Grant was forced to stay in his hospital bed another day after Professor Oak left. It was so boring and after the talk with Professor Oak Grant wanted nothing more than to get out there and do something. He was full of nervous jittery energy but had no outlet. He managed to catch a little sleep. The next morning Grant was released from the pokemon center with orders to return to the center once a day to have his cuts and broken ribs checked out. He could pick up horsea tomorrow.
There were several things Grant hoped to get done before he picked horsea up, most of them unfortunately required money. Luckily the envelope Grant had received for saving the village had contained a hefty sum of 500 pokedollars. Not as much as Grant had hoped for given that he had been the one to strike the final blow against the dustox, but more money than Grant had ever seen in his life, and just about enough to get what he needed.
During the battle Grant had felt like horsea’s water gun had progressed well. It was able to knock the dustox out of the air to smash on the ground due to their own momentum, but it was still a relatively weak move. If Grant and horsea were about to fight in a challenge that would result in them being separated Grant wanted to give horsea every advantage possible. With that in mind he had asked around and found out that there was a small general goods store that sold a small number of tm’s.
Grant entered the store to find the man who ran the store steadily packing up all of his supplies into several boxes.
“What are you doing?” Grant asked. The wiry man jumped when Grant spoke, clearly unaware of Grant’s presence. He spun around and glared at Grant.
“Didn’t anyone teach you how to knock?” Grant nodded.
“Sure, but this is a store, isn’t it? Do you usually knock when you enter a store?” The man rolled his eyes.
“Whatever, what do you want?” He asked and went back to packing.
“I heard you might have a few tm’s for sale.” The man pointed to the counter where a row of tm’s sat under a pane of glass.
There were only eight tm’s. Sunny day, quick attack, chomp, absorb, scary face, bubblebeam, poison powder, and ember. Grant was not surprised by how basic the moves on display were. That was not a bad thing because right then Grant needed basic attacks.
“How much for the bubblebeam and quick attack?” Grant hadn’t planned on picking up two moves, but quick attack was useful and almost every pokemon had it.
“300 for the bubblebeam 100 for the quick attack.” Grant winced. He could afford it, but that would be almost all of his money, and Grant was hoping to get an extra pokeball. Those would run him 150 for the lowest grade pokeball. He had an extra now from the Foundation, but it was already reserved.
“Any chance you sell pokeballs here too?” Grant asked his mind spinning.
“Sure, 170 and it will be better quality than anything else you will find in the village.” Grant knew that pokeball quality was important, because if a pokemon broke out of its ball during the capture process the ball it broke out of would be destroyed in the process. It wasn’t unheard of for trainers to spend thousands on pokeballs because of failed attempts to catch a certain pokemon.
“Would you take 500 for the lot?” Grant watched the man carefully as he stopped packing to look at Grant.
“Which direction are you traveling?” He finally asked.
“Pewter city why?” Grant asked. The man hummed in consideration as he eyed Grant.
“Well, you see, after the attack I don’t much fancy staying in a village like this any longer. I was going to try to make the trip through the forest myself, but my pokemon aren’t really fighters. If you travel with me through the forest, you can have the bubblebeam, quick attack, and my best pokeball for 450 pokedollars. What do you say?” He asked and held out a hand. Grant only had to think for a second before he knew the deal was well worth it. Grant had traveled from Pallet Town to the village by himself and had struggled, it would be nice to travel with somebody else to watch his back.
The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“That sounds great.” Grant said and shook his hand.
After working out the details for their trip Grant left the store tm’s and pokeball in hand. With 90 pokedollars to his name Grant was feeling pretty good, so he stopped at a small stall selling meat on a stick. He spent 5 pokedollars to buy two of the delicious smelling kebabs. Grant sat on a nearby bench and started to eat the first one.
Tangela had been watching Grant since he left the pokemon center. She had wanted him to start looking for her as soon as he exited, but instead he just talked to some people, bought some food, and sat down to eat. Suddenly, tangela decided that if he would not come to her than she would have to go to him.
Grant had just finished eating is first kebab, and was about to start in on the second, when a vine snaked out and snatched the kebab from his hand. Grant, startled, looked up to see a smug tangela tearing into Grant’s food.
“Ela.” She said and waved. Grant chuckled and relaxed. He was happy she had shown up. He was going to go looking for her after he finished eating, but this was better.
“How are you doing? Are you hurt from after the battle?” Grant asked.
“Ela.” Tangela said and rolled her eyes. Grant chose to translate that as ‘I’m good thanks for asking,’ and not as ‘obviously I’m not injured you buffoon.’
“Good, listen I thought we worked well together the other night, and I was hoping you would like to keep working together.” Grant dug around in his bag until he pulled out his pokeball from the foundation. It was high quality, higher quality than even the ball he just purchased, but it was still a basic pokeball. The red top was shiny and bright in the sunlight. Tangela examined it for several long moments. Grant thought she looked a little sad, but also excited.
“If you want you can come with me and horsea and be part of the team. It is completely up to you though.” Grant finally offered and held the pokeball out to tangela. He was nervous. He really wanted her on the team, but he wouldn’t force her into anything. Still, his hand was sweaty on the pokeball as he held it out.
Tangela had wanted this to happen. She had hoped he would make the offer, and now he had. So why was she hesitating? She wanted this, she wanted to see the world, wanted to get strong, but she would miss her home. The grasslands she had lived in her whole life were precious to her, but could she let them hold her back? The grasslands were great, but they were dangerous, and she never seemed to get enough food. She loved the grasslands, but she was just starting to realize that she could be living a much happier life with a trainer, with Grant. She hesitated for a few more moments, before she finally made her choice.
Tangela hesitated for several long seconds, and Grant feared she would say no. He could see the thoughts spinning in her mind, and he wished he could speak with her properly to know what she was thinking. The urge to say something was strong, but he stayed silent. He wouldn’t try to talk her into anything she wasn’t ready for. Grant watched as her eyes seemed to settle, having finally come to a decision. Grant unconsciously held his breath as she reached a vine out and pressed the button on the pokeball’s front. The pokeball open and sucked her in with a flash of red light. The ball didn’t even shake, simply closing and letting out a loud click to signal a successful capture. Grant let out his held breath and smiled wide. He had added his second pokemon to the team.