Chapter 18: Arriving at Kanto—The Games Start Soon

"Ah Skylark! I can see the shore!" Grace shouted excitedly. It had been about two days and two nights since the boat had left Hoenn, and now they were finally arriving to the port of Viridian City. Skylark walked out from the dining area to the side of the ship, where Grace stood. Indeed, the shore was very close.

"Oh yeah! I can too!" Skylark exclaimed. These past two days, Skylark and Grace had spent almost all their time together, talking about anything that ranged from random subjects to deep conversations, such as the loss of their parents. Needless to say, they were slowly forging a strong relationship, just like Skylark and Bulbasaur.

Within the hour they were at the port of Vermillion City. After gathering their things, they walked down the ramp that the ship had laid out. Skylark, with Bulbasaur by his side, took their first step into Kanto together. With their right feet, they both took a big step onto the ground of Kanto. Thus, in Skylark's mind, their journey together had just now begun.

After stepping off the boat, they went to a Train Station close by and caught a train to go to a city that was located close to Pallet Town. The city was solely for championships. It had a gigantic stadium, larger than any other stadium in the world, and the town surrounding it was half citizens, half competitors. Skylark forgot the name of the city, but the train would take them there in a day.

It was about this time that Skylark started to think of Celia. She was somewhere on that boat, and she was somewhere on the train with them right now. He grew lovesick again, but managed to hide it from Grace. Skylark's mom was in another cabin area, and he and Grace were in their own cabin. Skylark lay down with Bulbasaur at his feet, and Grace sat around and played around with her Eevee.

"Do you ever think you'll evolve him?" Skylark asked. Grace looked down upon the small Eevee, who looked up at her and smiled.

"I'm not sure. I've thought about that since the day I got him." She replied. "The plus side of evolving him is he will become stronger and more adept with a specific type, but then again, being in a normal state leaves him in this cute form and…oh, it's so cute."

Skylark nodded, understanding what she meant, and then stared off into the ceiling. It was about 2 now, and dinner was going to be served at 5:30. Maybe he'd see Celia there…

"So what do you think you'll do once Bulbasaur evolves?" Grace asked. That hit Skylark hard. It just occurred to him that Bulbasaur would evolve. He always saw her as a Bulbasaur, nothing more. Seeing it evolve into something more was just out of the question.

"I'm…not sure. I think I should catch it before it evolves."

"You haven't even caught Bulbasaur!?" Grace was shocked. "Skylark! That's illegal! They HAVE to have a Pokéball to go into! Like a dog with a leash!" Skylark jumped from his bed.

"What?!"

"Why does Bulbasaur follow you around and fight for you then?" Grace asked. Skylark had never explained how he met Bulbasaur to anyone before. Not even his mom.

"Well…I found her dying on the side of the road, so I took her to a center…and she just sorta followed me around after that."

"But you need to catch it!" She freaked out. She reached into her backpack and threw Skylark something. It was a Pokéball. "Catch it now!"

"But—"

"Now!" Grace grew stern. Skylark took the ball and compressed it, making it go from a small ball to the size of a regular Pokéball. Then he pressed the center button, opening the ball.

"I don't want to put Bulbasaur in the ball forever though."

"You don't have too. You can have him follow you, but he needs to have a ball for safety reasons." Grace said. Skylark stared at the ball, unclear of what to do. Should he catch it now? Should he wait? They sat there quietly for about twenty minutes, but then they started talking again. Skylark put the ball into his backpack. He had a plan for it…

The rest of the day was quiet. They hung around and talked, and after dinner they went back to their room. They soon found out that their room had a TV and video-game system built into it. It was a Wii-U, and it was the upgraded version that could play with two tablets. They found a 3D Pokémon game and fought each other for hours. Sometimes Skylark won, and sometimes Grace won.

Finally, the next day, they arrived in the city. They got off the train together along with Skylark's mom and made their way to their hotel. Once they were settled in their rooms (Skylark's mom in one, them in another. They were given two suites, each connected to each other by a door), Skylark head out to explore the city with Grace.

They were going to go to dinner somewhere, and then explore the town. Skylark was excited. Since it was almost summer now, Skylark had shed his black hoodie that his dad gave him. He wore some shorts with a nice blue t-shirt. As they wandered to find a nice diner, Skylark noticed a PokéMart. Grace saw a pet store and went in to look at all the pets, so Skylark took this opportunity to go look around the mart.

He walked inside and investigated the shelves. There, they had many potions and food for Pokémon as well as books for beginning trainers . They also had things to buy to help your Pokémon become stronger or boost up stats temporarily in a battle.

Finally, he made his way to the front of the store to the counter. "Hello! What can I do for you?" A nice lady with brown hair asked.

"Uh, yeah, hi…I have a question." Skylark said. He took the Pokéball out of his backpack and put it on the counter. He spoke to her some more as he positioned the ball on the counter so it wouldn't roll off.

"Yes sir, this'll be fine. Thanks for stopping by!" She took the ball and put it in a box underneath the counter. Skylark thanked her and walked out, and then found Grace at the pet store. They left together and then went to a diner. Later that night, they watched a movie in their suite, and after showering and feeding Bulbasaur and Eevee, they went to bed in their own beds.

The next day, the Kanto Tournament would start. The strongest beginners in the world would be there. Skylark was honored to be one of them. But, he would have to face Celia, who has a fire type, and all he has is a grass-type. Even then, without her, there would be many more, stronger opponents. Skylark was worried. The tournament lasted five days. How would he make it that long? That night he had no dreams; he was terrified of the next day.

He woke up around 8. The tournament started at 10:30, but he had to be there at 9:30 for brackets. He went and showered up, then got Bulbasaur and Grace and went to breakfast somewhere. Finally, it was time for it to start. Skylark showed up at the tournament building and signed in. Finally, they assigned him to a bracket and the tournament was about to start.

It was now 10:50. Three battles had already happened, emerging with three winners. It was now Skylark's turn to battle. His enemy came all the way from Sinnoh, and it was apparent that he had trained very hard. His name was Cody. Skylark was incredibly worried. This was broadcasting world-wide, and if he failed here his dreams would be dead. He had to win. He will win.

Sorry for the short/crappy/unimportant chapter. I ran out of motivation somewhat and I had a lot of work.