Writing Ritchie: The Boy Who Won

GioRocket · Oct 1, 2014

"You know how the story ends, but how does it begin? Witness as, Ritchie, the boy who delivered the most heartbreaking defeat in Pokémon history journeys throughout Kanto. Witness how Ritchie became the boy who won."

Does everybody remember Ritchie? I am quite looking forward to the challenge of making this guy interesting, I must admit. I hated him when I was younger, I think I was about 7 or 8 when he beat Ash in the Indigo League, I was devastated haha

This is his journey.

Prologue

Prologue

Hello. My name is Ritchie. I am going to be one of the greatest Pokémon Trainers who ever lived. I am going to become a Pokémon Master!

I am sure you have heard that a million times, right? Who doesn't want to become a Pokémon Master?

While I know you have heard the words before, while I know everybody has heard the words before, this time I really believe is different. I know I can be a successful Pokémon Trainer. I know I can catch them all and I know I can earn the respect of my peers.

I will beat all the Gym Leaders, I will catch all the Pokémon and I will stop at nothing to defeat every single person in the Indigo League.

You see, I'm not like the others. At least that is what I like to think. Everybody else, my so called friends in Frodomar City, my parents, all the Pokémon Trainers I have had the honour to talk to, seem to think that I am just an average Joe, wannabe Pokémon Trainer. A wannabe Pokémon Trainer who will work as hard as he can and learn everything there is to learn about this wonderful world.

But then again, when it is said like that, maybe that's exactly what I am. Everybody has the dream, everybody wants to going around and meet people and create unbreakable bonds with people and Pokémon alike. Few ever actually realise this dream.

That's how I will be different. I will achieve my dream, and I will become the Kanto League Champion.

At any cost...

TO BE CONTINUED…

Chapter 1 - My Mystery

Chapter 1 – My Mystery

Woke up early? Check!

Ready for the day I start my Pokémon journey? Check!

Oh, just imagine if I had overslept. Ha!

Dressed in strong and durable clothing? Check!

Received my first Pokémon before I have to register as a Pokémon Trainer? Check!

Then this is it, my journey begins, my dream of being a Pokémon Master starts now! This is gonna be amazing. I am going to look back on this day for years to come. This day will be the day that it all began. Nothing could ruin today, nothing.

I have been thinking about and preparing for this day ever since I can remember. I have packed my bag (weeks in advance, actually), I have five potions, and I have five full heals stuffed inside, I bought a very, very fashionable green outfit that is perfect for the heavy duty, daily grind of a Pokémon Trainer's life. Well, ok, maybe it isn't the most fashionable thing in the world but that doesn't matter, it's resilient and long lasting, and it will protect me in all weathers, that's good enough for me.

I kinda spent all my money on this stuff so they better last until I can get some more cash, though that shouldn't be a problem. With my Pokémon by my side I am sure to be winning battles and earning money in no time.

And most importantly, I have a Pokémon.

Unlike some other beginning Trainers, I don't have to make the long trek over from Frodomar City to Professor Oak's lab in Pallet Town and choose a starter Pokémon. Although I would love the opportunity to go and meet the old Professor and choose a starter from him, I don't need too. You see, I already have my Starter Pokémon covered.

When I was nine years old, exactly one year ago today, my father left me a Poké Ball, and within this Poké Ball would the Pokémon I would begin my journey with. And with this Poké Ball he left me a promise, a promise that if the Pokémon's identity was kept hidden until the day my journey begins then the Pokémon will bring me all the luck I need to win the Kanto League. Superstitious, yes, but I could use all the help I get. And I kept my promise, today I finally get the chance to see the power that's inside my Poké Ball. My Starter.

You have no idea how much I have daydreamed about the Pokémon contained within. My father was never a trainer himself, none of my family or friends were actually, he was just a businessman. And I was never really told how he came about the Pokémon, as he had to move away on business, and he left me the Poké Ball as his parting gift. I wasn't exactly interested in how he got it anyway, just that he got it. And all my thoughts for the past year have been swirling with the idea of who was in this ball. Was it the standard: Charmander, Squirtle or Bulbasaur? Or was it something from another region? Was it a rare Pokémon? Was it a Legendary Pokémon?!

When I started to have visions of myself ordering a Moltres around I eventually slapped myself out of such hallucinations.

But still, why wasn't I allowed to open it? Why did my father want this Pokémon to be shrouded in mystery for a whole year? He knew this Pokémon would be all I would think about. He knew I would be curious.

Maybe he just wanted to torture me with a lesson on patience. He always took things to the extreme like that.

Although, to give myself some credit, I have somehow managed to keep myself from ever actually opening the Poké Ball. A whole year I had to walk past the locked basement where it was held. A whole year I had daydreams of Lugia and Zapdos raging underneath my house.

I know I have probably built up the idea of what this Pokémon will be too much. But, really, I don't mind, even if it was a Cleffa I'd be happy. Well, once the shock had died down anyway.

For the all daydreaming and fantasising I have done about my mysterious Pokémon, today I am finally going to find out the unknown. My Starter, who are you?

It's my 10th birthday today. And just like I do at every birthday(and Christmas) I was wide awake at six o'clock in the morning and I was running throughout the house, tearing all the rooms upside down looking for the key to the basement(and not for the first time since I found out my Starter was in there, I'll admit). But once again I was subjected to another promise. The first time I had heard from my father in a whole year was a simple text: saying that I couldn't open the Poké Ball before I left the house, it must be opened "when my journey officially began".

Even from miles away the old man is annoying.

Well, I have just left my house in Frodomar City. I am dressed. My messy hair is kept under control beneath my hat. My backpack is packed with everything I need. And I am on the way to the Pokémon Centre to get myself officially registered for the Kanto League Challenge.

I stared out over the horizon of the beautiful Frodomar City scenery and couldn't believe all the wonders I had been imagining for the past few years were actually upon me. My dreams were just beginning. The adventures had arrived.

The journey has begun!

Now, with the monotony of everyday life behind me, with my house and home in the dust, I can really get started. The mystery of the Poké Ball will finally end.

So now the time has come. No more excuses, no more promises. My mystery is over.

I took the Poké Ball from my belt and I palmed it in my hands. At some point I must have started breathing heavily, and my hands weren't as steady as they usually are either. I must be more nervous that I thought. I started rolling Poke Ball over in my hands. I had been waiting for this moment all my life, yet now that it's here am starting to feel a little anxious.

There's nothing to be nervous about, there's nothing to be nervous about. I kept repeating the phrase in my head and I plucked up my courage. I tapped the centre of the ball and it shot up in an instant filling my palm.

I clutched the red and white ball of mystery in my right hand, ready to deliver the words I has been waiting a whole year, no, my whole life to saying. I took a deep breath, and tried to steady myself as I prepared to take a strong throw of the ball.

Ok, Ritchie, here we go. "Poké Ball...I choose you!"

The action never came.

Before I could release the ball from my grip I was tackled to the ground. I was attacked from behind and was suddenly face down on the floor.

I was disoriented. What had happened? I tried to get up on my hands and knees and have a look around but I was kicked in the stomach. It took my breath away and I found myself flat on the floor once again. I heard footsteps stomping away as I tried to get up again but was collapsed back down in pain. I turned my head around to see where the footsteps were coming from.

By the time I had collected some semblance of my bearings and tried to pick myself up off the ground, I was watching three men with hoods drawn over their heads running away from me - with my Poké Ball in their possession.

I had been robbed. They had stolen my Pokémon!

I tried to get up, I tried to run after the thieves but I was too slow, I was barely to my feet before they had disappeared over the Frodomar landscape.

It all happened so quickly. They were gone.

My Pokémon had been stolen. The Pokémon that was entrusted to me to help me start my journey was gone. The Pokémon I had been dreaming about all my life was gone just like that!

Why? Why now? Why me! Why would they attack me, I was nobody! I wasn't anyone special.

I don't have a Pokémon, they won't let me register for the League without a Pokémon, and they won't let me become a Trainer!

My dreams flashed before me all at once. Every battle I would have. Every Pokémon I would catch. The special bond I would share with everybody I meet. I had always dreamed of how my journey would begin. I would begin in a blaze of glory. I would catch the strongest Pokémon, I would defeat everybody in my path and I would become undefeated.

But no, that's not what was happening. No glory, no winning streak, no Pokémon. This had never come into the equation. This wasn't something I envisioned.

Of all the ways I had fantasied this day would go, of all the ways my journey could have begun…

My story starts in disaster.

TO BE CONTINUED…

GioRocket · Oct 4, 2014

Chapter 2 - Run

Chapter 2 – Run

I have to get my Pokémon back! I have to catch those thieves! They need to pay for what they did!

I ran. I ran for my life. I ran towards my thieves, faster than I have ever ran before. I couldn't stop, I had no time! I couldn't stop until I had caught them and I had my Pokémon back. I couldn't think of anything else, I just had to keep putting my feet on the ground and pushing forward and going faster and faster and catching those men.

The wind was whipping through my hair, the terrain underneath my feet was changing as I ran, but I couldn't focus of the environment around me. I just had to keep running towards the spot on the horizon where my attackers disappeared. I had no way of knowing how far I ran or even if I was even on the same track as the thieves were. I couldn't give up… I couldn't give up…

But they were gone. I couldn't see them. Since they had disappeared over the landscape I had just been running in this direction, for as far and as long as I could. But the battle was lost. They had vanished. Nowhere to be seen. My starter had vanished. No Pokémon, no thieves, no nothing, just me. All alone.

My legs gave way after what seemed like hours of running, I must have travelled miles. I crumbled onto the hard floor and it dawned on me what was happening, on what had happened. This couldn't be real. Why had this happened to me? I hit the floor in anger as I realised what was true.

My journey is over. Over before it even began. What if I never catch them? What if I never see them again? What will I do? I am a Trainer without Pokémon…

Ok, ok, ok, think logically Ritchie… What do I have to do now? My Pokémon has been stolen. I need to report it. Maybe the police have caught them. Maybe they have my Pokémon.

So my aching legs were once again called to action as I picked myself up, dusted myself off and ran back towards Frodomar City. I aimlessly wandered around the city looking for a police station. I have lived here all my life yet I never had the need for the police. I had to ask a few people what direction it was first (which didn't make me feel pathetic, at all), but I found the building and made my way into the small police station.

So instead of running into the wilds of the open countryside with my Pokémon by my side like I had been imagining for all of my life, I was actually stuck inside, waiting for the Frodomar City police to see me. I was stuck in their waiting room for what was surely hours, in spite of the clock telling me it wasn't very long at all before they ushered me into an interview room.

I was sat slouched at a desk as a big balding man in a blue uniform came stumbling through the door. He was just hanging up his phone and laughing as he walked in. I was in no mood for laughter.

"Hello, son, I see you are here to report a robbery?" He sat down opposite me on the desk and asked his questions. He lit up a cigarette and started taking a smoke as he pulled out a notepad. This guy seems awfully casual, I am sure I heard stories about a glamorous Officer Jenny. I guess she is be busy.

I don't know if it was my disheartened mood at the way my journey started but this guy really didn't look like he would be able to help. Please prove me wrong, Inspector…

I sat up in my chair and tried to explain my situation. "Umm, yes, I was just attacked from behind and had my Pokémon stolen."

"I see, I am very sorry to hear that. Let's see what we can do." He took out a pencil and started writing something down, after taking a smoke. I wish he would put that out, it's hardly professional. "So let's go through all of the events from the beginning, shall we?"

I looked at him and tried to keep my voice steady. "I had just come out my house, it's my 10th birthday today and I was just about to start my Pokémon journey and challenging the Kanto League. When I wasn't looking somebody tackled me from behind and stole my Pokémon." The smoky room was starting to look as gloomy as my mood was.

"I see, I see," Furious writing in his pad, "Did you get a look at who attack you?"

"No, not really, not a good one," Even I know that sounds as hopeless as it gets. "I was thrown to the ground from behind, by the time I had the chance to look I could only see the back of three men with black hoodies."

"There were three of them?" His eyebrows seemed to prick up at that information.

My heartbeat grew faster. He knew three thieves? Are they caught? "Yes, yes, and they took my Poké Ball." Maybe he could help. Maybe he could find my Pokémon!

"Did anybody see this robbery?"

"No, no, I don't think so, I was all alone out there."

He looked disappointed at that, though he tried to hide it. "Ok, ok, and what was the Pokémon that was stolen?"

Now that was a good question. "Err, I don't know."

He looked up from his pad before asking, "You don't know?"

"It was given to me as a gift. I hadn't had the chance to see what it was yet."

He didn't seem too happy with that information, either. "Right, forget about the Pokémon for second." If only I could. "These thieves, could one of them have been female?"

"Oh, um, yeah, maybe, I guess so." They had their hoods up, they looked quite big from my perspective but I suppose one of them could have been a woman.

A smile grew on his face, "Ahh, that's good, there have been reports of a gang of three Pokémon thieves operating around Kanto lately."

"Oh, really?" It's something at least, if they were well known maybe there was a better chance they would be caught and I could get my Pokémon back! I was starting to feel better already.

"So, listen, these three thieves... Was one of them a cat?"

"I-I beg your pardon?" …What did he say?

"Was one of them a cat? A Meowth to be-"

"No!" A cat!? A freaking cat! "No! No, no, one of them was not a cat. It was three men, three large men in black hoods!"

His optimism since I brought up the trio of thieves seemed to be dashed as he started writing in his pad again.

"Black, huh? Ah, well, those other guys wear white anyway."

What kind of thieves wears white? Actually, what kind of thieves has a cat? A cat! Oh my goodness. I put my head in my hands on the Inspector table.

The Policeman cleared his throat and started talking again. "Right, ok, so we can rule those guys out, at least." He literally crossed something out on his pad. "Do you have any other information for us? Did you see which way they ran away?"

"North, maybe, I don't know." I mumbled through my hands. "That's the way I ran when I tried to chase them. But I couldn't find them."

The officer looked uncomfortable at the little amount of information I could offer. "I am sorry, kid, but without a look at the people who attack you, no eye witnesses of the robbery or even an identification of the Pokémon that was stolen, I am afraid there is very little chance they will be caught. Of course, we will keep trying, robberies like these aren't common in our city, and we will keep on lookout for three hooded robbers, but the chances of them being caught are slim."

I have to admit, I was devastated. "But my Pokémon..." I don't like to admit that I was on the verge of tears, "There's nothing you can do? Please, anything you can do I'll be grateful."

"I'm sorry, Ritchie, but we-"

I cut him off before he could finish. "So what am I supposed to do now?! Huh? I have no Pokémon! How am I supposed to be a trainer without a Pokémon?"

"I'm sorry." He did look genuinely guilty, and I suppose I hadn't been behaving appropriately. "Err, if I was you, kid, I would try and speak to Professor Oak, he might be able to sort something out for you."

Professor Oak. I had thought of that, of course I had thought about that, I had been dreaming of getting a Pokémon from him for ages, but no, my father had "everything sorted". There's no way I could get a Pokémon from Oak now, to get anywhere close to a starter Pokémon from him you had been be put on a huge waiting list, not to mention the steep price to even get on the list. If I show up there with a just a sob story I am gonna be laughed out the door. Not to mention Pallet Town was miles away.

But maybe it would be worth going to him. The legendary good will of the old Professor might be able to help me in some way.

I left the police station even more demoralized than I already was. That was it. My Starter is gone and will never be found. No hope of reunion, no hope of catching the people who stole my wonderful mysterious starter. No hope of becoming a Pokémon Master.

No. No, no, no, no. I will not let this happen. I don't care if it takes me all my life I will get my Pokémon back.

I will not let my journey be ruined just because some random thugs chose to attack a weaker target. Cowards! I may be weak now but one day I will be strong. One day I will be Kanto League Champion and one day I will get my revenge. One day I will be the strongest trainer in Kanto and then we will see who you try to attack from behind.

I have no hope of being a Pokémon Master… Until tomorrow. Tomorrow I will find Professor Oak, I will convince him to give me a starter Pokémon and then I will start my quest.

The trek over to Pallet Town will take all day and all night. My first day as a fully-fledged Pokémon Trainer, my whole 10th Birthday so far has been spent waiting around in a police station and the rest will be spent bored senseless on a long bus across the region to Pallet Town.

Oh joy.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Turtwig · Oct 4, 2014

This story has started really well. Because Ritchie is the main character, I assumed it would just be a continuation of the anime in some respect, but you're actually giving him a backstory--and a unique one at that.

One thing I can suggest to you is to give your protagonist some defining characteristic. So many Pokemon trainers are proud of themselves and ashamed to be beaten, so I think people would really enjoy the story if you made Ritchie more distinguishable from every other story about trainers. Just a thought--I'm sure you're working on it (it's only the second chapter, after all) and I wish you the best of luck!

GioRocket · Oct 10, 2014

Thanks for the review Turtwig

Chapter 3: Eden and Oak

Chapter 3: Eden and Oak

So, here it is. Pallet Town. For such a small and apparently uninteresting town it sure does have a legacy of creating some high classed and important trainers. Though I doubt anybody would ever come here if it wasn't Professor Oak's hometown. And that was exactly who I wanted to see.

It was quite a lovely morning in Pallet Town. A cloudless blue sky covered the small town and the whole place was awash with bright sunlight. The red roofs of a small collection of housed dotted around the landscape as I looked down upon the town. Dirt pathways crisscrossed between the different buildings and all the roads seemed to lead to one place. Several white building stood out furthest on the horizon and I saw a huge wind turbine stretching up from one of the buildings. The Oak Corral, that was where I needed to be.

I have been thinking all night how exactly I was going to approach this. My motive sounds like I am planning to steal a rare Pokémon from an old Professor. It's not my fault I want my first Pokémon to be cool and interesting. Everybody does. And if I cannot have my amazing mystery Pokémon then I want something rare, specifically Charmander, Squirtle or Bulbasaur...

It's not gonna be easy to get any of those, if I had signed up a few years ago then my only conundrum would be which one to choose. But no, I don't have such an option, my father was quite emphatic about me not signing up for such an opportunity because he said he would sort it out for me. "I will provide you with everything you need."

Oh man, what am I going to tell my dad?!

My father said he would buy all my gear, the most expensive of equipment and devices but I told him no. I wanted to do this how everybody else does it. Earn money myself and live on what I earn. I hope I earned his respect by saying that.

If he finds out I had already lost my first Pokémon he will kill me.I couldn't tell him I had lost my Pokémon already. He'd be so disappointed. I haven't told anybody, I just need to keep quiet and then nobody will know I am already such a failure at this.

I have my pride. No Pokémon. But pride. Because I am a nice and respectable individual. Now I just need to swindle an old man out of a rare and valuable Pokémon and I will be on my way.

That sounds bad, doesn't it?

So here I am, just standing in front of the famous Oak Corral. This really is make or break. If I don't get anything from here I am basically stuck. No money, no Pokémon... I'll have to go back home and admit defeat. I don't think will ever live that embarrassment down.

I was just about to traverse the long pathway up into Oaks lab when I saw a girl racing out of the lab and almost ran straight into me.

The girl was very pretty. Pale skin covered in a red jumper and black shorts and her long red hair flowing down her back as she ran. She as literally bouncing with energy as she just about saw I was standing in front of her and stopped her dash as she saw me. "Hello!" She stood right in front of me and gave a very cheerful greeting. Too cheerful for my current mood but I shall try my best...

I forced a smile and greeted her, "Good morning, umm, how are you?"

"Oh, oh, oh, I am fantastic. I just got my first Pokémon, I start my Pokémon journey today!"

Don't some people have all the luck? "Really? That is excellent, you must be very excited."

"Oh, of course. I'm gonna be Kanto League Champion." By the look on her face she was visualizing holding that trophy up as we speak. "And I will become a Pokémon Master!"

No, you won't. I will. "Haha, right, well, I wish you all the best." I tried to move past her and enter the lab.

"Thank you! Look at my Charmander! Isn't he awesome?" The girl pulled a Poké Ball out of her back pocket and threw it high into the air. The ball exploded in a flash of light and a small red lizard materialised in between us. The Charmander looked around expectantly and leaped into the girls arms when the Fire Pokémon saw his trainer.

What a Pokémon! I had always loved the Charizard family. "Wow, he looks amazing." I stepped forward and pet the Fire Pokémon on his head. The Charmander squeaked in appreciation and wriggled in her arms trying to get more attention. How lucky she was to have such a Pokémon, and start her journey with what will become a true powerhouse. Ok, now I'm starting to feel jealous...

"I just got him yesterday. Me, Professor Oak's grandson and some guy from Johto all chose starter Pokémon together. Although I have actually known this Charmander for years. When I was younger Professor Oak let me play with all the baby Pokémon just after they hatched. And this little guy finally matured just as I turn legal age. Isn't that amazing! It's like we were destined to be together."

"You certainly seem to share a bond..." I tried my best to smile and not let my envy show through, "I probably would have chosen Charmander as well."

"I know, Charmander is so much better than the other two! I was so busy showing him off to all my friends yesterday I didn't even have time to start my journey. But a one day delay doesn't matter, Zippo and I are gonna rule the world!"

Huh? "Zippo?"

"Yes, Zippo! That's this little guys name." She looked at her little Pokemon with pride.

Wow… What a crap name. "Your Charmander is called Zippo?"

She must have caught the derision in my voice. Her bright and sunny personality since we met started to turn. "Yeah! What's wrong with that? It's a perfect name!"

"Umm, nothing is wrong, Zippo is…" Ridiculous, horrible, stupid, dreadful, "A great name." Guess my voice wasn't as steady as I had hoped as her annoyance didn't seem to subside.

"Ok, I was five when I named him! Give me a break! And who are you to call me out anyway? What are you even doing here? Professor Oak gave out all his starters yesterday so you can't be a beginning trainer." It seems I angered her.

"I am a beginning trainer actually, I just need to talk to Professor Oak." I walked away from her and up the pathway. I really didn't feel like telling this girl my woeful beginnings as a trainer.

"So why do you need to see Oak?" She was right behind me as she followed me up the pathway.

"Err, it's nothing." I really didn't want to divulge my life story to everybody I met, especially not this annoying girl.

"Well, he's a busy man, you know, you can't keep him away from important business for nothing." She crossed her arms as she spoke to me in her condescending tone.

"It is not nothing. It's important, trust me. It's more important than anything I ever dreamed of."

She laughed at my, admittedly quite melodramatic, statement. "Wow, you should write that down, it'd be good for a musical or something. So Mr Trainer, what is it that is the most important thing in the world?"

Oh great, she wasn't going to leave me alone without telling her something. "Well, I was supposed to start my Pokémon journey yesterday as well. But my starter was stolen so I came here to see if the Professor could help me in some way."

She didn't give any sympathy to my predicament and continued to look down her nose at me. "What do you want him to do? Give you a starter?

That would be nice… "Well, I-"

"You can't just rock up here with some lame excuse and expect him to give you Pokémon you haven't earned!" It looks like I have annoyed her again.

"I know, I just-"

"You're just an opportunist trying to get one over on the old man, aren't you?"

"What? No, of course not!" Well, not as maliciously as she was implying anyway.

"You better not be, I hate to see people take advantage of his good nature. I've seen it too many times. Yesterday he gave an idiot a Pikachu he didn't deserve. And even he showed up late!"

That was nice of the Professor, I wonder if lightning will strike twice.

I had walked up the stair, with the ginger girl at my tail and I pressed the doorbell on the building. I waited for a while and tried to ignore the girls tirade about how I was apparently the worst person in the whole world. Her chatter was stopped when to my surprise it was Professor Oak himself who answered the door. I assumed he would be too busy to answer his own door. "Oh, hi, Mr Oak I-"

"Ahh, Eden, still here I see." He had a broad smile across his face as he acknowledged the girl standing next to me.

She took her suspicious gaze away from me and answered him. Her mood brightened as she talked to Professor Oak. "Yes, sir, I was just leaving." She returned her Charmander back to its Poké Ball and faced the Professor with a confident smile. "My Pokémon journey starts now."

"Very good, very good. You and your Charmander seem like an excellent team, I am sure you will go far. I wish you all the luck in the world."

"Thank you Professor. I'll keep in touch." She shook the Professors hand and gave me a untrustworthy glance before leaving the buildings doorstep.

"Oh you be sure of it! I'll look forward to your progress." The Professor stood and watched the young girl walk away before he addressed me with a warm smile and a heart handshake. "Hello, young man, err, do I know you?"

Here we go, Ritchie, play this right and you could get a Pokémon. "No, actually you don't, my name is Ritchie. I was hoping I could talk to you about starting my Pokémon journey."

"Excellent, yes, yes, come in." Wow, he was seeing me straight away? He must really care about young trainers, surely he has other things to do.

"Oh, thank you, sir, and thank you so much for seeing me on such short notice." I took a little bow of respect in front of him (too much?), he laughed at my greeting and motioned for me to come in and follow him. I walked behind him as we travelled through the building and my curiosity was getting the better of me and I tried to take a quick peek into all the different doors as I was keeping up with his brisk pace. I could see all different kinds of laboratories, a Poké Ball storage facility and rooms I couldn't even begin to imagine their purpose.

We came to a door and Oak walked into what seemed like a very humble office room. Books lined the walls and the whole places seemed very lived in. He certainly didn't seem to tidy up much. Funny, I always imagined the famous Professor Oak as being quite clean and orderly. Maybe he doesn't have the time.

"Please sit down, Ritchie. I am always happy to talk to and help starting trainers whenever I can. You know, I sent away my last batch of starting trainers yesterday. Now that their journey has begun I can look forward to all the Pokédex data they will send me." He looked very happy at that prospect. "Actually my own grandson started out yesterday. Such an intelligent boy, I am sure he will do splendidly, mind you, his rival will surely keep on his toes, but that's when we work best, don't you find?"

The question surprised me as I was (quite selfishly) trying to figure out how I should phrased my questions from now. "Oh, yes, absolutely."

"Oh, I am sorry, excuse my rambling." I hope my tone hadn't offended him, though his beaming smile never left his face. "So, what can I do for you, Ritchie?"

Once again, I explained my story. "Well, umm, like your grandson I was also supposed to start my Pokémon journey yesterday, but I kinda had my starter Pokémon stolen."

"Oh my goodness, how awful for you." He did seemed terribly upset for me, not believing my plight to be a sob story one bit, unlike Eden's implications.

"Well, I talked to the police and they said there was nothing really they could do, they did imply that maybe you could help me in some way?"

Realisation dawned upon him, "Oh, I see, well, umm," He scratched his head and seemed to be thinking over the situation.

I gently pushed him. "Sir, anything you can do to help would be much appreciated, right now I have no money, no Pokémon, this whole thing has just been a nightmare, to be honest."

He started to stand up and walk away from his desk. "Ok, ok, wait here, I'll see what I can do." He smiled and patted me on the shoulder before leaving the room.

What was he doing? Was he getting me a Pokémon? My heart pounded as I was left in his small office and I turned in my chair and watched the door with baited breathe as I waited for the Professor to come back, hopefully with a Pokémon!

I am sure he was gone for hours, though my watch was telling me it was only a few minutes. I (finally) heard footsteps coming down the hall and saw the energetic old man come stumbling through the door. "Ritchie, here you go." He was carrying a tray of six Poké Balls which he set down on his desk. "These are some empty Poké Balls which should help you get started in building a roster of Pokémon. I have also gotten you officially registered for the Kanto League challenge. And I have added you to my client list so when you catch over six Pokémon, you will be able to store your extra Pokémon here."

I stood up from my chair and eyed the six Poké Balls. "Wow, thank you very much, sir. That is very gracious of you."

"Oh, that's not a problem, my boy." He looked over me with a troubled expression. "I just wish there was more I could do."

Umm, there is one thing… I just had to try. "Well, now that you mention it. I do need a starter Pokémon? How am I supposed to catch any Pokémon without weakening them first?" I hated myself for trying to guilt trip the old man but what choice did I have? I suppose I abandoned all hope of politeness and tried one last outburst to try and get a starter. It's not like I had anything to lose.

The Professor scratched his head, "I am sorry Ritchie, I would love to give you a Pokémon, I really would. But I can't just give out these rare Pokémon to everybody to shows up. If I could I probably would, haha."

My disappointment must have showed through on my face as another setback was thrust upon me. It looks like wasn't going to get a Pokémon from him. "No, you're right. Of course not…" I collapsed back into my chair.

Professor Oak saw my disappointment as he tried to explain himself. "As much as I would love to give you a Pokémon, I feel especially bad considering I gave a Pokémon to a boy who was late yesterday, there are some forces outside my control preventing it."

I looked at him, that bit of information seemed odd. Why would anybody stop Oak from giving out Pokémon? "Outside forces?"

"Well," he seemed a little uncomfortable talking but he didn't stop himself. "You see, a few weeks ago, the Pokémon League came to my Laboratory for a routine inspection. Well, I assumed it was routine anyway, but it turns out they came by to tell me I was being too lenient with beginning trainers. Giving them Pokémon and Pokédexes they were not signed up to receive, that sort of thing. I never really saw the problem with giving out this kind of help, it is a dangerous world out there, especially for beginners. But apparently the League thinks it is too much help, and that I am mollycoddling new trainers. So from this point forward I am banned from giving out Pokémon that aren't on the list."

"I see." Typical that all this had to happen before I could get a Pokémon…

"Anyway, yesterday they found out that I defied directed orders by giving a new Trainer a Pikachu, so let's just say they aren't very happy with me. Haha. I never expected such law enforcement, they have never intervened with my duties before. It is quite strange, this year they seem to be a lot more hands on with their rules."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the League seems to be, what's the word… interfering with Trainer's journeys. A lot more than they have before anyway. There has been a change of leadership recently and from what I have seen they are enforcing their procedures and structure on Trainers much more."

What was he saying? "So, is that a bad thing? The League just wants to help trainers get stronger, right?" This wasn't a conversation I was expecting.

He seemed to be deep in thought for a moment before snapping out of it and returning to his jolly demeanour, "Yes, yes, of course. You have nothing to worry about, they are just mad at me for defying them. Haha, So, Ritchie, I am truly sorry I can't give you a Pokémon."

"No, no, that's fine, I apologise if I was asking too much." I tried to be slightly mature to make up for letting myself get upset.

"That is quite alright, Ritchie, I can imagine many people would be doing the same in your situation. It's a tough old world out there. You just have to accept that there is going to be set backs. It's going to be hard. You are going to fall and think that the world is over. But the only thing you have to remember is that it isn't. It isn't about how you fall down. It is about how well you get back up. You may have had a hard beginning into this world Ritchie. But trust me, it will get better. There is one good thing to come from this. You have hit rock bottom. There is only one direction you can go now."

"Up…" I finished for him.

"Up." He repeated. "I wish you all the luck in the world, Ritchie. I cannot wait to see you dominate in the Indigo League."

"Thank you Professor, you have been very helpful." I started to get up and leave. I guess I'll have to earn my first Pokémon by caching it myself… That sounds hard without anything to weaken it first.

"Ritchie, wait," The Professor stopped me before I could leave and reached into his desk, "Here, take this." He slyly handed me a device he had taken out of the drawer in his desk. It was a Pokédex!

"Oh my, Professor, thank you!" I cradled the shiny red device in my hands, these things were like gold dust!

"That's alright," He seemed to nervously look around to see if anybody was watching. "That Pokédex was one the Pokémon League accidentally left behind after their last inspection. Don't let anybody know you got that from me, alright?" He smiled and gave me a wink.

I shook his hand in gratitude. "Wow, thank you, Professor, you have no idea how grateful I am!"

He laughed, "Don't mention it. And good luck out there, please keep in touch."

"I will. And I will dominate the Indigo League." A sly grin crossed my face before declaring, "Even if that mean beating your grandson."

He smiled at my joke. "Oh, yes, haha, very good. Time will tell, Ritchie, it always does."

With that I bid him farewell. Still no Pokémon, but much better off.

Now, the journey begins.

TO BE CONTINUED…

GioRocket · Oct 18, 2014

Chapter 4: Pokedex Problems

Chapter 4: Pokédex Problems

So my visit to Professor Oak didn't exactly give me the results I was anticipating, I was hoping he would be so kind as to give me a Starter Pokémon, but I guess it wasn't to be. Then again, the visit wasn't a total waste of time, I now have 6 Poké Balls and a shiny new Pokédex to use on my journey. Now I just have to use them…

I suppose it could be worse, at least now I am in control of my own destiny. This way I get the chance to choose and earn my own starter Pokémon.

But where to begin?

It seemed there was a long road ahead of me, there was a single pathway in front of me snaking over the hill tops and grassy terrain that lead me to Viridian City. With just the one road at least I wasn't going to get lost. The sun was still shining and I was looking out over the area surrounding me, seeing if I could spot any Pokémon. No luck.

Wild Pokémon from around this area are said to be notoriously weak, here as I walk down Route 1. Going to Viridian wasn't exactly a big choice as there was no other direction to go down from Pallet Town unless I wanted to swim to Cinnabar Island. Even if the wild Pokémon are a little weak here, without anything to weaken it first before catching one might be a bit of a problem…

Maybe Pokémon at full health may not be strong enough to break out of a Poké Ball. That's a big 'maybe'. The Pokémon from around here aren't exactly valuable or rare. Sandshrews, Rattatas, Spearows… Oh man, would I really want a Rattata being my starter? I said I would be happy with anything but still…

No! I can't think like that! I will catch the first thing I see, beggars can't be choosers and a future Raticate would be an excellent member of my team. If I can find one, that is. The weather has been excellent all day, perfect for wild Pokémon to be out and about, yet ever since I arrived at Pallet and yet I haven't seen a single Pokémon. How strange…

One place that I knew would be overflowing with a vast array of cool and interesting Pokémon would be in the Viridian Forest. I have been reading up on all the important places in the Kanto region and that was a place that particularly caught my eye as being somewhere I could catch a vast array of Pokémon. But going into that forest without any kind of protection for a Pokémon would be insanely dangerous so I most definitely need to catch something before I go into the forest.

While I was walking, to the newly decided destination of the Viridian Forest, I heard a strange crackling noise coming from my pocket. The pocket that held the Pokédex Professor Oak had given me. The Pokédex was giving off a strange screeching noise and I as quickly as possible try to stop the horrible noise. I pressed the large blue button on top and flipped open the red Pokedex to see what was happening. The strange noises were becoming louder and seemed more violent as static interference lit up the screen and I pressed every button I could on the interface to try to shake off the horrible noise! I tried everything to get the screeching noise to subside but nothing seemed to be working. The noise was becoming so loud now I was worried it might upset the wild Pokémon in the surrounding area (not that I could see any as of yet). And as a last ditch attempt to fix it I turned the whole thing off and finally the static noise stopped. When I turned it back on the Pokédex screen came to life.

"I'm Dexter, a Pokédex programmed by Professor Oak for all new Pokémon Trainers. My function is to provide information and give advice regarding Pokémon and their training. If lost or stolen, I cannot be replaced."

Aha! It's working.

Looking the whole thing over the Pokédex problems seemed to be over and it looked to be working normally again. I turned "Dexter" over in my hand and took a closer look at everything. Apparently it was a slim model HANDY505, it had 22 buttons and a small screen in the middle. Upon closer inspection the Pokédex didn't look as new as I thought it was when the professor gave it to me. It looked a little worn and scuffed and there was even a big crack down the side of it, almost as if somebody had pried it open and stuck it back together again. Oh well, I guess I couldn't complain. He was nice enough to give me a Pokédex for free, I don't mind if it is second hand.

I was snapped out of my inspection when I saw a rustling in the grass before me and something leapt out of its hiding place and confronted me with a mean look on its face. A Pokémon! It was quite small, and blue fur covered its body, a long tail trailed behind it and it was on four small legs and looked straight up at me with anger in its eyes and snarls coming from its mouth. With the Pokédex in both hands I aimed it at the small blue Pokémon that had run out into my tracks. The red information directory buzzed to life and identified the Pokémon.

"Dragonite, the Dragon Pokémon. This extremely rare and highly intelligent type is able to fly faster than any known Pokémon."

Huh?

I looked at the small screen and for some reason the Pokédex was showing me all the information of a Dragonite.

If only…

I shook the Pokédex and banged on the back of it and the screen turned off and lit back up when I aimed it once more at the Pokémon in front of me.

"Rattata, the Forest Pokémon. It likes cheese, nuts, fruits, and berries. It also comes out into open fields to steal food from stupid travelers."

Ah, that sounds more likely. It had Rattata's name, species, ability, height, weight and oh look – its moves.

Wait… Did my Pokédex just call me stupid? I'm not the one who mistook a Rattata for a freaking Dragonite!

So, it was a Rattata, a mean looking Rattata at that! It was looking at me with a blood thirst in its eyes and with no means of defense, I slowly started to back away. Then again, I do have one defense. A Poké Ball! I could catch it before it tries to attack me. Though honestly, it looked kinda strong, for a Rattata anyway. And looking at it closer it had blood dripping from its two front teeth! I looked back to my Pokedex and saw the moves the little guys had. Crunch! Hyper Fang! Sucker Punch! My goodness, this thing is a monster! And before I could look back at the Pokémon the monster started moving its little legs towards me!

I saw the feral look on the rats face as it came closer and closer and I started backing away much quicker. "Ok, calm down, Mr Rattata. I don't have any food, I need food just as much as you do. Don't lo-AHH" The Rattata came running right at me with its large teeth bared and it jumped tried to attack me! I let out a high pitch shriek that I wasn't proud of and ran off in the opposite direction with the small blue Pokémon right on my tail.

So this is my life now. Here I am, running away, screaming like a girl, from a tiny little Rattata… No one must ever know about this.

So my encounter with the Rattata (which I had finally managed to run away from) definitely was not my finest hour. The little terror chased me for ages! He bit into the backs of my trouser legs. My trousers are ruined now! I never even got the chance to catch it, I couldn't even try, the thing probably would have kicked out anyway. Oh well, at least the Rattata taught me not to underestimate anything.

Anyway, I was now closing in in Viridian City, which I was actually reaching a lot quicker than I expected thanks to the Rattata (every cloud, huh?). However my attention wasn't on the road in front of me, it was off into the trees. Off to the side I saw a flock of birds that had landed in the largest tree I had seen on this route. Some were smaller than other but they all had brown feathers and a cream coloured underbelly. Hiding behind a smaller tree of my own, I aimed my Pokédex high into the tree to identify what I already knew.

"Snorlax, the Sleeping Pokémon. Snorlax wakes only to eat."

"What? No!" No! No! No! What is wrong with this thing? I shook the Pokédex as it once again gave me faulty information. I tried it again.

"Pidgeotto, an evolved form of Pidgey. It is armed with sharp claws and dives from the sky to capture its prey. Unlike the more gentle Pidgey, Pidgeotto can be more dangerous. Approach with extreme caution."

I'm not going to approach them at all! I aimed Dexter at the smaller members of the flock.

"Pidgey, the Flying Pokémon. Among all the Flying Pokémon, it is the gentlest and easiest to capture. A perfect target for the beginning Pokémon Trainer to test his Pokémon's skills. Pidgey's Gust power creates tornadoes. It also has a Sand-Attack."

There we go! Perfect information, that's what I wanted to hear. My (admittedly defective) Pokédex has finally given me something I can work with.

'Easy to capture'

'Perfect for beginners'

I need to catch one of these Pidgey. This is where my fortune turns around!

I had been watching these birds for a while now, trying to pick out the weaklings on the flock, these no way I could catch any of the stronger Pidgeotto without weakening them first. There was one Pidgey down on one of the lower branches that looked a little smaller than all the others, and didn't seem to be flying as strongly as the rest of the flock. That must be one of the babies of the group. Surely that will be the easiest to capture, it'll take some work training it up but I welcome a challenge. I need to catch it without alerting any other members of the flock.

Ok, here we go, I need to be stealth personified, I need to make ninjas look like the Snorlaxs in my Pokédex, I need to be the Master I always dreamt I could be and I need to throw the Poké Ball and catch this Pidgey!

I crept up to the tree the flock of Flying Pokémon were in with one of the Poké Balls Oak had given me in my hand. I was getting more jumpy the closer and closer I got, I had to pull the trigger before I get noticed. Slowly but surely, I approached the tree and none of them had seen me! I got as close to the weakest Flying Pokémon as I dared and I mustered all the strength I could and I threw my Poké Ball hard at the small Pidgey on the lowest branch. The bird squawked in surprise as its whole body suddenly became enveloped in red energy which the Poké Ball locked around. Yes! The Pidgey was in the Poké Ball!

But then the Pidgey kicked out first time…

First time! The Poké Ball didn't even wriggle!

The small Pidgey burst out of the Poké Ball, smashing the ball into a million pieces and let out a screech to all the birds in the higher trees. The flock turned around in their position and all looked down on me. I saw hundreds of Flying Pokémon looked down at me from their high branches in disgust, as they all realized that I had tried to attack their young. In a flash hundreds of Pidgey and Pidgeotto came flying down at me in an attacking formation. Not for the first time today I found myself running and screaming, running away from hundreds and hundreds of Pidgey and Pidgeottos.

Some of the Pidgeotto were true to the Pokedex entry and they came swooping down at me and scratched and clawed at my bag and clothes but I didn't stop running (I had a lot of practice since this journey had started!). After what seemed like forever, and a lot long than it took the Rattata to give up, eventually the flock of birds started to get smaller and smaller as they decided to leave me alone and went back to attend the young Pokémon I had attacked.

Out of breathe I collapsed onto the floor, panting and looking myself over to see if I had any injuries and I stayed on the floor until I could fully catch my breathe again. It looked like I was ok, my bag and clothes have a few nicks and cuts but that was easily fixable. I am actually very lucky the Pidgeottos decided to give up on me when they did!

So, the Pidgey wasn't as easy to catch as my Pokedex said. I still can't believe it kicked out first time.

Getting up from my position I had a look around to try and get my bearing. I am almost certainly lost now. I was in the middle of a grassy field and I was looking around trying to find the pathway I was on which lead to Viridian City. Hopefully this chase would have gotten me even closer to the city. Eventually, I found the pathway and walked down it for just awhile and saw something that made me just want to cry. A huge sign post on the side of the road.

"WELCOME TO PALLET TOWN.Shades of your journey await!"

Pallet Town. I was at Pallet Town. Right back where I started…

Right back where I started, looking down upon Pallett Town, the town I had just left. The flock of birds had made me double back to where I came from.

"AHHH!" I clenched my fists and started beating at the sign as if it was the signs fault.

What the hell? I must be the worst Pokémon trainer of all time! What is wrong with me! I can't walk in a straight line! I can't follow a simple path to Viridian City! I'm getting owned by Pidgeys and Rattatas!

Pokémon Master? HA! That'll be the day…

Whatever happened to beginners luck?

TO BE CONTINUED…

Turtwig · Oct 19, 2014

Another great chapter! I like the struggle he's having just to get to the next town

It's better than the regular travel-the-world-and-beat-everyone story so far! My only suggestion now is to read out loud as you type. I noticed a few sentences fragments that do not damage your chapter's goal, but it is still best to try and get those sentences properly structured. Read them out and fluctuate your voice so that you can tell if a sentence sounds whole or not.

Keep it up! These chapters are looking very developed and I can see your progress as you keep on writing

GioRocket · Oct 26, 2014

Chapter 5: Ritchie Catches a Pokemon

Chapter 5: Ritchie Catches a Pokémon

It took me a few hours to reach Viridian City. I actually didn't even stop in the city when I eventually did reach it. It just didn't interest me right now, I just walked straight through the city and made a beeline to the forest to the north of Viridian. I had a plan: When I have caught my Pokémon I'll come back, I'll visit the Pokémon Centre and the Poké Mart and the Pokémon Trainers Club and then I can start to be a proper Trainer and start to learn about all the ins and outs and work with my team until I am ready to challenge the Viridian Gym.

Thanks to the failed attempt at catching the Pidgey, I now had five Poké Balls left, five more attempts to catch my first Pokémon. No more weak little Pidgeys and Ratattas standing in my way, I will enter that forest I will not leave without a strong, powerful rare Pokémon standing by my side!

It was around midday when I finally came to where I wanted to be and I saw the great Viridian Forest towering above me. Huge trees the size of sky scraper side by side creating a natural blockade across for as far as the eye could see. I had heard stories of this forest. It's a dangerous place. People have gotten lost and killed in the forest, kidnapped by the wild, unruly Pokémon and never escaped. People have gotten lost in here and spent weeks and weeks trying to escape. And yet here I was, with no Pokémon and no defence. I just knew this place would hold a rare Pokémon I can claim as my starter. But I have no way of protecting myself until I get that Pokémon. Going into the forest with no defence would be suicide! It would be like venturing into no man's land without a rifle…

For all of my bravado earlier I was starting to get a little nervous about entering the forest now. With no Pokémon in there to help me I would be so vulnerable. My first 'bright idea' when it came to this place was that maybe I didn't actually need to go into the forest itself. The place is teeming with Pokémon after all, and I am sure to spot one if I just hang around the edges, attract its attention somehow, draw it out and then I will be able to catch it. Waiting here until a Pokémon comes out of the Forest on its own accord seems like a less risky solution than a suicide mission. Yeah, that'll work, of course that'll work!

I'll wait here.

1 hour later…

Ok, bad idea!

I saw nothing. Not a zip! Ugh, I am sure these Pokémon just see me and run away…

I had to go into the forest. I wasn't going to get anywhere if I stayed outside. The rare Pokémon will all be deep within the forest. I can't just stay on the outskirts and hope something cool comes along. The Pokémon I want in this forest are things like Pidgeotto, Arbok, or oh, how cool would it be if I found a Bulbasaur! Ha, that'd show Miss 'You can't have a starter' Eden. But to get those kinds of Pokémon I'd have to go through the forest, without protection, with no Pokémon to defend me. It's suicide, I'd be eaten alive, literally! Especially knowing my luck these days.

But it's the only option. If I want a rare Pokémon to be my starter.

Rain started to fall as I slowly ventured into the forest, I heard the leaves and the twigs rustling under my feet as I meandered through the dirt pathway with the huge trees passing me by on either side. I heard a lot of sounds, the wind, the chirping of birds, and the rustling of the foliage all around me. But still I wasn't seeing any Pokémon yet. I kept looking behind me and saw the entrance to the forest getting smaller and smaller, seeing that my chances of fleeing getting smaller and smaller as well. But I couldn't think like that, I couldn't be nervous. I had to catch a Pokémon with no fear and no regrets. I just had to keep going deeper into the forest.

As I saw the entrance disappear as I turned with the makeshift pathway that roamed through the thick foliage, I heard an explosion! An ear splitting blast echoed throughout the forest, I couldn't see much of the sky through the tall trees but I could see a huge plume of black smoke rise up into the sky. It looked like it was quite far away from where I was but still it was like a giant fireball had just rocked the whole forest! I heard the cried of many Pokémon and suddenly I saw whole colonies of Pokémon starting to materialize out of nowhere from the trees and they started running away. I couldn't even see which ones were which as there were just so many, they were running in all directions, clearly scared out of their minds. I could make out families of bug and birds scattering away.

What the hell had happened?! I couldn't even imagine the kind of power it would take to create such huge explosion! I couldn't complete with that kind of power! I needed to get out of there… As I was just about to turn back around and find my way back to the entrance another explosion ripped through the forest and jerked me out of my thoughts as even more smoke filled the sky high above. I turned to look in the direction of the explosion and I was almost struck by flying Pokémon fling through the trees, desperate to get away from the violent detonations. I had no idea what kind of Pokémon they were, the birds were flying so fast I couldn't even make out their features.

I ducked for cover behind a tree and I tried, along with a lot of the Pokémon it seemed, to hide form the huge forces that had disrupted the entire forest. What the hell was happening? Hundreds of Pokémon are flying through the forest. I tried to aim my Pokédex at the flying Pokémon as even more came speeding past me.

"Spearow, the Tiny Bird Pokémon. UnlikePidgey, Spearow has a terrible attitude. It is very wild and will sometimes attack other Pokémon and humans."

I cringed at my Pokédex description, Unlike Pidgey? Pidgeys attack me! But something clearly seems to have scared these birds.

My Pokédex buzzed to life again as it spotted another Pokémon.

"Farfetch'd, the Wild Duck Pokémon. This extremely rare Pokémon can always be found holding a leek, or green onion, which it uses to build its nest."

I saw Pidgeys and Pidgeottos and from the looks of it their evolved form come flying past, still hundreds of birds where whizzing above me and the closer I looked I realised that these Pokémon didn't seem to be in the best of health. They looked a little burned, if this has something to do with that explosion it's a miracle that they survived at all.

Hmm… I hate to take advantage but if they've already been weakened, all I need is for one to drop by me and I can capitalise. I got a Poké Ball in hand just in case. Still hundreds of birds were flying by freaked out and injured.

A Farfetch'd was flying across slowly and seemed to have his wing injured. Its brown feathers looked scorched, the white underbelly looked bruised and battered, and one wing looked badly damaged. It dropped the leak in its mouth which fell right by me next to the tree. I picked up the leak in my hand as the Farfetch'd came awkwardly flying down to where I was. It was in such bad shape, it tried to land but it could hold its flight much longer and just dropped harshly straight onto the floor. It was squawking in pain, its feathers were singed and one of its wings looked even worse than I thought.

This was my chance. Now or never, I guess. I pressed the button on the Poké Ball to enlarge it and looked down at the fallen bird Pokémon. "Don't worry, Farfetch'd, I'll take you to a Pokémon Centre and get you healed." Just before the injured brown bird was sucked into the Poké Ball, it let out one last squawk in defiance before turning into red energy and going into the Poké Ball. I could still feel the other birds zipping past me but my focus was entirely on the bird in front of me. My first ever Pokémon.

One wriggle…

Two wriggle…

Thre- NOOOO!

It kicked out! It kicked out!? The shaken bird broke out of the Poké Ball as the ball burst into shards and the Farfetch'd flew away before I could move in my shock. It was so injured! How did it kick out? I still had its leak in my hand, how can it leave without its leak! Ugh, my luck hasn't changed at all.

The birds flying through the trees seemed to be dying down, the explosions had stopped. The silence of the forest had returned. "What the hell were those explosion?" In spite of my little in the way of defences, my curiosity was still as strong as ever. All thoughts of fleeing had left, I had to check out what was going on over there. The explosions seemed to have been far away from where I was right now but I could hopefully still find my way to them. I started to tread my way through the forest once more looking up at the place in the sky where I saw those huge plumes of smoke.

I had been walking through the forest for a while, the leak Farfetch'd had left behind was actually helping me quite a lot, it was much stronger that I thought it would be, and it was great for hacking away at low tree branches and cutting a path through the more wild areas of the forest.

BUUUUZZZZZZ!

Uh-oh. I froze. That was never a good sound. Not in a forest! Trying not to move a lot I slowly peered up towards the noise and saw a lone Beedrill minding its own business in a tree above me. The large bug was perched high on a horizontal tree branch high right above where I was standing. Its two pair of veined wings were stationary and the huge stinger on the end of its tail was lodged in the tree branch it was sitting on. It had two more stingers which substituted as its arms and in these it was holding a light brown thing which it seemed to be eating. It hadn't seemed to have spotted me yet, thank god! It seemed far too engrossed in whatever it was eating to notice anything around it. I, as quietly as I could, backed away to a safe distance and aimed my Pokédex up towards the bug Pokémon to get its info.

"Beedrill, the Poison Bee Pokémon. This Pokémon is an evolved form ofWeedle, following its Kakuna stage. Its sting is highly poisonous."

Not the most informative of info but thanks any-

"Weedle, the Hairy Bug Pokémon. The stinger on this Pokémon's head guarantees that any attacker will get the point right where it hurts."

Weedle? Great, looks like my Pokédex is playing up again. I glanced down briefly at Dexter and saw a picture of the light brown bug on the screen. Light brown bug? Light brown? It looked kinda familiar actually. Glancing back up at the Beedrill was something I wish I hadn't. Weedle was light brown… Just like the thing the Beedrill is eating. I shuddered in disgust when I realized what was happening.

Oh god, its eating a Weedle… Oh god, oh god. I think I'm gonna throw up.

Eww! Isn't that like cannibalism or something?! Ew! Ew! Ew!

Ok, ok! No! No! Chill! Nobody ever got anything done when they were squeamish. It's a perfectly natural law of the jungle. I think…

Anyway, it's a Pokémon, an obviously strong Pokémon if it can eat its own kind. I can make use of it. Maybe I could catch it off guard while it was, you know, enjoying its meal. I need to work quickly, Beedrill was nearly done, Weedle's head is starting to disappear into the Beedrill's mouth… Ugh…

Ok, let try this again, I enlarged one of the four Poké Balls I had left. After the Pidgey and Farfetch'd this would be my third attempt to capture something. Third times the charm! Without hesitation I threw the Poké Ball up into the trees and the Beedrill was caught off guard when it was hit with the Poké Ball and enveloped in a red light. The Poké Ball started falling to the ground (along with the half eaten Weedle, which was thankfully not sucked into the ball) and then bounced on the forest floor a couple of times before violently shaking about. I watched with anticipation as I waited for it to settle. Had I done it? Had I just caught my first Pokémon?!

Nope.

The ball shattered into pieces as the Beedrill exploded out of the ball and let out a violent noise. I quickly backed away and started to run before realising there was no point. The Beedrill fled the scene without even noticing I was there. I let out a sigh of disappointment as I saw that I had failed again and started to walk away. I made it only a few steps before I heard the buzzing return. I quickly dived down into a bush before the Bug Pokémon could see me. But there was little point. Once again the bee had no interest in me, the Pokémon swooped down, grabbed the half eaten Weedle carcass and then buzzed away.

Lovely!

My search through the forest continued. I was quite happy with myself that I had kept out of relative danger for the most part. Nobody and nothing had tried to kill me or attack me yet. I just kept moving forward towards where those explosions happened and hoped upon hope that I could find a Pokémon that would let me capture it. I had seen a few Pokémon scampering about, but thy never gave me the opportunity to throw a Poké Ball at them. And I had to be careful with the frivolity with which I used my Poké Balls, I only had three left now. Even if I had the money to go and buy some more from Viridian City, I was well and truly lost in this forest by now…

I was now walking on quite a clear pathway through the forest, this must have been a route that a lot of people had used. I was looking directly in front of my when I accidentally stepped on something and heard a ferocious hissing noise. I was instantly jerked out of my thoughts when looked down to see what I had stepped on and backed away as quickly as I could. I looked down at see a long purple serpentine Pokémon. The snake was coiled around itself and looked up at me, it did not look happy that I had disturbed it. I checked my Pokedex to see what it was.

"Arbok, the Cobra Pokémon. It is rumored that the ferocious warning markings on its belly differ from area to area."

Nope, no, that doesn't look like an Arbok. Try again.

"Ekans, the Snake Pokémon. The older it gets, the longer it grows. At night, it wraps its long body around tree branches to rest."

Wow, I'd love to have a cool Pokémon like Ekans as my starter!

The Ekans was glaring at me with venom in his cold black eyes… And not to mention the venom dripping from his long thin fangs as well! I walked backwards and kept eye contact with the snake as it was slowly slithering towards me, tasting the air in front of it with its tongue flitting in and out of its mouth. It was angry, it was going to attack me. Right now, the only way I could defend myself was with the Poké Ball. I had to throw it.

In one swift motion I enlarged the Poké Ball in one hand and threw it as hard as I could at the snake in front of me.

No sooner had the ball zapped the snake inside it that the snake burst out of it again, breaking the Poké Ball! I had no time to worry about the fact that I had lost another Poké Ball as Ekans was again staring at me with hatred in its eyes. It started slithering towards me again, much quicker this time. I tried to turn and run away but it was too quick for me. It leaped into the air, aiming right towards me. Its huge gaping mouth opened and it bared its long fangs.

"Ember!"

I couldn't see who had given the order, or see who was being ordered, but I could feel the heat of the fire attack behind me as small balls of flames came shooting out of the trees to the side and hit the snake in midair. The Ekans hissed in pain and dropped to the ground at the forest of the first attack. Ekans' fury didn't subside and he was baring his teeth towards the trees, daring whoever attacked him to come out and fight it. The snake seemed as blind as I was. Whoever had ordered the attack had just saved me from getting poisoned… Or worse.

Another volley of small fire balls came flying out of the trees and again burned into Ekans with a direct hit. The snake coiled round itself and shrieked in pain as it was burned by another Ember. Losing all of its confidence, the snaked decided not to challenge the fire once again and it quickly slithered away and disappeared into the forest.

I breathed a sigh of relieve, thanking god that Ekans hadn't attacked me. That would have ended my journey full stop! I tentatively took a few steps forwards and looked through the trees where the fire attacks came from. I wanted to see whoever had saved me. I kind of wish I hadn't.

"Oh dear, dear, dear. Dude, you know you have to weaken a Pokémon first before you can capture it." A condescending tone came from behind me and I felt a hand placed around my shoulders. I saw a Charmander come through the trees in front of me and I realised who my saviour was.

My 'friend' from Pallet Town, just what I needed. "Oh, Eddie, how nice to see you again." I shrugged her hand away as I turned and saw the girl I met outside Oaks Lab.

"It's Eden, thank you." She rolled her eyes yet the delight in her voice never subsided. "So, buddy, why exactly are you trying to catch strong Pokémon without battling them?"

Quick, think of something clever. "Because..."

"Because the old man didn't give you a Pokémon to start your journey with!?" The glee in her voice really wasn't nice.

"No, he didn't," She started laughing at that. "But that's alright. I don't mind earning my Pokémon, instead of getting them handed to me..."

She just giggled at my pathetic attempt at an insult. "What? You are saying that receiving a Pokémon at the start of your journey is an easy way out? You know, I wouldn't go shouting that around, you'd probably offend 99% of the trainers out there. And considering you seem to be wondering around Kanto alone, I'd say you need all the friends you can get."

"I am perfectly happy with my own company, thank you very much. Especially when it is compared to the company of arrogant trainers." I looked her in the eye for that. "And, anyway, once I catch a Pokémon I'll never be alone again. So please, leave me be, and let me carry on."

She smiled and held up her hands. "Fine, fine, as you wish. But you know you'll never be able to catch something without weakening it first."

I just glared at her. "Oh, I wouldn't say never…"

"Why don't you let me help you?"

Because I would rather die…

"My Zippo can knock out most things around here. He has already won like 10 battles already!"

"Wow, a fire Pokémon beating bugs, you must be very proud." My turn to be condescending… I don't know why I kept being impolite to this girl. "And no, thank you, I don't need your help."

"Are you sure? I do just love to help people in need. I help needy people all the time." She placed a hand over her heart.

"I am sure you do," I bet she doesn't... "But nevertheless, I'd rather do this by myself."

She shrugged her shoulders. "Suit yourself. Call me when you do catch something, if you catch something." She started snickering as she started to walk away from me

"Eden, wait!" She turned around just before she disappeared into the trees and looked back at me expectantly. "Thanks… for dealing with the Enaks."

She raised her eyebrows in surprise at my gratitude (I really hadn't been very nice to her). And a small smile played on her lips. "No problem, dude." She said before leaving me alone in the forest once again.

I was probably a little rude to her (again), ruder that I normally would have been, anyway. The constant failure since my beginning really aren't making me the nicest person in the world. If I would have just swallowed my pride and let her help me maybe I could have caught something really cool… Oh well, too late now. But she was probably right, about catching strong Pokémon without weakening them. The Pokémon I am going after are just too highly skilled. I know that's my own fault, I know I should just lower my standards. But my first Pokémon should be special. I don't want it to be something everybody has. But then again, I guess I don't have many options, I shouldn't be so picky.

I had been in this forest all day now. My focused now changed from a Pokémon hunt and instead turned towards the search for food. In all the excitement I realised that I hadn't really eaten all day, I had found a few berries here and there to eat which had kept me going up until this point, but I hadn't had anything substantial. Fatigue was starting to get to me as well, I didn't even get a lot of rest last night as it was spent on the bus to Pallet Town. Wow, it had been a long day…

The sky was starting to get dark, the air was started to get a little cooler, as night time was imminently approaching. There was no way I was going to find my way out of the forest and rest at the Pokémon Centre tonight, I was left with no choice but to find shelter within the forest. In my backpack I had a sleeping bag, but sleeping right on the floor didn't seem like the best idea, not with the likes of Ekans and all kinds of bugs roaming around on the floor unseen. I suppose I could find a good tree and sleep up in that. Doesn't sound very comfortable though. A cave to sleep in would be my preference, I would get shelter from all of nature's elements and I'd be mostly out of the dangers of the forest. But I hadn't seen any rocky walls during my travels today, I doubt I would be finding any caves soon. Night time was quickly approaching and I desperately wanted to find a place to sleep before the forest descended into total darkness. My luck hadn't been great during the day, I really didn't fancy my chances when I couldn't see anything.

I had been looking for a good strong tree I could sleep in for a while before I found something that could work. This tree was huge! It was by far the biggest I had seen all day. The thick trunk was covered in moss, its roots were poking out of the ground for as far as the eye could see, and it had many heavy branches coming off it in all directions. It would be easy to climb, and it would get me off the forest floor. I did have the passing thought that maybe I was right in the middle of Viridian Forest here, it would make sense that the biggest tree was in the middle. If I climbed high enough I will be protected from all the dangers of the forest floor and hidden enough that nobody can pick a fight with me. Well, that was the idea, anyway.

I climbed the tree as high as I could and found a nice thick branch I could rest on without worrying that it would snap and make me plunge to my death during the night. I was sitting on this branch with my feet swinging off the side as I went through my backpack to find my sleeping bag. I wasn't looking down below me when I giant force struck the bottom of the tree. A huge crash rocked the base, shaking the whole tree, sending vibrations all the way up, I was abruptly thrown off the branch I was sat on and I fell about ten feet to the floor at the pure force of the crash.

I landed hard on the ground below me and I saw the contents of my backpack spilled out onto the floor. I groaned as pain jolted through my legs and I tried desperately to ignore it and collet all my things together and put them back in my bag. I heard loud grunts and cries at the base of the tree and wondered what on earth had struck the tree so hard. I tentatively looked to were the sounds were coming from and saw two large Pokémon locked together in fierce battle.

One of them had its back pinned against the tree. It had a wide dark brown body and two large pincer like claws coming off the top of its head. It eyes were murderous, looking at the Pokémon it was fighting with anger as they were face to face, both their arms locked together. The Pokémon it was fighting was much thinner. Its green head was quite reptilian and its arm were unlike anything I had seen before, it had no hands, instead had long razor sharp scythes which it was trying desperately to cut into the darker brown Pokémon. They must have slammed each other right into this tree. Now that was power! They were both huge! Both looked to be taller than I was, certainly the biggest Pokémon I had seen today. I aimed my Pokédex at the fight that was waging at the base of this tree.

"Pinsir, the Stag Beetle Pokémon. This fearsome Pokémon uses its powerful claws to put the squeeze on its opponents."

As I could see! The Pinsir was doing everything it could to capture that green Pokémon in those massive claws atop of its head. I aimed Dexter at the green Pokémon.

"Scyther, the Mantis Pokémon. Its claws are sharp as swords, and it is a powerful flyer. This Pokémon is rarely seen by humans and almost never captured."

Oh, you don't say? Two Poké Balls left… What are the odds I could catch them both! I can let them beat each other until unconsciousness and then I can swoop in and take them both. It was perfect! I wonder what they were fighting over, was it territory? Was I in that territory? I hope not… Ah well, it doesn't matter, their concentration was fixed entirely on each other and as long as they didn't come near me, I should be fine.

The fight continued! I watched, crouching behind a bush, at these two behemoths struggled to hurt each other. It wasn't the most technically sound battle I had ever witnessed, the two Pokémon were just violently mauling at each other, and as I could see no other trainers in the vicinity, it was quite clear these two Pokémon were wild. Good!

With Pinsir pinned against the tree, Scyther swung back one of those giant scythes on its arms and tried to bring it down on Pinsir. Just before the scythe came slashing through the soft body of the Stag Beatle Pokémon, Pinsir arched its body and blocked the scythes with those two huge spikey pincers on top of its head. In an amazing show of strength, Pinsir caught and trapped Scyther's arm in those giant pincers. Scyther couldn't move, it struggled to pull its arm away but Pinsir had it locked in tight. I heard what could have been a growl of victory come from Pinsir, with Scyther's arm trapped in Pinsir's death grip, Pinsir started to relentlessly slash at its thin green body with both of his free claws.

The Mantis Pokémon screeched in pain at the devastating body blows and hopelessly kept on trying to pull away. But Pinsir wasn't done. With Scyther's arm still trapped in the pincers, Pinsir attacked once more. Scyther shook in panic as it looked into it opponents eyes, Pinsir opened its huge mouth and bit into the Scyther's neck with its strange long, horizontal teeth. Scyther once again cried in pain before going limp as Pinsir let go of its arm with its pincers.

It was quite clear now that Pinsir was the stronger of the two, Pinsir still looked quite fresh and relatively unscathed while Scyther was looking near death on the floor. With the Scyther fallen, Pincer stood over it, he let out a roar of victory and in one swift motion it picked up the injured Scyther with those huge claws atop its head. The claws started to glow white and closed around Scyther's thin body.

Oh god, the Pinsir was gonna rip it in half! Scyther had no chance. It was terrible! I needed to save Scyther before Pinsir kills it! If I throw my Poké Ball at Scyther now he'll get sucked into it and get out of the pincers. Pinsir may come after me afterwards but at least it would save Scyther. It was worth a shot. I enlarged one of my two remaining Poké Balls and threw it at the Scyther who was just limp in Pinsir's death grip. As I watched the Poké Ball fly through the air, and just as the ball was going to hit Sycther and save it from its impending doom, the Poké Ball was batted away!

A dark brown vine came shooting out of the trees and smacked away my Poké Ball milliseconds before it would have hit the Scyther, batting it far away over the tops of the trees! I looked at where the vines came from and I saw a man emerging. He was quite tall, he had dark spikey hair and was dressed in black shirt and jeans with a long black trench coat coming down to his feet. In one hand he was holding the branch of a tree with the end of it lit with fire that he held in front of him in, presumably, defence. A Bulbasaur was at his feet looked determinedly at the Pinsir/Scyther battle. "You're mine now!" The guy yelled as he threw a Poké Ball at the Scyther. The ball sucked Scyther out of Pinsir's death grip and the Pokémon went into the red and white ball. Pinsir looked surprised at the sudden development and turned to face this guy dressed in black.

The man waved the fire torch in front of him and yelled at the Pinsir to back away. The Bug Pokémon saw the flames and growled in defiance but still slowly backed away. I heard the ping of the Poké Ball as the Scyther was successfully caught. The guy heard it as well and laughed in victory that he had caught the Scyther. My Scyther!

"Hey!" I came storming out of the bushes I was hiding behind and I let my presence be known to the one who had stolen my Pokémon. The guy turned from looking at the Pokémon and faced me with a confused expression. "Hey, that Scyther was mine!"

"Excuse me?" He smirked.

"I was going to catch that Scyther but you stopped my Poké Ball!" I was trying to be tough but my confidence was a little knock when I realised he was a head taller than me, and he must have been about 20 years old.

He just laughed, "Sorry, bro, its survival of the fittest around here. You should have been quicker."

"No! You can't do that! It wasn't fair!"

Shrugging his shoulders, "Life isn't. See you around, kid." He snickered as played with the Poke Ball in his hands and turned away.

"Hey, stop!" I stood in front of him, not letting him get away with my Pokémon. I pointed down at the Pokémon Ball in his hand. "That Scyther should have been mine. I won't let you leave with my Pokémon."

He seemed surprised at my boldness. But he wasn't intimidated one bit. "Oh yeah?" He bent down to go eye to eye with me and his tone turned slightly menacing. "Or else what? You gonna stop me?"

I was getting a little scared at this point. He was much older and much bigger than I was, he could easily take me. I tried to form words but he was intimidating me much more than I would like to admit. I pathetically repeated what I have already said, "I was going to catch that Scyther…"

"But you didn't. Now, why don't you let me leave, and then I will let you leave while you can still walk." He just smiled at me and let his menacing words sink in. The fear in my eyes must have been evident. He got to me, he was scaring me. I couldn't fight him. I stepped aside and let him go. "Later, kid!" He laughed and swaggered away through the trees, leaving me alone with my humiliation. I crumbled to the ground after yet another failure. I put my head in my hands and tears started pouring out of my eyes. I failed again. I couldn't do this. I just couldn't do this for much longer. Maybe I wasn't cut out to do all of this.

Maybe I'm just not Pokémon Trainer material…

I had no idea how long I was sat down in the forest crying. I could have been sat there for hours. I knew that it was pitch black and raining now. Night time had fully set in now. Visibility was so low. I could barely see a thing.

I potentially lost a powerful rare Pokémon, I lost yet another Poké Ball, just one more left now… Well, no, not exactly. The Poké Ball I used on Scyther was never broken, that guy's Bulbasaur just batted it away over those trees. I can find it, I need to find it. I couldn't lose what little I already had. I need to find that Poké Ball before it gets broken.

I didn't sleep that night. After spending so much time finding a tree that I could sleep in I didn't even use it. My whole night was spent foraging through the bushes and plants on the forest floor trying to find one of my last two Poké Balls. It was not the most glamorous search. It was dark, it was cold and wet, all my clothes were soaked from the rain, I was on my hands and knees, combing through leaves and branches and plants on the floor desperately trying to locate what I needed. It was a hopeless search, I had no idea how far the ball was flung in this direction. I didn't even know I was going in the right direction.

The sun was starting to come up when I finally found a bit of luck. I was determined to find that Poké Ball, I just could not bear another failure. I was going to find that ball if I was going to have to comb through every inch on that forest. I came to a clearing in the forest. I was crawling through the floor, feeling around all the bushes and all the plants that surrounded this clearing. After spending a few minute in this clearing I heard something. It was like a squeak or a grunt, it was something I hadn't heard in this forest before anyway. I had been here all day and night and at this time, around daybreak there was a certain amount of peace in Viridian Forest. During the day and night there was the chirping of birds, the whistling of the wind, and the rustling of the leaves. But not now. Now it was quiet. Silence. Except for this squeaking noise.

I stood up and looked across the clearing into the bushes across the way. I walked slowly towards the noise and tried to see what was going on. I had been in this forest long enough now that I knew if I disturbed anything then it usually ended up with me running away from a Pokémon attacking me. So I edged towards it cautiously. The noise was coming from a small bush, covered up by some branches and leaves, slowly, and trying my hardest not to disturb whatever was happening, I moved the leave and branches out of the way. And there it was! My Poké Ball! I found it!

Resting in the middle of a kind of nest made up of small twigs and leaves, was my shiny Poké Ball. And it wasn't alone in that nest. As I peered into the nest there was a small green Pokémon climbing up and on top of my ball. I took a sharp intake of breath, "Oh, a Pokémon!" It was quite small, its head was about the size of the ball, but could easily balance its whole green and yellow body on the top of my Poké Ball, its black eyes didn't spot me at I peered into the nest. I got my Pokédex out.

"Caterpie, the Worm Pokémon. Caterpie uses the suction cups on its feet to climb trees and feed on its favorite leaves."

A Caterpie! I was actually surprised it had taken me so long in this forest for me to see one of these. The Caterpie was wriggling and climbing up onto the ball, leaving a sticky sap wherever it placed its six feet on the shiny ball. It was balancing right on top of the red section of the ball when the Bug Pokémon turned at noticed my presence. It must have been shocked to see me as it tried to back away, not remembering it was on an unsteady sphere. Caterpie's fright caused the Poké Ball to roll away from underneath it. Caterpie shrieked in surprise and fell down from the ball, but on its way down, it must have hit the button in the middle of the Poké Ball!

"Wow, wait!" It caught me by surprise. I reached out to try and grab the Poké Ball, but it all happened so quickly for me to do anything. The small green Pokémon was suddenly transformed into red energy and got sucked up into the Poké Ball!

The ball started bouncing about, the button in the middle was flashing red and white as the ball rolled around in the nest.

Wriggle…

Wriggle…

Wriggle…

Ping!

Oh my god! I crumbled to my knees. I couldn't believe it! It was caught! I caught a Pokémon! I did it. I did it! I caught my first Pokémon!

My first Pokémon is… A Caterpie!

TO BE CONTINUED…

Skyleaf2000 · Dec 2, 2014

This story is awesome! Sorry that this isn't really a critique; I just wanted to compliment you on a great story! Can't wait to see more!

raichulover11 · Dec 18, 2014

Great job; really holds all the excitement you would feel with catching your first Pokemon!

Keep up the great writing!

GioRocket · Feb 13, 2015

Thank you for your comments

Chapter 6: The Fires of Eden

Chapter 6: The Fires of Eden

I just stood staring at the Poké Ball. I had done it. I had caught a Pokémon.

Suddenly all my worries about which Pokémon I wanted and if it was rare or not just went away. It didn't matter anymore. I had a Pokémon. An actual Pokémon. A Pokémon who depended on me and needed me to look after it. It felt like my whole life was now different. Something depended on me, something needed me. I could not fail it. I picked up the Poké Ball for the nest like it was the Holy Grail. I stared at it in awe and I fumbled about for my Pokédex to get more information on it.

"Caterpie, the Worm Pokémon. Caterpie uses the suction cups on its feet to climb trees and feed on its favourite leaves."

"Ok… ok… anything else? Can you tell me anything else?! How do I look after it?! What does it like? What doesn't it like? How do I train it? How does it eat? Oh my god, is it a cannibal like that Beedrill I saw? Does it need anything to survive? Give me something! Anything! Please!" I shouted at my Pokédex.

My Pokédex gave me nothing else. Of course it didn't. I was going to have to learn not to rely on that thing. "Ok, then, I guess I'm going to have to learn everything on the fly. Ok… I can do that…" I placed my Pokédex back into my pocket and held Caterpie's Poké Ball in both hands. "Caterpie… go!"

I launched the Poké Ball into the air and watched as the ball split open and released my Pokémon. As soon as I set eyes on Caterpie I scooped it up in my arms and, well, to say I was giddy was kind of an understatement.

"Caterpie, oh my god, you're here! I can't believe it! You are my first Pokémon! The first I'll ever have, you have made me so happy! I thought I was going to quit so many times, I thought I was going to have to shuffle off back home empty handed but now I don't have to because you are here! You and me, Caterpie! Oh, you and me! We're gonna rule the world! We are going to become Pokémon Masters together! This is amazing, this is the best day of my life! Caterpie, are you excited?!"

"Piii?" Of course, the Caterpie had no idea what was going on. It just looked happy to be out of the Poké Ball. And a little uncomfortable that I was squeezing it so tight.

"Oh, I'm sorry." I quickly let go of my death grip. It wasn't easy though. I never wanted to let go of it. I wanted to keep it on a tight leash so it would never leave me. Never run away. Of course, once I let it go the Caterpie tried to walk away from me. It wasn't the quickest of Pokémon and could only really move at a snail's pace so I had no idea if it was walking away from me because it hated me or if he was just stretching his four tiny, weird 'legs'. I liked to think that it was the latter. This worm like Pokémon had a many yellow circles patterns that ran down the side of its body and a bright orange antenna on her forehead. It had rather large eyes and a strange button shape nose/mouth that led the way as it walked right by me.

I was walking beside my Pokémon as he moved slowly across the clearing when my Pokédex vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out and was surprised to see that the screen actually had some information about my Caterpie on it. Dexter told me that the Caterpie was female. It wasn't really very old, just a few days old actually, and was quite small, Dexter said fully grown Caterpies were exactly one foot long. This one was less than that and in spite of its youth, Caterpie did know a couple of moves in Tackle and String Shot. I walked by my Caterpie as she ambled slowly to a nearby bush and took a bite out of one of the lower leaves. Oh good, not a cannibal then.

I sat down cross legged right next to her. "How does that taste, Caterpie? Is it good?" I tried to pet my bug but it just let out a weird hiss at me and continued eating.

"Ok… Umm, do you want any more? I can go get you some more leaves, I'll bet I can get you some really tasty leaves from some different trees. Would you like that?"

She ignored me and continued eating. Well, I wasn't sure if it was total ignorance or she just didn't understand me. I pet the bug on the head, "I'll go get those leaves."

She seemed happy, I think. She hasn't attacked me yet, that's gotta be a plus. I didn't really know what to do next, do I try to train her? Will she listen? She hasn't really paid any attention to me but at least I haven't been attacked. I kept my eyes on my small Pokémon while I dashed around the clearing and picked as many leaves as I could.

I guess I could have been a little more subtle with how I presented the new 'food' to Caterpie, as she didn't really look ecstatic when I dropped a bunch of leaves over her head. I couldn't be subtle! I was too excited to be subtle. I just needed to calm down. Calm down and figure out what to do next…

-

I spent the next hour or so just watching my beautiful bug eating her leaves. I watched my Caterpie eat the leaves I got for her (she ate them! She must like me!) And I just sat there and watch her eat, and eat, and eat. She really did have quite the appetite. I was just about to get up and get her some more when she made a sound, it was kinda like a garbled squeak. I instantly turned around to see what was wrong with her (I knew she had eaten too much!), but actually she didn't seem all that troubled about that, she just started crawling off down one of the pathways that headed out of the clearing we were in.

"Caterpie, what's wrong with you?"

No answers came, obviously. Since I had no other ideas about what to do next in this forest, I packed up all my things and followed my Pokémon down the pathway she was leading us. She understandably wasn't very quick, so I just leisurely followed her while looking out in all directions at the beauty that was surrounding me. I hadn't taken it in until then but this place really was a paradise. Long trees stretched up all around me, vivid greens and the sunlight streaming through the natural roof of the forest. Looking around like this and it really was hard to believe how dangerous this place could actually be.

I'm not sure how long we were walking, I don't think it was very long, I was more than happy to just walk along and enjoy the scenery with my Pokémon. But I was broken out of my wander when I realised what had gotten into Caterpie. She was following her nose. And I finally smelt what she had clearly sensed in the clearing.

I smelt burning. Somewhere out there, trees were burning. My mind was instantly brought back to the huge explosions I heard when I first enter the forest. I remembered that I was going to go and find out what was going on with that before I found myself side tracked by all of the people and Pokémon I had encountered so far. I followed my nose and started to see wisps of smoke floating through the air, Caterpie and I had to be going in the right direction! It dawned on me that if fire was going to be involved then maybe I should return my Pokémon to her Poké Ball. "Alright, Caterpie, take a rest, I'll sort this out on my own."

I walked down the pathway Caterpie had directed me to for about 5 minutes before I came to a rock face that stretched high above the trees, I must have been at the bottom of a cliff. I didn't even know there were cliffs in Viridian Forest. I walked along, keeping the rock face to my right until I came to see smoke billowing from ahead. Looks like I had found the source. I tried to move as stealthily as I could to see what was going on.

I snuck forward and tried to peer through the bushes and the trees. And then I saw her. Eden.

Eden, my 'friend' was battling a Weedle with her Charmander.

The Weedle was looking quite worst for wear as the Charmander was chasing the bug around in circles and letting out Ember attack after Ember attack Eden was ordering on Weedle. It was, of course, a mismatch. The little bug had no chance. There were bushes burning all around this place, her Ember attacks clearly weren't very accurate. That's what Caterpie was smelling. That was kind of an anti-climax. No huge mysterious explosions, just wayward Ember attacks…

"You know, you'll never get stronger if you keep battling weaklings." She turned around as I made my entrance into the 'battlefield'. The Charmander ran from the Weedle and stood protectively in front of its trainer.

She seemed surprised to see me at first but she smiled when she realised it was me, "Thank you for your advice, oh wise master, but I think I know what I am doing." She knelt down to pet her Charmander. I smiled as I looked at the remarkable Pokémon and tried to get its data.

"Victreebel, the Flycatcher Pokémon. Lures prey with the sweet aroma of honey. Swallowed whole, the prey is melted in a day, bones and all."

"Haha!" Eden looked up and laughed as once again my Pokédex got the wrong info.

"Oh, c'mon!" I said as I banged on the back of it with my hand. "It's been like this since I got it."

She twirled some of her red hair around her finger. "You know, my Pokédex works perfectly…"

I rolled my eyes, "Of course it does." I tried pointing Dexter at the Fire Pokémon again.

"Charmander, the Lizard Pokémon. A flame burns on the tip of its tail from birth. It is said that a Charmander dies if its flame ever goes out."

She scoffed at the information, "I'll never let that happen!"

I just stared at the Pokémon as Eden played with him… I wish I had gotten a proper Starter Pokémon. "Good… So, how are you? Have you had any troubles in this place?"

"Nope, like I said yesterday, my Charmander can handle more or less everything around here. Why do you care anyway? You hate me, don't you?" She smiled at that last bit.

I cringed, "No, no, I don't hate anybody. We just got off on the wrong foot… I think."

She appeared sceptical. "Hmm, whatever you say, dude. So how are you doing? I gotta admit, I'm surprised you survived the night."

I rolled my eyes. "Thanks for your confidence… And I'm fine, more than fine, I've been fantastic." Well, she didn't need to know that the Ekans wasn't the only trouble I had so far. I tried to change the subject, "Umm, did you hear those explosions yesterday?"

She was sat down cross legged next to her Pokémon, petting him. "Of course I did. I'd be surprised if they didn't hear them in Lavender Town."

I didn't know where that was. I'm guessing it's far away. "Do you know what caused them?"

"Nah, I was having lunch in my cave when I heard them." She rooted through her backpack and fed her Chamander some Pokémon food.

She had a cave?! A cave! The perfect shelter. Damn, how lucky was this girl! Yep, there it was. A big entrance to a cave not thirty feet from here. I looked longingly into the darkness and tried to swallow my jealousy once more. "Have you seen anything suspicious around here? Those explosions weren't normal, surely."

"Yeah, I agree, I tried looking to see what was going on but this place is so dense I couldn't find anything. And no, I haven't seen anything suspicious. A creepy Samurai guy jumped out at me but he couldn't have done it."

"A Samurai?"

She waved her hand, "Oh, don't ask…"

This place must be full of freaky stuff… "Umm, whatever. When I smelled the burning of these bushes I thought they might be connected to the explosions. But no, it was just you and your dodgy aim…"

She had had her eyes on her Charmander during this whole conversation but I knew that comment would make her take notice of me. "Dodgy!? What do you mean dodgy?"

I gestured around us, "Are you kidding? Have you seen this place? There's like twenty burning bushes around here."

She stood up and got in my face. "My Charmander does not have dodgy aim! I-I meant for him to hit though bushes!"

She was lying, ha! I held my hands up. "Alright, alright, chill out. I didn't mean any offense. I was just saying, my Pokémon could smell the smoke from miles away…"

Her eyes lit up. "Your Pokémon? You-you've caught something?"

I puffed out my chest. "Yes, actually I did!" I held out Caterpie's Poké Ball in front of me.

"Wow! About time!" She gave me a sarcastic round of applause. "So what is it?"

"It's an awesome Pokémon. That's all you need to know."

"Not quite." She walked up behind her Charmander and locked eyes with me. "I challenge you to a battle!"

Oh… "What? Now?"

"Yes, of course, now! Unless you're scared…"

Scared wouldn't exactly be the right word. More apprehensive. Caterpie would not match up well against her Charmander. I put on a look of confidence, "Sure, let battle! Umm, do you have any other Pokémon?"

"Nope, not yet. It's just me and Zippo. I'm just training him for now."

Damn it. Oh well, maybe it'll be ok. She is just a beginning trainer after all. She probably doesn't even know how to battle yet. I bet Caterpie could take her! "Great, then you and your Zippo will be going down!" I still had Caterpie's Poké Ball in my hand as I reluctantly walked a short distance away from to create a makeshift battlefield. Even if her Pokémon couldn't battle I was reluctant to send Caterpie out against a Fire Pokémon. "Err, you ready?"

She looked at me, confused at my weird attempts at stalling. "Born ready. Now, c'mon then, put me out of my suspense, let's see what this famous first Pokémon is."

She didn't really looks suspenseful at all, her confidence was in place the whole time. "Alright… Poké Ball, g-go!" I hesitant one last time before finally pulling the trigger and releasing my Caterpie to my opponent.

Her eyes widened as she looked down at my small Caterpie. Then she started laughing.

"What's so funny?!"

She was doubled over laughing at this point. "Oh, I don't even know why I am surprised! You were going on about it like it was the second coming. And it was just a poor, little Caterpie all along."

I shook my head, "Well, my 'poor, little Caterpie' can still beat you."

"I have beaten like 4 of those this morning!" She said between breathes of laughter.

"This one is different!"

She straightened up. "Oh yeah, I'm sure it is."

"Oh, just shut up and start the battle will you." I was starting to get annoyed at her disrespect for my Pokémon.

"As you wish. Ok, Charmander, use Growl!" The orange lizard took a deep breath and let out a loud piercing cry. Visible sound waves moved across the battlefield and Caterpie was swept up in the noise, being thrown backwards and bouncing back from the sound waves.

"Growl? Ha, that doesn't deal any damage. Caterpie, get up and use Tackle!" He wasn't the quickest but maybe he could get up enough speed to knock Zippo off his feet.

"Use Tackle too, Charmander!"

Both Pokémon set off like gunshots! Well, kind of. Neither of them were all that quick. Both Pokémon were racing (quite slowly) towards the other, clamouring to beat the other to the punch. My Caterpie had a head start and got the first hit. The Bug Pokémon jumped from her tiny legs and smashed head first into Charmander's midsection with all the force she could muster. Charmander had no time to retaliate and doubled over and fell to the ground clutching its stomach.

I was surprised my little Catepie did so well, his Tackle looked way stronger than I was imagining! "Wow, Caterpie that was a great move, well done!" My Caterpie turned her head around and looked back at me. Her eyes were beaming with pride, she lifted herself up on her back two legs and made some adorable noises in celebration. She looked so happy. "Caterpie, use Tackle again, you can win this!"

Eden snorted in derision. "You wish! It was only a Tackle attack. Charmander, wait till that hopeless bug gets closer and use Scratch."

Charmander planted its feet and stood on edge watching as Caterpie ran full force at it. The four fingers on its left claw grew and started to glowed white. Caterpie didn't understand what was happening and raced towards it, I tried to call out to stop her attacking but it was too late. She was too close. "No!" I watched in horror as Charmander's claw slice down the side of my little Pokémon. "Caterpie…"

My Bug Pokémon scream out in pain and fell to the ground. Even from the distance I was at I could see that my Pokémon had a gash all along the side of her body, cutting through the light circles that decorated the side of her body. The wound was looking red and my Caterpie was still crying out in pain.

I heard a shout from across the battlefield. "Would you like to surrender?" She said was a sly smile, folding her arms in arrogance. But I couldn't concentrate on her. My bug was writhing around on the floor, screaming in pain, with Eden's Chamander looking down on her, ready to use the move again.

"Caterpie, are you alright?" Some garbled noised came from Caterpie as it lied on its side, blood pouring out of the side of its body. Maybe I should surrender, a good Pokémon trainer would quit now and live to fight another day. But how could I just let Eden win? She's so cocky! This is my first ever battle! I can't lose my first ever battle! No, no, of course, no, Caterpie's health is more important than my stupid pride. Ok, I'll surrend-

"Do it again, Charmander!" Eden barked out another devastating attack before I could say anything. I watched in horror as Charmander puffed out its chest and wheeled back its hand readying for another Scratch attack. I looked on in fear, too startled to even try and protect my Pokémon.

"Caterpie!" My shout must have stirred Caterpie enough to bring her back to her senses. While my Caterpie was lame on the floor, she lifted her head enough just in time to fire its sticky web from its mouth directly at Carmander's arm just as he was reeling back to attack again with its Scratch attack. Within seconds Charmander was shocked to realise that its arm was suddenly trapped by the silky web, stuck to its body like it was in a strait jacket!

Oh my… What a stroke of luck that was! She fired a String Shot and had trapped Charmander's arm to its own body. He couldn't use Scratch again! "Genius! Caterpie, do it again! Do that again!"

For the first time since I had met her Eden looked genuinely out of sorts. Pacing the floor and shaking her head trying to think of a way to get out of her predicament. Her annoying confidence was gone and was replaced with worry as she had her hands against her head and she shook in desperation trying to think of a way out of this.

"No, Charmander, break out of it."

The Fire Pokémon struggled valiantly against its restraints but he wasn't strong enough to break away. It didn't even see as my Caterpie struggled courageously to get to its feet and fire off another String Shot. The silky, stringy web fired out of Caterpie's mouth and wrapped around and around Charmander's orange scaly body. I had no idea how she could produce so much webbing, there was so much that the Fire Pokémon was starting to look like a cocoon with its little orange head popping out of the top. It cried in pain and worriedly tried to look towards its trainer for assistance.

I have to admit that I had a little confidence myself now. "So, Eden, would you like to surrender?" I said with a smile of my own.

"Shut up!" She scream in rage. She certainly didn't seem used to being on the back foot like this. "Oh fine, screw it, I didn't want to do this but screw it. Charmander, break that web with your fire. Use Ember on yourself, that'll shred that stupid web."

"No…" I knew once she had Charmander started using his fire that the match was basically over. Caterpie has no chance against fire. I was actually surprised it had taken her so long to resort to this. I suppose I did have the fleeting thought that she was going easy on me by staying away from Charmander's fire for so long.

Charmander could barely move its head after being wrapped so tightly in Caterpie's String Shot. The Fire Pokémon angled his head up ever so slightly into the air and let loose several small fire balls straight up into the air before falling back down onto himself and ripped into the webbing that was wrapped around him. The Pokémon couldn't help but give a little grin of his own as the web degraded enough that he could use the strength of his body to break away from the remaining tendrils.

Uh oh. "Quick Catepie, use String Shot again!"

Looking ready and suddenly starting to take the battle more seriously, Eden ordered the counter. "Block those strings with Ember." Caterpie shot out another strand of String Shot that was almost immediately burned away as soon as it came into contact with Charmander's Ember.

Caterpie looked visibly afraid of the fire. She was backing away and I could literally hear her crying in fear. I tried my best to get her to rally. "Don't worry Caterpie, use String Shot again, and aim for its mouth, we can clamp that mouth shut and stop it from using is fire attacks!"

Eden heard that. Her voice seemed more frantic as she directed her Pokémon. "Keep using Ember until it's finished, Charmander!"

Caterpie tried to fire off another String Shot from its mouth but before they could even get close to the Fire Pokémon, Charmander blasted them away with small balls of fire. Caterpie backed away from the Carmander who was making its way over to the Bug Pokémon with fire dancing around its mouth, ready to attack with an Ember that will put my Pokémon down indefinitely. I couldn't let that happen.

"Ok, Eden, please stop, I surren-"

"Attack!"

Eden ordered the end. And it was the end, before I could even say anything, Charmander let out a blast of fire down at my Caterpie, who just stood there defenceless right in front of him. I heard the scream of my bug as she was set alight, rolling around on the floor, her little body blazing with fire from head to tail. "Caterpie!" I ran across the battlefield as fast as I could to my flaming Caterpie. Charmander was bearing down on the injured Caterpie once more before Eden also ran onto the battlefield and restrained her Pokémon.

In my panicked state I had no idea how I had the foresight to rip off my jacket and use it to smother the flames that engulfed my Pokémon. Thankfully it worked, and the deadly flames died down.

Eden came up behind me, "Is he alright?"

I was shaking, "Er, er, I-I don't know, there's some Full Heals in my bag, could you-"

"I'm on it!" Before I could even finish Eden raced over to where I had placed my backpack down on my side of the battlefield and run back with my bag. By the time she had returned I had managed to extinguish most of the flames, but my poor Caterpie was still screaming from the pain as Eden handed me a bottle of the medication.

I didn't know what I was doing with the Full Heals, I knew it said to use them to help a Pokémon recover from all kinds of status alignments but I never had chance to see exactly how you would use them. How much to I spray on him? How often? What if I don't use enough to heal him fully? A Burn Heal would have probably worked better, why didn't I get any of those! My Caterpie was starting to fade into unconsciousness. Not really know what I was doing with the Full Heal, I just sprayed to whole bottle all over the small bug Pokémon. A white foam came spraying out of the bottle like that of a fire extinguisher and I tried to cover as much Caterpie's body as I could with this foam.

When the Full Heal ran out, I reach for another bottle and prepared to spray the Pokémon with another bottle. Eden stopped me, "I don't think you need to use two bottles."

"How do you know? What if that wasn't enough." I looked down at the charred skin of Caterpie that was now covered entirely in the white foamy substance.

"It should be enough. Wait until all that foam has sunk in, then the burns should have healed and then you can use these potions." She said as she was rooting through my bag looking for any other medical equipment I had. The Full Heals and the Potions were all I had. "Oh, and you can use my cave to shelter her, I was gonna move on today anyway."

"Why did you have to use fire!? You knew that would be too much for her!" I snapped at Eden.

She seemed a little taken aback, her eyes flickered with sadness before she restored her usual poise. "Wow, wow, wow, don't blame me! This isn't me! Your Pokémon got hurt because of you. You knew the risks of fighting a Fire Pokémon, and you got burned. Don't lash out at me, this is all you!"

I closed my eyes and took a deep breathe. She was right. Of course she was right. I let my competitiveness and jealousy of this girl get the better of me and I put my Pokémon in danger. I looked down and stroked my Pokémon before apologising sadly. "You're right, it's me. Of course, everything is my fault. I haven't had the best of luck with anything since I started my journey… Guess it's all getting on top of me."

I couldn't see what she was doing, she didn't answer. She didn't make a sound for a good while. When she did she didn't even acknowledge what I had just said. "C'mon, let's get your Caterpie into the cave."

"Should we really move her? What if we do further damage?"

"Oh my god, you are so pathetic. She'll be fine, just pick her up gently and move it over there." She said gesturing to the cave with the hand she was still holding my open backpack in. "I'll prepare some kind of bed for it. Oh, we can use your sleeping bag!"

"Will you stop going through my stuff!" I watched her fold up my sleeping bag and take it into the cave. She disappeared into the darkness. "You really think she'll be ok?"

She came out of the cave to answer me. "Oh, relax! It was just an Ember attack, I have been accidentally scorched a little by one of his Ember attacks once and yes, it hurt but look!" She did a little twirl, "I survived. And I'm ginger, my skin can't deal with heat!"

I suppose she was right… my Pokémon should be ok. I picked up Caterpie as softly as I could and walked past Eden into the cave.

The rugged and weary walls stood surrounding me. They seemed so strong. Such a stark contrast to the bright environment just mere feet away in the dense forest. Cold air filled every corner and darkness swallowed most of my vision, yet this still seemed like such a sanctuary compared to the dangers from outside. I could feel the dampness in the air, which must have been from the rain last night. With all of the excitement today I had forgotten that I was up all night searching around the forest in the rain. God, I must have looked horrible.

As I placed Caterpie down I saw Eden come up behind me. "So… I, err, I never did catch your name?" She said with a smile on her face.

"Oh, really?" I thought I had already told her. "I'm Ritchie." I said with a smile of my own and I held out my hand.

And she shook it.

-

I stayed in that cave for the rest of the day. We lit a fire, Eden didn't move on like she said she would. She stayed with me to make sure Caterpie was ok. We even shared dinner, well, I shared her dinner, cheese sandwiches. I was glad to get something substantial in me after barely eating any food for the past day or two.

Caterpie was tucked up in the sleeping bag close to the fire Eden had made. I questioned why she needed to be close to a fire when recovering from burns but then Eden told me I was being 'pathetic' again. She had squirmed around a bit in her sleeping bag so I was quite happy that she was still alive at least. Why must I always assume the worst case scenario?

I don't quite know the time when Eden went to sleep, it was getting quite dark outside of our cave. I stayed awake a little longer, I sat beside Caterpie and looked through my Pokédex to see if I could find any information on how I could help Caterpie with her recovery. I couldn't, I could only just get on Caterpie's profile page before the Dex just crashed and stopped working. I was beginning to think that this Pokédex was more of a hindrance than a help on my journey with the amount of times it breaks down.

I must have fallen asleep while I was trying to fix it yet again. As unbeknownst to me my broken Pokédex fell out of my hands and dropped down close to the fire. I didn't hear yet more strange noises coming out of the Pokédex.

I didn't hear the glitching and buzzing and beeping coming of my Pokédex.

I didn't hear the voices that started to come out of my Pokédex.

"Golf Mike Echo November, the fix is in. Repeat, the fix is in. Golf Mike Echo November, awaiting your instructions."

TO BE CONTINUED…

Turtwig · Feb 13, 2015

Your writing is improving a lot! I enjoyed the battle between Caterpie and Charmander, it was really refreshing compared to the usual short stories I've been reading lately. The only suggestion I have for you at the moment is possibly clearing up genders; you refer to Charmander has both a male and an "it," which isn't completely wrong, but it got a little confusing within the battling scene. However, you referred to it in several different names like "the Pokemon" that kept the paragraphs flowing well, and that's more important than a little confusion with the occasional pronoun. All in all, you're doing really well and I can't wait to read more!

GioRocket · Feb 14, 2015

Ah, the genders, I knew that would be a problem lol at the last minute I changed Catepie into a girl, so I was meticulous in changing all the he's to she's and hims to hers... Wasn't as thorough with Charmader xD

Although I guess I could explain it away as Ritchie not really knowing Charmanders gender so he just referred to it as whatever...

Turtwig · Feb 14, 2015

It wasn't a big issue, I just got slightly confused and had to go back over the scene. It was really entertaining, though, so don't be discouraged!

GioRocket · Mar 21, 2015

Chapter 7: No More Mr Nice Guy

Chapter 7: No More Mr Nice Guy

"Alright, Caterpie, let's just rest up here in this cave until the end of the night and we'll try to make our way out of here at daybreak." She was asleep, so she probably didn't hear me, but that didn't stop me spouting out my plans for tomorrow. I had packed away all my things into my backpack already, I was definitely ready to see the back of this forest.

I had only woken up a few minutes ago myself, awoken to the sound of thunder outside. The weather had taken a turn for the worst (again), it was pouring with rain and every so often the earth would rumble to the sound of thunder. Thank goodness I was in this cave. If I was out there in those conditions I would hate to think of what would happen to me. As if on cue, the sky lit up as lightning spread throughout the sky above the treetops.

I whistled. "My, my, it's a good job we found this cave, isn't it, Caterpie? The weather around here seems to change at the drop of a hat!"

She twisted in her sleep. I had removed the sleeping bag that was wrapped around the Pokémon to see how her burns were doing. She was now resting on a nest of leaves I had built for her. A bed she could eat… who wouldn't like that? Her burns were looking a little better, not quite as healed as I would have liked though. Or maybe I was just being overly cautious like Eden says.

Speaking of Eden, she had disappeared. When I woke up, she and all of her belongings were nowhere to be found. I guess she had moved on like she said she was going to. I hoped she was ok, travelling in this weather at night could be deadly.

Wait… I hoped she was ok? I sat down next to Caterpie with the realisation that I was actually starting to like that girl. Yeah, she was arrogant, but if I had had her kind of luck I probably would have thrown my weight around a little as well. Still, it was a bit weird that she left without even saying goodbye.

I stayed in that cave for hours, just watching my Pokémon. Watching her little body expand a little as she breathed. What was I thinking sending such an inexperienced bug out against a trained Fire type? If Caterpie doesn't get better I'll never forgive myself.

The weather never let up, not for a second. It was still raining heavily, and the entrance of the cave was almost pitch black. I couldn't really tell what time it was. We must be coming to close to morning by now but there was no change in the dark sky above Viridian Forest. As a crash of lighting blazed throughout the forest I tentatively stepped closer to the mouth of the cave and watched as rain came pouring down harder than I had ever seen it. The whole forest illuminated as lightning flashed from the sky and the rumble of thunder followed it. Wow, that one was close.

"Well, it's not looking good out there, is it Caterpie." Yet another flash of lightning and a crash of thunder following. I turned back around to sit by my Pokémon, "At least we are safe in here. We can't get struck by lightning inside this cave." Then again, with my luck…

As I sat down I saw my Pokémon move, just a little. The small bug wriggled a bit on the little nest of leaves I had made for her. "Caterpie! Hey, are you awake?" I heard a strangled cry come from her as she turned her head and looked towards me. Hello.

"I'm sorry, Caterpie, you mustn't feel very good, huh?" She didn't answer, of course. That didn't stop me from yammering on. "I'm so sorry, it-it was all my fault. I was stupid, I never should have put you in such danger. I don't deserve such a brave Pokémon like you." I just sat staring into my Caterpie's eyes for the longest time. Her eyes never left mine. "But please, I'll do everything I can to make you feel better. I won't rest until you have made a full recovery. The Full Heal should help you with your burns, and in a little while I'll use one of the Potions on you. According to the instructions you can't use both at the same time, something about mixing chemicals, apparently." Yeah, I had read the instructions. You can't just use these things willy-nilly, you know. "That should help you with the pain as well. As soon as morning hits, I'm going to find a way out of this forest and get you to a Pokémon Centre. They'll know what to do. They'll make you all better. Assuming the weather lets up, obviously."

With my focus entirely on Caterpie I was shocked when I heard a cry from behind me and I turned to the entrance of the cave to see the silhouette of a large man come stumbling into the cave. He was hunched over with his arms clutched around his chest. He was soaking wet, he must have been in the heavy rain for a long time. I moved closer to him. "Wow, hey, you ok?"

The man saw me and shouted "MOVE!" as he stormed right past me, knocking me over with his shoulder and barrelled deeper into the cave. He was dripping wet, my once dry cave was now getting covered in puddles of water just like outside. The guy's long black leather trench coat was shining with all the water that was on it, his once spikey hair now flattened down with all the rain water. I got back up to my feet and checked on Caterpie to see if he hadn't been disturbed by the man's loud entrance.

The man was crouch down, he threw his large backpack to the side and whatever he was holding in his arms he placed down gently onto the floor. "Hey! Be careful where you throw your things, my Pokémon is-" Oh… I was silenced when I realised I had seen this guy before.

The man turned to face me and he recognised me as well. He was the one who stole the Scyther from me. He gave me a cocky grin. "Ah, look who it is." He wiped his hand down his face and shook his head like a dog, trying to get rid of the water. He took a quick look around the cave before turning back to me. "Alright, you get out, I need this cave for myself."

Get out? "What? No, I can't leave."

"Yes, you can. Get out."

Was he serious? "No, no way. My Caterpie needs this shelter."

He rolled his eyes. "Caterpie? Oh c'mon, they're dime a dozen around here. Just leave it alone and go catch another one. No one cares about such Pokémon. Now get out."

I'm going nowhere. I wouldn't let him bully me again! "No, I'm staying here. And so is my Caterpie until I know she's ok. I was here first, so you should get out."

He laughed, "Nah, I need to shelter myself, and for much more important reasons that a useless little Caterpie." He turned around to look at the object he placed on the ground. Another flash of lightning lit out the cave and I saw exactly what he was looking at, what he was protecting. I had never seen something like it before. Not in person at least.

"A Pokémon Egg?" I had taken a few steps forward without even realising it. "Where did you get that? Did you find it in the forest?"

He took a step in front of the egg protectively. "Hey, you get back! Don't even look at this thing. It's mine. I found it in some nest about a mile back. This is my rarest find yet!" Given how out of breathe he was he must have ran all the way here. How did he even know there was a cave here? He must have gotten lucky. Everybody has luck but me, it seems.

"You stole an egg from a nest?" Surely that goes against a morale code? "That's not right, what about its mother?"

"Mother? Ha. If she cared so much she would have put up more of a fight."

"What? You forcefully took it?"

"Just be quiet, will you? Mummy didn't have a chance against me. Damn, my new Scyther is deadly…" He looked so proud of himself.

I backed up instantly, suddenly feeling nervous about sharing this space with him. This guy was crazy. Did he just say his Scyther, the Scyther I nearly caught, was a killer? Or was that a joke? Or a… threat?

"Umm, ok, look. I'm not gonna leave the cave. I can't. I'll let you stay since it will protect that Pokémon but you need to understand I need to protect my Pokémon as well."

He wasn't listening. He wasn't even acknowledging me anymore. Just staring down at the egg. He picked it back up, "I need somewhere soft where I can let it rest without getting damaged."

I tried to help him, "Maybe you could-"

He cut me off. "I'm gonna have to go out into the forest again and get something soft I can rest this on, leaves maybe. I know there is a stream pretty close by, maybe there is something near that…" He wasn't listening to me. He seemed to be in a world of his own. He was just walking around and around talking to himself.

First sign of insanity, that is.

I gave up trying to help him and I just sat back down next to my Caterpie as he agitatedly wandered around the cave, apparently looking for some soft leaves inside the cave he could rest the egg on. He wasn't going to find any, I had gotten them all earlier and Caterpie was resting on them.

I looked at this guy and tried to figure him out. What did he need with an egg? He had a proper Starter Pokémon in Bulbasaur, he had my Scyther, and given that he was at least 20 years old, it's possible he could have a whole horde of Pokémon to fall back on. So what did he need with an egg? He really didn't seem like he had the patience to raise a Pokémon from birth. I guess he was just being selfish. Gotta catch 'em all, right?

I'm probably not going to try and catch them all, I'm going to be honest, it sounds like a lot of work! I still haven't even figured out Caterpie…

"Hey, I told you to get out."

I was shocked out of my reverie. "I can't leave." I stubbornly stayed where I was sat and closed my eyes.

He walked menacingly towards me. "Oh? Listen, kid. Are you going to enter the Indigo League Conference?"

"Yeah. Of course."

"Of course you are. Look, I am the next Kanto League Champion. I know how cliché that sounds and I know everybody say that. But in my case, it is true. I have been training 13 years for this very conference, nobody in this entire region can hold a torch to me. Now, this cave is mine. You're going to leave. Or I'm going to make you leave."

I stood up to him. "No. Your bullying worked when you stole MY Scyther but not now. You can brag all you want but I need this shelter for my Pokémon and I will not be intimidated by you."

He ran his hands through his once spikey wet hair and stared me dead in the eyes. "No? This isn't a choice you can make, this isn't like a movie or a video game where you stand up to the big bad guys and get justice. No this is real life. And in real life, the good guys finish last. So get out! Get out of this cave. Now!"

"I'm going nowhere." I wasn't going to give up like I did with the Scyther. I couldn't. I was never going to be a Pokémon Master if I didn't stand up for myself.

He was getting agitated. "Oh my god, really, kid? Is this really the hill you want to die on?"

I crossed my arms defiantly. "You're all talk. You are not the big bad guy you think you are."

He seemed to calm down. "Ok, then." He was rubbing his forehead like he had a headache. Was I getting to him? Then he looked over to my Caterpie. And my show of defiance quickly slipped away.

He ran over to the nest and straight punt kicked my Caterpie out of the cave! Her little body flew right out of the mouth of the cave and into the heavy rainfall.

"Hey!" I ran after Caterpie instantly.

No, no, no, this wasn't happening. Please let her be ok, she has been through enough. I instantly ran out of the cave after her. I couldn't find her at first, I was frantic! But I soon heard a cry of pain, she had fallen into a bush about 20 feet from the entrance of the cave. I ran and crouch down right next to her. "Caterpie! Please, please, wake up! Are you ok?"

I felt a projectile hit my back as I was bent over tending to my Pokémon. The guy, I didn't even know his name, had thrown my backpack right out of the cave and tried to hit me with it.

He had kicked an innocent Pokémon for no reason. He cause physical pain to my Caterpie. How could anybody do such a thing?

The rain fell down like I was standing under a waterfall, there was no letting up, and no hiding place. My clothes were soaked through to the skin within seconds. The sky was a million shades of grey and thunder once again boomed throughout the forest and there was nowhere to run. Wind whistled though the trees as I quickly shouldered my backpack and picked up my Pokémon as gentle as I could and tried to get her far away from the cave. That man was a danger to Caterpie and I wasn't going to let my pride come before her health again. I had to get away and find protection for us.

But there was no save heaven this time. The wind howled and the rain lashed harder and stronger than I had ever seen or felt in my life. I was blindly running through the trees in the forest, looking for anywhere that could shelter us from the torrential downpour. But there was nowhere. Everywhere I tried to hide was just met with even more rainwater battering down on us. I tried to duck under bushes and tree trunks but they were no use. I was carrying my Pokémon in my arms, holding her like you would hold a baby. Hunched over, trying to protect her from the heavy torrent pounding down on us.

I soon realised that I was never going to be able to protect us both from this weather. I was too big, there would be no shelter big enough to protect me. But she was small. Not quite thinking clearly I placed her on the floor as gently as I could, and I did my best to protect her. I got down on all fours right there in the middle of the trail and used my body to shelter her from the rain.

I could feel the rain pelting down on my back but my body was protecting her. My hair brained plan was actually protecting her a little. She was underneath me and I was getting the worst of it. It was at this time that Caterpie woke up. "You're awake! My god, Caterpie, you are so strong!" She looked terrified. A flash of lightning lit up the forest and the thunder rumbled right afterward. She screeched in terror. "Hey, hey, don't be scared, Caterpie." She looked up to see my face beaming down on her. My body was doing a relatively successful job of keeping her out of the elements. I was protecting her. It was what Pokémon Trainers did, they protected their Pokémon at all costs. "Don't be scared. I can protect you." I grimaced as the rain battered down harder on my back. "I'll protect you!"

And she saw. She saw how I was protecting her. She took one more look into my eyes. And then she burst into light.

Below me I could see my little bug changing before my eyes. Within the light, her form changed. Her small body expanded and grew in length. Her new elongated frame was about as big as my midsection now as her soft skin became covered in a thick harder shell. She had new large eyes which seemed sort of dazed, I had seen pictures of Metapods before and I seem to remember their eyes always looked a little weird. She did have reason to be dazed here though. The bright light started to fade and I could see my bug's new form in all her glory. Her new shiny hard green shell had completely healed all of Caterpie's injuries. "Wow."

I must have caught her attention as she started to look back at me with those big eyes and glanced around at all the rain pelting down around us. And the she started to protect me. From her mouth (I think it was a mouth) she started to spin her silky web. I wasn't quite sure what she was doing at first, the web was spinning around and around my body.

"Caterpie, what are you doing?" Metapod… I meant Metapod.

"Meta..." A low moan came out of her as she continued it spin the web. The silk was weaving up and over my hunched over body. It was going around and around my body and hers. The web was quite sticky at first but within seconds it started to tighten and grew hard and strong. Just like her own new body. A cocoon. That's what she was doing. She was building a cocoon. A cocoon around both of us. Protecting us from the monsoon.

"Metapod, you're saving us."

That she did. The new cocoon she kept spinning was growing stronger and stronger. I could hear the rain pounding down against the outer shell but not once was the defence ever penetrated. I wasn't sure how much of what Metapod did was instinct or if she really was trying to protect me but it worked. It worked and I couldn't have been more grateful.

Metapod - Master Defender.

We were in that cocoon for quite a while. Eventually the sound of pounding rain started to die down. I tried to ask Metapod if she could take down the cocoon but when I looked down on her she just seemed exhausted so I took matters into my own hands and tried to stand up and break through the layers of hard sticky web. I did manage to break through it. With difficulty, granted, but I eventually shed the web. It was still raining, but compared to how it was a few hours ago, I couldn't bring myself to complain. My clothes wear soaked through to the skin, I was freezing! There was no way I was getting through this without the flu in my immediate future.

After we had gotten out of the cocoon I checked Metapod on the Pokédex. What she did was not out of the ordinary for her, apparently. It was Metapod's primary function. Defence. I had tried my best to protect her the rain storm, and in turn she protected me the way her new shell protects her.

"Are you alright, Metapod?" Her big eyes were drooping heavily, and her hard shiny body was dripping with wetness. Sweat? Do bugs sweat? "I don't know how to thank you. You saved us both. You don't know how much that means to me."

She didn't reply. She could barely keep her eyes open. She looked so tired. God knows how she kept the barrier up for however long we were under there.

It had held the heavy rain away, and now I could see the sun was peeking through grey clouds in the sky. The whole forest had a dampness in the air and it looked like it was early in the morning now. Great. I had survived another day! I am sure one day on this journey with go by without a crisis. One day…

"Alright, Metapod, I'm going to get us out of here now. I have had enough of stumbling around in this forest. I'm going to get you to a Pokémon Centre. Your performance since I caught you has gone beyond my wildest dreams. And I want you to know how much I appreciate it."

That was my first priority. To get Metapod help…

Well, it my second priority.

The big guy. The big bad in the cave. He had to pay. I wasn't going to let him get away with what his did to me. To Caterpie. I couldn't. I just couldn't let the bully's actions slide. He had humiliated me. Twice now. He put me and my Pokémon in danger. And I wasn't going to let that go.

I was not going to let myself be walked over like that ever again. I will not be the hunted anymore. I will be the hunter.

So I returned Metapod to her Poké Ball and made my way back. Back to the cave.

It took me a while. In the confusion last night I wasn't exactly sure of my path. But I didn't give up. It took a long time. A few hours I'd say, it was still morning, but the sun was riding a lot higher in the sky.

And then I found the cave.

And I saw my tormentor. The bully. He was still in the cave. He was still using MY fire and his egg was sitting on the nest that I had built for Caterpie. I stood from afar. Hiding behind the trees. Watching him. Waiting for the right opportunity. I scouted the area as best I could. I found exactly what I was hoping for. A flowing stream. The stream he had mentioned. It wasn't exactly close to the cave, but it was well within walking distance.

I stood watching him for a while. He didn't really do much. He had changed into a new set of clothes. They didn't really look all that different from the old ones her was wearing. Black jeans and a black hoodie. He was sat around the fire. His old clothes were still drenched and lay flat on a rock by the fire. One thing I did notice was that he never once let out any of his Pokémon. It was quite a lonely stay in that cave with the weather thundering outside. Why not let you Pokémon out and get a bit of company? Don't know why I was surprised. He really didn't seem like that kind of trainer.

I was about to give up on my quest for revenge. Sitting there behind a tree trunk I realised how strangely I was acting. Stalking another guy. That wasn't me. What had this journey turned me into? I was just a polite, ordinary guy from Frodomar City. I had stumbled at the first few hurdles on my Pokémon journey and I was already acting like a crazy nutcase! I held Metapod's Poké Ball in both my hands and stared at it. She needed medical attention. And I was sat behind a tree in the rain on a senseless crusade just because my feeling had gotten hurt. I just couldn't be childish like this anymore. Metapod needed me, she depended on me.

I got up. I set her Poké Ball back onto my belt and tried to figure out what the best way out of here was. Of course I had no idea, I figured north was the best bet. I took one last look at the cave and began to make my way north.

And then I did a double take.

He was gone. He wasn't in the cave.

I quickly scanned across the cave wall and saw him. He was heading leisurely down a beaten pathway towards the stream. The opportunity I was waiting for. I was waiting all morning for him to leave the cave. So I could attack…

Putting all of the soul searching I had done just minutes ago to the side, I snuck inside the cave as soon as he was out of sight. My cave. I knew I wouldn't have very long. He could be back at any minute. Honestly I wasn't even sure what I was going to do. I just needed to do something. Hurt him. Hinder him somehow. Set him back like he set me back. It was no more than he deserved, right?

I quickly scanned around the cave. He had left everything in here. His clothes, his backpack was set against the wall. Maybe I could hide them? Or destroy them?

I kicked out the fire. Good luck getting that started again without a Charmander. Ha! No, no, that wasn't enough. He humiliated me. Made me feel like a weak, pathetic nobody. No, I needed to hurt him. Make him feel as useless as I felt.

My whole body was tingling. The thought that he could be back in any minute and catch me in the act. It was so dangerous. So rash. I never did things like this. Honest! Is this what Pokémon journeys turn people in to? It had only been a few days and I was already breaking the law.

I kept searching around the cave. Rooting through his belongings. Then I found something big. His Poké Ball belt. Just lying there under his backpack. I couldn't really believe it. I thought he had taken his Pokémon to the stream to get them some water. Why would he leave them here? The belt had 5 of 6 slots already taken. Five Pokémon and an egg. Impressive. He didn't deserve them though. He didn't deserve anything! I knew I didn't have it in me to take all of those Pokémon for myself. But if he really cared about his Pokémon he wouldn't have left them unattended. No, that would be very irresponsible.

And then my eyes fell onto the egg. The apple of his eye. The jewel in his crown.

I slowly descended down onto the egg. Onto the nest that I had built. My mind was racing. A Pokémon egg. A real live Pokémon egg. He could never raise a Pokémon from a baby. He wasn't caring, he wasn't parental. This Pokémon would be better off without him. It would be better for the Pokémon to have a different trainer.

A different trainer like… Me.

I quickly checked outside the cave to see if he was coming. The rain was starting to stop completely now and the sun was a lot brighter than it was before. But he was nowhere to be seen. It didn't take this long to go to the stream and back. What on earth was he doing? I cast all thoughts to the side and picked up the Pokémon egg as carefully as I could and held it in my arms. Not unlike the way I was holding Caterpie in the rain last night.

Then I ran.

I ran out of the cave as fast as I could. Ran into the obscurity of the forest.

I crossed the line. I was way over the line and I knew it. But I just didn't care. I wanted to hurt him. Looking back, stealing that egg was probably the act that turned it all around. The day I stopped being the wimpy little kid and became a defiant Pokémon Trainer. The day I started fighting back! From then on I wasn't going to let all the complications on this journey get the better of me. I wasn't going to drown against insurmountable odds. I was going to take matters into my own hand and fight!

It was the first time I broke the law. It wouldn't be the last.

It was an act of revenge. A stupid, reckless act.

How was I supposed to know the Pokémon inside that egg would change my life?

TO BE CONTINUED…

GioRocket · Jun 22, 2015

Chapter 8: Stone Cold

Chapter 8: Stone Cold

"Good afternoon, sir. Welcome to Pewter City! How may I help you today?" Said the beautiful Nurse Joy at the Pewter City Pokémon Centre.

I had done it! I got out of the forest! Hallelujah, that damn place hadn't beaten me… "Wait, I made it? I am actually in Pewter City?"

The Pokémon Centre was little more than a large house on a hill, it was slightly separated from the rest of the city, which I hadn't seem much of yet. I wanted to get to the Centre as quickly as possible. I had never felt more relieved when the sliding glass doors of the Pokémon Centre welcomed me in.

Inside the building the air had a perfumed scent and every surface was dustless and shined a brilliant white. So much better than the grimy forest floor I had been dealing with lately. I saw a couple of nurses moving with a serene grace and purposefulness around the large open space lobby of the Pokémon Centre. There were vases of flowers and beautiful framed pieces of art on the walls. In the corner was a water dispenser, clearly for tired trainers coming in after a long stretch in the wild.

Just like me! I had made my way to the front desk and was currently trying (and failing) not to act like a weirdo in front the Nurse Joy.

She laughed, "Yes, sir, you're here. We get that a lot, I presume you came through the Viridian Forest?"

"Yes, yes, I did. It was not easy." Understatement of the century! "Could you look after my Pokémon? I think my Metapod is in need of assistance."

She smiled. "Well, congratulations on getting out of there with minimal damage, it is an amazing feat for new Trainers. And yes, of course we can look after your Metapod."

"Thank you, thank you… You know I was in that forest for, well, I don't even know how long. It felt like forever! I'm telling you, it almost beat me." I think it had taken me around another day to get out of Viridian Forest, I had manage to avoid any other kinds of major danger since I stole that guy's egg though, so at least that was a blessing.

"Well, it didn't beat you! And now you are here, you can rest and relax. If you would like to hand me your Pokémon so I can sort out your Metapod's care. Also, if you give me your Pokédex I can set you up with a room here in the Pokémon Centre so you can rest up." She informed nicely.

"Oh really? That would be most helpful." I said as I handed her Metapod's Poké Ball and my old broken Pokédex, which still wasn't working properly.

"It is no trouble." She said as she took my Pokédex and swiped it across her computer. Swiftly, all of my personal information came up on her computer screen, my name, date of birth, height, weight and it even had a little picture of a Metapod under the 'My Pokémon' section. With the way my Pokédex has been acting lately I was just glad that it didn't identify me as a Ditto or something. "Is it just Metapod that needs out assistance or do you have any other Pokémon we could help?"

"Well, yes, I f-found this egg in the forest. I'm not quite sure of the best way to safely look after it." As of now it was rattling around inside my backpack. I had tried to cushion it by wrapping my sleeping bag and other stuff around it inside my bag. I hoped that was enough. I carefully pulled the cream-coloured spotted egg out of my bag and showed it to Nurse Joy.

Her eyes lit up. "Oh, a Pokémon egg? Wow, how fascinating! Do you know what Pokémon is inside?"

"Afraid not, no." Not to say I hadn't been daydreaming about what was inside ever since I got it.

"Ahh, how mysterious." She bent down curiously to examine the egg more closely. By the way she was acting I wondered if they didn't get many of them coming through this Pokémon Centre. "Well, we have special cases for eggs here to keep them protected, I am sure we can loan you one. And I'll set up a scan to see if the little guy is ok in there..." She said with a smile as she punched out a few buttons on her computer.

"Wow, thank you, you are being very helpful." I hadn't had that much lately.

"It is no problem. If you would like to take a seat in our waiting room while we look after your Pokémon, and I'll sort out the rest of your details." She directed me to the rather large waiting room to the left side of the building. To the right side, among other things, there was a set of hospital double doors with people in white lab coats intermittently coming in and out. One of them came by and picked up a tray that Nurse Joy had placed my egg and Metapod's Poké Ball on and took it behind the doors. It seems like they had everything taken care of.

"Right, thank you." I said as I was just about to follow her directions to the waiting room.

"Oh, by the way," She peaked at her computer and got my name, "Ritchie, are you thinking of challenging the Pewter Gym at some point?"

"Yes, that's the idea. I might need some time before I'll be ready though. Why?" They must have this kind of conversation with every Tom, Dick and Harry that enters this place. How do they stay so nice and interested? They must have the patience of a saint.

"Well," She put her elbows down on the desk and brought her hands together, "There has been a bit of controversy about our Gym Leader recently, it's all over the newspapers."

That peaked my interest. "Controversy? How do you mean?" I didn't have Nurse Joy down as a gossip, but any information on the Gym Leader would be helpful to me.

Just as she was about to answer the big glass double doors of the Pokémon Centre behind me slide open to a cacophony of noise and a group of four Trainers came running through shouting in distress. Two nurses appeared from seemingly thin air to aid the four Trainers in an instant. They were all carrying a pretty large Nidorino between them. The Pokémon had clearly suffered a major injury and was wailing in pain and dripping blood all over the clean white floors of the Pokémon Centre. It was a pretty gruesome sight to see.

"Oh, I'm afraid you'll have to excuse me," Nurse Joy said as she left her post and started running toward the group, who were quickly trying to tell the nurses what had happened.

"Oh yes, of course, go help them." I wonder why they didn't return Nidorino to its Poké Ball.

The ruckus had caused quite a bit of attention as people had started coming out into the lobby to see what the fuss was all about. Doctors appeared with a stretcher and, with difficulty, they all tried to get the Pokémon on the stretcher without injuring it further. Once it was on safely, it was wheeled out into the double doors, followed by all four of the Trainers, and was assumedly off to get medical attention. I hoped it would be ok.

Seeing as there was nothing I could do, I picked up my Pokédex, which Nurse Joy had left on the desk, and made my way to the waiting room. Before I could go inside, a girl came out of the door, clearly coming to see what all the noise in the lobby was all about, once she spotted the blood splatters on the floor she came up to me. "Hey, what's going on?" She was taller than me but she didn't seem that much older. She was dressed in all black, jeans and a tank top with a black beanie covering her super long dark hair.

"Er, a Nidorino was injured somehow." I answered the tall girl.

"Wow…" She walked closer to the blood splattered all over the floor. "Flint must have gotten carried away again."

Why was she going closer to the blood? "Flint?" I asked.

"You know, the Pewter City Gym Leader."

The Gym Leader? No, surely not. "You think the Gym Leader did this?" I gesturing to the puddles of blood on the floor. "No, that can't be right. Why would he be so brutal?"

"He has been on fire lately…" She knelt down and started rooting around in her large black handbag.

Surely a Gym Leader wouldn't deliver such horrific injuries. "Even so, this would be a little overboard."

"This is fantastic!" She was clearly fascinated by the blood. She was kneeling down right next to it, as if she was trying to see her reflection in the puddle.

She was excited about this? "Err, what is fantastic?"

"The blood." She said as if it was obvious. "Oh, I didn't tell you? I'm Gwen, I collect blood samples." She held out her hand for me to shake.

Against my better instincts I shook her hand and introduced myself. "B-blood samples? You collect blood samples?" Creepy! So creepy. I shouldn't talk to her. I should leave.

"Sure! I plan to get a blood sample of all 150 Pokémon." She pulled out a clear plastic bag filled with what looked like medical equipment out from her handbag.

I quickly looked around the room, trying to think of a reason for me to leave this conversation. "Huh, wow, well, that's err, kind of-" Insane! Freaky! Grotesque! "-Interesting!"

"I know, right! And now…" She paused as she pulled a giant swap out of the little plastic baggie and scraped it across the puddle of Nidorino's blood, "I can cross Nidorino off my list! 4 Pokémon down, 146 to go." She stood up and looked exceedingly proud of herself.

"Umm, you know, that's kind of an outdated theory, studies show that there are a lot more than a 150 Pokémon now." Why? Why was I making conversation with this girl?

"Really?" She literally glowed with excitement. "Then I have a lot more work to do than I thought! Hey, what kind of Pokémon do you have?"

She was going nowhere near my Pokémon! "They're being looked after at the moment."

She seemed momentarily disappointed. "Oh, well, maybe I can get them later?"

No! Absolutely not! "Yeah, maybe." No! No! What was I saying?

"Awesome! I have to go right now. I'll see you later, ok?"

"Aha, I'll look forward to it." No I wouldn't. Why did I say that?

"Bye, Ritchie." She shouted before running off through the front doors.

Alright… I think my conversational skills need some work.

---

The waiting room was pretty large, almost as big as the lobby, this building was definitely bigger than it looked from outside, it didn't even look like a hospital from the outside. There must have been times when there are dozens of people waiting in this place for their Pokémon. It was pretty quiet right now, there were a few Pokémon Trainers lounging about. You could always tell a Trainer from their baseball caps. Theirs weren't as cool as my blue and yellow one though…

I stepped into the waiting room and saw more paintings sprawled on each wall, each depicting beautiful scenery. Nice calming imagery, just what you need if you are nervously waiting for updates on your Pokémon's help. In theory of course, I doubt it actually helps in anyway. In the middle of the room was a large black wooden coffee table holding a collection of newspapers and Trainer magazines. Underneath it was a bright blue carpet that covered the whole room. A television hung in one corner showing adverts for Pokémon health and whatnot.

It actually felt quit nice to be in a relatively quiet, sleepy town. Just what I needed. It seems like from day one of this journey that I hadn't really had a chance to relax. I was always on the move or looking over my shoulder to see what catastrophe would happen next. The safety of the Pokémon Centre was quite welcome.

I made my way to the newspapers and magazines. I wasn't going to challenge it for a while but it could never hurt scout the Gym Leader and see what Nurse Joy was talking about. Also, I had been thinking about this all day, I wanted to see if there was any news on those explosions I had heard in Viridian Forest. I didn't even know where to begin looking for such information though. I sat down on one of the sofas, isolated from the other Trainers in the room, and did a quick scan of most of the magazines but none of them mentioned anything about Viridian Forest. Maybe it really was nothing. Maybe that kind of thing happened all the time, with powerful Trainers having battles and what not. It just struck me as odd seeing all those Pokémon in the forest so freaked out.

Seeing that I wasn't going to find anything, I decided to move on to the article on Flint. To my surprise he was plastered across the front page of every newspaper on the desk! What on earth had he done?

Before I could even start reading though I was interrupted by a noise from the lobby. Though this time it didn't seem like a noise of distress, it sounded celebratory. In fact, it sounded familiar…

Eden.

I entered reception and saw the girl with the long red hair. She was speaking to the Nurse Joy and handing her a Poké Ball. It had gotten busy all of a sudden in the Pokémon Centre and there was now a line of people standing behind her waiting to see Nurse Joy.

Had Eden just reached Pewter City? Later than me? Had I actually beaten her at something? "Eden?"

She glanced across the room and as soon as she saw me she literally jumped with excitement, getting some inquisitive glances from the people behind her in line and ran right up to me, "Hey! Look, look, Ritchie, I just won the Boulder Badge!" She screamed as she shoved the shiny badge right in my face.

Huh, I guess she didn't just get in town then…

C'mon, Ritchie, be happy for her. Please be happy for her. We did kind become friends in the forest, though why have to be so damn smug all the time? "Oh, wow, congratulations!"

"Why thank you. Zippo swept both his Pokémon single handed."

My eyebrows shot up. "What? Seriously? A Fire type taking out two Rock type Pokémon? That's really impressive." I had to admit.

"I know." She said dreamily… She just couldn't be humble, could she? "Have you faced him yet?"

"Oh, no, not yet. I just got in town. Plus, I'm gonna need to train for a while to even be ready for him."

She crossed her arms. "I don't think you do." She said very matter-of-factly.

"I'm sorry?"

"I bet you could beat him with Caterpie. The Gym Leader is an absolute no mark! He is only the Gym Leader because his son abandoned him. The Pokémon League doesn't even want him to be in charge."

Was that what Nurse Joy was trying to say to me? "What are you talking about?"

"Haven't you heard? It's all over the city! The guy left his whole family to take on the Kanto League. And he failed, badly."

"He left his family?"

"Yep! And it is a big family as well, they watched my match this morning, there must have been about 10 children in the stands. But Flint never cared about them. The lure of becoming a Pokémon Master was obviously more important to him than his children. Apparently he left his eldest son, Brock, to take control of the Gym and all those children. What a jackass…"

That didn't sound very honorable. "But he's back now?"

"Yeah, only because he failed. He couldn't hack in on the road and realized he wasn't good enough, he didn't even get a single Gym Badge! Then he hid away in shame and let his family go to hell. When he came back he kicked his son out of the house and took control again, of out embarrassment at his own failure. Read the newspapers, all the gossip is in there." She laughed.

Surely they wouldn't let somebody like that be in control of a Gym. "You believe all that? The papers can exaggerate sometimes."

"They are right this time. I looked into his eyes, he's a feeble mess. Even a Caterpie could beat him…"

An announcement came over the speaker system throughout the building. "Calling Ritchie to the desk, could Ritchie please report to the desk."

What would they want with me? I raced through the lobby and ran to the desk. "Is everything alright?"

The nurse I was talking to before was back on reception. "Oh, yes, everything is fine. Your Metapod is in full health." She handed me her Poké Ball. "We have also taken your Pokémon Egg to our incubator and that seem to be in perfect health as well. Your stay in the Viridian Forest clearly wasn't as damaging as you first feared."

I sighed in relief at my Pokémon's health while Eden spoke. "Caterpie evolved? Score! You should go fight the Gym Leader!"

I was bemused. "What? Now?"

"Yeah, why not? A Metapod could totally destroy Flint."

There were a hundred reasons why I should battle the Gym Leader. "I just got in town. I don't even have a room here yet. Plus, I wasn't planning of fighting the Gym for a while yet, a Metapod couldn't beat a Gym Leader singled handedly, even a weak Gym Leader." I was sure I was no matchup for a Gym Leader in my current state. Maybe after another capture or two.

"Actually, sir," Nurse Joy seemed to have been listening to our conversation. "I have sorted out your accommodation for this evening, you will be staying in room 21, on the second floor. The room is yours as long as you want it." The nurse handed me a key card.

Wow, they really were on top of everything. "Oh, thank you, again. Nurse Joy, you have been most helpful."

"Aha, you have got your room, now quit stalling and lets go get you a Gym Badge." She punched me on the arm.

"Why do you want me to face the Gym Leader so badly?" She was acting very strangely, even for her.

She spoke animatedly. "The Gym Leader needs to be put in his place! Can you imagine his face when he gets beaten by a Metapod? It would be the funniest thing ever!"

"I don't know, Eden." I really wasn't sure. Then again, getting a Gym Badge on my first day in town would be quite an accomplishment, and my luck was due to change at some point. "I suppose I could go now…"

"Yes! Let's go!" The moment the words left my lips, she had grabbed my hand and was literally dragged me out of the sliding doors of the Pokémon Centre and assumedly right towards the Pewter City Pokémon Gym.

---

On our way to the Gym she had spoken at length about the Gym Leader, and his Pokémon, apparently he had two young Geodudes. She gave long detailed explanations about how she and Zippo had outsmarted them and destroyed the Flint's confidence irrevocably. Honestly, I was only half listening. I had no intentions of facing the Gym Leader today, it was all a little overwhelming.

The Gym actually wasn't too hard to find, all throughout the city there were signs directing people towards the large stone building. I guess that the Gym was the main reason this and most cities in the Kanto region got so many visitors. If all the Gyms in the region are so well marked out I was in no dangers of not finding any of them.

It took us about an hour's walk from the Pokémon Centre to the Pewter City Gym. Once I saw the large stone building in the distance I broke out of my stroll and started running full speed towards it. I left Eden and her incessant yammering in the dust and ran as fast as I could until stood in front of the Pewter Gym and just looked at the immense building.

The front of the Gym was a giant stone wall, it was so big! I hadn't imagined them being so big before. Are they all this big? The front wall, which seemed to be made from pure solid rock had the words 'Pewter Gym' chiselled coarsely across the top left hand corner of the wall. The Gym looked tough and rugged. Rough and ready. Clearly not a lot of thought had gone into the Gyms appearance. Then again with Rock Pokémon I guess appearance didn't really mean much to the Gym Leader. I had to admit, I was a little in awe. "I have never been inside a Pokémon Gym before."

Eden looked to have caught up to me after I had left her behind when I started running. "You have nothing to worry about, Zippo took out his whole team single handed." She put her hand on my shoulder.

I looked her in the eyes. "You really think I could win?"

"Of course!" She said with a wink. "He is such a pitiful little man. Honestly, it was the easiest Pokémon battle I ever had! Hell, he was even easier than you!"

Thankfully, her little digs were starting to roll off my back now. "Oh, thank you…"

"Then let's go." She tried to drag me into the building, but I stopped her and walked up to the building of my own volition. I took a deep breath and pushed open the heavy stone doors and tried to peer inside.

It was dark. My eyes couldn't quite adjust to the dim lighting inside the building. I took a couple of steps inside and the big stone doors slammed shut behind me. It made me jump actually, Eden snickered at that.

I took a few steps forward and watched as the inside of the building started to come into focus.

I saw him. He was the first thing I saw. The man from the newspaper. The whole battlefield was shrouded in darkness and I saw the shadow of the man called Flint stood on top of a stone pedestal on the opposite side of the building.

The battlefield in front of him was littered with jagged rocks and boulders, and a balcony stretched out along the right hand side of the room provided spectators a place to watch Gym battles. On Flint's side of the room I saw a group of children coming to light in the darkness and they were all looking directly at me, I seemed to have gotten their attention.

I heard Eden loudly ascending the stairs and she took her place on the balcony on my side of the room. She looked down on me and the battlefield and said nothing. Nobody said anything. There had been an unnerving silence ever since I had entered the Gym.

A few feet in from of me I saw the Trainer's podium, a crudely marked square with white chalk on the edge of the rocky arena, the white chalk lines rolled out along the whole floor of the building marking out the huge rectangular battlefield in front of me. I stepped into the Trainer's podium and ended the silence. "My name is Ritchie. I challenge you to a Gym Battle!" I tried not to let my voice crack. This whole environment was so eerie. Nerves were racing through my body as I tried my best to show Flint that I belonged here.

"Very well." Came the voice from the stone podium. I still couldn't see Flint properly, only his silhouette, his spikey hair made his head seem much larger than he actually was and it looked like he had his arms folded across his chest. "Ritchie. How many Gym Badges do you have so far?"

I took a deep breath. "I-I have none, sir. This is my first Gym Battle." Wow, I wonder if Eden was this nervous when she was talking to him.

"I see." His outline was starting to become clearer, but I still couldn't make out his features very well. And his voice wasn't giving anything away to determine his emotions. I had heard a few of the children in the balcony laugh when I said I had no Gym Badges.

His voice boomed throughout the building as he shouted, "This is a Gym Battle for the Pewter City's Boulder Badge. It will be a two on two battle and only the challenger may substitute." He paused and then called forth my biggest nightmare. "Onix, I choose you!"

I was speechless. I didn't know what to do. An Onix? Eden had never said anything about that! The Poké Ball broke open and from it emerged a goliath. I had read about Onix before, I had seen photographs of them but my god seeing them in person was a real spectacle to behold.

A giant chain of grey boulders ascended up and up and up. I was starting to breathe heavily, my nerves had just multiplied tenfold. My neck craned upwards and I could only barely see its giant head, with the dark eyes looking menacingly down on me. It must have been 30 feet tall, and it wasn't even at full stretch! Even one of the boulders in his body was bigger than I was…

I pulled out my Pokédex in my shaking hands.

"Onix, the Rock Snake Pokémon. Its large body is over 26 feet long. Despite its size, it can squirm its way through the ground at 50 mph."

My god, Flint's one was even bigger than the one in the Pokédex.

"Choose your Pokémon, son."

I was just numbly staring at the huge Pokémon. "Huh? W-what?" I heard the children laughing again as I struggled to cope with what was happening. I wasn't in a good place. Looking at the Onix, I knew I wasn't ready for this. I couldn't go through with it.

"I said choose you Pokémon, Ritchie!" He sounded impatient. He was getting annoyed at me.

I swallowed and tried to think of what to do. I couldn't really send Metapod out there against Onix could I? I suddenly realised I had her Poké Ball in my right hand.

"Send out your Pokémon!" Flint shouted across the battlefield. His shout made me jump and I made a huge mistake.

"Metapod, go!" I threw her Poké Ball into the rocky battlefield.

The children bust out laughing and childish giggles filled the Gym as they all laughed at my pitiful attempt to challenge a Gym Leader.

After that I was just paralysed in fear. Crippled.

I just stood there. The nerves had me scared stiff and I had no idea what I was doing. Flint was staring daggers at me from across the room. Onix was looking down darkly at both me and Metapod. I couldn't even see the look in Metapod's eyes as she was face to face with her giant opponent. She must have been as terrified as I was.

"Onix," Flint shouted and silenced the children's laughter. "Use Tackle on that useless insect!"

The huge rock snake seemed to snort smugly, clearly pleased with facing such a smaller opponent.

I didn't even have time to give an order; Metapod was clearly too terrified to move after coming face to face with the frightening Onix. The huge Rock Pokémon was already slithering towards Metapod with alarming speed. My small, Bug Pokémon barely had time to register that Onix was actually jumping up, lifting all that size and weight high into the air and before I could even say anything, and Onix came crashing down with its full weight hard on my Metapod with a vicious thud.

A Metapod shaped hole in the floor held my defeated Pokémon as my first gym Battle was over before it begun. The sounds of the children's cruel laughter rang through my ears as I could do nothing but look on and stand there, defeated.

Seeing my beaten Pokémon, the Flint ended the match. "Your Metapod is defeated, Ritchie. Return it." I did as I was told and silently pointed Metapod's Poké Ball at her and returned her to safety. "Send out your next Pokémon, son."

I could barely answer. "I don't have one…" I said softly.

"What did you say?" Flint said loudly. I wasn't sure if he didn't actually hear me or if he was asking in disbelief.

I swallowed and tried to stand up straight. "I don't have another Pokémon, sir. Metapod is all I have."

More laughter from the stands. Flint, though, was silent for a moment. "I appreciate your courage, Ritchie. Challenging a Gym in itself is not an easy thing to do. But this isn't Little League anymore, son. You're playing with the big boys now and you can't expect to challenge, never the less, beat a Gym Leader with such a weak Pokémon."

I fought back my humiliation and tried to look him in the eyes. I knew he was right, of course he was right. I stood no chance. I knew I didn't. Why did I let Eden talk me into this?

"This match is over. Please leave and get medical attention for your Pokémon."

And that was that. My first Gym battle was over before I could even order an attack. Even the first Gym was looking beyond my reach at this point.

"I am sorry for wasting your time, sir. I promise I'll come back when I am ready…" I gave a quick bow and turned around to walk out the Gym, to try and get away from this whole embarrassing situation as quickly as possible.

---

I heaved open the big stone doors and was flooded by bright sunlight. The brightness engulfed me and I dropped to my knees. That was pathetic! I was completely useless. I knew I wasn't ready. Why? Why did I ever decide to fight the Gym?

And then I knew. I realised it as soon as she came though the stone doors after me. She was looked down at the floor, she looked as shocked as I was when I first saw that Onix.

I got off my knees and raced up to her and started shouting. "What the hell did you do!? You made Flint out to be some weak willed idiot! Why did you put me in that position! I had no chance of winning!"

She was looking down and fiddling with the sleeve of her red jumper and she just mumbled, "Oh, you know…"

"Know what? What the hell are you talking about?"

She eventually grew a backbone and shouted back. "You deserved to be humiliated! You made me feel bad, you made me feel really guilty for what Zippo did to Caterpie! It wasn't my fault she got injured! I was just doing what any Trainer would have done. It was your fault for putting her in a battle against a fire type!"

The battle when Caterpie got burned… "What? You humiliated me because of that? I already apologised! You embarrassed me in front of a Gym Leader just because of something I said in the heat of the moment?" I just couldn't believe she had done that to me. That battle felt like a million years ago to me. "I'll never live this down! My first Gym battle ever was a disgrace! If word of this gets out nobody will ever take me seriously again!"

"An apology wasn't enough. You're too headstrong and naïve! Even with a little goading did you really think you could take down a leader with a Metapod? Seriously?"

"I trusted you. I thought we were friends!"

"Friends? You think I want to be friends with you? Look at you! You have nothing. You have been a Trainer for over a week and you have nothing to show for it."

"So you decided to push me down even more?" It was just cruel.

"I didn't think it would go that badly." She said quietly and appeared to shrink into herself. "It was just a prank."

A prank. I was so glad my life amused her. "Whatever, dude. I'm gonna leave." I just couldn't stand to look at her anymore.

"Fine, leave. Keep trying at being a Trainer, you will never succeed! You will be stuck in this city for a long time." She shouted and kept on spewing insult after insult until I couldn't take it anymore.

I turned my back on her and stormed off in the opposite direction. I kept on walking and walking down the road back to the Pokémon Centre until her yelling slowly started too faded away.

And that was the last time I saw Eden for a long time…

---

After my humiliating defeat at the hands of Flint I found myself lounging around the rocky beach of Pewter City. I wasn't quite sure how I found myself on the beach, I didn't even know they had a beach. I had delivered Metapod to the Pokémon Centre to get him treated as quickly as I could, but I didn't feel like I could stay inside the Pokémon Centre. I didn't deserve it, I didn't deserve to be that kind of environment with other admirable Pokémon Trainers after what I did to my Pokémon. What kind of trainer seriously think they could take on a Gym with just Metapod?

I did manage to read the newspaper report on Flint though. Eden's skewed analysis of him was completely opposite to what it said in the papers. The newspapers gave him glowing reviews, with the people of Pewter welcoming Flint back into the city with open arms. Tales were told of how he returned from his quest to be a Pokémon Master to look after his family, and of how he had nobly sacrificed his own dreams and taken back responsibility of the Gym, letting his son travel to world with one of his friends, just like he had always dreamed of.

A far cry from the tyrant Eden had painted him as…

How I could be so stupid as to believe that I was a match for a Gym Leader I will never know. I was never going to let anybody influence my decisions like that again. I guess my quest to be a Pokémon Master got in the way of the logical part of my brain.

I sat down on the soft sand and faced the vast ocean and let the sound of the wind and the waves wash over me. I hadn't noticed that it was so windy earlier today. I guess after surviving in the forest for as long as I did a little wind didn't really bother me. But now I was really feeling it as I looked around and saw huge rock pillars standing tall sporadically along the beach front. The wind seemed to rush through the rocks and whistle.

I had closed my eyes and was trying to think of my next move when I was interrupted.

"Hey, its Ritchie, isn't it?"

I looked up to see a boy. One of the boys from the Gym. One of the children who laughed at me. Though he didn't seem that young now I got a good look at him, maybe just a year or two younger than I was. He looked quite a bit like his father actually, I had finally gotten a good look at Flint from the photographs I had seen in the newspapers. Same spikey hair and dark skin. But I wasn't really in the mood for talking. "Yeah. That's me." I didn't hold his gaze for very long, I just kept staring into the sea.

"Hi, I'm Forrest. The Gym Leader's son." He sat down next to me in the sand.

"Yeah, I saw you in there. Laughing at me…"

He shook his head. "No, no, I wasn't laughing. That was all my brothers and sisters."

I tried to smile and be nice, I wasn't too sure if I was being successful. "What do you want?"

"I just wanted to apologise. For my father. He shouldn't have been so harsh. He has been in some kind of mood lately."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he has only recently come back in town. We have the Pokémon Inspection Agency coming to the Gym soon, he is just trying to prove a point. To prove that he is worthy, you know."

"If it's worth anything, I think he'll be alright." No way will they take the Gym away from him after one look at that Onix.

"Don't feel too bad about losing. You know, you're not the first person to come into our Gym with just Bug Pokémon."

I snorted. "Yeah, I'm sure I'm not. I just always thought I was smarter than that." Ha, guess not…

He smiled. "I have watched all of my father's Gym battles since he took over, I saw a lot of Brock's battles as well. From what I have learned about new trainers, they always think they are different. That they are going to be the one to take on the world singled handed. When they fail, some come back and try again, and some give it up."

"I'm not giving up." I would never give up. I just wasn't sure what to do now. Moping around on this windy beach seemed as good a place as any. "Wait… Did you say you'd seen all of your father's Gym battles?"

"Every single one." He had a look of pride in his eyes. "I hope to take his place one day. It'd be cool to be a Gym Leader, wouldn't it?"

"Oh, yeah." I would love to be a Gym Leader too. "One day, maybe you will… Anyway, did you see Eden's Gym battle? The red haired girl I was with, did you see her battle earlier? She had a match before me."

He looked confused. "Today? No, that's not right. You were the first challenger of the day. Why?"

I jumped to my feet, "What? She didn't battle Flint? Are you sure?"

"No, she hasn't battle my Dad, I had never seen her before."

She was lying! "She said she won the Boulder Badge today! She shoved a badge in my face. She goaded me into taking a match before I was ready. I don't understand."

"Why would she do that?" He seemed surprised at such deception. Hell, I was surprised, she had gone to further lengths than I first thought just to humiliate me. Did she really show me a fake badge? Now that I think about it, I didn't really get a good look at it.

I started pacing back and forth on the soft sand below my feet. "I don't know. She has had it in for me since day one. She thinks I'm not ready to be a Trainer. I thought we had buried the hatchet but then she pulled that stunt just to humiliate me in front of a Gym Leader…"

"That's a pretty cruel thing to do, just for thinking you're not ready."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you know what this means? She hasn't won a Gym Badge! She has zero badges. Just like me. Since the start of this journey it has felt like she has been one step ahead of me every single time. It turns out she isn't as far ahead of me as I thought!"

Forrest got up to his feet also, my new found energy seemed to be catching. "You could still catch her. She can't have left the city already."

I started laughing openly. "Yeah, maybe not, but I can't do anything to her right now. I can let her go this time. We're both travelling trainers, I'm bound to run into her around Kanto one day, and when I do… BANG!"

"What?"

I didn't even hear him. I was just talking to myself at this point. "Oh, one day, Eden, one day I will make your stunt to me here seem like child's play… You know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna travel and I'm gonna get stronger. And if I ever see her again in Kanto, I'm gonna take her down. I'll embarrass her and I'll make her little Charmander think he deserves better than a spoiled little brat like her as a Trainer."

"How?"

He had me there. "I dunno, I'll think of something."

Forrest seemed a little taken aback at my sudden revenge speech. "Heh, well, good look with that. You look like you're in a better mood already." He patted me on the shoulder. "I think I better get home." He turned to head back across the beach.

He was right. I was almost ready to give up five minute ago, but now I was literally bouncing with energy. I can't give up on my journey, I need to take Eden down. "Wait, Forrest, don't go, stay here with me for a while. I want to thank you for the little pep talk. I feel like I owe you. Hey, if there is anything I can do for you, let me know."

"Oh, that's no problem." He laughed. "Actually, it's getting late and I really need to get home. It was really nice to meet you, Ritchie." He held out his hand.

I shook it. "No problem. I guess I'll just owe you a favour then."

"Ha, yeah, maybe. I'll see ya." I said my goodbyes and watched him walking off into the distance.

Sweeping declarations of revenge was alright in theory but thinking about it, I had no idea where to begin. I had one egg and one weak battered Pokémon. Where do I begin? Do I stay in Pewter City and keep trying to get the Boulder Badge or do I move on and train for the next town? If I stay in Pewter I think Metapod would benefit from having a lighter trainer schedule than the harsher environment on the road. But then if I did go on the road I would have more opportunities to catch more Pokémon and come back to Pewter all guns blazing with a whole new team of Pokémon.

Hmm… What to do?

"About that favour…" Forrest sneaked up from behind me.

I stood up and turned to see him. "Forrest, hey, what's up?" I wasn't expecting to see him again.

"Well, err, I could use your help for one thing…" He seemed a little nervous just for asking.

"Name it." I wasn't kidding, I really did want to help him. Without him I never would have known of Eden's deception.

"Well, I have been bugging my dad, and Brock before him, to let me go and check out the Rock Pokémon in Mt Moon."

"Oh, yeah? That mountain is huge! There's sure to be some awesome Rock Pokémon around there!" I knew of Mt Moon. I had always loved hearing stories about that fabled mountain. It was always in the news because of the frequent meteor showers, UFO sightings and even rumours of extra-terrestrial activity. I even read one time that there were fossils in there. Fossils that can be brought back to life! Aliens from space, monsters from the past. What a fascinating place!

"Exactly! But both of them were always been too busy to take me, and since I'm kind of underage I can't really travel by myself. But if I tag along with you, I can go!"

"You want to go to Mt Moon with me? I'd love to go! That sounds awesome."

"Really? You don't mind me tagging along? It's stupid really, I don't need a chaperone! I can handle myself. But I'm not 10 yet so…" He scratched the back of his head, seemingly embarrassed that he couldn't go by himself. He did seem quite mature for his age, I'm sure he'd be fine if he went on his own.

"Alright then, it is no problem at all. It sounds like a perfect plan. Mt Moon, Rock Pokémon, let's do it!"

"Awesome! I'll meet you tomorrow morning at the Pokémon Centre, ok? That's where you are staying right? This is so great! I have been trying to go to Mt Moon for months!" He spontaneously hugged me before skipping off back down to where he came from.

Ok, he didn't seem as mature right there…

But no matter! It seems like I have a new travelling buddy. At least temporarily. And a trip to Mt Moon seems like a good way to forget that this day ever happened.

Mt Moon, here I come.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Authors Note: Alright, I promise, this is the last chapter we see Ritchie being so weak Pokémon-wise. From now on, we start kicking a** and taking names! Starting with the next chapter: The Clefairy Invasion of Earth.

Reviews are appreciated

Mega Adi · Jul 14, 2015

Great story, it is filled with a mix between action and emotion which just makes you want to keep reading. Other than a few misspelling the story run through really smoothly, and I really like the conflict internally and externally for Ritchie. Keep up the good work!

GioRocket · Oct 30, 2015

Chapter 9: The Clefairy Invasion of Earth (Part 1)

So, Route 3 was an interesting place.

Forrest and I had been travelling all day on our way to Mt Moon. We started out early, which admittedly was more his choice than mine. He was up and knocking on my door at six o'clock in the morning! Six o'clock! My goodness, I am never going to get a full night's sleep on this journey.

It wasn't the worst thing in the world actually, we had made decent time thanks to the early start. Thankfully, Metapod was back to full health after my disaster of a Gym Battle, also thankfully, Forrest hadn't made any mention of my disaster of a Gym Battle. Ugh, it's gonna take me a long time to get over that one...

Forrest was an impressive young man. He was definitely made for battles. We had had a few Pokémon Trainers come up to us asking if they could get a battle and he fought off all comers. One by one they came and one by one he knocked them down. He had a Rhyhorn. A Rhyhorn! It was probably one of the coolest things I had seen so far. It was a huge grey beasty thing with rocky side plate covering his whole body. It just looked so cool and tough, nothing on this Route had even made it flinch!

Metapod and I took a little less of a combative stance as we traversed the Route. Metapod was more than content to hang out with me on the side-lines and watch as Forrest picked off all the trainers here. She was watching everything in great detail, Rhyhorn was battling a lot of Bug Types, so maybe that was what had piqued her interest. Forrest's Rhyhorn was battling this Beedrill one time, and Metapod eyes never left Beedrill the whole time. As the flying Bug Type danced and weaved through the air, Metapod seemed to have a wonder in her eyes and she followed Beedrill's path at every turn. Though she didn't seem all that disappointed when Rhyhorn squished the bug with ease. I was glad at least that she was taking an interesting in battling. Thankfully the Gym battle hadn't traumatised her.

"You two are unstoppable!" I said to Forrest when he had dispatched his fifth battle in a row.

"Thank you very much. We have worked very hard. My dad gave Rhyhorn to me when I was younger." He told me. "He gave a Rhyhorn to me, my older brother was given an Onix and my younger brother is going to get a Geodude when he is old enough. My family loves Rock Types. Ha!"

No kidding. There are a lot of children in that family, one day they are gonna run out of Rock Type Pokémon….

While he was speaking I started to think of my own father. He had gotten me a Pokémon, just like Forrest's dad did. I felt a pang of guilt when I realised I would probably never be able to get that Pokémon back, not now, it had been too long since it was stolen. Whatever it was. It made me realised I hadn't even contacted my father since I started out. But how could I contact him? What would I say? I couldn't let him know I had lost his Pokémon.

On the other hand, I was very happy with the Pokémon I now own. Metapod was having the time of her life here. I had placed her on the back of Rhyhorn as we walked through Route 3 and she was having a whale of a time. I am guessing she had never moved at walking speed before, she must have felt like she was on a rollercoaster. She and Rhyhorn were becoming fast friends as well, they had been chirping and growling amongst themselves all day long. Forrest suggested there was a blossoming romance on the cards. My biology isn't great, so I don't know how exactly that would work…

"So, what are you going to do after this? Are you going to continue on to Cerulean or double back to Pewter and challenge my dad again?" Forrest asked.

That, I hadn't thought about. I didn't seem at all ready to be a match for Flint at the moment. So maybe going to Cerulean would be a much better bet. But then why would the Cerulean Gym be any easier than Flint? "Err… I think I am going to continue on. Cerulean is the next place? Yeah, that sounded better. I can't even lace Flints boots at the moment, challenging him again in my current state would be a waste of time." If I was honest, Flint scared me a little. Even seeing him again so soon after the disaster made me a little nervous. Yeah, Cerulean sounded like a much better option.

"Hey, maybe by the time you reach Cerulean you will have caught another Pokémon. Then you will be, err, less b-bad."

Oh great, he still thinks I am a wimp…

---

"There it is…"

We stopped in our tracks to take in the epic visual. Far out in front of us, climbing high above the clouds we saw the mountain. Mt Moon rose above us on the horizon, sheer rocks striking down from a snowy peak. I held out my finger and thumb to make a 'picture frame.' It fitted right in, a perfect photograph, from here it even looked two dimensional. "So that's Mt Moon, huh?" I had no idea how huge it would be. I suddenly felt a little intimidated. "You wanna climb to the top?"

"No, no, nothing like that. There is a network of tunnels right at the base. That's where the Rock Pokémon will be." He seemed to have a glint in his eye as he picked up the pace and we headed towards the mountain.

It took us a couple of hours and it was getting later in the day when we started closing in on the mountain. I hadn't been able to stop Forrest talking about all the Rock Pokémon that could be inside. "Geodude will be in there for sure! And if there are Geodude, there might be Graveller! Or Golem!"

"Really?" I let him keep talking as I watched the spectacle unfold as Mt Moon grew bigger and bigger as we gradually got closer and closer.

"The tunnels inside the mountain were probably create by Onix burrowing through. Can you imagine if we see one? I could catch one like my dad! You could catch one too!"

"Yeah. That would be something…" Me controlling an Onix? It didn't seem likely at this point.

"Oh, look! There's a tunnel! C'mon, let's go!"

We both ran down the final stretch of Route 3 before coming face to face with the largest mountain in the Kanto region. "You know, my dad says you can never truly see how big a mountain is until you rub noses with it." Forrest said as we ran right up to the rock face of Mt Moon and looked all the way up to see just how high Mt Moon actually was. It was astonishing, we couldn't even see the top from here, the rock face just ascended high up into the clouds.

I had to say, I was impressed. "I am so glad I came here, this is incredible! Seeing sights like this is exactly one of the reasons I wanted to go on a Pokémon journey in the first place." It was so exciting to see visions like this while being in relatively little danger. Viridian Forrest was also a huge thing to see but since I was in danger for most of my time in there, it did take a little of the shine off.

"Oh man, this is so cool! I am so glad I finally got to come here." Forrest was beaming. I don't think I had ever been that happy in my whole life! In front of us were a series of tunnels burrowed into the rock face which stretched up for seemingly miles. I was just about to ask which one we should go in first when I heard a squeal.

"Oh my god! Oh my god! Ritchie! There's a Geodude! Look! Look! A Geodude!" Forrest was tugging on my sleeve and literally bouncing as he spotted one of the Rock Types he was looking for.

Not inside the tunnels(as Forrest had guessed) but the Rock Pokémon was high up on a ledge of the rock face, about 20 or 30 feet up in the air, looking down at the high pitched squeals coming from Forrest.

It was a strange looking thing in person, just a rock with a face and arms. Its arms were quite muscular with five-fingers on each hands. Its rock body was maybe a perfect circle at one point, but assumedly after years of living here its body looked chipped and worn. I scanned it.

"Geodude, the Rock Pokémon. Commonly found near mountain trails. If you step on one by accident, it gets angry."

"I'm gonna catch it! Rhyhorn, go!" Forrest cried.

The huge beast had been walking with us the whole way, as well as battling all comers from Route 3, so it was starting to look a little worn out. But nevertheless the Rock Pokémon dutifully marched out in front of Forrest and looked up at the Geodude high on the mountain wall.

Forests energy to catch the Pokémon seemed to slip a little as he realised a small problem. "Errr... How should I get it down?"

"Doesn't Rhyhorn know any long range attack?" Now that I think about it, Rhyhorn didn't have much of a range battle wise. From what I saw he knew Take Down and Horn Attack. Not much use right now.

Forrest decided to throw caution to the wind. "Oh, what the hell, Rhyhorn, use Take Down!"

"Umm, I don't think he can jump that high..." I hated to point out the obvious.

"I know, Captain Obvious." He narrowed his eyes at me. "Rhyhorn, tackle the rock face!"

Forrest's Pokémon was on the large size, and seeing it slowly pick up momentum as it started to career towards the rock face was a sight to behold in itself. It ran towards the rock wall with reckless abandon, I had heard these Pokémon don't have very big brains, and surely a more intelligent Pokémon would have stopped to question why they were running straight towards a wall. Either way, Rhyhorn ran and slammed into rock wall with a sickening thud. For a moment nothing happened, but then Forrest and I started to hear rumbling, it was quiet at first, and a few stones started falling from the rock face, then some bigger ones, then whole sections of the wall were starting to come loose and came crashing to the ground. Before long Rhyhorn's Take Down attack damn near demolished a whole section of Mt Moon's rock face!

The rock wall was coming apart in huge clusters and it was shaking and now there was a huge rock avalanche falling down around us and the Rhyhorn. While Forrest and I turned on our heels backed away, Rhyhorn stood its ground, whether through toughness or stupidity, I'll never know, the Pokémon held steady as rocks fell all around him until he was almost buried in dust and rocks.

"What on earth are you doing?" I asked as we backed up as quickly as possible, trying to get a safe distance away. I was a little freaked out that my younger friend seemed perfectly content with what he has just done. "You're gonna bring the whole mountain down on us!"

He brushed me off. "Oh, stop worrying so much. Look!" He pointed up at where the Geodude once was and I saw that it was now falling down along with hundreds of smaller rocks, the Geodude was probably looking as freaked out as I was. Someone who wasn't freaked out, and looking infinitely pleased with himself that his reckless plan worked, Forrest saw that the Geodude was now down on the floor alongside us and Rhyhorn. "Haha, now who's too high?" He taunted me.

"It was still reckless..."

"Who cares? Rhyhorn, use Take Down on Geodude, now." Forrest focused his attention on the Geodude and the battle, now on a level playing field. Well, relatively level if you ignore the rocky debris.

We heard a growl coming from where Rhyhorn was buried underneath all the rocks and debris. The large Pokémon rose out from underneath the rocks and he shook off the dust and rubble, he was unscathed, it was amazing, like a Phoenix rising from the ashes. With another growl He rose on his two back legs and slammed down hard with its whole body, the earth literally shook from the impact.

"Your Rhyhorn is a force of nature..." I wasn't completely sure if I was saying it as a compliment or an insult, either way Forrest seemed pleased with the comment.

Running through the rocks and the rubble, Rhyhorn made a beeline for the smaller Rock Pokémon. Geodude already seemed quite injured from the fall it took, but once it was slammed by another Take Down attack, the Geodude was down and out.

"Haha, I did it! I did it! I beat it!" He exclaimed, jumping around like a little kid at Christmas. "And now, I will catch it."

He reached down around his waist and suddenly all the colour drained from his cheeks. "Oh, no... No, no, no! I forgot to bring a Pokémon Ball! Damn it, I am so stupid! Stupid! Stupid, stupid!"

I shook my head before deciding to intervene. "Hey, hey, calm down." I put a hand on his shoulder, "Here, use one of mine." Thankfully I stocked up the night before, "Go get it!" I said with a smile.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Forrest hugged me before he took the Poké Ball and raced toward the Geodude until it was literally standing over the Pokémon and he threw the Poke ball down with probably a little too much force, but either way, it did the job and Geodude was engulfed in red energy and sucked up into empty Poké Ball. The Poké Ball pinged almost immediately and Forrest was now the proud, and slightly giddy, owner of a Geodude.

My vision of Forrest celebrating was disrupted when we heard a shout come from one of the tunnels in the rock face.

"What the hell is going on?!"

We heard a screaming man come running out of one of the tunnels in the now destroyed rock face. He literally had to climb up and over the debris to get out of the cave. The man definitely wasn't happy when he saw the state of the side of the mountain after Rhyhorn battering rammed the whole thing.

While he was shouting, he didn't seem to be an aggressive person, he was quite tall and lanky, wearing a dust stained white lab coat over a cheap brown suit. The man was holding several rolls of paper under each arm which all fell to the ground as he was running towards me and Forrest.

Forrest spoke up, "Err, sorry, sir, that was my fault, I was trying to catch a Geodude."

"A Geodude? All this for a Geodude?" He motioned towards the rubble. "There are hundreds of them in this place! You didn't need to cause a damn avalanche! What if the rocks had fallen and trapped me inside? I'd be a dead man!"

I made my way to the man to make peace and started to pick up his papers. "I am sorry, sir. Are you alright? My friend is just a little excited to be here."

He dusted himself off and took a deep breathe. "Yes, yes, I'm fine. Are any of the papers damaged?"

"Um, no, I don't think so? What are they? Were you drawing the inside of the cave?"

He scoffed. "No, not exactly, they are translations."

Before I could ask translations of what, Forrest held out his hands to the man, with his head hung in shame. "I am so sorry, sir, please forgive me."

Once the man had realised he and his stuff were all ok he seemed to calm down a bit. "Don't worry about it, young man. Are you alright? That avalanche could have been dangerous."

"Yes, I'm fine. My name is Forrest."

I chimed in, "And I'm Ritchie."

"Hello, hello, yes, yes, I am Seymour. I live here on Mt Moon." He started to organise his papers on the floor, putting small rocks on each corner so they wouldn't blow away. I tried to get a look at them but they really didn't seem to make much sense, at least to my eyes.

Forrest seem to find that the most captivating thing in the world. "You live here, inside Mt Moon? Oh, wow! How many Rock Pokémon have you seen?"

"Oh, I have seen many. They always get in the way when I am searching for the Clefairy. Damn things…" He was fixing his glasses while organising the papers in some kind of order.

I butted in before Forrest could get offended by Seymour's dismissal of Rock Types. "Clefairy? There are Clefairy in the mountain?"

Seymour perked up at the mention of Clefairy. "Oh, that my boy, I can confirm. I have spent most of my adult life researching these Pokémon."

"Ah, so you're a Pokémon researcher?"

"Yes and no, I research Clefairy, but nothing else. I used to work at the Pewter Museum of Science, but my work with the Clefairy just became too engrossing, I had to quit. You see these drawings?" He gestured towards the papers on the ground. "These are hieroglyphs. They were made by the Clefairy inside Mt Moon."

Forrest didn't seem too impressed. "Your whole life looking at one Pokémon? Doesn't that get boring?"

He let out a little laugh. "No, not lately. Did you know that Clefairy have been living in this mountain for over one million years? And this is the only place on Earth, in all the regions, where you can find this species?"

"Really? The only place on Earth?"

"Yes," He seemed pleased about being able to share his knowledge. "As I best understand it, Clefairy are originally native to the Moon. Up until a million years ago there were absolutely no Clefairy on Earth! And this is the only place where you can find them."

Fascinating! "How did they get here?"

"They came to Earth inside a meteorite from the Moon." Seymour looked up towards the sky, but it was still a little too early for the Moon to be visible. "Every month when there is a full Moon, the colonised Clefairy here dance around this meteorite, which would come to be known as a Moon Stone. And with their dancing, they are sending messages up to the rest of their species, who currently live on the Moon."

"What do they say in their messages?" Forrest asked.

He sighed, "That has been the great mystery that has been eluding me for years. For the longest time, I have believed their messages correlated to the drawings inside the cave. And, now, after all these years, I think I understand it." He pointed to his drawings. "Look at these."

He went into a very long and complicated explanation about where he found all the hieroglyphs and his struggle to find a way to translate them. I honestly couldn't keep up with him, once he explained one he went onto the next before we could even take in what he was saying. "Are they difficult to translate?" I asked, lamely.

"Yes, they are very difficult to decipher, and there are so many of them! They are all over the caves inside, I can't even begin to imagine how many there are in there."

Forrest and I got right up close to the paper drawings filled with Seymour's handwriting next to each symbol, and tried to get a look at what Seymour was showing us. The 'drawings' were quite illegible. I could barely see anything at all. They certainly didn't look like any hieroglyphs I had ever seen.

"Can you understand these?" Forrest asked Seymour.

"Some of them. Not many, but some. The translation of these symbols has been my main area of study for the past few years. It isn't easy to decipher an alien language you know?"

"Alien?"

"Yes, alien. Anything that is not of this Earth is alien."

As he was talking, I decided to look up these 'alien' Pokémon on Dexter.

"Clefairy. This impish Pokémon is friendly and peaceful. It is believed to live inside Mt. Moon, although very few have ever been seen by humans."

As Seymour listened to the description, he looked troubled. "I wouldn't pay too much attention to the Pokédex's description of these Pokémon. I see it erroneously describe them as a Normal Type, as I look deeper into their species, I'm starting to think that is false."

"Really? Are they Psychic?" They kinda looked like they could be Psychic to me.

"Maybe. Maybe not. I believe they do have some Psychic characteristics, but I am not so sure. Maybe they can't be defined on the type scale as it currently stands. They are not native to this planet, our laws and rules don't apply to them."

I tried to get a better understand of what Seymour was saying, I found it all very interesting. This kind of alien stuff was the exact reason I wanted to come here. "So they dance around a Moon Stone to communicate with the rest of their species?"

"Correct."

"On the Moon?"

"Exactly. The Moon Stone seems to act as a transmitter. Their chanting is being beamed up to their home."

"That is so cool!"

"Yes, it is. From an engineering standpoint it is incredible! Communication with other worlds has never been done before. But there is one thing I worry about."

"What do you mean?"

"Well," He sighed and ran his hands thought is hair, he looked like he suddenly had the weight of the world on his shoulders. "Don't you worry about what they are saying in these messages?"

"Should we?" What could they possibly be saying that would worry Seymour?

"The Clefairy have been here for a long time, a millions years, is my best guess. Back then I would say there must have been, oh, maybe thousands of them who made the trip to Earth. In the time since they have come here, a lot has changed on this Earth. A million years ago humans were little more than apes. Pokémon ruled the land and were perfectly happy with that fact. As time goes one, Humans became more powerful, and they started to tame these Pokémon, all kinds of Pokémon, which turned the balance of power on Earth in our scale. Since then, as you know, we started battling them for sport and then the Pokémon League was formed and then Trainers began travelling and in all of this time, the most important invention in Earth's history disrupted the natural evolution of this world. The invention of Poké Balls."

Forrest held in his hand the Poké Ball he had just used to catch Geodude. "Poké Balls? What have they got to do with anything?"

"Like I say, the Clefairy have different rules. I have been trying to decipher their language for longer than I can remember, and what I have found so far has troubled me." He scratched the back of his head. "The Clefairy have been leaving drawings, hieroglyphs all around the inside of the caves inside Mt Moon. I have tried to get down as many as I can on these papers." He got down on his knees and pointed out a particular hieroglyph. "Look at this one, in particular." The symbol looked like a circle with another smaller circle inside. "I believe this one means 'Poke Ball.'"

"It does kinda look like a Poke Ball." Forrest said comparing his own with the drawing.

Seymour nodded. "Yes, this symbol is everywhere I look within the mountain. This is why I believe humans have had such a huge effect on Clefairy's evolution as a species here."

"Do a lot of trainers go inside the mountain? Where the Clefairy live?" I looked up towards the top of the mountain and then down inside one of the caves. It did seem like quite a daunting place, I could imagine a lot of trainer would relish the challenge of trying to conquer this mountain.

"Yes, plenty do come through. Though not all of them realise what exactly goes on around here. Most people especially don't notice the hieroglyphs. Most Pokémon Trainers come in, find a few Zubats and Geodude and get completely annoyed by not finding anything of interest, and then leave."

"Hey! Geodude are not boring!" Forrest complained.

Seymour was far too engrossed in his story to take any notice. "But some Pokémon Trainers get lucky. Once in a while, they'll find a Clefairy! The catch of a life time! And they catch them, in their Poké Balls of course, they thank their lucky stars at finding such a rare Pokémon and set off on their merry way to the next challenge. With no thought as to how the remaining Clefairy see what the Trainer has just done."

"And how do they see it?"

"Well, from what I have discovered about this species, all Clefairy see themselves as a family, they are all telepathic, with a kind of a hive mind. That's how I believe they can communicate from Earth to the Moon. It's fascinating, I don't believe any other species of Pokémon are the same way." He genuinely did seem passionate about his work as he was talking. "The trouble with this connection they all have with each other is that whenever a single Clefairy gets captured, within a Poké Ball, then that Clefairy's connection to the hive mind gets severed."

"And that's a bad thing?" Forrest asked.

"I believe it is. Look at it from the Clefairy's perspective, every time one of their family members is captured by the humans and their 'spherical orbs', then their connection to the hive mind is lost, and then the remaining Clefairy assume they are dead."

The weight of Seymour's argument was starting to dawn on me. "So they think we, Humans, have killed them?"

"But we haven't killed them. You need to tell them that!" Forrest spoke up also.

"Tell them how?" He was starting to sound more and more stressed as his story went on. I couldn't help but feel the same way. "I have no idea how to communicate with them. It would take years just to understand all these symbols. However, the Poké Ball isn't the only symbol I have managed to translate."

"What do the others say?"

"Well, I can't be 100% clear on this but, from what I have learned, the colonised Clefairy's numbers here on Earth have dwindled. Of course they have. They have had to put up with Pokémon Trainers for all of these years. While there was once thousands of them, from what I have seen with my own eyes there must only be a few dozen left. Up on the Moon I think there are a lot more of them, millions maybe. But the ones here on Earth are scared. Terrified that they are going to be wiped out completely. So recently the Clefairy that are left here have been communicating with the Moon. Contacting the hive mind…"

"What are they saying?"

"Well, boys, the answer is too terrifying to consider. I have been looking at these drawing for so long thinking that it couldn't possibly be true. But in the past few days it has started to dawn on me. I believe I have deciphered messages that will spell the end of the human race. For thousands of years, the Clefairy's numbers had dwindled. Humans had come and stolen and kidnaped them away for sport. And now the Clefairy have had enough. They had spoken to the rest of their species and they are going to summon them down. They are going to take revenge for all of the family that were taken away from them for no reason."

"What do you mean? Revenge?" Forrest was starting to sound a little scared. I had almost forgotten he was still pretty young to take in all of this.

"They are saying they are in trouble!" He shouted, not taking into consideration the fear that must be dwelling inside the younger boy. "They are saying that they are dying. That their species isn't going to survive here much longer. Their messages get transmitted at every full Moon, and once the hive mind becomes aware of these events there is only one way, I believe, they will act."

"How?" I spoke, Forrest was looking really frightened at this point.

"They are going to attack. That's how I believe they will act. They are going to launch an invasion. They will come down en masse, the whole population of the Moon, and take their revenge. To kill all humans. Like the humans had killed them."

"When?"

"At the next Full Moon."

"Buts that's-"

"Yes, Ritchie… it's tonight."

TO BE CONTINUED…

Writing Ritchie: The Boy Who Won

GioRocket

Aspiring Trainer

GioRocket

Aspiring Trainer

Turtwig

Retired retired Mod. Jovimohnaeliackvid.

GioRocket

Aspiring Trainer

GioRocket

Aspiring Trainer

Turtwig

Retired retired Mod. Jovimohnaeliackvid.

GioRocket

Aspiring Trainer

Skyleaf2000

Resident UB Enthusiast

raichulover11

Levy-chan

GioRocket

Aspiring Trainer

Turtwig

Retired retired Mod. Jovimohnaeliackvid.

GioRocket

Aspiring Trainer

Turtwig

Retired retired Mod. Jovimohnaeliackvid.

GioRocket

Aspiring Trainer

GioRocket

Aspiring Trainer

Mega Adi

Aspiring Trainer

GioRocket

Aspiring Trainer