What goes around comes around.
Holly ran up the grey stone steps to the laboratory. She was crying slightly from the shame of having to return so quickly. Opening the big double doors, she slipped inside and hoped she wouldn't run into the apprentice that gave her the potion earlier.
She reached the end of the massive room and saw the professor working away at some official-looking papers on a large wooden desk.
"Professor," she said, her voice slightly cracking. "Can you heal my pokemon? We got into a fight." He turned around and saw her trembling face, then decided not to ask questions. He knew starting a journey was tough. Everyone fell at some point, sooner or later. He stood up and motioned her over to the large metal machine she had seen earlier. She had completely forgotten that she could heal her pokemon there.
She unclipped the ball from her belt quickly and held it out to the professor, but he shook his head.
"I'm going to show you how to use it so you can come back as many times as you like," he said. "Just put the ball on the flat surface, push the biggest button and wait while you watch the screen." She hesitated for a moment, then placed the ball on the large soft surface. It was covered in a thin layer of white foam, she noticed up close. The ball rolled slightly, then she turned to the control panel to the right. There were lots of buttons and a large screen there. She pushed the largest one (which was as big as her hand) and looked at the screen. The professor watched her silently.
With a quiet whirring, a thin pole slid up from each corner of the bed then bent in the middle towards the ball. A red light identical to the one that pokemon appeared in from their balls appeared in a thin line, then all four centred on the ball. A sphere of the red light expanded to encompass the ball then disappeared. On the screen, Holly had watched reams of data she didn't understand change during the process, but there had been a long rectangular bar with a small amount of red at one end while the rest was transparent. She had watched this bar slowly fill from red to orange to yellow and finally to green. She realised this was the pokemon's health.
Turning to the professor worriedly she said, "is Cyndaquil going to be ok now?" He smiled, picked the ball off the table and passed it to her.
"She's fine now. This was your first battle, I'm guessing?" Holly nodded dejectedly. "Did Cyndaquil win?" Holly nodded again and the professor smiled even more. "Then you have nothing to worry about. Most trainers don't win their first battle with a wild pokemon. You should be proud of what you and your pokemon achieved together." He noticed Holly looked a little happier. Or at least, not as sad. He knew she'd be fine, even if she did have a few bruises on her arms.
"Now be off with you. There's still a long way to go yet. And remember to say thanks you to your pokemon!" Holly smiled and nodded again, then waved to the professor and started walking back down the rows of bookshelves to the door at the far end. She was just glad her pokemon was ok again.
Exiting New Bark for the second time in an hour, she released her Cyndaquil before they reached the grass. She knelt down and looked over her pokemon worriedly. All the bruising that had appeared was gone, and the blood has disappeared too. She smiled widely at her pokemon.
"Thank you Cyndaquil. You were amazing back there. I'm sorry I'm not the best trainer, but I promise I will get better. I'll try my best never to let you get in that state ever again." The pokemon squealed loudly then launched itself at her, gripping her with its stubby arms in a tight hug. Holly gasped at the pressure.
"Stop it!" The pokemon pulled away worriedly and Holly breathed deeply while laughing. "You've got a lot stronger, Cyndaquil! I didn't know you had it in you!" Her ribs hurt slightly, but she was too happy at her pokemon's progress to care. She stood up again and scratched the short fur on top of the smiling Cyndaquils head, then started to walk. The pokemon followed happily, bouncing along behind her. She was a bit bigger as well, Holly noticed happily. Not by much, but noticeably.
The sun was approaching its peak in the blue sky. The rare clouds were small and white but unimaginably fluffy. A gentle breeze was blowing through the trees, which were full of leaves. Holly loved spring. It was never too hot or cold and it was the time when everything started to come back to life. She kept to the path between the long hay-coloured grasses, hoping that no more pokemon attacked them. Even though Cyndaquil had gotten stronger, she still didn't want to see her get hurt badly again. At least, not so near to New Bark anyway.
Further ahead she saw a large metal sign sticking out of the ground. When she reached it she discovered that the next town was called Cherrygrove City. She hoped they had pokeballs on sale so she could catch more pokemon. A fire type was good for now, but she knew she had to expand her team. There was a sudden quiet rustling that got louder, and both she and her pokemon turned, Cyndaquils back flaring up as they expected another attack.
A tall guy with short black hair stumbled out from the grass. His face was red and there were cuts on his face. He saw her and stopped.
"Have you got any potions or anything?" He asked hurriedly. "My pokemon is exhausted and I don't know where the nearest Pokemon Center is…" A Pidgey followed him out of the grass. Its feathers were missing in places and one of it's wings looked badly damaged. It was covered in bite marks. Shivering, it half-collapsed on the ground next to the boy.
"Why haven't you returned it to a pokeball?" Holly asked incredulously. The boy looked embarrassed. A quiet, familiar beep came from her belt but she ignored it.
"I saw a pokemon I wanted and tried to catch it with my Pidgey, but it was too fast! It badly hurt my pokemon then it stole Pidgeys ball and the empty ones on my belt… now I don't know what to do. Please, I need your help!" The Pidgey on the floor squawked miserably. Holly felt bad for the small pokemon, and remembered the potion the apprentice scientist had given her. If her Cyndaquil got hurt she wouldn't be able to heal it, but she had also never seen how they worked. She decided this was as good a time as any to find out.
"Ok, but I've only got one," she said slowly. Opening her backpack she took out the vial of purple-y liquid. It fizzed slightly with the movement. She tossed to the boy who caught it then knelt quickly on the floor in front of his pokemon. She could see him whispering to it while he unstoppered the top. The Pidgey opened its beak and he slowly dripped it down, making sure it didn't choke.
With a little help, the pokemon drank all of the liquid in the vial. The boy looked relieved. Holly couldn't see any difference in the tiny bird until a faint purple light enveloped the pokemon. The feathers all slid back into place and it's eyes started focusing on objects around it. Holly was astounded. She never knew potions had this effect on pokemon! The Pidgey chirruped loudly and jumped up. The boy grinned widely at it and stood as well. The pokemon flew to his shoulder and then onto Holly's. It rubbed her cheek and cooed quietly into her ear then flew back to the boy. He was laughing a bit at Holly's bemused expression.
"He said 'thanks'. And I think your pokemon is a little jealous… Sorry about that." Holly looked down at Cyndaquil. The fire was a deep red and it had curled up into a ball. She giggled quietly to herself and patted the moody creature haunch.
"Wait a minute… Do you know what your pokemon is saying?" she asked him.
"Of course. I grew up with my mums Spearow, so I kinda know what bird pokemon are saying. They all speak pretty similar." This raised many questions in Holly mind. Did all similar types of pokemon speak similarly? Could all pokemon actually speak? And most importantly, how could she learn how to talk to pokemon? She thought that the guy was anxious to leave though, so she just nodded politely. She vowed to find the answers to her questions in the end. Cyndaquil stopped sulking and stood up, the flames near invisible again.
"There should be a Pokemon Center in the next town, and there's one in New Bark's lab, if you need to heal your pokemon again," she said. "I'm heading to Cherrygrove now. Where are you off to?" The boy mused for a few seconds, then said he was going to New Bark, since it was closer.
They shook hands and just as Holly and her Cyndaquil were about to leave, the boy shouted back to them.
"By the way!" She turned around quickly. "Pokemon hide in the tall grass. Who knows when they'll pop out… Be careful out there and stick to the path if you don't want to battle!" He waved again and walked on, his healed Pidgey flying from tree to tree just ahead of him. Holly smiled. She was glad that the boy hadn't wanted to battle her just yet. She wanted to train a little before battling anyone.
"Come on Cyndaquil," she said to the pokemon. "We'd best be going if we want to get there by nightfall." The fire-mouse nodded up to her and they both carried on walking. Who knew what pokemon came out at night…