5WE'RE BACK! Sorry for being gone for so long but Queen and I send our sincerest apologies for not updating for a while. Life caught up to both of us and we had some unexpected events happen. We are still committed to finishing this story to the very end. Updates will be a lot more frequent, I promise you.
So to recap what has happened: Ash and friends end up on Shamouti Island just as they are about to start their annual legend festival. Troy seems to be getting quite friendly with one of the local girls, the former festival maiden Carol, and Pikachu and Lucario are unsure of what is going on around these events.
Hope you guys enjoy this new installment.
'Man. She is beautiful.'
Troy helped himself to the plate of food in front of him. The food was not the only thing on his mind though; he would sneak glances at Carol, who was at the table to the left of him and his companions. She occasionally felt his gaze on her and would turn to look at him, but he would turn away every time, his cheeks turning a light pink in the process. Lucario's words echoed through his mind.
'Troy, do you want to mate with her? Your aura suggests so.'
Trying to take his mind off of what Lucario said, Troy tried to focus on the food and have a good time. The entire island was turned into a gigantic party with parades going on in town and all the food stands that you could think of. The group, though, was far away from the scene in a mess hall just outside of town where Ash would receive the Chosen One's initiation. Troy could've easily sat at the adults' table, if you will, with Maren, Carol and her grandfather, but there were a few other native islanders there. Melody was at another table eating a little bit with some of the elders of the island. No. It would've been too tempting. He liked sitting with his friends more.
"And she said, 'No but I do have Krabbies,'" Maren's voice came followed by the sound of laughter at the table she shared with Carol and her grandfather.
Carol grabbed some of her drink. Had it been that long since she last caught up with Maren? She remembered that her slightly younger friend was going on a family cruise to another region. Carol couldn't think of Maren's parents having any sense of inappropriate humor. Then again, there's the swearing like a sailor bit.…and Maren must've been very skilled. To operate a boat the size of the one she arrived in, one had to have a license and had to be 15, which was around the age one could apply for a driver's license in the Kanto and Johto regions. Most sailors that Carol knew didn't get their licenses until they were around 20. She was happy for her friend, though.
"Carol? Did you doze off with your eyes open?" another island elder asked. This elder had been walking around with a cane.
Carol shook her head. "What? Oh. Sorry, Grandpa, Maren. Grandma, you remember Maren, don't you?" Troy's eyes widened slightly as he watched the elder lightly whack Carol in the leg with the cane.
"Do Butterfree fly?" she asked.
Carol nodded and Melody snickered at her sister's expense.
"Melody, I'd watch it if I were you. You're supposed to be on your best behavior as a festival maiden, young lady," the elder next to her said.
"Repeat yourself, Maren," Tobias (Carol and Melody's grandfather) said.
Maren nodded. "How have you been since the breakup? I've been traveling the Orange Islands at my uncle's request. My cousin is pretty hyper and wanted to come with me but couldn't. I promised I'd have a story to tell," she said, turning to her friend.
Troy raised an eyebrow. Someone broke up with Carol?
Carol sighed. "I've been hanging in there. I should've seen it coming, though."
Maren gave a sympathetic smile and whispered in her friend's ear, causing her to laugh again.
"Maren," Carol's grandmother began, "What did you just say to Carol?"
Before Maren could defend herself, Tobias spoke. "Bah, I wouldn't get on them too much, Brooke my dear. As long as Carol can focus on the festivities, that gives us one less thing to worry about."
Troy once again looked over at the table. He thought Carol had the most beautiful laugh that he had ever heard, sounding like sweet music to his ears. A smile slowly crept onto his face and his eyes shimmered with admiration. Unfortunately for him, Lucario broke his meditation from a few feet away to smirk.
'If you want to mate with her, then just approach her about it,' said Lucario. Everyone else heard Lucario's name in syllables. Well, just those in range. Ash looked at Lucario but said nothing.
Troy's enamored face quickly devolved into an annoyed one as he took a bite out of a pear.
"You will do right to shut your mouth, Lucario," he growled. "I don't want to talk about this anymore with you."
'I'm just trying to help you, Troy,' Lucario rationalized. 'I know you have strong feelings for this female. These feelings that you are experiencing are ones I have never felt come from you before except for the few times that...' Lucario began and if Troy didn't speak up, well, things could escalate.
Troy blushed a darker shade of red, knowing where Lucario was going with this. "Ok, we are stopping right there," he interrupted. "I'm not getting into that. That is my business and my business alone, Lucario, and you will treat it with the respect it deserves."
'Not like it's a big secret,' Lucario chuckled in a singsong voice.
"Get out of here," Troy threw a grape at the Pokémon, who in turn gave a crude gesture. Luckily, the others were focused on their food and drinks to really care about what was going on. Pikachu looked at Lucario and then at Ash, squeaking to him to tell him what went on.
Troy did his best to stay cool. To his left, he could hear Carol chuckling at him and Lucario. He didn't know what else to do other than wave nervously as their eyes made contact, giving a nervous smile as well.
"I guess you and Lucario are really close. Troy, y'know if there's something on your mind, you can just tell us," Ash said innocently. This coming from a kid who defended his Pikachu against a flock of Spearow and after the mighty blast suffered some serious wounds. Troy gave Ash credit, though. Ash seemed to be getting his memories back and was slowly growing as a trainer.
"Nah, it's nothing you need to worry about," he quickly replied. "It's adult stuff, kid."
To his right, Misty grumbled lowly as she stuffed her face with a meatball on a stick.
"Me, Ash's girlfriend," she said. "It's completely ridiculous."
"Don't let it get you down, Misty," Troy tried to reason with the hot-tempered red head. "She was just trying to mess with you."
She shot him a glare. "Well that's easy for you to say, Mr. Hotshot Champion," she retorted. "You're used to dealing with that stuff all the time."
At the head of the table, Ash bounced around excitedly as he waited for the ceremony to begin. He was squirming in his chair so much that Troy almost worried that he may have to go to the bathroom.
"I wonder what my part in the big legend ceremony is going to be," he said, excitement drenched in every word.
They didn't have to wait long as the first notes of a flute reached their ears. They turned to the stage at the back of the hall and saw Melody dressed in a pure white gown and a veil draped over her pretty face, playing a gorgeous tune that captured everyone's attention. All eyes were on the young teenager as she danced and swayed in tune with the music.
"That's the girl we met on the beach," Tracey exclaimed, recognizing her immediately. "What was her name again?"
"Melody." Troy replied.
"Melody." Ash distantly echoed, completely engaged in the performance in front of him. Misty noticed a small blush starting to work its way on his cheeks. She puffed out hers in anger.
"She's a big show off," she huffed.
Just after she finished that sentence, the song drifted away. Melody came swooping down to their table as applause filled the entire hall.
"Hear ye all," she recited, getting close to Ash until she was practically in his face. "From the trio of islands, ancient spheres shall you take for between life and death all the difference you'll make."
She grabbed his hand before she could say the rest of her lines, causing Misty to get even more infuriated. Troy feared she was about to become a human Krakatoa if he didn't do something.
"Oh, Chosen One, you must climb to the shrine to right what is wrong and the world will be healed by the guardian's song."
Just as it looked like Misty was going to give her a piece of her mind, Troy saw his opportunity to step in and defuse the situation. Quickly pulling her under the table, he spoke quietly so that nobody else heard.
"Could you please try and stay cool for tonight?" He whispered harshly. "I'm not in the mood for one of your jealous rages right now."
"Well what am I supposed to do? Just take it?" She shot back.
"For tonight, yes."
As the two came back up to the top, Melody was about to give her explanation to Ash about what he had to do to fulfill the duties of the Chosen One. He didn't quite understand what she meant when she made that big speech a second ago.
"It won't be very hard, Ash. Not for you anyway," said Melody, snickering before she resumed. "Besides, almost all the chosen ones come back alive."
"You didn't have to tell him that, Melody!" Carol chastised, aghast at her words.
Melody simply shrugged her sister off before sitting down beside Ash. As she prepared to give him the full details, she grabbed various fruits from the bowl in front of them.
"All you have to do is get these glass balls from three islands," she explained, placing each fruit individually into his hands as she named them off. "One from Fire Island, one from Ice Island, and one from Lightning Island. Then you bring them to the shrine back here. I then celebrate by playing this song," she played a few notes on the flute to illustrate her point. "And then it's over, o Chosen One."
Tracey and Troy looked at each other.
"What's going on?" Tracey mouthed, glancing over at Misty.
"You don't wanna know," Troy copied before returning to the conversation at hand. Tracey shrugged and dropped it, thinking that it was something between him and Misty.
"Do I get to wear a cool costume?" Ash asked, getting even more excited than he was before.
Melody shook her head. "Nope, it's just come as you are," she said before grabbing a pear out of his hands and taking a bite out of it. "Besides, you look perfect to me. The handsomest Chosen One in years."
She then turned her attention to Troy, who did not like the look that she was giving him.
"Speaking of handsome, I think your friend here would be perfect to take care of my sister," she smirked. "She needs someone who will value her since she just ended a relationship."
Troy and Carol both blushed in embarrassment for what felt like the thousandth time that day.
"Melody, that's enough," Carol stood out of her seat. "I don't need you playing matchmaker for me. I can do that by myself just fine. Ever since that relationship ended, which mind you was my choice because he decided to cheat on me, you've been asking guy after guy to talk to me. I'm able to talk for myself. Did it cross your mind that in these past three weeks that maybe I don't want another relationship? That I've got issues now because he had to do that to me? That my heart still hurts from cutting him out of my life even though he was in the wrong?"
Not only had Carol stood up, but she had gotten on the side of the table. Tobias and Brooke maintained stoic expressions, knowing only to get in the middle of their granddaughters bickering if need be.
"I'm just trying to help you out, sis," Melody raised her hands defensively. "It's not every day you get a cute guy like him on this island."
"Well stop it, Melody. I swear that if you try to set me up with another guy with my heart still being broken, I will not hesitate to stop talking to you. You wonder why Dad grounded you so much when you were younger? Or why Mom would give you an earful? Maybe today's actions up to this point will teach you a thing or two!"
By this point, Troy was genuinely worried for her as a person. He could see that Carol was within perfect distance to lunge at her sister. And he thought Misty and her sisters were bad. Well, these two might have just topped them. Her face was slightly red, likely due to a combination of pain, distress and other female emotions if he had to make a wild guess on the matter and for some reason he couldn't figure out. Troy thought he saw tears pricking Carol's eyes.
The dining area had grown silent.
"Carol, I,"
"Save it!"
And that was the match to light the fuse. Carol snapped at her sister and knocked down her chair, appalling some of the elders as she stormed off. Tobias saw the tears begin to fall in his granddaughter's eyes before she stormed off.
Maren thanked the island guardians for her timing. She wiped her mouth with a napkin before picking the chair up.
"I was going to apologize," Melody said to Maren. Maren just shook her head. Melody had gone too far.
Maren just stood there before saying, "I'll go talk to her," and leaving.
Troy wanted to slump out of his seat and crawl out of the hall while he still had a chance. This was completely embarrassing for him and looking at Carol, before she stormed off, did not help make things any easier.
Hearing kissing sounds behind him, he turned to see Lucario puckering his maw and blowing kisses to him. That was the final straw for Troy as he shoved an apple into Lucario's maw in order to shut him up.
"Go kiss that, why don't you?" He growled.
A cry of excitement cast the storm cloud hanging over Troy away.
"Alright! Get me a boat and I'm ready!" Ash said as he jumped out of his seat, ready for action at a moment's notice.
Melody did not seem like she was expecting it as she tried to coax him back down.
"Relax, you'll have all day tomorrow," she said as she ushered him back down. "Tonight's just for the party. Stay, have some fun."
Ash was not having it, no matter how persuasive Melody tried to be. He was already pumped up for adventure and it was impossible to talk him out of something when he set his mind to it.
"Well some things are more important than fun," he said. "I'm Ash, the Chosen One. This is serious. I've got to be responsible."
Troy barely stifled a snort while Tracey chuckled quietly. Ash glared at the two of them while Misty muttered to herself: "That's a switch."
"You know what, I like your attitude," Maren got up from the adults' table and walked over to the group's. "We can take my boat, Ash."
Ash felt the adrenaline surge through him as he clenched his hand into a fist.
"Then let's go," he said, turning to Misty. "You coming, Misty?"
"No thanks," she snapped, stuffing another piece of pizza into her face. "If you want somebody to do whatever you want, whenever you want, you should find yourself a girlfriend."
Tracey pulled Troy over so that he could whisper into his ear.
"Geez, what's gotten into her?" He asked.
"I dunno, Tracey," Troy replied. "She must be on her period or something."
"Then she's probably on it all the time."
The two snickered in amusement until out of nowhere, Misty came in with her mallet and gave Troy a whack across the face. He grabbed his cheek as he crashed to the floor, nothing broken thankfully but it still hurt like hell.
"Yeah. I probably deserved that," he chuckled.
While everybody else recovered from the shock of what just happened, Pikachu took off running without warning with Ash's hat in his mouth. Turning away from Misty's display of outrage, Ash chased after his Pokémon. Lucario followed him and Troy got up from the floor to go after Lucario. Maren made up the tail end of the group, carrying the keys to her boat.
Maren wasn't disagreeing with Melody on Troy's good looks, but she also knew that Troy seemed like the type of guy who cared. She quietly approached him and tapped him. He stopped his miniature match with Lucario and she nodded them off to the side, trying to signal that she wanted to talk with Troy one on one. "Troy, I want to tell you something before we go off. It's tradition that the festival maiden stay at Shamouti Island with the others. I've been friends with Carol for a long time and I know that Melody loves to push her sister's buttons."
Troy held back whatever negativity was building up inside of him. "Yeah, I figured," was his reply.
"You oughta know how that feels," she said.
He shrugged. "I'm an only child," was his reply.
Maren decided not to tell Troy how Carol felt about him. She'd let that unfold on its own.
She nodded. "I am, too. My cousins are mostly guys, so they're all like brothers to me. Carol and Melody are like the sisters I never got. Carol is seven months older than me and Melody is around Ash and my cousin's age," she replied. In the time they had been traveling together, Ash and Misty had become like younger siblings to him. If younger siblings were supposed to be annoying most of the time but supportive anyway, then he knew how it felt to have them.
"Yeah, I know what you mean now. Aren't you worried about Ash taking off with your boat?"
Maren chuckled. "He'd have to push it," she said with a smile. "I've got the keys."
There was a pause. Troy was trying to figure out how he wanted to word this.
"Don't worry," she gave him a nudge on the shoulder. "Carol should be all right and she won't hold a grudge with Melody for the remainder of the festival. Give her the silent treatment for the duration is more likely. If she's still holding a grudge, then I'd be worried. In the years I've known her, Carol has never held a grudge for more than 60 hours."
60 hours?! "That's a long time," Troy mused.
"Actually, it's two days and 12 hours. We should probably go before Ash hurts himself," Maren replied and Troy nodded.
Lucario protecting Togepi and looking after Pikachu on the occasion were two things, but Lucario looking after Ash was another.
The two made their way to the boat.
Above them, storm clouds began to gather in an ominous display of impending danger. Troy did not have a good feeling about this goose chase that they had been sent on, thinking that it not only would be jeopardizing his own safety but Ash and Maren's as well. He didn't really care much about himself as he did Ash but he didn't want to be stranded out in a dangerous storm.
'What is going on with Pikachu and Lucario since we got here?' He wondered. 'I sure hope we're prepared for what will happen.'
Out in the bay, a ruined Magikarp submarine pattered along in the water. Two people and a Meowth were continuing to pedal despite their legs feeling like dead weight at the moment. The two humans were signified by the big red 'R' on the chest of their white shirts as members of the infamous Team Rocket crime syndicate.
What started as an ordinary day of following Ash and the gang, or the "twerps" as they were referred to as, turned into a bad one for Jessie and James as they got caught up in a giant school of Magikarp and crashed into the side of an island cliff.
"Our ship is ruined," Jessie cried, gasping for air as her legs protested loudly over having to keep peddling the ruined sub.
"I'm sick over it," James echoed.
"I'm sea sick over it," came Meowth.
Before they could complain anymore, a boat breezed by the three villains, capsizing what was left of their sub and sending them into the water. Before they were pushed in, however, they got a good look at the occupants of the boat: Pikachu and Lucario were up at the front of the ship while Ash, Troy, and Maren all were up on the captain's deck.
"Was that…" James began before Jessie chimed in.
"The twerp and the champion twerp," She said.
"And Pikachu and Lucario too," Meowth finished.
"I wonder where they could be going in such a hurry," James wondered as his mind drifted off.
"Well let's get back to shore and grab a boat of our own so we can find out," Jessie ordered as rain began to pour down on top of them. It seemed like their bad luck just continued to come through for them every single time.
"Well, we's can say that a little rain never hurt nobody," Meowth smiled, earning nervous chuckles from his two companions as a giant wave overwhelmed them.
As the storm began to rage on, in a cool, dry cave a Slowking watched the lightning flash in the sky and listened as the thunder crashed. It shook its head as these events went on.
"Disturb not the harmony of fire, ice, and lightning," it said, somehow having the ability to speak human. It sighed.
"What a mess."
Things seem like they are bound to get pretty bad by this point. What will happen next with our heroes? Will they make it to the islands safe and sound or be stranded out in the sea? Find out next time on The Power of One.
Hope you guys all enjoyed that, especially since Queen and I wanted to add some more background to the story. It'll be interesting to see where Troy and Carol go from this point. Be sure to leave a review and subscribe as you read. Things are just now getting interesting so you'll want to stick around.
