Pokemon: A Trainer's Story

Chapter 5: The Gym

"Here are your Pokémon miss," said Nurse Joy handing a tray of pokéballs and one Cyndaquil to Melody.
"Thank you very much Nurse," replied Melody politely as she carefully took the pokéballs out from the tray and put them back into her bag. Ember then leaped from the tray and back onto Melody's shoulders where she had been sitting since Melody had first gotten her. Melody giggled and gently patted her partner's head. "Ready to face the Gym Em'?" she asked. Ember nodded and let out a little "quiil!" of agreement. With that, Melody swung her bag back over her right shoulder, allowing it to rest on her left hip as usual and began to head out of the Pokémon center once more. Melody tilted her head back towards the sky once she had stepped outside. It was getting dark now, and cold. So cold that tiny white flakes of snow began to fall. Melody was never a fan of the cold so she let out a little "burr," and swung around to grab her bag. She shuffled through its contents a moment until she found the item she was looking for, a hoodie she had gotten for her birthday. Quickly she took off her bag and put Ember on the ground as she slid her arms through the sleeves of the hoodie. "There, much warmer," said Melody zipping up the hoodie with a small smile on her face. She then picked Ember and her bag back up and put them in their places. Bright lights of all sorts of colors began to flick on in and around the town. It was almost the holidays and Melody knew it. It's a shame we won't be home with dad this Christmas, thought Melody. But he knew how close Alex's birthday is to the holidays. He knew we'd be gone for Christmas. He'll be fine without us for one year. By this time next year we should be back in Kanto fighting the gyms there so we'll be able to go visit him. I'll give him a call tonight once I beat Falkner.

Slowly Melody made her way up the beautifully lit streets. The snow was starting to frost the ground a bit and people were starting to head in for the night. She was just about to walk around the corner when Melody began to hear the crunching sound of shoes on fresh snow. She turned around to see her brother Alex, and trainer Gold coming up behind her.
"Hey why'd you leave without us?" asked Alex, who now dawned a army print jacket.
"Sorry. You were having guys chat, and my Pokémon were all ready for a fight so I just decided not to disturb you and head off on my own," Melody replied. "But why would you go off on your own?" asked Gold getting a little too close to Melody for her own comfort. A small flashback of her and Gold kissing appeared in Melody's mind, causing her to jump back a bit Did Gold tell Alex about it? she wondered.
"I uh... just wanna go fight the gym leader already," she replied her voice shaking a bit. Alex eyed her suspiciously
"You're acting kinda funny Mel. And I know you, you don't act this way unless someone's bugged you. The way you're acting around Gold is.... weird," said Alex walking up to stand right next to his sister.
"Oh I'm not acting weird because of Gold, Alex. It's cold. You know I hate the cold," replied Melody trying to get her brother off her case. Alex glared at her a moment and shrugged.
"Whatever. Let's go to the gym. Once you beat the gym leader and he's healed up his Pokémon, you can go ahead to the next city. 'Cause it'll be my turn to challenge him. I'll be fine on my own."
"Okay, if you say so. Oh! I wanna stop by the Pokémart for a minute. I wanna buy some junk," said Melody. The two male trainers nodded and followed her in the opposite direction of where Melody was originally heading.

Inside of the Pokémart, everywhere you looked was littered with holiday crap. Hats and stockings, lights and all sorts of decorations lied around the room. Melody eyed around the the store looking for specific things. Finally she came to find what she wanted. Gently she took Ember off her shoulders and placed her on the ground in front of a shelf of scarves and hats. "I want you to be warm and festive Ember. So pick out something you like. Anything here at all," said Melody waiting for her Pokémon to pick something out. Slowly Ember nuzzled around the shelf looking at all the Pokémon hats and scarves there were. Finally she tugged on something she found appealing and placed it in front of Melody. It was a little green and red scarf. "That's what you want?" asked Melody picking it up. Ember nodded her head and Melody smiled. "Ok then," said Melody lifting Ember up and putting her back on her shoulders.