Chapter 2- On the road to Viridian City
I quickly ran through Pallet Town, taking short cuts that only a resident would know about, and generally headed towards the fastest route to the next city.
I technically have no reason to rush so much, but I want out of Pallet town as soon as possible. Sooner I am out and on my way, the sooner I will be able to let Zoey out of her pokeball.
After all, people are normally far and between when on the routes. Which means I'll be able to work with Zoey undisturbed.
I let out a hup as I jumped over a fence.
The main thing I need to do with Zoey is help her work on that shyness of hers. It would go rather badly if Zoey freezes up when around too many people. Or, just generally hiding behind me.
I let out another hup as I jump down a small ledge, making sure to keep my hat from falling off. I can feel my body starting to sweat, but I don't care much. I honestly find it refreshing.
I love running after all.
Running with my father is one of my fondest memories. Of course, when I ever caught up to him he would smile at me and then increase his speed like the cheater that he was.
I still remember the advice he gave me when I collapsed from exhaustion.
"Good job keeping up with me Sora!" My father declared with a fist pump of victory.
"U-un!" My chibi self exclaimed between gasps of air. She looked up at her father with a beaming smile. Sweat dripping down her face.
"How ever!" My father exclaimed with a booming voice. "Be mindful of your limits!" He looked down at me sternly.
"Kay." my chibi self said, with her butt plopped on the ground leaning back with her arms behind her.
"Good." My dad said, nodding his head in agreement. "Being able to identify limits is the sign of a good trainer. Knowing when to push those limits or when to not is the sign of a great trainer! Learning how to break those limits safely, is the sign of a master trainer!" My father exclaimed with his arms crossed, nodding his head when he imparted his great wisdom!
"Ooooh!" My chibi-self exclaimed and started to clap her hands in amazement.
"That's the spirit Sora!" My father enthusiastically exclaimed, his smile positively beaming. "Keep that spirit up and I am sure one day you will be as strong as me!"
"Weally?" My chibi-self asked, suddenly standing up holding her hands together in front of her, staring at her father with hopeful, sparkling eyes.
"Of course!" My father exclaimed with his booming voice. Giving my chibi-self a thumbs up and a grand smile. One of his front teeth shinned in the sunlight. "You're a-"
I snap myself out of my thoughts when I realized I was about to run into a tree with no way to dodge it.
'This is what I get for not paying attention!' I thought with a bit of panic.
Then I stare at the tree with determination!
I begin to speed up a bit from my casual running speed. As soon as I reached the tree, I managed to run up it instead of running into it. Then I launched myself, doing flips to bleed off some momentum.
I landed on my feet with my arms spread out on my sides, breathing heavily.
"Whew." I say, wiping the sweat from my brow.
I smiled.
Glad I managed not to hurt myself at the start of my adventure, for that would have been embarrassing.
"Now where am I?" I mumbled, taking out my pokegear.
With a quick flick I turned it on then quickly navigate to the map app.
"Hmmm." I looked at the map carefully. "Just a bit west from the main road!" I exclaimed, pumping my fist in victory. "I knew my short cut would work!"
I then grabbed Zoey's pokeball from my holster and called out, "I choose you, Zoey!"
"Char?" The cute little charmander questioned as she took a look at our surroundings. "Man?" Zoey turned to look at me with a tilt to her head.
'Sooo, cute.' I thought, valiantly resisting the urge to glomp her again.
"Zoey," I said kindly. I bent down to be more at her eye level, careful not to crowd her. "Will you like to jog with me? Its not that far from the main road, and there is no one around, so I thought we should spend some time together."
I extended my arm, this time waiting for her to come to me.
Zoey is hesitant at first before she gains confidence and starts walking towards me.
"Char!" Zoey exclaimed, nodding her head as she grabbed my hand.
We shook hands, and I smiled at her.
"We will start out slow, so try to keep up with my pace... ok?" I stated and stood up.
"Char!" Zoey exclaimed, showing her determination.
"Right!" I exclaimed, then started a light jog towards the northwest. That way we will get to the main road, but not anytime soon.
Zoey followed me, easily matching my slow pace.
"Good!" I shout, then start speeding up. Just like my father did to me.
It took a couple of hours but we finally reach the main road. Zoey managed to make it to my casual jogging speed before she started to have trouble so I toned it down a bit for her.
After all, there's no need to push her right now.
"Alright!" I exclaimed, slowing down to a mere walk. "Let's take a break." I point towards some trees.
"C-char." Zoey said tiredly.
I took a blanket out of my pact and set it down on the shady ground. Zoey plopped right down on it, exhausted.
'Hmm... might have pushed to far.' I thought, staring at the charmander.
"You did a good job keeping up with me Zoey, I know you probably aren't used to running for that long at that pace." I smile and then reached down to pet her on the head.
Zoey looked up at me and gave me a small smile.
I then reached in my pack and started shifting around in it. When I couldn't find what I as looking for I pouted and then dug deeper.
"Char?" Zoey asked, wondering what I was doing. She moved to get a closer look.
"Aha!" I exclaimed, causing Zoey to fall back in shock. "I found it!"
And what I found was a jar of Pokemon food. Just the basic brand stuff though.
With that found, I take out a plate and dump half of the pokefood on it.
"Here," I turned towards Zoey and set the plate down. "It's near lunch time, and I bet you're getting hungry." I state, smiling at Zoey's eager nod before she started to dig in.
With Zoey set right now I reach in my pack again, this time bringing out a couple of energy bars to much on.
Time passed by peacefully~.
Well... it would have if I didn't noticed some dark clouds rolling in.
"Mhmf!" I exclaim with my mouth full before swallowing. "Great! Is someone using rain dance? The weather was perfect!" I started pouting, epically.
Rain is such bad weather to train a charmander in.
"Zoey... after you finished eating, do you want me to put you back in the pokeball?" I ask my lovable charmander who was currently stuffing her face. "Or do you want to stay out for awhile longer?"
Zoey stopped eating and then looked at me. Coming to a decision she pointed at her pokeball and shook her head no.
"So you want to stay out a little longer?" I asked, just to make sure.
She nodded her head yes.
"Alright!" I nod my head in agreement. "I'll return you at the first sign of raindrops then."
"Char!" With that, Zoey started to eat again.
'She must have been hungry.' I mused to myself. 'Now then... there is a gym in Viridian City right? I'll have to check that out when we get there...' I look at Zoey and then took another bite of my energy bar. 'We won't be ready for that gym unless I really push her though.' I shake my head. 'It would be up to her on what we do.' I nod my head and finish my energy bar.
"Zoey." I said, causing her to look up at me from her plate. " There might be a gym in the next town, but I don't know if we would be able to challenge it yet, at least without me pushing you really hard for a week or two." I pause to take a breath. "So, would you want to take on the gym or move on to the next one?" I ask her.
Zoey takes awhile to think about it as she finished eating. I just sat under the shade enjoying the breeze and watching the clouds.
"Char... mand." Zoey said, shaking her head no.
I smile softly at her and take a plastic bag out of my satchel and picked up her plate and put it in the bag.
"Alright," I said as I put the plastic bag back in my satchel. "Hopefully we would make some new friends by then." I turn to smile at Zoey, only to find her frozen in place at the prospect of me catching other pokemon.
Oh, dear.
"Char..." Zoey looks at me and starts twitching nervously.
"It's ok Zoey!" I exclaimed and hugged her. She started to wiggle, again. "I'm sure that our would be teammates will be nice!"
Zoey sighed. I giggled.
"Besides," I let Zoey go. "Having friends is a good thing." I said with a bit of melancholy leaking in my tone.
Zoey tilted her head quizzically staring at me.
I smiled a bit sadly and shook my head.
"Don't mind, don't mind." I state softly. Then gathered everything up and put it back in my bag.
With that done, Zoey and I walked side by side towards Viridian city.
It rained lightly for short while as we made our way. But I could tell that was just the prelude for a storm.
Even so, Zoey is apparently stubborn as she refused to go back in her pokeball.
'I guess she wants to spend a little more time with me.' I thought and then smiled fondly at the little charmander.
She saw and then started to look down at the ground, not wanting to meet my eyes. I giggled.
All in all, the walk went by rather peacefully.
"Hey look!" I declared and stopped walking. "A pidgey!" I point towards the tiny bird pokemon who was pecking at the ground a bit further up the road.
I quickly take out my pokedex to register it.
{Pidgey is a Flying Pokémon. Among all the Flying Pokémon, it is the gentlest and easiest to capture. A perfect target for the beginning Pokémon Trainer to test his Pokémon's skills. Pidgey's Gust power creates tornadoes. It also has a Sand-Attack.}
With that obligation done, I put pokedex away again and start to think. Taking my thinking pose#2: My right hand on my chin, with my left arm under it and across my chest.
'Zoey might still be tired from the run.' I sneaked a glance at the charmander who looked ready to move behind me. 'Plus, I don't know when it would rain again so she would be at a disadvantage.' I hmm'd before making my decision.
'Plan B it is.' I thought with a nod to my head. Then I proceeded to take plan B out of my bag.
"Hey~! I have some pokefood over here!" I shout, startling the pidgey a bit. It looked at me as I put a bit of the food on my hand and held it out towards the pidgey.
"Do you want some?" I asked. The pidgey twitched and started to make it's way towards me.
Zoey looked at me funny, probably wondering why I am not telling her to fight the pidgey.
The pidgey stopped right before me and paused to look at Zoey, tilting its head. Zoey managed to hold her ground before the pidgey gave her the bird equivalent of a shrug and started pecking at the food in my hand.
"Here's some more~." I say with amusement as I put a bit more food in my hand before I sat the jar down and reached for a pokeball the professor gave me.
I ready the pokeball and held it near the pidgey as it ate the rest of the food on my hand.
"Do you want-" I started to say before the pidgey interrupted me by pecking the pokeball's center and disappeared in a red light.
The center of the ball blinked red and wiggled a little before settling down with a ping sound.
I blinked, not quite sure to take that as a yes or no. Zoey seemed confused as well.
"I think ill take that as a yes." I said with a shrug then stood up. Making sure to put the jar of pokefood back in my bag.
I quickly looked around to see if anyone was was near. Satisfied that no one but Zoey would see me do this, I smiled and did a twirl before settling in my pose#1
"I caught a pidgey!" I cried, my voice filled with excitement. Zoey stifled a laugh and I felt my eye twitch.
I quickly turned to her and put the Pidgey's pokeball on my hoilster.
Zoey gave me a stantler caught in headlights look.
"Soo~," I started saying with a sing song quality to my voice. "You may find my poses funny now, but wait till we work on yours!" I smiled evilly at Zoey.
"Char-"
Kracka-boom!
What ever Zoey started to say was cut off when thunder detonated the sky, starling my poor charmader.
Thinking fast, I quickly reached for Zoey's pokeball and returned her. Not a moment too soon as it started to poor down rain.
And I forgot to bring an umbrella... Drat!
I ran nearly at top speed to get to the city as quickly as I could. It shouldn't be that far away from where we were.
And I was right as I started to see city lights in the distance. Smiling I continued running, breaching the city limits quickly and started heading in the direction of the pokemon center.
I heard lightning strike in the distance.
The door to the pokemon center opened as I walked through it. I stop walking and took a moment to catch my breath from my run. I felt absolutely drenched.
"Oh, you poor dear." I heard a feminine voice say causing me to look up and see a pink hair nurse making her way towards me with a towel in her hand. "Here," she hands me the towel.
I thanked her and started to dry off a bit.
"It must have been poor luck to get caught up in the storm like that." She said with a kind tone.
"Yeah, I had just caught a pedgy before it started to really poor down." I said to the Joy before rubbing the back of my head sheepishly. "I kinda forgot an umbrella."
"Here, let's get you out of those drenched cloths and into something warmer." The Joy says before she started walking away, motioning me to follow her. Seeing no reason not to, I went along with her.
"You have a change of cloths?" She asked, as we walked further into the pokemon center.
"Yeah." I answered. "They should be fine."
And they should, after all they are in my satchel which came with a guaranteed that it will protect everything you put in it from the elements.
"So, just starting out today?" The Joy asked as we made it to an empty room.
"Yep." I said, setting my back down on the ground. "You can tell?" I turned to her with a puzzled look causing her to giggle.
"Yep." She mimics me. "You just have that new trainer look going for you."
Huh... that's a thing?
"I wouldn't worry about it too much." She said, probably noticing my look. "Well, I'll leave it to you. But before I go, do any of your pokemon need a check up?"
"No, thank you for asking though. We really haven't been a battle yet." I said with a smile. " I used bait to catch my pidgey."
The nurse nods her head in understanding and leaves me alone in the room.
Seeing that there is a shower in the room, I decided to have a quick shower to get warmed up and put on some dryer cloths; just some red shorts and a sky blue teeshirt.
I then put my dirty cloths in a plastic baggy and set them in my bag so I could wash them later.
Seeing that my hat still needs to dry off, I decided to head out of my room and see what they will have for dinner, and to call my mom.
I also need to nickname my pidgey, but I am sure we can do that over food.
It was when I entered the main room again that I saw a frantic looking boy holding a pikachu rush through the entrance of the pokemon center as he shouted. "Please, can anyone help my pikachu?!"
….
I wonder what happened there?