Chapter Nine

I woke up to Tabitha buzzing around the room, excited. "I can't wait to go to the next city!"

"Calm down, Tabitha," Yoshi said. He sighed, and got on his legs. "You'll wake Alex up."

"No she won't," I told him. "I'm already up."

"Good," Tabitha said. "Then let's get going!"

Yoshi and Hedwig sighed, while Marcia laughed. "I like her," Marcia exclaimed through her laughter.

"I'm sure you do," Hedwig sighed again. "Now I know why bird Pokemon eat bugs."

"Hey!" Tabitha shouted. "That wasn't very nice."

I got up and got dressed while they argued. I knew that having a bug type with a flying type on a team would be hard, but I never realized it would be this hard.

"Let's get going," I told them. Tabitha and Hedwig stopped arguing and I opened the door, with them going out before me.

"Hey kid," Joy stopped me.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Could you do something for me?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Make sure that you take care of your Pokemon, I don't want to hear about any more of them dying," she told me with tears in her eyes. "It was hard seeing your Butterfree dying."

"I'm sorry, but I'm taking the challenge," I replied. "I will have Pokemon die, but hopefully not a lot. So far, I've been careful."

"Just take it easy on your way to Vermillion City," she told me. "There are a lot of trainers in the routes between here and there."

"Thanks for the info," I answered. "And I promise, I'll try and be more careful."

"That's all I ask," she sighed. "Now let me heal your Pokemon one last time before you go," she stated, taking my Pokeballs.

I sat in the waiting room for about ten minutes before she came out and gave me my Pokemon.

"Take care, we hope to see you again!"

I left the PokeCenter and went to Route 5.

.oOo.

I walked down Route 5, and held onto Tabitha, who was big enough to drag me around. I just didn't want her to go off and get herself killed.

"Tabitha, calm down, or I'm putting you back in your Pokeball. We had just fought a Team Rocket member and gotten Dig, which I was going to teach to Marcia.

"Sorry," she apologized. "I'm just excited."

"It's okay, just stay beside me."

"Okay," was all she said. She flew next to me as I walked. I jumped down a ledge, and immediately ran into a Meowth. I caught it, and went on.

We fought our way through the grass, and found ourselves in front of two buildings. We walked to the closest one, and went in. I found it was a gate to somewhere, and a guard behind the counter.

"Hey, no one gets in," he was saying to someone. I went up and saw the someone was an eighteen year old girl, with long brown hair, well endowed breasts, and a white skirt with a blue tank top.

"Is there a problem here?" I asked.

"Yeah," the guard said. "No one is allowed in Saffron City until I say so. But if you brought me something to drink, then I might consider it."

"The only place that sells what he wants is in Celadon City," the girl told me.

"What does he want?" I asked.

"Earl Grey Tea," she sighed. "And I'm fresh out. I took the entire stock with me when I left home to go on my journey and don't have any left."

"That sucks," I told her. "Let's go though, he's giving us a weird look."

We left the gate, and stood outside.

"I'm Green," she told me.

"I'm Alex," I replied. "Nice to meet you. So are you on a journey?"

"Yeah, I'm taking the Challenge," she sighed.

"What!" I exclaimed. "So am I!"

"Really? Then you can be my rival!" she told me. "Where are you from though?"

"I'm from a different place," I answered. "What about you?"

"Pallet Town, I left a month ago, and I have two gym badges. I had to take a break from my travels because I sprained my ankle."

"That really sucks."

We were silent for a bit. Then she piped up with, "Hey, let's see each other's Pokemon!"

"Okay!" I agreed. We sent out our Pokemon, and looked at them. She had a Pikachu, a Raticate, a Fearow, a Graveler, and an Oddish.

"Your Pokemon are so cool!" she gushed. She looked at Yoshi, and sighed. "I would have loved to have a Bulbasaur."

"I know, they're awesome!" I exclaimed. "But who was your starter?"

"Sparky here," she told me, holding out her arm. The Pikachu jumped onto her arm and traveled up and onto her shoulder. "She has helped so much."

"How many have you lost?" I asked seriously. The mood fell.

"Too many," she sighed. "I just don't know what I'm doing wrong. I know the type matchups and I use the right Pokemon, but for some reason, it's not working well."

"Have you tried overleveling your Pokemon?" I asked.

"No, I haven't. I guess that could work," she told me. "Thanks."

"Hey, us Nuzlockers have to stick together," I told her. I took her hand, and she blushed.

"Oh Alex, if I didn't know better, I'd say you were coming onto me."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I know you're gay," she laughed.

"You do?" I stammered.

"Yeah," she continued, still laughing. "So do you have a boyfriend?"

"No," I sighed. "I've never gotten the chance."

"So how about me setting you up?"

"Oh hell no!" I exclaimed, laughing. "My many friends have all tried setting me up and they have all failed multiple times."

"Oh okay," she sighed. "How about this, when you find a boyfriend, let me know, okay?"

"You'll be the first to know," I told her.

We walked to the other building, talking, and stopped in front of it.

"Well, I guess this is where we part ways," she sighed. "I don't want to leave you."

"I don't want to leave you either," I told her. "You'd be awesome to travel with."

"Well I have to train my team more," she replied. "And you have to get to Lt. Surge."

"Yeah, thanks for telling me he's an electric type," I answered.

"No problem," she told me. She shook my hand, and went off, and I walked into the building.