Chapter 2 – Family
I felt an odd sensation trickle all over my body as if a soft wave reawakened me. Slowly, sounds began to come alive around me along with the feeling in my hands and legs. Once I felt that I was fully conscious, a swift burst of panic erupted in me and I sat up instantly while grabbing my throat. A coughing fit was there to greet me along with the realization that I was no longer drowning in the water.
"Weedle," A familiar voice broke the silence beside me.
I screamed as my body shot into a sitting position. I had forgotten what my situation was and why I was in this dreadful forest to begin with. Then slowly, a familiar voice broke through my doubts and fears like a poison sting flying through the air at high speeds.
A voice began to echo in my head…Irina…It brought back the moment she was taken from me.
The blur of everything in my mind, the slow echoes and quickly shattered darkness, all began to recede. I sighed as everything began to clear itself in my mind. My recollection of who this Weedle was had quickly processed in my mind and I responded to him with a quiet mutter and an apology at him for seeming so frightened earlier.
"Did you save me, Weedle?" I asked while trying to regain my composure.
Weedle simply shook its head and gestured to its family of Beedrills, Kakunas, and other pokemon of the same species as itself as they were flying, popping, and even crawling out of the bushes and trees. Almost systematically, they decided to surround me in what almost felt to me like a protective layer of comfort. It was the first time in a while that I felt the atmosphere of what a family was like and this impact made my mood rise a little bit.
"Weedle," I smiled at him and asked, "Did your family save me?"
Weedle bobbed its tiny head in a yes. He caught my attention by moving towards the bushes, it then used its String Shot to wrap something in the bushes and tug it out. When I crawled closer to Weedle to find out what he was doing, I saw my backpack on the ground before me. Immediately, I opened my bag and grabbed the pokeball that I had stolen earlier. With a silent prayer that there would be something inside it, I stood up and prepared myself to call the pokemon out.
"Now to see what pokemon I stole," I sighed as I commanded the pokemon to come out.
All the buzzing noises ceased and the forest seemed to fall deathly silent at the response of what was on the ground in front of us. My eyes were open as wide as I could ever make them as I slowly began rubbing them repeatedly in order to make sure that what was happening was real and not some kind of sick joke. A Magikarp was flapping its body wildly in front of us. I buried my face in my hands while uttering an "oh no". Out of all the bad things to happen. Weedle began rubbing itself beside my leg almost seeming to feel my pain. Every pokemon and the many trainers in the world knew that Magikarp was the weakest pokemon imaginable.
"I guess I should return it," I rubbed my forehead while trying to analyze the situation.
Magikarp kept flapping around until it managed to flop its big red-orange body onto my lap. It settled down in that very same place and I sighed. I can't return this pokemon back to Professor Elm's lab. There wasn't any starter trainer dumb enough to claim this pokemon to begin their journey with.
"Well," I sighed. "Magikarp, I'm your new trainer now."
"Karp," It responded cheerfully.
Weedle rubbed my leg and looked up at me. I stared down at him and began shaking my head.
"No, Weedle," I replied. "You can't come with me. Look at your family."
Weedle looked at me determinedly and I almost saw a piece of myself within those huge bulbous black eyes. I stood up while motioning to get out an empty pokeball. I could feel as if this was a time to put on battle music as Weedle and I stood still just staring at each other. Weedle wasn't going to let me capture it easily. Well, here goes!
"Magikarp!" I commanded. "Splash!"
Magikarp was already doing its "signature move" in front of our opponent even before I mentioned the command. How am I supposed to capture Weedle if all Magikarp does is flap around? Then the unexpected happened. Weedle noticed how stressed I was becoming and began to roll its yellow body around while bursting out in laughter. I felt the adrenaline rush through my veins. I was hoping that I had a chance to capture Weedle after all.
"Now tackle!" I yelled out.
Weedle stopped laughing and attempted to dodge the Tackle, however, it was too late. Magikarp's big red-orange body slammed into poor Weedle with the result of leaving him disoriented. I threw the pokeball at Weedle, watching anxiously as the pokeball began bobbing left to right with the middle button blinking red. Finally after a few moments, the pokeball ceased its movements and made a sound confirming that Weedle had been caught. I returned Magikarp back to its pokeball and quickly placed it back in my bag. I called out Weedle.
All of Weedle's family members were dancing around in excitement to see that their young Weedle finally had a trainer. I knew, however, that what I was going to say next was going to ruin this happy moment.
"Weedle," I spoke slowly, unable to control the race of my heartbeat as I uttered this sentence. "I need you to help me get into Team Rocket."
A familiar silence fell again and Weedle looked up at me in confusion.
"I stole that pokeball because I was going to use it to help me join Team Rocket," I explained.
Weedle stared up at me astonished, unable to believe the words that were coming from my mouth. In the end, I couldn't believe those very same words came from my mouth either.
"I'm not doing this for my own benefit," I began, almost feeling the desperation in my own voice. "Please believe me, Weedle. I just can't explain it to you right now."
The memory of what had happened a few days ago flashed in my head and in response I flung my arms around me while staring at the ground, "It's just that I don't know exactly how to explain it to you without you hating me."
I felt tears trying to fall down my face, but I held them back. In an effort to comfort me, Weedle slowly crawled up my body until it rested itself on my left shoulder. It slowly wiped one of the rogue tears from my face and, with a frown on its face, nodded in understanding.
"Thank you, Weedle," I wiped my face and regained my composure.
I sighed in relief that he accepted me and I began thanking all of Weedle's family members as we starting off out of the forest.
"We're heading to Cherrygrove City," I said to Weedle as I avoided shrubs and went between trees. "I have a meeting with Team Rocket."
Weedle hopped off my shoulder and began leading me the rest of the way out of the forest.