Hey everybody! Big shout out to Hdnggrnchrg who has given me amazing reviews thus far!
I feel like I've neglected Milo a bit. I mean I gave him a few scenes in the last chapter, but it doesn't seem like much to me. To solve this, I'll try to put in as many scenes with Milo as possible from here on out, given that Kurtis has now "officially" left on his journey.
I also finally got everything finalized for college! Officially a freshman…. Again…. Oh well. I'm also playing Ultimate Frisbee for school, too! Got some kick-ass cleats for $40 when they're like $250 online :O
Sorry for the late-ish update though. I wanted to get used to my classes and how all my professors want the homework done. Hopefully from now on I'll update a little bit faster.
Here's Chapter 6!
Chapter 6 – Seize the Day
My wings were slowly moving against the howling wind. Milo was dragging behind me as I struggled to keep the distance between us to a minimum, but the gusts proved to be too much for the both of us. When the winds began, we both decided to try and strengthen our flight endurance, so we hit the skies.
"Do you think we overdid it a bit?", I said, the winds blowing the words right back into my mouth.
Milo, with his sarcasm, which he probably got from me, replied, "Oh, not at all."
"Let's land, then. I'm getting a little tired.", I said, obviously hearing the sarcasm.
We circled the sky to make sure there was nobody in the area and touched down next to a long body of water and a scattered forest. I turned on my X-Tranciever and waited for the loading screen to pass before looking at all of the individual applications.
"Let's see… We have a map with gps, phone, email, mp3 player? Cool."
I opened up the map function to try and get an estimate of where we were in relation to civilization. When it opened, a geographical map popped up on the screen with a dot marking our location. I zoomed in since it was hard to determine our location on a map of the entire region.
"Okay, apparently we're about 1 mile north of Oldale Town, which means we should either spend the night in Oldale, or grab dinner in Oldale and leave for Littleroot after that. The trip to Littleroot from Oldale is about 2 miles."
Milo thought for a moment before he stated his opinion. "How about getting dinner to go? I'd kinda like to get to where we need to go before we hit the hay."
"Sounds good to me."
We proceeded to walk, or just sit on my shoulder in Milo's case, south along the somewhat-forested pathway towards Oldale Town. Although it was only a mile walk, we were both too exhausted from our flight to put much effort into our strides.
After a solid 30 minute walk, we reached the lush, green landscapes of the quiet town. We immediately noticed the small number of buildings as well as the Pokemon Center and Poke Mart.
"Let's get you rested up at the Pokemon Center first. Nurse Joy will help you out."
"Wait, I don't have to go back in the sphere of doom, right?", Milo asked, shaking.
I laughed, "I'm pretty sure she can heal you if you're not in your Poke Ball."
He sighed in relief, "Thank goodness."
We entered through the sliding glass doors of the red-hued building, hoping to see the same interior design as the Fallarbor Center, but we were greeted with a much simpler sight.
The solid blue carpets led to the front desk, which had a simple white countertop. The walls were covered with bricks and wooden shelves, adding a rustic feel to the room. The hallways leading back towards the living quarters were painted a vibrant yellow, adding a well-placed color scheme for the building.
I reached the counter and Nurse Joy greeted me with a, "Welcome to the Pokemon Center! How may I help you today?"
"Hi Nurse Joy.", I said with a smile, "Could you give Milo here a once-over?"
"Sure thing. Just put him in his Poke Ball and I'll handle all the rest."
"Well, that's the thing. He doesn't like his Poke Ball so he stays outside. Could you do it with him outside of the ball?"
She smiled, as if remembering a past event. "Of course I can! You're not the only person who's wondered that."
I nudged my partner forward. "Go ahead, Milo.", and with that he flew onto Joy's shoulder.
I decided to take a quick breather in the lobby for the time being. Glancing around, I noticed a countertop with a stand of brochures that screamed, 'Read me! Make yourself look like a tourist!', so I decided to pick one up to see what options we had for dinner.
Walking back to the furnished corner of the center, I heard the sliding glass doors open. Looking in that direction, I noticed a young girl. She looked to be around 13 years old. Her medium-length red hair was straightened with one bang covering her left eye. She wore a simple pair of blue jeans, black sneakers, and a black brand-name sweatshirt. Also, she had a messenger bag draped around her shoulders and was resting at her hips. Her only eye that was visible glinted in the lighting of the room, appearing to shine with enthusiasm in comparison to the grin that was plastered on her face.
I paid her no attention as she passed in front of me, walking towards the counter while I headed to the large sofa, flopping on my back in exhaustion. I then realized what a horrible idea that was, because my wings cried out in immediate pain.
I cringed, now thinking I should move locations. I got up and walked over to a cushioned armchair sitting parallel to a nightstand and the chair's twin. When I got comfortable, I stared to look through the brochure.
Turns out that Oldale had a burger joint a few blocks down and a stop-and-go hot-dog stall in the center of town. Deciding that hot-dogs might be our best bet, I closed the brochure.
I looked up to see the girl from before talking to Nurse Joy, who was loading up a Poke Ball into the massive healing machine. She then gave it back to the girl when finished, who snuck a glance towards me before exiting the center.
Nurse Joy broke me out of my focus, "Excuse me, sir. Your Swablu is all fit and ready to go!", she said with a smile
"Thanks, Joy.", I kindly replied as Milo soundly flew onto my shoulder.
As I was walking out the door, I yelled, "We hope to see you again!"
Joy laughed, "That's my line!"
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
We finished off our hot dogs as we were exiting the town. Surprisingly, Milo ate his before I even got halfway done with mine.
"Milo, I hope you aren't like this with every meal….", I said.
"Don't worry. I think it's just a Swablu thing."
"Well, that isn't reassuring.", I facedropped.
Almost immediately after I said this, a voice blurted out, "Hey, you! With the Swablu!"
My head turned toward the distraction in an instant. To my surprise, the girl from the center was sprinting to where I was, as if she were getting chased by a large herd of Tauros.
When she stopped a few feet away, catching her breath, I asked, "Can I help you?"
She took a few deep breaths and said, "Do you want to battle?"
My eyes grew wide. "Seriously?"
She nodded and pulled out a Poke Ball. "One on one okay with you?"
Adrenaline started pumping through my body, "What do you say, Milo? Would you like to have your first battle?"
The bird nodded with a determined smirk and flew onto the ground.
The mystery girl and I separated ourselves from each other to give the combatants room to battle, then she threw her Poke Ball.
"Let's go, Torchic!"
The flightless chick was released from its ball, but instead of a playful, young Pokemon, a matured version came out with a clam and determined expression.
"Well I don't like being the gentleman sometimes, but that's always been who I am. Ladies first?"
"With pleasure! Torchic, start with Ember!"
The bird released thousands of tiny, scorching embers from its mouth, directed right at Milo.
"Hit the skies, Milo!"
Milo, with a down-thrust of his wings, took to the air.
"Ember again!"
Torchic let loose some more embers, but they appeared to not be able to reach Milo at his current height.
"Try a Sing attack, Milo!"
He let loose a string of high, melodic tones that were enough to lull the red bird to a slumber.
"No! Torchic, wake up!"
"Alright, Milo! Let's take advantage of this with an endless string of Pecks!"
Milo dove down with the intent of a strong assault, hitting the red bird with an array of hits. When the Torchic woke up, it looked like it was almost on its last reserves of strength.
"No way!" The girl exclaimed.
"Let's finish it, Milo! Peck, once more!"
With that hit, the Torchic was launched back towards the girl's feet.
She sighed as she returned her partner to its Poke Ball, "I guess you win, then"
Milo flew back to my shoulder, shaking with the adrenaline pumping through his body.
"Great job, Milo", I said with a smile as I absentmindedly scratched his belly.
"Great battle, man.", she stuck out her hand.
"You too.", I smiled and took her hand. "I'm Kurtis."
"Carrie.", she grinned.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Milo and I arrived at Littleroot Town just as the sun was setting. We emerged from the short forest pathway into a quaint, little town that appeared to be quite secluded from modern society. Almost every house was made of refined wood and had a very country-style feel to them.
"Let's find the professor. I think he might want to see us.", I told Milo.
I immediately noticed the largest building in the south end of town. At first glance, one could obviously tell that it was a laboratory due to the obscenely large satellite on the ceiling and multiple sensors on the side of the building. As I was about to turn the doorknob and enter, the door opened just before.
A husky man in his mid-thirties with khaki shorts and a simple blue shirt appeared on the other side. His beard was obviously unshaven and had a mop of black hair going down to his shoulders. As he was fiddling with his keys, apparently locking up, he noticed my presence.
"Oh! I'm sorry! What can I help you with?", he said
"Um, hi. I'm looking for Professor Oak? He told me to stop by if I was in the area."
"Oh! You must be the young man that he was talking about earlier today! Kurtis, right?", he asked.
"Yeah, and this is Milo", I pointed to him and he chirped. "You must be Professor Birch, then?", I offered a hand.
"You got the right man.", he shook and then locked up the lab for the day. "Follow me, then. Oak is staying at my house with my family. I'm assuming you need a place to spend the night? One of the couches is still available if you want it.", he said with amusement.
I laughed, "Yeah, that'd be great."
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Somehow, I ended up in the midst of a rather noisy living room. Professors Oak and Birch were having some debate about whether or not Sevipers may have evolved from the Ekans-Arbok line, and near the television, the Professor's wife was trying to calm down their 6-year-old son because his favorite show wasn't on the television.
Milo and I simply stared at the scene with deadpanned faces.
"I'm kind of glad I don't have any siblings", I whispered.
"Me too", Milo said.
It appeared that the colleagues were done with their debate as evident by Oak coming to where I was sitting.
"So how was your trip here, Kurtis?", he asked.
"Actually, it wasn't that bad. We didn't really see many wild Pokemon, though. Only the occasional flock of Wingull overhead.", I said.
"Ah, that's good. Very good. Well, I suppose you're probably wondering why I wanted you to show up here, aren't you?", he questioned.
"Yeah, what did you need from me?"
Birch interrupted, "We both were wondering if you could look after a Pokemon for us."
Curious, I asked, "Wow. Really? Why me?"
"Honestly, we believe you're a good-natured young man who has the talent to raise Pokemon to their potential", Oak started, "Plus, looking at your trainer profile, we both think that you will be perfect for him."
"Why base that decision mostly on my trainer profile, though?", I asked.
Birch said, "Although we might have given him to a regular trainer, you said in your profile that you want to train Flying types specifically, correct?"
"Yeah, but why couldn't you simply take care of it? I just started out as a trainer. 'Officially', I haven't even started my journey yet.", I said.
"Just full of questions, aren't you?", Birch said.
"Well the Professors of each region usually only care for the starting Pokemon of their respective region. We typically don't have the supplies, unless there are special circumstances.", he said, "The only one I can think of is Ash. All of his Pokemon reside at my lab… I've gotten off topic."
Birch interrupted Oak, "Basically, you will have supplies that we professors, surprisingly, don't have."
I pondered for a moment, until a figure came through the front door.
"Ugh… Sorry I'm late, dad. I…", at this moment he noticed everybody in the room, "Did I miss the invitation?", he grinned.
"Haha, not quite. Kurtis, this is my son, Brendan. He recently became a champion of the Hoenn League this past month."
His hat, which appeared to make him have white hair, was a green headband while his orange and black-patterned athletic shirt matched it conspicuously. His black and grey athletic shorts calmly accented the black pants and green backpack.
"Dude, do you know how popular you are in Fallarbor? The girls there will not stop talking about you.", I said
He laughed, "Well that means I have fans, and that's always good."
I chuckled with him, then turned my attention back to the Professors, not until I spotted Milo sound asleep on the armrest of the couch I was currently sitting on. I checked my X-Tranciever and noticed how it was almost past 10:30 P.M.
"Well, I'd love to continue our conversation, but it's getting pretty late. Do you want to handle everything tomorrow?", I asked.
"That's not a problem, Kurtis", Oak said as he yawned, "I was getting slightly drowsy anyways."
"Then its settled. We'll regroup in the morning?", Birch said. Everybody nodded except for Brendan, who obviously was not in the loop.
"I'm slightly confused… Wait, nobody take my bed!", he said as he bolted upstairs.
I didn't pay the slightest bit of attention as my eyes closed into a blissful slumber.
So after a month-long wait, here's chapter six! Sorry again if you guys thought it took so long.
Please R&R! See you guys next time!