Professor Elm once told the Johto Trio that the dreams of village kids were often larger than the world itself. To Naomi, this gave the idea of having dreams a certain unattainability. That's why she was always puzzled when Danny said his dream with conviction. It seemed, to her, that nobody could sway his determination. She wished she was more that way. In this moment, however, all of that was forgotten as she worked with Blue and her new Spinarak, Sketchy.
Like Blue, Sketchy had been very eager to begin training and proved herself to be an incredibly tough Pokemon. This surprised Naomi, as most bugs are considered to be considerably frail. Against all logic, the spider Pokemon darted across the ground, leaves crunching like the bones of her enemies. Blue and Sketchy's fast and calculated movements kicked up a storm of fallen leaves that could hinder even the strongest of opponents useless against its gust.
As the sun dipped below the horizon, shining its bright, orange light of defiance in the defeat of its setting, Naomi came acrossed the camp of a young boy who had travelled from Cherrygrove, and nestled amongst the billowing line of pine trees that engulfed Route 30.
He had a tattered green tent that shook timidly in the gentle wind, and a campfire had been lit dimly against the brilliance of the setting sun. He sat on a large log that ended in sharp points of sod. This struck Naomi as curious.
The boy noticed Naomi approaching the campsite and stood up. "Hey, you!" The boy called out to Naomi.
She looked up at him, and reached for her belt preemptively. "Hey, me?!" She mirrored back, in false incredulousness.
The boy launched himself from his seat, and stood before her with heated spirit. "Yeah, you! You're a Pokemon trainer, right?!"
Naomi plucked a small Pokeball from her belt, and it expanded in her hand. She looked up at the boy in front of her and smirked. *This is it, my first Pokemon battle. I didn't think it'd feel like this but,* she said, looking down at her stomach. A shudder of anticipation rattled her body, and she felt squeamish. *I feel great.*.
"Is that how you introduce yourself to a lady?! Maybe I should teach you some manners." Naomi could feel a rush of endorphins and confidence roll over her body.
"And maybe I should teach you how to battle," the kid retorted snidely.
Naomi took a step back, and an expression of astonishment crossed her face, and exchanged itself for the scrunched look of somebody who's been insulted. "That's it, I was gonna go easy, but you've just earned yourself a thrashing. Go, Sketchy!"
Naomi threw the ball and, in a fevered blur, it made its way to the ground. It bounced up and hanged in the air between the two trainers. The boy leaned back anxiously and kept his hands in the air as if to shield himself from what was inside. The ball popped open excitedly, and the stream of red energy spilled from it, taking the form of Naomi's Spinarak.
The boy looked at Sketchy quizzically. "A Spinarak?!" The boy sneered at Naomi. "And here I thought you were going to be fun. Go, Rattata!"
The boy's Pokeball popped open to reveal a small, purple rodent that had fierce, brown eyes and a disproportionately large head.
The two Pokemon locked eyes and circled each other fiercely. Each step they took seemed calculated. The Rattata bore its large front teeth in a vicious snarl and protruded its large head forward. Sketchy arched her small body upwards, and displayed her large stinger. Both Pokemon paced until they had their backs to their trainers, and stepped backwards several times.
As the two Pokemon stopped, Naomi was the first to make her move. "Okay, Sketchy, use Poison Sting!"
Danny carried a large wooden stick that was knotted at the end, and used it to push himself forward as he took right steps. It rolled effortlessly in the palm of his hand as he strode through the calm evening that enveloped Route 30 that day, at the very same time that Naomi began her first Pokemon battle. Pincushion, who reveled in the crisp air and the dazzling rays of setting sun, pranced next to his trainer energetically.
Danny stopped suddenly as he reached a cliff face that looked as if some powerful creature had taken a large blade to a mountain, and left nothing but a perfectly flat plateau that billowed before Route 30's quiet groves.
The sunlight took on a golden glow that was often believed to be the inspiration of the Legendary Ho-oh. It lit itself in Danny's dark brown eyes, revealing gems of gold that sparkled ambitiously. At the foot of the plateau lay a hole that looked as perfectly rounded as the pupil of an eye. It seemed to reach down infinitely towards the center of Earth. Danny and Pincushion stood in awe of it. A wooden sign clinged wearily to the plateau just above the hole. "Dark Cave: Only those with the brightest of lights should pass this point".
Danny glanced at his small companion for reassurance. "Okay, Pins, I think we've made it. Do you remember what we went over?"
Pincushion looked up at his master. "Quil," the small rodent squeaked reassuringly.
Danny beamed down at him. "Okay good! Now let's see those pins of yours!"
Pincushion hopped back eagerly and arched his back. His long face scrunched up intensely as he put all of his focus into producing his pins. "Cyndaaaaaaaaaaaa" Pincushion cried as he tried to force his pins out. "Quil!" Pincushion bounced backwards as a stream of brilliant flames shot from his back.
The flames shot past Danny with a soft "woosh". He looked at his Cyndaquil, whose face lit up with the fire of his pride and his pins. Danny threw his head back and produced a booming laugh that shook the pines of the trees surround him.
"Pins, that was so awesome," Danny boasted proudly as he reached for his Cyndaquil. He stopped suddenly, and realized that his Pokemon now had a small fire protruding from its back. "Okay, Pins, are you gonna be able to keep it kindled?"
Pincushion hesitated for a moment as the fire flickered and licked the air above the small rodent. "Quil!" Pincushion confirmed after several moments passed.
Danny adjusted a large spool of rope on his shoulder and nodded confidently. "Okay, Pins," Danny started, "let's go bag us our first teammate."
To Danny's relief, the hole had a ladder on the side that Danny dropped his foot into, and he immediately found his footing. Pincushion hobbled down after him, and carefully clinged to the sturdy wood of the latter. Danny's left foot touched the ground, and splashed up a small puddle of water.
"Hey Pins?" The little Cyndaquil squeaked in response as he moved down a rung. "You might want to get on my shoulder, bud. It's pretty damp down here."
Pincushion hopped off the ladder confidently and landing on his master's shoulders, much to Danny's displeasure. Danny hoisted Pincushion up by his armpits and turned his Pokemon's back away from him, creating a flickering light that toyed with the shadows of Dark Cave.
"Is this alright with you, Pins?" Pincushion squeaked in confirmation, and nodded his head. "Okay, good, we're gonna have to do this until it gets a little more dry."
Upon observation (by moving Pincushion back and forth as he looked around), Danny noticed that Dark Cave was exactly how he expected it to be. Stalactites hung from the ceiling of the cavern just high enough to threaten to fall that would impale anybody brave enough to walk underneath them. Large rocks scattered themselves among the ground in a haphazard fashion, complimented by a sprinkle of shallow puddles that rippled with large *ploops*. This unnerved Danny, because this meant that there was a source of groundwater above them, and that also meant that Danny was beneath a lake.
After a few minutes of dedicated searching, Danny noticed a slight disturbance in the rubble. He stood still for a moment, and watched the foot of a large stalagmite. He pointed Pincushion in the direction of his curious sighting and watched again as there was an unmistakable shift in the earth.
Danny placed Pincushion on the ground with the utmost care and stood up readily. "Okay Pins, let's do this as we planned! Go for an Ember!"
Pincushion opened his small mouth, his large snout lifted in the air, and spewed a burst of flame at the rock which took the full force of the attack. Without a moment's hesitation, the rock hoisted itself up with two lanky arms and pushed itself into the air, revealing itself to be a Geodude.
Danny grinned maniacally. The meticulousness, and seeming randomness of his plan made him nervous, but seeing it executed so perfectly wrought him with giddy joy. "Okay, Pincushion, do you see where he's gonna land? Use an Ember on that spot!"
Just as he expected, the fire billowed from the damp ground with such adamance that it made Danny wonder how truly powerful his Cyndaquil was. As the Geodude made its head-first descent into the unforgiving flames of Pincushion's Ember, it thrusted one arm out and suspended its body above the dancing inferno.
"Alright! Pins, slide underneath him!"
Pincushion pushed back on his hind legs. He darted towards the fire and as his legs left the ground, he twisted his small form around, landing on his back. The momentum from his thrust propelled him across the smooth floor of the cavern, and into his own tempest of heat.
The Ember dispelled in a burst of sudden energy and dissipated in a second, leaving only the bright light of Pincushion's pins. The fire from the pins lit up the small creature's fierce expression. Pincushion locked eyes with the Geodude, and the Geodude's eyes widened in shock.
"Now, hit him with a Tackle as hard as you can!"
In a flurry with movement, Pincushion used his stubby foreleg to turn himself onto his feet, push his entire body into the ground, and launching himself into the Geodude's arm. The Geodude roared angrily as its arm buckled feebly under its own weight. Pincushion rolled backward quickly and a cloud of dust rippled across the small battlefield.
Danny shielded himself from the cloud as it whirled passed him. He coughed loudly, and struggled to look up and lock his eyes on his wild target. "Pins," he wheezed, "hit him with a Smokescreen, okay?"
Pincushion steadied himself on his hind legs, and planted himself firmly. "Quil!" He shouted to his master before inhaling loudly. As he exhaled, a small ball of smoke launched from his mouth. This ball, impossibly round, was a dark black that looked almost tangible like a cloud, and flew from his mouth as if a professional baseball player had thrown it instead. The ball of smoke hit Geodude, and created a layer of black smoke that wrapped the flame of Pincushion's pins in a veil of darkness.
Danny gripped the Pokeball tightly in his right hand and focused on seeing the Geodude with his mind. He inhaled nervously and threw a Pokeball for the first time.
On the day that Danny encountered the Geodude and Naomi encountered a trainer, Fletcher encountered the notion that he had been incredibly stressed out during his first two days as a Pokemon trainer. He sat in the Cherrygrove Pokemon Center for quite some time, fiddling with his Pokenav as he contemplated what he was going to do with this new day before him.
That's how Fletcher found himself on a brisk walk up Route 30 with his team. Chika, the ever loyal Chikorita, trotted beside her master and looked around at the open route, her eyes gleaming excitedly. Pidge immediately took advantage of the open sky and soared through the air, twirling and dipping. His anxious stride carried him across the sea of healthy, green grass. In the wake of his nervous thoughts, and his determination to rid himself of them, he managed to reach the end of Route 30.
The tall cliff that marked the route's end snapped Fletcher out of his thought process. Pidge circled Fletcher before landing on his shoulder as the small party came to a halt. Fletcher stared blankly at the rockface before him. He looked to his right and then to his left.
"Well that's particular…" He muttered under his breath.
To his right lay a dense wall of trees that lead deep into the woods of Southeast Johto. The forest path continued on his left with promise of guiding Fletcher out of the forest once and for all. He hesitated briefly and stepped to the right.
Naomi sat on the log proudly her dismayed opponent sat across the campfire with his head in his hands. She beemed at him smugly as drop of sweat rolled down her forehead and across her face. Her team sprawled themselves on the ground by her feet. Blue, who had gone up against the boy's stronger Rattata, layed on the ground in a heavy sleep. His body was spready like a human's, and his mud covered head hung back comically. Sketchy, who had gone against the boy's weaker Rattata, sat next to her exhausted comrade with composure.
Naomi wiped the sweat from her face and looked at the boy. "Hey, kid are you gonna be okay?"
The boy looked up and sighed. "I… I didn't think you'd be so strong." He blushed brightly.
Naomi chuckled. "You don't have to be so embarrassed, you know." She felt clumsy saying this, but she felt that she needed to. The boy seemed really unconfident.
He shook his head. "I dunno… Until today, I thought I was doing really well, but now…" He gripped the log with his hands. The loose bark cracked and broke in his grip. "I realized how far off I am from real progress."
Naomi's grin had since faded and was replaced with a wrinkle of worry. "There's no reason to feel so glum about losing. Heck, the friend I started my journey with is probably way ahead of me. I heard he even met a gym leader."
The boy's eyes widened. "What," he exclaimed.
Naomi nodded firmly.
The boy shook his head wildly. "You guys are incredible. So you really think this friend might be stronger than you?"
A dim smile lit on Naomi's face. "I don't have a single doubt that he is." Naomi thought to herself, *I don't doubt that Fletcher is, either. I haven't seen either of them since I left Cherrygrove and I know they didn't stay behind. They must've already gotten to Violet City.*
"If that's true, then people where you're from must be something special." The boy's comment came suddenly and snapped Naomi out of her thought.
She shook her head. Her thumb brushed the log back and forth hesitantly. "Not really, we're from a pretty small town not far from here. Its not all that."
The boy's eyes widened with curiosity. "Really? Where you are you from, anyway?"
Naomi's shy smile grew into one of subtle happiness at her new friend's curiosity. "We're from New Bark Town."
In a fit of surprise, the kid almost fell from his seat. "New Bark Town?! You mean that dinky little town east of Cherrygrove?!"
Naomi bursted out laughing and held her gut for effect. "Oh yes, exactly," she said between laughs. Her laughs bubbled to a stop before she spoke again. "See? We're not from anywhere special."
The boy nodded thoughtfully. "But there's gotta be some reason you guys are doing so well."
Naomi pondered for a moment. "Well, I don't know about me, but I know that Fletcher and Danny have always had this fire about them. They both have huge dreams, and they both really want them."
"Danny and Fletcher… So those are your friends huh?"
"Yeah that's them."
"Huh… Well, you have a fire to you too, you know. I've never seen somebody battle with that much passion."
"Really?"
"Yeah, there's gotta be something you want too."
This brought Naomi to a silence. She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. She rested her head on her knees and sat there for awhile before she spoke again.
"I guess I want to find out who I am and what I want to do."
The boy, who layed down by the log and began to drift off, opened his eyes to look at Naomi. "Huh…"
Danny entered the Violet City Pokemon Center that night with a confident stride. Dirt covered his face, his hair curled wildly around his head and scraps showed their red marks on his cheeks and forearms. He approached the nurse at the counter who eyed him with a polite caution.
"Good evening. Welcome to the Violet City Pokemon Center! How may I help you?" The nurse spoke with a polite chirp.
Danny grinned happily. "Can I get my Pokemon healed? Oh, and I'm gonna need a room for the night."
The nurse held her smile. "Of course! I'll get you a room. Sit there while I heal your Pokemon, and I'll be right up to return them to you and help you with your injuries."
Danny shook his head and waved politely. "There's no need for that. I just need a nice shower and some sleep."
The nurse's smile faded slightly and the chirp in her voice came out hesitantly. "Its pretty late and you look like you've been through the ringer. How do you still have so much energy?"
Danny's smile lit his face brightly. "I can't help myself. I have my first gym battle tomorrow!"
The nurse chuckled with relief. "So you're a new trainer huh?"
Danny sensed her relief and reassured it with a thumbs up. "You've got it! I want to take the gym challenge and get stronger."
A genuine smile tugged at the nurse's face and she sighed. "And you were just out training I imagine?"
Danny nodded.
"Well, we should really get you and your Pokemon healed up. You need to be in top condition for your gym challenge tomorrow."
Danny sighed and his pleasant smile returned. "Okay, you've got me. I just need to shower first."
The nurse nodded. "Of course, I have your room registered." She handed Danny a key. "You'll have shampoo and body soap provided for you in your room."
Danny nodded eagerly and handed her two Pokeballs. "Thank you so much! And make sure to let Pins and Rocky out when you're done!"
Before the nurse could inquire about his request, Danny had bolted towards the escalator to the second floor.
After his shower, Danny changed into clean clothes and a pair of sweatpants that bore the words "Cherrygrove Pokemon Center" on the left leg. He then sat patiently on his bed as the nurse wiped his wounds with rubbing alcohol and wrapped bandages around his bruised and cut forearms. During this time, they exchanged small talk.
"Oh really, you're from New Bark City? What brings a country boy like you all the way to Violet City? I can't imagine its just to fight Falkner."
Danny flinched from the stinging of the alcohol on his cuts. "Yeah, that's just a small part of the bigger plan. You see, I don't just want to fight Falkner. What I really want is to become the Champion of Johto."
The nurse beamed at him. "The Champion of Johto, huh? You'll have to beat our current Champion to do that. Do you think you could manage it?"
Danny laughed softly. "Not now, but some day I think I could. I have to do this first though."
The nurse gently applied bandages to a piece of cotton and then gently pressed it to his cheek. "I'm sure its gonna be awhile before you get there, but you certainly have the fire for it."
Danny nodded whistfully. "I sure hope I do."
After hours of being lost, Fletcher heard the mutter of people through the thicket of the forest. He followed the voices until he saw two silhouettes carrying a third down a fresh path. He stepped cautiously towards them, and intently looked at them through the leaves.
The image he saw confused him. The two people were dressed all in black: black shoes that looked entirely too clean for two people in the middle of the forest, loose black pants that stopped cleanly at their ankles, black t-shirts that ended at their midriff, and black caps. The only other color Fletcher saw was the white form their socks and long sleeve shirts that covered the rest of their bodies. They seemed to be carrying a net with a indescernable pink Pokemon in it.
He felt butterflies of forewarning nervousness in his stomach and when the farthest person turned around those feelings were confirmed. Branded boldly on the person's cap was a bright red "R".
Terrified, Fletcher silently recalled his Pokemon to their Pokeballs and bolted. He heard a surprised yell of one of Rockets but he didn't stop to find out if it was he who had incited that reaction. He darted through the trees and barrelled through the branches in his way. His right foot slid as he stepped at the edge of a hill, and he began to lose his balance as he slid down. He planted his left foot firmly but lost his balance completely when he met a large root. The stumble sent him flipping into a pond and hitting his head on small stone bridge.
Fletcher woke up in a room made entirely of dark mahogany. The room was lit by several candles on either side of the bed he found himself in. He bolted upright and was greeted by the calm face of an old man in deep purple robes. The man had a full head of healthy black hair and green eyes that studied Fletcher knowingly.
"Ah so you're up. I'm relieved," the man spoke.
"Where am I," Fletcher blurted. As he spoke, a pain shot to his head, and he slammed a hand to his forehead, and gripped it tightly.
"You're in Violet City. You hit your head on our peace bridge outside and knocked yourself unconscious. I saw you floating in the pond, so I brought you here for resuscitation."
Fletcher nodded. "Okay, but what is this place, and who are you?"
The man smiled sheepishly at Fletcher. "Ah right, forgive me, for I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Brother Edmond. Welcome to Sprout Tower."
Hey everybody! I apologize for not updating in so long. I got pretty caught up with school and work, and haven't been able to write at all. With the bit of free time I've had the past few months, I've managed to write a bit of my personal work as well as write this chapter here. Its a lot longer than usual, so I hope that's okay. I'm gonna attempt to update a little more regularly than I have been. How often, I can't say, but I promise that I'll make an effort to update more frequently. Thank you for sticking with me through this hiatus and please enjoy!
- Danny