Pokemon Legend Ch. 15

Current status:

Chris:
Kanto Champion
Pokemon: Dragonaire
Cubone
Haunter
Clefairy
Pikachu
Kyogre

Gloria:
Kanto Champion
Pokemon: Skarmory
Togepi
Tamanta
Flaffy
Hitmontop
Lugia

Ash:
Orange Islands Champion
Pokemon: Pikachu
Torterra
Charizard
Blastoise
Ambipom
Uxie

Misty:
Cerulean Gym Leader
Pokemon: Starmie
Golduck
Kingdra
Corsola
Togekiss
Mesprite
----------------------------------------  

The Legendary Pokemon returned to their Pokeballs, exhausted from their ordeal, and the trainers and their four other Pokemon ran out of the Old Chateau. They didn’t find anyone else along the way, except for a couple of quivering scientists who passed out when they got close.

On their way in towards Eterna City, they stopped for a rest on the bridge that crossed the pond between city and forest. “Hey, guys,” Misty broke into the silence as they sat with their feet dangling in the water. “Instead of just sitting here, why not take a dip?”

“Huh? Why?” asked Ash, never much of a swimmer.

“Because it’ll be fun, and relaxing,” Chris replied.

“Plus, we may not get a chance to wash up in Eterna,” Gloria added. “With that double-agent Joy out there, we can’t really afford to spend the night in the Center.”

“I was thinking more of what Chris said,” Misty admitted. “But that’s a good point.”

“Alright, then let’s do it,” Ash agreed, conceding to both the majority vote and superior logic. Within moments, they were all in the water. They brought out all of their water Pokemon, too, to enjoy a swim in the pond instead of in a lab tank. They appreciated it, and the group spent nearly an hour swimming together.

“This reminds me of when I first met you, Misty,” Chris commented. “We swam in the gym pool for quite a while before we started our match.”

“According to Erika, you behaved similarly with her, talking about plants for longer than she realized. Normally a combatant pushes the battle, but you had the patience to hear her out.” Misty nodded approvingly as she said this. Erika had become a good friend in recent years, and Misty had been glad to hear that someone had actually heard her out before battle. “She’d probably be a big help in getting the groves back on your island back in shape, once this is over,” she added. Chris nodded, realizing that she probably would be, with her knowledge of plants.

By the time that they were done in the pond, the sun was rising. After leaving the Pokemon Center near sunset last night, dawn now found them on the edge of Eterna City. They could see the charred ruins of Gardenia’s Gym even from across town. Having gone the night without sleep, they decided that the clearing there, near the pond and cornered against the branches of Mt. Coronet, would be a good place to stop and rest. They did so in shifts, Ash and Misty taking the first watch, then swapping with Chris and Gloria, always keeping two people awake at all times.

Around midday, at a shift swap, they all headed into town for a bit, to take care of a few errands. First, they got Ash and Misty their bikes. As Chris had guessed, one Conu fruit had been more than enough for the two bikes. They also grabbed some lunch, stopping at a nice restaurant near the burned-out gym. They were in for a bit of a shock, when…

“Gardenia?” Misty question softly of their green-haired waitress.

“I heard that she disapp…oh, Misty, it’s you,” Gardenia whispered, relieved. “Yeah, I’m hiding right under their noses, for now. I’m glad to see you’re alright.”

“I didn’t know that they’d made such a fuss about me being gone. I’ll let them know later that I’m alive.” Misty suddenly got serious. “What was it like?”

“Horrible. I got out, but not all of the girls did. Nor did all of my Pokemon…” Tears appeared in Gardenia’s eyes as she thought of her fallen friends. “What about you?”

Misty gave her a short version of her travels since the attack, from her meeting with Ash, to coming to Sinnoh, to meeting Chris and Gloria, and finally the previous night in Eterna Forest.

“I knew that they were there, but I…couldn’t do a thing. And when they attacked…” Gardenia’s tears continued to flow. “Good luck with your plans, guys.” Gardenia wiped the tears from her eyes and walked into the kitchens. The four of them quickly ate the food that she brought, and headed back to their campsite, leaving her a generous tip. With her Gym gone, so was her livelihood, at least for a while, and the Sinnoh League was probably in too much disarray to do much for her. Misty realized that she was in the same position, but she had a lot saved up, as did Ash, so they could pool their resources if things got tight.

After lunch, they shifted the watch shifts, with Ash and Chris staying up first, and then Misty and Gloria. By mid-afternoon, however, none of them could fall asleep on their rest shifts anymore, so they decided it was time to go, and they headed south on Cycling Road. However, they didn’t get far before they arrived at a roadblock. It was incomplete, but it did cut off half of the road.

A woman with long pink hair was directing traffic. “Move along, please. This half of the bridge was damaged when Team Galactic attacked the Eterna Gym.”

“Jessie! Alright, where’s James?” Misty shouted, stopping and grabbing her Pokeballs.

“Did someone call?” James said, poking his head out of the hole in the road. “Oh! Ash, Misty! Good to see you again! Who are the other two?”

“Good? Good!” Misty nearly shrieked until Ash took her hand.

“Calm down, Mist. It’s alright,” Ash said calmly. “James, these are Chris and Gloria, recent Kanto Champions.” Jesse and James nodded, indicating that they recognized the names. “So, you’ve had the baby, Jesse?”

“Ah, yeah, ex-twerps, I did. Jemma is right over there.” Jesse pointed to a stroller off to the side, out of the way. Meowth was sitting next to it. “She’s six months old, now.”

“Wait, what?!? Ok, I’m really lost. Can someone fill me in?” Misty asked, her head spinning from this complete reversal of what she expected.

“Well, Misty, we finally got canned about two years ago,” James started.

“Canned? He practically killed us gettin’ us outta his office!” Meowth shouted.

“Shush! Don’t wake her!” Jesse said, nearly as loud. “Anyways, we decided after that that enough was enough,” she continued. “We stopped trying to be thieves, and we started a construction company.”

“Well, you guys always were good at digging,” Misty said halfheartedly, a sweatdrop running down her cheek.

“It was then that James really pulled a fast one on me,” Jesse said after a moment. “One day, he suddenly just hands me a ring, asking me to marry him!”

“I’d actually had it for years, but I never had the nerve…” James admitted.

“Anyways, after that, they got married, and when I last ran into them, what, nearly a year ago, Jesse was pregnant with little Jemma there,” Ash finished.

“I had started to wonder why you hadn’t jumped us in the couple of weeks that I’ve been back with Ash,” Misty mused. “I’m just so used to you two being on Team Rocket, that I didn’t really think that you’d be otherwise.”

“Well, after we got fired, we thought about it for a bit,” Jesse said.

“The only times that we ever won were when we were helping you guys,” James added.

“So we figured that we ought’ta just try goin’ straight,” Meowth finished.

“How’s business, anyways?” Ash asked.

“Pretty good,” James responed. “Stable, anyways, which is more than could be said about our paychecks with Team Rocket.”

“Ehe, yeah, especially when I’d blow our dough on some robot,” Meowth admitted.

Realizing how late it was getting, the four of them decided to stick around and have dinner with Jesse and James. They also wanted to get a chance to see baby Jemma, once she woke up. They took a service lift, which Jessie and James had brought with them for the stroller, down to the field beneath Cycling Road, and then spread out their food for dinner. Jemma woke up soon after they got down, so Jessie headed off to the side to feed her while the others got dinner ready.

“I am weaning her,” Jessie said, “but she’s at about fifty-fifty right now. And this time she wants me.”

“Don’t worry, we understand,” Misty reassured her. “We’ll have your dinner ready once she’s done with hers.”

It took about fifteen minutes for everything to be ready, by which time Jessie was walking back over. She sat down on the blanket, and set Jemma down to crawl around. They then began to eat their dinner, consisting of rice (which James made, surprisingly), Conu fruit, and some Cinnabar Trout.

“Ah, these dishes take me back to when I was young, before I ran away from home,” James said wistfully. “It’s the first time that I’ve tasted either since.”

“Ooh, they’re good!” Jessie exclaimed. “No wonder it costs so much to get them.”

“I’ve…kinda got a corner on the market for these, now,” Chris said, indicating the Conu fruits. “I’m the only one who knows how to tend a Conu grove properly now.”

“So, then you were the only one from the island to survive the attack?” James asked, knowing the origin of the famous fruit, and the attack on the island.

“Since I wasn’t there, yeah,” Chris agreed. He and Gloria then shared their story over dinner.

“Man, that’s rough,” Meowth commented once the story was done. “So, are ya gonna go back there and tend ‘dem fruits?”

“Maybe,” Chris admitted. “If that’s what Gloria wants. But first, we take care of Team Galactic.”

“I wouldn’t be opposed to that idea,” Gloria said. “It’d be nice to settle down peacefully after all of this.”

The conversation continued well after dinner was done, and the four travelers decided that they’d stay in Jessie and James’s camp that night, and get an early start in the morning.