Chapter 4

Speed Training

A television screen kicked on in the dark laboratory. It was overlooking the entire room, watching every move that was made. "Progress report!" Conner screamed from the monitor. He was on the screen, wearing a white mask.

"Um, yes." A scientist walked up in front of the screen. He was wearing a white long jacket with a large red 'R' on the back, and on both shoulders. "The retrieval was a success, as well as the cryogenic sleeping tube. Both pokemon are alive and healthy."

"And of the project?" Conner demined in hateful voice.

"Well, sir." The man spoke. "We need the other cryo-tubes filled before the project can be fully awakened to it's full po-"

"Don't you think I know that already!?" Conner screamed once more. "What of the project's progress, you nit whit?"

"Yes sir. Sorry sir." The man bowed in sorrow. "The project is showing the first signs of life. It is moving along well."

"Thank you doctor." The screen went blank.

The scientist looked around the room at the Raticate and Beedrill that were floating in the cryo-tubes. He walked by them, placing a hand on the one in the center of the room. This one had all sorts of tubes and wires leading to it from the other cryo-tubes, as well as a small little speck in the middle. The scientist let out a deep sigh. "I hope to God we know what we are doing."

* * *

"Come on, boy!" I screamed back behind me, watching Arcanine in the side mirror of the bike struggle to keep up. "You can do better than that!" I twisted the handle on the bike, pushing the speed up to seventy miles an hour. I looked again in the side mirror, seeing Arcanine running as hard as he could, trying to keep up. I should have taught him this move long ago, but I never thought he would need to use it. I mean, Extreme Speed does seem to be a useless move it if he could already use higher level attacks like Flamethrower, Heatwave, Fire Blitz, Dig, and others that he learned over time. But, what the heck? If he can learn it, I guess I should teach it to him. "Come on!" I screamed. "You can do it! I know you can!" The next time I looked in the mirror I saw that he was right on my tail. I smiled watching as he ran beside me. "Alright." I said. "No holding back, give it your all." I threw the bike into a lower gear, taking off like a speeding bullet. I quickly went from 70mph to 120. I looked in the mirror again, seeing Arcanine slowly sinking into the distance. I slowed down a bit, giving him some leeway. When I was at 100mph, I looked back again, seeing him start to gain on me. "My gosh." I said to myself with a smile. "He is defintely using Extreme Speed. I'm going 100 and he's catching up to me." I thought for a second, wondering what his limit was. I waited for a minute, keeping the speed at 100 until he caught up. "Okay boy." I screamed. "You're doing great! But, I'm not playing around any more." I turned my head to look at him. "Catch me if you can!" I gassed the bike, making it speed up to 160. Once again Arcanine faded into the distance, but as if he was child not knowing his own limits, he began to gain on me. "No way!" I said, waiting on him to gain on me more. I grinned, pushing the bike as fast as it would go, all the way to 195mph. The bike was red lining, and the engine was getting hot. I turned my attention from the gages to look behind me, not seeing Arcanine at all. "Well," I said. "I guess I know his limits." I turned back around, almost screaming in shock as I saw Arcanine running full speed in front of me. I couldn't believe it; he was actually running faster than my bike could go. But quickly, he lost speed, slowing down dramatically. He tripped when he was slowing down, tumbling on the ground. I slammed on the brakes, swerving the bike around, almost losing control. I slid to a stop, driving back to where Arcanine was. I jumped off the bike and ran over to his side. "Are you okay?" I asked, pushing on his side.

"Ar… Ar… Ar…" He huffed, out of breath. His eyes were closed, and he looked really bad off.

"Hang on boy." I said, putting down my book bag. I quickly dug out a Full Restore, some bandages as well as some rubbing alcohol. "Okay boy, you need to tell me where it hurts." I pushed on his front leg, feeling if any bones were broke. When he didn't say anything I moved to the other leg, feeling from the top down to the bottom. When I get to his foot he winced.

"Arrr..." He whined.

"It's okay." I said, petting him. "Let me look at it." I flipped over his paw, feeling all the bones. It didn't seem to be broken, maybe sprang, but that would be all. "It's okay. Nothings broken, you'll be better in no time." I looked around, grabbing some sticks that were laying on the ground beside us. I picked them up, putting them on either side of the hurt foot, sprayed the Full Restore on it, and then wrapped some bandages around it. I stood up, trying to help when Arcanine struggled to stand.

"Arr…" He whimpered, limping on his hurt foot.

"I'm so sorry." I said, hugging his neck. "I didn't mean to hurt you, boy." I pulled away as he gave me a lick on the face. "Well I'm glad to see you're not mad at me. But," I reached for the pokeball around my neck. "I think its time that you take a rest for a while." I pushed the button, sucking him back inside.

* * *

Conner watched from the bushes as Kyle recalled his famed Arcanine. He was lucky that he knew all these short cuts, after all, they where the reason he was able to get in front of Kyle. He put his binoculars away, bringing out his laptop. He scrolled through the data on the operating testing units back in the lab. "Damn." He groaned. "The next type needed for our project is flying, and it appears like I will need it in roughly three days." Conner glanced up, watching Kyle put his bike away. "This would be such a good opportunity too. With his Arcanine already damaged, he would be easy to apprehend." Conner shut the lid to his laptop, standing up. He bent down, picking up his mask, slipping it on his face. The mask was white, with red lines on it for detail, some slits for the eyes, and a large square cut out for the mouth and chin. "Oh well." He flipped his cape as he walked away. "There will be many more opportunities to steal his mangy mutt."

* * *

I put my bike up, looking ahead to see that I was only a few hundred yards away from the entrance to Union Cave, which, according to the navigation system, was the only way to Azalea Town. I looked to the sky, seeing that it was already getting late. If my guessing was correct, it was about 5ish. I looked around, seeing a heard of wild Quagsire swimming up the stream beside me. "Well, since I'm already here." I reached for the pokeball around my waist, throwing out Scyther.

"Scy…" Scyther stood there, looking at me with his arms crossed.

"Lets do some training." I said, walking up beside him. He gave me a weird look as I pointed to the group of Quagsire floating in the water. "Lets try to fight one of them."

"Scy…" He huffed, turning his back on me.

"Oh well…" I sighed. "It's sad, really." I said, turning away from him. "A strong Scyther like you is afraid of such a puny little Quagsire."

"Scyther!" He spun around to face me, swinging a sword in the air.

"Oh its okay." I turned to look him in the face, knowing I had him where I wanted. "I know you're a coward." I saw his eyes open wide, then squinted closed as a vein showed on his head. "Don't worry about it bud." I laughed. "I have lots of other pokemon that are stronger than you. I guess I can just get one of them to do what I want." I held up his ball, only to have him smack it out of my hand.

"SCYTHER!" He screamed, buzzing into the air.

"Oh wow!" I said. "The big baby has an attitude, aww, how sweet." I cooed, which made him even madder. "You know, if you don't hurry those Quagsire are going to get away." I pointed over to the group that was almost out of sight.

Scyther looked to them, then back to me, huffing before flying off. He flew straight into the group head on, letting his swords slightly skim the water.

"No, Scyther!" I called out. "Don't go for the front! Go behind, taking the smaller ones out first!"

"SCYTHER!" He screamed at me, still flying straight for the Quagsire.

I put my hand to my head. "Oh well, I guess this will teach him a lesson."

Scyther kept flying at the Quagsire, who stopped swimming. Scyther raised one of his swords, ready to swing. Right before he did all the Quagsire opened their mouths, letting out massive Muddy Water attack. The attacks hit Scyther hard, pushing him into the air. The mud clung to his wings, disabling his flight. He plummeted to the ground, covered in mud.

I walked over to him, kneeling down beside him. "Scyther, bud." I started, watching him glare at me. "I only said that stuff to get you to fight for me. There was no other way you would." I ran a wet rag over his wings, cleaning them off. "You are very strong, but if you don't listen to me in battle you won't win, even against the weakest enemy." I walked to the stream, ringing the rag out as I soaked it again. I walked back over to him, cleaning him more. "I really do care about you, and in a battle I can help. I can see things you can't. I can see behind you, in front of you, and I can even see the next attack before you can." I saw Scyther's eyes go from hate back to normal. "When I call out the next attack, I already know what it does, how it works, and what to do to counteract it. I am there to help you… if you will only listen to me." I wiped the rest of the mud off of him, giving him a smile as we stood up. "It's okay, though." I placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know it's going to take some time for us to know and trust each other, but I really can help if you listen to me." Scyther walked away, heading for his pokeball that was on the ground. He stopped in front of it, smacking it back to me. "Okay." I smiled, recalling him. I put him back on my belt. Though it was a rough start, I think I was beginning to make progress with him.

* * *

Ricky rode up to us on his Dodrio. It was dark by this time. It had been hours since we stopped by the river. I had Arcanine laying beside me while Scyther went out to get some firewood. I guess he could run away right now, but I don't think he would. After all, he knows that the only way he could get stronger is by sticking with me, and for now I'm using that to my advantage. Cyndaquil had already started a fire, but it wasn't very big, we needed some larger pieces, and that's what Scyther was doing. I figured it would be a good way for him to get away for a little bit and get to use his slash attack to cut up some trees.

"Man!" Ricky said, stepping into the light of the campfire. "I have been trying to catch up to you all day, how long have you been here?"

"Oh, I'd say about three, four hours, something like that." I had a pot on the fire with some stew going. It already had some wild spice roots, a few Pomeg Berries, Kelpsy Berries, Qualot Berries and Hondew Berries, all of which was found by Pichu and Cyndaquil. I still had a lot more berries they found, but certain berries and spices were the key to a good pokemon meal, as well as human. For instance, all the berries I added in, with the exception of the root, effect the pokemon in a way that makes them happy and more loyal.

"You're joking!" Ricky said, still on Dodrio's back. "You're telling me that you have been here for four hours?! How fast were you going?"

"Yep." I put some Oran berries in the pot for Arcanine's hurt foot, then continued to stir it up. "And the bike red-lines at 199mph."

"I don't believe that." Ricky said, hopping off Dodrio, only to have a foot fall into a hole in the ground. "Ahh!" He screamed, putting his foot out. He looked around seeing about fifty or sixty holes all over the ground around us. "What are these?"

"Oh yeah." I looked up and saw where he was standing. "You might want to move." When I said that Kabuto jumped out of the ground underneath him. Ricky flew backwards into the air, landing a few feet away as Kabuto crawled back to me.

"Bu- bu- to!" He squeaked happily, pushing his little claws together.

"Ahh!" Ricky got up. "Is that all you do with your time, train pokemon?"

"Well I wasn't born a pokemon master." I said, still stirring the large pot of stew.

He walked over to us, watching out for the holes in the ground. He recalled his Dodrio as he sat down beside me at the fire, rustling his red hair to get the dirt out of it.

"Arrr…" Arcanine gave him a low growl.

Ricky jumped. "Man, that dog still doesn't like me."

I pat Arcanine on the head. I didn't like Ricky either, but he refused to leave us alone so there wasn't much I could do about it. "I'm sure he'll get use to you eventually."

"Pi, Pichu!" I turned to see Pichu and Cyndaquil running back from the woods, both of them having the bags I gave them full of berries. They both ran up to me, laying the bags on the ground. "Pi, pi, chu!"

"Great job!" I said, putting on hand on Pichu and the other hand on Cyndaquil's back. Ricky saw my hand go into Cyndaquil's flames.

"My God!" He said, pointing to my hand. We all turned to look at him. "Doesn't that hurt your hand?"

I looked down to see my hand in Cyndaquil's flames. "Oh, not at all." I chuckled. "Cyndaquil and I have become really great friends. He fully trusts me and as a reaction to his trust I can touch his flames and not get hurt." I picked the bags of berries up, plopping some Grepa and Tamato Berries into the pot.

"Scy!" I heard Scyther scream as chopped pieces of wood fell from the sky beside us. The wood fell into a row, making a stack. "Scy! Scy! Scy! Ther!" Scyther screamed with every swing of his sword, stacking the wood as he threw it. When the wood was stacked he flew from the woods and landed on the other side of fire, sitting by himself. "Scyther."

"Wow! Great job!" I said looking at the stack of wood. "I don't know how you did it, but stacking the wood while you threw it, that was awesome!"

"Scy…" Scyther said arrogantly as he looked away.

I stood up putting wood on the fire, making it grow larger.

"So you're telling me that every chance you get you're training your pokemon?" Ricky asked curiously.

"Yep." I said, digging out a stack of seven bowls from my bag and filling them with soup. "And it pays off quite well." I placed a bowl in front of Arcanine. "Arcanine has learned Extreme Speed today, while Kabuto learned Dig and Water Pulse." I put a bowl in front of him. "Pichu learned Thunderbolt in the gym match this morning, and Cyndaquil's flames have grown a lot. He's about to evolve." I placed a bowl in front of them as well.

"What about him?" Ricky asked, pointing over to Scyther.

I placed Scther's bowl in front of him. "We are working on it. Right now he's a regular powerhouse, if only he would let me unlock it for him." I handed a bowl to Ricky and then set down to my bowl. "Dig in everyone, I made this stew from special berries and roots that were found around here." I leaned over to Arcanine. "And it will make your foot get better faster."

They all began to scarf the food down. Scyther seemed to really like it, while Kabuto didn't seem very interested in it. He ate it, but was sort of reluctant to it.

"Oh man!" Ricky said. "This is soooo good!"

I stood up, walking over to Kabuto. "You don't like it?"

"Bu-to…" Kabuto looked down.

"Oh it's okay." I smiled, watching the other pokemon, as well as Ricky, enjoy the meal. "Everyone has different taste." I put a finger to my chin. Lets see, Kabuto is a rock and water type. If I'm not mistaken they lived in ocean caves thousands of years ago. I looked around to the river we were beside. I searched the ground near the bank for something else to feed Kabuto. Kabuto is a shellfish pokemon, and shellfish eat dead… things from the ocean bottom. I reached my arm into the river, scooping some mucky green goo from the river. It didn't smell to pleasant, but hey, it was worth a shot. I walked over to Kabuto, placing it in front of him. I saw his eyes light up as he jumped on top of the green and brown slop.

"Buto! Buto!" He cheeped happily.

"I'm glad you like it." I smiled, making a mental note of my discovery. I walked over to the fire again, sitting down beside Arcanine when I saw Ricky stare at me. "What?" I asked.

"How did you know that it would like that?" He asked.

"I don't know." I slurped up the rest of my bowl. "Lucky guess?"

When we were done eating, and we were all full, there was plenty of soup left, so Ricky called out his pokemon to eat too. His Dodrio had three bowls, one for each head. His other two he called out, however, he only gave one bowl. His Ursaring sit by itself, eating his food while his Swampert set by Ricky, slurping her food from the bowl. Ricky said he would of called out his Steelix, but he didn't think there was enough food, or room for him.

When all the food was gone we recalled everyone but Arcanine, who was recovering quite well from his injury. I poured out the food, bagging up what berries Pichu and Cyndaquil had left, stuffing them back into my bag. I washed up the dishes in the river as I packed everything away. I then walked back to the fire, putting the last pieces of wood in the flames. Ricky already had his sleeping bag rolled out beside the fire, looking up to the sky. I rolled mine out as well, laying on the other side of the fire with Arcanine. I looked to the sky as well, seeing all the stars brighter than I had ever saw them, well almost brighter. The only night I remember them being brighter was the night with Shonna, outside of Fuchsia City, when we jumped off the bridge running from Jenny. The stars that night were magical. I felt my heart sink as I thought of her. The moon glistening on the ocean, the wind whipping a lock of blonde hair in front of her face, the way her eyes looked in that dim lighting. I closed my eyes, knowing that she was gone forever. I stood up, walking over to my bag. Ricky watched as I pulled out a pill bottle from the side pocket.

"Hey! Have you been holding out on me?" He said, jumping up at the sign of a prescription pill bottle. "Come on, what kind are they?"

"Nothing you would be interested in, druggie." I said, taking one of the pills out of the bottle, swallowing it without a drink. "But if you must know they are daily vitamins." I lied.

"Oh really?" Ricky asked, lying back down. "I never heard of them giving out prescriptions for vitamins."

"If I don't take them I can't sleep." I said, slipping into my sleeping bag.

"So they are sleeping pills."

"God Ricky, lay off!" I huffed rolling over as Pichu crawled into the sleeping bag with me.

"Hey, I was just…" Ricky spoke before he was cut off by a low growl.

"Grrrrrrr…" Arcanine snorted as embers flew from his clinched teeth.

"Fine." Ricky said, rolling over.

I sighed, thinking about Shonna. Will I ever know why that girl left me? I looked at Pichu who was already fast asleep. Closing my eyes, I slowly drifting off.

* * *

Arcanines eyes opened. He rose up, looking around. The river was flowing, but that wasn't the noise that woke him up. His eyes darted back and forth. The fire had went out, and was nothing more then smolders. He stood, his foot all better. He walked over to the pile of wood that Scyther made, seeing two pieces that Kyle forgot to put on the fire. When they were on the ashes, Arcanine coughed up an ember that ignited the wood on contact. He heard a rustle in the bushes as he turned his head to see what was going on. But, then it went silent. He turned back around, walking over to Kyle, wrapping his tail around his master. At least the fire was going again, and that gave some protection against whatever was out there. He huffed, laying his head down, still keeping his eyes opened. But, he didn't hear or see anything else for the rest of the night.