Riley and Ami walked side by side towards Viridian City, talking excitedly. Riley had done some special training with Ami so the new Trainer would be ready for upcoming Gym battles. Ami gave Riley the advice she needed to make her Pokémon stronger and more effective in battling.
"I can't wait to see what it's like! I'm actually kinda nervous..." Ami laughed lightly at the ten year old's comment. Riley seemed more excited and antsy than nervous.
"Don't worry, you'll be fine. Oh, there's the city! Come on, Riley!"
"Coming!" Riley ran to catch up with Ami, Rika not too far behind her Trainer as the girls jogged toward Viridian City.
Riley looked at the surrounding buildings in awe. The city seemed bigger than she remembered it to be...
"Wow, this place gets prettier every time I come here!" Ami looked over at Riley in surprise. The ten year old never mentioned coming to Viridian...
"How many times have you been here before?"
"Only a few times, this being maybe my fourth or fifth time. I came here mostly when I was little, but only with my dad." Ami nodded in understanding. Riley's statement made more sense now.
"I see. Oh, I think the Gym's this way." Ami pointed down the street and sure enough, Riley saw the sign that verified the Viridian Gym's direction.
"What're we waiting for then! Let's go, Ami!" Riley then ran off, leaving Ami to catch up. What Riley saw next though, was something she definitely didn't expect.
"... Huh?"
"What's wrong, Riley?" Riley pointed a finger at the scene in front of both girls, confusion evident on her face.
Ami looked over and then looked just as surprised as Riley did. The Gym was in the center of a construction site, the building not even visible. Riley certainly didn't see this coming.
"... Well, now what?" Ami paused to think for a moment then placed her hands on her hips and sighed.
"I guess we're just gonna have to go on to Pewter-"
"Riley!" Riley and Ami turned around to see a boy around the same age as Riley, a frown placed on his face. Riley returned the frown, but not as severely.
"What do you want, Brad?" Ami looked at Riley, now curious. These two kids knew each other? How was that?
"I want a battle! I'm ready to show you that I'm just as good as you, probably even better!" Riley sighed in both annoyance and exasperation. Not this again.
"How many times have you said that now? And I'm not in the mood to bother with you right now." Brad's frown became a glare and just as he was about to throw something back at Riley, Ami stepped in between them.
"Hey, now, there's no need to be hostile at the moment. And actually something came to mind. The Viridian Gym's being rennovated at the moment, but I'm sure you can come back when it's done!" Riley and Brad looked at Ami in shock.
"What the heck did you say?"
"Why didn't you tell me earlier, Ami?" Ami gave Riley a sheepish grin.
"I kinda forgot, sorry." Brad rolled his eyes.
"Great, now what am I supposed to do?"
"Uh... just go to other gyms until it's done is the only thing you can do..." Brad crossed his arms in annoyance. This other girl was getting on his nerves.
"And how did you even know the Gym was being rennovated in the first place?" Ami proudly smiled.
"I'm from here!"
"What? You're really from Viridian, Ami?" Ami laughed a little.
"Sorry, Riley, I meant to say something earlier. Anyway, it's kind of good to wait. You have something to look forward to on the way after you beat the other gyms!" Riley nodded excitedly while Brad simply shrugged. His plans would simply have to be changed around a little. Nothing that he couldn't handle.
Riley smiled in excitement. She couldn't wait to come back to Viridian!
Riley looked at the sky thoughtfully. She was going to battle at the Viridian Gym after all, just later than she had wanted to. Honestly, Riley didn't see the big deal. Besides, this meant she could train her Pokémon a little more and get her two newer team members a little stronger before the next Gym.
"I hope you're not too disappointed, Riley." Riley looked at Ami in surprise. She wasn't expecting the older girl to say anything of that sort.
"Why do you say that?"
"No reason, really. I mean, you really wanted to battle at Viridian first, I guess and..." Riley laughed and hugged the older girl.
"Don't worry about it! We both were talking about other things today and yesterday was the whole Spearow attack. I'm just glad you remembered at all." Ami smiled in relief. It seemed it took a lot to disappoint or upset Riley. That was something nice to know.
"At least you got your Spearow to the Pokemon center before we left the city. It may come in handy in the Viridian Forest." Riley nodded in agreement. That's where she wanted to get a Bug Pokémon and Viridian Forest had an abundance of those.
"Yeah, now let's see what waits for us there!"
Ami and Riley looked at the paths in front of them, rather vexed about the situation. This was about the fourth or fifth fork they came across in the forest and they had gotten nowhere! They actually felt that they were doing nothing but going in circles!
"Ah! We're lost! We're so totally lost!" Rika looked at the two humans and sighed. If the Pokémon could talk, she would have told the girls that they had been lost for the last three hours.
Ami looked up at the sky before taking off her backpack and rolling out a sleeping bag. Riley looked over at her in curiosity.
"Whatca doin', Ami?"
"Setting up camp. We're obviously gonna be here a while, so we may as well." Riley nodded and did the same.
When the girls had relaxed and made a fire, thanks to Ami's Flareon, they had started talking more about themselves and their families.
"-an only child because my mom thinks I'm too hard to handle. My dad probably wouldn't mind, but yeah, my parents are kinda weird." Ami laughed. Riley wasn't very shy in talking about herself or her family. Ami enjoyed having someone like Riley to talk to.
"Well, at least you have a better excuse in not having siblings."
"Why's that?" Ami gave Riley a sincere smile as she replied.
"My parents got divorced when I was little. Neither of them remarried, so I don't have any younger siblings." Riley felt her eyes widen in shock. She didn't expect to hear that.
"... Wow, and you say it so calmly..." Ami giggled.
"It's no big deal now, really. Either way, moving on." Riley nodded. She knew better than to pry. Her parents taught her better than to dig further than needed.
"Yeah, so what other Pokemon, besides Flareon, do you have?" Ami smiled mischeviously.
"You'll find out later~!" Riley frowned in disappointment.
"Aww, no fair!"
"That's how it is, Ri-AH!" Ami jumped up and ran next to Riley, an upset look on her face. Riley looked at Ami with concern.
"Ami? Are you okay?" Riley looked over where the older girl was sitting and almost screamed too, but for a different reason.
"AW! It's a Caterpie!" Ami looked over at the harmless Pokemon and sighed. It had climbed on her back suddenly when she wasn't expecting it.
"Hey, catch it, Riley! It may come in handy later!" Riley nodded and tossed out her Spearow. The Spearow came out of his ball preening his short wings.
"Okay, Pierce! Let's get that Caterpie!" The Spearow looked at his new Trainer for a moment before turning to the Caterpie, which timidly shrunk back at the Spearow's intense glare.
"Pierce, get it with Peck!" The Spearow bolted forward and hit the Caterpie with its beak, flying past it after the attack.
Riley was about to throw a ball to catch the Caterpie when she saw Pierce something almost unthinkable. He was flying back to attack the Caterpie again! And he was flying as fast as his wings could make him go.
"No Pierce, don't! Return!" Riley managed to get Pierce back in his ball just before he could hurt the Caterpie even further.
Riley looked at Pierce's Pokeball, a little upset. She knew the Pokémon wasn't very happy being caught by Riley right now, but she didn't expect him to do that!
"Man, that kinda bites..." Ami rested a reassuring hand on Riley's shoulder.
"Don't worry about it, Riley. Sometimes Pokémon need to come around on their own time. He may miss his flock too."
"Yeah..." Riley nodded in agreement before looking down to see Rika tugging at her shoe.
"What is it, Rika?" The Pichu pointed frantically at the Caterpie. Riley then remembered that she was going to catch it!
"Oh! Uh..." The ten year old looked at the Caterpie's still shaking form, feeling bad that she had used such an agressive Pokemon against it; one that the Caterpie was weak against too.
"Aw, I'm sorry, little guy. I didn't know that mean, ol' bird would keep trying to hurt you." Riley gently picked up the Caterpie, which looked up at her and surprised Riley immensely by doing something very unexpected. It cuddled up to her!
"Huh?" Ami couldn't help but grin at the sight.
"Awwww! It likes you, Riley! Catch it, catch it!" Riley smiled uneasily and tapped the Caterpie with her Pokeball. Sure enough, the small Bug was caught.
"YES! Awesome, Riley!" Ami exclaimed as she all but jumped on Riley to hug her.
"Ow! Hey, hey, hey, I get it! Ease up, Ami!" Riley laughed as she complained while Ami excitedly hugged her.
If Ami's gonna get this excited when I catch a Pokemon... I don't know how many more I want to catch!
Riley laughed to herself. She was well on her way to starting her journey. The next step was to get out of the forest and get her first Gym badge.
Alright, here's chapter 3 ^^ I'm not sure when the next chapter will come out, mostly due to its editing needs and the fact that I need to start on chapter 5. Leave a review and I'll be updating as soon as I can! Thanks everyone and have a nice day! ^^
