POKEMON A.R. ------------------------ The Hidden Nation Series ------------------------ Walkin' Trouble (PROLOUGE) PART 5 Author/Narrator: After a sleepless night; an emotional morning of nearly getting killed, meeting his long time hero, and breaking up with Jackii despite them never being together; Tyler escorts Jackii home, hoping, despite everything that had happened between them, that he and his long time friend now turned jilted would-be girlfriend could work something out. But Tyler will soon realize things like romance are never that easy... especially when the game we call love has more than the 2 normal players! ========================================================================= Wipple residence, 15 minutes later ---------------------------------- "Have a good day Jackii," Tyler said, "and please, feel better OK?" "Have a good one Tyler." Jackii said, "I'll see you at Soccer practice tomorrow? I mean, if you want..." "I'll see you at noon." he said with a friendly smile. Jackii went inside and Tyler and Pidgey went back, making their way to the orphanage. "Pidg... Pidgey, Gey!" "What's the deal with me and the female?" Tyler asked. Pidgey nodded. "You totally understand me, don't you?" Tyler said, semi-amazed. Pidgey started to nod yes, but then shook her head no. "Which is it?" Tyler said. Pidgey took a stick in her beak, stopped by some dirt near the sidewalk, and wrote "BOTH" in the dried soil. "Whoa." Tyler said, "And people call you all stupid." "Pidgey." "Why do you put up with the stupid people in the world who say you're just stupid animals if you can all understand us and everything?" Tyler asked. "Pidgey." "Is..." Tyler began, "Is that because we just don't notice? Or do you hide it? Or... I mean, what?" Pidgey picked up the stick and drew a " ~ " symbol next to the "BOTH", which she then pointed at. "Both?" Tyler asked, "Both and what else?" Pidgey pointed the stick at him, dropped it, and spoke. "Pidgey." "You mean, you hide it just enough so that most of the people who aren't looking to see if you're smart don't notice..." Tyler began. "Pidgeeeey..." Pidgey said expectedly. "And," Tyler said, guessing now, "you wait for people... people you think will understand... *before* you even try?" "PIDGEY!" the little bird pokŽmon said happily. "So--" Tyler began again. "Pidgeeey..." Pidgey interrupted, now agitated. "Wha?" Tyler said confused, then, "Oh, I gotta answer YOUR question now. OK, fair is fair. Well, Jackii and I are going to be friends and we'll take it from there. Basically, everything's good." "Pidgey." Pidgey said happily... but then, Pidgey's head jerked to something to the side. Instantly, she began to peck at the ground and totally ignored Tyler. "Hey Pidgey," Tyler said, worried he'd done something, "What's the deal? What did I do?" The sound of tires skidding to a stop sounded behind Tyler and he turned to see-- "Problem's with your pokŽmon?" Jes asked as she hit the kickstand on her bike. "Nothing a little bird seed wouldn't cure." Tyler said, trying to keep from getting unnerved from Jesse's sudden arrival, "So, where's your partner in crime?" "Out and about." she said. "Oh?" Tyler said, "Is that the real reason he's not present today?" "Actually," Jes said, "I ditched him so I could come here to play kissy face with you some more." Tyler shrugged. "I asked." "I came here to..." she began, "I guess, say I'm sorry for just kissing you like that. I guess I wanted to get one last lick in before we buried the hatchet and became friends, or at least not-enemies." "You could have licked something other than the roof of my mouth." Tyler said. "I'd by a liar if I didn't say I liked it," she said, "but I did it to get your girlfriend mad at you." "She's just my friend." Tyler said. "DOH!" Pidgey thought to herself. She KNEW this Jes lady was slick AND where this talk of hers was heading. How could a trainer as smart as Tyler be so good at raising several types of pokŽmon be fooled so easily by a single member of one specie? "Well," she said, "that's good. That means I didn't do any major damage between you two. So are we friends?" "Sure." Tyler said, "Just don't try to mug me anymore." "Cool." she said. "so, would you like to see where I hang out?" "Ok." he said, turning to his pokŽmon, "Come on Pidgey." Pidgey refused to obey, hoping Tyler would get the hint to avoid this girl and head back now. UNFORTUNEATLY, Tyler was too willing to go and wasn't into trying to think it out. He decided Pidgey was just covering up her intelligence and, wanting to help keep the disguise for her, recalled Pidgey into her pokŽball and put it on his belt. "Where to?" he said. "It's kinda far to walk," she said, "Just get on the bike with me and we can get there in 10 minutes or so." Tyler sat on the seat behind Jesse (who rode without actually sitting in her seat) and held onto it with his hands. "You'll fall off that way." Jesse said innocently, "Here." She took his arms and wrapped them around her waist (which gave her 'nice' shivers) as she undid the kickstand. "Just hold on," she said, "*tight*." Jesse enjoyed the ride with Tyler's arms around her, thinking things that, had Tyler known she was thinking them, he would've went straight home. When they got to their destination and Jesse had chained her bike, the two of them went to the main entrance. "Wow," Tyler said, "Downtown Plaza." "I hang out here all the time." Jesse said, glad Tyler was getting hooked. They spent the next few hours just looking around and stopping every so often to buy something small. Jesse seemed to have a lot of money which she tried VERY hard to spend on Tyler but he kept her spending on him to the minimum of his most meager wants. When it hit about 1 o'clock they stopped to eat. "I've never felt so... I dunno..." Tyler said, somewhat giddy. "You've never done so much in an afternoon?" Jesse said. "No," Tyler said, "not so much that... it's just that nothing *I* do costs so much. It feels so weird since I don't have much money." "Oh?" Jesse said, seeing her ploy was working. "Of course," Tyler said, "with so many war orphans, I doubt the city could let one indulge like this." "Wha? Wait... Y-, you're an orphan?" Jesse said, surprised. "Yeah." Tyler said, eating another egg roll, "I dunno who my folks were. I mean, they coulda been 15-16 year olds, or too poor, or maybe they died in the war and I'm actually from the S.C. kid brought over here." "You don't feel bad?" Jesse said. "I try to keep a good spin on things." he said, "I mean, I could get a trainer license today if I wanted, so it's not like I don't got choices." Before Jesse could talk anymore, however, their meal was interrupted. "Jesse!" a blonde girl said, walking up to their table. "Go away Cassidy." Jesse said, annoyed. Her plan was going along so smoothly-- a loose cannon like the Blonde bombshell that was Cassidy coming in might ruin everything. "What," she said, pretending to sound hurt, "have my better looks and the fact I actually OWN my own pokŽmon intimidated you?" "Actually," Tyler said, piping up, "the fact you're so insecure about my girl's outline as compared to yours that you stuff socks down your shirt fills us with such pity for you it's ruining our appetites." The fact Cassidy had been out-insulted into silence with just one line, the fact Jesse hadn't expected Tyler to stick up for her, and the fact Tyler had called her his 'girl' filled Jesse with no small amount of satisfaction... maybe Cassidy couldn't mess this up after all; heck, if this trend kept up, she'd be a help. "How cute," Cassidy said, looking over Tyler's rather plain clothes, "a street urchin." Tyler, well versed in tactful insults (since, after all, he'd been insulted so many times...) kept up with her. "So that's what their calling your look now Ms... Cassidy was it?" Tyler said. "Look pal," she said, now annoyed, "this is between her and I, so mind your own beeswax." "Your looks ruined my lunch," Tyler said, "so, like it or not, you made it my 'beeswax'." "If you've got something to say," Cassidy said, "say it and get lost." "That outfit says it all." Tyler said, hiding a smile. "What do you mean?" she said, "This outfit is precious!" Her outfit was a rather nice dark blue sweater with matching blue jeans with rather expensive sneakers and no end to accessories that actually did make her look very pretty... but Tyler knew people who needed to make others feel bad actually felt bad about themselves and needed other people to tell them they were good. It was funny, Tyler realized, how weird these things often worked out. Anyway, when people started making fun of a person like that, they fell apart. And so, this is what Tyler started to do. "Blue?" he said as if he were shocked, "PLEASE. I wouldn't be BURIED in *that* shade... and I'm poor. The earrings, charms, and I mean everything else too... well, where did you get them, out of a Cracker Jack box? And why are you wearing those hand-me-down sneakers? Tyler's plan, however, began to backfire. "Really?" she said, revealing a pokŽbelt, "I'm sorry, we REAL pokŽmon trainers can't worry about fashion *too much* as we have to actually raise our pokŽmon ourselves as opposed to getting *loaned* ones." "Oh, don't I know it!" Tyler said, revealing his pokŽbelt to out patronize her, "I've gotten to the point to just make sure EVERYTHING matches before I buy it so no matter what I put on, I can get away with it." "Hey," Cassidy said, setting up a final knock down, "Why don't we pokŽbattle in the arena on the upper floor?" "Sure..." Tyler said, not very concerned. "Great," Cassidy said, an evil look on her face, "I'll sign us up. Seeya." Jesse went near ballistic when Cassidy was out of earshot. "What are you doing?" she said, "Don't you know it costs 1,000 yen to fight in the arena?" "Uhhh..." Tyler said, having NOT realized it since he pokŽbattled in the park for free. Jesse sighed, pulling out ten 100 yen notes and handing them to Tyler. "Why so much cash?" Tyler asked, taking the bills. "In the arena upstairs," Jesse said, "if you do well enough in certain battles you can win prizes. And if you win a battle, you can get your trainer's license automatically processed via PC with the PokŽmon League instead of the usual wait plus there's no processing fee. "How long's the usual wait?" Tyler asked out of curiosity. "6 months usually." Jesse said, "But the application fee is usually just 200 yen plus monthly fees for facility allowances--" "I use the pokŽcenter now though." Tyler said. "But I bet you don't get to sleep there, let alone for free." Jesse said. "That I do not." Tyler said. "That," she said, "and you get access to the PokŽmon Storage system. Using it, you can store up to 240 pokŽmon for yourself. And while they're stored they're being taken care of." "Wow." Tyler said. "Well," Jesse said, "*again*, you have to pay monthly facility fees, but it's at a set rate so you can use it as much as you want and you don't hafta pay extra." "Any more hidden fees?" Tyler asked. "Just the yearly license renewal." Jesse said, "Other than that, you're ready to rocket as long as you can afford food, items, and pokŽballs too." "Awesome." Tyler said, fingering the yen, "Sounds more than worth it to me." "You just have to beat that witch Cassidy." Jesse said, "And that's hard. Her Rattata is strong and has so much experience it's just a little bit away from evolving." "Pidgey's close too," Tyler said, "she and I can beat her." "You can't use items in this fight." Jesse said, "Just so you know." "OK." Tyler said, "Jesse, about the money, I'll--" "Never mind," Jesse said, "just BEAT her." Tyler smiled. * * * Downtown Plaza, PokŽbattler Ring on upper floor ----------------------------------------------- After signing up and getting a time slot, Tyler and Jesse sat to wait his turn. Reading the rule sheet given to him, Tyler saw indeed he couldn't use items or more than 3 pokŽmon at a time in these fights. No matter, he and Cassidy only had one pokŽmon with them each anyway. When he and Cassidy's name were finally called, Jesse gave him a smile and a 'good luck' as he went into the ring. "Does everyone know the rules?" another Nurse Anna (who just so happened to look like the Nurse Anna Tyler knew) said. When Tyler and Cassidy both nodded 'yes', Anna gave the sign to begin. "Rattata, I choose you!" Cassidy said as she threw her pokŽball. "Tyler chooses Pidgey!" Tyler said as Pidgey was released. "Rattata, Quick attack!" "Pidgey, Quick attack!" Both pokŽmon moved at near lightning speed, but Rattata was faster, and Pidgey was slammed head on, so hard so that it couldn't counter attack. "Crap..." Tyler said. "Rattata, Hyperfang!" Cassidy said. "Pidgey, try to hang on!" Pidgey was almost bitten by a near ravenous Rattata, but, by the grace of God it managed to fly above it's reach. "HEY!" Cassidy yelled. "Pidgey," Tyler said, "Sky attack now!" Diving down, Pidgey flew right at Rattata and, with full force, pecked it on the nose. "YES!" Tyler said, "Pidgey, Gust attack!" "RATTATA!" Cassidy yelled, trying to rally the pokŽmon. But Rattata only flinched as Pidgey pulled a Gust attack, finishing Rattata off in a midi tornado of air. "Rattata!" Cassidy said, running onto the pokŽring when Pidgey had backed off, cradling her fainted pokŽmon. "Pidgey! ALL Ri--" Tyler began, only to stop, "Pidgey?" Pidgey began to glow and change. Having gotten enough experience, Pidgey evolved into Pidgeotto right there, her features changing into a more defined look. "PIDGEOTTOOOOOO!" The previous Pidgey hooted. "YES!" Jesse said, grabbing Tyler and hugging him, "You wiped the floor with her!" "Hey, I-- yah, guess, whoa--?!" Tyler said as Jesse gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Congratulations." Anna said, bemused as Tyler's face turned beet red, "Now, if you'd both exit the arena and Tyler, would you come with me please?" They got off the arena and as Cassidy got her Rattata healed and some aides healed Pidgeotto, and, after a 20 minute wait, Tyler got processed as a pokŽmon trainer and even got an official PokŽmon League stats scanner. "That scanner," Nurse Anna explained, "is an official register for the species of pokŽmon you've caught. Once you catch, trade, or evolve a pokŽmon, it's added to pokŽmon you're credited with catching. It also works as an I.D. for peace officers (police) and PokŽcenter Nurses to let them know who you are." "Cool." Tyler said, pocketing the goods. "That's nothing," Jesse added as they went to get Pidgeotto, "My dad says Prof. Oak is working on a scanner that does that AND keeps an encyclopedia of info it scans from them too." "Whoa." Tyler said, impressed. Pidgeotto sat as she looked at Tyler. "I'm proud of you Pidgeotto." Tyler said with a smile. "Pidgey, Pidgeotto!" Pidgeotto said, obviously upset over something. "You're pokŽmon seems tired," Jesse added, sounding sympathetic, "maybe you should give it a rest." "I guess," Tyler said, holding up Pidgeotto's pokŽball, Pidgeotto, return." As Pidgeotto went back to her ball, Cassidy walked up. "Real pokŽmon trainer, huh?" Jesse asked her. "You're one to talk," she said, "at least I own my own pokŽmon to lose with." "At least I can win with the one I have!" Jesse said angrily. "Oh boo-hoo." Cassidy said. "Don't cry Cassidy," Tyler said, jumping in, "You aren't the only stuck up person to raise a losing pokŽmon on the planet." "What is it with you?!" Cassidy said, verbally attacking Tyler, "This is none of your business, so stay out of it!" "Like I said," Tyler... said, "she's my girl, and you don't mess with her." "Oh, that's really pathetic Jes," Cassidy said, "you need a man to protect you now?" "You've got it all wrong," Tyler said, "you're just not worth wasting time with for her to deal with you herself." "You said it muffin." Jesse said, putting her arm around his waist, "Of course Cassidy wouldn't know anything about that." "I don't need to hang around a guy like a pathetic little slut." Cassidy said, getting nasty. "But we all know that's just a cop-out way of saying you can't get a guy." Tyler said, smiling. "I don't need to take this." Cassidy said, near the verge of tears, "I didn't come here to get insulted!" "Where do you usually go?" Jesse said as Cassidy turned and left. As she rounded the bend, Jesse and Tyler walked to the side. "I hated that," Tyler said, once he and Jesse were behind an alcove, "I don't like hurting people." "All you did was help me show her what she's been doing the past year." Jesse told him, "She's done everything she can to try to show how much better than me she is, and she's said some pretty hurtful things." Jesse hugged him. "Thank you." she said, more calmly now, "She always makes me feel like I'm dirt or that there's something wrong with me." "It's ok..." Tyler said as Jesse tightened her hold around him. "No," Jesse said as, unnoticed to her and Tyler, Mrs. Wipple came out of a pokŽshop from the other side and saw them, "you put up with a lot and you didn't have to. Thank you." Tyler sweatdropped as Jesse held him. "Uh, no problem. Just, uh... ya know..." Jesse let go of him. "Right," she said, "we have to get our stuff and head home. We got a lot to carry though..." "I can walk." Tyler said, "We're actually pretty close to my place." "You don't mind?" Jesse said. "No," Tyler said, "It's OK. You go ahead." Jesse smiled. "Can we meet up again soon?" "I have soccer practice tomorrow," Tyler said, "can you make the park?" "I'll be there." Jesse said. As the two split company, Allyson Wipple hurried to the parking lot. * * * Wipple Residence, an hour later ------------------------------- "What's so important Allyson?" Mr. Wipple, highly annoyed at his wife's secrecy, had waited through dinner after she had told him she had something important to say when she had come home. "It's that boy again!" she said as soon as she was sure Jackii was out of earshot. "What now..." her husband said, semi-annoyed. He'd thought the last incident would've been the end of this. "He's breaking our daughter's heart." she said. "How?" Mr. Wipple asked, "Another mud sling fight?" "I'm serious!" she said, "Did you know our daughter came home sobbing this morning after that boy walked her home?" "What was it about?" Mr. Wipple asked. "Isn't it OBVIOUS?" Allyson Wipple said, "That boy is playing games with our daughter!" "She told you this?" Charles Wipple asked his wife. "No..." she said, "But I've seen this before!" Mr. Wipple sighed. "We have to do something!" Mrs. Wipple said, "What if Jackii tries something drastic!" "So what are we supposed to do?" Charles said. "I don't want our little girl seeing that boy anymore!" Allyson replied. "Who's going to stop me!" "Jackii?" Mrs. Wipple said. Jackii had gone to get some clean clothes from the washer and had been VERY much within earshot; needless to say, hearing her parents plotting about her activities behind her back didn't make her very happy. "What are you two talking about?" Jackii said, "Why can't I see Tyler?" "Well sweetheart," Mr. Wipple began, "You're mother thinks--" "I know that boy has been hurting you Jackii." Allyson said, "It's OK to--" "WHAT?!" Jackii said, "I KNOW I had some nasty bruises from the mud fight but isn't this a little--" "I mean," Allyson said, "we KNOW you love him sweetheart, and--" "Dear Lord," Jackii suddenly said as embarrassment took her and she fell to a seat at the table, bowing her head, " please take me now..." "Don't be embarrassed sweetie," Charles said, "your mother and I are--" "We know what he's doing honey." Mrs. Wipple said. "What do you mean?" Jackii asked suddenly. "He's playing games with you." her mother said, "I saw him--" "What games?!" Jackii suddenly jumped, the embarrassment combined with protectiveness for Tyler getting the better of her, "MOTHER, he doesn't WANT to be with me, ok? THAT'S what I'm so... s-so... Oh mom!" Jackii couldn't take much more to begin with, and began to cry as she confronted the scene from this morning in her head. Allyson and Charles rushed to hug their daughter who was obviously in a great deal of pain. "Sweetheart," her father said, now getting worried, "What--?" "I love him daddy but he doesn't love me." she said, "He's not playing games or anything... he isn't. He... he doesn't feel the same way is all." "Oh," Allyson said, "he's with that Jessica girl... I understand, I'm sorry sweetheart." "No mom..." Jackii said, sobbing, "He... he said he wasn't ready for it and that we were too young." "Jackiillyn," her mother said, "he IS with her. I saw them at the Downtown Plaza today, hiding out and hugging where they thought no one could see them." "YOU *SPIED* ON HIM?!" Jackii said, getting angry now, then laughed at her mother, "Well, you STILL got it wrong mom, he NEVER goes to Downtown, he can barely afford gum let alone a ride." "I SAW him." her mother persisted. "NO!" Jackii said, upset again, "He SAID he and her weren't anything. He wouldn't LIE!" Jackii began to cry as she broke the mini-group hug and ran to her room. "JACKII!" her mother called as the sound of a door slamming came from upstairs. MR. Wipple, not used to seeing his daughter so distraught nor his wife so utterly paranoid decided he had to do something. "I'll be back soon." he told his wife. "WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!" Allyson demanded, "Our daughter is a wreck!" "With all due respect Ally," Charles said, "that's partly your fault." "MY FAULT?!" Allyson said. "Exactly." Charles said, "Now, I'm going to get to the bottom of this and I'll be back soon. Until then, try to talk to Jackii WITHOUT getting her even more upset." As Charles Wipple left, Allyson did all she could to not fall into a nervous breakdown. * * * Sunny Town orphanage, back steps -------------------------------- "The rest of you should've seen it!" Tyler told them. Squirtle, Poliwhirl, and Psyduck all admired Pidgeotto, who was perched on the stone post of the left set of steps. "She was AWESOME!" Tyler said, standing on the back steps of the orphanage hall, "That Rattata was of Cassidy's was just totally blown away!" "Literally." Pidgeotto told her friends in pokŽlanguage. Squirtle smiled at her. "Aw man was it great!" Tyler said, leaning on the outer brick wall and pulling out the equipment the Anna at the plaza gave him, "And get this: I'm a pokŽmon trainer, PokŽmon League official and everything! Can you all believe that?" The other three pokŽmon all smiled. "Tyler!" Ms. Harmon called from inside, "You have a visitor!" "Coming Ms. H!" Tyler called, then turned back, "I'll be back guys." Tyler went into the hall where Ms. Harmon and a very angry Charles Wipple waited for him. Squirtle, Pidgeotto, Psyduck, and Poliwhirl all got to the window to see what was the matter. "What's going on?" Tyler asked when he saw the look on Mr. Wipple's face. "That's what I'd like to know." Jackii's father told him, "My daughter is a wreck and my family is in total disorder and I've been led to believe it's all because of you." Mrs. Harmon tried to interrupt but Tyler spoke out. "Listen," Tyler said, "I know she's hurt but I didn't do anything! Heck, she didn't even come out and tell me until this morning." "Tell you what?" Mrs. Harmon asked, although she was ignored. "Oh yes," Mr. Wipple continued, "*thee* talk, the one were you told her you weren't interested in this sort of thing, and the one that, after you had it, dropped her off back at home so you could carry on with that Jessica girl. Just what game are you playing?" "What is this about!" Mrs. Harmon said as the two arguers went on, continuing to ignore her and got even louder. "First off," Tyler said, lower now, his voice taking an angry tone, "not even you, Mr. Wipple, can call anyone 'that'-anything, Jesse's a person. Second off, just what the heck are you talking about? She and I hung out, that's hardly going out to hurt anybody, ESPECIALLY my *best* friend." "My wife saw you and her today," he said, "and although I think such things are too mature for people your age, that isn't the point--" "THAT'S IT!" Ms. Harmon said, rather loudly, "Mr. Wipple, you're either going to tell me what is going on here or I'm calling officer's Beth and Jenny and filing charges for harassment." "That *boy* has been leading my daughter on while two-timing with another girl; braking my daughter's heart." he said, "And I want an explanation." "Tyler..." Ms. Harmon said, putting up a hand to silence Mr. Wipple, "Is this true? I mean, I know people your age are dating younger but--" "WHAT?!" Tyler said, "You have to even ask? I don't *1*-time let alone two-time! I *told* Jackii that! I'm not even ready to think about dreaming of even considering dating ANYONE." "Then what did Allyson see?" Mr. Wipple said, "She had her arms around you!" "Not that it's ANYONE'S business since, of course, only my parents would have the right to say anything and Lord knows where *they* are," Tyler said, setting his explanation up so he could maintain some semblance of independence, "Jesse and I went Downtown to hang out and some girl named Cassidy showed up which got Jesse upset cus Cassidy was trash-talkin' her and Jesse's my friend so I took her to the side and calmed her down." "So *that's* the story you're sticking with?" Mr. Wipple asked. "It's the truth so, sure, I guess so." Tyler said, countering the implication he was lying. "Then that's the explanation," Ms. Harmon said, "and now I suggest you accept it and simply go." Mr. Wipple calmed down a bit. He wiped his forehead and sighed. "I apologize," he said, "as you can understand, I'm very concerned for my daughter's welfare." "Of course sir," Ms. Harmon said, "I understand completely. I myself take care of over 300 children." Mr. Wipple nodded at that, bowed respectfully, and left through the front way. Ms. Harmon sighed. "Please don't call the police," Tyler said, "I mean, I *like* Mr. and Mrs. Wipple. And Jackii's kinda off right now, I mean, I feel bad for her too..." "I'm not going to do anything of the sort." Ms. Harmon said, "But, Tyler, I need to know..." "Ms. H..." Tyler said, "You... don't think--" "I don't." she said, "What I'd like to know is everything you do about this Jesse girl." "Everything?" Tyler asked, "Any reason?" "Curiosity." she said. Tyler filled her in(save for the kissing) and showed her the various gifts Jesse had bought him that day. "And that's that." Tyler said, "It was all kinda weird, I mean..." "Yes?" Ms. Harmon said. "I dunno," Tyler said, "It sounds really strange... But it was like she was giving me everything I always wanted; someone to go with to *really* nice places, and although I tried to keep her from getting me anything, it felt... I dunno, just... it made me feel special to be able to go into stores and buy things I could only look at in catalogs and know I could NEVER have gotten because I couldn't afford them... And I did things today that I only DREAMED of... I'd never SEEN downtown, and that pokŽbattle with Cassidy was the icing on the metaphorical cake that was my day." "It sounds like she went a long way to try to impress you." she said. "I guess," Tyler said, "but... I mean, she didn't SEEM to be trying anything... Why are you so worried anyway Ms. H?" "Let's just say the style of her's is familiar to me." Ms. Harmon said, "Besides, think about it. Just days ago she and her friend were trying to rob you... if she needed the money, why use up so much on you now?" "Maybe she thought I was worth it." Tyler said. "Not that you aren't," Ms. Harmon said, looking into Tyler's eyes, "but think... why the sudden swing?" "Maybe she just wants to bury the hatchet." Tyler said, still thinking all of this as being just a *wee* bit paranoid. "Just make she doesn't bury it in your back." Ms. Harmon said, "It's time to hit the showers, get your pokŽmon settled in and I'll see you in the morning." Tyler bowed and Ms. Harmon left. As she did, Tyler decided he'd try to find out a little more about Jesse before he did anything else with her. He turned to look out the windows so that he could check on his pokŽmon; only to see his four pokŽmon had been checking up on *him*. He got out the back door and found his pokŽmon had quickly retaken their spots and were mooring[moving with no particular direction] about nonchalantly. "Ok, I'm in some trouble, no biggie." Tyler said to them, "It still changes nothing... I guess. Still, this is OK. We're a lean mean pokŽ-machine and today's match proved it beyond anything." Tyler yawned uncontrollably. "You guys wanna turn in or stay out a bit?" Tyler asked. Psyduck came up yawning, his arms in the air, but Poliwhirl just started kata[Martial arts training exercise... kinda like Shadow Boxing], and Pidgeotto and Squirtle were chatting now. Picking up the duck-like pokŽmon, Tyler went off to bed. When he'd gone, Squirtle began to get more into the conversation besides Smalltalk. "How do-ya feel bird lady?" he asked. "Neat." Pidgeotto said, "More mature... stronger." "Cool." Squirtle said, "I was worried you'd get inbetween a fight or something... glad you came up on top." "As a flying pokŽmon, I tend to be on top of the world anyway," Pidgeotto joked. "That you do." Squirtle said, "So, how's Tyler besides this little offset?" "He's a sucker for females of his specie," Pidgeotto said, "but not in a way they'd like... I dunno what'll happen to him at this rate." "Then we'll hafta try to remedy that." Squirtle said. "I did try..." Pidgeotto said, "And failed..." "Been there." Squirtle said, holding Pidgeotto around her neck, "You just do the best you can... besides, we both failed but Tyler seemed to be better off just because we gave it a shot." "True." she said, "But that was before. What will tomorrow bring?" "I dunno." Squirtle said, "But I know we can't just quit. Let the new day dawn, we can handle it. We've been through worse, after all." ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author/Narrator: Have you really been through worse than what will come Squirtle? Only time will tell as the new day comes... lets hope that when the sun sets tomorrow, it ends for the better. * * * Pikachu's Fanfiction Archive: http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Teahouse/1260/index.html Please email all submissions to: Sailorvoid@hotmail.com * * * PokŽmon is copyright 1995/1996/1998 Nintendo/Creatures/Gamefreak Jackii Wipple and Tyler Trawets are internet creative property of Stewart Hart and the PokŽmon A.R. group.