[IC] The Start of a New Adventure (Pokemon)

[dreamingflowers]

Rose

Rose had been dropped off at Viridian City by her older brother and was currently standing in front of the Poke Mart considering if she would go inside or not. True to its name of The City of Evergreen Viridian City was surrounded by lush trees in all directions. Everywhere you looked they rose up like a green wall, impenetrable. She was fresh out of any kind of medicine and she didn't have any poke balls yet either. Her brother told her it would probably be a good idea to stock up on both since the Bug pokemon in Viridian Forest were pretty nasty. They could really hurt her Budew who wasn't much of a fighter to begin with. How was she going to protect herself and Budew if they got attacked by a wild Beedril or something else? Maybe she should have taken up her brother's offer to borrow one of his pokemon. Or maybe this was all one huge mistake and she should just go back home.

No... She said firmly to herself. If she was allowing doubt to bring her down how was she going to prove everyone wrong? Determined to be well prepared she entered the Poke Mart. It wasn't very busy this early in the day so Rose could casually browse through the wares. They had quite a lot of items on sale and Rose put a couple of potions into her basket, along with five poke balls. When she got to the register she was greeted by a very cheerful cashier.

"Good morning!" "How may I help you today?" The young woman said with a bright and cheerful smile. She took out the items Rose had placed into her basket.
"Ah I see you are planning to go to Viridian Forest, you'd better stock up on some antidotes too"
Antidotes?? Rose thought with a questioning look on her face.
Didn't trainers use those to cure their pokemons from poisoning? Budew wouldn't need any because her ability healed her of any status problems the second she returned to her poke ball, but then again you could never be too sure.
"Uhmm sure I'd like two antidotes please." Rose added somewhat awkwardly. The woman didn't seem to mind much and added the two antidotes to the small plastic bag containing her potions and poke balls. After Rose had paid the cashier handed her the bag.
"Here you go dear, have a wonderful day"

Rose attempted a smile of her own and managed a small one, blushing due to her awkwardness. She quickly ran out of the store, once outside she took a deep breath. How in the world could people be so cheerful this early in the day? She was a ball of nerves about to go into Viridian Forest with no idea what she was going to encounter there. All she knew was that it was so dense the sun had trouble shining through the cover of branches.

Inside Viridian Forest

The aspiring pokemon trainer found herself deep into the Viridian Forest and when Rose glanced over her shoulder she couldn't see the entrance clearing anymore. It made her nervous to say the least and she thanked her lucky stars she hadn't encountered any scary wild pokemon. Budew was clutched closely to her chest and she seemed to rather enjoy being in the forest despite the lack of sunlight. It was a comical contrast compared to the trainer holding her.
"Now listen closely Budew" Rose carefully whispered to the small pokemon in her arms. She didn't want to disturb any sleeping pokemon and risk having them attack her, so she kept as quiet as possible.
"If you see any scary pokemon coming our way you need to chase them off with your stun spore.......got it?"
The tiny bulb nodded and continued to stare at the trees peacefully, as if there weren't any bug pokemon out there to kill them.

"Good, so let's hurry" Rose told Budew as she straightened the folds of her cream colored sundress. She wanted to look nice for her first day of traveling but now started to regret her choice of clothes. With this much skin showing she could easily get stung by any of the pokemon here. She should have thought things through a little better. Well, too late to turn back now. She thought as she put a strand of hair behind her ear. Eager to get out of the forest Rose continued on her way, keeping a weary eye on her surroundings.

[Gooblefly]

"Whad'ya mean the gym leader isn't here?" Matthew barked. It was early, earlier than Matthew was used to in all honesty, but today was a special occasion. Today was to be the day that Matthew got his first Gym badge. Since arriving in Kanto three days ago, all he could think about was arriving in Viridian city and challenging the gym leader here. It was to be the first in a long series of triumphant victories, shared between him and Hope. The two of them were going to become the greatest Pokemon trainer duo ever. That was the dream. Every night as he closed his eyes, he could see an image of him, standing in the Pokemon League arena, waving to his adoring fans with a might Mienshao by his side. Eight gym badges, that's all he needed. Five measly gym leaders that he needed to wipe the floor with and then he could face the Champion. It was going to be a piece of cake.

"S-sorry kid. He's been out of town for a while." The name-plate on the Janitor's read 'Steve', and Steve was more than a little taken aback by Matthew ambushing him at the door to the gym. Matthew had been waiting outside the gym since the crack of dawn, practicing the way he would eventually challenge the Gym leader. He was getting strange looks from passer-by's as he dramatically pointed into thin air, screaming
"Battle me!" to an invisible opponent with different inflections in his voice
"But... Where am I going to get my first badge? I need eight to become the champion." Matthew whined. Steve raised an eyebrow at the mention of becoming champion, but eventually he shrugged.
"Guess you could always trek through the forest to Pewter, there's a gym there. My cousin works there, says the gym leader nearly never leaves." Steve mumbled, fumbling with his keys "Now if you don't mind kid, I gotta get to work."

Pewter city.

Within a second, Matthew completely forgot about the time he had spent preparing for his battle with the gym leader here, grabbing his bag from the ground where it had been resting and sprinting towards the north of the town. Of course! The forest! That was it, he would begin his Pokemon adventure with a hike through the forest and catch himself some amazing Pokemon before arriving in Pewter city and obliterating the gym leader there! That was the way his journey would begin. He darted up the hill towards the mouth of the forest, practically collapsing against the first tree he found to catch his breath. The forest was practically alive with the sounds of Pokemon, nearly every shadow he could see twitched slightly, as if there was some sort of Pokemon hidden just out of view. Matthew wondered just how many wild Pokemon were hidden withing the trees of the forest, the mere thought of it made his heart pound faster and his grin grow wider. Quickly, he scrambled for the Pokeball clipped to his belt and pressed the button with his thumb.
"Now this... This is a challenge worthy of us, eh Hope?" He beamed with a grand flourish to the forest entrance. The Mienfoo looked up, eyebrow raised skeptically, but Matthew was far too preoccupied with his own excitement to notice. "Come on! Let's do this thing!" He practically yelled into the darkness before marching straight into the nearest thicket, choosing to completely ignore the path. Using the path was the opposite of an adventure, of course.

Within minutes, Matthew regretted his decision to ignore the path as he forged his way through knee high grass and thick roots. Hope followed with ease, waiting for Matthew to carve his clumsy path before taking a step. With every second step, Matthew was sure he felt something run past his legs, but he convinced himself that he was merely paranoid. He swallowed hard and considered turning back and picking up the path but his pride denied him every time. Should he turn back now, it would look weak and he didn't want to show weakness in front of Hope. With a deep breath, Matthew prepared himself to continue barging his way through the wilderness when he felt something rather large plop onto his back. At first he thought he was imagining things, but as he turned to check, his gaze was met by a Spinirak the size of a dinner plate that was sitting peacefully between his shoulder blades.

It took Matthew a second or two to process what was happening, the Pokemon didn't seem to be aggressive, it probably just fell of a branch Matthew nudged. Hope, on the other hand, saw it as a threat. The fighting Pokemon moved with great speed and slammed into the Spinarak, causing it to drop into the grass unconscious. The blow took Matthew by surprise, knocking the wind out of him and sending him spiraling forwards. His already unstable feet met a root in the grass and he tripped, stumbling blindly onto a muddy slope. He tumbled freely down the hill, yelping slightly every time he found a rock or twig to roll over. After what felt like an eternity of falling, the hill leveled out and Matthew flopped into a patch of grass. It took him a couple of attempts to stand up, he was more dizzy than he was in pain, but the trip down the hill was almost certainly going to leave him with a couple of bruises. Once the world returned to focus, Matthew grinned excitedly.
"Hey Hope!" He yelled to the Pokemon who was calmly plodding down the hill that Matthew had previously rolled down "I found the path!" He exclaimed proudly.

[dreamingflowers]

Budew sat contently in the arms of Rose, the picture of serenity while her trainer still squealed and jumped at every sound she heard in the forest. Rose loved nature so why was she so skittish in the forest, usually the most peaceful place one could think of. It wasn't the forest itself that scared her but the things that were lurking in the undergrowth. She wasn't the most experienced pokemon trainer she would be the first to admit that. Together with budew she'd participated in a handful of battles nearly of all which she lost. The small pokemon was still a bit too frail to go up against pokemon that had already evolved and knew powerful moves. Her brother told her it was close to evolving and after it turned into a Roselia it would have a better chance in pokemon battles. Rose was worried the bug pokemon in Viridian Forest could seriously hurt her Budew. Bug pokemon evolved very quickly and she might have to face a fully evolved pokemon.

Hopefully she could get in some practice before that happened.

Rose was so lost in her own thoughts that she wasn't looking where she was going. Suddenly her Budew jumped from her arms landing on the ground, making tiny noises to draw the attention of her trainer. Rose realized her tiny bud pokemon was no longer in her arms and looked down at the ground and raised her brows in surprise. There was a small green caterpillar laying on its back on the middle of the path. It was a Caterpie and it was in very bad shape. Its eyes were closed and Rose could see his chest going up and down slowly but very faintly. It had a nasty mark on the side of its tiny body. It looked like the mark of a stinger but Rose didn't touch it, afraid she'd hurt the pokemon even more.
Budew gently nudged Caterpie's head with one of the vines on her head. It slowly opened his eyes but couldn't do much else.

Her heart went out to the tiny bug and Rose immediately began to rummage through her messenger bag to find the potions and the antidotes she bought earlier. Caterpie probably got poisoned by one of the other pokemons in the forest. If the cashier hadn't advised her to get a couple of antidotes she wouldn't have been able to help this Caterpie. So it just goes to show that you need to stock up regardless, you never knew who needed it. Rose momentarily forgot about her surroundings, no longer bothered by the lack of light filtering through or the creepy shadows of the trees. She very softly sprayed some of the antidote on Caterpie's side before she fed him the potion through its mouth, all with great care and gentleness.

It took only a couple of minutes and Caterpie was up and walking again.....well crawling was more like it but hey. Rose was amazed at how fast the medicine worked and she smiled happily glad to see Caterpie was okay again. She rose from the ground and smoothed her dress, all the while Caterpie kept looking at her with his large doe eyes.
"So where did you come from?" Rose asked the tiny pokemon at her feet. Obviously it did not say anything back.

She took a good look around her, there were trees and bushes at both sides of the path. What should I do with him now? Even though it would be fun to have a new pokemon Caterpie would probably be best of in the forest until it evolved. It wasn't easy to train a fragile pokemon like Caterpie she knew from experience.

Budew began to play with Caterpie teasing him with her vines and running circles around it. It didn't seem to mind much, in fact judging from the gleam in his eyes he seemed to enjoy it. Rose bent down to their level and scooped Caterpie up in her arms much like she always carried Budew around.
"Alright enough you two" She said to the two pokemon, trying to sound firm but failing miserably. Rose could feel Caterpie sticking to her arms but she wasn't grossed out by it, he was harmless really. It would probably be best to put him into the trees where he could munch on the leaves. Determined to bring the bug pokemon back where it belonged Rose carefully stepped into the bushes to the nearest tree. She tried to get Caterpie off of her but he held on tight with his sticky feet. It tickled when she tried to move him.

Rose laughed as she tried to get Caterpie to let her go.
"Come on Caterpie you can't stick to me forever" She giggled and shook her head finding its clinginess quite adorable. "You have to go home"
When she finally got him on a steady tree branch she was suddenly looking into a pair of sinister black beady eyes. A cacuna had lowered itself from the top branches to see what all the noise was about. Without realizing Rose let out a scream, one she immediately regretted. She quickly covered her mouth, her eyes widened. It would be pretty stupid to wait around and see what happened so without further thought she snatched Caterpie back from the tree, grabbed her bag from the ground and put Budew back into her poke ball. She made a mad dash for the path and kept running without turning back, Caterpie still in her arms.

[Gooblefly]

As Matthew pulled himself to his feet, brushing off as much of the muck that was starting to cling to his clothes, he was suddenly aware of a shrieking sound coming from somewhere nearby. At first, he assumed that it was a bird Pokemon of come sort crying out from deeper within the forest, he shrugged it off and started to untangle a twig from his messy mop of hair. He sat, cross legged by the side of the path, with his eyes crossed, focusing on the twig that was dangling in his hair just in front of his forehead. Just as he was about to apply the final twist of the wrist to free the stick, he was aware of a running sound coming from down the path, he glanced up to see a girl around his age sprinting towards him, a fair distance down the path, clutching a Caterpie to her chest.
"Oh, hey! Look another trainer." He grinned towards Hope "Maybe she c-"

Matthew didn't finish his sentence as the girl dashed past him as if he wasn't even there a look of panic in her eyes. As she did, there was a small thud as a potion dropped out of her bag, dropping conveniently in front of Matthew.
"Hey! You dropped this!" He called out, but he had no idea whether or not the girl had heard him. Matthew pulled himself to his feet, still a little stiff all over from his recent tumble down the hill and placed his hands on his hips pensively. "I wonder what's got her all worked up, eh Hope?" He mumbled to his Pokemon. Hope looked up from the rock she had been perched on, and shrugged before returning to her natural meditative passive state. Matthew wandered out to the path and picked up the potion.
"On the one hand, I should probably return this to her, that Caterpie looked a little beaten up. She may need this." He mumbled to himself "But, on the other hand..." Matthew's eyes wandered to the area where the girl had come from "I wonder what she had been running from. That must have been her screaming, right?" He glanced down at Hope who was trying her best not to look intrigued as well.

It didn't take the two of them long to back-track down the path and find a Kakuna dangling from a tree branch looking an odd combination of dazed and confused.
"Poor thing." Matthew beamed "Must have been woken up by her screaming, so this must be where she found whatever scared her, huh?" Matthew perched himself on his tip-toes, craning his neck to see through the foliage and adjusting his glasses. He could make out the outline of something, he just couldn't quite make out what. The only thing he was sure of was that it was moving, which probably meant it was a wild Pokemon. No pokemon master makes it with just one Pokemon... Matthew's eyes lit up behind his glasses and if this thing scared that girl, then it must be strong! It'd be the perfect addition to my team. The grin widened and he could feel his heart pounding.
"Hope. Use force palm on the bush, see if you can scare out whatever is in there." He mumbled softly. Hope nodded and dived at the bush, striking with her palm and causing the bush to vibrate violently.

A singular Hoppip floated out of the line of the bushes, hovering gently above the path.
"You're joking me." Matthew practically laughed, eyebrow raised. Matthew was about to shrug and tell Hope to stand down, thinking that if they left now they still had a chance to catch up to the girl and return her potion, when there was a buzzing noise from deeper within the trees.
"That... That isn't a good noise." He mumbled, turning his head away from the hoppip and peering back into the treeline. He was met by a large black mass darting straight towards him. Matthew yelped, tumbling backwards as a rather agitated Beedrill emerged. From his position on the ground, Matthew could see atop the branch the Kakuna had been dangling from were a small cluster of Weedles. He must have agitated the mother Beedrill when he attacked the bush.
"Hope, we need to get out of here!" Matthew shouted, turning to find his Pokemon. Much to his dismay, Hope was already a few feet down the path, dashing away from the foe, having deemed it too strong for her to fight.

Matthew stood and watched as his Pokemon dashed along the path, the Beedrill hot in pursuit.
"Hope! Look out!" Matthew cried, but the words fell on deaf ears. Matthew watched, mouth dry, as the Beedrill dived onto the Mienfoo, striking it with one of it's sharp needle arms. The blow was stronger than Matthew assumed was possible, sending Hope sprawling across the dirt. The Beedrill wasn't even phased, rising into the air to ready itself for its next attack. Matthew tried to scream for Hope to get out of the way, knowing there was no way she would be able to take another blow of that magnitude, but his voice had vanished. The Beedrill began to dive. Matthew looked away, clenching his eyes shut and preparing himself for the pained screams of his Pokemon. He had failed her.

There was a thud, and then silence. At first, Matthew was worried about the lack of noise and eventually he managed to pry his eyes open and was shocked by what he saw. The Beedrill was sprawled across the path, a large Pidgeotto standing between it and Hope, wings spread. The two Pokemon glared at one another, Matthew got the feeling that this wasn't the first time the two of these Pokemon had tussled with one another. Eventually, the Beedrill broke the gaze, taking to the air and darting away into the trees.
"Th-thank you!" Matthew stammered to the bird Pokemon. The Pokemon shot Matthew a glare, a poisonous look of pure disappointment and disgust, before taking flight and disappearing into a nearby tree.

Within seconds of the Pokemon disappearing, Matthew sprinted to where his Pokemon was lying, short of breath in the grass.
"Hold on Hope, shit, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault." He fell to his knees next to his Pokemon and reached in to his jacket pocket where he had stashed the girl's potion, uncapping the spray and holding it close to Hope "This is going to sting like hell pal." He mumbled before pressing the button. Hope cried out from the pain but Matthew watched as relief as the spray healed up a couple of the scrapes on Hope's body. Once the spray was empty, Matthew took Hope in his arms and stood up. As he stood, he was suddenly aware of the Hoppip that had burst from the bush hovering near his head, he looked up at it. "Excuse me... Do you know your way out of this forest?" He asked desperately "My friend needs medical care. I would greatly appreciate it!" There was a moment of silence, and Matthew began to lose hope that the Pokemon had understood him, when the Pokemon made a definite nodding motion and started fluttering along the path. Matthew jogged closely behind it, holding the still wounded Mienfoo in his arms. In all of his life, Matthew had never felt this awful. He had already failed his Pokemon and he had barely begun his journey and to make matters worse, he had accidentally stolen from the girl in order to heal Hope, which just made him feel worse. Right now, he wasn't going to worry about that. He just needed to get out of the forest.

[dreamingflowers]

Rose was sitting comfortably on a wooden bench outside of the pokemon centre of Pewter City, enjoying strawberry ice cream with Budew at her side.

"I'm glad we got through the forest in one piece" Rose said to the tiny bud pokemon sitting next to her, Budew nodded in agreement and closed her eyes to enjoy the sunshine. Budew didn't need any food and got all her nutrients the same way plants did, by feeding of water and sunlight. They had a really close bond and Rose talked to Budew often, even before she left to become a pokemon trainer. Her mother had a couple of pokemon around the house most of which were grass type pokemon. They lived in the garden and helped to care for the flowers and plants. Grass pokemon had a special connection to nature and that's why Rose loved them. She felt that same connection and while they might not be the strongest or the toughest looking pokemon they were her favorite. The Budew she owned was a gift of her brother. He had caught it especially for her and luckily Budew liked her instantly. So when she left she knew Budew was the pokemon she wanted at her side.

"Do you think we did the right thing, leaving Caterpie behind in the forest?" She asked looking down at Budew. When Rose mentioned Caterpie her pokemon moved closer to her until it touched her side. It stayed like that wanting to be near to its trainer. Budew had fun playing with Caterpie earlier in the forest and liked him right away. Maybe she was sad Rose had to leave Caterpie behind?
"We'll find you a friend soon, don't worry Budew" "You can't beat the gym leaders all by yourself" She said in a reassuring voice patting Budew's head.

Rose had seen the Gym when she arrived in Pewter City but didn't go near it yet. She didn't know what kind of pokemon the gym leader even used. She was hesitant because she didn't know if Budew could beat them all on her own, she would hate to put her though too much. She wanted to prove she could actually accomplish something that had nothing to do with the way she looked. Rose didn't want her success to depend on that. The problem being she wasn't very confident in her battling skills.

It was a nice day and for some reason Rose had enough of doubting herself with every step she took. So she rose from the bench and scooped Budew up in her arms. I'm going to see what this gym is all about. She thought striding towards the Pewter Gym with purposeful steps. When she reached the gym she was greeted by an employee of the Gym.

"Good morning my name is Brandon and welcome to...." He began his standard speech but then he looked up to face her and lost his cool for a few seconds, he nervously checked his watch and suddenly realized it was already noon.
"Oh right good afternoon, excuse me" He offered her his apology and rubbed the back of his head somewhat nervously. He sucked in his breath before continuing, but couldn't seem to look away.
"Welcome to the Pewter City Gym, where you will face Brock who specialized in rock type pokemon.

Rose felt her cheeks flush at the reaction of the Brandon. Sometimes people behaved like that around her but it made her more nervous than anything. It was really embarrassing for her as well. Brandon noticed the Budew the girl was holding in her arms.
"Are you planning to face Brock with that cutie?" He said pointing to her Budew.

"I um not really sure yet, do you think we could do it?" Rose asked sounding a bit unsure of herself.

Brandon hesitated not wanting to bring her down but the tiny bud in her arms would be crushed underneath Brock's rock types. She did have the type advantage but he doubted that would be enough.

"Well...." He began trying to find the right words so he wouldn't discourage her too much.
"Grass pokemon like the one you're holding are strong against rock pokemon but it's too small" "I'd say you better let it evolve first."

Brandon kind of confirmed what she'd already been thinking of. Budew was really close to evolving but she needed another pokemon battle with a strong pokemon. Rose was sure that would be enough to let her evolve. She smiled at Brandon and looked down for a minute locking a piece of hair behind her ear. She squinted to read the name tag attached to his shirt.
"Thanks for the tips....Brandon"
"Do you know if there are any trainers around town?"
She decided to put his tips to use right away, if Budew evolved she would be able to challenge Brock. Winning her first badge would show everyone and herself she could really become the pokemon trainer she wanted to be.

[Gooblefly]

Matthew collapsed on the grass outside the Pokemon center, Hope's Pokeball in hand. With the help of the Hoppip, he had managed to sprint out of the forest and into Pewter city and once there he had instantly ran to the Pokemon center to get Hope the help she needed. It was still fresh in his mind, the moment that Hope had been hurt, the brute force of the Beedrill and just how hopeless he had been to help. That wasn't what being a Pokemon trainer was about, he shouldn't have been quiet, he should have been telling Hope what to do, helping her fight the Beedrill. The only conclusion Matthew could come to was that he simply wasn't strong enough, not yet anyway.

"I'll make it up to you." Matthew murmured to the Pokeball in his hand "Just you wait Hope, together we're going to do this, we'll take the world by storm." Even as he spoke, Matthew wasn't sure of what he was saying, he had just been so useless in the forest, so utterly pathetic... Not so long ago he was ready to become the best Pokemon trainer ever, now he wasn't even sure if he could really be called a Pokemon trainer at all... Matthew was torn from his spiraling self deprivation by a shadow blocking the sun from his eyes.
"Huh... What are you still doing here?" He muttered to the Hoppip circling around his head. The Hoppip gave no audible response, but seemed to be quite content with rotating gently in the spot just above Matthew's head. "Listen, thanks for everything you did for us... But your home is in the forest, right?" Again, the Pokemon gave no indication of understanding, it just hovered. Eventually, Matthew just gave up, getting to his feet and walking away. If the Hoppip wanted to float there, it could do as it pleased.

As Matthew walked away from the center, the Hoppip began to follow. Matthew span around to face it
"You're not my Pokemon, why are you following me?" He barked at it. The Hoppip gave no response, instead hovered in the spot just in front of Matthew. Matthew had always had a short fuse, and today was not a good day. The Hoppip was, to him, a reminder of how he failed in the forest. Every time he saw the little pink blob of floatiness, he was reminded how he had needed its help for his Pokemon's survival.
"Please." Matthew sighed "I'm not anyone worth following. Go home, there's nothing here for you." And with that, he started to walk away again. The second Matthew began to move, so did the Hoppip. After a mere two steps, Matthew stamped his foot and shouted at the top of his lungs
"GO. AWAY!" The Hoppip didn't even flinch, it just... Floated. By this point, Matthew was was physically heaving, he was so close to exploding. The Hoppip didn't seem to have a care in the world. He just... Floated there, spinning gently in the spot, enjoying the warmth of the sun. Eventually, Matthew gave up entirely, waving his arms in total exasperation. "Okay. Fine. If that's what you want, follow me. You're not my Pokemon though.. You stupid... Whirlygig!" And with that, he huffed off in a random direction, not really caring where he was going. Whirlygig followed along blissfully.

Matthew's random tantrum led him to a large, impressive looking building with a brown roof that Matthew instantly recognized. It had only been a few hours since he had been standing outside an identical building in Viridian city having a strop in front of an innocent janitor.
"Y'must be that kid." A man was hunched over on a nearby bench, cigarette in mouth "M'cousin said you'd be coming. You got here faster than he thought y'would. Taking on the gym then kid?" So, this was the Janitor's cousin. Matthew suddenly had a flash of the conversation he had this morning. Eight badges to become the champion. That's what he had said. Back then, it had seemed so easy. Now, Matthew didn't know if he would ever be able to get one.
"I-I think I'll give it a miss." Matthew's voice was barely a whisper, his voice weaker than it had ever been.
"Suit yourself." The Janitor mumbled, not really caring. A part of Matthew wished that this was one of those cheesy anime shows he had liked to watch, where the unassuming janitor would motivate him to reach his potential and follow his dreams, and all of a sudden Matthew would become a legendary trainer with abilities like no-one had ever seen before... But instead the Janitor picked up his newspaper and continued to smoke away.

Matthew wondered where he could find a phone. It was time to phone Emily, to tell her that this whole being-a-trainer thing wasn't for him after all, to tell her it was time for him to give up, when something caught his eye. She was holding a different Pokemon, so Matthew didn't recognize her at first, but she was certainly wearing the same clothes as before. The girl, the one from the forest with the Caterpie, she had just emerged from the gym holding a Budew. Matthew was about to shrug it off, to turn and wander away, when Whirlygig floated down in front of him and something struck him from the back of his mind. It was her, running past and dropping her potion that meant that Matthew had managed to get Hope to the Pokemon center. Without so much as a second thought, Matthew took a few confident strides over to where she was standing.
"Excuse me. This may seem a little strange, but I saw you drop a potion when you were travelling through the forest." His voice was stronger than before, like a little of his confidence had been restored, but there was still a hint of sadness in his voice "Anyway, I wanted to return it, but my Pokemon got hurt and... Well, I used your potion. I'm sorry, but I needed to. You dropping that potion it... " He swallowed, suddenly the reality of the situation hit him "If you hadn't, my Pokemon may not have made it out of the forest. I know you didn't mean to drop it, and I shouldn't have used it... But, I really wanted to say... Thank you."

[dreamingflowers]

Rose was standing outside of the large stone building deep in thought on what to do next. Brandon the informant of the Pewter City Gym told her that she needed to evolve her pokemon first, before taking on the gym leader Brock. He was the gym leader of Pewter City and he was known for his rock-hard willpower, many people respected and admired him. Her brother told her that Brock was one of the few truly professional pokemon trainers in Pewter City and he was a formidable opponent, not to be taken lightly. Rose felt tiny bit of confident knowing that grass had an advantage against rock pokemon. So Budew would probably fair well against the rock pokemon in Brock's gym after she evolved. Still she had no idea what to expect and a gym leader was no average pokemon trainer. Brock would probably have the weaknesses of his pokemon covered. Maybe she should just start with focusing on her own pokemon and make sure Budew would be able to evolve.

Budew shifted in her arms and Rose could tell she was getting restless. Sometimes she forgot how much she carried her pokemon around, it was hard not to do it. Budew had tiny legs and it was tough for her to keep up even if she walked extra slowly. So Rose figured it would be easier to carry her around, she was light as a feather and Budew always enjoyed being close to her. But like any grass pokemon she wanted to feel the earth beneath her feet once in a while. Rose kneeled down to the ground and Budew hopped out of her arms. She smiled and patted Budew's head, or rather the two vines that came together on top. Each vine had a colored dot, blue and red. When Budew evolved these dots would grow into two beautiful roses. That was something to look forward to.

"We'll just go for a little walk and see if we can find someone who wants to battle with us" Rose said cheerfully.
As they walked away from the gym Budew followed close behind and occasionally ran circles around her legs, so she had to stop in the middle of the street. When she looked down to see if it was alright, Budew just smiled happily. Maybe she was making sure Rose wouldn't forget about her due to her size. Budew was an easy pokemon to miss in the tall grass, but here on the streets of Pewter City that wasn't very likely to happen. Pewter City was a lot bigger than Pallet Town and it even made Rose a tad bit nervous. Budew spent most of her time in her family's garden so this was all new to her, she was probably just as nervous but excited at the same time.

"This city is really something else huh?" Rose began to say when she suddenly remembered something, stopping on her own accord, causing Budew to bump into her falling onto its back with a soft thud. It blinked a few times seeming to determine whether it was going to cry or not, but it got up from the ground without making much of a fuss.

"I promised to call Colton when we got here" She rolled her eyes and sighed, it was so typical of her to forget calling her brothers. I'm the worst sister ever. She thought mentally face palming herself. They wanted her to check in when she reached a new city, to make sure she arrive safely. If it were up to them they would be going with her on this adventure, but both of her brothers were close to challenging the elite four. Their Kanto adventure was nearly finished, she was just beginning. Rose opened up her messenger bag and started to search through it to find her phone. As usual everything inside was mixed up. She groaned, visibly annoyed and not looking forward to what was coming next. She put her bag on the ground and started taking out all of her things. A bottle of fresh spring water rolled out which her pokemon spotted immediately. Budew started to bounce around excitedly but failed to capture the attention of her trainer who after emptying nearly her entire bag had found her phone.

Rose dialed Colton's number and while she waited for him to pick up she was putting back all of her things with her free hand.
"This is Colton...." She heard the familial gruff voice of her oldest brother. It filled her with a sense of safety since he along with her other brother always watched over her.
"Hi....it's me, I got to Pewter City in one piece" Rose began with an amused giggle.
"That's awesome Rose!" Colton replied, she could hear from the way he said it he was both very proud and somewhat surprised.
"How's Budew doing?" He asked glad to know the tiny bulb had managed to keep his sister relatively safe, he didn't think she had it in her.
Rose looked down at her feet to see Budew trying to open the bottle of water with no success. She laughed and kneeled down to help her.
"She's doing good,.......I think the city and the bright sun are too much for her" Rose said still giggling a bit. She held her phone to her ear with her shoulder so she could uncap the bottle, pouring a small amount of water into the lid so Budew could drink.
"I'm trying to get her to evolve so I can challenge the gym leader"

"Yeah about that......" Colton began.
"I caught a pokemon for you to borrow just in case"
" He's really strong and very protective.......kind of like me" Colton laughed jokingly. He wanted to know his sister was safe and the best way to do that was to make sure she had a pokemon able to protect her. As much as his sister may favor grass pokemon they weren't the best fighters.
She laughed at her brothers joke.
"Oh alright.....thank you that's really nice" Rose said sounding a bit surprised. It was typical of her brothers to do something like this. He was worried she wouldn't be well protected without them around.

Out of the corner of her eye Rose could see someone approach her. A boy about her age and he was looking worse for wear, a beat expression on his face. Rose promised to call her brother soon and quickly hung up the phone. She was about to ask if he was okay when he began to tell her a confusing story. As he continued to explain what had happened to him she tried to retrace her steps in Viridian Forest.
Did she drop a potion? Obviously she had but she didn't even notice it. It sounded like her clumsiness had saved this guy's pokemon. She thanked her lucky stars she had dropped it when she did. And he was worried she would mind him using it? Ridiculous!
"Oh wow...." Was all that Rose could say at first. She didn't know where to start but the burning question whether or not his pokemon was alright weighed heavy on her mind.
"How is your pokemon doing now?" Rose asked, feeling incredibly sorry for the young pokemon trainer. She really wanted him to know it was no big deal and if she'd seen him in the forest she would have helped him out right away.
"It's no big deal really, I'm happy you used it to save your pokemon" "I mean that's what potions are for right?" She tried to relieve the tension a bit.
"I didn't even see you there in the forest, I helped out this Caterpie you see...." Rose began to explain.
"He was poisoned and I used some medicine to heal him but when I tried to release him back into the forest I got scared by a Kakuna" When she was retelling her story Rose suddenly realized how ridiculous she sounded. Running from a Kakuna which couldn't even chase her. A blush began to creep up on her cheeks, she felt kind of ashamed at her fear of something so measly.
"It just....kind of startled me and I.....ran"

She returned to look at the pokemon trainer in front of her.
"Are you okay?, you look kind of worse for wear...." She trailed off not really sure how to help him. She really wanted to do something for him, to make him feel better. Suddenly she had an idea, maybe a tasty sandwich would cheer him up. Food always helped out in any situation. She'd packed her bag full of food not knowing when she'd reach the next town. Her brothers could laugh all they wanted but she never left the house unprepared. Rose rummaged through her bag for a bit and fished out a grilled chicken sandwich.
"Would you like a sandwich, it's grilled chicken" She said smiling, holding up the sandwich to him.
Rose pointed to the bench she sat on earlier, when she was eating ice cream with Budew.
"We can sit there if you want, you can tell me all about what happened in the forest"

[Gooblefly]

This girl is kinda strange... The thought flashed through Matthew's mind as she held the sandwich out before him.
"I really can't accept that." He mumbled quietly, still taking a seat on the bench "I mean, I already took a potion that you paid for, I can't really take your food too." He truly appreciated the gesture, but even though the girl didn't seem to mind that Matthew had used her potion, he couldn't bring himself to take anything else from her. As she told her story of the time in the forest, Matthew's mind was racing as he began to put the pieces together. Medicine, he didn't think to buy any potions of his own, or antidotes or anything else for that matter. That was the most basic thing, any Pokemon trainer would know to do that. And, to make matters worse, he realized that the Kakuna that he had encountered must have been the same one the girl had ran from, meaning that she had narrowly escaped an encounter with the Beedrill herself. It was his pointless curiosity that had brought on his Pokemon's bad luck.

"Hope is fine now. She's resting in here." Matthew sighed, tapping the Pokeball on his belt gently as he slumped on the bench, his eyes unable to meet hers, fixated entirely on his own shoes. "But..." Matthew searched his still spinning mind for the right words. As he did so, he noticed Whirlygig land on a nearby bottle of water that Matthew could only assume belonged to the girl. He could see her Budew bouncing around the grass joyfully, a Pokemon who probably believed in its trainer. "After you ran past us, I really wanted to know... What you were running from," Matthew spoke after a short pause "I mean, I thought it'd be a tough Pokemon or something, I wanted to take it on and catch it, to make myself stronger... But there was this Beedrill, a huge one. It was one of the scariest things I've ever seen. This Beedrill, it went straight for Hope and I..." Another wave of worthlessness washed over Matthew and he felt himself having to force back tears, his voice getting caught in his throat "I froze. I couldn't help her. The Beedrill would have wiped out Hope if this Pidgeotto hadn't swooped in and saved her. That's when I had to use your potion to save her, and I was lucky Whirlygig over there was able to lead me out of the forest in time to get Hope to a Pokemon center."

Matthew let his words hover in the air. Every inch of him wanted to run away, to call Emily and go home and give up on this Trainer dream of his, to go back to his crappy life in Kalos where the only people he could disappoint were his parents and himself. He wasn't used to the responsibility that came with training Pokemon, he had no idea what he was doing here. He had no idea why he was even telling this girl he didn't know what had happened to him and his Pokemon. Finally, he stopped looking at his shoes and glanced up at the Pokemon gym that he was sitting in front of. As he did, he pictured Emily when she was younger, first arriving here with her Pokemon and walking through the doors to fight the leader. He wondered how she had felt when she got here, whether or not she believed in herself as a trainer. From what he knew of Emily, there was no way she would have stumbled through the forest as uselessly as he had.

"Crap, I'm sorry to lay this all on you." Matthew muttered, pulling himself to his feet. He had had about as much as he could take. It was time for him to make his way to the Pokemon center, there were phones there he could use to call his family and then they could probably arrange a flight or ferry ride back to Kalos. This dream was stupid and it was time for Matthew to put an end to his own stupidity and get back to the real world. He wondered, in that moment, how his parents would react. They would probably act all relieved as they picked him up, so glad that their little runaway had made it back, safe and sound, before screaming bloody murder at him when they got home. They would remind him that nothing he ever did ended well, and Hope would probably be given to another, better suited trainer.

"Thanks. Y'know, for the potion, for listening and for the sandwich, even though I never took it, it was nice of you to offer." He sighed "But I don't think I'm cut out for this training stuff after all. Time for me to head home. It was nice to meet you..." All of a sudden, Matthew laughed to himself "Jesus, I'm bad with people, not just Pokemon. I never asked for your name." He extended his hand "My name's Matthew. Matthew Dancer. Not that it really matters anyway, after today, I doubt we'll meet again." For the first time since meeting her, Matthew Dancer did two things. First of all, he looked at her face and secondly, he smiled. The two were not connected in anyway, sure she was pretty and all, but Matthew was smiling for a different reason. This girl, whatever her name was, was one of the nicest people Matthew had met. As Matthew planned out his journey home in his head, he smiled as he realized that for all the bad stuff that had happened on this journey, at least he had the genuine pleasure of meeting her.

[dreamingflowers]

While the guy was telling his story on what had happened to his pokemon in Viridian Forest Rose began to feel something was not right. She was shifting in her seat and tried to make it seem she wasn't bothered by what he was telling her but in truth she was getting more and more uncomfortable. It got her thinking about what she had been doing in the forest and if his accident had something to do with it. His pokemon got attacked by a beedril and she hadn't seen one while walking through the forest, but........she did see a Kakuna. Didn't they evolve into a........Beedril?

What if she had disturbed a wild Beedril when she ran from the Kakuna? If there was a Kakuna in that tree chances were there would be a Beedril too, maybe even a couple of Weedles. So actually it was all her fault. When she screamed she must have woken it up. As this terrible realization started to sink in he was just about to head off. She already felt bad for him knowing what his and his pokemon went through but now knowing it was highly likely her fault she felt even worse. To think she actually considered challenging him to a pokemon battle a little while there.
I should be ashamed of myself. Rose thought with a worried frown.

He held out his hand to her and introduced himself before he left.
Matthew Dancer..... It was a cool name for sure. From the way he spoke she could tell the encounter in the forest had really rattled him but he didn't seem like he had no self confidence. She didn't really known what to say so she her reply was slightly awkward.
"It's um.....nice to meet you Matthew, I...I'm Rose" Rose made her best effort to smile, to somewhat cheer him up but she didn't even convince herself.

She wanted to say something else, apologize perhaps but she couldn't find the words. Before she knew it Matthew was on his way and she was left standing there watching his curious Hoppip float behind him. It was the first time she noticed it and the pink pokemon lifted her spirits just a tiny bit. It was really adorable and it was a grass type pokemon. Rose wondered where he caught it, maybe if they met up again she could ask him. She contemplated going back to the forest to see if he'd found his Hoppip there but after Matthew's story about the Beedril she would be pretty stupid to go back. Instead she packed up the last of her things and after a little bribing convinced Budew to return to her poke ball. She was going to head for the Pokemon Center to pick up the pokemon her brother sent her. To be honest she was a little curious.

[Gooblefly]

The Pokemon center bustled around Matthew as he hopped from foot to foot by a pay phone. He stood motionless with the receiver held to his ear, simply soaking in the monotonous ringing sound, a coin hovering over the slot. He couldn't bring himself to drop it in just yet. He didn't need to to know how things would pan out. His mother would cry, his Father would calmly explain step-by-step how he would bring Matthew home. They would tell him how worried they had been, how they thought it was all their fault (even though that part was true) and tell Matthew that they missed him. Then, when he finally made it back, they would explode and it would all be back to normal. But, that's what Matthew deserved. With one final sigh, Matthew dropped the coin into the slot and punched in his home number. His throat went dry as the dial tone disappeared and was replaced by a phone ringing. He stood, holding his breath in anticipation.

"I'm sorry, the number you rang is currently unavail-" Matthew almost slammed the receiver down, his hand trembling slightly. After standing in silence for a couple of moments, it dawned on him. He hadn't considered for the time difference. At this precise moment, both of his parents would be busy at work, probably regaling their underlings with the tragic story of their dear, beloved son's disappearance. They were probably milking it for every drop of sympathy they could, the thought of which made Matthew laugh. He stood by the phone, his mind slowly churning over what would really happen if he went home, and how his parents would really be feeling right now. It didn't take him long to realize who he really needed to speak to. He took the coin out of the return slot and flicked it back into the machine, dialing a different number.

"Emily?" He spoke, the second he heard the ringing end.
"Matty" He let out an audible sigh of relief when he heard his old friends voice on the other end "What can I do y'for? Having fun?" Her voice was filled with a familiar excitement, she was always happy to hear from Matthew. To be perfectly honest, Emily was always happy about something, a true optimist. When Matthew failed to see the brighter side of things, she was always able to find a spark of joy. Matthew took a seat on the floor of the booth, the handset just stretching far enough for him to do so. Slowly and surely, Matthew told his story to Emily who sat and listened in response, only interrupting to ask the occasional question. He told her about Hope, the Beedrill, the Pidgeot, about Rose and about his plans to return home. When he was finally finished speaking, Emily was quiet for a moment, an almost stunned silence before speaking again.

"Is that it?" Her voice rang with disbelief, not at the story, but at Matthew himself. "Matty, you're a lot of things, but I never thought you were a quitter. I would have never given you Hope if I thought you were going to bail like this."
"Emily..." Matthew began to retaliate, but Emily shushed him instantly
"No excuses. If you're going to run back to your asshole parents after one little shake-up, then we 'aint talking no more." Matthew had never heard his friend adopt this sort of tone before, she was normally so bubbly, it was unlike her to get angry at all let alone anger directed at him. "You're a trainer now. Suck it up and move on idiot. Yeah, watching your Pokemon get hurt sucks, but you planned to battle with her. What did you think was going to happen? You're a newbie, you need to practice. Have you even tried to battle anything yet?"

Slightly dazed, Matthew soaked in his friend's words, the phone limp against his ear. Now he thought about it, he had never even been in a Pokemon battle. The closest he had got to fighting was watching Hope punch a Spinirak.
"Here's the dealio bub, I've got a break from the gym and you're in luck. I'm going to go for a walk, I'll head to Vermillion City. You have a week to make it there, if you don't come, I'll assume you've given up. So be it, but don't call me again if you do. If I meet you there, I'll know you're serious about this trainer thing and we can talk some more. I hope you get there, it's been a while since we've seen each other." And, with that, she hung up on him.

Matthew placed the phone down and stepped out of the booth, fist clenched slightly. No-one, not even his parents, had ever spoken to him like that. As he stepped out of the booth, he noticed Whirlygig waiting for him. He had been perched on top of the booth, waiting for him and as he walked out, the Pokemon began to float by his side. He stared at the grass Pokemon before taking a deep breath and grabbing the Pokeball on his belt, dashing outside of the center, Whirlygig in pursuit as normal. Even though Matthew had resigned to Whirlyig following him around indefinately, he was still technically a wild Pokemon. That meant Matthew could have his first actual Pokemon battle, right here.

He found a clear space near the front of the Pokemon center. There were a couple of people wandering around, but still plenty of room for his Pokemon to fight. He grabbed his Pokeball and without so much as a second thought, pressed the button. with a burst of red light, Hope stood in front of him, blinking in the light. She looked a little tired, Matthew had no doubt that she was still recovering somewhat from the Beedrill 'battle'.
"Hope, this is Whirlygig. He's following me around now." He explained "Whirlygig, this is my Pokemon, Hope. I was wondering if you would mind letting us battle you. I'm a new trainer and I could... I mean, we could use the training." The pink blob of a Pokemon beamed happily as he spoke, before giving a definite nodding motion. Matthew grinned as he looked down at Hope "You ready for this?" He asked. Hope seemed surprised, but after looking between Matthew and Whirlygig, she nodded and readied herself.

Matthew didn't want to actually make the two Pokemon fight, but he wanted to get a feel for battle. He knew it wouldn't be the same as a battle with an actual trainer, but it was something. He ordered Hope to land a few blows on Whirlygig, while Whirlygig floated around gently, occasionally firing off bullet seed attacks back at Hope. It was very basic, but he could feel the pressure of the situation. Whirlygig seemed somewhat accustomed to fighting, undoubtedly having to fend of wild bug Pokemon who fancied eating his leaves in the forest, but simultaneously seemed to be the clumsiest Pokemon Matthew had ever seen. It wasn't long before Hope landed a force palm that knocked Whirlygig out of the air and into the grass, which made Matthew's grin grow even wider.
"That's what I'm talking about Hope!" He whooped as Whirlygig shook off the blow and floated back into the air, accepting defeat "Now, you remember Emily? Your old trainer? We're going to go see her, but first... We're going to battle some actual trainers!" Matthew felt a burst of energy inside of him that utterly drowned out his previous worry. His friend had challenged him and Matthew Dancer never backed down from a challenge! He would make it to Vermillion city and he would show Emily he wasn't a quitter. But, first, he needed to stock up on items. It was a long journey ahead of him.

[dreamingflowers]

It was unexpectedly busy in the pokemon center and Rose had to get in line in front of the pokemon pick up machine. While she waited she idly glanced around her watching the people inside the pokemon center. Most of them were pokemon trainers, she could tell because they wore their poke balls on a belt, strapped on their bag or any other place where they could be seen. Rose always liked to watch what was going on around her and observe the people going about their day. Everyone had their own story and Rose always wondered what it was. One of her favorite things to do was to invent a story about where people would be going and why. It was just innocent curiosity and her made up version was usually way more entertaining than the truth. The truth was either boring or completely different. The row behind the desk of nurse Joy was especially long and all the people in it looked anxiously at the front of the line willing it to hurry up. It looked like Matthew and her weren't the only ones who had trouble getting through Viridian Forest unharmed.

She steadily got closer to the front of the line and she felt her excitement grow. She was really curious what kind of pokemon her brother Colton had sent her. If he wanted it to protect her it probably had to be a tough pokemon. Rose didn't know much about any other type of pokemon besides grass type pokemon. She grew up around them and their gardens back home were full of them. When her brothers came to visit from their journey she had seen a couple of pokemons she'd never seen before. Their team had a lot of different types mixed together. When she decided to become a pokemon trainer she knew she wanted to specialize in grass type pokemon. They were the ones she knew best and felt closest to. Her brothers had warned her grass type pokemon weren't often used in battle or competitive play since they were weak to many types and only effective against ground, rock and water pokemon. Still she wasn't discouraged by that and stood by her decision earning admiration of both her brothers.

They had always protected her growing up and when they left to become pokemon trainers her boyfriend at the time took their place. Rose liked to think she didn't need to be protected. She wanted to prove she could do things on her own and that there was more to her than just a pretty face. It was the main reason why she wanted to become a pokemon trainer to prove she was capable of doing something completely on her own, without anyone helping her. It was pressure she put on herself, nobody else expected anything from her so the pressure she was feeling was entirely of her own creation.

She was driving herself crazy with these thoughts on needing to prove herself. Of course it was important to give it her all but at the same time she wanted to enjoy the journey. The simple things like visiting the cities, go shopping, sightseeing, all those things.

"Excuse me?" Rose felt someone tapping her left shoulder. The woman behind her sounded extremely annoyed and Rose turned around to see who was talking to her. She faced a woman holding hands with a little boy probably her son and she looked irritated if not angry.
"Are you planning to pick up your pokemon or are you just going to stand there and do nothing?" The woman spat at her, tapping her foot on the floor impatiently. The young boy flinched at her harsh tone and quickly hid behind her legs.
At first Rose didn't realize what she was talking about there were at least four pe......
Oh...... She suddenly realized she was standing at the front of the line. She had been so absorbed by her own thoughts she hadn't even seen the people in front of her leave the row.

Rose nervously smoothed her dress feeling the heat rise up her cheeks at the woman's intense stare. She felt incredibly self conscious not to say embarrassed.
"I'm so sorry I...I don't know what came over me" She managed to say before quickly spinning around to face the pokemon pick up machine. Rose let out a quiet sigh of relief glad to have somewhat escaped the woman's wrath.

Despite the feeling of a pair of eyes boring into her back she tried to stay calm. She clicked on the list of pokemon ready for pick up. They were registered by type, the name of the trainer and their level. Since she had no idea what pokemon Colton had caught for her she put in his name in the search engine for quick reference. Luckily there was only one pokemon trainer named Colton who had readied a pokemon for pick up in the Pewter City Pokemon Center. There was an e-mail attached to the file and Rose contemplated taking the time to read it since the woman behind her was already extremely annoyed at her absentmindedness. She didn't dare glance over her shoulder and she could always read the e-mail in detail later. So she simply scanned over the details quickly before pressing the confirmation button.

There was a short white flash of light after which her poke ball materialized underneath the glass dome. After the light turned green meaning it was ready to pick up Rose tentatively reached down into the glass dome and picked up her poke ball. Without hesitating a second longer she quickly slid the new poke ball into her bag and rushed out of the pokemon center without looking behind her. If she had looked she may have seen the smug smile on a face of someone very familiar. A pokemon trainer with a head of brown spiky hair streaked with fiery orange. He watched Rose as she exited the pokemon center and abandoned his place in the row to follow her. This was too good to be true, he thought.

After she had picked up her pokemon and left the pokemon center Rose felt the same excitement she felt when first starting her journey a couple of days ago. There were butterflies in her stomach and she couldn't wait to see if Machop liked her. Her brother said he was extremely protective and way stronger than he looked. He had trained him especially for her so he could watch over in his place. She was grateful her brothers looked out for her still but she didn't want to take a pokemon with her only to serve as a protector. That wouldn't be fair to the pokemon. Rose didn't know that much about Machop aside from what she read in the e-mail. She'd never seen one before and somehow she felt he would be something completely different than the grass pokemon she was used to.

The young pokemon trainer stood outside of the pokemon center determining her next move when she saw a tall shadow join hers on the ground. The voice that accompanied it sent shivers down her spine.
"If it isn't Rose...."
"I'm surprised you made it through the forest, even me and Torchic had a few difficulties. How the hell did you manage it with your measly flower bud?" The man sneered at her, looking down into her dark green eyes with a smug smile.
Normally Rose would grow completely silent in a situation like this but this whole ordeal was all too familiar to her. Ashley was her ex-boyfriend and she'd gone through the same ridicule everyday of being with him. It was part of the reason he was her ex boyfriend now. She ignored his rudeness and managed to stay perfectly polite, something she knew annoyed him a lot.
"It's nice to see you too Ashley" She replied sounding uncharacteristically annoyed, but Ashley did always bring out the worst in her.

Rose was about to go on her way not caring for the company of Ashley at all when he casually placed his arm around her shoulders. She tried to sneak out of his embrace but he wouldn't give in. She let out an annoyed sigh and crossed her arms in front of her, knowing it was no use to try and fight him.
"What do you want Ashley?" She asked not bothering to hide her dislike of him.
"Well...." He began stroking her arm lightly probably pretending they were still together.
In your dreams. Rose thought as she rolled her eyes. She moved away from his hand before he continued.
"I was thinking since you have no one following you around it would be a good idea for me to tag along, since you obviously can't fend for yourself" Ashley explained scratching the back of his head lazily.

Rose felt her fist tighten in anger. He was doing it again, always pressing her buttons and he knew exactly how to make her mad. He almost seemed to like it. She hated when people thought she was useless. She slipped out of his grip and spun around, her eyes were on fire.
"You would be the last person I'd ask for help!" Rose spat at him putting a good distance between them. Ashley's confident grin turned into an angry scowl in mere seconds and he stepped towards her closing the distance in two large steps. He grabbed her arm and pulled her back intending to scare her. The sudden movement caused her bag to fall on the ground and a poke ball rolled out.
Rose kept herself from yelling because she didn't want to cause a scene but that didn't mean she couldn't give Ashley a piece of her mind.

The poke ball suddenly began to stir and after a few violent tremors it opened on its own with a red flash. Rose closed her eyes at the brightness and when she opened she saw a small humanoid pokemon which she guessed had to be Machop. It had an angry expression on its rather flat face and its red eyes were looking directly at Ashley.
"Machop!" Rose exclaimed in surprise. It was the first time she saw him and he came at the just the right time. She liked him already.

Without warning Machop rushed forward and kicked Ashley square in the gut sending the cocky pokemon trainer to the ground below their feet freeing Rose in the process. Ashley let out a surprised yelp before hitting the ground with a satisfying thud. He groaned and was slightly dazed as he tried to see what attacked him.
Rose had to keep herself from laughing and she turned to Machop smiling happily.
"High five!" She said holding out her hand excitedly. The pokemon didn't seem to understand at first but after a couple of seconds he stuck out his thumb to her and winked.
That's good enough for me. Rose thought with an amused smile.

Ashley rubbed the back of his head, getting up from the ground slowly visibly shocked to have been knocked down by a pokemon a third of his size. It was humiliating and if there was one thing he couldn't stand it was looking a fool. He brushed the dirt of his clothes and pulled himself together, it didn't take long for the same confident smirk returned to his face. What he did not expect was Rose nearly falling to the floor from laughter and his face went beet red out of embarrassment and anger.

Rose had to stop laughing because there was one thing she still wanted to say, but before she had the chance to do so she was interrupted by Ashley.
"As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted" While he said that he kept a weary eye on the Machop standing protectively in front of Rose, making sure to keep his trainer behind it.
"You need me and...... you can't resist me" He added with a sly smirk feeling very sure of himself at that moment, despite just having been knocked down by the pokemon of his ex girlfriend.

"Hardly" Rose said laughing. She stepped towards him with a lot more confidence having Machop at her side making sure he didn't try anything again.
"Besides I already have a traveling companion" She added with a sly smirk of her own. That news didn't go down well with Ashley and he couldn't hide the obvious displeasure on his face, or as Rose liked to call it, jealousy. Rose had been the one to end the relationship because of the way he treated her but Ashley never saw it that way.
"What's his name?" Ashley asked in a low voice intending to pry the answer out of her. Rose realized she was lying because she didn't have any traveling companions besides her pokemon. Of course Ashley didn't need to know that, she wanted to get rid of him and get on her way.

"His name is.....Matthew" The name had left her lips before she realized it and she didn't know why she mentioned it. Now she felt terrible having included someone else in her white lie. Immediately she regretted it and tried to take it back.
"So where is he? I want to talk to him" Ashley began balling his hands into fists.

"It's really none of your business Ashley" Rose said getting tired of him after the move he tried to pull on her. If he could just go they could go their seperate ways. She didn't want to be around him any longer than she had to.

[Gooblefly]

"Is that everything for you sir?" The bored looking teenager behind the counter drawled as Matthew stuffed the last of his new supplies into his new rucksack. The Poke Mart was cooler than the particularly warm day outside, so Matthew had taken his time wandering around the aisles and picking out everything he was going to need for his adventure. As he picked up things, such as a basic camping set and bountiful Pokemon supplies, he started to wonder why he didn't think to grab this stuff before. He had seen pictures of trainers camping under the stars with their Pokemon and always knew that that was how he wanted to live. Matthew had craved the adventure since he was a child, desperate for something different from the pampered life he had lived before. Part of him knew the reason, but his natural arrogance refused to admit that he was simply scared. It was up to him now, there was no-one else he could rely on. He was a lone wolf, taking on nature with just his wits and his Pokemon.

"Sir? Is that everything you want?" The teenager coughed, pulling Matthew from his daydream.
"Yeah, uh that's Everyth..." Matthew began to mumble when something flickered in the back of his mind "Actually, throw in an extra potion." He shrugged. The cashier rolled his eyes, obviously used to customers changing their mind at the last minute and hating the twenty extra seconds of work that entailed.
"That'll be..." The cashier grumbled. Matthew took a deep breath and plunged into his pockets, handing over the required amount. It was a lot, a little more than most newbie trainers would be able to afford. Matthew had managed to steal a fair amount of money from his parents before he made his great escape, but this little shopping spree had practically devoured what funds he had. From now on, he was actually on his own, with this purchase, he severed the last tie to his parents he could think of.

Whirlygig and Hope were waiting outside the store, not permitted to go inside unless contained in their Pokeballs, and seeing as Whirlygig didn't technically have a Pokeball, Matthew simply decided to leave both Pokemon outside rather than just one.
"Hey guys. I've got everything we're going to need." He grinned as he hefted the rucksack onto his back. It was heavy, the straps dug into his shoulders somewhat, but he gritted his teeth and marched on. You'll get used to it he thought as he walked. Matthew wasn't the tallest for his age, a little shorter than average height, which meant he looked rather ridiculous with a backpack this size balanced on his back, especially given that Whirlygig took the opportunity to land on top and hitch a ride. Everything he had just bought was crammed inside, everything except the potion he owed Rose, which he was carrying in his hoodie pocket. He felt he was ready to go to the Gym and at least meet the Gym Leader, maybe ask a couple of the trainers inside for a battle first, but he had something he needed to do before he could even think about that.

With a whole city to search for Rose, Matthew decided to first check the bench where he had met her, but when she wasn't there, he decided to check the Pokemon Center. As he approached the Pokemon Center, he noticed her instantly and his face lit up. He was more excited to see her again than he had expected to be, maybe it was because he had previously resigned to giving up and never seeing her again. She was still a stranger, but she was a stranger who listened to him when he needed someone to talk to. He started to make his way over when he noticed a red head guy standing with her. Matthew wasn't particularly good at social situations, but even he could see that Rose was looking uncomfortable around him. The guy looked like a real piece of work too, somewhat tough looking and Matthew could see Pokeballs on his waist so he was obviously a Pokemon trainer.

Before Matthew really knew what he was doing, he sauntered over to Rose, doing his best to ignore the other guy there but still ever aware of him looming nearby. Matthew was not normally the sort of person to help others in need, he would normally much rather walk away. But, right now, Matthew desperately wanted to give Rose the potion he had in his pocket, so much so that he was willing to step between Rose and the stranger and smile at her.
"Hey R-Rose" He stammered, aware of the guy glaring at him "I owe you this, right?" He pulled out the potion from his pocket and held it out to her. He waited for her to take it, trying his hardest not to acknowledge the other guy in any way. If he had learned anything from his family it was how to ignore a problem until someone else dealt with it. But, even if he walked away, he couldn't help think about Rose being stuck here with the creep. "A-also, Hope and I were going to go challenge the Gym, you wanna come along?" The words escaped his mouth without him even realizing he was speaking, but once they were said there was no way to take them back."

[dreamingflowers]

Ashley was about to open his mouth to protest but this time it was Rose who beat him to the punch. She walked towards Matthew, Machop still following close behind keeping his red eyes fixed on Ashley. Rose took the potion he offered with a grateful smile. Back at Viridian Forest she'd dropped it without realizing it, she was glad it happened because Matthew used it to save his pokemon Hope. A potion wasn't extremely expensive but they didn't come cheap either. Matthew was being really considerate giving it back to her even though she said he didn't have to. The fact he did was really admirable. She wouldn't see Ashley doing something like that anytime soon, or ever for that matter.

"Thank you Matthew, I'll keep it for later" She said while opening her bag, placing the potion into a pocket where she kept all her medicine. Rose deliberately took her time because she need to figure out what she was going to do about Ashley. What she didn't want was for him to get his way and have him follow her around everywhere. Staying here in front of the pokemon center was no option either. They would just continue to argue and cause a scene. She glanced at her side discretely to see what Ashley was doing. He was having a staring contest with Machop with his hands on hips, puffing his chest and flexing his muscles. Rose rolled her eyes at the both of them. Neither Machop or Ashley seemed to give up so Rose had to put a stop to it herself.

She took out Machop's poke ball and carefully aimed it at her new pokemon.
"Machop return" Rose called out calmly. A red beam of light shot out of the front of the poke ball right at the top of Machop's head, where his three ridges stuck out. It closed its eyes knowing it was about to retreat back into his poke ball. The red light completely enveloped him until he disappeared into the poke ball. Rose waited for the red light at the front of the ball to die out after which she returned it to her bag. Ashley looked relieved and she could tell from the way his arms relaxed, he tried to hide he was doing it but she knew him too well.

"A-also, Hope and I were going to go challenge the Gym, you wanna come along?" Rose let out a silent sigh of relief in her head. If she went with Matthew she could kill two birds with one stone. She would have the opportunity to train her Budew and get rid of Ashley at the same time. Rose was more than glad to join Matthew and was ready to head to the gym.

"Yeah you two losers go fight Brock, he's a wimp" Ashley sneered at Matthew and Rose. It sounded like he got his wits back together after he was knocked down by Machop. As usual he took to patronizing, he was all talk and no action. Rose had learned it was best to ignore him, even though that often made him angry it was the best way out.
Ashley proudly pointed to the Boulder Badge pinned on the black wife beater he was wearing.
"I already beat the guy, no sweat" With that he turned his back on the pair glancing over his shoulder one last time, winking at Rose.
"Smell ya later Rose"

Rose did her best to ignore Ashley's words and even though they weren't a couple anymore she was still embarrassed by his behavior.
"Ready to go?" Rose asked, looking at Matthew somewhat embarrassed by what had just happened.

[Gooblefly]

Matthew nodded.
"Y-yeah, I'm ready." he mumbled, pushing his glasses up his nose and watching the guy walk away. Matthew had just assumed that he was some random asshole, but apparently he knew Rose in some way. And, if he had already beaten the gym leader in this town, then he was a stronger trainer than Matthew was. That meant he was someone to beat. The guy seemed like a sleaze, and the face that someone like him could possibly be a better trainer than Matthew made him angry. The fire inside him was starting to ignite and he was ready to take on Brock now. He began to move towards the gym, but hesitated for a moment, glancing at Rose. He could tell something was up and knew it probably had to do with the asshole that had just walked away. Part of him wanted to ask, but he felt like it wasn't his place, so he shut his mouth and walked in silence towards the gym.

The Pokemon center was pretty close to the gym, which meant the walk wasn't as awkward as it could have been, but it was still so awkward that even Matthew recognized it. He had never been good with people, and part of him regretted asking her to join him. As they walked, he felt obliged to make conversation, but for the life of him couldn't figure out what to say, his one track mind was solely focused on the gym fight. He had no idea what type this Brock fellow used, and he only had one Pokemon to battle with. Hope trotted along side Matthew with Whirlygig sitting comfortably on the top of Matthew's over-sized rucksack. As he walked, he wondered if Hope was really ready to fight a gym leader by herself.

Pfft, of course she was. Hope was much stronger than Matthew was, she had true fighting spirit! A grin spread across his face as he reached the door to the gym.
"Good afternoon my name is Brandon and welcome to the Pewter City... Oh, hello again!" A man approached them as Matthew stepped inside the gym, smiling at Rose. He continued to speak, more so to Rose than to Matthew "I'm assuming you are here to fight the gym leader, Brock. Did you manage to get your Budew to evolve yet?" Matthew understood that the guy had no intention on really talking to him, so he took a moment to bask in his surroundings.

The gym was pretty plain, a battling arena littered with a few large boulders stretched out below them, in the center of a pretty large set of stadium-style bleachers. Matthew's heart was ready to explode with excitement as he ran over to look down onto the battlefield. He could just picture, him and Hope battling through whatever pokemon Brock had to offer, this was going to be a cake walk!
"Hell yeah." He whispered to himself before turning back to face Brandon, whose attention was still firmly set on Rose "Hope and I are ready to take on this Brock guy, bring it on!" He practically shouted. Brandon sighed and rolled his eyes, turning to face Matthew.
"Show some patience kid, I'll go inform Brock that he has a couple of challengers, I should only be a couple of minutes." And with that, he walked away, deeper into the building.

Matthew could barely hold in all of his excitement, even Hope who usually kept herself quite calm and collected was starting to hop from foot to foot, totally unable to keep still. Completely forgetting about his previous bout of shyness, he spun around to face Rose, a look of sheer craziness ablaze in his eyes
"Holy hell, are you as hyped as I am?" He was possibly talking a little louder than he should have, like a young child on Christmas morning "Isn't this just the greatest thing ever? I mean, look at all this!" He turned with a grand flourish to the stadium below "I mean, wow, am I right? We're really trainers, really going to beat a gym leader!"

[dreamingflowers]

Pewter City Gym

Rose bit her lip as she watched Brandon's retreating back, on his way to find Brock. He'd given her a couple of tips on how to do well in the gym and one of them had been to evolve her Budew. Something she hadn't managed to do yet. If it really came down to it Rose wasn't sure Budew would be able to actually win a battle. She believed in her pokemon that was not the issue and Budew could put up a fight using absorb to regain her strength. Yet she was still a baby pokemon and they were rarely used for battling until they evolved. Rose was worried for her safety. And she was doing it again. She was ruining her own fun by worrying about everything that could go wrong. After all she did have a couple of things working to her advantage not the least of which was the weakness of rock to grass. And grass just so happened to be her specialty, at least she was aspiring to be a grass pokemon trainer. Obviously she had to start somewhere and Budew had been as good of a choice as any.

Putting her worries aside for the time being Rose just wanted to herself. Matthew's enthusiasm was infectious and she got just as excited if not more so. She was in her first gym ever and things were starting to get very real. Fighting gym leaders and earning badges was the real thing, it was what all pokemon trainers did, what her brothers had done before her. She was going to do the same with Budew at her side.

Matthew's enthusiasm was rubbing off on her and she laughed as he was practically yelling at her from where he was standing. She checked once to see if Brandon had already returned but she found he hadn't yet so she made her way over to Matthew coming to stand beside him. She looked down at the arena below.

"I know right?, I can't believe we're here." Rose said brushing a lock of hair behind her ear, feeling butterflies in her stomach.
They hadn’t spent a lot of time together maybe fifteen minutes at most but there was something about Matthew that put her at ease. She could tell he was a good guy and so far he’d been nothing but nice to her. He even went out of his way to return her potion and “saved” her from Ashley without realizing it. Him joining her was the perfect excuse to leave Ashley and be on her way.

She really hoped they would both do well in the gym. Matthew was so excited she would hate to see him lose against Brock. Rose didn’t know what kind of pokemon Matthew used and had no idea what type or species Hope was. He also had this curious Hoppip following him around which she thought was really cute. It was sitting peacefully on Matthew’s head and Rose found the sight of them adorable, smiling peacefully.

If Hoppip was up to it Matthew should really use it in his battle against Brock. He would have the type advantage working in his favor. He probably knew that already and it may have been the reason he caught Hoppip in the first place. She didn’t want to give him any advice that seemed so obvious but she also wanted to help him out. If anything she would make herself look like an amateur trainer, which she was for all intents and purposes.

Rose leaned on the balustrade so she faced Matthew, tearing her gaze away from the arena below.
“You probably already know this but you should really try to use Hoppip in your battle with Brock, grass pokemon are really strong against rock types” She explained with a helpful smile. It was a sound strategy and she was going to use her grass pokemon too. Victory would be a breeze if she managed to battle like a real trainer.

Before Matthew could respond Brandon came through the stone doors at the back, followed by a couple of trainers. Rose had a questioning look on her face. A gym leader was usually just one trainer right? So why was Brandon accompanied by these other trainers. There were two guys and one girl so unless Brock was a girl it had to be one of those two guys. The group of three walked down the stairs into the arena while Brandon came over to Matthew and her. He scratched the back of his head nervously and smiled somewhat apologetically at the both of them.

“I…I talked to Brock” He began unsurely. Brandon sounded a bit uncomfortable and he didn’t like what he had to say.
“He wants you to take on his apprentices first, to ummm…..see if you’re worthy to face him” He managed to finish. He pointed to the battle arena below where the three trainers were waiting.

“Follow me please” He said, starting to make his way down the stairs. He checked occasionally if Matthew and her were following which they did. Now she understood who those trainers were. She wanted to face Brock so she could win the badge but battling with these trainers first had a couple of advantages. She could get a taste of their skill and have the opportunity to evolve Budew.

The ground underneath their feet was uneven and solid stone stuck out in random places, some came up to her ankles while other pillars reached over her head. It was much bigger than it looked from upstairs and it was intimidating. Rose could feel another flock of butterflies in her stomach and she tried not to show she was nervous. Brandon turned around to face them gesturing towards the position of the challenger in the arena.
“So who’s going first?” He asked going from Rose to Matthew and back again.

[Gooblefly]

"Whirlygig, oh no, he's not really my Pokemo..." Matthew began to reply but was interrupted by the return of Brandon. Matthew stood and listened, a little disheartened but the excitement still evident in his eyes. In order to get to Brock, all he needed to do was mow through one of his underlings, this was going to be easy! Matthew bounded down the stairs, already pulling Hope's pokeball from his belt, readying himself for battle. Everything about this situation filled him with excitement, the smell of the dirt, the head of the spotlights and the feel of the rocks under his feet. This was going to be his first battle against another Pokemon trainer and it was going to be followed by his first victory.

"So who's going first?" Brendan asked, standing in front of the three apprentice trainers. Matthew looked them up and down, taking in as much as he could. None of them looked anything special, in fact, they looked like easy targets. Fire in his eyes, Matthew stood tall holding his pokeball tightly.
"If it's okay with Rose, I'll go first!" He exclaimed proudly. Before Rose could give an answer he was already dashing over towards the challenger's side of the arena. Brendan rolled his eyes, seeing Matthew as nothing but another excited child and stepping off to the side, adopting the role of referee. As he did, the three apprentices mumbled to one another before one of them called over to Brendan,
"I'll take him on." He shouted and stepped away from the others in the group.

Matthew peered over to his opponent, a boy who looked a little older than Matthew with a shaggy mess of black hair atop his head. Whilst in the group of apprentices, Matthew hadn't managed to get a good view of him, but now he stood apart from the others, Matthew could see that his opponent was built like a brick wall. He wore a plain white vest top and a pair of khaki shorts, probably chosen to show off his muscles, of which he had in abundance. Matthew was pretty sure that his muscles had muscles.
"The names Oliver" The guy said, picking a Pokeball from his belt and winking over at Matthew "This probably won't last long." He tossed the Pokeball high into the air, which burst with a familiar flare of red light and suddenly a ferocious looking Rhyorn stood in the arena.

Matthew had never seen a Rhyorn before, but he was familiar with them. They were fast, half ground and half rock pokemon. From what he had read about them, he knew they were strong, known for charging into their opponents with enough force to break rocks with their tusks. Without much hesitation, Matthew flicked his wrist, tossing his own Pokeball into the air. "Go, Hope!" He yelled, within a few seconds his own Pokemon stood in the arena, blinking in the light.
"The first match begins!" Brendan shouted "Oliver versus... Uh, Mark?"
"Matthew!"
"Right, yeah, that guy. First to knockout their opponent or until their opponent surrenders. Let the fight begin!" He made a sweeping motion with his arm and all of a sudden the battle had started.

Matthew had a sudden flash back to the situation in the forest. Hope stood before him and in front of her stood a Pokemon much larger than her. Last time, Matthew had frozen up and been unable to figure out what to do. He wouldn't let himself fail his Pokemon again. He was going to make it to Emily and he was going to become champion some day.
"Hope! Get behind that rock and use Meditate! Ready yourself!" He shouted. He needed to be prepared. His opponent looked strong, so Matthew bet if he could keep out of range of it while Hope used meditate to raise her attack, then he could finish this in one blow. He had the type advantage and he knew that it was the key to his victory.

[dreamingflowers]

Rose watched the battle from above the arena, her hands clutched together and her brows furrowed in concentration.
Come one Matthew you can do this!
She kept herself from cheering him on too loudly because she was afraid yelling would do more harm than good. It could distract him and takes his attention away from the battle. Rose really hoped he would win this, he looked really down before when they'd talked on the bench outside of the pokemon center. Rose wasn't sure what caused it, or why he felt that way but hopefully beating this apprentice trainer would cheer him up a bit. In all honest she was glad Matthew decided to go first in all his excitement. It was really quite funny to see someone get so stoked about a pokemon battle then again he probably liked the thrill of battle. Batteling with her limited experience and unevolved pokemon still made her nervous. It would take some time for her to get comfortable with the idea of allowing her pokemon to fight other pokemon. This battle would be the first step. She wasn't going to be as protective of Budew anymore and let her stand her ground by herself. If she wouldn't let go Budew was never going to get stronger and eventually evolve. She was already so close!

The shattering of large boulder down in the arena brought her thoughts back to what was presently way more important. She gasped and quickly covered her mouth to muffle the sound. The Rhyorn of Matthew's opponent had just shattered one of the large rocks on the battle grounds and Rose let out a sigh of relief when she saw Hope wasn't behind it. She'd seen Matthew's opening move and he told his pokemon to build up power using meditate and take cover behind a rock. Her eyes darted around the arena to try and locate Hope to see what she would do.

She spotted a flash of pink between the rocks and Rhyorn was getting ready to make another charge at Hope. Rose called out to Matthew and Hope trying to warn them of the incoming attack.
"Be careful! He's going to try again" She said, waving and pointing at the Rhyorn.
Hopefully Matthew would be able to get Hope to launch an attack of her own.

[Gooblefly]

Much as Matthew had predicted, the Rhyhorn smashed it's way through the scenery, rampaging through boulder after boulder, searching for Hope. He glanced up at his opponent who was staring at his Pokemon intently, grinning as it smashed its way through the rocky terrain. He was headstrong, not really concentrating on what Matthew was doing, much more concerned with the destruction his Pokemon was leaving in its wake. This was the perfect situation for Matthew, who was much more level headed than he would normally be. Part of him understood that he needed to go through this knuckle-head in order to beat Brock and be on his way to seeing Emily again, but there was also a part of him that wanted to thrash this guy in order to impress Rose. He looked over to her in the spectator area and grinned, she seemed as excited about this battle as he was. He would repay that excitement with his first victory against an opposing Pokemon Trainer.

Matthew took a deep breath, adjusted his glasses and focused on the battle at hand. So far, the Rhyhorn had leveled a couple of the boulders, luckily its aim was way off as Hope hopped from boulder to boulder, using meditate on Matthew's command. As Hope dodged from rock to rock, he could feel the frustration oozing off his opponent, which just made Matthew's grin wider. Normally, he was the one getting hot-headed under pressure, but today was different. Matthew had been through too much today and needed to prove to himself that he could do this. Never before in his life had he been this calm in the face of adversity. If this had been any other day, Matthew had no doubt that he would have commanded Hope to dive straight in with a force palm attack and have lost the fight to Rhyhorn's brute strength.

"Rhyorn!" Oliver suddenly shouted "Eight O'clock!" Matthew was torn from his thoughts as the opposing Rhyhorn reeled around after its latest strike, turning to face the boulder Hope was standing behind. Given the lack of remaining terrain after Rhyhorn's spree, Matthew figured there would no more chances for Hope to dodge around. This was going to be the last charge, one way or another.
"Get ready Hope." Matthew shouted as Rhyhorn pawed the ground, lowering it's horn ready to charge. It was up to Matthew now he had to time this just right, giving Hope enough time to strike while staying out of the way of the Rhyhorn's attack herself. Whichever Pokemon landed its attack was sure to be the victor.

The Rhyhorn began to trample towards the boulder, in that moment Matthew could have sworn that time slowed. He watched as the Pokemon stampeded towards Hope, he was practically able to count the footsteps.
"Now Hope!" Matthew yelled "Step to your right and use force palm!" His Pokemon didn't even hesitate, she spun to her right and thrust out her fist, just as the Rhyhorn burst through where she had just been standing. There was a small burst of energy, a ripple in the air strong enough to make Matthew hold onto his glasses as Hope's attack connected with the pokemon. The Rhyhorn spun out of control and crashed into a nearby empty chair. After a moments pause, Brendan stuck his hand out, pointing to Matthew
"Rhyhorn is unable to battle. Matthew and Hope win!"

Matthew couldn't hold in his excitement, literally leaping off the ground, whooping with joy.
"We did it Hope! We get to battle the gym leader! We're going to become champions!"
"You're getting ahead of yourself kid," Oliver grumbled, returning his Rhyhorn to its pokeball "But it was a good match, your Pokemon is tough."
"Damn right she is!" Matthew grinned, running over ans scooping up Hope in his arms "Your Rhyhorn is super strong too!" He shook Oliver's hand and dashed back over to the edge of the arena, to where Rose was standing.
"Did you see that?" The smile plastered on his face could not be larger, as he set a triumphant looking Hope down on the concrete beside the arena "I mean, I knew Hope was strong, but we took out that Rhyhorn in a single attack! It was amazing!"

Matthew probably would have rambled on about his victory for another ten minutes, but he was fortunately interrupted by Brandon.
"Our next challenger is Rose, could she please take the field." Matthew shrugged, and beamed at her.
"Go on! You're going to kick ass out there!" He cheered "Good luck!"

[dreamingflowers]

Her happiness for Matthew and Hope was short lived as she was immediately called to the arena by Brandon and the excitement she felt turned into nervous butterflies fluttering inside her stomach. Matthew had been incredible the way he took out Oliver's Rhyorn with just one blow. Hope had been readying herself for an attack the entire fight and that one hit was enough for an instant KO. She doubted her and Budew would be able to do the same. There were still a couple of things working in her favor, one she had the type advantage with Budew being a grass pokemon and if she played her cards well and worked together with her pokemon she might evolve. Evolution would really help her in the battle with Brock. So Rose decided the goal of this battle was going to be to get Budew to evolve.

Before she made her way into the arena she quickly high fived Matthew and smiled, winking at Hope who was standing next to her trainer proudly.
"Good job you two!"

Rose walked out onto the stone floors of the Pewter Gym, the rubble left behind after Oliver's and Matthew's battle was still spread across the field. There were no more stones left to hide behind so she couldn't use the same strategy as Matthew had. In fact she hadn't even thought of a strategy at all. It was difficult to plan out a strategy when she didn't know her opponent before hand. All she knew was that she would be facing a rock pokemon and hopefully that would be enough. There were two other apprentice trainers left standing next to Oliver, a girl and another guy both equally though looking, boasting some serious muscle. It was kind of intimidating to go up against.

Let's just hope for the best. Rose thought as she retrieved Budew's poke ball from her bag. She threw it gracefully up into the air and it burst open followed by a brief flash of light. After the light had dimmed down Budew revealed herself standing idly on her tiny feet, watching her surroundings with a look of wonder in her eyes. Rose wanted to make sure Budew knew what was going on and that she was about to battle an actual pokemon owned by another trainer. It wouldn't be so easily chased away by a stun spore attack.

"Budew!" Rose called out to her pokemon. It turned its tiny body to face its trainer, holding her vines to one side to let Rose know she was listening. Rose took a deep breath, trying to calm her beating heart. It was fluttering like a hummingbird inside her chest.
"We....We're going to battle another pokemon......" "You just need to try your best and........I believe in you" She added with a smile of encouragement. It was true, she believed Budew could do this and if anything looks could be pretty deceiving. Rose looked from Budew to the apprentice trainers to see who her opponent was going to be. They were talking among themselves and she couldn't hear them from the other side of the arena. Usually she didn't mind waiting but she was already incredibly nervous and she just wanted to start this thing. Budew and here were as ready as they'd ever be.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity the only girl in the group of apprentices stepped forward taking out her own poke ball. She pointed at Budew who was standing ready, a determined expression on its small face.
"Are you sure you wanna use that pokemon?" The girl had a questioning look on her face, seriously doubting Budew was capable of battling another pokemon. The fact that an apprentice trainer in a gym doubted her choice of pokemon caused her Rose to momentarily doubt herself too but she quickly brushed it off, determined to let nothing get in the way of her goal.

"I am sure, I trust Budew" Rose replied without an second thought, her earlier doubts completely gone away.
"Alright then it's your funeral" Oliver who was standing behind the girl snickered quietly.
"Don't be mean Jen, I like her she got guts" Oliver said to Jen after he gave Rose a quick wink. Rose pretended she hadn't noticed and focused on the arena as the battle was about to start.
Jen threw her poke ball straight at the ground with what felt to Rose as unnecessary force. It released a tough looking geodude, with two massive arms and no visible legs. Her opponent wasted no time and immediately sent Geodude after Budew, luckily it wasn't particularly fast.
"Geodude use tackle now!"

Rose was about to call out to Budew and tell her to dodge but instead Budew jumped up with surprising speed something Rose had never seen her do before. It left her baffled for a few seconds but she quickly remembered they were battening and she had the perfect opportunity to land an attack now.
"Budew use stun spore on Geodude." It would make the already slow rock pokemon even slower, making it easy picking for Budew. The tiny bud released a orange yellowish cloud of spores from the two vines on her head. The cloud made its way to Geodude and it followed Budew as she landed on the ground after her jump. Geodude got completely covered in it and looked severely hampered by it.
"Damn it" Jen growled as she watched Geodude get the full force of the stun spore attack. Now she would have no chance to hit that annoying bud even if she wanted to. Jen attempted to hit Budew with a couple of tackle attacks but they all failed, Geodude was slowed down too much.

"Be careful Budew" Rose said, warning her pokemon. Budew was darting around Geodude but if it managed to struggle through its paralysis she could easily be hit.
"Keep your distance from Geodude" Then seemingly out of nowhere and with speed Rose hadn't expected Geodude suddenly hurled a piece of stone straight at Budew. What Rose hadn't seen was Jen using the rock polish attack in between her attempts at hitting Budew, so Geodude was faster than normal right now. The rock throw attack hit Budew and Rose gasped fearing for her pokemon. She had to keep herself from running into the arena and check if she was okay. Budew fell face down onto the ground and couldn't get up right away. She struggled and used her vines to push herself up. When she was standing Rose could see the attack had done some pretty big damage. There was a way she could turn this all around and if her plan worked she'd probably win this battle in no time.

Rose kept a close eye on her opponent and her speedy Geodude. Another stun spore wouldn't work so she had to face it head on.
"Budew, get ready!" She called to her pokemon. Budew shook off the impact of the fall and looked ready to continue fighting.
Good... now let's do this.
"Now use absorb on Geodude"
Budew began to glow with a soft green light standing perfectly still. Jen saw this as an opportunity to land another attack sending in her Geodude to tackle Budew but before he made it over to the tiny bud he began to glow with the same green light. Only where Budew was looking peaceful and restoring her health Geodude was being drained of his. After the attack was done Budew was as good as new but Geodude couldn't even lift his arms anymore. It had no juice left in him to continue and Brandon saw this too. There was a moment of silence in which Rose just couldn't believe what had just happened.

Brandon pointed at Budew and her a cheerful smile on his face.
"Geodude isn't able to carry on fighting. Rose and Budew win!"
"Congratulations!" Brandon called out to her with a happy wave.

I can't believe this, she was stunned. Rose didn't know it could be this easy, did she just win her first pokemon battle. The young girl just stood there not really knowing what to say. She looked over her shoulder to face Matthew, with a look of disbelief on her face.

[Gooblefly]

Matthew stood at the side of the arena, hopping from foot to foot, unable to stand still for any given length of time. Now it was his turn to stand on the sidelines, watching as Rose and Budew took on Jen and her Geodude. The two seemed a lot more even than he and Oliver had been, they were both level headed and ready to battle. But, Rose and Budew were battling remarkably well. The second they managed to apply stun spore to Jen's Geodude, Matthew knew that Rose was going to take the victory. He watched with bated breath as the battle continued, realizing that battling Brock without her would feel... Strangely wrong. Eventually, Budew managed to land a powerful absorb and the Geodude didn't have the energy to pull itself up again.

"You did it!" Matthew whooped, dashing over to an obviously stunned Rose "That was amazing! Both of you!" He shot a smile over at Budew. Rose was a great trainer, Matthew had merely assumed before but now he knew for certain. If anything, now he knew that Rose was someone he would have to keep his eye on. He grinned, about to say something else but once again, Brendan stepped in and interrupted him.
"Congratulations Rose!" He beamed "Now, I'll go tell Brock that you're ready to batt..."
"No need" a voice chimed in from behind him. Brendan stepped to the side to reveal a middle aged man standing in a doorway "I watched both of your battles, it looked like you're ready to battle me."

Matthew's grin grew wider as he looked upon his next challenger. Brock radiated respect and wisdom, there was no doubt looking upon him that he was going to be a real challenge, unlike Oliver.
"If you're sure Brock," Brendan shrugged "May I suggest you battle Rose first? She shows real promise..."
"Her Pokemon has just come out of a fight, don't be foolish Brendan." Brock spoke calmly, turning to face Rose "Please, take a moment to make sure your Budew is ready. Matthew, is your Meinfoo ready to battle once more?" Brock asked the question directly, looking directly at him. Matthew didn't hesitate, nodding immediately.
"Hope is always ready to battle sir." Brock laughed
"You're confident, I like it. This should be a fun battle."

It took a couple of minutes for the battlefield to be cleaned, replacing a few of the previously destroyed boulders but shortly Matthew found himself standing opposite Brock, his first real challenge since becoming a trainer. It was simple, he could see it in his head. Defeat Brock, travel, defeat the next gym leader, travel, find Emily. Hope, who hadn't returned to her Pokeball between battles, was standing by his side, a determined look in her eyes. Matthew knew he wasn't the only one who was ready to earn his first gym badge, hope was equally pumped up.
"Our next battle," Brendan called out from the side lines "Gym leader Brock, versus challenger... Michael?"
"Matthew!"
"Whatever, let the battle... Begin!"

"Go, Geodude!" Brock called out, hurling a pokeball out onto the field. Matthew opened his mouth to tell Hope to enter the arena but found himself hesitating, eyeing up the situation "Is everything alright Matthew?" Brock called out from the other side of the arena.
"Yeah, just... Give me a second." Matthew began to circle around on the spot, his neck craned high, looking for something. Eventually, he spotted the little pink and green blob, circling around above them, enjoying the breeze from an air conditioning unit he had found "Hey! Whirlygig! Would you mind stepping in and battling this Geodude for me?" Matthew called out. almost instantly, he felt a tug on his trouser leg, looking down to a disappointed looking Hope looking back. Matthew crouched down and nodded across to Brock "look there Hope, there are two pokeballs. That means he's going to use two pokemon, and I doubt he's leading with his strongest. This is a gym battle, I've got to think about it. You're my secret weapon." He winked, before standing up straight, just in time for Whirlygig to float his way down from the ceiling, settling on a nearby rock.

"Geodude! Let's start this off with a defense curl!" Brock shouted, indicating the start of the battle
"Whirlygig, hit it with your Bullet Seed attack!" Matthew retaliated, well aware of what his opponent was doing. Both Hope and Whirlygig used physical attacks, which meant if Geodude raised its defense too much, neither of Matthew's pokemon would be able to scratch it. Geodude's rocky skin began to harden, just as a barrage of seeds made contact. The blow seemed to bother the pokemon, but made no indication of doing any real damage.
"Once more Geodude!" Brock shouted, a smile forming on his face
"Again Whirlygig!" Matthew cried out. Once again, the Geodude braced itself for the oncoming attack and no real progress appeared to be made.

After a couple more rounds of nothing, Matthew was beginning to feel a pit in his stomach. Geodude's defenses seemed too great for Whirlygig, who was beginning to look tired, even though he hadn't been attacked yet. For the first time, Matthew began to consider the fact that he may lose this battle.
"Looks like we're ready to go on the offensive!" Brock laughed a real booming laugh "Geodude, hit it with Rock throw!" The opposing Pokemon dashed forwards and lifted one of the large boulders above its head and hurled it at Whirlygig. The tired Pokemon didn't have the energy to dodge the attack and was blasted from its perch on the rock, landing harshly on the dirt floor. To make matters worse, Whirlygig was partially flying type, which meant the rock based attack dealt more damage. By some miracle, Whirlygig stood back up. It was obvious he was hurt, but he still had a grin on his face.

Matthew knew that there had to be a way to win this fight, he had a knot in his stomach and his palms were sweating with nerves, but he knew deep down that there was something he could do to win this battle.
"Geodude! hit it again, there's no way it can take another boulder!" Brock cried out. Suddenly, it clicked.
"Whirlygig! Aim for its arms! Bullet Seed!" Matthew shouted. Whirlygig had never been a particularly fast pokemon but somehow, despite how tired he was, he mustered a burst of energy, darting forwards and unleashing a barrage of seeds, just as the Geodude lifted a large rock above its head. The attack connected with the rock pokemons hands, causing it to lose its grip on the rock it was holding. The falling boulder caught the rock pokemon off its guard, hitting it square on the top of its head. It tumbled backwards, totally unconscious and after a brief pause, Brendan announced the pokemon was unable to continue.

"That was a smart move, I'm impressed." Brock smiled as he recalled his Geodude "but you'll need more than tricks to defeat my next Pokemon."
"No problem" Matthew sneered back as Whirlygig's leaf blades began to spin and he returned to his usual state of pasively floating somewhere above. "Hope can take on anything you can throw at us. We're ready." On cue, Hope hopped out onto the arena, walking straight out to the center of the field, without a command from Matthew. He understood what she was saying, she wanted to take the Pokemon out one on one, without tricks like he had employed in their battle against Oliver.
"Go, Onix!" Brock shouted out, and with a flash of red light, the largest Pokemon Matthew had ever seen was sent out onto the field. Suddenly the size of this building made sense, as a huge rock snake filled the arena "Now Onix, hit it with tackle!" Brock called out. Matthew opened his mouth to give a command, but Hope was already moving. It looked like she wanted to do this on her own.

Hope hopped back onto a boulder and pushed off of it, leaping above the charging Onix and striking it from above with the palm of her hand, a motion Matthew recognized from Rose's battle against Jen. It appeared that Hope had been watching and picking up on a few things. The blow didn't seem to hinder the rock snake Pokemon too much, and to make matters worse Hope had forgotten about the size of her opponent much to Brock's excitement
"Don't forget your tail Onix!" He shouted out. His pokemon obeyed, spinning around quickly and swatting Hope out of the air with its monstrous tail. Matthew opened his mouth to shout out to Hope, but took a deep breath and closed it again. She wanted to do this by herself, so Matthew would trust her. He knew that, while he would occasionally come up with a few good ideas, she was a lot smarter than him. Matthew had no doubts that Hope could win this battle.

"Onix, while she's down, use rock tomb!" Brock shouted, the rock snake shifted its weight, spinning its tail to smack against one of the rocks on the field, firing it towards hope. Hope was ready though, rolling out of the way of the attack and taking a moment to focus on the fight. Matthew could see her eyeing up the opposing pokemon, looking for any sign of a weak spot. He also noticed when her little eyes lit up and a tiny smile appeared on the Pokemon's face.
"She's distracted, hit her with bind!" Brock shouted. To Matthew's surpirse, Hope made no obvious attempt to dodge the attack, instead she was swept up into the rock snake's grip as it began to squeeze. It was obvious that the attack was hurting Hope, he could see it, but she continued to focus, using meditate to build up her attack. "Keep squeezing Onix! Finish her!" Brock shouted.

All of a sudden, Hope's eyes flipped open and she burst from Onix's grip, leaping off the pokemon's body and striking at a spot just below the Onix's head. The Onix lashed back, twisting around trying to strike back at Hope but it was no use, she had planned this from the start. Her tiny palm hit the Onix hard, sending it toppling backwards with a great cloud of dust. As it settled, Matthew saw both pokemon were rendered unconscious.
"B-both Pokemon are unable to battle" Brendan stammered, obviously surprised by the outcome "Brock has no remaining usable pokemon... The challenger is the victor." He looked over towards Matthew, jaw slightly open. Matthew just smiled sweetly back, taking a moment to taunt Brendan before letting the excitement of the victory overwhelm him. He ran over to Hope, returning her to her Pokeball.
"You were amazing Hope," He mumbled to the Pokeball "Thank you."
"That was something else," Brock grinned as he wandered over to a nearby panel in the wall. He flipped it open to reveal a small healing station, gesturing for Matthew to follow him "you really trust in your Pokemon, you deserve this."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small metal pin. Matthew practically snatched it from the gym leader's hand.
"Thanks!" Matthew couldn't wipe the smile from his face as he pinned the badge to his coat
"No need to thank me, you earned it." The gym leader nodded his head in a sign of respect and then turned to fiddle with the healing station, readying his Pokemon for the next battle. Matthew took the opportunity to sprint over towards Rose, his chest puffed out, proudly displaying his new badge
"It's your turn now Rose," Matthew said with a goofy grin on his face "Don't worry, you're going to kick this guy's butt."