A.N. Yay! This story has gotten a lil over 9,000 views this month so far! Shout out to all the people who regularly read/review! Anybody playing X or Y? I got it at my grandparents house (which is where I am as of typing this chapter, lol) but I LEFT MY DS AT HOME! *Sighs* Sorry, needed to vent slightly. Anyways, enjoy the chapter! And tell any friends who like Pokemon fanfic!
The morning light beamed through the window of Ash's room and he quickly opened his eyes to greet the new day. He saw that Dratini was coiled up by his feet on the bed and Riolu had slept on the couch. The boy stretched his arms out wide and released a huge yawn.
"Morning, Ash, how are you?" transmitted Dratini to Ash's mind.
"Doing pretty well; how about yourself?" he responded as he reached out to pet the Pokemon's head.
"Fine; this bed isn't as soft as yours, but I did manage to sleep well," she said as she stretched her body out.
"How about you, Riolu? How was it like to sleep outside your Pokeball for a change?" asked the raven-haired pre-adolescent male.
"Pretty good; if you don't mind, I'd like to stay out a bit more," said the little aura Pokemon telepathically as he stretched out his short arms and yawned, showing his short, yet very sharp, canine teeth.
"Let's go find Erika and see about getting some breakfast," suggested Ash as he put his jacket on and his shoes. His foot was surprisingly not hurting that much, so he figured he would attempt to stand on the foot to see if he would be ok to walk on it. He put his foot down and immediately jumped back at the excruciating pain that went straight to the area. He feel down and the bed absorbed all his impact. Riolu ran up to Ash and jumped on the bed. Both he and Dratini looked down at their trainer and used their strength to help him sit up.
"Thanks, guys; I guess I'm definitely not ready to walk on this foot yet," commented Ash as he grabbed his crutches. He made his way to the door and saw Erika was casually talking with Nurse Joy. Ash skillfully used his crutches and made his way to the blue-haired female.
"Morning, Ash and friends, how are you doing this morning?" she asked as she went down to a nearby couch. There was a couch with a table and another identical couch across from it. Ash made his way to the couch and sat across from here and sighed.
"Something wrong?" she asked as she looked down at his foot then brought her eyes back to his.
"Again, just upset about my foot," he murmured as he looked at various trainers enter the Pokemon center with their hurt allies. "Here, they can treat Pokemon on the spot; but here I am having to wait a week, probably, for this to heal."
"You need to accept the fact that you could have died; this slight setback shouldn't hinder your dream," reassured Erika as she got up. "I'm going to get us some breakfast; any special requests or allergies?"
"I have no allergies, so anything will be good," responded Ash. "Also, if they have any Pop-Tarts, that would be great."
"Ok, I'll be back soon," said Erika and in a brief moment she disappeared from his view.
"So, what's today's agenda?" asked Riolu as he got off the couch to stretch his joints. Dratini got on the other couch and extended her full body, the tip of her tail touching the arm rest on one end and her ears touching the other end. Her face was directly looking at Ash with a rather blank look.
"Well, after breakfast, we're going to Viridian Forest and maybe catch a different Pokemon," started Ash. "We have to go through that route in order to get to Pewter City. Riolu, I'm going to be training you today because Erika gave me a tip that you would be a better match against the leader."
"Got it; can't wait to get some exercise and level up," he said with an optimistic tone in his voice; his tail confirmed his current demeanor since it was playfully wagging on the couch.
"I won't leave you out, Dratini; you'll both be in for some training, so be sure to eat a hearty meal," explained Ash. They both nodded.
"I should probably call Mom and let her know I'm ok," he added as he opened the Pokegear. He rang her numbered and she answered it before the second tone rang.
"Ash, sweetie, I'm so glad you called me!" said his mother with a perky lilt in her voice. "But, I am a bit worried about you. Did you finally get to a doctor?"
"Yes, he stitched up my foot," he explained. "It hurts to walk on it, but I will be okay, mom."
"That's great Ash-not about your foot, that is, but you managed to take care of the situation yourself with the help of...what is her name again?" asked Delia.
"Erika," he shortly answered.
"What does she look like?" requested his mom.
"Short blue hair, green and white dress. Why?"
"Wait, that girl sounds awfully familiar! Is she-" began Delia, but Ash was not fully paying attention because Ash directed his attention to the girl with a large tray of food.
"Speaking of which, she has come back," said Ash, "and she brought food."
"Well, isn't that sweet, enjoy your breakfast, dear," said Delia.
"Mom, what were you about to say until I interrupted?" asked Ash interested.
"Oh, don't worry, it is nothing really important; just enjoy your breakfast dear," she replied sweetly.
"Ok, mom, I'll call you when I get to Pewter City," stated Ash with a small nod to the Pokegear.
"Ok, I'll wait for your call then. Thank you calling me, it was very sweet. I gotta get started on the yard work. Quite a lot of weeds have sprouted from the rain shower." And with that she hung up.
Ash looked up to Erika who had sat the tray down on the table. Dratini got off the couch and moved to the one where her trainer was sitting and looked down at the food.
"Thanks so much for breakfast, but..." started Ash as he tilted his head down and looked at the floor with a look of shame.
"What's the matter? Please look up and speak of what's on your mind," coaxed Erika as she tried to get the boy to tell her the problem.
"I just feel bad that you've been spending money on me; I mean, it's not right for the girl to have to pay," explained Ash. He looked at his Pokemon and saw that their mouths were drooling from the aroma of the food.
"Don't feel bad; I've gotten plenty of money from battles with trainers. You should not under any circumstance feel guilty; honestly."
"Well, I guess as long as you're okay with it..." said Ash as he went to reach for a fork.
"Sure thing," said Erika as she reached a spoon. She picked up a bowl of okayo that had a bit of honey and ginger in it. Ash grabbed a plate that had scrambled eggs and bacon on it and had a cup of orange juice. He saw that there were four blueberry Pop-Tarts on a napkin and gave one to Dratini. Riolu grabbed one, too, and he grabbed a banana that was on the tray. They all started enjoying their first meal of the day and happily conversed about Pokemon.
"So you want to become an all-around trainer? No certain type?" asked Erika as she finished her apple juice and set it down on the tray.
"Yeah, I mean, it's important to have strategy; I'm not saying having all the same types is a bad thing, but variation gives you an edge," explained Ash as he finished his food. The four of them managed to eat all the contents on the tray within 10 minutes. Dratini ate three Pop-Tarts, a strawberry, and six grapes. Riolu had one Pop-Tart, three grapes, a banana, and a bagel with cream cheese. Erika had a bowl of okayo and seven grapes as well as a glass of apple juice. She gave Ash several uneaten oranges to put in his backpack. He downed a serving of scrambled eggs, three strips of turkey bacon, a strawberry, and the glass of orange juice.
"Let me go take the tray back to the cafeteria, then we can go," instructed Erika as she picked up the tray and went to the cafeteria down the stairs.
"What a nice person, but it makes me wonder, what the deal is," added Ash.
"What do you mean?" asked Riolu through telepathy as he rubbed his soft blue and black tummy with a fuzzy paw.
"Well, mom thinks she knows her, and that guy from the train station knew her name as well," commented Ash. "Maybe there's more to her than I thought."
"Well, you did meet her yesterday, afterall," stated Dratini her extended her body out to stretch her muscles.
"True, I mean, it's not like I was anticipating her to give her life story out," added Ash. "Speaking of which, here she comes."
"Hi, Ash. I see that you are you ready now," pointed out the blue-haired adolescent. "Were you just talking to your Pokemon?"
"Yeah, I like to talk to them. Is something wrong with that?" started Ash almost defensively.
"No, nothing wrong with that, but seem people, excluding me, think it is kinda strange, since you don't know what they're saying."
"Well, everyone has an opinion; I'm glad you don't find it strange that I talk to them, or the fact that they aren't in their balls."
"All trainers are different; do what suits you best, not the general opinion," advised Erika.
"Well, I better head outside now and make our way to Pewter City," said Ash.
"I'm going with you, Ash; I would not let you go out by yourself with that injury. In fact, I don't even know if it's a truly good idea to go through the forest with crutches," explained Erika with concern in her voice.
"But, I have my Pokemon-"
"I wouldn't be that cruel to let you go venture aimlessly without someone to watch you, and I finalized the decision," protested Erika.
"Ok, I guess having some company would be ok; maybe we could learn a little more about each other."
"Sure," said Erika. "I can also help find any berries when needed."
"That'd be great, thanks." The two of them headed to the automatic doors of the Pokemon Center and was greeted by some rays of sunshine. It was no where near as hot as it was yesterday, but it was also only 10:45 and the warmest part hadn't arrived yet. The plants and grass were covered with a slight layer of water and the ambient temperature was about 62 F (about 16.7 C).
"Ash, I checked the weather forecast and it says there shall be abundant sunshine for today and the next three," stated Erika. "You should test the grass to make sure that you don't get stuck; if it's too thick, we may have to wait tomorrow."
"Ok, I'll give it a try," he said.
"I'll try and catch you if I think you're gonna fall, but just to be sure...Weepinbell, come on out!" Erika threw her ball to the ground and the yellow flower that was hovering above the ground. "Stay by my side and help Ash you think he's gonna fall!"
"Bell," responded the female plant.
Ash put a crutch into the soil. He believed that it was gonna sink in, but it surprisingly didn't. He put his other one in and applied his weight on them. Again, they did not sink.
"That's weird, why didn't it sink?" pondered Ash.
"I think it's because we've been having such a long heat wave and that the ground was real dried up and it didn't get saturated from the rain," theorized Erika. "You'll be ok to walk with your crutches, I'm sure of that."
"But you should keep Weepinbell out just in case," requested Ash as he started walking skillfully with his crutches. The two of them started heading northward to the forest. So Erika with Weepinbell at her side, along with Ash with Dratini and Riolu to the side, all started walking together.
After about thirty minutes, they finally arrived to their destination.
"Haven't been here in quite some time," trailed off Erika. "Being in a forest surrounded by nature...it's so inspiring for a grass-type trainer like me. The only thing that I don't particularly like is the bug Pokemon since grass are weak to them."
"Good thing to know," Ash thought to himself. He looked around and saw some small worm-like Pokemon. "Hm, they look weak, but I may as well fight them to get some experience. Go, Riolu!"
"Rio!" said the little aura Pokemon and gave a small fighting pose. The green worm, which was eating fallen leaves, looked at Riolu and stopped munching on its snack.
"Let's see what kinda Pokemon you are," said Ash as he pulled out his Pokedex.
"Caterpie, the worm Pokemon. These Pokemon inhabit predominately forested areas. When threatened, it will shoot out silk to bind its enemies. When it is ready to evolve, it will form a cocoon."
"Hmm, I don't know if I wanna catch it, but I might as well battle. Riolu, use quick attack!"
The bipedal canine obeyed and swiftly darted at Caterpie and threw a punch at the insect. It dodged the attack and tackled Riolu, but the Pokemon did not falter.
"Try it again!" issued Ash and Riolu used another quick attack, hitting the insect dead on. Once the attack connected, it fainted, its eyes covered with swirls.
"That wasn't even worth the effort," muttered Ash.
"Here, have a berry," stated Erika to the Caterpie. She put it to its mouth and it ate a bite; almost instantly, it was as if it rose from its theoretical grave, and walked off to eat some leaves.
"That was nice; I would feel kinda guilty to leave a Pokemon fainted like that," confessed Ash as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Let's keep looking."
For the next twenty minutes, the two of them remained close to one another. There did not exist much variety in the forest; Caterpie here, Weedle there, a Pidgey in a tree or in the grass. Just typical, low-leveled Pokemon.
"Isn't there anything worth catching?" asked Ash to Erika.
"Hmm, there may be a Pidgeotto or a Metapod; you just have to keep looking. After all, we've been in the forest for about 30 minutes."
Ash decided to take a breather, so with the help of Erika and Weepinbell, he leaned against a tree while sitting down. The foliage of tree began to shake rapidly as well as the beating of wings, or so he thought. The wings did not sound like that of a Pidgey, or any bird Pokemon for that matter; the beating was extremely fast, so it had to be that of an insect.
"Do you hear that, Erika?" inquired Ash as he looked around in attempts to find the source.
"It may be trouble; that sounds like it may be a Beedrill!" she exclaimed at a low level. "My Weepinbell knows sleep powder, so if it's a threatening Pokemon, we can put it to sleep and run."
"Ok, sounds like a plan," stated Ash as he grabbed hold of his crutches and began to maneuver without difficulty. Riolu and Dratini stayed on the ground by his side and kept their guard up to check the surroundings and defend themselves if necessary.
The buzzing of the wings began to increase and a green figure darted by swiftly, only a very faint outline detected.
"What do you suppose that was?" asked Ash.
"Well, at least it wasn't a Beedrill; they tend to attack in swarms and that thing actually looked bigger," she responded. "Get ready, Weepinbell; you may have to defend us with a sleep powder soon."
"Bell," said the yellow plant in her deep voice.
The two of them walked to the part of the forest where they saw the outline. The took a few minutes to search the area but turned up empty handed. Whatever it was, it was fast, and more than likely, powerful; Ash wanted to know what it was and had to catch it if its power matched its speed.
"Well, looks like it got away," said Ash. "Let's try to go back to the main path we were on."
"If we can find it," let out Erika. "We've gotten lost, and over nothing."
"Well, I have my Pokegear; we have to head north, so it may tell us which way that is," responded Ash optimistically. He pulled out the small device and the needle of the compass began to slightly budge to the direction of north. "We have to go southeast from our current direction to get back on the path."
They two started walking in that direction when a thud hit the forest floor. The looked around to see that some small branches from the top of a tree had fallen. They shrugged it off and kept walking but after about 20 seconds, they heard an even louder thud. After turning around, they saw a large flock of bird Pokemon flying towards the sky, obviously spooked by something. They saw why; about the top quarter of a tree of some 20 feet had been clean cut off and impacted the base of a tree trunk some feet away, causing the tree to shake violently.
"W-what's going on?" blurted out Ash a bit scared and confused.
"I don't know!" contested Erika. "I'm honestly a bit scared myself!"
They both watched as bug Pokemon started fleeing for their lives since a larger predator (maybe what the two humans briefly glimpsed at) was in the vicinity.
"Dratini, get ready to use a thunder wave to paralyze that thing," ordered Ash. She nodded.
They heard a thud! and realized that whatever it was had landed on the ground due to the sound of approaching footprints! It was heading straight for them at lightning speed!
"What is that thing?!" shouted Ash in a panicked tone and scared as it was coming straight for him!
A.N. Time for a disclaimer. Kellogg's owns Pop-Tarts. Dang! And Nintendo owns Pokemon! Curse my luck! lmao xP Oh yeah, I said I was gonna add the villains, and that he would catch a new Pokemon, but I promise they will appear in next chapter! *Shields any flying eggs/tomatoes*