She was so close. So very close. The confounded pokemon wouldn’t notice her this time. So very close….

SNAP

Kairi made a face. She stepped on a twig and the Farfetch’d took of running again. What a little jerk. In the distance she heard a yell. This could mean Nick was either mauled by the bird or he managed to catch it. Thankfully, it was the latter, Nick held tight grasp on the squirming bird and returned it to its worried trainer.

“Oh thank you! You helped me out of a real tight pinch!” the boy reached into his pocket and pulled out a disk from his pocket. “It’s not much but it’s a HM for cut.” the young man waved, making his way out of the forest.

“That’s neat! We needed on of these ta get out the forest.”

“I guess we got lucky.” Nick shrugged. Kairi unleashed Philip and pressed the disk to her pokemon’s forehead. His eyes suddenly went wide, taking in all the information and knowledge on the disk.

“Is that normal?”

“…I… I don’t know.” Philip ripped it’s self away from the disk, turning to a thin, ragged tree. The pokemon whipped its vines and chopped the tree in one blow.

“Wow Philip! Yer so amazin’ little guy!” the little Chikorita looked proud as he walked forward, as if he was leading the pair. After hours of wondering around the duo was closing in on the end of the forest. Kairi looked up and sighed. The trees were so tall light couldn’t peak in and she could hardly see the sky at all but she had a feeling the night was already upon them. She reached out and took Nick’s hand.

“It’s dark out, so let’s hold hands so we don’t lose each other.” Nick blushed but nodded no less. At that moment a young lady, dressed in a kimono, was noticed by the group. She walked back and fourth, worried.

Kairi squinted her eyes. Was that the same girl from Violet City? No, her kimono was colored with shades of purple rather than black.

“Excuse me miss, but what’s wrong…?” the kimono clad girl jumped. She had hardly noticed anyone was around. She took a step closer to see who had found her and a warm smile crossed her face.

“Oh, it’s you. What a pleasant surprise.” ‘it’s you’? How did she know her? It wasn’t the same girl from before, she knew that for sure, her voice was different. Kairi blinked. “I’ve become lost in these woods and it’s become nightfall, what a misfortune.” Philip squeezed it’s self between Kairi and the kimono girl. Using his vines, he pointed in the direction of the exit, a little north-west from where they currently stood. “My, my, what a smart pokemon. I thank you for your assistance, I’ll take my leave now.” despite wearing wooden sandles the kimono girl hurriedly walked off. Nick and Kairi looked down at Philip.

“Ya knew how to get out all along, didn’t ya?” the pokemon glanced aside.

—

By the time the two exited the forest and into the terminal between it and route 34 they chose to stay the night in the terminal. Morning came and the two dragged themselves out of bed, prepared for the day and made their way to the city.

The houses were big, apartments were stacked sky high and streets the seemed to sparkle of golden yellow hues. So many sights and attractions filled the city. It was home of one of the biggest department stores, the radio tower that broadcast over Johto and Kanto, and one of the few global trade stations around the world. Goldenrod was truly a magnificent metropolis.

Kairi’s eyes sparkled, grabbing Nick by the hand she took off running into the city. Nick managed to catch himself before being captured in a tourist haze. He shook his head and pointed to the pokecenter.

“We need to go heal up our pokemon and wash out clothes,” he motioned to the dirt and twigs in Kairi’s hair. “and… you know, look presentable at least. They might not let us go visit some places dressed like this.”

“Oh, yer right Nick! We haven’t washed our clothes in a while… it would probably be good if we cleaned them all while we looked around town!” The two made their way to the pokemon center, it was bigger, much bigger, than the one they saw in Azalea Town and Violet City. The insides were rather luxurious, marble tiled floor, velvet red couches and glass tables for trainers to lounge and dine upon. Various other high priced items decorated the place. The nurse smiled, greeting the pair.

“Welcome to the Goldenrod City Pokemon Center, how may we be of service to you?”

“Yeah, we would like to check out a room, and use the facilities please.” with a smile the nurse turned to her computer, typing away on the keyboard.

“Alright, who’s name should I put the room under?”

“Nick Sakati,”

“Alright Mr. Sakati, I need to see your and your friend’s ID please.” The two caught up their IDs, Nurse Joy scanned the IDs, proving their authenticity. She returned the IDs and placed a pair of key before the two with a smile. “Here you are. The facilities are down the hall and to the left.”

“Thank you kindly ma'am.” Kairi took her key and ran down the hall to the washing machines. It was hard to believe it was a month on the road already. She shoved as many of her shirts and overalls into the washer along with her dirty socks, adding the soap she slammed the machine close.

—

Within the hour the two pre-teens were clean and changed into nicer attire, a pale blue dress for Kairi and a pair of sandles, clean brown slacks and a white shirt for Nick, and they were ready to explore the city.

“Where do we go first?” Nick inquired. Kairi shrugged, she had heard of the many places in the city and now that she had the chance she was overwhelmed with what to do.

“I don’t know, maybe a show…?”

“Like a movie?” Nick looked thoughtful. “Sure! A movie sounds great, I haven’t seen a movie in forever! I haven’t been to a theater before and neither have you, it will be a new experience!” Nick took his friend by the hand, running down golden streets.

.

..

…

..

.

The two friends spent a happy day together, exploring the city, eating at a fine restaurant and checking all the sights it had to offer. Well, most of them. The city was so big and there was still so much left to do but night had fallen leading to business to closing their doors to the young. They decided to return to the pokemon center for the night.

The two made their way to the washing machines and dryers to pick up their laundry, to find out that some other trainer had moved their clothes to the dryers and baskets for them instead of throwing the clothes on the floor. Bless that trainer’s heart and soul. The two lugged their respective clothes into their room, leaving baskets aside to deal with later, before jumping into their beds for the night.

—-

Kairi was the first to awaken the following morning. Nick was sleeping on his back with his mouth wide open, sheets half hanging off his waist and half on the floor. She rose from her bed to cover her friend properly and turned her attention to her laundry. By the time she finished a knock came to the door.

“I have a message for a Kairi Miller, is she awake?”

“Yes ma'am?” Kairi asked in a hushed voice.

“I got a call from your mother, she said she ordered you a pokegear, it’s waiting at the department store’s electronics floor and she sent me this pokemon, a Ponyta named Ember.”

“Oh, thank ya kindly ma'am,” Kairi smiled accepting the pokemon. The nurse smiled, excusing her self to continue her work. The blond quickly scribbled a note down for Nick in case he woke up while she was out and placed the pokeball down on the note. After all, Ember was for Nick. The Ponyta was very fond of Nick, she was probably rather upset that he wasn’t visiting her for a while and was sent here to cheer up.

Kairi pulled on her usual trainer gear and clomped down the streets with a smile on her face. A brand new pokegear. It must have been expensive!

In the distance, at the very same apartment store Kairi was heading towards, Black was making use of the timed binoculars. He scowled at his rival. What an overexcited loser. The binoculars’ vision suddenly went black, indicating he ran out of time. He shrugged it off, walking to a simple prize ball machine when his pokegear rang. He scowled at the name on the screen.

“What do you want?” he demanded with irritation, shoving money into the prize machine.

'How long do you intend to be out?’

“As long as I want.” Black sneered, extracting his prize. It was a small keychain in the shape of an Eevee.

'You cannot keep ignoring her.’ Black inspected the keychain with a bored look on his face.

“Calm down, I got her under my thumb, even got her a stupid present. Besides, with the way shes attached to me she’ll be all sunshine and rainbows the second I get back. She’s too easy to manipulate.” A far too amused grin covered his face.

'I see sir, carry on.’