Um..yeah. I just want to post this and see what people think before it goes to Serebii....











The moving van sped down the dirt path, kicking up clouds of dust and sending them into the chilling October air. Its silver exterior was now covered by smears of dirt and dust. A boy hung half his body out of the open window, despite the slight drizzle falling from the gray clouds above. His arms dangled below him and thumped against van door as it rushed over bumps of dirt. The cool rush of air comforted him; it reminded him of home – his real home, not the one that his mother was racing to like a mad woman behind the steering wheel. His old home was his favorite place in the world right now.

They’d left everything behind; friends, family…everything seemed to have been ripped away from him. Now all that was left was a large gash in his life that would never go away. Too bad that’s what he wanted, for everything to just go away. Especially his mom. She was always making huge decisions without thinking them through. Nothing she did ever helped them like she thought they did. She thought that moving far enough away from Cianwood City would keep away his father. It was an idiotic idea, and he knew it. Soon enough his dad would figure out that his mom had taken him halfway around the world and then he would come find them. That’s exactly what happened when his parents got a divorce.

He hadn’t seen his dad in seven years, let alone heard from him. The last he’d seen of him was the day his mother moved them both – excluding his father – from Cherrygrove to Cianwood City. They lived in Cianwood since 2001 and it took his father almost eight years to find out where him and his mother were. He told his mother about how he’d noticed a man following him home from school and she ended up freaking out at racing around to get things ready to move.

The memories brought tears to his eyes. Not wanting his mother to know that he was crying, he held back the waterworks and quietly sniffled. Too bad his mom had heard.

“Cole, are you crying?” her voice was the same angelic one that she used to comfort him when she believed he was thinking of his father.

“No, I’m fine,” he lied. He quickly sniffled again. This time it was louder and seemed to last longer.

“Sweetie….Cole, I’m sorry. I know that it was hard starting over before, but we wont have to now. Your fa-…” she despised Cole’s father and her former husband. Even after seven years it was still a struggle for her to say his name – even to just say father, which obviously wasn’t Cole’s dad’s name.

“What about dad” Cole shouted. He hated yelling at his mother – especially when she tried helping him. But he thought that she deserved no comfort when she dragged him into another region. Hoenn…

Cole thought the name was stupid. It sounded like the execution to someone that you’d call a hoe. Hoe’s End – Hoenn. Though it was the perfect place for his mother. This was the end to all the running and extra-over-protection in her mind. It was ridiculous.

The car slowed to an average speed. Cole saw no Speed Limit signs, though he guessed that they were on a regular road now. The dirt stopped spewing from beneath the tires, so that backed up the theory. They were getting close. Sounds of children playing outside echoed in the distance. That meant that his new home was only moments away. He let out a distressed sigh, not thinking about his mother hearing that time.

“We are only ten minutes away now, Cole. Could you please put your head into the car? I don’t want anyone thinking that we’re two nut jobs who just got out of the joint.”

Too late, Cole thought. He listened, though, and pulled the rest of his body into the moving van silently. Half of his body was covered in tiny, pepper-patterned dots from the drizzle outside. Droplets of water resided on the top of his ember hair. He sat and waited for the beginning of the rest of his life to begin.

The last ten minutes of his free life ended with an abrupt stop and his mother’s horrible singing.

“We’re here!” she cheered, trying to lighten the mood. They both unbuckled their seatbelts without saying another word and stepped out of the car.

The air felt colder. Cole shivered. He looked at the sky – a large, black cloud now advanced towards them from the north. The stopped, but that only meant that even more was soon to come; a storm was on its way. With the silenced engine of the van, everything was serene, peaceful. Only a few houses were visible. All of them looked the same – tan siding, one large wooden door, and a brown roof. How could anyone like this town?

“Oh this town is simply b-e-a-utiful!” cried his mother.

Figures.

Cole sighed and slumped inside. Despite his anger, he was looking forward to seeing what the new house looked like on the inside. His heavy footsteps were soon joined by soft quick pattering ones. Behind him, his mother carried two brown suitcases.

“Cole! Cole, slow down!” shouted his mother. Her frail figure bustled towards him, both suitcases waving through the air. “Here are your things. Take them upstairs – your room is the first door on the left, and the bathroom is the next door down the hall – in case you have to use it, that is.”

Cole took the suitcases from her and continued towards the house. Once he made it to the door it opened. On the other side a tan man stood with his arms folded across his chest. His faded hair was cropped short on his head. The unappealing color matched his thick mustache right above is upper lip. Cole looked into his eyes – they looked brown through the frustration Cole sensed from him. The wrinkles on his forehead backed up the emotions.

“You say ten o’clock and you arrive forty minutes late. We’ve already finished moving everything and-” before the angry man – who Cole assumed to be the head of the moving company – could continue, Cole shrugged around him. “Where are you going?!” shouted the man.

“I’m not the person you’re looking for,” Cole answered, “the deranged woman is outside.”

Without checking the man’s expression at his remark, Cole quickened his stride across the paneled flooring. Three burly, gray Pokémon bustled around the open room. The entire lower floor was composed of the living room and kitchen, side for a separate enclosed room which Cole assumed to be a bathroom. There were no walls or anything else to separate the kitchen and living room - the only notification was the change in flooring from paneled wood to black-and-white checkerboard tiling. The kitchen (which was only a small space in the corner of the room) did not look to inviting. Cole noticed a few appliances crammed in with the ivory-colored counters. A large stainless steel refrigerator was being cleaned by of the overly muscular Pokémon. It could easily crush the fridge if it pushed on it a little harder; a pretty good Pokémon to have handy. Cole decided to just look up information about it later, after he was used to his new room.

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“Zig! Zigzagoon!”

Outside the arising drama at Littleroot Town, a tiny raccoon Pokémon darted around the overgrown underbrush. Its brown and white zig-zag pattern stood out against the mossy colored shrubs. They rustled as the Pokémon attempted to escape an attacking trainer. Another red and white Pokéball hurtled through the air towards it. The Zigzagoon agilely leapt into the air to avoid the oncoming Pokéball.

“Dammit!” the trainer shouted.

The word sounded oddly vulgar against the teenage girl’s soft-set voice. Her bright pink fingernails curled against her palms in frustration.

That was my fourth time trying to catch that Zigzagoon! This is too hard. I guess I’ll wait and try again tomorrow…it shold be easier once Professor Birch finally gives me my starter.

She slouched her shoulders as she walked into the overgrown grass to pick up her Pokéball and watched as her target made its getaway. Once the Pokéball was back into her hands, she brushed dirt off of her denim jean capris and pink T-shirt from chasing after the speedy Zigzagoon. Her T-shirt had a large Pokéball design in the center with the letters ‘PPU’ overtop of it to represent Pokémon Professor University, the college she planned to attend once she traveled different regions and studied every kind of Pokémon there is.

Her walk home didn’t take long. Littleroot Town was only a short distance south of where she was. The darkening clouds in the sky started letting some rain fall to the ground before they released the full-fledged storm on the town. Her hometown made everything in the world seem at peace. With Route 101 being the only connecting route, not many travelers made their way into the town. Plus, Littleroot was far south of any major city in Hoenn, so no one really took the time to see what was there. She didn’t feel bad for anyone; to be honest, she was glad that people left the town alone. When too many people travel through certain routes it interferes with the wild Pokémon habitats – that was her opinion anyway. Not many different Pokémon were on Route 101 anyway. With Zigzagoon and Poochyena populating the area and an occasional Wurmple making an appearance, not many other species of Pokémon could be found.

When she walked through the clearing and into Littleroot Town she noticed something – a BIG something. Across the street from her house was a gray moving van with dark red rust in large quantities across its storage compartment. She darted past the “Welcome to Littleroot Town” sign towards her house. All in the same second, a firm hand wrapped around her slender arm, abruptly halting her to a stop. She looked in the direction the the hand came from and noticed a guy around her age and height with golden hair.

“Woah there,” he began, “where is pretty little Kira headed?”

She pulled her arm free and made a disgusted grunting sound in the back of her throat.

“Ugh…Dominik, how many times do I have to say ‘LEAVE ME THE F*CK ALONE’!”

His constant attempts to flirt with her made Kira want to push him down a bottomless well. His clothes didn’t help at all either; purple, skin-tight skater pants and black T-shirts with numerous rock bands advertised on them didn’t exactly turn her on in any way. He was also always bullying kids in the small neighborhood.

“C’mon baby, you know you wanna just let go and go all out with me.”

Dominik curled up the sides of his mouth in a devious smile.

“Ew, Dominik, you’re such a f*gg-”

Before Kira could finish she heard something coming from the area where the moving van had been.

“You show up forty-five minutes late and expect my crew to me not to involve a judge?! Lady, you are crazy!” a deep, gruff voice shouted.

“What the eff…” Dominik’s voice trailed off in confusion.

I wonder what that’s all about? Kira thought.

“Kira! Kira!”

Kira and Dominik each slowly adverted their gaze’s from the two shouting people and saw Kira’s mother frantically waving her arms from a side window to their house. She brushed her untidy chocolate-brown hair away from her face. Kira noticed that her mother’s forehead was bright red.

Wonder what that’s from…

Then Kira smelled an inviting scent linger through the air and into her nose.

Is she baking?

Her mother hadn’t baked in a long time – since Kira’s eleventh birthday three years ago. That’s what it came down to after so many years. Her mother only baked on very special occasions. When Kira had once asked why she rarely baked her mother broke down in tears. Kira guessed that it had something to do with her dad. Ever since he disappeared her mother bawled over every little thing that reminded her of him.

“What is it, mom?” Kira called back.

“Honey, come inside. I don’t want you to get wet from the storm!” she answered.

Ironically, a chilling breeze swept through the small clearing where Kira stood with Dominik. Large clouds only about a mile away already unleashed a downpour on the distant scenery. Without any hesitation she sprinted for the front door of her house. She was lucky that her house was only a three-minute walk from the town’s entrance, and it only took a minute and a half when she ran.

When Kira walked through the front door a wave of heat rushed over her. She could no longer feel the small amount of water on her shirt – she assumed that it evaporated once she was inside – but she could feel tiny beads of sweat accumulating on her forehead. She wiped them away with the length of her arm and looked around for her mother.

The inside of their home was larger than most of the other houses – it used to be the same size, but once after renovations were done it was large enough to be the laboratory down the street’s child. The dark-set nylon carpet replaced the common wood paneled floors in the other houses and a half wall was built around the kitchen when it had been expanded. The house didn’t even look the same as the others on the inside once you thought about it. The carpet instead of wood, and larger kitchen with brand new tiles, updated furniture – the oak table that sat next to one of the kitchen’s walls showed for that – and even the creamy peach walls changed the aspect of the room.

“Oh good, you’re back,” said Kira’s mother as she latched the window she called through shut. She turned around and quickly strode into the spacious kitchen.

“Are you actually baking?” Kira questioned.

Surprisingly, it didn’t take her mom more than a second to answer.

“Yes, I am, and it’s for you. I want you to have a wonderful meal before you leave to go on your journey,” she replied.

Though her mother’s back faced her, Kira knew she was crying – or about to, at least. A few sniffles filled the empty space while Kira stood by the front door, watching her mom put on two bright green oven mitts and pull out two medium sized quiches. The aroma of melted cheese intensified. Kira’s stomach knew how she felt – once the two quiches were on the counter it let out a low rumble.

“Are you just going to stand there or would you like to eat a nice home-cooked meal?” Her mom carefully lifted one of the quiches out of its clear pan and set it on a fancy dinner plate.

“I think I will go get change before we eat. These clothes are uncomfortable now that it’s ninety degrees in here.” Kira’s mom just nodded to let her know that she would wait.

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[continued below]

[continuation]

Upstairs was reasonably cooler. Kira sat on her bed, her pink backpack on her lap, as she went through it, making sure that everything was in check.

Antidotes…check. Pokéballs…check. Potions…check. I hope I have everything. If not, I’m pretty sure that I can find a PokéMart when I need anything...

Kira quickly shuffled through her bag once more, checking things off her mental list as she went along. The second check took a few minutes longer than she expected.

“Kira, are you coming? Your quiche is getting cold!” her mother’s impatient call made its way up the staircase and into Kira’s bedroom. As she heard her mother’s words she frantically tossed her bag onto her bed and raced through her closet, flipping between multiple outfits.

“Yeah, I’m coming!” she called back, “I’ll be right there!”

She hurriedly grabbed another PPU shirt – this one had a faded maroon tint to it – and a pair of sweatpants. Once she was finally dressed, Kira glanced at the clock; 11:38. She couldn’t believe it – in only twenty-two minutes the Pokémon Laboratory down the street would be open and she could begin her Pokémon Journey.

I’m gonna be a Pokémon Trainer! Just twenty-two minutes, twenty-two minutes! I’m gonna be a Pokémon Trainer! she sang inside her head. This is too exciting. A Pokémon Trainer…wow.

She thought about that. She had never been classified as anything. She had always just been plain old Kira. In only twenty minutes she would be Kira, the Pokémon Trainer.

I wonder if the new kid is a Pokémon Trainer yet…maybe we can travel together if he is! I hope he’s cute. Then he could be my mentor! Oh Dominic would be so jealous!

While thinking, Kira quickly glanced out her window to see if the new neighbors were finished moving in. She couldn’t find the moving van, which made her a bit shocked.

The movers are gone already? she thought.

She looked at each detail about the house. Among the few houses in the town, this one had a slightly better foundation – nice and flat. Some of the others had uneven land, or didn’t have much of a yard. Kira lived in Littleroot for so long that she could easily pick out small differences between the houses. She was proud of herself for that.

While her attention was caught on rainwater dripping out of the gutters, she noticed something out of her peripheral vision move. Just a slight movement from behind a curtain. Without thinking, her eyes darted to where to movement came from and then just as quickly looked away.

There he was. The new kid. She didn’t get much of a good look at him, through the water-stained window and considering the fact that she only looked at him for about half a second.

But soon she would get a better look at him.

Soon, he would know who she was.

And soon, she would have a partner for her Pokémon journey.

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His new room was bigger than his old one, and much more spacious as well. Almost half of his wooden flooring – which to much of Cole displeasure, matched the flooring in the rest of the house – was covered by a red cotton rug with an embroidered white frame. Cole walked over to it and placed both suitcases onto it. The room didn’t have much of anything in it. Two windows let in whatever light that shone threw the stormy clouds. Both windows were only about a foot apart and each had a set of plastery white curtains in front of them.

Mechanically, Cole slumped to one of the windows, spread the curtains apart, and looked around his new hometown. It made him sick. Why the h*ll would someone make a town where every single house looked the same!? All it did was successfully make the town plain and boring. Although one house did stand out in his search through the neighboring houses.

The house – well, at least he thought it was a house – was only across a small dirt road near the front of his house. It was definitely larger than his own house, and looked nicer too. The tan siding wasn’t old and falling apart; it instead had a brighter tint and sort of a glossy look to it. All of the windows of the second story looked liked they’d just been closed; the blinds were up and messy curtains draped along the sides of them. The last window he looked at had bright neon pink curtains behind it. It obviously peered into a girl’s room – when he focused past the curtains he saw that the window set right in front of a double bed with a Roselia pattern comforter.

He watched a little while longer as a girl about his age walked into the room and sat on the bed. She held a backpack on her lap as she pulled different sorts of items in and out. He stared, having nothing better to do, while she went through it a few times. After the third time of going through it, the girl fluttered around the room. She vanished, but only for a second, returning with an entirely new outfit. Then, without any warning, she faced out her window. Her eyes roamed the town like Cole’s had not long ago. They soon met his, but only for a millisecond before she spun around and out of view.

Pffft, I can’t even get a neighbor to look at me without running away, Cole thought. He trudged over to his new bed, laying down on the top blanket. Cole reached into his pocket and dug around for his iPod. Once he felt the rectangular device he pulled it out and placed one earphone in each ear. It was only a matter of time before he was gently singing the lyrics to the song…

“I hear Jerusalem Bells a ringing,
Roman Calvary choirs are singing.
Be my mirror, my soul, my shield,
my missionaries in a foreign field….”

He trailed off, staring at the ceiling, singing to the rest of the song…

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Going through her bag once again, Kira now sat on the floor. She didn’t want to take chances of the boy staring at her through the window again. As she pulled out a purple spray bottle of medicine for Pokémon there was a knock at her door. Without waiting for a reply, her mother opened the door and walked to the bed to sit with Kira.

“I put your quiche in the refrigerator,” she told Kira.

At this, Kira’s eyes widened.

“AWW MOM I’M SO SORRY! ITS JUST THA-” but she was cut off.

“I understand; can’t say I didn’t do the same thing when I was younger. I became so excited about starting a Pokémon journey that nothing else in the world mattered. Looks like us girls are even more related than you’d think.” Kira stared at her mother like she was a perfect gift sent from God - a wonderful and compassionate woman that cared for anyone and anything. She felt bad about her father disappearing – her mother didn’t deserve that kind of pain.

“Thanks, Mom,” whispered Kira. She embraced her mom with a tight hug and some crying from each of them.

“I am going to miss you honey,” her mom said once they let go of one another, “and I’ll think about you every single day.”

“I’ll miss you too,” Kira replied. “Um, this is kinda a weird question, but…I was wondering if you noticed the moving van across the street?”

Kira’s mother stared blankly at her in response to the off-topic question.

“I saw a moving van across the street and some lady was yelling at one of the moving people. Then I saw some kid who looked about my age through my window.” Kira’s mother was still staring blankly at her.

“Hello? Mom, are you in there?” Kira tried tapping on her mother’s head, but she moved away when Kira’s finger inched its way closer.

“No, I didn’t notice,” she replied. “You said there were only two of them?”

“Yes, from what I saw,” Kira answered, “I don’t think I noticed another person.”

“How about you take the quiches over to them? I’m pretty sure that they’re exhausted from moving.”

“But Mom, you hardly ever bake and I really wanted to eat them with-”

“Don’t worry about it. Just take them over and I’ll make some more. It’ll be good to make a nice impression to the neighbors before they would think of anything bad. Plus, I want you to meet that boy – you need someone your age besides that Dominik kid.” Her mother trailed off in thought as she left the room and headed downstairs, probably to wrap up the quiches.

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Kira hopped down the stairs, gently singing the lines to a song.

“I probably shouldn't say this, but at times I get so scared, when I think about the previous relationship we've shared. It was awesome, but we lost it - it's not possible for me not to care… and now we're standing in the rain, but nothing's ever gonna change until you hear, my dear.”

The song by Miley Cyrus rang inside her head ever since that morning. She couldn’t stand her voice and how annoying her songs were, but her insides of her head obviously didn’t want to forget what she was singing.

“I thought you hated that Rosanna Montana person?” her mom asked, holding two white dishes with the tops covered with aluminum foil.

“It’s Hannah Montana, Mom,” Kira corrected, “Plus, I think she prefers being called by her real name now.”

“Oh God, I don’t even remember her real name anymore. After the months of “HANNAH MONTANA IN A CONCERT NEAR YOU” ads and commercials, I can’t even remember her real name,” her mother sighed.

“It’s Miley,” Kira told her mother the girl’s name once again, “Miley Cyrus.”

“Cyrus….the name sounds familiar for some reason…” her mother trailed off, lost in thought. “Oh well...” She eventually added.

“Maybe from Billy Ray Cyrus?” Kira suggested.

“No, no, not her dad,” her mom gave her a strange look, “I think it was something in the news about a crazy man in Sinnoh…”

“I dunno…” Kira shrugged and gave her mom an ‘I-don’t-really-care-right-now-just-let-me-leave’ look.

“Well anyway,” her mom said, snapping into reality for another time that day, “Here are the quiches for the new neighbors. Tell then to heat them in the oven at 375°F for thirty to thirty-five minutes. And tell them not to worry about the plate, we’ve got plenty.”

She handed her the quiches and stood staring at her daughter.

“Okay, Mom.”

“Have fun, and please try to be friendly. I really do want you to become friends with this boy.”

“Me too.”

Her mom gently placed her hands on each side of Kira’s face and kissed her forehead.

“Are you okay?” Kira asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she replied, “just go have fun.”

“Okay, whatever you say…bye.”

And with that Kira stepped into the misty afternoon and began walking the short distance from her house. The sky stopped drizzling – for now – and the town was shrouded in mist. The white blanket in front of her only allowed a minimum of five feet of sight in front of her, concealing the forest surrounding the town behind it.

Her walk didn’t take long, and she let her mind wander to keep from thinking of the boy at the window. Once she was at the wooden door she felt her heart thumping madly in her chest. She tried to lift her hand, but it felt too heavy. Why was she so nervous? All she had to do was hand them the quiches and tell them how long to heat them up. Easy, right?

But she still felt like a Rattata trapped in a circle of hunting Arbok. What would she say exactly? Would they take the quiches? Who would answer the door? Would it be him?

Ugh, she though, this is pointless. I’m just having post-neighbor-meeting nerves. Right?

She took a deep breath and gently knocked on the door three times. The quietness of her knock surprised her. She didn’t hear the usual quickening steps of feet rushing to get the door, so she knocked again, this time louder – A LOT louder. The knocking sounding like a giant’s thundering footsteps. A startled yelp came from inside and a woman in her late thirties, early forties, appeared at the door. Her artificially tanned face had a mix of confusion and annoyance creasing the skin on her forehead.

“Hello,” the woman said, “Are you okay, is something wrong?”

Kira was at a loss for words. At first she didn’t know what the woman had asked, but once she realized that she was waiting for an answer, Kira choked out a simple “Uhhhh.”

“Okay….may I ask who you are?”

“Er- I’m…I’m Kira,” Kira spit out hurriedly, “I live across the street. I saw you guys moving in today, and my mom made you these quiches.”

The woman in the doorway looked down at the items in Kira’s hands before responding.

“Oh. Oh okay, thank you very much.” She said kindly, “Please, come in.”

Kira handed her the food and followed her inside.

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Why did Littleroot have to be so damn peaceful? There wasn’t much of anything that Cole could hate about his new home.

Once he finished listening to a few more songs he left his house to get some fresh air. The wetness of the light drizzle didn’t bother him much, but he was starting to get annoyed by it constantly tapping against his head every second. It was like, Chinese water torture or something.

Cole soon found himself near the town’s entrance. It wasn’t that fancy – a wall of trees leading into the connecting route, some overgrown grass and other shrubs, and a wodden sign that read “WELCOME TO LITTLEROOT – A Town That Can't Be Shaded Any Hue.

A guy with dark golden hair stood leaning against the sign, drinking from what looked like a soda can. Once the guy finished his drink he crushed the can with his hand and dropped it onto the wet ground.

Cole just kept on walking towards the outskirts of town. Surprisingly, the guy darted in front of him to stop Cole in his place.

“Woah, who’re you?” the guy asked. “I never gave you permission to leave town on my watch.”

His breath reeked a putrid smell of onions and pepperoni.

“What?” Cole asked, bewildered by the statement, and partially disgusted by bad breath.

“I said: ‘Why are you trying to leave town?’ Would you like me to say it again?”

“No thanks, I don’t think I could survive another blast of your skunk breath.”

[continued below again]

[continuation again]

The guy’s face altered from peachy cream to bright red. His nostrils flared and the skin on his forehead creased. Cole almost expected him to punch him right there and then; instead, he tried to calm down.

“Who are you anyway?” he asked.

“I’m Cole. Cole Mascheriet. Me and my deranged mom just moved in today.” Replied Cole.

“Oh, so you’re the people Kira was so excited about.” The guy gave a disgruntled huff.

“Who’s Kira?”

“None of your damn business,” he almost yelled, “She’s mine, so don’t even bother with her.”

“Hey, if she’s you’re girlfriend, I wont try to interfere,” said Cole, backing away with his hands up.

“Yeah, you better.”

And then he was back by the sign, opening another can of soda. Cole didn’t want to try to finish his walk; what was the point now. Any slight glimmer of desire to travel was now ruined by the golden haired guy.

I’ll just go home… he thought.

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The walk home felt like it took about three seconds. One second he was turning away from the gold-haired guy and the next he was in front of the door to his house.

“Oh I’m so glad that you stopped by!” Cold heard his mother shout from inside.

Was someone visiting them?

“I know that you and Cole will be great friends. He really needs it – I think he’s depressed or something. You know, he used to be so happy, but lately he’s been having trouble being in a good mood.”

Cole abruptly opened the door a trampled upstairs to his room.

“Cole you’re home! Do you want to meet-” but his mother stopped short when she realized that he was ignoring her.

Upstairs, Cole heard more random chattering from his mother to the unknown person in their kitchen. He didn’t exactly hear what she was saying, but he could tell that the other person wasn’t saying anything.

And then it was quiet. Dead silent. He couldn’t even hear his mother talking. It was almost eerie. Like when you’re in a crowded place and something happens that makes everybody hush. The silence that makes everyone flinch at the slightest sound.

Closing his eyes, Cole focused all his attention downstairs. His breathing slowed, becoming deep and slow. In his head he thought of the first floor of his house; he imagined the living room and kitchen mixed together and his mother briskly chattering away to some mystery human being sitting on a wooden table chair. Slowly, he thought he heard hushed whispers. They seemed to be voices of plotting. After a minute it was silent again.

“COLE COME DOWN HERE! ON TV…..IT’S..IT’S YOUR FATHER!” his mother bellowed.

The outburst of noise startled Cole so much that he jumped a few feet backwards away form his door. His breathing sped up with his blood pumping furiously. After nearly having a heart attack he made his way downstairs. He started slow, but rushed like mad down the steps, taking two at a time. His body was moving faster than his mind could muster any idea what was going on.

His father? On TV? Why would he be on television? After almost seven years of his crazed mother cutting off all contact between them and his father, she wanted Cole to see him on television? None of it made sense, but Cole ran into the living room.

It seemed as if the world was being jumbled around all at once. Even the sight in his living room confused him. His mother stood in front of their TV, fumbling with the remote. When she noticed him her hands juggled with the remote even more. As Cole rushed to the TV, he heard it come on with a tiny “click” from the remote.

On screen were two men, one who was easily distinguishable as a reporter and the other looked like a fat hobo; his messy hair and rotton teeth were more of his “better” features – he wore a yellowed wife beater under a red shirt (which by the man’s size, looked a size too small) covered in random stains from various foods. The volume was at a decent level, briskly filling the room.

“Here we are with Fred Balton, who has the record for the world longest and loudest fart,” informed the reporter on TV.

Cole turned towards his mother.

“Is this a joke?” he asked, almost yelling at her.

“Cole sweetie,” cooed his mother.

“STOP FRICKIN CALLING ME THAT!” screamed Cole.

“Honey…Cole…I only wanted you to meet someone. She’s our new neighbor.”

Cole had forgotten about their visitor. He turned his head in the direction of the kitchen.

“Well actually, you guys are our new neighbors.” The girl corrected. Her voice was clear and beautiful. She stood up and walked towards them.

She had long, silky brown hair that almost reached her butt and also had bangs that came right to the top of her eyes before stopping and swaying when she walked. Her blue eyes seemed to sparkle in the tense mood that filled the air.

When her eyes me Cole’s, she studied him for barely a second and then looked away. Cole hadn’t realized it until now, but she was the girl from the window earlier. He recognized her from the way she looked at him so quickly before finding something else to stare at.

She reached them and lifted a slender hand in the air. Cole met her hand with his and they both shook the other’s.

“I’m Kira. Kira Harte. My mom and I live across the street,” said Kira, looking into Cole’s eyes again.

“It’s great to meet you. I’m Cole Mascheriet.” He answered. His voice shook a little, but his mom obviously didn’t notice. She kept on grinning at the sight before her eyes and nodding her head like a chicken.

Kira smiled, and her cheeks flush a bright red, brighter than a fire truck.

I can’t believe that it’s him, the guy from the window… Kira thought.

This was better than what she’d expected. She could tell that there was something about her that he liked. It wasn’t hard to figure out – Cole still shook her hand and stared into her eyes. She stopped moving her outstretched hand and looked at him questioningly.

When he didn’t respond to her hinting, she made it obvious that he was zoned out.

“Umm….can I have my hand back?” she asked.

Now it was Cole’s turn to become brighter than a fire truck. He release her hand and slid his next to his body.

“Sorry,” he said, still blushing.

He looked away again, trying to find a topic to relieve the awkwardness. He looked at his mother, who looked like she was about to burst.

And then she did.

But to Cole’s displeasure, not literally.

“WILL YOU GO WITH KIRA TO ODALE TOWN!?” she exploded with excitement.

“What?” Cole asked, dumbfounded by her enthusiasm.

“Maybe you should explain, Kira dear.” His mother turned to her for support.

“Its fine Mrs. Mascheriet-”

“Call me Gwen, please.” Cole’s mom interrupted.

“Okay...Gwen, well I wanted to know if you would travel with me up to Odale Town to look for Professor Birch – he’s the Professor of Hoenn. He was going to meet someone – I think it was another Professor from a different region – and he hasn’t come back yet.” Kira informed him.

“I’m sure he will be back tomorrow. A trip to meet someone would probably take more than a day,” said Cole, trying not to sound rude.

“Well…it’s been eight days. And I was supposed to get my first Pokémon weeks ago. I’m not too worried about Professor Birch – he’s probably just studying more kinds of Pokémon. But I really want a Pokémon, and my mom wont let me travel alone to Odale.”

“Oh.” Cole said. That was all he could muster after Kira’s speech.

“Soooo….do you wanna come along?” she asked once more.

“Uhh…I guess so,” said Cole. “Sure.”

“EEEEEEHEHEHEHE!” Gwen’s shrill giggle could’ve shattered every window in their new house.

“Alrighty then,” said Cole, trying to move around the annoying sound that just came out of his mother’s throat, “When do we leave?”

“Right now!” screeched Kira. Cole could tolerate her joyfulness. Although he wasn’t quite thinking straight when he first heard her reply.

“NOW??” he boomed, once he realized what Kira had said.

“You bet!” Kira gleamed. She grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the house. “It shouldn’t take long at all. This is gonna be AWESOME!”

Cole was lost in a daydream of him and Kira running through fields of flowers finding the professor once their hands had met.

“Okay…” he cooed.

“Take your time!” he heard his mother shouting in the distance.

In front of his mother he tried to act like he didn’t want to go, but secretly, he wanted to scream out and dance around like a kid in a candystore.


END OF CHAPTER ONE

Hm....I recognized a bit of this XD

Anyways, I noticed some typos and spelling stuff, but other than that, great. I love Cole's personality XD And Kira near the end is pretty funny.

And now my friend is trying to drag me outside....but it's dark. SO OH WELL.

~FS

Thanks FS. I'm really liking typing this Fic. It's a lot more funner (*shot*) than typing KIJ.

Dunno when the next chapter will be posted :\ And I don't have time to get a spoiler ready (I'm working on a book report) so I'll just tell you guys the chapter title....

Chapter 2: Hide-and-Seek With a Pokémon Professor!

Kira ran back to her house, practically dragging Cole behind her. She said she needed to get a few things before they left. She told him to wait by the door once they got there.

“I only need my backpack, so it shouldn’t take long,” she said as they burst inside. The warmth from her mother’s baking still enveloped anything that walked inside. Kira dropped Cole’s hand once they were inside, leaving him alone with her mother, who was nearly exhausted from her continuous baking. She’d kept her promise to Kira about baking more things - it didn’t look like she’d stopped since Kira left.

But Kira didn’t have time to stop and chat. She needed to become a Pokémon Trainer.

And she needed Cole by her side.

Once she was upstairs, Cole was left alone in the living room. IT WAS HUGE. Cole analyzed every inch of the room and couldn’t believe that it looked the same as the other houses on the outside. Every inch of the inside seemed to be different – the walls, the floors, the exciting furniture that flared with vibrant colors. He only found that it was set up the same way with the adjoining kitchen and living room. His nostrils were going berserk as he tried to take everything in.

“Hello,” Kira’s mom greeted him, “I’m Carly, Kira’s mom.”

Thankfully, she didn’t come over to shake his hand. Cole actually felt a little weird when he had shaken Kira’s hand, and he knew it would be very strange shaking her mom’s.

“Hi there.”

The same awkward silence from Cole’s house filled the room.

“Um, not to be rude, but who are you?” Carly asked him.

“Oh, sorry,” said Cole, “I’m the new neighbor. My name is Cole.”

“YOU’RE THE NEW NEIGHBOR?!” shouted Carly. She seemed much more ecstatic than Cole’s mom had been.

“Uh…yeah, I am. Kira invited me to go-”

Kira darted down the stairs before he could say anything else.

“WE’RE GOING OUT. BYE MOM, I LOVE YOU.” She shouted, taking Cole’s hand and rushing out again.

She slowed down once they were nearing the entrance/exit to the town, but she didn’t let go of his hand. The storm still hadn’t passed and it managed to drag a chilling breeze into the area. Cole noticed that Kira forgot to grab a jacket on their way out of her house. Cole luckily still had his on from his walk earlier.

He was about to offer it to her, but they had reached the edge of town and Cole just remembered something from earlier – something that he shouldn’t have forgotten. He hadn’t even thought of it until now. Now, when he saw the tight pants of a p!ssed off skater-punk.

“I thought I told you to leave her alone!” Dominik shouted when they were in close hearing range. Cole didn’t know what to say – what could he say? He was holding the hand of a skater’s girlfriend for God’s sake!

“Get the eff away Dominik,” ordered Kira. Surprisingly, Dominik backed off, glaring at Cole as they passed. It was like an Arbok staring into the eyes of a baby Rattata. One whose life was about to abruptly end. But Cole slowly returned to focusing on the “journey” with Kira. His heart continued to pound furiously in his chest. It was like he could feel the eyes of Dominik digging into his back – the Arbok’s fangs slowly sinking deeper and deeper into the Rattata’s torso.

“I’m sorry.”

For a moment, Cole actually thought that he was hearing Dominik, but he quickly realized that the voice was too angelic. He looked over to his companion walking beside him.

“Wha- I mean…about what?” he stuttered.

“I dunno,” she blushed, looking at the ground, “everything, I guess. I mean I practically forced you to come with me.”

“No, you didn’t. I wanted to go,” he intervened.

“Really?!” she squeaked.

“Really.” Cole grinned widely.

“Aww, thank you. I guess I was just apologizing about Dominik-”

“Look, I don’t want to come between you and your boyfriend-”

“BOYFRIEND?!?!?!” she nearly screamed like a wild banshee. “IS THAT WHAT HE TOLD YOU? OH, HE IS DEAD!”

“Whoa, calm down,” Cole gently squeezed her hand. That did it – she immediately blushed again and re-adverted her eyes to the ground.

“Sorry…again. But he’s not my boyfriend. He just hits on me and tries to get me to like him. Ugh, he’s so gross.” Kira sighed. They were standing in front of a patch of overgrown grass. A few pieces swayed in the breeze. It lightly brushed against Cole’s denim-blue jeans and it tickled Kira’s bare legs. It beckoned them closer with every gentle push on their legs.

Kira shook her body, chilled by the breeze. Cole forgot about the jacket situation. Without even asking her, he unclamped his grasp on her hand and slid out of his jacket, offering it to her.

“No, you keep it,” she said, “I’m fine.”

“No, you’re cold,” replied Cole.

“Well, just a little. It’ll be okay.”

“Just take it. You’re only wearing a short-sleeved shirt. I’ve got my jacket and some pants.”

“I’ve got pants on.”

“HA, barely.” Cole chuckled.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Look, just take it. This way we’ll both have on something short and something long. Unless you’d like my pants instead?”

“I’ll take the jacket,” she giggled, slipping into the black hoodie. “Now let’s get moving so we make it to town before this storm hits.”

And with that, they began moving into the overgrown brush in front of them. They didn’t hold hands again, but at least Cole had gotten her to take the jacket.

They silently made their way through Route 101, undisturbed by wild Pokémon. The route consisted of many turns and more overgrown grass. All along the edges of the route were rather large trees that allowed no indication of anything on the other side. Kira and Cole continued to walk around, waiting until they found an exit to Oldale Town. It shouldn’t have been much longer, since Route 101 was one of the shortest routes in all of Hoenn and since the only exit from the route was into Oldale.

The vacancy of Pokémon gave the two teens time to think.

What was the deal about his dad? Kira wondered inside her head.

For some annoying reason, she could not get the question out of her mind. She knew that something happened with Cole’s dad as she, too, had problems when things about her dad arose.

But this was different. Her dad had been missing – a beloved father and husband who’d disappeared one day with no trace of himself left behind. It brought tears to Kira and Gwen’s eyes. But for Cole and his mom…it brought anger? Of all emotions, it made them angry? It made no sense whatsoever. Kira feared that the anger would be pushed onto her if she asked questions out of the blue. So, she started talking…

“Ya know, my dad was awesome,” she began, “he always knew what to say in tough situations.”

Cole just stared at the ground and kept walking. So far, her attempts were failing.

“We did so many things together. Every summer he took a whole week off from work and drove my mom and I to Slateport, where we’d get a boat and go to Dewford for a vacation.”

Kira suddenly felt more relieved than sad. The feeling made her heart jump.

“Oh, and there was this one time on Dewford, when-”

“Is there a point to this story?” Cole asked flatly.

“Umm…not really, no.” Kira almost whimpered.

“Then could you please drop it?”

“Uh, sure. No problem.”

So much for good luck. she thought.

The two remained quiet. A few minutes passed. They heard loud shrieks from the sky. They tilted their heads upward, looking for the sound of the noise. It actually sounded more like a battle cry, rather than a shriek. In a few seconds they each easily found what they were looking for.

A large bird flew overtop of their heads. Its red and white underbelly reflected unusually against its midnight feathers. Cole placed his hand on his forehead, trying to shield his eyes from any blinding light in the sky. He thought he saw the outline of a person on the Pokémon’s back, but as it flew away, he gave up squinting for an answer.

Neither Cole nor Kira mentioned anything about the Pokémon at all during the travel. In fact, they still kept silent until Oldale was in view. Cole tried to lighten the mood he’d crushed earlier.

“Do you want to race me to Oldale?” he asked slyly.

“What?” Kira’s pale skin creased in various areas as she gave him a questioning glare.

“I asked if you wanted to race me the rest of the way to Oldale.”

“Oh…..uh, sure.” The near-depressed face of Kira’s forced a smile. “When should we start?” she added.

“How about on the count of three?”

“Sure.”

“And no cheating.” Cole added.

“Alright, whatever you say,” said Kira as she couldn’t help but stretch her grin farther on her face..

“One….Two…” Cole started the countdown.

“THREE!!!” Kira cheered. She darted off before Cole realized what was going on. He couldn’t help but flash his teeth in a gleeful grin. And then he was off, agilely gaining on her. Somehow she managed to keep the lead. Cole forced every ounce of adrenaline he had to catch up.

The two were nearly two yards away. Kira was still leading the two, but Cole was only a step or so behind. In the last few seconds, Cole gained his way in the front, before he felt something large and heavy on his back. Before he knew it Kira let out a single “GOTCHA!” before the two toppled into Oldale Town, Kira on the top. Their fall consisted of rolling and tumbling together.

When they slowed to a stop, they were both on their backs, heads forced to look at the other. Both found it impossible to keep a straight face, and Kira suddenly burst out in laughter.

“THAT. WAS. AWESOME!!!!” she bellowed. “Let’s do it again!”

“Haha, if only my spine could break again!” Cole joked.

Their joyful moment was quickly ruined.

“Oh God, it’s you,” a voice remarked.

Kira and Cole rolled from being on their backs, to laying on either of their sides. In front of their faces was a pair of two purple legs. Kira softly moaned when she saw who it was, but it took Cole a little longer to realize to look up to see the person’s face. When he did, he could see two sinister green eyes looking down upon him.

“Dominik?” asked Cole, almost as if he didn’t believe what he was looking at.

“Yeah, dumb*ss, who else would I be?” Dominik jeered.

Kira and Cole got to there feet, staring at Dominik with puzzled expressions.

“But…” Kira began.

“How the hell did you get here before us?” Cole finished, “There’s only one way through the Route, and I KNOW no one passed us while we were walking.”

“Are you sure about that?” asked Dominik.

“What? How could I not be sure that no one passed us. Kira and I never stopped or even got lost.”

“Did you check the sky?” Dominik’s questions only puzzled them even more. Seeing their faces, he called out towards a small building to the right. “Blair!”

Another teen came into view. She had long, amber hair that reached below her ribs. Her tan coat covered all the way down to her knees, covering almost every inch of her plaid shirt and skintight jeans. The jeans almost matched Dominik’s, although they weren’t purple; they were just a plain sky blue.

Cole gawked over her appearance. She looked so delicate the way she walked, so confident and self-assured – it was almost terrifying. Kira also noticed the teen’s amazing glamour. She felt self-pity take over her emotions.

“So these are the two lovebirds who ditched you?” she asked. Her voice tickled Cole and Kira’s skin, sending shivers down their spines. It rang through the dreary weather – a high soprano in a group of altos.

“Kira…half-bake – this is Blair. She’s a good friend of mine from when I traveled to the Sevii Islands last summer.” Dominik introduced his new friend.

“When I called Dommy today, he’d told me that you two left for Oldale without him. Since I couldn’t let my bubby-wubby stay all alone in Filthroot Town, I sent my Swellow to bring him here.”

That must’ve been the Pokémon they saw on the way the Oldale.

“Dommy?” Cole mused.

“Filthroot?” Kira joined.

“BUBBY-WUBBY???” they both joined together in unison to question the last pitiful nickname the Blair gave during her speech. Neither one could help cracking up and falling back to the ground, laughing.

“Oh, just shut it.” Dominik turned to leave, but Blair grabbed his arm.

“Where are you going?” she complained. “Aren’t you going to travel with them now?”

“Why would I travel with THEM? For God’s sake, just LOOK at them.”

Blair turned her head halfway round. Ironically, Cole and Kira looked completely idiotic. Dirt smeared across both faces, which were bright red from the lack of air.

“Let’s get to the Pokémon Center before it rains. I don’t want to get wet,” ordered Dominik.

As the two started walking again, Kira and Cole remained rolling on the ground of barely visible grass. They spluttered remarks into the cool air, which was beginning to mist.

“BUBBY-WUH…-WUH…WAHAHAHAHA” Kira spluttered, too giggly to finish two whole words.

*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/


“Mission status, Maxie?” a calm voice emitted from a small screen.

The screen of the Pokétch was shadowed so that the speaker was shrouded in darkness. A thin outline around the man on the screen made him visible.

A tall man with flaming red hair quickly responded to the figure.

“I’m almost finished with what you told me to do. Both Professors have been stranded in the middle of the lake,” he replied. His voice was hushed, and he kept the Pokétch at an angle so that his surroundings were barely visible.

“All right, good enough,” the man on screen answered.

GOOD ENOUGH!? I’ve nearly risked my life doing his stupid “missions,” and he hasn’t done anything except order people to do his work for him. Stupid Kalmin. STUPID F*CKING KALMIN, Maxie thought.

“Just finish quickly and return to HQ. Where are you anyway?” the man named Kalmin finished his orders and moved on to specifics.

“I’m in the Pokémon Center in Oldale Town. I think the mission has been delayed. Like I said, both Professors are stranded on a small space of land in the lake on Route 103, but the weather isn’t looking too good.”

“Just hurry it up. I’ll check back in a few hours for your status.”

And with the final order given, the screen clicked off and went blank.


^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^


ABOUT TEN MINUTES LATER

Maxie exited the bathroom stall from which he spoke to his commander. When the commander had signed off from their chat, the man sat in the stall, thinking things through.

He wanted so badly to escape. He needed to escape. He used to be a great leader of the villainous Team Magma. He succeeded in numerous jailbreaks with his accomplices on the team. No police force could hold Team Magma – not for long anyways.

But now, now that Kalmin had charmed his way through the ranks and overthrown Magma’s former leader, the group’s number of member receded dramatically. There used to be well over three hundred grunts, but now they were lucky to make it to one hundred. And worst of all, Kalmin was still using the old HQ – the one that the red haired man worked for years on to build without anyone finding out.

But at least the secrets of his headquarters remained his. He knew every nook and cranny in the hideout that sprawled across different areas of Mt. Chimney. His former grunts (and his new commander) all believed that the HQ was just a hideout for the team; it was actually built with transmitters and various machines to monitor the inactive volcano. He studied the collected data whenever he could to try to predict a future eruption, this way he would be able to use stored power to enhance the eruption and hopefully expand the land.

He walked into a room of the Pokémon Center that he’d booked a few days ago – he silently thanked himself, seeing as how the Pokémon Center had quickly filled with trainers as the approaching storm progressed. He didn’t plan to stay in his room long – just long enough to put on a disguise so that no one could recognize him. A pair of thick-framed glasses, a brown coat, and a small black hat was the easiest disguise that fooled everybody.

In only five minutes, he was in the lobby of the Pokémon Center. Behind a dull yellow counter, a woman with bright pink hair that looped down like large earrings was spazzing out trying to settle some of the upset trainers; most of them had just come in and needed their Pokémon healed, but with the number of Pokémon being healed already over the maximum capacity, she could not help them. Maxie smirked at her crazed, overworked expression.

The other trainers huddled around the white couches around the center, waiting for their Pokémon to finish being healed and for the storm to pass. Rain pelted against the roof of the center, letting everyone know that the worst of the storm was proceeding outside.

Maxie walked passed the electronic glass doors in the front of the Pokémon Center. He glanced outside to see how bad the storm was. He only caught a slight glimpse of it, however, as two trainers came crashing inside, right into him. They all toppled over onto the tiled flooring. Luckily, Maxie’s disguise remained in tact.

“Yo, watch where you’re going,” one of the trainers said, standing up. His hand was against his head, probably from when it collided with Maxie’s. He helped the other trainer up and brushed off his pants, which were an unusual purple color, and almost skin tight.

“Dominik, you’re such a gentleman, helping me up like that,” the girl said seductively.

“Yeah, yeah,” he responded nonchalantly.

In a matter of seconds, two more trainers burst through the doors, knocking Maxie, Dominik, and Blair into one large heap on the floor. A few chatting trainers turned to see what was going on, but just went back to what they were doing.

“What the- GET OFF OF ME, YOU FREAK!” Dominik shouted, shoving Cole of him. A few trainers looked over again, but this time they watched what was unfolding.

Cole stood up, turning and helping Kira – who was already being shoved by Blair – to her feet. Dominik and Blair stood with Maxie, facing Kira and Cole. They were all now covered with damp mud, Cole and Kira having a lot more pepper-patterned dots on their clothing.

“Nice going,” Blair sneered, “I could’ve been really hurt.”

“Aw, I know what you mean,” Cole jeered back, “Your mouth could’ve actually stopped working. I know that no one would want that.”

Blair turned her head away from Cole, her amber hair flowing in the air. Everyone waited in silence for someone to ask the question that lingered on the tips of everyone’s tongues. Eyes flickered between Maxie, the three soon-to-be trainers, and the one who already was one.

“Well, this is certainly uncomfortable,” Maxie stated the obvious.

“No sh*t,” mumbled Dominik.

“What was that, son?” Maxie asked.

“Nothing,” Dominik mumbled again, “And don’t call me ‘son’.”

“Um, not to be rude or anything, but who are you?” Kira asked carefully, not wanting to annoy their guest.

“I’m terribly sorry, I guess I forgot to tell you all that,” Maxie laughed, “I am Max- …I’m Maxwell.”

“Oh. Well, I’m Kira, and this is Cole,” Kira said, motioning to the boy beside her. Cole gave a friendly wave, which made him feel uncomfortably awkward. “We’re from Littleroot and wanted to speak to the Professor,” Kira added.

“You don’t say.” Maxie sounded surprised. “Well, I’m from Lilycove and I came here to see Professor Birch as well.”

“Really?” Kira rushed in front of him, accidentally grabbing his hands without even realizing it. “Do you know where he is? I reallllllly need to talk to him – he was supposed to give me my Starter Pokémon a while ago, but never did.”

Maxie contemplated at this. These trainers needed their beginning Pokémon, which meant them having to search for the Professor. He already knew that the girl with the amber hair owned a Swellow – he saw it leave after he stranded the Professors out in the lake – and that would only make them find them faster.

“I know where they are,” he told them.

“YOU DO?!?! TAKE US TO THEM!” Kira pleaded. She dropped to her knees with her hands together in a begging position.

“Sure. I’d be glad to,” Maxie said nonchalantly.

“THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!” Kira shouted. She wrapped her arms around Maxie’s legs. “When can you take us to them, Maxwell?”

“Anytime after the storm lets up,” he said coolly, walking over to one of the white couches and sat down to relax. He needed some time to think about what he would do when they went to see the Professors.

The Commander’s plan seemed so pointless and not even worth the trip to Oldale. But then why did these kids just happen to appear the same day the professors were stranded?

Was it destiny or just a coincidence?


`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`


[THREE DAYS AGO – Magma HQ; Commander Kalmin’s Office]

Maxie walked across the metallic-like flooring in his commander’s office of the Team Magma Headquarters. It wasn’t too large, but it was much more spacious than the various barracks for the other grunts. Luckily, Maxie had built an extra bedroom behind the walls of the headquarters that only he knew about. In its time, it was built for whenever he did not feel like returning to the duties of commanding Team Magma.

When Kalmin had taken over Team Magma, the room seemed to lose all pride that Maxie had for his old team. The walls formed by the Mt. Ember now stood barren of the previous wall hangings put up by Maxie in the earlier days of his command. All Maxie could do was look around and reminisce. He never realized how much the room amplified the power of the team’s leader. He actually felt cowardly, walking up to Kalmin. What made him even more nervous was the black leather chair that faced away from Maxie as he stood in front of the desk.

“Ah, Maxie, you’re finally here.” the melodic voice from behind the chair soothed all tension in Maxie’s body.

“Y-y-yes, I am,” Maxie spit out. His voice didn’t seem to be calmed enough to talk right.

The chair swooped around in one, swift motion. The man in it brushed a few strands of navy blue-black hair. It settled around his mid-chest area, the mixture of black and very dark blue blending together at every spot Maxie looked at. Maxie always found himself mesmerized by the commander’s hair. It was good that he could examine it instead of having to stare into the other man’s eyes. It was strange, since his eyes weren’t the kind that pierce through people with their black emptiness – they were apologetic, smooth, like nothing in the world was wrong.

“How have you been?”

Maxie dazedly responded with a “Hrgmf” and continued to trace strands of hair. The commander cleared his throat a few times until Maxie snapped out of his trance.

“I’ve got-” the commander started.

“Sorry,” Maxie apologized, even though he’d interrupted what Kalmin was about to say, “Sorry, again. Continue.”

“Maxie, you don’t need to apologize,” Kalmin reassured him, “But anyway, I’ve got a mission for you.”

Great, Maxie thought, what’s his Stupid Pointless Annoying Mission now?

“Of course, Commander,” Maxie said, awaiting his boss’s command.

“Please, call me Kalmin,” the commander almost cooed, chilling Maxie again with his voice’s eeriness. “I’m going to need you to travel to Oldale Town. Our base in Johto reported that the professor of that region is traveling to Oldale to meet with Professor Birch.”

“What would you like me to do then?” Maxie asked. The “mission” already sounded stupid.

“Stop them.” Kalmin’s voice became dark and cold.

“What?” Maxie cocked his head to the side. “Stop them from what?”

“Giving out Pokémon, of course.” Kalmin’s voice became a little more frustrated with the slight bickering.

“But that doesn’t make any sense-”

“Just do it.”

And with that, Maxie simply bowed his head and left the room.

`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`


“WE’RE OFF! WE’RE OFF! WE’RE OFF TO GET POKÉMON! WE’RE OFF! WE’RE OFF! WE’RE OFF TO GET POKÉMON!” Kira sang into the breezy air.

She and the others – Cole, Dominik, and Blair – we’re following Maxie, who was content with what he was doing. He knew that Kalmin would have a hissy fit when Maxie returned, but he knew a way around the situation.

“Someone’s a little excited,” Maxie forced a laugh.

“OF COURSE I AM! I’ve been waiting for this day forever!” Kira nearly screamed into the misty air. Then she started to make up a thank you song for Maxie: “THAAAANK YOOUUUU, MAXWELLL! FOREVER AM I IN YOUR DEBT! THAAANK YOUU-”

“SHUT UP!” yelled Blair.

“OR WHAT?” Kira yelled back. “Why don’t you get your bubby-wubby-kun to make me?”

“Bubby-wubby-kun?” Cole questioned Kira. She first looked back to see who was talking – Cola hadn’t said much of anything to anyone since they left the Pokémon Center after the storm passed.

“It’s just a Japanese honorific. I use it a lot to give nicknames to people. It’s fun,” Kira replied, happy to be talking to yet another person.

“It’s a Japanese honorific,” mimicked Blair. “Just SHUT UP.”

Kira simply stuck her tongue out and waved a sweat-jacket sleeve at her. Once again, Cole managed to get Kira to put on his sweat-jacket, which was a few sizes too big. It didn’t take very long for Kira to put it on once Dominik offered his, which was immediately snatched away from his by Blair when Kira slipped into Cole’s.

Dominik shivered as they walked through Route 103. The mist lingered around them as a reminiscent of the storm; a breeze had also stayed around. It made the blades of grass wave around and dance with the trees. Kira giggled and began dancing with them. She put both arms above her head and waved around.

“What the h*ll are you DOING?” Blair yelled again, irritated with Kira. She felt like tackling her.

“I’m dancing with nature!” Kira began to sing merrily.

“Well, it looks like you’re trying to be a sperm cell,” Blair grumbled, shrinking further into the jacket. The skater jacket was (of course) huge, like all other skater jackets. White and black stripes went under the South Pole logo printed in gray on the chest area.

“Hey, I’d rather be a joyful sperm cell than a cold-hearted Es-ki-mo!” Kira’s voice rang, happy as can be, breaking apart the work ‘Eskimo’ to make it sound like she was singing it.

“That’s IT!” Blair shouted. She madly ran up to Kira, fists waving through the air. Chivalrous as could be, Dominik stepped into Blair’s pathway. He tried to act tough as he took a few blows to the chest from the screaming girl.

“OK!” Kira shouted. “BRING IT!”

She also raised two fists into the air. She tried to get around Dominik, who was now trying to stop both girls from reaching each other.

“OH, I’LL BRING IT ALRIGHT!” Blair lunged at her opponent, only to be held back by Dominik.

“YOUR MOM CAN BRING IT BETTER THAN THAT!” Kira tried to instigate as Blair forced Dominik out of the way.

“Shouldn’t we do something?” Maxie asked, looking frightfully towards Cole.

“Hmmm…NAHH,” Cole said. He shrugged and sat down to watch the ongoing fight with sardonic amusement.

“OH, YEAH?” Blair’s voice shrieked across the area, causing Taillow and other bird-like Pokémon to flee into the sky. “WELL, YOUR MOM IS SO FAT THAT WHEN SHE SAT ON THE RAINBOW, SHE MADE SKITTLES COME OUT!”

“What the eff? That’s not even to our argument!”

And with that, the two had at it.

[ABOUT FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER]

The group began walking again when Dominik had given up as Kira managed to get Blair’s hands behind her back and Blair’s face into a puddle of mud. When that had been done, Kira let go of Blair had walked next to Cole, ducking behind him every few minutes in case of a Blair-attack. But every time Kira looked in her direction, she merely saw her trying to ring the mud out of her amber hair. She tried to avoid it from touching her clothing, but got tired of holding her hair and let the mud smear on the back of her shirt and shoulders.

“This is so exciting! My heart won’t stop pounding, I’m so nervous,” Kira said to Cole. He nodded and kept on walking. He didn’t really feel like talking, much less know what to say.

“I want a Mudkip!” Kira piped up shortly after. “They’re so cute and adorable!”

“Don’t act all happy-go-lucky,” Blair sneered, “the Professor doesn’t always have the Pokémon you want. Plus, if he did, I know I would get the Mudkip.”

“YOU?” Kira repeated, befuddled.

“Of course,” Blair said, flinging a strand of hair over her shoulder, “Mudkip and I are perfect for each other.”

“Too bad the Professor won’t give a Pokémon to somebody who already has one. But still, I guess it would fit you, seeing as how you’re covered in mud,” Kira jeered.

“OMFG, YOU’RE SO DEAD NOW!”

“Not again…” Dominik moaned. Although, this time he had an idea.

“Now we can answer finally the question ‘How much mud does it take to cover a pr*stitute’.” Kira interjected.

But before Blair had a chance to make a move towards her, Dominik’s idea came into play.

“Hey Blair, I’m getting kind of cold,” he said, making the best puppy dog face he could muster, “Can you stay close to me and keep me warm?”

“THE H*LL I WOU- wou- …would LOVE TO!” she screeched, latching herself to his arm and snuggling up next to him. “I’ll keep you nice and warm, baby, don’t worry.”

Kira made a loud gagging noise.

“Oh look, she finally choked on her ego,” Blair snickered. She squeezed Dominik’s arm tighter.

“YOU-”

“We’re here!” Maxie half-cheered.

“Finally!” Cole grunted. He was getting tired of the bickering and fighting, no matter how much it somewhat amused him.

The new scenery captivated all five of them, even though Maxie had seen it all before.

“Maxwell…this is BEAUTIFUL!” Kira hesitantly took a step forward. She couldn’t believe what was in front of her eyes.

The grass that had once brushed against her legs now barely reached a few inches above the bottom of her shoe. But it wasn’t the length of the grass that made her hesitant to walk on it – it was its color. Vibrant shades of green burst over the cleared area, smoothly covering the ground and not letting any dirt show through. To the left was a lake that looked like it went on for miles, sparkling with beauty the whole way.

“Where are the Professors?” Blair complained, “We don’t have all day for Dommy to get a Pokémon.”

“Yeah, where are they?” Cole didn’t care as much, but he figured if they came this way, he might as well get something out of it.

“Oh, out there.” Maxie pointed towards the center of the captivating lake.

“How are we supposed to-” Kira began, but was stopped by Maxie’s when he lifted two Pokéballs from the inside of his coat pocket and threw them into the chilly air.

The Pokéballs each snapped open, surges of flashing light bursting into the scene. As quickly as they came out of the Pokéballs, the bright energy began to form themselves. The energy elongated, growing much larger than any of the humans watching in awe. As fins and other bodily part protruded from the flashing light, two twin serpentine Pokémon appeared in the lake. It only took a few seconds for the Pokémon to form, but no one spoke for at least a few minutes.

The Pokémon waited for their trainer to order them. Their blue bodies glistened with water while they swam in the pristine lake. Kira studied their faces – one large fin protruded from each side of both Pokémon’s faces and a three-pronged “crown” sat above the intimidating eyes on both, as well. She noticed while both Pokémon swam around that they both had a long whisker dangling on either side of the mouths. The fact of the matter was that one of them had pure white whiskers while the other had whiskers the color of its cerulean skin.

“Gyarados,” Maxie said, knowing he answered the main question of what type of Pokémon he had sent out.

“Nice,” Cole managed to say. The image of the two deathly-terrifying Gyarados swimming in front of him gave him the chills. If both of these Gyarados could easily swim in this lake, who knew what other kinds of Pokémon lingered around the bottom, waiting for some unlucky person to slip underwater.

“Humpf, I’ve seen better,” huffed Dominik.

“Like when?” Kira asked him. “How could you have seen better when we’re going to get out first Pokémon right this minute?”

“Well…” Dominik had no idea what to say, “…I…I, um…you know…on TV and stuff.”

“Riiiiight,” Kira smirked, pleased with herself.

“Can we go already?” Blair complained, “I’m freezing my *ss off waiting for you guys to get over the shock of seeing such a lame Pokémon.”

“Yes, we should get going,” agreed Maxie, looking toward the sky. More clouds covered the sky above them. It didn’t make much difference – when there weren’t any clouds above them the sky just looked a dull gray anyway. “I don’t want to get caught in another storm.”

Maxie ushered for the trainers to follow him. He held up a hand towards his Pokémon and they immediately stopped what they were doing. When Maxie and the others stood at the waters edge the Gyarados turned the opposite way and lowered themselves so that the soon-to-be-trainers – and Maxie – could climb onto their backs.

“We have to ride them?!” Blair shrieked in disgust.

“No,” said Kira, “We get to ride them!”


^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^


[A FEW MINUTES LATER]

Blair had refused to ride on either Gyarados, saying that she should not have to travel on an oversized snake through a lake. So, she decided to use her Swellow instead and now traveled through the air, having Swellow follow the Gyarados.

Before everyone – except for Blair – boarded the Pokémon, Kira made sure to ask why one Gyarados had blue whiskers and why the other had white. At first he just stared at her like she was joking, but told her that some Pokémon have what’s known as Gender Differences, and that all female Gyarados have white whiskers while the male have blue. Once the difference was distinguished, Kira gladly chose to travel on Maxie’s female Gyarados. Cole was also quick to decide to ride on the female, making Dominik go with Maxie on the male.

The female Gyarados gracefully swam behind her male counterpart despite her large size and intimidating look. Kira looked around the whole entire lake, gasping when she would spot a Pokémon in the water or jumping off of the large rock formations that lined the edges of the lake. Cole didn’t recognize very many of them, as he really only knew Pokémon that lived in Johto. But still, his mother was always so cautious about everything that he didn’t know very many Johto Pokémon either.

“This is so nice,” Kira sighed. She lay on her back, hands behind her head, looking at the sky. Her amber hair slowly swayed from side to side in the blowing breeze.

Cole just stared at her, his own hair blowing around in the breeze. He had his back towards the Gyarados’s neck, or what you call a neck. He could see everything that they passed. The spot at which they’d started was off in the distance, the only land Cole knew of for miles. Kira smiled at a flock of passing Taillow. The meager black birds flew with ease in the sky. They knew the rain was coming and they did not want to be caught in it. They squawked and flapped their wings madly, trying to fly far enough away. Cole smiled too, watching the flock of Taillows’ white underbelly flying away.

Kira’s head fell to the side. Cole saw her move in his peripheral vision as he stared at the Pokémon that were now tiny dots in the cloudy sky.

“I dunno why, but I love the weather right now,” Kira said to him when he shifted his gaze into hers. “Everything seems peaceful, if that even makes sense.”

“Actually…it kind of does. Like before it rains, it seems like all the wild Pokémon just disappear and all the tension between them goes away. Same with people – when we know that it’s going to rain we focus on avoiding it.” Cole smiled again. He liked it when he could just sit and talk to Kira, without any distractions like Blair to interfere. Kira noticed that Cole wasn’t really smiling because of the peaceful moment – he was smiling because he was looking at her. She blushed and shifted her gaze into the sky again.

Cole did the same, but he wasn’t really focusing on what he was looking at. Kira did the same, just letting her eyes roam from one thing to another. Oddly enough, they both began to hear a noise – a faint, distinct noise, almost like echoing. As the next couple of minutes passed, the noise grew louder and both teenagers started to look for the source from which it came. Both could barely make out what it was saying: “Help.”

“There they are!” Maxie shouted from the other Gyarados.

Kira and Cole both hesitantly stood up and looked around. Just off to the side, on a piece of land no bigger than a full bathroom, were two men in lab coats.

One of them had spiky brown hair and a pair of long, oval glasses. His lab coat was short, only coming down to his waist. His khaki pants were soaked, as were his navy shirt and lab coat, all of which had splotches of mud on them. He looked scrawny, and young too.

The other was not scrawny at all. His large and bulky body stood out much better than the man beside him did. His hair color was the same, but it was longer and almost formed a mullet of the back of his head.

“HI, PROFESSOR BIRCH!” Kira shouted, now standing and frantically waving her arms towards him.

The Gyarados slowed to a stop next to the two men. Kira agilely jumped off of the intimidating Pokémon. Her landing wasn’t that peaceful, and resulted in her clambering into the unknown Professor.

After Kira apologized and everyone was on their feet, Maxie got off of the Gyarados he was riding.

“Hello, there. It is and honor to meet you both,” he said, bowing in respect. While he was bent over, he looked towards Kira, who quickly understood and bowed with him.

“It’s nice to finally get some help!” the scrawny Professor complained. He looked extremely annoyed about something.

“So, do we get out Pokémon now!?” Kira asked, unable to hold her excitement.

“Whaa?” Both Professors looked at each other questioningly.

“Our starters!” Kira said, motioning at herself and Cole, “We came to get them and register as Pokémon Trainers.”

“Oh,” Birch said, “Can we at least get back to the Lab? As you can see, we aren’t really in the mood to-”

“WHAT?! NO! “ Kira yelled at him, “I’ve been waiting FOREVER for my starter!”

“Well…” Birch said. He rustled his hair with one of his dirt-coated hands.

“Well, what?”

“I kinda…well….I sorta left the Pokémon that I give to trainers back at the lab. I never really thought to bring them.”

“What about him?” Everyone looked to the boy that was now jumping off of the Gyarados. He lifted a finger and pointed at the Professor that had his arms crossed and was tapping his foot impatiently.

“Me?” he asked.

“Yeah. You look like a Pokémon Professor. Don’t you have any Pokémon to give to starters with you?”

“Of course I do, but-” he began.

“Then hand ‘em over. We all are waiting to be trainers and neither of you are doing your job to make that happen.”

“ARE YOU READY YET?” Blair shouted from above. Her Swellow was impatiently flying in circles in the air.

No one said anything back, which made her throw a fit. Luckily, she was up far enough that all anyone heard were mumbled complaints and swear words.

“Look, buddy,” the skinny professor said angrily, “we’ve been stranded on this tiny piece of land for three days without anything except for a few chocolate bars that I found on the bottom of my backpack. Excuse us if we’d like to get back to the lab and go to the bathroom in a toilet rather than the lake before giving you a Pokémon!”

Dominik glared at him, swore, and walked back to the Gyarados he was riding and began to climb back onto its back. He hated when adults tried to be the boss of him. He hated it even more when he knew they were right.

“Okay, then…” Kira said, breaking the awkward silence.

“I’m sorry about him, Professors,” Maxie told them, “He’s a little impatient.”

“A LITTLE?” the skinny professor was still worked up after his mini-rant.

“Please forgive us by letting my Gyarados bring you back to land.” Maxie managed to use the same voice Kalmin did when he wanted someone to agree with him without making them angry.

Without any more complaining or arguing from anyone, Kira, Maxie, and the two professors boarded the Gyarados. Dominik refused to let the skinny professor ride on the same Gyarados as him – which the professor had already obliged to – so Professor Birch joined Maxie and Dominik.

As they headed back to Route 103, Kira made small talk.

“So what’s your name?” she asked the lean man sitting beside her. He had a beige knapsack on his lap, his arms clutched tightly around it.

“I’m Professor Elm,” he responded, rubbing the knapsack, “I’m the Professor from the Johto Region.”

“Oh….well why are you here then?”

“Kira!” Cole hissed.

“What?” Kira asked, befuddled. Cole looked at her like he was scolding her. “What did I say?”

“You don’t just ask people why they are where they are like that.”

Kira breathed out a laugh saying, “Okay, then.”

“Anyway,” Elm continued, “Professor Rowan from the Sinnoh Region sent me this egg-” he reached inside his bag and pulled out a large, pale green egg. A dark green stripe went around the center of the odd object in the professor’s hands. “-and I wanted to show Birch.”

“What’s so special about it? Aren’t all eggs the same?” Cole shrugged. Why was this egg different form the others that it had to be shown to a professor in a different region? “Unless…it’s a legendary Pokémon egg.”

“No, it’s nothing like that,” Elm told them. “This egg is like all other eggs-”

“Told you.”

“-BUT…” Elm paused for an unsuccessful dramatic effect. “this egg was found near one of the Pokémon that Rowan is studying.”

“Okay…” Cole and Kira had no idea where the man was going with his story.

“The thing is…he found the egg six months ago.” Elm sighed and wrapped his arms around the large egg.

“Whoa. Aren’t eggs supposed to hatch, like, a month after they’re…whatever it is that happens? Like…aren’t they laid by a Pokémon?” Kira cocked her head to the side.

“Well, it’s still unknown whether or not Pokémon actually lay eggs, but yes, they are supposed to hatch soon after they are found.” Elm sighed again, holding the egg tighter.

Kira’s hair suddenly whipped around wildly. Cole’s did the same, but his wasn’t as noticeable since Kira’s hair was much longer than his. The sky was now a cynical black, droplets of rain coming down, first slowly, then faster and faster until everyone was soaked in only a minute’s time. Everything seems to go dark in a matter of minutes. The waves also went violent. Both Gyarados struggled to make a smooth pathway through the vigorous waves.

Kira and Cole clutched a large fin that protruded from the Gyarados’s back while Elm held onto the egg as if his life depended on it.

“ELM, GIVE ME YOUR HAND!” Kira shouted. Her outstretched hand wobbled through the air as the waves rocked Gyarados more violently.

“I CAN’T! IF I LET GO OF THE EGG, I’LL DROP IT!”

But he was already struggling to keep a firm grip on it. The water made its surface slippery. As more waves bumped the Gyarados back and forth, Elm moved with it, tossing and turning with each forceful shove. The egg slid up and down and side to side, too.

Without realizing it, the two Gyarados and their passengers were only a few meters away from shore. Only a few more meters of grasping the Gyarados’s fin to avoid the depths of the waters below.

A few more meters….



…for something to go wrong.

*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/


“Everyone…”

A serene voice addressed the surrounding group of Aqua Grunts and Admins. They all wore the same clothing – a clad of gray and blue clothing, torn at various and random areas; most commonly at the edges of the sleeves of the shirts. Each Team Aqua shirt or navy bandana had the team emblem printed on it – it was a white ‘A’ with a very pointed top.

As the group heard their Commander’s voice opening to his speech, they all silenced. They quickly faced towards him and kneeled on the concrete floor. The room wasn’t very large, and only about twenty of Team Aqua’s members were kneeling on the cold stone beneath them.

“As you know,” the commander began, “there was a meteorite that crashed into Mt. Coronet fifteen years ago. This meteorite landed directly on the Spear Pillar, which is said to be the location of Dialga and Palkia’s portal between our world and theirs. Another meteorite that passes our planet each year is believed to be the sister meteorite or the one from the Spear Pillar. Each year it gets closer and closer. Last year, it only barely missed us. But with our satellite that orbits the planet, we have pinpointed the meteorite’s exact crash landing designation.”

“But sir-” one of the grunts had stood up and now looked his commander directly in the eye.

“What is it?” the head leader of Team Aqua spoke like he was not bothered at all by his grunt’s interruption. The grunt hesitated and looked at the Admins. They were ready to escort him out when their commander held up a hand to stop them.

“Why exactly do we need this meteorite and why is the one from the Spear Pillar so special?” he rubbed his black-gloved hands together. A few beads of sweat trickled down his face and down his neck. When the commander stayed silent for over a minute he got nervous, rubbing the back of his neck and scratching at his blazing orange hair.

But the commander was known to not take radical action in front of his Team and merely let out a sigh.

“The meteorite from the Spear Pillar was excavated by a group of professors from the Kanto region after it had crashed. We recently found their studies and experiments and the results are quite shocking. They added bit of the meteorite into a solute and injected it into one of the professor’s wives who happened to be pregnant and dying.”

“But why did they study the meteorite in the first place?”

The commander let out a more irritated sigh than before.

“The three lakes of Sinnoh – Lake Verity, Lake Valor, and Lake Acuity – form a large triangle if they were connected by imaginary lines. It has been proven that the lakes are home to the Legendary Pokémon Mesprit, Azelf, and Uxie. Directly in the center of the triangle is the Spear Pillar, the location of the portal between our world and Dialga and Palkia’s. Now, one can only think that it is not a coincidence that a meteorite would not have a special relation to these magnificent Pokémon. We believe that the Pokémon said to have created the land and seas of Hoenn live in either of the two volcanoes of this region. These two volcanoes are the largest in the Pokémon World, followed ironically by a volcano that is almost hidden in the center of Meteor Falls, home to the most meteor and meteorite crashes.”

The man stopped speaking and motioned to one of his admins. She stood up and walked with complete elegance towards him. Her blazing orange hair glistened in the dim light. It was very long, but only reached her mid-back. She had high heels on, which clicked against the concrete as she walked. Her outfit was much different from the other females of Team Aqua; navy blue pants and an extra small matching jacket that did a bad job at covering her black strapless bra underneath.

She leaned her face close to the commander’s. He placed his mouth a few inches away from the woman’s ear and whispered, “Take our ignorant grunt outside and dispose of him, Shelly.”

The woman named Shelly backed away, eyes as wide as a deer’s when it’s caught in the headlights of a car.

“Is there a problem?” the commander asked, face gentle.

“N-no, s-sir,” she stammered. Reluctantly, she headed towards the man, seized his arm, and led him outside.

When the iron door clanged shut, the man spoke again, this time to the whole group.

“Are there anymore questions?” he asked.

“No, Commander Kalmin,” they all responded in unison.

Kalmin grinned. How he loved being the Commander of Team Magma and Team Aqua without anyone ever finding out.


*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/.


And something bad did happen.

As the two Gyarados slowed to a stop, one final wave crashed into them, knocking everybody forward with tremendous force. As the two serpentine Pokémon and all six humans flew forward, the lime green egg slid right out from Professor Elm’s hands.

“THE EGG!” he shouted. He watched as it plunged into the water with a heart stopping “sploosh.”

Kira staggered to her feet once she quickly realized what had happened. Acting on a strong impulse, she ran straight off of the Gyarados and dived into the lake.

The wind whipped past her face as she fell towards the depths of the lake. While in mid-air, she did a front flip to allow herself to plunge deeper into the water. The last thing she heard was Cole shouting her name from above.

The icy cold water surrounded her. It felt even colder in the October air. She opened her eyes to look for any sight of the egg. She could only see a few feet from where she was for two reasons. One was that the storm blocked any sunlight from brightening under the water. Second, the lake water stung the surface of Kira’s eyes.

She put the pain aside and started swimming downwards. Tiny bubbles floated out from her nose, enabling her to sink faster. The lake was surprisingly shallow and before she knew it, her hands madly felt the ground furiously. Clouds of sand went everywhere, making her vision even cloudier. Her lungs hungered for air. She knew he couldn’t give up now and resurface – the egg would never be found then.

She continued to kick her feet and feel for the egg. Kira knew that she couldn’t last longer than another minute. The thought only panicked her. Her chest started to make coughing movement as her air supply depleted. Her hands grazed the ground until they moved over something hard. Kira felt its smooth surface and moved her hands around to feel the shape of this object she discovered. Oval.

She almost shrieked with joy. As she picked up the egg, Kira realized that the coughing movements had become more violent, thrusting her back up in an arch position. She quickly rotated and tried to push off of the ground, but she found that she had no strength left, let alone enough air to give her the energy.

Then, before she could attempt to kick off again, she felt something wrap around her waist. Actually, it was two somethings. And they were long and soft. She could feel them tighten against her stomach. Something else pressed against her back when the two somethings had tightened. The warmth from this thing around her was comforting. She gave up trying to move and nestled into whatever it was. As long as she made it to the surface, she didn’t care what brought her there.

Kira remained conscious and as soon as her head broke the surface of the lake, she gasped for air. Her legs kicked around underwater vigorously to keep her afloat.

“Ow,” something breathed from behind her. She heard it gasping for air as well, the hot breath brushing the back of her neck.

Kira craned her head backwards to see who it was:

Cole.

He had saved her life.

Now he was swimming over to the edge of the lake, one arm still around Kira’s waist, the other pushing backwards to move them forward a tiny bit faster. The waves weren’t fighting them anymore. The rain also seemed to have given up drenching them. That didn’t matter though – both teenager’s hair and clothing plastered themselves onto either teen’s skin.

When they reached the edge of the lake, Professor Birch rushed over to help Cole and Kira out of the water. Cole had his hands on Kira’s waist while Birch pulled on the hand Kira outstretched towards him. Cole hoisted himself out of the water and sat beside the gasping Kira. She still had her arms clutched around the pale green egg.

“You saved it!” Elm shrieked. He bent down and tried to pry the egg out of Kira’s arms.

She didn’t let go.

“Give me the egg!” Elm shouted trying to yank the egg away from Kira.

“Hey!” Cole yelled at him, “Give her a break. You’re more focused on your precious egg – which is probably dead by the way – than the girl who risked her life to save it.” Cole was fed up with Elm. What right did he have to force Kira to do something? She had saved it – he didn’t do a single thing to help. “You could at least sound decent and say thank you,” Cole muttered so that the young professor couldn’t hear.

Elm crossed his arms and glared at Cole, then at Kira. She wasn’t focused as much on the argument as she was on the egg. She didn’t want to get rid of it. When she was under water and her hand touched it, she felt….connected to it. The energy it seemed to exert was like nothing she’d felt before.

There was a quick flash of red light a few feet away. Kira looked around curiously. Blair stood next to Dominik, both of them soaked like everyone else, with her arms around his shoulders.

Blech, she thought.

Elm was impatiently tapping his foot. Kira tried to see his eyes that were hidden behind the speckles of water on his glasses.

“Thank you,” he said flatly.

“No problem,” she said in the same tone, “but you really should be thanking Cole-”

“Can I have my egg back?” Elm held out his arms.

She knew she couldn’t keep it; it wasn’t hers.

Kira got up and moved over to where Professor Elm stood. As she held out the egg, something no one expected happened.

For the first time in months, Professor Elm saw what he never thought would happen.

It came from the egg, the unborn organism in Kira’s hands.

Its entire surface shone with a dazzling flash, which only meant one thing:

The egg would hatch soon.


END OF CHAPTER TWO