Chapter 9: Oreburgh City, The City Of Energy

I woke up to the sun shining all over my sweet face. I wanted it to go and puke sunshine all over some other miserable non-morning person. I had been able to sleep in till almost ten being that my Pokemon were inside of their capsules. I lazily got up groaning and complaining.

"I just want hungry. Ugh, I mean hungry, I'm, huh, crap." I stopped trying to correct myself after sighing. I made myself a bowl of cereal, seeing a note on the table but ignoring it with my stubborn attitude until I was done eating. Eventually though I got around to it.

"Hikari, blah blah blah. Blah diddy dah blah... What?" I read the note from Shinji. It basically stated how he refused to travel with, or anywhere near me, during the journey to Oreburgh City, on account that I was troublesome. Whatever. It also said something about how he had found a way to keep me from leaving the room for a while, but I didn't really think anything of it, unfortunately.

Heading into the bathroom I squeezed a glob of toothpaste onto my brush, sticking the mintiness into my mouth. Looking up, I saw my terrifying reflection glaring right back at me. Navy blue hair sticking up all over the place, dark circles under my eyes, and a sour look on my face. I took a quick shower and packed the remainder of my things up, most of which had been packed the day before. Grabbing my hat and putting it on before I walked up the door, only to discover that it was locked. I checked the lock, only to find that it wasn't locked.

"What the heck..." I mumbled, starting to shake the door.

A Few Hours Before

I was just about ready to leave Jubilife. And just before I opened the door to leave, I looked back to see Troublesome in a very strange position, sleeping, on the Pokemon Center's bed. A smirk spread across my face as an idea lit up my mind. I scribbled together a quick note, and grabbed a chair from the kitchen table. Shutting the door behind me, I jammed the chair underneath the door knob. I almost felt like whistling as I walked away in triumph.

I was currently holding onto the door knob with both hands while one foot was pushing into the door as I tried to open it. I did that for five more minutes before remembering the door was supposed to be pushed.

"Damn this!" I yelled, kicking the door as hard as I could. That was also when I remembered Shinji. And his note. Damn you Jerky McStinks A-lot. I spent pretty much the whole day in the hotel room, until Nurse Joy came up to check on me. But by then it was already almost four, so I decided to leave the next day instead. Not like the Pokemon cared or anything.

The next day I went through the same routine again, thankfully this time without the jammed door, and was out into the frigid air at nine. It was still kind of dark out, but the dawn was illuminated by a giant billboard, advertising some cheap party store. The giant hearts on the screen reminded me that Valentine's Day was tomorrow. Great. Just great.

Valentine's Day. Actually one of my favorite holidays, though I pretended to hate it just because it fit my personality. In all actuality, even now I imagined of having the guy of my dreams taking me out on the most romantic date, proposing, the whole shebang. Over the years I'd gone through every Valentine's Day scenario for me. But of course, since I had always been considered a freak, I had never really experienced a true Valentine's Day. I continued throughout the city, finally finding the exit to Route 203.

"Kari Kari!" I turned around, trying to find the source of the sound. Jun was running after me with that ridiculously adorable grin on his face. Adorable in a friendly way of course.

"Kari Kari?" I asked.

"Yeah! That's your new nickname! I thought of it just now."

"Really? You'd think a great nickname like that would've taken all night." I replied sarcastically. Jun was far too dense to realize it though.

"I know right! But anyways, you got tougher right?"

"Um, yeah I guess." I was barely done speaking before Jun replied.

"Great because I got waaaaay tougher! Now I'll demonstrate to you!"

"Jun, wai-"

"I choose you Starly!" Before I knew it I had been sucked into the whirling vortex of random subjects and forcing you to do things before you even have the chance to think about it known as Jun. My best friend. My least favorite Pokemon was now sitting before me, wanting a battle just as much as it's trainer. Sighing, I took a few steps back to create a makeshift battlefield.

"Electra, come on out!" The electric type Pokemon appeared before me, while Jun made the first move.

"Starly, Wing Attack!" Starly was fast, and it's wing hit Electra before I could react.

"Come on girl, shake it off! Now use Spark!" Electra was shrouded in blue electricity, charging at Starly. Though the flying type Pokemon dodged most of her attacks, one of them skimmed Starly doing some damage.

"Starly Quick Attack!" Again Electra was hit. "Keep it going!" Starly continued attacking, with no sign of letting up.

"Electra Thunder Wave!"

"Shi,shi, shi!" She couldn't attack, being pummeled by Starly.

"Step to the side Electra!" She managed to do so ever so slightly, both causing Starly to miss and lose his balance. "Now use Bite!" Electra grabbed onto Starly with her small jaws, the starling Pokemon crying out. My Shinx threw him across the ground, landing in front of it's trainer.

"Starly-" For once, I interrupted Jun.

"Thunder Wave!" A wave of blue electricity emanated off of Electra, paralyzing Starly.

"Nonononono!" Jun jumped around waving his arms like noodles.

"Alright! Use Spark!" Electra easily hit Starly, causing him to faint.

"That is buttness cuz I ain't losin'! Chimchar your turn!" The fire type Pokemon smiled and barked at us.

"That's what you think Jun! Electra, Bite!" Electra bit onto Chimchar's arm.

"Char!"

"Chimchar, Ember!" The fire type Pokemon blew small bolts of fire onto, well, to be blunt, Electra's butt. She immediately cried out and released her the monkey Pokemon's arm, beginning to glow all sorts of different colors like all Shinx do when in danger.

"Electra try Thunder Wave!" Before she could though, Jun commanded a move of his own.

"Chimchar, Taunt!" Chimchar smirked at Electra, gesturing her to come at him with his finger.

"Thunder Wave!" Electra cried out, obviously expecting a blue wave of electricity to run over Chimchar. But it didn't. "Why-"

"Taunt prevents your opponent from using any moves that don't do damage! I'd think you of all people would know that Kari Kari!" I smiled a little bit.

"You're getting better. Alright then, you want us to attack? Electra, Spark!"

"Dodge it!" Chimchar jumped and flipped over my Shinx. "Now use Ember again!" After being hit, Electra harshly hit the ground, rolling a few feet while kicking up a large dirt cloud. After it dispersed, I realized that Electra had fainted. I got out her Pokeball and she returned.

"You did great girl." I complimented, placing the capsule back into my bag. "Mazey, your turn!" The Pokeball spun in midair before Mazey appeared in front of me in a flash of blue and white light. "Mazey, Razor Leaf!"

"Counter with Scratch!" Chimchar was amazingly fast, and using Scratch cut up Razor Leaf. Buuuut, I had already commanded another attack, so as soon as the previous attack was out of the picture, Mazey used Tackle on Chimchar.

"Chimchar, Ember!"

"Quick, Withdraw Mazey!" Ember did less damage after using Withdraw. "Now use Absorb!" The attack did little damage, Chimchar being a fire type.

"Ember again!" Mazey was forced backwards by the attack.

"Let's finish this with Leaf Sphere girl!" Leaf Sphere was the name I had come up with for the move we had used in the Contest. Absorb concentrated into a sphere, covered with leaves from Razor Leaf.

"Ember!"

"Withdraw!" Using Withdraw again made Ember much less effective, and allowed Mazey to continue with her attack. Finally, it was done. "Now attack!" Chimchar didn't have time to move, and Leaf Sphere hit head on.

"Come on Chimchar, get up!" Jun encouraged his weak Pokemon, trying to get itself off of the ground. "You can do it!" Chimchar then collapsed unconsciously to the ground. "What!? I lost!? NOOOOOO!" Jun dramatically dropped to his knees, screaming his loss into the heavens. He then made his way over by Chimchar, patting it's head.

"I can't believe we lost bud. Well, that was an awesome battle, and you were totally amazing Chimchar!" Both trainer and Pokemon grinned at each other, before Chimchar disappeared into a Pokeball. Jun got up, throwing his fist into the air. "That's it then, the last time I'm going to lose! Along with my Pokemon, I'm going to be the world's toughest trainer and you know it Kari Kari! The first thing we have to do is beat the Oreburgh City Gym Leader! I'll totally be tough enough for that! See ya Kari Kari!" And with that he was gone, running off onto Route 203, leaving me alone with Mazey.

"Well, I suppose we should get going." Mazey followed by my side. She battled a second trainer on her own, allowing Electra to rest in her Pokeball. After a period of time, we came to a small cave. The rock formation it was in prevented me from going any other way. I noticed Mazey on a rock sniffing the entrance. I got out my Pokedex to find out if we had made a wrong turn or something.

"Oreburgh Gate. Once one gets through the tunnel, the city of Oreburgh is just a stone's throw away." I shrugged my shoulders.

"Guess it is this way." Mazey led the way, easily making her way through the small tunnel. I, however, had to bend down being that the ceiling was pretty low, even having to crawl on my hands and knees at one point. Eventually the tunnel widened out into an actual cave, and I stood up to brush my legs and skirt off.

"Ah, the second trainer of the day passes through!" A hiker told me. Better stay away from this guy, I thought to myself. Seems like a creeper. "Oh? You do not have the newest and most popular of trainer technology?" I raised one of my eyebrows at him, showing that I had no idea of what he was talking about. "A Poketch of course!" I immediately remembered the much advertised watch, extremely popular at the moment. I had thought about getting one in Jubilife, but never got around to it. "You must be quite out of the loop then miss." I struggled to keep from lashing out at the guy. "Well, I suppose this could make up for your lack of technology." He held out a device I recognized from television.

"A TM?" I guessed, taking it from his hand.

"Almost, it;s Rock Smash, an HM."

"Hm." Was all I said. I knew that HMs were supposed to be special moves, but they weren't so much needed. Other Pokemon moves could smash rocks and they didn't specifically need to know an HM move for your water type to carry you across water. Though it was a good thing to have, just in case. "Thank you."

"No problemo!" The hiker saluted me as I nodded in return before continuing through the cave. Soon I saw two people, a boy and a girl, eating a picnic?

"Um, strange place for a picnic, no?" I asked. They looked back, the boy blushing slightly as the girl smiled at me and stood up.

"Some people think so, but my brother and I like the quiet and all." I nodded.

"Hm, I'll have to try it sometime!"

"Well, we just finished up eating, so would you like to battle us?" Her brother began blushing even more waving his hands back and forth. Stupid. He already likes me without even knowing my name.

"Both of you?"

"Yeah a double battle!" I took out Electra's Pokeball, wondering if she was ready for another battle. Suddenly I felt a small jolt of electricity run throughout my body. Then, I knew that she was ready.

"I'd love to!" I replied with a determined tone.

"My name is Diana, and this is my brother, Curtis." Diana held her hand out and whispered to me. "He's a bit on the shy side." Curtis' face was redder than an Infernape's tail. Diana held out her hand. I smiled and shook it.

"I'm Hikari." We got into positions and I released my second Pokemon after Mazey walked out in front of me. "Electra, spotlight!"

"Shi-i!"

"Okay then, Budew!" A small green Pokemon appeared.

"Dew, Budew!" I looked to Curtis, expecting him to send out his own Pokemon. We waited about a minute and Curtis did nothing.

"Curtis!"

"Diana!" Curtis copied his sister by imitating her higher pitched voice and placing his hands on his hips.

"Release Shinx now before she gets fed up and leaves!" Curtis' face again grew red, and he finally sent out his Pokemon, a Shinx.

"Shi- rrrr." As my Shinx did, Curtis' male Shinx started out with a roar, but somehow ended up in a purr. It kept staring at Electra with a weird look in it's eye. Electra quickly stuck up her nose at the Pokemon who was obviously falling for her. Before the battle began I unclipped my Pokedex from my bag.

"Budew, the bud Pokemon. Sensitive to changing temperature, the bud is said to bloom when it feels the sun's warm touch." The electronic female voice told me before the grass type Pokemon made the first move.

"Budew use Growth!"

"And Shinx use Leer on both Shinx and Turtwig!" His Shinx looked reluctant, but then used Leer on Mazey but I commanded my own moves before he got to Electra.

"Mazey, use Withdraw and Electra, Charge!" Electra began glowing with blue electricity while Mazey also glowed blue, raising her defense.

"Alright Budew, use Absorb on Shinx!"

"Shinx, Tackle on Turtwig!"

"Electra, counter with Thunder Wave, Mazey, Razor Leaf!" Thunder Wave protected Electra but didn't paralyze anyone and Razor Leaf did damage on Shinx.

"Mazey, Razor Leaf again and Electra use Bite on Shinx!" Razor Leaf hit the two opposing Pokemon.

"Shinx dodge it!" Shinx though was too busy drooling over Electra to pay any attention to it's trainer and ended up getting bitten. Then Diana looked at her brother with a strange expression on her face and nodded, Curtis soon did the same.

"Shinx, use Thunderbolt on both of them!"

"Dodge it you guys!" My two Pokemon were too busy jumping around avoiding the Thunderbolts to do anything more than that. I was about to finally command a move of my own but was quickly pulled into the dark depths of a vision. No blurry eyesight, or warning, just a vision.

Weird, I thought, witnessing the part of me that I hated so much. It's of our battle. Mazey and Electra dodging the Thunderbolts. But my vision went farther. I commanded Mazey to use Absorb, just as I had been planning to do, but before she could, both of my Pokemon were hit with a powerful attack from behind. Solarbeam? Oh crap, I completely forgot about Budew! I snapped out of it, and quickly made the command to dodge.

"Guys, get out of the way!" Both Pokemon barely made it out of the way before Solarbeam burst between them, and ended up hitting Curtis' Shinx, knocking it unconscious.

"Diana!"

"What!? You're the one that messed up our strategy, you didn't keep them occupied enough!" The two started arguing, and I took that as my ticket to victory.

"Mazey use Tackle and then use your Spark Electra!" Diana turned around just in time to see her Pokemon get pounded before fainting.

"Budew!" She ran out to her injured Pokemon, comforting it before returning it to it's Pokeball. "Wow Hikari, you sure are good. That strategy of ours usually works, but when it doesn't we always start arguing about it and totally lose the match for ourselves." Curtis nodded, agreeing with her.

"Well, good battle you guys. I'll see you around?"

"Sounds good to me!" Diana replied. I waved goodbye and returned Mazey to her Pokeball, allowing Electra to stretch her legs for a change. Ten minutes later, after only thirty minutes in the cave, I recognized light.

"Well, at least this cave has one actual entrance." I mumbled to myself, Electra purring in agreement.

"Grgr umble!" I stopped in my tracks, looking around trying to find the source of the noise. I looked down at my electric type Pokemon, and she sweatdropped at me.

"You're hungry aren't you?" I slightly laughed before asking, Electra happily nodded at me. "Alright, we'll eat right after we get out of this cave." We made our way into the light of day. The whole city was visible from here, we could even see the entrance to the mines. Nearby we found the perfect spot for a picnic, away from the vents exchanging air into the mines. After a quick meal I put Electra into my duffel bag, allowing her to be carried in it. She was just adorable, sticking her cute little tail and head out of it! But before we went down the first flight of stairs leading into the city I saw a small rundown sign.

"Welcome to Oreburgh City, the City Of Energy!"

Done with this chapter. I'm starting two other fanfics right now, and I'll be doing one chapter for each and then posting them all at the same time. Done. Don't own Pokemon.