A/N: Good morning. I'm sorry for the long delay. Like I said in my now deleted updates, I moved across Canada for a new job and sold my pc, as it would have been more to ship it then to save a buy a new one. I was hoping to buy a laptop last week but that didn't work out, so I had to type this on my phone. It was an interesting experience lol. Anyways, I should be back to semi-regular updates. This chapter is shorter than I would have liked it but I wanted to focus on Saul's surf event. Hopefully I did it some justice. I originally had a battle between Brandon and that person but thought it would take away from Saul's focus. Hope you enjoy it! I'm hoping to have the next chapter up sometime this week. Have a great week!
Pokemon Journey: Indigo League
Chapter 22: Surf's up!
The afternoon sun is starting to set as Vermillion City Port comes into view. Numerous ships are either docked, docking or departing, heading to various places all around the globe. Sounds of dockhands shouting to each other fills the air as our three friends walk through.
"Just think, we will be here shortly," Ava comments, glancing around the place.
"Yeah," Saul replies. "Can't wait for the cruise."
"Speaking of," Ava says, turning her attention to Brandon. "Have you thought about competing in the tournament?"
"I haven't decided yet," Brandon replies softly, looking back towards the city. "How busy do you think the gym will be next week?"
"Hard to say," Ava responds, thinking. "I would imagine some trainers will skip ahead and go to other gyms since they won't want to wait around for 2 weeks."
"Yet, I suspect more will return for the tournament, since this will be great experience," Saul surmised. Beside him, Ava nods her head.
"Exactly," Ava agrees with Saul. She looks at Brandon. "Look, you have the final say. We don't want to pressure you into joining it if you aren't sure. Just think about it."
"I will," Brandon promises as they walk before he stops, blinking. Walking hand in hand in front of them are his parents. They haven't noticed them yet. "Mom? Dad?"
Hearing his voice, his parents turn around with a smile. "Hello Brandon and Ava. How are you guys? I see you have a new friend. Welcome to the group. You can call us Fred and Lisa."
"Nice to meet you," Saul says, slightly bowing. "I'm Saul, from the Aloha Region."
"Nice to meet you as well," Lisa says with a small, friendly smile.
"What are you guys doing here?" Brandon asks, glancing between the two. "Not that I don't love spending time with you guys."
"Actually, we were looking for you," his dad replies.
"Really? Why?" Brandon asks, now intrigued.
"We realized that we never celebrated your first gym victory," his mom replies. "We wanted to come to Cerulean City but Kelly told us you left already. So we waited here."
"Thank you, though you don't need to," Brandon says.
"We know," his dad responds. "If you guys have no plans, we would love to treat you all to dinner."
"We can't say no to that offer, right guys?" Brandon says with a grip, looking at Ava and Saul. They both nod. "Great. What time are you guys thinking?"
"Right now, if that works for you guys," his mother says.
"We can visit the site tomorrow," Saul speaks up.
"Site?" His dad asks with confusion in his voice.
"I'm a Mantine surfer," Saul explains. "We have a showcase here in a couple of days. It's right before the cruise."
"That's really cool," his mom replies. "We've heard about it but never actually seen a match before."
"You guys are then welcomed to come," Saul says.
"Thank you," Fred says with a smile. "That will be great to watch."
"Are you guys just here for Brandon?" Ava asks.
"Well, about that," Lisa says. "We're also going on the cruise as well."
"That's awesome," Ava replied with a smile.
"It is," Brandon says, echoing Ava.
"It'll be like a family vacation," Fred says with a grin.
"Err," Ava says, looking at Saul.
"Oh pfft. You two are part of the family now," Lisa says, looking at Saul and Ava. "Since you two are traveling with Brandon, we consider you two family."
"Oh wow. I don't know what to say," Ava says quietly, shifting her eyes to the ground. "All I can say is thank you."
"Yeah, thank you," Saul says, bowing.
"Think nothing of it," Fred says with a kind smile. "Now, come on. Let's go eat."
Fred and Lisa led the way towards a restaurant that overlooks the docks. They are quickly seated on the patio, underneath the sun setting. After ordering drinks, Lisa takes out a bag and gives it to Brandon.
"You really were waiting for us," Brandon jokes, taking the bag. "You had this bag here already."
"Guilty," Lisa says with a chuckle, watching her son dig through the bag.
Brandon pulls out a nice, small black badge case. The outside is encased with a shiny coat, giving it a sleek look. Opening the case, Brandon is surprised. It looks like a binder, with 8 spots for badges from all regions. Brandon loons at his parents with appreciation.
"Thank you. This is awesome," Brandon says, transferring his 2 badges immediately to the new case.
"Kelly was the one who pointed it out," Lisa says, as their food arrives. "Glad you like it."
"I love it," Brandon says, putting the badge case into his pocket. He notices another item in the bag and brings it out. It's a black and green zipped jacket. "Oh wow. I love this design."
"Thought you would," Fred says, taking a spoonful of his dinner. "Seems like it's a pretty popular choice in Kalos."
"Thank you again," Brandon says, putting it back into the bag and beginning to eat his supper. Beside him, Saul and Ava watch this exchange with small smiles. Finally, Ava speaks up.
"Alright. More eating, less talking," Ava jokingly says, eating her plate.
"This place is great," Saul says, finishing his plate. "That hit the spot. Thank you."
"Yes, thank you," Ava says, also finishing her plate.
"I'm so full that all I can think about is going to bed," Brandon says, pushing his plate away.
"Right there with you," Ava says, sighing contently.
"We get it. You can't hang with us anymore. All that exercise is exhausting," Lisa smiles, winking at the trio.
"Very funny," Brandon says, stifling a yawn. He gets up to hug and kiss his parents before grabbing his bag. "Good night. Love you."
"Good night guys," Fred and Lisa says to the trio as they made their way back to the Pokemon Center to sleep.
"Ladies and gentlemen, are you guys ready?" The announcer shouts. The crowd roars with excitement, along with Ava, Brandon, Fred and Lisa. "Today, you will see some awesome moves in the water as we have surfers from Alohan Region to demonstrate some Mantine Surfing. Sit back, enjoy the sunshine, and cheer on these surfers!"
The sun is high in the sky, as 12 surfers stand on the beach. Being the youngest and the more inexperienced surfer, Saul will be the last rider to go.
Saul brushes his hair from his face as he scans the audience. He spots his friends, who wave to him. He returns the wave, with Mantyke beside him.
"Are you ready, Mantyke?" Saul asks his partner, kneeling down to pet her head.
"Man," she responds, looking at her trainer. She wants to appear ready for his sake, but the truth is, she's nervous, something Saul picks up.
"It's alright to be nervous," Saul says, scratching her head. "I'm terrified. This will be our first match together. We just have to give it all we got."
"Mant!" Mantyke responds, nodding her head.
"Good. Let's get ready," Saul says, scratching Mantyke's head one last time before standing back up.
For the next few hours, he watches as the other surfers hit the waves, scoring impressive points. With each surfer, Saul's anxiety went up. Before he knew it, he had his helmet strapped on and standing on Mantyke. He leans down to pet Mantyke's fin before hearing the air horn, signaling the start of his run. He takes a deep breath before nudging Mantyke forward. He has 2 minutes to score at least 15000 points.
Mantyke zooms right into the ocean, picking up speed. On top of her, Saul steadies himself, and took command. He leans to the right and then to the left a few times, guiding Mantyke in a zigzag movements to pick up speed. Soon, he spots a nice wave to start his set.
"Alright Mantyke, we've trained for this. Head for that wave and let's use gorebyss spiral," Saul shouts.
Mantyke angles herself towards the wave, picking up speed before launching them both into the air. On the way up, they spin to the left three times, before heading back down towards the water. On the way down, they spin three times to the right before successfully landing, to the delight of the crowd.
"Well done Mantyke," Saul compliments his partner before getting hit by a tentacool's head, slowing them down.
"Don't worry about that," Saul says, trying to keep to his planned set. He spots a big wave ahead. "Pick up speed and aim for that wave."
Mantyke begins her zigzag movements again, regaining her speed before launching them at a tall wave. After picking up enough speed, she launches herself into the air.
"Lanturn 360, followed by gorebyss spiral!" Saul commands.
After flying into the air, Mantyke does a forward flip, followed by a backwards flip and attempts to forward flip again but they misjudged the timing and smash into the water, to the gasps of the crowd.
Pulling them up to the surface, Mantyke and Saul hears the horn, signaling his run is over. Not satisfied with the last move, Saul unstraps himself from Mantyke before looking up at the scoreboard. His heart sank, seeing a measly 4000 score. He sees that Mantyke is looking sad as well, so he bends down and pets her head.
"Don't worry about it," Saul says. "We had a good run before that. We just need to practice more, that's all."
"Man," Mantyke says, cheering up.
"That was a good run kid," a voice says. Saul looks up at the speaker. It was one of the earlier surfers. "This was your first meet right?"
"Yeah," Saul says sheepishly.
"I can tell," the surfer says. He notices the look on Saul's face and hastily speaks. "It's not a bad thing. It took some guts to try that Lanturn 360 move. It's a more experienced move, a move that even seasoned surfers tend to mess up."
"I was hoping we could pull it off," Saul says, scratching his neck.
"It was a good try. Mind if I give you some advice that was given to me as a new surfer?" The surfer asks. Once he sees Saul nod, he goes on. "Start small. Learn and master the basics before moving to the harder moves."
"Thank you," Saul says gratefully.
"You remind me of me," the surfer says, chuckling. "Eager to learn the harder moves but impatient to master the basics."
"Haha, yeah," Saul agrees with him. He spots his friends coming towards him.
"Listen, if you are ever in Aloha this summer, I would love to train you," the surfer says, extending his hand. "Until then, I hope I see you at the Fuchsia Surfing Event."
"Oh wow. Thank you for the invitation," Saul says, shaking his hand. "And for sure you will see me there."
"Good. Well, I won't take anymore of your time. See you in Fuchsia City," the surfer says, waving goodbye before disappearing into the crowd. Brandon, Ava, Lisa and Fred finally get to him.
"Sorry about the points, but man, that was awesome," Brandon says enthusiastically.
"Thanks," Saul replies. "I just need to train harder."
"That's the spirit," Ava says, nodding her head.
"As long as you tried your best, that's all that counts," Lisa remarks with a motherly smile. In the distance, they can see the S.S. Anne pulling into the port. "Looks like our ship is here. We should head back to get our things. Meet you guys at the pier."
"Sounds good," Brandon says. "We should probably get our stuff as well."
Twenty minutes later, the group met near the pier. Brandon brings out Tangela, allowing him to get some sunlight before a mocking voice taunts them.
"Look how pathetic this trainer is. He has no friends so he has to take his family on a cruise," a female taunts him.
Brandon looks behind him to spot a young female, pointing at him and laughing with a group of friends. He decides to ignore her but she countuines.
"What a loser," she says, drawing attention to them. "Does he need mommy's permission to board the ship?"
"Why, I think he does," her friend answers her, also laughing at him.
Brandon stops but Ava urges him not to turn around. "Don't respond. It's not worth it."
"Oh look. He needs permission to talk. What a loser," she mocks him.
Tangela, Hearing enough, turns around angrily but before he can speak, Brandon shakes his head. He turns around and in a pleasant voice, he finally responds. "Enjoy your cruise."
Brandon, Ava, Saul, Fred and Lisa all show their boarding pass to the deckhand before boarding the ship, excited to begin the cruise. Behind them, the same group board, shooting Brandon glares.
Team Listings:
Brandon Adams:
Wartortle - Male, Torrent ability. Knows Water Pulse, (Mystery Move), Withdraw, Rapid Spin
Tangela - Male, Leaf Guard ability. Knows Bind, Stun Spore, Mega Drain, Growth
Nidoran – Female – Poison Point ability. Knows Growl, Poison Sting, Double Kick
Joltik – Male, unknown ability. Knows: Shockwave, Electroweb, String Shot
Ava Mcarthur:
Umbreon - Female. Run Away ability. Knows growl , Quick Attack, Double Kick, Snarl
Omanyte - Male. Weak Armor ability. Knows: Withdraw, Constrict
Growlithe – Female. Flash Fire. Knows: Ember, Bite
Saul Raymond:
Yungoos – Male. Unknown Ability. Knows Tackle, Sand attack, Leer
Pikipek – Female (Shiny). Unknow Ability. Knows Peck, Growl
Mantyke – Female. Unknown Ability. Unknown moves