Chapter 5

Shiny New Pokemon

"Yaaahhhh!" I was awoken by a large yawn. "Damn! That was a great nights sleep!" I heard Ricky stretch.

"Why must you curse?" I asked rising up rubbing my eyes as Pichu did the same. I stretched, feeling Arcanine lick my face.

"Why do you care?" Rick stood up, rubbing his head, messing up his already messy red bed head. "I've never met a guy that cared so much about stupid things like that."

"Well, forgive me for not wanting to hear foul language." I stood up as well, picking Pichu up. "Did you have a good sleep?"

"Piiiii!" Pichu stretched.

I laughed, putting him on my head. "And how about you?" I asked Arcanine. "Is your foot all better?"

"Arf!" He barked happily.

"That's great!" I bent back down, putting up my sleeping bag and pouring dirt on the fire we had, putting it out.

"Where to now?" Ricky asked, patting some dust off of his striped hoodey.

"I don't know about you," I said. "But I'm going through Union Cave. It's the only way to get to Azalea Town."

"Oh, that gym is easy!" Ricky said, calling out his Dodrio. "With that Arcanine you could take it down lickety-split!"

"So it's a grass type gym?" I asked as he hopped on his three headed bird.

"No, it's a bug type." He looked over at me. "It was actually the first badge I got."

"Really?" I said as we rode our pokemon towards the cave. "How many badges do you have now?"

"I have seven." He said. "I picked up my last one from Falkner the day before I found you on the beach."

Wow, that means he only has one left to get. His pokemon must be very strong for him to win seven badges with only four pokemon. We both walked into the cave riding our pokemon, but it became quickly apparent that we couldn't make it much further. The walls in the cave became closer and closer together, making my massive Arcanine get stuck. We both hopped off our pokemon, recalling them. We didn't spend much time walking through the cave until we saw a light, but this light didn't look like day light, it looked more like light from a fire. I walked around the bin, peaking a head around the cave wall to see a group of Slugma and Magcargo all gathered together around what looked like a bubbling hotspring.

"Wow!" Ricky said as I covered his mouth, pushing him into the cave passage that we came from. The slugma looked up at where we were, but didn't see us in the shadows. When they turned back around I looked at Ricky. "Shut up, will you?" I said harshly. "I really want to catch one of those."

"Why?" Ricky said, looking at the slugma. "I was wowing over their being a girls bra over there." He started pointing to a hot spring near the slugma. I looked over to the pool where I saw a bra draped over one of the stalagmites by the water. I shook my head, looking back at him. "Stay here, okay?"

I walked off, tiptoeing down the narrow passage to the wild fire pokemon. They were all made of molten magma, and were extremely powerful fire type pokemon. As I got closer I got a better look at the slugs. In the middle of the herd was a silver looking flame. At first I didn't understand what it was, but when I got a better look I saw that it was a silver slugma! The oddly colored slugma was smaller than the rest, but I didn't care about that, it was a shiny! I knew that regardless of what pokemon it was that I could bring out its true potential, I was sure of it. I slowly took Kabuto's pokeball, releasing him on the ground. "Okay," I whispered. "There is a silver looking slugma in the group, I want you to crawl into the water and use a water pulse on it."

"Buto-o." He said as he crawled away into the hot spring.

I waited as the group started to move around again. The all seemed to know that something was going on, because they watched the hot spring very closely. Suddenly Kabuto jumped from the hot spring with a gust of water that hit the silver slugma. The other slugma and magcargo blasted very strong flamethrowers at Kabuto, but with Kabuto being a water and rock type, the attacks did nothing to him. I quickly ran out, throwing a pokeball at the silver slugma that was laying on the ground, turning to a dark gray from the water. "Water pulse the rest of them!" I screamed as the ball fell to the ground, shaking once. Kabuto jumped out of the water, shooting a water pulse at all the fire pokemon, stricking them before they could react to me throwing the pokeball. It stayed on the ground, shacking twice. The magcargo retreated into their shells, blasting flame throwers at Kabuto again, who kept shooting water pulses at them. The pokeball jumped, only to fall to the ground again, shacking a third time, and snapping shut. I quickly ran over to the pokeball, putting it on my belt and recalling Kabuto as I saw the slugma and magcargo start to get back up. I ran as fast as I could back up to Ricky, grabbing his arm. "We got to get out of here!"

"Yeah, they looked pissed!" He screamed, seeing the slow, but powerful pokemon start to follow us. We were shot at with some flamethrower attacks a few times, but luckily we made it out of the cave in one piece.

When we got out we both fell to our knees, sore from running so much. "Huff, huff." I gasped for air.

"Are you two okay?" I heard a young boy asked. I looked up to see a boy about the age of ten looking back at me. He had short black hair with a blue striped polo on.

"Yeah, thanks." I said, standing up, Ricky shortly followed.

"What are you two doing out here?" The boy asked, looking over at Ricky. "And why is his hair on fire?"

"What?" Ricky asked, looking up to see that locks of his red hair were smoking. "OH MY GOD!" He screamed, running around in circles. "My beautiful hair! My beautiful hair! It's on fire! It's on fire!"

"Calm down." I said, tossing out Kabuto, who stood on the ground with it's little claws. "Hey, Kabuto, could you use a Water Pulse on that little baby?"

"Buto!" He said happily as he sprayed Ricky, soaking him with water. "Buto-o-o-o!" He laugh, doing a little dance.

"That's not funny!" Ricky screamed, drenched from head to toe.

"Wow!" The boy said as I recalled Kabuto. "You all must be pokemon trainers, aren't you?"

I turned, smiling at him. "Yep, we sure are."

"Oh, could you please help me." The boy begged. "You see, my name is Chad, I'm the apprentice to the Charcoal Smith in town, and my Farfetch'd has ran away." He looked around. "I have searched all over and I can't find him anywhere. Can you help me please?"

Ricky walked to the kid. "We don't have time for your little-"

"Sure we can help, Chad." I said with a smile. "Where do you think it might be?"

"Well." He started thinking. "The only place that I haven't checked is the Ilex Forest, and that place is scary."

"Oh, we'll be fine." I said patting him on the head. "So where do we find this forest?"

The boy pointed into town. "If you go straight past the Pokecenter you'll see a large building. Go inside and it will lead you to the forest."

"Thanks kid." I stared to walk by him when I stopped. "So, where will you be when we find the Farfetch'd?"

"Oh, I'll be looking around here." The boy said. "But if you find it could you take it to the Charcoal Smith's house. You can't miss it, it has a big sign."

"Okay, will do." I gave him a wave with my hand as my back was facing him. Ricky and I walked away into town, leaving the boy behind.

* * *

"Are we really going to help that pipsqueak?" Ricky asked as I was getting my pokemon healed.

"Yes." I said, taking back my pokeballs from Nurse Joy. "Do you have anything better to do then help a little kid?"

"We can start by getting that badge of yours." He griped as we walked out of the center. "After all, Mr. Six Months, it's not like you have a lot of time."

"Hmph." I said, putting my pokeballs back on my belt. "Personally, I think I have plenty of time. If you have already forgot, I have traveled to six towns in less than two days. On top of that I have also got a badge in that time, and I'm working on another one." We kept walking, making our way to the large building, like the kid said.

"Lucky, that's what I say." Ricky put his hands behind his head, feeling his burned red hair. "Arrg, I don't even know why I'm hanging around you."

"Me either." I groaned.

"I mean really, within the time I knew you I have been almost beat up, left to rot in a pokecenter, and even got my beautiful hair singed."

"Oh you poor, poor thing you." I looked at him so sadly, with more than a hint of sarcasm. "Your sad life is almost enough to make me cry."

"And really, why are you so mean?" He pointed a finger at me. "Is that the reason why you have to take those pills, some kind of 'happy pill' that makes you less of an ass?"

"If you must know they are sleeping pills." I barked at him. "And, sure, I guess the same reason I'm such a butt is because of the same reason why I take those pills." I turned back around, walking through the door of the large building.

"So…" Ricky said quietly. "Is it a family member that died?"

I didn't say anything. Instead I kept walking, pushing open the next door, which lead into the forest.

"Is it a lost pokemon?" He persisted.

Once again, I didn't say anything, just kept walking.

"Well then, was it a woman?"

I spun around, giving him a look of hate. "Shut your freakin' face before I shut it for you!" I screamed, holding up a fist in front of his face.

"Okay, okay." He put up his hand defensively. "I get it, you don't want to talk about it. But hey," He smiled, wrapping an arm around me. "I know a lot about girls, if you ever want to talk about it."

"Trust me," I said, in a low deep voice of hate. "I don't need love advice, especially from you." I kept walking, not hearing another word from him. I knew he was back there, I could hear his footsteps, but he just stayed quiet. Maybe he finally started to listen to me.

We walked for about an hour before Ricky said anything, and when he did, it wasn't expected. "What's that?!" He screamed before he darted off into a patch of tall weeds to our left.

"Ricky! Wait!" I called out, I didn't know why, but I didn't really want him to get lost.

"I found him!" I heard him cry out. "I found the kid's Farfetch'd! It's running this way!" I ran through the woods, almost throwing Pihu off my head. I couldn't see a darn thing, I could hear him running, but before long, even that faded.

"Ricky!" I screamed. "Ricky!" I waited, but no answer came. "Oh well." I signed, letting out Arcanine on the ground as me and Pichu hopped on his back. "Lets sniff him out."

"Arf!" He barked as we started walking through the woods.

* * *

Conner adjusted his mask as he walked into the center. His cape blew in the breeze as the door shut behind him. Azalea town, home to the bug gym of Johto. He walked over to the PC, knowing what to do. He could wait longer, but if he did Kyle might take his Pidgeot out of the PC System for the battle, and who knew when the next change to take it would be? After all, for his project to gain life, he needed that bird soon.

Conner took out his computer, plugging the adapter port into the deposit drive in the PC.

Data Base 1100100111001010100010

Conner Log In

Password -- ********

Loading

Access Approved

Entry Data Follow

Day 187/11:15Hours

Course Of Action --

Item Retrieval/Inside PC System

Item Deposit/Inside System

Item/File Name --

Deposit 3 – ITEM – Pidgeot

Deposit Location --

U:/exp1/stem/CrioNo004

Connect Directly To Location U:/esp1/stem/CrioNo001

Required Statements 1 --

Retrieval Of Specimen 003

Required Statements 2 --

Acquired On Location: Johto/292532/8696/PCsystem

Required Statements 3 --

Other Specimens Locations Currently Unknown: Currently In Pursuit

Conner Log Off

Password -- ********

Loading

Transaction Ended

Good Day Conner

Conner shut the lid to the computer. He picked it up from the PC, placing it under his arm as he walked out. A smile came across the cut out portion of the face on the mask. "My little project is going smoothly."

* * *

Arcanine had been running for what seemed like thirty minutes or so until we caught whiff of Ricky's trail. Pichu was hanging onto my jacket as we rode on Arcanine. I could have caught up to Ricky sooner if I used extreme speed, but with all these trees in our way, that was impossible.

"Hey!" I heard Ricky yell. "Stop! Slow down!"

"Whoa boy!" I said, tugging on Arcanine's mane, getting him to stop. I listen closer. I defiantly heard Ricky, it was faint, but it was him.

"Stop running, you stupid bird!"

"Arf!" Arcanine barked, running to the right into a clearing. We jumped the bushes, landing in the open patch of grass with a large door in front of us. This place looked familiar, but I couldn't quite place my finger on it. "Wait!" I said, looking at the near by sigh, which read 'Welcome to Ilex, the Forest of mazes'. "You mean to tell me we have been walking around in circles, only a few feet away from the door this whole time?!" Arcanine's ears twitched as he jumped back, bending his head down into a low growl as he faced the trail that lead into the forest.

"Pi…" Pichu ran to hide behind my head, scared of what might happen.

We waited and watched as the bush Arcanine was pointing at started to shake. "Fetch!" A large Farfetch'd jumped out, running happily around behind Arcanine, like he was playing a game.

"Get… huff huff… back here!" Ricky screamed, out of breath as he fell through the bushes.

"Far, fetch'd fetch'd fetch'd!" The bird laughed, dancing around Arcanine's feet.

"Quick!" Ricky tried to stand up, only to fall down out of breath. "Catch that thing… huff huff… before it… gets away…"

"What, that little guy?" I looked down at the Farfetch'd that stood about two and a half feed tall. It really looked puny compared to Arcanine, but for a Farfetch'd, it was a pretty big one.

"Fetch?" Farfetch'd looked up at me, and for the first time noticed there was a person setting on the massive dog pokemon. "FETCHD!" It yelled as it tried to scurry away, but before it got the chance Arcanine bent down, picking it up by the skin on his neck. The bird stayed still in his teeth as Arcanine raised it high off the ground. "Fetch'd…" It sobbed.

Ricky stood up, dusting off his black pants before walking over to me. "I hate you."

I looked at him oddly.

"I ran around this place for like thirty minutes to try to catch that thing, and all you had to do was set there, waiting for me to run it back to you." He huffed, pulling out a cell phone. "Look, its already 11:30. If you want to get that badge we have to get going." He stretched as we walked back through the doors to the city. "Besides that, I'm hungry. Lets stop somewhere and get some grub."

"Works for me." I said, still riding Arcanine, Pichu on my shoulder. "But I really don't mind spending some time here, this place seems nice."

"It's bland." Ricky commented as we walked out of the building, heading straight for the Charcoal Smith's large sign that hung over a building, near the southern portion of town. "The next town has a lot of stuff in it. Goldenrod City is like the Saffron City of Johto." He looked up at me with wide eyes. "There are skyscrapers, buildings everywhere, the best food you could ever imagine, and, my favorite…" He leaned in closer to me. "They have brothels."

"Grrrr…" Arcanine growled as Ricky leaned a little to close for his comfort.

"Yeah, that would be your favorite part." I rolled my eyes.

It wasn't long till we reached the Charcoal Smith's house. Inside we saw stacks of wood that were lying beside a large furnace. Beside the furnace stood a Magmar that was charring the wood inside the furnace, while a Scyther chopped the wood into littler pieces, then threw them into the fire Magmar was making.

"Yes, may I help you?" A large man with abundance facial hair walked toward us. He had his shirt off, and was not a pretty sight. His belly was hanging out, sweat was coving him, and his fat gut was also covered is brown hair.

"Yeah… umm… we are here to give back Chad's Farfetch'd." I said, trying not to throw-up at the man's appearance. "We found it up in the forest."

"Arrgggg…." The man groaned. "That boy will never learn to control that thing." The man then walked over to Arcanine, taking Farfetch'd out of his mouth, then placing him on the ground. The Farfetch'd looked over at the Scyther in the room, who stared at him, slowly cutting wood in an evil looking way. "Yeah, don't worry about him running away again. He never runs when he's here, he knows better."

"I'd say." I said, watching the Scyther stare him down.

"Well, thank you boys for bringing my apprentice's Farfetch'd back. I hope it wasn't too much trouble."

"Well, now that you mentio-" Ricky said before I elbowed him in the side, shutting him up.

"No, not at all." I said with a smile, as I slid off Arcanine. "We wanted to look around the forest anyway." I stopped talking when I noticed the man staring at my Arcanine. "Is something wrong?" I asked.

"No, just the opposite in fact." He walked over to Arcanine, examining him closely. "This pokemon is very strong and has been raised very well." He paused again, feeling Arcanine's fur. "It's fur is so shiny, smooth and very bright. And those eyes, the eyes of a true champion. A very strong fire type." The man then walked away, behind a table. Me and Ricky just watched as he dug through some old crates, pulling out two boxes and bringing them back to us. "I have seen lots of fire types in my day, and that Arcanine of yours is by far one of the most powerful." He handed both me and Ricky a box. "Here is a little gift for the trouble of bringing back Farfetch'd. Inside is some of our world famous Charcoal." I opened up the wooden box to see a rather large charred piece of wood tied onto a black adjustable necklace. "That Charcoal is known for its ability to increase the power of fire type moves by double."

"Wow!" I said, looking at the box. "Thank you so much!" I put the box on the table, digging out my wallet. "How much do I owe you?"

"I normally sell them for $10,000 each." The man said, as Ricky's mouth dropped open. "But since you two were nice enough to bring Farfetch'd back to me, I'll give them to you free of charge."

"Wow, thank you!" I said.

* * *

"That sure is pricy for a little piece of burnt wood, don't you think?" Ricky said, looking at the wooden box that he held in his hand.

Arcanine was bended down, letting me adjust the strap of the necklace around his neck. "Well, it is a pretty cool item, if it works." I tightened the strap, getting if to fit perfect on his neck. "And it came in a pretty cool looking case too." I looked at Arcanine, who leaned up proud. "Does it fit good, boy?"

"Arf!" He barked happily before I recalled him.

"Hey, catch." Ricky said. I turned around to see the box with the Charcoal in it flying at me. I caught it, mid air, only to look at him in confusion. "Its okay, I don't want it."

"Why not?" I asked, looking at the box. "It's a great item."

"I don't have a fire type pokemon, and I don't want one." He turned away, walking back to the center of town. "I have made it this far with 5 pokemon, and that seems to be sufficient." He turned around, laughing. "One of which I have never shown to anyone, because I haven't needed too."

"So the one you haven't used is your strongest?" I asked, following behind him.

"Yeah, he's a regular power house." He laughed. Boy, his ego wasn't showing. "So, are you going to be stopping at the pokecenter before the gym?"

"Yeah, I plan on it." I don't really think that I need to withdraw any pokemon. Pidgeot, maybe, but I don't think so. I figured that this time would be a great time to train Cyndaquil and Scyther. And, I guess if I needed a back up, Arcanine could take down anything the guy could throw out.

We walked into the center. I walked toward the PC while Ricky headed straight over to Nurse Joy. Surprise, surprise. I plugged in my information, logging onto my account. No new mail, again, and no new deposits from mom. Instead I noticed that Beedrill and Pidgeot were missing. I'm guessing that mom took them out of my account. I scrolled over the ones that I had in my account. Umbreon, Dragonite, and Primeape were available. I didn't need any of them right now, at least, I guess I don't. I closed the window, logging off as I turned to see Ricky laying on the counter working his way to Nurse Joy.

"Let's talk more about Kurt's balls." He said, breathing hard as he stuck her ear in his mouth.

"Come on Romeo." I said, grabbing onto his hair. I didn't know what he was talking about, and I really didn't want to hear any more about it.

"Owe! Owe! Hey! Let go!" He whined as we walked out. When we were outside I dropped his hair, which made him fall to the ground. "Why the hell do you do that?!" He questioned, grabbing his hair. "I was trying to get information."

"What kind of information?" I asked. "Her phone number? Her address? The color of her underwear?"

"No!" He screamed. "Well… maybe… but really, there is a guy here named Kurt that makes rare pokeballs out of apricorns!"

He caught my attention. "Really?" I asked, turning my head to look at Ricky. "That would be pretty cool, but I already have too many pokemon." I turned back around, walking toward the gym. "I have so many I can't even keep up with them."

"So you're not even interested?" He stood up. "There are several balls and they all do different things."

"Nah, you can go if you want to." I stopped walking, turning around to look at him for a second, remembering when he pulled out a cell phone in the Ilex Forest. "Hey, when did you get a cell phone? I don't remember you having one yesterday."

"Oh, this thing?" He said, taking it out of his pocket. "I swiped this from Jenny when I was in her room."

"How are you able to use it then?" I asked. "Doesn't it have a SIM card in it that can be tracked?"

"Oh, I took that out. I'm smarter than that." He laughed. "When you left me to rot in Cherrygrove I bought a 'Pay As You Go' sim card from the pokemart."

"Ah… smart." I rolled my eyes as I kept walking to the gym. Great, so he's a druggy, womanizing thief, and he's tagging along with me. What could be better?

I walked into the gym, throwing open the doors. The gym was covered in greenery, and was so warm it felt like a giant green house. The sun was beating down on the grass and trees from an open roof for the ceiling. Do all the gyms in Johto have open roofs?

"Who dares inter my lair?" A non-scary voice called out. In fact, it sounded like a young boy, maybe … 8 years old? 10?

"Um… Kyle, from Veridian City." I spoke up.

The room was quiet for a while before a young boy jumped from a tree, landing in front of us. "I am Bugsy, leader of the bug gym in Azalea Town. Would you be here to challenge me to a gym battle?"

"Uh, yeah." Man, the trend in Johto must be open roofed gyms and young leaders. Both of the leaders I have seen so far have been younger than me.

"Follow me." Bugsy turned, walking on a trail to the center of the gym. When we arrived he ran to his side of the battlefield. "This will be a three on three battle for a hive badge. You many switch out, I may not." He readied his first pokeball. "I choose you, Spinarak!" The tiny spider took the field, shooting some web to the limb of a tree, and hung off the ground. Ricky took to a bench that was located behind me.

I readied my pokeball, knowing already which one I was going to choose. "Go Cyndaquil!" The fire mouse hopped on the field, his flames burning bright. It wouldn't be long till he evolved, probably in this battle.

"Spinarak!" Bugsy yelled. "Use string shot!"

"Cyndaquil!" I called. "Use that new flame wheel attack you learned!"

The strings of web shot at Cyndaquil as he covered himself in flames. When the webs hit him they were instantly burned, and fell to the ground as ashes. Cyndaquill charged, rolling into a ball of flame, and then bounced into the air, striking the spider where is swung on its web. The web it was on burned, as the Spinarak fell to the ground, knocked out.

"Nice job Cydaquil!" I called out as Bugsy recalled his Spinarak.

"Quil!" The mouse squeaked as it was covered in a bright white light. When the light diminished it stood over double the size it was moments ago. He was stretched longer, standing on his hinelegs. The flames that were once on his back were now on his head, forming a small mane, as well as on his lower back, forming a large flaming tail. "Quilava!" It cried, glairing with his fire red eyes over at Bugsy.

"Congratulations." Bugsy called out. "But this one is much more powerful than my last." He threw out his next pokeball. "Go Ledyba!"

"Bwahahah!" Ricky laughed. "That's worse than the one you used on me!"

"First time I ever lost all my pokemon to one." Bugsy groaned.

"Well, I'll switch out after this." I said, motioning to Quilava to get back over to our side. "After I test out my new Quilava." I smiled, looking at him as he walked up to me. "Great job evolving! I'm proud of you!"

"Quil…" He grinned, ribbing his head.

"Enough!" Bugsy called out. "Ledyba, use your comet punch!"

"Quilava!" I said. "Use your ember!"

The Ledyba pulled back all four of its hands, forming them into fist as they glowed white. Quilava waited till it flew closer to him, then he opened his mouth, letting out a massive ember attack, so strong that it was the equivalence of a Flamethrower. The bug fell to the ground, burned and knocked out.

"Great job, Quilava!" I screamed, running up to hug him. "You learned Flamethrower!"

"Quil?" He tilted his head.

"The ember attack you used was so strong that it turned into a flamethrower attack!"

"Pi!" Pichu said, hopping off my shoulder. He was so quiet I almost forgot he was there. He ran over to Quilava, looking up at him. His eyes got wide as he saw that he stood almost three times bigger than he was. "Piiiii…."

"Lava!" Quilava laughed.

"If you don't mind," Bugsy said, tapping his foot. "We have a battle going on."

"Shesh." I said, recalling Quilava. "Why don't you throw out your pokemon first, Mr. Impatient?"

"Fine! Go, Scyther!" Bugsy yelled as a Scyther flew in from the nearby greenery that surrounded the battlefield.

Perfect. I grinned, knowing what I was going to do. "Go Scyther!" I threw out my Scyther, who stood strong. Both Scythers looked to be about the same size and stature, but I could tell mine apart. He had scars all over his body from all the fights he had been in without a trainer, but he needs to realize that he has a trainer now. I chose him for this battle because I knew he wouldn't listen to me. I already know that without my help, he is going to lose, even though he is much stronger than the other Scyther. But, maybe this battle will let Scyther see he needs me, and I might gain his trust.

"Scyther!" Bugsy screamed. "Use your Slash attack!"

"Scyther!" I called out, watching Bugsy's Scyther's left sword go up. "Dodge left!"

"SCY!" Scyther screamed at me, encoring me. Bugsy's Scyther came flying at mine, his left sword held up high in the air. My Scyther put up his right sword in defense as the other Scyther sliced down hard, chipping my Scythers blade. "Ther!" He winced in pain.

"Again!" Bugsy yelled. This time the Scyther raised its right sword, the left still imbedded into my Scyther's right.

"Scyther!" I screamed, seeing the blade in the air ready slice at Scyther's exposed side. "Fall!"

"Scy?" He questioned.

"JUST DO IT!" I screamed.

Bugsy's Scyther swung its blade as my Scyther fell to the ground. The force that the other Scyther had on his blade threw him off balance when he fell, causing its swinging blade to strike the ground, stopping the blade. Both Scyther fell to the ground, Bugsy's on top of mine.

"Kick it off!" I screamed. Scyther did as I said, kicking it off of him having it land on the ground a feet yards away. "Great job Scyther." I said, getting him to look behind to me. "You are a lot stronger than the other Scyther, but if you don't listen to me then you're going to lose." Scyther didn't say anything, he just looked at me. "I am your trainer, and if you let me help you we can easily take down opponents a lot stronger than him." I pointed at Bugsy. "Please Scyther, let me be your eyes, let me help you."

"Scy…" He said, half heartedly, nodding at me.

"Are you done?" Bugsy asked, putting one hand on his hip as his Scyther stood up.

"Quite." I said with a smile.

"Scyther! Fury cutter!" Bugsy commanded as his Scyther flew towards mine with its arms raised high.

"Wait for it." I said, watching as the Scyther flew closer. "Wait. Stand strong." The Scyther came right up on mine, swords raised high, about to swing. "Now! Roll on your back under it!"

My Scyther dropped on the ground, rolling on its back as Bugsy's Scyther flew right over him, chest and stomach exposed.

"Now! Fury cutter!" I yelled.

Sycther swung his blades into the side and chest of Bugsy's. The Scyther fell to the ground, grabbing at its cut side.

"Now, Scyther!" I screamed. "Wing attack!"

Scyther flew at Bugsy's, which was still laying on the ground. Scyther spread his wings, having them turn silver as he held his swords in front of him. He flew faster, slicing the Scyther with both his left sword and his left wing. The Scyther fell, trying to get up, passed out.

"Great job!" I said, running up to hug Scyther. "You were so great!"

"Scy…" He wiggled to get out of my grip.

"Hey, hang on." I picked up his right sword. "Let me see your blade." I picked up his arm, examining the chipped blade. "Oh man, that is pretty bad." I looked at him. "I will stop by the PokeMart and pick of a wet rock so we can sharpen these up." He took the blade out of my hand, looking at the chipping that ran half way down the blade. "The crack will grow back , but for now we need to keep you from using that arm very much."

"Scyther." He crossed his arms, turning away from me. I didn't say anything, I just smiled. I could tell that he realized he needed me, but he was too proud to admit it.

"Congratulations." Bugsy said, tossing me badge. I caught it in the air as he walked to his fallen Scyther. "You have earned a Hive Badge. Now get out of here, you have really beat up my Scyther." He picked it up, walking into the greenery.

I smiled, pinning the badge into my jacket. "Thanks Scyther." I said, giving him a thumbs up. "I couldn't have done it without you."

* * *

Ricky, Scyther and I sat outside of the PokeMart where I just bought a wet rock knife sharpener. Pichu was running around the ground playing with a Caterpie as I ran the slab of rock over Scyther's blades, slightly peeling away slivers of metal off the blades, making them razor sharp. I had his right arm bandaged up, wrapped around with a full spray of Full Restore. When I was done sharpening his swords I put them down. "Alright, Scyther." I said, standing up. "There you go. That right arm of yours should be better in no time, but now I want to see if your swords are sharp enough." I pointed over to a nearby tree. "Slash that tree with your left sword.

Scyther flew into the air, landing beside the tree. He lifted up his arm, slicing the tree with ease. At first the tree didn't move, but as if it was in a cheesy movie, the tree had a line appeared on it, and then slid from the cut down, falling to the ground.

"Is that better, Scyther?" I screamed.

"Scy… ther…" Scythers eyes grew wide. He was so surprised. His blade was so sharp that it sliced the tree and it felt like nothing more than air. He flew back to me with a smile on his face. He landed beside me and Ricky, who had stayed quite for a long time. He gave me a smile before I recalled him.

"So that's your secret, huh?" Ricky asked, standing up and dusting off his pants.

Pichu ran up to my, jumping to my jacket and crawling up to my shoulder where he sat. "What?" I looked at Ricky oddly as we made our way to the Pokecenter.

"Your strength in your pokemon. All you ever do is train and make them the best they can be."

"Yeah." I laughed as we kept walking. "You must do that too. I mean, after all, you have five pokemon and only used four of them. You must have trained them a lot to pull that off."

"No, not really." He glummed. "You see, I tried for the League in Hoenn, but I didn't make it past the preliminaries."

"I'm sorry." I said, thinking back to when I was at the platue with Shonna, training all of our pokemon for the matches. We trained for months, perfecting every move our pokemon had. But, in the end, it really boiled down to us. That battle with her was the toughest I ever had. I knew before we started battling that day that one of use was going to be crowned pokemon master, the only thing I didn't know about, was who. It was honestly a stroke of luck that I did. If she landed one more good move in, she would have wiped the floor with me.

"But hey! That's cool." Ricky said, breaking my thoughts. "One good thing about it was that I earned eight badges their, I have seven here, and my pokemon are so strong that I don't need to worry about training."

"You know, regardless on how powerful a pokemon already is, there is always room for improvements." I said, looking at Pichu. "And sometimes the ones you never guess would be good, turn out to be one of the best."

"Pichu!" He held up his little fist, letting out a little static.

* * *

When we got in the center it was already pretty late. It was starting to get dark outside, and I knew that it would take us almost a full day to get through the forest. I healed my pokemon as Ricky flirted with joy. We both sighed into a room, taking our keys and throwing our stuff in the rooms adjacent to each other. I closed my door, flopping down on the bed, as Pichu did the same. I rolled over, thinking about all the times I spent with Shonna at the Indigo Plateau. It was hard to believe that I spent that much time with her and never even spoke a word of how I felt. My heart sunk again, making me feel a little sick to my stomach. I raised up, reaching for the bottle of water that I took for the front desk. I dug through my bag, picking out my pills, putting one in my mouth and washing it down. With how much I hated my mother at least she was nice enough to give me these. I laid back down, drifting off to sleep, thinking about Shonna's pretty face.