Passionate Rivalry
Chapter 2: Reflections of Silver

It was at least noon the next morning by the time that Jackie left the pokemon center. She had
managed to sleep in much later then she had originally expected. But her pokemon were grateful
for a little extra rest, so it wasn't all that bad.

The storm from the night before had cleared up, and the sunlight was shining brightly once
again. However, the rain had left everything muddy, as Jackie noticed with a great annoyance.
As she walked along the squishy path, the mud stained her beloved cloak as it dragged slightly
on the ground. Later, she thought, the mud would end up hardening, and then it would be a real
pain to get out. After sighing in frustration, she focused in on her main priority, and continued
trudging up the muddy trail.

She had finally found a small lead, after so many months of absolutely nothing. She was just a
bit closer to finding Joey. The other girl named Joey was apparently around the age of thirteen,
with odd blue hair and a bucket hat. According to Nurse Joy, she had been running around the
pokemon centre telling anyone who'd listen about a conspiracy. The kid had said that she'd met
four people and one pokemon with the same name as her all on the same day, and that there was
a huge conspiracy going on. Nurse Joy had also commented on the fact that this Joey was an
incredibly strong trainer.

Jackie thought that this kid sounded a bit crazy, but the chance that one of the four Joey's that
this girl met on that day was the girl she was looking for was just too high to just pass up. The
fact that she had met a pokemon named Joey as well gave Jackie a little more assurance that this
wouldn't be just another dead end. For some reason, the Joey she was looking for had named her
cyndaquil Joey.

She gave a deep sigh as she pulled out a map from one of the pockets sewn into the lining of her
cloak. She unfolded it and then traced her path along route 28. It shouldn't take too long to make
it back to Johto, once she reached the weird building that stood at the boarder between the two
countries. From there, all she had to do was find out where the second Joey had headed. A
simple task, because she had come accustomed to following people's trail over the past few
months.

It had been roughly eight months since the date that she and Joey had agreed on to have another
battle. Jackie remembered all the harsh training she had done before hand in order to prepare for
that match. She was positive that this would be it. The time when she would finally beat Joey in
a pokemon battle. Her pokemon were stronger then they had ever been before. They were
stronger even then Joey's were the last time they had battled. She was sure that she would win
this time.

And when the day finally came, Jackie had waited in Violet City, the place where they had
arranged to meet. She waited all day long, but Joey never showed up. She stayed there for three
whole days, with no sign of her rival at all. Eventually Jackie gave her a call, but there wasn't
any answer from Joey's pokegear. She kept trying, until eventually she gave up and began asking
other people who knew Joey if they had seen her. None of them had though, not even Blue. After
she found out that not even Joey's fianc‚ knew where she had gone, Jackie began her search.

There was one other person helping her look for Joey. A girl named Shrieker also had a battle
planned with Joey at around the same time as Jackie's match. Apparently Joey hadn't shown up
to that meeting either, and Shrieker also couldn't get a hold of her. Eventually after Shrieker had
begun her own search for Joey, she had met up with Jackie and the two decided to work
together. Neither of them had any luck of finding Joey even after they had teamed up. It was
almost like she had suddenly vanished off the face of the planet.

After she had trudged along the path silently for some time, Jackie reached to the belt that she
wore around her waist and took off one of the custom painted pokeballs. She gently pressed the
button on the front and released her Murkrow, Darkwind. The bird pokemon fluttered out and
blinked in the bright sunlight. Then with a disdainful squawk, she came to rest on her trainers
shoulder.

"Sorry about bringing you out during the day, DW," Jackie apologized to the pokemon,
affectionately calling her by her initials. "But it's kinda lonely walking along without anyone to
talk to. You wouldn't mind keeping me company, would you?"

Darkwind clicked her beak in slight annoyance, then ruffled up her feathers and scrunched down
comfortably on her shoulder perch.

Jackie smiled, then reached up and softly pet the Murkrow's feathers. The pokemon cooed
slightly, then closed her eyes and fell asleep. Jackie couldn't help but sigh. It was silly of her to
assume that a nocturnal pokemon would be up to staying awake in the daytime. But having
Darkwind on her shoulder was more company then no one, so she let the Murkrow sleep as she
continued along her way.

© Joey Oak
September 23, 2003

Chapter 3
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