Chapter 10- Separation
Travis' POV
The next morning, I wake up to find both Pardin and Selva laying on my chest. They are both sound asleep, and both smiling in their sleep. There is a knock on the door, and the nurse comes in with the Audinos. Her eyes widen when she sees that my cast is off. "Why is your cast off? There are still three days left in the assigned healing timeframe!" she exclaims.
"I don't even know why it's off. I woke up sometime last night and it was off, but my arm felt fine," I reply.
"Well, we'll be the judge of if your arm is 'fine' or not," she says, and she gently grabs my arm, slowly bending it and massaging it, and working my shoulder in its socket. She stands up. "Well, it would appear that you have healed ahead of schedule. However, just to be safe, we'll perform a final healing session on you," she says, and before I can protest, Petilil is brought out, and I'm knocked unconscious.
When I wake up, it's mid-afternoon. Pardin and Selva are sitting on my stomach, obviously impatient for me to wake up. I sit up groggily. "Ugh, how long was I out?" I ask, brushing my hair out of my eyes.
"After we woke up? A few hours," Pardin says, not sounding very happy with me.
"Have you been sitting there the entire time?" I ask.
"Not the entire time, but for the majority of the time, yes," Selva answers.
I sigh, and Pardin and Selva jump off me as I swing my legs off the side of the bed and stand up. I stretch and flex my healed arm. "Well, I guess we go look for Chuck and train, huh?" I say. Selva and Pardin nod, and we pack my bag and leave the room.
We exit the Pokémon Center, and walk around Striaton City, looking for Chuck. It probably would have been a good idea to exchange phone numbers... As we walk, Pardin in my hood and Selva in my arms, we see Cilan walking towards us. "Oh, hello Travis," Cilan says. "I see you've made a full recovery; and ahead of schedule, too!"
"Yeah," I reply. "Have you seen Chuck?" I ask. Cilan points up the street.
"He's in the Dream Yard with Chili. Go up that street and turn left. You can't miss it," he says. "Also, could you tell Chili that he needs to come back to the Gym? He left his cell phone on silent again," Cilan says.
"Will do. Thanks," I say, and we part ways.
I follow Cilan's directions, and end up in front of a sign reading "Dreamyard." I walk into the Dreamyard, which appears to be the ruins of a building of some kind surrounded by a forest. Suddenly, I hear shouting.
"Incinerate!" someone yells.
"Water Gun!" another yells. I know that voice. I follow the voices until I find Chuck and Chili in a heated battle, Pansear versus Oshawott. Chuck's Patrat is standing by Chuck, watching.
The two battling Pokémon send bursts of flame and jets of water at each other, before the trainers notice me. "Hey, Travis!" Chuck calls.
"What's up, Snivy Boy?" calls Chili. The two battling Pokémon stop their attacks and return to their trainers' sides.
"So you finally got out of the trainer care, huh?" Chuck asks.
"Yeah," I reply. "Also, Chili, Cilan wants you back at the Gym. He says your cell was on silent so you didn't know he was trying to contact you."
"Oh. Damn," Chili says, whipping out his phone. He returns Pansear and runs off shouting "See you guys!"
"He's always bouncing around," Chuck says, shaking his head.
"So what do we do now?" I ask, putting Selva down next to me. Chuck grins.
"We train of course!" Suddenly, we hear a wailing noise from beyond a wall near us. "What was that?" Chuck asks.
"I don't know, but I don't like it," I reply.
"Let's go check it out," Chuck says.
I reluctantly follow Chuck through a hole in the wall, Selva holding on to me because she's scared, and Pardin sticking her head out of my hood in interest. Once we go behind the wall, we see two... Team Plasma was it? Team Plasma grunts, wearing the same weird outfits as the ones from Accumula Town. Between them is a small pink Pokémon with purple flowers on its back.
Suddenly, one of the grunts kicks the Pokémon, causing it to cry out in the same wailing sound we heard earlier. "You bastards!" Chuck cries. The grunts look up from their abuse of the Pokémon and see us.
"Oh no, we've been spotted," one says.
"Don't worry. We can take them out," the other says, smirking.
The two grunts throw a Pokéball each, and send out two Patrats. Chuck, who is beyond himself with anger, holds out his hand. "Travis, they're mine," he says, growling. He sends out his own Patrat and Oshawott.
"Tackle!" yell the Plasma grunts, and the two Patrats lunge forward.
"Dodge, then Bite and Water Gun!" yells Chuck. Chuck's Pokémon dodge their attackers' attacks, and retaliate, landing direct hits each.
"Bide!" yells one of the grunts. The Patrat that is in Chuck's Patrat's jaws, starts to glow white.
"Bite!" Chuck yells. After Chuck's Patrat chomps down harder on the glowing Patrat, "Again!" Chuck yells, sounding panicked. This time, when Chuck's Patrat Bites the other Patrat, the Patrat lashes out, and Chuck's Patrat is sent flying into the wall. "Oshawott, Water Gun!" Chuck screams. Oshawott blasts the offending Patrat, and it goes down.
"Bite!" commands the grunt with the remaining Patrat. Oshawott gets hit with Bite, and I've had enough.
"You fucking hypocrites!" I yell. The grunts' attention is drawn to me, holding Selva and shaking with righteous anger. "You talk big, with your 'Pokémon liberation' bullshit, but you're really just using that as cover for your own Pokémon cruelty. I've had enough of you!"
Pardin and Selva jump down to the ground, and stalk towards the grunts. The grunt with the fainted Patrat brings out another Pokéball after returning Patrat. "Don't be so self-righteous, brat," he says, sneering. "We just need this Munna's Dream Mist, and then we'll be on our way." He throws his second Pokéball, and our bursts a Purrloin.
Pardin sneers at the smirking Purrloin, and disappears, using Pursuit on the other Purrloin."Selva, Leaf Tornado," I say. Selva leaps into the air, a funnel of swirling leaves appearing around her tail. She slams this into the remaining Plasma Pokémon and they're taken down instantly. Selva lands in my arms, and Pardin jumps back in my hood.
"No!" cries one of the grunts. "We have to get this Dream Mist some way or another!" says the other, and she kicks the Pokémon, Munna, again.
"I'll fucking kill you!" Chuck yells. Suddenly, Ghetsis appears behind the grunts. "What are you two doing, goofing off?" he thunders.
"So sorry, Lord Getsis!" the grunts yelp, and they return their fainted Pokémon and scramble away. Then, just as sudden as Ghetsis appeared, he disappears.
Then, a larger Pokémon that looks similar to Munna floats out of the shadows. The Pokémon is purple with a pink head, and pink smoke trailing out of an oval in its forehead.
"Thank you," says a voice in my head, and the Pokémon and Munna float away, leaving behind some pink smoke. Chuck returns his Pokémon and walks away briskly.
"Whats wrong?" I ask.
"I need to get stronger," he says quietly.
"That's why we were going to train, isn't it?" I ask, confused. "No, I need to get stronger. You are strong Travis. You and your Pokémon. But my Pokémon and I... we need to become stronger together. You guys are so far out of my league, and I need to work with my partners to become as strong as you." And with this, I stop and he walks away, alone.
As he walks out of the Dreamyard, Fennel passes his on her way in. "That boy looked mighty depressed," she comments to me.
"Yeah," I reply. She passes me and goes into the area where we fought Team Plasma. I walk into the city, and head for Route 3.