"Hello? Ripley?," Ethan called, then waved a hand in front of her face. She just stood there, eyes wide, and phone still in her hand, trembling.

"Hellooo."

She swiftly grabbed at his wrist, which made him yelp in surprise.

"We need to head back. Now," she demanded, through gritted teeth.

The other two blinked in confusion. "What? Why?," Lyra asked.

"Seriously," Ethan said; "What's up? You looking like you seen a Ghastly or something."

Ripley shook her head frantically, "No. We have to get going! There's no time!"

She let go of Ethan, then headed off to the opposite direction, leaping off of a ledge on her way. Chikorita was already at her heels.

"Wha? Wait! You didn't tell us what was going on!," Ethan yelled after her, then swore under his breath. Damnit, she always did this! Sometimes it pissed him off.

"Let's go, Totodile," he grumbled a little, the pokemon looked up at him, worried. Ethan glanced over his shoulder, "You coming Lyra?" Unfortunately, he didn't even give her a chance to decide as he sprinted off. The two headed after the pink-haired girl and her Chikorita.

"Wha- Hold on!," the brunette whined; "Wait for me!"

Meanwhile, Ripley ran as fast as her legs could carry her. Of course the trip back resulted in a few more wild encounters. Easily, Chikorita took them all down with some brutal tackles. The adrenaline that ran through both of their systems made them almost unstoppable. This only occurred for half a mile, though. Conveniently, there were little shortcuts made of other ledges to hop over, just so the two wouldn't have to venture into the tall grass again. Too bad this couldn't be possible vise verse when they started out. But, there wasn't any time to complain or question about that right now.

All while running, there were all these negative outcomes playing through her head like a Horror movie.

What's going on? What happened? Is the lab on fire? Everything was just fine when we left! Damnit, I wish that I had called sooner to check up on everyone!

She was growing angry with herself, tears of frustration burning her steel colored eyes. There was only a matter of time before something else bad happens.

Reaching the end of Cherrygrove, the two had to skid to a stop from the mere fact someone else was heading the other way. Sadly, she wasn't able to stop quick enough. Two craniums had collided with each other, knocking Ripley over onto her rear. She groaned, vision of her surroundings swirling around her in slow motion. Rubbing the forming bruise on her forehead, she looked up to glare aimlessly at the culprit that so rudely ran into her.

"Ugh.. Hey, watch where you're going, fool!," a voice growled. Her vision started to steady, now staring into the icy hued gaze that narrowed right back at her with the intensity of an Arbok.

This hindered her for a moment. Then, she shook her head, which made the sudden headache worse.

"Excuse me?," she snapped; "You were the one who ran into me without even slowing down! You're the one who should watch it!"

Ripley stood, stumbling a little, but quickly caught her balance and dusted herself off. Man, he had a hard head.

"Now if you don't mind. As much as I've love to argue with you on manners, I got to get going. I've an emergency back home."

The red-headed male scoffed, then eyed the Chikorita in front of her, growling at him in warning.

"So," he huffed; "You also got a pokemon at the lab. Tch, what a waste."

In the midst of shoving past him, she halted, back stiffening. She looked at him again, eyes blazing with building fury.

"The Hell did you just say?"

This gained a smirk from the individual, "You heard me. What? You don't get what I'm saying? Let me spell it out for you." He reached into his pants pocket, then tossed a pokeball to the ground. It opened with a loud crack. Ripley's eyes widened. Chikorita let out a surprising yelp.

"I, too, have a strong pokemon. I'll show you what exactly I mean by beating you and that useless plant of yours."

It was Cyndaquil.

"Wha- How did you..?," She breathed.

The passerby boy shrugged, ignoring the question completely. She clenched her fists. Fine. A battle he wants? A battle he gets. This wasn't her first, and he was in for a rude awakening.

"Fine. Let's do this, ya' Asscheek," she spat out; "Let's go. Chikorita!"

The pokemon leaped forward, swinging the leaf on his head menacingly. Cyndaquil let out a cry, blowing a small puff of smoke, the fire on it's tail blazing.

The first move made was a tackle from Chikorita, being slightly faster than his fire type opponent. Training in many other battles before, it hit without fail. The Cyndaquil went down immediately, then stood with a shake of it's body. The small pokemon mimicked the other. Chikorita tried to move out of the way at the last minute, unfortunately not fast enough. However, it served as a mere shove. The Cyndaquil wasn't as grown as the grass type yet, so the attacks proved less fatal. Chikorita pushed back with yet another tackle. It fell, struggling to get back up.

A critical hit.

"Tch. You're doing okay," the male commented, then smirked, smugly; "For someone weak."

Her eye twitched. Okay, now this guy was getting on her nerves. Thankfully, this match wasn't going to be too much longer after another hit. She seriously had no time to deal with self-absorbed newbs.

"Chikorita. You got this! Finish off with another tackle!"

It's over. This was hers. However, mere shock passed over her face as she watched her foe's pokemon proceeded to yet again, stand.

What?

The passerby boy laughed, "You idiot. While your pokemon was so blind in attacking. Look what mine's been doing the whole time."

She squinted her eyes. Why was he so happy? He was going to end up losing anyway. But, it seemed claiming a victory in a pokemon battle wasn't what he sought anymore. He was desperate. Ripley watched carefully, her attention focusing on the Cyndaquil's slit eyes. The girl noticed Chikorita flinch back a little from his opponent, guilt etched all over his face. By the second, his defense fell, almost to dangerous amounts. If anything should go awry and his next attack missed, it could come to dire consequences, and it'll be finished. Her jaw locked, a wave of fury washing through her.

The little shit was leering at him the whole time.

This was so wrong! How could he make pokemon that were practically raised around one another do this to each other!? She couldn't bear seeing her own pokemon suffer emotionally like this. Aware that the two were good friends previously not too long ago, but now turned into bitter enemies. Unfortunately, this is what a pokemon battle was.

Ripley bit her lip. She had made the decision.

"Chikorita. Tackle."

He looked back at her with uncertainty. She returned his gaze with acknowledgement in her eyes.

I know this isn't what you wanted. But, we have to win. We can't let this guy get away with everything he's done. For Cyndaquil.

As if understanding what she had thought, Chikorita nodded. He turned, expression determined. The Cyndaquil took a step back. In a split second, the fire pokemon flew into the air, and landed hard into the dirt at his trainer's feet.

The Foe's Cyndaquil fainted.

Within another moment, Ripley had made her way to Cyndaquil with haste, in attempt to heal whatever she could to make it up to the other starter pokemon. The passerby boy withdrew it with an arrogant snort, making her stop at mid step.

"Are you happy that you won?"

She glared at him coldly. "The Hell are you?," she hissed. Ripley wanted to make sure she kept his name in her memory.

He was going to pay.

He rolled his eyes, "All you need to know. Is that I will be the world's greatest pokemon trainer. This was just a mere setback. But believe me. I will crush you the next time you see me."

He began to walk away, making sure to bump into her harshly by the shoulder. She reeled her elbow back a little, resisting the urge to punch him. As she began to head the other direction, a small glint of shiny plastic had caught her eye. Ripley looked down, then picked up the object.

It was a Trainer Card.

There was a rough shove to her back, causing her to drop the card. It was quickly snatched up by it's owner.

"Hey! What's the big idea! That's my Trainer card!," the passerby boy roared in anger. A look of slight fear had ran through him; "Oh no.. You saw my name..." With that, he made a mad dash out of the city.

Ripley coughed, spitting out dirt and debris. She clawed at the earth, clearly pissed.

"That little..."

Chikorita let out a whine, nudging his nose to her dirty cheek.

She let out a sigh, "You're right. Going after him would be pointless right now. I didn't forget about the lab. We need to get going." The pokemon chirped, agreeing.

She stumbled back up, once more. Heading off down Route 29, not even bothering on cleaning herself up a second time.

At least I got the name down.

His name was Silver.