Episode 2: The Adventure Begins

Barry followed Oliver to the seats away from the door. He politely took the bottle of water from the nurse's aid and sat near enough to Oliver to continue the conversation, but not close enough to smother the boy. Sitri finally decided to come out of her shell just enough to climb down Barry's upper body and into his lap. She still looked a little shy to the new boy but at least she wasn't being her typical recluse self in front of him. "There we go. She's starting to welcome you finally. Sitri here ain't too keen on new folks. I almost didn't want to bring her because of it, but she's showing a lot of growth to being around strangers. This whole trip thus far has been one big learning adventure, for both of us." Barry finishes as he tries to wrestle with the berry that Sitri is holding. Sitri holds on tight though as it's her favorite type of berry. "You win, you win. Man, 0 and 23 now." Barry sighs. He looks over to Oliver and figures now is the best time to get to know the boy better.



Before starting, Barry notices the girl in the bean bag chair scanning Blitzen. He just looks her way, tips his hat, and nods. He turns back to Oliver and states, "Think Blitzen here is starting to get a fan club. First me, and then the little lady over yonder." He chuckles and looks at Blitzen. "You deserve it though. Don't see many deer around this season and all." He turns back to Oliver and asks, "So, what brings you to town? Do you live here or did that Sequoia guy offer you an internship deal as well? After we told him our story, he came right out to the farm, picked me up, and we came straight to the city. Sequoia had been to the farm a lot in the past to buy berries from us, but this time, he had a more serious look on his face. At first, I thought I went and did something wrong until he told me that he needed people like me to be his assistant. I couldn't pass up the offer." Barry specifically left out a good chuck of the story. He didn't want the boy to think he was nuts after all, being visited by spirits and helping out space rocks that talked to him in his head. He'd wait a little while before spilling the beans on those parts.

Tori, your pokedex scans the nurse mons and says, "Audino, a hearing pokemon. This species is well known for its exceptional sense of hearing and its ability to heal injuries. It's ears are made very sensitive, thanks to the feelers that are connected to its cochleas. These feelers can be used like stethoscopes to allow the pokemon to examine the heartbeats of other living creatures it encounters. When finding a pokemon or human that is sick or injured, Audino have been known to stay by their side, doing everything they can to help the afflicted until they are healthy again. They are so dedicated to this behavior that they even help species that would normally harm them. This has given humans the idea that these are the "nurses" of the pokemon world. In recent years, Audino have become rare in the wild, due to trainers and collectors wanting to catch them as healers for their teams. The majority you will find are now domesticated to be companions to doctors and veterinarians."

John was at the desk, where Joy saw him and she smiled. "Ah, welcome!" she said. "I just finished making sure everything was in order. Are you here to heal your pokemon?" He hands her the strange pokeball with Arach inside and she placed it on one of the holes before turning on the machine. The ball began to glow as a catchy tune beeped. Once done, she handed it back to him. "There, your Arachnut is good for another battle! Have a nice day!" she said, waving goodbye.

Well that was fast! Barry thought when he saw John hand over the ball and then walk out just seconds later. Barry took Sitri back to the nurse to have her looked over once more. He hoped she would take her to the back and give her a full check up. Barry would have to keep that speedy way in mind when he brought her in from now on. He turned to Oliver and stated, "Welp, I missed him. Think we should take off after him or wait till he comes back? Looks like he left his other buddy here." As Barry finished, he pointed in Keno's direction. "I'm game for whatever at this point." Barry said with a slight hesitation. It was at this point that he realized that he really hadn't had a "plan". All the Professor asked was that he document his journey, he didn't tell him where to go.

Barry looked down at his phone and looked the see if the Professor had loaded his number into it. He wanted to ask him a couple questions.

John was on a mission, and Keno was no less eager to get the adventure underway. He simply nodded at John as the boy left. It would seem it was Keno’s turn, “Hello Doctor, Healing up please.”

He slid his full team across the counter to make sure they were all topped off. Keno respected people serving in the medical profession. They had to work hard to earn their rank, testing themselves along the way, they were positioned to help him in his own pursuits, while not posing any threat to those same ambitions. It addition, Keno commended their altruism towards helping others, a flame that did not burn brightly in himself.

“Doctor, is there any space where I can let my pokemon out for some exercise that isn’t as cold as the outdoors; a gymnasium perhaps?”

Seeing that Barry happened to be around the counter the same time as Keno, he took the opportunity to try to talk to the boy. "I'm mighty sorry, I don't mean to assume, but that boy that left just a few moments ago, are you two friends by chance?" Barry had reviewed what he said in his head and just tilted his head in shame. He was so much better talking to the farm Pokemon than people. This boy was going to think he was a weirdo. He continued, "Let me start over. My name is Barry. I saw that other lad win the match outside just now and was wondering if he would have any pointers in battling. You see, I'm new to this whole Licensed trainer thing. I'm one of Professor Sequoia's assistants. Right now, I can use any tips and tricks that I can find to help me in those official battles that just went on." As he finished he stuck out a hand towards Keno.


He remembers Sitri on the desk at this point and pipes up, "Ahh you heard the lady. In the ball Missy!" He points the device towards Sitri as she tries her best to try to slide down the other side of the counter and away from the beam. As the light hits her, she shakes her head in a no no motion as she disappears inside the ball.

Oliver sighed as he watched Blitzen happily chow down roughly a quarter of the Sitrus berry. Neither of the grass types had been willing to let go of the berry, even with Oliver trying to get Blitzen to stop... And well, it snapped. Now he'd have to make it up to the other guy somehow. "What am I supposed to do with you?" he asked the grassy deer.

"Deerling!" Blitzen replied, utterly unrepentant. Sometimes Oliver wondered if he had some Mudbray in him.

"That'll work for me, sure!" Oliver agreed, throwing a thumbs up. "Since I think we were asked to try for the League in summer we need to hit..." he trailed off before beginning to list the ones he could remember from the news. "Mercury City, Aura City, not to be confused with Aurum City, which we also need to go to, Carbone City, Clax City, Silicon Town, Calcium Town, and that Reservation."

Then Oliver paused. "Since we just heard that Mercury City's got a Community Center, it's probably nearby. We might want to check there first. Though I'm personally terrible with maps so, I'll leave the directions to you."

"Dee!" Blitzen shouted, as if to say, "Let's go already!"

"Alright, alright! Let me get my cloak on before we go." Then he turned to Barry as if he just realized something. "Unless you want to stay the night here?"

"Teams set as is?" Oliver asked the boy. "And is your friend gonna be alright with us heading back here afterwards? Unless we turned the battle into some sort of interpretive dance or something, someone's gonna get whacked..." Oliver muttered, eyes going slightly foggy as he tried to imagine what that would look like... And more than likely failing.