Chapter 08: The Runaway Magma Member


     "Sorry," apologized Candace wearily. She looked up, and behind her,
Chloe and Chase stiffled laughter.

     "It's fine," replied the boy she had run into. He was good-looking,
with a medium brown color of hair that was tipped with blond. His eyes
were a nice green that reminded her of the boy (Patrick, was that his
name?) at Professor Aspen's lab.

     Chloe and Chase exchanged a look behind her back. Chloe was
triumphant. She could hook Candace up with him to make Jeremy jealous.
She tried to mouth her idea to Chase, but the curly-haired boy wasn't
paying attention. She ended up looking like she was talking to herself.
Jeremy raised his eyebrows at her.

     "I was spacing out," Candace explained, a blush rising to her face.

     "It's no problem," the boy said. "Have you guys seen a girl named
Jenn?"

     "Frost?" piped up Chase.

     "That's the one," the boy said with a smile.

     "We haven't seen her since we left Professor Aspen's lab," Candace
informed him.

     "Do you know if she's already passed this city?" the boy
questioned.

     "OW! It hurts! Somebody please chop my leg off!" screamed somebody
behind them.

     "The Grattlers are supposed to be pretty venomous. We have to get
her to the Pokemon Center right away," babbled a girl standing next to
two boys, who held up the infamous Jenifer Frost.

     "Patrick, I will get you for this!" screamed the Hoenn League
champion. "This is all your fault!"

     "How is it MY fault?" whined the boy, who Candace recognized as the
boy with pretty eyes that Chloe had been eyeing at the lab.

     "Because your stupid girlfriend made me mad! I never would've
kicked the thing if she hadn't provoked me!" screamed Jenn. Her blue
eyes were furious as she glared at the boy.

     "Just calm down, Jenn," said the boy on the other side of her, the
tall blond from the lab.

     "And YOU!" she said in rage, pointing at the blond boy. "This is
your fault, too!"

     "Why?" he questioned.

     "Because it is! Don't ask me to explain!" The group of four rushed
inside the Center.

     "I do NOT want to be around her when she's that mad," muttered the
boy. "I've already been the target of her rage, and that isn't something
I want to repeat again."

     "In case we see her later, do you want us to tell her we saw you?"
asked Jeremy.

     "Yeah, sure," said the boy, who was beginning to walk away.

     "What name do you want us to give her? We can't tell her who we saw
if we don't know your name," explained the girl with dirty blond hair,
who is more commonly known as Chloe.

     "Taylor Flora," he said with a small grin and preceeded into
walking inside one of the small motels.

     "He's cute," commented Chloe after she was certain that he was out
of hearing range.

     "Yeah, not too bad," grinned Candace, who had begun to get one of
her famous ideas. Maybe she could set Chloe up with him to further her
and Jeremy's plan. Candace Lowilla Parker, professional matchmaker, to
the rescue!

     The thoughts in Chloe's mind were similar, only she wasn't setting
herself up with Taylor. Candace would be the one. It would be perfect to
make Jeremy jealous and realize his true feelings for Candace.

     "I suppose we should get rooms in the Center. Tomorrow, I guess,
we'll battle the gym leader," said Chase with a yawn.

     "Austin," Candace said automatically, remembering one of the gym
leaders she had met at a meeting with Astrid. "He trains grass types."

     "His sister is cool. Good-looking too," noted Jeremy.

     "Who's his sister?" questioned Chloe.

     "Stacy McLachlan. She was at the lab," grinned Jeremy. It only
brought more ideas to Chloe's mind. She could always set up Jeremy with
Stacy, to make Candace green with envy.

Oh yes. This was going to be fun.