Chapter 2: The Koffing
(A FireRed/LeafGreen fanfiction)
Disclaimer: I do not own the Pokemon franchise
Leaf carried the surprisingly light weight pokemon all the way home. Reaching the steps, she kicked off her shoes and opened the door and went in. She glanced down at the purple pokemon and saw that his eyes began to flutter. "All right, you hang in there little guy! I'll take care of you." She waited a few seconds for her eyes to adjust to the darkness as she turned back and locked the door.
"What on earth is that noise? Leaf, is that you?" Uh oh, she froze on the spot as a light was turned on, bathing the room with its bright yellow glow as her mother came down the steps. She wore a exasperated expression on her face that let Leaf know that she was in trouble. "Well what are you doing up at this hour, young lady?" She stepped down the last step and faced her daughter, letting out a gasp when she saw the purple pokemon within her daughter's arms. "And just what are you doing with a Koffing in your hands?"
"Oh, so it's called a Koffing?" She knew that when her mother was around her age, she also became a trainer and fought numerous gym leaders the same as her father once had. That was why she had a great knowledge of pokemon.
"Now don't you dare change the subject on me young lady!" Her mother's light grey eyes flashed angrily as she place both of her hands on her hips. "And tell me, did you just sneak out of this household and went within the grass? Well, did you?" Leaf remained silent as she bit her bottom lip, doing everything she could to not cry.
While her mother glared down at her, she thought of a good excuse to properly explain without getting chewed out. "U-uhm well…" She turned her gaze to the Koffing in her arms as a light bulb went off, giving her the right words that was needed in this situation. "Mom, you see, I was sound asleep in my room, but then I heard this strange wheezing sound and it woke me up." Okay, so far, so good. It wasn't exactly a lie lie, per se, but more like a white lie. "So I decided to find out where the wheezing was coming from and went out of the house, but only for a little while!" Now that part was true. "That's when I found this lone Koffing laying out in front of our house and it looked so ill that I really wanted to help it."
A moment of silence reigned over the two as Leaf hoped that the excuse would work. She knew how much her mother cared about pokemon, so she would understand, right? It wasn't a complete lie after all (that is, as long as she left out the part about how she was the one who caused the majority of this Koffing's injuries.) Almost immediately her mother's expression softened. "Oh sweetie, that's all right then." She took one more step and wrapped her arms around her daughter. "I know that you can be eccentric at times, but you have a kind heart." With one last stroke of her hand, Leaf's mother gently rubbed her hair. "But don't go alone like that ever again! If you do hear something, wake up your Mommy or Daddy, okay?"
Leaf sighed and rolled her eyes. "Mooom, I'm 13 years old, I can take of things without my parents."
She merely laughed at her daughter as she pulled away. "Oh honey," she shook her head and sighed. "Sometimes it feels like you're 13 going on 23! Ha ha, now enough talk, let's take care of this Koffing so that he'll be all better again for tomorrow!"
…About Thirty Minutes Later…
Leaf sat on the edge of her bed, watching the Koffing, her Koffing now, sleep. Before her mother went back to bed, she put a tiny band aid on the scratches on his face so that they would heal faster.
"Hee hee, oh, I'm so excited for tomorrow!" Leaf began to fan her face excitedly, making slight movements on the bed as the Koffing let out a groan. "Ugh, could you keep it down?"
Her excitement slipped away when she heard that same wheezing voice from outside. The ghost had come within her room! She jumped off her bed and looked around the room frantically. "Come on out, you stupid ghost! I'm not afraid of you!"
The voice began to laugh as his voice took on a smoother tone. "Ghost? What are you, stupid?" She saw her comforter slowly slide off her bed as the Koffing floated upwards, letting out a yawn. "Great," he said as he looked around the room. "You woke me up and now I can't get back to sleep."
She slowly stepped away from the Koffing, pointing at him as she struggled to get her words to form. "Y-you you… you-"
"I, I, I, what?" The purple pokemon gave her a look of annoyance as he squinted his eyes at her. "Spit it out!"
"You c-can talk!" Leaf couldn't believe her ears! She really wasn't imagining things this time, and the voice most certainly didn't belong to some ghost!
It belonged to that Koffing!
"Psh, yeah? And what of it?" He floated around the room, examining her posters that depicted all of her favorite shows and famous trainers that she admired. Heh, so she's one of those types eh? "Are you a trainer?"
Leaf blinked back in surprise. "Uhm, yes, in a way. I will be starting my journey tomorrow with my, uh, 'starter' pokemon." She was taken aback at how intelligent this Koffing was. He seemed so dignified when you looked passed his hoarse and heavy voice.
"So, how exactly did you learn how to talk?" It was the one question that mattered the most right now. She knew that every pokemon had a voice of their own, but they were only understood by other pokemon. It wasn't common for pokemon to know such a wide variety of human words.
The Koffing seemed to have a bored expression on his face as he answered, not tearing his gaze away from her poster. "I just wanted to. So there." Okay, so that answer didn't help her understand it any better.
"Oookay, so are there any other pokemon who can talk like you?" She kept her eyes on the floating pokemon and she had a feeling that if he had a body, he would have given her a shrug right now. "Maybe there are, maybe there aren't. Who knows?"
Leaf seriously wished that there were other pokemon out there who knew how to speak her language. That way, she could learn so much more about them, what they thought about and how their personalities were. It would be awesome.
She watched as the Koffing continued to study her room. After a few more minutes, he spoke. "Well, looks like I should get going now."
Wait, what? She let out a choke when the talking pokemon floated towards her window. "Hey, you mind opening this thing? If you do, I'll just be on my way from here."
"Wait a minute! You can't go! What about your injuries?" She didn't want the Koffing to leave just yet, not when his presence was growing on her!
He shot her an accusing glare at the word 'injuries' seeming to say 'Well who's fault was it that I got into this mess in the first place?' The guilt washed over her as she sighed and walked towards the window. "You're right, and I'm sorry."
"It's just that I really wanted to beat Blue for once." Turning the lock, she slid open the window and sighed. "Well, here you go. If you're better now, you can leave."
He stared at her and saw the sad, defeated look on her face. He sighed. Something tells me I'm really gonna regret asking this. "Who's Blue?"
Suddenly, Leaf's eyes blazed, turning her grave expression to that of anger. "He's my stupid, annoying, dumb, and idiotic rival!"
Whoa, grudge much? The Koffing's eyes widened at her sudden change in personality as she continued to ramble on and on about how she disliked that Blue guy.
"He never fails to be one step ahead of me, and I just," She let out a sigh. "I just wanted to be the one ahead of him for once."
Leaf's eyes were downcast again as she sighed. "Well, I guess this is it." She looked out at the window and waited for the talking pokemon to leave.
Seeing how sad she was tugged at something from within him. He couldn't just leave her. Who knows? Maybe it might be fun to stay with her a bit, just to cheer her up.
Before he could change his mind, he spoke. "Close the window."
"Huh?" Leaf couldn't believe what she heard as the Koffing made his way back towards her bed. "Close it? I thought you needed to go?" A confused expression was etched on her face as she complied with his demands and closed the window.
"Well, I really don't have much to do, so I'll just follow you on this journey of yours." The Koffing let out a yawn as he sank back down in the covers of her bed. "Let's get some sleep, I'm exhausted."
No way… She couldn't contain her excitement any longer! With surprising speed, she jumped on her bed and squeezed the purple pokemon to her, nearly choking him and he wheezed out a protest. "Ah! What… are… you… Doing?"
She didn't listen to him as she hugged him. "Oh thank you thank you thank you so much for staying with me! I promise, we'll have so much fun together!" After a few seconds, she let go of him as he glared at her. "Do that again, and I will run away."
"Sorry sorry, but I'm just so happy! I am actually one step ahead of Blue!" Leaf smiled brightly at him and laughed. The talking pokemon stared at her, feeling something warm spread through him. I'd like to make her smile again.
He cleared his throat again. "Look, we still need to get some sleep, so enough of the chitchat!"
"Oh right!" That's when a thought came to her as she clasped her hands together. "Is it all right if I gave you a nickname?"
The Koffing snorted at her. "A nickname? Seriously?"
"Yeah, I mean, I can't go on this journey and keep calling you 'Koffing' all the time. Especially since you can talk to me, it's just a little rude." She placed a hand on her chin, deep in thought as she tried to think of the perfect name for him.
"Let's see, you're really intelligent and you have a bit of a sarcastic personality…" Her voice trailed off. After a few seconds, she clapped her hands together and said. "I got it! I'll call you Lawrence Lloyd!"
The Koffing gazed at her in horror. "What? What are you THINKING? There's no way that name can fit me!"
"I won't call you Lawrence Lloyd out loud silly, I'll call you Double L. for short." She smiled at him again and waited for his reaction.
The only response she recieved was another snort. "Why didn't you just nickname me Double L. then? It sounds way cooler than that last name."
"Well I wanted your nickname to have some meaning." Pulling up her covers, she laid back down within the cushions of her bed next to him. "So there, are you satisfied Double L.?"
Well it looks like I don't have a choice, now do I? "Fine, Double L. it is. Now let's go to sleep."
She complied all too happily as she snuggled up close to her first pokemon. "Night Double L."
His usual self would have shot a Smokescreen at her and run away, but now, he felt safe and a little happy with this strange, loud mouthed girl. He smiled and shut his eyes, cuddling closer to her covers. Maybe this won't be so bad after all.
...Meanwhile...
Mount Moon:
All was dark within the caverns of Mount Moon as two young men made their way through the maze, carrying a flashlight that lit their way. Both were dressed in matching uniform that signified where they belonged. Their uniforms composed of pure white pants, a pair of black boots and cap, along with a matching shirt that had their team's insignia: The infamous red 'R' for Team Rocket.
One of them carried what looked like a stack of dynamite as he held out his hand and stopped his partner. "All right, this is a good spot. Let's plant the thing here."
They placed the stack of dynamite against the walls of the dark cavern as one of the goons unraveled the trailing thread until it reached the end. He looked over at his partner. "It's ready when you are Dan."
Dan nodded as he got out his lighter, placing it close to the ends of the thread. "Ready?"
A cough was heard coming from behind the two goons as a voice answered. "What do you think you're doing?"
"What?" Dan quickly shot a glare from behind him and saw the source of that voice with the help of his flashlight. From behind them stood a regular boy. "Hey, you boy! What do you think you're doing here? Shouldn't you be in bed?" He was annoyed that his mission was cut short because of this minor distraction.
The boy looked to be about 15 years old in age. He wore a pair of black pants with a matching shirt and pair of sneakers. The shirt was covered by a white and red jacket that went along with his matching cap that covered his eyes. The Rocket member couldn't see his face clearly, but he could tell that the boy had dark hair. He watched as the boy placed a hand on his belt and pulled out a pokeball. He threw it into the air and caught it again, not saying a word.
Dan smirked at the boy. "Heh, so you're the quiet type eh," He stepped forward and pulled out his own pokeball, releasing his Golbat from its confines. "So tell me, boy, you got a name?"
The boy was silent for a moment as he stepped back and released his pokemon. A surge of electricity seemed to fill the cave as the Pikachu landed with ease on the ground next to his master. He glared at his oppenent. "Pi pika!" The electric mouse seemed to taunt the bat pokemon as his master answered his oppenent's question. "The name's Red," He moved his cap a bit, revealing his gleaming red eyes that flashed in anger. "And I will be the one to stop you!"
~End Chapter 2...
With this chapter, I have just introduced her first pokemon Double L. (aka Lawrence Lloyd). In the game, usually the main player character is all alone, battling her way through trainers and gym leaders as she makes her way to the Elite Four to defeat her rival, Blue. But a story with just her would be a bit boring right? That's why I created Double L. :D This will help make Leaf's adventure more fun and exciting in many ways!
