Chapter Ten

An Egg-citing time on Route 275

<Sam’s Point of View>

<7^th of Sharmishira>

I opened my eyes with difficulty. It had been cold last night, and my sleeping bag, combined with all the Pokemon in my tent, had kept me fairly warm. I could tell that the air outside my sleeping bag would be frigid though.

After much bullying, I finally managed to get up and outside the tent, only waking up Artemis who had been curled up on my stomach. He slipped inside my warm sleeping bag as soon as I’d gotten out of it.

It had been 8 days since Katrina had caught her Coperagon. 8 long, incredibly boring days. The most excitement we’d gotten was when we had seen a Pidgey. We were only just over halfway to Romanc City, even though we’d been walking for 9 days!

I’d grabbed my bag from where I’d left it in the tent when I’d gotten out, so I wouldn’t need to make any further trips. Katrina, Ashlee and I had come up with a packing system. Since they couldn’t cook anything fancier than cereal and toast, I was the one whose bag was full of all the food, along with some Pokeballs and a few Potions and things.

Ashlee had gotten most of our healing items, like the Antidotes, Potions and Berries we’d found. She had some food, but I had the majority of that.

Katrina’s bag was full of all the games and things we needed to stop ourselves from going insane from lack of excitement. My books and Gameboy Advanced were there, along with a few board games that Katrina had packed, and some Lego and other building things supplied by Ashlee. She’d told me that she loved to play with them, with a grin on her face when I’d made a questioning noise when she pulled them out of her pack.

Electrum, the Coperagon, had come in handy with quite a few things. Even though she was a Steel-Type, she could also use Ember, which came from her claws instead of her mouth. She’d managed to light fires for us, boil water and other such things.

Getting out things for Breakfast, I noted that we were starting to run low on eggs. I guess there were some advantages of having Nick’s Chicken around.

Nick. With a pang of guilt, I realised that I hadn’t called him or Brendan and asked how they were going. I soon shrugged off the guilt. They were the ones that had gotten themselves into it, not me.

I’d managed to pull together some kind of omelette, when Ashlee staggered from her tent, blinking at the light. I nodded to her, and flipped the omelette. It fell apart instantly, which kinda defeated the purpose. I glared at it, and continued to cook as Ashlee sat down on the ground next to me.

“I still don’t get why the Pokemon like it in your tent.” She said, blinking blearily while staring at the embers created by the fire. I’d lit it before I’d gotten out the cooking things; I was starting to get better at it too.

“Neither do I.” I replied. “Maybe it has something to do with the fact that my tent is bigger than yours or Kat’s.”

It could be the reason as well. Pokemon liked being near one another, which is why eggs usually didn’t hatch unless other Pokemon surrounded them.

“Oh well. They’ll tell us at some point.” Ashlee answered, getting up and going back into her tent, emerging a few minutes later dressed.

Katrina woke up around ten minutes after Ashlee and I had finished our Breakfast and were starting to pack up our things. We had to work together to evacuate all the Pokemon from my tent before I could pack it though.

Seeing as Katrina was moving as fast as a Slakoth this morning, Ashlee and I broke out a game of ‘Goldeen’, using a deck of Pokemon Cards from Katrina’s bag. I’d managed to win six straight games when Katrina finally finished getting ready.

The day started warming up, slowly at first, but it soon got hotter and hotter. By mid-morning, I’d taken off my sleeveless top and was wearing just the blue t-shirt. Katrina had taken off her beanie, and to my astonishment, two purple streaks of hair went down beside her face, having been pinned under the beanie, which was why I hadn’t seen them until now.

Katrina saw my look at grinned. “Just before I was born, my mum was in a play where she had to dye her hair purple. She used ‘Pokedye’ to do it. This was just before it was shut down.” She said to my raised eyebrows.

‘Pokedye’ had been a maker of hair-dyes before it had been shut down because it had been discovered that they were taking the dyes straight from Pokemon fur. It had also been discovered that it could have long-term effects on human babies, teens and sometimes adults. The most common effect was having multicoloured hair, weird coloured eyes and even different coloured-skin. A less common effect was the humans having a slight control over some elements. No great powers though. Just things like creating snowballs from their hands, and fireballs, even having a constant stream of static electricity going over their bodies.

“Anyway, my mum didn’t discover what happened until I was born.” Katrina continued, twirling a finger around the purple strand. “Want any guesses as to what Pokemon dye she used?”

I raised my eyebrow again. “Er, Gengar? Wait, they don’t have blood. Um, Grumpig dye?”

“Nope. Espeon.” Katrina said triumphantly. “It won’t come out. It’s just on that part of my head. It’s completely natural. Sorta.” She grinned, looking ahead.

“Hey! An Oddish!”

“Oddish?” Ashlee barged her way between us and stood, looking at the Oddish. “Let me through!”

Ashlee grabbed a Pokeball from her belt, and was about to throw it when the Oddish jumped, and scampered back into the bush it had been hiding under. Ashlee swore, and stomped into the bush, when she was bashed back onto the path. I blinked in surprise, and walked a few steps over to Ashlee’s side. I looked down at the bush, and down, and down. Shaking my head, I looked again and saw what I’d seen before: a giant hole in the ground.

“Stupid Dugtrio.” I heard Ashlee mutter. I looked sideways and saw her rubbing her shins. I hid a grin and walked over to her, offering her a hand up. She took it, and stood beside me, dusting herself off. After which, she instantly leapt into the bushes to continue her search for the Oddish. Shaking my head from bemusement, I shielded my eyes and looked further up the road. There wasn't much to be seen for a while, apart from some trees that had the will to grow in this country. Rain wasn't exactly common here, but once it came, it could rain for weeks on end. The rain clouds came from Janera, the Region south of here.

After persuading Ashlee to give up looking for the Oddish, we continued up the road. I sent out Psychic waves occasionally, until Ashlee told me to stop doing it.

Mid-day came and went without much notice, apart from the fact we stopped for lunch at some point. I was starting to get bored, when Katrina started singing to herself.

I remained silent, until I figured out what the song was, and grinned. "Makin' My Way" isn't exactly an unknown song to me.

I was just starting to sing along when all of a sudden, I felt my feet, and the ground, drop out from beneath me. And, like Ash Ketchum had so many times in the cartoon, I fell into a pitfall. Being first in line, I was squashed into the ground under the bulk of Katrina and Ashlee. Shoving them off me, I stood and looked upwards, half expecting to hear a female cackling and see a talking Meowth. Instead, I was rewarded with a face full of dirt. Spitting some of the dirt out, I jumped, and aided by telekinesis, landed at the top of the hole, only to discover two teenagers looking at me.

I glared at them, and levitated Kat and Ashlee up behind me. I dropped them on the ground unceremoniously and continued glaring.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I asked them, crossing my arms.

My response was a grin, and suddenly, my mind was under attack. Blinking, I pressed against whatever was attacking me. I was dimly aware of Katrina crumpling beside me, and Ashlee walking forward a few steps at a time. She stopped beside me, and then grabbed my hand, combining our powers. She was under attack too, but she’d fare better than me, all I was good for basically was teleporting and levitation.

<Ashlee’s Point of View>

I almost wanted to laugh. I was stronger than the person who was trying to attack us, but they were putting up a good fight. I barely noticed as Sam gave in the fight and was hurt mentally. Striving against the force in my mind, I pushed back, and watched as the girl facing me was starting to sweat. I did grin now, and used all my power to push back. With satisfaction, I watched the girl fall down. The boy next to her looked startled, grabbing the girl and pointed at Sam and Kat. I hurried to build a mental wall around the two of them, but I wasn’t fast enough. I blocked part of the attack, and Sam’s backpack suddenly turned purple and disappeared, along with the girl and boy.

I gasped; Sam’s Pokemon Egg had been in there! Turning swiftly around, I knelt by Sam and started shaking him, wanting him to wake up. A suddenly cold wind blew, going up my sleeves. I shivered, and decided to take the most direct means to wake Sam up.

Grabbing Artemis’s Pokeball from Sam’s belt, I released the Mudkip. He came out yawning.

“Artemis, can you get Sam up?” I asked him. Artemis slowly grinned, and before I could say another word, a large torrent of water erupted from Artemis’s mouth and hit Sam straight in the face. Sam, awake and thoroughly wet, rolled over, sat up and spat out a mouth full of water.

“Thanks for that Artemis.” Sam said, before starting on a coughing fit again. Rubbing his eyes, he stood up, before realising something was wrong. “Wait, where’s my backpack?”

I bit my lip. “Sam, I’m sorry, they took it.”

“THEY DID WHAT?”

A few hours later, Kat and I hung back as we jogged after Sam. Neither of us exactly wanted his fury directed on us, especially with him having a TWT and being a natural telekinetic.

Research has proven that when a person is feeling an extreme emotion, it can affect their powers. Anger and their powers can double, even triple. So, Sam + Angry + Being a natural Levitator / Teleporter = Probable hurt when being teleported somewhere.

I did feel guilty about letting them get the backpack. Very guilty. As we walked along, well, marched along, I resolved to get Sam’s backpack, and the Egg, back.

A rustle in the grass on both sides of the path caught my attention. Katrina and I looked in the same direction, and suddenly, on either side of us, a Doduo appeared, and streaked off past Sam and down the path. In a field to our left, a flock of Jorei took off, screeching in anger and fear. I turned to look at Sam, and all I got was a flash of blue light. Turning again, I saw another point of blue appear in the field that the Pidgey had been in.

Soon after, Sam teleported back again, looking very dangerous. He had his bag over his back, but I noticed it seemed to be very, well, deflated.

“They took almost everything!” He said, a growl evident in his voice. “When I find them, they’ll soon find themselves in Forenzis!”

I didn’t doubt it. I’d known Sam for only about two days, but I didn’t really want to mess with him. And in this mood, I had a feeling I’d probably end up hanging upside down from a tree.

I sighed and looked down at the ground, and as I did, I saw a small piece of paper appear on the ground between me and Kat. I frowned, and bent, picking it up and unfolding it.

Dear Trainer,

We have your items, Pokeballs, food, and more importantly, your egg.

If you want them back, you have until midnight tonight to find us. If you

don’t, you will get all of your items back, including the egg, but minus a

few things.

Find us, and you will be rewarded.

Yours sincerely,

Trainer Games

I looked at the paper in disbelief. Trainer Games? That was a T.V show that came on every-so-often, and it was fairly popular. In it, two people ‘attack’ a Trainer on a Route, pretend to steal their things and then hide somewhere nearby. I guess we had almost stuffed their game up when I’d fought back. I grinned with satisfaction, and handed the paper to Kat. She took it, giving me a curious glance, and then started reading it. She raised an eyebrow, and then started to grin.

“Ooh! I love treasure hunts!” Kat said, handing the paper back to me and clapped her hands. I shook my head and motioned to Sam, who was pacing back and forth, deep in thought.

Another flash of purple light caught my attention, and I bent down again.

Slippin’, sliding, free fall, flying.

Spinning spirals, strippin’ round.

Reelin’, rollin’, tipping, toeing,

Think we’re going underground.

I grinned again, and just then, Sam burst out an angry yell and ripped the paper up. I rolled my eyes and ignored him. If he wanted to act like a big baby, fine then. I handed this piece to Kat, and then bit my lip, looking around. I knew that song, it was from ‘Wonderland’ on the Pokemon 2000 CD. Why would they write the first lyrics on a paper?

“So, we need to find a cave or something.” Kat murmured, partially to herself, partially to me and Sam.

A cave? Oh, now I get it. I turned red, and hoped that Kat and Sam didn’t notice. I continued my look around, before spying two hills in the distance. They were a fair way off the path, but they could have caves or something.

“How about over there?” I asked, pointing at the hills, which looked very grey from this distance. I saw Sam turn and look, a scowl reappearing on his face. I quickly grabbed Katrina and then Sam’s arm as he teleported.

Well, it got us there quickly, but I can’t say much for what the distance did to Sam. He staggered, his face a weary grey. I released Kat and grabbed Sam and held him upright. He shot me a tired smile, and then stood up straight.

We were right between the two hills. A short walk would take us to either of them. But before we did, I had to help Sam first.

You know, you really shouldn’t do that so much. I told him, opening a link between his mind and mine. A surge of emotion went down our link, and I could feel emotions of anger, tiredness and guilt.

If I wanted your help, I’d ask for it. He retorted crossly. I rolled my eyes and ignored his tone of voice.

Give me your hand, and get ready. I told him. He looked at me, a look of confusion on his face. I shook my head and grabbed his hand, drawing on my telekinetic powers as I did so. Before he could jerk his hand away, I sent some of my power into him, just enough so that he wouldn’t be tired for about an hour or so.

Sam shook himself, look like a Growlithe as his red hair went everywhere. He finally stopped, and looked at me.

“Thanks.” He said gruffly.

“You’re welcome.” I told him simply, turning around. Katrina had already gone to one of the hills, so I ran after her, determined not to be left behind.

The hills were very rocky. Near the top, I could spy what looked like Graveler, a few Geodudes and even a Golem. I looked at them in wonder, before remembering what we had to do. It didn’t look like it would be very easy to scale the hills, but that was if you weren’t telekinetic.

Well, that would be the case if I could actually do it properly. Unlike Sam, I had next to no talent levitating or teleporting. I flew up, feeling like a Pidgey, and the next moment, landed on my backside in a very ungraceful heap. Below me, I heard Katrina release a cackle and I looked over the small edge that prevented her from climbing up after me. I pulled a face at the girl, who pulled one straight back. I stood up, dusted myself off, and was about to take a step when I had to jump to the side to avoid being run over by a rolling Golem. All at once, I was surrounded by rolling rock Pokemon, deciding I’d get nowhere by trying to dodge every one of them, I put up a shield and hoped I could endure the onslaught. Maintaining the shield was hard, but it was harder to maintain it when I saw two Graveler smash into one another with dull thuds. They instantly stopped rolling and keeled over, looking like they had knocked each other out. Fat chance. They were up again seconds later, glaring at each other, and then they curled up in a ‘ball’ and continued on their ways. I was trying hard not to laugh, I was shielding only in front of me. If any Pokemon tried hitting me from the back, I’d be defenceless.

At last, after what felt like fifteen minutes, they stopped rolling, and, tentatively, I let down my shield, just a bit, and raised it just in time to stop one last Geodude. Mind you, I could have just as easily have jumped over it, but that was beside the point. I lowered my shields completely this time, and dashed over to the edge over which the rock Pokemon had been tumbling. I hoped that Katrina hadn’t been hurt. Looking down, I couldn’t see any horrible pools of blood, but that didn’t mean anything.

“Whatcha looking for?” A voice behind me said. I jumped and let out a shriek, whipping around with the firm intention to slap, Katrina?

I let out a sigh of relief, which soon turn to anger.

“What are you trying to do? Kill me?” I demanded, propping my hands on my hips.

“Try? If I mean to kill someone, I do it. I never ‘try’.” Katrina said, grinning. Ignoring my glares aimed at her back, she started trudging up the hill.

I sighed and shook my head. Mentally, I reached out until I hit Sam’s mind pattern. You ok?

Oh sure. He replied, sounding amused, and frustrated. If you count having tons of Donphan, Phanpy and Shuckle rolling past you, going at the same speed of a ‘P’ plater.

Oh, well, in that case, I don’t have anything on you. I was only attacked by many Geodudes, Gravelers and Golems. I shot back at him.

Aaw, poor baby. Does poor widdle baby wanna bottle after she goes for a wie down? Sam retorted, shutting off the link. I made a face at where I thought he was and went off after Kat, to the tip of the hill.

“Slippin’, sliding, free fall, flying.” I repeated to myself. Suddenly, I realised I’d done all of them or had some sort of dealing with them, except one. I’d had to ‘fly’ up to get on the hill, the Rock Pokemon had been sliding down the hill and free fallen over the side of the hill, and I’d yet to experience the slipping.

And just as I thought that, Katrina reached the top of the hill, and promptly disappeared from sight. I blinked, and instantly dash up the hill to get to her. I was out of breath in ten seconds, but I got to the top, and saw nothing out of the ordinary, only a piece of paper attached to a rock. I looked around warily, wondering if Katrina had suddenly been taken by Trainer Challenge or by a bird Pokemon looking for a meal.

Walking forward, I bent to grab the piece of paper, and just as I touched it, a hole appeared beneath my feet, or more specifically, a trap-door. Somehow, I managed to keep a hand on the piece of paper as well, but I fell, sliding down a smooth slope, and appeared out in a cavern. Sam and Kat were there, Sam had a torch. I got to my feet, looking around. It was a very strange, little place here. There wasn’t any visible openings at all, just walls. A steady stream of air came down from two holes in the wall, where Sam, Kat and me must’ve slid down.

“Hmm, that went well.” Sam said, looking up at the roof. I looked up too, following the beam of light. I couldn’t see anything, not that that actually meant anything. I looked down at the paper in my hand, and reached behind me into my bag, into a side pocket that had my torch. Finding it and flicking it on, I read out what was on the paper.

Everybody’s looking for that something.

The thing that makes it all complete.

You find it in the strangest places,

Places you’d never thought it could be.

Some find it in the face of their children.

Some find it in their lover’s eyes.

Who can deny the joy it brings,

When you’ve found that special thing,

You’re flying without wings.

I groaned after I’d finished reading it. Sam had a blank look on his face, while Kat looked thoughtful. I frowned and looked at the paper again, rereading it.

It still didn’t make sense, no matter how I thought of it. We needed better light, but none of our Pokemon knew Flash, not to my knowledge anyway.

It turned out we didn’t need a Pokemon for it. Katrina sighed, and pulled on the top of her torch, which popped up and out of the holder, flooding the cavern with better light. Katrina held it as high as she could above her head, and started wandering around the cavern. I did the same, looking along the walls. We had all completed a full circuit of the walls, when we decided to starting looking at the roof.

“Hey, Sam, why don’t you just teleport us out of here?” Katrina asked, her eyes focused on the roof above her head.

“Because I’ve done enough teleporting for today, and I wouldn’t be able to teleport us unless you would want to have pieces of yourself left behind.” Sam answered, trying not to trip over his own feet as he wandered around.

I sighed, and brushed a lock of hair behind me ear. It was annoying me and I was getting a sore neck. Suddenly, my foot stepped into a hole in the ground, and I fell, putting my arms out in front of me just in time to stop myself from breaking my nose.

My torch rolled away, and stopped, pointed at one of the slides one of us had come from. Below the slide, there was a small space, and in the small space, there was what looked like a small, brown cube. Sam wandered over to me and knelt.

“That was graceful.”

“Shut up or I’ll show you how gracefully I can slap you.” I told him through gritted teeth. I pointed at the space where my foot had been caught. “Keep your torch on that for a second.”

Sam sighed and shuffled his feet, but stayed in the same place anyway. I got up, my knees and forearms hurting. I rubbed them, wincing. I’d taken some skin from my knees and a lot from my arms. Walking over to the slide, I knelt down and grabbed under it, until my fingers came into contact with the box. Grabbing it, I stood up and marched over to my torch, took it and stomped back to Sam.

He raised an eyebrow. “What’re you doing?” He asked, plainly confused.

“This.” And with that, I slammed the box into the hole. My feet left the ground as gravity seemed to disappear, and suddenly the roof opened up to show the sky. I grinned, I was happy now, we were getting out of there. Turning I saw Kat floating, looking so ridiculous I had to laugh. Katrina looked at me and made a face. I stuck my tongue out at her as we emerged in the sunlight. I blinked, my eyes watering from the sudden, strong light. Abruptly, I wasn’t floating anymore and the ground closed. To be plain, we fell. Well, me and Kat fell, Sam floated down to landed delicately on the ground. I groaned, it wasn’t one of my better landings.

There was still a small hole in the ground, and out of it came shooting a small, folded piece of paper. It stopped halfway in the air, and went to Sam’s hand. He unfolded it and looked at it as me and Kat picked ourselves up.

Just look in my eyes and tell me,

You’ve got all that it takes,

And much more.

All you’ve gotta do is ask.

Stop telling me lies and show me,

With every move that you make,

You can score.

Just tell me that you want to play.

You can feel it, but can you steal it?

‘Cause boy I’ve got the magic touch.

Can you beat the best,

With the power you possess?

Will you step up to the fight?

Can you pass the test,

Are you frightened to confess,

That you just can’t get it right.

You can win or lose,

But you’ve gotta pay your dues.

Now what are you going to say?

Do you really wanna play?

<Sam’s Point of View>

I snorted and rolled my eyes. Crumpling the piece of paper, I threw it over my shoulder. “Whoever’s there, come out and fight.” I yelled out. Ashlee and Katrina looked at me in amazement, and then surprise as a man stepped out into the open.

I narrowed my eyes ay him and stepped forward, ignoring the girls on the ground.

The man grinned. “So, you’ve gotten this far, but now I’m gonna stop you here! A two-on-two battle, winner gets a quarter of the other person’s money!”

“Deal.” I said coolly, resisting the urge to pick him up telekinetically and throw him. Grabbing Artemis’s Pokeball from my belt, I threw it to the ground, and Artemis came out in a blue burst of light.

Turning to look at me, he saw the look on my face. He knew I’d accept no nonsense right now.

Opposite me, the man threw an ordinary Pokeball, nothing showed it was any different from any other, but I knew differently when it’s holder came out.

“A Pikachu?” I asked, startled. This guy obviously didn’t know many Pokemon types.

Behind me, I heard someone snorting with laughter, licking up the mistake I had. I grinned savagely. “Ok, Artemis, Water Gun the ground!”

“Uh, ok.” Artemis said, before catching on. “Oh, now I get it!”

Spraying the ground with his water, a small mud-pool quickly formed. The Pikachu looked curiously at Artemis, and then shrugged.

“Whatever’s happening, it won’t help you Fish-breath!” The Pikachu called out.

“Ok Artemis, roll in the mud!” I said, a grin appearing on my face. Artemis shook his head, but obeyed. Jumping into the mud-pool, he was soon completely covered with the brown stuff.

“Trevor! Iron Tail!” The man yelled, pointing at Artemis.

Ok, Artemis, dodge to the right, when I say. I telepathically told the Mudkip. I saw him shake his head. Suddenly the Pikachu, or ‘Trevor’, disappeared, and in an instant, Artemis went flying past me.

I blinked in surprise, and jumped as Trevor suddenly ran at me. I dodged out of the way, just in time to avoid being hit by Trevor’s Iron Tail.

“Oh, did I forget to tell you?” The man said innocently. “So sorry, if you hadn’t been so eager to battle, I might have remembered. You can only win this battle if you hit the other trainer with a physical attack. Not too strong of course, but you get the picture.” The man grinned. I looked at him dumbfounded, when a flash of yellow caught my attention from the corner of my eye. I jumped and levitated, Trevor’s tackle missing me by centimetres. I stayed in the air, panting. I wouldn’t be able to stay up here very long; the day’s teleporting was definitely catching up with me.

I looked down, glaring at the Pikachu beneath me. He sat there, an evil grin all over its face. It was suddenly knocked out of the way by a large torrent of water. I sighed with relief, and let myself down.

Artemis dashed beneath my feet just as I was about to touch down. My feet went in his direction, just as my powers went out. I landed on my back heavily, looking up at the sky.

An electrical bolt bouncing along the ground caught my attention. Turning my head sideways, I saw it coming slowly closer to me, and every time it hit the ground, it got smaller.

I blinked, and then rolled over, just in time to go in one of the bolt's arches, and thus, avoided being electrocuted. I groaned and got slowly up, staggering as I did. Artemis was putting up a good fight against Trevor, they were fairly evenly matched. Trevor's lightning attacks couldn't work against Artemis, and Artemis was relying on his brute force. Trevor was fast enough to dodge Artemis's tackles, but he couldn't land a hit without being sprayed with mud or water.

Seeing Trevor was occupied, I called up my last reserves of telekinesis.

"Artemis! Aim a Water Gun at the man! It's part of the rules, if me or the man gets hit, the other person wins the battle!"

Acting almost instantly, Artemis wheeled around and sprayed a torrent of water at the man. The man wasn't expecting this, and the torrent blasted him back, into a rock. I winced in sympathy, and then stepped to the right as Trevor tried tackling me.

"This battle is over!" A voice announced. From behind the rock that the man had been blasted into, a woman appeared. "I declare Sam Sapphire the winner. Here is your prize." She said, holding out a bit of paper. I collapsed to me knees, breathing heavily.

Ashlee stepped forward and grabbed the card from the woman. The woman nodded, and then walked back to the man, grabbed his arm and instantly teleported away.

Don't you know you talk too much?

Don't you know you're outta touch?

Gotta win, no room to fall,

Means I've gotta catch 'em all.

Can't you see this game is made,

You are you, let me be,

'Cause I don't care who you are,

Don't you take away the cards.

I groaned. That was from 'Blah, Blah, Blah' a song on the Pokemon 2000 soundtrack. Putting my head in my hands, I fought off the need for sleep, and lot's of it.

A hand settled on my shoulder, and a coolness entered into my head. Looking up, I saw Ashlee giving me some more of her strength.

"You'd better not do that again." I warned her. "Otherwise it'll be YOU passing out."

She nodded and smiled grimly, her face pale. She rocked on the soles of her feet for a second, and suddenly returned to normal. "Ok, let's figure out what THIS song's double meaning is."

"Cards, cards." Katrina muttered to herself. With part of strength back, I stood up, wondering the same thing.

Cards, Trading Card Game? Cards, Playing Cards? Cards, wait!

"Hey, isn't the Pokemon Card Master of the World Mark Hydragin?" I asked slowly.

"Yeah."

"So, think. Cards, Mark Hydragin. Is there any field or Meadow around here got a Mark or a Hydragin in their name?" I asked, building up steam now.

"Wait, I'll check." Katrina said, putting her hand down the front of her shirt and grabbing her Poke-Nav. She flicked it open, and then it started making beeping noises. "No, there isn't. There aren't any rivers or streams even. Just a place called the Kingdra Waterhole."

"Kingdra Waterhole. Oh, I'm an idiot." I said to myself quietly. "That's where we go. Hydragin, Hydrogen! And what does hydrogen help make up?"

Ashlee's face broke into a proper smile. "With oxygen, water! Good going Sam. Ok Kat, which way do we go?"

"West, back along the Route. Apparently that little pond we camped beside last night WAS the Kingdra Waterhole." She said, an expression of disdain upon her face.

"I'm gonna be killing the people in charge of Trainer Games." I said, through gritted teeth.

So, what did people think? Was it any good? Sorry that this took so long. If you want this updated sooner, just send emails to me. My email is easy, just add an @hotmail.com to my username.

Ok, C ya's!