Pokemon Special: Protector's Code

Chapter Five

“Alright,” announced Amber. “First stop: Pokémon Centre."

Peach let out a cry and leaped from her shoulder. He grinned up at her and trotted loyally beside her as she made her way through the trees. She smiled down at him and held the pokéball that Gold had given her, before slipping it into the final pocket in her case that had remained empty for so long.

“Unlike Chris, I’m not very good at catching Pokémon,” she said, her eyes lingering on the six pockets, each containing a single pokéball. “That’s why it took me so long to actually fill my team up.”

She glanced down at the new member of her team and smiled. The tiny electric Pokémon squealed happily and his pace adopted a lively beat.

“Welcome to the team, Peach,” she laughed. “Once everyone is healed up, I’ll introduce you.”

As they reached a field of tall grass, Amber called for Peach to sit upon her shoulder, wary that she might lose such a small Pokémon. She reached forward and parted each tuft cautiously, carefully placing each foot down so that she wouldn’t disturb any of Pokémon that may be lying in hiding. However, just as Amber stepped out from the frays, she collided into a small body.

Startled, she immediately reached for Mister’s pokéball but pulled back when she heard a voice sounding just as startled as she was. Realising that she hadn’t actually encountered a Pokémon, she hurriedly stooped down to help down whoever she’d accidently pushed down.

“I’m so sorry,” she said apologetically and grabbed the stranger’s hand.

“No, no, I should be sorry,” said the person, clumsily standing with Amber’s help. “I’ve often been told I’m too absentminded and that I don’t watch where I’m going.”

“Don’t worry about that, are you okay?” asked Amber, sweeping her eyes over the small individual.

The person she’d knocked over was a small girl, who looked to be in her pre-teen stage. She had long straw yellow hair tied with a thin ribbon in a high ponytail. Her face was round and heart-shaped. She wore simple yellow dress with a long-sleeved shirt underneath and a leather belt hung from her waist. The belt had six pocket-sized compartments lined evenly, similar to the way Amber’s case organised her pokéballs. Likewise, each of the girl’s pockets was fitted with a single pokéball that Amber assumed were containing Pokémon. Under her dress, the girl wore tight-fitted jeans tucked into purple leather boots. Beside her stood a Raticate, pressing his paws anxiously against her leg.

“Yes, I’m fine,” replied the girl, crouching to pick up a straw hat that had fallen and briefly scratching the Raticate’s ear. “Thank you for helping me up.”

“Not a problem,” said Amber with relief. “Why are you here? Are you lost?”

“No, I was just heading towards Viridian City,” said the girl. “I come here a lot, so I know the forest really well.”

“I see,” said Amber. “I was just going to head towards Viridian City as well. My Pokémon are badly injured so I need to get them to a Pokémon Centre as soon as possible.”

“Injured?” the girl’s eyes suddenly lit up with worry. “Can I please see them?”

“It’s best if you don’t,” answered Amber uneasily.

“No, it will be fine,” insisted the girl, holding her hands out.

After moments of hesitation, Amber finally conceded and held her case up. She shook the balls from their pockets and passed them carefully over to the girl.

“Oh you poor things,” whispered the girl as she peeked into each pokéball individually. “But don’t worry, everything will be better now.”

And then the most amazing thing happened. Amber could only watch and gape, unable to fully understand what the girl was doing. The girl closed her eyes and raised her cupped hands containing all the balls to be leveled with her forehead. A silvery and bubbly glow rose from her and slowly flowed into her arms and shrouded the pokéballs. When the glow retracted and flowed back up her arms, she opened her liquid-brown eyes and handed Amber’s team back to her.

“They should be fine now,” she said with a satisfied smile.

“That’s…” said Amber as she stared down at her team in shock. Each and every one of them was fully healed. “That’s incredible!”

“It’s my ability,” replied the girl and exchanged a proud look with her Raticate. “Because I was born in Viridian Forest, I can heal and communicate with Pokémon.”

Peach scuttled down to perch on Amber’s shoulder and peeked at the pokéballs with amazement.

“Oh?” said the girl with surprise as she noticed him. “That Pichu is yours?”

Amber looked over at him and nodded. “He’s the most recent member of my team. I actually only got him a few minutes ago.”

“I see,” she said.

She reached up and stroked his head. “He’s got a funny tuft of fur on his head, doesn’t he?”

“You’re right,” said Amber with surprise. Till now, she hadn’t really noticed. She didn’t see many Pichu so identifying the difference in Peach from other typical Pichu hadn’t struck her immediately. Come to think of it, Peach’s tuft of black fur was very similar to Gold’s explosive hairstyle.

“It must be hereditary, I suppose,” continued the girl.

Amber stared down at her as she stroked Peach’s head. He led out a pleasant purr and pushed his head further into her hand. The girl had a particular expression to her, realised Amber. One that seemed almost fond and motherly.

“Well then, I really should introduce myself,” said the girl and stooped down to pick up her Raticate. “My name is Yellow, and this is Ratty, my partner.”

“I’m Amber,” she replied. “And this is Peach.”

“Amber,” repeated Yellow. “Are you still heading towards Viridian City? If you are, should we go together?”

“Yes, that you be good,” she said with a smile and Peach chirped in delight.

“Okay, then I should probably tell you now,” said Yellow, her tone changing into one of utter gravity. “You were heading towards Viridian City before we bumped into each other right?”

“Yes,” replied Amber, suddenly feeling uneasy. Perhaps Yellow’s strangeness wasn’t only limited to her ability to heal Pokémon.

“Well,” continued Yellow, pulling the straw hat over her head and looking directly into Amber’s eyes. “The direction you were heading wasn’t towards Viridian City, but the complete opposite direction. In fact, you were heading deeper into the forest.”