Chapter 5: Team Building

A Chapter by Danny

Naomi finds her first team member on Route 30; Danny parts ways with Clair in Cherrygrove; Fletcher reunites with one of his friends, and ponders his wounds.

Naomi had set up her tent on Route 30 the night that Fletcher had arrived at the Cherrygrove Pokemon Center. She sat in it patiently as a small drizzle fell from the lofty route’s sky. She scribbled in a dark blue notebook intently as Blue pranced around outside, enjoying his second day of rain. When the rain stopped however, Naomi peaked out of her tent to see a peculiar sight.

She saw Blue spurt a Water Gun at something in the treeline. Before she could even guess what he was firing at, she saw a quite angry Spinarak crawly furiously at Blue. Her eyes lit up with the spirit of battle. She bounded out of her tent, and sprung up energetically.

“Blue get over here!” She cried. Blue obeyed her and bounded backward, landing at her feet with a hefty stomp.

“Okay, Blue,” she ordered decisively, her eyes narrowing at their target, “go for a Water Gun.”

Blue positioned himself, leaning heavily on his fore-claws, and fired the powerful and accurate blast at the green spider-like Pokemon before him. The Spinarak leapt upward with a powerful thrust. The blast hit the ground, spraying mud in a circle.

Naomi focused her attention on Totodile and shouted “Blue, jump up and Scratch it! Don’t let this bugger get away!”

Blue leapt up quickly, and batted the Spinarak forcefully into the brush. He landed lightly on his feet, and as he caught his breath, a spray of Poison Stings shot from the brush, and scrapped past his left shoulder. Blue’s eyes widened in horror, and he froze. A discharge of string emerged from the bushes and covered Blue. The Spinarak scurried furiously out of the bush and aimed its stinger to fire another Poison Sting.

“Oh no you don’t,” Naomi shouted accusingly. She protruded a Pokeball from her belt and threw it at the Spinarak.

The ball connected with its target, and the Spinarak disappeared in a burst of red light. The ball softly landed in the damp earth. It shook several times, each time, emitting a red glow from the button at its center. On the third shake, it sealed itself with a loud *click*.

Naomi jumped up excitedly and threw her hands up as she did so. “Yes! Blue, we got our first team member!”

Blue, still coated in a layer of silky spider webbing muttered “Tota, tota…” in contempt for his situation.

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That same night, the very one during which Naomi set up her tent and Fletcher arrived at the Cherrygrove Pokemon Center, Danny also arrived at the Cherrygrove Pokemon Center with his new travel companion, who boldly and loudly dragged him around the small, quiet town.

“Come on, you slowpoke, we’re almost there! Put your muscles to work!” She held his wrist tightly, and dragged him effortlessly towards the Pokemon Center.

Danny took a clumsy step forward, and started to match Clair’s pace. She kept a firm grip on his arm. “Okay, okay…” Danny protested loudly, and stretched out the last syllable of the second “okay”.

They arrived at the front door of the Pokemon Center, and the automatic doors slid open with a effortless *woosh*. A nurse greeted them at the door with a pleasant smile and eyes that were immediately assessing the situation (the situation being a disgruntled young trainer and his fiery escort).

“Hello, and welcome to Cherrygrove Pokemon Center,” the nurse said with a pleasantly polite voice, “how many I be of assistance?”

Clair pointed to Danny with her left hand, while her right was still firmly grasping his wrist. “He needs a place to rest for the night.”

The nurse looked at Danny, who was shaking from the the exhaustive climbing on Route 46, with mild concern. “Okay, follow me upstairs and we’ll assign you a bed.”

The second floor of the Pokemon Center was accessible by an escalator on the far left side of the Center’s first floor. The nurse lead Danny to a bed along the opposing wall, and left with Pincushion to heal him.

“Well, kid, I’d better get going,” Clair said frankly. “Are you gonna be okay?”

Danny looked down and chuckled. “I’m not that much of a kid. I’ll be okay, I promise.”

Clair small smile tugged at Clair’s face as she looked down at him. “Good. Make sure to stop by the Blackthorn City gym sometime, okay?”

Danny grinned. “Okay, but when I do visit, it’s going to be for a gym battle.”

Clair’s smile widened, and a fire lit in her eyes. “I look forward to it, Danny.” She turned around fiercely and strode away.

Danny watched as she strode across the floor, and continued walking as her foot touched the top of the escalator, as if no amount of convenience could ever break her stride. Her wild, blue hair disappeared into the first floor and just as Clair reached the first floor of the center, Fletcher had reached the top, and immediately caught the eye of his childhood friend.

“Hey, Fletch!” Danny grinned at his friend with excitement and Fletcher quickly walked over to his friend and sat on his bed, right beside Danny’s.

Hey smiled shyly, as was typical of Fletcher. “Hey, I didn’t know you were here.”

Danny chuckled. “To be fair, I just got here. Well…” He looked back at the escalator. “I was more or less dragged here.”

Fletcher raised and eyebrow with intense curiosity. “Dragged here? Who dragged you here?”

Danny shook his head with empathetic disbelief. “Dude, you’re not going to believe it.”

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Fletcher went slack-jawed as Danny revealed the identity of his companion. “Clair?! Like, the eighth gym leader Clair?! The Dragon Queen of Blackthorn Ci-”

“Yeah, Clair. The only Clair I could possibly be referring to.” Danny replied, faking annoyance at his friend’s befuddlement.

Fletcher looked at his friend with wide-eyed amazement. “Danny, how did you manage to meet the eighth gym leader?”

Danny shrugged. “I just kinda… Ran into her…” He trailed off awkwardly.

Fletcher shook his head. “Dude, I can’t believe you got to meet a gym leader, and the eighth gym leader at that.”

A slight smirk crossed Danny’s face. “Dude, it wasn’t that big of a deal. She’s a lot more… Normal than I expected a gym leader to be.”

“But she’s not normal, right?” Fletched raised an eyebrow at him.

“Well, she’s got a lot of energy. It’s like her blood is made of fire.”

Fletcher laughed at the thought. “Well, she’s a dragon trainer right? Maybe it is made of fire.”

This made Danny laugh too. “So you’re saying that if I caught a Growlithe or something and became a Fire specialist?”

Fletcher spoke in between laughs. “I’ll call you a doctor, just to be sure.”

Danny shook his head, and something on Fletcher’s bed caught his eye. He had two shiny Pokeballs on the bed. Danny was curious. He had two on the bed, but he knew that Fletcher had more on his belt.

“Hey Fletch,” Danny inquired casually, “do you have two Pokemon already?”

Fletcher nodded in confirmation. “Yeah, I caught a Pidgey before I got here. I think Naomi was here too. The nurse said a red-headed girl left to go catch Pokemon.”

Fletcher watched Danny’s eyes widen. His friend stood up with fire in his eyes. “Fletch,” he announced loudly, “I’m going to go capture some Pokemon!”

Fletcher looked at him with a very puzzled expression. “Danny, what’s gotten into you, man?”

Danny turned away indignantly. “I just gotta stay ahead of Naomi, that’s all. I can’t let her catch up.” He said this at an incredibly fast pace.

Danny gathered his bag quickly, and scooped up his Cyndaquil in his arms. “Okay, Fletch, I’ll be back later. Rest tight.”

Fletcher watched his friend bustle his way towards the escalator. *What’s gotten into him?* Fletcher thought to himself. He sat there for a moment before it clicked. *Danny hasn’t caught any Pokemon, has he? No Fletcher, no he hasn’t.* Fletcher shook his head at his friend’s antics, and lied back in his bed. *Well, I should take his advice, at least. As much as I want to get back out, it won’t help these wounds. Ugh, this is gonna suck.*

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Naomi picked her notebook up from the dirty campsite, and brushed it off. She grabbed her pencil from behind her ear, and began to draw an “X” across a well-detailed drawing of a Pokemon called Ariados, Spinarak’s evolved form.

“Well…” She sighed. “That’s one Pokemon down. Let’s just hope I can find the others…”

In the seventh page of Naomi’s notebook wasn’t a drawing of a Pokemon from a picture. It was, however, a flawless recreation of a cave drawing that was considered to be the only recorded information about a certain Pokemon that was considered to be a mere legend. This Pokemon was called Entei.

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Danny made his way to the help desk at the Pokemon Center, and asked the receptionist about the possibility of a gear shop being located in the city.

The receptionist nodded firmly. “Yes, in fact, if you just turn left out of our door, and go down a few blocks, it’ll be on the left side here. Just look for the large, wooden sign.”

Danny grinned from ear to ear. “That’s perfect! I need to get some things before I leave.”

The nurse looked at him curiously. “What are you leaving to do, anyway?” she asked politely.

Danny smiled at her. “I need to go spelunking. I have to go find a Rock-type Pokemon.” He said this because Danny knew something that Naomi and Fletcher did not. The first gym leader of the Johto Region wasn’t very well known. In fact, he had just started his career as a gym leader. His name was Falkner and he specialized in Flying-type Pokemon.

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The nurse undid Fletcher’s bandages for the second time that day, and for the second time, they were coated in blood on the inside. Fletcher found them very hard to look at, but as the nurse began to wrap the bandage around his torso, Fletcher stopped her.

“Wait a moment, please.” Fletcher asked this politely with a level of indifference. “I just want to see how my wound is doing.”

The nurse looked at him worried. “Look if you want to, but it’s not pretty.”

Fletcher looked down at the large claw mark that made its way horrendously from his left should to the top of ribs on the right side. He flinched. “It doesn’t look too deep, does it?”

The nurse looked at him with pity. “No, it isn’t too deep at all. You got lucky, young man.”

Fletcher sighed. “Yeah, I really did…”

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