POKEMON RANCHER
CH. 9


Something else that seems a little weird is wherever this person moves it's like their shadow is slow to fallow. Just seeing it makes me a little ill to my stomach. I watch this person move around a little through small slits in my eyelids, until the sight makes me feel like I'm going to be sick. So I close my eyes again. A little later my hearing comes back and I'm able to make out some sort of sound. At first the sound is a little garbled, but as time passes I can make out the sound of both crying and someone talking.

As things start to get a little clearer I can hear that their isn't someone crying, it's some things crying, and the sound is nearby. I'm a little afraid that when I open my eyes again I will see the same effect on that person who's in the room. Though through the crying I decide that it's worth it and open my eyes again. This time the light above me is a little less intense and I look around. I realize that I'm in some sort of hospital and in a very nice very white room.

Then I realize that I can't hear the crying anymore and start to look around. The first thing I see is nurse Joy off to my right with her back turned to me. It looks like she doing something near a set of shelves. I watch her for a moment then I can hear the crying again. This time the crying is very near and it's coming from right in front of me. So I look down and can see two Pokemon with their faces buried in the sheets over my legs. There is a Dratini on the left side of me and a Torchic on the other.

At first my mind was thinking 'Where did these Pokemon come from?' but as my mind started to clear out the fog I realized that these Pokemon were my closest companions and friends. I could see my the large wet mark where they both were, that they had been crying for quite a while. It pained me to see the two of them cry like that so I tried to reach out to them and tell them that I was ok.

Only when I tried to reach out to them, my arms wouldn't move. 'Oh great, I must have hit my head or neck at some point and I'm paralyzed from the neck down.' But when I thought that all hope was lost I realized that I could see my finger moving. After another few moments I realized that I wasn't paralyzed, my body was just slow to wake up. Finally after quite a while I was finally able to move my arms and reach out to my friends.

When I placed my hands on top of their heads, both of them jumped nearly half a foot in the air. They both turned to me and with a chirp and mew they both practically flew right into me. They both tackled me with such force it caused me to let out a burp, as the air was practically forced out of my lungs. I didn't notice, but when the nurse heard this she turned and started to laugh.

"Well it seems that someone is happy to see that you've finally woken up. Now let me get a look at you." She walked over with a stethoscope and a tongue press, but when she tried to give me a checkup she couldn't get around the two Pokemon who continued to nuzzle, swoon, and rub against me. "Um could you remove your Pokemon so I can give you a checkup?"

I looked up at her and then down to the two overly happy Pokemon. Just seeing how happy they looked I didn't have the heart to pull them away. I turned back to her and tried to tell her this but all that came out was a mumble.

"Well I guess it's ok then. You've been asleep for the past three days." My eyes went wide. 'Three whole days! No wonder I was so out of it.' I was a little surprised that I was out of it for this long. I realized that I was incredibly thirsty so I made a drinking motion with my free hand. The nurse nodded. "I thought that might be the case. So there is a cup of water and a few sandwiches on the table next to you." I gave her a happy smile. "I'll be right back with something for your Pokemon."

When she returned she was carrying two bowls of Pokechow. Once both Dratini and Torchic saw the bowls of food they both looked up at me. I smiled down to them and nodded. Once she had set the bowls down on either side of my legs they quickly dove right in. After all of us had a bite to eat I decided that it was time to get going.

"Thank you nurse Joy for taking such great care of me and my Pokemon, but..." I slowly swung my legs out of the bed and grabbed my cloths that were on a chair next to the bed, then got dressed. Once done I turned around and saw that the nurse was watching me. "Um nurse Joy." She shook her head and looked at me.

"Yes?" I looked around the room.

"Do you know where my things are?" She shook her head.

"I'm afraid not. I was quite surprised when I saw both of your Pokemon dragging you in like they did." I looked down at my Pokemon with wide eyes. 'They had dragged me here after I had passed out?' I reached over and rubbed both their heads.

"Thanks you two." They both smiled up at me. "Well I guess we should go and retrieve my pack." They both nodded to me. When I leaned over to try and pick them up Torchic jumped up and flapped her little wings and landed on my head, then Dratini slithered up my outstretched right arm. Once Torchic and Dratini were comfy they both let out such happy sounds, then they both started to nuzzle me.

"Are you sure that your strong enough to leave already?" I nodded and the three of us left the Pokemon center. "Well then, you take care, and be careful out there." So I looked up and smiled to my two friends, then nodded to the nurse and left the center.

"I guess the next thing that we should do is find my pack and get moving." Dratini rubbed against my cheek then pointed with the tip of her tail to a trail in the distance. "Thanks Dratini." With that we headed off towards where Dratini had pointed. It didn't take us long until I found my pack under a bush near the trail. After I had thrown my pack onto my back, we moved off down the road. A little ways down the road I was starting to get a little tired so I found a bench and sat down.

I picked up Torchic off my head then placed her on my lap and Dratini followed suit. I looked up at the clouds then the dream came back. So I looked down and gave them a happy smile. "You know I think it's about time that I gave the two of you names." Both Dratini and Torchic looked at each other then turned back to look at me. Then they rubbed against my chest. I looked down at Dratini and smiled.

"I have given it a lot of thought and I think I will call you Crystal." Dratini looked down and then turned back to me and started to bounce around then rubbed against my chest. I rubbed her behind her head fins then turned to Torchic. "And for you Torchic, I would like to give you the name of Ruby, if you will have it?" She seemed to blush a little then started to bounce around and then followed Crystal's example and rubbed against my chest.

Many months passed with the three of us traveling from town to town and seeing many different sights and Pokemon. Those months were the most happy that I can remember, but all good things must come to an end. And in this case it was my supplies. Through all our travels I could see our supplies started to get a little scarce as well as my money. I started to think as to how I could get some more money. The easiest would be to battle against another trainer and beat him, but since that was something I would never do that was out of the question. The next would be to have my friends compete in a some sort of coordination competition.

Both ways would require me to do battle against another trainer. Then I remembered my job that I had before I became a Pokemon trainer. So we headed towards the nearest town and started to look around for a job. Unfortunately I wasn't able to find any jobs, so I headed towards the Pokemon center for the night. Once we were in the center, I moved into the cafeteria and I sat down at an empty table. The cafeteria had many tables that were full of trainers. I pulled out my wallet and I could see that I only had enough money for a couple meals.

A lady came over and took my order of a very cheap meal and some Pokechow for my Pokemon. She looked almost exactly like a nurse Joy, but instead of having pink hair she had blue hair. After she had the order she turned and headed back the way she came. I followed her and then I heard some raised voices.

"Oh come now. You know you can give me this job. I've done countess jobs for you." Said a gruff mans voice.

"Not him. You've given him almost all the other jobs and look how they turned out." Another man said. This mans voice was a little deeper but it seemed the it came from a younger person. I followed the voice and saw a large group of men standing around a table in the middle of the cafeteria. The food was probably going to take a while if the amount of trainers was any indication. So I got up and motioned that Crystal and Ruby to jump onto me.

Crystal wrapped around my shoulders and Ruby perched on top of my head. Once they were comfy we walked over to where all the people were. Because of my height I was able to see over most of the people there I could see a middle aged women sitting down and quietly drinking something in a fine looking cup. She looked almost exactly like an officer Jenny, but she was dressed in regular cloths.

"Come now, you can give this job to me. I've done many jobs for you in the past." The lady set down her cup and looked up at a man standing to her left. She looked him up and down then shook her head.

"I don't think so. The job I have requires a special person, and you don't fit the bill." By her voice I could see that she was getting a little irritated. She picked up her cup again and took a long drink. I tapped the bald man that was right in front of me on the shoulder.

"What's all this about?" The man turned and I could see that he was a very well built man. He was wearing a white sleeved shirt that looked like it was a couple sizes to small. He was a little shorter than me but he gave me an annoyed look.

"Look pall I don't have time to explain this to you. So why don't you just buzz off." He turned back to face the lady and joined in with trying to get the ladies attention.

"I just want to know what this job is. That's all". The man looked over his shoulder and gave me a harsh look. "I mean what do you have to do for this job? I hope that it doesn't involve hurting anything."

"Look kid. The jobs that this lady gives out pay a lot of money and I wont stand around and let a pup like you take that away from me."

"Ok Ok. I was just wondering. Besides, I wouldn't care how much a job would pay if it involved Pokemon or people getting hurt". He gave me a smirk then turned back to the lady. I looked into the crowd and saw that the lady had put down her cup and was looking right at me. She pushed back her chair and got up and started to make her way towards me. I guess she was fed up and hadn't found the person she was looking for and was going to leave.

So I decided that it would be best if I returned to my table and wait for my food, when a hand landed on my shoulder. I looked at the hand and saw that this persons nails were painted blue and when I followed the hand, I saw that it led right to the lady I had seen sitting down at the table.

"You don't care how much this job pays?" I shook my head. Then turned to face her.

"You couldn't pay me enough to hurt a Pokemon or person."

"And what are your feelings on catching Pokemon"? She nodded to my two friends. I reached up and rubbed Crystals cheek and she rubbed against my cheek.

"If a Pokemon wants to come along with me then I am more than willing to come along with me. But if you think that I will use my friends to capture other Pokemon then you are sadly mistaken." She gave me a warm smile then took her hand off my shoulder.

"I think I've found the perfect man for the job."Chapter End Notes:Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended