Shadow Lucario
Lone Vanguard
Hey there readers! I've brought you the newest chapter of Dedication Through Light and Darkness. I set dates for the realease, but procrastination is a strong foe. I have good news though. Starting yesterday I am officially on holiday! Chapters should be coming out every week, if not then every other week. In this chapter, some training is done for the tournament. Three new characters are introduced. One might not seem important, but trust me that character will be of some importance. I have been trying to decide on a new theme song. PM me some suggestions. Also, I want to have a favorite character poll, so PM me your favorite character too. Biographies should be finished and posted soon. They will give you some insight on the characters and a chance to hear their background. I've talked enough. Time for the new chapter! This one totals twenty-five pages! Longest yet! now, enjoi!
Dedication Through Light and Darkness
Chapter 11: Torn Eevee! Her Decision!
“Try to use Protect again!”
A green sphere appeared around a little cream colored fox. A rock, thrown by a human, hit the sphere and bounced off. When another stone was thrown it fell through, hitting the creature on the head.
“Come on Eevee,” Jyharri said. “You can do this!”
The little Pokémon nodded her head and prepared herself.
“Now, use Protect!” Jyharri shouted as he threw a barrage of stones at Eevee.
As the stones hit the green barrier they all bounced off, flying back at Jyharri. Covering his face so he wouldn’t get hit, Jyharri clapped loudly.
“Let’s try it again,” Jyharri said as he picked up another stone.
Launching it high into the air, Jyharri watched the stone as it reached its peak. As it came down Eevee focused on the stone. Right before the stone made contact with her head a green dome appeared around the little fox, the stone bouncing right off, shattering to pieces. As soon as Jyharri was going to clap, applause was heard from behind him. Spinning on his heel, what came into view was a large student. The red blazer made it obvious they were in the same dorm.
“Hey,” Jyharri said, “you’re, um.”
“Mio,” he told him.
“Right,” said Jyharri. “Funny thing we were never in the same place before a couple days ago.”
“Oh we were,” Mio assured him.
“Huh?” Jyharri asked.
“Oh yeah, I’ve been in the background the whole time,” Mio explained. “You know that time you battled that guy Sean on the boat? I was in the crowd. Remember the battle with Sydnie? I was watching with my juice box. Also that time you followed that lady in black, I followed you some of the way.”
“I’m surprised I never noticed you,” Jyharri told him. “What are you doing out here?”
“I was training my Cacnea and decided to take a walk,” Mio replied. “I see you’re trying to learn Protect. That’s a good defensive move.”
“Well we got it down, right Eevee?”
Eevee nodded her head, proud that she learned how to use Protect well enough to shatter stone. Jyharri knelt down to his side, picking up Eevee and petting her on the head.
“Hey,” said Mio, “can I ask you something?”
“Go ahead,” replied Jyharri.
“Do you want to go check something out with me?” Mio asked.
“What is this something?” Jyharri asked, a little suspicious.
“Well, while out training yesterday I stumbled upon this cave,” explained Mio. “It’s at the top of this cliff jutting out over the ocean. It’s only a couple miles away from the school’s campus.”
Jyharri set Eevee down, contemplating the idea of exploring a cave. The upside was it would get him away from Jessica. The downside was that his training would be interrupted.
“I heard Pokémon cries from inside the cave so it would be perfect training for our Pokémon,” Mio said as if he heard Jyharri’s thoughts.
If I go then I can train and see lots of different Pokémon, Jyharri thought. “Do you want to go Eevee?”
Eevee nodded her head, a smile upon her face. Jyharri turned to Mio and nodded.
“We’ll go now if you want,” suggested Mio.
“Let’s go!” yelled Jyharri punching the air. “Which way is it?”
“That way,” Mio said as he pointed towards many trees.
The trees covered about ten miles of land away from the school, a path parting the trees into two sides. The tops of the trees were a lush green. Standing at almost twenty feet, the trees were tall.
“I’ll have to get supplies first,” Jyharri told Mio.
“No worries,” Mio replied as he opened his bag. “I’ve got everything we need. I’ve got Pokémon medicine, human medicine, food, and water.”
“Did you expect me to say yes?” Jyharri asked laughing nervously.
Mio nodded his head as a reply. As the two boys approached the path the sound of branches snapping made itself known from behind them. The two wheeled around, focusing on a small bush behind them. Normally they would search the bush, but this bush was suspicious. It was the only bush for a couple hundred meters.
“I know someone’s there,” Jyharri announced. “You might as well come on out.”
“Looks like the jig is up Craig,” said a feminine voice. “You’ve got the eyes of a Noctowl!”
Out of the bush jumped a flash of yellow. Fully revealed was a Lightning Yellow girl, her brown hair falling down to her shoulders. Her bright blue eyes sparked with passion.
“You two are Mio Bunea and Jyharri Ahmed, am I correct?” the girl asked.
“Yeah we are,” Jyharri answered.
“I’m guessing you know who I am so no need for me to introduce myself,” said the girl with a twirl.
“Actually I have no idea who you are,” Mio told her. “What about you?”
Jyharri shook his head. “Not a clue.”
“Well for your information, I’m Stacy Thompson of the Thompson Twins!”
“So where’s your sister?” Jyharri asked as he looked around.
“My twin is a boy thank you very much,” Stacy informed him, throwing her hands on her hips. “He’s still hiding. Craig come on out!”
A boy, who looked exactly like Stacy, stepped out from behind a tree. He possessed the same brown hair except his was short. The blue eyes were a match, but the passion was gone. His blazer was blue, him being an Ocean Blue student. As he stood up he hesitantly approached the three.
“Um,” he said holding his hands behind his back. “You, uh, forgot your backpack.”
From behind him he pulled out Jyharri’s red and black backpack, a round blue object sticking out of it. Jyharri thanked him as he received his backpack while Craig looked at the ground, fidgeting.
“Craig is nervous around new people,” Stacy told them. “That’ll change once you get to know him.”
“What is that?” Mio asked pointing to the blue object in Jyharri’s pack.
“Oh, this is an egg I found,” he told him.
“Interesting,” Stacy butted in pulling out a notepad, scribbling something on it.
“You found one too?” Mio asked surprised.
Jyharri looked at him questioningly. Mio set his bag on the ground and pulled out a green elliptical object. Unlike Jyharri’s, Mio’s had a white stripes crossing the egg diagonally. The egg flashed suddenly three times. Everyone jumped back, surprised by the bright flashes.
“I found it about a week ago,” Mio told them. “It’s been doing that this whole time. I think it’s going to hatch today.”
“That’s noteworthy,” said Stacy as she started to scribble some more on her notepad.
“Any particular reason you carry around a notepad?” Jyharri asked her, eyeing the notepad suspiciously.
“Oh, um, this?” she asked holding it up. “I want to, uh, become a, uh, reporter!”
“Right,” said Jyharri as she continued to scribble. “What about you Craig?”
“Oh!” Craig jumped. “Me? Um, I, uh, just want to become a great trainer.”
Jyharri ignored Craig’s stuttering and inched himself behind Stacy, trying to get a look at the notepad. Not noticing him, Stacy continued to scribble away. On the notepad were two lists of words. Above the list was a name. It read, ‘Mio’. Under Mio were descriptions that sounded almost like she was comparing him to other guys. The first list read, ‘Too tall, too nice, wouldn’t look good with me.’ The second list was much more positive, but had two lines to it. It read, ‘Is nice, and looks very sweet.’
“Nice reports,” said Jyharri, making Stacy jump a mile.
“Were you reading what I wrote?” Stacy questioned him.
“Yeah, I did and it looks like you’re comparing the guys here,” Jyharri answered. “Look, we’ve got some training to do. You two can tag along if you want.”
“What Pokémon are you going to train with?” Stacy asked.
“Mine of course,” Jyharri scoffed. “Why do you ask?”
“You don’t have any Pokéballs on you,” said Stacy.
“That’s because my Eev-” Jyharri stopped abruptly as he looked down at his side.
Eevee had vanished! Frantically looking everywhere Jyharri couldn’t find Eevee.
“You should keep better track of your stuff,” said Stacy as she pointed towards Craig.
Sure enough Jyharri’s Eevee was curled up into a ball asleep behind Craig’s leg. Jyharri pulled out Eevee’s Pokéball from his bag and recalled her. The group headed off towards the cliff, Stacy in front and Craig in the back. Jyharri stared down Stacy the whole way with a look that could kill. Resting at the base of the cliff, Mio pulled out an iPod and plugged the ear buds into his ears. Jyharri on the other hand took a book out of his bag and opened it to the middle and began to read. Stacy took notice of this and made a beeline for him. Craig sat on the stump of a tree which had been cut down previously.
“What are you reading?” Stacy asked sitting down next to him almost seductively.
Jyharri barely peered over the edge of his book to look at Stacy. “A book,” he replied.
“Which book silly,” Stacy asked as she hit him playfully.
“If you must know,” said Jyharri, “it’s Sherlock Holmes.”
“Oh,” was all Stacy said before she started to scribble more notes on her notepad.
“Are you taking notes on me too?” Jyharri asked putting his book down.
Stacy flashed him a smile and turned away. Jyharri leaned over trying to get a look. Stacy shut it immediately and smiled. Jyharri chuckled and reached over to grab the notepad. Stacy pulled the notepad away even farther, making it out of Jyharri’s reach. Jyharri reached even more, but Stacy once again made it out of reach. Over extending his arm, Jyharri fell onto the ground right in front of Stacy. Stacy laughed with Jyharri joining in as he turned over. As the two looked at each other their eyes met. Stacy noticed something different about his eyes. Instead of being the usual light black they were green. Stacy smiled with Jyharri returning it.
“I have to ask,” said Stacy, “why your eyes are green now? I remember seeing your eyes before when I saw you the first day and they were black.”
“I wear contacts,” replied Jyharri. “Not because of bad eyesight, but because they remind me of something I need to forget.”
“I think we should get moving,” Mio suggested.
Stacy and Jyharri stood up, still smiling at each other. Craig slowly stood and approached the others slowly. Just as the group was about to take to the path up the mountain, the trees started to rustle. The whole group turned around, pulling out one Pokéball. A figure flew out of the tree, zooming by Stacy. Stacy was knocked off balance and fell back to the ground.
“Are you all right?” Jyharri asked her as he knelt by her side.
“I’m fine,” said Stacy as she stood and dusted off her yellow skirt. “What was that?”
The figure landed on the ground and faced the group. It was human sized with a pair of cream colored wings. Jyharri had faced this primarily green Pokémon before.
“It’s a Scyther,” Craig announced.
“I’ll take care of it,” said Jyharri as he held up his Pokéball to Scyther, “Eevee standby!”
As the Pokéball opened Eevee jumped out with a couple of front flips. As she landed she started to growl at the Scyther. The Scyther gave a little laugh and flew off. Both Eevee and Jyharri’s faces now had a look of surprise.
“Oh man!” Jyharri cried as he kicked the ground. “Eevee was going to kick its butt too!”
“No time for complaining,” Mio told him. “We have to be back to the dorms at midnight. It’s currently five thirty-six.”
As the group headed up the mountain the sun started to sink behind the horizon. Being barely visible over the horizon the time it took them to get up the mountain was about an hour. As they reached the face of the cave Stacy peered inside. A screeching sound was heard emanating from the cave. As soon as Stacy put her head in a little farther a flock of Zubat flew out frightening the girl. Stacy shrieked and ran behind her brother, clenching on to him trembling.
“They’re only Zubat,” Craig whispered to her.
“I was just startled, that’s all,” Stacy said as she chuckled nervously.
“Let’s go in,” Jyharri said.
As the group entered the cave most of the sunlight vanished. The only thing lighting up the cave was tiny cracks in the cave’s ceiling. The light that was filtered in was scarce, but it was enough to see where you were going. Mio pulled two flashlights out of his backpack, handing one to Jyharri and keeping on to himself.
“I think we should split up,” Mio suggested. “That way we can all get an equal amount of training done.”
“How should we split up?” Jyharri asked.
“How about I go with Mio and you go with Stacy?” Craig suggested quietly.
“I’m fine with that,” answered Jyharri. “What about you guys?”
“It’s cool with me,” said Mio.
“I don’t see any problem with that,” Stacy said as she walked to Jyharri.
“Let’s meet back here at ten o’ clock,” Mio told them.
Stacy and Jyharri nodded. The two pairs turned on the flashlights and started down two different paths. The path Stacy and Jyharri took was dark. A dripping noise was heard throughout the cave. The stone was surprisingly smooth opposed to the rough, unleveled ground. The many breaks and crevices in the ground made it difficult to walk. Jyharri walked in front holding the flashlight close to his body, barely above his waist. As Stacy took a step her foot caught onto a rock. Falling forward, she threw her hands out. As they landed on Jyharri’s shoulders, he stopped.
“Maybe we should have gone the other way,” Stacy said with a chuckle.
“Are you going to tell me what you wrote down?” Jyharri asked, turning his head slightly.
“What are you talking about?”
“That notepad,” Jyharri told her. “You wrote something about me right?”
“Maybe I did and maybe I didn’t,” said Stacy.
The Lightning Yellow girl grabbed the flashlight with a smile and started to walk ahead. Jyharri shook his head with a smirk and followed. After approximately seven meters the ground became flat. The dripping noise became louder, almost changing altogether. The sound now seemed like flowing water. Jyharri looked around them, at least the best he could, and saw that the walls seemed to be getting closer with every step they took.
“Hey Stacy,” Jyharri called out as he looked around.
“Be quiet!” Stacy shushed him. “Look at this!”
Jyharri looked towards Stacy’s voice and saw her outline was peering down another path. Jyharri quietly walked behind her and decided to take a look. The room over was filled with light from the moon hanging in the sky. The source of the water noise was located in the next room also. In the center there was a waterfall, surrounded by huge stones. Atop the waterfall was a rock that was about thirteen feet tall. It glowed brilliantly. Small figures congregated on the outside of the waterfall.
“What are those things?” Stacy asked Jyharri quietly.
“Pokémon,” said Jyharri as he pulled out a Pokéball.
“What are you doing?!” Stacy asked bewildered.
“Training,” Jyharri said simply. “That’s what we came here for right?”
Without anymore words Jyharri jumped out from behind the wall and dashed into the next room. As he entered clouds appeared in front of the moon, making the figures harder to see. When the figures noticed him an object went whizzing by Jyharri’s face. The object seemed long, barely scratching Jyharri’s cheek. The thrown object came flying back and landed in one of the figures hands. That one seemed to be the leader as it was bigger than the rest and it was in front. Jyharri looked closer and noticed something about the smaller figures. They looked very familiar. They seemed to be wearing a white helmet. As the clouds parted over the moon Jyharri recognized the Pokémon.
“It’s a gang of Cubones!” Jyharri exclaimed.
The bigger one wasn’t as familiar as the Cubone. It looked a lot like the Cubone except its helmet was its head. The object it had thrown, now brandished in its hand, was a thick bone club.
“Be careful!” yelled a voice from behind Jyharri. “That Marowak looks dangerous!”
Jyharri whirled around to see Stacy enter the room. As he shook his head Stacy gasped. Jyharri turned back around to see Marowak three feet from his face. As the Pokémon swung its bone club Jyharri jumped backwards barely dodging it. As Jyharri landed Marowak swung its club again, this time at his feet. Jyharri jumped straight up. Before he could touch back down to the ground Marowak threw its body into him, knocking him back. Stacy rushed to his side.
“Are you ok?” she asked worried.
“Never better,” said Jyharri as he sat up. “It’s time to teach this overgrown Cubone a lesson. Eevee, standby!”
The Normal type Pokémon emerged from the Pokéball with her usual front flips. As it landed it eyed Marowak and gave it a smirk. Marowak jumped towards Eevee, swinging its Bone Club furiously. Eevee agilely dodge all of its attempts to hit her.
“Give em’ your Iron Tail!” Jyharri yelled as he jumped up.
As Marowak’s bone club missed Eevee and hit the ground, Eevee’s tail started to glow. Eevee spun quickly, smacking Marowak in the face. The Ground type staggered backwards, dropping his bone club. As Marowak fell backwards the gang of Cubones jumped at Eevee, all swinging their bone clubs. Eevee started to dodge them all, but one caught Eevee in the side. As Eevee fell the Cubones jumped back as Marowak jumped forward. Eevee staggered out of his way, barely missing getting stomped on.
“Eevee use Dig to get out of there!” Jyharri called.
Marowak finally reached his bone club as Eevee burrowed under the ground. Marowak look all around him for the Normal Type Pokémon. A full three minutes passed and Marowak still could not locate where Eevee had dug to. As he approached the hole Eevee had originally dug the ground burst open underneath him. Eevee had waited for Marowak by the original hole. Marowak once again hit the ground.
“Hit those Cubone with Shadow Ball!” Jyharri shouted as he saw the Cubone running at Eevee.
Black energy began to gather in Eevee’s mouth. Once the energy reach a substantial amount, Eevee fired it at them in the form of a ball. The ball knocked the Cubones over like bowling pins.
“Now let’s finish this Marowak off,” Jyharri told Eevee.
As Eevee turned to face Marowak, the bone club collided with the side of Eevee’s face. Eevee was knocked back into a stone. The bone club flew back into Marowak’s hand as if it were a boomerang. As Eevee attempted to get up Marowak dashed towards Eevee, bone club high in the air.
“It’s time to use Protect!” Jyharri shouted.
Right before Eevee was struck with the bone club, a green sphere appeared around her. Marowak’s bone club collided with the sphere, knocking him back. Marowak jumped towards the sphere and struck it again. Every time Marowak’s hits were deflected he tried it again and again. The fourth time Marowak jumped forward Eevee did the same. The green sphere hit Marowak in the face. The Ground type was knocked back onto the ground in front of the waterfall, his bone club falling beside Eevee.
“Eevee,” Jyharri called, “use his bone club against him!”
Eevee picked up the club in her mouth and dashed towards Marowak. As she neared him, Eevee jumped into the air, her tail starting to glow once more. In the air, Eevee dropped the club. As the club started to fall, Eevee did a front flip, hitting the bone club with her tail. The club rocketed towards Marowak. The Marowak could only look in horror as he was struck with his own bone club. Jyharri pulled something out of his pocket, pointed it towards Marowak and enlarged it. It was a Pokéball.
“Since you caused me all this trouble I might as well catch you,” Jyharri said.
“Wait,” Stacy yelled.
“What is it?” Jyharri asked as he lowered the Pokéball.
“I want to catch him,” she said.
“I guess if it’s what you want,” Jyharri said as he handed her the Pokéball.
Stacy took in a deep breath. Like Jyharri, she pointed the Pokéball at Marowak. The Ground type moved slightly, trying to get away. Stacy concentrated on Marowak, not moving an inch. The Cubones saw their fallen leader and rushed to his side, helping him get away.
“Why didn’t you catch him?” Jyharri asked surprised.
“Those Cubones need him more than you or I do,” answered Stacy.
“Well that was a good battle Eevee,” Jyharri complimented his Pokémon.
Eevee smiled as the glowing rock on top of the waterfall started to glow even more brilliantly. Eevee turned towards the rock and was mesmerized. Jyharri walked over to his Pokémon and picked her up. Her eyes could not stay off the rock.
“I think she wants to go and see that rock,” Stacy guessed.
Jyharri walked over to the side of the waterfall, carefully scaling the wall with Eevee on his shoulder. As the landed on the top Eevee hopped off Jyharri’s shoulders and approached the rock. The air got colder the closer they got to the stone.
“What is this weird rock?” Jyharri asked out loud. “It looks as if it’s made of ice.”
Eevee began to make cries as she nudged Jyharri’s leg. Jyharri looked down and saw a paper in Eevee’s mouth. When Jyharri took it he saw that there was writing on it. It read, “To whoever finds this, you are probably wondering what this rock is. It is called the Glacier Rock. The amount of time it has been here is unknown. The only known things about it are that it is a very unnatural rock and that it serves a very specific purpose. It evolves Eevee into Glaceon.”
“Evolves Eevee,” said Jyharri to himself.
“What is it?” Stacy asked from the base of the waterfall.
Ignoring Stacy, Jyharri stared at Eevee. She could evolve here and now and beat Sydnie’s Espeon. Eevee stared right back at Jyharri, almost reading his face. She knew what would happen.
“Jyharri,” Stacy shouted.
“Sorry, what?” asked Jyharri, coming back down to Earth.
“What is that up there?” she asked again.
“It’s this thing called Glacier Rock,” he informed her. “It can evolve Eevee into Glaceon.”
“Are you serious?” Stacy asked. “Are you going to do it?”
“It all depends,” Jyharri told her. “Do you want to evolve into a Glaceon right now?”
Eevee looked at Jyharri’s face, not sure what to do. The small Pokémon walked over to the rock and lifted her paw. As she was about to place her paw on the rock Jyharri placed his hand on Eevee’s head.
“You don’t have to evolve if you don’t want to,” Jyharri told Eevee with a smile. “We can beat that Espeon without you evolving.”
Tears started to gather in Eevee’s eyes. She jumped into Jyharri’s arms, licking his face. Jyharri jumped down off the waterfall to join Stacy. As he landed Jyharri recalled Eevee back into her Pokéball.
“What was going on up there?” Stacy asked.
“Eevee decided not to evolve,” he informed her. We decided that we could beat Espeon without having her evolve.”
“That’s good,” said Stacy. “I hope you guys win.”
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“I think we’re lost.”
“No we’re not lost. I know exactly where we are.”
“And where is that?”
“Craig, I don’t need your negativity.”
Craig and Mio had been travelling down many different paths for about an hour. After deciding to rest the pair tried to figure out where they were. Craig suggested they were lost, but Mio wouldn’t accept that.
“So,” said Mio, “while we are sitting here how about we get to know each other better.”
“That sounds good,” Craig agreed quietly.
“As you already know my name is Mio. I come from Lavaridge Town. Where are you from?”
“I was born and raised in Hearthome City with my sister,” Craig told him. “When we turned ten, our father gave us our first Pokémon. Mine was a Beldum while my sister’s was a Turtwig.”
“That’s cool,” Mio commented. “I started off with a Torchic.”
Suddenly, rocks clattered from behind them. Both boys flinched, spinning around to face the noise. Mio pointed the flashlight in the direction of the noise, but saw nothing except the cave walls and rocks. As soon as the two were about to turn around a leg stepped out of the darkness.
“Who’s there?” Mio asked.
As if answering his question, the figure of an old man stepped into the light. His back was hunched as he wobbled with his wooden walking stick. His beard was white as snow, coming down to the beginning of his chest. As he approached Mio and Craig he ran his fingers through his white, balding hair.
Mio quickly reached into his bag and pulled out a little canister. “Back up Jack!” he yelled as he pointed the canister at the old man.
“What is that?” Craig asked him.
“It’s pepper spray,” Mio answered. “I grabbed in just in case we ran into a perverted hermit like him.”
“Whoa, you’ve got me all wrong,” said the old man. “I’m not into things like that. You look like you’re lost.”
“So what if we are?” Mio asked, not lowering the spray.
“If you take this cave hear,” he said as he pointed behind him, “you’ll reach the entrance in about an hour at most. It’s an intricate system of twists and turns, but what do I know? I’m only a perverted hermit. So you should be able to figure it out.”
“Mio,” Craig whispered in his ear, “he seems like a nice guy.”
Mio slowly lowered the pepper spray. “I’m sorry. I wanted to train my Blaziken so I came here with my friends. So far we haven’t gotten much done.”
A sparkle appeared in the old man’s eye. “You have a Blaziken?”
“Yeah, and my friend here has a sweet Metang,” Mio told him.
“I’m sure it is, how you kids say the bomb, but I am only interested in Fire Pokémon. Do you know anyone with say a Typhlosion or Infernape?” the old man asked.
“Well my friend Jyharri has a Charizard,” Mio said after thinking.
“That is perfect!” the old man exclaimed. “I’m going to tell you how to train your Pokémon to use the perfect Fire type move.”
“Sweet,” Mio exclaimed, “and who can I thank?”
“You may call me the Cave Hermit.”
------------------------------------------------------
“You seriously did that?”
“No lie. Craig told Mom and I got in trouble. Ever since then I’ve never had a thing for the rules.”
After the battle with the Marowak, Jyharri and Stacy sat on a stone telling each other stories of themselves. After the two laughed, Stacy once again took out her notepad. When she started to look for her pen Jyharri got a glimpse of what she was about to add something to. His name was indeed at the top. The only word he saw was ‘confident’.
“Found it,” Stacy said as she pulled out her pen. “You weren’t looking at my notes were you?”
“No,” said Jyharri. “I was looking at the notepad and happened to see one little word.”
Stacy laughed as she started to scribble more down on to the pad. Jyharri watched her as she wrote his head on his hand and his elbow on his knee. From time to time Stacy would look up from her notepad and look at Jyharri. The two would smile at each before Stacy looked away.
“Should we get going?” Jyharri asked.
“Yeah,” Stacy agreed. “Let’s go.”
Jyharri leapt off the rock, landing a meter from the stone. Stacy shook her head at him as she hopped off and jogged towards him. Before reaching Jyharri, Stacy’s foot hit a rock, tripping her. Jyharri reached an arm out and caught her by her arm.
“Thanks,” Stacy said as she started to stand up straight.
When she came to be upright their eyes met. Jyharri felt a feeling in his stomach that he never felt before. He had butterflies for once. Stacy slowly inched herself closer to Jyharri. He wanted to back away, but he couldn’t move his body. It was as if he didn’t want to move. Stacy wrapped her arms around Jyharri’s neck, pulling him closer. Just as the two were about two kiss, a clattering came from a cave on the far side. The two instantly broke apart and Jyharri thrust the flashlight in the direction of the noise.
“Whoever’s there, you need to come out,” he yelled.
“Jyharri?” called a familiar voice.
“Who is that?” Jyharri yelled out.
Three figures appeared out of the cave. One of them was at least a head or two taller than the rest. A flash of red confirmed it; it was Mio. Craig dashed to his sister and embraced her tightly. As soon as they broke apart Craig started to ramble about how Mio and he got lost and ran into the hermit.
“Did you get some training done?” Stacy asked the two.
“A little, but this hermit here did-” Mio started.
“Wait until you’ve left to tell them,” said the Cave Hermit. “That way you can focus on getting out of here.”
“What about you?” Mio asked.
“I stay here of course,” the hermit laughed. “I’ll leave when that tournament of yours starts.”
Mio and Craig waved goodbye to the Cave Hermit as Stacy and Jyharri led the way out. As they reached the entrance the moon was out in the form of a crescent and shining down on them. Mio checked his watch and saw that the time was ten o’ clock.
“We’d better get back,” Mio said.
As the group traversed down the mountain side, Jyharri saw that a paper was sticking out of Stacy’s blazer’s side pocket. Deciding this was his only chance, Jyharri slowly reached for the paper. When the paper touched his hands, Jyharri quickly snatched it out of the pocket. As he unfolded it Jyharri saw in the moonlight that it was the paper Stacy was writing on before. With his name atop, there were two lists below it. One was titled ‘negatives’ while the other was ‘positives’. The negative list read, ‘Kind of rude, slightly cocky, secretive.’ The list labeled ‘positives’ read, ‘Confident, funny, gives me a funny feeling in my stomach, great trainer, and kind of cute.’
“What is this small writing down here?” Jyharri whispered to himself. Ignoring the small writing, he deposited it into his front pocket.
“What’s happening to it?” Mio said intruding on Jyharri’s conversation with himself.
Jyharri looked up and saw the other three around Mio’s egg. It had started to glow and didn’t stop. As Jyharri watched in surprise a bright flash appeared from his backpack. Jyharri placed his bag on the ground and pulled out his own egg. Just like Mio’s, his had started to glow and kept glowing. Jyharri walked over to the others and placed his egg down to show them.
“They’re hatching at the same time?!” Stacy said bewildered.
The glow had started to diminish. When the glow completely stopped the eggs cracked open. The group of students all peered inside the egg. Suddenly, a jack popped out of both eggs.
“Congratulations, you fail,” the eggs said in unison.
“Huh?” the group said together.
The jacks held cards in their hands. Jyharri and Mio took them. Mio looked the card over, not knowing what it is.
“It’s a detention slip!” Jyharri exclaimed.
“What,” Mio cried.
The card read, ‘If you are reading this then you failed the egg test. You were either given an egg or you happened to “find” it. The reason behind this is in the real world, if you find something as valuable as a Pokémon egg then you need to return it. Let these detentions be a lesson to you. Love, Headmistress Taylor.’
“Great job guys,” Stacy said giving them a thumb up. “You got detention!”
“Let’s get back before we get in even more trouble,” Mio said grumpily.
As the group walked back to their respective dorms there was no conversation. Craig and Stacy walked up ahead while Mio and Jyharri trudged behind them. Jyharri put his hands into his pockets and felt something. It was Stacy’s paper on him.
“Better return this,” Jyharri said to himself.
As Stacy waved goodbye to Craig Jyharri snuck up behind her and took the paper out of his pocket. Slowly reaching for her pocket, Jyharri was about to slip the paper back in. Suddenly, something gripped his wrist. It was Stacy’s hand!
“Gotcha’,” Stacy said with a wink. “When were you going to tell me if I hadn’t noticed the paper missing?”
“Probably never,” Jyharri told her truthfully.
“It’s a good thing I felt you take it out of my pocket then,” Stacy said smiling.
“You spent this whole time hiding this from me and you let me take it out of your pocket?” Jyharri asked. “Why?”
“I decided that I wanted you to know,” Stacy informed him. “I wasn’t going to hide it anymore like a little girl.”
“These feelings,” Jyharri started, “are they real or not?”
“Of course they are,” she said sounding offended. “Why would they not be?”
“It has happened to me before,” Jyharri told her as he looked at the ground.
Stacy put her hands behind her back as she approached Jyharri. She lifted his chin and pulled him down to her height. Her lips softly touched his cheek, staying there for about twenty seconds.
“I’m not like other girls,” she whispered in his ear.
While Jyharri was still surprised Stacy walked off towards the Lightning Yellow dorm. The Fire Red boy rubbed his cheek, a smile etching itself across his face. As Jyharri turned to go to the docks he ran into Mio.
“You didn’t see that did you?” Jyharri asked.
“See what?” Mio asked look around stupidly.
Jyharri walked to the boat that took students to the dorms with Mio close behind. When they entered the boat Mio stared at Jyharri smiling.
“Why don’t you take a picture?” Jyharri asked him. “It’ll last longer.”
“I’ll take one,” Mio replied, a smile appearing on his face, “when you’re with your girlfriend.”
“She’s not my girlfriend,” Jyharri said.
“Hey,” Mio said as he nudged a random student. “Jyharri’s got a girlfriend.”
“Shut it Mio,” Jyharri warned him.
Mio nudged the student next to him. “Guy right there has a girlfriend and she is pretty good looking, I’m not gonna lie.”
Soon all five people on the boat, excluding Jyharri, were talking about Jyharri and his new “girlfriend”.
“Only eight more months,” Jyharri said as he closed his eyes. “After eight months I won’t have to deal with this.”
“Hey did you hear?” a student asked another next to him. “Ryan from Ocean Blue tells me Stacy from Lightning Yellow has a boyfriend in Fire Red.”
“Yeah,” said the other student. “I hear its Jyharri.”
“NOOOOOOOOO!”
Dedication Through Light and Darkness
Chapter 11: Torn Eevee! Her Decision!
“Try to use Protect again!”
A green sphere appeared around a little cream colored fox. A rock, thrown by a human, hit the sphere and bounced off. When another stone was thrown it fell through, hitting the creature on the head.
“Come on Eevee,” Jyharri said. “You can do this!”
The little Pokémon nodded her head and prepared herself.
“Now, use Protect!” Jyharri shouted as he threw a barrage of stones at Eevee.
As the stones hit the green barrier they all bounced off, flying back at Jyharri. Covering his face so he wouldn’t get hit, Jyharri clapped loudly.
“Let’s try it again,” Jyharri said as he picked up another stone.
Launching it high into the air, Jyharri watched the stone as it reached its peak. As it came down Eevee focused on the stone. Right before the stone made contact with her head a green dome appeared around the little fox, the stone bouncing right off, shattering to pieces. As soon as Jyharri was going to clap, applause was heard from behind him. Spinning on his heel, what came into view was a large student. The red blazer made it obvious they were in the same dorm.
“Hey,” Jyharri said, “you’re, um.”
“Mio,” he told him.
“Right,” said Jyharri. “Funny thing we were never in the same place before a couple days ago.”
“Oh we were,” Mio assured him.
“Huh?” Jyharri asked.
“Oh yeah, I’ve been in the background the whole time,” Mio explained. “You know that time you battled that guy Sean on the boat? I was in the crowd. Remember the battle with Sydnie? I was watching with my juice box. Also that time you followed that lady in black, I followed you some of the way.”
“I’m surprised I never noticed you,” Jyharri told him. “What are you doing out here?”
“I was training my Cacnea and decided to take a walk,” Mio replied. “I see you’re trying to learn Protect. That’s a good defensive move.”
“Well we got it down, right Eevee?”
Eevee nodded her head, proud that she learned how to use Protect well enough to shatter stone. Jyharri knelt down to his side, picking up Eevee and petting her on the head.
“Hey,” said Mio, “can I ask you something?”
“Go ahead,” replied Jyharri.
“Do you want to go check something out with me?” Mio asked.
“What is this something?” Jyharri asked, a little suspicious.
“Well, while out training yesterday I stumbled upon this cave,” explained Mio. “It’s at the top of this cliff jutting out over the ocean. It’s only a couple miles away from the school’s campus.”
Jyharri set Eevee down, contemplating the idea of exploring a cave. The upside was it would get him away from Jessica. The downside was that his training would be interrupted.
“I heard Pokémon cries from inside the cave so it would be perfect training for our Pokémon,” Mio said as if he heard Jyharri’s thoughts.
If I go then I can train and see lots of different Pokémon, Jyharri thought. “Do you want to go Eevee?”
Eevee nodded her head, a smile upon her face. Jyharri turned to Mio and nodded.
“We’ll go now if you want,” suggested Mio.
“Let’s go!” yelled Jyharri punching the air. “Which way is it?”
“That way,” Mio said as he pointed towards many trees.
The trees covered about ten miles of land away from the school, a path parting the trees into two sides. The tops of the trees were a lush green. Standing at almost twenty feet, the trees were tall.
“I’ll have to get supplies first,” Jyharri told Mio.
“No worries,” Mio replied as he opened his bag. “I’ve got everything we need. I’ve got Pokémon medicine, human medicine, food, and water.”
“Did you expect me to say yes?” Jyharri asked laughing nervously.
Mio nodded his head as a reply. As the two boys approached the path the sound of branches snapping made itself known from behind them. The two wheeled around, focusing on a small bush behind them. Normally they would search the bush, but this bush was suspicious. It was the only bush for a couple hundred meters.
“I know someone’s there,” Jyharri announced. “You might as well come on out.”
“Looks like the jig is up Craig,” said a feminine voice. “You’ve got the eyes of a Noctowl!”
Out of the bush jumped a flash of yellow. Fully revealed was a Lightning Yellow girl, her brown hair falling down to her shoulders. Her bright blue eyes sparked with passion.
“You two are Mio Bunea and Jyharri Ahmed, am I correct?” the girl asked.
“Yeah we are,” Jyharri answered.
“I’m guessing you know who I am so no need for me to introduce myself,” said the girl with a twirl.
“Actually I have no idea who you are,” Mio told her. “What about you?”
Jyharri shook his head. “Not a clue.”
“Well for your information, I’m Stacy Thompson of the Thompson Twins!”
“So where’s your sister?” Jyharri asked as he looked around.
“My twin is a boy thank you very much,” Stacy informed him, throwing her hands on her hips. “He’s still hiding. Craig come on out!”
A boy, who looked exactly like Stacy, stepped out from behind a tree. He possessed the same brown hair except his was short. The blue eyes were a match, but the passion was gone. His blazer was blue, him being an Ocean Blue student. As he stood up he hesitantly approached the three.
“Um,” he said holding his hands behind his back. “You, uh, forgot your backpack.”
From behind him he pulled out Jyharri’s red and black backpack, a round blue object sticking out of it. Jyharri thanked him as he received his backpack while Craig looked at the ground, fidgeting.
“Craig is nervous around new people,” Stacy told them. “That’ll change once you get to know him.”
“What is that?” Mio asked pointing to the blue object in Jyharri’s pack.
“Oh, this is an egg I found,” he told him.
“Interesting,” Stacy butted in pulling out a notepad, scribbling something on it.
“You found one too?” Mio asked surprised.
Jyharri looked at him questioningly. Mio set his bag on the ground and pulled out a green elliptical object. Unlike Jyharri’s, Mio’s had a white stripes crossing the egg diagonally. The egg flashed suddenly three times. Everyone jumped back, surprised by the bright flashes.
“I found it about a week ago,” Mio told them. “It’s been doing that this whole time. I think it’s going to hatch today.”
“That’s noteworthy,” said Stacy as she started to scribble some more on her notepad.
“Any particular reason you carry around a notepad?” Jyharri asked her, eyeing the notepad suspiciously.
“Oh, um, this?” she asked holding it up. “I want to, uh, become a, uh, reporter!”
“Right,” said Jyharri as she continued to scribble. “What about you Craig?”
“Oh!” Craig jumped. “Me? Um, I, uh, just want to become a great trainer.”
Jyharri ignored Craig’s stuttering and inched himself behind Stacy, trying to get a look at the notepad. Not noticing him, Stacy continued to scribble away. On the notepad were two lists of words. Above the list was a name. It read, ‘Mio’. Under Mio were descriptions that sounded almost like she was comparing him to other guys. The first list read, ‘Too tall, too nice, wouldn’t look good with me.’ The second list was much more positive, but had two lines to it. It read, ‘Is nice, and looks very sweet.’
“Nice reports,” said Jyharri, making Stacy jump a mile.
“Were you reading what I wrote?” Stacy questioned him.
“Yeah, I did and it looks like you’re comparing the guys here,” Jyharri answered. “Look, we’ve got some training to do. You two can tag along if you want.”
“What Pokémon are you going to train with?” Stacy asked.
“Mine of course,” Jyharri scoffed. “Why do you ask?”
“You don’t have any Pokéballs on you,” said Stacy.
“That’s because my Eev-” Jyharri stopped abruptly as he looked down at his side.
Eevee had vanished! Frantically looking everywhere Jyharri couldn’t find Eevee.
“You should keep better track of your stuff,” said Stacy as she pointed towards Craig.
Sure enough Jyharri’s Eevee was curled up into a ball asleep behind Craig’s leg. Jyharri pulled out Eevee’s Pokéball from his bag and recalled her. The group headed off towards the cliff, Stacy in front and Craig in the back. Jyharri stared down Stacy the whole way with a look that could kill. Resting at the base of the cliff, Mio pulled out an iPod and plugged the ear buds into his ears. Jyharri on the other hand took a book out of his bag and opened it to the middle and began to read. Stacy took notice of this and made a beeline for him. Craig sat on the stump of a tree which had been cut down previously.
“What are you reading?” Stacy asked sitting down next to him almost seductively.
Jyharri barely peered over the edge of his book to look at Stacy. “A book,” he replied.
“Which book silly,” Stacy asked as she hit him playfully.
“If you must know,” said Jyharri, “it’s Sherlock Holmes.”
“Oh,” was all Stacy said before she started to scribble more notes on her notepad.
“Are you taking notes on me too?” Jyharri asked putting his book down.
Stacy flashed him a smile and turned away. Jyharri leaned over trying to get a look. Stacy shut it immediately and smiled. Jyharri chuckled and reached over to grab the notepad. Stacy pulled the notepad away even farther, making it out of Jyharri’s reach. Jyharri reached even more, but Stacy once again made it out of reach. Over extending his arm, Jyharri fell onto the ground right in front of Stacy. Stacy laughed with Jyharri joining in as he turned over. As the two looked at each other their eyes met. Stacy noticed something different about his eyes. Instead of being the usual light black they were green. Stacy smiled with Jyharri returning it.
“I have to ask,” said Stacy, “why your eyes are green now? I remember seeing your eyes before when I saw you the first day and they were black.”
“I wear contacts,” replied Jyharri. “Not because of bad eyesight, but because they remind me of something I need to forget.”
“I think we should get moving,” Mio suggested.
Stacy and Jyharri stood up, still smiling at each other. Craig slowly stood and approached the others slowly. Just as the group was about to take to the path up the mountain, the trees started to rustle. The whole group turned around, pulling out one Pokéball. A figure flew out of the tree, zooming by Stacy. Stacy was knocked off balance and fell back to the ground.
“Are you all right?” Jyharri asked her as he knelt by her side.
“I’m fine,” said Stacy as she stood and dusted off her yellow skirt. “What was that?”
The figure landed on the ground and faced the group. It was human sized with a pair of cream colored wings. Jyharri had faced this primarily green Pokémon before.
“It’s a Scyther,” Craig announced.
“I’ll take care of it,” said Jyharri as he held up his Pokéball to Scyther, “Eevee standby!”
As the Pokéball opened Eevee jumped out with a couple of front flips. As she landed she started to growl at the Scyther. The Scyther gave a little laugh and flew off. Both Eevee and Jyharri’s faces now had a look of surprise.
“Oh man!” Jyharri cried as he kicked the ground. “Eevee was going to kick its butt too!”
“No time for complaining,” Mio told him. “We have to be back to the dorms at midnight. It’s currently five thirty-six.”
As the group headed up the mountain the sun started to sink behind the horizon. Being barely visible over the horizon the time it took them to get up the mountain was about an hour. As they reached the face of the cave Stacy peered inside. A screeching sound was heard emanating from the cave. As soon as Stacy put her head in a little farther a flock of Zubat flew out frightening the girl. Stacy shrieked and ran behind her brother, clenching on to him trembling.
“They’re only Zubat,” Craig whispered to her.
“I was just startled, that’s all,” Stacy said as she chuckled nervously.
“Let’s go in,” Jyharri said.
As the group entered the cave most of the sunlight vanished. The only thing lighting up the cave was tiny cracks in the cave’s ceiling. The light that was filtered in was scarce, but it was enough to see where you were going. Mio pulled two flashlights out of his backpack, handing one to Jyharri and keeping on to himself.
“I think we should split up,” Mio suggested. “That way we can all get an equal amount of training done.”
“How should we split up?” Jyharri asked.
“How about I go with Mio and you go with Stacy?” Craig suggested quietly.
“I’m fine with that,” answered Jyharri. “What about you guys?”
“It’s cool with me,” said Mio.
“I don’t see any problem with that,” Stacy said as she walked to Jyharri.
“Let’s meet back here at ten o’ clock,” Mio told them.
Stacy and Jyharri nodded. The two pairs turned on the flashlights and started down two different paths. The path Stacy and Jyharri took was dark. A dripping noise was heard throughout the cave. The stone was surprisingly smooth opposed to the rough, unleveled ground. The many breaks and crevices in the ground made it difficult to walk. Jyharri walked in front holding the flashlight close to his body, barely above his waist. As Stacy took a step her foot caught onto a rock. Falling forward, she threw her hands out. As they landed on Jyharri’s shoulders, he stopped.
“Maybe we should have gone the other way,” Stacy said with a chuckle.
“Are you going to tell me what you wrote down?” Jyharri asked, turning his head slightly.
“What are you talking about?”
“That notepad,” Jyharri told her. “You wrote something about me right?”
“Maybe I did and maybe I didn’t,” said Stacy.
The Lightning Yellow girl grabbed the flashlight with a smile and started to walk ahead. Jyharri shook his head with a smirk and followed. After approximately seven meters the ground became flat. The dripping noise became louder, almost changing altogether. The sound now seemed like flowing water. Jyharri looked around them, at least the best he could, and saw that the walls seemed to be getting closer with every step they took.
“Hey Stacy,” Jyharri called out as he looked around.
“Be quiet!” Stacy shushed him. “Look at this!”
Jyharri looked towards Stacy’s voice and saw her outline was peering down another path. Jyharri quietly walked behind her and decided to take a look. The room over was filled with light from the moon hanging in the sky. The source of the water noise was located in the next room also. In the center there was a waterfall, surrounded by huge stones. Atop the waterfall was a rock that was about thirteen feet tall. It glowed brilliantly. Small figures congregated on the outside of the waterfall.
“What are those things?” Stacy asked Jyharri quietly.
“Pokémon,” said Jyharri as he pulled out a Pokéball.
“What are you doing?!” Stacy asked bewildered.
“Training,” Jyharri said simply. “That’s what we came here for right?”
Without anymore words Jyharri jumped out from behind the wall and dashed into the next room. As he entered clouds appeared in front of the moon, making the figures harder to see. When the figures noticed him an object went whizzing by Jyharri’s face. The object seemed long, barely scratching Jyharri’s cheek. The thrown object came flying back and landed in one of the figures hands. That one seemed to be the leader as it was bigger than the rest and it was in front. Jyharri looked closer and noticed something about the smaller figures. They looked very familiar. They seemed to be wearing a white helmet. As the clouds parted over the moon Jyharri recognized the Pokémon.
“It’s a gang of Cubones!” Jyharri exclaimed.
The bigger one wasn’t as familiar as the Cubone. It looked a lot like the Cubone except its helmet was its head. The object it had thrown, now brandished in its hand, was a thick bone club.
“Be careful!” yelled a voice from behind Jyharri. “That Marowak looks dangerous!”
Jyharri whirled around to see Stacy enter the room. As he shook his head Stacy gasped. Jyharri turned back around to see Marowak three feet from his face. As the Pokémon swung its bone club Jyharri jumped backwards barely dodging it. As Jyharri landed Marowak swung its club again, this time at his feet. Jyharri jumped straight up. Before he could touch back down to the ground Marowak threw its body into him, knocking him back. Stacy rushed to his side.
“Are you ok?” she asked worried.
“Never better,” said Jyharri as he sat up. “It’s time to teach this overgrown Cubone a lesson. Eevee, standby!”
The Normal type Pokémon emerged from the Pokéball with her usual front flips. As it landed it eyed Marowak and gave it a smirk. Marowak jumped towards Eevee, swinging its Bone Club furiously. Eevee agilely dodge all of its attempts to hit her.
“Give em’ your Iron Tail!” Jyharri yelled as he jumped up.
As Marowak’s bone club missed Eevee and hit the ground, Eevee’s tail started to glow. Eevee spun quickly, smacking Marowak in the face. The Ground type staggered backwards, dropping his bone club. As Marowak fell backwards the gang of Cubones jumped at Eevee, all swinging their bone clubs. Eevee started to dodge them all, but one caught Eevee in the side. As Eevee fell the Cubones jumped back as Marowak jumped forward. Eevee staggered out of his way, barely missing getting stomped on.
“Eevee use Dig to get out of there!” Jyharri called.
Marowak finally reached his bone club as Eevee burrowed under the ground. Marowak look all around him for the Normal Type Pokémon. A full three minutes passed and Marowak still could not locate where Eevee had dug to. As he approached the hole Eevee had originally dug the ground burst open underneath him. Eevee had waited for Marowak by the original hole. Marowak once again hit the ground.
“Hit those Cubone with Shadow Ball!” Jyharri shouted as he saw the Cubone running at Eevee.
Black energy began to gather in Eevee’s mouth. Once the energy reach a substantial amount, Eevee fired it at them in the form of a ball. The ball knocked the Cubones over like bowling pins.
“Now let’s finish this Marowak off,” Jyharri told Eevee.
As Eevee turned to face Marowak, the bone club collided with the side of Eevee’s face. Eevee was knocked back into a stone. The bone club flew back into Marowak’s hand as if it were a boomerang. As Eevee attempted to get up Marowak dashed towards Eevee, bone club high in the air.
“It’s time to use Protect!” Jyharri shouted.
Right before Eevee was struck with the bone club, a green sphere appeared around her. Marowak’s bone club collided with the sphere, knocking him back. Marowak jumped towards the sphere and struck it again. Every time Marowak’s hits were deflected he tried it again and again. The fourth time Marowak jumped forward Eevee did the same. The green sphere hit Marowak in the face. The Ground type was knocked back onto the ground in front of the waterfall, his bone club falling beside Eevee.
“Eevee,” Jyharri called, “use his bone club against him!”
Eevee picked up the club in her mouth and dashed towards Marowak. As she neared him, Eevee jumped into the air, her tail starting to glow once more. In the air, Eevee dropped the club. As the club started to fall, Eevee did a front flip, hitting the bone club with her tail. The club rocketed towards Marowak. The Marowak could only look in horror as he was struck with his own bone club. Jyharri pulled something out of his pocket, pointed it towards Marowak and enlarged it. It was a Pokéball.
“Since you caused me all this trouble I might as well catch you,” Jyharri said.
“Wait,” Stacy yelled.
“What is it?” Jyharri asked as he lowered the Pokéball.
“I want to catch him,” she said.
“I guess if it’s what you want,” Jyharri said as he handed her the Pokéball.
Stacy took in a deep breath. Like Jyharri, she pointed the Pokéball at Marowak. The Ground type moved slightly, trying to get away. Stacy concentrated on Marowak, not moving an inch. The Cubones saw their fallen leader and rushed to his side, helping him get away.
“Why didn’t you catch him?” Jyharri asked surprised.
“Those Cubones need him more than you or I do,” answered Stacy.
“Well that was a good battle Eevee,” Jyharri complimented his Pokémon.
Eevee smiled as the glowing rock on top of the waterfall started to glow even more brilliantly. Eevee turned towards the rock and was mesmerized. Jyharri walked over to his Pokémon and picked her up. Her eyes could not stay off the rock.
“I think she wants to go and see that rock,” Stacy guessed.
Jyharri walked over to the side of the waterfall, carefully scaling the wall with Eevee on his shoulder. As the landed on the top Eevee hopped off Jyharri’s shoulders and approached the rock. The air got colder the closer they got to the stone.
“What is this weird rock?” Jyharri asked out loud. “It looks as if it’s made of ice.”
Eevee began to make cries as she nudged Jyharri’s leg. Jyharri looked down and saw a paper in Eevee’s mouth. When Jyharri took it he saw that there was writing on it. It read, “To whoever finds this, you are probably wondering what this rock is. It is called the Glacier Rock. The amount of time it has been here is unknown. The only known things about it are that it is a very unnatural rock and that it serves a very specific purpose. It evolves Eevee into Glaceon.”
“Evolves Eevee,” said Jyharri to himself.
“What is it?” Stacy asked from the base of the waterfall.
Ignoring Stacy, Jyharri stared at Eevee. She could evolve here and now and beat Sydnie’s Espeon. Eevee stared right back at Jyharri, almost reading his face. She knew what would happen.
“Jyharri,” Stacy shouted.
“Sorry, what?” asked Jyharri, coming back down to Earth.
“What is that up there?” she asked again.
“It’s this thing called Glacier Rock,” he informed her. “It can evolve Eevee into Glaceon.”
“Are you serious?” Stacy asked. “Are you going to do it?”
“It all depends,” Jyharri told her. “Do you want to evolve into a Glaceon right now?”
Eevee looked at Jyharri’s face, not sure what to do. The small Pokémon walked over to the rock and lifted her paw. As she was about to place her paw on the rock Jyharri placed his hand on Eevee’s head.
“You don’t have to evolve if you don’t want to,” Jyharri told Eevee with a smile. “We can beat that Espeon without you evolving.”
Tears started to gather in Eevee’s eyes. She jumped into Jyharri’s arms, licking his face. Jyharri jumped down off the waterfall to join Stacy. As he landed Jyharri recalled Eevee back into her Pokéball.
“What was going on up there?” Stacy asked.
“Eevee decided not to evolve,” he informed her. We decided that we could beat Espeon without having her evolve.”
“That’s good,” said Stacy. “I hope you guys win.”
------------------------------------------------------
“I think we’re lost.”
“No we’re not lost. I know exactly where we are.”
“And where is that?”
“Craig, I don’t need your negativity.”
Craig and Mio had been travelling down many different paths for about an hour. After deciding to rest the pair tried to figure out where they were. Craig suggested they were lost, but Mio wouldn’t accept that.
“So,” said Mio, “while we are sitting here how about we get to know each other better.”
“That sounds good,” Craig agreed quietly.
“As you already know my name is Mio. I come from Lavaridge Town. Where are you from?”
“I was born and raised in Hearthome City with my sister,” Craig told him. “When we turned ten, our father gave us our first Pokémon. Mine was a Beldum while my sister’s was a Turtwig.”
“That’s cool,” Mio commented. “I started off with a Torchic.”
Suddenly, rocks clattered from behind them. Both boys flinched, spinning around to face the noise. Mio pointed the flashlight in the direction of the noise, but saw nothing except the cave walls and rocks. As soon as the two were about to turn around a leg stepped out of the darkness.
“Who’s there?” Mio asked.
As if answering his question, the figure of an old man stepped into the light. His back was hunched as he wobbled with his wooden walking stick. His beard was white as snow, coming down to the beginning of his chest. As he approached Mio and Craig he ran his fingers through his white, balding hair.
Mio quickly reached into his bag and pulled out a little canister. “Back up Jack!” he yelled as he pointed the canister at the old man.
“What is that?” Craig asked him.
“It’s pepper spray,” Mio answered. “I grabbed in just in case we ran into a perverted hermit like him.”
“Whoa, you’ve got me all wrong,” said the old man. “I’m not into things like that. You look like you’re lost.”
“So what if we are?” Mio asked, not lowering the spray.
“If you take this cave hear,” he said as he pointed behind him, “you’ll reach the entrance in about an hour at most. It’s an intricate system of twists and turns, but what do I know? I’m only a perverted hermit. So you should be able to figure it out.”
“Mio,” Craig whispered in his ear, “he seems like a nice guy.”
Mio slowly lowered the pepper spray. “I’m sorry. I wanted to train my Blaziken so I came here with my friends. So far we haven’t gotten much done.”
A sparkle appeared in the old man’s eye. “You have a Blaziken?”
“Yeah, and my friend here has a sweet Metang,” Mio told him.
“I’m sure it is, how you kids say the bomb, but I am only interested in Fire Pokémon. Do you know anyone with say a Typhlosion or Infernape?” the old man asked.
“Well my friend Jyharri has a Charizard,” Mio said after thinking.
“That is perfect!” the old man exclaimed. “I’m going to tell you how to train your Pokémon to use the perfect Fire type move.”
“Sweet,” Mio exclaimed, “and who can I thank?”
“You may call me the Cave Hermit.”
------------------------------------------------------
“You seriously did that?”
“No lie. Craig told Mom and I got in trouble. Ever since then I’ve never had a thing for the rules.”
After the battle with the Marowak, Jyharri and Stacy sat on a stone telling each other stories of themselves. After the two laughed, Stacy once again took out her notepad. When she started to look for her pen Jyharri got a glimpse of what she was about to add something to. His name was indeed at the top. The only word he saw was ‘confident’.
“Found it,” Stacy said as she pulled out her pen. “You weren’t looking at my notes were you?”
“No,” said Jyharri. “I was looking at the notepad and happened to see one little word.”
Stacy laughed as she started to scribble more down on to the pad. Jyharri watched her as she wrote his head on his hand and his elbow on his knee. From time to time Stacy would look up from her notepad and look at Jyharri. The two would smile at each before Stacy looked away.
“Should we get going?” Jyharri asked.
“Yeah,” Stacy agreed. “Let’s go.”
Jyharri leapt off the rock, landing a meter from the stone. Stacy shook her head at him as she hopped off and jogged towards him. Before reaching Jyharri, Stacy’s foot hit a rock, tripping her. Jyharri reached an arm out and caught her by her arm.
“Thanks,” Stacy said as she started to stand up straight.
When she came to be upright their eyes met. Jyharri felt a feeling in his stomach that he never felt before. He had butterflies for once. Stacy slowly inched herself closer to Jyharri. He wanted to back away, but he couldn’t move his body. It was as if he didn’t want to move. Stacy wrapped her arms around Jyharri’s neck, pulling him closer. Just as the two were about two kiss, a clattering came from a cave on the far side. The two instantly broke apart and Jyharri thrust the flashlight in the direction of the noise.
“Whoever’s there, you need to come out,” he yelled.
“Jyharri?” called a familiar voice.
“Who is that?” Jyharri yelled out.
Three figures appeared out of the cave. One of them was at least a head or two taller than the rest. A flash of red confirmed it; it was Mio. Craig dashed to his sister and embraced her tightly. As soon as they broke apart Craig started to ramble about how Mio and he got lost and ran into the hermit.
“Did you get some training done?” Stacy asked the two.
“A little, but this hermit here did-” Mio started.
“Wait until you’ve left to tell them,” said the Cave Hermit. “That way you can focus on getting out of here.”
“What about you?” Mio asked.
“I stay here of course,” the hermit laughed. “I’ll leave when that tournament of yours starts.”
Mio and Craig waved goodbye to the Cave Hermit as Stacy and Jyharri led the way out. As they reached the entrance the moon was out in the form of a crescent and shining down on them. Mio checked his watch and saw that the time was ten o’ clock.
“We’d better get back,” Mio said.
As the group traversed down the mountain side, Jyharri saw that a paper was sticking out of Stacy’s blazer’s side pocket. Deciding this was his only chance, Jyharri slowly reached for the paper. When the paper touched his hands, Jyharri quickly snatched it out of the pocket. As he unfolded it Jyharri saw in the moonlight that it was the paper Stacy was writing on before. With his name atop, there were two lists below it. One was titled ‘negatives’ while the other was ‘positives’. The negative list read, ‘Kind of rude, slightly cocky, secretive.’ The list labeled ‘positives’ read, ‘Confident, funny, gives me a funny feeling in my stomach, great trainer, and kind of cute.’
“What is this small writing down here?” Jyharri whispered to himself. Ignoring the small writing, he deposited it into his front pocket.
“What’s happening to it?” Mio said intruding on Jyharri’s conversation with himself.
Jyharri looked up and saw the other three around Mio’s egg. It had started to glow and didn’t stop. As Jyharri watched in surprise a bright flash appeared from his backpack. Jyharri placed his bag on the ground and pulled out his own egg. Just like Mio’s, his had started to glow and kept glowing. Jyharri walked over to the others and placed his egg down to show them.
“They’re hatching at the same time?!” Stacy said bewildered.
The glow had started to diminish. When the glow completely stopped the eggs cracked open. The group of students all peered inside the egg. Suddenly, a jack popped out of both eggs.
“Congratulations, you fail,” the eggs said in unison.
“Huh?” the group said together.
The jacks held cards in their hands. Jyharri and Mio took them. Mio looked the card over, not knowing what it is.
“It’s a detention slip!” Jyharri exclaimed.
“What,” Mio cried.
The card read, ‘If you are reading this then you failed the egg test. You were either given an egg or you happened to “find” it. The reason behind this is in the real world, if you find something as valuable as a Pokémon egg then you need to return it. Let these detentions be a lesson to you. Love, Headmistress Taylor.’
“Great job guys,” Stacy said giving them a thumb up. “You got detention!”
“Let’s get back before we get in even more trouble,” Mio said grumpily.
As the group walked back to their respective dorms there was no conversation. Craig and Stacy walked up ahead while Mio and Jyharri trudged behind them. Jyharri put his hands into his pockets and felt something. It was Stacy’s paper on him.
“Better return this,” Jyharri said to himself.
As Stacy waved goodbye to Craig Jyharri snuck up behind her and took the paper out of his pocket. Slowly reaching for her pocket, Jyharri was about to slip the paper back in. Suddenly, something gripped his wrist. It was Stacy’s hand!
“Gotcha’,” Stacy said with a wink. “When were you going to tell me if I hadn’t noticed the paper missing?”
“Probably never,” Jyharri told her truthfully.
“It’s a good thing I felt you take it out of my pocket then,” Stacy said smiling.
“You spent this whole time hiding this from me and you let me take it out of your pocket?” Jyharri asked. “Why?”
“I decided that I wanted you to know,” Stacy informed him. “I wasn’t going to hide it anymore like a little girl.”
“These feelings,” Jyharri started, “are they real or not?”
“Of course they are,” she said sounding offended. “Why would they not be?”
“It has happened to me before,” Jyharri told her as he looked at the ground.
Stacy put her hands behind her back as she approached Jyharri. She lifted his chin and pulled him down to her height. Her lips softly touched his cheek, staying there for about twenty seconds.
“I’m not like other girls,” she whispered in his ear.
While Jyharri was still surprised Stacy walked off towards the Lightning Yellow dorm. The Fire Red boy rubbed his cheek, a smile etching itself across his face. As Jyharri turned to go to the docks he ran into Mio.
“You didn’t see that did you?” Jyharri asked.
“See what?” Mio asked look around stupidly.
Jyharri walked to the boat that took students to the dorms with Mio close behind. When they entered the boat Mio stared at Jyharri smiling.
“Why don’t you take a picture?” Jyharri asked him. “It’ll last longer.”
“I’ll take one,” Mio replied, a smile appearing on his face, “when you’re with your girlfriend.”
“She’s not my girlfriend,” Jyharri said.
“Hey,” Mio said as he nudged a random student. “Jyharri’s got a girlfriend.”
“Shut it Mio,” Jyharri warned him.
Mio nudged the student next to him. “Guy right there has a girlfriend and she is pretty good looking, I’m not gonna lie.”
Soon all five people on the boat, excluding Jyharri, were talking about Jyharri and his new “girlfriend”.
“Only eight more months,” Jyharri said as he closed his eyes. “After eight months I won’t have to deal with this.”
“Hey did you hear?” a student asked another next to him. “Ryan from Ocean Blue tells me Stacy from Lightning Yellow has a boyfriend in Fire Red.”
“Yeah,” said the other student. “I hear its Jyharri.”
“NOOOOOOOOO!”