We attracted quite a few stares as we wandered through the paths just outside the city, and it wasn't hard to imagine why. Not only was I carrying the young girl over my shoulders as she rested in the midday sun, but the two of us were quite visibly worse for wear.
Chee's outfit was noticeably scratched up and muddied, small cuts and scrapes were present across her upper legs and lower arms where the adventuring clothing hadn't been able to protect her from her fall.
My clothes had been less damaged, but I was much dirtier. Unlike Chee who had fallen into the hole and stayed there, I'd clearly spent the entire time digging around in the dirt and stone of the cave, and there were heavy bags under my eyes. The dirt caked over my shorts and jacket were very conspicuous.
By contrast, the shoulder that Chee laid her head on was relatively clean, as her face had been thoroughly cleaned by the tears and rubbing into her gloves she'd done when I found her. The tear stains were, however, very obvious against her sleeping face.
The stares on me were of many sorts. Some stares were curious, other looked on me in sympathy, yet others glared with suspicion. They probably wondered if I was the reason the girl on my shoulders had been crying.
In a way they would be right to think so. It might be fair to say it was my hubris that caused our problems to begin with. If I'd just removed Chee from our Party, she would have been able to fight the wild Pokemon in my stead, which would mean we could have returned and told someone else about Team Rocket instead of facing them.
...But I hadn't been sure it worked that way until after I'd ended up in Team Rocket's hands, and the only reason we escaped was because of the boss monster.
And that same boss monster was the reason Chee was now in this state, so even from that angle I'm still partially culpable.
Speaking of the boss monster... I thought, opening the party window. Let's go ahead and boot the Rocket Grunt from my party, I don't want to end up fighting any more bosses.
It took me a few attempts, but I eventually figured out I could remove individual members from the party by swiping their name to the left and then tapping on the word "kick".
[Cyan's Current Party:
Leader: Cyan
Member: Chee (Info) (Nickname)
Note: Certain features are disabled due to strength difference.
{Disband}]
Satisfied, I dismissed the window. I figured it was about time to check my status again, since I'd left it mostly alone while in the cave.
...Status
[Cyan Hughs
Status:
HP: 5/25
Atk: 10
Sp. Atk: 1
Def: 10
Sp. Def: 5
Spd: 12
Stat Points (13)
Skills:
Eye to Eye
Regression System
Pokemon Status Lv 2
Bonds System
S.T.A.B.
Noctowl Vision (Lv 2)
Type Proficiency 40% {Tap to Expand} ]
[Normal Proficiency: 317% {VIEW REWARDS}
Fighting Proficiency: 0%
Flying Proficiency: 0%
Poison Proficiency: 0%
Ground Proficiency: 0%
Rock Proficiency: 0%
Bug Proficiency: 0%
Ghost Proficiency: 0%
Steel Proficiency: 0%
Fire Proficiency: 0%
Water Proficiency: 0%
Grass Proficiency: 96%
Electric Proficiency: 5%
Psychic Proficiency: 0%
Ice Proficiency: 0%
Dragon Proficiency: 0%
Dark Proficiency: 305% {VIEW REWARDS}
Fairy Proficiency: 0%]
The time I'd spent in the cave had boosted my Dark Proficiency like mad, leading to the numbers almost rivalling my Normal Proficiency now. I hadn't checked the rewards yet, so I decided now was a good time.
[Dark Type Proficiency Level: 3
To next level: 95%
Level 1 Reward: Noctowl Vision (Skill) {CLAIMED}
Level 2 Reward: Dark Type +5% Damage
Level 3 Reward: +5% Exp from Dark Type Opponents]
It followed a very similar pattern to normal's rewards, but they were all welcome additions in my books. A 5% boost to damage was still significant, even if it wasn't as good as S.T.A.B.
I dismissed the menu as I felt the girl on my back begin to stir. I came to a stop, and the head on my shoulder finally lifted back into the air as I met her eyes.
"Good morning." I rasped, the exhaustion I was feeling from the travel coming through a bit more than I really intended.
Her eyes glanced around sleepily, but even after the rest I could tell she was still a bit rattled by her experiences of the last night. Finally she turned her eyes back onto me.
Thank you.
I huffed quietly. "You don't need to thank me. I'm sorry that the journey turned into a mess."
She shook her head slightly. No, it was my fault.
I blinked a few times in surprise. "What-No, it's not your fault! If it was anyone's fault, it was mine!"
She tilted her head in disagreement, fixing me with a stare. She then mimed the action of falling over while holding the pokeball, just like the way she'd dropped Bulbasaur when we were passing Team Rocket. I was the one who dropped the ball. If it wasn't for that, we would have been fine. And I gave up when they caught us.
She leaned her cheek on my shoulder again, looking apologetic now. But you didn't.
I wanted to explain how it was all my fault, but I bit my tongue. Instead, I turned away from her. "Well, I already knew you were stressed out. It's not your fault that you were out of sorts."
I was answered by a sharp pinch to the cheek. "Ow! Ow! Stop that!"
I turned to glare at her, but when I looked she had already puffed her cheeks out in annoyance. She pointed at my eyes.
"...I'm sorry, I don't know what you're getting at. Something about Yellow?"
She looked more annoyed, and pulled out her PokeDex to send me a message. The machine was dead, and refused to answer her touch, to which she hung her head in dismay.
"Sorry." I looked away sheepishly. "Well, since we both think it's our fault, I propose a compromise. It was just an unexpected situation, and we'll learn from it how to deal with the next one. No fault needed."
She nodded quietly.
"Do you think you can walk now?" I asked.
The black-haired girl sat thoughtfully for a moment. I don't know.
Softly, I crouched down and let her off of my shoulders. She sat on the ground for a moment, then stood up, shifting her weight to her left, then to her right. As she leaned to the right, she winced in pain. It hurts a lot!
"Alright, but maybe I can offer you a shoulder instead of a piggyback?" I offered with a sigh.
Chee looked at the ground, pressing her fingers together. She tilted her head up at my slightly, doing her best to look as cute as possible. ...Are you sure you can't carry me anymore?
"...Are you trying to act cute to get what you want again?"
Her cheeks immediately puffed up like a balloon.
"Yeah, that's what I thought. Come on, let's walk."
...
Finally we made it into the Cerulean City Pokemon Centre. With exhausted eyes, I looked up to the concerned face of a resident nurse. "Do-Do you need medical attention?" She asked cautiously.
"My friend has hurt her leg, I don't think it's anything too serious but it would be good to get it checked." I answered. "I'm fine, just tired. Also, if you could let us reserve a call to Pallet Town, and two rooms. We're Gym Challengers, I can show you our badges if you need."
She looked at me with an air of Sympathy. "...I don't think that's necessary for now."
The nurse reached under the desk and retrieved a set of room keys for us, which she promptly handed over. "I'll call for a doctor."
The next few hours sped past very quickly just from resolving the remaining loose ends from our trip. I returned Chee's Bulbasaur to her, and the nurse took her into the shower to help her wash up as I went to my own room to do the same. I made sure to bring out Yeller and let him know that everything was resolved-And to wash him as well.
The comfort was nice, but it made the tiredness I was already feeling wash over me even stronger.
After that, I did a quick check on all of my belongings to make sure there wasn't anything missing. Fortunately, only relatively low-quality items like food and other consumables were missing. They hadn't taken any of our empty Pokeballs or PokeDexes.
I wanted to check and catalogue Chee's bag as well, but for some reason she was very adamant that I was not allowed to. Nonetheless, it seemed that she still had most of her possessions.
Consulting with the Doctor, we were told that Chee's ankle was sprained. A relatively light one, thankfully, but it did make me feel a bit bad about refusing to carry her for the final leg of the journey. Even if I did still help her so she only had to walk on one leg.
"I recommend that you try to keep off that foot for a while." The doctor informed us. "The sprain isn't too bad, but she probably won't be able to walk on her own until it heals. It could be anywhere from a few days to a few weeks before she can walk unaided." He glanced at me with an air of concern.
"...Should I contact your parents?" He asked, cautiously. "They'd be the best people to take care of her right now."
"Er, no. We'll handle all of that ourselves." I answered, sparing a gaze to check how Chee responded to her parents being brought up.
Her eyes fell and she did appear to become thoughtful, but the degree to which it distracted her seemed to be less than the last time it had come up in conversation. I'd love to say that was a sign that she wasn't that bothered, but from her response I'd guess that she had already been thinking about it.
"In the meantime, do you have a crutch she could use?" I asked, suppressing the urge to yawn.
"Yes, of course." The doctor responded, standing up and leaving the room.
A few minutes later, Chee had been handed a pair of crutches so that she'd be able to walk by herself. It didn't take her too long to get used to them, but she still had those overcast eyes that made me concerned. I could only hope that she wouldn't try to get Oak to send us home.
"...Do you want to talk about it?" I softly asked, and I saw the girl's eyes slightly focus again and turn to look at me. For a moment she was going to shake her head again, but instead she reached for her bag, only to stop short again.
The PokeDex she would usually use to communicate difficult concepts was broken. We could get a pen and paper, but she wasn't as good at writing as she was at typing.
I'll tell you later. Her eyes suggested instead, which was a surprise. Every other time I'd asked her to open up I'd been met with abject refusal.
"Cyan, Chee, Call Room 104 is all yours!" The nurse called out to us from her desk.
I steeled my resolve as I led Chee through the door leading to Call Room 104. I couldn't be sure how Oak would respond to any of the news I had to give him, but I didn't want to force Chee to stay with me and abuse the trust she placed in me as her translator.
The room was small but comfortable, with blue walls and the signature yellow floor of the Pokemon Centre, as well as a desk with the Screen for the advanced communications device. There was a camera on the top of the monitor, and a nice couch-like chair big enough for a few grown adults to sit in right in front of the machine.
I started to dial in Professor Oak's number, but Chee grabbed my arm to stop me.
"Chee? Is something wrong?"
She shook her head, and held a hand up indicating I should wait. Then, to my surprise, she hid both the crutches she'd been given out of sight of the camera. Okay, I'm ready.
Without waiting for my response she sidled up next to me on the chair, dangling her legs over the side instead of sitting cross-legged.
"Uh... Okay." I continued entering Oak's number and hit ring. A few moments later, his face popped up on the screen.
"Cyan my boy! I was starting to worry that something had happened to you. Have you made it to Cerulean City safely?" He asked with a smile, as though he was expecting me to answer in the affirmative.
"Uh, sort of." I responded. "We had a few troubles along the way, and Chee-"
The girl at my side elbowed me suddenly, causing me to lose both my breath and my train of thought. I tilted my head to shoot her a disapproving look.
I'm fine. Tell him I'm fine. Her determined eyes stared back at me.
"...Chee has her first Gym Badge now." I changed my course, wracking my brain for some other thing I could pass off later as the thing Chee tried to stop me from saying. "As do I. But we had some trouble getting through Mt. Moon. There was a cave-in that we nearly got caught in, and..."
I paused for dramatic effect.
"We encountered Team Rocket."
I watched as Oak's eyes tightened suddenly. "Team Rocket...? What is that group of ruffians doing in Mt. Moon? No, more importantly, do you still have your Pokemon?"
I nodded in response. "We managed to get away, thanks in part to the cave-in I mentioned earlier."
I could almost see the relief on Oak's face. "Good, the last thing I'd want is for the two of you to lose your partners."
"Well, I don't really get it anyway." I grumbled. "The bond between a trainer and their first Pokemon-Their partner-It's something special. Even if you steal that Pokemon, it won't listen to you. Why do they even bother?"
Even on the battlefield, borrowing the Pokemon of a downed ally was as much of a risk as it was a benefit. Sometimes the partners would just attempt to kill anyone who tried to use them once their original trainer had died. Just like Chee's Bulbasaur, they would almost always respond violently to strangers using them.
But the room around me was completely silent. Chee had a sour look on her face which she'd turned to the ground. Oak was, uncharacteristically, refusing to meet my gaze. His eyes were looking over to something on the side, and his face was stern. "Well, usually that's true. There are exceptions." He spoke finally.
I blinked a few times in surprise at the response they'd both given me. "Wait, what are you two-"
"Putting that aside." Oak cut me off. "I assume there's something else you haven't told me...?"
"Err... What do you mean?" I asked, feeling a slight cold sweat beginning to form on my back. I wondered if he could already tell that Chee and I were trying to hide her health from him.
"...One of the PokeDexes suddenly stopped transmitting signals last night." Oak finished.
"Ah..." I rubbed the back of my neck with a small sense of relief, which only grew once I realised I could spin this reveal to my advantage. I quickly turned to look at Chee. "See, I told you he'd figure it out! It wasn't worth trying to keep it a secret..."
Chee played along, pouting at me and crossing her arms like an upset child.
"Chee's PokeDex was damaged in the Cave-in professor." I answered his unspoken question. "It doesn't appear to be functional anymore.
In response, Chee dug into her bag and withdrew the PokeDex with it's cracked case. The PokeDex had become a very helpful cornerstone for my communications with Chee, so the damage was painful for me as well.
"I see." Oak sighed in dismay. "Well, no, this might work out. Most people wouldn't be able to repair one of my PokeDexes, but it just so happens that I have an old assistant near Cerulean City. I'll try to get in touch with him and see if he can fix your PokeDex for you."
"Thanks a lot, Professor!"
"Do try not to break it again, will you?"
I nodded softly, only to nearly jump in surprise when I felt Chee's head drop into my shoulder. I turned down to see her eyelids drooping. She glanced up at me slightly. I'm tired. I'm gonna go to bed.
"Oh, Chee says she's gonna go to bed now." I translated to Oak, who nodded.
"I'd like to speak to Cyan a tad longer, but I hope you sleep well... Chee."
The young girl nodded, and shifted away from the view of the screen. Quietly she gathered the crutches she'd hidden and waddled out the door.
"Erm, is there something else you needed from me, Professor?"
"There's a few things I wanted to ask about." He asked suddenly, as if it was something that had been worrying him from the start. "You've been travelling with... Chee, for a while now. Has she been eating alright?"
"Uh, I'd say she has a healthy appetite?" I answered, somewhat confused. "Sometimes she eats too much and complains about feeling bloated afterwards... Oh, there was one time she was a bit depressed after we failed to catch a Pikachu, but I still convinced her to eat in the end."
The older man stroked his chin thoughtfully. "...Fascinating."
"What, did you think my cooking sucks or something?" I jabbed back, perhaps a bit too informally.
"And the two of you had to travel through a cave to get to Cerulean. How did she handle that?"
I felt my mood fall a little. "Not so great. She was barely holding it together for the whole trip, like she was frightened of the cave itself."
"...So you had to force her through the cave?"
I shook my head. "She managed to work up the will to enter herself, but she was extremely skittish the whole time." I felt a sense that he was leading up to something I wouldn't like. Perhaps he would say that I haven't made enough progress in getting Chee to conquer her fears, and I needed to try harder.
Oak beamed a wild smile at me. "Cyan, sending Chee with you may be the best decision I've made all year."
That comment caught me by surprise. "Er, what do you mean, Professor?"
"I suppose you wouldn't know, I think she's trying to hide it from you." He mused with a slight chuckle. "When it was just us, Chee would hardly eat anything, no matter what I tried." He sighed deeply, the age showing in the wrinkles on his forehead. "I was worried about how little nutrition she was getting."
"She started eating more after the two of you became friends. I'm glad to hear the trend has continued."
I leaned back, almost stunned. I couldn't really picture Chee refusing to eat the food in front of her... Or so I thought, but then I realised that she'd even refused Bronze, someone she'd seen as being potentially even more Yellow than I was.
"Well, that's all I needed to hear." Oak concluded, raising his hand to end the call. "I'll contact you again shortly about the PokeDexes, but for now you should probably go get some rest."
"Wait!" I exclaimed, a question still burning in my mind. "The way you both reacted when I talked about Partners... What was that about?"
Strangely, I almost felt that I saw the elder man's lip quiver, but his reply was rather mellow. "...I don't think it's really my place to say. If it really bothers you that much, try asking Blue about it next time you see him."
And without another word, Professor Oak ended the call.
I leaned back in the couch for a few moments, trying to decipher what they'd meant by that. The moment I started to boot the analytical part of my brain however, it pinged me with a very important signal-The reminder that I had not slept in well over 32 hours, and I needed to get myself into a bed as soon as physically possible.
Abandoning the train of thought I'd begun, I hazily made my way upstairs to my room. My eyelids were starting to droop, and I almost felt like the world around me was fading away as I dragged myself to the bed I'd been gifted by the nurse.
Rather haphazardly, I flopped onto the bed-And in a small corner of my brain, I noticed that the surface I'd landed on was not entirely made of cottons and fabrics. My gaze turned to the side, where a young girl lay with her eyes looking guiltily to one side.
Somehow, Chee had gotten into my room before I did.
I could have tried repeating our nightly arguments that would begin every time we went to a new Pokemon Centre, but she had just recently been through a series of harrowing and traumatic events. She could use a break.
And frankly, I was tired.
"Good night Chee." I mumbled, closing my eyes.
A few minutes later, the sweet hold of sleep had taken a deep hold on me.
[Log:
You have endured an exhausting ordeal without faltering! +5 MaxHP, +1 Def
Your dedication to fitness has increased your strength! +1 Atk
Your dedication to fitness has increased your endurance! +1 Def
Your dedication to fitness has increased your dexterity! +1 Spd
Your dedication to fitness has increased your dexterity! +1 Spd]