Episode 6: Down by the River

[Harley Scarow]

Rick with his hair blowing in the gentle afternoon wind, and Harley with a sinister face as the soft air moved his hair over on the top of his face which made a sinister gothic look, were both already both on the center stage of the Maple Town Pokémon Contest, ready for the final round to decide who gets the ribbon. Rick looked at Harley with a look of disgust, as the events that Harley caused to his mother and father were still brewing inside of him and growing as he had a flashback of both his parents falling down in defeat of Harley's feet. Harley was laughing at Rick, as thinking he is pathetic and an opponent not worthy to battle, picturing when he beat both parents and laughed while in those horrifying flashbacks, increasing Rick's rage even more.

Harley began to chuckle as he talked to Rick. "You honestly think that you of all people are going to go away from this battle with the Maple Town ribbon? Well if that's what's on your mind, then I'm afraid that you better go somewhere because that ain't ever happening as long as I'm here, you loser!" he pointed over to Sap and Syrus, which were in the crowd with a struggling complexion to look at the talk that was going on stage, then giggled with his hand over his mouth, making strange arm movements as he did so. "You're going to end up like them right after this battle, so you better come up with something before it all goes down for you, red, not that there is anything that can save you at this point."

Rick easily looked through Harley's words, with his eyes closed showing that he didn't care about a word that he was saying to him, no matter how rude they could be. As the soft wind continued, he swepted his hair away before they could blow in his eyes and talked to Harley in a stern voice, yet one with confidence and passion. "Your empty threats don't scare me in every sense of the word, Harley. You may have been able to hurt them with your literally putrid tricks, but don't think that you're going to be able to do something like that with me. I watched all of the battles, regardless of my rude sense of lack of words, so a repetitive plan isn't going to work. You better go and try something else to get through this next battle."

Vivian ran on to the middle of the stage, with her arms shaking and close to her face in a look of excitement of what she was going to announce for this battle next, and said, "This is going to be the final match of the Maple Town Contest! We've seen some intense things happen so far, so all of us let's hope that the cute Rick against the devious Harley will finish the competition off with a bang!" she took out a Pokémon Contest Ribbon, which was colored brown with streaks the way that logs and sticks on the ground would have, with a blue edge and made out of gold on the center of the material. "This is the ribbon that one of these two competitors will get when they win this battle!" she raised both of her hands high. "Ready . . . "

The entire crowd continued for her. "Go!"

"Go Sharpoile!" yelled Rick, getting his PokéBall from his pocket and throwing it with his hair waving back more than usual than it was before. Upon landing, Rick made a thingyy grin as the laser released his Dragon and Sharp sinister Shapoile, now with a gaze more damaging than before as it snarled with its fangs bursting out as if it was ready to bite someone's neck, its double metal-dagger tail swinging back and forth like a spinning slicer, and eyes in a position that seemed as if they were glowing, even though they weren't. Rick looked at his Pokémon and smiled, with gentle of encouragement as he did so. "I know that you can get through this battle for me. Let's make our mom and dad proud by taking down this clown!"

Harley smirked, saying words of countering those that Rick said about him being a clown. "Ooh . . . I'm so sad that you called me a clown! I can't believe after all of those exciting and happy experiences that I had with your parents you would say something like that to me." he took out a PokéBall as well and threw it, releasing his Grass, Poison, and Dark parasite Rafflsite with large purple petals that waved in a creepy matter that would give you goosebumps if you looked at it as they also had red spots on them that seemed to be active themselves, and had the usual emotionless face on the center as no thought of the final battle of this contest. "You've seen what happened to your nice, yet weak family. Now you'll experience it!"

Without any thought of what Harley just said, he immediately ordered his Pokémon to attack the motionless opponent. "I don't care what you mean by "weak family", but I'm here to take you down, and I have just the plan to do it! Sharpoile, teach that lazy Pokémon a lesson by using your Double-Dagger tail and end this battle this instant!"

Sharpoile listened and its tails glowed silver, glittering in the afternoon sunlight as it quickly advanced into a quick vault and was above the motionless Pokémon, spinning a handful of times and slashing down with a windy screech as it did so and sliced the Pokémon, without it being fazed or flinching in any way and costing Harley 40% of his points for no reaction.

"The first strike goes to Rick, and an easy one!" announced Vivian.

Harley laughed as he saw his Rafflsite jolt back from the attack that forced it to, with some small purple petals escaping the damaged Pokémon as it did so. "You think that something like that is going to take down my beautiful Pokémon? Well you better get a dose of my newest attack, Life Drain!" he pointed over to his Rafflsite, and ordered. "Use that one and make your small and pathetic opponent even more of that than it already is; cut it down to size!"

Raffisite looked as if it wasn't going to attack, but then the constant closing eyes suddenly opened as if a fountain of life suddenly added movement and soul to it, as its eyes jolted wide open in a speed more quick than any other being, and was pinkish with red veins traveling through the dark and poisonous pupil, appearing to poke out as it did so. It suddenly grew numerous amounts of two different colors and types: dark green vines from below it, and abnormal dark purple razor-sharp leaves from above it and floated around the field like they had minds of their own, and waved back and forth, also putting a creeped look on the audience and the other Pokémon as it did so. They quickly shot out at the surprised Sharpoile, with the opponent having its teeth clattering in fear and the eyes in a way of deep and startled red emptiness as the vines grew spikes on top of them and tangled the poor sinister Pokémon with painful constriction. Struggling to escape, Rafflsite's dazzling but frightening eyes rocked back and forth, and as it did so the vines made patterns that danced the poor Sharpoile in the air and caused Rick to slowly lose his Contest Points while the small Pokémon was being lifted into the air with immense force that the vines were tightening and the dark leaves attacked the trapped one in increasing speed and sharpness. After a little while passed, the attack began glowing green and bubbles appeared from Sharpoile and went into Rafflsite's body, leaving Rick with only 10% of his points left already.

Rick had a look of shock on his face when the Rafflsite let go of his Sharpoile, with the damaged Pokémon rocking back and forth as it tried to move away from the raging parasite, with its eyes closed and its body glowed a green that faded away into what looked like forest colored sparks attacking away at it, making it not able to move as much as it was allowed to before. Rick had concern on his face and said words of encouragement to the drained Pokémon, "I know that you're hurt, but do you think that you have the strength to go on this battle? I know that you would be able to do it if you really tried." Rick thought to himself with his teeth shaking in worry. I don't know how much longer can my Sharpoile keep this one up. I have to hope that it can do so, after all, we both made it this far. Rick pointed at Harley and yelled out to him, "What was that attack and what did it do to my Sharpoile? I've never seen a draining attack that was able to rid one of so much energy in any battle before!"

Vivian looked at the Sharpoile and began stating her opinion. "Looks like Rick and Sharpoile have got their power drained by a lot. Could they manage to get back in this battle after losing so much energy? Let's wait and see what the evil Rafflisite is going to do next in this draining battle, and hopefully, we'll see even more action in this final match!"

Harley chuckled after hearing Rick's words, with half of his face in the shadow of the Cacturne hat that he always wears with his body looking down and his teeth grinning, and eventually rose up showing his face in a demented matter and his shoulders shaking with laughter as he did so more than before, and managed to put a look of fear on some of the members of the audience as he did so, answering Rick, "I never thought that such a great trainer like you would ask me a question like that! Normally in a battle like this I shouldn't tell you anything that would give you the idea of some of my plans but in this case I will so that I could be fair to you!" he looked down for a little while before rising up again to explain the effect of Life Drain. "Well my Rafflsite's Life Drain is the strongest draining move known so far to scientists. It doesn't have a Base Power of its own, but rather takes all of the target's Hit Points until they only have one left, and stealing most of your Contest Points to boot. Do you think that you can beat my Pokémon with only one point left?"

Drew was alerted with those words that Harley spoke and thought to himself. Able to take that many points? That's like a more dangerous version of False Swipe. Even my Roselia couldn't learn something like that, and I thought that the strongest draining move was Giga Drain and Leech Seed! Rafflsite sure has to be that much of an amazing Pokémon to do that . . . I have to somehow get at least Roselia to learn a strong draining move so that I can get ready for the next contest.

May was looking at Drew as he thought to himself, seeing him blink quickly twice in a row before focusing on the battle again. She took her arm and stretched it over Drew, yawning and moving in an annoying way as she did so, also affecting the disgusted look that Drew was giving back at her while he slowly moved May's hand away from him. "Oops! Sorry Drew. I forgot that you were there. I had to stretch a little so that I can breathe after hearing and watching all of this action."

Drew blinked in a confused way. "Sure . . . "

Rick was in a state of frightened amazement. I don't know what I can do to get out of this, but I better at least try to do so. There's no way I'm going to even think about giving up this battle, so I might as well keep going on and try my best while I'm at it. As Rick said the next words, a swift wind blew by that gently lifted Rick's hair up, then quickly flew back down and seemed to put a determined look on his face to win. "You and your cronies may be ones to quit a battle whenever things are looking tough, but you better not forget that you're facing one of the well-known people of this country, and as long as this battle's on, it's on!" he pointed over to his Sharpoile in a gentle way and ordered, "Sharpoile, time to multiply and give that parasite something to remember! I know that you can do this, and you're not going to let an oversized plant beat you or anything, now will you? Go and make us proud!"

Sharpoile hissed a little, struggling to move, but then rose up as if those words of encouragement revived the energy that was drained earlier from it, and snarled as it did so. It's double-metal tails glowed with blinding silver, then the sun casted down on it, which made a scared look on Harley's face due to the fact that he saw this happen for two rounds before already. The two tails fell down to the wooden field, and made metallic impact sounds as it did so, like a badge or glass falling out of carelessness, except this time it was on purpose. The glow began to radiate white streaks that made a show on stage, and was more powerful than the way that they were on the last rounds. Growing as if those two daggers had the power to give life, they became Sharpoile that had a more stale color than the original, like a devamped Pokémon, but the impression on their faces was as ferocious and sinister as the original as they hissed at the same time.

Harley's mouth was wiggling up and down in a comical way that showed he was scared. "Oh no . . . my Pokémon's going to die after this attack hits . . . " he thought to himself. That Rick thinks dats an attack like dats gonna make me scared? Well if dats his idea, then I have to say that he's wrong as hell. "Now, use your PokéBody, Wood Aura!"

Sap, Syrus, and Rick had a confused look. "Wood Aura?!" they all said in unison.

The three Sharpoile were charging in the air, and when they were one centimeter away from slashing Rafflsite, a green aura appeared that surrounded it, and the silver tails hit the aura, making what looked like green electricity crackle from it. The attack was repeled and Sharpoile was knocked back, making Rick lose 10% of his points, even though his Sharpoile didn't suffer any damage from the impact. On Rafflsite, the green aura was still active with the contents inside having the usual emotionless look on its face, not noticing what has just happened as Sharpoile landed on its feet and attempted to try again but to no avail. The parasite was yawning after that second hit and shook off the attack which made the aura even bigger.

Harley laughed, with his body kneeling down a little and his hand next to his mouth in a way that looked as if he was trying to hold back his laughter before he did so, "Ha! You think that something like that has the power to break the defensive capabilities of Wood Aura? Luckily for you it's defense and not offense or else your Pokémon would have hit the dust! To be fair I'll tell you what it does: It's the Grass type and anything that has a Base Power of 120 or less can't damage it. However, in order to use it, I need to have my Rafflsite's Hit Points fully healed, so what do you think about that? I doubt that little Sharpoile of yours has any attack dat can bypass something like Wood Aura, after all, it's an unevolved Pokémon for goodness sake!"

Syrus frowned at those words in the crowd. "Harley knows nothing about battling. He doesn't even know that you don't need an evolved Pokémon to win."

Sap smiled. "You don't have to worry."

Rick was chuckling at Harley's words. "My Pokémon isn't as weak as you think that it is!" he thought to himself, with encouraging eyes that glistered at the words he said before. There is one attack that Sharpoile knows that could blow it apart. I might as well review the facts: Wood Aura is a Grass type, and has defensive powers being able to repel 120 Base Damage . . . wait! Grass type? I think that's the way to take down the oversized plant. Now I need a Fire, Flying, or Poison to take it down. Why not all three? "Now Sharpoile, the weakness of that Wood Aura is any type that could take down a Grass Pokémon! Now Aerial Ace into Flamethrower, then use Poison Bite to give that thing a taste to remember!"

May and Drew had a worried look on their face and both said in unison, "What's he thinking?"

Sharpoile, still with the black marks on it to show that it was still badly damaged from the previous attacks, charged up like a rocket getting ready to take off and suddenly vanished in the air as if it had used Teleport or Quick Attack, reappearing in midair and still moving at a rather rapid speed. It then proceeded to shoot out a burst of fire inn front of it, with a blazing curved end that continued to become sharper and sharper when it charged right into the inferno, encasting itself in a flurry of flames and turning into a living fire jet that was ready to attack the defending Rafflsite, which looked unaware of the incoming attack that would hit it. After charging back onto the ground with flames decorating the sky falling down on the field, it's sinister teeth grew out like a vampire getting ready to strike his opponent and put a look of fear on some of the people in the crowd, as it began to glow purple and green at the same time with increasing poison, showing toxic marks dripping out of it as if it was going to try to kill the defending Pokémon. The members of the crowd looked at the battle with antifcipation of the outcome of this attack, and Sharpoile was mere meters from Rafflsite.

Harley stared at the rapidly approaching Pokémon with a look of confidence that he was going to win. "This should be a good one, but you better prepare to die. Just tap it, Rafflsite, and then we can end this battle since it only has one HP left."

Sharpoile, with rapid force from Aerial Ace and blazing power from Flamethrower, used the deadly poison from Poison Bite and smashed Rafflsite with a power that was going to drop Harley's points down to zero while the Rafflsite had wind streaks and burn marks soaring through its body as moments passed. The points began dropping right after the combination attack from Sharpoile made contact, and fell in a rather rapid way. Rafflsite actually showed some signs of pain in this move as it groaned like a tree being cut by a woodchopper, but then stuck out one of its vines and gently touched Sharpoile like a pat on the back that a friend would give you when you meet each other from a long time ago. Sharpoile immediately dropped and the judges put Xs on their score counters with the buzzing sound as Sharpoile showed signs of fainting on its face, and Rafflsite along with Harley's points dropped rapidly during that scene until there was only ten percent left in a lucky outcome. Rafflsite, even though it was damaged more than usual before, and has actually showed some signs of emotion in this battle, went back to the empty state that it has always been before and after the previous battles, and the flames of the battle scared some of its huge petal and purple body. The outcome has put a look of wonder and confusion on the faces of some of the people in the crowd, and also looks of proud parents on Sap and Syrus' face as they cheered for their defeated son for the good battle that he put up, even to losing to Harley.

Vivian ran onto the Contest center arena, with the microphone next to her mouth ready to announce the usual news and outcome of the battle to the watching members of the crowd, "This has been one of the closest Pokémon Contests in the history recordbooks!" she pointed over to the overhead projector, explaining the contents that were showing. "Rick and Harley with only 10% of their points left but the cute one having lost due to the battle out tactic." the board above had Harley's mugshot moved and it took over the entire screen, showing the rather gay mugshot of him in his demented way, and his large, purple-petal, emotionless, Grass-Poison-Dark Rafflsite right next to it in the usual way. "Harley is the winner of the Maple Town Contest, and this so happens to be the first one thrown this year with many more exciting ones to come! Now will Harley and his Rafflsite please come over to the center stage so that you can claim your ribbon from this one?"

Harley ran over to the stage in a quick motion as Vivian said those words, as if he was expecting this outcome to happen in an unconceited way that he would win this battle from the start and claim his prize from the judges. Gala, Sukizo, and Sharmin were there to greet him when he arrived, with Sukizo holding the brown logged with blue rimmed ribbon in his hand and presenting it to Harley, who in return took it in a gentle way and began blowing kisses to the audience. The audience cheered for the winner of this contest as he said the next words, with his lips still moving even though he was still blowing the beloved kisses out to some of his fans, "Thank you, thank you all! Thanks to this contest, the first part of my --" he stopped abruptly. What are you thinking, Harley? Do you really want to . . . "Thanks for watching my performance and we'll see you next time!"

Vivian replied to his words, "Hey, that's my line!"

Rick left the stage, with a smiling look on his face as if he enjoyed the battle he just participated in, even though he lost it to the last person that he would want to, considering the words that he said to Harley at the beginning of the battle, thinking to himself about those images. I can't believe I lost to the person that beat my mom and dad . . . he looked up in a happy way. Oh well, what am I thinking? There will be other Contests for me to participate in, so I shouldn't worry about this one being the end of the world. I think that I should use the experience from this battle to learn more about myself and my Pokémon so that I can better myself. There's always something to learn and I think that this is one of them, after all.

[Harley Scarow]

Later that day after the Maple Town Contest, May, Drew and Rick were at Sap and Syrus' house again, as they were yesterday and the day before. It was a cool night outside as the moon gently shined its rays through the window, even though there were lights on at the moment. The three of them were sitting on the brown and short stools in front of the dining table, with plates in front of them waiting to be filled with food. They had an eager look on their face as to wait for the food that Sap and Syrus were making at the present moment in the kitchen, and held their forks and sthingys in their hands tightly so that when the food would get there, they would be able to devour it in an instant. Sounds of cooking food were heard in the kitchen at the moment.

May smiled in hope, and shivered her head in an excited way more than the other two did with the silverware in her hands shaking more rapidly as she got more and more excited, until she got to the moment she pushed her chair back with powerful force and rose up from her seat. "I can't wait until I get what I want to eat, which by now and yesterday you guys should know what that one thing is! I hope that this one is gonna be even better than the last time that I ate here, even though it was already good the first time, I say there's always more to experience! It was so long since the last time I ate something . . . I think that if I keep eating, I can become even more prettier and talented and conceited than I already am! "

Drew chuckled at the words May said, and informed May, "The last time that you got to eat something was yesterday and the day before, May. And on those you were the greedy little spoiled brat that thought Syrus and Sap were your parents and would let you get as much food as you want, remember? I was so embarassed to see you do something like that and even thought for a moment that they would stereotype me to being someone as rude and gross as you were," as he said that May got angry and Drew chuckled again after that. "But I can see now that you changed a lot and got some manners, but that makes you seem like a freak! I can't believe that something like that could happen in such a short time!"

Rick was sitting on the head of the table, with May and Drew on the seats on the other two corners. He reached his hand out at May and said, "I can see that you're quite a trainer to be able to manage past me in that battle we had today, May. I'm not trying to be conceited or anything, but it's pretty hard to be able to accomplish getting that far." he looked at Drew for a second and nodded his head, then looked back at May. "Drew's right, you are a freak to be changing this much! But I have to say that it's something completely new when it comes to someone as careless and absentminded as you, and even though you have those traits, I can still say that you're a beautiful coordinator and one worthy of . . . you get what I mean."

Syrus walked over gently with two plates of cheeseburgers, one plate in each of his hands, and placed it on the table that May, Drew, and Rick were sitting on, exciting May mostly as the usual way that she was whenever she saw them in front of her. He swept his head from the sweat that was on him when he made the cheeseburgers, as there were ten cheeseburgers on each plate, stacked on top of each other the way that the chain fast food place White Castles would do it, making it look as if the tower of food was going to tip over any moment now. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, then spoke, "You guys should enjoy this food before May devours it all! I made some especially for you, May, because I know that you and Drew are going to head out to the next town by the start of tomorrow, and you're going to be needing a good meal in order to do that, right? Hope that you don't forget my cooking, though, okay?"

May smiled at those words and sweatdropped. "You don't have to worry about me eating like a Grumpig! You know me, I always control the way that I do things!" with those ironic words, May gobbled down an entire plate of cheeseburgers quickly, which put a look of embarassed astonishment on Drew and Rick's face, even though it wasn't one they were ashamed of since they expected that to happen anyways. When she was getting ready to grab the second plate of cheeseburgers, which were on Drew and Rick's side, the other two rushed and snagged it before she could do so, and put a look of disappointment on her face as she sat back down onto her seat with a contented look on her face. "Guess I can't eat them all, can't I?"

Drew put the cheeseburgers that both him and Rick grabbed at the same time and gently put it back on the table, on the closest part of the table in front of him so that May wouldn't be able to steal it and eat it greedily. He closed his eyes and grabbed a cheeseburger, beginning to eat at a turtle's speed compared to the way that May ate the others, which was actually average speed of eating something considering the other way. Drew then directed his face at Syrus. He asked a question to him, "So what is the next town that we're going to go to, anyways? We don't actually have a map of the Zuki land so I'm afraid that we might get lost if we go without having a trace of direction. Can you give me an idea of where it is?"

Sap came over, also with a plate of food in her left hand, carrying the same cheeseburgers that Syrus gave to May, Drew, and Rick as before but with little quantity, possibly for herself instead of giving it to the other members of the group. She took a seat on the opposite side where Rick was sitting, taking one burger from the plate, and began eating. Upon stopping, she answered the question that Drew asked. "I guess that was a good question. The next place that you should head to is BlueBrook Town. Technically, the closest place from here on the map is Cresent Town, but you have to cross a long bridge in order to get there. If you want to head there from here, then you'll have to swim, and this isn't the kind of place that you want to swim in, unlike a pool or the beach. But if you want to go and see some swimming sites with civilization, then it's another reason why you should head over to that BlueBrook Town."

May finished eating another burger, with Rick and Drew both on their third one, which was nothing compared to the dozen that May just devoured. "Well I want to go swimming! Let's head over there first thing in the morning, okay? I'm sick and tired of going to beaches with no people to meet, and pools that are contaminated with people pee-pee." she ate another cheeseburger, then yawned with her eyes closed and her mouth wiggling as she did so. "But I think that the best idea that we should do right now is get to sleep." she put her hand down back on her lap. "I think that I may have ate as much as a Munchlax, or a Snorlax today. Might as well sleep like a Slaking and get refreshed for tomorrow . . . "

So May, Drew, Rick and his parents went to sleep for the night, May with a delighted look of the next town that they were going to head to, Drew with a smiling look of the contest he entered today, and Rick with a look of seriousness, as usual. Syrus and Sap, being husband and wife, slept on the same bed and were hugging each other as they did so. The night's moon shimmered over them with moonlight as they did so through the house, with the night as calm as ever.

* * *

Harley was approaching emerald-colored steps in his usual strange way of walking, his face in the shadows and his feet making mineral sounding noise as he walked on the surface of wherever he was. The emerald ground seemed to be transparent, and the moon shimmered over it, showing the clouds that were underneath it, and the level of wind from them seemed to be able to blow Harley off the place at any second since there were no rails or handles to prevent him from doing so. As he continued walking with his eyes closed, it seemed as if they were open as he approached a huge door that resembled that of a castle, getting to the top of the steps. It then showed a huge gap in the middle, revealing the clouds that were moving underneath the emerald land, and even though it looked as if Harley was going to fall off from the lack of surface since his eyes were closed, he somehow didn't. "Home sweet home."

He took out a red-colored remote control from his left pocket that blended in with the rest of his clothes and clicked on a pink button on it, making it turn green and make a beeping sound of approval. A bridge suddenly materialized like data downloaded onto the empty space in front of Harley, but not like the old-fashioned way when crossbridges would go from the other side for warriors wishing to pass, instead it was controlled by technology. It glowed bright green when it fully appeared, and had tiny gaps on it like the way that wooden bridges had, making it look like floating blocks of glowing green wood appear above on the air. The surface was still transparent, and Harley began walking over it, with the ground's respective panels bumping down a little and up again each time he reached a new step.

He entered the large door on the other side of the bridge, with it being the shape of a giant's door, and it opened upon his arrival as if he was using magic. When he arrived inside, there were two statues of Cacturne, looking as if they were real ones turned into rock black stone, greeting him when he entered the room. There were also stairs on the wall of the opposite side that he was at, and you can see the second and third floor on the walls of this one room, the way that it would seem when you're at a mall going down or at a big library. The walls were green with darker shades of it popping out literally, resembling the spikes that a Cacturne has scattered all over its body. The floor was red, contridicting the wall's overrall color. "It was a long time since I got here . . . to be exact. It was last week!"

When Harley walked in and took a seat at a emerald colored shrine that was a brighter green than the rest of the room, there was a large opening on the left and right side of the room, with a tall woman walking out from the left one. She had bright red hair that if you looked at it from far away, it would appear purple, with sharp black streaks on it as well as the light of the room reflecting on the edges of it as if she had just taken a bath. The woman wore purple lipstick that glossed in the light when she walked out, with her face slowly revealing from the dark hall that she emerged, showing her light blue eyes glistering, and also wearing a butterfly-shaped pair of glasses over them, but not the kind that you would wear if you had vision problems, but rather the supermodel kind or if you were conceited or bossy, colored yellow with purple rims on them. She had a rather rich dress on, pink and red with her legs revealing high heel slippers that only a millionaire would have, and the dress also showing most of her breasts. Walking out in a classy matter, she looked at Harley and spoke in a stern but gentle voice, her hair swinging like a whip as she did so. "So you finally made it back here, Harley. Let me guess . . . you lost the contest against that annoying brat May, right? I should have known that you of all people wouldn't be able to take down a twerp like that. You should have asked me for help then." she closed her eyes in an expecting way that contridicted to her words. "Well, did you win the contest or not?"

Harley chuckled the moment that the tall lady said those words. "Please, this is me that we're talking about. Of course I won the contest, Jessie! That was an obvious question. The thing that is different about what you said is that I didn't beat that little May twerp to get it, unfortunately. But instead, I managed to beat this other new twerp, and his cute little name and face is what they call Rick. From what I heard from his kiss-ups, he's one of the better Coordinators of the Zuki land, so he's going to become someone that we better take care of if we want our awesome plan to succeed." he reached into a pocket and took out a ribbon case, opening it with a "clank!" sound when it revealed the Maple Town ribbon there, in the top-left corner as the only one he got so far in the Zuki Region. "See? Bet you wish that you got that."

Jessie giggled a little after Harley said his part. "Well I guess I have to give you some credit for being able to do something like that, after all, you're the owner of this castle from the money that you got from winning contests in Hoenn and Sugo, right? It would have been nice to take down that little red Slugma twerp, though." she spaced out for a little, with her left hand poking her chin for that moment, then putting it back down again and began talking. "Did you finish her off or anything? I know that you managed to get the ribbon and even though you didn't get to face her in any of the pairing matchups, but you could have terrorized the little girl anyways. That's what I would have done, and she would have went packing back to Hoenn."

Harley put on a look of slight anger on his face, even though those words weren't something harsh, he was known for wanting to kill someone for life because of tiny problems. "Well if you're so good, then why don't you go down there tommorrow and teach that little girl a lesson? But from what I recall, you and your friends James and Meowth were always blown across the horizon each time you tried to do so, am I right or am I right? I've seen scenes of that happen whenever you were stalking them in Hoenn and Kanto, and to a sad extent that I would consider you to be a lowlife." he swung his long, purple hair back before continuing his words. "Well it's a good thing that you have my minions to help you out there if you need it, right?"

Jessie sweatdropped at the last part of those words, and swung her hair at Harley, whipping him onto the ground with rage as if ir was made out of steal, with her face out of raging order. The sweatdrop disappeared and she had the anime frustruration mark on the left side of her face, and began ranting, "That was a long time ago! You know that as much as I do that I've become WAY stronger than the last time she was traveling around with her dumb friends." she settled down a little before continuing. "I don't need any of your minions to do any crap for me, because I want to take her down myself . . . nah. Fighting dirty is the way that I want to do it, so bring them here for me tommorrow and I'll teach that pesky girl a lesson for not learning her . . . lesson!"

* * *

Morning has arrived in the gentle and fall location of Maple Town, in which some of the Flying Pokémon are already singing a tune in the maple trees, trainers already sending out their Pokémon to practice in Syrup Park, and others just hanging out in the gentle shade of the trees that seem to be blanketing some of them with rainbow leaves. And to this as well as May getting up from her bed wobbling her mouth, yawning as she did so while she got to the bathroom to brush her teeth; Drew waking up with his beautiful green eyes glistering in the gentle sun that glowed through the window of his guest room, going to the same bathroom that May was in, brushing his teeth side by side her with them smiling at the new day to come; Rick was nowhere in sight as no sound of another child; Sap and Syrus downstairs in the kitchen as usual doing their usual thing- making delicious food and cleaning the dishes.

When May and Drew were done with their bathroom routines, Drew looked at himself in the mirror, with his eyes sparkling in the reflection before they both headed downstairs. May was in the hallway and noticed a mirror as well, looking into it with a conceited look of the words that she would say, but managed to keep it inside.

Sap saw May and Drew head downstairs, side by side with some thumping sounds as they walked on the rug, not able to control some of it, when she came up to them and smiled of thoughts. Looks like they're going to be heading out of here today. It was fun while they were here, though, but that's the way that life works in the tougher end! "May, Drew. I figured that the both of you are going to be heading out today so that you can make your way to BlueBrook Town for the swimming time and the Pokémon Contest there, right?" while May and Drew nodded, she looked inside her pocket and was taking something out. "Well I figured that you both should take something with you along the way, for the sake of it and the safety that you both are going to be meeting some very strange Pokémon while you're here in the Zuki's beautiful land." she handed both of them a PokéDex. "It's the latest model, designed after the PSP that many of you people love to play and watch movies on all day long."

May took it willingly and closed her eyes in happiness of what she just received, then opened it again and said words of appreciation, "Thanks for giving this to me, Sap! I always wanted it when I saw you use it back on that deserted island a few days ago, and was trying not to ask you because that would be rude. I accidentily left my old one back in Hoenn, and I don't think that my mom knows where it is so that she can transport it here using the materializer teleporter, so thanks again!"

Drew took it willingly and gently as well, not saying any words while he did so until the small machine was in his hand, then put into his pocket. "I guess I should thank you for giving me this too. I always wanted to get one, but never did because I never started my journey off meeting a professor. Guess this is going to be a new experience for me, and hopefully a good one." Drew looked around for a moment, with his hair gently lifting as he did so and his eyes curious. "Do any of you know where that Rick guy is right now? I was hoping to say a few words to him before he left for the sake of telling him those words. If he left already, it doesn't matter, but I just wanted to say thank you for a good battle to him so that he could know."

Syrus walked over, wearing a gray sweater in his rather tall and large body. "Well sorry to tell you this, but he left for his journey through the region already. He's just like you two, traveling around places so that you can meet new Pokémon, people, and face new challenges. Unfortunately he's the kind of guy that leaves without telling anybody anything so you get the idea why people consider him so cute, yet so stoic. To tell you the truth, he left at 6:00 AM when we were just waking up, even though I told him to say bye to you two, he's what you can consider to be one of those stubborn kids. But since he left so early, you might as well leave the place now so that you can catch up to him before he gets too ahead of you guys, okay?"

"See ya!" May said.

"Thanks for the stuff!" Drew smiled.

"Anytime!" Sap and Syrus both said at the same time, waving as May and Drew left for the door and was out of sight.

* * *

Both May and Drew left the house belonging to the two generous owners Sap and Syrus, with their PSP PokéDexes generously given to them tucked in their pockets, both having shining faces of the journey ahead. They both headed for the soft hills ahead of them, and there was a sign next to the first lump that read "Leaving Maple Town and entering Grace River". They both headed over that way, stopping and looking at the town one last time, with the gentle breeze lifting in the air as they gazed at the contest hall they competed in yesterday; Sap and Syrus's house whom they generously lived in for the past few days, and the Syrus Park with some of the civilians lying down on the lush grass or the children playing on the playground equipment. With a smile on their face of the good times they had so far, and this was only the first one they went to in this new land, they turned around and continued walking side by side, with hopes of even more exciting things to come as they continue.

After a few hours of walking a silent yet beautiful road the sprinkled with soft puddles that looked as if it rained on that area a little while ago, but only a little to decorate with drops that May and Drew came by and stepped on once in a while, shaking their shining reflection on them. It was a scene with a handful of trees on the left and right side, with some of the leaves raining down water gently, and the clouds above shined on the trees, making the droplets seem like orbs of crystal that fell commonly. Some wild Pokémon were also waking up and began flying in the air, like Taillow. Occasionally, May and Drew stepped on a big puddle that slightly spattered over their clothes, even though the water was much more clean than the kind in the city.

Ahead were six sets of benches with some people occupying the first few, the kind that you would find if you were walking on the sidewalk of a park that was next to a highway, but bursted with beautiful trees behind it. May was the one ahead of Drew by a few feet and approached the bench, quickly looking at the old couple on the first bench, a young one on the second, and the toys of some kids playing over at the blue puddles on the third, sitting on the fourth one with her hands on her laps showing that she was already tired from the short walk that they had so far from the last town that they were in, Maple Town. She took in a deep breath and released it, opening her eyes again and looking at the sky, then to the approaching Drew that sat on the fifth bench on the left side of her. "So this looks like a nice place to relax. Why don't you go and have a little seat next to me, Drew? There's plenty of space over here."

Drew was putting both of his arms behind his head, and closed his eyes in a chuckling matter as he spoke his words, his hair and eyes glistering in the sun when he began talking, "Well since there are quite a handful of empty seats in this place. Why should I bother sitting next to another person? I want to get some rest here by myself, so if you don't mind, I'll be sitting by myself and taking a little snooze to clean the mind. You should do something though, like get us some food."

May grunted after Drew said those words, and replyed in a tough way that showed she was offended by that, "What? Sitting next to me isn't good enough for you so you have to go that far away? Fine then, if that's the way that you want to take it. I appreciate you taking your space but you should know I find those words to be kind of rude." she calmed down for a little moment, then started up again. "What do you mean that I should go and do something, Drew? You should go with me and help me find some food or whatever like that, for goodness sake. If I find some food from a vendor or something, you can bet your bottom dollar that I'm going to be eating the entire plate, so I think that you should come with me. A girl needs to be protected!"

Drew got up and swifted his hair nicely with his left hand. "Sure, I'll come with you, but only for the sake of coming with you. I'm afraid that if I let you go out on your own, you'll probably get lost or something and I'll have to scour the entire place trying to find you, then we'll lose even more time, or you'll probably run into a Beedrill and freak out or something like that. So where are we going to find someone that sells food and how are we going to afford the stuff in the first place?"

[Harley Scarow]

The girl that May bumped into was about the same size that she was, and was brushing her legs off from where May recklessly hit her. She had black hair that looked a little brown when the sunshine glossed onto it, with two black scrunchies separating her hair into ponytails, and had goggles worn over her forehead that were blue colored with pink rims that made a flower pattern, pushing her hair back. Her face consisted of brown eyes reflecting from the light that looked like she was almost Asian, but not completely into it, mostly she looked like she was from South America or more specifically Chile, and a mouth with red lipstick on that looked brand new. She wore a bathing suit that was blue colored with pictures of flowers and some cats on it, but also the number eight that you would wear on a jersey, the type was a kind that you would use for a pool, but not a beach. She had two bracelets on, one on each side that were pink colored and resembled the "Helly Kitty" brand with the trademark and some yellow rims on them. "My name's Jody, and I'm from BlueBrook Town. Nice to meet the both of you!" she looked down at the May that fell onto the ground from that embarassing accident. "Are you alright, whoever you are, strange running girl? Let me help you up before you get a bruise or something." she took May's right arm and pulled her up. Jody had the voice that a valley girl would have, except she didn't use any of the phrases that they would annoyingly use. "My bad for running into you. I hope that you're okay or something."

May got up after Jody said what she did, and brushed off some parts of her legs, then scratched the back of her head of her head out of sheer embarassment, even though it was already quickly decreasing. Her head was looking down for the moment, only being able to see the legs of the person next to her, but soon got up and apologized for her rushing rudeness, "Sorry for bashing into you like that. I was really hungry so I was going to run over to the nearest vendor that I could find, so you can get why I was in a hurry. I can't believe that something like this could happen though." she closed her eyes and scratched the back of her head again, spacing out, but then looked back up again. "By the way, my name's May! Nice to meet you too. Never been here before so I guess that it's normal for me to do something like that, right?" she was waving her hand frantically like a mime when she said that. "Well I guess that I should go and continue what I started: get some food into my stomach."

Drew was running before May, since he wasn't exactly there when she fell into Jody and got back up, with his right hand over his face in a look of embarrassment, like he was May's dad. He got to where May was, tisking when he did so, and scolding May, "May, you don't have to run that quick! Besides, I'm the one that has the money with me in the first place, and now you've gone all crazy and ran into an innocent girl. Next time you better watch where you go before someone really hurts you for doing so someday." he stopped yelling at May and looked at the surprised Jody, and smiled at her before saying his next words. "Well you certainly look okay. I see that you met my sidekick May. What's your name?"

May felt insulted. Sidekick? "Who are you calling a sidekick, Drew? You better take that back before I make you! You're the one that followed me to Zuki anyways!"

Jody giggled at Drew's words, and answered, "Well my name's Jody, and your friend May here certainly looks like she just wants to have fun while she's here. I guess that I can give you a tour about where the things are here in this park, Grace River. I always come here everyday so that I can train for some contests over at my town, and also so that I can just have fun looking at Grace Lake, rather than step on some brooks of water over at my town. I guess that's why they call it BlueBrook Town, right?" she stopped talking, then looked directly at Drew, with her eyes glowing with happiness as if she just found something that was of value to her, and began talking, but not in a flamboyant way. "You're Drew, right? I'm one of your fans. Maybe when you get to BlueBrook Town, we can settle for some coffee? You know what I mean, but nothing that would get us in trouble or something like that, okay?"

Drew looked away at those words, knowing that he heard them from many fangirls times before, and replied, "If I got a dollar for every time that I've heard that, I'll be rich." But then again, that is how I managed to afford a mansion back in Slateport City . . . "At least you're not one of the girls that really exaggerate your love for me, since I have so many other things to be occupied about. But what I'm curious about is the way that you compete in a Pokémon Contest."

May had a chibi angry face at some of the words that Jody were saying, and yelled at her with legs moving in a blur that made it appear to be three or four, and her mouth running off, "You better not go and do some bad things to Drew, because if you want to get to him, you better get past me! There's no way that you're going to lay a hand on someone like that, even if he may be extremely insensitive in every sense of the word!" May stopped and regained her normal form, with her gloved hands on her knees breathing hard as if she had a hard workout, and had her head looking straight with her left eye open and right one closed in a way that didn't resemble charm. She rose back up and wiped her forehead with her right hand. "That was nice."

Jody laughed at the way that May was acting, and made May shake her hands in fury like a vibrating washing machine. She stopped and talked gently. "You don't have to worry about me doing anything bad, May. I just want to be friends with you two, and since we just met, what better time than for the three of us to hang out and have some fun before we get to the next town?" she turned her head a little bit, then pointed with her left index finger over to that direction, showing a shining blue river in front of her and began to walk, then stopped to call May and Drew. "Why don't the two of you come with me for a little bit? We can head onto Grace River, then I can show you the main reason why me and a lot of other people come here."

May, regaining herself back to normal, took a deep breath and replied to Jody's suggestion. "Fine. But when we find a seat or some food over there, then I get to sit next to Drew, because we have some important things to talk about, so you can't go on and budge into it, okay?" Maybe I was just exaggerating things when I was yelling at her. For some reason, I felt like I shouldn't do that. she had her eyes in black beads and a sweatdrop fell down as she recalled when bumping into Jody. Yep. I'm the one that bumped into her, after all. Maybe I should give her a break instead of jumping into some crazy conclusions . . . May was looking at Drew walk alongside Jody, and put her legs in a blur again as she began running. "Wait for me!"

* * *

May, Drew and Jody were walking, and eventually they found three rocks that were big enough for them to sit on. There were also other people with spread out blankets so that they can have picnics, with a girl eating a salad and a boy eating a sandwich. They were on the short coast of a river that was about 12 feet across, which had rocks on it like a raging waterfall, but was tender, and with barely any drifting at all, like the way liquid in a glass would hold when slightly shaken. Some of the water was going down a layer of rock like a waterfall though, but it was no higher than three feet, and there were even some people there that were walking on the river like a big puddle after a storm. The river also contained some silver-colored rocks on the bottom, with occasionally a Magikarp or a Goldeen passing it with the kids excited and trying to snag it when they do come by, but with the Water-types only getting away. There was a blue colored house that had the shadows of some people in it hanging out, and it had a yellow body on the other side; there was also a group of trees that led to a dense forest, and some kids were taking the branches and playing swords with them, but only playing. A small mountain could be seen upstream, with barely a slope and was possibly only 24 feet high, that secreted water out of small openings that supplied the river with the liquid necessary, with some leaves falling from the plants above as it did so, but not too much that it would annoy any of the people here while they were having fun with their friends and family, including May and Drew looking at each other, while May got angrier by the second.

May had a mean look, and suddenly smiled when she asked Drew a question, but still had her eyes in the dark way. "So Drew, what are we going to do when we get over to BlueBrook Town? Are we going to go shopping for clothes, medicine and other stuff like that? Or are we going to go to the movies and get some popcorn and nachos and caramel while we're there?" she looked at Jody in a grudging way, thinking. What does that girl think that she's doing, smiling at Drew like that? And what does Drew think that he's doing, smiling back at her? She should go somewhere and stop bothering me so much, then maybe I'll feel better and not blow anymore stuff. "So what do you think about those crazy plans, eh Drew?"

Drew knew what May was really thinking, being able to see beyond the obvious that she always projected. "I think that maybe you should go and have fun shopping when you're at that town, okay May? I don't really know if BlueBrook has any shopping places like Crescent City, but maybe you can try and hopefully, you'll get what you want." while Drew was saying that, May was getting more and more red, then he smirked at her with his eyes in a bead of the words he was going to say next, "There's something going on here, May. You know me, I can see through what you're thinking. And it's so easy because the impression is slapped there right on your face, too easy for me if I have to say so myself."

Jody had a look of confusion on her face, with her hands by her side when she spoke, "What are you two talking about, though? Well I'm so happy that Drew's here though. From what I saw on the Blue Dome in my town, he's a great coordinator and I think that if I was to go into battle with him, I would be creamed right away. But it would be nice if he would give me some battle ideas so that when my Bubblish enters the BlueBrook Contest, it can win me my second ribbon! Hopefully that can happen . . . " while Jody looked at May, she thought with bewilderment of the way May was acting right now. That girl sure is strange. Ever since I saw her a little while ago, she's been acting pretty funny towards me. "May, would you mind if I battle Drew?"

May growled at those words, then stood up, almost destroying the solid rock as she did so, and her eyes were hot on fire. "Yes I would mind if you battled Drew. Didn't you hear me before? I said that if you wanted to get to Drew, then you're going to have to get past me first, and I doubt that something that impressive would ever happen!" she reached for her sack and grabbed out a PokéBall, then it increased in size, holding it at Jody's direction as a gun, knife or another weapon. "So you think that you have what it takes to battle my Squirtle? Even a Pokémon that hasn't battled for a long time would be able to take that down, and that's because Drew's on the line and for the sake of him, you're going to drown in this river!"

Jody walked a few meters away from the rock that she was on, and had a determined look on her face, taking out a PokéBall that had a different pattern on it from the left ponytail of her hair, and holding it at May the same way that her opponent was doing so, with the wind blowing both female's hair when she talked. The PokéBall had pictures of pink and blue bubbles on it with the rainbow shine, and also some light-blue clouds in the background; the bottom part of it being a cerulean that was borderline from white. It was like a squeezing ball when it was bigger, as Jody pressed down on it. "Well if it's a battle that you want, then it's a battle that you're going to get! If you get trapped in one of my bubbles, then don't be scared if I'm going to be there to burst it!"

* * *

The cabin across the river had a brown curtain that concealed whatever or whoever was inside, and the kind that even if you got up close to it, you couldn't see past the thread of the material, but however you could still see the shadows moving inside of the shack. It seemed as if some kind of evil force was being emitted from the house, as the screen got closer and closer into it, and there was also no people around on that side of the river to begin with. Zooming inside the house, there was Jessie there, curling her red hair with her left hand while she was holding a cup of coffee with her right hand. Her eyes were closed as she talked to a girl inside. "So what's your plan? It better be something good though for the sake of it."

The other girl inside the cabin that was leaning against the wall of the cabin, with her nails ticking away next to her mouth like she was thinking of something to answer what Jessie asked. The girl had dark blue hair with some white streaks that flowed down the backside of her like a river that was growing bigger by the second and also ended with a curl like a whirlpool being made in the ocean minimized and put there, green eyes that contridicted the rest of her body but glossed the same way that a person that was on the good side would; red lipstick that seemed brand new, which were also the color of her painted nails. She wore a blue motorcycle jacket that had many pockets on it, possibly at least six scattered all over them, even though they looked flat and empty. Had blue jeans that were a little lighter than the rest of her body, and her legs wearing them were kicking back a little like she was on the subway door. Biting her nails when she felt like it, she answered Jessie, "Well didn't Harley tell you to do the job, Jessie? If you're going to rub all of your laziness on me, then I think that you better go somewhere before I drown you in that river outside, and they don't call me Rivera for nothing." after saying that, she put both of her hands into her pockets and took something out: it was a blue pendant that had a wave going through the middle- a small river trapped inside a small orb; she rocked it back and forth and showed it to Jessie. "Well this might be a good start. I could do something to drain the river to make the people suffer, but are you going to do anything?"

Jessie rocked her hands in front of Rivera at her words, in a way that showed she was saying the wrong thing but wanted to fix it, and had a sweatdrop on her face. She stopped having that look, then got a little angry at the girl, standing up and putting her coffee down in a rage that showed it would have broken if she put it down any harder. "Of course I'm not going to let you do everything and I'm going to help you take them also! The reason why I need you to help me is that there's going to be two people we're going to face, and two against one isn't going to be a good thing, now is that, Rivera? Here's the thing that we can do: While you drain the river with that thing of yours, I go and defeat that annoying May brat! She embarrassed me time after time!"

* * *

Outside, the battle between May and Jody was getting ready to begin, as both trainers threw their PokéBalls in the air and then landing on the Grass, releasing the Pokémon. May's PokéBall released Squirtle, the Water starter from Kanto, with its body encasted in a red back shell and yellow with orange cracked front like a turtle, and revealing small legs that were on the bottom, a head that stuck out that was bald with cute eyes tat showed it was ready to battle, and a tail that curved up the way that a Wartortle would, but not too much; it flexed its muscles in a cute way when it came out. Jody's blue orbed on its pattern BubbleBall released the Water type starter from Zuki, Bubblish, a smaller Pokémon than Squirtle that was completely round, like Jigglypuff or Spheal, with red bubbles on the pattern of its body with the shine of rainbow that a real one would have, except that it was on the skin in a three-dimensional matter; it's light blue hands with tiny nails that were round on the end of it (and looked like it would never cause any harm if used) were being held next to its mouth that was open like it saw something surprising, including rather big lips than usual as it blew out a small bubble like chewing gum when it was sent out; its eyes were like a straight line that went up, and had a shine of emotion at the top of it when it also looked in the gentle river that it was battling next to when it came out; ears like a Marill except they had a pink inside, and small feet looking like it was trying to jump. Both Pokémon looked like they wanted to play rather than battle.

[Harley Scarow]

Well I'll show that little girl that I'm not someone to mess with, especially if she thinks that she can go off talking to Drew for the sake of talking to him without telling me that she's doing so! May, without any hesitation to make a move, ordered her Squirtle to make the first one when she pointed at it, "Squirtle, that thing's nothing compared to you, so go and use Bubble!"

The tiny turtle began blowing inside like a deep breath of air before it unleashed the large cloud of many small bubbles from its rather smaller mouth, traveling across the field and aimed at the defending Bubblish; they also danced around in the air as they got closer and closer. Bubblish was shaking a little, but not too much that it was afraid, and when soon the barrage of round bullets hit it with force, but it didn't seem to do any damage, causing May to put a look of astonishment on her face when the bubbles were still there. The many orbs were floating around the small Pokémon, like a repelled magnets that refuse to give up but never got too close, as they hovered around the small Pokémon and span like as if it was in orbit.

Jody giggled when she saw the look on May's face, and then pointed out to her Pokémon, explaining what just happened. "You don't honestly think that a Bubble would work on my Bubblish, now do you? Bubblish is just about the one that's in charge of anything that's relating to bubbles, so using the same thing against it's not going to work at all! Better go and try a different attack, while my adorable little Bubblish uses Bubble Levitation to give you a real show!"

The bubbles on Bubblish's body glowed a blue that was a little darker than it regularly was, and then it followed with the rest of its body, but the stance that it was in was the same way it was before anything happened. Suddenly, the bubbles that Squirtle used against it still hovering around it were charged with rays that came scattered all over the glow and each one bounced into the orb respectively, making them spring to life and more bigger; more heavy looking than usual. Following the ones that were already active was when the water from the river boiled like hot water in a pot, as it went like cold lava. The bubbles that were bubbling in the water sprung to life like the others and flew next to Bubblish, dancing in the air with the others and making patterns like an appeal. Now instead of being transparent, they all had foam patterns on them and began charging at the small Squirtle, ambushing it with an army of balls like bullies, not popping when they hit but moved back for another strike.

Drew, watching the battle from the side, shook his head towards May and had some thoughts of his own: Well she shouldn't have used an obvious water move against the Bubblish, and she should have also known that the Bubblish is the creator of them, in Pokémon to say the least. Maybe she'll think twice before doing something like that again, or at least use Rapid Spin to protect herself at this time. Drew looked down and noticed the PokéDex in his pocket, then informed May of what to do as he looked directly at her. "Well there's one thing that you can do to get out of this, May: you could use the PSP PokéDex that the professor gave you a little bit back today- maybe that can help you out in a pinch instead of you losing like this."

May looked at Drew after he said those words with her fists shaking at him, offended by what he just said and replyed back at him rudely, "You go and keep your head out of this Drew! And besides, I'm not even close to losing, it's all part of my plan to trick the other . . . " Maybe I should go and take his advice. He may be a pain in the ass but he does have a point. "Well I'll go and take your advice, but only because you're right for once, and don't think this means that I'm always going to listen to you!"

May looked in her knapsack and took out a silver-colored handheld machine, holding it at the opponent Bubblish. The thing was closed, which wasn't an addition in the regular PSP, but then it opened with a clean sound and said in a female mechanical voice with the part where you put the extention blinking red. Bubblish, the Bubble Pokémon. Bubblish is known for using the bubbles that it makes to many good uses, with some examples being: making a pink bubble so that it can use it as a bed, regular floating bubbles that can allow it to fly in the air, and able to dance with others using the bubbles in beautiful patterns. It is said that when its bubbles are bigger, more pink or blue than usual, it's a sign that it's getting ready to evolve into Madplash.

After she heard the information from the PokéDex, she knew what to do and ordered her Squirtle: "Go and use your Rapid Spin to get out of that attack! It should pop them since you'll be spinning like a slicer and you'll be able to make it through them like a drill." she then said some words low to herself. "I can't believe that I'm actually listening to Drew like this. He better be right able using Rapid Spin or else I'm going to get him for this . . . he better be right . . . "

Squirtle, still being attacked by the gang of bubbles, and its face in a painful way, rose up quickly in a comical blur to another spot where the orbs weren't able to get it, and flexed itself in pride. Listening to May, it curled up into the shell that it has like a turtle getting ready for a nap but this time for an attack instead, with its legs going in first, followed by the arms and legs in a snapping sound ready to move. It jumped in the air like a cannonball shot out and went back to the spot where it was ambushed by the bubbles and began attacking them with a loud sound, but they weren't destroyed and instead pushed back to the direction that Bubblish was. When the bubbles were about to hit Bubblish, they bounced off the Pokémon like water on oil, and surrounded Squrtle with the orbs and the turtle spinning like Squirtle being the blender and the blue spheres being the ingredients, both not being harmed in any way at all. Bubblish wasn't able to get hit because the bubbles that it made were just in front of it.

Jody crossed her arms, with the left one on top of the right one, and smiled at the event she was seeing in front of her. "Well I see that you suddenly began thinking about what to do, but I'll have you know that since Bubblish's bubbles aren't going to be giving up, your Squirtle's bound to get tired one way or the other, so you might as well do something before that happens and all the blame goes on you, okay? By the way, Bubblish, while those bubble friends of yours keep that Squirtle occupied, you might want to give it more company by throwing more friends from above. So can you do me a favor and use your Bubble Bomb on it for the sake of giving it more to worry about? Since it looks like it's having too much fun there."

"Bub bub Bubblish!" Bubblish had a happy smile on it as it nodded at the request that Jody gave to it, like the way that one would get at the look of food considering that they're a fanatic; jumped high in the air (about 20 feet which was much more than its regular size) and blocked the sun out from Drew's point of view for a little while with a powerful force and was overhead the little Squirtle that was still repelling the small glowing pink and blue bubbles still trying to attack it. It then hovered in the air for a little while before it began releasing a massive amount of bubbles that were the same size as the one that was using it (even though they were regular ones with no glowing effect or different color; they were the transparent ones), and hit the small Squrtle like bombs from a fighter jet with force. They continued and eventually, Squirtle couldn't take it anymore and was out of the shell startled, closing its eyes with some looks of pain as the bubbles that it was trying to block came on it, hitting it several times before they stopped and vanished, followed by the ones that were dropping above it that caused that to happen in the first place when it was trying.

Pushing Squirtle back to the side where May was when the battle just started. Squirtle rolled down the battle scene with some of the grass pulling down on the dirt, with the small Pokémon back in its shell the way that a poacher would try and attack a turtle when its down or sleeping, and was shaking its arms and legs like a baby that was dropped on its head, and its eyes crying like a minor that lost its milk bottle, and being a turtle it couldn't land back on its feet. It was on the bottom of May's feet and was too shocked to look up where it shouldn't gaze at, and May was calming it down by rocking it back and forth in her hand, saying cute little baby words to it and making the crying Squirtle settle down a little, but still tearing up a little bit.

Drew, closing his eye and keeping that usual smirk on his face, came over to May's side with his hands inside his pocket, walking slowly as he did so, and when he got there, put a passionate hand on her right shoulder, patting it and making May notice as she hugged her defeated Pokémon. "Well I have to say that was a pretty good battle that you just did there, well at least for a trainer that you would go to. Never thought that you would be able to make a comeback, even after the first mistake you made using that Bubble attack, but nice the way you recovered by using Rapid Spin to at least attempt to ward off the recurring bubbles- something rare to come from you, but a nice surprise to say the least. Well you tried."

* * *

On the other side of the river, there were two dark green bushes that looked like they were made out of plastic, and close up to be transparent but still hard to look through, but worked because there was nobody walking on that side of the river by a coincidence or the fact they knew that trouble was brewing behind those two fake plants. They suddenly shook a little and then two heads stuck out of them quickly and out of surprise, lowered back down into the plant and showed only the top of their heads, sweating a little that another person could have spotted them in a sparking failure. The two people that were hiding behind those bushes were the red Jessie and blue Rivera, both in the rusty cabin before the battle across the river began.

Hiding in the green shadows of the bushes, they closed their eyes in hoping of anticipation of the action that they were going to do next: both Jessie and Rivera vaulted out of the fake bushes quicker than a fly avoiding a slapping hand and rushed high into the air, making May, Drew and Jody look in terror and surprise- their mouth wide open of what they just saw. Leaves from some of the trees rained down, scattering the ground with swifting impact as they did their next move, which was quite a dangerous one: Jessie's butterfly flavored glasses suddenly lit up a dark purple moving in a gassy matter, combining up together and joining up with the center of her evil eyes; they glowed red and glowing shadows of butterflies materialized from them that had all the body parts that a real one would have except that they were almost transparent and they had no emotion in their eyes, rushing at the shocked three like shooting stars when they were flapping their wings in a threatening matter, turning yellow as they did so and left behind a white streak getting more and more faster like the stripes of a zebra, dancing around as they did so. May, Drew and Rivera in fear blocked their faces with their hands, May closing both of her eyes in fear while Drew and Rivera were blinking one that looked with terror. The bursts of energies hit all three of them, creating a red and purple explosion from behind that sent screams of pain from them, and falling prone on the grass, turning over after it did so with the smoke of the blast brewing from them, struggling to get up.

[Torchic23]

that was more brighter green

It sounds better like this "that was more bright green" or "that was a brighter green"

Otherwise, I'm just very sorry I wasn't able to read it for so long! But the new chapters are really good! And I'm liking the protectiveness May is having over Drew, that's cute. I can't wait to see what Jessie and Rivera have schemed! You've got me on the edge of my seat ^^

[Harley Scarow]

Yay! You were finally able to read the thing. As you can see, there's a limit to how many words you can put in one post, so I had to make all of them seperate for the sake of being able to put all of them in. I'm planning to make this into a two part episode, the way that Power Rangers would do it on TV. Well I have no idea how things are going to work from here, so I'm just going to let my mind flow free!

[Torchic23]

You did REALLY awsome the last few chapters! Those could so be episodes because May and Drew would totally act like that! But how the heck do you type without making mistakes? I almost always make a mistake every sentence!

[Harley Scarow]

One thing is that I have Microsoft Word 2000 so you get the idea of how things work from the sake of that. The editing is done already, but I get my teacher to check it for me, since Mr. T for some reason likes Pokémon, even though he's an adult. I always post only the final draft on SerebiiForums, but even there some people remark that I make a lot of mistakes there. The mistakes aren't what concern me- it's the revision that does, because for one thing, there's so many way so that you can avoid the grammar errors, but the storyline and the text that I use- it doesn't get recognized by the Microsoft Word Program, so tell me problems concerning the storyline, okay? There's probably a whole bunch of flaws over there.

[Torchic23]

Wow, you're lucky to have a teacher that can do that! I'd be too embarresed to show a teacher my story, plus, with my occasional bad langauge, I can't show my parents etheir. I don't have Microsoftword of any kind, I use the WordPad in the accesories. People have offered to edit my stories, but when I message it to them, they forget. So that's why you always find so many mistakes in mine