Tess.
The Next Morning.
"I told you that thing was wrong. Here-gimme that damn PokeNav."
"We are not lost, Leon. Just be patient."
"Mar-fo-fo-!" Lee shook his head, flustered and stammering. He was getting so frustrated at Mark for being so stubborn. "F-for (expletive deleted)'s sake, give me that gotdamned PokeNav!"
The next morning, when we left, we headed north into the thickest fog I'd ever seen and promptly got lost. Mark had sworn his PokeNav could get us through, but he was way wrong.
Mark held the triangular device above his head, fighting off Lee, who tried to snatch it away. He was flushed almost as red as his hair.
"Knock it off!" Lee latched himself at Mark's elbow, grunting. "Lee, let go!"
"Then gimme the damn thing!" Lee shrieked.
The other six of us stood behind them, watching them wrestle like children over a navigational device. Volkner sighed.
"Riley, seperate them," He requested.
Riley scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Why me?"
"You are stronger than any of us, man," Flint pointed out.
No arguing that. Riley sighed, rolling up the sleeves of his hoodie. I almost went blind from how white his arms were.
Riley jumped on Lee's back, wrapping one arm up over his shoulder and the other under his armpit.
"Would you just knock it off, guys!" He growled at them. "You're being idiots!"
Out of the six of us kids, Riley was the only one brave enough to do something like that with Lee and Mark. Not even my sister would, and Lee was openly terrified of her. I guess it was that they liked Riley best.
Riley somehow got a hold of Mark's wrist, and jerked his whole arm to the side. Mark's PokeNav slipped out of his hand, into the fog, and we all heard the loud 'SMACK!' of it breaking against a tree, lost in the fog.
All noise and arguing stopped. Mark's green eyes constricted to the size of pins. Lee detached himself from Mark, shrugging off Riley. He sucked in a tentative breath.
"…Mark…?" He sounded like he was approaching a rabid Houndour.
Tanned hands curled into fists. "Riley." Mark spoke through clenched teeth. "Did you just break my PokeNav."
"Y-yes, sorry..."
"The one that I had to work at my dad's shitty burger shack for two years to afford."
"I-I'm sorry, Mark, I-"
"You're sorry?!" Mark stepped towards Riley. "You piece of shit, PokeNavs are pretty goddamn expensive! How do you-"
Lee stepped between Riley and Mark, curling his arm protectively behind him, almost around Riley.
"That's enough, Mark." His voice was firm. "It was an accident, alright? Don't raise your voice at him for breaking up our arguement!"
I heard Mark grind his teeth as he glared at the shorter coordinator. With his head tilted down and Lee's tilted up, their noses almost touched.
"You're going to use the money from this guest judge gig to help me pay for a new one." Mark glared down Lee.
"I have a wedding after this! Do you seriously expect Daisy's grandpa to pay for everything?"
"That's what the bride's family does, Leon! Ever heard of a dowry? Jesus Christ."
They still glared at each other. I cleared my throat.
"How, uh..." I glanced away from them. "Do we even know where we are right now?"
In the aftermath of his tantrum, Mark dusted off his arms. "No, we don't, shorty."
Dee sighed. "Your dumb asses got us lost, you idiot!" She barked at him. "I thought you said you were good at navigating!"
"Well, shut up!" Mark barked back. "We'll figure something out!" He ran his hand through his hair, glancing up at the murky sky through the fog. "Can't even see the sun..."
Mark had a good point, and that frightened me. The fog was so thick, we really couldn't see where the sun was, so we couldn't even use it to navigate.
"Hmph." Lee closed his eyes, pouting. His fingers traced lazily along his belt, fingering the three pokeballs hanging from his left hip.
We stood there in the fog, trying to think. Lee hummed a slow tune under his breath, his eyes closed.
"...Lighthouses guide ships through things like fog, right?" He finally asked, breaking the silence.
Volkner raised his eyebrows in shock. "Y...yeah," He answered hesitantly. "But, why do yo-?"
Mark cut him off by sighing, and rolling his eyes. "What are you thinking of?" He demanded.
The hand Lee had been running along his belt plucked off a pokeball, pressing the button in the middle to enlarge it.
"We've got nowhere to go without a little ingenuity; I'd rather not stand here with my thumb up my ass." He tossed the pokeball in the air. "C'mon out, Strawberry!"
In a flash of light, a giant yellow pokemon came out. It had a long neck and a red jewel on its forehead, with a bigger jewel on the end of its tail.
Riley pulled out his pokedex to check the entry.
"Ampharos, the Light pokemon," It warbled. "The light its tail can emit is bright enough to use as a signal beacon. Ampharos have been used for generations to lead lost ships to shore."
Lee's Ampharos, Strawberry, squealed happily. "Aaammmpharos!"
Lee laughed, reaching up and scratching his head. "I love your enthusiasm, buddy," He chuckled.
For once, it was easy to follow Lee's thought process; the light from Strawberry's tail would probably be enough to break through the fog and let us see our way to Celestic Town.
"Do you really think Strawberry can shine bright enough for us to see?" Mark asked.
Lee replied with a toothy grin. "Sure he can! One Flash oughta be more than enough to do it!"
Besides a tired sigh, Mark seemed to trust Lee's judgement. He turned to us and warned, "Better cover your eyes."
Lee gave the order, and Strawberry's tail began to glow. I was so interested in watching, the thought of going blind never came to me.
Before it got bright, somebody covered my eyes from behind with their hand. I got the memo, and closed my eyes myself.
After a moment or two, Lee gave the call, "'S safe to look, kiddos."
I opened my eyes, and pried off the hand covering them. I looked behind me, and saw it was Flint.
He snickered. "Didn't want you to go blind."
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dee glaring at him, but he didn't notice.
I switched my attention to Strawberry. His tail was still glowing brightly, but not as bright as when he had started. And, his whole body glowed with a faint, yellow light.
"Strawberry is so beautiful," Amber breathed in awe.
"Absolutely," Astro agreed.
Lee cracked a grin again. "Hell yeah, my baby boy is beautiful!" He boasted. "You don't get much more gorgeous than my Strawberry using Flash!"
Even Mark had to smile at Lee undisguised pride for his pokemon. Strawberry giggled gleefully at his trainer's approval.