Thread: "Unpredictable"

Keith there, his pokémon handling themselves but he gets his ass handed to him. haha.
Still a very good chapter, and you did a good job of successfully getting key points in the sort of carnage that would have ensued when all those pokémon collided.
At the beginning though, you wrote:

Lavender Town was a good few days’ hike from Viridian City

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but had they not just come from Vermillion?

Originally Posted by sharktooth162

Man, poor Keith good battle scene and I liked the idea of nest of mourner flowers. To be honest it seemed a bit odd that the channellers hadn't stopped the rockets from getting up the tower but apart from that really good

Glad you liked it. It took me a while to think of something that the Marowak could build her nest out of and I think the result is very symbolic in a way.

Originally Posted by some colour no doubt

Keith there, his pokémon handling themselves but he gets his ass handed to him. haha.
Still a very good chapter, and you did a good job of successfully getting key points in the sort of carnage that would have ensued when all those pokémon collided.
At the beginning though, you wrote:

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but had they not just come from Vermillion?

Oh shi-
Fixed! I'm glad you appreciated the battle description, it took me a couple of rewrites to get right.

It looks like there will be a snow day for me tomorrow so I'm celebrating by spending yet another day putting off this essay that was originally due a week ago but I got an extension on. But I digress, on to the chapter. This makes three in a row that I am very proud of, hopefully you all will like it. I tried to give some insight into Keith's character and emotions. Losing Rainer is the first of four big events that force Keith to recognize and correct his flaws. Enjoy!

This time: Keith mourns the loss of Rainer and the duo leaves Lavender Town.

Note: This chapter was written while listening to various remixes of the original Lavender Town song. Like this (or alternately, my own!). I find it adds to the feel.

Chapter 13

I awoke in the dark. A glance at my watch assured me that I had been out for several hours. It was now one in the morning.

Slowly sitting up, I looked around. The room was empty. I lifted the clean white sheets to look at my legs. They had been bandaged and felt numb.

Damn, I’m on painkillers, I thought. Drugs were not something I needed slowing me down right now. My knuckles had been bandaged as well, as was a cut on my cheek that I had not noticed. I was not wearing my normal clothes, just a uniform hospital gown.

I looked around the room. Lavender Town was too small to have a hospital. Maybe this town’s Pokémon Center treated humans as well. I noticed my clothes on the nightstand next to my bed. On top was the fabric piece that I had pinned my three badges on. It was then that I noticed the Cascade Badge had been broken. It was cracked into two pieces held together only by the metal backing of the pin. The Cascade Badge… I thought back to my battle with Misty. I thought back to Rainer’s amazing victory, so soon after his evolution. Tears filled my eyes as the events in the Tower came into my mind and pulled me back to reality.

I wiped a bandaged hand over my eyes and shut them, laying back down. How could I have been so stupid? Who was I to think I could take on Team Rocket without someone like Criss at my side? A small part of my mind grabbed at this idea and tried to pin the blame on Tim. No, that wasn’t fair. He had never wanted to go to the tower in the first place.

What had been my motives for attacking them in the first place? To save Mr. Fuji? To save the Cubone? To avenge Dad?

No, I had already taken the lives of two Rockets to get my revenge. To guiltlessly take any more wouldn’t make sense.

Had I done it to avenge the slain Marowak then? I halfheartedly tried to convince myself that this was the case, but failed. I hadn’t been angry that the Rockets had killed a mother trying to protect its babies, I had been angry that the Rockets were doing anything at all. My unconditional hatred for Team Rocket confused me when I finally made this connection.

Who am I kidding? I thought. I was being selfish. I had attacked the Rockets for to show off and Rainer was taken because of my own egocentric arrogance.

My thoughts wandered about in such a manner for the next several hours. If I got any sleep that night, I didn’t notice. I gave up on my tossing and turning when the sun began to rise and got up out of bed.

At the foot of my bed lay my backpack, someone had obviously brought it in from the dorm rooms where Tim and I had stayed the previous night.

Slowly and painfully, I changed back into clean clothes. I wasn’t going to waste time sitting around. In my heart, I knew that Rainer was gone, maybe forever. But I still felt that I had to be doing something.

When I pulled a clean shirt out of my backpack, a flash of red and white fell from it and rolled onto the floor. Hesitantly, I knelt down and picked up the Poké Ball. It must have been Locustod. It was only then that I realized I had left the Butterfree in my backpack since I had left Saffron, without even thinking about it. I felt a little guilty, but not much.

I almost slapped myself. Here it was again, another one of my ridiculous grudges. Sure, Locustod was a troublemaker, but it hardly deserved to be ignored. With a heavy sigh I clipped the ball to my belt, next to its companions, and finally put my shirt on.

Luckily, the door was open. I doubted that my bandaged hands could work doorknobs very well. Stepping out into the hallway, my earlier theory was confirmed. I was definitely in the Pokémon Center. In the room next to mine lay Tim’s Raticate. It was sleeping, with heavy gauze wrapped around its side. Hopefully it would be okay, the bandage was bloodstained.

I kept walking down the hall and passed a floor-to-ceiling window looking out on the center’s courtyard. On a stone bench sat Tim, holding the Cubone from yesterday. His black eye appeared to be getting better. He was talking to Mr. Fuji, who had a dressing of his own wrapped around his head. Tim noticed me and stood up. I turned my head away and kept walking.

I limped out into the lobby. The nurse’s back was turned; otherwise I’m sure she would have stopped me. I made my way out the front door and down the street, towards the Tower. I knew Tim was following me, but I never looked back.

I went up to the second level of the cemetery building and sat down at the foot of a particularly large tomb. I leaned my back against the cold stone and closed my eyes. I sensed several people walking by, but no one interrupted my solitude.

After a minute, I felt someone come up and sit down beside me. I knew it was Tim. I didn’t open my eyes and he didn’t say anything. We sat together in silence for quite a while.

Finally he spoke, “There’s nothing I can say that will make this better. There’s no word that can fix this. But I am sorry, however much that means to you.”

I opened my eyes and looked at him. “Thanks Tim. But there’s no need to be sorry. This wasn’t your fault.” I paused before asking, “Will Raticate be okay?”

My friend let out a long sigh. “Yes, but the nurse said he may never be able to battle or do anything very strenuous again.”

“So what will you do?”

“I’m going to leave him here with Mr. Fuji. Cubone will be taking his place.”

I looked at my hands, “How bad are my injuries? Did the nurse say when we could leave?”

“One more night is what she told me.”

I stood up, “Then we leave tomorrow morning.”

“Sounds like a plan,” replied Tim, standing up as well.

I turned to take a look at the tomb we had been leaning against before we left. Inscribed upon it was “Dragonair – Your life could have been much fuller, but you helped complete mine.”

Dragonair. My hands closed into fists. I needed a new Pokémon.

*****

The next morning, the bandages on my hands were removed, as were most of the ones on my legs. I thanked the nurse profusely before Tim and I made our way out of town, accompanied by Mr. Fuji, who had come to see us off.

“Keith,” the old man said to me, “You saved my life, and the lives of those Cubone. I don’t know how I could ever thank you enough.”

“Even if you hadn’t been in danger,” I responded after a pause, “fighting Team Rocket is what I do.”

“And that is a noble quest if I ever saw one. I would feel guilty if I let you leave without a parting gift, though. Why don’t we stop by my house real quick? I’ll let you have one of my evolutionary stones.”

So we changed our course slightly and arrived at his house a few minutes later.

He spread out his collection of stones across his kitchen table.

“Wow,” I exclaimed, “how’d you get all of these?” I picked up a fire stone and examined it. It was a bright orange jewel, with a crystalline structure that looked like a flame burning at its center.

“They accumulated over time,” the old man replied, “I used to be a scientist you know, I traveled a lot and found these stones everywhere.”

Tim decided upon a leaf stone for his Weepinbell. I kept the fire stone. I had no idea what I would use it on, but I was planning on eventually catching a fire type.

We both thanked the old man and began to leave. Before we did, I noticed a stone plaque above his door. It was an ancient carving of some sort of Pokémon. Almost like an Abra, but it stood on its feet, which Abra rarely do. And this one had a long tail, big eyes, and longer feet. I blinked. The tail, the head shape, it was so similar, yet so different.

“Mr. Fuji, what kind of Pokémon is that?” I asked the old man. The fear slowly began to rise, but I fought it. It meant I was on the right track.

“That, my boy, is a Mew. And that is a story for another time.”

“Mew…” I followed Tim out the door, lost in thought.

*****

NEXT: Route 8 action scene, and more!

In answer to your question the ceiling and really good chapter. I like how Keith is acting maturely and not storming off after rocket to get Rainer back it shows that he is older than the average beginner trainer and therefore wiser. I also like how Raticate is shown to be seriously hurt by the non pokemon attack as it shows that pokemon are not just invincible machines that can take any hit. I think maybe Keith should have spent more time mourning rainer rather than deciding on getting a new pokemon about five minutes later but apart from that great chapter.

A good chapter, you showed how Keith felt very well, wanting vengeance but not wanting to make the same mistakes as in the tower. As sharktooth said, it shows he is a bit more mature than the average trainer.
I would also like to say, this has evolved to much more than just a journey fic. It has it's own feel to it that makes it stand out from others on the site.
Keep it up! (But don't forget to do your essay!)

Originally Posted by sharktooth162

In answer to your question the ceiling and really good chapter. I like how Keith is acting maturely and not storming off after rocket to get Rainer back it shows that he is older than the average beginner trainer and therefore wiser. I also like how Raticate is shown to be seriously hurt by the non pokemon attack as it shows that pokemon are not just invincible machines that can take any hit. I think maybe Keith should have spent more time mourning rainer rather than deciding on getting a new pokemon about five minutes later but apart from that great chapter.

Ooh you're punny ;) I was under the impression I would be attacked for haphazardly throwing out Raticate to make room on Tim's team. But it had to happen eventually and I'm glad you appreciated the way I did it. Keith is still mourning, the tomb just reminds him of his lifelong dream of owning a Dragonite. Things will get distracting for a while, but his sorrow will return.

Originally Posted by some colour no doubt

A good chapter, you showed how Keith felt very well, wanting vengeance but not wanting to make the same mistakes as in the tower. As sharktooth said, it shows he is a bit more mature than the average trainer.
I would also like to say, this has evolved to much more than just a journey fic. It has it's own feel to it that makes it stand out from others on the site.
Keep it up! (But don't forget to do your essay!)

This is as much a coming of age story as anything. When I started writing, Keith was a very dry character without much to offer. Over time though, he's developed flaws and intricacies that make him interesting. Now I'm just trying to lead the story in a direction that lets him correct his mistakes and improve himself.
Thanks, and yet only a few people are reading it :P Hopefully the sequel will garner some more attention.

Glad you two liked it!

Welp, time to keep myself on the front page. I tried to write a slightly more upbeat action scene here. It sort of worked, but the chapter turned out to be as moody as the previous two. I guess I don't have any control over my characters :P More BG music too for this one, just because the song is awesome and inspired me to write the scene.

This time: Action scene on Route 8, a fan favorite returns ;)

Chapter 14

The underground tunnel that would take us through Saffron City was a good three or four miles from Lavender Town. Tim and I walked in silence, neither of us had any Pokémon out. The trail was wide and well beaten, through a shady forest. As far as weather went, it was a fairly dull day, mostly cloudy with the occasional sun break.

But as was now the norm with me, not a day went by without something “exciting” happening.

We were about halfway to the tunnel entrance when I heard rustling in the bushes. Tim didn’t appear to notice and never broke stride, but I closed my eyes and tried to pinpoint the source of the sound. This was a mistake.

Suddenly I was grabbed from behind. My eyes flew open in time to see a Team Rocket grunt pulling the Poké Balls from Tim’s belt. I was released, and didn’t have to check in order to know that my Pokémon had been taken as well. I spun around. We were surrounded. No less than eight grunts circled us. Most of them had their Pokémon at their side. I noticed several Raticates, some Zubat, a Golbat, an Ekans, and a single Hypno, who stood by the one closest to me. He appeared to be the leader, as the two men who had grabbed us had given him our Poké Balls.

“I’m feeling merciful today so we’ll let you children go in exchange for this lovely haul of Pokémon,” said the leader.

This couldn’t be happening. Not now, not ever. I immediately tried to formulate a plan, but couldn’t think of anything. Tim yelled at them, “Give us back our Pokémon!”

“Now I’m hardly likely to do that, am I? I’d be fired, and we can’t have that,” replied the man, sneering.

I couldn’t believe what was going on. I was practically a Rocket magnet. They seemed to show up everywhere.

“Now get out of here, kids!” said the man.

Suddenly, a voice shouted from behind him.

“Double kick!”

“Horn attack!”

“Fire spin!”

(Heroic rescue music, GO! Heroes of Hoenn)

All of the Rockets’ heads turned. A Nidorino appeared out of nowhere and gored one of the grunts through the stomach with his horn. A Nidorina appeared right behind it, breaking the ribs of another Rocket with a bone-shattering double kick. A wall of fire sprung up around the two Rockets closest to Tim.

I didn’t hesitate, but took immediate advantage of the distraction. I punched the Rocket leader in the stomach and kicked his legs out from under him in a similar fashion to the way I had been debilitated in the Tower. I snatched the bag of Poké Balls out of his hands and reached inside, identifying the first one with a small ruby on the front.

“Tim, catch!” I yelled as I tossed it to him.

My friend immediately caught it and threw it up in the air “Charmeleon! Join the fray!” Tim’s fire lizard sprang from its ball and slashed at one of the Rockets, snarling viciously in anger.

Suddenly a shadow loomed over me. I crouched and prepared to spring up at the Rocket, but he was grabbed from behind in a headlock. I punched the man hard in the face, which hurt my still healing knuckles terribly, but was well worth it. My rescuer threw the Rocket aside. My suspicions were confirmed. Who else would attack the people before the Pokémon? She brushed a strand of black hair off of her face.

“Nice to see you again Criss,” I said, with a smile.

“Get out your Pokémon, I’ll get your back.”

I released each and every one of the balls. Baron leapt up and began to engage the Golbat. Beedrill took on two Zubat at once. Psyke locked itself psychic combat with the Hypno. Tim’s Zubat carried his Weepinbell high in the air where it began throwing razor leaves everywhere. Gastly joined the fight against Hypno, where it almost instantaneously evolved into a Haunter. I smiled to myself, nothing like a stressful situation to bring out the best in a Pokémon.

Locustod and Tesla began fighting the three Raticate. Tim’s baby Cubone instead attacked the people, beating its bone club against the shins of the Rockets.

Criss and I stood back to back. She landed a kick in the side of one of the Rockets; I locked hands with another and pushed him backwards before hitting him hard on the side of the head. Pent up rage at Rainer’s loss spilled into my muscles in the form of adrenaline. The man fell to the ground with a groan. I looked over to see Tim calling out commands to his Charmeleon, who was still fighting off a Rocket.

“Even with your help, this will be difficult.” I said to Criss.

She shoved a grunt backwards over his already fallen opponent before responding, “Don’t worry, I’ve still got an ace up my sleeve.”

As if on cue, from the ground on either side of us burst Criss’s two other Pokémon. In front of me was her massive Onix, it gave a savage roar. Behind me I could hear Arbok’s poison sting spraying the unsuspecting Rockets.

Team Rocket and their Pokémon began to flee into the woods, most of them at least. The two that had suffered burns from Flareon lay on the ground moaning. The one that had been stabbed by Nidorino also lay on the ground but was much more still. I had difficulty feeling any sympathy for the gang members. Criss clearly felt the same, as she walked over to one of the burned grunts and kicked him in the head, silencing his lamentations.

“Thanks for that, Criss,” I said as we withdrew our Pokémon, “we would’ve been screwed without you.”

Criss glanced at me for a second as she recalled her Nidorino and Nidorina, frowning. “I knew I shouldn’t have taken you to Mt. Moon,” she said shakily, not looking at me. She started down the trail again, walking quickly, with Flareon at her heels. I looked at Tim, he shrugged, and we followed.

The two of us rushed to catch up with her. I strode up to her left, while Tim walked to her right. “What do you mean?” I asked.

She glared at me, her deep blue eyes piercing into mine. “You think you’re some kind of hero, don’t you?” She didn’t raise her voice, but her displeasure was clear. “Trying to live the life you seem to think I lead. It isn’t some glorious adventure, gallivanting around Kanto after Team Rocket. You’re not ready; you don’t know what it’s like.” Her ultimatum paused momentarily as she took in a breath. Her face was flushed with anger.

I took advantage of the cessation by interrupting, “What the hell are you talking about? Those Rockets jumped us back there! It’s not like I was following them!”

This time she shouted. “And it’s a good thing I was! You think I don’t know about your little escapade in Pokémon Tower? Lavender Town’s is one of the police forces I work closely with. They told me all about what happened.”

I began to get angry too. “I had no choice! We did what we had to in order to save Mr. Fuji and those Cubone!”

“Don’t kid me,” she replied, rolling her eyes. “There was nothing urgent about that situation. You could have gone to the police and not gotten involved.”

“Not gotten involved? You’re one to talk!”

She yelled again, “I know what I’m doing! I’ve been through that kind of stuff before, but not you. If you keep this up, one of these days you’ll get killed or have one of your Pokémon stolen!”

It took every ounce of will I had in my body to stop from punching her square in the jaw. She would have deserved it. I turned away, clenching my teeth. A tear formed in my eye and each step I took shook it ever so slightly, until it finally fell down my cheek. Criss didn’t notice.

She was voicing the exact same things that I had realized the night after Rainer was stolen. It was my fault, all my fault. I was stupid to have ever made the mistake of rushing in there.

Tim, who had been silent this whole time, leaned towards Criss. She glared at him and raised a hand to push him away, but he grabbed her wrist and whispered something in her ear. Her face softened instantly.

“Oh,” she said. “I didn’t… maybe they didn’t tell me everything. I shouldn’t have been so harsh, I’m sorry.”

Tim must have told her about Rainer. I wiped the tear from my cheek and said shakily, “No you’re not. You’re right. It was my fault.”

She bit her lip and looked at the ground, but didn’t say anything.

Not ten minutes later, we descended the covered cement staircase to the underground path. The dim lighting and echoes of our footsteps almost encouraged us to maintain our silence. I breathed a sigh of relief when we finally emerged into the sun on Route 7.

It was Tim who broke our unspoken vow of silence. “Keith,” he said, “I vote we don’t have any adventures for at least another week. You think we can do that?”

I smiled and conceded, “I agree, Celadon City sounds like a good place to rest.”

It was much easier to talk after that. I introduced Tim and Criss to each other and pleasant conversation proceeded.

“So Criss, those Nidos new?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’ve been training them since about the time we last parted. Once I think they’re ready, I’ll put those moon stones I appropriated to good use.”

“That should be a force to be reckoned with.”

“You bet.” Criss nodded.

Tim entertained us the rest of the day by telling Criss about his various adventures that had occurred while I had been training with Sabrina.

The sun was beginning to set by the time we had gone the rest of the way to Celadon City. I gazed up at the buildings as we walked through the streets. It was certainly smaller than Saffron, but still fairly big. Criss stopped at an intersection.

“I have to go this way,” she gestured behind her, “The Pokémon Center’s straight along this road. See you around!”

We waved goodbye and made our way to the Pokémon Center where we both turned in our Pokémon and went immediately to the bunk room. Sitting down on bunks across from each other, we looked into each other’s eyes.

“You look damn tired,” Tim said to me.

“You look damn tired too,” I responded.

“Well,” he said, “You were right about Criss. She was pretty hot.”

My face met my palm. “She’s way out of your league.”

“Yeah, her and every other girl.”

We both laughed and lay back into our respective bunks. Although it was about three hours before I usually even considered going to bed, I fell asleep almost instantly.

*****

I broke my promise to myself to always stay one chapter ahead by posting this, but oh well. I update more often than most do anyway.

NEXT: Two action chapters in a row? OH EM GEE! Be careful not to OD on awesome. Shit goes down while training for Erika.

Hold up! The crew is in Celadon now, right? Let's think, who ELSE is in Celadon?

Good chapter and I like the reintroduction of Criss but I think your battle scene needed more description as it just seemed a bit rushed. Also you could have done a bit more with gastly's evo as it seemed a bit thrown in for the sake of it. All in all a good chapter but you really need more description

Yay! Criss comes back kicking ass! Can't wait to see her coming in with both Nidoking and Nidoqueen agaisnt TR, gonna be awesomezz.
I predict (and hope) that Criss will end up helping Keith get Rainer beack from TR, but this fic has thrown so many spanners in what i think would happen, I'm not gonna stick to it too religiously.
My only fault was that in the fight scene, it wasn't very clear what was happening. Some things really stood out, but the rest seemed to not really paint a clear picture, but it must be hard to write something like that, I've not had to do it (yet).

Originally Posted by sharktooth162

Good chapter and I like the reintroduction of Criss but I think your battle scene needed more description as it just seemed a bit rushed. Also you could have done a bit more with gastly's evo as it seemed a bit thrown in for the sake of it. All in all a good chapter but you really need more description

Yes, this is not one of my better fight scenes. I probably should have spent some more time on it. It's tough with these big, multi-trainer, multi-Pokemon battles. I have to find a balance between listing each and every thing that happens and only saying the important stuff. Gastly's evolution was kind of an afterthought, it was either give it two sentences here or have it happen while Keith wasn't present in another chapter. I probably should have gone with the latter. Glad you liked it overall.

Originally Posted by some colour no doubt

Yay! Criss comes back kicking ass! Can't wait to see her coming in with both Nidoking and Nidoqueen agaisnt TR, gonna be awesomezz.
I predict (and hope) that Criss will end up helping Keith get Rainer beack from TR, but this fic has thrown so many spanners in what i think would happen, I'm not gonna stick to it too religiously.
My only fault was that in the fight scene, it wasn't very clear what was happening. Some things really stood out, but the rest seemed to not really paint a clear picture, but it must be hard to write something like that, I've not had to do it (yet).

Nidoking has always been one of my favorites, and I seriously considered him for Keith's final team, but it didn't work out. I thought it would be cool to give both of the Nidos to Criss though, they fit her fighting style (sheer power). It seems we've reached an agreement that this battle scene wasn't very good. Like I said to sharktooth, its tough. Multi-Pokemon battles are awesome, but would probably do better in a more visual medium like the anime.

And sorry to disappoint, but Criss disappears for a few chapters here. Once she shows up again, however, the three of them stick together for a looong time. Like, four more badges.

It seems we've reached an agreement that this battle scene wasn't very good. Like I said to sharktooth, its tough. Multi-Pokemon battles are awesome, but would probably do better in a more visual medium like the anime

I think you may have slightly misconstrued what I was saying as I don't think the battle scene was bad I just think it needs a little bit more time spent with it and it'll be great. Also you have one of the best plots I've read in the workshop so don't just look at the negatives look at the positives and look how far you've come from the first chapter to now. Trust me with just a little more work this will be one of the best fics in the workshop.

It seems we've reached an agreement that this battle scene wasn't very good. Like I said to sharktooth, its tough. Multi-Pokemon battles are awesome, but would probably do better in a more visual medium like the anime

I think you may have slightly misconstrued what I was saying as I don't think the battle scene was bad I just think it needs a little bit more time spent with it and it'll be great. Also you have one of the best plots I've read in the workshop so don't just look at the negatives look at the positives and look how far you've come from the first chapter to now. Trust me with just a little more work this will be one of the best fics in the workshop.

Hopefully you guys appreciate this, I took time off from my valuable White version playing time to finish it. Yes, it was a little rushed. Yes, its short. Yes, I do think the quality of my writing is starting to go downhill again. But we will prevail! Chapter 17 is where it becomes naturally well written, and will require less editing. Quick note: the next few chapters will be pretty short (except maybe 16.5, I wouldn't know, I haven't written it yet :P), but it's all for a good reason. I wanted to to fit the entire gym battle with Erika into one chapter without it getting too long due to an introduction scene and whatnot.

This time: Keith trains with Baron for the battle against Erika!

Chapter 15

We both woke up about the same time the next morning. Over breakfast, Tim looked at me, “No adventures.”

“No adventures,” I agreed.

And so began our stay in Celadon City. Deciding to wait a couple days before challenging Erika, we instead spent the time walking about the city. I looked for Criss but saw no sign of her.

The evening before Tim planned to challenge Erika (we had decided to do it on consecutive days, with Tim going first), the two of us sat out behind the Pokémon Center, in the practice field. We each had released all of our Pokémon and were now watching them play together.

“Why do you hate your Butterfree so much?” Tim asked me.

The question caught me by surprise. Immediately, my mind flashed back to when I had woken up in Lavender Town. Maybe Locustod didn’t deserve the derision I directed towards it. “I don’t hate it. I just harbor a significant dislike for it.” I finally replied.

“Sounds like hate to me, but why?”

“Well, it screwed me over pretty badly before I caught it in Viridian Forest. It is pretty powerful but I guess I just haven’t gotten rid of that first impression. Plus, that damn chittering gets really annoying.” Even to my own ears, this sounded like a hurried rationalization.

Tim just laughed, “Whatever you say. So are you gonna watch me battle tomorrow or go train?”

“Train, probably,” I responded, “Baron needs some work, and he will be my main force against Erika’s grass-types.” Tim had said that Erika did three on three battles. So far, I was planning on using Psyke, Locustod, and Baron.

“Well good luck with that then,”

“Good luck yourself, you’ll probably need it.”

“I’ll definitely need it,” my friend agreed, “most definitely.”

*****

I awoke early the next morning, earlier even than Tim, and headed out of the center after only a quick breakfast, leaving my pack behind. Only Baron would be coming with me. I had decided to head up into the forest north of Celadon. If I kept walking I would reach the southern face of Mt. Moon, but I wasn’t planning on heading that far, instead stopping at the top of a large hill overlooking the city. On the other side of the hill was a large and densely forested valley. Far away to the east, the sun rose over Lavender Town, lighting up an empty, dull blue sky. Baron landed beside me and hopped forward before letting out a loud cry.

I bent down and picked up a small handful of rocks. “Okay Baron, here’s the plan,” I instructed my Pokémon, “This is going to be a tough exercise. I’ll run down the hill, and you’re going to follow me. I’ll periodically throw a rock behind me, back up the hill. Whenever I do that, you need to turn, fly back, catch the rock, and bring it back to me. You got it?”

Baron looked at me and cocked its head, as if a little skeptical.

“It’s going to be difficult, but it will work on your speed, agility, and accuracy.”

The Pidgeotto nodded slowly.

“Good,” I said.

I shifted the rocks so I held one in my right hand and prepared to run down the hill. Baron oriented himself and spread its wings wide, ready to take flight. And then we were off.

I ran down the steep hill as fast as I could, feet pounding on the dirt before me. Baron glided beside me. “Now,” I cried. “Go!” and I threw a rock up into the air behind me. Baron cut a sharp turn in front of me and flapped ferociously back up the hill. I turned my head in time to see it execute a perfect catch. The bird Pokémon glided back down to me and dropped the stone; I caught it deftly.

The hill was rather long so we repeated this exercise several times before reaching the bottom. Baron never missed one. On the last throw, I threw three rocks into the air. It seemed to catch the Pidgeotto by surprise, but the reflex training we had practiced with Sabrina paid off. It caught one in its beak, another in a foot, and snagged the last with its other foot right before the rock hit the ground. I skidded to a stop at the bottom of the hill. “Perfect!” I called out to my Pokémon. Baron glided down to me again and dropped the three rocks.

“That was awesome!” I praised.

After a short rest for the both of us, I briefed Baron on its next training exercise. “Tim says that Erika’s Tangela relies on a strategy using multiple vine whips. The best way I can think of to practice dodging this is to have you fly at a high speed through this thick forest. So when I tell you to go, fly high back up the hill and then dive down so you reach the forest at high speeds. I’ll walk a little ways into the forest, so when you reach me you can stop.”

My Pokémon nodded confidently this time. At my word, Baron flew quickly back up the hill while I dashed into the forest. When I felt I was a comfortable distance in, I stopped and turned around. In front of me was the trail I had followed, which didn’t really provide much space between trees, just slightly less underbrush.

For a couple minutes, I didn’t hear anything besides the chirping of some wild Pidgey, the rustle of the wind in the tall pine trees, and my own breathing. For I was quite out of breath, keeping up with a flying Pokémon was a tough workout.

But before long, I heard a familiar cry.

“Pidgeote-to!”

There, barreling between the trunks was my Pidgeotto. It swerved left and right, rolling to avoid the tightly clustered pines. I smiled in pride as the Pokémon sped past me before banking hard back around. Baron landed at my feet and gave a triumphant caw.

“That was great!” I told it, “You look like you need a good rest, let’s walk through these woods for a while. We can battle some wild Pokémon when you’re ready.”

So we walked through the forest. Or rather, I walked and Baron hopped and flew along. After a time we battled some Bellsprout, Venonat, and one wild Pidgeotto. Baron took care of each one with no real problem.

We were about halfway across the valley when Baron suddenly stopped and cocked its head.

“What is it, Baron?” I asked the bird Pokémon.

But the Pidgeotto just hopped once before taking off. It flapped high into the air and appeared to look around. When it seemed to have seen what it was looking for, the flying-type dived back down in front of me, cawing wildly.

“What did you see?” I asked again.

Baron stopped its clearly failed attempts at getting its message across and just gestured for me to follow with its wing before flapping off into the foliage.

“Baron! Wait up!” I called, dashing after it.

Whatever it was wasn’t far away. Baron hovered at the edge of a steep, grassy decline, looking down it. I ran up beside the Pokémon and followed its gaze.

At the bottom of the hill was a small clearing. At the center of the clearing was a group of about six Growlithe, all tethered to a pole. They appeared to be wearing muzzles of some sort, and were pulling at their restraints. It didn’t take long to see why. A man in a Team Rocket uniform stepped towards the fire-types and cracked a whip at them. Another Rocket stepped forward from the other side and kicked one of the puppy Pokémon, it collapsed with a painful shudder. The men looked to be talking but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. I scanned the rest of the field and saw only one other Rocket. He stood at the far end of the clearing, looking down on what appeared to be an unconscious figure tied to a tree. The figure was wearing a police uniform. Suddenly I realized what I was seeing, the officer must have taken the Growlithe out for a training exercise (Growlithe are the main Pokémon used by the police squads) when he had been attacked by the Rockets.

Baron let out a soft coo of sympathy. I looked at my Pokémon; it was staring straight into my eyes. In them I saw what the Pokémon was thinking, almost like I was reading his mind, which might very well have been what I was doing. What I saw was enlightening. I had always wondered why Pokémon were so loyal to their trainers, why my Pokémon were so loyal to me. I didn’t have any special powers, nor did I give them anything they otherwise wouldn’t have. So why be attached to a trainer? In Baron’s eyes I saw the answer to that question. I saw trust. I saw a plea for help. I saw a firm belief that no matter what, I would be able to fix the situation, solve any problem.

But I couldn’t. “I’m sorry Baron,” I said as I looked away, “I… I don’t know what to do. I want to help those Growlithe but… but without Tim… or Criss… or my other Pokémon… I… I don’t know…” I looked back at the Pidgeotto, it was staring back down at the abused Pokémon.

And just like that, Baron began to evolve. It may have been premature. It may have been forced. But near instantaneously, Baron grew to my height and half again, his wingspan almost tripled, and his hair-like head feathers turned a vivid yellow and grew all the way down his back. The Pidgeot turned its head to me, in its eyes I saw again what it was thinking. Those big, dark eyes that seemed to hold so much emotion.

If you cannot help them, then I will. And you will come with me, the eyes told me. Baron extended a wing. Without a word, I nodded and clambered on to the bird’s back, gripping it around the neck and nestling my knees at the crook of its tail feathers. Without hesitation, the bird Pokémon leapt off of the cliff and raced down to the clearing.

Pidgeot are widely recognized as some of the fastest Pokémon in the world, maybe not the fastest, but among them. This was definitely to our advantage. With a savage cry, Baron slashed at the bindings of the Growlithe, freeing a couple, before slamming in to the Rocket that guarded the cop. I leapt off of his back and attempted to wrestle the whip away from one of the other men. Despite having the element of surprise, the man was still much stronger than me.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion. I heard a bark behind me, and a weight pressed down on my shoulder. I saw an orange shape, a Growlithe, push off of me and tackle the Rocket full on. Leaving the startled poacher to be bitten and scratched by the obviously well trained puppy Pokémon, I turned to survey our rescue.

Baron’s quick attack must have knocked out the other Rocket, for he now lay, unmoving, on the ground. Baron was currently whipping up a powerful gust attack that blinded the third man, and put him off balance. One of the rescued Growlithe launched a tackle attack at the criminal. Leaving the situation to the two Pokémon, I rushed forward to the remaining captives. Pulling my penknife from my pocket, I cut the bindings and released the Growlithe from their muzzles. I was somewhat afraid that the frantic fire-types would attack me, but they were smarter than that. One of them jumped up and began licking my face while the others walked over to their fallen trainer.

Gently pushing the grateful puppy off of me, I moved to the second Rocket. The Growlithe still had him preoccupied, rolling around in the grass. Taking careful aim, I kicked him hard in the face. He yelled and scrambled even more frantically, with blood gushing from his nose. His assailant Pokémon bit him hard in the shoulder while I kicked him again, this time in the temple. His convulsions ceased.

From the battle behind me, I heard a scream of pain. I whipped around in time to see the final Rocket fall over with two massive gashes across his chest. Baron floated to the ground, its bloodstained talons soaking the grass.

Trying hard not to gag on the thick, metallic smell of the Rocket’s blood, I checked for a pulse. Nothing. I then walked to the other two Rockets, and found them to still be alive. Grabbing the Growlithe’s bindings, I tied the two of them to a nearby tree.

I then moved over to the fallen cop, Baron and the Growlithe were gathered around him. He still looked unconscious. I unbound him and checked for wounds. I was no genius at first aid, let alone waking someone up from something like this, but then I noticed the blood dripping from the back of the cop’s head. I doubt the Rockets had meant to hurt him that badly, but once again, their strength was far outweighed by their stupidity.

Despite my limited knowledge of first aid, I knew that head wounds were bad. I tore a strip of cloth off the bottom of my shirt and tied it around the man’s head, but the blood still seeped through it. Panicking slightly, I then took off my shirt entirely and shoved it under the wrap. The makeshift bandage wouldn’t work for long, but it should help some.

I looked around at the Pokémon surrounding me. The Growlithe looked worried, to say the least. Baron stared confidently into my eyes. “Baron,” I said, “This man needs help. I want you to fly him back to Celadon. Take him to a human hospital, this city should have one. But don’t spend time looking for one, if you can’t find it, go to the Pokémon Center. Don’t worry about me; I’ll walk back with these Growlithe.”

I didn’t really need to say that last sentence. Baron was loyal and ready to help; there was no worry in his eyes. I lifted the man onto Baron’s back. “Now fly fast, but don’t let him fall.” With a confident cry, the giant bird flapped twice to get into the air, and sped off over the trees.

*****

NEXT: *cough*filler*cough* No, but really, it's the closest thing to filler I have ever written. I was originally gonna stick it on the end of this one, but like I said above, it wouldn't fit with the rest of the chapters.

Another rushed, kinda crappy chapter. Hopefully it will get better from here. I have next week off for spring break so I should be able to spend plenty of time on 16.5. From there, it goes on to the gym battle with Erika, which is actually pretty good in my own humble opinion.

Also, this fic has been nominated for best journey fic for the spring awards and Criss as best supporting character. Voting closes tomorrow, but whatever, go vote if you haven't. Thanks for all of the support you guys!

This time: I suppose this isn't filler as much as just tying stuff together. It's kinda boring anyway. New Pokemon, though.

Chapter 16

I watched Baron go for a second before I turned to the Growlithe, “Let’s go, just follow me and we’ll get back to the city all right.”

On the way out, I gave each of the cursing Rocket grunts a hard kick in the face. Let them sit here and stew in the sun, the police would come out to fetch them when they were ready.

It was a hot day, probably the last one of this year, as fall came into full bore. The sun beat down on me, making the already long walk seem like a marathon. Especially now that it was uphill, and I was exhausted, I did my best to take it one step at a time. The Growlithe fared much better in the heat; as fire-types, this was their kind of weather. Still, they loyally stuck close to me.

Finally, after hours of walking, I trudged back into town. Needless to say, I attracted some attention. A sweaty, dirty, shirtless kid trailed by a troupe of Growlithe tends to do that. I turned to my band of followers, “Do you think you could smell your way from here or something? I really don’t know where Baron took your trainer.”

The head Growlithe nodded with a bark and began sniffing, with its nose in the air. The other puppy Pokémon followed suit. After a moment, they strode off down the street at a brisk pace. I hurried to follow them.

I felt like I had just run a marathon. On one hand, I was about ready to keel over from exhaustion, but on the other hand, my endorphins were furiously pushing me onwards. I had that strange, giddy feeling you get after a hard workout.

We rushed past the Pokémon Center, which was a relief, as Medical help specializing in humans was preferred. Moments later we arrived at the entrance to a tall building marked as a hospital. I hurried inside, followed by the Growlithe.

Several police officers stood in the main lobby and I noticed Baron standing in a corner, looking sullen. I was stopped before I could call to it.

“Sir, We’re going to have to ask you to put away your… er… Pokémon… in this building.” The young nurse looked rather taken aback by my sudden appearance.

“I can’t, these aren’t mine. Can you tell me anything about a cop that was just brought in...” I was interrupted by an enthusiastic cry from Baron as he hopped across the room to greet me, brushing people out of the way with his large wings. I hugged the bird Pokémon.

“What’s going on here?” asked the nurse. The scene was beginning to attract the attention of the police officers. One of them walked up to me.

“Is that your Pidgeot?” The tall officer asked.

“Of course,” I responded, letting Baron go. It turned to look up at the cop.

“Would you care to explain why it showed up an hour ago with a badly injured police officer?”

Recalling my Pidgeot, I told the man the whole story rather hurriedly, but without skipping anything important.

“You fought against three Rockets all by yourself? That’s quite impressive at such a young age.”
A sudden surge of pride overwhelmed me; I interrupted him with a laugh. “Hardly, that’s nothing. You know about that fiasco in Pokémon Tower a few days ago?”

The officer squinted at me suspiciously and nodded.

“That was me.”

He continued to squint. “I may have to bring you to the attention of my captain. No, don’t worry, not for anything bad…”

Wondering what the officer could possibly be considering, I looked back to the nurse. “How is the man that Baron brought in?”

It was the cop that responded. “Why don’t we go check up on him?”

I agreed and followed the two of them up several flights of stairs with the Growlithe padding along behind us. A few floors up, we stopped at a hallway that didn’t look any different to me than the ones we had passed. Quietly, we walked to a door about halfway down the hall and looked in the window at the figure lying prone on a hospital bed.

“He hasn’t woken up, but his condition is improving. He wouldn’t have lasted too much longer out there,” the officer explained to me. I looked at the Growlithe. They were staring, concerned, into the room with their trainer. The nurse gently pushed open the door. We watched the Growlithe trot in quietly, where they lay around their trainer’s bed, one of them looked at me with forlorn eyes.

The nurse turned to me, “You’re suffering from heat exhaustion!” she exclaimed.

I grinned. “Spectacular. What’s that?”

The nurse grabbed my arm and pulled me into one of the other wards. “it’s like an advanced form of dehydration but not as bad as heat stroke.” She pushed me onto one of the beds and handed me several bottles of water that she appeared to have pulled from nowhere. “Drink these.” She said.

It wasn’t until about ten minutes later, after I had drank a few liters of water and the nurse had laid me down with a cold, wet cloth on my forehead that I finally had time to rest. I closed my eyes tiredly. My problem was that my life was just too damned exciting.

I didn’t wake up until early the next morning. Apparently, heat exhaustion isn’t really that big of a deal. The nurse must have just been trying to keep me around for a while. That’s what I told myself, anyway. Surprisingly, I met up with Tim in the hospital’s lobby. He stared at me and shook his head.

“I said to take it easy. I said no adventures. But you had to go beat up Team Rocket and save some guy’s life. Is it really that hard to relax once in a while?”

I laughed at him, and then sighed. “You’d be surprised.”

We walked out of the hospital and down the street towards the Pokémon center.

“The police came by,” Tim said. “They told me to tell you that they want to talk to you. You should go down to the station when you get a chance.”

“Really? I wonder why…”

“Well, you did save the life of one of their officers.”

“I suppose so.” I nodded. “How did the battle against Erika go?”

My friend grinned widely. “I won. Charmeleon just barely managed to take out Tangela before he collapsed from exhaustion. It was a pretty intense fight. Check it out.” He showed me his new Rainbow Badge.

“Nice! I’m psyched for the battle. I don’t think I’ll do it today though. I’m too tired, and I bet Baron is too.”

“I would think so.”

“Erika couldn’t be too hard though. Especially if you beat her,” I teased.

He just smacked me in the back of the head.

We arrived at the Pokémon Center not much later and ate breakfast while our Pokémon were being healed. I told Tim exactly what had happened, he was awestruck.

“Wow. Criss would be impressed.”

“Have you seen her around at all?” I asked my friend.

“No, but I’ve been looking.” He winked
.
I shook my head wearily, “I’ll bet you have.”

*****

A Growlithe. They were giving me a Growlithe. I could hardly believe it.

Later that day I had gone into the police station. From the way it sounded, they had wanted to offer me a job, but I was too young. So instead, they had pretty much unofficially inducted me into the police force. I had contacts now, people to call, but most importantly, I had a Growlithe. I was giddy, to say the least, as I finally had the fire-type that I had been looking for.

Proudly walking back to the center with my new Growlithe prancing by my side, I reflected on the rest of my team. A sudden and sad thought struck me. If I still had Rainer I would have the basic trio of electric, water, and fire all represented. As it was, I didn’t even really have a powerhouse. Rainer had always been my fallback, my unbeatable, invincible companion. I needed another one of those. My mind wandered back to the tombstone in Pokémon tower. Dragonair… a dragon type… the dragon type, but better yet, its evolution…

“Woah, dude is that yours?” Tim’s voice snapped me out of my reverie.

My friend was sitting into the lobby feeding his Pokémon. “Of course, they made me an unofficial member of the police squad. Now I can arrest you for being an idiot.” I said.

“Sounds like more trouble than it’s worth, I’m not gonna lie” he said, rolling his eyes at me.

“You’re just jealous.”

He paused. “Yeah I am.” We both laughed.

*****

Roughly three hours later, I stood once again in the woods north of Celadon, training my Pokémon. This time it was Growlithe. I still hadn’t thought of a name for it yet.

I had my new fire-type practicing its agility with Psyke. The psychic-type was teleporting from place to place while Growlithe sprinted around after it. The puppy Pokémon was clearly already incredibly well trained.

I turned up my collar against the increasing wind. The weather had been changing rapidly in the last hour or so and now dark storm clouds blanketed the sky, covering the land in a premature night. Slowly, rain began to fall. I pulled up the hood on my jacket and took out my Pokédex.

“Is it safe for fire Pokémon to be out in the rain?” I asked the computer.

“Fire Pokémon with open flame on their body should be kept out in the rain if possible. Other fire types, though able to stand the water, often prefer to stay dry.”

I wiped the raindrops off the now damp device and turned it off. “Hey Growlithe, you cool with a little rain?”

My new Pokémon stopped in its training and vigorously shook itself. It looked at me and barked eagerly. “Alright, let’s keep going then. Psyke return!” I put the psychic type back in its Poké Ball.

“Okay Growlithe, flamethrower time.” I picked up a bunch of sticks that I had collected earlier. “Let’s do some target practice.”

“Grrrrrrowlithe!”

*****

Hopefully that didn't suck too badly. Be sure to let me know what you think. You all are what keeps me going.

NEXT: Nolan reappears. The two stories begin to intertwine (slightly). Probably an action scene, I haven't decided yet. It is Nolan though. Action scenes tend to happen a lot where he's involved.

You know what I'd like to hear? Some speculation. I've given plenty of foreshadowing, so I kind of want to know if you guys have any guesses as to what's going to happen yet. Who's Criss? What's she up too? What was her past like? Who's Nolan? What's HE up too? What's HIS past like? What will happen to Keith and Tim? What about David? I won't say if you guess right, but I will give you a virtual high-five if/when it's revealed and you guessed correctly.

PS: I edited the first chapter pretty extensively because of the awards. It's a lot better now, but nothing changed story-wise. Check it out if you've got time and let me know what you think.

Interesting chapter and I like the fact he's got a fire type though I must admit I was hoping he'd somehow get a magmar but at least it wasn't a vulpix. I cant wait to see this battle against Erika as it sounds pretty cool but I am hoping locustod still gets a chance to battle (Locustod is the butterfree isnt it?)

Originally Posted by sharktooth162

Interesting chapter and I like the fact he's got a fire type though I must admit I was hoping he'd somehow get a magmar but at least it wasn't a vulpix. I cant wait to see this battle against Erika as it sounds pretty cool but I am hoping locustod still gets a chance to battle (Locustod is the butterfree isnt it?)

Yeah Locustod is the Butterfree. I seriously considered giving him a Magmar, but Arcanine is one of my very favorites. I'm glad you liked it.