Hey readers! Sorry it took so long to update, I was busy and didn't have inspiration. But chapter five is out now! Also, it's the longest chapter so far. :) Told you they'd get longer. Anyway, I tried something new for this chapter, so tell me what you think and I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 5: Route Two

The breeze rustled the dew-laden grass of route two in the dawn light. Clover and Tony stepped through the exit of the gate. They had been invited by John to stay the night at his house, saying it was the least he could do to repay them, and the pair gratefully accepted the offer, staying in guest rooms at his house. He had left them a breakfast on the counter, which the two had eaten. Tony and Clover left his house just as the sun was rising. Clover yawned and stretched. "Why don't we split up and train for a while? There is a gym in the next town, and we have to be ready for it," she suggested.

"Good idea," Tony agreed with a nod. They walked to the tall grass. "We should meet at the end of the route at around noon," Tony said. Clover agreed and departed, sending out her snivy as she did. I guess I should start now, Tony thought. "Go gothita," he said, covering his mouth to muffle a yawn. Once out, his gothita gave an annoyed look that said, 'why did you wake me so early?' Tony chuckled. "I know it's early, but there is a gym in the next town and we have to prepare to face it." His gothita rolled her eyes and sighed, but didn't put up any resistance. She squeaked in surprise as Tony bent down and picked her up, placing her on his shoulder. Gothita blinked once then relaxed, seemingly liking the new view. The pokemon swung her dangling feet, clearly happy with not having to walk. She's so finicky, Tony thought affectionately, but I'm so happy I have her. He walked into the tall grass to begin training.

Clover walked in the opposite direction from Tony, pausing to send out Snivy. The grass snake yawned and stretched, glancing around at his new surroundings. He seemed to know that they would be training, and he looked up at Clover eagerly, causing her to giggle. "You seem ready to go," she commented. She bent down and picked him up, carrying him in her arms. Snivy looked pleased, and Clover giggled again. "Let's go." Clover walked into the tall grass with Snivy, yawning. "It sure is early. But the sunrise is beautiful," she sighed in awe as she looked at the rising dawn. The usually blue sky was painted with shades of red, orange, and pink, with clouds scattered around the sky, and the sun was peaking over the horizon, rays of light being cast around it.

There was a rustle in the brush behind Clover, and she jumped, broken from her trance, and spun around to see a lillipup emerge from the grass. It yipped and wagged its tail. Clover giggled and bent down to pet it. The puppy pokemon laid back its ears and growled, snapping at her hand. Gasping in surprise, Clover yanked her hand back before it bit down on her hand. Wild pokemon aren't always as friendly as they look, she noted. "Go snivy!" she said, and her pokemon jumped off of her shoulder and landed in front of the lillipup, taking on a fighting stance. Lillipup growled once again, a snarl on its face. "You certainly are fiesty," muttered Clover. "Snivy use tackle," she ordered. Her pokemon lunged forward at the lillipup, which nimbly jumped away, making snivy fall, before dashing in and biting him. Snivy jumped to his feet. "Use vine whip!" Clover said. I won't be beaten by a wild pokemon! Snivy launched a vine at the lillipup, lashing at it. The lillipup flinched as the vine connected with its back. Snivy took advantage of this, and used vine whip again. "Enough Snivy," said Clover. She pulled out a pokeball, which she had bought extras of in town, and threw it at the wild pokemon. It opened with a flash of light and sucked in the lillipup in a red beam. The pokeball flipped in the air before landing on the ground.

Tony ducked under a low hanging tree branch, holding onto gothita to keep her from falling. So far, they had only battled with a single patrat and had won quite easily. Gothita had defeated the rodent without receiving any damage herself. I wonder what Clover is doing? Tony thought. Maybe she caught a pokemon, or she's battling right now. While he was lost in thought, a purrloin stepped out of a bush in front of him. He didn't notice until gothita squeaked a warning. "Huh?" Tony grunted, stopping in his tracks. The devious pokemon meowed to get his attention. It's a dark type, he thought. I should catch it. Shaking his head to clear it, Tony sent out Gothita. "Let's go gothita," he said. She jumped lazily off of his shoulder, dropping on the ground right in front of Tony's feet with a small, cute squeak. Purrloin looked nonchalant, licking its paw leisurely. "Use confusion Gothita!" Tony said energetically. Gothita's eyes flashed and the purrloin swayed with a mew of surprise. It placed its paw back on the ground to stabilize itself. Once the attack was complete, the purrloin growled and lunged, swiping gothita across the face with extended claws. He didn't seem to have taken a lot of damage from the psychic attack. The fixation pokemon stumbled backwards, but caught herself. She looked up determinedly. "Now use pound," commanded Tony. She raced forward and slammed her head into the purrloin's chest, causing it to be launched into the air and land on its back with a soft thump. Tony grabbed an unused pokeball from his belt and threw it as the wild pokemon was struggling to its paws. With a flash and a streak of red light, the cat entered the pokeball, which dropped to the ground. For a moment, it didn't move at all. Come on, come on! Tony thought, clenching his fists in front of him. After a few seconds, the pokeball began rocking back and forth rapidly. Tony's heart raced in excitement. If I catch this, it'll be the first time I ever caught a pokemon, he thought.

The pokeball clicked after what seemed an eternity, but in reality was only about ten seconds. "Yes!" yelled Tony, throwing his fists above his head in celebration. "We did it, gothita!" Gothita seemed satisfied, a smug look on her face. There was a scratch mark across her face where the purrloin had scratched her. "Oh," he said, bending down to get a closer look. "I guess I should use a potion now." He took off his backpack and unzipped the medicine pocket. He grabbed the potion that John had given him. "Close your eyes," Tony told his pokemon. She closed her eyes as told, and Tony sprayed the medicine on the cut. Like magic, the wound healed itself, not leaving even a slight indication that gothita was ever hurt at all. Gothita sighed and relaxed, rejuvenated. She even seemed to regain some of her energy. "Neat," Tony said. There was no medicine left in the bottle, so Tony placed the empty container in an unused section of his backpack to throw away later, as there were no trash cans nearby. "Let's keep moving," he said.

Come on Lillipup, thought Clover as the pokeball rocked for the first time. It paused after the first rock, and Clover clenched her teeth. A light began to show through the crack in the pokeball, and it burst open in a flash of light, snapping the pokeball in two. "No!" Clover said. "Hurry Snivy, use tackle!" The lillipup seemed tired after fighting to escape the pokeball, and it stood catching its breath. Unable to dodge away in time, it was barreled over by Snivy. They rolled together for a second before stopping, Snivy pinning the puppy down. The wild pokemon was panting hard by now, and Snivy scrambled gracefully off of the lillipup. "C'mon now," Clover muttered, throwing another pokeball. The lillipup entered the pokeball for a second time. This time, it began rocking right away. It rocked a few times before stopping with a click. "Woohoo!" cheered Clover, jumping up and down. "I did it! I caught a pokemon!" She looked down at snivy, who looked pleased that his trainer was happy. "And I couldn't have done it without you, of course," she said with a smile. Snivy puffed out his chest in pride.

Once Clover had settled down, she glanced at her Cross-transceiver, seeing it was now an hour later than when they had left town. Wow, that time passed quickly, thought Clover. It seems like we just left. She glanced around. It was past sunrise now, the sun was above the horizon in a blue sky. Clover also realized that she wasn't tired anymore. "Well we only have a few more hours to train before we meet Tony," she said to Snivy. "Let's get a move on. Go lillipup!" Clover said, sending out the newest addition to the team. It seemed a little tired from the fight. She bent down to see it. "I'm your trainer now," she told it. The newly caught lillipup wagged its tail. This time when Clover reached to pet it, it let her and moved closer. "I guess I should let you rest. You look tired out from all that fighting. Return." A red beam engulfed the puppy, and lillipup returned to her pokeball. "I'll train you some more, Snivy, and then once lillipup has rested, I'll let you rest and I'll train her for a while." Snivy nodded in understanding. "Let's go then."

Tony walked through the grass with gothita on his shoulder and Purrloin walking by his side. The new pokemon seemed to like him, luckily, and proved to be a good addition to his team. It was now eleven o'clock, according to his cross-transceiver, and he had battled much more. Both of his pokemon seemed to be more skilled than before, learning from the battles they had and mistakes they made, and training their muscles to be stronger. "We'd better start making our way over there," Tony said. "I'm proud of you both because of all of your hard work." Gothita squeaked and purrloin meowed. They were both tired, but they seemed to want to keep training, for Tony. A warm feeling of love spread through Tony for his pokemon. I'm lucky to have them, he thought as they began to walk in the direction of their meeting place.

Clover was making her way over to the end of the route. Snivy was in his pokeball resting, for Clover had trained him a lot, and Lillipup was happily trotting alongside her, yipping occasionally. Nearing the meeting place, Clover was stopped by a young boy. "Hey, you look strong!" he said. "Why don't we have a battle?" Clover glanced at her cross-transceiver. Eleven-thirty. She nodded.

"Sure, but I'm meeting someone soon, so we should make it quick."

The young boy nodded. "My name is Roy," he introduced himself. "Ten years ago, a trainer from Nuvema Town almost single handedly disbanded a group of pokemon stealers who called themselves 'team plasma,' and became champion of the Unova region. Her name was Rebecca, and she is still the champion today. Eight years ago, team plasma reformed, but a new trainer, Brandon, and his friend, Will, defeated them. Brandon is a gym leader now. I want to be like these trainers someday, so I'm going to train my pokemon well so I can!" he concluded. "Go patrat!" Clover sent out Snivy, who looked well rested. "Use bite Patrat!" Roy said.

"Snivy, use wrap!" Snivy ducked under the lunging Patrat and grabbed it with his tail. He then wrapped his body around it, squeezing it.

"Use bite patrat!" Roy ordered. Patrat dug his fangs into snivy's tail, causing him to flinch and loosen his grip. "Now sand attack!" Patrat kicked up dust with its feet into Snivy's eyes, and he released Patrat and shook his head.

"Vine whip Snivy!" commanded Clover. Snivy lashed out viciously with a vine, connecting to the patrat's side with a crack. The patrat fell to the ground and fainted.

"Wow, you really are strong," said Roy in amazement. "You knocked out my patrat with two moves! Well, that was my only pokemon, so I guess you win. Here's 200 watts for winning." He handed Clover the money and returned his patrat. "Thanks for the battle!" he said.

"You too!" Clover said in a friendly way. "Keep on training!" At that she returned Snivy and ran to meet Tony, Lillipup still racing beside her.

Tony arrived at their meeting place in front of the gate at exactly noon. Just as he turned to watch for Clover, she ran around the bend and ran right into him, making both of them to fall on their butt. "Ow!" Tony exclaimed, rubbing his head. Gothita had fallen backward off of his shoulder, and purrloin had leapt back to avoid being fallen on. Clover rubbed her head as well, and her Lillipup had skidded to a halt right in front of Purrloin. Cat hissed at dog, and dog barked at cat. Lillipup began chasing Purrloin in circles around Tony and Clover. "Purrloin, come here!" said Tony. Purrloin leaped onto Tony's lap, turned, and hissed at lillipup with its ears laid back in fury. Lillipup was barking energetically with its tail wagging and tongue lolling.

"Lillipup! Leave the purrloin alone!" Clover ordered. The puppy turned to look at Clover with its ears pricked before returning to her, panting, with a carefree look on its face. "Sorry Tony! I didn't know you'd be there," she said, getting to her feet.

Tony stood as well. "That's fine, it didn't hurt too bad," he said. "I see you got a Lillipup. I caught a purrloin," he introduced his new pokemon, which waved its tail in greeting. "The two seemed to have met already." Purrloin and Lillipup were having a stare-down, Lillipup looking like it found a new game to play while Purrloin looked extremely irritated. Both trainers laughed. "Well I got a lot of training done, you?"

"Me too. Snivy is much stronger than before, and even Lillipup has grown in the short time I've had her," Clover reported. "We should go to the pokemon center." Tony agreed and the pair walked through the gate into Striaton City, the place where they would receive their first gym badge.

Well there you go! Chapter five! As always, leave a review telling me what you liked and what you think I need to fix. Any review is a good review, even if you hate the story. Thanks for reading!