Yet another character. Meh.
April: For lack of a better idea, she basically looks like May, from the TV series. Or the game's female main character, they're both the same. And yes, I intended the play on names.
Chapter Three: A few days later
Chris finished stirring the stew he'd put together. It had turned out well enough, mostly thanks to the spring they had camped next to. Kani was out, walking around. She'd been getting moody recently. (Kani? Food's ready.)
He'd learned enough about telepathy from her that he could telepathically send messages to her. He couldn't tell if she 'heard' him, but he figured she did. They'd both been working together – he learned telepathy from her, and she was gaining strength of mind (not to mention the occasional TM move, when Chris remembered that he had one she could use).
He took two bowls, and began to ladle some stew into both. After about a minute of Kani not showing up, he began to slowly eat. "Guess it pays to learn to cook."
A female trainer was walking through the forest. She was looking forward to getting to Celadon city. She'd even heard about that explosion, and was curious about it. The papers had said that there was a reward for information, and she wanted some of that… it was ten thousand worth, if she managed to provide enough.
As she thought of the reward, she noticed an Espeon sunning itself on a nearby rock. "An Espeon? Here? I wonder where its trainer is? They don't evolve unless they like their trainer…"
It heard her, and after a frightened look, ran off. She sighed, and rubbed her stomach. She wanted that reward for a reason. She wasn't getting a lot to eat, these days. She'd lost a few battles, and was running short of cash.
She smelled food, and followed where the Espeon had fled. Maybe its trainer would be nice enough to share something…
Chris looked up from his contemplation of the stew as Kani dashed in. "You know Kani, if you keep on taking forever to come back, I'll start to get worried. Why do you always disappear?"
(It's too dark in this forest. I need sunlight! )
Chris shrugged, and placed the other bowl of food on the ground. Kani began to slowly eat, while Chris minded the stew, and ate at the same time.
April couldn't believe her eyes. This boy was so casual with his rare Espeon, it was almost like he was asking for it to be stolen. And she could swear he somehow looked familiar. Though that bizarre hairstyle (it looked like he was running out of hair dye) ruined whatever resemblance she could notice.
Her stomach, unable to bear the scents, grumbled loudly.
Kani looked up from her meal, and shifted her posture into an aggressive pose. Chris sat still, on the ground. He had learned it wasn't a good idea to get up quickly. "Who's there?"
A girl walked out from the bushes, blushing faintly. "Sorry. I saw your Espeon, and followed it. You know, you're asking for it to be stolen, leaving it loose like that."
Chris and Kani exchanged a glance, and both laughed a bit.
It was quite an odd sight for April – she'd never seen an Espeon act so human before.
The trainer grinned, and shook his head. "Sorry, but we're hardly worried about poachers. And they'd never manage to hold Kani, she's smarter than they are. Not to mention she could just teleport. Speaking of which, why did you lead this girl here?"
As the Espeon blinked, thinking, April's temper rose. "I AM NOT 'THIS GIRL'! I'm ARPIL!"
Chris grinned, as Kani relaxed. "My, my. What a temper, eh Kani?"
April was about to yell again when her stomach rumbled loudly.
Chris eyed her, then shrugged. "Well, that explains the noise." He dug into his backpack, then came up with another bowl. He filled it with some of their food, then held it towards April. "Hungry? Feel free, we've got enough."
April almost ran, grabbing the food. She wolfed it down, she was so hungry. The trainer and his Espeon leisurely continued to eat. April thought they were talking, but the trainer wasn't moving his lips, besides occasionally eating some of his stew. The stew wasn't bad – she had thought that it would be horrible, coming from a guy's cooking.
She finished off most of it, as the other two didn't eat very much of it.
As she finished, April actually looked at the boy, almost for the first time. His right ankle was wrapped in something, and it looked like he was recovering from a beating, from all the bruises. He seemed to notice her evaluation fairly quickly, but didn't seem to care. His mind seemed preoccupied with something.
She finally got up the nerve to ask: "What happened to you? And what's your name?"
"Name's Chris. Kani, you already met."
"What happened to you?"
He didn't respond. All he did was look depressed. Finally, he quietly said, "Frankly, you don't want to know."
"I do want to know. Did you lose a fight, or something?"
"Nothing like that."
"Well?"
Chris looked at his Espeon – Kani, April remembered. It looked like both of them had telepathy, and were talking something over. Or they were so used to living with each other, they knew the other's mind from their face. Kani appeared agitated, and Chris just tired.
Eventually, Chris sighed, and nodded. "Look, let me put it this way, April. I tell you, you could be at risk for your life. Still want to know?"
She grinned – she thought it was a joke, until she looked at the two of them. Both looked totally serious.
"You're joking, right?"
"No. You know about the Rockets, right?"
"…Y…yea."
"They're after the two of us. You might want to forget we exist, that you've talked to us." His Espeon nodded, and rested her head on his leg. He absently scratched her head as he continued, "Otherwise, they may go after you."
She wasn't too worried. In fact, she was more interested than ever. She'd always been good about holding on to secrets, but she was insatiably curious. Not to mention, her pokemon weren't pushovers. "Why should I? I'm good about keeping important stuff quiet."
"Maybe. But I'm not taking that risk. Nor should you."
"How about this. We have a battle, and whoever wins decides. I win, you tell. You win, you get to keep quiet."
Chris sighed. He knew she'd come up with that. "That's hardly the way to treat someone nice enough to give you free food. But I knew this was coming. Fine. But I hope you have some medicine. Kani doesn't know her own strength. One on one, though. Kani's my only pokemon."
April smiled. There was no way he could stand up to her. Her intuition told her he was very new, and from what she suspected, he'd only been 'in the game' for a few days. Not to mention that he only had one pokemon.
Chris sighed, as April called out a Bellossom. (Kani, start using Calm Mind. Be discrete.)
Kani began to glow slightly. April called out for Bellossom to use Petal Dance. Chris apparently made no move, but Kani used Double Team to confuse the attack, making it miss. Just to be safe, she also set up a Light Screen once the attack was over. She'd learned that one from a TM as well. Chris had used it just this morning, after they had to fight a reckless gloom. Actually, she'd learned two other attacks since they left, besides Calm Mind and Light screen. Reflect, and Return.
"Bellossom, try again! Petal Dance!"
This time, even more images of Kani appeared. Kani took some light damage - Bellossom hit every image. But thanks to Calm Mind's effects, and the light screen, she hardly was injured.
"Gleh! That should have hurt! Wait… why… Chris, why aren't you moving? You haven't even gotten up!"
Chris grinned, from his sitting position. "Because. I'm tired. You'd be too, if you were in pain whenever you were standing."
"Your Kani's moving without your orders!"
(She's never dealt with psychics, has she? )
(Most likely. Anyway, use confusion on Bellossom.)
Kani held still for a moment, then fired the attack from her mind. Bellossom froze, mid-petal dance. It glowed for a moment, then went flying into a tree.
April blinked. "What the…"
Chris sighed. "April, give it up. There's no way for you to win now."
"I don't think so. Bellossom, body slam Espeon!"
(Kani, reflect.)
The reflect went up faster than Bellossom could strike, so Kani only took about half as much damage as she should have. It hurt, but not too much.
Kani then charged Bellossom as it recovered from hitting the reflect with a Return attack, then another confusion. It went flying, and didn't get up.
"Bellossom, can you get up?"
Bellossom tried, but fell over, unconscious. "What's with this kid?" April thought to herself. It looked like he'd been training for a long time, from the ease that they reacted to her attacks. She called Bellossom back to her ball, and sighed.
"I shouldn't have tried that. Oh, I'm poor enough as it is…" she dug for her purse.
"Don't bother."
April looked up. "But, the rules say in a trainer battle, you fork over half your cash if you lose!"
Chris shrugged. "True. But I don't need it. You do. It's that simple."
April blushed. She'd never met such a weird trainer before. "Yes, but well…"
Chris sighed. "If it helps, I'm technically not a trainer. I have a pokemon, but I don't have a 'dex, or trainer's card, or any of that."
April blinked. "What? Then why are you…"
"It's part of that 'you don't want to know' thing."
April pouted at that. She still wanted to know – actually, she wanted to know even more about this guy. He wasn't a trainer, but he traveled like one. He didn't seem to use a pokeball for his Espeon, and didn't even need to call out orders during a battle. He appeared to be inexperienced on the surface, but his one pokemon had both TM moves, and incredible power. Not to mention that what looked like an inexperienced Espeon used what looked like Psychic to her.
Chris grinned. He shifted his position to prevent his legs from falling asleep, and looked up at her. "Don't look at me like that. I'm not saying. I won fair and square. Even let you keep your money."
"But… how did your Espeon get so powerful?"
"It's simpler than you think. She knows Calm Mind. We've been practicing with each other for a few days, but they've been so stressful, she's gained about two week's worth of practice."
April sighed. "Where are you headed to?"
Chris shrugged, with another 'devil may care' grin. "We don't know. Cerulean city first, someone I know lives there. After that, I don't know. Maybe to Sabrina's gym, for some tutoring on psychic pokemon."
"You'd take on Sabrina with just your Espeon?"
"I never said that. I said I'd like some tutoring. She's supposedly not that bad, especially to other psychics."
"You don't need that. Look at what you did to me." Her voice as a bit depressed as she continued "I've been training for months, and you beat me easily. I even beat a gym leader."
Chris shrugged again. "Not so true." Kani had walked over to him, and was resting her head on his lap again. "Kani's tired. I guess I should be thanking you for the experience, though. Anyway, you came in overconfident. That's anyone's downfall, no matter how good."
April smiled faintly. "You're weird."
Chris just laughed. The sun was setting, and he was getting tired. "Well, if you want to camp nearby, that's fine."
Chris doubted she'd accept. Most girls had to be careful with someone they just met - even if they were tough trainers.
April was about to refuse, when she realized how dark it was getting. "I guess I'll have to take that offer. Where's a good spot to set up?"
Chris pointed to a spot nearby, somewhat close to the spring. "You might as well use that spring. Let your pokemon get a drink. Especially your Bellossom."
April nodded, and began to set up camp, after letting out her pokemon.
Chris watched for a little bit, then went inside his tent. He was out like a light in a few minutes. Kani had already gone to sleep inside.
April looked back at the weird trainer's tent. She didn't get him at all. He was such a paradox – he let on clues about himself, but she never got enough to piece together much. She thought he was running from something.
Unbidden, the reward notice flashed in her mind. "that could be it. He could be running from that…"
She shook her head, and finished setting up camp, then went to sleep.
Kani opened her eyes, and dug into Chris's pack for a potion. Once she found one, she brought it out to April's Bellossom. A peace offering, sort of.
