Catch All The Girlfriends!
Page 16
The water-type crossed her arms and nodded. “I’m all good. I was in the ring the whole time, so I could have been on top of any one of the buildings here.”
“Alright, but let me know if you start feeling uncomfortable and we’ll get out of there.”
“Can we have some coffee and cake before we go?” Starry piped up hopefully.
Yoshi smiled at her. “I don’t see why not.”
“I don’t see what the rush is,” Soph huffed. “It’s not like Route 21’s open yet.”
“Well actually it is.”
“Really?” Soph glanced in the direction of the Caverns. “Doesn’t look open yet to me.”
“Well it is,” Yoshi said tersely.
The keen-eyed flying-type turned around and took a few steps towards Route 21. “You can’t even tell that it’s open from–hey!”
Yoshi swept in, snaked a hand around her waist and planted a kiss straight on her beak.
“Did I tell you how much I loved you?” he announced loudly. Trainers and girlfriends threw glances over their shoulder.
“Get off me!” she squawked. He pulled away before she could elbow his face. She looked more flustered than Yoshi expected her to be, a whole bunch of feathers floating to the ground. Yoshi – 1, Sophie – 0.
Led by a fuming Soph, his girlfriends chased him all the way to the bright ‘W6’ floating in the sky.
Welcome, Yoshi Soysauce.
TRANSACTION LIST
C987 - SW029206901
C888 - ONYXGR1
C1,650 - ONYXGR2
C2,800 - ONYXGR3
-C1,200 - LHOTELONYX
-C1,500 - CASH WTHDRWL W6
C401.39 - ONYXGBETSR1 (Pending)
C792.25 - ONYXGRBETSR2 (Pending)
C1,111.32 - ONYXGBETSR3 (Pending)
TOTAL
C3,625 (Available Now)
[C5,929.96 (Pending)]
Yoshi swiped out of the Bank of Ohno app with a grunt of satisfaction. It was good to finally have some dosh. He stretched out and slouched down in his seat. As annoying as Soph was, he was glad that she insisted they go to W6. It had been a crazy couple of weeks and his girls deserved a bit of retail therapy.
The last thing Starry and Soph had said was that they would go to levels five (tops) and seven (jackets) respectively. Yoshi thought he was seeing things when he looked at the floor guide but he wasn’t mistaken: the department store was so big they had a level dedicated to individual items of clothing and accessories.
Flick was standing in front of a wall with hundreds of hooks. Every few feet a different section of jewellery started. She had just moved past the necklaces and was eyeing the bracelets. Her stat screen gradually appeared next to her:
NAME: Felicity (Flick)
LEVEL: 19
NATURE: Playful
TYPE: Water
ACC.: NIL
HP: 78/78
- ATTACK: 20
- DEFENSE: 18
- SPCL ATTACK: 22
- SPCL DEFENSE: 16
- SPEED: 17
MOVESET:
Water Slap - Type: Water - 35/35 PP (Deals a wet, punishing slap that has 20% chance of causing confusion)
Flash - Type: Normal - 40/40 PP (Produce blinding light that drops accuracy by 50%)
Water Barrier - Type: Water - 15/15 PP (produces a water barrier that sharply increases DEFENSE and SPCL DEFENSE. Lasts 2 turns.)
“Hey.”
Felicity turned to Yoshi mid-pout. “Yes?”
She fished a bracelet off a hook a bit higher up, exposing her slightly soft mid-riff. “I like this one. It reminds me of the lure you used to fish me up.” She held it up and let the light refract through the translucent, rough cut crystals.
“So get it.”
“Do you like it?” she asked him expectantly.
“I don’t know… it’s nice, I guess,” Yoshi said with a shrug. She thought about it for a while and nodded. “How are you doing?”
“What do you mean?” She tried one another bracelet, shook her head and put it back.
“You know, since the kidnapping.”
She turned to him, ruffled his hair and gave him a quick peck. “I’m not traumatized. Stop worrying so much.”
“Alright, alright just trying to be caring is all.”
She smiled and glowed orange-yellow, glancing sideways at him. “You’re not like the other trainers.”
“You’re not like the other Felicities.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Well…”
She put he hands on her hips. “Out with it.”
“The other Felicities I’ve battled against seem…” He gesticulated helplessly. “Ditzy?” She raised an eyebrow. “But you’re not.” He added quickly.
“I’m not?” She twirled a lock of her pink hair, gazing at him with doe eyes before snapping back to normal. “I can be ditzier if you want me to.” She cut him off before he could respond. “OK, three bracelets. I’m only going to buy one. You’re paying, you choose.”
The one on the left was the one that resembled the fishing lure. The middle bracelet was made of smooth, round, wooden balls that smelled like incense. The last one was made of black, fingernail-sized pebbles.
Descriptions popped up, along with the stat bonuses they bestowed:
Name: Iridescentia
Description: These stones appear to change color when held up to sunlight.
Effect: +2 units to SPCL ATTACK
Cost: C380
Name: Beads of Serenity
Description: Monks from the Zebulon Valley carve these beads from weepwood trees.
Effect: -40% chance of confusion
Cost: C240
Name: Polished River Pebbles
Description: Plain black pebbles taken from one of the many rivers in Ohno and strung together with durable elastic.
Effect: Looks nice, not much else.
Cost: C80
I wanna be, the very best, like no one ever was… to catch–
Yoshi pointed at the first one then pulled out his cell.
“Professor.”
“Yoshi.”
Silence for three seconds.
“So have you–”
“I’m just–”
Silence for three seconds.
“You go first,” Poke said.
“No sir, you called me,” Yoshi responded. Flick raised an eyebrow at him.
“Your last text was five days ago.”
“Yeah I was busy.”
“Saving a Shiny, fighting terrorists, right?”
“Yeah and I beat the Onyx Gym yesterday.”
Silence from Poke’s end.
“What about my errand?”
“I was going to ask you about that actually.” Yoshi swung his backpack down, digging around until he found what he was looking for. It looked like a toolbox but instead of screwdrivers, spanners and wrenches; it had wires, flashing LEDs and microchips stacked together. “What am I delivering exactly?”
There was a sigh on the other end of the line. “If you really must know, I’m amassing language data from all the cave-dwelling girlfriends in Ohno. Tozuck was helping me record samples in the Celeste Caverns but the device was damaged.”
“I’ve called him several times and still haven’t been able to get through,” Yoshi said.
“Yes, I’ve tried and had the same issue.”
Something wasn’t adding up. “So how did you know that he had damaged the device then?”
“He caught the Starlotte who’s currently with you, explained what had happened in a note and gave it to her. He already had six girlfriends with him, so Starlotte was automatically sent through the Global Girlfriend Network to be stored online. It came through to the lab’s group account, I checked the specimen he caught and read the note. He said that he would be waiting outside the entrance of the main cavern for assistance.”
Yoshi nodded slowly. “That’s… actually pretty smart.”
�
�Why do you think I hired him? Oh by the way, I’d like you to come back to Topaz and return Starlotte to me.”
Silence from Yoshi’s end.
“Hello?”
“Yeah, I’m here.” Felicity caught Yoshi’s expression and mouthed ‘what’s wrong?’
“Since you’ve caught two girlfriends of your own and have proven yourself more than competent in battles, you don’t need her anymore. In the absence of Tozuck’s findings, I’ll need a live cave-dwelling girlfriend’s input.”
“I do.”
“What?”
“I need her.”
“Why?”
Felicity was leaning on the counter, counting out the coins while the checkout kid tried desperately not to look into her cleavage.
“I need her to guide me through the caverns in case Tozuck isn’t there. We’re just assuming he’ll be there because he said so in the note. What if he’s actually deeper in the cave? What if he’s injured?”
Please believe my bullshit, please believe my bullshit, please believe my bullshit…
“I don’t think Ivan would be that careless and yet…”
Yoshi didn’t dare breathe.
“No, I will not allow it," Poke said.
Yoshi exhaled, crestfallen.
“Whatever you’re doing, finish up and come back to Topaz. Preferably today.” Yoshi lowered the phone slowly. “Hello? Yoshi? Can you hear–?”
Yoshi killed the call and pocketed his phone.
“Hey,” Flick said, skipping back to Yoshi, a spring in her step. “What was all that about?”
“Just a chat with a friend from home.”
“You’re friends with a professor?”
“That bracelet looks good on you.” Yoshi said, lifting up her forearm.
“Was it about Starry?”
“Hey girls,” Yoshi said a little too loudly. Starry was wearing a green shirt that was so dark it was almost black. Yellow cat eyes stared out from the chest.
“Cool shirt,” Yoshi said, looking a beaming Starry up and down.
“What about my denim jacket?”
Yoshi glanced at Soph. “Did you steal that from the bum we passed on the way in?”
“It’s called style you asshole, something you clearly don’t have.” She crossed her arms, leering at messy, unwashed hair, unbuttoned, faded linen shirt and scuffed, muddy runners.
“Yoshi was just talking to his professor friend before you guys arrived,” Felicity said.
“Yes I was.” He avoided Starry’s gaze. “He told us to get a move on and complete the errand he asked me to run nearly two weeks ago. Speaking of which…” He pulled his phone out and ignored the five missed calls and three text messages. “We should be heading over to the entrance of Route 21 now.”
“He’s asking about me, isn’t he?”
Starry and Yoshi were hanging back while Soph and Flick compared their new purchases.
“Professor Poke, I mean.”
“Yeah, he was.”
“What did he say?”
A lie started crawling up his throat but something in Starry’s eyes made him swallow it. “He wants you to come back to Topaz.”
“I thought as much.”
“But I told him that wasn’t going to happen. Well, I didn’t exactly say that…” He wrapped his hand around her shoulder. “I made a promise. You still haven’t gained an offensive attack yet and until you do, you’re sticking with me.”
“What if I never learn one?” Starry asked quietly.
“I’ve never heard of a girlfriend who couldn’t learn moves,” Yoshi said firmly. “When you level up, three things happen: your stats improve, you learn new moves and you can evolve.” He stopped and put his hands on her shoulders. “You will get stronger. I will make sure of it.”
He hugged her and put his chin on the top of her head, not letting her see the uncertainty in his eyes.
22
Route #21
“37.” Labby #10 barked.
37 snapped to attention and saluted. “Ma’am!”
“This is Yoshi Soysauce and his girlfriends. They are the most recent champions of the Onyx Gym.”
37 appraised him for a moment. “You were here last week.” She glanced at Soph, who was trying to stare her down. “You wanted to pass through Route 21.”
“We still do,” Yoshi nodded.
“You are to let Yoshi and his girlfriends past. He is on official business for Professor Poke.”
37 shook her head. “I can’t allow that, Ma’am. You’ll need to get clearance from the Chief.”
“The Chief has authorized this and sent me here to see our travellers off.”
“With all due respect Ma’am, may I see the notarized declaration to allow this?”
Yoshi gulped and didn’t say anything. Cool as an icy glass of sarsaparilla, Labby #10 pulled an envelope out and handed it to the lower-ranked Labby. 37 pulled the document out, her eyes darted over it and stopped at the bottom.
“I trust that this is sufficient?” Labby #10 asked tersely. “Or shall I call the Chief himself to grant our guests passage?”
37 growled in the back of her throat. “No Ma’am.” She turned on her heel to Yoshi. “Follow me.”
“You guys go ahead first, I’ll catch up.” Yoshi ignored Soph’s smirk and turned to Labby #10. “You got the Chief of the Onyx Police to sign off on this?”
The dark wolf handed the document to him, a sly smile on her face. “All new recruits have to undergo training in several areas of crime recon. Forgery identification is one of them.”
“Let me guess. You scored top marks?” he said, holding the document up to the light.
“Nope. I created the forgeries for the exams – and mine were the hardest to pick out.”
“So what exactly has been happening in Route 21 and the Celeste Caverns?” Yoshi asked. 37 ignored the question and kept walking. “We’re on our way there right now, you might as well–”
“There has been illegal mining activity in the Caverns recently,” 37 responded stiffly. “This has made passage between Onyx and Sapphire too hazardous.”
“Illegal mining activity? I haven’t seen bulldozers or workers with pickaxes.”
“That’s because they came from the other side, dipshit,” Soph said under her breath.
37 looked back and grinned at the flying-type. “Sophie’s right, the activity has been coming in from Sapphire.”
“So why hasn’t the Sapphire police stopped them?” Yoshi asked.
“The Celeste Caverns are protected under Ohno Heritage Preservation Acts, so neither Onyx nor Sapphire should be policing it. It’s the government’s job. We’re only closing off access because we don’t want idiot trainers to get themselves killed when they fall into a giant hole after coming through Onyx.” The lower-ranked police dog stopped walking and turned to them. “You didn’t hear it from me, but I think someone paid hush money to the mayor of Sapphire so that the top dogs in Amethyst would never hear about it.”
“There’s someone I’m meant to meet outside the Caverns. Have you seen someone by the name of Ivan Tozuck?” Yoshi asked.
“What does he look like?” 37 asked.
“That’s… a very good question,” Yoshi laughed sheepishly. “I don’t know. I’ve never met him myself.”
“So how will you know it’s him when you find him?”
“I’m meant to call him.”
“Mmhmm.”
“So there’s no one in the Caverns now?”
“Once we got the order, we did a sweep as deep as we could into the Caverns and cleared all the trainers out. We’ve pointed them to local charter companies to fly them over to Sapphire but most found their own way.”
37 jogged to the gate, swiped her card and it hummed to life. The light on top blinked yellow, inviting Yoshi to walk through. “OK, come on through. If you’re returning to Onyx, you’ll probably need to come back to the police station to show your documentation.” She crossed her arms a
nd cocked her head slightly. “What is your relationship with 10?”
Soph smirked but thankfully said nothing.
“No relation. Tell her thank you and that I won’t forget her.”
“‘I won’t forget her?’” Soph made a face. “Could you get any cheesier?”
Yoshi had honed his ability to block out annoying voices over several years; his mom was great practice. He opened up Soph’s stat sheet and expanded the Accessory line:
NAME: Sophie (Soph)
LEVEL: 14
NATURE: Bossy
TYPE: Flying
ACC.: Denim Jacket
HP: 59/59
- ATTACK: 18 (+2)
- DEFENSE: 14
- SPCL ATTACK: 13
- SPCL DEFENSE: 12
- SPEED: 18
MOVESET:
Bird Run - Type: Flying - 35/35 PP (Run at foes and crash tackle them)
Sand Screen - Type: Normal - 40/40 PP (Lower accuracy by kicking and flapping sand up into opponent’s face)
Fell Swoop - Type: Flying - 20/20 PP (Launch up and dive at foe. 5% recoil damage)
Dagger Wing - Type: Steel - 15/15 PP (strike down foes with sharpened metallic wings [bird-kin only])
ACCESSORY:
Name: Denim Jacket
Description: A sun-bleached, denim jacket with intentional rips and holes in it for fashion purposes. Makes tough girlfriends even tougher.
Effect: +2 points to ATTACK
He did the same thing for Starry:
NAME: Starlotte (Starry)
LEVEL: 15
NATURE: Reserved
TYPE: Interstellar
ACC.: Cat Eyes Tee
HP: 53/53
- ATTACK: 16
- DEFENSE: 13
- SPCL ATTACK: 14
- SPCL DEFENSE: 16
- SPEED: 14
MOVESET:
Gaze - Type: Normal - 30/30 PP (Lower defense by staring into opponent’s eyes, stun effect for 3 seconds.)
ACCESSORY:
Name: Cat Eyes Tee
Description: A T-shirt with the hypnotic eyes of an unknown cat-type girlfriend printed on the chest.