A/N: Hi! Once again, I enjoyed writing this chapter even more than the previous one. I feel like I'm going to be saying that a lot, but it's true, I feel like this story is getting more and more fun to write, so I hope it's fun to read too. But now to reply to some reviews:

Northstar Pokeshipper: I appreciate the suggestions, though I'm not sure either of those would work well on the team I've been planning for Kris. While I will still put them on my list of things to consider (because yes, I have a list, and also bunch of tables and notes because I'm being surprisingly organised about this), they definitely won't be the first thing she catches, since I've already got a plot planned out for how and why she catches her first Pokemon and what Pokemon it will be.

Infernoir: While this is mostly based on the games, I will probably end up putting in some nods to the anime. Plus, I do love Misdreavus, so I will consider it. It wouldn't happen for a while though, since Misdreavus is only found at Mt. Silver in Gold/Silver/Crystal. But still if I decide I want her to have a Misdreavus earlier, I could be a bit creative with it and find another way for her to get one. Maybe it'll be in the Safari Zone, since they can be in the Safari Zone in Heartgold/Soulsilver? Maybe she'll meet someone who'll trade her one? I don't know yet but maybe I'll find a way for her to get one at some point. I've always preferred writing in first person, since I can show the protagonist's thoughts and feelings clearer. She's the one telling the story, so you get to see the world through her eyes. Though of course, I'm not going to try and convince you that first person stories are better or whatever, but that's just what I think about them. And I agree that sometimes I forget to add descriptions. I'm trying to improve that though, and I think this newest chapter is a lot more descriptive. As for what you said about the suggestions, don't worry, I'm not going to put in a Pokemon for the sole reason being that it was suggested. I like having a way to make the readers feel like they can influence the story, but the suggestions will only be used if I really want to use them. At the end of the day they are just suggestions and I will still write the story as I feel it works. The original idea behind my asking for suggestions is just because I thought, what if someone thinks of a Pokemon that I completely forgot about, one that makes me think to myself, 'Hey, that actually really suits Kris! Why didn't I think of that before?" But only the ones I really think work will make it into the story, so it is still "all in the hands of the author," as you said.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.


The pink rooves were the first thing I noticed about Cherrygrove City. In New Bark Town, the rooves of all building had been green. I heard that every town and city in Johto had a different colour used for the buildings of the rooves, but for now I'd only seen New Bark and Cherrygrove's colours. 'For now?' What am I thinking? Maybe I've been spending too much time with Chikorita and I've started thinking more like a trainer. I can't keep thinking as if this is going to last. I'm just going to Mr. Pokemon's house on Route 30, and then home in time for dinner so Mum will never know. I can't just leave home and travel like other kids do. That's what I am, I'm still just a kid. I'm not ready for this kind of thing yet.

I looked at the pink rooved buildings and recognised the building labelled 'Poke' as the Pokemon Centre, which everyone (even people who have never raised Pokemon or travelled before) know is a place where they heal Pokemon which also doubles as a hotel. It's also the perfect place for trainers, I think, since they're always travelling and need a place to stay the night when they're in a town far from home. Unless they sleep outside? I've seen trainers carrying camping gear. Maybe if they're too far from a town they sleep outside? I wouldn't know. Even though I'm not really a trainer, I'm just using Chikorita to travel safely to Mr. Pokemon's and back, I figure I should take Chikorita to the Pokemon Centre, since she must be tired from our battles.

We actually don't have a Pokemon Centre back in New Bark Town, since people don't go there much. And no one ever felt the need to build one since Professor Elm can heal Pokemon in his lab if need be. I've been to Cherrygrove City a few times before, but in all those times I never actually went into the Pokemon Centre. Well, here goes nothing.

A rush of cool air hit my face as I entered the large, brightly lit, air-conditioned room of the Pokemon Centre. A front counter was the focus of the room, where a woman with long pink hair stood. Behind the desk was a door that led to an off-limits-to-the-public back area. In a corner of the room were a few videophones and a row of chairs lined a wall as people chatted and waited for their Pokemon. A hallway led off to the entrance to another room and a set of stairs, which I guessed led to where people slept. I made my way to the counter.

"Hello, how can I help you?" The woman at the counter said before I even reached it. I froze for a second, as if I wasn't sure exactly how to answer her question.

"Uh could you, um… take care of my Chikorita?"

"Sure, that's what we do here." She said. She held out her hand: "I'll need to take Chikorita then. You can just leave it in its Pokeball." 'It'? I was actually mildly annoyed at her choice of pronoun. She takes care of Pokemon for her job and yet she doesn't bother to call Chikorita a she? Wait, silly me, she doesn't know Chikorita's gender. Still, she could have asked. Or used its name instead. "So, first time trainer?" She asked as I handed over Chikorita in her Pokeball.

"What? Uh, no. No, I'm not a trainer. I'm just uh… taking care of Chikorita. Temporarily. So that I can run a little errand, and, y'know, I need a Pokemon to be able to travel between towns, because Pokemon live in the tall grass."

"Oh, okay." She says, as if she doesn't know what to say next. She's probably so used to talking to trainers that she doesn't know what to talk about with someone who isn't a trainer. Or doesn't want to? This sort of makes me feel like I'm below the trainers, not as good as them. In a Pokemon Centre, it's all about the trainers. But I'm not a trainer. I'm just using a Pokemon temporarily… which makes me less than them? I have got to stop thinking about these things. I just gotta get to Mr Pokemon's, then get home, and this will all be over. She puts the Pokeball into a machine that looks similar to one I saw in Elm's lab. I always wondered how those things actually worked. "Just wait around and I'll let you know when it's ready to go back to you." She says.

"Thanks." I just say. What else is there to say? Though I really do mean it, I am grateful that she's taking care of Chikorita for me. For free too, although in this day and age it's become the norm for Pokemon Centres to look after Pokemon for free. The supplies and equipment are usually donated by famous trainers, usually gym leaders or even members of the elite four. And I think the staff are paid by the government or something. But I have no idea how the system works. I wonder how much the people who work at Pokemon Centres earn? … Why do I think so much about this stuff that no one cares about?

I go and sit down at one of the seats lining the wall. I check my Pokegear. It's only 1:47 PM. Why was I worried about getting home in time? I asked myself. It only took about half an hour to get to Cherrygrove, and I just have to make it in time for dinner and Mum will think I was just at the lab the whole time. So why was I worried? Because I worry about everything, I answer myself. Because I always assume the worst and think I might be in trouble even when I'm not. I gotta work on that. But no, I am in trouble. Or, I should be. I lied. I left home without telling Mum. She thinks I'm helping out Professor Elm in his lab, not battling wild Pokemon in route 29 or getting a Pokemon healed in a Pokemon Centre after walking to Cherrygrove City on my own. Well, almost on my own, but she doesn't know I have a Pokemon. She can't know. I'm going to give Chikorita back to Professor Elm. I think he thinks I'm going to keep Chikorita and… become a trainer or something? He has too much faith in me, I could never be a trainer. I can't. I'll have to tell him that. For once in my life, I'm going to have to stop being so nervous, so I can say to him, "Professor, I'm sorry, but I'm not going to be a trainer. So, I'm giving Chikorita back." That's what I'm going to have to do. "I hope you find a nice home for her with a really nice trainer," I imagine myself saying after that. Of course, I do want Chikorita to be happy. But she can't stay with me.

I am snapped out of my thoughts by the counter-lady's voice. "Chikorita's… um, trainer?" I hear her call out. Of course, she never even asked my name.

Before I even have a chance to look up from my position of staring into my lap, I hear a few quick footsteps before feeling a weight land on my lap and see a mass of green in front of me.

"Chi-ko-o-o!" I instinctively smile (Why does it make me so happy to see Chikorita again?) and reach forward to give her a pat.

"Hello there," I say happily. I look up from my seat to see the counter-lady standing nearby.

"After we were finished with her we were going to put her back into her Pokeball, but she ran off to find you." Oh, so now she calls Chikorita a she? Well, she probably only just found out Chikorita's gender. They must have checked. Um… why am I thinking about that so much? She held out the Pokeball for me to take. I took it, then looked at Chikorita.

"Alright, you found me. Were we playing hide-and-seek?" I joked.

"Chiko, chiko." I didn't know what that meant, but it still made me happy to hear it. I looked up to see that the counter lady was already walking away, back to the counter. Probably wants to go back to talking to real trainers. Think about the words I'd just spoken to Chikorita, an idea suddenly formed in my head.

"Say… how about we actually play hide-and-seek? Wouldn't that be fun?" I say, slipping the Pokeball back in my pocket. I don't know why I'd said it. It's like I just had this weird, sudden urge to play with Chikorita.

"Chiko!" She nodded happily.

"Not in here, though." I said. "Let's go outside." I tried to lift Chikorita off of my lap and gently put her on the floor. I walked out of the Pokemon Centre, Chikorita following behind me. After we got outside, I knelt down to speak to Chikorita. "Okay, do you want to hide first?" She nodded. I looked around Cherrygrove City. While it was classified as a city, I never understood why, since it was actually pretty small. It was bigger than New Bark Town, but not by too much. "Okay Chikorita, listen. You can hide anywhere so long as you stay in Cherrygrove City. Okay? And no hiding in any buildings, we're going to just play outside. And if you decide you don't want to play anymore, just sit in front of the Pokemon Centre and I'll see you there. Okay?"

"Chiko!"

"Okay, I'm gonna close my eyes and count to 10. Go hide!" I heard the sound of Chikorita's light footsteps running off as I closed my eyes. I counted in my head, slowly, to give Chikorita a bit more time. 1… 2… 3… 4… 5… 6… 7… 8… 9… 10.

"Ready or not, here I come!" I said aloud, the way I would at family gatherings when my cousins and I would play hide-and-seek. Those were just about the only times when I was around kids my own age, so I enjoyed it every chance I got. I looked around, but of course I didn't spot Chikorita in plain sight. I started slowly, wandering around the small city, looking around. I noticed that the city was surrounded by trees, except for one side which led into the sea. After circling the town, I noticed a signboard that stood out a bit in the middle of town. I walked over to it, as I was facing the back of it, and walked around it to read it. That's when I noticed the small green shape crouched behind the signboard. A green shape with a leaf on top of it.

"Chikorita? Found you." I said, reaching over to her.

"Chik-chiko!" She said when she saw me. I gave her a pat before looking at the signboard. It showed the city's slogan: 'The city of cute, fragrant flowers.' Perhaps the 'Cherry' in Cherrygrove is supposed to represent cherry blossoms? That would explain the pink rooves.

"So, do you think I should hide now?"

"Chiko!" A nod. Because so far, I've only been able to ask yes-or-no questions. I've got to work on that. Work on what? I then question my own thoughts. Understanding Chikorita, I suppose. But how? She can't speak. I guess all I can really do is ask yes-or-no questions.

"Alright, um…" It then occurred to me that Chikorita might not know how to count. After I thought for a moment, I came up with a solution. "Close your eyes and spin around until you start to feel dizzy, that's when you can come and find me. Okay?"

"Chiko!" She closed her eyes and started walking in circles. Okay, Kris, think. You need a hiding place and you need one now. I looked around the city, taking notice of landmarks. Path to Route 29, Pokemon Centre, mart, opening to Route 30, ocean, and then there's a few houses scattered around. Not a lot to work with. Man, I wish I could be a Pokemon right now, so I could be smaller and hide somewhere small like Chikorita. Wow, that was a weird thought. I don't actually want to be a Pokemon. I just want to be able to hide easily. Finally, I ran to the small cluster of trees in between the Pokemon Centre and the mart, found a foothold, and began to climb. After I found a place to sit around halfway up the tree. I pulled a branch towards me to let the leaves cover me, keeping the leaves below my face so I could still see, and held onto the trunk of the tree with my other hand for safety. I looked down at Cherrygrove City. I saw Chikorita, who seemed to have just stopped spinning around as she took a few dizzy steps. After the initial dizziness wore off, she bounded forwards and ran a lap around the city, her head darting around to look around everywhere. She bumped into an elderly man who was walking towards one of the houses, but of course, she clearly didn't mean it, and the man looked down and smiled at her before continuing on his way.

Suddenly, I decided that instead of watching her, it would be more fun for it to be a surprise when she finds me. I closed my eyes and just focussed on the feeling of being up in the tree, feeing the cool air on my face as well as my ears, which weren't covered by my hair since I'd decided to tie up my hair in two ponytails today, as I have been doing recently. My yellow hat covered the top of my head and the shorter hair not tied up covered my forehead. There was the occasional small breeze, which caused this shorter hair to move and brush against my forehead, which tickled slightly. I felt the strap on my bag slip a bit from my shoulder, and I let go of the tree trunk for a moment to pull it back up before instinctively grabbing for the tree again. I felt a strange texture touching my wrist as I grabbed the tree. I opened my eyes to see something long and green. It was a vine. I looked down to see Chikorita below the tree, the vine coming from her neck.

"Chik-o-o-o!" she shouted. I imagined her shouting, "found you!" as if she were one of my little cousins, having happily won a game of hide-and-seek during which the older kids hid in very easy hiding places for them. Being an unevolved Pokemon, I think it's safe to assume that Chikorita isn't very old, and she does seem to get excited like children do, so I guess that's not such a bad comparison.

"Ooh, you found me!" I said to my excited little friend. "Alright, I'm coming down, just a second." I playfully batted away the vine that was still close to my hand, which she retracted. I climbed to a lower branch and then looked down. Seeing the height I was now at, I decided it was safe to jump down from the tree. I landed on my feet, but stumbled back and then fell backwards, landing on my butt. Mental note: don't jump down from trees. Chikorita ran to me. "I'm okay, just fell, but I'm fine." So what now? I wondered. I looked to the path to Route 30. It's time to continue my… adventure? Is that the right word? No, it's just a little errand. Oh, to heck with it. This has been so fun. This really is an adventure!


A/N: So, I actually wasn't originally intending to spend a whole chapter in Cherrygrove, but it just sort of happened. Although I have certain aspects of this story planned out, like plot points that will happen later on, I don't have everything planned exactly like, 'chapter 1 will end as she's choosing her Pokemon,' 'chapter 2 will end before she leaves New Bark,' or 'chapter 3 will be spent in Route 29 and end as she approaches Cherrygrove.' Nope. Doesn't work like that. I just write as I go along, and while some writers prefer to plan out their stories, and I understand that, I find it easier and more fun to write like this. I get to make spur of the moment decisions. For example, Kris's joke of "were we playing hide-and-seek?" was originally going to be just a joke, and they were going to move on to Route 30. But then I randomly decided to make them play hide-and-seek for a bit, which I think worked out as a good decision since it makes it feel like I'm not rushing them to Route 30, as well as giving them an opportunity to bond and spend some time together. Honestly, I feel like when we get to a later part in the story where Kris has a big team and Chikorita has evolved, I'm going to miss writing these nice moments where it's still just Kris and Chikorita, so I'm gonna enjoy writing these moments as much as I can.

Also, the layout of the Pokemon Centre was mostly based on what we see in the anime, in case you couldn't tell, since it makes a bit more sense than the small place we see in the games. Like the ones in the anime, the Pokemon Centres in this story are going to have places to eat and sleep, since it makes sense that a town would need a place like that.