C
oren Silmon sat down the school bus seat. A blonde haired girl flopped down beside him. She sighed."What's the matter, Aleena?" asked Coren.
"I just hope Damien and his gang aren't going to give us to much trouble today."
"We're going on a field trip to see fossils, how much trouble can they give us?"
"I don't know, but they're gloating enough back there that I wouldn't count on them being friendly today."
"Friendly? Them? Are they ever?"
Aleena laughed, "No, Not really. They're much to concerned with being Pokemon masters."
The bus stopped in front of a Poke-Center at the bottom of a rocky hill. As they got off Damien gave Coren a smug smile. Coren ignored him, and looked around. There was a forest that looked swampy, and a lot of the trees appeared dead.
The children went inside and their teacher, Miss Drinkwell, led them to a room with Pokemon fossils and bones in it.
"Now class, I want you to behave for Miss Norten." Miss Drinkwell led every-body over to a desk, which had papers and pamphlets on it. Sitting behind the desk was a lady with long black hair, tied back in a pony tail.
"Welcome to the Fossil Valley Museum of Pokemon." said the lady behind the counter, "I am Miss Norten. I will be your guide today. Please follow me."
Miss Norten talked about "Extinct" Pokemon (like Omanyte, Kabuto and Aerodactyl), while she led the class around the exhibits.
"And this," said Ms.Norten, leading them to a fossil in a fancy glass cage, "is a fossil of the ancient Mew. It is the most complete fossil of Mew that has been found. We've had many expensive offers for it, but have no intention of selling it.
"At the base of the fossil are some stone tablets that have some pictures that are probably similar to what Mew actually looked like."
"What does how it looked matter?" muttered Damien to a red haired boy standing next to him, "What matters is it's power, and if it's powerful, how we can get a live one."
Coren overheard this and said, "You'd only want to bring Mew back if it fought well. You don't care at all about the Pokemon themselves, you just want fame and glory!"
"What else would I want them for?" Damien asked in a bored tone of voice.
Coren growled at him, but before he could reply, Miss Norten said in a loud voice, "If those of you who are talking would wait just a moment, my speech will be done and then you can talk."
After Miss Norten finished her speech, Miss Drinkwell had an announcement to make, "You will have half an hour to talk with your friends and explore the country around this Poke-Center. Since it is surrounded by a lot of wilderness, those of you who want to go exploring are to pair into groups of four. Now who wants to go?" she asked. Most of the kids wanted to.
"Alright then, I will be choosing who is to go in which group."
The class groaned.
Miss Drinkwell raised her eyebrows. "I want there to be a responsible person in each group." Coren could have sworn that she looked at Damien and his gang.
"Now in group A will be..." and she started naming off kids that would be in groups A through to C.
"In group D will be Darren, Aleena, Evan and Bobby" Coren wasn't pleased by the set up and he wasn't the only one.
"That's not fare!" shouted Evan, "I want to be in the same group as Damien!"
"If you don't want to travel in group D, then you may stay here. Otherwise don't complain, it is not befitting of a future Pokemon trainer," said Miss Drinkwell. Evan fell silent, but his face looked sulky.
Aleena has more of a reason to be sulky then he does,
thought Coren, he's got to be one of the most annoying kids in the world. And Darren! Why on earth does someone who's so good with Pokemon spend so much time with someone like Damien, who's so bad with them? While Coren had been thinking about team "D" Miss Drinkwell had been calling out who would be on team "E"."Coren. On team-" Miss Drinkwell was saying.
"Huh-wha, what?" asked Coren. The red haired boy exchanged smirks with Damien.
Miss Drinkwell raised her eyebrows at Coren, "I said that you were on team E, now please join the line by the door, with the rest of group E."
"Uhh..." said Coren looking around and at the line.
Miss Drinkwell sighed and said, "Your group members are Tyler, Damien and Alec."
Coren's jaw dropped. He quickly closed his mouth. I'm paired with Damien! I'm supposed to explore with him and Alec! I'll be too busy looking dealing with them to enjoy it! Not that I could enjoy doing anything with Damien or Alec, except maybe wiping that stupid smug expression off their faces.
Once outside Damien took charge. "Okay, let's go check out that forest." Coren, not having any better ideas followed Damien and the other two into the forest.
Alec, the red haired boy and Damien walked together, while Tyler fell back and walked with Coren, who was loath to go anywhere with Damien or Alec.
"Those fossils where pretty cool, huh? I bet that Mew was pretty powerful. Everyone who knows anything about it makes a big deal of it." said Tyler.
"Hah! They think that anything cute and collectable is a big deal." said Alec.
"A lot of people value strange things." Damien said.
"You should talk!" exclaimed Coren, "You don't necessarily have unusual values, but you do have bad ones!"
Alec snorted. "He's not a weakling who hasn't even managed to catch any Pokemon yet!"
"I may not have any Pokemon, but that's because I haven't tried to catch any yet and I don't have time to take proper care of them. Not that that stops some people from catching them anyway." said Coren, glaring at Alec.
"Are you suggesting that I don't have time to properly care for my Pokemon?"
"No, you don't take care of your Pokemon at all."
"I do too! Just because I don't fuss and cry over them doesn't mean I don't take care of them! In fact it's a good thing you don't have Pokemon, it'd be a waste of an able bodied Pokemon. Since I don't baby my Pokemon it makes them stronger." said Alec.
"Stronger!?! Yeah right, if you beat your Pokemon into submission they'll roll over for anybody, including your opponent's Pokemon!" said Coren.
"I don't beat my Pokemon! And what's more is they're loyal to me! And only Me!" shouted Alec.
"I doubt that. But if you're supposed to be such a good trainer then how come you've only got Bug type Pokemon."
"Because they're the best!"
Tyler stood nearby, watching concernedly, but Damien just stood with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Any real Pokemon trainer knows that you've got have a variety of types on your team or it will be weak!" said Coren.
"Oh Yeah!? My team's not weak, it's strong! In fact I'll show you just how strong my team is!" shouted Alec, and he pulled a Poke-ball out of his pocket. Coren's eye's widened in surprise.
Alec pressed the release button on the Poke-ball and a level 12 female Beedrill came out.
"Beedrill use String Shot!" Alec yelled. Beedrill shot a sticky string into the air. Coren inhaled sharply as it flew over his shoulder.
"Beedrill use Poison Sting!" Alec commanded. Beedrill flew past Coren. Coren spun around to see what Beedrill was attacking.
A level 5 wild female Rattata was crouching at the base of a tree. Beedrill used her stinger to hit the Rattata. The Rattata squeaked and whipped her tail at Beedrill, lowering Beedrill's defense.
"Beedrill use Fury Attack!" said Alec. Beedrill buzzed forward and hit the Rattata five times with her bladed forearms. The Rattata was panting now, but she still had enough strength to tackle Beedrill. Beedrill, however, was not very fazed.
"Beedrill use Poison sting!" Alec said. Coren bit his lower lip as he watched the out matched Rattata get beat up. Beedrill hit the Rattata with her stinger.
"Beedrill use Fury attack!" Beedrill hit the Rattata with her blades twice, but she had no need to hit her after that, because the Rattata fainted.
"See Coren my Pokemon obey my commands completely, and Beedrill's really strong." said Alec, frowning at Coren.
Before Coren could reply, Damien said, "Alright everyone, let's get moving now."
"What about the Rattata?" asked Coren, "Are you going to just leave her there?"
"Oh come on Coren, everybody leaves the wild Pokemon lying around after knocking them out. She'll wake up and go on her way in a few minutes. It's the custom. I would think you, of all people, would rather that then having people capture Pokemon when they're down and can't defend themselves," said Damien. Coren frowned at Damien, but he knew that what Damien said was true.
Meanwhile Bobby, Evan, Darren and Aleena had entered the forest a little farther on then group "E" had. Group "D" had been walking for a while when they heard some odd noises.
"What was that!?" asked Bobby.
"What was what?" asked Aleena.
"Shh, listen." said Bobby. The others listened. They could hear shouts and Pokemon screeching.
"Alec!" exclaimed Evan, "That means that Damien should be over there too!" And with that Evan took off running into the woods in the direction of the sound.
"Evan!" Darren called. He looked at Aleena and Bobby, "It sounds like a Pokemon battle. There could be wild Pokemon there, so you two should probably wait here." Darren then ran into the woods following Evan and the Pokemon noises.
Coren crouched down next to the Rattata. Damien's right, it is customary to leave the Pokemon to recover in peace, but anything could happen to the Rattata while she's unconscious and she wouldn't be able to protect herself.
"I might not be able to take care of every unconscious Pokemon, but I'm going to protect this one." Coren said determinedly. He gently picked up the Rattata and stared defiantly at the group.
"Suit yourself." said Damien. Shrugging, he turned around and was about to walk off into the woods, when Evan came streaking into view.
"What the!?" exclaimed Damien as Evan, who couldn't stop running soon enough, knocked into him, and they both toppled to the ground.
"Evan, watch where you're going!" said Damien crossly, as he climbed to his feet.
"Sorry, Damien!" said Evan, as he too got to his feet.
Darren ran into view. He looked around, and seeing that Evan was there, sighed, "Evan you might as well stay with Damien and Alec, since it'd be almost impossible to tear you away and it's not worth the effort. Since my group is going to end-up a member short, one of you two can come with me." Darren turned to Coren and Tyler.
"I will!" said Tyler eagerly, "That is if you don't mind, Coren."
"Go ahead, I'm not afraid to stay with Damien, even if I don't particularly like the idea."
"Okay, good, ordinarily I wouldn't want to abandon you to them, but this opportunity to be in the same group as Darren and Aleena is just to good to miss! Not that I would leave if I thought that you couldn't handle being with Damien, but you're capable of taking care of yourself, right?" asked Tyler. Coren nodded.
"Alright then. Let's get back to the others." said Darren. Tyler nodded, waved to Coren, and followed Darren through the woods.
Damien, Alec, Evan and Coren continued onwards, deeper into the woods.
They came to the top of a hill that over-looked a valley. In the valley seemed to be a bunch of Bones and/or fossils.
"This must be where they got all of those fossils and bones in the museum." said Damien.
"I wonder if there are any Pokemon down there?" said Alec.
"I don't know, but if there are, then there might be some powerful Pokemon like Mew down there." said Damien.
"Well there's only one way to find out," said Alec, "Hey Coren, since you don't have any Pokemon besides that silly Rattata that you're carrying, perhaps you would like to go look for some... Unless, of course, you're too scared to go."
"I'm not afraid of wild Pokemon or a bunch of bones," said Coren, "I'll go down there, especially since it seems like you would feel safer if someone else went first."
"I would Not! I'm not afraid of going down there!" exclaimed Alec, but Coren was already striding down into the valley.
Coren walked along a path that led through piles of bones. I wonder why this place is like this? Thought Coren, it doesn't seem quite natural. I mean, in nature bones usually biodegrade or something over time, they get eaten away at by the weather and certain types of Pokemon.
Coren was walking along when he heard a rattling noise. He stopped and looked around, but he couldn't see what was making the noise.
Coren heard a whooshing noise, as if something was flying through the air. Before he could identify the source of the noise, something hit him in the back of his head. He fell forward, his vision going black, and he slipped into unconsciousness.
Coren felt something tickling his cheek. He moaned, and heard something squeak.
His head hurt. So did his back. He opened his eyes. He was lay sprawled on his back, staring up into a dark, starry sky. There were also bars about five feet over his head, which looked like they were made out of rough bone.
Coren cautiously sat up, and as he did so, he realized that part of the reason why his back hurt was probably because he had been lying on his backpack.
He looked around. He was in a cage made out of bones, with a dirt floor. In a corner of the cage was what must have squeaked. It was the Rattata that Coren had been carrying around after Beedrill had knocked her unconscious.
"Hello there," said Coren, in a soothing voice, "It's alright, you don't have to be afraid of me." The Rattata looked at him cautiously. Her whiskers twitched. Coren slowly reached out his hand, near to where the Rattata was. Very cautiously she stepped forward and sniffed his hand. She jumped back and looked at him.
"Hey, it's all right. I won't hurt you." Coren told her. Cautiously she stepped forward and sniffed his hand again. Coren's stomach gurgled and the Rattata jumped away again. Boy I'm hungry, thought Coren, but come to think of it, it is dark out which means that it's night time, so I haven't eaten in a while. Hey! Since I never got around to eating lunch, I should still have my lunch' in my backpack. Hmmm. Maybe I should try to eat sparingly, after all, I don't know how long I'm going to be stuck in here. Oh well, one thing at a time. I'm hungry and I want to make friends with this Pokemon, maybe she'll eat some of my food! And besides this cage doesn't look all that strong.
Coren slowly (so that he wouldn't startle the Rattata) pulled his hand back to him. He then shrugged his backpack off and searched around inside it. Let's see now... my notebook for the field trip, that's a laugh, this has got to be one of the strangest field trips I've ever been on. My math book, my history book, my geography book, "The Red Gyarados of the Lake of Rage" (Great book)... Hmmm. Ah, here we go, my lunch box. Coren pulled his lunch box out of his backpack. His lunch box had a picture of "The Eevee Force" on it. The Eevee force is so cool.
The Eevee Force was a very popular cartoon show starring (Can you guess?) "The Eevee Force"! The Eevee Force is a team that consists of: Vee a female Eevee, Vapor a male Vaporeon, Lightning a female Jolteon, and Flare a male Flareon.
Vapor is so
Awesome. And Vee is cool too, and so is Lightning...aww what am I talking about, they're all cool, thought Coren.In the show the Eevee Force Pokemon can talk, and they fight to protect the world. The show was popular enough that there were lots of toys and accessories, a Comic series, and a book series. There was even a movie coming out in about a year, which Coren wanted to see.
Coren opened his lunch box and surveyed the contents. A peanut butter and jelly sand-which, an apple, a bag of three home made chocolate chip cookies, a brownie and his thermos which had apple juice in it. I wonder what the Rattata would eat?
Coren took out his sand-which, which was cut into two triangles, and broke a triangle in half. He held out the quarter-piece to the Rattata.
"Here, do you want this? It's okay for you to eat, I wouldn't hurt you." Coren said in a quiet voice. The Rattata sniffed at the piece of sandwich. Coren slowly set it down on the ground. The Rattata cautiously nibbled on the piece. She then tore a chunk off with her teeth and used her front feet to hold the chunk wile she ate it. Coren chuckled quietly. He then started eating his own Quarter.
And so they ate, sharing Coren's "lunch". Coren had half of the sandwich, one of the cookies, and half of the brownie. He set a cookie and a fourth of the Brownie on the ground beside the quarter of the sandwich, next to the Rattata who sat working her way through the food.
"Quite a fancy meal for a wild Pokemon huh?" said Coren. He drank some of the juice and then pored some into the cap and set it with the rest of the food that he had put down for the Rattata.
"I need a name that I can call you," said Coren, looking at the Rattata.
"Let's see, you're small, but courageous. And you're quite cute." said Coren as he watched the Rattata delicately eating the food that he had set out for her. Suddenly she stopped eating and went over to the thermos cap. She sniffed delicately at the juice. She licked the juice cautiously, and then started eagerly lapping it up. Coren laughed. The Rattata looked up at him, her brown eyes sparkling, and her whiskers twitching.
"I guess you like the juice huh?" said Coren, "So what do I call you?" The Rattata tilted her head to her left.
"Hmmm... How about Tina? Can I call you Tina?" asked Coren. "Tina" cocked her head to her right this time.
Coren laughed, "Tina?" The Rattata bobbed her head.
"Tina it is then!" said Coren.
A little while after Coren and Tina had finished their meal, they heard a rattle as something moved in the bones outside the cage. Tina and Coren spun in the direction of the sound. A Cubone was walking towards them, followed by a Gastly and a Haunter. Tina, much to Coren's amazement, and surprised gratification, jumped into his lap and crouched, peeking out over Coren's left arm. (the side that the strange Pokemon were on.) Coren used his right hand to stroke Tina on the head, and then put his arm gently over her, in a protective gesture.
The three Pokemon stopped near the cage. The Gastly floated ahead of the other three and materialized into a little girl.
"I am Hazy." spoke the girl/Gastly. "Cue, the Cubone standing beside me, has claimed this bone yard as his own and guards it from intruders. Normally he just chases away intruders, but since you had a Pokemon with you, outside of its ball, we are curious about you.
"Why do you allow your Pokemon to walk free, instead of putting her in her ball?" asked Hazy.
"Actually Tina's not mine, she's a wild Pokemon who was knocked unconscious by a trainer's Pokemon. Since she couldn't protect herself from anything while she was unconscious I decided to carry her until she woke up." explained Coren.
"And what do you intend to do with her now that she has woken up?" asked Hazy.
"Well, I'll let her go of course. I'd like to be her friend, but I'm not going to try to keep her in captivity." said Coren. Hazy said something that Coren could not understand. Tina sat up and answered in the similar, odd sound.
Hazy opened the cage, "You may go now, Cue will escort you to the edge of the Bone-yard."
Coren stood up, repacked his back-pack and put it on. Cue turned and walked along a path. Coren started to follow, but glanced behind him and saw Tina running off in a different direction.
"Good-by Tina!" Coren called. Tina paused and looked at Coren, she then ran out of sight.
Hazy and the Haunter headed in a third direction. Coren turned back towards Cue, who was waiting for him. Coren followed Cue to the end of the Bone-yard.
Now what?
thought Coren, I don't know what direction home is in. Well I guess that I'll just have to head in one direction and hope it's the right one. If I keep going in one direction then I ought to get somewhere other then this forest, and if I can reach populated areas then I should be able to ask for directions and find my way home.Coren walked through the woods until the sky started to become light and the stars started to fade. He sat down on the ground, beneath a tree. Coren took off his back-pack, and took out his lunch box. He drank some of his apple juice and had the rest of the brownie and the last cookie. Boy, I sure am tired. Well I guess that I might as well take a quick nap. Coren put away his lunch box and laid down. Within minutes he had fallen asleep.
Coren could feel the sun shining down on him. He gave a soft moan, yawned, and rolled over. He felt dried leaves and pine needles touch his cheek. Coren opened his eyes. He was laying in a forest, with trees all around him.
That's strange,
thought Coren, trees? Suddenly the previous day's events came back to Coren. He sat up and looked around. Oh no, how am I supposed to get home now? He looked at his wrist watch, 1:00. One o clock! That means that it's already late in the after noon! I've been gone for the entire night and almost an entire day, at least if you count the time starting around that crazy field trip! Mom and Dad must be looking for me by now, but would they know where to look? Surely the teacher would have noticed that I was missing. Damien! I wonder if they would have bothered to tell anyone where I disappeared?I don't know what to do... I suppose I might as well keep going in the same direction. I just wish that I knew what the quickest way is. And come to think of it, which way was I heading!?
After looking around him for a moment, Coren recognized a fallen tree. He was then able to figure out which way he wanted to go.Coren got out his lunch box and ate the fourth of the sandwich. He then drank some more of his juice. I'm almost out of food, and I don't have much juice left! I sure hope I find my way out of here soon. Coren put away his lunch box, stood up and put on his back-pack. He set off through the woods.
As he walked Coren checked his watch, 1:15... 1:25... 1:43... 2:00.
Shortly after Two o clock, Coren was walking along when he heard a shrieking coming from his left. He instinctively ran towards it, to find out what was making the noise and why.
As Coren got nearer to the sound he saw a flock of Spearows flying around something on the ground. So they're the ones who're making that noise. But Why?
A few of the Spearows were pecking at the object on the ground. As Coren walked towards them, the Spearows fluttered out of his way. That was when Coren caught sight of what they were pecking at.
"Tina!" Coren shouted.
Author's note: Cruel place to leave off, isn't it? Don't worry, I have the next chapter written, I've just got to finish revising it.
As always, reviews are much appreciated.
