Chapter 3 - Continuing through route 1
Darkness, nothing but darkness everywhere he could see; an endless black void surrounded him entirely. "This again..." said John. Suddenly he was back in his tent, struggling to keep his eyes open, "I guess you'll never leave me alone will you? even after all these years". Miraculously, the tend had withstood the wind and the rain; John had been half expecting to find himself blown into someone's garden and having to explain how he got there before they called the police. He put on his backpack and stepped outside to find the sky was clear and the sun was low. He breathed in, and then exhaled. He looked out at the surroundings, the nearby fields were bathed in the glow of the early morning sun, a beautiful orange-red colour complimenting the deep greens of the grassland and woods. In the sky he could see huge flocks of Pidgey, Pigeotto, and even a few Pigeot silently soaring overhead. John smiled, the surroundings calming his mood again, providing him with some peace after the torrent that his mind had been ever since he first met his new Pokémon, even if just for a few seconds. *Rustle* something disturbed the silence, he turned around to try and locate the intruder, and just within the trees he could see a small, floating ball, about the size of a football. He knew it had to be a Pokémon, but there were no Pokémon that looked like that living on route 1, were there? "Char?" John turned around to see Charlie standing next to him with a quizzical head tilt, apparently having released itself from its own pokeball. "follow me", he said. The two inched closer to get a clearer view, his eyes widened upon realising what he was seeing. No way!, he thought, it cant be! he pulled out his pokedex, Charlie leaned over to see the screen.
Koffing, the Poison Gas Pokémon. Koffing hovers in the air, thanks to the poisonous gases it contains, which have a foul odour and can explode. A pure poison type Pokémon which evolves into weezing upon reaching level 35, high physical defence.
Charlie backed away slightly at the mention of exploding gasses. Surely pollution cant be bad enough for a Koffing to live around these parts? John thought to himself. It was then that he decided; he was going to catch that koffing, Charlie alone wouldn't get him through kanto after all. "Come on Charlie", said John as he turned to his Pokémon, "I'm going to catch that koffing". Charlie remained somewhat hesitant, but his mood certainly improved at the news that this would be his first real battle. Charlie was about to go over to the koffing, but after taking one step, he turned around to give John an expectant look. "what is it?", John inquired, Charlie moved his head closer to john and slightly widened his eyes. "what...", began John before realisation dawned on him, "oh! um, I'm counting on you charm... Charlie" John weakly said. Good enough I guess, thought Charlie as he sighed to himself, before leaping out of the bushes to face his opponent. "Okay Charlie, scratch!", John commanded, mindful of the explosive gasses released by Koffing. Charlie immediately jumped up and bared its claws at the poison Pokémon floating before it, catching it by surprise and landing a direct hit. Koffing quickly tried to retaliate with a poison gas attack, but Charlie nimbly dodged backwards, it tried a second time, but Charlie was too far away, and the attack dissipated before it even reached him. So this one only has short range gas? excellent! "now, hit it with ember!". "Char!?" Charlie cried in response, as it turned away from Koffing towards John, "come on what's the...", he began, when suddenly Charlie's eyes were covered by a thick black substance. Koffing had taken advantage of Charlie's immobility to fire sludge into its face, forcing Charlie to shut its eyes tight. Charlie flailed about, trying desperately to rub the liquid off its face to no avail. "Charlie, uh, quick use, um, retreat!" john managed to command, Charlie ran towards him, shaking his head vigorously as he moved. Koffing gave what was probably the closest thing to a shrug it was capable of, and then floated off.
John turned to Charlie "what the heck was..."john began, but he trailed off when he saw how much Charlie was shaking. I know he was scared of the gas exploding, john thought, but I saw how short that koffing's range was and there's no it would have hit him if the gas had gone up. He should have known I would never... oh. How could he possibly have been so stupid. if another trainer had taken Charlie, he would have gladly used ember right then; he would have trusted that his trainer wouldn't have put him in harms way. But john was not another trainer; he had practically acted as if Charlie didn't exist except when he had to or when it was convenient for him, how the hell was Charlie supposed to know weather or not he cared if he would have been hurt? Crestfallen, john gently picked up Charlie and began carefully cleaning his face with a cloth he dampened with his drinking water. Charlie looked up at john straight into his eyes, and John forced himself not to flinch away. "I'm sorry" he admitted, "I want you to know there's no way that gas could have hurt you, but I suppose I cant expect you to trust me when I haven't been willing to offer it myself. I wasn't trying to ignore you, I want to be friends but, I just don't know..." tears began to well up in his eyes, prompting Charlie to reach up to try and wipe them away. "Thank you", said john, "I don't deserve a Pokémon like you, I'm a failure as a trainer". Charlie, having no clue at how to respond to john's sudden outburst, simply wrapped his arms around johns arm. john wrapped the arm around Charlie and held him close. John reached up to try and stem further tears threatening to form under his glasses, then suddenly stood straight up to Charlie's bewilderment. "Come on, I have a plan", he ran after koffing, all the while still cradling Charlie in his arms.
He set Charlie down atop a small ledge looking down at the koffing. "Wait and watch" John said with a mischievous grin upon his lips. He took a dirty bowl from the day before out of a plastic bag in his backpack, picked up a small pebble, and advanced upon the koffing. "Hey sludge ball, get a piece of this!" he declared, chucking the pebble at the Koffing, prompting it to angrily turn around to face him. John took care to stand outside the range of koffings gas as he stared it down. what the heck is he..., thought Charlie, until horror took him over upon witnessing John being sprayed from head to toe in sludge from the koffing. In panic, Charlie slid down the ledge and began to run towards him. John then removed his glasses and grinned, he chucked the bowl he had been holding straight into the koffings face, covering its eyes in its own sludge. Koffing flailed about, unable to see its two opponents to aim an attack. "hey!" john yelled, snapping charlie out of his baffled state, "want to have a turn?" he said grinning down at him. Charlie stood still, staring into Johns face for a moment, before grinning himself, and shooting a small steam of fire directly at the poison type, who was powerless to avoid the attack. The flames wrapped around the body of the koffing, causing it to fall to the ground with a thud. John quickly threw a pokeball straight at the koffing, causing it to disappear in a flash of red light. 1...2...3...click! The pokeball ceased shaking and lay dormant. John looked blankly at the ball as he moved over to it and picked it up. he stared back at Charlie, who ran up to john and jumped straight at him. This time, John quickly dropped the pokeball and caught Charlie in his arms and embraced him as the two let out a cheer, loud enough to awaken an abra. "We did it! we did it! we did it!" "char! man! der!", Koffing, who had been released when his pokeball hit the ground, looked up at the duo before him, and gave an invisible smile. "Welcome to the team Koffing!" said john as he noticed he had accidentally sent out his new team mate. koffing gave a nod of approval, before letting out a snigger. "what are you laughing...", began John before he looked down at himself. He was completely covered in black, not a speck of his green coat visible beneath. He was very thankful that Koffing's sludge came without the odour of its gas. At the sight, Charlie too began to giggle. "Well it doesn't look much better on the two of you" responded john dryly, shutting the two up, before all three broke down in laughter.
Once the trio had recovered, John called them both to attention. "Well, we need to get going. we've had no breakfast, and even though I'm convinced that tent is possessed, it sure wont put itself away, so off we go!" The three of them walked back to them campsite, eager to clean themselves off a soon as possible. As they were walking, Charlie looked up at John, thinking back to how dramatic a change this day had brought to their relationship. Maybe he isn't so bad, mused Charlie to himself, he looked up to the sky and watched as a Fearow flew over the forest and smiled to himself, perhaps I will find what I've been looking for after all. His thoughts were cut off as John rushed forward at an Oddish he had seen before him.
Two meals, and several hours of walking later, a small gate came into view over the top of a small hill. Charlie was about to continue onwards, when john stopped him. "I'm sorry, but I need you to get back into your ball" john said simply. Charlie turned towards him to protest, but stopped when john looked him dead in the eyes. "please", said john, "I don't have a choice". Charlie paused for a moment, then nodded. John smiled, "thank you", he said as he pressed the button on Charlie's pokeball, causing him to disappear in a flash of red light. John looked over at the skyline of the city before him, he breathed in and out deeply to steady himself. He raised his hood, and marched onwards towards the city.
next time, john does some things and possibly fights the police.
I don't know, its like 11pm, you write better notes.