❝HOO-EE—!!

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“How strange,” he mumbled to himself, seeing his phone completely void of any missed messages. “He said he was going to come by himself, but…he always manages to be fashionably late.” Better yet, he hadn’t even told the others that his childhood friend was going; it had been a selfish decision he had made on his own. “Maybe he won’t be coming after all…?”

Morty didn’t have much time to dwell in his worries, however, as he saw two of his three friends already waiting at their meeting point. He put on a polite smile, despite feeling that annoying sensation as the sunlight burned his pale cheeks. “Hello Whitney dearest and Bugsy,” he greeted as cheerfully as he could, “I see you two are the earliest ones, as always.” Morty quickly zipped up his sleeveless jacket, just enough to cover up his stomach which Whitney was sure to comment on about sooner or later.

“… What is it, Pidgeot?” 

Pidgeot continued to stare. 

Falkner took a look at himself and realised he was still in his police uniform. He let out an embarrassed laugh and scratched the back of his head.

“Oh, that’s right…” he said, looking down at his uniform. Falkner took a look at the time on his PokeGear and already saw that he was a couple minutes late. Lucky and smart for Falkner, he already wore his swim trunks and tank-top underneath the uniform - the discomfort he felt all day would be worth it after he met up with his friends. “I can just remove it on the way there. Is that okay with you?”

Pidgeot nodded and let out a cry of approval. ”Alright, then.” Falkner climbed onto Pidgeot’s back and and up they flew towards their destination. 

Fast forward, Pidgeot and Falkner spotted Morty, Whitney and Bugsy down below. He ordered Pidgeot to lower the altitude for safer landing on Falkner’s part. He’d already removed his police jacket and the police hat and placed them into his bag, but his trousers were going to be a tad difficult on air. He figured he’d just remove them after he landed. Falkner handed his bag to Pidgeot’s beak for holding and gave him a pat on the head. “I’ll meet you down there,” Falkner reassured him. 

The flying-specialist jumped off of his Pidgeot and aimed his feet to the ground, landing safely in front of his fellow Gym Leaders; Pidgeot following after.

“Well, if you say so,” Eusine replied.  ”But if it gets too uncomfortable, speak up, okay?”  The Hypno nodded and Eusine immediately began to speed-walk towards the beach once more. It was unfortunately almost past the time he had promised Morty that he would meet him.  Eusine had woken up on time, indeed he had been able to sleep most of the night from sheer excitement at meeting Morty’s other friends, but, as usual, he had taken his sweet time preparing to leave.  He hadn’t even done that much, but somehow the time escaped him.  And so it was that he had rushed from Ecruteak on the back of his Pidgeot and landed near the beach.  

Eusine could feel the sweat rolling down his face, caking his hair and skin.  Hopefully Morty wasn’t too worried.  He wouldn’t want the blonde to think that he had simply abandoned the beach trip!  This encouraged his feet to move even faster and soon he came upon the familiar form of Morty.  A smile slide across Eusine’s face and he waved.  

The girl turned slightly at the sound of Morty’s voice, he was as cheery as always. “Of course, on days like today.. It would be sad if we were last.. You guys would probably hold it against me.” Her eyes wandered to his attire, noticing that he had zipped it up. It was.. As if he knew she would say something.. Just because of that she probably would not hold back today. “Hm.. Nice outfit Morty. I see you’ve been.. Working out.” She simply said, placing a finger on her lip, giving him a quick wink.

“Hmm?” She turned again at the sound of the flying-type specialist. Everyone was arriving around the same time. “Don’t worry. We’ve just arrived. Nothing much has happened.. Yet. We’ve still got loads of fun games to play and whatnot. Oh-! And we’re also gonna drag Morty in for a little swim.” She teased the older male slightly, she was not going to force him to go in.. Maybe trick him. At the sound of another person approaching them, she was a bit surprised. A new face? Wait.. He was a bit.. Familiar.

At the suggestion to get going, Bugsy reached into his satchel and plucked a pokeball. Bugsy was lucky-- because of the extensive training, Marcy hadn't lost the capability of flight when she evolved.

"Scizor!" the scizor announced, her thick, metallic exoskeleton gleaming in the sun.

Bugsy held his arms high above his head, turning to the large pokemon and grinning. "Can you give me a lift, Marcy?" he asked, and in turn the pincer pokemon nodded. She crossed over to Bugsy and picked him up, pressing the purplenette close to her torso and holding him tight.

The normal-type specialist had surprisingly gotten up pretty early. Usually during the summer time she would lag a few hours and always arrive to work.. Fashionably late. This day—Was a special day. It would be a little fun in the sun with the boys. She had been looking forward to this special occasion, she even drag the taller male with her to mall to help her pick out a swim suit. After endlessly looking for something to wear for this day, she finally settled for cute stripped bathing suit. Slipping into them, she put on shorts—shorter than her usual one—It was probably weird.. But she was not really that comfortable walking around in just a bathing suit, wearing the shorts helped. Throwing on a cardigan, the gym leader grabbed a giant bag which she had prepared before hand along with her keys and Pokeballs. Heading out the door, she made sure to lock it before she left. Forgetting to lock it was something she did often.. It was definitely something she would not admit it to the guys. At least anytime soon.

Clicking the middle button of one of her Pokeballs, she called out her flying-type which she used for travels. The normal/flying-type greeted the trainer with a smile. “To to kiss.” It chirped as Whitney patted it’s head, soon after getting on it’s back, making sure to have a firm grip on him as he took flight.

At this point, a bit of a blush crept across the young gym leader's face. "Mutti, are you almost done?" he asked under his breath. His mother, in return, just smiled and let out a bit of a laugh.

"Hello, Whitney dear, how are you?" she asked, turning her smile from her son to the pinkette.

"Mutti!"

"Alright, fine, I'm done!" she finally announced, giving Bugsy one final pat. She took a few steps back, closing the sun screen and handing it to her son. "Now I want you to reapply every few hours, okay? We don't want you burning up out there!"

Bugsy, in turned, hopped from foot to foot. "Yes, mutti, yes, I know," he said in a bit of a hurried hush, "I'm fine, can you go now?"

Again, the woman laughed. "Well, fine! Enjoy your day, sweetie... don't forget to call me and tell me how much fun you're having!"

Bugsy cracked a smile. "Okay~ I love you, mutti!"

His mother returned the smile, accompanied with an "I love you too, sweetie," before she offered a similar farewell to Whitney and set off down the path.

"I... I suppose that it would be rude to turn down a challenge from someone who... who asks so nicely!" he finally agreed, before his wide eyes turned to Marcy. "Are you feeling up to a battle, Marcy?"

The scizor leapt upwards, unsheathing her claws and spreading her wings with a dramatic flourish. "Sci!" she announced. Apparently, she was feeling up to a battle.

In response, the young bug trainer covered his mouth with a hand and laughed. "All right... I guess it has been a while!" His gaze turned to Koga. "I suppose that I'm ready when you are!"

Placing a hand on the egg, it really did move around a lot, it bumping he palm of her hand a bit. “Uwaa.. It’s getting real close. It might even hatch today.” Leaning closer to the egg, she could feel it getting warmer as it continued to move around. 

“Wait… You just accepted an egg from a stranger?” She asked, trying to not be so skeptical about it, not wanting to worry the boy. “Well.. I guess it’s fine.. It can not be that bad.. Or at least I hope so.” The normal-type specialist bit down on her lip as she muttered it under her breath in a low tone so they boy would not be able to hear.

But for some reason, accepting an egg from a burly hiker was safer than accepting an egg from a woman who had many.

The egg bounced again, almost impatiently, and the tiniest of cracks appeared in the shell. It was such a tiny crack, in fact, that Bugsy didn't even notice it at first. "So tell me, Whitney, what have you been up to?" His infectious smile turned to the pinkette, now. "It seems like we never get to hang out anymore..!"

Now the egg gave a little hop, and Bugsy's gaze shot downwards to glance at it. "Ha ha~ yep, this little lady's going to hatch soon, I just know it," he chuckled, running a hand along the top of the shell. Still stroking the egg, he looked back up at Whitney. "So, yes, how have you been? Meine mutti asked about you... I promised to make sure you're eating enough for her!"

Apparently the egg didn't like this new path of conversation, so it decided to pick that very moment to hatch.

"Waugh! Whitney, she's hatching!!" Bugsy exclaimed, flustered and stating the obvious. In fact, that could very easily have been declared a wrong statement. The creature burst forth from the egg in a flurry of embers, but after that... there was nothing else. The entire hatching happened in under four seconds.

The creature who now sat in the open egg seemed to sizzle as she shook out her matted mane of fur. She scuttled about a bit, until finally one of her big, blue eyes settled on Bugsy. "Ves?" she chirruped, tilting her head to the side and exposing more of her shadowed face. "Larves vesta ta ves?"

Yes-sir-ee, this was definitely Burgh of Castelia City.

"Oh! Oh!" Bugsy exclaimed, clutching both hands to his chest as if to keep his heart from bursting due to sheer excitement. He ran a hand through his hair, smoothed out his ascot, brushed off his pants, and ceremoniously stumbled over the folding chair that had his own name marked on it.

"Waugh! Sorry!" he exclaimed, bowing apologetically to the piece of furniture. Already flushing a brilliant shade of tomato, Bugsy once more smoothed out his hair, his ascot, and his pants before starting towards the gym leader once more.

No more chairs stood to oppose him. "It is very nice to meet you, Burgh, mister Burgh, sir!" he greeted, lightly trembling from both fear and embarrassment. He curtsied, before continuing in his starstruck state, "I am Goldenrod and I'm glad to welcome you to Bugsy City...!"