Chapter 28

Leaf was shaken awake. The world slowly sharpened into focus as she forced open her heavy eyes. She could still feel the rain pattering against her skin and its chill sinking through her skin into her bones. The hands that were shaking her were gentle yet persistent. They weren't going to let her fall back into the blissful sleep she longed for. Her dreary eyes slowly searched for the owner of the hands and were surprised by what they saw. That surprise was almost instantly overpowered by relief.

"Red?" She asked, rubbing the water from her eyes.

"Not quite, but c'mon Leaf. We need to find some shelter," the voice insisted, tugging her up now. Leaf let herself be pulled up, her mind still trying to process exactly what was happening. Riolu, who she had almost forgotten, rushed to her aid, eagerly offering its hand for her to take. She took it, relieved that the pokemon had chosen to stick around.

"Yellow?" she tried again, now staring at the back of the boy's head. The bobbing of his brown hair and baseball cap confirmed it. But what was Yellow doing here? Now that she was really looking, his clothes were different than Red's, he was slightly taller, and he walked with a lot more buoyancy. His pikachu, Volt, was curiously glancing at her every so often from Yellow's shoulder.

"How did you find me?" she continued, very aware that he was still holding onto her wrist.

"I didn't find you, Volt did. And you're really lucky actually. We were running down the path, hoping to find some place to take shelter from the rain when Volt spotted you. You kinda stand out in your bright blue tank top and red skirt. Anyways, you somehow were dozing off under that tree. I didn't see Red anywhere and thought that something might be wrong. Where is Red anyways?" Yellow explained, his blue eyes flickering back to meet her brown ones. Leaf just shook her head, not wanting to think of the answer to the question herself. She could only hope that what she had done was enough of a distraction for Red to get away from the poachers, and he was planning on meeting her at Saffron City soon.

"Finally, somewhere to stay," Yellow sighed in relief. The place he spoke of was a small opening in the side of a miniature cliff that jutted off the side of a hill. The cave was deep enough and tall enough that Yellow and Leaf could both comfortable keep out of the rain and sleep, but not much bigger. The dampness clinging to the cave's wall, the heavy darkness and the lack of space all seemed to be suffocating. Leaf was thankful for the chance to get out of the relentless rain regardless of its size, though. Charmeleon was quickly called out, his flame casting flickering shadows all around the cave. Leaf huddled up next to her starter pokemon, trying to warm her numb extremities. Yellow soon released his own charmeleon, and before long the two curled up next to each other and fell asleep.

Leaf stared quietly at the fire dancing on the tip of her pokemon's tail, finding sleep almost impossible to come by. Despite the sheer exhaustion hanging over her, the worry eating at her insides was overpowering every other sense.

"You want to talk about it?" Yellow's voice asked softly. Leaf glanced over at the blue eyes baring into her own, her trance broken. Unsure of what to say to him, she hesitated, unable to decide whether or not she even wanted to confide in him.

"I'm just worried about Red. We got separated, and I hope he's safe," Leaf decided on, sighing heavily. Yellow nodded in understanding.

"Yeah, I understand your worries, but I'm sure he'll be fine. He's one tough kid, I'll tell you that. It's weird seeing you two apart. You guys are just like a set pair in my mind, attached at the hip," he chuckled softly at the last part. Leaf smiled to herself as she listened to Yellow. It was somewhat true.

"What's with him?" Yellow asked, nodding towards Riolu, who had fallen asleep leaning up against Leaf's side.

"We saved each other," Leaf responded, staring down at the blue pokemon. She really did owe this pokemon a lot, and the fact that he still hung around warmed her heart.

"Is he yours?"

Leaf shook her head, "No, I haven't caught him. He just took a liking to me."

"You're either really great with pokemon then, or super lucky. That pokemon is from the Sinnoh region. He's pretty far away from home," Yellow commented, his tone questioning, but his face unreadable in the flickering light of the fire.

"I suppose it's a little bit of both," Leaf responded, deflecting the question.

Yellow nodded, understanding that he wasn't going to get anything out of her. Making a show of yawning, he stretched and laid down on his sleeping bag. Within a couple minutes, Yellow's chest rose and fell with a slow steady rhythm that indicated sleep. With his eyes closed and his face relaxed, Leaf could almost convince herself that it was Red laying across from her. She sighed, knowing that Yellow was right and dwelling on it wouldn't help. Giving into the exhaustion that had settled on her long ago, Leaf finally let herself fall asleep.

Leaf was, once again, shaken awake. This time, Yellow's touch was gentle as he called her back from the depths of her dream. Her groggy brown eyes met his vivid blue ones as everything came rushing back to her. She forced a smile to her mouth to show him she was awake. He had already packed up his belongings and made breakfast. Charmeleon was protectively curled up near Leaf, eyeing both riolu and Yellow wearily.

"Thanks," Leaf said as she accepted the food Yellow offered her. The sound of rain pattering against the ground was still audible from inside their small cave. Peering outside, Leaf honestly couldn't tell if it was morning or still night. Sighing, Leaf trudged back into the cave and plopped down next to her pokemon.

"Aw, don't look so down! This will give us some quality time to talk! We can even work on strategies for you if you want," Yellow's cheerfully voice cut through the gloom hanging around Leaf.

Trying not to act too interested, Leaf responded, "What kind of strategies?" Yellow smiled brightly.

"Well, I've heard a lot about each of the gym leaders. I'd be willing to give you some tips on how to beat and compete against them if you'd like," he suggested.

Suddenly engaged in an interesting conversation, Leaf barely even noticed when the rain stopped falling hours later.

"We probably better go find your friend. I'm sure he's freaking out about you so much more than you are freaking out about him," Yellow suggested nonchalantly. Leaf practically leaped up from the ground, her brown eyes lighting up with excitement. She quickly returned charmeleon and rushed over to the mouth of their small cave. The musty smell of grass and rain wafted through the air as water dripping from the top of the cave slowly plopped in front of Leaf's feet.

"Saffron's this way," Yellow said as he walked past her and into the forest. Leaf rushed up to his side, riolu trailing after her.

"So, what's your story?" Leaf asked after they had been walking for a while. It had only occurred to her after recounting pretty much most of her journey to him that she really didn't know much about Red's doppelganger. He came off as very open and friendly, but maybe it was just a facade.

"My story?" Yellow questioned, his head cocked to the side.

"Yeah, like where you came from, why you wanted to journey, that kind of stuff," Leaf nodded as she explained. Yellow closed his light eyes a moment before opening them, a far off look replacing the focus that had been there a minute earlier.

"Those are hard questions, Leaf." Yellow sighed, a silence elapsing between them before he continued, "My father was very busy with running his business, so we constantly moving from city to city. My mother died before I could even form a memory of her. I was lonely, so my dad gave me Volt. That's when I realized I had a passion for pokemon. So, I uh, kinda ran away. I've been traveling the region ever since, following whatever direction the wind blows me in. I haven't regretted a moment of it either." A sad smile had settled on his face as he finished.

"What about your dad?" Leaf asked in a quiet voice. Not having a father, Leaf found it difficult to wrap her mind around the idea of how he could have left his. She did leave her mother back in Pallet Town, but she still called, and her mother had known she was going. It sounded like Yellow did neither of those.

"My father and I… sometimes I wondered if he loved his work more than me. He thought he could fill the void he created in me with expensive gifts and money, but I'm not him. Money might have been irreplaceable to him, but I could have cared less. The only thing worthwhile he ever gave me was Volt," he explained. A look of surprise crossed his face, as though he hadn't intended to share that much with Leaf. He quickly attempted to cover the pain he had so blatantly laid out before Leaf with a wide smile.

"It doesn't bother me anymore," he waved it off. Leaf didn't press him any further on the topic, feeling slightly guilty for making him share it in the first place. Instead, she quickly changed the subject to something much lighter.

By the time they reached Saffron City, the sun was shining brightly down on them. Small wisps of clouds replaced the dark ones that had loomed overhead in the previous days. While the skyline of the city was visible, the bulk of the city was hidden behind a makeshift barricade surrounding the city. The only entrance visible was through a building that acted as a gate.

Thoroughly curious now, Leaf rushed over to the building. There were a couple other trainers mulling around and grumbling.

"What's going on?" Leaf asked.

"Go ask the officer yourself," a snotty response was thrown at her.

Fuming, Leaf headed into the building, riolu and Yellow not far behind her. The officer manning the gate looked up from behind a counter as they entered. The man sighed heavily as they approached him.

"We'd like to get through, sir. My friend is in there," Leaf explained.

"I'm sorry, but as of right now Saffron City is closed off to all visitors. I'm not allowed to let anyone through here, so I regret to inform you that you'll have to visit another time. Please don't loiter around the outside of the gates, it gets crowded out there," it was obvious he had repeated the same thing to many people before them. Leaf's mouth suddenly felt very dry. Taking a moment to recompose herself she responded, "How come? How long has it been closed off? My friend would have come through earlier today."

Leaf actually had no idea when Red would have gotten there. Hopefully, she beat him here. The whole closed off thing seemed pretty fishy to her though. What reason could they possibly have for closing off one of the largest cities in Kanto?

"That's classified information I'm not allowed to share. As for your friend, unless he got here over a week ago, then he's not in Saffron," The officer replied in a bored tone. Leaf sighed in frustration and stormed out of the gate. Behind her, she heard Yellow apologetically thank the officer before rushing to her side.

"What am I supposed to do now?" Leaf asked desperately. She turned away, feeling beyond stupid as her throat grew tight and tears pricked the corners of her eyes.

"Don't worry, Leaf. I'll help you find Red. Volt here can find his pikachu," Yellow assured her.

"Really?"

Yellow nodded with a smiled. "I doubt he would have gone far anyways. He's either pulling his hairs out waiting for you to show up, or running here right now."

The image of Red doing either of those actions brought a chuckle out of Leaf.

"So, did you find anything Volt?" Yellow turned his attention to the pikachu at his feet, who nodded. They followed the yellow pokemon to a small clearing not far away where a pikachu was standing just in front of his trainer. Scorch marks were seared into the trees across from them where pikachu had been practicing. Leaf's heart practically jumped into her throat at the sight of the brown-haired boy. Her feet were flying across the ground and her arms wrapping around his neck before he had a chance to understand what was happening.

"Red!" Leaf exclaimed happily, clutching the friend she feared she may have lost.

"Leaf. Thank God," he breathed a sigh of relief. Realizing what she was doing, Leaf quickly broke away from Red and attempted to fight the blush rapidly growing on her cheeks. Red's brown eyes moved from Leaf's red face to Yellow, who was awkwardly hanging back.

"Hey, Red," Yellow called out.

"What are you doing here?" His voice was genuinely filled with curiosity.

"I ran into Leaf on my way here, so we came to Saffron to look for you," Yellow explained.

"You can come with us!" Leaf exclaimed suddenly, surprising both of the boys. Their eyes darted towards each other and then back towards Leaf. Yellow laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head.

"I mean, we could all travel together!" she elaborated.

"Ah, Leaf, that sounds like a blast, but I think I'll take my own path for now. Something seems weird about Saffron City, and I'd like to check it out," he explained.

"Oh," Leaf couldn't hide her disappointment. The boy had grown on her in their short travel together.

"Don't worry, I'm sure I'll be seeing both of you again soon. I'll be looking forward to a battle," his eyes traveled to meet Red's eyes with the last sentence. A smirk split across Red's face at the challenge.

"We'll see about that," Red replied in a smug tone. With a wave and a grin, Yellow was disappearing behind the trees.

"So, tell me what happened? How did you get away?" Leaf turned to Red. After taking a moment to compile his thoughts, Red dove into the story of the previous day, not bothering to go into much of the details and just sticking with the basics. As soon as Red had finished recounting the events, Leaf began her own story. Unlike Leaf, Red listened silently with a stone face.

"So he decided to stick around?" Red asked once she had finished, nodding towards Riolu.

"Well, I guess so," she cocked her head to the side thoughtfully before her eyes lit up mischievously, "How about we show him what being a trainer's all about?"

"Are you challenging me to a battle?" The look was reflected in Red's own eyes.

"Unless you're too chicken," Leaf casually tossed on her pokeballs into the air and caught it.

"Hmph. I've got a new pokemon I wanted to try out anyways," Red shrugged in a vain effort to look uninterested.

"You got a new pokemon?" A sheepish smile crossed across Red's face as he realized he may have left too many details out of his story.

"Are we going to battle or not?" he pressed.

"You bet we are! Three pokemon each," Leaf enlarged the pokeball she had been throwing. Both trainer's pokeballs struck the ground simultaneously, releasing their pokemon in a bright flash of red light. Across from Vulpix, a confused look crossed Psyduck's face.

"Just you watch, Riolu! I'm going to blow him away," Leaf confidently assured the blue pokemon hovering by her leg. He looked up at curiously before returning his focus to the battling pokemon.

"Start us off with a quick attack, Vulpix!" At her trainer's command, Vulpix charged forward in a blur. The fire type struck Psyduck before she had a chance to even realize the battle had started. Despite her slow start, Psyduck recovered quickly, firing off a water gun attack that skimmed Vulpix's side.

"Will-o-wisp."

"Water gun!"

Vulpix eyes glowed as a circle of flames formed around her head before shooting towards psyduck. Wasting no time, psyduck neutralized the attack in a steamy collision with a water gun attack. At Red's prompting, Vulpix leaped through the steam. Psyduck barely had time to sidestep the attack and counter with her own fury swipe attack. The fire fox pokemon recovered quickly and fired off an ember attack that psyduck brushed off.

"Water pulse!" Leaf yelled out. Psyduck obeyed, a blue sphere of water forming in front of her mouth. The super effective attack was enough to push the fire type over the edge. Red quietly withdrew his pokemon. His head gave the slightest of nods, signaling Pikachu to jump off his shoulder and into the battle. The pokemon's cheeks crackled with energy and excitement.

"Thunderbolt," Red's cool voice commanded. Psyduck barely managed to avoid the bolt of electricity fired at her.

"Water gun!"

"Stand your ground and counter with a thunderbolt." The two pokemon squared off, using their respective attacks on each other. The electricity bisected the high-powered stream of water, sending psyduck to the ground.

"Good work," Leaf returned her pokemon. Her fingers hovered over the pokeballs strapped to her waist as her mind ran through her options. Despite his cute appearance, there was no doubting the punch the little electric pokemon packed.

"Let's go gloom" The grass type pokemon appeared on the battlefield with a flash of red light. If gloom could poison pikachu then there was little doubt what way this battle would go.

"Poison powder!" Leaf called out.

"Use quick attack to get away and then electro ball."

Pikachu steered clear of the poisonous cloud of powder forming in the air and once safe from the danger, hurled an electric ball of energy towards gloom. Gloom stumbled as the attack struck, directing its attention towards pikachu.

"Use sweet scent and then acid." This time, pikachu was unable to avoid the sweet scent wafting off the opposing pokemon. Distracted by the smell, he didn't even notice the acidic glob flying through the air towards him. While the attack did hit, it didn't fulfill Leaf's wish of afflicting its target with poison. Snapping out of the trance, pikachu squared up to gloom.

"Mega drain."
"Spark."

Pikachu leaped from the path of the green beam gloom shot at him before slamming into the opposing pokemon. Electricity crackled between the two as gloom tumbled to the ground.

"Mega Drain!" Leaf called out again. Pikachu had barely found his footing when gloom fired another green beam of energy at him. The attack struck, sapping some of the electric pokemon's strength and sending the pokemon to his knees. As the energy returned to gloom, the scratches and bruises covering her body began to fade. Excitement filled Leaf as she watched her pokemon regain strength, fantasies of herself soundly defeating Red filling her mind.

"Acid!"

"Thunderbolt!"

Another glob of poison was hurled at pikachu, but he jumped into the air while simultaneously releasing a powerful bolt of electricity. Gloom crumpled to the ground under the force of the attack, barely able to push herself back up to her feet. The two pokemon faced off, each awaiting an order from their trainer.

As Leaf glanced between the two pokemon, she was suddenly aware of the gap not only between their move sets but also their skills. Pikachu was obviously stronger than gloom, even with the type disadvantage.

"Finish it with a quick attack."

"Poison powder one more time!"

Pikachu speed forward, slamming into gloom, but not before a cloud of purple dust was released into the air. So close to its source, Pikachu was unable to avoid inhaling the poison. Despite Leaf's small victory, Red gained an even larger one as gloom collapsed for good. Leaf thanked her pokemon quietly before returning her to her pokeball.

Knowing the remaining pokemon on Red's team caused Leaf to pause and contemplate which pokemon she should send out next. Charmeleon would be her first choice, but would face a pretty large disadvantage after defeating Pikachu should Red send out either of his ground types. Beedrill would face the same problem, leaving only rattata. The only problem with sending out rattata was that all of its attacks were physical, leaving him vulnerable to pikachu's static ability. Leaf didn't have much of a choice, though.

"Come on out, rattata!" Leaf hadn't battled with the pokemon for a while, and it was nice to see the small rat pokemon out on the battlefield again. He was certainly ready to get back into the action. If rattata could just stall this battle long enough and avoid paralysis, then the effects of poison would hopefully be enough to take down pikachu.

"Electro ball!"

"Dodge it and then use tail whip!" Rattata leaped out of the attack's path before mockingly wagging his tail at pikachu. Pikachu may have been faster than gloom, but rattata also possessed speed. Pikachu pulsed purple after the attack, his breaths becoming more labored with each passing second.

"Focus energy!" Leaf instructed. If she was going to have rattata attack, then might as well ensure it be strong enough for a KO.

"Quick attack, pikachu," Red's calm voice commanded. Rattata, having just finished gathering energy, didn't have enough time to avoid the incoming attack.

"Crunch!" Leaf quickly called out. Just as pikachu slammed into rattata, he turned his head and dug his teeth into pikachu's back. When the two separated, rattata remained on his feet, but pikachu crumpled to the ground. Red retrieved his pokemon gently with a small smile.

Rattata cried out excitedly at its victory before being engulfed in a white light. Excitement rose up in Leaf as she recognized the signs of evolution. Rattata transformed, his purple fur turning to a light tan color and his teeth and tail elongating. The newly evolved pokemon happily gnashed his teeth together to get a feel for his newly enhanced body.

"Yay! Way to go rattata! Er, I mean raticate!" Leaf cheered for her pokemon. With this new development, Leaf had to say that her chances looked pretty good right now.

"Let's go scyther," The bug pokemon appeared opposite raticate, its wickedly sharp scythes glinting in the sunlight. Leaf had totally forgotten that Red had even caught a new pokemon.

"Wow! Was that the crazy scyther from the camp?" She asked, even though she was pretty sure she knew the answer. Red nodded smugly, admiring his new pokemon. You could tell the pokemon was strong just by looking at it. Suddenly, Leaf wasn't so confident about her prospects anymore.

"Don't count us out! Start off by using hyper fang!" Raticate was in the process of charging forward when a wave of electricity raked across his body. Paralyzed thanks to pikachu's static ability, raticate could only wait for the electricity to pass through his body. Scyther seized the opportunity to strike with a fury cutter. As raticate pushed himself back his feet, a red aura surrounded him and his eyes glowed red to match it.

Leaf watched curiously as her pokemon let out a ferocious roar and faced scyther. Pulling out her pokedex, she aimed the device at her pokemon. It quickly informed her that his ability, guts, had been activated due to paralysis. A smile spread across her lips at her luck. Raticate's already high attack stat was getting another boost. Red seemed to understand what was happening without even looking at his pokedex and a frown followed the realization.

"Agility." Leaf recognized her friend's strategy almost immediately. If he could avoid raticate's attacks, then it didn't matter how strong they were.

"Now, slash," scyther responded by flying at the normal type and swinging its scythes down. Raticate managed to avoid the first swipe, but couldn't dodge the second.

"Use crunch once more!" Raticate rushed forward, but his teeth closed only on air as scyther dodged the attack.

"Quick attack," scyther blurred as he charged forward, striking raticate directly in the gut. Panting, the newly evolved pokemon pushed himself back to his feet. Leaf could tell her pokemon wouldn't be able to handle many more hits.

"Raticate, use tail whip, and then hyper fang!" Distracted by raticate's mocking tail wag, scyther didn't have enough time to dodge the next attack. The pokemon's enormous teeth dug into scyther, causing massive damage. Scyther was barely able to rid itself of the pesky pokemon. As the two pokemon faced each other, Leaf realized that neither one of them would be able to take another attack.

"Finish this with a crunch!"

"Razor wind!"

Raticate charged forward to attack while scyther brought its scythes in front of him to form an x-shape. Scyther then violently brought them forward, releasing multiple blades of energy at raticate. The blades hit their mark, knocking out raticate for good. Leaf returned her pokemon and looked up at Red, who had returned his own pokemon. Despite having just lost, she couldn't help but smile. It was a fun battle.

"I almost had you," she sighed.

"Almost, but not quite," Red agreed. Having lost his very first battle to her, finally beating Leaf felt like an attribute to his growth as a trainer. Leaf was probably struggling with the opposite feeling, but she would get over it soon enough.

Riolu excitedly tugged at her leg, his eye lit up from the energy of the battle he just witnessed.

"So, you want to join me?" Leaf held out an empty pokeball to him. He nodded eagerly and tapped his paw against it. The ball shook three times in Leaf's hand before it dinged. She turned back to Red, a big smile on her face.

"I may have lost, but raticate evolved, and I got a new pokemon, so it was worth it. Besides, next time we battle, I'm going to win for sure. In fact, I'm going to start devising a strategy right now!" Leaf declared boldly.

"I'll be here waiting," Red replied in his usual cool tone. Who said that he wouldn't be devising his own strategy?

Happy Easter everybody! This battle was long overdue, and so was rattata's evolution, so I'm glad to finally have the done with. I much prefer it when Leaf and Red are together, its so much easier to write. Things are going to be getting pretty intense in the upcoming chapters, so stay tuned! Anyways, thanks for reading. Be sure to leave a review with your thoughts, feelings or advice on the chapter.