Chapter 15 - The Boulder Badge

Flint called back his pokemon. I looked up, wondering why he wasn't going to continue fighting.

'There's no point in continuing,' said Flint. 'Your Pikachu's too fast for my Onix. I declare you the winner, Kash Ketchum!'

I looked over at Kash. He had a huge smile on his face.

'I present to you, a boulder badge,' said Flint. He held out his hand and showed Kash a small, grey object. Kash stepped up to him and took it.

'Wow....' he said. 'Thanks! I can't believe it! We did it, Pikachu!'

I wasn't exactly sure what it was that we had done, but I knew it had made Kash happy so I smiled.

'That's an official Pokemon League badge,' said Flint. 'Earn eight of those badges and you can enter the Pokemon League. Each badge makes you and your pokemon more powerful.'

'Thanks a lot,' said Kash.

'There's just one thing I want you to do for me,' said Flint. Kash looked at him.

'Oh,' he said. 'What?'

'My son really wants to become the world's greatest pokemon breeder, just like his brother Brock,' said Flint. 'However, he's in need of someone to travel with...'

'He can travel with us!' said Kash.

'Great!' said Flint. 'I'll send him to the Pokemon Centre. After you go and heal your pokemon, he should be there.'

---

Nurse Joy handed Beedrill, Spearow and me to Kash.

'Thanks,' said Kash. Just as he put his two pokeballs away, a boy rushed into the Pokemon Centre with a backpack. Kash, Christy and I looked at him.

'Are you Kash Ketchum?' he asked Kash.

'Yes, that's me,' said Kash.

'My name's Jock,' said the boy. 'I'm Brock's brother....'

'Oh, right,' said Kash. 'You're the one that's coming with us?'

'Yeah,' said Jock. 'Nice Pikachu.'

I smiled.

'Yeah, it's great isn't it?' smiled Kash.

'Yes,' said Jock. 'But why isn't it in a pokeball? It would probably be a lot more comfortable in one.'

'No!' I cried, and hid behind Kash's leg.

'Pikachu doesn't like pokeballs,' said Kash. 'And that's fine by me.'

'Of course,' said Jock. 'As long as a trainer and his pokemon get along, they make a great team.'

'Yeah,' said Kash. 'Well, come on. We'd better head out.'

We left the Pokemon Centre, and started heading down a path.

'This path should lead us to Mount Moon,' said Christy. 'And after that, it's Cerulean City! Then I can get rid of you guys!'

'Or we can get rid of you,' Kash muttered.

'What was that?' Christy demanded.

'Uh, I said we'll be sorry to see you go,' said Kash.

'Oh, will you?' Christy asked. 'You mean you really want me to stay?'

'Uh...' said Kash.

'Well, that's just your bad luck,' said Christy. 'I'm not going on any more of these pokemon journeys. You're going to have to survive without me.'

'I'll miss you,' I said quietly. I had grown to quite like Christy as a companion for Kash and I. I sighed as Christy ignored me and we kept walking.

'What's wrong, Pikachu?' Kash asked, noticing me.

'Nothing,' I said. Kash looked at me and kept walking. It wasn't long before we came to a cave entrance.

'That'll be Mount Moon,' said Jock. 'I hear there's lots of pokemon in their own little community in there. If we go quietly, we may be able to see some!'

'Great!' said Kash. 'I'll be able to catch some more pokemon!'

'Yay!' I said. I had started to realise that Kash catching more pokemon was a good thing. Not only did Kash need more pokemon to help him in battles, but as he caught more pokemon, I got more friends. Although I enjoyed the company of humans, I learned from Beedrill and Spearow that having pokemon friends was important too.

'Well, hurry up!' said Jock. 'The sooner we get in there, the sooner we get to see all the rare pokemon in there!'

(-o-) PiKACHU (-o-)