Chapter Five Three’s a Crowd

”That was a great meal,” Jake announced, leaning back on his seat. I was savouring the ribs I had bought from the restaurant. It was just a small place and cheap as chips, but it was the first proper cooked meal I’d had for a while. Lately I’d just had sandwiches, even though I’d only been out here for three days. I glanced out the window. The sun was setting, casting a faint pink glow over the village. I chewed off the last bit of meat from the bone and dumped it on my plate.

”Yer, it was. S’pose now’s the time fer the dreaded bill?” I asked, feeling quite relaxed now I had some proper food in me. Tamika nodded and caught the attention of a waitress, who quickly fetched them their bill. I dug my hand into my pocket, digging out my purse. We had booked a room in the Pokemon centre for the night, so I had dumped my backpack and stuff back there.

“What’s the damage?” I asked. Tamika picked up the bill and read it quickly.

”Twelve credits, a good price for three meals!” she announced with a smile. I rolled my eyes and tapped the bill as she laid it on the desk.

”That’s with trainer’s discount though. We got five creds off altogether,” I informed her. Jake sighed, barely looking up over his book. We had found that Jake, strangely enough, carried about a library’s worth of books with him and only five shirts and two pairs of jeans to change into. Mind you, he had loads of capsules for all these posh tents and things. While me and Tamika were just scraping stuff together, he must be rolling in the credits. His parents must be rich or something.

”Still a good price,” Tamika chirruped, fishing a purse out of her pocket.

”Right, what’s twelve divided by three then?” I asked. Jake gave me an odd look. A look that clearly said ‘Are you completely stupid or what?’. I glowered at him, “What?”

He sighed and fished four credit coins out of his pocket and laid them on the bill. I grumbled to myself and added my share to the meal. Tamika, seemingly not noticing Jake and I glowering at each other, happily put down her share and gestured for the waitress to come over.

“So, where are you guys heading after this?” Tamika asked, pushing the chair under the table as she stood up. I inwardly groaned. I knew where this was going. As much as I didn’t want to end up travelling with them, I suppose some company and help wouldn’t be too bad. Pokemon training wasn’t exactly a cakewalk, especially when your starter Pokemon is a half-insane Zubat

“Seapoint town, that’s where you get the first badge,” Jake replied, smiling at Tamika. Tamika readjusted the yellow bow holding her plait in place as she glanced over at me.

”Same,” I said bluntly. She clapped her hands together with a grin and the assorted coloured bangles jangled together noisily on her wrist. The girl had been carrying all sorts of useless junk with her, as I had discovered when she had sorted out her things at the Pokemon centre. She had been carrying bangles, jewellery, makeup and all of this other useless stuff. Was she completely oblivious to the fact that she’d be hiking over mountains soon enough?

“Well here’s an idea you two. Why don’t we travel together for a while? I’d like some company, we’re all heading in the same direction, and you’re a pretty nice boy Jake and…err…you’re pretty cool Trudi,” Tamika blabbered on. Jake smiled and nodded.

”I’d be honoured,” he replied. I stared at him. ‘I’d be honoured’? What year does he think this is? 1860? They both turned to look at me, who was still half-covered in meat juices and barbecue sauce. I’m a really messy eater but I can’t help it. Ribs are hard to eat.

”Yer. Whatever,” I replied, trying to sound cool as possible. Still, I got the faint feeling that they were just including me to be polite. But if I could have some company that didn’t back-sass me constantly or fly into walls, I would be willing to let it slide.

“Alright! That’s great! Should we head out tomorrow? There isn’t really much to do here and little Trudi here will get herself into another fight if we hang around too much.” Tamika laughed and Jake grinned. I, however, didn’t see what was so funny?

”Whaddya mean by that?” I growled. Tamika recoiled, alarmed.

”Sheesh, take it easy you little psychopath,” Jake said, frowning at me. I grumbled a profanity under my breath as I stood up.

”Maybe you should think about anger management Trudi?” Tamika asked in a concerned, serious voice. I glowered at her. I didn’t need anger management or anything of the sort. Jake was just being obnoxious. Tamika was cool in her own way, but Jake was really starting to irritate me.

“She doesn’t need anger management, she needs to just learn to take a bloody joke,” Jake replied, rolling his eyes. He stood up and resisted the urge to kick him in the shins.

”Oh, leave her alone,” Tamika said, punching Jake lightly on the arm, “She might just be expecting floods, that’s all.” My face went slightly red. I hope that they weren’t going to constantly argue over whether I was a temperamental psychopath in the need of therapy or just a girl with constant PMS all the way to Seapoint town. We slowly started to leave the restaurant, talking utter crap as teenagers do on the way back to the Pokemon centre. It was getting darker, and a crescent moon was visible in the sky above, along with hundreds of stars. It was weird; Tamika seemed to just have an endless list of things to talk about; her Pokemon, her family, the gossip, funny stories from school, things that happened to her when she was little, the history of the town – all of it thoroughly boring to me. I suppose that would be my luck. One of my travelling partners won’t stop talking and the other argues with me about everything and keeps snapping at me for odd reasons.

As I entered the Pokemon centre, my thoughts went back to that weird bird. Tamika and Jake seemed to have completely forgotten about it already. Maybe I should. Maybe it was just a particularly sadistic Gastly or something. I dunno…a lot had happened lately and I was starting to get confused.

”So, who wants to use the phone first, then?” Tamika asked loudly, snapping me back to reality. Sheesh. I really was overanalysing stuff.

“I’ll use it first. Is it a video phone or just a normal phone in ‘ere?” I asked. Tamika gestured over to a dark blue video-phone on the wall nearby. I nodded and walked over to it, slotting a few credit coins into the slot and dialled my parent’s number. I picked up the receiver as my mam’s confused face appeared on screen.

“Hello? Trudi! Davis, Seth, come here, Trudi’s called,” the woman screeched before I could say anything. My brother and dad rushed in front of the phone, appearing on the screen. Mostly everybody had a video phone; few people had a normal one.

“Hi Mam, Dad. And what’s that Poochyena doin’ there?” I joked. Seth rolled his eyes.

”Harr harr. Very funny, ‘Di,” he replied sarcastically.

“So, how’re things? Where are yer? Caught many Pokemon?” Dad asked, seemingly getting very excited about this. He never journeyed and neither did Mam, so I suppose they would both be eager to know what it’s like.

”It’s good. I’m at Seashell Village,” I said and removed Violet’s pokeball from my belt and held it up to the camera, “And yer, I caught a Rattata.”

”Nothin’ for me yet?” Seth asked in a disappointed voice. I snorted with laughter.

“Seth, yer not old enough yet. Thirteen years for a Pokemon trainer, not ten remember?” Dad said, ruffling his son’s hair. Seth irritably smoothed his hair and pushed my dad lightly away from him.

“Narr, nothing fer yer yet, Seth,” I replied.

”Sounds like a different language to me.” I heard Jake mutter behind me.

“Hey, who’s that?” Mam asked curiously. I sighed and ran a hand through my hair, Jake and Tamika couldn’t have kept away from the camera. They had to stand behind me like a pair of idiots.

“That’s Jake,” I said flatly.

”Ahem?” Tamika said. I rolled my eyes.

”And this is Tamika.”

”How do you do?” she asked, smiling at the screen.

“Nice to meet you both,” Mam said with a grin. We continued to talk for a bit. Nothing had happened in the past three days. They were missing me, but all irritably agreed that the exact amount of work was being done without them putting any extra effort in. Jamie, Rek and Karen had apparently all been complaining that nobody was there to pick fights for them or make fun of them all day. I grinned to myself. Yeah, they complain about me when I’m there but as soon as I leave they find themselves really bored really fast. Soon enough, a high-pitched beep announced that time was nearly up. A hurriedly said my goodbyes, put down the phone and stepped aside to let Tamika call her parents.

I was surprised to see a muscular man with messy black hair appear onscreen.

”Hi Daddy!” she cheeped happily. The man smiled.

”Hi Tamika. Are you doing alright? Keeping up with your martial arts practice?” he replied. Tamika smiled.

”Yes, Daddy. Just as you told me too. And I’m great. I made new friends and caught a new Pokemon, an Electrike,” she said.

”Electrike?” her father asked, looking confused.

”It’s an electric Pokemon, daddy,” she said with a smile. Her father frowned and I exchanged a confused look with Jake.

”I thought you were going to train fighting Pokemon, like me? My gym needs a new leader when I retire,” he said. Tamika sat silent for moment, a frown stretched across her face. Both Jake and I exchanged another alarmed glance. Her dad was a gym leader? And a fighting-type gym leader? Well that was a bit of help, at least. Nobody was allowed to reveal anything about the gyms of Nache. It was something to do with the element of surprise and keeping trainers on their toes or something. You only ever really learned the names of them. Mind you, with her dad as a fighting Pokemon gym leader it would explain her freaky strength.

”Daddy, as nice as the Mankey you gave me is, I’m going to train electric Pokemon instead,” she replied in a strained voice. I was off camera, making cutting gestures over my neck. Oh, she was such an idiot! Her father gave her a look of disappointment.

”We…we’ll talk about this when you come to get your badge from me. Goodbye,” he said. With that he turned the screen off.

”Ouch. Talk about issues. I’m presuming that you won’t be talking to him for a while?” I said, without thinking. Tamika, at that point, let out a faint whimper, stood up and then dashed off to the room she had booked. Jake scowled at me.

“Nice one. Why don’t you think before you talk?” he said and sprinted after her. I felt a bit crap, I’ll admit that but most people didn’t freak out. I sighed.

”Looks like I’m goin’ ter have more problems than Pokemon on my hands,” I mumbled as I walked up the stairs. Well, tomorrow was another day.

”Trudi, get up!” a voice yelled. I groaned and jammed my head under the pillow. Leave me alone, whoever you where. I was tired. The voice yelled my name, louder this time. Urgh. I didn’t know who they were, but I wanted a lie in. It must be like four in the morning or something! Or at least it felt like. I stubbornly screwed my eyes shut tighter as the voice screamed at me to get up. Suddenly, something hit me on the back and I jumped up, flinging the pillow across the room and into the wall. Tamika stood by the bed, her hands on her hips and a broad grin across her face.

“Not a morning person, eh Trudi?” she joked. I threw a pillow at her, which she dodged and placed back on the bed as I got up, scratching and yawning. I was considerably irritated about being awoken this early. I glanced at the clock. Five thirty. Well, my parents used to get up earlier than that on the farm. Mind you, I usually have an extra hour. My parents never exactly trusted me with things so important I have to get up that early.

”No Tamika. Buggar off.” I yawned. She smirked.

”Ah, I hope Jake’s easier to wake up,” she said with a smile. I stared at her, was this girl just an endless source of energy? She was already up, fully dressed and ready to go. Admittedly she had yet to tie her hair into that silly red plait she wears. Though I could see why she wore it. Without it, her red hair fell past her butt.

“You have to go wake him up now?” I said, smirking as I looked into the mirror, “I thought he’d spent the night in your room last night.” I got hit in the back of the head with a pillow.

”Don’t be stupid, Trudi,” she said, rolling her eyes at me. Oh great, I had gotten a bit of a reaction. I had found something to annoy Tamika with. It was only fair for me to irritate her since she seemed to take great joy in winding me up. Tamika left me to get ready and I heard Jake whining about being woken up so early in the next room over. I snorted. He was worse than me!

I sleepily pulled on the pair of jeans I had worn yesterday. I struggled to get my T-shirt over my head, getting my head in the sleeve the first time and ending up putting it on completely upside-down the second time. Eventually though, I had managed to get myself dressed in the white top. I rummaged about in my rucksack, hunting for my favourite denim jacket. I had always liked it, even though most of my friends said it looked completely stupid. It was a half-cut jacket with short sleeved, and I remembered packing it for those days when it was too cold to wear just a top and too warm to wear a proper jacket.

I wished I had one of those ClothesPod things. It was this little device, much like the capsules or pokeballs, which you put clothes in. But the thing was that you could store loads in there and then just go through a list on this little screen, pick one and poof, it was there.

Suppose I would just have to save up for one.

I took the time to grab some toiletries out of my on-suite bathroom (hey, it came with the room) and slung my bag over my shoulder before I headed out, Jake and Tamika were waiting at the door for me.

”What took you so long?” Jake asked.

”Decided ter get what I’d paid for,” I replied simply. Jake rolled his eyes and Tamika giggled slightly, slapping me playfully (but painfully) on the back.

“Well come on you two, it looks like it’s going to rain so we should hurry up and go,” Jake instructed. Tamika mock saluted and I clicked my tongue with impatience before we left the Pokemon centre.

“I hate rain!” I announced loudly, dashing through the deep mud the valley had been churned into. The unrelenting rain lashed down and they had been forced to wear rain coats. The wind howled and I felt the wet and cold spreading up my jeans. Tamika and Jake were running slightly behind me, as eager as me to get to Slatetown. We had seen no Pokemon so far and the ground was getting steadily muddier underfoot. It was hard to keep balance and with the raindrops on my glasses, it was getting harder to see as well.

I slipped forward and fell face-first into the mud, cursing loudly. I clambered to my feet, only to slip down again. This time, however, I fell directly onto something. This something squealed and wriggled out from beneath me, surfacing. Jake and Tamika wheeled round as the Mudkip, coated with mire, stood up.

Without thinking, I leapt to my feet and chucked an empty pokeball at it. The pokeball missed and plummeted into the much. I dove after it and hauled it out of the sludge and tossed it at the Mudkip again, as it tried to make its escape.

This time, the pokeball met its mark and the Mudkip was absorbed into the pokeball. I grabbed it before it could fall into the mud again and it wriggled in my palms. It settled.

”Ha, yes!” I said and leapt to my feet, only to lose my footing again and fall into the mud. Great, now I was thoroughly wet, covering in mud and shivering. But I did have a Mudkip now. I would name it and check out it’s stats later. I climbed to my feet and looked up at Jake and Tamika. To my great annoyance and humiliation, they were both laughing.

”What?” I growled, “I caught the Pokemon, didn’t I?”

”I-I’m sorry Trudi…you just looked so ridiculous!” Tamika spluttered, balancing herself on Jake’s shoulder.

”Yeah…done rolling around in the mud yet?” he gasped before he managed to calm himself and added in a serious tone, “Seriously though…we’re going to have to hurry now. You’ll catch your death like that.” I huffed and folded my arms, placing the Mudkip’s pokeball on my belt.

“Urgh…I feel like death already…” a voice groaned. We all looked around in confusion to see Rikao standing in the mud, rubbing his head.

”R-Rikao?” Jake stuttered in surprise, “When’d you get out of your pokeball?”

“About five minutes ago, actually!” Rikao snapped and then pointed at me, “When you two were laughing at this idiot. Ugh…my head’s killing me.” I snorted as I realised what was wrong with the Sandshrew.

“Ha! You’re hung-over, shrew!” I laughed. Tamika giggled slightly but Jake didn’t see the humour in the situation, nor did Rikao.

”This i

sn’t funny guys. What am I meant to do to a hung-over Pokemon? What if he throws up?” Jake asked, gesturing at the Sandshrew.

“Well duh. Take ‘im to a Pokemon centre,” I said, rolling my eyes, “Sheesh, Jake. Yer the one that acts all smart.”

“And tell them what? My Sandshrew’s been on a drinking binge and now he’s got a massive hangover?” Jake fumed. Rikao groaned and gagged loudly and Jake threw up his hands in despair, “Alright, alright. Let’s hurry before Rikao throws up all over us and Trudi dies of pneumonia or something.“

Fanfics Home
Home
Comment on the FIc