While we were travelling on Route 111, Ronnie told me that since Estelle is now a Gardevoir, she should be strong enough to teleport me, or anyone, anywhere. Ronnie suggested that we both try it because it might come in handy sometimes. This was how I found myself in the middle of the forest, a few feet away from our camp, standing next to Estelle and Theodore.
'Master, do you not trust me?' Estelle asked when I fidgeted nervously for the umpteenth time, Theodore at the side giving instructions.
'I do, really,' I said distractedly.
I mean I trust Estelle, but who wouldn't be worried? I know countless other trainers counted on their Pokemons to Teleporting them to places, but it was unreliable and draining on the Pokemon. That's why Fly is usually preferred. That's always why I hadn't ask Estelle to try to Teleport with me. What if I disappeared into oblivion and never come out again? Or worse, what if I splinch, two parts of my body stuck in two different places, and there isn't any wizards or witches from the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes to sort me out? Splinching looked painful as hell in the movie.
'Hold on,' Was the only warning given before Estelle touched me and everything become black, as if I've blinked but my eyes were wide opened.
Hold on? What was I supposed to hold on to? A split second later, colour returned to the world and, blinking a few times, I realized I was standing on a branch in the tree looking down onto my camp site where Estelle was standing. Damnit. Ronnie looked amused as Theodore was, I presumed, outlining to Estelle what she did wrong.
'Uh, ok, maybe a few more times.' Ronnie failed to keep the laughter out of her voice.
Estelle Teleported up beside me, held my arm, and I disappeared into nothing for the second time of the day. The world appeared to me in the form of Ronnie's face.
'Great!' She clapped once. 'Estelle's got the hang on it. Now, more practices.'
'What?!'
Of course, it's perfectly reasonable. Estelle needed to practice so that she can do it multiple times without tiring herself out. Theodore has shown that he could Teleport Ronnie to the Basculin and Chips shop in Verdanturf (where Ronnie bought Basculin and Chips), then to my bedroom (where she took Oreo the stuff Houndour. A massive invasion of privacy if you ask me), then to Ever Grande City (where Theodore, I assumed, took a picture of Ronnie with holding the Basculin and Chips and Oreo in front of the grand stadium) and then back to the forest. When he returned, he didn't even look like he broke a sweat. Estelle only Teleported me a few feet, then down from the tree to the ground, and I can see her slight frown and a crease at the side of her fringe, which only appears when she's tired. He also teleported all of us back in Rustboro City. So yeah, Estelle needs practice. But I didn't expect ME to be involve in her practicing. Alas, I had to suffer the perils of being a trainer and spent the entire journey Teleporting around with Estelle. It supposedly helped with increasing and controlling her Psychic powers, so her only training was Teleporting me and our other Teammates around. True enough, she learnt Psychic by the time we arrived in Lavaridge. And she managed to Teleport me to my bedroom to return Oreo.
I arrived in Lavaridge in pretty good spirits, actually. Just before we reached Lavaridge Town, we met a cocky boy who was so obviously hitting on Ronnie. What's with everyone hitting on people I'm travelling with? I was just as attractive, damnit. After flexing (to Ronnie) about his four badges, including his new Heat Badge, he challenged me to a battle because of course, who challenges the girl you're trying to impress? You challenge to obviously lousier and weaker sidekick. And because Ronnie had Rogue out while Dawn was by my side snarling at him. Personally, I would choose a bat over a canine tiger, but to each his own. Dawn beat his Swellow pretty easily and he ran away. If he had a tail, it would be tucked so tightly between his legs he would trip. So, I arrived in Lavaridge a few couple of hundred dollars richer and my mood high. Stupid boys.
'Come on, he was cute,' Ronnie teased. Oh Arceus, did I say the last part out loud.
'No, he was not. He was so cocky,' I said crossly.
'Aww, you're jealous,' When I did not respond, she added. 'You're cute when you're jealous.'
That did soften me a little, enough to hold her hand we walked towards the gym. I can't wait for the air conditioning. Though the temperature at the bottom of a volcano wasn't any different than where we had been travelling, cool air was always welcomed in Hoenn. At the back of my mind, I thought about what will happen if the volcano erupts. Will entire Hoenn be gone? I mean I shouldn't worry, it hasn't erupted for as long as mankind can remember. But just in case, where is the nearest airport?
'Oh hey, Cara!' I turned to see a familiar supermodel gorgeous girl beaming at me, her strawberry blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail.
'Anna!' I grinned, accepting her hug.
I felt, more than saw, Ronnie stiffened, before nodding hello to Anna. Hah! Who's jealous now. During a quick catch up, Anna told me she has challenged the Lavaridge Gym and lost. Finnick had invited her to vacation in Dewford Town together with his family (and yes, after I wiggled my eyebrow, she told me they were dating), so they both challenged the gym there, though Anna also lost. Now, Finnick is back home training, waiting till Anna finished her Lavaridge Gym so they can both travel to Mauville together.
'I'm challenging the gym in three days!' Anna told me excitedly. 'I know, why don't you challenge after me? That way Finnick can watch you too!'
'Finnick's coming down?' I wondered how serious they were.
'Yes,' She flushed slightly. 'So?'
I glanced at Ronnie, who said. 'It's up to you, babe. You're more than ready. And I can't stay in the Pokemon Center for more than a week. Though I heard the inns up in Mt Chimney is pretty fantastic.'
I saw Anna's eyebrow fly up at 'babe' and I hurriedly mumbled a 'yes, ok' before practically Teleporting into the gym, leaving her no chance to tease me.
Agreeing to do the gym in 3 days left me little room to train, so the days were mostly spent on working on the team's current moves and mental prepping. I also got to meet Anna's team. Cammie the Corphish is now Cammie the Crawdaunt, a lot taller, and a hell lot more menacing. Chip was still a Combusken, though his thighs were so ginormous he would be a perfect candidate for the popular fast food chain Kanto Fried Pidgey. He must be closed to evolving. Anna named her Swablu Christina, after the famous singer because 'she wouldn't stop singing'. She also had a new Pokemon, a testy Mawile named Chantelle.
'You seemed to be leaning into this whole C thing.' I remarked.
'Yes, after you mentioned it, it seemed like a pretty cool way to name my Pokemon,' Anna sat beside me, swinging her legs. 'Do NOT, call them my C team.'
'I wouldn't dare!' I declared.
'Uh huh,' Anna side eyed me. 'So, you and Ronnie huh? Have you two, yknow…'
'Hey guys!' Speaking of the devil, Ronnie appeared with milkshakes, saving me from having to respond.
She handed us a milkshake each, flashing her half smile when she heard Anna's whispered 'wow your girl's cool' to me. I wondered if she was secretly half bat. She swung herself up to the stone fence we were sitting on, overseeing our Pokemon's training. Of course, Chantelle and Neo had struck up an intense rivalry, and we already had to shout at them several times. Each time, they broke apart, pointing a finger (or a scythe) at each other, blaming the other for starting it. I sighed as Dawn blew a short burst of Ember at Christina, who was practicing her vocal cords along with the flying drills. I noted that her Ember seemed to burn hotter and longer recently. I wondered if she was ready to learn Flamethrower. Either way, it seems like Dawn hates music, or maybe Christina's singing was just terrible. Christina landed on the sandy ground, flapping up a cloud of dust near us and glared at Dawn. I waved off the ashes threatening to land on my face and chided Dawn before she could be Pecked to death by a crazy songbird. This entire town was ashy, apparently a side effect of being at the base of a volcano. Instead of fields and underground training facilities, the Pokemon Center here has dusty training grounds and underground sauna and onsen.
'Aren't we having dinner in like, an hour?' I gave a bit of my milkshake to placate Dawn.
'Yeap, any time is milkshake time,' Ronnie slurped said milkshake. 'So, Cara Bear, are you going to the onsen today?'
'Nope,' I fed Lexy the milkshake, my Pokemon now forming a Beedrill line for my milkshake.
For some reason, Ronnie has been trying to drag me to the onsen bath offered for free in the Pokemon Center since we've been here. She claimed that it was divine, but I wasn't completely comfortable in soaking super-hot water fully naked with a bunch of people whose combined age is as old as this mountain. Also, though I'm pretty sure Ronnie is hot as hell, I'm not a pervert! Maybe she was, I eyed her, her jacket flapping in the hot wind. She innocently took another slurp of her milkshake.
'Anna?'
'Can't,' Anna shrugged apologetically. 'Gonna prep with my team tonight. We'll win Desmond this time round.'
Shrugging, Ronnie turned back to badgering me for the rest of the day.
