Chapter 4: Our Journey Begins

Today was the day—the day I finally started my journey to take on the Pokémon league, and, oddly enough, Lyra had decided to come with me to be my support, as well as support her own goal to participate in Pokémon Contests. I found it kind of odd that Lyra seemed so sudden and nervous when she asked to come with me. She's always been so smooth with the way she talks, and as far as I could tell never had any problems talking to me before. So what made her so nervous when she asked to come with me?

I packed everything I would need for my journey, including spare clothes, a map, a small tent, food, medicine, and anything else I could think of that might be useful. I walked downstairs to say good-bye to my mom.

"Good-bye Mom, I'm leaving, and I won't be back till I've won," I declared, fixing my favorite black-and-gold cap to my head.

"Good-bye Ethan—I mean Gold. Sorry, I forgot you wanted to be called that now. Have fun, don't give up, and remember: You can always come back if you need money," she said, hugging me. "Take care of your Pokémon, Gold, as well as Lyra. I think it's great you two decided to travel together. Be sure to support each other, and good luck," she said with a tear in her eye. "I can't believe how fast you're growing up."

She then let go of me and waved good-bye.

"Good-bye, Mom." I waved good-bye, leaving the house with Nile right next to me.

I then walked to the edge of town, where I saw Lyra and Marill waiting for us.

"Gold, let's go already! Seriously, was your mom that sappy?" she joked, smiling and giving me a sly look.

"You know her—she's so emotional. I couldn't leave without a whole speech about growing up. Anyway, here's the plan for today."

I pulled out the map and Lyra leaned over to see. Meanwhile, Nile walked over to a rock and slumped over it. Guess he isn't much of a morning person.

"Okay, so today we'll walk to Cherrygrove and take a lunch break there, and pick up anything that we may need. Then we'll make our way to Violet City and spend the night in a hotel there. Sometime today I also plan to work with Merlin to find out what kind of moves he knows. So, any questions?" I asked, looking up from the map into her chocolate eyes.

"Umm, not really. So can we go already? I've been standing here for, like, twenty minutes waiting for you to show up," she nagged in an impatient voice.

"Okay, let's go then. Nile, we're heading out!"

Nile chirped out a yawn and got up, rubbing his eyes. Marill chuckled at this, and Nile snapped his jaws in response to the snickering mouse Pokémon. Guess Nile isn't much for mockery, or mornings. Lyra and I laughed at the two bickering before we set off down the road.

We walked for about ten minutes or so when I asked Lyra, "So, Lyra, you said you wanted to be in Pokémon Contests, right? What made you want to do that all of a sudden? 'Cause I can't remember you ever talking about it before."

"Oh, um, I guess you can say I was inspired."

"By what?"

"Um . . ." She paused and then giggled. "It's a secret."

Oh great, another secret, I thought to myself, knowing that Lyra knew full well how to push my buttons, and teasing me with secrets was one of them.

"Come on, tell me," I begged.

"Nope, it's for me to know and you to find out," she taunted, smirking.

She knew that this would bug me all day, and she enjoyed bugging me. That's another thing about Lyra: she knows exactly how to screw with me, like I'm some puppet for her amusement. It's not really a bad thing—I actually found her many creative pranks to be entertaining—but she can be a little excessive sometimes.

"Well, if you're not going to tell me, can you at least tell me where you plan to compete first? 'Cause I know where most of the gyms are, but I don't know where any of the Contests are held."

"Umm, actually, about that . . ." Lyra stopped for a moment and said, "I don't know where any of the Contests are held, either."

I stopped in my tracks and turned.

"What? You don't know? This whole time, you didn't know?" I said irritably.

"I thought you knew where they were," she argued in her defense.

"How could you not know? I thought you did some research on it last night."

"Last night I was too busy packing and getting ready. I guess I forgot to."

"Ughh, seriously, you've got to be kidding me."

I sighed. "Well, anyway, Lyra, we can get info on contests at Cherrygrove or Violet City, so it's not a big deal," I said, turning around and walking again. "Sorry I got mad—you were just excited to start your journey and you forgot to do some research."

"Apology accepted," she said, smirking at me.

We kept walking and, surprisingly, ran into no wild Pokémon. I guess they tend to avoid more than one person. When we reached Cherrygrove it was midday, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I could smell the aroma of cherry blossoms wafting in the breeze. We made our way to a fast-food joint and ordered some food for lunch. We sat outside to enjoy the weather, and I let Merlin out of his ball to eat.

"So, Gold, let's see what Merlin can do. I'm curious to see," said Lyra, sipping on some soda.

"I am too," I agreed as I pulled out my Pokédex and scrolled to the Hoothoot section, showing Lyra what I found.

"Based on this, I think that the glowing eyes thing was the move known as Foresight: It allows the Pokémon to identify the target and better judge how to hit it. He also knows how to tackle, but I bet that was obvious; I don't know what he was using to scare us, though—I think it was either Confusion, or maybe Hypnosis, but that's a stretch."

"Well, get Merlin to do it again—I want to see it," she demanded.

I looked at Merlin, who was perched on a lamppost nearby, staring at something off in the distance.

"Merlin, come here—I need you to show us what you did the other night."

Merlin turned and tilted his head at me. He then flew off his perch and landed on the table. He looked at Nile, who was eating some french-fries. Merlin's eyes glowed white, causing Nile to stand up, as if he heard something and was searching frantically for it. Then Merlin tilted his head again as a small spiraling light shot towards Nile, and he fell over, asleep. Lyra giggled at this, and Merlin looked up at me for approval.

"I guess you know both Hypnosis and Confusion. I bet if you really meant it, that Confusion could really hurt," I joked.

Merlin just tilted his head, never blinking.

"I guess you're not much for expressions."

"Well, he just met you Gold—give him a bit. I bet he'll open up to you soon enough," said Lyra.

I was about to respond, but then someone walked up to our table. He was a bit shorter than me, wearing a green fleece jacket and khaki shorts, with short brown hair.

"Hello, sorry to interrupt. My name is Joey."

"Pleased to meet you, Joey," greeted Lyra, putting down her soda to look at him.

"Um, hi," I said timidly.

Talking to kids my age isn't really a walk in the park for me, what with me being shy.

"So, um, my name is Gold, and this is Lyra. Is there something you wanted?"

"Actually, yes: I couldn't help but notice your Pokémon, and I figured you were a Trainer, right?"

"Well, I guess you can say that I am, but, um, I'm kinda new to it," I admitted, scratching the back of my neck nervously.

"Well, I'm a Trainer, too," he said, pulling out a Poké Ball and tossing it up and down, "and I was looking for some action today. So what do you say—you up for it?"

"I don't know, I mean, we have to make it to Violet City today; I'm not sure we have—"

"Oh, come on, Gold," Lyra interjected, cutting me off. "We have plenty of time to reach Violet City. Besides, I love watching you fight. Oh, I even remember seeing a park nearby—you two should fight there!" Lyra said excitedly.

"Yeah, she's right. Come on, it'll be quick," encouraged Joey.

"Well, all right, if you say so—but let's make it quick," I said, holding out my hand to accept his challenge.

"All right, let's do this," Joey said, shaking my hand.

We then went to the park nearby; it wasn't very large, but it had various cherry trees in blossom scattered around and a single path that weaved its way around the park. We stood in the middle, roughly ten meters apart, with Merlin perched on my shoulder. Lyra sat on a nearby park bench with Marill sitting on her lap, and Nile, out cold, lying next to her.

"You ready for this? Time to show you the power of my But-type Pokémon! Go, Weedle!"

Joey threw his Poké Ball in the air, and in a brilliant flash of light, a small brown centipede-like Pokémon with spikes on both its head and tail was revealed.

"All right then, go Merlin!"

Merlin flew from my shoulder and landed on the ground in front of me, tilting its head towards the Weedle.

"Weedle, use Poison Sting, go!"

The worm Pokémon snaked its way towards Merlin and tried to thrust its tail at him; Merlin quickly flew up to avoid the attack.

"Merlin, use Tackle," I ordered.

Merlin dropped from the sky and crashed down on top of the Weedle. In retaliation, the worm swung its tail up at Merlin and nearly stung him before he took off again.

"Good work, Merlin—stay in the air and use Foresight!"

Merlin's eyes glowed red, and he scanned the Weedle for a weakness.

"Weedle, quickly, use String Shot!"

At his Trainer's command, the Weedle shot forth a stream of silken thread towards Merlin, wrapping his wings in sticky webbing. Merlin was trying desperately to stay airborne, but was losing his stability, and was forced to land in a nearby cherry tree.

"Weedle, after him—up the tree!" Joey instructed.

The Weedle, in quick response to his Trainer's command, scurried towards the tree and snaked its way up after the Hoothoot.

"Merlin, use Confusion!" I commanded, seeing this as a perfect opportunity to see confusion in action.

As I issued my command, Merlin's eyes glowed white; but the Weedle only looked around for a few seconds before continuing his way towards Merlin, and in no time at all was on the same branch he was on.

"Wait, what happened? Merlin, I thought you knew how to use Confusion?" I asked, confused by what happened.

"Looks like your Hoothoot has yet to master it, Gold," Joey replied. "Plus, Psychic-type moves have little effect on Bug-types. Now, Weedle, use Poison Sting!"

The Weedle fired off a barrage of jabs with its tail and riveted Merlin across his body, causing him to almost fall. But Merlin held tightly to the branch with his talons and retaliated with several pecks of his beak, which made the Weedle rear back from Merlin. Noticing this, Merlin used Foresight and saw the weakness as well as I.

"Merlin, peck away!"

"Weedle, don't let up—use Poison Sting!"

The two Pokémon went at it, firing off barrage after barrage of jabs and pecks, exchanging blows back and forth with only a few hits from either side landing home. Merlin was slowing down though: The poison was flowing faster through his veins and draining him of strength. His pecks were slowing down, and the Weedle's only got faster.

"Merlin, get out of there—try to fly."

Heeding to my commands, Merlin struggled to break free of the silk. Once free, he took off from the branch, causing the Weedle to jab at nothing, throwing it off balance. Seizing the opportunity, I yelled, "Merlin, now's your chance—dive in and peck him out of the tree!"

Merlin soared upward, then back down at the Weedle, headfirst at top speed. He nailed the Weedle dead center, knocking it out of the tree. But Merlin was looking fatigued and started losing control as he fell to the ground along with the Weedle. They both took hard hits as they crashed into the ground. For a few seconds no one could tell who won, until Merlin slowly hopped up on his leg and looked over at me, tilting his head. The Weedle, on the other hand, was out cold, and Merlin stood there for as long as he could till he collapsed as well.

Lyra ran up from her bench and said, "Wow, that was close—you two were great."

"Thanks, Lyra." I smiled back at her.

"Well, you beat me fair and square, Gold. Good job," said Joey shaking my hand.

"You did well yourself. Your Weedle is fast as heck, and that poison—man, I thought I was screwed there for minute. Speaking of which . . ." I reached into my bag for an Antidote and rushed over to Merlin to apply it. "There you go, Merlin. You did a good job—now just rest inside your Poké Ball."

I then returned Merlin to his ball with a bright flash of red light.

"Well, it's been fun Gold, but I have to get to a Pokémon Center, and I don't want to keep you waiting, so I'll see you later. Weedle, return," he said, returning Weedle in another flash of light.

"See ya, Joey—hope we meet again."

"Bye, Joey, nice meeting you," said Lyra, waving good-bye as he left the park.

I looked up at the sky, and I noticed that the sun was starting to set.

"Oh crud, we need to get going, Lyra. Is Nile awake yet?"

"Sorry, no, he's still out cold. He's in my bag, sleeping away. Man, Merlin has a nasty Hypnosis." She giggled. "Hmmm, if only Merlin knew how to use Confusion properly. I guess that explains why he couldn't hurt us with the mind tricks," she pondered.

"I guess so. We'll have to work on that, I guess, but now we have to go," I said as we left in a hurry.

We headed up the road towards Violet City, and we made some good progress down the road, even passing by Mr. Pokémon's house. But after we were about ten minutes past his house, it quickly started getting dark, and I saw Lyra was starting to get nervous.

"Um . . . Gold . . . what if something attacks us? I mean, Nile is out cold, and Marill can't fight," she uttered with a slightly scared face.

"I don't know. Keep trying to wake Nile if you can, but for now just stay close and try not to draw attention. Trust me, we'll be fine—I won't let anything happen," I said comfortingly.

"Okay, I'll keep trying. Come on, Nile, wake up," she said, lightly nudging Nile in her bag.

The sky grew darker and darker, as did the eeriness of the atmosphere. We could hear the sounds of nocturnal Pokémon moving around in the nearby woods. After a bit of walking, I noticed a slight humming in the distance. It was faint, and I could barely hear it, but it was there.

"Lyra, be quiet for a sec—I think I hear something," I warned, holding up my hand to signal her to stop.

"Oh God, what is it?" she worried, getting tenser and stepping closer to me.

"I don't know—it's like a low humming."

I listened closely, and I could hear the humming steadily growing louder and louder. Eventually, I could hear individual bird calls, and it was coming closer.

"Oh no!" Lyra gasped, dread in her voice. "It sounds like a swarm of Spearow—Gold, we need to go now!" she yelled, picking up her Marill in her arms.

At the end of the road, behind us, a swarm of Spearow came over the horizon and was heading straight for us.

"Shit—run!" I shouted, grabbing Lyra's arm and taking off with her.

We ran our way down the winding the road as the droning calls of fifty or so Spearow echoed behind us. We dared not look back as the sound of their incessant chirping came closer and closer, and we couldn't stop for anything.

We kept running and running, hoping to see Violet City around the next bend, but the road kept on going, never ending. Still, closer and closer the drowning sound of the Spearow came. We ran faster and faster, but still closer they came.

Then, as we came round the next bend, Lyra failed to notice a root sprouting from the side of the road. Lyra's foot got caught and she fell forward.

"Gold!" she screamed as she fell and turned to see the Spearow closing in on her.

"Help me!" she cried.

"Lyra, hang on!" I yelled as I dug my heels into the ground as hard as I could to turn around. I kicked off and sprinted to her.

As I turned to face the Spearow, I saw how massive their swarm was, and they were closing in fast. I skidded along the ground to stop myself over Lyra and grabbed her in my arms. Without a second thought, I kicked off into a full sprint and ran down the road with Lyra cradled in my arms. I could see Spearow on both sides of me now. They had caught up to me, and I couldn't run any faster. I felt a jab at my leg as a Spearow attacked me. I cringed at the sharp pain in my leg. Then I felt another strike my back as I kept on running as hard as I could, trying to ignore the Spearows' attacks.

I had to get Lyra out of here—who knows, her ankle may be twisted, or worse. Lyra was clinging tightly to me as we ran, but more and more Spearow were attacking me. My legs were giving out, and Violet City was nowhere in sight.

Strike after strike hit me, and, eventually, I tripped on a rock in the road. As I fell down, I turned my body around to keep Lyra from hitting the ground and landed straight on my back. I cringed in pain. The Spearow began to circle us now, and one tried to dive in towards Lyra. In quick response, I rolled to the side to shield her from the bird of prey.

"Gold, no!" Lyra screamed as the Spearow pecked away at my back.

I pulled her close to keep her safe, but the Spearow wouldn't let up: They kept pecking and pecking away at me. One after the other, they continued to strike me, and they wouldn't stop. I felt like there was no hope of escaping. Then, I heard a voice.

"Pidgeotto, quickly, use Gust!" the voice of someone yelled, followed by the call of an unfamiliar Pokémon that echoed over the Spearows' chirping.

I looked up and saw a large bird-like Pokémon with a reddish crest of feathers fly in, fighting off the Spearow. I looked to the side and saw a young man in blue robes with blue hair running towards me.

"You two, come with me—we have to get out of here now!" he commanded.

I got up without a second thought, still holding Lyra in my arms, and ran as fast as I could towards the man in blue.

"Who are you?" I yelled.

"Not important right now—let's just get you out of here!" he said in a stern voice.

And with that, I ran down the road alongside the man. With his Pidgeotto fending off the Spearow, we eventually made it to Violet City, and I was able to breathe a sigh of relief.

The young man who saved us walked up to me and said, "I'm glad I was taking a stroll tonight, or else I think those Spearow would have done much worse. Look, you two need to head to the local hotel and get some rest, okay?" he instructed, breathing heavily.

"Thank you so much, um . . . I'm sorry, I don't know your name," I said, breathing heavily as well.

"Falkner, my name is Falkner. I'm the Gym Leader here. Now then, I'm sorry, but I have to leave you two. The hotel is just down the road and to the left—you can't miss it. Get some rest—you need it."

He then waved his hand and turned around, walking off.

I stood there for a few moments, processing what just happened, and then I felt a tug on my sweatshirt and I looked down at Lyra.

"Um, Gold," she said in a very quiet voice.

"Yeah?" I replied, staring into her eyes.

"You think you can put me down now? 'Cause, um, my leg isn't twisted or anything, so, um, I can walk just fine," she uttered, looking up at me.

I paused for moment, and my face started blushing as I quickly let her down.

"Oh, I, uh, um, I'm sorry," I uttered frantically, trying to recover from that awkward moment. "I guess I just, well, forgot that I was holding you," I said awkwardly.

Which in reality was quite true—she felt so light in my arms that I barely noticed her weight.

"It's okay, Gold, you don't have to apologize. And, um, thank you for saving me," she said timidly. "I thought I was a goner, and then you came back to get me. Thank you."

I paused for second, and then said, "No problem . . . that's what friends do—we help each other."

"You're right. We should probably never tell this to our parents, or else I think they'll hunt use down and drag us back home." She giggled. "Come on, I bet you need to rest at the hotel," she said, grabbing my sweatshirt and pulling me down the road towards the hotel.

We checked in at the hotel and got the only room they had available at the moment, which had only one bed. When we walked in, I said, "I'll sleep on the couch—you can have the bed."

"Look at you—you need the bed more than I do. Come on, I'll feel terrible if you sleep on the couch," she retaliated.

"Look, I'm fine, trust me—you can have the bed. Here—I'll make you," I said as I picked her up by the waist and carried her to the bed.

"Hey, no fair, Gold! Let go of me!" she squealed as she tried to squirm free.

I then placed her on the bed and walked over to the closet to get a blanket out.

"Gold, please, you need to sleep in the bed," she insisted.

"Lyra, I'm fine—I'll sleep on the couch."

"Hmmph, fine, jerk," pouted Lyra. "Well fine then, have it your way. I need to change into my pajamas, so go outside or something," she said, getting up as she started to undo her overalls.

I stepped outside to the balcony to give her some space. When she was done, she slumped into the bed and went straight to sleep. I went to the couch and stripped down to my boxers, and then lay down. My back hurt from all the bruises, and it was almost impossible to get comfortable. My thoughts drifted as I thought about how quickly I reacted to save Lyra. I was so concerned for her safety I didn't care what happened to me. And about this Falkner character, if he hadn't shown up, I dared not to think about what may have happen to us, to Lyra. Tomorrow, we had a lot to do.