Blue Skies Smiling at Me

The bright light of the sun was practically blinding, the young teenage boy covering his eyes as he looked at the sun's position. He nodded, and turned his head to his female companion, who hadn't known of the pokedex's multipurpose functions, part of it acting as a map of the whole region. The next city, the city with the first gym, was just past Route 231, which was essentially a grassy track of land covered sparsely with trees and tall grass.

Cyan turned back to his traveling partner, the Cyndaquil napping quietly on Cy's shoulder as the young man regretted wearing his leather loafers through the woods. They certainly weren't the best pair of footwear for a long trek through the woods, and to keep his mind off of the awkward footing and trudging through the high foliage, Cyan smiled and said, "Yeah, we're heading in the right direction so far. So tell me, what're you journeying towards, if you don't mind me asking,"

April trotted after her companion, Chromel following on foot with a blank expression. She stepped with confidence along the path as if nothing seemed to be bothering her. "Where am I going? That's a pretty good question... Well I heard about contests. My mom's friend was in them and I saw it once when I was younger. It looked pretty cool." She commented. Chromel let out a little "Goon" sound of agreement.

April shaded her eyes from the sunlight, it was incredibly bright. "Boy oh, boy. Some Pokemon must be using Sunny Day... The sun flora must be blooming." She said, adding in a lame joke at the end. Her Pokemon let out a small sigh, the Pokemon jokes weren't too amusing to Chromel.

Cyan sighed, obviously not appreciating the pun, but Cyndaquil snickered a little in his sleep as the two continued down the path. Cyan had heard of contests before, and while he did show some inkling of an interest, he knew for sure that he could never bring himself to enter such a competition.

"Well I hope you have good luck following that dream of yours. I myself am trying to find my friends, those who I feel share a connection with me, like Tycho here. Once I do that, I'm going to beat all the gym leaders around the globe, attempt to become champion in all of the regions, and if I don't succeed at that, find the mysterious trainer Red and beat him in a Pokemon battle." Cyan replied, knowing all to well that his "speech" length dream was very naive and unrealistic, but he didn't care, he was going to do everything in his power to accomplish this goal, and he wasn't going to let anything stop him.

April shrugged. "Red huh? I guess he must have a... Colorful personality..." She said with a grin while holding her chin between to fingers. Obviously she had made a clever joke, at least she thought so. Chromel tugged on her leg warmers in annoyance. "Awe, c'mon Chromel.. That was actually a good one too!" April said and lifted up his leg. Chromel shook his head and tugged on the cloth again.

"You're not hungry already are you...? Oh that's right... We didn't even have breakfast." April said with a guilty smile. "Ehehe.. Well..." She picked him up and heard his tummy growl. "Sorry Chromel... But you know we started late and all." Chromel shook his head, as if displeased at this fact. "We'll stop soon enough though, right Cyan? The town isn't that far away, I'm guessing. It's not like it's a farfetch'd myth of a town or anything." Chromel nipped her arm in annoyance at the joke. "Hey, hey! That was a good one too! You gotta give me credit for these!"

The fedora wearing trainer laughed at Chromel's reaction, his hearty laughter waking Tycho, who just yawned quietly. Cyan opened his duffle bag and, after a minute or so of shuffling through it, he tossed April a small case full of poke food.

"Here, give him some of that, I'm sure he'll appreciate it."

April caught the case. Chromel sniffed the case. It had a familiar smell to it. April popped open the case while managing to hold her Zigzagoon with one hand. Her Pokemon's eyes lit up as he noticed the food. She handed him the occasional piece, which he eagerly munched on. April gave Cyan her typical grin.

"Thanks!" She said. Chromel let out a sound of appreciation right after. "I can't believe we're doing this. All of us on journeys. Weird how we start on the same path... But end up going in different directions. You know, I wasn't expecting to get good ol' Chromel here as my first Pokemon. But his previous trainer didn't have the patience for him. He has some kind of memory problem, and has a hard time recalling moves in battle. But..." April gave the Zigzagoon a squeeze. "But I think he's great! And fine the way he is! Even if he doesn't always like my jokes..."

The sounds of the zigzagoon munching on the food brought a smile to Cyan's face, "Don't worry about it, just make sure you take good care of your friend, alright?"

The young man then petted Tycho on the top of it's head once more, getting a relaxed and jovial "quil" from his fiery little friend. "That's why I don't understand why people even become pokemon trainers if they don't commit to their team. The PC is just storage for pokemon that trainers don't train or interact with half of the time, and even then, the pokemon there can't develop normally, stunting their growth indefinitely. Me, I'm going to find the pokemon who I can feel a connection with, those that I know were meant for me, and I'll catch them and only them. I know it's a silly way of thinking, but that's just how I do things."

April let out a 'yup' in agreement at taking care of Chromel. Of course she'd take care of her Zigzagoon. She caught his words on putting Pokemon in the PC and tilted her head. "Well... What if there are more than six Pokemon that want to be by your side? What if they like you and want you to be their trainer? I don't think you could keep all of them at once. Although I don't know myself what I think about that..." April said as she considered her own future team. She hadn't even thought out what kind of Pokemon she wanted. Instead she had just rushed into the world, excited to be on a journey.

I wonder what it's like being transferred to the PC storage. Or just being inside a Pokeball... She glanced at Chromel, wondering which he preferred. "Well, I guess I'll find out sooner or later! Part of the journey after all!" She said with a cheery tone this time.

Cyan shook his head, "I tend not to worry about it. Besides, friends come and go sometimes, and even if they don't join my party, I'm sure I'll be able to visit them out in the wild some other time-"

"Hold it right there kids! Don't move a muscle! It's time for you to give up your pokemon!" A rather stout miscreant called, jumping out from behind the tree ahead of them with a pair of poochyena. He wore a light blue jumper, that reminded Cyan of a space cadet's uniform, but he quickly spotted the greek letter symbol on the man's right shoulder. However, the symbol had no meaning to the young trainer, as he had no clue what kind of organization he was tied to.

"No way, I'm not gonna let you take my friend you fat freak. Tycho, let's go and show them what we're made of!" Cyan called, pointing at the man and remaining still as the Cyndaquil quickly ran down Cy's extended arm and jumped to the forest floor. Cyan then let off a high pitched whistle, and Tycho immediately recognized the command, charging towards one of the Poochyena and tackling it.

"Woah!" April said in surprise at the sudden appearance of the man and his pair of Poochyena. She was alarmed he wanted to snatch their Pokemon and immediately set Chromel on the ground. "Get ready Chromel... There's two Poochyena.. Meaning things are gonna get ruff!" Chromel looked back at his trainer with an expression that almost asked 'why would you even do that now?' and then turned back around as he saw the other Poochyena who was ready to fight.

"Okay, okay. Chromel use Tackle! Go, go, go!" April said clenching her fists together as she urged on her Pokemon with confidence. Sadly, her Zigzagoon looked incredibly confused. He was having the issue where he didn't quite understand commands or remember his moves. "Oh... Just do what Cyan's Cyndaquil is doing! Tackle that other thing into next week!" She said to her Pokemon. He recognized what she was saying finally, and charged towards the Poochyena that hadn't been attacked yet, clashing with it.

"Quick, while the stupid one is havin' trouble, use tail whip! And you, hit that beady eyed cyndaquil with a tackle!" The strange thief called to the poochyena fighting with Chromel, who started to whip it's tail back and forth towards the zigzagoon, until it was then knocked to the ground by Chromel's tackle. The poochyena attacking Tycho however, failed to account for the Cyndaquil's surprising amount of agility, as Tycho jumped over the Poochyena and then launched itself backwards, using it's back legs to knock the pup off balance.

Cyan continued his whistling, this time a low, quivering whistle flowed from his lips, which communicated to Tycho that Smokescreen should be used now. Tycho, being the most loyal of Cy's companions, did the act whole-heartedly, covering the poochyena in a cloud of black smoke that decreased it's accuracy.

April clenched her fists together. "Calling Chromel stupid! What a jerk!" She gritted her teeth after hissing out the words. "Grrrr... Go on Chromel! Tackle that Poochyena and teach it a lesson!" She said and stomped her foot on the ground. Be it her Pokemon or herself, she didn't take kindly to insults. At all.

Chromel had been confused at the Poochyena who wagged it's tail, but heard his trainer's command, crouching and ready to attack. He leapt at the Poochyena, missing with the Tackle attack and sliding across the ground. April chanted from far off, cheering the slightly frustrated Pokemon on. "Come on Chromel! It was only one miss! Don't let that jerk get away with this!"

"Hah, so it's stupid and blind! What are you kids, preschoolers?" the man laughed, only to quickly close his mouth as the Poochyena who had been shrouded in a smokescreen came careening out of the black cloud, bruised and beaten by Tycho who stood victorious over the pup.

"No, but you're certainly acting like one." Cyan retorted, smiling as Tycho ran back to his trainer, hopping up into the young man's arms with glee upon his first victory in a trainer battle. Honestly, Cyan was expecting more out of this fight, but then again, it was better that the man didn't have any terrifyingly strong pokemon.

"Shut your trap kid! Poochyena, tackle that zigzagoon!" The man barked, his pokemon lunging at Chromel and throwing it's whole body into it's tackle attack.

Chromel took the hit, staggering backwards with bristling fur. "Use tackle again!" April commanded. "And finish him off!" She pointed at the Poochyena. "That guy is ALL talk!" April frowned at his comment. "Who the heck are you anyways? What kind of jerk goes around snatching Pokemon!?" As she called him out on his threats, Chromel ran towards the Poochyena, planning on finishing it off with the best tackle he could muster up.

The Poochyena winced and cried out as the zigzagoon butted heads with the pup, the man pulling out two pokeballs and returning the duo. "You think you kids are so tough! You won't stand a chance against Executive Aries!"

The man then ran, jumping over the foliage and deep into the woods. Cyan scoffed, smiling a little until he heard a low whine from behind the tree. Cy tilted his head, and made his way behind the tree to see what was making such noise. He stopped in his tracks, mouth open as he spotted a small Riolu laying on the ground, bleeding and bruised from what was most likely a surprise attack from that thief.

Cyan, throwing away common sense at that point, ruffled through his bag and pulled out his potion, hurrying over to the Riolu and spraying his potion on the injured little blue guy. Cy turned his head to April, having no clue what kind of pokemon this was, since he was still rather new at this, and requested, "Hey April, could you get a scan of this thing with the pokedex? Don't worry buddy, you're going to be okay..."

April pulled out her Pokeball, calling Chromel back into it. "Rest for a bit okay?" She said with a smile and tucked the ball into her bag. She yanked out her Pokedex and it flicked open, scanning the Pokemon in front.

"Riolu, the emanation Pokemon. It has the peculiar power of being able to see emotions such as joy and rage in the form of waves. Riolu are sensitive to a special type of energy called Aura. They communicate with one another using their auras. They are able to run all through the night. Riolu evolves into Lucario." A computerized voice from the Pokedex stated.

"A Riolu huh... Those are supposed to be super rare. I've never seen one in the wild before.... Is this for Riolu?" April said, snickering a little at her comment. "If you're using a Potion, it'll be fine, which is great. Do you think the little guy has a trainer?" She asked while packing her Pokedex away.

Cyan nodded, at the information April's pokedex had given them, all the while making sure that he wasn't touching the Riolu, as touching a wild pokemon normally wouldn't end well for either party. Once the potion had finally emptied out, the Riolu stirred, slowly raising to his knees and letting out a groan-like "lu~".

The young trainer sighed in relief, which immediately startled the Riolu. It growled at him before taking up a fighting stance. It shouted a quick "Riolu" at Cyan, staring at something behind him. A tall shadow extended over the duo, and Cyan turned to see a Girafarig towering over them, it's mouth glowing for a moment before it fired a Psybeam at the duo.

Cyan quickly grabbed the Riolu and dodged out of the way, the beam hitting a nearby tree and blasting a hole straight through it.

A deep, ominous voice made itself known as a tall man wearing what appeared to be a space suit came from past a tree. His helmet was not as big and bulbous as an astronaut's normally would be, as it was much closer to his head, and looked more like a knight's helmet than anything. The suit itself was black and gold, and it was impossible to see the man's face from behind his helmet's visor. Regardless, the man spoke, "Silly little lamb, it seems that you have strayed from your shepherd's glen, and have entered the brutality of the wild forest. Now, you shall see what it is like to be eaten by the wolves."

April gasped as the attack left a hole clean through the tree. "Forest, wolves? What's this guy going on about?" She said with a nervous look. Clearly, this stranger had a power that made the air itself tense. April gritted her teeth. There's no way we'll be able to beat this guy... Should we run for it?

She wanted to run over to Cyan, who had just barely dodged the attack, but chances are he'd be attacking her next anyways.

The man looked over to April, his mask hiding what would have been a glare. He pointed at her and commanded, "Capri, Thunder Wave."

The Girafarig nodded, it's antler's and pink mane sparking with electricity before discharging the static into a wave, firing it at April, hoping to incapacitate the girl before she could summon her Pokemon.

A loud whistle pierced the crackling of the electric waves, and the wave glowed with a blue outline before suddenly reversing their direction, nearly striking the Girafarig, who quickly jumped out of the way with it's master.

"Good job Tycho! April, head for town and get the police! I'll buy you some time." Cyan commanded, knowing that the town wasn't far from where they were. Tycho's eyes glowed blue, his red irises shining alongside the blue as it's back lit aflame. The Riolu joined in as well, running up to the Girafarig and hitting it with a quick attack.

"Woah... O-okay!" April said. She figured Cyan could handle himself, he certainly knew what he was doing when it came to battling. Turning she dashed as fast as she could. Thankfully the road went directly to town, which wasn't far away. April was a pretty good runner, considering she usually made up for being late by running fast. She sprinted as fast as she could nearing the approaching town, but could feel herself tiring from running to the town.

Hang on Cyan, I'm almost there!

The Riolu's quick attack struck the Girafarig in the throat, but the opponent didn't even move, as if the attack had done next to nothing to the psychic type. The Girafarig fired a confusion point blank at the Riolu, launching it back and sending it crashing against a tree. Cyan glared, his body tensing slightly while his partner couldn't help but shiver in fear.

"What a foolish little imp. Creatures as weak and helpless as you should cease to exist. Capri, finish it off." The man stated, pointing at the beaten Riolu who tried desperately to stand and attempt to avoid the Girafarig's Psybeam. However, the attack never hit the blue fighting type, a large body jumping in front of him and crying out in pain as the psybeam hit Cyan dead on in the head. The force of the blow sent him flying backwards and over the Riolu, the young man slamming against the same tree the Riolu had crashed into moments before. Tycho cried out, quickly running over to his master, who had been knocked unconscious the moment he had collided with the tree.

The armored man sighed, and turned to walk away before saying to himself, "This is pathetic, why do I have to always be the one who deals with the cannon fodder. Capri, let's get going, the police will most likely be here at any second."

April caught sight of the police station up ahead. "I... Whew! I made it!" She said and shakily ran to the building. A female officer with blue hair was looking at a clipboard. She seemed troubled about something.

"Heyyy! Help, police!" April called out. The woman sighed and shook her head.

"Report after report. Crazy people just up and stealing Pokemon like this right under our noses? Hm?" The officer noticed the somewhat obnoxious girl trying to get her attention. "Hey kid, stop being a distraction! I've got work to do!"

April frowned. "You don't understand! There's trouble! Some guy was trying to snatch our Pokemon an-" The officer cut her off.

"What!? Sav the information for the drive there! We're taking my bike and you tell me which direction to go! I'm going to stop this criminal in his tracks." She said and ran to her motorcycle, a special model for police with a side car. April climbed into the car, even though she had gotten help, she could still feel a nervous knot in her belly. There was mix of anxiety and worry and fear among other emotions.

"This is Officer Jenny here requesting backup! There's been a report on the Pokemon thief and I am on my way to the scene. There might be injured Pokemon as well!" The officer shouted into a box-like object with a wire attaching it to her motorcycle.

The bike zoomed down the path, easily making good time while April explained the whole situation. She was hoping Cyan was still okay, even with such a powerful opponent.

Tycho gently pushed his friend's shoulder, trying to rouse the young trainer into consciousness to see if he was okay. The cyndaquil's eyes were watery, as he had feared that the worst had just happened, and that he had failed in his duty to keep Cyan safe. While Tycho was currently having his crisis, the Riolu stood, albeit weakly, and wandered over to the trainer who had just saved his life twice now. The little blue fighter frowned, feeling fully responsible for the horrible injury that Cyan had just received, and looked around the young man's person, a glint of light in the Riolu's eyes as it found one out of a whole group of pokeballs. It gently poked the button on one of them, and jumped slightly before vanishing inside of the contraption. The ball shook slightly for a moment or so, before finally setting still.

A police siren sounded in the distance. It gradually got louder and louder as April and Officer Jenny approached the scene. The motorcycle halted, making a small dust cloud around the halted vehicle. April, with windswept hair, hopped out of the side car. Her eyes went wide at the sight of Cyan and Tycho who was clearly upset. "Cyan!" She cried out while running over to him.

"Attention! I need an ambulance! There is an injured trainer who needs an ambulance! I repeat; there is an injured trainer who needs an ambulance!" Officer Jenny was calling for aid again. She slammed her fist against the seat of the bike. "First stealing Pokemon and now injuring trainers?! This is getting worse and worse!" She said with a frustrated expressions.

"Come on Cyan... We just started our journey. You need to be okay, okay?" April said while hovering around him with a worried look. An ambulance could be heard in the distant approaching the trio along with two police cars. Officer Jenny put a hand on April's shoulder. "Trust me they'll make sure he's okay."

{Time Passes}

Cyan stumbled out from his room, anger burning in his eyes from the doctor's diagnosis of his condition. The Psybeam hadn't done any severe mental damage, but it had burned Cyan's retinas, making him incapable of ever seeing...well, anything again. He would never be able to look at himself in his reflection, never be able to read a book without sliding his fingers across some silly array of dots, never be able to see the wonderous world that he was so excited to explore yesterday.

The Riolu whom he had saved ran up to him, quickly grabbing Cyan's hand and pulling him away from something. Despite Cyan's anger, he followed, avoiding a gurney that was being wheeled away by a nurse. Cyan had been able to dress himself just fine, and the hospital had been kind enough to give him a collapsable walking stick for him to use, but he trusted his friend's guidance as the Riolu, now christened with the name Gawain, led him to the lobby, with Tycho resting on Cyan's shoulders, nuzzling his cheek every so often with a remorseful look on the cyndaquil's face.