Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.
(Thinking)
Chapter 2
The girl and her pokemon woke up early and got ready to go. The girl was just about to leave the center, her pokemon in their pokeballs, when Nurse Joy caught her at the door.
"Leaving so soon?" the pink haired nurse asked.
The girl nodded, "I don't like staying in one place too long, and it's so nice out that I wanted to get an early start."
"Well I wish you safe travel," Nurse Joy said. "It would be nice to know your name though before you left."
The girl blushed, "How rude of me. I'm sorry, my name is Rica."
"Well Rica," Nurse Joy said, "It was nice meeting you and your pokemon. Good luck in your travels."
Rica nodded, and turned around and left the center.
***
Rica made it out of the city within less than an hour. When she had traveled for another hour after that, she stopped and pulled out her map.
"Let's see," she muttered to herself. "Coming from Rustboro, I went into Petalburg, and now I want to go down to the docks so I can go to Dewford." She checked the map, and made a grim discovery. "I missed the docks coming out of the woods!"
She clenched the map in her hands. "Would it be safe for me to retrace my steps? Could I still get caught by them and dragged back to that place?" She flattened the map from crumpling it. "Maybe, if I finish taking Route 102 and go through Odale Town and then go up Route 103 and cross the water, I won't even need to take the extra ride through Dewford to get to Slateport City."
She looked over her map one last time. "Yep, that's what I'll do." She put the map away and pulled out the pokeballs. "Blaziken, Houndoom, I need to talk to you both." She tossed the balls and the pokemon came out. "Change of plans." She told them about what she wanted to do, and they nodded.
"I just hope going into Slateport for a little while will cause them some confusion before we head out again," Rica said. She clenched her fists, "Why are they after me? Is it because of who Mom and Dad were that they don't want anything happening to me? Or do they just want to through me in that place so they don't have to worry about me?"
Houndoom barked a question. Rica had known it for so long that it was easy to understand what it was asking. "If they put me in that place, they'll take both you and Blaziken away from me."
The Houndoom's eyes widened, and it shook its head in disgust. Blaziken already knew why they were traveling, so it already knew the answer. It looked around from where it stood next to Rica, making sure no one was coming.
"Guess we'd better get going," Rica said as she got up from the rock she was sitting on. "Time to go back inside you two, don't want to cause any attention."
They nodded and she returned them to their pokeballs.
She traveled most of the day without stopping. By night's arrival, she was nearly at Odale. She didn't want to travel another hour in the dark, it was too dangerous to travel at night in a slightly wooded area, and she didn't want to cause any commotion anywhere in the town when she arrived.
She planned to go into Odale Town the next morning, stay only long enough to buy some extra food both her pokemon and herself with her dwindling supply of money, and then leave the town. She didn't want to stay too long, and she knew the walk to Slateport was going to take at least three days if she kept traveling the way she did.
When it was too dark to see without a flashlight, Rica walked off the road and undid her sleeping bag and climbed in. She didn't want to bother with a fire, and she had eaten earlier while she had been walking. She knew sleep would come quickly, the walking she did always brought it on quickly, but she would still sleep lightly, just in case.
***
The next morning, she woke up and made a startling discovery. Across the road, someone else had made camp, tent and all.
"Oh I hope it's not them," she whispered as she rolled up her sleeping bag. She was hitching it to her pack when she owner of the tent came out, and she let out a breath of relief. It was just a young, teenage boy, probably just starting his pokemon journey.
She relaxed a little and sat down to get a drink out of her canteen and went to brush her teeth behind a bush. When she came back, a delicious smell was coming from the boy's camp.
"Figures he can cook," she grumbled enviously as she put her stuff away.
She was just about to leave, lifting her pack to her shoulder, when the boy called, "Hey, would you like to join me?"
Rica wasn't too sure, but walked over anyway. He wasn't as young as she thought he was, maybe her age. "Are you sure you want me to join you?"
"Haven't been able to share a quiet breakfast with a human in a long time," the boy answered. "Normally it's just me and my pokemon." He pointed behind him. Rica peered behind the tent and gasped. Six pokemon, all high leveled and most fully evolved, were sitting next to bowls of pokemon food, eating.
"Wow," Rica gasp, "Those must be some powerful pokemon."
"They are," the boy answered. "The Swampert was my very first pokemon, it and the Mightyena are the strongest out of all of them. I have Alakazam, Graveler, Crobat, and I feed my Gyarados separately, since he can a little more aggressive during mealtime."
"Well that's not surprising," Rica said. "Gyarados are some of the most difficult pokemon to train, and it's no strange thing that they can be food aggressive."
"You seem to know a lot about pokemon yourself," the young man said. "Do you have any pokemon? I have plenty of food so they can have some breakfast with my pokemon."
"Uh," Rica wasn't too sure about letting her pokemon out, or dragging the morning on. She wanted to be on the road by now, but she didn't want to be rude. "Well, all right, I have two, but they can kinda be big eaters when they can get away with it."
"That's fine," the young man said, "As you can see, I have some pretty big pokemon too, and none of them have small appetites. Call 'um out and I'll get them some food."
"Okay," Rica replied and pulled out her pokeballs. "Come on out guys, breakfast time." She tossed the balls and the two pokemon came out. Blaziken and Houndoom both looked around, and eyed the young man with uncertainly. "It's okay guys," Rica said, "He invited us to breakfast. Uh, I don't know your name yet."
"Oh opps," the young man looked embarrassed. "Sorry, my name's Alistar."
"I'm Rica," Rica replied, not too sure if that was the right thing to do. She turned to her pokemon. "Would you two like to eat with Alistar's pokemon?"
Blaziken and Houndoom exchanged glances. They would rather keep her within their sights, but with other pokemon around and the young man, maybe they could relax a little. They nodded and Rica smiled.
"Great," Rica said. She turned to Alistar; "Maybe we should introduce them to your pokemon first, just in case."
"That's probably a good idea," Alistar replied, "We don't want them turning on them for no apparent reason." They went around the tent. "Hey guys." Alistar's pokemon looked up from their food. "This is Rica and her pokemon, Blaziken and Houndoom. I invited them to breakfast, is it okay with you guys if Blaziken and Houndoom eat with you?"
The pokemon nodded and came away from their food bowls to inspect their new guests. Blaziken and Houndoom glance at Rica, whom nodded, and they approached the new pokemon.
"They seem to be getting along okay," Alistar said. "I'll go and get their food."
"Okay," Rica said. "I think I'll stay here and watch them, I don't often see my pokemon interact with other pokemon, so I want to see how they do." Alistar nodded and went to get the food.
Rica watched her pokemon talk with the other ones. Since she knew her pokemon so well, she could pick up some of what they were saying. She knew right away when the other pokemon asked what they were traveling for, when he pokemon exchanged glances with one another and got a little stiff.
"Oh great," Rica whispered to herself, "I hope they get out of this one okay without giving to much away."
"Something wrong?" Alistar was back with two food bowls.
"Huh?" Rica hadn't heard him approach. "Oh nothing's wrong, I just hope my pokemon don't put their feet in their mouths." At that comment, Blaziken and Houndoom turned around where they sat and blew raspberries at her. Rica laughed, "Opps, oh well."
Alistar laughed too. "You seem to have a very good relationship with your pokemon." He approached the group. "Here you go you two, enjoy."
Blaziken and Houndoom nodded their thanks, and waited for the other pokemon to get back to their food bowls before starting on their own food.
"Lets go see if our food is done," Alistar said. Rica nodded, and they went back to the campfire. Whatever was cooking in the pot smelling really good to Rica, and she hoped it tasted just as good.
"It's probably different from what you're used to eating for breakfast," Alistar said as he stirred the contents of the pot. "It's a sort of breakfast stew. It has sausage and potatoes in it, and the broth is mixed with egg whites. It's a little complicated, but my mom made it when I was a kid, and she taught me how to make it for when I travel."
"Well it smells good," Rica said. "And normally if it smells good, it tastes good, as long as it's not a poisonous plant."
Alistar laughed, "That's true. It looks almost done, maybe a few more minutes."
Rica nodded, "I can wait, that's not a problem." (Considering I don't eat breakfast most mornings.)
***
When breakfast was done and they were eating, Alistar asked, "So, where are you and your pokemon headed?"
Rica looked up, her spoon in her mouth. (Should I tell him where I'm going?) She thought. (What if the hunters run across him and ask him questions or something? Well, I can't just leave his question unanswered.)
She took the spoon out of her mouth, "Well, we really don't have a destination, we're just traveling to travel." She had put on a smile to make it seem more believable, and it seemed to be working.
"That's cool," Alistar said. "Just traveling to get away from home is a good idea, as long as you know what you're doing."
Rica nodded. (I've been doing fine on my own for a while, I guess I know what I'm doing.)
She finished her stew, "That was great. Thanks for breakfast, but I think I should be going now."
"Leaving so soon?" Alistar asked.
"Well, I like getting started early," Rica answered. "The sooner I start, the farther along I get, which means the more I get to see."
"I guess that's a way to look at it," Alistar said.
Just then, Blaziken and Houndoom came around the tent carrying their empty food bowls.
"Are you two all done?" Rica asked. The two pokemon nodded and Rica took their bowls and gave them to Alistar. "Thanks for breakfast, do you want some help with anything before I leave?"
Alistar shook his head, "Nah, I'll be fine. You said you like getting out earlier, so I think I've kept you long enough."
"All right then," Rica said. She turned to her pokemon, "Say goodbye to Alistar you two." The two pokemon said goodbye and Rica returned them to their pokeballs. "I guess I should say goodbye too."
"Nice meeting you," Alistar said. "If you ever need I anything, swing by Petalburg City, that's where I live."
"I'll keep that in mind," Rica said. She picked up her pack and swung it onto her shoulder. "Goodbye then," she said waving as she headed down the road.
***
Author's Note: Yes, a nice long chapter, over 2,000 words. I can make them longer, it just depends on how many ideas I have in mind, or if I forget to make a chapter break. Well, you found out Rica's name, and who's this Alistar? Don't worry, he's not gone for good, he's got a few parts to play in this story. Thanks to those of you that have read and reviewed my story, it's good to know that some people like this. Review me and tell me what you think of this chapter.
(Thinking)
Chapter 2
The girl and her pokemon woke up early and got ready to go. The girl was just about to leave the center, her pokemon in their pokeballs, when Nurse Joy caught her at the door.
"Leaving so soon?" the pink haired nurse asked.
The girl nodded, "I don't like staying in one place too long, and it's so nice out that I wanted to get an early start."
"Well I wish you safe travel," Nurse Joy said. "It would be nice to know your name though before you left."
The girl blushed, "How rude of me. I'm sorry, my name is Rica."
"Well Rica," Nurse Joy said, "It was nice meeting you and your pokemon. Good luck in your travels."
Rica nodded, and turned around and left the center.
***
Rica made it out of the city within less than an hour. When she had traveled for another hour after that, she stopped and pulled out her map.
"Let's see," she muttered to herself. "Coming from Rustboro, I went into Petalburg, and now I want to go down to the docks so I can go to Dewford." She checked the map, and made a grim discovery. "I missed the docks coming out of the woods!"
She clenched the map in her hands. "Would it be safe for me to retrace my steps? Could I still get caught by them and dragged back to that place?" She flattened the map from crumpling it. "Maybe, if I finish taking Route 102 and go through Odale Town and then go up Route 103 and cross the water, I won't even need to take the extra ride through Dewford to get to Slateport City."
She looked over her map one last time. "Yep, that's what I'll do." She put the map away and pulled out the pokeballs. "Blaziken, Houndoom, I need to talk to you both." She tossed the balls and the pokemon came out. "Change of plans." She told them about what she wanted to do, and they nodded.
"I just hope going into Slateport for a little while will cause them some confusion before we head out again," Rica said. She clenched her fists, "Why are they after me? Is it because of who Mom and Dad were that they don't want anything happening to me? Or do they just want to through me in that place so they don't have to worry about me?"
Houndoom barked a question. Rica had known it for so long that it was easy to understand what it was asking. "If they put me in that place, they'll take both you and Blaziken away from me."
The Houndoom's eyes widened, and it shook its head in disgust. Blaziken already knew why they were traveling, so it already knew the answer. It looked around from where it stood next to Rica, making sure no one was coming.
"Guess we'd better get going," Rica said as she got up from the rock she was sitting on. "Time to go back inside you two, don't want to cause any attention."
They nodded and she returned them to their pokeballs.
She traveled most of the day without stopping. By night's arrival, she was nearly at Odale. She didn't want to travel another hour in the dark, it was too dangerous to travel at night in a slightly wooded area, and she didn't want to cause any commotion anywhere in the town when she arrived.
She planned to go into Odale Town the next morning, stay only long enough to buy some extra food both her pokemon and herself with her dwindling supply of money, and then leave the town. She didn't want to stay too long, and she knew the walk to Slateport was going to take at least three days if she kept traveling the way she did.
When it was too dark to see without a flashlight, Rica walked off the road and undid her sleeping bag and climbed in. She didn't want to bother with a fire, and she had eaten earlier while she had been walking. She knew sleep would come quickly, the walking she did always brought it on quickly, but she would still sleep lightly, just in case.
***
The next morning, she woke up and made a startling discovery. Across the road, someone else had made camp, tent and all.
"Oh I hope it's not them," she whispered as she rolled up her sleeping bag. She was hitching it to her pack when she owner of the tent came out, and she let out a breath of relief. It was just a young, teenage boy, probably just starting his pokemon journey.
She relaxed a little and sat down to get a drink out of her canteen and went to brush her teeth behind a bush. When she came back, a delicious smell was coming from the boy's camp.
"Figures he can cook," she grumbled enviously as she put her stuff away.
She was just about to leave, lifting her pack to her shoulder, when the boy called, "Hey, would you like to join me?"
Rica wasn't too sure, but walked over anyway. He wasn't as young as she thought he was, maybe her age. "Are you sure you want me to join you?"
"Haven't been able to share a quiet breakfast with a human in a long time," the boy answered. "Normally it's just me and my pokemon." He pointed behind him. Rica peered behind the tent and gasped. Six pokemon, all high leveled and most fully evolved, were sitting next to bowls of pokemon food, eating.
"Wow," Rica gasp, "Those must be some powerful pokemon."
"They are," the boy answered. "The Swampert was my very first pokemon, it and the Mightyena are the strongest out of all of them. I have Alakazam, Graveler, Crobat, and I feed my Gyarados separately, since he can a little more aggressive during mealtime."
"Well that's not surprising," Rica said. "Gyarados are some of the most difficult pokemon to train, and it's no strange thing that they can be food aggressive."
"You seem to know a lot about pokemon yourself," the young man said. "Do you have any pokemon? I have plenty of food so they can have some breakfast with my pokemon."
"Uh," Rica wasn't too sure about letting her pokemon out, or dragging the morning on. She wanted to be on the road by now, but she didn't want to be rude. "Well, all right, I have two, but they can kinda be big eaters when they can get away with it."
"That's fine," the young man said, "As you can see, I have some pretty big pokemon too, and none of them have small appetites. Call 'um out and I'll get them some food."
"Okay," Rica replied and pulled out her pokeballs. "Come on out guys, breakfast time." She tossed the balls and the two pokemon came out. Blaziken and Houndoom both looked around, and eyed the young man with uncertainly. "It's okay guys," Rica said, "He invited us to breakfast. Uh, I don't know your name yet."
"Oh opps," the young man looked embarrassed. "Sorry, my name's Alistar."
"I'm Rica," Rica replied, not too sure if that was the right thing to do. She turned to her pokemon. "Would you two like to eat with Alistar's pokemon?"
Blaziken and Houndoom exchanged glances. They would rather keep her within their sights, but with other pokemon around and the young man, maybe they could relax a little. They nodded and Rica smiled.
"Great," Rica said. She turned to Alistar; "Maybe we should introduce them to your pokemon first, just in case."
"That's probably a good idea," Alistar replied, "We don't want them turning on them for no apparent reason." They went around the tent. "Hey guys." Alistar's pokemon looked up from their food. "This is Rica and her pokemon, Blaziken and Houndoom. I invited them to breakfast, is it okay with you guys if Blaziken and Houndoom eat with you?"
The pokemon nodded and came away from their food bowls to inspect their new guests. Blaziken and Houndoom glance at Rica, whom nodded, and they approached the new pokemon.
"They seem to be getting along okay," Alistar said. "I'll go and get their food."
"Okay," Rica said. "I think I'll stay here and watch them, I don't often see my pokemon interact with other pokemon, so I want to see how they do." Alistar nodded and went to get the food.
Rica watched her pokemon talk with the other ones. Since she knew her pokemon so well, she could pick up some of what they were saying. She knew right away when the other pokemon asked what they were traveling for, when he pokemon exchanged glances with one another and got a little stiff.
"Oh great," Rica whispered to herself, "I hope they get out of this one okay without giving to much away."
"Something wrong?" Alistar was back with two food bowls.
"Huh?" Rica hadn't heard him approach. "Oh nothing's wrong, I just hope my pokemon don't put their feet in their mouths." At that comment, Blaziken and Houndoom turned around where they sat and blew raspberries at her. Rica laughed, "Opps, oh well."
Alistar laughed too. "You seem to have a very good relationship with your pokemon." He approached the group. "Here you go you two, enjoy."
Blaziken and Houndoom nodded their thanks, and waited for the other pokemon to get back to their food bowls before starting on their own food.
"Lets go see if our food is done," Alistar said. Rica nodded, and they went back to the campfire. Whatever was cooking in the pot smelling really good to Rica, and she hoped it tasted just as good.
"It's probably different from what you're used to eating for breakfast," Alistar said as he stirred the contents of the pot. "It's a sort of breakfast stew. It has sausage and potatoes in it, and the broth is mixed with egg whites. It's a little complicated, but my mom made it when I was a kid, and she taught me how to make it for when I travel."
"Well it smells good," Rica said. "And normally if it smells good, it tastes good, as long as it's not a poisonous plant."
Alistar laughed, "That's true. It looks almost done, maybe a few more minutes."
Rica nodded, "I can wait, that's not a problem." (Considering I don't eat breakfast most mornings.)
***
When breakfast was done and they were eating, Alistar asked, "So, where are you and your pokemon headed?"
Rica looked up, her spoon in her mouth. (Should I tell him where I'm going?) She thought. (What if the hunters run across him and ask him questions or something? Well, I can't just leave his question unanswered.)
She took the spoon out of her mouth, "Well, we really don't have a destination, we're just traveling to travel." She had put on a smile to make it seem more believable, and it seemed to be working.
"That's cool," Alistar said. "Just traveling to get away from home is a good idea, as long as you know what you're doing."
Rica nodded. (I've been doing fine on my own for a while, I guess I know what I'm doing.)
She finished her stew, "That was great. Thanks for breakfast, but I think I should be going now."
"Leaving so soon?" Alistar asked.
"Well, I like getting started early," Rica answered. "The sooner I start, the farther along I get, which means the more I get to see."
"I guess that's a way to look at it," Alistar said.
Just then, Blaziken and Houndoom came around the tent carrying their empty food bowls.
"Are you two all done?" Rica asked. The two pokemon nodded and Rica took their bowls and gave them to Alistar. "Thanks for breakfast, do you want some help with anything before I leave?"
Alistar shook his head, "Nah, I'll be fine. You said you like getting out earlier, so I think I've kept you long enough."
"All right then," Rica said. She turned to her pokemon, "Say goodbye to Alistar you two." The two pokemon said goodbye and Rica returned them to their pokeballs. "I guess I should say goodbye too."
"Nice meeting you," Alistar said. "If you ever need I anything, swing by Petalburg City, that's where I live."
"I'll keep that in mind," Rica said. She picked up her pack and swung it onto her shoulder. "Goodbye then," she said waving as she headed down the road.
***
Author's Note: Yes, a nice long chapter, over 2,000 words. I can make them longer, it just depends on how many ideas I have in mind, or if I forget to make a chapter break. Well, you found out Rica's name, and who's this Alistar? Don't worry, he's not gone for good, he's got a few parts to play in this story. Thanks to those of you that have read and reviewed my story, it's good to know that some people like this. Review me and tell me what you think of this chapter.