Chapter 18

"Why is there so much rain?" Hugh complained as rain fell on the boat deck. Amos shrugged and turned back to stare at the ocean.

He, Hugh, and Leia had left Virbank City an hour ago. Leia had won her gym battle against Roxie by a slim chance. Roxie had taken down Abby the Audino and Ringdog the Riolu, and Severusa had took down Roxie's Whirlpede with a Vine Whip. She actually won by luck, seeing how Serverusa was poisoned and on the verge of fainted. However, Leia made it sound like she had the upper hand all along.

Leia wanted to go to the movie set near the city, but they had promised White that they would head to Castelia City as soon as possible. Roxie was able to get her father to take them across the ocean on his boat.

"When will we get there?" Leia whined next to Amos, leaning against the boat railing.

"The captain said that we will be there in about another hour." Amos told her.

"I can't wait that long! I need to get there ASAP!" She groaned.

"Why do you need to get there that badly?" asked Hugh.

"Because Castelia is the BIGGEST and the COOLEST city in Unova! Plus I want to go shopping!" his sister explained excitedly.

"How come I knew you were gonna say that?" Amos asked in a bored voice.

"Ok, if this is all we're going to do, I challenge you to a battle!" Hugh suddenly said, pointing at Amos.

"What? A boat isn't exactly the best place to battle! Plus it's raining, so you won't have the best time." said Amos.

"So? Your Growlithe can't stand rain either, so it's a win win. We can just make sure not to get to rough." his cousin pointed out.

Amos sighed and pulled out his three pokeballs. "Well, you convinced me. Go, Liliana!" he called, and Amos threw one of the pokeballs into the air.

His new pokemon, Liliana the Growlithe, appeared in the flash of red light. Liliana held her head high and barked. He had thought earlier that the Growlithe was a boy, but after checking his pokedex, Amos realized that Liliana was a she. (Hugh had also said that he was proud that Amos finally came up with a more unique name than the other two names he gave his Patrat and Oshawott.)

"Pidove!" cried Hugh and he to threw a pokeball into the air, revealing his pigeon-like pokemon.

The Pidove gave a squawk and glared at the opposing pokemon.

"Use Bite!" Amos commanded, and Liliana leapt into the air to reach the pokemon.

Pidove gave a loud screech and flew higher up, but the Growlithe had bit down on it leg. It gave a loud shriek before falling out of the sky.

"Fly back up! Fly back up! I know you can do it!" Hugh told his pokemon encouragingly.

But Liliana seemed to have bit harder into Pidove's leg. Pidove couldn't keep flying, and hit the boat deck with a loud thud. It already looked like it was on the verge of fainting.

"Finish it with Bite!" yelled Amos, but Hugh had also shouted, "Peck, now!"

Liliana gave a howl of shock as Pidove started pecking at her face. Leia seemed to have felt pity for the Growlithe, because she gave her brother a look of disgust from the sidelines.

"Please try and ignore it!" Amos begged the howling Growlite, but she didn't seem to hear him.

"Let's finish with Quick Attack!" Hugh cried, and Pidove flew into Liliana's side. It hit with such force, that she had collided with the iron boat railings.

Amos pulled out his pokedex from inside his pocket and looked at the screen. His Growlithe was in the red zone.

"Quick, come back!" Amos yelled, and he returned Liliana to her pokeball.

He then threw another one of his pokeballs and Packs the Patrat appeared in the red light.

Packs gave a screech and glared at the Pidove, who had flown a few feet off the ground again.

"Quick Attack!" yelled Hugh before Amos could give a command.

"Use Detect and do it fast!" Amos cried to the Patrat.

Packs barely got the barrier up before the Pidove attacked. The Pidove squawked loudly and bounced off the Detect.

"Now, Bite!" ordered Amos.

"NO!" Hugh cried as Packs screeched and leapt up at his Pidove.

It was too late, and Packs had bitten down on the bird's wing. Pidove gave one last squawk before falling back to the deck. The Pidove let out one sad cry before passing out.

"I got one left, though!" Amos heard Hugh mutter as he returned Pidove to its pokeball.

Hugh grabbed the second pokeball and Tepig escaped out of it.

"Packs, come back!" Amos said, and he to returned his pokemon. He then threw the pokeball and Oliver the Oshawott appeared.

"Oh, this will be VERY fair." growled Hugh.

"It was your choice to battle." Amos pointed out with a smirk.

"True, true." Leia sang and Hugh growled something to her that Amos did not catch, but sounded like, "Who's side are you even on?"

"Let's make this fast, so use Water Gun!" he ordered.

Oliver obeyed and a stream of water shot out of the Oshawott's mouth. Tepig gasped and spluttered as he got a face full of water. Then he swayed and collapsed, smoke escaping from his nose.

"That's cruel!" Leia cried and ran toward the fainted Tepig.

"Leia, we're battling!" yelled Hugh, but his sister ignored him.

"Well, Amos won anyway, but now the poor thing is sick!" She said.

Amos picked up his Oshawott and watched his cousins bicker. Oliver smirked at the Tepig in Leia's arms. Amos knew that Oliver wasn't feeling sorry for Hugh's pokemon. He did, however, realize that it was very odd that it's been raining pretty much all week, and even thundering.

"Come on, Leia, just give him back! It was just the rain and everything!" Hugh hissed at his sister.

"But the poor thing can get a cold or something worst!" said Leia, as she cradled Tepig in her arms. Amos personally thought that Tepig looked like he was enjoying all the attention. He could see the Tepig trying to cover up a smile as he played sick.

They heard a clatter from behind them and the three kids turned around. The captain of the boat was hurrying over to them, looking a bit annoyed. From what Amos could see of his hair, since most of it was under his captain's hat, the man's hair was turning from black to light gray. He was small but was taller then Amos by an inch.

"We are just entering the port. I'm surprised that we didn't sink with all this rain!" the captain told them while glaring at the sky. "The weather man never gets it right! Clear skies turns into a hurricane!"

Amos thought it was best to leave the captain to his muttering, and Hugh and Leia must have had the same idea. Picking up his bag and putting Oliver on his shoulder, Amos followed the captain, Leia and Hugh behind him.

Castelia City was now seen from the front of the boat, but which was still a bit away from the port. When the boat stopped, the captain lowered the ramp and they got off.

Leia, who was still holding Tepig, gasped as she looked up at the buildings.

"This is AMAZING!" She gasped, and set the pokemon down.

"I don't know, this place has 'Big, Shiny, and Expensive' written all over it." muttered Hugh as he walked onto the port.

There wasn't as many people as Amos expected to see. There was only about twenty people on the port, who were talking to each other or looking at the boats.

"What's wrong with big and shiny?" Leia asked her brother curiously.

"What's wrong with big and shiny, is that you'll go around buying everything that costs over a million bucks!" Hugh snapped with a sharp edge to his voice.

"I won't buy anything THAT expensive!" She told him.

"Uh, excuse me, am I intruding on something?"

A boy, about seventeen, had walked up to them. He looked rather intimating. He wore a black leather jacket over a white-shirt. His black combat boots were weather beaten, and his dark jeans were worn out. His black hair was almost shoulder length, and it covered up his right eye. The visible left eye was electric blue. To top that, perched on his shoulder was a Chatot, a colorful parrot-like pokemon.

"Would you three by any chance be Amos, Leia, and Hugh?" The boy asked uncertainly.

Amos gave him a curious look, but Hugh beat him to asking the boy bluntly, "Yeah, but who exactly you?"

Leia snorted and glared at her brother at his rudeness, but the boy gave a wide yet nervous smile and answered, "The name's Sky Blue, I was asked by my friend, White Copperstone, to come and find you."