Chapter 17
Rainbow After the Storm



I race through the tunnel, footsteps chasing behind me. My feet dig into the cloudy ground as I run as fast as my body can carry me, looking ahead at where the cloudy tunnel fades into darkness. Just a little further. I summon all my energy for one final sprint, and I dash to the exit!

Cloud turns to dirt beneath my feet, and I collapse, gasping for breath; I won the race.

"Wow Jamie," Snivy says from behind me, out of breath. "You've gotten faster."

"And yet you were still on my tail the whole time."

Snivy giggles. "More like on your tailFIN the whole time."

I take a moment to catch my breath. "So, are you gonna tell me why you let me win? Twice?"

"Oh. You, uh, noticed that?"

"How could I not? You've always been faster than me except, somehow, when we race. What's the deal?"

"Well... Back at Circuit Cavern, I was trying to be nice; we had just become partners, and I wanted to make a good impression. Didn't want to scare you off."

"And let me guess; this time was to be nice after that whole... that?"

"No... Well, kinda. I guess after everything, I needed to prove that... it's okay for you to be better than me. So I lost. And that's okay."

"That's cool. I'm glad you're feeling better."

"Yeah, a good game of tag can cure any bad mood!"

"Yep, you taught me that back at the Enchanted Forest. Anyway, since you lost, that means you'll be setting up camp for tonight."

"Wait, what? When did we agree to that?"

"Hey, I didn't make the rules. But I will enforce them."

Snivy jabs me. "You're mean. I want a new partner."

We laugh and take a break for lunch; don't wanna travel on an empty stomach! But as we dig through our bags, we notice a shortage of food. Maybe we should've asked Sceptile for some back at the cottage. Oh well, we'll just need to gather more soon.

After lunch, we get started traveling northeast. In the distance, we can see a mountain, the next, and possibly last, mystery dungeon of our journey. "Hey Snivy, what was the dungeon called again?"

"Prism Mountain. The map has a rainbow on it. Do prisms have something to do with rainbows?"

"Yeah, they make rainbows when light shines through them. Do you think the dungeon will have some kind of magic light?"

"Maybe. Or maybe something to do with colors."

"Or maybe colorful magic light."

"Sounds pretty. And that's where we might find the Guardians' Gate... Hey Jamie, you seem to know a lot about the Guardians. Got any cool fun facts?"

"Let me think... Do you know what the legendary pokemon control? Like, Dialga is the ruler of time, and Palkia controls space."

"Whoa, cool! What about Groudon?"

"Groudon controls the land, and can expand the continents. Along with Kyogre who rules the sea, and Rayquaza who rules the sky, they form the weather trio."

"Awesome."

"Oh yeah, and sometimes groups of evil humans try to control the legendaries to reshape the world."

"Whoa, seriously?! How could someone control a Guardian..? Do they ever succeed?"

"Almost, but some random kid always pops in and stops them at the last second. Everyone's pretty much used to the world almost ending every few years."

We continue chatting, trading stories and trivia back and forth. It's nice to have Snivy finally believe that I'm from Earth, it gives us a lot to talk about. Eventually, we wander into a grove of bushes and trees, with lots of big, juicy berries just begging to be picked.

We get started picking the conveniently placed berries, but a problem arises: The berries are very ripe. Too ripe, in fact; most of them are mushy, and highly unappetizing. We find a few good ones, but it's pretty disappointing how many we have to leave behind.

After a few minutes of picking, Snivy plucks an especially ripe berry, and it bursts in their hand from the pressure, splattering them with juice. "Uuuugh, what are these stupid mushy things even good for?"

I pluck a berry and stare down at it. It's big, juicy, and too mushy to eat. An idea pops into my mind. A rather... immature idea. "Hey Snivy," I call.

Snivy turns toward me with a sigh. "What's u-" Snivy is interrupted as a berry smacks into their face, exploding on impact.

I burst out laughing, reveling in the glorious freedom of mischief! "I think I found out what the berries are good for!" I say through my laughter. "They're-" Suddenly, a berry splatters across my face. I wipe my eyes and see Snivy wearing an evil grin, holding another berry in their hand. Just what chaos have I brought..?

With a mighty battle cry, Snivy chucks the berry at me, and I barely manage to dodge! They rush to grab more berries, and I do the same. The Great Berry War has begun.

It's a grim, merciless battle; shots are fired, ambushes are set, and every inch of our bodies are splattered with berry juice. Truly, this will go down in history as one of the most vicious and violent wars ever fought. And worst of all, I'm losing!

With my stubby Mudkip forelegs, I have a hard time grabbing and throwing berries. I end up getting pelted by a shower of fruit, only landing a few counter-attacks when Snivy's too busy laughing to dodge.

A few minutes into the war, I duck behind a bush and grab a large berry, but it slips from my grasp! I fumble around with it before finally managing to catch it. I turn around to throw it at Snivy... and I'm frozen in terror.

Standing before me is a weapon of mass destruction, a terrifying revolution in berry war technology: Snivy holds four berries, one in each hand and each vine. With a ferocious roar, they bounce into the air and bombard me with a barrage of bursting berries, blasting me to bits!

I stumble backward on my hind legs, dramatically clutching my chest before falling onto my back, my tongue hanging out of my mouth. For a moment, the grove is silent... Until neither of us can hold back our laughter anymore.

We laugh together, lying on the ground, covered in berry juice, consumed by the chaos of freedom. Finally, after at least a minute straight of laughing, we calm down and relax. The grass is soft. The sky is pretty... And we're both horribly messy.

We wander around and find a small pond to wash up in. I spend around five minutes trying to get the juice out of my Joy Scarf. I didn't really think about the consequences of starting such a brutal battle. "I guess I was the immature one," I mutter... before remembering Snivy is right beside me. "Uh, sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Nah, it's fine. It's not like I panic from just hearing the word. Though, I've been thinking... What does the word immature actually mean? Is it just used by boring people to make having fun sound bad?"

"Hmm... Well, I think being immature means... not thinking things through. Not learning from mistakes. Never taking responsibility. Acting impulsively. That kind of thing."

"That does describe me pretty well, doesn't it..."

"Maybe not as much as you think. Like, starting that mud fight a few days ago was pretty impulsive, but having a mud fight itself isn't immature. It's just playing around. Less immature and more just... childish."

"Yeah, childish... I like the sound of that. And besides, a little impulse isn't that bad, right? Some mud between friends is no big deal."

"Yeah. No harm, no foul. Hey, I just had an idea for a new team name!"

"Mudkip, I swear-"

"Team Playful."

"Oh. Hey, that's not bad! Oh, what about Team Playmates?"

"Yeah, that sounds better!"

"Alright, we're now officially Team Playmates! And our first mission: Cleaning these scarves!"

I giggle. "Here, let me help with that. I figured out that if you rub it like this..."

A few minutes later, we finish washing up. And not a minute too soon, as the sky darkens with the approach of night. We set up camp, and I do my fair share of the work; I never actually planned to enforce the rules of the race. We eat dinner, night falls, and Snivy lies down on the grass.

"What's up?" I ask.

"Nothing yet; I'm waiting for the stars. You can go catch some Zs, I'll be there soon."

"Mind if I join you?"

"Of course! I mean, of course not? Dang it, just get over here."

"Will do, partner." I lie down beside them, watching the sky fade from sunset red to the dark of night, until finally the stars start shining. "What a day this has been, huh?"

"Buddy, this whole past week has been a roller coaster."

"You can say that again. This has been one wild ride... But I'm glad I didn't have to face it alone."

"Oh yeah. Everything got way better the moment you showed up. Passed out on the ground. In the middle of a dungeon. Sheesh, what a weird week..."

We fall silent as more stars appear. The night sky becomes a beautiful canvas of sparkles, like a glitter painting fresh out of preschool. It's so pretty... "We should do this more often."

"Oh, absolutely. Let's do this every night! Who's gonna stop us?!"

"Heck yeah! No one tells Team Soggy Leaf what to do!"

"Oh shut up." Snivy jabs my arm, giggling, and I giggle along with them.

I notice Snivy's hand on the grass between us. Silently, I lay my hand beside it, touching it. A few seconds pass, and Snivy's hand wraps around mine. I smile up at the night sky.

It's so nice to have a friend.




Thanks for reading! Comments, questions, and critiques are encouraged and appreciated!