Johto Ahoy!

Chapter 7: Salami

“Now I want a battle, Falkner!!” said Marissa. I wanted to pass out when she said that. She still owed me a battle and now she wants to fight this guy. I just sat there and shut up looking at Golbat’s Pokeball. I told Marissa I was heading over to the Pokemon Center to let Elekid and Pidgeotto some rest. I called Elm on my way out and he told me that he sent an aid out to give me that egg. Apparently it started attacking him earlier today so he wanted to get rid of it.

When I walked into the Pokemon Center I handed my Pokeballs and Elekid to Nurse Joy. As I walked away I saw someone in a white lab coat from Elm’s Lab. I walked over to him and he handed me and egg. I told him to tell the Professor thanks and I hope he doesn’t have many more problems with Eggs. He could always ask my mom to cook them if he was afraid. I started walking around town and headed into a store.

I went to the end of the store and started looking at clothes because most of mine wouldn’t come clean at the Pokemon Center. I had a lot of money because I help out rake leaves and shovel snow the past year for people in my town. I saw someone who looked really familiar with a Krabby at his side grabbing everything in sight with his enormous pinchers. I walked around for a little bit and saw the boy with the Krabby again. I remembered where I knew this kid from! He was at a class at Elm’s and left town a week before me saying he was going to become a great trainer.

He did real well at that apparently. I was gone 5 days ago and I still made it where he was. I approached him and asked if he remembered me. His Krabby smiled at me and started dancing around. The kid looked at me and, like an idiot, gave a big nod.

“Hi! My name is Salami! Everyone calls me that because I love Salami!” Yeah, this kid had his quirks but he is a good kid. I told him that he might want to move to the next town to get his next gym badge if he wants to be in the Pokemon League. He told me he hadn’t even beaten Flakner yet and was trying to get his Krabby, Crabby, to be more able to fight. I told him he would have to catch another Pokemon if he wanted to win. He insisted that he could do it with one Pokemon.

We left the store and headed to the Gym to see how Marissa did. She came out and looked… well blank. Her face was expressionless but her Poliwag wasn’t hurt so she couldn’t have lost unless she was really good. I tried stopping her but she just kept walking as if there was nothing in front of her. Then she sent out her Hoothoot and flew off into the sky with it! Not on it, but by its side! I told Salami, still couldn’t get used to that name, to go after her and try to get her Hoothoot down with Crabby while I went inside with just an egg. Great! I ran in and yelled out.

“FALKNER! What did you do to Marissa? She started FLYING with her Hoothoot!” I screamed out as I walked in not seeing what was there. Marissa and dozens of trainers were tied up including Falkner! I saw someone who looked very hard and stern. He looked like Falkner but didn’t have the same air about him which made him look dirty. He looked at me and Falkner cried out.

“DAD! Let these trainers go! They didn’t do a thing!” Out of the nests hanging around the Gym, there were members of Team Rocket hanging aroundwith nets in their hands. I saw all kinds of Flying Pokemon and ones that other trainers had used to battle Falkner held in nets including Marissa’s Hoothoot and Poliwag. I realized I couldn’t stand around but I didn’t have anything to fight with. Falkner threw a Pokeball to me and when it opened I saw the Pokemon giving me the worst troubles ever. It was the Tailow with the Sunglasses.

I knew the fighting style I had to use to free the trainers and there Pokemon. I had Tailow storm up a gust and kick all the dirt up blocking everyone’s eyes. Soon Team Rocket’s grunts couldn’t see but neither could I. I had Tailow free the Trainers with a Peck going across so they wouldn’t get hurt. Then I told it to Aerial Ace the nests to knock the Team Rocket members down. Their nets fell and the Pokemon were free. Most of them cleared the dirt and started attacking the members of Team Rocket. Most of the guys in Black were unconscious on the floor. The Pokemon were back to the trainers and they started clearing the gym of all the team Rocket grunts and big, bad baddies. I confronted Falkner’s dad and a dozen trainers backed me up.

By now Salami found out it was not the real Marissa and came back. The mean looking man called out and a boy with a Dratini popped out of a deep blue nest in the back where no one was. The boy started speaking to his Dratini and the Dratini nodded at him. He used an attack that looked like Twister and instantly transported Falkner’s dad, the boy and the dragon away. I sat there thinking What the heck just happened. So here I was with Marissa, Salami, and dozens of trainers in awe.

I put Tailow back in his Pokeball and handed it to Falkner. He looked at Marissa and told her that they needed to have their battle. I told Salami we should go into the nests and watch the match. It was hard to get up to the Pidgeotto nest with an egg but I managed to get up to the top. I saw Marissa and Falkner lock eyes and get ready. Falkner used his Pidgey to start and Hoothoot was sent out the same way I had thrown out Pidgey in my battle by Marissa. The two Pokemon sat in the air watching each other waiting for a trainer to make a command. I looked off of the nest and saw how high I was off the ground.

Marissa had Hoothoot use Hypnosis. Hoothoot’s eyes glowed bright red and his pupils started to grow larger every second. Pretty soon there were pink rings coming out of his eyes bouncing around. Pidgey was too fast, though, and dodged the flying rings. While it was dodging, Hoothoot used Peck and went flying at the Pidgey. Pidgey took the hit rather well and was sent back into the air where it started. Marissa and Falkner locked eyes and I knew that it was going to be a long match. Then I heard Salami yell.

By far voted to be my favorite fan fiction so far

Chapter 8: Bugs

Crabby was sitting in the nest scurrying around as his trainer hung onto it. Falkner looked at him and started planning out how to save him. Marissa sprung into action and used Hoothoot and Poliwag to save him. First, she told Poliwag to jump up there and try to pull him up. Then she had Hoothoot fly and grab a net on the ground left by a Team Rocket member. Hoothoot flew back and caught Salami in the net. Salami was slipping off and nearly fell when Hoothoot got there.

The boy named of deli meats was stuck in a mesh net all contorted and disheveled. Hoothoot was going down trying to carry Salami before he was dropped but was failing. Marissa had Poliwag use Water Gun on Salami so his momentum would carry him towards Marissa who was now on the ground panicking. I couldn’t get down because I couldn’t leave my egg and Falkner sat there watching. You could see the gears turning on his head. I wasn’t sure what he was thinking but it had to be important. Marissa acted as a cushion as Salami went flying down at her.

“Marissa, you deserve this. You have learned how to use the air and planning to your advantage. For you,” Falkner stood over Marissa, pulling her up to her feet. He pulled out of his pocket a Zypher Badge, its edges glistening off of the light. She put it in her Badge Case and started cheering around. Hoot and Poliwag were cheering around too and Salami went to cheer but forgot he was in a net. We realized he was still in there and went over to help. I managed to get down with the egg by having Marissa’s Hoothoot to carry the egg. Salami’s Krabby came down and ripped up the mesh net and hugged his tainer. We headed back to the Pokemon Center where I picked up my Pokemon. I told Marissa she still owed me a match when Poliwag and Hoothoot were healed. She agreed and we both looked at Salami.

He knew what we wanted and he looked embarrassed. He told us that he gave up on beating gym leaders and decided to enter contests instead. We both looked confused and started laughing. We gave deli meat boy encouragement telling him he should find someone who knew more about contests before he could go out and trying to win ribbons. I put the third Pokeball on my side and Marissa noticed that it looked kind of weird. I told her I was keeping an extra one there so it looked even. So I lied a little bit but it was so no one knew about Golbat. I headed over to a Pizzeria and sat down to get my first real meal in 5 days. So it was now it was Friday, Zeptember 9 and Elekid looked like he had a year of experience under his belt.

The food stunk but it was better than eating snack bars for 5 days. I gave Elekid some pizza and he gobbled it up in a matter of minutes. When I was done I handed the cashier my money and left with Elekid and Pidgeotto. I snuck out a slice and gave it to Pidgeotto when I got out. For a while I walked around town until I found some kid with a Dratini talking to an older girl who looked like she was about 18 with long blonde hair. She had the same posture I saw in Falkner but I knew she wasn’t good like him. He handed her a Pokeball and she pressed the button on the front. A deeper red light popped out of the ball and landed smoothly on the ground.

The shape started to grow and took a very specific form. It grew six legs, all splitting at the end making them look like fingers. It had four wings with stripes near the end and a long tail divided into sections. Its eyes were the size of baseballs and seemed to merge into one giant eye. The shape stopped glowing and turned into its final buggy shape. Yes, this evil blonde had a Yanma. I figured she must have been an accomplice to Team Rocket and went off to tell Marissa who was in another store buying more Pokemon affection shirts. She said not to worry about it. I was sort of angry hearing that, but I decided to find Salami and tell him. He had gone to a school that teaches about contests and was doing really well.

“So you can do contests!” I had startled him and he had Crabby use BubbleBeam on me. It actually hurt but he was doing it with much finesse and poise. I guess he had learned something. I told him about the blonde but he wasn’t worried either. I said they must have been right and left the school. I walked over to a lake that was quiet and serine and picked up my phone. I called my parents and they were relived that I was alright, and ecstatic when I told them I had beaten Falkner. I didn’t tell them about most of the other problems though, and told them I would be headed to Azalea City soon. I put the phone in my pocket and headed back to the store where I found Marissa and told her it was time for our battle.

(Chapters 9-15 will be here.)

Chapter 9: Insanity

We headed to the edges of town as the sunset light our way and Salami ran out with Crabby waiting to watch our match. I told him we needed an announcer to well… announce things. I took out my Pokeball holding Pidgeotto and threw it strait in the air above me. I knew that I had the upper advantage because she only had a Flying and a Water type. Pidgeotto started strutting in the air making cawing noises. She looked like Falkner’s Tailow, proud and ready. Marissa threw a Pokeball in the air and out popped her Hoothoot. He looked sloppy, but fierce at the same time. Salami yelled out to have the match begin.

“Alright, Hoothoot! Let’s do this! Use Peck!” Marissa was swift looking as she told Hoothoot to attack. The owl’s beak started shining a bright white and his eyes grew sharp. He went flying at Pidgeotto and I told her to dodge it. She swiftly flew under it and followed with a Peck of her own. Hoothoot noticed and grabbed Pidgeotto’s beak. At close range, I was in a bind. I had Pidgeotto use a Gust to try and mess up Hoothoot’s vision. The owl wasn’t affected much by it but some dirt got into its eyes that blurred his vision slightly. Hoothoot started attacking Pidgeotto with Wing Attack and I thought of a plan.

“Pidgeotto use Tackle at the ground!” Pidgeotto turned toward the ground and went flying at the ground below them. Then I had her use a Quick Attack to spin Hoothoot closer to the ground. They hit the ground and were both stunned for a moment. Pidgeotto got up and started flying back up in the air. Hoothoot lay motionless on the ground. Salami yelled that Hoothoot was unable to battle. Then Marissa did something totally unexpected. She pulled out a Pokeball. I was shocked and wondered what it could be. She threw the ball at the ground and it made a ping sound and a bright red light popped out forming a Pokemon that came up to her knee.

There was a long tail coming out of it that ended in a red circle. It had little horns coming from the side of its head that looked like sideways earrings. Its body was covered in wool and was a creamy yellow color. When the color was polished I saw there were black and orange stripes on the horns and tail and the face was bright blue. She caught a Mareep and I didn’t know about it. Oh boy, I thought, this is bad. Pidgeotto didn’t look phased at all. I told her that this would be easy and that a Gust was all we needed. She started flapping her wings and Mareep just got nudged back a little. But the sheep didn’t look like it took any hits or any mental doubts.

Mareep started coming running back and Tackled Pidgeotto in the belly. Then she followed up with a Thundershock and fried Pidgeotto. She went flying to the ground and tried to get back up. Come on, I hoped, but Pidgeotto went back to the ground with a thud. Salami announced that Pidgeotto was unable to battle. I told Elekid to get out there and fight. Elekid looked ready and willing to fight. I told him to use a Quick Attack and knock back that Mareep. Mareep responded with a Quick Attack of its own and the two Electric Pokemon collided. Mareep used a Cotton Spore attack slowing down Elekid. I wasn’t sure what to do. I thought about my attacks in the relation to the situation and tried to figure a strategy. I decided the only thing I could do is go for brute strength and try to break free. The branches of cotton weren’t weak but weren’t that strong either. I decided to just launch Mega Punch and Mega Kick at the same time to break the vines. Mareep went flying in with another Tackle and knocked back Elekid, but the vines hung on. I had Elekid use a Thundershock to burn the vines off and rip up the grass in front of him.

Mareep used this time to start prepping itself to get ready for Elekid breaking away. As soon as Elekid got up with a smirk on its face, Mareep used Growl and Charge which made it an incredible power house. Elekid’s physical attacks were lowered and Mareep’s Electric’s attacks were boosted. Mareep used Thundershock on Elekid and zapped Elekid badly. Elekid was tired and nearly beat. I knew I was beat so I let out cries at Elekid to make him work harder. I told him to use Thunder Punch but instead, he used a different attack.

His hand grew a bright white and all different colors glowed across it. It started turning an icy blue. Then his fist was incased in a chunky, messed up block of ice. I felt the cold of the ice back where I was standing. Elekid jumped high in the air and came down out of his silhouette and Mareep looked frightened. Marissa yelled for her to use Thunder Wave on Elekid to stop and paralyze him. As soon as Mareep got her attack off, Elekid’s punch connected. Mareep didn’t freeze but was knocked down on her side. Elekid fell down next to her on a knee and started panting. Mareep was knocked out and I had won the match. I couldn’t believe my Elekid over came all the obstacles Mareep put up and won.

I walked over to Marissa and Mareep and congratulated her on that tough match. She looked happy even though her Ace-In-The-Hole couldn’t save her. We walked back to the Pokemon Center and I set down my Pokemon and Elekid. I still hadn’t trained Golbat so I decided that once we left I would start training him.

After a while, we left town and I started enjoying my time away from home. At night when we all were asleep I took out Golbat and started training it. It had a poise about it that made it look powerful and strong. Its attacks came out flawlessly and made a junky mess around our camp site. I had no idea how to clean this up and then I heard a Pokemon. A bush was rustling and I heard some growls coming out of the bush. I decided I was going to catch it and train it. Then I saw a blue tail pop out with spikes all along it colored a deep red. Then the body fully came out. A smiling and happy Totodile came out with some discolored spikes. It smiled as it hobbles over to me and pressed one of my empty Pokeballs. Yeah it was that easy. The ball only wobbled around once and stopped. I had just caught a Pokemon and I was ready to check it out on my Pokedex. What I saw amazed me.

Chapter 10: Pastrami

It was a baby! This thing had just been born! OK let me back up a little. I had opened up my everything-in-one Pokedex and the bright backlit LED screen cast a shadow across the Pokeball still sitting on the ground. There was a green line blinking on the screen that started to produce words. I was sitting there looking at the screen as well was Golbat. The words flickered on the screen and this is what it read:

TOTODILE-WATER
OWNER-Fisch
ATTACKS-Water Gun, Scratch, Leer
Newborn Pokemon

This thing must’ve just hatched from an egg because the readings for health noted that it was still very weak and it had a low level. I decided to let it run around for a little while so I let it out. Then the worst thing that could have happened, happened. A big, mean mama Feraligatr cam out and looked at her hatchling. My Totodile ran over and started speaking to its mother. The mother’s expression changed as the little crocodile Pokemon spoke to it. Totodile dragged its mother over to me and started pointing at me and making me look like a hero. The mother looked at me and made a huge smile. It then proceeded to pick me up and hug me which I thought was going to squeeze my guts out. I did survive and thought that Feraligatrs were lunatics and that I hoped my Totodile never evolved into one.

The mommy and child exchanged a hug and Totodile must have told her that he would be back because I thought I saw tears in Feraligatr’s eyes. Totodile came back to me and gave me a Water Gun to the face. This was his way to say “I’m happy” so I went back to training the two Pokemon. Golbat and Totodile got along fine and seemed to work well together. Eventually dawn broke and we were on our way. I introduced the rest of the gang to Totodile and he seemed to have a close attachment to Crabby. The two were playing the whole way to Azalea Town. Several times I had to dodge Bubble Beams and Water Guns flying in my direction from the playing Pokemon. We made it all the way to Azalea Town and saw that the entire town was Bug crazy! There were trainers with Beedrill, Butterfree, Ledyba and Scyther all going to different bug themed stores. Everything was green and purple and loud and annoying. Someone with a Yanma let it make all the noise it wanted and Totodile didn’t really appreciate it. He ran over to it and sprayed it with a Water Gun. When the trainer came back to her Yanma, she looked at Totodile and immediately went for him with her fists. I told Elekid to give her a Low Kick to stop her. She fell on the ground annoyed and then I recognized who this was. This was that evil Blonde who hung out with the evil kid who had the EVIL Dratini!

“Hey, don’t let your Totodile near my Yanma again! Come on, Yanma,” the girl scolded us and left. She dropped her trainer card and I picked it up. So this girl’s name was Sophie from Black Thorn Town. I decided to hand it to the Officer Jenny near the Pokemon Center and told her to keep an eye out for this girl. I brushed it off and we headed into a deli. I love going to delis and this just made my day. It turned out to be a Jewish deli (yes they do have religion in Johto) with my favorite kind of sandwich, Triple Decker Corned Beef and Pastrami. When the waitress brought out our food I was on cloud nine eating and Salami and Marissa were just eating like it was fuel. Then the same Officer Jenny came in and ran over to us.

“Thank goodness! I have been looking all over for some trainers that DON’T have Bug Pokemon. Look Team Rocket is in Slowpoke Well and they are selling Slowpoke tails from there! I can’t leave my post because of the Bug Festival coming up so PLEASE stop them!” I could tell this was bad because she ran into a deli just to find a trainer to stop them. I did know there was a Bug Festival and I planned to participate but I knew now I was booked up. When we finished our lunch, we headed back out of town where I caught Totodile and went into the well. It was cold and dark and more of the Team Rocket trucks were parked outside. There were some Slowpokes that were still safe hiding behind rocks but around I saw many dying Slowpoke without tails. I was angry and sad all at the same time and ran in hiding and popping up behind stalagmites. There were Rocket grunts hanging around on a break drinking coffee. I decided to take them out in one shot and make my work easier. I told Elekid to use his Ice Punch on them to freeze them. They were stuck in a block of ice and Totodile started hopping around. He ran over to the blocks and used his claws to make really bad carved faces over there regular faces. I said someone had to go get some more trainers because this was insane. Salami ran out of the cave with Crabby and said he would find some powerful Bug trainers.

Marissa and I ventured further into the cave, taking out Team Rocket grunts and saving whatever Slowpokes we could find. We made it to the end and saw Pizza-Face and the kid with the Dratini overlooking the rest of the relaxing grunts. I threw out Pidgeotto’s Pokeball and she came out on her talons hiding with us. I told her to use gust and ruin their little party. There were Styrofoam cups and donuts flying everywhere. The Dratini trainer’s long black hair blew strait back and his long arms flailed back in the wind. Pizza-Face had his bright red hair blown back and his skinny toothpick of a body was thrown into a wall. I ran in and immediately had Elekid use a Thunder Punch on this kid’s Dratini and I had Totodile use Water Gun on Pizza-Face himself. They told me if it’s a battle I want it’s a battle I’ll get.

“But we want a Double Battle. You and cutey over there against us. What do you say kid? Scared?” I wasn’t scared of this weirdo and his Dragon training friend. They said they wanted each trainer to use two Pokeballs. I decided to use Totodile ad Elekid while Marissa use Poliwag and Hoothoot. The Dragon trainer used his Dratini and his second Pokeball was rolling around his fingers. Pizza-Face used his Cyndaquil and his second Pokeball sat on the ground in front of him. Marissa and I were ready and the other two trainers looked arrogant and cocky.

“I, Mando of Black Thorn, and Silver of Viridian, will rule Johto with an iron fist. Starting right now,” Mando proclaimed slyly. I told him he didn’t stand a chance. He had his Dratini use Wrap on Marissa’s Poliwag and I told Elekid to use Ice Punch to get it off. Silver’s Cyndaquil ran in and used Headbutt to knock Elekid away. I decided that guy was going to be a pain and I had to take care of him. Marissa had Poliwag use DoubleSlap to push away Dratini but the Dragon wouldn’t give up. Mando had him use Dragon Rage on Poliwag once he backed away. I told Elekid to use Karate Chop on Cyndaquil but as the move connected, Cyndaquil used Flame Wheel to try and Burn Elekid but all it did was scorch his hand. I told Elekid to use Thunder Shock while Cyndaquil used Ember. The two attacks collided and left burn marks all across the Well. Marissa wasn’t doing so well. Poliwag was using Water Gun with all his might but the Dratini didn’t take much damage. The Dratini used Twister and messed up the whole match. Elekid used his arms to block the flying debris but Poliwag couldn’t hold out so well. I eventually noticed a flaw in Cyndaquil’s attack pattern. Whenever he used Headbutt, he had to charge up his flame. I waited for it to use that attack but he never used it. I basically denied that I could use that tactic but by then, Marissa’s Poliwag was knocked out. Marissa brought it back to her and sent out Hoothoot to finish off the powerful Dragon. She started off with a Hypnosis attack. And then she used another, and another and she kept using them until Dratini was asleep. Silver and I watched as Elekid and Cyndaquil went into a fighting frenzy of girly slaps. Marissa had Hoothoot fly in and use Wing Attack and Peck over and over again. Soon Dratini was unable to battle. I watched as Mando used his second Pokeball.

Mando threw it high in the air and out popped a Greenish light. A shape started to form and it was apparently holding some sort of burlap sack. It had spikes shooting out of the top of its head like spiky hair. Its eyes were black and took up its entire face. The body was some sort of red blob in a small form. Its leg were really just feet and weren’t that large either. As soon as it came out fully it threw a box wrapped in ribbons. Yes, Mando had a Delibird. I heard that Present either inflicted much damage or healed the foe. I told Marissa she would be fine as Silver and I took back to our battle. Cyndaquil used Flame Wheel and headed right above Elekid. It came down hard on top of Elekid and knocked him to the ground. Elekid tried to get back up but fell down and was unable to battle. I grabbed Totodile’s Pokeball and threw it right in front of Cyndaquil. Cyndaquil looked scared and started running away. I told Totodile to use Water Gun on it as it used Agility to fly around. Totodile started jumping around all happy squirting Water at Cyndaquil. The little Fire rodent Pokemon was already tired from fighting and soon was defeated by my cheery Totodile.

Chapter 11: Ninjas

I looked over at Marissa and Mando and saw that Delibird had been beaten and Marissa left to fins Salami. It was Totodile and Silver’s unnamed Pokemon. He threw the Pokeball at the ground and a Black Light shot out. It hit the ground with a smack and started forming its shape. Its body was short and brown with stumpy arms and legs making it look like a blob. There was a bone in its hand and a skeleton on its head. It landed and the odd part was, its skeleton helmet and bone were pink. Must have been a female. The Cubone hopped out and looked at Totodile angrily. It immediately used a Bone Club attack and ran around making jumping strikes every time that Totodile moved. I told Elekid to use Water Gun on it and Totodile did so with a grin of its sharp, pointed teeth. The Cubone looked like that the squirt of Water really hurt and then I remembered that Ground was weak to Water. Cubone used Bonemerang and sent her bone flying around the Well and nearly hit me. Totodile grabbed the bone and threw it strait back at Cubone. The Pokemon grabbed it and went in for a running Headbutt. Totodile used Scratch at it as it came around and for a second, I thought that his spikes were changing colors. All the colors of the rainbow and more. I rubbed my eyes and I thought I was losing my mind. Totodile had thrown off Cubone and used another Water Gun on it.

The Cubone fell to the ground and was defeated. Salami came running in with Marissa and another Trainer with a Beedrill. He told us that they got another Officer Jenny over here and took back all the Slowpoke tails. They picked up all of the Slowpoke and are sending them to the Pokemon Center. Silver was once again taken away but this time they assured me that he wouldn’t get away. I knew they would be wrong. Mando instantly teleported away with his Dratini and was gone. Salami and Marissa and I looked at each other and thought that the one chance we had to relax was ruined by these guys. We headed back to town and now it was nighttime. We had been in their sneaking around for a while. The Bug Catching contest was tonight and I told Marissa and Salami to take there time but I was going and I wasn’t stopping. I ran for town and when I looked back Marissa and Salami were taking their time. I pulled out Golbat’s Pokeball and smiled at it. I could hear Golbat over the Bug fanatics in town. I went to the gate into the smaller park for the trainers. Normally they have the Contest in National Park near Goldenrod City, but this year they moved it hear because of the Bug Festival held every 50 years. There was a boy with purple hair next to me at the sign in booth who was wishing trainers good luck. The kid’s voice was as annoying as Bug Pokemon so I just kept walking.

“Alright Trainers! If you could all step up to the line we can get this shindig rollin’! On your marks, get set, CATCH!” A gun went off and all the trainers scrambled to find the best bug. I saw Marissa and Salami in the crowd watching me and cheering me on. I wasn’t as bold and rash as the other trainers and took my time creeping around bushed and trees looking for Bugs. I saw a Caterpie, but there was nothing special about it at all. Some kid, who was about 4 caught it and ran off to show his parents. I was kind of happy seeing that but went on in the match. I came across a patch of Scyther that lay in the grass but they were scared off by a big, clunky teenager. I went around searching for something. The MC announced that there were 5 trainers left and 15 minutes to go. I picked up the pace a little and saw a Pokemon that should not have been there. It had a large horn with a heart shape on the top. The body was divided into multiple sections with long muscular arms extending from high on its body. It was pink! I found a shiny Heracross in the Bug Catching contest! I hadn’t used any Pokemon so far and decided I had to use one just to get it frazzled. I grabbed Totodile’s Pokeball and pushed the button on the front. A purplish light came out and my happy little crocodile popped out. I grabbed him and whispered to him.

“Alright Totodile, I want you to go over there and distract Heracross with a Water Gun,” I thought I heard it say “You got it” but I figured I was imagining things. Totodile ran over there and shot it with a Water Gun. Instead of it getting angry at Totodile, it started to laugh. I walked over to it and pulled out a Pokeball. I figured that it couldn’t hurt and threw it on its head. It turned into a purplish light and zapped into the red and white ball. Instead of wobbling around like normal, it stared flying around and I could hear Heracross’ voice laughing from the inside. It stopped flying around and landed at my feet. I picked it up and ran back to the exit. Marissa and Salami started cheering and the crowd followed. I headed over to the judging table and took out my Heracross. Every one was in awe because of its unique features. It was shiny. It was female. It was sweet. I pulled out my Pokedex and checked out its attacks. It read:

HERACROSS-BUG, FIGHTING
OWNER-Fisch
ATTACKS- Tackle, Horn Attack, Endure, Fury Attack, Aerial Ace, Brick Break

I caught a really good Heracross and I figured I was definitely going to win no matter what else other people came with. When every one came in the MC announced the end of the contest. Everyone lined up for judging. I was at the beginning of the line and the judge came over to me and Heracross first. I looked down the line and saw a ton of Scyther, Beedrill, Butterfee and Pinsir. I started to worry because I remembered shiny Pokemon didn’t mean any thing to the judges. I hoped sheer power would win us the match. The judge moved on down the line and looked very pleased with the other trainers. One Scyther with a large muscular build looked like it could use Heracross’ horn as a toothpick. In the end it was down to me and the trainer with the Scyther. I looked at the trainer and noticed she was dressed like a ninja. She had spiky purple hair and wore all sorts of wrist bands. She had Pokeballs all around her waste and was wearing these white sock shoes. I shook her hand and told her good luck. The judge took one last look at the Pokemon and made his decision.

“The winner of the Bug Catching Contest is… Janine!” I wasn’t upset but more or less curious about Janine. Where had I heard that name before? She took the Bug Catching Trophy and thanked the judges. She looked at me and gave me a look. Not a bad look but, well, you know. I walked over to Salami and Marissa and they looked shocked that I lost but I told them it was no big deal. We went off to the Pokemon Center because it was night and left our Pokemon there. We headed over to a hotel and crashed for a night. Salami started telling me that his first contest was just after my gym match. I told him as soon as I won the match I would head over to it. He pulled out a Pokeball and plopped it on the floor. A red light shot out and started forming his Pokemon. It looked like a giant rock with arms and legs sticking out from all parts. It had one large one on the top that must have been its head. Around the holes where the appendages came out, there were these white rings. When the color came in, its body was a cherry red color and its appendages were yellow. I looked at it and it started making noises that sounded like Shuckle. My friend of deli meats had caught a Shuckle.

I grabbed my Pokeball containing Golbat and opened it up. He thought I had caught it just before Totodile and Heracross. We both had secret Pokemon and started laughing about it. Marissa walked in and gave one of those “wow” looks. I told Marissa to say hello to my Golbat. It flew over to her and gave her a big hug. She looked less than enthusiastic about it and soon shrugged him off. We all hit the hay and packed it in for the night. That night I had another dream. There were thousands of Slowpokes all over the place. In one shot they all looked at me. Then they al disappeared and I saw Silver again. He started arguing with Mando and he left the scene. After that I was in the gym with Elekid wandering around being attacked by bugs. I woke up and nearly fell out of bed. In doing so I knocked over the radio onto the floor which turned t on. Salami woke up when it landed on a hard rock station ad nearly punched a hole into the ceiling. Eventually the sun rose and we all got up early. Salami nearly killed me at breakfast with a fork for what happened last night.

Chapter 12: Water

When we sat down it reminded me of the morning I left with Elekid for Cherry Grove Town. We had omelets and hot chocolate which made us ready for the day of contests and battling ahead of us. I decided to let Marissa have the first battle today since I got the first one two days ago. We headed out to the Azalea Gym and Salami looked excited as we past by the contest hall. Marissa ran into the Gym as happy as could be and looked around. There were trees every where and it was extremely humid. Spider webs hung around every corner and crevasse. I saw someone in the gym that looked familiar. It was the purple haired boy from the Bug Catching contest! He looked at us and looked at us looking almost surprised. He stopped what he was doing with the bugs in the trees and welcomed us to the gym. Marissa stated she wanted to fight him. The boy’s voice was as annoying as a Yanma and his hair was as unruly as a Pinsir going berserk. I looked around the gym more and noticed that the markings on the floor dividing the gym looked just like Falkner’s Gym; except where as his Gym used white chalk, these marking were green paint. Salami and I ran over to the bleachers that were carefully carved out of wood and watched as Marissa started her Gym match.

“Let’s get this started. Come on, Metapod!” the Purple haired boy yelled. Marissa sent out Mareep hoping that she would make this easy. I learned from the battles in Violet City that this wasn’t going to be easy. I asked purple hair what his name was and he told me his name was Bugsy. Bugsy? What kind of name is that? Marissa started laughing at his name which outraged him. He told his Metapod to use Harden and Tackle at once and the attack looked devastating. Marissa told Mareep to jump to the side and Tackle it from there. The Tackle connected with Metapod and didn’t do too much damage. There was no sign of any attack but Metapod had made a grunt when it was hit. Mareep used a Thunder Shock and it zapped Metapod badly on but it still looked like it didn’t do much. Now Bugsy was just playing with her using String Shot to slow down Mareep. Mareep used Cotton Spore and held down Metapod in its place. Metapod was covered in cotton and in vines. Metapod’s face was in a shocked expression and Mareep ran over to it. It used Charge as it ran to get more power for its Electric moves. A Thunder Shock flung off of her and she followed it with another. Metapod was fried and looked like a charred pile of Bug. Bugsy wasn’t even trying and he still managed to throw off Marissa. I didn’t like this guy very much and Marissa thought that this was just a cake walk.

He drew back his Metapod and sent out his next Pokeball. It was another one of those Pokemon from another region and I was wondering what this could be. It was a small water bug that looked like half a spider. It was a small blob with a little hat like covering on its head. It had four small skinny legs coming out on the edges of its oblong body. It came out and at unison, Salami, Marissa and I took out or Pokedexes and checked out this thing. It was called Surskit and was a Water and Bug type. It landed on a small pool of Water in the middle of the gym that I swore wasn’t there before. The vibe about this place grew weirder and weirder every second. A plant started sagging over to me and I snapped its branch. For a second, Bugsy’s expression went from disgusting to evil looking. I really didn’t like this guy and Salami was starting to get this vibe too. We watched as Marissa continued to battle Surskit with Mareep. Surskit was using a lot of annoying moves getting Mareep slowly less and less aware. Eventually, Surskit ran in and started using all sorts of Water attacks and soon knocked out Mareep. She took back Mareep and sent out Hoothoot. Hoothoot used Wing Attack and knocked Surskit clear back. The small bug tried to stand up and was hit with a Peck attack. Surskit was knocked out and soon Bugsy drew his next Pokeball. When the Pokemon came out I was shocked when I saw it. It was Janine’s Scyther!

I was shocked and saw it enormous muscular arms and its squinting eyes staring right at Hoothoot. Marissa wasn’t scared and had Hoothoot use Wing Attack on it. Scyther stared at it and folded it arms. When Hoothoot got close enough, he rolled out of the way. Hoothoot looked back at the Bug and stood its ground. Scyther charged in with a Wing Attack of its own. The attack connected and left Hoothoot flying and weaving around the trees with Scyther trying to follow it. Scyther couldn’t keep up and eventually stopped in its tracks. It used Focus Energy and then started using Pursuit to follow Hoothoot. If that attack connected, it might knock out Hoothoot. Hoothoot ran into a tree and there was no way out. Scyther knocked out Hoothoot in one shot and came back out flying around. Marissa recalled Hoothoot and looked at Poliwag. The Tadpole Pokemon looked at the menacing bug and charged at it with all of its might. The Scyther didn’t even care about it but started to look annoyed when Poliwag wouldn’t give up with Double Slap. Poliwag went down for the pool of water in the middle of the gym and started floating around. It used Rain Dance and made all of the plants wither away in an instant. Bugsy was angry and told Scyther to use Fury Cutter until Poliwag was defeated. Then I noticed there was no judge in the gym and that Bugsy was the only official person in the gym. Poliwag dodged all of the attacks and used Hypnosis on Scyther. The Pokemon fell asleep and I got up and made my announcement.

“Scyther is unable to battle and the winner is Marissa and Poliwag!” I ran over to Marissa and took out Pidgeotto. I told Bugsy I knew something was going on when we first walked into this gym. He looked and me and pulled out a remote. He pressed the giant green button on the front and then the door behind us was covered with metal and was impossible to get through. I looked back at Bugsy and he was gone into a maze of trees that suddenly appeared. I told Marissa and Salami to take out all of there Pokemon as I did with mine. We went on into the maze and it reminded me of something. It was like the labyrinth with the Minotaur in it. Then it hit me. There was something in here that could eat us. We couldn’t turn back and we couldn’t risk being eaten. I looked in my Pokedex for a large Bug type that was bigger than any person. There were no Bug types but it did show me a Poison type called Drapion. When it was in a giant size, it was bigger than the door to a Pokemon Center which sprawled out for several meters. It was like a Pokemon Minotaur and I knew he had one; it evolved from a Bug type. We went on into the maze and I told Heracross to rip up paper and leave it in a trail so we could get out if we needed to. As we went further and further on into the maze, we heard more and more growls from the giant Pokemon. We must have traveled for an hour before we heard a familiar voice. It was Silver!

“Look, I came to explain things right now, Mando and I were trying to stop Team Rocket. We had to gain there respect of their leaders and once we had it, we would defeat them. Bugsy is one of them! Janine was tricked into giving him that Scyther!” Silver explained everything and in the situation we were in, I had to believe him. All four of us went further in. He told us he had Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy stop everything that was going on to arrest Bugsy. We headed on in and saw it. It was a hulking mass of strength with claws and sectioned off pieced of his body. It was chained up to a wall and its purple and black scaly skin had scars all over it from its abusive captor. I remembered those Zubat and Hoothoot that were… altered by Team Rocket and looked at Silver angrily. He realized what I was thinking about and told me that t was really the Grunts who had done that. Again, I had to believe him. We slowly walked over to Drapion and it growled and yelled at us. I told Golbat to go over there and try to calm it down. It looked like it was working so I told Silver he needed to use his Cyndaquil to melt the chains. By the time I was done speaking he had already melted the chains and laughed at me who was still giving directions. I knew we needed to get him out of here but I didn’t know how. I grabbed some berries and told Drapion that if he got us out of here he could have them. He ran out with us following him and crushed a brick wall. Then there was light.

Chapter 13: Janine

Drapion had led us out of that labyrinth safely and without many problems. When we were fully out, there were yellow police lines and orange cones every where in a radius around the cave exit. We saw Bugsy hanging a foot off the ground starting to kick for the concrete and screaming as Officer Jenny and the Squirtle Squad held off Bug enthusiasts. When I looked at Bugsy’s head, I noticed there was a strong, tan hand holding him by the collar of his slime green shirt. I looked further up and saw Mando looming over us, his body towering over everything. He looked down at us and looked like a Cyclops with two eyes, his body was well built and his Dratini was his tool of battling. He let Bugsy fall to the ground as we all hovered around him. I told Elekid to go sit on his head. Now, I have said that lifting Elekid wasn’t that hard but this guy was terrible. He was totally stuck on the ground trying to lift my little Electric Pokemon. Officer Jenny came over to us and put Bugsy in chains.

“Wait a second! Marissa won her gym battle and deserves a badge. I still haven’t gotten my battle! How are we supposed to move on?” I had implored. Janine stepped out of the crowd and walked over to Bugsy. She grabbed the Pokeball holding Scyther and took it away. I was shocked when I saw what she looked like. Instead of her insane ninja clothes, she had on black skinny jeans and purple Converse All Stars. She was wearing a leather jacket with a black and purple shirt that said Fuschia City on it. Her previously spiky purple hair was flowing down like silk and went all the way down to the middle of her back. I think some drool hit the ground because when Elekid stepped forward he had to get a tissue to get rid of something wet on his foot. OK so I was kind of, well… somewhere between happy and in love with the coolest looking girl I have ever met. I mean, I liked Marissa but she was an idiot when it came to some things. And she thought the moon was made of cheese. She did seem intelligent at first but then she was just an Aphrodite. Even though she could get and boy going through puberty to follow her like a lost puppy, she was a ditz. But Janine was tough and smart. When she had caught that, Scyther she had hid in the bushes and threw a ball while it was sleeping. And there was something else about her I liked, but I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. Marissa stepped forward and said she wanted to be the Gym leader there. Salami and I nearly fell down and Elekid started laughing. She didn’t even have one Bug Pokemon so how would she be the Gym Leader here? Officer Jenny walked over to Bugsy and took his Pokeballs. She opened them all at once and noticed something. They all had whip marks on their bodies. They took Bugsy away and the crowd behind us cheered.

“Marissa, if you want to become the Gym leader here, then you will have to take some classes and catch your own Bug Pokemon. Although, we could give you these seeing there are many challengers in the city,” Officer Jenny went off explaining the seriousness it took to be a gym leader. I was sure once we left Marissa would be off redecorating the Gym, sending most of the plants off to the National Park or the Safari Zone. I told her now she couldn’t be in the Tournament with us on Mount Silver but she seemed to not really care about it. Apparently she wanted to be a gym leader all along and this turned out to be her opportunity. I couldn’t really see Marissa with Bugs around her all day but I guess that if she wanted to, I wasn’t going to stop her. Salami looked at his watch and noticed that it was almost time for his Contest. Since this was a regular contest it would take a few hours for it to be over. All six of us headed over there, even Silver and Mando. I was shocked and Silver told me that he needed to loose Team Rocket for a while so he would stick with us but Mando had to leave a little sooner. I had learned that the less I knew sometimes, the better. This was one of those times. Salami had to get dressed formally for his contests so we were shocked when we saw him in a suit with a tie and dress pants. Elekid nearly fainted and Pidgeotto fell to the ground. Some kid, maybe Janine’s height and Silver’s slim built, came in with a fiery red hat and a cowboy suit with red and orange stripes running down it. He had some fiery chicken with him that walked upright on two feet. I took out my Pokedex and checked out this thing. It was called Combusken and was a Fire and Fighting Pokemon. It was about 4 feet tall with feathers pointing out where its colors changed. It was mostly a yellow mixed with orange color but its legs, which looked like baggy pants, where more of a dark orange but closer to red. It looked cocky just like his trainer.

“So they let kids with crabs into Contests now. I bet this will be easy, I mean, if you can even make it to me in the brackets,” this kid trash talked. Salami told him that his lousy chicken didn’t stand a chance against Crabby. The funny part was, he was right. There was no way a Fire type Pokemon could beat a Water type in a battle or a contest, unless it knew Electric type moves or a Grass move. There were Water Pokemon that could be beat by Fighting or Fire moves but Krabby was pure Water. The big booming voice over us said that the first match would start in just a few minutes between Blaze and Rebecca. The kid with the chicken went on saying it looked like it was his turn to show off. So this kids name was Blaze apparently and he was fighting this random girl. Blaze went on ahead and we all went into the stands to watch the match. Blaze was on the left side of the arena and Rebecca was on the right. The arena was a grassy plain full of hills and trees. There were ponds scattered all around the stadium that made it appear like a marsh or a swamp. Blaze looked strong and stern and ready to win. Rebecca looked like a loose and not too concerned by Blaze’s Combusken. The announcer said his garbage and his required commercial for Red’s Repel. Then the two trainers sent out their Pokemon. Blaze sent out Combusken and Rebecca sent out her Girafarig. I was wondering what was going to happen. Girafarig was Normal and Psychic type and was usually an odd attacker. Then, the match started. Blaze unleashed a fury of attacks. Girafarig dodged most of them and sent them back. Combusken use Fire Spin and Girafarig was hit. Then he followed with Double Kick and knocked down Girafarig. Then the giraffe used Psybeam and had Combusken falling around. They both unleashed a flurry of attacks that left the grass burnt. Finally, a Flamethrower came from Combusken and a Psychic came from Girafarig. It was an ultimate explosion that left everyone stunned. There was a cloud of smoke that came down and we all saw the winner.

Chapter 14: Contests

Combusken was on the ground grunting, looking tired and angry. Girafarig was standing on top of him looking triumphant. Everyone was shocked that Girafarig won the battling part. Blaze didn’t look surprised or angry or anything. His face was totally blank and he took out a Pokeball. He recalled Combusken and smiled once it went in. The crowd cheered and every in the stands nearly shook the place. But seeing that Contests were not about who wins the battle, but who had the more outstanding performance, it was still anyone’s match. The judges told the trainers that they would need to review the contest. We all waited for about five minutes and most of the time, Salami was just a little nervous. The judges got up and announced the winner was Blaze. We weren’t surprised at all and Silver and Mando’s faces looked unchanged. But there eyes were flickering around looking for any suspicious people. In about 10 minutes Salami went down and was ready for his contest. Janine started asking me why he wanted to do contests instead of gyms. I told her he was terrible at gyms and this was the only thing he was good at. The field changed from being its swampy form to a rocky dry plain. There were boulders and rock formations all across the field. Crabby was jumpy and anxious next to Salami and he looked across the field. There was a mean looking girl on the other side gripping her Pokeball angrily. The announcer yelled that Salami would be battling Casey. She took out her Pokeball and a dirty yellow light came out. A Tauros came out stomping it hooves and snorting while angrily looking at Crabby. The announcer started the match and immediately Tauros went in for a Take Down, jumping off of rocks going to other rocks and making his way towards Crabby. Salami’s nerves left him and he took control. He told Crabby to use Crab Hammer on Tauros as it came around. It connected and sent Tauros flying. Then Crabby jumped over a rock and launched a barrage of Bubble Beam attacks around him trapping him. Then he went diving in and knocked Tauros down. The bull got back up and used Earthquake. The ground shook and Crabby was left defenseless. Crabby was thrown around into rocks.

Tauros followed up with a Horn Attack that sent Crabby packing. He was charging up a Hyper Beam attack but was taking a while to be flashy. Crabby got back to its feet and ran at full speed into Tauros and gripped its horn with a Vice Grip. He used Harden and brought Tauros down. Crabby flew into the air and came down with Guillotine. Just as Crabby got down the match was ended and Tauros got back up. He kicked over Crabby and snorted as he walked back over to Casey. The three judges made a decision almost immediately. Salami won! We all ran down the stands trampling over people and kicking over snacks and drinks. We all huddled around Salami and stared jumping up and down and made such a scene that the whole crowd was cheering. We looked up and Casey looked happy that she lost. I didn’t really care because Salami had won! We ran out of the field screaming and yelling and, surprisingly, Silver and Mando were just as crazy as us. Janine gave him a hug and so did Marissa. Silver, Mando and I all gave him hi-fives and slaps on the back. We checked out the brackets and saw that it would take forever until Salami fought his next battle. And, not surprising to any of us, it was Blaze. I was very happy for Salami and remembered that I still needed to get my gym badge. Marissa just took her badge she stole from Bugsy and handed it to me. I looked at her and she said I had earned it saving us from Bugsy and rescuing Drapion. So the hours past and in that time we had gone out to eat as one big group, healed our Pokemon, as one big group and had fun. I started thinking about what lied ahead of us. Salami was destined to be a great contest battler and I was going to try and win Silver League Tournament. I was talking to Janine for a while and I really started liking her. I know that I was getting way ahead of myself but I just couldn’t stop liking her. She was pretty and smart. She was really good at catching Pokemon and was from Kanto. I just felt like I knew her from somewhere.

It was time for Salami’s next contest so we all ran over to the contest hall and went into our seats. Salami gave the crowd a smile and a wave and looked at us and winked at us. I was happy for him and realized something. This was the same kid who left New Bark Town three weeks ago anxious with his Krabby. Here he was now with so many friends looking like he was meant to be here. Blaze stood on the other side and gave Salami a good luck. Salami returned one and looked at Crabby. Blaze looked at his Pokeball. I looked at my Chili-Cheese Dog. This was going to be a long battle. Blaze’s Combusken came out and made a Double Kick to the air. Crabby flew down and launched bubbles at the ceiling as well. The announcer introduced his garbage and the match began. Blaze sent Combusken to use a Mega Punch on Crabby as the match started. Crabby watched and waited. When they were close together, Crabby used Vice Grip and threw him for a loop. Combusken did a flip in the air which I knew got him some points. Crabby needed something flashy and Salami though of it. The field was totally normal without anything to stop him from pulling off a trick. Crabby took both of his claws and used Crab Hammer with both of them and went around in a spinning rage. He targeted Combusken and went flying at him. If it connected then Combusken would be gone for. But, obviously, Blaze wasn’t that dumb. He told his chicken to use Fire Spin and knocked Crabby down. He jumped in the air and came down with another Mega Punch. Crabby used Water Gun like he was fighting a Pidgey and shot it down. So Combusken fell down and Crabby laughed. He laughed and laughed over and over again. Combusken got back up and launched a Flamethrower that silenced the entire stadium. The heat was intense and then Combusken started glowing red. It was his ability, Blaze! Blaze even looked surprised at this and beads of sweat ran down his face like trickling water.

Combusken charged at Crabby with all of his force and I saw the judge’s faces. They were trying to watch the match and write down abut that amazing display of fire power. Crabby rolled away but Combusken wouldn’t give up. He hit him over and over again with Blaze Kick. Crabby barely stood up and launched a Bubble Beam at Combusken. He dodged and went for a final Blaze Kick at Crabby. Crabby went soaring up into the side of the stadium and didn’t get up. Salami was shocked and Blaze looked like he actually cared. We all stood up in awe and the crowd was even more amazed. Combusken was a powerful Pokemon but it was up against a Water Pokemon. The judges made there decision almost immediately. Blaze had won. No one was surprised but it was an odd turn of events that no one really did expect. Blaze did get applause and he was going to the final match. We weren’t going to watch it because Salami’s Pokemon needed some care. Tomorrow we planned to leave for Golden Rod, but Mando had to leave early to scout out the city. Marissa would also be leaving us to head on to her position at the gym. It would be me, Salami, Janine and Silver but I knew he would be gone once we got there. Our journey started shaping up and I was excited about that. I got my egg back from the Pokemon Center and noticed it started moving more often. Some one ran up to us and started gasping for breathe. He looked at us and then our Pokeballs at our sides. Mine and Janine’s were Purple instead of red like Salami’s. The odd man looked at us and smiled. He introduced himself formally as the Pokeball Man. He made custom Pokeballs for trainers who were taking Contest and Gym challenges. Janine and I asked for Purple Pokeball and Salami wanted Orange ones. He could make designs pop out from them and I immediately asked for Guitar Picks. Salami asked for Music Notes and Janine wanted Spiders to pop out. He told us in three hours he would have them. My egg hopped out of my hands and did a flip in the air.

In three hours he came back with dozens of Pokeballs for all of us. We went over to the Pokemon Center and switched out our Pokeballs. Don’t worry, they were totally safe. Marissa said goodbye to me and Salami and told us she will fight fairly in her new gym. We headed off to Golden Rod and found Silver who was talking to Sophie. I apologized for what happened with Elekid and Elekid came over and said he was sorry. I think he did. It sounded like it at least. I asked Silver why his trainer card had said Kyle and he told me it was his cover while he was under Team Rocket. I wasn’t really buying it but guessed one of them was his real name. Sophie told us she was never with Team Rocket and was Mando and Silver’s outside help. The Yanma was a favor. She was going off to other parts of Johto to find Team Rocket and stop them. I told her good luck as I looked at Elekid. Elekid got the hint and nodded his head in agreement. She left off into the distance and I figured we wouldn’t be seeing her for a long time. I looked at Janine, Salami and Silver and knew where we were headed. The Ilex Forest.

Chapter 15: Snow

It was starting to get closer to night out so I had hoped it wouldn’t be too dark. The Ilex Forest had so many trees it was almost a perpetual nighttime and the last thing I wanted was to be traveling through pitch black conditions. I looked at Elekid and he started shocking the sky and making clouds form above us. Janine hadn’t shown us any Pokemon of hers except for her Scyther. I had asked her to show us something but she just looked at me and gave me a “When I need one you will see it,” look. We headed on into the forest and took one last look back unto the city we saved and hoped our journey would be smooth through this perpetual nighttime journey. And unbeknownst to me, it would be a nightmare along with the rest of the indescribable adjectives and feelings. We looked at the trees and the Bugs swarming around them. There were Hoothoot and various other birds making noises ringing through the black sky and the moon cast I small shadow upon the endless sea of night shaded green. My breath started showing when I exhaled and Salami was shivering. Janine took the cold rather well and Silver remained in his hard-as-rock stance looking heroic as the moon shone upon us and the wind whistled in our faces. I took out two from my backpack sweatshirts; one for me and one for Salami. I put on mine and bared the cold like Washington crossing the river. Salami started hugging his new sweatshirt looking at me live a savior. My egg was cold and I knew it wouldn’t last after a while in this weather. I looked in my bag and couldn’t find anything to cover it with. I couldn’t give up my sweatshirt because I couldn’t afford hypothermia at a time like this. I put it in my bag and look at Janine.

“Make sure it stays in there. I want you to promise,” I demanded that she promised and she gave me a promise on her Scyther that she wouldn’t let anything happen to it. I couldn’t see much and neither could Silver or Salami. We were barely moving through the forest and I thought I felt snow on my head. As I looked around I saw the tops of trees showing signs of frost and white peaks of snow on their pines. It was getting cold out and Elekid knew it. He kept shooting at the sky making clouds but they were disintegrated when the snow hit them. Elekid was using Thunder Shock and it seemed to get stronger every time he used it. He was slowly keeping warm and the Bugs and Birds flying around were all clinging to trees and nests. There were white clouds forming all around us and it seemed to become larger and larger every second. I grabbed a Pokeball thinking it was a Ghastly. The shape started to shrink and then I heard something. Salami was trying to scare us with his visible breath. I gave him a small knock in the arm and he just laughed. I realized I had five Pokemon with me and if I caught something in here I was stuck with it until we made it to Golden Rod. I thought about it and didn’t want to waste it. Salami took out Shuckle’s Pokeball and twirled it in his fingers. I wondered why he would be so depressed looking about it. Silver looked at a tree with a red bandana tied around it. Silver took it off and looked at us. He showed us a note from someone with excellent handwriting. It was from Mando! He had been through here and told us he had encountered no problems. The bandana was for Salami for a job well done in his contest.

Salami took the bandana and put it around his head. He looked more confident with it on and Crabby looked happy when he saw him. I was happy for him and Janine smiled for once. We started heading on further into the Ilex Forest and it got colder and colder. There was nothing that could make this night better. That’s right, I thoroughly enjoyed this night. Everyone was cracking jokes as we went along and we were laughing as birds flew into trees. Janine and I started talking about what had happened in Azalea and why she came along with Salami and I. It was pitch black out and it was hard to see anything except for the blobby figures of each other. I could have sworn Janine blushed. She looked at me and started rambling on about how she thought is would be a good journey going on with such great trainers. Yeah, it was obvious why she came with us. I was hoping she liked Salami because there was something that was kid-like about him. Little did I know about him and girls. We ventured deep into the forest and then I heard something… a faint sound creeping into my ear. I looked all around me and could see nothing. The snow and darkness of the night made it impossible to hear. I grabbed out my phone and shined the light all over the vicinity. I saw a small green shape lying on the ground and ran over to it with neither delay nor thought. The snow seemed to fall harder and harder as sprinted over to the small shape. I dropped to my knees and looked at the shape. It had a small green leaf on the top of its head that looked ripped and torn. There were discolored sections of its body, making it look frozen. This poor Chikorita was ready to freeze to death and no one was around to save it.

I took off my sweatshirt and put it on the freezing Pokemon and started looking at its legs. I looked at Silver and he knew what I wanted from him. He took out his Pokeball and the light shone its murky black color again. I saw his light shine and open up the darkness and thought it had become a Silver color. The light made it possible to get a better view on this Chikorita. Its eyes were beautiful green pools of former happiness. The discolored legs were evil blotches creeping over this unfortunate Pokemon. Silver’s Cyndaquil waddled over and looked at Chikorita. It used Ember just high enough that Chikorita would defrost slightly and not burn. I wasn’t sure what else to do. Janine stepped over to us and pulled out a Pokeball. I wasn’t sure what she could do now with the most we could do being done. The baseball sized Pokeball opened and out popped a yellow beak. Well it appeared to be a corn-colored beak but was really the pitch black Murkrow. The dark bird of many misfortunes had a small wingspan that could still maliciously mame you. It came over to us and landed on top of Chikorita’s head just short of being burned by the flames. It started closing its eyes as did Chikorita and red rings appeared around them. It was a move called Calm Mind and could make you much better at certain attacks. I wondered why she would do that. I looked at the legs of this Chikorita and they were slowly turning back to regular colors. I pulled out some berries and left them in front of the Grass Pokemon. Janine came over to my level and started talking to me.

“Calm Mind is usually used in contests and battle to power up trainers Pokemon. It can really soothe Pokemon as well. Not many people will listen to this because they are so obsessed with winning,” Janine enlightened me on this. I looked a where I put my berries and they had disappeared into the mouth of this grass Pokemon. It got up with my sweatshirt on looking like a saddle and ran over to all four of us. It jumped onto me like Elekid had done and then went over to Silver. Chikorita brushed up like a cat to him and started scratching at his shoe. When it walked over to Janine, it sat in front of her and smiled. Janine cracked a smile and went on her knee to Chikorita’s level. Then Chikorita ran over to Salami. Oh boy did she dislike Salami. It could have been from what he smelled like but when it looked at him, Chikorita decided to make… seeds. It walked over to me and pushed one of my Pokeballs with its nose. It wanted to be my Pokemon and it wanted it to be known. The ball immediately stopped and clicked in the darkness engulfing us. I grabbed it and looked at Janine. She really deserved it and she knew what I meant. She told me Pokemon were less about who deserved it than who it wants to be with. I decided to grab my Pokedex and check out what I had just obtained. The light from that had shone over the bark on trees and made the snow appear whiter and more consuming. It read:

CHIKORITA-GRASS
OWNER-Fisch
ATTACKS-Tackle, Growl, Poison Powder, Razor Leaf, Synthesis

I couldn’t believe that I had this Chikorita in my group. I mean, I was strolling along in these awful conditions and BOOM here we are. It was a female by the way and she was always shaking around in her Pokeball. The egg started shaking around in my backpack and Janine went behind me to help out with the egg. She came around and said it wasn’t the egg moving. It had hatched.

Chapter 10: Pastrami

It was a baby! This thing had just been born! OK let me back up a little. I had opened up my everything-in-one Pokedex and the bright backlit LED screen cast a shadow across the Pokeball still sitting on the ground. There was a green line blinking on the screen that started to produce words. I was sitting there looking at the screen as well was Golbat. The words flickered on the screen and this is what it read:

TOTODILE-WATER
OWNER-Fisch
ATTACKS-Water Gun, Scratch, Leer
Newborn Pokemon

This thing must’ve just hatched from an egg because the readings for health noted that it was still very weak and it had a low level. I decided to let it run around for a little while so I let it out. Then the worst thing that could have happened, happened. A big, mean mama Feraligatr cam out and looked at her hatchling. My Totodile ran over and started speaking to its mother. The mother’s expression changed as the little crocodile Pokemon spoke to it. Totodile dragged its mother over to me and started pointing at me and making me look like a hero. The mother looked at me and made a huge smile. It then proceeded to pick me up and hug me which I thought was going to squeeze my guts out. I did survive and thought that Feraligatrs were lunatics and that I hoped my Totodile never evolved into one.

The mommy and child exchanged a hug and Totodile must have told her that he would be back because I thought I saw tears in Feraligatr’s eyes. Totodile came back to me and gave me a Water Gun to the face. This was his way to say “I’m happy” so I went back to training the two Pokemon. Golbat and Totodile got along fine and seemed to work well together. Eventually dawn broke and we were on our way. I introduced the rest of the gang to Totodile and he seemed to have a close attachment to Crabby. The two were playing the whole way to Azalea Town. Several times I had to dodge Bubble Beams and Water Guns flying in my direction from the playing Pokemon. We made it all the way to Azalea Town and saw that the entire town was Bug crazy! There were trainers with Beedrill, Butterfree, Ledyba and Scyther all going to different bug themed stores. Everything was green and purple and loud and annoying. Someone with a Yanma let it make all the noise it wanted and Totodile didn’t really appreciate it. He ran over to it and sprayed it with a Water Gun. When the trainer came back to her Yanma, she looked at Totodile and immediately went for him with her fists. I told Elekid to give her a Low Kick to stop her. She fell on the ground annoyed and then I recognized who this was. This was that evil Blonde who hung out with the evil kid who had the EVIL Dratini!

“Hey, don’t let your Totodile near my Yanma again! Come on, Yanma,” the girl scolded us and left. She dropped her trainer card and I picked it up. So this girl’s name was Sophie from Black Thorn Town. I decided to hand it to the Officer Jenny near the Pokemon Center and told her to keep an eye out for this girl. I brushed it off and we headed into a deli. I love going to delis and this just made my day. It turned out to be a Jewish deli (yes they do have religion in Johto) with my favorite kind of sandwich, Triple Decker Corned Beef and Pastrami. When the waitress brought out our food I was on cloud nine eating and Salami and Marissa were just eating like it was fuel. Then the same Officer Jenny came in and ran over to us.

“Thank goodness! I have been looking all over for some trainers that DON’T have Bug Pokemon. Look Team Rocket is in Slowpoke Well and they are selling Slowpoke tails from there! I can’t leave my post because of the Bug Festival coming up so PLEASE stop them!” I could tell this was bad because she ran into a deli just to find a trainer to stop them. I did know there was a Bug Festival and I planned to participate but I knew now I was booked up. When we finished our lunch, we headed back out of town where I caught Totodile and went into the well. It was cold and dark and more of the Team Rocket trucks were parked outside. There were some Slowpokes that were still safe hiding behind rocks but around I saw many dying Slowpoke without tails. I was angry and sad all at the same time and ran in hiding and popping up behind stalagmites. There were Rocket grunts hanging around on a break drinking coffee. I decided to take them out in one shot and make my work easier. I told Elekid to use his Ice Punch on them to freeze them. They were stuck in a block of ice and Totodile started hopping around. He ran over to the blocks and used his claws to make really bad carved faces over there regular faces. I said someone had to go get some more trainers because this was insane. Salami ran out of the cave with Crabby and said he would find some powerful Bug trainers.

Marissa and I ventured further into the cave, taking out Team Rocket grunts and saving whatever Slowpokes we could find. We made it to the end and saw Pizza-Face and the kid with the Dratini overlooking the rest of the relaxing grunts. I threw out Pidgeotto’s Pokeball and she came out on her talons hiding with us. I told her to use gust and ruin their little party. There were Styrofoam cups and donuts flying everywhere. The Dratini trainer’s long black hair blew strait back and his long arms flailed back in the wind. Pizza-Face had his bright red hair blown back and his skinny toothpick of a body was thrown into a wall. I ran in and immediately had Elekid use a Thunder Punch on this kid’s Dratini and I had Totodile use Water Gun on Pizza-Face himself. They told me if it’s a battle I want it’s a battle I’ll get.

“But we want a Double Battle. You and cutey over there against us. What do you say kid? Scared?” I wasn’t scared of this weirdo and his Dragon training friend. They said they wanted each trainer to use two Pokeballs. I decided to use Totodile ad Elekid while Marissa use Poliwag and Hoothoot. The Dragon trainer used his Dratini and his second Pokeball was rolling around his fingers. Pizza-Face used his Cyndaquil and his second Pokeball sat on the ground in front of him. Marissa and I were ready and the other two trainers looked arrogant and cocky.

“I, Mando of Black Thorn, and Silver of Viridian, will rule Johto with an iron fist. Starting right now,” Mando proclaimed slyly. I told him he didn’t stand a chance. He had his Dratini use Wrap on Marissa’s Poliwag and I told Elekid to use Ice Punch to get it off. Silver’s Cyndaquil ran in and used Headbutt to knock Elekid away. I decided that guy was going to be a pain and I had to take care of him. Marissa had Poliwag use DoubleSlap to push away Dratini but the Dragon wouldn’t give up. Mando had him use Dragon Rage on Poliwag once he backed away. I told Elekid to use Karate Chop on Cyndaquil but as the move connected, Cyndaquil used Flame Wheel to try and Burn Elekid but all it did was scorch his hand. I told Elekid to use Thunder Shock while Cyndaquil used Ember. The two attacks collided and left burn marks all across the Well. Marissa wasn’t doing so well. Poliwag was using Water Gun with all his might but the Dratini didn’t take much damage. The Dratini used Twister and messed up the whole match. Elekid used his arms to block the flying debris but Poliwag couldn’t hold out so well. I eventually noticed a flaw in Cyndaquil’s attack pattern. Whenever he used Headbutt, he had to charge up his flame. I waited for it to use that attack but he never used it. I basically denied that I could use that tactic but by then, Marissa’s Poliwag was knocked out. Marissa brought it back to her and sent out Hoothoot to finish off the powerful Dragon. She started off with a Hypnosis attack. And then she used another, and another and she kept using them until Dratini was asleep. Silver and I watched as Elekid and Cyndaquil went into a fighting frenzy of girly slaps. Marissa had Hoothoot fly in and use Wing Attack and Peck over and over again. Soon Dratini was unable to battle. I watched as Mando used his second Pokeball.

Mando threw it high in the air and out popped a Greenish light. A shape started to form and it was apparently holding some sort of burlap sack. It had spikes shooting out of the top of its head like spiky hair. Its eyes were black and took up its entire face. The body was some sort of red blob in a small form. Its leg were really just feet and weren’t that large either. As soon as it came out fully it threw a box wrapped in ribbons. Yes, Mando had a Delibird. I heard that Present either inflicted much damage or healed the foe. I told Marissa she would be fine as Silver and I took back to our battle. Cyndaquil used Flame Wheel and headed right above Elekid. It came down hard on top of Elekid and knocked him to the ground. Elekid tried to get back up but fell down and was unable to battle. I grabbed Totodile’s Pokeball and threw it right in front of Cyndaquil. Cyndaquil looked scared and started running away. I told Totodile to use Water Gun on it as it used Agility to fly around. Totodile started jumping around all happy squirting Water at Cyndaquil. The little Fire rodent Pokemon was already tired from fighting and soon was defeated by my cheery Totodile.

Chapter 11: Ninjas

I looked over at Marissa and Mando and saw that Delibird had been beaten and Marissa left to fins Salami. It was Totodile and Silver’s unnamed Pokemon. He threw the Pokeball at the ground and a Black Light shot out. It hit the ground with a smack and started forming its shape. Its body was short and brown with stumpy arms and legs making it look like a blob. There was a bone in its hand and a skeleton on its head. It landed and the odd part was, its skeleton helmet and bone were pink. Must have been a female. The Cubone hopped out and looked at Totodile angrily. It immediately used a Bone Club attack and ran around making jumping strikes every time that Totodile moved. I told Elekid to use Water Gun on it and Totodile did so with a grin of its sharp, pointed teeth. The Cubone looked like that the squirt of Water really hurt and then I remembered that Ground was weak to Water. Cubone used Bonemerang and sent her bone flying around the Well and nearly hit me. Totodile grabbed the bone and threw it strait back at Cubone. The Pokemon grabbed it and went in for a running Headbutt. Totodile used Scratch at it as it came around and for a second, I thought that his spikes were changing colors. All the colors of the rainbow and more. I rubbed my eyes and I thought I was losing my mind. Totodile had thrown off Cubone and used another Water Gun on it.

The Cubone fell to the ground and was defeated. Salami came running in with Marissa and another Trainer with a Beedrill. He told us that they got another Officer Jenny over here and took back all the Slowpoke tails. They picked up all of the Slowpoke and are sending them to the Pokemon Center. Silver was once again taken away but this time they assured me that he wouldn’t get away. I knew they would be wrong. Mando instantly teleported away with his Dratini and was gone. Salami and Marissa and I looked at each other and thought that the one chance we had to relax was ruined by these guys. We headed back to town and now it was nighttime. We had been in their sneaking around for a while. The Bug Catching contest was tonight and I told Marissa and Salami to take there time but I was going and I wasn’t stopping. I ran for town and when I looked back Marissa and Salami were taking their time. I pulled out Golbat’s Pokeball and smiled at it. I could hear Golbat over the Bug fanatics in town. I went to the gate into the smaller park for the trainers. Normally they have the Contest in National Park near Goldenrod City, but this year they moved it hear because of the Bug Festival held every 50 years. There was a boy with purple hair next to me at the sign in booth who was wishing trainers good luck. The kid’s voice was as annoying as Bug Pokemon so I just kept walking.

“Alright Trainers! If you could all step up to the line we can get this shindig rollin’! On your marks, get set, CATCH!” A gun went off and all the trainers scrambled to find the best bug. I saw Marissa and Salami in the crowd watching me and cheering me on. I wasn’t as bold and rash as the other trainers and took my time creeping around bushed and trees looking for Bugs. I saw a Caterpie, but there was nothing special about it at all. Some kid, who was about 4 caught it and ran off to show his parents. I was kind of happy seeing that but went on in the match. I came across a patch of Scyther that lay in the grass but they were scared off by a big, clunky teenager. I went around searching for something. The MC announced that there were 5 trainers left and 15 minutes to go. I picked up the pace a little and saw a Pokemon that should not have been there. It had a large horn with a heart shape on the top. The body was divided into multiple sections with long muscular arms extending from high on its body. It was pink! I found a shiny Heracross in the Bug Catching contest! I hadn’t used any Pokemon so far and decided I had to use one just to get it frazzled. I grabbed Totodile’s Pokeball and pushed the button on the front. A purplish light came out and my happy little crocodile popped out. I grabbed him and whispered to him.

“Alright Totodile, I want you to go over there and distract Heracross with a Water Gun,” I thought I heard it say “You got it” but I figured I was imagining things. Totodile ran over there and shot it with a Water Gun. Instead of it getting angry at Totodile, it started to laugh. I walked over to it and pulled out a Pokeball. I figured that it couldn’t hurt and threw it on its head. It turned into a purplish light and zapped into the red and white ball. Instead of wobbling around like normal, it stared flying around and I could hear Heracross’ voice laughing from the inside. It stopped flying around and landed at my feet. I picked it up and ran back to the exit. Marissa and Salami started cheering and the crowd followed. I headed over to the judging table and took out my Heracross. Every one was in awe because of its unique features. It was shiny. It was female. It was sweet. I pulled out my Pokedex and checked out its attacks. It read:

HERACROSS-BUG, FIGHTING
OWNER-Fisch
ATTACKS- Tackle, Horn Attack, Endure, Fury Attack, Aerial Ace, Brick Break

I caught a really good Heracross and I figured I was definitely going to win no matter what else other people came with. When every one came in the MC announced the end of the contest. Everyone lined up for judging. I was at the beginning of the line and the judge came over to me and Heracross first. I looked down the line and saw a ton of Scyther, Beedrill, Butterfee and Pinsir. I started to worry because I remembered shiny Pokemon didn’t mean any thing to the judges. I hoped sheer power would win us the match. The judge moved on down the line and looked very pleased with the other trainers. One Scyther with a large muscular build looked like it could use Heracross’ horn as a toothpick. In the end it was down to me and the trainer with the Scyther. I looked at the trainer and noticed she was dressed like a ninja. She had spiky purple hair and wore all sorts of wrist bands. She had Pokeballs all around her waste and was wearing these white sock shoes. I shook her hand and told her good luck. The judge took one last look at the Pokemon and made his decision.

“The winner of the Bug Catching Contest is… Janine!” I wasn’t upset but more or less curious about Janine. Where had I heard that name before? She took the Bug Catching Trophy and thanked the judges. She looked at me and gave me a look. Not a bad look but, well, you know. I walked over to Salami and Marissa and they looked shocked that I lost but I told them it was no big deal. We went off to the Pokemon Center because it was night and left our Pokemon there. We headed over to a hotel and crashed for a night. Salami started telling me that his first contest was just after my gym match. I told him as soon as I won the match I would head over to it. He pulled out a Pokeball and plopped it on the floor. A red light shot out and started forming his Pokemon. It looked like a giant rock with arms and legs sticking out from all parts. It had one large one on the top that must have been its head. Around the holes where the appendages came out, there were these white rings. When the color came in, its body was a cherry red color and its appendages were yellow. I looked at it and it started making noises that sounded like Shuckle. My friend of deli meats had caught a Shuckle.

I grabbed my Pokeball containing Golbat and opened it up. He thought I had caught it just before Totodile and Heracross. We both had secret Pokemon and started laughing about it. Marissa walked in and gave one of those “wow” looks. I told Marissa to say hello to my Golbat. It flew over to her and gave her a big hug. She looked less than enthusiastic about it and soon shrugged him off. We all hit the hay and packed it in for the night. That night I had another dream. There were thousands of Slowpokes all over the place. In one shot they all looked at me. Then they al disappeared and I saw Silver again. He started arguing with Mando and he left the scene. After that I was in the gym with Elekid wandering around being attacked by bugs. I woke up and nearly fell out of bed. In doing so I knocked over the radio onto the floor which turned t on. Salami woke up when it landed on a hard rock station ad nearly punched a hole into the ceiling. Eventually the sun rose and we all got up early. Salami nearly killed me at breakfast with a fork for what happened last night.

Very awesome storys, nice length to!
can i be in?

I will be a fire geek
Character's Name: Blaze
Age: 13
Pokemon: Combusken, Magcargo and Charmeleon
City: Rustboro
other info: Is a great explorer, came from hoenn to explore in johto, Talks trash alot xD

Chapter 12: Water

When we sat down it reminded me of the morning I left with Elekid for Cherry Grove Town. We had omelets and hot chocolate which made us ready for the day of contests and battling ahead of us. I decided to let Marissa have the first battle today since I got the first one two days ago. We headed out to the Azalea Gym and Salami looked excited as we past by the contest hall. Marissa ran into the Gym as happy as could be and looked around. There were trees every where and it was extremely humid. Spider webs hung around every corner and crevasse. I saw someone in the gym that looked familiar. It was the purple haired boy from the Bug Catching contest! He looked at us and looked at us looking almost surprised. He stopped what he was doing with the bugs in the trees and welcomed us to the gym. Marissa stated she wanted to fight him. The boy’s voice was as annoying as a Yanma and his hair was as unruly as a Pinsir going berserk. I looked around the gym more and noticed that the markings on the floor dividing the gym looked just like Falkner’s Gym; except where as his Gym used white chalk, these marking were green paint. Salami and I ran over to the bleachers that were carefully carved out of wood and watched as Marissa started her Gym match.

“Let’s get this started. Come on, Metapod!” the Purple haired boy yelled. Marissa sent out Mareep hoping that she would make this easy. I learned from the battles in Violet City that this wasn’t going to be easy. I asked purple hair what his name was and he told me his name was Bugsy. Bugsy? What kind of name is that? Marissa started laughing at his name which outraged him. He told his Metapod to use Harden and Tackle at once and the attack looked devastating. Marissa told Mareep to jump to the side and Tackle it from there. The Tackle connected with Metapod and didn’t do too much damage. There was no sign of any attack but Metapod had made a grunt when it was hit. Mareep used a Thunder Shock and it zapped Metapod badly on but it still looked like it didn’t do much. Now Bugsy was just playing with her using String Shot to slow down Mareep. Mareep used Cotton Spore and held down Metapod in its place. Metapod was covered in cotton and in vines. Metapod’s face was in a shocked expression and Mareep ran over to it. It used Charge as it ran to get more power for its Electric moves. A Thunder Shock flung off of her and she followed it with another. Metapod was fried and looked like a charred pile of Bug. Bugsy wasn’t even trying and he still managed to throw off Marissa. I didn’t like this guy very much and Marissa thought that this was just a cake walk.

He drew back his Metapod and sent out his next Pokeball. It was another one of those Pokemon from another region and I was wondering what this could be. It was a small water bug that looked like half a spider. It was a small blob with a little hat like covering on its head. It had four small skinny legs coming out on the edges of its oblong body. It came out and at unison, Salami, Marissa and I took out or Pokedexes and checked out this thing. It was called Surskit and was a Water and Bug type. It landed on a small pool of Water in the middle of the gym that I swore wasn’t there before. The vibe about this place grew weirder and weirder every second. A plant started sagging over to me and I snapped its branch. For a second, Bugsy’s expression went from disgusting to evil looking. I really didn’t like this guy and Salami was starting to get this vibe too. We watched as Marissa continued to battle Surskit with Mareep. Surskit was using a lot of annoying moves getting Mareep slowly less and less aware. Eventually, Surskit ran in and started using all sorts of Water attacks and soon knocked out Mareep. She took back Mareep and sent out Hoothoot. Hoothoot used Wing Attack and knocked Surskit clear back. The small bug tried to stand up and was hit with a Peck attack. Surskit was knocked out and soon Bugsy drew his next Pokeball. When the Pokemon came out I was shocked when I saw it. It was Janine’s Scyther!

I was shocked and saw it enormous muscular arms and its squinting eyes staring right at Hoothoot. Marissa wasn’t scared and had Hoothoot use Wing Attack on it. Scyther stared at it and folded it arms. When Hoothoot got close enough, he rolled out of the way. Hoothoot looked back at the Bug and stood its ground. Scyther charged in with a Wing Attack of its own. The attack connected and left Hoothoot flying and weaving around the trees with Scyther trying to follow it. Scyther couldn’t keep up and eventually stopped in its tracks. It used Focus Energy and then started using Pursuit to follow Hoothoot. If that attack connected, it might knock out Hoothoot. Hoothoot ran into a tree and there was no way out. Scyther knocked out Hoothoot in one shot and came back out flying around. Marissa recalled Hoothoot and looked at Poliwag. The Tadpole Pokemon looked at the menacing bug and charged at it with all of its might. The Scyther didn’t even care about it but started to look annoyed when Poliwag wouldn’t give up with Double Slap. Poliwag went down for the pool of water in the middle of the gym and started floating around. It used Rain Dance and made all of the plants wither away in an instant. Bugsy was angry and told Scyther to use Fury Cutter until Poliwag was defeated. Then I noticed there was no judge in the gym and that Bugsy was the only official person in the gym. Poliwag dodged all of the attacks and used Hypnosis on Scyther. The Pokemon fell asleep and I got up and made my announcement.

“Scyther is unable to battle and the winner is Marissa and Poliwag!” I ran over to Marissa and took out Pidgeotto. I told Bugsy I knew something was going on when we first walked into this gym. He looked and me and pulled out a remote. He pressed the giant green button on the front and then the door behind us was covered with metal and was impossible to get through. I looked back at Bugsy and he was gone into a maze of trees that suddenly appeared. I told Marissa and Salami to take out all of there Pokemon as I did with mine. We went on into the maze and it reminded me of something. It was like the labyrinth with the Minotaur in it. Then it hit me. There was something in here that could eat us. We couldn’t turn back and we couldn’t risk being eaten. I looked in my Pokedex for a large Bug type that was bigger than any person. There were no Bug types but it did show me a Poison type called Drapion. When it was in a giant size, it was bigger than the door to a Pokemon Center which sprawled out for several meters. It was like a Pokemon Minotaur and I knew he had one; it evolved from a Bug type. We went on into the maze and I told Heracross to rip up paper and leave it in a trail so we could get out if we needed to. As we went further and further on into the maze, we heard more and more growls from the giant Pokemon. We must have traveled for an hour before we heard a familiar voice. It was Silver!

“Look, I came to explain things right now, Mando and I were trying to stop Team Rocket. We had to gain there respect of their leaders and once we had it, we would defeat them. Bugsy is one of them! Janine was tricked into giving him that Scyther!” Silver explained everything and in the situation we were in, I had to believe him. All four of us went further in. He told us he had Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy stop everything that was going on to arrest Bugsy. We headed on in and saw it. It was a hulking mass of strength with claws and sectioned off pieced of his body. It was chained up to a wall and its purple and black scaly skin had scars all over it from its abusive captor. I remembered those Zubat and Hoothoot that were… altered by Team Rocket and looked at Silver angrily. He realized what I was thinking about and told me that t was really the Grunts who had done that. Again, I had to believe him. We slowly walked over to Drapion and it growled and yelled at us. I told Golbat to go over there and try to calm it down. It looked like it was working so I told Silver he needed to use his Cyndaquil to melt the chains. By the time I was done speaking he had already melted the chains and laughed at me who was still giving directions. I knew we needed to get him out of here but I didn’t know how. I grabbed some berries and told Drapion that if he got us out of here he could have them. He ran out with us following him and crushed a brick wall. Then there was light.

Chapter 13: Janine

Drapion had led us out of that labyrinth safely and without many problems. When we were fully out, there were yellow police lines and orange cones every where in a radius around the cave exit. We saw Bugsy hanging a foot off the ground starting to kick for the concrete and screaming as Officer Jenny and the Squirtle Squad held off Bug enthusiasts. When I looked at Bugsy’s head, I noticed there was a strong, tan hand holding him by the collar of his slime green shirt. I looked further up and saw Mando looming over us, his body towering over everything. He looked down at us and looked like a Cyclops with two eyes, his body was well built and his Dratini was his tool of battling. He let Bugsy fall to the ground as we all hovered around him. I told Elekid to go sit on his head. Now, I have said that lifting Elekid wasn’t that hard but this guy was terrible. He was totally stuck on the ground trying to lift my little Electric Pokemon. Officer Jenny came over to us and put Bugsy in chains.

“Wait a second! Marissa won her gym battle and deserves a badge. I still haven’t gotten my battle! How are we supposed to move on?” I had implored. Janine stepped out of the crowd and walked over to Bugsy. She grabbed the Pokeball holding Scyther and took it away. I was shocked when I saw what she looked like. Instead of her insane ninja clothes, she had on black skinny jeans and purple Converse All Stars. She was wearing a leather jacket with a black and purple shirt that said Fuschia City on it. Her previously spiky purple hair was flowing down like silk and went all the way down to the middle of her back. I think some drool hit the ground because when Elekid stepped forward he had to get a tissue to get rid of something wet on his foot. OK so I was kind of, well… somewhere between happy and in love with the coolest looking girl I have ever met. I mean, I liked Marissa but she was an idiot when it came to some things. And she thought the moon was made of cheese. She did seem intelligent at first but then she was just an Aphrodite. Even though she could get and boy going through puberty to follow her like a lost puppy, she was a ditz. But Janine was tough and smart. When she had caught that, Scyther she had hid in the bushes and threw a ball while it was sleeping. And there was something else about her I liked, but I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. Marissa stepped forward and said she wanted to be the Gym leader there. Salami and I nearly fell down and Elekid started laughing. She didn’t even have one Bug Pokemon so how would she be the Gym Leader here? Officer Jenny walked over to Bugsy and took his Pokeballs. She opened them all at once and noticed something. They all had whip marks on their bodies. They took Bugsy away and the crowd behind us cheered.

“Marissa, if you want to become the Gym leader here, then you will have to take some classes and catch your own Bug Pokemon. Although, we could give you these seeing there are many challengers in the city,” Officer Jenny went off explaining the seriousness it took to be a gym leader. I was sure once we left Marissa would be off redecorating the Gym, sending most of the plants off to the National Park or the Safari Zone. I told her now she couldn’t be in the Tournament with us on Mount Silver but she seemed to not really care about it. Apparently she wanted to be a gym leader all along and this turned out to be her opportunity. I couldn’t really see Marissa with Bugs around her all day but I guess that if she wanted to, I wasn’t going to stop her. Salami looked at his watch and noticed that it was almost time for his Contest. Since this was a regular contest it would take a few hours for it to be over. All six of us headed over there, even Silver and Mando. I was shocked and Silver told me that he needed to loose Team Rocket for a while so he would stick with us but Mando had to leave a little sooner. I had learned that the less I knew sometimes, the better. This was one of those times. Salami had to get dressed formally for his contests so we were shocked when we saw him in a suit with a tie and dress pants. Elekid nearly fainted and Pidgeotto fell to the ground. Some kid, maybe Janine’s height and Silver’s slim built, came in with a fiery red hat and a cowboy suit with red and orange stripes running down it. He had some fiery chicken with him that walked upright on two feet. I took out my Pokedex and checked out this thing. It was called Combusken and was a Fire and Fighting Pokemon. It was about 4 feet tall with feathers pointing out where its colors changed. It was mostly a yellow mixed with orange color but its legs, which looked like baggy pants, where more of a dark orange but closer to red. It looked cocky just like his trainer.

“So they let kids with crabs into Contests now. I bet this will be easy, I mean, if you can even make it to me in the brackets,” this kid trash talked. Salami told him that his lousy chicken didn’t stand a chance against Crabby. The funny part was, he was right. There was no way a Fire type Pokemon could beat a Water type in a battle or a contest, unless it knew Electric type moves or a Grass move. There were Water Pokemon that could be beat by Fighting or Fire moves but Krabby was pure Water. The big booming voice over us said that the first match would start in just a few minutes between Blaze and Rebecca. The kid with the chicken went on saying it looked like it was his turn to show off. So this kids name was Blaze apparently and he was fighting this random girl. Blaze went on ahead and we all went into the stands to watch the match. Blaze was on the left side of the arena and Rebecca was on the right. The arena was a grassy plain full of hills and trees. There were ponds scattered all around the stadium that made it appear like a marsh or a swamp. Blaze looked strong and stern and ready to win. Rebecca looked like a loose and not too concerned by Blaze’s Combusken. The announcer said his garbage and his required commercial for Red’s Repel. Then the two trainers sent out their Pokemon. Blaze sent out Combusken and Rebecca sent out her Girafarig. I was wondering what was going to happen. Girafarig was Normal and Psychic type and was usually an odd attacker. Then, the match started. Blaze unleashed a fury of attacks. Girafarig dodged most of them and sent them back. Combusken use Fire Spin and Girafarig was hit. Then he followed with Double Kick and knocked down Girafarig. Then the giraffe used Psybeam and had Combusken falling around. They both unleashed a flurry of attacks that left the grass burnt. Finally, a Flamethrower came from Combusken and a Psychic came from Girafarig. It was an ultimate explosion that left everyone stunned. There was a cloud of smoke that came down and we all saw the winner.

w00t its awesome, i cant wait wut happens!

Chapter 14: Contests

Combusken was on the ground grunting, looking tired and angry. Girafarig was standing on top of him looking triumphant. Everyone was shocked that Girafarig won the battling part. Blaze didn’t look surprised or angry or anything. His face was totally blank and he took out a Pokeball. He recalled Combusken and smiled once it went in. The crowd cheered and every in the stands nearly shook the place. But seeing that Contests were not about who wins the battle, but who had the more outstanding performance, it was still anyone’s match. The judges told the trainers that they would need to review the contest. We all waited for about five minutes and most of the time, Salami was just a little nervous. The judges got up and announced the winner was Blaze. We weren’t surprised at all and Silver and Mando’s faces looked unchanged. But there eyes were flickering around looking for any suspicious people. In about 10 minutes Salami went down and was ready for his contest. Janine started asking me why he wanted to do contests instead of gyms. I told her he was terrible at gyms and this was the only thing he was good at. The field changed from being its swampy form to a rocky dry plain. There were boulders and rock formations all across the field. Crabby was jumpy and anxious next to Salami and he looked across the field. There was a mean looking girl on the other side gripping her Pokeball angrily. The announcer yelled that Salami would be battling Casey. She took out her Pokeball and a dirty yellow light came out. A Tauros came out stomping it hooves and snorting while angrily looking at Crabby. The announcer started the match and immediately Tauros went in for a Take Down, jumping off of rocks going to other rocks and making his way towards Crabby. Salami’s nerves left him and he took control. He told Crabby to use Crab Hammer on Tauros as it came around. It connected and sent Tauros flying. Then Crabby jumped over a rock and launched a barrage of Bubble Beam attacks around him trapping him. Then he went diving in and knocked Tauros down. The bull got back up and used Earthquake. The ground shook and Crabby was left defenseless. Crabby was thrown around into rocks.

Tauros followed up with a Horn Attack that sent Crabby packing. He was charging up a Hyper Beam attack but was taking a while to be flashy. Crabby got back to its feet and ran at full speed into Tauros and gripped its horn with a Vice Grip. He used Harden and brought Tauros down. Crabby flew into the air and came down with Guillotine. Just as Crabby got down the match was ended and Tauros got back up. He kicked over Crabby and snorted as he walked back over to Casey. The three judges made a decision almost immediately. Salami won! We all ran down the stands trampling over people and kicking over snacks and drinks. We all huddled around Salami and stared jumping up and down and made such a scene that the whole crowd was cheering. We looked up and Casey looked happy that she lost. I didn’t really care because Salami had won! We ran out of the field screaming and yelling and, surprisingly, Silver and Mando were just as crazy as us. Janine gave him a hug and so did Marissa. Silver, Mando and I all gave him hi-fives and slaps on the back. We checked out the brackets and saw that it would take forever until Salami fought his next battle. And, not surprising to any of us, it was Blaze. I was very happy for Salami and remembered that I still needed to get my gym badge. Marissa just took her badge she stole from Bugsy and handed it to me. I looked at her and she said I had earned it saving us from Bugsy and rescuing Drapion. So the hours past and in that time we had gone out to eat as one big group, healed our Pokemon, as one big group and had fun. I started thinking about what lied ahead of us. Salami was destined to be a great contest battler and I was going to try and win Silver League Tournament. I was talking to Janine for a while and I really started liking her. I know that I was getting way ahead of myself but I just couldn’t stop liking her. She was pretty and smart. She was really good at catching Pokemon and was from Kanto. I just felt like I knew her from somewhere.

It was time for Salami’s next contest so we all ran over to the contest hall and went into our seats. Salami gave the crowd a smile and a wave and looked at us and winked at us. I was happy for him and realized something. This was the same kid who left New Bark Town three weeks ago anxious with his Krabby. Here he was now with so many friends looking like he was meant to be here. Blaze stood on the other side and gave Salami a good luck. Salami returned one and looked at Crabby. Blaze looked at his Pokeball. I looked at my Chili-Cheese Dog. This was going to be a long battle. Blaze’s Combusken came out and made a Double Kick to the air. Crabby flew down and launched bubbles at the ceiling as well. The announcer introduced his garbage and the match began. Blaze sent Combusken to use a Mega Punch on Crabby as the match started. Crabby watched and waited. When they were close together, Crabby used Vice Grip and threw him for a loop. Combusken did a flip in the air which I knew got him some points. Crabby needed something flashy and Salami though of it. The field was totally normal without anything to stop him from pulling off a trick. Crabby took both of his claws and used Crab Hammer with both of them and went around in a spinning rage. He targeted Combusken and went flying at him. If it connected then Combusken would be gone for. But, obviously, Blaze wasn’t that dumb. He told his chicken to use Fire Spin and knocked Crabby down. He jumped in the air and came down with another Mega Punch. Crabby used Water Gun like he was fighting a Pidgey and shot it down. So Combusken fell down and Crabby laughed. He laughed and laughed over and over again. Combusken got back up and launched a Flamethrower that silenced the entire stadium. The heat was intense and then Combusken started glowing red. It was his ability, Blaze! Blaze even looked surprised at this and beads of sweat ran down his face like trickling water.

Combusken charged at Crabby with all of his force and I saw the judge’s faces. They were trying to watch the match and write down abut that amazing display of fire power. Crabby rolled away but Combusken wouldn’t give up. He hit him over and over again with Blaze Kick. Crabby barely stood up and launched a Bubble Beam at Combusken. He dodged and went for a final Blaze Kick at Crabby. Crabby went soaring up into the side of the stadium and didn’t get up. Salami was shocked and Blaze looked like he actually cared. We all stood up in awe and the crowd was even more amazed. Combusken was a powerful Pokemon but it was up against a Water Pokemon. The judges made there decision almost immediately. Blaze had won. No one was surprised but it was an odd turn of events that no one really did expect. Blaze did get applause and he was going to the final match. We weren’t going to watch it because Salami’s Pokemon needed some care. Tomorrow we planned to leave for Golden Rod, but Mando had to leave early to scout out the city. Marissa would also be leaving us to head on to her position at the gym. It would be me, Salami, Janine and Silver but I knew he would be gone once we got there. Our journey started shaping up and I was excited about that. I got my egg back from the Pokemon Center and noticed it started moving more often. Some one ran up to us and started gasping for breathe. He looked at us and then our Pokeballs at our sides. Mine and Janine’s were Purple instead of red like Salami’s. The odd man looked at us and smiled. He introduced himself formally as the Pokeball Man. He made custom Pokeballs for trainers who were taking Contest and Gym challenges. Janine and I asked for Purple Pokeball and Salami wanted Orange ones. He could make designs pop out from them and I immediately asked for Guitar Picks. Salami asked for Music Notes and Janine wanted Spiders to pop out. He told us in three hours he would have them. My egg hopped out of my hands and did a flip in the air.

In three hours he came back with dozens of Pokeballs for all of us. We went over to the Pokemon Center and switched out our Pokeballs. Don’t worry, they were totally safe. Marissa said goodbye to me and Salami and told us she will fight fairly in her new gym. We headed off to Golden Rod and found Silver who was talking to Sophie. I apologized for what happened with Elekid and Elekid came over and said he was sorry. I think he did. It sounded like it at least. I asked Silver why his trainer card had said Kyle and he told me it was his cover while he was under Team Rocket. I wasn’t really buying it but guessed one of them was his real name. Sophie told us she was never with Team Rocket and was Mando and Silver’s outside help. The Yanma was a favor. She was going off to other parts of Johto to find Team Rocket and stop them. I told her good luck as I looked at Elekid. Elekid got the hint and nodded his head in agreement. She left off into the distance and I figured we wouldn’t be seeing her for a long time. I looked at Janine, Salami and Silver and knew where we were headed. The Ilex Forest.

nice story, and btw, how do you get to make so long chapters?

I type it in word then copy it over here. It takes a while but it works much better.

Chapter 15: Snow

It was starting to get closer to night out so I had hoped it wouldn’t be too dark. The Ilex Forest had so many trees it was almost a perpetual nighttime and the last thing I wanted was to be traveling through pitch black conditions. I looked at Elekid and he started shocking the sky and making clouds form above us. Janine hadn’t shown us any Pokemon of hers except for her Scyther. I had asked her to show us something but she just looked at me and gave me a “When I need one you will see it,” look. We headed on into the forest and took one last look back unto the city we saved and hoped our journey would be smooth through this perpetual nighttime journey. And unbeknownst to me, it would be a nightmare along with the rest of the indescribable adjectives and feelings. We looked at the trees and the Bugs swarming around them. There were Hoothoot and various other birds making noises ringing through the black sky and the moon cast I small shadow upon the endless sea of night shaded green. My breath started showing when I exhaled and Salami was shivering. Janine took the cold rather well and Silver remained in his hard-as-rock stance looking heroic as the moon shone upon us and the wind whistled in our faces. I took out two from my backpack sweatshirts; one for me and one for Salami. I put on mine and bared the cold like Washington crossing the river. Salami started hugging his new sweatshirt looking at me live a savior. My egg was cold and I knew it wouldn’t last after a while in this weather. I looked in my bag and couldn’t find anything to cover it with. I couldn’t give up my sweatshirt because I couldn’t afford hypothermia at a time like this. I put it in my bag and look at Janine.

“Make sure it stays in there. I want you to promise,” I demanded that she promised and she gave me a promise on her Scyther that she wouldn’t let anything happen to it. I couldn’t see much and neither could Silver or Salami. We were barely moving through the forest and I thought I felt snow on my head. As I looked around I saw the tops of trees showing signs of frost and white peaks of snow on their pines. It was getting cold out and Elekid knew it. He kept shooting at the sky making clouds but they were disintegrated when the snow hit them. Elekid was using Thunder Shock and it seemed to get stronger every time he used it. He was slowly keeping warm and the Bugs and Birds flying around were all clinging to trees and nests. There were white clouds forming all around us and it seemed to become larger and larger every second. I grabbed a Pokeball thinking it was a Ghastly. The shape started to shrink and then I heard something. Salami was trying to scare us with his visible breath. I gave him a small knock in the arm and he just laughed. I realized I had five Pokemon with me and if I caught something in here I was stuck with it until we made it to Golden Rod. I thought about it and didn’t want to waste it. Salami took out Shuckle’s Pokeball and twirled it in his fingers. I wondered why he would be so depressed looking about it. Silver looked at a tree with a red bandana tied around it. Silver took it off and looked at us. He showed us a note from someone with excellent handwriting. It was from Mando! He had been through here and told us he had encountered no problems. The bandana was for Salami for a job well done in his contest.

Salami took the bandana and put it around his head. He looked more confident with it on and Crabby looked happy when he saw him. I was happy for him and Janine smiled for once. We started heading on further into the Ilex Forest and it got colder and colder. There was nothing that could make this night better. That’s right, I thoroughly enjoyed this night. Everyone was cracking jokes as we went along and we were laughing as birds flew into trees. Janine and I started talking about what had happened in Azalea and why she came along with Salami and I. It was pitch black out and it was hard to see anything except for the blobby figures of each other. I could have sworn Janine blushed. She looked at me and started rambling on about how she thought is would be a good journey going on with such great trainers. Yeah, it was obvious why she came with us. I was hoping she liked Salami because there was something that was kid-like about him. Little did I know about him and girls. We ventured deep into the forest and then I heard something… a faint sound creeping into my ear. I looked all around me and could see nothing. The snow and darkness of the night made it impossible to hear. I grabbed out my phone and shined the light all over the vicinity. I saw a small green shape lying on the ground and ran over to it with neither delay nor thought. The snow seemed to fall harder and harder as sprinted over to the small shape. I dropped to my knees and looked at the shape. It had a small green leaf on the top of its head that looked ripped and torn. There were discolored sections of its body, making it look frozen. This poor Chikorita was ready to freeze to death and no one was around to save it.

I took off my sweatshirt and put it on the freezing Pokemon and started looking at its legs. I looked at Silver and he knew what I wanted from him. He took out his Pokeball and the light shone its murky black color again. I saw his light shine and open up the darkness and thought it had become a Silver color. The light made it possible to get a better view on this Chikorita. Its eyes were beautiful green pools of former happiness. The discolored legs were evil blotches creeping over this unfortunate Pokemon. Silver’s Cyndaquil waddled over and looked at Chikorita. It used Ember just high enough that Chikorita would defrost slightly and not burn. I wasn’t sure what else to do. Janine stepped over to us and pulled out a Pokeball. I wasn’t sure what she could do now with the most we could do being done. The baseball sized Pokeball opened and out popped a yellow beak. Well it appeared to be a corn-colored beak but was really the pitch black Murkrow. The dark bird of many misfortunes had a small wingspan that could still maliciously mame you. It came over to us and landed on top of Chikorita’s head just short of being burned by the flames. It started closing its eyes as did Chikorita and red rings appeared around them. It was a move called Calm Mind and could make you much better at certain attacks. I wondered why she would do that. I looked at the legs of this Chikorita and they were slowly turning back to regular colors. I pulled out some berries and left them in front of the Grass Pokemon. Janine came over to my level and started talking to me.

“Calm Mind is usually used in contests and battle to power up trainers Pokemon. It can really soothe Pokemon as well. Not many people will listen to this because they are so obsessed with winning,” Janine enlightened me on this. I looked a where I put my berries and they had disappeared into the mouth of this grass Pokemon. It got up with my sweatshirt on looking like a saddle and ran over to all four of us. It jumped onto me like Elekid had done and then went over to Silver. Chikorita brushed up like a cat to him and started scratching at his shoe. When it walked over to Janine, it sat in front of her and smiled. Janine cracked a smile and went on her knee to Chikorita’s level. Then Chikorita ran over to Salami. Oh boy did she dislike Salami. It could have been from what he smelled like but when it looked at him, Chikorita decided to make… seeds. It walked over to me and pushed one of my Pokeballs with its nose. It wanted to be my Pokemon and it wanted it to be known. The ball immediately stopped and clicked in the darkness engulfing us. I grabbed it and looked at Janine. She really deserved it and she knew what I meant. She told me Pokemon were less about who deserved it than who it wants to be with. I decided to grab my Pokedex and check out what I had just obtained. The light from that had shone over the bark on trees and made the snow appear whiter and more consuming. It read:

CHIKORITA-GRASS
OWNER-Fisch
ATTACKS-Tackle, Growl, Poison Powder, Razor Leaf, Synthesis

I couldn’t believe that I had this Chikorita in my group. I mean, I was strolling along in these awful conditions and BOOM here we are. It was a female by the way and she was always shaking around in her Pokeball. The egg started shaking around in my backpack and Janine went behind me to help out with the egg. She came around and said it wasn’t the egg moving. It had hatched.

(Chapter 16-20 will be here.)

Chapter 16: Sinnoh

This may have been one of the most hectic times of my life. I had just caught a Chikorita and my egg had hatched. Maybe now I should finally describe this egg. It was the same shape as any other egg, round with colors all over it. The main color on this egg was a tan brown color with orange markings covering it like hair and fur. On the bottom, there were markings that looked like flames. When I finally realized what was going on, I took my backpack off slowly and looked at my egg. The top half of my egg was on the ground with snow filling it. I looked in my bag and saw a little orange and tan shape in it with a fiery tale looking up at me. Then I fell down. I wound up on my rear end looking at this fiery monkey staring right at me. Then it cracked a smile and yelled out something that sounded like “Charr!” I grabbed my Pokedex as I fell back more out of shock. It was called Chimchar and was a pure Fire type from the Sinnoh region. Most of the time, these guys were given out to beginner trainers. I couldn’t check its moves because it didn’t have a Pokeball but I knew that this guy couldn’t be too strong. I looked up at the sky and saw the moon being blotted out by snow clouds. We couldn’t waste much more of our energy and if we stayed out much more we might all freeze. I looked back at Chimchar and looked at his flame. It was small and fluctuating at different powers but would go out if it was doused by too much snow.

I looked into the trees for an opening where we might sleep for the night. I couldn’t find anywhere that had something perfectly green. Then, I spotted a small opening just big enough for the four of us and Chimchar. We ran in and felt like the cold torture of the Forest was lifted off of us. Salami grabbed my shoulder and spun me around. He took off his bandana and told me to give it to Chimchar and that he would need it. I looked at Salami without his bandana and he looked like he had lost his edge, his will to press on. I looked at Chimchar who was playing with grass like it was the first thing he had ever seen. Because it was. I grabbed Chimchar and put him on my shoulder. Elekid looked at him and gave a smile with a big peace sing. Chimchar made the sign with his hand and smiled too. I smiled for the first time since Salami won his contest. But I mean I real smile that you would generally use for a happy time. I took the red bandana and put it on him. It was too large for hi and fell down. One shoulder held it up and the other arm was cradled in it like a sling. He looked like a Roman emperor except he was red and tan. Silver and Janine had taken some sticks and salvaged the clothes and supplies in my back pack to make some tents and had Cyndaquil make a fire.

Have you ever sat around a fire made by a Pokemon in the middle of the night in a forest through subzero temperatures? Well let me tell you I had and my emotions were crossing over each other ripping themselves to shreds. Luckily I had some duct tape. Chimchar’s tail seemed to grow and Elekid was playing with him around the campfire. Crabby and Salami were both freezing and Janine was trying to keep them warm by holding the fires intensity. Silver was staring at the fire looking serious and determined. What I wanted to know was, why? We were in the most ridiculous circumstances ever. I have heard there are countries in the world where anyone in this situation would surely die. Those were the countries where most of our supplies came from, where are customs and live television shows were brought from. I had always wondered what those countries were like. I had seen maps of our location and we were in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, north of a continent called Australia. We had it made here and Silver was angry about something.

“Something bugging you? You seem angry,” I inquired to Silver. He looked at me and told me about Mando. Mando was from Blackthorn City but because his parents wanted him there. They were from America, a continent built on greed and anger and his parents were affluent like you couldn’t imagine. His parents already had 2 children and didn’t feel like taking care of another one. They told Mando’s grandparens to be to take him into the Pokemon Conservation Country. They was disgusted with his parents and once he was born, they took him as fast as she could away from them. He grew up until he was 13 in Blackthorn and then left on his Pokemon journey. His grandparents had told him that he has a special power that they discovered when he came to Blackthorn. He could speak to Dragon Pokemon and they could speak to him. Silver looked at the fire.

“He wants to go back to America and show his parents what he had become, he wants to show them there idiotic ways,” Silver started to look at Perseus, the constellation. I knew the myth of Perseus; he was born of Zeus and a mortal women. His mother was to marry an evil king. Perseus could save his mother if he could destroy Medusa, the snake-headed woman. When he came back, he used the head of Medusa to save his mother from marriage. Mando wasn’t going to kill his parents, was he? I quickly chased away that thought and looked at the moonlight bursting through snow clouds. The snow picked up and we all looked at the tents. We weren’t covered in the white precipitation, but could feel its cold anger shrouding the night. We all headed in for the night and took turns watching the mini-camp. Janine started with Murkrow, then Silver with Cyndaquil, me with Elekid and Chimchar and then Salami with Crabby. Nothing happened at all through the night and then eventually it was dawn. Now, I had learned before this that the Ilex Forest was a perpetual nighttime but I guess they were wrong. The snow and Sun mixed to make a beautiful scene. Pokemon left their nests and flew around while Bugs grabbed smaller mosquitoes and ate them up. I looked at Chimchar and he looked fascinated with his toga bandana. Elekid started using kicks at the trees and Chimchar followed suit. I looked at my other Pokemon and let them out. Pidgeotto and Golbat were circling around each other and going after other birds and they returned the game. Chikorita and Heracross went out and started playing in the trees with Bugs. Totodile, Chimchar and Elekid were all practicing different attacks and making marks all over the trees and grassy trees. Crabby, along with the rest of us, went out to the wooded area of the forest and had a snowball fight. Crabby was huge enough as it is but his snowballs were enormous.

After an hour or two we packed up my stuff and left to try and leave this forest. The snow let up and was enjoyable looking like Christmas time going out to buy a tree. We were looking around at all the sights of the forest and saw about three Farfetch’d flying around in a specific formation. Then we heard a yell. We all looked at each other and started running after the sound. Then, as we turned a corner, we saw some guy running at full speed after the Farfetch’d. He kept running and we continued to follow him until he ran into a tree. We picked him up and asked him what had happened. He was a Charcoal maker and needed his Farfetch’d to cut wood for his Charcoal. Those were the only Farfetch’d he could find. Janine and I looked at each other. I took out Golbat and Pidgeotto and she took out her Murkrow. We sent them after the twig holding birds and looked at the woods. I figured this was going to take a while until I thought of something. I had Heracross and she could get through the woods. Heracross looked at us and flew off looking for the birds. With in seconds they were all back and angry. Those Farfetch’d had put up a fight and so Janine and I took back our Pokemon. We started walking out of the forest and the Charcoal maker thanked us up and down. We finally got out of the forest and saw the National Park. What a sight to see!

Chapter 17: Traitor

I feel truly sorry for anyone who has not seen Johto’s National Park when it snows out. So, when it isn’t snowing, it looks like any park with trainers battling, kids playing and the grass resembling a Pokeball. Now in the snow, you see Fire and Ice Pokemon in an environment where they flourish in power melting snow and ice and then reforming it all. Everyone young and old throws snowballs and even make battles something else to behold. There are even some tournaments where the winner wins an Icy Rock! We walked into the park and looked at the sights. In the back of the park, we saw Mando with his Dratini scouting out the area. Then we heard a sound piercing through the serenity of the park. It was a Bug Buzz and it was loud. Then, from behind a white group of bushes, Sophie popped out with four or five Team Rocket grunts. Yanma sent numerous Bug Buzzes into the air and made all of the Pokemon in the area nearly faint. Silver and Mando looked at each other shocked, and then they ran over towards Yanma and Sophie. They demanded her answer on why she was doing this and she started laughing.

“Oh, so you expected me to play goody-goody? Not gonna happen guys! I found out these guys can give me all the power in the world I want. Besides, who want to hang around with a Pizza-face like Silver and a freak of nature his parents don’t even want, Mando?” Sophie started. Silver, Janine, Salami and I looked at Mando shocked. The look on Mando’s face was angry, no maybe it was upset. To tell you the truth, I couldn’t tell, but he looked as if he would punch her in the face for that once he changed his expression. He looked at Dratini and told it to use Twister right at Sophie. Dratini went full speed and then launched a Twister attack sent strait at the evil blonde. The twisting pile of snow and ice flew strait at her and hit her in the stomach. She looked up and told Yanma to use Bug Buzz again and told the members of Team Rocket to get the Pokemon from the trainers in the area. Janine, Salami and I looked at each other and went after the grunts. I went after one with Elekid and had him use Ice Punch to freeze him in place. I hauled the statue off to the Police Station. Salami had Shuckle use Wrap to grab two grunts and bash their heads together. They were hauled off as well. Janine took out Murkrow and told him to use Peck on a grunt. Currently he is doing time in the slammer and physical rehab. The last one just ran away, dropped his burlap sack to put the Pokeballs in and ran as fast as he could. Mando was relentless attacking Sophie and Yanma at the same time. I ran over with Salami and we pulled him away. Janine called the cops and then Salami restrained Sophie. The cops came and Sophie managed to break free.

Silver ran after her but couldn’t catch up. We had just made the biggest enemy we could make, someone in Team Rocket. Mando was going crazy and pushed me to the ground when I let him go. I understood why he was angry and raging wildly. Sophie was a heartless woman, and she needed to be stopped. I went to go console Mando but the told me he wasn’t going to need consoling. He was going out to stop her himself. He left in the snow and went off. Chimchar tool off his bandana and looked at Salami. Salami took the bandana and shoved it in his back pocket. I knew he wouldn’t wear it after that. Silver told us he needed to go to. He thought he should have a long “talk” with his dad. I didn’t want to know how it was going down so I told him to go on and we would be fine. Janine, Salami and I left the park and Chimchar and Elekid followed solemnly. I took Chimchar on my shoulder because he looked tired and told Elekid he could take a nice long rest once we got to Golden Rod City. After about 30 minutes of traveling, we were in the City. When we went in my head was still hung low from our terrible departure of the Forest but Janine and Salami were more upbeat. When we were in and they could look around, Salami and Janine give me whacks in the arm to look up. When my eyes peered up, I saw the most magnificent city ever. The first thing one sees is an enormous department building the size of a whale. Then you notice the Pokemon Center that has tons of restaurants inside of it. It is also several stories tall. Then all of the shops and places to eat were amazing.

After we toured around the city for a while, we headed to the Pokemon Center and I finally got Chimchar in a Pokeball. The reason I did it in a Pokemon Center was because they automatically come to a Pokemon Center when you catch them after you have six Pokemon in your group. It just appeared right on Nurse Joy’s desk and I took it to check out what the Monkey knew. I put the Pokeball into the scanner and read what it said.

CHIMCHAR-FIRE
OWNER-Fisch
ATTACKS-Scratch, Leer, Ember

I have never realized how weak baby Pokemon were. This guy was rather frisky though and when you saw him, you would think I had him for a year. I felt weird though about this; I was catching Pokemon left and right and Salami was just along looking for something. I decided that whatever wild Pokemon we saw, I would let Salami get. Janine was looking at her Pokemon on a screen searching over them. I went over to her and tried to look at the screen but she quickly pulled her Pokeballs out and put them on her side. After about a minute of hanging around, we left the Pokemon Center and left for the gym. I left Chikorita at the Center to be sent to Elm so he can keep it with his plethora of Pokemon he studies. Elekid was jumping about excited to beat up a few Pokemon. His hands were discharging like a power line, sparking all around us. He was a powerhouse ready to rip through any sort of opposition. When we got to the gym, we saw a sign claiming the leader was out and that we wouldn’t be able to have a battle until later. We all looked at each other and left for the outskirts of town to train our Pokemon a little bit. I looked at Chimchar’s Pokeball and decided to let him out for a little bit. He came out and ran over to Elekid. They exchanged smiles and started running around playing tag. I told them it was time for training and that they would be put under strict practice while under my army. I said it to imitate an army general and when they looked at me they just laughed.

I let out my whole gang and they all came out with power in their eyes. Pidgeotto roosted on the ground next to me and Golbat let the wind course around his wings. Heracross grabbed a tree and started climbing up and down its branched. Totodile ran over to Chimchar and Elekid and stood there like he was frozen. When they went over to him and started throwing their hands in front of his face to make sure he was alright, Totodile hopped on them and started laughing along with the other two. I whistled and all of my Pokemon came in front of me and looked at me like I was the only one whom mattered. I told them they would be training under my orders which were to follow Salami’s orders. I was giving Salami the chance to control some Pokemon and see how well he could do so. He looked at me and his eyes grew wide. Somewhere down inside of him, his leader instincts must have kicked him in the kidneys because his face hardened and he looked at my Pokemon. He immediately gave them orders and they responded like they were born to listen to him. I wasn’t surprised; Elm had always said I knew what I was talking about. On that day, Zeptember 14, Salami changed. He had gained a new sense of confidence and more was to come. Out of no where came a Vulpix charging at Crabby! I was actually happy that this was happening. Salami took control of the situation and looked right at the Vulpix. He told Crabby to use Bubble Beam and stop Vulpix. Vulpix was battered around and Salami threw his Pokeball at it. The ball hit the ground and started wobbling. It rolled to Salami and blinked its light body to become captured. I looked at the snow and thought it looked rather funny. The exploding bubbles left circles in the snow and Vulpix’s paws made funny shapes looking like a pattern on an expensive rug. I remembered what I wanted had just happened. My friend caught a Pokemon and was in a new found sense of confidence.

Janine actually smiled as the snow picked up again. I thought about Mando and I really don’t know why. I knew he wouldn’t be happy when we saw him. I had stopped him from him being able to show Sophie what se was messing with. I deserved to feel bad. Salami ran over to me and showed me his new Vulpix. It had strands of Silver fur going through her Red puffs of fur. It had a look in its eyes of playfulness. I smiled and looked at Janine. Salami being happy was enough to make her day. I was glad for these guys and looked at the horizon. It was orange and the snow started floating harder and harder again. We looked at each other and I recalled all of my Pokemon. We headed into town and walked past the gym. The sign was off and I heard a scream of an attack from the inside. We figured the gym was opened and headed in. At the far end we saw a girl with red hair in spiky pig tails. She was very hyper looking, twitching and flickering her eyes all over the gym. On the near side was a boy of about 12 years old with shaggy hair just like mine. When I looked at the center of the gym I saw a Machop and another Pokemon that must’ve been the Gym Leader’s that I had never seen before.

Keep this series going man

(Sorry for this incredibly long wait. I have been swamped with school work and chores. Last night I was also at my school's dance (which btw I had a Skittying Blast at) and couldn't type last night either. Here is the long awaited chapter 17.)

Chapter 17: Traitor

I feel truly sorry for anyone who has not seen Johto’s National Park when it snows out. So, when it isn’t snowing, it looks like any park with trainers battling, kids playing and the grass resembling a Pokeball. Now in the snow, you see Fire and Ice Pokemon in an environment where they flourish in power melting snow and ice and then reforming it all. Everyone young and old throws snowballs and even make battles something else to behold. There are even some tournaments where the winner wins an Icy Rock! We walked into the park and looked at the sights. In the back of the park, we saw Mando with his Dratini scouting out the area. Then we heard a sound piercing through the serenity of the park. It was a Bug Buzz and it was loud. Then, from behind a white group of bushes, Sophie popped out with four or five Team Rocket grunts. Yanma sent numerous Bug Buzzes into the air and made all of the Pokemon in the area nearly faint. Silver and Mando looked at each other shocked, and then they ran over towards Yanma and Sophie. They demanded her answer on why she was doing this and she started laughing.

“Oh, so you expected me to play goody-goody? Not gonna happen guys! I found out these guys can give me all the power in the world I want. Besides, who want to hang around with a Pizza-face like Silver and a freak of nature his parents don’t even want, Mando?” Sophie started. Silver, Janine, Salami and I looked at Mando shocked. The look on Mando’s face was angry, no maybe it was upset. To tell you the truth, I couldn’t tell, but he looked as if he would punch her in the face for that once he changed his expression. He looked at Dratini and told it to use Twister right at Sophie. Dratini went full speed and then launched a Twister attack sent strait at the evil blonde. The twisting pile of snow and ice flew strait at her and hit her in the stomach. She looked up and told Yanma to use Bug Buzz again and told the members of Team Rocket to get the Pokemon from the trainers in the area. Janine, Salami and I looked at each other and went after the grunts. I went after one with Elekid and had him use Ice Punch to freeze him in place. I hauled the statue off to the Police Station. Salami had Shuckle use Wrap to grab two grunts and bash their heads together. They were hauled off as well. Janine took out Murkrow and told him to use Peck on a grunt. Currently he is doing time in the slammer and physical rehab. The last one just ran away, dropped his burlap sack to put the Pokeballs in and ran as fast as he could. Mando was relentless attacking Sophie and Yanma at the same time. I ran over with Salami and we pulled him away. Janine called the cops and then Salami restrained Sophie. The cops came and Sophie managed to break free.

Silver ran after her but couldn’t catch up. We had just made the biggest enemy we could make, someone in Team Rocket. Mando was going crazy and pushed me to the ground when I let him go. I understood why he was angry and raging wildly. Sophie was a heartless woman, and she needed to be stopped. I went to go console Mando but the told me he wasn’t going to need consoling. He was going out to stop her himself. He left in the snow and went off. Chimchar tool off his bandana and looked at Salami. Salami took the bandana and shoved it in his back pocket. I knew he wouldn’t wear it after that. Silver told us he needed to go to. He thought he should have a long “talk” with his dad. I didn’t want to know how it was going down so I told him to go on and we would be fine. Janine, Salami and I left the park and Chimchar and Elekid followed solemnly. I took Chimchar on my shoulder because he looked tired and told Elekid he could take a nice long rest once we got to Golden Rod City. After about 30 minutes of traveling, we were in the City. When we went in my head was still hung low from our terrible departure of the Forest but Janine and Salami were more upbeat. When we were in and they could look around, Salami and Janine give me whacks in the arm to look up. When my eyes peered up, I saw the most magnificent city ever. The first thing one sees is an enormous department building the size of a whale. Then you notice the Pokemon Center that has tons of restaurants inside of it. It is also several stories tall. Then all of the shops and places to eat were amazing.

After we toured around the city for a while, we headed to the Pokemon Center and I finally got Chimchar in a Pokeball. The reason I did it in a Pokemon Center was because they automatically come to a Pokemon Center when you catch them after you have six Pokemon in your group. It just appeared right on Nurse Joy’s desk and I took it to check out what the Monkey knew. I put the Pokeball into the scanner and read what it said.

CHIMCHAR-FIRE
OWNER-Fisch
ATTACKS-Scratch, Leer, Ember

I have never realized how weak baby Pokemon were. This guy was rather frisky though and when you saw him, you would think I had him for a year. I felt weird though about this; I was catching Pokemon left and right and Salami was just along looking for something. I decided that whatever wild Pokemon we saw, I would let Salami get. Janine was looking at her Pokemon on a screen searching over them. I went over to her and tried to look at the screen but she quickly pulled her Pokeballs out and put them on her side. After about a minute of hanging around, we left the Pokemon Center and left for the gym. I left Chikorita at the Center to be sent to Elm so he can keep it with his plethora of Pokemon he studies. Elekid was jumping about excited to beat up a few Pokemon. His hands were discharging like a power line, sparking all around us. He was a powerhouse ready to rip through any sort of opposition. When we got to the gym, we saw a sign claiming the leader was out and that we wouldn’t be able to have a battle until later. We all looked at each other and left for the outskirts of town to train our Pokemon a little bit. I looked at Chimchar’s Pokeball and decided to let him out for a little bit. He came out and ran over to Elekid. They exchanged smiles and started running around playing tag. I told them it was time for training and that they would be put under strict practice while under my army. I said it to imitate an army general and when they looked at me they just laughed.

I let out my whole gang and they all came out with power in their eyes. Pidgeotto roosted on the ground next to me and Golbat let the wind course around his wings. Heracross grabbed a tree and started climbing up and down its branched. Totodile ran over to Chimchar and Elekid and stood there like he was frozen. When they went over to him and started throwing their hands in front of his face to make sure he was alright, Totodile hopped on them and started laughing along with the other two. I whistled and all of my Pokemon came in front of me and looked at me like I was the only one whom mattered. I told them they would be training under my orders which were to follow Salami’s orders. I was giving Salami the chance to control some Pokemon and see how well he could do so. He looked at me and his eyes grew wide. Somewhere down inside of him, his leader instincts must have kicked him in the kidneys because his face hardened and he looked at my Pokemon. He immediately gave them orders and they responded like they were born to listen to him. I wasn’t surprised; Elm had always said I knew what I was talking about. On that day, Zeptember 14, Salami changed. He had gained a new sense of confidence and more was to come. Out of no where came a Vulpix charging at Crabby! I was actually happy that this was happening. Salami took control of the situation and looked right at the Vulpix. He told Crabby to use Bubble Beam and stop Vulpix. Vulpix was battered around and Salami threw his Pokeball at it. The ball hit the ground and started wobbling. It rolled to Salami and blinked its light body to become captured. I looked at the snow and thought it looked rather funny. The exploding bubbles left circles in the snow and Vulpix’s paws made funny shapes looking like a pattern on an expensive rug. I remembered what I wanted had just happened. My friend caught a Pokemon and was in a new found sense of confidence.

Janine actually smiled as the snow picked up again. I thought about Mando and I really don’t know why. I knew he wouldn’t be happy when we saw him. I had stopped him from him being able to show Sophie what se was messing with. I deserved to feel bad. Salami ran over to me and showed me his new Vulpix. It had strands of Silver fur going through her Red puffs of fur. It had a look in its eyes of playfulness. I smiled and looked at Janine. Salami being happy was enough to make her day. I was glad for these guys and looked at the horizon. It was orange and the snow started floating harder and harder again. We looked at each other and I recalled all of my Pokemon. We headed into town and walked past the gym. The sign was off and I heard a scream of an attack from the inside. We figured the gym was opened and headed in. At the far end we saw a girl with red hair in spiky pig tails. She was very hyper looking, twitching and flickering her eyes all over the gym. On the near side was a boy of about 12 years old with shaggy hair just like mine. When I looked at the center of the gym I saw a Machop and another Pokemon that must’ve been the Gym Leader’s that I had never seen before.