Chapter Six

Battle City

Pokemon, Pokemon, Pokemon,

Let’s Do it.

I wanna be,

The very best,

Like no-one ever was.

To catch ‘em is my real test,

To train them is my cause.

My whole life has lead to this,

Time to test my skills.

I know I just can’t wait to show the world.

Born to be a winner.

Born to be a Champion

Born to be a winner,

Born to be the very best,

Born to be a winner,

Pokemon!

< 26^th of Echotrance, 10:30 am>

I sighed with relief. After ten days of being out in the wild, finally we were in Arw city, home to the Fire Gym and the Flare Badge.

The interesting thing about this league was that you actually only needed four badges in order to qualify for the league. But there were eight gyms. The Flare Badge was a Duel Badge. In the league, you collected each badge, but two joined together to form a completely new badge. The Flare Badge joined with the Gold Badge, from the steel gym in Scine Town and formed the Smith Badge.

In the five days since we had left Aaron’s Caravan, we’d seen two trainers. I had challenged them both, and won them both. I was happy, but I had started to wonder on the challenge level of this region. Together, the trainer’s had given $500, $100 of which went to getting my Mareep.

“Lucky Sam, he’ll have no problem with this gym.” I heard Nick mutter to himself behind me. I rolled my eyes. Nick had been complaining about that every day for the past week. It was true though, Mudkip was a duel water / ground type and Zeus was an Electric / Water type. Nick only had Sparx and Chicken.

Chicken had given us a surprise this morning, by laying two eggs instead of one. It felt that this deserved an extra loud crow, earning itself some frozen tail feathers from Drogan and finding itself stuck inside a half-rotting tree, courtesy of me. Chicken’s brown tail feathers had required a small ember from itself and a kick from Katrina in order to unfreeze.

“So, where’s the Pokemon Centre?” Asked Brendan. He had been fairly quiet since Katrina had finally snapped and beaten him up. His eye was still black and a scab on his lip was just healing. Nick hadn’t yet mentioned his Healtia to Brendan, so Brendan had had to suffer.

“That way.” I said, pointing down a street to my left. “Then we go right, straight ahead then left again.”

“How’d you know that?”

“There’s a sign just here, open your eyes and you’d have seen it as well.”

“Well, since one of them is bruised shut, I’m finding that a little difficult right now.” Brendan retorted, before walking past me, down the street and promptly stepped on a street Rattata’s tail.

I shook my head. Brendan was still learning that he couldn’t see out of his right eye. He had managed to kick Sparx, step on Artemis’s tail and trip over several rocks. He had been shocked and tackled, so he had bruises on his shins and knees as well. Overall, he looked battered and mistreated. If we were lucky, he might leave us.

I sighed and walked a couple of steps and helped his up. “Shoo.” I said to the Rattata, which hissed and escaped into an alleyway. It returned with a couple of its friends, but they turned right back around when they saw the glare I gave them.

“Good. I’m glad at least they have enough sense to go away when I glare.” I said simply. “I thought I was losing my touch, since you three are still here.”

“Sorry mate, but you’re stuck with us. Or at least me.” Nick said cheerfully, walking around me and Brendan, before turning to face us. “The day someone intimidates me is the day Chicken will develop brains.”

“I still don’t see why you don’t give Chicken a name.” Said Artemis, jumping down from my shoulder. “I mean, would you like to be called ‘Human’ all the time by everyone?”

At this, Nick looked thoughtful, a rare occurrence. “I’ve never thought of it like that. Meh, I’m gonna deposit her in the computer when we get to the Pokemon Centre, so there’s no point.” He said, before walking ahead of us.

“C’mon. Let’s go.” Katrina said, before running up to join Nick.

I made sure they were well and truly past the corner and out of site before I fumbled out my TWT. I put my hand on Brendan’s shoulder, and with another quick look at the map, I teleported to the front of the Centre.

Most times, you need to have visited the place you’re teleporting to before you actually teleport. Otherwise you could end up on the opposite side of the world, in the middle of a Team Rocket base and completely drained of energy. But you can also use a map, it can still go wrong but not as much.

In this case, I went where I intended: right in front of the Pokemon Centre, with Brendan in tow. “Here we go. Now you can get your eye and lip seen to.” I said, leading him inside, stopping him from bumping into the glass doors. I placed my Pokeballs on the counter, nudging Brendan so that he would do the same.

“Could I get some Bruise Balm? My friend has several bruises and a black eye.” I said clearly to the Blissey behind the desk. She nodded and disappeared into a room behind the desk, taking my Pokeballs and Brendan’s with her. She returned with a small container, filled with a balm that could cure small bruises and take the pain away from major ones.

Bruise Balm was a recent discovery. It’s made from the egg of a Chansey, Blissey or a Healtia and then some other ingredients were added. In the end, it made bruises disappear most of the time and could even heal small cuts and scratches.

“Thanks.” I said, transferring Brendan’s Trainer Card from his pocket to my hand by telekinesis. I swiped it through the register, and then replaced it in Brendan’s pocket without him being none the wiser. “Can I also book a room for four? Just for tonight, tomorrow and the day after.”

I personally didn’t know when we were going to leave, but knowing Nick, he would like civilization for a couple of days.

The Chansey nodded, just as Nick and Katrina ran through the door, puffing. They had obviously just finished racing each other. I raised an eye at them, and then shook my head, accepted the key the Chansey had given and started to lead Brendan to our room, which was room 23. I flashed the number at Kat and Nick, and then walked off.

When we were all in our room, I turned to the others. Brendan had put on his Bruise Balm and I had nabbed a top bunk by then.

“Ok guys, I’ve booked this room for three days, no longer.” I said, looking at everyone. “I don’t really care about what you’ll be doing in this city, but I’m going as soon as I’ve gotten my badge and stocked up on supplies.”

Arw City was big and had plenty to do, especially for 13 year old boys A.K.A, Nick and Brendan. I was easily the oldest in the group by ten months. I didn’t really trust Nick and Brendan, particularly Brendan in a city that had everything for all ages.

“So, if you want to be with me, you’ll be ready by the time I go. I’m gonna be spending the rest of the day training around the city though. Any questions? I didn’t think so.” I turned around and went into the bathroom, to have a nice, long shower to get what felt like a century’s dirt off of me. I went back into our room, sighing with relief and scrubbing my hair. While doing that, I flicked my fingers at my bag. Instantly all of my clothes flew out, piling themselves on my bed. My towel soared over to land on top of the pile with another, well-placed flick of my fingers.

I dug in my bag, shoving my pair of sandals, hats and jacket aside as I searched for the Anticairon egg. It still hadn’t hatched. I couldn’t remember Ani saying exactly how old the egg was, so I didn’t know how long until it hatched. I probed it gently with my mind, taking special care when I was on top of the embryo. It would take about two weeks until it hatched, judging from its size.

“Will that thing ever hatch?” Katrina’s voice suddenly said from behind me. When I was surprised I had two reactions: Jumping, and then running after the person that scared me or simply shutting my eyes. This time I shut my eyes. “Sorry, did I scare you?”

“Nah, never.” I said sarcastically, placing the egg’s container in a beam of sunlight, fiddling with the controls of the container at the same time. “I don’t know when it’ll hatch, I’m guessing in about a week or two.”

“Oh.” With that, Kat walked over and stood next to me. “So, what’s in the egg?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know? How can you not know? Unless you found it, or stole it. You didn’t steal it from Aaron’s caravan, did you?” She said, suddenly shrewd and suspicious.

I sighed. “No, I got it from my big sister. I don’t know because I don’t know what gender it is. When it hatches, it’ll either be a Polienix or a Magnetix. My sister has an Anticairon!”

“Really? Cool. I hope it’ll be a Polienix.”

“So do I.”

“Now, to business. Nick gave me his Trainer Card; Brendan gave me a list of shops. You are coming with me.” Kat said, straightening to her full height and getting an evil look on her face.

“Huh?”

<Poke-Mart, Arw City, 11:30 am>

I trudged after Kat. It seemed that Kat, Brendan and Nick had ganged up against me to deal with my looks. Apparently they ‘Refused to travel with someone who looks like they bought their hands from a second-hand store.’

I actually thought that they were travelling with me.

Nick had supplied the money supply, Brendan had supplied the map and Kat had provided the guided tour. Guided because the others didn’t trust my taste for some reason. I had a feeling that this was revenge from Brendan and Nick because I had dumped them in the Lake of Tears when we were camped there. It wasn’t my fault that they had stayed up all night flirting with the females of Aaron’s caravan!

Either way, it was evil revenge. I made a mental note to put arsenic in their breakfast in the morning.

“Try this on; it should keep you warm in the cold weather.”

Actually, scratch that mental note. I was going to put it in their dinner instead.

“Kat,” I said patiently. “I already have a coat. A perfectly good one.”

“One that doesn’t match your jeans and tops!”

I raised my eyebrow sceptically then. I fiddled underneath my shirt when she started to bring out some wristbands, looking for my TWT. Guess what? I couldn’t find it!

“Oh.” Kat said, looking at what I was doing. “Are you looking for this?”

She held up my TWT with a demonic grin. Scratch that last mental note, I was gonna throttle the both of them the next time I saw them.

“Yeah, I was actually. But since that’s not gonna work, I’m just gonna run now.” I tried to follow my plan through, when my legs were frozen in place. Katrina was using my own TWT against me! “Kat, did I ever tell you how much I hate you?”

“No, but I can make a rough guess.”

When I staggered into our room hours later, carrying two bags full of clothes and accessories, I saw Nick and Brendan challenging each other to a Pokemon Card game. By the looks of it, Brendan was winning, owing to the fact that he was grinning and Nick was looking sulky. Not to mention Brendan had picked up most of his prizes.

They both turned when I entered, trying to conceal grins.

“Hi Sam, looks like you’ve been shopping with Kat. How’d it go?” Brendan asked, looking innocent.

Translation: “We got you back sooooooo good Sam.”

“Yeah, you look tired. Did Kat drag you all over the city? I wonder how she knew where to shop?” Nick said, staring at the ceiling.

Translation: “If I look at you, I’ll laugh. We are evil man, so steer clear of us.”

“Yeah, she took me a lot of places. But I did get one good thing out of it.”

I said, dumping the bags on my bed above Brendan’s head.

“Yeah? What’d you get?”

“Arsenic.”

A few hours later, I looked in the mirror. Surprisingly, I liked this outfit better than my last one. The last one was just jeans and a blue hooded top.

This one was different, but not that much.

I had a blue hooded top, but it was sleeveless. It went over a lighter blue top with purple sleeves, it kept you warm when it was cooler than normal and was cool enough in hot weather.

Then I had on calf length jeans, blue of course. Apparently blue is my best colour, according to the three fashion saleswomen and Katrina. My hair was now kept out of the way with a head-band sort of thing, kinda like the thing that Tracy wore in the cartoon of Pokemon. Katrina had wanted me to get a hair-cut, but I drew the line at that.

On top of that, some better things had happened at the shop. I received my contact lenses that let me decipher Pokemon body language, I had put them on immediately.

Katrina had finally made me get two wrist-bands, which had the added purpose of being thick enough for warmth and had the bonus feature of having a pocket in the underside of it, big enough for me to hide my TWT, which I had swiped from Kat when she had her back turned.

She had also tried to get me another ear-stud, but I refused that too. And for reasons known only to her, Kat got me a necklace that had a Lapis Lazuli in it. Beside it being my birth-stone, Lapis Lazuli was really good at storing Psychic Energy. They even gave your powers a boost, which was how I had managed to get my TWT back. I had teleported it from her pocket after we had gotten the necklace.

Shoes were the last thing we got to, Kat gave up going in the Boys section after two minutes, trying to cram my feet into shoes that wouldn’t have been big enough for a newborn. After I had told her that I was in the men’s size of shoes fifteen times, she finally got the hint and dragged me there.

In the end we had gotten shoes that were, guess, blue on the main part and red at the sides. The laces were white though.

Someone knocked at the door to the bathroom, I narrowed my eyes at the door using the mirror, and the door swung open, revealing Brendan.

“Sam, me’n Nick are going to a club we saw earlier. You wanna come?” Brendan asked, leaning on the side of the door, smirking at me. I flashed my eyes at him and gave him my best Death-Glare-a-la-Royale ™.

“I’ll pass. I hate loud noise.” I said, scratching the back of my neck, and found the tag of the new shirt. I grabbed it and ripped it off. I hated these things as well; they made me itch all the time.

And it was true about loud noises, my parents couldn’t take me to Movies when I was younger, I screamed all the time from the noise.

“Hmph. You lose.” Brendan said, before turning away.

I rolled my eyes, before something occurred to me.

“Brendan, come back here for a sec.” I called out to him. Turning away from the mirror and walking for the door. He hadn’t gotten far, just half-way across the room. He’d turned back and now stood in the middle of the room, ars crossed.

“What?”

I walked up to him and put my index fingers on his temples. I shut my eyes, and quickly connected my mind to his. As soon as I was done, he jerked out of my hold. I raised my eyebrow. Brendan, in the meantime, felt his temples.

“What’d you do?” He asked, rubbing his head.

“I connected my mind with yours, so that way, if you get in trouble, you can just call for help. And if it gets really bad, I can see through your eyes and do whatever I need to. And I’ll be able to detect your strong emotions.” I said, turning away and jumping up onto my bed. “That reminds me; send Nick in so I can do the same to him.”

Brendan walked away, muttering something about red-heads who had no respect for other’s privacy. I grinned, and reached for my bag to grab the book I had been reading on the way to Arw.

I looked at the cover, ‘The Tower of Darkness’, shrugged and opened to the page I had dog-eared.

Nick came in, making as much noise as he possibly could, and walked up to my bed.

“What’d you want? Brendan said you wanted me, but he didn’t say anything else.” Nick asked, leaning against the bed. I rolled my eyes again, lunged suddenly and did the same thing I had done to Brendan. It was over before Nick had the sense to jump away.

When he asked what I had done, I told him the same thing I had told Brendan, and Nick pretty much reacted in the same way.

I smirked to myself and settled down for a good read.

<7:43 pm, Pokemon Centre>

I sighed again. It would be daylight for about another hour, and I wanted to train. I’d just gotten Artemis and Zeus back, when Nick and Brendan had refused to allow me back in my room. Now I was stuck, pacing in front of the door. I didn’t dare try using my powers again; otherwise I’d be drained and unable to do anything.

When the door clicked open, I glared at it. “Finally, how long does it take just to-?”

I stopped, and back out of the room quickly, back into fresh air, I rammed into Katrina, who took one sniff and did the same.

“Guys, you’re wearing enough deodorant to choke a Miltank.” Kat said, covering her nose.

“Trust me, it’s probably not the first time.” I assured her quietly. “For their age, they think deodorant makes you a lady-killer. They won’t even notice, I bet you. If you think this is bad, try going into a change room just after P.E.”

“Thanks, but I’ll pass.” Kat told me, her nose still covered. “So, it’s normal for their age?”

“You got it. If you think this is bad, try passing twelve year olds at school. THEY wear enough deodorant to choke Mew himself.”

“It makes me sick to think about it.” Kat retorted. By now, we were out in the corridor. I flicked my fingers at the door, shutting it, and cutting off the smell. Then Kat and I breathed in huge gulps of air.

“Remind me to get a separate room from them next time.” I told Kat, she nodded in agreement. When we could breathe again, we stood up. I walked forward slowly, drew in a deep breath, and rushed into the room, past Nick and Brendan and opened the windows fully. When a huge guest of wind came in, I released my breath.

“Less deodorant next time guys.” I told them, gasping. When they looked at me blankly, Kat threw me a ‘Wow, you were right’ glance.

See, I told you. Luckily, at my age, we’ve realised that one spray is enough. I told Kat mentally. But then I thought back to some of my friends at school. Most of us anyway.

I get the point. Kat replied, sounding annoyed in her mental voice. Now quit bringing it up.

I backed out, irritated. I just wanted to press my point.

“Ok, guys, the aim of going to a club is to attracted woman.” I said, looking at each of them in turn. “Not choke them!”

“How’re we gonna choke them?” Nick asked, sounding confused. He looked all over himself, looking for anything gruesome or disgusting.

I shook my head. “Don’t worry about it.” I said, walking over to the Anticairon egg. It wobbled occasionally now. I checked the heat that the Egg Container was giving it, before jumping up on my bed again.

“Just remember guys, give me a yell if you get into trouble.

“Yes Sam.” Brendan droned, sounding like a child saying hello to his teacher. I gave him a warning glare, and turned to Kat. “So, what’re you doing?”

She shrugged. “Staying here, I guess. I don’t really feel like partying tonight.”

“Ok. I was wondering, to see if I needed to link you to me as well.” I said, before turning back to Nick and Brendan. “And just remember, the Centre closes at 11.”

“Sam, we know.” Nick said, getting up and walking to the door. “You don’t need to keep reminding us. If I had my way, you wouldn’t even be connected to me.”

“Don’t worry.” I said cheerfully. “I’ll take it off you then.”

“Good.”

“AFTER you come back.” I said with a smirk, picking up a new book. I’d already finished my other one. I held the record at school for reading.

This one was called ‘Worlds Apart’.

Nick and Brendan left the room, after they had each thrown me several death glares. I ignored them and turned to the first page of the book.

When they had fully gone, I looked up. The smell had gone as well, and I fully intended to train until sunset.

“Hey, Kat. Wanna go to that park across the road?” I asked, looking out the window. It wasn’t really a park, it did have playground equipment, but it was mainly used for Pokemon Battles, since it had several trees, many dirt patches, grass and a pond. There was also the added bonus of the Pokemon Centre being across the street.

“Hmph, nothing better to do.” Kat said from her bunk. She flipped over onto her stomach and dug into her bag, extracting some Potions. I’d picked up her Pokemon for her when I’d gotten mine. “Ok, let’s go!

A few minutes later, we were in the Park. Our arrival was shown by almost every kid in the park flocking to its North Entrance. I looked around, in shock, and then smiled. “Ok, who wants to battle?”

My offer was met with cheers, and soon after, I was involved in a battle with a Bug Catcher. He used a Caterpie, Wurmple and a Spinarak. They were easy enough to beat, being at low levels, but Artemis ended up being poisoned. That was easily fixed with an Antidote.

The next challenge was harder, against a Bird Keeper. His Pidgeotto wiped out Artemis, but it fell to Zeus’s Thunderbolt. His next Pokemon, a Pidgeot, much to my surprise, won the battle by blowing Zeus away completely.

I took Artemis back to the Pokemon Centre, where he was healed quickly. Since he hadn’t been healed for a while last time, it had taken ages for all his injuries to heal, this time it was almost instantaneous.

By the time I’d gotten back to the park, Kat had defeated three trainers. I lunged back into the battles, winning another two, but losing three. By then, it was just after sunset.

I sighed again, I felt much better. Artemis had perfected a move we had created together, yet another one, and learnt another one naturally. Zeus tried out his Thunderdance, but that failed.

Before I had gone to the park, I’d had $1500 on my Trainer Card, now I had $1200, not bad, considering I’d lost a few battles.

Katrina, on the other hand, was much happier. Drogan the Dratini had learnt Leer, and Dirden had learnt Icy Wind. She’d started with $3150, and ended with $4290.

“Nice night.” I said, looking up at the sky. It was harder to see the stars, with all the light from the city, but you could see some. It was also just warm enough, with a slightly cold wind occasionally.

“Meh. Don’t really care about it.” Kat said, swinging on a swing. Most of the Trainers had gone home for dinner, which sounded like a good idea right now.

“Hey!”

I turned. There was a girl running towards me, waving her hand. Blond hair waved in the wind from her running. She pulled up short of me, I jumped back in fright.

“Are. You. Sam. Sapphire?” She said, panting as she hung onto her knees, before straightening up. Mutely, I nodded my head, if my eyes were hanging from my head, I wouldn’t have been surprised.

“Good. I heard that you might be able to beat me.” She said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “I’m Crystal, by the way.”

“Hi.” I stammered. “So, you wanna battle?” How about a date after that? I said mentally.

Well, I dunno. It all depends. Crystal’s voice filled my head. I knew I blushed, I hadn’t known she was Psychic.

Depends on what?

On wether you can beat me.

Bring it on. I said, jumping back, and releasing Artemis. He yawned, and turned to face me.

“Sam, can we go yet? I’m sick of battling.” He asked, not noticing that he was in a battle. A flare of light from behind him caught his attention as Crystal released an Igglybuff.

I looked at it in exasperation. An Igglybuff? But then I realised that if she was waging a date on the outcome, it must be tough. I thought quickly.

“Artemis! Quickly, block your ears with mud before it can sing!” I called out, pointing to the pond, where mud lay in excessive amounts on the banks. Artemis literally dove for the bank, covering himself in a fine layer of mud, just as the Igglybuff started singing. I don’t think there were words in the song, but then again, I was almost asleep at the fourth note.

I shook my head, and started pinching my arm, to keep myself awake. I vaguely registered Artemis letting loose a Water Stream, straight in the Igglybuff’s mouth. The singing stopped, but Artemis didn’t stop the stream of water. It slowly filled the Igglybuff, until I could actually see the Igglybuff growing. I suddenly realised why: Igglybuff was a balloon Pokemon!

“Ok, Artemis, stop using Hydro Stream, NOW!” I called.

Artemis’s reaction was immediate, he cut the flow of water, and just like an untied balloon, the Igglybuff shot back, propelled by the massive stream of water gushing from her mouth. She kept going backwards, until she connected with a tree, shaking lose a few Pineco, who promptly exploded.

I blinked in surprise, Pineco were rare, everywhere else but in Dictioy. But it was still hard to find one.

Crystal rushed up to her Igglybuff. “Diva, are you ok? She asked, picking up her Igglybuff and cradling her. “It’s ok; I’ll get you to a Pokemon Centre.” And, forgetting about the battle at hand, rushed across the street and through the doors of the Centre. I looked in the direction she’d gone, wondering if our battle was over or not. I took out my Trainer Card, just in time to watch my $1200 turn into a $1900. I shrugged.

Behind me, Katrina laughed. I looked back at her, as she struggled to cover her mouth to smother her giggles. “What?”

She burst out laughing again. “You, you looked like a lost little Growlithe just then.”

I glared at her, and I knew I was turning red. With another glare, I returned Artemis and walked over to the Pokemon Centre, Kat’s laughter still ringing in my ears.

<11:24 pm, Pokemon Centre, Room 23>

I was lying on my bed, yet again, reading. It did feel good, to be able to lie down and reading instead of walking and reading, an ability that many people had, I’d discovered.

Kat came through the door, her forehead furrowed as if she was thinking. She looked at the ground as she walked, and then jumped on her own bed.

I peered over my book at her, her laughing at me before forgotten. “What’s up?”

Kat looked over at me. “It’s Nick and Brendan. Shouldn’t they be back by now?” She asked, tracing a design on the blanket of her bed with her finger. I thought for a moment as well, when I realised she was right. And curfew was in five minutes. With a sigh, I lay down my book and sat up, shutting my eyes and stretching for the connection between my mind and theirs. I opened the connection just a crack, and was overcome by a feeling of nausea. I opened my eyes, and lurched for the bathroom, almost throwing up on the floor.

When I came back to the room, Kat looked at me curiously. “What’s wrong?”

I shook my head and felt for the connection again. This time I didn’t open it, just traced it in the general connection. It lead South-East, towards the Party District of the city. I opened my eyes again and frowned. What had they gotten up to?

I grabbed my backpack and started out the door, Kat appeared behind me, doing the same. I turned to her. “Why’re you coming?”

“Is that a trick question?” Katrina asked, bustling past me. I shook my head again and followed her. “And if it is, I’m just not gonna answer it. I’m gonna help you get Nick and Brendan. I saw your face, you know there’s something wrong.”

I winced. My face was usually easy to read. We kept running, but were brought up short when we saw that Nurse Joy had shut and locked the doors of the Centre five minutes early. I glared at the doors, and grabbed Kat’s arm, teleporting us to the other side of the door. I love my TWT, I love my necklace, I love my TWWT, I love my necklace. I thought to myself silently. The Lapis Lazuli in my necklace was definitely helping. Normally I’d be at least a little dizzy from teleporting.

We ran to the corner, and I crossed the road, heading in the direction that Nick and Brendan were. It’d be too risky, teleporting to where they were. I’d probably end up teleporting into their bodies. It had happened before, so it can happen.

It took us about 15 minutes, but Kat and I ended up outside a nightclub, The Skittycat Club, I gazed blankly at the sign, and then came to my senses. “Kat, you can protect yourself, right?”

She nodded to my question, question filling her eyes. “Ok then, do you have anything with you that REALLY means something to you?”

She nodded again, and finally caught onto me. She dug into her bag, extracting some jewellery, a few pictures, and to my amusement, a stuffed and battered Teddiursa. I nodded and stowed them in my pack, and started shimmering as I raised a protective bubble around myself. I focused it hard enough so that it came into contact with my skin, so I was basically wearing a bubble suit.

I nodded to Kat, and we both entered the club.