Chapter 2

Catching a Pokemon

Emmett did not hesitate. He headed straight into the forest. Soon he was passing the tree where he had spied on the pidgeotto and her babies. As he passed under the tree he looked up and saw the baby that could fly circling the tree.

"If it's old enough to fly, that means we can try to catch it," Emmett said to Cubone. Cubone just stared at him.

"Hey pidgey!" Emmett called up to the bird. "Come battle!"

The flying Pokemon looked down at him, then glided down to a nearby tree branch. It cooed at him.

"Uh...okay Cubone. It's time for our first Pokemon battle. Use bone club," Emmett told him, pointing to the pidgey. Cubone looked down at his weapon then back at Emmett, seeming confused.

"Uh...okay how about tail whip?" Emmett said.

Cubone looked at pidgey. The little bird flapped it's wings and Cubone ran to hide behind Emmett.

"Oh come on!" Emmett exclaimed, annoyed. "It didn't even touch you!"

Cubone said nothing, it's face buried in Emmett's jeans.

Emmett sighed. The pidgey was still sitting on the tree branch, watching him curiously. Emmett thought to himself. He could remember his aunt telling him about catching Treecko, how it had gone into the Pokeball willingly when she rescued it from Team Rocket. Team Rocket was a group of villains from a long time ago, who weren't around anymore.

"It's worth a try," Emmett decided, pulling out a pokeball from his backpack. He threw the pokeball towards the pidgey. It bounced off the tree branch and captured the bird in a ball of red light. The pidgey went inside the pokeball. It shook for a moment, then the ball lay still.

"Hey...I did it!" Emmett said, growing excited. He ran to pick up the pokeball.

"I caught my first Pokemon," he said happily, holding the Pokemon in the air. He noticed Cubone clapping its hands in delight.

"What are you excited for?" Emmett asked. "You were no help."

This didn't seem to bother Cubone though. The Pokemon was still excited for him.

As they continued their walk through the forest, Emmett let Pidgey out of its pokeball to fly alongside them. He knew the bird was still young and needed to build up the strength in its wings.

It wasn't much longer before something jumped out of the grass at them. It was a Rattata! It charged Cubone and bit the Pokemon on the leg. Cubone let out a wail and whacked the Rattata on top of the head with its bone club. The purple rat stepped back, dazed.

"Good job Cubone!" Emmett said, surprised and delighted. "Hit it again!"

Cubone hit the Rattata again upside the head. The rat scurried back into the tall grass and disappeared from sight.

"That was really great Cubone," Emmett said to his Pokemon, feeling even prouder than when he had caught the pidgey.

Cubone looked down at its leg, which had a little spot of blood on it, and began to wail loudly. It sat on the ground, crying and beating its bone club on the ground. Emmett was startled.

"Hey!" he said. "It's going to be okay, it's just a little bite."

He tried to approach Cubone but the Pokemon hit him with its club as soon as he got close enough.

"Ow!" Emmett said, jumping back. "Stop that!"

The Pokemon was still crying and Emmett was starting to grow annoyed.

"Cubone!" he said. "If you don't stop that right now I am going to take you back to Professor Ash and me and Pidgey will go on this journey by ourselves!"

Cubone immediately stopped wailing. It stood up from its tantrum, sniffling.

"Good. Are you ready to go?" he asked the Pokemon.

"Cu," the Pokemon said quietly.

Maybe an hour passed before they saw another Pokemon. This time it was a caterpie, hanging from a nearby tree. Pidgey took care of it before Emmett could even give a command. He pecked the caterpillar Pokemon down from its tree. Emmett thought about catching it but he didn't really want caterpie...or any of its evolutions. Butterfree was a girly Pokemon.

Emmett was just beginning to wonder how far the city really was when they came across another trainer. It was a boy and he had a net in one hand. He was crouched in the grasses and jumped up when Emmett approached.

"Hey you! Are you here to steal my bug Pokemon?" the boy demanded.

"What? No. I'm a Pokemon trainer, on my way to Viridian City," Emmett said.

"Oh. In that case, how about a battle? My name is Mike and I'm a bug catcher. I have a kakuna," the boy bragged.

"I'd love a battle," Emmett said. He looked between his two Pokemon and decided Cubone was not reliable enough. He chose Pidgey for the battle. Mike pulled out a pokeball and sent out a kakuna.

"Okay pidgey, use peck!" Emmett commanded. Pidgey flew down to peck the kakuna, but before he reached it Mike told it to harden. The Kakuna hardened just as Pidgey's beak hit it. Pidgey squawked in pain and flew back to Emmett's side.

"It's okay, Pidgey, try one more time," he said. Emmett realized he did not know any of Pidgey's other attacks. He hadn't checked it with his pokedex.

They were stuck in battle like that for over five minutes, with pidgey trying to peck and Kakuna getting harder every time. Cubone was watching from the sidelines, cheering for Pidgey and beating its bone club on the ground.

Pidgey was starting to look exhausted and Emmett knew the bird Pokemon didn't have much left in it.

"Can I switch Pokemon?" he asked Mike.

"Sure," the boy said. "Nothing can get past Kakuna's hard shell."

Emmett recalled Pidgey to its pokeball to let it rest.

"Cubone, can you do it?" he asked his Pokemon. The Bone Pokemon stood and nodded confidently.

"Bone," it said as it approached the Kakuna.

"Alright, Cubone, let's do it! Use bone club!" Emmett cried, his heart pounding in excitement.

Cubone ran at the Kakuna and bashed it with its bone club. The kakuna wobbled, then fell over, knocked out.

"What?!" Mike cried, shocked. "Kakuna is impenetrable! Your Cubone must be strong!"

"Great job Cubone!" Emmett said, kneeling to hug his pokemon. "You were amazing!"

Cubone said nothing but Emmett thought under its skull helmet, it looked proud of itself. Mike paid Emmett for winning the match then Emmett and Cubone continued on their way.