Jason slowly opened his eyes. The last thing he remembered was standing near the entrance of the pokemon center. He remembered Nurse Joy carrying Kristine away to a nearby bed.
"Kristine!" Jason shot straight up.
"Easy now," said the soothing voice of Nurse Joy, who was standing over him. "Lay back down."
"Uh, okay," Jason complied. He found himself inside a bedroom within the Pokemon Center. Light shined through the windows, becoming apparent to him that it was daytime, perhaps still morning.
"Is my sister going to be alright?" Jason asked.
Nurse Joy nodded. "She is fine. Her injuries were not as severe as I originally thought, though she has a bad sprain on her left foot and some really bruised ribs."
At that moment, Jason's eevee came over to him.
"Eevee!" the pokemon happily greeted, licking Jason's face.
"It's good to see you too, Eevee," Jason patted Eevee on the head. He then turned to Nurse Joy.
"Your sister has both her and your eevee out," Nurse Joy continued. "We were both very concerned for your health."
"My health?" Jason asked, slightly confused. He thought Kristine was the one who was seriously injured.
"You were severely dehydrated," Nurse Joy continued. "The both of you have been through quite an ordeal yesterday. I suggest you two rest here for a few days. Kristine can't move without a wheelchair for the time being, and you need to take it easy."
"Got it," Jason gave a nod. "Can I see my sister?"
"She's up and about," Nurse Joy replied. "Let me get her."
Nurse Joy left the room. A moment later, she brought in Kristine, who was in a wheelchair. The first thing Jason noticed was that Kristine had a brace on her left foot. After bringing Kristine in, Nurse Joy left the room and closed the door.
"Hey there," Kristine smiled. "How are you feeling?"
"Fine, I think," Jason replied, relieved to see Kristine. "I'm sorry about your foot."
"Could be worse," Kristine shrugged. "Nurse Joy says with the proper treatment, I can start putting pressure on my foot in a few days. We can get back to traveling then. I'm just, you know, sorry that we're kinda stuck here in the meantime."
"Hey," Jason smiled. "Don't worry about it. We're in this together. Once we're ready to head out, I'm sure we'll be more prepared for this."
"Yeah," Kristine agreed. "You were a hero last night. If you didn't carry me, I don't know what would've happened."
"I try, I guess," Jason maintained a light smile and gave a shrug.
Kristine rolled over to Jason and held his right hand with her two hands. "I won't leave you again. I promise."
"I know," Jason replied. "Just don't beat yourself up over it, okay? Besides, if something terrible happened to me, you would have turned around."
Kristine knew Jason was correct. "Right."
"I think we should try to get to know our eevee more today," Jason continued. "Even if we can't do much. At least we can keep them out of their pokeballs all day."
Kristine agreed. "Sounds like a plan."
Jason attempted to get up, but he felt sore all over the place.
"Agh," he grunted in pain before lying back down.
"Nurse Joy said you were bruised all over the place," Kristine said. "Take it easy, okay?"
"Yeah…" Jason replied. "Probably from coming down that hill going after you."
Kristine lifted her shirt just enough to reveal her torso to Jason. It was largely wrapped with white healing tape. "Another reason to thank you."
Jason rested the back of his head on the pillow. "Whatever we do, we do it together, huh?"
Kristine nodded. "Get some more rest. I'll check up on you later, okay?"
"Gotcha," Jason gave a smile.
Kristine left the room. As Jason stared at the ceiling, his eevee jumped on his bed.
"Hey there," Jason said as he petted Eevee. Eevee walked over between his legs and took a nap.
With not much room to move, Jason remained still and closed his eyes.
Meanwhile, Kristine rolled herself back out to the main lobby of the pokemon center. Nurse Joy was anticipating her, standing behind the rounded desk.
"I didn't realize what he'd been through to save me," Kristine said. "Then again, I don't think he does either."
"The adrenaline must've kicked in for him," Nurse Joy replied. "A good rest should do the trick. He might still be sore tomorrow, but he should be up and running."
"Knowing him, he'll be wanting to head out tomorrow."
"You need at least a few day's rest," Nurse Joy insisted. "Your brother may have been banged up and worn out, but you have a very bad foot."
"Yeah…" Kristine sighed. "Just…you know, we've been looking forward to becoming pokemon trainers since we were in diapers. It finally happened, and our very first day went very poorly other than the fact we got our eevee."
"Right," Nurse Joy understood. "I've had my fair share of adventurers come by here. Many of them want to head out as soon as possible, get things done quickly. The main thing is to not overdo yourself. I've had trainers spend at least a week here because they completely exhausted themselves. Part of being a successful trainer is to know when to step in and when to take it easy.
"But, your brother just needs to rest today. There's plenty of forests and fields nearby for him to train his eevee and catch pokemon tomorrow if he chooses to, but he doesn't need to rush it."
Kristine gave a smile. "I'd think he would like that. He'd get a head start on me, but I can't really hold him back."
"He wouldn't necessarily get a head start on you. More trainers are sure to come by this center. You could always befriend them and train your eevee with their pokemon."
"That sounds like a great idea," Kristine agreed. "And by the way, thank you very much for taking me and my brother in."
Nurse Joy nodded with a smile. "It's my duty to help people and pokemon alike."
At that moment, Kristine's eevee came over and jumped on her lap.
"Hey there, Eevee," Kristine patted Eevee's head. "Let's go outside and get some fresh air, huh?"
Kristine rolled herself out the automatic doors of the pokemon center. She felt the nice, cool breeze gently hit her underneath the lightly swaying trees that surrounded her. She looked around to see that Spring Hamlet was practically in the middle of nowhere. To her left was the front porch of the pokemon center, a wooden extension of an otherwise steel structure. Kristine rolled onto the porch and placed herself next to one of the rocking chairs.
She relaxed right there while her eevee took a nap. A while later, Nurse Joy came out with a glass of water for her. As Nurse Joy left, Kristine gazed into the forest ahead of her. She spotted a caterpie crawling up a nearby tree and pondered whether or not to pursue it.
"So I see you're out of commission for a bit," Kristine heard a female voice near her. She then heard footsteps on the porch. She turned to see a blonde girl her age with a ponytail that extended longer than hers, coming down to the center of her back.
"Yeah…" Kristine replied. "Foot sprain and a bruised body."
"Darn," the girl felt for her. She then took a seat next to Kristine.
Kristine looked ahead and noticed the caterpie she spotted a moment ago wasn't there anymore.
"Name's Amanda," the girl said. "Amanda Sanders. I'm from Nashtown. I just started a couple of days ago."
"Awesome," Kristine replied. "I'm Kristine Kyar. I'm from Mountain Spring. My twin brother and I started yesterday."
"Cool!" Amanda said. "Well, it looks like you went off on a rocky start, so I'm sorry. But it looks like Eevee was your starter?"
Kristine nodded. "Yep. My brother and I both got our eevee."
"Your brother," Amanda mentioned. "Is he okay?"
"He is. He's just resting right now."
"May I ask what happened?"
"Well, long story short, I fell down a hill while riding my bike and avoiding a wandering skiddo on the road to here. My brother ran down the hill and carried me all the way up here."
"Wow," Amanda was taken back. "It was a little bumpy on the way here."
"I guess you can say that," Kristine smiled. "We'll be fine, though. I think we'll head back on the road in a few days."
"That's good at least," Amanda acknowledged. "Have you got any practice yet for your eevee?"
Kristine shook her head. "No."
"Would you like to battle me?" Amanda asked. "I got a chance to battle once against one of my peers. We were given a choice of three Kanto regional starter pokemon."
"Kanto?" Kristine seemed intrigued. "That means bulbasaur, charmander, and squirtle."
"Mmhmm. I got Squirtle. The boy I battled, Bran, got Bulbasaur. He beat me. And Liz got Charmander. I think she was heading the same way I was."
"My professor just analyzed us and gave us pokemon that synced with our ambitions and personalities," Kristine explained.
"That's unique," Amanda noted. "Definitely not traditional."
"Well, Professor Wall is not a traditional man."
"So, what do you say?" Amanda proposed. "Your eevee against my squirtle? Just for fun."
Eevee's ears perked up as she looked at Kristine.
"What do you think, Eevee?" Kristine asked.
"Eevee!" Eevee seemed to approve.
"That's a yes," Kristine confirmed.
"Okay then," Amanda got up and walked out of the porch. Kristine rolled herself out of the porch and out to the nearby open field.
Eevee jumped out of Kristine's lap, facing Amanda.
"Showtime, Eevee!" Kristine said.
Amanda pulled a pokeball from her waist. "Squirtle, it's all you!" she threw the pokeball forward. It opened, revealing Squirtle.
For a point of reference, Kristine used her pokedex to scan the light blue turtle-like standing creature. "Squirtle," the pokedex analyzed. "The Tiny Turtle Pokemon. During battle, it can hide in its shell while spraying water at its opponent whenever it can."
Amanda chuckled. "Well, we're working on that part."
"Squirtle!" Squirtle confidently spoke, standing with its legs bent forward, ready to battle Kristine's Eevee.
"You can go first, Kristine," Amanda declared.
Kristine wondered why, but she went with it. "Okay. Eevee, Tackle!"
Kristine's Eevee ran forward, ready to strike at Squirtle.
"Squirtle, Harden!" Amanda commanded.
Squirtle complied and simply hid inside its shell. As Eevee made contact, all she managed to do was push the shell back slightly.
"Squirtle, come on out and Tackle!" Amanda followed up.
Squirtle popped out of its shell and came after Eevee. It made contact, striking Eevee on the side and knocking her back.
"Eevee, are you all right?" Kristine asked in concern. To her relief, Eevee got right back up.
"Squirtle, Water Gun!" Amanda commanded. Squirtle jumped back two paces before firing a strong burst of water from its mouth.
"Eevee, dodge!" Kristine ordered. Eevee jumped to the right to avoid Water Gun.
"Now, Sand Attack!" Kristine followed up. Eevee used her front feet to kick up dirt towards Squirtle, preventing it from having a clear line of sight.
"Squirtle, Harden!" Amanda thought in a split second to get her pokemon out of a tough situation. Just like that, Squirtle retreated back into its shell.
"Eevee, Tackle and knock the shell back to the tree behind it!" Kristine had an idea. She was hoping it would work.
Eevee ran at the target, but this time, she was running much quicker than she was before. She struck Squirtle's shell at lightning speed. The quick strike still managed to knock the shell at the base of the tree behind it.
"Well, well," Amanda seemed intrigued. "I think your eevee is learning Quick Attack."
"Good job, Eevee!" Kristine complimented. "Now go with a hard Tackle!"
Eevee ran at Squirtle once more.
"Squirtle, use Water Gun from your shell!" Amanda commanded. A burst of water shot out of Squirtle's shell. Eevee was unable to dodge as the water struck her, knocking her back.
Eevee was quick to get up, shaking the water off her coat.
"Squirtle, Tackle!" Amanda yelled, not giving a chance for Kristine to recover.
"Eevee, Quick Attack!" Kristine quickly commanded.
Eevee was quick to meet Squirtle's attack. The two collided and struck each other, knocking each other back.
Both Eevee and Squirtle got back up. With both of them breaking a sweat, Eevee growled at Squirtle.
Amanda became impressed. "Growl. If it affects Squirtle, his attacks would be less effective."
"That's cool," Kristine observed. She was about to come up with a strategy to defeat Squirtle. But just as she could, Amanda made an abrupt pause.
"Okay, I think that's enough," Amanda declared. "I don't want to wear down Squirtle any more than I already have."
Amanda used her pokeball to return Squirtle. "Return. You did a good job. Now it's time to get some rest."
"But we haven't finished," Kristine seemed puzzled as to why Amanda called the battle early.
"I figured we were just scrimmaging," Amanda explained. "Besides, we spent the past two days trekking through the hills to get to here. I'm sure you'd understand."
Kristine smiled and accepted the battle's prompt end. "Yeah. I understand."
"It was a fun battle," Amanda continued. "Besides, your eevee got some valuable experience from it. She learned a couple of new moves, something you don't see every day."
"Quick Attack and Growl," Kristine mentioned. Just then, Eevee walked back to her.
"You did great, Eevee," Kristine said to her. She then pulled out the pokeball and returned Eevee to it.
Jason suddenly walked out to the porch, only to see that Kristine and her new friend just battled each other.
"Aw, did I just miss a battle?" Jason seemed disappointed.
"Just a good old scrimmage," Amanda replied. She then faced Kristine. "Is he your brother?"
"Yep," Kristine gave a nod. She then introduced the two. "Jason, Amanda. Amanda, Jason."
"Nice to meet you," Jason waved.
Amanda waved back. "Likewise."
Kristine turned around and rolled up to Jason.
"How are you feeling?" She asked.
"Fine," Jason gave a slight shrug. "I mean, I'm kinda sore everywhere. But I can still get around."
"That's good at least," Kristine smiled.
Just then, Amanda walked past the two as she headed for the doors of the pokemon center.
"I think I'm gonna call it a day and hang out here," Amanda said. "Given that there's room here, anyways."
"I think we're the only ones staying here," Kristine said.
"That's good," Amanda replied. She then walked inside.
"Your new friend?" Jason asked Kristine.
"Friend and rival," Kristine replied. "I think we'll be seeing each other more often."
Jason walked behind Kristine's wheelchair and grabbed the handles. "Shall we head inside?"
"Sure," Kristine replied as Jason strolled her inside the pokemon center.
Later that evening, Jason and Kristine sat down at the long table within the center's guest dining room, along with Amanda. Nurse Joy walked into the room, containing a round tray with three bowls of soup.
"I usually fire up a batch of potato soup for the travelers every day," Nurse Joy said. "There are some really good cooks out there, but I do what I can."
"Well, thank you very much," Amanda expressed her gratitude.
Nurse Joy handed each of the three a bowl and a spoon. She then walked back to the kitchen.
"So, you guys are from Mountain Spring?" Amanda asked before taking a spoonful of the soup before her.
"Yep," Kristine replied as Jason began on his soup.
"Wow," Jason spoke, cherishing his soup. "This is really good."
"Right?" Amanda agreed.
"So, where are you from?" Jason asked Amanda as Kristine became increasingly curious about the potato soup and took a sip from her spoon.
"Nashtown," Amanda replied.
"So that's just west of here, right?" Jason added.
"Oh boy," Kristine spoke up, savoring her soup. "This is really good."
"Yep," Amanda continued, responding to Jason. "Squirtle and I spent the last couple of days traveling. Couldn't manage to catch any pokemon yet."
"We had our bump-ins with other pokemon," Kristine added. "But no luck."
"Yeah," Amanda gave a slight sigh. "But we're gonna get a good night's rest here and head out in the morning. I'm trying to get to Fort Lexing, so I hope to have a good team by then."
"Hey, Kristine and I are trying to get there too," Jason said.
"Are you?" Amanda seemed intrigued. "Well, with each of you having an eevee, and since there's a Team Mystic Gym in Fort Lexing, that should be no surprise. I heard the gym leader has a vaporeon, among other good pokemon."
"Vaporeon," Jason repeated. "The water evolution of eevee."
Amanda nodded. "The gym leader there's heavy into psychic, water, and dragon pokemon. It's going to be a very tough challenge, no doubt. Speaking of challenges, there are battle contests that go on year-round, you know."
"Battle contests, huh?" Jason was interested.
"Well, there are contests all over the place," Kristine added. "But what we're after is the Inventum Cup and beyond."
"That's a goal we all want," Amanda leaned forward, folding her hands. "But if you want publicity, if you want to command respect, you win those city tournaments."
A moment passed as the twins soaked up the information.
"Anyways," Amanda got up. "It was a pleasure to meet the both of you. I'm going to call it an early night and get some sleep. I'll be out the door first thing in the morning."
"Nice to meet you, Amanda!" Kristine waved as Amanda left the room.
"Yeah, nice meeting you!" Jason waved as well.
As soon as Amanda left the room, Jason briefly looked down. Kristine noticed he was conflicted in his thoughts.
"Is everything all right?" she asked him.
"Yeah…" Jason replied. He then looked at Kristine and smiled. "Don't worry about it."
Kristine believed she knew what Jason was thinking. Amanda was free to head out the next morning and continue her adventure, while Jason would have to stand back and wait.
Jason finished his soup moments later and got up. As he exited the dining area, Kristine called for him. "Jason?"
Jason turned around. "Yep?"
"You don't have to wait in here for my foot to heal," Kristine said. "There's plenty of forests, streams, and fields all around us. If you want, you can go out and train your eevee tomorrow and catch your first pokemon."
"Are you sure?" Jason asked. "I mean, you won't be able to go with me."
Kristine smiled. "Don't worry about me. I'll try to make more friends and train here. Once I heal up, we can venture on together. I just don't want to make you lose your mind from boredom, that's all."
Jason snickered. "Okay. If that's okay with you, I'll head out in the morning."
"It's great with me," Kristine assured him.
Jason left the room with a smile on his face, causing Kristine to smiled as well. She pulled out the pokeball her eevee is in.
"Well, Eevee," Kristine spoke. "Let's see if we run into more friends tomorrow, huh?"
