Arden looked down at the unconscious pidgey. "Should I… throw a pokeball at it?" he asked his squirtle. The tiny turtle pokemon shrugged.
The boy bit his lip and knelt down. "Well, we can't just leave it here, right?" he said. "I mean… it's so pathetic. What if those mean rattata come back and hurt it?"
Gimpy mumbled and shrugged again.
"You know what, Gimpy? You're not a very good conversationalist," said Arden. "I have absolutely no idea what you mean at any point. Jeez! This isn't at all like I thought it'd be. Back in Goldenrod, I always saw these trainers with their pokemon, and they understood them perfectly, and their pokemon didn't have to be carried from place to place, and they never had to knock out other pokemon by falling on them!"
Gimpy hung his head slightly. "Squirt," he mumbled, sitting down glumly.
Arden frowned. After a moment he said, "Sorry. I… I'm just a little tired. It's been kinda hard. Sorry…"
He turned back to the pidgey. "Well," sighed Arden. "I guess the Pokemon Centre isn't too far away. Maybe I can just take it there, so they can make it better. I mean, it's so pathetic. I'd feel sort of like I was cheating if I caught it like this."
He scooped up the bird pokemon, which was making a dazed moaning sound. "Squirt!" said Gimpy, tugging at Arden's pant leg.
"Oh, right," said Arden. "You need to be carried, too, don't you? Nn—fine."
He picked up the lame pokemon and, awkwardly, tried to move the pair in his arms into a comfortable position. "Hey, Gimp—put your head down, or something," he said. "I can't see!"
Slowly, the young trainer started off. Somehow, he managed to get back up the ledge, carrying the cumbersome pokemon. It was quite some time before he made it to the Pokemon Centre, taking his steps carefully and slowly. The door of the Center was automatic and it opened before him—a fact he was very grateful for.
"Welcome to the Viridian City Pokemon Center!" exclaimed a chipper woman behind the counter. Her eyes widened at the state of the boy and the pokemon in his arms. "Oh, my! Those poor things--! Where are their pokeballs?"
"Uh, one of them's wild," said Arden, trying to set his squirtle down. He ended up dropping the pokemon unceremoniously. Gimpy objected angrily and righted himself. "That's really why I came here. It got hurt pretty bad, and I didn't want to just leave it out there."
"Well, that's very kind of you," said the woman, biting her lip. She didn't want to say anything about his treatment of the squirtle. It wasn't any of her business.
"Yeah, so—here it is," he said, holding out the pidgey to her. The pidgey half-opened its eyes and made a confused cooing sound.
"Oh my," said the woman. "Well, without a pokeball, I can't really put it in my machine here… But I've got some medicine that might help it."
She bent down behind the counter and, after a moment of searching, straightened up, a spray bottle in her hand. She sprayed the pidgey and, after a moment, it seemed to get better. It opened its eyes fully and, cooing, sat up.
The pidgey looked around slowly and flapped it's wings.
"Well, that's a relief," said Arden. "I guess I'll be going then. I'm going to go challenge this city's gym."
"Oh, our gym leader's out," said the woman. "Sorry. You might try Pewter city, to the north, though."
Arden frowned. "You mean I have to do more walking? What a bummer!"
"Squirt!" yelled Gimpy, waving his little arms. He didn't like walking, either.
The pidgey cooed and flapped its wings again. It hopped off the counter and promptly fell right on its face. "Is… that supposed to happen?" asked Arden.
The woman shook her head. "No, I don't think so," she said, leaning over the counter. "What did you say happened to it?"
"Uh… my squirtle, um… he knocked him out," said Arden, rubbing the back of his head.
"You should have been more careful," said the woman. The pidgey was flapping his wings on the floor, looking all about and cooing. "I think you might have given the poor dear a concussion!"
"Oh," said Arden. "That doesn't sound too good."
"You can't return it to the wild like that," she told him, frowning. "It's inhumane."
"So, what do I—oh," said Arden. He felt at the empty pokeballs on his belt. "You mean I should catch it, right?" She nodded.
Arden sighed. Of course. Another useless pokemon. That was all he needed. "Right," he said, crestfallen. He couldn't put the poor, confused Pidgey out in the fields like this. He threw one of his pokeballs at it. With a flash, it captured the bird pokemon and, almost immediately, stopped moving. "Right…"
"Squirtle!" said Gimpy, throwing his little hands up in the air. It was hard to tell if he was excited at having a team mate, or upset.
"Come on, Gimp," said Arden, picking him up. "We should get going so we can be at Pewter City by sundown." He turned to the woman. "Thank you, ma'am. Have a good day."
"You, too," said the woman chipperly. "Don't be a stranger!"