Chapter 21-Shelter Shenanigans

Even a couple hours after having left Cerulean, a heavy quiet hung around me and Karen. We really hadn't said much to each other since I bolted away like that yesterday. I glanced down at Charmeleon at my side. He looked up and I put a hand on his head. He leaned into it a bit, giving a soft growl.

I was angry. No, not just angry. I was furious. Furious that Team Rocket was still around, that they were doing crap like that, destroying someone's home. But, after everything, I realized that I was still angry about them having killed Rattata.

I looked at Karen from the corner of my eye.

She was eating a granola bar. She took a bite of it, chewing, when one of Ivysaur's vines reached for it.

"Hey, that's not for Pokemon!" Karen chided her starter. Ivysaur retracted her vines and looked down. Karen watched her for a second before sighing. "Alright, alright, here." She broke off a bit of the bar and tossed it to her starter, who snapped out a vine to catch the bit with the finger-like nubs on the end and happily ate it.

Karen looked over at me, and smiled.

I looked away, frowning.

I... I should apologize, for this morning.

I sighed. "Look, Karen, I-"

"Hey, Jack-"

We stopped.

"I'm sorry, Jack, you go."

I paused for a moment. "I... I'm s-"

I stopped when I noticed a house nearby. It was about fifty yards away, with a small path leading to the road we were on.

"Oh, look a house! Think they'll let us stay the night?"

"I, uh, I'm not sure they would like it if we just-"

As expected Karen ignored me and trotted over.

It was two stories, kind of like the house in Cerulean that got destroyed. It was a sort of creamy white color with blue windowsills and a gray door with a screen over it.. As I got closer I could see a chair on the porch. An old man sat in the chair. He was dressed in denim overalls over a gray plaid shirt and brown boots, and wore a weathered cap on his head. He saw us coming and waved.

"Oh, hello there!" he called, raising a hand in greeting.

"Hi!" Karen stopped before the short stairs to the porch.

Our Pokemon stopped at our sides and the old man's eyes lit up.

"Oh, are ya Pokemon Trainers?"

"Yup! This is my ivysaur, that's his charmeleon, I'm Karen, and he's Jack!"

"Well, nice to meet ya, Jack and Karen."

I eyed the wooden fence stretching from the house, going around a large field.

"Is this a ranch?" I asked.

"Eh, sorta. It's a shelter. My wife and I run it."

"A shelter? For Pokemon?"

"Yup. Sometime people drop their Pokemon off for a while because they can't take care of them-maybe they're going out of town, maybe they're moving and can't take them."

"Robert, who are you talking to?"

A gray-haired woman stepped out of the house. She wore dark blue jeans, brown boots, and a dark red sweatshirt with the sleeves rolled up, and her hair was pulled back in a ponytail.

"Oh, Elena, this is Karen and that's Jack. They're Trainers."

"Oh, are you here to leave a Pokemon?"

"Oh, uh, no, we were just passing by and saw this place, thought we'd check it out."

"Well, there really isn't a whole lot to check it. Except the Pokemon, I suppose."

"Hey, why don't you kids come on in? Elena was just about to make some lemonade, it's real good!"

"Ooh, I love lemonade!"

"It's okay, we were just passing by. We need to get to the next Gym."

Karen nudged me with an elbow. "C'mon, Jack, we're guests, don't be rude!"

"Yeah, why not have a rest for a couple hours?" Robert put in.

I scratched my cheek, glancing down at Charmeleon. He was sniffing around, but his shoulders hung a little lower than usual. He could use a rest, too. And maybe my other Pokemon would like to get out of the Pokeballs for a while. The field looked big enough.

"Okay, sure."

"Well, come on in!"

We quickly recalled our Pokemon before following them inside.

Their living room was pretty homey. A brown sofa faced the front wall of the house, where a modest TV sat on a short stand. A recliner was to the right of the sofa, and in front of them was was coffee table. It all stood atop a large reddish brown rug. A staircase was directly in front of the front door, going up to the second floor. The wall under the stairs was adorned with pictures and even the odd medal, and a glass case housed a few trophies.

Karen and I stopped to study them.

Robert stopped as well as Elena went on to the kitchen. He was grinning. "Caught your attention, did it?"

I read the small plaque at the base of the biggest one and did a double take.

"'Pokemon League Tournament Champion'?!"

"What?" Karen looked up. "Holy crap, you won the tournament?!"

"Yup," Robert said, beaming. "I was actually a few years older than you two, maybe... jeez, was I eighteen or nineteen?"

"You were twenty," Elena's voice came from the kitchen amidst the sounds of clinking glass.

"Oh, that's right. I won the tournament when I was twenty years old. That was about thirty years ago."

"Thirty four, to be exact."

"Wow," Karen breathed. She looked up at the pictures. She pointed at one. "Ooh, is this you?"

The guy in the photo was pretty tall, and had dark hair. He held a trophy, the same one in the case, and was surrounded by six Pokemon- tauros, arcanine, sandslash, victreebell, dodrio, and a vaporeon. Standing next to him was a girl wearing shorts, a button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and boots. Her long brown hair was in a ponytail.

"Yup, that's me and my Pokemon, and that's Elena with me. She actually came in second place! I had to beat her to win. It was really tough, lemme tell ya. I remember I proposed to her the next day."

"Aw, how sweet!"

Robert smiled fondly.

"What happened with your Pokemon? Do you still have them?"

His smile faded and he looked forlornly at the picture. "Well, what happens to old folk- most of 'em died, years ago."

I now felt kinda bad for asking.

"I'm sorry..."

"Nah, don't worry 'bout it, kid. It's only natural that the old leave to let the young live on. I actually still have my tauros. He probably doesn't have much longer though, he's pretty old."

We fell quiet for a while.

I looked over the pictures. There was one with Robert and Elena, looking a few years older, with a kid on a tauros between them.

"Is that your son?"

Robert looked at the photo I pointed out. "Yeah, that's Bobby. He was... five. And that's my tauros. I think this picture was taken about seven years after I won the tournament. And that one was just a couple years ago."

We looked at the picture he nodded at. It was Bobby, looking about thirteen. He had a vulpix and a nidorina sitting at his feet and a ponyta standing next to him.

"That was before he left on his own journey."

"Do you know where he is now?" Karen asked.

Robert shook his head. "No, not right now, but he does call every now and then, and even visits when he's nearby. He had a full team last time, about four months ago."

Elena came in.

"The lemonade's ready! And I made some sandwiches, too."

"Come on, kids."

We followed them into the modest kitchen, where brown carpet gave way to white tile, and out the back door, where a eight-foot-tall wooden fence, filled in with metal mesh, gave us a wide berth as it ringed the patio.

Beyond the fence, in the grassy plains, some Pokemon milled about. I saw two nidoran, male female, and a tauros not too far from them. A little further away, close to some trees, were vulpix and oddish.

"Why don't you let your other Pokemon out? I'm sure they'd love to be out and about."

"Sure!" Karen reached for her Pokeballs before I stopped her.

"Do you have a lake or something nearby?"

"Yes, actually, there is a small lake, past those trees," Elena answered.

"We have Water Pokemon, do you mind of we let them out there?"

"Oh, good idea." Karen plucked her Gyarados' Pokeball her belt and held on to it.

"Be my guest!"

I led Karen to where Elena had pointed out. There was a small lake here, about two-thirds the size of the one where I caught Karen's Gyarados.

"This should do."

We sent out our Pokemon. Robert and Elena let out surprised shouts. Our Pokemon looked at us briefly before slithering forward and sliding into the water, where they quickly disappeared.

We went back to the patio, where the couple were waiting, mouths open.

"What?" we asked.

Robert chuckled. "Wow, young Trainers these days get better and better. I think I only saw one Trainer with a gyarados when I was a Trainer."

Elena shook her head. "Well, anyway, why let's not forget your other Pokemon!"

"Oh, right!"

We let out our remaining Pokemon. Our pikachu scampered around for a bit before running off toward the tree, Karen's Pidgeotto took off, probably in search of food. Abra settled for hovering a few feet above the ground nearby, legs crossed, arms raised slightly beside him.

Are you hungry? I asked him telepathically.

Not need food, will meditate.

Alright, just let me know if you do.

"Alright, kids, dig in!"

There sandwiches were the typical ham and cheese, but something about eating them outdoors seemed to make them tastier than I was used to. Or maybe the ingredients were just better than what Mom used to get. Well, whatever, they were good. I finished my first one before Robert asked, "So where are you kids from?"

"Pallet Town," Karen said around a mouthful of sandwich.

I jabbed her with an elbow as I took a sip of lemonade.

"Hey! What was that? I almost dropped my sandwich!"

I looked at her from under the bill of my cap.

"Alright, alright, don't talk with my mouth full, got it, Mom."

"Anyway, yeah, we're from Pallet Town."

"Both of you?"

We nodded.

"Mm-hm, been friends with Mr. Jolly here since we were kids."

"Aw, how nice! Me and Ellie actually met when we were teenagers. She fell for me right away."

"Ha! As if. You were such an insufferable, arrogant jerk! The only reason I never punched your face in is because your face was the only thing you had going for you!"

"But you did think I was handsome."

"Yeah, 'was'."

Elena leaned in and they kissed.

"Good thing you mellowed out before I agreed to marry you."

"Oh, how old were when you got married?" Karen asked.

"Hm, well..." Robert trailed off, lips pursed. "I was sixteen when we met, she was fifteen, and we didn't actually start dating until about three years later, then another three before I proposed... I was 23."

"And that was thirty years ago," Elena put in.

"Thirty wonderful years." Robert smiled fondly, squeezing his wife's hand. "Speaking of which, can't wait to go to you guys' wedding."

I started choking on the bite of sandwich and Karen jumped.

"What? Um, n-no, you got it all wrong, it's not like that! We're just friends!"

Abra levitated closer, still in his cross-legged pose.

Master okay?

Karen looked over, saw that I was choking, wound her arm back, and gave a mighty slap.

A tiny bit of masticated sandwich flew out of my mouth to land at my feet.

"Ugh." I took a swig of lemonade while Robert and Elena laughed.

"Oh, sorry about that, I had to," Robert said.

"Well, we're just friends," Karen repeated, the color in her cheeks steadily draining away.

I gestured at her with my half-eaten sandwich. "What she said."

"I wouldn't be so sure! That's what Elena kept saying before she warmed up to me."

"Except I never called you a friend."

They laughed, and we joined them, if only to dispel the awkwardness that we felt.

"Uh, so do you guys have a lot of Pokemon here?" Karen asked.

"Oh, yeah, we got quite a handful this time, about, what was it, thirty four?"

"Thirty five. Although two of them, a tentacool and a seaking, are in the lake. We've got a male and female nidoran, a gloom, a young tauros, a raticate, a sandshrew-"

"A meowth?"

Karen pointed past the fence around the patio toward the one that ringed the ranch. A meowth stood before a gate, surrounded by some of the Pokemon we saw, picking at the lock with a claw.

"Oh, crap."

Robert and Elena bolted from their chairs.

The meowth looked over once as they opened a gate in the smaller fence before turning back to its work. The lock popped open, and the meowth shoved its way through and outside, followed by all of the Pokemon with it.

"No!"

I shared a look with Karen before we both got up and went over to the couple who had stopped by the now open gate, Charmeleon, Ivysaur, and Abra following us. All the Pokemon were running away, scattering in a bunch of directions.

"Oh, not again!" Robert had taken off his cap and slapped it against his knee.

I raised an eyebrow. "Again?"

Elena sighed. "Yeah, again."

"That damn meowth keeps unlocking the goddamn gate and getting out and if that weren't enough other Pokemon get out, too!"

"Robert, honey, calm down. And watch your language."

"Dammit, Elena, remember how long it took to get those Pokemon back here the last time this happened?"

"All day-"

"All day!"

Robert went back toward the house, spitting and cursing.

"So this happens a lot, huh?" Karen asked.

"Yeah, that meowth has become quite the escape artist. This has got to be the sixth time it's done this."

"Wait..." I frowned. "If it's escaped so many times... how long has it been here? Did its Trainer abandon it here?"

"No, not quite. About a month ago, I was driving back from Cerulean with some supplies when I saw two arbok attacking a persian. I guess the noise of the truck scared them away, but not before they killed the persian, and orphaned that meowth."

"Oh no..."

I narrowed my eyes. "Were one of those arbok yellow?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

I shared a look with Karen before answering. "Cause we fought them when we were heading to Cerulean from Mt. Moon. We met a couple of black belts, and they killed one and caught the other."

Elena sighed. "Oh, that's a relief. I was worried that they might be rabid, since they almost never go after something as big as an adult persian."

"Well, let us help," I said. "We can help round up all those Pokemon."

"Really? You'd do that?"

"Yeah. It's the least we can do to repay you for the food."

"Ooh, a Pokemon round up! Sounds exciting! Let's go, Ivysaur!"

"Whoa, slow down." I grabbed her wrist as she ran by. "We need to come up with a plan first before rushing in. If we run around like idiots we'll only scare the Pokemon away."

"He has a point," Elena agreed.

"Oh. Okay, what's the plan then?"

I frowned. I looked over the forest that was near to the ranch, thinking.

"No idea."

"Wow, you're a big help."

Robert stomped out of the house holding a bunch of stuff-several lengths of rope, some muzzles, a saddle, and leashes and collars.

"Robert, Jack and Karen said they'd help us get the Pokemon back!" Elena called.

"Oh, really? Well, that's awfully kind of you, I'd appreciate the help."

He came over with the stuff and dumped them on the ground.

"Okay, since there's four of us, we'll split up into groups of two-me and Elena will head south and you and Karen north."

"Sure thing!" Karen chirped with a salute.

Master, can help, Abra said, levitating over.

"Hm? You can?"

Yes, can scan, look for Pokemon, can help.

"Who you talkin' to?" Robert asked.

"Oh, uh, Abra, I can talk telepathically with him."

"What?"

"Really?"

"Whoa! Seriously?!" Karen demanded.

"Yeah. Didn't I tell you?"

"Uh, I think I would have remember you telling me that you can talk to Pokemon!"

"Just with Abra. I think it might be cause he's Psychic-type."

Karen gasped. "Can I talk to him?"

"I dunno. Tell her something," I told Abra.

Karen leaned in, eyes gleaming.

Can talk with Master, can fight better with Master.

I turned to Karen. She still held the same excited expression.

"Well? Come on! Say something!"

I glanced at Abra. "He already did," I said slowly.

"Huh? But I didn't hear anything!"

Only Master can hear, old Master not hear, new Master hear, Master have ability.

"I... guess only I can hear him."

"What? That's no fair! I wanna talk to Pokemon, too!"

"What do you want me to do about it?"

"Bah, whatever, let's just go find those Pokemon!"

She trotted off, Ivysaur and Pikachu in tow.

My own Pikachu hopped onto my shoulder. "Think you can find those Pokemons' trails?"

Pikachu sniffed around for a bit before chirping in what I guess was an affirmative.

"Okay, this should be easy with Pikachu and Abra's help," I said to the couple.

They were staring at me and Abra.

"What?"

I unfolded the list of escaped Pokemon Elena had written up for me.

"Two nidoran, male and female, tauros, gloom, raticate, sandshrew, two vulpix, mankey, jigglypuff, venonat, machop and the meowth."

"That's a lot of Pokemon."

"Which is why we should start now. Abra, do you see any Pokemon around?"

Abra floated about three feet above my head and went into a cross-legged position, palms of his hands facing each other.

I felt a light buzz in my head and blinked.

"You okay?" Karen asked.

"Yeah, fine."

After Robert and Elena went to the forest south of the ranch to look for the escaped Pokemon, Karena and I went into the forest to the north. We wandered around for a bit before

After a few moments the buzzing stopped and Abra pointed to the left, northwest.

Pokemon that way.

"There's one that way, come on."

I set off at a jog, Karen and her Pokemon following.

"Wow, this is gonna be easy! Abra just points the way and we catch them!"

"I sure hope so."

A couple minutes of searching later and we came to a small clearing, at the center of which were the tauros and sandshrew.

"Ooh, there they are!"

"Keep it down! We don't want to spook them, they'll run away."

"Right, sorry!" Karen whispered.

We moved behind trees to watched the two Pokemon. They were milling about, the tauros grazing on the grass while the sansdshrew burrowed into the ground a little bit away.

"Karen, Ivysaur knows Sleep Powder, right?"

"Yeah. They're pretty close together, think we can get them both?"

"Probably..."

I fell silent, thinking.

The two Pokemon were pretty far away, and upwind, so Sleep Powder wouldn't travel to them. In fact, it would only hit us. We could move around them so we were upwind, but then the tauros might smell us, and the sandshrew was moving away from the tauros...

I glanced at Ivysaur, then had an idea.

"Okay, Karen, here's what we do..."

I whispered my idea to her and her eyes lit up.

"Alright, good idea!"

"Wait here. Abra, follow me."

I hopped up, took hold of the lowest branch, and climbed halfway up the tree, Abra floating next to me.

"Ready, Abra?"

Ready.

"Okay, Karen, now!"

Two seeds the size of my fist, coated in Sleep Powder, popped out of the flower on Ivysaur's back and flew up toward us. Abra grabbed them with Psychic, raised them a little higher, and let them fly.

As soon as the Leech Seeds hit their marks, tiny vines sprouted from the seeds, which sent the Sleep Powder out into the air.

The combination of the powder and having their energy sapped proved too much and soon both Pokemon were asleep.

"Alright!"

Karen ran over to them as I climbed down. She recalled them into their Pokeballs that Robert had given us.

"Alright, two down."

I crossed them off the list

"Just eleven more."

The next two hours were a lot more exhausting then I thought they would be. The nidoran were the most troublesome of all. They were quick and could hear us coming from a mile away. The only reason we managed to catch them was because we had Karen's Pidgeotto carry the same seeds and drop them from above onto them.

The mankey was tricky, since it was jumping around in the trees and suddenly changing directions. A Thunder Wave from Pikachu slowed it down enough so we could catch it. We ended up using the same maneuver with the venonat, but this one was able to use Confusion to throw off our Pokemons' aim, and it took almost fifteen minutes to finally hit it and catch it.

Then there was the gloom.

Catching it wasn't too difficult, it was finding it that was a real pain. The damn thing blended in so easily with the plants that we passed by it more times then we could count only for it to jump up and run away.

Finally after an hour of chasing it, I got fed up and had Abra pick it up with Psychic when it started running away. I knew we couldn't hurt them too much, I returned it to its Pokeball as soon as I could.

After another forty minutes of Abra searching we couldn't find anymore, so we figured that Robert and Elena might have caught them already.

"Are you sure, Jack?"

"Well, Abra doesn't sense anymore. Let's just head back, see how Robert and Elena are doing."

We trudged through the forest back to the ranch. We had recalled our pikachu, and only had our starters and Abra out with us.

As we walked, occasionally on some dry leaves and hearing the cry of a Pokemon, I realized I hadn't apologized about earlier today yet.

I opened my mouth, and paused.

Maybe she's already forgotten. Should I bring it up? I dunno, maybe I shouldn't, there'd be no point if she's already forgotten about it. But then, I acted like a real asshole...

Karen was humming, a slight spring in her step.

She probably has forgotten about it. I guess it's just as well, I'm not sure exactly what to say. "Sorry" doesn't seem like enough-

Master I sense-

The brush to the right shook. Karen and I stopped, our starters readying themselves.

Master it is one of the-

Something jumped out in front of us.

It was the meowth.

It stopped, looked around, then at us, then at our Pokemon.

"Karen," I whispered.

"Right," she whispered back, quietly giving orders to Ivysaur to prep a Sleep Powder seed. Ivysaur's bulb rippled a bit, then a seed the size of my thumb slid out the top. Then, slowly, she reached a vine up to grab it.

The meowth saw the movement and bolted down the small path.

"Crap, after it!"

I took off in pursuit, Karen and our Pokemon right behind.

"Karen, the seed!"

"Throw it, Ivysaur!"

Her starts took the said and flung it at the meowth. It glanced back, saw the projectile, and jumped up, its claws digging into a tree. It scurried up the trunk as we ran up.

"Abra, with me! Karen wait here!"

I kicked off the trunk, took hold of a branch and climbed up. Abra hovered up to a high point and stopped, and I hurried to join him.

The meowth was at the end of a branch, its claws dug in to keep it from falling. It saw us and hissed, backing further out onto the branch.

"Whoa whoa whoa, I'm not gonna hurt you," I said lowly, raising my hands. "I just want to get you back to the ranch."

I inched closer, it hissed again.

"Look, it's not safe out here. There could be a bunch of wild Pokemon that would eat 'll be safer in the ranch."

I reached out a hand. It hissed, backing away a little more.

"I just want to help. I wanna make sure you're safe."

It eyed me warily.

Master, can maybe-

"Wait."

I moved just a little closer.

"Those arbok that killed your mom, they're gone. They won't hurt anyone anymore. You don't have to worry about them. But it's still not completely safe. Come on-"

It hissed once more before whirling and leaping onto a lower branch on another tree. I lunged for it, and my hand closed around the end of its tail, but the sudden movement caused me to slide off the branch.

"Jack!"

I shot an arm out to take hold of the branch, but missed. My stomach lurched as I began to fall. But then I felt a strange warmth spread over me as I was covered in a soft blue glow. I looked up. Abra's eyes were glowing, and his arms were pointed to me.

I looked down at the meowth. It was squirming, spitting and hissing, trying to wriggle free. Then it curled up, grabbed my arm, and bit down. I shouted in pain, letting go, and the meowth dropped.

"Ivysaur!"

As soon as the meowth hit the ground Ivysaur threw another seed. I couldn't tell if this one hit its mark because the cat disappeared into the brush.

"After it!"

"But, Jack, you-"

"Go!"

She nodded and ran after it.

Abra hovered me closer to a branch. I grabbed it, climbed down a bit then jumped. I hit the ground, inhaling sharply and collapsing when a sharp pain lanced up my leg. Charmeleon hurried over, growling.

Master okay?Abra asked

"Fine, fine, just find that meowth!"

With me.

I hobbled after him, powering through the pain in my leg, and ignoring the bleeding from the bite on my forearm.

Shortly after Abra slowed down.

Close, Master.

I slowed down as we came to another clearing. A little ways in Karen stood with her Ivysaur. She turned when she heard my approached. She beckoned me over, a finger to her lip.

I limped over, my Pokemon at my side.

The meowth was curled up in a ball, asleep.

"Whew, it almost got away again."

I let out a long sigh before recalling it to its Pokeball.

"Alright, it's almost dark, let's head back."

When we got back Robert and Elena were just arriving. They saw me limping and rushed over.

"Are you kids okay?"

"What happened to your leg?"

"Jumped from a tree."

"What?!"

"But we caught all the Pokemon that went that way."

Karen and I handed them the Pokeballs. They grinned.

"Alright, that's great! We got all of ours, too."

"All Pokemon recovered," Elena noted, scribbling in a notepad.

"Ya did good, kids."

"Yeah, just try to not go jumping out of trees, Jack. You're bound to break a bone."

"Nah, this guy's part mankey," Karen joked, patting my arm, "he's always climbing trees. It's second nature to him."

Robert took the Pokeballs and went out toward the field, probably to send them back out.

"Well, you and your Pokemon look exhausted. Why don't you clean up and get some rest? You deserved it."

"Whoo, yeah, I am beat." We recalled our Pokemon and went inside.

After a quick shower I got to bandaging up where the meowth bit me.

The couple lent us their guest room. Unfortunately, it only had one bed. I was pondering what to do as I sat at the desk, applying bandages, when Karen walked in from the adjoining bathroom, in nothing but a towel.

I saw her and spun in the chair to face away.

"Shouldn't you get dressed first?" I said, fighting the urge to stutter.

"Oh, come on, it's just you in here. Besides, we were in our underwear back on Route 4, remember? This isn't much different."

Great, just when I thought I had forgotten about that.

"Well, we had no choice then, we had to wait for our clothes to dry. That's not the case here."

I glanced over my shoulder at her. She was drying her hair with a towel. I looked back at the bandages, adjusting them to make sure they weren't too loose or too tight when suddenly arms wrapped around my neck and Karen leaned in closer.

"Ack, what the hell are you doing? Ew, you're still all clammy from the shower! Dammit, Karen, get the hell-get your hair out of my face! You're still wet dammit, leggo!"

"No!" she giggled, shaking her hair, water droplets splashing on my face. I jumped up from the chair, but Karen didn't let go. I lost my balance with her still latched on and tumbled to the carpet floor on my stomach with a grunt.

"Urgh, Karen, what the hell are-"

A length of white fabric fluttered down next to me. I froze as Karen let out a terrified squeal.

We were frozen for several moments, me on my stomach and her laying on my back, her arms still around my neck. She was still damp from the shower, and some of that moisture was beginning to seep into the back of my clothes. Every muscle in my body tensed with the realization that she was on my back with nothing on.

"W-What is... is that... what..."

Karen unwound her arms, pushed my face into the carpet, snatched up the towel, and dashed into the bathroom.

I lay facedown for a good three minutes, until Karen came out of the bathroom again. I slowly looked over at her to see if she was decent. She had on her sweatpants and t-shirt that she wore to sleep. I sighed, getting back up. We stood awkwardly, sometimes clearing our throats, sometimes fidgeting.

The silence was suddenly broken by a knock on the door.

"You kids okay in there?" Robert's voice asked. "I thought I heard a shout."

"Uh, y-yeah, we're fine."

"Well, okay. G'night."

"'Night."

Robert's footsteps faded, leaving us to stand around some more.

"I-I'll take the floor," I finally got out, quickly taking my sleeping bag from the storage sphere and setting it up on the other side of the bed.

Karen slid under the covers, uttered a quick good night, and turned off the light.

I lay in the dark, trying to sleep and forget what happened.

After twenty minutes, I quietly said, "Karen?"

There was silence for a few seconds, then, "Yeah?"

I paused, pressing my lips together.

"Don't ever do that again."

She was quiet for a moment.

"Yeah, alright."

The next morning, the towel incident behind us, Karen and I stood outside of the cozy home, saying our good byes to Robert and Elena.

"You kids take care of yourselves, now," Robert was saying. "Make sure to change your bandages, and stop jumping out of trees!"

"Sure thing, and no promises," I said with a grin.

"Don't worry, I'll keep him in line," Karen said, her hands on her hips. "If it weren't for me, he'd have broken everything by now."

The couple laughed.

"Good luck with your Gym battle," Elena said.

"Thanks! And good luck with your shelter!"

We turned to leave when I noticed a Pokemon behind the metal fence of an enclosure. It was the meowth.

I approached it, kneeling down. It shrunk back a bit, but after a moment it leaned forward.

"And you behave yourself, alright? Don't go letting the Pokemon out like that."

I reached out to it. It didn't shrink away again like I thought. It sniffed my hand, looking at the bandages on my arm. It meowed.

"It's okay, you were scared. I would have done that, too."

It meowed again, licking my finger. I scratched its head before standing back up.

"Let's go."

With that, Karen and I continued down the road toward Saffron City.