Welcome to chapter 4 of The Journey of Dale Gaines. Sorry this is so late but this happens with me. At this point we finally will find out what is Aunt Jessica's request. I hope you enjoy it.
The Journey of Dale Gaines
Chapter 4-Aunt Jessica's Request
Westwend Town, a town situated on the northwestern area by Force City with Weststring Forest separating the two places. The town is much smaller and less busy than Force City but also seems livelier. People are walking out of their houses and watering their plants. Some walk onto the street and greet their neighbors. Very rarely a few say hi to me even though they don't know who I am. I've been here quite a few times in the past but this is the first time I've been here on my journey. Trapinch looks around noticing the change between the city and now this town. We pass through the main area of the town which has plenty of shops and other important buildings for your daily tasks. I recognize it all, this is my Aunt Jessica's town, who also happens to be the first member of my family to give me a request for my journey.
"We should almost be there Trapinch. Just a little bit further." I tell the pokemon next to me. I can tell the constant walking and the couple of battles it's been in has it looking tired.
Soon enough the center of town becomes a bit more residential and I see a three floored red Victorian style house. I knew that house immediately. "We are here." I hear Trapinch give a sigh of relief even though he looks happy at seeing the house. We enter through the white picket fence gate and knock on the front door. Opening up we see Aunt Jessica.
"Why Dale, you are earlier than I expected. Come in come in." Aunt Jessica is a tall woman, taller than my mom with long blond hair and green eyes. She is wearing a purple floral dress with a simple red scarf wrapped around her shoulders. She immediately gives off an authoritative vibe even though she looks more than she belongs in a beauty content. As soon as we are in her entry room she gives me a long hug telling me how happy she is to see me. "And who is this cool pokemon." Looking down at Trapinch.
"That's my first pokemon. Trapinch." Trapinch acknowledges Aunt Jessica with a smile. "I also caught an Inkay on my way here."
"So you have two pokemon already. That's extremely good." We move towards the living room which is right off the entry room and see Furret and a Budew sitting in the living room.
My Aunt Jessica never married or had any kids so instead she adopts stray pokemon that have been released by people and gives to a loving families. As well she is a well-known member of the community and donates her time to many different causes. I know that the pokemon in her home are only half of the strays she has at the moment.
"Where is Raichu and Honedge?" I ask about her other two strays.
"Raichu is taking a nap upstairs and Honedge is outside working on its Aerial Ace attack." I sit down on the couch next to Furret and scratch its head, which it enjoys. Trapinch sits down on the floor by my feet taking a rest.
"So what is this request you have for me?" I ask about the reason I am here.
"You will just have to wait till dinner tonight when I can tell you." She says as she sits down in an armchair in the room. Budew is on a window seat in the sunlight dozing nicely.
"Aunt Jessica, I need to know the request in order for me to accept it. Otherwise coming here would be for nothing." I say, trying to get the situation on my side. She enjoys when someone pushes her back as much as she pushes.
"Well if you insist then." She smiles to make sure I know she isn't mad. "But before you do that, take Trapinch upstairs to take a nap before our gusts arrive." Guests? I knew nothing about guests but decide to do as she asks before I question her. Trapinch is resting comfortably at my feet but sits up once I get up.
We move towards the back of the living room and head up towards the second floor. The second floor is dedicated towards the stray pokemon in Aunt Jessica's life. It is a hallway and loft area that has two bedrooms off of it. The two bedrooms are each used for a pokemon area for the strays. They are mostly used as resting places where the pokemon can sleep easily. I enter into the closest bedroom and notice it was empty, so I am glad that I am not disturbing Raichu.
I kneel down next to Trapinch "Ok, you can take a nap here for an hour or two to just rest up for tonight's dinner." Trapinch looks happy that he can rest and walks over to an oversized pokemon bed and lays on it. I quietly slip out of the bedroom and head back downstairs.
Aunt Jessica is still sitting in the armchair but now the living room table has a tray of crackers, cookies, cheeses, and fruits to snack on. I sit down and pick up a couple of multigrain crackers to snack on, but before I take a bite I get down to business. "Ok, what is the request you have for me?"
"Well, as you know, I have a couple of guests coming over for dinner. They are Ruth Luther and Nate Luther. Nate just got his first pokemon a week ago and has been thinking about going on his own journey. Ruth, his mother, knew about what you are doing and asked me if maybe you would take him along on your journey. I know you weren't going to be traveling with anyone so I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask you to have a traveling partner with you." So this wasn't a complex request, it was just asking me to bring someone along with me.
"You do know that I could easily have said no to this request when you surprised me with this when they showed up? That would have been embarrassing for the both of us."
"Yes, but I was hoping that you wouldn't just flat out refuse and think about it. So what do you say will you take him on as your partner?" She asks so hopeful. I decide to let the tension stick a bit by picking up a chocolate chip cookie and chewing it like I am thinking the request over. I can tell the effect is having its desired consequence.
"I'll gladly take him on but I first have to meet him. I don't want him to be unlikeable and then have to go everywhere with him. So at this point I'll take him on as a partner but I am allowed to go back and say no if I don't like him." Aunt Jessica seems relived that I said that.
"Of course you can say no to him if you want. I have a feeling you won't though." With that we get back to talking about the family and what has been going in our lives. Her talking about the different events she's been to and me talking about what I'm excited about with my journey. I also told her about my interactions in Weststring Forest. She was impressed with Inkay but worried about the trio I met in the forest. Afterwards though I saw Raichu and Honedge and introduce everyone to Trapinch and Inkay. Promptly at 5 a knock came on the front door. Aunt Jessica opens it up and I see a mother and son standing there. I assume this is Ruth and Nate.
"Please come in, this is my nephew, Dale." Aunt Jessica tells our guests.
"Hello, Dale. I'm Ruth and this is Nate." Ruth gestures to Dale, who seems slightly shy.
Nate, like his mother is blond but instead of having long hair like his mother, has it short and spiked in the front. He is a few inches taller than me and just as thin and around my age. He is wearing a plain brown shirt and jeans. So far he doesn't look like a rude guy so I hope we'll get along.
"Well, dinner is almost ready. I think it would be best to sit down at the dinner table and we can do more talking then." We all follow into the room on the other side of the entry room which is the dining room. It's quite basic with green walls and an eight person dining room table. While Aunt Jessica goes into the kitchen to serve dinner Ruth and Nate sit on one six chair side and I sit on the other. My pokemon and the strays eat out in the living room with each other. Aunt Jessica comes out with a tray filled with meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and carrots. We each grab a portion from the meal and put it on our plates and start eating.
"So Dale, I hear you are starting a journey of your own." Ruth starts up after a few minutes of eating.
"It's ok Ruth. I had to tell him about our plan earlier today, so he knows everything." Aunt Jessica replied. Ruth though didn't look all that annoyed by it. She actually seems glad.
"So what do you think about taking Nate on your journey?" Ruth asks me.
"Well I certainly don't have a problem with it so far." I decide not to mention that I still don't know much about him. I turn to him "What pokemon do you have?" He answers quite quickly to me.
"My mom gave me a Meowth a couple of months back to raise as my first pokemon and then a week ago I just caught Hoothoot in the park." So he has the same amount of pokemon as me but both of his have been around longer than mine.
"I just started my journey today. I got a Trapinch as my first and caught an Inkay on my way here."
"Wow you got two pokemon in one day. That's pretty amazing." He looks quite impressed and I feel quite proud of myself.
We eat a bit more with my aunt and Ruth talking a bit more amongst themselves. At a lull in the conversation Nate then spoke up.
"Can we have a battle tomorrow morning? I would love to test my skills against a new trainer like you." He seems quite determined. I so far have no objections to Nate and personally it would be my first official battle on my journey.
"Sure I'll be glad to have a battle with you." I respond. Nate looks relieved that I accept his request. I'm expecting someone to ask me if I'll take him on as a traveling partner but neither my Aunt nor Ruth say anything more about it.
Soon enough dinner is over and while Ruth and my Aunt go to the kitchen to clean up I notice that Nate heads out back. I decide to follow him. He is sitting on the deck by himself looking out at my Aunt's backyard which isn't decorated much, just some bushes and trees that the stray pokemon she has can play around in.
"Everything ok?" I ask settling down in a chair next to the one he is sitting in. He doesn't seem surprised to see me.
"I'm nervous really."
"About the battle tomorrow?" I don't know what else he could be nervous about.
"No, about traveling on my own. I don't know if you've accepted my mom's request to have me join you but still eventually I will have to find my way in the world and my mom thinks it would be good to have me travel around and see different places on my own. The problem is I wouldn't even know where to start or what to do. I would be going to a random town and just staying the night in some inn. I don't have a goal in mind for what I want to do. Until I get a goal I probably shouldn't be leaving Westwend Town." So his biggest difficulty is finding himself. He's nervous about his future. I can see that. I don't really have a goal unless some member of my family calls me for a request to do.
"Well you do have a goal now." I say to him.
"I do?" He looks surprised, like he should know before me.
"Yeah, your goal is to figure out what you want to do while being my traveling partner." He looks surprised and then extremely happy that I have accepted him into my group.
"You actually honestly mean that?" He says extremely happy. I don't think I've ever seen so much positive emotion register on him.
"Of course I do. Now we better tell the others so that you can prepare to leave soon. We get up and head inside and I swear I see a bounce in his step and I guess I have a slight one too.
The next morning at 9 AM is earlier than I expect to be in a park facing off against my newest friend. Aunt Jessica allowed me to sleep in her guest bedroom for the night while I got myself situated with what I would be doing next. Both my Aunt and Ruth were overjoyed knowing that I was accepting Nate on my journey. But now we have to have this battle to test each other's strengths.
"This match will be a one on one pokemon battle between Dale Gaines and Nate Luther. Each trainer is allowed to use one pokemon. When either pokemon is unable to battle the match will be decided." My Aunt announces to us with Ruth watching the match from the sidelines. "Send out your pokemon."
"Trapinch, lets go." I throw my pokeball and out pops my Ant Pit pokemon. It lands on the ground ready to fight.
"Alright, go Meowth" Nate throws his pokeball and out pops the Scratch Cat pokemon. It let out a loud meow and extended its claws.
"Begin!" my Aunt yelled signaling the battle started.
"Meowth, start things off with Scratch." Nate commands. Meowth is more than happy to obey. It extends its paw towards the ground, its claws glinting in the sunlight and starts running at Trapinch. Aggressive first move. I can be just as aggressive.
"Trapinch, use Bite." I command as well. Trapinch is prepared to counter the attack coming at it. Just as soon as Meowth is about to attack it launches itself and bites down on Meowth's head. But Trapinch is also unprepared since Meowth is able to scratch at it with its claws a few times and Trapinch is forced to break its hold on Meowth and release it.
"Clever trick. Meowth, try out Hypnosis." I wasn't expecting that move. Meowth's eyes turn a light blue and from each of them is released a light blue circle of light that moves towards Trapinch.
"Dodge that." I command. Trapinch quickly moves to the side of the attack and effectively dodges it. "Bulldoze." I quickly try and get out another attack efore Meowth can attack again.
"Scratch, once more." Nate says to his pokemon. Meowth is once again running towards Trapinch but Trapinch raises its leg and slams it on the ground releasing a shockwave through the battlefield. Meowth gets caught in it and falls quickly to the ground. "Get up, Meowth." Meowth slowly got to its feet. "Now, use Return." Meowth quickly ran towards Trapinch with its paw in a fist.
"Trapinch, use Endure." Trapinch starts glowing white and Meowth then starts punching Trapinch, Trapinch is taking it well though. "Trapinch, use Bite again." Trapinch opens its mouth real wide and bite on Meowth's body making it unable to move.
"Meowth, put it to sleep with Hypnosis." Due to the closeness of the two pokemon this time Trapinch could dodge and the attack landed perfectly putting Trapinch to sleep and releasing Meowth from its grasp. "Now Meowth, keep using Scratch on it." Meowth extended its claws and started scratchng Trapinch up. Soon enough Trapinch woke up from all the attacks.
"Ok Trapinch, use Bulldoze." I command. Trapinch quickly becomes aware of its predicament and stomps the ground.
"Meowth, get back." Nate calls out. Meowth quickly tries jumping backwards but gets stuck in a shockwave and falls to the ground.
"Now Trapinch, use Bite and throw it to the ground." Trapinch starts running towards Meowth with its mouth wide open. Before Meowth can react its leaped over Meowth but grabbed its head in its mouth and doing a flip in the air slammed it to the ground. When the dust cleared Meowth wasn't getting up.
"Meowth is unable to battle, Trapinch is the winner and Dale is the winner of the match." Aunt Jessica announces. I sigh with relief that my plan worked. Nate looks disappointed but not upset as he brings out his pokeball.
"Good work Meowth. Take a rest." He says as he returns his pokemon back to its pokeball. I walk over to him with his mom and my aunt walking over to us as well.
"That was a fantastic battle you two I am very impressed." Ruth says. Aunt Jessica also seems pleased.
"I am amazed at how well of a battler you've become since you just started yesterday as a trainer." She then turns to Nate. "You also were fantastic. I think you both will learn a lot from each other." Just then I heard my phone start ringing. I take it out of my pocket to answer it.
"Hello," I answer.
"Dale, its Hermione." Hermione is one of my cousins.
"Hey. What can I do for you?" I ask.
"Well I know you are doing this journey thing and wondering if maybe you can come to Islandhaven to help me out with my training regimen. Since you've started your own journey I was thinking maybe you could help me out with one of my pokemon." I should expect this to happen a lot more. I will need to help my family and friends pretty much at the drop of a hat.
I look at the three people in front of me and smile. "You know what I just had an opening so I'll be glad to come by and help you out." I could hear a sigh of relief on the other end while I saw smiles in front of me.
"That's great I can't wait to see you here." We exchanged information of when I should be there and hung up on each other.
"So it seems you got another request." My Aunt Jessica says to me. I nod.
"Yes, we'll be heading to Islandhaven to help my cousin, Hermione with some sort of training for one of her pokemon." I then look towards Nate. "You still want to come along with me on my journey right?" I ask him. He stops looking disappointed and a big smile spreads on his face.
"Of course I want to go."
"Then as soon as we are all set we are heading to Islandhaven on our journey."
Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. We finally are moving onto the next request for Dale's family and gain a new member of the group. Please review and tell me what you thought about it. The feedback is extremely nice to have.