Author's notes: Wo-hoo! I got lazy me to write again...please don't send me mails, I know that I'm barely writing, but soon I'll finish school and I have to do a lot, reports and such stuff...I still ahve to write 3 reports....get my point? I really write as often as I can and I'll never abandon a fic, so please be patient!^^
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"Articuno, Ice Beam!", Sephia shouted and the ice bird released another beam. The Dewgong fainted and Pryce called his Pok�mon back.
"I can't believe it, but you've won. Well, I guess I shouldn't be that surprised." He looked to Articuno again and the Pok�mon smiled proudly. "Here is your Glacier badge and 3100 Pok�dollars as well." He handed her her prices.
"Thank you, Pryce. Please, don't tell anyone that I have an Articuno, ok? The press would be after us in no time!", Sephia answered and the gym leader smiled and nodded. Sephia thanked him again, called Articuno back and left the icy gym more falling than walking. A floor of ice was a stupid idea after all, but she had seen worse.
Outside she took out a red casket she had bought some months ago. Inside were all her badges.
"That's number 99...just one more!", she smiled to herself. It had gone well in the last months. She had never lost a fight, it just had been close sometimes. In just a half year she had been around the whole world, meeting gym leaders in the strangest towns and surprising them all with her Pok�mon. The strangest fight had been the one against Sabrina in Saffron City. Her psychic Pok�mon had known who their opponent was and refused to fight all the time until an Abra had sighed and agreed to fight. Mewtwo really wanted to fight that time, so she had grabbed his Pok�ball and immediately the Abra had started begging for mercy. Sabrina had been really pissed - until Mewtwo appeared. The gym leader had fainted and when she was up again she just handed Sephia the badge.
The training was going well, too. Of course, there had been some problems in the start, but now the Pok�mon had accepted the dancing and singing. Even Mewtwo. In fact, the psychic Pok�mon really liked it to write new songs...well, he definitely had no feeling for melodic and all, but it was the thought that counted. And her own skills had improved, too. Now they were warming up every morning with jogging for half an hour and then singing and dancing for 15 minutes. Slowly, the Pok�mon learned to control their breathe, it would still take some time until it would be perfect, but slowly but surely was the best way.
Another good thing was that all the Pok�mon were knowing the attacks Sephia had chosen for them. Their levels had increased, too. Maybe it would be enough for Lugia. Maybe...because there was one thing which wasn't perfect at all. Their strength had increased and the fights had been more easier. Sephia still didn't know how the alliance worked, but it seemed that it was happening in dangerous situations. However, since the fight against Misty, there had been no more Alliance. It wasn't needed after all.
Sighing, Sephia left the town. It was already evening, but she had found out that she liked sleeping in the open more than sleeping in beds. Her friends were Pok�mon, not humans. It had always been that way. The negative thing was that her clothes looked dirty and torn most time and since her outfit wasn't the most covering one (she had never grown completely used to it, she was still thinking that she looked like a bitch in it), "torn" was a very bad thing. Of course, she had enough money for the tailor, but it always took so long until she got it back - and two days later it looked terrible again...
Sephia snapped out of her thoughts when she found a wooden sign in front of her. 'Ice path ahead' it said.
"Great! Even more ice...", she muttered and looked around. No one seemed to be there, perfect. She released Suicune from her Pok�ball. The water Pok�mon appeared and looked around.
"Hiya! What happened? What about the badge?", she asked.
"We've won, no serious problems. But look!" Sephia pointed towards the sign.
"I'm already frozen from the gym and now an ice path..."
"Oh, I understand. Sit down, I'll carry you!", Suicune smiled and Sephia hugged her, sitting down. Suicune started to run while Sephia tried to stay on the back of her friend. Soon she saw an entrance to a cave.
"There, Suicune!", she shouted and the Pok�mon nodded. But when she was about to enter the cave a trainer suddenly walked up to it.
"Suicune, stop!", Sephia shouted, but too late. Suicune managed it to reduce her speed, but they still crashed into the trainer.
"Ow..." Sephia rubbed her head when she finally sat up. Suicune was standing next to her.
"Are you ok, Sephia?", she asked.
Yes, I'm fine, but what about the other trainer?", Sephia mumbled.
"Ugh, still living", came a female voice from behind. Indeed, it was the trainer they had ran into. As far as Sephia could see in the darkness, it was a young woman with violet hair, wearing a dress and a cape. Sephia stood up and hurried to her.
"Oh, I'm really sorry, we haven't seen you!", she tried to explain when the woman sat up. "Are you ok? Do you need help?"
The woman shook her head and sat up. "No, I think I'm fine. You should be careful while running through the da-" Then, she spotted Suicune. The water Pok�mon was slightly glowing in the darkness, looking even more mysterious to the woman.
"That...that....that's a....", the woman started.
"That's my Suicune", Sephia smiled. "She's always running very fast, we weren't able to stop."
The woman wasn't listening, she walked to Suicune and stared at her.
"Well, hello. I'm really sorry, I should be more careful!", Suicune said.
"It...it speaks!", the woman whispered. Suicune sighed.
"I'm not an 'It', I'm a 'She'!", she explained. She really had to explain this a lot, wasn't it obvious that she was a girl???
The woman just looked at her, then she turned to Sephia. "Do you want to trade? I'll give you my Dragonair!", she asked. Sephia and Suicune gasped.
"No, really, I don't trade", Sephia said. Again, a question that everyone asked her when he or she saw one of her Pok�mon. The woman sighed.
"Well, I can understand it. My name is Clair. Nice to meet you!"
"I'm Sephia!"
"So you want to go through the ice path? Behind it is Blackthorn City, a town which is famous for dragon Pok�mon", Clair said.
"Yes, that's our goal, we want to fight in the gym!", Sephia answered. Clair was silent for a moment.
"I see", she said finally. "If that is your wish, it will be fulfilled. Now come, I'm on the way to Blackthorn City, too and the Ice Path can be a labyrinth sometimes. Let's walk together!"
Sephia was puzzled by her first words, but agreed. "Come, sit down, I think Suicune can carry us both, it'll be faster that way!"
Suicune nodded and the two women sat down. The water Pok�mon started running again, entering the cave. Cold air blew into Sephias face and she shivered. Suicune started to run even faster. Suddenly Clair gasped.
"Careful!", she screamed, "the floor there is...."
Too late. Suicune stepped on the icy floor. "Waaaaaah!", she screamed when she slid across the floor, finally crashing into the wall. Both women had serious problems not to fall down.
"..frozen...", Clair finished her sentence when Suicune stopped.
"Are you ok?", asked Suicune. Sephia and Clair nodded.
"I can't run here", Suicune said.
"Well, it seems that we have to walk. Thank you for your help, Suicune." Sephia hugged her Pok�mon and called her back into the Pok�ball.
"We have to move to the right!", Clair said when Sephia put the ball away. Sephia nodded and they made their way further into the cave, trying not to fall down (not very successful, that is).
"Wow, it's dark!", Clair said. "Normally I have a Pok�mon with Flash with me, but now..."
"No problem. I have a fire Pok�mon!" Before Clair could answer, Sephia released Moltres. Red light emitted from his wings. Clair gasped.
"Is there a rare Pok�mon you don't have?", she asked. Sephia just laughed.
"Moltres, please walk in front of us so we can see something. But be careful, the floor is frozen", Sephia said and Moltres nodded.
They walked for about half an hour when suddenly something moved in front of them. Moltres stepped forward so they could see the Pok�mon with the long, white hair and the red dress.
"A Jynx!", Clair said. "Be careful, they are strong."
"Well, we don't want to disturb it. Let's just walk on!", Sephia answered, but the Jynx was having another opinion.
"Careful, it uses Psychic!", Clair said. Moltres just stood there. The Jynx released the attack against the fire bird. For a moment, Moltres was glowing blue, but that was all.
"Eh?", Clair said confused. Sephia smiled. Moltres was at level 79 now and during her journey she had learned to guess the level of other Pok�mon just by looking at them. This Jynx had something like level 25-30, definitely not very dangerous. When Sephia told Clair that, the other trainer seemed to be deeply impressed. However, the Jynx was still angry, starting an ice punch.
"Moltres, you know what to do!", Sephia said. Moltres nodded and when the Jynx ran forward, he just flapped his wings once. A few sparks flew towards the Jynx, setting the dress on fire. The Pok�mon stopped the attack and ran away, screaming. Moltres turned towards Sephia. She nodded.
"Yes, Moltres, good job. But never underestimate your enemy. We haven't lost so far, but one day it'll happen. No one can always win", she said. Moltres nodded and they continued their way. Clair was watching them, silent.
Finally they saw the exit. Relieved, Sephia called Moltres back into the Pok�ball when they finally left the cold path. Just a few hundred meters ahead lay Blackthorn City.
"Well, it's time to say goodbye for now, Sephia. But don't worry, we'll see each other again very soon!" And before Sephia could answer something Clair disappeared. Stunned, Sephia watched her running away, but she was ways too tired to think about her words now. Tomorrow was another day. Maybe the day of the 100th badge.
To be continued...
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As always, reviews are appreciated!
~Faria ([email protected])