A/N: Ch. 3 rewrite. Moving on...

Ch. 3 - A More Traditional Beginning

The forest was still unusually quiet as Carrie walked along the trail, the only sounds of note coming from the crunching of leaves and twigs beneath her bare feet. She had decided not to take the path that went by her former home, afraid that if she did so, she wouldn't be able to control the urge to check on her mother, however dangerous it might be. Instead she had chosen to take the longer path that looped along the southern end of route 29. By now, she was nearing the end of the route and had just passed the point where the two trails met and combined into one for the final stretch to Cherrygrove City.

Having avoided the danger that she feared would find her, Carrie turned her mind back to other worries. She had been distracted by Cyndaquil's behavior back in the laboratory since she had left. Wondering if she could possibly work out what was wrong if she talked to him, she put her hand into her pocket and was about to grab his pokéball when an odd sound distracted her.

It was a steady thumping sound in the distance behind her, and it seemed to be getting louder. Carrie froze, straining to hear. The thumping was steady, rhythmic, and it was indeed getting louder. Carrie turned around, trying to see what it was that was approaching, but she was too far along the road to see down either of the split paths behind her. In all her life, she had never heard anything like this while exploring the forest, which normally consisted only of bugs, small birds, and the occasional Rattata or Sentret. Afraid of whatever it was that would soon be within view, she decided to hide herself.

Looking around quickly, she spotted a low branch. She easily scaled the smaller tree, having become rather skilled at the art from her various childhood explorations, and used its branches as ledges to climb further upwards onto another nearby tree. She lay down along a thick, leafy branch, wrapping her arms around it, and watched the ground below, her heart beating rapidly in anticipation of whatever was moving down below. It wasn't long before the source of the footsteps came into view. It was a familiar gray, four-armed Pokémon… Machamp?

Carrie stared in horror at Machamp as he walked directly under the branch that held her. He seemed to be stomping his feet deliberately as he walked; he was clearly angry. Without warning, Machamp let out a roar, and rammed his head into the tree directly to his right. Carrie let out a quick squeak as the branch she was clinging to cracked slightly at the base. Miraculously, Machamp didn't seem to hear her, and continued down the path, stopping only to ram into another tree.

Carrie watched him disappear into the trees ahead, frozen in place by the thoughts now all trying to push themselves to the front of her mind. She had never seen Machamp out of the house alone before, or even out of her father's company, for that matter. Could he have been looking for her now? What was he so angry about? Maybe it would be safe to turn back and check on her mother… but what if he came back while she was there? And what about her father? He would surely still be a problem there…

A sudden cracking sound disrupted her from her thoughts. She looked behind her just in time to see the branch she was still holding, not as stable as it appeared, crack again and break completely off from the tree. Letting go, she screamed as she and the large branch crashed to the earth below.

Her first immediate thought was that Machamp had heard her and would come running back at the sound, so Carrie struggled to her feet, stumbled off the trail and hid behind another tree, where she waited in silence. No footsteps were in the distance, however, and after a minute or two, Carrie let out a sigh of relief and let herself slump down the tree truck to the ground. Then she noticed the dull throbbing in her right arm, which she had slammed into the ground when she fell. She just laughed; after being pounded by Machamp for the last eight years, this pain was nothing. At least she didn't land on her injured arm.

She forced herself to her feet, and after double-checking that Machamp hadn't snuck back without her noticing, continued down the path. She was very alert now, though, afraid that she would eventually find him somewhere ahead, and she stopped and looked around whenever she heard a rustle of the grass or a snapping twig, most times caused by her own still-bare feet.

The sun was still high above when Carrie finally reached the outskirts of Cherrygrove. She guessed it was nearing five or six in the afternoon. Her thoughts were wild as she walked onward, trying to think of what she should do first. She needed a great deal of supplies, after all, as well as a place to wash and dry her clothes again. As she stepped onto the pavement, however, she immediately decided to first go and find a pair of new shoes as the hot ground burned the bottom of her feet.

Carrie wondered idly how she was going to pay for new shoes as she passed a small building with a neon blue roof. She looked around for a sign of any sort, curious as to why this building looked different than most of the other ordinary ones she had passed, but was interrupted by an old man calling to her from near the automatic doors. He was bald, wearing something like a dark blue t-shirt and white sweatpants. He also had on sunglasses and what Carrie thought was a lady's sun hat. He was hunched over slightly, leaning on a walking stick. She watched as the old man ran up to her with surprising speed.

"Hey! Hey, you, girl! Yes, you! Are you a rookie trainer?" Carrie nodded slowly, eyebrows raised suspiciously.

"Ah, I thought so. My eyes never lie. I could tell just by looking at you. Maybe it had something to do with your clothes…" he said quietly. Carrie looked down at herself and was surprised to find herself still wearing the baggy jeans and extra large t-shirt. She pulled it over her bandaged left shoulder as the man continued.

"Anyway, please, let me show you around!" the old man exclaimed, grabbing Carrie's wrist and dragging her towards the building he'd been sitting in front of.

"Hey! I know how to walk," Carrie complained as she struggled to pull free from his grip and failed.

"This is a Pokémon Mart, or PokéMart for short," the old man said, ignoring her. "They sell all kinds of useful things for trainers."

"Do they sell shoes?" Carrie asked. The old man shrugged before pulling her along behind him as he ran off.

"I doubt it. You don't need shoes to battle! Now, this building over here…" The old man stopped in front of another building, similar to the PokéMart next to it, except this one had a neon red roof. "This is a Pokémon Center. They will heal your Pokémon if you get hurt, and they usually have free rooms and food for trainers who need to spend the night. Most towns have a Pokémon Center, so you can expect to be seeing them often – just look for the red roof. Now hurry along, one more thing to show you!"

The old man darted off again, still pulling an angry Carrie behind. She gave up trying to break free and focused on keeping up with the old man, who was running awfully fast considering he was using a walking stick. Carrie wondered if it was just for show.

The old man dragged her passed a variety of rather small, plain-looking buildings and houses through the town. Occasionally one of the people on the street would smile or wave at them as if they were used to seeing him dragging people around, and the old man would wave back in return. Carrie grumbled as she struggled to keep up, occasionally stubbing a toe on the uneven pavement and muttering a curse under her breath. The old man finally slowed near what seemed to be a path leading out of town.

"This way leads to route thirty, and eventually to Violet City," said the old man, not even panting or anything. "As a trainer, you should test your skills against the Pokémon Gyms all across the region, and Violet City has the closest one. But be careful on this route, because often you will find other trainers who want to test their abilities too, not to mention wild Pokémon, so you should always be prepared for a battle. And now, I have just one more thing to show you! Follow me!" Carrie didn't have much choice as the old man pulled her back in the direction they came from, wondering how many times the old man would be showing her 'one more thing'.

Despite Carrie's angry threats to scream for help, the old man continued to drag her along. They ran back down the exact streets they had passed through on the way to the exit of town, eventually ending up back at the PokéMart, where the old man finally let go of Carrie's wrist. She rubbed it in her other hand as the old man pulled something out of his pocket.

"This is a gift for you, for keeping me company," he said, handing her a small rectangular item that looked like a computer chip of some sort, though a bit larger. "This is a Map Card. You can install it on your Pokégear and then you will have access to a map of the entire region… you do have a Pokégear, don't you?"

"No, I don't," Carrie replied, stuffing the chip into her backpack. "I planned to buy one when I got here, but I don't have any money and even if I did, I have more important things to buy, like food. And shoes."

"I see, I see," replied the old man, examining Carrie's worn-out clothes again. "Well, I don't normally do this for new trainers, but you look desperate." He reached into his pocket again, this time extracting his wallet. "As I said, the Pokémon Center will provide trainers with food. So, it isn't much, but please take this money and use it to buy yourself a Pokégear. I think if you buy a cheap used model, there will be enough money left for some better-fitting clothes as well but if not, you can always find someone to battle and win yourself the rest."

"I, uh… why are you even helping me? Don't you have anything better to do than pick children off the streets and-"

"Well, if you don't want it…" the old man replied with a sparkle in his eye; he made no motion to withdraw his hand, however Carrie lashed out and swiped the money anyway.

"No, I'll take it. I can't stand around here much longer, my feet are on fire."

"Very well," said the old man, his patience thinning. "But let me offer you one more piece of advice, lass. Not every person you meet out there will be as generous and tolerant as I. You would be wise to start treating others with kindness and respect. Good day."

With that, the old man walked passed her, calling out to another person. Carrie sighed, resisting the urge to roll her eyes as she pocketed the old man's money and walked away towards the building with the red roof. Behind her, she could still hear as the old man began shouting.

"Hey, you! Boy! Yes, you, with the pink shirt? Or is it red? My sight isn't what it used to be. Anyway, are you a rookie trainer?"

Carrie decided against staying overnight, in the hopes that she would reach Violet City before midnight. She had decided to wash her clothes and take a shower, however. She had also taken up the "free food for trainers" deal, by showing her trainer's license to the pink-haired nurse at the main counter. She currently sat alone in the dining area on the Pokémon Center's second floor, her bag on the bench next to her, enjoying a large cheeseburger and looking around the room at the other trainers coming and going. She was quite unconcerned as several trainers shot her confused or disgusted glances after seeing her worn out clothes. One girl in particular, with short, blonde hair and a green dress, constantly looked over at her during her meal that she was sharing with her Pokémon, one Carrie had never seen. The creature was round and red, with black spots on its back, two tiny blank antennae sticking out from the Pokémon's head. It was munching on something in a bowl in front of it, picking up pieces with each of its six arms.

Carrie looked around and noticed that she wasn't the only one; several trainers had their Pokémon out eating with them. Carrie realized that she hadn't fed Cyndaquil since being at Elm's lab yesterday. Yesterday… had it already been a whole day since her brutal encounter with Machamp and had been healed by Blissey?

She reached into her pocket and pulled out Cyndaquil's pokéball, dropping it onto the table beside her plate, where the tiny Pokémon emerged. She wondered if Pokémon could eat human food.

"Hey," she said, setting the other half of her cheeseburger on her plate and passing it to her Pokémon. As hungry as she was, she couldn't deny him food. "You can finish this if you like… you can eat, like, people food, can't you? If not, they probably have something else you'd like."

Cyndaquil didn't seem to be listening. He too seemed to be just examining his surroundings, the colors of the room, the other trainers and their Pokémon. Carrie frowned. She had completely forgotten about his unusual behavior since she brought him back to the lab earlier this afternoon. Upon realizing this, all of her earlier concerns flooded her head once again. She decided she should get this straightened out before it got any worse.

"Hey," she said again, this time prodding her Pokémon gently on the back. Slowly, he turned his head in her direction curiously.

"I was just wondering… are you… is something wrong?" she stumbled.

"Quil?" repeated Cyndaquil in a tone that suggested he honestly had no idea what she was talking about.

"Um, like… ever since you saw that whole fiasco with my dad and that monster of his, and I took you back to the laboratory, you've been rather… I don't know. Quiet. Like you don't want to talk to me."

Her Pokémon simply stared at her.

"Is that right, then?" Carrie said angrily. "Because if it is, then I don't know why you even bothered agreeing to come with me in the first place. We can't win battles if we don't communicate."

"Quil cyndaqul." The Pokémon's tone was calm, but Carrie couldn't make heads or tails of his response other then that.

"Right. We can't communicate. What was I thinking?" Carrie hissed sarcastically. Cyndaquil shook his head vigorously. He waddled up to her, patted her hand, and let out a soft cry before turning and crawling towards the half a cheeseburger.

Carrie sighed as she watched him sniff the burger. She was annoyed at Cyndaquil, annoyed that she couldn't understand her Pokémon. She even knew that she had no logical reason to blame him, though that thought didn't help to change her mind. She tried to make sense out of his actions, and although she thought the head shaking and patting might be a ray of hope, Cyndaquil otherwise still seemed like he couldn't care one way or another about her.

Giving up, Carrie glanced around the room again, spotting the blonde girl and her ladybug. She reached for her backpack to find per pokédex, and mentally smacked herself as she instead found the Pokémon food she'd gotten from Professor Elm.

As Carrie stepped out of the Pokémon Mart twenty minutes later, she looked to the west… it was getting dark now, and a little chilly also. After Cyndaquil finished eating, she had washed and dried the outfit in her backpack before showering, and afterwards she had thrown away the large t-shirt and jeans, an action that she was now regretting as the cool breeze whipped her exposed legs.

She wondered how long it would take to reach Violet City as she started walking towards route thirty. Surely only a few hours… she could make it tonight, right? According to the clock in the Pokémon Center, it was about ten minutes after eight. She hadn't stayed in the store long, buying nothing but a Pokégear (and then having the saleslady install her Map Card for her) and a pair of running shoes, which she had finally put on to cover her already dirty bare feet.

Unfortunately, route thirty was much longer than she had anticipated. She had no idea how far along she was and according to her Pokégear clock, it was almost half passed midnight. She was cold and shivering, and wished she had something other than her short, pink skirt to cover her legs.

"So now what am I supposed to do?" she said aloud, angrily. "I should have been there a half hour ago. I can't turn back now and take another who knows how many hours to get back to Cherrygrove for the night, and even if I did, the Pokémon Center is probably closed by now. But who knows how long this route goes on for, and I'm tired…"

She sighed and decided it would be best to at least try to sleep, and began looking for a tree with a large enough branch to hold her, not wanting to sleep in the dirt on the ground. She found one not far along the road and climbed up it with a bit of difficulty, as this time there was no smaller trees to use as a ladder. She finally reached a large branch and after trying out a couple different positions, found one that had her sitting with her back to the trunk and her legs hanging off either side of the branch. While not exactly ideal for sleeping, she at least safe enough to try, and closed her eyes.

She sat quietly for a short time, listening to the noises of the area. Hoothoot flew in and out of her tree on occasion. Somewhere nearby, a river or lake was running, and sometimes a Magikarp would leap out and crash back with a splash. Carrie found all of it unusually relaxing.

Soon enough, though, her peace was disturbed by an odd tingling on her right leg. She groaned and brushed the area without opening her eyes, but recoiled when her hand made contact with something much too hairy to be her own leg. She slowly pulled her new Pokégear out from the blue bag in her lap, aimed the device's faint light towards her leg, and screamed.

The large green spider that sat there, which Carrie recognized as a Spinarak, didn't take kindly to the bright light and forced its blood-red fangs deep into her leg. She had been used to seeing Spinarak back in her dirty trailer, but in the brief light, this one looked at least twice as big as any Spinarak she'd encountered there. Carrie's bag fell to the earth as she shook her leg violently in an attempt to throw the spider off, but that only seemed to anger it as it plunged its two fangs into a spot higher up on her leg.

Carrie jumped from the tree, landing awkwardly on her feet and stumbling as her own weight betrayed her, and she fell forwards into the dirt. Ignoring the pain in her nose, she quickly flipped herself over and kicked at the spider with her left foot, tearing her skin slightly as the spider's fangs were ripped from her leg. The Spinarak was not amused, and tried to run at her again while she stumbled backwards. All three of the spider's yellow left legs were bent awkwardly though due to Carrie's kicks, and it had a hard time moving. Giving up, the spider turned around and shot a thin white string at her from its rear. The string stuck to Carrie's arm, and the Spinarak then began to suck the string back into its body, pulling itself towards the injured girl again.

Carrie grabbed a nearby rock and scraped it harshly against her arm, breaking the string, and scrambled to her feet. She reached down and picked Cyndaquil's pokéball from her belt (which she previously put on unhappily around her skirt when she changed) and threw it forwards. Spinarak had turned around again, watching as Cyndaquil's form began to take shape in the light.

"Damned bugs," Carrie whined. "Cyndaquil, time for our first practice battle. Go ahead and… Oh crap."

She looked down at her first Pokémon. He had emerged from his pokéball curled up tight, fast asleep.

"Wake up, damn it!" Carrie shouted, nudging her Pokémon with her foot.

The Spinarak crawled over to the sleeping Cyndaquil (Carrie jumped back several feet) and climbed on his back before plunging its fangs into him.

"Cyn… quiiiil!" Cyndaquil began with a yawn, then jumped as the spider bit him and turned his head to look at it angrily.

"Cyndaquil, fight it!" Carrie yelled from behind a bush. "Use a… wait, what can you do again?"

Cyndaquil didn't answer. Instead, his back began to let off smoke as he forced his natural fire to ignite. The Spinarak didn't have time to remove its fangs from his body before he flared up and engulfed it. Screeching in pain, the spider pulled out his fangs and leapt to safety. Cyndaquil turned around now, and out of his mouth came a flurry of tiny fireballs. Most of them scorched the already smoking Spinarak, who cried out again, but a few of them had been aimed too high and Carrie had to dive out of the way to avoid her skirt catching on fire. The bush wasn't as fortunate.

"Hey, watch where you're aiming!" she said angrily as she glared at her Pokémon while pulling herself to her feet.

"Cynda," Cyndaquil replied as he ran forwards and rammed his body into the burning spider.

"Right… well try Ember again, but aim more carefully!"

Cyndaquil nodded and opened his mouth again, sending another barrage of fireballs at the Spinarak. The attack was much better controlled this time.

"That's perfect," Carrie said as she dropped down on her right knee. Her leg was beginning to ache uncomfortably, painfully. She winced as she picked an empty pokéball off her belt.

"Cyndaquil, wait a second," she called as he was about to shoot more fireballs at the cringing spider, and threw the pokéball at it. The spider was transformed into a red light and sucked inside, and the ball closed and fell to the ground where it shook as the spider tried to escape. Carrie and Cyndaquil watched as the ball shook, and even bounce once, before slowly becoming still and the red light on the button faded with a ping.

"I got it…" she said weakly. She stood up and limped to the spot where the pokéball sat, picked it up, and fit it into her belt before collapsing to her knees again. She wondered vaguely how many more times she was going to end up collapsing before her journey was over.

"Quil?" asked Cyndaquil with a yawn as he walked lazily to his trainer.

"I think… I think that Spinarak poisoned me," Carrie said, beginning to panic.

Cyndaquil yawned again as Carrie sat down and examined her leg by the firelight from the bush. The two spots where the spider had bitten her had since stopped bleeding, but the skin underneath had turned a sickening purple color. She pressed a finger to one of the bites and recoiled in pain again as the mark started to bleed again.

"Disgusting," she complained. "Damn, I hate bugs so much… it's spreading."

"Cyn? Cyndaquil asked, still sounding completely unconcerned. Carrie was too panicked to care.

"The poison. I can feel it traveling. I mean… My whole leg has gone numb… oh god, what do I do? I'll never get to Cherrygrove fast enough and I don't think we're anywhere close to Violet City. Oh god, oh god…"

"Uh, excuse me," said a boy. Carrie jumped slightly, startled; she hadn't seen or heard the boy approaching. Apparently Cyndaquil didn't either; he was crouched down now, ready to attack on command. The boy's Pokémon, a small, yellow fox-like creature that had been floating behind its trainer, landed in front of Cyndaquil with its arms curled into fists.

"Whoa, take it easy, killer," the boy said as he took a step back, his hands up in surrender. "I just want to help out the pretty lady over there, okay?" He stepped forwards again, but Cyndaquil growled and he retreated once more.

"I'm not gonna hurt her," he said angrily. "Abra, back off." The boy's Pokémon obeyed, lowering its fists and floating lazily up to the boy's shoulder.

"Relax, Cyndaquil," Carrie said weakly. "You can help me?"

"Yeah," the boy replied, stepping forward for a third time. Cyndaquil remained crouched over, but allowed the boy to proceed. He walked purposefully slow, his eyes fixed on Cyndaquil even as he knelt down beside Carrie. Confident that the Pokémon wasn't going to attack him, he turned to her and examined her leg in the light.

"Mild poisoning," he said. "No antidotes?"

"Mild?" Carrie whined. "Ugh, it burns… no, no antidotes. I couldn't afford…" her voice trailed off.

"Here," the boy turned and pulled his own bag off his shoulder before extracting a small, yellow spray bottle from it. Holding it over the darker of the two bites on Carrie's leg, he said, "This is going to sting a little."

Carrie bit her lip, trying to force herself not to scream as the antidote spray sunk into the cuts in her skin, but as the boy sprayed the second bite, she couldn't hold back a yelp of protest. Her leg stung much more furiously, bringing tears to her eyes that she blinked back.

Meanwhile, the boy had put the bottle back into his bag, and was now pulling out several others. Having her first chance to get a good look at him, Carrie examined him in the faint light after blinking enough to clear out most of the water. He looked young, probably another new trainer. His sandy hair was extremely short and appeared to have a little too much hair gel in it. He was wearing what appeared to be his pajamas; a silky red-patterned button-up shirt, and a matching pair of pants. Topping it all off was a pair of Buneary slippers on his feet. Carrie couldn't resist laughing at the sight.

"Like my slippers?" the boy asked. Carrie's face went red and she stopped laughing immediately, realizing that he was now watching her intently. She stared back at him with an eyebrow raised as he stared at her for a few seconds more before she cleared her throat.

"Erm, anyway," the boy said, "you should take these, they're potions. And there are a few antidotes also. You really shouldn't be wandering around without them."

He motioned to the group of bottles he had set out. Carrie counted nine purple ones, which she assumed to be the potions, and four yellow ones, the antidote sprays. She wondered if he had given her his whole stash.

"Um… thanks," she said as he stood up, picked up Carrie's bag and Pokégear, and carried them back to her. She gathered up the bottles and hastily dumped them into her backpack with her Pokégear, and allowed the boy to help her stand. She noticed that she was several inches taller than him.

"How's your leg?" he asked. Carrie shifted her weight to her right leg momentarily, and then jumped on it once.

"Seems to be better. It doesn't sting as bad, anyway. But I can't really feel anything…"

"Don't move it too much. You'll be fine in the morning. I'm Sam, by the way. Sam Riley."

"Carrie White. And no, I do not like Stephen King."

"Who?"

"Never mind."

"Huh. Okay," the boy called Sam said. "Well, I'm glad you're unharmed." And he gave her a tight hug.

"Ow!" Carrie gasped, eyes widening in pain; Sam was putting pressure on her injured arm. Sam released her at once. "Do not do that."

"Oh, sorry," he said. Carrie thought his face had turned red, but it was hard to tell in the unnatural lighting. "So, uh, do you need a place to sleep? I have a tent just this way."

Carrie hesitated. She could go back into her tree, but the thought of being exposed to more poisonous bugs was less appealing than sleeping in a tent with a ten-year-old boy who just saved her life. Or had he? Carrie wasn't sure if the poison were actually fatal, only that it was painful. He said it was only mild, after all. Still, what did it matter anyway, so long as she wasn't in the dirt?

"Alright," she sighed, her panic being replaced by exhaustion. She turned to Cyndaquil, who had fallen asleep on a nearby boulder with his flame still lit. She was about to speak, but when she noticed that he was asleep, she just recalled him, then turned back to Sam. "Lead the way."

After having Abra safely put out the fire with its psychic abilities, Carrie climbed after Sam into a small tent hidden back down the path in a clearing behind some bushes. Carrie wondered how Sam had been sleeping in here; even on his own, the tent seemed too small for a single person to sleep comfortably. And here they were, trying to squeeze two people plus their belongings into it. Carrie sighed and removed her pokéball belt, placing it safely along the edge of the tent. At least it was better than being bitten in her sleep, she kept reminding herself. As she lay down, she noticed Sam, already comfortably in place, watching her.

"You have a really pretty face," he said, stroking her cheek with his hand.

"You're ten, dude," Carrie said, sounding more disgusted than grateful, and pushed his hand away harshly before rolling onto her other side. "Goodnight."

"Thirteen," Sam corrected. Carrie ignored him.