Chapter 3: A Short Rest

Amanda

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU BROKE YOUR BIKE!?" shouted a curly haired blonde woman through the Video Phone. "And you look at me when I'm talking to you young lady!"

Amanda cringed as she held the receiver away from her ear. Slowly, she brought the receiver back to her ear and looked at the screen that reflected her mother's furious face. Amanda had reached the Pokémon Center in Viridian City by evening of the same day she left and checked in her Charmander and Spearow with Nurse Joy. As the Spearow's injuries were rather severe she was going to be there for at least another hour. A Pokémon's natural ability to heal and modern medical advances could cure Pokémon of superficial wounds almost instantly, but this was something else. Since she had time to kill she decided to call her mother, who had answered the call happily, but the call quickly turned sour once Amanda had started to tell of her adventure so far.

"I told you to explain! You haven't even been gone a whole day and you're already calling me for money?"

"I can explain!" Amanda said hurriedly. "I was just riding a bit to fast on Route 1 and there was a tree root-"

"Route 1?!" her mother interrupted, "That's a hiking trail! It's not meant for bicycles! I thought you were taking the main road?"

This comment gave Amanda an opportunity to fight back a bit. "The main road? Come on, mother! What am I going on this journey for?! You can't catch wild Pokémon on the road, you need to go through the tall grass! And the Route 1 hiking trail is built for both cyclists and pedestrians, I was just upset because Jack-!" she stopped mid-sentence with a slight blush. Her mother's face suddenly took on a strange transformation.

"Oh?" she said with a far too knowing smile and raised eyebrows, somehow forgetting the anger she had earlier at sign of juicy gossip. "And just what did that silent boy do?"

"N-n-nothing!" Amanda spluttered, her face now absolutely crimson. "Just forget I mentioned him okay!"

"Did you say Jack? Is Jack there?" said a voice offscreen.

To Amanda's horror, a woman with long dark hair appeared beside her mother. Apparently the call was on speakerphone at the same time Jack's mother was coming to visit.

"Oh! H-hello Miss-" but she stopped because Jack's mother was now giving her an angry look. "Amy, I mean."

Amy, Jack's mother, then smiled. The reason Jack and Amanda were so close was because their mothers were besties since college, and they had always insisted on a first name basis for each other's children.

"Now, what about Jack?" Amy continued with concern. "Is he with you? Is he safe? Why are you upset with him?"

"Go on, answer her!" her own mother urged with a devilish grin on her face. "I'm not sending you any money until we get the WHOLE truth."

Blushing furiously and wishing she was dead, Amanda began the story of what had happened at Oak's Lab, about how upset she was that he didn't compliment her outfit, and the bike accident later. During the beginning of her embarrassed explanation, she did not notice that the Center's doors had opened, and someone had walked up to the desk about 10 feet behind her. As she was talking, the figure turned and noticed her and began to approach her but stopped cold when he was within earshot of what she was talking about. The young man turned pale and tried to slowly back away as she finished.

Amanda's mother was laughing her head off, crying and holding her sides. Amy's face, however, had turned into a demon and she spoke in a deadly calm.

"Amanda dear. Please hand my son the receiver."

"Huh?"

Amanda turned around and saw Jack trying to sneak away. And now, her humiliation complete, she turned so red she could have fried an egg on her face.

"Jack…" she said in a soft defeated voice. "Here..."

She handed off the receiver and ran to the bathroom to either cry or drown herself, she wasn't sure which.

Jack

Jack endured a short but intense moment of hell from his mother over the phone, completely unable to defend himself due to his silent nature. Ellie, Amanda's mother, had laughed so hard she had to grip a chair behind her and take deep steadied breaths. Finally, Amy stopped and took a deep breath and turned around.

"Honestly Ellie, it's not that funny!"

"I'm sorry!" Ellie said wiping a tear from her face. "But that was such an embarrassing way to start a journey!"

"You shouldn't laugh too much Ellie, remember the swimsuit incident at Seafoam Islands resort when we were in college?" Amy said with a whisper, so Jack couldn't hear.

That immediately sobered Ellie up. Her grin instantly turning into a sour grimace with the smallest tinge of pink rose to her cheeks. Her arms instinctively went to her cover her chest.

"S-sorry" she said sheepishly.

Turning back to the video phone, Amy addressed her son again. "Now you be sure to apologize properly, understood?" Jack nodded looking sheepish.

"Good" she said in a much lighter tone. "Now, tell me what happened after the lab." She seemed excited now.

What followed was something that Ellie could never seem to comprehend no matter how many times she saw it. With a completely deadpan face Jack proceeded to do what could generously called charades but looked more like an interpretive dance…or a silent nicotine fit. Despite Ellie's utter confusion, Jack's mother seemed to understand every gesture perfectly.

"I see" she said nodding. "I had heard that Oak's grandson was very arrogant even for his age. Oh well, he'll find out the hard way that a Pokémon journey isn't all roses. Also two new Pokémon and lots of battle experience? A good start! Just remember everything you've studied, and you'll do fine!" Jack simply nodded.

"Oh!, Amanda's back! Put her back on!" Ellie had appeared again in the video frame. Jack turned around and saw that Amanda had indeed come back, and from the state of her face and hair she seemed to have gone with the drowning route. He handed her the receiver awkwardly and stepped back as she took it.

"Look at you." Ellie said in a kinder voice. "It's not the end of the world. It was an accident after all. Everyone's Pokémon journey has bumpy roads. This won't be the last time something embarrassing happens, now look at me."

Amanda had been looking at her shoes while holding the receiver to her ear. She looked up and saw that her mother was no longer angry but had an expression she knew meant either a lecture or pep talk was coming.

"You need to pull yourself together already." Ellie said sternly. "If you don't, Jack won't be able to communicate with you. And don't worry about your bike either. I know it was a present from your dad but those who use bikes or vehicles often miss out on so much. You will have a much fuller experience by walking."

Amanda didn't answer but nodded.

"Good" her mother said with satisfaction. "I'll have some money sent to the card I gave you. And make sure you make up with Jack!" she added in a sing song tone.

Before she hung up Amanda overheard Amy's voice in the background, "So did you keep that swimsuit?" She couldn't make out her mother's hissing retort as the screen went black. Amanda decided she didn't even want to know and hung up the receiver. She turned around and saw Jack sitting on one of the chairs by the wall of the waiting room. She walked over and sat next to him.

"Relax" she said with a bit of exasperation. "I'm not mad anymore."

Jack turned his head and looked at her deadpan, his eyes moving from the phone and back to her.

"Oh, don't get me wrong I'm still embarrassed, but there's just no point in dwelling over it." Amanda said brightly. Amanda had also gained the ability to interpret Jacks thoughts, and it wasn't a total lie, she was more or less over the lab incident but now she mainly upset by the loss of her bike and the recent humiliating conversation with both their mothers.

"Sorry…" Jack managed to say, which caused Amanda to look up sharply as he rarely spoke. "Your outfit…looks cute too." Amanda blushed and stared down at her hands on her knees.

They both sat there awkwardly for about 30 seconds before a woman with long pink hair and wearing a nursing outfit showed up next them carrying a tray with two poke balls. This was the famous Nurse Joy, she and all her relatives looked exactly alike, she and all her siblings were employed at every Pokémon Center in the region. Behind her was a pink Pokémon about half her height, it was egg shaped and it's belly had a pouch that contained a large egg. It was wearing a white nurses hat with a pink cross on it. It too was carrying a tray with three poke balls on it.

"There you two are!" said the nurse addressing both of them. "Your Pokémon are all healed! Amanda, your Charmander was fine aside from a few scratches, but your Spearow was heavily damaged." She suddenly became stern. "I almost reported you to the Pokémon League! How dare you let your Pokémon battle until it was in that condition!"

"Now hold on!" Amanda protested. "I found that Spearow in that condition already! And it wasn't the only one! There was an entire flock of Spearow zapped to a crisp all over the ground. The one I caught was the only one conscious!" Jack turned to look at Amanda abruptly, his eyes glinting.

"Is that so?" the nurse said still glaring at Amanda with an eyebrow raised and arms crossed. It was clear that she didn't quite believe her, but after a brief moment she relaxed her shoulders and sighed and held the tray out to Amanda, who took the two poke balls.

"Your Pokémon were more exhausted than hurt." she said addressing Jack. "Training is important, but don't push them too hard. Pokémon can be extremely loyal, but they can still resent you if you're not kind to them."

Jack nodded. Inwardly he thought, "Geez, is her job to heal Pokémon or find fault and scold children? I guess it comes with the territory."

"Chansey!" the pink Pokémon said excitedly, and it presented the tray it was holding, and Jack took back his Pokémon. The nurse then bowed politely and turned her back on them and walked back towards the desk. The Chansey also did a bow and bounced after her. Jack and Amanda then sat in silence for a moment before Amanda broke the silence.

"So…you got two new Pokémon! Show me!" she said excitedly.

Grinning with pride, Jack released his Rattata and Pidgey from their poke balls. They appeared on the floor in a flash of white light, Rattata looking around curiously and Pidgey had it's head under it's wing as though it was in the middle of a nap.

"So basic" Amanda said in a teasing monotone. Jack hung his head slightly, he couldn't deny that they were the most common to be found. "Oh don't be so disappointed!" she said laughingly. "By catching the more common ones you're doing exactly what the professor asked of us. Where as I have only caught one so far." She took out a poke ball and opened it, in a flash of light, Spearow appeared next to Jack's Pokémon.

Jack suddenly remembered what he saw the other day and looked sharply at Amanda.

"…!"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. You want to know about it's injuries right? If you used the same road I did then there was no way you could have missed that flock of Spearow on the ground covered in electrical burns. I was thinking either a Magneton or Raichu, but neither of those are native to these parts ." She said all this really fast. Being friends with Jack for such a long time, she was used to carrying the entire conversation.

"…!" Jack looked out the window and at the sky, which still had a few rain clouds. Amanda looked out the window and immediately picked up on his thoughts.

"Ah! You think whichever electric Pokémon's attack was amplified by a lightning strike, huh?" she said nodding thoughtfully. "It' not unheard of that an electric type Pokémon can sometimes disrupt electric fields as well as attract other sources of electricity. Pikachu are known to gather and cause blackouts after all!"

"…!" he had started flapping his hands wildly like a bird and pointed at a large painting on the wall that depicted images of legendary Pokémon, though his face remained impassive as ever.

Amanda looked at the image of the rainbow bird and scoffed. "Oh yeah right! There's no way you saw that Pokémon. People have spent their whole lives searching for it."

"…!" Jack insisted.

"You're sure of it huh?" she sounded skeptical, but she had never known Jack to be a liar. "Well, in that case, you sure are lucky! I wish I could have seen it…" she trailed off.

It hadn't even been one whole day since they set off. Granted, Viridian City was only a skip and a hop (as her mother would put it) away from Pallet Town and yet she had already lost her bike and had to reevaluate her whole trip. And Jack had already caught two new Pokémon and from the looks of it, he had already started toughening them up. She had battled with Charmer a little bit, but she was already behind. Maybe her mother was right, she would learn and experience much more if she were to stop and smell the roses along the way.

"Well then…" she said as she stood up. "It's still only mid afternoon so I'll head to the local shops and resupply. I imagine you will head directly towards the Viridian Forest?"

Jack stood up too and nodded. He looked excited and confident. Amanda wasn't surprised to see him so excited. Viridian Forest contained a plethora of Pokémon, and Professor Oak had taken them on many excursions during the youth study. The forest is like a maze but both of them know it well and where all the rarest Pokémon of the region gather. Although they each had a map of Kanto, they didn't really need it. They both had long planned out everything ahead of time and they knew their routes well, which was another part of Oak's youth study. Though Amanda's route would have to be altered a little as she was now going to be unable to take certain trails without a bike.

She held up her arm and her new Spearow fluttered off the floor and landed on her shoulder. "Why don't you accompany me with a little shopping?" she said to the Spearow with a smile.

"Spear!" it cawed and flapped its small red wings, she took that as a yes.

Jack on the other hand recalled his Pidgey and Rattata to their Poke balls and looked at her intensely as if he was gathering courage. Their eyes met and she blushed slightly but rallied immediately.

"Well anyways, I'll see you later! Let's meet up in Pewter City!" she said hastily. "I'll meet you at the Museum!" And with that she rushed out the doors and towards the market place. When she was far enough away she slowed down and spoke aloud to herself. "Sorry Jack, I know what you wanted to ask. But at least for the beginning of our journey we should try to hack it on our own."

"Spear?" the tiny bird Pokémon questioned.

"Oh don't you worry!" she said brightly as she stroked its beak. "Mama is just a chatter box!"

Back at the Pokémon Center, Jack was still watching the part of the street where she vanished out of sight.

"The Pewter City Museum, huh?" he thought to himself, and then aloud said, "It's a date!" He then left the building and turned north towards the Viridian Forest.

Nurse Joy watched them leave from behind her desk. She could more or less guess the relationship between those two based on how they had been interacting. Plus, although she pretended otherwise, she could hear every word they had said, including what Jack had just said. She was leaning on the desk with her elbows, her chin resting in her hands.

"Ah~" she sighed with a dreamy, wistful expression. "Young love…must be nice."

"Chance?" the pink Pokémon inquired looking curiously at her master's unusual expression.

End of Chapter 3