Monday, May 30, 2011

Chapter 10 - Goldenrod City

"Hey Quennel," Silver said as we exited the forest, "what the heck is that thing?"
Bella looked at it and cocked her head. "Yeah, what the heck is that thing?"
"I'll tell you what it is," Cecelia said before I could speak. "It is really creepy."
"You know," Gideon said, "I think I have heard of those."
"Really?"
"Yeah. My flock of Pidgey's used to see some as we flew around."
"Hmmm," Bella said. "So what are they?"
"I think my dad called it a sleepy."
I chuckled. "Actually, it is a Drowzee, the creepy hypnosis pokémon. I've seen it on TV a couple of times." I pulled out my pokédex and nodded. "Yep. Drowzee."
Bella looked at it in mild disgust. "Do we have to catch it?"
"Well...I would like to."

Randal, DROWZEE (male)
Insomnia; Adamant (+Atk., -Sp. Atk.)
Lvl 12, Route 34.

We continued down the route and had a couple of tough battles, but nothing too troubling for my team. We got to a house oddly situated on the route. A old man was standing outside and, from the north, Lyra approached. She waved to me as the old man looked back. He then looked at me and smiled. The three of us were about even after Lyra and I had continued toward each other on the route.
"Hi Quennel," she said. "And hi Grandad."
"Well well," he said, "is this Quennel? We have heard about you."
Silver smirked. "Really?"
"Indeed. Lyra has told us quite a bit."
"Someone has a friend," Timas said, winking.
"Oh you two hush," I muttered at them.
"Grandad! Be nice to Quennel. He may have some pokémon for you to raise?"
"You guys raise pokémon?"
"Yep," he replied to me. "Me and my wife raise pokémon for trainers at our daycare. We can also breed them too."
"Interesting."
"Come on inside, we'll show you around."

Lyra and I followed him inside, where I saw his wife, a kind looking old lady sitting at a counter. They had a nice looking playpen to the side and Lyra's Marill hopped out and jumped the fence to play around inside. Silver shrugged (how does he do that with no shoulders, I wondered later...) and flew on in and the two started playing a bit while the rest of us talked. Gideon and Bella soon joined them during our conversation.
"So are you thinking of leaving pokémon with us?"
"Maybe later," I said. "Right now, I just want to get to Goldenrod city."
Lyra looked at me quizzically. "Why are you headed there? Going to the gym?"
"No," Lyra's grandmother said before I could comment, "I bet he is going to the department store. He looks like he wants to buy some TMs."
"I bet he'd rather go to the Casino," her grandfather said. "You get better TMs there, after all. Plus, you can get pokémon there too."
"Or he could be heading to Bill's house. Though I think he is out of town..."
"Another great stop is the radio station. You can get a radio card for your pokégear."
"Actually," I said, "while I may do those things, the main reason I am going there is for the gym."
Lyra smiled "Told you."
"Can any of you guys tell me about the gym?"
"The leader," Lyra's grandmother began, "is a user of normal types. However, the gym members pick their pokémon based upon how cute they are..."
"But they are powerful still," Lyra's grandfather said. "Do not underestimate them."
"Okay," I said. "Thanks for the info."

Lyra decided to stay with them for the night, but I decided to make the final legs of the trip to Goldenrod. After collecting my pokémon from their playing, we headed out and made it to the city a handful of minutes (and one pokémon battle with a vision-impaired police officer) later. After healing my pokémon, we stayed at the center for the night and then went out to see the sights.
The department store was closest, so we went there first. I didn't want to use my limited funds on any TMs, so, while I bought some supplies, I stayed away from the TMs. I could always come back after getting some of my money from my mom anyway.
On the top floor, there was a woman who was handing out free TMs. I got in line and watched as she turned away some of the people before me. They and their pokémon went away looking sad. When I got there, she took a moment to look at me and then studied Silver.
"You have an exquisite Togetic."
"Thank you ma'am," Silver and I both said at the same time. He then shook his head as I chuckled.
"Have you thought of making him a Togekiss?"
"A what?" Silver looked at me, but I could only shrug in response.
"They are rare pokémon indeed. You need a Shiny stone to evolve a Togetic, and since Togetics themselves are rare, Togekisses are even rarer."
"Okay," I responded. "Why do you ask?"
"Hmmm...well, I think I have a Shiny stone somewhere at my house. If you come back in a few weeks, I can give you one. Seeing a Togekiss is reason enough for me."
"Why...thank you very much."
"But for now, just take this TM." She handed me a shiny TM. "It is Return. The move has more power when the pokémon using it likes its trainer very much, as I can tell your Togetic likes you."
"Thank you very much," I said. "And we'll be sure to return in a few weeks."
"I look forward to seeing you again. And if you have another pokémon then, a new one who likes you just as much as your Togetic here, I'll give you another Return TM too." She shook my hand and we then left, the line moving along after us.

We left and I let Silver hold onto the TM while I walked to a quaint-looking flower shop, hoping they sold berries.
"Can I learn Return now?"
"Sure," I said. "But you know what this means?"
"What?"
"Oh Timas," I said, calling him to my side. "Remember how you questioned the use of headbutt?"
"Oh great. You're gonna make me learn that now too, aren't you?"
"Soon, once we get back to the forest. But first, let's look inside here."
Once inside, I noticed that there was not much here. There was, however, a sign about a free squirt-bottle, so I went to the counter to ask about it.
"Well," the lady at the counter began, "we do have one, but not everyone can use it. It might be too dangerous to let just anyone use it."
"Too...dangerous?" Timas looked dumbfounded. "How the heck can a squirt-bottle be too dangerous?"
Bella shook her head. "Maybe if you use it on Cecelia?" She wasn't even joking.
"Hey," Cecelia said, hopping out to respond, "nothing that puny could hurt a pokémon like me."
"Anyway," I said, looking back to the clerk, "how can I prove to you that it would not be...dangerous...for me to use?"
"Oh, well I'm sure anyone with the badge from our city can use it well."
"Okay then. I'll just get that badge then and come back."
"Yeah, that'll happen," she said as we walked out.

No comments:

Post a Comment