Chapter 4: Viridian Forest

"It's kinda spooky here."

Karen and I walked down the path that winded through Viridian Forest. It had already been two days since we entered the forest, and there seemed to be no end to it in sight.I glanced around, noting all the Caterpie, Weedle, even the Metapod and the Kakuna, that watched us as we walked past. "Yeah, it is creepy having all those Bug Pokemon just staring at us."

The journey down the path was a rather uneventful one. Finally, as the dark started to descend on us, and Karen started complaining about her feet hurting, we stopped and set up a campsite in a nearby clearing. I had Charmander start a fire, and we sat around it, eating some berries we found, before recalling Charmander and crawling into our sleeping bags. I lay on my back, staring up at the stars, until my eyes started to feel heavy and I let sleep take me.

Hours later, I suddenly woke up, seeing that the full moon was at it's peak in its nightly travel across the sky ,the light shining down illuminating the entire clearing around us. I briefly wondered why I had so suddenly woken up, when I heard a movement off to my right. I sat up and stared into the shadows cast by the trees, looking for anything that might be the source of the noise. Seeing nothing, I was about to lie back down when I heard the leaves of the trees rustling. As I stared into the trees again, my pounding heart almost stopped when a pair of bright red eyes suddenly appeared. The eyes stared back at me, unmoving, unflinching, unblinking. What scared me most about the eyes was that I couldn't see any pupils. They were just large, red, almond-shaped eyes, that seemed almost to glow. As they stared, I slowly reached for Charmander's Pokeball at my belt.

My heart was pounding, the adrenaline was coursing throughout my body, sweat started to dampen my skin, and, due to the sudden increase in heartbeat, a small headache made itself present. I expanded Charmander's Ball and braced myself for an attack. At my movement, the eyes narrowed and the leaves rustled again. I wanted to send Charmander out, but I was frozen by fear, and the eyes seemed to get bigger, as if they were getting closer. My breath started to get labored as I watched the eyes approach the edge of the clearing. They stopped just short of the moonlight and stared.

I gripped Charmander's Pokeball and was about to send him out, there was a buzzing noise, and the eyes retreated back into the shadows, until they disappeared. I sat there, watching the shadows for the eyes. Finally, after twenty minutes of nothing but the normal noises of nocturnal Pokemon, and no sign of the eyes, I shrunk Charmander's Pokeball, replaced it onto my belt and lay back down. After about half an hour of staring at the stars, the adrenaline rush finally faded and my heart slowed down to it's normal rhythm, and after another hour, the after effects of the adrenaline took over and I closed my eyes, falling into a restless sleep.

I didn't get much sleep that night, however, because, suddenly, after my encounter with the red eyes, it got extremely cold. For most of the night, I lay curled up into a ball, shivering, hugging myself to conserve any warmth. I suffered through the intense cold for what seemed like hours on end, when I suddenly noticed that, at some point during the bone-chillingly cold night, Karen had moved closer to me, until we were so close together that I could feel her breath every time she exhaled. I smiled despite the freezing weather, and closed my eyes again, falling back into a fitful sleep.

I woke up again, this time seeing that the sun had risen and was shining it's warming light down on us. The warm rays melted away the cold from the previous night, and I crawled out of my sleeping bag once I was sufficiently warm, trying not to jostle Karen and wake her. I stood and faced the sun, eyes closed, enjoying the warmth. I opened them, and saw something strange. Flying southeast was what seemed to be a bird. But no ordinary bird. This one seemed a lot larger than others. As it flew, the sun glinted off of it's feathers, and even from this distance I could see that it was dark blue, and every time it flapped, it seemed as though small pieces of glitter fell from its wings, almost like snow flakes.

Curious, I took my Pokedex from my backpack, slipped it into my pocket, and strolled over to a nearby tree. I stretched, then leaped and took hold of the lowest branch, swinging myself onto it. From there, I jumped up and kicked off another branch higher up, then kicked off another. I kept this up until I reached the top of the tree. Once there, I poked my torso from the leaves and studied the flying bird. I could see it slightly more clearly now, given my higher vantage point, twenty feet above the ground. I looked down at Karen, who was still sleeping soundly near the fire that had burned itself out. Although there was little point for it, I didn't feel any warmth from it last night.

I looked back at the bird and brought up my Pokedex. I opened it and and aimed it at the bird. The device whirred, then after a few seconds, the female voice came forward. "Subject too far away. Approach subject for accurate description. Subject must be within sixty meters to accurately scan."

"Sixty meters..." I looked back at the bird, who was now far enough away that I could barely recognize it as a bird. "That's a lot more than sixty meters." I sighed . "I wonder if I'll ever see that bird again." I watched it fly away until it disappeared beyond the horizon to the south east.

"Hey, Jack, what're you doing up there?"

I looked down at Karen, who had now woken up and was looking up, hand over her face to shield her eyes from the sun. "Nothing, just climbing a tree, seein' the sights."

"Um, okay. But come on back down here, we should get on towards Pewter."

"Be right down." I pocketed my Pokedex and jumped down to a lower branch, then another, and more until I jumped down from the lowest branch I had first used to climb up, landing in a crouch front of Karen.

"Well, well, look at you, all acrobatic. What, did you take gymnastics classes, too?"

I smirked and stood up. "So how'd you sleep last night?"

She blushed and smiled sheepishly. "Um, not so well. It was freezing!"

"That it was. C'mon, we should get on going."

I kicked some dirt over the fire pit and we packed up, setting back down on the road to Pewter.

"Hey, you didn't answer my question!"

An hour later, I gradually got an uneasy feeling building up in the pit of my stomach. I glanced around then stopped, realization hitting me like a Rhydon's Tackle. I stopped and glanced around again, on full alert now.

Karen stopped as well and sent a puzzled look my way. "Why'd you stop?"

I held up a hand to gesture her to be silent. "Sshhh. You hear that?"

She looked around for a few seconds. "Um, I don't hear anything."

"Exactly," I said after a moment of silence.

Karen gasped and looked around again. "I don't hear anything!"

She was right. It was completely silent, deathly silent. No calls from bird Pokemon, no chirping of Bugs, no grass or branches being pushed aside as Pokemon walked along, nothing. Just the occasional noise of a breeze whistling through the trees. "Something's here."

"Huh?" Karen was starting to get scared. "What do you mean, something?"

I was silent for a moment, straining my ears, trying to detect some noise. "I heard that when there's something big prowling through a forest or something, it scares off all of the local Pokemon. Thus, the lack of noise."

I stood there, eyes darting about, hand hovering near Charmander's Pokeball, ready to send him out against anything that might attack. After a tense minute in which Karen got more and more scared, I started to relax, then froze when a loud rustling made us jump. I spun to our right, standing in front of Karen, looking at the trees at the side of the road. A moment of silence followed, in which I started to relax yet again and my heart rate slowed when red eyes appeared. Eyes just like the ones from last night.

I took a step back, my heart going into a furious thumping, and Karen gasped. The eyes stared out at me before disappearing. I watched the trees in apprehension, and jumped when a yellow blur shot out of the foliage. Karen and I ducked and it flew over our heads. It circled back, heading for Karen, and I tackled her to the ground and it flew over head once more. As it flew down the road, it made a buzzing sound, and I found myself thinking, Is it a...?

It stopped as a kid, a few years older than us, maybe thirteen, fourteen, maybe fifteen, wearing brown khaki shorts, a white T-shirt, and brown sneakers, calmly strolled out of the bushes, carrying a large net over one shoulder, a Pokemon at his side. It was about four feet tall, with a brown hide, long arms that ended with three-fingered hands, stubby legs that had two toes each, two in front, another in the back, and a mouth with long, white teeth that ran horizontally inside. But, by far the most intimidating feature of the Pokemon were the two horns on its head that were dotted with spikes. The boy walked to the center at the road, his Pinsir gnashing its pincers at us. I stood and helped Karen to her feet as the other Pokemon stopped and hovered in front of his Trainer.

It had a yellow body, segmented into three parts, the lower part of which had two stripes and a large stinger. The middle-the thorax, I think it's called-were where its arms and legs came from. It had a oblong head, where red, almond-shaped eyes and two antennae shaped like sevens resided. Its wings gave off a buzzing sound as they flapped at a speed to fast to see clearly. But all I could focus on were the huge stingers on each of its arms, and those eyes. My memory flashed back to last night, to the eyes that I saw in the middle of the night. Its identity was now revealed to me.

The Beedrill buzzed a few times to its Trainer, then turned to face us as his Trainer spoke. "So, you're the two newbies that Beedrill found last night." He looked us up and down, lingering a little more than I liked on Karen. "You really do look like newbies." He shrugged. "Eh, I guess you'll do. Kakuna, Beedrill String Shot!"

Two Kakuna that I hadn't noticed were hanging from branches nearby and the Bug Pokemon shot thick strings at us from their mouths. They hit us, and immediately stuck. Karen and I cried out in shock as the string rapidly wrapped around us.

"What the hell are you doing?" I shouted at him.

"What's it look like? Tying you up so you can't do anything when I take your Pokemon."

"What?" I screamed in rage, before we fell down, the string seeming to never end.

"Why would you do that?" Karen yelled from the ground.

"Why?" He put a hand on his chin, feigning looking pensive, before his face lit up, as if he just got an idea. "Oh, yeah, to sell them off, of course!"

"Why do you want to sell them?" Karen shouted at him in outrage.

"I need the money," he replied as if it were so simple that anyone could have figured it out.

By now, Karen and I were cover in sticky, silk string up to our chests. My arms were pinned to my sides, so I couldn't reach Charmander's Pokeball, and I couldn't stand, as my legs were tied together, preventing much movement. All Karen and I could do was roll around in a futile attempt to escape. The string wrapped us in a cocoon, and it quickly traveled up to our necks. Soon, it would engulf our heads, and probably suffocate us.

"Let us go, you asshole!" I shouted.

He just laughed, his Pinsir joining in. "Fat chance. Goodbye, newbies!"

"You f-" My words were cut off as the string finally reached my head, completely enveloping it. All I could hear now were muffled words as the light above me was blocked out by three shapes. Already, I could feel my air starting to run out. The tallest, undoubtedly the Trainer, said something and the form of his Pinsir came closer, the horns snapping together. As it was about to make contact, there was a muffled shout, and the boy turned to face whoever it was. He pointed, commanding his Pokemon to attack, and they darted forward. There were the muffled sounds of a battle raging, the two Trainers shouting out command I couldn't make out, before the Bug Trainer's Pokemon were sent flying back, obviously defeated. He shouted and recalled his Pokemon before dashing off. There was a silence for a few moments before another figure stood above me, with what looked like a Pokemon at their side. The Trainer said something to their Pokemon, and it lifted an arm and slashed down. I clenched my eyes shut, fully expecting to feel pain burst from my waist, but only heard a tearing sound as my prison was ripped away.

I gasped in air, and looked up at my savior, and jerked in surprise. "Miranda?"

"The one and only!" She winked. I then noticed the Scyther that was standing behind her. It must have set me free. She stood and walked over to Karen's wrapped-up form and almost grudgingly had her Pokemon set her free. Karen gasped like I had when she emerged and sat up, looking up at Miranda. "Miranda!"

I stood and helped Karen to her feet and turned to Miranda. "You drove off that Trainer just now?"

"Yep, me and Scyther here," she smiled, proud of her Pokemon, who actually seemed indifferent to the situation. "He called himself a Bug Maniac, and claimed to be the master of Bug-types. But that was a load of crap. I took him down with just one Bug-type, huh, Scyther?" Scyther just nodded.

"Um, thanks for that," Karen said, plucking off a piece of string that was stuck to her skirt.

Miranda smiled. "You're welcome."

"Not to sound ungrateful, or anything," I said as I dusted myself off, "but what are you doing here?"

"Well, I was flying above the forest on my Fearow just now, heading for home, when I noticed a commotion. So I flew lower, saw what that guy was doing, and decided to jump in and save the day." She smiled.

"Why were you heading home?" Karen asked her.

Miranda's smile faded, and she hung her head. "My mom got terribly sick. I had to go home, to be there for her," she said quietly.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Karen said.

"Where do you live?" I asked her.

She didn't respond for a moment. "Saffron City."

"Well, if we ever go by there, we'll make sure to stop by. Right, Karen?"

"Of course. Anything for a friend."

"I...I'm a friend?" Miranda asked, a little disbelievingly. "We just met yesterday."

"Of course! Anyone who saves us and our Pokemon is definitely a friend." Karen grinned, and I nodded.

Miranda sniffled and wiped at her eyes. "Thanks Jack, Karen." She sniffled once more. "Well, I really should get on going. Catch you guys later.." She plucked a Pokeball from her belt and sent out a Fearow, who stretched its neck and spread its wings. Miranda hopped on and turned to us. "Thanks, guys." She smiled and told her Fearow to take off, flying off to the west. Soon, they were out of eyesight.

"I hope her mom is okay," Karen said.

I nodded "Yeah, me, too."

Karen suddenly stopped. "Hey, what's that?"

"Oh, God, I hope it's not that guy again."

"No, no, listen. There's definitely a noise."

I listened, and sure enough, there was a faint buzzing sound, reminiscent off the Bug Maniac's Beedrill's wings. I tensed, reaching for Charmander's Pokeball as the buzzing gradually got louder. When it seemed as if it was coming from all around us, a small yellow something came tumbling out of the brush. I sent out Charmander the second I noticed the object, and Karen sent out Bubasaur. I assumed it was a Beedrill, and was about to tell Charmander to attack when Karen and I froze at stared at the little creature. It had black tips on its ears, red cheeks, and a lightning-bolt-shaped tail. Its body was dirty, but I could see it had two black, or maybe dark brown, striped across its back.

The Pikachu was panting heavily, glancing back fearfully the way it had come. It looked at me, and quickly got to its feet and ran over, past a confused Charmander, and hid behind my leg, clutching onto my jeans for dear life.

"A Pikachu? What's wrong?" I asked it.

"Piiika..." it said, shaking.

"It's terrified!" Karen said. Before she could say anymore, the buzzing intensified a whole lot more, and several more yellow figures burst from the trees. They stopped in front of us, and I knew we were in trouble.

A swarm of Beedrill were apparently the ones chasing the Pikachu, because the moment the saw it cowering behind my leg, they charged, arm stingers at the ready.

"Oh, crap!" I swiftly ducked and picked up the Pikachu, diving to the left. The Beedrill shot past, although a few stopped in time and dove at me. "Charmander, Ember!"

Charmander shot fireballs from his mouth and they hit the Bug-types, and they fell, burnt and twitching. The rest of the swarm hovered above us, staring. I counted about two dozen. I looked down at the Pikachu in arms. "What'd you do to piss them off?"

"Pika pika," it responded, shaking its head.

By now, Karen had called out her Bulbasaur and Pidgey, and I then called out Rattata. "Jack, aren't Beedrill known for aggressively chasing out an intruder in their territory?" she asked.

"Yeah. That must be why they must be so mad," I said to the little Electric rodent in my arms.

It just shrugged. "Pika."

I looked up at the Beedril, who still hovered there above us, intently gazing at the Pikachu. "Leave him alone! He was in your territory on accident, alright? So leave him be!"

The Beedrill looked at each other, buzzing amongst themselves, before one of them pointed at the three Beedrill that Charmander had burned, then, with a collective buzz that could have served as a battle cry, they dove.

"Get ready, Karen!"

For what seemed like hours, which was actually about ten minutes, we fought a fierce battle with the swarm. I'm sure that we would have lost and been severely injured, maybe even poisoned, had we not had Pidgey and Charmander, Flying- and Fire-types, respectively. With the help from their attacks, we were able to fend off the swarm.

When the last Beedrill fell, we stood there, breathing hard. Our Pokemon were exhausted after the battle, so we recalled them to rest. I looked down at the Pikachu in my arms.

"You okay?"

The Pikachu looked up and muttered a, "Pika pi..."

"Don't worry, those Beedrill won't hurt you anymore." I kneeled and set it back down on the forest floor. "Go on, it's safe to go back to...uh, wherever you're from."

"Pika pika." It turned and walked towards the brush. It stopped looked back, then shook its head and came back. "Pika pika, pi pika, pika pikachu, pika."

"What's it saying, Jack?" Karen asked.

"I, uh, don't know, but I think..." It jumped onto my shoulder. "I think it wants to come with me. Is that right, Pikachu?"

"Pika!" it said happily, nodding.

"Okay, then." I pulled an empty Pokeball from my belt and enlarged it as the Pikachu jumped down. I tossed it and it hit the Mouse Pokemon on the head. It opened, Pikachu was turned into red energy and pulled inside in a split-second, and the Pokeball fell to the ground, where it shook. It stopped after only three shakes, and I picked it up. Showing the Ball to Karen, I said, "I got a Pikachu."

"That's great!" she said. "I wish I could get a Pikachu. They're so cute!"

"Um, guys, could you please get off? My neck hurts."

Sometime later, after having caught Pikachu, I brought Charmander and Rattata out of their Pokeballs to walk along side us, Karen doing the same with her Bulbasaur and Pidgey, who was perched on her shoulder, and now all three of my Pokemon somehow managed to climb up and fit on my shoulders.

"Aw, c'mon, Jack, let them ride on you, they adore you!" Karen chimed in. "Plus, it looks so cute!"

"Well, you try having three Pokemon riding around on your shoulders for an hour, see if you like it," I grumbled.

"Pika!" Pikachu said, trying to massage my neck, but failing due to the two other Pokemon there.

"Charmander, chah," Charmander said to the two before jumping off, followed by a reluctant Rattata and Pikachu.

"Thanks, guys," I said.

Charmander patted my leg. "Chah."

I glanced over to my right, and my heart skipped a beat. I stopped and stared, and Karen bumped into me.

"What's up?"

My jaw clenched and I pointed at a small clearing. Karen followed where I was pointing and gasped. "It's him!" she said, the contempt evident in her voice.

The Bug Maniac from before, the one that tried to take our Pokemon, was standing there in the clearing, back to us, his Beedrill at his side, and I bristled when I saw and heard what he was doing.

"Beedrill, hit it again with Twin Needle!"

His Beedrill dashed forward at rammed its arm stingers at something, and there was a cry of pain. "Pika!"

Pikachu's ears perked up at that and he went down on all fours, growling, red cheeks sparking.

"He's attacking a Pikachu!" Karen said. Then the assaulted, a Pikachu, came within view, and unsuccessfully tried to dodge another Twin Needle.

Without a word, I ran forward, Karen calling out, "Jack, stop!" Paying no heed to her words, I ran up behind him, jumped, and kicked him in the back. He fell forward, face-first, into the grass before turning to face me.

"You! What the hell was that for?"

"Why the hell are you attacking that Pikachu!" I shouted at him. The Beedrill had stopped its attacks, and the poor Pikachu lay quivering beneath it.

"What's it to you?" he said, standing up. "I'm trying to capture it, so if you don't mind..." He turned to give his Beedrill another command, but I grabbed his shoulder and spun him around, and he responded by swinging at me. I blocked, then kicked him in the chest. He fell to the ground and got right back up, swinging wildly, not aiming, just trying to hit me. That's exactly why I was able to dodge, block, and deflect all of his punches. He backed up, and I noticed his Beedrill floating up behind him. He took a moment to catch his breath before pointing at me and saying, "Twin Needle!"

"Oh, crap." I dove to the side as the Bug-type zoomed by. "Charmander!" Upon hearing my cry, Charmander ran over to me as the Beedrill came around for another shot. "Ember!"

As the Bug Pokemon rushed at us, arm stingers extended to hit us with Twin Needle, the now-familiar fireballs shot out of Charmander's mouth, except now they seemed a little bigger than before. The Beedrill was coming in to fast and was too close to dodge the Fire-type attack, so it took the hit head-on and fell to the ground, unconscious.

Karen shouted, "Behind you!" and I spun and the Bug Maniac was behind me. He rammed his fist into my stomach, and I doubled over, breath knocked out of me, and saw his knee come up to meet my face. I crossed my arms over my face in time and his kneed thudded off of them. I delivered an uppercut that slammed his mouth shut and hit him with a haymaker in the mouth. He recoiled, his hand at his mouth and fell to the ground, groaning.

"That's what you get for attacking a helpless Pokemon. Despicable." I passed by him and went up to Karen, who was holding the injured Pikachu. "Is it okay?"

"She. I checked my Pokedex. It said that that heart-shaped indentation in her tail means that she's female."

I checked her tail, and sure enough, she had an indentation in her tail, that gave it a heart shape. "Huh, so she does. But I didn't think that Pokemon had differences between genders."

"C'mon, Jack, we learned about it in Trainer's School."

Thinking back, I could barely remember our teacher saying something about gender differences in some Pokemon. "I vaguely remember."

"You really should pay more attention," Karen chided me. "She's fine, she wasn't poisoned, thank goodness. All she needs is rest."

"That's good to hear."

"Pii..." she said weakly. My Pikachu jumped onto Karen's shoulder and looked down at the Pikachu.

"It's okay, Pikachu," I told him. "She'll be fine."

"Pika," he said, worried.

The female Pikachu looked up at Karen. "Pikachu..."

"What is it?" Karen asked her.

The Pokemon jumped down and pointed to Karen's belt, where she kept her Pokeballs. The Pikachu said something to my Pikachu, and he said something back before jumping onto my shoulder.

"Pi pika, pikachu."

"Huh?" I glanced at the female Pikachu. "Are you saying she wants to join us?"

He nodded. "Pi, pi pika, pikachu."

"She wants to come along to show her gratitude of being rescued? Is that it?"

"Pika!" he said, nodding. He turned to the female Pikachu. "Pika!"

Karen kneeled and said, "You want to coma along with me, Pikachu?"

She nodded, and Karen smiled, pulling an empty Pokeball from her belt. She stood and tossed the Pokeball at the Pikachu. It bounced off her shoulder and pulled her in, where it shook twice before lying still, like what happened when I caught Pikachu. Karen picked up the Pokeball, studied it for a second, then broke into a wide grin. "I finally got a Pikachu!" She hugged the ball to her chest, face lighting up like when she had caught Pidgey, and I smiled. "I promise, Pikachu, as long as you're with me, nothing like that will ever happen to you again."

"You're damn right about that. Anyone tries anything, we'll beat 'em up. They won't know what hit them." Rattata, Charmander, Pikachu, Bulbasaur, and Pidgey cheered their agreement.

Karen smiled widely at me. "Damn right."

I looked up at the indigo-hued sky above us, noting the stars starting to show. "It's getting dark, we should set up camp soon."

"Okay."

Finding a suitable clearing, we set up a fire and sat around it, our Pokemon dozing around us, Charmander in my lap.

"Quite the eventful day we had today, huh?" I said.

Karen laughed. "Yeah. Some crazy asshole tries to steal our Pokemon, we get rescued by Miranda, we fight off a swarm of Beedrill that were harassing a Pikachu, you caught the Pikachu, then we came across the same guy that tried to steal our Pokemon attacking another Pikachu, you kicked his ass, I caught the Pikachu...Eventful doesn't quite cover it, if you ask me."

I chuckled. "Guess not."

I watched the fire as it crackled and popped. I watched it even as Karen said, "Good night," and crawled into her sleeping bag and fell asleep. As the fire started to die, I gazed at the night sky above. There was still a full moon just like last night when I had seen Beedrill's eyes gazing out at me. I shook my head to dispel the memory and returned my gaze to the stars. They were far more visible here, in the middle of the Viridian Forest. I admired them, their twinkling grace, as a shooting star sped by.

I closed my eyes and made a wish. I opened my eyes again, and found it difficult to keep them open. I gently lifted Charmander out of my lap and set him on the ground beside my sleeping bag. He opened his eyes for a brief moment, then yawned, muttered a, "Charmander..." and curled up. I slipped into my sleeping bag and took my cap off, placing it near my head, on the ground. Pikachu and Rattata crawled closer to me, and I fell asleep surrounded by my Pokemon.

I was falling.

I don't know how I got here, but somehow, I was hundreds of feet in the air, and falling. Below me, I recognized the small lake that was located in Viridian City off to the left. I twisted my neck around, and my heart skipped a beat. Behind me, hovering in mid-air like some kind of metal leviathan, was what seemed to be an enormous airship. It was badly damaged, though,as I could see it was pouring smoke from several holes in its hull.

The airship was rocked by an explosion that tipped it a little to the left, right above the lake. It was suddenly outlined in a bright blue hue that seemed to propel it forward. Before I could wonder what caused it, there was a flash of light next to me. I turned and there was a long, dark-blue snake-like Pokemon, with a horn on its head and a blue orb hanging on its neck. That's when it suddenly started to glow in a bright, white light, and I woke up.

I lay there for a moment, looking up at the morning sky, before sitting up. Shaking my head and putting a hand to my face, I said, "What the hell?"

I turned as Karen stirred. "What's up?"

"Nothing. Just a weird dream, is all. Really weird," I added under my breath. I yawned, then stood, careful not to jostle my three Pokemon too much. I stretched as the morning sun's light shone down on me as Karen slipped out of her sleeping bag. After packing up, recalling our Pokemon, and eating a quick breakfast of a multitude of berries, we continued on our way to Pewter City.

Two more days of traveling later, we emerged from beneath the shaded canopy of the forest's trees, and into bright early afternoon sun. Taking a moment to adjust to the sudden influx of light bombarding our eyes, we found ourselves at one end of a rather long path that headed straight for Pewter City, not too far away. We could see the entire city from there. Besides the countless buildings, I could see that at the northern most part of the city, there was a rather large building, which I assumed was the famous Pewter City Museum. At the southern-most area the Pokemon Center and Mart were located. In the west was our destination, the Pewter Gym.

"Well, almost there!" Karen chirped.

"Yep. Let's not take longer than necessary to get there." I started down the path, Karen following. "The first thing I'm going to do is challenge the Gym Leader for my first Gym Badge." My stomach chose that moment to rumble. "Well, maybe after I eat first," I added sheepishly.