pokemon

Route 1 – Kanto Region

"Man, what's up with the sky?" A man sitting on the coachman's seat of a camper trailer –that was being pulled by the Bull Pokémon, Tauros- asked aloud as he gazed up at the sky. It had been sunny all morning, but the dark and stormy clouds had rolled in seemingly out of nowhere.

Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled as the first drops of rain began to fall.

"Well damn, looks like we're stopping until this storm passes." The man sighed. "Tauros let's find a place to pull over, buddy! We'll get out of this rain and you can rest for a while."

"Mooo~" Tauros called back as the rain began to come down harder. The lighting flashed again followed by another crack of thunder.

The man and Pokémon travelled a bit further as the rain fell, coming down at a good clip for a spring storm. The man was already soaked when they found a nice flat piece of ground just a bit off the beaten path. It wouldn't do to set up on the Route itself. That was a good way to get yelled at by car and truck drivers since you'd be blocking the road. Just within the tree line Tauros pulled the camper and stopped.

"Great job, buddy!" The man called to his Pokémon over the pouring rain. "Just let me set the locks!" He jumped off the coachman's seat and went to the side of the camper. Opening a panel he twisted a handle and a metal jack descended from under the camper trailer to stab deeply into the ground. A quick jog to the other side and he repeated the process. With a dull thud, another metal jack stabbed deep into the earth to anchor the camper in place. "Tauros, return!" The man held up a Pokéball and with a red beam of light, recalled his Normal Type Pokémon.

A bright flash of lighting lit up the darkened sky and the rumble of thunder filled the air. The man was about to head into his camper and get out of his wet clothes when a shock of color caught his attention. Under a tree a bit further away was a bright orange color. Looking closely the man saw it was actually the hair of a young girl. She couldn't be more than a newbie Trainer, probably only started a month ago at most. She was soaked even as she tried to shelter under the tree.

'I can't just leave her out here in this storm.' He thought to himself. With that thought he opened his mouth and raised his voice. "Young lady, are you alright?"

"Huh?" The girl perked up and turned to face him. She was wearing a yellow, midriff-bearing t-shirt, short denim shorts with suspenders, and a pair of red and white sneakers. She had a red rucksack over her right shoulder. "Oh! Hello! Can you help me?!"

"Are you injured?" The man yelled back to be heard over another crash of thunder.

"No! But some kid stole my bike and then this storm started! I've been stuck here this whole time!" The orange-haired girl explained as she walked to the edge of the tree's leafy coverage.

"Come inside! We can both get out of this rain!" The man called out to her while motioning to his fairly large camper. He opened the door and flicked on the lights as he watched the girl jog across the clearing.

"Thank you, sir!" The girl gave a short bow as she moved her orange bangs out of her green eyes. She was soaked completely from the downpour and the man wasn't much better.

"Damn, you're completely soaked. You'll catch a cold like that." The man fretted over the girl. "You can use the shower to warm up. The towels are in the little cupboard beside the sink."

"Oh." The redhead blinked at the man for a moment. "Thank you, mister…"

"Right, sorry, I forgot to introduce myself." The man apologized with a lopsided smile. "I'm Mike, a League Trainer."

"Mike…" The redhead seemed to test the name out as she said it.

Mike was tall, close to 182cm, and had dark-brown hair. His eyes were hazel-colored and he wore a light-gray shirt under a forest-green vest. His legs were covered by khaki cargo pants and on his feet were black sneakers. All in all, he was normal enough, and seemed concerned about her even though he was just as soaked as she was from the downpour outside.

"I'm Misty," Misty introduced herself. "I've been a Pokémon Trainer for about a month."

"Nice to meet you, Misty." Mike smiled at the girl.

"Is it really okay to use your shower?" Misty questioned the older Trainer. She'd love nothing more than to warm up with a warm shower right now. But she knew campers like this one had a finite amount of water available.

"Absolutely, I'm not going to leave a young girl soaking wet and shivering from the rain if I can help it." Mike assured her with a firm nod. He showed her the bathroom, small but big enough to have a shower/tub combo with a sink, cupboard, and toilet. "Like I said earlier, the towels are in the cupboard and you can change into dry clothes in here when you're done." With that he backed out of the bathroom and closed the door to give her privacy.

"Thank you." Misty called through the door.

"You're welcome." Mike called back.

Mike heard the shower start a short time later. He was already toweling himself off as best he could with a spare towel he kept in a storage closet in the camper's bedroom. He'd have to change out of his soaked clothes soon too. But he'd like a warm shower of his own first.

"Oh no!" Misty's voice rang out and Mike approached the bathroom door to see what was wrong.

"Misty? Are you okay?" Mike called through the door.

"My rucksack is completely soaked through! All of my clothes are wet!" Misty explained unhappily.

"Oh, um, I have a spare bathrobe folded up in the towel cupboard you can wear. We'll hang your clothes up to dry once I'm done with my shower." Mike offered the girl who was apparently going to keep having a bad day at this rate.

"Thank you…" Misty responded quietly.

"You're welcome." Mike replied, smiling even though Misty couldn't see it. He walked away from the bathroom door and waited for his turn in the shower.

"This robe is like a dress on me." Misty spoke up as she emerged from the bathroom wrapped in his spare bathrobe. The white, cotton robe covered her from neck to ankle and was folded over and tied with the white belt. Her orange-hair was out of the side-ponytail she'd had it in and hung freely down to her shoulders.

"It really is…" Mike chuckled at seeing what their size difference did to Misty wearing his bathrobe. "I'm going to grab a quick change of clothes and take my own shower. After that you can hang up your wet clothes while I make us some lunch."

"You're going to make lunch?" Misty blinked at him before her stomach growled. "I could eat." Her cheeks were red from embarrassment as she looked down at the floor.

"I might as well," Mike gave her a gentle grin. "The rain isn't letting up at all." It was true; the occasional rumble of thunder could still be heard along with the sound of rain on the camper roof. "I'll be done in a bit." He assured the girl as he grabbed a set of clothes and headed into the bathroom.

Misty heard the shower turn on as she sat on the small couch. The bathrobe was soft and fluffy and she snuggled into it. With Mike being so tall, his bathrobe was easily used as a makeshift blanket by Misty. As she relaxed to the gentle sound of rain and the warmth of the bathrobe the orange-haired girl smiled. She'd still slug that thief in the face if she ever saw him again, but at least she wasn't still stuck in that downpour. She looked up when she heard the shower stop. A minute or so later and the door opened. Mike walked out in a pair of grey lounge pants and a baggy, white t-shirt.

"I'll get started on lunch while you hang up your wet clothes, Misty." Mike nodded to the girl as he went over to the small kitchen area.

Misty watched him pull out a few pans and open the small refrigerator/freezer to get some meat. She stood up from the couch, letting the bathrobe swish around her ankles as it settled from the movement. Entering the small bathroom, she pulled out her soaked clothed from her equally drenched rucksack and noticed that a few wires now crossed from one wall to the other. There was even a bag full of clothespins set out for her to use.

"He's really nice." Misty smiled to herself as she started hanging up her wet clothes to dry.

Lunch was fairly simple, some chicken, veggies, and rice. But Misty enjoyed the hot meal and the fullness of her stomach. Since the rain still hadn't abated, the duo chatted during the meal and afterwards while they washed the used dishware together. The two moved over to the couch and Mike picked up the TV remote so they could watch some television to pass the time.

"All day?!" Misty cried out as they watched the weather forecast. Apparently the storm would pass in a couple hours, but it was supposed to rain through the night.

"Well…damn." Mike sighed along with Misty. "Looks like I'm not heading out until morning then."

"Um, Mike…" Misty looked up at the man with hopeful eyes. "Would it be okay if I spent the night?"

"I'm not going to throw you back out into the rain, Misty." Mike chuckled with a shake of his head. "You're more than welcome to stay the night."

"Thank you!" Misty beamed at him and gave him a hug.

"No problem, Misty." Mike returned the hug and the two settled in to watch some more TV.

A bit later, hours actually, and Mike excused himself to use the bathroom. Misty was engrossed in the Pokémon Battle shown on the screen. With a chuckle the man walked into the bathroom and closed the door. Turning on the light he was met with Misty's hanging clothes. There were two more shirts, one white, and one blue. Another pair of denim shorts, along with three pairs of socks. What really caught his eye were the four pairs of panties hanging up beside the socks. There was a solid pair of navy blue, a pure white pair, and then two with light-blue horizontal stripes on them.

"Right, all of her clothes." Mike shook his head and just ignored the undergarments as he took care of business and then washed his hands. He returned to the coach shortly before the battle finished with the Vaporeon taking the win over a Vileplume.

When dinner came around, Mike cooked for the two of them again. Dinner was simple, but fun as the two chatted and Mike told her stories of his years as a Trainer. Misty laughed at some of the stories and was impressed by Mike's experience. He was well-travelled and had even competed in Leagues before! He was a Kanto Native and had come back to his home Region to challenge the Indigo Conference again. He was planning to win it this time around and Misty thought he might be able to from what she'd heard of his Pokémon.

"It's getting late." Mike noted the time on the wall clock. "We should probably get ready for bed."

"Alright." Misty replied from her position against his side. At some point during their chatting and TV watching, Misty had leaned against Mike and the two had just stayed like that.

"You can take the bedroom, Misty. I'll crash on the couch tonight." Mike offered the girl and Misty sat up to look over the small couch.

"But it's too small." Misty shook her head. With Mike's height the young man's leg would be dangling off the edge of the couch all night. "I can sleep on the couch, it's soft enough."

"Misty, before I had this camper I used to sleep in tents every night like most Trainers." Mike waved the girl's worries away. "I've spent nights sleeping on hard, flat rocks. A single night on the couch isn't going to hurt me."

"But…" Misty tried to speak up to convince him.

"But nothing," Mike shook his head. "You're a guest, and a lovely young lady, it would be rude of me to make you sleep on the couch."

"I'm not a kid, you know." Misty shook her head at him. "Any licensed Pokémon Trainer is a legal adult. I'll be fine sleeping on the couch. It's your bedroom, so you should sleep in it."

"You're rather stubborn when you want to be, aren't you?" Mike sighed at the orange-haired girl. "You're a newbie Trainer, legally an adult you may be, but you're still basically a child. Children should sleep in beds when they're offered."

"I'm not taking your bed from you." Misty denied as she stood up, the bathrobe falling down to her ankles again.

"It's fine though." Mike assured the girl again. She had a lot of fire in her for such a small girl. Were all the little girls like this back where Misty was from?

"But you've been so nice to me, you took me in, fed me twice, let me use your shower and dry my clothes." Misty stated with bright eyes. "I don't want to take your bedroom away from you tonight."

"I don't feel right making you sleep on the couch though." Mike tried to get the young girl to see things from his point of view. "It's not like we can share the bed."

"Why not?" Misty tilted her head. "I don't want you to sleep on the couch and you don't want me to sleep on the couch."

"Misty, that's not exactly, I mean…" Mike coughed into his fist.

"It's fine." Misty shook her head, her orange locks swaying side to side from the motion. "This way we both get what we want."

"Alright, alright fine." Mike shook his head. This girl was damn stubborn when she put her foot down. 'It's a Queen Size bed anyway. We won't even be on the same side.'

In a short time the two were in the bed, both on opposite sides, and snuggling into the blankets for the night. Mike wasn't quite ready for sleep just yet, so he left the lights on and he and Misty began to chat again.

"If I ever see that black-haired punk again, I'm gonna punch his lights out." Misty threatened as she lay back on the soft pillow, still wrapped in the fluffy bathrobe underneath the blankets.

"You shouldn't let one thief taking your bike ruin your Pokémon Journey, Misty." Mike offered the newbie Trainer his advice. "You'll have plenty of great experiences ahead of you as you travel and capture more Pokémon. You'll be a great Water Type Specialist in the future."

"Really? You think so?" Misty turned to face him with sparkling eyes.

"Absolutely." Mike gave her a look full of belief in her abilities and her dream.

"You're right, Mike." Misty smiled at the older Trainer. "Even after my bike was stolen, this day turned out pretty great. I got to meet you."

"I'm glad I got to meet you too, Misty." Mike smiled at the girl. "I have to admit; it's been great having you here today. It's the first time I've had a guest for more than a few hours. A guy could get used to having a pretty girl around, you know?"

"Pretty?" Misty giggled as she covered her red cheeks. "You're just saying that."

"If I'm lyin' I'm dyin'." Mike chuckled and Misty giggled again.

"I wouldn't mind actually." Misty spoke up a moment later. "Travelling with you, that is."

"You want to travel with me?" Mike raised an eyebrow at her.

"I know, I shouldn't ask," Misty shook her head. "You're a far more experienced Trainer and a newbie like me would just slow you down."

"I don't mind the idea." Mike assured the girl with a gentle smile. "It could be nice to have a companion on this journey. I still have almost a year to wait until the next Indigo Conference. I could help you train your Pokémon and we could travel around so you could catch more. I can train with the local Trainers or re-challenge some of the Gyms I've beaten before in Kanto to train up my Pokémon for the Conference."

"Really?" Misty's eyes were shining.

"Of course." Mike nodded to her. He wasn't expecting Misty to move across the bed and hug him.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Misty repeated over and over while she hugged him.

"You're welcome, Misty." Mike returned the hug softly.

"Mike…" Misty got his attention and he pulled back from the hug to look at her.

"Wha…" Mike was cut off as Misty inclined her head and placed a chaste kiss on his lips. She pulled back, a small smile on her face even with her cheeks a dark-red.

"I really appreciate this. I know I'm going to learn so much from you." Misty explained her actions.

"I'll do my best." Mike promised before moving down to capture her lips this time.