Night Time Rescue
In the middle of the Ilex forest that stood in between Goldenrod City and Azalea Town in the region of Johto, Leaf swore to herself as she got out of the cluster of bushes that she was caught in.
"Stupid forest," she muttered. "Why does it have to be so dark in here?"
It was pitch black, she had no pokemon that could make it any brighter, and she was by herself. She didn't know which way to go and she had no idea how to make a fire. Great. Just great.
There were trees everywhere and Leaf just stood there helplessly lost. "The fuck?" she asked the air. "I need a damn map, or something! Every path looks the same."
Behind her, she heard a chuckling. Feeling cross, she turned around and crossed her arms at the path behind her. "I can hear you laughing in there, Gary. May as well get out now and laugh where I can see you."
The trees and bushes rustled and out walked her old friend and rival, Gary Oak. "I wasn't laughing," he told her.
"The hell you weren't," she said. "I could hear you. I thought that you weren't going out into the forest tonight. I thought you were waiting until morning."
Gary and Leaf had both been traveling independently in Johto when they encountered each other in Azalea Town. They both wanted to fight the Gym Leader, Bugsy, and won easily. Leaf battled him first when she got there in the morning. Gary showed up around mid-afternoon, so Bugsy's pokemon were all healed up and ready when he got there for a battle. Since she had nothing else to do, Leaf decided that she would watch Gary's battle with the gym leader.
The battle didn't last too long. He used his Pidgeot to beat Bugsy's Kakuna and Medapod, and then Gary's Arcanine beat his Scyther with no problem. The match all together probably lasted all of five minutes. It was an easy win for Gary.
After the match, Gary and Leaf decided to have dinner together at the Pokemon Center with each other to make sure they had company. They ate and talked about their travels, what pokemon they had caught recently, and things like that. When dinner was finished and they had gone to the counter for the keys for the rooms that they would stay in that night, Leaf announced that she wasn't going to need one because she was leaving that night for Goldenrod City.
"You realize that you have to go through a forest, right?" he asked the brunette incredulously.
"I know that!" she answered. "Even a dummy knows that one."
"You can't read a map," he told her. "And you have no sense of direction. Why would you want to go through that forest at night? It's incredibly dark in there to begin with, especially when it's dark out."
"I don't need you telling me what to do, Gary," she scoffed. "I'll be just fine, thank you very much."
Gary rolled his eyes. "Whatever, Leaf. Don't come crying to me when you're lost and can't find your way."
"I wouldn't be able to, anyway," she told him. "If I was lost and couldn't find my way, I wouldn't be able to come crying to you." She stuck her tongue out at him. "Duh."
Again, Gary rolled his eyes. "You are such a brat."
She ignored his insult, grabbed her bag, and started making her way to the door. "See you at Goldenrod, Gary!"
It had been nearly two hours since then and she was hopelessly lost – as Gary said that she would be.
"I was going to wait until morning," Gary said to her, "but the nicer, more gentlemanly part of me decided that I shouldn't just let a helpless girl get lost in the forest – even if that hopeless girl is you."
"Hmph," she scoffed. "Thanks, but no thanks. I know where I am and what I'm doing, Gary." She turned and walked forward on the path. A large group of Spearow came out of the trees, causing her to scream. She cowered, shivering from her fear, and kneeled to the ground.
Gary walked over and kneeled down next to her. Her face was buried into her hands and knees, but she felt it when he placed his hand on her back to soothe her.
"It's okay, Leaf," he told her, rubbing his hand up and down her back to comfort her. "It's not going to hurt you."
Leaf unburied her face and sat the rest of the way on the ground. "I know," she said. "Thanks, Gary." She smiled softly at him.
"I'm going to walk with you through the forest, okay?" he said. "It's dark, and you're going to get lost. You really should have waited until morning, but you never were one to do the expected." He chuckled, making her smile, too.
"Fine," she gave in. "I'll let you walk with me. You should feel lucky, Oak. I usually never let anyone travel with me. You're the first. Lucky you."
Gary laughed. "Sure, Leaf. I'm honored. Now," he stood up and outstretched his hand to her, "let's get going. We have a long way before we can get out of this forest."
Leaf looked up at him, and then took his hand, letting him help her stand up. She brushed off the dirt on her skirt and readjusted her hat. "All right," she said, hoisting up her bag on her shoulder. "Show me the way, Oak."
"Follow me."
Gary started walking, and Leaf walked after him. He slowed a little so she could catch up with him and walk beside him. He really didn't want to risk her getting lost. He's known this girl for most of his life, and if there's one thing that he knew about her, it was that she was horrible with directions.
Walking beside each other, they found, was nice. They hadn't traveled together since the one time they found that they were in same place in Kanto. It was when they were trying to get to Celadon City from Lavender Town. Gary was coming from the Rock Tunnel at the same time that Leaf was coming up from the fishing paths by Vermilion City. They came across each other in the Pokemon Center when they were letting their pokemon heal up with Nurse Joy. They exchanged witty banter while they waited for Nurse Joy to come back with their respected pokemon. After she had given the pokemon back to the two trainers, they both decided to start making their way to Celadon. There wasn't much to do in Lavender Town but pay their respects to the deceased pokemon in the tower, which they did before they left.
Walking to Celadon, they chatted about how their Gym matches had been going, how many badges they both had, and what pokemon they had recently caught. Basically, they caught up.
Now they were traveling together again, even if it was only for a short time. They started to catch up now, too.
"So how has been your journey in Johto been?" Leaf asked. "You doing well, Gary?"
"Yeah," he answered. "The gym battles have been relatively easy. There's not much that can beat my team of pokemon."
"Same here," she agreed. "I don't have to train much before I beat the gym."
"The first gym I came across was particularly easy to beat," he noted. "Bird pokemon are so easy to beat."
"Yeah," she agreed, giving him a tight smile.
Gary then realized what he had said to a person who used to be afraid of bird pokemon. "Were you okay in that gym? You didn't freak out?"
"Nah, I didn't freak out," she said. "It was just…weird, you know? I've got to do my best to stay strong against my fear of bird pokemon. You're right – they can't hurt me. I just have to move on."
"That's good, Leaf," he smiled. "I'm proud of you."
"Thanks," she said and then smirked. "Is this really the great Gary Oak? And he's being so nice? I think the world must be coming to an end."
"Whatever, Leaf," he said. "Maybe I should just leave you here in the forest."
He began to walk faster, but Leaf grabbed onto his sleeve. He looked behind him, eyebrow raised.
"No, no," she said nervously. "Don't do that. You promised to take me through the forest, and damn it, you're going to take me through this forest. After we get to Goldenrod, you're free to run away from me all you like – promise."
"I'm just kidding," he told her. "Don't worry. I wouldn't leave you in this forest alone. I was raised better than that."
Leaf blushed. "As I said, I can't thank you enough for what you're doing. It's very sweet."
Gary shrugged his shoulders. "No problem. Hey, look," he nudged his head in the direction of his left. "I think we're getting close to the exit of the forest. I can see a path."
Leaf strained her eyes through the darkness so she could see what Gary was looking at. "Yeah, I can see it, too."
"Come on, then." Gary grabbed her hand, pulling her along with him as he walked. "We're almost out."
Leaf let Gary lead her to the end of the forest, and she could see a path up ahead where there were security guards stationed at the opening to the city. They walked into Goldenrod, and began to look for a Pokemon Center. It was still late at night, and they needed to get some sleep. After about ten minutes of searching, the two travelers found the building that was marked PC.
"Found it," she told him, pointing.
"Yeah," Gary said sarcastically. "I can see that."
"You're welcome!" Leaf laughed.
They went into the Pokemon Center and requested two rooms. They were across from each other and when they went to their rooms, they stood outside the doors for a minute or so.
"Thanks. If it weren't for you, I probably would have gotten lost in the forest," she admitted reluctantly.
"Like I said, no problem," Gary told her. "You get some sleep. I'll see you in the morning, okay?"
"Okay," she paused and caught Gary before he was able to shut the door to his room. "Hey, Gary?"
He turned to face her. "Yeah?"
"I've been thinking," she started.
"You okay?" he laughed.
She scowled at him. "Very funny. I'm trying to be serious here. I've been thinking," she started again, "and I was wondering if we could start traveling together." She was blushing and playing with her hat on her head. "We don't have to, but I thought that it would be nice, considering that we never really see each other and I tend to get lost a lot, and stuff like that."
"Sure, Leaf," he smiled. "It would be your honor to travel with me."
She rolled her eyes. "Oh, whatever. Good night, Gary."
"Night."
"See you in the morning."
"You, too."
Leaf went to bed not too long later and fell asleep smiling.
END