So, boring filler chapter. Sorry guys. But hopefully, the next few chapters are going to be somewhat exciting. Well, try to enjoy this chapter, at least. ^^
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or any of its characters, including Lyra or Silver.
Chapter 14
"Nice to meet you, Kurt. My name's Lyra," the brunette introduced, standing up and shaking the short man's extended hand. She then looked down at the young girl and smiled. "Hello Maisy." The young girl returned a smile back at Lyra.
"A very pretty name," Kurt replied.
"Thank you. So what about these Poké Balls? How are they any different from a regular Poké Ball?"
"Each of my Grandpa's Poké Balls have special uses. They're amazing!" Maisy remarked. Lyra put her hands on her hips after attaching her PokéGear to her bag.
"How do I know if I can trust you?" Lyra asked him. It was then that she noticed Trainers gathering around the three of them with wide eyes.
"Hey, it's Kurt!" a male Trainer with indigo hair whispered.
"He makes special Poké Balls, doesn't he?" a female brown haired Trainer across from them asked.
"Maybe he'll make some for us!" All around them, a murmur of excited voices crowded the Pokémon Center. Lyra stared in awe at all the people that knew the man in front of her.
"Is this proof enough for you?" he asked, smiling. She nodded and picked up her bag, pulling the strap over her shoulder.
"I'll go with you. Let me grab my Pokémon first." The group of three broke through the crowd and managed to get to the front desk. Nurse Joy handed Lyra a tray of three Poké Balls, and Lyra pocketed two of them. As she opened the last one and released her Marill, she noticed the crowd starting to gather around them again.
"Kurt, let me come to your shop and make Poké Balls!"
"No, me!"
"He's not worthy! I definitely am! I have three badges!"
"Big deal! I have 6!" Kurt cleared his throat and suddenly, everyone stopped talking.
"I'm just going to take this young lady here for today. And she's all I'm taking." A large, disappointed 'awww' spread throughout the Pokémon Center, and the Trainers walked away, murmuring disappointed whispers to themselves. "Well, shall we?" Kurt suggested, and him and Maisy headed out the Pokémon Center door. Marill jumped up on Lyra's arm and the two headed out together as well. The brunette had to jog to get up to the older man and his granddaughter.
"Excuse me, Kurt?" Lyra piped up.
"Hm?" he answered, not even turning around to face her.
"Why did you choose me? Why didn't you choose anyone else from the Pokémon Center. I mean, I heard one Trainer say he had six badges! I only have one." Kurt was silent for a moment, and at first, Lyra didn't think he heard her, but finally, he spoke up.
"Your battle earlier with the redheaded boy was amazing. I was walking by and I happened to notice that you had just finished your Gym Battle with this town's Gym Leader. You managed to beat that young man in a three-on-three Pokémon Battle with your tired Pokémon. That is a sure sign of a great Trainer." Maisy nodded her head as her grandfather spoke, her pigtails bobbing up and down as her head did. "Speaking of the young man, I'd love to have him participate as well. Did he happen to mention where he was going?"
"Silver? Oh, I have no idea where he went. He tends to... come and go," Lyra said, laughing nervously. "Why him, anyways?"
"He's a powerful Trainer." Kurt paused for a moment as if thinking of the right words to say. "But he needs to care for his Pokémon more. He treats them as tools of war, and not living creatures." Lyra nodded.
"He's stubborn as a Piloswine," she sighed. Kurt stopped and looked at her.
"Do you know him?" he asked.
"Not really. We've... met once or twice," she lied nervously. Kurt stared at her longer, but then turned around and continued walking. The three of them continued walking, but this time in silence. As the three walked, she could feel the stares from other Trainers, both of jealousy and anger. Lyra, however, stared at her feet the whole time, not wanting to connect eyes with any of them. Finally, Kurt and Maisy stopped and Lyra followed suit.
"Here we are!" he announced. Lyra looked up at the unique house and smiled. To the left of the property, there was a larger house-like structure. It had a larger portion connected to it from behind, and the light blue shingles blended in nicely with the white drywall and wood. On the right side, there was a smaller section that looked like it had one large room. Smoke was rising from the concrete chimney on the top. It had the same outside as the house next to it. Both buildings were connected by an opened hallway that was composed of wooden beams and a roof with the same light blue shingles. "This is my home. Maisy and I live in that section of the house." Kurt pointed to the larger building to the left.
"What about over in that building?" Lyra questioned, pointing to the house's little brother next to it.
"That's where I make the special Poké Balls," Kurt answered proudly. "Want to come take a look?"
"That would be amazing! Of course we would, right Marill?" she asked her Pokémon.
"Marill, Mair!" she happily replied. Kurt looked down at his granddaughter.
"Maisy, would you kindly get our other guest and show him to the Poké Ball room?" Maisy nodded, her pigtails once again bobbing up and down, and hurried away, entering the house section of Kurt's house.
"There's someone else?" Lyra asked as they started walking.
"He just got into town, and he came here looking to make some special Poké Balls," Kurt explained, nodding. Once they had reached the structure's door, Kurt opened it and moved out of the way for Lyra to see. There were tools scattered all around the place, such as ladders and hammers, but there was also a water pump by a wood-burning stove. On the walls, there were shelves filled with Poké Balls of many colors. A good portion of them, however, looked like normal Poké Balls, with the exception of two yellow circles on the sides, and a lightning bolt mark on the front.
"Wow..." she whispered to herself. Kurt caught her staring at the Poké Ball with the lightning bolt mark and grabbed one. "This is a Fast Ball. It's made from a Wht Apricorn." Kurt walked over and reached into a bucket, pulling out a white circular fruit with a brown cap on it. He held them next to each other for the brunette to compare. Both objects were the same size and round, but that was all the similarities Lyra could see.
"Back in the olden days, all Poké Balls were made from Apricorns," Kurt explained. "That was of course before companies like Silph Co. and the Devon Corporation mass produced the regular Poké Balls you see today." Lyra was unable to say anything, and she continued to stare at all the Poké Balls scattered on the shelves.
"There are a whole bunch of different Poké Balls in here. Are they all made by you?" she asked.
"Yes, all of the Apricorn Poké Balls are made by me," Kurt replied. Footsteps could be heard behind them, and the two turned around to see Maisy with a boy that looked about Lyra's age with spiky brown hair on his head. Around his neck was a white yin-yang pendant that complimented his white t-shirt and dark blue denim jeans nicely. His pale blue eyes looked at Lyra as they walked further into the room.
Behind him were two small Pokémon, one red and one yellow. The red one, who was to the boy right, had multiple bumps on its head. It had a cream-colored stomach, and each hand had three white claws on it. Behind it dragged a red tail. It too stared at Lyra, but with wide black and white eyes, one of its claws touching the bottom part of its cream mouth.
The yellow one, however, seemed like it didn't want to be here at all. Its body was oval-shaped, with the two yellow prongs sticking out of the top of its head. Often, its bulky yellow and black arms would twitch with excitement and yellow static would surround them. Around its body, it had two black bands around it body, and below its mouth, it had a black lightning bolt mark on it. Its thin black eyes kept darting back and forth between Lyra, Kurt, its Trainer, and the outside.
"This is Cole," Kurt introduced. "He'll be the other person who will go with you to pick Apricorns. Cole, this is Lyra." Lyra smiled and Cole waved.
"Hi Lyra," he said politely. He noticed her eying his Pokémon and smiled. "Oh, this is Elekid-" Cole gestured towards his yellow Pokémon, "-and this is Magby." The Magby looked at Lyra and smiled, but Elekid barely looked at her at all. Wanting to know more, Lyra took out her Pokédex and pointed it at Elekid. "Elekid, the Electric Pokémon. Elekid's weak spot is between its horns, but the electric that run there can shock the unwary." Elekid scoffed at the entry, and Lyra pointed the Pokédex at Magby next. "Magby, the Live Coal Pokémon. Magby has a magma-like substance in its body, and it emits super-fiery breath." Lyra put her Pokédex into her pocket and motioned to her Marill.
"And this is Marill," she stated. Kurt cleared his throat and everyone turned to face him.
"Okay, now that the introductions are taken care of, we can get started," he said. "Maisy, would you mind taking Cole and Lyra through the path?" Maisy nodded and hurried outside. Lyra and Cole followed suit.
"What was your name again? Cale?" Lyra asked.
"Actually, it was Cole," the brunette boy replied.
"Oh, well, I'm just going to call you Cale," she stated, and smiled widely as he stared at her strangely.
o 0 o
The group walked to the side of the house, and Maisy stopped in front of a large tree. The tree was covered in Wht Apricorns. "You can pick one of these if you want. They look nice and ripe." Lyra looked at Marill.
"Kurt just showed us these, didn't he?" she asked her. "They make..."
"The Wht Apricorns make Fast Balls. Fast Balls work well on Pokémon that run away quickly, like Growlithe or Snubbull," Maisy inquired. Both Lyra and Cole walked up to the tree on that note. However, the tree was too high for either of them to pick a fruit.
"I can't reach. How are we suppose to get it?" Lyra asked aloud. She then snapped her fingers. "I know!" She pulled out a Poké Ball and enlarged it. "This is a job for Chikorita! Do you need me to grab you one, Cale?"
"No thanks. I've got Elekid," he said, looking at the Pokémon behind him. "Elekid, use ThunderShock to get a fruit." The Electric Pokémon nodded excitedly and begun to spin its arms rapidly, causing sparks to appear around its horns.
"Stop!" Maisy suddenly shouted, causing all the Pokémon and Trainers to jump up in surprise. "Using attacks like Razor Leaf and ThunderShock will only damage the tree. And besides, it's the Trainer's responsibility to collect their Apricorns themselves, with little to no help from their Pokémon partners." Lyra grumbled to herself and folded her arms, Marill hanging on and dangling as if her life depended on it.
"Don't worry. I got this," Cole said, smiling and walking up to the tree. As quick as a wink, Cole was climbing up the side of the tree like an Aipom. In no time at all, he disappeared, the only thing giving away his existence was the leaves rustling above. "Catch!" Lyra heard from above, and jumped, running under the tree and reaching above.
"Oh man..." she muttered, and Marill jumped down and reached for the sky as well. The two white fruits fell down with perfect aim at Lyra and Marill. Simultaneously, the fruits fell, went past the two's hands and clonked them right in the head. Both Lyra and Marill grabbed their heads in their hands and started jumping around in pain. Maisy started laughing loudly, holding her stomach as the two flailed in pain. Cole's spiky-haired head poked out from the leaves.
"You were suppose to catch!" he exclaimed.
"I was very bad in Gym class," she admitted, rubbing her hand on the back of her head. Quickly, as Cole climbed down the tree and picked up his Apricorn. Lyra stood up and shook her head and did the same, looking at the Apricorn and studying it slightly before putting it into her bag. "Well, let's move on, Marill!" She waited for a response from her Pokémon and heard nothing. Looking down, she noticed the Aqua Mouse Pokémon wasn't in sight. "Oh, no! Marill?"
"Look, there it is! Running up to that Pnk Apricorn tree!" Maisy exclaimed, pointing to the small blue dot running up the path. Ahead was a tree that had many pink fruits on it.
"Your Marill must like picking Apricorns," Cole commented.
"Marill, wait up!" Lyra shouted, running after her Pokémon in a hurry. Maisy, Cole and his Pokémon all rushed after her as well. When the group reached the tree, Marill was attempting to climb the tree to reach the top. "Marill, you know you can't just go running off like that." The Water-type Pokémon turned around and smiled at its Trainer.
"These Pnk Apricorns make Love Balls. If a Pokémon you're battling is of an opposite gender of yours, it has a better chance of catching it," Maisy explained.
"Aw, that's adorable! I want one!" Lyra excitedly announced, and walked up to the tree to climb it. As if the tree was listening, a pink fruit suddenly crashed down and clocked the brunette right on the forehead with enough force to knock her white hat off. She gave a loud 'oof' as she fell on her butt. "Ow! That wasn't very nice!"
"What did that?" Maisy asked, moving her head to try and get a better look at what was inside. The leaves above started rustling and a purple head peaked out of the brush, giggling to itself. It had purple fur all around its head, except for its fur-less face. It looked down at the group with black and white eyes. It lowered its body, revealing it to be a monkey-like Pokémon with a long tail.
"Ee eep Aipom!" it shouted, another Apricorn in its hand and ready to throw.
"It was that Aipom! It used Fling to throw that Apricorn!" Cole explained.
"You little beast! That hurt!" Lyra shouted, shaking her fist at the purple monkey. This caused the Aipom to laugh even more and it tossed another Apricorn at Lyra, this time missing her shoulder by a few centimeters. "Marill, Water Gun attack now!"
"No, you can't! You'll damage the tree!" Maisy shouted, but it was too late. Marill sucked in a gulp of air and fired a blast of water from its mouth at Aipom, hitting it in the face and knocking it out of the tree. It fell to the ground, but flipped around and landed firmly. The happy-go-lucky face had disappeared and in its place a face of anger formed. The purple monkey jumped at Marill and started repeatedly scratching it with its paws.
"It's using Fury Swipes!" Cole announced just as Marill bounced backwards, knocked out from the attack. Lyra ran up to her Pokémon and put it into its Poké Ball. "That thing is strong! Your Marill didn't stand a chance!"
"Gee, thanks Cale..." she muttered angrily, pulling out her Chikorita's Poké Ball. "Okay, you little trickster, why don't you try Chikorita on for size?"
"Wait, Lyra, why don't you let me take this one?" Cole said, stepping up. Before Lyra could respond, he looked at his Elekid and nodded. "Elekid, go get 'em!" The yellow Pokémon nodded excitedly and rushed at Aipom quickly. "ThunderPunch attack!" Elekid charged and pulled back one of its hands. Its fist then started to glow yellow with electricity and became surrounded in yellow sparks. However, Aipom giggled and its body started to glow white. Suddenly, multiple Aipom appeared and started to circle around Elekid. The herd of Aipoms then started running circles around Elekid. The Electric Pokémon grumbled and started turning its head, trying to find the real Aipom out of the group.
"Okay Elekid, use ThunderShock! Straight ahead!" Elekid nodded and started spinning its arms in a circular motion, yellow sparks appearing around its horns as it gathered electricity. Finally, it fired a yellow stream of electricity from its horns. The beam curved down and hit an Aipom that was running, causing it to disappear. The attack happened so quickly that the others didn't have a chance to stop, and one by one, an Aipom would run straight into the electric attack and disappear. After about three clones faded away, the Aipom closest to the electricity called out in surprise and tried to stop itself. At the speed that it was running, it couldn't stop immediately and skidded right into the ThunderShock attack. The Long Tail Pokémon called out in pain and fell backward.
"Wow, that worked out great!" Maisy exclaimed, excitingly watching the battle. Lyra continued to sit on the ground while watching the battle.
"Elekid, let's try ThunderPunch again!" Like before, Elekid's fist started to shine with yellow electricity and it ran forward. As Aipom jumped back up, it was met with a strike in the cheek, and the purple monkey Pokémon rolled backwards, crying out in pain. Cole took out a blue Poké Ball with two red markings on the top of it and held it in his hand. He looked about ready to throw it, but then Aipom stood back up, breathing heavily and yellow sparks surrounding its body.
"It's paralyzed..." Lyra muttered to herself. "That must have been Elekid's Static."
"Elekid, use ThunderPunch once again!" Cole commanded, but before the Electric-type Pokémon could respond, Aipom jumped into the air. The hand on the end of its tail then started to glow yellow and it swung it, releasing multiple golden stars from it. The stars shot and slammed into Elekid, knocking it back a few feet and knocking it out. Cole bit his lip and replaced the Great Ball with a Poké Ball. "Okay Elekid, thanks. You did your job by paralyzing it." The brown-haired Trainer recalled his Elekid and looked at his Magby beside him, nodding to it. "Magby, I choose you," he stated. The Pokémon nodded and skipped out onto the battlefield. Aipom stared at Magby, breathing heavily as it tried to stand firmly on its feet. However, it looked determined to keep battling.
"Poor Aipom," Maisy whispered, looking worried for the poor Pokémon.
"Don't fight it too much longer, Cale," Lyra called to him. Cole nodded in agreement.
"Magby, SmokeScreen!" he commanded. Magby took a deep breath and huffed out a thick black smoke from its mouth, covering the entire battlefield in the thick dark smog. "Now, Fire Punch!" In the middle of the smoke, Lyra could see a small light appear, then it streaked and disappeared in a blink of an eye, and Aipom came shooting out of the fog, its stomach smoking and burned. The SmokeScreen evaporated and Cole once again pulled out his Poké Ball. "Okay Great Ball, go!" He tossed the blue, red and white orb with precise aim and when the ball hit Aipom, it opened up and sucked it in after turning it into a red mass of light. The ball fell to the ground and began to shake back and forth as the button on the ball started to flash red. Finally, in a flurry of multicolored sparkles, the ball pinged, signifying that the capture was complete.
"Wow, he captured it?" Maisy asked aloud. Lyra slipped on her hat and stood up as Cole pocketed the Great Ball.
"What made you want to capture that Aipom?" the brunette asked when she approached him. He shrugged.
"It had spunk. I liked that," he said, then paused. "It was also pretty funny how it threw those Apricorns at you." Lyra crossed her arms and grumbled to herself as both Cole and Maisy laughed at her.
o 0 o
And so, the group went around, collecting Apricorns from the various trees. Up the path, the two brunettes tried to collect some Ylw Apricorns, but a herd of Pineco prevented them from approaching. According to Maisy, one false move and the Bagworm Pokémon would use Selfdestruct, damaging the tree and themselves. After collecting a Grn Apricorn apiece, they were attacked by a swarm of Beedrill after Lyra accidentally stepped on one's stinger. Much to Lyra's embarrassment, Cole saved them using his Magby and Aipom. Finally, the sun was beginning to set as the trio started heading back down the mountain trail to get back to Kurt's. They had each collected a Wht, Grn, Blu, and Blk Apricorn.
"Welcome back, everyone!" Kurt greeted when they finally reached their destination. "How did they do, Maisy?"
"Not bad, Grandpa," she responded. "Take a look!" Lyra and Cole happily handed the older man their baskets. He nodded happily after examining them.
"These will make fine Poké Balls. I shall be finished with them tomorrow when you wake up," Kurt agreed. "Come by tomorrow morning when you're about to continue on your journey."
o 0 o
"Lyra, are you staying at the Pokémon Center here?" Cole shouted, running to catch up to the brunette. She stopped and turned around to wait for him.
"Hey Cale. Yeah, I am. Want to walk together?" she asked.
"Sure! I was just about to ask you that," he said with a smile on his face. Lyra looked down by his feet and noticed there were no Pokémon around him as usual.
"Don't you usually have a Pokémon at your feet? Where is everyone?"
"It's impossible to walk through town with them. They're trouble makers, so it's hard to keep them in control," he answered. Lyra laughed.
"I have the same trouble with Marill. She has an attention span of a Yanma, so she wanders off a lot." They both laughed and stayed quiet for a bit as the sky started to turn a deep mixture of pink and purple. "So what are you traveling around Johto for?"
"I'm collecting Gym Badges. I'm planning on entering the Johto League," the short haired brunette answered back. "I'm planning on taking on the Azalea Gym Leader soon after I get a Poké Ball from Kurt. What about you?"
"Gym Badges," she stated, smiling as well. "I just won my first badge at the Azalea Gym recently, actually. If I can beat Bugsy, I'm sure you can too." Finally, the two arrived at the Pokémon Center and handed all their Poké Balls to Nurse Joy. As they were about to turn in, Cole reached out and extended his hand to Lyra.
"I'd really like to battle you someday. If Kurt invited you himself, you must be good," he stated, grinning. "Here's hoping we meet again, let it be on the road, or in the Silver Conference." Lyra beamed back and shook the boy's hand.
"That goes for me too, Cale."
o 0 o
The next day, Lyra awoke and made her way over to Kurt's house. She checked with Nurse Joy to see if Cole was still around, but she reported that Cole Harding had checked out an hour before. Quickly, she shrugged off the disappointment and headed to Kurt's. "Lyra, good morning!" Maisy yelled when she approached the property. The older girl waved happily at both Maisy and the shorter man who walked out of the house.
"Good morning, Kurt," she greeted bubbly.
"Same to you, Lyra. Your Poké Balls are one hundred percent complete. Here they are," he said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out four Poké Balls, each one with a different design. Lyra recognized the first one as a Fast Ball. It was the same ball that Kurt had showed her when she first arrived. "Of course you remember the Fast Ball. Now, this one is a Friend Ball, made from the Grn Apricorn." Kurt motioned towards the green Poké Ball with the four red teardrop markings and the single yellow dot in between them. "The Pokémon you capture in this Poké Ball will automatically share a close bond with you when you successfully capture it."
"The next Poké Ball is a Lure Ball," Maisy explained, looking at the blue Poké Ball with a red pattern on the top of it. On the red part were three vertical yellow stripes. "This Poké Ball is better for capturing Water-type Pokémon." Lyra nodded, trying to memorize what each Poké Ball did. So far, she seemed to be doing pretty good.
"And finally, this Poké Ball is a Heavy Ball," Kurt spoke up, showing Lyra the final Poké Ball. This one had a gray top on it with four blue bubbles around it, two larger than the others. "This Poké Ball works better when capturing heavy Pokémon like Snorlax or Steelix." Kurt gathered all the Poké Balls up and handed them to Lyra. "It's been a pleasure working with you, my dear."
"Thanks so much, Kurt!" the brunette replied, putting the four orbs in her shoulder bag.
"So where are you heading from here, Lyra?" the pigtailed girl next to Kurt asked.
"Well, I came here from Violet City, so I guess the best option is to head west," she replied.
"So the next place you want to go is Goldenrod City. Just go through the Ilex Forest and you'll be there in no time at all," Kurt noted. Lyra thanked the two once again, and after releasing her Marill to walk with her, headed towards the entrance towards the Ilex Forest.
Let me start off by saying how sorry I am! This chapter took so long to come out with! Two months is not acceptable! Especially for a filler chapter! I'm so sorry again! But, the good thing is that this chapter is out of the way and we can move onto better things! The OC in this chapter, Cole (or Cale as Lyra calls him :P) belongs to Hotrod198.
Wow, so much has changed since I last updated! We now have a complete list of Generation V Pokémon, complete with names and Gym Leaders! Anybody else not impressed with this batch? I mean really? Chili? Anyone else not think they're running out of ideas? But, I think I'll be able to accept these Pokémon into the society soon. I've already planted the Generation V seed in this story without you even knowing it. F) Though it's pretty exciting that Pokémon Black and White will be out soon! And the anime has already started as well! Pidove is officially my favorite Pokémon. Though its evolutions can go to Pokémon hell. :) What do you guys think about Generation V? Below are my reviewers for last chapter.
Thanks for reviewing:
NightmareSyndrom
DragonforceX
OMGItsRainingOttsels
arkee
Meta-Akira
JapanDreamer09
Opilacticdreams
Eon Penumbra
Cyst
Chriss111
Curse of the Black Rose
Okay that's it for now! So far, I'm planning on doing a Bonus Chapter about Silver, maybe get away from the usual Lyra routine? I'm not sure right now, but I'm pretty much leaning towards Bonus Chapter. Anyways, thanks for reading/reviewing guys! I'll try not to keep you guys waiting so long, okay? ;D See you next chapter!