eyes on the prize

“She’s a cute one. Suits you.” Cassie said off handedly through a mouthful of sandwich. CJ tapped her hand impatiently and she angled the sandwich closer to him so he could have another bite. “C'mon bud, you’re making it look like I don’t feed you. You just don’t like the canned food I got you.” She said, nudging the Pokémon with her elbow.

Cassie choked on her sandwich, coughing as she heard the number of Pokémon Claire had. Whaaaaat? “You’ve got 70 Pokémon? Like, Seven-Zero, not seventeen?” She asked, startled. Just how long had this girl been training? Or was she just like, constantly running through the tall grass, chucking PokéBall’s left and right? At that point, she’d need like a t-shirt gun shooting out balls or something. Ha, that was a funny mental image.

Swallowing, Cassie replied. “Well, you’ve actually already met all of my Pokémon. I’ve got Pudds here and the Seel I dunked into your bike basket, R&B.” She said, tapping the PokéBall on her belt. “I’ve had Pudds for years, but I grew up between cities, so that makes it hard to find wild Pokémon that aren’t like… Rattata and Joltiks. I’m also a lousy fisher, so I was never gonna fish up a Pokémon." She leaned back, thinking back to the day when she’d found CJ with a fond expression on her face.

"I’ve actually never technically caught a Pokémon, now that I think about it. CJ decided to stick around all on his own and I got R&B because his last owner was too old and wanted me to take him to see the world.”

“Yes, seventy as in seven and zero,” Claire replied. It wasn’t really that big a deal to her--if anything, she wished she had more--but she soon realised why Cassie had thought so. 

“You only have two of them?” Despite Cassie’s attempt to explain, Claire still couldn’t quite wrap her head around the girl having only two Pokemon even though she had been travelling for a while now.

Rubbing her wet hair with a paper towel, Cassie threw it back into a ponytail and looked at the outfit Claire had given her. It wasn’t totally her speed, a bit more color than she usually wore and a little short in some places, but she mostly just appreciated that she wasn’t soaking wet. Shoving her wet clothes into the plastic bag the Nurse had been kind enough to give her, Cassie popped out of the bathroom and was surprised when Nurse Joy came up to her, Pokéball in hand.

“Your Pokémon is all healed up and ready to go. Please, make sure not to let him get in such condition again, poison is very dangerous.” The pink haired woman said. Nodding, Cassie took back the Pokéball, clipping it on the borrowed belt.

“For sure. Thanks so much, really.” She said before hurrying out of the Pokémon Center. Squinting in the light, she looked around and saw CJ Pudds attempting to play with a very cautious looking Popplio, the little Mudkip rolling on his back and flailing his legs around in the air. Cassie grinned as the tiny guy wiggled around energetically–a classic Pudds move. Walking over, she noticed that Claire was holding a pair of sandwiches, one of which was handed off to her. Blinking in surprise, Cassie accepted the sandwich. Huh. That was super rad of her, and totally not expected. After all… she’d kinda just destroyed the other girl’s bike. But, she was totally gonna pay her back!

“Thanks! Yeah, yeah, for sure!” She said, biting into the sandwich. Mmmf, so good. She hadn’t eaten since this morning and it felt good to have something that wasn’t just protein bars and dry cereal. “Is this your main Pokémon? She’s really cute. I didn’t figure you for a water type trainer, though.” She commented after swallowing a mouthful of bread.

“Pudds, quit trying so hard and get over here.” She laughed, gesturing to the Mudkip to join her. Rolling onto his stomach, CJ Puddles crawled over to her and began to clamber into her lap. With a smile, Cassie patted him on the head and let him take a bite of her sandwich.

“How many Pokémon do you have anyhow? I figure you must have at least like… three, given you’re trying to defeat the gyms. Are they all water types or do you have a more balanced situation?” She asked, genuinely curious.

Her eyes narrowed as she watched Cassie start on her sandwich. It wasn’t anything special, but the girl seemed to enjoy it a lot, almost as though she hadn’t eaten in a while.

At Cassie’s question, Claire turned away to focus on Bubbles, not wanting to be caught staring. “Yeah, she’s my first too,” Claire shared as she reached out to bop her Popplio on her nose with her finger.

“Professor Oak!” Cassie snapped her fingers, nodding. That sounded a lot more like it, now that she thought about it. But, she didn’t really keep up with science-y stuff that a lot of people did. Pokémon were cool and all, but she didn’t care about the research that so many folks were interested in.

“Yeah! I’ve got stamps from the Cinnabar Islands, Mauville City, Goldenrod, all kinds of places. I’ve been all over. I want to go to Kalos and Alola some day, but that’s gonna be a big trip.” She said, excitedly pointing to the various stamps on her booklet.

“Huh?” Startled when the blonde handed her a bundle of clothes, Cassie blinked before smiling. “Oh, rad! Thanks! Uh, here. Just so you know I’m not gonna like, run away with your clothes…” She plunked CJ Puddles on the ground next to Claire. “You can hang with CJ Pudds while I get changed. You’re not the kinda person who’d steal someone’s Pokémon, I can tell. Plus, CJ, you know Ice Beam, dontcha bud?” The little Pokémon was too busy licking its own tail to answer.

Cassie shrugged, turning her attention back to the girl. “He knows ice beam, so he could totally just freeze you if you decided to run off with him. Anyhow, be back in a sec.” She grinned before popping back inside the Pokémon Center to use their bathroom.

“As cute as he is, I’m not gonna steal your Pokémon,” Claire replied, throwing a glance at the Mudkip which showed no signs of paying attention to its owner at all. Shaking her head as Cassie turned to take her leave, Claire drew out a pokeball from her belt and called out one of her Pokémon. Her Popplio appeared by her side in a flash, and like her, Bubbles was wary of the new Pokémon, choosing to remain close to Claire instead of approaching the Mudkip.

“It’s fine. CJ Pudds here and his owner Cassie are gonna hang out with us for a bit,” she said, before pulling out some treats from her bag and held them out for the two water Pokémon. “You guys can share some of these while I grab a sandwich from the food truck over there, okay?”

When she returned with two sandwiches in her hands, Bubbles was still keeping her distance from CJ, giving him a side-eye as she continued to appraise him. Claire couldn’t help but crack a smile. But it was quick to disappear when she noticed Cassie returning from the bathroom.

“Pallet Town? That’s where that old dude who did the stuff with the PokéDex is from, right? Professor… Pine? Something?” Cassie said, squinting as she tried to remember who it was. She hadn’t ever really paid much attention to all of the Pokémon professors when they’d covered it back in school.

“I wanted to see more of the world, ya know?” Pulling out her Trainer card and documents, Cassie flipped the booklet open and showed the girl the collection of stamps she had from the various ports and cities she’d travelled to. “I might not go for badges, but I collect stories, fun experiences, stuff like that.” She said before tucking it back in her pocket.

“Uhhhhh…” Thinking back to the crinkly five dollar bill in her wallet, Cassie bit her lip. Eh, she’d buy something for Puds and that would be good enough. Most cities had a message board with odd jobs, she’d find something pretty quick. “Sure!” Standing up, she stretched, wincing slightly as the bandaids she’d pasted on herself pulled against her skin. “I’d kinda recommend some place with outdoor seating. Don’t really think anywhere would let me inside right now.” She gestured to her wet clothes. CJ Pudds didn’t seem to care much about the state of her as he lay on her shoulder, his stubby legs dangling on either side of her.

“It’s Professor Oak,” Claire corrected, unable to decide if she was more amused or miffed about Cassie getting one of her idols’ name wrong. But the other girl didn’t give her much time to dwell on it, swooping her attention with an impressive collection of stamps, most of which Claire had never ever seen.

A hint of guilt tugged at the coattails of her conscience, silently chiding her for being too quick to judge again. “That’s... cool.”

Cassie’s face broke out into a huge grin as the girl accepted her offer. Oh thank Arceus. She honestly had no idea what she was going to do if the girl– Claire had turned her down. She probably would have had to call her dad to wire her some money, which would mean she would owe him one, which would mean she’d be stuck on the next boat back to Slateport to begin school. Groan. Nope, not happening. This worked out a lot better than that.

CJ Pudds let out a gurgling purring noise at the pats, prompting Cassie to lift him off her head. She secured the squirming Pokémon in her arms with practiced ease as she looked at the blonde girl, impressed. “Oh, wow. So you’re like a real legit Pokémon trainer, huh?” Bopping CJ on the nose to stop him from wiggling out of her arms, she shook her head. “Oh no, not me. I’m not the trainer type. Besides, I just got to the region. Even if I was here to battle, I wouldn’t be ready. I’m from Slateport, by the way. Are you local or something?”

“Yeah, I’m from Pallet Town.” Claire wasn’t sure how much information she should share with Cassie, considering the impression she had of the girl wasn’t getting much better. A drifter without any goals or plans didn’t seem reliable in her books.

“So why did you decide to come here? If you’re not planning on becoming a trainer, is there something else you’re working towards? It’s a pity though. You seem to have a really good Pokemon there,” Claire commented as she gestured towards Pudds. She wondered if the Mudkip was Cassie’s first Pokemon, just like Bubbles was hers.

Cassie winced as the girl picked apart her offer. It was true, she didn’t exactly make a lot of money off her odd jobs. Usually, she worked when she ran out of food and needed to buy groceries. But, she did feel really terrible about breaking the girl’s bike. She hadn’t meant to. It just kinda… happened. “Are you in a big hurry to get somewhere? I’m just wandering around Kanto, I don’t really have a big "plan” on where I’m going.“ She said, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. CJ Puddles balanced on top of her head, standing on his back legs as he batted at the blonde girl with his front paws, trying to get the girl's attention. "If you’ve got places to be, I could go with you. Like, pick up work in town or whatever.”

Rubbing her dirty hand on the damp material of her shorts, Cassie stuck out a hand. “I’m Cassie Mitchell. And this is Christopher James Puddles.” She said, pointing upwards to the Mudkip that was currently doing his biggest begging eyes at the blonde girl in the hopes of getting pats. “He’s a bit of a goober who won’t stay in his ball, huh???” She said loudly. True to form, CJ Pudds ignored her.

“Well, that doesn’t exactly surprise me.” Claire gave the girl another once-over as she took a moment to think rationally. She had grown so used to travelling alone and she wasn’t sure if she would be comfortable having a stranger around, but there was something about the girl, or rather her adorable Mudkip that convinced Claire that maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea after all. Besides, she really wanted a bike back and there seemed no other way to make sure the girl kept her promise.

“Fine, I guess you can stick around for a while. I’m Claire Williams,” she reached out to return a quick handshake before she looked up at Pudds with a smile. “It’s nice to meet you, Pudds,” she said before giving the Mudkip a few pats on his head.

Cringing, Cassie held up her hands. “I know, I know. I didn’t mean to wreck your bike, I really didn’t.” She said before cupping her head in her hands. What a day. What a fricking day. She really didn’t know what else she was going to do in order to make this right. Cassie rubbed the sides of her head, wincing slightly as she did. Her elbow tapped the Pokéball on her belt and the sound of the capsule opening filled the air. The girl scrambled as her other Pokémon began to materialize next to her. CJ Puddles yawned wide, his orange gills flaring as he padded up to her and began to crawl up her arm to take his usual perch on her shoulder.

“No, no, Pudds, please go back in your ball–” Cassie gave up when the Pokémon gave her a slimy lick up the side of her head and settled around her neck. Patting the little guy, defeated, Cassie glanced up at the girl. “I don’t have any money now. I make most of my cash by doing jobs for people in towns, chopping wood, running a delivery, babysitting, stuff like that.” As she spoke, CJ Puddles crawled up onto her head and began to sniff at the blonde girl, his nose twitching in the air.

“I can’t buy you a new bike right now, but when I have the money, it’ll be the first thing I do.” She said.

Claire would have found the situation amusing or even endearing if the girl in front of her hadn’t just singlehandedly destroy her bike in less than an hour. She seemed to be telling the truth and Claire really wanted to believe her, but she was still steaming mad and upset over the loss of her new bike to even try and see where the girl was coming from. 

But the appearance of the girl’s mudkip helped to soothe her anger a little. It was cute, but also distracting. Her face couldn’t help but soften when 'Pudds’ started to sniff her, but she took a step back, knowing she had to focus on getting an answer from its owner.

“And how many of those odd jobs are you gonna have to do before you can buy me back a new bike? Are you just expecting me to wait around for your call? I don’t have time for this. And I don’t even know who you are.”

Cassie blinked blearily, still a bit dazed from everything that had just happened. She was still soaking wet, bloody, and very much confused. So when a pretty blonde girl ran up to her and started yelling at her, Cassie just looked on for a moment. Then it clicked. Oh. Oh no, this was the girl who owned the bike. Shit. “Um… So. I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is my Pokemon is getting some top notch care, which is great. The, uh, bad news is, I kinda crashed your bike into an Aron. Which, it honestly shoulda moved outta the way, it was totally in the bike lane.” She said, ignoring the fact that Aron’s were some of the slowest Pokemon in existence. “And I didn’t steal it. I was going to give it back to you.”

The bike let out a groan as one of the struts collapsed and the metal shell caved in on itself. Wincing, Cassie rubbed the back of her head, hair matted and wet. “Sorry… I, uh… I can pay you back? C’mon, let’s see…” She began to rifle through her backpack for her wallet. Opening it, she pulled out a wrinkly five dollar bill, a fro-yo punch card, some car wash tokens to the place back in Hoenn, and a sticker she got the last time she popped by a clinic that had a Chansey on it with a speech bubble saying, “I’ve Got All My Shots!” Yikes. “Uhhhh. Damn. I don’t remember being that broke.” She said and squinted up at the girl. “I’m really, really sorry about your bike.”

Claire couldn’t pay full attention to the girl when her priority was to assess the damage done to her bike. When her bike responded by drawing its last breath, her jaw dropped and she rushed forward to pick up the loose strut and made a feeble attempt to fix it.

Upon hearing the girl’s voice again, she turned back with a dangerous glare, one that was similar to what she wore whenever she was challenged to a battle.

“Pay me back? How are you gonna do that with five dollars?” She asked in exasperation. “Being ‘sorry’ isn’t gonna get you out of this one. The only thing I’ll accept is a new bike,” Claire replied. Her bike had been barely a week old, and she had lost it even before she got used to the feeling of riding with the wind in her hair. If only one of her aunts was around... perhaps she might know what to do.

Without paying attention to what the girl was saying, Cassie dunked R&B into the basket of her bike and grinned. “Thanks, you’re fantastic, I’ll make sure to get this back to you like, ASAP.” She said and jumped on the bicycle and began to peddle away. Her legs, strong from the months she’d spent walking and swimming across Hoenn, easily pushed against the peddles, leaving the girl in the dust.

“I promise I’ll give it back!” She shouted over her shoulder as she zipped away towards Fuchsia City. “C’mon, buddy, hang in there.” She panted while biking furiously towards the city limits. R&B let out a weak growl, his face green. Oh god, he must have been poisoned by the Cloyster’s spine. She had to get him help, like, NOW. She flew down the busy streets of Fuchsia City, going far too quickly on the bike than she should be. People and Pokemon alike skittered out of her way as she yelled at them to get out of the way.

“Make a path, c’mon, move, move, move!” Cassie yelled. There! The red roof, the Pokémon Center. She just had to–

Out of nowhere, an Aron stepped into her path. Before she could turn, the bicycle collided with the stout Steel Pokémon and she went flying over the handlebars. The front end of the bike crumpled from the impact and Cassie rolled along the sidewalk. Popping up, she let out a relieved sigh when she saw that the basket was unharmed. But… the rest of the bike definitely wasn’t. Shit.

Grabbing the broken bicycle, she limped/wheeled it the rest of the way to the Pokémon Center,  The automatic doors slid open and Cassie scooped R&B out of the basket before ditching the bike in the lobby. “I need help! My  Pokémon’s been poisoned, he needs help!” She said. Nurse Joy ran up to her, staring at her.

“We’ll take it from here. But, you need to get some help yourself. Also, can you please take your… bike out of the lobby?” She said, pointing to the heap of twisted metal. Cassie grimaced. Fuck…

She dragged the bike outside and propped it up against the bike rack, before digging around in her backpack for her own first aid supplies. With a sigh, Cassie began to stick pink Glameow-themed bandaids on the various cuts she’d received across her arms and head. Rubbing her eyes, she leaned against the side of the building and let out a long sigh. Jeez. What a day.

"What... What are you doing?” Claire stammered, watching in shock as the stranger went ahead to take her bike, completely ignoring what she had just said. “Hey, I said no!” She shouted, “Come back here, you thief!” Claire reached out, making a feeble attempt to grab the seat of her bike but it slipped easily out of her hands and she could only watch the girl speed away with a dropped jaw. 

“Unbelievable. Oh, I cannot believe this is happening to me!” She huffed to herself, drawing several stares from the passers-by. No, she couldn’t just stay here and wait like a fool. The girl might not come back at all. Securing the straps of her backpack, she started to jog and quickened into a run, heading towards the Pokemon Center of Fuchsia City where the bicycle thief was most likely to be found.

It seemed that luck was on her side (or maybe the girl was being honest after all)  and Claire easily spotted the girl standing at the entrance of the building from afar. As she sprinted to close the distance between them, she noticed the other girl had gained several more injuries and bandaids on her. “What the hell happened to y---my bike?” Claire exclaimed when she realised what was standing, or rather, lying beside the girl. “Please tell me that’s not the same bike which you just stole from me...”

Taking a deep breath in, Cassie sighed as she took in the salty smell of the sea mixing in with the smell of the rivers that led in land. Finally. The trip from Hoenn to Cinnabar Island had been long enough, but having to take the ferry from there to Fuchsia City? Major drag. But, at least they were almost there.

Staring out at the distant land, Cassie let out a groan. It was still way too far. Ugh. If she could just let R&B out, then she would totally be golden. He knew how to surf and was really good at towing her out short distances. And it wasn’t that far to shore, right? Nah. She could totally do that. Looking around sneakily, she popped the Pokéball off her belt and activated it, the beam pointing at the water. The unmistakable sound of a PokéBall opening up filled the deck and some of the sailors looked around, confused.

“Hey, lady, you can’t–” One of them protested while she swung her leg over the edge of the ship.

“Oh no, I’m falling overboard, oh gosh, byeeee!” Cassie said as she jumped into the water below, R&B clapping his fins together happily as she joined him in the ocean. The water was cooler than she was used to, but that didn’t matter much. Grabbing hold of R&B’s slick body, she grinned. “C'mon buddy, let’s get to land.”

As they neared the shore line, Cassie focused on the beach that lay ahead of them. It seemed kinda rocky and it looked like there was a road that followed the shoreline. A handful of people were walking along it, a couple on bikes, but it wasn’t that crowded. Cool, that would make it less awkward for her to pop up from the oce–

Her train of thought was immediately derailed when something strong shoved both her and R&B, the force focused on her Pokémon. The Seel let out a squeal of pain and Cassie was thrown off his back. Treading, she blinked saltwater from her eyes to see a Cloyster ramming its pointed shell into R&B’s stomach, driving him out of the water. “R&B! Use… fuckin’, I dunno do something!” She sputtered as the waves smacked her in the face. The Seel looked back at her, confused, which left it open as the Cloyster launched shards of ice at her sweet baby boy. R&B let out a loud cry as he bobbed in the water, unconscious. The grinning shell Pokémon turned as though to go after him.

“Oh no you don’t, you angsty Clamperl!” She yelled. Grabbing hold of one of the spines, Cassie drove her elbow into the Cloyster’s opening, jabbing it in the eye. The rough shell cut her arm and began to bleed, but she didn’t care. She swam over to where R&B was floating and scooped him up in her arms before closing the distance to the shore. “Buddy? C'mon, R&B, you’re good, right?” She asked as she flopped him onto the beach. There were people all around, staring at her, but she didn’t care. She needed to get R&B help.

Looking up, she squinted through wet tangles of hair and saw a blonde girl standing with a bicycle. And a basket on said bicycle. Grabbing R&B, she hurried up to the girl, “Hey, hey, hey. So. Big favor.” She panted under the weight of the blubbery Pokémon. “Your bike. Can I borrow it? I gotta, I gotta get him to the Pokémon Center.” Cassie said flashing a winning smile at the girl.

 "You wanna borrow my bike?" Claire asked incredulously, her gaze darting from the girl's face to her injured arm and then to the fainted pokemon she was carrying. “Uh look, I’d really like to help but I’m in a hurry to get to somewhere myself,” Claire said hesitantly. Her mother, like all the other Officer Jennys, had always warned her to be careful around strangers, especially those who sought her help. “Can’t you borrow someone else’s bike instead?”