" ... And that is why us humans and pokèmon managed to create a frail bond of trust with each other and then the real work begun because every bond can and will only grow when being nursed with lots of love"

Philip Aberworth,writer of the book 'Trust' (December 12th 2514)

Chapter Four

Preparing for the bugs

My loss against Laura Marie was probably one of the most embarrassing losses in the history of Sinnoh, losing against some brat with 26 Bidoof.

But after healing my pokèmon at the center Josh decided to give me an emberassing peptalk about Bidoof, Nidoran and little brats.

The nurse Joy was very considerate and said that she had seen worse battles like one between a kid that was telling all those stories about his 'awesome' fire pokèmon that turned out to be just a Torkoal (Don't get me the wrong way, I'd trade Nate for a Torkoal any day) and then lost to another kid with a Feebas.

I know Feebas can easily win from a Numal because it's a Water type and all but it's a Feebas and a Feebas is equal to a Magikarp in power.

Anyway, Josh and I decided to go sightseeing in Floaroma because we didn't have the time to do that before.

Floaroma Town really was a quaint little town with flowery meadows all over the place, the tallest building was probably the pokècenter and the prettiest was the flower shop that has lots of different flowers inside and around it.

After an hour and a half I was allowed to pick up Nate and Bob from the nurse Joy and let them play in the flowers for a bit (Bob and Lola did, Nate just ignored the world and sat there staring at some tree)

Josh was lying on his back looking at clouds and I ? I was plotting a way to actually win some battles and make money to buy better food.

Then Josh said something very scary "Hey Shrimp, If we want to go anywhere from here we have to go to Eterna .. which means going through Eterna Forest .. there are bug pokèmon there"

My eyes widened, my heart rate quickened and my breathing became irregular "No .. no tha-that's im..impp..impossible" Bob looked at me for a moment with a concerned expression before squeaking something and going back to play with Lola.

"We can always buy some more bug-repellent?" Josh offered.

"That doesn't work .. I.. I already tried .." I gulped "I don't .. don't want to .. go there .. if there are " another gulp "that kind of pokèmon there"

Josh looked sympathetic "We'll find a way, they won't eat you as far as I know"

"There have been reports of people being mummified because of several string-shots"

Josh looked pale before walking away, probably to get a computer and check my statement with Lola happily skipping after him.

I called Nate and Bob with me "Guys I just heard" shudder "that there are bug pokèmon in Eterna forest and right now we lose from a brat with a Bidoof, no offence Bob, so any bug with brains can like kill us instanty" Nate looked bored while Bob actually looked interested "So we will have to train to eliminate every single bug that comes too close to me .. and you guys of course .. " Bob gave a happy snort before running circles around me Nate just used my shoe as a toilet again.

After once more cleaning my shoes the three of us (Josh and Lola were still at the center researching bug-kills) set out to route 204 again for some serious training.

"Okay guys see that tree over there ? just tackle it or something" Bob immediately ran over to the tree to tackle it but stopped at the last moment to nibble on the bark instead. Whereas Nate just sat and looked at me before spotting a Starly and glaring at it ..oh wait he's using Leer .. and then tackled it causing it to fall into some bushes and after some scared squeaks all became silent and then I saw Nate dragging an unconscious Starly towards me.

Nate looked up to me with a smug look and grunted something before he sat down on the poor Starly.

"Nathaniel don't just ... never mind just return already" I sighed as I recalled Nate and turned my attention on Bob.

"So Bob you are going to be my new powerhouse how do you feel about it ?" she looked at me for a second before going back to nibbling on the tree.

I am so going to die in Eterna Forest.

Two hours later I actually got Bob to win against a Budew and later a Starly without her running in circles around me causing me to be the object of the wild pokèmons attention and being both tackled and pecked.

So when I returned Bob and walked back in the center I attracted some attention because I was a mess.

My hair was a mess, my clothes were having small beak-like holes in them and my shoes smelled like ... you don't want to know .. and my pants were incredibly muddy from being tackled that much.

This all caused nurse Joy to have a fit before shoving me to the laundry room to wash my dirty clothes and wear another set (luckily I have two sets of clothes) and to 'bring some order in that starly-nest that now is your hair' so after putting my stuff in the wash machine and ignoring my hair (I'm no girl) I left the laundry room feeling like I could do anything.

Not.

I found Josh working with one of the free computers the center has for people that need to do something on them.

"Josh, Found anything ?"

"You were right with those cases " he shuddered "And I read that the best thing you can do is take a fire pokèmon with you so we're good"

"Luckily we don't have one of those"

"Oh"

I'm going to die.

I went to the room we 'rented' and sat on the bed contemplating between calling my mother (She knew about my phobia for bugs) or just stare at the ceiling and wishing that every bug-pokèmon would just die.

I choose the latter.

Minutes later the peaceful silence that hung around me was disturbed by Josh his usual loud voice screaming "I GOT IT!" while waving his poor Lola around.

I got up and looked at him "What is it Josh ?"

"How to survive the bugs of course, without getting killed I mean !" he looked so unbelievably happy right there that I hated to burst his bubble "Surviving usually means not getting killed .. last time I checked that is"

Josh just continued to grin and finally let Lola go "I looked up 'How to survive the bugs in Eterna Forest for dummies' "

"There is a 'how to survive the bugs in Eterna Forest for dummies' ?"

"well yeah ... anyway I looked it up and found a way not to go through it at all !"

This definitely spiked my interest "How ? tell me !"

"well ... " he drawled.

"JOSH !"

"Well ... "

I actually started biting my nails while looking at him.

"Well ... Shrimp what did I tell you about getting nervous-breakdowns ?"

I started rocking back and forth.

"Okay okay I'll tell you"

I shot up so quick I believe I might have a whiplash.

"Tell me already !"

"we go around it !"

There he stood, grinning like an idiot giving me the most simple plan ever.

"Josh you're a genius .. I guess .. for telling me such an 'obvious but not yet thought of by me' plan .. "

Josh bowed while saying "Thank you, thank you"

I just shook my head while grinning, he truly is an idiot.

When the time for dinner came around we ate a edible dinner in the cafeteria from the center and then fed our pokèmon and went to bed.

The next day we decided after eating our breakfast that we should visit the Valley Windworks, according to the many tourist guides they hand out at the pokèmonmarket it was a 'must see' for both tourist and trainers, so the decision was an easy made on.

According to our map it was an one hour walk to the Valley Windworks so we left with an pre-made lunch courtesy from the nurse Joy.

Route 205 was a nice place to walk .. I guess.

Many couples were doing lots of PDA on some benches while being surrounded by flowers and all .. yeah really awesome that route 205 .. woot.

So after an hour of seeing people emberass themselves we reached the huge terrain surrounding Valley Windworks.

Josh was doing what he usually does, cuddling his poor Lola.

Then a thought suddenly struck me "Josh you haven't battled with Lola yet, right ?"

He hesitated before answering "yes ..."

I grinned, I am still ashamed of myself because of the Laura Marie and her 26 Bidoof incident so I would get my revenge.

"Battle a wild pokèmon, the folder says there are lots of pokèmon around the Valley Windworks here "

Josh gulped and looked around himself "err .. what if Lola gets hurt" he said while holding poor Lola towards me as if proving a point.

"She'll be fine, now go and get yourself a pokèmon to battle .. or else " I put up my best glare and tried to look intimidating .. imagine an evil dwarf trying to intimidate a rather oblivious giant .. and miracoulously it worked.

So five minutes of searching through the grass and bushes I heard Josh yell "Shrimp over here !" I hurried over to him before chuckling.

Josh was currently wrestling with a .. Pachirisu.

The Pachirisu was winning though but then Lola decided to help her trainer (Why won't my pokèmon do that ?) and tackled the Pachirisu causing it to fall over.

Then Josh did something that would probably cause him to regret doing it all together.

He threw a pokèball at the Pachirisu.

Disclaimer: Still don't own it *sigh*
Okay I'm not really happy with how it turned out but considering the fact that I did it while having to go to school, hockey, horse riding, more school, etc meaning that today is the first day I'm using my computer for more than 15 minutes but the chapter kind of went how it should have gone like .. kind off .. okay not so it's short and stuff ..
I completely lost inspiration for this chapter, yes I'd do something with Valley Windworks (I did) and that's all I know .. so I filled it in and made it a rather short chapter instead (but the authors note always adds a lot of words xD )
Next chapter is planned out *evil laugh* and will be rather painful for both Jacob and Josh *More evil laughter*
Let's explain something (only two this time)
1. *cries* you copied Misty's fear of bugs, evil you ! Being afraid of bugs is common, I'm afraid of spiders *shudder* so I decided to make Jacob realistic by giving him a common fear (Would you rather have him afraid of the dark?) and with this I can torture the poor guy when he meets the infamous Bug-Catcher.
2. Why is Nate weird and does Bob only eat bark (most of the time) and Josh his Lotad actually tries to save him ? Well Josh is all cuddly-wuddly with Lola so Lola decided that saving her trainer was a good thing and Nate and Bob are just plain weird, I mean Nate the Nidoran and Bob the Bidoof ? I'm so totally original.
Reviewers:
Neelyn8er:
Thank you so much for putting me on your favorites list !, I'm really glad you like it and I made someone laugh it's always good to hear such a nice review so here is the update ^.^ *Gives you a Cookie*
Omega the Omniscient:
Thanky you so much for putting me on your favorites list as well !
Thank you for pointing out the mistakes, I forgot the waterbeam/watergun one when I edited the chapter fifteen minutes ago so that one will come later ;)
Eds accent was made up from bits and pieces I've read somewhere on the site from various fics, I didn't even know it existed because I learn French,German,Dutch,English and Spanish all the 'normal' way (English the British way)
And yes you'll see Ed,Abraham and Serlena again and Ryan will be next up, no dead people this time but Josh might die soon .. poor him. *gives you another cookie*
To all those that just read, reviews are welcome and rewarded with cookies, beware: cookies may be made from questionable ingredients and can cause .. unknown side-affects.

Anyway next chapter will be on here before Friday (it's 'Good Friday' in the Netherlands, don't know English translation, so I'm freed from the evil thing called school !)