What the Wind Carries [Pokémon Black and White 2 fanfiction]

05| The Basic Badge

It turned out Alder had been called away on some urgent business, and he couldn't meet up with us for the rest of the week. He said that he was sorry, and we didn't have to wait for him to come back. Rosa, Hugh and I were pretty upset when we heard this news, but there wasn't anything we could do about it. Alder had reserved our rooms for us for several nights so we didn't have to worry about where we would stay.

We ended up staying in Floccesy for nearly a week in some futile hope Alder would be back. Day six of our visit to Floccesy came around and I was sitting with Rosa and Hugh in Floccesy Town's square, bored out of my mind. We hadn't gotten into contact with Alder today, and it was past noon. Two battles against Ivy and Flaris, and a trip to the Pokémon Center later, it was almost two!

I must've dozed off at some point because the next time I opened my eyes, some random guy dressed kinda like a school teacher was standing in front of the bench talking with Rosa and Hugh. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and asked them what was going on.

"Nate, this is Cheren," Rosa told me, gesturing to the stranger. I introduced myself and he said hello.

"I was passing through Floccesy on my way to Aspertia City when I noticed your friends battling each other," Cheren explained. "I couldn't help but watch them. For such novice Trainers, their battling skills were not too bad."

"Ha! If you think we're so good, you should see Nate battle!" Hugh remarked. "I swear he could take on a Gym Leader and win."

I felt my face flush red. "Haha... No, he doesn't mean it. Like, I'm not saying he's wrong or anything, but I don't think I'm ready for a Gym battle," I awkwardly laughed.

Cheren raised an eyebrow. "Really?" A small smile crept across his face. "Why don't you show me what you can do then? I may not look like it, but I'm an experienced battler. Two years worth of experience, actually."

"You want a battle? Sure. It's not like I have anything better to do." Though I wish we were doing something else.

"Disregard what I said about Gym battles," Cheren said. "Just battle me as if you were facing a Gym Leader. That's not too difficult of a request, is it?"

What is with this guy? 'Battle as if you were facing a Gym Leader?' I mean, I'm not gonna turn down his offer or anything! "Uh, okay..?" I hesitantly said. "I'll give it my all if it's what you want."

"Thanks for agreeing, I have a new team I need to test out and this'll be great practice for them," Cheren said. He handed Rosa a small cardboard box. "Could you hold this for me? Its contents can't afford to be damaged." Rosa accepted the box and set it down on the bench next to her. Cheren turned to me. "Nate, how many Pokémon do you have?"

"Uh, two," I said.

"Well, since this is kinda an impromptu Gym battle, I'll be using my Lillipup and Patrat." Cheren removed two Poké Balls from his belt.