A/N: Hi! Chapter 6 is finally here! I've been dealing with some problems at home, so I thought I'd be getting distracted from this story like I've been getting distracted from my school work. So, I thought instead of uploading a chapter right after I've finished it like I did before, maybe I should write a few chapters and not upload them yet, similar to how some Youtubers record videos in advance. That way I'd have some in storage so that if I don't feel like writing for a while, I'll have some chapters already written and I can upload one, so you guys don't have to go without an update for too long. That was the original plan, but I felt like uploading this one even though I've only got one chapter written after this one. Because, as it turns out, I haven't been getting distracted as much as I thought I would. While I have been getting distracted when I try to do homework (I really gotta work on that), I haven't been getting distracted from writing this story. Maybe because I enjoy it so much. Writing is my escape, so when I'm writing this story, I can stop thinking about what's been going on and just sort of escape into a different world for a bit. Anyway, here's the chapter some of you were probably looking forward to, the battle with Silver!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.


Professor Elm's panicked words echoed in my mind. "Kris, it's a disaster! Uh, um, it's just terrible! What should I do? It – oh, no. Please get back here right now!" Needless to say, I was freaking out. What could have happened to make him panic like this? Well, I guess I should head back to New Bark Town and find out. Maybe I should call him back? No, he hung up on me, he'd clearly prefer me to be physically there than to talk to me. Maybe he needs help with something? Whatever it is, he wants me to get there "now!" So, wanting to help him, I picked the egg up, cradling it safely with both my arms around it, and started walking back.

The walk back was surprisingly quicker than the walk there. Remember that small cliff on the left of the berry man's house (which of course is now on my right since I'm facing the other way)? I considered jumping down it, noticing that I could avoid going through tall grass by going this way. But then, considering the egg's safety, I wondered if jumping was really a good idea. Finally, after way too long of overthinking the situation, I crouched down, sat on the edge of the small cliff, dangled my legs down so my feet were almost touching the ground and slipped off. There. I got down without jumping. I did the same awkward slip-down with the other cliff near the edge of Route 30, and finally, I was back in Cherrygrove City. Since Professor Elm wanted me to get back so quickly, I didn't bother going to the Pokemon Centre. Chikorita only had to battle that green insect since being healed, she'll be fine. As I headed towards Route 29, I was snapped out of my thoughts when someone ran right into me, probably running and not looking where they were going.

"Oh! Sorry!" I immediately said, as politely as I could. When the person stepped back, I noticed his long, red hair and remembered seeing him outside Professor Elm's lab. He took a step back to get away from the invading-my-personal-space-zone as I tried to recompose myself, adjusting the egg in my arms and checking for any visible cracks (there were none). When I looked up from the egg, I noticed he was staring at me. "Um… hi?" I said, wondering if he wanted to talk.

"You got a Pokemon at the lab, huh?" He said, but it didn't sound much like a question, more like he already knew the answer. How would he know? What did he do, watch the lab door and notice me walk in without a Pokeball in my hand and walk out with one? First, I see him in the lab, and now here? He isn't following me, is he? No, that's silly, why would he be? "What a waste, a wimp like you."

I'm don't usually get angry. Why do I feel so angry? Maybe travelling with a Pokemon, even just to Route 30 and back, changes people. Regardless of the reasons, I was angered by his comment, and felt the need to say something. "What do you mean, a 'wimp'? You don't even know me."

"I can tell." He simply said.

"What do you mean?"

"You don't understand? Well, I got a Pokemon too. I'll show you what I mean." He released a Pokemon from the Pokeball that I only just noticed was in his hand.

"Cynda-quil!" said the dark blue four-legged Pokemon. It was around the same size as Chikorita and had fire coming from its back. I remembered its name: Cyndaquil. I had seen pictures of it before in a book and remembered that it was one of the three Pokemon I had to choose from when I got Chikorita.

"Wait, you – you want to battle me?" I asked, slightly taken aback at the sight of the fiery Pokemon. It kind of suits him, I thought, what with his red hair.

"Yes." He said simply. "Or are you too much of a wimp to even try to battle?" This infuriated me. I seriously don't know what had gotten into me, but I felt a sudden desire to prove him wrong. Is that what trainers feel? Is that why trainers challenge each other? "Come on, then." He said impatiently after I stood there staring at him dumbly for a few seconds. I could've said "no." I could have kept walking. But I had this strange feeling like something was at stake here. My pride, I suppose it was. All that matters is that I didn't want to walk away and refuse his challenge. Before I realised what I was doing, I was gently putting the egg down on the ground beside my feet and pulling Chikorita's Pokeball out of my bag.

"Go, Chikorita!" I shouted, the same way I had in battles with wild Pokemon. Wild Pokemon were one thing, but battling a trainer? Don't I have to be a trainer to battle another person? Does this make me a trainer, accepting his challenge? Pushing those thoughts away, I looked at his smug face. Not grinning like I expected him to be, but he seemed… excited? It looked like he was trying to hide some excitement, trying to keep the indifferent demeaner he's shown so far.

"Go on Chikorita, tackle!"

"Tackle." Came his quieter voice at the same time as mine. I grew worried as I watched the two small Pokemon run up and basically ram into each other, probably hoping their own tackle would be stronger than the other's, but they seemed fairly evenly matched. After they hit each other, they both jumped back and tried to recompose themselves after the initial shock of hitting each other.

"Razor leaf!" I said, remembering how well that had worked to hit the bug before I had a chance to get close to Chikorita.

"Ember." As Chikorita shot leaves at Cyndaquil, Cyndaquil unleashed a small flame from its mouth that was sent towards the leaves. Most of the leaves were hit and burned, falling to the ground. The few leaves that weren't hit were the ones too high, and Cyndaquil simply ducked out of the way, the leaves going over its head. I suddenly realised the problem with this battle. Fire. Grass. Fire burns grass, it's one of the first type advantages most people learn, the other two being that water douses fire and grass woks well against water. That means Cyndaquil, a fire type, has the advantage against the grass type Chikorita. Oh no.

"Um, uh, vine whip!" Chikorita pulled out her vines, but Cyndaquil's trainer (I still never asked his name) had a better idea.

"Smokescreen." Cyndaquil blew out a haze of smoke that surrounded the four of us (me, Chikorita, Cyndaquil and the red-haired guy). From what I could see of his face before the smoke completely shrouded him from view, he didn't seem bothered by it. Chikorita glanced around, looking for Cyndaquil. I coughed and used my hand to try and wave the smoke away. I hear the boy's quiet voice say something before a small flame came through the smoke at hit Chikorita. Panicking internally, I watched as Chikorita was hurt by the flame before Cyndaquil came through the smoke with a tackle that hit Chikorita roughly, causing her to legs to collapse as she fell to the ground.

Seeing Chikorita fall down in exhaustion, an instinct I didn't even know I had seemed to kick in and I ran to her side, dropping to my knees to see if she was okay. "Chikorita? I… I'm sorry." I don't know why I was apologising. I felt partly responsible for her injuries. No, that's wrong, I felt completely responsible. Forgetting about the fact that it had been Cyndaquil attacking and its trainer commanding it, the irrational part of my mind continued to remind me that I had agreed to the battle and sent Chikorita in to fight, risking her health. It wasn't even to protect myself, like if I had been attacked by wild Pokemon. It was just to prove to that arrogant, red-headed jerk that he doesn't know what he's talking about. Is this what trainers feel like? How do they cope with it? They learn how not to lose, I suppose. But it can't work like that. In every battle, in order for someone to win, the other trainer must lose. So, do they just get used to it? Harden their hearts and watch as their Pokemon are hurt? I suppose the Pokemon don't get hurt too badly. At least, I hope they don't. "Chikorita? Are you gonna be okay?" I realise the problem with my words. I'm the trainer, I shouldn't be asking if she'll be okay. I should be telling her that she'll be okay, to give her confidence. It should be me supporting her, definitely not the other way around.

I hear footsteps and look up to see the boy coming towards me, stepping through the now thinning smoke. "I told you, you're just a wimp. What a waste of a Pokemon." He said. My blood once again boiled at his insult.

"Excuse me, I have to take Chikorita to the Pokemon Centre." I said. Luckily, it was right nearby. I returned Chikorita to her Pokeball, figuring that it would be easier than carrying her. And maybe it's more comfortable in there? I tried to ignore the thoughts that were now popping into my head, mostly questions about what actually goes on inside a Pokeball, and instead tried to think of something else to say to this jerk, but I couldn't think of anything except, "I'm not a wimp." Which I said. Why do I sound so dumb sometimes? "I'm Kris, by the way." I add, hoping he'll reply to that and ignore the other part, since he'll probably just reply to it by insulting me again.

"You're weak. Just look at you, worried about that useless, weak Pokemon. Pokemon are used to battle with, but you care about that one too much, and that will be your downfall." He returned his Cyndaquil without a word to it and started to walk towards Route 30. Good, I thought. Not about his words, of course, but about seeing him head to Route 30. Hopefully I'll never have to see him again. But after taking a few steps away he stopped and turned back to look at me as if he thought of something more to say. "My name is Silver. I'm going to be the greatest trainer in the world. A wimp like you isn't even worth my time, so don't go getting in my way again." Oh, I'm so sorry I got in your way, I thought sarcastically. But I didn't say anything more, only watched as he walked away.

I picked the egg back up, once again cradling it in my arms, and made my way into the Pokemon Centre and over to the counter. I could already see the look on that counter-lady's face as I approached. Yep, she was definitely annoyed.

"Well, for someone who isn't a trainer, you sure seem to be battling a lot." She said.

"Some trainer challenged me and I… I found it difficult to refuse." I tried to make it seem like no big deal. I didn't want to tell her everything. I simply handed over Chikorita's Pokeball and she took it. I notice her glance at the egg in my arms, but she doesn't say anything about it.

"Well, you know what to do, wait close by and we'll have your Pokemon healed soon." She said. I said nothing and walked to the seats I had sat in before. I sat there, not really thinking about anything. Do other people ever do that too? Just sitting there being, well, thoughtless, at least for a few minutes? It makes sense that people don't do it much, since you're not really achieving anything by thinking about nothing when you could be using your time to think about stuff. Wait, now I am thinking, I'm thinking about thinking. Wow, my mind is weird. Okay Kris, shut up, and just stop thinking. Because in this moment, I didn't want to be thinking. I knew that my thoughts would eventually turn to Chikorita, and how she must be feeling about me. I let her down. Yes, I borrowed her from Professor Elm to protect me from wild Pokemon, but it works both ways. I should have protected her. How could I have let this happen? Darn it, now I'm thinking about her! Okay Kris, let's try this again. Shut up, and don't think about anything.

Finally, after failing miserably at trying to be thoughtless for a few minutes, I finally heard the voice of the counter-lady once more. "Here you go," she said, holding out Chikorita's Pokeball. "Try not to get into too many battles. If you're not so good at battling, try only going into tall grass when you have to." She says. I take the ball and she goes back to the counter. I think about her words. I feel like her advice isn't very good. I don't know why I think that, but it's like some instinct that wasn't there before is suddenly in me, and is telling me that I know better. That sounds ridiculous though, right? Of course, she knows better than me, she works with Pokemon. She's not a trainer, though. What am I saying, neither am I!

After shoving more thoughts out of my mind, I put the Pokeball in my bag and leave the Pokemon Centre. Part of me wants to let Chikorita out of her Pokeball and see if she's okay. Of course, she's okay, they just took care of her at the Pokemon Centre, I tell myself. But I still want to see her. Eventually I give in and get the Pokeball back out of my bag, balancing the egg on one arm while opening my bag to find the ball. I press the button.

"Chiko!" She's so happy to see me. Does she not have the capability to feel anger or something? Maybe she's just not the type to hold a grudge. I try to ignore the lingering feeling that she should be mad at me and let the joyful expression on her face comfort me.

"Hey, Chikorita. Are you okay now?"

"Chiko." She nods.

"Oh… come here!" I say happily. I put down the egg and hold out my arms. She runs towards me and I pull her into a hug. After a moment I pull away and say, "Come on, time to take you home to Professor Elm."


A/N: I was originally considering having Kris win the battle against Silver, but I felt like it would make more sense for her to lose to him, what with Kris being so nervous and Silver being so confident. So, for now, Silver will continue to think that Pokemon are just tools for battling and he'll still think of Kris as weak for being so nice to her Pokemon. Silver's ideas of what makes a trainer strong kind of reminds me of a quote from the Flash TV series: "I thought his attachment to people was a distraction, now I realize the opposite is true. Barry's attachment to people, the people he cares about, is actually key to getting him up to speed." The quote is pretty similar to what Silver realises later on in the games. In fact, the quote could easily be changed to, "I thought her attachment to her Pokemon was a distraction, but now I realise the opposite is true. Kris's attachment to her Pokemon, the Pokemon she cares about, is actually key to her becoming a great trainer." Who knows? Maybe I'll actually use that line later in the story? Anyway, I love writing Silver and I look forward to writing his next appearance in the story. But, if I'm remembering correctly, the next battle with him isn't until that town with Bugsy's Gym and Kurt and the Slowpoke Well (I'm terrible at remembering the town names but of course I'll check when I get to it).

Another thing, when Kris thought, 'Darn it, now I'm thinking about her', I wasn't sure what word to use there. I've been trying to think of nicer versions of swear words to use when Kris feels frustrated or something, since she's not really the type of person to use actual swear words. Probably because I'm not, either. I've read books where characters swear, and I understand that some writers are fine with using swear words, and that's fine, but I prefer not to, and I don't think I'll need to anyway, what with Kris's personality. So now I've got to figure out what words Kris could say or think when she's frustrated. I considered using 'son of a biscuit' in that sentence, but then changed to 'darn it', which I'm still not sure sounds right, but it'll do. So, if you think of any words that Kris could use, feel free to let me know.

So, what will happen when Kris heads back to New bark Town? Is she really going to give Chikorita back to Professor Elm? And what is she going to do this that Pokedex Professor Oak gave her? We'll find out in the next chapter! And by 'we', I mean 'you' since I already have the next chapter written. See you next time!