"Get Jolteon out!" Aleron called, watching the Gyarados carefully. It was red, a color she'd never seen before, and it was just a little freaky. But she had confidence that Jolteon could beat it.

And hey, maybe she'd catch it afterward.

"Way ahead of you!" Margaret called back as she went for her friend's bag. She looked at the two pokeballs there and took a wild guess, grabbing one and opening it. Clearly, luck was on her side and she sighed slightly when she saw Jolteon appear.

The Gyarados rumbled at them, looming even higher over them, and clearly ignoring the others on the shore.

"Jolteon, Thunderbolt, now!" Aleron sounded just a little alarmed, and Jolteon bristled before he attacked, his front two paws in the water. A bunch of little Magikarp floated to the surface, clearly dazed by his attack. The Gyarados turned on him, but before the thing could attack he finished it off with a Thunder Wave, making sure it was paralyzed before he started swimming out to his trainer.

Aleron let out a little breath and blinked when she saw Jolteon paddling out to her. She hadn't known he could swim.

Margaret wasn't as surprised at the swimming Jolteon. Every Eeveelution could swim, as far as she knew, except for Flareon. Her own Espeon could, although the pokemon generally didn't like to if she didn't have to.

Once the Gyarados was stunned, Staryu jumped back into the water and waited patiently to see if Aleron would need to be towed back to shore. If not, then it would head back to shore on its own.

Aleron got into the water again and grabbed the egg. It didn't burn her this time, and she held it above her head with one hand while she hung onto Staryu with the other. Jolteon stayed next to his trainer, managing to keep up with Staryu because the water pokemon was going slowly. Since poor Aleron didn't like water.

By the time they got back to shore, Aleron's arm hurt (the egg was freaking heavy!) and tired of being wet. She set the egg down, and Entei immediately loomed over it, growling at her to back off now that she'd gotten it back.

Once Aleron and Staryu were back on shore, Margaret thanked and recalled her pokemon. She took a few tentative steps away from Entei and its egg; she didn't want to be in the way of a protective parent.

"Doing alright after your swim?" she asked her friend softly as she got closer to her.

"Yeah." Aleron and Jolteon both shook themselves off, though Aleron looked decidedly more miserable. "Much too we, though." She sighed, then looked back at the Gyarados when it started to stir.

"Think I should try and catch it?" she asked, one hand already itching toward her bag and pokeballs.

Margaret looked at the Gyarados, and nodded.

"Yeah," she said. "Gyarados are powerful pokemon, and you'll probably never find another one that color. Besides, teach it Surf and you'll never have to go swimming again."

"Oh thank god!" Aleron pulled out a pokeball and threw it with deadly accuracy.

Except then it sank to the bottom of the lake.

"...Crap."

Margaret waved a hand and released Staryu again. That was a much easier problem to solve.

"Sorry," she apologized to it. "I kind of need your help one more time." She pointed out to the lake where the Gyarados was. "Aleron caught the red Gyarados, but the ball fell to the bottom. Could you go and get it?" Staryu flashed a couple of times and disappeared into the lake. A few minutes later, it came back with the pokeball in question.

"Thank you," Aleron said to the Staryu. "I'll find a treat for you at the next town we get to."

She looked at the ball for a moment before she grinned. All she needed was that Houndour and she'd be much happier.

Staryu flashed a few times, and Margaret recalled it. It had deserved as long of a nap as it wanted. Margaret looked at Aleron.

"What say you to heading to a town?" she said. "Heading to a pokemon center sounds good right about now."

"Sounds good. Find a bed and somewhere to take a long shower." Aleron grimaced but got up, still trying to dry off. Entei was gone, as was the egg, and she shrugged. Oh well. Probably for the best.

"Come on, town's that way."

Margaret nodded and followed her friend.

"Which town is it?" she asked. She wasn't sure which towns were in this part of Johto, except for Blackthorn. "Is there a Gym in the town?"

"If we go to the one near Dragon's Den, yup. I figured we may as well go there, since we're not far. Gives me some time to dry off, too." Aleron grimaced briefly at herself before she shrugged. "Shouldn't take long to get there."

"Alright," Margaret replied. She dug around in her bag for a moment before she pulled out a towel from the very bottom. "Here. It's dry, at least."

"Thanks." Aleron took the towel and started walking. "Let's see... I think we'll be at Mahogany town first. So we can go to the pokemon center and check it out." She glanced over at Margaret.

"Sounds good," Margaret said. She followed Aleron. "So... what was it like talking to Entei? Must have been an interesting conversation." She was kind of interested. She figured it had to be different than when they talked to Mewtwo. She vaguely wondered where he had gone, but didn't think much of it as she paid attention to her friend.

"Umm... Not really, actually. I mean, he was kind of brief and kind of gruff. Didn't want to talk much." She shrugged. "Other than that, I'd say not much different from, say, Vulpix. Except, you know, insanely more powerful and you really don't want to piss 'em off."

"Makes sense, I guess," Margaret replied. She grinned. "Well, you'll have to have Vulpix translate for you for Gyarados. That should be an interesting conversation." She snickered. "Those poor Magikarp in the lake, they never knew what hit them."

"Nope!" Aleron grinned, far too cheerful. It was just starting to sink in that she had a red Gyarados. That was pretty freaking awesome.

"Okay. Pokemon center first."

"Pokemon center first," Margaret agreed. She grinned. "And you get the dubious pleasure of getting to know your new Gyarados tonight," she teased. She knew Gyarados were notorious for their terrible tempers. "I'll sit in the corner and scrub down Metagross while you do that."

"Yeah, Jolteon is going to be out while I'm doing that. You know. Just in case." Aleron still looked a bit dubious about that whole process, but she wasn't about to back down now.

"Vulpix too," Margaret suggested. "Interpreter and all that good stuff. And Metagross knows Thunderpunch, you know, little extra backup if you end up needing it." Which she doubted, but it never hurt to offer. She grinned. "I plan on teaching Staryu Zap Cannon, too."

"Oh fun." Aleron grinned. "Well, we'll see what I end up teaching Gyarados. I have a lot of options, at least." She grinned at that.

It didn't take long to get to the pokemon center, and Aleron headed inside to drop off her pokemon.