Chapter 3

Brian:

I awoke the next morning to a light, early dew that made the grass shimmer in the bright morning sun. I crawled out of my sleeping bag, surprisingly stiff from my first night out of a soft bed. I got up and went outside the still dark cave and stretched with a yawn as the fresh rays of the sun bathed me in their warmth. I quick check of the surroundings showed that Snorlax was still asleep. It was snoring peacefully, scratching its belly every so often. Scyther, on the other hand, was wide awake and eating a few of the apples that we had left last night.

"'Morning, Scyther," I said groggily. I wasn't a morning person like my new bug Pokemon. Tousling my matted bed-head hair I shuffled over to the remains of the small fire we had made last night. I pulled an apple from my backpack and began to eat it. I noticed Scyther still eating apples. Maybe it would like something a bit better? "Hey Scyther, try this out," I said as I reached into my pack and pulled out a container of Bug Pokemon food. Scyther dropped the apple it was holding shish-kabob style on its scythe and crept over to me. I opened the lid and a sort of stale, sour smell began to fume through the air. It smelled pretty bad to me, but Scyther's eyes got all wide and gleaming. It peered into the container anxiously.

"Scyther…scy?" he said, wondering if he could have some. I fished around in my pack and eventually produced a small bowl. I used a spoon to scoop some of the food into the bowl and set it in front of Scyther. He looked at me and then began to devour the stuff. He apparently liked it a lot. This was encouraging. I had been studying Pokemon food and nutrition on the internet and dabbling with making Pokemon food for a while. I just hadn't had any way to test it out, since Snorlax liked to eat everything. I could have gotten rave reviews on burnt chicken bones with him for crying out loud.

"Glad you like it, pal." I told him with a smile. This was great. So far I was getting along fantastically with my new partner. I finished eating my apple and then had a granola bar and a bottle of warm water. Nothing special, but such is the life of a traveler who has limited cooking skills I suppose. I knew what I needed to do next. After retrieving the now empty bowl from Scyther, I stood up and made my way over to the cliff wall.

"Scyther, Scyther Scy? My Pokemon asked. I turned around and gave a quick smile.

"Don't worry, I'm just going to climb up to the top here and see if I can find some water. You know, a river or something like that," I glanced back over to the cave. "If Snorlax wakes up before I get back, just tell him that, okay?"

"Scy Scyther." He answered with a nod. I gave him a thumbs-up and then started climbing the cliff. It wasn't too hard of a climb, I found many foot and hand holes peppered across the rocky surface and the cliff itself was only maybe twenty or thirty feet high. I got to the top after about fifteen minutes and took a few more to rest my arms. I could tell that I would be getting plenty of exercise on my journey. After my quick rest I began to make my way through the low-lying brush. It was thicker up here than down below at the campsite, but it wasn't so bad you couldn't make your way through it. I kind of wished I hadn't been wearing shorts though. After the first few yards from the edge of the cliff the trees began to appear again. I continued through the heavy brush and finally after about another ten minutes I broke through into a small clearing. A stream was running through the middle of the clearing, not too big or deep, but the water was moving pretty fast so I thought it would be just fine.

"Score!" I said proudly. I was getting pretty good at all this surviving in the wild stuff. I washed off the bowl and spoon and filled up my bottle with water. I took an empty canteen that I hadn't had time to fill up at the house and did so now at the stream. As I stood and turned around I saw Scyther flying over the trees. He zipped over the tree tops and came to rest a few feet in front of me.

"Scyther scy!" It said.

"What, is something wrong?" I asked, concerned. It shook its head no.

"Scyther…Scyther Scyther scy." It answered.

"Did you just come to make sure I got back okay?" I asked, now understanding better. He nodded.

"Scyther!"

"Oh okay, that was nice of you. I'm ready to go now." I told him. We both turned and he led the way out of the clearing. When we neared the thick brush, Scyther began to Slash and Cut it to shreds. We moved through a nicely made pathway as we made our way towards the cliff. "Sheesh, I should have brought you along with me in the first place, pal." I commented with a smirk, thinking of my scratched up legs. Scyther continued his hack away as we moved through the forest and finally reached the cliff's edge. Scyther jumped off the edge and took flight, gliding easily down to the ground below. Of course, I could do no such thing. Fortunately, Snorlax was awake and coming out of the cave now.

"Snorlax, lax Snorlax!" it called up to me in greeting.

"Hey buddy, did you sleep well?" I asked with a wave. "Hey, could you come over here and lie down for a minute?" Snorlax nodded and pounded over to the cliff. It plopped down on its back and looked up at me.

"Lax, Snorlax Snor!" he yelled.

"Okay," I called. "Stay right there!" I took a short leap off the cliff and plummeted down towards the earth. I rolled up and stretched my feet out so as not to come down feet first on him. I landed softy on his belly and bounced off quickly. Snorlax then stood up and, smiling, walked over to the cave and sat down as he started to inhale more apples. I walked over to him and patted him on the shoulder. "Thanks bud, it would have taken a lot of time to climb all the way down that cliff. Okay guys, eat up and then it'll be time to hit the road," I turned around to Scyther. "Hey umm… Scyther…if there is anyone you need to like…you know…say goodbye to…well that's fine." Scyther looked at me for a moment and then shook its head.

"Scyther Scy Scyther." It replied. It seemed that Scyther had been alone out here. I instantly felt a deeper connection with it.

"Okay then, Snorlax, are you ready?" Snorlax finished off the apples and stood up from its place on the ground.

"Snorlax lax lax Snorlax!" it answered me with a nod. I nodded back.

"Okay then, let's get going!" I pulled off their Pokeballs from my wristbands and brought them both inside, and then re-clipping the downsized balls to my wrists, I put on my backpack, slung the duffle bag over my shoulder and started heading towards the main road. When I could see it up ahead I veered north instead of walking the road, so as to avoid any search parties. No doubt my old man had people out looking for me. Not that he was concerned about me or anything. He no doubt wanted to make sure that I couldn't squeal to the police about his base of operations. But I didn't plan to. He would be punished for his crimes. His crimes against people, against Pokemon, and against me and my mother. And I had no intention of allowing any officer or court to rob me of the chance to eventually deliver that punishment.

I traveled north for a while, keeping off the main roads as much as possible. We camped out for a few nights and then after three days of walking and hiking through all kinds of terrain we came to Cyprus Town, a small village with little more than a Pokemon Center, a school and a handful of houses. The little town was situated right by a huge lake. Lake Sarpal according to my map. Well we were running low on food but I had managed our supplies well enough, knowing we would be able to make it here in time. It was a bit out of the way from the main path, so as not to attract attention. I headed over to the Pokemon center, which was surprisingly big for such a small town, and walked in through the doors. Nurse Joy greeted me with a friendly smile.

"Good Evening, how can I help you tonight?" Of course I knew that all the centers had a Nurse Joy, and they were all identical, and I could tell that this was not the Nurse Joy from home, but it still tore me up.

"Well umm…my Pokemon and I are just out traveling and we need some place to stay for the night." It was really hard seeing someone that looked just like my best friend again. I needed to give her a call sometime but I wanted to wait for a while. My dad probably had the place scoped out real well by now, and the phone lines tapped. Worse than that though Joy knew by now that I had lied to her and run away. That would only make her worry more. I knew she would keep any Pokemon sent to my account safe though; a trainer's Pokemon account was absolutely off limits to anyone other that the account holder and Pokemon Nurses, and I knew that Joy was straight enough and upstanding so she would never break the law. That way my dad would never have access to any of my Pokemon.

"Excuse me?" Nurse Joy looked over concerned and snapped me out of my trance.

"Oh, uh, sorry…I guess I'm just tired." I managed to mumble. She smiled mildly and nodded.

"Of course, I understand. Would you like me to give your Pokemon a checkup?" she asked. I thought it would be a good idea.

"Yeah sure, that sounds great." I replied. I pulled off the two balls from my left wristband and handed them to Nurse Joy. She accepted them with a smile and took them into the back room. After a few minutes she returned to the desk.

"Did you by any chance happen to capture that Scyther recently?" she asked me. I thought it was a little odd that she suspected this.

"Uh, yeah about three days ago I believe. I guess it was about twenty five miles southwest of here, roughly." She nodded in understanding.

"I'm not surprised; there have been a lot of Scyther and other bug Pokemon in the area recently. It has all the professors and researchers baffled."

"That's odd. Oh well, it worked out okay for me I suppose. I always wanted to catch a Scyther." I told her with a grin. She smiled back and then headed back towards the room where so had taken my Pokemon. She stopped short and came back though.

"Oh, where is my head tonight?" she said sheepishly. She typed in some things on a computer and asked for my trainer number.

"1110." I told her without thinking. I instantly knew that I shouldn't have said anything. What if there was some bulletin out for me? I started to sweat and I could feel adrenaline pumping out into my body. This could be it for me. But she just entered the number and continued to type. I guess they hadn't put anything on my trainer account yet. Maybe they never would. I was just thankful that I would be okay this time. Nurse Joy finished what she had been typing and reached behind the desk and brought out a small key.

"Here you are, we have one last opening in room 86 on the third floor. You can go eat something in the cafeteria down the hall," she told me, pointing to the hallway to her left. "I'll have your Pokemon sent to your room after I finish my exam. Okay?" I nodded at her.

"Okay, sounds like a plan!" I said, a little too loudly perhaps. The adrenaline hadn't completely drained out of me yet. Joy nodded and gave me a slightly funny look and then walked off and through the back door to check out my Pokemon. I breathed a little more now and headed towards the cafeteria. I ran into a few other trainers in the hall and said hello as I walked by. After a few turns I eventually ended up at the cafeteria. I went up to the line and ordered a cheeseburger, corn on the cob and a cola. After I paid the very reasonable price I went in search of a table. The whole place was filled with trainers and other people and I could see that the cafeteria was also the town's only restaurant. Trainers and other people peppered the tables but each one it seemed was full. I thought I might have to go and eat outside when someone called me.

"Hey, you there!" someone shouted. I looked around and saw a guy about my age waving at me from a table over by the huge bay windows facing the lake. I pointed to myself to see if he was talking to me. "Yeah, you, need a seat? C'mon over here, there's plenty or room!" he yelled back over the soft din of noise. I started to make my way through the tables and people, saying "Excuse me" and "Coming through" a lot. I finally made it over to the table and sat down. The guy was my close to my age, maybe a year older at most, and had a pretty friendly smile. He was wearing a dark forest green vest with really deep violet colored T-Shirt underneath. The shirt he had on was plain, as was the vest, save for the white trim around the sleeves. He was wearing shorts like me, but they were the same purple as his shirt with a stripe down the side of each leg the same forest green as his vest, unlike my solid black pair. Simple sneakers were his chosen footwear and he had a sort of greenish aqua colored cap with a white stripe crossing it diagonally lying on the table next to his pasta and chicken. This revealed his somewhat unkempt black hair and the light reflected off his emerald eyes. I thought I should introduce myself.

"Hi, uh, my name is Brian." I said quietly. I can be slightly shy around new people.

"Hey there, my name is Phillip Lee of Lee's Fishing. That's my dad's company." He said with a smile. He wasn't loud and obnoxious like I had expected him to be. I realized that he had only been yelling and waving his hand like a doofus to get my attention. But Lee's Fishing? I used to eat their stuff all the time.

"Really? Your dad owns Lee's Fishing? That's cool, you guys make some good stuff." He nodded with a small smile.

"Yeah I guess we do, but fishing was never really my thing. Don't get me wrong, I like to fish. I just don't want to make a life out of it. That's why I left this morning." He said after he finished a bite. He took a swig from the bottle of root beer he had and continued. "I guess I always wanted to have a more free life. Go off, train Pokemon, you know, the basic stuff I guess. Plus my little sister drove me crazy," he said with a face that could only be described as a half smile, half frown. "It was either me or her, so I thought it was time I got on my way. So, how about you, Brian?" Wow. I thought. Am I gonna have to lie to everyone I meet?

"Uh, well…" I started to say, not sure of what I should tell him. "Actually, my family is a lot like yours. My dad owns a company but, well," I thought for a moment. "Let's just say I wasn't crazy about following in his footsteps." Well, at least it isn't a total lie. I thought with a mental roll of the eyes.

"Oh really?" Phillip said with interest. "What company?" I started sweating again.

"Uh…" I mumbled, trying to think of some company. "Pierce Electronics." I croaked finally. Phillip stopped eating for a moment.

"Ummm…Jordan, the son of Flint Pierce, is a close friend of mine. So now I guess I should ask why you just lied to me." He said, eyeing me. I started to sweat even more.

"Oh, uh…did…did I say PIERCE Electronics…I uh…I meant PRICE Electronics...sorry, misspoke there, heh." I squeaked with a totally fake smile. Phillip stared at me for a moment.

"Okay, whatever, I'm sure you have your reasons for lying to me, since Price Electronics was bought by Pierce a year ago, but hey, whatever, I won't make you say anything if you don't want to." Wow, he had me. I think I would have started to sweat even more if there had been any water left in my body. Thankfully a Chansey waitress brought me my food then.

"Oh, thanks a bunch Chansey!" I cried, swiping the trey from its hands nervously. I think I may have startled it a bit but at least it didn't attack me or run away scared. "Oh, sorry about that, here." I slid it a tip and it and the Chansey collected it with a smile, then dashed off back to the kitchen. Phillip was staring at me with all these looks rolled into one expression, like "Oh yeah, this guy is DEFENATLY hiding something," and "Whoa, what was up with that?" I grabbed my drink and began to slug it down as quickly as I could.

"It's okay man," he told me finally. "Everyone has things they don't want to talk about, it's fine. I do too. Just tell me that, okay?" I nodded.

"Okay, yeah, I'd rather not talk about it." I said quietly.

"Alright then, that's fine." I relaxed about an inch but he seemed friendly and sincere enough though. We finished eating and then got milkshakes, talking all the time about Pokemon, current events, even the weather. Sad as it is to say, he was probably one of the best human friends I had ever had, and I had only met him about an hour ago at the time. We started walking back through the hallway and stopped outside my room on the third floor.

"Well, this is my room. Where are you staying?" I asked as I unlocked the door. Phillip's eyes got all wide and then he laughed a bit.

"Heh, well, I just realized I didn't get a reservation. Brother…" he chuckled. I was shocked.

"Didn't get a room? Oh wow, this was the last one…" I looked inside my room. There was a bunk bed. "Well, why don't you stay in my room tonight then?" I offered. Phillip smiled at the suggestion.

"Really? Are you sure you won't need the extra bed?" he asked. Well it sure won't hold Snorlax. I thought with an invisible smile. And even if I thought it could, you couldn't pay me to sleep under him.

"Yeah, it'll be fine; I'm traveling alone after all." I reassured him. He smiled even more brightly.

"Okay, sure! Thanks a lot!" he said cheerily. "I'll be back after I go get my stuff, I left it in a locker downstairs."

"Not a problem. " I replied, flipping the switch and bathing the room with artificial light. I walked in and kicked off my shoes before plopping onto the bed. My bags had been brought here already. Nice service. I thought. After a quick shower I felt a lot better and decided I'd go to bed soon. Phillip had already retrieved his backpack and sat on the top bunk rubbing his eyes tiredly. Well, it was more of a light brown sack actually. A soft knock came from the door. I got up and shuffled over to the door and opened it. A Chansey greeted me and handed me a tray with my two Pokeballs in it. Then the Pokemon handed me a report.

"Chansey!" it said happily as it dashed off after I thanked it. I brought them back into the room and read the report; a healing cut on Scyther and a small bruise on Snorlax's right arm. "Rest for both and continued bandaging for Scyther recommended." The report said. Not bad, considering that battle the other night. I thought wearily. I set them down on and old wooden nightstand next to my bed. Phillip was already asleep up above me and so I turned in too.