As we waited for the bridge to Driftveil City to be repaired, we sat down and decided how we were going to spend our day. I excitedly announced that I was going to participate in the Subway Bosses Stamp Rally, which will allow the winner to have a battle with one of the Subway Bosses, Ingo and Emmet. But to win, I must obtain 60 Pokemon stamps by that afternoon. Which had me nervous, as this was a challenge that usually took three days to complete!
Riley and Max decided to follow me and join me into the Stamp Rally. Meanwhile, Ash and Iris decided to head out for a day of sightseeing. I was doing a good pace as I won stam after stamp, until I stumbled upon a worried trainer. Her name was Erina and she had lost her female Axew. The poor thing was close to tears, so I decided to aid her. I lead her back to the station, only to find a note from Iris! Ingo and Emmet had also came to see what was the commotion about. With their help, Erina and her Axew are happily reunited!
Then the time was called for the stamp rally. I groaned when I realized that I was missing just one stamp to win! Then again, aiding a trainer and pokemon to reunite was more important. However, it seemed that the Legendaries were on my side that day. As my good deed was paid back when Erina gave me the last stamp I needed.
Riley and Max approached us after that, Riley had managed to complete the challenge as well, while Max had only managed to get 30 stamps. Nothing to scoff at! Ingo and Emmet offered a double battle after realizing that we knew each other. Which we accepted gladly! They did not realize that they just offered to battle an Aura Guardian and a Gym Leader who have been traveling for months and have exchanged various training tips. Poor guys...
After a fierce battle, Ingo's Chandelure and Emmet's Eelektross were defeated by Riley's Lucario and my Pansage. Despite the defeat, the Subway Bosses were grateful for a great battle and informed us that the bridge had been repaired. We parted for Driftveil City the following day. We all decided to stay one more night for the chance to ride Nimbasa City's famous Ferris Wheel.
On our way to Driftveil City, we met with Champion Alder!
Which would have been more impressive if not for the fact that we had met him in New Tork City and... let's just say that our first impression of him was not the best. The guy was a flirt who loves to sleep and eat. But he was also very strong and loves to help people. His philosophy was also something to look up to. To him, the most important thing is not getting stronger through battle, but helping people and pokemon to grow closer. Something that he seemed to have imparted upon Trip after aiding the local Nurse Joy, who needed Champion Alder's help. There was an angry Gigalith on a rampage. Champion Alder didn't hesitate to go for the rescue, Ash following his lead as Champion Alder had jurisdiction over the situation as the champion of the region. Champion Alder's Bouffalant managed to corner Gigalith, which allowed him to figure out the problem: a nail was embedded in the huge pokemon's foot. Champion Alder swiftly removed the nail, getting Gigalith to calm down quickly.
Trip looked a little bit disappointed on the character of his favorite trainer, the one person he had swore to defeat. However, he had also realize that Champion Alder had some good points and that his philosophy was sound. Still, not understanding from where all this maturity had come from, but deciding not to be invasive and ask, we all parted ways.
Back on route, our adventure continued! We came across a trio of Maractus and their trainer, Toby, who were rehearsing for their upcoming audition at the Pokemon Musical in Nimbasa City. As part of their rehearsal, they planned to enter the Pokemon Performance Competition in the are. However, they were having some issues with their grand finale. Toby had decided to end the performance with a move called "Over the Rainbow" that involved one of the Maractus, Tussy, to leap into the air and land on the arms of the other two. It didn't take long to understand that Tussy was afraid of heights, especially with two Aura Guardians that understood the poke-language. At the end, we got to aid Tussy get over her fear... there was some aura manipulation needed.
But at the end everything worked out for the best!
With Tussy's fear conquered, the trio's performance went off without a hitch. They won the competition! Toby and the Maractus Trio thanked us for our help and headed off to the audition in Nimbasa City, as we returned to our journey.
Then the weirdest thing happened! We met this photographer Robert who had the most peculiar old photo with him. In a single shot they were able to take all four Sawsbuck, one from every season. Together at the same time! That was not possible! Of course, we decided to join him and look for the place it was taken in. Everything was going fine... until it wasn't. Like every other adventure we got ourselves involved in. A thick fog appeared out of nowhere, splitting us from Robert and Ash. Ten minutes of search later we found them again! Only to be told that they had spent the whole night in the mountain!
Did the fog mess up with time? or something!
All I know is that Robert and Ash were able to find the spring, and Robert was able to snap the picture he had wanted to. On the other hand, Ash was on his Xtransceiver in an urgent meeting with his Unova Ghost Team. They were talking very serious, even if I could not understand what was being said. Any time I tried to focus on the conversation, I had some psychic interference. That must have been Ash's famous Slowbro. I still do not know what they decided to do, but Ash must have been satisfied, because the following day we returned to the road.
Luckily, our next adventure was calmer... and funnier. We ended up running into a feisty and bossy Gothita, who was immediately smitten with Max's Scraggy. Seeing that her trainer Katharine asked Max to trade Scraggy to her, but he refused. In answer to his refusal, Katharine challenged Max to a high-stakes battle. If he loses, he has to make the trade. After taunting him for a while, Max finally agreed. Which did not make Ash very happy, you never bet a pokemon! Luckily, Max's Kirlia easily defeated Katharine's Mandibuzz.
Gothita was not pleased...
Luckily, her tantrum got interrupted by a sudden rainstorm. Katharine offered us shelter in a nearby mountain cabin, as an apology for her Gothia's attitude. Of course, things would never be simple with us. In the middle of the night, Gothita and Scraggy sneaked away to play. But they ended up disturbing a sleeping Garbodor, who woke up and decided to attack them in anger. We got there in the nick of time! Katharine's Deerling managed to calm Garbodor down with Aromatherapy, leaving Gothita and Scraggy unharmed.
But Gothita was not letting go of her anger at Max for beating Katharine earlier. She challenged Max's Servine to a battle... which Servine easily won. Infuriated Gothita stormed off in a huff, Katharine bidding us farewell to run after her. I truly wish her luck in getting that attitude toned down. Otherwise, once Gothia evolves there will be a lot of problems.
Soon after that we finally reach Driftveil City! Unfortunately, the City's Gym Leader, Clay, was busy with work and we had to wait for a couple of days until he had time for battle challenges. During our wait, Chili appeared and challenged me to a battle. I was shocked by his sudden appearance, but accepted the challenge. My Pansage defeated his Pansear, but then Chili did something that shocked me. Chili blamed the loss on Pansear, who angrily ran away. I was too shocked to say something at first... but when I recovered I shouted at him.
I never raise my voice, but this is my brother who we are talking about. Our parents raised him better than this! So, I made sure he knew how dissapointed I felt. He ended up shouting back at me and running away too. On the opposite direction from Pansear.
"What in the name of Zekrom just happened?" Iris turned to me, looking as stunned as I felt.
"I've got no idea," I answered her honestly. "I'll call my brother Cress and ask him. He might know." I pulled out my Xtransceiver and called my brother's number. "Cress, hi, how are you?"
"I'm good brother! How's your journey through Unova?" Cress replied with an easy going smile.
"Good, hectic," I answered him honestly. "I just met with Chili and... he is not acting like the brother I know. Did something happen in Striaton City?"
"Ah, so that's where he went to," Cress sighed, his smile left his face for a frown. "You see, Chili has had a long losing streak recently. When he asked me for advise, he took offense and left the gym in a huff."
"Zekrom, he has always been hotheaded, but not to this point," I shook my head. "I'll try to beat some sense into him."
"Good luck!" Cress finally smiled back, before ending the call.
I rapidly found him and dragged Pansear to stay by his trainer's side. It was quite easy with Aura Guardians in my group of friends, who are quite good at tracking down people and pokemon.
"You are both a perfect team!" I declared, catching them by surprise, which was part of the plan to stop them from running away again. "You both like to eat when you're frustrated or angry, and you both have fiery temperaments. There's a fire burning deep inside you... it's beautiful but can be quite deadly too. Your issue is that the fire blinds you and makes you incapable of realizing a very simple fact. You both lack balance. Let's try and get that back by teaching Pansear a move that is not a Fire-type attack... like Solar Beam!" I called out my Pansage and turned to him with a smile. "Would you mind teaching these two fire idiots Solar Beam please?"
I think I stunned them both, because they did not make a sound or complained at all as Pansage guided them through the steps of Solar Beam. It takes some real effort and patience, but Pansear is successful! They even faced against Ash and his Dewott and won! I was so proud of my brother!
After another scolding, making sure that he never shouts or blames his pokemon again, I sent him back home. Poor Cress has been dealing with the Striaton Gym on his own long enough. It was right on time too, as Nurse Joy later informed us that Clay has finally returned to the Gym and was ready to accept challenges.
