Critical Hit: Johto Journey
Part 1: The First Steps
In Goldenrod's Pokémon Center, Ethan stared at his Pokégear, a sigh escaping his lips as he dialed his mother's number. Bayleef looked up at him with worry, wondering what was making his trainer so anxious. He wondered what she had thought about as the Pokégear rang, leaning against the west wall of the room. To his surprise, she didn't pick up. He called her again, hoping she'd answer so he could talk to her. At the second ring, she finally answered.
"Hello," she asked, her voice calm.
"Hey, mom," he began, relieved to hear her. "I'm just wondering but—"
"Ethan, I'm sorry."
"Er, what?"
He was a little confused as to why she was apologizing. No, that was an understatement. His mind couldn't process that she was apologizing. She was never one to apologize first, or even attempt to do so.
"I said that I'm sorry," she repeated, unaware of Ethan's minor mental breakdown. "I did a lot of thinking and I realized… I'll lose you, too, if I keep up with what I'm doing. But, Ethan, I want you to understand that what I did was so I can give you the best. I just wanted you to have a better life than I did. I guess I've been trying too hard to be a good mother for you that I ended up pushing you away." She chuckled, but it was half-hearted. "That's something I should be telling your father."
"Mom, you don't have to beat yourself up too hard," joked Ethan, heading out the door of the Pokémon Center with Bayleef following him.
"I know, but I can't believe it's taken me this long, after everything that's happened, to notice my mistakes."
"At least you did notice and admit to it. Not many people can do that. What matters is what you're going to do now that you have caught your mistakes."
"What I'm going to do…"
She trailed off, obviously in thought. Ethan stopped walking, standing in the middle of the sidewalk as people walked around him.
"I'll support you," she replied, her tone a little more upbeat. "It's all I can do while you're away."
"Thanks. I'll call you once in a while and visit when I can."
"Please, be safe. I don't want anything happening to you."
"Okay," chuckled Ethan, spotting Lyra who was leaving the gym. "I'll talk to you later. Bye."
He hung up, putting away his Pokégear, and walked up to Lyra and her Quagsire.
"Lyra! Did you get the badge from Whitney," asked Ethan, catching the girl by surprise.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I did," replied Lyra, grinning proudly. "Voltage and Cascade did their best and pulled through. It was kind of tough, but nothing they couldn't handle."
"You defeated Whitney," said a voice, obviously feminine. Both Ethan and Lyra turned to see a girl wearing a pink blouse and blue pants walk up to them. She appeared to be older than them and had her brown hair done up in a ponytail, a cosmos flower with the scrunchie.
"I did, too," said Ethan, taking advantage of the moment to impress the girl. "She wasn't so tough."
"Is that so," asked the girl, smiling gently. "I hear there's an odd tree on Route 36. They say it dances when you water it. Since you two are such great trainers, maybe you can do something about the tree? If you come with me to the flower shop, I'll give you a Squirtbottle each."
"Sure," said Lyra, smiling happily. "That's really nice of you."
Ethan and Lyra followed the girl to the nearby flower shop, waiting outside for the items they needed to deal with the strange tree. After a few minutes, the girl returned, carrying two Squirtle-shaped watering cans. She gave one two the both of them.
"This should help with the tree," she explained, watching them put away the new items. "Be careful out there."
"Okay! C'mon, Lyra! Ecruteak City is the next place we have to get to," said Ethan, walking toward the north gate of Goldenrod City.
"Wait up," yelled Lyra, quickly switching out her Quagsire for her Noctowl. She ran after Ethan, Zephyr flying as fast as she could to keep up with her trainer. After passing through the gate, they arrived in Route 35, which was mainly a dirt road with fences on the borders. A small lake was nearby and tall grass on the outskirts of the fences. As usual, this route had a couple trainers around, waiting for a challenger. The duo split up to face the other trainers, which helped bring in some much needed money. As they moved through the route, Lyra noticed that the gate at the end of the road was larger than the other gates she's been through.
She looked away from the gate to focus on her current battle, which was against a Juggler named Irwin. He was down to his last Pokémon, which were all Voltorb, and it was defeated by Cascade's Mud Shot. Lyra returned Cascade to her pokéball as the Juggler began to pay her the prize money.
"You're the best I've ever battled," he commented, Lyra blushing from the compliment. "What's your name?"
"Oh, um, Lyra," she replied, playing with her hair.
"Lyra… Hey! Are you the one who saved all the Slowpoke in Azalea?"
"You know about that?"
"Everyone does! And it's no wonder I couldn't beat you! Would it be okay to get your number?"
"Sure, I don't mind."
They exchanged numbers, Lyra now realizing her growing list of contacts in her Pokégear.
"Great," said Irwin excitedly. "I'm not going to miss anything you do from now on!"
"Uh, all right," said Lyra, walking away. She began to question if it was a mistake to give him her number since his comment sounded a little creepy. Aside from a potential stalker, Lyra also received numbers from a Firebreather and a Bug-Catcher in the same route. She had no idea where Ethan had disappeared to, but she figured he wasn't too far away. For the time being, she'll wait for him inside the nearby gate. However, once she walked through the doorway, she found him talking to a guard nearby.
"So, you're saying that I'll get an awesome prize if I win first place," he asked the guard, who nodded. "Sign me up! I'm going to win this thing!"
"What are you signing up for, Ethan," asked Lyra as she approached him.
"A Bug-Catching Contest," replied Ethan, sending out his Flaaffy while handing the guard the pokéballs of his other Pokémon. "You have to catch a really strong bug Pokémon with only one of your Pokémon. You want to join me, Lyra?"
"No way! I'd rather have a Spinarak thrown at me than to be in that contest!"
"Then I guess you can check out the Pokéathlon Dome while I'm in the contest. It's so you're not bored and stuff."
Ethan pointed to the door at the far end of the gate, which reminded Lyra of what Whitney told her not too long ago.
"It definitely sounds more fun than catching bug Pokémon," said Lyra, trying not to think about the Bug-Catching Contest. "I'll be over there, then! If the contest finishes sooner, meet me at the dome, okay?"
"You got it. Good luck over there," said Ethan, walking through the doorway to the National Park as Lyra walked down the hall to the other exit. There was a long straight road that lead right to the Pokéathlon Dome, which was a very large and impressive building. Since she was too distracted looking at the building, Lyra wasn't aware of an old man in a blue coat running straight toward her, a Poliwrath following him. Zephyr grabbed hold of Lyra's overalls with her beak, pulling her to the side to avoid a possible collision. The gesture almost made the Noctowl's trainer fall over from the sudden pull.
"Impressive," said the man in the blue coat, now walking to Lyra. "Your Pokémon pulled you away because it thought you would get hurt… That is true friendship! Your Noctowl is quite a Pokémon!"
Lyra looked over at Zephyr, who quickly turned her head away and stared at the trees nearby.
"I do my best to train her," said Lyra, thinking that Zephyr must be embarrassed.
"I think she's ready to participate in the Pokéathlon! Your solidarity with and trust of Pokémon makes me believe in infinite potential! Please, follow me!"
The old man walked away, heading for the dome as Lyra followed. He stopped before the glass doors, turning around and smiling at Lyra.
"What do you think," he asked proudly. "This is the Pokéathlon Dome! Pokéathlon is a sports festival for trainers and Pokémon. Inside the dome are various challenges awaiting trainers and Pokémon to test their friendship. Why don't you try it?"
"That's pretty much why I came over here. But thanks for explaining the Pokéathlon to me," said Lyra, gazing at the dome.
"You have a lot of potential. It makes me glad that I held the Pokéathlon here in Johto."
"Um, I didn't get your name."
"Oh, it's Magnus," he said, stepping inside the dome. "We'll meet again. See you, young Pokéathlete!"
Lyra felt rather nervous about participating in the Pokéathlon, but it wouldn't be very fun to just sit around and watch. She took a deep breath to calm herself and was about to take a step toward the dome when a dreadful voice stopped her.
"Hey, dumbass," said her Pokédex from her bag. "You should use me to look at your Pokémon."
"Why should I do that," asked Lyra, taking the machine out. However, when she opened it and checked her Pokémon's information, she saw that a new page has been added to show their speed, power, skill, stamina, and jump abilities.
"I bet you didn't know I could show you your Pokémon's Pokéathlon stats! Really, even I can't stop amazing myself," said her Pokédex.
Lyra ignored her Pokédex, instead looking at the stats of her Pokémon. It seemed that Zephyr, Cynder, and Voltage shared a decent jumping ability. Maybe she should enter her Pokémon in that event. Lyra entered the building, wondering what the events would be like for Pokémon with jumping abilities. A room with glowing black tiles and strange light pillars decorating the room is what she was greeted to. Since she had no idea where to go, she walked up to the middle counter.
"Lyra," yelled a familiar voice, causing Lyra to turn and see Whitney.
"Hi, Whitney," said Lyra, amazed to see the gym leader so soon.
"Hey," greeted Whitney, quickly fixing up her white shirt. "Are you here for the Pokéathlon?"
"Yeah, I thought I'd try it out."
"Me, too! I've been so excited since its construction. It's close to Goldenrod City, you know?"
"Uh, yeah. You told me earlier."
Whitney suddenly jumped back in shock, surprising Lyra as well. At first, Lyra thought it was because Whitney couldn't believe she forgot she told Lyra about the Pokéathlon Dome. Although, that idea went flying out the window when the gym leader began to point at Lyra's outfit. Did she realize that Lyra was actually cosplaying?
"Were you going to participate in the Pokéathlon looking like that," asked Whitney in disbelief.
"You mean the Pokéathlon doesn't allow you to cosplay?"
"I have no idea what that is, but what I do know is that you're not prepared! So…" Whitney brought a hand to her chin, staring thoughtfully at Lyra. "Are you a medium or a small? Hm, you look more like a medium."
Lyra pulled at her pigtail, feeling a little uncomfortable that Whitney was making guesses about her size from the way she looked.
"Okay! I'll get you a jersey that suits you. You want to look your best if you're going to participate in the Pokéathlon, don't you," said Whitney, walking away from the counter. "Stay here! I'll be right back!"
Lyra waited, looking up at the monitors to see the current events that were taking place. Some Pokémon were doing very well, which made Lyra wonder if her Pokémon will pose a challenge or not to them. After about ten minutes, Whitney returned with a white plastic shopping bag. She opened it up and handed a jersey and matching pants to Lyra.
"Here you go," said Whitney, folding up the bag. "This is just right for you!"
"Wow," said Lyra, holding up the jersey to look at it. "Thanks, Whitney. It's really nice of you to get me this."
"Go to the restroom and try it on! I want to see how you'll look in them!"
Whitney began to gently push Lyra to the public restroom, obviously eager to see Lyra's new outfit. Zephyr merely followed, not understanding what was going on. In the restroom, Lyra entered an empty stall and changed out of her clothes, putting on the jersey and pants Whitney bought. It fit comfortably, and Lyra really liked how she looked in them. She stepped out of the stall, both Whitney and Zephyr looking up. Zephyr had an indifferent expression, but Whitney grinned, giving Lyra a thumbs-up.
"You look perfect," she said as they walked out of the restroom. "Now that you are ready, I will—Wait! Where are my Pokémon?"
Whitney patted her hands on the trainer belt around her blue shorts and gasped that there weren't any pokéballs clipped to it.
"Agh, I left them at the gym," she sighed in frustration. "I have to go back. See ya!"
Lyra waved at Whitney as she left the dome, and then walked back to the counter she was at a few minutes earlier. The receptionist, who looked eerily similar to the nurses in the Pokémon Centers, smiled politely at Lyra when she stood in front of the counter.
"Welcome," greeted the receptionist, taking out a clipboard with a form on it. "This is the reception for admission. Will you try the Pokéathlon?"
"Yes, please," replied Lyra, her heart pounding with nervousness and excitement.
"Please tell me your name and which course you would like to join."
"My name's Lyra and I want to join the Jump Course."
The receptionist quickly filled out the form, and it was difficult for Lyra to see what, exactly, she was writing. When she was done, she took off the form and placed it on a small pile of other filled-out forms.
"Step this way, please," she said, opening a small door to the side. "The event will begin shortly. Pick which of your Pokémon will participate in the next room."
Lyra picked out Zephyr, Cynder, and Voltage's pokéballs, hoping that they'll do well in the event. She left her other Pokémon with another receptionist before stepping outside to the stadium. Here, she was directed to where the event was being held, joining up with three other participants. There was a stage with a microphone and a familiar man standing on it. At first, Lyra thought it was Primo, the man Ethan got an autograph from in Violet City. Closer inspection showed that he was an entirely different person.
"Welcome to the Pokéathlon," he began, his voice loud and clear. "I am Maximo, and I will be your announcer! Today's event is the Jump Course! Who will shine brightest today? Let's meet the competitors!"
Lyra glanced behind her, seeing the Pokémon that belonged to the other participants.
"Strength isn't everything," continued Maximo. "Strategy is another important factor to success! Team Lyra has Zephyr, Cynder, and Voltage! Why can you jump that high? Simple, it's because it's all you can do. Team Mendel has Magikarp, Goldeen, and Remoraid!"
Lyra thought it was kind of funny to see the fish Pokémon flopping around behind their trainer, but she knew it was best to not underestimate the opponent.
"Jump to victory! Jump to the other side of victory! Team Pia has Farfetch'd, Pidgey, and Spearow! I can fly with these Pokémon so far! Over the rainbow! Team Krise has Ledyba, Spinarak, and Paras!"
Lyra shuddered upon hearing the final three Pokémon, suddenly regretting to join this event.
"All right, we're ready," announced Maximo, the people in the stadium cheering. "Aim for the top! Let's Pokéathlon!"
The first event was the Lamp Jump, which Lyra was unfamiliar with. She quickly read up on the rules to understand what had to be done. It seemed fairly simple, but the other competitors made her a little nervous if they would do much better. Her Pokémon did their best to touch the lit up lamps, occasionally crashing into one another. However, in this event, they ended up in last place. Though Lyra thought it was a lot of fun, Voltage was very annoyed that they lost and was more annoyed by the fact that the one she crashed into the most was Cynder. Not that Cynder was bothered by it.
The next event was Disc Catch, which reminded Lyra of catching Frisbees in school. She was kind of bad at it, but she was sure that her Pokémon would do much better. Zephyr did a lot of catching, Cynder caught whatever disc flew toward him as he stood in a spot away from the other Pokémon, and Voltage aggressively pushed the other Pokémon so she could catch the discs. Lyra was amazed that her Pokémon won first place in this event, which made her very happy and proud of them.
The final event was Hurdle Dash, an event that worried Lyra since she doubted that her Pokémon specialized in speed. She could only cross her fingers as her Pokémon raced through the track and jumped over the hurdles. They occasionally crashed into the hurdles, but they quickly pulled through and continued running. Zephyr made it in first, Cynder in fourth, and Voltage in tenth, which frustrated the Flaaffy. Though, speed never was her forte.
"Good job, guys," said Lyra, congratulating her Pokémon by petting them. "We had a rough start, but I think we made up for it!"
She led her Pokémon back to where the stage was, waiting for everyone else to join. When everyone had gathered, Maximo walked to the stage, tapping on the microphone to get their attention.
"Great job, athletes," began Maximo, the audience cheering. "Which team fought the hardest? We've got the results! But first… Who's overflowing with fighting spirit? A challenge bonus for Pokémon and team!"
Lyra watched as her screen showed 32 points, which she realized was the least compared to everyone else.
"Thirty-two points for Team Lyra! Forty-four points for Team Mendel! Forty points for Team Pia! Thirty-nine points for Team Krise! Continuing on, the individual prizes… There wasn't one this time. Moving on… The points leader! Team Krise's Ledyba! Next up… The prize for effort! The Pokémon that hit the most… Team Mendel's Magikarp!"
Lyra heard Voltage huff at that, and she looked over her shoulder to see the Flaaffy looking away from all the other Pokémon. She had no idea that Voltage was growing more aggravated by these losses.
"Finally," continued Maximo, clearing his throat. "We'll add up the event points!"
Lyra watched as the points began to add up on her screen, crossing her fingers in hopes of winning. However, when she looked over at the other screens, she knew who the winner was.
"The overall winner, with 315 points… Team Krise," announced Maximo with excitement.
Lyra clapped with everyone else for the winner, confetti sprinkling down from above. Though she came in second place, Lyra was happy that she and her Pokémon had a lot of fun in the event. But, she couldn't speak for Voltage, who was sulking from this loss. Lyra led her Pokémon out of the stadium as the winner received her medal and returned them to their pokéballs when she was back in the lobby.
"Good job," said the receptionist while Lyra made her way to the front of the counter. "You will receive Athlete Points based on your score. This time, Lyra's score was 293! Earned 293 points!"
The receptionist scanned a plastic red card and handed it to Lyra, who put it away in her bag.
"That card is where all your Athlete Points will be stored," explained the receptionist. "You can use the points to buy special items for sale at the counter to your right. Please visit us again next time!"
Lyra nodded and walked over to the restroom to change back into her regular clothes. After changing, she stuffed her jersey into her bag and walked out, heading outside to see if Ethan was done with the Bug-Catching Contest. When she was out in the fresh afternoon air, she saw a middle-aged man, who was balding at the top of his head, wearing a white shirt and brown pants. What really got her attention was the camera around his neck.
"Excuse me," said Lyra, walking up to him. "Are you—"
"Hello! Just when you least expect it! I am Cameron the Photographer," said the man, quickly grabbing his camera. "You look so photogenic! Why not have a picture taken?"
"Um, okay."
Lyra sent out the rest of her Pokémon to take a picture with her. After a few moments, Cameron took the picture, which came out of the camera. He quickly waved the photograph in the air before giving it to Lyra, who saw the image slowly show up.
"Good, good," said Cameron excitedly. "We've got a nice picture!"
Before Lyra could thank him, Cameron already walked away, taking random pictures of whatever was around. She decided to head back to the gate down the road, hoping that the Bug-Catching Contest was over. Back in the gate, she couldn't find Ethan there, so it was assumed that he was in the National Park. She walked on the paved road, looking around for Ethan. She eventually found him standing in front of a large fountain that was in the middle of the park.
"Ethan," called out Lyra, running up to him. "How did you do?"
"I freaking sucked," said Ethan flatly. "Or so they tell me. I spend almost fifteen minutes looking for a strong, rare Pokémon, and I eventually find a Pinsir. I tried really hard to have Flaaffy weaken it so I can catch it."
"But, you didn't catch it?"
"No, I did catch it. Thing is, when our time was up and the judges checked our Pokémon, the guy who caught a Metapod won. All I got as a prize was a stupid Sitrus Berry. So, how'd you do in the Pokéathlon?"
"Oh, I got second place. We were really close, too, but it's okay because we had fun."
"Well, we should probably head on to Ecruteak. We're kind of getting distracted with this, but it's better than Voltorb Flip."
"What are you talking about? Voltorb Flip is the best!"
As they argued about the great distraction that is Voltorb Flip, they walked over to the east gate of the National Park, heading to Route 36. The route only had two other trainers there, along with a large patch of tall grass. Ethan found and caught a Growlithe that was in said tall grass, saying that he needed a Fire-type in his team. Lyra couldn't find anything cute to add to her own team. There were also Vulpix, which she thought were adorable, but she already had Cynder as her main Fire-type. She hoped to add another cute Pokémon soon since Ethan's team was larger than hers.
"Bolly! What an exquisite Growlithe," commented Ethan's Pokédex from his backpack. "Such a magnificent beast deserves an equally fitting nickname, wouldn't you say?"
"I guess," said Ethan with a shrug. "But until I come up with one, we'll just not give him a nickname for now."
At the end of the route, a brown-haired girl wearing a white dress with red rose patterns on it stood in front of a strange-looking tree. She stared at it with bewilderment and curiosity, not quite sure how to deal with the odd tree. She noticed Ethan and Lyra approaching, turning to them happily in hopes that they would help her.
"Hello," she began politely, smiling gently. "I'm the Flower Shop's Floria. I heard about this weird tree and came here to check it out. I'm positive that it's a Pokémon because it jumped up when I sprinkled water on it!"
"A Pokémon," asked Lyra, wondering what kind of Pokémon it was.
"That makes a lot of sense," said Ethan, looking over to the tree Pokémon. "Good thing we got the Squirtbottles in Goldenrod."
"Squirtbottles," said Floria in confusion, but quickly understood what he was talking about. "In that case, could you water the tree for me? I'd like to see what happens."
"For you, baby, I'd do anything."
"I'm already working on it," yelled Lyra, looking over her shoulder as she watered the tree with her Squirtbottle.
"Aw, Lyra! Why couldn't you wait and let me handle it?"
"'Cause I already knew that the tree had to be watered. It's not my fault you're too slow and easily distracted by girls."
"Lyra, watch out!"
Zephyr pulled at Lyra's overalls, causing her to fall back as the tree Pokémon slammed a branch-like arm on the ground where she was previously standing. Lyra quickly got up and switched out Zephyr with Voltage.
"Use Thunder Wave," ordered Lyra as Voltage stepped in front of her trainer.
"That's not going to work," said Ethan, who was now standing to the side by Lyra. "I heard that thing is like a rock. That means that it's definitely a Rock-type, and those types usually have immunity to electric attacks."
However, Voltage's Thunder Wave successfully paralyzed the odd tree Pokémon, but it didn't stop it from using Flail.
"You were saying," asked Lyra to Ethan. "Voltage, use Thundershock!"
"Oh, shit. It worked. But, that means… It must be a pure Rock-type," mused Ethan, watching the Flaaffy attack with Thundershock as the tree Pokémon's paralysis hindered it from retaliating. Voltage quickly followed up with another Thundershock, seeing that the opponent's paralysis was working in her favor. Lyra threw a pokéball at the strange Pokémon since it was weakened, its body drawn into the ball. The ball fell on the floor, shaking back and forth until it clicked.
"All right! I caught it," said Lyra excitedly, running up to the ball and picking it up.
"What was that Pokémon," asked Floria, joining them.
"Let's see…" Lyra took out her Pokédex, checking the new page of information on the recently caught Pokémon. "It's a Sudowoodo, a Rock-type Pokémon."
"It doesn't have a second type," asked Ethan, looking over Lyra's shoulder to see the info on Sudowoodo.
"Nope. It really is a pure Rock-type!"
"I'd like to thank you both for coming all the way here to help me," said Floria, walking over to where two large, brown paper bags were lying on the ground. She picked them up and handed one bag to each of them.
"Those are Berry Pots," she explained as Ethan and Lyra took them out and examined them. "You'll be able to grow any berry from any region with no worries! I put a small bag of berries inside, too, so you can start growing new berries. It'd be pointless to have Berry Pots with no berries, right?"
"It's like having a Wii but with no games to play," agreed Lyra, putting away the new gifts in her bag.
"Exactly! Remember to water the berries from time to time when they're growing. You'll have more berries that way. Well, I have to go back to Goldenrod. Are you heading for Ecruteak?"
"Yeah, the next gym is there," replied Ethan, zipping up his backpack after putting away his own Berry Pots.
"It's just north from here. Drop by the Flower Shop whenever you're in Goldenrod!"
Floria walked away, heading toward the National Park. Ethan and Lyra continued on, walking on the grassy path that wove through the trees. It didn't take long for them to make it to Route 37, and a very tall tower in Ecruteak was clearly visible from where they were. It was no wonder that Ethan told Lyra that Goldenrod and Ecruteak had some of the tallest buildings. And that was just Johto. Lyra couldn't imagine any other buildings taller than the one she could see in Ecruteak. A couple trainers slowed them down, but they eventually passed through the gate to the city.
A Pokémon Center was located fairly close to the gate, and Lyra and Ethan's Pokémon needed to be healed after all the hard battling they endured on the way. Inside, a brown-haired man in a long-sleeved white button-up shirt and blue pants stood in front of the counter. He and the nurse were talking about some subject or other. When the duo approached from behind, the nurse peered over, gesturing the man to look back.
"Hi, I'm Bill," he greeted upon seeing Lyra and Ethan. "And who are you?"
"I'm Ethan, and this is Lyra," replied Ethan, pointing at himself and Lyra respectively.
"Hm, Ethan and Lyra, huh? Just wondering, but do you know who created the Pokémon Storage System for Kanto and Johto?"
"Isn't it some nerd who's obsessed with Pokémon? What was his name? Bob? Something like that."
"Actually, it's Bill… Me."
"And it's a great system you created! Right, Lyra? It's because of you that we can catch Pokémon and help Professor Elm and Oak with their research," quickly added Ethan, trying to save himself from the insult he unintentionally directed to Bill.
"Ah, well, it couldn't have been done by me alone," explained Bill, quite flattered by Ethan's compliments. "For example, in the Hoenn region, this girl Lanette made the Pokémon Storage System easier to use. I have friends all over the world who are working together to improve the Pokémon trade and storage systems."
"That sounds like a lot of work," said Lyra, wondering about the other regions. "But it's certainly helping everybody."
"That it is! I'm afraid that I must be going now. I have to hurry on back to Goldenrod and see my folks. Bye!"
Lyra and Ethan watched Bill leave the Pokémon Center before handing their Pokémon to the nurse for healing. Now that they've arrived in a new city, they were eager to see the sights that Ecruteak had to offer. Of course, one of the most important sights was the gym, which Ethan wanted to see after their Pokémon healed. After receiving their healed Pokémon, they walked out of the Pokémon Center to head over to the gym, which was nearby. However, they had only taken a few steps when they heard a woman's scream. Ethan and Lyra exchanged glances before rushing off in the direction of the scream, and that turned out to be in the dance theater just behind the Pokémon Center.
"Well, it's official," sighed Leaf, watching the commercials on her television. "This has been the most boring week of my life. I kind of forgot how much being grounded sucks."
Static, her Raichu, gave her a look as if she were insane. Then again, Static always loved to sit back and relax. In fact, sleeping was his favorite activity, something he'd do all the time if he could. Leaf, on the other hand, felt that this was all torture by keeping her in the house.
"I have to do a lot of researching and write reports for Professor Oak to make up for this," she said to her Togetic, who was sitting beside her on the rug. Leaf was so bored that she even watched the late night news since there weren't any other good programs to watch. Though, tonight's broadcast was interesting since one of the reports was on Cycling Road. The sea levels around the road were rising, flooding it. It wasn't a lot of water, but it hindered bicycles from riding smoothly. Celadon and Fuchsia City are considering on building an efficient bridge to keep the cyclists and tourists they get.
There was also the news on Pokémon Tower being remodeled to become Kanto's Radio Tower since the Pokégear was growing quickly in popularity. Mr. Fuji was in charge of moving the graves to a nearby memorial site. Leaf felt uneasy watching this piece of news, but she found the whole thing to be a little disturbing. The abandoned Power Plant near Lavender Town, the building where Leaf found and caught the legendary Zapdos, was being remodeled as well and will be fully operational in a couple of months. And the Safari Zone over in Fuchsia City was being closed down because the warden wanted to move it to Johto. However, plans were being made to change the old Safari Zone into a Pal Park.
Over in Saffron City, houses and buildings were being demolished to build the station for the Magnet Train. The city paid compensation and bought new homes for the people who had to leave the houses that were torn down. Celadon City had to remove their slot machines in the Game Corner since there were many complaints that it was encouraging gambling for the teenagers in the city. That and the fact that Team Rocket owned the Game Corner. Of course, after their defeat to Leaf and Red, they sold the Game Corner to a billionaire. He complied with Celadon's demands to remove the slot machines, and he remodeled the building and added a new game called Voltorb Flip.
As for news on the Elite Four, Koga officially joined them, and his daughter, Janine, signed up and became the new gym leader of Fuchsia. The Elite Four also found two other trainers to fill in the empty places that Lorelei and Agatha left when they retired. One was a purple-haired man by the name of Will, who wore formal clothes and a mask over his eyes, and the other was a woman with long, silver hair named Karen. They specialized in training Psychic-type and Dark-type Pokémon respectively. Leaf thought they would be interesting to meet and talk to, hoping to do so someday soon.
The other gym leaders were almost finished with the remodeling of their gyms, which made Leaf wonder what the buildings looked like now after the last time she saw them. Still, all these new changes were amazing to her. She only wished that Red was also here to see them. Or maybe he already knew, wherever he was. Leaf sighed, hugging her legs as she watched a commercial for the Wii. The commercial reminded her that she should go buy the new console since her NES was very outdated. She grabbed the remote nearby, pushing the power button to turn off the TV. With nothing else to do and already in her blue pajama bottoms and black t-shirt, she figured she should just go to sleep. Besides, it was past midnight, and he still hadn't—
The sound of a tap on her window caused Leaf to jump out of fright, surprising both Static and Togetic. She looked over and saw Blue looking in, waiting for her to open the window. A sigh of relief escaped her lips as she got up and opened the window, letting him inside.
"Let me guess," began Leaf, closing the window once Blue was in her room. "You had Machamp give you a boost up, right?"
"Hey, it's the quietest way to sneak in your room. You already know that."
"I didn't think you'd come over today since you hadn't called at all. I was about to go to sleep."
"It's been really busy at the gym," explained Blue, sitting down on her bed. "Feels like I'm getting more challengers by the day."
"That's because you leave your gym a lot, and the number of challengers starts adding up," said Leaf matter-of-factly, sitting next to him on the bed.
"You're one of the reasons why I leave the gym a lot."
"Says the one who comes looking for me most of the time."
She playfully bumped her shoulder against his arm, shoving him lightly. He did the same back to her, but with a little more force. Leaf bumped him back, the shove rather rough and even pushed him a bit. Blue's next shove wasn't too surprising being how the game was progressing – the push ended up making her fall on her side on the bed. Static and Togetic seemed to laugh at what was going on, watching the both of them amusedly.
"Warn me before you push me like that," said Leaf, quickly sitting up. She hooked right her arm around his neck and gave him a noogie as he tried to pull away from her.
"You're messing up my hair!"
"And you're going to wake up my mom if you keep talking so loud."
Blue broke free from her hold, giving her an annoyed look while she giggled. He ran his hands through his hair, trying to fix it up without help from a mirror since Leaf didn't have one in her room.
"I'm so glad that tomorrow I'll be free," said Leaf, lying down while watching Blue fix his messy hair. "And I'm going to do everything I can to not get grounded again. It's really boring to be in my room all day, every day."
"How the hell were you able to do that before Gramps gave you Charmander," asked Blue, lying down beside her.
"It's not 'Charmander', it's Flare! That's what I named him. And I was able to sit in my room all day long because there wasn't any other place I could go to. Well, there was the library, but that's not much better than being in my room."
"Poor Leaf. Looks like not having a social life stunted your growth."
"Sh-shut up," said Leaf, punching Blue in the arm. "That was then. I made a lot of friends when traveling around Kanto, so I'm a social Butterfree now."
"A miniature social Butterfree."
"Stop calling me short!"
Leaf grabbed her pillow and hit Blue with it, who raised his hands to defend himself.
"Calm down, Leaf! I didn't, exactly, call you short, did I," asked Blue, causing Leaf to stop attacking with her pillow. She looked down, obviously thinking it over.
"Technically, you didn't," agreed Leaf, hitting him again with her pillow. "And that's for being a smart-ass."
"It's not my fault that I'm a genius."
Leaf placed the pillow under her head, staring up at the ceiling. She began to wonder what she should do tomorrow to celebrate her freedom of being grounded. Her brown eyes lit up as an idea came into mind.
"Blue, let's go buy some Wiis tomorrow," she said, turning her head to look at his reaction.
"A Wii? That new console, right," asked Blue, meeting Leaf's gaze.
"Yep, that's the one."
"Sure, why not? It's always good to have nice things, especially when you have really old things."
"The NES isn't that bad. It's still a lot of fun to play. It just doesn't have the graphics, Internet access, and memory blocks that the Wii has."
Blue raised an eyebrow at her questioningly, Leaf finally realizing what she had said.
"That's not really helping my argument, is it," she asked, Blue smiling lightly in response. "Well, anyway, I think that sports game looks like a lot of fun. Um, Blue?"
"Yeah?"
"Should we… Buy another Wii for Red? His birthday passed a few months ago, and it'd be nice if we got him something, even if it is really late. Just to show that we still remember."
It was Blue's turn to look up at the ceiling, thinking about what Leaf said. Though Blue was still angry about Red's sudden disappearance, he wouldn't admit that he actually missed the quiet boy. Red was, along with Leaf, his closest friend years ago. Back then, Red was the best person for Blue to talk to, ironically. Leaf wasn't the greatest listener of Pallet Town since her mind was easily distracted by the many ideas she'd get, or she'd be in such intense concentration or thought that she'd ignore everything around her. Even now, while she has improved in picking up on people's feelings, she didn't always listen, especially if she was researching and writing reports or stressing about doing those things. There were also certain things that Blue just couldn't talk about with Leaf, instead going to Red about them. Just as Blue missed Leaf as a friend, he also missed Red because it had always been the three of them together.
"Blue? Are you okay," asked Leaf, tugging at his jacket sleeve to get his attention.
"I'm fine, just a little tired," he replied, rubbing his eyes a bit with both hands.
"But what about—"
"Yeah, we'll get him one, too. It wouldn't be fair if we got a Wii and he didn't."
Leaf moved so that she was lying on her side, leaning close to Blue and kissing his cheek.
"Thanks, Blue," she said, lying on her back again.
"A kiss on the cheek? Really? We're not in kindergarten, you know."
"I know that! It's just… Togetic and Static are watching. It feels a little weird to kiss in front of them."
"Compared to Tyranitar and Flare, I'd rather have them watching," said Blue, pulling Leaf close to him. However, Blue had the air knocked out of him when Leaf's Raichu jumped on him while Togetic gently landed beside Leaf.
"Aw, they want to join us," said Leaf, watching Togetic snuggle next to her.
"Great," commented Blue sarcastically as Static lied on his stomach and went to sleep.
"Hm, he's sure taking a while," said Leaf to Flare as they waited outside of Viridian's gym. Leaf straightened out her white dress with pink polka dots for the hundredth time and adjusted the strap of her purse. The Charizard looked displeased that his trainer was made to wait. Already as it was, Flare greatly disliked that brown-haired boy with the smug, cocky attitude. Hell, he didn't like him from day one, when he first battled against the boy's Squirtle and saw how the trainer behaved. It got worse from there after every encounter/battle with him, the encounter in Pokémon Tower in particular. Though Flare was sent out in the late part of the battle, he didn't need to know the previous events before the battle to know that his trainer was terrified out of her mind. The way she gave orders—her voice was shaky, and she was breathing rapidly, a direct contrast to the confident voice she used to direct her Pokémon—was a dead giveaway that Leaf was afraid.
Flare battled to his fullest potential against the boy's Exeggcute and Kadabra, defeating them as quickly as he could to get his trainer away from whatever it was that was making her scared. Yet, when he watched that boy interact with Leaf, he noticed, to his astonishment, that she was growing a little calmer, even when he insulted her about having nothing to accomplish. When the boy tried to leave, Leaf screamed and asked him to stay with her until Red returned. Flare easily detected that pleading voice she used and realized that she was practically begging. The then-Charmeleon didn't take much liking to that. Leaf had recently won a battle, proving that she was currently the strongest trainer between them, and there she was, showing weakness. But, what really set Flare off was, after all that, that boy refused to stay with her.
Flare knew that, despite how intensely he disliked that brown-haired boy, Leaf would be happy, albeit for a moment, to have him with her. So, he growled in the most menacing way he could to intimidate the human, which worked according to plan. From the corner of his eye, he watched his trainer and that boy talk, though it seemed that Leaf was growing irritable from the boy's presence. Flare thought it would have been best if the boy had just left, but no, the Charmeleon just had to feel the slightest of affection towards his trainer and forced the boy to stay.
Of course, that was a year ago, and so much had happened during the past year. Though, one of the things that the now-Charizard didn't expect was for his trainer to develop an infatuation with that smug boy. Even now, he refused to acknowledge that boy by his name, despite that Leaf wouldn't understand him anyway. Flare couldn't quite understand what it was that drew her in to him like a Volbeat to an Illumise.
The sound of giggling drew the Charizard's attention to a group of girls that was walking by. Leaf looked up, surprise in her eyes, and quickly walked over to the group. Flare obediently followed her, not sure just what his trainer was about to do.
"Um, hey," called out Leaf, getting the girls' attention. They looked at her with disapproval, already rejecting whatever she was about to say. However, Leaf, who was unfortunately still rather oblivious to the hidden undertones of others, didn't notice the way they were looking at her.
"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry about what I said the other day," said Leaf, moving strands of hair out of her face. "I don't know what came over me. I don't usually act like that."
"You know," began the first girl, who seemed to be leading this little group. "If you're going to be two-faced, at least make one of them pretty."
"Two-faced?"
"I feel bad that Blue is with someone like you," commented the second girl. "I'm sure he'll come to his senses soon."
The other girls laughed, and the group walked away, saying, "Bye, faker!"
Flare thought they had another thing coming if they could just insult his trainer and walk away without suffering any consequences. A spark of fire formed in his mouth, but Leaf reached up and began to pet him, calming him down a little.
"No, don't do that," she said softy. "I deserved that for acting like a jerk to them before. I'm never doing something like that ever again."
Flare snorted at that, making Leaf laugh a little. The door of the gym opened up, Leaf and Flare turning their heads to see who was leaving. To Leaf's delight, Blue walked out, his Tyranitar following him.
"Sorry about making you wait," began Blue as Leaf walked up to him to hug him. "There were some things I had to—"
Tyranitar suddenly stepped in front of Blue, intercepting Leaf's incoming hug. Tyranitar happily hugged back Leaf, obviously thrilled to see her again. However, Flare pulled Leaf away, glaring at the Tyranitar for his behavior. Leaf was confused about what was going on but went to greet Blue, who was a little annoyed that Tyranitar beat him to the hug.
"So, are you ready to go buy the Wii consoles," asked Leaf, looking quite excited.
"Sure," he replied with a small shrug. He felt a little nervous that Tyranitar and Flare were watching them intently, very discontent that Blue was too close to Leaf. Leaf, oblivious as always, gently grabbed his hand and lead the way to the electronics store, Flare and Tyranitar following close behind. The two Pokémon growled at each other occasionally, finding the other's presence intolerable.
"Here it is," said Leaf excitedly, looking up at the building. Inside, all the electronics were separated into sections. Televisions on the farthest side, refrigerators and washing machines on the left, and computers to the right with video games, music CDs, and Pokégears in the middle of the large store.
"They don't allow Pokémon inside," said Blue, pointing at a sign on the window. The sign indicated that Pokémon may damage the products inside and must be kept in a pokéball at all times, especially if they were Electric-types. Both Tyranitar and Flare huffed at that, as if they were completely harmless. However, Leaf and Blue knew better of their capabilities, and they returned the Pokémon to their pokéballs before stepping inside the store. They went straight to the video game section, picked up three boxes of Wii consoles, and waited in the shortest line of the available cash registers. After about five minutes of waiting, they were finally able to pay for their consoles to take home. They walked through Route 1, Leaf carrying a bag with her Wii in it, while Blue carried his and Red's. On their way home, Leaf asked something that Blue wasn't expecting.
"Blue, can you say that thing," she asked as Blue raised an eyebrow at her in response. "You know, what you said when you saw Red and me in the S. S. Anne."
Blue was silent for a moment, trying to remember what she was talking about. The memory suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks.
"Seriously? You want me to say that? Just say it yourself if you want to hear it," he said, annoyed that she would ask such a question.
"C'mon! I want to hear you say it!"
"No."
"Please?"
"I said 'no.'"
"Jerk."
She looked off to the side, staring at the edge of the road so she wouldn't look at Blue. In her head, she began counting down. Three… Two… One…
"I'm just going to say it once," said Blue, Leaf looking back at him with an innocent smile. "Got it? Just once."
"Okay. Say it whenever you're ready," said Leaf, unable to hold back her eager grin. "But you have to say it like you did that time."
Blue sighed and stopped walking, setting down one of the bags, before taking a deep breath to prepare himself for what he was about to say.
"Bonjour," he said confidently, adding a pose of his hand near his forehead. Leaf smiled, chuckling a little.
"You're so lame," commented Leaf with a small laugh.
"What do you mean I'm lame," he asked defensively.
"Because you can't say 'no' to me," she said, giving him a wink.
He just watched her walk ahead of him, a little surprised of her flirtatious, albeit slightly, behavior. He wouldn't complain though, or even argue with her, since he was aware that he struggled to refuse Leaf whatever she wanted from him. Of course, there were still a couple things he could refuse her, mind you. It wasn't in his nature to be too permissive.
"We'll see who's lame when I own you in the tennis game," said Blue, picking up the bag and catching up with Leaf.
"Bring it on," said Leaf, turning around briefly to look at him. "And I think you should check out some French books."
It didn't take long to set up the Wii in Blue's room. There weren't that many cords and the instruction manual made it much clearer, though Blue didn't take a single glance at the manual. Leaf was the one who was reading it, checking up on how to set up the Wii and problems that may occur with it. Daisy was sitting on Blue's computer chair, curious about the new home console and the game that came with it.
Leaf and Blue did kill a little time dropping off Red's Wii at his house. Hazel looked very happy that they bought him one and told them that it was a great birthday gift. However, Leaf thought it was disappointing that Red wasn't around to enjoy his present. She figured it would be a surprise for him whenever he came back from who-knows-where.
"There, it's all set," said Blue after plugging in the cord that powers the console.
"And I put the batteries in the remotes, so they're ready to go," added Leaf, handing one of the Wii-motes to Blue.
Daisy watched eagerly as the console was powered on. The TV screen lit up into a black screen with a health warning on it, which changed into the home page when Leaf pressed the A button to continue. The first Leaf did was to set up the time and day on it, and as she did that, Blue took out the Wii Sports game out of its case and put it in the drive. After a few moments, the game showed up in one of the menu channels, to which Leaf clicked on and loaded the game. A white screen showed up, saying to not stand too close to anything or anyone. The game screen appeared, displaying the sports available for play. There was tennis, bowling, baseball, golf, and boxing.
"Leaf," began Daisy, Leaf turning her head to look at her. "Is it all right if I try first? This looks like a lot of fun."
"Oh, sure," said Leaf, passing her remote to Daisy. Leaf didn't mind, especially when Daisy hardly ever played any video games.
"Blue, which game do you want to play," asked Daisy, an unusual competitive streak in her green eyes.
"I was going to play the tennis one, but I'll save that for when I'm playing against Leaf. So… You want to try bowling?"
Daisy nodded, and Blue used the remote to pick bowling. A menu showed up, showing how to play and use the controls. Daisy did small motions with her remote, practicing a little before the main game. Leaf sat down on Blue's bed, watching them play. At first, everything was going well… Until Daisy accidentally let go of her remote in the end of a throw, sending the remote flying into the TV. A loud crack could be heard from the collision, Daisy covering her mouth with her hand in surprise.
"Jeez, Daisy, are you trying to break my TV," asked Blue, pausing the game and checking the screen.
"That was an accident," said Daisy, walking over and picking up the remote. She checked it over for any breaks or dents, but it seemed perfectly fine. As for the television screen, there was a small scratch on it, but Daisy decided to keep quiet about that.
"Whoops," said Leaf, taking out some straps from the Wii box. "I forgot to tie in the wrist straps for the remotes."
"Way to go, Leaf," said Blue, handing her his remote as Daisy did the same. Leaf just chuckled as she tied the straps on the remotes. She passed them back to Blue and Daisy for them to continue on with their game. Daisy won the match with just a few more points thanks to the last strike that she got.
"You were just lucky," said Blue, crossing his arms over his chest.
"My turn," said Leaf, quickly getting off the bed to switch places with Daisy. Leaf secured the wrist strap, ensuring that she wouldn't throw it on accident, as Daisy sat down on the bed to watch. Blue changed the game to tennis, which Leaf was prepared for. The controls were simple enough, mainly motion-focused, and the game soon began. Again, things were running along smoothly. However, about halfway in their game, Leaf took a step too close to Blue as she swung her arm to hit the virtual tennis ball. Her hand, with the Wii-mote, smacked into Blue's face, the sound possibly loud enough to be heard downstairs.
"I swear, I didn't mean to do that," said Leaf in panic as Blue quickly covered his nose with both hands.
"Blue, are you all right," asked Daisy, getting up from the bed and checking on her younger brother.
"Does it look like I'm all right," asked Blue, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Leaf gently pulled one of his hands away to get a better look. His nose was rather red from the smack, but there wasn't anything serious like a massive nosebleed or a broken nose.
"You'll be okay," said Leaf, giving him a reassuring smile.
"I think we should stop playing now," said Daisy, looking over at the Wii. "This thing is kind of dangerous."
"No kidding," commented Blue, turning off the Wii and TV.
A/N: The Wii is a dangerous console. I'm very sorry that it took so long for this story to be updated. I was really stressed out when I was writing this chapter, which I guess is kind of obvious since it isn't that funny, and I altogether stopped writing because I just couldn't do this when things were too much for me. Anyway, to my anonymous reviewers, I have made it possible for you to ask me any questions, or just talk to me, about my stories, headcanons, or any other random things. I've created a Tumblr account, where I blog about Pokemon, my other fandoms, and the occasional personal stuff. The link is in my profile, and everyone else is welcome to check my blog and ask me whatever is on your mind. Thank you all for reading, reviewing, and being so patient with me!
