{Cera's POV}
Cera looked up as Sam opened the door for her. She stood in a large, pale-pink room with cushion-padded couches lining both sides of the walls. Sitting on these couches were various trainers with different Pokemon, some eating lunch along with their team. Cera, while she had been tutored by the professor over various Pokemon and trainer techniques, was quite shocked to actually be standing in a room dedicated post-battle injuries. It wasn't like the huge city overhead where she was afraid if she wasn't by Sam's side for one minute she would suddenly be lost. Stepping inside felt like so exciting. It was like a field-study, as Professor Oak would have put it, in a safe environment.
After glancing down at her reflection in the shiny tiles, Cera began to glance at a trainer eating from a tray. Her Pidgey pecked at its bowl of small bits of diced Bug-type body parts. Cera also turned to see second trainer's Wurmple sipping some amber liquid from a straw. Beside him sat the third trainer absent-mindedly watching her Nidoran lap up a bowl of water. Cera then looked around the room to see the counter at the far end in front of them with a nurse standing behind it. It was at this point Sam walked up beside her and asked her a question.
"What are you looking at?" Sam asked.
"I've never been in a room that's so…" she struggled with. "I don't know…energetic, I suppose. It's not like the professor's lab where there were only a few of us and I didn't get to know many others because most Pokemon, besides me, Arthur, and Tim, an Elekid Oak had, would be usually be sent away for research purposes. I don't know how else to put it other than everyone here seems to just come and go as they please."
Sam looked down at her.
"I'm guessing you don't get out much," he said even though he already knew the answer.
"The atmosphere at the lab was…how you say," Cera replied. "Formal, I guess? We didn't have much casual time as every minute was spent helping Oak with house-work or us being drawn in by his stories about the outside world. We were usually worked to bone. The three of us were kind of taught how to behave and supposed to be…pretty orderly? Nothing like this."
Sam and she walked up to the blonde nurse in a white uniform who was checking the monitor of a computer when she noticed them. Upon seeing them, the woman handed Sam a clipboard and pointed to a blank line on it while handing him a pen.
"You have to sign your name in order to use the Center's healing machines," she said politely.
Sam nodded and penned his signature in print. She took it back to then type in something on her keyboard. In a matter of seconds she looked slightly confused before looking back at him.
"Hm, it doesn't show any records of usage," she said. "I thought you were a new trainer by the looks of you."
"Yes ma'am," Sam replied
"You'll have to put any Pokemon you wish to recover back into their Pokeballs for the machine to take effect," she said.
Sam pulled the Pokeball from his waist and pointed it at her. With a press of a button it opened up and her body was converted into energy as she was transported inside.
Cera doesn't know if it was because she had just gotten used to being inside one, but a Pokeball's interior was strangely calming. What she never noticed about the world before is that there's always something moving. Cera never noticed it before, but her body was always in constant movement, beating with a pulsing rhythm and warmth that you'd always gotten used to being alive. Once inside a Pokeball, that all changes.
It was as though her body had just stopped and she was completely still. Everything is dormant inside and it's weird just how slow it all is. Sure, she saw the outside world through the transparent top above her but it didn't feel real to her. It felt as though Cera was watching another world she wasn't apart of and was just observing from afar. You could hear things but they were less discernable noises and more like muffled sounds that meant nothing as voices having little to no familiarity. She supposed it was like how a Magikarp would see the world from an aquarium.
Cera remembered the first time she had ever been in one of these, almost immediately she felt as though she began to have something sent directly inside of her head, which she would later come to recognize as the Pokeball giving her direct understanding of the human language.
She could see Sam's hand grasp the ball from the top and hand it to the nurse. The nurse then walked over to place her Pokeball into a space where she felt the ball rock slightly as it settled into place. Cera waited a moment before she was overcome with a wave of euphoria. All of a sudden the pain from battle she had been ignoring gradually began to fade away. The tiredness she'd felt began to feel restored to her original energy. After a few seconds she'd felt just as good, if not better, than when Sam had taken her from the lab.
As soon as Cera was healed she saw the nurse's small hand grab the top of her Pokeball and placed in the palm of Sam's larger hand. As soon as she was back in his care, Cera felt the ball open back up. She stood back on the tile floor to glance back up at her trainer.
"Feeling better?" he asked her.
She nodded in reply. Just as Cera was about to say more, the nurse cleared her throat.
"I'm glad you found everything satisfactory," the nurse said. "But I'm going to warn you that the first two trips in each town made to the Pokemon Center are the only free ones."
Sam turned to her with a worried expression.
"What?" he asked.
"Yes," she said. "I needed to record if you had used our Center's services before because each time after the second trip it's our policy to charge trainers."
Sam looked scared now.
"How, um, how much do you charge?" he asked.
"Well, here in Viridian we usually charge about ten dollars per Pokemon for basic healing, like what I did for your Smoochum," she answered. "But I don't know about other places."
Cera and her trainer's eyes met with a look of mild panic. Cera was trying to guess how much five dollars was of value to a trainer like Sam but she was guessing that it wasn't easy to come by for him. The boy still nodded respectfully to the woman behind the monitor.
"Well," Sam replied. "Thanks for the warning."
She nodded and they both left the building, Sam's head slightly lowered. Cera didn't know what to say to her trainer's more than obvious discomfort. It felt awkward to her, knowing that she couldn't do something to help.
Or maybe he's overreacting. Cera thought. From what I can tell, he's prone to it. Couldn't hurt to ask…
"Hey, Sam," she asked. "How much is ten dollars exactly? Is it really worth as much as you're worrying about?"
"My mother made about fifteen working one job washing clothes, usually," Sam said solemnly. "So yeah, that's a lot. I just…don't know if we could really afford to pay that much for every Pokemon I have."
Cera smiled up at him.
"Maybe if we're lucky, we won't need to use the Center all that much," she said.
Sam shifted the strap of his backpack to the opposite shoulder.
"Yeah, well," he started.
Sam began to walk down the sidewalk.
"Luck is not on our side," he finished.
Cera's smile faded.
"Can't really argue with that," she said.
Cera followed after him.
He is a greenhorn, just like Alex said. She thought. Totally unprepared for what's about to come. If he keeps this poor me attitude up, I may never get there. I don't hate Sam…but he seems naïve. He doesn't realize that being that pessimistic is selfish. I wonder if I should tell him, or would that make things more complicated…?
Yeah. She answered herself. It would make things more complicated. I shouldn't try and be selfish myself.
"Cera come on," Sam said.
She looked up at him, confused.
"We should go catch another Pokemon before we go through…you know," he said. "We need to be prepared as possible."
Cera nodded agreeing before she followed after him.
{Sam's POV}
Sam walked led himself and Cera to the outskirts of Viridian City, where the vast farm fields abruptly stopped right in front of the white fence the surrounding the city. There, he stopped right at the beginning of the dirt path that led west from Viridian City. Sam leaned against the fence to the side of him, observing the men at work picking tomato plants underneath the late afternoon sun.
I just hope this works. He thought to himself.
"Sam," Cera said. "I thought we were going to catch a Pokemon."
"We are," he replied. "We're just waiting."
"For what?" she asked.
"Well, see," Sam replied. "You know Oak told us it's forbidden to catch more than one Pokemon per route? And even then, it's only the first we see?"
The Smoochum nodded.
"Well," Sam said. "I figured we'd be able to catch more Pokemon by being smart about our catches. See, wild Pokemon are always sneaking into the fields here and trying to run off with some of the crops to eat, but they're usually chased off. I figured that if we wait for one to show up, we could possibly catch a Pokemon without having to leave the city."
Cera smiled at him in reply.
"That sounds pretty smart," she said.
Sam nodded.
"We just have to be a little patient," he replied. "A chance will come."
So the two of them stood around, waiting for what Sam said would come. It was about five minutes before they both got bored and started walking along the fence, trying to see to see if they could sport a viable catch. When they didn't find anything, Cera offered to walk down the dirt path and Sam agreed. It was about another five minutes before Sam spotted a chance.
Up ahead of him, he saw something yellow dash on all fours between the rows carrots with a man chasing after it with a hoe in his hand, cursing at it.
"I found one!" he cried while pointing.
Sam hurried towards the potential catch, his right hand rifling through his backpack trying to reach into the sack Professor Oak had given him to take a Pokeball. When the thickly-built farmer had chased the Pokemon into the dirt path, his face red with rage, Sam could clearly make out a blue skinned creature with yellow wool dragging a vine of tomatoes in its mouth.
A Mareep. He thought. I'm going to have to stay far back or else it might electrocute me.
Sam raced in front of the Mareep just as he was about to make its escape down the road. The farmer backed off as he realized Sam would handle it, content to watch. The Wool Pokemon saw him and began to slowly back away from him as he pulled a Pokeball from his bag, before Cera came up behind the Pokemon.
"Pound it," he said.
Cera hit him from behind with her arm, knocking the small Electric-type forward. The Mareep backed away to Tackle Cera, forcing her to stumble backward. Cera gave him another good pound with her right arm, throwing the Pokemon back. He flopped onto the ground weakly as Cera's strike had thrown it into a position where it was easier to aim. Sam pressed the center button on the Pokeball to enlarge it before tossing it at the Mareep. The ball bounced off, splitting in half before taking the Pokemon in with a flash of red light. Sam retrieved the Pokeball to watch the Electric-type from the clear red top, looked scared at him.
"Good job boy," the farmer said. "Keepin' the damn leeches out our fields."
He walked back through the rows of vegetables as Sam walked away, being waved at by some. Once they were near the grass of Route 22, according to a sign that Sam read, he let out the Mareep in front of him. He glared beside him to Cera, then back up at Sam.
"What—what did you do to me?!" he demanded. "I can now suddenly…speak human? How is this possible…?"
"It's the technology of the Pokeball," Cera answered for him.
The Mareep continued to leer at Sam. The solid contempt in the Electric-type's eyes made the boy feel quite uncomfortable. Cera was looking awfully defeated at the both of them.
"Don't—don't…" he stuttered. "Think I'm just going to—to…roll over and do your bidding. I'm no slave."
Sam paused to rifle through his bag to pull a tin case from the bottom of it. He opened the tin up to reveal juicy slices of oran fruit he'd packed the night before. Sam squatted down to the level of the Electric-type and pulled a slice to hold up to the Mareep's mouth. He still looked reluctant.
Sam sat down on the dirt beneath him, giving his legs a rest from the uncomfortable squatting position.
"Come on," Sam said with an uneasy smile. "I know you're hungry."
The Pokemon gave him an exasperated expression, like Sam had just insulted him. Cera gave Sam a worried expression, like she felt this would wind up being pointless.
"What?" he asked. "Do all you humans try and bribe your new slaves with food? I bet it's something you do because you think I'm weak."
"I never thought that," the boy pleaded. "I just thought you wanted some food."
The Pokemon continued glaring at him. Just as Sam was having thoughts of putting the fruit away, the Mareep jerked forward slightly. Sam looked with earnest to see him nibbling slowly at the oran slice, one bite at a time. Soon, the slice was all gone and the Pokemon was licking up the juices around his mouth.
"Could-could I please have some more?" he asked.
Sam pulled out another slice, which the Mareep took with gratitude. His eyes softened from the hard glare until they were almost cute.
"Oh," he cried. "I haven't eaten something since yesterday. And those were just some weeds I found at the edge of the field. Nothing like this…"
He continued eating until it was gone.
"Thanks," he said when he was finished. "Could I some more?"
"Alright," Sam replied. He pulled out another slice of oran fruit. "But this is your last one. I need to save them for the road ahead."
"That's fine," he said as he talked in between bites. "The other Pokemon 'round here…yum, are kind of greedy, so they don't let me graze that often, ah…I'm always fighting over who gets to eat um…which parts of the grass and there's almost never enough for any of us…hmm, there's just too many of us here."
"The professor figured as much," Cera replied. "He said with as many Pokemon migrating from Johto that competition for grazing would be stiff."
"Well, whoever professor is," the Mareep said. "He was right. There are too many of us here…and it's not all that big really. That's why lately I had been stealing from the crops of those humans over there. You should see their faces wheneverI really do get away with a meal…" He gave a mischievous grin and chuckled lightly. "But lately it's been harder than usual. Guess they beefed up security. Say, kid, you said something about being on the road, didn't you?"
Sam looked at him sheepishly.
"Um, well, first my name is Sam," he replied. "Sam Turner, but just call me by my first name, kay? Second, we're travelling. We won't be in the same place for very long and we'll be doing a lot of walking."
"Back in my home my herd, um…" he looked sideways with a melancholy expression. "Back when I had a herd at least…we would often move from meadow to meadow in search of places to graze. Is it sort of like that?"
Sam's eyes rolled to the side as he tried to figure the best way to confirm what he'd just said.
"Um…yeah, sort of like that," he answered. "We'll be moving around a lot but instead of grazing I'm going to need you and Cera to battle. We need to battle against other trainers just so that we can eat."
"Hmm," the Mareep moaned. "I'm not much of a fighter, I don't think."
"Sam can change that," Cera replied optimistically. "I've gotten stronger just a day after being with him."
"What happened to your herd?" Cera asked.
The Mareep sighed mournfully.
"Humans took them," he replied. "We had just arrived here in these meadows, after spending so many days trekking across mountains that I gave up counting. We even lost some along the way. We'd spied a few humans who'd been watching us for quite a while during the morning. Later, in the evening, they came by and captured them all in masses. I barely escaped along with a handful of others. D-do you know where they could have taken my mother and sisters? Are they d-dea…gone?"
Cera looked up at Sam, their expressions mirroring with equal acknowledgement. He bent down toward the Electric-type.
"I'm sorry," he said. "But your herd was taken to be…to be used as electrical power supplies. They use the power you Electric-types generate to fuel power cells. We don't have them in Pallet because well, we just can't afford it but they'll be used as living power sources in Viridian. They'll be kept alive but they'll live terribly cramped in a tiny space for the remainder of their days. There's nothing we can do."
Sam could see a in the small Pokemon's eyes a look of mournful understanding.
"Do you still want to come with us?" Cera asked.
"Well, it can't be as bad as staying here," the Mareep replied to the Smoochum.
Sam gestured for the two of them to follow him as he walked down the dirt path. Cera and the Mareep continued beside him as he smiled down at his newest Pokemon.
"So what's your name?" Sam asked.
The Mareep gave another melancholy expression.
"Well," he began to answer. "I had one with my herd, but I don't think I'd like to be called it by you. It just wouldn't feel the same."
"I can give you a new name if that's what you'd like," Sam said.
After nodding, Sam found him struggling to think of a name for the Pokemon. He picked one, a name he remembered one of his neighbors who left for war having.
"How about, Judeau?" he asked.
The Mareep nodded slowly in response as they continued their way down the route.
{}
Sam looked to the side to see he had passed the sign that told him he was headed for Route 22. The difference in terrain was evident as the land was pretty flat, not as hilly as the meadows between Pallet and Viridian.
The dirt road extended on top of a dam that held the water of a pond and below it lay the low-lying fields. In the distance he could Pidgey flying low above the ground and Nidoran prowling near the edge of the pond. The field's grass was very choppy in length. In some part of the field the grass looked as though it had been torn off at the root, while other parts there was still a nub of the blade left, while some stretched of the field looked as though the grass weren't much taller than an average lawn's.
"You ever been through here, Judeau?" Sam asked carefully, not sure if the Mareep was used to his new name.
"Sure have," he answered. "It used nice place to graze on and plenty to drink…or it would be if the Pokemon here weren't so overcrowded. I don't know how many kinds there are but they're usually all fighting for territory."
"Then we should be careful about approaching this area," Cera remarked.
"Cera, you get on my right," Sam said. "Judea, cover my left."
His two Pokemon did as they were told. The boy readied a Pokeball, grabbing one from the contents of his bag and enlarging it. Sam held it to his chest as they walked toward the field of grass. He noticed Cera putting her arms in front of her and Judeau instinctively lowering his head.
The meadow was silent for a moment, with no movement in Sam's sight. They trekked through the area of overgrazed grass when Cera alerted them to a potential catch.
"Look over there," the Smoochum said. Judeau and Sam turned to the left to see their first encounter on this route.
They looked up at a tree to saw a Mankey hanging off a branch with one hand. Sam immediately felt fearful. He'd heard of trainers that had stirred up Primape herds that tore them limb from limb. Despite being herbivores, they were quick to jump into battle. Sam looked around to see if there were any other Mankey surrounding the individual Pokemon.
"You want to try and catch it, Sam?" Cera asked.
"Well-" he tried to say.
"Don't worry, guys," Judeau interrupted. "I've got this."
Before they could stop him, the Mareep walked to the base of the tree before looking up at the monkey-like Pokemon from below.
{Judea's POV}
He stared up at the Mankey casually swinging from the branches. When she spotted him, the Mankey looked down at him.
"Hey, Fasha!" he yelled up. "I have big news!"
She dropped to the ground in front of him. "What is it Sora?" she asked.
"I don't go by that name anymore," the Mareep said. "The name's Judeau."
"Ju-ju-what?" Fasha asked. "Why?"
"That's what my human named me," he said. "I was caught by a human in one of the little red balls they throw to catch us Pokemon. And guess what?! That means no more having to survive here?! No more having to scrape at the bare ground for the last remains of grass just to make it through the day!"
"Oh," she said, somewhat depressed now. "I'm glad you're happy, but if you won't be around…well, the rest of my kind had enough of you newcomers after the Ponyta herd came in and just left in droves. You're one of the few friends I have left. I hope they treat you nicely."
"Yeah," Judeau said. "That's why you should come with us."
"To go where, Sora, I mean-?" Fasha asked. "Is it safe? Those humans, won't they-?"
"Apparently this human kid feeds himself by battling with other trainers," Judeau replied. "I know it sounds dangerous, but instead of really trying to stick it out here, we have what's sure to be a definite source of a meal. I was pretty skeptical at first but, well…what better options do we have?"
"Well I'm not acting like here is a great option," Fasha answered. "I was considering leaving this place after a lot of the other Mankey did to but that doesn't mean I'll just take any option. NO human is just going to boss me around and tell me what I can and cannot do. Living unsafely is better than living without freedom. How do you know he can even be trusted?"
"It is but…" Judeau sighed. "Where were you honestly going to go? Look, come with Sam and me. He's not real bad like all the other humans I've come across. He offered me food. With any luck we can get out of here and survive other human's Pokemon. It's either risking it out here or with us. If we can survive the wild, how hard could these humans be?"
Fasha sighed. She looked around, obviously rolling this over in her head.
"Well," she said. "I don't have anywhere to go. The others just kind of left in aimlessly drift so, I guess I could join you guys."
Judeau nodded.
"You won't regret it," he replied. He led her to Sam and Cera who were standing there patiently, both of whom had been obviously waiting for them. "So, is this our new team member?" Sam asked.
"Sure is," Judeau said.
Fasha whipped toward Judeau.
"Did you just speak human?!"
The Mareep nodded.
"Sure did," he did, switching back to their own Pokemon speech. "Apparently you can speak it as soon as you get into the Pokeball it does something to you so you can instantly speak human and understand them!"
Fasha's eyes widened at the remark before looking back up at Sam.
"Well, what's her name?" Sam asked.
"Oh, her name is-" Judeau said in human language.
"No, Sora—I mean, Judeau!" Fasha said.
The Mareep looked at her, confusedly as she sheepishly looked at the ground. Cera looked confused at her too.
"Why?" he asked. "What's the matter?"
"Well," she said. "To a Mankey, the name 'Fasha' means, 'one who stands still'. In other words, tries to not fight. It wouldn't carry the same meaning in human language."
"That's right," Cera said, also speaking in the same Pokemon language. "Pokemon names don't carry the same weight in human language and often just plain don't sound right. When humans give names, it's more about an identity, while with Pokemon, names are meant to be representations of an individual. It...It's really complicated from what the professor could explain."
"If its okay I'd like to name myself," Fasha said. "I'd like to be called um…a human name."
"Like what?" Cera and Judeau asked.
"Um…" she said. "It's a name I heard once…a human said…I've wanted my name to be that ever since I heard it. It was…Jackson."
"Jackson?" Cera asked. "I—that's a male's name, I think."
"Well," Judeau said. "It doesn't matter." Judea looked back up at Sam and prepared to form what the human spoke in his mouth. "Sam, my friend Mankey would like to call herself by a new name now. She'd like to be called Jackson?"
"Isn't that a guy's—never mind," Sam said.
The boy took a Pokeball from his pack as he gently lowered himself to Fasha's level. The next moment, the ball opened and enveloped the monkey-like Pokemon in a flash of red light.
