CHAPTER THREE: A FRIENDSHIP FORMED

Amanda found Lily in the Pokémon center, happily walking out with Seel behind. As usual, she had forgotten everything about the battle and how it affected her. That is, until the boy, called Josh, demanded for his prize money.

"No way!" Lily screamed.

"I won fair and square!" Josh yelled back.

Lily rubbed her chin, thought for a moment, then whispered something in Josh's ear, to which he nodded.

"Ready, steady, Go!" They both shouted, before racing off in the direction of sprout tower.

Amanda discovered their plan, and backed off. She healed her Pokémon, and then decided to go to the training facilities of the Pokémon centre.

Lily's POV:

Lily arrived at the Sprout tower, but Josh was nowhere to be seen.

"Ha! He must've gotten lost! I'll win for sure!" She confidently said.

Then she strutted inside the tower and immediately raced up the first fleet of stairs she could find, ignoring people's greetings and calls. Okay, she was there before Josh, but she knew that it was only because she had been to Violet city more than him. By the way he battled, it seemed that he knew more about battling than her. Probably even has the Zephyr badge! If i don't start battling the monks here pronto, he'll catch up and then I'll lose more money than I've ever lost before! Fuelled by the thought of owing Josh some serious cash, Lily grabbed the first monk she saw and 'asked' him how to earn the HM here. With a swish of his non-existent cape, the monk transformed into Josh! Lily's jaw dropped, and Josh talked for her;

"'How is that even possible!' You should say, but just know the only way to gain the HM is by beating every monk here, which I've already started on. Toodles!"

After that, he bolted away from the screaming girl before she could lynch him.

"I am not going to allow that guy beat ME!" She screamed, rocking the tower to its foundation.

Josh's POV:

Josh dashed up the stairs and hid behind a pillar as the girl's scream of pure anger ran through the tower. The building stood strong however, but the central pillar that he was hiding behind quivered like jelly.

"AAHH!" He screamed, backing away from the wriggling pillar.

"It seems that you haven't gotten used to the pillar, young man." A voice said.

Josh looked behind him to see a monk! The anxious boy was about to demand for a battle, but his curiosity got the better of him, and he asked why the pillar was shaking without the building falling apart.

"You see, this tower was formed by the early sages a long time ago. The legends say that this pillar was a 100 foot tall Bellsprout that put root here. When it died, its stem remained, and it became the center pillar that you see here. No matter how hard we battle or train, the tower will still stand strong. That said, let us battle, young man." The monk said, before bringing out a pokeball out of his cloak and releasing a Bellsprout.

Josh took in a sigh of relief, and brought out his Pokémon to battle.

Meanwhile...

Amanda's POV:

Amanda and Pikachu walked down the corridor of the Pokémon center's training facility, looking for the electric-type training room. Each room had a steel door with a sticker of the Pokémon type that could be trained there. When she finally found the room, she entered and assessed it. It was plated with copper, with some small bronze-coloured copper rods jutting out of the walls to probably absorb extra electricity. The lights were hidden in brick boxes with holes through which they gave out their white light. Amanda released Pikachu, and went over to a closet on the wall. As she searched through the equipment, she made a mental note of what she wanted to do.

I want Pikachu's Thundershock to be super-charged for the Violet city gym. Now, if only i could find something that would help me with that... She thought to herself, furiously searching for what she needed.

After a few minutes, she found what she needed; Some duct tape, a pair of gloves, a car battery with positive and negative connector cables, a flexible, electric dart chart and a laser pointer. After that, she connected the car battery to Pikachu's cheeks via the cables and duct tape. Once she was through, she went to the other end of the room and told Pikachu to use Thundershock. As expected, the Electric Mouse Pokémon refused to do it.

"Phew! I actually thought you were going to zap me there." Amanda said, heaving a sigh of relief. Now knowing that Pikachu wouldn't mistakenly zap her, she removed the gloves. Amanda then put on the laser pointer and aimed at the dart chart she brought out from the closet earlier.

"Pikachu, Thundershock!" She commanded.

Pikachu tried to release electricity, but it was all being sucked up by the car battery.

"Harder Pikachu, don't give up!"

Pikachu closed its eyes and concentrated. Suddenly, small arcs of electricity appeared around his cheeks, meaning that he started to fight back the drawing current of the battery.

"Yeah, Pikachu, you're doing it! Just concentrate it, then let it all go at my signal!"

Pikachu responded with a nod, then he focused on the laser point.

The arcs grew larger.

"Ready..."Amanda said, holding up the wire to disconnect the battery.

Pikachu's cheeks were releasing sparks of electricity.

"Steady..."

Pikachu narrowed its eyes down at the little red dot.

"RELEASE THE POWER!"

Pikachu sucked it all in, and gave out his suppressed electricity just as Amanda disconnected the battery. The suppressed electricity flew through the air, before zapping the sheet hard and long. The electric move grew larger very fast, as Pikachu's normal energy supply came back to him. After a few more seconds, he stopped, looking up at Amanda happily.

"Pika! Pikachu-chu !" The Pokémon squealed. Amanda hugged him with all her strength, making the electric-type release a few sparks of electricity. Pikachu's Static didn't really help matters, but Amanda didn't care for her now fuzzy hair. She was proud of her Pikachu. She set him down after what seemed like ages of hugging, then sharply said,

"Well, back to the top!"

Pikachu did an anime drop!

Meanwhile, back at Sprout tower...

Both Lily and Josh were neck and neck. That's right; they beat every single monk in the tower. Now, they were about to face the Elder, which would mean them earning an HM if they won.

"Ladies first!" A smirking Josh said. Lily looked him over, and giving a shrug, ran towards the Elder. Josh was standing there feeling smart, when he realised the amount of money he would lose if Lily won.

"AAH! LILY COME BACK!" He yelled, racing after the girl. Due to his surprisingly good speed because of his panic, he actually got to the Elder first and requested for a battle. Just as Lily got up the last fleet of stairs, The two started their battle.

"How...did he g-get here...so fast?" Lily said vacantly, panting heavily.

"Go, Wormy!" Josh yelled, releasing the bug type Pokémon.

"I choose Bellsprout!" The Elder said calmly, releasing a plant looking Pokémon. It was basically a walking flower, having the same characteristics as one, except its little spindly legs that divided from the main stem body. It had two green leaves for arms and a green bell-like flower as a head. The head had two little beady eyes on each side and its mouth was oxblood red in a ring pattern.

"Bellsprout!" It cried.

"Alright Wormy, let's start this off with a String shot!" Josh commanded.

The Caterpie shot out its sticky string, tripping up the Bellsprout and lowering its speed.

"Vine whip, Bellsprout!" The Elder commanded. The Bellsprout tried to stretch its leaves to attack, but the string caught them up, and Wormy easily evaded the attack.

"Now Tackle!"

The Caterpie bashed the Bellsprout to the wall, and it got stuck there due to the String shot. Wormy kept ramming at the grass-type and soon, it fainted.

"Come back, Bellsprout!" The Elder said, returning his fainted Bellsprout back to its Pokeball. As he looked as his next Pokeball, he smiled. Then he threw it.

"Fight well, Hoothoot!" He yelled, releasing the bird Pokémon. It basically looked like a brown owl with one stubby four-clawed talon. Its wings were very short and stuck out of its sides horizontally. It had two navy blue arrow-like protrusions on the top of its head that were seemingly connected to the blue mask on the bird's face. that went from the protrusions and around its eyes. The mask had three eyelash markings below each eye as well. Its eyes were large, round and white with tiny black pupils in the middle.

"Hoothoot! Hoot, Hoot, Hoothoot!" It well, hooted.

"Oh no! Wormy, don't let it touch you!" Josh said, hoping that the Bird type wouldn't take out his Pokémon, when he remembered something; he had a rock/ground type Pokémon!

"On second thought, come back!" He yelled, returning his Caterpie.

"Now, take it down, Boulder!"

The Geodude was sent out, and the battle started.

"Boulder, Rock throw!"

"Evade it, Hoothoot!"

Boulder grabbed chunks of the floor and threw it at the Hoothoot, who dodged it with ease.

"Now, Confusion!"

"Oh no you don't! Sand-attack!"

Hoothoot looked at the Geodude with its eyes vacant, but just before it created the weak telekinetic attack, Boulder flung sand in its face. The Hoothoot's eyes closed involuntary, and it was forced to abandon the attack.

"Smart move, boy."

"Thank you, sir. Now Rock throw, Boulder!"

Boulder threw chunks of the floor again, and this time, they made contact. The super effective move seriously hurt the Hoothoot's feeble body, and it screeched in pain before falling harshly.

"No Hoothoot! I... accept defeat." The Elder said finally, after seeing his beloved Pokémon in so much pain.

After they both returned their Pokémon, the boy and the old man shook hands. The Elder kept his word, and gave Josh the HM for Flash.

Lily looked on, just awestruck at the battle she had just seen.

There is no way in the world that he doesn't have a badge by now! She thought to herself, before walking downstairs with him.

Once they got downstairs, Lily stopped him.

"Hey, Josh, do you have any Gym badges?" She curiously asked.

"Why do you want to know?" He answered, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, because of the way you battled. It was like you had real experience about flying-types." Was Lily's answer.

"Well since you really want to know, yes, i have a badge."

"Wow! Which one?"

"Zephyr badge."

"Humph! I'll get mine soon, and then we'll have a battle again. Trust me; next time I'll win."

"Oh yeah, speaking of that, give me my cash."

"Uh, later!" Lily shouted, as she ran away.

"No way! Come back with my money!" Josh yelled, running after her.

At a point, the chase got to the Pokémon centre, just as Amanda came out with a Pikachu whose cheeks were steadily sparking. Lily saw her best friend, and hid behind her.

"What are you doing, Lily!" Amanda asked, startled.

"Deal with Josh... Lost deal... Josh wants payment... Don't want to pay..."Was all the heavily panting girl could say, right before Josh appeared. He easily noticed Lily and demanded for his money.

"The only way you could get that money is if you make my life miserable for enough time!" Lily said from behind Amanda.

"Fine, then I'll travel with you girls." Josh retorted, smirking.

Lily nearly fainted out of laughter, and then stood up, saying,

"There is no way Amanda would allow it, right Amanda?" She said, looking at her best friend.

Amanda took a few seconds to access the situation;

Hmm... If Josh is on the team, we could be more efficient, although we might be slowed down. And it'll be safer. So... forget money matters, he's in to me! But i need a pretty good excuse...She thought to herself.

Amanda looked at Lily, and said,

"Let all the Pokémon decide."

"What!" Both Lily and Josh said.

"Well, take it or leave it, you two!"Amanda screamed, making the two nod fearfully.

They all released their Pokémon, and told them the plan.

Amanda walked up to a large stone and stood on it. She told Josh to stand by her left, and Lily by her right.

"You want Josh?" She said, raising her hand over Josh's head.

All the Pokémon except Exeggcute and Seel signified by raising a hand, paw or whatever appendage they had.

"Well, the yes's have it! Josh stays!"

Lily did another drop! But this time, she didn't stand up after a while...

Yeah! Another chapter done! I seriously apologize for the lateness, readers. I had so much to do with my computer training, my dad was totally strict and my big sis kept bugging me! Sometimes, life is annoying. But, i finally pulled through!

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