Chapter 10: Lunch is on you?

Kai couldn't quite believe that he had met Gold, or Ethan as he said his name was. The experience was still messing with his mind, but he was quick to get over it, slowly getting used to these crazy things happening to him lately.

Kai once again found himself inside the Pokemon Centre, facing the wrath of nurse Joy because she had only healed his Pokemon not long ago.

Of course, she had already heard what had happened, congratulating him on his win.

"You sure are lucky, that man isn't the most pleasant to deal with." Nurse Joy said, flashing Kai a hearty smile.

"I could tell, just a bunch of bullies," Kai said, taking his Pokemon back from Nurse Joy.

"Yes... Be careful with them." She then said, bidding him goodbye.

"Luck had nothing to do with it, I saw how you handled your Pokemon, you did great!" Ethan said, sticking his thumb up at Kai.

"Anyhow it's mine turn for a battle?" Ethan then asked, excited now that Kai's Pokemon had healed.

Kai nodded, also getting excited at the chance to battle him.

"Alright, let's do it," Kai said, heading back outside to the training area at the back of the Pokemon centre.

"Let's make it simple and use only one Pokemon each," Ethan said, taking his Pokeball in hand.

"Sounds good to me," Kai said, doing the same, already knowing which he would choose.

"Go, Cyndaquil!" Ethan yelled, throwing the Pokeball onto the pitch.

"You're up again, Sandshrew!" Kai yelled, doing the same.

Sandshrew and Cyndaquil eyed each other up getting ready to battle, each of them waiting for their trainers to signal.

"Your Sandshrew might have the advantage, but me and Cyndaquil are willing to take anything head-on," Ethan said in confidence.

"Sounds good to me, we are ready when you are," Kai said, willing to give Ethan the first move to see what he would do.

"Alright, Cyndaquil use ember!" Ethan yelled.

"Quil!" The Cyndaquil yelled, letting its flames burst to life on its back before it shot fire from its mouth toward Sandshrew.

"Sandshrew use rapid spin to get through the fire!" Kai shouted, wanting to see if he could use rapid spin in that way.

Sandshrew quickly spun and was able to scatter the flames, launching toward the Cyndaquil before it was about to hit it head-on.

"Cyndaquil, dodge it with quick attack!" Ethan shouted, getting his Cyndaquil to move out of the way at the last second, getting behind Sandshrew before it slammed into it with its body.

"Wow, that was a nice move," Kai said, watching as Sandshrew jumped back landing on its feet not seeming bothered by the attack.

"Sandshrew use rollout." Kai then said, knowing that it would be super effective against the fire-type Cyndaquil.

"Cyndaquil use smokescreen!" Ethan said, trying to blind the Sandshrew to stop it from attacking.

"Not bad..." Kai said, seeing that it had worked with Sandshrew rolling around trying to find the Cyndaquil with no luck.

"Sandshrew, use your rollout to bounce into the air," Kai said knowing that if Sandshrew could get high enough, he would have a bird's eye view, helping to find Cyndaquil.

"I don't think so, Cyndaquil use fire spin!" Ethan shouted, taking Kai by surprise.

Suddenly Cyndaquil appeared out of the smokescreen, shooting fire from its mouth once again, however, this time in a perfectly aimed tornado that trapped Sandshrew inside of it.

"Not good, we have to get out of there and fast, Sandshrew use dig!" Kai yelled.

Sandshrew could feel the heat from the fire spin and quickly dug into the ground to escape getting away just in time.

Suddenly Sandshrew burst from the ground and hit Cyndaquil from underneath it, taking both Ethan and Cyndaquil by surprise, not being able to see thanks to its own attack.

"No way!" Ethan shouted, watching as Cyndaquil was knocked into the air before crashing next to him.

"Cyndaquil!" He said, running over to it, seeing it was hurt.

"Hey little guy, you did great," Ethan said, knowing that was enough.

"Let's go and get you healed up." He then said, returning the Pokemon to its Pokeball.

"Is Cyndaquil ok?" Kai asked, knowing the battle was over.

"He's fine, man that was a great battle," Ethan said, flashing Kai a smile.

"You and Sandshrew are one hell of a team." He then said.

"You and Cyndaquil too, those were some powerful flames," Kai said impressed by the small fire Pokemon.

"We will keep training until we can overcome all of our weaknesses," Ethan said.

"We made that promise to one another the day we met."

Kai nodded, liking his determination.

"Well, I guess since I lost lunch is on me." Ethan then said, getting Kai's attention.

"That sounds good to me," Kai said as his stomach seemed to rumble as if on cue, causing Ethan to laugh.

"Come on, my treat."

With that, Kai and Ethan headed back into the Pokemon centre to heal Cyndaquil and get some food.

Both he and Kai ordered and sat outside to enjoy the sunshine, feeding their own Pokemon at the same time.

Kai let Sandshrew, Snubbull and Rattata out of their Pokeballs to enjoy some well-needed rest and food, letting them enjoy the weather with him.

"Wow, I can't believe you have only just left Newbark and already have three Pokemon," Ethan said impressed.

Kai could see that Ethan only had two Pokemon, one being his Cyndaquil and the other being a Weedle that he had caught.

Now that Kai had managed to win some more money battling, he had also made it a point to buy some more Pokemon food from the shop that was inside the Pokemon centre, making sure to get plenty for the three of them, only setting him back 400PK$.

"Hey Ethan, just a quick question," Kai asked, having finished his food.

"Sure, what is it, Kai?" Ethan said between mouth fulls.

"I was just wondering about that fire spin attack you used in our battle," Kai said.

"What about it?" He asked.

"Well, I was just wondering is that a move that Cyndaquil can learn on its own?"

Ethan smiled.

"Wow, you sure are smart picking that up," Ethan said, putting his spoon down.

"Actually, I was able to teach Cyndaquil that move with the use of this TM I won in a Pokemon battle," Ethan said, showing Kai the TM once he found it in his bag.

Kai took a good look at it, seeing that it looked like a CD disk.

"Have you ever seen one before?" Ethan asked.

"No... How do you use them?" Kai asked.

"It's quite easy really, depending on the Pokemon that is," Ethan said, trying to explain it.

"The TM itself contained the knowledge of how to use the move inside of it, all you have to do is place your Pokemon's Pokeball next to the disc and let it transfer the information," Ethan said.

"Right..." Kai said, knowing it couldn't be as easy as that.

"The hard part comes next. You see, depending on the Pokemon, some find it easy to pick up the move right away, while others might need time to practice it, depending on how difficult the move is of course." Ethan said, doing a good job of explaining it.

"And then you have the whole thing on whether that Pokemon can even learn the move, of course, the TM will tell you whether it was successful or not, so if a Pokemon can't learn that move the data won't transfer."

Kai nodded, seeming to get the gest of it.

"There are hundreds of TMs out there and more still being made, so I hear," Ethan said, taking a drink before he turned his attention to his Pokemon.

"Cyndaquil here was able to learn fire spin without any problems at all, making things easy for me, isn't that right little guy." He said.

"Quil!" Cyndaquil said, happy to get attention from its trainer.

"Ring ring, ring ring, ring ring."

"Oh, is that you or me?" Ethan asked, searching his pockets for a second.

Kai did the same not sure if it was him or not.

Ethan found his Pokegear and pressed the answer button, placing it on loudspeaker.

"Hey, look who it is!" Ethan said.

"Good to hear from you, Ethan, I hope everything is going well?" Professor Elm said.

"I'm great professor, more than ever," Ethan said.

"Excellent, how is Cyndaquil getting on?" He then asked.

"Cyndaquil is great, he's getting stronger after every battle," Ethan said.

"That's great to hear," Elm said, seeming pleased.

"Oh professor, guess who I'm here with." Ethan then said.

"Who would that be?" Elm asked.

"Kai, say hi to the Professor." Ethan then said, pointing his Pokegear toward him.

"Hey, professor, it's Kai here." He said.

"Oh my, if it isn't Kai! How are you and that Sandshrew doing?" The professor asked, surprised to hear that he and Ethan were together.

"We are both doing great," Kai said.

"That's good to hear, I was a little worried about that Sandshrew at first, honestly it was quite the handful." He said laughing a little.

"But it looks like it all worked out, in the end, getting partnered with you." He then said.

"Anyway, where about are you both?" Elm asked, changing the subject.

"Actually professor, we are at the Pokemon Centre on route 29," Ethan said.

"Ah very good, very good," Elm said sounding pleased.

"I hope you have stocked up on supplies for your journey, oh and don't forget to collect that package for me." Elm then said, almost having forgotten about it himself.

"What package professor?" Ethan suddenly asked.

"Kai is on his way to collect a package for me from a friend who lives on Route 31," Elm said, telling Ethan about his quest.

"Ah, I see," Ethan said, not asking any more questions.

"Very well then, and Ethan about that thief, which is why I was calling you in the first place actually," Elm said, laughing a little as he tended to forget things.

"I was just ringing to let you know that there is no need for you to return to Newbark, actually it was Kai there, and Lyra who managed to find him," Elm said.

"No way, you did?" Ethan said, looking at Kai.

"And not a problem professor, I guess I will make my way to Violet city instead then." Ethan then said.

"Excellent. Well, then I will leave you both to it, be safe on your adventure." Elm said before he hang up the phone.

Ethan put his Pokegear away before he looked at Kai again.

"Man, I can't believe someone would steal one of the professor's Pokemon. And to think it was you and Lyra that caught him, you gotta tell me what he looks like."

Kai nodded.

"Yeah, I'll give you all the details." He then said, letting Ethan know all about it.

Once the two were done chatting the day had seemed to escape them, being well past 4 pm now. Kai hadn't realized how much time had gone already, knowing he still had a long road ahead of him if he wanted to get to Cherrygrove City anytime soon.

"So, what you planning on doing now Kai?" Ethan asked.

Kai wasn't too sure deciding to open the map on his Pokegear to see what it said.

"Looks like it's a good walk until the next Pokemon centre anyhow," Kai said, seeing that it would take him well into the night to get there.

"Maybe you should stay here for the night?" Ethan suggested.

Kai knew that he was right and that there was no point in walking around in the dark and camping for the night when he could stay in a bed here for free.

"Come on, let's go and see if we can get a room before it gets too late," Ethan said, getting an agreeing nod from Kai.

Looks like we are staying here for the night. Kai said to himself, knowing he would have to make up for lost time tomorrow.

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Thats the end of this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it!