Sorry for the wait everybody, but here's the new and improved Chapter 4 of Once Upon A Silver Soul! I am still so proud of that title!
I do not own Pokemon!
Chapter 4: Violet City
Wednesday, May 24th
It had been a full three days since I had officially left on my journey, a full three days of new memories, taking pictures, and battling other trainers. I'd actually become great friends with this one guy, Joey, whose number was now number five in my contact list on my Pokegear, after mom, Professor Elm, Ethan, and my dad. It was early morning still, and I could just barely see the top of the legendary Sprout Tower from here. I watched in awe as a huge flock of Pidgey flew from the roof, disturbed by something unknown to me.
"Wow, isn't that just amazing Totodile!" I didn't give the water type time to answer, jumping up on my tiptoes and humming joyfully. "I'll bet Violet City is gorgeous, and we'll get to prove to everyone just how strong we really are! Just watch, you and me buddy, we'll beat Violet City's Gym Leader with one try!" Totodile quacked in agreement.
Nearly an hour later, we ran into a trainer with a particular fondness of bug type Pokemon, and he challenged us to a battle. Though I tried desperately not to, I knew that this battle was getting increasingly boring. The guy had four Pokemon, and three of them were the same, and I'll be honest, this battle was a walk in the park. After receiving a bit of prize money, we continued on our way, finally making it to the city of nostalgic scents, so it's called.
Passing through the gate, I jumped, hearing a familiar, and a bit too loud voice boom out behind me. "LYRA!" Whirling around, I was met with the approaching fast form of my best friend and his bouncing blue Pokemon. Totodile managed to turn himself around in my arms, burying himself in my chest. His shyness only made the water type that much cuter!
"Ethan!?" My voice held fragments of both excitement to see my friend, and confusion paired with annoyance. Ethan had been worried about me, and had wanted to travel with me, at least for a while. It took a lot to convince him that I needed to do this on my own, and now it seemed as if he was planning on shadowing me. "What are you doing here?" I laughed nervously, not wanting to be angry with Ethan.
"Well, I decided that it's about time I start my own journey! I've had Marill for two years now, and now that there's no one for us to hang out with in New Bark Town anymore, there's no point in staying! I'm going to take the League's Challenge too!" Ethan grinned at me, but I found it difficult to reciprocate that feeling of joy and pride. Suddenly, my best friend patted me on the back, rather hard, something he did often when he was happy like this.
"Don't worry Lyra, I know you want to travel on your own, and I wasn't planning on following you or anything." I breathed a small sigh of relief, though I could see a somewhat pained expression on his face. "So what do you say to a battle?"
"Hm?" I opened my eyes wide and looked at Ethan, a bit confused.
"Well, we're both aiming for the Pokemon League, aren't we? That means we're like rivals!" Now it was my turn to grin.
"Then I challenge you to a battle rival!" Ethan and I raced outside the gate, and I was only allowed a moment to take in the gorgeous Japanese buildings before Ethan pulled me away, towards the middle of the intersection of three roads, right next to a Pokemon Center with a dark red painted roof that blended in with the rest of the city. There weren't any sort of cars anywhere, only people and carts selling stuff. It added to the ancient and relaxing feel of the city. It seemed as people avoided walking right through the middle of the intersection, so it was probably the best place to battle without someone getting hurt.
"Ready Lyra?"
"Of course!"
"Great, Marill?" The water type which had been on Ethan's shoulder, hopped down to stand in front of it's trainer.
"Totodile, get ready!" I allowed my own water type to jump down, and began thinking about what sort of strategy we'd be using on Marill while Totodile waddled into a battle position.
"Alright, we'll start us out! Marill, use Ice Beam!"
"You use Water Gun Totodile!" The two attacks met in the middle, but Ice Beam won out in the end, literally freezing Water Gun in it's tracks. "Get away Totodile!" The big jaw Pokemon jumped away just in time before Ice Beam froze the spot on the pavement where he had been previously standing. The frozen Water Gun attack fell to the ground, shattering into hundreds of big and small shards of ice, leaving only a bit of it still standing, the part of Water Gun that was frozen where Totodile had been standing, attached to the pavement and swirling into the air a ways.
"Double Edge Marill!" Marill was surrounded by a golden aura, before roughly ramming into Totodile, doing damage to both Pokemon.
"Totodile!" The big jaw Pokemon stood shakily. "Hang in there buddy! Use Leer then Scratch!"
"Scald Marill!"
"Dodge it!" Totodile hadn't had enough time to get in his attack, barely getting out of Scald's way, which had managed to burn Totodile's tiny little arm. The Pokemon cried out in childlike pain; the burn not being nearly as bad as it could be. "Totodile!" I called out in worry. Totodile was running in circles, shaking his arm like a kid would. I looked up when I heard the stifled giggles of multiple people, my face reddening. I hadn't noticed it, but our battle had attracted quite the crowd. Many people were around us forming a circle. I wasn't used to being watched so intently like this. Gulping, I turned my attention back towards the battle, where Ethan was commanding Marill to use another move.
"Use Ice Beam again!"
"Dodge it Totodile!" Totodile ran clumsily around, dodging the light blue beam that froze the ground wherever it hit. Suddenly, Totodile's webbed foot landed on a splotch of ice, causing him to slip and fall right into the nearby Marill. Totodile, surprising everyone, opened up his mouth and bit down hard on his fellow water type's oil filled tail.
"MAR!" Marill cried out rather loudly, beginning to run around wildly in circles while Totodile, still lying on his stomach, kept hanging onto Marill's tail. Marill, being smaller and having less physical strength than Totodile, couldn't go very far with Totodile keeping him anchored. My water type stood up, throwing the smaller Pokemon roughly. Marill landed just in front of Ethan.
"Marill! Come on, get up buddy!" I smiled to myself, Marill wouldn't be able to last too much longer.
"Totodile, finish up with Scratch and then a Water Gun attack!" I was uncontrollably giggly now, Ethan had been a trainer far longer than I had been, and beating him would take me one step closer not only to becoming a great and strong trainer, but to proving to people that I myself was strong, and that I could take care of myself and my Pokemon as well.
"Marill, get out of there!" The aqua mouse Pokemon couldn't dodge our attacks fast enough, and ended up fainting in the end. "Marill!" Ethan ran out to his Pokemon, cradling him in his arms. I on the other hand, nearly skipped towards Totodile who happily hopped into my outstretched arms.
"You were amazing Totodile, I knew you were one tough cookie!" I giggled spun
Totodile around, while the water type began nearly drooling at the mention of cookies. "I'm hungry too buddy, how about we invite Ethan and Marill to dinner with us, and then we get cookies?" Totodile nodded vigorously, and I looked up to see Ethan still carrying Marill approaching us.
"Wow Lyra, I didn't expect you to be so good so fast." Ethan's face was flushed, probably out of embarrassment.
"Well, you and Marill were really great too!" My childhood friend smiled genuinely.
"Thanks." Ethan held out his hand, and I took it happily. Shaking hands in our world, especially after a Pokemon battle, is a sign of respect and friendship, so it shouldn't have surprised me when the crowd applauded us. Slightly embarrassed, I smiled at them, and together, Ethan and I waved at them before the crowd dispersed.
"So you guys want to go out to eat with us?" I inquired curiously. This time Ethan blushed, I knew it wasn't because he'd lost the battle.
"Uh, I uh, sure, b-but we should probably stop by the Pokemon Center first." Ethan mumbled and stuttered, causing giggles to escape my lips.
"Right. Come on! My tummy's grumbling!" I tugged Ethan inside the building causing him to blush even more. Nurse Joy kindly healed our Pokemon, then gave us each rooms for the night. Though I'd never tell anyone, I was secretly grateful that my room was on the first floor and Ethan's was on the second. If he was too close to me, I'd never get a chance to do anything on my own.
Within an hour, Ethan and I were chowing down at a Chinese and Japanese buffet. The Pokemon were treated to a meal of a specially made Pokemon food in gravy on top of rice while Ethan and I ate whatever we could get our hands on. By about four we were finished and heading back to the Pokemon Center.
"So Marill and I were planning on having a movie night, you guys want to join us?" Ethan asked, a small blush creeping up onto his face. I found it annoying that I noticed this every time, when I seemed oblivious to so many other things around me.
"I don't know Ethan, I have some girl shopping to do," Ethan zoned out as soon as I said girl shopping. "Maybe I'll catch up with you later?" He didn't say anything until I waved my hand in front of his face.
"Huh? O-oh, yeah, that's cool. See ya Lyra."
"Bye bye Ethan and Marill!" I sighed once they were out of earshot. I wasn't going girl shopping, just regular shopping along with stopping at a couple extra places along the way. I felt horrible, but I'd needed to get Ethan out of my hair, and I didn't know of any other way.
The first thing that I did was go to the PokeMart. I bought some random things that I needed, but I also bought a forest green envelope, some postage, a coloring book, a huge box of brand new crayons, and, last but certainly not least, a dark pinkish red notebook along with a whole bunch of stickers for me to decorate it with.
While the counter clerk was checking me out, I stared out the window, watching the infamous Sprout Tower. A number of movies had been made there, well, not necessarily made specifically there. The monks forbid that. But, a number of movies had been placed there, adventure movies, romance, ones about the ancient past, and most notably, horror movies. The place was definitely spooky enough for it, even from the outside. I kind of wanted to go there, just to be able to check it out, but Sprout Tower scared me.
That's exactly why I need to go. I told myself with a determined expression on my face. If I didn't go, I'd still be that helpless, fragile little girl from before. Nothing would have changed.
"Ma'am?" My head snapped back to the woman in front of me. "Your total is $32.48."
"Uh, oh, right, sorry about that!" I quickly got the money out and paid, managing to keep the red on my face down to a minimum. After leaving the Poke Mart, I walked to Sprout Tower, over a couple bridges and past the sparkling, clear blue lake. I stood silently in front of Sprout Tower. If I turned my head at the right angle, and stood still long enough, it looked like the tower swayed. Maybe it really did, but I didn't know. I sighed then left, walking slowly and allowing the lake to relax me. I needed to stop at one more place before going back to the Pokemon Center.
"There it is Totodile." I looked warily up at the extremely and unusually tall building before us. "The Violet City Pokemon Gym." I continued to stare at it for several minutes. Nothing else seemed to matter but this building. "We're going to march right into that building, whether it's tomorrow, or the day after that, but we're going to do it, and then we're going to win a Gym Badge." I must of been squeezing Totodile, because he began gurgling at me and tugging at my arms. I relaxed my grip, smiling the tiniest bit. "We're going to do it."
Wednesday, May 24th