Redstreak Orphan Part 14: by Pitriboy    OT      "On the Way to the Next Badge"

We ran and ran. We had to catch the S.S. Wave Rider. The boat was on the dock and the door was starting to close. "Wait for us!" Willis cried.
     The person who was closing the door stopped and smiled at us. We flashed our tickets and ran inside, quickly. Willis, Lizzie and I were out of breath. "We made it," Willis muttered. "I thought the boat was gonna leave without us."
     "Well, as soon as this boat gets to the next town, I can compete for my fourth gym badge ," I told Willis and Lizzie.
     They smiled and nodded. "And look," Lizzie said. "Free food."
     She walked over to the buffet and got a plate. She loaded meat and veggies onto her plate. 
     Pikachu dug into some Pokemon food in my backpack. I looked around. There were a lot of kids standing around and just bragging about their Pokemon.
     "My Jigglypuff is cuter than your Oddish," a boy said to a girl.
     "No way. My Oddish is loads cuter," the girl snapped back.
     I watched the two of them argue until they finally walked away from each other. I looked over and saw a bunch of people cheering and clapping. "I wonder what's going on," Lizzie muttered. The two of us got to the front of the crowd and watched as a Machop Low Kicked a Mankey.
     Mankey was smacked hard and he fell to the ground, knocked out. A girl returned her Mankey. "Now give me your money!" the man bellowed. He glared at the little girl. This man must have been 30 years old. The girl took all the money out of her purse and reluctantly gave it to him. The man sneered as he counted through a lot of $5 bills.
     "No one can beat Patrick," someone whispered.
     So his name was Patrick. I watched, sickened as he counted through the money he had beat little kids for. "He probably won't fight someone his age and who  has as good Pokemon as he does," Lizzie said. "He probably doesn't have the ba,--" she was cut off as Patrick made an announcement.
     "The next person who can come up here and defeat me, I will give all of this money to," he announced.
     I smiled. "I'll challenge you!" I yelled. I pulled a random Pokeball from my pocket and faced off against him. "I choose Cubone."
     Cubone popped out of his Pokeball and stared at Machop. The two Pokemon faced off. Machop immediately went after Cubone. He jumped on Cubone and started to punch him.
     "Cubone, Rollout!" I ordered. Cubone rolled over and Machop was thrown off. Cubone then curled up and spun at Machop. Machop was struck in the face and then he fell hard to the ground.
     "Machop, get up and use a Mega Punch." Machop punched Cubone again and then Cubone turned to use a Bone Club. This attack made such a loud noise, there was a loud screech in the boat from so many people yelling.
     "Woody, Woody, Woody," the kids cheered. Even the cooks smiled as Cubone continuously beat the living crap out of Machop. No one had manhandled Machop like that before.
     "Machop, Seismic Toss!" Patrick ordered. Machop grabbed Cubone's bone. Cubone ran towards Machop, but Machop hit Cubone in the head with the bone and threw the bone into the air.
     "Bonebarang!" I ordered. Cubone lifted his hand. The bone glowed white and turned back around. It nailed Machop and Machop staggered around.
     Cubone bent down and prepared for a Skull Bash, but Patrick rose his hand in the air.
     "Enough. I declare this match a draw!" he ordered.
     Everyone booed and threw food and trash at him. Patrick covered himself up. "I was winning!" I protested. "You just stopped the match because you didn't wanna lose all that money. So you declared it a draw so you wouldn't hafta admit you lost to a child."
     "Shut up!" Patrick yelled. "I don't have to answer any questions. You wouldn't have won anyway."
     "YES, HE WOULD!" everyone yelled in unison.
     Patrick shook his head. "Nah, you wouldn't."
     "Coward!" Willis yelled. Patrick returned Machop and jogged through the boat.

Lizzie, Willis and I sat in our cabin. I paced around the little room on the boat and cursed under my breath. "I am gonna get at Patrick. I'm going to get back at him if it is the last thing I ever do. And I'm gonna take all the money that he owes me. That bastard..."
     "Lighten up," Lizzie said. "He'll probably come around and give you the money that you should have. If not I'm sure we can figure out something."
     "What you should be focusing on is getting your next badge," Willis told me. "Your next one is in the next city."
     I nodded and sat down. "Well,--" I was cut off when there was an explosion. It came from the Main Hall.
     We ran into the room and gasped. Many rockets had burst in through the walls and ceilings. There was a tornado outside. The rockets all held guns at us. "Hey!" they yelled. "Give us your Pokemon and no one will get hurt!"
     No one seemed afraid. There were 30 or 35 of them and over 100 of us. "We don't think so!" Lizzie cried. "Marill, I choose you!"
     Marill popped out of the ball. About 10 other trainers sent out the Marill. I had seen Ash Ketchum do this in a similar scenario on TV. I knew that was our plan.
     The Marill's made a pyramid and shot a huge Water Gun at the Rockets. One of them was pushed against the wall and soaked. No one cared about unity anymore. We all sent out random Pokemon.
     My Scyther slashed a Rocket in the chest. He fell to the ground and clutched the area where he had been slashed.
     A girl's Poliwag slapped 2 Rockets over and over again until their faces were red and they were begging for mercy. Lizzie's Marill used Iron Tail on a Rocket. The Rocket was struck hard in the neck and then fell abruptly to the ground and right on top of Pikachu. Pikachu used a Thundershock. The Rocket yelled. His hair stuck straight up. Sparks flew.
     Willis's Weepinbell used Stun Spore on 2 Rockets and a boy's Electrode rolled right into them and knocked them over like bowling pins.
     Pokemon attacks were flying everywhere.
     Eventually all of the Rockets were lying knocked out on the floor. Finally I sent out Noctowl. Lizzie sent out Butterfree. The two Pokemon used Twister. The Rockets went flying through the roof. I watched as the 30 some Rockets flipped through the air and eventually out of view.
     "Awesome. We got rid of them," Willis said. We all slapped high five's and several other trainers cheered. The boat shook again. This time, I was struck with something hard. I was knocked out.

I had been knocked out A LOT during my journey as a Pokemon trainer. But I was never knocked out this long. When I awoke, I looked at my watch. 4 hours had passed. I looked up.
     "Good. You're awake," Lizzie said. "I was worried."
     "What happened?" I asked, rubbing my head. I saw that I had a bandage on the side of my face. I must have been bleeding.
     "The boat. We hit something. The boat -- well, we-- I mean to say..."
     Willis finished for her. "The boat sank and I don't think anyone else is on the boat. So, technically -- we are trapped on here."
     I ran to the window and looked out. We must have sunk deep because I didn't see any light. However I saw a lot of sea Pokemon. A Seaking swam by and so did a Magikarp. Willis was looking on my laptop. All of our stuff was lying around us. Our things were soaked.
     I banged my fist against the window. I didn't expect it to break, but I was angry. The window didn't even crack. "Ouch," I said quietly and rubbed my hand.
     "Well, we can't just stay here," Lizzie said. "We hafta go up and find a way out of here."

Willis and Kio were soaking wet. They walked around on the boat. "We hafta get out of here somehow," Kio said.
     "I can't believe those traitors just left us here," Willis said.
     "No," Kio said. "Those kids attacked them. It's the twerps' fault that we are stuck here."

We walked through a corridor. Pikachu hang onto my shoulder. He then climbed on. The floors had puddles of water everywhere. There were cracks in the window from the water pressure. "I can't believe it..."
     "Well, I dunno about you but I'm gonna find a way out," I said. "And then I'm gonna use Lapras to swim me up to the water surface."
     "How do you know that'll work?" Lizzie asked.
     "I don't know if it'll work or not," I muttered. "But I saw Ash Ketchum do it on TV."
     I tried to push open the door, but it was hard. It took all 3 of us plus Pikachu to get it open. Eventually it creaked open and water poured into the room. We were up to our ankles in water.
     "I choose Marill," Lizzie said. She held a Pokeball up. Marill appeared out of it in a flash of white light. "Marill, how far underwater are we?"
     Marill stuck her tail straight up in the air. "Whoah..." Willis and I muttered in unison.
     Marill opened her eyes and put her tail down. She talked to Pikachu. Pikachu turned to us. "Pikachu, Pikachu," it said. (Marill tested the pressure and said we are over 300 feet under.)
     I translated for them. They all groaned. Suddenly, a hand clamped me on the shoulder. I yelled and spun around.
     "Prepare for troub--" the man started.
     "It's Team Rocket!" Willis yelled. "What are you 2 losers doing here?"
     "We stole some tickets," Kio said. He squeezed his hair and water dripped out. "The other TR members said we'd mess everything up if we joined them to attack you guys."
     "Well, you've done a pretty good job of messing up everyone's lives," Lizzie said.
     "You guys get on my nerves," Julius said. "It's time for a Pokemon battle!"                                                   


TO BE CONTINUED...