Ch. 9 - Butterfree's Choice

Tori dragged Carrie as far as the hallway before stopping abruptly.

"Where did you do this trade, anyways?" she asked.

"Down in the lobby," Carrie replied. "When I was picking up my team after being healed."

"Then let's hope they're still down there!" Tori said, and resumed dragging Carrie behind her.

The two girls raced down the stairs and sped to the front counter before skidding to a stop. The nurse from before (or so Carrie assumed, they all looked the same to her) glanced up at the noise but upon seeing who it was standing in front of her, returned to working on her computer without a single word.

"Where are Falkner and that other kid?" Carrie barked.

"What's the matter? That Furret doesn't like you already?" the nurse asked in a horribly uncharacteristic condescending tone.

"Just answer the damn question!" Carrie bellowed.

"Please, this is really important," Tori cut in. "Do you know where they are?"

"No," the nurse responded, looking up from her work to properly meet Tori's gaze. "But I believe they are still in the Center. They went towards the basement just after she left."

"What's down there?" Tori asked.

"The cafeteria and a few battle arenas. They're mostly used for exercise for the Pokémon staying at the Center while they recover, but occasionally trainers spar down there."

"Thank you very much!" Tori smiled wide before once again gripping Carrie's arm and dragging her away before she could let out some angry outburst. As she ran, she pulled out a hot pink cell phone and began rapidly pushing buttons one-handed, without even looking at it.

"What are you doing?" Carrie asked.

"Texting Nichole. We have to get Furret down here to trade him back, don't we?"

Carrie mentally slapped herself for not catching this slip up, but said nothing on the subject. "This is just a guess, but do you text people a lot?" she asked instead.

"How did you know?" Tori asked, surprised.

"Just a guess," Carrie repeated, and then added, "I didn't know phones could register that much input so fast."

Tori giggled like a schoolgirl before answering. "I guess I do totally text a lot."

"There they are!" Carrie cried as something caught her attention through a window to her right. Tori skidded to a stop and glanced around.

"Where?" she asked, puzzled. "All I see is a Spearow."

"That Spearow belongs to that kid I traded with."

"How can you tell?"

Carrie stared at the bird, sitting alone on the barrier between the stands and the battlefield, looking forward, motionless. "I just know," Carrie answered. "The door's locked," she added, trying it.

Having no other choice, the girls surveyed the inside of the room. From what they could see, it looked like a standard battlefield, complete with white markings painted on the ground dividing the field evenly and a small ring of blue seats going around the arena, similar to Falkner's gym layout, if a little smaller. The gym leader in question was likely off to the left of the battlefield, as his Pidgeot was just visible hovering in the air above their side of the battlefield. Across from him, to the girls' right, stood the Spearow's trainer, looking rather embarrassed, his hand on the back of his head, playing with his hair. In front of him was Butterfree, fluttering around animatedly. It appeared as though Butterfree was giving his new trainer a lecture.

Moments later, Butterfree turned around and hurled himself at Pidgeot. The large bird, however, simply created a windy tornado and blew the butterfly back to his side of the field, where he crashed to the ground.

The battle went on in a similar manner, with identical results each time. Nichole and Sam joined them after a while, with the reason for their delay being that they had trouble coaxing Furret to follow them. The Furret was currently watching the battle; he squealed happily at his old trainer through the window at first, but after seeing him working with Butterfree, his ears drooped and his squeals of delight faded into whimpers. Nichole tried to give him some attention to cheer him up.

It was over a half an hour later that Falkner and the boy emerged from the battlefield, engaged in conversation. Furret immediately bounded over to his old trainer, catching their attention. Carrie limped over as well, but Tori, deciding to take full control of the whole situation rather than have Carrie's attitude interfere further, stepped in front of her and spoke up.

"Hi, sorry to bother you, but I have a favor to ask."

"And what can I do for a pretty little lady like yourself?" the Spearow boy asked politely. His eyes were locked on Carrie behind her, however, and his voice was tainted with obvious caution.

Tori smiled brightly at the compliment before continuing. "Well, see, my friend here totally make, like, a huge mistake earlier. You remember her, right? Butterfree's trainer."

"How could I forget?" the boy asked, stroking his Spearow absentmindedly. The bird remained as neutral as ever. If it were enjoying the affection, it showed no sign of it.

Tori took a deep breath and then spoke so fast, she may as well have been texting. "Well, see, she, I mean… we all, all of us, we would really be happy if you could do a trade back. See, she never actually talked about trading Butterfree with us or with Butterfree himself, it was just sort of a spur of the minute thing and she would really like to have him back."

"…uh… I see," the boy said.

"The trade was technically illegal anyway," Falkner interjected.

Carrie looked confused, but Sam spared her having to speak.

"Huh? Why was it illegal?"

"The trade was never recorded," Falkner explained. "I would hope you all know by now that there has to be a record of owning a Pokémon, in case of a theft or disputed trade. Usually this is done with a pokédex when you first catch the Pokémon. The same goes for trades. There has to be a record of the change in ownership."

"I didn't know that," said the boy. "Why didn't you speak up when I made the offer to her?"

"I knew she'd be back," Falkner said dismissively. "In any case, as a gym leader, if I witnessed the trade I have the authority to manually report it for the records."

"I didn't know gym leaders could do that," Nichole said in awe.

"There's more to this job than just battling challengers and having respect in your town," Falkner said with a smug smile.

"So…" Sam said, drawing everyone's attention. "If the illegal trade was witnessed by you, since you have the authority to change the records, doesn't that make it legal?"

Falkner shrugged. "Obviously, it's preferred if the trades are recorded electronically so that the change is made immediately upon trading. It's still an illegal trade until I have sent the change to the league, which I have not done yet."

"This is fascinating and all," Carrie interrupted, "but can we get back to the point?"

"Yes," Tori said, taking over once again before Carrie got out of hand. "So, what do you say? Will you, like, reverse the trade? Pleeeeease?"

"Well… I can't deny that I have concerns about Carrie's training methods…" The boy started, which Tori understood to mean 'Carrie's anger problem'. "But I guess he did belong to her first, and I don't really have a right to keep them apart. But it's not really up to me, is it? It's Butterfree's decision."

"Where is Butterfree, anyway?" Tori asked.

"The doorway," Nichole answered. Everyone turned to face the door to the battlefield, where Butterfree was peeking out from over the top of the still-open door. Upon having every eye in the room on him, Butterfree let out a loud cry, dove behind the door, and flew back into the arena.

"Let me try talking to him," Tori said, then stepped around Falkner and the boy and followed Butterfree into the room. Carrie walked to the window and watched rather than following and listening. Inside, Tori had released her Ledian, for reasons she couldn't even imagine. Behind her, Sam had struck up a conversation with Falkner.

"So you gotta tell me! How did your Dodrio escape my Abra's Confusion? I thought psychic attacks were like… unstoppable!"

"Not even close," the boy answered. Falkner put a hand on his shoulder and took over.

"Psychic abilities are certainly unique. Psychic Pokémon have an advantage over physical based Pokémon such as fighting-types, or even other elemental users who attack from a distance, because their abilities are almost instant – most psychic attacks don't require any sort of travel time. But that doesn't make them invincible. Those abilities need to be trained just like any other. Your Abra is still young. It's only natural that his psychic abilities aren't very developed yet. Yes, he can control them well enough, as your battle demonstrated. But he lacks the mental discipline and training to put real force behind the attacks. Think of it like how a fighter needs to train their body and their punching, or a flyer needs to learn how to fly, a psychic needs to develop their mental abilities."

Sam listened all too intently to Falkner's explanation, though Nichole and even Carrie thought the whole question was obvious (despite the fact that she'd called Abra's Confusion attack unstoppable earlier). Nichole had released her Hoppip and was watering the tiny Pokémon. Carrie turned her attention back to Tori and Butterfree. After a few moments with Butterfree and Ledian circling each other, Tori rushed to the door and called Carrie inside. She hastily followed Tori onto the battlefield.

"Okay, so like, here's what I think Ledian worked out…" Tori explained. "Butterfree doesn't really like this new guy either. But he won't go with you willingly. So… I think he totally wants to battle you. And if you beat him, then he'll give you another chance. But if not, then he, like, wants to be let free."

"You're joking, right?" Carrie asked.

Tori shook her head. "Not that I can tell."

"Exactly how can you tell?"

"Well, it's easy," Tori explained nervously. "I gave him yes or no questions; he only had to shake his head to answer."

"Right… well, I guess we'll have to get this over with, huh?"

"Wait, Carrie. You should, like, look determined. Let Butterfree see that you're sorry and that you really want him back."

Carrie sighed. "Tori, I don't do the whole 'compassion' thing very well."

"We'll just have to teach you! You'll totally get it in time."

Spinarak had refused to battle his former teammate. And so it was that Carrie stood with Cyndaquil alongside her opposite Butterfree, while Tori, Nichole, Sam, Furret, Falkner, and the Spearow boy sat in the stands.

"Alright then," Carrie said. "Here we go. Cyndaquil, Ember!"

Cyndaquil unleashed a barrage of tiny fireballs at the butterfly. Butterfree responded by whipping up a blast of wind and blowing them away.

"Well that's just great, how are we supposed to win now? He taught Butterfree a new move!"

Cyndaquil shrugged but tried again anyway, only to be met with the same results. Then the butterfly flew above him, releasing a cloud of sparkling green dust.

"Which one is that?" Carrie asked the group behind her.

"That's Sleep Powder," Sam called back to her.

"Great…" Carrie growled. But to her surprise, Cyndaquil wasn't anywhere near the dust cloud; instead, he was on the other side of the field, with Butterfree flying directly at him. Just as he dove down, Cyndaquil sped out of the way, turned, and launched another Ember flurry.

"Wait, what? Cyndaquil can use Quick Attack?" Carrie said in surprise. The group behind her collectively groaned.

After putting out the fire that burned on his wing, Butterfree turned and blew a puff of purple dust at Cyndaquil. This time Carrie recognized the move, having been an important part of her gym battle victory.

"Burn it away, and hurry!"

Cyndaquil obeyed, and shot another barrage of tiny fireballs into the Poison Powder, burning the dust away. Butterfree looked annoyed now, and flow in close for a Tackle. As it neared, Cyndaquil leapt up and tackled him to the ground from above.

"Okay, Ember again!" Carrie called.

Again her Pokémon obeyed, releasing yet another string of fireballs down on his opponent. Butterfree screeched in pain as he forcefully threw Cyndaquil off him and took back to the air. He turned to face Carrie, but instead of attacking, he landed on the ground and bowed his head.

"Now what's he doing?" Carrie wondered.

"I think he's surrendering," Sam responded.

"What? Really?" She looked back towards Butterfree, who fluttered over and landed in front of her. The Pokémon nodded. "Well then, uh… I'm… relieved," she said, awkwardly patting Butterfree on the lead. She looked to Tori, who smiled slightly and gave a thumbs up.

"Well, that could have been better," Tori said to herself. "But it's a start."

Several minutes later, the small group stood in the hallway outside the arena. Nichole and Tori were happily playing with Furret while Sam continued talking to Falkner about his battle style. Carrie and the boy with the Spearow stared at each other.

"Alright, well… I guess Butterfree wanted to go with you after all," the boy said, holding out Butterfree's pokéball.

"Not really," Carrie said, taking it and replacing it in the boy's hand with Furret's.

"What does that mean?" he asked as Carrie turned away. Furret ran up and greeted his trainer happily; the boy was more than willing to return the affection. Tori and Nichole stepped up behind him.

"Thank you so much for doing that," Tori said. "Hey, you know, we, like, never did get your name."

"It's Dexter, and it's no problem at all," the boy answered before turning back to his Furret. "Sorry boy, it doesn't look like you'll be traveling after all," he said, petting his Pokémon's head.

"Furrrr…." The Pokémon cooed. Then, unexpectedly, he darted between Nichole's legs and wrapped himself around her.

"Oh?" she gasped, nearly tripping.

"I think he likes you," Dexter said, laughing. "How about it, then? Do you wanna trade?"

Nichole's face lit up a bright red. "Oh! I… n-no thanks… he's cute and all, but… I love my Pokémon. I don't want to lose them."

"Ah, I see…" Dexter said sadly. "Well then, why don't you just take him with you?"

"You mean you'd just give him to me?" Nichole gasped.

"Yeah, why not? He likes you, and he wants to travel. He can't do that with me. How about that, boy? Sound good to you?"

"Furrrrr! Furrr!" the Furret chirped, rubbing himself against Nichole's leg.

"It's settled then," Dexter said, taking Nichole's hand and placing Furret's pokéball in it. "Take good care of him now. And while we're at it, you should give me your phone number so I can check in on him."

"Oh, real smooth!" Tori giggled, nudging Dexter in the side with her elbow as Nichole tried to step back in embarrassment and tripped over Furret.

Carrie sat outside the Pokémon Center waiting for the rest of the group. She rolled Butterfree's pokéball in her hands absentmindedly, wondering what she should say to him. After several minutes, Tori walked out and sat on the bench next to her.

"Just do it already," she said instead of the greeting she had planned.

"What am I supposed to say?" Carrie barked.

"Gee, I don't know, maybe 'I'm sorry for throwing you away'?"

"Just like that?"

"Well no, of course not!"

"Then what am I supposed to say?"

Tori sighed. "Carrie, I totally mean this in the nicest way possible… we need to work on your attitude. I'll help you, but you have to, like, want to change; I can't just make it happen. Okay? Now, just let Butterfree out and tell him you're sorry."

Carrie resisted the urge to roll her eyes; she knew Tori was right. Instead she let Butterfree's pokéball fall to the ground, releasing him. He flew up to eye level with an annoyed look.

"Listen, before you do anything…" Carrie started. She glanced sideways at Tori, who smiled at her encouragingly. Carrie sighed again. "Alright, look, I… I'm sorry about what I did, okay?"

"You can do better than that," Tori said, patting her on the back.

"What? What more can I- Oh, alright. Um…"

"Give her a break," Tori said to Butterfree. "She's new at this." The butterfly simply tilted his head.

"Free…"

"Okay, um… Do you forgive me?" Carrie asked.

"Free," Butterfree said. Carrie looked at Tori again. She shrugged. Butterfree hung his head and fluttered up to land on Carrie's before recalling himself into his pokéball.

"I guess that's a yes," Tori said with a giggle.

"... Was that it? Ugh, that was so embarrassing and… and… awkward!" Carrie grumbled.

"Then maybe you won't put yourself in that position in the future?" Tori said with a smile. Carrie didn't answer.

Nichole and Dexter emerged from the center a few minutes later, hand in hand. Tori watched them giggling to themselves fondly. Carrie cleared her throat to get their attention, causing an angry glare and an elbow to the ribs from Tori.

"Oh, hi guys," Nichole said, her face red. "So, uh, w-what are your plans now?" Nichole asked, eager for a change of subject as soon as she noticed Tori staring at her hands.

"I don't know yet," Tori said. "I might just go back home and train a little bit. What about you, Carrie?"

Carrie looked up from her spot on the bench, not having been paying much attention to the conversation. "Me? Oh, uh, I guess I'm going to keep trying to take on the region's gym circuit."

"Good luck with that," Dexter said, a bit more harshly than he intended. "It's really late into the season; you have a lot of catching up to do if you want to compete in the league this year." Carrie just grunted in response.

"Alright, well, I'm going to give Nikki here a tour of the gym, so I guess we'll see you guys around." Dexter replied.

"Oh… do you want to come with us?" Nichole asked.

"No thanks," Carrie answered. "I have to get going. Besides, I beat Falkner; I have no reason to explore his gym."

"Oh… well, I guess… this is good-bye then…" Nichole whispered. She appeared to be holding back tears.

"Aww!" Tori cried. She ran up to Nichole and pulled her away from Dexter into a hug. "I'm gonna miss you…"

"I'll miss you too," Nichole said, hugging Tori back. "Both of you," she added with a pointed look towards Carrie. Carrie stood up and put her hand on Nichole's shoulder, but Tori pulled her into the hug.

"Good luck out there," Carrie choked out, unsure of exactly what to say.

"You too," Nichole whispered, smiling.

After a brief exchange between Tori and Dexter, both he and Nichole waved goodbye and walked off towards the gym. The two remaining girls watched them until they were out of sight, then Tori struck up conversation again.

"So, going to take on the gyms, huh? Would you mind if I, like, came along with you?"

"What? Why would you want to do that?"

"Well, someone totally has to teach you how to properly interact with others!" Tori giggled.

"No, seriously, Tori. Do you remember anything that I told you back in my room earlier?"

"What, about your dad's insane Machamp? What about it?"

"You do realize I'm going after him, right? Are you really sure you thought about this?"

"Actually, no, Carrie," Tori snapped. "I didn't think about it for too long, but, like, I still like the idea."

"Well, I…." Carrie stuttered, and then paused to think. "I guess I wouldn't mind having the company."

"Don't worry," Tori said happily, "you'll totally love having me around! So… what's our next stop?"

Carrie sat back down as she thought about her plan. "Okay, well… first I need to talk to Falkner. I haven't seen him leave, so he must still be in the Center. I need to see if he knows anything about Machamp, and if not, at least he'll be on the lookout, and maybe he can warn the other gym leaders. And then I have to go buy Sam a new tent before we leave town-"

The oddity of Carrie's last statement caught Tori's attention. "A tent? Why?"

"It's a long story… but basically Cyndaquil accidentally burned his down when I first met him. That's why our battle was cut short. Anyways… after that, I guess it's on to wherever the nearest gym is."

"Alright," Tori said. "Then let's go get Sam. Last time I saw him, he was totally into his conversation with Falkner anyway. Then we can all go and work on fixing you, together."

Tori didn't miss the slight smile Carrie gave her as she turned and walked into the Pokémon Center. She couldn't help but smile herself as she follower her friend; maybe there was a chance to change Carrie after all.

A/N: According to my profile before posting this... 'Updated: 12-16-11' It's now March 17th in 2013... over a year since this was actually updated. I've had the first half of this chapter written for most of that time and I've been working on fixing and finishing the entire thing for half of March because I really hate the last chapter - but since it's already posted it would be silly to just change it now - so I had to work with trying to fix it in this chapter and I just don't like the whole situation. It didn't feel right.

In any case, we're beginning (or going to be beginning) to see Carrie start to learn how to be compassionate and all that. A lot sooner than I intended or expected also, but honestly I think it will work out for several reasons. Firstly, after over a year, going back and reading this kinda makes me depressed at how badly written and poorly planned it is. Second, I haven't really handled Carrie's character the way I thought I had been, the way I'd been intending this whole time. Third, I feel like this story is just moving waaaay too slowly, both in comparison to my other two as well as most of the other writers I'm following both past and present, so hopefully this will help it pick up.

That said, it's a little late to change the plot and all that but at least it's still really early in the story so I think it's mostly salvageable, and I'm going to damn well try to do just that with the next chapter and onwards. And thus begins my healing of Carrie.

So for next chapter (which will probably still be sporadic and randomly updated with long gaps in between since I'm actually focusing on my other two stories right now), we'll wrap up Violet City, and move on to Route 32 and Union Cave. For the record, I have no actual chapter-by-chapter plot planned for this other than the main plot so I'm writing it as I go. I've been doing that from the start, unlike the other stories where I have at least a vague idea what's going to be in each chapter before they're written and combed out. I'll start planning chapters in advance now, though, for the sake of making this enjoyable to write again and, after all, I'm still using it for practice.

So, uh, yeah. Long note for a long gap in between chapters.