"Chee... I won't hate you." I answered softly. I don't think she really believed me, but she nodded resolutely.

'It all started on my 6th Birthday.' She began via the app. 'I got into a fight with my parents, and I decided to run away from home.'

"Run away...? Why?"

The young girl softly shook her head. 'My parents were well known trainers, I think. They were training me to look after Pokemon, and it was difficult to keep up with them.'
'I got fed up with the training and asked them to take it easier on me, but my dad refused. So I ran away.'

She flipped the paper showing a crude drawing of a house with a girl running away. In the house were two vague drawings of people, one with long brown hair and the other with short black hair. I could only assume they were her mother and father, respectively.

'When I ran away, I stumbled across a hurt monster.' Chee continued, flipping over another page to show... A blank space in a forest, where a silver scribble filled the space where a Pokemon should be. It looked vaguely like a bird, but it was extremely basic, unlike the rest of the drawing.

I frowned. "I think you forgot to draw it?"

Chee vigorously shook her head. It's too scary to draw!

"...Is that so?" I mused. Given that information, I had an inkling of where the story was going to go from here. She'd encountered a wild and injured Pokemon, tried to touch it, and it had lashed out. It might seem childish to some, but that was more than enough to traumatise a girl at such a young age-Especially if it had done some real damage, as the Nurse had implied.

'But, I couldn't just leave the injured Pokemon alone.' The messages continued. 'I decided to try and take care of it, and'

The words cut off abruptly, and I prepared myself for the flow of the story I'd predicted.

'After I helped it heal, it took a liking to me.' She finally added. 'I realised that if something like that happened to me, only my parents would be able to help, so I decided to go home, and I said goodbye to the monster.'

I blinked a few times, surprised that the story ended there. Chee lowered her PokeDex for a few moments, taking a nervous breath. Just as I was about to speak again, I realised she was shakily raising an arm to her left shoulder. The palm of her hand landed softly on the top of her shoulder sleeve, and she grasped the fabric firmly.

She pulled the shirt sleeve aside, revealing her bare shoulder to me for the first time since we'd met, and I felt my breath catch in my throat. Between her neck and the ball of her shoulder was a set of long thick scars, trailing down her torso and under the shirt. Each scar was at least as thick as a finger, and I recognised some of the scars as being talon marks-As though a large bird had dug it's talons into her chest.

'This is what it did to me when I tried to leave.'

I looked up into Chee's eyes, but it was no use. They were swimming with so many emotions that I couldn't make out what she was thinking properly. All I could ascertain was that she remembered the pain vividly.

"I'm sorry that happened to you." I answered weakly. I thought the story would end there, but the PokeDex buzzed again.

'I wasn't strong enough to fight it.' The message read, and I saw Chee flip the paper once again, presenting a new drawing of a girl being lifted into the air by her shoulder. She let it rest for a moment, then flipped to yet another drawing-A nest in a cave, where the girl was dropped haphazardly.

'It took me to it's home, and forced me to look after it.'
'Each day it would come home covered in wounds, and insist that I help it. Whenever I refused, or tried to escape...'

Chee was trembling now, and she placed a hand on the bandage that had covered the peck injury inflicted by the Murkrow. Her eyes pleadingly looked to me. Do you get it?

I nodded quietly. "I think I get the idea." I murmured.

'One day, I managed to get outside while it was away, but I was in even more danger outside it's nest.' She flipped to another drawing of what appeared to be a snowy field, with a few drawings of scary monsters. One I recognised as her method of drawing Onix, another looked to be a walking hunk of grey-brown rock that might be a Graveler, but the others were less familiar to me.

A black and red bipedal creature with terrifying claws and feather-like appendages coming from it's head and waist. A bulky light blue quadruped with a long trunk, it seemed to have black armour-like scales that covered the top of it's body as well as two thick horns. Finally, a tall bipedal creature with wide stumpy legs and arms, devilish claws and teeth, and a yellow circle on it's belly.

Something about those last three felt odd to me, but I didn't get to think about it for long as Chee once again flipped the page. 'It was incredibly cold, I could barely breathe, but I didn't care at that point.'
'But when I was trying to escape, I came across my parents.'

The new drawing showed a cliffside, with two humanoid figures standing on a path that wound past the cliff and to the open snowy field the previous picture had shown. Above them was a towering mountain of rock. Combined with Chee's comments, I began to believe she'd been taken to a cave high in the mountains somewhere.

'They tried to fight the monster.'

I saw a moment of hesitation in Chee's movements, but the black-haired girl solemnly turned the page to show another shot of the same mountain-Now with the ledge the two people had been standing on destroyed.

'It knocked them off the cliff, but I realised my parents were coming after me after all. That gave me... Hope. So even after it took me back to the cave, I started trying to escape every day, even when it hurt me. When it realised that, it...'

Her hand rose up to the easel, but froze. Her whole body quaking more and more furiously as she reached for the page. Unsteady though she was, she turned the page over, and I was greeted with... Nothing. The page underneath it was blank.

'I'm sorry. I couldn't draw this part.' The message stated simply. I looked up from the PokeDex screen to focus on Chee, who had quiet streams of tears flowing down her face, a hollow and dead expression resting on her face.

"Chee, you don't have to tell me any more..." I reassured her gently. I rose to walk to her, but she shook her head.

Her eyes drifted to her gloves, which she readjusted before hugging the Pikachu close to her chest. After a moment she looked up at me. Her expression was still marred with too many emotions for me to accurately understand, until she dug into her bag again and pulled out a pair of simple wooden dolls. I recognised them, she'd bought them in the art store alongside the easel, and there was both a male and female one.

She turned away from me, hiding the dolls from my sight. I wondered what she was doing, until I heard a pair of sharp cracking noises, just a few seconds apart from each other. Then she put something back in the bag. Another buzz from the PokeDex momentarily distracted me.

'This is what it did.' The text message read. And when I glanced up from the device...

Chee rolled the two severed heads of the wooden dolls across the ground towards me, and I felt a chill run down my spine as I looked up into her tear-filled eyes, slowly understanding the implication of the action.

It killed my parents, because I refused to be obedient. Her eyes pleaded with me.

The black-haired girl in front of me drew her knees to her chest, resting her head on them. It's because of me that my parents died... If I just hadn't run away, or if I'd just done what it wanted me to, they'd still be alive. It's all my fault! That's why... If you hate me...

I leapt over to the girl, who remained unresponsive. I wrapped my arms around her in a soft hug, hoping to ease her at least a little. She didn't hug me back, but she did begin to weep more freely. "I don't hate you, silly. None of that was your fault..."

After a few minutes she poked me in the shoulder, and I was able to meet her eyes again. I was so worried the same thing was going to happen to you.

"Don't worry." I soothed her. "I'm Yellow, remember? Even if only a little bit."

That comment seemed to cheer her up a surprising amount, as even through the tears she cracked a faint smile. Yeah, I should just trust the Yellow like I always have.

"If you're up for it, there's one other question that's been bothering me." I whispered.

What is it...?

"How did you get away in the end?"

The girl tilted her head at me in confusion, the tears slowing to a halt. Didn't I already show you?

I blinked a few times in surprise. "I don't think so?"

She broke free from my hug, and rummaged through her bag one last time, handing me the three pictures she'd shown me right after we escaped from Mt. Moon. The drawing of Pikachu, the rendered thunderbolt, and the drawing of me.

"I don't get it..." I muttered.

Isn't it obvious? These are all drawings of the same thing. She smiled at me, the sweetest smile I'd seen out of her all day, with a hint of admiration filling her expression. The times Yellow has saved my life.

I glanced down at the rendered thunderbolt one more time, looking at the nondescript blob that was being struck by lightening. I only now realised that it was drawn in a very similar manner to the 'monster' that Chee had shown in the drawings until now.

I was speechless as Chee once again hugged me, locking her arms tightly around my waist. I'm so lucky to have Yellow by my side.

"...Yeah." I answered, unsure what else to say. To be honest, I didn't really understand even after this, but in the end it didn't really matter. I knew why she was scared of birds now, that was enough.

...

A few hours later, after Chee had finished drying her tears, the two of us made our way down to the Cerulean City Gym. There was still time left in the day and we'd already wasted a lot of time in Cerulean on recovery, so I didn't want to waste any more time getting information on an elusive Gym Leader. I'd offered to let Chee carry Yeller to calm her down more, but she declined the offer, so I let him rest on my shoulder instead.

The Gym Building was an absolute spectacle to behold-An ornate round building with a peaked roof made of beautiful blueish glass, letting the sun flitter in. The walls were made of a beautiful silver metal accentuating the chlorine-filled water that formed a shallow moat around the entrance to to the Gym. A pair of thin miniature waterfalls trickled down along each side of the doors.

"I wonder what the theme of this Gym is." I mumbled quietly.

Chee tapped my shoulders a few times. I think it's water.

"...Yes, I know that Chee. I was just being sarcastic." I gave her a reassuring smile. "Shall we go in?"

The young girl nodded eagerly, and we both stepped through the wide doors into the large open gym. The building was constructed like an enormous pool building, with areas filled with water attractions, and four large pools filled to the brim with treated water, safe for both water Pokemon to use in battle as well as for trainers to swim in. The pools had different depths and conditions, though it barely mattered to me.

"Well hello there!" A chirpy voice called to us, belonging to a young man with brown hair in his twenties who was wearing a suit and a pair of sunglasses that obscured his eyes from vision. "Are the two of you here to swim, or are you challengers?"

I glanced up at the man with surprise. "Er, we're here to challenge the Cerulean Gym, sir?" I answered, a little surprised. At the previous Gym we'd been greeted by the leader himself, but just recently I'd learned that Misty was the Gym Leader here. Perhaps she wasn't currently present.

"Excellent!" The brunette clapped his hands together. "Can I just see your Pewter City Badge?"

I saw Chee begin to reach for her badge, but I placed a hand on her arm to stop her. I met the man with an appraising eye. Something about this situation felt fishy to me. "We didn't have to show any badges at the last Gym, sir."

"Well of course not." The man smiled at me. "Brock's Gym is open to all challengers, but the rest of the Gyms require proof I'm afraid. If you haven't yet earned badges, it's not too far to get to Pewter from here, just-"

"We have the badges." I answered him bluntly. I still didn't completely trust him, but his answers seemed less like those of a person trying to scam me, and more like an employee who had specific answers he was required to give. Chee finally pulled out her badge, as did I. He glanced over them, and gave us a warm smile.

"Excellent! I'll call the Gym Leaders over." He ushered us inside.

...Plural? I pondered to myself.

Unlike the time with Brock, my suspicions of this man proved to be largely unfounded as he guided us to a room near the entrance for Gym Challengers, and then brought four women wearing full-body swimsuits to meet us. I recognised one as the orange-haired Gym Leader I had met after my encounter with Bronze, but the other three were new to me.

The first woman was tall and beautiful, with long wavy dark blue hair that almost shone with quality. Her skin and nails were also ornately beautiful, so much so that I found it hard to believe she'd ever done a Pokemon battle in her life. Her brown eyes twinkled slightly as she smiled down at us. "Hello! I'm Violet, one of the Gym Leaders here at Cerulean City Gym!"

I frowned at her. "I thought there was only one Gym Leader at each Gym?"

"Ordinarily, yes." The second woman chimed in. Her hair was smooth and golden, like the morning sun shining over a lake. Her features looked almost like those of a fashion model, and she stood with poise and grace. Her eyes shone like perfect emeralds. "But the Cerulean City Gym is a bit of an exception. We have to teach young trainers how to swim so often, it wouldn't be reasonable to only have one dedicated teacher."

"Just like Daisy said, we help Challengers get better at swimming." The third chimed in, her pale salmon hair curled in a bob just below her shoulders. I wasn't good with girls who had pink hair, but I tried not to let it bother me. Her blue eyes shimmered slightly, and her smile seemed to radiate with beauty. "We also do some underwater plays for the townsfolk on weekends. Oh, and I'm Lily. Nice to meet you!"

"All together, we're the Sensational Sisters!" Violet exclaimed proudly. I glanced over to the fourth girl, who was quietly, toying with her orange ponytail without making eye contact.

I almost felt bad for Misty. In any normal room she would look quite beautiful, but lined up next to these three sisters she just looked... Average.

I would feel more sorry for her if she hadn't inadvertently caused me to spend three days unconscious.

"So!" The second woman, Daisy, clapped her hands together. "Each of us has a course which corresponds to a swimming level, each named after an adorable water-type Pokemon! Lily..." She gestured to the pink-haired girl, who bowed on cue.

"I run the beginner friendly Magikarp course. If you're bad at swimming or Pokemon Battles, my course is the easiest!" She flashed a friendly smile, and I quickly realised that she was very used to dealing with children. Much like Brock's offer to let us skip the 'adult' course at his Gym, I suspected the 'Magikarp' course was unavailable to teenagers and other older trainers.

"And I, Violet, run the more intermediate Horsea class." The blue-haired girl carried on from her companion. "The swimming and the battles will be a bit more difficult, but I think the two of you are old enough to challenge it no problem!"

I nodded thoughtfully.

"As the oldest sister, I run the advanced Seaking course." Daisy placed a hand proudly on her chest. "It's probably a bit too difficult for young kids like you to start with, but being able to swim well is important! I encourage you to work your way up to me! Oh and..." She gestured to the fourth woman, Misty.

"...I'm Misty." The orange-haired girl answered with her eyes downcast. "I run the..." She stopped, giving a short sigh. "The 'crazy-difficult' Gyarados Course. I can teach you to swim at whatever level you need, but the battle with me will be 'crazy-difficult'." She didn't meet my gaze the entire time she spoke, sheepishly twirling her orange hair in her fingers. "I'll help you grow strong enough to deal with any water-type Pokemon that get in your way..."

There was a long moment of silence.

"Oh how exciting!" Lily spoke up again. "We've barely had any challengers for months! Aside from that Blue kid who came through not too long ago, I've barely seen any challengers lately. I wonder why they got so scarce..."

I glanced over at Chee, who looked back at me curiously. I'll go with Violet. Her eyes told me.

I nodded. We were behind schedule already, so going with a relatively easy course was a logical course of action. Despite that, I felt my gaze drifting to Misty, who continued to avoid our stares...

"Chee will take the Horsea Course, and... I'll take the Gyarados Course, please."

All four sisters looked at me with surprise. "Are you... Sure about that?" Daisy coughed, looking at me with disbelief. "Even for adults, Misty's course is like, really difficult y'know?" The other two sensational sisters nodded furiously.

I nodded my head. "I know."

Misty perked her head up for a moment, though she quickly returned to a strained smile. "It's okay, you don't have to feel bad for me. Just pick the course suitable for you."

If the Gym Challenge was as I suspected, then it was designed to nurture the growth of trainers and train them to be ready for the battlefield while under the guise of a 'journey' or a 'sport'. In my fight with Bronze, I had realised I was already reaching the limits of what I could achieve just using the experience from my past life.

That's no good. I need to be way stronger if I'm going to be useful to Red.

"You said you'll make me stronger right? I want to be as strong as possible. I don't care if it's difficult." I leaned down, stroking the chin of my partner, Yeller. "We can handle it, right buddy?"

The Yellow rat gave me a thumbs up with his good paw, with an expression almost like a grin plastered on his big white teeth. We can do it!

Misty gave me a soft smile as she put her hands on her hips, whilst the other three sisters just stared at me dumbfounded. "Alright then, I'll make sure you're super strong!"

Chee gave me a few pats on my shoulder, returning my attention to her for just long enough to get an encouraging smile from her as well. Good luck Cyan!