A.N. 6600+ views in less than 20 days makes me excited!

Ash slowly regained his consciousness and opened his eyes at a sluggish pace. He carefully checked his surroundings and looked to see what was going on. He saw a female figure hovering over him and gave him a somewhat blunt smile. Ash looked down at his feet and saw that it had been wrapped up with some black fabric to stop the bleeding. Even though it had stopped, he still felt somewhat light-headed. Dratini was coiled up and looked at Ash and sighed.

"You've finally came to your senses," she said as she approached him. The human female reached out a hand to pat Dratini's head but the smal dragon slapped her hand out of the way with her tail, causing the girl to gasp out of shock.

"Where...where...am I?" asked Ash confused as he still looked around the area. He looked down and saw that he was still in his boxers and turned a deep crimson red in embarrassment since he was almost nude. The girl giggled. He looked and saw her: she had shoulder-length blue hair with a red headband and was wearing a green and white dress with a small bow on her chest, close to her heart.

"Your Pokemon has a lot of energy," she giggled. Ash was still a crimson red since he was in the presence of a beautiful girl; she did look a few years older than he, maybe about five. "I was so worried that you were not going to regain consciousness; you were out cold for about 30 minutes. Do you remember what happened?"

Ash obtained the strength and was able to sit up and look at the girl who now had gotten on her haunches so her eye level would match his more or less.

"I-I-I..." said Ash with a dry voice as he struggled to speak.

"Here, drink some fresh spring water; you need to remain hydrated on a day like this," she stated as she handed him a canteen. He opened it and took a few large gulps and felt his voice return to normality.

"Thanks," he responded as he wiped his mouth with his arm. "I was swimming with my Pokemon and saw large creature called a Gyarados attacked us. Its fin must've sliced my foot opened."

"Luckily, my grass Pokemon have leaves with healing powers. I used them to help treat your wound and tore of a piece of cloth from my socks and wrapped it around your wound as a hemostat. You should be lucky that I was here otherwise you may have died," said the girl.

"What about the Gyarados?"

"I defeated it with one of my grass types," she said triumphantly. "We should take you to the nearest doctor and let them have a look at your foot to be safe," she added as she pointed down at his foot.

"But Viridian City is quite a ways," added Ash. "I also have to help my Pokemon Riolu I just caught. He's paralyzed and fairly weak...We gotta get him to a center fast!"

"We can do that, but I have a quick solution," replied the girl with a warm smile.

"By the way, what is your name? I'd like to know the name of the person who saved me, after all," commented Ash. "I don't know if I can walk real far with my foot like this..."

"Erika, name's Erika," added the girl with a smile. "And don't worry; I know a way we can get there much faster versus going on foot."

"How?" inquired Ash as he looked down at Dratini and then his Pokeball with Riolu in it. He knew the little aura Pokemon was in pain from still being in paralysis, and he didn't want the poor creature have to suffer any longer than necessary.

"A freight train comes around one o'clock here going north bound to Viridian City; they usually have vacant box cars and we can climb into one."

"But, won't the train be moving too fast?" he inquired.

"With the help of my Pokemon, it'll be no problem; besides, they only move at about 15 to 20 miles per hour," she reassured as she stood back up. "Here; you get dressed and I will help you get your shoe on.''

She went to a small forest not to far away and began exploring it while Ash began to slowly put on his clothes.

"Well, she seems nice, I think," said Ash as he slid on his jeans. He was completely dry after lying in the sun for about a full half hour. Dratini went to his backpack and grabbed it with her mouth and drug it to him. "Thanks, girl," he said as he patted her slimy head. He then put on his shirt and jacket and waited for Erika to come back. He waited for about five minutes and he saw her return with her arms full of different fruits, or so it seemed.

"Here, I got some Cheri berries and Oran berries; the Cheri berry will help cure paralysis and the Oran berry will restore lost health," she explained as she gently laid them on the ground.

"Ok, come on out, Riolu!" commanded Ash as he threw the ball to the ground, causing the little aura Pokemon to appear. "Let me feed you some of those berries; they will help you with paralysis and heal you." He picked up the blue and black Pokemon and fed it a red Cheri berry. Riolu opened his mouth and chewed on it slowly, savoring the flavors of the spicy berry. It was relatively soft and easy to digest. Once he finished chewing the berry, the Pokemon swallowed it, and almost instantaneously sprung to his feet with a "Rio!".

"Wow, that sure worked!" said Ash excited as he pet the Riolu's head, but the little Pokemon did not return the feelings; instead, he slapped Ash's hand away and folded his arms into his chest and made an apparent scoff sound.

"I said I was sorry for paralyzing you, Riolu!" explained Ash as he held out his hand. "Truce?" He even held out an Oran berry as a peace offering. The little aura Pokemon held out his snout and started sniffing it rapidly and grabbed it with his little paws. He chewed it and liked the flavor of it, but he turned his back to Ash again.

"Aw, come on..." said Ash a bit disappointed.

"He just needs time; all Pokemon have different personalities and it takes a while before they get used to their trainers," stated Erika as she put her hand on Ash's shoulder. "We better go wait by the train tracks for when it comes so we can get to Viridian City as fast as possible." He nodded and absorbed Riolu back into his ball.

Erika held out her hand wrapped Ash's left arm around her neck to lend him support and she put her right arm around his torso and Ash began to walk awkwardly. Dratini was even polite enough to jump off Ash before Erika put her arm on him so the additional weight wouldn't bother him. Since it was his right foot that had been damaged, he would had to support his weight on the left one, but since that seemed virtually impossible, he would have to hobble around on one foot, hopping on his left one. After about 15 minutes of awkwardness and a few stumbles, they finally managed to get there. As if on cue, they heard a faint whistling and a engine chugging in the far distance.

"Well, I hear it coming, but what are we gonna do?" asked Ash as he lay on the ground for a second.

"This," she said as she took out a Pokeball. "Go, Weepinbell!" She threw the ball away from her so it would be closer to the position of the oncoming train. The pokeball impacted the ground and a yellow flower-like thing popped out. It had two green leaves on its side and a brown steam on its head. "Use vine whip on that iron rod inside the train!"

"Bellll," it responded in a deep voice and let loose some vines which got hold of a thick iron bar inside the boxcar. Erika and Ash were each about eight feet from the train tracks so they could be in distance for what Erika planned.

"Weepinbell, send back your vines and grab me and Ash!" said Erika to the flower Pokemon. It nodded and let out four vines, two grabbing each of them. Dratini quickly jumped on Ash's shoulder and the flower Pokemon carefully pulled them in at a good pace and they landed in the boxcar.

"Good girl, Weepinbell, return for now," smiled Erika as she aimed the red beam at the Pokemon.

"We should probably be in Viridian City in about an hour," she added as she looked at Ash concerned. "Here, have some lunch." She offered him a few of the berries she gathered earlier and he eagerly accepted them.

"Tell me a bit about yourself, Erika," inquired Ash as he took a bit of the Oran berry.

"Well, it's kind of a long story, but it will make the journey faster," she began.

A.N. Sorry for the long time it took to update. Busy with school. I was originally going to do Sabrina, but imo, she seemed kinda agoraphobic in her demeanor; like she wouldn't want much to do with socialization, rather, hone her skills. I liked Erika a lot in the anime and that's why I chose her. Sorry if I happened to disappoint anyone.