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Happenings Between Goals	By : GreatMasterM Category: Pokemon > General Views: 1715 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: The Pokemon franchise isn't mine. The whole thing belongs to Gamefreak, The OC human characters are mine, though, so no stealing. Any resemblance to real people, live or not, is coincidental. I make no profit from this.

Chapter List
- 8
- 9
- 10
I'm SURE the title is completely innocent in nature. TOTALLY. In this chapter, we learn about the ancient ritual known as "Survival Mode." What does it entail?! Read on and find out! FF17: According to conspiracy theorists, according to ancient texts, if a man were to catch every kind of Pokémon in the world, the end of the world will happen. These people protest the capture of Pokémon. FF18: There is a holiday, the true meaning behind it long forgotten, where you must go out and find a pink Pokémon and put a formal hat on its head (without capturing the Pokémon with a Poké Ball or other manmade device). Nowadays, only people in Hoenn and the Orange Archipelago observe this holiday. FF19: A school of Basculin are said to be able to rip the meat off of human bones entirely in under a minute.

Chapter 8: Horny Thorny

                "Tangrowth, use Mega Drain!"

                The massive hive of tentacles that makes all the girls swoon (I assume) lashed out at Greg's Igglybuff, who managed to escape all but one of the limbs. Igglybuff must really hate Greg if it's still an Igglybuff, despite all his training. I wouldn't blame him.

                "Try to use Sing again!"

                "Tighten your grip! Don't let it get a lungful of air!"

                After waiting another several days for an opening to present itself to us for a gym battle, Greg and I figured that we'd better get used to this sort of thing happening. 'That's what we get for not planning ahead,' he had said. Regardless, the extra days helped give us more time to train and for me to mentally recover from that embarrassing defeat at the hands of Princess Persian.

                The Tangrowth tightened around Greg's Igglybuff, preventing him from doing any damage. Despite this setback, Greg was doing rather well against Gardenia, especially given the unique condition she gave to him. Hopefully, my battle will be more straightforward. For Greg, the rules were simple: simply survive for 20 minutes. It was almost immediately apparent, however, that Gardenia was not going to go easy on him. Sending out a Vileplume and ordering a Petal Dance AND revealing that Vileplume was holding a Persim Berry tends to create that image. Needless to say, Lombre didn't stay in the fight for very long. However, Nidorino and Staravia were able to put up a better fight.

                As I was watching Greg fight, it occurred to me probably around the same time it occurred to him that the key to winning one of these "survival battles" is to simply play defensive and use more evasive actions than trying to go in for the kill. Even the Sinnoh league wouldn't have a gym leader send out these powerful Pokémon against a trainer going for his second badge. Tangrowth, Vileplume, Lilligant, Roserade...all with strategies to best utilize their strengths and protect their weaknesses. Gardenia most likely had two other Pokémon she hadn't used yet. Every time Greg switched out a Pokémon, she did too, keeping her side as fresh as his. After about 5 minutes, Greg noticeably switched from trying to attack her Pokémon to simply evading and only striking if there wasn't a danger of backlash.

                Though Nidorino and Staravia had a type advantage and they held their own for awhile, they were simply no match for the raw power on Gardenia's side. Gardenia, for her part, shut down Nidorino by switching from her Lilligant to Roserade, negating Nidorino's poison advantage. It was probably for the best that Greg couldn't evolve it by that point. Greg had also made a big mistake. After realizing that Gardenia wasn't going to pull any punches, he went straight to his Pokémon that he knew had a type advantage. Once they were knocked out, he didn't have anything except those that were weak against grass moves, and the opponent still had fresh Pokémon that hadn't been worn out by battle yet. Lombre didn't make it far, Nidorino and Staravia lasted a little bit longer, by the time he used Azumarill, he was clearly stalling for time, and now he was using Igglybuff, which meant that as soon as it was knocked out, all he would have left is Geodude. Knowing Greg, he was going to bank on Geodude's Sturdy ability to stall for even more time when the time comes. In spite of all this, according to my Pokétch, he had lasted over 15 minutes. At the ten minute mark, the crowd around me noticed that Greg wasn't defeated in a humiliating fashion yet and started paying more attention to the battle, oohing and ahhing whenever Greg's Pokémon dodged an attack or took them head-on. I, myself, would have been giving Greg "encouraging remarks," but talking to a competitor as a bystander was banned from gym battles.

                As the referee said before the match began, he would not indicate how much time was spent at regular intervals, only calling the end of the match if the 20 minutes were up or either side's entire party was defeated. This no doubt put a huge strain on Greg and left the audience the task of keeping track of time, counting down the seconds. More and more people were looking at their watches the closer the 20 minute mark approached.

                Igglybuff fell to the floor, fainted.

                "Igglybuff, return!"

                No doubt it was gonna evolve after that display of top-notch battling. Greg had two minutes left before the match would end in his favor. He also only had a Pokémon with a quadruple weakness to the one thing the most powerful person in this room specialized in.

                "Tangrowth, you did great! Return!"

                "Let's finish this, Geodude!"

                Gardenia let out a laugh.

                "Oh! I'm so sorry!" she apologized quickly. "I didn't mean to make fun of you! It's just, well, you were doing so well! But I'm afraid a Geodude was about the worst thing you could send out right now."

                "I could've sent out a Beldum," he replied dryly.

                "Crush his puny pebble into SilverPowder!" I yelled back.

                She laughed.

                "Oh my! It seems we have a rivalry going on here! Anyway, it's time to end this match! Goooooooooo Shiftry!"

                She sent out her fifth Pokémon, whom fixed a mean look on Geodude.

                "Geodude, use Rock Polish!"

                The nasty pebble started sharpening his body.

                "Trying to raise your speed, huh? Well it won't do you any good! The sun's still beaming from the glass roof from the Sunny Day attack I used awhile ago, and Shiftry has Chlorophyll as an ability, too! Now Shiftry, use Leaf Tornado!"

                "Roll out of the way!"

                The wooden Pokémon stretched out its leafy hands and shot a barrage of leaves at Geodude. Geodude, on the other hand, managed to dodge the pile of leaves a split second before they reached him.

                "Good! Now use Defense Curl!"

                "Time's running out, Shiftry! Use Leaf Storm!"

                The walking tree stopped kidding around and started spinning rapidly in place, spraying sharp leaves everywhere. Some dug themselves into the surrounding trees. Greg held up his arms to shield himself from the attack.

                "DUUUUUUUUDE!" cried out Geodude.

                The Shiftry stopped spinning and everyone looked at the battlefield to survey the damage. The floor was littered with leaves. Geodude looked more like a Wormadam than a Geodude.

                "That oughta do it!" Gardenia quipped, proud of her victory.

                Then Geodude started to glow...

                Not really. But it would've been an awesome moment to evolve right then and there. Instead, Geodude started plucking the leaves off itself by the handful. It was still capable of fighting.

                "Awesome!" Greg shouted, in a sudden burst of positive energy that's rare to see. "It worked!"

                "'It worked?'" Gardenia repeated, confused. "Oh no! Sturdy! Oh no! The clock!"

                And as if on cue...

                "The match is over!" declared the announcer. "The winner is...Greg..."

                His last name was drowned out from all the noise the audience was making. It had been a very close match. I don't doubt that it caused the crowd to get rowdier than usual. Although this did put a tremendous strain on me. How was I going to top that?

                Greg received his badge from Gardenia as I pondered about my own team. If I had to do a survival mode run as well, I'd have an easier time at it than Greg did. Shelmet, Pidgeotto, and Ninjask all had a type advantage, and Beldum and Breloom both resisted grass moves. Only Poliwag was at a disadvantage. The easiest way of battle would be a straight up 6-on-6 battle, especially if the focus is more on endurance like last time. Most definitely if her team consisted of a Bellsprout, Oddish, Paras, etc.

                "The next battle between Gym Leader Gardenia and Challenger Eric will begin in one hour!" announced the ref.

                Greg walked over to me.

                "Now all you have to do is imitate me perfectly, which you should have been doing since day one, and you'll do fine."

                "Only winning by a technicality, and with only a couple seconds saving your hind? Oh yeah, that's the kind of luck I need following me around."

                "Well then, if you think you can do so much better, maybe I'll just head off to Eterna City while you're still battling. Obviously you won't need my help to fend off a swarm of Pinsirs."

                "Hey, you were in that, too!"

                Gardenia walked up to us.

                "You must be the next challenger! I'm Gardenia! I hope you didn't bring as many rocks and water types with you as your friend here did."

                Greg was not amused.

                "Just so you know, your match won't be a survival run like Greg's was. Gotta keep things spicy, you know? Well, I'm off to get my Pokémon treated and get in a breather before our next match! See you then!"

                She walked off and I turned back to Greg.

                "Yeah, let's imitate the guy who brought a Geodude, Lombre, Azumarill, and a baby Pokémon to his grass type second gym battle," I said, dryly.

                "Who won his battle."

                "Because the clock ran out."

                "I got my second badge. That's all that counts. It sounds like you'll actually have to beat her team. Better hope it's all Sunkerns."

                We bickered some more, though I suspected that Greg was just trying to prevent me from focusing on strategy the entire time.

~~~

                "So listen up, Eric!" Gardenia shouted.

                We were in the ring now and the crowd was calming themselves down.

                "Here's the spiel. I'm the grass type mistress around here and don't let Erica tell you otherwise! I've trained my Pokémon at the Snowpoint Temple and Mt. Ember, raising their resistance to attacks that they're weak against, so don't think you can just push me around with a little fire and ice! You'll have to have the raw power to take me down! This match will be a fight-'til-the-end battle, where only the trainer with an able Pokémon left wins! ARE...YOU...READY?!"

                The crowd went wild, as if she was addressing them personally (which she probably was).

                "Bring it!" I yelled back.

                "This will be fun! Let's have our battle!"

                "Go, Poliwag!"

                "Let's bring the heat, Bayleef!"

                We sent out our Pokémon. Gardenia looked confused as to my choice of leading off.

                "What? Why would you...oh! I get it! Trying to wear me down and counter my Sunny Day strategy with a Rain Dance one, huh? Well, guess again!"

                Whoa, she's good. Or else she's seen this kind of play plenty of times before.

                "Okay then, use Body Slam!"

                "Put up a nice Reflect for us, Bayleef!"

                "Baaaaaaaay!"

                A wondrous wall of light appeared before the Bayleef and Poliwag bounced right off it, leaving the plant unharmed. I could break that reflection, but not with Poliwag. But I still wanted to go through with my tiring out plan.

                "Poliwag, use Hypnosis!"

                The wall couldn't reflect sound nor the sight of Poliwag's stomach contorting. The Bayleef started to look drowsy.

                "Oh no, Bayleef! Quick, return!"

                She recalled her Bayleef.

                "We gotta get that pesky Poliwag out of the way. Take them out, Servine!"

                Out of the Poké Ball came a Servine...with a top hat on. I don't recall Servines evolving with top hats. Gardenia turned red.

                "Oops. I forgot. I had entered this one into a Musical yesterday and never took off the hat. Oh well! Leaf Tornado!"

                From behind the Reflect wall that was still up, the serpentine Pokémon let loose a bunch of leaves and a sudden gust of wind picked them up and formed them into a tornado headed towards Poliwag.

                "Let's see you use that tummy of yours now!"

                "Use Rain Dance to try to douse that tornado!"

                "Poli!"

                Poliwag concentrated and the whole room started feeling more humid. Just as the rain started, the leafy wall of doom hit Poliwag, several times in fact, and soon dissipated, leaving Poliwag unconscious on the floor.

                "Sunny Day!" Gardenia shouted.

                "Servine!" cried the Servine, and started to glow.

                As I was recalling Poliwag, the rain stopped and the glass roof beamed sunlight more harshly into the room.

                "Good job, Servine!"

                The weakening strategy didn't work, but I didn't want to send out the big guns just yet, so I decided to continue using neutral Pokémon.

                "Beldum, you're up!"

                "Ooooh, in that case, Servine, return! Wakey-wakey, Bayleef!"

                Gardenia switched out her Pokémon, too, and sent out the now-slumbering Bayleef, still behind that Reflect. She was planning on stalling me out until Bayleef awakens. I didn't have much of a choice.

                "Beldum, Take Down!"

                Beldum shot towards the Bayleef, colliding with the wall. Since the wall was on all but one of the sides of the Bayleef, attacking it from the sides or above was moot, and Beldum didn't know Dig. Beldum reared up and struck the wall again. Cracks were beginning to show. Finally, just as Bayleef was starting to open its eyes, Beldum struck yet again, smashing through the Reflect and clobbering the Bayleef on the side of the face.

                "Bayleef, use Synthesis!"

                Arceus damn it. I knew that this was going to happen. I don't know how much damage Beldum took from all those Take Downs, but this was starting to drag on. It's time to get down to business.

                "Beldum, return! Go, Ninjask!"

                "Oh, so you DO have something decent to fight me with!" Gardenia jeered.

                "I got a lot more than 'decent' here."

                "Oh really? Well then, I guess Bayleef should put up another Reflect!"

                "Hit it with a Fury Cutter before it can do that, Ninjask!"

                With blinding speed, Ninjask was suddenly in Bayleef's face, slashing away with wild abandon.

                "Baaaaaay!"

                The fragrant reptilian (that's what everyone knows Bayleefs for, okay?) somehow managed to shake off Ninjask, making him back away to avoid being head smashed, allowing the Bayleef a moment to get its head together. I figured that a moment was a moment too much.

                "Get back in there with another Fury Cutter, Ninjask! Don't let it set up that Reflect!"

                But it was too late. The herb Pokémon put up yet another reflection wall, causing Ninjask to stop in its tracks just before it.

                "We can play the waiting game, too. Use Swords Dance!"

                Ninjask suddenly went spastic, flying around all over the place in an intricate dance that I guess increases its strength or fighting spirit or something.

                "Uh oh," said Gardenia.

                "Keep using Swords Dance as long as that wall is up!"

                "We can't let it get that far! Bayleef, use Magical Leaf!"

                Some bay leaves from Bayleef's neck turned brightly colored and shot out at Ninjask. Or at least where Ninjask used to be a second ago. Magical leaf is one of the few known attacks to virtually never fail to miss its target, but here was a case of the unstoppable attack simply not being able to keep up with the steadily increasingly fast Pokémon. Still, though, Ninjask WOULD tire out eventually.

                "Ninjask, steady yourself over Bayleef!"

                He did as he was told and when the leaves were upon him...

                "Out of the way!" I yelled.

                Ninjask zipped away and the leaves were too slow to change trajectory, hitting Bayleef.

                "Wow!" cried Gardenia. "You managed to make an attack that never misses, miss! Not only that, but you got it to hit Bayleef as well! Good job! But the battle's not over yet!"

                "Thanks!" I said back, thinking about my next move. "Ninjask, use Fury Cutter from behind!"

                Before Gardenia could bark out orders, Ninjask appeared behind Bayleef and started merrily slashing away again. The Reflect shield went down.

                "Go in from different directions! Keep using Fury Cutter!"

                "Oh no! Bayleef! Use Synthesis!"

                The reptilian Pokémon tried to concentrate long enough to get its photosynthesis on, but Ninjask's constant stream of attacks was preventing it from doing so. Soon enough, Bayleef was down.

                "Baaaaaa..." it whined feebly.

                "You did well, Bayleef. Return."

                I decided to try my hand at some mental manipulation.

                "After so many successful Fury Cutter attacks, Ninjask is pretty much unbeatable, especially against any grass types. You sure you want to keep going?"

                Gardenia looked at me incredulously for a moment before she started laughing.

                "Hahaha! Oh my Arceus, are you serious?! Haha! A). The league would chew me out for doing such a thing; and B). You think I haven't ever gone up against a Bug/Flying type before?! Heehee. While I should use Cradily to take out that pesky bug, to be honest, I forgot to bring her with me."

                Off to the side, I could see the referee sigh, indicating that this was a common occurrence.

                "Instead," she continued, pulling out another Poké Ball. "I think I'll use..."

                She threw the ball. Out popped a small tree.

                "Snover!" it cried.

                Its main body seemed to be divided into three sections. The upper two were white. The "cap" on its head looked like the Icicle Badge, so maybe it's an ice type as well?

                "Are ya ready?!" Gardenia shouted.

                It was then that I felt something hit me on the cheek. What was that? A stray attack? You can't hit another trainer with an attack in battle (or out of battle, really). Why was it getting colder in here?

                "Turn on the sprinkler system!" Gardenia commanded.

                At the top of the room, the sprinklers went off. But the water coming from them quickly turned to ice, making it seem like it was hailing indoors. It was coming down hard. I quickly put my jacket, which I had removed and placed on the floor next to me, back on to shield me from the blows. Ninjask started slowing down and faltering, unable to continue flying.

                "Snover, use Ice Shard!"

                In the blink of an eye, the tree stretched out its branches, formed icicles at the ends, and flung them at Ninjask.

                "Ninjask, use..."

                But by that time, the shards had already hit Ninjask. The hail pelting him didn't help matters. He was soon grounded.

                "Finish it off with Icy Wind!"

                The Snover started spinning rapidly, sending gusts of chilled wind flying at Ninjask.

                "NIN...jasss..."

                "Ninjask, return!"

                She thinks she has me beat. I'll show her how wrong she is.

                "Breloom, you're up! Smash it with a Mach Punch!"

                Breloom came out of his ball and immediately launched fists first at the Snover.

                "Hey, come on!" yelled Gardenia. "I was just about to beat you! Snover, Ice Shard!"

                The cold tree stretched out its branches again, but before it could form the icicles, Breloom's fist smashed into its face, voiding the attack and causing a considerable amount of pain, hopefully. The Snover was knocked off its feet.

                "Sno!"

                "Get up, Snover!"

                "Knock it out with another Mach Punch!"

                "Oh no! Use Powder Snow and freeze it!"

                Of course Breloom managed to hit the Snover again before it could get up and attack. This time it stayed down. With Breloom, Ninjask, and Pidgeotto on my team, I had really fast Pokémon that could take care of any grass-related threats Gardenia sent my way.

                "Snover, return! Let's go, Servine!"

                The snowy tree was replaced with the reptile with a top hat. Both it and Breloom were being pelted by the makeshift hail.

                "Cut the sprinklers!" Gardenia shouted. "And Servine, use Vine Whip!"

                "Catch it!"

                Someone shut off the sprinklers. With the Snover out of the way, the hail was beginning to turn into rain anyways. If Gardenia wanted sun, I bet any of her Pokémon knew Sunny Day and would have no problem turning up the heat a little. The serpentine opponent shot a vine from its body at Breloom. Fortunately, I was right to trust in his quickness, and he caught the vine with an outreached hand.

                "Uh oh."

                "Reel it in and use Mach Punch!"

                Breloom yanked hard, but not so hard as to snap the vine, and the poor fancy-hat Servine was swept off its feet, thrown straight towards Breloom's lovingly prepared, blood-red fist.

                "BreeeeLOOM!"

                "Ser!"

                The hat stayed still. It was the rest of the body that was sent back to Gardenia. Breloom reached over and picked up the hat, staring at it curiously before putting it on his head and looking at me for approval. He...was...adorable. But I couldn't say that out loud, not in front of Greg. Luckily, there were some new fangirls in the rafters, going wild over Breloom's new look.

                "Don't get used to that hat just yet, Breloom," I said. "That Servine ain't out yet."

                "You betcha it ain't out. You better give that hat back to its rightful owner, or Servine'll REALLY show you its true power," Gardenia replied.

                At the far side of the room, the Servine got back up on its feet.

                "Now use Leaf Tornado!"

                The Servine started whipping up leaves again into a hurricane fashion. An idea came to mind, but I didn't know if it would work. There was nothing else I could do, so I went for it.

                "Breloom, use Headbutt! Charge right through that thing!"

                Breloom started running right at the leafy tornado and when he was just a foot shy from it, he used his powerful legs to launch himself headfirst through the advancing wall of doom.

                'Pleeeease, don't miss!' I thought.

                "Vi!" I heard coming from the other side of the attack.

                The grass hurricane came down again and on the other side of it stood Breloom, tall and proud, with the top hat and the Servine crumpled on the floor.

                "Hey, those top hats don't come cheaply, you know!" Gardenia shouted.

                She recalled her Pokémon. While Breloom was doing a fantastic job, I felt that I wanted to secure a win, and that would mean using a Pokémon with an actual advantage, so I recalled Breloom as well.

                "So guess what?" Gardenia said. "You're doing much better than I expected! Not that I mean that I thought you were weak or anything. Um...you know what I mean! Anyway, the important thing is, I only have one Pokémon left to fight you with!"

                Only one? Sweet! Beldum and Breloom were a bit worn out, but both were still capable of fighting if needed, and I still had Shelmet and Pidgeotto fresh and ready to go with their type advantages. This badge was as good as mine.

                "Prepare yourself! Go, Grovyle!"

                She sent out yet another reptile, this one draped in sharp-looking leaves. This woman was like a walking advertisement for professors who give out starter Pokémon.

                "Take 'em, Pidgeotto!"

                Pidgeotto was sent out and immediately took to the air.

                "Use Quick Attack, Grovyle!"

                The Grovyle was there one second, and gone in the next. The second after, it was next to Pidgeotto in the air, and punched her in the stomach. It then landed on the ground.

                "Fly up higher! Use Gust!"

                She gained more altitude, almost hitting the ceiling, and started flapping her wings even harder, creating sharp winds, and sent them in Grovyle's direction.

                "Grovyle, use Screech!"

                The Grovyle turned to Pidgeotto and opened its mouth to shout, but by then the Gust attack was already hitting it.

                "Don't let up, Pidgeotto!"

                "Quick Attack! Get out of there!"

                "Gro! Vyle! Gro! Vyle! Gro!" yelped the reptilian, taking blow after blow.

                "Finish it off with Twister!"

                Pidgeotto started flapping her wings even harder than before and in a barely noticeable different pattern, causing the gusts of wind to stop and start forming a tornado in front of her.

                "Grovyle, use Absorb! Get some of your health back! We can't lose to somebody like him!"

                Somebody like me?! Time for this low-life city slicker to teach Miss Empress of Mother Nature a thing or two about winning!

                "Fire away!" I told Pidgeotto.

                The now violent-looking tornado sped straight at Grovyle, who was too weak from the Gust attacks to dodge it, and was quickly enveloped by it.

                "VYYYYYYYYYLE!" we all heard coming from the eye of the storm.

                The twister left almost as quickly as it had formed, leaving a mangled Grovyle lying on the ground.

                "The match is over!" declared the announcer. "The winner is...Eric from..."

                My current residence that I had completely forgot about legally changing once I set on my journey was drowned out by the cheering from the crowd. I looked over to where Greg was and saw him fighting back a smile before giving up and granting me ONE positive emotion directed towards me, along with clapping for my victory. We recalled our Pokémon and Gardenia walked up to me.

                "It was the 'somebody like him' comment, wasn't it. That drove you towards your win? Haha! Maybe someday I'll learn to keep my big, fat mouth shut! Anyway, you won fair and square. Scratch that, you wiped the floor with me! Color me impressed! Here."

                She reached out and handed me the Forest Badge.

                "You earned it. Good job!"

                To stretch out my 15 minutes of fame even more, I showed off the badge to everyone in the stands, which just caused them to start cheering loudly all over again. Greg rolled his eyes, probably thinking how childish I was acting. Hey, I won my badge by ACTUALLY WINNING, asshole! Thinks he's so much better than me...

~~~

                "Well since you 'won your battle correctly and therefore is the true victor,' you should pay for dinner," Greg continued.

                "And since you won more money by virtue of winning a survival contest, you should pay for dinner," I countered.

                It figures that he would bring this up once we were actually done eating and waiting for the check. It was the waiter's fault. He didn't ask if it was going to be one check or two. The actual meal wasn't TOO expensive, but it was definitely more so than we normally spend. Thankfully, the Center was taking care of our Pokémon's food needs.

                When the waiter came back, we said the check was to be split between the two of us. This was naturally going to happen. Neither of us had any plan on paying for the other, and the whole argument was just more rivalry ribbing (and I think a couple of girls seated near us were having gay fantasies about the two of us, but hey, if it makes it easier to get their number...). We were heading back to the Center, where we planned on vegging out for the rest of the day, when we heard shouting.

                "Hey! Guy with the jacket on! And other guy! Is that you?!"

                We turned around to see Princess Persian running up to us. I froze. She's come back to finish the job when I'm most defenseless!

                "Oh good," Greg said, completely deadpan.

                She was decked out in some fancy dress with all sorts of accessories seemingly glued onto it and her hair was in two braids running down her back. There's no way the look was currently "in." When she caught up to us...

                "It IS you two! I thought I'd never see you two again! I was in such a rush to celebrate with my precious Skitty that I completely forgot to introduce myself and stuff! Like, duh!"

                She...bounced? And then she stuck out her left hand for a handshake.

                "My name's Emma! Emma Lain! Pleased to meet you!"

                Not knowing how to avoid this, I shook her hand nervously.

                "I'm Eric, and this is Greg."

                Without letting go of my hand, she extended her other hand across her left arm so that she could shake both our hands at the same time. I didn't know how she wasn't recognizing the uncomfortable expression on our faces.

                "Pleased to meet both of you!"

                "So you live here, I guess?" Greg said, attempting to not sound rude.

                "What? Oh, no! I live much higher up. I'm here for the Floaroma Town Super Contest! In fact, I just came out of it! I didn't win though..."

                "Tough break," I said, secretly happy to know that she isn't unbeatable. The judges probably got scared of her.

                "Aw, it's okay!" she beamed. "There are still plenty of contest halls in Sinnoh! I'll eventually win my five ribbons!"

                "How many do you have so far?" asked Greg.

                "In this region? Only one. I'm still a beginner here. But look!"

                She dug out a rather plain but intricately tied white ribbon.

                "I got my Jubilife ribbon! They said I shouldn't wear it on my hat."

                "In this region, huh?" Greg said, looking to me. "No wonder she creamed you so bad."

                "I TOLD you she wasn't some newbie."

                "How many people competed? Especially in Jubilife, there had to be lots," Greg asked.

                "Um...I think it was your standard 64 persons single elimination style competition, so...64?" she ventured.

                "Sounds about right."

                "Greg?" I said. "We were kinda on our way to get our Pokémon, remember? We don't want Nurse Allison thinking that we abandoned them or something."

                "She'd only think that of you," he replied. "But it is true. I know I don't like being without my team for very long."

                "Let's walk there together then!" Emma suggested. "I need to drop off my Pokémon there as well and change out of this dress! It's very hard to walk in! And you'd be surprised just how tired Pokémon get after competing in a contest!"

                She then started walking off towards the Center. Greg and I looked at each other, exasperated at our failure to get rid of her, and quickly caught up to her.

PAN: A new party member has joined the group! Would you like to nickname the unit? "McBewbs"
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Happenings Between Goals