Chapter 5: A Failure Stands Tall

Location: Pokemon Center

Seth's POV-

Chikorita had taken a lot of damage. I grew impatient waiting for Chikorita's treatment because I wanted to give a formal greeting from both Yumi and I. Yumi was rambling in an abnormally loud and annoying tone. She was talking to Eevee, so I tried my best to ignore whatever it was she was saying.

"Will you be quiet?" I asked Yumi.

"Will you NOT be quiet?" Yumi replied.

I facepalmed myself out of irritation before Nurse Joy came out of the emergency room with Chikorita and its Pokeball at hand.

"Chikorita is all healthy now," Nurse Joy said.

I then looked at Chikorita. It seemed a bit uneasy.

"Well aren't you going to get cuddly with her," Yumi asked in an attempt to tease me.

I then realized that the more uneasy Chikorita got, the more uneasy I got.

"Your jokes don't amuse me." I answered calmy.

I then took Chikorita's Pokeball and attempted to recall Chikorita. But Chikorita dodged it.

"What?"

I again attempted to recall Chikorita.

"Chi." Once again, Chikorita dodged.

"I have no patience for your antics." I remarked.

I tried to recall Chikorita multiple times, but my efforts were in vein. Chikorita then jumped into my arms and to my expense, snuggled with me. How I hate that word.

"Well, Mr. Sorry-I-Don't-Do-Cuddly." Yumi was mocking me. "I think Chikorita says otherwise".

"You're annoying." I shot back at Yumi.

I then put away the Pokeball, knowing that if I kept trying to recall Chikorita, I would waste time and energy.

I told Professor Elm everything that happened through an online video chat. He then called off the search for the boy who stole Chikorita and the Cyndaquil, whom he referred to as Noah.

After Yumi and I then left the Pokemon Center, my mind began to wonder again. I thought about what Noah and Zero had in common and compared it to what Chikorita and I had in common. I had set a new goal for my journey: To show that a failure stands tall.

Location: Route 29

We had been walking all day. I was still holding Chikorita in my arms. I enjoyed a rare moment of Yumi shutting up before she broke her silence.

"So how do you like cuddling?" she attempted to tease me again.

"I don't." I kept a straight face.

Yumi then grew curious and asked me why.

"The world is a cruel place. The more you open yourself up to someone in your life, the more vulnerable you are. That day..." The day of Zero turning his back on me kept pooping up in my mind. "From that day on, I vowed to never leave myself vulnerable like that again."

"Oh," Yumi said as if she was disappointed.

Leaving New Bark Town, we were on the road for the rest of the afternoon. In the late evening, we made it to an isolated Pokemon Center where we and plenty of other beginning Pokemon Trainers spent the night.

I thought about Yumi's question. When she asked me about what I was referring to when I said the world was a cruel place, I told her how close I was to my brother Zero, and my mother, and how comfortable I became around them. All of that love was thrown away. I explained to both Yumi and Chikorita how I wanted to show that a failure stands tall.

Later that night...

I had stayed up to do some studying on Chikorita and its movepool with a book so I could start practicing strategies tomorrow. Yumi had fallen asleep. I then heard a scream from outside the Pokemon Center.

A little boy was panicking as I ran outside of the Pokemon Center, but it seemed nobody was causing any trouble. He was by himself.

"What's wrong," I asked as Chikorita and I walked up to him.

"You wouldn't happen to have a pokemon that can you Lucky Chant would you?" the boy asked.

He sounded as weird as he looked. He looked to be about eight years old. He has short red hair and wore seeing glasses. He had on a blue jacket and brown shorts. What was weird about him was that he was decorated with four leaf clovers on his wrists and neck. He even had four leaf clover prints on his belt.

"No. Why do you need Lucky Chant?" I asked.

"Because I saw a Murkrow at night," he said.

Murkow has always been known to bring bad luck to whoever sees one at night, but I didn't want to pass up the chance to capture my second Pokemon.

"Where did the Murkrow go?" I asked.

"I'm not sure. But don't worry, Murkrow usually find trainers and annoy them," he said.

"Hmph. The name's Seth. I'll need to use you as bait for the Murkrow. In exchange, I know a trainer with a Pokemon that can use Lucky Chant," I said.

Earlier, I had checked Yumi's Eevee on my Pokedex. The Pokedex read that Eevee could use Lucky Chant.

"My name's Jason. Uh, you told me you didn't have a Pokemon with Lucky Chant," Jason said.

"True, but other trainers' Pokemon were out of the question," I replied.

Location: Roof of Pokemon Center

We made our way on the roof of the Pokemon Center. Everyone was still asleep inside the building, so we tried not to be loud. Jason used a flashlight as bait a waved the light in the night sky. Chikorita was hugging me to keep warm because it was cold.

"Sigh, it has been 20 minutes and still no Murkrow anywhere." Jason grew impatient.

"Just be patient, it will appear eventually," I said.

"Sorry Seth, but I think we should call it a night and forget the deal." Jason started walking downstairs in the building. "Man I'm hungry."

Jason took out an apple to eat on his way downstairs. But then the apple suddenly vanished from his hand.

"Hey, where's my snack?" Jason asked in a cranky tone.

I then felt a thud on my head and was knocked on my knees as I let Chikorita go. I then spotted the apple that Jason lost in front of me.

"I found your apple Jason," I said.

I tried to grab the apple, but I then felt a beak biting on to my arm as I touched the apple.

"Mur Murkrow." a Pokemon cried.

"It's Murkrow," Jason said.

I looked at Chikorita, getting ready to use it in battle. But Chikorita looked at Murkrow biting my arm, and attacked Murkrow tirelessly for what appeared to be in my defense.

"Chikorita, use Tackle now," I called.

Tackle looked to be either a critical hit, or Chikorita just didn't want me to get hurt.

I took out a Pokeball and readied to use it on the downed Murkrow "Pokeball, grab it." I threw the pokeball.

After a few rolls on the ground, the Pokeball clicked shut, assuring that I had caught Murkrow.

I had caught Murkrow. It was weird though because I thought I'd be happier. I was supposed to be excited and doing some sort of weird posing sequence while saying 'I got a Pokemon', but my heart, or what I have left of it, is void of any positive feeling.

I retrieved the Pokeball as Chikorita came toward me with a worried glance at my arm.

"It's nothing," I said to Chikorita.

"You know, I say Chikorita is really attached to you," Jason said.

"I guess so," I said.

"So I'll see you in the morning," Jason said.

"Yeah, can't wake up anyone at this time of night," I said.

I thought about what Jason said about Chikorita being attached to me and thought how I wasn't alone with Chikorita and Yumi keeping me company. I now feel the exact opposite of how I felt when Zero and my stepfather abandoned me. So I was going to try my hardest to grow attached to Yumi and Chikorita like family, but not 'cuddly', which I'm teased so much about.

The next morning had arrived, and like I said, I got Yumi's Eevee to use Lucky Chant on Jason. We said our goodbyes to Jason and headed started toward Cherrygrove City, which Jason told us about.

2 hours later

We were walking, with Chikorita and I having to put up with Yumi's rambling as always. I then heard a familiar voice directed toward me.

"So how about that battle you told me you were expecting," the voice said.

To Be Continued

Can you guess who's voice that is? And can you guess the reference I made in the title of this chapter? Stay tuned for chapter 6 where we will see the first pokemon battle in this story.