When I woke up I was instantly aware of a pleasant smell drifting throughout our small rented room in SilverSteel Cities hotel. I rose and looked around to see that Blade, as well as Rose and Spike, were all enjoying some meal that Ashlyn had prepared for them. A warm plate was set on my lap and I turned to see Ashlyn smiling down at me.
"Was wondering when you'd get up. I thought that it be nice if everyone woke up to breakfast, so eat up and don't you dare insult my cooking!" Ashlyn told me lightly, I smiled and shoved a forkful of eggs in my mouth. I was surprised that Ashlyn knew how to cook, she had never done so back in Arora Town.
"It's good." I told her between bites of egg and pancake. She smiled then went to the bathroom to change.
"Hahahahahahahahahaha!" the three Pokémon laughed in near unison. I snapped my head at them in confusion.
"What?" I demanded but they refused to answer and continued to laugh, Blade even toppled over which caused the other two to laugh even harder. Soon Ashlyn was back out and the pokemon stopped laughing, and I stopped caring why they were. She looked beautiful! She wore a yellow sundress with her white sneakers, which they were the only shoes she had brought with her, and she actually had on a little makeup as well which for her meant that she had planned something special.
"What do you think?" she asked. I continued to stare for several more moments before I realized that she had been asking me specifically.
"Ummm…wow, just wow…and wow." I told her and she laughed at my losing the ability to speak fluently.
"Well thank you, go get dressed. Put on something nice." She told me, I didn't argue. I ran to my bag and picked out a black V-neck t-shirt with a black button up shirt to match as well as a pair of dark blue jeans and my sneakers. I ran to the bathroom and quickly changed. "Brush your hair and stuff too!" Ashlyn shouted through the door and I quickly did that after I had dressed myself. When I got back out the Pokémon were gone. Before I could ask Ashlyn she explained that they would be waiting for us at our 'destination'. We left and I followed her back towards the Illiextic forest. "So, what do you really think about my dress? Other than wow." Ashlyn asked.
"You look beautiful." I told her and I could have sworn that I saw her blush but I must have been imagining it.
"Thanks." She said in a shy voice. We talked about some other random things that have no real significance but it helped to pass the time. Eventually she brought up the topic of the gym. "So, how are we going to get past the gym here? We don't have any Pokémon to counter a Steel type and I haven't seen any in the forest." She said. I thought a moment before deciding on what to say. I had just opened my mouth to speak when we heard the cry of a Pokémon in the distance.
"Gah!" that was Blades cry, Ashlyn and I were running instantly. I followed her up to a hill were she had apparently set up a picnic for us. The food and such was undisturbed but our Pokémon were locked in combat. Rose was fighting a wild Scraggy, Blade was fighting a wild Cyndaquil and he appeared to have a large burn mark running down his back. I looked around for spike but didn't see him till a circled the tree, he had been knocked out. Ashlyn gave him a revive and a potion before sending him in to help Rose. I ran behind Blade just as he jumped back to avoid an ember attack from the Cyndaquil.
"U-Turn!" I shouted and Blade, not bothering to check if it was me shouting commands , instantly obeyed. His scythes began to glow slightly and he sprinted towards the Cyndaquil, dodging ember attacks, and smacked the little mouse like Pokémon with each scythe before lifting off with a powerful backwards leap and landing before me. He gave a quick backwards glance to confirm it was me when he landed then turned his attention back to the fire type. The Cyndaquil was stumbling about, as if under the effects of a supersonic. The night we arrived in SilverSteel I had found a Shock ball, it was designed to catch wild electric types but it was the only one that I had so I pulled it out and tossed it at the wild Pokémon. It rocked several times before the release button lit up and the ball flew into my hand. I turned just in time to see Ashlyn toss a great ball at the Scraggy. We met up at the picnic site Ashlyn had set up and I noticed something white that appeared to be growing out of her back. "Umm…." I started to say, pointing at her back. She looked back then smiled.
"Spike evolved! Is that awesome or what!" she shouted while I scanned the new Pokémon.
-Silcoon, a Bug type Pokémon. Level seven, knows the moves Tackle, String Shot, and Harden- the dex said into my ear.
"Sweet." I mumbled. Ashlyn took out the great ball and released the Scraggy.
"I think I'll call you…Vinnie, how's that sound?" Ashlyn asked the strange looking Pokémon.
"Great, captured by a girl with weak Pokémon. Next she'll want to parade me around me around like some kind of trophy!" the little shit said.
"I can understand you." Ashlyn snapped. "And I'm not going to parade you around like some trophy, I'm going to train you and help you get stronger." She told him, the little guy was stunned to silence. "What name would you prefer? This is Spike and that's Rose." Ashlyn told him.
"Vinnie's fine." He mumbled, noticing the food. I picked up a piece of chicken and whistled to him, he turned to me and I tossed it to him. He jumped up, caught it, then began to gnaw on the cooked meat. I pulled out the shock ball and eyed it cautiously, as did everyone else. I set it down and pulled some medicine out of my bag, a burn heal and a potion. I applied the burn heal to Blades back, causing him to let out a sigh of relief then I helped him drink the potion. Soon he was fully healed and kneeling behind me, waiting for me to let out his new brother. I clicked the release and the Cyndaquil materialized before me. When we made eye contact he turned and tried to run but Blade leaped and stopped him from leaving. He was determined though, he tried to go every which way and eventually the five of us had him trapped between us all. We made eye contact again and this time he ran towards me and tried to jump over me but I quickly caught him and pulled him close to my chest.
"Easy there Torch," I said, saying the first name that came to mind "calm down." I said and set him down in my lap. He squirmed for a few seconds before giving up and beginning to whimper into my jeans. "There there, I won't hurt you."
"Liar! All humans are liars!" he shouted, the look on Vinnie's face made me think he knew something. I eyed him down till he spoke.
"He understands Pokémon too, do you know something about Cyndaquil?" Ashlyn asked.
"Our previous trainer. He was a very cruel person, he appeared to be a nice guy. We thought he cared about us, but he couldn't have cared less. He only cared about winning. He trained us brutally, he's use a whip to motivate us to work harder. If we lost a fight we would get beat by him. Flare got the worst of it." Vinnie told us, I could feel my blood boiling under my skin.
"Don't call me that!" the Cyndaquil shouted. "I hated him, he beat me for being weak, he cut me for losing!"
"You're not weak!" I shouted, the Cyndaquil looked up in shock. "You are strong, your old trainer may have been cruel and abusive but he was also a coward! I will not be compared to somebody as weak as him. You deserve better than someone who won't care about you." I told him. "How long ago did you two escape from him?" I asked to both the Cyndaquil and Vinnie.
"Couple days ago, he tried to take on the gym but lost. He tried to beat us that night but we escaped before he could, we were the only ones he ever beat. His other two Pokémon weren't as lucky, they couldn't get away." Vinnie told me. I nodded then looked back at the Cyndaquil.
"You hungry?" I asked, handing him a piece of chicken. He hesitated, looking to Vinnie for advice. Vinnie nodded and he took the meat and devoured it hungrily. For the rest of the day we trained. It took some convincing with the Cyndaquil, who was still just called Cyndaquil, but I eventually convinced him to let me train him provided that an Officer Jenny was present. I was ok with it. I had Cyndaquil practice his ember attack, having him focus on holding it for as long a time he could. It was easier to train Blade, he had all but mastered his U-Turn attack and was now practicing some nameless melee attacks on a large tree with his scythes. After that I had Blade and Cyndaquil practice a new combo move I had thought of. Cyndaquil would shoot a large stream of fire using his ember attack, going for size and heat instead of power, and then Blade would dash through the flames using U-turn. It was still a sketchy move but they understood the concept and could get it right four out of five times. By ten all our Pokémon were close to dead tired, Ashlyn had trained her team separate from mine but they looked exhausted too. Well Silcoon didn't but the other two did. We healed them at the center then headed back to our hotel. Blade and Rose walked side-by-side with Vinnie riding on Blades back, Spike still clinging to Ashlyn's back, and Cyndaquil laying on my head.
"What was it you called me earlier?" Cyndaquil asked as we were walking. I thought for a moment.
"Torch." I told him.
"Torch…I like that name. I am Torch then?" he asked.
"Ha, yeah, your Torch." I told him smiling. We arrived back in our rooms and Ashlyn and I showered at the same time since there were two bathrooms In our room. When I got out Ashlyn was drying her hair and all of our Pokémon were asleep on one of the beds, leaving only one for me and Ashlyn. We starred at each other for a moment. "I'll sleep on the couch." I said to her, trying to hide the fact that I had practically fallen in love with her since we first met. We had only known each other for maybe a month or more, we'll maybe in my time it had only been a month at least, but I still had fallen in love. I turned for the couch and was about to lie down when I felt Ashlyn reach out and set her hand on my shoulder. I turned to face her and we met eye to eye for maybe fifteen seconds in dead silence before we kissed. Before I knew it, we were in bed still kissing. We pulled apart and she rolled over so that we were both facing the same direction. I put my arm around her and she held on to it. "I love you Ashlyn." I told her.
"I love you too Chris." She responded, then we fell asleep in each other's arms.
Current Team Rooster(Chris):
Blade: Level 16/Scyther
Torch: Level 14/Cyndaquil
Current Team Rooster(Ashlyn):
Rose: Level 13/Bulbasaur
Spike: Level 9/Silcoon
Vinnie: Level 12/Scraggy