Chapter 3 – Phoebe & Piplup! Living the Jubilife!
"Don't worry! We're coming!"
Daniel's shouting constantly echoed as he and Turtwig continued to run through the field to the rescue.
"Turtwig!" shouted Turtwig, mimicking Daniel.
"We're over here!" shouted the same female voice in response to someone finally hearing her, "Please hurry! I don't know how much longer I can hold on!" the unknown female screamed out again.
Emerging from the distance, Daniel and Turtwig picking up the pace across the field when they heard that last part from her.
When Daniel and Turtwig arrived, they both looked over the edge to see a girl, who looked the same age as Daniel, with long jet black hair holding on to a branch sticking out from the side of the cliff. Daniel noticed that she was holding on to something with her other hand, looking closer he saw that it was a Pokémon, a small blue penguin that he instantly recognised as a Piplup, one of the Sinnoh Region's starter Pokémon.
"Hold on just a little longer, I'm going to reach down and try to grab your hand!" he shouted down to the girl.
"I'll try my best!" she shouted up, "My arm just hurts so much" she sounded again, this time in much more pain.
Getting down on his stomach and reaching down the cliff, stretching one arm down while using the other to hold the ground so he didn't fall as well. Turtwig grabbed the legs of its trainer's jeans with its mouth, doing its best to assist him in the rescue mission.
"Okay, you're going to have to trust me, I'm going to hold your wrist and I want you to take your hand off the branch when you feel ready to let go!" he told her, to which she looked at him and nodded, understanding what he wanted her to do.
Daniel stretched his arm down towards her hand, stretching it as far as he could get it. Finally getting to her wrist, he took hold of it.
"Gotcha! You're going to be alright now!" He assured her, holding on to her wrist tightly. "Take your time letting go; do it in your own time" he calmly told her.
"Alright!" she closed her eyes and shouted to him. Pausing for a few seconds before letting go of the branch, letting out a small scream.
When she opened her eyes, she had expected to be plummeting down the cliff, but instead, she was just dangling there, swinging. When she looked up, she was being pulled up by Daniel. Placing her Piplup on the safely on the ground near Daniel when she could, she held onto Daniel's other hand and used her feet to help her scale the cliff, getting her to safety as well.
Sitting on the ground in relief that she was finally safe, she breathed in exhaustion after the traumatic event she just went through. Looking over to Daniel who was patting Turtwig on the head.
"Thanks a lot for the help Turtwig!" he said while patting it, "you were a big help" he added, before looking over at the girl.
"Hey, you doing alright? How's your arm?" he asked her with concern in his voice.
"Uh, y-yeah…" she stuttered, before coughing, clearing her throat, "I'm alright. My arm still hurts a bit though, but I'm sure it'll be fine soon." She finished, giving him a forced smile.
"Well, uh, I have a first aid kit in my bag if you would like me to take a look at it?" Daniel said, offering further assistance.
The girl paused, thinking over his offer in her mind, until the pain on her arm snapped her back into reality, causing her to hold her arm in agony and close her eyes tight.
"I'll take that as a yes." Daniel said as her face said it all. Getting his first aid kit out of his backpack and making his way over to her, tending to her arm.
"So what's your name?" he asked her as he wrapped a bandage around her arm.
"Phoebe. My name is Phoebe." She said, revealing her name to Daniel, nervously, still shaken up by what had happened.
"Well Phoebe, my name's Daniel. It's really nice to meet you, even though the circumstances are a bit different than how people usually meet." He said, trying to make things a little less weird for her.
"I can assure you however, that your arm isn't broken and will be better in no time. Just try not to do anything that requires you using it a lot." He told her.
"T-thank you, Daniel" she said, thankful for his assistance. "It was really nice of you, I'm really glad you happened to be passing when you did. If not, I don't know what would have happened" she said while giving off a slight smile.
"Please, don't think anything of it" he told her, I couldn't leave you out here on your own after what you've just been through", he added.
"So where were you heading anyway?" Phoebe asked him, trying to change the subject to take her mind off what had happened, as she began standing up, picking up her backpack and recalling her Piplup to its Poké Ball.
"Jubilife City" he answered her, we've just started our journey and Jubilife City is our first stop!"
"Oh! Awesome! I'm actually from Jubilife City, so I can show you the way…if you'd like?" she offered to help, "It's the least I can do after you literally just saved my life", she brought up his act of bravery.
Smiling from her kind words, he let out a slight laugh, "Well if you're sure it's no trouble, I'd be be very grateful if you could show us the way."
"Turtwig!" Daniel's Pokémon shouted out as it jumped onto his shoulder, holding out its foot to Phoebe, who giggled and happily shook the Pokémon's foot.
"It's very nice to meet you" she said while smiling at the happy Pokémon.
"So shall we get going?" Daniel asked Phoebe, who nodded politely before they walked back to the path and got closer to Jubilife City.
As the two walked down the path with Turtwig sitting on Daniel's head, Daniel asked Phoebe how she got in such a dangerous situation in the first place.
"You see, I do Pokémon Photography as a hobby, so I like to go out to the field and take pictures of Pokémon I find to get more practice." She explained, "Only…this time I found a Pokémon I hadn't manged to take a picture of before, a Beautifly, so me and my Piplup decided to chase it so I could get a picture, but Piplup gets a little too excited sometimes and chasing the Beautifly. All of a sudden I saw that it was running towards the end the cliff, so I dropped my backpack to the ground and chased after it, but as I grabbed it, the edge of the ledge below me broke off and I ended up banging my arm before I fell. It was by utter luck that there was a branch there, or else I wouldn't be standing here telling this story, that's for sure." She explained.
"Oh man, that must have been scary for you, not to mention Piplup." He said, showing his concern.
"It was", she admitted, "I don't think I've ever been that scared in my entire life", she added, which told Daniel she didn't get out of the city much.
"Well, you and Piplup are safe now, that's all that matters", Daniel told her, smiling at her happily, which made her blush without realising.
After walking for what seemed like a matter of minutes, the two were finally at Jubilife City. The city was a lot more modern than the previous two places Daniel had been, which instantly took his breath away when he saw how busy the streets were. For a busy and largely populated city, people weren't rushing around too much, bumping into one another to get from place to place; there was much more noise than Daniel was used to, but that was to be expected from the larger population.
"Daniel! Turtwig! Welcome to Jubilife City!" Phoebe, who was used to this sort of thing due to growing up in the city, shouted in order to get her voice over the many people walking by as she introduced the two to the gigantic city.
"It sure is busy here, huh?" Daniel shouted so he could be heard as well, but it was no use, Phoebe couldn't hear him, so she took his hand and guided him down a busy street over to where a building stood tall, which had a huge 'P' on the front: "The Pokétch Company" is what it stood for.
"Phew, now we can hear ourselves think" Phoebe said while laughing, "So, what was it you were saying?" she asked Daniel.
"Oh! I was just saying it's a lot busier here than I thought it was going to be", he replied, "It's so different than Twinleaf Town"
Phoebe was surprised at how different the places they had grown up in were, while at the same time, amazed at how close their hometowns were to one another, she found it funny how they never ran into each other before.
"So, what we're in front of right now is called The Pokétch Company, it is where the Pokétch is made. You should get yourself one, it'll be really useful for you on your journey." She informed him.
"Sure! I'm sure it will come in handy." Daniel said, thinking it would be a good idea to get one of his own. "Don't you have one, Phoebe? Daniel asked her.
"Oh no. I don't have one of my own, sadly." She let out a discrete laugh, "weird, huh? I've lived in Jubilife City for 18 years of my life and I still don't own a Pokétch. I don't mind, though, perhaps I'll get one for my 19th birthday. I'll wait out here for you with Turtwig" She said sadly.
"Well, if you're sure…" Daniel said as he walked into the building, feeling sorry for her.
As Daniel entered the building, he received the most unexpected and sudden greeting of his life.
"CONGRATULATUONS!" shouted a total of around 20 people, made up of various company staff and customers who had joined in. "YOU'RE OUR ONE-MILLIONTH CUSTOMER!" they added to their celebratory speech.
"Um, uh…thanks a lot, I guess…" Daniel nervously said, unsure about what was going on right now, "so uh, what exactly is this about?" he asked them.
"Well young man, you're the one-millionth customer to walk through these doors, which is a huge milestone for the company. So to show our gratitude, we would like to offer you two of our latest Pokétch model. You may choose any colours you like." An elderly gentleman dressed in an expensive-looking suit informed him.
Daniel's face lit up as he heard this, "awesome!" he screamed inside his head, "I'm finally going to have my own Pokétch!" he added on as he filled his mind with excitement.
Thinking about Phoebe and how upset she seemed about not having a Pokétch of her own, Daniel immediately decided on the colours he wanted the two Pokétches.
"Sir, I would like one in blue and the other in black, if those are available." He said politely, to which the elderly gentlemen turned to one of his employees, instructing him to go retrieve the items. Not even 2 minutes had passed when the employee returned with a brown leather briefcase, handing it to the elderly man.
Opening the briefcase, the elderly man took out the two watches and handed them to Daniel. "Young man, it gives me great pleasure to present you with your two, state-of-the-art Pokétches! Wear them with pride!" he said with a smile on his face, an expression Daniel quickly mimicked as he waved good-bye to the kind people who had given him such a wonderful gift, which he immediately put into his hoodie pockets.
As the sliding doors opened, Daniel emerged from the Pokétch Company, seeing Phoebe and Turtwig happily playing with Piplup, who was also feeling better from the traumatic event that occurred earlier.
"Hey, Phoebe! Turtwig!" Daniel shouted running over to where they were playing.
"Hey Daniel!" she shouted back happily, "we got so bored of just standing around, we decided to have a bit of fun" Phoebe, seeming a lot better.
"It looks like you're feeling much better, Phoebe" he told her, smiling at how happy she seemed.
Smiling back at his warm smile, "yeah, I suppose being around people makes me happy" she responded, "you know, I don't have that many friends, other than Piplup", she said sounding a bit sad again.
"Well I'm your friend." Daniel told her, which caused her to look up at him.
"R-Really?!" Phoebe said, clearly surprised at what he just said to her, causing her eyes to open wide.
"Of course!" Daniel said with no hesitation, "Turtwig agrees too, just look at how well it gets on with you! So that's two more friends you have now!"
"Aw, thank you Daniel!" she said, blushing and smiling, happy and a little embarrassed at the nice words she had been given. "You too, Turtwig!" she said as she knelt down, smiling at the Pokémon, while patting it on the head in appreciation towards her new friend.
"Oh! I almost forgot!" Daniel spoke out as he just remembered about the Pokétches. "Here, Phoebe!" he said, pulling the two watches out of his pockets and showed them to her. "Please, take whichever one you want. I'll just take the one that's left." Daniel offered her the first choice between the two, which left her with an astonished look on her face.
"D-D-Daniel…" she said, stuttering as she said his name, "H-how did you…? Why did you…?" she said, failing to finish either sentence properly, just standing there, looking at the two objects in his hands.
"Well, turns out, I was the one-millionth customer at the Pokétch Company, so they gave me two Pokétches in any colours I wanted." He explained the situation, "so when I remembered how sad you looked when you told me you didn't have one…well…I wanted to give you one of your own" he said, still looking at her shocked face.
"I-I don't know what to say…" she was lost for words right now, shocked at how thoughtful he was.
After giving it much thought, she finally decided on the blue Pokétch, putting it on her wrist, noticing that, if almost by luck, it was a perfect fit.
"Thank you so much Daniel! I don't know how I could ever thank you for something this amazing"
"Please, I don't need a reward, you're my friend, so it seemed only natural for me to give it to you" he told her as he put his own Pokétch on his wrist, lifting it up to show her his Pokétch as she laughed, lifting her arm to do the same.
"Looks good!" the two both said simultaneously complimented the other's Pokétch while laughing at the fact they had said the same thing at the same time.
"So Daniel, how about I give you and Turtwig a quick tour of the city before you head out on your journey?" she offered as a way of saying thank you for her Pokétch. "I just so happen to know all the hot-spots around here" she said jokingly.
"That would be wonderful, thank you!" he jumped at the chance of getting to see more of the city.
"Let's go, then! The city is a big place, so we have a lot to get through!" she informed him as she took off down the street without warning, laughing, which in turn caused Daniel and Turtwig to chase after her. Piplup, only just noticing they had all gone, began to run after them as fast as its tiny legs would go, crying out as it did its best to catch up.
"Come on Piplup! Step on it!" Daniel and Phoebe both shouted as they laughed while they ran through the city.
To be continued…
How do you like the introduction of Phoebe and Piplup? Also, do you feel as though I am focusing too much on what the characters' are saying as opposed to the story itself? Please let me know. Thank you!
Chapter 4 will be coming your way soon! Until next time!