FicWad

Disclaimer: Don't own Pokemon or any intellectual properties tied to its name and franchise, but I own Josie Sheridan and miscellaneous characters I make up for her to battle...except gym leaders :D.

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It took a while but they were on their way again. Heading towards Cerulean City, well Josie hoped so anyway, Todd seemed pretty good with maps. She was walking slightly ahead of Todd and Charmeleon, the latter helping the former with his map reading. She herself was looking out for any more Zubats. Mind you she often heard them before she saw them. Spearow had already handily dispatched of two since they started off again, Josie having decided that Pikachu really did need a rest. She couldn't be sure in the dimmer light of the cave but she was pretty sure they'd passed a few Geodudes, but then, maybe they were just rocks. So actually, she wasn't really that sure. Maybe the sun on the plateau had fried her brain or something...or maybe it was just her. Knowing her luck it was the latter!

Still in her infinite wisdom, her thoughts, and looking to the sky, well ceiling, inevitable distracted her from the path ahead. Something she was about to regret.

"Wo-oh!" she shouted, falling head over heels over something and landing face first in the dirt floor of the cavern. It certainly got Todd and Charmeleon's attention.

"Yo Josie!" Todd called out, squinting to try to see her. "You ok?"

"Urgh...yeah," she moaned back. "I just wasn't paying too much attention to the ground, I tripped on something that's all."

As Charmeleon smirked, scratching the back of his head as he began walking with Todd towards his accident-prone trainer. What was he going to do with her! As they got closer however, he swore he saw the something move...well more uncurl. Todd also seemed to notice this, even as Josie was rising.

"Hey Josie," he said, gaining her attention. "Remember you said you wanted to catch a Sandshrew?"

"Yeah," she grimaced as she got up. "Why?"

"Well you may just be about to get your chance..."

She saw him point to the thing she'd tripped over and sure enough, she too witnessed it uncurl to reveal a Sandshrew. "Alright!" she shouted, excited at the prospect of a new capture, unhitching a poke ball from her belt and prepping one ready for what was hopefully going to be the newest member of her team. "Diane, let's go!"

Diane appeared in the customary flash of light, a flash which temporarily lit up the cavern quite nicely, it was definitely a Sandshrew, and truth be told, from what Josie saw, it didn't look particularly happy at being disturbed.

"Ready Diane?" Josie asked. Her loud cry assured her that she was. "Cool, then let's do this. Start it off Diane, scratch attack!"

Diane immediately complied, flying at the Sandshrew with amazing force, bringing her claws down with more strength than her small, light form belied. Unfortunately the Sandshrew curled up almost immediately more or less negating the force of the impressive attack.

"Ok Diane," Josie said, changing tack. "Jump on back and get it with a good poison sting."

Diane again complied. As she jumped back a number of barbs flew from her back at her unfortunate opponent. No matter how armour plated the Sandshrew was, at least one of those had to stick surely. It seemed to be so, as the barbs found their target, most admittedly bouncing off the plating, some seemed to stick, causing the Sandshrew to uncurl and begin an attempt at a sand-attack, to make itself harder to see. It certainly succeeded well enough, Diane having to close her eyes, even Josie had to shield her face a little; the dim light wasn't helping either.

"Stay sharp Diane, keep moving, don't make yourself a target!" Josie commanded as the dust cloud reached its peak. "I know its hard but you can do it!"

Diane did move, if rather tentatively. She bounded rather than ran, more or less jumping from one point to another. Hopefully she could keep it up long enough for her vision to recover enough. Josie didn't doubt that Diane's vision was at least better than her own. Besides the longer she kept moving and avoided being hit, the longer the poison would have to get to work. The sand attack was quite strong, there was little place for it to dissipate to, except the floor from which it came. That worried Josie a little, the Sandshrew could just keep doing sand-attack and no doubt, as it was used to living in a dark place it was certainly having an easier time out there. There was little choice in the matter, as soon as it the sand abated, even a little, she would have to act, poison or no poison, Sandshrew's, and ground types were almost as hardy as rock types, it would have to be done soon, or not at all for Diane. Then an idea came to her, after studying the pokedex last night there was one move that Diane might have that could turn the tide of this battle...only she'd have to be pretty close to do it.

"Diane, can you see much yet?" Josie asked. The dust cloud had thinned a little by now.

"Nido!" she heard her shout. The enthusiasm put into the cry gave Josie reason to believe she could.

"Alright then, stop moving, and get ready!"

Diane stopped, looking around for her opponent, Josie was to, squinting to see through the dust cloud as it began to settle, she could hear the odd sound that indicated the Sandshrew was still there but other than that...

"Diane, I can't see, but if you can, as soon as it gets close enough...use Bite!"

"Nido," she replied, looking left, right, all around. Her ears twitched, it was probably close. Diane tensed; she was ready to strike the second it came near. And that time was now. As she looked up to the left again, Diane saw a shadow pounce, that had to be the Sandshrew. She bounded too. As the Sandshrew had pounced into its scratch attack, Diane was able to use her bite attack successfully on a less protected area of the Sandshrew. As it fell to the ground, it seemed temporarily unable to move.

From the sounds that emitted from the dust clouds, particularly Sandshrew's call as it fell, Josie assumed the best. "Diane, finish it with a scratch attack!"

And Diane did, the poison now having done its work the battle was over. Josie covered her mouth and nose with her jacket and ran into the dust cloud. She soon came across the prone Sandshrew; best capture it now and get it to Oak.

She threw the poke ball shouting her usual chant...well the chant of many a trainer 'poke ball go'. The Sandshrew had little energy left to resist the capture mechanism and went in without much of a fight. The ball, after pinging, immediately teleported away.

Dust cloud still dissipating, Josie exhaled deeply, flopping to her knees. Diane came over and nuzzled her. She smiled, petting her Nidoran on the head. "That was a good job you did there Diane. Well done." She got out Diane's poke ball. "Now return, and have a good rest." Diane obediently did so.

"Nice one Josie," Todd said, as he and Charmeleon walked over. "Pity I couldn't get any pictures of that one though." Charmeleon however noticed something was slightly amiss with her. He put an arm around her shoulder.

She smiled at her partner, how did he know?

Todd to now noticed the slight look of concern on her face. He didn't know whether to blame it on the dust and bad light, or the fact that boys never really understood girls. "Come on Josie, cheer up. Something wrong?"

"Its just..." she began before seeming to brush it off a little as Charmeleon helped her up. "I hope Sandshrew is ok."

"You've just sent Sandshrew to the best Professor in the business," Todd reassured. "Of course Sandshrew's ok."

"Char," Charmeleon affirmed Todd's statement.

"Of course you're right," Josie smiled, before coughing a little, damn dust! "Thanks guys."

"If I'm going to be some help to you while I'm still here, it'd be advice and encouragement," he smiled. "Now, shall we?"

Josie nodded and Charmeleon smiled as they got back underway, Josie making an attempt to get the dust off her before she had a coughing fit, she really hoped not to get Zubat attacked right now! Still there was a little sadness there, Todd was just growing on her, kind of like fungus or something she mused, and he'd be leaving soon? Bummer.



Josie's luck seemed to be in, no Zubat's...how interesting. Still maybe they'd got the message by now or something, she thought, looking around, although taking extra special care of where she trod this time. Though all this looking up and down would still got her into trouble as she bumped into someone...Josie grumbled as she hit the dirt again, what the heck was wrong with her, seemed she couldn't pay enough attention if she tried today. She must be going blind. In looking up it was a much older guy, he hadn't seemed to notice her at all, he was more interested in looking around himself...geez. Charmeleon had run over with Todd and as they helped her up, it seems the guy finally took a bit of notice.

"Oh I'm sorry I didn't see...oh wow a Charmeleon," the guy practically gushed, changing tack as soon as he saw Charmeleon. In turning Josie could clearly see that he was very 'nerdy' looking, big, black glasses, white shirt complete with pocket protector, too-short black slacks and a bowl hair cut. "How fantastic, nice, strong, tail flame, excellent expression...well developed muscles, fantastic..." It was then he noticed Todd. "Oh my God, it's Snap! Wow I'm a great fan of your pictorial work, and your written word so far has been great, oh wow I simply MUST have your autograph..."

As he carried on waxing lyrical, Josie could see embarrassment slipping on to both Todd and Charmeleon's faces. She blinked a little, what was she, chopped liver? Still in thinking about it, did she really care about the attention? She just sighed, brushing herself down some more, she must be filthy by now! Actually, after the near miss with the reporters and the earlier phone call, Todd and Charmeleon were welcome to the attention. After all, apart from the initial embarrassment of the guy going on about how good they were, they actually seemed to be enjoying it now, Todd chatting back and Charmeleon smiling, it certainly wasn't all one sided like with her mother who could talk for Kanto, and the Orange Archipelago, and Johto and...well you get the idea! After a while she zoned out a little, more involved with getting as much dust off her clothes and face as possible.

"Excuse me...?" the guy said worriedly to Josie. "I asked if you were ok?"

That brought her back to reality.

"Oh yeah, sorry about that," she blushed a little, caught in her thoughts caused her to miss something, well nothing new there then. "I'm fine, although I think I'll probably be needing a bath tonight."

"Oh good, I'm terribly sorry, I was caught up in looking for the rarer Pokemon that live here, all I ever see are Zubat and Geodude though." He sighed a little at that. "So why are you travelling with Snap then? Where are you headed?"

"I'm collecting badges, for the league challenge. Todd's on his way to Cerulean so we're travelling together, the name's Josie."

"Ahhh a trainer," he smiled. "I always wanted to be one, but my mother thinks I wouldn't be any good though," he sighed again. "So Charmeleon's yours?"

Josie nodded. "Besides Charmeleon, I have five other Pokemon with me and three others at Professor Oak's lab back home in Pallet."

"Really...?" the guy asked, seemingly thoughtfully, fiddling with his glasses. "Well in that case..."

Josie wondered what the pause was for...a battle? She'd be up for that!

"Can I see your other Pokemon please," he got down on his knees, practically begging. "All I ever see are Zubat and Geodude in here, I never seem to get to see any of the rarer Pokemon. I can't get through Mount Moon and my mother won't let me come in any further than this anyway. Please?"

Josie sweat dropped, this guy had to be in his 20's! My lord, how suffocating his mother must be. Still at least that meant they were nearly out of here, and it looked like she'd make his year by doing it...why not?

She reached for her poke balls. "Don't see why not, can't hang around for too long though, we want to get to Cerulean before nightfall."

"Of course, no doubt my mother will be here soon at any rate. Plus I'll even show you something real cool," he said doing some kind of Boy Scout salute.

"Ok everyone, come on out!" she enthused throwing the balls into the air, looking away as they all appeared in a customary flash of light. Her Rattata, Nidoran's, Spearow and Pikachu all appeared. "Guys I'd like you to meet...urm..."

"Theo," the guy said, finally naming himself. "Oh my gosh how adorable, look at them. I never get to see Pokemon from the other side of Mount Moon, how fantastic!"

Josie just smiled, letting him carry on; he was like a kid in a candy store. Todd looked at him; he seemed nice enough, a little strange maybe, but nice. Charmeleon and her other Pokemon too were bemused. Still it was far beyond them, seemingly, to turn down the attention, they were loving it in fact. He seemed to have a way with Pokemon so why wasn't this guy a trainer, or a breeder, a watcher...something? The poor guy though, must have lead a pretty sheltered life considering he lived in a pretty big city, all because of his mother it seemed. There was something to be said for her parents after all. As if on queue...

"Theo," an extremely loud, booming female voice called. "Come on dear, its time for tea."

"Aww mum," he practically whined. "I'm talking to someone!"

"Yes but you need to eat, now come on!"

Theo sighed resignedly. Getting up from where he was enthusiastically playing with her Pokemon. "Guess I'd better go...thanks everyone," the Pokemon cheered their thanks also it seemed and Theo smiled, turning to Josie. "Oh! See that corner over there, go take a gander. There's a hole with a whole bunch of neat stuff in a little hole. I've found a lot of stuff in this cave, take a couple of moon stones if you want, they'll help your Nidoran grow."

Josie looked surprised, who'd give up moon stones just like that? "Are you sure? I mean moon stones are supposed to be really rare and stuff."

"Of course I am," he smiled. "You're the first trainer to be real nice to me in a long, long time. You might as well, I have no use for the stuff I've collected."

"You'd make a good trainer yourself Theo," she reasoned, it was true, he would. "Try and assert yourself more, you're more than old enough to leave home and start your journey."

"Yeah," Todd agreed, handing him a piece of paper, with the autograph he'd asked for on it. "Its never too late to be a trainer and have your own adventure."

"Well," Theo fiddled with his glasses. "I might just do that, thanks." He grinned a little as he turned, running off towards his mother's voice. "Bye guys!"

Josie and Todd waved him off, as he disappeared, Josie sighed. "Poor guy, guess my parents aren't too bad after all. I didn't get a look at her, but his mum must be pretty formidable."

Todd smiled. "There's always someone worse off than you."

"Are you full of these pearls of wisdom or something?" Josie smirked.

"Maybe, probably," he laughed. "Well one of us has to be sensible!"

"The only sensible ones around here are the Pokemon," Josie laughed.

Charmeleon puffed his chest out in pride at this statement, everyone else chorused their agreements.

Todd sighed, laughing all the same. "Hate to say it, but you may be right."

Josie laughed a little, turning to her Pokemon. "You weren't supposed to agree with me guys," she said, pretending to scold.

The Pokemon just laughed in reply, as Josie walked up to the corner Theo mentioned. In looking at it, she realised he wouldn't miss two moon stones at all, he had a good stash of them and other things besides; poke balls, potions, the works. Still Mount Moon was probably one of the easier places to lose items and such and moon stones were supposed to come from around here. If he started his journey, and wanted to become a trainer, she could take a guess as to what type of Pokemon he might specialise in. She put two of the many moon stones in her pack, thanking Theo in her mind, before turning back to the group.

"Ok guys," she said. "Let's get going!" She recalled her team before she began walking in the direction Theo had ran off in with Todd and Charmeleon.



Oh the sun, how she'd missed it, even though she'd only last been in it a couple of hours ago. Mind that's probably because she was feeling pretty grotty right now, and that was despite all the dust she must have gotten off herself. A look in a conveniently placed river assured her that she didn't look too bad, still she really wanted a bath now all the same. Cerulean City could be seen off in the distance, just a short walk now and they'd be there, what could possibly happen?

As she, Todd and Charmeleon walked down the path towards Cerulean, Josie was sure she kept hearing something in the long grass just off the path. Still it could just be her imagination, she'd not long had two frights in quick succession, it had to just be her. Shrugging it off, she got back into a conversation with Todd about what type of assignment he'd have next and about what the gym leader was like. Todd had met Misty before after all, probably had a lot more contact with her than she herself had had. However, now it seemed Charmeleon too had noticed the movement.

"Charmeleon?" Josie asked her partner as he looked at the long grass. "...You think that something's there too huh?"

"Char..." he nodded looking serious and sticking his snout in the air for a smell.

"You two are better than me," Todd said, scratching the back of his head. "I didn't have a clue."

Suddenly it seemed, Charmeleon locked on to whatever it was, he ran into the long grass. Josie could just barely see him in the tall grass, and that was only because of the pronounced fin of sorts that appeared upon the head when a Charmander evolved into a Charmeleon. Todd readied his camera in anticipation, it had been hard to take photos in Mount Moon during battles in case it scared the Pokemon away, and he was just itching to get some good shots of this. They both watched, as Charmeleon finally seemed to circle around back towards the path just ahead of them. Josie now readied a poke ball, just as a Mankey appeared in the road, turning back to face its pursuer handily as Charmeleon too emerged, stopping.

"Cool a Mankey," Todd said.

"Yeah and it looks up for it too," Josie smiled. "You ready Charmeleon?"

"Char!" he said confidently, seeming to flick its snout with its claws slightly before taking up a battle pose as the Mankey raised its fists.

"Alright Charmeleon, start it off, scratch attack!"

Charmeleon did, running forward, claws raised. The Mankey however, moved pretty quickly to the side, side-swiping Charmeleon with its low kick attack.

"Charmeleon, you ok?" Josie called, he immediately answered, to which Josie smiled, it was going to take a lot more than that to knock Charmeleon down.

The Mankey seemed pretty pleased with itself though, dancing around a little before launching into a flying karate chop. Josie smiled, well if it's a fighting type, most moves need to be done at close range so.

"Change of plan Charmeleon, keep your distance for now, use ember!"

Charmeleon aimed the breath attack up, catching the Mankey off guard. It landed back down on the ground raging just a little, something Josie knew Mankey's were famous for, before trying a fury swipes. Josie smiled, the one thing about wild, raging Pokemon was that they tended not to think so much. "Charmeleon, warn it again, flamethrower!"

That certainly made it think! As it became engulfed in Charmeleon's larger breath attack, it seemed to jump out of the stream of fire, more panicked than enraged. Josie could have sworn she saw a tuft of its fur on fire. It seemed ok as it landed though and it checked itself.

"Ok Charmeleon, it's a little distracted, lets try a one-two. Dig underground!"

Charmeleon was really getting the whole digging thing now, mind you his claws were a lot stronger now, it could only help. Todd looked at Josie; he thought he knew what she was going to try, exactly what she did with Carrie, well maybe almost exactly. Still he readied his camera; he wondered how it would turn out this time himself. The Mankey had calmed considerably now, would it work so well? Oh well Josie was going to try anyway!

"Charmeleon, surface now!" Josie ordered.

The Mankey was quite surprised but not overly so, it had calmed quicker than Josie had anticipated and was recovering in the air...no metal claw. Still there was always...

"Charmeleon use flamethrower!"

He did, the Mankey could only cover itself as best it could as it was again engulfed in the flames, no jumping out of it this time. It was definitely singed as it landed, but still standing. Josie admired its tenacity as it ran in to try a fury swipes attack again, completely unexpected, she'd expected it to be over. "Charmeleon, dodge that charging Mankey, and use metal claw, finish it!"

He did, the burn had slowed down the Mankey enough for Charmeleon to easily sidestep the coming attack, and deliver the metal claw to the surprised and slightly disorientated Mankey. As it fell to the ground, Josie prepped her ball.

"Poke ball go!" The ball hit its target dead on, the red light engulfing the Mankey, detaining it within the confines of the ball. Still, would it stay there? Josie watched the ball intently, as did Todd and Charmeleon. It shook, even bounced a little, that Mankey was a fighter that was for sure! Josie was still expecting it to bounce back out even after the ping confirmed its capture and the ball was zapped away.

"Phew!" Josie exhaled, before putting her thumb up to Charmeleon. "Good work, big guy!"

"Char!" he grinned, agreeing.

"That Mankey was a fighter though," Todd said, putting his camera away. "You have to give it that."

"That's for sure!" Josie agreed. "I was expecting it to bounce back out." Charmeleon too seemed to agree; in fact he seemed to have really enjoyed meeting and battling it.

"It was a good battle though," Todd smiled. "Glad I got some good shots today, gonna miss getting such regular action."

Josie smiled, as Charmeleon's grin grew impossibly wide, Josie swore he was turning into a cornball. "Glad you like our battles, still I'm sure your next assignment will give you plenty of opportunities as well."

"I hope you're right," he smiled. "Well come on, we can get to Cerulean while the sun's still up at this rate. We can eat out!"

Josie did a quick money check in her head, she'd spent her gym winnings, but she did have her original $3000 plus the $100 from Lenny and the $300 she'd won from Carrie...yeah why not!

Todd could see what she was doing. "Hey, hey, on me!" he said. "I'm about to get paid after all."

"Ohhh," Josie said jokingly. "Maybe you are a gentleman after all Todd!"

"I'm offended you'd think otherwise!" he stuck his tongue out at her.

As they carried on towards Cerulean City laughing all the way, Charmeleon sweat dropped, what a pair they were. His trainer was right; he and the others WERE the only really serious ones! Still, he'd be sorry to see Todd go, no more photos of his battles...ok maybe not completely serious.



Wow what a nice city. Josie looked all around her, as did Charmeleon. Todd had gone to the Pokemon Monthly offices to get his pay check and see if they had any more work for him, first pointing Josie towards the Pokemon centre, and also the nearest news stand, she had a Pokemon Monthly new trainer's issue...at last! Everything here in Cerulean though seemed so...pristine. Made her want a bath even more to be honest. Everywhere she looked there was water, a fountain here, a stream, pond, lake or river there...water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink Josie chuckled inwardly completing the rhyme forming in her head. Charmeleon, luckily, was oblivious to that. Still, she could see why here was ideal for a water type gym...bet that was the same with most gyms though. As the Pokemon centre came into view she smiled.

"Looking forward to a rest Charmeleon?" she asked, turning to look down happily at her ever-present partner.

The Pokemon nodded eagerly as she smiled. He'd walked all day; and he'd battled too. She was impressed with his stamina. To be honest, she'd enjoyed carrying him as a Charmander, but as he evolved her small frame was going to get easier for him to carry! Still it was cool, her partner by her side, laughing and joking all the way.

"Then let's go," she smiled, walking through the doors into the welcoming lobby and being greeted by the ever-present warm smile that every Nurse Joy seemed to have.

"Hello..." the Joy began. "Oh wait, I know you, you had your picture in the paper just today. Josie Sheridan right?"

"Erm," Josie grinned, scratching the back of her head as Charmeleon laughed. "Yes Nurse Joy that's right."

"Oh dear, I've embarrassed you, I'm sorry." Nurse Joy quickly apologised.

"No, no..." Josie reassured. "Its just the way I am Nurse Joy, don't worry about it. I'd just like to book my Pokemon and I in for the night if that's ok? Oh and a travelling companion, who'll be here shortly."

"That's absolutely fine, a lot of people just wanted their Pokemon tended to today, hardly anyone's actually stayed in town, unless they lost to Misty as a few have done."

"Oh," Josie thought aloud. "So the gym was really busy today huh?"

"Yes, very," Joy nodded. "Seems a lot of people are in a real rush this year to be honest, heaven knows why."

Josie blushed, she was trying to rush at first too, she was the first to admit that, especially now she'd been given advice. Still she did have some stuff she could do in the meantime. "Well in that case Nurse Joy, could you book me in for two nights. I have some stuff I'd like to do anyway and I'm not in a rush for my badge, well not so much as I was anyway."

"That would be no problem, nice to see some trainers taking it easy," Joy smiled.

"Well a few friends have told me to do so, and it seems only fair for the gym leader to get over the rush."

"You must have some good friends," Nurse Joy smiled. "Ok, two rooms, two nights. Would you like to hand in your Pokemon now, or later?"

Josie smiled at the friends comment...yeah she did. She might not need both rooms, both nights but that could easily be amended. "I'd just like to put in a quick call if that's alright for you Nurse Joy?" Josie asked.

"Of course," Nurse Joy smiled. "The phones are just over there, behind that screen." She pointed to a screen jutting out of the wall.

"Thank you, if my travelling partner turns up, could you just tell him I'm on the phone to Professor Oak?" Josie asked. "I shouldn't be too long."

"Of course," Nurse Joy smiled.

"Thanks," Josie smiled back, heading towards the phones with Charmeleon.



Hmmm strange, Josie thought as she waited for someone to answer the phone at Oak's, Charmeleon sitting carefully in her lap. Normally at least Tracey would have picked up the phone by now, maybe Muk didn't just like the Professor after all, she mused just as Professor Oak finally answered the phone.

"Hello? Ahh Josie," Professor Oak smiled as he realised who it was. "Your Pokemon are doing great, especially your two latest arrivals."

That at least was a weight off her mind. "Thanks Professor I just got into Cerulean City not a half hour ago."

"Ahh Cerulean, don't forget to visit Bill if you can," Professor Oak reminded her.

Amazingly she'd actually remembered. "Yeah, I'm going to go see him tomorrow Professor," Josie smiled. "There seems to be a kind of...well backlog of trainers for the gym so I thought I'd do as you suggested, I can get my badge the day after."

"Confident as always," the Professor smiled. "That's good. Its nice to see your Charmeleon looking good as well." Charmeleon smiled and chorused his agreement to the Professor's statement, which made the Professor smile. "Actually Tracey is in Cerulean visiting the gym leader, Misty for a few days so you may see him."

Visiting Misty...she couldn't help but smirk a little. "I'll be sure to say hi, so that's why you took so long to answer?"

"Oh yes, I must apologise," he said. "Ash's Muk does seem to slow me down."

"That's ok Professor," Josie smiled. "While you're here is it possible to make a transfer?"

"Why of course," he smiled. "Who would you like me to send?"

"Well I'd like to send Rattata for Mankey if that's ok?"

Charmeleon smiled. Seemed he liked that Mankey despite having not long battled it.

"Ah yes, she's a good, feisty one she is," the Professor nodded. "I think she'll be great on your team Josie."

Josie nodded her agreement, unhitching Rattata's ball. "Be good Rattata, see you soon," she smiled, placing the ball on the transporter, it disappearing almost immediately.

"Sent Professor," she smiled.

"I've got him," he smiled. "Sending Mankey now."

Sure enough, a few seconds later a new poke ball appeared in the transporter. "Got her Professor thanks a lot."

"Not a problem Josie," the Professor replied. "Don't forget to call anytime."

"Sure Professor, we'll report back in soon, won't we Charmeleon?"

"Char-me-leon!" he agreed, waving to the Professor.

"Good, good," the Professor waved back. "Have fun!"

The screen went blank and Charmeleon slid of Josie's lap so she could rise, replacing the receiver. She hitched up Mankey's poke ball to her belt. "Well then," Josie smiled to her friend. "Let's get you guys checked in eh?"

Charmeleon smiled in agreement as they headed back to the desk.



Josie signed in her Pokemon with Nurse Joy, asking if Todd had arrived yet...he hadn't. Having verified Todd's identity with Nurse Joy, seemed he was more well known than he let on, which had made her laugh. Josie retired to her room to have that longed for bath. As she lay in the bath she thought about tomorrow, kind of an interlude she supposed, a visit to see the genius behind the transport system. She wondered if Todd would have time to come or not. She hoped he would, still she'd find out soon enough she supposed as she prepared to wash her hair, he couldn't be too much longer. Plus, no doubt he'd want to go on about his new assignment.


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A/N: Chapter 10 done. Next chapter, what is Todd's new assignment? Plus meet Bill, the Poke maniac. Yay or something. Plus more besides.