Disclaimer: I still do not own Pokemon, or its related characters; I own only my original characters, and in a limited sense, Astro.
Amber.
My heart stopped when Dee pointed out the Floatzel heading towards Astro, who didn't seem to notice.
Floatzel at Lake Verity are the most terretorial. "Astro!" I warned him. "Astro, get up!"
He was grabbed and pulled underwater, by his legs. Floatzel were fast, too; Astro was going to drown.
"Hey! Bring that back here, you little jerk!" Dee picked up a rock, and threw it in the water of the lake.
Dee knew about agitating things; she knew it'd come back out to pick a fight before its Riolu dinner. I picked up a few rocks from the ground, and threw them all at once.
This had happened once before; not with Astro, but one time, a Floatzel had taken Dee's Snorunt and tried to drown it, too. Of course, then, we'd had Astro to help get it back...
Like Dee thought so, Floatzel came back out of the water. Jumped up in the air, water flying everywhere. Astro swam up soon after, free from his captor, gasping and spluttering.
Dee threw a pokeball up in the air. "Snorunt! C'mon out and headbutt that bully!"
Her Snorunt came out, in a flash of white, on the ground. It lowered its little hooded head, then rushed at the Floatzel. Floatzel was taken by surprise, so it didn't have time to dodge.
Staggering behind Floatzel, Astro stood up after dragging himself to shore. "You ain't leavin' me outta this action." He held his paws out in front of him, stacked flat on top of each other.
"F-Force Palm." He charged for a split second, then blasted Floatzel with a straight stream of green energy.
Astro's attack did it, and knocked Floatzel down on its stomach. When it collapsed, We all took off running.
"Shouldn't we make sure it's-?"
"SHUT UP, TESS, AND KEEP RUNNING!"
We ran, for a good few minutes. We obviously wouldn't have stopped until we were far away from the lake. By the time Astro collapsed on his paws and knees on the ground, we must have been pretty close to Sandgem.
"Amber, you did not even try." I knew Astro was okay; he was soaking wet and half-drowned, but felt up to complaining. "And, thanks, Dee...I guess. You too, Snorunt."
"Snoruhnnn!" Snorunt cheerfully patted its friend on the back.
Dee grinned at Snorunt, laughing a little. She held up its pokeball. "Back inside, bud; you did great back there."
I could not, for the life of me, understand why Dee would wear a camo jacket and black jeans when it was almost autumn. She was like a walking heat stroke waiting to happen.
After resting for a few minutes, we left. Sandgem Town's Pokemon Center had to still be open; it was only midnight. We could crash there for the night, then head out tomorrow morning.
And, hopefully, my parents hadn't woken up yet and caught onto what we did. Dad would have killed me when he caught up to me; the twins' parents wouldn't have cared.
Meanwhile, the next morning,
In another part of the Sinnoh region...
"You know, Riolu..."
A young man leaned against the railing of the ship he was riding, head propped on his palm, staring out across the ocean. His partner, a Riolu, held himself up by the railing so he could peep out at the water as well.
Riolu looked up. "Hyah?" Hmm?
The boy shook his head. "No, it's...it's kinda stupid. Just...forget I said anything, okay?" He lifted his arm and caught the navy-blue hat he wore before it could fall. Under his hat, his hair was black, spiked, and wild.
Looking concerned, Riolu let go of the railing to nudge his trainer with his elbow.
"Oh, alright, fine." The boy awkwardly shifted the weight of the backpack he wore. "I just...I mean...when we get to the mainland. Do you think we'll be alone the whole time we're traveling? That'd be..." He chuckled. "That'd be awfully boring. No offense to you, or Aron."
It had been quite a few years since he had last left his hometown. Even then, his parents had practically kicked him out just to send him out into the world; he wouldn't have cared very much either way.
Riolu grinned. "Hyuhh! Hyan hyu hyuhh." It's okay! I'm sure we'll make lots of friends.
Of course, his trainer couldn't understand a thing Riolu said. He laughed in confusion, a little harder than he probably should have.
"S-sorry..." He laughed. "It's just-I mean-well, maybe it's not the best idea to try and talk to a pokemon...I'm sorry buddy, but for what it's worth, you're a hell of a listener."
This raven-haired teenager's name is Riley. He never wanted to leave his home on Iron Island, although it later turned out to be the best forced decision he ever made.
AOF: I apologize for the short chapter; the next one should be much longer.