlier, I do not care about winning or losing." She shook her head. "Since the music is still playing, how about we enjoy the rest of our stage time?" She looked meaningfully at Gremlin. "I do recall you saying that you have knowledge on how to dance to this specific kind of music."

Gremlin tilted his head, surprised that she still wanted to stay. "I thought you'd suggest getting out of here after my embarrassing 'display', but if that's what you want, OK!" He grinned. "Like what you said, I do 'have knowledge'!"

He offered her his hand and she took it, and before they knew it, they were dancing to "this specific kind of music", as Froslass had put it. Maybe their dancing even almost rivaled Medicham's and Jynx's.

Froslass had lots of knowledge, but Gremlin had knowledge, too. They were knowledge of different things, but for now, their differences didn't seem to matter at all.

»̶✽«̶

The Dance Inferno was over, and Lopunny was back onstage with her slightly disheveled-looking top hat. She was about to announce the winners.

"...And now we're moving on to the first winners!" she exclaimed once Charmander and Bulbasaur had gotten off the stage after claiming their prize as the second-place winners.

"Medicham and Jynx!" Gremlin lip-synced along with Lopunny as cheers erupted in the tent. He grumbled. "You're right, they are good. I have nothing against them winning, Froslass, but it's just that they're so annoy—"

He broke off when he heard Lopunny's amplified yelp. There seemed to be a commotion up on the stage . He turned back just in time to see Medicham and Jynx topple over onto the rabbit, ruining her top hat even more.

"What the...? Did they slip?" Gremlin blinked in surprise, but Froslass didn't say anything.

"Yep, looks like they slipped," said Dustox, who was sitting beside him. "It was weird – Medicham was flailing his arms about as if he was walking on ice."

That gave Gremlin an idea and he turned sharply to face Froslass. He was actually trying to suppress laughter as he blurted out, "Froslass, you didn't...!"

"Did not what?" the Ice-type said calmly. "I did not have anything to do with it."

But then she grinned a merciless smile.

"Or did I...?"

Lopunny glared as she pulled off her destroyed hat. So it was Froslass Yukimenoko's doing, eh? No wonder Medicham and Jynx fell out of the blue like that. She hadn't expected this. I thought better of you, Froslass Yukimenoko! I thought you said you were a Pokémon of science. Not of pranks.

Ahem. At least the Ice-type wasn't angry at Gremlin. It's almost the end of the Meteor Mash-up soon; we can't afford to have any more problematic pairings.

Lopunny quickly flits from annoyance to being the fangirl she usually is, because she has just witnessed the first. Meteor. Mash-up. NICKNAME-GIVING!

Squeeeeeeeee~!

...

"...And that's the entrance to the Arcane Area."

Snivy Tsutarja, princess of the Arbor Area, was pointing a hand in the direction of a gap in the cliffs surrounding the Arbor Area of PokéPark, far away in the distance. She and Hypno were perched on the roof of the windmill in the Windmill Way. She was showing Hypno some sights.

Hypno squinted. "Looks like a huge flower plain."

"It is." Snivy nodded. "Some argue that it's the most beautiful area in PokéPark. Of course, some others disagree. My mother thinks Verdant Court is the most beautiful. Area Keeper Samurott thinks it's the Beach Cove. Area Keeper Emboar thinks the Battle Tournament arena in the Crag Area is the best. Conkeldurr thinks it's the Train Depot. Reuniclus thinks it's his lab. You get what I mean."

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

"Right." Snivy smirked.

Hypno was staring into the distance when he suddenly frowned. "Look," he told Snivy, pointing at the entrance to the Windmill Way.

Snivy turned and saw a Roserade just entering the Windmill Way.

It was Darwin.

Again.

The Roserade had been there before – she had been walking through the Windmill Way as if she had been in a hurry. However, now she seemed to be looking for something, as she was looking behind bushes and peeking into every nook and cranny.

That was when she spotted the windmill, and it gave her an idea. Her gaze traveled to its roof and finally landed on Hypno and Snivy.

"There you are!" she gasped, her face breaking into an alarmingly wide smile. "I've been looking for you, Hypno!"

Hypno didn't look too happy to see her.

"What are you doing here?"

"Well, Tepig's doing... something... else, so I figured I'd find you instead." The Roserade grinned up at him. "Hey, mind if I join you up there? How do you get up there, anyway?"

"You climb." Hypno was not amused.

Darwin didn't seem to notice that Hypno wasn't too thrilled to see her, so she went over to the windmill and began to climb up gingerly.

However, just as Darwin was about to arrive on the roof on which Hypno and Snivy were sitting, Hypno changed his mind and said, "Hey, actually, it's almost the end of the Meteor Mash-up. How about if we start walking to the Dance Zone now?"

Darwin already had one rose on the roof, so of course she was surprised when Hypno changed his mind and jumped to the ground instead, followed by Snivy. She abandoned her climbing endeavors and jumped back down. When she reached the ground, Hypno was already walking away with Snivy.

Still, Darwin didn't give up. She ran after them, finally catching up with them.

"Sooo, what have you two been up to?" she asked breathlessly.

"Nothing," Hypno said shortly, so Snivy filled her in, "I've been showing him some popular Arbor Area sights from on top of the windmill."

"Oh, so you've been up there for a while?"

"Yep," Hypno said coldly. "We even saw you the first time you came here, didn't we, Snivy?"

"Uh-uh." Snivy nodded.

Darwin was still smiling, but it was now frozen on her face.

Hypno saw me...

...but he didn't even say hi.

For the first time, Darwynette de la Verde wasn't sure what she thought of Hypno.

She was about to say something when Hypno turned to Snivy and said, "Anyway, you were going to tell me about your battle with Darkrai," as if he chose to completely ignore Darwin's presence.

"Oh yeah, that." Snivy grinned, and then launched into the epic story of how she and her friends had beaten the legendary Pokémon of darkness.

Before she knew it, Darwin was left trailing behind them like a shadow with a frozen smile on her face.

Ouch.

Lopunny grimaced. Looks as if Hypno's gone down the ranks from being Darwin's crush to being a heartbreaker.

Pairing 10: Hypno x Snivy is going... meh. The whole time she has been watching them, they have done nothing but talk and do hypnotism tricks. Lopunny pouts. They never even made her fangirl – not even once.

As for Darwin, it's true that she has been acting like a pain in the neck, but now Lopunny can't help but feel sorry for her...

...

It's almost the end of the Meteor Mash-up. What will happen as the sun sinks even lower?

Stay tuned on Wish Park FM!