Renny: Last time you all got to see a bit of pokemon POV! Isn't that cool?
Green: Renny, I don't think they care.
Renny: Bah, whatever. Ice told it last time, in case you didn't notice or something.
Red: Hey, when do we get to the whole Gym battle stuff?
Renny: Not yet. Probably next chapter or the next one after that.
Red: Aw . . .
Renny: If it makes you feel better, the you in the story gets his badges off-screen. Before Green does.
Red: I'm in front of him? Yay!
Green: Grr . . .
Renny: Disclaimer!
Green: . . . Renny doesn't own pokemon.
Renny: On with the show!
OOOOOO
-Route 31-
"So, this place has two separate Routes, and you didn't tell me?"
"Well, not exactly. I did hint it." Ice said.
"Yes, but I'm not exactly very good at picking up hints, as you so kindly pointed out several times a couple of days ago." Green huffed. He brushed some of his hair out of his face, and glanced around at the small field.
He could see a cave not too far off, and it was starting to rain again. Green ignored Ice's answer to his pseudo-insult and walked towards it.
"Are you even listening!?"
"Nope."
He heard Ice mumble something, but again he ignored it. Twin was resting in her ball, so at least neither of them had to deal with the royal Pidgey complaining about the cave being dark or something. Plus he still sort of resented her for killing the nameless Spearow, even if he was sort of over it.
He was more shocked to find out that the death rate had increased dramatically for him, when he'd touched that dumb pokedex. Again, no one had told him, and Elm was either flat-out lying because he thought it would be a lot better for Green to not know, which would mean that Green would be really mad but still slightly thankful, or he had forgotten, in which case Green would kill him later on because really, who the heck forgets something as big as that?
"Hey, brat, what's in the cave?"
"I have no idea. I'm just going in, because unlike you, I'm not a water type." Green said.
"Humans are meant to have types, but they can't use the moves." Ice called. The rain was starting to pick up, so Green quickly ran into the cave and sat against the wall.
"Yeah, like I'm meant to know what my own type is." Green rolled his eyes. "I'll bet you no one does."
"The Kimono girls do." Ice said. He was leaning against the front part of the cave, smirking.
"Who?"
"The Kimono girls. They live in Ecruteak city." Ice said, nodding his head off in some random direction. Or, at least Green assumed it was random. Who knew what that Totodile knew?
"Well, that's nice and all, but how does that help?" Green snapped.
"They can tell your type just by looking at you." Ice sighed. "It's cool. I've seen a report once, one of them was being interviewed. The reported asked what his pokemon type was, and the Kimono girl said ground. No one's sure how they know, but they do."
"That's . . . kinda cool, I guess." Green shrugged. "Anyway, putting that conversation away for some other time, should we get a pokemon here?"
"Well, I've been thinking about that actually . . ." Ice started.
"Oh no."
"Shush, brat. Listen, how about you catch the first pokemon you see on the Route, town, city or cave?" Ice suggested.
"Right, and that helps how?" Green asked.
"Well, think about it. It doesn't give you any choice over your team mates, and it'll give you a chance to just train and get used to pokemon you wouldn't normally care about." Green faintly nodded, so the crocodile carried on. "And also, another rule for this thing, no duplicates."
"Duplicates? As in, no pokemon I've gotten before?"
"Exactly. That way you can't have the same pokemon twice, and you can catch different ones with different talents."
" . . . As long as I don't get a useless pokemon, that's fine with me." Green shrugged. "Now, can you please get inside? I'm not carrying you if you're wet."
"I'm a water pokemon." Ice laughed, walking in anyway. "It's in the description."
"I don't care." Green muttered.
"Geo."
"What now?" Ice sighed.
"I didn't say anything." Green blinked. He glanced around and saw nothing but a rock in front of him.
Wait.
"Is that a Geodude?" Green frowned.
"Ah, now that could be useful." Ice nodded. "The first Gym is flying, and if you wanna challenge the Gyms then getting a rock type might be good for the next three including this one."
"That might work, but what if the thing doesn't wanna come with us?" Green asked. "He's . . . just there. Maybe he wants food?"
"Hold out an empty pokeball and see what she does." Ice sighed, pinching where the bridge of his nose would be. "And here I thought you were an experienced Trainer."
"Oh shush, I'm not exactly used to this whole 'catch the first thing you see unless it's a dupe' thing you just made up." Green snapped. He grabbed an empty pokeball from his messenger bag, and slowly held it out to the Geodude.
"Gude?" The rock type probably would have titled its head had it been able to.
"Um, you wanna come with us, little guy?" Green asked.
"Wow, you really need to work on your socialising skills."
"Shut up, you!" Green barked. "I'm used to catching them through battles, not random things."
"Just throw the ball and talk to her."
The Geodude was probably nodding. Green rolled his eyes slightly at Ice, and bopped the rock/ground type on the head with the empty pokeball.
It didn't even shake once.
"That was fast." Green blinked. "Ok, let's see why you're here."
He let the Geodude out.
"Hello." The Geodude smiled. It took Green a second to realise 'he' was actually a 'she'.
"You're a girl?" Green gasped.
"You didn't notice?" Ice laughed.
"Well, yes. Geodude can be female, you know." The rock pokemon huffed.
"Didn't you mistake her voice for mine?" Green asked Ice.
"Well, you sound like a girl."
"I do not!"
"And you look like one. Seriously, cut your hair." Ice scoffed.
"I like it . . ." Green mumbled, tugging at said grey-brown locks.
"So do I." The Geodude smiled. "It's strange and looks almost like weathered rocks, like an old Geodude would be."
"Old Geodude are grey-brown?" Green frowned. "Well that's . . . an interesting bit of information."
"I'd have thought you humans would have known by now." The Geodude sighed. "But then again, I suppose your inability to understand us contributes to it."
"You seem smart for a Geodude." Ice raised a non-existent eyebrow.
"I was raised from an Egg by a Trainer, who then released me because he could no longer train pokemon." The Geodude said solemnly. "He was caught in an accident, around about four years ago maybe."
"Four years ago?" Green asked. "Where did this accident take place?"
"Kanto." The Geodude said. "I don't know where exactly. I'm willing to be caught by a Trainer who can help me so I can find my old one again."
Ice spared a short and knowing glance at Green, but the boy didn't ask why.
"Well . . . You chose me because I could understand Ice?" Green sighed. "There's a reason for that . . ."
Green explained about his Grandfather, and what Elm had said. He got to the part about the increased death rate, but the Geodude didn't seem that bothered.
"You don't care?" Ice asked, blinking rapidly. "You could die before you even find your old Trainer, and yet . . ."
"Well, at least I'll know I tried to find him, right?" The Geodude shrugged. Or Green guessed she shrugged. "It's better than just waiting for him to come and find me again. He won't recognise me, I'm grown up now."
"You're four years old." Green pointed out. "In human years, that's a toddler."
"In Geodude years, it's a young adult, around about fourteen." The Geodude said. "So I'm technically older than you."
" . . . Ice, how old are you?" Green asked.
"Five years."
"And that is . . .?"
"At least fifteen in your years."
Green sighed. "I'm catching and keeping pokemon who are older than me in their own years. This is so not fair . . ."
"Hey, at least you know how to tell how old a pokemon is in your own years." Geodude shrugged. Or she moved her arms. Or something. "All it is is plus ten and you have the pokemon's age in your years."
"Basically you pokemon live for a shorter time." Green hummed. "Well, this is gonna be an interesting discovery for Grandp- . . ."
"What's the matter, Trainer?" The Geodude asked.
"I'm . . . Ice, remember how I kinda . . . walked away from him?" Green asked. "You know, after he told me about the death rate thing?"
"Yes? Why?" Ice frowned. "Oh wait . . . You don't know if you can or want to talk to him."
"Yeah, that's right . . ." Green mumbled.
"You're scared of him?" The Geodude frowned. "Why?"
"Well, not exactly scared, just . . . mad at him." Green sighed. "He kept secrets from me. He lied."
"Technically he did it for your own good." Ice said.
"Yeah, but he lied! He said it was because you and the other two were that bad behaved Elm needed me and those two morons in to help out, but he only wanted me to go out and learn this whole 'connecting' stuff." Green snapped. "That's lying and keeping secrets, because he didn't tell me anything."
"Look at it from his perspective-"
"I don't care. I'm not talking to him unless he apologises for lying and stuff." Green huffed.
"That was a fast decision." The Geodude raised a rocky eyebrow.
"Yeah, I do that sometimes."
"If we weren't here, you'd be stuck in this cave," Ice laughed, "Just sitting there and wondering what to do. See what talking to pokemon does?"
"Yes, whatever." Green muttered. "Still don't mean I'm gonna try and 'connect' with the three of you."
"Three?" The Geodude asked. "There's only two pokemon."
"Oh, right." Green slapped his head, getting out Twin's ball. "Twin, come and meet the new member."
"A Geodude." Twin sighed, as soon as she was out. "Oh, yay."
"Is that sarcasm I detect?" Green asked.
"Yes. As you can see, I'm a flying type." Twin said.
"And as you can see, the Geodude is staying, no matter how uncomfortable she makes you." Green snapped. "So quit whining, you big wuss."
"Just simply looking out for myself." Twin said. "I am still not entirely on board with this Trainer business."
"Right, whatever. Twin, meet . . . what's your name?"
"Oh, my old Trainer never actually gave me one." The Geodude laughed.
"Does that mean I gotta come up with one myself?" Green groaned. "I hate naming stuff . . ."
"We can see that."
"Thank you, Ice."
"But I did give myself a name, if you want that one." The Geodude smiled. Green perked up.
"Let's hear it then." He said.
"I like to call myself Amethyst." The Geodude giggled. "I heard some Trainers before, but they always go for the Dunsparce because they're rarer than me, and some of them have Geodude by that name. I liked it."
"That's . . . cute." Green smiled slightly.
"Oh? Is that a little praise I hear?" Ice smirked. "Is Greenie warming up?"
"Wha- No!" Green cried. "I just like the name, that's all!"
Amethyst laughed happily.
"Thank you for having me, Trainer." She smiled.
"No problem." Green nodded. "Oh, and . . . While you're with us, just call me Green. It feels weird being called Trainer . . ."
"Green? That's a fitting name." Amethyst said. "And so is Ice, as well. Though I'm not sure about Twin . . ."
"My full name is Princess Twintera Gracious Heradon the third." Twin scoffed. "But these two unruly creatures cannot pronounce my name, so they have shortened it to Twin."
"A Princess?" Amethyst gasped. "Your Majesty, I didn't realise! I'm so sorry!"
"Well, at least someone here appreciates my royalty." Twin smirked. "Thank you, Amethyst. For a Geodude, you are not that bad."
"Thank you for the praise!" Amethyst was probably bowing, but no one could actually tell.
"Ok, enough with the whole royalty stuff." Green sighed. "Can we get going now? The rain's letting up and I still actually wanna get to Violet within the day."
"Oh, I can show you the way." Amethyst said. "I've been many times."
"Didn't you worry about the Bellsprout?" Ice asked.
"If I leave them alone, they leave me alone." Amethyst could have shaken her head at that point. "So we're fine if we don't provoke them or anything."
"That's one way of getting out of it." Green shrugged. "Thanks, Ame."
"Ame?"
"Short version of your name. Like a nickname." Green said. "Of course, you're still Amethyst, but still."
"I like it." The Geodude giggled.
oooo
-Violet city-
"Oh Mew, finally . . ."
"That was such a long walk."
"I thought you knew the way?"
"Well . . ."
"Clearly she did not, as we had to stop and ask directions several times."
"I'm sorry, Your Majesty! I just . . . forgot."
"Yeah, and we paid the price because you-"
"Green, shut up."
"You shut up! That Bellsprout didn't Vine Whip you!"
Ice grumbled something and carried on walking. Green rolled his eyes and looked around for the pokemon centre, which was bound to be nearby since he'd seen several Trainers around.
"Green, am I in trouble?" Amethyst asked.
"What?" He blinked. Green glanced down at the rock type, who was clinging onto his shoulder (she didn't have enough arm power to keep up with them). "No. We're just grumpy. Don't worry."
"You mean you're grump."
"Oh shut up, that thing opened up the cut you gave me." Green snapped.
"And? Pokemon get cuts and bruises all the time." Ice shrugged.
"Well, maybe I'm not a masochist." Green sighed.
"Kid, are you crazy or something?" A man asked. Green looked up, glaring.
"No." He growled. "Why're you asking?"
"You're talking to yourself." The man gulped, backing away slightly.
"I'm talking to them." Green gestured down at his pokemon.
"Them?" The man glanced down and then his eyes widened. "Oh, you're Green Oak, right?"
"Why does everyone ask me that?" Green sighed. "Yes, I'm Green Oak, get over it. Sheesh . . ."
"You're doing that thing with the pokemon and the whole talking thing, right?" The man asked.
" . . . Yes. How do you know this?" Green frowned.
"He's the pokemon school head-teacher." Ice said. "Oak told him about you."
"Yet another secret that old Fearow kept from me." Green muttered.
"I'm Kennedy Jeffen." The head-master smiled. His dark hair and eyes made him look kind but strict. "But most people just call me Mr Jeffen because-"
"You're head-master of the school." Green nodded. "Ice just told me."
"Ice? Ah, little Ice!" Mr Jeffen grinned suddenly, kneeling down to see Ice. "How are you?"
"I'm cool." Ice smiled.
"Even if I can't understand him, I know he's fine." Mr Jeffen laughed. He stood up after giving Ice a quick pat, and faced Green. "Well, then. Your Grandfather wanted me to put you into one of my classes."
"Oh, great." Green sighed.
"It won't be anything bad. Just for about three days. In your spare time you can go and meet those two kids, Red and Blue, in Sprout Tower." Mr Jeffen said. "Class starts right now, so I'm afraid you'll have to wait for it to be over so you can go and find them."
"Why would I wanna find those morons?" Green scoffed.
"Because Elm and your Granddaddy said to." Ice said.
"Fine, whatever." Green snapped, throwing his arms up. Mr Jeffen laughed again and led him to a building about the size of a pokemon centre, but wider, and with one floor.
"Welcome to the pokemon training school!" Mr Jeffen announced, throwing open the doors.
They came out into a hallway, with only three doors in it. Two were on the sides, directly opposite each other, and the other was at the back of the hallway.
"This is the school?" Green frowned. "I thought schools were meant to be bigger. And have offices and stuff."
"Well, this is only the teaching block." Mr Jeffen said. "The building behind us is for the teacher's offices, places for the students to hang out, and all that."
"Oh."
"Now then, before I get you into a class," Mr Jeffen said, "Which of your pokemon need healing?"
"Uh, these two." Green nodded to Twin and Amethyst.
"Alright. I'll take them to the pokemon centre after you're in class, alright? Keep Ice out if you want."
Green nodded and quickly returned his two pokemon before they (or just Twin) could start complaining about the ball being cramped or something. Mr Jeffen took the two pokeballs and then led Green into the classroom on the left.
"Hello, everyone!" Mr Jeffen called.
"Good morning Mr Jeffen!" The class called back. Most of them were Green's age, but a few were older. Nearly every single one of them was bigger though.
"Mr Jeffen, what brings you in so early?" The teacher, woman with blonde hair and dark eyes, smiled.
"I have that temporary student with me." Mr Jeffen said, gesturing to Green. "Come on, say hi."
"Uh . . ." Green blinked. He glanced around at the class and suddenly he felt smaller than what he actually was.
"Is he shy?" The woman teacher asked.
"He was fine a few seconds ago. Maybe it's talking in front of a lot of people." Mr Jeffen frowned.
"Brat, what's up?" Ice sighed, climbing onto Green's shoulder.
"They're . . . staring at me."
"And? What about in the league? People stared then."
"That was for a different reason." Green hissed.
"So you're not much of a public speaker, I take it?" Mr Jeffen asked. Green glanced up at him.
"Um, not . . . not really." He murmured.
"Hey, ain't that Green Oak?" A boy, probably a head taller than Green and most likely older, shouted.
"It is!" Another called.
"Why is he here? Is it because of what he did?"
'What he did'?
"What're they talking about?" Green asked.
"Ah, well, we all watched the pokemon league on TV for the whole of the school day." Mr Jeffen sighed. "Many of these kids watched you and Red battle, and a lot of them took what Red said to heart. They remember him as the good guy, and you as the cruel bad guy."
" . . . Oh." Green's shoulders slumped. "They're not gonna let me forget that, are they?"
"Not really. I'll be going now, be sure to include him as much as possible!" The last part was directed at the teacher and the class, and Mr Jeffen walked out.
As soon as he did, Green felt less confident about this whole thing than before.
"Hi." He said.
"What're you doing here?" The same kid who'd called him out snapped. "You don't even deserve a pokemon."
"Yeah!" A girl called. "Get out, you!"
Ice was saying something, but Green couldn't hear him. He didn't know why, but he took a seat at the back of the class and laid his head on the desk, ignoring everything that was said.
"Alright, class." The teacher called. "That's enough. You can ask him why he's a cold-hearted jerk in your own time."
Even the teacher was saying it. And Green thought teachers were meant to be nice. Then again, he'd never actually gone to school before. All his experience was either first-hand or taught from his old Master.
"For the benefit of Green, I'm Ms Fara." The teacher said. "Now then, today we'll be learning about status alignments."
"Shouldn't he be telling us?" Someone asked. Green could just see them pointing at him. "He's supposed to be a Trainer."
Trainer. Not good Trainer, just Trainer. Just how much did people hate him?
"It's better if you let me do it. He'll probably just tell you how to hurt others with them."
"Makes sense."
Again with this. He'd already had enough grief from Ice the first day he'd known him, and even after a day or two the Totodile was still occasionally mentioning his treatment of his previous pokemon. He couldn't do anything like that with the new ones because they spoke to him.
"Brat, you alright?" Ice whispered.
" . . . Yes."
"You don't sound like it."
"Why would you care?" Green muttered.
"I don't, just-"
"Then don't ask."
Ice went quiet. Ms Fara started talking about poison, and how it worked.
"Now then, poison is probably the worst out of the lot, so I'll start with this to get it into your heads." She said, tapping the board in front of her where the word 'poison' was underlined. "Poison is mainly for predatory pokemon. First, it causes the victim's body to shut down almost entirely, making it numb. While that happens, the lungs are constricted so that all left over energy is put into trying to breath. Again, the victim's body is completely numb and he or she is weakened severally, so this makes it easier for predatory pokemon to eat them."
Not a very pleasant start to a lesson, but at least she was warning them. Green had already had a first-hand encounter with poison once before. He wasn't happy to repeat it, and hoped to Mew that it wouldn't happen.
"Next, paralysis. It does the same as poison, although it doesn't stop the breathing. Basically, it just numbs the body so much that you can't move an inch."
Paralysis wasn't as bad, but it was still terrifying to know that you could be eaten and you wouldn't realise it until you were dead.
"Miss, can we see what it does?" A girl asked. "Maybe we could try it out on Green?"
"What!?" Green yelped. "Why?"
"Paralysis should be used as punishment." The girl smirked. "And you need punishment."
Green shrank down and looked away. The teacher made no move to help him.
"Carrying on," Ms Fara said, "The next is sleep. It forces the victim into a deep sleep, as the name implies greatly, and numbs the body again. This way the victim can't wake up, so whoever or whatever put them to sleep could do anything to the victim, and they wouldn't know it."
He'd had that once as well. Trying to train a Butterfree was nice and all, but he just happened to catch one that didn't want to listen. It had put him to sleep, and then it was gone by the time he'd woken up. Green never did see the thing ever again, so he crushed the ball so it wouldn't come back.
"Frozen is basically the same. You're put into a sleep, and get frozen. There's not much to say on that one, since the name speaks for itself." Ms Fara said. "Burning is the same as well."
"Is that all, Miss?" One kid asked.
"No, it's not. We're going to learn how the healing items can help stop these status conditions from hurting your pokemon badly." Ms Fara said.
Green knew it was coming.
"Green should probably listen to this part, since he doesn't bother healing pokemon." The teacher said.
And there it was. Ice said something again, but Green didn't hear him.
Honestly, this was all Red's fault. If it wasn't for that moron, Green would probably be living in peace and not going on a suicide mission with new pokemon that had death wishes. He certainly wouldn't be in a classroom full of kids who thought he was a complete jerk in need of 'punishment', and a teacher who wouldn't even try to stop her students from saying it, even going as far to do the same thing.
Not fair.
About an hour of jibes and words that reached deaf ears later, Green stood up and walked out with the rest of the class. Most of them shoved past him, smirking and chattering loudly about him again. A few of them let him go first and then tripped him up as he walked on.
Green was glad when he got outside. He quickly went to the other building, with the intent to find Mr Jeffen to get his pokemon back, and maybe get out of that class as well.
OOOOOO
Red: . . . You're running out of ideas to write.
Renny: I wanna get to the plot faster. Anyway, this is gonna be a shorter author's note, so . . .
Green: You are impossible.
Renny: Whatever. Read, review and comment!