It didn't take us too long to make it to Striation City since the route there was relatively short. The whole way there we could hear Bianca prepping herself for the gym battle; I don't think she realized she was talking aloud though. We had run into a few trainers, Cheren and I took on a double battle with a pair of twins and won with ease; Bianca battled a few herself for some practice. Along the way I found myself a new partner and friend, Purrloin. I decided to nickname her Ruse, not sure why but it seemed to fit her, the name had a sassy air about it and as did she.
Upon entering Striation City Cheren immediately noticed the Trainer's School and darted off to go take a look. Tch, what a nerd. I thought while glancing around for any signs of those Team Plasma idiots. Bianca and I both shook our heads, than made our way to the Pokemon Center, which was conveniently located right beside the city's Gym. Outside the gym stood a decent looking guy with green hair and a green shirt to match. I eyed him with curiosity, Bianca noticed this and looked in the same direction.
"Ohh, I see what you mean." She said with a flirty tone, but in her high-pitched voice it wasn't exactly attractive, but more or less annoying. I just nodded, bringing my attention back to where I was walking, which would have been into a wall if I hadn't looked in time, Bianca took the blow instead though.
"That's what you get for not paying attention."
"Owww.. Yeah, well you shouldn't have pointed him out.." Her voice sounded nasally since she was covering her nose after slamming it into the wall, all I could do was laugh at how weird it was.
"Hahaa, sure, blame it on me." I chuckled entering as I walked up to the main desk in the Pokemon Center. "Hello and welcome to the Pokemon Center, would you like me to heal your Pokemon for you?" The lady behind the desk (also known as Nurse Joy) asked in a very polite manner.
"Yes please." Both Bianca and I handed her our Pokemon; not even 10 minutes later they were given back to us in perfect health.
"Here you go, you're Pokemon are all healed," she bowed, "thank you and have a nice day."
"Thank you." I bowed as well. Bianca… Well she was too busy fumbling around with her Pokeball (attempting to figure out the order she wanted them in) to bow back.
"Val, let's go check out the gym now!" she bellowed.
"I was planning on it-"
"Yeah!" she ran out the door without giving me a chance to finish… As usual. Cheren came waltzing out of the Trainer's School with a smirk on his face.
"I take it the School was to your liking?" I asked, laughing. His smirk disappeared and he was glaring in the direction of the gym where Bianca happened to be chatting with the Gym Leader. A sly smile crept across my face as I glanced between the two.
"Rennn. ~" I waved; no response. "Seems like someone's jealousss," I nudged him playfully, the scornful look on his face only deepened while he crossed his arms (as usual). This seemed to be his signature move. I sighed walking over to Bianca and the Leader.
"Oh Val, this is-"
"Hey, I'm Chili." A red-haired boy interrupted Bianca as he stepped in front of her. He winked at me before holding his hand out. "Your friend here was just telling me all about you and how you three are going on an adventure together."
I nodded and turned to look back at Cheren who was giving an indignant glare towards the red-head. Chuckling, I motioned for him to come over. "This is Cheren, the third person in our group." I introduced, only to be thanked with a death glare from Cheren.
"Well, it's nice to meet you Cheren." The boy smiled, a devious gleam appeared in his eyes as his turned his attention back toward Bianca. "Let me introduce you to my brothers."
As if on cue, two more young boys walked out of the building to stand on either side of Chili. One had a very handsome and sophisticated look to him; his hair was almost like an electric blue. With a pleasant smile he walked over to me, taking my hand in his and bending over placing a gentle kiss on the back of it. A slight blush crawled across my face; no one had ever done something like that to me before. Chili crossed his arms, glaring at his blue-haired brother.
"Hello there, my name is Cress and it's a pleasure to meet you." He practically whispered in a soft toned voice, looking deep into my eyes. I placed my free hand behind my head, giggling nervously.
"H-hello, it's nice to meet you too. I-I'm Valaina, but you can call me Val."
"I'm pleased to make your acquaintance, Valaina." With a sweet smile, he walked back to Chili's right side, who continued to glare at him, and gave an innocent wave telling him to calm down.
"Hmph, well now that you met Cress…" Chili said with bitterness in his voice, he held out a hand and pointed it in the direction of another young boy standing on his left. "This is Cilan." Cilan bowed. Bianca's face lit up and she ran to his side.
"Hello, I'm Bianca; it's nice to meet you!" She bellowed, grabbing his hand. A confused look appeared on Cilan's face.
"Bi! Get over here!" I scolded; she came running over in a fit of giggles. "Sorry about that, she doesn't know how to control herself when she likes someone… Or something for that matter."
"It's quite all right, Cilan doesn't mind. He's just very timid and doesn't really speak around others." Cress smiled.
"All right," Chili turned around, "I think it's time we get these battles started." With both hands behind his head, he walked into the Gym. The rest of us followed him, as we entered we found ourselves in what seemed to be a giant Diner. Wow, this is so awesome. I thought to myself before taking a seat and glancing all around.
"Next up is Val." Chili said with a cocky smile plastered on his face. Bianca had gone down in defeat, but Cheren had managed to hold up against Cress in his battle and won easily. I didn't really understand how these boys had planned this all out, but it was definitely interesting. From what I'd seen, they went against the one they had the type-advantage over. Seemed hardly fair to me, but it helped us all greatly in some ways. I smirked knowing this was going to be one hell of a battle.
"Are you ready?" Chili asked in a dauntless manner. I replied by taking a pokeball out of my bag and hitting the center button to enlarge it. "All right, let's get this started."
Cress was on the sidelines acting as our referee, he glanced between the both of us to see if we were ready. "This is a one-on-one battle. Each user may choose a pokemon of their choice. There will be no switching out. You may begin at any time." He stated with a calm demeanor.
"All right, come on out Pansear!" Chili threw the pokeball and a small monkey-like pokemon came out.
"Pansearrr!" It cried as it got into a battle stance.
"A Pansear huh?" I cocked an eyebrow. This is going to be harder than I thought. I'm sure we can do it though; I just have to believe in Shuu.
"Yeah! Shuu, we can do this. Let's go!" I threw my pokeball into the air and Shuu came flying out, gracefully landing in front of me with a nonchalant expression. Chili's Pansear seemed to be even more fired up now that it saw my pokemon, but it didn't seem to phase Shuu one bit.
"Pansear use Incinerate!" He bellowed; Pansear looked back at his trainer and nodded; a burst of flames rushed out of its mouth and went hurdling towards Shuu.
"Shuu, dodge and use Leer!" I called out. Shuu jumped out of the way and glared daggers at the fire monkey after landing. Pansear shuddered, a blue aura surrounding it signifying its defense was lowered.
"Shit." Chili cursed under his breath. "Pansear use Work Up and then Fury Swipes!"
"Shuu, be careful. Watch Pansear and when the right time comes, use Tackle at full force!" Shuu gave me a look of compliance before keeping his eyes planted on the Pansear. Pansear's body was beginning to glow a red/brown color, confidence evident in its eyes. After a few minutes or so Pansear began darting towards Shuu with amazing speed; its claws extended. I carefully as it neared, Shuu glanced back at me and I nodded approvingly. Shuu quickly dashed to the right, just barely avoiding contact with Pansear, and charged at it full force smashing in the monkey and sending it flying into the wall.
"Sniv sniv." Shuu scoffed proudly as it wandered back to my side. Both Chili and I watched Pansear make a futile attempt to get up, and collapse in the process. Thank god. I thought before looking at Cress.
"Pansear has been rendered unable to battle. The challenger, Valaina, has beaten Gym Leader Chili." Cress announced. Bianca jumped up and down in her seat, while Cheren clapped with a smile.
"Congratulations Val. I've gotta say, you're pretty good. You and your Snivy make a great team." Chili said as he walked over, holding out his hand once again. I took his in mine and softly shook it.
"Thank you, that Pansear of yours is very tough, definitely takes after you too."
"Haha, yeah, he's my buddy." He chuckled, scratching his head.
"That was an amazing battle Valaina, I am proud to present you with this," Cress held out his hand, revealing a small elongated badge that had each of their colors down a line, "The Trio Badge." I carefully took it from his hand, holding it up to the light to get a better look.
"Hey Shuu, take a look at this." I held it out in front of him. Shuu gave a proud smirk before waltzing off to the door. I shook my head, chuckling as I gently placed the badge in my case. Before I could turn around a hand had snaked its way around my wrist and prevented me from leaving. I looked back to see Chili's eyes gazing into mine.
"Thank you.." He was now looking down.
"For what?" I asked; shocked. He turned my hand over and placed a CD in it.
"For such an awesome battle." Smiling, he let go and backed away. I glanced at the item in my hand.
"It's the TM for Work Up; a decent move that raises your pokemon's attack and special attack." Chili intervened. I placed the TM in my bag, wondering if I was going to even use it or not. It could come in handy at some point..
"Thank you very much." I bowed.
"Val, c'mon! We gotta get to the next city!" Bianca yelled, waving her hand in the air frantically. She had easily gotten over the fact that she lost to Cilan and was rallying to go to Nacrene in order to try out the next Gym. I waved goodbye to the boys and darted off after Cheren and Bianca. The three of us made a quick visit to the Pokemon Center just to heal up our pokemon, after that we started our long journey to Nacrene City. Upon leaving Striation, I couldn't help but think about that boy with the tea green hair and mint colored eyes, for some reason he really seemed to have made an impression on me. His way of thinking… It was confusing. Free pokemon? They'll never become perfect creatures if we keep them inside pokeballs? It makes no sense…