Chapter 9

I'm sorry!
The Cerulean Gym is for closed today.
Please come back tomorrow.
~ Misty

Standing in front of the dome-shaped brightly colored Gym with a gigantic painting of a Dewgong on top of it, Ryan groaned as he reread the note posted on the doors "Aww maan. I was really anxious to battle today." Shaking his head, he whirled around and glanced down at Bulbasaur and Sawyer who looked back up at him with quizzical expressions "I guess that means we've got a free day."

"So, what are we gonna do?"

"Training. When we were coming down the road to get here yesterday, there was this nice large field I saw, I was thinking we could train around there and maybe if we train hard enough, one of you guys might evolve today. I'm sure tons of trainers and Pokémon will be there, plus, I feel like I've been neglecting Beedrill and Sandshrew." He admitted with a sheepish grin and motioned for the duo to follow him "but, lets head to the Pokémon Center first and I'll get Ekans and Spearow from the lab then I'll have a full team." It didn't take long for Ryan to round back to the Pokémon Center and grab his two boxed Pokémon and get the entire team a check up before he exited the center once more and made his way towards Route 4 to train.

"Hey, Ryan, did Nina ever say what she was doing today?"

Pausing mid step, Ryan glanced at the Rattata by his feet and then scratched his head thoughtfully "no, she didn't really say where she was going, she just took off with Chewy and said she'd be back later." Shrugging, he continued to walk, placing his arms behind his head "ah well, she probably just went shopping or something. That's what all girls do anyway, right?" He received no answer from either Pokémon, just simultaneous looks of uncertainty.

x-X-x

"Wow, look at this Chewy, isn't it pretty!"

"Pi-kachu!"

The two were currently resting on a grassy knoll by the riverside that was located near Cerulean City. She decided that today would a day for her and Chewy to hang out, since Ryan was going to be at the Gym earning his second badge. With her sketch book in hand and pencil lodged on her ear, she glanced at Chewy with a thoughtful expression on her face "You think Ryan will be okay and get his second badge?"

"Pika."

"Yeah, your right, he'll be fine plus I heard the gym leader there uses water type Pokémon. So Bulbasaur would be the obvious choice there."

"Pika—"

Chewy paused in nodding his head responsively and slowly sniffed the air, the yellow mouse's ears twitched slightly along with his nose, which he lifted higher in the air whole he stood on the tips of his toes "Pi?"

"What's wrong Chewy?"

Nina glanced at questioningly at him.

"Pika-chuu."

Chewy sniffed the air a few more times, before darting off "h-hey!" Confused by the abruptness of it all, Nina was practically stumbling over her two feet and almost fell down the hill and dropped her book as she swiftly stood up and ran after her weird acting Pikachu "Chewy! Where are you going?" The Pikachu didn't answer and just kept on running, the scenery passed the two by as the human chased after her yellow partner, he rounded the corner of the tree-lined path they were running down and Nina thrust her hand forward in a somewhat halting motion "wait a minute Chewy! Slow dow—omph!"

While she ran after Chewy, she didn't notice the body of a person step out of the trees just as she was about to turn the corner in pursuit and accidentally bowled someone right over. Both of them fell to the ground, but Nina fell with a slight pained cry, the force of the crash caused her glasses to fly from her face and her sketch book to fly from her hands. "Owie, this is the second time I've ran into someone. At least the last time Kenji caught me before I fell." She groaned while rubbing at her sore backside.

"Raichu!"

"I'm fine Mona, thanks for asking. I'm sorry, are you alright? You dropped these."

Halting in rubbing her aching tailbone, Nina blinked at the tanned hand that held her glasses, she took them back sliding them back onto the bridge of her nose, and then she glanced up. Green eyes met warm muddy brown; his eyes were hidden slightly behind his feathery cropped sooty black hair, uneven edges swept across his cheekbones, there were also shorter strands of hair that stuck up in the back in an almost gravity defying manner, as though he just stepped out of bed. Nina's eyes widened slightly as she took in this boy's appearance, he was an older looking male who wore a simple orange brownish short sleeved shirt with plain black thunderbolt emblazoned arm bands clinging to his biceps, dark slacks and neutral brown shoes.

"Are you okay?"

"H-huh?"

The boy's lips twitched upward slightly as he held out his hand for her to take, which Nina did wordlessly, he pulled her to her feet with little effort.

"I asked, if you were okay. I hope I didn't bump into you too hard."

"Oh! No, uh you didn't its cool." Nina waved her hands about in a dismissive manner and laughed sheepishly "this wouldn't be the first time I've been knocked down. I'm totally used to it."

"I see." His eye trailed down to the ground where her sketchbook lay haphazardly thrown open due to their unexpected crashing, raising a brow the young man picked up the book and gazed at the graphic representation of two Pokémon at play displayed on the crisp sheets "did you draw this?" He asked flipping briefly through the pages before handing it back to Nina, she nodded and closed the blue book, tucking it into the crook of her arm "they look great, so realistic, you have an amazing talent."

"Ah, thank you." She flushed at the compliment and the dark haired boy held out his hand "I'm Reno." Nina politely shook it "I'm Nina, nice to meet you."

"Rai! Raichu!"

Instantly appearing by his side, was a Raichu it was glancing up curiously at Nina and Reno motioned to the electric mouse "right and this is Mona, my Raichu." Mona nodded in confirmation at the introduction and Nina smiled slightly before her eyes widened thoughtfully "oh no, I need to find Chewy!" pivoting on her toes Nina took off to where she saw Chewy round the corner and was met with the most beautiful sight.

"Viile-Pluuume!"

In the middle of this large clearing, stood a Vileplume and coming out from the top of the hole on its head was a large burst of sparkling pink petals, which were spiraling quickly into the sky "Viiiiile!" Vileplume suddenly leapt into the air once it was finished firing its Petal Dance attack, the large petals on its head flashing gold as it in took the energy of the sun, after a few moments of charging, Vileplume spun once and then fired the stored energy from the top of its head "Pluuuume!" The powerful SolarBeam soared cleanly through the Petal Dance attack, resulting in the pink petals to spiral beautifully around the beam of golden light, which soon dissipated moments later into the sky, leaving the pink petals to flutter daintily like a curtain around Vileplume, whom had landed only seconds ago.

"That was…"

"Amazing David! What gorgeous display!" Nina jolted slightly from the unexpected yell that came from behind her, glancing back she saw Reno and Mona standing there, giving the Vileplume large grins.

"Raichu!"

"Plu-Plume!"

The Vileplume ran over to Reno and the black haired boy knelt down and rubbed the flower Pokémon gently on the head "that was a nice show you gave us David, I think your audience was really taken by it." Reno glanced at Nina and winked "Good job." David in turn looked at Nina, who he obviously just noticed and smiled widely "Vile!" It clasped its stubby hands together and bowed slightly "Plume-Plu." Speechless, Nina just stared and watched as the Vileplume suddenly turned its attention to the area on it left and ran over there, an annoyed look on its face "Vileplume! Vile-Vile!"

"Piikachu. Pika!"

Snapping out of her momentary silence, Nina looked over to where Vileplume had ran and noticed a picnic table situated there and it was littered with an assortment of foods and Pokémon chow, an assortment of foods, that was currently being scarfed down by a familiar Pikachu, who was glaring while getting yelled at by David and seated at the other end of the table was a Smeargle, who just watched the scene with indifference while it languidly munched on its own Pokémon food. Nina gasped and ran over to the table "Chewy! What are you doing!" the Pikachu halted its glaring fest and dropped the rice ball it was about to eat, gazing sheepishly at its trainer "P-Pika!"

"Chewy you know better than to—"

"It's quite alright Nina. There's more than enough to go around" Nina was once again startled by Reno's sudden appearance from behind and she looked at the brown eyed boy nervously "are you sure? I mean, I don't want to impose a-and what Chewy did was very rude and—" she was cut off once again by his light chuckle and a shake of his head "its fine, honest. Besides, it's always nice to have more company for lunch and David is just being greedy. So, would you care to join us? Because I believe your Chewy has made it pretty clear that he's not leaving without a bite to eat." Eyes alight with mirth he motioned to her Pikachu, who was back to stuffing his face with a goofy grin "Chuu." He cooed happily placing his paws in his red dotted cheeks.

Nina flushed heavily in response and said nothing, but sat down on the bench and began to fix herself a plate, while Reno's smile grew and he took his seat across from her, Mona clambered onto the bench and took a seat beside Reno, while David sat beside Nina, glaring slightly at Chewy who had moved from the rice balls and towards the extra bowl of Pokémon food Reno had set down for it "Pika-Pikachu!"

x-X-x

"Thank you again for the lunch. You didn't have to do that."

"Eh, it's no big deal." He shrugged nonchalantly before rising from his seat and grabbing their dishes "So, what were you doing out here anyway?" He made his way over towards the river with two cloths and a bottle of red liquid in hand, Nina followed after him while the Pokémon moved from the table to play "we'll, my friend was going to challenge Misty today and I thought that me and Chewy could have some time alone and just hang out, but then Chewy smelled your lunch and well. . . here we are." She laughed nervously and Reno just handed her the extra cloth in his hand "could you dry the dishes for me?"

Nina nodded curtly as he handed her one of the dripping dishes he was currently washing by the stream "what about you? Are you a Pokémon Trainer or a Pokémon Coordinator? Your Vileplume looks really strong and that combination from before was beautiful!" Reno passed Nina another dish and smirked "thank you for the compliment, I pride myself on my Pokémon's moves to be not only strong, but eye catching as well. My battling style is heavily influenced from Coordinator's appeals, but I am a Pokémon Trainer, I just won the Cascade Badge yesterday." Digging into the pocket of his pants he pulled out the light blue raindrop shaped badge.

"Wow, your Pokémon must be really strong for you to have obtained your second badge."

"Yes, but it's also pretty easy when your Pokémon have a type advantage too. I think Mona might have fried Misty's Gyarados yesterday, she didn't seem too happy about that." He rubbed the back of his neck and laughed sheepishly, upon the mention of his Raichu, Nina paused in her drying to glance at the large mouse Pokémon, currently she was demonstrating something to Chewy, the smaller of the two eyed its evolution with interest as its cheeks began to spark violently with electricity, paws clenched and face set in concentration "Raiiiiii." The air around Mona suddenly pulsated to life with energy, electricity was literally beginning to manifest itself in the air around her and the ground beneath her feet was starting to crack, even her tail was sparking with excess static. "Chuuu!" After building up all that energy, Mona then released it in one fell swoop, powerful sparks of electricity danced above the two electric type Pokémon for several seconds before it dispersed, Mona stood not looking the least bit winded from the display. "Raichu. Rai, Rai."

"Piikaa" Chewy murmured in awe before clenching his own paws in determination "Pikachu. Pika! Piiii." Following Mona's example, Chewy began to store electricity in his own cheeks, though unlike Mona the air around him did not pulsate nor manifest with sparks of electricity and the ground at his feet did not crack, but he stored all the energy he could, holding onto his red cheeks with concentration "kaaaachuuuu!" and just like Mona before him, Chewy unleashed all that pent up electric energy into the sky, sparks of electricity danced above them, just like with Mona, though his display was decent, compared to the larger mouse. Nina gasped as she watched Chewy mimic Mona's electric technique, all that energy he stored up, he was just releasing into the sky, sparks crackling like fireworks, from beside her Reno spoke up, mirth obvious in his voice "Not bad for a first time attempt, but if you don't tell him to stop he'll get dizzy and faint."

"Huh?" Nina tore her eyes away from Chewy and looked at Reno, who elaborated while cleaning off his final dish, which he handed her to dry "Your Pikachu is going to faint if he keeps carelessly releasing all his energy like that, Mona has enough energy to spare, not to mention she used a small amount during the display."

"Small? That was small?" He chuckled at the flabbergasted look on her face "Mona's spent a lot of time perfecting her technique and increasing her electrical abilities, if the circumstances ever called for it, she could take down at least two Dragonite with Thunderbolt alone." He shook his head and continued to chuckle, finding her Magikarp imitation amusing "But that's beside the point, he needs to stop or he'll use up all his energy and might collapse."

"R-right." Nina stopped gaping and turned her attention back towards her Pikachu, who was still going at it "Oh no, Chewy look out!" Still in the midst of putting on its light show, Chewy failed to notice the incoming Pidgeotto that was flying by and the bird Pokémon ended up getting accidentally zapped. It quickly came to its senses and dived at the unsuspecting Chewy, who was puffing his chest out proudly at his successful attempt to imitate Mona "Pika, Pikachu." He was swiftly caught unawares by the large avian that barreled into his side with a devastating Peck attack "Geotto!"

"Pika!" Chewy squeaked as he was suddenly sent flying face first into the dirt "Chewy! Are you okay?"

"Piikachu." Gritting his teeth, the electric mouse slowly rose from the ground, glaring at the bird who was continuing on its way "Piikaa" Chewy's cheeks began to spark violently as he watching Pidgeotto get away, not taking too kindly to the fact that it just basically hit him and ran "chuuuu!" Chewy was soon surrounded by electricity, which he then fired at the unaware and fleeing Pidgeotto, the attack hit its mark and Pidgeotto had gotten shocked. It cried out loudly in pain before faltering slightly in the air and then began plummeting rapidly towards the ground "Pika-Pi." Chewy grinned smugly at its accomplishment, except that smug grin turned into wide eyed disbelief as he watched the previously nose-diving bird, at the last second, shake off the shock and pull up back into the sky, just as it was about to hit the ground.

"Geootto!"

"P-Pika!"

Pidgeotto had quickly flew at Chewy, barreling into his torso again with a powerful swipe from its Wing Attack. Chewy was sent flying backwards, skidding against the ground until he eventually stopped, kicking up a cloud of dust in its wake. Positive that Chewy was down for the count, the Pidgeotto snorted slightly before flying away, down below on the field, Nina rushed over to her defeated Pokémon "Oh no, Chewy!" He was definitely down for the count "Piikachuu." the yellow mouse groaned weakly as Nina scooped him up in her arms "you alright?" Chewy nodded slightly "Pika."

"Sorry about your loss little guy, but maybe I can help you with that." Reno came over to stand by her side and stared down at Chewy "Pika?" he blinked up at him curiously in response "Well, I know this move that Pikachu are capable of learning and I think it would suit you just fine." He turned his gaze to Nina "would it be alright with you if I taught Chewy the move?"

"U-uh nope, not at all. Is that okay with you Chewy? You wanna learn a new move?" She glanced down at the Pikachu held in her arms, he was looking between the two of them thoughtfully for a few moments before nodding his head "Pika."

"That's great! Alright then, Chewy come with me and Leonardo, I need your assistance." Nina released her gentle hold on Chewy and allowed him to follow Reno a slight distance away, while Leonardo, his Smeargle, who had been lying lazily on its side, twirling its tail around in a bored manner, watching them all with an unreadable expression meters away from them, suddenly perked up and rose to its feet "Smeargle." Nina watched as the Painter Pokémon made its way over to Reno and Chewy, its strides were confident, steady and precise, like it had all the time in the world "it moves so casually, his Smeargle must be just as strong, if not stronger than the other two." At the thought, Nina turned her gaze to Mona, who was standing beside Reno, listening to him speak to Chewy about this special move he was going to teach. Curious to where his Vileplume was, she scanned the clearing and found the flower Pokémon by the stream, practicing its Petal Dance routine from before.

"I wonder how Ryan's training is coming along."

x-X-x

"Spearow, use Drill Peck!"

x

"Ekans, dodge and use Bite!"

x

"Beedrill, Twineedle!"

x

"Counter with Leaf Storm!"

x

"Sawyer, finish with Double-Edge!"

x

"Sandshrew, Slash!"

x

"You guys are doing great! Now, let's have a few more battles and then we can take a snack break!"

"Yeah/Sand/Drii/Bulba/Kaanss/Spear!"

x-X-x

"Knowing him, it's probably going along just fine; I just hope he doesn't overwork his Pokémon." Shaking her head with a sigh, she flipped aimlessly through her sketchbook wondering what to draw. Seated at the picnic table, Nina was also watching Reno coach Chewy on this new move he was about to teach him, it was called Signal Beam, a bug type attack that often confused whoever got hit by it. Leonardo had been the one to set the example this time, its body radiated a sinister looking rainbow color aura, which he fired at the unsuspecting David, who had the misfortune to become his test dummy, the poor Vileplume instantly became confused and was teetering around dazedly, until he fell face first in the stream, which Chewy and Mona shared a laugh at, the dripping David outright glared at the two mouse Pokémon and grumbled something to Leonardo shaking its arm, but didn't look the least bit fazed.

"Now Chewy, try to mimic Leonardo just like that, you're going to have to concentrate if you want this to work." Reno explained while Chewy nodded and clenched his fists much like before "Piiikaaa." Chewy's paws clenched and unclenched sporadically, his tail and ears stood erect and his eyes were shut tightly while he attempted to imitate Leonardo "Chuuu." After several long moments, Chewy stopped and opened his eyes, ears drooping dejectedly he whined "Piika." Reno simply patted his head and sent him a gentle smile "hey, don't sweat it little guy, nobody gets it right on their first try, you just have to keep practicing and practicing until you can get it right. Now try again."

"Piiiikaa."

Time ticked away rather quickly during Chewy's training session, the sky was beginning to turn orange, indicating that nightfall would hit soon and he still wasn't showing any progress, getting frustrated plenty of times, but Reno was always there to quickly calm the mouse, be it a reassuring head rub or words of encouragement and Chewy would then go back to trying his hardest to get the attack down. While those two were doing that, Nina had managed to fill a few more pages of her sketchbook, with pictures of all three of Reno's Pokémon, one was a picture of David being surrounded by its Petal Dance attack and Mona when she was playing with some of the Pokémon that lived in the area and the last was of Leonardo taking a nap while Chewy had practiced but now nightfall was upon them and the elder boy had to get going soon, he already recalled Mona and David back to their Pokéballs "Okay, Chewy let's try it one last time before calling it a day, it's getting late."

"Pika."

"Remember what I told you, deep breaths, concentrate and focus."

"Pi. Piiiiikaaa."

For several tense seconds, all eyes were on Chewy waiting for something to happen, but nothing did. Nina sighed softly and shook her head, lowering her gaze "Well, so much for that—"

"That's it Chewy! You're doing it!"

Nina's thoughts were cut off by Reno's exclamation, so she lifted her eyes toward Chewy and they widened in awe. Chewy was surrounded in an aura of rainbow colored energy "Now, try to fire it." Nodding, Chewy then fired the rainbow colored energy aiming for one of the nearby trees, however before the attack could hit its mark, the aura began to flicker sporadically before fizzling out completely, causing the attack to dissipate in mid-air. Chewy frowned at the predicament, but the frown instantly turned into a smile when Reno crouched down and rubbed his head "well, now all you have to do is keep working on the attack and you'll be firing Signal Beams in no time little guy. Good job Chewy."

"Pikachuu."

Nina smiled softly at the two and tucked her sketchbook under her arm before moving over to the crouching Reno, who stood extending his hand for her to shake "Well, I guess this is so long for now. Maybe we'll see each other again sometime, during our travels?" She nodded, taking his hand and shaking it "yeah, thank you for teaching Signal Beam, we'll practice every day until we get it right, right?" At her question, Chewy nodded and hopped onto her shoulder, giving a determined smile "Pika!" Reno chuckled slightly and pat Chewy on the head on more time, then catching Nina completely off guard, he pat her on the head too, causing her hat to drop over her eyes. Blinking she readjusted her hat and glasses, managing to catch him waving at her and Chewy as he and Leonardo disappeared down the path opposite of the city.

"Well, we better head back to the Pokémon Center Chewy, maybe Ryan is finished training too."

"Pika-Pikachu!"

It didn't take long for them to get back to the center and when they entered the lobby, Ryan walked up to them "Hey Nina! How'd your shopping go?" She blinked in confusion "Shopping? Why would you think I spent the entire day shopping?"

"Because isn't that what girls do when they have days to themselves? They go shopping. That's what my mom always does when my Dad comes home." He scratched his head thoughtfully and Nina rolled her eyes in response.

"Not all girls go shopping all the time you know, besides. I got everything I needed back in Pewter City."

"Oh, well then what'd you and Chewy do all day?"

"Oh, nothing important." She dismissed with a wave "how was training?" Ryan's eyes practically sparkled as he recounted his day of intense training and how at the moment his Pokémon were being checked over by Nurse Joy "by tomorrow, Misty won't know what hit her!" Nina smiled and followed the brunette back over to the front desk, where the familiar musical chime rang out, indicating that his Pokémon were fully healed, seated on the tray, was Bulbasaur and Sawyer, while the rest of his Pokémon were tucked safely into their balls, the two Pokémon greeted Nina with smiles and pleasantries "So, do you know who you're going to use tomorrow?" She asked, from her spot in her bed situated across from his in their shared room, Chewy was fast asleep beside her. "Bulbasaur is my first choice obviously." Upon hearing his name mentioned, Bulbasaur smiled slightly, the plant Pokémon was curled snugly into his side while Sawyer curled up on his stomach "and for the others, I'm not sure. I don't know how many Pokémon we're going to use, but whatever she chooses, we'll beat it." Lifting his hand, he scratched Bulbasaur lightly behind the ear "right buddy?"

"Bulbasaur."

"Gnight Nina."

"Night Ryan."

"Maybe we'll see each other again sometime, during our travels?"

"Until next time Reno."