Chapter 4 Chapter 4

Julie stood outside of a large building. She knelt down next to Pip and whispered, "Behave yourself. Don't go wandering off this time, okay?"

"Piplup," the little Pokemon looked up at her sincerely.

"I'll take your word. Don't make me regret trusting you." Julie stood up and walked into the building with Pip following obediently behind her.

As she walked into the school, the teacher looked up from a book. "Welcome," she said, placing the book on a desk where two students were sitting. "Did you come to enroll?"

"Um, actually, no. I'm a new trainer and I-"

"Hey, so am I!" cried one boy, looking up from his notebook.

"Hush, Tommy," the teacher said. Turning back to Julie, she smiled. "Go on."

"Well, I was wondering if I could just read up on a couple of things…" Julie finished, looking uncertain of herself.

"Of course you can!" the teacher said brightly. "There are plenty of books you can look through. Take your time."

Julie nodded her thanks and made her way to one of the bookshelves. Picking out a few books, she carried them back to the desk and sat down.

"Hey, I'm Tommy," whispered the boy to Julie.

"And I'm Marie," added the girl. "Aren't you a little old to be here?"

Julie, offended, was about to snap back at the girl when Pip pecked at her leg. She glanced down at her Pokemon. "Piplup pip," he said sternly. Julie leaned over and whispered to him, "Sorry. Thanks."

"Oh, what a cute Piplup!" Marie cried as she knelt down next to him.

"Really? Let me see!" Tommy said just as excited as he dropped down next to Marie.

Pip squeaked as hid behind Julie's leg. "It's okay, you can say hi," she said quietly to him. He had remembered what she said and was determined not to stray away from her, but she knew Pip wanted to see the children.

Pip hopped out and waddled over to them, enjoying all the attention he was getting.

A girl, slightly older than the two children who were attempting to get Pip to talk to them, walked out from a back room with a pokeball in her hand. "You're a trainer?" she asked, eyeing Julie.

Julie looked up and nodded. "Why?"

"If you are, I'd like to challenge you to a one-on-one battle." She threw the pokeball up, and from it came an Abra. "Think you're up to it?"

Julie looked down at Pip. He was no longer paying any attention to Marie and Tommy and was instead focused on the Abra. "I think were ready," Julie said, turning back to the girl.

She headed outside, followed by the girl. The school children tagged along with the permission of their teacher.

Minutes later, Pip stood and watched triumphantly as the Abra was recalled back to its pokeball.

"You're not too shabby," the girl said as she handed Julie her prize money. She turned and walked silently to the Pokemon center. Marie and Tommy, after giving her their congratulations, went back into the schoolhouse.

Before the teacher followed her students in, she turned to Julie. "I don't think you need any more studying here. You're good enough to excel at anything you and your Pokemon set your minds to. But feel free to come back and visit anytime."

As soon as everyone was gone from the street, Julie knelt down and hugged Pip. "I'm so proud of you!" she whispered to him. Pip in reply wrapped his little wings around her neck as best he could and hugged her back.

"And I'm proud of you." Julie squeaked and looked around to see Seth standing behind her. He held out a pokeball. "Here's Chena, perfectly healed."

Julie took it from him and reattached it to her belt. "So, I guess were heading to Oreburgh?" she said, embarrassed to have another person see her behaving so, well, nicely.

"Yup. I think you stand a pretty good chance at beating the gym leader," Seth said as he started off to the exit that led to Rt. 203.

"Why don't you challenge the leader?" Julie asked, sounding more accusatory than she meant to. Pip walked along beside her, a little surprised by his trainer's sudden change in mood. Still, he knew she did this whenever she was caught in the act of having feelings.

"I'm not that into Pokemon battling."

"Well, I don't enjoy it as much as you think," Julie half growled at him.

Seth looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "You seemed to be having as much fun as Pip."

Julie wrinkled her nose. "Still, why do I have to challenge gyms?"

"Beating gyms means getting Badges, getting Badges means you're good enough to go to other places, and going other places means filling up the Pokedex," Seth said simply.

Julie looked down at Pip. He was staring back up at her, expectant. She remembered how he had changed during the battles, going from a cuddly friend into a confident fighter. He enjoyed the challenge battles presented; heck, he was even pretty good at it. She sighed. "Fine. I'll do the battling, you supply the advice."

"Good girl!" Seth praised. "Look out Oreburgh gym, you're about to meet you're match!"

"Yeah, sure," Julie muttered. She glanced at Pip. He had hopped ahead of them, then doubled back to walk –practically skip- next to Julie. "At least someone's happy about this," she thought with the faintest of smiles.

--

On the way to Oreburgh, Julie focused on training Pip and did a little bit of work with Star, since Seth had told her the next gym leader they would probably face in Eterna City used Grass types. Along the way, she had caught several more Pokemon.

"Seth, trainers are only supposed to have six Pokemon with them, but this Geodude makes seven…" Julie had said uncertainly.

"Wait a second," he said. Just as he finished speaking, the pokeball flashed white and then disappeared, scaring Julie half to death. "Relax! It's been transported to the Pokemon Center. You'll be able to pull him out of the system at their computers anytime you want."

"You could've warned me before that happened," she snapped at him, picking up Pip. "At least you won't vanish on me," she whispered to the Pokemon.

"Pip," he replied, cuddling in closer to her. Julie giggled and kissed him on the top of his head.

Seth couldn't help but stare at the two. "I've seen lots of trainers that had close bonds to their Pokemon, but never anything like this. What are you?"

Julie and Pip looked at him simultaneously. For the first time, Seth noticed how their eyes were exactly the same shade of blue. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"I mean, he talks to you and you act like you know exactly what he's saying!" Seth practically screamed at her.

Julie shrugged. "What makes you think I don't?" She started walking again. "Come on. I want to get this battle with the gym leader over with."

As they walked into Oreburgh, they were surprised to see the streets were deserted. They hurried to the nearest Pokemon Center. When they opened the door, six pairs of frightened eyes greeted them.

The nurse pushed her way through the group of people and grabbed both Seth and Julie by the wrists, pulling them inside. "It's not safe to be wandering around out there right now," she said in hushed tones.

"What's going on here?" Seth asked to be instantly shushed by three of the people.

"The town is in locked down," whispered one woman.

"Some strange people went and took over the mine," added an older man.

"Roark is there now, trying to stop them," finished the nurse.

Julie glanced around the room. "Can anyone tell me what these people looked like?"

One girl stepped forward. "I saw them just as they were entering the town. They were wearing red and white uniforms with a black 'M' on it."

Julie stiffened upon hearing the description. Pip's eyes grew in fear while Julie's flashed briefly with anger. She knelt down next to her Pokemon. She placed her head against his, both of their eyes closed. A moment later, she stood up. Human and Pokemon seemed to have come to a resolve. Julie started for the door, Pip walking calmly beside her.

"Where do you think you're going?!" Seth asked, grabbing her arm.

"To the mine. You're welcome to come or to stay, I don't care," she answered, opening the door. She started running towards the mines. Seconds later, the door opened again and Seth sprinted after her.