Oddish and Keji:
A Pokémon Story
BY: Reid Anthony Gacke
Pokémon, and all related items in this story, are a licensed and registered trademark of Nintendo of America, and Game Freak.
Another victory for Misty, the leader of the Cerulean city Pokémon gym, and proven to be one of the most talented Pokémon trainers of the time. Misty cheered happily, as the disappointed attacker turned and fled with his tail between his legs, Keji never tired of seeing that, and he had seen it hundreds of times from his perch outside one of the windows atop the pool, which could just as often house Misty's three sisters performing a water show, or one of Misty's matches for qualifications into the Pokémon League.
"Better luck next time!" Keji liped along with the tall, slender, carrot topped Gym leader. She was too predictable to one who had seen all of her Pokémon battles since she returned three years ago from her Pokémon journey with some kid from Pallet town who managed to hold a sixteenth place ranking in the Pokémon league. He idolized her, and, for a time, had a crush on her (he was now 15, and understood that he would never have a chance with the seventeen year old gym leader, she was just too untouchable for anyone)
"She always opens with Staryu," he said, throwing an imaginary pokéball, as he took the familiar path back to the Orphanage that he called home, though not willingly, or pleasantly, "that leaves them open for an attack by Starmie," he said, spinning around, and leaping atop the small stone fence around the library, blowing the tuft of mousy brown hair from his face, paying it no mind, "and if they survive that long," he said, pouncing off of the fence, and landing hard, holding his imaginary pokéball, and staring his imaginary opponent in the eyes, "she calls out her Seadra!" he spun around, and released, jumping as if he had won a difficult battle. Oh how he longed to be in the ring against her. he knew all of her moves, he could beat her before the match started, she was, with her predictability, her own worst enemy, but it took money to become a Pokémon trainer, and, though he could scrounge the cash from his meager savings, it would be impossible to find a trainer who would be willing to give up any Pokémon in Cerulean city for him to start.
"I guess it's just not meant to be..." he sighed, broken hearted, his pace slackened, as he stopped to stare into the shimmering Cerulean Pond, which seemed so pristine, and forgiving in the light of the setting sun. He had often spent long hours near this pond, hoping, neigh, dreaming of his first Pokémon leaping from this pond. He always felt something great like that would happen to him, and why not? His life to now had been constant disappointments. His father left he and his mother alone when he was born, and, though his mother loved him much, she wasn't able to take care of Keji by herself, and, though they had some help from dedicated friends, and neighbors, his mother could not avoid her quick acting, and fatal illness. Keji felt lost after that, from the time he turned five to his twelfth birthday, he had no purpose. Then, Misty returned.
It was pure accident that Keji had stumbled upon the former gym on the day he had, but when he did, he saw the most thrilling thing in his life, Misty battled a twelve year old boy, like himself. Unfortunately, the boy was too little, and too late to defeat Misty, and through his defeat, Keji gained purpose. He was broken hearted when he found it impossible to find a starting Pokémon, yet continued to watch Misty's battles with incredible interest, at least it kept him going.
Now he was fifteen (well since yesterday, his birthday), and he still hadn't gotten his feet wet in the Pokémon world. It was time to think of getting back to reality. He sighed as the light faded to blackness with the falling of the sun, and the shattering of his dreams.
"Maybe if I had gotten a Pokémon at ten, or even twelve, I could've done it, I guess I was fooling myself." he kicked a rock into the lake. It was getting late, and his bed called to him from the short distance between them.
"I guess dreams are just that," he said, clenching his fists, "dreams...". He felt a single tear roll down his face, as he turned to the orphanage, he didn't watch as it hit the water, and was swallowed by the pond.
Keji arrived at his substitute home mere minutes after his departure from the pond. With Misty's victory still clear in his mind, he found it difficult to try and forget about his shattered dream, and how he could try to revive it, but he was trying. A few of the Orphanages occupants were in the lobby, some playing pool, some cards, and some still watched the news. For a moment, Keji caught the news broadcast in mid story.
"...Decline in challenges. There has been a surprising decline in Pokéball sales, and new licenses given. Most experts attribute this to team Rocket's increase in illegal activities. The percentage of Pokémon thefts in the areas of Cerulean City and Pewter City alone has experienced a seventy six percent increase in Pokémon theft, and, though the Police have done all they can to sway the criminals..." One of the occupants of the room changed the channel in mid sentence, followed by a violent out burst in noise, and Miss Littilum's swift intervention in the conflict, which cause even swifter apologies from the trouble causers.
"Keji!" A pleased voice from behind him sounded, but Keji didn't turn to meet his friend's face. Kento was the last person he wanted to talk to. "How'd the battle go? Did she win?" Keji stopped, and sighed deeply.
"Yes." He said meekly. Kento looked his friend over.
"What's the matter, Keji?"
"Nothing." He snapped, aggressively.
"Yeah right." Kento said, grabbing Keji's shoulder and spinning him around, meeting his friend's eyes with his own. Kento was always smiling, which made Keji even more heartbroken.
"Let me go, Kento, I'm tired."
"Not likely." He grunted. Keji tried to fight Kento's grip, but found himself helpless in the larger teenager's hands.
"What do you want, Kento?" Keji snapped again, a bit angrier, to try to scare his friend away.
"What's wrong?" Kento asked, still sensitively.
"I said nothing, I'm just tired." He shrugged off Kento's hands, which relinquished their grip.
"I'll bet." Kento said, sarcastically. Keji spun around, quickly, and began to walk, but half-way to the stairs, he sensed that Kento hadn't moved. He sighed again, and turned to face his friend.
"I'm gonna stop going to Misty's matches." Keji said, fighting a surprising sob.
"Good!" Miss Littlum interjected quite rudely, "Pokémon are a waste of time, especially to one with a mind like yours."
"But he's got such a great head for tactics! He'd be a perfect trainer." Kento added, not looking at Miss Littlum.
"Stop it, Kento!" Keji yelled, bringing a dead silence to the lobby area, as Kento's face turned a beat red, "you know it would be impossible for me to become a trainer, I haven't got a Pokémon to start me out, and there's no way I could ever get one!" Keji turned to the stairs again, unable to fight his tears anymore. Kento looked to the floor in shame.
"It's about time that kid got some sense." Miss Littlum muttered as she began to return order to the silent children in the room. Kento felt the urge to cry to. He also felt the urge to punch Miss Littlum, but that was an urge every kid in the Orphanage had to fight ever single day, yet today it was unbearably difficult.
"I'm going to bed, Miss Littlum." Kento said, in a wavery voice, trying to keep control.
"But it's only 7:00, Kento, are you sure you..."
"Yes, I am." He snapped, and looked away. Miss Littlum growled a bit in response, but nodded, and Kento quickly fled up the stairs to his room, which would also be his friend's destination.
Kento's room was dark when he arrived, though to call it a room would be a stretch, barracks, or prison, would be more appropriate. Six kids inhabited a room more fit for two or three, and there was barely enough room for the room's only adornment, a Voltorb clock that sat upon the table next to Keji and Kento's bunk. It was there that Kento caught the first sight of his friend, or rather, his silhouette, moving quietly in the darkness.
"Keji, why're you moving around in the dark?" Kento said, his anger subsiding, as he calmed his voice down to nearly a whisper. "You could stub your tow, or something."
"I'm leaving." Keji said, unemotionally, Kento then realized that he was putting his belongings into a bag.
"Why?" Kento said, worried.
"I don't want to be here anymore, there's nothing here for me," Keji said, still unemotionally as he continued to pack his miscellaneous items into a small bag.
"Where are you going, who'll you stay with...?" Kento began, babbling random questions in fear for his friend's safety.
"I don't know, or care, but I can't stay here." He began to leave.
"You'll never get by Littlum." Kento said, stepping in his path.
"What's she gonna do? Call the cops?"
"Who knows? She's pretty creepy." Kento said, shakily forcing a laugh.
"I don't care, Kento." Keji said, pushing Kento aside with surprising strength, Kento chased Keji into the hall, but Keji was already half-way down the nearby stair-case, leading to the lobby.
"Keji!" Kento screamed, and heard Miss Littlum asking nosy questions.
"What are you doing, Mr. Fujikiro?"
"Away." Keji said, simply.
"Get back here, mister, it's past curfew!" Miss Littlum said, angrily. Kento could hear her face getting redder and redder before he reached the end of the stair case.
"I have to agree with her, Keji." he said when he reached his departing friend. He reached out his hand, but Keji stepped nimbly aside, and turned around, facing his desperate friend.
"Ever since my parents died, I've know I don't belong here," he said, his anger swelling to a peak, "I don't belong in this orphanage, I don't belong in this city." He turned and ran, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. He ran blindly, and quickly, through the darkened, artificially lit streets of Cerulean city. he had no destination, with his dreams dead, and, therefor, didn't care the path he took.
Isn't it funny the turns destiny can deal you?
A Friend in Need.
"What am I doing?" he asked himself. He contemplated any of the multitude of answers, and none of them seemed to fit. Going out to catch a Pokémon? No. He had no Pokéball to store one in, and, besides, he had nothing to battle one with.
"I guess there truly is no way to realize my dream." He said, as he started walking to the edge of town again. Was he trying to find his long lost father? That could have been it, if he cared. His father was gone, and there was nothing he could do about it. Was he trying for independence. That was closer, but how could he possibly get a job, a house, and everything else he needed to survive on? He could live in the forest, like so many other people. Maybe he could study Pokémon. Maybe not. It took a lot of money to study them too, money he didn't have. Perhaps he just wanted to see the world. Whichever the case, he had no particular direction to go, so he didn't need to watch where he was going.
After what seemed like mere seconds, he had spanned the five mile stretch from the orphanage to the edge of town. The guard, a burly brute, no less than six foot ten, slept behind a television set, blaring the recent news of the day.
"...ten o'clock, and this is the news, a recent..."
"Wow, ten o'clock?" Keji wondered, astonished, he must have taken the long route.
"... and there's nothing the authorities can do about it, as they seem utterly helpless to stop so many robberies..."
"How fun." Keji said blandly, and quite sarcastically. He decided that was enough news for the night. he slowly slid past the gate house, into the wild unknown, and his gateway to freedom.
When Keji had cleared a ten foot distance from the gate house, he burst into a sprint, feeling his heart soar at the feeling of freedom, he took in the darkness, which was accented by the silhouettes of trees, sporadically placed throughout the plains, which quickly became forests outside of Cerulean city.
"Ten o'clock." Keji repeated softly, looking around, his weariness setting in, as the feeling of freedom subsided... for now. He slipped off his back-pack, and unbuckled it, searching inside for a certain item.
"There it is!" He exclaimed quietly, as he removed a small round pillow from his pack. He settled aside the path, propping the pillow against a tree, and leaning his body upon it.
"How am I going to do this?" He asked no one in particular, as is well, because no one particular answered his question. Hearing nothing but silence from no one in particular, Keji shut his eyes, and drifted off into a weary slumber. Above the weary traveler, a Pidgeotto stretched it's wings aside, and launched itself into the breeze, which carried it gracefully off to the horizon.
Sunlight came quickly to Keji's face, and arouse him with a start as he realized he wasn't in his bed. As the truth came to him, he smiled, and sat up, stretching. He glanced to his side for his bag, and seemed relieved that it was still at his side, where he had left it the night before. He unbuckled it, and dug out a large object, wrapped in brown paper. He unfolded the paper to reveal a loaf of bread, which he promptly took a large bite of. Digging still further into his belongings, he produced a small canteen, and gulped a mouthful of fresh water. Feeling sated for the moment, he decided to explore his newfound freedom.
Searching the horizon for no one in particular (he still had a few things he needed to say), he began to walk down the distinct path he had begun to follow last night.
"Wait a minute..." he said, stopping dead in his tracks, "why didn't anyone come looking for me?" he wondered to himself and no one in particular, and decided Miss Littlum wasn't going to waste her time looking for a rebel like him, she was better off without his kind messing up her nice, neat, orderly orphanage. He shrugged and smiled, banishing the horrible old woman from his mind. Her old withered face, and long, messy gray hair vanished from his mind.
He began to whistle happily as he transverse the path, and slowly, but surely, the forest began to overtake the sunny plains, and the path Keji so happily traveled began to look more and more like the "not path", causing some confusion as to which way to go. He didn't care which way he went, but staying away from the deep forest was recommended, Beedrills and the such tended to prey on unsuspecting travelers, and without a Pokémon to fight back with, he was as unsuspecting as they get.
Thinking of wild Pokémon began to worry our carefree hero a bit, as he slackened his pace, and began to watch the thickening forest with more and more vigil. Fearing the worst, he even contemplated going back, but the ridicule he would endure if he returned would be more unbearable than any pain he would endure from a wild Pokémon, no matter the species.
Keji quickly spun around as he heard a strange noise from behind him. Though he had seen hundreds of Pokémon battles, he wouldn't recognize any Pokémon by their voices, though most of them said their name repeatedly, Keji didn't hear the sound well enough to make out the name.
"Maybe it wasn't a Pokémon." He said, shakily, imagining a horrible monster with huge, sharp fangs, dripping slime and growling cruelly. He began to take a step backwards, right into something solid. He stopped moving completely, save his trembling.
"Hello." Said a voice. Keji jumped so high he could almost touch the tops of the trees. He spun around to stare at the face of a young man, possibly near the same age as Keji himself, but more likely a couple years older, possibly eighteen.
"You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Keji snapped angrily.
"Why are you so jumpy?" The young man inquired, smiling.
"There's dangerous wild Pokémon in these woods." Keji said, looking back and forth over his shoulder.
"I know, isn't it great?" The man said, smiling.
"You must be a..." Keji blushed at his stupid actions, "I'm Keji Fujikiro."
"Ben Shroumo III, son of the great Pokémon trainer Ben Shroumo II, who was son of the great Pokémon trainer Ben Shroumo I, who was the son of the great Pokémon trainer Daniel Shroumo IXX, who was..."
"OK! Ok." Keji interrupted, irritated.
"Well, anyway, I suppose you would be honored to battle someone of my stature, eh?" Ben said, beaming with pride.
"Well, I would, but I have no Pokémon." Keji said, looking to the ground, shuffling his feet in shame.
"Oh, you poor man, those horrible Pokémon thieves, if I ever..."
"No, I have never had any." Keji said, emanating even greater shame. Ben nearly fell to the ground in laughter, pointing, and babbling random derogatory words.
"No one would be stupid enough to travel through the forest, alone and Pokémonless!" He blurted in between bursts of laughter.
"Hey!" Keji said, angrily, "Not all of us are rich snobs!" He said, flustered, and red.
"Yes, not all of us can be as blessed as I!" Ben said, again, beaming with pride. Keji merely groaned. He regained his composure, and continued, "Well, it just so happens that I am on my way to Pewter city, so I can accompany you through this dangerous forest." He said, beginning on the path. Keji saw he had no choice, and followed, quite a distance behind, grumbling.
Time passed (as it tends to do), and Keji hadn't said a word, though Ben never seemed to run out of things to say. He talked about everyone of his three Pokémon. He talked about his Geodude that seemed ready to evolve into Graveler soon, and his Zubat that had defeated a Squirtle twice it's level without sustaining damage, and his Staryu that he was offered fifty thousand yen for, because it was so beautiful. Keji dealt with it. He liked Pokémon, but Ben seemed to only use them for their bragging rights. Finally, Keji couldn't take it anymore.
"Listen, Pokémon aren't just..." He was cut off in mid sentence by Ben's hand in his face. Keji glared at Ben as he noticed he was avidly listening to the forest.
"There is a Pokémon near here." Ben said, smiling. Keji smiled too, finally, more than just bragging, he would see a real Pokémon battle close up!
Ben took off quickly through the forest, before Keji could react. Keji followed the best he could, and arrived on the scene, just as Ben grabbed his pokéball, and expanded it to the size of his palm, and yelled:
"Zubat, I choose you!" he threw the ball, and it flipped open, shooting forth a bolt of energy that assumed the shape of a small bat like Pokémon, known as Zubat. Keji scanned the area for Ben's enemy, but saw no one. He looked back to Ben, who was standing in silence, motionless.
"Where..." Keji began, but was quickly hushed.
"An Oddish, buried in the sand, see it's plumage, there?" He replied, pointing to a tuft of ferns in the middle of the clearing they occupied. Keji saw only ferns, and sighed, wondering how he got paired up with a nitwit like this.
"ZUBAT, SUPERSONIC ATTACK, NOW!" Ben yelled, making Keji jump.
"Great, now he's attacking a fern." Keji muttered, as Zubat opened it's mouth, releasing a high pitched squeal. Keji was astonished to see a small, blue tinted Pokémon emerge from the soil, spinning and twirling, dazed by the sudden burst of noise. Ben laughed at the sight, and continued ushering orders to his battle ready Pokémon.
"ZUBAT WING ATTACK!" The Zubat reacted quickly, diving at the Oddish with amazing speed. The Oddish, still confused by the first attack, was caught completely by surprise, and blown back by the force of the Zubat's wings colliding with it.
"That's the way, Zubat!" Ben yelled. Keji looked worried, Ben didn't seem to be getting a pokéball ready to capture the Oddish. "Finish it with a BITE!" Ben yelled.
"No!" Keji yelled, causing the Zubat to stop in mid swoop.
"How dare you listen to him and not me!" Ben yelled, angrily, glaring at Keji, "Bad Zubat! BITE!"
"NO!" Keji yelled again, switching glances between Ben, the Zubat, and the battered Oddish. "Aren't you going to catch it?"
"No way," Ben snapped, "That Oddish is worthless, only the best for the best Pokémon trainer alive."
"But, why not just catch it, you are a Pokémon trainer, this is a Pokémon." Keji pleaded.
"Ha!" Ben laughed, "That Oddish is probably the weakest alive, I could easily catch a better one." Ben sighed, "And besides, how can you actually believe you can give me orders? You don't even have any Pokémon."
"Well, I... I..." Stuttered Keji, looking to the ground. The Oddish groaned a little bit, pleading to the Zubat to leave it alone. The Zubat laughed a bit, and began fluttering back and forth, waiting for orders.
"Alright... ZUBAT BITE!" Ben tried again.
"NO!" Keji yelled again, and the Zubat screeched angrily.
"STOP IT! That Oddish is weakening the Gene pool, if it breeds, it'll have weak children, call it survival of the fittest." Ben said, quite flustered.
"Let me take care of it." Keji blurted out, surprising himself.
"You?!" Ben said, laughing.
"Yes me!"
"But you have no Pokéballs!" Ben said. Zubat fluttered to the ground in boredom.
"What do you have to lose? Save your Pokémon's strength for a tougher battle." Keji pleaded, hoping Ben would listen.
"Fine, I guess, that thing isn't worth saving, but, eh, whatever." Oddish looked up, and painfully opened it's eye lid.
"dish..." Oddish said, weakly, and let it's head fall back to the ground.
"Well, it doesn't look like it has much time left, but, whatever, take care of the stupid, wussy little thing." Ben said, throwing his arms up in exasperation. Keji quickly scooped up the little Pokémon, no more than a foot tall, and noted how light it was. Ben laughed.
"I relinquish my protection, you had better get back to Cerulean and care for the stupid thing, or it'll die, not that I care, mind you." Ben said, smiling, as he began walking away. Zubat flittered up, and perched on his shoulder, and resumed his slumber. Keji growled, but, remembering the precious cargo, began to run back to Cerulean city. Ben and Keji had come about seven miles out before the encounter, and it would take Keji nearly an hour to cover that distance, if he ran the whole way.
"I'll do it for you, little one." He said, and hastened his pace back to Cerulean city. Passing groups of Mankey swinging from trees, Pidgeys and Spearows fighting over a freshly killed Caterpie, and other common sights of the forest, which, under any other circumstances, would be interesting to Keji, but he had better things to do now.
"Hang on, Oddish." he said, desperately, his every though praying for the creature's safety. making a wrong turn, he stumbled on a rock, and began to tumble down a steep, rocky hill. His limbs flailed aside, and his pack opened, spilling it's contents. At the bottom, he slowly rose to his feet and saw Oddish sprawled out, a couple feet from him, still breathing, yet very shallowly.
"I'm sorry." he said, limping to him, "I guess I'm not cut out for saving any..." his sentence was cut off by a flow of tears and a choking sob. The Oddish heard this, and weakly rolled onto it's back, and gazed at Keji.
"Oddish..." it said weakly, and smiled. Keji found himself smiling back.
"Don't you leave me..." He said, tears still flowing from his eyes, and he picked up Oddish, and ran, ignoring his painful, bleeding leg. As near as he figured it, he was a good two miles from home, still, and he found himself surprised to think of it as home. He found himself more surprised, and alarmed, at the growing buzzing sound behind him, a sound he recognized quite well from one of only three losses he witnessed at Misty's gym.
It was a year ago, and a tall, spindly looking man wearing black clothes and a large brimmed hat that challenged the water gym trainer that day. As is customary, Misty accepted, and, obviously, started with Staryu. This amazing trainer started with...
"BEEDRILLS!" Keji screamed, and sped up his run as a swarm of the bee like Pokémon burst from the brush and trees, which were getting more and more sparse as he approached town. One of the closest dove at him, swinging it's sharp stinger, and ripping his shirt sleeve, but, thankfully, nothing else. Oddish squirmed weakly, and Keji knew that he would be unable to make it back to town carrying Oddish with a wounded leg, let alone chased by Beedrills. He was about to collapse when Oddish squirmed again, and he knew he had to keep going.
"Nothing's gonna stop me, you stupid bugs!" He yelled, ducking under one of them as it dove for his head. The buzzing increased as more burst from the trees and brush. Keji saw a tall building in the distance.
"Cerulean!" He yelled happily, as he pulled closer and closer to the town, the Beedrill began to pull back, buzzing angrily at their lost prey. A few made a last futile dive at Keji, yet only managed to rip his clothes more, before taking flight with the rest of them. Keji smiled at his conquest, and made a mental note to kiss the man who built the Pokécenter, a hospital for Pokémon, on the edge of town.
Keji never had any reason to enter the Pokécenter, in fact, he was never allowed in, Nurse Joy, the lovely, pink haired nurse in charge of Pokémon, said it would be a distraction to the trainers and the nurses. Keji never really cared, he was just happy to watch Misty's Pokémon battles. But now, he had a real reason to enter.
"Help!" He screamed when he entered, as loud as his lungs would allow after running that distance. Nurse Joy burst through the door a moment later, pink plastic gloves on, a rolling stretcher, and everything, followed by her faithful Chansey. The three or so Pokémon trainers resting after their lengthy journeys looked to Keji.
"What happened?" Nurse Joy asked, angrily.
"...Battle... Oddish... Beedrill..." Keji gasped for air.
"Well, you should be ashamed of putting your Pokémon through whatever put it in this condition," Nurse Joy said, shaking her finger at Keji, as one of the Chansey effortlessly lifted Oddish onto the stretcher, "but don't worry, it's in the best of care."
"It's not... "Keji began, but couldn't find the breath to finish the sentence before Nurse Joy rushed out of the room with Oddish. Keji fell to the ground, quite uncomfortably, and attempted to gain his breath. Thankfully he saw a couch, and decided that it would be quite a bit more comfortable than the floor. he looked down to his leg. His pants were stained red from the blood of his wound, and his leg throbbed with every passing moment. He leaned back, and tried to relax.
"I thought I'd find you here!" a familiar, yet not welcome voice shattered the silence of the center. The Pokémon trainers again looked to Keji. It was, of course, Miss Littlum. Keji was shocked at her appearance, and was unable to find the words to say to her.
"Look at you!" She said, with a bit of surprising worry in her voice. "You're a mess, now get back to the Orphanage!" Keji felt something inside him snap. He had been through a lot in the past few hours, and he wasn't willing to take this. He felt like he could explode, in anger he glared at her, his eyes flashing bloody murder...
"Go away." What? That's it?
"How dare you talk to me in that tone, young man!" Miss Littlum said... ahem... though Keji's tone was rather unemotional.
"I'm not going back there, I'm fifteen, I'm an adult." He said, still unemotionally, "I can take care of myself."
"Oh it certainly looks like it." She said, looking at his torn clothes, and battered body. Nurse Joy chose that moment to step into the lobby of the center, and looked strait at Keji.
"Your Oddish is resting now, he'll be fine in a matter of hours."
"What?" Miss Littlum said, astonished, "Odd...ish?"
"Yes, ma'am" Nurse Joy replied, perkily, "it's a plant Pokémon, this young man battled it near to exhaustion."
"IT'S NOT MINE!" Keji yelled, ah there's the outburst, and long overdo if you ask me. Both of the ladies looked at him.
"Look, I'm a loser, I could never catch a Pokémon by myself, someone else nearly killed it for no reason, and I saved it," he said, glaring at Joy, who bowed her head, apologetically, "and as for you," he said, glaring to Miss Littlum, "I am not your son, thank god, and you cannot tell me what to do," he began to leave the Pokémon center, "I have traveled through the woods, put up with an arrogant slob, got my head chewed off for being a nice guy, ran several miles with a Pokémon I saved, fell down a hill, got chased by a swarm of Beedrills, and now you want me to go back to that hellhole?!" Miss Littlum shrunk back, never in her seventy eight years had she ever been talked back to like that. Keji nodded to accent his speech, and left the center, followed by a rage of applause from the trainers, and even Nurse Joy. Ms Littlum was so stunned, she couldn't move.
Keji didn't look back. He began to walk back to the forest.
"Maybe I can get some of my stuff back from that stupid hill."
From a window on the Pokémon center, two half opened eyes saw Keji leave the center, and begin out into the woods. The Oddish that these eyes belonged to sat up on it's bed and quickly dashed out the door, with surprising guile and strength for it's condition.
"Stupid Mankeys." Keji said, angrily, picking up the things he had gotten from the monkey like Pokémon he scared away when he arrived at the sight of his accident. Luckily, none of the things were missing, or damaged, the food was even whole. It was well past five o'clock when he reached the sight at the pace he was forced to travel. After he recovered his things he sprawled out on the ground.
"What a crappy day." He said. All of a sudden, he felt something brush past his leg, he leapt to his feet, and screamed in pain. "Who's there?" he yelled from the ground after he fell again.
"Oddish."
"Huh?"
"Odd... Oddish!" A happy Oddish burst from a bush, and snuggled against Keji's leg.
"Hey!" Keji exclaimed, "you should be in bed, you silly Oddish, I'd hate to run you back to Cerulean city."
"Oddish." The Oddish smiled and began to jump up and down.
"You seem alright," Keji said, smiling weakly, "I suppose you should go into the forest now."
"Odd... Odd... dish, Oddish!" It said, shaking it's head (which happened to be it's entire body).
"huh?" Keji scratched his head.
"Odd!" It said, snuggling against Keji's leg again.
"What? Do you want to come with me?" Keji asked, astonished. Oddish nodded it's head. Keji smiled broadly. "You mean, you wanna be my Pokémon?!" Oddish nodded again. Keji jumped to his feet again happily, ignoring the pain in this momentous occasion. Oddish followed in suit. Keji leaned over, and hugged Oddish happily. "I promise I'll take good care of you, Oddish!" He reached down, picked up the Oddish, and hugged him lovingly. The Oddish then bounded from his grasp, and landed on Keji's shoulders, and settled there, quite comfortably. Keji noted again how light he little creature was, and adjusted his backpack accordingly.
"Dish, Oddish!" The Oddish exclaimed happily.
"I suppose we need to go all the way back to Cerulean city to get some Pokéballs, and my Pokémon license, eh?" Oddish nodded. "You're not gonna rest until I collapse, are you?"
"Oddish!" The Oddish laughed, and bounced a little on Keji's back.
"Thanks a lot pal." Keji said, sarcastically.
The sun set on our two new friends as they made their ways back to Cerulean city, only now, Keji and Oddish's ways were exactly the same. Isn't it funny how fate can take your life in funny directions? Oh well, Keji, at least you don't have to keep talking into no one in particular.