RE: Jay's Johto Journey - Training Gym
Yeah, this is a pretty giant BUMP. But hey, I've got free time to write again.
I ripped out the old chapter 20, because it sucked. Let's try and get some emotion in that isn't blatantly contrived this time, eh?
__________
20
Jay and Kari left together, and came to a halt outside the gym. It was almost midday, and the sun beat down on them both. Suddenly, Jay felt his rucksack twitch, and Kari gasped. He unslung it and opened it, retrieiving the egg that had been cushioned by assorted garments. Examining it, he saw that the cracks had grown larger. Even as he inspected it, the whole egg glowed briefly. It was quite dim and only lasted for a second before it returned to normal.
“Oh wow, that’s a Pokémon egg?” Kari asked, amazed.
“Yeah, a bug type. Dunno exactly what though. I got it a few days ago, it should hatch soon! Hang on to it a minute, please.” He handed the egg to Kari, zipped his rucksack up, and slung it onto his back again. As Kari reached out to give the egg back to him, it glowed again.
“Ooh! It feels warm when it does that. That’s so cool!”
“Yeah, I can’t wait to see what the third member of my team will be. I’m going to need three for my gym battle in Violet City, I’m heading there next.”
“Oh? Me too. I’m not going straight there though; I’ve got some family on the way. I’ll visit them, and make my way over. Apart from that, I don’t need to take it slow, I’ve got three Pokémon already. Pidgey and Reep.” Kari frowned. “I can’t think of how to shorten ‘Pidgey’ into a nickname, hehe”
Jay chuckled. “Yeah, I don’t really see the point in nicknaming Pokémon. But that’s just me”, he added hastily, not wanting to offend his new friend. “A Mareep should be very helpful against Falkner, no matter what you call it.” Again Jay paused, trying to work up the courage to ask something. But he failed, and just stood there awkwardly.
“Jay… you awake?” Kari was looking at him quizzically. “Anyway, I was planning on getting an early lunch, and then heading to see some relatives in town. Do you want to grab a bite to eat?”
Snapping back into reality and ignoring his subconscious calling him a coward, Jay accepted, and the pair strolled along the Cherrygrove City streets, looking for a nice place to lunch. They settled on a small tea room, just off the docks. It was a small building, quite old, but gleaming. Welcomed in by a smiling old lady, the two took seats looking out into the sea.
“Sinnoh’s out there somewhere, and so’s Hoenn.” Kari started unexpectedly. “One day, I’m going to go there, and meet all sorts of people and Pokémon. So many adventures to have, it’ll be great! And before that, there’s Johto and Kanto. Badges to earn, leagues to compete in, I might even try out a contest or two! I just want to do everything, you know…”
“Wow, you’re enthusiastic! I hadn’t thought of that, about how many other regions there are, I mean. I’m just thinking of Johto, of going out and seeing the world, getting away from normal life and living a dream. So long as it doesn’t turn into a nightmare, I’m good. Adventures I can get behind too! So long as I don’t mess it all up…” Jay tailed off, accosted as ever by his persistant fear of failure, and hoping that Kari would let it slide. She didn’t.
“Afraid that you can’t live up to your own dreams?” She asked softly. “Or someone else’s expectations?”
Jay sighed. “Yes to both. I don’t want to be rude, but can we change topic? I don’t really want to talk about it…” Suddenly, he could see himself in the rain, shivering in his tent all over again.
“Sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed you. But I kind of know where you’re coming from, I’ll bet.” Her face, normally light and cheerful, suddenly clouded over.
Luckily, the pair were saved from further embarrassment by the waitress, who had appeared with their sandwiches. “Well now here’s a pair of long faces! Eat up, and you’ll cheer up, that’s what I always say. Bon appétit!”
The pair changed topics, and did indeed cheer up. Kari said, in between mouthfuls of baked potato, “Okay, first Pokémon that comes to mind when I say, what’s your favoutite?”
Jay paused, but only briefly. “Typhlos- actually, Heracro- no, Donph, um, Ursari- hmm.. you know, I really don’t know. So many to choose from, and there’s so many I don’t even know. What about you?”
Kari was equally indecisive. “You know, I was going to say Meganium… but then I thought of Ampharos. And Poliwag. Yeah, you’re right. Too many to choose from!” Chucking, the pair carried on eating, chatting merrily.
Before long, the two had polished off their food, and were leaning back in their chairs contentedly. Jay decided that it was now or never. “So I was wondering… seeing as we’re both heading in the same direction… do you.. um… do you think that maybe…”
“We could travel together?” Kari finished Jay’s mumbling with a hopeful look.
“Yes!” Jay shouted, a little too loudly, and other diners looked around briefly.
“Thank goodness that was what you wanted to ask me, I’d have felt a proper fool had you said anything else there, haha.” Kari was beaming. Thankful that she’d agreed, Jay grinned back.
“So, when do we leave?” he asked, chuckling. “Slow down speedy, I want to hang around town a bit longer, remember?” With mocking tones she chided him, and he smiled.
“Yeah, I’m just kidding. In fact, I’m going to spend the afternoon doing some training. I’m really hoping my egg will hatch soon.” As Jay spoke, his rucksack visibly glowed.
Arrangements were quickly made, that Kari would carry on with her plans to meet her relatives, and Jay would head back to the Pokémon centre, where they meet up later in the evening. Parting ways in the bright afternoon sunshine, the two of them departed, smiles on their faces.
__________
Comments welcomed, as always. I'll try and keep at this.
EDIT: And as a bonus, you can have chapter 21 too. That way, we're back to me being a chapter ahead of whatever I post the next day, insofar as that makes any sense...
__________
21
By the time he got back to his room and fished the egg from his bag, it was bouncing constantly and glowing brightly. Eagerly anticipating the hatching, it suddenly occurred to Jay that the rather cramped room wasn’t the best place to hatch a Pokémon, especially if it turned out to be something big, like the Heracross or Pinsir he was quite fervently hoping for by now.
Leaving his rucksack behind, he made his way out to the gym’s battlefields. Being a larger centre in a larger city, there were four pitches, two of which were unoccupied. The others were occupied by a couple of trainers from the double battle session, and some other people who he didn’t know. Ordinarily he would have been interested in them, but now he had other things to concentrate on.
Clutching the egg tightly under one arm, he threw two Pokéballs with the other hand. “Cyndaquil, Spearow, let’s go!” Both Pokémon emerged as whitish blurs, which rapidly solidified into a cheerfully squeaking fire mouse and a scruffy, ill-tempered little bird. “Time for some more practice, I think, while we wait for this egg to hatch. Can’t be long now! Alright Spearow, let’s focus on you! You need to be in top shape for our first gym battle!”
The two Pokémon faced off against one another, Cyndaquil amiably awaiting commands, flame flickering, and Spearow glaring all around, looking for something or someone to peck. “All right Cyndaquil, Flamethrower! And Spearow, dodge it and Peck!”
Cyndaquil shot a few blasts of fire which the little bird struggled to avoid, but by the time it had flapped its way over to Cyndaquil the little mouse was ready to defend. “You need to be faster, Spearow. Try again!” Once again, it swept up and down, over and around the bursts of flame, but its laborious flapping tired it out quickly, and the pecks it delivered were weak. This continued for some time, whilst Jay shouted encouragement.
“Keep trying Spearow, you can do it! You’re doing well!” Cyndaquil let out of squeak of derision at this, and Jay chided him. Spearow’s beady eyes narrowed, and it began to flap towards Cyndaquil. Its wings blurred and took on a silver-blue glow, and it shot along rapidly, periodically dodging from place to place as if dodging incoming attacks. It blasted into the bewildered fire mouse and knocked it over with a brief screech.
Jay looked on, impressed. “Well done Spearow, looks like you just learnt Agility! That’ll be a great help in our battles, congratulations!” Cyndaquil was back up on all fours, looking none too pleased. As Jay commanded, it blasted more flames at it, this time with extra vigour.
“Right Spearow, use Agility now!” The tiny bird obeyed and avoided the jet of flame and soared towards Cyndaquil once more. “Now, Peck!” Jay shouted, and Spearow’s beak glowed and extended. It swept down towards Cyndaquil and pecked at the little mouse several times. Most of the pecks hit, but Cyndaquil was able to dodge the last few. It seemed like it was about to counterattack, but thought better of it and returned to the centre of the battlefield.
“Very nice work, well done. Alright, next we’ll-” but Jay didn’t finish. The egg in his arms was flashing brightly, and the egg was covered in cracks. Carefully, he put in down on the floor and knelt next to it. Cyndaquil scampered over to have a look, and Spearow swooped down onto Jay’s shoulder, landing heavily and digging its claws in. Together, they stared in silence at the egg. Nothing happened for a moment, and then there was a flash of bright golden light that started off egg-shaped and expanded. The glow became taller, almost Jay’s height. Long legs became apparent, with an almost reptilian head and long, scythe-like blades for arms. The white glow faded, and the figure became a grass green colour all over, just like the egg’s colour. It screeched loudly, and leapt into the air, swinging its scythes.
“Wow, a Scyther!” Jay reached for his Pokédex and flipped it open.
“Scyther, the Mantis Pokémon. When it moves, it leaves only a blur. If it hides in grass, its protective colouration makes it invisible.”
“Nice. Scyther!” The mantis Pokémon looked up from the other side of the battlefield. It really was very fast, Jay hadn’t even seen it move. In a flash, it had darted back over. It was then that he realised that he really hadn’t thought what he was going to say now through. He hadn’t actually caught Scyther yet, either.
“So Scyther, I’m Jay. These are my other Pokémon, Cyndaquil and Spearow. I’m a trainer, I work and battle with these two. Do you want to come along?” He reached for an empty Pokéball and Scyther screeched again, coming closer. “I’ll take that as a yes” Jay smiled. “Welcome to the team.” He threw the Pokéball and Scyther allowed itself to be captured. The Pokéball dropped to the ground and didn’t struggle.
Jay went to retrieve the Pokéball, and threw it out again. “Alright, out you come again, let’s see what moves you know.” Consulting his dex once again, it beeped.
“Scyther currently knows Vacuum Wave, Agility and Slash”
“Agility, eh? That would explain your speed. Cyndaquil, head to the other side of the field for me, please.” Once the little mouse had got there, aided by a Quick Attack speed boost, Jay called out more instructions.
“Right, Flamethrower again. Scyther, use Agility!” Scyther blurred with speed and darted towards Cyndaquil, evading bursts of flame as it bounded forwards. “Excellent! Now, Slash!” Materialising in front of the wary Cyndaquil, Scyther’s first swing was too high, but its second was a sweeping uppercut that just caught the little mouse and forced it upwards into an impromptu backflip, bringing it crashing back down to the ground. It leapt to its feet again with a surprised squeak, and shook its head rapidly, as if dazed.
“You okay there Cyndaquil?” Jay asked, trying not to chuckle. In response, Cyndaquil reared up onto its hind legs and gave a massive burst of flame. “Okay. Cyndaquil, Quick Attack, and Scyther, use Vacuum Wave, Go!” Cyndaquil was first to react, and sprinted towards Scyther, whose bladed forearms were glowing white. As Cyndaquil leapt upwards at the screeching mantis, Scyther’s arms faded into blurs as they conjured up a blast of wind and fired it at where the mouse would have been a split second ago. Had it not been for Cyndaquil using Quick Attack, the blast would surely have hit it, but the more experienced mouse just held the advantage.
Having narrowly evaded the newly-hatched Scyther’s attacks, Cyndaquil carried on on its trajectory straight towards the mantis’s head. Both heads collided, and Cyndaquil recovered quickly, landing neatly on all fours. Scyther, on the other hand, went over backwards, and crashed to the ground like a falling log. Jay ran over to it, but it was already stirring.
“You were great, very well done. Time for some rest, I think.” He returned his newest Pokémon and Spearow, who was still sitting on his shoulder. With the bird gone, he felt life in his shoulder once again, and rubbed it. “Nicely done, Cyndaquil. You’re in good shape, looking forward to our first gym battle?” The little mouse nodded and squeaked.
“Great, now get some rest. I think we’ll leave soon, so I’ll drop you off with Nurse Joy while I get some food and drink for the road. Return.” Jay headed back inside and went to the reception desk, where he was greeted by the nurse.
“Good afternoon. Can I help you with anything?”
“Yes please. Could you give these three a check-up? The Scyther’s newly hatched, and all three of them have been battling.”
“No problem, I’ll have them back for you in a few minutes.” Thanking her, Jay went over to the vending machines, and started pushing buttons at random. His efforts were rewarded by a hot pot, several pies and enough sandwiches to last him a week. He scooped up his prizes, stacked them precariously and proceeded to his room without dropping any.
Back up to his room, he repacked his bag. Glancing over at the table, he remembered the list of things to do. He glanced at it, and saw he’d done two of the three things on it. The third simply said “police?” and had a doodle of a Diglett with bat wings next to it. Jay chuckled at the ludicrousness of it, and screwed it up, throwing it in the bin. He’d forgotten all about his encounter with the Cult of Digbat, and any fear of them had since faded. It was mid-afternoon, so he decided to head back out into town for a while, and see what he could see. He made his way back down to the lobby, stocked up on water (which he’d forgotten on his food run), and then headed back to the reception desk, where Nurse Joy was waiting for him with his Pokéballs.
“Here you are, they’re all in great condition. Are you off now?”
“Yeah, I’m just going for a stroll around town, before I meet up with a friend.”
The nurse smiled. “Have fun, Cherrygrove really is a beautiful city. Go out and explore!”
__________
Have at you with the comments!
Yeah, this is a pretty giant BUMP. But hey, I've got free time to write again.
I ripped out the old chapter 20, because it sucked. Let's try and get some emotion in that isn't blatantly contrived this time, eh?
__________
20
Jay and Kari left together, and came to a halt outside the gym. It was almost midday, and the sun beat down on them both. Suddenly, Jay felt his rucksack twitch, and Kari gasped. He unslung it and opened it, retrieiving the egg that had been cushioned by assorted garments. Examining it, he saw that the cracks had grown larger. Even as he inspected it, the whole egg glowed briefly. It was quite dim and only lasted for a second before it returned to normal.
“Oh wow, that’s a Pokémon egg?” Kari asked, amazed.
“Yeah, a bug type. Dunno exactly what though. I got it a few days ago, it should hatch soon! Hang on to it a minute, please.” He handed the egg to Kari, zipped his rucksack up, and slung it onto his back again. As Kari reached out to give the egg back to him, it glowed again.
“Ooh! It feels warm when it does that. That’s so cool!”
“Yeah, I can’t wait to see what the third member of my team will be. I’m going to need three for my gym battle in Violet City, I’m heading there next.”
“Oh? Me too. I’m not going straight there though; I’ve got some family on the way. I’ll visit them, and make my way over. Apart from that, I don’t need to take it slow, I’ve got three Pokémon already. Pidgey and Reep.” Kari frowned. “I can’t think of how to shorten ‘Pidgey’ into a nickname, hehe”
Jay chuckled. “Yeah, I don’t really see the point in nicknaming Pokémon. But that’s just me”, he added hastily, not wanting to offend his new friend. “A Mareep should be very helpful against Falkner, no matter what you call it.” Again Jay paused, trying to work up the courage to ask something. But he failed, and just stood there awkwardly.
“Jay… you awake?” Kari was looking at him quizzically. “Anyway, I was planning on getting an early lunch, and then heading to see some relatives in town. Do you want to grab a bite to eat?”
Snapping back into reality and ignoring his subconscious calling him a coward, Jay accepted, and the pair strolled along the Cherrygrove City streets, looking for a nice place to lunch. They settled on a small tea room, just off the docks. It was a small building, quite old, but gleaming. Welcomed in by a smiling old lady, the two took seats looking out into the sea.
“Sinnoh’s out there somewhere, and so’s Hoenn.” Kari started unexpectedly. “One day, I’m going to go there, and meet all sorts of people and Pokémon. So many adventures to have, it’ll be great! And before that, there’s Johto and Kanto. Badges to earn, leagues to compete in, I might even try out a contest or two! I just want to do everything, you know…”
“Wow, you’re enthusiastic! I hadn’t thought of that, about how many other regions there are, I mean. I’m just thinking of Johto, of going out and seeing the world, getting away from normal life and living a dream. So long as it doesn’t turn into a nightmare, I’m good. Adventures I can get behind too! So long as I don’t mess it all up…” Jay tailed off, accosted as ever by his persistant fear of failure, and hoping that Kari would let it slide. She didn’t.
“Afraid that you can’t live up to your own dreams?” She asked softly. “Or someone else’s expectations?”
Jay sighed. “Yes to both. I don’t want to be rude, but can we change topic? I don’t really want to talk about it…” Suddenly, he could see himself in the rain, shivering in his tent all over again.
“Sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed you. But I kind of know where you’re coming from, I’ll bet.” Her face, normally light and cheerful, suddenly clouded over.
Luckily, the pair were saved from further embarrassment by the waitress, who had appeared with their sandwiches. “Well now here’s a pair of long faces! Eat up, and you’ll cheer up, that’s what I always say. Bon appétit!”
The pair changed topics, and did indeed cheer up. Kari said, in between mouthfuls of baked potato, “Okay, first Pokémon that comes to mind when I say, what’s your favoutite?”
Jay paused, but only briefly. “Typhlos- actually, Heracro- no, Donph, um, Ursari- hmm.. you know, I really don’t know. So many to choose from, and there’s so many I don’t even know. What about you?”
Kari was equally indecisive. “You know, I was going to say Meganium… but then I thought of Ampharos. And Poliwag. Yeah, you’re right. Too many to choose from!” Chucking, the pair carried on eating, chatting merrily.
Before long, the two had polished off their food, and were leaning back in their chairs contentedly. Jay decided that it was now or never. “So I was wondering… seeing as we’re both heading in the same direction… do you.. um… do you think that maybe…”
“We could travel together?” Kari finished Jay’s mumbling with a hopeful look.
“Yes!” Jay shouted, a little too loudly, and other diners looked around briefly.
“Thank goodness that was what you wanted to ask me, I’d have felt a proper fool had you said anything else there, haha.” Kari was beaming. Thankful that she’d agreed, Jay grinned back.
“So, when do we leave?” he asked, chuckling. “Slow down speedy, I want to hang around town a bit longer, remember?” With mocking tones she chided him, and he smiled.
“Yeah, I’m just kidding. In fact, I’m going to spend the afternoon doing some training. I’m really hoping my egg will hatch soon.” As Jay spoke, his rucksack visibly glowed.
Arrangements were quickly made, that Kari would carry on with her plans to meet her relatives, and Jay would head back to the Pokémon centre, where they meet up later in the evening. Parting ways in the bright afternoon sunshine, the two of them departed, smiles on their faces.
__________
Comments welcomed, as always. I'll try and keep at this.
EDIT: And as a bonus, you can have chapter 21 too. That way, we're back to me being a chapter ahead of whatever I post the next day, insofar as that makes any sense...
__________
21
By the time he got back to his room and fished the egg from his bag, it was bouncing constantly and glowing brightly. Eagerly anticipating the hatching, it suddenly occurred to Jay that the rather cramped room wasn’t the best place to hatch a Pokémon, especially if it turned out to be something big, like the Heracross or Pinsir he was quite fervently hoping for by now.
Leaving his rucksack behind, he made his way out to the gym’s battlefields. Being a larger centre in a larger city, there were four pitches, two of which were unoccupied. The others were occupied by a couple of trainers from the double battle session, and some other people who he didn’t know. Ordinarily he would have been interested in them, but now he had other things to concentrate on.
Clutching the egg tightly under one arm, he threw two Pokéballs with the other hand. “Cyndaquil, Spearow, let’s go!” Both Pokémon emerged as whitish blurs, which rapidly solidified into a cheerfully squeaking fire mouse and a scruffy, ill-tempered little bird. “Time for some more practice, I think, while we wait for this egg to hatch. Can’t be long now! Alright Spearow, let’s focus on you! You need to be in top shape for our first gym battle!”
The two Pokémon faced off against one another, Cyndaquil amiably awaiting commands, flame flickering, and Spearow glaring all around, looking for something or someone to peck. “All right Cyndaquil, Flamethrower! And Spearow, dodge it and Peck!”
Cyndaquil shot a few blasts of fire which the little bird struggled to avoid, but by the time it had flapped its way over to Cyndaquil the little mouse was ready to defend. “You need to be faster, Spearow. Try again!” Once again, it swept up and down, over and around the bursts of flame, but its laborious flapping tired it out quickly, and the pecks it delivered were weak. This continued for some time, whilst Jay shouted encouragement.
“Keep trying Spearow, you can do it! You’re doing well!” Cyndaquil let out of squeak of derision at this, and Jay chided him. Spearow’s beady eyes narrowed, and it began to flap towards Cyndaquil. Its wings blurred and took on a silver-blue glow, and it shot along rapidly, periodically dodging from place to place as if dodging incoming attacks. It blasted into the bewildered fire mouse and knocked it over with a brief screech.
Jay looked on, impressed. “Well done Spearow, looks like you just learnt Agility! That’ll be a great help in our battles, congratulations!” Cyndaquil was back up on all fours, looking none too pleased. As Jay commanded, it blasted more flames at it, this time with extra vigour.
“Right Spearow, use Agility now!” The tiny bird obeyed and avoided the jet of flame and soared towards Cyndaquil once more. “Now, Peck!” Jay shouted, and Spearow’s beak glowed and extended. It swept down towards Cyndaquil and pecked at the little mouse several times. Most of the pecks hit, but Cyndaquil was able to dodge the last few. It seemed like it was about to counterattack, but thought better of it and returned to the centre of the battlefield.
“Very nice work, well done. Alright, next we’ll-” but Jay didn’t finish. The egg in his arms was flashing brightly, and the egg was covered in cracks. Carefully, he put in down on the floor and knelt next to it. Cyndaquil scampered over to have a look, and Spearow swooped down onto Jay’s shoulder, landing heavily and digging its claws in. Together, they stared in silence at the egg. Nothing happened for a moment, and then there was a flash of bright golden light that started off egg-shaped and expanded. The glow became taller, almost Jay’s height. Long legs became apparent, with an almost reptilian head and long, scythe-like blades for arms. The white glow faded, and the figure became a grass green colour all over, just like the egg’s colour. It screeched loudly, and leapt into the air, swinging its scythes.
“Wow, a Scyther!” Jay reached for his Pokédex and flipped it open.
“Scyther, the Mantis Pokémon. When it moves, it leaves only a blur. If it hides in grass, its protective colouration makes it invisible.”
“Nice. Scyther!” The mantis Pokémon looked up from the other side of the battlefield. It really was very fast, Jay hadn’t even seen it move. In a flash, it had darted back over. It was then that he realised that he really hadn’t thought what he was going to say now through. He hadn’t actually caught Scyther yet, either.
“So Scyther, I’m Jay. These are my other Pokémon, Cyndaquil and Spearow. I’m a trainer, I work and battle with these two. Do you want to come along?” He reached for an empty Pokéball and Scyther screeched again, coming closer. “I’ll take that as a yes” Jay smiled. “Welcome to the team.” He threw the Pokéball and Scyther allowed itself to be captured. The Pokéball dropped to the ground and didn’t struggle.
Jay went to retrieve the Pokéball, and threw it out again. “Alright, out you come again, let’s see what moves you know.” Consulting his dex once again, it beeped.
“Scyther currently knows Vacuum Wave, Agility and Slash”
“Agility, eh? That would explain your speed. Cyndaquil, head to the other side of the field for me, please.” Once the little mouse had got there, aided by a Quick Attack speed boost, Jay called out more instructions.
“Right, Flamethrower again. Scyther, use Agility!” Scyther blurred with speed and darted towards Cyndaquil, evading bursts of flame as it bounded forwards. “Excellent! Now, Slash!” Materialising in front of the wary Cyndaquil, Scyther’s first swing was too high, but its second was a sweeping uppercut that just caught the little mouse and forced it upwards into an impromptu backflip, bringing it crashing back down to the ground. It leapt to its feet again with a surprised squeak, and shook its head rapidly, as if dazed.
“You okay there Cyndaquil?” Jay asked, trying not to chuckle. In response, Cyndaquil reared up onto its hind legs and gave a massive burst of flame. “Okay. Cyndaquil, Quick Attack, and Scyther, use Vacuum Wave, Go!” Cyndaquil was first to react, and sprinted towards Scyther, whose bladed forearms were glowing white. As Cyndaquil leapt upwards at the screeching mantis, Scyther’s arms faded into blurs as they conjured up a blast of wind and fired it at where the mouse would have been a split second ago. Had it not been for Cyndaquil using Quick Attack, the blast would surely have hit it, but the more experienced mouse just held the advantage.
Having narrowly evaded the newly-hatched Scyther’s attacks, Cyndaquil carried on on its trajectory straight towards the mantis’s head. Both heads collided, and Cyndaquil recovered quickly, landing neatly on all fours. Scyther, on the other hand, went over backwards, and crashed to the ground like a falling log. Jay ran over to it, but it was already stirring.
“You were great, very well done. Time for some rest, I think.” He returned his newest Pokémon and Spearow, who was still sitting on his shoulder. With the bird gone, he felt life in his shoulder once again, and rubbed it. “Nicely done, Cyndaquil. You’re in good shape, looking forward to our first gym battle?” The little mouse nodded and squeaked.
“Great, now get some rest. I think we’ll leave soon, so I’ll drop you off with Nurse Joy while I get some food and drink for the road. Return.” Jay headed back inside and went to the reception desk, where he was greeted by the nurse.
“Good afternoon. Can I help you with anything?”
“Yes please. Could you give these three a check-up? The Scyther’s newly hatched, and all three of them have been battling.”
“No problem, I’ll have them back for you in a few minutes.” Thanking her, Jay went over to the vending machines, and started pushing buttons at random. His efforts were rewarded by a hot pot, several pies and enough sandwiches to last him a week. He scooped up his prizes, stacked them precariously and proceeded to his room without dropping any.
Back up to his room, he repacked his bag. Glancing over at the table, he remembered the list of things to do. He glanced at it, and saw he’d done two of the three things on it. The third simply said “police?” and had a doodle of a Diglett with bat wings next to it. Jay chuckled at the ludicrousness of it, and screwed it up, throwing it in the bin. He’d forgotten all about his encounter with the Cult of Digbat, and any fear of them had since faded. It was mid-afternoon, so he decided to head back out into town for a while, and see what he could see. He made his way back down to the lobby, stocked up on water (which he’d forgotten on his food run), and then headed back to the reception desk, where Nurse Joy was waiting for him with his Pokéballs.
“Here you are, they’re all in great condition. Are you off now?”
“Yeah, I’m just going for a stroll around town, before I meet up with a friend.”
The nurse smiled. “Have fun, Cherrygrove really is a beautiful city. Go out and explore!”
__________
Have at you with the comments!
