Chapter 3
The Path Most Taken
Felix focused on breathing as she stood in line to check out at the mart. She couldn't go back home, not after killing another persons pokemon. She couldn't stand the thought of having to see Birch. Suddenly this whole experience had taken a turn for the worse. She and Oak were killers.
She glanced over to her right, a book sudden catching her attention. "The Biography of Red: As told by Prof. Oak and the Gym Leaders he faced." She felt her pocket. It would be nice to have a book while she stayed with her dad. Maybe he'd let her stay with him until the death of the torchic had blown over. However the book was expensive. If she got it, she wouldn't be able to afford anything else for a while. "Tree?" Oak asked nervously. He seemed just as shaken up as she did by the poor torchic's death.
An idea running through her head she grabbed the book and tucked it under the rest of the stuff. Perhaps she could read the book to Oak to help him calm down. Books always seemed to help her; perhaps she could pass it on to her pokemon.
She walked up to the counter her purchases in hand. A pokedex, so she could record the pokemon she saw as she made her way to her dads. Potions and antidotes to cover Oak's wounds. A first aid kit, some basic rations in case it took too long to get to Petalburg.
"Rethinking your journey then?" The cashier asked. She looked up to notice the cashier was the same one who had given her the potion earlier.
"Yeah, I figured it's the best way to research pokemon. I mean even Professor Oak was originally a pokemon trainer. Field work really," she told him hearing the nervousness in her voice. She hoped he didn't pick up on it, or would assume it's just nerves of stepping out of her comfort zone.
He nodded and began to scan her items. He frowned and turned towards her, "You don't have any pokeballs here."
"I…I wasn't thinking about them." She glanced at the medicine and food. Her cover was about to be blown but she couldn't leave that stuff behind. Her eyes fell on the book. She'd have to put it back.
"Hey it doesn't matter," he told her as he grabbed 6 pokeballs, "Here," he took her money and counted out the change. "Have the pokeballs on the house. Just don't expect them to always be that way."
Felix shook her head, "I don't think I can make use of them, I've actually never used a pokeball." She told him attempting to give him back the pokeballs.
"Never? I can show you. I go on break in about a minute. Wait for me on route 101, and we'll catch your first pokemon."
"But I already have Oak," she told him trying to hand back the pokeballs though.
"That's just your starter," He told her, "You need to catch other pokemon to be a real trainer. Just go on and wait for me. You won't regret it."
Felix sat on a bench right before the route. Her fingers kept fidgeting unable to keep still. Oak was not better, jumping at every sound. "Tree," he whined nervous as she was to be on the route that would take them back to Birch.
"It'll he okay Oak," Felix told him her voice cracking, "It was just an accident right? Just an accident."
She sat there a few more minutes waiting for the guy at the mart to show up, "Tell you what, how about I read to you! That always cheers me up," Felix announced pulling out the book she had bought.
"Tree?" Oak asked looking at the book suspiciously.
"Trust me this will be good. It's about a trainer named Red, who was supposed to be an amazing trainer," Felix cracked the book open and began to read, a bit quickly trying to get rid of her nervousness "Chapter One, A Champion in the Making."
I had known Red as a young boy. He and my Grandson Blue 'Gary' Oak had been rivals from the day they first met. I have to admit though both boys had spunk and it was why I had picked them for the first true test of the pokedex.
I remember the day I had chosen to give them pokemon very well. Red I knew needed something solid and tame since he had little experience with pokemon. Red's mother was against him taking the journey, but as money ran low she realized that it really was his only option as she couldn't pay for school. Blue was different. He needed something a bit more wild. I wasn't sure where I was going to find something like that…
"Are you ready to catch that pokemon?" The guy called walking up to where she was reading.
"You're not going to let me walk away from this are you?" she asked him wanting to be on her way as soon as possible.
"Nope, it's something every trainer should know. By the way, I never did catch your name," she said as he walked with her into the grass.
"It's Felix. My dad wanted a boy."
"Shame, I'm Alex. You're lucky to have this chance. Not all kids do," he said as he spotted a wurmple munching on a leaf. "Hey look there! That'd be a perfect second pokemon."
Felix eyed the wurmple while pulling out her freshly purchased pokedex. "Its only level three."
"Wild pokemon mature slower and tend to be weaker than bred pokemon," Alex told her.
"I know that," she told him fidgeting slightly. At least it was a bug type so maybe if she used Oak's absorb instead of a pound attack she wouldn't kill it. Oak hit it with an absorb attack," she instructed.
"TREE-KO!" Oak called running close and hitting it with a small ball thrown from his hand. The ball smacked the wurmple off the tree. Golden orbs floated from where the attack hit being absorbed by Oak.
"Fshhh," The wurmple pulled herself up shaking off the hit, which had caused a bruise by her stinger. White silk erupted from her mouth and hit Oak's knees, tangling around him and tethering him to the ground.
"Oak hit it with another absorb, just don't be so rough this time!" Felix called as the wurmple attempted run back towards the woods.
"Tree!" Oak yelled firing an absorb right in front of the wurmple hitting it on the side of the head. The Wurmple turned quickly firing another round of silk, tangling Oak's arm to his body.
"It's going to escape," Alex said pointing at the tree line that wurmple was making another attempt for, "Quick throw a pokeball."
Felix reached into her bag and fumble around, pulling out one of the red and white orbs. She tossed it, catching the Wurmple just before it hit the tree line. In a burst of red light it disappeared, and the ball began to shake on the ground before the button stopped glowing red.
"I caught it right?" Felix asked as oak began to untangle himself from the sticky stands of silk. Alex affirmed what she'd asked, and asked if she was going to nickname the new pokemon. Oak stepped forward ripping several of the strands around his legs before he grabbed at the rest and tore them off with intense fervor.
"Hmm, Well a wurmple can evolve into either a Beautifly or a Dustox if I remember correctly from my Pokemon of Hoenn book. So I think the name Lepodptera should suit her just fine." Felix said eyeing the pokeball thoughtfully.
"Lepodptera? Isn't that a long name for such a small pokemon?" Alex asked.
"Well its part of the scientific name all pokemon have. Wurmple and its evolutions are thought to be connected to the missing link between the Butterfree line and the Venomoth line," Felix told him as they started back for town, Oak running after them.
"I didn't know that, I thought all pokemon lines were separate species." Alex said.
"Well they are according to the new definition, but in the old one that isn't correct since many pokemon can breed with each other to create viable offspring. But the varibles for that are so crazy that researchers have been assigning pokemon to 'egg groups'. In order to get a better understanding." Felix supplied.
"Wow. I guess I'll have to look into that then," Alex said as they stopped by the pokemart. "Hey good luck to you, I've got to get back to the mart, or dad will be mad with me."
"Okay," Felix told him. "Take care."
"I will!" He called back as he walked into the blue roofed building.
"Now," Felix said glancing at Oak, "Let's see if we can get to dad's before anything else happens. Really I'd like to make sure we had someplace to sleep tonight. And going back to Littleroot still doesn't seem like a good idea."
"Treeko," Oak nodded looking towards the south with a small shiver. "You know you can come back in your ball if you'd like? You deserve to rest after everything that's happened today. I can work with Lepodptera and get her stronger since we won't be going back home for a while, and I'm not sure how long it will take us to get to Petalburg."
Oak furrowed his brow but simply nodded. Felix tapped his ball causing him to disappear in a red beam of light. She quickly tossed another ball into the air, and the fresh caught caterpillar showed up in a beam of white light. "Psh…" she said as she curled up away from Felix.
"Shh," Felix said offering a hand to the pokemon, "Its okay I'm not going to hurt you, Lepodptera." Felix picked up the tiny pokemon surprised at how little it resisted. "That's it, I'm not scary now am I? Let's start getting you trained up okay?"