"Battle Time!" Monica shouted as the two got to a clearing just outside the city. Kaleigh reached a hand out as Monica ran off to a fair distance for a battle. She pulled out her pokeball and threw it up into the air.
"Come on out Rini!" Kaleigh watched the pokemon open releasing a white light that formed into Ridoran before the pokeball returned to Monica's hand. She rubbed her left arm slightly as she pulled out Riolu, staring at the pokemon before looking at Monica and Rini.
"Riolu… L-let's try our b-best." Kaleigh muttered as she too threw the pokeball up. Riolu was released from inside and as the pokeball came back towards Kaleigh, her eyes widened and took a couple of steps to the side to dodge it.
"Kaleigh you're supposed to catch it!" Monica laughed. Riolu glanced back at Kaleigh who had walked over and picked up the pokeball off the ground.
"Ha ha y-ya oops." Kaleigh forced the laugh slightly, her hand gripped the ball tightly before putting it away and returning to her spot.
"Okay Kaleigh, here we come! Rini use poison sting!" Monica called out. Rini cried out before it opened its mouth and needles came flying out at Riolu. Riolu lifted his arms up as the needles pierced him, shaking his head he dropped his paws after the attack revealing that he was poisoned.
"Riolu! Are you okay?" Kaleigh took a step closer but Riolu quickly threw a paw up and barked at her. "Okay, Riolu u-use um" Kaleigh tried to think back to the attacks she saw Riolu use and remember a move that looked similar to one her mother used.
"P-Poison fang!" Riolu went to dash forward but only took one step before turning back to Kaleigh confused. "C-Come on I-I saw- I think…" Kaleigh stammered while Rini and Monica looked at each other before back at their opponents.
"Kaleigh, have you ever had a pokemon battle before?" Monica questioned. "Or ever used a pokemon move before?" Kaleigh's hands curled into tight balls as she slowly looked over at Monica, before slowly shaking her head. Monica frowned slightly as she walked over.
"That's okay, I can help you!" Monica offered as she laid a hand on Kaleigh's tensed shoulder. Kaleigh looked up at Monica and relaxed slightly before Riolu collapsed to the ground.
"Riolu!" Kaleigh shouted, rushing over to him and lifted him up into her arms. "Do you have an antidote?" Monica asked only to receive a no from Kaleigh. "Don't worry there's a pokemon center close by!" Monica stated returning Rini to her pokeball. "Follow me!"
Monica led Kaleigh back into Saffron City and to the Pokemon Center. Following Monica inside, Kaleigh glanced around as she slowly moved to the desk.
"Nurse Joy could you help Riolu he got poisoned during our battle." Monica explained gesturing to Kaleigh's Riolu. Nurse Joy nodded her head as she gently took Riolu from Kaleigh's arms.
"Don't worry, your Riolu will be fine!" Nurse Joy exclaimed taking him to the back. Kaleigh looked over at Monica before looking around the center once more. It was pretty empty and she didn't see any posters of herself which helped her calm down.
"So Kaleigh, with Riolu being a fighting type I don't think he'll know poison fang." Kaleigh looked over at Monica and sighed nodding her head as she sat down on a chair. She rested her arms on the table nearby and laid her head in one hand.
"I… I don't know m-much about pokemon. I don't know any attacks so my pokemon has fought without me…" Kaleigh confessed. Monica sat across from Kaleigh and tilted her head. She could tell something wasn't right. "How could someone not know anything about pokemon?" Monica thought to herself, but let it be.
"What about a pokedex? Do you have one?" Monica inquired, but Kaleigh gave her a funny look.
"What's a pokedex?" Kaleigh responded by answering Monica's question with a question.
"It's a device that helps tell you about pokemon. Professor Oak hands them to new trainers." Kaleigh sat back in her seat, head tilted down as her eyes fixated on her hands.
"Kaleigh." Monica coaxed. They sat in silence for a few minutes, Monica's face started to turn into concern.
"Kaleigh, are you really 10 years old-" "YES I'M 10!" Kaleigh interrupted slamming her fists onto the table. Surprising both of them Kaleigh quickly pulled her hand off and back to while letting out a couple of small breaths.
"If you're not it's okay. If you ran away my family can help." Monica soothed after recovering from the outburst. Kaleigh shook her head. "I'm 10."
"Then why don't you have a pokedex?" Monica probed. "I-I don't know!" Kaleigh lied quickly. "Kaleigh if you are 10 then you would have one to help you on your journey!" Monica continued. "I just want to help you!" "Monica stop…" Kaleigh warned, but went on deaf ears. "None of this makes sense! You have no knowledge about pokemon or their attacks, you don't have a pokedex and you don't look 10 years old! You can trust me-"
"NO! NO I CAN'T! NO MATTER WHAT I TELL YOU, YOU WON'T BELIEVE ME! YOU DON'T EVEN BELIEVE I'M 10 JUST BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE ONE OF THOSE-THOSE STUPID THINGS!" Kaleigh raged as she stood up with so much force it knocked over her chair.
"I DON'T HAVE ONE BECAUSE I NEVER WENT TO MEET WH-WHOEVER UHH! I RAN AWAY OKAY! I RAN AWAY and-and I'M NOT GOING BACK! I-I CAN'T TAKE ANY MORE PAIN!"
Mad at herself for letting it all out, Kaleigh walked away from the table and over to a wall kicking it repeatedly until she had calmed down. Monica stayed quiet watching Kaleigh blow up, unknowing to her that it was Kaleigh's first time to have such raw emotion come through. Kaleigh turned around, her eyes watery as she tried to blink back the tears. She leaned her back against the wall and crossed her arms over her chest, she slid down to the floor her knees pulled to her chest making her lay her folded arms on them where she then hid her face.
"I'm sorry for pushing…" Monica frowned deeply regretting what she did to Kaleigh. "I know there is a book with pokemon attacks in it. We could get that for you." Monica mentioned as she got up and walked over to the small girl, taking slow steps to watch if Kaleigh wanted her nearby or not. With no answer, Monica took another step and crouched down to Kaleigh.
"I believe you Kaleigh, and I want to help you become a pokemon trainer."
Kaleigh took a shaky breath in before quickly rubbing her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt. She looked in front of her at Monica. Monica smiled gently at her and held out her hand, Kaleigh glanced at the offer and raised her own to take it but hesitated.
"Riolu's all better!" Nurse Joy announced. Kaleigh quickly moved her hand to the floor with her other hand and pushed herself up. Disappointed Monica pulled her hand back and stood up watching the little baby pokemon run to Kaleigh and hug her tightly.
"He's a fighter, would not sit still for me to heal him!" Nurse Joy laughed as Kaleigh picked up Riolu and hugged him back.
"I'm okay buddy." She whispered. "Thank you, Nurse Joy" Monica stated following as Kaleigh was already leaving the building.
"Kaleigh wait! I really am sorry, let's go get that book." Monica pleaded. Riolu looked up at Kaleigh with concern as she stopped and looked down at Riolu.
"Fine." She answered and turned to Monica who smiled a bit more and led Kaleigh to a shop. Not wanting to worry Riolu, Kaleigh kept him out so he could see she was okay. The three of them walked into the shop and looked around. Both Kaleigh and Riolu looked at the stacks of books and pulled one out. Upon opening it the two looked at a few pages, only to find lines of all sorts. Shaking their heads, Kaleigh put it away.
"Kaleigh I found it!" Monica called. Kaleigh and Riolu walked around to where Monica was. The three looked at the book, but Kaleigh and Riolu looked at each other for a second as it had the lines like the other book.
"Oh! Riolu should have quick attack, it's a more common move pokemon know!" Monica suggested pointing to a spot on the page. "What?" Kaleigh thought as she looked at the book and then at Monica.
"Come on let's go try to find out what attacks he has right now!" Monica cheered heading to the cashier. Kaleigh was a bit hesitant as she wondered how Monica knew what the book said. Once paid for Monica led Kaleigh back to the area on route 6 to practice pokemon attacks.
"Okay, Riolu are you ready?" Monica looked over at Riolu in Kaleigh's arms. Kaleigh placed Riolu down and nodded her head.
"Let's try." Kaleigh told him. Riolu smiled and ran in front of them prepared to obey. "Okay, let's start at the top!" Monica then started to skim through the attacks.
"Arm thrust!" Riolu looked back at them and shook his head, and Monica then went back to the book. "Aura sphere, beat up, bite-" Riolu then barked and used bite into the air.
"Okay! So he knows bite!" Monica said before continuing on. The three went through the book and found three moves that Riolu responded to.
"Riolu use bullit punch!" Kaleigh commanded and watched as Riolu ran over to a boulder, his paws glowed and he started to rapidly punch the boulder.
"There you go!" Monica cheered out. Kaleigh smiled more as Riolu then ran back over to her. "Awesome job Riolu!"
The three paused as all their stomachs growled at them. It was at this point that they looked up at the sky, just realizing the sun was going down.
"Let's go to my house." Monica chuckled as she rubbed her stomach. Kaleigh looked over at Monica and quickly shook her head.
"N-no Riolu and I should h-head out, places to b-be and all" Kaleigh lied rubbing the back of her neck as she looked behind herself at the road.
"Kaleigh, come on you need to eat and Riolu needs food too." Kaleigh frowned as she looked down at Riolu, who looked up at his trainer. "O-okay." Kaleigh agreed.
Monica smiled and the three walked back to Monica's family apartment. As soon as they walked in Kaleigh and Riolu were hypnotized by the aroma in the air. Riolu quickly ran in and around to where the smell came from.
"Rio-" Kaleigh started to call but Riolu had already disappeared. Monica chuckled at the pokemon which Kaleigh joined in for a moment. The two walked into the kitchen and saw Riolu hopping around while Monica's mother pulled a dish from the oven.
"Welcome back girl!" Monica's mother exclaimed happily turning to them. She placed the dish on a cloth on the table that had plates and silverware set out.
"Come on and sit, I'll go get your dad." Monica's mom told them before leaving the room. Monica and Kaleigh found a chair at the table and sat beside each other. When Monica's mother returned a man, with short brown hair slicked back and wearing a dress shirt and pants, followed behind her. His eyes were green like Monica's and he waved to them as he sat down.
"You must be Kaleigh, it's nice to meet you." He greeted as Monica's mother placed two bowls of pokemon food on the floor for Riolu and Rini. Monica smiled and let Rini out of her pokeball to eat. The meal was nice as everyone ate and Monica's parents asked how training went. Monica explained what attacks Riolu had and focused on learning more about pokemon attacks. Much to Kaleigh's relief. After dinner, Kaleigh returned Riolu to his pokeball.
"Thank you for the meal, I should get going now." Kaleigh piped up after being silent for the dinner. Monica and her parents looked over at Kaleigh almost in surprise.
"You're welcome, but how about you stay the night?" Monica's mother suggested before the father added.
"Yes, and you can continue your adventure tomorrow with a good night's sleep."
Kaleigh started to shake her head not wanting to stay in town any longer than she had, but Monica grabbed her hand making Kaleigh turn to her.
"Ya, it'll be like a sleepover!" Monica excitedly announced, giving Kaleigh a pleading look. Kaleigh hesitated as she tried to deny the offer again, but was persuaded. Monica's mother smiled and went to set up a spot for Kaleigh in Monica's room. To which Kaleigh was dragged to by Monica.
"This is my room!" Monica beamed. Kaleigh looked around the room, posters hung on the pale blue walls, there was a small rug in the middle of the room with a bed off to the side and in one corner there was a big Gengar plushie. Monica's mother walked in and set up an extra bed on the floor.
"Okay, you two don't stay up too late." Monica's mother reminded them as she left. Monica waved her hand while she pulled out a couple of pairs of pyjamas and handed one to Kaleigh.
"Here you can wear these!." Kaleigh looked at the clothes that had been shoved into her hand. "Why-" "I'm guessing you don't have any right? You can't sleep in those" Monica was quick to answer Kaleigh's question while gesturing to Kaleigh's outfit.
Kaleigh left for the bathroom to change, avoiding looking in the mirror as she did. When she returned Monica was already changed and in her own bed. Kaleigh turned off the light, climbed into the bed for her and slowly relaxed.
"Kaleigh." Monica whispered making Kaleigh turn to look at Monica's bed. "When I start my pokemon journey we should travel together. We'd make a good team." Kaleigh thought about it before rolling back onto her side.
"Ya, we would…"