Chapter 2

Brian:

The sun was setting, casting a vibrant red and orange glow all over the city, signaling the end of the day, by the time I reached the Pokemon Center. The outside floodlights started to snap on just as I slowed down and strode through the sliding doors. Nurse Joy was behind the front desk typing furiously behind her computer. She gave me a quick glance and then looked up again as her brain clicked and she recognized me. She stopped typing and smiled warmly.

"Brian, how are you tonight? Is Snorlax okay?" she asked.

"Oh yeah, he's just fine Nurse Joy. I just stopped by to tell you that I'm leaving town on a journey with Snorlax. I think we'll head over to a few cities before we leave for Hoenn." I told her, trying not to look like I had been running all the way here with people chasing me. Which was most likely the case too.

"Really, you're leaving?" she exclaimed. "Oh, I'm going to miss you and Snorlax so much. Well, thanks for stopping in to say goodbye." She leaned over the counter and gave me a sincere hug. The most sincere hug I think I'd had in years. "But I understand. I went off on my own for a while with my Pokemon when I was young before I returned here to become a nurse. It was a great time in my life," she smiled again. "Please enjoy yourself and stop by all the Pokemon Centers you can!" I nodded. I hoped she hadn't noticed the way I had been glancing back towards the doors. I needed to get going.

"Actually, I was wondering if I could open a Keeper Account here. I don't have one yet since I didn't get Snorlax from a lab."

"Oh sure! That's a great idea!" she moved back over to her computer and began her fierce typing once again. "What's your trainer number Brian?" she asked after a minute or two.

"1110," I replied after a quick check behind me. "I got registered pretty early when the new system came out."

"Uh-hu…" she mumbled, concentrating on the various things running across her screen. "Let's see…hometown…age, you're 19, correct?"

"Right."

"Okay…do you want your parents to have back-up access to the account?" My eyes widened a bit.

"Uh, no, no, there's no need for that…" She looked over at me.

"Well, you need someone to have backup access to your account in case, well, someone else needs to take care of your Pokemon. Why not your parents?" I gulped and started sweating bullets. What was I going to say? Well actually, I just found out my dad is a crook and my mom left us a few years ago, so… Right, that was happening.

"Well, uh, they don't really like Pokemon too much, umm…it would be a burden on them…" I managed to stutter. Lying to the people I care about. Blasted genes from my old man I guess.

"Okay but you still need someone. Any other people you could trust?" I thought for a moment. There was really only one other in my hometown.

"How about you Nurse Joy? Would you do it for me?" Her eyes brightened and she smiled.

"You would trust me with that Brian? That's so sweet! Of course I'll do it!" I nodded.

"Okay then, it's you!" I responded with a broad smile and another quick check behind my shoulder. Nurse Joy looked about ready to float away. She began typing again. After a minute she stood up and went into the back room behind her. She returned shortly and handed me a card.

"Okay Brian, this is the I.D. card for your account, use this at any Center when you want to access your stored Pokemon," after I slid it into my wallet, she handed me what looked like a small plastic platform. It was red on the top and white on the bottom. On the top there was a small indentation. "This is your transfer pad. If you catch a Pokemon but already have six others with you place the ball on this pad and press 'send'. It will be transported here, okay?" I took the slender T-Pad with a nod and put it in my back pocked with my Poke'dex.

"Okay, thanks a lot Nurse Joy. I…really need to be going now." She smiled again, but this time it was a very sad and strained one.

"Brian, be very careful, okay? I'm going to miss you two so, so much." She embraced me again. "Email me if you ever feel like chatting a bit."

"I sure will. Thanks for…well…everything." I smiled sadly back at her. "I…uh…I gotta go now, so…so…bye."

"Bye Brian, I hope I'll see you again sometime." I could tell she was near crying, and I was just about there myself, so I gave a little wave and turned around before the water works could delay me. Or hurt me. I knew she was watching me as I left. But I just couldn't turn around. I just…couldn't. Blast you, old man… I left the center. The sky was an even more vivid lights display now then when I had first arrived. I looked over my old home town once more before heading north and out of town.

I hadn't gotten too far out of town when night fell. I had entered a lush forest that I had traversed a number of times in my life, but never in the dark. And let me tell you, it was indeed dark. There were only a few stars out and the moon was only a tiny sliver of silver in the sky. After walking for a good twenty minutes I got off the main road and found a small cave hidden behind some bushes after carefully hiking down a steep incline. After I had checked it cautiously for any Ursaring, I let Snorlax out and we ate dinner. Well, I more like snacked while he ate. And ate. And ate.

"You know, we're gonna have to start foraging for food for you buddy." I told him with a grin. "I don't have enough money to keep buying you all this food anymore. We're on a budget now, see?" Snorlax looked down at the empty wrappers and cans and realized what I meant. He looked over at me.

"Lax, Snorlax Snor…" he groaned in apology. I patted him on the arm.

"Its okay buddy, I know you're hungry. A lot. Like, all the time. That's okay though, that's the way you are. There's no shame in being who you were made to be, alright?" Snorlax nodded, seemingly in understanding. Then he got up and lumbered over to a tall tree near the cliff wall a few feet from our "campsite". He took hold of the old tree and shook it pretty violently. Apples began falling from its branches. I couldn't believe it. "So how long have you known about those, hmm? We're you planning on telling me before or after you ate us out of house and…wait, poor choice of words…out of, well…ate all our food?" I questioned, not really as annoyed as I was acting. Snorlax blinked a few times then smiled. It scooped up a bunch of them and then, after stomping back over to the cave, rained them down on top of me.

"Snorlax, Snorlax, Lax, Snorlax!" he shouted with delight. I dug my way out of the pile of fruit and picked one up and tossed it at him.

"Thanks a lot," I said sarcastically and half jokingly. Snorlax of course snagged the apple out of the air and practically inhaled it. Then he just grinned at me and lumbered over, went inside the cave and lay down to go to sleep. I wasn't quite so tired yet, so after stuffing my pack and duffle bag with as many apples as I could, I decided to climb up the face of the cliff. I was approaching the bushes when I stepped on a branch I hadn't seen in the darkness. It was old and made a terrible cracking sound as it was reduced to splinters. It startled me a bit, but it startled a Scyther in the near-by brush a bit more. It came zipping out of the bushes, fast as lightning, and glared at me. Judging by the way it was sharpening it's scythes on each other and staring at me like a honey-baked ham, I could tell it wanted to slice me up like a nice roasted turkey on Thanksgiving. I decided that I would prefer it not to do any such thing.

"Snorlax! Help!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. I was praying that he hadn't already gone to sleep. If he had then I was finished. Toast. Fish Food. Or perhaps bug bait more appropriately. Fortunately, Snorlax came barreling out of the cave at top speed, which was surprisingly fast for such a large Pokemon. The Scyther was taken aback enough for me to scramble behind my big green wall. Snorlax looked angry. Not only had this thing almost attacked me, but it was interrupting his sleep. Poor Scyther. If it had known any better, it would have flown away right then. But apparently, it didn't.

"Scyther, Scy…ther!" it screeched in absolute rage. It came soaring towards us, brandishing its razor-sharp blades like gleaming knives, aiming a Slash right at Snorlax.

"Snorlax, dodge it and use Mega Punch!" I commanded from the safety of the cave that I had dived into. I had no intention of getting sliced to ribbons on the first night of my journey. Snorlax moved to the left but too late; the Scyther was simply too fast. The Scyther, however, didn't except such a massive Pokemon to dodge at all. It struck Snorlax, but a glancing blow that didn't seem to stagger him much.

"Scyther Scy!" the infuriated bug yelled. It began to come at Snorlax again. There was no way he could dodge this one at all; the Scyther had learned from its mistakes. I had to think differently and make up for Snorlax's speed disadvantage. But then Scyther was on Snorlax again and delivered a massive Slash. Snorlax stumbled back and nearly fell over. Fortunately Snorlax was able to recover, but I didn't want him to take that kind of a shot again.

"Snorlax, give it a Hyper Beam!" Snorlax faced Scyther who had backed off a bit and began to charge up his attack. In a few seconds he cut loose the Hyper Beam. The intense energy stream ripped through the air, burning leafs that hung from the trees above out of existence. I was nearly blinded by the light and the stench of ozone that filled the air. Scyther was ready for it though, and it used a quick Double Team. By the time the destructive ray reached him it had used Double Team and blurred out of the way so one of its illusionary clones took the hit for it. Snorlax stopped the Hyper Beam, out of breath and too tired to move for the time being. Scyther seized the opportunity though and came from behind him with a blazing Quick Attack. Snorlax rocked forward but managed to stay on its feet.

"Snor, Snorlax!" it cried, more in frustration than pain. Scyther was coming in for another Slash now. I needed to turn the tables and fast.

"Counter now Snorlax!" I called to him. Snorlax concentrated and began to glow as a shield formed around his massive body. Scyther's speed was turned against it and it was unable to stop before slamming into Snorlax. It flew back with a screech and lay still for a moment. But it was back up again and preparing for another assault. It came right at Snorlax, angrier than ever now. I had to put it out of commission somehow. "Snorlax, use your Yawn attack!" I told him. Snorlax gave a huge Yawn and a bubble came out of his mouth. The Scyther's speed once again undid it as it had been too close when this happened and couldn't dodge it. The bubble hit it square on and it stopped its attack. It wobbled around on its legs for a few seconds then collapsed, totally asleep. "Snorlax, lets finish it with a Body Slam." I instructed. This is another thing; my Snorlax seems to have this great sense of humor. Instead of leaping through the air and crashing down on top of the opponent like he normally would do, battered as he was from the fight, he sort of sauntered over to the sleepy Scyther and just kind of fell on top of him. It was hilarious. "Heh, okay, okay, you can get off of it now," I said, barely holding back the laughs. Snorlax nodded with a grin and stood up. The Scyther was still asleep, amazingly, and was now pressed about a foot into the ground. This was hilarious too. I was able to rein it in though. Walking cautiously out of the cave I snatched a ball from the left wristband and enlarged it. I tossed it at the Scyther and the ball opened and sucked the Scyther in with a brilliant glare of red light. The ball fell to the ground and wiggled for a few seconds as the Scyther resisted its capture, but really now, Snorlax had just sat on it, how much strength could it possibly have been able to muster? The ball quit wiggling after a number of seconds and the red light in the center went out; I had caught a Scyther! I scooted over to the Ball and held it in my hand. "Sweet." I said with a giddy grin.

"Snorlax, Lax Snor!" My Snorlax crowed with pride. I got up and gave him a hi-five.

"That was some great work buddy! Awesome job!" I complemented. "But I better check on our new friend, I'm afraid you may have crushed the life out of him!" I said. Snorlax's face instantly got this horrible worried look on it.

"S…Snor?" he said quietly. I reached over and patted him

"Kidding, just kidding Snorlax." I quickly reassured him with a smile. He relaxed a lot and looked at the Pokeball expectantly. I tossed the ball on the ground and out popped Scyther. It looked around a bit and then walked slowly over to me. It stared me right in the eyes like no one had ever done before. So I stared right back. After almost a minute of strained silent staring it finally took a step back. Then it extended its right scythe arm. What could I do? I sort of grabbed it at the top and shook "hands" with my new partner. It nodded apparently in approval and then shook "hands" with Snorlax as well.

"Scyther…" it said quietly. It nodded and smiled at me. At least I think that was what passes as a smile from a quiet, serious Pokemon like Scyther.

"Well, uh, welcome to the group Scyther. Here, come over here and let me check you out, see if you're hurt." I walked over to the cave with Scyther tailing me and pulled out my backpack. I turned around and began looking Scyther over. He seemed fine, miraculously enough after having Snorlax use him for a cushion, and really only had a small cut on its shoulder. After a quick spray of potion and a small bandage Scyther walked over to where Snorlax was asleep in the cave and lay down next to him. I looked over at the cliff I had been planning to climb and suddenly felt a little more tired than I had back before all the excitement. So I put up my stuff, spread out my sleeping bag and curled up next to my two friends, falling sleep about a second after my head hit the pillow. If I could have seen the near future, I would have treasured those moments of sleep like gold.