So I'm back! This chapter took me a really long time to write because I have been flooded with school. So sorry about that. As for the the question in the last chapter, the winner is...Black Falcon! So I'll Pm you about the pokemon you want. Thanks to everyone who guessed and reviewed.
Chapter 4
Trees taller than houses were shrouded by darkness as they loomed spookily just ahead. The cries of wild pokemon rang through out the air. A cool breeze blew Leaf's hair off her left shoulder while she hugged herself. Red stood in front of the ever darkening massive forest, his eyes filled with determination and a hunger for adventure. Goosebumps rose on the back of Leaf's neck, but the pull of curiosity overpowered the feelings of fear creeping into her. Red hiked his freshly stocked backpack up his shoulders. After their battle, Red had made a quick stop at the Pokemon Center, grabbed a bite to eat, and then revisited the PokeMart.
The sun seemed unable to touch the darkness between the trees, though it sat high in the sky. Leaf continued to walk deeper into Viridian Forest as Red re-checked his map. She listened closer to the sound of pokemon, trying to distinguish them. She wondered if she would catch any pokemon in there. Leaf glanced behind her, noting how the trees behind her were much thinner and lighter than the ones in front of her. Red put his map away and glanced around them. They stepped into the thicker part of the forest, and Leaf almost immediately missed the sun. Red just walked past her though, not seeming to care at all.
Leaf watched the back of his head bob up and down as he walked. She wondered whether he would ever think of her the way she did of him. He seemed pretty oblivious to her feelings, which she didn't know whether to be grateful for or not. Her biggest fear was being rejected and losing her best friend, but it was so hard not to blurt out she was in love with him every time she opened her mouth. Leaf had played the scenario of how she would confess her feelings so many times in her head it almost felt real. Only in real life he probably wouldn't confess he had the same feelings and kiss her.
"This is so creepy," she broke the silence.
He gave curt nod, but didn't answer as he just kept walking.
"How come you never really talk? I mean, I do about 99%of the talking and now that I think about it, I really don't know a ton about you. I know you like pokemon and stuff I guess. We don't really have deep conversations like most friends, do we? But I think we're pretty close, right?" She rambled on.
He glanced back at her, an eyebrow raised. She tried to keep the blush from creeping up her checks, but failed. He turned back and simply shrugged.
"Actions speak louder than words," he replied.
"Yeah I guess you could say that. So how have you liked our pokemon journey so far?" She walked up to his side and looked over at him.
"It's good."
"That's good. Mine has lived up to every expectation and its only been a couple of days." She ducked under some low hanging branches as she talked.
"Battling is so fun too. It just gives you this high and it is one of the most fun things I've ever done. I feel so much closer to my pokemon when I'm battling too." Leaf was talking so much she almost didn't notice Red had stopped walking and was staring at her head.
She was about to ask why he was staring when she heard a soft chewing noise. It seemed to be right in her ears. She suddenly felt as though her hat was weighing down on the top of her head. Leaf slowly reached up and pulled her hat off her head. Sitting on top was an all too familiar green bug happily gnawing at her hat.
"Caterpie," it declared, looking up at her.
"Get off my hat," she frowned, trying to pick it up.
The second Leaf's hand touched the caterpie, its mood turned from happy to very sour. It squirmed away from her grip and brought it tail around. Leaf shrinked away, but it was too late. A series of string shots hit her square in the face. She dropped her hat at once and took a step back, pulling at the strings furiously. Her back bumped into a tree and suddenly the air was filled with a buzzing noise. Red suddenly snatched Leaf's wrist with one hand and pulled her hat out from underneath the caterpie with the other. Without giving the pokemon a chance to retaliate, he was running away. Leaf stumbled blindly behind him, still trying to pull away the sticky strings all over her face as she blindly followed him. She manged to pull away enough to see through one eye. Even though the tree was far behind them, the buzzing seemed to be getting louder. Confused, Leaf glanced behind her.
"Red!" She shrieked as he continued to pull her foward.
Leaf felt her heart drop into her stomach as she stared at the sheer number of them. There had to be at least twenty extremely angry beedrill in high pursuit of them right now. Fear coursed through her veins as she pulled off the remaining strings. Even though she could see perfectly, Red continued to lead her through the maze of trees. Leaf didn't resist. She doubted she could manuevur through the forest nearly as well as he did. Leaf sneaked a peak back at the bug pokemon to find that they were gaining on them. Pretty soon they would be on them, and that would not be pretty.
"They're gaining on us," Leaf said breathlessly, "We need to fight."
"No," he answered back without a second to waste.
They suddenly veered sharply to left, so sharp that Leaf almost lost her footing. He let go of her now and was full on sprinting. Ever since she could walk, Leaf had prided herself on being the fastest in Pallet Town, but for once she did not want to be in front. The trees seemed to thin up and the sun was peaking through their branches. Red finally found what he had been looking for. In front of them was a small lake. Small waves illuminated by the sun rippled across its surface slowly. Lone pokemon sat at its edge peacefully drinking or cooling off in the refreshing water. The serene and peaceful view was ruined as the two trainers charged right into the water.
Without a second thought, Red had thrown his bag off his shoulder and was running into the water. Leaf followed his lead and found herself in waist length water within seconds.
The beedrill erupted from the forest in a frenzy, looking around eagerly for their lost prey. Red and Leaf were submerged up to their chins. Leaf's heart was pumping so loud in her chest she feared it would give them away. They scanned the area, spotting the various wild pokemon and even looking right at them for a moment. But the beedrills must have mistaken them for more wild pokemon, for the lingered only a few moments before buzzing off to search somewhere else. Red and Leaf stood there for a few minutes, neither one of them daring to move in case the beedrill came back. After another minute of silence, Red deemed it safe enough to leave the water.
They emerged soaking wet and cold to the bone. Leaf couldn't help but chatter her teeth as she hugged her arms around herself. Red was a little more dignified and pulled of his soaking vest and wrung it out. Leaf fumbled with her pokeball belt before releasing her fire lizard pokemon. It looked up at its trainer happily as it shot a small ember into the air. Leaf patted her pokemon on the head and held her hands over the small flame flickering above his tail. Red watched her for a moment before rummaging in his bag for something.
"Here." Red held out a clean vest.
Leaf gingerly took it, her eyes studying it in awe. Putting it didn't make her much warmer, but she knew the gesture was out of kindness.
"Thanks," she said, smiling at him.
He nodded and slung his wet vest over his shoulder. She picked up her small fire pokemon, relishing his warmth. He cried out happily and licked Leaf's cheek, causing her to giggle.
"How did you know they wouldn't see us in the water?"
"I didn't." A sly grin tugged at the corner of his mouth.
Leaf's jaw dropped open. She stared at him, studying the way his dark brown eyes stared back at hers with confidence. Leaf huffed, shaking her head in disbelief. He bent down and pulled her white hat off of the shallow waves lapping at the shore. He placed it back on her head as he walked by, and then shoved his hands into his jean pocket. Leaf scurried to pick up her discarded satchel and ran to Red's side. She was still in shock her friend would have just gone out on a wim like that; it was unlike him.
"That was so risky," she sputtered, her charmander nodding in agreement.
"Life's full of them." Red never missed a beat.
"What if they would have recognized us?" She pressed "We would have been dead meat."
"We could have hid underwater, not like they can swim."
Red wasnt much a talker, but when he did open his mouth, it was usually something clever, or important. Leaf on the other hand loved to talk, like most girls do, and would ramble on about pointless topics for long periods of time. Leaf kept her mouth shut this time, not sure of what to say in reply. She sighed, giving up, and looked around them. They had walked back into the shady part of the forest, though Leaf had no idea which direction they needed to be going.
"Can I see the map?" She asked.
began to grind inside her, emitting a weird noise.
"Let's stop and eat," Leaf suggested.
Red agreed. They stopped in a small clearing that the sun was barley visible in. Leaf set her bag down and went into the woods with Charmander to find sticks as Red rummaged through his bag. He found his foldable pot and pulled it out along with two cans. Leaf meanwhile was humming to herself as she continued to pick up sticks littering the forest floor. Charmander was more than happy to help and he was carrying a handful of sticks himself. Leaf was about to pick up a thicker stick when she heard a soft chewing noise. She groaned inwardly, assuming it was another caterpie. She beckoned her pokemon over and slowly began to lift the log.
Underneath was a small caterpillar like pokemon, munching on some crushed leaves. Unlike the caterpie though, it was a tanish yellow color with a pink nose and a large cone shaped horn on its head and a smaller one of the tip of its tail. The pokemon was very small and seemed not to mind their presence. Leaf smiled and let out a small awe as she observed the wild pokemon. She crouched down low and studied it for a moment. She knew right away she wanted to capture it, but she didn't want to disturb it or attack it either.
"Hi there buddy," She cooed, extending a hand.
It glanced up at her hand and sniffed it cautiously. While it was deeming her friendly or not, Leaf pulled out her pokedex and scanned the pokemon.
"Weedle, the hairy bug pokemon. It's often found in forests eating leaves. It has a sharp venomous stinger on its head." The pokedex said.
"So weedle's your name," she murmured as it went back to eating.
She reached to her belt and pulled off a small empty pokeball. Enlarging it, she tapped it against his body, engulfing it with a red light and sucking it into the pokeball. It shook three times in her hand before it let out a ding. Leaf squealed in happiness. She let out her newly caught pokemon at once and let it get acquainted with her starter pokemon. Her weedle seemed to take a liking to Charmander at once and next it squirmed over to her feet. She picked it up and placed it on her shoulder, smiling as she imagined what Red would think of her coming back with the pokemon. She quickly gathered the rest of her fire wood and walked back to camp.
Red glanced up from the soup he had made when Leaf walked back to their little camp. He immediately noticed the pokemon on her shoulder and gave her a questioning look. Leaf pretended not to notice as Charmander and her placed their fire wood in a pile. She peered in his pot, causally checking to see what was for supper.
"Leaf, there's a weedle on your shoulder," he phrased it more as a question than a statement.
"Yup!" She beamed with pride, "This is my newly caught weedle."
Red walked over to her and examined her newly caught pokemon. He looked over at her and they shared a smile. Leaf followed him back over to the fire wood where they began to arrange it to support a camp fire. Charmander shoot an ember at it, and it suddenly became alive with a crackle and pop of light. He set the pot over the fire and called out his pokemon. They called out their respectful names and began to devour their food. Leaf released her rattata as well, and watched as it scampered over to join its friends. Soon the soup was hot enough to eat, and Red and Leaf didn't need to be told twice their food was ready.
After everyone was finished eating, they had a small clean up session. The fire burned brightly, while the waves of heat rolling off it pulled everyone towards it. The sun was starting to set and Leaf wanted nothing more than to stay their and have a bonfire. Seeing Red was ready to get up and leave, she pulled a bag filled with marshmallows out of her bag.
"Look what I brought!" Leaf exclaimed, holding her prize out in the air.
Red took one look at the bag, and ran off to find the perfect stick. Leaf smiled to herself as ripped open the bag and shoved a marshmallow on the closest stick she could find. Red returned a minutes later with a nice roasting stick and proceeded to roast the perfect golden marshmallow. Leaf preferred her marshmallows burnt, so the middle would be nice and goey. Soon the pokemon had grabbed sticks and were roasting their own marshmallows in no time. Camps fire songs and laughs were shared while the fire burned brightly in the darkening night. Before they knew it, night was upon them.
"We should probably get some rest," Leaf said.
Red nodded in agreement, watching as the ember from the fire flickered weakly in their ashes. They both recalled their pokemon and unpacked their sleeping bags. Leaf set it out and crawled between the covers. She was asleep before her head hit her pillow. Red stayed awake a bit longer though. He hadn't been very fond of sleep lately. He knew he needed the rest though, and forced himself to close his eyes, dreading what came next
"Red," Leaf's voice urgently whispered, pulling him out his sleep.
He opened his eyes and waited for them to focus on Leaf's face looming over his own. At first he thought his eyes were taking an extra long time to adjust to the trees in the background, but he realized that everything around her face was white because of fog. He sat up, and Leaf leaned back so they wouldn't hit their heads together. He looked around, but there wasn't much to see. A white fog had rolled over the forest so thick you could cut it with a knife. Leaf's eyes watched him urgently as he took everything in.
"There's something in your bag," Leaf whispered.
He looked at her questioningly.
"I didn't want it to be a beedrill," she explained.
He unzipped his sleeping bag and stood up quietly. Sure enough, there was a scratching noise coming from his bag. As they inched closer, the movement stopped. A yellow thunder-bolt tail stuck out of the bag. The pokemon inside crawled out of his bag toreveal an all to familiar electric rodent.
"Pikachu?" It looked at them surprised.
Sitting on top of its head and covering its ears was Red's baseball cap. Laying by its feet was his pokedex. Red took a step toward it, but it snatched up the pokedex in its mouth and ran off. Without a second thought, Red was running after it. He heard Leaf call out his name, but he kept running. No way was he about to loose the one thing professor Oak had given him. He would hear no end of it from Blue. The pikachu was fast, but so was Red. After realizing that it couldn't out run him, it shoot up the nearest tree.
Red began to climb up the tree after the wild pokemon determinedly. It watched him worried. The pokemon's cheeks began to sizzle with electricity. Red was climbing pretty fast, and he would have the pikachu withing reach soon. He heard Leaf running up the tree below him, but he continued to climb. The pikachu looked about ready to shock him, and he realized how dealy an electric attack could be from this height.
"Red!" Leaf screamed in fear.
Red swung his head around in time to see an angry beedrill flying incredibly fast right at him. Before he had a chance to react, it was shoot down by a bold of electricity. He watched it spiral down and hit the forest floor not far from Leaf. Red turned back around and exchanged a wide eyed look with the pikachu. Leaf jumped back as the beedrill pushed itself up and began to buzz angerly. The noise was suddenly amplified as it seemed to come from all around them.
"Red!" Leaf called again.
The pikachu ran right down past him, his hat and pokedex discarded in its panic. Leaf ran forward and caught the pokedex before it smashed to pieces. Red snatched his hat from the air as he began his descent. A swarm of beedrill twice as large as the last one they had seen was flying at them. Seeing Red up in the tree, Leaf knew she had to stall them while he climbed down. She called out her Charmander and Weedle, knowing rattata wouldn't be very effective in a battle against flying pokemon. The wild pikachu let out a startled cry and ran back towards Leaf. About 5 beedrills were in high pursuit of the electric mouse.
"Ember!"
Charmander hit two beedrill, and KO'd them with the super effective move. The pikachu sent out a thunder shock and hit the other three, knocking them out as well. They turned to face the other swarm. Leaf commanded her weedle to use a string shot while pikachu continued to shook the swarm. It did little to dent it though. Red finally hopped from his tree and called out his pidgey, bulbasuar, and nidoran.
"Gust, razor leaf, posion sting!" He instructed
"Ember, string shot!"
All the pokemon fired their attacks, but the swarm was upon them. Suddenly the everything was lost in the chaos. Red felt his throat clench as he stepped away from the action. A beedrill flew at him, it's drill like arms raised and ready to attack. He jumped away just before it slammed into him. It was about to come around for round 2 when it was slashed repeatidly with two vines. Red looked at his grass pokemon appreciatively before it returned to the mass battle. He saw the occasional flash of fire or bolt of lightning, but he couldn't see Leaf anywhere.
"Leaf!" He called out in a panic.
And then they were gone as soon as they had come. Red noticed many of the pokemon were wounded as they retreated back into the safety of the forest. Leaf was facing him, panting heavily and hugging her weedle closely. Red returned his pokemon quickly and walked over to her. Charmander sat at her feet, his face a sickly green color. He spotted the wild pikachu laying wounded not far away. Without thinking, he ran over and stopped up the hurt pokemon. He knelt down and placed it next to Charmander.
"Do you have an antidote?" Leaf asked.
He nodded, pulling out a needle and a small container of the antidote. He also grabbed an Oran berry from his bag. He filled up the needle with the antidote and gave Charmander a shot. Charmander sighed in relief and leaned against Leaf's leg. He tended pikachu' wounds next. It watched him the whole time, its eyes full of questions. Red guessed that people typical hadn't been very kind the pikachu. When he finished tending its wounds, it scampered away. Before it left though, it gave them one final look.
"Let's go before we get attacked again," Leaf said.
Red swung his bag over his shoulder and waited for Leaf to return her pokemon. She was still breathing hard, and looked pretty shaken up. She bent down and grab her bag. Red could see tears in her eyes and put a hand on her shoulder. The two walked back towards pewter city, both more than ready to leave the forest. They had been walking about 45 mins when Red noticed that Leaf was breathing heavily.
"I need to rest," she said.
"We're almos there," he urged her on.
She gulped, nodded, and took another step. Her leg suddenly crumbled underneath her and she fell. Red caught her before she hit the ground. Her face looked unnaturally pale, and she was shaking. He noticed the back side of her shirt was torn and a small cut ran across her lower back.
"Stay with me Leaf," he begged her.
She looked up at him, her eyes watery and unfocused. Her lips parted to say something, but they never left her mouth. Her body went limp, and everything turned black.
What a cliffhanger, huh? So hopefully Leaf will be okay, but you never know right. It was super fun writing this chapter because of all the action and interaction between Leaf and Red. What do you guys think of this mysterious pikachu? Thanks to everyone who reads, reviews, favorites, and follows my story!
