Chapter 4
The many stories people hear about pokemon training being this glamorous and amazing career, full of awe-inspiring battles between groomed and fit pokemon, are only one side of the whole story. In gym challenges, people only see the pokemon after they have been healed of their injuries at the Pokemon Center. They hear of friendly battles on the routes between cities, they hear about hearty campfires in the wilderness, and PokeAdvocates sell stuffed pokemon to appeal to children as fluffy, friendly companions, distorting the reality. Moreover, pokemon pageants allow pokemon to be presented in a non-threatening manner, which further gives the wrong impression.
In a society that is so far removed from the wilderness, pokemon are capable of being framed in such a way that fear is an emotion less-inspired. Many non-trainers are not as wary of pokemon as they should be, for they have learned to believe in the congenial representation of pokemon that they see on T.V. Conversely, another side of society is completely afraid of pokemon, and bases its fears on the dangerous fights that are seen in gyms and on the television. However, what both extremes of non-trainer society do not know is what it feels like to be on the trainer's path. They only understand a fragment of the reality, and they take their incomplete fragments to excess.
Trainers experience the most extreme feelings throughout their careers. They will feel excitement. They will feel the rush in commanding pokemon to fight. But they will also feel fear. They will feel dread. They will feel that creepy feeling at the base of their neck when they know someone or something is watching them but cannot be located. Most of them know the feeling of solitude, save for the company of their pokemon. And finally, they will all know sadness.
Trainers know that battles on the road can be anything but friendly. They know that the road to the Indigo Plateau is a vicious, uncaring, and unforgiving road. It is a road where you have to defeat those around you in order to progress. Many who begin training are incapable of passing the first gym in the circuit, and few make it through the entire circuit, with even fewer winning battles against the Elite Four. The path of the trainer is a path of hardship and strife; a journey that pushes you past your limits and attempts to break your spirit. It succeeds with the majority of trainers.
It was during the first evening of my adventure that I was given the first out of many reality checks. I had entered the forest during the day, stopping at the Viridian Forest Rangers' Lodge beforehand to purchase a 15Pb map, which I later found out was much more difficult to read than I had predicted. It turns out that reading a map is a skill in and of itself. It was a minor speed bump, but it did nothing to dampen my spirits as I moved along the path through the trees.
The road that led into Viridian Forest ran past the Lodge, turning from a hardened dirt and gravel path into a grassy dirt path. After a mile or so, the forest had swallowed the road completely, letting few rays of sunshine through the branches and leaves overhead. The trees had been growing progressively closer together and taller as I approached the Lodge, and when I arrived, even though it was a little past noon, the area was cast in shadow. At the beginning, it felt good to take shelter in the shade of the trees, but by the time I exited the forest, the sun would become a highly welcomed sensation.
I had two objectives when I entered Viridian Forest: to focus on training and to eventually make it through. Many children want to conquer the circuit in one year, which is no different than the aspirations of trainers throughout the history of pokemon training, but that has several consequences which I wanted to avoid. The first is that the trainers are forced to always keep moving, straining themselves and their pokemon. Whereas I had no problem straining myself and working with my pokemon, I found no reason why I should not go at my own pace.
The second consequence is that, even though pokemon matured and evolved faster when driven harder, many pokemon are still barely over a year old when they are brought into the upper level gyms and the Elite Four. Young pokemon battle seasoned veterans who have had decades of quality training with experienced pokemon trainers, while their trainers are children with little training experience in comparison. Countless pokemon die in the gym arenas because their trainers are incompetent, because the pokemon themselves are not skilled enough, or because they simply cannot stand against the ferocity of an adult gym pokemon.
The last consequence is a post-championship potential problem. The rare few who are able to beat some Elite Four members have no idea what to do afterwards. Gym Leaders and Elite Four members need to have many years of experience in order to be considered for the position, as well as an exceptional training record. Many young and gifted trainers became apprentices to gym leaders, but many simply continued to train until they and their pokemon are worn out. The very rare child challenger to the Champion would not be offered the position of Kanto Champion, if he or she wins, until reaching the minimum age of 25 years.
Not only did I start two years late, but I was also going to take my time so that I was competent enough to expertly face the challenges set against me. I was doing this as much for my sake as for the sake of my pokemon. I would not allow Azrael, or any of my pokemon for that matter, to fight against the best pokemon in the League without being adequately prepared.
I found myself walking with a skip in my step, Azrael following beside me and Gilles weaving lazily between the trees. The path had quickly become overgrown and hard to follow but I was not paying enough attention to care; the trees were far enough apart that I believed I was on the path. The fact that I was just entering the forest and the path was already becoming difficult to follow should have been a warning about the navigational difficulties to come.
Before long, I started noticing a few changes in the surrounding forest. I noticed that there were many spider webs in the canopies above me. The hardened footprints in the dirt were becoming less noticeable, and there was collateral damage from pokemon fights, like claw marks etched into the ground and trees. I noticed spots on trees where the bark had been pulled off and various symbols had been etched onto the trunk, like hopeful messages and even some hearts with names inside them. There were also warnings, such as "Hope you brought a blanket," "Don't approach Teddiursa," and "Keep your water bottles full and boil the water." Most of the warnings held information that I already knew, but I decided to take note of some.
Even though a few months had passed since this year's graduation, some people had left much later than others, which explained why I saw a few people every now and then. Some people had just begun, while others were probably leaving the forest on the other side. After a few conversations, I learned that it was very easy to get lost in the forest and very frustrating to try and traverse the confusing paths. Normally people would have asked for compensation in exchange for information, and would have challenged me to a pokemon battle if I refused, but Azrael's intimidating presence scared them away before they seriously considered challenging me.
While I walked along the shady forest trails, I occasionally saw people having pokemon battles out in different clearings. I found it enjoyable to watch, even if the pokemon being used were only Pidgey, Caterpie, Weedle, and Oddish. During one particular battle I was observing, I decided to sneak a peek at one of the trainer's PokeDexes and saw that his highest-level pokemon was level seven. I looked at my own to compare, since I never kept track of my pokemons' levels, and found that Azrael was level 12 and Gilles was level 14. If I battled any of the trainers I came across, I would undoubtedly wipe the floor with them, and although it would earn me a little money and give my pokemon a little experience, I did not want to make unnecessary enemies out in the wild. Because of these reasons, I decided to continue on without challenging any of them.
I found my first fork in the road after about two hours of walking. I was sure that it was a game trail meeting up with the regular path, the former of which people had worn into an identical path. Unfortunately, the assumption did not help me figure out which way to go, so I took out my map and tried to decipher where I was to no avail.
In a last attempt to find direction before guessing, I looked around at the trees and rejoiced when I found a carving of an arrow supposedly pointing in the correct direction. My pokemon and I continued along the path at a leisurely pace until we came upon another fork. This one had no tree sign to guide us, so I had to make an uneducated decision and chose the left path.
Azrael stayed alert most of the time until we made camp, since we were traveling through a completely new environment and he was not used to the variety of new smells and sounds. It was only after we were settled down for the evening that he relaxed. He burrowed and started making a circle of upturned dirt around the campsite, marking boundaries, while Gilles hovered around, cackling for no apparent reason. Smart dragon.
As I watched Azrael mark the boundaries, I noticed that his digging was slower than usual, and when he emerged, he was snarling at the trees around him. Concerned, I approached him and put a hand on his spiracle, calming him down, before I asked, "Azrael, what's the problem?" He responded by waddling over to a tree, burying his head at its base, and pulling up some of its roots. "Oh, I see. You can't dig very fast when you're getting tangled up in the roots." Azrael huffed in confirmation and then shook all of the loose dirt from his scales.
We had settled next to a small brook and made a fire, which did not take very long. When we finished, I looked at Azrael and asked, "So who's hungry?" Azrael perked up immediately and started stretching his muscles while I dumped out my backpack to check my inventory.
I had a hunting knife, the Sneasel claw, a hatchet, flint and steel, my bow and 25 arrow rounds, a flashlight, two flare sticks, a small spool of wire, a small bundle of ½ inch-thick rope, a water bottle, two dozen ration bars, ten pokeballs, four extra pairs of socks, two extra pairs of underwear, an extra pair of jeans, and a t-shirt. I also had my small travel tent, a small sleeping bag, a collapsible pot, a metal spoon, fork, and knife, ten antidote syringes, five paralyz cures, five basic potions, and a single revive. After I took into account all of my belongings, I put everything back into my backpack except for the camping supplies, my weapons, and the rope.
I shot a few arrows into some nearby trees as practice for a couple minutes before I turned around to return to the middle of camp, coming face to face with a shadowy visage glaring back at me. The moment I turned and saw him, he let out a shrill screech, making me jump back in fright, provoking a torrent of joyful cackling from my impudent ghost at my expense. Gilles then flew off to another side of the camp, chortling as he sped away from me. I glared at the conniving little shit and said, "Cut that out, Gilles! I'll have Azrael bite your hand off!" Gilles did not seem to care as he continued to laugh and roll around in midair.
I quickly shook off my annoyance and turned my attention back to Azrael, who stood awkwardly, looking a little guilty. "Oh you thought it was funny too, huh?" I asked. "Friggin pokemon," I muttered, before collapsing my bow and storing all but seven shells. I asked Azrael, "Could you bury my backpack five feet down so nobody steals our stuff while we hunt?" Azrael still looked like he was holding back a reaction, but he took my backpack anyway and buried it.
It now was time to hunt for dinner, so I made a plan. Azrael was having difficulty moving underneath the ground due to the tree roots, so I let him walk with me until we found an adequate lead. After we found prey, I would return him to his ball and release him on its opposite side, while Gilles would stay invisible and await my orders. With my teammates and I sharing a common understanding, we walked along the side of the stream, keeping track of where we went, until we came across a fresh set of tracks.
The tracks led in and out of the water, so I tried to figure out where the pokemon went on land. The tracks led to a tree, and there were bite marks on the trunk, along with missing chunks of wood. I immediately knew what pokemon I was tracking, and I was happy knowing that the world would soon be rid of at least one Bidoof. One Bidoof would not be enough, for Azrael alone could easily eat three of the little beavers, so I would need to find more food afterwards. Knowing that, I went back to the stream and tried to find the dam.
The dam was not difficult to find, nor was it hard to find the few Bidoof that built it. There were three outside of the dam, swimming around and fishing. I released Azrael, not yet sure how he was going to help. Despite being a pokemon with a ground-type subclass, his draconic physique allowed him to fluidly swim through water.
I quickly came up with a plan and told Azrael, "Go upstream about 200 feet and swim down, taking the first Bidoof you can. Stay hidden." He gave a small stomp and rushed behind the trees along the bank of the small brook. I then told Gilles, "I need you to scare at least two of them. Give them a mean look until they are frozen in fear, and as soon as I shoot one, grab its body, and then you are free to have the third." Gilles let out a short and quiet cackle, and then dissipated.
I loaded an arrow and waited until I saw Azrael's fin moving through the water. When I did, I yelled, "Now, Gilles!" The ghost materialized in front of two of the Bidoof as a large pair of eyes and a gaping, jagged smile. The Bidoof froze in fear just as Azrael chomped down on the Bidoof furthest upstream. I aimed and shot an arrow right through one of the remaining Bidoof's little bodies, and Gilles immediately picked it up and threw it onto the shore before biting down onto the remaining Bidoof's upper body. Gilles lifted the shrieking Bidoof out of the water, bit down hard with a crunch, and then swallowed it whole.
Unfortunately, my arrow was gone; it had passed cleanly through the Bidoof and disappeared into the stream. Well, good thing I brought more than one. I tied my rope around the dead Bidoof's tail and continued onward after my pokemon returned to my side. Gilles would probably be fine with that amount of food, but Azrael would definitely need more to be satisfied. So I hunted for another hour, shooting a few Sentret and Pidgey, all of which I gave to Azrael. Gilles delighted in helping me by invisibly stalking the small creatures and scaring them out of the trees, whereby they fell to their deaths.
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Upon my return to my campsite, I encountered a small surprise. A deep rumble started coming from within Azrael's armored stomach when we drew near, so I ordered, "Azrael, submerge," and he obeyed. I then told Gilles to hide, and approached cautiously, making as little noise as possible.
I could hear rummaging coming from my tent and saw someone's rear end sticking out of the front flap. I then approached, looking as if I were alone, and declared loudly, "Can I help you?" The person immediately backed out and stood up to face me. He was a boy around my age with blue jeans, a light gray shirt, and an orange vest. He had styled black hair, and I also noted his fairly clean-looking tennis shoes.
He looked at me for a moment, then said, "Sorry, pal. I thought this campsite was abandoned." I knew he was lying; my tent and sleeping bags were un-weathered, clean, and hardly used at all. It made me angry.
"That's a lie. So do you live near the forest, come out and steal from young trainers, then go home with the spoils to leave them without shelter or supplies? I think I may call the rangers," I threatened.
The boy's brow furrowed and he said, "I wouldn't even think of that. You aren't going to do anything about it. You know why?" I felt cold, sharp metal against my throat, and I looked down to find a large metal scythe curved around the front of my neck. It was attached to a hard green carapace.
I instantly knew what the blade belonged to and it scared me. I knew because it was one of the few bug pokemon I was considering catching. Bug pokemon in general are best for beginners because of their simple minds, group (hive) mentality, and ease in catching. Scyther, however, are in a different league. They are fierce and very deadly trained or untrained. They can move fast enough to gut trainers before they can react and call them back to their pokeballs.
I froze; I was not going to piss off a man-sized bug that could kill me and then run ten circles around my body before I hit the floor. "H-Hey now, I was just trying to scare you away. I don't want any trouble," I squeaked, instantly falling into a charade.
"Oh really, you don't want to call the rangers then?" he taunted.
"L-Look, why don't we s-settle this over a pokemon battle," I stammered. "I-If I lose, you can take what you want and I won't c-call the rangers. If I win, you leave and I s-still won't call the rangers. What do you say?" I tried to look as frightened as I could.
"I could just order my Scyther to kill you and then I wouldn't have to deal with this," he smiled menacingly.
"Oh come on. Don't you think killing me would be more trouble than its worth? Plus, the first thing the rangers will do when they find my body is perform a search of all the pokemon owners who have a pokemon capable of killing me like your Scyther would. You have nothing to lose. I just don't want to die. I haven't even had a real pokemon battle yet," I quickly sputtered out.
The boy smiled and thought about the situation. Probably feeling as if he held all the cards, he said, "Slash, let him go." Slash? What a creative name. "I'm showing no mercy on your pokemon, bud. Slash will have his fun."
A grin crept across my face as the bug flitted back over to its owner. Now that the blade was off of my neck, my pokemon were free to do something about the situation. I would still participate in the battle, but he was insane if he thought I would let him get away with this. I was going to make him pay for threatening me like he did. I wondered how many young trainers' lives were made miserable by this boy's thievery, but I was honestly less concerned about his crimes towards other trainers and more concerned with my own vengeance. I called out to Gilles and he appeared right next to me, looking over my shoulder.
The boy gasped and now wore a furious expression. "Alright Gilles, remember our drills. Don't let him hit you, slow him down with your scary faces and mean looks so his blades can't hit you, then hypnotize him. Only then should you materialize and attack him. But be on guard, because he's fast and will try to counter you immediately," I said quickly.
"You have a Haunter!? Bullshit you haven't had a battle yet. You're going down after your pokemon!" he yelled at me.
"We'll see about that," I said quietly to myself. I motioned for Gilles to go ahead while discretely dragging my foot along the ground. It signaled to Azrael to hold tight.
Gilles flew towards the Scyther as a mass of dark smoke and screeched while overwhelming the bug with a hideous projected image of himself. The Scyther had made an attempted swipe at Gilles, but the blade had gone right through his body, and it faltered from Gilles' psychological attack soon after. I knew that the hypnotism would be difficult to pull off because of the abnormal nature of the brains of insects, but I was hopeful that Gilles could accomplish it due to Scyther being significantly different from many other bugs. Any psychic method of attacking a bug is difficult because bugs do not think the way normal creatures do; their minds function on instinct and loyalty, which makes them difficult to confuse.
To my dismay, the hypnotism did not work, but Gilles was safe as long as he remained intangible. "Scare him more to slow him down!" I yelled. Gilles again pressured the insect's flight response, causing an inner conflict between it and the Scyther's fighting instinct, and slowing it down. "Alright, now lick its wings!" I knew that the loss of the functionality of a Scyther's wings is devastating to its maneuverability and so did its trainer.
"Move, Slash! Don't let it get near your wings!" yelled the criminal. The Scyther started to spin, but it was too late. While the trainer was yelling the command, Gilles had flown through the bug's body and reappeared behind it. With a single acidic lick, Gilles caused the Scyther's wings to burn and sizzle, making it cry out in pain.
"Good, Gilles! Now scratch and bite! Avoid his blades!" With its movement severely hampered, the Scyther could not evade Gilles effectively. The Scyther proceeded to be torn up by a disappearing and reappearing ghost that he just could not quite hit. It was obvious that the bug was not trained well, and the fact that Gilles had trained in this kind of evasion gave him distinct advantage. Finally, after about a minute of Gilles' ghostly claws rending bloody gashes in the Scyther's carapace, the bug collapsed. I immediately yelled "Don't stop!" and Gilles proceeded to tear into the unconscious body with an unmerciful crow, before its raging trainer recalled it.
"You bastard! You're going to pay for trying to kill Slash! I'm not through with you yet!" The boy was fuming and his face was maroon. He took out another pokeball and released his second pokemon. It looked like a three-foot-tall, quadrupedal, jagged chunk of rock with a horn on its nose. I knew it as a Rhyhorn, and I knew that they are very tough and hard to damage. Gilles' scratches and bites would hardly do much damage to it, so I prepared to unleash Azrael. "Let's see you try that on Rocky!" the boy yelled. Seriously? Rocky? I almost laughed at the boy's lack of creativity.
I recalled Gilles, to the surprise of my opponent, pocketed the ball, and then lifted my foot up. I stomped the ground hard and slid my foot forward a foot and a half. "What the hell are you doing?" taunted the boy.
Five seconds later, his Rhyhorn looked at the ground in surprise and yelped right before it was lifted into the air by an explosion from underneath. The ground had split open and Azrael had burst out from underneath the Rhyhorn, tearing into its softer stomach before hurling it several yards away. The rocky pokemon tumbled end-over-end before it re-stabilized itself. Azrael now stood between me and its opponent, baring his large teeth and growling. There was a small trace of blood on his nose from where he had cut into the Rhyhorn.
"W-W-What the hell!? Rocky, charge it and use your horn!" yelled, the boy, disbelief and anxiety strewn about his face. The dense pokemon lowered its head and obeyed its master.
"Azrael, dodge!" I yelled, and my dragon jumped to the right, as if he were weaving between trees. His maneuver worked almost perfectly except that he was still a clumsy Gible. Although he juked to the side, he bumped into the charging Rocky and was knocked off balance. I stomped twice and, after he regained his balance, Azrael submerged.
"Rocky, move around! Don't stand still for it to hit you!" I could see the boy's sweating and nervous face from thirty feet away, making me chuckle. I enjoyed seeing the loathsome scum's fear and anxiety. Isn't karma a bitch? As fast as the dense pokemon could move around, it was still a heavy rock. It needed time to build up speed but Azrael was quicker. He was accurate as well, erupting underneath the Rhyhorn and tearing into its stomach again.
"Azrael, yield!" I yelled. Seeing that he was going into a blood rage, I knew he would not listen, so I returned him before he killed the Rhyhorn. I then released him and Gilles beside me, placing a hand on Azrael's spiracle and telling Gilles to disappear. The boy had returned his rock pokemon at the same time and was looking at me with a glare.
"You bastard," he snarled.
"Glare on my command," I quietly told Gilles. Then I looked at the boy and said, "I suggest you get the hell out of here before I change my mind about calling the rangers." He cursed and then ran past me and towards a game trail as I took out my bow and notched an arrow. "Now, Gilles," I said evenly, and he appeared in front of the boy, scaring him still in his tracks and forcing him to turn around. When he did, he saw see me standing forty feet away with my bow leveled. I could see his face pause in fear as I launched an arrow towards him, which smoothly embedded itself in his right thigh.
The boy screamed and crumpled to the ground, holding his leg. I walked over to him, dialing the contact number for the forest rangers on my PokeDex. When they responded, I gave them the ID number on my PokeDex which they could use to find me via GPS, and reported the boy. I then said to him, "Lying is a horrible habit, don't you think? You're lucky I don't cut off your hand and use it to recall your Scyther so my Haunter can finish the job. But I don't think you'll be seeing your bug again for a long time after this. Maybe that will teach you a lesson and maybe you will rethink how you choose to live your life. Also, I believe you owe me half of your cash for losing the battle." I grabbed his pack, found his wallet, took half of the money, and returned his gear.
At that point, I pressed down on the arrow's switch, causing it to collapse into its shell form and rip itself out of the boy's leg. I looked at Gilles, who was cackling at the boy's pain. His giggling grew hysterical when the arrow was removed, and I grew a little uneasy from his amusement. On the one hand, Gilles was amazing in a terrifying way, but on the other hand, he could be downright creepy.
When the ranger arrived, dismounting from his Pidgeotto, I explained to him that the boy had been stealing from my campsite when I caught him. I told him that the boy had sent his Scyther to attack me and that my pokemon defended me. My Haunter stabbed the boy through the leg with his claw while the Scyther approached me, and the Scyther then rushed to protect its master, resulting in a pokemon battle in which I won.
The ranger listened seriously and weighed my words before he told me that many young trainers reported being stripped of their belongings after graduation week. To collect evidence in order to verify my story, he checked the boy's PokeDex. The boy's name was Joey Gavern, and he had a history of petty crime in the Viridian suburbs. When they checked my PokeDex, which I had only just received a week prior, they found no criminal record. The final and most significant piece of evidence that implicated Joey was what the ranger found in his backpack - the belongings of a kid who was robbed the previous day. The victim's name was written on the objects and his ID was in his wallet in Joey's bag.
Needless to say, Joey was indicted on accounts of theft and assault. My story seemed legitimate enough and I chose not to press charges or push for more serious indictments, so the ranger saw no reason to involve me further. Joey's hands were bound, he was loaded onto the Pidgeotto, and was then taken away. I returned to my campsite and prepared to cook the Bidoof with Azrael's help. While the beaver roasted, I retrieved my buried backpack with Azrael's help. I realized that spices would probably have been nice to bring along, but I did not have the room in my bag for excess luxuries. Despite the meat tasting bland and gamy, I relaxed and enjoyed my dinner while congratulating and praising my pokemon for a job well done.
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My first night in Viridian Forest held another reality check. The fear a trainer learns to cope with quickly, which no one really knows about aside from pokemon trainers, was the fear of not knowing what lurked in the dark around you. The night was as full of noises as during the daytime, but the difference was that I could not see what made the noises. I had my little fire, my dragon, and my ghost to help me feel safe, but I never knew if a predator would attack me in the middle of the night. I knew enough to put out the fire before I went to sleep in order to avoid attracting the attention of predators, but just made the air about me more unsettling.
The nights were also cold. Even during summer, I experienced cold nights that left me shivering in my sleeping bag next to the fire. By the time I would leave the forest near the end of summer, I would develop a new appreciation of the wilderness, as well as the ability to fend for myself.
I was able to sustain my pokemon and myself on our daily hunting expeditions with a host of small and medium-sized animals. We learned how to survive in the wild without having a house to go back to, and part of that was learning not to stay still. We moved around a lot for a couple reasons. The first is that we did not want to develop a tasty scent in one place for carnivorous pokemon to track, and the second reason is that we had become incredibly lost. The path was overgrown to the point where it blended in perfectly with the rest of the forest and was therefore impossible to follow.
For the most part, though, I had no problem with being lost; training in increasingly hostile environments allowed my pokemon and I to grow stronger. During our first week of being lost in the wilderness, we had many different experiences. Beyond hunting different types of pokemon and fighting stronger-than-expected wildlife, we had experiences that humbled us to the wilds and opened our eyes to the importance of knowing the terrain.
During one such occasion, we had stumbled across a meadow with tall grass and many flowers. The sun was able to shine through the trees in that area, which was a pleasant respite from the gloomy dark atmosphere we were growing accustomed to. As soon as we trekked into the field, we scattered a group of Sunkern that were sunbathing in the light. The Sunkern did not cause problems; what did was the Sunflora which they were gathered near. The flower pokemon immediately extended its body to its full height, which was about four feet tall and took on a confrontational stance.
I immediately recognized its posture as aggressive and protective, and started backing up. Its leaves flattened out and hardened, and my eyes widened before I dove backwards, narrowly avoiding the razor-sharp leaves that flew by where I was just standing. "Let's get out of here!" I yelled to my pokemon, knowing that if we stayed long, more Sunflora might join in to protect their kernel offspring. I scrambled up and ran to the closest tree line, dodging hardened leaves that embedded themselves in the trees around me. One managed to slice me across my left triceps, leaving a bloody cut which scarred, but I was able to avoid most of them.
Gilles had gone incorporeal so he was in no danger of being critically hit, while Azrael followed me, using himself as an honorable shield. Later, after we had run a safe distance away, I had to pull out five hardened leaves from Azrael's back, which he did not enjoy, and to find out how hurt he was, I checked his pokeball to see his health at 65%. Not bad for taking five razor leaves from a pissed off flower. That experience taught me a little about surveillance and knowing the terrain.
Another experience we learned from was recognizing signs in the environment. When spider webs start becoming thicker and more numerous, it is a warning that a colony might be being approached. I ignored the signs, and when we stumbled into a Spinarak cluster, we had to fight our way out.
I, with my brilliant observational skills and wonderful acrobatics expertise, had tripped and rolled down a fairly steep hill, hitting several small saplings and disturbing numerous webs. When I rose from where I had halted, I could hear the chittering and pattering of many arachnids approaching my position. When I stood up and shined my flashlight around me, it illuminated hundreds of foot-tall spiders crawling down tree trunks and descending on silky strings of web. Knowing we were outnumbered, we ran.
Azrael was able to slow them down slightly by completely knocking over large trees, but the Spinarak simply crawled over the downed tree and continued their pursuit. He accomplished such a feat by burrowing underneath the trees and clearing out their roots on a single side of it. While Azrael attempted to help our escape, I yelled, "Gilles! Try to slow them down! Don't try to affect their minds though! Their collective intelligence will overpower yours!" Gilles then proceeded to blink in and out of their ranks, stabbing them through the tops of their carapaces.
At one point, Azrael surged past me and burrowed under a tree, uprooting one side of it, and I was barely able to run under it before it hit the ground. I looked behind me to see Azrael lighting it on fire. "Good thinking, Azrael!" I yelled. Occasionally, I would get hit with a flung web and Gilles or Azrael would quickly cut me out of it with their claws. Whenever Azrael was hit with webs, either Gilles would free him quickly or I would recall and release him.
Time seemed to stretch on and I ran for longer than I can remember. Azrael had caught up to me and I returned him when I saw him starting to lag behind from exhaustion. Gilles had also caught up, floating through the air as a dark mass with bright eyes. I ran until I reached a stream, and then I hopped over it and followed it down about another mile before resting. When I stopped, I released Azrael and said, while heaving, "Good job both of you. Amazing work. Azrael, lighting the tree on fire was a brilliant idea. And Gilles, you must have taken out twenty of those things!"
My words made Azrael coo with delight and Gilles cackle maniacally while doing barrel rolls in the air. We made camp there for the night and I spent most of it removing the sticky webbing that clung to my jeans and shirt. I also removed much of it from Azrael, and a quick burrow beneath the ground removed the rest. Know your terrain!
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Almost two weeks in, we had another memorable experience, though it was a good memory that I would look back on with fondness and nostalgia. It was dark out and Azrael was burrowing a circle around our campsite when I heard a commotion at the outskirts of our little settlement. Azrael had emerged, mid-marking, and was shaking his head wildly while screeching, so I ran over to him as quickly as I could with Gilles trailing behind.
When I approached him, I saw that there was a gray mass on his face and that he could not reach up to it with his stubby arms. I yelled, "Azrael, stand still so I can help!" He shook around for a couple more seconds before becoming still, though he was still twitching with anger as I walked up to inspect his face. After a very brief inspection, I realized that the mass was actually a pokemon. At that point, Gilles began to laugh hysterically, not helping the situation. As I tried to pry it off, it released a loud REEE-EEERRR REEEEEE screech and dug its sharp claws deeper into Azrael's snout, drawing small crimson droplets.
"Azrael, I'm going to recall you for a second so that it has nothing to hold onto. Gilles, stun it when I do," I ordered. I recalled Azrael and the bug dropped from the air. Gilles immediately froze it in fear with a terrifying look. I released Azrael behind me, and then I ran up to the insect and punted it into a tree. It fell down, stunned, while I took out my PokeDex to scan it since I did not recognize its species.
My PokeDex identified the bug as a Nincada and informed me that the Nincada would eventually evolve into a Ninjask, which I did have knowledge of. I quickly made up my mind and retrieved one of my pokeballs. While it was still stunned, I threw my pokeball at it and it disappeared in a flash of light. The ball wiggled for ten seconds before coming to a halt.
I picked up the ball and smirked. "I guess this means you should be careful while digging," I said while laughing at Azrael. Gilles joined in and laughed hysterically at the jibe. Azrael, feeling indignant at my joke, turned up his snout and waltzed back to the campsite, leaving the perimeter unfinished. Oh well. I finished up his job, knowing I deserved it for making fun of him. My work was not nearly as well-done as his, but it sent the message adequately enough.
I returned to the camp and inspected the newly-used ball. IT said that the Nincada was level 13, female, and had a broken leg with 75% health remaining. I must have REALLY kicked it hard. After thinking about it for a little bit, I came up with a name suitable for a Ninjask, referencing a ninja movie I had watched at home, which involved a female assassin hunting down her victims mercilessly. The ninja's name was Raeda, and that was what I was going to call my new Nincada.
I released Raeda, expecting her to attack me like Azrael and Gilles had when I first caught them, but I was surprised when it just sat still and looked at me. She was about a foot tall and about two and a half feet long. It also looked at my other two pokemon, acting scared when it looked at Gilles. "Well, Raeda, welcome to your new team," I said with a smile. "Raeda, this is Azrael and that is Gilles. Don't worry, we won't hurt you. You are one of us now." She did not show any signs of understanding but I approached her anyway with her pokeball at the ready.
When I reached a distance of five feet from Raeda, she leapt up towards my face and ended up in her pokeball. Well, that was to be expected. I released her again ten feet away. "Don't attack me, Raeda. You will end up in here," I pointed to her pokeball. She chittered and I hoped that it was a gesture of understanding. "Now stay still while I check your leg," I pointed at her leg and approached.
Raeda stayed still and I kneeled down to inspect her leg. When my face was close enough, she leapt again, attaching herself to my face, and I reacted by screaming some expletives and falling back while trying to claw her off. I then took her pokeball and returned her to ten feet away.
I massaged my face and noticed there were no scratches, bite marks, burns, or puncture wounds, which confused me, since I had expected it to act similarly to me as it had Azrael. "Do not attack me, Raeda!" I sternly ordered while pointing at her ball. "Now stay still. You are making your injury worse." I approached her again and held the ball at the ready.
When I reached her, she did not move, so I took out a regular health potion and sprayed her broken leg. Watching the potions work is a fascinating process, and I observed as the liquid catalyzed the healing process and forced the carapace to meld back together. As soon as it finished, she chittered… happily? She then leapt onto my face again.
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After almost a month of bathing and washing my clothes in streams without soap, and living from the land, I decided I wanted to return to civilization. My knife and hatchet were dulling, the weather was becoming colder, and I was getting a little homesick.
For the past month, we had had daily training in increasingly rough situations, and we struggled to bring down larger and hardier prey than Pidgey and Rattata. Azrael had grown tougher and able to break through tree roots while digging. His attacks had grown stronger as he practiced on the ample trees and wildlife.
Gilles had quickly started to become a master at ambushing prey, as well. He employed an almost artful approach to shock and awe tactics, using many different maneuvers to stun, frighten, or surprise his prey. It was amazing to watch his ingenuity, and I definitely intended to use his talents in battle. Both he and Azrael had been helping each other become quicker and tougher, and I put on some muscle weight as well. With my participation in our training and my high-protein diet, consisting of hunted pokemon and berries, I was getting to be in great shape after the few weeks.
I craved the taste of spiced foods and the comfort of a warm, soft bed. We had made much progress towards my first goal in Viridian Forest, and I would be content with moving on. The problem was that I was lost. I looked at my pokemon and informed them of my desire to return home for a small time, and they did not seem to have a problem with my decision.
Azrael, who had grown another foot and a half taller, was tearing away at a Stantler carcass as I declared the change in our course. I noticed his head was extending further out, as if he was growing a neck, and his arms were growing longer. It was interesting to me that he was showing signs of physical maturity despite him being so young for his species, but it was indicative of the success of our time in the forest.
On the surface, Gilles did not appear to have changed much. All I noticed was that Gilles' shadowy form was a bit denser then when I had caught him. His less physical, yet more noticeable change was what our training had developed. His abilities were now capable of being used effectively in a team effort, as demonstrated by his utility in hunting Stantler. He could cloud their psychic abilities, disabling them and keeping me or Azrael from taking a trip into a hallucinated hell while we could move in for the kill unimpeded.
Raeda, who had been very easy to train, had been making progress despite the small amount of time she had spent with us, and despite her quickly-developed attachment issues, which were characterized by her jumping onto my face. She had grown a little and I had taught her to use her different abilities on command.
I had had Raeda training much like Azrael at his start. I had had her practicing her scratches on trees, performing scurrying drills alongside her running comrades, and honing her burrowing abilities with Azrael. I also had had her practicing her hardening skills while draining the life of the local flora as Gilles took some suppressed swings at her. Furthermore, I had even instructed Azrael to dodge her as she tried to jump onto his face, which I had learned was a show of affection. Luckily, I was able to teach Raeda not to jump onto my face as often, but she would still cling to my leg or my back. Overall, she was a lovely addition to our group.
After a brief training session following my announcement to head home, we packed up camp and started wandering south with the help of a compass installed in the base of my hunting knife. It was cold in the shade of the trees and I made a mental note to purchase a jacket at my earliest opportunity. I also made a mental note to purchase basic medication in case I developed some sickness.
After three days of traveling south, we came across a clearing in which two trainers were battling in the center of a small crowd of spectators. I watched a Metapod take hit after hit from an Electrike who apparently had not developed its electricity moves. The Metapod actually exhausted the Electrike and then began tackling it ruthlessly before knocking it out. I was fairly surprised at the outcome, and I could see exchanges of money in the crowd as betting paid off for some.
The loser paid the Metapod owner and left with his head hanging. I assumed that the small crowd was actually a traveling group because they all walked toward the tree line together. I ran over, recalling my pokemon so that I would not startle anyone. They noticed me and stopped, waiting for me to approach. I needed to know where any path was and asking for directions was the easiest way to discern one's location.
I stopped in front of the group and said, "Hi everyone. I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of the road to Viridian." I was informed that they were lost as well and then bid them farewell and good luck. When they had cleared out, I noticed a girl remaining on the other side of the clearing. She had baggy cargo pants, boots, and a dark jacket covering a red shirt. Her brown hair was pulled back in a ponytatail, and her attractive face presented green eyes.
"I suppose you're not with that group," I called out.
"Nope," she replied, walking over. "Not anymore, anyway. I couldn't stand those people. Just a bunch of annoying amateurs who won't shut up about their romantic exploits." Her speech was marked by an unfamiliar accent, which led me to wonder if she was from a different country.
"Amateurs, eh? I suppose you think you're not?" I asked.
"…Maybe," she replied with a small grin. "You seem a little older than the other trainers here. How many badges do you have?" she asked curiously.
"Hmm, I don't think I want to tell you," I said, trying to hide my embarrassment.
"Hmm," she murmured, studying me. "Alright, let's battle!" she announced and backed up.
I was taken aback by her sudden shift but agreed, thinking, Why not? More money for me and experience for my pokemon. I backed up and took out Raeda's ball. No need to start out with my best. I released Raeda in front of me and the girl released a Ledyba.
"Raeda, harden!" I yelled.
"Lady, reflect!" she yelled.
"Leech life!" I yelled.
"Light screen!" she yelled.
I watched as the Ledyba flew far above Raeda. "Lady, silver wind!" my opponent yelled, and the Ledyba hovered where it was, getting hurt by Raeda's constant leeching which looked like a green aura running from the Ledyba to Raeda. The air around the Ledyba swirled into a silver mist and lanced out at Raeda, whose harden did not protect her from the non-physical attack.
Raeda shuddered from the attack and continued trying to leech life from the Ledyba who was protected by the light shield. I yelled, "Stay in there Raeda!" trying to motivate her, but I was beginning to think that Raeda was outmatched.
"Lady, silver wind again!" the girl yelled with a dangerous grin across her face. With two more silvery barrages, Raeda passed out. After a quick mental evaluation, I determined that Ledyba had stayed out of Raeda's direct attack range and bypassed Raeda's physical toughness to beat her.
I returned Raeda with a curse and released my Haunter, saying, "C'mon Gilles, get in close and rip her apart." The girl seemed impressed but still held her smile. "Alright Gilles, freeze her in place with your mean face and get in close!" I ordered.
"Silver wind, Lady," the girl returned. However, the Ledyba was caught in Gilles' terrifying gaze before it could attack. Gilles then rushed the Ledyba, focusing the look more intensely as he grew near. When he was close enough, I yelled, "Lick her wings!" I saw the girl's smile fade into a look of concern as Gilles nearly disintegrated the Ledyba's wings with his acidic tongue.
The bug pokemon fell from the air and Gilles followed. As soon as it hit the grass, Gilles scratched it hard with his shadowy claws. The girl gave a little pout as she returned her pokemon. She then sent out her next pokemon, a purple sheep standing on two legs and about four feet tall. It was the second evolution of Mareep, a Flaaffy.
"Alright, Larry, get in there and take that Haunter down!" ordered the girl.
"Dodge the electricity, Gilles. You can now try to hypnotize," I told Gilles. He immediately tried to hypnotize the Flaaffy and was rewarded when the sheep stood still, gazing at Gilles hollowly. Gilles then rushed the sheep pokemon and raked his claws across the Flaaffy's face.
That woke the Flaaffy from its stupor and the girl shouted, "Thunderwave!" The Flaaffy's tail sparked and let out a burst of electricity, and since Gilles was so close, he could not dodge the wave. Gilles was hit and stunned in mid-air. The Flaaffy then bounded away. Crap.
"Try to shake it off! Hypnotize again!" I told my incapacitated ghost. I could see him struggling in the air, trying to move.
"Charge up, Larry!" shouted the girl. The Flaaffy's tail started pulsing while it drew in energy. Gilles hypnotized it once again, though, interrupting the charging process. He floated over to the Flaaffy, visibly straining, and as soon as he was close enough, I ordered him to attack the orb on its tail. I saw him wind up to scratch the tail but his paralysis forced his swing to slow down.
Gilles ended up hitting the orb but with little force, though it was enough to wake the stunned sheep, and the girl yelled, "Thunderbolt, NOW!" The Flaaffy's tail, which had stored more energy than I had judged, let out a powerful bolt of lightning into Gilles' hand. For a split-second, I saw Gilles in polar opposite colors as he let out a mixed-pitched scream and collapsed in a shadowy mass on the grass. That's not good. I was quickly becoming distraught because I knew that my pokemon were hurt. I quickly recalled him, holding back my rage because I knew the girl was doing exactly as she should be; fighting with her pokemon to overcome challenges, such as myself.
"Alright, I'm going to warn you right now. I used to feed my last pokemon Mareep…" I said nervously. "He might get a little overzealous."
The girl thought for a moment before saying, "Larry can hold his own. If your pokemon gets out of hand, return it and I'll return Larry before anything bad happens. Thanks for the warning. But what the hell kind of pokemon do you have that can eat a Mareep?" She had a look of incredulity.
"Azrael." I released my dragon in front of me and I could see the girl visibly recoil. Azrael was almost eight feet tall by then and always inspired fear with his initial release. "Alright Azrael, that is not food. We're still fighting the Flaaffy but don't try to eat it. Now burrow and –"Azrael had ignored me and taken off towards the Flaaffy. The girl apparently thought her pokemon could hold its ground because she did not recall him.
"Azrael!" I yelled.
The girl commanded her sheep to send a bolt of lightning at Azrael and it obeyed, but the lightning simply bounced off his scales. He had grown accustomed to lightning shocks when his diet mainly consisted of electric sheep, reinforcing his natural immunity towards electricity. Amid more arcs of lightning dancing off of his scales, Azrael leapt onto the Flaaffy and tore into its back, crushing it at the same time with his weight.
Both of the pokemon immediately disappeared into their pokeballs. "Thanks, again, for the warning," the girl said with a frown. "I guess it's time to use my starter now. You are a lot tougher than any other trainers I've fought here." I released Azrael next to me and jabbed him in the spiracle, eliciting a whine from him. She took out a normal pokeball and released a small pokemon.
It was a two-foot tall Roselia with one red flower and one pink flower. "Ok Kara, you know what to do first," the girl said as she pointed at Azrael. I honestly did not take the little flower-holding nymph seriously; it looked so frail that I thought Azrael would knock it out with a single blow. However, it did not mean that I chose to go easy on it.
"Azrael, get close and breathe fire on it!" I commanded, and Azrael ran towards the flower pokemon. The Roselia's flower petals immediately broke off, circled around her quickly, and flew into Azrael's legs. This caused the clumsy Gible to trip and fall, skidding along the dirt and grass with his momentum. The Roselia then showered Azrael with a cloud of spores, which festered and started impeding his ability to move. She then shot thorns from underneath her flowered hands, which imbedded themselves in Azrael's face before dancing away.
That trifecta attack happened in quick succession; too fast for Azrael to retaliate. "Azrael, try to fight through it!" I yelled. It was wise of her to have a beginning move set already established. Azrael groaned and lifted himself up from the ground. Time to switch things up. "Kick up the dirt around you!"
Azrael started stomping, making the dirt around him rise unnaturally. It then began to swirl around him, clouding him from the Roselia's view. "Now, throw some sand at her eyes!" Jets of sand were flung from the tiny sandstorm, hitting the Roselia occasionally despite her attempts to evade them.
"Kara, giga drain!" shouted my opponent. The Roselia's flowers opened up wide and started sucking energy from Azrael, who was having a difficult time making his way over to her. "Kara, again!" She continued trying to sap Azrael's strength but started becoming less and less accurate, due to the sand constantly irritating her eyes.
"Alright, Azrael, get close to her now and burn her!" I yelled, sensing a momentary advantage. In a burst of strength and perseverance, Azrael rushed forth from his storm, despite the spores plaguing his body, and spewed a small flame onto the flower pokemon, though the flame was much smaller than it should have been. His eyes were bloodshot, and I could see some veins showing from his arms that were purple. I quickly realized that the thorns were poisoned.
The flower-holding grass pokemon danced away, despite the burn she sustained, releasing more spores as she went. The spores added onto Azrael and she released more magically directed leaves into Azrael's legs. Azrael fell again and rose to his feet. He was tough and would not give up easily.
"Azrael, create another sandstorm!"
"Kara, finish him!"
The Roselia's flower petals opened up toward the light coming down into the clearing, and I could see her taking in energy from the sun's rays. Oh shit! "Azrael, burrow now!" I screamed, but it was too late. The energy she had taken in was released right into the middle of the swirling sand as a beam of light. The sand fell and Azrael was crouched on the ground, breathing heavily, but still conscious.
I was immensely proud that he was able to withstand that solar beam, and apparently my opponent was awed as well. "Magic leaves, Kara," she said. I did not want Azrael to try burrowing for an attack because of the spores limiting his movement, but he needed to get away from her long-range attacks.
I did not have the chance to tell him to burrow with two stomps because leaves hit him multiple times, again. This time he slumped over and passed out. I recalled him and fought back a wave of fury. She had beaten me fair and square but she had hurt all of my pokemon; it was one of the most painful experiences I had faced. I felt guilty for allowing my pokemon to get beaten and I did not know what to do with myself. I would have to wait for my pokemon to regain consciousness and protect them while they were unconscious because they would never regain consciousness inside their pokeballs.
I was hanging my head and mulling over where I had fallen short when the girl came over and said, "That was a great battle! I have never had such a hard time beating anyone, except gym leaders."
"Wait, you've earned badges already?" I asked, incredulously.
"Yep, two of 'em so far. Why? Haven't you yet?" she replied with a confused look on her face. She showed me two badges pinned on her sash and I felt embarrassed again.
"I have not. I've been training in this forest for a while so that I'll be ready for the gym leaders. But if you've received two badges already, why are you here? You should be near Vermillion City by now," I said.
"Believe me; you don't need to train any more to beat the first gym leader. And I'm not from Kanto. I flew in from Hoenn to complete this circuit. These two badges are from the first two gyms in the Hoenn League," she said proudly.
"That just creates more questions," I said with a sigh, though it did explain her accent. "Like, why did you switch circuits? And why didn't you just fly into Pewter City?" I asked.
"It's kind of a long story to answer your first question; maybe I'll tell you about it later. And to answer your second question, I flew into Viridian City. My sister lives there with her Kantonese husband. I visited for a while before heading into the forest," she said. "By the way, my name is Sheila. It's nice to meet you." She stuck out her hand and I shook it, while reflecting on the sentiment.
"Well, if you're headed to Pewter City to take on the first gym leader, we can travel together; at least for a little while. Your pokemon are strong even though you don't have a badge yet so maybe we can teach each other something new. Oh, you also owe me half your money for that loss," she said cheerfully.
I resentfully pulled out my money and counted out 1700Pb for the loss. "Well, here's the thing: I'm actually heading back to Viridian to restock my supplies and to show my parents that I haven't gotten eaten yet, since I've been out here for a month."
The girl thought for a few moments and said, "Well I'm going to come with you!" She smiled brightly and then added, "I left three days ago so it would be a little out the way for me, but I would love the opportunity to train with a competent trainer. Plus, I can check in again with my sister."
I shrugged. "Maybe you can teach me something useful. I guess you can come with me. But we have to stay here for the night so that my pokemon can at least regain consciousness."
"Mine as well," she said with a bit of a pout. So, you know the way out, right?"
I shook my head with a small chuckle and started setting up camp.
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Current PokeDex Update
Trainer; KA523VI979
Pokemon in Possession:
Azrael – Gible
Gilles – Haunter
Raeda – Nincada
Trainer: Sheila Farris; HOMA884457
Pokemon in Possession:
Kara – Roselia
Larry – Flaaffy
Lady – Ledyba
