Chapter 8
Elise woke up in her bed beneath Johnny's at the Pokemon Center. It was still slightly dark. She closed her eyes, willing herself to go back to sleep, but after half an hour she got up. Gem poked her head out from under the covers and looked at her trainer curiously.
"I'm just gonna go for a walk Gem," Elise whispered, pulling on her shoes. The Eevee crawled out of the bed and shook herself.
"Eevee," she said softly. Elise smiled down at her.
"Well I could definitely do with some company," she responded softly. She opened the door as quietly as she could and slipped out into the corridor. There were a couple of trainers in the cafeteria, up early to either train or to get ready to face the gym leader. In the corner there was a girl talking to a massive orange and white crab Pokemon. It had huge pincers and looked quite menacing. Elise opened her pokedex curiously.
"Kingler, the evolved form of Krabby. A Pincer Pokémon whose claws can pinch with the power of 10,000 horsepower." The girl had heard Elise's pokedex and looked up at her. She had white-blonde hair and piercing ice blue eyes. She was dressed in a light green tank top and light blue denim shorts with white shoes. When she stood up she was quite a bit taller than Elise, probably a couple of years older too.
"Come to admire my Kingler?" she asked with a warm smile. Elise blushed slightly.
"Sorry, I've just never seen a Pokemon like that before. It's massive," she added.
"Yeah this is Queen, I named her that because it's kinda awkward calling her a Kingler," she said with a laugh. Elise laughed too.
"So are you getting ready to fight the gym leader?" Elise asked curiously. The girl nodded.
"Queen and I have been training for the last two weeks against other trainers that come here to battle him and I think we're finally ready. Are you?" Elise giggled.
"Oh no, I only started my Pokemon journey a couple of days ago. Gem and I aren't ready to battle a gym leader yet," she indicated her Eevee.
"Wow you started off with an Eevee? I'm so jealous!" she exclaimed, crouching down in front of Gem and examining her enthusiastically.
"Yeah I wanted a Charmander at first, but Mum and Dad surprised me with her and I think she's amazing," Elise gushed.
"She's in really good shape for a Pokemon that you only got a couple of days ago," the girl said, clearly impressed, "I just realised that I haven't introduced myself, I'm Arianna."
"It's nice to meet you, I'm Elise."
"So if you're not challenging the gym leader, why are you up so early?" Arianna asked curiously.
"Well I thought I'd go ahead to Route 22 and train a bit with Gem before my friends wake up," Elise explained.
"Oh you're travelling with others? That's so cool! I've been travelling on my own around Kanto and it's not as much fun as having friends around." At that moment a guy came running into the Pokemon Center carrying three pokeballs. His face was pale and he looked upset.
"Nurse Joy! I need you to heal my Pokemon!" he cried. A woman with pink hair and kind eyes came bustling out with a large pink and white Pokemon at her side with a nurse's cap on.
"Chansey and I will have your Pokemon all healed up soon," she said, taking the pokeballs from the upset trainer.
"Chansey Chansey!" the Pokemon at her side chanted.
"Guess he wasn't ready to face the gym leader," Arianna observed sympathetically, "well I'd better go wait my turn, it was really nice to meet you." Elise smiled back at her.
"It was nice to meet you too." Arianna left with Kingler in her wake. Elise hoped that she would win the against the gym leader.
"Well come on Gem," Elise said to her Pokemon. They left the Pokemon Center and turned into Route 22, which leads to the Indigo Plateau, where the Pokemon League is held. They walked along the route quietly for about ten minutes before Elise heard a rustling in the long grass at the edge of the path. Gem twitched her ears curiously. Suddenly a Pokemon burst from the grass. It was pink and resembled a porcupine, with a large horn on its head between two even larger ears. It stood in front of Gem, growling. Elise pulled out her pokedex.
"Nidoran, male. Its horn is larger than the female's and its Horn Attack is quite powerful," the pokedex recited.
"So if this is a male..." Elise pressed a button on her pokedex. Up popped a similar Pokemon, but with a smaller horn and it was blue. It looked distinctly smaller in size also.
"Nidoran, female. Its poison pin is quite powerful for its size, but its horn is smaller than a male's."
"Okay well Gem, hit it with a Sand Attack!" Elise commanded. Gem spun around and kicked dirt from the path into the Nidoran's eyes. It squealed with pain but still jumped forward and started jabbing at Gem with its horn. The Eevee bounced back out of the Nidoran's reach.
"Gem use Tail Whip!" Her Eevee hit the wild Pokemon with her tail and he fell on his back, struggling to get up. Elise dug into her backpack and pulled out a pokeball.
"Go pokeball!" she cried, throwing it at the wild Pokemon. It shook three times and then lay still.
"Yes! I caught a Nidoran! I'm gonna name you Spikes," Elise crowed happily. She couldn't wait to get back to the Pokemon Center to show Johnny her new Pokemon. She picked up Gem and cuddled her.
"You were amazing Gem, I'm so proud to be your trainer," she said happily.
"Eevee!" Gem cried. Elise and Gem returned to the Pokemon Center in Viridian, which was packed with trainers eating breakfast. She soon spotted Josh and Johnny sitting together at a table.
"Hey guys look what I caught," Elise sang, sitting down opposite them. She released Spikes from his pokeball. He didn't look injured any more, just very disgruntled at being kept in a pokeball.
"He doesn't look too happy," Johnny observed. Elise refused to let him get to her.
"He'll be fine once he sees that we can be friends," she retorted confidently.
