Author's Note: Welcome back to Tides of the Soul! Before I begin the story, I'd like to give a heartwarming thanks to reviewer matman1223 for their encouraging comment! So without further ado, enjoy Chapter 8!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.


As I walked away from Hermia's grave, I was suddenly stopped by a glasses-wearing boy with dark hair.

"Excuse me, Miss!" the boy exclaimed, "Have you seen any Farfetch'd around here?"

"No, I haven't, sorry," I said.

"Well, if you do see two of them, be sure to bring them to me!"

Taking heed to the boy's words, I searched the forest for the missing Farfetch'd. I finally found them in front of a tree, and carefully tiptoed so they wouldn't hear me. But, I accidentally stepped on a branch, causing the Farfetch'd to flutter further away from me.

"Crap..." I muttered.

After a couple minutes of stepping on branches and scaring the Farfetch'd, I carefully ambushed the two Wild Duck Pokémon. Once I presented them to the glasses boy, another dark haired man (who introduced himself as the Cutting Master of Johto) walked up to us.

"Ah, you've found my Farfetch'd!" the man said. "As a reward for helping me and my son out, I'll give you a Hidden Machine!"

The Hidden Machine he gave me contained a move called Cut. The Cutting Master's Son explained that when the move isn't used in battle, it can be used to cut down trees. Once they walked away, I saw that a tree was blocking my path. Before I could even react, Blaze simply burned down the tree with an Ember attack, and began to walk ahead of me.

"There, now we can go," Blaze said.

"Okay... that works..." I thought as I followed her.

When I continued walking, I was startled by a loud THUMP. Curious, I decided to follow the direction from where it came from, and I saw a man repeatedly ramming himself into a large tree.

"Excuse me, sir, but why are you slamming yourself into that tree?" I asked. "Aren't you seriously hurt by now?"

"Nonsense, I'm not hurt!" the man lied as he faced me with a face full of bruises, missing teeth, and a black eye, "I'm just simply trying to catch a Pokémon by headbutting into the tree! You know, I could teach one of your Pokémon the move Headbutt if you'd like!"

"Umm..." I hesitated, "I guess?"

"Great!" the man exclaimed. "Let's see... which one of your Pokémon looks right for the job? Oh! How about that little one?"

"What, you mean Rose?" I asked as I saw he was pointing to my Togepi's Pokéball. "No no no, she's way too young!"

Suddenly, we were ambushed by a wild Oddish. As I tried to fish for a Pokémon to use to catch it, Rose suddenly popped out of her Pokéball with a determined look on her face.

"Rose, no!" I cried, "You'll get hurt!"

Deaf to my pleas of reconsideration, Rose began to move her tiny little arms back and forth until they began to glow light blue. What happened next had truly surprised me: Rose had swung her glowing right arm into Oddish, knocking it through and wrecking at least five trees. All I could do afterward was stand there mouthing a gape at Rose's stupendous power.

"Was that a...?" I gasped.

"Yep! I used Metronome, and it came out as DynamicPunch!" Rose beamed. "Do you think I'm weak now, Ritsu?"

"Not at all, Rose!" I squeaked as I picked her up. "Do you want to learn Headbutt?"

"Yeah yeah!" Rose exclaimed.

After Rose learned the move, she immediately tested it out by tipping another three trees over. Before she had could do it again, I quickly grabbed her.

"Alright, little missy," I said, "Let's move on before you cause an entire deforestation."

As I continued the walk, I heard a weak groan coming from nearby. The groan turned out to have come from the Oddish that Rose had beaten.

"Are you alright, little Oddish?" I asked.

"Oww..." Oddish groaned, "I've got a few sprains and bruises, but I think I'll be fi—OUCH."

"Let me take you to the Pokémon Center! We're heading to Goldenrod right now!" I insisted.

"I already told you," Oddish winced, "I don't need your help! Now please just go away!"

However, Oddish barely took two steps before keeling over in pain. Struggling to get up, she finally decided to let me take her to treatment.

"I'm glad you saw it my way," I said. "My name is Ritsu, and this is my Togepi, Rose."

"It's nice to meet you," Oddish greeted, "My name is Erin. Ah, can you please hurry and take me to the Pokémon Center?"

"Will do," I replied as I tapped Erin with a Pokéball, causing her to disappear into it in a beam of red light.

The Pokéball lightly shook in my hand three times, then clicked shut. Once I reached Route 34, the sun was already starting to set. As I cut through the grass, I was suddenly ambushed by a Drowzee. I sent Yui out on it, and she quickly attacked with a simple Fury Swipes attack. Drowzee stumbled for a little, but then its eyes began to glow bright blue, and Yui followed suit.

"Yui, use Fury Swipes again!" I called out.

Strangely, Yui's attack failed to commence. No matter how many times she tried to retract her large claws, nothing would happen.

"Gah!" Yui exclaimed, "That stupid Drowzee used a Disable attack on me!"

"Well, then attack with Quick Attack instead!" I suggested.

Luck was on our side since the attack actually hit Drowzee critically. Deciding to catch a new teammate, I tossed my last Pokéball at her, and the capture was a success.

"I'm gonna call you Ellen," I said.

Up ahead, I noticed a Pokémon Day Care. When I approached it, I saw Ethan receiving a blue egg from an old man who appeared to be the proprietor of the building.

"Well, my dear grandson," the Day Care Man said, "Here's your new egg!"

"Thanks, Grandpa!" Ethan exclaimed. "Look, Marill; pretty soon, you're going to have a new baby brother or sister around!"

"Ah, I bet that's gonna be fun..." I heard Marill groan with an obvious disdain in his voice.

"Oh, hiya Ritsu!" Ethan greeted, "Fancy seeing you here! This is my Grandpa; he's the Day Care Man!"

"Pleasure to meet you, sir," I said shaking the old man's hand.

"The pleasure's all mine, young lady," the Day Care Man responded.

"My Nanna's inside; I'll introduce you to her!" Ethan said as he pulled me into the Day Care like an excited kid would their mom. "Nanna, this is Ritsu!"

"Ah, so this is your girlfriend!" the Day Care Lady remarked, "I must say, my young boy, you sure know how to pick 'em!"

"N-Nanna!" Ethan retorted, "I've already told you; my girlfriend's name is Kris, and she's traveling in Kanto until the end of the month! Ritsu's been my best friend since we were little kids!"

"Oopsie! My bad," the Day Care Lady chuckled. "So, what brings ya here, girl? Ya wanna leave a Pokémon with us?"

"No thank you, ma'am," I assured, "I was just on my way to Goldenrod City to battle the Gym Leader."

"Well, okay then, come again soon!" the Day Care Lady said.

"But before you leave, Ritsu," Ethan said, "Let's register each other in our Pokégears."

"Hoo-hoo!" the Day Care Lady chuckled, "You're quite the ladies' man, Ethan!"

"Nanna!" Ethan squeaked once our numbers were registered, "I told you Ritsu's not my girlfriend!"

Once I set foot outside the Pokémon Day Care, Ethan's Grandpa stopped me to register his and his wife's numbers into my Pokégear just in case I wanted to stop by again. Thanking him, I finally managed to cross the city limits into Goldenrod City. However, after the long day I had, I was beginning to feel a little bushed. Once nighttime had fallen, I decided to check myself into a Pokémon Center room so I would be ready to take a detour of the city in the morning.


Pokémon obtained: Erin the Oddish, Female, Quirky nature, Scatters things often.

Ellen the Drowzee, Female, Lax nature, Often lost in thought.

Deaths: None.

Boxed/Unboxed: None.