Pokemon Regression

Chapter 22: Onwards to Mt. Moon!

After Chee had claimed her badge and TM from Brock, we'd made our way down to Route 3, a relatively short route which would lead us to Mt. Moon. The entire way there, Chee's eyes had been swimming with excitement, repeatedly calling Praise me! Praise me! for her battle experience. 

Eventually I relented and told her she'd done a great job, which she seemed very happy about. Although to be honest, I still didn't really understand what she'd done. I made her promise to explain it to me later. 

As we stepped onto the grass I noticed that, much like when I'd stepped through Route 2 on our way into Pewter City, there were almost a dozen trainers out battling and training in the wild grass. I decided that it was a good idea to try training against them, and suggested as much to Chee. 

So we spent our first day challenging trainers. Most of the battles weren't too noteworthy, most of the kids here hadn't actually beaten Brock since the scare tactics had been in place until this morning. At the end of the day however, I noticed that Yeller had reached Level 11. 

[Yeller

Rattata* (Level 11)

Hp: 17/29
Atk: 22
Def: 14
Sp.Atk: 9
Sp.Def: 14
Spd: 23

Status Points (1)

Skills:

-Empty-

Moves:

Tackle
Tail Whip
Quick Attack
Focus Energy
Bite]

Bit by bit Yeller was growing stronger, and I still had that single point I'd gained from Route 1's completion reward-Although I didn't feel like a single point was going to do much for either of us at the moment. 

After setting up camp for the day, Chee and I went to bed in our tents. I half-expected her to pester me about sleeping together again, but she made no mention of it and slept in her own tent. 

Day 49:

The next day was also fairly uneventful, and without the trainers distracting us we were able to get to the Mt. Moon's mine entrance in about half a day. 

I gazed over the cavern entrance, checking our backpacks for supplies. I'd known we'd have to travel through a cave to get to Cerulean City, the next city on our Gym Challenge, so I'd prepared flashlights, lighters, matches and cave camping gear. I even packed a pair of pickaxes for in case we had to deal with some pesky rocks, since neither of our Pokemon were particularly adept at such things. 

As I zipped up the bag, I noticed Chee was standing by the entrance to the mine, staring at it with a blank look on her face. I couldn't really tell what she was thinking-Although to be honest, I wasn't sure she was actually thinking about anything. She looked to be somewhat frightened, perhaps she was afraid of the dark?

"Everything alright?" I asked cautiously. By this point, I'd known Chee to have both moments where spacing out meant nothing, and moments where it meant she was on the verge of a panic attack. I was hoping for the former in this case. 

Unfortunately, it seemed she was closer to the latter, as she snapped out of her blank stare and met my eyes with fear. The moment seemed to pass however, and she nodded her head. ...I'm okay. Just...

I watched her for a moment. She seemed to be struggling with something, but she didn't want to cancel our journey. There was a chance that whatever had traumatised her before had happened here, so I didn't want to push her too hard. 

"Do you need some time to calm down?" I asked gently. "We still made some progress, we can enter the cave tomorrow if you prefer."

The black-haired girl lowered her head, but nodded quietly. Yes please.