ADVENTURE ROAD #3

UNEXPECTED ADDITION

Clouds were beginning to filter through what had up to this point been a bright sunny day. Along the green grassy field path Nick Samuels and his faithful Pokemon Pichu walked together, on their way to the small city of Margoda.

This was only the third day of Nick’s Pokemon journey, and already it was more than he had expected, as least this short of a way from his home town of Pine Falls. Just yesterday he and Pichu had met a girl being attacked by group of wild Beedrill, and this morning had raced to get her to Margoda to save her from a Poison Sting from the bee Pokemon.

However fortune favored them, because a police officer arrived and took the girl, named Faith, the remainder of the way to save time and Nick a step.

Nick was naturally concerned about her, and as soon as they got to Margoda he wanted to see how she was doing. It had been several hours now since Officer Belle had taken Faith, so she was most certainly receiving treatment and was on her way to recovery.

Also Nick wanted to return Faith’s Pokemon Igglybuff, which he had accidentally kept when she had been taken off.

Nick yawned in exhaustion and stretched his arms. He then brushed his wavy brown hair away from his forehead, more habit than necessity. On his shoulder the little yellow mouse Pichu looked at him and seemed concerned, asking in its limited dialog, "Pi? Pichupi?"

Nick had come to discover through Pichu’s talk that when it said ‘Pichupi’, that was its way of saying Nick’s name. So with that last statement Pichu was addressing him, but obviously Nick had no clue what Pichu was saying.

Guessing from the Pokemon’s tone he answered, "Yeah, I’m a little tired after last night. Man, if I’d have known how much exercise I’d be getting on my journey I would have gotten on a better work-out routine back home."

Pichu made a sound of seeming agreement, and then closed its big black eyes restfully. It had been a long day, and all it wanted, as well as its trainer, was to get a good sleep in a nice city motel, and maybe eat out in a restaurant as opposed to sleeping on the ground and eating old food from Nick’s backpack.

But they still had things to tend to yet, and leisure would have to wait. Officer Belle had instructed Nick to report to the Margoda police station as soon as he arrived, so he wouldn’t dare disappoint them. He supposed that they simply wanted some information from him about the Beedrill attack, and what he had been doing during the incident.

The police were an ever inquisitive bunch, Nick had learned. They weren’t comfortable until they found out everything they could about a situation to their satisfaction, which was hard to achieve.

As they walked, Nick and Pichu could see the buildings of Margoda becoming larger and clearer. They would be there within the hour. Also they were seeing new Pokemon along the road that as of yet they had not encountered.

A swarm of friendlier bug Pokemon called Ledyba were sucking on flowers, buzzing about with a low pitched hum. They were red colored with black spots on their backs. They had large, cute eyes and six little arms. Their wings flapped so rapidly Nick couldn’t see them save in a yellow blur.

"Ledyba; the Five Star Pokemon. These gentle bug Pokemon live in large colonies that collect fruits and juices in large amounts. The spots on their back illuminate in certain conditions of nature, such as bright moonlight or glowing sunsets."

They looked very sweet, and Nick smiled as he looked at them buzzing busily. The thought naturally crossed his mind to battle one for Pichu to gain experience or even to capture one, but even as cute as the Ledyba were Nick still had a disliking of the idea of a Bug type on his team…especially now after the Beedrill attack.

In stead Nick left them to their work, and he and Pichu continued on their way. He was very anxious now to get to Margoda.

After a while they were right outside of the city, when Nick heard a beeping coming from his backpack. He hadn’t heard it before, and didn’t know from where it was coming. He looked through the bag, and found that it was his Pokedex.

It had never done that before, but Nick figured there must be a good reason so he turned it on and saw to his surprise as the main screen came alive with the face of Professor Pine.

He was smiling nicely, and his gray hair was neatly combed. His small glasses were hugging his nose, and his eyes were bright.

"Professor!" Nick said with pleasant surprise. "I had no idea the Pokedex was a sort of vid-phone! What’s up?"

Pine chuckled at Nick’s surprise. "Ah, things are well here. I just sent off four more trainers, and I was curious to see how you are doing on your road. I called Jack this morning, though I do say he wasn’t too interested in talking to me."

Pine’s tone changed a bit down when he mentioned Jack Devlin, Nick’s devoted foe and rival. They had set out at the same time, and had both received their starting Pokemon from the Prof.

Nick of course was given the Pichu he had saved, for Pine had nothing else that he really wanted, and Jack received a Totodile. In their first battle in Pine’s lab, Nick just managed to defeat Jack’s water Pokemon with the shocking power of Pichu’s electricity. After that the hard feelings Jack already had towards Nick were intensified, and he left in coldness.

The professor continued. "Anyway, he didn’t tell me what, but he already captured a new Pokemon in the Entorrin forest. How about you?"

"I caught a male Nidoran, Professor," Nick said proudly. "Pichu did a good job fighting it, and it really likes being on our side."

The Professor looked proud, like a caring father or a good boss. "Well good! I’m glad both of you are doing well, but I remind you that the road is only beginning. There are many more challenges ahead, and you’ll need to stay focused and keep working to face them. But I have faith in you young men. You're taking the journey I did once, and it’s nice to know there are still young people who have the passion for it that I did."

The mention of the word FAITH made Nick think of the poor girl he had met, and he almost told the Professor about the entire encounter, but he decided to save it. He was just walking into the city then, and could see a building not far away that read POLICE.

"Well, I’ll catch you later Professor," Nick said politely. "I’ve just gotten to Margoda, and I have some places to go. I hope I can talk to you soon."

"That should be easy," Pine said. "The Pokedex has my number in it, so if you ever have any emergencies or want some advice, I’ll be right here…most of the time. Tonight at about seven probably won’t be good. It’s Bingo night. Well, good-bye my boy!"

The screen went dark, and Nick pocketed the Pokedex. He smiled. "That was nice of the Prof. to call us, wasn’t it?"

"Pichu!" Pichu said smiling.

They then walked into the Margoda police station and looked around. It was quiet today, and there were only two officers present. One of them thankfully was Officer Belle.

She looked towards the door when Nick came in, and with a nice smile she went up to him and said, "Hello again. Did you have a good walk?"

Nick truthfully felt that his legs were about to fall to pieces, but he just smiled, nodded and replied, "Good, thanks. How is the girl? Did she make it in time?"

Belle smiled to ease Nick’s worried tone and said, "We made it in good time. It was a good thing you found me. If you would have walked all the way here with her she may not have begun healing as quickly. But the nurses at the hospital have been watching over her for a few hours now, and as well as I know she’s already resting comfortably."

Nick sighed in relief. "Good, I’m glad. So what did you need me to do?"

Belle gave him a clipboard with some sheets of paper in it. "I want you to fill out a report of the Beedrill attack you suffered. I want you to tell me everything that happened, and that may help us to determine whether or not we should either block that area of the forest from public travel, or go in and remove the Beedrill so that they won’t be a threat to people. After that you’ll be free to go."

Nick nodded. That sounded fine. He looked for a chair to sit in, but then snapped his fingers, seemingly remembering something. He looked back to Belle before she walked off.

"Officer Belle, do you think you could give this to Faith?" He pulled out Igglybuff’s Pokeball. "This Pokemon belongs to her, but she left it behind with me when we were rushing her here."

Belle raised her eyebrow. "Why not do it yourself? She’s still there, and I’m sure Nurse Amber will let you in to see her."

Somehow Nick felt strange going to do it himself, seeing the girl he had saved, but he supposed Belle was right. She walked into another room, and Nick and Pichu sat down to start their report.

He wrote a short though detailed report of the entire incident, sometimes consulting Pichu to see if it liked the way he had written something. After they were done, Nick gave the report to Belle, thanked her for her help and left the police station.

Going around Margoda, Nick and Pichu were pleased by how bright it was. Nice colorful homes, many beautiful gardens, and even a large marble fountain in the town center. A Gyarados was carved into the marble, and a river of water poured from its fanged mouth. The serpent dragon Pokemon looked incredibly lifelike, and Pichu enjoyed playing around the fountain happily while Nick rested his tired limbs.

Soon they set off again, and Nick discovered a motel that was affordable, if not completely fancy. It was called the Stone Star, and it seemed that vacancy was pretty good. One of its best features was that it had a mini Pokemon exercise gym attached to it.

This appealed to Nick, for he felt that his two Pokemon could use some good training. As the afternoon was beginning to wean, a good place to settle down appealed to Nick and Pichu, who wanted to get a good pillow beneath their heads tonight.

"What do you think, Pichu?" Nick asked his little friend. " Think this will make a good spot to crash for the night?"

This was answered by a very enthusiastic, "Pichu chu!"

Nick smiled. "Then I’ll assume Nidoran says the same, and we’ll call it unanimous. Come on. We’ll unload our stuff and then we’ve got a trip to make to the hospital."

They checked in and were given keys to room 125. Something about that number appealed to Nick, though he didn’t know why. He threw his backpack on one of the two beds, and then immediately turned back around and started walking to the hospital.

As Nick was walking off, he didn’t see behind him as a few doors down from his a young man came out of his room, and was suddenly taken aback by the sight of him.

Jack Devlin watched as Nick walked off, his Pichu clinging to his shoulder. The dark-hared teen frowned at the sight of his foe, from whom the memory of defeat was still fresh.

But as he thought of it, Jack suddenly decided that it wasn’t such a bad thing to have Nick in the same building. Over the last two days Jack had been training his Totodile, as well as the new Pokemon he had captured. He had promised Nick that the next time they met they would have a rematch.

And he intended to have one. This time he would prove that he was the superior trainer, and send Nick crying into his room.

That thought brought a smile to his frowning face.

Thankfully for Nick’s legs, the hospital was not more than three blocks from the motel. It was large and had a dome shaped top. Pink highlighting were on all the windows and the rain-gutters, and a large P was on the front sign.

It was a human hospital, but it also had a Pokemon care division. Nick and Pichu want inside, and saw to their surprise that there was a large amount of bustling and activity. However, instead of human nurses, they found that the staff was made up almost entirely of two Pokemon.

They were both very similar, being oval shaped with small arms and legs, but they had almost hair-like decorations on their heads, and bright smiling faces.

Nick knew the name of the one Pokemon. It was a Chansey. They had one egg in a pouch attached to their stomachs, as did the other Pokemon. Nick guessed that they were the transformed state of Chansey, but he had never seen them before.

He pulled out his Pokedex and activated it, holding it up to the other Pokemon, who basically looked like Chansey except with different coloring and decoration.

The Pokedex activated. "Blissey, the egg Pokemon. These mystical Pokemon are the most joyous of all Pokemon species, and bring the same joy to trainers with open hearts. They are also very difficult to knock out in a battle, though they do not possess the most powerful attacks."

As he read, Nick was almost plowed over by some of these Pokemon as they zipped along with trays and carts, wearing white nurse uniforms.

He figured if he wanted to find Faith he’d have to ask one of them. He tried catching their attention with, "Excuse me, could you help me, I need assistance," but the Pokemon were simply too busy.

Nick sighed. This was not what he had in mind. Pichu sighed too. "I know what you mean," Nick said to his companion. "These Chansey and Blissey are as busy as house-wives during spring cleaning. I think we’ll just have to find Faith on our own."

But just as he was afraid that would really be the case in this large hospital, one Chansey stepped in front of Nick and seemingly asked with a nice smile and a high pitched voice, "Chansey?"

Nick smiled back, though thinking that it was about time, and said, "Um, hi, I’m looking for a patient who was brought in earlier this afternoon. She’s a girl, my age, named Faith. She was brought in for a Beedrill sting."

After a second of thought Chansey said merrily, "Chansey!" and motioned for Nick to follow it. He slowly followed the rounded pink Pokemon to a corridor, until they reached a door that Chansey stopped at.

"Chan Chan!" it said.

Nick pointed to the door. "This is her room?"

Chansey nodded, so Nick said, "Thanks for the help," and went in.

Inside Nick saw a nicely decorated room with bright plants in the corners, and there was a large TV set on the ceiling. On a long, soft bed, sitting up while watching the TV was Faith, looking much nicer and healthier than she had that morning.

When the door opened she looked to see who was entering, and upon seeing Nick she gasped in pleasant surprise. "Well hello! I didn’t know if I was going to see you again! Come here! Sit down next to the bed. We’ve go a lot to talk about!"

Nick smiled to see that she was so chipper, and as he sat Pichu hopped onto the soft bed and squeaked in greeting to the girl.

"I see you’re on the way to healing nicely," Nick commented. Faith nodded. "Better than that. Nurse Amber said I could be out of here by tonight."

"You mean there’s actually one human nurse in this whole place?" Nick said humorously.

Faith laughed. "I know what you mean, but the Chansey and Blissey do a really good job, they really do. They’ve given me good care, and I’ve been feeling great for the last few hours. By the way, thanks again for everything. I don’t remember much of the last part of the trip, but Officer Belle told me that you did a very good job of carrying me as far as you did, and that was very nice of you. I...I don't know how to thank you, I really don’t."

Nick could feel himself starting to blush a little, but he shrugged and said, "Hey, it was, like, you know, nothing. Oh! That reminds me…"

He pulled Faith’s Pokeball out of his belt and held it in front of its owner. "I believe this is yours."

He opened the ball, and Igglybuff materialized on the bed next to her. The pinkish balloon Pokemon looked up at Faith and with a happy, "Iggly!" it jumped into its trainer’s arms.

Faith laughed happily to have her little friend back, and said to Nick, "Oh, thank you! I thought that I had forgotten about poor Igglybuff. If I had gotten out of here and discovered that it was gone I would have been heartbroken. Thank you again and again!" She hugged her little fairy Pokemon harder and put her cheek on its head (which, actually was its whole body).

Nick felt silly with all the praise he was getting, but he just rubbed the back of his neck and said, "Well, you’re welcome again. I didn’t want Igglybuff to be stranded with me and Pichu. Naturally it would be happier with the trainer who had given it real love and care. Well, I’m glad that you’re better, and I hope we meet again someday. I’ve got to go and get my own Pokemon some lunch, and then we have to be getting back to our motel. We’ll be continuing our journey tomorrow."

This made Faith seem a little sad, but then she brightened up as she came up with a thought. "Where are you heading?"

"As soon as we’re finished in Margoda, Pichu and I are heading north to the Metal Mountains and then on to the next city."

Faith then got a big smile on her face, and she said excitedly, "That’s where I’m heading! We could travel together!"

Nick didn’t know how he felt about that. It was a nice thought, but he had never journeyed with a partner before, much less a female one. "Uh, are you sure you’re going to be up to that? You only just got in here today."

"The nurse said I’d be out of here by tonight," Faith answered. "I’ll be just fine. Come on, don’t you love the idea? I think we were meant to meet Nick. I’ve been kind of lonely traveling by myself, and you could use a friend on the road around here too. So what do you think?"

She offered him her hand. "Traveling buddies?"

Nick hesitated, until Faith added, "At the very least I need to follow you around until I can think of a way to pay you back for saving my life."

Nick sighed in defeat, though with a little smile on his face. He looked at Pichu and asked, "What do you think, Pichu? Should Faith come with us?"

Pichu looked at Faith, got a big smile, and jumped into Faith’s arms with a happy, "Pichu!"

Faith laughed and said to Nick, "It seems this one wouldn’t mind my company."

Nick nodded, and then took her hand warmly. "Alright. Welcome aboard. Glad to have you."

Nick had Pichu get back on his shoulder and then he began walking to the door, turning to say to Faith, "We’re at the Stone Star motel, not far from here. Room 125. When you’re ready you’ll find us there."

Faith’s cheeks were practically glowing pink with her happiness. "Great! Thanks again Nick…for eveything." She held her Igglybuff to her chest, and the little creature cried out gratefully to Nick, "Igglybuff!"

"Glad I could do it," Nick said. He couldn’t think of anything else to say, so he simply finished with, "Bye," and closed the door behind him.

The room was quiet again, and Faith smiled at her Igglybuff. "You know, I think we’ve found a wonderful new pal."

Igglybuff agreed with its bright red eyes glowing happily. Faith then lay back in the bed and looked up at the ceiling, not seeing anything as her thoughts filled her mind with images.

The morning was a blur to her, but she did remember enough to know that she had been very fortunate to have been found by a brave, caring (not to mention a little handsome) young man. She just knew that they were meant to be friends. It was destiny, a mutual fate.

Faith could feel her heart buzzing strangely. She hadn’t been this happy in a long time, and never so pleased at the making of a new friend. She could foresee a long, beautiful friendship with Nick.

If she had any feminine intuition it told her that was so. She then cuddled with her Igglybuff and slept peacefully for the rest of the afternoon.

Nick and Pichu had returned to the motel and likewise got a good nap before the evening came. And Nick’s thoughts were buzzing too. He hadn’t anticipated meeting anyone else on the journey who would want to be a companion. He hadn’t anticipated it, but maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. But he was nervous about it too. After all, Faith was a girl.

If there was one thing Nick had always been ashamed of it was a deep shyness for girls, whether he knew them or not. It wasn’t that he was in love with any of them. He just had a thing about it. They made him shy.

And now the idea of traveling on the road with a very pretty young girl like Faith made him realize that he was going to have some changing to do. He’d never really had a friend who was a girl before, but he figured it would be okay. She really seemed to like him already for what he had done for her, which at least put them on good starting ground.

Deciding to forget it until tonight, Nick collapsed on the soft motel bed with Pichu by his side, and they both took less than a minute to fall into a silent, deep restful sleep.

It was impossible to know how many hours had passed for them; all they knew was that they had been in blissful rest without even dreams to disturb them. But as Nick was sawing his mental logs apart he was suddenly jarred awake by a repetitive rapping on his door.

Slowly Nick pulled himself out of his bed and yawned to the heavens. He couldn’t remember being so tired, but he had to answer, though he had no idea who it was, forgetting in his weariness that he invited Faith over.

The rapping got ever louder, and finally as Nick turned the knob and opened the door he was taken aback as Faith appeared on the other side with a huge grin on her face and her hands behind her back.

"Hey there! Did we wake you up? I think we did. You look like a corpse in hell."

Besides the unflattering comment, Nick didn’t see why she said "we". He didn’t notice at first that she had a little figure standing down by her feet. It was similar to Igglybuff, but Nick could plainly see that it wasn’t the same Pokemon.

It was rounded and Pink, but this Pokemon had small black ears, a little swirl on its forehead and tiny claws on its hands and feet. It had a swirly tail and a pair of tiny wing-like protrusions sprouting from its back.

Faith smiled. "Clefairy says Hi. So what are you up to? Mind if we come in?"

Nick was still a little slow, never having been much of a morning person, or a person who does any good doing anything when he first wakes up, so he yawned again and said, "Yeah, sure. Just, uh, give me a second to get some pants on."

He had his blanket wrapped around his lower half, and he wasn’t exactly excited with the thought of this new acquaintance seeing him in his boxers.

Faith laughed. "Nothing I haven’t seen living in a house with three boys. Dress away."

Nick cleared his throat, thinking she was not completely accurate with that "nothing she hasn’t seen before" statement, because technically it wasn’t true. But Nick just kept his blanket wrapped around him as he slipped on his clothes and asked, "So the hospital gave you a clean bill, huh?"

"Yep," Faith declared happily. She plopped down on the bed besides Pichu who was still rubbing sleep out of its eyes, and with a big grin she said, "Hey cutie! Bet you’re happy to see me here."

Pichu smiled at her and then caught a glance at Clefairy who was walking around on the floor. The little mouse Pokemon looked curious and jumped off the bed, facing Clefairy and investigating.

"Pichu?" it said with interest at the pink Pokemon. Clefairy smiled and held out a clawed hand. "Fairy!" it replied merrily. Pichu took its hand and squeaked, "Pi Pichu!" They both laughed.

Faith smiled. "Gee, our Pokemon seem to love making new friends as much as we do." Nick was dressed now and threw the blanket back on the bed, working on his hair in the mirror above the desk.

All this time Faith had kept her hands hidden behind her back, but now she rushed up behind Nick and said, "Hey, I’ve got something for you."

Oh, no, Nick thought. He didn’t want Faith buying him gifts just because he had helped her. He wasn’t the kind of person who enjoyed getting gifts as much as giving them. He looked at her and groaned.

"Oh, you didn’t have to do anything for me. Heck, I’ve got more than I can carry in my bag as it is."

Faith giggled. "You’ll make room for this. Here." She handed him a small red package shaped like a red heart. Nick raised his eyebrow, wondering if there was some sort of symbolism behind the design, but he sighed with a smile spreading never the less over his face and opened the package.

Inside was a golden necklace with a small golden decoration hanging on it. It was shaped like a Pokeball with a pair of wings sprouting from the back. In the middle of the Pokeball was a green gem.

Despite his embarrassment, Nick couldn’t help but be awed. It was very beautiful, and was indeed a wonderful gift. He looked at Faith and said after a moment of his jaw hanging open, "Oh, wow, Faith, this is…I mean…I’ve never gotten such a great…uh," he blushed badly in his cheeks and hung his head a little, saying softly, "Thanks so much."

Faith had a big smile on her pretty face and she mussed his hair. "I knew you’d like it. And before you go preaching that I shouldn’t have spent so much money on something for you, I’ll just say two things; 1, it wasn’t as expensive as it looks, and 2 I wouldn’t care anyway because you sir did me a great service, which deserved more than that."

Nick was very touched, and slid the necklace over his head, tucking the little medal under his shirt.

"Well," he said, "I can at least do something to thank you for it. Pichu and I were planning on trying out the gym here in the motel tonight. After our practice, what say I buy you some supper? It could be a combination thank-you and a toasting to you being our new traveling buddy; that is, if you still really want to do that with us."

Faith sat on the bed. "Are you kidding? I’ve been looking for someone to go with for days. I started my journey six days ago, and it’s been a lonely drag not having a human to talk to. My Pokemon are all sweet and wonderful, but they obviously aren’t much for conversation."

Nick pulled a chair next to her and sat next, asking, "Where did you come from when you started?"

"A little town called Rhodeao," Faith answered. "You ever been there?"

"No," Nick answered, "but I’ve heard of it, and I know where it is. Rhodeao is a little ways south of Pine Falls where I live. That would explain then how you and I were in the same general area when we met up. If you traveled north from your town six days ago and me from mine three days ago then that means we were just about in the same place when I started. Funny how that works."

"Very," Faith added with a grin. "So you’re from Pine Falls? Lovely little place. Who was your first Pokemon from the local provider?"

Nick pointed over to Pichu on the floor. "You’ve already met it."

"Oh, I see," Faith laughed. "Well, Igglybuff was my first one. I guess the first is the one you’re always the most attached to. But you know, Nick, we were closer than you suspect while traveling on our way."

"Huh?" Nick didn’t understand what she was getting at. Faith explained. "Well, on the night you came to the forest, which I guess was your first day traveling, Igglybuff and I were walking through the trees and saw a campfire. We crept to the edge of the trees and spied it out, discovering that there was another trainer with his Pichu having their supper.

"I thought about going to talk to you then, but I wasn’t sure at first so I decided just to wait it out and see if we’d meet up again at the end of the woods. After all, I didn’t know if you’d be nice or if you’d be one of those jerk trainers who just wanted to battle and not be nice. I met one of those outside of Pine Falls. He was a twerp who the instant he saw me challenged me and didn’t even bother with an introduction. We fought, and unfortunately he beat me pretty bad. My poor Clefairy was badly beat up after that one, and when he had won he didn’t even ask if it was okay. He just laughed and walked off.

"But when you saved me and I saw how well you handled your Pokemon, I knew that you were the one I wanted to travel with and have my adventures with. Besides, you seem a lot nicer than most of the other boys around here."

Nick chuckled and said, "Well I’m flattered by that at least. And I guess I could be creeped out that you were spying on me, but seeing how things turned out I don’t think I need to worry about it."

He held out his hand and said softly, "I guess all I can say is welcome to the team. You’ll definitely be fun to have on the road."

Instead of taking his hand, Faith leapt up and gave him a hug. Nick was not prepared for it in the least, and felt quite strange about it, but he couldn’t say it was so bad.

Faith looked at Clefairy and said excitedly, "Did you hear that Clefairy? We’ve got new friends and we’ll be having adventures with them!"

The small fairy type Pokemon looked at Pichu and smiled.

"Clefairy!" it said with enthusiasm.

Pichu responded in kind. "Pichuchu!"

For another hour the two new friends stayed in the room talking, laughing, finding out more about each other. As it turned out they had quite a bit in common.

They both enjoyed similar types of music and movies, they both had the same favorite color (being aqua), and they both had a deep desire for adventure and a love for the open country, which were two major factors in them going on their Pokemon journeys. And of course they both loved Pokemon.

Faith revealed that her favorite types of Pokemon were the fairy types, such as her Igglybuff and her Clefairy. Those were the only two she had at the moment of that type, but she hoped that as she traveled on she would be able to find more and add them to her team.

Nick was not particularly bias towards any type, save most bugs of course, for instead he went for a good mix that could allow for the optimum team battle strategy. Faith thought that his was a good policy, if a hard one.

After they had spent a fun afternoon chatting, the day was wearing on and Nick decided that it was time to go see what the gym was like. A quick march downstairs and through the motel lobby and they were inside.

The gym was very good sized, and had ten mini training fields for the competitors to use. There was a salad bar and a dining area off to the side, and a small arcade as well. At present most of the battlefields were in use, save for two. Off on the sidelines trainers sat in wait for someone to come along to make a challenge to.

There were some intense fights going on. Newer trainers were battling with smaller Pokemon such as Pidgey, the ground type Sandshrew or some smaller bug types. The more experienced trainers had mutated Pokemon that were much more powerful and useful in battle. One kid had a Jolteon, an electric Pokemon that resembles a spiky yellow dog. The trainer fighting him had a Charmealeon, the mutated form of Charmander, which was a fire reptile.

Seeing some of these fights Nick realized that some of these trainers were definitely out of his league. He didn’t even think of challenging Faith to a match.

"See anyone that’ll be a good victim?" Faith asked with humor. She had not seen Nick in action save for when he had fought the Beedrill, but she was confident that Nick’s abilities were worthy of some respect.

Nick scanned the wall where the stragglers awaited their chance at a match, and there were only three kids there. One girl had dyed yellow hair and wore black leather, looking like she could chew up a tire and spit it out in cubes. Not Nick’s number one choice.

There was another white boy about nine or so, holding a Caterpie in his hands. He looked too young and inexperienced, and Nick hardly felt it would be fair to challenge him. But next to that kid was a dark young man about Nick’s age, with a handsome face and a gray jacket. He had short black hair and keen eyes.

He looked nice, so Nick decided to invite him to a match.

"I think I have," Nick responded to Faith. He began walking over to the boy and caught his attention with a little wave. "Yo."

The teen smiled, big pearly teeth flashing from inside his mouth. "What’s up?" he replied.

"I was, uh, wondering if you’d like a match," Nick said. "I’ve got two Pokemon with me, and I could use a little practice."

Pichu was on his shoulder, and said in agreement with Nick, "Pi chu chu Pi!"

The kid smiled wider at Pichu and nodded his head. "I’ll do it. I’ve been waiting for someone to ask. My name’s Toby." He shook Nick’s hand, and Nick introduced himself too. Faith took a table by the diner and sat back to watch the show.

The two boys reserved a battlefield, and within a moment were on either side facing each other. Toby took two Pokeballs from his belt, out of a total of five. Nick was a little nervous, because this obviously indicated that he was a bit more experienced. But he could only do his best.

"I’ll choose first," Toby said, and tossed a ball into the center of the field. The ball opened and with a bright flash of energy a creature’s form appeared on his side. It took shape and after a second became a four-legged Giraffe-like Pokemon, with a dark hared hide with spots running down its legs, and a rounded pair of horns atop its tall neck.

It reared back and whinnied like a horse, and then steadied itself on its hoofs. Its tail had a ball shaped face on it, complete with eyes and fangs, looking very peculiar.

Not having ever seen this particular Pokemon before, Nick pulled out his Pokedex to check the datafile.

The little electronic voice beeped on and gave the following information.

"Girafarig; the Long Neck Pokemon. This gentle psychic-type when well trained has the power to glimpse into the future to see an opponent’s attack. The secondary head on its tail makes it an extremely intelligent Pokemon, which assists for battle strategies."

That’s encouraging, Nick thought, but he hoped this particular Girafarig was not that well trained. Nick wasn’t sure who he thought would be better for him to pick, but he had a gut feeling that Nidoran was not ready for a battle with a Pokemon like this. He looked to Pichu and said, "Looks like you’re going to take this one. Ready to battle?"

Pichu squeaked excitedly and jumped off Nick’s shoulder and into the battlefield. The two Pokemon faced each other, even though Girafarig was five feet tall and much heavier while Pichu was only a foot and a few pounds.

But thankfully in the sport of Pokemon, size and weight didn’t always count.

Quickly taking the first shot, Nick ordered Pichu, "Pichu, thundershock." He said it calmly and collected, as was his style in battle, not wanting to get overexcited.

Pichu shot off a thin stream of electric energy and it arched towards the larger Pokemon. But Girafarig seemed well prepared for it, and quickly dodged to the side.

Toby nodded approvingly and instructed, "Girafarig, tackle that little mouse!"

With a loud whine Girafarig charged Pichu with its horned head lowered. But Nick knew that one of Pichu’s strengths was speed, so he quickly said, "Pichu, quick attack around it!"

Getting the picture the little mouse shot away from Girafarig in a flash of yellow and was circling it at an incredible speed for such a little thing.

Toby seemed hard pressed to decide what to do next, but he said to his Pokemon, "Girafarig, try a stomp!"

The giraffe Pokemon tried to do its trainers bidding and raised a hoof to bring down on Pichu, but when it landed it only hit the floor. At that Nick called to Pichu, "Now!"

Swiftly Pichu stopped circling and shot at Girafarig, landing a firm tackle on the creature’s chest. Girafarig went backwards and fell to the floor with a cry, and Pichu braced itself for the next move.

Anxiously Toby commanded Girafarig, "Hurry and get up! Use your Leer!"

Girafarig stood, and Nick bit his lower lip. Leer attack lowered the defending Pokemon’s defense, making them more susceptible to an attack. The only way Pichu could avoid it was to close its eyes, but doing that could cause it to get attacked by Girafarig anyway and not be able to do anything in time.

Then a thought hit him. "Pichu, close your eyes!"

Pichu looked confused, but did as it was told. Toby smiled. "You just made your first mistake, my man. Girafarig, tackle it!"

The four-legged Pokemon cried out and began charging, but Nick was ready. He ordered his own Pokemon, "Pichu, shoot a thundershock directly ahead of you!"

Without even opening its eyes Pichu cried out, "PiiiiCHUUUUUUUUU!!!!" and sent a stronger bolt of power at its foe. This time Girafarig couldn’t get away fast enough and the energy hit it, zapping its energy out of it, and the Pokemon fell to the floor in defeat.

Pichu looked at what it had done and a big smile spread over its cute face. It then rushed over to Nick and jumped back into his arms to hug him. Nick smiled back and patted its head lovingly. "Good job, little guy."

"Pichu!" it said with a happy voice.

Toby reluctantly called back Girafarig into its Pokeball and then said to Nick, "Not too bad, man. Your little mouse has got some kick. But that was only the first half of our battle. Time for you to meet my favorite bug member on my team."

He loosed the other Pokeball from his hand, and once open it revealed its occupant to be a Pokemon Nick was already familiar with.

"De de de!" said the Ledyba that appeared.

Nick smiled. "Cute. I was hoping you meant something like that Ledyba and not a Beedrill. I’ve come to not like Beedrill too much."

"Ah come on," Toby ridiculed him. "All bugs are sweet, man. They’re my favorite type of Pokemon. I hope to catch all of the bug types when I get more experienced. Anyway, I do have more powerful bugs in my collection, but I felt like going a little easy on ya since you’re new to this, and my Ledyba needs the exercise anyway.

"Glad to give it some," Nick answered, and released Nidoran’s Pokeball. The dark pink horned Pokemon materialized on the floor with a cry of challenge to its red colored opponent, and stood stout on its sturdy little legs.

"Ledyba," Toby said, going first, "use your string shot."

The bug opened its mouth and a thick stream of white, sticky string sprayed out like webbing. Nidoran though didn’t even seem to need Nick to tell it to look out. It had lived in the forest long enough to know that a bug-type’s string shot was bad news if it connected. Nidoran jumped out of the way and then jumped again, connecting a good tackle to Ledyba’s torso. The ladybug looked a little angry from it, and without waiting for Toby began staring at Nidoran.

It was now attempting a Leer attack.

At first Nick was afraid Nidoran would weaken from it, but as he looked he realized that Nidoran was taking it without buckling a bit, just glaring right back into Ledyba’s eyes.

Toby could tell this was getting him nowhere, so he ordered, "Ledyba, poisonpowder that baby!"

Ledyba began shaking, and a fine sparkling powder began coming from its wings. But Nick wasn’t afraid. He had read up on Nidoran in his Pokedex, and what he knew and apparently what Toby did not was that Nidoran were a poison type as well as a fighting type.

Nidoran was breathing in the poison, but it didn’t hurt it a bit. To it the poison was just as wholesome as normal air. Nick smiled, deciding that it was time to finish the fight.

"Nidoran, horn attack."

With a powerful leap the little male Nidoran thrust itself forward, its short pointed horn foremost before it. The tip slammed into Ledyba’s body and the bug was down for the count.

Nick cried out happily and he rushed over to hug his little fighter. Nidoran seemed very pleased with itself, and growled happily in its throat.

Toby recalled Ledyba, and then walked over and shook Nick’s hand with a generous smile. "Dang, you’re pretty good for a starter. Those are two tough little Pokemon, and it was fun fighting them."

Nick was pleased that Toby was such a good sport, and patted his shoulder warmly. "Hey, how about you have something to eat with me and my friend over at that table."

He pointed to where Faith was sitting. "My treat, since I beat you."

Toby raised his eyebrow. "Free food? You just made me forget I even lost. Come on then!"

As they went to the table and Nick introduced Toby to Faith, he didn’t see in another corner of the gym that Jack was keeping a hawk’s eye on him. He had watched the entire fight, and observed every aspect of Nick’s style and techniques. He was hoping to put him to the test when he too decided to challenge him.

But for the moment he would leave Nick be as he challenged a local trainer to a match. The more practice, Jack knew, the stronger his Pokemon would be and then it would be all the easier to beat his rival.

And beat him he would.