Chapter 5: On Our Way

"Seems like a good place to take a rest," I muttered to myself, eyeing the surroundings.

After leaving the campsite around noon, I had continued onward to Violet City for several hours. At this point, however, it was already late afternoon

I stopped walking for a moment, setting down my backpack. The path had taken me out of the forest, and I now found myself skirting some small, relatively barren mountains. Up ahead, off of the path, there was a field of rocks, varying in size between about 2 and 3 feet tall.

"Well. Seems like a pretty decent target range if you ask me," I muttered to myself. "In that case, Espeon, come on out!"

I sent Espeon out, and my loyal Pokémon sat down in front of me, attentively awaiting my command. "Alright, Espeon. Here's the plan," I said, directing his attention to the rock field up ahead. "See those rocks over there? You'd say those are great targets, right?" Espeon nodded. "In that case, what do you say we have some Psybeam practice?"

Espeon looked up at me, his eyes full of concern and reluctance. Clearly he wasn't very confident in his abilities.

"Hey. Don't worry bud," I said as softly as I could, hoping to raise his spirits. "You can do it. I believe in you! We just need to practice. Now, come on, let's get some work done!"

Espeon hesitantly stepped up and fired a Psybeam at the nearest rock. The attack started off well enough, but ending up fizzling out before reaching the intended target. Espeon dropped his head and sighed.

I kneeled down and petted the top of his head. "You can't give up after your first try," I told him. "Do you think that all the Gym Leaders and all the past Champions gave up the first time they faced adversity? Nope. They persevered, and through hard work and lots of practice, they became great. And that's exactly what we're going to do. We're going to work hard and practice, practice, and practice, and then before you know it, you'll be the best Psybeamer in the entire Johto region!"

Espeon lifted his head. A faint smile grew crept onto his face as I said 'Psybeamer'.

"Now, let's try again," I told Espeon, noting his slight uptick in mood. "Psybeam!"

He fired another beam of psychic energy, with much more enthusiasm, but the same result happened the second time. It started off well enough, but fizzled out by the time it got to the rock.

Before Espeon could get down on himself again, I commanded another Psybeam. We kept practicing until I realized that the sun was getting dangerously low in the sky. Both Espeon and I were sweating and fatigued, but to no avail, as Espeon had yet to hit a single rock. Hoping not to overwork my Pokémon, I ended our practice session. Espeon dropped to the ground, not even bothering to hold himself up anymore. I followed suit.

As we both laid on the ground, exhausted, I tried to spin our session into a positive, despite the obvious lack of results. "Hey, you made progress today," I told him. "From the first Psybeam to the last, I saw improvement. The beam stayed together longer near the end. You were very close to hitting your target."

"Espee…" Espeon said, too tired to argue with me.

"And you worked hard the entire time; you didn't give up. That's probably the best thing we can pull out of this session. The fact that you didn't give up. Perseverance is key. Collecting all the Gym Badges and winning the Silver Conference isn't going to be easy, and we all need to be mentally strong for us to achieve that goal."

I struggled to get up, returning Espeon to his Poké Ball. I continued down the path, hoping to reach a Pokémon Center by nightfall. Thankfully, just as the sun was setting, I caught sight of one; the building was similar to the one in Cherrygrove, except that it was built out of wood instead of concrete.

I walked into the Pokémon Center and approached the front desk. I was happy for a nice, warm place to rest, and especially for Chikorita to get some proper care and rest after the morning's incident. A Nurse was sitting at the computer, apparently playing some kind of puzzle game, but when she noticed me she rolled her chair over. "Hello. How may I help you?" she asked, although her eyes were still on her computer screen, as if she thought her game was more important than me.

"Yes," I said. "Could I get my Pokémon healed up? Oh, and my Chikorita could use some extra care, probably. She got pretty banged up this morning, by a Nidoking."

At hearing of the Nidoking attack, the Nurse rolled her eyes. "A Nidoking? Again? If one more trainer comes in complaining about a Nidoking, I swear I'm going to..." The Nurse grumbled on about the Nidoking as I got lost in thought. It couldn't be a coincidence; she had to be talking about the same Nidoking that attacked me. I realized that Sebastian had been right━that Nidoking was a threat, and it was looking more and more like it had been genetically engineered. The Nurse continued on about the Nidoking, and I couldn't tell if she was upset about the Nidoking as a threat to trainer safety, or as the cause of an increase in her workload...I hoped the former.

I considered the idea of going after the Nidoking for a moment, but then realized that I didn't even have a Gym Badge yet. It was beyond my current abilities.

I looked up from my thoughts, only to find the Nurse still grumbling on. "Excuse me, Nurse? Um, my Pokémon?" I asked her, wrangling her from her tangent about the Nidoking.

"Oh, yes, sorry about that, trainer," The Nurse offered as a half-hearted apology. She was quickly becoming the least favorite Nurse that I'd ever encountered. I handed her my Poké Balls and trainer card, and she quickly inputted my ID number, then hurriedly took the Poké Balls to the back, as if she couldn't wait to get back to her computer and finish her puzzle game.

"They let anyone become a Nurse these days, don't they…" I mumbled to myself as she dashed away.

As the Nurse returned, I brought up my second request. "Could I also get a room? I'd like to stay here overnight."

Again, the Nurse looked annoyed. She was increasingly getting on my bad side, but after my long day, I didn't want to start an argument with her. "Trainer card, again," she said, annoyed. Sorry for being such a bother, I thought. Not like it's your job or anything.

Thankfully I still had my trainer card out. The Nurse took it, and scanned the ID into her computer. She pulled out a small keycard, and handed it to me. She pointed down a hallway to the left, "Second door on the right," she told me, happy to finally be rid of me.

I walked to my room, scanned the card key, and opened the door. As I looked inside, I realized that this was my first time staying in a Pokémon Center. In Cherrygrove, the only other time I had had the opportunity, I had stayed with an old family friend instead.

I quickly found myself analyzing the room. I figured that the room I was staring at was more or less the standard of all Pokémon Centers. It was decently-sized, and was roughly square-shaped━but I wasn't complaining. It was fine for me. I noticed how compact and efficient the furniture was━there were 2 identical bunk beds along each wall, perpendicular to the door. Along the outer wall, in between the two bunk beds, was a small desk with a light but no computer, although I remembered seeing several computers in the lobby. Above the desk was a rectangular window, a little wider than the desk, and allowing a perfect view of the outside if you decided to sit down.

I plopped down in the chair at the desk, noticing that it was made of some very comfortable materials. "Well, guess I can read up on Violet City," I said to myself, pulling my Trainer's Guide out of my backpack. "Not much else to do."

I flipped to the section on Violet City. Much of what I read I recognized from either the Trainer Academy, or from keeping up with the news and watching TV. I skimmed through much of the section until I reached a part about the "Sprout Tower".

"Hmm. I don't remember this," I commented aloud as I read the section. "So there are sages inside...and a battling challenge...and if you complete the challenge, you get a reward. Definitely sounds like it's worth checking out!"

As I finished up reading about Violet City and Sprout Tower, I received an alert on my Pokégear. My Pokémon were all healed up and ready for pick-up. I got up, closing my Trainer's Guide, and headed back to the front desk. There was only a Chansey there, who happily handed me my Pokémon after a quick ID check. I noticed there were only 3 Poké Balls.

I started to phrase my question, hoping we would be able to communicate with each other. "Umm...You're keeping Chikorita overnight, aren't you? She was pretty badly injured." The Chansey nodded, letting out a small cry of approval.

"Alright, I'll pick her up in the morning, then?" Again, Chansey nodded. "In that case, I'll be heading back to my room now. Thank you very much."

I turned and walked away, relieved that the conversation had gone well. As I walked back to my room, ready to retire for the night, I passed the lobby and noticed a familiar face.

"Sebastian?" I asked, unable to contain my surprise.

He looked up from the couch he was sitting on. "Oh, it's you," he responded.

I resisted the urge to fire back a quick retort, instead focusing on starting a friendly conversation. "Did you catch that Nidoking?" I asked.

"Yes," he said, looking down towards his Pokédex, which he was reading.

"Nice job."

Silence fell between us. Sebastian is definitely not a conversationalist, I thought to myself. Nonetheless, I didn't want to get on bad terms with the guy (or at least make things any worse), so I decided to take the high road and not say anything rude, despite his snobbiness.

"Well, I've got to get back to my room," I said, forcing a fake smile as he looked up. "And, uh, thanks again for saving me and Chikorita this morning."

"Whatever."

I turned and continued on towards my room, wondering what was up with that guy.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"Ugh…" I groaned. I reached over, turning off the alarm and silencing the annoying beeping. "Do I have to get up," I muttered. "This bed is so comfy!"

After spending several nights in sleeping bags on the ground, I'd almost forgotten what a comfortable, good night's sleep felt like. Nonetheless, I managed to pull myself out of bed, struggling more against leaving the comfort of the bed than against any actual sleepiness or fatigue.

After getting dressed, I walked out to the front desk, where I picked up Chikorita after she had been left overnight. Still not battle-ready, I sent her out to eat breakfast with me and the other Pokémon; I noticed she looked better.

"How do you feel, Chikorita?" I asked her as I munched on a bowl of cereal at my room's desk. The Pokémon Center had thankfully had several breakfast options available for me.

"Cheeka!" she replied excitedly; I took that as suggesting that she was doing better. I also made sure to keep an eye on her. Even in her injured state, I wouldn't put it past her to try and steal someone's food.

While eating my cereal, I also wondered about Sebastian. A trainer as strong as him would be expected to be up near Blackthorn City and Mt. Silver. That's where all the strongest trainers were. However, I quickly dropped the subject as I packed up to leave for Violet City, instead trying to focus on my upcoming Gym battle there.

As I left, I returned the card key to the front desk, and noticed that it was the same Nurse as the night before. I received the same rude treatment, but I figured once I left the Pokémon Center, I would most likely (and hopefully) never see her again in my life, so I held my tongue, smiling and trying to keep as positive an attitude as I could with her. Some people just can't be helped, I thought to myself as I left the Pokémon Center.

As I continued onward, I once again skirted the mountains. It was almost noon when I came to a cave with an old wooden sign, covered in dust. I blew off the dust, but the painted words were heavily eroded. "Dcrl Cavc" was the best I could make out.

"Dekrill Cavka?" I said aloud, trying my best to pronounce what was on the sign.

"That's Dark Cave, sonny!" said a voice behind me.

I probably jumped about ten feet in the air. I spun around so quickly I almost fell over, as one hand instinctively reached for a Poké Ball on my belt. I came face-to-face with a large, jolly-looking man, who was wearing a large backpack and a brown jacket with about a hundred pockets, and was holding a walking stick.

"Oh, calm down there. I won't hurt you!" the man said, and I noticed he had an odd, somewhat rural accent. "I'm Jethro, by the way. I hike these mountains all the time!"

Gingerly, I stuck out my hand. "I'm Chris," I said uncertainly. Jethro returned the handshake. "So this is Dark Cave?"

The man gave a big, hearty laugh. I had to admit, his jolliness made him seem less threatening, despite his large size. I found myself becoming more and comfortable with him with every passing moment. "You've got that right! Goes all the way to Blackthorn City and Route 45, if you know how to navigate it."

"Really," I said, remembering that Blackthorn City was where the eighth Gym Leader resided. "I've never heard of it. Why do they call it Dark Cave?"

"Well, sonny, you'll find that it's really dark in there. Like, really dark. Not a lot of people explore it for that very same reason. But you can find some pretty rare Pokémon in there, if you're lucky."

My brain went into overdrive. Rare Pokémon.

"You'd be best to have a Pokémon that knows Flash if you're going to explore it," the Hiker continued. "It's not necessary, but it just makes things easier, you see. Otherwise you might get lost."

I nodded. Sounds like it'd be worth checking out. I mean, I do have a flashlight in my backpack, I noted. And besides, I won't go far. Just a little bit. I don't want to get lost.

With my adrenaline rushing, I found that the prospect of excitement and adventure overwhelmed logic and reason. "Thanks for the information, Jethro!" I told the hiker, as I turned to enter the cave. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go explore the cave a little bit."

Jethro looked surprised. "Alrighty then, Chris. You be careful, though. Don't be afraid to back out, either. You don't want to get lost!"

"Don't worry about me! I'll be fine," I told him as I reached the entrance.

Saying our goodbyes, I entered the cave, my adrenaline rush slowing down as the darkness quickly engulfed me. I flicked on my flashlight. I walked for several minutes until I reached a crossroads of four different passageways. I wonder which goes the farthest? I thought to myself. Remembering something I used to see on TV, I decided to see.

"Hello!" I yelled out four times, once in each direction. After listening to the echoes for each passageway (which also doubled as something fun to do), I deduced that the one to my left went the deepest. However, as I turned to enter it, I began to hear a loud sound, as if a hundred small wings were flapping at once, and a hundred voices were crying out. I squinted down the passageway, trying to locate the sound, realizing too late what it was.

I managed to duck down just as a large flock of Zubat flew over my head, haphazard and in every direction. Apparently, my echoes had sent them all into a panic. They flew wildly over my head, and one knocked my flashlight out of my hand as I attempted to cover my head. When it hit the ground, it broke instantly, instantly sucking all light out of the cave.

Once the Zubat had finally passed, I frantically searched for my broken flashlight. I managed to locate it after groping around in the dark for several minutes, but found it to have sustained a large dent and a broken bulb during the fall. It had landed on a rock.

"Shoot," I muttered to myself. "This isn't good. Not at all. Why couldn't it have just been a loose battery," I said as I sat down on the cave floor, leaning against the wall.

My excitement at searching for rare Pokémon faded as I began to panic. In the hysteria of the Zubat flock flying through, I had gotten turned around. I couldn't even retrace my steps to the entrance now. "How am I going to find my way out of here? I don't know which passage I came in through!" I cried out in exasperation.

I willed myself to stay calm, and after several deep breaths realized I could use Cyndaquil for light. He wouldn't be as good as a Pokémon with Flash, or even a flashlight, but at least he could light up a few square feet.

I sent out Cyndaquil, and heard him instantly panic in the dark. If I wasn't in such a dire situation, I'd probably find this funny, I thought to myself. A Pokémon that can make fire on its back is scared of the dark.

"Hey, Cyndaquil, it's me, Chris," I said into darkness, as gently as possible. "Can you light the flames on your back for me?"

I heard Cyndaquil's breathing slowly recede to normal levels as he heard my voice, and his flames lit up, illuminating a few square feet around him.

"Good," I told him. "Now follow my voice and come to me, but be careful."

Slowly, Cyndaquil followed my voice, eventually finding my outstretched legs, then the rest of my body, and he sat down next to me. I began to think aloud, trying to figure out how to solve our predicament. After what felt like an eternity of brainstorming (but was probably about ten minutes), the solution dawned on me. Espeon.

"Espeon, come on out!" I yelled as I sent him out. Although initially surprised and panicky due to his odd surroundings, he saw me and Cyndaquil and calmed down.

"Come here, Espeon," I said, gesturing for him to sit down in front of me. "Remember yesterday, how you used your fur to sense the winds and catch the Frisbee? I need you to do that again, except I need you to follow the wind and lead us out of this cave. There should be a slight breeze blowing in from the cave entrance. You need to follow it. Understand?"

Espeon looked at me, full seriousness and understanding in his eyes. He stood up silently, focusing, until he picked up a small breeze, which was unnoticable to me and Cyndaquil. He began walking in the direction the breeze was coming from.

Slowly and quietly, so as not to break his focus, Cyndaquil and I followed Espeon. Cyndaquil provided light for us as we stumbled through the cave. After what felt like an eternity, I saw light.

"Great work, Espeon!" I shouted as we ran out of the cave. I ran so fast that I smashed right into Jethro, who was standing just outside the cave's entrance.

Getting up off the ground, I looked up at Jethro. "What's up, sonny?" he asked, pure confusion on his face.

Excited to be out of the cave, I began talking so fast, I'm surprised Jethro didn't ask if I'd had any espressos today. "I━I got lost in there, Jethro! My flashlight, it broke. You see, there was this flock of Zubat! But Cyndaquil, he━he lit up the cave for us, and Espeon, oh boy, he was great! He led us out! He's the hero!"

"Alright, calm down there, sonny. Why don't you come eat lunch with me? A friend of mine just showed up." So, I followed Jethro over to a small campsite, where his friend was. I explained to his friend about my escapade in Dark Cave as we ate a small lunch. As we finished our meals, we parted ways.

"Thank you very much for the lunch, Jethro." I said to Jethro.

"And thank you for the company, Chris! Sometimes, old Bob over here gets a little 'boring', telling the same old exaggerated stories time and time again," Jethro joked as he let out a large, hearty laugh, elbowing his friend in the side.

"Well, they were all new to me, and it was pleasure listening to your stories, Bob. But, I've really got to get going now," I told the two as I began walking away. It was a shame parting ways with the two kind hikers, but I knew that I was close to my next destination. "I'm not too far off from Violet City, you see, and my first Gym battle. So, see ya! And good luck on your hike!"

The two waved as I left. "You too! And we'll make sure to root for you when you make it into the Silver Conference!"

Once they were out of sight, I ceased my waving and began to focus. "By nightfall, I should be in Violet City," I said to myself. "And with Violet City, comes my first Gym Badge."

With that in mind, I quickened my pace down the path, with nothing but green forests ahead of me as I continued onwards towards Violet City.

AN: Just a quick little public service announcement━this is my longest chapter so far, at over 3,700 words, and will probably be the average length for my chapters from here on out. Hope you enjoyed!