Pokémon – Thunder Yellow

Fanfiction By – Spirit Reader

Pokémon Original Creator – Satoshi Tajiri

Chapter 10: Lost and Found

Takashi's Pokémon

Pikachu (Male)

Froakie (Female)

Pidgey (Male)

In the past, back when becoming a Pokémon Trainer was just starting to become a serious profession, the age in which someone can officially obtain their Trainer License was around 10 years old. There were several factors back then in which being a Trainer at such a young age was considered alright back then, the primary one being that the first recognized Pokémon Master was 10 when he started out. Since he was able to rise to the top at such a young age, many aspiring Trainer decided that beginning their Journeys at 10 would be the best thing for them too. However, as the times began to change, so did that line of thinking.

Although the first Pokémon Master started his career when he was only 10, he was only able to do that because there weren't any age restrictions in place at the time. In addition, he was widely considered to be a natural so training and taking care of Pokémon didn't come off as difficult for him. Because of that, people didn't realize at first just how difficult it can be to handle and interact with Pokémon. This would unfortunately lead to several incidents that would force the Pokémon League Committee to strongly reconsider things.

The Committee determined that 10 years old was simply too young an age for people to become Pokémon Trainer. They simply didn't have the maturity or the skills needed to take on such a profession at their age. As a result, the Committee changed the rules and moved up the required age from 10 to 15. They believed that would be a more appropriate age as, by that time at least, Trainers would more mentally prepared and thus be able to handle the professions more harsher aspects.

Like with most things, not everyone was okay with this sudden change and they wanted to go back to the way it was before. Fortunately, as time passed, the rule change was gradually becoming more accepted. In fact, it soon resulted in even more Pokémon Trainers emerging as parents were more to let their children go out when their older instead of younger. This led to age known as the Pokémon Renaissance, an age that led to the emergence of highly talented Pokémon Trainers.

Still, despite the success that this one rule change managed to accomplish, there was still many people who wanted become Trainers at a younger age. To them, they felt that didn't matter how old or how mature they needed to be just so long as they had the drive to achieve their goals. However, just like when it came to the first Pokémon Master, that line of thinking only worked for some and thus it was highly discouraged. Still, for better or for worse, that didn't stop them from trying to prove that they had what it takes to become Trainers.

This was the case for Danny, a young 10 year old boy from Pewter City. Like most people his age, he aspired to be a Pokémon Trainer one day so that he could one day etch his name in the walls of history and become a Pokémon Master. To that end, he would try to study as much as he could about Pokémon. Not only that, but he would also try to interact with any Pokémon he would happen to come across in order to better understand them.

Unfortunately for Danny, while his family didn't really have a problem with him interacting with domestic Pokémon, they absolutely forbade him from doing so with wild Pokémon. The reason for that was quite simple. Wild Pokémon are more likely to attack if they feel threatened, especially when they come across a human that they're unfamiliar with. Not only that, but since Danny didn't have any Pokémon of his own to defend himself with, he ran the very real chance of getting hurt. His family wasn't willing to let that happen, which led to the rule.

Although Danny understood his family's intentions, he would try and interact with wild Pokémon whenever he could. In his mind, just observing with the same Pokémon over and over again wasn't going to teach him anything. He needed to expand his horizons if he wanted to become a Pokémon Master, even if meant taking a few risks. To that end, he would often go out into the woods just outside of Pewter City in secret in order to check out some of the Pokémon living there.

This was the case for him today. After lying to his mother and grandfather about going over a friend's house to play, Danny snuck into the woods and starting searching for any wild Pokémon that caught his interest. At first, the only ones he happened to come across was some Pidgeys or Spearows, common Flying-Types that he's already seen countless times. He was starting to wonder if today was going to be a washout. However, it was at that moment that a brand new Pokémon suddenly caught his eye.

It was a cute bear-like Pokémon with orange-brown fur, round ears, black eyes, and a black nose. On its face was a paler tan marking that strongly resembled a crescent moon. When Danny saw it, the young boy soon recognized the Pokémon as a Teddiursa. Although not a particularly rare Pokémon, Teddiursa are known to live much deeper within forests so the fact one was so close to Pewter City was a real treat. Because of that, Danny wanted to get a closer look at the Pokémon and hopefully get the chance to interact with it. Unfortunately for him however, someone got in Danny's way.

"Danny…What are you doing?!"

Turning his head, Danny saw a young woman with pitch black hair and brown eyes making her way towards him with an angry look on her face. When he saw this woman, Danny's face began to cringe a little as he knew exactly who she was. She was his older sister, Rebecca.

"Get away from that Teddiursa right now!" She demanded. "You have no idea what it's capable of!"

"But sis…!"

Before Danny could explain to his sister, the commotion that they were causing finally alerted Teddiursa to their presence. When Danny noticed this, the young boy attempted to reach out to the Pokémon before it could try and leave. However, before he could do so, Rebecca quickly rushed over and stopped her younger brother. Thanks to that, Teddiursa was able to flee from the area, much to Danny's disappointment.

"Why did you do that, sis?!" Danny questioned as he angrily turned to face Rebecca. "I had everything under control before you showed up!"

"Oh really…?" Rebecca replied. "Then why don't you tell me what this is then."

Taking her brother by his hand, Rebecca brought him over to a nearby tree. At first, Danny wondered why his sister would show him this, especially since they were already in a forest full of trees. In time though, Danny saw that this wasn't any ordinary tree as Rebecca revealed a very large claw mark on it.

"What's up with that tree?" He asked.

"They're claw marks from an Ursaring," Rebecca revealed. "Ursaring are the evolved form of Teddiursa and they're known to claw up trees as a means of marking their territory. Not only that, but they're also known to be very protective of their young. That's makes them a very hostile Pokémon and one you have no chance of dealing with."

As Rebecca continued to explain how dangerous Ursaring were and why it's important not to mess with their young, the young woman noticed that her little brother was rather quiet. When she turned her head, she saw that Danny was actually drifting off to sleep. Angered by the mere sight of this, Rebecca promptly bonked Danny upside the head, waking him up.

"Would you please pay attention to me for once?! Can't you see that I'm only looking out for you?!"

"Ow!" Danny yelled as he held his head. "And can't you see that I'm not a baby anymore?! I'm going to be a Pokémon Master one day, sis! But how can I do that if you're always holding my hand?"

"Well…Maybe I wouldn't have to hold your hand if you just learn to listen to me!"

As the two siblings stared one another down, Rebecca started wondering to herself why she had to have such an annoying younger brother. Despite the fact that she was only looking out for him, Danny showed no appreciation for her. All he would do is complain like what he's doing right now. Rebecca found his attitude to be very annoying, as well as bratty, and knew that if it were any other person that she was dealing with, she wouldn't having any of it.

At the same time, Rebecca was thinking about how annoying Danny was, Danny was thinking the same exact thing about his older sister. In his mind, Rebecca was always coming off as bossy and never letting him do anything that he wants to do. He found it to be very annoying and would sometimes wish that Rebecca would just go away and leave him alone.

Eventually, Rebecca decides that they've been here long enough and that it was time to go home. With that in mind, the young woman grabbed her little brother by his arm and started dragging him away. Not wanting to leave just yet, Danny did everything within his power to try and break loose from his sister's grip, but was simply not strong enough. With no other option left to him, Danny resorted to stepping onto Rebecca's shoe.

"Ow!"

The suddenly shot of pain that ran through her foot was strong enough that it caused Rebecca to let go of Danny. Seizing his opportunity, Danny ran off in the opposite direction that his sister was heading down. When Rebecca saw this, she attempted to go after him, but was slowed down significantly by the pain that she was feeling in her foot.

"Danny!" She called out too. "Danny, come back! It's dangerous!"

Danny ignored Rebecca and kept on running. In his mind, she was just being a worrywart. If he ever wanted to become a Pokémon Master he had to get more real life experience. However, Danny believed that he couldn't do that if Rebecca was constantly holding his hand, telling him what he could and couldn't do. He needed to live his own life, otherwise he'll never be able to do anything on his own.

Soon, after about 10 minutes of running, Danny looked back behind him and saw that finally lost his sister. Upon seeing that, the young boy stopped and took a moment to catch his breath. He then looked around the area and saw that he was in a section of the forest that he was completely unfamiliar with. However, he wasn't particularly bothered by that. For Danny, the only thing that mattered is that he finally got away from Rebecca. Now he can move on to what's really important.

"Okay…Where did that Teddiursa run off to?"

While he walked around the forest, Danny examined everything around him, hoping to find any signs of Teddiursa. Given how small it was, it couldn't have gotten too far. Because of that, Danny tried to find something like footprints or anything similar that could possibly lead him to it. After about 5 minutes of searching, Danny heard a faint sound coming from the distant. Moving slowly towards the sound, the young boy happy to see that it was coming from Teddiursa, who was busy playing.

As he watched it play, Danny started to wonder what was the best way to approach it. If he was to forward, then Teddiursa might become frightened and run off again. However, he also knew that just standing around wasn't going to get him anywhere either. Because of that, Danny decided to take a chance and slowly make his way towards the Pokémon. Right away, Teddiursa heard him coming from behind and attempted to flee, but Danny tried to convince it not too.

"Wait! Don't go! I just want to be your friend!"

Teddiursa was apprehensive about Danny's claim, which was understandable as it didn't know anything about this young human at all. Although Danny tried to prove his case by showing Teddiursa his hands and revealing that he had nothing on him, the Pokémon still remained unconvinced. It was about to run away again, but stopped when it spotted something from the distance. When he saw it, a large smile suddenly appeared on Teddiursa's face.

When Danny saw that smile, he initially believed that he was successful in calming it down and proving that really did want to become friends with it. Unfortunately, as he made his way up to Teddiursa, Danny heard several large footsteps approaching him from behind. When he turned around, the young boy's jaw dropped as a large bear-like Pokémon with brown fur and a large circle symbol on its stomach appeared and was running angrily towards him.

"AHHH!"

Meanwhile, in another section of the forest, Takashi Nakamura was busy walking down the path that would lead him to Pewter City. It's been about two days since he was first shown this path and at the way things were going, he believed that he should arrive at his destination by later this afternoon. That meant that there was a strong possibility that he might be able to win his first Gym Badge before the day ends. Just thinking about that excited the young Trainer to no end, prompting him to run as he continued making his way down the trail.

As Takashi ran however, Pikachu picked up something from afar thanks to his incredible hearing. When he heard it again, the Mouse Pokémon hopped off Takashi's shoulder and began to hone on the source of the noise. Upon seeing this, Takashi stopped and began making his way towards his Pokémon.

"What's up, Pikachu?" He asked. "Is something wrong?"

Pikachu didn't answer Takashi's question right away as he was still trying to determine the source of the noise he heard. After about another minute, Pikachu got a generally idea of where the noise was coming from and soon began pointing towards the east. When he saw this, it became clear to Takashi that there was something over there that Pikachu wanted him to check out. Although he really wanted to continue on his was to Pewter, Takashi couldn't bring himself to deny his partner's request. So, with a heavy heart, he started running in the direction Pikachu was pointing too.

Soon, after running around for a bit, Takashi started to pick up on what Pikachu was hearing earlier. At first, he wondered if this was like what happened with Pidgey, but he soon saw that wasn't the case at all. Instead of seeing another Pokémon, Takashi saw a young woman walking through the forest. The woman was none other than Rebecca, who was busy searching for her little brother.

"Danny!" She called out. "Danny, where are you?!"

As she continued to call out for her brother, Takashi realized that this was what Pikachu was alerting him too. Although he was aware that whatever was going on with her wasn't any of his business, Takashi knew that he simply couldn't ignore it. For better or for worse, he was the type of person who would always try to help someone if they need it. Because of that, he quickly made himself known to Rebecca as he and Pikachu walked towards her.

"Hey…" He said. "Do you need any help?"

Upon hearing someone call out to her, Rachel turned her head and saw Takashi and Pikachu. Although slightly apprehensive at first, the young woman quickly calmed down after taking a good look at the pair and realizing that they meant her no harm. She then made her way up to them as she answered Takashi's question.

"Thank you," She started off. "I lost track of my little brother, Danny. I'm worried that he might be in danger."

"Danger…?" Takashi questioned. "What kind of danger?"

"There's a wild Ursaring in this forest. They're very hostile and aggressive, especially when it comes to protecting their young."

Having never heard of an Ursaring before, Takashi immediately pulled out his PokéDex and began to type into it. When he finished, an image of Ursaring appeared on the display screen as Dexter started to explain what kind of Pokémon it was.

"Ursaring, the Hibernator Pokémon and the evolved form of Teddiursa." Dexter explained. "In its territory, Ursaring leaves scratches on trees that bear delicious fruits or berries. Ursaring is a Normal-Type Pokémon."

Once Dexter finished its explanation, Takashi put the PokéDex back into his pocket before taking a moment to look around the entire forest. As he did so, the young man noticed a couple of noticeable claw marks on some of the trees. When he saw them, he realizes that this was what Dexter was referring too, meaning that an Ursaring really was here in the forest.

"I have to hurry up and find him!" Rebecca stated. "He doesn't have a Pokémon of his own so he won't be able to protect himself if he encounters one."

Upon hearing the desperation in Rebecca's voice, Takashi immediately understood the situation and decided to do everything that he can to help. To that end, he started things off by grabbing a PokéBall from his belt and enlarging it by pressing the button in the middle. He then threw the ball up into the air.

"Pidgey, I choose you!"

Once the PokéBall reached a certain height, it opened up and released a massive blast of light energy. The energy soon transformed into Pidgey, who immediately began stretching his wings and started flying around the area. Soon though, the Tiny Bird Pokémon noticed that Takashi was calling for him, prompting Pidgey to dive down and meet up with his Trainer.

When she saw this, Rebecca was initially unsure what Takashi was planning to do with his Pidgey. But, after seeing him glance at her for a moment, she soon realized what his plan was. To that end, she went into her pocket and pulled out a cell phone that she had on her. Rebecca then went on to scroll through her Photo App until she came across a picture of Danny, which she presented to Takashi and Pidgey.

"Pidgey, see that boy in the photo," Takashi started off. "He's lost. Can you look for him in the sky while Rebecca and I do so on the ground?"

Nodding his head in compliance, Pidgey quickly flew back up into the air and began surveying the immediate area for any sign of Danny. Although the forest was quite large, Pidgey was confident in his scouting abilities as he would often do things like this back when he was living with Ariel. Because of that, the Flying Pokémon was sure that he would pick up on Danny's trail in no time.

While that was going on, Takashi and Rebecca soon started searching for Danny as well. Although the two of them couldn't cover as much ground as Pidgey, due to his ability to fly, they weren't entirely helpless. PokéDex stated that Ursaring typically claw up trees in order to mark its territory. Because of that, all they needed to do was follow the claw marks. The more they happened to find, the more likely they might run into an Ursaring or Teddiursa, and by extension, Danny.

As they went along with their search, Rebecca took a moment to glance over at Takashi as he looked around the area. Although she was grateful to him for helping her out like this, the fact remained that he had no obligation to do so. He was probably very busy and helping her out like this was probably eating up at lot of his time. As a result, Rebecca couldn't help herself but to question him on his actions.

"Um…Excuse me," She called out. "Thanks for this, but…why are you helping me?"

"Why…?" Takashi said as he paused to look at her. "Because it's the right thing to do. You shouldn't need a reason to help out someone…At least, that's what I believe."

Once that was said, Takashi went back to work, this time having Pikachu cover one side of the forest while he covered the other. As she watched them, Rebecca immediately understood Takashi's intentions. Regardless of whether or not this situation was getting in the way of his journey, Takashi couldn't bring himself to abandon someone who needed help. Although she knew that this was a rather naïve way of thinking, Rebecca was still grateful for his help. She then walked up to him after realizing something else.

"Thanks…" She said. "By the way, I almost forgot to introduce myself. My name is Rebecca and I'm from Pewter City."

"Nice to meet you," Takashi replied. "My name is Takashi Nakamura and I'm from Pallet Town."

As the two of them nodded their heads at one another, both started hearing something coming from above. Looking up, Takashi and Rebecca saw that the noise was coming from Pidgey, was busy flying around in a circle. Once the Tiny Bird Pokémon saw that he finally got their attention, he started pointing his wing towards the east before flying off in that direction. When they saw that, Takashi and Rebecca realized that Pidgey had spotted Danny and immediately followed after him.

After about 4 minutes of running, Takashi and Rebecca soon started to hear a loud growling noise coming from the distance. They also heard something else as well, something that sounded like a young boy crying. When she heard that, Rebecca realized that they were getting close and soon started running even faster. Eventually, she soon stopped after finally finding the person that she was looking for.

"Danny!"

By the time, Takashi and his Pokémon finally caught up with Rebecca, the young man noticed that Danny was in big trouble. He saw that Ursaring had him cornered by a large tree and was slowly making his way towards him. When he saw the angry look that was on its face, Takashi knew that Ursaring was on the verge of attacking and that he needed to do something quick. To that end, he immediately had his Pokémon intercept Ursaring.

"Pikachu, use Thunder Shock!" He ordered.

Without any hesitation, Pikachu responded to Takashi's command by firing off a powerful blast of electricity from the sacs on his cheeks. When the blast struck Ursaring, the Hibernator Pokémon was immediately caught off guard as it started screaming out in pain. It then turned around and saw Pikachu bravely staring it down. This prompted Ursaring to let another loud growl as it began charging towards the Mouse Pokémon.

"Pidgey, use Quick Attack!"

Just as Ursaring was about to attack Pikachu, Pidgey immediately dove down and protected his teammate by striking Ursaring in the back of the head. Although the attack didn't deal a lot of damage, it was enough to distract Ursaring and get it away from Pikachu. Pidgey then went on to circle around his opponents, forcing Ursaring to expend needlessly energy trying to hit him.

While this was going on, Rebecca snuck over and began making her way over to Danny. Even though Pikachu and Pidgey were able to distract Ursaring, the young woman was aware that was all they were able to do. The two Pokémon were not strong enough to deal any lasting damage onto their opponent. Because of that, Rebecca knew that she needed to be quick as Ursaring could take notice and focus all of its attention on her.

By the time she finally managed to get to him, Rebecca reached out towards her little brother and gently placed her hand over his mouth. She then shook her head in disapproval, silently informing him that she needed him to be quiet. At first, Danny was so relieved to see his sister that nearly screamed and gave away their location. Fortunately, Danny was able to catch on to his sister's intentions and immediately complied.

Soon, as the two of them were making their way from the area, Rebecca turned to see how Takashi and his Pokémon were fairing. From what she could tell, they seemed to be holding their own against Ursaring. Like she initially deduced, Pikachu and Pidgey were not strong enough to defeat their opponent, but were able to hold it back. Once she got Danny somewhere safe, Rebecca planned on coming back and helping Takashi turn the tide of this battle. Unfortunately, things were about to take a sudden turn for the worse.

As Rebecca and Danny made their escape, Ursaring's child, Teddiursa, took notice of them and started crying. Upon hearing its cries, Ursaring turned its head and saw the two humans. Refusing to let them go, Ursaring immediately turned its attention away from the battle and soon began its way towards the two siblings.

"Oh no, you don't!" Takashi shouted. "Pidgey, use Quick Attack on Ursaring again!"

When Pidgey turned his head and saw where Ursaring was heading, the Tiny Bird Pokémon quickly rushed over towards it and tried his best to distract it again. However, as he was racing towards it, Ursaring managed to catch wind of Pidgey thanks to it finally memorizing his scent. Because of that, it suddenly turned around and struck Pidgey head on with its powerful claws. The force of the blow was so great that it sent Pidgey flying, allowing Ursaring to continue its pursuit of Rebecca and Danny.

Moving quickly, Takashi managed to catch Pidgey just before he hit the ground. With just one look, he was able to determine that newest Pokémon was no condition to battle anymore. Because of that, he let out a small smile as he grabbed Pidgey's PokéBall.

"Great job, Pidgey. Now return."

A red bean of light shot from the middle of the PokéBall and struck Pidgey. When it did, the Tiny Bird Pokémon was converted into the same kind of energy before being sucked back inside the ball. Once that happened and Takashi placed the ball back on his belt, he looked back towards Ursaring, who was continuing its pursuit of Danny and Rebecca. With no time to bring out Froakie to help out, Takashi turned his attention towards Pikachu.

"It's up to you now, buddy. Go and intercept Ursaring!"

Nodding his head in response to his Trainer's words, Pikachu immediately ran off and got in between Ursaring and the two siblings. Despite being towered over by the larger Pokémon, Pikachu firmly held his ground and refused to back away. This only seemed to irritate the already aggressive Ursaring even more, who responded by attempted to strike at Pikachu with its Slash attack.

Thanks to his incredible speed, Pikachu was able to easily avoid Ursaring initial strike. However, the Hibernator Pokémon was not done and swiftly responded with a rapid barrage of Slash attacks. Like before, Pikachu was able to avoid them, but Takashi noticed that thanks to Ursaring's incredible strength, several trees were being cut down in the process. If just one of those attacks landed, Pikachu would be done for, so Takashi knew that he had to keep his distance.

"Pikachu, use Thunder Shock now!"

Without hesitation, Pikachu fired off a blast of electricity at Ursaring, which did stun the Pokémon for a bit. However, it wasn't enough to take it out of the fight and instead only made it even angrier. Upon seeing that, Takashi decided that he would need an even stronger attack.

"Now use Electro Ball!"

Once again, Pikachu responded to Takashi's orders without pause and soon began gathering electricity into the tip of his tail. As he continued to do this, the electricity that Pikachu was gathering soon manifested into a fairly large ball. He then launched it directly at Ursaring, which did a good amount of damage when it landed. Unfortunately, just like with the Thunder Shock attack, Ursaring was able to shake it off and continue its pursuit.

As this continued, Takashi gradually began to notice something about Ursaring. Because of the consecutive electric attacks that it dealt with, Ursaring was becoming slightly paralyzed and was thus beginning to slow down. At the same time however, Ursaring's attacks were slowly becoming stronger as its Slash was now capable to taking down 2 trees with one stroke. When he saw this, Takashi knew that something was up and thus pulled his PokéDex back out in order to get to the bottom of this.

"Guts…" Dexter said as it began its explanation. "When a Pokémon with this Special Ability is affected by a status condition their attack power doubles."

Once Dexter finished its explanation, Takashi turned his attention back towards the battle and saw that Pikachu was now cornered. Although the Mouse Pokémon was able to continue evading Ursaring's attacks thanks to its paralysis, this wouldn't last forever. Takashi knew that had to do something to stop his opponent, but he wasn't quite sure what.

Soon though, as Ursaring continued to close in on its target, Takashi noticed something quite interesting. One of the trees that it happened to accidently strike was on the verge of breaking. Based on its angle and where it's positioned, if the tree were to fall it would landed directly on top of Ursaring. The blow might be enough to take it down long enough for everyone to escape. It was a long shot, but based on how things were going now, Takashi knew that he had no other options.

"Pikachu…!" He called out to as he pointed at the damaged tree. "Use Quick Attack!"

For a moment, Pikachu glanced over at Takashi as he wondered what he was planning. But, as he looked over at the tree that he was pointing towards, the Mouse Pokémon immediately understood it. With that, he planted all four of its paws firmly on the ground before sprinting off at an incredible speed. Pikachu then went to ram its entire body into the tree, giving it the push it needed to finally knock it over.

When Ursaring noticed the oncoming tree, the Hibernator Pokémon attempted to get away before it landed on top of it. However, thanks its paralysis, Ursaring was moving far too slow and was thus knocked out when it was hit head on by the tree. Ursaring then fell onto its back, completely unconscious, while Teddiursa tearfully ran over towards it.

As he looked on at this scene, Takashi saw that the battle was finally over, allowing him to let a sigh of relief. He then looked over towards Rebecca and Danny, both of whom were amazed by what they just witnessed. The young man then proceeded to make his way towards them, allowing Pikachu to hop into his shoulder as he did so.

"C'mon…We need to get out of here before Ursaring wakes up!"

For the next 20 minutes, Takashi, Rebecca, and Danny ran through the forest in order distant themselves from Ursaring. Based on the injuries that it sustained, it would be quite a while before Ursaring regained consciousness. Even so, Takashi didn't want to take any chances and managed to convince to siblings to keep on running until they were absolutely sure that they were safe. Eventually, the trio made their out of the forest and onto a wide open field.

"Alright…" Takashi said as he caught his breath. "I think…I think that's good enough."

Once they were safe, Takashi continued to take a moment catch his breath. Although they managed to make it out of that battle in one piece, the young man knew that they cut it extremely close. If Ursaring wasn't paralyzed thanks to Pikachu's electric attacks, things might have turned out a lot differently. Although he wasn't the type to focus too much on the negative, Takashi knew he and his Pokémon needed to become a lot stronger so that they wouldn't have to rely on last minute chances like that.

Eventually, as he took a moment to happily pet Pikachu in congratulations, Takashi heard a fairly loud slap coming from next to him. When he turned around, he saw that the slap came from Rebecca, who just struck Danny right in the face. The blow was extremely painful, bringing Danny on the verge of tears. Takashi was about to walk up and say something, but stopped when Rebecca started talking first.

"What were you thinking?!" She angrily asked her brother. "I told you that it was dangerous, but you didn't listen! What if something had happened to you?! How do you think mom, grandpa, and I would've felt…huh?!"

As Danny was reeling from Rebecca's blow, the young boy looked over towards his older sister and saw that she was already crying. Just by looking at her, Danny was instantly able to realize what he put his sister through when he ran away. This made him feel extremely bad, causing him to place his head down in disappointment as a result.

"I'm…I'm sorry…" He said softly.

While looking on at this scene from a distance, Takashi wasn't sure whether or not he should get involved. In the end, this situation had nothing to do with him as it was clearly an issue between Rebecca and Danny. However, as he watched the two siblings, Takashi soon found himself making his way over towards them.

When he reach the two of them, the siblings looked on as Takashi pulled out a couple of tissues that he had in his backpack and each gave them one. But, before they would wipe their tears away, Takashi stopped them. He then had them cross arms, wanting them to wipe the other's tears instead.

"Look…" He started off. "I'm not going to pretend to know what's really going on here. Even so…I think this whole situation has allowed you both to better understand each other. So let's bury the hatchet. Besides…you're siblings and even though I don't have one myself, I do know that you shouldn't hold a grudge over something like this."

As Takashi smiled at the both of them, Rebecca and Danny took a second to look at him before looking back at one another. They then thought about what Takashi just said and realized that he was right. This incident has indeed allowed them to understand the other's viewpoint to some extent. For Rebecca, it allowed her to realize that it was her being too overprotective and as for Danny, he realized that he was being far too careless. Because of that, and because they truly loved each other deep down, the two them decided to squash any negative feelings they had and go back to being proper siblings.

To that end, Rebecca and Danny wiped their other's tears away before going on to have a nice big hug. When he saw this, Takashi let out a small smile of satisfaction. Although he didn't have any brothers or sisters of his own, the young man considered his best friends Minako and Kazuto the closest thing he had to siblings. Although they had their fights from time to time, the fact remained that they were friends for life and absolutely nothing was going to change that, even now when they're going on their own separate Pokémon Journeys.

Eventually, after finally breaking the hug, Rebecca made her way up to Takashi and Pikachu. After she gently petted the latter in thanks for his hard work, Rebecca extended her hand out towards Takashi and smiled at him.

"Thank you for the help, Takashi." She said to him. "I don't know what would've happened if you and Pikachu weren't there."

"It's not a problem, Rebecca." Takashi replied as he shook her hand. "I'm just glad that I was able to help."

As the two of them continued to shake hands, Danny walked over towards the both of them and stared directly at Pikachu. This was the first time that he's ever seen one up close before and, after seeing how he performed during the battle against Ursaring, the young boy was very impressed by him. In turn, the Mouse Pokémon looked down at Danny for a moment before happily jumping off Takashi and landing on top of his head. The two of them then shared an embrace with Danny noting how soft and warm Pikachu's fur was.

Eventually, after a while, Takashi examined the area that he was in and wondered where exactly he was. This detour obviously took him off the path that Ariel showed him and he started to wonder how long it would take him to get to Pewter City now.

"So…" He said as he started scratching his head. "Where do we go from here?"

"Well…you could always come with us to our home in Pewter City." Rebecca pointed out to him. "It's actually not that far from here."

As soon as Rebecca said that to him, something within Takashi suddenly clicked. He remembered earlier that she told him that she was from Pewter City, but the excitement of everything else that was happening caused him to forget. Now that he remembered, Takashi turned around looked at Rebecca with an excited look on his face.

"Really?! That would be awesome! Thanks so much!"

Takashi soon grabbed both of Rebecca's hands and started shaking them rather frantically. Although she was quite amused by this scene at first, the young woman soon found herself becoming quickly annoyed and soon knocked Takashi down in order to get him to stop. There was a short moment of silence following this scene, but the two of them soon started laughing from amusement. The two were then joined by both Danny and Pikachu, who found this to be pretty funny as well.

Soon though, Takashi and Pikachu followed Rebecca and Danny as they all made their way out of the forest. After about 40 minutes of walking, the group arrived at a small cliff. When Takashi made his way up and stood at its edge, the young man was able to see a couple of buildings standing in the distance. Just taking one look at them made him realized that he finally arrived at his destination.

"There it is…Pewter City. The time has finally arrived for my first Gym Battle!"

Chapter Preview

Takashi has finally arrived in Pewter City and is more than eager to challenge its Pokémon Gym. Before he does so however, he agrees to have dinner with Rebecca and Danny's family. During this time, an altercation occurs that leaves our hero feeling rather unsettled. What happened that made him feel this way and how will it affect his battle against the Pewter City Gym Leader?

Next Time, Chapter 11: A Rock-Hard Gym Battle