Author's Note: I just wanted to say thanks for the people who reviewed the story. You guys brighten up my day. My brother was in a three-way car wreck. Luckily, he escaped without any injury. Bless the lord for that. Anyways, moving on into something less depressing, I will be continuing the series and it will be a long one. I just hope that this chapter was as good as the first one. Enjoy the story! ^_^
Chapter Two: Greetings from the parents and moving on.
By: Junebug_182
It took two hours before the duo reached Cherrygrove City's sign. Reading the sign out loud so Totodile could understand, she said, "Cherrygrove City, the city of cute, fragrant flowers."
Shuddering at the message, Crystal moved on. They really should change that sign, Crystal thought to herself, as she entered the city limits. The sign was made just about a decade ago, when poverty was much less here. Back then, everyone in the town would plant flowers every spring. But, this is now. People don't do that anymore. More people move into the town, bring poverty with them. Most of these people came from Kanto. Now, hardly anyone plants any flowers anymore.
Luckily, her house wasn't to far off from the sign. Her feet were killing her from walking non-stop to New Bark Town and back, and Totodile looked kind-of hungry. Walking past the run-down houses and the trashy looking lawns, she finally made it to her house. Her house wasn't really bad looking, it was better looking that most in her neighborhood. Her mother still followed the town's old tradition of planting the flowers. Some people around the town sometime stop by just to look at the flowers.
Picking up Totodile, who looked kind-of tired herself, she walked towards her house. Being careful of not stepping on the beautiful flowers, she walked to her porch and knock on her door. A moment or two later, her mother answered the door. When she saw her daughter, she became misty-eyed.
"Honey! I've missed you!" She cried out, hugging her daughter, who looked like she couldn't breath. When she finally let go, Crystal pant for air.
"Don't stand there, like a bump on a log! Come in!" Her mother said, grabbing her free arm and pulling her in. As her mother was shoving her on a couch, she saw her father, sitting in his favorite leather, lazy boy chair, reading a newspaper. He didn't seem to notice that she was there. Her mother sat across from her, still looking misty-eyed.
"Jeeze, mom, I've only been gone for a couple of hours." Crystal said, rubbing the top of Totodile's head. Totodile seem to enjoy the rubbing and leaned against her head. Her mother looked at Totodile, with what looked like shock and disgust at the same time.
"Four hours and forty-five minutes, to be correct."
Crystal just rolled her eyes. She was an only child, so her mother was very over-protective of her. Her father, however, treated her like a boy. They often go fishing together. He, also, taught her how to play football and baseball. He even taught her how to wrestle. In a way, she was pure tomboy. Her mother, on the other hand, wanted her act like a girl should act. Not playing football or going fishing, but to paint her nails and wear a dress once in a while. Crystal didn't want to do any of those things her mother wanted her to do. And at times, her father would stick up for her. Usually, this caused an argument between the two. The only reason her mother would let her became a pokemon trainer, was that her father yelled at her. Crystal hated it when they argue, but who wouldn't?
"Honey," her mother said, not taking her eyes off of Totodile. "Why did you pick that pokemon?"
Crystal looked sharply at her mother. "What do you mean by that?!"
"Well, dear, don't take this the wrong way, but its…kind-of…ugly."
Not noticing the look on her daughter's face, she continued. "Why didn't you pick a cute looking pokemon, like Chikorita. I heard that it's a popular pokemon."
Crystal could feel her anger rising up. Totodile looked down at the ground, with a sad look on her face. This is all Crystal could bear. "Mom, why don't you just…."
"Hold it!"
Crystal quickly looked away from her mother and looked at her father. He had his newspaper neatly folded in his hand. He was staring at both, her mother and her. His eyes were calmly glancing at Totodile once in a while.
"Honey," he said, his eyes stopped at Totodile. "I believe you had hurt that poor pokemon's feelings." Her mother didn't say anything. She just stared at her father. "Crystal," he said, getting up from his chair. "You did a wonderful job of picking a pokemon."
Crystal looked up at her father, wearing a small smile on her face. Totodile, too, glanced up at Crystal's father as well. He continued. "Totodile is one strong pokmon and when he-"
"She." She interrupted.
"Oh, she. When she evolves, she will be a powerful pokemon. And very reliable too." He walked over to Totodile and rubbed her head. Totodile began to chant her name and rubbed against his hand. He began to laugh at the sound of her voice.
"Have you noticed that her voice sounds like a female Donald Duck?" He said, chuckling. Crystal smiled warmly.
"I was wondering why her voice sounded so familiar." She said, staring at Totodile. After her father stopped rubbing Totodile, Crystal picked her up.
"I need to pack a few things before I go." She said, looking at her mother. Her mother was staring at the ground. Crystal couldn't help but to feel sorry for her. It must be hard for her to let her baby go. She put down Totodile and walked to her mother. When she reached her, she gave her a hug.
"I love you, mommy." She said, hugging her tighter. She could hear her mother sniffed and felt her wipe her tears away.
"I'm going to worry myself to an early grave." She said, finally. Crystal looked back up to her mother.
"Don't worry about me, mom." She said, smiling. "I'll have Totodile to protect me. And soon, I'll have a whole pokemon team and you won't have to worry about me anymore."
Her mother simply nodded. Crystal walked away from her and picked up Totodile. Walking to her room, she could her father say; "After you're done packing, I'll tell you how to use your Pokedex."
"Okay!" She yelled back.
Entering her room, Crystal shut the room behind her. Placing Totodile on her bed, she went to her closet and grabbed a few outfits. She placed them on her bed, beside Totodile and quickly folding them. Totodile watched as she was doing this, with a sad expression on her face. When Crystal looked up at her, she noticed this.
"Are you still sad about what mom called you?"
Totodile slowly nodded her head. Crystal wrapped her arms around the small pokemon and hugged her.
"I think you're beautiful." Crystal said, still hugging her. Totodile heard this and started licking her face. Crystal laughed and released her. Totodile was now in a happy mood and was jumping up and down on her bed. Crystal pulled off her backpack from her and her outfits in it. Then she went to her drawer and pulled out some underwear and bras and put those in her backpack. As she was taking some money out of her piggybank, there was a knock on the door.
"Come in." She said, not looking away from the piggybank. She heard the door opening and footsteps coming in.
"Honey." It was her father.
She looked away from her piggybank and glanced her father. In his hand, was what looked like money.
"Here," he said, stretching his hand out to her and handing her the money. "You'll be needing that."
Crystal looked at the money. It looked as though there were 3,500 yen of money in her hand.
"And here." He handed her six pokeballs that she fail to noticed in his other hand. "These are some leftover pokeballs that I had when I was a trainer. They're still good."
Crystal smiled at her father and hugged him. "Thanks, dad!"
Her father hugged her back. "Your welcome."
She released him and put her money and the extra pokeball in her backpack's corner pocket. She took the five pokeballs and put them on her belt, just like her father showed her just before she left to go to New Bark Town.
"Let me see your Pokedex." Her father said.
She handed him it. Then he told her how to check to see what level her pokemon was. He told her to practice on Totodile. A couple of times, she did it wrong, but on her third try, she finally got the hang of it. Totodile's level was five.
Then he told her how to check to see if her pokemon's level grew a level. This time, she got it on her first try. Totodile didn't grow to any levels.
Now, he told her how to pull out her license and showed her how use it. It took a while, but she finally got the hang of it.
"Now," he said, giving the Pokedex back to her. "Do you know any type disadvantages?"
"Yeah, grass is strong against water types. Ground is weak against water. Psychic is weak against dark. Fire is weak against water. And Psychic is strong against fighting types."
"Is that all you know?" Her father asked.
"No. I know them all."
"Good. But type disadvantage isn't all you have to use in a battle. It takes strategy and skill."
Crystal nodded. "I know."
Her father nodded. He looked up at her, smiling warmly. "My little girl is all grown up."
Crystal giggled. "I'm not so little anymore."
"I know."
Crystal walked over to her backpack and put it on. Then she lifted Totodile, who was sleeping the whole time Crystal was learning how to use the Pokedex, off the bed and set her down.
Walking out of her room, her father and Crystal reached the living room. Her mother was in the kitchen, cooking lunch.
"Are you going to stay for lunch?" He asked her.
"Yeah, I'm hungry and so is Totodile."
When her mother was done making lunch, all three sat down at the table. Totodile was on the floor, waiting for her lunch to be served. For their lunch, they had chicken and stuffing. Crystal gave Totodile a big chicken leg, which she ate with joy. After lunch, Crystal gave her mother and father a hug and a kiss for goodbye.
"Make sure you call us everyday!" Her mother said, handing her a cell phone.
"I will and thanks."
"Show those boys what you're made of!" Her father said, hugging her a second time.
"Believe me, I will!"
Her father laughed, as she walked out the door. Waving goodbye at them, Crystal set off, with Totodile by her side, towards the end of Cherrygrove City.
Walking in the tall grass, Crystal looked through her Pokedex, which also has a map of Johto inside, looking for the next town.
"I think the next town is Violet City." She said, mainly to herself. Suddenly, Totodile began to growl. Looking up, she saw a couple of Rattatas eating what looks like a bug. This was a chance to catch a different pokemon.
"Totodile! Use your Scratch attack!" Crystal cried out, pointing at the Rattatas. Her outburst cause one of the Rattatas run away, the other stay where it was and held its ground.
That Rattata is the one I want. Crystal thought to herself. I like a pokemon that stands up for itself.
Totodile did her Scratch attack, which cause the Rattata to fall down. It quickly got back up and used a Tackle attack. Totodile was too slow to dodge it and was hit in the chest and fell on the ground. She was slower getting up than the Rattata was.
"Totodile! Use your Leer attack!" Crystal cried out. Totodile nodded and closed her eyes. When she opened them, they were a crimson red.
Suddenly, red beams shot out of her eyes and hit Rattata. Rattata shuddered for a moment before calming itself.
"Totodile, use your Scratch attack again." Crystal said calmly.
Totodile nodded again and raised her short arm. Quickly, she scratched the Rattata, who fell on the ground again. Thinking that the Rattata had enough, Crystal took out a pokeball and clicked on the button. It suddenly gotten bigger.
She threw the pokeball at Rattata, which it hit it and shot a laser-like light at it, sucking it in. The pokeball shook a bit before it calmed down. The button on the pokeball slowly became white.
Crystal had caught her first pokemon.
"Oh my God! Oh my God!" She screamed at the top of her lungs and jumping up and down. Totodile, who was a little bang up, joined in the jumping and screaming. If a bystander had seen this, he would have laughed his head off. The sight of the two screaming and jumping was really hilarious.
After a minute or two of jumping and screaming, Crystal calmed herself down. Totodile, however, was still jumping up and down. Shaking with excitement, she walked over to the pokeball and lifted it up. Then she looked through her Pokedex to check on Rattata and Totodile's HP. Both were pretty low.
"I have to get you guys to a Pokemon Center." She said, putting the pokeball on her belt. Totodile, who was still jumping up and down, was picked up by Crystal and was carried away.
End of Chapter two.
Author's Note: I hope this chapter was as good as the first one. I'll make the third one soon and I'll post it in a couple of days. See ya then!
----Junebug_182
"…Because there is no greater enemy than an idiot that doesn't understand that he is an idiot."
----Jhonen Vasquez