Pokemon Conclave: The Orange League Part 4: Ice Flow © 1999-2001 Willow McCall    It was the day after Aoife’s successful win of the Coral Eye Badge, and she and her friends were walking around Mikan Island.    And they had nothing to do.    After a few bouts with some local trainers, they stopped in at the nearest Pokemon Center, where Petra’s attention was caught by the local Nurse Faith.    “How interesting,” Petra said, watching the nurse as she put Aoife’s Pokeballs through the healer machine.  “It would appear that the Faiths in the Orange Islands wear a different uniform than the ones in Kanto.  And that dark rose color is very flattering too, heh heh heh OUCH!”    This was the sound of a jealous Ruari whacking her girlfriend with a convenient copy of War and Peace.  “You behave,” she said, dragging the other girl away.    “Thanks,” Aoife said, as the nurse handed her back her Pokeballs.  “Don’t mind Petra, she just gets a little weird sometimes…”    Ferio smirked.  “It’s her way of saying, ‘I like you, I think you’re hot and I want to have your babies except that that’s biologically impossible.’”    “Ferio,” Sora said admonishingly.    “Well?  It’s true,” Ferio said.  “So what’ll we do now?”    “Hey,” Sora said, “let’s call Aidan, okay?  We haven’t heard from him since we left Kanto…and I’m sure he must be lonely on Cinnabar all by himself…”    “He has Maeve,” Aoife reminded her.    “Oh yeah.”  Sora’s face fell.    “And Bill,” Ruari said, giggling.    “Don’t remind me.”  Sora’s face fell further, and she buried it in her hands.    “So are we going to call him,” Petra said, “or are we going to sit around speculating about his love life…again?”    “Call him,” Aoife said, trooping over to the videophone in the corner of the Pokemon Center.  She put a 500 yen coin in, and a bouncing Furret appeared on the screen, along with a speech bubble prompting her to dial.  After Sora gave her the number, Aoife dialed and was connected to Bill’s lab.    A smiling blonde assistant (no, not Aidan, a different one) picked up the phone.  “Cinnabar Laboratories, Bill Sonezaki’s division.”    “Hi,” Aoife said.  “We’re friends of Bill’s, and we’d like to speak to his assistant Aidan Specter…is he in?”    “Yeah, Spec’s in, I’ll go get him.  Please hold.”  The assistant dashed off.    Sora and Ruari exchanged a glance.  “Spec?”    In a moment Aidan stepped in front of the video camera, dressed in a neat white lab outfit (which Ferio thought made him look like the guy in the “She Blinded Me With Science” video, although she kept these opinions to herself).    When he saw who was on the other end of the line, he grinned.  “Aoife?  Hey, guys!”    “Hi, Aidan!” Aoife said brightly, waving at the screen.  “How’s it going?”    “Yeah,” Ferio interjected, “and why’s everyone calling you Spec?”    “Oh,” Aidan blushed a little.  “Just a nickname.”    “You didn’t answer my question,” said Aoife.    “Oh yeah, things are going fantastic here.  We just got shipments of Elekid eggs…Bill was so excited.”    Ruari pushed her way to the front of the group.  “How is Bill, by the way?”    “Oh, hey Ruari.  Bill’s fine.  He mentioned you the other day.”    “He did?” Ruari said, getting starry-eyed.  “What’d he say, what’d he say?”    “He was saying how well you did in the League”—Ruari looked as if she could die of happiness any moment—“but he’s still calling you Laurie,” Aidan added, with a somewhat un-Aidan-like snicker.  Ruari made a face at the video screen before she was pushed out of the way by Sora.    “You better be keeping my promise, Aidan,” Sora said, jabbing her finger into the video screen.    “Oh, yeah!” Aoife said, popping up in front of the screen again.  “I want to know too.  Are you and Maeve, like…you know…”  She made circles out of her thumb and forefinger on both hands and linked them together.  “Hooking up?”    “Aoife!”   “Well?”    Aidan laughed and, much to their surprise, barely blushed at all.  “It’s a secret,” he said, winking at them.  “All I can tell you is that yes, I _am_ with someone on Cinnabar now.”  He winked again and made Aoife’s “hooking up” gesture back at her.  “Can’t tell you who, though.”    “Aw, man,” Aoife said.  “You suck.”    “Aidan!” a voice offscreen on the other end of the line called.  “Come help me with these crates, please?”    Ruari stood on tiptoes for a better look at the screen, hand on Petra’s shoulder for balance.  “Is that Bill?  I wanna see Bill!”    “One second!” Aidan called back to the anonymous voice from offscreen.  He turned back to his friends again.  “Bill’s calling.  I better go now.  It’s good to talk to you guys again, though.”    “Oh, definitely,” Petra said, nodding in agreement while simultaneously holding Ruari back from the screen to keep her from getting a look at Bill.  “We should do this more often.  And hey, email me, okay?”    “Me too!” Sora piped up.  “Tell me about this new Cinnabar Island girlfriend of yours, okay?”    “Maybe,” Aidan said.  “Well, I should go…I’ll call you guys again soon though, all right?”  And with that he disappeared, and the videophone shut off again.    “Glad to hear he’s having a good time, eh?” Ruari said, as the group gravitated away from the videophone.    Sora, however, was still looking at the blank screen with puzzlement.  “Wait a sec…did Aidan…actually _wink_ at us?”    Her query went unnoticed, however, as a poster on the wall caught Aoife’s eye.  “Hey guys, look at this!”    The others followed her gaze to the poster, which announced “Mikan Island Semiannual Sea Race” in bold yellow letters, over a blue oceanic background peppered with images of water Pokemon.    “It’s tomorrow!” Aoife squealed, pointing at the dates listed on the poster.  “I absolutely MUST enter this, guys.”    “But Aoife,” Petra pointed out, “you don’t have any water Pokemon that you can ride, you said so yourself at the gym yesterday.”    “Yeah…” Aoife said, obviously hinting at something.  “But if someone were to _loan_ me one, however, it’d be a different story…”  She made her patented Big Cute Eyes around at each member of the group in turn, sniffling pathetically.    It was Ruari who finally caved.  “All right, all right…you can borrow one of mine, I suppose.”    “All RIGHT!” Aoife said, slapping Ruari on the back.  “You rock, Ro.  Thanks a million.”    “Heh, sure Aif.  Any time.”  She and Petra exchanged a glance, and Ruari shrugged and gave her partner a “what can I do, she was using the Big Cute Eyes” look.     (Who's that Pokemon?  It's Venusaur!)      “It _could_ still be Bill, you know,” Sora was saying, as the group lined up in front of the beachside registration table for the Sea Race.  “I mean, he didn’t SAY it was a girl, did he?”    “Sora, you _need_ to be in this race,” Ferio said, patting her cousin on the back consolingly.  “It’ll take your mind off things.”    “I suppose you’re right,” Sora said, eyes wandering out to sea.  “But still…I mean, Aidan said that—“    “Uh, ma’am?” the teenage boy at the registration table said, interrupting Sora’s musings.  “Your number?”    “Oh, yeah,” Sora said sheepishly, as the boy handed her a numbered card with a string around it.  “Thanks.”    “Over that way,” the boy said, pointing down the beach, “to the Pokemon inspection station.  Then you’ll go line up on the waterfront with the other racers.”    The girls proceeded over to where the boy had indicated, except for Ferio, who left them and went to sit in the stands.  “I think I’ll sit this one out,” she had said earlier.  “You guys have fun now, okay?”    “Hello,” the woman at the inspection station said to the girls as they approached.  “May I see your Pokemon?”    Petra dashed to the front of the group.  “You can inspect ME, ma’am!” she offered.    “How about not,” Ruari said, dragging Petra back as Aoife produced her Vaporeon’s Pokeball for the attendant to inspect.  The woman released Vaporeon from its Pokeball, examined it, then handed it back to Aoife, who took her mount and waited by the starting line.  The inspector did the same for Sora with Ruari’s Dragonair, and Petra and Ruari, who together were riding on Ruari’s Lapras.    It was at the starting line before the race started that Aoife encountered her first obstacle.  Standing there with her own Lapras on the shore was none other than Mikan Gym’s Ermynne Cameron.    “ERMYNNE?” Aoife cried, her jaw nearly hitting the sand beneath her feet.  “What are YOU doing here?”    “I could ask the same of you,” Ermynne said, looking Aoife and her Pokemon up and down.  “Oh, really, Aoife, you don’t mean to tell me you’re riding that thing?  Vaporeon make lousy steeds.”    “It doesn’t matter,” Aoife said.  “MY Vaporeon is so well-trained it could even beat that giant sea-slug you have there.”  “Hey, watch what you say about giant sea-slugs,” Ruari said.    “Well, we’ll just see about that,” Ermynne said, turning away and facing the ocean, her hand on her Lapras’s neck.    “The Mikan Island Semiannual Sea Race will now commence!” a voice over a loudspeaker announced.  “Trainers, mount your Pokemon!”    “Now let’s see how good you really are, Ermynne,” Aoife sneered, as she and Ermynne both hopped on their Pokemon.    “Ready…set…” BANG!  The sound of a gun firing signaled the start of the race, and immediately the riders were off, their water-based steeds carrying them away from the beach, in the direction indicated by the buoys floating in the water.  The course was mostly uneventful for the first part, but the best (or worst, depending on one’s point of view) was yet to come.  Sora was in the lead, tied with a few unidentified racers, and not so far behind her were two Laprases, Ermynne’s and Ruari’s, both fighting for the lead.  The rest of the crowd followed behind, and taking up the rear was Aoife.    “And they’re off!” the announcer roared.  “Looks like rider #380 and her Dragonair are in the lead…”    “That’s MY Dragonair,” Ruari mumbled, unheard.    “…and rider #257 and her Vaporeon not doing so well, are they?  Better catch up quick!”    “Ah, shaddup,” Aoife said under her breath, urging Vaporeon faster.    Ermynne turned back to look at Aoife as she rounded a corner, an I-told-you-so smirk on her face.  “Races are a lot tougher when you actually have to stay in the water, aren’t they, Aoife?”    Aoife yelled a few unrepeatable things at Ermynne, shaking her fist.  Petra, who was beside Ermynne with Ruari on Lapras, turned around and called back to Aoife.  “Want us to get her back for you for that, Aif?”    “Would you?”    “Sure.”  Lapras sped up and weaved around Ermynne, splashing a wave in her face in its wake.  “Eat our dust, Mikan girl!”    “Phloo.”  Ermynne spit out a mouthful of saltwater, then urged her Lapras forward.  “After them!”    But Ruari was slowing down cautiously.  “Hey, what’s that up there?” she said, pointing to several dark circular shapes in the water ahead.    “Whatever it is, I can beat it,” Ermynne said, speeding ahead.  “See ya later!”    Ruari and Petra watched Ermynne approach the dark shapes, then suddenly disappear.  “What happened to her?”    “Let’s go check,” Petra said, speeding up to see.  Their Lapras and Aoife’s Vaporeon arrived at the spot where Ermynne had disappeared to find a series of five whirlpools, Ermynne and her Lapras screaming and spinning wildly in the biggest one.    “Uh-oh,” Ruari said.  “Aoife!  We need to save her!”    “Aw, man, do we have to—“    “YES.  Now send out your Weepinbell.”    “What for?”    “You can use Vine Whip and pull them out.”    “Fine.”  Aoife sent out Weepinbell, who floated in the water a couple meters from Vaporeon.  “Weepinbell, send your vines into that whirlpool!”    “Weepin-bell.”  Weepinbell extended its vines to Ermynne and her Lapras, wrapping them around Lapras’s back while Ermynne clung on for dear life to Lapras’s neck.    “Now pull!”  Weepinbell looked strained, but it did as it was told and pulled Ermynne and her mount into safer waters.    Ruari pulled her Lapras around beside Ermynne’s.  “You all right?”    “Guess so,” Ermynne said, watching Aoife return her Weepinbell.  “How did those whirlpools get there?”   “Probably they’ve got some Pokemon under each of them, keeping the whirlpools going.”   “Oh.”  Ermynne nodded, then, “Aoife…you saved my life, didn’t you?”    “Yeah, maybe,” Aoife grumbled.  “Darn.  I always end up saving my enemy’s life, don’t I?  It’s a curse.”    “Yeah, well, thanks, I guess,” Ermynne mumbled, clearly a little uncomfortable.  “Um…see ya!”    “I gotta catch up to her!” Aoife said, urging Vaporeon on.    Ruari was about to follow, but Petra stopped her.  “Wait,” she said, looking around worriedly.  “Where’s Sora?”    “Up there,” Ruari said, pointing ahead to where the leaders of the pack were.  Sora was trailing them slightly now, but still keeping up the pace.  “Dragonair are smaller and faster than most of these other racers’ mounts—they’re most of them using Lapras.  Ronan was probably able to maneuver around the whirlpools.”    They continued on, the course of the race taking them back towards the island and down a river, where they had to push away some low-hanging branches in order to avoid decapitation.    “This is weird,” Sora thought, as she and the other leaders made their way through the river.  “I thought this was called the _Sea_ Race?  Why are we going into the forest?  It’d be easier to run into obstacles here, and in this enclosed space, harder to fend them off…”    She was right.  A moment later she found herself being pulled off of Ronan the Dragonair by some unseen force.  “YAAAAAAAH!” she screamed, kicking the air.  Then she saw what had her: a Venusaur, crouched and hidden among the bushes on the side of the river, had its vine whips wrapped securely around her, with her arms pinned to her side.    “Dragonair!”  Ronan was quick to jump to her aid, but it was no match for the Venusaur, mostly due to type differences.  “Dra…gon…AIR!” Ruari’s Pokemon shouted, using its Thunder Wave on Venusaur, but Venusaur was a plant type and was grounded against electricity.  “Air..” Ronan said, looking around helplessly for support.    Sora decided to try a different approach.  “HEEEEEELP!  Somebody help me!”    “Sora?  That you?”  It sounded like Petra’s voice to Sora, but she couldn’t be sure.    “Please help!” Sora yelled, hoping whoever it was would arrive soon.  Venusaur tightened its grip around her, to make sure she couldn’t squirm away.    A few minutes later (but too long for Sora), a Lapras with two purple-haired riders appeared through the bushes.  “Sora!” one of them cried.  “What happened?”    “I…don’t know,” Sora admitted.  “Guess they put this Venusaur here to eliminate some of the competition.”    “Hmm…” Ruari said, thinking.  “Anybody have a fire Pokemon?”    “I’ve got Ytram,” Sora said.  “But if I could reach its Pokeball, I’d have been out of here by now.”    “Easy enough,” Ruari said.  “Ronan!  Jump up and grab…which one is it, Sora?”    “Second one from the front on my belt.”    “Yeah!  Grab that Pokeball, Ronan.”    “Dragon!”  Ronan jumped up and plucked the ball off of Sora’s belt, then carried it in its mouth over to Ruari.  “Dra,” he said politely, giving Ruari the ball.    “Thanks, Ronan,” Ruari said, patting Ronan on the head.  “Go, Ytram!”  She threw the ball, and the fire frog that Articuno gave them appeared on the shore.  It made a few chirping noises in its throat.    “Ytram, Ember!”  Ytram puffed out its throat, then with a loud, shrill chirp, spat fire at Venusaur, scorching its vines.  “Veeenus!” Venusaur roared, dropping Sora back into the water.    “Great,” Ruari said, forging ahead on Lapras.  “Now let’s get out of here before it gets us.”    “I’m staying behind,” Sora said, pulling herself up onto shore opposite the river from Venusaur.  “I’m going to beat this guy, so he doesn’t bother any of the other racers.  Ytram, Fire Blast!”    With another chirp, Ytram blasted a stream of fire in the shape of the kanji for “fire” at Venusaur, who bellowed, then rolled over on its back.    “Great job, Ytram,” Sora said, returning the Pokemon.  “Now we can go.”  And she jumped on Ronan and swam ahead, hurrying to catch up.     ***      Meanwhile, Aoife was encountering her own obstacles on the river.  Chu-Chu, who had been sleeping on her head, stirred and woke up, sniffing the air.  “Pi?  Pika?”    “Huh?” Aoife looked up at Chu-Chu.  “What’s up, Chu-Chu?”    “Pika!” Chu-Chu cried, pointing to the bushes.    But there was nothing there.    “Chu-Chu, that’s not funny,” Aoife said.  “Come on, we have to—“    “Pi!”  “Pika!”  “Pika!”  This time it wasn’t Chu-Chu, but instead a veritable army of Pikachus, poking their heads up from the bushes.    “Uh-oh,” Aoife said, realizing something.  “Electric Pokemon…water…”    “Piiiiiiiika…” the Pikachus in the bushes said, mischievous grins appearing on their identical faces as their cheek generators charged up.    “QuickChu-Chuatttackthem!” Aoife yelled, not bothering to think before she acted.    “Pika!” Chu-Chu sprang forward.  “CHUUU!”  She thundershocked all the Pikachu in the bushes, but unfortunately also shocked Aoife in the process of doing so.    “…ow.”  Aoife said.  “Chu-Chu…next time…aim better?”    “Kachu,” Chu-Chu said, scratching the back of its head in an embarrassed sort of way.    Vaporeon, fortunately, hadn’t been shocked, and it soldiered on as Aoife recovered, resting her head on the back of her mount’s neck and taking a quick nap while praying she didn’t fall off.    She was awakened not soon after by sunlight penetrating her eyelids, and she opened her eyes, rubbing them against the sting of sudden light.  “What…where…?”  She looked around to find that they had emerged from the river on the opposite side of the island…and that there were no other racers in sight, only a buoy with an arrow stuck into the top, pointing her on forward.    “Great,” she mumbled.  “I’m probably way far behind…am I the last one?”    “Not quite,” a tired-sounding voice behind her said.  Aoife turned around to see Ermynne and her Lapras emerge from out of the jungle, both of them looking rather haggard.  “But you will be soon!”  Catching a second wind, Ermynne sped ahead in the direction of the arrow, leaving Aoife behind.    “Hey!” Aoife yelled, chasing after Ermynne.  Vaporeon eventually caught up, and they were neck-in-neck for a brief moment.    Ermynne looked irritatedly over at Aoife.  “Hey!  How’d you—OW!”  Aoife only saw Ermynne disappear behind a big white blur, but she knew what had happened: Ermynne hadn’t been watching and had hit an iceberg.    Aoife looked in front of her and saw another chunk of ice, even bigger than the one Ermynne had hit, looming in her path.  “What’s an iceberg doing here?  It’s AUGUST!”     They didn’t have time to move around the iceberg, and it was coming up fast.  “Vaporeon, jump!” Aoife yelled, and at the last second, Vaporeon did.  It landed on the iceberg and Aoife clung on as it skidded across the ice, then splashed down into the water a few yards later.    Aoife drew her breath in sharply as she hit the icy water and floundered around for a second before Vaporeon surfaced beneath her and pushed her and Chu-Chu up out of the water.  “Thanks, Vaporeon,” Aoife said.  “Now let’s go!”    They went on, following another arrow that directed them to the left, and then turned left again before they spotted the beach in front of them.  “Hey look, Chu-Chu, I think it’s the finish line!”    “Ka!”    “I…don’t…THINK…so!” Ermynne puffed.  She and her Lapras, looking even more beaten up than before, were following Aoife, but Aoife wasn’t worried.    “You know, I have to give you credit for being determined,” Aoife said.  “But you are SO not going to reach the finish line before me.  Seeya!”  And she put on a last burst of speed and left Ermynne behind, the people on the beach getting bigger as she approached.    “And here come our last two racers, #257 and #619!” the announcer boomed.  “My, #619 isn’t looking so well, is she?”  “Hey, I resent that!” Ermynne yelled, waving her fist at the announcer’s box.  “Even if it is true…”    Aoife reached the beach only a few seconds before Ermynne did, although both of them teetered over and collapsed on the beach as soon as they had landed.  Then, as an afterthought, they both (almost in unison) returned their Pokemon to their Pokeballs.    “Aoife!  You all right?”  Aoife rolled over and blinked, seeing her friends gathered around her.    “Yeah…I’m fine…” Aoife sat up shakily.  “Hey, at least I beat Ermynne, right?”    “This isn’t over yet, Aoife Ketchum,” Ermynne warned, getting to her feet…and promptly falling over again.    “Yeah, sure Ermynne,” Aoife said, standing up and leaning on Sora’s shoulder.  “I don’t—HEY!”    “Hey what?” Sora asked.    “You…Sora…you…” Aoife sputtered, pointing at the blue ribbon affixed to Sora’s shirt.    “Oh yeah,” Sora said.  “I came in first.  Cool, huh?”    “Go Sora!” Aoife said, patting her friend on the back.  “Congratulations!”    Petra slung her arm around Aoife’s shoulder.  “I think this calls for a celebratory dinner, what do you say?”    “I say definitely,” Ruari agreed.  “And Winner-Girl gets to pick the restaurant.  Deal?”    “Deal,” Sora agreed, as the girls began their walk back to town.    Ermynne glared after them.  “I’ll beat you yet someday, Aoife,” she said, although not sounding like she meant it, before collapsing back into the sand.     Author's Notes Heh, I really beat up on Ermynne in this episode, didn't I?  The whirlpool, then whatever she encountered in the forest, then she _slammed_ into that iceberg...ouch.  Poor Myn-Myn, I'm sorry...*hugs Ermynne, who whacks Willow with Ruari's copy of War and Peace for calling her Myn-Myn* Anyway.  I'm trying a new spacing thing for this episode...does it look better?  Or not?  Easier to read?  I might format all the rest of the episodes like this, but not the old ones...it's a giant pain in the neck to go through the whole episode and space out every paragraph.     back