hapter 18: Water Sucks
"So that's pretty much the shape of it." Loki said floating backwards as the group walked down a street towards what Sparkler said was a motel.
Allen sighed,"so now we have a government agency hunting us? ... Great!"
"I can't believe a captain of the Royal Guard would do things like this." Sparkler said horrified at Loki's description and the drastic measures she was taking. "How can she even think this is a good idea."
"My guess is she ain't." Loki said. "The impression I got was that she has some sort of glorious ideal that she's clinging too. She seemed convinced we're here to invade and conquer."
"But Arceus made it clear that's not what he wants!" Sparkler exclaimed.
"Yes." Allen agreed he did... Or rather he will. Tomorrow afternoon."
Sparkler stopped dead,"Oh. Right. Time travel!" She cursed and resumed walking.
"How much further to the motel?" Nova asked tired.
"It should be around the corner." She answered and looked back to The Pokemon that traveled with her. They looked ragged and very tired which made sense since they had been going for more than 24 hours. She had to admit she wasn't certain how to process the fact that technically she and Allen were still meeting with the mayor in Fillydelphia. 'How does Ditzy deal with the multiplicity and stay sane?'
The haggard group rounded the corner and Sparkler sped up to a brisk trot,"there it is!" She said with a relieved sigh. It was a three story tall structure that looked to Allen like the places you saw on the side of a heavily used highway. The central part that would have been a parking lot on Earth was a courtyard garden with a simple fountain. It wasn't much but the little garden made Allen smile.
With a bit of renewed vigor at the promise of sleep the group marched into the office. The stallion behind the counter eyed them,"Can help you?" He asked curtly.
Allen frowned,"Two singles please."
The stallion seemed caught off guard,"Oh! Sorry sir the last group of... Things? That came in here, I couldn't make heads or tails of what they were saying."
"Pokemon." Allen corrected. "We're called Pokemon." Allen stopped. 'D-did I just say that?'
"Um sorry sir." The stallion said flipping through the log book after a moment he frowned,"All our singles appear to be full sir. However there are still a few doubles available."
Allen was still reeling from calling himself a Pokemon, feeling like he was adapting to this way to quickly. So he just nodded and said,"Great."
"Very good. Would you sign here sir?" He asked pushing the book and a quill towards Allen.
He actually started to reach for it before he realized what he was doing. His ears drooped and he hung his head,"Crap!"
The room was nice though the ceiling was a little low for Allen's liking. He was currently laying the bed he'd claimed taking inventory of his bag with Nova's assistance. So far they had gone through a fair portion of it. They had plenty of potions and he was pleased to see an entire box of Lava Cookies, in addition he had over a dozen Revive Herbs and a single Max Revive. He swept the medicines into the bag and Nova began to pull out the berries.
Sorting through them Allen frowned "Hmmm at some point before we go for Drakarus we'll have to do some growing."
"What are we running low on?" Nova asked poking his head back in the bag.
Allen sighed,"Well after our bout with Misty it looks like there's only eleven Sitrus berries left." He sighed and glanced at the sorted piles of fruit,"And we're dangerously low on Leppa berries too."
Nova pulled himself out of the bag with a panicked look,"How 'dangerously low'?"
"We've only got six left."
Nova sat on his haunches as a few drops of sweat started forming on his forehead. "That's bad. We may just run out before we can plant any of them." The Volcano Pokemon shuddered,"I'm not going to be the one to tell her." He rubbed at his stomach,"Not after last time."
"Tell who, what?" Sparkler asked walking out of the bathroom with a few towels wrapped around her. She moved to the other bed in the room and sat looking curiously at Nova. "What's got you so worked up?"
Allen didn't know weather to sigh or laugh,"I'm just looking through my stuff." He motioned with a hoof,"You know, inventory and what not. But we're very low on a particular type of berry and, the last time we ran out Dawn was not a happy camper."
"Don't you just mean 'camper' then?" Loki called from whatever shadow concealed him.
"Anyway!" Allen said panicking for an entirely separate reason, when Loki started quoting 'him' the night was going a long one. "Leppa berries are probably Dawn's favourite thing ever."
Sparkler moved off of her bed and stood by his looking at the piles of fruits,"Which ones are the those?" Nova pointed to a small cluster of six each a bit bigger than a cherry. Without a word she picked one up in her magic and popped it in her mouth chewing slowly. "Woah! That's really hard to chew." As she swallowed and lightly smacked her lips she smiled,"But those are pretty good. Almost reminds me of an Apple from Sweet Apple Acres." She looked back and saw Allen,Nova and ,even Loki looked shocked,"What?"
"We're doomed." Loki said groaning. "If the Royal Guards don't kill us Dawn just might."
"What!?"
"Dawn really loves Leppa berries." Nova answered cryptically.
Sparkler looked back and forth between the three Pokemon,"Oookaaay then."
Allen used his nose to push the berries back into their place and stood leaving the rest of his things still on the bed. "I'm going to take a shower... What are you doing?"
"Ha!" Cried Nova pulling himself out of the bag with a triumphant grin,"I called it!"
"What!?" He asked completely baffled.
The Volcano Pokemon disappeared into the bag and began to grunt and heave like he was using Strength. With a hefty grunt he pulled out a cubed piece of marble too big to have fit in the bag let alone through its opening.
"What. The. Actual. Fuck!?" Allen shouted.
Nova grinned and gently set the marble cube on the floor,"Lord Arceus has a sense of humour." He laughed.
"There is absolutely no way something that... big... could..." He trailed off as the TARDIS came to mind. "I hate that guy. I'll be in the shower."
"It's what you get for being rude." Nova replied matter of factly. "Your lucky he didn't just blink you out of existence. He can do things like that."
"Yeah, yeah." He replied making for the bathroom,"And if Froakie had wings they wouldn't bump their ass." Closing the door behind him he cast his eyes on the shower uncertainty. It was clearly made for ponies and since he was a fair bit bigger than them he worried how well he'd be able to wash himself. Fortunately the faucet was made hoof friendly and he was able to get the water as hot as he usually liked it.
It was also the first time he'd touched water since becoming a Fire-type. As he held his fetlock under the water be noticed that he seemed to tingle and numb like his limb had fallen asleep only less uncomfortable. It was amazing how the hot water seemed to soothe him almost on contact, and he still only held a small portion of himself in the water. "Oh." He sighed pleased.
Eager for what promised to be a relaxing shower he pulled his hoof from the water but paused,'Wait, Fire-types are weak to water? Why doesn't this hurt?' After a moment he frowned,"I wonder?"
He reached out and turned off the hot tap and turned the cold up full blast. As he reached for the torrent of icy water he tensed,"This may be the dumbest thing I've ever done." A few images of Pokemon well outside his league came to mind, the most prominent being Arceus. "Recently."
Taking one more deep breath he plunged his foreleg into the running faucet. He immediately regretted this decision, this was a bad plan and poorly thought out! "Aaaahh! Oow Owowowow!" Jerking himself backwards and out of the icy water his hard hooves lost their traction on the slick tile floor. Physics did the rest and he flipped ass over tea kettle, cracking his head on the sink then the hard tile floor.
He groaned and tried to blink away the stars to no avail,"uuuuuhhhhgg."
"Allen are you okay!?"
"Allen!!!"
Sparkler and Nova came quickly and charged into the bathroom to see Allen laying on his back spread eagle and his eyes spinning. "I feel I was denied." Allen grumbled,"Critical! Need to know! Information!"
"What!?" Nova asked raising an eyebrow. At least until a blue flash made him blink and he saw Sparkler was gone. "She can use Teleport!?" Nova asked alarmed to suddenly learn something new about his friend.
"Thanks for the heads up Nova!" Allen snapped annoyed. He then mimicked Nova's gravelly voice,"Hey Allen! Just to let you know cold water hurts like unholy hell!"
"I wonder where Sparkler went?" Nova wondered aloud not paying Allen the slightest attention. If he was complaining he was fine.
Sparkler sat on the motel roof staring up at Luna's night breathing deep in an attempt to slow her thunderous heartbeat. After a few minutes she had calmed a little and sighed,"Dammit Ditzy! Getting me thinking about stuff like that." She blushed again.