Hello! Here's the next chapter!
Chapter 20 - Reunited
"You're thinking about your Trainer again, aren't you?" Sparkler asked, curling his lightning-tail around himself.
Raichu nodded, looking somewhat depressed. "I'm worried about her - and I don't normally say that about people or Pokemon."
"We all worry sometimes," Sparkler offered. "Mist constantly got us into trouble, so that was a bit of a worry for me. I'm glad I didn't go mad watching out for -"
"Raichu!"
The two Electric-Types turned their heads towards the other side of the Square, and the female of the pair froze upon seeing who was standing on the other side of the area.
"K-Khrista?" Raichu stammered, her eyes widening upon seeing the brown-haired girl standing there in a dull red shirt.
"It can't be..." Sparkler murmured. "She looks like my Trainer."
The brown-haired girl took off at a run towards them, a look of delight on her face. A moment later, Raichu found herself entrapped in a hug.
"Hey," Khrista stated, grinning. "It's been a while since I last saw you."
"Has it?" Raichu asked quietly, looking a little at a loss for words. "H-how did you-"
"Alak got me here." Khrista turned to look at the other side of the clearing, only to blink in confusion when the mentioned Pokemon was nowhere to be seen. "Where did he -"
The two Electric mice stiffened as an Alakazam appeared right in front of them.
"I was informing an ally of mine that I had arrived here," Alak explained. He gave a nod to the two Pokemon. "Raichu. Sparkler."
Khrista blinked, then looked over at the male Raichu. "Sparkler?" she repeated.
Sparkler opened his mouth to answer, but Raichu beat him to it.
"When did you get down here?" the female asked excitedly.
"Not too long ago," Khrista replied, returning her attention to her own Pokemon. "Galactics found our hiding place, so Gangrene had Alak Teleport me out of there."
"Gangrene stayed behind?" Sparkler asked, frowning.
"She insisted on keeping an eye on our Trainer," Alak replied calmly. "And that I be the one to leave with our pupil."
"Pupil?" Sparkler repeated in confusion. "What do you mean? And what about Mist?"
"We can talk about that later," Raichu stated excitedly. "Right now, I've gotta find Swamp and tell him our Trainer's here!"
Khrista's eyes sparked. "You're not the only one who's going to tell that Swampert. Where is he?"
"He's been training all over the place, but I think he's over here for now." Raichu turned to face the human buildings and started towards a break between two of them. "I know the way! Follow me!"
"Wait up!" Sparkler called back. He started to run after the female Electric-Type, Knrista and Alak in pursuit.
Raichu led her Trainer through a path between two human made buildings, coming to a stop as soon as they reached the edge of the area.
Khrista looked around in amazement at the large clearing. "What is this place?"
"A place we can train," Raichu replied. She pointed towards a corner of the collection of drawn-out fields. "There's Swamp! And it looks like he's fighting Cedar!"
"Cedar?!" Khrista turned her head, and she caught sight of a flash of green in the distance. "Come on - let's go!" She dashed towards the source of the fighting, the other Pokemon following in pursuit.
The group quickly reached that area of the Underground, where Swamp and Cedar were going at each other with great force. Already, the ground was covered in muddy water, making the battle site almost like a swamp. Khrista suspected that Swamp had used a Muddy Water attack.
"Looks like Swamp's been busy," Khrista noted, wading through the water. She looked over to where the two Pokemon were standing on one of the last few dry spots, now glaring at each other murderously.
Cedar dashed forward, the leaves on his arms lengthening into blades that were slashed at Swamp, who was already covered in multiple cuts.
The Swampert didn't move, watching the Sceptile with narrow eyes as he approached. Then, when Cedar was almost on top of him, Swamp's head reared back and fired a large blue orb of water.
"Whoa..." Khrista murmured, watching as Cedar, now soaked, was sent flying. "Was that Hydro Cannon?"
Raichu nodded. "He doesn't have to use it all that often, but I guess Cedar's worn him down enough." She grinned. "He's got things about using his most powerful attacks, but I've got no qualms about hitting people with Thunder right off the bat!"
"You're not Swamp," Sparkler replied seriously.
Khrista started to walk forward, the muddy water lapping around her ankles. "How long have these two been going at it?"
"Um..." Raichu frowned thoughtfully. "I dunno. I've never been good with numbers. Half hour, maybe?"
Khrista's eyes widened, and she quickened her pace. "Those two have probably exhausted most of their abilities by now. We'd better stop them before they start using Struggle!"
Khrista took a few more steps forward and then, raising her voice, called out, "Guys! Cut it out!"
Cedar's and Swamp's heads turned sharply, the Water/Ground-Type's fist now hovering over the Grass-Type's head.
"If you guys want to kill each other off, do it when we don't have to worry about that guy up there!" Khrista exclaimed, pointing upward. "We still need you guys around here, so don't use up your energy like this!"
Swamp blinked, a blank look on his face, as if he didn't fully comprehend what the teen had said. He back away slowly from Cedar, allowing the Grass-Type to get up.
Raichu clambered up onto Khrista's right shoulder, leaving wet footprints on the back of the Trainer's shirt.
Grinning at Swamp, the Electric Mouse teased, "Don't just stand there gaping like a Magikarp! Get over here and say hi to our Trainer!"
Raichu's words seemed to do the trick, because Swamp started to lumber towards her, as did Cedar. The Grass-Type reached the group first, however, but he didn't tackle Khrista to the ground. Instead, he rammed into Alak.
"Where have you been?!" Cedar demanded, holding the Psychic down in the mud. "Do you realize how much chaos you and that Gengar caused when you disappeared from here? Our team thought you had been kidnapped - or worse!"
"He couldn't exactly come down with that Psychic sensor thingy up," Khrista replied, glaring at the Sceptile. She felt the water moving up her legs in a wave motion a moment later, then turned to look at the Swampert. "Hey, buddy. How are you doing? You're not too badly hurt, are you?"
"All's fair in love and war," Swamp replied calmly. He glanced at the scratches on his arm. "Cedar and I were simply sparring." Looking back at his Trainer, he asked, "And where have you been hiding all this time? Wouldn't Cyrus have -"
"Joshua had Gangrene get me out of his sight," the brown-haired teen responded. "Alak and Gangrene made sure that I stayed out of sight, but Galactics found out we were in the area. Gangrene kicked Alak and me out so that we wouldn't be in any danger."
Cedar looked at Khrista in surprise, then let out a growl of frustration. "That Gengar is going to get herself in even worse trouble than the two of you combined! She'd better hope that she doesn't get herself killed, because I will when all of this is over and done with!"
"Good luck with that," came Alak's reply. "Now, please, will you allow me to get up? I have informed the Pokemon Professors of our arrival as well as Khrista's present predicament."
"Khrista's predicament?" Raichu repeated, confused. She looked up at her Trainer. "What predicament? You're here and you're okay."
"Eh..." Khrista gave a sheepish smile and rubbed the back of her head. "Not quite."
"What do you mean, 'not quite'?" Sparkler asked, getting on the alert. "Did they do something to you?"
"Not unless you count physical tests, no." Khrista's rubbing moved to the back of her neck. "You see, I picked up this new ability when they tried to run me through some machine and had it backfire. Apparently. I wasn't conscious when it happened."
Raichu let out a snicker, smirking. "That's my Trainer."
"What is your Ability?" Swamp asked, frowning.
"You guys know anything about Arceus?"
All the Pokemon present exchanged glances.
"The so-called Pokemon god?" Cedar asked, raising an eyebrow. "Yeah, I've heard about him. So?"
"Um...okay, how do I word this..."
Khrista cleared her throat, looking nervous as she crossed her arms over her chest. "His ability allows him to take on any Type that exists depending on what Plate he's holding. Like Flame Plate will make him a Fire-Type. And..."
Khrista started rubbing the back of her neck again as her eyes went around the group. "I've kind of got an ability like that."
The Pokemon exchanged glances again upon hearing this.
"How does it work?" Sparkler asked, cocking his head to one side.
"She copies the Type of the Pokemon simply by being near them," Alak explained. "Although, when she first discovered her Ability, she morphed into the Dark-Type when Gangrene was near. The act was obviously a spontaneous one when she needed it the most."
"Whoa," Raichu stated, her eyes wide. She looked at Khrista intently. "Show us!"
"Wha - now?" Khrista asked, blinking in surprise at the Electric Mouse's nose in her face.
"Yes, now!" Raichu started to bounce a little on her Trainer's shoulder. "Come on, come on! I wanna see what you can do!"
"Okay, okay!" Khrista raised her hands in submission. "Just give me a minute to get my act together." She took in a breath and tried to slow down her rapidly-beating heart, which was starting to pick up a faster pace the more she thought of using her ability in front of members of her own team - and Joshua's.
Khrista glanced over at Swamp for a moment, then moved her gaze to Cedar. She could feel her gut responding instantly, and then something shifted.
Raichu let out a yelp of surprise as she watched the dull red shift to a deep green that matched the color of Cedar's scaly self.
"Whoa..." The Electric-Type was certainly amazed. As were the other Pokemon present.
"And you can use Pokemon attacks, then," Cedar stated seriously.
Khrista gave a nod. "I know about some of the attacks that Psychics and Ghosts can use, but not for any other Type. It'll take some time for that to happen, probably."
"Or not." Cedar started to look somewhat mischievous. "There are a lot of Pokemon that would be more than willing to help you out."
Swamp nodded in agreement. "Mt. Coronet is teeming with Pokemon and Trainers who have been looking for action of some sort. I doubt they'd find any problem with helping you out."
Raichu's tail suddenly went straight up. "Oh, yeah! Vapor told me earlier that he was going over with Glacier and Misty! If we hurry, we can catch them before they head out!"
"Glacier?" Khrista repeated, confused.
"A fellow Pokemon of Mist's," Sparkler explained calmly. "The Glaceon seems to have taken a liking to Vapor for one reason or another."
Khrista's eyebrows shot up. "Seriously?"
Raichu nodded, then jumped off her Trainer's shoulder. "Come on! We don't have all day! Let's go!" She turned and took off for the buildings.
"I'll meet you there later," Swamp stated, nodding to his Trainer. "I have to replenish my health first."
"As do I," Cedar agreed. He and the Hoenn Water Stater started towards the buildings, but at a slower pace than Raichu.
"The Professors wished to speak with me more on certain matters," Alak stated, giving a nod to Khrista. "You are in good paws." With that, the Psychic-Type disappeared in a flash of light.
"OK..." Khrista looked down at Sparkler. "Let's go catch up to my Raichu."
Heh heh...Khrista's met up with her team.