The sun was starting to set, and the air was cooling down. It's been about four hours since Cory had set off to Bocaroot City, and there was still quite a ways to go. Just his luck that his secluded home lay in the middle of the largest forest in Lenova. It always made getting food and other stuff a bit of a pain since the nearest town was an hour walk away from his home, but it has been over six years since he made the long trip to Bocaroot City which takes an eight hour walk to get to. It wasn't that big of a problem though. Since today has been particularly quiet. The chirps of Pidgey's and Fletchling's every so often, but other than that it was a peaceful and quiet stroll through the woods.
However, the period of peace and quiet was broken when Cory heard a voice call out from behind him. "HEY, YOU THERE!" a female voice yelled out. "CAN YOU HELP ME OUT?" Cory turned around to see a girl running towards him at full speed. She ran up to him, and nearly fell on her face trying to stop herself. She does manage to stop, but is clearly out of breath from running so fast.
"So what can I help you with?" Cory asked her. She held her finger up to gesture that she needed a few more seconds to collect herself. After a few more breaths she stands up straight, looks at Cory.
"I'm a bit lost, and I was hoping you could help guide me out of here." she says between deep breaths.
"You want help from me?" Cory replies confused. The girl looks at Cory with a slightly irritated face.
"Of course I want help from you. You're the only person I've seen in this darn forest." She says angrily. Cory is shocked that this girl doesn't know who he is. Normally when someone notices him they insult him before angrily leaving him alone. "So you gonna help me or what?" she says to Cory with more anger this time.
"Oh uh… sorry, I'm not used to people wanting my help." Cory replies. "If you're lost I help you get back on track. Do you by chance have a map?" The girl gives Cory a chagrined look.
"I uh… had a map" the girl replies.
"What do you mean you had a map?" Cory asks.
"I may have lost it trying to run away from a swarm of Beedrill." she said sheepishly. Cory gives her a look of concern. "But don't worry I think I outran them." Cory gives a slight sigh of relief after hearing that.
"Well it will be kinda hard to give you exact directions without a map, but I can at least point you in the right direction." Cory then asks "Where you going?"
"I'm trying to get to Bocaroot City" she replies.
"Oh, that makes things much easier." Cory exclaimed. "I'm also heading to Bocaroot."
She gives a massive sigh of relief. "So you'll take me to Bocaroot?"
"Yeah, just follow me, and we'll be there in about 4 hours." Cory replies. Cory then turns, and looks at the setting sun. "Just so you know we will probably have to camp out for the night,"
"That's fine I brought a bunch of stuff for that just in case I had too" she answered.
"Alright then let's get going then." Cory then begins to go forward.
"Hey, before we start moving, can I ask what your name is?" the girl asks. Cory turns back to the girl.
"Oh yeah, my name is—" Cory then hesitates. What if she knows who I am from my name, he thought. It would not be pretty. The girl gives him a confused look. "Uh… my name is Cody." he finally responds.
"Well it's nice to meet you Cody." the girl said, smiling. She then puts her hand out. "My name's Alexa." she then greeted. "Thank you so much for taking me to Bocaroot."
"No problem." Cory replies. He then awkwardly grabs Alexa's hand, and they share a friendly handshake. Cory then quickly turns back around. "We need to start moving. Let's make some more ground before we stop for the night."
"Alright, you lead the way." Alexa responds. They then both began to move forward, but not too long after they began the sound of buzzing can be heard behind them. Cory notices it immediately, and turns around to see a group of four Beedrill in the distance. Alexa takes a few more seconds to hear the buzzing, but when she does a look of terror washes over her face.
"Looks like outrunning them didn't work out, so it looks like we have to battle them." Cory says to Alexa. He then puts down his duffle bag and starts to dig through it, and then looks at Alexa. "Bring out your pokemon." He tells her.
"I-I don't have one." she shudders.
"YOU DON'T HAVE A POKEMON!" Cory yells back at her. The Beedrill are getting closer and closer. Cory points at a bush. "Alexa, go hide over there. I'll take care of them." Alexa quickly goes to hide. Cory digs out the pokeball with Sandile, and brings him out. Sandile looks at Cory happily. "Hey there buddy. You like to fight right?" Cory asks. Sandile shakes his head happily. "Well listen to what I say, and you will get to beat up four annoying bugs. That sound good?" Sandile nods. "Alright use dig, but don't come up before I tell you." Sandile nods once more, and burrows into the ground.
The four Beedrill are very close now. Cory screams out to them. "HEY YOU STUPID BUGS OVER HERE!" The Beedrill in the front of the swarm notices him first, and flies straight at him. The others follow suit. Cory stands in his spot waving his arms. The front Beedrill flies closer, and closer, and closer. It flies near ground level dashing straight towards Cory when he screams "SANDILE NOW!" Suddenly Sandile shoots out of the ground in front of the Beedrill, and latches onto its head using bite. The Beedrill squirms as it tries to get Sandile off it. Two more Beedrill quickly show up, and go after Cory. Cory then runs towards some trees on the side of the forest road.
The first Beedrill, after a few minutes of squirming, finally passes out from exhaustion, and Sandile finally lets go. He sees Cory running in the distance, and follows after him. Cory runs through the trees trying to avoid the Beedrill that wants to turn him into food. Suddenly, he trips over a branch and falls to the ground. The two Beedrill fly quickly towards Cory, but thinking quickly Cory grabs a handful of sand and throws it straight into the eyes of both Beedrill. This stuns them. Sandile then finally catches up to them, and Cory quickly tells Sandile what to do. "SANDILE, BITE THE RIGHT ONE'S LEG." Sandile hears him, and chomps down on the leg on the right Beedrill. Then before the Beedrill could retaliate, Sandile uses his strong jaw to slam the Beedrill into the side of a tree.
While Sandile dealt with the right Beedrill. The Beedrill that was on the left regained some of its senses and went after Cory again. The Beedrill tried to stab Cory with its singer, but it missed due its vision still being cloudy. This gave time for Sandile to smash the right Beedrill into the tree three more times, knocking it out. The left Beedrill was still having trouble trying to hit Cory as he maneuvered around the trees. Sandile finally came to help Cory by tackling the Beedrill. The Beedrill then went to sting Sandile, but Cory called out. "SANDILE, USE SAND ATTACK!" Sandile then uses his tail to throw sand into the eyes of Beedrill once again. The Beedrill can now barely see anything, "USE BITE TO KNOCK IT OUT!" Cory then yells. Sandile then bites the Beedrill by the head, and slams it down hard onto the ground knocking it out cold.
Sandile looks at Cory proud with what he did. "You really enjoy fighting don't you?" Cory asks. Sandile nods happily back at him. "Well, when we get to Hoenn I'll make sure you end up with a good trainer." Sandile, clearly upset with what Cory said start's to headbutt his leg. "I don't want to argue about it right now. We now gotta get Alexa before it gets too dark." Suddenly, a scream can be heard out back towards the direction of the road. "Oh shoot, that's Alexa." Cory says concerningly. "Let's go Sandile, we gotta help her."
They both then run towards the road to see Alexa being cornered by the fourth Beedrill. The Beedrill is closing in fast. "We won't be able to reach her in time by running." Cory tells Sandile. "I have an idea. Can you trust me Sandile?" Sandile nods. Cory then picks Sandile up by the tail, and spins around a couple times before throwing him at the Beedrill. Sandile flies through the air, and lands on the Beedrill right before it gets to Alexa. The Beedrill does manage to shake Sandile off, but it realizes that the three other Beedrill were beaten. Knowing that this Sandile took down its friends. The fourth Beedrill gives up and flies away.
Cory runs over to Alexa and Sandile. Alexa sitting by a rock breathing heavily while frozen in fear. "Are you ok?" Cory asks her.
"K-kind of" she whimpered. Cory then gives her a hand up.
"Don't worry, we're safe now." Cory explained
"A-are you sure?" she asked, frightened.
"Yes I'm sure, and if any more come, me and Sandile will take care of them." Cory reassured Alexa. "Now I think we should just set up camp. It's gonna get very dark soon."
"G-good idea." she responded. The two of them then set up camp on the side of the road. Sandile and Cory gathered stuff for the fire. Sandile getting the rocks, and Cory getting the sticks. Alexa then used her fire starter to create a warm fire to combat the cold night air. They then both roll out sleeping bags, and sit next to the fire. "You two want something to eat?" Alexa asks.
"Most definitely." Cory replies. Sandile also happily spins to agree. Alexa goes through her bag, and pulls out a loaf of bread.
"This is all I got in terms of food." she told them.
"Anything is better than nothing." Cory responds. Alexa then breaks off three chunks of bread. She gives a chunk to Cory, and tosses another chunk to Sandile. They all began to eat the little food they have. There is a long pause of silence as they stare into the fire. Alexa then decides to break the silence.
"Hey Cody, I know I should have said this sooner, but thanks for saving me earlier." she said sheepishly. She then began to tear up. "My incompetence could have gotten me killed, or worse the both of us killed." she said tearfully. "I'm so sorry for all the trouble I caused you today."
"Don't worry about it." Cory responded. He then continued, "Look on the bright side. At least Sandile seemed to have fun today." Sandile happily spins around. Alexa wipes her eyes, and lets out a small chuckle.
"I guess you're right." she says while petting Sandile. Sandile curls up, and falls asleep next to Alexa. "I wish I had my own pokemon."
"About that." says Cory. "Why are you out here without a pokemon? You know how dangerous it is without one to help you right?"
"I hate to admit it, but I don't actually know how to catch a pokemon." she replies.
"Really?" Cory says, slightly surprised.
"Hard to believe huh." she replies, shyly. "Eighteen years old, and I still haven't caught my first pokemon. Pretty pathetic, don't ya think?"
"I wouldn't say pathetic, but have you ever tried to catch a pokemon?" Cory asks.
"Yeah, earlier today was my first attempt when I tried to catch—" she pauses, and her face starts to turn red. "a Beedrill." she says quietly. She puts her head down to hide her embarrassment.
"Oh, so that's why they were after you." Cory responds. Alexa slowly nods her head up and down. "Alright, I now know why you don't have a pokemon, but if you don't mind. Can I ask why you are out here?" Cory asks.
Alexa lifts her head up, her face almost back to normal color. She stares at the fire for a moment. "I grew up in a very rural town up north. It was a nice little place, but it always felt too small for me. I would constantly ask the older townsfolk what the world was like outside our tiny town, and everytime they told me I would want nothing more than to experience it myself one day. That's why when my thirteenth birthday was around the corner I couldn't contain my excitement because in my town once you turn thirteen you had the opportunity to be given pokemon from the town professor, and sent to journey the world. All I needed was my parents' blessing.
"But on the day of my thirteenth birthday. They refused to give me their blessing." Alexa crushes the plastic water bottle in her hand. She then continues. "They told me I wouldn't be able to take care of myself, they told me it was too dangerous for me, they told me I was WEAK!" She slams down her bottle on the ground, crushing it even more. As tears start to fill her eyes. "So instead of exploring the world like I dreamed. I was stuck in the same old place I knew my whole life. I then began to count down to the day that I turned eighteen, so I could leave without anyone's blessing. I waited five long years, and when that day finally came. I left. I didn't say goodbye to anyone. I took everything I had, and left." She turns to Cory with tears running down her face. "So that pretty much sums it up."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to bring up bad memories." Cory apologies. Alexa wipes the tears from her eyes.
"It's fine. In fact, it felt really good to finally let it all out to someone." she says, while giving Cory a smile. "So Cody, now that you know why I'm out here. You care to tell me why you're out here?" she asks.
"No particular reason." Cory responds.
"Come on, you have to be going to Bocaroot for a reason. Alexa says. "Do you plan on taking on the Pokemon League?" she asks
"N-no, I've never been big on pokemon battles." Cory stammered.
"Are you serious? Earlier today, you seemed to really know what you were doing. Alexa responds, fairly shocked.
"M-my mother was a good trainer, so I must have picked up some things from her," he replies. "Either that or battling just runs in the family blood." he says with a slightly nervous laugh.
"So then, what are you heading to Bocaroot for?" Alexa asks
"I'm going there to hop on a boat, and head to Hoenn." Cory responds bluntly.
"So you're leaving Lenova?" she asks. Cory nods his head. "What makes you want to go to Hoenn?"
"Uh… honestly, I heard the weather was much better in Hoenn." he replies.
"That's all?" asks Alexa
"Yep." Cory answers.
"Well if it makes you happy. Go for it." she says happily.
"I'm certain it will." he says unenthusiastically. Cory then looks at his watch which reads 10:22pm. "Anyways, I think it's time we go to sleep. We still have a three hour walk before we get to Bocaroot." Cory explains.
"I suppose you're right."Alexa says, stretching out her arms. She then snuggled into her sleeping bag, and then turned to Cory. "Goodnight Cody, thanks for everything today." She then turns away, and falls asleep. Cory slips into his sleeping bag, and tries to fall asleep. However, a huge wave of guilt washes over him as he tries. Alexa was the first person that he made any sort of bond with in six years, but the whole portrait he painted of himself for Alexa was nothing but a complete and utter lie. He then spent most of the night tossing and turning. Trying to shake away the guilt. It took quite a few hours, but Cory finally managed to fall asleep.