Chapter 8

"Treecko. Treeeko?"

"Haha, yeah I think she's mad. Why so upset Sawyer? I didn't do anything wrong." Sawyer just snapped her teeth at Kenji in response and growled when he decided to gently rub her head, in such a carefree way, like he didn't just have his Treecko snatch her off Ryan's shoulder during their little diversion stunt a few minutes ago. "Touchy, touchy." He murmured with a lopsided grin "you gotta learn to lighten up." Sawyer just gave him a look of pure disbelief; he wanted her to lighten up after being kidnapped? What is wrong with this guy? Instead of dignifying them with an answer, she just frowned and looked away, seeing as all she could do was move her head. Kenji unfortunately was a clever child and had tied Sawyer up, so she couldn't escape once she was awake, the rope was looped very tightly around her torso and arms, keeping them pinned to her sides.

"Treecko. Treekoo." The green gecko chimed from its spot on Kenji's shoulder and the boy nodded in response "I know, it's a shame. Guess not all Pokémon can be as awesome as you buddy." Treecko gave a prideful grin at its trainer's words, Sawyer just snorted and Treecko leered down at the mouse "Treecko. Tree." Sawyer just stuck her tongue out in response and Treecko twitched slightly from his spot, the Wood Gecko tensed on Kenji's shoulder, looking ready to lunge at the bound mouse, but Kenji's hand halted the green Pokémon's attempt "Enough Treecko." Treecko huffed and looked away from Sawyer, frowning slightly, trying to ignore the mouse's light snickers.

Kenji just sighed and shook his head "I have a feeling that this is gonna be a long walk. . ."

x-X-x

"You seem to have a knack for scaring away Pokémon don't you?"

"Shut up, it wasn't even my fault this time! You were the one who ran into him!"

"Nu-uh! That was totally your fault! Not to mention you lost the battle!"

Bulbasaur and Chewy just sighed in unison as they listened to their trainers quietly argue with one another as they slowly trailed behind the latest member of the group, while the two humans hissed obscenities at one another, the two Pokémon were on the look-out for their current elusive and mysterious target. It had been roughly about 10 minutes ago since they had entered Mt Moon and already they had somehow caused a problem. While searching for that no good thief Kenji and Sawyer, Ryan and Nina had accidentally startled an apathetic, no nonsense trainer who was about to catch a docile looking Clefairy that was nearby, this irritated the trainer to no end, because he had been trying to catch this Clefairy for about nearly all week now, Ryan didn't understand the fixation he had for this Clefairy, but Nina understood it well, because she felt the exact same way when she was trying to find, sketch, and capture Chewy.

"I don't get it, why waste your time looking for one specific Pokémon for days on end? Why not just find another one of that exact species? They're all the same thing aren't they?"

She explained to him, that not all Pokémon are alike, regardless if they share the same species. She recalled to him, that the sole reason she was specifically smitten with Chewy, was because of when she first stumbled upon him on accident mind you, he had been lounging in a clearing, balancing an apple on the tip of his nose in a carefree manner, highly engrossed with the current source of entertainment. Excitedly interested, it was at that moment that she knew she had to draw it, but sadly when she had moved to grab her sketchpad she had rustled the bush she was hiding behind and apple quickly forgotten, he ran. She didn't stumble upon the Pikachu for a least a couple days later, which was when those two, Ryan and Sawyer, showed up.

Ryan just gave her a somewhat thoughtful and confused look in response to her explanation and she just sighed, telling him that he'd understand someday. The trainer whose capture they had interrupted introduced himself as Aaron. He was a nerdish looking boy with scraggly looking black hair, he wore a button up shirt and dark slacks. When the duo had stumbled upon him, he was hidden behind a large rock, that obscured Clefairy's view of him however, just as he was about to toss the Pokéball and capture this unaware fairy Pokémon, Ryan or Nina, neither were entirely sure who did it, but they blamed each other instantly, with most of the blame landing on Ryan, since it seemed like something he'd do, despite the fact that it only happened once. Either way, one of them managed to run into the crouched and hiding Aaron, causing him to stumble out from his hiding spot, startling the Clefairy and sending it fleeing for safety.

Needless to say, after three days of hiding and camping out in Mt Moon on a seemingly never ending quest to capture this rare Clefairy, Aaron was extremely irritated and he promptly persuaded, forced is more like it, Nina and Ryan to help him find and capture this Clefairy. At first Ryan had outright refused, stating that he had more important things to do, like find his stolen Pokémon, but Aaron was having none of this, he challenged Ryan to a battle, claiming that if he won, they'd help him find Clefairy, but if he lost, he'd leave them be and would go back to Clefairy hunting by his lonesome. Needless to say, Ryan was eager and Bulbasaur was called into battle, while Aaron called out his Psyduck. After collecting its information from the Pokédex, Ryan started off with Vine Whip, which Psyduck redirected with a powerful Confusion attack and then followed up with Scratch and before Ryan could have Bulbasaur retaliate with Leaf Storm, Aaron commanded Psyduck to fire Ice Beam, which would have knocked Bulbasaur squarely out, due to the close range the duck had on him, but Aaron had the attack halted and declared the match his, thus Ryan and Nina had to comply with their end of the deal and help him search and that is why the two were arguing mutedly behind his back, while their Pokémon just trailed beside them with exasperated expressions.

Up ahead of them, Aaron stopped walking and crouched down to study the dirt on the ground, with his index and middle finger, he ran the tips of the appendages along the print in the ground "Hmm, these are fresh. . ." he mumbled to himself before glancing slightly to his right, he noticed another set of prints, these a lot smaller and lighter than the first. Smirking lightly, Aaron stood up and called back towards the two bickering kids. "If you two are done having your little lovers spat, I found something over here that might be interesting." Pausing in mid yell, Ryan and Nina turned to glower at Aaron, before they irately stalked over to where the young man was standing "Well, what'd you find? Did that thief drop something or did you spot Clefairy?"

"No, nothing like that. I found fresh foot prints, they head in that direction. I assume that the shoe prints come from your thief, but I also found another trail of prints following lightly after, which I believe to be Clefairy, so if my deduction is correct then Clefairy is following after the guy you're looking for."

"Which means, that if we get to Kenji, then we might run into Clefairy along the way and kill two birds with one stone. Ryan could get Sawyer back and you could catch your Clefairy Aaron!" Nina was smiling brightly at these turns of events, not only will they catch that lying thieving trick for what he is, but if they get lucky enough, Clefairy will be around too and Aaron could catch it and then she and Ryan could be on their way.

At this moment, Nina would happily agree that things were turning out quite nicely and smoothly for them.

x-X-x

At this moment, Kenji would happily agree that things weren't turning out quite nicely and smoothly for them.

For one thing, they had a swarm of irritated Zubat on their tail.

No thanks to Sawyer and Treecko.

Somehow Sawyer had figured out a way to annoy Treecko, by out annoying him. What I mean is, Treecko has this attitude, where he likes to show off and use intimidation tactics to get his way and that usually works, except Sawyer threw both Kenji and Treecko a curve ball and completely ignored the Wood Gecko Pokémon and then threw snide comments at the green guy about his personality. With his ego being bruised a bit, Treecko retaliated by making a big show, just to prove her wrong, but he miscalculated the strength and aim of the Energy Ball he fired and it instead struck one of the sleeping Zubat in the cave, which would have been fine, no big deal at all, they could handle one tiny little Zubat, easy as pie.

Until Sawyer had somehow managed to wriggle free from his hold and fired a Shock Wave attack at the remaining sleeping Zubat holed up at the top of the cave, resulting in a swarm of very, irritated, sleep depraved bats. They ran and ran until Kenji was finally able to lose the bats, by ducking behind a rock for cover, giving the Zubat's the slip. He and Treecko were currently slumped against said rock, panting heavily as they both gave the mouse that caused the trouble the stink eye. Kenji lifted Sawyer up by her tail, with her front facing him and leered into her red eyes "That was not cool dude." Sawyer just snorted in response and stuck her tongue out childishly at him; Kenji just gave her a flat stare back before lowering the mouse back to the ground, Sawyer sat unperturbed on her hind legs as she glanced around their current hiding spot, nothing but rocks, confusing pathways and dimly lit corners. There had to be some way she could find Ryan and the others, maybe she could sniff them out, lifting her nose in the air to do just that.

Sawyer paused momentarily to struggle in her bonds, it was somewhat awkward not being able to move her arms freely. "Alright, first things first, I find a way to get free and then I go find Ryan!" Eye set in determination, Sawyer glanced around for something that could help free her, while from their resting spots, Kenji and Treecko eyed her with amusement and curiosity respectively. They watched as she hobbled around, gazing thoughtfully at rocks, the dimly lit corners and the empty space in front of her, looking for something, Kenji assumed she was trying to find a way out, but he didn't dwell on it much, she wasn't going to get very far without his help. Not to mention she was tied up pretty tight, without the use of her arms to support her, she wasn't going to make it. Rattata's aren't like Pikachu and a select few of other Pokémon that could shift between walking on four legs to just two. Sure, Rattata could stand and sit on their hind legs but they couldn't just walk on them, they always relied on their front paws as well.

"Treecko Tree?" Treecko glanced at his trainer questioningly as they watched Sawyer shuffle around aimlessly. Kenji just relaxed and closed his eyes, folding his arms behind his head, using them as a pillow to cushion his cranium against the rock. "There's nothing to worry about Treecko, she won't get very far, so I'm not gonna fret over something as tiny as her wandering around, let's just take a little break and then we'll get out of here. We need to let those Zubat run out of steam too." Sawyer's ears drooped low hopelessly as she sat back on her hind legs, at the moment, she couldn't figure out how in the world, she was going to break free and then run back to Ryan, of course gnawing through the ropes would be the smart thing, but this boy knew how to tie a knot and she didn't have enough leverage to bend her head down to use the infamous molars her species was known for. Feelings of despair flowed through her as she gazed blankly at the empty path in front of her, they'd probably be heading that way next "how the heck and I going to get out of this one?"

"Fairy. Celfairyy!"

Startled by the sudden noise, Sawyer jumped lightly in her bonds and the Clefairy that had literally materialized out of thin air giggled, placing its hands against its mouth to stifle the laughter. Sawyer blinked at the puffy pink Pokémon that stood before her and in response Clefairy blinked back "Fairy." It then grinned and pat her on the head "Clefairy!" Confused by this action, Sawyer just stared at the fairy Pokémon, before her eyes widened in realization, stumbling closer to the Clefairy, whom just watched curiously in response, Sawyer quickly glanced back at Kenji and Treecko and noticed both of them were relaxing, Kenji's eyes were shut tight and Treecko was curled up comfortably in his lap, she then grinned deviously and leaned towards the Clefairy's ear "Hey, can you do me a favor" she whispered and Clefairy blinked "can you help me out of these ropes? I'd like it very much."

"Clefairy? Clefairy, fairy?"

"Because, this guy kidnapped me from my trainer and I've gotta get back to him."

"Fairy!" Clefairy gasped, its eyes widening in shock and Sawyer nodded "yeah, so I'd really appreciate it if you could help untie me." Eyes setting in determination, Clefairy gave a slight nod and its hand glowed white, readying a pound attack to slice through the length of rope, but before it could have the chance to attack, a green ball of energy came zooming by and slammed harshly into the Clefairy, sending it flying back and following soon after was Treecko, it stood in between Sawyer and Clefairy, whom aside from being slightly shaken, looked just fine as it sat up after being caught off guard like that. Glaring at Treecko's back, Sawyer bared her teeth and tensed herself, ready to lunged and maul the wood gecko Pokémon, despite the obvious use of her arms to steady her, but before she could even jump Kenji had lifted her up by her tail and wagged his finger in her face "tsk, tsk Sawyer, you didn't actually think I wasn't paying attention to what you were doing did you?"

Sawyer just growled are turned her glare on him, but the blond haired boy just grinned and glanced down at Treecko, who was staring passively at Clefairy "C'mon Treecko, let's get going." Kenji then walked right past Clefairy, with Treecko following closely behind and Sawyer had been set up right and stuffed into the crook of his arm. Clefairy watched them walk away for only a fleeting moment before it sprung into action, it had to save Rattata from that bad guy! Without even acknowledging Clefairy's presence, Kenji spoke to Treecko "Slam." With a slight inclination of its head, Treecko whipped its tail around and with a powerful swing, it smacked Clefairy right in the torso and sent it flying face first into the rock he and Kenji had previously occupied, the force from the attack had knocked it out cold. Sawyer gasped and wriggled wildly in Kenji's grip "what'd you do that for!" Kenji just shrugged "Clefairy will be fine, that was one of Treecko's lighter taps, but that Clefairy must be weak if it fainted just due to one hit." He murmured, more to himself than her, grinning at Treecko, who then clambered up onto his shoulder "ah well, not our problem. Now, I hope this path leads to the exit and not a swarm of Zubat."

"Treecko. Tree."

x-X-x

"Are you sure we're going in the right direction, because it feels like we've been walking forever and haven't gotten anywhere."

". . ."

"Hey, are you even listening to me?"

". . ."

"Hey!"

"I'm sorry... did you say something?"

"Errk! Why you—!"

"Hey! I see something up ahead guys!"

Ryan soon stopped glaring at Aaron and glanced to where Nina was pointing, there was an unidentifiable lumpy mass ahead of them, located near a large rock. Ryan narrowed his eyes and shrugged "I dunno Nina, for all we know, it could be a Geodude or some rocks or something. It doesn't look like any Pokémon I've ever seen before… hey Bulbasaur, go check it out."

"Bulba?"

The Seed Pokémon gave his trainer a skeptic glance at his suggestion and Ryan elaborated "well, I was just thinking, if it did happen to be a wild Geodude, at least you'd have the advantage over it." Bulbasaur just gave Ryan a flat stare and he grinned sheepishly. Aaron rolled his eyes and took the initiative, taking a tentative step forward until he was close enough to identify the lumpy mass "It's alright." He called over to the two trainers and they moved closer, standing slightly behind him, peering down at the mass "It's just a Clefairy and by the looks of it, it's the same one I've been looking for…" Aaron stood up and then started to move away from the fainted Pokémon "hey wait a minute! Aren't you going to capture it? I mean here it is. The Pokémon you've been looking for!"

"It wouldn't be much sport to catch a Pokémon that didn't even put up a fight against me, that's like kicking a man when he's down."

"I don't get you at all." Ryan murmured scratching at the area covered by his headband. He then glanced over to Nina, who was bent down on one knee, next to the Clefairy, rummaging through her bag until she found the potion she'd been searching for "Nina, what are you doing?" She glanced slightly at Ryan, before spraying the antiseptic on Clefairys visible wounds, the Fairy Pokémon grunted before it stirred awake from its unconsciousness "Fairy. . ." it mumbled weakly, staring into Nina's eyes. "I couldn't just leave it here. Here you go Clefairy, have some Oran Berry, it will replenish your health." She answered, while digging into one of the pouches on her Pikachu bag's cheeks, Ryan watched in interest as she pulled out an Oran berry from the large red circle, apparently those pouches also served as compartments. Clefairy gratefully took a bite from the berry and chewed it before swallowing, Nina then gave whatever was left of the Berry, to Chewy who accepted it with a smile before gulping it down.

"That's better, are you alright Clefairy?"

Clefairy gave a slight nod and slowly got out of Nina's arms and the girl stood, brushing the dirt off her pants "I wonder what did this to it though." As if reminded by her words, Clefairys eyes widened and it tugged on Nina's pants legs "Clefairy! Clefairy Fairy!" Nina blinked and tilted her head in confusion "what's wrong Clefairy?" Clefairy moved over to where Aaron was standing and then began making wild motions "Clefairy, Clefairy, Clefairy! Fairy, Fairy!"

"You're saying something attacked you and they ran off with a rock?"

"Fairy, Clefairy, Fairy!"

"I don't understand. What do you think Clefairy's trying to tell us?" Ryan glanced at Nina, but she just gave him a shrug. "Hmm, Bulbasaur, can you try and figure out what Clefairy is saying?" The Seed Pokémon nodded and then moved to where Clefairy stood and then engaged in conversation "Bulbasaur? Bulba, Bulba."

"Clefairy..." it started, taking a deep breath and then exhaling. "Clefairy, Clefairy, Fairy. Fairy, Fairy, Fairy! Cle-fairy!" Bulbasaur blinked once and then jolted with a start "Bulba?" He gasped questioningly and Clefairy nodded furiously and rubbed solemnly at its bruised torso "Fai-ry. Clefairy." Clefairy pointed down the path behind him "Clefairy, Clefairy." Bulbasaur grunted and then nodded thankfully at Clefairy "Bulbasaur, Bulba!" He then headed over towards Ryan.

"So, what's the situation?"

"Bulbasaur! Bulbasaur!" Bulbasaur paused thoughtfully for a moment before responding. Using his vines to illustrate, to the best of his knowledge, Bulbasaur created a shape in similar likeness of Sawyer, or something resembling a mouse at least "a mouse… Sawyer! Sawyer did this?" Bulbasaur shook his head wildly "Bulba. Bulbasaur! Bulba, Bulba, Basaur!" Nina hummed thoughtfully. "Ohh, I think I get it! Kenji came by here right and Sawyer was with him?" She guessed, smacking a fist into her palm and grinning when Bulbasaur nodded "Bulba."

"Alright, so that means Kenji went down that path there. If we hurry, we might be able to stop him before he exits Mt Moon!"

"I hope so. . ."

"Well, then we can't dawdle. I gotta get Sawyer back. Let's get moving!"

"Clefairy! Clefairy, Clefairy!"

Just as the group was about to take off, Clefairy ran ahead of them, motioning for them to follow "I think its wants us to follow it." Ryan murmured "Oh, whatever gave you that idea genius?" Aaron responded dully and Ryan gritted his teeth at him. Nina ignored them both and followed along after Clefairy shaking her head, while Chewy and Bulbasaur sighed in unison, hopefully they'd find Sawyer soon, but with Clefairy leading the way it might not take long.

x-X-x

"What did you even kidnap me for in the first place?"

"Well, at first I figured that since you talked, you'd be a nice addition to the team. I'm starting to think otherwise." He responded flatly as they continued to walk the path, up ahead he could see a thin strip of light that was gradually growing and feel the cool relaxing breeze from Mother Nature, the exit of the cave was only a few feet away now. From his shoulder Treecko nodded heatedly in agreement "you've caused a bit of trouble for us Sawyer and this stealing Pokémon isn't really my thing. I think I'm gonna to stick with my day job." He murmured the last part to himself, but Sawyer heard him anyway and replied hopefully "so does that mean you're going to let me go?"

"No. Why would I? We've gotten this far, and I haven't gotten caught yet." Kenji said no more and all but ran towards the exit, taking a nice deep breath of the outside air "Ah, fresh air, it's so much better than that stuff cave and look, the sun's setting. I think we got through the cave in record time." Glancing around, Kenji took in his surroundings, nothing but rocky terrain and a dirt path, that would eventually shift into the familiar grassy plains and lightly forested area of the outskirts of Cerulean City, Kenji grinned widely and looked at his green companion "It shouldn't take us no more than about 10 minutes to get to the city and once there, we'll blend in with the crowd and be good to go. Right Treecko?"

"Treecko. Tree." The wood gecko nodded its head in agreement, but paused upon hearing a voice ring out.

"Not on my watch you don't! Bulbasaur use Leaf Storm!"

"Bulbasaur!"

Kenji frowned slightly and dodged accordingly as the swirling cyclone of leaves blew past him, blowing his platinum locks about his face. "Oh great, the Calvary has arrived. How'd you guys even manage to catch up so quick?" He scratched at his head thoughtfully before his eyes trailed over to the familiar pink creature huddled behind Nina's leg and a light smirk twitched on his lips "oh, no wonder you guys found me so fast, you had a little outside help. I don't think you hit it hard enough Treecko." Kenji muttered as he crossed his arms and stared pointedly at the fairy Pokémon, who gulped audibly before returning the stare with a wavering glare of its own "C-Clefairy!"

"Tree." The wood gecko sneered, leering back at Clefairy, whose glare faltered as it hugged Nina's leg slightly tighter "Treecko? I've never seen one of those before." Ryan pulled out his Pokédex and pointed it at the green Pokémon.

"Treecko, the Wood Gecko Pokémon. Treecko are able to climb smooth vertical walls and use their thick tail to attack opponents. Since Treecko build their nests in large trees it is said that those trees will live a very long life."

"A Treecko? That means, you must be from Hoenn!"

"Ooh, give the lady a prize, she got it right."

"Give me back Sawyer you no good thief!"

"But, we were in the middle of such a good bonding session before you showed up."

"We were not! You were about to—mrmph!" Kenji clamped his free hand down on Sawyer's mouth and silenced her talking, though she wriggled wildly in his arms, but the boy was unaffected by her struggling "chatty little thing, isn't she" he shot Ryan a dry grin and the brunette growled in response "Bulbasaur, get back Sawyer with Vine Whip." Bulbasaur nodded and ran forward, the vines from the bulb on his back shooting out and aiming for Kenji, but before they could reach its intended target Treecko jumped off his shoulder and easily blocked the attack, growling at Bulbasaur "Treecko."

"Thanks buddy, now use Slam!"

Treecko shot forward and used its momentum to pivot on the balls of its toes and smacked Bulbasaur clean across the face with its tail, sending the starter skidding backwards, wincing from the attack "Bulbasaur, you alright?" Shaking his head and grunting, Bulbasaur nodded before leaping back into battle, charging at Treecko, its vines out and ready "Bulba!" Bulbasaur fired its vines once more at Treecko and this time they managed to connect, smacking the grass type harshly in response to the previous slam attack. Treecko just sneered and rubbed its slightly stinging torso "Treecko, Tree."

From their spots on the sidelines, Aaron watched the battle with calculating eyes, while Nina was keeping her eyes on the bound Sawyer being held limply in Kenji's arms. "They are evenly matched." Blinking Nina turned her gaze away from Kenji and looked at Aaron questioningly "what?" Aaron sighed and resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her question "Ryan and that trainer, they are evenly matched" he repeated slowly while watching as Treecko rushed towards Bulbasaur to attack him with Slam again, but Ryan had Bulbasaur stop the attack with Vine Whip and then launch Treecko in the air.

"Yeah, Kenji's Treecko is well trained, but it also doesn't help much since both Pokémon are grass types and each other's attacks are doing such little damage, not to mention Treecko's faster than Bulbasaur." She noted, watching as Treecko easily dodged another Vine Whip and struck out with an Absorb attack, the attack halted Bulbasaur momentarily but the seed Pokémon easily shook off its effects. "At the rate these two are going, the battle could go either way," Nina frowned slightly at the thought of Kenji winning and getting away with stealing Sawyer "but I hope Ryan wins this in the end."

"Pii-kachuu" Chewy nodded solemnly in agreement.

"Not bad, not bad." Kenji hummed approvingly before smirking "but, you do know grass attacks are ineffective against other grass types." Ryan scowled irately at Kenji "of course I know that, what trainer doesn't know that! Regardless, me and Bulbasaur will beat you now! Bulbasaur, Leaf Storm!" Bulbasaur's bulb began to glow green and the air around it started to shift, from the opening of the bulb on its back, glowing green leaves appeared and whirled around Bulbasaur once before they formed a cyclone and shot towards Treecko.

"Block, then counter with Energy Ball!"

Treecko grunted and then crossed its arms, allowing the cyclone of leaves to shoot past him, injuring the wood gecko slightly. "Treeee" Treecko opened its mouth, causing a large ball of green energy to appear "KO!" snapping its mouth shut, the ball of energy shot towards Bulbasaur, squarely hitting the Seed Pokémon in the face and exploding upon impact "Bulba!" Bulbasaur growled whilst shaking off the attack "Okay, time to bring it up a notch! Bulbasaur, Seed Bomb!"

"Saur!" Bulbasaur opened its mouth and twin white orbs appeared, then the orbs fired, splitting into several explosive glowing seeds "Dodge it!" Kenji exclaimed and Treecko waiting until the last possible second, when the attack was about to hit, to leap right over it, the orbs slammed into one of the few stray boulders around the area, it exploded into pieces upon being hit, kicking up a mild dust storm which covered the area.

"I think that was a bit too up a notch Bulbasaur." Ryan chuckled lightly from his side on the field before coughing as the dust cloud slowly dissipated "Bulba-saaaur" Bulbasaur grinned sheepishly in response and then glanced at Treecko, who stood with its arms crossed, leering at Bulbasaur "tree" Bulbasaur growled back in response.

"Okay Bulbasaur, use Leaf—"

"Golem!"

Ryan was cut off by a gruff shout and a loud thump. Glancing to his right, he saw a Golem appear, it was glaring at him and Bulbasaur "Lem!" It shook its short arm angrily at the brown haired boy, before curling into a ball and started to roll in place. Ryan gasped and wondered where the Golem even came from, his eyes then trailed over to the large boulder, that was now a pile of rocks, Bulbasaur had destroyed with Seed Bomb hovering around the remains were a group of Geodude and they were glaring angrily at Ryan and Bulbasaur as well "oh no, you have gotta be kidding me" Ryan blanched when he saw the Golem shot off like a rocket and it was aiming for Bulbasaur! "GOLEM!"

"Bulbasaur, dodge it!"

Bulbasaur unfortunately was too slow to avoid the attack and was swiftly knocked aside by Golem's Rollout attack, he landed in a heap at Ryan's feet "Bulbasaur!" He quickly knelt down and gathered the Seed Pokémon in his arms "you okay?" Bulbasaur groaned weakly and gave a slow nod "Basaur."

"Ryan! Look out!"

Nina gasped loudly and pointed at Golem, who had rounded back for one more attack. This time he was aiming for Ryan and Bulbasaur! Ryan's eyes widened to the size of saucers as the living wrecking ball got closer, legs frozen in shock the brunette stood there looking like a Stantler caught in headlights. Closing his eyes Ryan hugged Bulbasaur closer, hoping to take the brunt of the impact, and waited for the worse to happen.

. . .

A few tense seconds later, Ryan realized the hit never came.

Slowly her cracked open his eyes and they widened in disbelief. Merely inches away from bowling them both over, Golem stood frozen in place, eyes swirling and covered from head to toe in a block of ice, glancing behind him, he saw Aaron standing there with an apathetic look on his face and his Psyduck was out, standing by his side, clutching its head out of pure habit "Psy."

"A-Aaron, you saved him!" Nina gasped out, eyes widened and glasses hanging off the bridge of her nose. Aaron just scoffed and rolled his eyes "why wouldn't I save him? He stupidly rushed in to save Bulbasaur and almost became severely injured. You need to learn to act quick in these types of situations or someone will often get hurt" he murmured staring pointedly at Ryan, the brunette swallowed thickly before standing on his shaky legs, in his arms Bulbasaur breathed a sigh of relief.

Nina was by their side in an instant, running her eyes over Ryan's frame to check for injuries "are you alright?" Slowly, he nodded and then glanced at Aaron who calmly walked over with his Psyduck "thanks for saving us" Bulbasaur chimed in with a grateful 'Bulba' and a nod "It's not a problem" He waved off with a plain stare "but now that you and Bulbasaur are out of immediate danger, I just thought I'd let you know your thieving friend disappeared when Golem attacked."

"Oh no, Sawyer!"

Peering around the still frozen Golem, Ryan sighed in relief, to see Sawyer slightly up ahead, gazing thankfully at Clefairy, whom in the confusion had ran over towards the mouse Pokémon to aid her. Feeling unrestricted and loose, Sawyer stretched her stiff muscles and once again thanked Clefairy for releasing her "thanks a lot Clefairy" Clefairy grinned in response "Clefairy. Clefairy."

"Pikachu! PikachuPi!"

A yellow and black blur shot past Clefairy and tackled Sawyer to the ground "Chewy!" Sawyer grinned as the yellow mouse spun her around in a hug "Piikachu!" The two mouse Pokémon fell onto their backsides with happy smiles and grinned at one another, before Ryan and Nina came running over. Aaron walked. "Sawyer, you're alright!" Sawyer nodded "Mhm. I'm fine, not a thing out of place or bruised... except for maybe my back, that kid sure knows how to tie a knot."

"I'm glad you're okay Sawyer."

"Bulba-Bulbasaur!"

"Yeah, I never want to get kidnapped again, it wasn't fun at all."

Ryan smiled and allowed Sawyer to climb onto his shoulder; Bulbasaur still held securely in his arms, he glanced back at Aaron, who watched them with cool eyes "thanks again for earlier, you saved our butts back there."

"Bulbasaaur."

Aaron just shrugged nonchalantly "it's not a big deal. Good luck on your journey, c'mon Psyduck." The yellow duck nodded and waddled obediently after its trainer, Ryan frowned slightly as they watched him walk off "that guy... thinks he's so cool." Sawyer titled her head in confusion and glanced at Bulbasaur, who just sighed listlessly and shook his head "Bul-ba-saaur." Nina just smiled at the exchanged and then glanced around the area thoughtfully.

"Hey, where'd Clefairy go?"

"Pika?"

"I dunno, it was just here a second ago."

"Maybe it went back to Mt Moon? Or it could be following after Aaron."

Nina shrugged "well, wherever it went, I hope it's doing okay."

"I'm sure Clefairy will be fine" Ryan murmured while beginning to walk forward "now that we're all together again, let's head to Cerulean City. I've had about enough excitement for one day and tomorrow I'm challenging the Cerulean Gym and we're gonna win our next badge, right Bulbasaur?" From its spot in his arms, Bulbasaur nodded and raised one of its paws "Bulbasaur!"

"That's the spirit buddy!"

Smiling widely, Nina just shook her head and followed behind the enthusiastic Ryan as they made their way down the path of Mt Moon and onwards into Cerulean City.

Still looking for that female. I won't pick one until I reach Chapter 10.