i watched george takei's ted talk and omg so cute so sad such deep

another short chapter

201. raze: to demolish; to flatten to ground level

Green ran to get his laundry (he'd clear forgotten it) and was relieved to find his clothes neatly folded on top of the machine he'd used. At least there were good people in the world that didn't try stealing your clothes when you weren't looking.

After washing up, Green fell asleep gracefully for the first time since leaving on his journey. He slept deeply and dreamlessly, but his luck did not last and that morning at 5 AM his temple of peace was razed to the ground by a long (and obnoxious) honk from a ship in the harbor. The S.S. Anne was leaving for the worldwide cruise (the crowds had boarded the previous night), and was trumpeting its departure to all of Vermilion.

202. therapeutic: having healing powers

After the honk, Green was unable to fall back asleep, and in frustration, resigned to getting up and preparing for the departure to Celadon. He rubbed his temples, hoping that it would have some therapeutic effect. Celadon was close enough to walk to, but that'd mean going through Saffron... He decided on surfing west, along the coast, and then flying over the forest separating Celadon from the beach. According to his map, Celadon was really just off the coast but far enough that developers had yet to pave a path connecting it to the ocean.

203. superfluous: unnecessary; extra

Green packed his things away in his backpack quickly, but then confronted the problem of shipping his flowers back. He walked around the hallways and lobby, asking for a cardboard box, and finally, one person actually stopped staring at him weirdly long enough to hand him a box and a couple magazines. Green went outside to search for a newspaper stand, and grumpily trudged at least half a mile before finding one. However, he was rewarded by the glory of sunrise, and was able to forget his pain for a moment.

As he walked back to his room, he flipped through the newspaper. Gold was in the notable battles section once again, this time with a togepi - not even a togekiss. Green stared at the section a little bit, but found no useful information. Upon returning to his room, he wrapped the flowers with the newspaper and stuffed the empty spots with crumpled magazines. As an afterthought, he carefully put in the cards on a side. He briefly wondered if the special care was superfluous, but carried the box down in the elevator anyway.

204. figurehead: a person with apparent but no real authority

When he asked the receptionist for advice on mailing things from the hotel, she turned out to be just a figurehead, so he gave up and simply asked for some duct tape to wrap the box up. She complied, and after trying to call various workers she finally contacted one who knew where the tape would be and brought it down. Green felt a guilty for causing such a ruckus, but tried to hide it as he taped the box up and wrote down Daisy's address and FRAGILE in huge letters on one side.

205. undulate: to move in a wave-like motion

Green dropped the package off at the post office around 6:30 AM and then searched for any open restaurants. He gave up after the fourth "closed" sign and walked to the Pokecenter to eat. They had alright fish sandwiches (at least it wasn't porridge), and Green swirled his cup of coffee, watching the dark liquid undulate and splash a little as he waited for it to cool.

206. quibble: to criticize or evade the truth by raising trivial or irrelevant objections

The docks were already bustling with noise, so Green decided to first fly to the quiet stretch of sandy beach he'd found the day before. He had two reasons: one was to avoid the people at the harbor, and the other was to cross the ring of boulders that stuck up from the ocean, surrounding the harbor and stopping novice trainers from going out into the open sea. Green remembered quite clearly the days when he'd tried to climb over the boulders to try surfing out when he'd missed the ferry to the Sevii Islands. He'd been caught by a couple sailors who quibbled loudly, saying that it was too risky or dangerous.

207. esteem: high regard; respect

Green flew over some crazy ocean swimmers on his way. They really earned his esteem, since Green was paranoid about being attacked by ocean pokemon or a muscle cramping when nobody was there to see.

208. stentorian: extremely loud

One of them was taking a break, lying on the back of a gyarados, and hollered in a stentorian voice at Green to come down and enjoy the water. Green pretended not to hear, and told Pidgeotto to stop looking so curious. However, Pidgeotto's glancing downwards was a total give away, and Green resigned to having the bird cautiously swoop down while he released Blastoise directly into the water. Pidgeotto circled shakily above the water before dropping Green onto Blastoise's back, and Green landed with an "Oomph" and probably a bruise on one knee. The swimmer cheered and the gyarados swam closer to Blastoise.

209. revere: to honor

"Nice landing! Now that takes some good control!"

"Uh..." Green rubbed his knee. "Yeah. Why are you out so early?"

The swimmer laughed. "7:30 in swimmer time is pretty late! Some of us come on out aroung 4 or 5 in the morning!"

Green deadpanned. "Why?"

"To revere the water legendaries! One of my friends said that he saw Lugia once, so one of these days I might get lucky and see Suicune or something!"

210. trying: causing strain, hardship, or distress

Green refrained from deadpanning again. "Good luck with that." Swimming in the ocean seemed like it'd be way too trying and dangerous, especially with sadistic poisonous jellyfish swimming about, ready to torture kids.