I know, it's been 3 months or so since the first chapter, but a lot has been going on. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and college (what more do I need to say). Third chapter is already on the rough draft and should be up by the end of this month or by Spring Break at the latest. Please leave a review so I can see what I might be doing wrong, and thanks for even taking the time to read!
Chapter 2 – The Journey Begins
Zeke woke the next morning to the slight bumping sensation being applied to his head. He turned over to see what the cause was and found a big head with a leaf attached to the top rocking back and forth, continuously bumping Zeke in the head. Zeke freaked out, unsure what was next to him, before he remembered the day before. Lying next to him was his newly acquired Turtwig, who had been trying to wake Zeke up for a while now. Seeing its master now awake the Turtwig squeaked with delight and began running in circles on the bed.
"Okay, okay, calm down," Zeke laughed. "We'll leave in a bit, I just have a few things that need to be finished up before we can go."
Turtwig nodded and sat down, but from the slight twitching in its body it was easy to tell it was anxious to begin its journey. Zeke quickly gathered his things, including extra poke'balls, and started down the stairs with Turtwig in tow. At the foot of the stairs he heard laughter coming from the kitchen. By the sounds of it there were two women, one obviously his mother and the other was someone familiar, but Zeke couldn't put his finger on who it could be. Turning the corner into the kitchen he found his mother laughing with Lily, Professor Rowan's assistant. Zeke managed to see what they were laughing at and his jaw dropped.
"Mom, why are you showing her my baby pictures?"
"Don't be so embarrassed," Lily laughed. "Everybody has baby pictures that are embarrassing, and sooner or later they get around."
"She's right," Zeke's mom added. "Besides, she has a favor to ask from you and she was patient enough to wait until you woke up. I figured that she deserved some sort of 'payment'."
The two women laughed again. Zeke sighed and sat at the table with them. Turtwig leapt into the chair next to him before jumping onto the table and sitting down, giving the two women the same glare that Zeke was giving them.
"It's nothing big," Lily informed, seeing the twin glares. "I just wanted to know if it was alright if I traveled with you. I doubt I'll be any good as a trainer, but I still want to travel. I'll cook and do all of the laundry. I won't be a problem at all, I swear."
Zeke sighed and looked to his mom for help on the matter, but he was met with an all too familiar glare.
"Fine," Zeke gave in, much to Turtwig's surprise.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you," Lily cheered. "I swear I won't be a problem."
"I'm leaving at noon; make sure to be ready by then."
Lily nodded and excused herself before bolting out of the house and making a beeline for her house to gather her things. Zeke again looked at his mom who seemed to be on the verge of crying from trying to hold in her laughter.
"It's not funny, Mom."
"Of course it is. You're as red as a Charmander."
"Whatever." Zeke turned and headed towards the stairs, tying to hide his blushing ears. "I'll be in my room if she gets back before noon."
Zeke entered his room for possibly the last time. To him, it was bitter-sweet. He sat down at his desk and remembered coming up with potential team ideas with his father. Turtwig came and sat down next to him on the floor and looked up at him questioningly.
"Get ready, Dad," Zeke said to the air. "I'm…We're coming for you and we'll show you just how strong we are."
Zeke lost track of time as he sat there imagining battling his dad one day. Soon, there came a knock at his door and Lily entered the room.
"Your mom said you were up here and that you wouldn't mind me coming in as long as I knocked first."
Zeke nodded, stood from his desk and turned to leave the room. He didn't plan on returning here until after he beat his dad, and he suspected that would take a long time. The two, with Turtwig in tow, left the room and descended the stairs. Zeke grabbed his bag from the foot of the stairs and headed for the door, opening it for Lily and Turtwig to exit. His mom walked up to him then, tears of pride in her eyes, and hugged him.
"Be safe out there hun, and trust your team and Lily."
"Will do, Mom," Zeke replied. With that, he turned and left.
The journey north from Sandgem Town was rather uneventful for the trio. They saw several Pokémon, primarily Starly, Bidoof, and the occasional Shinx, but the trio kept their distance to avoid any unnecessary confrontations. Soon, Jubilife City came into view. As they approached the city's edge, however, cries of anger and an abundance of cursing filled the air. Zeke and Lily approached one of the cursing men who finished his yelling to address the trainers.
"Yeah, what do ya want," he asked, an edge of annoyance in his voice.
"Just wondering what all of the commotion was about," Zeke replied.
"It's a local Shinx. The damn thing has been causing mischief for about a week now. It's most recent act was just a moment ago when it stole a vendor's apple."
"Maybe someone should catch it; it's obviously trainerless if it's stealing, and it must be starving if it has resorted to stealing food," Lily suggested.
"You all are trainers, aren't ya," the man asked, eyeing Turtwig. Without waiting for a response he added, "Tell ya what; I'm the president of the Poke'tech company here in town. If you manage to rid us of that pest, I'll give ya both a couple of Poke'techs to reward ya. How about it?"
Zeke instantly nodded and signaled for Turtwig and Lily to follow him. They first stopped at the vendor who had the apple stolen from him to get the general direction the Shinx had gone. The vendor pointed down the street, towards a tall building with the Poke'tech logo above the main door.
"The darn thing hooked a left at the Poke'tech building and that's the last I saw of it," the vendor informed. "Do me a favor when you all find it; don't harm it. I know it stole from me, and I am upset from that, but I can't help but feel sorry for the little fellow. Why, if it would have begged instead of steal, I would have happily given it the apple."
"Thanks for the info," Zeke waved as he turned to begin the chase.
"That vendor is a real sweetheart," Lily said. "Too bad the poke'tech president isn't as nice."
"Yeah, but the vendor held us up with all of his talking," Zeke informed. He looked down to Turtwig and asked, "Do you think you can pick up the scent, Turtwig?"
Turtwig nodded and sniffed at the ground for a few moments before taking off down the street. Zeke and Lily took off after him as fast as they could. After making a few quick turns, the trio came to a dead end in an alley. The only hiding spots, a couple of old dumpsters, were found to be empty with no trace of the Shinx. They were about to give up searching when they heard an apple crunching above them. Up on an old and rusted fire escape was the Shinx happily eating its recently stolen apple.
"Turtwig, use razor leaf," Zeke ordered. Turtwig instantly obeyed, aiming just below the Shinx's location. The attack sliced straight through the aged metal, causing the entire structure to fall with a loud and echoing clang. Zeke slowly approached the pile of rubble with a pokeball in hand when the Shinx popped out of the rubble seemingly unhurt. "Turtwig, use razor leaf again!"
The attack hit the Shinx before it could even prepare itself, sending the pokemon sprawling, but it wasn't enough as the Shinx simply stood back up before shaking itself as if to dislodge any excess dirt.
"Be careful you two," Lily called out. "From the looks of its scars it's been in a lot of fights."
Sure enough, Zeke saw scar after scar crisscrossing here and there along the Shinx's body. Also, judging how easily it had picked itself up after two head on attacks made Zeke begin to worry. 'This Shinx can hold its own, no wonder this thing hasn't been caught yet,' Zeke thought. Before Zeke had a chance to regroup, however, the Shinx charged.
"Razor leaf," Zeke reacted without realizing. Turtwig launched a barrage of razor sharp leaves, hitting the Shinx dead on, but the Shinx took the attack and pushed through until it slammed into Turtwig. Turtwig was sent flying into a nearby dumpster, which severely dented the side. "Turtwig! You okay buddy?"
Turtwig rose just in time to be slammed by the Shinx again, and once again slammed into the dumpster. The Shinx pulled back for another lunge, but Turtwig was ready this time as it ducked to the side, causing the Shinx to hit head first into the dumpster. As Shinx shook its head to clear its vision, Turtwig took back control of the battle. A combination of headbutt and razor leaf sent Shinx flying into the alleyway's dead end brick wall.
"Turtwig, finish it with another razor leaf!"
Turtwig instantly obeyed, sending a flurry of leaves Shinx's way. On the verge of fainting, Shinx retaliated with its spark attack. The electrical surge blasted all of the leaves away and struck Turtwig. When the attack ended Turtwig fell forward, unconscious.
"No!" Zeke cried out, upset at having lost his second battle already. Before he could recall Turtwig, however, Shinx also fell forward. Zeke recalled Turtwig before pulling out a second pokeball and throwing it at Shinx, sending the Pokémon into the capsule and capturing it.
"At least you caught it," Lily added, trying to cheer Zeke up.
"Yeah, but how am I supposed to become a great trainer if I keep losing with the Pokémon I started my journey with?"
"Turtwig is still young and inexperienced. You can't expect him to be the strongest right away. Besides, I believe that everyone, Pokémon and humans alike, learn best from their mistakes."
"I hope you're right."
"Don't worry. I know from experience. My older sister started off the same exact way, and now she is one of the strongest trainers in the region."
"Really? What's her name?"
"I'll tell you later. For now, let's go collect our reward."
Zeke nodded in agreement and the left the alleyway and backtracked until they arrived back at the poke'tech company building. Inside they found the front desk with a young lady typing away on the computer. She noticed them approach and promptly stopped what she was doing to give them her full attention.
"How may I help you two?" She asked.
"I know this will sound a little ridiculous," Zeke began, "but the president of this company promised us a reward if we managed to capture the Shinx that has been causing trouble around town."
"Ah, yes," the lady at the computer confirmed by pulling a sticky note off the side of the computer. "I'll let him know you both are here. He should be down shortly if you would like to wait."
After a few minutes of waiting in the lobby, the president finally arrived through an elevator door. He scanned the room until he located Zeke and Lily and quickly made his way over to them.
"So?" He asked after shaking their hands. "Did ya take care of that pain in the ass?"
"If by 'take care of' you mean 'capture', then yes we did," Zeke replied.
"Well then, prove it by showing it to me," the president ordered. Zeke scowled but obeyed by pulling out the pokeball and releasing Shinx, who still hadn't recovered from the battle as it was still unconscious.
That's the little shit all right," the president replied. Before Zeke could return Shinx to its ball, the president kicked Shinx hard in the gut and sent it sliding across the marble floor. The president obviously wasn't satisfied as he advanced on Shinx saying, "This little shit has caused several of my company's trucks to crash, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages, not to mention all of the compensation for the injured drivers."
He went to kick again but Zeke managed to recall Shinx just in time. The president's kick hit nothing but air and his momentum caused him to slip and fall flat on his back. For a moment, Zeke thought he had caused the president to be knocked unconscious until the president rolled onto his side, moaning in pain, before rising to his feet.
"You son of a bitch," the president cursed while holding the back of his head. "Why the hell would ya do that?"
"Because you kicked the Shinx," Zeke yelled back, his anger quickly reaching a boiling point.
"So? It's just a stupid Pokémon that deserved it," the president countered.
"It was unconscious and defenseless, yet you attacked it anyway. You're no better than those Team Galactic goons! I should kick your ass just because of that."
"Try it. If you even lay a finger on me I'll sue you for everything you own." With that said the president walked within inches of Zeke and stuck out his chin as if daring Zeke to do it. Zeke clenched his jaw, doing his best not to give in to the president's little game. After a few seconds had passed the president laughed and backed up. "I knew you didn't have it in you. You're just all talk; just a weak coward."
Before Zeke could even blink, Lily stepped forward and swung her leg up between the president's legs. The man's eyes bulged and he looked on the verge of vomiting as his legs gave out and he crumpled to the floor.
"Just because you have enough money to buy whatever you want doesn't make you more of a man," Lily growled. She turned and began heading for the exit before calling out, "Come on Zeke, let's get out of here."
"Just a moment," Zeke replied. Turning back to the president, Zeke held up Shinx's pokeball and said, "I believe we had an agreement; we catch the Shinx that's been causing trouble and you reward us with two poke'techs."
"Go fuck yourself," the president groaned.
"Okay," Zeke grinned. I doubt the city will be happy to hear that you let the Shinx escape after having ended its troublemaking though."
The president cursed and seemed to weigh his options before reaching into his pocket and pulling out two poke'techs. He threw them at Zeke before pointing at the door and yelling, "Now get the hell out!"