As Autumn and Candida made their way through the network of tubes that connected Aquarius together, they swapped life stories. The two girls were near the same age, Autumn being the elder by five months, and it was already clear that they were going to be close friends even though their hometowns were miles apart - Autumn and her family had lived in a town called Whitebeam City before coming to Aquarius - and it was unlikely they would have met under normal circumstances. They had Pokemon, Autumn's Pikachu and Candida's Lapras and Togetic, but the idea of going on Badge-collecting journeys had never occurred to either of them.
"Actually, I've only lived in Johto for the last two years," Autumn was saying as she patted the Pikachu in her arms. "I was born in Petalburg City, see?" Candida nodded her understanding, recalling that Petalburg City was in Hoenn - which, she reasoned, would explain Autumn's accent. She had never left Johto in her life, apart from a weekend trip to Viridian City with her school, and certainly hadn't ventured as far afield as Hoenn . . .
"What was it like?" she asked at length.
"What was what like?"
"Petalburg City," Candida replied. "Did you have many friends there? Was there a Pokemon Gym?"
"It was . . ." Autumn paused for a second. "It was a great place to live - I had loads of friends there. But I had to leave them all when Dad got a new job in Johto - mind you, I've been keeping in touch, letting them know how things are going. As for Pokemon Gyms, the one at Petalburg uses Normal Types . . ."
"Same as the Gym in Goldenrod," Candida observed as she and Autumn continued their trek through the undersea complex. By now, the two girls were in the communal area of Aquarius, the place where all the families chosen to live in the underwater city could meet and get to know each other. It was pretty much empty right now, presumably because most people were still getting settled, but a small crowd of teenagers had congregated in what seemed to be a recreation area . . .
-------------------------------------------
One of the youngsters, a tall brown-haired boy in jeans and a basketball shirt, spotted Candida and Autumn and called them over. "Hey, you two!" he shouted. "Come join us!" Candida studied him closely; she didn't recall seeing him in the Aquaboat, so he had to be one of the Kanto contingent, one of those who had sailed to Aquarius from the port in Vermilion City.
"Hey yourself!" she called back as she and Autumn made their way towards the group he was part of. This consisted of the boy who had hailed them; another, slightly younger, boy; two girls of around sixteen and a third boy who bore a strong resemblance to one of the girls. All five youngsters nodded towards the newcomers as they took up position in the group and the air was soon filled with introductions.
"I'm Autumn from Whitebeam City," Autumn volunteered, patting her Pikachu as she spoke. "And this is Candida from . . ." She paused as she tried to recall where Candida had said she came from.
"Cherrygrove City," Candida supplied. "And you lot are?"
"I'm Kevin," said the boy who had called them over. "I train Dark Type Pokemon. I think they're real cool - wanna see?" Without waiting for a reply, he pulled out three Poke Balls and released the Pokemon housed within. With brief flashes of light, the forms of a Houndour, a Sneasel and a Murkrow materialised and gathered around their trainer. Kevin patted the Houndour and Sneasel on their heads and allowed the Murkrow to fly up onto his shoulder.
"My name's Kelly," said one of the two girls, the one with red hair who wore a grey skirt and navy blue crop-top with the words Cool Chick emblazoned on it in silver thread. She was the one who resembled one of the boys, whom she now introduced as "my brother, Jeremy - he's a pain in the butt at times."
"I know what you mean," Candida laughed, her mind straying to Ryan. "I've got a brother too."
-----------------------------------
"So, what Pokemon do you guys have?" Kevin asked at length, gazing round at his companions. His own Pokemon had settled around the table the youngsters were sitting around, the Houndour reclining at Kevin's feet while the Murkrow perched on the back of Kevin's chair and the Sneasel sat on the table. Like Pokemon trainers everywhere, the youngsters enjoyed nothing better than comparing Pokemon and that was what had prompted Kevin's question.
"I've just got this Pikachu," Autumn replied as the small yellow Electric Type scampered off her shoulder and went to speak to Kevin's Sneasel. A brief pause followed as everyone listened to the two Pokemon going "pika pikachu" and "sneasel sneasel" and speculated about what they might be saying. There were few who had managed to interpret the mysteries of Pokemon speech, although many trainers did learn to understand their Pokemon's wishes and desires.
Next, Kelly pulled out four Poke Balls and released a Skiploom, an Aipom, a Delibird and a Clefable, all of whom were female except for the Aipom. "This is Drifter," Kelly explained, indicating the Skiploom hovering in mid-air. "Skiplooms drift on the breeze, you see. And that's Cheeky - the Aipom; the Clefable is called Pinky . . ." She paused to extract Cheeky, who had tangled himself in her hair while she was speaking.
"And the Delibird?" Candida asked.
"Just Delibird - I couldn't think of a suitable nickname. Mind you, I don't think Delibird minds too much." As if to confirm Kelly's words, Delibird got to her feet and performed a little dance on the tabletop as Jeremy pulled out his one Poke Ball and prepared to release its contents.
Before he could do so, Kelly grabbed his arm and forced it down. "Oh no, Jeremy!" she said sternly. "Not when I've got Drifter out . . ."
Jeremy muttered something in which the others could just make out the words "bossy-boots", but he put his Poke Ball away all the same. "My Charmeleon," he told the others. "Trouble is it doesn't get along with Kelly's Skiploom so I can't let it out when Drifter's around."
Next, the other girl - her name was Sandra - pulled out two Poke Balls and pressed the button on one of them to release a Wooper; The small Water/Ground Pokemon promptly hopped onto the table beside Autumn's Pikachu, Kelly's Delibird and Kevin's Sneasel as Sandra prepared to let out her other Pokemon. This proved to be one of the rarest of all non-Legendary Pokemon, a Dratini, a blue Dragon Pokemon that had once been classed as Legendary until an actual colony was found. "W - where did you get that?" asked Autumn, indicating the Dratini. Few trainers had even seen a Dratini, Dragonair or Dragonite, much less managed to catch one . . .
"At the Dragon's Den," Sandra replied. "I live in Blackthorn City and they're famous for their Dragon Pokemon - they even have this festival every year where they choose a local girl to be the Dragon Queen . . ."
At length, Kelly turned to Candida and the third boy to ask why neither of them had let out their Pokemon yet . . .
----------------------------------------
Candida flushed; she had been so wrapped up in admiring the Pokemon belonging to Kelly and the others that she had forgotten about her own Pokemon. She took out her Togetic's Poke Ball and prepared to activate it. "This is Togetic," she explained as the graceful Flying Pokemon emerged and perched herself on her trainer's shoulder. "I've got a Lapras as well, but that needs to be in water so I can't let it out here . . ." Candida examined Lapras' Poke Ball for a few seconds before slipping it back into her pocket.
"No problem," said the third boy, who hadn't spoken until then. "You can let your Lapras out In the swimming pool. There's one just round the corner, well two really - one's for Water Pokemon."
"How do you know that?" asked Autumn.
"Because I train Water Pokemon, so the first thing I did when I got here was find out if there was somewhere they could exercise," the boy replied. He had short light-brown hair and wore blue jeans and a t-shirt in a darker shade of blue. Round his waist he wore what appeared to be a belt-purse with two round bulges in the money compartment; evidentally, this was where he kept his Poke Balls. Many trainers liked to have their Poke Balls somewhere they could be easily reached at short notice. "Sorry," he added as he realised he hadn't introduced himself, "my name's Marc - Marc Turner."
"Well, let's get down to the pool," said Sandra. "I think Wooper and Dratini would like a swim too, wouldn't you?" She directed the last two words at her Pokemon, who nodded vigorously. "Then . . . return!" she commanded as she pointed the Poke Balls at Wooper and Dratini, who vanished into the Balls in a flash of light. The others - with the exception of Autumn, whose Pikachu didn't travel in a Poke Ball, and Marc and Jeremy, who hadn't let their Pokemon out at all - followed her lead and they headed in the direction Marc had indicated . . .
---------------------------------------
Marc led the others towards the swimming pool nearest the door. This was filled with just about every Water Pokemon imaginable, all of whom were splashing about under the watchful eyes of several humans who could only be their trainers. Among other Pokemon, there was a graceful Goldeen whose fins flowed behind her like a skirt, a Psyduck lazily swimming a backstroke, a Totodile showing off for the benefit of a nearby Quagsire, an Octillery propelling itself along on jets of water and even a Sharpedo. Candida gazed at the shark-like Pokemon; she had heard of Sharpedos from wildlife documentaries on tv, but this was the first time she had seen one in the flesh.
"What are you waiting for, Candida?" Sandra demanded as she released her Wooper and Dratini. "Let out your Lapras!"
Candida then remembered why they had come down to the pool and pulled out Lapras' Poke Ball. She held it out over the water and opened it, causing her Lapras to appear in a blaze of light as Marc summoned his own Pokemon nearby. These proved to be a Seadra and a Squirtle. The former promptly drew back her head and gave her trainer a playful squirt of water from the end of her snout.
"Oh, Seadra!" Marc said with mock exasperation as his t-shirt was quickly soaked. "Seadra's always doing that," he explained to the others. "That's its way of showing affection."
Candida knelt beside the pool and allowed her Lapras to swim right up to her so she could scratch the Water Pokemon under the chin the way she liked. Lapras closed her eyes and made a soft musical sound of the sort a contented Lapras makes. Then, as she had often done while exercising Lapras around Cherrygrove Bay, Candida grabbed one of the bony projections on Lapras' shell and hauled herself onto her back. She had ridden on Lapras many times, although Lydia had forbidden her from doing so unaccompanied until she had learned to swim reasonably well, and always found doing so extremely relaxing. There was something about just sitting back and letting your Pokemon take you across any stretch of water . . .
"You and that Lapras seem real close," Kelly observed as Candida steered Lapras to the water's edge for a moment. "You had it long?"
"Since I was two," Candida answered, before explaining about how her parents had helped a mother Lapras who was egg-bound and reared the baby themselves while her mother was recovering. "My earliest memory is of riding it with my mum - I must have been about five or six then."
She climbed off Lapras and walked over to the others - Autumn, Jeremy, Kelly, Marc, Sandra and Kevin, kids she had only recently met but who already felt like old friends. Clearly, life in Aquarius wasn't going to be too bad; at least there would be plenty of other Pokemon trainers for her to hone Togetic's and Lapras' battle techniques against . . .
----------------------------------
At first, life in the underwater city passed by uneventfully - unless you counted the day an inquisitive Igglybuff belonging to one of the younger children in the complex wandered into the room that housed the generators which converted the energy from the waves into electricity and got locked in. But all that changed the day Marc and Kevin, who had become close friends during the last few weeks, decided that it might be fun to take a look "behind the scenes". What this meant was going into those areas that Wilson and the other Aquarius staff had placed strictly off-limits to unauthorised personnel.
It was Kevin, who already had a reputation for being a rebel, who came up with the idea while the teenaged population of Aquarius were having Pokemon battles one afternoon. He had just been defeated by a boy who trained Fire Pokemon and used his Quilava, Magmar and Combusken to devastating effect and was sitting at a table with Marc - who was waiting for his turn - sipping Cokes and watching out of the corner of his eye as Autumn's Pikachu battled another girl's Delcatty. The beautiful cat-like Pokemon with cream fur and purple ears looked somewhat like an Eevee evolution, but the Pokedex stated that it had no relationship to Eevee and its evolved forms and instead evolved from a tiny red and cream Pokemon called Skitty . . .
"Hey, Marc," Kevin said after a while. "I've just had an idea! You know those areas we're not allowed in? The ones with NO ENTRY signs plastered all over the doors?"
"Well, what about them?" asked Marc, who had his Squirtle's Poke Ball out ready for when his name was called. Seadra would not be much use here since the battle wasn't taking place around the pool, so her Poke Ball was stashed in Marc's belt-purse.
Kevin grinned mischieviously and leaned across the table to whisper in his friend's ear. "Well I've been thinking we should take a look inside, see what goes on behind the scenes at this place . . ."
"Are you serious?!" Marc demanded. "We could get in trouble for doing . . ."
He was cut off by an announcement over the speakers set up around the arena; while he and Kevin had been talking, the battle had been decided when Autumn's Pikachu used a Thunderbolt Attack on the Delcatty. "And that's victory to Autumn and her Pikachu!" announced the man who had been appointed as referee as the Delcatty's trainer recalled her Pokemon. "Next up we have Kelly O'Hare and Candida Benson!"
-----------------------------------
"Er . . . great battle, Autumn," Kevin stammered as Autumn and her Pikachu sat down beside him and Marc. He hoped she wouldn't realise the two boys had not been watching the battle at all. "Listen," he went on, "there's something I'd like to discuss . . ."
But Autumn cut him short. "Can't it wait until after Candida and Kelly have had their battle?" she asked as the two girls entered the arena and stood facing each other. There was no question that Candida would use her Togetic since Lapras could only battle in water, but which of Kelly's Pokemon would be chosen to oppose her?
The answer came when Kelly picked out a Poke Ball and sent it spinning through the air with a shout of "Go, Delibird!" A brief flash of light followed and Kelly's Delibird stood in the arena looking prepped for battle.
Candida had Togetic's Poke Ball ready in an instant. "Togetic, I choose you!" she called as she threw the Ball and it burst open with a flash of light that faded to reveal a Togetic hovering in mid-air. Then, she nodded to Kelly from across the arena to give the other girl permission to make the opening move.
Kelly did not need telling twice - when it came to Pokemon battles, it often helped to be able to strike first. "OK, Delibird," she said, "let's kick off with a Swift Attack!" In response, Delibird clapped her wings together and a volley of golden stars appeared as if from nowhere and began shooting directly towards Candida's Togetic.
Candida thought fast, trying to decide on the best strategy for fighting a Delibird with a Togetic. She had never battled against one of the quirky-looking Ice/Flying Pokemon before so all she had to go on was theory. Swift, she recalled, was a deadly accurate Attack and could hit Pokemon even if they tried to take evasive action . . .
"Togetic, let's play 'em at their own game!" she told her Pokemon. "Use your Swift Attack!"
Now stars were flying from Togetic as well and colliding with those Delibird had already released. The two Pokemon were fairly evenly matched in terms of battle experience, but Togetic had the advantage of being a Normal/Flying Pokemon using a Normal Type Attack and attack power tended to be greater if the Pokemon was the same Type as the move it used. Consequently, it did not take long for Togetic's barrage of stars to start pushing Delibird's back . . .
"Don't give up, Delibird!" Kelly urged when she saw her Pokemon was in trouble. "Try your Icy Wind!"
The temperature of the air suddenly seemed to drop and Candida felt herself shivering as a gust of cold wind blew from Delibird to Togetic. She had to think fast - Flying Type Pokemon like Togetic had a weakness against Ice Type moves so she had to do something to make sure Togetic wouldn't take too much damage. "Togetic, Protect!" she ordered as Togetic struggled to stay airborne in the face of the onslaught from Delibird.
Togetic's body glowed and an invisible barrier formed around her, shielding her from Delibird's Attack. But Kelly wasn't about to give up and quickly called on Delibird to switch strategies and use Fly. In response, Delibird flew up to the ceiling with every neck in the room craned to watch as Togetic followed hot on her heels. Both Pokemon collided in mid-air but shook themselves and resumed battling.
As Delibird and Togetic circled each other, an idea occurred to Candida. It was a risky move, one that could cost her the match if it failed, but it might also be what finally decided things. "Togetic, try your Metronome!" she called, noticing that Delibird seemed to be bracing herself for another Swift Attack. No-one knew quite how Metronome worked, only that it allowed any Pokemon who could use it to use any known Pokemon Attack regardless of whether or not it could actually learn that move. The only drawback was that the trainer had no control over which Attack was used . . .
Togetic waved her tiny arms and everyone waited to see what would happen next. As it turned out, they didn't have long to wait before Togetic opened her mouth and a hot stream of fire blasted towards Delibird, striking her full on the flank before Kelly had chance to tell her to counter-attack or at least dodge out of the way. It was all over. As Delibird plummetted to the ground, Kelly quickly readied her Poke Ball.
"Delibird, return!" she ordered, drawing the Ice/Flying Pokemon into the Ball as the referee announced the result.
"And Togetic Metronomes a Flamethrower to knock Delibird out of the air. Victory to Togetic's trainer, Candida Benson!"
--------------------------------------
At the table she, Marc and Kevin were sitting around, Autumn patted her Pikachu and turned to the two boys. "So what was it you wanted to talk about?" she asked.