Chapter Three
Of Friends and Enemies

I dropped Violet’s pokeball onto the floor and the Rattata appeared in a flash, stretching and yawning. She stood up on her hind legs and began to groom herself. I frowned. She seemed to do that a lot. I mean, she was well-behaved and pretty smart but once it started to drizzle, she bluntly refused to walk on the ground. The clouds above were pretty heavy and it looked like it was going to rain again pretty soon, so I’d have to be quick and scan her highness’s stats pretty quickly. I removed a pokedex from my pocket and pointed it towards Violet, a stream of rainbow light shot from the pokedex and wrapped itself around her.
”Violet, female Rattata, age adult…yer, I know all that already! Show me the damn levels, you bloody machine,” I growled as the pokedex seemed to be purposefully taking its time. Ok, that was crazy but it seemed like it. Damn, why did I have to keep the pokedex I was issued four damn years ago on my tenth birthday? This thing was as old as the hills and it was really slow. It didn’t even go online or nothing.
”Level nine!” I proclaimed proudly as the result finally appeared onscreen. Sheesh, only took my entire life. Alright, that was some good training. Krankz was level eleven and Violet was level nine. I didn’t know how Krankz just didn’t care about the levels, I mean as much as he jabbered on and on about the levels being dumb it didn’t change the fact that the higher your level was, the stronger you were.
“I don’t understand why the levels are so important to you, Trudi,” the Rattata commented coolly. I gave her an odd look, this rat seemed very calm about being caught and taken from her home.
“I don’t see why your fur is so important to you,” I grumbled. ”Well, a good coat attracts a prospective mate. A good mate, means a good litter and female Rattata should pride herself on being able to give birth to at least fifty strong offspring,” she responded, still freaking me out a bit. Why the hell did she seem so smart and calm about this? Ah well, I suppose it didn’t really matter. I was just lucky to catch such a tame wild Pokemon. Har, tame wild Pokemon. Now that’s an oxymoron.
”Well…yeah…but if your level is high, I’ve got a better chance of kicking ass in battle.”
“Touché,” Violet responded, leaping onto a wall that ran to the gate of Seashell Village. I stared, touché? What the hell was touché meant to mean? This was one hella scary Rattata. I jogged along to the sign just outside the gates proclaiming itself ‘Seashell Village – Where the Sea Breeds Strength’. It sounded pretty dumb if you ask me, but all towns and villages had these really stupid slogans. Well, that’s one way to get foreigners to disrespect you, proudly call your town ‘The Purple Gem of Nache!’ or something.
“Are we heading into the town?” Violet asked, standing on her hind legs and grooming her tail with her front paws.
”Yeah, return,” I replied, returning Violet to her pokeball. I entered the village and started to look about. It was small and idyllic, to a path on the right I could smell baked goods being sold in a market and my mouth began to water. I already wanted to eat something nice and hot. I looked forward and the only thing there was a paved white circle with a dark blue pokeball emblem on it. Boring. I wanted the food. Happily walking down the path, I bought myself a steaming pie and ate it merrily as I walked back to the centre when some idiot bumped into me and the pie slipped out of my hand, onto the floor.
”Hey, you idiot!” I yelled, “Watch where you’re going!”
I was very annoyed at this guy; he just decides to shove past me like some jerkwad? Who did he think he was? The boy turned and I noticed how very…big he was. He had dark brown hair was slicked back by gel and his thick eyebrows seemed to pull his dark eyes into a permanent glare. He was wearing a white shirt underneath a red jacket with ripped sleeves and his jeans were town at the rim and had fake slash marks pulled through them. Sheesh, I hated clothes like that. I mean, why would you buy something new that look like an angry cat attacked it?
“Excuse me?” he bellowed. I winced and stepped back slightly, “Do you know who you’re talking to, runt? I’m Brand, the hottest, coolest guy in Seashell Village!”
Runt…that struck a nerve.
”Hey, I ain’t no runt! I’m all muscle, I tell yer! And if you’re the hottest dude around here, I’d hate to see the ugliest one!” I roared back angrily. A few people who were watching snickered, but most stayed quiet apparently afraid of this Brand guy.
“Alright, muscles! Just hand me those pokeballs and I’ll leave you be!” he growled menacingly, making a snatch for the pokeballs at my belt. I swerved out the way and gave him an open-palm punch to the cheek. It wasn’t a slap, it was an open palm punch damnit!
“Alright, that’s it runt!” he yelled and grabbed me by the front of my vest-top and hauled me off the ground, bringing back his fist to hit me in the face. I instantly bit his arm and he yelped, dropping me on the floor.
“Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!” a few kids began to chant and soon enough a crowd of teenagers had gathered around us. Brand shoved me to the floor and kicked me hard in the ribs. I winced and leapt to my feet again, hitting him square between the shoulder blades. Brand grabbed my arm with his huge fist and pulled it back and burning pain seared up my arm. Ow! Oh sweet Celebi, it wasn’t broken was it? I kneed him between the legs and twisted free of his grip. I grabbed a pokeball from my belt and released whatever was inside. Violet appeared on the floor, her whiskers twitching and her fangs glinting menacingly in the sunlight.
”A Pokemon battle, eh?” Brand said with a smirk, “Numel!”
He released a strange Pokemon in front of him. It was sort of like a big pile of yellow dirt, apart from the face it had four stubby legs, and a head with a glazed, bored expression on it’s face. The top of the pile it’s skin turned green and a small hole was at the tip, it looked sorta like a mini volcano on legs.
“Flamethrower!” he yelled.
”Uh…Brand, I don’t know how to use Flamethrower,” Numel responded sheepishly, “Eh, Ember will work just as good.”
Numel stepped back slowly and released a weak, crimson red flame from his mouth, which hit Violet since she was looking slightly confused and unaware of what was going on. The Rattata growled angrily and shook herself, soot flying from her thick, lavender fur. She glanced back and I understood, her fur was blackened at the end and severely burnt down. The Rattata leapt towards the fire-type angrily and sunk her teeth into the Numel’s neck. The Pokemon stood still for a moment, eyes dimly staring forward until realisation sunk in and the Pokemon threw itself to the side, slamming on top of Violet. The Rattata squealed in pain and wriggled free, turning around and stood in a battle stance. The Numel stared densely at the rat Pokemon, looking somewhat nervous.
“Violet…err…erm…use…erm...Surf!” I yelled stupidly. Violet gave me a look that quite clearly said ‘Trudi, you’re an idiot’. I slapped myself, why did I say it? It was possibly the dumbest thing to say. However, Brand seemed taken aback. Well…err…that was the idea in the first place. Yeah. To confuse Brand. That makes sense. The boy eyed the Rattata cautiously when suddenly the purple rodent zipped forward, becoming a dark lilac blur as the rodent jumped forward and struck the slow-moving fire type on the side. The Numel fell to it’s side and blinked dimly, seemingly not really taking in just what happened. I stared, man that was one dumb Pokemon. Finally, something clicked and the Numel rapidly rocked from side to side and manage to flip onto his stubby feet.
”Numel, go try another Flamethrower!” Brand commanded.
“It seems that both of our trainers are incredibly stupid,” Violet commented.
”Hey!” I folded my arms. Lovely. Called by my own pet rat.
Numel plodded towards Violet and the rat Pokemon quickly jumped over him and a bizarre, slow-moving game of tag began. Basically Violet waited until she was nearly in range, before just leaping away with a Quick Attack to annoy her enemy. What the hell was she doing, wasting time like this?”
”Violet, quit wastin’ time ‘nd attack!” I yelled angrily. Violet Quick Attacked her way onto my shoulder.
”Listen, I’m tiring the Pokemon out! That Zubat may need help, but I don’t so just please let me handle it!” she hissed into my ear before zooming away. I scowled. Fine. If Violet thought she could handle it on her own, I didn’t care. I sat myself on an upturned crate near a stand selling exotic-looking fruits and folded my arms. I sat and pouted but realised that Violet was doing fine by herself. She kept running away and Numel was getting visibly tired from ‘running’ after her. Violet reared back, ready to leapt in for the final attack to make the fire Pokemon faint and I started to feel very stupid. Brand was commanding his Pokemon, could I not control mine? Sheesh. It was like Violet thought that she didn’t need me. Then it hit me. Her general coolness with being captured was because she didn’t have to listen to me. No Pokemon had to follow a human’s orders, most did it out of respect. Violet didn’t respect me at all. I started feeling very angry at this, my cheeks burnt and I leapt to my feet.
”Violet, stop that attack and use Tail Whip!” I commanded loudly, trying to sound as assertive and controlling as I possibly could. Violet had to learn I was her master and what I say, goes.
“Don’t be an idiot! I’m handling myself just fine!” Violet yelled back. A few people with translators laughed and my cheeks burned even hotter and brighter.
”Violet, I command yer to use Tail Whip! I’m yer trainer, I say what happens!” I yelled louder over the sniggers, which were growing steadily louder.
“Trudi, no! My method is better! You have to know I’ve spent my life fighting for survival! Now that you caught me against me will and dragged me from my home, the least you can let me do is enjoy battling the way I like it!” she roared back, batting Numel away with her paw.
”Har! It’s not about yer enjoying the battle, it’s about me winnin’ it!” I smirked. Violet glowered at me and charged at me, teeth bared. Oh crap. I was going to get bitten again by her, wasn’t I?
“Listen, you! Miss I’m-So-Great, I don’t care if I lose. I fight because I’m a fighter,” she growled, leaping onto my chest and knocking me to the ground.
“But I care if yer lose!” I growled back, equally as angry. Who did she think she was, talking to me like this? I haven’t done anything to her and she treats me like this? It’s unfair.
“Lovely. So you can take all the glory and proclaim yourself the ‘master’ of us? We do the fighting and you get the glory? Now does that seem fair? Does it seem right?” she growled in a low, dangerous voice. I felt very small suddenly.
”No…but…that’s how it works isn’t it?” I replied meekly.
”Argh! You’re so ignorant!” she howled and leapt off my chest and rushed towards the Numel, eager to finish the battle she started. I sat up, staring, dumbfounded at the Rattata who had spoken with such an assertive confidence to me. I’d always heard that Pokemon should be treated as partners and friends but I had never really believed it. I always thought that Pokemon were just…sort of…unintelligent things, you know. The stuff we get milk, meat and wool from. I didn’t think they had any idea of rights. I thought they were savages that just liked to fight. I thought we were doing a favour by letting them fight. It wasn’t like they died. I could tell Violet enjoyed it…but was it fair that I got to tell her what to do?
”Stop being such a wuss,” I mumbled to myself, deciding to not try and bark any orders out at Violet anymore. Maybe she was just more intelligent than the rest. I mean, you could get gifted humans so why not gifted Pokemon? It made sense. Sorta. None of the farm Pokemon seemed like that, sure they all had pretty good personalities but none of them were really barking about right and wrong all day. I shook my head slightly. I didn’t feel like thinking this over.
”Your pokemon’s going to get destroyed, runt!” Brand yelled from the other side of the arena, snapping me from my trance back into reality.
”Shut up, snotrag!” I yelled. ‘Shut up, snotrag’? That was the best I could come up with. Sheesh, I was really out of it.
“No I won’t, country cow! You’re going to pay for messing with Boss!” Brand howled. Boss? What kind of stupid as hell nickname was that?
“Stop this! Stop it, right now! Break it up! Break it up!” a high-pitched voice screeched as a tall girl pushed through the crowd, her bright red hair tied into a braid by an electric yellow bow, “Honestly!”
“Who the hell are you?” I snapped. Seriously, had I just walked smack-dab into the middle of the idiot parade today?
“My name is Tamika Short,” she said before adding in a very textbook like manner, “And Pokemon battles aren’t meant to be held to solve personal disputes between Pokemon trainers. You two should be ashamed! My, if I hadn’t stepped in goodness knows what would have happened! What is the problem? I am sure it can be resolved peacefully.”
”She bumped into me!”
”He knocked food out of my hand!”
Tamika scowled disapprovingly at us both and put her hands on her hips. She was wearing weird clothes. Around her neck was a tight, golden choker and she wore a yellow, short sleeved T-shirt, but underneath this she wore a long sleeved, draping shirt made out of yellow netting. She was also, strangely enough, wearing a black mini-skirt over a pair of skin-tight black trousers. Damn trainer fashions, they were all ridiculous. I was guilty of dying my hair raven blue to go along with the old trend of morose, gloomy trainers.
”That’s ridiculous! A whole fight over two people bumping into each other? Now apologize to each other!”
”No,” we both said at the same time and began to storm off. Tamika, to my horror, ran after me and ran beside me as I stalked off, Violet by my side.
”Goodness, you’re the violent type aren’t you? You should adhere to the rules of the Trainer Handbook more, you could get in serious trouble for that! If I hadn’t stepped in, much more could have happened. You really should have just resolved matters peaceful! Honestly, I’ve never seen something so honestly ridiculous in all my life. Goodness, do you even know where you’re going?” she blabbered. I squeezed my eyes shut, as if hoping when I opened them she may have disappeared elsewhere. However, the hint totally fell through her empty little head and she simply blinked at me.
“Well…do you know where you’re going?”
“The Pokemon Centre,” I grunted.
”Oh, honestly!” she exclaimed. Why was it that the more she said that, the more I wanted to punch her? “The Pokemon Centre was over that way. Goodness. I’ll guide you over there.”
She grabbed me by the arm and I tried to squirm free, but she had the grip similar to a vice. A vice covered in super-glue that’s taped shut with duct tape. Eventually, she dragged me through the double doors of the Pokemon centre and guided me up, like a child to the front desk. A disinterested lady with pale green hair and bright, large loops in her ears was picking her nails at the desk, one elbow propped up on desk.
”Excuse me!” I said impatiently. Tamika rolled her eyes and I ignored her, “Hello? Pokemon need healing! You paying attention at ALL?”
The woman looked up, her eyes dark with annoyance at being interrupted in her oh-so-important hour of nail staring.
”Just pass the pokeballs,” she grumbled before adding in a murmer, “Hell, I hate this job.”
I returned Violet to her pokeball and handed her that and Krankz’ pokeball as well. She slotted them into the machine and rapped her fingers impatiently on the desk as the machine slowly spread light across the two pokeballs. Eventually, she removed both pokeballs and handing them back.
”Thanks Nurse…erm…” I trailed off.
”Joy.” She sighed.
”Um…ok. Sure.” I raised an eyebrow and decided to leave the Pokemon centre.
”So, what’s your name?” Tamika asked me cheerfully.
”Trudi,” I said grumpily.
”Oh, really? I’m Tamika, if I hadn’t mentioned before. Oh, wait. I have! Well, now I expect you to thoroughly remember my name now!” she giggled. I would have loved to have throttled her there and then, but it was public place and there were a lot of witnesses.
”Hey, Trudi! Trudi, want to have a battle? Y’know, just for fun? I’d like for you to meet my Pokemon! And what better way than a battle!” she said brightly. Oh dear god, did she have to be so optimistic about everything? It was so, so annoying! I agreed anyway, wanting an excuse to beat her Pokemon senseless and see if she had a reason to be so cheerful afterwards.
“Fine, fine,” I said with a sigh. Tamika clapped to herself.
”Oh, great! Ok, let’s go to the battle ring! Did you see it when you came in? You know, that white circle with the blue pokeball in the-“
”Yeah, I saw it,” I replied bluntly.
“Good, good. Let’s head over there, shall we?” she asked. Well, she was thoroughly annoying. I nodded and followed her anyway, wanting to get this battle done with quickly. We stood in the battle ring, ignoring the other two trainers engaged in battle and I looked her up and down. Well, let’s just start with Violet. She’s been doing a lot of battling, but it’s safest since she’s a normal type. I remember somewhere that nothing is super-effective against normal-types. Or you know, near nothing. Damn, I should have really paid attention to my education at some point.
”Go, Violet!” I commanded and released the Rattata from her pokeball. A disgruntled mouse appeared in front of me, midway through grooming herself in a rather…err…awkward spot.
”Ahem,” I said in a semi-amused, semi-horrified voice and Violet glowered at me.
”Well…don’t tell me you humans don’t groom yourselves…there!” she mumbled.
”Ew. Gross!” she said with a look of disgust on her face. I slapped my forehead. Ah the joys of Pokemon to human communication.
”Er…if I could interrupt. Are you sure you two will be fine in battle?”
”Yes, we’re fine!” we both said in union. Tamika raised an eyebrow.
”Erm. Okay then. Let me introduce you to Button!” she chirruped happily and dropped a pokeball onto the floor. The pokeball split open to reveal a creamy-coloured creature, with a squashed brown pig’s nose and stringy arms and a long, curling tail. Catlike ears poked out the top of it’s thick, messy cream pelt and it’s dark red eyes were narrowed in a glare. It bounced from one foot to the other, punching an invisible enemy in front of it.
”This is Button,” Tamika announced proudly, “Isn’t she cute?”
I nodded. To be honest, I have never seen anything less cute in all my life. She seemed like she wasn’t able to stand up on those stringy little limbs of her, there was dirt in her fur and had a face that looked like it had been beaten very hard with a frying pan. Mankey were never really my favourite Pokemon. Stupid poop-flinging psychopaths.
“Ok, so who’s going first? Why don’t we flip to see who attacks…” Tamika began but Button had already flung herself forward, claws making sharp contact with Violet’s skin. The mouse cried out and bit Button hard on the tail and used Quick Attack to run fast around in circles, dragging the fighting type by her tail. The Mankey thrashed about madly, screeching and screaming. She released and batted the monkey across the face with her tail. Button grabbed Violet’s purple tail and swung her above her head, the mouse suddenly became a dark lavender blur around Button.
“Button, use Low Kick!” Tamika commanded. Button instantly dropped Violet and kicked her far across the Battle Ring. The mouse struggled to her feet, her breathing ragged and a fierce dark bruise forming on her side where the Low Kick made contact. Button instantly leapt at Violet and gave her a sharp Karate Chop on the back. The normal-type cried out as a painful cracking sound echoed and I quickly returned the Pokemon to her pokeball. Damn, it was fighting types that were super-effective against normal types wasn’t it? I wish I had figured that out sooner.
”Krankz, get rid o’ that Mankey, quick!” I yelled as I released Krankz into the air. The Pokemon barrel-rolled forward the instant he materialized and slammed into Button’s stomach. Whether this was intentional or not I honestly had no idea. Button grabbed hold of Krankz’ left wing and dragged him down. The bat Pokemon released a loud, painful screech and the monkey released his wing, rubbing her light brown paws against her forehead.
”Ok, er…good start. Krankz, try an erm…just do that new move yer learned!” I commanded, not being able to remember the name. He had recently learned a new move, Astound or something. The bat Pokemon flapped far away from the Mankey and suddenly faded away into nothing. Button looked around, her eyes wide and her mouth open as she search for the invisible Zubat. Suddenly, a ghastly, screaming face appeared out of nowehere in front of Button and swooped at her, knocking her to the floor. The creature twitched slightly on the floor, flinching from the effect of the Astonish attack. Krankz instantly swooped in and bit into Button’s arm, glowing a sickly green as the Leech Life replenished some of his energy. Tamika returned Button quickly and grabbed the other pokeball from her belt. She released a bright, green and yellow dog onto the field. The canine Pokemon paced back and forth on its stubby legs, its oversized headpiece amazingly not wearing it down.
”What the hell is that thing?” I asked myself dimly, removing my pokedex from my pocket and pointing it at the creature. A picture of the dog-like creature appeared onscreen.
”Electrike, the lightning Pokemon. Electrike discharge stored electricity in its footprints. its territory is marked by a burnt ground and in large groups it can overcharge electrical equipment by it’s presence,” the pokedex informed me. Was it just me, or did the pokedex just never have anything useful to tell me? No telling me what its particular weaknesses were, nor telling me their habitat or living habits. Or what food they ate or anything. It was totally beyond useless.
“That thing is Static! He’s great,” she told me, her information equally as useless as the pokedex’s. Static tossed his head back and howled before running at Krankz, who fluttered out the way quickly. Static swiped at the bat with his paw and Krankz screeched in alarm, but the dog Pokemon simply shook his head and ignored the Supersonic attack. Static glowered at Krankz, his eyes glowing bloody red and the Zubat flinched.
”Leech Life!” I commanded. Zubat hesitantly flew forward but Static released flowing waves of yellow energy which pushed the bat Pokemon back. Bolts of electricity crackled over the Zubat’s wings and Krankz fell to the floor, paralysed. ”Oh…damnit. Astonish!” I instructed. Static bounded forward and grabbed the bat in his jaws, roughly shaking Krankz about. Krankz screeched in surprise and disappeared suddenly. I smirked as Krankz reappeared and swooped down onto Static, sinking his fangs into the dog’s body and adding a Leech Life to the attack. Static howled again and threw himself against Krankz, slamming into the small bat with his larger mass. Krankz lay on his back, twitching with his tongue flopping out of his mouth and drool cascading down the side of his face.
”Yes! Good job Static, Krankz has fainted!” Tamika squealed. Static trotted over to her, his nose high in the air and his face glowing with smug triumph. I cursed under my breath and returned Krankz to his pokeball. Well, back to the Pokemon Centre for me.
”Har. Those are your Pokemon? A Rattata and a Zubat? Pathetic. I mean, seriously!” a voice shouted from the other side of the battle ring. I looked around to see Brand standing with his arms folded, smirking as if he was just so much better than me.
“Shut yer mouth, Brand!” I responded viciously. Brand continued to jeer and poke fun at me.
”They have to be really weak too,” he simpered, “To lose to that wussy Electrike of hers.”
I charged forward, about ready to punch him. And I would have. If Tamika hadn’t gotten there first. Brand was knocked back, a black eye taking shape around his right eye as Tamika stood over him, arm still thrust forward in a punching motion. “Don’t you dare talk about my Pokemon like that,” she said in a low, sinister voice. Brand got to his feet and dashed off in the opposite direction without a word. Dude, suddenly Tamika had totally earned my respect. She turned around, suddenly looking bright, happy and cheerful again. Man, talk about bipolar.
”So, Trudi, ever seen the famed Phantom Lighthouse?” she asked me cheerfully.

”They call it the Phantom Lighthouse since it apparently fades in and out of view. I’ve never seen it fade out personally, I’ve been training here for a week now so I think people just miss it in the fog around her or something,” she told me, gesturing to the lighthouse at the other end of the beach. I nodded, licking the vanilla ice-cream I had gripped in my hand. It had warmed up a bit now. The weather was crazy in the northwest of Nache lately. Near as crazy as Tamika, I mused to myself.
”So, are you heading to Seapoint Town for the first badge? I am. I’m really looking forward to earning my first gym badge. Do you know what the type there is? I think it’s water myself,” she chattered quickly. Sometimes Tamika just talked too fast, it was hard for me to understand what she was actually talking about. I just nodded.
”Ditto,” I said as we walked up the beach. We were just heading up to look at the Phantom Lighthouse. Apparently it was haunted and I thought a ghost Pokemon would be good for my team.
“Rikao!” a voice screamed suddenly and Tamika abruptly grabbed my arm and jerked me back, nearly making the ice-cream cone fly out of my hand.
“Hey, it sounds like somebody’s in trouble,” she said. I scowled.
”So? It’s none of our business,” I commented, trying to snatch my arm back. However, her grip was still freakishly strong and I had no way of escape.
”We better help,” she continued, paying absolutely no attention to what I was saying as she started to run towards the source of the yell. She screeched to a halt in front of a slightly bruised boy and a Sandshrew, who was hissing and spitting at the trainer.
”Come on Rikao…please…just return to the pokeball,” the boy spluttered, sounding near tears.
“No! Stay away, you! Stay far away!” the Sandshrew hissed, slashing the boy across the face before sprinting away.
”Rikao! Come back here! Ow!” he yelled, touching his bleeding face lightly, “Ow…that hurt.”
Tamika instantly darted to his side and crouched by him.
”You alright?” she asked compassionately. I rolled my eyes. The boy stood up shakily and steadied himself by grabbed hold of her shoulder.
”Yeah…yeah…I’m fine. But I need to get that Sandshrew back! Oooh…he’s not even mine, I need to trade him back for my Pokemon,” he jabbered quickly.
“Dude…dude…calm down. What happened?” Tamika asked.
”Erm…nothing,” he said lamely. I slapped my forehead. Yes. That was clever. Claim nothing happened after fretting about it out loud and having two witnesses to the very bizarre scene. Gosh, city-goers were such idiots. Tamika glowered at him.
”Hey, if you’ve been abusing that Sandshrew, I’m going to have to report you, y’know!” she said sternly. I inclined my head towards him, signalling that he better start talking. Sure Tamika seemed nice and cheerful, but I had found out that she was also disturbingly strong.
”No, it’s nothing like that! I would never!” he blurted out loudly. I rolled my eyes again, “I traded this Will Finch guy for my Growlithe for it. Me and Growlithe didn’t get along and Sandshrew are rare around here and he was a higher level so it seemed a good idea at the time but the Sandshrew’s got this weird problem and he’s just totally uncontrollable and I need to trade him back and…”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Will Finch? That no good Mareep-stealin’ smelly, pig-nose rat!” I growled. The boy and Tamika glanced at each other, both equally as confused as the other.
”You’ve met this Will guy as well?” he asked.
”Met ‘im!” I laughed, “That slimeball came to my farm and then tricked me! He made me trade my Mareep for a wimpy Zubat! He said it was a Torchic!”
”You didn’t think to check?” the boy asked.
”I was a bit over-excited, damnit!” I hollered.
“If I might interrupt,” Tamika said, “Do you really need that Sandshrew back? Because he headed to the Lighthouse and we were heading there.”
“Yes…I really need him back if I want to get my Growlithe back,” the boy mumbled.
“Great! I’m Tamika and this is Trudi, we’ll help you get your Sandshrew back!” Tamika declared. What? I didn’t want to go on some stupid shrew hunt!
”We will?” I asked in a low voice.
Yes,” Tamika growled quietly, “This guy needs our help, Trudi!”
”My name is Jake Bridges. Normally it would be very nice to meet you but…” he whimpered and started biting on his nails. I hit him across the hand.
”Gross! Don’t do that!” I said with a scowl. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the poor guy though. He was so over-anxious. The most that had happened was that the Sandshrew had gotten a bit tired from running that fast. Honestly, I’ve seen Ponyta run slower than that speed demon.
”I’m sorry…I just need to get Rikao back and quick,” he whined. Tamika suddenly grabbed both of our arms.
”That’s enough chit-chat, you two!” she declared. Well she had a cheek, considering the fact she rarely ever shut up. She grabbed us both by the arm and I knew suddenly there was no escape, “We’ll never get to the Phantom Lighthouse at this rate!”
”But I don’t WANT to go on a wild goose chase for some Sandshrew!” I yelled as I half-ran and was half-dragged down the beach.

I looked up uneasily at the lighthouse, which was looming, dark and ominous. A rusted metal fence tipped with sharp spikes run around the lighthouse. I had no idea it was this…well…unstable and old. I thought it’d be in a better state. This idea seemed less appealing suddenly. As much as I’d like to go on a suicide mission to rescue a psychotic Sandshrew, I wasn’t feeling lenient to enter something that currently looked like it was about to collapse. Tamika, however, marched right up to the gate. Not because she was brave. No, nothing like that, it was rather because she was both naïve and stupid. Naïve, stupid and strong. Wow, that’s a dangerous combination. She tugged on the gates, which were aged and tied together with chains held by a thick, heavy padlock.
”It’s locked!” she exclaimed as if it was the most surprising thing in the world. I folded my arms and rolled my eyes.
“Oh, really?” I replied sarcastically, “I expected they’d let loads o’ little’uns into a dangerous, near-collapsin’ tower!”
Tamika ignored me and examined the lock thoughtfully.
”It’s rusty. It looks about ready to just snap off,” she commented pensively.
”My Sneasel might be able to wear it down,” Jake said helpfully. I stayed out of it, I wasn’t about to encourage this stupid mission any further.
”Yeah, my Mankey might be able to help too,” Tamika added as Jake dropped a pokeball on the ground. A short, chubby Sneasel appeared on the ground. She had a large baby-like head and large eyes, she looked barely out of the egg. I suppose Jake must have hatched her himself.
“Aw, aren’t you just adorable!” Tamika cooed, crouching down and scratching the Sneasel behind her pink ear, “Aren’t you? Aren’t you?”
The Sneasel didn’t reply, but stared up at her with a look of ‘say that again and I’ll break your spine’. Tamika snatched back her hand.
”What’s her name?” she asked, obviously resisting the urge to pet the Sneasel some more.
”Kisu,” Jake replied with a faint smile.
”That’s a cute name,” Tamika observed delicately. Jake nodded in mute agreement.
”Alright, Kisu, break that lock!” Jake instructed, pointing towards the heavy padlock on the gates. Kisu got to her feet and toddled over to the lock (earning another ‘awww’ from Tamika) and slashed at it with her white claws. The lock crumbled away slightly, but didn’t fall off. Kisu’s ear drooped and she shuffled back, signalling that she didn’t want to try any more. Tamika smiled and gave her a sickeningly sweet ‘Oh you tried your best, that’s all that matters’. Seriously, this girl was like the reincarnation of an after school special. Tamika then released Button.
”You try Button. Karate Chop the padlock!” she said. Button bounded forward with a lot more enthusiasm than Kisu and began attacking the gate viciously. After a few minutes though, the Mankey had grown bored of this already.
”Oh…okay…Button, step back. I didn’t really want to do this myself but if I must…HIYAAH!” she cried out, karate chopping the lock so that it snapped and fell to the ground. The chains fell to the floor and the gates swung upon with a creak. Jake and I gawked at her. How the hell did she do that? She was one weird person.
“Well, come on then!” she said and we rushed after her, Kisu and Button hurrying after us.

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