Chapter 1
The next city won't be too far away.
I told myself over and over again. My feet were aching and my hands were shaking. I wanted to run, the feeling of a million eyes on me burned on my skin. My flashlight was the only thing I had to light up the path in front of me and I had no idea how long the batteries would last. I tried to think clearly, what kind of Pokémon could be hiding in this forest? Weedles? Beedrills? Ursarings?
A shiver ran through my spine. What if I was trespassing on their breeding grounds? They could attack me at any time!
Automatically I started to walk faster, I was almost running now. I couldn't hold the flash light steady anymore, my hand was shaking too much and it took all I had not to drop it.
In the darkness of the night I could see two eyes peering through the dark bushes. They were looking directly at me, observing me. My worst nightmare had come true. I opened my mouth to say something, to demand whatever was in those bushed to reveal themselves.
What if it's not a Pokémon? What if it's a murderer?
Slowly the creature moved forward, it was stalking me. The bright yellow eyes were focuses on my face. My eyes were watering. I quickly wondered if it had been saver to set up a tent and stay there for the night. I could hear soft, familiar growling coming from behind me.
My only Pokémon, a young Growlithe stepped in front of me. His tail stood up in the air proudly as he let out another soft growl. The scene suddenly became a whole lot tenser. The creature in the bushes stopped moving, it's eyes narrowed as its gaze from me to the dog who was standing in front of me, ready to battle. My Growlithe turned around and stared at me, waiting for me to give him the command to attack.
I was still shaking. My body was refusing to work with me. I squeezed my eyes shut, balled my fits and tried to force the words past my lips. Use tackle, use bite, use ember. Any attack should be fine. My lips were quivering as I opened my eyes, only to see my Pokémon's eyes still focuses on me. My lips finally parted, the first letters of finally slipping when I saw a white, furry hand stick out of the bush.
'Puck watch out!' I shouted. My voice echoed through the forest, almost as loudly as the sound of my poor pup as the rotten berry hit his face. He was completely covered in it, his nose, his ears, his eyes, his whole face. He whined and moved backwards until he hit my legs.
I quickly bend down to lift him up and calm him down when the foul smell hit my nose. My eyes started to water again. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a Mankey jump up and quickly jump into a tree. I felt a blush creep up to my cheeks as I quickly wiped the foul smelling mush of my whining Growlithe.
Once all the mush was out of his eyes and he could finally open them I narrowed both his eyes, puffing up his little cheeks. I apologised and thanked him for coming to my rescue anyway. Once I was done cleaning his face he jumped away from me. Dramatically turning his head away and his nose up in the air.
If it was any other Pokémon, I would've surely thought they were furious but I knew my Puck.
'Did I mess up that badly puck?' I grinned.
Puck didn't look at me, he just raised his tail up in the air as he huffed.
'Oh really?' I bit my lip. 'Maybe some treats will make you feel better…" I pretended to shrug. Puck quickly turned to me, he was also grinning. I leaned down and ruffled the blond manes on top of his head affectionately.
It was still dark outside when we reached the Pokémon Center of Redwood City.I had never seen a Pokémon Center this quiet. There was nobody except nurse Joy, puck and myself. She greeted us with a warm smile and offered us a room to stay in for the night which we gladly accepted.
Our room has on the first floor, not far away from the entrance. Puck had fallen asleep a long time ago. He started snoring the moment I tucked him next to me. The bed was warm and comfy but I couldn't fall asleep. My heart was still pounding loudly in my chest. I turned over and buried my face into Pucks thick fur. I was probably still nervous.
Puck still didn't smell nice, the smell of the rotten berry still lingered in his fur and quickly invaded my poor nose. I'd probably have to clean him up with a wet towel once he woke up to really scrub out that awful smell. I moved away, the smell almost making me gag.
I slowly slipped out of the bed. Making sure not to make any sounds. Not that it really mattered, Puck has always been a very deep sleeper. Mother used to tell me it's because Puck rarely stays in his pokébal he needs at least 3 hours of deep sleep to recharge.
I quickly threw on my coat and hid my hair under my beanie before walking out the the main room again. Nurse Joy shot me a smile from behind her desk before returning to her paper work, humming a soft Chansey was leaning against the counter, trying their very best not to fall asleep. I shot them a short smile back before making my way to the couches.
I stared out of the window. It had started raining not long ago. I silently thanked myself for deciding to keep walking and to not camp out outside for the night. It looked beautiful from inside the safe, warm Center. It started to rain harder, in the distance I could hear the thunder roaring. I closed my eyes. Wondering why I had the sudden need to get out of bed and sit in the main room for a while. I was exhausted, I also needed to get some sleep. I had a whole journey in front of me. I closed my eyes, listening the strangely calming noises of the weather.
Not much later I woke up, the door had abruptly opened. I couldn't open my eyes just yet but I could clearly hear a girl's voice begging for nurse Joy to take care of her Pokémon. I didn't hear nurse joy ask what happened. The room was suddenly filled with the sobbing of the girl. I opened my eyes to see the form of a girl. Holding her hands over her face as she sobbed into them. The Chansey that had been half asleep when I closed my eyes was not up and running, pushing a wounded Pokémon out of the room on a hospital bed.
I stood up. The grogginess I normally felt after I was woken up were absent this time. I quickly moved over to the girl. A Shinx was standing right next to her, rained wet, slightly wounded and clearly out of breath. I swallowed the need to ask her what happened and escorted her to the couches so she could catch her breath.
The Shinx quickly jumped on the couch next to her and lay his head on her lap. I didn't know how to comfort her. I just silently grabbed a cup of water and put it down in front of her.
It didn't take long for her to calm her breath. She grabbed the cup and quickly chugged down the water before wiping away her tears. She didn't speak and I just looked at her. Not sure what to say myself. I had not seen in what condition her Pokémon was. For all I knew the poor thing could be dying. I've had to see Puck faint in battle multiple times and that already made my heart ache in guilt. I could not imagine what it would be like to see your Pokémon severely injured.
authors note: please mind, this is a translation of a story I wrote when I was 12/13 years old and I'm not a native English speaker. I'll probably translate the whole thing bit by bit.
anyways, thanks for reading !