Chapter 10
The Mineral Badge, the S.S. Aqua, the new Friend and the Battle
After a couple of days, Nurse Joy had finally let Crystal out of the Pokemon Center. They, once again, walked to Olivine Gym, and found the Real Gym Leader Jasmine, waiting for them. "Thank you so much for getting that impostor away from the Gym. I don't think I could have done anything about it myself. And to thank the 2 of you for beating her, I'll give you the Mineral Badge, but since Crystal here, didn't get to battle, she'll have to battle me.", Gym Leader Jasmine said. Crystal nodded. They got to the arena, and started the match. "Go Steelix!", Leader Jasmine yelled. "Go Rita!", Crystal exclaimed. "Steelix, Iron Tail attack!", Jasmine commanded. "Rita, dodge it, and Flamethrower!", Crystal yelled. Then, Jasmine remembered, Falkner through Morty called her on the phone and told her about Crystal's Pokemon, and their ability to do other type attacks. Rita had gotten to Steelix first, and Steelix was hit! It didn't faint right away, due to Rita's level. Crystal was sure that one more Flamethrower attack should get Steelix to faint. "Steelix, try another Iron Tail attack!", Jasmine yelled. "Rita, dodge it again, and use one more Flamethrower attack!", Crystal yelled. Rita dodged right away, and landed on Steelix's back. Rita then used Flamethrower as a behind-the-back attack! Steelix was beat! It was knocked out, and Crystal won! "Yay! I won! I won! Yay!", Crystal said, as she jumped up and down. She ran down to where Jen and Thunder were waiting. "Congrats, Crystal!", Jen said, as she hugged her best friend. "Thanks so much, Jen!", Crystal said, as she looked at Thunder, with a nice smile. Thunder returned the smile. "Glad to see you didn't get hurt this time, Crystal.", Thunder muttered. Crystal ran over to him and hugged him, however, Thunder blushed and returned the hug. "I guess we can get going after we grab our Mineral Badges! Ha, ha!", Crystal mentioned.
"Excuse me, I hope that I'm not interrupting anything.", a boy with a hat of a Pokéball on it said, "Mistress Jasmine, I had just finished my last exam on Steel-type Pokemon, and I got the usual score, 100%. You said that I can leave this little school of yours if I passed, so can I go?" "Well, indeed I said that, so I shall keep my promise. You can go, and why not go along with these trainers? They're really great Pokemon trainers, and I'm sure that you can learn a whole lot from them, Max. So go ahead.", Jasmine said politely. Max turned to Crystal, Thunder, and especially Jen. He smiled. "Do you 3 mind?", Max asked. "Not at all!", Jen blurted out. Crystal and Thunder turned to Jen and sweatdropped. "Thank you, I think we'll be just fine together.", Max said to Jen. Jen blushed with a smile. "You all should take the Mineral Badges now. And Max can just take it for all the times of beating me, hehehe...", Jasmine giggled. The 3 of them grabbed their Mineral Badges, left to the Pokemon Center, then went straight for Cianwood City.
There were a whole lot of people going to Cianwood City, but they could squeeze through them easily. They were looking around and found that there was a battle in progress. Crystal, Thunder, Jen, and Max were wanting to watch the action, and maybe even get into a battle themselves.
"Raticate, Hi Jump Kick!" yelled an old man. "Onix, don't rock the boat, but softly go down to the ground and use Bind!!" a trainer with a black shirt on yelled, he looked one of the biker trainers. His Onix went to the ground softly, cautious to not rock the boat, it wrapped it's long tail of rocks around the Raticate. Raticate yelled in pain. "Now finish that thing of with Iron Tail!!" the trainer yelled. "Please no, don't!" the old man said. The trainer's Onix slashed it's tail at the Raticate, and the Raticate had swirls in it's eyes. "Hahahahahaha!! Still, no one can beat me!! Come on, is there any other trainers who think they can beat me??" the trainer asked, "If there is a trainer here that can beat me, they get all they want on this boat for free!! I want to keep that deal, but if anyone can beat me, they'll get that deal." "Did that guy just make any sense?" Jen asked with a sweatdrop. "I actually understood that...." Max also said with a sweatdrop. "Hey! I'll battle you!" Crystal exclaimed. She was about to walk towards the trainer, but someone grabbed her hand. She turned to look at the person and found it to be Thunder. "Are you sure you want to do this? I mean, you just got out of the hospital." Thunder said worriedly while looking at Crystal. She smiled. "Don't worry, Thunder. I can do it, I think I should do this so we can all get things for free!" she exclaimed happily. Thunder had let go of Crystal's hand and Crystal walked over to the Trainer. "I'll battle you!" she exclaimed. "A girl?! This'll be easy! Let's start!" he yelled.
They got in their places and the trainer threw a Pokéball. "Go Onix!" he yelled. "Let's go Watery!" Crystal exclaimed. The huge rock snake appeared out of it's Pokéball, then Crystal's Pokéball opened and her Croconaw got in a fighting stance. "Go Onix! Use Iron Tail!" the Trainer yelled. "Watery, use Rage and Water Gun!" Crystal commanded. Both Pokemon obeyed their Trainers, Onix aimed it's tail at Croconaw and lashed at it, but Croconaw dodged it and used a HARD Water Gun attack! "Awesome! Now use Scratch attack!" Crystal yelled happily. Croconaw lashed at the Onix and started scratching at it's eyes. "OOOONNNN!!!!!!" the Onix yelled in pain. It fell to the floor slowly and had swirls in it's eyes. The Trainer gasped. "I don't believe it! My unstoppable Onix has been stopped!" the Trainer said with a tone of disappointment in his voice, "Nice try, Onix, Return."
Thunder, Jen and Max ran to Crystal, all cheering. "Yay! I did it! We get free food!! Yay!!!!!!!" Crystal and Jen cheered. The trainer walked over to Crystal. "I hope you know that I was takein' it easy on you......" the trainer said with a blush, "I'm Rick, what's your name?" Crystal turned to Rick and smiled. "I'm Crystal, nice to meet you." Crystal said, still smiling. Rick blushed darker red. "Um, can I ask you somethin'?" Rick asked. "Hm? Sure, what is it?" she asked. "D-Do you have a boyfriend?!" Rick exclaimed, getting down on his knees, grabbing hold of Crystal's hands. Crystal went wide-eyed, she was stunned. Thunder was furious, he stormed over to Rick and grabbed him by the collar. "YOU STAY THE HECK AWAY FROM HER!!!!" Thunder yelled at Rick, gritting his teeth. Crystal was clueless of why Thunder was doing this. "Whoa! Chill Man, Chill!" Rick exclaimed cowardly. "Thunder, why are you doing this?! Put him down..." a small voice said behind Thunder. He turned and saw Crystal, her eyes were those puppy dog eyes that he just couldn't resist. He calmed down and put Rick down. Rick was so scared that he ran away from them. Crystal walked over to Thunder, the shadows of her bangs over her eyes (In other words, you can't see her eyes). "Why did you do that?" she asked, still her eyes would not show. Thunder looked at her, he started to sweat. "I don't know myself ..... I couldn't control myself..... I'm sorry, Crystal....." Thunder said, still sweating and hoping that she wasn't mad. "You know, I don't even know why I let you come along on this journey...... You're not much of a friend......" Crystal said with a smirk. Thunder stepped back, his face had been struck with terror. This couldn't be Crystal talking, she would never talk like that. "You know, I don't want you comin' along anymore.... Go out on your own like the Loner you are .........." Crystal said with the very same smirk and in a cold, bitter voice. Thunder was heart broken, his one true love was saying things that he had never thought she would say. He just stood there, staring at her. Jen grabbed hold of Crystal hand. "Crystal what are you doing?! I know that you don't mean what you're saying!!" Jen yelled. Crystal's eyes still did not show, and she did not answer. "ANSWER ME!!!! WHY ARE YOU TELLING THUNDER TO LEAVE?!?!?!?!?!?" Jen yelled furiously. Crystal just smirked and threw Jen off of her arm. Crystal jumped up to a bar on the ship where everybody was watching her. "May I introduce.... TEAM ROCKET!!!!" Crystal yelled at everyone. Her clothes changed to a black dress with pink and white linings, and her shoes changed to white boots. Her hair didn't change, but her hat had an R on it. She finally showed her eyes, they weren't the sparkling, beautiful blue eyes that Thunder had always remembered. Now, her eyes were icy, cold blue. (More like AQUA BLUE!!!) at every corner of the ship, a Rocket Grunt came out, all carrying a whip to whip Trainers into giving them their Pokemon. "Come one, come all! Join Team Rocket and your Pokemon won't be stolen from ya! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!" Crystal laughed. Thunder couldn't move, he was still stunned, he fell to his knees, he looked to the ground, his face had an e-motion that very few people would know of. Jen was going to run, but then Thunder caught her eye. His eyes were almost turning blank! What if Team Rocket was trying to get him, too! "Thunder!! That wasn't Crystal talking!! She Was Being Controlled By Team Rocket!!" Jen yelled. Thunder's eyes didn't go blank, only tears appeared in his eyes. "But Jen... It hurts...." he replied. Jen looked at him thoughtfully, but then Max got by her. "Go!! Jen, get away from here!! Take this!! It's my Lapras, take it outside and wait for me and Thunder!!" Max yelled, handing Jen a pokeball. Jen nodded and went out to the outside of the boat. She released Max's Lapras and her Lapras, and she was waiting on her Lapras for Max and Thunder.
Max watched Jen leave, then in all the commotion, Max turned back to Thunder. Team Rocket members were circling Thunder, they all had whips with them. Thunder just ignored them and continued to to cry. His tears fell to the floor like a soft rain, the Rocket Grunts were smirking at him, getting their whips ready to whip him.
Just then, Crystal jumped from the ceiling, and landed in front of Thunder. Her hands were on her hips. "Get up, Loner!!" she yelled. Thunder's body didn't move, but his mind said 'Move!! Please!!'. All he could do was look up at Rocket Crystal. "Didn't You Hear Me?! GET UP!!" Crystal yelled in anger, kicking Thunder's arm. No, this wasn't the Crystal he loved! He had to fight her and get the old Crystal back!! He got up finally, the Rockets walked away since Crystal was taking control. Thunder walked backwards from Crystal a few steps, and yelled, "I Challenge You To A Pokemon Battle!!" Crystal smirked. "Ok, I accept!" she yelled. "If I win, you turn back to the old Crystal!! If you win.... You get me...." Thunder yelled in a lower voice. "NO!!" a boy's voice yelled from behind Thunder. Thunder looked back to see it was Max. "Don't Fight Her!! We've Got To Get Out Of Here!! Plus, I've Already Lost One New Friend!! I Don't Want To Lose Another One!!" Max yelled, he was a few yards away from Thunder. "I'm Sorry, Max!! But I HAVE To Do This!!" Thunder yelled back to Max.
"Alright, begin!!" Crystal yelled. "Go Quilava!!" Thunder exclaimed, throwing Quilava's pokeball. "Go Chikorita!!" Crystal yelled. "Quilava, use Quick Attack!!" Thunder yelled. "Chikorita, use Flamethrower!!" Crystal commanded to her Chikorita. As Quilava neared them quickly, Chikorita finally fired her Flamethrower attack. It missed every time since Quilava was using Quick Attack. Quilava was finally close enough and it tackled Chikorita head on! Chikorita went flying back into the wall! One more blow would surely assure victory for Thunder. "Good Job, Quilava! Now use Fire Spin!!" Thunder commanded to Quilava. Quilava neared Chikorita again, it got its Fire Spin attack ready. This was the perfect time to attack! "Chikorita, quick!! Use Tackle!!" Crystal yelled. Chikorita nodded and tackled Quilava! Fortunately, Quilava was still able to get the Fire Spin attack ready. And after about five more seconds, the attack was ready! It fired it straight at Chikorita! All the Rockets on the boat got caught in the attack! All the Rockets went flying out of the ship, leaving a very weak Chikorita and a very stunned Rocket Crystal. "I-I can't believe it.... I lost... To him...." Crystal whispered to herself. Thunder walked over to her with a smile. "Remember your promise?" he asked, still smiling. Crystal looked up at him, she smiled and nodded. "Yeah... And since I lost, I guess I gotta give up this body.... Well, see ya later..." Crystal said was a smile. She started to glow aqua blue, then she glowed purple. When she stopped glowing, she collapsed into Thunder's arms. He looked down at her, smiling. He put his left hand under her legs (NOT WHERE YOU THINK, PEOPLE!!), and his other hand under her head. He walked over to Max, and the Thunder and Max walked to the Lapras.
"Finally!! I've been waiting for like, FOREVER!!" Jen exclaimed, "Besides, what happened in there?" Max and Thunder looked at each other and Thunder shook his head. "Life, that's what happened..." he answered as he looked up at where they were going. He could see land up ahead, and he looked down at the sleeping angel in his arms. He smiled down at Crystal and looked back up at the land up ahead.
To Be Continued....