Pokémon: Ultimatum

Chapter Four: The First Day!

Red and Pearl walked through the path in Viridian Forest, seeming at peace as they just enjoyed the day. They had no idea that in another region, someone else was starting their first step as a trainer as well.

The walk was pretty quiet, but truthfully, Red was finding it somewhat awkward. All along the walk that he had taken with his parents when they had started to Pallet to get his Charmander, they had talked the whole time to bypass time. They mentioned everything from Aunt May all the way to two people that his father had known but his mother had never met, and the conversation had gotten sort of weird from there…

"Red. You're doing that creepy no-walking thing again."

Snapping out of his thoughts, he saw Pearl turned to him with a concerned expression.

"You have really got to stop doing that," she mentioned. She smiled at him warmly, instantly earning her a smile in response.

"You know, Pearl, I think travelling with you won't be so bad…" Red found himself saying. "You always seem to know when I'm zoning out and you can snap me out of it…"

Pearl laughed in response, her Piplup holding tight onto her head in fear of falling off. While her mirth lasted for only a few moments, to Red it seemed to last awhile. He had to admit, Pearl had a nice laugh. Once she had stopped laughing, Pearl paused in her steps and lost her smile, turning to Red with a somewhat worried look on her face.

"Who do you suppose that guy was from earlier?" she asked him in a concerned tone. "He certainly was strange, wasn't he?"

Red paused, stopping in his tracks as well. "I…" He found himself speechless, and unsure of what to say to her in order to stop her from worrying. "I guess we'll be finding out at some point…"

Pearl seemed ashamed of herself as she said her response. "I… I'm a little worried about him…"

"Why?" Red asked, curious. It was not something that he had expected of her.

"I mean… he may be suspicious and his intentions unclear, but he was warm clothing and it's been hot lately… he could get sick," Pearl explained herself, looking somewhat upset. "I'm just the type to worry about things like that, I guess…"

The two stopped for a moment before deciding to take a break. They sat in a clearing while Pearl prepared a fruit salad for some lunch, her Piplup helping. Red stayed off to the side, enjoying the scenery of Viridian Forest. He turned to watch her for a moment before he decided to help out.

"Is there anything I can do?" he asked her curiously, watching as she sliced some fruit.

"I suppose you can set up an area for us to eat?" she offered, not looking up from her job.

Red nodded and began to look around the clearing that they were currently sitting in. He decided on a spot free of the flowers and took a blanket out of his bag, the one that his stepfather had put in for him. He then placed it out on the ground and spread it out, turning it into a makeshift picnic blanket.

Once he was satisfied with the way that he had laid everything out, he turned to Pearl with a smile on his face. "Hey, Pearl, everything's set up!"

"Sweet, thank you!" Pearl chimed, as she stood up from cutting the fruit and walking over to where Red was. Her Piplup practically skipped over to the blanket and the three of them sat on it with smiles.

The three of them sat on the blanket and ate their fruit salad, with Piplup chewing on some Pokémon food that Pearl had brought with her. As they ate, Pearl and Red chatted about what they were going to do when they reached Pewter City. Pearl wanted to check out the museum that reportedly had all kinds of different meteorites and fossils. Red was more interested in battling the gym leader, Forrest.

"Is that your goal, Red? To gain all the badges in Kanto?" asked Pearl as they finished up their meal and began to pack up.

"Yeah," Red replied with a smile. "Mom said my dad did that, and that's how they met… she said he traveled through the five regions, gaining every badge…"

"That's a good goal!" chimed Pearl. "After all, isn't strength measured by not only the amount of badges that you have, but by your friendship with your Pokémon? My dad, who used to measure strength only in the amount of badges and the battles that you won, once told me and my brother that it's also in your friendship… which can grow through battles."

"That's so cool! My mom and stepdad said something similar…"

"Piplup, Piplup! Pip!" exclaimed Pearl's Piplup, as she angrily gestured to something that the other two didn't see right away.

When Red and Pearl turned in the direction that the penguin was pointing at, they were greeted with the sight of an angry Caterpie that seemed to really have it in for them. The Caterpie angrily used String Shot against Piplup who was instantly covered in the thick substance.

Satisfied with the results of the attack, the Caterpie then approached the group and headed for the backpacks placed off to the side and began to dig through the pink one – Pearl's backpack.

"Hey, wait a second!" called out Red in panic.

Pearl cried out at the scene before she took out a Pokéball from the pocket of her jacket, surprising Red.

"You have another Pokémon?"

~Who's That Pokémon?~

~It's Caterpie!~

Elsewhere, the young man that Red and Pearl had met earlier in their adventure stepped through the forest, looking around silently as his Banette followed loyally. It seemed almost as if they had some sort of unknown secret mission and were trying to continue on with it without looking suspicious.

Yeah. Because a young man dressed in all black with a Banette was not something to be worried about at all. Note the sarcasm.

"Somewhere… that Pokémon is somewhere near here…" the young man muttered to himself, before wiping some sweat off his brow and turning to his Banette.

His Banette appeared to have a worried expression, but said nothing.

"Shall we continue our search? Perhaps the Pokémon has since moved back to Johto?" he figured, but his only response from his Banette was a slight smile. "That would certainly be troublesome…"

He received a slight acknowledgement in reply.

"Shall we hunt down the Celebi, then, Banette?"

Banette replied verbally, excitedly. The man chuckled at his Pokémon's response and the two began their hunt for Celebi.

For now, their trek was rather boring and uneventful, before they stopped in the shade of a rather large tree with a red ball placed under it. The young man wondered over this for a moment, not quite understanding its purpose, before he decided to leave it alone. His Banette seemed fascinated with the object as well, but also decided to just leave it where it was, imitating his trainer.

Before the young man could move on any further, he was stopped by a little girl dressed in a pink dress with purple pockets. Her brown hair was short and not evenly cut, suspiciously much like someone else who was currently traveling through Unova. Now, normally, seeing a little girl like this would not be something to be worried about, but this was Viridian Forest, and it was known to have Weedle. Weedle were poisonous. Little children such as this girl were very sensitive to such things. However, the young man's plans to take the girl back to her parents were foiled when she looked up to eye him directly in the eyes, rather eerily. He gasped upon seeing the bizarre shade of pink that they were.

"This girl, Banette…" started the young man, softly. "She… she has been possessed by one of the Legendary Pokémon!"

"Quite correct, dear Katsuya," stated the little girl, startling the young man at the fact that she even knew his name. "I am here to follow through with a prophecy made… Arceus has sent me on a mission."

"And why possess the girl?" questioned Katsuya in his scratchy voice. "She has a life, a path that she must follow."

"Unfortunately for young Eri here, her path has led her to this moment in life," explained the Legendary Pokémon. "If you have not yet figured it out for yourself, I am Mew, the Legendary Pokémon of Kanto. If you require further proof, DNA that was taken from me resulted in the birth of Mewtwo."

"Yes… only a few number of people actually know that…" realized Katsuya, though how he knew this information, Mew would never understand. "But why this girl… Eri, was it? … Why her?"

"She found her way to me when her ball strayed too far from her Eevee."

… That gave Katsuya nothing to work on, except that now he knew the owner of the red ball. He frowned slightly at the little girl and tried his best to come up with a way to free her. Legendary Pokémon – ones that could not speak the human language or communicate through telepathic means, were now know to possess people who either reminded them of themselves or happened to stray toward them at the moment that they were searching for the host. The last known possession that he was aware of had been a Darkrai… and the police were still searching for him. This little girl was surely being missed by her parents, too, and if the polices' failure of locating a full-grown man from Kanto was any indication then he was quite lucky to have found Mew and Eri.

"Now… if you will allow me… I must find the boy that Arceus has chosen…" Mew said, before it turned away from Katsuya and started to walk down the path.

Turning to his Banette, Katsuya saw the rather upset look in its eyes as it blinked back at him. That was when he came to a decision.

"Hold on, Mew, please, and allow me to find the boy for you…" Katsuya faltered on his words a little bit, his voice still somewhat scratchy. "The boy is the least of your worries… As far as I am aware, Darkrai may try something…"

"Arceus and I are well aware that Darkrai is on the move…" Mew stated in response, the little face of Eri turning to stare at Katsuya with an eerie, blank stare. "I have been selected out of the other Legendary Pokémon to follow him and stop him in his tracks. What he has done to the Chosen One has been unforgivable, and Arceus and the others may never allow Darkrai to be forgiven."

"The Chosen One?"

Mew gave no reply, and instead continued its search for "the boy"… though if Katsuya's thoughts were correct, it was looking for that child that he had shown the Charizard too earlier.

It was looking for Red Waterflower. Katsuya panicked, and turned back the way that he had come, his Banette following him loyally as he raced down the path.

~Scene Change~

Pearl seemed slightly worried at what her actions might cause, but she still held tight to her second Pokémon's Pokéball, ready to retaliate at a moment's notice to free her Piplup from the Caterpie.

"Of course I have a second Pokémon, Red – this one here was a present from my brother! He's got his sister!" Pearl explained quickly, before releasing her Pokémon from its Pokéball.

Out popped a male Buizel, with a slightly mad expression on his face as he prepared himself for the battle at hand. Pearl stood bravely behind him, with a determined look on her face.

Red took out his Charmander's Pokéball as well, not wanting to be left out. "I'll help, too! Go, Charmander!"

Charmander came out immediately, a smile on his face as he looked at the Caterpie. The Caterpie made a few noises before it turned to look behind it, multiple Caterpie coming out from the trees.

The two trainers, needless to say, were surprised at the sudden development.

"What? Are we seriously getting ganged up against by Caterpie?" questioned Pearl with a disbelieving tone.

"I've heard of stranger stories…" admitted Red as he backed up a little in response to the approaching caterpillar Pokémon.

The two stood bravely before the army of Caterpie… and about five or so Weedle. Buizel and Charmander faced the army with equally brave expressions, awaiting their trainers' orders.

"Buizel," started Pearl, thinking for a moment. Her Buizel turned his head to look at her expectantly. "How about we start the attack with a well-aimed Water Gun?"

"Bui, bui!" exclaimed the Buizel excitedly, before he launched a Water Gun a large concentration of Caterpie.

The Caterpie that were hit were flown back a few paces and some even banged into trees, closing their eyes from sudden pain and falling to the ground in crumbling heaps. Some Caterpie that were able to dodge continued to approach with menacing looks and glares.

"Charmander, Scratch!" commanded Red, before his Charmander launched himself into a Caterpie, scratching as he did so.

The Caterpie that was hit by Scratch didn't faint right away, and instead launched a String Shot at Charmander, wrapping the small lizard Pokémon completely. He struggled for a moment needlessly, before falling over and being unable to get back up. This left Buizel all alone against the hordes of Caterpie, but in all honesty, the Pokémon didn't seem to mind. He kept a smirk on his face as he awaited his next command.

"Buizel, how about we try Swift?" asked Pearl, resulting in her Buizel to launch golden stars at the group of Caterpie instantly.

Some Caterpie were launched back while others were able to hold their ground against the attack. The two trainers were starting to get slightly agitated by the recent events. How could they be losing to mere Caterpie? Red rushed over to his Charmander and began to tear away at the String Shot that covered him, as Pearl's Piplup also freed itself with the help of a nearby branch.

Buizel, meanwhile, was having a blast as Caterpie launched themselves at him and he dodged effortlessly.

"Good job, Buizel! How about we try Quick Attack next?" Pearl offered, as her Buizel quickly complied with her 'orders' (if they could even be called that) and raced across the ground at a large concentration of Caterpie and rammed right into them.

"Charmander! Let's use Scratch! Pick any of the Caterpie to use it on!" Red ordered.

Charmander decided to hit the one that he had hit before, knocking out that particular Caterpie as Pearl asked her Piplup to use Pound on another Caterpie. Buizel was then ordered to use Water Gun again as Charmander scratched another Caterpie.

The order followed through again as they knocked out Caterpie after Caterpie, not spotting another Caterpie that was inching its way toward Pearl's bags once more. It began to dig through just as her Buizel had noticed it.

"Bui, bui!" explained the Buizel, pointing at it and trying to get Pearl and Red's attention.

"Hey, that's my stuff!" Pearl demanded, before turning to her Piplup. "Piplup, please use Bubblebeam on that Caterpie!"

Red and Charmander shared a look of curiousity before they watched Piplup use Bubblebeam on the Caterpie.

The Caterpie immediately straightened and got back onto its feet, facing the two with a look that could only be described as a glare that was attempting to be epic and intimidating… and was not. Pearl's Buizel even widened his eyes at the rather pathetic attempt.

However, the other Caterpie and the odd Weedle disagreed and ran off instantly, leaving the group facing the one by Pearl's bags.

Piplup and Caterpie had an rather not-so-epic stare-down, one that was causing Buizel and Charmander to share rather nonchalant shrugs and awkward smiles. Red watched with interest as he tried to figure out what Pearl would do.

In all honesty, no one expected the Caterpie to make the first move. It launched itself at Piplup in a Tackle. Piplup took the hit, and then was asked to launch a Pound attack, which she then did so in a hurry, hitting Caterpie. After another Tackle and a Bubblebeam, the battle began to get rather repetitive.

"What's in your bag exactly that the Caterpie want so badly?" Red decided to ask as Caterpie attempted to Tackle Piplup again.

"Probably my Poffins," Pearl figured, before she asked her Piplup to Pound the Caterpie. "But I like this Caterpie…"

"So what are you going to do?" Red asked, before he realized what a dumb question it really was.

"Show you how to be a real Pokémon trainer," Pearl replied with a rather teasing tone in her voice. Red rather admired it; it certainly how her mother's feel to it.

The battle between the Piplup and the Caterpie commenced, before the Caterpie finally collapsed after a well-played Bubblebeam. Pearl then took out an empty Pokéball and tossed it at the Caterpie, a red beam of light taking in the caterpillar Pokémon and sucking it in.

The ball began to shake, causing Red and Pearl to watch in anxiety.

One…

Two…

Three…

… … … Ding!

"I… I caught it!" Pearl exclaimed excitedly. She rushed over to her Pokéball and held it up for Red to see, as if he didn't already. "I caught Caterpie!"

"Bui, bui!" Buizel excitedly said, followed by Piplup's, "Pip, Piplup!"

"Charmander!" chimed in Charmander.

Red laughed rather embarrassingly. "I guess you did… Wish I got one."

"There's plenty more here, clearly. Maybe we'll run into another," Pearl said with a soft smile, as she pocketed her Pokéball.

After recalling Buizel and Charmander, the two packed up and began to get ready to leave, when the young man from before (who we now know as Katsuya) arrived once more, startling the two.

"Hey, it's you!" Pearl stated the obvious.

"Yes, it is I…" Katsuya greeted, bowing somewhat, his Banette imitating his movements. "I have learned some rather disturbing news and I wanted to alert you… Beware a young girl with pink eyes. She seeks only trouble…"

"A young girl with pink eyes?" Red asked, disbelieving. "Who… what sort of girl would have eyes like that?"

"I cannot tell you why as it is forbidden to," Katsuya decided upon telling the two, his voice still somewhat scratchy from misuse. "Please, if you see a girl with such eyes, avoid her at all costs."

Red thought about what the man was telling him. This girl, if what the man said was true, was trouble and probably even dangerous. And, being a new trainer, he would be completely useless against whatever forces she might control. Pearl, out of the two of them, had the strongest Pokémon in Buizel, who, as he understood it, was a gift from her brother. He looked up at the man and nodded in response before saying this:

"We will."

"Good boy," Katsuya said in a relieved tone. "You have no idea how much of the world's peace and order weighs on this…"

"Wait!" Pearl exclaimed, reaching out to the young man with a concerned look. "You didn't look well before… are you okay?"

"I will be fine," stated Katsuya with his slightly scratchy voice. "There is no need to worry about me…"

He then disappeared completely from sight, startling both new trainers.

"How… How did he do that?" Pearl asked.

"Is it possible for a Banette to learn Teleport?" Red wondered, trying to come up with a possible solution to what had just happened.

Pearl shook her head. "I don't know… But first, what do you suppose that was all about? I mean, a girl with pink eyes?"

"My mom's told me stories of all kinds of things that she's seen on her adventures with Ash… This is probably not the weirdest thing that's happened…" Red figured.

"Probably not… And what about him? I'm still worried about his health…"

"No need to worry!" Red chimed Pearl's mother's words very easily. "He said not to, right?"

"I… I suppose… How about we continue on our way to Pewter City?" Pearl offered, smiling at Red.

Red nodded as he replied with, "Yeah. Let's not dwell on it. I mean, let's definitely take his warning seriously and worry about him later, but for now… we're on an adventure aren't we?"

A smile from the trainer and her Piplup was his response as they continued on their way.

~Scene Change~

Katsuya and his Banette were watching over the forest in a rather epic manner. By epic, what is meant is that Katsuya was standing on a branch of a tree and staring out at the scenery before him.

What he had just learned… it was troubling. Legendary Pokémon rarely ever possessed humans in order to get their point across, and he worried about what Mew and Darkrai's true intentions really were. According to Mew, Darkrai was the one in the wrong, because the other Legendary Pokémon were apparently rather mad at him for who he had possessed. This… this "Chosen One" that Mew had mentioned. However, Mew could also be in the wrong, as well, for possessing the little girl, Eri.

Who was Eri? Who was this "Chosen One"? What was going on?

Clearly there were things happening in the world that he was unaware of. He would have to travel deeper. Further into the world, there was a distant region that he had only heard of. It was a region that a friend of his was currently checking out with one of the Pokémon Professors, if he recalled correctly.

Unova. Perhaps he would find something there, and learn something from his friend.

His Banette turned to him, a worried expression on. Ah… sweat was coming down again…

Wiping the sweat off his brow, Katsuya turned to his Banette.

"Banette… I'm going to have to buy a planet ticket."

A look of confusion was on his Banette's face.

"You see, Banette… I have to track down a friend… I know he's in Unova, and he can truly help me with this," Katsuya explained. "He's well versed on the laws of the Pokémon. He will truly be able to make sense of all of this."

Katsuya knelt down on the branch and jumped down, landing on the ground with a light thud. His Banette floated down loyally to stop beside him, just as Katsuya took out a Pokéball.

"Let's do this," he stated in a tone that just screamed out determination. "Unova… we're coming."

~Scene Change~

Red and Pearl were continuing on their way through Viridian Forest, finally being able to calm down after having been attacked by thousands of Caterpie. The two shared a smile.

"So, Pearl, I never did say congratulations on capturing Caterpie… what are you going to do with it?" questioned Red.

"I suppose I'm going to raise it into a Butterfree…" figured Pearl as she thought about it, her Piplup on her head. "That is, if it wants to. Buizel wants to stay un-evolved and I don't know about Piplup…"

"Piplup, Piplup, Pip! Lup!" chimed Piplup… though whatever she had said at the moment went unknown to the two trainers. The two gave each other confused looks before laughing.

"Well, whatever you say, Piplup…" offered Pearl through laughs.

Red nodded in agreement.

"How about we continue on?" Pearl added. "We still have to get you a second Pokémon, and not too far from here is Pewter, where you're going to be facing against Forrest!"

Red nodded in determination. "A water type would really help me against that gym… I know the previous owner, Brock. He battled with Rock types!"

"Rock types? Ooh, that's so cool! Just like the first gym back home," realized Pearl with a smile. "My brother told me all about that…"

"Are you going to challenge Forrest, too, Pearl?"

"Maybe! I just might want to try it out! Pokémon battles, I mean… Contests may not be my thing… But I haven't really tried them out, either," Pearl replied with a smile.

Red gave her what he hoped was an encouraging smile. "You sure have the looks for it…"

Pearl laughed at his words and waved them away. "Oh, stop… We both know that's not true… my mom's certainly prettier than me…"

"Well, if that's true than I certainly know where you got the genes from."

"Stop, Red, you're embarrassing me!"

Both laughed as they continued to walk through the forest… Neither realized that they were being followed by a shadow.

Narrator: Uh oh, what's this? It seems that something is following our heroes! Being joined by a new Pokémon in Pearl's new Caterpie, will they be able to stop this upcoming force? But until then, it's on the Pewter City gym! What awaits our heroes next time, on Pokémon: Ultimatum?

-Next time—

Pearl: Everyone! It seems that we're targets for Pokémon these days… first the Caterpie, and now this Rattata steals Red's hat! Hey, you! Give that back! That was his father's! Next time: Attack of the Rattata!

Piplup: Piplup, Lup!

-A word from the author—

I can tell you that this chapter is smaller than the Premium one. This is because nothing interesting happens to Red until he's almost at Pewter City… See, Leaf is more of the trouble-attracting kind, and that chapter also introduces Naminé, who's even more of the trouble-attracting kind of girl. Also, Rin was seeing new Pokémon left and right… Here, it's a bit different as both Red and Pearl have seen a Caterpie before. No idea why I decided Pearl would be the one to capture it… maybe because I already planned Red's Pokémon and then realized Caterpie was not one of them.

Also, man, Katsuya is clearly part of the Spotlight Stealing Squad...