Chapter 4: The Stalker
Skitty awoke pretty early the next morning, convinced that what she had heard the night before was just her mind playing tricks on her. She looked at her trainer who was still asleep, wiggled out of her arms, and then hopped down onto the floor in search of food.
"Oh? I thought I heard a bell jingling. You're quite cute!" Nurse Joy exclaimed as Skitty wandered into the room where all of the other Pokémon were. All except Mudkip were awake and eating breakfast so Nurse Joy set down a bowl of food for Skitty too. As the aroma of food filled the room, Mudkip's nose twitched and he finally awoke from his slumber to be fed.
"There you are, Skitty," Lyla said as she and Aiden walked into the room. Espeon was following behind them and Aiden had his guitar with him.
"My goodness! Those two are going to eat me out of a house and home!" Nurse Joy exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips as she observed Torchic and Mudkip devour their second meals.
"Hehe, sorry about that," Lyla said, rubbing her nose a little.
"It's fine. I've just never seen a Torchic or Mudkip with such big appetites. You sure have a lot to handle!"
Aiden took a seat in a chair in the corner and set the guitar in his lap. Espeon curled up by his feet as he played and Nurse Joy offered her some food. She simply stared back at the nurse arrogantly.
"I am not very hungry right now. Thank you," the Psychic-type said to the nurse after a few awkwardmoments.
"Sorry, Espeon won't eat food given to her by anyone but me. She's kinda finicky…" Aiden trailed off as he began to play his guitar.
"My apologies," Espeon said, sticking her nose up in the air. "But I have a little more pride than the others…"
"I understand," Nurse Joy said. Embarrassed, she walked into the other room.
"You really should eat something Espeon," Aiden said, taking an apple from his bag. She sniffed it and turned her head away.
"Thank you, Aiden, but I really think I should wait. I do not wish to eat anything right now…"
Lyla smiled as the two bickered and she walked over to Mudkip who was looking great, but still covered in bandages. She stroked him as he finished up his food and burped.
"How ya feelin?" she asked. He rubbed against her happily and Skitty hopped up to get some attention too.
"His bandages can come off when you get to the Pokémon Center in Petalburg City. The Nurse Joy there will do it; I've already contacted her. Please don't let him battle between now and then. He's quite young and he slightly over-exerted himself so he needs to rest now," Nurse Joy explained to Lyla.
"Hehe, will do!" Lyla said, feeling a little guilty for Mudkip's condition.
"Alright, everyone! I have our whole day planned out!" Eziray announced, walking into the room with Charo who had gone to wake her up.
"Here we go," Aiden said as he stopped playing and sighed.
"We get some breakfast to go then we head out to Route 102 again and this time we actually get to Petalburg City and then I immediately challenge and defeat Norman the gym leader, and we will conclude our day by getting a big head start to Rustboro City!"
"We gotta schedule in a visit to the Pokémon Center in Petalburg. Mudkip here's got an appointment," Lyla added.
"Aww! Is he okay?" Eziray asked, rushing over to check on him.
"Yeah, he's fine, but I can't battle with him or take the bandages off. Nurse Joy said so."
"Then we better listen! And we better start getting ready to hit the road!"
"I had a feeling you'd say something like that," Lyla said with a sigh as Eziray took her by the hand and led her to the other room to make sure that everything was all packed up and ready to go. Aiden smiled and began to play again because he already had all of his things ready. About ten minutes passed by and the girls were ready to go too. All of the Pokémon were returned to their Pokéballs, the trainers thanked Nurse Joy, and then they made their way to Route 102 once again.
"Déjà vu," Lyla muttered as they passed the 'Route 102' sign.
"I blame the Seedot," Aiden said with a chuckle.
"Mya!" Skitty groaned.
"Skitty blames Lyla!" Eziray exclaimed with a laugh.
"How was I supposed to know what Bide was? It is a pretty cool move though and I'm glad we can use it!" Lyla exclaimed and as if he knew that he was being talked about, Mudkip popped out of his ball. She sighed and added, "Now isn't that right, Mudkip?"
He cocked his head and looked up at her and she sighed, patting him on the head. Then she noticed that Skitty's ears were twitching and before she could say anything, Skitty suddenly whipped around and scanned the area nervously.
"What's wrong, Skitty?" Eziray asked.
"Mrrrraaa…" she whined, backing up.
"What are you afraid of, baby girl?" Lyla asked, bending down to pick her up. Her ears were still twitching wildly.
"She was kind of acting like this back in the ruins but not to this extent," Aiden said.
"Yeah, she did something like this last night too but I didn't see anything. Skitty is there something wrong with your ears?" Lyla asked. Skitty shook her head and hid her face in against Lyla's body. Mudkip cocked his head and looked around. It was obvious that he couldn't sense whatever Skitty was upset about. They continued to walk and Lyla whispered softly to Skitty in hopes that she would calm down. After a little while, she seemed to be better but wanted to be carried. Mudkip sighed loudly and Lyla looked down at him.
"Mud?" it said innocently, looking up at his trainer with a pleading face.
"No, Mudkip. I'm not allowed to take the bandages off. Nurse Joy will take them off when we get to Petalburg."
"Muuuuud!"
"Mudkip, I said no!"
"MUUUUUUUD!"
"Don't you want to heal and get better? We have to leave the bandages on!"
Mudkip sighed as if he understood and then took a deep breath that he held for a moment before blasting Lyla in the face with Water Gun. Aiden and Eziray couldn't help but laugh a little and Mudkip continued to sulk as he walked behind Lyla's heels.
"No, no. This is actually a good thing, believe it or not. Now I never have to waste time taking showers. I mean how can you ever get dirt when you're getting dowsed three to five times daily? Thank you, Mudkip. Thank you for being so efficient and conserving water. I really appreciate it," Lyla said sarcastically.
"Mud-kip," Mudkip muttered.
"And you shouldn't even be out right now anyways! Get back in your ball!" she exclaimed, holding up his Pokéball.
"He's just going to pop out again in about ten minutes anyway," Eziray said as Lyla called him back.
"Not if I wrap it in duct tape," Lyla muttered.
"Now that wouldn't be very nice!"
They turned to find Olivia standing there with a pair of sunglasses on her face. She was smiling as she took them off and tossed them to Aiden who caught them with a sigh. Then her smile faded and she continued.
"Now as I was saying, I'm assuming there's a Pokémon in there because it makes no sense to wrap an empty Pokéball in duct tape. I think that's really mean, don't you Aiden? I would never do that to an innocent little Pokémon!"
"It. Was. A. Joke," Lyla muttered as Olivia pressed up against Aiden.
"Anyways! You can always count on me, Aiden! See? I got your sunglasses back!"
"Yes, Olivia. Thank you," Aiden said, pushing her away a little.
"So. Olivia. Just out of curiosity. Why are you here? Again?" Lyla asked, wondering if Skitty had been freaking out because Olivia was following them.
"I should ask you the same question. You're still tagging along with them? Um, stalker much? I only bump into them from time to time, but what you're doing seems pretty ridiculous to me!"
"I'm traveling with them. They invited me…Well actually damn near kidnapped me but that's not the point."
"How come you guys never invited me to come along?"
"Because you're not even a trainer!"
"I am so, Miss Lyla! I'll show you! Jigglypuff, I'd like you to meet someone!"
Olivia tossed a Pokéball into the air and a Jigglypuff popped out.
"Only one?" Lyla asked.
"Only one! So how 'bout a one-on-one battle?" Olivia challenged.
"Skitty, are you up for it?" Lyla asked. Skitty nodded so she set her down and Skitty positioned herself.
"Alright, Jigglypuff! Use Rollout!"
Jigglypuff curled up and rolled forward but Skitty whirled around and wacked it back with her tail.
"Mya…" Skitty trailed off, not really impressed.
"Fine then, use Disable! And then pound!"
Jigglypuff's eyes began to glow blue and she held up her arms. Skitty also became outlined in blue and she found herself unable to move.
"Skitty!" Lyla exclaimed as the Jigglypuff hurried forward and smacked Skitty across the face with one of her fists.
"Now use Rollout again!"
Jigglypuff curled up once again and rolled over Skitty a few times until the effects of Disable wore off and Skitty moved out of the way. Jigglypuff came back around, however, and was rolling at her with incredible speed and power.
"I love this move because it gets stronger the more it hits!" Olivia exclaimed.
"Interesting. Skitty? Use Tackle!" Lyla exclaimed. Skitty nodded and charged forward, running into the incoming Pokémon head-on. Jigglypuff bounced back, hit a tree, flew forward, bounced off a rock, hit the ground, spun up into the air, and landed on its face. Skitty shook her head a little bit but seemed fine. Jigglypuff, on the other hand, struggled to her feet and was covered in bruises and red marks. She wasn't too thrilled about it either; she was infuriated.
"Hyper Voice!" Olivia shouted.
Jigglypuff's eyes began to glow light blue and she opened her mouth to let loose three bright blue rings that created a terrible echoing sound. The rings blasted Skitty back and the sound was too much for her to handle. She collapsed almost instantly and cried out in pain.
"Skitty, use Assist!" Lyla shouted, knowing that any one of Mudkip's moves except Tackle would help her out. Skitty opened her mouth and a white orb formed inside and from the orb, a massive Ice Beam was shot that froze both Jigglypuff and her trainer solid.
"Myaaaa," Skitty meowed happily as she stood up. She was glad that the echoing had ceased. Lyla poked the frozen Olivia in the forehead and turned to the others.
"Hey, what do you say we conveniently forget that we have a Fire Pokémon with us and get the hell out of here?" Lyla asked.
"Agreed," the other two said and they took off once again. The rest of the hike was pretty quiet; there were no more trainers, Mudkip stayed in his ball, and the only wild Pokémon they encountered were some Tailow flying high up in the sky. Route 102 brought them to a cliff over-looking a fairly large city. Eziray ran to the edge of the cliff and the others followed to enjoy the view. Eziray appeared to be scanning for something, however.
"I can't find it!" she exclaimed. "Help me find the Petalburg City Gym!"
"Don't suppose you found the Pokémon Center yet, did you? We have to stop there first, remember?" Lyla reminded.
"Oh yeah!" Eziray exclaimed. "It's there! Wait no, there…Wait, no…Is that it?"
Lyla laughed and took her by the arm.
"Come on, Ez, let's just go down there and see," she said, leading Eziray back to the road that would take them into the city. They soon found the Pokémon Center and walked in. Lyla had already let Mudkip back out of his Pokéball so Nurse Joy knew who they were as soon as they entered.
"Welcome!" Nurse Joy exclaimed. "I've been expecting you!"
"I guess I'll just drop him off for a little bit," Lyla said. "My friend here is itching for a gym battle and if I don't hurry, she'll leave without me."
"That's fine!" Nurse Joy exclaimed as Mudkip hopped up onto the counter and Eziray laughed a little.
"Thank you so much!" Lyla exclaimed. "We'll be back soon!"
"Hey…do you happen to know where exactly I could find Norman's gym?" Eziray asked.
"Oh! Let me get you a map of the city," Nurse Joy said, taking out a pamphlet and a red marker. She opened the pamphlet and circled something with the marker before handing it to Eziray with a smile.
"I circled it for you. It's a blue building. You won't miss it!"
"Thanks!" Eziray exclaimed as Nurse Joy handed it to her. The gym wasn't far from there and the map brought them to a stone wall with a cement staircase running through it that led to a blue, oriental-style building with two Pokéballs and a golden crescent moon-like symbol at the top.
"You ready, Ez?" Aiden asked as they stood before it.
"You bet I am!" she exclaimed and ran up the stairs and through the large entrance. She found herself in a massive room with green walls, a wooden frame, a wooden floor, and a large dirt arena in the center of the floor. Lyla gazed around the room, in awe of it and Aiden laughed.
"That's right, you've never been in a gym before, have you?" he asked. She shook her head. Eziray was already standing in the box marked out on the arena for the challenger to stand.
"Hello?" she called out. "I'm here for a gym battle!"
A man entered the arena from the other room. He had bluish-brown hair, a red sweater with black cuffs and a black collar, blue jeans, and brown boots. Without saying anything, he positioned himself in the box on the other side of the arena. Aiden and Lyla walked over to stand and watch on the sidelines.
"You must be Norman," Eziray said with a grin.
"Yes, that would be me," Norman said with a smile. "You sure are an eager young trainer!"
"Yep! My name is Eziray and this is my first gym battle in Hoenn! I come from Pallet Town in Kanto!"
"That's far!"
"I know. So are there any rules I need to know about?"
"Yes, this will be a three-on-three match. You do have three Pokémon with you, correct?"
"Three?"
Eziray only had two Pokémon with her so she scratched her head and said that she only had two. Then she suddenly became very depressed as she said she would have to come back later then. Norman frowned.
"Well, I can't really change the rules, but I can accept your challenge. If you want the practice, we can have an unofficial one-on-one gym battle. But you will have to come back later for the badge."
"You would really do that for me?" she asked, suddenly full of enthusiasm again.
"You've come a long way! You deserve something!" he exclaimed, taking out a Pokéball.
"Thank you!" she replied, sending out Charo. He smiled and sent out a Vigoroth.
"Chaaar…" Charo trailed off, observing its terrifyingly sharp claws.
"Let's see how we should handle you," Eziray said quietly to herself as she took out her Pokédex.
"Vigoroth: The Wild Monkey Pokemon. Its heart beats at a tenfold tempo and it cannot sit still for even a moment or its stress level will rise and it will feel sick. These Pokémon are known to be incredibly fast," the dex informed.
"Okay, Charo, use Flamethrower!"
Charo opened his mouth and shot out a blast of fire but, as the Pokédex said, the Vigoroth was quite fast and dodged it with ease as Norman ordered it to use Focus Punch. Its fist began to glow brightly and it sped forward and knocked Charo back against the wall.
"Perfect. Now use Slash!" Norman ordered.
Vigoroth's claws began to glow white and it sped forward once again.
"Metal Claw!" Eziray called.
Vigoroth swung but Charo blocked himself with his own claws which were glowing silver. Vigoroth swung a few more times but Charo continued to defend himself and the claws made a clinking sound each time they struck together.
"Try Flamethrower again, now that it's close!"
Charo opened his mouth and tried once again to hit Vigoroth with Flamethrower but the Normal-type back flipped out of the way and sprinted forward, this time slashing Charo across the face successfully. Charo was knocked over and struggled to stand but Vigoroth came around and hit him with slash again, knocking him the other way. This continued for some time until Eziray ordered Charo to catch Vigoroth's arm with Fire Fang. Charo was able to latch onto Vigoroth's arm with its fiery teeth but Vigoroth flung it against a wall.
"Charo's getting whooped pretty bad," Lyla said as the Fire-type struggled to stand once again.
"Chaar," he managed, breathing heavily. Eziray frowned and so did Norman.
"I think everyone's thinking the same thing here," Aiden said. "Eziray…"
Eziray sighed and nodded.
"I think that's enough," she said. "This isn't going anywhere. If we continue, Charo's gonna need a full body cast."
"Wise decision," Norman said, calling his Vigoroth back. "It takes a good trainer to swallow their pride and call it quits though! Your Pokémon are very lucky to have you. Don't be too hard on yourself, okay? This isn't exactly a gym for beginning trainers…Well I know you're not a beginner, but you should still start with easier gyms than mine. There's a gym in Rustboro City and that's where trainers usually start, so go on out and catch another Pokémon or two and challenge Roxanne, the Rustboro City Gym Leader, first. I suggest gathering a few more badges after that too and then come back here and I'll be awaiting your challenge. Sound like a plan?"
"Yup!" Eziray said, obviously not too bent out of shape about losing. "But there's one problem…"
"What's that?" he asked.
"I have no idea where Rustboro is! OH! Wait, Aiden has a map! Duh!"
"Torchic ate it," Aiden said.
"Then yes, we do have a problem," Eziray said. Norman laughed.
"You'll have to head west down Route 104 which is going to take you through Petalburg Woods and eventually lead you to Rustboro City. When you get there, you might want to go to the Devon Corporation and get yourselves a Pokénav. It's short for Pokémon Navigator, so there's a map on it and it's quite useful for travelers like yourselves."
"Hahaha! Funny thing, guys! I actually have one," Lyla said, rubbing the back of her head.
"You do?" Aiden asked.
"LET ME SEE!" Eziray exclaimed, scooping up Charo who seemed to be feeling better. Lyla took out a little orange device from her bag. It was kind of oval shaped and there was a blue circle in the center with a black spot on the top and two dark orange stripes below the blue circle. She pulled on the black spot and that half extended as a little screen popped out.
"See, here's the map," Lyla said, operating it via touch screen. "And it also has the function to identify some trainers. Ones who are registered for the Pokémon League, I guess. I've never used that function though so I don't really know how it works."
Eziray snatched it from her hand and practiced opening and closing it.
"THIS IS SO COOL!" she exclaimed.
"Well you sure are easily amused," Lyla trailed off. "I got it when I was little and everyone had one so I didn't really think it was that big of a deal…"
"We don't have anything like this in Kanto, so she's a little excited. That's all," Aiden said.
"Ah! So you're from around here?" Norman asked, directing his attention to Lyla. She gasped so he laughed.
"Don't worry, I won't bite!"
"S-sorry. I've never talked to a gym leader before. Not even Flannery –"
"AH! Flannery! That's perfect. Eziray, after you have defeated Flannery, you should have acquired four badges total. Come back and challenge me then. Sorry for interrupting you, now continue."
"Um…yeah, so I grew up in Lavaridge Town. I'm actually a beginning trainer."
"So will you be challenging the Rustboro Gym as well?"
"Um, no. You and I will probably never battle. I'm a coordinator…in training…well not even that yet. Um, I'm going to be a coordinator!"
"And that's perfectly fine too. I wish you luck with that."
"Thanks!"
Eziray handed Lyla back her PokéNav and turned to Norman.
"Thank you so much for your help…and the battle! I promise that when I come back, we won't be thrown around so easily!"
"I'll be looking forward to it!" Norman exclaimed.
The trainers said there farewells, left the gym, and headed back to the Pokémon Center to pick up Mudkip. His bandages were off and he was sleeping peacefully on a chair in the front room. Lyla picked him up and nuzzled him.
"How are you feeling?" she asked as he yawned and nuzzled her back. "Wanna go for a walk?"
She thanked Nurse Joy and let Mudkip stay out of his ball as they made their way to Route 104. And almost as soon as they set foot on the route, Skitty's ears began twitching again. This time Skitty wasn't scared and she whirled around and hissed angrily.
"Again?" Lyla asked.
"Raaaoooorrrw," Skitty meowed aggressively as she ran towards the bushes.
"Skitty, where are you going?" Lyla demanded. Skitty hissed again and the bushes began to shake a little.
"Who's there?" Lyla asked, suddenly a little scared. There was a pause and a Ralts emerged from the bushes.
"Oh, it's a Pokémon," Aiden said. The Ralts frowned and scratched the back of its head nervously. It obviously didn't mean any harm and was probably just lonely or curious and decided to follow the trainers. Lyla bent down and cocked her head and looked at Skitty who was glaring at it as if it were an enemy.
"Are you following us?" Lyla asked.
"I'm sorry!" the Ralts exclaimed, telepathically.
"It's a Psychic Pokémon," Eziray noted excitedly.
"Yes…I tried to tell Skitty that I was a friend, but she just wouldn't trust me!" the Ralts exclaimed.
"So are you the reason that Skitty has been acting so strange? How long have you been following us?" Lyla asked.
"Yes. I saw you battling that Seedot but I didn't warn you about the Bide in time. Then I rushed over to see if you were okay but you were being taken away by the bad people so I followed you to the ruins to rescue you but you seemed to be okay so I've just been tagging along to make sure you don't get into any more trouble. Your Skitty is a good listener. I mean…her ears work really well! I thought I was pretty quiet but she's been sensing me this whole time. At first, she thought I was just a wild Pokémon passing through but then she got really scared when she heard the same Pokémon at the ruins because she knew at that point that I was following you guys. Then she heard me again at the Pokémon Center that night and it was the first time I tried to communicate with her. I tried increasing my distance between me and you guys on the way to Petalburg but she still sensed my presence. Then I finally decided it was time to muster up some courage and confront you…and…I'm sorry if I scared you."
"Awww! She's been like our little guardian!" Eziray exclaimed. "And it's good to know that we can count on you too Skitty!"
"Myaa!" Skitty meowed. She seemed much more relaxed now that the Ralts had explained herself.
"I find you three very interesting and I want to protect you! May I come along with you? Please? It's very lonely hiding in the bushes and not being seen or heard. I can battle! I can train and become strong! I can do anything you want! I'll go with any one of you! Just please don't let me be alone anymore…"
"Hey, Eziray. You need three Pokémon to challenge gym leaders, right? Why don't you catch her?" Lyla suggested.
"Good idea!" Eziray exclaimed, holding out an empty Pokéball. Ralts giggled and touched the center of it, so she disappeared in a red flash and the center of the ball flickered a few times. Once the flickering ceased, Eziray sent the Ralts back out and smiled.
"What are you going to name her?" Aiden asked.
"Name?" the Ralts echoed.
"I nickname all my Pokémon," Eziray began, "It's my way of making them more…special."
"I see. Well you can name me whatever you want! I'm just so happy to finally have a trainer now!"
"Hm…let's see…what would suit you?" Eziray asked and thought for a moment. Her face eventually lit up and she suggested the name 'Gracie.' The Ralts seemed to enjoy the name so Eziray smiled and scooped up the Ralts into a huge hug. Aiden laughed and walked over to stroke her on the head.
"So it's decided. From this moment on, Ralts will be known as 'Gracie,'" he said.
Author Notes:
I don't really have too much to say about this chapter. It's pretty self-explanatory. So, as I always say, read and review please :D