Ah, this two-in-one-day update reminds me of the summer, when I had all the time in the world to do this. But this was almost done when I put chapter one up, ahaha.
Um, there will be a bit of cursing. Just one word every chapter or so, probably. I don't want to use it too much. But, I like I said, this is life.
I debated putting the different nationalities in here, with the pokemon universe, but then I figured the other countries still exist, even if this takes place in the Kanto region of Japan. So I did.
Ludwig's Party:
Charmander, Lvl. 7
Pidgey: Lvl. 3
The Viridian Forest. The trees loomed high overhead, the thick green canopy allowing the barest minimum light through to the forest floor. There was even a sort of unnerving silence draped over the place; a sharp contrast to Viridian City that lay behind him.
Viridian City was a nice city, and Ludwig was happy to explore it for a while. His grandfather had taken him and Gilbert there several times before, using repellant to keep the pokémon away. In his old age, Ludwig's grandfather wasn't much of the trainer he used to be.
The mart was the same as always, with the same people wandering the few shelves of the store, only a little older. Some of them recognized Ludwig and stopped to chat a bit. Many remarked on the similarities between Ludwig and his grandfather, from their appearances to personalities. He listened politely to anyone who bothered to talk to him, although he probably wasn't very good conversation.
He had stayed the night at the Pokémon Center there. His charmander wasn't hurt, but night was approaching fast by the time he began to grow bored of the peaceful buzz of life. The next morning, he went west of the town.
A man stopped him as he started up the path. "Hello, there, are you a trainer?" he said pleasantly.
Ludwig looked the man up and down. It was a large, shorter man with a bald head, save for two tufts of white hair on either side of his head. "Ja, I am," he confirmed quietly, his hand hovering over charmander's pokéball.
The man noticed the way Ludwig tensed up. He stepped back. "Oh, no no, I'm not a trainer!" he said, waving his hands disarmingly. "I was just asking if you were, is all!"
He regarded the man with suspicion. "What's it to you?" he asked.
"Well, have you collected all eight badges by now?" the man asked.
Ludwig shook his head. "No. I've just started," he replied.
The man nodded. "I thought so. You're probably lost. West of Viridian City is Victory Road, and you can't get in without all eight badges."
Ludwig remained silent, digesting this information. He looked up the path, over the mountains. Somewhere past the twisting roads was the Elite Four, the ultimate challenge for a trainer.
"Now that you mention it, I remember my grandfather telling me that the Elite Four resided very close to Viridian City," Ludwig said thoughtfully after a long pause.
The man nodded again. "Well, you should try going north instead. That way is Viridian Forest, and Pewter City is just beyond that."
Ludwig nodded. "Thank you very much, sir," he said gratefully.
"No problem. You should probably get a Town Map if you're wandering around Kanto. It'll help a lot."
"Will do," Ludwig told him, now eager to leave the man's company and get going. He wasn't inclined to spend the night in any kind of forest.
"Good. Well then…" The man began to turn around, but then stopped. "Wait, if you're a new trainer, then I don't suppose you know how to catch pokémon, do you?"
Ludwig's eye twitched. Did this man think he was stupid or something? Catching a pokémon was the easiest thing in the world to do. "I know how to catch a pokémon," he said, barely masking his annoyance.
The man looked surprised. "Oh, you do? Well, I could have shown you how, but if you really don't want my help…" He still didn't sound too convinced.
Sighing heavily, Ludwig looked around. He spotted a pidgey a little ways off, pecking at the grass. "Watch, I'll show you."
He reached into his bag and pulled out a pokéball and his pokédex. The latter told him that the pokémon was weak, only level three. No need to weaken it further. He enlarged the empty capsule and threw it. Just as he expected, the pidgey didn't put up much of a fight. A couple shakes and the pokéball sealed.
"See? I'm fine," Ludwig said after he had retrieved the pokéball.
The man nodded, looking disappointed. "I see then, I'll be off. Bye." And with that, he slunk off.
Which led up to Ludwig standing at the entrance gate to the Viridian Forest with a weak little pidgey in a capsule attached to his belt. The whole affair had been frustrating. First some man comes around acting like he was stupid, and then he wasted a pokéball on some weak bird pokémon. Furthermore, the Viridian City gym had been closed down when he went to check it out.
"Unacceptable," he muttered to himself as he entered the building where people could rest before striking off into the formidable forest.
He paused to buy a Town Map from the man working at the little souvenir stand, along with a postcard. There was a peaceful picture of Viridian City on it. He wrote a short note to his grandfather.
Großvater,
I realize that it is a little early for me to be writing, since I just left yesterday, but I thought you may enjoy the picture of this postcard. I chose a charmander as my partner, and I also have a pidgey now. I hope things are going well at home.
Also, the fencing around one of the fields is broken. There is a fairly large gap at the bottom. I saw a pidgey stealing tomatoes as well.
Most sincerely,
Ludwig
Ludwig dropped the postcard into the mailbox. These entrance buildings were rather convenient, with various items for passing trainers, although there weren't nearly as many items as in a Pokémart.
Not wanting to waste any more time, he left, entering the dark gloom of the Viridian Forest.
It was too quiet for his tastes. His throat felt tight, making him doubt his ability to talk in this silent place. Yet, even with the oppressive silence, there was a high pitched buzz of bug pokémon in the background that got on his nerves. Ludwig walked quickly, wanting to get out of this horrible place as quickly as possible.
"Hey, you!" someone called out.
Ludwig looked over to see a small boy pushing his way out of the tall grass. He wore shorts that were much too small and a hat that was much too big. In his hands he held an overly large net, and at his waist was a fanny pack.
"What is it?" he asked, not in the mood to deal with anyone else for a long time.
"You're a trainer, right? I challenge you to a battle!" the boy said. He couldn't have been more than ten.
Ludwig lips stretched into a too-wide smile, his eyes excited. "I accept your challenge," he said, taking the first ball off of his belt. His charmander's pokéball.
The boy unzipped the fanny pack and shoved his hand inside. He pulled out a pokéball and threw it. "Go, Caterpie!" he cried.
Ludwig rolled his eyes. This boy was too loud for a quiet forest. He released his charmander without a word. She whipped her tail, the flames at the end coming dangerously close to the plants.
"Watch it. We're in a forest," Ludwig commanded. She gave him a flat look, not amused by the obvious statement he made.
"Caterpie, string shot!" the boy cried out.
The charmander turned just in time to leap out of the way as the sticky webbing flew at her. She landed on her feet, claws digging into the dirt.
"Good, scratch it," Ludwig said.
She rushed forward to do as Ludwig commanded. The caterpie jumped (or at least, it jumped as well as a bug with tiny feet could jump), and tried to move out of the way. It was too slow as the charmander's claws hit it directly, cutting deep.
"Come on, you've got this!" the boy cried out to his pokémon.
The boy's shout's seemed to amuse the fire-type. She didn't give the caterpie time to react, and continued hitting it again and again, until the little thing couldn't even attempt to escape her merciless attacks.
When the boy saw this, he gasped. "Drat! Return, Caterpie!" he cried, recalling his pokémon back into its ball. "Let's try you, Weedle!"
Ludwig saw, with annoyance, that the boy had chosen another pokémon. Apparently, he was too young to realize that they were on two very different levels. No matter. His charmander could always use the experience.
"Scratch this one, too, but try not to get yourself poisoned," he told her.
"Char!" she confirmed, the tone of that single syllable trembling with the absolute excitement the charmander felt.
The charmander threw herself into a short scuffle with the weedle. She scratched furiously at the pokémon and jumped away to avoid the poisonous sting, then rushed back in. Once, the stinger stuck her skin, but thankfully the weedle didn't inject enough to poison her. After that, it wasn't long before the weedle was knocked out, just like the caterpie.
"Uwaah, you jerk! Those were my precious pokémon!" the boy shouted after he'd recalled the weedle.
Ludwig shrugged, returning his own pokémon to her capsule. "Then you shouldn't challenge other trainers," he said simply.
"Jerk, jerk, jerk!" the boy shouted at him. He stopped suddenly when Ludwig held an open palm out to him. "Wh-what is it?"
"Prize money. That is the custom, is it not?" Ludwig pointed out.
The boy flushed a bright red from indignation. Obviously, he hadn't thought it was possible for him to lose. Which was silly, since everyone lost once in a while.
"Fine! Here's your stupid money!" he shouted, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a fistful of paper bills. He shoved it into Ludwig's waiting hands. "I hope a swarm of beedrill ruins your adventure!"
Ludwig ignored him as the boy ran off, back into the tall grass. Instead, he busied himself with counting the money he had received. It only amounted to 100 poké.
He huffed in frustration. That was only enough money to cover the postcard he bought before coming into the forest. Definitely not worth the trouble of fighting the boy.
With a growing sense of annoyance, Ludwig hastily pocketed the money, too frustrated to properly fold and tuck it away, and recalled his charmander. With a quick look at the map, he set off in the way that he felt was north.
He walked for what felt like hours, without even running into any strong pokémon, although that was probably because they were all bugs and weak bird pokémon, and his charmander was strong. Still, with the amount of minor battles he engaged in, his charmander grew strong enough to use a fire move, albeit a weak ember. Still, it was better than a lizard that could only scratch and wag its tail.
After a while more of walking, Ludwig finally sat down to rest. He leaned back against the trunk of one of the many trees bordering the winding path he was following. His stomach growled in complaint, so he took out a bit of bread that he had stored in his bag. Nibbling at the bread, he leaned his head back and listened to the buzz of the forest, content.
Until the buzzing got louder, that is. At first, he ignored it, but as the volume steadily increased, almost indiscernibly, a high-pitched scream was added to the noise. And it was getting closer to him.
Ludwig opened his eyes, almost lazily, unwilling to move.
Not too far away, and rapidly approaching, was a huge swarm of beedrill, obviously angry and thirsting for revenge. Not too far ahead was a young man with a boyish appearance (if short-shorts and a sailor outfit were anything to go by) was running for his life, barely three strides in front of the beedrill. It was from him that the scream came from.
Ludwig leapt to his feet, alarmed. His charmander was strong, but there was no way she could take on an entire swarm of beedrill. He was about to run down the path when the stranger saw him.
"Hey! Stranger! Save meeeeeeee!" he screamed, picking up his pace. Ludwig didn't even have time to react before the man—a shorter brunette—launched himself at Ludwig, wrapping his arms around the German's neck.
Ludwig stumbled backward, nearly falling into the clump of bushes. "Scheiße! Let go of me!" he yelled, trying to pry the man's arms off of him.
It was no use, and the stranger held tight. "Save me! Save me! Save me!" he screamed into Ludwig's ear, making his head throb in pain.
With no more time to waste (the swarm getting closer every second), Ludwig turned away from the path and crashed through the foliage, zigzagging as well as he could with the thick growth and a man hanging around his neck. It worked somewhat, as he managed to increase the distance between him and the attacking beedrill.
Still, he needed to stop soon. He couldn't run forever, and he was sure that the beedrill all had plenty more stamina than he did.
The stranger didn't seem to be trying to come up with some kind of plan, wasting his time instead with burying his face in Ludwig's chest and whimpering. If the brunette's grip wasn't so inhumanly strong, he'd drop the man and run off on his own.
Fortune smiled on him, and Ludwig spotted a small pond. It was probably rather shallow, and none too clean as far as pond water went, but it would have to do. He just needed some water to get their bodies under so the swarm would go off somewhere else instead of bothering them.
So he adjusted his hold on the stranger, took a deep breath, and threw himself and the man into the murky water.
Ludwig just can't catch a break, huh? Hehehe.
Anyway, ciao~!
